If not a "headscarf", what would you call it?

Yesterday Walt commented on the accidental death of a lady whose head covering -- referred to as a "headscarf" -- got caught in an escalator at the Fabre station of the Montréal Metro (subway). While trying to free the "headscarf", the unfortunate lady got her hair caught, with fatal consequences. Walt's comment was that the death was a good argument for not wearing such head coverings in public places.

Even though Ed. made it clear [he thought! Ed.] that the assumption that the "headscarf" was a hijab had been made by the sub-editor at the QMI agency, who called it that in the headline in the Sun newspapers, we were greeted this morning by a comment calling Walt a "racist" for Walt's (presumed) support of the Charter of Québec values.

"Racist" is what liberals and PC thinkers call anyone who disagrees with their views on the beneficence of immigration, secularism, abortion, homosexuality etc etc ad nauseam. There was no evidence, the commenter said, to suggest that the deceased was a Muslim, yet (he or she said) that was what Walt implied by suggesting that the accident could be linked to headgear worn by Muslim women.

OK then. Here's a Facebook photo of the deceased. She is...or was...Naima Rharouity, age 47, from the district of Villeray, in Montréal's east end. She immigrated to Canada with her husband and children a little less than two years ago.

We don't know if this covering worn by Mme Rharouity is the same one she was wearing when she met her fate, but I think it's safe to assume that if not, it would have been something similar. And what should we call it? Please refer to "Hijab, niqab, burqa -- what's the difference?" It's not a burqa. It's not a niqab, which veils the face except for the eyes.

You might call it a "headscarf", since it's not cut square at the bottom as a hijab usually is, but it's being worn in the same manner (and for the same religious reason) as a hijab. Hands up, all who made the same assumption as the sub-editor at QMI...and Walt. Thank you.

Another good reason to ban the burqa (and the hijab and the niqab)

Disclaimer: Walt is posting this true story "straight" -- no smart remarks or editorializing -- to make the point that covering one's head with any kind of scarf or hood may not be the safest thing to do if you're going out in modern Western society.

A report from Montréal today says that a woman in her 30s is dead after her "headscarf" -- the word used by the QMI agency -- and hair became caught in an escalator at the Fabre Metro (subway) station.

A bystander found the woman lying at the base of the escalator and alerted transit workers, who called police. When first responders arrived, the woman was unresponsive. "We tried to perform resuscitation," a paramedic told QMI, "but we weren't able to save her."

Montréal police spokesman Jean-Pierre Brabant said the exact circumstances of the woman's death weren't immediately clear, but it appeared "her headscarf and her hair got stuck in the escalator. Was she strangled by her scarf or was she the victim of an illness before falling? It's too early to say."

Police shut down the Metro station for the investigation, and are examining surveillance video to find out exactly what happened.

Note from Ed.: Since the QMI report quoted the policeman as calling what the woman wore a "headscarf", you may ask why Walt has mentioned "hijab" in the headline. It's because that was the word used by QMI in their headline. It might have been a niqab, or a burqa...or just a headscarf with no religious or ethnic significance at all.

Further reading on WWW:
"Hijab, niqab, burqa -- what's the difference?"
"VIDEO: Culture clash! Québécois uncomfortable with Muslims importing their customs to Canada"

Happy Chinese New Year!

Walt, Len [and Ed.!]
wish all our Chinese friends and readers
a happy and prosperous
Year of the Horse!

GONG XI FA CAI!

KUNG HEI FAT CHOY!

Look! Up in the sky! It's a plane, it's a dove of peace...

NO! It's SUPERPOPE!

Just in case you thought Walt was pulling your leg in the previous post, here's a picture of the Superpope graffito which has appeared in Rome this week.

I'm calling it a "graffito" now because, thanks be to God, there's only one, so far. The large painting by Italian street artist Maupal has appeared on a building near the Vatican. It shows Pope Francis taking off [not ascending! Ed.] into the air, his right fist clenched ahead of him in classic Superman style.

His white cape and cross flutter in the breeze and in his left hand he carries a black briefcase bearing the word "valores" (= "values", in Spanish). A scarf bearing the blue and red colours of his favourite Argentine soccer club, San Lorenzo, emerges from the bag. But unlike Superman, Francis flies with his glasses on!

Superpope apparently has the approval of the Holy See, as it was tweeted yesterday by the Vatican's Twitter account(@PCCS_VA).

Oh that Francis... a real pope star!

Walt wishes he could tell you this was a spoof, or one of those photoshop-yourself thingies you can create online. But it's the real McCoy...or should I say, the real Bergoglio...on the cover of the January 31st issue of Rolling Stone.

Gonna see my picture on the cover,
Gonna send five copies to my mother...

I haven't actually seen the mag yet (thanks to Agent 36 for sending this) so can't say if there's any connection with items in the media today about "Superpope" graffiti springing up on walls all over Rome, although not St. Peter's itself. Not yet.

Perhaps the article refers to the Party Pope's homily at a "Mass" on January 28th. Francis called on all Christians to be "open to spontaneous, joyful, exultant prayer -- 'the prayer of praise'. The Pope was reflecting on II Samuel [II Kings] 6:14: "And David danced with all his might before the Lord..."

He said such joyful manifestations should not be considered appropriate only for "the Renewal in Spirit folks". That would be the Pentecostals and other charismatics, known to some of us as "Holy Rollers". On the contrary, he insisted, "prayer of praise is a Christian prayer."

Well, yes, but dancing "with all [your] might"? Twisting and shouting? The Pope cautioned the faithful not to be like King Saul’s daughter, who "despised" King David for his display. "Well, you’re able to shout when your team scores a goal," said Francis, "and you are not able to sing praises to the Lord?".

Perhaps the Pope would have done well to skip on down to verse 20, to read the exact words:
"Michol the daughter of Saul comiong out to meet David, said: How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself before the handmaids of his servants, and was naked, as if one of the buffoons should be naked."

Is that how it's going to be then, when Pope Francis completes his "reform of the reforms"? Are we all going to doff our ephods and prance around before the handmaids of our servants, naked as jaybirds? Perhaps Walt should start going to church again.

VIDEO: What's in your beer fridge?

One of these is a real beer commercial. The other is a spoof from This Hour Has 22 Minutes. You figure out which is which. Sound up.





Thanks and a tip of the toque to Agent 71, who doesn't need a beer fridge. All he has to do is throw a square into the snowbank outside the back door!

What Obama DIDN'T say -- the REAL state of the union

Walt was very pleased by last night's major event, which he watched in its entirety on satellite TV. Carey Price definitely deserved the first star, with a fine performance in the Canadiens goal, and the team played much better than on Saturday.

Ohhhh... Apparently there was something else on TV last night -- a lengthy exercise in excuse-making by the Prez. Some are calling it a "State of the Union Address". Neil Macdonald, senior Washington correspondent for CBCNews, was obliged to watch the whole sick-making speech, and by way of commentary wrote an alternative speech -- the one that Obama would never give. Here's his introduction:

"With few exceptions (such as Gerald Ford's blunt 1975 assessment that "the state of the union is not good") the president's annual report to Congress is an exercise in reassuring Americans they are exceptional, blessed by God, leading the world, and headed for better things.

"Last night's was no different; at best, it amounted to an optimistic statement of intent by a president who has been thwarted constantly by other arms of government since assuming office. So, let's imagine what an outsider like, say, me, might submit if asked for a more succinct, less varnished assessment of the state of the American union."

The imaginary "real state of the union" speech penned by Mr. Macdonald is simply excellent, worth reading in its entirety. We are unable to publish it here for reasons of space [not to mention copyright! Ed.]. So click on this link and get the cold, hard truth about what the Obama maladministration has done to America.