[Buddha-l] Dutch parliament bans wheels

[Joy Vriens]

Richard wrote:
> I am sure most of you have been following the decision of the European  
> Court of Human Rights to ban crucifixes from Italian high schools on  
> the grounds that displaying crucifixes in public schools is a  
> violation of students' religious freedoms.
> Some of you have also followed  
> the decision in Belgium to forbid headscarves in schools, a measure  
> aimed at Muslims but also affecting Hassidic Jews and students having  
> bad hair days.
And Switzerland is planning on banning minarets.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6676271.stm
The Dutch politician Wilders has asked for the same and the French Front 
National (on the rise again) will probably follow.

France already has banned the use of "religious" headscarves in public 
places and is considering banning burkas all together. From the security 
angle the banning of hoods or anything covering one's face in public 
places and thus preventing from being CCTV'ed is being considered.  
Louis-Ferdinand Céline wrote in one of his novels (I forgot which)  that 
people are so mean that they are ready to put up with losing one eye on 
condition their one-eyed enemy loses his other eye.

The freshly elected Christian democrat president Herman Van Rompuy is 
radically against the admission of Turkey to the European Union.
 
Patiently waiting for the pendulum to swing back again.

Joy