Female leaders of Muslim majority countries

Islam is not one of the religions that come to mind when one thinks of providing equal status for women. Its rules about their dress and behavior in public are notorious for their restrictiveness. But at the same time, as Juan Cole points out, there is the curious phenomenon that many Muslim-majority countries have had women as their leaders, almost all of them elected to office. Here’s his list.
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Atheists denied notary services

The idea that people can deny services to those who views they disagree with is a menace to the smooth working of society. The people who are the latest victims of this are David Silverman and Amanda Knief of American Atheists who went to a local bank to get a document notarized. This is a routine service that banks provide but to their surprise, the notary refused to sign it, though they had had no problems in the past with this bank.
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It must have seemed like a good idea at the time

Bill Donohue, head of an outfit called the Catholic League and who is more Catholic than the pope, seems to make a good living and gains publicity by protesting loudly at anything that can be interpreted as a slight on Catholicism. He was predictably outraged (his outrage meter is always at 11) at the attempts by LGBT groups to march in the St. Patrick’s day parades in New York and Boston. When they were rebuffed, Donohue was again outraged that beer companies Sam Adams, Heineken, and Guinness withdrew their sponsorship and vowed not to drink their beer.
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