<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div>Courtesy of today's (April 21, 2015) Lewiston Tribune with a special thanks to Ghazi.</div><div><br></div><div>---------------------------------------</div><div><br></div><div><div class="content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; width: auto; float: none;"><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><b>Lifting the Barrel</b></span></p><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"A bucket of worms" - that's how state Sen. Lee Heider, R- Twin Falls, described recent legislative deliberations. ...</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There is indeed a "bucket of worms." First, some lawmakers refused to attend the invocation by a Hindu chaplain, for we are a "Christian nation" - and that's a slap on the world's third largest faith. ... Second, I heard rumblings that some legislators wished to declare Idaho as a "Christian state" (the Founding Fathers would laugh in their graves).</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Third, there is the fear of "Sharia laws" (thanks to Rabbi David Jerusalami's nationwide campaign), not realizing that "Shari'a" simply means "the way," same as "the way or word" and canon laws in the Christian tradition, and ... the Talumidic or Mosaic laws (kosher food, circumcision, bar-mitzvah, etc.) in Judaism.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Fourth, the lawmakers were recently enlightened by an "expert" on "The True Face of Islam" and were told of "enclaves" forming in Idaho. Good combination - a naive, receptive audience and an "expert" exploiting their fears. ...</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Fifth, ... Bonneville County's "GOP group warns supporters and police that Muslims are 'infiltrating' Idaho" and that "Muslims were 'ready to rise up and kill' non-Muslims."</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Finally, the Legislature recently killed the child-support bill, for it would make Idaho "bound to the laws of a foreign country," and "it wasn't worth risking our sovereignty. ..."</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Indeed, there is a "bucket of worms," and as a friend recently wrote, "every time I think Idaho is at the bottom of the barrel I have to lift the barrel" to look for more underneath.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">S.M. Ghazanfar</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Acworth, Ga.</span></p></div><div class="encrypted-content" style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><p style="outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 18px;"><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Editor's note: The author is an emeritus faculty member at the University of Idaho and a former resident of north central Idaho (Moscow, Idaho).</span></p></div></div></div><div>---------------------------------------<br><br><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Seeya 'round town, Moscow, because . . .</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"Moscow Cares"</span></div><div><a href="http://www.moscowcares.com/" style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><font color="#000000">http://www.MoscowCares.com</font></a></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"> </span></div><div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Tom Hansen</span></div><div><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Moscow, Idaho</span></div></div><div><br></div></div></div></body></html>