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The need for tax reform is imminent, and all options should be on the table. Yet, one line of thinking in current suggestions for property tax reform should concern the public. I’m talking about the idea of tying property taxes to income.

We already have taxes in place that target wealth and income, and property taxes shouldn’t be used as a backdoor tax on income because that circumvents the necessary public and political discussion that would usually accompany an increase to income taxes.

Sustaining services and infrastructure, by levying taxes on people that consider an individual’s ability to pay, is what we already do via income taxes. Even then, a person’s wealth/income isn’t taxed until it’s realized – i.e. my pay cheque isn’t taxed until the money is issued, and the growth in someone’s Apple stocks isn’t taxed until they sell those stocks at a profit and receive the benefit in their pocket.

If the government taxes us on money that we haven’t received (assessed value vs. realized value), then with what money will we be able to pay the tax man? We’ll pay it from our current income. And if the government takes more of our income to pay for services and infrastructure, they should call it what it is – an income tax.

Calling taxes that are tied to our income something else and charging them on a separate bill doesn’t change the net impact on a person’s income. Therefore, the decision to increase property taxes should receive the same scrutiny and public/political discourse as a decision to raise income taxes.

And if our income is subject to further taxation by another name, the government of the day should face the political music about it – not the PVSC.

Politically incorrect ads, and damn-right offensive ones, are not a rare occurrence in the Arab world. Remember this one?

The tag line is: “China Times: Brings out the Chinese in Anyone”. Click to enlarge.

[Spotted at MediaME]

According to Canada’s latest census on religion (2001), nearly 20% of Canada’s 580,000 Muslims reside in Quebec. The majority are concentrated in Ontario (~350,000), with Western Canada forming another hub in British Columbia (~56,000) and Alberta (~50,000). The remainder of Canada’s Muslims are sparsely scattered across Manitoba (~5000), Nova Scotia (~3500), Saskatchewan (~2200), and New Brunswick (~1200).

The Canadian census collects information about religion every 10 years, so the most recent numbers, collected in 2011, should be released  later this year. However, existing studies already indicate that Islam is one of the fastest growing religions in Canada. The community is diverse and has lived side by side with Canadians from coast to coast for decades.

So why does  Quebec continue to stand out as distinctly Islamophobic? Consider the following highlights:

• March 2012: the Parti Québécois raises hell about the perceived proliferation of Halal meat in the province.
• January 2011: a Muslim manager is arrested and accused of being a terrorist for sending a text message to his staff asking them to “blow away” the competition 
• March 2010: a bill is introduced to ban Muslim women from wearing a veil in Quebec
• Jan 2007: sensing impending doom, the small village of Hérouxville (pop. 1300) took the initiative of establishing a ‘Community Standard’ for any would-be immigrants who may consider living there. The code prohibits public stoning, beheading, live burning, veils, and throwing acid on women’s faces… among other things. Really.

Other religious minorities in Quebec have also suffered various forms of xenophobia, but none to the extent or frequency in which Muslims are targeted. Some Québécois might as well start asking Muslims to sow a green crescent on their jackets.

Ordinary citizens in Yemen will be able to observe the upcoming Presidential elections planned for February 21st in Yemen and report any incidents they witness, thanks to an innovative project launched by local youth advocacy group Resonate! Yemen.

The Ersod (which translates to “Observe” ) project takes advantage of Yemen’s estimated 11 Million cell phone users to allow citizens across Yemen to send reports about any incidents they witness to the dedicated SMS short code 3377, explained the Chairman of Resonate! Ala Qasem.

These reports will then be displayed on an interactive map that can be seen by the public on the project’s website: www.ersod.net . More importantly, the Supreme Committee for Election and Referendum (SCER) will monitor this map and take action where necessary. The reports can also be submitted online through Ersod’s website including pictures and video, or by using the social media website Twitter hashtag ‘#ersod‘ to send reports.

The project is also deploying 250 trained youth election monitors to monitor 125 election centers in the Capital Secretariat Sana’a. Rafat Al-Akhali, Executive Director of Resonate!, explained that these youth have been trained by experts on proper election monitoring techniques, and their reports will be used to publish an assessment by YPIC on the Presidential elections in the Capital Secretariat.

Partners in the project include the EC-UNDP Joint Electoral Assistance Project (JEAP), the National Democratic Institute (NDI), Yemen’s arm of French mobile technology firm LinkInTime, and US-based service platform provider CitiVox.

MobileActive.org, the leading network and community on the use of mobile technology for social impact, is also providing technical assistance to Resonate! in implementing this project. The project will serve as a pilot project to introduce SMS election monitoring technology in Yemen, and wide-scale youth election monitoring, in preparation for the Parliamentary elections that are scheduled to be held by the end of the two-year transitional period in Yemen.

It’s time to pay attention… to men! Believe it or not, walking around naked in public isn’t a man’s favourite pastime. We buy clothes. In fact, some of us would go as far as *gasp* buying nice clothes! So, where’s the love?

Halifax suffers from an acute shortage of men’s clothing stores. The gap is more apparent when looking for stores that cater to young professionals. The disparity between the number of clothing stores that exclusively cater to women vs. stores dedicated to men’s fashion is most visible in downtown Halifax.

The figures in the pie chart represent the split in downtown Halifax between clothing stores that exclusively cater to men vs. stores that are dedicated to women’s clothing and unisex stores. The study was conducted on January 25th, 2012 and did not include sports-related stores (Cleve’s, Lulu, etc.). The survey covered downtown Halifax as shown in the map below.

So, here’s an obvious business observation: the men’s fashion retail clothing market in Halifax is under-served and ripe for the picking!

And here’s a free tip: the market is even more lucrative if you cater to young professionals in downtown Halifax. I conducted a retail clothing market study in 2010 that estimated an average of 65% of sales of men’s retail clothing in downtown Halifax came from a customer demographic 25 to 44 years of age. According to 2006 census data (latest available at the time), this age category makes up 35% of males in HRM.

So what’s the hold up Halifax? The demographic exists, demand exists, supply is short. A couple of boutique men’s fashion clothing retail stores in downtown Halifax, offering wares at the right price point, will make a killing in this market. Pants, shirts, sweaters, coats, jeans, ties, shoes and suits are a staple of every man’s wardrobe. And you can be guaranteed to have at least one repeat customer (and all his friends)… right here!!

A debate is raging in Toronto this week about Muslim elementary students conducting Friday prayers at Don Mills public school. The issue at hand is whether the practice of girls praying behind boys is a discriminatory practice of Islam, and if so, is the school complicit in this discrimination by allowing its Muslim students to conduct prayers on school premise during school hours.

An example of the flame war can be found in this story by Toronto Star Columnist Heather Mallick. And yes, I do recognize that this is Toronto (Fox North) Star, so I won’t suggest that this is the sentiment of the majority of Torontonians.

So here’s what I think about this story.

Is this Gender Discrimination:

Muslim prayer line-ups, in this instance, are not discriminatory since those who wish to practice differently are not prevented from doing so in Canada. This isn’t Rosa Parks being forced to sit at the back of a bus.

I don’t think schools or governments should get into telling entire religious groups how they should practice their religion as long as they follow the law of the land. Just because a parent or even a minority group in the same social/religious group takes issue with a practice shouldn’t lead to the annexation of the wish of the majority. At the same time, the wish of the majority shouldn’t preclude the minority from practicing and engaging fully in what they think is right, within the confines of law/policy.

So, really, if someone has an issue with Muslims conducting their prayers according to the customs observed by over 1 Billion of them around the world, we should ask ourselves whether the person with the issue is a Muslim? If not, then that person is free to voice their opinions, but their individual inconvenience or distaste of the practice should not trump the rights of an entire social group to assemble and practice their religion according to their custom.

If the issue is indeed voiced by Muslims who feel that traditional prayer line-ups are precluding them from full participation, then I believe the concerned group should practice as they wish. In fact, that right is guaranteed to them by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, the group advocating co-ed prayers shouldn’t force their interpretation into the existing practice of the traditional interpreters. Instead, they should simply go ahead and practice their interpretation of Islam separately from the first group. After all, that’s why we have separate churches for Catholics, Protestants, Anglicans, Baptists, etc.

If the unorthodox group would like to pray at a later/earlier/same time and have a co-ed prayer room with mixed rows, and are being prevented from doing so, then this isn’t an issue of discrimination. It’s simply an issue of school policy. The school can decide to make accommodations for two consecutive prayer sessions in the same room, or two simultaneous sessions in separate rooms, or neither. The conservative group can pray according to the teachings they believe in, and the smaller group of modern interpreters can have a co-ed session just as well.

Now, to me, this sounds like a lot of accommodation for a school to be making. If every religious group wanted similar arrangements this can get out of hand. My personal opinion, as a pragmatic ‘modern Muslim’, is that Friday prayers should not take place in schools of a Country that does not have existing policies to accommodate such interruptions to the school day. Islam has made an ‘accommodation’ for situations like this, allowing Muslims to make-up for missed prayers at a later time if they are unable to practice their worship due to hardship or circumstances outside their control. Although, despite hardships, some Muslims would still go the extra mile for additional brownie points.

Kansas University junior Bazigha Tufail prays in the Spahr Engineering Library on Wednesday after her 1 p.m. structural engineering class. The Muslim student prays five times a day and often feels misunderstood by other students. Photo by Nick Krug

Therefore, the discussion should remain confined to policy. Should schools accommodate religious practices, for all religions, and how? A school shouldn’t attempt to determine whether a particular religious practice of a specific group is discriminatory. There are other avenues for that. These doctrines have been around for thousands of years and no school board should touch that land mine with a 10 foot pole.

The question in this case is not whether a particular religious practice is discriminatory or not. The question is whether prayers can happen at schools. You can’t piecemeal a religion and say “only that part of your prayer is OK with us non-Muslims, but the other part is weird and we don’t understand/like it, so you can’t do that one”. If some Muslims take offense to the way prayer line-ups are formed, they have the full right and freedom to worship as they wish (like I do), so I’m not sure how they’re being discriminated against if their rights are not withheld by anyone.

Policy or Social Engineering?

Canada is a multicultural melting pot where everyone can maintain their unique culture and religious practices while adopting Canadian values and way of life. That was the social contract that most Canadian Muslims were born or immigrated under, unlike France where the social contract clearly opposes multiculturalism when it comes to religious practice. It’s not fair to bait and switch on people who thought they can enjoy a certain amount of religious freedom and accommodation in this great country. These people are now faced with calls to change their practices, not so much because they’ve been proven as discriminatory, but because their practice has now crossed into the visible public domain and people are offended by its strangeness.

Talking in generalities is knee-jerk xenophobia. And flogging this particular religious practice as a means to score points on a larger discussion of Islam’s morality, social values, student/child development, indoctrination or gender issues is not fair to Muslims. Some folks are suggesting that this religious practice in Islam is an example of anti-social practices that engineer Muslim children along gender lines and affect their long-term development and integration into Canadian society, and that making accommodations for Muslims to pray in schools on a Friday assists in this negative social engineering.

There are many contributors and factors that affect the development of young adults in Canadian society, both girls and boys. Schools are but one factor. Home environments, peers, media, pop culture, and religious subscription are other factors along with many more. Weekends in Canada have been selected to accommodate Christian prayer practices, and those practices contribute to the development and social positioning of Christian teens just as much as practices of any other religious group in Canada affect the teens of that particular group.

And the hypocrisy of it all…

What makes one form of systematic religious indoctrination ok, and the other not ok? We don’t flog the government for instating Sunday as a holiday to allow the practice of a religion with traditional teachings that discriminate against women even more than Islam does, and we don’t call on Catholics to abandon their subscription to the concept of “original sin” if they want to pray in publicly-funded areas like Muslims are being asked to change the way they line-up, and how they “think” about women, if they want to pray in public schools.

So why is Sunday a government-sanctioned holiday for a religion that, traditionally, doesn’t ordain female priests and dictates that men and women should be separated in Church? Because of Canada’s Christian heritage. And because subscribers to the faith are free to worship as they please: those who want to attend a conservative Church with separate seats for men and women can, and those who want to attend a Church that allows people to sit where they wish can do so as well. That answer is enough for me.

And why do Muslims pray the way they do? Because their heritage, religious and culture, dictates it. And other Muslims who wish to do it differently can do so in Canada. That answer should suffice for the majority of those crying foul at how Muslims line up in their area of prayers.

In psychology, Stockholm Syndrome is a term used to describe a real paradoxical phenomenon wherein hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors; sometimes to the point of defending them. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors as an act of kindness. – (Wikipedia)

I believe that regime supporters are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. What’s worse is that Yemenis do receive abuse from the regime, yet they continue supporting its sweet torment.

EXHIBIT 1:

The supposedly uncoordinated spontaneous ‘celebration’ of the survival of Yemen’s benevolent dictator after suffering serious injuries in an assassination attempt on June 3rd.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1BoR8Y6Jps

The outrageous display of jubilation by Saleh supporters resulted in scores of injuries and deaths across the city as the multi-caliber offerings of gratitude were rejected by the heavens and bullets of joy rained on regime supporters and protesters alike. With near complete absence of law enforcement and a functioning justice system, victims of the celebration have no recourse for the damages they’ve suffered enjoyed.

EXHIBIT 2:

A barefooted child laborer (likely homeless) selling limes at traffic stops in the capitol city of Sana’a while wearing a clip-on that translates into “Joyous be a people who have you as their leader”. In proper English, the sign says “We’re lucky to have you, Mr. President.” He probably didn’t have a say in wearing that tag.

It’s probably relevant to note that Yemen is near the bottom of almost every category of the United Nations Human Development Index. Nearly 50% of the population lives on less than $2 a day, with over a Million children who have to work to stay alive. 43% of children under 5 are malnourished and 52% of the population live without access to proper water sources. (UNDP 2010 Yemen Report)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKOGIcXjKyg

After 33 years of Saleh’s rule, it’s understandable why some people feel a sense of panic and impending loss as the revolution rages on and Saleh’s ouster is all but certain. Much like a kidnap victim raised in captivity, Yemenis have grown accustomed to the tuna sandwiches that Saleh slid under their door as they raised his rape-children in the locked basement of his kind benevolence.

Yemenis can’t imagine life without Saleh because their long years in captivity to his regime have taught them that the only reason they’re alive, and eating tuna, is because he bestows it.

Umbrella group Civic Coalition of Revolutionary Youth (CCRY) releasing list of demands for immediate transfer of power.

SANAA, YEMEN – Youth activist group Civic Coalition of Revolutionary Youth is calling for continued protests in advance of its press conference tomorrow. The group represents a coordinated large scale body of activists supported by activist parliamentarians, civil rights activists, and politicians.

“Our membership is the voice of a diverse group of activists, local influencers, professional associations, civil organizations and tribal groups,” says Husam Al-Sharjabi, Chairman, CCRY. “These groups have each expressed their aspirations, in one way or another, for freedom, democracy, and justice in Yemen. They reject tyranny and the monopolization of power and wealth.”

On March 23, 2011, CCRY will release its charter and a list of demands at a press conference on 9:30 a.m. at the “Yemeni Writers’ Union” in Raqqas Street, Sana’a. The Coalition’s charter lists one of its main objectives as the creation of a modern democratic nation for all Yemenis to enjoy equally under the rule of law.

This list of demands also includes:

• Immediate dismantling of the current regime.
• Arrest of all those involved in committing criminal acts against citizens and/or against the public’s interest through fraud and corruption.
• A constitution that transforms the governance system from presidential to parliamentarian.
• A decentralized government that ensures unity of Yemen while protecting the unique interests of different regions.
• Full transparency.

“The Coalition must warn all factions to refrain from attempts to divert the revolution from its stated goals, or try to take custody of its methods or agenda,” says Ahmed Saif Hashed, parliamentarian, CCRY. “We hereby call on all our brothers and sisters in protest squares across the country to continue their perseverance until a peaceful transfer of power to a civilian authority is completed.”

The Civic Coalition of Revolutionary Youth is headquartered in Sana’a. It brings together Yemen’s four main youth groups – Alliance for the Youth’s Revolution, Alliance of the People’s Youth Revolution, Alliance of Youth and Students for a Peaceful Revolution, and the Coalition of Change Leaders – under one umbrella. It formed in response to the January 16, 2011 uprising at the University of Sana’a by students and youth.