PM - I will agree with you that it's tragic that this girl is taking this kind of beating for something that would have gone unnoticed a few years ago. Unfortunately, it's to be expected. The writer of the article states the obvious that there are both doctors and Bush-supporters that are faithful Muslims. Of course, that's true. I don't think that anyone with any semblance of an education would disagree. However, there's a significant segment of the population that will lash out in anger at those seeking to change or disrupt their sheltered lives. Take that recipe and add 9/11 and the recent disgusting beheadings and you have yourself a pressure-cooker that's going to blow. This girl just happens to be the present focus of that anger.

Now, with the PC compassionate stuff taken care of, I have to say that this article perplexes me a bit. I've often wondered how American-born Muslim women resist the temptation to just say screw it and not follow the strict appearance guidelines of their religion. Living day-to-day amongst American women, you would think that the younger women would get a taste of the freedom and rebel. Oh well, I guess the fear of Allah striking them down is enough to keep them in line....or at least any male relative who got offended when he sees her ankle.

Now, that brings us back to this girl. What I can't seem to understand is how Christian women can convert to Islam when they must know about the documented widespread abuse and oppression of women in the Muslim world. I can understand that the core teaching may have attracted her, but I don't see how an educated woman could make a conscious decision to take part in something that openly oppresses women and is complicit in an unending flow of vicious, vile, and hate-filled violence at the hands of Islamic terrorists who commit these acts under the authority (in their minds) of Allah and Islam. But, that is me imposing my value system on someone else.....It just doesn't make sense to me.