It's hard to believe anyone could get their knickers in such a twist as Jonah Goldberg does in this clip. It's clear this guy isn't even good at lying...maybe he's more convincing at twisting the written word. Nope, I haven't read the book.

If Goldberg's point is that Mussolini and Hitler came from the Left, then he's flying in the face of history as well as torturing the truth. Fascism, as it was developed in the 30's, was born from the Right, where corporate interests (like those who pay Goldberg's salary at National Review) merged with the state. Sound familiar?

If his point was that totalitarianism can emerge from either extreme, the far Right or far Left, I'd agree. In a country as conservative as ours, we're more prone to right wing fascism. That's simply the way it is. The rise of the Christo-Corporate State is clear evidence of this. And Goldberg knows better.

He also knows his piece of divisiveness (where any act benefiting the common good is subject to suspicion) is next up on the rightwing brain trash section of major bookstores.

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the thing is that according to high school rules garments under uniforms have to be one color. i have coached cross-country, baseball, and softball and have dealt with the same issues. those are the rules that she needs to follow.
ignorance for the rules is no excuse. i was not there i do not know what else was said, but i can tell you that everyonce in a while you run across a jerk who is going to try to enforce something this petty.
It is the rules. its no different than one cop letting you off for 5 over while another writes you a ticket. once in a while you get a jerk.
this is not a race or belief issue in my opinion. the coach should have known and taken the responsibility to tell her.
would i enforce it, no. but am i like a lot of other people...no.

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It would be just dandy and justified, if the xtian athletes were prohibited from wearing crosses, be it a necklace, earring or a tatoo. If sports and religion don't mix, it must be extended to all faiths and all sects. As it was, it was pure pile of bovine feces.

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I am always amazed that people will construe enforcing rules as an attack on religious expression. She broke the rules and needed to find a way to compete with in the rules. Instead she gets an exception because of her faith.

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Every time I see written or hear said the words "Freedom & Democracy" coming from those in power who propagate war and hate against its own citizens while denying them 'freedom of religion,' I'm prone to vomit. America is a fascist state propagating hypocrisy, not democracy; period.

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Sad to say she has been penalized for her outfit. I'd penalize her because of her grammar. "I'm not going to let no one stop me from competing," says the Roosevelt High School senior. This from a high school senior? Wow!

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that would be a hoot. Actually, I am pretty sure that her skin-tight running underwear would NOT meet the minimum criteria for standard women's Islamic clothing...where is the modesty and dignity in it? So why bother? She would be in serious jeopardy of being stoned or beaten by her brothers and uncles for wearing that in many Muslim countries .

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We live in an age of change... The candidates are nearly all promising change....So if the stupid sports rules are discriminating and violating a basic right "freedom of religion"... Change the stupid rules!

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Jews,we make arrangements for Seventh Day Adventists, so why can't we make arrangements for Muslims?

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Re Adam Howard's scathing comments on the officials at the Montgomery Invitational track meet where a runner was disqualified for a uniform violation, it's no wonder that religious contention is still alive and thriving in this country. This is a story for which we are getting only one side (not one responsible journalist has bothered to investigate what happened according to the official and the meet director other than to bury a couple of quotes at the end of the article).
Here is the official response of the NFHS, the rulemaking governing body for national high school sports. IF YOU ARE AT ALL INTERESTED IN THE TRUTH OF THIS STORY, HERE IT IS:

NFHS Responds to Maryland Track Situation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Becky Oakes
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (January 17, 2008) - Last Saturday, Juashuanna Kelly, a runner on the girls track team at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Washington, D.C., elected not to compete in the Montgomery Invitational indoor track and field meet in Maryland after meet officials advised her that she would need to replace her undergarment because it violated track and field playing rules published by the National Federation of State High School Association (NFHS).
The NFHS issues the following statement regarding this incident:
"The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), the national leadership organization for high school sports and fine arts activities, writes playing rules in 17 sports for boys and girls competition at the high school level, including track and field.
"Rule 4-3-1-d of the NFHS Track and Field and Cross Country Rules Book states that 'Any visible garment(s) worn underneath the uniform top or bottom shall be a single, solid color and unadorned except for 1) a single school name or insignia no more than 2¼ square inches with no dimension more than 2¼ inches and 2) a single, visible manufacturer's logo as per NFHS rules.'
"Using preventive officiating, meet officials at the Montgomery Invitational checked uniforms prior to the events to make sure they complied with NFHS uniform rules. Since Kelly's one-piece undergarment was multi-colored (blue, orange, white), it was in violation of the uniform rules. The meet officials did not disqualify Kelly; they informed her she would have to replace the multi-colored undergarment with a single-colored undergarment, an option which she declined and, thus, did not compete.
"The head covering, which was a part of Kelly's one-piece undergarment, nor the length of the undergarment were in violation of NFHS rules. She could have worn the same style of undergarment, with a head covering, as long as the undergarment was one color throughout the entire piece of clothing. The NFHS track uniform rule was put in place for consistency across the board and for ease in identifying runners at the finish line. Multi-colored undergarments cause greater identification problems for track officials.
"The track uniform is a point of emphasis by the NFHS this year in an effort to have more consistent and widespread enforcement of the rule. Because of her Muslim faith, there were reports that her uniform undergarment was ruled unacceptable on religious grounds. While Kelly's faith requires her to cover all parts of the body except her hands and face, a single-colored undergarment with a hood would have been acceptable both from an NFHS rules standpoint as well as meeting the requirements of her Muslim faith.

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What the officials are keeping her out of is a meet that is a qualifier for a bigger meet that is important because it will raise her visibility to college recruiters.

That's the key point -- visibility to college recruiters.

So wouldn't it be awesome if this controversy -- and how she handles it -- became the reason she was recruited?

She's not trying to get in anyone's face about it, but she's not backing down either.

We can contact our alumni associations and urge them to look at this runner's stats and academic achievement -- and the way she stands up for herself and her beliefs in the face of outright bigotry.

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