Tender Tennessee Christmas, Allah willing

Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen is apparently a painter. Who knew? Anywho, on a recent trip to Afghanistan he found a young Muslim woman and painted her picture, which now adorns his Christmas cards.

I think I understand his sentiment--love thy neighbor--but there are a few oddities to note. The most obvious being the woman's failure to adhere to the dress code:

Khaled Sakalla, spokesman for the Islamic Center of Nashville, said the local Muslim community also wishes Christians a peaceful and happy holiday. But, he said, if the governor saw a Muslim woman in Afghanistan as depicted — with her head partially uncovered — that's not the Muslim dress code.

Mercy sakes, was she flirting with Phil? Do we have a brewing scandal?

Assuming she was breaking tradition, perhaps NATO should consider getting her a one-way ticket on the same flight that carried away Abdul Rahman, the Afghani man who made the mistake of openly professing that he'd converted to Christianity and was threatened with death.

The Gov is right--God loves all his chirldrun. The devil is always in the details.

MORE 12/16/06

Trackback party over at Jay's house.

MORE 12/20/06

From the Gov:

met the teenage girl depicted in this painting in March of this year at a primitive school on the Shamali Plains Road outside of Kabul, Afghanistan.

Until recently, under the Taliban, education was forbidden to her. She is now learning to read, and on the day I visited, was studying geography.

That's rather heartening--a Christmas reminder of why we fight. Under that context I don't have a big problem with the card, which seems to suggest that a Christian-based country gave her the right to use her own brain, while the Taliban would just as soon remove her to a hut and have her model the newest winter fashion attire in suicide vests, under the full burka, of course.