What do Australian authorities do when Muslim cabbies illegally refuse transport to the dog-assisted blind? Fine them? Revoke their hack license? If you're the Victorian Taxi Directorate, responsible for regulating the taxi and hire car industries in the state of Victoria, you pay a call on the mufti:
Earlier this week it was revealed that at least 20 dog-aided blind people had lodged discrimination complaints with the Victorian Taxi Directorate, while dozens of others had voiced their anger with the regulatory body.In the wake of that report, Victorian Taxi Association spokesman Neil Sach said the mufti of Melbourne had been approached in a bid to give religious approval for Islamic cab drivers to carry the dogs, seen as unclean in Islamic law.
The comment section for this article is interesting. Hot tip: buy stock in the tapping stick industry.
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Previous postings:
Blind Justice
This crap really surprises me - that ANY Australian would even give this particular Islamic demand a second thought. Wait until our own lefties have to deal with this one - it will be a bridge too far and they won't be able to ignore it like they have with some of the other cultural "peculiarities" ala Allah.
Further, my dog can drive better than most of the recent Islamic immigrants around here. In fact, I'd let her drive herself to the vet today but they won't let her on base without an ID. That and she expects a snack for filling up the tank.
Posted by: tfhr at October 13, 2006 11:04 AMIt surprised me too.
Posted by: Donnah at October 20, 2006 07:02 PM