apparently, not only have i read his book, but i've met the co-author of the infamous French headscarf ban law. somewhere in the middle of an article i was reading this morning i came across his name as the co-author and a quote in which he claimed that if the French fail to ban the headscarf, "then you will have schools like you have in the United States, where the kids of the rich white middle class go to private schools and the public school system is left for the poor and the blacks. What the French are keen to defend is a public school system where there is a social mould, and some sort of integration.’’

what an enourmous non sequitur. maybe I would have to be French to understand it, but i fail to understand what visible religious symbols have to do with either failing schools in America or integration. apparently the French mind cannot conceive of people who look or dress differently being successfully integrated. either that or they're unwilling to admit that there might be more than one way to be French, both of which sound an awful lot like bigotry to me.

anyway, i know at least a couple of you out there had asked for my thoughts on the proposed ban on the hijab and i had equivocated. well, i'm retracting my earlier neutral statements in favor of this new one: Gilles Kepel and his headscarf bill are stupid as well as bigoted and racist.