Headline of the Day

Australia: Mosque to get police guard for bikini rally. They’re worried about concealed weapons, I guess.
For a more sympathetic account of the Australian bikini protest, which will occur on December 9, go here. The march is organized by Christine Hawkins, a “Melbourne grandmother.” It is intended to protest comments by an Australian imam who explained rape on the ground that women in Australia walk around like “uncovered meat.”
It’s ironic, I think, that in the Australian Broadcasting Company story linked above, the ABC presenter describes the bikini protest as “very provocative.” In another context, one might think that claiming it’s OK (or understandable, anyway) to rape women not wearing burqas would be deemed “very provocative.” But much of the coverage of the bikini event has focused largely on push-back from bikini opponents:

Muslims, socialists, unions and other groups will conduct a counter-rally against bikini protesters who plan to march on a Brunswick mosque on Saturday.

Muslims, check. Socialists, check. But–unions? I sincerely doubt that the union members who are dragooned to show up for the counter-protest will have their hearts in it.
In any event, this is one protest we can get behind wholeheartedly. We may even post photos of the event, especially if some of our Australian readers send them in. I learned about this event from the tireless Michelle Malkin, who, regrettably, is only reporting on the bikini march, not participating in it. (Sorry, Michelle!) Ms. Malkin is just about impossible to scoop, but it probably didn’t occur to her to wonder whether the Melbourne grandmother, Christine Hawkins, might be the grandmother of Jennifer Hawkins. I think Hawkins may be a common name in Australia, but this seems like the kind of thing Tim Blair would be on top of. Tim, any further intelligence you can supply will be welcome.
Bikinis and politics: two longstanding interests, finally coming together!
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