There are many voters unwilling to turn their future over to Newt Gingrich and his radical dismantlers or to the morality police.

She used experiences within Shiraz, such as partying and hearing about her cousin's whipping at the hands of the morality police, in the plot.

Discretion is crucial, he says, because the Mutawwain, the street-patrolling morality police employed by the kingdom, has threatened to hunt him down.

This is a huge win for the morality police.

Increasingly, it appears, Saudis are pushing back against the morality police.

It's the freedom to walk on the streets without the morality police telling her how to dress.

There is no morality police to clamp down on prostitutes or the sale of alcohol, though both are illegal.

One senior officer said: "We're not the morality police but how an officer conducts themselves even off duty reflects on the reputation of the force.

The morality police have become somewhat less pervasive, but efforts to free political speech and the press have been crushed.