Saturday, October 07, 2006

New Danish insults to Islam

International Herald Tribune Egypt's largest Islamic group, the Muslim Brotherhood, on Saturday denounced what it called "new Danish insults" to Islam and urged the world to boycott countries that allow offenses to all religions.

Here we go again.
The Brotherhood's condemnation came a day after word spread about a Web video showing young members of a populist Danish political party mocking Islam's Prophet Muhammad. The video showed people in their 20s and 30s participating in a drawing contest at a summer camp for the Danish People's Party Youth last August. They appeared to have been drinking alcohol.
I bet the Muslims are ticked at that too.
The footage shows a woman presenting a drawing of a camel and saying it has "the head of Muhammad" and beer bottles as humps. The group laughs as the woman, who was not identified, explained the drawing. "Muslims are shocked by this new Danish insult," the Muslim Brotherhood said in a statement issued Saturday. It described the drawing as "the ugliest for God's most honorable human being, peace be upon him." Kenneth Christensen, chairman of the Danish People's Party Youth — known for its anti-immigration stance — refused to apologize Friday for the actions of its members, but acknowledged they were problematic. "It is bad style because it overshadows our political line," Christensen said. But he added that he believed it was "OK to poke fun at Muhammad, Jesus or Bill Clinton."
There is a difference between poking fun at a politician and a significant religious figure.
The Brotherhood, which enjoys wide popularity in Egypt and across the Arab World, urged Muslims on Saturday to boycott products from Denmark and any other country that would allow such an "insult."
At least they are recommending boycotts, and not killing people or burning embassies, but that may come later.

Read More...

The Most Trusted Name in News

Jamison Foser whined on Media Matters Ten years ago tomorrow, Fox News slithered onto the scene, beginning its assault on logic and reason and fact and decency

In other words being Fair and Balanced, and allowing the Conservative side to have equal treatment, something liberals hate.
and, basically, all that is great about America. A maniacal scheme hatched by real-life Bond villain Rupert Murdoch and his Number Two, former Republican strategist Roger Ailes, Fox News' impact on the nation's media cannot be overstated; nor can the effect it has had on our political discourse.
When people know both sides of an issue, they often choose the Conservative side, and liberals hate that. The only way they can win, is if no one knows there are alternatives.

Read More...

Brave heroes hounded out

The Sun reported Muslim yobs who wrecked a house to stop four brave soldiers moving in after returning from Afghanistan sparked outrage last night.

The Muslims were certainly brave. Vandelizing a house rather than going over to Afganistan and facing the soldiers on the battlefield.
The house in a village near riot-torn Windsor had bricks thrown through windows and was daubed with messages of hate. Four young Household Cavalry officers who had planned to rent it were also the target of phone threats. They were yesterday forced to look elsewhere to live — after top brass warned them against inflaming racial violence near the Queen’s Windsor Castle home.
Perhaps they need more police protection, both for the Queen's Windsor Castle home and for the decent people, including soldiers, that live in the neighborhood.
... Colleagues of the officers branded the vandalism a “disgrace”. A source at the regiment said: “These guys have done nothing but bravely serve their country — yet they can’t even live where they want in their own country.” The £3,000-a-month detached home in picturesque Datchet, Berks, is less than a mile from Windsor Castle. It was attacked as extra police were drafted into Windsor — where battles have raged for days between Asian and white gangs.

Read More...

Brave heroes hounded out

The Sun reported Muslim yobs who wrecked a house to stop four brave soldiers moving in after returning from Afghanistan sparked outrage last night.

The Muslims were certainly brave. Vandelizing a house rather than going over to Afganistan and facing the soldiers on the battlefield.
The house in a village near riot-torn Windsor had bricks thrown through windows and was daubed with messages of hate. Four young Household Cavalry officers who had planned to rent it were also the target of phone threats. They were yesterday forced to look elsewhere to live — after top brass warned them against inflaming racial violence near the Queen’s Windsor Castle home.
Perhaps they need more police protection, both for the Queen's Windsor Castle home and for the decent people, including soldiers, that live in the neighborhood.
... Colleagues of the officers branded the vandalism a “disgrace”. A source at the regiment said: “These guys have done nothing but bravely serve their country — yet they can’t even live where they want in their own country.” The £3,000-a-month detached home in picturesque Datchet, Berks, is less than a mile from Windsor Castle. It was attacked as extra police were drafted into Windsor — where battles have raged for days between Asian and white gangs.

Read More...

Gallery scraps art, fearing Muslim rage

Reuters reported A London gallery has decided not to show some works of art because it fears they would upset Muslims, a curator said on Friday,

Do they also avoid showing art that might offend Christians or Jews, or is it that they don't fear we would chop their heads off for showing it.
a week after a German opera house canned a Mozart production for the same reason. The director of the Whitechapel Art Gallery decided to remove works by surrealist artist Hans Bellmer from an exhibition the day before it was due to open, one of the museum's curators, Agnes de la Beaumelle, told Reuters. "The motive was simply to not shock the population of the Whitechapel neighbourhood, which is partly Muslim," she said.
How many Christians are in the area, and do you also make an effort to avoid shocking them?
The Whitechapel area in east London is home to many ethnic minorities including a large Bangladeshi community.

Read More...

Friday, October 06, 2006

Shoot Me First

ABC News reported The oldest of the five Amish girls shot dead in a Pennsylvania schoolhouse is said to have stepped forward and asked her killer to "Shoot me first," in an apparent effort to buy time for her schoolmates.

Why did ABC News feel it necessary to add that. Is it so surprising to ABC News that the girls might have known where they were going, and that this was their way of saying they did not fear to go.
Rita Rhoads, a midwife who delivered two of the victims, told ABC News' Law and Justice Unit that she learned of 13-year-old Marian Fisher's plea from Fisher's family. What's more, Fisher's 11-year-old sister, Barbie, who survived the shooting, allegedly asked the gunman, Charles Carl Roberts IV, to "Shoot me second," Rhoads said.... Rhoads said that before killing himself, Roberts uttered three words — "Pray for me."
The girls knew where they were going, and they did not fear to go. Roberts (the gunman) knew where he was going also. None the less, if you had been in their position, would your faith have been strong enough to make a similar request.
Julie D blogged What more Christian love could we ever see than those young girls offering themselves in an attempt to save their classmates?.... Those two girls were superbly equipped to live Christ's truth in every way. I pray that my own children are as well equipped for the trials they encounter in their lives. I pray that I am.

Anchoress blogged The Amish Community has invited the killer’s wife to the funerals of its daughters. Talk about grace? This story is huge and holy, and it is being missed by too many.

Gina Cobb blogged A story of genuine heroism -- an Amish schoolgirl who faced an unjust death with a kind of courage rarely seen this side of heaven -- is being lost among the hyperpoliticized charges involving ex-Congressman Mark Foley.

Genevieve Kineke blogged A man who claimed to be an atheist obsessed with impure thoughts prepares to avenge himself on God and girls -- and is bowled over by purity and piety. Children unsullied by the world (though certainly sinners like all of us) are grounded in faith and the meaning of their existence. When evil crosses their doorstep out of the blue, they respond with heroic virtue. The assailant -- intending the worst -- foregoes much of his plan, and dies asking for their prayers to a God, Whom he stoutly rejected before meeting them. We ask for miracles, and this is what we're handed.

Read More...

In Border Fence's Path, Congressional Roadblocks

WaPo reported No sooner did Congress authorize construction of a 700-mile fence on the U.S.-Mexico border last week than lawmakers rushed to approve separate legislation that ensures it will never be built, at least not as advertised, according to Republican lawmakers and immigration experts.

They better build it, if they ever hope to be reelected.
GOP leaders have singled out the fence as one of the primary accomplishments of the recently completed session. Many lawmakers plan to highlight their $1.2 billion down payment on its construction as they campaign in the weeks before the midterm elections. But shortly before recessing late Friday, the House and Senate gave the Bush administration leeway to distribute the money to a combination of projects -- not just the physical barrier along the southern border. The funds may also be spent on roads, technology and "tactical infrastructure" to support the Department of Homeland Security's preferred option of a "virtual fence."
Build 700 milex and then virtual fence the other 1300 miles.
What's more, in a late-night concession to win over wavering Republicans, GOP congressional leaders pledged in writing that Native American tribes, members of Congress, governors and local leaders would get a say in "the exact placement" of any structure, and that Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff would have the flexibility to use alternatives "when fencing is ineffective or impractical."

The loopholes leave the Bush administration with authority to decide where, when and how long a fence will be built, except for small stretches east of San Diego and in western Arizona. Homeland Security officials have proposed a fence half as long, lawmakers said.

Read More...

Banned on YouTube 2

This is Michelle's second video about being Banned on You Tube. I thought they were blocking even posting her other videos, but it turns out they were just busy, and they appeared today.

Read More...

Thursday, October 05, 2006

YouTube Goes Dhimmi

Thanks to Michelle Malkin for this video. YouTube is apparently allowing videos prepared by the Islamofascists, but it is banning videos that criticize what the Jihadists are doing

Read More...

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Al-Qaida's Narrative of Doubt

StrategyPage.com reported Several declassified al-Qaida documents -- one discovered after the June 2006 air strike that killed al-Qaida's Iraqi emir, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi -- strongly suggest al-Qaida's leaders fear they are losing the War on Terror.

Of course they are losing. Good always defeats evil, in the end, but we must be eternally vigilent.

Read More...

I agree with Greta

Greta Perry expresses her feelings about the Amish killings. Hooah Wife and friends blogged As I am sure you have been disturbed by this recent news story, it truly has bothered me so much words can’t describe. As I watched my daughter go into the school yesterday, waving, I felt a sense of unease. She has a fabulous, and what I would consider, very safe school. But, so did the Amish children, they didn’t have a chance at all. It is more disturbing than any of the other school killings because the Amish are a gentle people. The killer knew they would not have weapons or fight back as they would not be sure how to deal with a situation of this caliber. He calculated the odds of fulfilling his dream. It gives you a sense of the unbalance in the world and the need to put every pedophile away for good on a deserted island.

They might get off the desert island. How about dropping them into the center of an active volcano.
feel terribly for his wife and small children as well - just awful.
I bet they are looking to change their name.
As we are tragedy junkies in this world, there is some other sicko right now plotting something similar. And persoanlly that scares the hell out of me. The world is imperfect, no question about it. All we can do is enjoy our lives and know we have a limited time on this earth. Forgive? In this case, the Amish are much more capable of handling this than the average person - and thank G-d for that!
Amen

Read More...

Now You Can Have Google Gadgets on Your Webpage

Google Press Center announced Google Gadgets for your webpage can help make a site dynamic and rich with content. Google Gadgets, which have long been available for users to add to the Google homepage and Google Desktop, are now available for webpage owners to add to their own webpages.

Google Gadgets are miniature-sized objects that offer cool and dynamic content that can be placed on any page on the web. A directory of "Google Gadgets for your webpage" is now available for webpage owners everywhere to browse and select gadgets for their own pages, here


Examples:
I had Date and Time and Map on here, and initially they displayed what they were supposed to, but after a while that disappeared and they were just ads, so I am deleting them. So far these two seem to remain what they are supposed to be.

I left IP Address Lookup and NASA Image of the Day because they seemed to stay, but when I reposted this they turned into ads too, so I am scrapping them.

If you put these gadgets on your website I urge you to check up on whether they work, and for how long. I am disappointed.

Read More...

Prophet not perfect, says Islamic scholar

Australian reported A leading adviser on Islam, Ameer Ali, has attacked Muslims who "blindly" follow their faith and fail to question the veracity of the Koran, saying that even Mohammed had "flaws". The chairman of John Howard's Muslim advisory board yesterday warned that Islamists would continue to breed jihadis unless the Koran was "reinterpreted" for today's society.

We certainly don't need a Middle Ages interpretation for a 21st century world.
He also said mosques were increasingly being used by imams to deliver sermons that were not open to discussion.
Any imam that believes that he knows the whole truth, and that no one can question him, knows nothing.
Dr Ali said the majority of Muslim clerics had for centuries imposed a "literalist" teaching of Islam, telling their followers that deviating from the written message would ultimately lead to their admission into hell.
These are the clerics that authorize killing of fellow Muslims that do not believe as they do, even though Surat an-Nisa,093 (Quran 4.93) says "If a man kills a believer intentionally, his recompense is Hell, to abide therein (For ever): And the wrath and the curse of Allah are upon him, and a dreadful penalty is prepared for him." And what is a Muslim? It can't be someone who follows what Mohammad said, because they think Abraham was a Muslim, and he lived long before Jesus did, and Jesus lived long before Mohammad did. Surat al-Baqara, 136 (Qur'an 2:136) says Say ye: "We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) prophets from their Lord: We make no difference between one and another of them. Therefore being a Muslim must mean belief in God, and that would be the God of Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, Moses and Jesus. Therefore Quran 4.93 must be saying that anyone killing a devout Christian, Jew, or Muslim will go to Hell. I wonder if that also means the cleric that urges them to kill also has a special place in Hell reserved for him. I bet it does.
"The times are changing and with the change of times, you also have to reinterpret the Koran," he told The Australian.... "The jihadists are interpreting the Koran literally and that's the problem ... Popular Muslims, because of their lack of knowledge about religion, are vulnerable to these sort of teachings.".... Dr Ali said it was "ridiculous" that some Muslims believed God would judge them on the "length of (their) beard". He said Muslims would be judged on their "character, their knowledge, their contribution to society". He said young Muslim Australians were slowly becoming more inquisitive about their faith. "Therefore they are going to ask questions when they grow up and that's a healthy trend," he said.

Robert Spencer blogged I do think a retreat from literalism is the only hope for the creation of any genuinely and lastingly moderate Islam. Some commentators point to the fact that for centuries -- notably, although not universally, in central Asia, Eastern Europe, and West Africa, jihad supremacism largely lay dormant and even dropped out of the Muslim consciousness. But simply to point out that that happened is not enough anymore, precisely because Wahhabi and Iranian Shi'ite recruiters are going into those countries and using chapter and verse of Qur'an and Sunnah to teach their Islam to these cultural Muslims. So for those cultural Muslims, and for any true moderates, it's no longer possible simply to ignore those jihad verses. They have to be explicitly rejected, and a non-literalist Islam constructed.

But also because of the mainstream character of literalism within Islam, this will be very, very difficult. Watch and see, for example, what kind of reception Ameer Ali's words get.

Read More...

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

The Brief Dutch Sharia Eruption

Politics Central reported How political expediency has replaced political correctness in the Netherlands Pieter Dorsman reports on the issue of Sharia law replacing the constitution in the Netherlands: “If a situation could arise where a majority could agree to shred a constitution in favor of religious law – and one from the Middle Ages at that - than doesn’t a democracy have an obligation to devise mechanism whereby such choices could be neutralized?”

An interesting question, and one that all European countries should consider.

Read More...

Muslim Smoking Ban

New York Sun Spanish villages are abandoning the centuries-old tradition of burning effigies of the Prophet Muhammad for fear of offending Muslims.

Has the Koran been changed recently, or is it just that some Muslim Clerics have decided that they need to stir up their people, who they are opressing, with anger against the west, to keep them from turning on their own leaders?
The annual festivals, across Catalonia, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands, feature locals donning medieval costumes to re-enact battles between "Moors and Christians" during the Reconquista period. The fiestas celebrate events in 1492, when the Catholic kings of northern Spain defeated and expelled Islamic forces, ending more than 800 years of Moorish rule in the Iberian Peninsula.
More than 500 years to celebrate freedom from 800 years of oppression.
Traditionally the festivities have culminated with the burning of mannequins of the Mahoma, a figure based on the Prophet Muhammad, to represent the final defeat of Islam in the region. But, according to reports, local authorities have toned down the rituals to preserve Islamic sensibilities and avoid a repeat of the furor that followed last year's publication of Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad.
Need to preserve those Islamic sensibilities

Read More...

Congratulations Captain

Captain's Quarters is celebrating his blogaversary Three years. 8,156 posts. Over 109,000 comments and 16,000 trackbacks. 23 million visits. And the best blog community in the 'sphere.

Congratulations Captain. Also congratulations to Sister Toldja for her third Blogaversary, and to The Anchoress for her 2 millionth visitor.

Read More...

Disciplinary Action for Reading Bible During Lunch Time

The Rutherford Institute reported Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed a civil rights lawsuit in defense of the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of a seventh grader who was ordered by Maryland middle school officials to stop reading her Bible during free time at school or face disciplinary action.

On September 14, 2006, seventh-grader Amber Mangum was approached by the Vice Principal at Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School in Prince George’s County, Md., while reading a Bible in the school cafeteria during her lunch period.

I bet if she was reading the Koran the Vice Principal would not have said anything.
In keeping with school policy, students are allowed to read books or engage in interpersonal communications during non-instructional time at school, including lunch periods. Furthermore, published administrative procedure of the Prince George’s County Public Schools provides that “[s]tudents may read their Bibles or other scriptures, say grace before meals, and pray before tests to the same extent they may engage in comparable, non-disruptive activities.”
And that is the way it should be. But then why did this stupid Vice Principal do what he did?
However, as noted in the complaint filed by Rutherford Institute attorneys, the vice principal informed Amber that reading a Bible was a violation of the school’s policy and warned her that she would be subject to more severe disciplinary action if she were found reading a Bible at school again. In defending Amber’s right to read a Bible during non-instructional time at school, Institute attorneys have pointed out that according to the U.S. Department of Education’s 2003 guidelines under the No Child Left Behind Act, students have the right to read Bibles or other religious scriptures during lunch hour, recess or other non-instructional times.

Rhymes with Right blogged In other words, not only did the administrator ignore the constitutional rights of Amber Mangum, this administrator also ignored written district policy. And when the family challenged that misconduct, the school's principal decided to send the complaint down the memory hole and ignore it.

No one is asking for special rights here. All that is being sought is equal rights. And if students may read the book of their choice during non-instructional time, the religious content of their choice cannot legitimately be used to thwart their choice of literature.

Read More...

Disciplinary Action for Reading Bible During Lunch Time

The Rutherford Institute reported Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed a civil rights lawsuit in defense of the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of a seventh grader who was ordered by Maryland middle school officials to stop reading her Bible during free time at school or face disciplinary action.

On September 14, 2006, seventh-grader Amber Mangum was approached by the Vice Principal at Dwight D. Eisenhower Middle School in Prince George’s County, Md., while reading a Bible in the school cafeteria during her lunch period.

I bet if she was reading the Koran the Vice Principal would not have said anything.
In keeping with school policy, students are allowed to read books or engage in interpersonal communications during non-instructional time at school, including lunch periods. Furthermore, published administrative procedure of the Prince George’s County Public Schools provides that “[s]tudents may read their Bibles or other scriptures, say grace before meals, and pray before tests to the same extent they may engage in comparable, non-disruptive activities.”
And that is the way it should be. But then why did this stupid Vice Principal do what he did?
However, as noted in the complaint filed by Rutherford Institute attorneys, the vice principal informed Amber that reading a Bible was a violation of the school’s policy and warned her that she would be subject to more severe disciplinary action if she were found reading a Bible at school again. In defending Amber’s right to read a Bible during non-instructional time at school, Institute attorneys have pointed out that according to the U.S. Department of Education’s 2003 guidelines under the No Child Left Behind Act, students have the right to read Bibles or other religious scriptures during lunch hour, recess or other non-instructional times.

Rhymes with Right blogged In other words, not only did the administrator ignore the constitutional rights of Amber Mangum, this administrator also ignored written district policy. And when the family challenged that misconduct, the school's principal decided to send teh complaint down the memory hole and ignore it.

No one is asking for special rights here. All that is being sought is equal rights. And if students may read the book of their choice during non-instructional time, the religious content of their choice cannot legitimately be used to thwart their choice of literature.

Read More...

Some perspective on Hastert's actions

Betsy' Newmark blogged I'm not with those people, like the editors of the Washington Times, who are calling for Hastert's scalp for not having done more when informed that Mark Foley was writing overly friendly emails to one page. I'm with the comments that the Wall Street Journal makes today.

And I agree with Betsy
The emails were inappropriate, but the IM conversations were the really toxic stuff.
And I have not heard any indication that anyone knew about the IM conversations before very reently. And when the Republican leadership did learn about them, they did not rally around Foley saying "it is just about sex", they sent him packing.
The emails didn't rate an Ethics Committee investigation. In the rearview mirror it is clear that the GOP should have notified the Democratic members involved with the page program. But, remember that several newspapers and the FBI knew about the emails in July and didn't do anything or consider that this was evidence of predatory behavior. The parents didn't want any of this to go further. The Democrats and other critics want to conflate the two sets of messages, but that is dishonest.

Read More...

Europeans Have Stopped Defending Their Values

Spiegel Online reported For years, political scientist Bassam Tibi has been urging Muslims to integrate into European societies and Europe to stand up to Islamists. He spoke with SPIEGEL about the weakness of Europe, the orthodoxy of Islam and what Germany needs to do to open up..... Tibi: It's not the first sign, but rather a repeated one. Recently we have been seeing more and more acts of submission, the most recent case being the Pope's apology. When it comes to Islam, there is no freedom of the press nor freedom of opinion in Germany. Organized groups in Islamic communities want to decide what is said and done here. I myself have been dropped from numerous events because of threats. SPIEGEL: You are trying to say that critics of Islam are systematically silenced in Germany? Tibi: Yes. Even the comparatively moderate Turkish organization DITIB says there are no Islamists, only Islam and Muslims -- anything else is racism.

If you allow them to define what is racism you have lost. Here in the US if a white person says something bad about a black person, he runs the risk of being called a racist. But it is apparently ok for a black person to say something bad about a white person, and not run the similar risk. Racism is when you make judgements based on race. There are white racists, but there are also black racists.
That means that you can no longer criticize the religion.
It must be nice not to have one's religiion criticized. But violence is not the answer. I am upset everytime the secular progressives criticize Christianity, but I know that Christ is not harmed by what they say. It is amazing to me that Muslims feel that their Prophet is harmed by some stupid cartoon.
Accusing somebody of racism is a very effective weapon in Germany. Islamists know this: As soon as you accuse someone of demonizing Islam, then the European side backs down. I have also been accused of such nonsense, even though my family can trace its roots right back to Muhammad and I myself know the Koran by heart.... SPIEGEL: Many Germans believe that communities should live together peacefully without any parallel societies. Is it therefore right to compromise in order to avoid antagonizing Muslims unnecessarily? Tibi: Quite the opposite. The Islamic officials who live here are very intelligent and view this as weakness.
And when violence, or even the threat of violence can cause people to show weakness, that just means you will get more violence.
Muslims stand by their religion entirely. It is a sort of religious absolutism. While Europeans have stopped defending the values of their civilization. They confuse tolerance with relativism.
They have also embraced too much secularism, and have lost site of their own religion.
SPIEGEL: When something insults Muslims, we often tend to just back off -- doesn't this help defuse the conflict? Tibi: No. That is simply giving up. And the weaker the partner is viewed by the Muslims, then the greater the anger which they express. And this anger is often carefully staged. The argument over the cartoons for example was completely orchestrated. Nothing was spontaneous. A lot of people don't know if Denmark is a country or a cheese. Where did they get the Danish flags? Protests like these are weapons in this war of ideas.... Tibi: No, because the biggest taboo is that there even is a conflict at all. Everyone denies that. Instead people talk about misunderstandings and how these should be resolved. But a conflict of values is not a misunderstanding. Islamic orthodoxy and the German constitution are not compatible. And that is why the Islam conference failed. SPIEGEL: So what's the answer then? Tibi: Muslims have to give up three things if they want to become Europeans: They have to bid farewell to the idea of converting others,
They can try to convert others through logic and persuasion; just converting others by force should be abandoned.
and renounce the Jihad. The Jihad is not just a way of testing yourself but also means using violence to spread Islam. The third thing they need to give up is the Shariah, which is the Islamic legal system. This is incompatible with the German constitution. There are also two things they need to redefine. SPIEGEL: Which are? Tibi: Pluralism and tolerance are pillars of modern society. That has to be accepted. But pluralism doesn't just mean diversity. It means that we share the same rules and values, and are still nevertheless different. Islam doesn't have this idea. And Islam also has no tradition of tolerance. In Islam tolerance means that Christians and Jews are allowed to live under the protection of Muslims but never as citizens with the same rights. What Muslims call tolerance is nothing other than discrimination. SPIEGEL: How many of the 3 million Muslims living in Germany would agree to these demands? Tibi: A few thousand perhaps
Ship the rest home, and let them live under Sharia law there.
..... Tibi: It would be much more important to have enlightened Imams. But when the Alfred Herrhausen society wanted to invite a German-speaking Imam with European ideas to a discussion, no one could be found. In the end they took the Grand Mufti of Marseille. And why are there such people in France and not here? Because the French state and French society has worked on developing them.
The French have problems of their own getting Muslims to embrace French Society.
SPIEGEL: So the German state should reform Islam? Tibi: Of course not. But the French state helped set up a council of Muslims which was completely in line with European values. If the French state had not been involved, the council would have probably been in the hands of the Muslim Brotherhood. This is a challenge facing civil society, but the state also has to help. By staying neutral, as is the case here in Germany, you are handing victory over to the Islamists.... SPIEGEL: You have often said that the integration of Muslims in Germany has failed. And that integration can only be achieved by "educating a civil society." But who should do this and who decides who needs to be educated? Tibi: I am thinking in particular about the re-education programs which were carried out in Germany after the Third Reich. Social studies teachers and political science faculties were given the task of turning young people into democrats. That worked then. Why shouldn't we have a similar model for Muslims?
Sounds like a good idea. Try it!!!!!
In youth clubs, or during Islamic instruction in schools. Of course it takes a long time, 50 years say, but we have to start.

Read More...

Monday, October 02, 2006

It's just about sex

TPMmuckraker reported In a letter to House Ethics Committee Chair Doc Hastings (R-WA) today, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi wrote "to insist that the Ethics Committee act as directed and immediately form the investigative Subcommittee and begin work on the preliminary report in 10 days.

Nancy you are a bit late. Foley is no longer in the House. When a Democratic President forces an intern to have oral sex in the Oval Oral Office Dems say it is just about sex, why make a big deal about it. When it is a Republican, and when it is just dirty emails, we show them the door. It is true that the pages are just 15 or 16, but if it was a female, Dems would help her get an abortion without even telling her parents.

Read More...

Muslim accosts injured Para in hospital

Telegraph reported A paratrooper wounded in Afghanistan was threatened by a Muslim visitor to the British hospital where he is recovering. Seriously wounded soldiers have complained that they are worried about their safety after being left on wards that are open to the public at Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham.

They should be protected.
On one occasion a member of the Parachute Regiment, still dressed in his combat uniform after being evacuated from Afghanistan, was accosted by a Muslim over the British involvement in the country. "You have been killing my Muslim brothers in Afghanistan," the man said during a tirade. Because the soldier was badly injured and could not defend himself, he was very worried for his safety, sources told The Daily Telegraph.
He should be worried. They only attack the weak, who can't fight back. They are cowards.
A relative of the Para said the man had twice walked on to the ward where two other soldiers and four civilians were being treated without once being challenged by staff.

Read More...

Winning: The Joke's on Osama

Strategy Page reported Al Qaeda in particular, and Islamic terrorist groups in general, are desperate for a major success. Islamic terrorists remember the 19 90s fondly as a time when they were kicking ass big time, or at least more effectively than they have since September 11, 2001.

That is the problem with kicking a sleeping giant. You can have fun, and think yourself very brave, but you need to be careful not to wake the giant up.
How soon we forget. In 1993, al Qaeda bombed the World Trade Center in New York City, and had agents assisting warlords in their fight to drive American troops out of Somali. In 1994, an elaborate plan to blow up eleven U.S. airliners over the Pacific was about to get underway, when Filipino police got wind of it. The planner of that operation, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, got another chance and was largely responsible for putting together the September 11, 2001 attacks. In 1995 and 1996, bombs were set off outside U.S. military facilities, killing two dozen Americans and wounding many more. In 1997, al Qaeda scored a major victory that did not involve an explosion, it established a number of training camps in Afghanistan, and began training thousands of terrorist recruits each year. In 1998, there were simultaneous bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, killing 224. In 1999, there was another spectacular failure, as U.S. border agents unmasked a plot to set of several bombs during New Years eve celebrations. In 2000, an al Qaeda suicide boat damaged, and almost sank, an American destroyer in a Yemen harbor. That attack killed 17 sailors, and was later found to be the second attempt against a U.S. warship that year.
But all of that was done under Clinton, whose idea of war was bombing Bosnia from the air, or shooting cruise missles into tents in Afganistan, or aspirin plants, and who did not have the slightest idea how to use his military. Besides he was busy with Monica.
Then, on September 11, 2001, al Qaeda had its greatest success. But that also prompted the United States to go to war with al Qaeda (and Islamic terrorism in general), rather than continue to treat it as a police matter. As a result, Afghanistan was gone as a base within a few months. Since then, there were no more attacks in the United States, and only two in Europe.
They went for the easier targets, where they could kill a lot of people, and feel very powerful, but where they did not fear the local military.
In 2003, the U.S. invaded Iraq, causing many Islamic terrorists to hustle back to the Middle East, to "defend the homeland." There they died in the thousands. But worse than that, the terrorist tactics they continued to use was now killing thousands of Moslem men, women and children. The negative publicity caused Islamic terrorism to sink in the opinion polls. This was very bad news. The terrorists depend on public approval, in the Islamic world, for new recruits, protection (from local police) and financial support. The dead Iraqis were killing al Qaeda.

By 2006, Iraqis were turning on al Qaeda, informing on al Qaeda leaders, and any operatives that did not hide carefully from the people they believed they were fighting for. Westerners, unless they observe Arab media closely, and have contacts inside the Arab world, will not have noted this sharp drop in al Qaedas fortunes. It's in the Western media's interest (financial and political) to pump up al Qaedas current standing. But the reality is that al Qaeda is desperate for a big score. The terrorist chatter this year, on several occasions, has indicated that another major attack was imminent. The intelligence agencies did not release any data on what, if any, major attacks were thwarted. But that's normal, because sometimes attacks are called off, not because the intel agencies have intervened, but because the terrorists decided that things were not quite right. In situations like that, the CIA, FBI or whatever, doesn't want to let the bad guys know how close they are.

The chatter is on again. This time there is talk of an al Qaeda video featuring the long unseen Osama bin Laden. The recent reports of his death began as rumors in Arab countries about bin Laden passing away in some inglorious and painful fashion (Typhoid was mentioned.) Actually, many of the "death reports" were actually jokes. Al Qaeda's fortunes have sunk so low in the Moslem world that he is being mocked, via jokes about his demise. While the Western media may not be picking up on this, al Qaeda certainly is, and is eager to do something about it. The chatter also indicates that the new video release may be followed by the long rumored, and oft delayed, "major attack." Either al Qaeda delivers this time, or the organization continues to fade from the Moslem memory.

Read More...

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Saudis build 550-mile fence to shut out Iraq

Telegraph reported Security in Iraq has collapsed so dramatically that Saudi Arabia has ordered the construction of a 550-mile high-tech fence to seal off its troubled northern neighbour.

The huge project to build the barrier, which will be equipped with ultraviolet night-vision cameras, buried sensor cables and thousands of miles of barbed wire, will snake across the vast and remote desert frontier between the countries.

This is good news. It will help keep insurgents FROM Saudia Arabia from joining the fight. Maybe if we tell them trouble could comd from Syria, they would build a fence between Syria and Iraq as well.
The fence will be built despite the hundreds of millions of pounds that the Saudi kingdom has spent in the past two years to beef up patrols on its border with Iraq, with officials saying the crisis in Iraq is now so dangerous it must be physically shut out.

Read More...