Meltdown over Fox

Las Vegas Review-Journal editorialized Hard-core liberals can't stand the Fox News Channel. Passing a television that's tuned to the conservative favorite forces many of them to close their eyes, cover their ears and scream, "La la la la la la la la la!" Then they dash to their computers and fire off 2,500 e-mails condemning the outlet, none of which are ever read.

ROF, LMAO

But liberals' aversion to Fox News has finally gone over the top. The Nevada Democratic Party had agreed to let the right-tilting network co-sponsor, of all things, an August debate in Reno between Democratic presidential candidates. Party officials were serious about drawing national attention to the state's January presidential caucus, the country's second in the 2008 nominating process. What better way for the party to reach conservative and "values" voters who might consider changing allegiances? But the socialist, Web-addicted wing of the Democratic Party was apoplectic. The prospect of having to watch Fox News to see their own candidates would have been torture in itself. So they set the blogosphere aflame with efforts to kill the broadcast arrangement, or at least have all the candidates pull out of the event..... The approach of outfits such as MoveOn.org is so juvenile it's laughable. Imagine if every political organization created litmus tests for news organizations before agreeing to appear on their programming. Republicans would have boycotted PBS, CBS, NBC, ABC, National Public Radio and The Associated Press decades ago.

This hyperventilation results from the fact that far-left Democrats have no comparable media outlet,

Other than PBS, CBS, NBC, ABC, NPR, AP, and Reuters

nor any widespread national appeal, for their radical views in favor of heavy-handed regulation, wealth redistribution, diplomatic capitulation and economic protectionism. So they attack their rivals' messenger with a reckless barrage of rhetoric that cuts down their own allies with friendly fire. By Friday, the Nevada Democratic Party caved in to the lunatic fringe and began seeking a more appropriate" television partner. Comedy Central, perhaps?

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Behead Those Who Insult Islam

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Yahoo! News Photo

Filipino Muslims display a banner, which reads 'Behead Those Who Insult Islam,' and t-shirts with a wanted sign during a rally Wednesday March 7, 2007, at a downtown Manila square, to protest recent televised preaching by a Christian sect leader Eli Soriano, who alleges that Muslims are killers.

And how better to prove that he is right by threatening to behead anyone that insults Islam.

More than 1,000 Muslims took part in the rally and demanded Soriano, who is currently in hiding, be extradited back to the Philippines so he can face charges being brought against him.

Is it against the law in the Philippines to tell the truth?

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A blast from the past

Jagan Kaul wrote in The Kashmir telegraph Siraj Wahaj, a U.S. black convert to Islam declared in the recent past that "if only Muslims were clever politically, they could take over the United States and replace its constitutional govt. with a caliphate. If we were united and strong, he said, we would elect our own emir and give allegiance to him. Take my word if 8 million Muslims unite in America, the country will come to us."

This was writte nin 2002, but I just discovered in, following a link from Robert Spencer

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The wall is chasing me!

Click to view

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Quote of the day

Samizdata blogged Buying 'Carbon Offsets' is the 21st-century equivalent of buying Papal Indulgences - a salve to the consciences of the deluded for having committed an entirely fictitious sin dreamed up - rather conveniently - by the indulgence-peddlers themselves. A 'Sin of Emission', one could say...

ROF, LMAO

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Edwards: Jesus would be 'appalled'

Yahoo! News reported Edwards, in an interview with the Web site Beliefnet.com, said Jesus would be most upset with the selfishness of Americans and the country's willingness to go to war "when it's not necessary."

Would he have been upset at your voting to go to war?

If George Bush was to say that he thought Jesus would have approved of freeing the Iraqi people from oppression, the left would say he was trying to set up a theoacracy. How should we judge Edwards statements? Just pandering, because he was talking to Beliefnet.com?

"I think that Jesus would be disappointed in our ignoring the plight of those around us who are suffering and our focus on our own selfish short-term needs," Edwards told the site. "I think he would be appalled, actually."

Then rather than spending your money on the largest house in the county, why are you not doing more to help the poor.

Edwards also said he was against teacher-led prayers in public schools, but he added that "allowing time for children to pray for themselves, to themselves, I think is not only OK, I think it's a good thing."

Private prayer has not been removed from the public schools. Many children pray at test time. But why not allow a teacher to be involved?

In the interview, the former North Carolina senator discussed how he lost touch with his day-to-day faith during college, but that it "came roaring back" after the death of his 16-year-old son, Wade, in 1996. Edwards has often cited religion as a part of his politics, frequently linking his efforts to fight poverty as a matter of morality.

If he is elected, will the left have a fear of a theocracy?

Edwards was interviewed by David Kuo, a conservative Christian who served as deputy director of President Bush's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives until 2003. Kuo wrote a book, "Tempting Faith, An Inside Story of Political Seduction," that said Bush aides privately called conservative Christians "nuts," "ridiculous" and "goofy."

I bet GWB never heard them calling them that.

Edwards told Kuo he stood by a decision to keep two bloggers on his staff despite their provocative writings criticizing the Catholic Church. Edwards said he also found the writing offensive, but "decided to forgive them and stand by them, knowing there would be potential political consequences for that."

Is that it, or were you afraid of retaliation by the left nutroots?

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States may force megaprimary, winnow the 2008 field early

The Boston Globe reported States with more than half the nation's population are zeroing in on Feb. 5 next year to stage their presidential primaries, creating a single day that could determine the major party nominees at a historically early point in the process. At least 19 states have moved or are considering moving their primaries to the first Tuesday in February -- contests that would follow earlier ones in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina.

A better solution is to divide the 48 states (other than Iowa and New Hampshire) into four different groups, and alternate which group of four have their primaries a month after Iowa and New Hampshire.

If only the 10 largest of the 19 states move their primaries to Feb. 5, more than half the American population will have a chance to go to the polls on the same day, creating a one-day election that would become the prime focus of the campaign.

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China top generator of greenhouse gases

SFGate.com reported Far more than previously acknowledged, the battle against global warming will be won or lost in China, even more so than in the West, new data show. A report released last week by Beijing authorities indicated that as its economy continues to expand at a red-hot pace, China is highly likely to overtake the United States this year or in 2008 as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases.

This is exactly why, even if there was a major problem, Kyoto, which exempts China and India, is not the answer.

This information, along with data from the International Energy Agency, the Paris-based alliance of oil importing nations, also revealed that China's greenhouse gas emissions have recently been growing by a total amount much greater than that of all industrialized nations put together.

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Wafa Sultan Accepts Award at Secular Islam Summit

Wafa Sultan, a Syrian-American psychiatrist whose essays on Middle East issues are widely circulated in the Arabic press, accepts the International Humanist Award from "Free Inquiry" magazine for her courageous work. The award ceremony took place at the Secular Islam Summit in Florida on March 4, 2007.

Here is something she wrote

The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of religions, or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites, between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between human rights, on the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on other hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who treat them like human beings. What we see today is not a clash of civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete.

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Liveblogging the Secular Islam Summit

Ragnar Danneskjold on The Jawa Report blogged Hamid recounted the type of indoctrination delivered to young jihadists, including the jihadist slogan "thinking is for infidels." He lamented the lack of a theologically-based "peaceful Islam," and advocated the need for one.

I second the motion.

Kazimi expressed a certain level of doubt that there will be an impetus for reform in Islam while the jihadists are ascendant and the West is in retreat. He noted the coming "demographic disaster" in many areas in the Middle East, where 60% of the population is under 20.

He is right, and that is why we need to turn things around and go after them with full force.

Chesler agreed with one questioner that the jihadis would need to experience both military and intellectual defeat before they could be considered defeated, but was convinced that the West has not yet developed the will to vigorously engage in either battle.

Europe, particularly, needs to listen to that.

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"Secular Islam Summit" to convene

Kuwait News Agency reported The first ever "Secular Islam Summit," to be convened in St. Petersburg, Florida, on March 4-5, will bring together hundreds of thinkers and activists worldwide to counter the voices of reactionary Islam which have been speaking on behalf of all Muslims, the organizers of the event said late Monday.

It's about time. Good Luck

About 500 people from all over the world are expected to attend, including speakers and government guests from Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Europe, Canada and the US. Iranian Banafsheh Zand, one of the organizers, told KUNA that people in Islamic countries were taken into the "dark ages by the politicization of Islam." "An age of reformation is upon us that needs desperately to be responded to by people who embrace not only the faith as a personal and private matter, but who also wish to see their countries and nations move forward in a progressive and prosperous way to catch up with the 21st century," she added.

She indicated that the Summit will become a "sanctuary for a lot of people who have been intimidated by the Jihad and radical Islamist forces, and to essentially create an atmosphere of embracing the ideas of enlightenment, of greater understanding of science, reason, secular ideas, such as separation of religion and state, and of embracing their own cultural and national heritage, their historical identities and the formation of a solidarity movement that will help the Middle East and South Asian countries to have a leap forward in societal growth." Another organizer Austin Dacey also told KUNA that the most important thing for participants is the hope that this Summit will be the "beginning of a coherent cross-culture movement for secularism in Islamic societies." "There are countless individuals who are standing up for critical reasoning and freedom of conscience and secular values, but until now there really hasn't been a global movement that brings them together as a force for change, " he argued.

He explained that the "forces of reactionary Islam have their own global networks, which are very well established and well funded. These secular Muslims hope to do the same." "We do think it is important that these alternative voices from the Muslim World are heard by policy makers and government officials in the US," he stressed.

The Summit is expected to adopt a declaration at the end of the two-day meeting demanding from governments, for instance, "the release of Islam from its captivity to the totalitarian ambitions of power-hungry men and the rigid strictures of orthodoxy." The Summit, organized and sponsored by the Centre for Inquiry, a global federation committed to science, reason, free inquiry and secularism, will be held in partnership with the International Intelligence Summit, a non-partisan and neutral forum that brings together members of the international intelligence community to discuss issues of terrorism.

The organizers said this will be an opportunity for this community to listen to and learn from each other and to share ideas in the common war against terrorism. Both Summits will be held simultaneously in the same hotel, in order to share costs, the organizers explained.

Gateway Pundit blogged Warraq started off talking about the Free Speech Manifesto that was signed last year in Jyllands-Posten by 12 intellectuals.

The 12 individuals who signed the Manifesto of Free Speach were soon threatened with death by radical Islamists.

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Ruined poppy farmers join ranks with the Taliban

TimesOnline The tractor roared through the field, the plough tearing through the valuable poppy crop as the farmer looked on. A helicopter searched for insurgents and armed police stood watch, their uniforms replaced by robes and turbans to make them less conspicuous.

If there are Taliban snipers, I wonder if they would be fooled by that.

“The people are unhappy with this eradication campaign; if it goes on they will all join the Taleban,”

Why. When the Taliban controlled Afganistan they punished the poppy farmers as well, because Islam does not approve of drugs.

Dilbar, a poppy farmer in Helmand province, told The Times

I wonder if he might have an ulterior motive in saying that.

.... Farmers take huge risks to grow poppy as the market price is 20 times that of wheat. But without aid they have little choice and when the crop is destroyed they are crippled by debt, often having borrowed heavily from landlords to plant the crop. Landlords make no concessions for eradicated crops and the farmers are still expected to pay off their loans.

The government should help the wheat farmers, and punish the poppy growers, not just destroy their crops.

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Islamic hard-liners chip away at Indonesia's secular traditions

International Herald Tribune reported Women are jailed for being on the street alone after dark in parts of Indonesia,

Is that against Indonesia law?

long held up as a beacon of moderate Islam. Gamblers are caned as punishment, Christian schoolchildren are forced to wear headscarves

Christian schoolchildren should not be required to follow Muslim dress codes, especially in Indonesia, whose state ideology Pancasila, which promotes multiculturalism and religious harmony.

and a proposed law would sentence thieves to amputation of the hands.

Though most people in the world's most populous Muslim nation practice a tolerant form of the faith, a small but determined group of conservatives are chipping away at the sprawling archipelago's secular traditions and trying to reshape it in the image of orthodox Middle Eastern countries.... On a federal level, hard-liners are pushing an anti-pornography bill that calls for prison terms of up to five years for kissing in public and one year for exposure of a woman's "sensual" body parts, though few expect it to pass in its present form.

I really would not call that pornography, and what is it about Muslims that they can't be expected to control themselves if they see someone kissing, and where a woman's "sensual" body parts includes just about everything except for their eyes. I happen to think a woman's eyes can be very appealing, because they provide insight to her soul. Should they be hidden too, and if so how will they get around?

"I call it creeping Sharia-ization of our society," said Syafi'i Anwar, executive director of the Jakarta-based International Center for Islam and Pluralism, noting that because Muslim groups have done poorly in national elections they are pushing their will through the "back door."

You better resist, or they are going to push complete Sharia law through that back door.

.... "Many people think it's not worthwhile to go against this small, determined group," said Martin van Bruinessen, a longtime Indonesia watcher and the head of the Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World. "They feel they are not directly affected by things taking place. When they discover they are, it may be too late."

Precisely.

Lilis Lindawati, a 36-year-old waitress, is among those who found out the hard way. She was waiting for a bus at 8 p.m. in Tangerang, a city on the outskirts of the Indonesian capital, when public order officers hauled her in because she was alone on the street after dark, was not wearing a headscarf and had a tube of lipstick in her purse. The judge, who heard Lindawati's case at a public trial in the town square last March, said that was enough to prove the mother of two was a prostitute. He sentenced her to three nights in prison.

That does not sound like enough proof to show she is a prostitute.

.... Yudhoyono is afraid of being smeared as anti-Islamic by political opponents and "believes it is better to say nothing," said former President Abdurrahman Wahid, known for his commitment to pluralistic, democratic values." Wahid — and many legal experts — say the Islamic-based laws are clearly illegal under Indonesia's constitution. "Our constitution stresses that government involvement in morality and religious sides of community life should be ceased," he said, adding that it also says "men and women should enjoy the same freedoms."

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