Saturday, September 15, 2007

Another Example of Universal Health Care

Daily Mail reported A man with a broken ankle is facing a lifetime of pain because a Health Service hospital has refused to treat him unless he gives up smoking.
If the Nanny State controls your health care, watch out.
John Nuttall, 57, needs surgery to set the ankle which he broke in three places two years ago because it did not mend naturally with a plaster cast. Doctors at the Royal Cornwall Hospital in Truro have refused to operate because they say his heavy smoking would reduce the chance of healing, and there is a risk of complications which could lead to amputation.
Tell him the risk and see if he still wants the surgery.
They have told him they will treat him only if he gives up smoking. But the former builder has been unable to break his habit and is now resigned to coping with the injury as he cannot afford private treatment.
At least he has the option of private pay. With a single payer universal health care system like Canada, his only option would be to come to the US.
He is in constant pain from the grating of the broken bones against each other and has been prescribed daily doses of morphine.
What are the risks of that: addiction, resperatory problems, constipation, etc.
Mr Nuttall, of Newlyn, Cornwall, broke the ankle in a fall in 2005. Initially he refused surgery because he had caught MRSA at a different hospital four years earlier, and was terrified of history repeating itself.
Maybe the doctors are insulted he refused surgery earlier, but I have gotten MRSA in a hospital, and it is no fun.
He hoped the fractured bones would knit together with a standard plaster cast to immobilise his ankle. But six months and three plaster casts later, it became clear that an operation to pin the bones was the only solution.

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Islamaphobia on rise, especially in Europe

Reuters reported The United Nations investigator on racism on Friday condemned a rising trend of Islamaphobia,
Islam is a religion, not a race. Why is someone concerned with racism worried about reaction to a religion.
especially in Europe, where he said it was being exploited by some right-wing political parties. Doudou Diene, UN special rapporteur on racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related forms of intolerance, also accused Switzerland’s most popular party, the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP/UDC), of inciting hatred. He urged the withdrawal of the party’s controversial campaign poster calling for expulsion of foreigners who commit serous crimes, depicting three white sheep booting out a black sheep under the headline “For the Security of All”.
What is wrong with wanting foreigners who commit serious crimes to be deported?
“In the current context, Islamaphobia constitutes the most serious form of religious defamation,”
That is because most of the violence being done in the name of a religion today is being done by Muslims.
Diene said in a speech and report to the UN Human Rights Council, whose 47 member states were holding a debate on religious defamation. More and more political leaders and influential media and intellectuals were “equating Islam with violence and terrorism,”
Maybe that is because the terrorists all say that what they are doing is pure Islam, and that it is required by the Qur'an.
and some were seeking to “silence religious practices by banning the construction of mosques”, Diene said.
Maybe that is because the clerics in those mosques preach violence.
Pakistan, speaking for the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), called the rise of Islamaphobia “alarming”.
As is the rise of Islamic violence.
“Recent acts of defamation in the shape of blasphemous sketches in Sweden and posters in Switzerland reinforce this conclusion. Such blasphemy should not be encouraged in the name of freedom of expression,” Pakistan’s envoy Masood Khan said.
Violence should not be done just because someone drew a stupid cartoon.
He said the 57-nation OIC, which represents 1.3 billion Muslims, condemned terrorism in all its forms.
But that has not stopped the violence in the name of Islam.
“The international media continues to use the misguided actions of a small extremist minority as an excuse to malign the entire Muslim world, as well as the religion of Islam,” he said.
There is a simple answer to this. Stop the small extremist minorty. Turn them in to the police.

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Athiests

Jacqueline L. Salmon is really reaching in an article called "In America, Nonbelievers Find Strength in Numbers" in WaPo A legion of the godless is rising up against the forces of religiosity in American society. "People who were ashamed to say there is no God now say, 'Wow, there are others out there who think like me, and it feels damned good,' " said Margaret Downey, president of the Atheist Alliance International, whose membership has almost doubled in the past year to 5,200.
Doubling to now be 5200. Wow, just think how soon it will be before it is a significant number.
It has a 500-person waiting list for its convention in Crystal City later this month.
Maybe holding it in some guy's hotel room is not a good idea.
Focusing fresh attention on atheism in the United States was the publication last week of a book about Mother Teresa that lays out her secret struggle with her doubts about God. "Mother Teresa: Come Be My Light" has led some high-profile atheists to say that her spiritual wavering was actually atheism.
You really have to be stretching to assume that Mother Teresa's struggles with faith during the dark periods of her life meant she was an athiest.
"She couldn't bring herself to believe in God, but she wished she could," said Christopher Hitchens, a Washington-based columnist and author of "God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything," the latest atheist bestseller.
Her wishes were granted, and now she is on the verge of being declared a saint.
In the past two years, five books touting atheism have hit the bestseller lists, outselling such religious tomes as Pope Benedict XVI's book on Jesus, and popular Christian novelist Tim LaHaye's latest book, "Kingdom Come," according to Nielsen BookScan.
I never heard of either book. How to those book sales compare with sales of the Holy Bible?
Representatives of atheist and humanist groups say the books probably haven't converted many religious people.
You don't say.
But, said Lori Lipman Brown, a lobbyist for the Secular Coalition for America, which represents eight atheist or humanist organizations, the books "tremendously increase the visibility of nontheist rights."
You have a right to believe, or not believe whatever you want.

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Friday, September 14, 2007

DeLink

Kuwait News Agency reported The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), told the Human Rights Council (HRC) Thursday that the report of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief called for stronger denunciation of violence by Muslim leaders in order to "de-link" Islam from terrorism.

And you might tell the terrorists to stop quoting from the Qur'an
Representing the OIC, Pakistani diplomat Marghoob Saleem Butt said that there had been many such denunciations and a matching response had not been forthcoming.
Maybe that is because the denunciations were only in English, and you say different things in Arabic.
"The ever-growing incidents of religious intolerance and xenophobia in the west were taking the world far from its aim of religious and cultural harmony.
In other words Sharia law for everyone.
The OIC condemned forced religious conversions by majority religious groups, attacks of places of worship, restriction on the display of religious symbols
Does this mean we will be able to display crosses and have Bibles in Saudia Arabia?
and erosion of rights of parents to ensure moral education for their children, " the diplomat added. The representative of the OIC stressed that the Islamic countries deplored States that linked freedom of belief with freedom of expression and opinion in order to shrug off responsibility. "Unrestricted and disrespectful enjoyment of freedom of expression was contrary to the spirit of peaceful dialogue.
Dialogue means people can say whatever they want.
Equating religions with extremist terrorism was dangerous and it was essential to de-link terrorist acts from the right to peacefully follow one's faith," the diplomat added.
Explain that to the terrorists.
The representative of the OIC said efforts were needed to eliminate intolerance and discrimination, including through education and interfaith dialogue.
While the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief, Asma Jahangir, presenting her report, said that in some countries, believers belonging to religious minorities were not allowed to worship or conduct any religious activities without State approval or prior registration.
Such as Christians in most Islamic countries.
"Furthermore, places of worship or religious properties had been attacked or otherwise subjected to restrictions, and also misused by non-State actors for illegitimate purposes," she added. Jahangir said that the freedom of pursuing one's religion or belief should be protected and respected. "On the other hand, the rights of individuals had also to be protected from being violated on the premise of religion or belief. The mandate had noted, time and again, that victims of religious intolerance belonged to all religions and beliefs. At the same time, the perpetrators were also not confined to one or a few identified religious or belief communities," she said. Jahangir added that freedom of religion or belief was a multifaceted human right. "States should devise pro-active strategies in order to prevent acts of intolerance and discrimination," she stressed.

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Albania firefighters

No water to douse fire of Albania's loss to Dutch - Yahoo! News reported An Albanian fishmonger set fire to his van in a burst of anger after the national football team lost to the visiting Dutch side, and firefighters failed to extinguish the blaze because someone had stolen their water.
Say what????
Vilson Alushi had vowed to burn his fish-delivery van if Albania failed to win a point against the Netherlands on Wednesday. Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy put paid to his hopes with a goal in injury time to end the game 1-0.
Why does one destroy his own property, and means of making a living, because his Soccer team loses?
Alushi duly doused his car with gasoline in the centre of the southern town of Delvine and watched indifferently as his friends alerted the firefighters, newspapers reported. They arrived promptly on the scene and unreeled the hose, only to find it was dry. It seems that residents living near the fire station had drained the tank to help them cope with Albania's chronic water shortage.
Memo to fire departments: make sure you have water to use to fight fires.

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Countering Man-Made Global Warming Fears

EarthTimes reported A new analysis of peer-reviewed literature reveals that more than 500 scientists have published evidence refuting at least one element of current man-made global warming scares. More than 300 of the scientists
Al Gore, will you debate any of these 300 scientists?
found evidence that 1) a natural moderate 1,500-year climate cycle has produced more than a dozen global warmings similar to ours since the last Ice Age and/or that 2) our Modern Warming is linked strongly to variations in the sun's irradiance. "This data and the list of scientists make a mockery of recent claims that a scientific consensus blames humans as the primary cause of global temperature increases since 1850," said Hudson Institute Senior Fellow Dennis Avery.

Sister Toldja blogged This is what’s called “advocacy journalism” on the part of the press: choosing to highlight stories that prove the narrative they’ve written, while ignoring evidence to the contrary. It’s disgusting and offensive on its face, because mainstream media journalism is, of course, supposed to report *all* the facts, not just the ones favorable to one side or the other.

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Thursday, September 13, 2007

Hsu

The American Spectator reported Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton previously supported campaign-finance reform proposals that would have required immediate and full transparency of donor names involved in bundling of political donations. But now Clinton has ordered that none of the 200 or so individuals who bundled some $850,000 with disgraced Clinton fundraiser Norman Hsu be disclosed to the media.
What seems good when working on bills does not look good when you are trying to cover up a scandal in your campaign.
Clinton's campaign in New York is now scrambling to get a handle on just how much trouble Hsu has caused. "We still aren't sure just how bad this situation is," says a Manhattan-based political consultant working for Clinton. "Hsu obviously brought in a lot of money, but he also brought in a lot of people and some of those folks were bundling funds too."

We also see Hsu sent a suicide note before getting on the train. He tried taking pills. He should have shot himself like Vincent Foster supposedly did.

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This is what we need

This machine employs voice stress analysis of the user’s answers to specific questions, varying degrees of unhappiness are measured, and the counteractive quantity of soft scoop ice cream comes out, according to the perceived unhappiness level of the customer. The more unhappy you are, the more ice cream you need.

Where do I get one? I am very unhappy.

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Bin Laden Video

A researcher declared Bin Laden's beard is real, video is not .

Krawetz says the inner frame of bin Laden was resaved at least twice, and not at the same time. The images show fine horizontal stripes on bin Laden and a background indicating these came from interlaced video sources. In contrast, the text elements, such as the As-Sahab logo, appear to be from non-interlaced sources.

The September 7 video shows bin Laden dressed in a white hat, white shirt and yellow sweater. Krawetz notes "this is the same clothing he wore in the 2004-10-29 video. In 2004 he had it unzipped, but in 2007 he zipped up the bottom half. Besides the clothing, it appears to be the same background, same lighting, and same desk. Even the camera angle is almost identical." Krawetz also notes that "if you overlay the 2007 video with the 2004 video, his face has not changed in three years--only his beard is darker and the contrast on the picture has been adjusted."

More important though are the edits. At roughly a minute and a half into the video there is a splice; bin Laden shifts from looking at the camera to looking down in less than 1/25th of a second. At 13:13 there is a second, less obvious splice. In all, Krawetz says there are at least six splices in the video. Of these, there are only two live bin Laden segments, the rest of the video composed of still images. The first live section opens the video and ends at 1:56. The second section begins at 12:29 and continues until 14:01. The two live sections appear to be from different recordings "because the desk is closer to the camera in the second section."

Then there are the audio edits. Krawetz says "the new audio has no accompanying 'live' video and consists of multiple audio recordings." References to current events are made only during the still frame sections and after splices within the audio track." And there are so many splices that I cannot help but wonder if someone spliced words and phrases together. I also cannot rule out a vocal imitator during the frozen-frame audio. The only way to prove that the audio is really bin Laden is to see him talking in the video," Krawetz says.


Also in an analysis of a different video titled "Al Qaeda Snorts Flies" it reveals However, there was one REALLY funny part. 30 minutes into a video, a fly began to buzz around Waleed and landed on his arm. At 38:01, the fly landed on his nose! It walked the full length of his nose. That's isn't a dot on his nose, that's a fly!

But it get's better: at 38:03 (2 seconds later), it landed on his nose again and stayed there for five seconds before crawling in his nose! I can't make this up! After crawling to his nostrils, Waleed made a series of faces but never stopped to shoo the fly away.


That's what you get for shooting videos in a cave.

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Whoever changes his religion, kill him

Almasry Alyoum reported Dr. Nasr Farid Wasel, former Egypt Mufti, said that all scholars agree that the punishment for rejecting Islam is punishable by death,
Anyone who says Islam does not call for death of those leaving Islam should realise "all scholars agree".
because Islam did not sanction apostasy, because it did not force or coerce any one into embracing Islam,
That is the biggest joke I have ever heard.
therefore a renegade must either repent or be condemned to the punishment of apostasy, because it is the right of Allah, the Almighty.

According to all scholars, from the days of the foremost companions and their followers until this time, the punishment for apostasy was sanctioned to preserve the rights and the unity of the community
Kill people for their belief, or lack of it, to preserve the rights and unity of the community.
and therefore non-application of this punishment leads to disunity. Allah the Almighty said: "And verily this Brotherhood of yours is a single Brotherhood, and I am your Lord and Cherisher: therefore fear Me (and no other)".

He pointed out that Islamic Sharia is the practical application of all acts of the people in life, for both Muslims or non-Muslims, and that it took into account every detail of the conditions of human life from birth till one meets his God, explaining that the practice of Sharia was in the area of general issues concerning the rights of God
Is your god not capable of making sure his rights are maintained. Can he not kill the apostate if that is what he wants. Do you have to do it for him?
or the people, namely the 'punishments', as the scholars put it, which have been enacted to protect the rights of God and His servants.

"Whoever embraces Islam out of his own volition has made a contract with Allah and with the group, therefore he has no right to revoke it, because he embraced Islam after becoming fully convinced and he should bear the responsibility of his decision", said Wasel.
And he can "embrace Islam" by being forced by someone with a gun making himparrot some words in a language he does not understand, or being born into a muslim family.
Dr. Mohamed Sayed Ahmed al-Musayer, professor of religion and philosophy at al-Azhar University, said that it is illogical for a Muslim to give up his religion, because Islam is a religion of reason and proof and its great miracle is the Holy Koran and that there is no other religion in the world that harmonizes with the mind,
Bulls**t
as people around us worship cows, stones, trees and humans.

"Some of those who have unstable ways of thinking believe that they are defending Islam when they abolish some punishments, including the punishment of apostasy. Those people have nothing to cry over, as they deny the punishment of theft today and tomorrow they will deny the punishment of adultery and after that the punishment of apostasy.

It is a series to nullify Islam. Those who deny the punishment of apostasy impugn the scholars and jurisprudents throughout the ages, since the application of this punishment is clearly defined in the Holy Koran before the Hadith (Prophet Mohamed's traditions). Allah says: 'Truly, if the Hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease, and those who stir up sedition in the City, desist not, We shall certainly stir thee up against them: Then will they not be able to stay in it as thy neighbors for any length of time'", said al-Musayer.

"The punishment is unequivocally and indisputably mentioned in the Hadith: 'whoever changed his Islamic religion kill him'. These are incontrovertible Islamic facts. We are not ashamed of what we have, but those antagonizing Islam feel so ashamed, because they protect homosexuality and same-sex marriage. We do not want rifts in the community, because this is a Jewish scheme and all Islamic communities are infiltrated by the Mossad", said al-Musayer.
Aha, it is all the Joooz's fault.
"We are proud of everything in our religion because other people want to depict us as being the accused, even though they do not have the faith and the policy to fight us. In their lives, they turn man into the animal of the jungle

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Muslim backlash

The Australian reported A Palestinian journalist has warned of a Muslim backlash over the failure of Australian authorities to grant him a visa in time to speak at today's Brisbane Writers Festival. Abdel Bari-Atwan, a best-selling author and among the last Western journalists
Since when is a Palestinian journalist a Western journalist?
to interview Osama bin Laden, was canceled as a speaker at the festival yesterday as he waited for his visa application to be processed.

Atwan, author of The Secret History of al-Qa'ida, accused the Howard Government of discrimination in delaying approval for his visa application, submitted on August 16, after giving notice to authorities of his intention to visit Australia.
It is good that they are carefully reviewing such visa requests.
"I believe this is a deliberate delay because I am an Arab and a Muslim," Atwan said. "It is ridiculous. I am not a terrorist, I am not a drug dealer, I am dealing in words and thoughts."
Words and thoughts like "you will see a backlash if you do not let me in to spew hate."
david t blogged Some of you may be familiar with Abdel Bari-Atwan, the clownish editor of the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi, and regular Sky and BBC News pundit.

Mr Bari-Atwan was the fellow who appeared on Lebanese TV a couple of months ago to discuss Iran's nuclear capability, and announced his intention to "go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight" if Iranian missiles hit Israel. If he's talking about nuclear missiles, I suppose he'd have to. There wouldn't be much left of Gaza to dance in if they did.

He also claims that Arafat told him that he only signed the Oslo Accords in order to "turn this agreement into a curse" for the Israelis. That certainly explains why they didn't turn out as well as many had hoped.

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Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Islam, The Solution?

Iraq the Model blogged America didn't bring al-Qaeda to Iraq, it's democracy in Iraq that made the extremists panic—their greatest fear is that if the once capital of the Islamic empire fell in the lap of democracy, what would "protect" other parts of the "land of Islam" from "falling" too!?

I could not put it any better than this Iraqi did. If he understands it, why can't the left understand it.

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Against the Islamisation of Europe

Terry Davis, Secretary General of the Council of Europe stated European values are under threat, say the organizers of a protest march under the banner “Against the Islamisation of Europe” which was due to place today in Brussels in spite of the ban by the city Mayor. The fact is that Europe and its values are indeed under threat, but the danger is not coming from Islam. Our common European values are undermined by bigots and radicals, both islamists
Are Islamists unrelated to Islam? They quote the Qur'an as justifying what they do. Is the Qur'an unrelated to Islam?
and islamophobes, who exploit fears and prejudice for their own political objectives.
How manu trains and busses have the Islamophobes blown up? How many buildings have they flown planes into?
The self-proclaimed defenders of European values say that the Mayor has violated their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. The freedom of assembly and the freedom of expression are indeed essential preconditions for democracy, but they should not be regarded as a licence to offend.
Does the European Convention explicitly provide that one has a right not to be offended?
I will not enter into the discussion about whether the march should have been allowed or not, but I note that the protesters’ reading of the Convention is selective to say the least. It is very important to remember that the freedom of assembly and expression can be restricted to protect the rights and freedoms of others, including the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. This applies to everyone in Europe including the millions of Europeans of Islamic faith, who were the main target of today’s shameful display of bigotry and intolerance.
Which is worse, being offended,,or being dead?

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Convert or die

BBC NEWS reported A group of South Koreans held hostage by Taleban militants in Afghanistan have said they were beaten and ordered at gunpoint to convert to Islam.
Even though Surah 2:256 says “There is no compulsion in religion…”
At a news conference in Seoul, the former captives also said they were made to work "like slaves" during their six-week ordeal.
In other words they treated you like a Dhimmi.
... The former hostages said they feared for their lives at times when their captors turned violent. "We were beaten with a tree branch or kicked around. Some kidnappers threatened us with death at gunpoint to force us to follow them in chanting their Islamic prayer for conversion,"
If you had chanted it, and then said you were a Christian they would have killed you . "Whoever changes his religion, kill him" which is called for in Bukhari, Abu Dawud, and many other Haddith that are not online, including Muslim, Tirmidhi, Ibn Majah, An-Nasai, the Muwatta of Imam Malik, Tayalisi, Ibn Hanbal, Ibn Hibban, the Sunan al-Kubraa, Bayhaqi, Abu Ya'laa, Humaidi, Abd al-Razzaq, and Ibn Abi Shaybah.
said Jae Chang-hee.

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Tuesday, September 11, 2007

BBC explains 9/11 to kids

CBBC Newsround explains to kids The way America has got involved in conflicts in regions like the Middle East has made some people very angry, including a group called al-Qaeda - who are widely thought to have been behind the attacks.
They were very angry, so they killed 3000 innocents.
In the past, al-Qaeda leaders have declared a holy war - called a jihad - against the US. As part of this jihad, al-Qaeda members believe attacking US targets is something they should do.
I thought they pretended a jihad was an struggle within one's self to do God's Will.
When the attacks happened in 2001, there were a number of US troops in a country called Saudi Arabia, and the leader of al-Qaeda, Osama Bin Laden, said he wanted them to leave.
And did the leager of Saudia Arabia want them to leave, or were they protecting him from Osama Bin Laden
Update 9/12

I am happy to see this page has been taken down. Thanks to Pamela Geller for letting us know it is down.

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This does not look good

Daily Mail rwpoe\rted Substantial quantities of Madeleine McCann's hair were found in the tyre well of the boot of her parents' hire car, it was revealed today.
This does not look good. When I heard they were questioning the parents, I just assumed the Portuguese cops were trying to deflect the criticism for not closing the case, and then when I heard dogs sniffing the car they rented 25 days later smelled Madeleine's blood I thought that sounded stupid, but if this is true, it does not look good for the McCanns.
... Sources today told the Evening Standard Newspaper: "Some of the samples of DNA were taken from hair which match Madeleine's DNA. There was so much hair it could not be from DNA transference but from the body being in the boot."

The source said that DNA from bodily fluids also found in the boot of the Renault Scenic car, hired by Kate and Gerry McCann 25 days after her disappearance, was a "90 per cent match" rather than the 100 per cent being widely reported.

The police source discounted the theory that the crucial DNA was of Madeleine's blood but it is understood that it was from bodily fluids given off by a decomposing corpse.

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Renounce Islam

Times Online reported A group of young Muslim apostates launches a campaign today, the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on America, to make it easier to renounce Islam.
Good luck.
The provocative move reflects a growing rift between traditionalists and a younger generation raised on a diet of Dutch tolerance. The Committee for Ex-Muslims promises to campaign for freedom of religion but has already upset the Islamic and political Establishments for stirring tensions among the million-strong Muslim community in the Netherlands.... “Sharia schools say that they will kill the ones who leave Islam. In the West people get threatened, thrown out of their family, beaten up,” Mr Jami said. “In Islam you are born Muslim. You do not even choose to be Muslim.
If you had to choose to be a Muslim, and if you could change your mind, there might well be fewer Muslims.
We want that to change, so that people are free to choose who they want to be and what they want to believe in.”
Free Choice. What a unique idea.
Mr Jami, 22, who has abandoned his studies as his political career has taken off, denied that the choice of September 11 was deliberately provocative towards the Islamic Establishment. “We chose the date because we want to make a clear statement that we no longer tolerate the intolerence of Islam, the terrorist attacks,” he said.
God bless you.
“In 1965 the Church in Holland made a declaration that freedom of conscience is above hanging on to religion, so you can choose whether you are going to be a Christian or not. What we are seeking is the same thing for Islam.”

Michelle Malkin blogged Keep them all in your thoughts and prayers this 9/11 anniversary. And I repeat: Find a way to show your support. These are the people putting their necks on the line for Western civilization. Literally.

marc blogged No religion, no cabal of any kind, can be allowed to demand life-long obedience to its creeds as a condition of retaining one’s life. In this the question of the religion’s value is irrelevant: individuals determine the course of their lives at their own discretion, for good or ill, and no other has a legitimate right to interfere using force as a weapon. Even those tolerance atheists and agnostics who wish to accommodate Islam’s harsher dictates cannot deny the fundamental problem that Jami, at great personal risk, is attempting to address.

Gateway Pundit blogged Dutch News is reporting that columnists, academics and other members of Holland's white, middle-class intelligentsia have signed up as supporters of Ehsan Jami's committee of ex-Muslims.

Bryan blogged The intolerance of which Jami speaks isn’t the result of any “hijacking” of Islam: It’s from the Koran and the Hadith. The Times obfuscates a bit in a “Related Link” to this, but it’s a doctrine shared by millions of Muslims the world over. In Saudi Arabia, for instance, apostasy can earn a beheading. We ought to ask ourselves, if a Muslim living in the Netherlands has to live in hiding after renouncing Islam, is the world becoming more like the tolerant Netherlands or like the Kingdom of Saud?

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Sunday, September 09, 2007

Soccer ball insult

Khaleej Times reported Afghanistan’s parliament demanded Saturday that US-led forces apologize for distributing footballs that carried Koranic verses and have been labeled insulting to Islam.

The US-led military coalition late last month dropped toys, including soccer balls, into the eastern province of Khost as part of a goodwill gesture aimed at winning over support from the local population. The balls showed the flags of several nations, including the Saudi standard, which bears the verses.
The military did not select Koranic verses. It selected flags of nations in the area. Maybe the insult is on the part of the Saudis, who put Koranic verses on their flag, knowing that many people burn flags to show their dislesure with that country's government.
‘The people’s representatives want them (US-led forces) to formally apologize out of respect for public opinion and sentiment,’ the conservative parliament said in a statement that was voted for by most MPs. ‘We, representing the people of Afghanistan, want our friendly forces to respect the culture and tradition of people in their activities.’ About 100 people demonstrated after the balls were dropped into Khost by helicopters, saying they were an insult to their religion.
Their religion certainly is easy to insult. Maybe they realize what a bad religion it is. And maybe that is why they kill someone that leaves their religion (Bukhari) even though Surah 2:256 says “There is no compulsion in religion…”

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