Twelve Infidels on Twelve Infidelities

Jyllands-Posten, the courageous Danish magazine which originally published the infamous cartoons has served another volley in the form of a manifesto signed by twelve intellectuals, each of whom have had their own unique engagements with Islamism. Agora does the translation. The resulting product is a compelling, brave and dramatic declaration which, in all likelihood, will attract more of the radicalism we have grown accustomed to. In the face of the cowardice we have seen from the MSM, Dhimmi Eurabians and the prostrate United Nations, the words needed to be said.

MANIFESTO:

Together facing the new totalitarianism

After having overcome fascism, Nazism, and Stalinism, the world now faces a new totalitarian global threat: Islamism.

We, writers, journalists, intellectuals, call for resistance to religious totalitarianism and for the promotion of freedom, equal opportunity and secular values for all.

The recent events, which occurred after the publication of drawings of Muhammed in European newspapers, have revealed the necessity of the struggle for these universal values. This struggle will not be won by arms, but in the ideological field. It is not a clash of civilisations nor an antagonism of West and East that we are witnessing, but a global struggle that confronts democrats and theocrats.

Like all totalitarianisms, Islamism is nurtured by fears and frustrations. The hate preachers bet on these feelings in order to form battalions destined to impose a liberticidal and unegalitarian world. But we clearly and firmly state: nothing, not even despair, justifies the choice of obscurantism, totalitarianism and hatred. Islamism is a reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present. Its success can only lead to a world of domination: man’s domination of woman, the Islamists’ domination of all the others. To counter this, we must assure universal rights to oppressed or discriminated people.

We reject « cultural relativism », which consists in accepting that men and women of Muslim culture should be deprived of the right to equality, freedom and secular values in the name of respect for cultures and traditions. We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia", an unfortunate concept which confuses criticism of Islam as a religion with stigmatisation of its believers.

We plead for the universality of freedom of expression, so that a critical spirit may be exercised on all continents, against all abuses and all dogmas.

We appeal to democrats and free spirits of all countries that our century should be one of Enlightenment, not of obscurantism.

12 signatures

Ayaan Hirsi Ali
Chahla Chafiq
Caroline Fourest
Bernard-Henri Lévy
Irshad Manji
Mehdi Mozaffari
Maryam Namazie
Taslima Nasreen
Salman Rushdie
Antoine Sfeir
Philippe Val
Ibn Warraq

Danish blogger, Agora, fears the worst:

This just in, stay tuned as the story develops. I think we’ll be seeing people die in the coming days. You know, from "reactions"….

Wow. If a Republican Said This

"Did we forget we lost almost 3,000 people in that attack? We wouldn't transfer the port to the devil and we won't transfer it to Dubai."

Evil, racist Arab-baiting Republicans. Wow. UAE = the Devil. I am shocked. Wait. It was said by a DEMOCRAT??? Mais non!!

Religion of Peace, Egyptian Style

In its Jihad du Jour, the Religion of Peace points to this sad article about our moderate Muslim friends in Egypt:

Egypt Christian Woman "Kidnapped" by Muslim Militants, Contacts ...

There was concern Sunday, February 26, over the condition of a kidnapped,young Christian woman in Egypt amid reports she is being held in a Cairo
apartment and forced to convert to Islam.

Well, at least the police are looking for her, right? No, the police have refused to file a missing person report.

Unless the convert is under 18, the legal age for conversion, the police can refuse to recover the missing woman by claiming that she does not want to see her family.

The police took some action, though, they

threatened to arrest some of the priests protesting against the police inaction.

In the same article, Muhammad meets Orwell:

Egyptian law requires taht all conversions [to Islam - ed.] be registered at Al-Azhar and then validated with the State SecurityInvestigation (SSI).

These are the 'moderates'. These are our 'friends'. Maybe we should rethink our rather liberal definitions of those words.

Protecting Borders = U.S. Conceit

The proposed wall to protect the southern border is drawing its usual criticism. Look at this article from the Los Angeles Times.

I love these words:

"The U.S. government has fostered an atmosphere of collective paranoia,
given a green light to its spies … and institutionalized torture," Salvadoran
novelist Horacio Castellanos Moya said. "The only thing missing was a
wall."

i.e. you are evil, you are an oppressor, but, we have an unquestionable right to violate your borders and live in your terrible nation.

Saudi double game continues to unravel

...as those they have nurtured turn on them. "al-Qaida Threatens to Hit More Saudi Sites," from AP:

MANAMA, Bahrain - Al-Qaida suicide bombers will attack more Saudi oil facilities, the terror group purportedly threatened Saturday in an Internet statement that claimed responsibility for the foiled attack on the Abiqaiq plant in eastern Saudi Arabia.

Two suicide bombers tried to drive cars packed with explosives into Abiqaiq, the world's largest oil processing facility, on Friday afternoon, but security guards opened fire and the vehicles exploded outside the gates, killing the bombers and fatally wounding two guards....

A statement appeared on a militant Web site saying that Friday's attack was "part of a series of operations that al-Qaida is carrying out against the crusaders and the Jews to stop their plundering of Muslim wealth." It was signed "al-Qaida in the Arab Peninsula" — the name of the Saudi branch of the terror network.

The statement did not acknowledge that the attack was foiled. In fact, it claimed that the two "heroic holy warriors" managed to enter Abiqaiq.

"There are more like them who are racing toward martyrdom and eager to fight the enemies of god, the Jews, the crusaders and their stooges, the renegade rulers" of Arab countries, the posting said.

"You will see things that will make you happy, god willing," concluded the statement....

The al-Qaida Web posting said "these (oil) factories help to steal the wealth of Muslims" and claimed the attack was "part of al-Qaida's project to expel the infidels from the Arab peninsula."...

The posting said Friday's attack was dubbed "Operation Bin Laden Conquest."

The huge Abqaiq facility processes about two-thirds of Saudi Arabia's oil for export, removing hydrogen sulfide and reducing the vapor to make the crude safe for shipping. It lies 25 miles inland from the Gulf coast.

St. Patrick's Day Blues

Well, cancel your St. Patrick's Day plans if you are going here.

Peter Costello Meets the Dhimmis

...and doesn't budge. GATA.

Australian treasurer Peter Costello said that Muslims who want to live by Islamic sharia law were not welcome in the country, fuelling more anger after Prime Minister John Howard's comments on "extremist" Muslim immigrants.

Two key Muslim leaders on Friday condemned Costello's beliefs as divisive, but Howard stood by his heir apparent, defending the treasurer's comments as fundamentally accurate and calling for people to "take a deep breath" and calm down.

Howard said on Monday that he was concerned about "extremist" Muslim immigrants bent on jihad because they were antagonistic towards Australian society.

And even gets backing from the, choke, Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs.

Fine blogging of the local media coverage by Australian blogger, Tim Blair.

ACLU: Poll Shows Americans are Against Spying

hat tip Talkleft



NOT SO FAST MY FRIENDS
The poll was conducted by Belden, Russonello & Stewart, a PR firm mega-connected to Democrats and left wing organizations.

Their political client base:

Alliance for a Better California, 2005
"No on Amendment A" South Dakota, 2002
D.C. Councilwoman Kathy Patterson
Cook County Board President
U.S. Rep. Lynn C. Woolsey (D-CA)
Gore for President Campaign, 2000
"Yes on Amendment E," South Dakota,
Bruce Babbitt 1988 Presidential campaign
Clinton-Gore 1992, New Mexico campaign
Clinton-Gore 1992, November Group, OH
Connecticut Senate Democratic Leadership
U.S. Senator Alan Cranston (D-CA)
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
Democrats for the 90s
Democrats for Montgomery County, MD
U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA)

Their Civil Rights and Liberties client base:

Advancement Project
American Civil Liberties Union
Amnesty International
Catholics for Free Choice
The Constitution Project
IPAS
Justice at Stake
League of United Latin American Citizens
NAACP Legal Defense Fund
National Legal Aid and Defender Association
National Association of Women Judges
New York Immigration Coalition
NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund
Open Society Institute
Pennsylvanians for Modern Courts
Planned Parenthood Federation of America
Youth Law Center

Oh my, the ACLU is there!!

Also from their site:

Social movements rise or fall on how well they reflect the public's values and appetite for change - whether it is education reform, Smart Growth, indigent defense, biodiversity preservation, death penalty moratorium or defending civil liberties.

Sheer coincidence they found an appetite for change here now isn't it.

Lets look at their team:

Nancy Belden, Founding Partner - In the 1970s, Nancy was active in women's issues and community organizing. She was the public information director for a Planned Parenthood affiliate

John Russonello, Partner- press secretary and speechwriter for House Judiciary Committee Chairman Peter Rodino (D - NJ)

Kate Stewart, Partner - Her work has advanced the goals of many organizations, including the Kendall Foundation, The Biodiversity Project, ACLU, and Amnesty International

Those are the principals, lets seeing some of the folks doing the research:

Chris Jackson, Research Assistant - joins BRS after serving in the Kerry-Edwards campaign as the war room manager and the Kerry primary campaign as the operations manager

Llorin Edwards, Research Assistant - worked for Dean For America as the Iowa Director of Special Projects. In 2002, he served as the Assistant to the Campaign Manager for Senator Wellstone's final campaign

Emma White, Research Assistant - was a field organizer for Dean for America in southeast Michigan

Client A believes in XY and Z.
Client A pays Firm that also believes in XY and Z.
Firm takes money and does 'poll' that shows that everybody believes XY and Z.
Nice work. Now lets get Halliburton to commission a poll.

Of course, this is common in politics, but sometimes it is good to actually see how nefarious this practice is.

Attention All Crackberry Hounds

Judge declines to issue injunction against RIM

BlackBerry service to continue to operate, but judge urges settlement

More than 3 million Americans are BlackBerry users. RICHMOND, Va. - A judge Friday stopped short of ordering an immediate shutdown of millions of BlackBerry portable e-mail devices made by Research In Motion Ltd. But U.S. District Judge James Spencer said there was no escaping that RIM had been found to be infringing on NTP Inc.’s patents and he would issue a decision on an injunction “as soon as reasonably possible.”

SAMMENHOLD:" DANISH FOR SOLIDARITY

The Danish word for solidarity the other day: "Sammenhold."

In Washington, D.C., today at the Danish embassy, writer Christopher Hitchens will be showing "Sammenhold" with a gathering to stand up for Denmark:

Please be outside the Embassy of Denmark, 3200 Whitehaven Street (off Massachusetts Avenue) between noon and 1 p.m. this Friday, Feb. 24. Quietness and calm are the necessities, plus cheerful conversation. Danish flags are good, or posters reading "Stand By Denmark" and any variation on this theme (such as "Buy Carlsberg/ Havarti/ Lego") The response has been astonishing and I know that the Danes are appreciative. But they are an embassy and thus do not of course endorse or comment on any demonstration. Let us hope, however, to set a precedent for other cities and countries. Please pass on this message to friends and colleagues.

I won't be able to make it, but I'm there in spirit. And so are bloggers from around the world, who are participating in the Stand Up for Denmark Blogburst today. More info on how to join at Freedom's Zone.

***

Maybe angry clown Malik Shabazz will turn up. Wouldn't that be a scene?

Ed Morrissey has a new vocabulary word for the day: Sitzspinkler.

US cartoonists show Sammenhold.

hat tip: Michelle Malkin

Philippine Coup Bid?

IMPORTANT. STAY TUNED.

Pajamas Media is following also.

Fee Fi Fofana : Brainy Buffoon of the Barbarians Behind Bars

Excellent background here at MichNews.

He was beaten, stripped naked, a hood slid over his head, then burnt over and over again. Eighty percent of his body was burnt. Finally, the Muslim gang threw him, hand-cuffed, under a train.

He was found by passersby, taking to the hospital where he died of wounds.

He was a Jew in Paris. His name: Ilan Halimi.

He had been kept as prisoner by the Islamics for three weeks.

We spoke about it here.

But now the ringleader has been caught.

The suspected leader of a Paris gang alleged to have kidnapped, tortured and killed a young French Jew has been arrested in Ivory Coast, Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin of France said Thursday.

The suspect, Youssef Fofana, had fled to Abidjan, Ivory Coast, where he was arrested overnight Wednesday...

Never Again. Give Email a Chance

It is horrible to know that a few rogue hackers can silence Michelle Malkin, if only for a few hours. She has done such great work in pioneering the blogosphere by exposing the Left and shedding light upon the horrors of Islamic fanaticism, while the MSM cowers in Dhimmi fear.

I don't believe that neither her fine words, nor the fine words of any bloggers working for these causes should ever be silenced again. We have the technology and the means to get the words out of anyone under such an attack. To paraphrase Winston Churchill, and very liberally, "the blogosphere is so vast and resilient, that showers of arrows may be shot in vain". But every time an arrow is shot and a blog goes down, the arrow was not shot in vain. It is a loss suffered by all of us. And by all indications, this problem will only worsen. Right now it seems limited to a single blog here and there but there is no reason to believe that these attacks, when better coordinated and more organized, can stifle significantly more sites.

My idea is a simple one. I suggest that bloggers, especially those who have found themselves under attack, create a list of email addresses of non-Dhimmi, non-Idiotarian bloggers they know of. In the event they cannot post and believe they are the victim of such an attack, simply email whatever column or posting they intended to make to their list. The bloggers in turn would, of course, post the column on their blog. Due to the nature of this medium, their words would be available most everywhere on the sphere, (save China and the UAE, of course). The intentions of the freedom haters would be almost immediately destroyed.

As the problem grows, so would the solution, and our powerful realm of communication would be all the more stronger for it.

Just a suggestion. What do you think?

Michelle Malkin Site Has Been Under A DoS Attack

I'M STILL HERE

By Michelle Malkin · February 23, 2006 10:29 AM

Dear readers:

Yes, I know the site has been down all morning.

Yes, I've contacted the FBI.

I will try to get back to work, but this has been a bit of a distraction.

Thanks for sticking with me.

***

Afternoon update: Confirmed DoS attack, with most of the IP addresses belonging to TurkTelecom. Tech people say the attack is shifting to different source addresses. Loading is spotty and slow. Big headache, but we're working on a more permanent solution. Thanks again for your readership.

Pass The Word about this attack on Michelle's ability to commuicate to the World. This needs to be passed on so that it generates international publicity against the hackers!

They Are All Profilers Now

Michele Malkin in Todays Jewish World Review writes about the hypocrisy of the Democrats in the granting of Port Authority to the UAE.

For the past several years, I've been condemned as an "extremist" for advocating nationality profiling — unapologetically applying stricter scrutiny to terror-sponsoring and terror-sympathizing countries in our entrance, immigration, and security policies.


Now, mirabile dictum, some of the same Democrats who have routinely lambasted such profiling are rushing to the floors of Congress and in front of TV cameras espousing these very same policies. The impetus: the White House's boneheaded insistence on ramming through a $7 billion deal giving United Arab Emirates-owned Dubai Ports World control over significant operations at six major American ports in New York, New Jersey, New Orleans, Baltimore, Philadelphia and Miami.


Make no mistake. I stand with critics on both sides of the aisle who want to stop the secretive deal transferring operations of our ports to the UAE — a Middle Eastern government with a spotty record of fighting terrorist plots and terrorist financing. The issue is not whether day-to-day, on-the-ground conditions at the ports would change. The issues are whether we should grant the demonstrably unreliable UAE access to sensitive information and management plans about our key U.S ports, which are plenty insecure enough without adding new risks, and whether the decision process was thorough and free from conflicts of interest.


From every angle — political, safety, and sovereignty-wise--Dubai Ports World's business transaction (made possible by an unprecedented $3.5 billion Islamic financing instrument called a "sukuk" that upholds sharia law) looks bad and smells worse.


But there is a teachable moment here that shouldn't be missed. The tone-deafness of the White House is bad. The craven political opportunism of the Democrats is worse.

Listen to Sen. Evan Bayh, Indiana Democrat: "I think we've got to look into this company. I think we've got to ensure ourselves that the American people's national-security interests are going to be protected. And frankly, I think the threshold ought to be a little higher for a foreign firm."


And Sen. Barbara Boxer, California Democrat: "It is ridiculous to say you're taking secret steps to make sure that it's OK for a nation that had ties to 9/11, (to) take over part of our port operations in many of our largest ports. This has to stop."


And Sen. Hillary Clinton, New York Democrat: "Our port security is too important to place in the hands of foreign governments. I will be working with [New Jersey] Senator [Robert] Menendez to introduce legislation that will prohibit the sale of ports to foreign governments."


And Sen. Charles Schumer, New York Democrat, who said the Dubai company's involvement "is enough to raise a flag - at least to do a thorough review, at minimum."


I wish these politicians luck in their quest to block the UAE transfer, shed light on the process led by the shadowy Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., and join with congressional Republicans to put American security interests first. But as they attempt to do their best Pat Buchanan impressions, let's not forget: It was Democrats who tried to block Bush administration efforts to impose common-sense citizenship requirements on airport security workers in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.


It was Democrats who attacked the Bush Justice Department after the September 11 attacks for fingerprinting young male temporary visa holders traveling from terror-sponsoring and terror-friendly nations; temporarily detaining asylum seekers from high-risk countries for background screening; and sending undercover agents to investigate mosques suspected of supporting terrorism.


It was Democrats who secretly attempted to remove funding for the National Security Exit-Entry Registration System — the Justice Department program that helped nabbed at least 330 known foreign criminals, 15 illegal-alien felons, and three known terrorists who attempted to enter the country.


And just one week ago, it was failed Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore who was in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, attacking the Bush administration's profiling and immigration enforcement against illegal aliens from terror-friendly countries as "terrible abuses."


Perhaps the UAE will be hiring Gore to condemn the "abusive" practices now being championed by his fire-breathing extremist Democrat colleagues?


After all, they are all red flag-raising, threshold-hiking, thorough review-espousing, foreign ownership-banning profilers now.

Mind You these are the same Democrats who condem the Bush Administration for requesting that individuals of middle eastern persuasion report to the INS after the 911 incident, If the Democrats could not see the need for that, how in good faith can they be trusted now?

Stand Up For Denmark

Put the case that we knew of a highly paranoid religious cult organization with a secretive leader. Now put the case that this cult, if criticized in the press, would take immediate revenge by kidnapping a child. Put the case that, if the secretive leader were also to be lampooned, two further children would be killed at random. Would the press be guilty of "self-censorship" if it declined to publish anything that would inflame the said cult? Well, yes it would be guilty, but very few people would insist on the full exertion of the First Amendment right. However, the consequences for the cult and its leader would be severe as well. All civilized people would regard it as hateful and dangerous, and steps would be taken to circumscribe its influence, and to ensure that no precedent was set.

The incredible thing about the ongoing Kristallnacht against Denmark (and in some places, against the embassies and citizens of any Scandinavian or even European Union nation) is that it has resulted in, not opprobrium for the religion that perpetrates and excuses it, but increased respectability! A small democratic country with an open society, a system of confessional pluralism, and a free press has been subjected to a fantastic, incredible, organized campaign of lies and hatred and violence, extending to one of the gravest imaginable breaches of international law and civility: the violation of diplomatic immunity. And nobody in authority can be found to state the obvious and the necessary—that we stand with the Danes against this defamation and blackmail and sabotage. Instead, all compassion and concern is apparently to be expended upon those who lit the powder trail, and who yell and scream for joy as the embassies of democracies are put to the torch in the capital cities of miserable, fly-blown dictatorships. Let's be sure we haven't hurt the vandals' feelings.

You wish to say that it was instead a small newspaper in Copenhagen that lit the trail? What abject masochism and nonsense. It was the arrogant Danish mullahs who patiently hawked those cartoons around the world (yes, don't worry, they are allowed to exhibit them as much as they like) until they finally provoked a vicious response against the economy and society of their host country. For good measure, they included a cartoon that had never been published in Denmark or anywhere else. It showed the Prophet Mohammed as a pig, and may or may not have been sent to a Danish mullah by an anonymous ill-wisher. The hypocrisy here is shameful, nauseating, unpardonable. The original proscription against any portrayal of the prophet—not that this appears to be absolute—was superficially praiseworthy because it was intended as a safeguard against idolatry and the worship of images. But now see how this principle is negated. A rumor of a cartoon in a faraway country is enough to turn the very name Mohammed into a fetish-object and an excuse for barbaric conduct. As I write this, the death toll is well over 30 and—guess what?—a mullah in Pakistan has offered $1 million and a car as a bribe for the murder of "the cartoonist." This incitement will go unpunished and most probably unrebuked.

Could things become any more sordid and cynical? By all means. In a mindless attempt at a tu quoque, various Islamist groups and regimes have dug deep into their sense of wit and irony and proposed a trade-off. You make fun of "our" prophet and we will deny "your" Holocaust. Even if there were any equivalence, and Jewish mobs were now engaged in trashing Muslim shops and embassies, it would feel degrading even to engage with such a low and cheap stunt. I suppose that one should be grateful that the Shoah is only to be denied rather than, as in some Islamist propaganda, enthusiastically affirmed and set out as a model for emulation. But only a moral cretin thinks that anti-Semitism is a threat only to Jews. The memory of the Third Reich is very vivid in Europe precisely because a racist German regime also succeeded in slaughtering millions of non-Jews, including countless Germans, under the demented pretext of extirpating a nonexistent Jewish conspiracy. As it happens, I am one of the few people to have publicly defended David Irving's right to publish, and I think it outrageous that he is in prison in Austria for expressing his opinions. But my attachment to free speech is at least absolute and consistent. Those who incite murder and arson, or who silkily justify it, are incapable of rising above the childish glee that culminates in the assertion that two wrongs make a right.

More on the cartoon controversy

The silky ones may be more of a problem in the long term than the flagrantly vicious and crazy ones. Within a short while—this is a warning—the shady term "Islamophobia" is going to be smuggled through our customs. Anyone accused of it will be politely but firmly instructed to shut up, and to forfeit the constitutional right to criticize religion. By definition, anyone accused in this way will also be implicitly guilty. Thus the "soft" censorship will triumph, not from any merit in its argument, but from its association with the "hard" censorship that we have seen being imposed over the past weeks. A report ($$) in the New York Times of Feb. 13 was as carefully neutral as could be but nonetheless conveyed the sense of menace. "American Muslim leaders," we were told, are more canny. They have "managed to build effective organizations and achieve greater integration, acceptance and economic success than their brethren in Europe have. They portray the cartoons as a part of a wave of global Islamophobia and have encouraged Muslim groups in Europe to use the same term." In other words, they are leveraging worldwide Islamic violence to drop a discreet message into the American discourse.

You may have noticed the recurrence of the term "One point two billion Muslims." A few years ago, I became used to the charge that in defending Salman Rushdie, say, I had "offended a billion Muslims." Evidently, the number has gone up since I first heard this ridiculous complaint. But observe the implied threat. There is not just safety in numbers, but danger in numbers. How many Danes or Jews or freethinkers are there? You can see what the "spokesmen" are insinuating by this tactic of mass psychology and mobbishness.

And not without immediate success, either. The preposterous person of Karen Hughes is quoted in the same New York Times article, under her risible title of "Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy." She tittered outside the store she was happily giving away: "The voices of Muslim Americans have more credibility in the Muslim world frankly than my voice as a government official, because they can speak the language of their faith and can share their experience of practicing their faith freely in the West, and they can help explain why the cartoons are so offensive." Well, let's concede that almost any voice in any world has more credibility on any subject than this braying Bush-crony ignoramus, but is the State Department now saying that we shall be represented in the Muslim world only by Muslims? I think we need a debate on that, and also a vote. Meanwhile, not a dollar of Wahhabi money should be allowed to be spent on opening madrasahs in this country, or in distributing fundamentalist revisions of the Quran in our prison system. Not until, at the very least, churches and synagogues and free-thought libraries are permitted in every country whose ambassador has bullied the Danes. If we have to accept this sickly babble about "respect," we must at least demand that it is fully reciprocal.

And there remains the question of Denmark: a small democracy, which resisted Hitler bravely and protected its Jews as well as itself. Denmark is a fellow member of NATO and a country that sends its soldiers to help in the defense and reconstruction of Iraq and Afghanistan. And what is its reward from Washington? Not a word of solidarity, but instead some creepy words of apology to those who have attacked its freedom, its trade, its citizens, and its embassies. For shame. Surely here is a case that can be taken up by those who worry that America is too casual and arrogant with its allies. I feel terrible that I have taken so long to get around to this, but I wonder if anyone might feel like joining me in gathering outside the Danish Embassy in Washington, in a quiet and composed manner, to affirm some elementary friendship. Those who like the idea might contact me at christopher.hitchens@yahoo.com, and those who live in other cities with Danish consulates might wish to initiate a stand for decency on their own account.

Here is an Opinion Written in the Los Angeles Times By an American Muslim Of Pakistani ancestory

Islamic truths

By Mansoor Ijaz, MANSOOR IJAZ is an American Muslim of Pakistani ancestry.

ANOTHER WEEK, another Muslim country burns in rage over months-old Danish cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) in an unflattering light. On Friday it was Libya, and earlier in the week it was my father's homeland, Pakistan, where violent protests were scattered across the nation. Some Muslims have decided that burning cities in defense of a prophet's teachings, which none of them seem willing to practice, is preferable to participating in rational debate about the myths and realities of a religion whose worst enemies are increasingly its own adherents.

This week's events should compel those of us who claim Islam as our system of philosophical guidance to ask hard questions of ourselves in order to revive the religion's essential foundation: justice, peaceful and tolerant coexistence, compassion, the search for knowledge and unwavering faith in the unity of God.

I am an American by birth and a Muslim by faith. For many of my American friends, I am a voice of reason in a sea of Islamist darkness, while many Muslims have called me an "Uncle Tom" for ingratiating myself with the vested interests they seek to destroy through their violence. Mostly, though, I try not to ignore the harsh realities the followers of my religion are often unwilling to face.

The first truth is that most Muslim ideologues are hypocrites. What has Osama bin Laden done for the victims of the 2004 tsunami or the shattered families who lost everything in the Pakistani earthquake last year? He did not build one school, offer one loaf of bread or pay for one vaccination. And yet he, not the devout Muslim doctors from California and Iowa who repair broken limbs and lives in the snowy peaks of Kashmir, speaks the loudest for what Muslims allegedly stand for. He has succeeded in presenting himself as the defender of Islam's poor, and the Western media has taken his jihadist message all the way to the bank.

The hypocrisy only starts there. Muslims and Arabs have done pitifully little to help improve the capacity of the Palestinian people to be good neighbors to their Israeli brethren. Take the money spent by any Middle Eastern royal family at a London hotel or Geneva resort during one month and you could build enough schools and medical clinics to take care of 1,000 Palestinian children for a year. Yet rather than educate and feed Palestinian and Muslim children so they may learn to settle differences through dialogue and debate, instead of by throwing rocks and wearing bombs, the Muslim "haves" put on a few telethons to raise paltry sums for the "have nots" to alleviate the guilt over their palatial gilded cages.

The second truth — one that the West needs to come to grips with — is that there is no such human persona as a "moderate Muslim." You either believe in the oneness of God or you don't. You either believe in the teachings of his prophet or you don't. You either learn those teachings and apply them to the circumstances of life in the country you have chosen to live in, or you shouldn't live there.

Haters of Islam use the simplicity and elegance of its black-and-white rigor for devious political advantage by classifying the Koran's religious edicts as the cult-like behavior of fanatics. The West would win a lot of hearts and minds if it only showed Islam as it really is — telling the story, for example, that the prophet Muhammad was one of the great commodity traders of all time because he based his dealings on uniquely Muslim values, or that the reason he had multiple wives was not for the sake of sex but to give proper homes to the children of women made widows during a time of war. The cartoon imbroglio offered Western media an opportunity to portray the prophet in his many dignified dimensions, not just the distorted ones; sadly, there were few takers.

But to look at angry Islam's reaction on television each night forces the question of what might be possible if all the lost energy of thousands of rioting Muslims went into the villages of Aceh to rebuild lost homes or into Kashmir to construct schools.

In fact, the most glaring truth is that Islam's mobsters fear the West has it right: that we have perfected the very system Islam's holy scriptures urged them to learn and practice. And having failed in their mission to lead their masses, they seek any excuse to demonize those of us in the West and to try to bring us down. They know they are losing the ideological struggle for hearts and minds, for life in all its different dimensions, and so they prepare themselves, and us, for Armageddon by starting fires everywhere in a display of Islamic unity intended to galvanize the masses they cannot feed, clothe, educate or house.

This is not Islam. And the faster its truest believers stand up and demonstrate its values and principles by actions, not words, the sooner a great religion will return to its rightful role as guide for nearly a quarter of humanity.

Danes Speak Out Against 60 Minutes

Danish reader L.H. sounds off about CBS News's blame-the-victim smear attack on Denmark last night on 60 Minutes (video segment available at Expose the Left):

Dear Michelle:

I have just come across your site and as I am anxious to let off steam I hope you don’t mind me writing to you.

The reason for my upset is the CBS ’60 Minutes’ programme of last night. You see, I have always enjoyed this programme thinking it was based on sound journalistic research. But now I have gotten serious doubts.

This time I am in a position to judge the validity of the statements about Denmark made in the programme by Bob Simon as I am Danish and have followed the cartoon issue since the beginning.

Bob Simon portrays us Danes in a very negative way.

In the programme he focuses on Denmark being a fairytale country and believe me it is that – as well, but as part of our upbringing we learn to debate and to question actively, especially at school. I would describe us as a nation of ‘pain-in the ass’s always asking ‘Why?/ Why not?’. I guess this comes from being privileged (makes me think of Maslow’s pyramid) and the luxury of never going hungry to bed.

So for this past month the television has been full of debates and inputs from both Danish experts and experts from around the world on this very important issue: Freedom of speech versus Religious ethics.

The people Bob Simon interviewed have played only minor roles in these debates. The imam Abu Laban has been exposed at inciting to boycott Danish products on Al-Jazeera and is therefore no longer used as a reference by Danish television. The others have various personal agendas to nurture such as the ex-foreign minister Uffe Ellemann Jensen, who now is retired but just couldn’t stay away from a brawl even when in office.

The Cartoon issue has set the snowball rolling here in Denmark. We have seen the emerging of a Moderate Muslim movement. The leader of this initiative is member of the Danish parliament and an immigrant from Syria, Naser Khader. This movement has been started on account of the damage to ordinary Danish muslims done by the lies spread by the Danish imams during their visit to Egypt and Lebanon last December. By the way, we have just learned that the Egyptian ambassador in Denmark was the main instigator to the explosion of violence, flag burnings etc. She has now been posted in South Africa.

It seems so unfair to be pictured in the ’60 minutes’ programme as silly and immature children, when in fact we bear the burden of being those who pricked the hole in the boil.

I believe in a higher justice. If anyone in this world were to handle this madness it had to be the Danes, we are phlegmatic and well-fed enough to survive it. Right now we are sitting quietly waiting for the storm to calm so that we all can address the important issue of the future role of religions.

My hometown is Odense and Hans Christian Andersen wrote in The Emperor’s Clothes that ‘it took a little boy to dare tell the truth’. I would have liked Bob Simon of CBS to have taken that cue.

Ahhh, I feel a lot better now, thank you for your time.

Carter: They Know Not What They Did

Jimmy Carter takes an opportunity to explain to us why the United States and the world should not take the Palestinians at their word and cut off their funding after electing an Islamist terrorist group to a majority government. One month ago he was certifying the election as fair, and now today he argues that it makes no difference at all:

Although Hamas won 74 of the 132 parliamentary seats, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas retains the right to propose and veto legislation, with 88 votes required to override his veto. With nine of its elected members remaining in prison, Hamas has only 65 votes, plus whatever third-party support it can attract. Abbas also has the power to select and remove the prime minister, to issue decrees with the force of law when parliament is not in session, and to declare a state of emergency. As commander in chief, he also retains ultimate influence over the National Security Force and Palestinian intelligence.

After the first session of the new legislature, which was Saturday, the members will elect a speaker, two deputies and a secretary. These legislative officials are not permitted to hold any position in the executive branch, so top Hamas leaders may choose to concentrate their influence in the parliament and propose moderates or technocrats for prime minister and cabinet posts. Three weeks are allotted for the prime minister to form the cabinet, and a majority vote of the parliament is required for final approval.

After delineating all the reasons why the Palestinians may not see any immediate change in their government, he tells readers that Israel and the United States should remain positive about the changes that will come. Reacting to the ascension of an avowed terrorist group to power in a proto-state in a negative manner might, after all, give the impression that the US and Israel have colluded to undermine the new terrorist government there.

Oh, well, we can't have that happening, can we?

Saddam and Al Qaeda?

But there are NO links between Saddam and Al Qaeda.

Not a Blog Fluffer But...

this is good stuff from Denmark:

agora...

Ilan Halimi and French Dhimmitude

This is a tragic story which really needs more pub in the MSM. There has been very little publicity of it outside of the Jewish media. It is another example of French dhimmitude and just plain, abject stupidity. Muslim street gangs are targeting young French Jews for robbery and murder. The reaction of the Jewish community? Outrage, as it should be. The reaction of the French authorities? Well, read on:

More than Thousand Jews marched on Sunday in the streets of Paris, demanding justice for Ilan Halimi, the 23-year-old Jewish man who was abducted, tortured and killed near Paris by an organised and dangerous gang.

The spontaneous gathering failed to get support from any Jewish organization.

Information on the demonstration circulated within the Jewish community through mobile phone and e-mail messages.

Marchers walked down Voltaire Boulevard, past the mobile phone store where Ilan Halimi used to work and where he was approached by his killers a month ago.

During the Sunday protest young demonstrators shouted “Justice for Ilan”, “revenge of Ilan”, “Fofana murderer”, in a reference to Youssef Fofana, the head of the gang who is still at large.

Jews from every age and background participated in the walk under heavy rain.

Many of them were holding leaflets with Ilan Halimi’s picture, the only
photography the Halimi family accepted to give out to the press, and only to Jewish and Israeli media.

A few incidents occurred at the end of the gathering. A driver forced his way through the demonstrators and was chased down by dozens of young men who damaged the vehicle.

The police was blamed because it didn’t prevent cars from circulating down the Boulevard. But undesired incidents were to be expected in this unannounced spontaneous march.

A member of the Lubavitch community addressed the crowd with a loudspeaker and said: “We are being mocked. Nobody takes us seriously. How much longer is this going to last? May the Messiah arrive soon.”

The crowd ended its tribute to Ilan Halimi by saying the Kaddish prayer and observing a minute of silence in front of the mobile phone store.

Gang chief still at large

While three of the 13 people arrested have been indicted, French police were still hunting for Youssef Fofana, the 26-yar-old black Muslim African man, considered as the mastermind of the kidnapping ring suspected of using charming women to lure Ilan Halimi to his death.

Fofana, who nicknames himself "Brain of Barbarians, is described as "extremely dangerous."

The gang is suspected of abducting the 23-year-old Parisian, and
subjecting him to horrific tortures before dumping his naked and mutilated body in the street near a suburban train station last Monday.

Handcuffed, gagged and covered in burns and torture marks, he died on the way to hospital.

Twelve suspects, aged 17 to 32, were held in overnight raids in the south Paris suburbs, most on a housing estate in Bagneux, while a 13th was arrested in Belgium, Paris state prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin told a press conference on Friday.

Halimi went missing in late January after agreeing to a date with an
unknown woman who approached him at his workplace.

Using beautiful women as "bait", the gang are thought to have attempted six or seven other botched kidnappings, Marin said.

Jewish community shocked

Halimi’s abduction has sent a shockwave through France’s Jewish community, since Halimi and several other targets were Jewish, leading France’s Jewish community umbrella group, the CRIF, to issue an appeal for calm and caution on Friday.

But “uneasiness” was perceptible in the Paris synagogues over Shabbat.

On the eve of the annual CRIF dinner, which will bring together France's main political, social, religious leaders and Jewish community dignitaries, many Jews are expecting that they pay tribute to the memory of Ilan Halimi.

"As one of the topics of this dinner is expected to be the drop in anti-Semitic acts in the country last year, this murder is giving this dinner another course," a Jewish official told EJP.

Halimi’s family and Jewish community security services for they part said they suspect that the crime may have been motivated by anti-Semitism.

“We think there is anti-Semitism in this affair,” Rafi, Ilan’s brother in law, told EJP. He mentioned the fact that the kidnappers recited verses of the Koran during phone appeals to the family.

French daily Le Monde revealed that one of the people arrested told police that the gang had chosen “Jewish targets.”

Some 1,000 people attended the young man’s burial ceremony at a Jewish cemetery in Paris on Friday.

Prosecutor : No evidence of anti-Semitic motive .

Note to Muslims: This is the kind of tragedy which should spurn outrage.

Ilan Halimi, rest in peace, your memory lives.

Yahoo News Gets Duped

Thank god for the blogosphere. Otherwise we would all have to depend on MSM's shoddy reporting

From Yahoo News:

Newspaper apologises for cartoons as troops enforce curfews

......
Almost five months after publishing 12 cartoons of the prophet to highlight what it described as self-censorship, the Jyllands-Posten newspaper printed a full-page apology in a Saudi-owned pan-Arab newspaper Sunday.

It was the strongest expression of regret yet from the newspaper, but stopped short of saying sorry for printing the cartoons, instead apologising for the turmoil they caused.

"These drawings apparently hurt millions of Muslims around the world, so we now offer our apology and deep regret for what happened because it is far from the paper's intention," said the statement in Asharq al-Awasat titled "Apology" in big bold letters.

"We did not set out to offend or insult any religion. We apologise for being misunderstood and reiterate that we did not intend to target anyone ... I hope this clears the misunderstanding and God bless," the statement said.

BUT:

Danish paper denies publishing new apology for cartoons in Saudi papers
By Haaretz Service and Reuters

The Danish newspaper that published the Mohammed cartoons said Sunday that it had not published an apology to Muslims in Saudi Arabian newspapers, but that these newspapers had simply republished an apology posted on its web site earlier this month.

Hat tip LGF

The Great Satan at Work

From the AP:

GUINSAUGON, Philippines -- Several dozen U.S. Marines dug through thick mud with Philippine search teams Sunday at the site of a massive landslide as the prospect of finding survivors faded.

The men were part of a 1,000-strong Marine contingent aboard the USS Essex and the USS Harper's Ferry, which sailed to the coast of Southern Leyte province after the Philippines asked Washington to divert some forces that recently arrived for joint military exercises.

Wearing camouflage, they hopped onto a bulldozer that carried them across a shallow stream and to the 100-acre stretch of mud that covered the farming village of Guinsaugon after the side of an neighboring mountain collapsed Friday.

The men used shovels, like Philippine troops and volunteers, out of concern that heavier equipment could cause the unstable mud to shift dangerously.

"Safety is a big concern," said Capt. Jeff O'Donnell of New Orleans, who said that, while his home was destroyed in Hurricane Katrina, "This is my first time to see anything like this."
.....
By the end of the day, about 200 Marines were on the ground, with hundreds more expected to come ashore Monday.

While at the same time:

Left-wing activists staged a peaceful protest on Sunday outside the US Embassy, demanding the withdrawal of American troops who arrived on southern Jolo island to conduct humanitarian projects.

The protesters, who included Muslim activists, also demanded the scrapping of the Visiting Forces Agreement.

So, unlike me to criticize, but maybe these people would have better served their fellow countrymen if they got their hands a little dirty and looked for survivors instead of criticizing the Marines that were. But in a time where cartoons trigger riots and murder, is it any wonder that perspective and reason are wholly ignored?

High Infidelity

Check out the winners of the Infidel Bloggers Alliance Cartoon Contest :

China's Novel Solution to Muslim Fanaticism

Get 'em early. Real early.

Calls for tougher birth control enforcement in China's Muslim west have provoked protests by activists who say such measures would lead to further human rights violations against the region's native Uighur ethnic group.

Hat tip the Religion of Peace.

and DON'T Forget About the Nigerians....

They earn their Muslim props. They got their Islamofascist street cred. Cartoon wars continue:

Thousands of rioters burned 15 churches in Maiduguri in a three-hour rampage before troops and police reinforcements restored order, Nigerian police spokesman Haz Iwendi said. Iwendi said security forces arrested dozens of people in the city about 1,000 miles northeast of the capital, Lagos.

Chima Ezeoke, a Christian Maiduguri resident, said protesters attacked and looted shops owned by minority Christians, most of them with origins in the country's south.

"Most of the dead were Christians beaten to death on the streets by the rioters," Ezeoke said. Witnesses said three children and a priest were among those killed

Is this the beginning of a war?

Check out the Google search for 'Nigerian protests'. Ya have to wonder why the headlines don't read, "Muslims Target Christians", but you already know.

Hat tip via LGF.

Religion of Arson

This time it is the Italian consulate:

TRIPOLI, Libya - The publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad continued to send shock waves around the world Friday as protesters set fire to the Italian consulate in Benghazi, Libya, and clashed with police hours after an Islamic cleric in Pakistan offered a $1 million reward for killing one of the cartoonists.

Libyan security officials said 11 protesters were killed or wounded in the clashes in Benghazi.

An Italian consular official, Antonio Simoes-Goncalves, put the death toll at nine and said several more had been wounded as armed police clashed with a crowd of more than 1,000 demonstrators.

Is it wrong of me not to be upset when I hear about the death toll amongst the protesters?

Dont know why...

Comments are down. You try and make one small change here and the entire look of the blog changes. Uggggh. Working on it.

Hamas' 'New' Charter

From the JTA:

Hamas developing new charter

Hamas officials reportedly are working on a new charter that would give the organization a more moderate tone, while still calling for Israel’s destruction.
The Jerusalem Post reported Friday that Hamas officials are meeting in Beirut and Damascus about amending the charter, including eliminating anti-Semitic language, according to people advising the group. The goal is to reform the language to be more politically oriented as Hamas becomes the majority party in the Palestinian Authority Parliament.

The charter would countenance a long-term cease fire with Israel based on its pre-1967 boundaries, but still would call for the destruction of the Jewish state.

In other words, we still want your land and the annhilation of your race, but we won't call you "filthy, Zionist, Jew scum" while we are plotting against you.

Portgate, the Sale of U.S. Security

A storm is brewing over V's decision to sell the rights to run six major east coast ports to DP World, a state sponsored company run by the United Arab Emirates, a nation whose banks were the source of a great deal of financing for Al Qaeda and other trerrorist organizations. Michelle Malkin does some exensive reporting here.

I did some quick internet searches and came up with a couple of curious information. It seems like as part of the deal to run the ports in the United States, they had to acquire U.K. container ports operator, Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company. To finance the acquisition they had to issue a bond known as a Sukuk, which apparently is a, ho-hum, Sha'ria compliant bond which stands as the largest Sukuk ever issued. The initial bond issue was slated for $2.5 billion but due to strong demand was increased to $3.5 billion with Dubai Islamic Bank and Carclays Capital as the lead issuers. Apparently the Muslim world is excited about getting a piece of the company that will run some U.S. ports. See here for more information about the bond offering.

A little more research led me to this little tidbit of information. A search of Dubai Islamic Bank led me to this article in Business Week:

For regulators tracking bin Laden's funding, the task is hugely complex. For starters, the money originates from abroad. Take those wealthy merchants, construction magnates, or bankers who donate directly to the Islamic militant groups. Security specialists believe they wire funds to bank accounts in places like London, Hong Kong, or Dubai that are held by Islamic charities, businesses, or individuals who front for the militant Islamic groups. In 1999, U.S. intelligence agents reported that Dubai Islamic Bank in the United Arab Emirates was a conduit for bin Laden funds. The bank declined to comment. On Sept. 19, Barclays Bank froze a suspicious account, although the bank says the account was long inactive. Thousands of such accounts could exist.

What does any of this prove? Nothing. But, in the least, it shows that the questions so many have been raising by this deal have some merit and the administration needs more extensive disclosure about how this deal won't affect the security of our nation.

Cheney and Chappaquiddick

I really didn't want to post on this topic, but I have seen so many people calling the hunting accident Cheney's Chappaquiddick that I thought a couple of points needed to be brought up.

R.J. Eskow raises these similarities at the Huffington Post:

1. Someone with a documented history of drinking problems causes a serious accident, and then avoids the authorities for a period of time - one that happens to be long enough to get the alcohol out of his system.

Avoids the authorities? According to the report from the Kenedy County Sheriff's Office, the Sheriff felt there was no need to go out to the ranch until the next morning.

Also, witnesses in Cheney's case recall him having one beer at lunch, more than five hours prior to the estimated time of the accident. Witnesses questioned for the Chappaquidick case attribute at least eight drinks consumed by Kennedy. The lush had been drinking all day.

2. The first stories of the accident are confusing and self-contradictory. (In this case, since Cheney didn't speak himself, the most glaring inconsistencies are Armstrong's. Specifically, she - and now Cheney - describe her as an eyewitness, although she told the Associated Press she thought at first Cheney had suffered a heart attack. That would mean she never saw the shooting.)

When are the first stories of any accident not confusing and self-contradictory? I have no idea why any significance should attach to that. Maybe Katharine Armstrong's affidavit will better clarify what she saw, but to see that somebody had been shot and to think that somebody else had a heart attack are not mutually exclusive propositions. It certainly does not mean that she never saw the shooting.

3. A powerful figure holds himself out as being above the law, and - at least for a time - appears to get away with it.

I dont know when Cheney held "himself out as being above the law". There is nothing in the aformentioned Sheriff's report that gave any indication that the Sheriff or Captain Kirk [sic] believed that Cheney acted improperly.

4. When the powerful person finally speaks, allegedly to 'come clean,' there are still inconsistencies and glaring contradictions in his story

.

He doesn't point out these "inconsistencies and glaring contradictions" so they won't be addressed here.

Mr. Jeskow, the reason conservatives have taken umbrage at the comparison between the hunting accident and Chappaquiddick is because they are so radically disparate. Indications are that Mary Jo Kopechne died not from drowning but from asphyxiation. The diver who discovered her speculated that there could have been as much as hours worth of air in the car and said she was too bouyant to be full of water as a drowning victim would have been. So, Mr. Jeskow, if after having shot Harry Whittington, the Vice President merely walked away, let the man bleed to death, made 17 calls to his spin doctors, and reported the incident to the authorities some 8 or 9 hours later, your comparison would make a great deal of sense. But since it didn't, please don't make yourself look so foolish.

Moral Cowardice

A report from the same people who brought you Moral Equivalence, here is a report on Moral Cowardice:

The Norwegian parliament has amended the Penal Code to criminalize blasphemy in the wake of the republication of Danish cartoons that lampooned Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) by a Norwegian magazine, Christian and Muslim leaders in Norway said on Tuesday, February 14.

"Law 150-A, which has been approved by parliament, criminalizes blasphemy and clearly prohibits despising others or lampooning religions in any form of expression, including the use of photographs," Norway's Deputy Archbishop Oliva Howika told reporters after a meeting in Doha with Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, the head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars.

Howika was among a Norwegian delegation that also included the chairman of the Supreme Islamic Council in Norway, Mohamed Hamdan.

"Under the new law, the crime of blasphemy will be punished either by a fine or imprisonment," Howika said, promising Qaradawi to fax him a copy of the law after being published in the country's official gazette.

BOYCOTT NORWAY

UPDATE: NOT SO FAST MY FRIEND: This from a Norwegian blogger via Dhimmi Watch

Moral Equivalence

In this framework we cannot name the cartoon protests in the Islam countries ‘religious’, however it seems obvious that the Christian fundamentalists and missionaries has tried to abuse the problems between the Muslims and Christians in order to start a clash of civilizations. And it is really difficult to see any difference between Osama Bin Laden and Danish racists and fundamentalists. Both desire to increase the gap between the civilizations and the Western and Eastern media and governments should not allow to be used by these two extremist poles

Remembering Pappy...or Trying to Forget Him

hat tip usclarry.

Ace WWII pilot and Medal of Honor winner Gregory "Pappy" Boyington is an unwelcome memory at the University of Washington, his alma mater. The famed Flying Tigers pilot was credited with having shot down 28 Japanese fighters and was the subject of the 1970's series Baa Baa Black Sheep which documented the unit he commanded. In a debate over erecting a memorial to Mr. Boyington, Ashley Miller bring up the very salient point that there are enough memorial at UW honoring "rich, white men". From Neal Boortz.

A Glimmer of Hope in the Muslim Community

It's refreshing to see at least one group of Muslims say and do the right thing. More power to them.

Muslim institute dares Iranian leader to visit Auschwitz
February 14, 2006

BERLIN -- A Muslim cultural institute in Germany on Monday criticized Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad for disparaging the Holocaust, daring him to visit the Auschwitz concentration camp.

"In this place of horror he can again deny the Holocaust, if he has the courage," a spokesman for the Islam-Archiv-Deutschland Central Institute told the German Catholic press agency KNA.

In recent statements, the hardline Iranian president has dismissed the Nazis' systematic slaughter of mainland Europe's Jews as a "myth" used to justify the creation of Israel and called for the state to be "wiped off the map".

By denying the Holocaust, Ahmadinejad not only denigrated the Jewish victims of the genocide but also the 200,000 Roms and Arabs murdered in the "gypsy camp" of Auschwitz-Birkenau and other camps, the institute spokesman said.

What is the Vegas line on this offer being accepted?

The Wisdom of Oriana Fallaci

I did some light research on Oriana Fallaci, the noted Italian jouralist in anticipation of a post about the controversy over the Dhimmi exhibit American Beauty. FrontPage.com (link via the Infidel Bloggers Alliacne)does an excellent job covering the story so I won't embellish here.

For those not familiar with Ms. Fallaci, I direct you to the Wikipedia entry for her. It is informative and comprehensive. Ms. Fallaci is about to go on trial against the Dhimmi forces in Italy for slandering Islam.

I found some quotes of hers and I thought they were very prescient:

President Bush has said, “We refuse to live in fear.”

Beautiful sentence, very beautiful. I loved it! But inexact, Mr. President, because the West does live in fear. People are afraid to speak against the Islamic world. Afraid to offend, and to be punished for offending, the sons of Allah. You can insult the Christians, the Buddhists, the Hindus, the Jews. You can slander the Catholics, you can spit on the Madonna and Jesus Christ. But, woe betide the citizen who pronounces a word against the Islamic religion.

Or this:

“If we continue to stay inert, they will become always more and more. They will demand always more and more, they will vex and boss us always more and more. ‘Til the point of subduing us. Therefore, dealing with them is impossible. Attempting a dialogue, unthinkable. Showing indulgence, suicidal. And he or she who believes the contrary is a fool.”

These were said well before the current Cartoon Furor. More on her from Common Sense Junction, a very fine libhertarian blog, laughtergeneaology.

dhimmocRAT

This guy is a rat loser in every sense of the word.

Mayor Bloomberg, YOU ARE AN ASS

Largest recorded snowfall in the history of NYC and the public schools are kept open.

Glenn Reynolds to CNN: "You Guys Have Blown It."

Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit fame bareknuckles MSM. One of the best videos I have seen in a while.

Follow the link and check this out.

Ahmadinejad Calls for Peace with Israel - Extends Olive Branch

Oh please. This isn't a fantasy blog. I thought Ahmadinejad was busy judging entries for the Holocaust Cartoon contest, but apparently he is back at the silly pulpit. The rhetoric gets worse;

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Saturday that the Palestinians and "other nations" will eventually remove Israel from the region....

Do the removal of Israel before it is too late and save yourself from the fury of regional nations," the ultra-conservative president said. He once again called the Holocaust a "fairy tale" and said Europeans have become hostages of "Zionists" in Israel.

Cartoon Riots Over. New Enemy Declared

Its Cupid. Michelle Malkin found a new rallying cry for Muslim activists in India which goes right to the heart of the West.

Srinagar, February 10: Nearly two dozen black-veiled Muslim women stormed gift and stationery shops Friday in Kashmir, burning Valentine's Day cards and posters to protest a holiday they say imposes Western values on Muslim youth...

We will not let anyone sell these cards or celebrate Valentine's Day," said Asiya Andrabi, the group's leader, as she held a burning poster in her hand. "These Western gimmicks are corrupting our kids and taking them away from their roots."

You get the drill.

Help out a Needy Sandmonkey

An excellent Egyptian Blog, Rantings of a Sandmonkey is at a bit of a crossroads. For those who might not know, this excellent blogger discovered that an Egyptian newspaper ran copies of the infamous cartoons on October 17, 2005 during Ramadan. Nothing was said. No boycotts ensued. No embassies burned. No rock throwing, no firebombs, etc. etc. It was a telling discovery which has gone a long way in showing the hypocrisy of these protesters but also seems to indicate that the protests themselves are the result of contrivance and manipulation.

This should have been a prominent story in every newspaper. He suspects he lost a lot of pub due to the name of his blog. I tend to agree. MSM worries more about offending than they do factual accuracy. We have all seen it.

He queries his readers as to whether he should change his blog's name. I for one don't think he should. I embrace the whole pajamas concept. Let the MSM snicker at us but let them feel the bite of a Sandmonkey or a Little Green Football.

Stop Him! Or We'll Kill Each Other

Don't worry. my last post didn't mean tht I have gone softie. I still see how ludicrous many Muslims have become in their cartoon furor. This one out of redefines doublespeak:

The Muslim Al-Jinnah Foundation will charge the editor of the Christian weekly Magazinet, the journal that published the controversial caricatures of the prophet Mohammed in Norway, with endangering Norwegian lives. Editor Vebjørn Selbekk and Magazinet staff had no immediate comment on Thursday.

The organization delivered charges to Moss police station at noon on Thursday.

"The police must take Vebjørn Selbekk and put him in a safe place," Al-Jinnah leader Khalid Mohammad told Aftenposten.no. Mohammad emphasized that this remark was not meant as a threat to Selbekk, but rather to the threat Selbekk posed to others.

Mohammad said that Selbekk had endangered Norwegian lives and interests around the world by the provocative decision to publish the caricatures.

"It is frightening that one person through so-called freedom of speech can cause such damage that he nearly sets two worlds up against each other. There are limits for what expressions are acceptable, also in a democracy. This is a case for the police, it cannot be solved by the masses," Mohammad said.

Selbekk and Magazinet are also being accused of blasphemy.

"But this is really also treason," Khalid Mohammad said. "He has damaged Norway abroad. Not least, the publication has resulted in Norwegian soldiers in Afghanistan being injured. We feel for them," Mohammad said, and also noted that innocent Muslims in Norway now feel unsafe, and hat they face greater danger.

Khalid Mohammad said that the Al-Jinnah Foundation is an international network that seeks out Muslim communities when there is danger of unrest.

"Then we tell them that peace is the best road to take. Protests shall use legal means. That is in keeping with Islam," Mohammad said.

Blasphemy, to a religion which is not his own? If I eat pork rind can I also be charged? Treason? Of course, because other Islamists will start murdering Norwegians abroad.

Putting the Brakes on Cartoon Furor

Is there a limit? Does there come a point when we are just too over the top, too antagonistic to those with whom we are at odds? Seeing these cartoon images now on t-shirts, I begin to feel uneasy. I can't see anybody putting on such a shirt doing it for any other reason than to say, "Your religion sucks". Of course I am not questioning the rights of citizens to do such a thing but at some point we are not trying to express our ideas but to hurt those with who we diagree. I see this cartoon freedom movement reaching that breaking point.

Case in point, Peter March, a philosophy professor at Saint Mary's University in Halifax, Canada.

Some of the public passions roused internationally by cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad surfaced in Canada on Thursday with shouting matches erupting at a protest in Halifax, and Muslims in Montreal saying they were worried a weekend protest there could turn violent.

The largely peaceful protest in Halifax turned tense when some Muslim students confronted a professor who has drawn fire for posting the contentious drawings on his office door.

Peter March, a philosophy professor at Saint Mary's University, said he was merely trying to promote a reasoned debate when he suddenly showed up in the midst of 100 protesters.

When the students realized who he was, a group of angry youths started yelling, "Go away!" and "You don't belong here!"

The shouting that ensued, all captured by TV cameras, was precisely the kind of image Canadian Muslim leaders are trying to avoid as governments and religious leaders continue to call for calm amid fears the recent violence has only reinforced Islam's negative image in the West.

There is something about this man which makes me very uncomfortable. He posts the cartoons on his office door then gives out his home address. There is no point to this other than to antagoize Muslim students. Is he looking for a fight or martyrdom? Either one seems overblown, self indulgent and most of all, pointless.

I am not in any way wavering in my support for the newspapers and periodicals which have published the cartoons. I think they are courageous. It appears that most, if not all, did so to reaffirm and vindicate the principle of free expression. They did so with deliberation and thoughtfulness and I suspect without hostility against a religion. The fight must continue as we see liberal countries like Sweden shutting down websites posting the photographs.

Now we are at a point where we can turn down the volume and let the hatred subside. We can still work against those trying to censor speech as a result of this controversy but do so in a way which is not designed to inflame the passion and invoke the anger of the other side. We will never be as repugnant and vile as those calling for holocausts and beheadings. No, but lets not get on the road which leads there.

Italian Riots on the Way?

A grave situation is arising now in Turin. Some there are protesting the opening of the 2006 Winter Olympics, and for good reason:

"These are dirty Games because they have spent huge amounts of money and we don't know what use it will be in the future," one demonstrator called Laura said.

Protesters also shouted opposition to the expected arrival in Turin of U.S. first lady Laura Bush and used the occasion to denounce the construction of a high-speed train link between the city and France and an anti-drug law.

I proclaim solidarity with my oppressed Brothers and Sisters in Italy.

My Gosh!!! Our Government is Spying on Us!!!

Sorry, old news. Project Echelon;

Everywhere in the world, every day, people's phone calls, emails and faxes are monitored by Echelon, a secret government surveillance network. No, it's not fiction straight out of George Orwell's 1984. It's reality, says former spy Mike Frost in an interview broadcast on 60 Minutes on Sunday, Feb. 27.

"It's not the world of fiction. That's the way it works. I've been there," Frost tells CBS News 60 Minutes Correspondent Steve Kroft. "I was trained by you guys," says the former Canadian intelligence agent, referring to the United States' National Security Agency.

The NSA runs Echelon with Canada, Britain, Australia and New Zealand as a series of listening posts around the world that eavesdrop on terrorists, drug lords and hostile foreign governments.

Technorati tag Project Echelon

All Cartoon Politics are Local (But They Really Aren't)

Juan Cole chimes in on the Cartoon outrage;

In a new article on Slate, terrorisme’s great apologist sheds some local light on the recent controversy.

Let’s look closer:

He begins where every left-thinking apologist should, the West:

“Muslim anger has been greatly heightened by the widespread belief that at best the West has treated the Islamic world unjustly and at worst launched a war against it. Muslim anger has been greatly heightened by the widespread belief that at best the West has treated the Islamic world unjustly and at worst launched a war against it.”

If by the war, presumably the war with Iraq, is the reason, then why the hostility against the embassies of Western nations which had no involvement in the war. With viewing the West as a singular monolith, that goes a long way to justifyin decapitating human rights workers in Iraq and murdering an Italian priest. At what point do we step back and say, we understand your 'widespread belief', but it is wrong.

He then takes the Danish Prime Minister to task;

“After the cartoons were published on Sept. 30, right-wing Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen reacted to the angry response by refusing to meet with ambassadors from Muslim countries and sternly lecturing Muslims on their need to put up with the caricatures.”

Rasmussen's decision was wholly justified. It would be terrible precedent for the Prime Minister, in a free society, to grant an audience to a diplomatic brigade because they are offended by the expression of private individuals in a private magazine. What if diplomats from right wing nations demanded an audience of the United States President to answer for the rantings of one Juan Cole?

He continues with some liberal scattershot about racism:

“The colonized still smart from the notorious signs outside European clubs in the colonial era, such as the one in Calcutta that said, "Dogs and Indians not allowed.”

Don’t remember hearing about the Hindu riots. He then takes the Danish magazine for having an interview, with, *gasp*, Daniel Pipes.

When he sheds his racism/imperialism burqa, we get some real insights about how the cartoons are being exploited by moderate elements, in Egypt for example to appease the harder line (to him the religious right, of course). We must always revert back to the Great Satan, this time though about the rise of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt:

The Brotherhood's good showing was an indirect consequence of pressure from the Bush administration, which demanded fairer elections, thus helping polarize Egyptian politics.

The President has no right saying such things. Nice tactic. Blame President Bush for most of the Middle East's ills so you can strip him of legitimacy. Then, because he is illegitimate, criticize for saying even the right things.

He continues detailing local inspirations for the outrage. In Kashmir it is Muslim mistreatment by the Hindus. In Iran, its an attempt to stave of West leaning factions. In Pakistan, it reaffirms “Islamic legitimacy” in the face of liberal reforms.

With insight he remarks:

“Rather than merely an East-West issue or a clash of civilizations, the caricature controversy should be seen as part of a culture war within Muslim societies. Precisely because the issue is distant and not very important, it is a cost-free bandwagon on which everyone can jump in search of greater legitimacy among Muslim publics. There is no downside in the Muslim world to defending the prophet Mohammed from Western insults. Pro-American politicians such as Abul-Gheit can use it to burnish their nationalist image, while Sistani can embrace the campaign as part of his old rivalry with the Sadr movement. The cleric Tantawi can employ it to boost his popularity among the rank and file in Egypt and to offset the popularity of the lay fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood. It can be used to mobilize Muslims in Kashmir who care a great deal more about Indian repression than about Danish newspapers.“

Anger over cartoons is a useful tool to exploit political animosities and polarize political factions.

The ultimate conclusion though shouldn’t be surprising.

“The "global crisis" of which Rasmussen spoke has been exacerbated by the decision of the Bush administration to invade Iraq and throw the region into turmoil. It isn't just about some cartoons. It is about independence and the genuine liberty to define yourself rather than being defined by the imperial West.”

But the conclusion still strays far from the reality. Muslim rage is worldwide, in places like Indonesia, the Philippines, Chechnya and in other places well divorced from the war in Iraq. In Indonesia in particular the demonstrations have been large and violent. I am sure that in every conflict, Mr. Cole could boil it down to Western influence and local politics. But then who is oversimplifying? When will we be allowed to look at the Muslim religion itself, its teachings and its influences. Only then can we get some real insight into Islamic fanaticism.

Juan Cole

Cartoon Riots - Something More Deliberate at Play?

ME watchers have been unable to piece together the political forces at play in the cartoon furor. Up until now we have been watchin the events unfold like a grim sporting event - how many emabssies on fire? how many killed in riots? to publish or not to publish? Their has been very little analysis beyond that.

Lawhawk begins connecting the dots between the Muslim Brotherhood and their involvement in Syrian politics.

breaking*****BOYCOTT EGYPT

...says Egyptian Sandmonkey. He alleges that the offending cartoon in the Egyptian Newspaper Al Fagr in October of 2005. If this pans out, it will be quite a story.

George W. Bush, the Slasher

hat tip hansy

How is it that the MSM always manages to make the President look like he is a hooded Muslim thug about to decapitate a human rights worker. The President is once again a Slasher.

Look at this Google search.

What is he going to slash, you ask? Public broadcasting, that cute little subsidy for rich white folk who get their opera and Moyers, all on one channel. David Boaz, at CATO, did a great job shining light on this wretched form of welfare and the hypocrites who promulgate it in front of the Senate last year.

By an NPR funded study:

One dirty little secret that NPR and PBS don't like to acknowledge in public debate is the wealth of their listeners and viewers. But they're happy to tell their advertisers about the affluent audience they're reaching. In 1999 NPR commissioned Mediamark Research to study its listeners. NPR then enthusiastically told advertisers that its listeners are 66 percent wealthier than the average American, three times as likely to be college graduates, and 150 percent more likely to be professionals or managers.

But perhaps that was an unusual year? Mediamark's 2003 study found the same pattern. As NPR explained, based on the 2003 study:

Public radio listeners are driven to learn more, to earn more, to spend more, and to be more involved in their communities. They are leaders and decision makers, both in the boardroom and in the town square. They are more likely to exert their influence on their communities in all types of ways - from voting to volunteering.

Public radio listeners are dynamic - they do more. They are much more likely than the general public to travel to foreign nations, to attend concerts and arts events, and to exercise regularly. They are health conscious, and are less likely to have serious health problems. Their media usage patterns reflect their active lifestyles, they tend to favor portable media such as newspapers or radio.

As consumers, they are more likely to have a taste for products that deliver on the promise of quality. Naturally, they tend to spend more on products and services.

Specifically, the report found, compared with the general public, NPR listeners are
55 percent less likely to have a household income below $30,000
117 percent more likely to have a household income above $150,000
152 percent more likely to have a home valued at $500,000 or more
194 percent more likely to travel to France
326 percent more likely to read the New Yorker
125 percent more likely to own bonds
125 percent more likely to own a Volvo.

PBS has similar demographics. PBS boasts that its viewers are
60 percent more likely to have a household income above $75,000
139 percent more likely to have a graduate degree
98 percent more likely to be a CEO
132 percent likely to have a home valued at $500,000 or more
315 percent more likely to have stocks valued at $75,000 or more
278 percent more likely to have spent at least $6000 on a foreign vacation in the past year.

Hijab Hijinxs

Steered from the Religion of Peace

IRAN: 74 LASHES FOR WOMEN WHO FAIL TO WEAR THE HIJAB

Tehran, 3 Feb. (AKI) - Judicial authorities in the central Iranian city of Isfahan have announced that women state employees who fail to wear the Islamic hijab or head scarf, face lashing as punishment. Isfahan's director general for Judicial Authority, Mohammad Ansari, apparently wants to apply to the letter an article in Iran's penal code stipulating 74 lashes for women who do not dress according to Islamic law including wearing the chador, the black veil that covers women from head to toe.

My question is, how do they arrive at that number? Was Ahmadinejad huddled up in some back room with a few of his aides smoking huqqa pipes when Ahmed, an Iranian moderate suggested "30 lashes." Mohammad, a hard-liner with strong ties to the Burkha industry angrily retorts, "Blasphemer, how dare you insult the Prophet, Peace Be Upon Him, with your tolerance and understanding, 97 lashes if a single lash." Mahmoud, the Great Compromiser and world's most successful Jew-hater says, "Settle down, settle down, 74 lashes is a fair number, let us agree. We must remember that the women must be available for our needs."

I make light of a grizzly practice and brutality which should shock the conscience and should not be tolerated. I do so out of ignorance. I will never understand how a woman can be repeatedly caned for her outfit. Nor do I see how cartoons could inspire hatred, arson and murder. If Islam is truly a Religion of Peace, the greates disrespect done to it has by been by cretins described in this article.