Friday, February 13, 2009

Santorum: "The gathering storm I have been warning of for years has now formed over the West"

From Jihad Watch:

"Yet instead of fighting the gradual incursion of Sharia and the demands of an intolerant, even militant Islam, Westerners are cowering and fatalistic."

"The Elephant in the Room: Intimidating critics of Islam: Politicians and citizens who raise questions about the religion are targeted," by former Senator Rick Santorum in the Philadelphia Inquirer, February 12 (thanks to Mackie):

[...] And, following a 2008 U.N. resolution urging nations to outlaw "defamation of religion," several nations - including Italy, the Netherlands and France - are attempting to ban "hate speech" against religious groups.

All of these incidents are calculated to intimidate critics of Islam in Europe and across the West. The message in the European Union is clear:Politicians, religious figures, and even private citizens with religiously and politically incorrect opinions will be subject not only to Muslim protest, but to criminal prosecution and violent retribution.

What publisher will print Steyn's next book if it can be labeled a hate crime and banned in most countries? "Pretty soon, your little book is looking a lot less commercially viable," Steyn has said. "At the end of the day, there'll be a lot of . . . American books that will go unpublished here in America."

In addition, these incidents deflect attention away from real - rather than trumped-up - religious discrimination. In the arena of actual persecution of religious minorities, Arab and Islamic nations are much of the problem.

Look at the U.S. State Department's 2008 Report on International Religious Freedom. Among the dozens of limitations on religious freedom in the Arab-Islamic world are the crimes of apostasy - converting from Islam to another religion - and blasphemy against the prophet Muhammad, both punishable by death under Muslim Sharia law. Coptic Christians are, at best, second-class citizens in Egypt; Baha'is are savagely persecuted in Iran; and churches and synagogues are banned in Saudi Arabia, as is any non-Muslim religious activity in public.

This is not a front- or even back-page story in the American press today. Why? Because it has nothing to do with the economy.

The gathering storm I have been warning of for years has now formed over the West. Yet instead of fighting the gradual incursion of Sharia and the demands of an intolerant, even militant Islam, Westerners are cowering and fatalistic. Last year, the Archbishop of Canterbury conceded that acceptance of some parts of Sharia in Britain seemed "unavoidable."


13 comments:

WC said...

Umm...Mr. Santorum, have you read my blog? Been warning for years.

midnight rider said...

WC -- Mr. Santorum is a politician. He doesn't read blogs. I'm not sure he knows they exist ;>) But he should.

That said, living fairly close to where he's from he has been saying these things for quite a long time, just as we have here, at The Gathering Storm etc. I voted for him 3 times and have no regrets. Unlike Specter he is a real Pennsylvania Republican. And he recognizes the threat. Which is part of why he wasn't re-elected.

Pastorius said...

If Rush, Hannity, Prager, O'Reilly, Ingraham, etc. read blogs, then it would not be surprising that some politicians read blogs.

At the very least, they are probably on email lists. Blogs get sent around in emails all the time. Just look at our sitemeter stats. Alot of the hits come from email accounts.

midnight rider said...

It's the you can lead a horse to water bit. They may get them but do they read them. And think about what's there. If they read them I wish they'd start commenting at the sites themselves. We can use the help.

The folks you mention need to read the blogs. It's their base, as it were.

Politicians should take a lesson. Thompson seemed to. He just didn't push it like he should have.

Anyway, Santorum is on the right side here, and has been for a long time. Even if he hasn't noticed us smaller folks.

Abu Abdullah said...

Well, MR, why don't you go to Santorum's house and ask him to read blogs?

Pastorius said...

Ok, listen you two, Abu and MR, here's what you guys remind me of:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RdP3wFDl7U

Pastorius said...

By the way, just a hint, I'm the Eric character in this weird drama you two have going on.

midnight rider said...

I don't know, Pasto. I seem to irritate Mr. Abdullah. Heck, I offered to buy the guy a beer but the True Prophet had no interest. He just seems to have taken a dislike to this humble Infidel.

Hey Abu! Why can't we be friends?!

Beyond that, I guess there's nothing to say ;>)

Pastorius said...

See, I think you guys have a history.

Abu is perfectly polite to everyone but you.

You may not remember what this history is, but he certainly does.

I'll bet you guys crossed paths at Atlas Shrugs' site or something.

midnight rider said...

Could be, Pastorius, although I kinda figured the Big Guy to be an Arianna Huffington fan.

Pastorius said...

Abu Fenton seems like an Ariana Huffington fan to me.

Ariana is the Maria Callas of blogs.

LOL

Abu Abdullah said...

I mean it is a golden opportunity for you to make the acquaintance of Santorum, tell him know about the IBA, see whether he's interested in being hooked into the network, gain another ally who's close by, that sort of thing. You can only do so much on the Internet. Ultimately, you still need to organize locally.

midnight rider said...

Took your advice, Abu. Looked it up and it turns out he lives a great deal further from me than I thought. (Specter lives closer, shudder) However, I have sent him an email to invite him here (copy posted on front page). May follow that up with snail mail and a phone call, depending on what, if any, response I get.

Contact information that I could find is there as well, if you'd like to help chide him here:)