Democracy, Religion(s) and the Clash of Civilizations

In their comments at "Are the ENTS Awakening" -Pastorius and Pim's Ghost at Infidel Blogger's alliance start a thought provoking analysis as to whether it is possible to avoid a cataclysm in which certainly tens of millions, potentially hundreds of millions will die, and perhaps settle less than the crusades did.

It's obvious from the cartoon jihad that the freedom critical to all else in the Bill of Rights, and the constitution, the one which we use as the progenitor for protection of the individual against any tyranny of the majority, or as we have seen in too many nations, the MOB is THE flashpoint. Freedom of speech is blashpemy.

According to the salafi philosophical descendents of Ibn Tamiyya, Sayd Qutb etc., there is going to be no alternative. It's them or us. Period. If they control the destiny of Islam, we might as well brings the men and women home, start the salafi arrests, wahabbi-salafi mosque closures and deportations here at home, and then light off all the Tomahawks, Tridents and Peackeepers today.

However, perhaps letting my liberal slip show, I don't think that's going to be the way to go. I think the answer IS democracy. Democracy, despite the islamozoids winning in Algeria, Hamas, etc. PROVIDING the ballot box remains private, sacrosanct and well used.

We have seen today a drawing back of some European nations from the Eurabia the incredible B'at Yeor has accurately described. Some. Despite the attempts of the left there to portray this as some fascist-esque revival, there are enough there to ensure that policies which have lead populations decadent enough to forgo enough children to remain ALIVE, will now get a thoroughly jaundiced review. We see the pope cut to the heart of the problem (the Quran must be considered to be immutable) several times.

So with issues sharpening and each cycle of values exposure, and 'more intimate' contact between Muslims in our societies, and Muslims dominated nations, and the west, how is a clash to be avoided?

I am absolutely CERTAIN after 4+ years of talking with gulf Arabs every day that about 2/3 are completely against the conscience riving actions of the 1-2% who commit mass murder, and the 30%+ who, in some way either do or would support these actions in the name of 'god' emotionally, or worse support it financially or thru other means. These ~67% of muslim folks have a moral compass in relatively good shape, but cannot stand up to the religious authority(ies) which continually, since it's Muslim Brotherhood ascendance - pound the values of {72 hot chicks in heat to get their hands on you if you die in the cause of killing the people who run around making up laws out of their own heads instead of following "god's" (presumably tesoterone gel is provided after a few days or weeks)}

But these same folks have only one way to repudiate the religious doctrine which their conscience SCREAMS at them cannot be "Islam". The privacy of the ballot box. We may see as we have seen, the election of semi-ignorant loony bigots, but I would remind americans that Robert Byrd still serves in the Senate, and I wouldn't crow to loudly about one Trent Lott. More, just as we have seen with Spain, governments freely elected are always transient. That's true for inimical administrations as well as friendly ones. AS LONG AS ELECTIONS ARE CONTINUALLY HELD. The history of democracies, INSISTS, that people free to vote will always vote for the own welfare, with mistakes to be sure, but that has import. That’s why democracies don’t go to real war with each other. Such a war would clearly be peoples against peoples, not peoples against Bin Laden.

Roads and schools will win out over {72 hot chicks who cannot be proved to exist in waiting}. If the elected govts do not deliver these opportunities, then they WILL get fired. This does not assume “they” are like us, it assumes “they” love their children. This will continuously isolate the zarquoids among the Muslims. Once that happens, humanity wins.

Of course this process seems limited when one considers the galactic twerp of Iran and his mullah madmen circling the well, waiting. We may have to deal with them, or our close allies might. But yet .. one idea out of that conundrum may yield some hope…isolate Iran and admit Israel to NATO.

As Wellington said of Waterloo, ‘it was a near run thing’. So this will all be. Must be.

I have no doubt we are going to the brink. None. I have no doubt before it’s all done we’ll buy more duct tape, and stock clean water. But I hope there is a way there are not too many rats in the cage in this close and closer world.

But there may yet prove to be too many to have religious intolerance and bigotry in close proximity to freedom of speech. I which case, we all know what the end must be. Frankly I have no doubt we would do it.

We did it before just to reduce our fighting men’s casualties and shorten a war. Imagine what we would do to save our society.

Australian Government: If You Believe In Sharia, Go Live Somewhere Else

Today, I keep seeing things that make me think that the Muslim Jihadis have outlasted their welcome. First, we had the Archbishop of Nigeria saying enough violence. Then, we had the Vatican declaring Islam hyprocritical. And now, we have Peter Costello, Treasurer of Australia, telling Muslims who believe in Sharia that maybe they ought to find another place to live.

And, when Muslims complained and demanded censure of Mr. Costello, Prime Minister John Howard said, absolutely not:


Prime Minister John Howard has refused Muslim calls to censure Treasurer Peter Costello over comments he made about Islamic extremists.

And Mr Costello has challenged Muslim leaders to pledge their allegiance to Australia before they criticise him over his comments about citizenship.

Muslim leaders have called for Mr Howard to censure Mr Costello over his speech last night to the Sydney Institute in which he said anyone who believed Islamic sharia law could co-exist with Australian law should move to a country where they felt more comfortable.

Islamic Friendship Association president Keysar Trad said Mr Costello had unfairly singled out Muslims and was promoting division and Islamophobia.

But Mr Howard said Mr Costello’s comments were “fundamentally accurate”. “He’s not trying to stir up hostilities with Islamic people any more than I was when I made some comments three days before the Cronulla riots,” Mr Howard told Southern Cross Broadcasting in Melbourne.

Mr Costello said Muslim leaders should be pledging themselves and their followers to Australian values before they started criticising him.

“Rather than try and censure me ... they should make a clear statement that they subscribe to all of these views - that they are loyal to Australia, they respect the rights and liberties of others, they believe in democratic government and they believe that all Australians should live unequivocally under the one law made by the Australian parliament - and endorse these values and recommend them to their followers,” Mr Costello told Southern Cross Broadcasting.

“Pledge themselves unequivocally to these values first of all, and then call on their followers to pledge themselves unequivocally to these values. This is what I would invite them to do, rather than to criticise me because all Australians should in my view subscribe to these values.”

But Mr Trad said nobody was protesting against Australia’s secular laws through any other means than the normal democratic process.

“We have not asked for sharia law to be imposed,” he told ABC Radio. “I don’t know anyone in this country who is asking for sharia law to be imposed and I don’t known anyone in this country who has rejected the rule of law. I am genuinely hopeful that the prime minister will censure the treasurer over these ridiculous comments, that the treasurer is grossly out of line. Rather than try to promote understanding and harmony in this society, his comments are highly divisive and he is stirring up Islamophobia, and these comments should really be beneath any decent politician.”

Mr Trad said the Muslim community in Australia had disowned Islamic fanatics.

In his speech, Mr Costello said where there was reason to believe people were not truthfully or honestly meeting their citizenship test, there was every right for them to be denied citizenship. He likened entering Australia to entering a mosque, with people entering a Muslim place of worship expected to take their shoes off as a mark of respect.

“If you don’t want to take your shoes off, don’t go into a mosque. If you want to come into Australia, you will be asked respect for its values,” Mr Costello told the Nine Network this morning. “If you don’t have respect for those values, don’t ask to come into Australia. This is what we ask of people. We have to preserve a way of life which makes us the greatest country in the world.”

The Devil and the Deep Green Sea

Straight from the Big Freaking Surprise Department:

The far-right British National Party (BNP) is to distribute a campaign leaflet
featuring the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad which have enraged Muslims around the world.

A party spokesman said on Wednesday the images illustrate how Islam and Western values do not mix but were not intended to cause offence. The BNP leaflet asks "Which Do You Find Offensive? A cartoon of Mohammad with a bomb for a turban or Muslim demonstrators calling for terrorist attacks on Europe and the "extermination' of non-Muslims".

"By showing you just how mild and inoffensive the cartoon is, we're giving you the chance to see for yourself the huge gulf that exists between the democratic values that we share, and the mediaeval views that dominate Islam, even supposedly 'moderate' versions," the leaflet said.

The leaflet can be viewed at the BNP Website here.

That this is so predictable makes it all the more depressing. If the British government allows fanatic mobs to scream for beheadings and murder then the government cannot be surprised when rightists use official passitivity as a campaign issue. If the media rigorously surpresses the cartoons then of course the BNP is going to use them to mobilize voters or just for the shock value and the free press.

The British and other European governments and media cannot simultaneously appease Islamists and marginalize the "far-right." The very act of appeasing Islamists empowers the nationalists. Any compromise with the nationalists would infuriate the Islamists. And I'm sure the Europeans will soon find a way to anger them both.

Since WWII Europe has fought to rid itself of the "far-right, nationalist" Devil. Now Europe is increasingly trapped between the descendents of that Devil and the Islamist deep green sea.

The UAE Port Story Is A Bunch Of Bullshit

If you thought it was strange that all of the sudden Democrats were worried about the security of the United States, you were right to be suspicious.

The Astute Blogger has got the goods.

Now that you know the facts, ask yourself, why would the Dems lie about something so fervently? Well, withe the Dems, isn't it usually about the redistribution of income?

Check out Atlas Shrugs, "It's all about the money."

Video: Mohammed Cartoon Protest in Front of Danish Embassy

Video excerpts from the demonstration are now available for download c/o the NEFA Foundation website (look at the top for the link to "Prophet Mohammed Cartoon Protest").
HT: The Counter-Terrorism Blog

Related:
1- Mohammed Image Archive
2- Flemming Rose: Why I published those cartoons
3- Per Nyholm: We are being pissed upon ("Man pisser på os")

Are The Ents Awakening?

The Vatican has issued a statement calling for Muslims to be more tolerant and less hypocritical:


PARIS (Reuters) - After backing calls by Muslims for respect for their religion in the Mohammad cartoons row, the Vatican is now urging Islamic countries to reciprocate by showing more tolerance toward their Christian minorities.

Roman Catholic leaders at first said Muslims were right to be outraged when Western newspapers reprinted Danish caricatures of the Prophet, including one with a bomb in his turban. Most Muslims consider any images of Mohammad to be blasphemous.

After criticizing both the cartoons and the violent protests in Muslim countries that followed, the Vatican this week linked the issue to its long-standing concern that the rights of other faiths are limited, sometimes severely, in Muslim countries.

Vatican prelates have been concerned by recent killings of two Catholic priests in Turkey and Nigeria. Turkish media linked the death there to the cartoons row. At least 146 Christians and Muslims have died in five days of religious riots in Nigeria.

“If we tell our people they have no right to offend, we have to tell the others they have no right to destroy us,” Cardinal Angelo Sodano, the Vatican’s Secretary of State (prime minister), told journalists in Rome.

“We must always stress our demand for reciprocity in political contacts with authorities in Islamic countries and, even more, in cultural contacts,” Foreign Minister Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo told the daily Corriere della Sera.

Reciprocity — allowing Christian minorities the same rights as Muslims generally have in Western countries, such as building houses of worship or practicing religion freely — is at the heart of Vatican diplomacy toward Muslim states.

Vatican diplomats argue that limits on Christians in some Islamic countries are far harsher than restrictions in the West that Muslims decry, such as France’s ban on headscarves in state schools. Saudi Arabia bans all public expression of any non-Muslim religion and sometimes arrests Christians even for worshipping privately. Pakistan allows churches to operate but its Islamic laws effectively deprive Christians of many rights.


It takes the Ents a long time to discuss and come to a conclusion about anything, but when the cohclusion comes it can create a major shift in society. Let's see if the dam above Isengard is about to come down.

This is how it was, what 2006 may be known for

I think that the year 2006, and even before that, may be famous for when people began to realize many important things.

For example, here in Israel, it could be the understanding of the murderous threat that the Hamas, and also the PLO, impose on the country. That the so-called palestinians voted in such large numbers for the Hamas, to yes, you guessed it, replace the PLO, which many of them probably consider "old-fashioned," for the purpose of destroying Israel, as they're trying to do by firing rockets from Gaza against Ashkelon and the surrounding area.

Put another way, this may have awakened people to the fact that the so-called palestinians, courtesy of all the Islamic indoctrination they've been put through, do not want to live in peace and co-existence with Jews/Israelis.

In Europe, there's the awakening to the Islamic threat that now looms over the continent, especially in France, where the large scale riots took place. And with the organized incitement against Denmark over the cartoons, you could say that that's one more sign as to how people are coming to understand the true nature of Islam.

This leads to another important point: that not only are people awakening to the Islamic threat, but that, as the bold steps to republish the cartoons in various newspapers that have done so, in order to give the public the chance to judge for themselves, has shown that some are aware of the fact that we cannot let ourselves and free speech be cowed by threats of violence.

And with Dubya's sellout of US seaports without prior notice to the public and the representatives of Congress, I think that could tell that people are beginning to understand not only the threat that the United Arab Emirates poses (see this item from the Counterterrorism Blog for more), were the deal to go through, but also that, if a Democratic president like Bill Clinton can be unreliable, so can a Republican president like Dubya, who may have ruined his credibility even more by threatening to veto attempts to block the deal. And it's a good thing that our elected officials have all joined together as one in order to protest the deal.

And also just as impressive is that, there's even an "Army of Davids" that's come to protest the deal, and that may be one of the most helpful factors in stopping it from going through.

I'm sure there'll be plenty more that 2006 will be famous -- or notorious -- for, and time will tell what'll come next.

The New York “Stuck-on-Treason” Times and the Recent Spate of Terrorist Arrests

There is a variety of news stories out in the last week, all concerning the roll up of various Islamic terrorist cells operating in the United States. Unfortunately, the UAE-DPO story is taking up most of the room, so these real, right here, right now stories are getting short shrift.

Little Green Footballs had a brief item up yesterday; it was confirmation of an earlier account with more details, sent to us by an informed reader.

A number of people are concerned about the actual day-to-day terrorism activities of Middle Easterners in the United States, both naturalized citizens of our country and those here on visas. One of our readers, whose job touches on domestic intelligence activities, has learned to keep her eyes open when traveling. This has taught her more than she wants to know.

Recently she said she encountered a situation that made her most uncomfortable: right off the interstate, in North Carolina, she stopped to get gas. The station had underpriced their product substantially, so of course it did a good business. What she noticed, though, was the existence of five or six major phone trunk lines running into the building. “ In the middle of nowhere in North Carolina”, she said.

Here’s how she thinks the operation works: say Uncle Ahmed in Pakistan calls this gas station. He speaks some code sentence — say, for example, “Aunt Khalifa is having a baby.” Or any news of a family nature. The receiver of the call places a call himself, repeating the code sentence. This message gets passed down the line who-knows-how-many-times, by landline, disposable cell phones, whatever. And by our lily-white rules, NSA may only listen to the first call. Anything else has been ruled off the turf as “invasion of privacy.”

The upshot of the whole situation is that terrorists have the perfect environment in which to operate without interference. The only help we do have is British intelligence, which is not so hamstrung as we are. Our friend says that the domestic calls — because phones use satellites to function — are vulnerable to the complex system of intercepts the British have established. Thus, they may pass information on to us and we may listen to it. Fortunately, there is as yet no law against a little help from our friends.

Now, in the past week, we have this rash of news stories, carried briefly by the MSM and then dropped in favor of the port security star stories, of various operations being brought to a halt by the FBI and other intelligence agencies. Here’s the one from Lousiana:

FBI Raids Middle Eastern Owned Convenience Stores and Service Stations

The FBI is conducting a large scale investigation into north Louisiana convenience stores with ties to the Middle East. As TV8's Gina Swanson reports the Department of Homeland Security is in on the sting operation involving stores in at least four parishes.

They seized evidence by the box full. The FBI on Wednesday searched at least a half dozen convenience stores in North Louisiana. All with ties to the Middle East. The probe led agents to stores in Tallulah, Lake Providence, Monroe and Ruston. Law enforcement sources confirm that the stores are suspected of involvement in money laundering or counterfeiting. The Department of Homeland Security has sent agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or Ice, to work the case. At each station, agents seized boxes of evidence and retrieved at least one weapon. Police sources say at least some of the gas station operators are from Yemen, an Arab country located just south of Saudi Arabia

ULM history professor John Sutherlin believes the Arab heritage of the convenience store owners could make them a convenient target for terror suspects:

"Anytime Arab or Muslim people are involved people immediately think it must be terror related or have some connection to 9-11," Sutherlin says. [when Arabs are involved in money laundering and counterfeiting rings who in their right mind doesn’t believe it’s terrorism-related?? Oh. Right. This quote is from someone at the local college…should have known —Dymphna]

The investigation reaches beyond Louisiana. TV8 news — the carrier for the previous story— confirmed the FBI and department of homeland security Wednesday also raided stores in Buffalo, New York.

Here’s another TV report, from the commenters at LGF. This one is from Little Rock:

Six people who live in Bryant have been charged by the U.S. attorney with something called money structuring. They operate two Little Rock gas stations, where officials say they were illegally sending money to the Middle East.

The three husband-wife teams are charged with sending $300,000 to dozens of people in the Middle East.

The FBI raided the Shell Station on Markham last November as part of the investigation. After the long investigation six men and women, four U.S. citizens and two legal residents, face charges that could land them in prison and cost them their businesses.


[…]

The main charge is money structuring. That's described as purchasing bank checks in amounts slightly below the $3,000 federal limit that requires having to identify yourself. “Structuring cash” transactions avoid triggering the filing of reports or record keeping by a bank.

U.S. Attorney Bud Cummins says, “The ability to track large sums of money sent overseas is a vital part of investigating crimes that may impact out national security. So, when people intentionally evade these laws, they're undercutting our safety.”

[…]

One husband-wife team is also charged with defrauding the state child welfare system. They're accused with hoarding more than $100,000 cash in their home, but lying about their income on state documents.

And to round it out, The Middle Ground has a long story about an Ohio plot:

CLEVELAND - Three Muslim men from the Middle East were charged Tuesday with plotting terrorist attacks against U.S. and coalition troops in Iraq and other countries.

[…]

Mohammad Zaki Amawi, 26, is accused of threatening in conversations to kill or injure Bush. He also is charged with distributing information about making and using bombs.

The others are Marwan Othman El-Hindi, 42, a U.S. citizen born in Jordan; and Wassim I. Mazloum, 24, who came to the United States from Lebanon in 2000…

Her story is much longer than this and has some disturbing elements regarding the manufacture and use of car bombs by one of the people she names, a car dealer in Toledo.

The Middle Ground says that Toldeo has a large Muslim population and reminds us that this was the base for KindHearts, the Hamas-front charity that was recently closed down. Then she notes this about the terrorist plotters:

It's very likely that this operation was brought to an abrupt end due to the NSA surveillance program being outed in the NYT. According to deputy director of the FBI, Joe Pistle, "enhanced surveillance" was part of the operation. Considering that the investigation efforts appear to have gone on for over six months with the man already delivering "laptops" to the "mujihadeen brothers", which would have been plenty to take him and the others in for material support, it seems that investigators were trying to discover the other connections. The issue with warrantless wire taps may have forced them to roll up the investigation earlier than planned.

Her deductions are reasonable, and it may be why those places in Little Rock, the parishes of Louisianna, and Buffalo, New York were also “rolled up.”

If Lincoln were President, half The New York Times would be where they belonged: in jail with the terrorists. With citizens like them, who needs terrorists to bring the country down?

The cyberterrorism caused by the cartoons

Pim's Ghost has posted over this issue here. My colleague AMDG have already posted about Michelle Malkin Blog being attacked by hackers. Via Fu2rman, we have another news about it.

The Counterterrorism Blog also posted this case of cyberterrorism:

This morning, I received an e-mail from CT Blog fan Ms. Tracy Twyman in Portland, OR, in response to my report yesterday about a hacking of a Seattle-area website by Muslim cyber-terrorists (that's what I'm calling you, get used to it) - quoting her below with edits for the links:

"Thanks for covering the story about the cyberterrorists. If you're keeping a list, you might like to know that my websites, Dragon Key Press and Plus Ultra Blog, were hacked about 1 and a half weeks ago, because I was republishing the Mohammed cartoons, as well as other incindiary material. Both websites were down for about a day until our web host was able to fix it. To tell you the truth, I never thought about going to the police or the FBI about it. I assumed they wouldn't do anything.

I did come across some interesting info though. Lately my website has received frequent visits from people in Turkey clicking links to the site that have been posted on two separate forums, each of them clearly forums for Islamic cyberterrorists. They are here and here. I was not able to get into these forums to see what they were saying about my website, but I can only assume they were discussing plans of attack. I thought you might be interested in this information."

This afternoon, a very interesting follow-up from Tracy (thanks Tracy!), which I hope will attract attention from law enforcement and ideas from other knowledgeable CT Blog fans:

"This morning, yet another person from Turkey visited plusultrablog.com from yet another Islamic hacker forum. If you go to the main page here, you can see that that's exactly what it is.

The administrator of Nordish.net wrote this to Michelle Malkin:

I've just read your blog entry about the coordinated hacking attacks from the Islamic world. They targeted my site on the same day they targeted zombie's. I know where they are launching one of their main attacks from. There is an Islamic hacking message forum that coordinates these attacks, apparently. I saw the IP addresses that accessed my site, and it matched those who spammed and flooded my site. My site was offline for 5 hours 2 days ago, and 3 hours yesterday... 2 hours today. Fortunately my host has been very helpful and we have inserted those malignant IP's into our firewall. So far so good... Anyway, here is the site that has been coordinating attacks against the Mohammed Image Archive.

What is striking (or not?) is that the web from which both attacks were made is http://www.cyber-security.org/CW/Forum/ from Turkey...

Even Al Qaeda has a "University" to teach this kind of things:

If you read Arabic and want a degree in jihad, click on www.al-farouq.com/vb/. If you're lucky--the site disappears and reappears--you will see a post that belongs to the Global Islamic Media Front (GIMF). It announces the "Al Qaeda University of Jihad Studies." According to Ahmad al-Wathiq Billah, the GIMF "Deputy General Emir," students "pass through faculties devoted to the cause of the caliphate through morale boosting and bombings," and the site offers specialization in "electronic, media, spiritual and financial jihad."

The Internet has long been essential for terrorism, but what has surprised experts is the growth of such Islamist (radical Islam) and jihadist sites. Their continuing rise suggests that recruitment for a "holy war" against the West could proceed unabated, despite capture of key leaders.

The jihadist places have developed important ways to defend themselves, although there has been succesful attacks against them. But Bush told them that the "Patriotic Hackers" were still Hackers and, as such, they were going to be punished accordingly. (via Kokonut Pundits).

Also treating this issue: Kim Priestap, Dust My Broom, The Scratching Post, Iowa Voice, Junkyardblog, Viet-Justice,

Tags: caricaturas, cartoons, ciberterrorismo, cyberterrorism

(Crossposted at Eurabian News)

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Nigerian Archbishop: Let Us Remind Our Muslim Brothers They Do Not Have A Monopoly On Violence

A statement from the Archbishop of Nigeria:


Having watched with sadness and dismay the recent development in some States in the Northern part of this Country where many Christian Churches and other property have been wantonly destroyed by some Islamic fundamentalists, the Christian Association of Nigeria is compelled to issue the following statements:

From all indications, it is very clear now that the sacrifices of the Christians in this country for peaceful co-existence with people of other faiths has been sadly misunderstood to be weakness.

We have for a long time now watched helplessly the killing, maiming and destruction of Christians and their property by Muslim fanatics and fundamentalists at the slightest or no provocation at all. We are not unaware of the fact that these religious extremists have the full backup and support of some influential Muslims who are yet to appreciate the value of peaceful co-existence.

That an incident in far away Denmark which does not claim to be representing Christianity could elicit such an unfortunate reaction here in Nigeria, leading to the destruction of Christian Churches, is not only embarrassing, but also disturbing and unfortunate. (Pastorius note: Wow, that's a sublime understatement.)

It is no longer a hidden fact that a long standing agenda to make this Nigeria an Islamic nation is being surreptitiously pursued. The willingness of Muslim Youth to descend with violence on the innocent Christians from time to time is from all intents and purposes a design to actualize their dream.

It is sad to note that all acts of hostility meted against Christians by Muslims in the past have remained unaddressed with nobody paying compensations or the culprits brought to justice. We do appreciate the fact that at this stage of our national development, peace is absolutely necessary for realizing our dreams and aspirations. It is in view of this that Christians in Nigeria agreed to participate in the forthcoming National Census as sacrifice for the peace and progress of this nation, in spite of our protest over the non-inclusion of Religion and Ethnicity as necessary demographic data.

May we at this stage remind our Muslim brothers that they do not have the monopoly of violence in this nation. Nigeria belongs to all of us – Christians, Muslims and members of other faiths. No amount of intimidation can change this time-honoured arrangement in this nation. C.A.N. may no longer be able to contain our restive youths should this ugly trend continue.

We now demand that further destruction of Christian Churches and property in this nation be permanently put to an end.

All levels of Government in this country should take adequate steps to protect the lives and property of Christians everywhere in this land as no further destructions will be tolerated or ignored.

The Federal Government and those States where Christian Churches have been destroyed are hereby urged to take urgent steps at rebuilding those structures and paying adequate compensation while assuring Christians of adequate protection in this country. These governments should now show in practical terms that Nigeria belongs to all of us by going beyond mere promises of rebuilding destroyed Churches and property as in the past to actual reconstruction, which will help the victims to quickly put this unfortunate incident behind them. A stitch in time saves nine.

Signed

Most Revd. Peter J. Akinola (CON, DD.) President, Christian Association of Nigeria

Rally for Freedom of Speech (London)

Yes, a real one it seems this time.

March for Free Expression

A Rally in Trafalgar Square between 2:00pm and 4:00pm on Saturday March 25th 2006. Depending on estimates of numbers, the details of a march to Trafalgar Square will be announced on March 15th 2006.

Check out the blog. I'm there. Reckon I should get one of those t-shirts?

Leftie Stops By IBA - His Conclusion? The Right Is Winning The Cartoon Wars

A guy named Robert Lindsay stopped by IBA the other day. I wouldn't have found out about his blog if it weren't for the fact that he linked to us. Anyway, here's how Mr. Lindsay describes himself:


Independent Left journalist in California. Revolutionary, Christian, Pan-Arabist, liberation theology, antiauthoritarian, civil libertarian, mixed economy, Sandinistas, Hugo Chavez. BA Journalism, MA Linguistics, business owner, Green Party, Communist Party USA.


I like that. He sounds like a very eclectic guy. He's a Christian, like me. He's a business owner, like me. And, he's a member of the Communist Party.

I wonder if he's ever heard of the saying, "Property is Theft."

But, that's besides the point, for the most part.

Anyway, you've got to check out what he has to say about the Cartoon Jihad:


Those on the Left or in the Muslim community who think the Cartoon Wars have benefited either of us are terribly mistaken. The Cartoon Wars have been a shot in the arm for the Right in the US, Israel and Europe and they have been catastrophic for Islam. Sure, the Muslim Brotherhood, the Salafis, the jihadists and all of their primitivist ilk are milking this thing for everything they can.

But for moderate, sane Muslims, for the Muslim World in general, and for the Left in the West, the Cartoon Wars are bad news.

The Left has ended up siding with a bunch of primitivist, misogynistic, reactionary, Medievalist dolts who have been slaughtering our comrades for decades now.

Islam looks like a bunch of crazed, idiotic, intolerant children who have no place in modern society.

The only possible consequences of the Cartoon Wars are increased support among non-Muslims for the War on Terror (War on Muslims), and increased support for the Muslims' worst enemies in Israel, the US, Britain, Russia, India and the nativist Right in Europe. The sensible European citizen figures the sane thing to do is to side with the anti-immigrant Right instead of the Islamist-accomodating Left.


I agree with Mr. Lindsay on two things there. The cartoon Jihad is a disaster for the Left (and for the Jihadis), and the Left has ended up siding with people who go counter to their professed beliefs in human rights.

Mr. Lindsay goes on to say:


I have been perusing various rightwing sites about the cartoon conflict, since the best news about the cartoons comes from rightwing sites.

Those sites include The American Thinker, Face of Muhammad, Infidel Blogger's Alliance, Gina Cobb, Tiger Hawk, Thomas the Wraith, Pedestrian Infidel, Gates of Vienna, CUANAS, hmmh..., Cox and Forkum, No Dhimmitude, The Fu2rman and Western Resistance. They have all covered the Cartoon Wars very well.

All of these sites are rightwing and they are all, or almost all, strongly anti-Islam. Most are also strongly anti-Muslim. I would argue that most of these sites cross the line into anti-Muslim bigotry.


I think Mr. Lindsay will be happy to know that the ONLY Muslims I have a problem with are the "primitivist, misogynistic, reactionary, Medievalist dolts who have been slaughtering our comrades for decades now."

In fact, while there are a few contributors here at IBA who would say that Islam is the problem, and not, as I say, that Islamic Jihadism is the problem, I think all of us would agree that,

1) if a Muslim does not believe in violent Jihad against the Infidel
2) if a Muslim does not believe women should be wrapped in burqas, and given no choices in their lives
3) if a Muslim does not believe in stoning gays, adulters and apostates, and alll the other "medivalist" strictures of Sharia

then none of us have a problem with the Islam of this Muslim.

The problem is, there are several governments (very powerful governments) in the Islamic world who allow, and in some cases, enforce these kinds of philophies (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Syria, the Palestinian territories), and this needs to stop.


Mr. Lindsay also noted the following about us bigots:


These sites have some other commonalities.

They all support the Zionist Jewish settler-colonial invader entity in Palestine called "Israel" and its illegal war on the Palestinian people. They all despise the Palestinians, the original natives of the land who were displaced by Zionist colonization. They all state, echoing Golda Meir, that there is no such place as Palestine.

No, I don't deny that there is not a people called the Palestinians. If there were not, then the Jordanians and the Egyptians would not know who to keep out of their lands. The King of Jordan would not have known who to slaughter back in 1972. And, people like you wouldn't know who to give aid to now.

What most of us believe (and some of us articulate) is that there has never been a country called Palestine. And, the aspriring governments of the Palestinian people have been more concerned with destroying Israel, and killing Jews, then they have been with actually building a country.

And, somehow, that makes the folks who make up those governments look like "primitivist, reactionary, Medievalist dolts."

Interesting how that works, huh?

As for there being no country called "Israel," well, there was a country called Israel a couple thousand years ago, and a people called the Jews chronicled the history of that country, and their loss of it's land. And, after having been slaughtered repeatedly by the people of Europe, and, after their Sephardic brothers having maintained a presence in the land for thousands of years, the Jews moved back, and were granted a land by the British, and later by the United Nations.

That's what we say, Mr. Lindsay.

So now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to polishing my gun, and thinking up racist jokes about towelheads.

Funny thing is, I used to be a Leftie, until I saw how my friends were siding with the worst of the worst.

Maybe, Mr. Lindsay is at the same tipping point I found myself at a few years back.

URGENT ALERT - New Terrorist Group OGAJ blows up mosque in Iraq !!!

Iran: U.S., Israel Destroyed Iraqi Shrine
TEHRAN, Iran

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed the United States and Israel on Thursday for the destruction of a Shiite shrine's golden dome in Iraq, saying it was the work of "defeated Zionists and occupiers."

Speaking to a crowd of thousands on a tour of southwestern Iran, the president referred to the destruction of the Askariya mosque dome in Samarra on Wednesday, which the Iraqi government has blamed on insurgents.

"They invade the shrine and bomb there because they oppose God and justice," Ahmadinejad said, referring to the U.S.-led multinational forces in Iraq.

"These passive activities are the acts of a group of defeated Zionists and occupiers who intended to hit our emotions," he said in a speech that was broadcast on state television. Addressing the United States, he added: "You have to know that such an act will not save you from the anger of Muslim nations."

Uh oh, that means the associations of jews, zionists and crusaders, the FREEMASONS, (or OGAJ ..oppose God and justice) let one go public. I think it was the Green Mountain Brigades, Patrick Henry General Command of the Larry Fine death squad mujahids

This is so shocking. Jews and crusaders blamed for something muslims/arabs/salafis/jihadists do to other muslims/arabs/salafis/jihadists.

Demonstration in Kuwait

This was a scene in Kuwait City as a crowd was gathering to stage a demonstration agains the Iraqi mosque bombing. The crowd was gathering and police had set up a road block to ensure that people would not park their cars badly (drivers are bad here). They gathered for a while and chanted. Then they dispersed. The only difference they made was to the co-op (supermarket) nearby where there were many customers at the end of the demo.

CAIR: "Freedom of speech is not absolute"

This is CAIR in their truest form. They have weighed in on the Cartoonifada, and I for one don't like what I'm hearing.

From :http://www.dailypennsylvanian.com/vnews/
display.v/ART/43faca56c0edd?in_archive=1

Panelists weigh in on cartoon controversy
Some express need for broader democracy; others say free speech is necessarily limited
By sameer khetan
February 21, 2006

Six local Islamic figures gathered Saturday for a panel to address the recent controversy over the Danish cartoons that negatively depict the Islamic prophet Muhammad

The Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations sponsored the event, which took place in Houston Hall.

The discussion -- held in a town-hall style and followed by an audience Q & A -- covered a variety of topics, focusing largely on the alleged marginalization of minorities in Western media and culture.

"We need to analyze what democracy means and to recognize and represent not just the majorities but the growing minorities as well," Philadelphia CAIR vice-chairman Sofia Memon said. "In view of this, we need to ask how to broaden our democracy instead of narrow it."

During their introductory speeches, several panelists denounced the cartoons as slanderous while discussing limitations on free speech.

"People have every right to give an opinion on something," Rachel Lawton, executive director of the Philadelphia Commission on Human Relations, said. "You cross the line when you threaten, intimidate or harass, and that is when free speech is limited."

CAIR board member Mazhar Rishi agreed.

"The right to free speech is not absolute," Rishi said. "It does not give a right to defame Prophet Muhammad or any other" religious figure.

Audience members praised the panel as productive and important.

"In terms of spreading awareness and understanding of events like the cartoon controversy, this panel was a great step," Philadelphia Piece Action Director Phyllis Gilbert said.

"Overall the event ... was very informative," College and Wharton sophomore Samir Malik said. "That Islam must respect the freedom of others to express what they feel while simultaneously condemning the slander about the [Prophet Muhammad] was right on key."

Despite the widespread outrage the cartoons have caused among some groups, panelists and audience members agreed that there is a role for dialogue and tolerance in rebuilding burned bridges.

"We as Americans must show tolerance to all faiths," Rishi said. "Whether we are Christians, Jews, Muslims, Hindus or any other religion we must spread ideals of faith and love because that is what our faiths tell us to do."

***********************

Oh yeah, Rishi? I'd say otherwise. And if you guys would like to say otherwise as well, here is, as always CAIR's contact info:

Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, DC 20003

Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
Email: cair@cair-net.org