Isaac Schrödinger

Salman Hossain: Just Your Average Muslim

National Post:

"The promotion of hate and violence has no place in Canadian society, and it is an offence under the Criminal Code," Stockwell Day, the Minister of Public Safety, responded when shown a sample of the postings. "Our government carefully balances the right to freedom of expression with our duty to protect Canadians from harm."

Alarm bells about the online writings went off last September after German authorities arrested three Islamic militants accused of planning to bomb the Ramstein Air Base and Frankfurt International Airport.

That same day, Salman Hossain posted several messages about the plot on the comment board of a Toronto-based Internet site where he is a frequent contributor.

The lovely prose:

"I hope the German brothers were gonna blow up US-German bases in their country. We should do that here in Canada as well. Kill as many western soldiers as well so that they think twice before entering foreign countries on behalf of their Jew masters," he wrote.

"Any and all Western soldiers getting prepared to enter Muslim nations like Afghanistan or Iraq should be legitimate targets by any and all Islamic militants either in the attacked nations or in the western nations --if there were any planned attacks against Canadian/ American soldiers by 'Muslim militants' in Canadian soil, I'd support it," he added.

There's a lot more if you have the stomach for it.

Thunderpack!

Cnet:

The Thunderpack model TP-R2G2, created by Thunderbolt Aerosystems, just might be the closest thing available to the rocket-powered jet pack of your childhood science fiction fantasies.

Sure, it can fly only for 75 seconds--and that's the upper end--but its creators hope that further research and development may make jetpacks a viable solution for everything from forest fire control to business commutes.

It'd be so cool to levitate.

Don't Touch This

It's not cool.

Time To Let Go

Amil Imani:

As a group, Muslims are paranoid and suffer chronically from the disease of victimization. That is, they either victimize the helpless whenever and wherever they can, or scream murder against the strong. This mentality is one of the many bequests that Muhammad left for his Ummah.

Recall that Muhammad himself bemoaned his victim plight in Mecca, packed his bags and fled to Medina where the Jews were not as vicious as his own Quraish tribe operating the lucrative tourist business of the idolaters.

Then the infighting started in earnest among the various factions, as soon as Muhammad died. People began jockeying for power and doing their Muslim-best to destroy their competition. Ali, Muhammad’s son-in-law was elbowed out of the way by the more powerful disciples of the Prophet and had to wait his turn to head the already fractured and feuding Ummah.

Fun!

Later, Imani boils it down so superbly:

Well, the Yazid-Hussein bloody drama was some 1400 years ago. Isn’t it time to let go? Why is it, particularly to Iranian Shias, that they just keep on continuing and promoting the tragic events associated with two Arabs fighting for personal power?

More to the core: Why do Muslims, after 1400 years, continue to worship an irrational, immoral, psychotic Arab?

Link via Free Thoughts.

Those Evil Infidels

Dhimmi Watch: Yusuf al-Qaradawi to be granted visa for medical treatment in Britain.

Just a few questions for al-Qaradawi: First, having previously traveled to France for medical care, why is it that you find yourself dependent on the West for advanced care? Why not Riyadh? Or Cairo, Dubai, or Islamabad? Second, having defended the execution of homosexuals, suppose while you're getting medical care in the West, a gay doctor saves your life. Would you rather he didn't? Should he still have to die?

Of course. One can substitute gay for ex-Muslim and the answer would still be the same. It simply doesn't matter how moral, rational, smart, nice or productive the individual is; if Islam demands your death, then that's it. Islam, to them, is morality.

Anyway, the more important question is: What the hell is wrong with Britain?

The Cycle of Infatuation

It keeps on going.

"Ominous Moon Rising"

Bruce Bawer:

One day last month, I gave a talk in Rome about how the supposedly liberal ideology of multiculturalism has made possible the spread in Europe of the highly illiberal ideology of fundamentalist Islam, with all its brutality and – among other things – violent homophobia. When I returned to my hotel, I phoned my partner back home in Oslo only to learn that moments earlier he had been confronted at a bus stop by two Muslim youths, one of whom had asked if he was gay, started to pull out a knife, then kicked him as he got on the bus, which had pulled up at just the right moment. If the bus hadn’t come when it did, the encounter could have been much worse.

Bawer goes on to detail the adamant blindness of Europe when it comes to doing something about the cause of this intolerance.

Here's an example of that cause:

Take Norway’s Asghar Ali, deputy chairman of Norway’s Islamic Council. Ali, who also holds high-ranking positions in Norway’s ruling Labor Party and in the powerful Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, and has worked in an advisory capacity on the government’s Equality and Anti-Discrimination Ombud, would seem to be a model of successful assimilation. Yet at a November 2007 debate arranged by the gay student organization at the University of Oslo, he refused to reject the death penalty for gays. When asked about this issue, the head of the Islamic Council, Senaid Kobilica, said that Norwegian Muslims needed to discuss it and consult religious authorities. “While this process is underway,” Kobilica said, “I ask for understanding and respect for the fact that I am unable to comment, either about my personal position or about the position of the Islamic Council of Norway.” Understanding and respect, that is, for his unwillingness to say flat out that he did not believe gay people should be murdered.

Link via Clayton Cramer.

Even One Cocktail is Too Many

A well-aimed bullet is a proper response in this case.

Modernity + Islam

Secret Dubai Diary:

Some time ago an associate working in finance in a certain Gulf state was handling a large investment being made by a supposed national institution. However when the funds transfer documentation arrived, it had no apparent connection in any way to that government institution. There was no reference to it by name anywhere.

Instead, the funds came from a private bank account in an offshore tax haven, identified not even by a name but by a string of obscure initials. The associate eventually worked them out as being the intitials of the names of the children of the ruler of that particular Gulf state.

Do read the last paragraph.

Is That Halaal?

A visitor from Pakistan.

I Wouldn't Trust This Guy

Those wicked eyes give him away.

What Do We Tolerate?

All Headline News:

A de facto ban on the construction of Islam-inspired architecture may be underway in a state in Austria, known for its far-right politics. Carinthia has a draft law that prohibits the building of mosques, minarets and similar designs that radically are different from the traditional genre of the place.

Kashmiri Nomad comments, sarcastically:

I think this Austrian city has got the wrong end of the stick. Do they not realise that it is only meant to be the Muslims who are intolerant of other faiths?

What do you think? Is it appropriate for Western society to halt the construction of a mosque if it will be architecturally grotesque or for any other reason?

Appease to Please

Mark Steyn:

My favorite headline of the year so far comes from The Daily Mail in Britain: "Government Renames Islamic Terrorism As 'Anti-Islamic Activity' To Woo Muslims."

They just earned the contempt of Muslims.

A few days ago, a pre-trial hearing in an Atlanta courtroom made public for the first time a video made by two Georgia Tech students. Syed Haris Ahmed and Ehsanul Islam Sadequee went to Washington and took footage of key buildings, and that "casing video" then wound up in the hands of Younis Tsouli, an al-Qaeda recruiter in London. As the film shot by the Georgia students was played in court, Ehsanul Islam Sadequee's voice could be heard on the soundtrack: "This is where our brothers attacked the Pentagon."

"Allahu Akbar," responds young Ahmed. God is great.

The poor fellow doesn't even know he's being anti-Islamic.

He's Trouble

Just look at that second photo.

Masters of PR

The Sandmonkey:

In order to effectively invade a country (what do you call the blowing up of borders and the forced entry of hundreds of thousands of foreigners if not an invasion), what you need to do is put the women and children in the front. This way, the people on the border you are trying to get over would be forced to shoot at women and children in order to stop you. And if you are Egyptian considering this as some sort of exaggeration of the situation, one has to wonder what your reaction would've been if the people blowing up our borders and storming in were Israelis: would it still be ok in your books?

More:

A Palestinian-american friend of mine just came back from visiting his grandparents in Gaza ( just jumped over the fence and back he said, no one is controlling the borders apparently), and he was telling me how the entire "they are hungry people looking for food" headline story is a crock of shit.

Who cares if it's true or not. As long as it makes the Jews look bad, it's cool.

I Can't Please Everyone

A visitor to my blog today was disappointed. Very disappointed.

Victory Over Strain

The Weekly Standard: How Bush Decided on the Surge.

"If you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly."

On the idiocy of the State Department:

Instead of a surge, the State Department favored a strategy of pulling troops out of Baghdad and allowing the Sunnis and Shia to finish their bloody struggle. When Bush heard about this idea, he rejected it out of hand. "I don't believe you can have political reconciliation if your capital city is burning," he said.

Not to mention the severe political consequences for President Bush had he agreed to such a hideous plan.

They Don't Like Their Own Medicine

Ezra Levant:

My lawyer has received two upset calls from the Alberta Human Rights Commission. The first, from Shirlene McGovern herself, complained about the publicity she is receiving. I'm surprised at her reaction -- you'd think someone who regularly interrogates citizens about their private political views would be comfortable with the concept of public scrutiny. Imagine if she actually had to expose her private thoughts, not just her public actions as a government officer.

She's entitled to her opinions, that's for sure.

A few days later, another commission officer called my lawyer, complaining about this blog. I told my lawyer to invite them to write a letter to the editor to me. I haven't received it yet, so I presume they're just going to file another human rights complaint against me.

Excellent.

At the end Levant takes on the Canadian Jewish Congress for their embarrassing and muddled attempt at supporting such commissions. (CJC thinks that the complaint against Levant doesn't have merit but they're still okay with the system.)

No Bleach Used

Empowered Muslim Youth:

A game called Metal Gear actually has a character who received virtual reality training. Raiden carries out simulations of another character’s previous missions before undergoing his own, official “battle”.

If a youth was to spend fourteen hours a week playing such a game until they completed their mission, they may have more of a chance of wanting to experience a battle in real life, perhaps by joining the army. But this virtual reality strategy may backfire, as youth could turn the negative energy they gain through vandalism or other violent crimes.

There is no doubt that this well-thought tactic, issued by high-ranking govermental officials, and it is not very surprising.

More:

Brainwashing the youth to fight in almost real-life situations which a solider would face if fighting in Iraq for instance, is most definitely a way to recruit more soldiers for the future.

Is the American government "brainwashing" these sheeple? Or perhaps the citizens, who're already interested in the military, are drawn to violent games?

Tongue Action

Oh my. Link via this haram site.

Joining the 17th Century

BBC on Saudi Arabia:

A woman can now stay in a hotel alone as long as she carries identification.

More:

The decree allowed the Ministry of Trade to outline new regulations simply requiring women to show photographic ID to hotel managers.

This must then be registered with local police.

But, of course.

Under Saudi Arabia's conservative Islamic code, women suffer severe restrictions on daily life.

They are not allowed to appear before a judge without a male representative, or travel abroad without a male guardian's permission.

Cause who knows where these whores women might run off to.

Will Muslims Love Obama?

Ummah Pulse:

Even if Barack convinces people of the preposterous nature of these claims, he still can't win with the likes of Daniel Pipes who argues, "...how would more mainstream Muslims respond to him, would they be angry at what they would consider his apostasy? That reaction is a real possibility, one that could undermine his initiatives toward the Muslim world." Somehow, I don't think Pipes' sudden and uncharacteristic consideration of Islamic sensitivities can be taken as genuine, after all this is the man who has made a career for himself out of trampling on Muslim feelings.

Note that the author doesn't tackle the very real point made by Pipes: Most Muslims will not like an apostate as President of the US.

The Twig is Not Enough

Done With Mirrors: Tough Job of the Day.

The Cookie of Doom

"This is religious and culinary history in the making."

I'll pass. I don't want an upset stomach.

Who is Hateful, Intolerant, Violent?

Akram's Razor: Tikun Olam on Hamas & the "destruction of Israel" canard.

This part is classic:

whatever one thinks of it,Hamas is not simply a terror organization. Providing health clinics to the poor, employing large numbers of people in quasi-governmental bodies and fielding a range of candidates in elections aren't exactly the hallmark of terror cells. However one judges their military actions from a moral standpoint, they clearly are a complex, hybrid movement that manifests itself in a multiplicity of ways in Palestinian society. Even accepting the one-sided Beltway line on Hamas' violence,it is asinine to expect Palestinians to reduce Hamas to its military wing given its complex, multi-faceted role in their lives. Ergo, it is unjustified to treat all forms of political support for Hamas as an endorsement of terror. It just doesn't follow.

Of course. I'm sure a lot of Muslims support these lovely guys because of the quality health care they offer.

Most Impressive

It's astonishing to see a fellow who has been writing on a site for twelve years. (I was only introduced to the Internet just over ten years ago!) What's even more impressive is that the website is not his job; it's a hobby.

Cobblestones in Czech

A part of the Old World.

Another Storm Gathers

Paul on immigration in Europe:

If there ever was an "I told you so" moment, this is it. Demographics, economics, and ideology are all combining to destroy Europe and turn her into the vast garbage heap that is the Islamic world ... with little or no respect for basic human rights, total obedience to fifteenth century barbarism, and hyper-chauvinism so extreme it'd make Attila the Hun blush.

It's a grim show.

"There's Always Another Hand"

Elphi Delphi posts a video of Pat Condell who talks about the recent, blatant erosion of free speech in Canada.

Obama vs. Clintons

Pejman Yousefzadeh:

This is one heck of a way of getting around the 22nd Amendment.

Yup. The satire is precious.

A Polite "Death to Infidels"

Little Green Footballs:

Time and again, Islamic clerics who are asked to deliver convocations and opening prayers for US political gatherings boldly proclaim the superiority of Islam over the assembled infidels. The latest example took place in the Iowa state legislature recently, when Imam Muhammad Khan of the Islamic Center of Des Moines called for “victory over those who disbelieve.”

Why do Americans allow these Islamists in their political halls? It would make as much sense if Jews were to invite Nazis to their synagogues.

A Warm Life

Minnesota Mom has got the best blog banner.

Is Islam Innocent?

Austrolabe:

In the January/February 2008 issue of Foreign Policy magazine, Graham E. Fuller, former Vice Chair of the National Intelligence Council of the CIA, engages in an interesting thought experiment.

Here it is:

Imagine, if you will, a world without Islam—admittedly an almost inconceivable state of affairs given its charged centrality in our daily news headlines. Islam seems to lie behind a broad range of international disorders: suicide attacks, car bombings, military occupations, resistance struggles, riots, fatwas, jihads, guerrilla warfare, threatening videos, and 9/11 itself. Why are these things taking place? “Islam” seems to offer an instant and uncomplicated analytical touchstone, enabling us to make sense of today’s convulsive world. Indeed, for some neoconservatives, “Islamofascism” is now our sworn foe in a looming “World War III.”

That's a spectacular counterfactual. If Muhammad hadn't spread his poison, then the history of the Middle East would have been profoundly altered in the 7th century. (It's likely that Jews would still be living in Makkah and Medina!) It's nonsensical to say that our world would be likely the same without that scourge.

Fan Mail

Someone left a comment in an old post:

You will burn in the deepest fire, if you continue treating muslims as you do. When you die you will see the truth then you will ask to go back even for a second to do well but it will be so late.
Embasse islam now and stop your foolish behaviour.

I'll have to say, "No" to Embasse Islam Now!

For some reason I'm imagining that in Ahnuld accent. Embasse Islam Now! Do it, NAAOW! Been there, done that, got the mental scars. Still, "No."

Oh, and the foolish behavior (it's a gift) will definitely continue.

NOOOO!

The Smallest Minority: FV@K.

The Morbid Joker

IGN:

Heath Ledger, the actor best known for his turns in Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain and the upcoming Batman film, The Dark Knight, was found dead this afternoon according to NYTimes.com.

God Works in Mathematical Ways

See Dubya emailed this link to Hot Air:

Chinese Christian rejected on asylum because her interrogator is an illiterate. Or intentionally tried to confuse the asylum-seeker during her interview process. The woman, who had converted to Christianity and attended an unregistered church, had fled to Canada from China fearing both religious persecution and consequences of violating the country’s one-child policy.

National Post:

At her hearing, where she sought protection on grounds that she feared persecution in China, she was repeatedly asked by an IRB adjudicator about Bible "parabolas."

Thank goodness she didn't ask about integrals!

Read the full story.

If you're interested, here are the details about my time with the Immigration and Refugee Board last year.

What the Hell is Wrong with Canada?

Mark Steyn:

As it happens, my review of "Little Mosque On The Prairie" is one of the subjects of the Islamic Congress' "human rights" complaint against me. Very odd to live in a world where a sitcom critique is a "hate crime". Nevertheless, the plaintiffs allege (page 44) that I hurl some very serious accusations:

9. Moderate Muslims are a rarity; Moderate Muslims who are actually funny are an even greater rarity.

Small Dead Animals:

Your tax dollars at work, ladies and gentlemen: government commissions are now being used to settle disputes over whether or not "Little Mosque on the Prairie" is funny.

That's not funny!

Halaal Negotiations

Israellycool: Liveblogging the Latest - Monday January 21st.

11:05AM: The Egyptian government newspaper Al-Gomhuria has apparently reported about Mahmoud Abbas expressing his intention to suspend negotiations with Israel. Abbas was quoted as saying that “negotiating with the Israelis while their forces are killing palestinians is unreasonable.” As opposed to Israel negotiating with the palestinians who are killing them, which is perfectly reasonable.

Yup.

Allah Under the Microscope

Fox News via Gateway Pundit:

A senior Iranian lawmaker warned the Netherlands on Monday not to allow the screening of what it called an anti-Islamic film produced by Dutch politician, claiming it "reflects insulting views about the Holy Koran."

Alaeddin Boroujerdi, head of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, promised widespread protests and a review of Iran's relationship with the Netherlands if Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders' work is shown.

"If Holland will allow the broadcast of this movie, the Iranian parliament will request to reconsider our relationship with it," Boroujerdi said, according to IRNA, the official Iranian news agency. "In Iran, insulting Islam is a very sensitive matter and if the movie is broadcasted it will arouse a wave of popular hate that will be directed towards any government that insults Islam.

I doubt the movie will be anything like the few innocent suggestions I made but still I can't wait to watch it!

A helpful clue to Muslims who're easily "aroused": Don't view the movie.

Holy Schnikes!

Training wheels would make it perfect.

Hammer in a Velvet Glove

Mark Steyn via LFG:

Our lesson for today comes from Shirlene McGovern:

"You're entitled to your opinions, that's for sure."

Only if she says so.

Stupid, Dumb or Brainless

Achelois:

If all Muslim women stopped wearing the burqa and even the hijab from tomorrow, then what? What will happen in their lives and the lives of countless non-Muslims who want empowerment for Muslim women? How will that help terrorism? How will it empower Muslim women?

More:

I have seen fiercely independent women who wear the burqa and I have met women who don’t even wear hijab but are victims of domestic abuse. Muslim women’s clothes has very little to do with their empowerment or the lack of it. 

There are two, intertwined issues here.

1. Context
Of course, if only the burqa or the hijab were to disappear, then Muslim women wouldn't really gain much freedom. The bigger problem is the mindset that worships the burqa and keeps women caged in it.

If we could have removed the tatooed numbers on the arms of the Jews in Auschwitz-Birkenau, would that have made them "free"?

No. Therefore, those numbers had nothing to do with their freedom or lack of it. Not quite. Those numbers, and their grim environment, represented the distillation of an evil mindset. The tatooed numbers wasn't the problem but they surely symbolized the inhumanness of their wretched hosts.

2. Choice
Do most of the Muslim women in the world have a choice in wearing the burqa or not? I'd have to say, "No."

Of course, every society, school, and workplace has rules on what is and isn't acceptable attire but that doesn't mean that Muslim nations are just like the West. As far as I know, girls haven't been killed in the West because they weren't wearing proper clothing and none have been beaten and bloodied by Western police for the same offense.

A concerned Muslim woman wrote to me yesterday (hence this post) telling me that she is looked down upon by some women who think all women who choose to cover their heads or faces are “stupid, dumb or brainless.”

Question to readers: What would your reaction be to someone who wore a black tent and looked like a nazgul?

My reaction: Stupid, dumb and brainless.

Though, the sword is cool.

Does that make me a Nazgulophobe?

Tender Sensibilities

Umar Lee: Disrespect for Muslims From Top to Bottom.

I'll focus on the top.

The candidates were arguing about the American response to the Iranian speed-boat incident the other day and Sen. Fred Thompson of Tennessee said something along the lines of “if they would have come any closer they would have been introduced to the virgins they are looking forward to seeing” at which point the crowd erupted in cheers and laughter.

You will not see many Muslim leaders or organizations who have access to the media condemning this statement by Sen. Thompson and the track record on this issue is very poor. And, for the record, I am no fan of the regime in Iran; but this was a swipe at all Muslims.

Thompson was specifically referring to the thugs in the Iranian navy. How does that response translate to all Muslims?

Now if Muslims do believe that martyrs get 72 hymen-regenerating virgins in heaven, well then the majority of the world will, as it should, laugh at them. The problem isn't the laughter, it's the idiotic belief system.

What Exactly Do They Teach There?

Just curious.

Muslim 4 Life

Dhimmi Watch:

Feel the love, see the wondrous effects of the tranquility in her heart. Here (thanks to War on Hate) is the full text of Rotterdam district councillor Bouchra Ismaili's email to one of her constituents, discussed yesterday here.

This is how it starts:

Listen well, dirty madman, WE'LL STAY HERE, hahahahahahhahah, DROP DEAD. I am a dutch moslem, and I shall stay one until my death.

Later on:

A piece of advice, if I may, convert to islam and find tranquility in your heart. Hatred eats you up and makes your heart stay empty.

Apparently she wished her constituent to DROP DEAD out of love.

Absurd Freedoms

Cafe Alpha on exchanging words with Muslims via You Tube:

I had said that freedom of speech has to include the freedom to insult the prophet - that there has to be a right to criticize and even insult religion, a right to heresy, for there to be freedom of thought, religion, secular education that includes rational thought, and even debate and secular democracy.

And she responded by laughing at me, saying that there can't be anything more absurd than a "freedom to insult". She talked about people getting along (as did the first guy, and insults and didn't even mention the prophet, but I can see that she hasn't even the first inkling of the concept of freedom of speech. None at all, it doesn't even register as an idea, just as something that completely fails the laugh test.

When I came to the West, words and terms like Liberty, Classical Liberalism, Free Speech, Secularism, and Human Rights meant nothing to me. I had simply never heard or read about them at the time.

It took me years to learn and comprehend their meaning. Only then could I verbalize why Western Civilization was superior to the Islamic hells on Earth. Before then, I certainly had the sense to see that the West was better but I couldn't actually explain why.

In Islamic nations, well certainly in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, history starts with, and is almost entirely composed of, Islam. Most aren't familiar with the great ideas that have advanced humanity and brought the Anglo world to such prominence today. Instead one finds numerous conspiracy theories for the thieving infidels and the victimized Muslims.

A noxious result one witnesses is Muslims who love to arrive and live in the West while simultaneously loathing the foundations on which it is built. I once had an unreal conversation with a fellow who had green cards for his family. This guy was terribly worried about the planning and headache of moving to America ... and he hoped that the Jihadists in Afghanistan defeat the Americans, so they could enforce the glorious sharia.

I was left speechless.

I don't think we can rhetorically teach them these concepts so that they understand and , maybe, appreciate them. That is one of the reasons why I haven't geared my blog towards Muslims since the result will be fruitless. (Plus, talking to people who don't even agree with your right to breath is not healthy.)

I Never Thought I Would Say This ...

... but those orcs look delicious!

Ezra Speaks II

More videos of Ezra:

• How does the commission make decisons?
• Closing argument. (Alex left a comment about this video two days ago: "Check it out. I LOL'd about halfway through the clip - I think you will too." Yes, I did.)
• Details of the complaint.

Also check out Ezra Levant's blog.

An Expensive Dominos Set

That's a lot of capacity.

A "Suicide" Statistic

Terrible news from Kamangir:

Ebrahim Latif Allahi (Persian: ابراهیم لطف اللهی) was killed under torture. He studied law in Paiam Noor University in Sanandaj and was arrested about two weeks ago by the Intelligence. Reportedly, his family has been informed that “he has committed suicide in the prison” but that “his body is already buried”. His family is under pressure to not spread the news.

The Yellow Line

Can you see it?

It's True!

Top 9 Little Known Facts About Ezra Levant.

Link via Junk Yard.

Alcohol, Pigs, Dogs, and Now Books

Daily Express via IBA:

Shopper Sally Friday felt publicly humiliated at a branch of Marks & Spencer when she tried to pay for First Bible Stories as a gift for her young grandson.

When she put the book on the check-out counter, the young assistant refused to touch it, declared it was unclean and summoned another member of staff to serve instead.

What conviction! This Muslim woman has no problem deriving, likely, the majority of her income from the sale of "unclean" books but, my goodness, touching one is out of the question!

She could have easily scanned the book but then the opportunity of communicating a polite f%@k you to a Christian lady would have passed.

The Quran and the Nazis

MikeT provided a link in the comments to some amazing news:

Islam watchers blogged all weekend about news that a secret archive of ancient Islamic texts had surfaced after 60 years of suppression. Andrew Higgins' Wall Street Journal report that the photographic record of Koranic manuscripts, supposedly destroyed during World War II but occulted by a scholar of alleged Nazi sympathies, reads like a conflation of the Da Vinci Code with Indiana Jones and the Holy Grail.

If serious research goes ahead, then the reaction will make the response to the Muhammad cartoons look like a picnic.

In 2005, Puin published a collection of articles under the title, Die dunklen Anfange. Neue Forschungen zur Entstehung und fruhen Geschichte des Islam ("The dark beginnings: new research on the origin and early history of Islam," Hans Schiller Verlag, 2005). This drew on the work of the pseudonymous German philologist "Christoph Luxenburg", who sought to prove that incomprehensible passages in the Koran were written in Syriac-Aramaic rather than Arabic. Luxenburg's thesis became notorious for explaining that the "virgins" provided to Islamic jihadis in paradise were only raisins. The Koran, according to the research of Puin and his associates, copied a great deal of extant Christian material.

Since Muhammad was illiterate, this explanation is more plausible than the, er, "fact" that the angel Jibrael revealed the Quran to him.

Apart from the little group at the University of the Saarland and a handful of others, though, the Western Academy is loathe to go near the issue. In the United States, where Arab and Islamic Studies rely on funding from the Gulf States, an interest in Koranic criticism is a failsafe way to commit career suicide.

A lot more than the career would get killed, I'd say.

The Quran and, by extension, Muhammad are two areas where any criticism can be deadly for the host. This is because the authenticity of Islam is firmly linked with them. A true Muslim is, thus, forever stuck in the dark, seventh century.

Update
Another reader emailed this link to a Wall Street Journal piece.

Death from the Heavens

Donald Sensing:

A team of scientists say that a large comet exploded over eastern Canada almost 13,000 years ago, causing mass, near-instant extinctions of 35 genera of animals and killing 70 percent of human beings in North America, thus snuffing out the Pleistocene Clovis cultures practically overnight.

I blame the Jews.

This Fickle Freedom

I was a refugee claimant in 2006. I had asked Canada for protection partly because a lot of the material posted on my blog would be considered offensive by Muslims in Pakistan -- my birth-country. Furthermore, the Pakistani state would have persecuted me for my opinion of Muhammad.

I wanted the liberty to say, write and think whatever I wanted on the topic of Islam. I wanted the dignity of freedom.

One won't find that in Alberta, Canada in 2008. There, in an Orwellian court, a publisher was brought forth for the terrible act of printing cartoons. The fact that Ezra Levant even has to appear in the clownish court is a win for the Islamists: Saudi Arabia is, was, and for some time will remain, a sharia-infested hell but in a tiny corner of the liberal West, because of a Saudi goon, a publisher was grilled about his "intent" behind showcasing some drawings.

In a saner world Saudi Arabia would be furiously trying to emulate Canada, not the other way around.

The West is torn apart rhetorically everywhere but Islam is outside the bounds of criticism in Muslim-majority nations. Now, after this thuggery by a "human rights" commission, every author, journalist and publisher in the West will ask, "Is it worth my time, energy and money to utter something that might be considered offensive by a Muslim?"

Many will choose the dishonorable, easy route.

To some this incident might seem inconsequential. It isn't. This is another front in our war. I wouldn't call it the clash of civilizations since the other side doesn't have a civilization to speak of. It's Western Civilization vs. Barbarity cloaked in a religious garb. Every single freedom we hold dear, they wish to crush. They're already assaulting the most essential of all liberties: Free speech.

What will you do?

****

In what can seem like a lone battle, there is nothing more profoundly moving than to receive the support of freedom-loving peoples.

I'm truly heartened by the moral support that I have received on the blogosphere, in my own blog's comments, via e-mail and even on the Facebook support group. I promise I will continue to fight this battle to the end, even if that means appealling it all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Go to the blog of Ezra Levant. There you can make a donation.

I donated $104.

"Gravity Still Works"

Sadly for some, yeah.

The Halaal Dress Code

The Apostate writes, "Otherizing: Why it’s not just a headscarf".

My thoughts on the burqa are here.

The Fruits of Multiculturalism

The Telegraph via Instapundit:

In the nearby town of Dewsbury, which was once, like Bradford, a thriving mill area, similar enclaves exist. Local people were outraged recently to read that busy nurses at their local hospital had to allocate time to turning the beds of Muslim patients towards Mecca five times a day so that they could pray.

And last year, the discovery of an al-Qaeda propaganda DVD, which was handed out at the local mosque, increased tensions and further encouraged segregation among the communities. That, in turn, was capitalised on by the British National Party, which gained its highest numbers of voters in the city.

That's great. To oppose religious extremism some are densely aligning themselves with racialist extremism. (Funny: Both camps hate my guts.)<