Interesting News - 21 January 2008

In Venezuela, a judge who speaks against the regime is named on broadcast television as an enemy of the state. Hours later, she was shot and the person with her murdered. Venezuelan police have termed a car-jacking – prior to the completion of an investigation. Read the story in PJM. Meanwhile, Hugo show us what happens when you get government interference in the economy.

Thomas Sowell remembers 1968 and finds the reality of the year’s legacy differs greatly from the myth.

No-Knock warrants are dangerous for all parties. Classical Values has some troubling thoughts – and the report of a case with the worst possible outcome.

If you have a reasonable concern about energy prices, the first place to take your complaint is the closes Democrat. Ask them why we can’t drill for oil in Anwhar or off of our coasts, why we can’t build any nuclear reactors, and why we cannot build new refineries.

Biofuels will not cut greenhouse emissions and the costs do not outweigh the benefits – so says Joint Research Centre of the EU. On top of what this investment in biofuels is doing to food prices, mandating ever greater use of biofuels seems increasingly insane. But don’t tell that to the EU Commission, who are apparently going to simply ignore the report.

"Step right up folks and get your tickets to the greatest scam on Earth as we pay homage to those much-maligned scientists, geologists, climate researchers and marginalized Global Warming Skeptics the world over who refuse to be silenced by the skeptiphobics who would still the voices of reason." It’s a global warming carnival at the CFP. (H/T LostInto2)

While I’ve been unconcerned up to the moment with the latest fad, "sharia finance," I’ve obviously been too complacent. Dinah Lord posts on Sharia finance and the ties of many involved to extremists.

Omar Bakri has some thoughts on Muslims in the UK’s police and military. As does Lionheart.

Sheik Yer Mami is on fire. Read his posts about: compulsion of religion in Egypt; litigation jihad in the Netherlands aimed at silencing any criticism of the religion of peace; and some must see vidoes:
Islam in the UK is "not about bringing two world’s together."




And also Pat Condell who remarks eloquently on the Mark Steyn cases and its larger implications:




And lastly, a Public Service Message on the crisis of Journalistic Violence from Iowa Hawk whose incredible spoof of the odious NYT is quick becoming legend.

Read More...

Summary only...

Interesting News From Around the Web - Chrismas Eve Edition

From across the pond, see this wonderful post on George Washington, the founding of our nation, and Christmas.

Saudi money is purchasing influence at Fox News. This is very bad news indeed.

And if they can’t buy the coverage they want, the Saudis are using libel tourism to silence free speech here in America. See this sad update to Rachel Ehrenfeld’s lawsuit to protect her free speech against Saudi assault.

President Sarkozy is about to take on France’s socialist labour laws. One can already hear loud pig-like squeals emanating from Paris - literally.

Robert Novak documents "accusations [that the CIA is a] rogue agency," consciously acting to undermine the President.

"I will not accept if nominated, and I will not serve if elected." General W. T. Sherman, 1864; General David Petraeus, 2007 (The Weekly Standard’s Man of the Year).

The odious Paul Krugman and his revisionist history of a racist Democratic Party.

More criticism of the recently passed energy bill. It certainly seems to have its problems.

Defining "jihad" and assessing its importance. A scholarly article by Menahem Milson, the Chairman of MEMRI.

See this post on one of the countless effects of centralizing power and control in the EU, this time in local bus service. It almost seems like a load of manure – oops, that’s a separate problem, courtesy of the EU concern with nitrate leaching. Do see the comments section from Chris Booker on that post. "Bah, humbug" would seem the only appropriate response to this raft of insane overregulation.

Omar Bakri sends his warm "radical Muslim" Christmas message across the pond. He probably need not be concerned. Aheminejad has stated that he intends to establish a global caliphate and that he expects Europe will become a Muslim continent within 12 years. Hey, let’s hold unilateral talks with these guys. I am sure there is something we can give them to fully placate them . . . Let me just get out my Neville Chamberlin "Peace In Our Time" State Department handbook. While we talk, perhaps Iran can start killing women without veils (not suitable for work).

A Clash of Civilization’s books at the Economist. Marketing and distributing the Bible and the Koran.

And finally, the real health benefits of dark chocolate. I solve the bitterness problem by stirring a big teaspoon full of unsweetened dark chocolate into coffee. Its wonderful. And on that note . . . . a Merry Christmas to all.

Read More...

Summary only...

Of Islamist Foxes and British Chickens

One could analogize the utter insanity in Britain this week to putting the foxes in charge of the hen house, but that comparison falls far short of reality. The only danger of that fact pattern is that the farmer is out a few chickens. One needs instead to analogize to a fact pattern where the foxes radicalize the chickens and establish a heniphate on the entire farm.

The background to this story is that Britain has the most radicalized Muslim population west of the Danube. The reasons for that are fourfold. The UK is being innundated with Wahhabi Salafi Islam via countless sources; Britain's multicultural ethic forestalls any reasoned criticism of Islam; Britain has made criticism of Islam potentially criminal by passage of the Hate Speech laws; and, Britain's permissive immigration laws have allowed "radical" Islamists into the country. Polls taken last year show that “nearly 25% of British Muslims said the July 7, 2005, terror bombings in London, which killed 52 innocent commuters, were justified. Another 30% said they would prefer to live under strict Islamic Sharia law rather than England's democratic system.”

In a country that has a Muslim population of almost two million and growing, that is a real problem. There needs to be reform. But things break down right there for Labour. What will they reform? The multicultural ethos will not allow the chattering classes to analyze the problems presented by Islam and make critical judgments. Labour assumes that the problem cannot be systemic to Islam – because by default the culture itself must be equal to Western culture - and therefore must be the result of some anamoly. Thus unable to identify why their population is becoming increasingly radicalized, Labour has acted out of sheer, suicidal ignorance.

What I am refering to is yesterday's launch in Britain of the Mosques and Imams National Advisory Board (MINAB). This highly influential group created by the government is supposed to help Labour get a handle on its Mosques. Specifically, MINAB is tasked with advising the government on the “suitability of Imams and scholars coming from abroad for employment in the UK” and producing the Islamic religious educational “standards.”

So who does Labour appoint to lead MINAB?

Two of the four organizations appointed to the MINAB are the Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) and the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB). They are the Islamic foxes just set down amongst the British chickens.

The MAB was founded by Dr Kamal Helbawy, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood – itself a “Salafi jihadist organization” and the precursor to al Qaeda. The differences between the Brotherhood and al Qaeda are not in philosophy, goals, or objectives, but rather just methods (Walid Phares, Future Jihad, p. 64-65). Dr. Helbway is one of many Islamists Britain has welcomed with open arms whom the U.S. will not allow to enter the country. As to the leader of the MAB today, it is Dr Azzam Tamini. He is an equally qualified person to preside over all of Islam in Britain. He is a proponent of Hamas who has praised suicide bombings.

The MCB is no better. It is run by Dr. Mohammed Bari, a man about whom I have blogged recently for his outrageous remarks in an interview published in the Telegraph. His organization actively seeks to keep Muslims from integrating into British society and he is a proponent of implementing Sharia law in Britain, to include outlawing the public sale of alcohol and the stoning of adulterers. Moreover Dr. Bari and the leadership of the Muslim Council are linked to conservative Islamist movements in the Muslim world and in particular Pakistan's Jamaat-i-Islami, a radical party committed to the establishment of an Islamic state in Pakistan ruled by sharia law. Jamaat-I-Islami is itself an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood (Phares, Future Jihad, p. 65).

And these are the people that Labour has just put in charge of the nation’s Muslims in an attempt to stop the process of radicalization? The sheer insanity of this is mind boggling. The only way to make the MINAB more of a radicaling force would be to add bin Laden to the board.

What the Labour government is missing is that there is no such thing as a “moderate” Muslim. The issues that are "radicalizing" a substantial minority of the British Muslim population are systemic to the dominant forms of Islam. They are not anamolies. Ayaan Hirsi Ali talked about this recently, and it is perhaps the most critical point our leadership on both sides of the pond needs to understand. When asked about “moderate” Muslims in a recent interview, she said:

‘I find the word “moderate” very misleading.’ There’s a touch of steel in Hirsi Ali’s voice. ‘I don’t believe there is such a thing as “moderate Islam”. I think it’s better to talk about degrees of belief and degrees of practice. The Koran is quite clear that it should control every area of life. If a Muslim chooses to obey only some of the Prophet’s commandments, he is only a partial Muslim. If he is a good Muslim, he will wish to establish Sharia law.’

Read the interview. I believe that is true, at least in as much as her observations pertain to Salafi Islam and Khomeinist Shia'ism. If you talk to "moderate" Muslims - the people you want as your friends and neighbors - they invariably talk about the "essence" of Islam as being both good and positive. I believe them completely. But it is clear that they are looking to the generalities and ignoring many of the orthodox interpretations. The black letter of the Koran and methods of interpretation of Salafi Islam go beyond this "essence" and lead directly back to 7th century Arabia. As I have written extensively here, if the systemic issues are ever to be addressesd, Islam must evolve and go through its period of Enlightenment.

Assuming the polls are accurate, the good news for Britain at the moment is that a majority of her Muslims fall into that category of “partial Muslims.” But putting the MAB and MCB in a position to influence Britain’s Muslim population is a sure guarantee that there will be no evolution of Islam in Britain, but there will be an ever growing population of “good Muslims.”

There are Muslims in the world today like Tawfiq Hamid and Zuhdi Jasser, voices in the wilderness at the moment, who are trying to evolve their faith. They need our full support. And they need to be the people who are appointed to MINAB. What Labour has just done is compound its problems with Islam exponentially. A few more decisions like that and, well, it may be time to get sized for that burkah.

Update: Robert Spencer makes a point similar to Ayaan Hirsi Ali in this article.

Update: And Ed Husain, a former member of Jamaat-i-Islami and friend of terrorist spiritual leader Omar Bakri, makes a similar point in an essay written in the Guardian stating:

. . . in Muslim scripture there are some unpalatable references. But these are to be seen in the context of their time. What remain valid are the eternal truths that Shatibi, Locke and others enunciated. Our humanity must transcend adherence to scriptural literalism, especially if it leads to mayhem and loss of innocent lives. . .

Read the article here. I do not know if Husain's suggetion of just ignoring parts of the Koran is workable, altough that is precisely what the "partial" or "moderate" Muslims do today. Those who seek a true evolution of their religion seek to do it through a formal process of ijtihad.

Update: And here is yet another article speaking to the problem of Koranic interpretation. This from the Washington Post about a young cleric in Egypt who is challenging the traditional interpretation of the Koran:

Masoud advocates adherence to prayer five times a day, peace toward all and abstinence from alcohol, sex outside of marriage and violence. Beyond those principles, he said, Islam is suffering from a "crisis of interpretation."

Read the article.

Read More...

Summary only...