Another busy day (my morning started at 4:45 am) – so a collection of items sent in the past few days. My apologies for not using more – things are hectic around here, and I don’t have time to check all the links sent to me, much less use them all!
Via Plattytalk, the The Fallen Four website is helping raise funds for a memorial to Constables Peter Schiemann, Anthony Gordon, Leo Johnston, and Brock Myrol.
China E-Lobby wants the Olympics out of Beijing.
Jonathon Strong makes a case for Canada’s participation in missile defense.
A video clip of an Al-Jazeera interview with Arab-American psychologist Wafa Sultan. (transcript portion in the extended entry)
Wafa Sultan: The clash we are witnessing around the world is not a clash of
religions, or a clash of civilizations. It is a clash between two opposites,
between two eras. It is a clash between a mentality that belongs to the
Middle Ages and another mentality that belongs to the 21st century. It is a
clash between civilization and backwardness, between the civilized and the
primitive, between barbarity and rationality. It is a clash between freedom
and oppression, between democracy and dictatorship. It is a clash between
human rights, on the one hand, and the violation of these rights, on other
hand. It is a clash between those who treat women like beasts, and those who
treat them like human beings. What we see today is not a clash of
civilizations. Civilizations do not clash, but compete.
[…]
Host: I understand from your words that what is happening today is a clash
between the culture of the West, and the backwardness and ignorance of the
Muslims?
Wafa Sultan: Yes, that is what I mean.
[…]
Host: Who came up with the concept of a clash of civilizations? Was it not
Samuel Huntington? It was not Bin Laden. I would like to discuss this issue,
if you don’t mind…
Wafa Sultan: The Muslims are the ones who began using this expression. The
Muslims are the ones who began the clash of civilizations. The Prophet of
Islam said: “I was ordered to fight the people until they believe in Allah
and His Messenger.” When the Muslims divided the people into Muslims and
non-Muslims, and called to fight the others until they believe in what they
themselves believe, they started this clash, and began this war. In order to
start this war, they must reexamine their Islamic books and curricula, which
are full of calls for takfir and fighting the infidels.
My colleague has said that he never offends other people’s beliefs. What
civilization on the face of this earth allows him to call other people by
names that they did not choose for themselves? Once, he calls them Ahl
Al-Dhimma, another time he calls them the “People of the Book,” and yet
another time he compares them to apes and pigs, or he calls the Christians
“those who incur Allah’s wrath.” Who told you that they are “People of the
Book”? They are not the People of the Book, they are people of many books.
All the useful scientific books that you have today are theirs, the fruit of
their free and creative thinking. What gives you the right to call them
“those who incur Allah’s wrath,” or “those who have gone astray,” and then
come here and say that your religion commands you to refrain from offending
the beliefs of others?
I am not a Christian, a Muslim, or a Jew. I am a secular human being. I do
not believe in the supernatural, but I respect others’ right to believe in
it.
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: Are you a heretic?
Wafa Sultan: You can say whatever you like. I am a secular human being who
does not believe in the supernatural…
Dr. Ibrahim Al-Khouli: If you are a heretic, there is no point in rebuking
you, since you have blasphemed against Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran…
Wafa Sultan: These are personal matters that do not concern you.
[…]
Wafa Sultan: Brother, you can believe in stones, as long as you don’t throw
them at me. You are free to worship whoever you want, but other people’s
beliefs are not your concern, whether they believe that the Messiah is God,
son of Mary, or that Satan is God, son of Mary. Let people have their
beliefs.
[…]
Wafa Sultan: The Jews have came from the tragedy (of the Holocaust), and
forced the world to respect them, with their knowledge, not with their
terror, with their work, not their crying and yelling. Humanity owes most of
the discoveries and science of the 19th and 20th centuries to Jewish
scientists. 15 million people, scattered throughout the world, united and
won their rights through work and knowledge. We have not seen a single Jew
blow himself up in a German restaurant. We have not seen a single Jew
destroy a church. We have not seen a single Jew protest by killing people.
The Muslims have turned three Buddha statues into rubble. We have not seen a
single Buddhist burn down a Mosque, kill a Muslim, or burn down an embassy.
Only the Muslims defend their beliefs by burning down churches, killing
people, and destroying embassies. This path will not yield any results. The
Muslims must ask themselves what they can do for humankind, before they
demand that humankind respect them.
It is those on the left who consistently oppose BMD for consistently poor reasons. Missile defense is designed to save lives not take them. It is the left who should be espousing this program more than conservatives. The government’s primary responsibility is to provide protection and security for its citizens. The threat of an accidental or unauthorized launch may not be great….
Yet.
Does anyone not think that the Iranian bomb isn’t the all-purpose Islamic bomb? These are the maniacs that go ballistic over cartoons.
God only knows what obscure insult could, in the future, cause them lob a missile.
Canadians need to decide if they want to be Switzerland or join the rest of us defending our freedom and culture.
I love this line from the �missile defence� link …
The fact remains that those on the left are against BMD simply because they oppose any such new weapons system, even if production is done in an environmentally sensitive, culturally tolerant, religiously neutral, gender un-biased, pro-gay factory.
“Wafa Sultan: Brother, you can believe in stones, as long as you don’t throw
them at me. You are free to worship whoever you want, but other people’s
beliefs are not your concern, whether they believe that the Messiah is God,
son of Mary, or that Satan is God, son of Mary. Let people have their
beliefs.”
Exactly.
If we can get this message to be accepted by the arab world, we will have won.
………………………
As for BMD, it makes no sense for the left to oppose the creation of a DEFENSIVE weapons system, unless they believe our enemies are entitled to inflict casualties.
“the weaponization of space” is one of my all-time favorite red herrings.
Wafa Sultan: You go girl! I’m still reeling from listening to this lady tell it like it is. Now if we could get a few more on the enlightened to spread the word then there might be hope for humanity yet.
powerful lady wafa sultan, powerful message. would like to see the main stream media run that clip but it would never happen in my lifetime.
CLIOPATRIA: A Group Blog
Manan Ahmed
Block the Offensive Internets
News report states that the Supreme Court has ruled that all websites which display the Danish cartoons should be blocked in Pakistan. The Supreme Court observed that this is a matter for the entire Muslim world and no technical limitations will be accepted as an excuse. I will try to find more sources and update this.
In the first salvo, Blogspot is blocked in Pakistan.
Reminds me of the decisions to ban Salman Rushdie and the secret trade in Satanic Verses [smuggling it in with a War & Peace cover was my favorite].
[original Urdu report out of Daily Jang, Pakistan’s leading Urdu newspaper]
Posted on Friday, March 3, 2006 at 8:46 AM
via instapundit
http://hnn.us/blogs/entries/22450.html
Update: The block is at the ISP level. Not all internet traffic is routed through the Pakistan Internet Exchange, so the govt. must have ordered local ISP’s to block certain websites. All the major ISP’s in Pakistan are blocking weblogs hosted at blogspot.com.
http://ko.offroadpakistan.com/forums/viewtopic.php?pid=3621#p3621
I am not sure who the gentleman Wafa Sultan was talking to(in the grey cap) but he told you all you need to know in the few words we heard spoke from him. Basically,he would not listen,as the moment you are considered a blasphemer,or heretic,your opinion ceases to be count.It is see no evil, hear no evil but speak all the evil if it pleases Allah approach.
NORAD has since 1958 carried out the aerospace defence of North America against bombers, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles and now civil airliners too.
Fighter jets would be scrambled against bombers and cruise missiles, but until now there was no defence against ballistic missiles.
But what’s the difference? The useless two-country ‘Non-proliferation Treaty’? It’s no longer worth the paper it’s printed on now that a dozen countries have nukes.
The Liberals made a big deal about BMD when it was always part of the deal anyhow – why? Just to give themselves more anti-American ammunition?
Let’s see…..
Dosanjh good, Grewal bad
Murphy good, Grewal bad
Belinda good, Emerson bad
Brison good, Emerson bad
Keith Martin good, Emerson bad
Paul Martin good, Harper bad
Anyone see a pattern here?
The WET NOODLE strikes again.
Too bad Ed Broadbent wasn’t successful in turfing the guy for incompetence. LOL +
http://www.voy.com/178771/1157.html
Harper to be investigated by ethics commissioner
Mar 3, 2006 – CTV.ca News
Ethics commissioner Bernard Shapiro is launching a preliminary inquiry into conflict-of-interest allegations against Prime Minister Stephen Harper, CTV News has learned.
Shapiro says he will look into what influence may have been wielded in the decision by former Liberal David Emerson to cross the Commons floor and join Harper’s Conservative government cabinet.
“The ethics commissioner is apparently investigating … whether Mr. Harper induced Mr. Emerson to come over with the offer of a cabinet post,” CTV’s Robert Fife told Newsnet Friday.
“It’s a very serious thing when an ethics commissioner is investigating a prime minister and a cabinet minister over party switching.” +
Given that Shapiro found no evidence of impropriety in the case of Belinda Stronach’s crossing & subsequent appointment to Cabinet, it’ll be interesting to see what result he finds this time.
On Mike Duffy Live:
There was a request for Shapiro to investigate something before Christmas. He said he could not because parliament wasnt sitting. anyone see that?
im short on details.
Hell no, we can’t have weapons in space, we only want them here on earth where they belong! Right Jack? Olivia? Carolyn?
Everytime I hear that term “weaponization of space” it pisses me off, it always seems to come from some empty-headed moron.
Shapiro is a Liberal in sheep*s clothing.
Just the agreement to waste our money on this inquiry after failing to scream out loud about liebral ethics for the past twelve years is grounds for imprisonment for dereliction of duty. TG
Stephen taylor has it.
It was the Valeri land flip deal. Shapiro wouldnt investigate because parliament wasnt sitting.
As far as i know, they are still not sitting.
The Bloody Borders Project
Baron Bodissey has a new project, simultaneously fascinating and appalling, using animated images to visualize Samuel P. Huntington�s statement that Islam has �bloody borders:� The Bloody Borders Project. +
http://chromatism.net/bloodyborders/
via LGF
Churchill on Islamic Fundamentalism
Winston Churchill’s grandson says radical Islam at war with the world
By CJ Staff
March 03, 2006
Excerpt:
Intriguingly, the dangers of extremist Islam were foreseen by Winston Churchill all of 85 years ago, as I discovered to my amazement, while compiling my most recent book NEVER GIVE IN! The Best of Winston Churchill�s Speeches.
Churchill is, of course, well-known for his gift of prescience and, specifically, for being the first to warn of the menace of Hitler and Nazism as early as 1932, and of the Soviet threat in his famous Iron Curtain speech in 1946 in Fulton, Mo. But how many know that he also warned the world of the dangers of Islamic fundamentalism? I certainly did not!
On 14 June 1921, hard on the heels of the Cairo Conference, at which he had presided over the re-shaping of the Middle East, including the creation of modern day Iraq, he warned the House of Commons:
A large number of [Saudi Arabia�s King] Bin Saud�s followers belong to the Wahabi sect, a form of Mohammedanism which bears, roughly speaking, the same relationship to orthodox Islam as the most militant form of Calvinism would have borne to Rome in the fiercest times of [Europe�s] religious wars.
The Wahabis profess a life of exceeding austerity, and what they practice themselves they rigorously enforce on others. They hold it as an article of duty, as well as of faith, to kill all who do not share their opinions and to make slaves of their wives and children. Women have been put to death in Wahabi villages for simply appearing in the streets.
It is a penal offence to wear a silk garment. Men have been killed for smoking a cigarette and, as for the crime of alcohol, the most energetic supporter of the temperance cause in this country falls far behind them. Austere, intolerant, well-armed, and blood-thirsty, in their own regions the Wahabis are a distinct factor which must be taken into account, and they have been, and still are, very dangerous to the holy cities of Mecca and Medina�
In Churchill�s day, of course, the viciousness and cruelty of the Wahabis was confined to the Saudi Arabia peninsula, and their atrocities were directed exclusively against their fellow Muslims, whom they held to be heretics for not adhering to the Wahabi creed � but not anymore. +
http://www.carolinajournal.com/exclusives/display_exclusive.html?id=3158
Emerson is a good pick for Cabinet because he is a talented, accomplished man. Better he be at serious work than in the Liberal flock. Belinda had a tiff with someone and crossed the floor with her crucial vote brokered by former Premier Peterson. She, unlike Emerson, was not ready for a Cabinet post with so little experience and compared with more worthy Liberal womwn backbenchers – as she demonstrated again and again. But I’d leave crossing the floor alone. It’s a member’s business and the only way out in a matter of principle. And the “crossers” add spice and fun so let’s all leave it alone. The media is so pompous on this matter especially Travers of the Star. I’d like to see about 20 Liberals cross the floor the day Parliament opens. I am a member of a family that supported the Liberals for three generations. But no more. all this anti-American nonsense has made the whole family sick and tired of a worn out bunch of empty-headed overly paid people who with few exceptions need a long time out.
Peter Quinn
Thank you for your own personal example of a decision that I am thinking many in the Liberal party are considering carefully.
I have wonderded how many might follow Emmerson’s lead and cross to give the Conservatives a majority in the house. Many, like David Emmerson, were brought in by Paul Martin and I think he turned out to be a big disappointment to many of them. David Emmerson said at one point that he ran again because Paul Martin asked him to and he quit because Paul Matin abandonned the sinking ship.
I agree that the Liberals need a long time out.
The other thing I wonder is how many of the Block MP’s have been sniffing the political winds that have been blowing in the other direction since the election. I am hearing that the Conservatives are gaining in popularity every day in Quebec. I wonder what the chances are that a combination of constituent pressure, political opportunism and Conservative invitation might have a few Block members crossing on day 1 as well.
Perhaps wishful thinking, perhaps not.
Daniel
http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=bec6229d-3e66-46a9-b616-267577d3bc81&k=16351&p=2
Excerpts;
Yet the code specifically indicates that “private interests” refer to an MP’s personal financial assets or outside income.
“A member is not considered to further his or her own private interests…if the matter in question…concerns the remuneration or benefits of the member as provided under an Act of Parliament,” the code states.
Former Conservative MP John Reynolds, the middleman in the Emerson-Harper talks that were launched a day after the Jan. 23 election, said no offers were made to Reynolds and no rules were broken.
He said Shapiro’s own credibility is in question, noting that an all-party committee recently criticized the commissioner for violating his own rules by making public information about scathing allegations against an Alberta Conservative MP.
Sat, March 4, 2006
Threat not ‘viable’
Grit backroom player behind alleged plot to kill Martin: Trial
By IAN MCDOUGALL, COURTS BUREAU
BRAMPTON — The man who allegedly wanted former prime minister Paul Martin dead was on the board of a Liberal riding association and was once charged for trying to run down a former defence minister’s assistant.
The RCMP also had information he was acting as a middleman in arms shipments to Tamil groups.
The stunning testimony was given in a Brampton courtroom yesterday as an abuse of process hearing continued in the case of Vincent Brown, who is facing drug charges.
Brown is trying to have the charges thrown out of court because he says the RCMP broke the promise they made when he gave them information about a 2003 plot to assassinate Paul Martin. Brown said he was offered $300,000 by Augustine D’Souza, who once sat on the board of Scarborough-Rouge River MP Derek Lee’s riding association, RCMP Const. Eric Rebiere testified.
Rebiere, a threat assessment officer with the national security unit, interviewed Brown after police were told he had information about a threat to Martin.
D’Souza was charged with dangerous driving after he tried to run down an assistant to former defence minister John McCallum. Rebiere testified he did not know if the charges were pursued. +
http://www.rapp.org/url/?TW5Z3ZL9
Lieut. Trevor Greene was hit in the back of the head with the axe while attending a meeting with Afghan elders in Gumbad, 70 kilometres north of Kandahar.
Canadian soldiers shot and killed the attacker. Amid the confusion, a second assailant tossed a grenade at the group, but it did no damage. Afghan forces shot at the man, but he managed to escape.
Greene was with the Seaforth Highlanders, a Vancouver-based reserve infantry unit, and was on a six-month deployment to Afghanistan. He is a journalist, a published author and an entrepreneur and has eight years of service in the Canadian Armed Forces, according to his website.
http://www.closingbigger.com/page141.htm
Vijay, the DJ, er, Pundit, says Scottie’s baggage is heavy; baggage is heavy? Brison”s baggage? Baggage? What baggage? S’pose he means Joe Clark? Who’s baggage? [BTW, when Coyne shut down in a huff last year the ostensible reason was that commenters had made salacious comments on the blog re Clark/Brison which Coyne deemed actionable re libel). Brison, one presumes, has lost Vijay. BTW, who is “MI”? The “board”, of course, is Martin/Earnscliffe. +
Sorry Scottie, your baggage is heavy.
March 3rd, 2006
Last night we had a conf call among a few organizers in the South Asian community and Scottie was ruled out from the list. We talked about MI, dryden, Dion, Kennedy, Belinda, and Scottie. There was more support for Belinda over Scottie. We all like him, but with �the board� supporting him, many are wary of repeating the mistake. Too bad for you. +
vijay.com
It should be remembered that “Pundit” is the traditional name of the Brahmans [Librano$] who are placed at the top of the Hindu [Librano$] caste hierarchy just by the reason of … [their humour?]
Holland to allow legal killing of sick babies
Frank and Anita began to believe that their daughter would be better off dead. �She kept throwing up milk that was fed through a tube in her nose,� said Anita. +
via neale news
“God bless us every one!” said Tiny Tim, the last of us all. Charles Dickens:
A Christmas Carol +