What could possibly go wrong?

At least 35 people are feared dead and many more injured.
h/t ‘TheRedSuit’
Report from DEBKAfile
Realtime Updates Here
Update #1:
Pamela Geller has much more (graphic images warning). h/t Marc in Calgary
Update #2:
Here’s the top rated comment on this tragedy at CBC News:

This is what passes for intelligent thought amongst some Canadians. 🙁

I wonder what Queen Elizabeth’s father would think of this?
Beyond the fact that he’d of course be deemed a racist for daring to even raise the issue!

When George W. Bush left office we were assured by everyone on the Left that the Dawn of a New Day was near. We were promised that a conciliatory approach to international relations carried out by intelligent people (ie. not Republicans) was sure to resolve every diplomatic problem in the world.
Now, 2 years later, how has that worked out? Not very darn well it appears. The problem, of course, is that Barack Obama followed closely to what the Leftist ideologues were urging him to do. This course of action failed. Miserably. He refused to show any real sign of support for the brave, freedom loving citizens in Iran. Now many of them are dead or imprisoned.
More recently, he abandoned the democracy loving citizens in Lebanon and the government there fell, in no small part to the forces of Hezbollah, a proxy of the thugocracy in Iran. No one is sure what will happen next but there are great fears that things will be bleak. One thing all* Lebanese are in agreement about is that Barack Obama and America have abandoned them.
Fouad Ajami has a comprehensive new article about all of this. Definitely well worth a read.

Earlier today Roy Green held a round table discussion on his radio show about Muslims & Islam in North America. The four guests were:

• Dr. Zuhdi Jasser – American Islamic Forum for Democracy
• Tarek Fatah – Canadian Muslim Congress
• Naseem Mahdi – Amadiyyah Movement in Islam (U.S.)
• Ahmed Rehab – CAIR Chicago

You can listen to the entire segment here.
It seems very clear to me that there is great division within the Muslim community in North America and this discussion exemplified that. I’ve heard Zuhdi Jasser countless times on both Roy Green and Dennis Miller’s programs. I think he’s a rock solid conservative and is trying to reform Muslims in America, not altogether different than Bill Cosby has tried to do within the African American community. Tarek Fatah, though he seemed off his rocker (read “beyond illogical”) about Sarah Palin this past week, was nevertheless very much echoing what Jasser was saying in this discussion.
I’m not very familiar with Naseem Mahdi but Ahmed Rehab sounded like a nasty piece of work, which is par for the course with any past interviews I’ve seen with CAIR representatives. Here’s some background info on Rehab and here’s an interview he had with Laura Ingraham about 6 months ago. He excels at first insulting anyone he disagrees with rather than discussing the topic at hand. In other words, he’s just a typical Leftist.
Anyhow, please do listen to the segment and share your thoughts!

Tens of thousands…

… marched in Pakistan’s largest city on Sunday to oppose any change to national blasphemy laws and to praise a man charged with murdering a provincial governor who had campaigned against the divisive legislation.
The rally of up to 50,000 people in downtown Karachi was one of the largest demonstrations of support for the laws, which make insulting Islam a capital offense. It was organized before the governor of Punjab province, Salman Taseer, was shot dead on Tuesday in Islamabad by a bodyguard who told a court he considered Taseer a blasphemer.
Muslim groups have praised the bodyguard, Mumtaz Qadri, and have used Taseer’s death to warn others not to speak out against the much-derided laws.

The lights are going out in Denmark.

Last month, Danish MP Jesper Langballe was convicted of “hate speech” — “racial discrimination,” for having highlighted the pattern of “honor killings” in Muslim families. (Here is his “confession.”) Now in the crosshairs is my very dear friend and colleague, Lars Hedegaard, President of the Danish Free Press Society and the International Free Press Society. (A historian as well as a journalist and author, Lars took me on a special tour of Copenhagen, which I wrote about here.) On January 24 he goes on trial. His crime? Discussing the high incidence of family rape within Islamic cultures, which the prosecutor is attempting to outlaw as “racism.”
In fact, the Danish prosecutor is attempting to enforce Islamic “blasphemy” laws, which outlaw all criticism of Islam.

Bibi had offered some fellow farm laborers some water. They refused to drink it because Christian hands purportedly make water unclean. An argument followed. She defended her faith, which they took as synonymous with attacking theirs. Later, she says, a mob of her accusers raped her.

Naturally, a Pakistani judge sentenced her to hang for blasphemy.

Naturally.

A vulture tagged by scientists at Tel Aviv University has strayed into Saudi Arabian territory, where it was promptly arrested on suspicion of being a Mossad spy, Israeli and Saudi media reported Tuesday…

From Iran’s PressTV (which isn’t a member of the Progressive Bloggers, but should be);

The explosion at a church in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, which left 21 people killed and another 80 Muslims and Christians wounded, raises one question: Who was behind the blast?
Although, at first glance, the finger is pointed at extremist Wahabi or Salafi groups, it goes without saying that no Muslim, whatever their political leanings may be, will ever commit such an inhumane act.

In related “injured Christian and Muslim community” news: percentage of Americans who believe Obama is a Muslim continues to rise…
h/t Black Mamba, EBD

(Juxtapose!)

LFPress;

The Correctional Service of Canada has hired its first female Muslim prison guard who will wear a hijab specially designed for the dangerous institutional setting, QMI Agency has learned.
CSC confirmed the recruit is now on her second week of a nine-week training program in Ontario and will be placed as a guard in a men¹s federal penitentiary when she’s done.
As a correctional officer, she will be permitted to wear gloves and long sleeves to avoid skin-to-skin contact with male offenders in accordance with her religious and cultural practices, but has been told she may be required to remove them if circumstances require it.
“It has required some research on our part to ensure her religious and cultural needs are accommodated within the parameters of our requirements for safety and security of institution and staff,” said CSC national spokesman Graham Andrews.
After processing the recruit’s application, the CSC formed a working group to work out ways to address both the employer’s and the employee’s needs.
A special hijab head covering is being developed that will come off easily if an inmate grabs her, instead of giving the offender physical control.
Efforts are also underway to obtain equipment such as a breathing apparatus that works with the hijab.
CSC and the employee have also established a mutual understanding about physical contact with men, which is prohibited under the Muslim faith.

h/t Jon

A lot of enlightening may be needed all around, plus a link to Afghan cricket (see “mediæval”). There is hope:

A non-PC former politician, or, keeping some faith, baby…
…
As not-too-distant (one might just think) background, a story about how Prime Minister Mackenzie King put it in 1939:
Canadian Soldiers Defend Faith Prime Minister Says
Present Conflict for Freedom of Mind and Soul As Well As Nation
CHRISTIAN HERITAGE…

National Post;

The de-classified Intelligence Assessment obtained by the National Post says extremists have been encouraging Muslims in the West to reject Western society and to live in “self-imposed isolation.”
The report focuses on groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Hizb-ut-Tahrir, which do not advocate terrorist violence but promote an ideology at odds with core Western values.
“Even if the use of violence is not outwardly expressed, the creation of isolated communities can spawn groups that are exclusivist and potentially open to messages in which violence is advocated,” it says.
“At a minimum, the existence of such mini-societies undermines resilience and the fostering of a cohesive Canadian nation.”

Related: Shock in Oklahoma