Blogging (mostly) about theology and popular culture, media, film, television, music, politics and current events. With some stuff about whatever I want thrown in for good measure.
RAMALLAH, West Bank - The time has come for establishing a Palestinian state and it’s in the interest of the U.S. to do so, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday in one of her most forceful statements yet on the issue.
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The comments from Rice, after a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, suggested that the Bush administration is determined to try to bridge the wide gaps between Israel and the Palestinians ahead of a U.S.-hosted Mideast conference.
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Standing next to Abbas, Rice defined Palestinian statehood as a U.S. interest.
“Frankly, it’s time for the establishment of a Palestinian state,” Rice said.
“I wanted to say in my own voice to be able to say to as many people as possible that the United States sees the establishment of a Palestinian state and a two-state solution as absolutely essential for the future, not just of Palestinians and Israelis but also for the Middle East and indeed to American interests,” she said. “That’s really a message that I think only I can deliver.”
The article goes on from there.
I’m just thinking, though. How is it in the US’s best interest to give a state to these guys:
The owner of a Christian bookstore in the Gaza Strip who was found dead this weekend was publicly beaten by Islamic gunmen accusing him of spreading Christianity, witnesses and Palestinian Arab security officials said.
The body of Rami Ayyad, director of Gaza’s only Christian bookstore, was found Sunday riddled with gunshot and stab wounds. He had been abducted the night before as he closed his shop, a local Christian group said.
Gaza-based Islamic groups had accused Ayyad, a Baptist, of engaging in missionary activity. His bookstore was firebombed in April, and since then Ayyad had told relatives he was receiving death threats from Islamists.
The day before his abduction, Ayyad said he was being followed by a car with no license plates.
Witnesses and security officials associated with Hamas’s so-called Executive Force told The New York Sun that Ayyad was publicly beaten a few blocks from his store before being shot to death.
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Hamas security sources said Ayyad’s body showed signs of torture. He leaves a pregnant wife and two young children. No group has taken responsibility for the attack.
Sheik Abu Saqer, the leader of an Islamic outreach movement that said recently it formed a military wing to enforce Muslim law in Gaza, Jihadia Salafiya, told the Sun that though his group “didn’t carry out the Ayyad attack,” all Christians engaging in missionary activity in Gaza would be “dealt with harshly.”
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Now that Hamas is in power, Sheik Saqer said, Christians can continue to live safely in Gaza only if they accept Islamic law, including a ban on alcohol and on women appearing in public without proper head coverings.
Since June, “the situation has changed 180 degrees in Gaza,” he said. “Jihadia Salafiya and other Islamic movements will ensure Christian schools and institutions show publicly what they are teaching to be sure they are not carrying out missionary activity. No more alcohol on the streets. All women, including non-Muslims, need to understand they must be covered at all times while in public.”
“Also, the activities of Internet cafes, pool halls, and bars must be stopped,” he added. “If it goes on, we’ll attack these things very harshly.”
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The head of Hamas in Gaza and a former Palestinian Arab foreign minister, Mahmoud al-Zahar, responded to fears that the group could impose hard-line Islamic rule by saying: “I hardly understand the point of view of the West concerning these issues. The West brought all this freedom to its people, but it is that freedom that has brought about the death of morality in the West. It’s what led to phenomena like homosexuality, homelessness and AIDS.”
Better than you, I guess is his answer.
A “government” that supports the torture and murder of Christians - yep, give them a state.
The one television show I was looking forward to watching this Fall - the one show I caught the premiere of last week while in California - the one show where guys go into remote tribes and get their butts kicked - is being shown on Discovery Channel in the US, and not on Discovery Channel in Canada.
No “Last One Standing” for Canadians, or for the Americans who live here. Stupid universal health care.
Seriously though, have you seen this show?
I’m so ticked I’m missing it. Zulu stick fighting tonight.
An already bitter left-right divide simmered as the University of Victoria Student Society announced its decision to ban Armed Forces recruiters from their career day, to be held in January, claiming the Armed Forces commits war crimes that make it unacceptable as an employer of the university’s students.
The left-leaning student union, registered under the Canadian Federation of Students, has recently been at odds with conservative, liberal and even several independent groups since the controversial ousting of a popular UVSS chairperson candidate in last year’s election. Right-leaning campus groups have expressed dissent, claiming that the student union has no business banning recruiters from the fair and that students themselves should decide where they would or would not like to work.
What war crimes? Remember, the Canadian Forces are fighting in Afghanistan - the war the the Left continually tells us is the justified war. The front that the Left tells us that the US should have paid most attention to, that in Afghanistan, we “took our eye off the ball” and let Bin Laden go. Afghanistan is the just war, according to the rhetoric of the Left.
But, regardless, the left-leaning student union at the University of Victoria levels baseless accusations of “War Crimes” at the Canadian Forces.
Unbelievable.
Update: I found the article from the U of Victoria Student newspaper, The Martlet. Check this out:
[Tim] Fournier [from Students Against War] accused the military of being dishonest, saying the Canadian Armed Forces use depleted uranium, which has been linked to cancer. The website of the Department of National Defence said that the Armed Forces haven’t carried depleted uranium since 1998.
“They are liars,” Fournier said. “They do not tell the truth, and they manipulate us.”
Hmmm. When confronted with a denial from the Department of National Defense, his response is - “You’re a liar.” Nice comeback buddy.
Scott Garnett, a student in the gallery, challenged Fournier’s assertion that the Canadian military is guilty of war crimes.
“Has anybody in the Canadian military been convicted of war crimes?” Garnett asked.
“They don’t tell us,” replied Fournier, who said Afghans under the supervision of the Canadian military were tortured. “Convicted or not, torturing people is a war crime.”
I wonder if this guy is a Truther. He’s got all the marks of a conspiracy theorist.
Director-at-large Christine Comrie said it was important to ban the military from recruiting because some students are ignorant about the issues.
“A lot of students don’t know about the issues and don’t know about the facts,” she said. “We have to make this decision for students.”
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Many people in the room broke into applause after Ho cast her tiebreaking vote in favour of banning the military.
U of Victoria students - welcome to your nanny state!
The UVic Students’ Society (UVSS) rescinded their ban on Canadian Forces recruiters in the Student Union Building (SUB), putting the issue to a student vote at the society’s Oct. 25 annual general meeting.
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In response to that meeting, a Facebook group was started called “The Canadian Forces are not criminals … but the UVSS are idiots.” Group members printed handbills and impeachment petitions were circulated for the seven members of the UVSS who voted to remove the military from the SUB.
So, I guess not everyone at U of Victoria is an idiot. But, again, this guy is:
Tim Fournier of Students Against War said that his group is not trying to censor anyone, but rather “prevent students from being charged with international war crimes.”
What?
Can’t wait to see what the vote is.
Update #2: Had I been keeping up with my RSS reader, I would have noticed that SDA was all over this 2 weeks ago.
The Muslim Students Association at UTSC has ignited a fierce debate on the particulars of halal food on campus, refusing to support a long-awaited halal option at a Bluff’s, a UTSC campus restaurant.
The result of numerous faculty, staff and student requests, the new menu was introduced to the campus on May 29, making all chicken and beef options certified halal. Despite this, many MSA members say that any establishment that also serves alcohol and plays dance music is an unsuitable environment for their dietary needs.
So, the request was made for halal food. It was granted. But, that isn’t enough - they want the place, a university restaurant, to stop serving alcohol and playing dance music as well. Because, you know, mad beatz taints the meatz.
Some students said the restaurant, in failing to accommodate those who prefer not to eat at an alcoholic establishment, made more of a negative gesture than a positive one with the menu option.
“This initiative was brought forth solely by Bluff’s without ever consulting the MSA or Muslim students. If this was a deliberate accommodation, it’s kind of offensive in giving us the food in a manner unsuitable to us,” said Ahmad Jaballah, a former MSA executive and current Scarborough Campus Students Union VP students and equity.
Jaballah also argued that patronizing such an establishment is wrong because Muslim students would provide revenue for Bluff’s to purchase alcohol—an action forbidden by hadith, a Prophetic saying.
But Food and Beverages Manager Zalia Conde disagrees, noting that the Bluff’s restaurant serves alcohol under the university’s liquor license, rather than a license of its own. In fact, it is through the university that U of T dining establishments purchases alcohol.
When asked about the controversy, a few students argued that simply paying tuition supports the purchase of alcohol by contributing to the salary of the VP business affairs, who oversees the University Alcohol Policy.
Heh. Paying tuition funds alcohol purchases. What will they say/do about that one? I imagine it won’t be not paying tuition.
Despite the MSA, however, sales of halal food are on the rise. The sales are enough to make the program viable. And, there are some Muslim students who are a little more reasonable:
Muzna Siddiqui is one student who disagrees with MSA’s stance and now sees Bluff’s as another inclusive option for her.
“Personally, as a Muslim student, I’m happy the SCSU and UTSC are accommodating us,” she said. “For me, I don’t see how alcohol can contaminate the food like pork does. Unless someone is cooking with it, I don’t see the problem of being in an environment that serves alcohol, because it’s not something directly touching my food.”
Busy busy. Too busy to blog lately. But, I’m getting back around to it. Comp #2 finished aside from a few revisions. And, I saw some stories today that just pissed me off. So, I’m trying to get back on it.
I saw this in Time Magazine at the Doctor’s office yesterday:
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church.’
THE REV. ALEXIA SALVATIERRA, quoting a 2nd century Christian theologian to explain why activist Elvira Arellano’s Aug. 20 deportation to Tijuana would inspire a renewed fight for immigration reform. Arellano had found sanctuary in a Chicago church for a year in defiance of a deportation order
As a Christian, a minister, and a theologian, I have to say: man that pisses me off.
I’ve been swamped with school work. I am trying to finish another chapter by this coming Thursday. That’s why I have been absent around here.
But I did want to respond to some of the comments that have appeared here over the past week.
First, Andrew posts, referring the the following picture posted by UofT:
Everything in white is Israel. everything in Black is what is LEFT OF PALESTINE after the 40 Years of ILLEGAL Military Occupation.
One State under the name of Palestine Israel would mean shared land instead of the ethnic cleansing of the Arab People.
If you want Israelis to live in peace, you must have the Palestinians living there in Peace as well. Because refugee camps is just another word for concentration camps. House demolitions is just another word for leaving families homeless and control over water means the death of millions of Palestinians.
The UN and Amnesty International has noted that the Occupation is a Humanitarian Crisis and is ILLEGAL. How can you defend something that reminds me so much of the Holocaust?
Note: If everything in white in the picture is Israel, why is it not labeled “Israel,” but rather “Palestine”? Maybe because the goal of the event is to, you know, wipe Israel off the map? Literally.
Funny because after all this, after the war, Israel and the USA admitted that the war was Pre Empted on Lebanon.
With no direct target and scape goat until Hezbullah came into play.
How do you justify the destruction of schools, homes, hospitals, and civilian infrustracture without barely any deaths amongst Hezbullah guerillas?
Hezbullah repeatedly told Israeli authorities where they were in Lebanon, not to mention the fact that Israel had hit UN and Rec Cross outposts, trucks, and people.
This is an automated reply from the Bullshit Detector at Little Green Footballs (in this case, rain falls on everyone).
Your recent post contained troll-like characteristics which resembles the type of message sent by spoiled ISM members on summer holiday, college students who have recently inhaled Noam Chomsky’s foul rantings, Adam Shapiro wannabes, Nazi sympathizers, or genuine Koranimals.
In order to prevent another thread being hijacked, and to send your message to the appropriate department for response (FOAD, GAZE, Go Away Gordon, or The Bus To Rachel Corrie’s Tomb Is Leaving - Be Sure You’re Under It), kindly reply to the following questions:
1. Are you aware that the Disputed Territories never belonged to the “Palestinians” and only came into Israeli possession as a result of the 1967 six day war in which Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon all massed forces at Israel’s border in order to “push the Jews into the sea”. The Arabs lost and Israel took control of the land. Do you agree that if the Koranimals don’t want to lose territory to Israel, then they shouldn’t start wars? Do you agree that there is justice that Israel, who as far back as 1948 has always sought peace with her far larger neighbors, should live in prosperity - making the desert bloom - while the residents of 19 adjacent Arab countries who are blessed with far more land as well as oil wealth live in their own feces?
2. Did you know that the “Palestinians” could have had their own country as far back as 1948 had they accepted the UN sponsored partition plan which gave Israel AND the Palestinians a countries of their own on land which Jews had lived on for thousands of years before Mohammed ever had a wet dream about virgins? The Arabs rejected the UN offer and went to war with the infant Israeli nation. The Arabs lost and have been whining about it ever since. Do you agree this is like a murderer who kills his parents and asks for special treatment since he is now an orphan?
3. Can you tell us ANY Arab country which offers Jews the right to be citizens, vote, own property, businesses, be a part of the government or have ANY of the rights which Israeli Arabs enjoy? Any Arab country which gives those rights to Christians? How about to other Arabs? Wouldn’t you just LOVE to be a citizen of Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Iran, or Syria?
4. Since as many Jews (approximately 850,000) were kicked out of Arab countries as were Arabs who left present day Israel (despite being literally begged to stay), why should Arabs be permitted to return to Israel if Jews aren’t allowed to set foot in Arab countries? Can you explain why Arabs can worship freely in Israel but Jews would certainly be hung from street lamps after having their intestines devoured by an Arab mob if they so much as entered an Arab country?
5. Israel resettled and absorbed all of the Jews from Arab countries who wished to become Israelis. Why haven’t any Arab countries offered to resettle Arabs who were displaced from Israel, leaving them to rot for 60 years in squalid refugee camps? And why are those refugee camps still there? Could it be that the billions of dollars that the UNWRA has sent there goes to terrorist groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad, El Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, or Hezbollah? How did Yassir Arafat achieve his $300 million in wealth? Why aren’t these funds distributed for humanitarian use?
6. Did you know that the Arabs in the disputed territories (conquered by Israel in the 1967 war which was started by Arabs) and who are not Israelis already have two countries right now? And that they are called Egypt and Jordan?
7. If your complaint is about the security fence which Israel is finally building in the Disputed Territories, are you aware that it is built solely to keep the “brave” Arab terrorists out so that they can no longer self detonate on busses, in dining halls or pizzerias and kill Jewish grandmothers and schoolchildren? Why are the Arabs so brave when they target unarmed civilians but even when they outnumber their opponents they get their sandy asses kicked all the way to Mecca when they are faced with Jewish soldiers? Why do Arab soldiers make the French look like super heroes?
8. Please explain why you are so concerned about Arabs, who possess 99% of the land in this region and are in control of the world’s greatest natural resource, which literally flows out of the ground? Can’t their brother muslims offer some of the surplus land and nature’s riches to the “Palestinians”? Or is it true that Arabs are willing to die right down to the last “Palestinian”?
9. Why do you not exhibit the same level of concern for say, people in Saudi Arabia who are beheaded, subject to amputation, stoning, honor killing etc.? What about women who are denied any semblance of basic civil rights, including the right not to be treated as property for the entertainment and abuse of her father, brothers, or husbands? What about the Muslims in Sudan and Egypt who are still enslaved, or the women there whose genitalia are barbarically cut off? How about the oppression of Shiites by Sunnis, the gassing of the Kurds by Iraq, or the massacre of “Palestinians” by Jordan (Black September)? Why doesn’t this concern you?
10. Did you ever stop to wonder how much better off everyone in the region would be if Arabs stopped trying to kill Jews and destroy Israel? What would happen if the Israelis gave up their weapons and disarmed? Would they live to see the next day? But what would happen if the Arabs completely disarmed? You know the answer: They would all be AT PEACE! And if there is no war to rile them up, the Arabs would be forced to look at their own repressive, pre-medieval societies. Why would they want to do that when there are Jews to kill?
11. Have you heard “People who define themselves primarily by what they hate, rather than who they love, are doomed to failure and misery”? Can you see the parallels to the Arabs, who are blessed with land and oil, but still gladly train their children to kill themselves in order to kill Jews? Have you heard Golda Meir’s words to the effect of “There will be peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate ours”? Why do the Arabs hate so much?
Please respond to the items listed above.
Thank you for writing to Little Green Footballs (or, in this case again, rain falls on everyone).
Signed,
Troll Early Warning Detection Team
If you answer those questions, then maybe we will have a bit of a better understanding of one another.
What I just read is a hate and race about Islam.
I thing it’s a good idea that the muslim women can have thier own gym .
I’m not a muslim but I’ll be soon
Before becoming a Muslim, Lucky, I hope that you are informed. I would direct your attention to the following information:
RIYADH, 6 August 2007 — A new convert to Islam, fired with zeal to do a righteous act, had no idea that he would pay a heavy price for helping a sick woman, one that has landed him 50 days and counting behind bars.
The Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice found him guilty for committing a crime: Being in the presence of a woman who is not a relative (a so-called “illegal state of seclusion”).
Arab News tried several times to contact Ahmed Al-Jardan, spokesman for the commission, but phone calls were not returned. A written fax sent to the commission’s main center asking for comment was also ignored.
Ibrahim Mohammed Lawal, a Nigerian student of Islamic studies at Badiya Islamic Center in Riyadh, learned that his neighbor, a 63-year-old woman, was indisposed and needed medical attention. So he took her to various hospitals in Riyadh, including the Riyadh Medical Complex at Shumaisy, all of which refused to treat her. It was only after the intervention of Sheikh Fawaz, director of Badiya Islamic Center, that the Badiya Hospital admitted the case. Despite the charitable act Mohammed ended up in detention, accused of immoral behavior because he was neither married nor related by blood to the elderly woman.
Also, know that it is an all or nothing thing, especially if you are currently a Christian:
The counter demo placards read Jewish Defence League.
The Jewish Defence League is classified as an illegal terrorist group in the USA - they were caught trying to blow up a mosque is Culver city in 2001.
On that post, I responded:
observer -
Do you have anything to back that up? According to this wikipedia article, U.S. State Department list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations, JDL is not included.
Also, the JDL page on Wikipedia is of disputed neutrality, and the articles I have found in an admittedly quick google search are also from non-neutral sources.
If you are going to make an accusation, back it up dude.
JDL’s website does state: “The Jewish Defense League unconditionally condemns terrorism of all forms. Terrorism is never a legitimate means to the furtherance of political goals.” This is more than I have ever heard from CAIR.
So, that’s all for now. I welcome comments, and will do my best to respond to them in kind.
Also, I’ll do my best to post a bit more. School, and cluster headache, is killing me.
I do pulpit supply around the city, and yesterday was one of those occasions. Morning and evening service, my responsibility was preaching at the morning service, and then sermon as well as prayers and communion at the evening service. These occasions are interesting for me, I enjoy meeting different people at different churches - but rarely do I walk away with a broken heart. Last night, I did.
After the evening service - a beautiful service, by the way, with only about 10 people in attendance, a completely disparate group, looking really mish-mashed together, with little common bond except the love of Christ between them - after the sermon and after sharing the Lord’s Supper, I had the privilege of speaking with an Iraqi man, maybe in his 50’s, though quite worn, for just a few minutes.
He told me a short tale of hardship. He comes to as many church services as he can to learn better English. I asked where he was from, and how long he has been in Canada. He told me that he “escaped” Iraq about 10 years ago. Shortly after, he told me, his wife and son tried to escape, and were caught before entering Kuwait. They were caught in a group by Saddam’s people, and the whole group was shot and killed. He said that when he heard the news, he immediately had a heart attack, and his heart has never been the same since.
In the intervening years, he has had a number of heart attacks, and has lost a leg. He said that if he happens not to be in church on a Sunday it is because he is in hospital for his heart. He likes attending church. In Iraq, he said, they attended a Christian church growing up. But, when Sadaam came to power, churches were destroyed and they were warned not to go to church or their “heads would be cut.” He was insistent that Canada is a great place to live.
I did not press him on any of the details of his life in Iraq, or subsequent flight to North America. I did not ask him his political feelings about the war in Iraq, the removal of Saddam, and the state of things now. It was my position, my privilege, to listen to him tell me a bit about his life, about his trade as a rug weaver, about how he works for 8 hours a day and completes only one inch of hand-woven rug, about his childhood exploring ruins of ancient buildings in “Babylon.” And I was immensely blessed, in a sad and strange way, in my 15 minutes with this man who had weathered heartache, hardship, and tragedy, and is coming through the other side loving, and with the love of, God.
He asked me to come back and preach again, because I spoke slowly and clearly enough for him to understand my English. I’m glad. I hope that I have the privilege to come back and speak with him again.
The other night I went out to dinner with some friends. They are all good friends, very good friends. At one point in the course of the evening, we had a conversation about US foreign policy, Guantanamo Bay, the war in Iraq, and especially about terrorism. I respect my friends’ opinions, however I found it quite disturbing the insistence upon denying that there is a religious motivation for the acts of terrorism that we see happening in the world today.
The concept of “jihad,” according to my friend, is something that has been taken out of context from the Qu’ran, and blown out of proportion by those insistent that there is a “War on Terror.” Really, the acts of violence perpetrated against the West, according to my friend’s reasoning, have more to do with US foreign policy, our reputation in the world, and social and economic issues among the people groups that are conducting these terrorist activities.
I just wanted to take a moment and respond:
We can dispose of the “social and economic” argument straight away. If the most recent rash of terrorist attacks in London and Glasgow has taught us anything, it is that there are people of high education and social standing who are ready and willing to carry out destruction against innocent lives in the West:
With six foreign doctors, one medical student and a former lab technician in custody after a four-day manhunt, investigators are quietly satisfied the “major suspects” in the case are in hand.
…
All eight detainees have ties to Britain’s National Health Service, overlapping in their duties at two hospitals in England and Scotland.
Further, watch Robert Spencer’s appearance on Cavuto, here, where he discusses the fact that most of the jihadists are of higher social standing and wealth. Also - I don’t see Osama Bin Laden hurting for cash…
So, if it isn’t social oppression, poverty, or any of those things, what is it?
It seems as if the Toronto Star, linked above, has a hard time figuring this out as well:
All eight detainees have ties to Britain’s National Health Service, overlapping in their duties at two hospitals in England and Scotland. Most also have roots elsewhere, but investigators have thus far found scant few common threads in their respective backgrounds in Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, India and Saudi Arabia.
The word “Islam” is not even mentioned in the article. The word “Muslim” only once, in relation to the Muslim Council of Britain.
Let’s look for a moment at some of the things that might be motivating these terrorists. At the outset, I’ll just say that I’m not accusing all Muslims of terrorism. But, I am saying that there is a religious motivation for the terrorists that try to hurt us - and that this is their central motivation.
Across town from the site of the recent attempted car-bomb attacks, several thousand Muslims gathered in front of the London Central Mosque to applaud fiery preachers prophesying the overthrow of the British government – a future vision that encompasses an Islamic takeover of the White House and the rule of the Quran over America.
“One day my dear Muslims,” shouted Anjem Choudary, “Islam will govern Britain!”
Choudary was a co-founder of Al Muhajiroun, the now-banned group tied to suspects in the July 7, 2005, London transport bombings and a cheerleader of the 9/11 attacks.
“Democracy, hypocrisy,” Choudary chanted as the crowd echoed him. “Tony Blair, terrorist! Tony Blair, murderer! Queen Elizabeth, go to hell!”
…
Muslim leader Abu Saif, who kept his voice at a fever pitch through declarations such as: “Brothers and sisters, make no mistake. Make no mistake. The British government, the queen, the MPs in this country, they are enemies to you, enemies to Allah and enemies to the Muslims.”
Abu Saif is believed to be a member of the group Hizb ut-Tahrir, the Party of Liberation, which states its aim is to unify Muslims and establish Islamic rule over the world. The group’s Cambridge cell reportedly had tried to recruit the Iraqi doctor now suspected of mounting the attack on Glasgow’s airport June 30. The failed car-bomb assault followed two similar attempts in London the previous day.
Abu Saif spoke with disdain of Blair’s appointment as a special envoy to the Middle East, issuing an apparent threat.
“Inshallah,” meaning “Allah willing,” he told the crowd, Blair will “go to the Middle East as an envoy, and he’ll come back in a box. Inshallah. What box that is, we leave that up to you.”
Over 3,000 in attendance, in front of the largest Mosque in the UK. Read the whole thing.
Choudary is a Muslim leader who stated that attacks such as 9/11 and 7/7 are perfectly justified, as only Muslims are innocent.
I would also state that these terrorists are motivated by hate, and that this hate is rooted in deep religious belief. Take for example, from Hamas Television, the indoctrination of hatred towards the Jewish people in children, on children’s TV shows:
As Spencer points out, that Haddith can be found here.
And then there is the incitement to kill and fight Jewish people, also bred from religious motivation, fed to children through Palestinian television, in which a Mickey Mouse look-alike is beaten to death by an actor playing a Jewish man. A 3-year old girl calls in to the program to express her hatred, saying that the Jews killed Farfur:
But, maybe that is all anecdotal.
Words on Jihad from those who understand it best - Muslim scholars. This from the preface to a booklet, found quite easily through a Google search for “Jihad.” This is found on “youngmuslims.ca“:
Though jihad may be a part of the answer to the problems of the ummah, it is an extremely important part. Jihad is to offer ourselves to Allah for His Cause. Indeed, every person should according to Islam prepare himself/herself for jihad and every person should eagerly and patiently wait for the day when Allah will call them to show their willingness to sacrifice their lives. We should all ask ourselves if there is a quicker way to heaven? It is with this in mind that this booklet is being published.
Further, the issue of Jihad is taken up by Hasan al-Banah. Again from the preface:
Imam Hasan al-Banna is the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood and one of the pioneers of today’s Islamic revival. It is a shame that so many people are unaware of this man and his contribution towards what we see today. It is the right of the contemporary Muslim generation that they should have access to the writings of this great reformer; especially on this important topic.
The Imam, may Allah bless him, shows us that ultimately, and insha’Allah (God-willing) time will be a witness to this, only Islam can save mankind from itself. And jihad on the individual and international scale will be a necessary part of this process of change.
The article goes on with al-Banah’s words:
Jihad is an obligation from Allah on every Muslim and cannot be ignored nor evaded. Allah has ascribed great importance to jihad and has made the reward of the martyrs and the fighters in His way a splendid one. Only those who have acted similarly and who have modelled themselves upon the martyrs in their performance of jihad can join them in this reward. Furthermore, Allah has specifically honoured the Mujahideen with certain exceptional qualities, both spiritual and practical, to benefit them in this world and the next. Their pure blood is a symbol of victory in this world and the mark of success and felicity in the world to come.
Those who can only find excuses, however, have been warned of extremely dreadful punishments and Allah has described them with the most unfortunate of names. He has reprimanded them for their cowardice and lack of spirit, and castigated them for their weakness and truancy. In this world, they will be surrounded by dishonour and in the next they will be surrounded by the fire from which they shall not escape though they may possess much wealth. The weaknesses of abstention and evasion of jihad are regarded by Allah as one of the major sins, and one of the seven sins that guarantee failure.
Islam is concerned with the question of jihad and the drafting and the mobilisation of the entire Umma into one body to defend the right cause with all its strength than any other ancient or modern system of living, whether religious or civil. The verses of the Qur’an and the Sunnah of Muhammad (PBUH) are overflowing with all these noble ideals and they summon people in general (with the most eloquent expression and the clearest exposition) to jihad, to warfare, to the armed forces, and all means of land and sea fighting.
Well, so much for that theory. The essay continues, asking why it is that Muslims fight:
Islam allows jihad and permits war until the following Qur’anic verse is fulfilled:
‘We will we show them Our signs in the universe, and in their ownselves, until it becomes manifest to them that this (the Qur’an) is the truth.’
(Surat al-Fussilat (41), ayah 53)
People have for some time now ridiculed this but today these same people acknowledge that preparation for war is the surest way to peace! Allah did not ordain jihad for the Muslims so that it may be used as a tool of oppression or tyranny or so that it may be used by some to further their personal gains. Rather jihad is used to safeguard the mission of spreading Islam. This would guarantee peace and the means of implementing the Supreme Message. This is a responsibility which the Muslims bear, this Message guiding mankind to truth and justice.
For our own good I guess - war is a means to force peace upon the world - the peace of knowing the truth of the Quran.
(For more on jihad and Islam, an area that is not my specialty, but that read up on and know how to Google, I would seriously recommend Jihad Watch, as well as the site’s Islam 101, by Gregory Davis. Or, Daniel Pipes on “What is Jihad?“, who states unequivocally: “The purpose of jihad, in other words, is not directly to spread the Islamic faith but to extend sovereign Muslim power (faith, of course, often follows the flag). Jihad is thus unabashedly offensive in nature, with the eventual goal of achieving Muslim dominion over the entire globe.”)
While this is by far a complete survey of Jihad, or religious motivations in terrorism, what I do hope to have accomplished is to show that in the terrorism that we see in the world today, from 9/11, to 7/7, to the Madrid bombings, to the most recent spate of attacks in the UK, to the insurgency in Iraq, to the Taliban in Afghanistan, to the jihadists at the Red Mosque in Pakistan, in all of that there is a religious motivation that goes much, much deeper than the pat answer given by the Left that it has to do with either economic situations, or the US involvement in the Middle East. No. It has to do with a deeply held religious belief that Islam should conquer the world. And some people just don’t get that.
Of course, I suppose I could have done away with all of the above, and just quoted John Smeaton, the Glasgow Airport baggage handler, and overnight hero, if I wanted to show the religious motivation behind terror attacks in the modern world:
Witness John Smeaton added: “It was unbelievable, the guy was in flames and still trying to fight the police. He was a maniac.
“He was shouting ‘Allah, Allah, Allah,’ with every punch he threw. I tried to grab him and pull him away. Then he was on all fours covered head to toe in flames.”
Update:How could I forget the terrorism, and its religious foundation, that is sharia law?
If you wanted to arrive at rainfallsoneveryone, you could do so in any number of ways.
I get really understandable ones, on a fairly consistent basis. They usually have something to do with rain falling, or with rain fall totals in pretty much any city you could imagine:
NASA has agreed to buy a Russian space toilet for $19 million US that filters urine into drinkable water.
The new toilet will go on the International Space Station, which currently has only one toilet for a crew of three. The crew will expand to six members in 2009, and space bosses don’t want astronauts lining up when they have to go.
…
And so, the toilet pumps urine to a U.S.-made filtering system. Water molecules are very small, and the filters can remove anything made of bigger molecules — in particular, the organic waste in urine. Solid matter is separated from the liquid, stored in tanks and returned to Earth on the earliest possible spaceship.
The filtering technology is tried and true, Quine notes. “It’s fairly elaborate — osmotic systems with various layers of charcoal and things to take out things that you don’t want to recycle.”
Why do they bring the solids back to earth?
And, how long until this is heralded as a solution to global warming?
Lawyers in Pakistan are investigating a report that up to 30 men tortured and gang-raped a young Christian man for refusing to convert to Islam.
The victim is seriously injured and unable to move, Release International’s partner in Pakistan has reported. However, according to the Centre for Legal Aid Assistance and Settlement (CLAAS) the police are keeping him locked up and have denied him medical treatment.
…
According to CLAAS, the Christian was invited to a game of cricket. A quarrel broke out and he was beaten up. Later that evening, the father of one of the Muslims asked the Christian over to his house.
Joseph Francis, the National Director of CLAAS, explained: “When he entered the drawing room, he found it filled with unknown people. They began to beat him severely. They threatened him with dire consequences if he did not accept Islam. After his refusal, they committed sodomy with him one by one for the whole night.”
The poll suggests Canadians divide in essentially three groups on the issue of creation: 34 per cent of those polled said humans developed over millions of years under a process guided by God; 26 per cent said God created humans alone within the last 10,000 years or so; and 29 per cent said they believe evolution occurred with no help from God.
“These results reflect an essential Canadian tendency,” said pollster Bruce Anderson. “We are pretty secular, but pretty hesitant to embrace atheism.”
The belief that God had a direct or indirect role in creation was widespread among the 1,000 respondents questioned between June 21 and 24. A majority of those polled held this view in every region of the country, in rural and urban areas, and regardless of education.
Look at that bolded part. And then we get this little gem from the Globe and Mail:
The findings suggest the least educated were most likely to be creationists, as were respondents living in rural Canada.
Among respondents without a high-school diploma, 37 per cent said they believed God alone created humans less than 10,000 years ago, whereas only 15 per cent of university-educated respondents were strict creationists.
Rural respondents also had a plurality who believed in strict creationism at 34 per cent, whereas only 22 per cent of urban dwellers said they believed God alone created humans.
I’m looking for the raw poll numbers, as, I would like to see how the Globe and Mail made both of those statements. How do those statements square? What kind of spin is that?
Oh well, it might give some people I know fodder for their creationist fascinations. No names, of course!
LOS ANGELES — The 24-year-old son of former Vice President Al Gore was arrested for drug possession on Wednesday after he was stopped for allegedly speeding in his hybrid Toyota Prius, a sheriff’s official said.
Al Gore III – whose father is a leading advocate of policies to fight global warming – was driving his environmentally friendly car at about 160 kilometres per hour on a freeway south of Los Angeles when he was pulled over by an Orange County sheriff’s deputy at about 2:15 a.m.
A subsequent search yielded a small amount of marijuana, along with prescription drugs including Valium, Xanax, Vicodin and Adderall, said sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino. There were no prescriptions found, he said.
160 kph = 100 mph
Can a Prius seriously go that fast? I just think its funny that they make a big deal of his “environmentally friendly” car. It ain’t so friendly to anyone in the surrounding environment if the drunken, doped up louse were to go out of control, wreck, and take some innocent people with him. But, hey, at least he was reducing his carbon footprint!
Since I finished my paper, and I was so inspired by the lol terrorists, I made some of my own and sent them in. I don’t know if they’ll post them, but, I thought I would post them here anyway. After all, I worked so hard on them…
Is it just me, or is that dude on the right totally Sanjaya? I think so.
Anyway, as if to prove the marketers right, this past weekend saw Toronto’s 2007 Pride Parade. This year, living at the corner of Yonge and Bloor, I had the perfect view of the, um, action, from my balcony, without having to brave the naked crowds. With my zoom lens, I was able to capture some of the action, as well as an exciting Scrotum Man sighting!
Now, I am not going to post all of my photos from the day, just a few. But, I will tuck some of them behind the fold because of their, let us say, revealing nature. So, here’s your content warning: Full nudity beyond the fold. Not a lot of it, and none of it pretty. But, just so you know what you are getting into!
I’m late to the table with this one, but, here it is anyway.
On June 6, there was a concerted effort to protest Chapters/Indigo here in Canada. The pro-Palestinian folks seem to think that the owners sponsor the IDF. Even if they did, I would still shop there - maybe all the more reason. Story: here and here.
All I have to offer are the photos of the Indigo at Bay and Bloor, and maybe a couple of observations. The first of which is that it was finally good to see the counter-protest outnumber the Palestinian protesters.
To the photos. As you can see the anti-Israel group was weak:
The pro-Israel group had quite a turnout, with a lot of good signs. They pulled no punches:
Suicide Bombing is from Hamas:
Suicide Bombers are not Born to Kill:
C.A.I.A. stands for: Coalition Against Israeli Apartheid. They are the one’s who put on these lame protests, and sponsor Israeli Apartheid Week at the University.
I really liked this one:
With all that has gone on between Hamas and Fatah over the past month, I can’t see how anyone could support these movements.
There were also a few flyers that the pro-Israel side had that would be worth posting. I will try to scan them tonight.
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