Rome: New Attack on Modern Sins II

In a series of Good Friday meditations that he will lead in Rome, the Pope will say that society is in the grip of a kind of “anti-Genesis” described as “a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family”. He will pray for society to be cleansed of the “filth” that surrounds it and be restored to purity, freed from “decadent narcissism”.

Above quote from Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent in The Times [London]. (Link to Article).

From the meditations and prayers to be given at the Coliseum in Rome, by Pope Benedict XVI, on Good Friday, 2006, commemorating the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, Section on the Seventh Station of the Cross (Link to full text of Good Friday meditations.):

But what is it that today, in particular, strikes at Christ's holy body?

Surely God is deeply pained by the attack on the family. Today we seem to be witnessing a kind of anti-Genesis, a counter-plan, a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family.

There is a move to reinvent mankind, to modify the very grammar of life as planned and willed by God.[10] But, to take God's place, without being God, is insane arrogance, a risky and dangerous venture.

May Christ's fall open our eyes to see once more the beautiful face, the true face, the holy face of the family. The face of the family which all of us need.

PRAYER

Lord Jesus, the family is one of God's dreams entrusted to humanity; the family is a spark from Heaven shared with all mankind: the family is the cradle where we were born and are constantly reborn in love.

Lord Jesus, enter our homes and lead us in the song of life. Rekindle the lamp of love and make us feel the beauty of being bound to one another in an embrace of life: a life warmed by God's own breath, the breath of the God who is Love.

Lord Jesus, save the family, and save life itself!

Lord Jesus, save my own family, save our families! [My formatting]

Rome: New Attack on Modern Sins I

From a The Times [London] article, Pope condemns geneticists 'who play at being God'.

Link to full text of Good Friday meditation..

The Times April 14, 2006 [/] Pope condemns geneticists 'who play at being God' [/] By Ruth Gledhill, Religion Correspondent

Pope Benedict XVI will deliver a blistering attack […] on the “satanic” mores of modern society today, warning against an “inane apologia of evil” that is in danger of destroying humanity.

In a series of Good Friday meditations that he will lead in Rome, the Pope will say that society is in the grip of a kind of “anti-Genesis” described as “a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family”. He will pray for society to be cleansed of the “filth” that surrounds it and be restored to purity, freed from “decadent narcissism”.

Particular condemnation is reserved for scientific advances in the field of genetic manipulation. Warning against the move to “modify the very grammar of life as planned and willed by God”, the Pope will lead prayers against “insane, risky and dangerous” ventures in attempting “to take God’s place without being God”.

The Pope has not actually composed the prayers for the traditional Way of the Cross, but is certain to have given his blessing to the Good Friday meditations at the Colosseum.

Their author is Archbishop Angelo Comastri, Vicar General at Vatican City. The tone of the meditations is striking in its contrast to the contemporary fashion for feel-good religion.

While some will regard their emphasis on sin and the dark side of human nature as retrograde, others will welcome them as a sign of the strong and conservative leadership that Pope Benedict XVI was elected to provide. All Roman Catholic churches and many others, including Anglican churches in the Anglo-Catholic tradition, celebrate a liturgy around the Stations of the Cross on Good Friday.

The 14 stations begin with Jesus’s condemnation to death, take Christians through meditations of the “Way of the Cross” and the Crucifixion and end with the laying of Jesus’s body in the tomb. The Pope wrote the meditations himself for last year’s Way of the Cross in Rome. But today’s Catholic prayers, published in Italian this week and in English on the Zenit website yesterday, go further than most in their thorough denunciation of contemporary culture.

At the Third Station of the Cross, where Jesus falls for the first time, Archbishop Comastri has written: “Lord, we have lost our sense of sin. Today a slick campaign of propaganda is spreading an inane apologia of evil, a senseless cult of Satan, a mindless desire for transgression, a dishonest and frivolous freedom, exalting impulsiveness, immorality and selfishness as if they were new heights of sophistication.”

At the Fourth Station, where Jesus is helped by Simon the Cyrene to carry the cross, Pope Benedict and his followers will pray: “Lord Jesus, our affluence is making us less human, our entertainment has become a drug, a source of alienation, and our society’s incessant, tedious message is an invitation to die of selfishness.”

One of the strongest meditations warns against the attack on the family. “Today we seem to be witnessing a kind of anti-Genesis, a counter-plan, a diabolical pride aimed at eliminating the family.”

There is a moving meditation for the Eighth Station, where Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem, describing the “River of tears shed by mothers, mothers of the crucified, mothers of murderers, mothers of drug addicts, mothers of terrorists, mothers of rapists, mothers of psychopaths, but mothers all the same”.

The Pope will also confront the question of evil in the world in a meditation that asks: “Where is Jesus in the agony of our own time, in the division of our world into belts of prosperity and belts of poverty . . . in one room they are concerned about obesity, in the other, they are begging for charity?”

Ruth Gledhill weblog http://timescolumns.typepad.com/gledhill/ [My ellipses and emphasis]

Too Soon to Remember 9/11 Graphic Details? POLL

See article below and Vote at Adult Christian Forum Thread 95447 (Choices given after article below).

From a Newsweek article, A Dark Day Revisited:

A Dark Day Revisited [/] Five years later, Hollywood is betting that America is ready for films about what happened on 9/11. Are we?

By Sean Smith and Jac Chebatoris [/] Newsweek [/] April 10, 2006 issue -

If movie trailers are supposed to cause a reaction, the preview for "United 93" more than succeeds. Featuring no voice-over and no famous actors, it begins with images of a beautiful morning and passengers boarding an airplane. It takes you a minute to realize what the movie's even about. That's when a plane hits the World Trade Center. The effect is visceral. When the trailer played before "Inside Man" last week at the famed Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood, audience members began calling out, "Too soon!" In New York City, where 9/11 remains an open wound, the response was even more dramatic. The AMC Loews theater on Manhattan's Upper West Side took the rare step of pulling the trailer from its screens after several complaints. "One lady was crying," says one of the theater's managers, Kevin Adjodha. "She was saying we shouldn't have [played the trailer]. That this was wrong ... I don't think people are ready for this."

We're about to find out. "United 93" is the first feature film to deal explicitly with the events of September 11, 2001, and is certain to ignite an emotional debate before and after it opens on April 28. Is it too soon? Should the film have been made at all? More to the point, will anyone want to see it? Other 9/11 projects are on the way as the fifth anniversary of the attacks approaches, most notably Oliver Stone's "World Trade Center," starring Nicolas Cage, opening Aug. 9. But as the harbinger, "United 93" will take most of the heat, whether it deserves it or not.

The real United 93 crashed in a Pennsylvania field after 40 passengers and crew fought back against the terrorists who had hijacked the plane. Writer-director Paul Greengrass ("The Bourne Supremacy") has gone to great lengths to be respectful in his depiction of what occurred, proceeding with the film only after securing the approval of every victim's family. "Was I surprised at the unanimity? Yes. Very. Usually there are one or two families who are more reluctant," Greengrass writes in an e-mail. "I was surprised and humbled at the extraordinary way the United 93 families have welcomed us into their lives and shared their experiences with us." His team's research was meticulous. "They even went so far as to ask what my mother had been wearing on the plane," says Carole O'Hare, whose 79-year-old mother, Hilda Marcin, died on the flight. "They were very open and honest with us, and they made us a part of this whole project." Universal, which is releasing the film, plans to donate 10 percent of its opening weekend gross to the Flight 93 National Memorial Fund. That hasn't stopped criticism that the studio is exploiting a national tragedy. O'Hare thinks that's unfair. "This story has to be told to honor the passengers and crew for what they did," she says. "But more than that, it raises awareness. Our ports aren't secure. Our borders aren't secure. Our airlines still aren't secure, and this is what happens when you're not secure. That's the message I want people to hear."

It's unclear whether Americans will pay $9.50 to hear it. The A&E cable movie "Flight 93" drew 5.9 million viewers in January, the highest-rated show in the channel's history. But movies are different. "I don't want anyone to go who doesn't want to have this experience," says Adam Fogelson, Universal's president of marketing. "But when I see what's on screen, I feel comfortable that a lot of people will." Audiences seem to be split on the issue. "I don't think that's a movie I really want to see," says Jackie Alvarez, 73, of San Ramon, Calif., after seeing the trailer. "It gave me the creeps. It's way too soon." But 17-year-old Antoine Richardson of Memphis, Tenn., is looking forward to it. "I don't think it's exploitative or too soon," he says. "It helps us remember." As if any of us could forget. [[No matter how much some may want to forget this and other dangers of this present world.]]

With Nadine Joseph in San Francisco and Donnie Snow in Memphis [[My ellipses and emphasis and [[insertion]].]]

. Remember the Alamo!

. Remember the Maine!!

. Remember Pearl Harbor!!!

. Remember the Two Towers!!!!

Poll Question: Too Soon to Remember 9/11 Graphic Details? | Poll choices:

1. Yes. Engenders vicious hate crimes against Muslims. | 2. Yes. Depiction of violence creates violence. | 3. Yes. Keep violence from the children. | 4. Yes. Consider relatives of victims. | 5. Yes. | 6. Possibly. | 7. No. Counter elite media folly. | 8. No. Focus on number one National priority. | 9. No. Neglect history and get a repetition. | 10. No. Or the dead will have died in vain. | 11. No. | 12. Other. | 13. No comment. | 14. No opinion. | 15. This poll is worthless. | 16. This poll is of negative value.

Vote at Adult Christian Forum Thread 95447

Link from above article: "BLOG TALK [/] Read what bloggers are saying about this Newsweek article [/] 23 blogs are discussing A Dark Day Revisited right now. View All."

Link to video of the United 93 movie trailer being discussed. [Note: Possible problems with MSNBC page linked.]

First Lady Knocks Predecessor's Housekeeping

Lot's of comments come to mind, but I would rather hear yours.

From a Drudge Report FLASH, LAURA BUSH SAYS HILLARY KEPT BAD HOUSE:

XXXXX DRUDGE REPORT XXXXX APRIL 02, 2006 19:02:31 ET XXXXX

LAURA BUSH SAYS HILLARY KEPT BAD HOUSE; WEST WING DECORATIONS WERE GAUDY, OUTDATED

First Lady Laura Bush believes Hillary Clinton did not keep good house during her time as first lady, a new book will charge.

Ron Kessler, a former investigative reporter for the WASHINGTON POST and the WALL STREET JOURNAL, is set to unleash his account of Laura Bush.

On December 18, 2000, just after the Supreme Court ruled on the election, Hillary Clinton gave Laura Bush a tour of the White House. The incoming-First Lady was dismayed at what she saw: Not only were carpets and furnishings fraying and in disrepair in the West Wing and public areas, the Oval Office was done in loud colors—red, blue, and gold! The East Wing was cut up into small offices and had exposed electrical conduits. Many of the furnishings looked dated.

Laura Bush noted how the Lincoln Bedroom looked worn out.

MORE

Laura was appalled at the way the Clintons left the White House and Hillary Clinton's gaudy, outdated taste in decorating, reveals the new book, LAURA BUSH: AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT.

The book, which will be published by DOUBLEDAY on Tuesday, is the only book to be written about Laura Bush with White House cooperation.

MORE

Elsewhere in AN INTIMATE PORTRAIT: After NEWSWEEK ran a Periscope item claiming the U.S. military had flushed a Koran down a toilet, leading to rioting, Laura ordered: "I don't want NEWSWEEK around the house!"

Laura Bush became so disgusted with the media and their war against her husband that at one point, she told her public relations person Noelia Rodriguez she did not want to do any more media interviews. After about a month, she slowly resumed talking to the press.

A close friend of Laura's, Pamela Nelson, asks Laura how she's doing. Laura replies, "Well, it's the Kitty Kelly book and Dan Rather this week..."

Nancy Weiss, a Bush family intimate, told Kessler, "She torments herself by reading the WASHINGTON POST and the NEW YORK TIMES, " and added, "A Texas Monthly article (based on a book by a Washington Post reporter ) said she is a 'bad mom.' She handles it calmly but I can tell things like that do upset her."

Earth Capsule - Saving the World

Earth Capsule - Saving the World: "Earth Capsule is the largest, most unique time-capsule preservation project ever designed.

For $1 you can pass on to future generations the predictions, personal writings, historical accounts, love dedications, articles, and other writings that you consider to be most important. Nothing will be censored, nothing will be restricted, nothing will be read until the capsules are opened.
Earth Capsule has created a system that will preserve messages in two different ways:.
The City Capsule will be placed in a trusteeship to be unsealed in 50 years.
The BlueWater Capsule will be committed to the depths of the oceans, seas, and lakes and thus left to the fate of the tides.
By choosing to place your messages in multiple locations and in both kinds of capsules, you will best ensure that they will be preserved for the future. Also, because Earth Capsule will be donating a portion of proceeds to our charity partners, your participation in Earth Capsule will help preserve our heritage and pass on our collective wisdom to future generations.
Capsules will be sealed in 2007, so join in the Earth Capsule effort by contributing your thoughts and ideas to be preserved for the people of tomorrow.
History isn't just for historians... It's for all of us.
Click Here to Get Started >>>"

Visions of Peace Not Enough

"To wit, the prophets of Israel which prophesy concerning Jerusalem, and which see visions of peace for her, and there is no peace, saith the Lord GOD. Likewise, thou son of man, set thy face against the daughters of thy people, which prophesy out of their own heart; and prophesy thou against them," - Ezekiel (13:16-17 KJV)

”It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!" - Patrick Henry (In the Virginia House of Burgesses.)

From a Yahoo! AP article, Slain American Hostage Was Bound, Shot:

Slain American Hostage Was Bound, Shot

The body of American Tom Fox, who was among four Christian peace activists kidnapped last year, was found near a west Baghdad railway line with gunshot wounds to his head and chest, the Iraqi Interior Ministry said Saturday.

A U.S. military official in Baghdad confirmed that American forces picked up Fox's remains on Thursday evening but had no condition on the body.

A police patrol was also on the scene, said Falah al-Mohammedawi, an official with the Interior Ministry, which oversees police. He said Fox was found with his hands tied and gunshots to his head and chest. There were also cuts on his body and bruises on his head, al-Mohammedawi said.

There was no immediate word on the whereabouts of Fox's fellow hostages: Canadians James Loney, 41; Harmeet Singh Sooden, 32; and Briton Norman Kember, 74. They were last seen in a video dated Feb. 28 that was broadcast Tuesday on Arab television. Fox did not appear in the brief footage.

The previously unknown Swords of Righteousness Brigades claimed responsibility for kidnapping the four workers, who disappeared Nov. 26. [My emphasis]

Da Vinci Code: Refutation Online

Thought this might be of interest to members of this forum.

From a Jesus Decoded .com page, Introduction:

Funding for this Web site was provided by the Catholic Communication Campaign, an activity of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops that develops media programming, public service announcements, and other resources to promote Gospel values. Donations of Catholic parishioners make possible the work of the CCC. For more information, visit our website at: www.usccb.org/ccc

Introduction [/] Causing people to see something they never saw before in a five-hundred-year-old work of art which is among the most famous and reproduced of all time is an accomplishment of genius, if that "something" is a valid new insight. If it is not, then this kind of achievement usually goes by other names.

The Da Vinci Code novel contains a claim that in Leonardo's mural The Last Supper, which portrays Jesus and his twelve apostles at the meal he took with them on the night before he died, one of the twelve is not the apostle John but actually a woman who is Mary Magdalene.

Forget the Gospel narratives through which Leonardo, like every other Christian, would have known about the Last Supper and which contain no mention of Mary Magdalene; forget the fact that this mural seems to have caused no sensation among the monks whose refectory it decorated and who would have been as likely to recognize a female form then as we are today; forget the many paintings of the Last Supper which show a handsome youth often leaning on Christ's shoulder or on his chest following the tradition that identified John with the unnamed "beloved disciple" of the fourth Gospel. If such a claim is put between the covers of a book, apparently it merits respectful consideration no matter how absurd.

What this novel does to Leonardo's Last Supper, it does to Christianity as such. It asks people to consider equivalent to the mainstream Christian tradition quite a few odd claims. Some are merely distortions of hypotheses advanced by serious scholars who do serious research. Others, however, are inaccurate or false.

Introduction Continued
One false claim is that the Emperor Constantine, for political reasons of his own, decided to make a god out of Jesus Christ who was solely a Jewish rabbi for whom neither he nor his first followers ever asserted a divine origin. This claim cannot be sustained on the basis of the existing evidence which demonstrates that Constantine did no such thing.

It also highlights the schizophrenia in the The Da Vinci Code about Jesus Christ. Only if Jesus is divine would we have any interest in the possibility that his descendant might walk the earth today. If he is not, such a descendant ceases to be a mythic figure and becomes only a kind of celebrity child, so many of whom have turned out to be disappointments to their parents.

Reporters have asked whether even a bestselling novel can seriously damage a Church of one billion believers. No, in the long run, it cannot. But that is not the point. The pastoral concern of the Church is for each and every person. If only one person were to come away with a distorted impression of Jesus Christ or His Church, our concern is for that person as if he or she were the whole world.

Due to the concern about many current media portrayals of Jesus Christ and the origins of Christianity, this Web site was developed by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops' (USCCB) Department of Communications, under the direction of the USCCB Committee on Communications, chaired by the Most Reverend Gerald F. Kicanas, in consultation with the USCCB Secretariat for Doctrine.

Monsignor Francis J. Maniscalco is a priest of the Diocese of Rockville Centre, New York who has served the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops since 1993, and since 1995 as Director of Communications [My ellipses and emphasis]

Unable to Forgive, Pastor Steps Down

"And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have ought against any:" (Mark 11:25 KJV).

"Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. (20) Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. (21) Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." (Romans 12:19-21 KJV).

Pray for a lady who recognizes a moral shortcoming.

From a London Telegraph article, Vicar who can't forgive steps down from pulpit :

Vicar who can't forgive steps down from pulpit [/] By Richard Savill [/] (Filed: 07/03/2006)

A vicar whose daughter was killed in the London bombings has resigned because she finds it hard to forgive the men who carried out the suicide attacks. [/] The Rev Julie Nicholson, priest-in-charge of St Aidan with St George church, Bristol, said she was struggling to reconcile her feelings with her position. [/] Mrs Nicholson has not returned to her post since July 7 when her 24-year-old daughter Jenny, a gifted musician, was among more than 50 people killed. [/] She repeats the name of her daughter's killer, Mohammed Sidique Khan, bitterly every day.

"I rage that a human being could choose to take another human's life. I rage that someone should do this in the name of a God," she said. "I find that utterly offensive. [/] "We have heard a lot about things causing certain groups of people offence and I would say that I am hugely offended that someone should take my daughter in the name of a religion or a God. [/] "I have a certain amount of pity, the fact that four young people felt that this was something they had to do. But I certainly don't have any sense of compassion.

"Can I forgive them for what they did? No, I cannot. And I don't wish to. I said in the early weeks and still now say the name of my daughter's murderer, Mohammed Sidique Khan, every day. [/] "I believe that there are some things in life which are unforgiveable by the human spirit. We are all faced with choice and those four human beings on that day chose to do what they did." [/] She added: "I will leave potential forgiveness for whatever is after this life. I will leave that in God's hands. I take Jenny with me every inch of the way so, although physically her body has gone from this world, the essence of her is very much in the world. And as long as I have life then the spirit of Jenny will have life."

Mrs Nicholson said: "Forgiving another human being for violating your child is almost beyond human capabilities. It is very difficult for me to stand behind an altar and celebrate the Eucharist and lead people in words of peace and reconciliation and forgiveness when I feel very far from that myself." [/] She added: "If someone were to say to me that my ability to forgive Jenny's killer would end the violence I could probably find the courage to do it. But I am not sure in my heart I would believe it."

Of her decision to step down, she said: "Part of my recovery was a search for a way through all this. I have really, really struggled. I have always been very in awe and humbled by those who stand up and say from a faith perspective, 'I forgive'. I read more books on forgiveness in the months after Jenny died than I have ever done. [/] "A lot of the imagery I worked with is of Mary at the foot of the cross and forgiveness doesn't come into it at all. If Jenny had survived, however awful her injuries, and had said 'Mummy, I forgive them' then I would have had to as well. But she didn't, she died."

Mrs Nicholson will remain an ordained priest. She has moved to a community youth project involving the arts, a subject that was close to her daughter's heart. [/] The Bishop of Bristol, the Rt Rev Michael Hill, a friend of the family, said: "I think these situations in life shake the faith of everybody because they immediately bring into focus the 'why' question. Unfortunately, there's no simple Elastoplast answer to that."

Mrs Nicholson, who has two younger children, Tom, 16, and Lizzie, 22, has been filming a BBC programme for Easter in which she will talk to people about how their faith was affected by the bombings.

Miss Nicholson studied for a master's degree in advanced musical studies at Bristol University. She had been head chorister at St Mary's in Henbury, in Bristol, and had moved to Reading to live with her boyfriend, James White. She was travelling to work at the music publisher Rhinegold when the bomb exploded at Edgware Road. [/] Her funeral was held at Bristol Cathedral. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Irish Clergy Sexual Abuse: 102 Suspects

This may actually be an indicator of how much the Irish economy has improved in recent decades.

Using conservative economic principles: cutting taxes, flat tax, etc.

The diocesan treasuries, while still not as big as those in the United States, seem to have been targeted by lawyers looking for their cut of the judgments awaiting victims.

One should note that a primary reason that the Roman Catholics have been hit by this sort of thing is that their financial assets, including much valuable real estate, are held at the diocesan level rather than at the local church level, and thus make convenient big bucks targets.

Contrariwise one should also note the rather well documented, in America at least, infiltration of the priesthood by homosexuals and secular agnostics.

As one whose boyhood Scoutmaster (who was not a Catholic) was quietly run out of town for abusing Cub Scouts, I regret the Catholics being singled out in this manner.

From a Washington Post article, 102 Irish Priests Suspected of Abuse :

102 Irish Priests Suspected of Abuse [/] By SHAWN POGATCHNIK [/] The Associated Press [/] Wednesday, March 8, 2006; 10:25 AM

DUBLIN, Ireland -- The Roman Catholic archdiocese of Dublin said Wednesday that 102 of its priests are suspected of sexually or physically abusing at least 350 children since 1940 _ the biggest such admission to date in Ireland. [/] The office of Archbishop Diarmuid Martin said it was publishing its findings ahead of this month's expected formation of a government-appointed commission to investigate the history and handling of such abuse in Ireland. [/] This predominantly Catholic nation has been rocked by waves of church sex-abuse scandals since 1994.

The archdiocese said it conducted a two-year review of the personnel files of more than 2,800 priests who have worked in the Dublin archdiocese, either as parish priests or in religious orders, during the past 66 years. [/] It found that eight priests in Dublin were convicted of abuse, while 32 priests have been sued for damages by 105 victims at a cost to the archdiocese of $7 million. That figure includes about $2 million in legal bills for both sides.

But the report said costs were expected to increase significantly because 40 cases remained unsettled, while church authorities had positively identified at least 350 abuse victims and "a possible further 40 persons who may have been abused but who it is not yet possible to identify or trace." [/] Martin, a veteran Vatican diplomat appointed here in 2003, [Dublin Archbishop Martin] said he believed the archdiocese would have to sell off some of its properties to cover the mounting compensation bill. He called that a necessary sacrifice to right past wrongs, as much as was possible. [/] "It's very frightening for me to see that in some of these cases, so many children were abused. It's very hard to weigh that up against anything," Martin said. [/] "On the other hand, I know that the vast majority of priests don't abuse, that they do good work, that they're extremely upset and offended by what's happened."

On the Net: http://www.dublindiocese.ie [My ellipses and emphasis]

Insult Response: Baptized vs. Muslim

The morally ideal response to insult as taught by example by the primary moral teacher of each culture.

From an American Thinker article, Insulting and threatening Jesus and Muhammad :

Insulting and threatening Jesus and Muhammad [/] January 15th, 2006

If you were to start a new religious movement or an entirely new religion, people would hurl insults at you, guaranteed. Those who cherish the status quo may even threaten your life. But how would you respond? Would you show patience and take it? Would you walk away? Would you return the insults, calling them names? Would you engage in a verbal sparring match, disarming your opponents with your wit?

Or would you do the unthinkable? Would you get a gun and kill the insulters? Or would you send a follower to kill an opponent stealthily in the night?

Two founders of religious movements, which eventually became world religions, heard insults and serious challenges thrown at them by skeptics and mockers. Sometimes their lives were threatened. Though Jesus and Muhammad sometimes reacted in the same way, showing patience and walking away, in the final analysis, their reactions were different. [/] How did each one react, specifically?

Muhammad/Muhammad's reactions are analyzed in chronological sequence, after his Hijrah or Emigration from Mecca to Medina in AD 622. It is then that he grows in military power and conquests - and in violence. […]

After the Battle of Badr (AD 624) [/] […] Muhmmad was now strong enough to commit the following acts of violence and persecution without a substantial fear of reprisal.

(1) […] The story-telling polytheist was captured, and on Muhammad's return journey back to Medina, Ali, Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, at Muhammad's order, beheaded him instead of getting some possible ransom money. He was one of two prisoners who were executed and not allowed to be ransomed by their clans-all because he wrote poems and told stories critiquing Muhammad. […]

(2) A similar story can be told about Uqba bin Abu Muayt. He too harassed and mocked Muhammad in Mecca and wrote derogatory verses about him. He too was captured during the Battle of Badr, and Muhammad ordered him to be executed. "But who will look after my children, O Muhammad?" Uqba cried with anguish. "Hell," retorted the Prophet coldly. Then the sword of one of his followers cut through Uqba's neck. […]

(3) Asma bint Marwan was a poetess who belonged to a tribe of Medinan pagans, and whose husband was named Yazid b. Zayd. She composed a poem blaming the Medinan pagans for obeying a stranger (Muhammad) and for not taking the initiative to attack him by surprise. Perhaps in March 624, when the Allah-inspired prophet heard what she had said, he asked, "Who will rid me of Marwan's daughter?" A member of her husband's tribe volunteered and crept into her house that night. She had five children, and the youngest was sleeping at her breast. The assassin gently removed the child, drew his sword, and plunged it into her, killing her in her sleep. […]

(4) Abu Afak, a centenarian elder of Medina, belonging to a group of clans who were associated with the god Manat (though he may have been a Jew), wrote a derogatory poem about Muhammad, extolling the ancestors of his tribe who were strong enough to overthrow mountains and to resist submitting to an outsider (Muhammad) who divides two large Medinan tribes with religious commands like "permitted" and "forbidden." Before the Battle of Badr, Muhammad let him live. After the battle, in April 624, the prophet queried, "Who will deal with this rascal for me?" That night, Salim b. Umayr "went forth and killed him." […]

(5) Muhammad did not just assassinate individuals. Expulsion was at his disposal. […]

[…] (7) It is on the heels of this assassination of Kab that Ibn Sunayna, a Jewish merchant, was assassinated, perhaps also in September 624. With the success of the five conspirators, Muhammad said, "Kill any Jew that falls into your power." Shortly afterwards, Muhayyisa b. Masud leaped upon and killed Ibn Sunayna. His only crime was being Jewish. […]

After the Battle of Uhud (AD 625) [/] After the Battle of Uhud in March 625, which the Muslims lost, Muhammad was stung. He and his Muslim community suffered a loss of prestige, though the community did not crumble, but quickly recovered and grew, so the loss was not material.

[…] (9) In July-August 625, in revenge for an ambush on some Muslim missionaries, Muhammad sent Amr bin Umayya and a companion to assassinate a leader of the Meccans. The assassins failed in their attempt. They had to flee under pursuit. Umayyah hid in a cave, but not before murdering a man along the way. As the pursuit was dying down, a tall, one-eyed, unnamed Bedouin entered the cave, driving some sheep. Umayyah and the Bedouin introduced each other. After they settled down, the shepherd sang a simple two-line song in defiance of Muslims and Islam. Then he fell asleep, snoring. Umayyah recounts what he did in retaliation for insulting Islam: . . . "I went to him and killed him in the most dreadful way that anybody has ever been killed. I leaned over him, stuck the end of my bow into his good eye, and thrust it down until it came out of the back of his neck." He fled back to Muhammad, who said, "Well done!" The account ends: The prophet "prayed for me [Umayyah] to be blessed." […]

(10) In May 626 Muhammad succeeded in assassinating a Jew, Sallam bin Abi'l-Huqayq (Abu Rafi), of the Nadir tribe, who had been banished a year earlier. He sent a Muslim who had a Jewish foster-mother and spoke Hebrew; who managed to gain entrance into Abu Rafi's house at night with four companions and easily kill him. They hid until the search died down and then returned to Medina, with the blessing of Muhammad-he was the one who sent out the hit squad.

[…] After the Battle of the Trench (AD 627) [/] The Battle of the Trench in 627 saw a confederation of Meccans and their allies marching north to Medina. They were fed up with the Prophet's continual harassment of their trade. But Muhammad had dug trenches around Medina to neutralize Mecca's superior cavalry. Wisely, the Muslims never confronted the enemy head on. After about a month, the attackers returned south, no side suffering serious losses. So Muhammad's power, though always growing, increases exponentially in Medina, even more so than after the Battle of Badr in 624.

(12) In fact, Muhammad is so powerful that shortly after the Battle of the Trench he lays seize to Jewish strongholds in Medina, captures them, decapitates 600 male Jews of the Qurayzah tribe, enslaves their woman and children, though he keeps a beautiful Jewess for himself, and confiscates all of their property, which was considerable (Sura 33:25-27). […]

After the Conquest of Mecca (early AD 630) [/] (13) An apostate named Abdullah bin Khatal enjoyed the company of two singing-girls in Mecca. One was murdered after the conquest because she had sung satirical verses about Muhammad, which Abdullah had composed. Incidentally, he was also killed, though he clung to the curtains of the Kabah shrine. The other singing girl was not killed because of her repentance. […]

To sum up, Muhammad assassinated, banished, enslaved, or slaughtered three classes of non-Muslims: individual poets or poetesses; individual political leaders, and entire communities in Medina, the Jewish tribes of Qaynuqa, Nadir, and Qurayza (not to mention the wars). [/] What did Jesus do?

Jesus [/] Jesus did not engage in violence and retaliation, so only four examples of insults, challenges, and threats are analyzed, along with his reactions. The examples are arranged in chronological and textual order, mostly from the Gospel of Luke.

(1) In the immediate context of Jesus' baptism by John and the temptation by Satan, in which Jesus turned down all the kingdoms of the world, including by military conquests, he returned to his hometown, Nazareth (Luke 4:14-30). […] But Jesus laid down a challenge. His message will also be for Gentiles, especially if those in his hometown reject him. He pointed to two Gentiles who had received blessings from God through Elijah: a widow from Sidon who was given miraculous provision and the resurrection of her recently deceased son (1 Kings 17:7-24); and Naaman, a Syrian military commander, who was healed of leprosy (2 Kings 5:1-27).

How did the listeners react to Jesus' words? They were furious and tried to kill him: […]

We should absorb two things-what he did and what he did not do. What [Jesus] did was simply walk away, either by his commanding presence or by a miracle (or both), though the text is not explicit. It was not his time to die (cf. John 7:30). But the second thing is equally important. He did not memorize the faces of the instigators of the mob, in order to send an assassin to kill them (or one of them), stealthily in the night, as a clear message-"Don't mess with me!" […]

(2) […] Samaritans were particularly hostile to Jews who were on their way to observe religious festivals in Jerusalem. It was at least a three-day journey from Galilee to Jerusalem through Samaria, and Samaritans refused overnight shelter for the pilgrims. Because of this antipathy, Jews traveling between Galilee and Jerusalem frequently went on the east side of the Jordan River. (note on Luke 9:52)

To this rejection how did Jesus react? He did not have time, because James and John, nicknamed Sons of Thunder (Mark 3:17), reacted for him: [/] When the disciples James and John saw this [rejection], they asked, "Lord, do you want us to call fire down from heaven and destroy them?" (Luke 9:54). [/] This call for the fire of God, echoing Elijah's divine punishment (2 Kings 1:9-16), was no idle threat. In addition to seeing up close a lot of healings and exorcisms with authority, the disciples had also seen Jesus calm a storm. […] If the wind and waters obeyed him, then why not fire from heaven? This is why he rebuked James and John immediately [Luke 9:55-56 KJV But he turned, and rebuked them, and said, Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. (56) For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And they went to another village.

Besides this rebuke, it is important to note what Jesus did not do. He did not stealthily assassinate an individual leader of the Samaritan village or destroy the entire community. He showed divine restraint at the hostility thrown at him by these Samaritans, who were despised by the larger culture and who returned the contempt.

Jesus was proclaiming the year of favor from the Lord, not a season of vengeance. This season is reserved only for the Last Day, during divine judgment of the entire world (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43; 25:31-46).

(3) This happened in the last week of Jesus' life. He had predicted his own death-he was sent to die, after all (Luke 9:22, 43-45; 12:50; 13:32-33; 18:31-34). He has made his triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Luke 19:18-44). Now hostility against him heated up because the large crowds favored him, among other reasons, such as his criticism of the authorities. It is in this context that the teachers of the law and the chief priests kept a close watch on him to catch him in committing treason against Rome or in breaking the law, so they could arrest him and turn him over to "the power and authority of the governor" (Luke 20:20).

So the leaders asked him whether it was lawful to pay taxes to Caesar. Apparently, they saw him as a political revolutionary who opposed Roman occupation. Would he endorse the taxation of his fellow Jews for the benefit of unclean Gentiles? However, they did not know that he was a king, but that his kingdom was not of this world. So he replied with these famous words that are often quoted, though people may not know the exact reference and context (Luke 20:20-26; cf. Matthew 22:15-22; Mark 12:13-17).

24 "Show me a denarius. Whose portrait and inscription are on it?" 25 "Caesar's," they replied. He said to them, "Then give to Caesar what is Caesars, and to God what is God's." 26 They were unable to trap him in what he said there in public. And astonished by his answer, they became silent.

One way to disarm the opposition is by wisdom in a rejoinder. Jesus replied to their trap with a logic that silenced the teachers and chief priests. He did not send Simon the Zealot, one of the Twelve, to follow an antagonistic leader, mingle in the large amalgam of pilgrims during the Feast of Passover, sneak up on him, stab him, and disappear in the crowd again. These kinds of assassinations were not unknown in the decades before the destruction of the Temple in AD 70. But violence was not necessary. God was with Jesus.

(4) The fourth and final example of insults and threats takes place during Jesus' arrest and trial. All the way through this baptism by fire or ordeal leading to death, he resisted violence, so the will of God would be fulfilled.

First, Jesus rebuked Peter for using a sword during the arrest of Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane. A crowd of enforcers intruded into Jesus and the disciples' time of prayer. Sizing up the threat, the disciples ask Jesus, "Lord, should we strike with the swords?" Before Jesus could answer, Simon Peter cut off the right ear of the servant (Malchus) of the high priest. But Jesus said, "No more of this!" And he healed the servant's ear (Luke 22:51).

Then Jesus informed Peter that he could call on more than twelve legions of angels to deliver him (Matthew 26:52-54):

52 "Put your sword back in its place," Jesus said to him [Peter], for all who draw the sword will die by the sword. 53 Do you think that I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must happen this way?"

Jesus was destined to fulfill those aspects of the Old Testament that predicted the death of the Messiah, such as Isaiah 53. Calling on angels to deliver him would thwart this fulfillment.

Finally, while Pontius Pilate questioned Jesus, he told the governor that his disciples (and the large crowds) do not fight for his release because his kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).

36 Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place."

In all of these passages about the last week of his life, Jesus remained true to his original calling. He resisted the temptation by the devil to receive all the kingdoms and realms of the whole world if he would only worship Satan (Luke 4:1-13). But when Peter cut off an enemy's ear, it seems that the disciple still did not grasp that God was ushering in a new era of salvation, which does not include raids, wars, and conquests-hitting people with swords. God could have sent more than twelve legions of angels to rescue his Son, but God's true kingdom is a spiritual one, which gets worked out in the people of God throughout history.

Jesus was sent to proclaim the season of favor from the Lord; he was not commissioned to assassinate individuals, to rain fire down on whole communities, or even to call on the legions of angels to destroy the Roman Empire. The kingdoms of this world will be judged and overthrown at the Last Day. Now is the era of favor and salvation.

Conclusion [/] Let's step back and look at the big picture: the overarching mission of the two founders.

It is asserted that Muhammad was called to lead people towards a new law that superceded the paganism of Arabia in the seventh century. He was another lawgiver, like Moses. He intended to establish a new order here on earth. In contrast, Jesus was a spiritual leader whose kingdom was not of this earth. He was not a new lawgiver like Moses. Jesus was "heavenly minded."

What if the law of Muhammad absorbed his pagan social environment too fully? He ordered the hands of male and female thieves to be cut off. He ordered the hands and feet of highway robbers to be cut off, along with crucifixion. He allowed sex with slave-girls and female prisoners of war. He and his community practiced the slave trade. He even tortured some hapless victims, such as an old woman. He reinstituted stoning for adultery, in his own way. He beat alcoholics. And as we have seen in this present article, he ordered assassinations and wars. So what kind of mission was this, anyway?

For the ten years that Muhammad lived in Medina (AD 622-632), he either went out on or sent out seventy-four raids and wars, ranging from small assassination hit squads to full-scale, large battles. After his death of a fever in 632, his leading Companions followed his example, waging wars on Arab pagans, forcing them either to convert or die. After that, Islamic armies stormed out of the Arabian Peninsula and conquered territories, north, east, and west. For the next four centuries Islam embarked on its own Crusades, long before the Europeans responded with their own. What kind of mission was this, anyway?

As for the mission of Christ, he gave us principles of dignity. Society can draw from them in practical ways, such as helping and restoring alcoholics and adulterers instead of whipping and stoning them. Jesus seeks to transform sinners from the inside out. He paid for their sins by his atoning death on the Cross, so they do not have to suffer from old, harsh punishments. He offers everyone inner freedom. All peoples have the choice to follow him. If they do not, then they are free to go their own way. Christians do not (or should not) harass and persecute them by legal or other means.

Further, Satan tempted Jesus to grab all of the kingdoms of the world, by ways other than God's. In his times, these ungodly ways included military conquests and political control. He blessedly turned down Satan's offer. So it is true that his kingdom is not of this world. After his propitiatory death and resurrection, he told his disciples to preach his message of love around the Roman Empire. His disciples carried out his nonviolent mission, and for the next few centuries they transformed the empire by proclamation alone.

Thus, the two missions of the two founders are different indeed.

James M. Arlandson may be reached at jamesmarlandson@hotmail.com [My ellipses and emphasis]

Confession of a Sleazo-Con

("Sleazo-con" is a coinage of David Brooks, the token conservative at the New York Times. Brooks uses Abramoff as the prime example in the linked defining article.)

The man, that no one important can quite remember meeting, talks, appropriately enough, to Vanity Fair.
From a Drudge Report flash, ABRAMOFF: 'I WAS A KILLER':

ABRAMOFF: 'I WAS A KILLER' [/] Wed Mar 08 2006 10:36:14 ET

"You're really no one in this town unless you haven't met me," Jack Abramoff tells Vanity Fair contributing editor David Margolick. Such lies are not just lies, but dumb to boot-"This is not an age when you can run away from facts. I had to deal with my records, and others will have to deal with theirs."

An insider tells Margolick that Abramoff blames competing Republican lobbyists and Arizona Senator John McCain-with whom Abramoff says he's had a contentious relationship-for his downfall. Abramoff tells Margolick that McCain staffers deliberately humiliated him, doling out embarrassing e-mails to the press. [/] "Mr. Abramoff flatters himself," Mark Salter, McCain's administrative assistant, tells Margolick. "Senator McCain was unaware of his existence until he read initial press accounts of Abramoff's abuses, and had never laid eyes on him until he appeared before the committee." [/] Abramoff says, "As best I can remember, when I met with him, he didn't have his eyes shut. I'm surprised that Senator McCain has joined the chorus of amnesiacs."

Abramoff is well aware of his peril: "In a different era I'd be killed on the street or have poison poured into my coffee," he tells Margolick. [/] Abramoff embarrassingly admits to gaining 50 pounds due to stress and tells Margolick that sending him to prison is "stupid," saying, "Let me teach English, history, music. Or let me sweep floors at the reservation. Instead you'll be paying to feed me to sit in a jail."

"I was a killer. I killed for my clients, and it eventually killed me," Abramoff tells Margolick. "Or I eventually killed me. And there were a lot of other hands on the knife."

"My so-called relationship with Bush, Rove, and everyone else at the White House has only become important because, instead of just releasing details about the very few times I was there, they created a feeding frenzy by their deafening silence. The Democrats are going overboard, virtually insisting I was there to plan the invasion of Iraq. This is why this non-story grabbed headlines for weeks."

Abramoff discusses his relationship with: [/] President Bush, who claims not to remember having his picture taken with Abramoff. According to Abramoff, at one time, the president joked with Abramoff about his weight lifting past: "What are you benching, buff guy?"

Tom DeLay, who once referred to Abramoff as one of his closest friends. Abramoff explains his working relationship with DeLay, saying, "I didn't spend a lot of time lobbying Tom for things, because the things I worked on were usually consistent with the conservative philosophy." Abramoff has "admired Tom DeLay and his family from the first meeting with him," he tells Margolick. "We would sit and talk about the Bible. We would sit and talk about opera. We would sit and talk about golf," Abramoff recalls. "I mean, we talked about philosophy and politics."

Ken Mehlman, who recently claimed he didn't really know Abramoff. According to documents obtained by Vanity Fair, Mehlman exchanged e-mail with Abramoff, and did him political favors (such as preventing Clinton administration alumnus Allen Stayman from keeping a State Department job), had Sabbath dinner at Abramoff's house, and offered to pick up Abramoff's tab at Signatures, Abramoff's own restaurant.

Newt Gingrich, whose spokesman Rick Tyler tells Margolick that "Before [Abramoff's] picture appeared on TV and in the newspapers, Newt wouldn't have known him if he fell across him. He hadn't seen him in 10 years." A rankled Abramoff says "I have more pictures of [Newt] than I have of my wife." Abramoff shows Margolick numerous photographs: "Here's Newt. Newt. Newt. Newt. More Newt. Newt with Grover [Norquist, the Washington conservative Republican Über-strategist and longtime Abramoff friend] this time. But Newt never met me. Ollie North. Newt. Can't be Newt ... he never met me. Oh, Newt! What's he doing there? Must be a Newt look-alike.... Newt again! It's sick! I thought he never met me!"

Senator Conrad Burns, of Montana, who was one of the largest single recipients of Abramoff loot, has blanketed the airwaves calling Abramoff a liar, claiming that he never influenced the senator. Abramoff says: "Every appropriation we wanted [from Burns's committee] we got. Our staffs were as close as they could be. They practically used Signatures as their cafeteria. I mean, it's a little difficult for him to run from that record."

Ronald Reagan, whom he met as a College Republican. "It was like meeting the king," Abramoff tells Margolick.

[...] "I was moving a mile a minute and didn't conceive that I could be doing something wrong, and as I got near to the edge I either concealed it or I convinced myself that I wasn't having a problem. I was basically so busy winning that I didn't see what I was doing. They say, 'Stop and smell the roses'? I didn't stop and smell the dung heap. Unfortunately, now I'm paying for it dearly."

[...] "Most lobbyists meet with a committee chairman, staff, a few members. We'd meet with the whole leadership of the House and Senate, the entire committee on both sides, then create a roster of who might ideologically support the idea and get them in the war.... We'd get people firing constantly on the decision-makers. And we'd outwork everyone in the media.... Most Washington lobbyists are lazy, people of limits, people who move glacially slow. I felt my job was to go out there and save the world.... I thought it was immoral to take someone's money and not win for them. And we basically didn't lose."

[...] "There were times when I helped the country and the causes that I love and obviously times when I hurt them. The exposure of my lobbying practice, the absurd amount of media coverage, and the focus-for the first time-on this sausage-making factory that we call Washington will ultimately help reformthe system, or at least so I hope. The only thing that a clever lobbyist cannot manipulate is the absence of something to lobby for or fight against."

[...] "The entire Indian country has come together in a big kumbaya of hatred for me. It just tears at my soul." [/] Developing... [My ellipses and emphasis]

Hypocrisy On Parade

From an American Spectator article, Hollywood Crashes and Yearns :

Another Perspective [/] Hollywood Crashes and Yearns [/] By James Bowman [/] Published 3/7/2006 12:07:30 AM

[…] But Crash had something more than nostalgia for the comforting moral and political certainties of that revolutionary time. [Crash] had the monumental smugness of those who, like the Academy itself this year, think it a virtue in itself to be "aware" of social problems and who, in thinking about such problems, fancy their own sophistication as moralists, their own concerns for "society's victims," [to be greater] than [those of] their less enlightened fellow picture-goers.

Crash, like the Oscars themselves, blatantly appeals to the taste of the "movie community" for self-congratulation. Movie people swallow [Crash's] intolerable preachiness and easy didacticism because they think it is good for them, not because it is good in itself, let alone entertaining. They watch themselves watching Crash and think, not for the first time, "What fine fellows we are for thus showing that we care about racial prejudice in society." That word again!

In Crash, as much as in Brokeback Mountain, they want "society" back so that they can have something to rebel against. Until then, they have to play at being rebels and revolutionaries as well as serious moralists and political activists. Each pose is as false as the others, but by handing out awards to themselves for their serious-mindedness, the progressives of the movie community are able to sustain themselves -- and quite a lot of other people too -- in the illusion for just a bit longer.

James Bowman , The American Spectator's movie critic, is a resident scholar at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and media essayist for the New Criterion. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Wear "Anger" As "Badge of Honor"?

From a Breitbart.com AP article, Sen. Clinton Says Wear 'Anger' As Honor :

Sen. Clinton Says Wear 'Anger' As Honor [/] Mar 06 5:48 PM US/Eastern

By BETH FOUHY [/] AP Political Writer [/] NEW YORK [/] 3211f770e1bf@news.ap.org

[…] Democrats, particularly Democratic women, who run for public office are "going to draw some unfriendly fire," Clinton said at a breakfast fundraiser hosted by black and Hispanic women supporters. "People will be attacking you instead of your ideas, they may impugn your patriotism, they may even say you're angry."

"If they do that, wear it as a badge of honor, because you know what? There are lots of things that we should be angry and outraged about these days," she said. […] [My ellipses and emphasis]

From the Epistle to the Ephesians, Chapter 4, Verse 26 (KJV):

Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: [My emphasis]

Interesting.

Quotations for March 17th

From: The Confession (beginning and end):

I am Patrick, a sinner, most unlearned, the least of all the faithful, and utterly despised by many. [...]

I pray those who believe and fear God, whosoever deigns to look at or receive this writing which Patrick, a sinner, unlearned, has composed in Ireland, that no one should ever say that it was my ignorance if I did or showed forth anything however small according to God's good pleasure; but let this be your conclusion and let it so be thought, that - as is the perfect truth - it was the gift of God. This is my confession before I die.

From: The Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus (last three paragraphs):

Where, then, will Coroticus with his criminals, rebels against Christ, where will they see themselves, they who distribute baptized women as prizes - for a miserable temporal kingdom, which will pass away in a moment? As a cloud or smoke that is dispersed by the wind, so shall the deceitful wicked perish at the presence of the Lord; but the just shall feast with great constancy with Christ, they shall judge nations, and rule over wicked kings for ever and ever. Amen.

I testify before God and His angels that it will be so as He indicated to my ignorance. It is not my words that I have set forth in Latin, but those of God and the apostles and prophets, who have never lied. "He that believes shall be saved; but he that believes not shall be condemned," God hath spoken.

I ask earnestly that whoever is a willing servant of God be a carrier of this letter, so that on no account it be suppressed or hidden by anyone, but rather be read before all the people, and in the presence of Coroticus himself. May God inspire them sometime to recover their senses for God, repenting, however late, their heinous deeds - murderers of the brethren of the Lord! - and to set free the baptized women whom they took captive, in order that they may deserve to live to God, and be made whole, here and in eternity! Be peace to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.

End of European Civilization?

There was a choice between bareness and terminal discomfort.

They chose bareness.

They shall get terminal discomfort.

From a Brussels Journal article, The Closing of Civilization in Europe :

The Closing of Civilization in Europe [/] From the desk of Paul Belien on Wed, 2006-02-22 22:51

Europe’s current problems are entirely self-inflicted. This does not mean, however, that the result will be less catastrophic. By subverting the roots of its own Judeo-Christian culture – a process that started with the French Enlightenment – a religious and cultural vacuum was created at the heart of European civilization. The collapse of faith in its own values has, not surprisingly, led to a demographic collapse because a civilization that no longer believes in its own future also rejects procreation. Today, a new religion and culture is supplanting the old one. There is little one can do about it, but hope for a miracle.

America’s immigration problems pale in comparison with what confronts Europe. America’s major ethnic minorities – Blacks as well as Hispanics – are Christian, while the meanstream culture is also rooted in Christianity. In Europe a secularized post-Christian culture is facing a Muslim one. The secularized culture is hedonist and values only its present life, because it does not believe in an afterlife. This is why it will surrender when threatened with death because life is the only thing it has to lose. This is why it will accept submission without fighting for its freedom. Nobody fights for the flag of hedonism, not even the hedonists themselves.

One could also put it in a slightly different way: Europe lacks what America still has, namely the so-called “conservative reserves,” or as the German sociologist Arnold Gehlen explained over 30 years ago, “the reserves in national energy and self-confidence, primitiveness and generosity, wealth and potential of every kind.” Every so often I travel to the U.S. to recharge my batteries, and I am not the only European Conservative to do so. From time to time one needs to breathe the air of freedom before submerging again in the stifling atmosphere of Europe.

America’s “conservative reserves” are far stronger than Europe’s, because America, unlike secular Europe, has remained rooted to a larger extent in traditional Christian values. I do not doubt that if these values continue to decline in the U.S., American culture will collapse as European culture and civilisation have collapsed. However, America can learn from the impending European catastrophe, and avoid a similar fate.

The old European civilization – the pre-secular or the pre-post-Christian one – will live on in the U.S. If it perishes there too, mankind will relapse into the dark ages that are now taking hold of Europe, the cradle of Western civilization.

I suppose one could feel sad about all this, but sadness is not what I feel. One can feel compassion for those who die in accidents, fall in battle or get murdered (like the countless unborn children that perish every day) but can one pity those who have killed their own future for the pleasures of the present? Europe’s predicament, I repeat, is entirely self-inflicted. Not Islam is to blame. Secularism is.

The coming decade will witness the war between the values of Islam and the secular “values” of the decadent, hedonistic post-Marxist Left. We have seen the assassinations of Pim Fortuyn and Theo van Gogh, last November’s prelude to the French civil war, the Danish cartoon case. This is just the beginning of the beginning. I do not consider myself a pessimist, merely a realist. It is quite clear who is going to lose – and whose fault that will be. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Coretta Scott King: Tribute to a Tribute

A serious and solemn and joyous and spirited account of a serious and solemn and joyous and spirited ceremony.

From a WSJ Opinion Journal article, Four Presidents and a Funeral :

PEGGY NOONAN \Four Presidents and a Funeral\A spirited tribute to Mrs. King--and to democracy.\Friday, February 10, 2006 12:01 a.m.

Listen, I watched the funeral of Coretta Scott King for six hours Tuesday, from the pre-service commentary to the very last speech, and it was wonderful--spirited and moving, rousing and respectful, pugnacious and loving. The old lions of the great American civil rights movement of the 20th century were there, and standing tall. The old lionesses, too. There was preaching and speechifying and at the end I thought: This is how democracy ought to be, ought to look every day--full of the joy of argument, and marked by the moral certainty that here you can say what you think.

There was nothing prissy, nothing sissy about it. A former president, a softly gray-haired and chronically dyspeptic gentleman who seems to have judged the world to be just barely deserving of his presence, pointedly insulted a sitting president who was, in fact, sitting right behind him. The Clintons unveiled their 2008 campaign. A rhyming preacher, one of the old lions, a man of warmth and stature, freely used the occasion to verbally bop the sitting president on the head.

So what? This was the authentic sound of a vibrant democracy doing its thing. It was the exact opposite of the frightened and prissy attitude that if you draw a picture I don't like, I'll have to kill you.

It was: We do free speech here.

That funeral honored us, and the world could learn a lot from watching it. The U.S. government should send all six hours of it throughout the World Wide Web and to every country on earth, because it said more about who we are than any number of decorous U.N. speeches and formal diplomatic declarations.

A moment for a distinction that must be made. Some have compared Mrs. King's funeral to the Paul Wellstone memorial. It was not like the Wellstone memorial, and you'd have to be as dim and false as Al Franken to say it was. The Wellstone memorial was marked not by joy but anger. It was at moments sour, even dark. There was famous booing.
The King funeral was nothing like this. It was gracious, full of applause and cheers and amens. It was loving even when it was political. It had spirit, not rage. That's part of why it was beautiful.

It was also beautiful because, as the first speaker, Bishop Eddie L. Long, senior pastor of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Ga., said in almost his first words, "This is a worship. This is a celebration. This is a moment that we give to honor God."

It was a religious service in which no one was afraid to talk about God. "Praise the Lord," and "Lord, we lift your name on high" and "How we love to sing your praises" rang through the room. Scripture was quoted, stories told. Blacks in America are not afraid to love Jesus the way they want to love him, to use the language and symbols they want to use. I want to kiss their hands for this. I also happen to honor the fact that, by and large, older blacks at least have not given way to 20th-century stoicism in their style of mourning. The Kennedys, who had too much experience with funerals, set the stoic style 40 years ago, and while it was elegant and moving in its own way, it left an entire nation thinking it was in rather poor taste to cry aloud and sob.

As for the speakers, no one has ever been or could be better than the Rev. Bernice King, who spoke of her mother's love, her mother's end, and the possible metaphorical meaning of the cancer that killed her.

The Rev. Joseph Lowery gave a beautiful poem about Martin being with Rosa in heaven and then finding out that Coretta was coming, and rushing to greet her at the pearly gates. Strike you as corny? Not me. It was beautiful because it was not only full of unselfconscious faith, it assumed unselfconscious faith on the part of the audience, and so was both an implicit compliment and a declaration of shared assumptions. The audience responded with amens and cheers. When he bopped the president over weapons of mass destruction, what seemed, on CNN, to be half the room stood and applauded.

When George Bush 41 followed him to the podium, he teased Mr. Lowery in a way that complimented his eloquence. People sometimes marvel at the grace of George H.W. Bush. He is a warm and gracious man, and he's old enough to appreciate the humor in everything. He's old enough to appreciate life. But it is also true that when you attack him or his son from the left he doesn't get mad because in his heart he kinda thinks you're right. Attack him from the right; you won't be overwhelmed by his bonhomie then.

President Bush was fine, his eloquence of the formal kind. He needs to find the place between High Rhetoric and off-the-cuff plainspeak. He always does one or the other. But there's a place in between, a place that's not fancy and not common, that would serve him well if he could find it.

Bill Clinton was, as always, the master. Say what you will, he is the only politician in America with the confidence to call Episcopalians "the frozen chosen" and know everyone will laugh and take no offense. Amid all the happy bombast he was the one who pointed at the casket and said, "There's a woman in there." He talked about Mrs. King in good strong plain terms. Yes, he caused a quarter-second of awkwardness when he said of the beautiful Coretta that even at age 75 she still had the goods, but in moments of exuberance we all forget our own history.

The real news was how the Clintons used the funeral to unveil how they will run in 2008: Together, side by side, with beautiful hairdos. I haven't seen them like this--both standing at the podium--since 1992, when they were new. In the years since, after the health-care failure and the Whitewater scandals, the West Wing attitude toward the president's wife was a quiet and respectful "Get that woman off the podium!" Not anymore. All is new again. Mrs. Clinton has clearly been working on her public speaking, and attempted to use her hands as her husband uses his, now in an emphasizing arc, now resting on her chest. But his are large, long and elegant, and hers are puffed and grasping.

Both Clintons spoke in the cadence and with the imagery of the Bible. Mrs. Clinton's first words, in which she referred to Mrs. King's brave decision to continue her husband's work after his murder, were steeped in religiosity. "As we are called, each of us must decide whether to answer that call by saying, 'Send me.'" She ended with, "The work of peace never ends. So we bid her earthly presence farewell. We wish her Godspeed on her homecoming. And we ask ourselves, 'Will we say, when the call comes, "Send me"?'"
Oh I think we will, Ms. Meanieface!

If you don't understand that Mrs. Clinton was rehearsing her 2008 announcement speech, then you are a child and must go home and have a nice cup of cocoa.

This is what is coming: I have had a blessed life. And like so many people I could choose, after all these years, a life of comfort. Watch it from the sidelines, tend to my own concerns, watch the garden grow. But our nation calls out. And if we are to be Americans we must meet the call. "Send me."

With Bill nodding beside her, his hands clasped prayerfully in front of him, nodding and working that jaw muscle he works when he wants you to notice, for just a second, how hard it is sometimes for him to contain his admiration.

God I love them.

Apart from its beauty, dignity and fight, Mrs. King's funeral got me thinking about this: Did she know how much she was loved? It's hard for a person to know that. If only she could have gone to her own funeral, she would have known. I wonder if it wouldn't be good if somewhere along the way, just once in your life, you got to call your own funeral. Pick the church, the speakers, the music, sit in the pew, clap when they talk about how wonderful you were. Then afterwards have a long lunch and toast your memory. Then the next day you go to work as usual, but maybe in a different mood. I don't see why we don't do this. Is this a stupid thing to say? It's allowed. I've got free speech.

Ms. Noonan is a contributing editor of The Wall Street Journal and author of "John Paul the Great: Remembering a Spiritual Father," (Penguin, 2005), which you can order from the OpinionJournal bookstore. Her column appears Thursdays. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Cartoon Riots ABCs

From a New York Post article, RENT-A-RIOT ABCS :

RENT-A-RIOT ABCS [/] By AMIR TAHERI

'ABLESSING from God": So have Iran's leaders, starting with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, described the controversy over the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammed. [/] A closer look at the row, however, shows that the whole rigmarole was launched by Sunni-Salafi groups in Europe and Asia, with Ahmadinejad and his Syrian vassal, President Bashar al-Assad, belatedly playing catch-up. God had nothing to do with it.

To see how the whole thing was manufactured to serve precise political ends, consider the chronology of events: [/] The cartoons were published last September and, for more than three months, caused no ripples outside small groups of Salafi militants in Denmark. [/] In December, a group of Danish Muslim militants filled their suitcases with photocopies of the cartoons and embarked on a tour of Muslim capitals. [/] They failed to get to Tehran: The Iranians, being Shi'ites, saw them as Sunni activists bent on mischief. But they managed to go to Cairo, Damascus and Beirut and, were allowed to send emissaries to Saudi Arabia.

The Danish Muslim group also did something dishonest — it added a number of far more derogatory cartoons of the Prophet to the 12 published by the Jyllands-Posten newspaper, and misled its interlocutors in Muslim capitals into believing that all had appeared in the Danish press.

In Cairo, the Muslim Brotherhood told the Danish group that this was not the time to kick a fuss over the cartoons. The brotherhood was busy plotting its election strategy and pretending to be a "moderate" political party. The last thing it wanted was to be branded as a rabid anti-West force. The brotherhood leaders suggested that the matter be put on ice until January.

The Danish militants also received a negative reply from Hamas, the Palestinian radical movement. Hamas was busy trying to win a general election and needed to reassure at least part of the Palestinian middle classes. The Hamas advice was: Wait until after we have won.

The emissaries found a more sympathetic audience in Qatar — where the satellite-TV channel Al Jazeera (owned by the emir) specializes in inciting Muslims against the West and democracy in general. The channel's chief Islamist televangelist, Yussuf al-Qaradawi (an Egyptian preacher who is also a friend of Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London), was all too keen to issue a "fatwa" to light the fuse. He then mobilized his network of Muslim Brotherhood militants in Europe to attack the cartoons and claim, falsely, that images were not allowed in Islam and that the Danish paper had violated "an absolute principle of The Only True Faith."

Thus the call for Jihad received its supposed "theological" green light. (Ironically, the section of the brotherhood headed by al-Qaradawi is financed by the European Union as a non-governmental organization.)

As the first rent-a-mob crowds appeared on global TV screens, [Iran President] Ahmadinejad realized that here was a cow worth milking.

For Denmark is set to assume the rotating presidency of the U.N. Security Council — at the very time that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is expected to refer Iran to the Security Council and demand sanctions. What better, for Tehran's purposes, than to portray Denmark as "an enemy of Islam" and mobilize Muslim sympathy against the Security Council?

To regain the initiative from the Sunni-Salafi groups, Ahmadinejad quickly ordered a severing of commercial ties with Denmark, thus portraying the Islamic Republic as the Muslim world's leader in the anti-Danish campaign.

Syria was next to jump on the bandwagon, again for mercenary reasons. The United Nations wants Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and five of his relatives and aides, including his younger brother, for questioning in the murder of Lebanon's former premier, Rafiq al-Hariri. (Assad has tried to negotiate immunity for himself and his brother in exchange for handing over the others — but the U.N. wouldn't play.) As with Iran's nuclear program, the Syrian dossier will reach the Security Council under Danish presidency. To portray Denmark as "an enemy of the Prophet" would not be such a bad thing when the council, as expected, points the finger at Assad and his regime as responsible for a series of political murders, including that of Hariri.

The Danish-cartoons cow will also be milked in another way: Tehran and Damascus have launched a diplomatic campaign to put the issue of "protecting religions against blasphemy" on the Security Council agenda. If that were to happen, issues such as Iran's quest for the atomic bomb and Syria's murder machine in Lebanon might be pushed aside, at least as far as world public opinion is concerned.

People watching TV news may think that the whole Muslim world is ablaze with righteous rage translated into "spontaneous demonstrations." The truth is that the overwhelming majority of Muslims, even if offended by cartoons which they have not seen, have stayed away from the street shows put on by the radicals and the Iranian and Syrian security services.

The destruction of Danish and Norwegian embassies and consulates happened in only two places: Damascus and Beirut. Anyone who knows Syria would know that there are no spontaneous demonstrations in that dictatorship. (Even then, the Syrian secret police failed to attract more than 1,000 rent-a-mob militants.) And the Syrian government refused the Norwegian Embassy's request for additional police protection. It was clear that the Syrians wanted the embassies sacked.

The rent-a-mob attacks in Beirut were more cynical. The Syrian Ba'ath — which has been murdering, imprisoning or deporting Sunni-Salafi militants for years — was suddenly transformed from a radical secular and Socialist party into "the Vanguard of the Faith." The mob that committed the atrocities in Beirut was bused from Syria and consisted of Muslim Brotherhood militants who are never allowed to demonstate on their own account.

The Muslim crowds that have demonstrated over the cartoons seldom exceeded a few hundred; the Muslim segment of humanity is estimated at 1.2 billion. And only three of Denmark's embassies in 57 Muslim countries have been attacked.

The Danish Muslim gang who lied by adding cartoons that had never been published has done more damage to the Prophet and to Islam than the 12 controversial cartoonists of Jyllands-Posten.

The fight between Denmark and its detractors is not between the West and Islam. It is between democracy and a global fascist movement masquerading as religion.

Iranian author Amir Taheri is a member of Benador Associates. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Haiti's Man from Marmelade Ahead

Good news. Anyone connected with marmalade can't be all bad.

(N.B. "Marmelade" is the French spelling. French is the language of Haiti.)

From a Yahoo! AP article, Delays Slow Haiti Vote :

Delays Slow Haiti Vote Count By JOSEPH B. FRAZIER, Associated Press Writer [/] Thu Feb 9, 4:41 AM ET

MARMELADE, Haiti - A former president with strong support among Haiti's poor has taken an early lead two days after Haitians turned out in droves to elect a new leader, an aide to the candidate said, citing preliminary returns.

But delays in retrieving results from countryside slowed official vote counting, with ballot counts still being ferried to the capital on Wednesday by plane, truck and mule. Jacques Bernard, director general of Haiti's electoral council, said only a small percentage of balloting results had reached Port-au-Prince.

[…] But some polling stations posted unconfirmed local results outside. These showed strong early support for another former president, 63-year-old agronomist Rene Preval.

Preval's political adviser, Bob Manuel, said preliminary calculations showed the candidate having won 67 percent of the nationwide vote, with 16 percent of votes counted.

Preval, who is widely supported by Haiti's poor masses, was the front-runner among 33 presidential candidates. Shy and soft-spoken, Preval is the only elected leader in Haitian history to finish his term. He's also a former ally of Aristide, who remains in exile in South Africa.

[…] If no candidate wins a majority, a runoff between the top two vote-getters will be held March 19.

Although the claim of Preval's lead by his team couldn't be verified, early results posted at polling stations showed the candidate leading his opponents. At a large polling center near the huge slum of Cite Soleil, unconfirmed results taped to large columns inside showed Preval winning about 90 percent of the votes cast there.

Across the city in Petionville, home to many of Haiti's wealthiest citizens as well the poor Haitians who serve them, Preval took slightly more than 70 percent of the vote at a polling station, according to posted results.

Preval, in his rural hometown of Marmelade, emerged from his family home once on Wednesday, briefly dancing along to a band playing outside and waving to supporters. He didn't speak to reporters.

[…] The elections have been deemed vital to avoiding a political and economic meltdown in the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation. In the aftermath of Aristide's ouster, gangs went on a kidnapping spree and many factories closed because of security problems and a shortage of foreign investment.

Associated Press writers Michael Norton, Andrew Selsky and Stevenson Jacobs in Port-au-Prince contributed to this report. [My ellipses and emphasis]

Top Take on Recent Riots

From Europe's preeminent pajama person.

From a Barce[lona, Spain]Pundit article, French magazine has just released its latest issue. And it's brave :

Wednesday, February 08, 2006 [/] CHARLIE HÉBDO, a French magazine, has just released its latest issue. And it's brave:

The picture [shown in linked post] which is due to grace the cover of the weekly satirical magazine, Charlie Hebdo, with the caption "Mohammed overwrought by the fundamentalists," shows Mohammed crying, saying "It's hard to be loved by such idiots." [My ellipses and emphasis]

In the next post down there is a video of Sinnead O'Connor singing (without accompaniment) a beautiful recitative of far Left idealism. Ending with Ms. O'Connor tearing up a photo of Pope John Paul II and saying: "Fight the real enemy."

From a Barce[lona, Spain]Pundit article, NOTHING IS SACRED (via Spanish leftist blogger Ignacio Escolar, to his credit):

Tuesday, February 07, 2006 [/] NOTHING IS SACRED (via Spanish leftist blogger Ignacio Escolar, to his credit)

[Above mentioned video ending with tearing up a photo of the pope and saying "Fight the real enemy."]

How many Irish embassies were burnt in Italy, or Spain? Did Sinnead O'Connor have to go in hiding, or with 24/7 protection by bodyguards? Was there any Catholic boycott of Jameson or Guinness?

That's what I thought.

[N.B. Jameson is a brand of Irish whiskey, world's best, actually. Guinness is a brand of malt beverage, made in Ireland by an English firm from a Welsh recipe, with the original intention of providing a lower alcohol content and higher nutritional content than distilled beverages. Also, of course, the world's best.] [My ellipses and emphasis]

"[Preserve] the Image of a Peaceful Islam"

Islamic Groups Call for End to Riots - Yahoo! News:

"Aggression against life and property can only damage the image of a peaceful Islam,' said the statement released by Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan and the EU chief Javier Solana.

Meanwhile, a U.S. military spokesman said the United States and other countries are examining whether extremist groups may be inciting protesters to riot around the world because of the cartoons that have been printed in numerous European papers.

'The United States and other countries are providing assistance in any manner that they can ... to see if this is something larger than just a small demonstration,' Col. James Yonts told reporters when asked whether al-Qaida and the Taliban may have been involved in days of violent demonstrations in Afghanistan.
The Afghan protests have involved armed men and have been directed at foreign and Afghan government targets � fueling the suspicions there's more behind the unrest than religious sensitivities. But Yonts stressed they had no evidence to support suggestions that al-Qaida or Taliban are linked to the riots in Afghanistan."

Vanguard of the Robot Invasion

From a Yahoo! AP article, Robotic Toys Take Stage at DEMO Conference :

Robotic Toys Take Stage at DEMO Conference By MATTHEW FORDAHL, AP Technology Writer [/] Tue Feb 7, 8:35 PM ET

PHOENIX - Sony Corp (NYSE:SNE - news). may have put its Aibo robotic dogs to sleep, but the inventor of the popular Furby toy said on Tuesday the market for toy animatrons is anything but extinct.

Caleb Chung unveiled a lifelike toy dinosaur named Pleo that senses its surroundings, reacts to touch, walks about on its four legs and shows emotion.

The robot, about the size of a toy poodle, expresses sadness and disappointment by gently lowering its head and tail when it's ignored. Rub its rubbery back or poke its feet, and the 3.5-pound dinosaur springs back to life just like something made of flesh and blood.

Pleo made its debut on the first day of the 16th annual DEMO conference, which is taking place in Phoenix this week. The show gives about 70 startups and established companies about six minutes each to showcase what they hope will be the next big thing in technology.

Ugobe Inc., which Chung co-founded, hopes Pleo will be the must-have present for Christmas 2006. The diminutive dino is expected to be available later this year for about $200 each.

"By using breakthrough materials, an array of sensors and programmed intelligence, Ugobe has created a unique animated form that challenges the relationship between human beings and nonliving creatures," noted Chris Shipley, DEMO's executive producer.

Unlike Furby's single motor and microprocessor, Pleo has eight processors that control 14 motors and receive signals from 38 sensors. It also can learn from its experiences — in effect writing its own code as it goes.

"What we're trying to do is recreate life in order to get to an emotional bonding," Chung said.

At DEMO, the robot initially made a cautious debut as it sensed its environment, a small table on a large stage. After a few seconds, its movements began to resemble a living object waking up.

"In a technical sense he's calibrating his servos, but we like to call it stretching," Chung said.

The Pleo eventually took a few cautious steps. When it reached the edge of the table, it stopped and peeked over. When Chung stopped playing with it, it appeared to get depressed.

Still, it's not likely to get as depressed as owners of Sony's Aibo robotic dogs. The company discontinued them last month to cut costs, calling the toys a niche product.

Other companies also showcased products that also mix fun and high tech:

• Blurb Inc.'s BookSmart lets anyone create professional-looking books from a PC or Macintosh. Unlike current do-it-yourself publishing tools, BookSmart offers layout flexibility. It also can "slurp" Web log content into a book and allows multiple people to contribute to a book over the Internet.

Each book, which costs about $30 for up to 40 pages, can be created within 30 minutes, said Eileen Gittins, the company's founder and chief executive. It is expected to be commercially available next month.

• Bones in Motion Inc.'s BiM Active turns nearly any cell phone into an automatic journal of outdoor activities. Walkers, runners and cyclists can record their routes in real time, using their phones' built-in satellite tracking capabilities. It also tracks speed, distance, calories burned and elevation.

All the information also can be accessed and shared via the Web. It also allows routes to be searched, ranked and displayed using Google Inc.'s mapping system. Bones in Motion also announced Sprint will start offering the service this week for $9.99 a month.

• MooBella LLC's Ice Cream System uses a combination of fresh ingredients and the Linux operating system to automatically scoop up tasty desserts. The vending machine, designed for cafeterias, convenience stores and other public places, lets customers choose from more than 90 combinations of flavors and mix-ins using a friendly touch screen display.

Within a minute, the ingredients are aerated, flavored, mixed and flash frozen. The machines also keep track of inventories and sales over a wireless Internet connection.

"Every MooBella consumer can become a Ben or Jerry," said Bruce Ginsberg, the company's president. "Our unique technology is as rich as our all-natural ice cream is smooth and creamy."

MooBella machines are expected to start appearing first in the Boston area in 2006. The price of each machine was not announced.

On the Net:

Ugobe Inc.: http://www.ugobe.com/

MooBella LLC: http://www.moobella.com

Blurb Inc.: http://www.blurb.com

Bones in Motion: http://bonesinmotion.com/corp/

Radical Islamicism vs. Radical Left

Question: What is the difference between radical Islamicism and the radical Left?

Answer: Radical Islamicism believes that Danish cartoonists are more evil than George Bush.

These guys are making the great icons of the radical American Left look sane.

From a [London] Times Online article, Danish cartoonists fear for their lives :

The Times February 04, 2006 [/] Danish cartoonists fear for their lives [/] From Anthony Browne in Brussels

TWELVE Danish cartoonists whose pictures sparked such outcry have gone into hiding under round-the-clock protection, fearing for their lives. [/] The cartoonists, many of whom had reservations about the pictures, have been shocked by how the affair has escalated into a global “clash of civilisations”. They have since tried, unsuccessfully, to stop them being reprinted.

A spokesman for the cartoonists said: “They are in hiding around Denmark. Some of them are really, really scared. They don’t want to see the pictures reprinted all over the world. We couldn’t stop it. We tried, but we couldn’t.”

[…] The cartoonists’ names were originally printed in the Danish paper Jyllands-Posten. Flemming Rose, the paper’s cultural editor, invited 25 newspaper cartoonists to draw a picture of Muhammad “how they saw him”, after a children’s author complained that cartoonists would only dare illustrate a book he was writing on the life of Muhammad if they could be anonymous. Twelve cartoonists responded, had their pictures printed in September, and were paid 800 Danish krone (£73) each.

[…] The cartoonists come from a variety of different political backgrounds, which is reflected in their work. While some of the pictures satirise Muhammad, others attack populist right-wing politicians and even Jyllands-Posten itself, which is rightwing. […] [My ellipses and emphasis]

From a JihadWatch.org article, Concern about Jordanian parliament’s call for Danish cartoonists to be punished :

January 25, 2006 [/] Concern about Jordanian parliament’s call for Danish cartoonists to be punished

Reporters Without Borders (thanks to Filtrat) lines up on the right side of the ever-expanding cartoon rage, in contradistinction to the fulminating "moderate" Jordanian Parliament:

Reporters Without Borders voiced concern today about the Jordanian parliament’s call yesterday for the punishment of the cartoonist who drew 12 caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed that appeared in the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten on 30 September and were reprinted in the Norwegian publication Magazinet on 10 January.
“Islam forbids any representation of the Prophet and we realize that these cartoons may upset some people, but it is not acceptable for the parliament of a supposedly democratic country to call for the cartoonists to be punished,” the press freedom organisation said.

“Those who so desire may bring a complaint against the newspaper, but politicians should under no circumstances should call for direct reprisals against journalists,” Reporters Without Borders continued. “The cartoonists have already received death threats and these new statements put them in further danger.”

In a statement yesterday, the Jordanian parliament said the cartoons “constitute a cowardly and reprehensible crime” and urged the Norwegian and Danish authorities “to express their condemnation and disapproval of this hateful crime and to punish the perpetrators and instigators.”

It also called on “parliaments, governments and civil society organisations in the Muslim world to take a firm position on this evil, which strikes at the sentiments of the Arabo-Muslim nation.” [My ellipses and emphasis]

Local Lady Eating Champion

From a Yahoo! AP article, Woman Eats 26 Grilled Cheese Sandwiches :

Woman Eats 26 Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

A 100-pound woman ate 26 grilled cheese sandwiches in 10 minutes Wednesday at a New York restaurant, winning the World Grilled Cheese Eating Championship.

Sonya Thomas won $8,000 for the contest at the Planet Hollywood restaurant in Times Square but said she was disappointed in her performance.

"I could have done better," she said, adding that she was aiming for 30 sandwiches.

Thomas, of Alexandria, Va., said she had to catch a train shortly after the contest to make her shift at a Burger King on Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland, where she is a manager.

She said she has a naturally big stomach capacity and heavily soaked her sandwiches in water to make them easier to swallow. She said to train she drinks large amounts of water to expand her stomach capacity and practices relaxing her throat.

Thomas, whose normal weight is about 100 pounds, estimated she gained 10 pounds during Wednesday's contest.

It was a close win. Her nearest competitor, Joey Chestnut, ate 25 1/2 sandwiches.

On the eating contest circuit, Thomas is known as the "Black Widow," apparently because she has defeated so many larger men.

She holds numerous world eating records, including 46 dozen oysters in 10 minutes, 11 pounds of cheesecake in 9 minutes, 48 chicken tacos in 11 minutes, 37 hot dogs and buns in 12 minutes and 56 hamburgers in 8 minutes.

The event was organized by GoldenPalace.com, an Internet casino and poker room. [My ellipses and emphasis]