 By Peggy Shapiro According to Shariah law, it is a crime to engage in speech or writings that 'defame' Islam or otherwise offend its followers. It is a crime, not only in Muslim states, but in Western democracies, and may soon be coming to a city near you unless we stand up to the worldwide attacks against free speech. It appears that some brave souls, including a U.S. Senator, are pushing back against the global effort to stifle our freedom of expression. In Amsterdam, the capital of freedom and tolerance, a Dutch Muslim nearly decapitated filmmaker Theo van Gogh, who had made a movie that criticized the mistreatment of women in Islam. Dutch cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot's depiction of Mohammed set mobs of Muslims in a rampage not only in Holland, but all over the world. Dutch Member of Parliament Geert Wilders produced a 17-minute film Fitna, which juxtaposes quotations from the Koran and documentary footage of Islamic leaders inciting violence (jihad) based on those quotations. Wilder is on 24-hour police protection since al-Qaeda issued a fatwa calling for Wilder's murder. Read more ...Source: American Thinker
 A study of public opinion in predominantly Muslim countries reveals that very large majorities continue to renounce the use of attacks on civilians as a means of pursuing political goals. At the same time large majorities agree with al Qaeda's goal of pushing the United States to remove its military forces from all Muslim countries and substantial numbers, in some cases majorities, approve of attacks on US troops in Muslim countries. People in majority-Muslim countries express mixed feelings about al Qaeda and other Islamist groups that use violence, perhaps due to this combination of support for al Qaeda's goals and disapproval of its terrorist methods. However large majorities support allowing Islamist groups to organize parties and participate in democratic elections. In some majority-Muslim countries, Islamist groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, are forbidden from participating in elections. Steven Kull, director of WorldPublicOpinion.org, comments, "The US faces a conundrum. US efforts to fight terrorism with an expanded military presence in Muslim countries appear to have elicited a backlash and to have bred some sympathy for al Qaeda, even as most reject its terrorist methods." Read more ...Source: World Public Opinion
 For two years, Tom Burnett Sr. has been speaking out against the crescent-shaped memorial to Flight 93. This week Beverly Burnett (mother of Flight 93 hero Tom Burnett Jr.) stepped into the public eye to support her husband, and to make her own appeal for a full investigation: Today, I am adding my voice for a full and transparent review of the National Park Service and Flight 93 design selection process that produced Crescent of Embrace. Does it have Islamic symbols or doesn’t it? Let's settle this once and for all.
Why do you think Tom Sr. opposed this design? It is pretty simple; Tom Sr. saw the Islamic symbols and knew those symbols did not belong at the crash site of Flight 93.
Tom Burnett Sr. traveled to Pennsylvania last August to attend the Task Force Meeting to voice his opposition to the memorial design. A Family Board member as well as a commissioner accused Tom Sr. being “just like the Islamic terrorists” that killed our son.
Why didn’t someone speak up and defend Tom Sr.’s right to voice his opinion? Thanks to The Somerset Daily American for publishing Mrs. Burnett’s complete statement, which she also entered into the record of the most recent Memorial Project meeting. Read the whole thing. Two other mentions of the memorial controversy in the local PA press this weekIn a letter to the editor, a local woman echoed Mrs. Burnett’s sentiment in favor of preserving the site as it is, instead of demolishing the highly regarded Temporary Memorial and radically transforming the landscape, as the Memorial Project intends. At present the Temporary Memorial looks down over the “field of honor.” Because this temporary memorial is located roughly in the center of the planned half-mile wide crescent, it will be eliminated. Visitors who stand at the location of the Temporary Memorial will no longer look out over the original landscape, but will instead see the crash-site framed between the pincer tips of the giant Islamic-shaped crescent. They call the crescent a broken circle now, but the unbroken part of the circle, what symbolically remains standing in the wake of 9/11 (originally called the Crescent of Embrace) remains completely unchanged. Nice words from a local columnist, but no fact-checkingIn the area’s second local paper, The Johnstown Tribune-Democrat, columnist Ralph Couey offers a very nice tribute to the heroes of Flight 93 in which he mentions Mr. Burnett’s opposition to the planned memorial. Unfortunately, Mr. Couey goes on to describes Mr. Burnett’s opposition as “hopeless intransigence,” and expresses his optimism that it can be gotten past. Given that newspapers are supposed to get to the truth, one would hope that those who gain the privilege of this public platform would bother to check the facts. If Mr. Burnett is correct in his warnings about Islamic symbolism, then finding a way to get past these objections is like finding a way to sneak a hijacker past gate security. It is a bad thing, not a good thing. The petition that Mr. Burnett sponsored along with our blogburst group lists four damning facts about the approved design that can all be verified in a matter of minutes. Can Mr. Couey check just one: that a person standing between the tips of the giant crescent and facing into the center of the crescent will be facing within 2° of Mecca?  The Muslim prayer direction in this animation (qibla) is from the Mecca-direction calculator at Islam.com. (If you have trouble getting their calculator to work--your Java has to be configured correctly--there is another Mecca direction calculator at QiblaLocator.com.) This Mecca-orientation makes the giant crescent a mihrab, the Mecca-direction indicator around which every mosque is built. Does Mr. Couey really want to see the world’s largest mosque planted on the Flight 93 crash site? It is fine to speak highly of the heroes of Flight 93, but it would be a lot more meaningful if he would honor the Burnett’s urgent appeal for fact-checking by stepping over to a globe and checking this one simple factual claim. Mr. Couey is not the only one who wants the crescent controversy to go away without caring to know the truth. Sorry, but that is insufficient. Planting a giant Mecca-oriented crescent on the crash-site will dishonor the heroes of Flight 93, and it fails to follow their example. They didn’t just have good intentions. They got the job done, and we have to get the job done too. We can’t be asleep at the wheel while an al Qaeda sympathizing architect hijacks our memorial. What? Is it just too outlandish to think that the enemy might try to hijack one of our memorials? The same way that it is just too outlandish to think that the enemy might dare to hijack our commercial airliners? Do these people even know what they are memorializing? But they CAN wake up. All they have to do is actually check the facts. Then they will know. So please Mr. Couey, take the time to check a few facts, then write a second column, reporting your findings. Somebody out there in Somerset needs to start telling the truth. It might as well be you. 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 By Phyllis Chesler On February 17, 2009, a reporter quoted the Buffalo DA as saying that Muzzamil Hassan, in custody for the Buffalo beheading of his wife, is “a pretty vicious and remorseless bastard.” On February 18, 2009, the Buffalo DA kept the media away from Muzzamil Hassan’s hearing. Wise move. Once upon a time, a Muslim woman, bright with hope, lived in the heartland of America. She wanted to lead her own life. She refused to marry her first cousin. She chose to attend college and she planned to become an elementary school teacher. She dared to drive her own car. Two of her cousins stalked her, warned her, threatened her, accused her of “turning her back on her own culture.” Which culture? The culture of an American Ohio or the culture of the Muslim Middle East? Nine years ago, on January 8, 1999, in Cleveland, Ohio, after attending mosque services with her parents, Methel Dayem was murdered in what prosecutors termed an “honor killing.” Methel and her family were Palestinians, allegedly from the West Bank. Read more ...Source: Pajamas Media
 Atiq MalikPoliticians in Brent are calling for the resignation of a councillor after he advocated the introduction of Sharia law for British Muslims on a website, including the death penalty for women who commit adultery. The remarks were a response to The Archbishop of Canterbury's comments made earlier this month in which he said the adoption of Sharia law in the UK seemed unavoidable. Councillor Atiq Malik, (Democratic Conservative Group), wrote two blogs, one on the UK Polling Report website and one on the Conservative Home website. Both read: "If Muslims living in the UK are happy that disputes be decided by Sharia courts then what? "The reason why male gets more share than women is that male members of the family have the responsibility to provide living expenses to female members of the family. "If an unmarried woman has an affair she is lashed 100 times. If a married woman has an affair she is stoned to death. What is wrong in it?" Read more ...Source: Harrow ObserverAtiq Malik
Latest recipient of the Distinguished Islamofascist Award
By Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens
The Centre for Social Cohesion (CSC) can reveal that SOAS, which is part of the University of London, is planning to pay Islamist extremists to teach a course on political Islam between 23 and 27 March 2009. The CSC has been informed by SOAS that the course is aimed at educating Government officials and the Police. Source: The Centre for Social CohesionFull Press: The Centre for Social Cohesion [.pdf]
By Ross Kaniuk THOUSANDS of British-born Muslims have joined the Taliban in Afghanistan. UK troops say they are facing a mini civil war as more Brits head out to fight for the enemy. Senior officers said British-born Muslims from the West Midlands and Yorkshire have travelled to Helmand province and other parts of southern Afghanistan. Interception of Taliban communications has revealed the sound of jihadists speaking with West Midlands accents. One senior military source said: “It is the Punjabi and Kashmiri Urdu speakers who fall back into English in, for example, Brummie accents. “You get the impression they have been told not to talk in English but sometimes can’t help it.” Brigadier Ed Butler, the former commander of the British forces in Afghan-istan, said: “There are British passport holders who live in the UK who are being found in places such as Kandahar.” Robert Emerson, a security analyst, added: “There is ample evidence British Muslims trained in camps in Pakistan. Read more ...Source: Daily Star
 Amanda Hodge, South Asia correspondent February 27
PAKISTAN plunged into a fresh political crisis amid nationwide demonstrations yesterday at a Supreme Court decision barring popular opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and his brother from holding elected office.
President and political rival Asif Ali Zardari suspended the provincial parliament and imposed executive rule in the Sharif brothers' home state of Punjab -- Pakistan's most populous state and its traditional power centre -- in an attempt to contain anticipated large-scale protests by the country's legal fraternity.
But the move failed to suppress widespread anger at the court decision, which was criticised in many quarters as politically motivated.
e an already vulnerable civilian Government struggling to maintain control of the country in the face of a rising militant insurgency within its borders and a near-bankrupt economy.
Pakistan's share market fell 5 per cent at the close of trade and showed no sign of recovery.
The unrest will trigger concern in Washington, which needs stable government in Pakistan to help combat al-Qa'ida and Taliban militants using its territory as a base from which to launch attacks on coalition troops in Afghanistan.
Many analysts and foreign diplomats are warning that the country faces a calamitous slide into the sort of political infighting and instability that led to a military takeover by former general Pervez Musharraf in 1999.
"The Sharifs have been thrown out of politics, and they are going to react," prominent political commentator Shafqat Mahmood said.
"In the next three to six months, the political order will become very shaky."
The long-awaited Supreme Court decision was the result of an appeal against a ruling barring two-time prime minister Mr Sharif from contesting elections over his conviction on charges of hijacking Mr Musharraf's aircraft to try and forestall the coup.
It was also considering allegations of irregularities in his brother's election to provincial parliament.
Punjab is controlled by Mr Sharif's PML (N) party, and until yesterday Shahbaz Sharif was Punjab's chief minister.
Analysts said the Government's actions against the Sharifs were aimed at weakening their hold on Punjab -- a theory bolstered by recent talks aimed at an alliance between Mr Zadari's ruling Pakistan People's Party and another Punjab-based opposition party, PML (Q).
Mr Sharif reacted angrily to the decision, calling for Pakistanis to "rise against this unconstitutional decision and this nefarious act of Zardari". He said he opposed violence but added: "If the people want to show their anger, who can stop them?"
While the Government urged PML (N) to "control its supporters for the sake of democracy", thousands of protestors yesterday answered the Sharifs' call, staging fiery demonstrations.
Mr Sharif also called for people to join a massive lawyers' march planned for early next month to demand the reinstatement of more than 70 judges sacked by Mr Musharraf in 2007 for alleged misconduct.
The move sparked widespread protests that led to Mr Musharraf imposing a state of emergency in late 2007 and, eventually, to his downfall in August last year.
While the Sharifs command popular support in Punjab, the degree of instability in coming weeks will depend on how much support they can muster in Pakistan's three other states. Source: The Australian
There is no problem with this as long as non-Muslim students are accorded the same privileges. However, the involvement of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas funding case and an organization that has had several of its officials convicted of terrorism-related offenses, is a red flag, and suggests that this effort is part of the larger effort by Muslim Brotherhood-linked groups to assert a more visible presence for Islam in American public life, and pushing for accommodation of Islamic law wherever Islamic law and American law conflict. Read more ...Source: NorthJersey.comH/T: Jihad Watch
 SYDNEY, Australia
A Jewish Australian lawmaker slammed a United Nations agency that administers aid for Palestinian refugees as "notoriously corrupt."
Michael Danby, a longstanding pro-Israel Labor legislator, in a blistering speech Wednesday in federal parliament in Canberra, said Australia's $30 million in funding for Palestinians since 2007, largely through the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, was being "diverted to arms purchases, terrorist operations and anti-Israel incitement, as well as into the pockets of the Palestinian Authority leadership."
"It is a betrayal of that generosity [by Australians] for this money to be wasted, stolen or misspent on rockets, guns, terrorism or incitement to hatred," Danby said.
Stressing that he was not opposed to humanitarian assistance for the Palestinians, "who have suffered over the past decade from the chronic corruption and mismanagement of the P.A.," Danby said UNRWA had "been maintained by the anti-Israel majority at the U.N. for purely political reasons."
"Most Western donor countries have been reluctant, for obvious political reasons, to call the P.A. or the U.N. to account for the theft and waste of their taxpayers' money in the morass of corruption and political extremism that is Palestinian politics," Danby said.
"The British government, however, has recently indicated that it is unwilling to tolerate this any longer. Other governments should take a similar stand." Source: JTA H/T: Gig
By Robert Spencer Muzzammil Hassan allegedly beheaded his wife Aasiya on February 12 in the offices of Bridges TV, the Muslim-oriented cable channel that he founded in 2004 to combat the negative perceptions of Muslims that he claimed were dominating mainstream media coverage. He said at the time the station was founded that Aasiya was his inspiration for founding Bridges TV: “Some derogatory comments were being made about Muslims that offended her. She was seven months pregnant, and she thought she didn’t want her kids growing up in this environment.” The environment that they will grow up in instead cannot be imagined. But many people are doing their best to make sure that, whatever the other features of that environment may be, a critical appraisal of the roots of honor killing in Islamic culture, and a determination to put an end to this phenomenon, will not be among them. Read more ...Source: Human Events
 HOME secretary Jacqui Smith is facing a double standards row after it was revealed that an Islamic extremist exposed by the Sunday Mercury is set to travel to the UK. In November 2008 the Sunday Mercury revealed that Ibrahim Moussawi, a journalist linked to terrorist group Hezbollah, had been awarded a PhD from Birmingham University and was still allowed in to Britain. The Home Secretary is under pressure to refuse an entry visa to Moussawi, who has been invited to speak at a London University, after she stopped right wing Dutch MP Geert Wilders from coming into the UK to protect ‘community harmony’. Moussawi, 43, who lives in the Lebanon, is judged so dangerous that he was denied a visa to enter Ireland in 2007 and Tory leader David Cameron has called for him to be banned from Britain. But he was allowed to travel to the UK in February 2008 and proceeded to address rallies in London, Birmingham and Bristol. Tory Peer Baroness Neville-Jones wrote to Ms Smith warning her that Moussawi should not be allowed into the UK. Read more ...Source: Sunday MercuryH/T: WNDJacqui Smith
Latest recipient of The Dhimmi Award
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