British reader (and author) Paul Weston has sent along another essay, this one about the current condition of British public education. Mr. Weston included the following cover note:

Dear Baron,

Now that “Big Brother” has shown the world, to their international horror, the result of our educational system, the government (as reported yesterday) is attempting to polish up our school children via “Citizenship” classes. Although these exist already, they are intending to “teach” more about slavery, immigration, the legacy of British Empire, the European Union and equality. Alan Johnson, the Education Minister, thinks this will help in the notion that “schools should play a leading role in creating community cohesion”.

Having watched the BBC interview of several school children yesterday, I was reminded of something I wrote a few years ago which I enclose below.

I am not aware of educational standards in the USA (save books by Thomas Sowell and Dinesh D’Souza apropos brainwashing) but it could be quite amusing/instructive if you were to post it and compare the comments from Britain and the US. Although you may not believe it, what I describe is typical of most British schoolchildren.

Kind Regards,
Paul Weston

And now the essay itself:

Britain’s Dystopian School Children
by Paul Weston

Imagine the scene. You are sitting on a bus with nineteen fellow adults at 4pm during school term time. Your journey is suddenly interrupted by the noisy arrival of nine teenage products of our utopian/dystopian comprehensive schooling system. They shriek, they swear and they spit. They eat crisps and throw the empty packets to the floor, drink coke and allow the subsequently discarded cans to roll up and down the aisle and between your feet. One of them, a fifteen year old called Wayne turns up his ghetto blaster as a girl, covered in cheap gold jewellery, her hair scraped back, decorative rings adorning various parts of her overweight, multi-pierced anatomy grinds herself into his lap, her lipsticked mouth a knowing grin, her mascara’d eyes aflutter. She is fourteen years old. She knows all about sex; thrice hetero, bi and gay varieties, she learned that at primary school. She goes by the name of Shazza and lost her virginity to Wayne’s brother Dwayne at the age of twelve.

Shazza also knows about abortions, at least she knows they are her right in the event that Wayne, the Epsilon-Semi-Moron she is presently gyrating upon, fails to use the state-subsidised condoms handed out in assembly and “Knock Her Up”. Should the wayward Wayne impregnate her, and should she not take up her inalienable right to abort Wayne’s epsilon offspring she also knows her right to a free council flat as yet another ruined single mum teenager. Shazza, Wayne and their gang all know about these things, and others, such as how evil the British Empire was and how we perpetrated and condoned the evils of slavery. Sadly though, the name Wilberforce will only elicit a vacant, bovine look or a glottal-stopped enquiry into which club he plays for.

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There are some things however that she does not know. She has no concept of the notions of honour, patriotism, duty, obligation, deference and civility. She can barely read, spell, add up or multiply in her head. She has no knowledge of her culture, the history of her country or the history of the institutions that make up and form the community she grew up in. No knowledge of music, art, language or literature. She is the same as the rest of her friends. Today, on-board the number twelve bus they are simply representing their school (motto: Striving For Excellence In The Community). In later years they will represent Britain as her tattooed, alcohol-fuelled ambassadors in the Dantesque clubs and bars of Ibiza, Faliraki and Torremolinos.

They are the sub-race; their future lives will consist of eking out a low wage, semi-criminal, state-subsidised existence on the periphery of civilisation. They are the death rattle in the dying convulsions of a once proud educational system in a once proud nation. Obscene as they are, the truly ultimate obscenity is that they are the cold-blooded, calculated, consciously planned end product of the liberal/left’s tightly controlled forty-five year experiment in Socialist Social Engineering. The British comprehensive inner-city school version of “Give me the boy and I will give you the Wayne”.

There is of course one other thing that Shazza, Wayne and their friends know. They know that you and the other nineteen adults on the bus are frightened of them. They know this because nobody has asked them to turn down the music, stop swearing, or pick up their litter. Would you?

In my post from earlier today about gun crime in Britain, one British commenter had this to say:

No thanks. We don’t want a gun culture like you have over there. You can keep it.

Some of the other commenters, including other Britons, disagreed.

Let’s recapitulate what American “gun culture” is based on, namely the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Commenter JohnCV, who lives in Albemarle County, Virginia — just over the James River from Gates of Vienna — had this to say (I have taken the liberty of correcting his typos):

That’s a shame because you have just relegated yourself to, at best, a non-factor and at worst a hapless victim dependent on the mercy or protection of others.

Some say that the world has changed, but really it is the same dangerous place that it has always been. The only difference is that many of the threats can come at us from greater distances. The true threat we face as a free people is the insidious erosion of our God-given freedoms as delineated in the Declaration of Independence and US Constitution (much of which is based on English law and ideals).

The only way we as Americans were able to establish those rights was by armed insurrection by a citizen militia. Those citizens were all skilled riflemen. That term has a long and proud connotation in our society that spans the breadth our of (rather short) history. But also note that we are the longest consistent democracy on the planet with the oldest single constitution. Is that a coincidence? No.

Title 10, Section 311 of the United States Code states that:

– – – – – – – – – –

(a)		The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b)		The classes of the militia are
		(1)		the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
		(2)		the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.

So, according to current Federal law, every able-bodied man between the ages of 17 and 45 not on active duty, reserve, or National Guard service is already a member of the “unorganized militia”.

From www.rwva.com.

We (some still do anyway) view it as our duty as a citizen to maintain certain skills that, should we be called upon, rally to our country.

Unlike many older countries, we do not have that sense of being rooted to a plot of land for 5000 years. Most came here in recent generations from elsewhere. As Americans, our allegiance to is a set of ideals, laws and freedoms that bind us to all other Americans, not to a specific bit of soil. It’s at the core of who we are (this is the true danger of multiculturalism which is poisonous to America — without a common set of values, we have nothing to unify us).

Guns are an outward manifestation of that. Ask most traditional Americans about taking away the guns and even non-gun owners would be strongly against it. Only the elitist Eurocentric types want gun control (read liberal-academic-media types). These people either never knew or have forgotten what societal infrastructure supports their elitist existences. Gramsci would be proud.

Visualize cutting off a limb while sitting on it.

Sorry to be so verbose, but you clearly don’t grasp the importance of owning a firearm and having the freedom to use it in your own best interest (in a proper way). Hope this helps a bit.

There are two sides to every gun — which side would you rather be on?

Couldn’t have said it better myself.

The noted blogger Fjordman is filing this report via Gates of Vienna.
For a complete Fjordman blogography, see The Fjordman Files. There is also a multi-index listing here.

Sweden is a country that has virtually no public debate about mass immigration, which continues at full speed. The Swedish political and media elites congratulate themselves for their Multicultural goodness. If sacrificing your own children is the definition of good, then exactly what constitutes evil?

From The Local, January 25, 2007:

Staff at Gustav Adolf School in the southern town of Landskrona have now retracted a controversial ban on the use of languages other than Swedish on school premises.

Just days after its introduction the principal has downgraded the ban to a “main rule”. Consequently pupils will now be allowed to speak their native languages during breaks.

But, in a new measure, pupils will have to pass two security guards when entering the school.

On Saturday it was revealed that the management of the school had decided that only Swedish could be spoken on school premises. Almost half of the pupils at the school come from an immigrant background.

The ban was introduced following a number of incidents in which staff and pupils felt they had been insulted in languages they did not understand.

From The Local, January 19, 2007:

A fierce debate has erupted following the closure of a school in the southern town of Landskrona yesterday. Gustav Adolf School reopened on Friday amid calls for tighter discipline, more surveillance cameras and a new principal.

A series of disturbances have meant that six pupils will now be moved to other schools, while 22 others have been suspended for a week.

In December nine 15-year-old girls at the school went on strike after accusing male classmates of bullying. They say the boys used foul language, spat on them from a balcony and put sticky tape in their hair.

There have also been reports of boys urinating in girls’ shoes, as well as threats and beatings on school premises.

When leftover fireworks from the recent new year’s celebrations exploded inside the school on Thursday, health and safety representative Leif Paulsson ordered the school’s immediate closure.

– – – – – – – – – –
Even more news from Sweden’s third largest city, Malmö, the evolving tragedy of failed immigration policies and runaway crime rates. Set to become the first major Scandinavian city with a Muslim majority a few years from now, it is the horror story in the ongoing collapse of Swedish society. about a high school teacher in Malmö, Sweden, who discovered that about a dozen Arab students were laughing and shouting “Allahu Akbar!” while watching a DVD of infidel hostages being beheaded in Iraq. The headmaster didn’t think the incident was such a big deal.

At least 139 schools in Sweden suffered arson attacks during 2002 alone, a number which by 2007 has grown to at least 230. Such as an incident in Malmö, where three schools were put on fire during one night. “Teenage boys” are suspected to behind the arson. Björn Vinberg from the fire department in Kroksbäck in the Malmö area says it’s humiliating and degrading to put out fires again and again in the same immigrant areas, with school kids laughing at them and lighting a new one just afterwards. His colleagues have been to the same place no less than twenty times, all totally unnecessary.

In 2005 it was decided that the district of Hyllie in Malmö would begin education in Arabic only for groups of immigrant preschool children. This seems logical, given that Muslims already make up close to one third of its population, and may well be the majority within a few years as native Swedes are leaving the city in record numbers. The idea is that once the children learn the language of their parents, it will become easier for them to learn Swedish as well. So the Swedish state paying for educating Swedish citizens on Swedish ground in Arabic is somehow supposed to increase integration.

From The Local, January 2, 2007:

Two local Liberal Party politicians in Malmö have proposed a ban on the use of languages other than Swedish in school classrooms. Local politician Eva Bertz and member of parliament Allan Widman see the measure as a way to tackle the problem of segregation in society.

“This is a local proposal. In Malmö we have a very unique situation: we are close to the point where a majority of pupils have a foreign background, which is to say that either they or their parents come from a country outside Sweden,” Allan Widman told The Local.

As chairman of the local branch of the Liberals, Widman has the backing of his party in Sweden’s third largest city. But he has not discussed the matter with Liberal Party leader and education minister Lars Leijonborg, or school minister Jan Björklund.

“We’re not commenting on that,” school minister Jan Björklund’s press secretary told The Local when asked about the proposal.

Widman explains that some schools in Malmö have as few as 5 percent ethnic Swedes in their classrooms.

From The Local, January 12, 2007:

Rival gangs of 10-year-olds in the eastern town of Söderhamn have threatened to wipe each other out. One of the gangs is made up of indigenous Swedes and the other of immigrants, and police in the town are taking the problem very seriously.

The conflict has escalated on the internet, and police fear that there may be fatalities if the fighting is not stopped.

From an article by Bruce Bawer in The New York Sun, December 8, 2006:

Recently, the city of Stockholm carried out a survey of ninth-grade boys in the predominantly Muslim suburb of Rinkeby. The survey showed that in the last year, 17% of the boys had forced someone to have sex, 31% had hurt someone so badly that the victim required medical care, and 24% had committed burglary or broken into a car. Sensational statistics — but in all of Sweden, they appear to have been published only in a daily newssheet that is distributed free on the subways.

A report from organization Save the Children tells of how being a young Swedish girl today means feeling unsafe. The girls are scared of being raped, a possibility that appears very real to them. Many girls plan how to go home at night, how to pretend to be talking on the mobile phone, how to keep their keys in their hand to defend themselves or how to simply run all the way home. Both the fear and the choice of strategies indicate that many girls feel genuinely unsafe outdoors during certain hours of the day. A striking number of girls have experienced harassment from boys or men. Most frequently, the harassment comes from boys of the same age as the girls. Being called “whore” has become so common in some schools that several of the girls say the teachers no longer react to this.

Actress Ylva Törnlund has visited several schools in Tensta, and was alarmed by the harsh atmosphere she discovered there. “The attitudes we meet in the schools are frightening. One boy talked about how girls should be f**ked to pieces until they bleed,” Törnlund said. She decided to visit the area after a rape that took place in a public bath nearby in broad daylight. A 17-year-old girl was raped, and none of the other guests did anything to stop this. The girl was first approached by a 16-year-old boy. He and his friends followed her as she walked away into a grotto, and inside the grotto he got her blocked in the corner, ripped off her bikini and raped her, while his friend held her firm.

The number of rape charges in Sweden has quadrupled in just over twenty years. Rape cases involving children under the age of 15 are six — 6 — times as common today as they were a generation ago. Most other kinds of violent crime have rapidly increased, too. Instability is spreading to most urban and suburban areas.

“It is not as wrong raping a Swedish girl as raping an Arab girl,” says Hamid. “The Swedish girl gets a lot of help afterwards, and she had probably f****d before, anyway. But the Arab girl will get problems with her family. For her, being raped is a source of shame. It is important that she retains her virginity until she marries.” “It is far too easy to get a Swedish whore… girl, I mean,” says Hamid, and laughs over his own choice of words. “I don’t have too much respect for Swedish girls. I guess you can say they get f****d to pieces.”

Kim du Toit highlights this Breitbart article about gun crime in Britain:

Labour has been accused of losing control of gun crime as new figures show a sharp rise in armed robberies.

Guns were used in 4,120 robberies last year — a 10% jump — including a 9% rise to 1,439 in the number of street robberies where guns were used.

There was also a rapid and unexplained increase in the number of times householders were confronted in their own homes by armed criminals.

He then has some choice commentary on the topic.

Unexplained? I’ll explain it: criminal are using guns to rob people in their homes because they know that the law-abiding are not going to be armed.

I bet the writer of this article even has a university degree.

If the socialists in the Labour Party wanted to stop violent crime from increasing — and [gasp!] perhaps even start a downward trend — they’d repeal the stupid laws which at once deny Brits the right to own handguns and also deny them the right to defend themselves against deadly force.

Criminals would start to think twice about their career options if there was a good chance that their little exercise in property redistribution would likely be met by the likes of Mr. Free Market wielding his beloved Browning High Power. (More frightening would be the prospect of Mrs. Free Market wielding a gun — even I’m frightened by the thought, and I’m not even a burglar.)

– – – – – – – – – –

But I digress.

Well, we all know that the socialists in the Labor Party are going to do nothing of the kind, because (duh) they’re socialists, and their dogma forbids them even to contemplate the thought of a free and armed citizenry instead of a docile and dependent society.

Of course, this would be an opportunity for the not-so-Conservative Party to take the initiative, and promise to do The Right Thing if they were to be elected back into power.

Sadly, of course, the Stupid Party (Brit version) will do no such thing, because they’re intent on positioning themselves as Labour Lite.

It’s a pity there’s no Second Amendment in that unwritten hodgepodge known as the “British Constitution”.

My avatar isn’t really a character in Jack Vance’s novels; he’s a fictional literary source. His words appear as citations in footnotes, or in lengthy quotes used as chapter headings.

Baron Bodissey discourses at length on science, medicine, sociology, psychology, philosophy, and anything else that strikes his fancy. Here’s a quote that’s appropriate to Gates of Vienna, taken from Baron Bodissey’s monumental work, Life, and cited in Book Four of the “Demon Princes” pentalogy:

From Life, Volume 1, by Unspiek, Baron Bodissey:

The evil man is a source of fascination; ordinary persons wonder what impels such extremes of conduct. A lust for wealth? A common motive, undoubtedly. A craving for power? Revenge against society? Let us grant these as well. But when wealth has been gained, power achieved and society brought down to a state of groveling submission, what then? Why does he continue?

The response must be: the love of evil for its own sake.

The motivation, while incomprehensible to the ordinary man, is nonetheless urgent and real. The malefactor becomes the creature of his own deeds. Once the transition has been overpassed a new set of standards comes into force. The perceptive malefactor recognizes his evil and knows full well the meaning of his acts. In order to quiet his qualms he retreats into a state of solipsism, and commits flagrant evil from sheer hysteria, and for his victims it appears as if the world has gone mad.

— from The Face, by Jack Vance, p. 51 (DAW edition)

[Nothing follows]

I’ve written previously about the organization called Al-Ikhwan al-Muslimeen, also known as the Muslim Brotherhood. Established in 1928 in Egypt by Hassan al-Banna, its goal is to return Islam to its roots in the Koran and the Hadith, purify Muslim practices, and re-establish Islamic governance under the Caliphate.

The Muslim Brotherhood was (and is) a Sunni organization, but that doesn’t stop it from working with other branches of Islam that share a common goal of defeating the infidel and overthrowing secular governments.

And now, according to The Politics of CP, there seems to be a link between the Ikhwan and the Sufi terrorist Sheikh Syed Mubarik Ali Shah Gilani, founder of the Muslims of America and Jamaat ul-Fuqra. CP, as the premier online investigator of Jamaat ul-Fuqra, has discovered the apparent connections:

Ikhwanul Muslimun is, in fact, listed in the IRS online database of “Charities & Non-Profits”. The organization is also listed on two websites listing presumably charitable organizations accepting car donations [here and here]. Interestingly, the address for Ikhwanul Muslimun corresponds to that of the Muslim Parochial School near Hancock [here and here].

Records listing contact names for both Ikhwanul Muslimun and the Muslim Parochial School were then matched to the address of Islamberg, the headquarters compound of Muslims of the Americas (MOA). Incidentally, another “charity”, which isn’t listed with the IRS, called Hand-to-Hands Inc. is also based at Islamberg. It purports to be the “humanitarian and social welfare arm” of the MOA. International Quranic Open University is yet another arm of the group based in Hancock. MOA, which owns possibly two-dozen settlements like the one in NY throughout the US and claims several thousand members, is the primary front organization for a Pakistan-based Islamist militant group known as Jamaat ul-Fuqra.

MOA has a long history in Brooklyn. An address history search for the individual connected with Ikhwanul Muslimun showed links to addresses in Hancock, Deposit, and Brooklyn, NY among other locales. Another search linked the principal of the Muslim Parochial School to both Brooklyn, NY and Williamsport, PA where an MOA group used to operate.

– – – – – – – – – –
There are a lot of links to his original sources in CP’s post; you’ll want to go there to find them, and also to read the rest of his summary. While you’re at it you can browse his archives, which contain the most extensive information about Jamaat ul-Fuqra available on the web.

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The Muslim Brotherhood is the ideological engine of modern Sunni Islam. It has codified the visceral anti-Western and anti-modern sentiments of the Muslim Middle East, giving its practitioners a well-developed intellectual base and a sophisticated methodology.

A connection between the Ikhwan and MOA comes as no great surprise. There is ample evidence that Hizbullah — which is Shiite — is coordinating its efforts with various Sunni groups, including Al Qaeda. Why not extend the cooperative sphere to include Sufi terrorists? All of them share the common goal of exterminating the kuffar and establishing a worldwide Islamic government.

The Demonic Convergence which has formed in the last few decades is seizing the opportunity posed by Western decadence, weakness, and self-loathing. Sayyid Qutb, the great populizer of the Muslim Brotherhood, wrote in his 1963 book Milestones (Ma’alim fi al-Tariq):

The leadership of mankind by Western man is now on the decline, not because Western culture has become poor materially or because its economic and military power has become weak. The period of the Western system has come to an end primarily because it is deprived of those life-giving values, which enabled it to be the leader of mankind.

It is necessary for the new leadership to preserve and develop the material fruits of the creative genius of Europe, and also to provide mankind with such high ideals and values as have so far remained undiscovered by mankind, and which will also acquaint humanity with a way of life which is harmonious with human nature, which is positive and constructive, and which is practicable.

Islam is the only System which possesses these values and this way of life.

More than forty years ago the premise was made clear: The period of the Western system has come to an end primarily because it is deprived of those life-giving values, which enabled it to be the leader of mankind.

To complete the Demonic Convergence, all that is necessary is the passive — or even active — assistance of the Left within Western countries. The doctrinaire Socialists, Marxists, Anarchists, and Deconstructionists are only too happy to comply, ready to assist with their own suicide.

Fjordman has pointed out the natural synergy that has arisen between the Left and the Islamists:

[T]he fascination with Islamic movements… is partly based on hatred of the West and a belief that the world must be “liberated” from Western civilization, which is the cause of global injustice.

Can there be a more poignant manifestation of this trend than Denmark’s “City on Fire” project, which visualizes with great longing the incineration of Western Civilization? The useful idiots of our own culture are supplying the fuel while radical Islam provides the oxygen for the great conflagration.

The match may already have been put to the tinder. According to Daniel Pipes:

Significant elements in several Western countries – especially the United States, Great Britain, and Israel – believe their own governments to be repositories of evil, and see terrorism as just punishment for past sins.

The various “purifiers” of Islam are well aware of our weaknesses; they show an uncanny ability to get into our culture and borrow what is useful in order to destroy it. Actual weaponry — the IED, surface-to-air missiles, nuclear weapons, etc. — are part of the plan, but so are political and cultural strategies. The Islamists appropriate our organizational methods, utilize a party system, and borrow freely from Marxist, Green, and Multiculturalist rhetoric to use against us.

Hizb ut-Tahrir is notably effective in all these activities. I have quoted previously from their website:

The work of Hizb ut-Tahrir is to carry the Islamic da’wah in order to change the situation of the corrupt society so that it is transformed into an Islamic society. It aims to do this by firstly changing the society’s existing thoughts to Islamic thoughts so that such thoughts become the public opinion among the people, who are then driven to implement and act upon them. Secondly the Party works to change the emotions in the society until they become Islamic emotions that accept only that which pleases Allah (swt) and rebel against and detest anything which angers Allah (swt). Finally, the Party works to change the relationships in the society until they become Islamic relationships which proceed in accordance with the laws and solutions of Islam.

That particular Hizb ut-Tahrir website is no longer available — authorities keep taking down the site, and the group keeps moving it. The current site for the UK Chapter of Hizb ut-Tahrir is fairly innocuous as Islamist websites go, which is probably why it’s still extant. Britain is one of the few countries where Hizb ut-Tahrir is still legal.

But don’t be fooled by the mild taqiyyah versions of the group’s ideology. When you drill down to their non-PR sites, that’s where you can find the real red meat. Their latest incarnation seems to be here, where it is clearly stated that Hizb ut-Tahrir is “a political party whose ideology is Islam”. According to their “About Hizb-ut-Tahrir” page:

…Hizb-ut-Tahrir must be a political party that undertakes within the Ummah this task [Islamic governance] and works towards seizing the reins of power through her; thus Hizb-ut-Tahrir is not a spiritual bloc, nor is it a moralistic or a scientific bloc, but rather a political bloc that works towards the management of the Ummah’s affairs as a whole according to Islam.

It’s not a spiritual bloc; it’s a political bloc.

Its ideology is Islam.

Its intention is to wage jihad until the goal of a worldwide Islamic government is reached.

When the Islamists’ goal is achieved, there will be plenty of time to sort out the Sunni-Shiite-Sufi issues. Lots of time to line up the “false Muslims” against the wall and give them the justice of the bullet. Bloodshed in the name of the Prophet can continue indefinitely, even after all the infidels are gone, until Islam is really, really, 100% pure.

In the meantime, the Demonic Convergence is upon us. Radical Islamic groups are working together, sharing information and manpower, planning and executing strategies against the kuffar. The talking heads and PR firms lie and obfuscate, but if you look beneath the surface you can find their goals clearly stated, the agenda laid out for all to see.

And the useful idiots are lining up, falling over each other in their eagerness to abase themselves before the Legions of the Prophet.

Islam, as it is presently practiced by the majority of devout Muslims, is a political ideology. It is about power, about taking it from the infidel and entrusting it to the vanguard of the true believers.

Marx, Lenin, Stalin, and Hitler are the role models. The Party’s purpose is to realize the revolution, enforce discipline, and instruct the people. It requires absolute dedication, absolute ruthlessness, and allows no compromises except for temporary and expedient ones.

Say good-bye to the Worldwide Socialist Revolution. Say hello to the Worldwide Caliphate.

Yesterday afternoon the 910 Group, the Christian Action Network, and Gates of Vienna joined forces to pay a visit to the Hon. Virgil H. Goode, Jr., in his office on Capitol Hill.

Gary Olds and Martin Mawyer (at right, with Congressman Goode) represented CAN, Christine from the 910 Group was there to listen and answer questions, and I was there as a constituent, to represent Gates of Vienna, to take photos, and to sit in on the conversation.

As most of you already know, Congressman Goode wrote a letter to a constituent last month about newly-elected Rep. Keith Ellison and the Koran. When the letter was made public he found himself in hot water with CAIR, the media, and other members of the Islamophobia Grievance League.

In an effort to clear up any misapprehensions he might have about Islam, Rep. Goode has been visited by Muslims from various organizations. But that’s not his only source of information on the topic — as a member of Congress, he has access to classified information about the Islamist groups that are operating secretly within the United States.

“I tell you, there are some dangerous people right here in the United States — real terrorists,” he said. “The American people need to be aware of it.”

Congressman Goode has a personal interest in the subject, since there are two Jamaat ul-Fuqra compounds within his congressional district. Jamaat ul-Fuqra originated in Pakistan, and was named a terrorist group by the State Department in 2000. Most of its members are based in the United States, scattered in isolated rural compounds like the ones here in Virginia.

“After what I’ve learned, that man is definitely a terrorist,” declared Rep. Goode, referring to Sheikh Gilani, the founder of Jamaat ul-Fuqra.
– – – – – – – – – –
Rep. Goode has taken an active interest in the Christian Action Network’s effort to get Charlotte County to take down the “Sheikh Gilani Lane” sign at the entrance to the Red House compound. “I’ve been in touch with the Board of Supervisors about it,” he said. “I wanted to make sure they knew my opinion.”

The presence of Hizbullah and other foreign terrorists on American soil dovetails with the congressman’s commitment to the immigration issue. He talked about the fact that Al Qaeda terrorists, disguised as Latin Americans and with forged Latin American documents, are crossing into the United States from Mexico. “The border is essentially unguarded. We’re being overwhelmed — illegal immigrants are pouring in.”

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“We have the most open and tolerant society in the world,” said Rep Goode. “My concern is: what would happen if immigration is unchecked, and our country becomes more than fifty percent Muslim? Would our society still be open and tolerant? I’m afraid we’re going to lose all that.”

In the letter to his constituent, he said this:

The Ten Commandments and “In God We Trust” are on the wall in my office. A Muslim student came by the office and asked why I did not have anything on my wall about the Koran. My response was clear, “As long as I have the honor of representing the citizens of the 5th District of Virginia in the United States House of Representatives, The Koran is not going to be on the wall of my office.”

When we sat down with Virgil Goode, he showed us the wall in question. At right is a photo of what’s up there: the Ten Commandments, the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, and “In God We Trust” (click the small image to see a larger version that you can actually read).

“Those are the things I’m guided by,” he said.

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After leaving Congressman Goode’s office, we took a little stroll down 1st Street to the corner of New Jersey Avenue and E Street. That’s where CAIR keeps its Washington D.C. headquarters, just two blocks south of Virgil Goode’s office.

It’s a nice location they’ve got there, an attractive brick building in a toney Capitol Hill neighborhood. It’s very convenient for them; on a nice day they can just walk up to the Longworth Building to mau-mau or cosset selected congressmen, as the occasion requires.

But it seems this location is not good enough for such an important organization.

From Gulf News, May 2006:

A US delegation led by CAIR officials yesterday held discussions with Al Habtoor group chairman Khalaf Al Habtoor and other in Dubai about a $50-million public relations campaign that the US group has launched in the US to change negative public perceptions about Islam…CAIR, which is located near the US Senate, plans to boost its activities with a new $24-million office building. It has acquired land for a new seven-storey building and is now raising funds to start construction

From UAE Interact News, May 2006:

Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance and Industry, has endorsed a proposal to build a property in the United States to serve as an endowment for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), according to a senior official at the Washington DC-based organisation.

Yet according to Nihad Awad, Executive Director of CAIR, November 18, 2006 (audio link):

CAIR’s budget is only $4 million dollars.

So the sheikhs want to raise CAIR’s allowance, and give it a real footprint in the District of Columbia.

For all practical purposes they’re just an umbrella group for Hamas and other terrorist groups, amply funded from the bottomless well of Saudi petrodollars.

Joe Kaufman of CAIR Watch was on TV a week or two ago demanding that CAIR be declared a terrorist organization along with the groups they front for.

But that’s not the way things work in Washington — CAIR is a respected lobbying arm, the “voice of moderate Islam in America.”

Uh-huh. Right.

There’s something seriously wrong here.

The noted blogger Fjordman is filing this report via Gates of Vienna.
For a complete Fjordman blogography, see The Fjordman Files. There is also a multi-index listing here.

I sometimes am criticized for being too focused on the left-wing of the political spectrum and ignoring the problems caused by right-wing parties. First of all, the line of separation between what constitutes “Left” and “Right” in politics now tends to become blurred. And second of all, only a fool believes that everybody on one side is always right, and everybody on the other side is always wrong. I have been consistent in pointing out that the European Union, which I loathe, cannot be explained simply as a one-sided Leftist endeavor. It also contains elements of Big Business interests, political corruption and the general desire of politicians and bureaucrats to rid themselves of the restrictions imposed on them by a democratic society.

At the time I write this, the conservative German chancellor Angela Merkel continues to push for the implementation of the awful EU Constitution, and I just read a column by a free-market activist who champions continued mass-immigration, including from Muslim countries, because his ideological convictions lead him to conclude that free migration is always good and beneficial.

It is also true that not all those who undermine Western civilization through support for Multiculturalism and mass immigration do so out of a hidden political agenda. Some do it out of plain stupidity and vanity. “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who’s most open-minded of them all?” It’s a beauty contest for bored, Western intellectuals who use immigrants as a mirror to reflect their own inflated egos, a sport where they can nurse their vanity in the mistaken belief that denigrating your own cultural heritage is a sign of goodness and lack of prejudice.

I suspect that part of the craziness on display now stems from feelings of guilt because of affluence. I hear so many of these open border activists talk about “solidarity,” but in reality it’s all about me, me, me. They don’t show much solidarity with their own children and grandchildren who are going to inherit the Balkanized nightmare they leave behind. It’s all about making them feel good about themselves right now, without regard for future consequences of their actions. So their “solidarity” is really an extreme form of egotism and holier-than-thou self-exaltation. Besides, many of them have lived sheltered lives for so long that they honestly don’t understand that something bad can ever happen to them. They’ve never had to fight for their freedom or their prosperity, which had been ensured by others.

So yes, there is a component of decadence, materialism, hedonism and nihilism without any specific ideological agenda at work here. But still, even if I try to be as objective as possible, it is difficult to avoid seeing that a disproportionate amount of our problems come from political left-wingers and that elements of it are indeed ideological. Besides, it is sometimes difficult to define where decadence ends and cultural Marxism begins. The Marxist-inspired “revolution” of the 1960s and 70s, which both at the time and in hindsight has been viewed as a watershed in Western history, was staged by people who had enjoyed unprecedented economic growth throughout their entire lives.

I can see no connection between Islamic terrorism and poverty, but maybe there is a connection between wealth and politically correct nonsense. Western Europe has enjoyed decades of affluence and welfare state boredom, and is crazier than any civilization before it in history, even paying its own enemies to colonize it and thinking happy thoughts about cultural diversity as it is being wiped out. Is cultural Marxism caused by boredom, which is again caused by affluence created by capitalism? It would be sort of ironic if that is the case.

To quote The True Believer by Eric Hoffer:

“The poor on the borderline of starvation live purposeful lives. To be engaged in a desperate struggle for food and shelter is to be wholly free from a sense of futility. The goals are concrete and immediate. Every meal is a fulfillment; to go to sleep on a full stomach is a triumph; and every windfall a miracle. What need could they have for ‘an inspiring super individual goal which could give meaning and dignity to their lives?’ They are immune to the appeal of a mass movement.”

And later Hoffer points out that “There is perhaps no more reliable indicator of a society’s ripeness for a mass movement than the prevalence of unrelieved boredom. In almost all the descriptions of the periods preceding the rise of mass movements there is reference to vast ennui; and in their earliest stages mass movements are more likely to find sympathizers and support among the bored than among the exploited and oppressed.”
– – – – – – – – – –
In The Weekly Standard, Michel Gurfinkiel notes that indeed, there are intellectuals “who relish the prospect of a new French Revolution, and welcome the suburban rioters as its spearhead. Nothing is more revealing, in this respect, than the success of a feverish political novel, Supplément au Roman National (A Sequel to the National Narrative), by 28-year-old author Jean-ric Boulin. Published two months ago, it forecasts a ‘social and racial’ revolution in France in 2007. First a wave of suicide bombings in Paris. Then martial law. Then, finally, the great rebellion of the French poor: the native underclass, the Arabs, and the blacks, who unite under the green flag of Islam and the tricolor of France and march on Paris — as a sort of Commune in reverse. Boulin gallantly supports such an outcome.”

There is, admittedly, something special about France and their love of revolts and mayhem. The French still haven’t recovered from their great Revolution of 1789. It is strange that a modern nation can celebrate as their national day the birth of a bloody upheaval which paved the way for mass-murder and authoritarian rule. But the fascination with Islamic movements is far from limited to France. It is partly based on hatred of the West and a belief that the world must be “liberated” from Western civilization, which is the cause of global injustice.

Norwegian author Elin Brodin wrote an essay entitled “Western values are the worst.” According to her, “Modern Westerners are the most bigoted, self-righteous and deaf-blind creatures that have ever walked the earth’s crust. This goes for the left-wing and the feminists just as much as for everybody else. We really have to change our attitudes, not just our clothes, because now the question is whether this civilization should be transformed or fall. Because the West neither can nor should endure in its present form.”

If you want to see a really nasty example of the hatred against Western civilization on display, here’s a link from Danish blog Uriasposten. Thyra Hilden and Pio Diaz projected video images of flames onto 1,000 square-metre glass screens in a museum in the central Danish town of Aarhus. The “art” exhibition was called “City on Fire – Burning the roots of western culture.” The artists assured us that “It is not actual fire that destroys actual buildings – but the idea of fire that destroys the historical and ideological roots of Western culture.” Part of their vision was “to create an aesthetic image of the deconstruction of the cultural roots of the Western world,” because as they said, Western culture was “very aggressive,” while Islamic culture has been far less so.

Bruce Thornton writes about Robert Conquest’s book Reflections on a Ravaged Century. especially his chapter on Soviet Myths and the Western Mind:

“As Conquest documents, many Western intellectuals and academics were delusional about the reality of the communist threat. For a host of reasons — a quasi-religious faith in utopian socialism, neurotic hatred of their own culture, vulnerability to an ideology that dressed itself in scientific garb, an adolescent romance with revolution, and sheer ignorance of the facts — many professors, pundits, politicians, and religious leaders refused to believe that Soviet leaders meant what they said about revolution and subversion.” Because of this, “throughout the Cold War, the Western resolve to resist Soviet expansionism was undercut by ‘peace’ movements, nuclear disarmament movements, calls for détente and ‘dialogue,’ and claims of moral equivalence between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.”

According to Thornton, other parallels between Cold War Sovietophiles and today’s rationalizers for Jihad present themselves. The academic establishment for most of the Cold War “was predisposed to leftist ideology.”

Unfortunately, the Soviet-appeasers never had to endure the consequences of their actions. In Norway, I heard recently several left-wingers state that Arne Treholt, a senior diplomat who was convicted of high treason in the 1980s for spying for the Soviet Union, was actually a misunderstood hero who wanted “dialogue” with the Communists. A former member of the Labor Party, he was reprieved by the Labor government in 1992. He has always claimed his innocence, but admitted later that he was both careless and negligent and “drifted into some questionable areas” when he turned over confidential state documents to Soviet representatives and accepted money for them in return.

When US President Ronald Reagan was elected in 1980, after Jimmy Carter had made a mockery out of the presidency and his inaction contributed to the success of the Islamic Revolution in Iran in 1979, the massive Soviet military machinery placed medium-range SS-20 nuclear missiles to intimidate Western Europe and split NATO. They also encouraged massive demonstrations and campaigns within the West for unilateral Western disarmament. Yet Reagan chose to up the ante by deploying new U.S. nuclear missiles in Europe. He denounced the Soviet Union as the “Evil Empire” and engaged the Soviets in a military build-up that bankrupted their fragile economy. Reagan, who dared to challenge blackmail from one of the most brutal regimes in human history, was reviled and ridiculed by the leftist intelligentsia, and is still hated even a generation after the Cold War ended. Yet a man such as Mr. Treholt, who appeased the same regime, is viewed in positive terms.

Sadly, conservatives demsontrated negligence after the Cold War. We never properly denounced Marxism as an ideology as well as discredited those individuals who had supported it, the way it was done with Fascism after WW2. That was a mistake. We had a massive fifth column of left-wingers during the Cold War who sapped our strength and appeased our enemies. These very same groups have been allowed to continue their work uninterrupted, and went straight from appeasing Soviet Communism to appeasing Islamic Jihad.

The book The Seventh War, by Israeli journalists Avi Yisacharov and Amos Harel, is based on interviews with Hamas Islamic terrorist leaders in Gaza and Israeli prisons. Hamas leaders told them clearly: “It was the Israeli left and your peace camp that ultimately encouraged us to continue with our suicide attacks. We tried, through our attacks, to create fragmentation and dissention within Israeli society, and the left-wing’s reaction was proof that this was indeed the right approach.”

The West and Westerners in general are treated as the “global oppressive class” by our Marxist-inspired academic elites. From historical experience, in Socialist societies, those deemed a part of the “oppressive class” have at best been deprived of their property, at worst been physically eliminated. Western Leftists really believe their own rhetoric about the West being the cause of most of the problems of the world, and want to “liberate” the planet by bringing down the oppressive class, aka the West.

We could go into long debates as to whether this is compatible with the doctrines of classical Marxism, since most Islamic and Third World nations are far from industrialized. It is true that Karl Marx initially stated that capitalism was a necessary transitional stage for Socialism. Most Socialists before WW1 believed that the Marxist revolution would start in Germany, precisely because it was a more advanced capitalist and industrialized economy. But Lenin decided to start in Russia after the opportunity provided by the first revolution in 1917, despite the fact that it was far from a developed capitalist economy at that point. Marxist strategies have thus changed considerably during the past century. By far the one element that has remained most consistent is the tendency to view society primarily in economic terms, through the prism of groups exploiting other groups. In general, Marxist tools for analysis have survived far better than their practical solutions and are still influential.

It is, in my view, impossible to understand Multiculturalism without taking into account this profound influence of Marxist thinking. Marxism states that culture is only of minor or secondary importance, while the primary moving factor is the struggle between the oppressed and the oppressors. This leads to treating cultural differences as insignificant, and thus the conclusion that major differences in performance between groups are caused by poverty and exploitation. This is exactly the picture we are presented by our media as the source of the difficulties in the Islamic world.

Moreover, the very idea that it is ok to stage massive and risky social experiments involving millions of people is one that was passed on from Marxism to Multiculturalism. As Friedrich von Hayek warned: “We must shed the illusion that we can deliberately ‘create the future of mankind.’ This is the final conclusion of the forty years which I have now devoted to the study of these problems.”

The Frankfurt school of cultural Marxism, with such thinkers as Antonio Gramsci and Georg Lukacs, aimed at overthrowing capitalist rule by undermining the hegemonic culture. According to Gramsci, the Socialist revolution, which failed to spread following the Russian Revolution in 1917, could never take place until people were liberated from Western culture, and particularly from their “Christian soul.” As Lukacs said in 1919, “Who will save us from Western Civilization?” This could be done through breaking down traditional Judeo-Christian morality and family patterns and undermining the established institutions from within. In 2007, we can see clearly that this strategy has been quite successful in Western media and academia, which are not only neutral or lukewarm in defending our civilization, but are in many cases actively aiding our enemies. The irony is that most Westerners have never heard of Gramsci, yet ideas similar to his have had a huge impact on their lives.

In Scandinavia, it is a well-documented fact that journalists are much more left-leaning than the general populace. In France during the Muslim riots in 2005, several journalists stated openly that they downplayed the problems caused by immigrants in order not to boost the support for “right-wing parties,” and in Britain, leading figures from the BBC readily admitted that they actively champion Multiculturalism in their coverage. Even British Prime Minister Tony Blair, himself from the Labour Party, complained in the January 2007 issue of Foreign Affairs magazine about relations with Muslims that “many in Western countries listen to the propaganda of the extremists and accept it. (And to give credit where it is due, the extremists play our own media with a shrewdness that would be the envy of many a political party.)”

Daniel Pipes notes that “Significant elements in several Western countries – especially the United States, Great Britain, and Israel – believe their own governments to be repositories of evil, and see terrorism as just punishment for past sins. This ‘we have met the enemy and he is us’ attitude replaces an effective response with appeasement, including a readiness to give up traditions and achievements. Osama bin Laden celebrates by name such leftists as Robert Fisk and William Blum. Self-hating Westerners have an out-sized importance due to their prominent role as shapers of opinion in universities, the media, religious institutions, and the arts. They serve as the Islamists’ auxiliary mujahideen.”

Pipes warns that “Pacifism, self-hatred and complacency are lengthening the war against radical Islam and causing undue casualties. Only after absorbing catastrophic human and property losses will left-leaning Westerners likely overcome this triple affliction and confront the true scope of the threat. The civilized world will likely then prevail, but belatedly and at a higher cost than need have been. Should Islamists get smart and avoid mass destruction, but instead stick to the lawful, political, non-violent route, and should their movement remain vital, it is difficult to see what will stop them.”

In short: You know you live in a Western country when the media is cheering for your enemies, when your schools and universities teach your children that your civilization is evil and when your politicians think it’s a sign of “extremism” if you want to protect your nation’s borders.

Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir once said that “Peace will come when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us.” Perhaps we will win this struggle for liberty only when Western left-wingers decide that love their children more than they hate Western civilization. If they have children in the first place, that is.

In talking with Manda Zand, the founder and director of The Alliance of Iranian Women, I learned that after the takeover of the Iran government by fundamentalists, many Iranian intellectuals and supporters of the Shah fled the country, knowing they would be killed. She was among those who left.

Manda expressed her disgust for Europe, which failed to protect some of these refugees who sought safe harbor there: one hundred and twenty eight refugees were subsequently assassinated in various European countries. France came in for her particular ire as it often let suspects get away, even when neighboring countries apprehended and returned them to France.

Now Iran Emrooz (an Iranian political online magazine) has published what Norm Geras calls “Iranians against the lie” – a declaration against the Holocaust denial conference put on, with great amounts of propaganda, by Iran’s current leader.

The declaration is dated January 20th and is signed by 104 Iranian refugees; they are not expatriates. It is a spare document, short and to the point, both in condemning the current Islamic regime’s hallucinatory Holocaust denial, and in noting the previous history of anti-Semitism in Europe:

Notwithstanding our diverse views on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict;

Considering that the Nazi’s coldly planned “Final Solution” and their ensuing campaign of genocide against Jews and other minorities during WWII constitute undeniable historical facts;

Deploring that the denial of these unspeakable crimes has become a propaganda tool that the Islamic Republic of Iran is using to further its own agendas;

Noting that the new brand of anti-Semitism prevalent in the Middle East today is rooted in European ideological doctrines of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and has no precedent in Iran’s history;

Emphasizing that this is not the first time that the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran has resorted to the denial and distortion of historical facts;

Recalling that this government has refused to acknowledge, among other things, its mass execution of its own citizens in 1988, when thousands of political prisoners, previously sentenced to prison terms, were secretly executed because of their beliefs;

Strongly condemn the Holocaust Conference sponsored by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran in Tehran on December 11-12, 2006, and its attempt to falsify history;

Pay homage to the memory of the millions of Jewish and non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust, and express our empathy for the survivors of this immense tragedy as well as all other victims of crimes against humanity across the world.

– – – – – – – – – –
The website has published the names, professions, and countries of residence of all 104 signers of this declaration. These people are very brave to have taken this stand for they know that a madman is in control of their country. He could well send his goons after them, too.

Think about it. Could you, in their position, dare to publicly refute The Lie and have your name, your job, and your whereabouts published?

I haven’t experienced their suffering. Maybe they know, unlike us, that there are indeed worse things than dying. What was it that Thucydides taught about human behavior? That all of us are guided by only three things: self-interest, fear, and honor? I think that’s what he said.

When your country is gone, self-interest lessens. When your friends and family are killed, what is left but honor?

The eleven Iraqis captured in Mexico are not terrorists. No bombs, no jihad. Just some fervent Christian prayers that they won’t be sent back to die. Here’s the bare bones story, from a UPI report in The Washington Times:

Immigration officials in Monterrey, Mexico, arrested 11 Iraqis allegedly trying to travel to the United States with fake passports.

Jesus Gerardo Lopez, the top immigration official in Coahuila state, told a correspondent from the San Antonio Express News none of the nine men, two women and a 2-year-old girl were on any list of terror suspects, although he said the FBI, CIA and Interpol were alerted to the arrests.

Investigators said they determined the fake passports had been issued in Turkey and Cyprus, the newspaper said. During interrogation, group members said they had each paid as much as $10,000 for the passports and new identities that said they were Christian refugees fleeing the war in Iraq.

The group had planned to enter the United States at San Diego, Calif.

Lopez said under Mexican law, the group can be held for up to 90 days while being investigated and could face fines on charges of illegal entry to Mexico and possible criminal charges for the fake identification. He said it was also possible they would be considered for asylum if they sought it.

There are two stories here: the Iraqi Christian communities in America that these people were probably headed to, and the situation for religious minorities in Iraq, some of them more ancient than the Islamic armies that overran them centuries ago.

Here’s one view, from America:

For the past three years, Raad Khalaf has worried that every phone call to his suburban San Diego home would bring bad news about his sister in Baghdad.

On Friday, the phone rang with good news instead: His sister had reached Dubai on a temporary visa, joining the growing flight of Christians from the relentless violence in Iraq.

“Now the question is what happens when the visa expires,” said Khalaf, an insurance broker who arrived in San Diego decades ago by way of Paris. “This is a remedy, but it’s not a permanent solution.”

Expatriate Iraqi Christians living in the U.S. — a community that estimates its size at about 200,000 — disagree about how best to help families in the Middle East targeted in sectarian violence.

Some would like to see visa restrictions relaxed so their relatives can join them in the U.S., where enclaves of Iraqi Christians have formed in Detroit, Chicago, San Diego and Phoenix. Others call for the creation of an independent administrative zone in the northern Nineveh area, the ancestral homeland of Iraq’s Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Christians — mainly ethnic Assyrians and Chaldeans who proudly trace their lineage to Babylonian times.

“As a people, we survived the Mongols, the Turks and the Arabs,” said John Michael, a Chicago ophthalmologist whose cousins recently left for Syria. “We don’t want this violence now to be the death knell of this ancient culture.”

– – – – – – – – – –

Christians have been targeted by militias for murder and kidnapping — in part, some say, because many are likely to have family abroad able to pay ransom demands as high as $50,000.

And here is testimony before Congress last month by Nina Shea, Director of The Center For Religious Freedom: [the emphases are mine -D]

Egregious religious persecution occurs in North Korea, Saudi Arabia, China, Vietnam, Eritrea, Iran, Sudan and several other countries officially designated by the State Department as “Countries of Particular Concern,” and is being addressed by the other witnesses today. There is an additional country where religious groups of various faiths face some of the bloodiest persecution in the world today, a country that is not listed among the CPC’s. It is Iraq, and it is on this country, and particularly on the persecution faced by Iraq’s smallest, most vulnerable minorities, that I will direct my testimony.

We should view Iraq’s smallest religious minorities — the Christians, Yizidis, Mandeans, Baha’is, Kaka’i and Jews — as we once did Soviet Jews. The persecution these small minorities face stands out against even the horrific violence now wracking the rest of the population. This is demonstrated by the stark statistic that an estimated half of the members of the small minorities have been driven from their homes in the past two or three years, either to other parts of the country or abroad. Their very survival as communities within Iraq is now threatened by what amounts to ethnic, or rather cultural, cleansing. The State Department’s Religious Freedom Reports accurately depicts a defenseless non-Muslim population that is being pounded by all other factions. Al Qaeda terrorists, Sunni insurgents, Shiite militias, Kurdish militants, and criminal gangs all persecute and prey on these small religious minorities.

Their situation is unique: Their religion and culture identifies them with the “infidel occupiers” in the minds of the extremists, and lacking the militias, tribal structures and foreign champions of Iraq’s other groups, they are singularly defenseless against the mayhem that has followed the occupation. Because they do not govern any department, they are at the tender mercies of those dominant groups who aim to take their property, businesses and villages. The United States has a great moral responsibility to address their plight, and specific policy actions are required to help them. These policies will differ from the efforts we once took on behalf of Soviet Jews. Most of these small minority people do not wish to leave Iraq. We must expeditiously take actions that will maximize their security within Iraq, and will draw back some of those who have taken temporary shelter in other surrounding countries. For the most desperate among them, we must begin to resettle them here, where many, if not most, already have relatives who are well established.

[…]

…their situation is not being sufficiently addressed by U.S. policy and was all but ignored in the recent Iraq Study Group Report. The very fact of their defenselessness — they are persecuted and killed, but do not themselves persecute and kill — contributes to the inverse relationship between their suffering and the world apathy at their situation.

Ken Joseph, an Assyrian Christian, challenged the Iraq Study Group:

…after the Iraq Study Group made its report, I had asked [a] question of James Baker and Lee Hamilton, the authors of the report…

[…]

“You have made no mention of 10% of the population of Iraq, the indigenous people of Iraq, the Assyrian Christians ! The Iraqi Government has recently promised them a province in their homeland. What are you going to do for them ?”

Sorry – you are right – we just got so busy…”

Then I began to realize something important. The Assyrian Christians had been shut out from the discussions, the maps and all else was for two reasons.

First, they are Christians and they don’t make bombs, abuse their women and fight against the world.

Second, though and more troubling, is that nobody fights for them.

The discussion went to the Shia and the Sunni and the Kurds and on and on. They were the center of attention because they are destroying each other, have militias and push their way around.

The most important people in Iraq, the people for whom much of the world is indebted for their faith, the first Christian nation on earth, were being completely ignored.

As the program finished and the people began to leave, one man came up to me and said “You are always here like this, aren’t you ? You are doing a good job for your people. Let me know what we can do to help.”

Who was it? Was it a fellow Christian? Was it a conservative Republican? Was it a human right activist?

No, it was a staffer from the Iraqi Embassy.

This flight of Christians and Jews from their homelands has been going on for a long time. The arbitrary “states” the British and French created only accelerated the process. The British Mandate of Mesopotamia makes for queasy reading.

Now, almost ninety years later, the erasure of Christians and Jews is proceeding even faster than it did under the Ottoman Empire.

Down the generations, the sins of the European colonial fathers continue to haunt the world. And America is branded “imperialist” for wanting to contain this virulence, when in actuality it is a miracle that we were ever able to break free of Old Europe in the first place.

Meanwhile there are eleven illegal aliens in custody in Mexico City tonight. They could use your prayers.

I have to be away all day in DC, so I’ll leave you with this little snippet about my avatar, the “real” Baron Bodissey. This may be the first of a series of quotes on the Baron from the works of Jack Vance.

Since I’m up at the crack of dawn to drive to our Nation’s Capital, this one seems particularly appropriate:

Wayness said mildly, “Good morning, Uncle Pirie. I hope I haven’t disturbed you by jumping out of bed so early.”

“Of course not,” declared Pirie Tamm. “Early rising is a virtue to which I have subscribed every day of my life.” He came forward, seated himself and unfolded his napkin. “Mathematics tells the tale. One hour of oversleeping each day destroys a year of life each twenty-four years. Across the span of a hundred years, an extra hour of sloth will excise four years of existence. Think of it! When already I fear that my life will be far too short to fulfill even my minimal ambitions. Who was it who said: ‘Sleep when you are dead’?”

“Baron Bodissey, most likely. He seems to have said most everything.”

“Clever girl!” Pirie Tamm gave his napkin a flap and tucked the corner into his shirt.

— from Ecce and Old Earth, by Jack Vance, Tor edition, p. 120

[Nothing follows]

An Iranian activist sent me a link yesterday. I tried to download the video for you but my laptop wouldn’t cooperate.

However, since I think you will enjoy the thirty seconds or so of sweet revenge, I urge you to click on what my friend described as an example how “ Iranian women are sick and tired of the women morality police.” Fortunately, you don’t need to understand Farsi to see what is happening.

We all need a laugh. Here is one, probably filmed in Tehran.

Notice how the young woman walks away from the scuffle with her head held high —

proof that they can’t keep Iranian women down forever.

I’ll be posting on Iran’s women later in the week. Meanwhile, enjoy the laugh.

NOTE: If you click on and get a blank “Play” with no faded background image, try again and it should come up.

[nothing further]

Last month the Hon. Virgil H. Goode, Jr., our congressman from the Fifth District of Virginia, stepped in it big time. His mistake was to make public a letter he wrote to one of his constituents about newly-elected Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) and his use of the Koran at his swearing-in.

Forget Social Security — Islam is the new Third Rail of American politics, and dissing Allah, the Prophet, or the Book can have a negative impact on a political career. If Rep. Goode declines to follow the example of European politicians, and fails to apologize and make the proper obeisance to Islam, he can expect serious trouble from the likes of CAIR and MAS during his next re-election campaign.

Rep. Goode broke new ground with his letter, becoming the first national politician in the United States to make an unequivocal statement against Islam. Had I known ahead of time what he was going to say, I might have suggested to him that he follow a more subtle strategy, leaving himself less of a target for the Muslim Brotherhood’s front organizations and their shills in the MSM.

A direct frontal attack on Islam inevitably gets a politician ruled off the turf, shoved beyond the pale, cast into the outer darkness, and generally banished to the realm of extreme metaphors. The media will turn him into a combination of pariah and laughingstock, his message will be lost, and the cause that he espouses thereby set back a pace or two.

So, as a public service, I’ll design a set of talking points for someone like Virgil Goode, a red-state politician who speaks for the majority of average Americans. The idea is to present an argument which can actually strike back effectively at CAIR during the six- or ten-second sound bites which are the most that the media will allow him.

1.

The problem is that Islam is not just a religion, it’s a political ideology. Amplification: Muslims who interpret the Koran literally are obliged to subvert all other political institutions and institute an Islamic state over the entire world, a government which will function under shari’a, or Islamic law. The Koran requires the killing or subjugation of non-Muslims, the murder of apostates, the oppression of women, and intolerance for any other forms of religion. Such tenets, taken literally, are not only contrary to the American Constitution, they are actively seditious to our form of governance.

– – – – – – – – – –

2.		There are many Muslims in America who do not subscribe to the seditious version of the Koran; we need to hear from them. Amplification: I believe that the majority of Muslims in this country are “Reform Muslims” who do not subscribe to radical beliefs, are willing to live in tolerance of other faiths, and reject all seditious interpretations of the Koran. I encourage them to make their voices heard, and I decry the threats and intimidation from the radical groups which force loyal American Muslims into silence.
3.		Unfortunately, there are radical and dangerous Islamic groups in this country which masquerade as peaceful Muslims under the protection of umbrella organizations like CAIR. Amplification: CAIR has known links to terror organization, and provides a network of funding and support organizations for Islamic terrorists. We need to expose CAIR for what it really is — it does not speak for all Muslims, and above all it does not speak for American values and the American way of life.

I know, I know — no national politician is going to speak out in public like this for the foreseeable future. But I can dream, can’t I?

We received an essay with a cover note from a British reader this morning, both of which are worth posting in their entirety:

Dear Baron and Dymphna,

After “Undercover Mosques” was transmitted on UK television last Monday here is my take on a week that has left me bemused, depressed and shameful. Is the Britain we have become really what our grandfathers and great-grandfathers fought and died for?

I am sending this to various other sites. If you wish to use it I would be grateful if you would attribute it to me under my full name.

I am currently writing a book regarding consequences for the West that 50 years of liberalism has ensured. Hence a little publicity is no bad thing.

Kind Regards
Paul Weston
London

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The Week Britain Died
by Paul Weston

When future historians look back at what was Great Britain, they would do well to note the events of January 15th-22nd 2007.

In a quite extraordinary week, the people of Britain were given several clear indications of where there country was going, yet these indications were resolutely ignored by the media, the people and the government.

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The TV Company, Channel Four, was at the forefront of the news, but for all the wrong reasons. In one programme they bought the nations attention to the sheer bigotry, intolerance and racialism of one section of our community, which was subsequently endlessly debated by the media and deemed worthy of such importance that even Gordon Brown and Tony Blair were sucked into the national breast beating.

This programme was “Big Brother” which for those mercifully unaware is a reality TV show charting the ignorance, pathology and hysteria of social degenerates locked together in a house for the viewing delectation of British people of ALL social backgrounds. Last weeks programmes focussed on the unpleasantness with which an English girl and her friends treated an educated Indian actress. By mimicking her accent and calling her “that Indian” so a continental political rift ensued between Britain and India, smoothed over by the intervention of the aforementioned Blair and Brown. By the end of the week this unedifying spectacle attracted over 9 million viewers.

In another Channel Four programme, “Undercover Mosques” an intrepid journalist with a hidden camera put his life quite literally on the line and bought us news from various Mosques around the country. This news, essentially, was that homosexuals should be killed, paedophilia condoned, women as second-class citizens beaten — as should girls who do not wear the hijab, and lastly, Islam must take over the UK and run it under Sharia law whilst waging Jihad against the infidels.

To rub salt into the wound it transpired that some organisations calling for all the above have been singled out and praised by Tony Blair and the British police as role models for their inter-faith and multicultural activities. Perhaps this is why our politicised police, so keen to prosecute the BNP’s Nick Griffen for accusing Islam of being wicked, have done NOTHING in the face of Islamic calls for murder and conquest.

The viewing figures for this highly important programme were between 1 to 1.5 million people. Given the pre-release advertising and the importance that UK Muslims would put on such a programme it is probable that the vast majority of viewers were not of the race and faith singled out for extinction, but the Muslims themselves. Indigenous Brits may have numbered in the low thousands.

For the first time in this Country the mainstream population was given information previously only available to the tiny minority of people with sufficient interest and intelligence to seek it out via “right-wing” websites or books conspicuous by their absence in Waterstones. I have always thought that if the general population knew what I knew, then the political scene would change. I was sadly mistaken, and not just about the population at large. What should have triggered outrage was ignored by all, including the so-called highbrow newspapers. The Guardian refused to even mention it, whilst the rest of the British media were interested in one thing and one thing only, Big Brother.

“Undercover Mosques” is perhaps the most important programme to have been made in the UK since the invention of the television. It is not the time to detail the transcript here, but it was chilling, terrifying stuff. That the British, in their entirety, ignored it in favour of the appalling and degrading Big Brother, possibly the worst programme ever made is cause for concern, yet could the pathologically suicidal British fall any lower? Well yes, they could.

There were two other stories in the papers this week, both related to the European Union. The first was that the British Parliament would nod through a watered down version of the EU constitution without, as previously stated, a referendum. The second was that Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor, was intending to re-introduce said constitution despite the previous no vote from the Dutch and French. It would appear obvious that the EU Socialist Super State will be inflicted upon us undemocratically. Should we care about this or is Big Brother still uppermost on the warped, adolescent minds at the BBC? Both stories, of course, went unmentioned by the TV media.

Angela Merkel was an East-German Communist. Whilst at the Karl Marx University in Leipzig she was Secretary for Agitation and Propaganda in the Community youth wing. She will find this in keeping with the unelected EU Commissioners where ex Communists make up seven of their twenty seven members, including it’s current President, José Manuel Durão Barroso, once one of the leaders of the underground Maoist MRPP (Reorganising Movement of the Proletariat Party).

Vladimr Bukovsky is on record as stating that Communism never died and is now being inflicted incrementally on the West via the European Union. Do the British know anyting of Bukovsky, or indeed of Communism? No, they do not, the BBC et al refuse to talk to him, after all, as an imprisoned and tortured dissident what does he REALLY know about Communism in comparison to the utopian, idealistic British liberal elites who run our government, media, civil service, police and educational institutions.

Do the British in fact know anything, absolutely anything of any significance at all anymore or is the limit of their thought process set at the bar of Big Brother? We also learned this week that a pass mark of 18% is all that is necessary to gain a C grade exam pass. 50% of our schoolchildren leave school without attaining this in English and Maths, yet 100% of them know everything about TV “celebrities” who can barely speak their native language.

And so we ignore the ideology of one movement who state they wish to eradicate us and another which killed close to 100 million people, whilst we embrace the ideology of celebrity, ignorance and pathology.

From my viewpoint, and I say this with great sadness, we deserve all that we get, which barring a revolution will be one of the following.

• An Islamic State.
• A Totalitarian Socialist State within the European Union.
• A Failed State — after the economic collapse of the EU — caused by bureaucracy, an illiterate and inumerate workforce and unopposable competion from the East.
• Revolution — in the event that the British revolt before these scenarios unfold there will be carnage and civil war, possibly even European war. This is the least probable. We sit slack-jawed and glassy-eyed on our draylon sofas, worshipping at the Altar of television, dressed in polypropolene casual wear, remote in one hand, chips in the other. We have all the Soma we need to insulate ourselves from reality.

So, this week we have been shown our choices and we have chosen the path that 50 years of progressive education, Communist subversion, mass immigration and media brainwashing has pre-chosen for us. Much as we may wish to continue shopping on credit cards, watching reality TV shows and imbibing drugs and alchohol, I am am afraid it is no longer up to us.

This was the week that Britain died from infantilism, liberalism, ignorance and decadence, manifesting themselves in our utter indifference to our survival. We deserve to go, just as future Arnold Toynbees will relate.