I brought Dymphna home from the hospital last night. She’s in excellent spirits, and will be back here posting before long.

But now it’s my turn: I think I may be suffering from another bout of Lyme disease. I’ve had it before, but this time there are actual symptoms. I waited until my wife was home from the hospital before making my own appointment, but now it’s stethoscope-and-tongue-depressor time for me.

In other words, posting may be light for a while. When I get back from the doctor, normal programming will resume.

Update: The doctor thinks it’s probably viral neuralgia rather than Lyme disease, but they’re going to do the (very expensive) blood tests anyway.

[post ends here]

Take a gander at this delightful piece of correspondence we received yesterday.

Months ago, when we started being linked regularly by sites like The Invisible Empire of the Aryan White Christian Supremacist Front (yes, I made that one up), Dymphna and I decided to put up a prominent “We Support Israel” icon on our sidebar. It became even more prominent when the Pajamas Media ads above it vanished.

This dismayed some of our visitors who are, shall we say, less than well-disposed towards the state of Israel and Jews in general. Anti-jihad rhetoric seems to attract such people like mosquitoes, but they are appalled by our philo-Semitism, and sometimes feel the need to communicate to us the error of our ways.

It’s funny, because in certain segments of the blogosphere, some of them even ostensibly conservative, we are well-known as white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and crypto-fascists. We get about the same number of hate emails denouncing us as Nazis as we do denouncing us as Jew-lovers.

Evidently Gates of Vienna suffers from a split personality, and the left-wing hand doesn’t know what the right-wing hand is doing.

Normally, I wouldn’t include an email address with any correspondence I post, but this little gem demands it. Also, the address is almost certainly a cutout, so I don’t think posting it will have any effect.

** WARNING **

I’ll leave comments open for a while and see what happens. If Jew-haters appear — no matter how well-disguised they are — I will delete their remarks as soon as they are posted and close the thread to further comments. I’m sick of having to deal with this kind of crap, and I won’t tolerate it.

Here’s the verbatim email, exactly as received:

From: loxono
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2008 5:09 AM
Subject: Why do you support people who hate your guts?

You are a GOY

Do you understand this?

The state you support is in fact a base of operations used to further erode Christian civilization

Muslims and Jews are both anti-Christian

Who do you think it was that has pressed for and gotten all these anti-free speech laws in America and Europe?

Wake the hell up!!

Who do you think is pushing to BLOCK Christian symbols in America and RIGHT NOW pushing to block Christian symbols on license plates in America even?

Abortion
Brown vs Board of Ed (got to have blacks and whites in schools together at all costs to evil whites)
So called Civil Rights (UnConstitutional “rights” for special protected classes)
1965 Immigration Reform Act
Feminism
Affirmative Action
NAACP (Jewish lead until 1976!!)
Socialism/Communism

all Jewish created, lead, and controlled

Who was it that assisted the Muslims in their quest to conquer Europe you morons!!!

As a group Jews have been the single most destructive force against white Christian civilization

– – – – – – – – –

and you idiots DARE to act as if they are an ally of White Christian Europe?

Even many Jews admit this and have spoken out against it!!

But you dolts embrace those that would kill you off!!??

Next you will be gushing about how wonderful Muslim diversity is and how much Europe needs to convert to Islam!!

Israel should be left alone…but Jews should leave our Christian nations ALONE!!!
Free from their interference in OUR peoples affairs GODDAMNIT!!!

You people will NEVER do anything revolutionary to stop the mass genocide that is occuring in Europe!!

You are therefore IMPOTENT, a cul-de-sac for whites to vent their frustrations but with NO ACTION!!!

Thank GOD for the Italians…they’re just DOING IT whilst the rest of you weak Europeans gush in AWE at their bravado!!!

HAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
Viva Italia!!!
Viva Russia!!!
Hail the New Dawn!!!

Regular readers (especially the Dutch ones) will remember the riots in Slotervaart late last year. Muslim “youths”, on a variety of pretexts, did serious property damage, beat people up, burned cars, and engaged in all the other forms of youthful exuberance with which native Europeans have become all too familiar in recent years.

Naturally the perpetrators of such acts were never pursued, let alone caught.

So the government of the Netherlands, which never sleeps in its effort to combat criminality and disorder, has decided to… crack down on bloggers!

The authorities hope to solve the Islamic problem by arresting and harassing those who criticize Islam. According to NIS:

Govt Targeting Comments on Islam-Critical Websites

The Public Prosecutor’s Office (OM) appears to have launched an initiative against comments on Internet sites that are critical of the multicultural society. The OM is among other things focusing on the popular website GeenStijl.nl.

GeenStijl received a written request this week to report to a police station in Amsterdam, without further information on what it was about. GeenStijl’s editors reported they were told that 14 comments on its website were punishable offences. These were contributions from visitors to the site in 2006.

GeenStijl is astonished at the move. It says it is actually very active in removing unacceptable comments. GeenStijl has three staff members for this. The site says its archives contain 11 million comments. If 14 reactions are inadmissible, this is a margin of error of 0.00001 percent, according to the site.

– – – – – – – – –

GeenStijl noted that the Internet Discrimination Reporting Centre (MDI) praised the site only last week for its policy. “Geenstijl is the best at removing. They seem to be checking their email permanently; generally we have an answer with apologies within two minutes,” MDI director Niels van Tamelen told De Pers newspaper.

But it is actually based on a complaint by MDI dating from 2006 that GeenStijl has now been summoned to the police station. The OM in Amsterdam denies there is a new policy. “More attention was already allotted to discrimination last year,” was all a spokesman would say.

GeenStijl founder Dominique Weesie said about the 14 comments: “Half of them could have been made by the average politician; the other half plainly went too far. But what goes too far for us is that we as a website are now held accountable for this.”

If MDI had approached GeenStijl, the reactions would have been removed, but this did not happen, according to Weesie. “The MDI is required to inform the website manager first, before transferring the case to the OM. Not GeenStijl, but the MDI can therefore be accused of negligence.”

GeenStijl is challenging the OM to prosecute it. The site writes: “You bunch of amateurs, go and be deeply ashamed and then go and catch real crooks, instead of creating a climate in which webloggers and cartoonists are declared outlaws. As far as we are concerned, bring this case before the judge, be sure that you will lose it.”

The move on GeenStijl is not isolated. Recently, cartoonist Gregorius Nekschot was arrested by 10 police for ‘discriminatory’ cartoons. Last week, the webmaster of the politically incorrect site Hoeiboei was summoned to the police station. What they have in common is that they are critical of Islam and immigration.

The list of Dutch organizations or individuals harassed by the government for their speech is now quite long. Besides the two blogs mentioned above, Ehsan Jami, Rita Verdonk, Geert Wilders, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, and Gregorius Nekschot have all been tapped on the shoulder by the long arm of the law.

Our expatriate Dutch correspondent H. Numan has been keeping me informed. Concerning GeenStijl and Hoeiboei, he had this to say in an email:

All received blank summons, no reason given. GeenStijl did answer the summons (Hoeiboei didn’t), and it appeared ‘merely’ to be political harassment. Out of 11 MILLION postings, A stunning 14 of them could be judged offensive.

One complaint regarding disregard of privacy was filed. The other three can be dismissed out of hand: the MDI (still) has to inform the site owner first before filing a complaint.

Nevertheless, it is chilling to the bone to see the cradle of tolerance and freedom of speech changing via a DDR democracy into a Shariah state.

I asked him if Het Vrije Volk (HVV) is also likely to feel the chill breath of the thought police, and here’s what he said:

HVV is less likely to be targeted than GeenStijl, but far more likely than Hoeiboei.

GeenStijl is rather provocative. The don’t beat around the bush. You call them on the phone threatening to sue? Ten minutes later you can hear your voicemail live on line.

You’re a black politician who blundered? Too bad, they nail you to the cross, without any respect for your divine black skin. They aren’t racist, they just nail another blundering politician.

Hoeiboei is very different. Far fewer comments posted. Much more editorial. Far less offensive. In fact, I’m even surprised to see them summoned.

So, if a very polite and quiet blog like Hoeiboei gets into trouble, that means anything to the right, and HVV certainly is, is in big trouble.

At the moment it’s harassment. Show bloggers the police are there. They’re out and looking for… YOU!

So behave nicely, and you have nothing to fear. Pure DDR polizei work.

And remember: when they finally get past the little Irish speed bump, when the Treaty of Lisbon is fully implemented, the EU will be like the DDR writ large.

Imagine it: an entire continent fitted out like a Soviet satellite state. Government control of the media, arrests for thought crimes, ubiquitous government surveillance, informers, massive corruption, bloated and inefficient bureaucracy — all in the name of enlightened tolerance, in order to prevent war and aggression, to protect poor defenseless women and minorities against the dangers of nationalism.

Europe, say hello to your future.

Hat tip: TB.

A recent decision in the UK granted welfare benefits to the extra wives of Muslim men in polygamous marriages, even though such marriages are illegal in Britain. The success of their British brothers has apparently emboldened Australian Muslims, because they have mounted a push to take it a step further and actually legalize polygamy in Australia.

According to the Herald Sun:

Recognise polygamous marriages, says Sheikh Khalil Chami

Members of Sydney’s Islamic community believe polygamous marriages should be recognised to protect the rights of women.

Sheikh Khalil Chami of the Islamic Welfare Centre in Lakemba yesterday said polygamous marriages, although illegal, existed in Australia and should be recognised.

“…Not an open door but in a way everyone will have control,” he told Triple J’s Hack program.

Everyone? Really?

What about the women? Do they have any control?

No… I think the sheikh just meant people, not women.

The new law would protect women from… well, I’m not sure what it would protect them from. Certainly not from being married to Muslim men.

But in any case, the sheikh wants to help:
– – – – – – – – –

“It’s a bit hard, very difficult, but unless we face it, how (do) we overcome it?

“If you know there is law that will help you, there is community will help you. Why not? Why not change the law?”

It’s that same old argument: people are going to keep breaking the law anyway, so why not make the illegal actions legal?

Sheikh Chami said he was asked almost weekly to conduct polygamous religious ceremonies.

While he declined to perform such ceremonies, he said, other sheikhs did not.

“There are a lot of sheikhs here without any qualifications, without any place,” he said.

“They’ll conduct that marriage no problem at all.”

After all, burglary and murder were against the law, and yet people kept get burgled and murdered. So we legalized those two activities, and…

No, wait: we didn’t — we must have overlooked it somehow!

Another reason to institute polygamy is that it will save men from the temptation of committing adultery:

Islamic Friendship Association of Australia president Keysar Trad said recognising polygamous unions would help protect the rights of women in the relationship.

Mr Trad once proposed to another woman with the consent of his wife, Hanefa, but the second marriage did not proceed.

“I certainly would not have entertained the thought of having a relationship without a religious marriage and I thought the relationship with that person was developing to the stage where we had become too friendly with each other,” he told the program.

“Rather than entertain any thoughts of an affair I thought the only decent thing to do was to consider a proper commitment to that person.

What a great idea — a man can still get all the quiff he wants, but it’s all nice and legal! And Muslim women don’t mind; after all, they’ve been trained since birth to accept their status as chattel.

Asked if it was just about wanting sex with more women, she said: “Yeah it can be, but having it in the right way instead of having it in like go to prostitute or just date’’.

Now that’s showing respect for women.

The cause was taken up in the Muslim Village forum, with one of the posters making an argument that the opponents of gay marriage have been predicting for years:

I think there is a close connection to the same sex laws. They changed the law to allow gays to marry eachother..WHY? because they were being disciminated against? well Muslims have the same right..they should be allowed to practice their religion as gays are alowed to practice their..whatever it is.

Unfortunately, once the old definition of marriage is abandoned, there’s no logical reason not to legalize just about any form of it. If you’re keen on liberation, polygamy is the way to go.

Maybe Islam is modernizing after all.

Hat tip: Nilk.

Last week I wrote about the demonstration at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Virginia. The citizens who gathered at the school that morning were protesting (among other things) the use of Islamic textbooks which justified the killing of non-believers and called for the application of sharia law.

The situation at the ISA has become so well-known that it was reported on Al Jazeera. MEMRI has posted a subtitled version of the video, as well as a transcript. The news reporter says this in voice-over:

This child recites verses from the Koran with perfect diction, even though he is only six years old. These flowers, which have just begun to bloom, have sprouted on American soil. Their parents decided to help them find their roots in a supervised environment. This goal has been achieved at the Islamic Saudi Academy. However, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, which was established by Congress, has recommended that the academy be shut down, alleging that its religious curricula, which are taught in Saudi Arabia as well, included material inciting to racism and intolerance towards other religions. [emphasis added]

Yes, they are taught in Saudi Arabia as well — that’s why we don’t want them here in Virginia.

The local TV stations and Washington newspapers covered last Tuesday’s protest, and that — plus the fact that the director of the school has been charged with obstruction of justice for his failure to report a possible instance of child sexual abuse — seems to have made the Fairfax County authorities a little bit nervous.

Up until last week the chairman of the Board of Supervisors, Mr. Gerry Connelly, had been a staunch defender of the ISA. But Mr. Connelly has rather abruptly changed his mind. According to The Fairfax County Times:

Supervisors pass buck on Islamic school

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has put the fate of a controversial Islamic school in the hands of the U.S. Department of State.

“We’re essentially telling the federal government to do their job,” said Lee District Supervisor Jeff McKay (D).

Board chairman Gerry Connolly [N.B. I’ve seen his surname spelled both ways, and I don’t know which one is correct. — BB] sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asking the State Department to sign off on the board’s May 19 extension of the Islamic Saudi Academy’s lease on a former Fairfax County school building.

“Our lease with Saudi Arabia specifically recognizes the State Department’s role and responsibility in this regard,” the letter, which was unanimously approved by the board, states.

The board is reexamining the lease extension in the wake of new questions about the teachings of the Islamic Saudi Academy, which has campuses in Alexandria and Fairfax, by the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom. Earlier this month, the committee flagged the school’s textbooks as promoting religious intolerance and violence.

Some of the school’s textbooks “include some extremely troubling passages that do not conform to international human rights norms,” according to a USCIRF statement. Reportedly, the textbooks contain passages teaching that it is permissible to kill or steal from those who don’t believe in Islam or members of differing sects of Islam.

– – – – – – – – –

[…]

Further complicating the matter, the school’s director, McLean resident Abdalla I. Al-Shabnan, 52, was arrested June 9 for failing to report an alleged incident of child abuse of one of his students, a 5-year-old girl.

The confluence of scandals has put the Board of Supervisors, and especially Connolly, who is currently in the midst of a congressional campaign, in a politically difficult situation.

But the State Department shows no eagerness to take any responsibility for a decision about the ISA:

“We’re asking the U.S Department of State to tell us yes or no, instead of playing ping pong in the media,” Connolly said.

The state department had not received the board’s letter at press time, but a department spokesperson said the department does not oversee locally accredited schools.

This issue is a real hot potato, and is going to be passed from hand to hand indefinitely. According to CQ Politics:

Rob McInturff, a spokesman at the State Department, confirmed that the department received Connelly’s letter. He said he believed it was the responsibility of local school boards to monitor what happened at schools such as the academy.

The State Department, while willing to cooperate, was concerned about getting the Saudi government to change its textbooks around the globe, including at the academy, and it wouldn’t be able to confirm whether that had been accomplished until the fall.

“I think, the bottom line is, the State Department is more than happy to cooperate and help out, and we’ve said we’ll cooperate as we can, but that’s very different than saying we’re responsible for all foreign schools in the United States, and we’re not, legally we’re not,” McInturff said.

As you can see, State is going to punt the potato if it possibly can, and put it back into the hands of Fairfax County.

In the State Department’s Daily Press Briefing yesterday, Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey engaged in some high-grade diplomatic waffling:

QUESTION:		…I understand that you’ve received a letter from the — from Fairfax County asking you whether you could give an opinion on the lease of the Saudi school in Alexandria and whether the county should extend that lease, which I am told it’s worth $2.2 million a year. But — just, I mean, do you expect to pronounce yourselves on that? Is that something that you —
MR. CASEY:		Well, I think it’s something we’ve just gotten. We’ll certainly take a look at it and see what kind of response would be appropriate, but I — you know, it’s not something we’ve had a chance to really look through. As you know, this is a school that is incorporated and overseen through the county there. It’s not an institution that we have any sort of formal role in accrediting or managing. But certainly, we’ll take a look at the letter and if there’s some thoughts or advice that we can offer, we’ll certainly do it.
QUESTION:		I was just wondering whether you thought — if it’s appropriate for them to be asking you, since you don’t really have (inaudible) in this.
MR. CASEY:		Well, you know, kind of beside the point, since they’ve asked and we’ll take a look at what they’ve asked us and see if we can come up with a response that makes sense and see what would be useful input that we might be able to have into their decision-making…
QUESTION:		Who would consider that for the State Department? Who would be looking into it?
MR. CASEY:		Well, I think that involves a number of different people. Probably, first and foremost, the Bureau of Near East Asian Affairs, might involve the office of Foreign Missions, although certainly, this isn’t a diplomatic facility. It might involve the legal advisor since basically anything you do anymore require lawyers. So it’ll be the — you know, like anything else done in this building, there will be many hands at work.

“We’ll certainly take a look at it and see what kind of response would be appropriate…”

Translation: “We’ll pass it around as many different departments as possible and keep the potato in the air for months, until it cools off and everybody forgets about all this tiresome bother, and then we can go back to business as usual, with our noses up the hind portion of the Saudi jalabiya.”

You can see why the bureaucrats are so reluctant to deal with this issue. It’s a real career-killer, whether you’re in the State Department, or Congress, or the White House, or on the Board of Supervisors.

Everybody in Washington depends on Saudi money to get by. If you’re a mid-level flunky and want that big promotion, above all else you try to make sure those thick bushy eyebrows under the haughty burnoose never draw together in a scowl.

If you’re a member of Congress or a cabinet official, your comfort in your golden years after retirement depends on landing one of those lucrative Saudi lobbying sinecures with a prestigious D.C. law firm. Who wants to risk that?

And everyone in elected office, national or local, wants to make it through the next election with franking privileges intact.

One of these days this issue, or one very like it, is going to blow up in everybody’s faces. Rascals will be thrown out, a new broom will sweep clean, and — depending on how long the day of reckoning is postponed — villagers with pitchforks and torches may make an appearance.

But until then, everyone in government just wants to keep riding the gravy train.

Oil is going up to $200 a barrel. The pie is only going to get bigger, and everybody wants a slice.

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

I’ll close with this press release that UAC sent me yesterday, which served to remind me to post an update on the ISA:

The efforts of United American Committee (UAC), as a part of an interfaith coalition of grassroots organizations, have resulted in the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (BoS) calling for a full U.S. State Department investigation of the Islamic Saudi Academy. The UAC’s Virginia and New York chapters have worked with the Traditional Values Coalition, ACT! For America’s Virginia and Maryland Chapters, Center for Security Policy, and Stop the Madrassa to demand transparency, due diligence, and accountability from local and Federal government. This coalition has made a difference.

On June 23, 2008, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, responding to public outcry, unanimously reversed its support of the Islamic Saudi Academy, and called for the U.S. State Department to investigate the school. Though the UAC applauds the BoS’s decision to demand such an investigation, the UAC disagrees with the BoS’s claims of ignorance regarding the ISA. Given the preponderance of available government reports, and the testimony presented to the BoS during a May 19, 2008 hearing on the ISA, the BoS only remained unaware of relevant information due to its own preference. The UAC questions how the BoS on May 19th, proclaimed their investigation of the ISA sufficiently resourced and conclusive, yet now claims the County lacks the capability to conduct an adequate investigation.

The UAC regrets that it took the arrest of the ISA Director General, another government report, and a protest to convince the BoS to finally take action and heed the warnings of the USCIRF reports that BoS Chairman Gerry Connolly called TVC member Jim Lafferty slanderous for citing.

The UAC also disagrees with the BoS assertions of impotency, as, on May 19th, it fully had within its power to delay the approval of the ISA lease until completion of a US State Department investigation. Instead it issued the ISA, and its now arrested Director General, an apology. The BoS has now called upon the US State Department to conduct the same investigation UAC and coalition partners requested on May 19th.

The UAC believes the BoS can do even more, and believes the ISA has abused the goodwill of its hosts. The BoS must stop passing the buck and finally hold the ISA accountable for its repeated lies and running a curriculum of religiously sanctified murder for almost 20 years. Accordingly, the UAC calls for the closure of the ISA and competitive bidding for use of the County property it leases.

Join the United American Committee, Traditional Values Coalition, ACT! For America, Center for Security Policy, Stop the Madrassa, and a growing group of concerned citizens, in demanding transparency, due diligence, and accountability from our government. Visit saudiwatch.wordpress.com for information on how to help.

For more information contact:
John Cosgrove
Virginia Chapter Director
United American Committee
571-213-4496
virginia@unitedamericancommittee.org

Hat tips for various pieces of this post: Frontinus.

School administrators in Scotland noticed that there were a lot of kids in their classrooms who didn’t live with their fathers or didn’t have any fathers. With Father’s Day fast approaching, the schools decided to do something about the growing incidence of divorce, illegitimacy, lesbian relationships, and single parenthood in Scotland.

They decided to penalize those few remaining kids who actually live with their fathers.

Yes, that’s right: the schools decided not to follow the customary practice of having the kids make Father’s Day cards for their dads. According to the Telegraph :

Father’s Day cards banned in Scottish schools

Thousands of primary pupils were prevented from making Father’s Day cards at school for fear of embarrassing classmates who live with single mothers and lesbians.

The politically correct policy was quietly adopted at schools “in the interests of sensitivity” over the growing number of lone-parent and same-sex households.

It only emerged after a large number of fathers failed to receive their traditional cards and handmade gifts.

Family rights campaigners last night condemned the policy as “absurd” and argued that it is marginalising fathers, but local authorities said teachers need to react to “the changing pattern of family life”.

An Office for National Statistics report in April found that one in four British children now lives with a lone parent — double the figure 20 years ago.

The Father’s Day card ban has been introduced by schools in Glasgow, Edinburgh, East Renfrewshire, Dumfries and Galloway and Clackmannanshire.

[…]

The making of Mother’s Day cards and crafts, in the run-up to Mothering Sunday, remains generally permitted.

– – – – – – – – –

But the Father’s Day edict follows a series of other politically correct measures introduced in primary schools, including the removal of Christian references from festive greetings cards.

Matt O’Connor, founder of campaign group Fathers For Justice, said: “I’m astonished at this. It totally undermines the role and significance of fathers whether they are still with the child’s mother or not.

“It also sends out a troubling message to young boys that fathers aren’t important.”

Mr. O’Connor is correct. Fathers aren’t important. With the all-powerful state hovering nearby, ready to support her and take care of her every need, a woman and her children have no need of any of those nasty testosterone-poisoned men.

Men may still have certain necessary functions to perform — operating jackhammers, lifting manhole covers, acting as sperm donors or boy-toys — but fathering isn’t one of them.

Local authorities defended the change, saying teachers needed to act “sensitively” at a time when many children were experiencing family breakdown and divorce.

A spokesman for East Renfrewshire Council said: “Increasingly, it is the case that there are children who haven’t got fathers or haven’t got fathers living with them and teachers are having to be sensitive about this.

“Teachers have always had to deal with some pupils not having fathers or mothers, but with marital breakdown it is accelerating.”

Notice that nobody finds any need to be sensitive about the boys and girls who can no longer make cards for their dads. I guess those kids will just have to suck it up.

Jim Goodall, head of education at Clackmannanshire Council, said teachers are expected to behave with common sense but be sensitive to “the changing pattern of family life.”

The “changing pattern of family life” is that our societal institutions, including the family, have now officially entered the behavioral sink.

For readers not familiar with population biology, the “behavioral sink” is a description of the collective behavior of animals whose population exceeds a certain density within their environment. Characteristics of the phenomenon include:

• Dramatically increased acts of random violence, including killing
• A reduction in live births
• A reduction in the formation of pair-bonds
• A failure to nurture offspring properly, if at all
• Individual self-destructive behavior
• An increasing incidence of homosexual activity

Sound familiar?

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.

More companies are now giving in to Muslim pressure over Geert Wilders’ Islam-critical movie. I keep bashing Marxists in my writings, and they usually deserve it. I honestly believe it is impossible to write anything meaningful about what ails the West without taking the prolonged and highly destructive influences of Marxism into account.

Yet Marxists are not powerful enough by themselves to generate all the problems we are now facing. You would have to be pretty blind not to see the importance of business ties in relations between the West and the Islamic world, certainly in the case of Europe and the Middle East, but also with the United States and Saudi Arabia. Money makes the world go around, after all. One does not have to be a Socialist to see that the short-term interests of Big Business are not always identical to the long-term interests of the nation as a whole, especially not when it comes to immigration. Multinational corporations, which by their very definition have loyalty towards no nation, should not be allowed to direct national immigration policies.

Is capitalism always a force for freedom? It is easy for “conservatives” to think so, but is it always true?

There are several perspectives one can use when trying to understand the European Union, for instance. One is that it is somehow related to the Communist utopia and the unaccountable, transnational bureaucracy of the Soviet Union. This does make some sense, but on the other hand, the EU cannot be properly understood simply as a Marxist organization. It has always held the backing of Big Business interests who want easy access to greater markets. They do not automatically care about national sovereignty or borders, which are vital to the continued existence of any truly free society.

I am particularly concerned over the recent attempts by various Western corporations to appease Islamic demands for sharia censorship. Both regarding the Danish cartoons and the Wilders movie in Holland, business interests have been among the most prominent in denouncing these attempts to defend Western freedoms because they care only about their market shares and not about the wider issues.

When we also know that many companies support mass immigration because they want easy access to cheap labor, including Muslim immigration, this means that they contribute to Islamization, at home and abroad. Can we then say that capitalism is always a force for freedom? I think not. As Thomas Jefferson said, “Merchants have no country. The mere spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment as that from which they draw their gains.”

Dutch companies have given into a Jordanian boycott by placing newspapers advertisements condemning the film Fitna

De Volkskrant reports that Dutch companies have given into a Jordanian boycott. The companies Zwanenberg and Friesland Foods have placed advertisements in Jordanian newspapers saying they oppose the film Fitna by populist politician Geert Wilders.

– – – – – – – – –

Last week the group ‘The Messenger of Allah Unites Us’ brought a case against Wilders in a Jordanian court, accusing him of racism and incitement to hate Muslims. Wilders said he feared Jordan would issue an international warrant for his arrest.

The group, which had already mounted a boycott of Danish products because of the Muhammad cartoons, also began a boycott of Dutch companies. De Volkskrant tells us:

“On Wednesday all travel agencies in Amman received a letter asking that they not do business with KLM. The letter will also be distributed in other Arab countries.”

The chairman of the Messenger of Allah Unites Us, Zakaria Sheikh, says he has printed a million posters calling for a boycott of Dutch products. He says the only way Dutch companies can get themselves off the list is to take out ads in newspapers condemning the film.

In its advertisement, the Zwanenberg Food Group says it “rejects the opinions and statements” in Wilders’ film. “We strongly condemn the anti-Islam comments which we believe don’t have any other purpose than to insult.”

The company also expressed its “Solidarity with the campaign by The Messenger of Allah Unites Us in its attempts to pass international legislation banning insults to religion, including Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be with Him).”

From the Brussels Journal:

VNO-NCW, the Federation of Dutch Employers, has ordered its lawyers to see whether it is possible to claim damages from Mr Wilders for the loss of income which Dutch companies may possibly suffer as a result of a boycott of Dutch products by Muslims who are angry at Mr Wilders and at the fact that the Dutch have not been able to shut him up. “Companies like Shell, Philips and Unilever are easy to recognize as Dutch companies,” VNO-NCW chairman Bernard Wientjes told the newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad. “I do not know how rich Geert Wilders is, or how well insured he is, but if we suffer from a boycott, we will investigate whether it is possible to claim damages from him.” Last November, Doekle Terpstra, a member of the board of Unilever, called upon the Dutch to “rise in order to stop Wilders” because “Geert Wilders is evil and evil has to be stopped.”

Dutch businesses threaten to sue Wilders over Fitna

Big Business, the Driving Force behind Immigration

If you followed the protracted controversy about Vlaams Belang last fall, you’ll remember Maria De Berlanger, the local politician and Vlaams Belang party member who was accused of heiling Hitler when she took the oath of office.

From the beginning Ms. De Berlanger stoutly maintained that she did nothing of the sort. But once it is flung, the charge of “Nazi!” sticks tight. You’re guilty until proven innocent, and it’s all but impossible to prove your innocence.

However, the verdict is now official: Maria De Berlanger was not giving the Nazi salute. Even the Belgian government, which has long shown antipathy towards Vlaams Belang, found her to be blameless.

Below is an article from last Friday’s De Telegraaf, kindly translated by our Flemish correspondent VH:

Belgian politician blameless for ‘Hitler salute’

Amsterdam — It is not true that Vlaams Belang Councilor Maria De Berlanger gave the Hitler salute while taking the oath. That was the judgment of the Brussels Court. With this verdict the Vlaams Belang politician will be free from a possible fine or (conditional) imprisonment.

From the very beginning — on October 8 in 2006 — the woman stood firm about it not being a Hitler salute, but said that she held her arm diagonally to prevent her sleeve from sliding down. The court now finds her story legitimate.

– – – – – – – – –

According to the court it was clear that the woman doesn’t cherish any Nazi sympathies, for one reason because the De Berlanger-Lichtert family were victims of Nazi persecution.

The “Center for Opportunity and Fight against Racism” [Centrum van Kansen en voor Racismebestrijding] were not proven right. The organization had been convinced that the Councilor deliberately gave the Hitler salute, and therefore filed the charges against her. [emphasis added]

If the Belgian judicial system couldn’t turn a member of Vlaams Belang into a Nazi, then it can’t be done. Case closed.

Now I’ll wait for all the outlets that slammed this poor woman so prominently last year to pay at least as much attention to her exoneration.

Still waiting…

[crickets chirping]

Here’s the latest report from our expatriate Dutch correspondent H. Numan.

Do you believe in coincidence?
by H. Numan

Last week I reported about the international arrest warrant issued by a court in Amman, Jordan. This week two major Dutch corporations caved in for fear of a boycott: Zwanenberg and Friesche Vlag. The first is a (pork!) sausage maker in Oss, North Brabant; the other a milk conglomerate in Friesland. Both produce many more products than sausages and milk. And both export to Jordan. Both placed full page advertisements in which they distance themselves from Fitna and Wilders, as the Volkskrant reports (my comments are in italicized square brackets):

Companies bow to boycott

AMMAN — Dutch companies yielded to a threatened boycott in Jordan against Dutch and Danish products. Zwanenberg (Zwan sausages) and Friesland Foods (cheese and milk) placed advertisements in Jordanian newspapers in which they distance themselves of Geert Wilders’ Fitna movie.

Doing so prevented their brand names from appearing on the latest poster of ‘The Messenger of Allah Unites Us’, that attacked Danish brands last week. On their most recent poster KLM, Philips, Friso, and Milupa are featured.

KLM and Philips are being boycotted. Wednesday all travel organizations in Amman received a letter calling on them to boycott KLM. The letter is also distributed in other Arab nations, said chairman Zakaria Sheikh of the committee ‘The Messenger of Allah Unites Us’.

Pallets loaded with posters are stacked in the office of the committee in Amman. “We printed over a million of them” said Sheikh.

Last week the committee got the Justice Department to investigate whether Wilders can be prosecuted. Sheikh expect a court order soon. “This has nothing to do with freedom of speech,” said the publisher of the weekly Fact International. “Wilders insulted all Muslims of the world. He should not escape punishment.”

– – – – – – – – –

The Zwanenberg Food Group in Almelo stated in the advertisements ‘to reject the opinions and remarks in the movie Fitna made by ‘Geert Welders’ [sic!], in which he equated Islam with violence’. “We strongly reject any expressions or opinions against Islam that serve, according to us, no other purpose than to hurt.” Friesland Foods published a similar text.

Furthermore, Zwanenberg acknowledges solidarity with the campaign of ‘The Messenger of Allah Unites Us’ in its efforts to create an international law forbidding any insult to any religion, including Islam and its prophet Mohammed. In an open letter, dated 14 June, Zwanenberg describes itself as a producer of hot dogs, cocktail sausages, luncheon meat [‘some kind of Spam’] and mortadella, all produced under the brand name Zwan [and all made with pork… I wonder if they wrote that too].

According to Sheikh, in order to escape this boycott companies must also advertise similar texts in their own country. In the Jordan Times director Aldo van der Laan of Zwanenberg denied any knowledge about this demand. ‘But I have no problem saying our company is worried about Wilders’ actions in The Netherlands as well’.

Zwanenberg and Friesland Foods were not available for comments. KLM, according to a spokesperson, has limited itself to an earlier prepared statement: “KLM does not interfere with any religious or political organization whatsoever, and distances itself of the contents of this controversial movie.”

Now, this may sound odd to you, perhaps. The Netherlands and Jordan have very close royal ties. Mrs. Beatrix von Amsberg, queen of the Netherlands, was a very close friend of the late king Hussein of Jordan. Normally the government decides based on the amount of business or political importance if an embassy, consulate, chancellery or honorary diplomatic representation is required with a certain nation. One cannot have fully staffed embassies in each and every nation of the world.

The amount of business or political importance between Jordan and the Netherlands is infinitesimal. Matters were handled by (usually honorary) consulates elsewhere in the region. In the early reign of queen Beatrix she insisted on having full diplomatic relations with fully staffed embassies in both nations, out of her personal friendship with king Hussein. The government caved in to the royal demand, and established full diplomatic relations, despite the fact that we do more business with Greenland without even an honorary consul… This created a bit of a scandal, as her insistence was not exactly constitutional.

Now, Jordan is anything but a democracy. The king holds substantial powers, both military and legal as well as administrative. Anything the king says, goes! Strangely enough his royal majesty seems to be royally occupied with grave matters elsewhere, while his subjects, purely democratic of course, dance the makaramba with the relationship of a nation which has exceptional friendly ties…

Remember, the king of Jordan appoints all judges as he sees fit. Or removes them, if that be his pleasure. Also, the king, if he judges this necessary, can order in the army to remove whatever offends him. And he has done that in the past, quite a few times. But his royal majesty is royally occupied…

Also remember that the Dutch government has done everything in its power to prevent Wilders’ producing Fitna. Both legal and illegal. Without any success at all. For example, the police printed already filled-in complaint forms, where complainants only had to fill in their names and sign to complain about Wilders — that’s not exactly legal. The Prosecutor General’s office tried, in vain, to set up a court case against Wilders. Many organizations tried likewise. Even the biggest names in law and advocacy tried, again unsuccessfully.

Now, all of a sudden Wilders is being sued by a nation that doesn’t even have a word for democracy, but has very strong bond of friendship between the royals. Both royals look royally occupied. Both governments wash their hands in complete innocence. Both governments cannot do a thing against the democratic actions of lawful citizens.

It is just me, or do you smell a dead rat the size of a camel, too?

Esther at Islam in Europe has picked up the Gare du Midi rape story and has added some other material translated from the Dutch.

Here’s an excerpt from her translation of a lengthy interview:

Q:		It’s the Belgians who must adapt to the immigrants?
A:		So it is yes. Women must be able to walk about safely night and day. We haven’t fought 50 years for our liberation in order to be set back in time now. We don’t want that in any neighborhood in Brussels.
Q:		Who are those men?
A:		It’s particularly Moroccan youth, who think they have a right to impose their standards on girls. It also happen by the Turks, particularly in their community, but it’s just as unacceptable.

Go over to the post at Islam in Europe for the rest of the interview.

[Nothing follows]

I have written previously about Udo Ulfkotte, who was one of the original co-founders of SIOE, although he eventually broke with the group.

The latest news is that Mr. Ulfkotte’s anti-Islamization activities have caused his wife to be threatened with death. Here’s the article from Europe News based on a report by Udo Ulfkotte at Kopp Verlag, and translated from the German by Jürgen, via Holger Danske at Europe News:

Thousands of Turkish and Muslim people want to murder a woman in Germany

Europe News 24 June 2008

The wife of well-known German journalist Udo Ulfkotte is being sought by thousands of Turks and Muslims in Germany and has received hundreds death threats. In a faked video on YouTube a young woman had offended Islam, Mohammed and his followers, pretending to be Doris Ulfkotte. Within a few hours countless murder threats as well as an address of the Ulfkotte family were found under the video, although they have been deleted in the meantime. Police and the intelligence service are actively engaged, and ask for the help of the populace to provide more information.

On Sunday, 22nd June, 2008, at 3:56 pm the mobile phone of Doris Ulfkotte rang. The caller pointed to very big danger, he had seen a video on the YouTube web page in which a young woman claimed to be Doris Ulfkotte, and insulted Islam in the worst manner. A few hours later the video had been already watched 140,000 times and displayed thousands of comments under it, with numerous calls for murder and the address of Doris Ulfkotte. Shortly after her telephone number appeared on the Internet, death threats by phone followed.

– – – – – – – – –

However, on the video are to be seen neither Doris Ulfkotte nor her husband Udo Ulfkotte (see picture). The married couple immediately disclaimed all involvement with the video after watching the faked movie, and notified the authorities. Now it is imperative to identify both persons on the video as quickly as possible, so that the case can be clarified. The population is asked to report any information to the nearest police station.

The intelligence service and police investigate every murder call and will take suitable measures against the criminals.

Hat tip: Steen.

An Australian reader named Angie sent us an email this morning about a difficult situation she faces in the suburbs of Melbourne. She feels that there is no avenue that would allow her to address her concerns without leaving herself open to retribution by the forces of political correctness.

So she sent us her story, and I offered to post it.

I am in a quandary.

Living in outer suburban Melbourne, we have a lot of different cultures/belief systems/ethnicities in the area.

Generally, this is neither here nor there to me — as far as I’m concerned, I don’t care if you’re black, white or brindle. Just leave me to live my life in peace, and I’m fine.

Of course, life doesn’t always work out so smoothly, and I’m finding it annoying to find a decent place for Miss Junior to learn to swim.

Where we used to live, in downtown outer Melbourne, there was a good gym with a pool, and she had lessons there. It catered for a varied clientele, with a completely segregated women’s section for those who were obliged to work out away from men, and a pool with the change rooms right at the poolside as most swimming pools.

I trained in the women’s section mainly because I couldn’t be fussed walking down the hall to the mixed section, and often swam laps while Miss Junior had her lessons.

This new pool she’s going to a couple of suburbs away is a bit bigger with two changing rooms for each sex.

The smaller rooms are considered family rooms, and there are often young boys getting changed when we are in there.

When I say young, I mean under 10.

There must be something wrong with me, because I find that really inappropriate.

As a result, we started using the larger change rooms, and the first time we were there, I turned around to see a lad of at least 10-12 walking by.
– – – – – – – – –
Miss Junior was in an open shower, although I had ensured that she wasn’t in view of passersby, but that’s not the point.

WTF are pubescent boys doing in the women’s changing rooms?

I had a talk with one of the counter staff there, and asked him what were the guidelines for children getting changed.

In the family changeroom (the smaller), it is up to the discretion of the family, so up to around 12.

In the larger changeroom, then you’d be looking at no older than 6.

I did very well at not going off my tree.

First of all, as I explained to the fellow, my daughter is nearly 6 years old and I’m trying to teach her modesty. That means not getting her kit off in front of strange boys.

I don’t appreciate boys who are half a foot taller than her getting changed in front of her, or her getting changed in front of them.

What sort of message does that send her about politeness and dressing appropriately.

I also don’t appreciate young boys trying to peek under the toilet door, and I don’t see why I should feel obliged to shut my girl in a shower cubicle so that she can wash down and dress without the possibility of boys seeing her naked.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a long way from being a prude, but this is ridiculous!

I’ve not even started on my discomfort at changing where young boys are within view.

It’s one thing for their mother to get into and out of her swimwear in their presence, but sorry, I’m over 40 years old, and while I’m not ashamed of my body, I’m damned if I’m getting buck naked in front of unfamiliar males of any age.

Hell, I don’t even get naked in front of familiar males any more!

The staff member was a bit taken aback with my concerns, and offered to get the duty manager to talk to me, but as I told him, what would that fix? Nothing. Just be aware that some of us women don’t like lads being in reach of either us or our girls’ bodies.

Another concern, which I did not voice, is that there are also patrons of cultures that prefer that women not be uncovered.

There have been women in hijab in the changeroom with their sons while my daughter was changing, and I wonder uncomfortably at the message these children are getting.

I’m well aware that under Islam, good women stay covered while the bad ones let it all hang out.

Does this mean that my young daughter will be seen by these young boys as bad because she took off her clothes to put on a swimsuit in their presence?

Catmeat Sheikh Hilaly has a lot of supporters, some here in Melbourne, so why not some who come to our pool?

I don’t swim anymore while Miss Junior is having her lessons, and I’m looking around for another swim school.

I don’t dare raise my concerns to the staff because of our discrimination laws, and the very real possibility of someone saying something to another person and suddenly there’s an outbreak of offendedness.

Needless to say, I’m very, very angry about this, but what can be done to combat it?

I personally get uncomfortable at swimming laps in front of people I know see me as inferior and unclean. While it begs the question of why they go to the pool in the first place, I also get offended at the fact that if I were to express my discomfort, then I would be labelled racist, bigoted, Islamophobia and all the rest.

If anyone else is upset, then it’s my fault for being white and upsetting them.

If I am upset, then it is my fault for being white and not sucking it up.

I know I’m not the only one, but others are also a bit too timid to speak out.

— Angie

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.

In May 2008, the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, stated that Islam is part and parcel of Europe and condemned the concept of a clash of civilizations. “Islam today is part of Europe. It is important to understand this. One should not see Islam as outside Europe. We already have an important presence of Islam and Muslims among our citizens,” Barroso told a press conference after a dialogue between EU leaders and twenty high-level representatives of Christianity, Judaism and Islam in Europe. The Grand Mufti of Bosnia-Herzegovina, Dr. Mustafa Ceric, responded that Islam is indeed part of Europe but unfortunately Turkey is not yet part of Europe. “Following this logic Europe has to prove that Islam is part of Europe by not delaying the acceptance of Turkey to the EU,” he said.

I find this especially sad since Mr. Barroso, prior to becoming the unelected leader of the EU, was Prime Minister of Portugal, a country that was for centuries under the Islamic yoke. Do the Portuguese miss their past status as dhimmis? The reaction of the Nordic countries to mass immigration and Muslim intimidation, with the exception of Denmark, has been pathetic. I’m certainly not proud of it, but at the very least countries such as Norway, Finland and the Baltic nations have had little historical exposure to Muslims. The Portuguese and the Spanish do not have this excuse, after centuries of Islamic occupation and hard struggles to regain control over their lands, which makes their current actions all the more difficult to understand.

Observer Soeren Kern thinks that “Since Spanish Socialists (more often than not) have trouble winning arguments on their own merit, the preferred tactic is to demonize their opponents instead.” He’s undoubtedly correct about that, although I do no see how that makes Spanish Socialists different from their counterparts elsewhere. According to Kern:

“Italian voters in April [2008] returned Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to a third term in office. The center-right leader was given a strong mandate to crack down on runaway immigration and spiraling street crime, two hot-button issues that are intrinsically linked, not just in the minds of Italians, but in those of many other Europeans too, especially in Spain. As a result, Spanish Socialists are (rightly) worried that Berlusconi’s get-tough approach will jeopardize their own fantastical vision of turning Europe into a post-modern multicultural utopia. It therefore comes as no big surprise that Spanish Socialist Deputy Prime Minister María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, who is also commonly known as Spain’s high-priestess of political correctness, recently lashed out at the no-nonsense immigration policies of the new Italian government. Her pontifical rebuke declared that the Spanish executive ‘rejects violence, racism and xenophobia, and therefore cannot agree with what is happening in Italy.’” Moreover, “By rewarding illegal immigrants with Spanish (and thus European) documentation, Zapatero has unleashed what is known as the ‘call effect’ to people as far away as Kashmir who now believe that Spain is an easy gateway into Europe.”
– – – – – – – – –
Gustavo de Aristegui, the foreign affairs spokesman for the conservative (but in my view still a bit too soft) Popular Party, explains in his book The Jihad in Spain: The obsession to reconquer Al-Ándalus that, in schools throughout the Muslim world, maps are used with Spain and Portugal colored green because they are still considered part of dar al-Islam, or the House of Islam. According to antiterrorist sources, eight Jihadist groups have settled in Spain, located mostly in Catalonia, Madrid, Andalusia and Valencia. Their threat is real, since most of these sleeping cells “can be activated at any time and perpetrate criminal attacks.”

As AMDG from the blog La Yijad en Eurabia says: “The fact that Spain is one of the targets of the Third Jihad is not surprising. Muslims have the religious obligation to expand Islam — mostly political Islam; conversion can be forced later on in many ways — and in particular they have the compelling obligation to retrieve those lands on which Islam once ruled. Al Andalus — that is Spain, and not only the south of Spain, the modern Andalucía — was once under Mohammedan yoke and is therefore among the priorities of the Jihad. The answer by Spaniards to this threat cannot be more discouraging. Spanish government withdrew its troops from Iraq immediately after the first terrorist attack, even if they were not combat troops. Their next initiative was the proposal of the Alliance of Civilizations.”

The Socialist PM José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was swept to power by the Jihadist terrorist train bombings in Madrid in March 2004, the largest peacetime attacks in Spain’s modern history. He has been surrendering his country to Muslims and mass immigration every day since then. Zapatero, who has said that “sexual equality is a lot more effective against terrorism than military strength,” appointed a pregnant woman as Minister of Defense in April 2008, thus making a mockery of his armed forces and signaling to everybody that his country has no intentions of defending itself.

There are also serious plans afoot to create a tunnel linking Spain (and thus Europe) physically to Morocco and Muslim North Africa. As usual in Western countries, Socialists who seek to destroy their own countries are de facto allies with Big Business interests, the same business interests that have championed the borderless EU common market, who desire bigger markets and an abundant supply of cheap labor, and tend to view defended national borders as an obstacle to both. According to a study by the Group for Reflection and Proposal on Business and Immigration, Spain needs over two million new foreign workers until 2020, many of whom will undoubtedly be Muslims.

In June 2008, it was announced that an “interfaith meeting“ sponsored by Saudi Arabia was to be held in Madrid. The dialogue would be held by the Saudi-based World Muslim League. “Prominent figures among followers of the divine messages will take part in dialogue concerning life in human societies, international cooperation, human rights, and issues of security, peace and living together in the world,” said a statement by the agency.

As Robert Spencer commented at Jihad Watch: “There are several angles to the choice of Spain for the site of this ‘dialogue’: One, obviously, is that it would be rather awkward to invite a large contingent of religious leaders to a place where they are forbidden from carrying bibles and other sacred texts, and from displaying religious symbols. And, of course, they certainly couldn’t hold the meeting in Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina, since no non-Muslims are allowed there. That might lead to uncomfortable questions when one considers that Rome, Jerusalem, and other cities are open to all visitors. But beyond that is Spain’s history as an Islamic possession and the trumped-up myth of the nearly utopian, Islamic Andalusia of yore; the idea of going back to those ‘good old days’ will surely be a source for much of the propaganda that will come out of this Saudi-led venture.” Spencer feared that a more accurate term for this event would be “interfaith monologue.”

As I’ve stated in my online essay Socratic Dialogue vs. Islamic Dialogue, Muslims understand the term “dialogue” in a way that differs sharply from that of Westerners. For them, “dialogue” does not mean an attempt to rationally debate a topic in order to arrive at the truth. Truth is already given: It’s called sharia, and the only “dialogue” that is acceptable is one that will lead to the implementation of sharia, one way or the other. When they invite to a “dialogue,” they actually mean that we should negotiate our surrender, or else…

Poul E. Andersen, former dean of the church of Odense, Denmark, warns against false hopes of dialogue with Muslims. During a debate at the University of Aarhus, Ahmad Akkari, one of the Muslim participants, stated: “Islam has waged war where this was necessary and dialogue where this was possible. A dialogue can thus only be viewed as part of a missionary objective.” When Mr. Andersen raised the issue of dialogue with the World Muslim League in Denmark, the answer was: “To a Muslim, it is artificial to discuss Islam. In fact, you view any discussion as an expression of Western thinking.”

Since its inception, Islam has been waging an aggressive war against the rest of mankind, with the stated purpose of bringing every single human being on earth under Islamic rule. Infidels have been presented with only three options: Convert to Islam, die, or submit under Islamic rule as a dhimmi, a second-rate citizen in your own country subject to serious financial pressure, constant verbal humiliations and frequent physical abuse. Islam hasn’t changed in the last 1400 years. Unless we are prepared to accept conversion or dhimmi status, we have to fight. The Spanish and the Portuguese knew that once. One can only hope that they will remember it again.

This is a follow-up to yesterday’s post, “A Letter to Canadian Government Officials”. A reader in Canada (whom I will call J.) suggested that readers should take action to help Geert Wilders, who faces possible arrest and extradition to Jordan on charges brought against him for making the movie Fitna.

After reading the comments to that post, J. asked me to add the following on her behalf:

Many comments are focused on the terminology that I used in my letter. While the remarks are interesting and have merit — my primary purpose in requesting this post was an attempt (which has failed thus far) to garner support and action on behalf of Geert Wilders. I hoped that readers would be angry enough about Jordan’s Court decision to write to their politicians in an effort to have the Court Order quashed. The individual who made the comments regarding diplomatic immunity has made some excellent points, and I will include those ideas in other letters.

Many people were excited about the release of Fitna. Wilders was viewed as courageous because he was not afraid to take on Islam. When the web site that originally hosted Fitna had to temporarily remove the film for security reasons, a number of comments were made at various blogs that people “stood beside Wilders”, while simultaneously blasting the server for being weak. Yet, as of this moment, other than the Baron, Dymphna and a few individuals — Wilders stands alone. Frankly I am both surprised and disappointed by this fact. What is happening to Wilders could be our fate in the not too distant future. We must find ways to unite and make our voices heard — otherwise we don’t have a hope in hell of winning the war that has been imposed upon us.

The Jordanian Court decision sets a dangerous precedent. If they manage to have Wilders extradited and tried in Jordan for offending Islam, the repercussions will be felt throughout the entire west. Wilders is a test case for them, and is an easy target because he is flamboyant. People will be able to rationalize this obscene Court order with excuses such as he went too far, and brought these problems on himself. Perhaps they will view it as a one time case to rein in a “mouthy” politician who was looking for trouble. But I assure you it won’t stop with Wilders. It could very easily be you or I simply because we write comments on various blogs that criticize Islam. They won’t give a damn if we use Islam/Islamists/Muslims/fundamentalist Islamic fascists or any other terminology. What will concern them is that we dare to criticize their religion.

– – – – – – – – –

The recent UN decision regarding religion, in conjunction with Jordan’s Court Order against Wilders are just two examples in a very long list that Islamists are actively working to crush our voices. There are countless situations where people are experiencing serious problems because they criticized Islam. Frankly, it is quite frightening how rapidly they are managing to destroy the freedoms that we cherish in the west. They are picking up the pace because we have empowered them with our weakness and tolerance.

Many of our elected officials are either fearful of them, or owe them favors. There is also truth in the remarks made about the left (include the right too) and Islam using each other to destroy the west. All western governments continually appease Islam to the detriment of their countries, their citizens and the future for the next generation. I have no expectations that any politician will stand by other victims should more orders be given. There are countless examples that prove Islam gets its way above and beyond what is moral and right. If soldiers can be ordered to ignore perverts using young children as sex toys, our governments will hardly go to bat for someone who has been critical of Islam. Tragically the entire west, not just the UK & Europe, has become Islam’s useful servant. Our sense of national pride has been destroyed by Marxist ideologies. For countless reasons our politicians have chosen not to protect their countries. It is risky for individuals to be courageous and speak out when the governments that are supposed to be taking care of these problems ignore the issues. We live in very troubling times.

While I have no expectations that our politicians will do anything to stop Jordan’s Court order, I think it is imperative that we make an effort. If we are complacent or lose hope and stop trying, then we have already lost the war. Since the signing of the Lisbon Treaty, individuals in the anti-Jihad movement in Europe are greatly concerned about being sent to Muslim countries for trial. I seem to recall Fjordman discussing this issue in one of his articles. What is occurring in Europe foreshadows our fate. Every day there are efforts on the part of CAIR and others to silence criticism of Islam in the U.S. We know what is occurring in Canada with Levant and Steyn. Similar efforts are occurring in Australia. So folks while I genuinely understand your interest in terminology, I sincerely hope that you get angry enough to write to your politicians. Even if the effort is futile, for everyone’s sake we need to try and get Jordan’s Court order against Wilders quashed. If we are going to go down, we should not do so without a fight.

One final statement that I wish to direct solely towards the individual who can’t wait for Wilders to be arrested — one day they will come for you too.

— J.