Happy Easter, everyone! I just got in from church, so it will take me a little while to get back up to speed.

Easter is very late this year, only one day earlier than the latest possible date. As a result, the flowers on the altar included azalea, scotch broom, bluebells, and dogwood — an unusual combination for an Easter arrangement, where daffodils are generally to be expected.

On the way home I saw irises blooming — irises! At Easter! — and the azaleas are in full bloom here at Schloss Bodissey, as you can see from the photo above.

It’s very hot, too: 90°F (32°C). Two days ago it was wintry, almost cold enough to snow.

All this climate change — it’s George Bush’s fault.

A series of riots began a an asylum-seekers’ detention center in Australia after several inmates climbed to the roof of one of the barracks in protest. The aggrieved migrants were angry because their asylum applications had been rejected, and additional inmates soon joined them on the roof in solidarity. Other culture enrichers rioted and set fire to buildings.

The police refused to supply food to the protesters on the roof, drawing criticism from immigrants’ rights groups, who plan a protest in front of the center. Only three inmates remain on the roof, and they say they want to come down.

In other news, Thilo Sarrazin, the outspoken author and critic of German immigration policies, will not be expelled from the Social Democrats. By agreeing never to violate SD Party policies again in his public utterances, he was allowed to stay in the party.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to AC, DM, Fjordman, Gaia, heroyalwhyness, Jerry Gordon, JP, Nilk, RE, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

Whenever I post about Islamization, cultural enrichment, and the suppression of free speech in Europe, commenters are likely to remark on the difference between Europe and the United States.

“Europe is lost,” they say (a particular favorite on my posts at Big Peace).

Or: “We’re lucky things aren’t this bad in the USA.”

Or: “Wake up, America! We don’t want to be like Europe.”

Well, think again, fellows: we already are like Europe. You’re late to the game — it’s already underway here.

Five years ago I said we were roughly a decade behind Europe, and we were. But then we elected Barack Hussein Obama as our Dhimmi-in-Chief, and after that we caught up very quickly. We’ve all but closed the gap between United Socialist America and the EUSSR, and Mr. Obama is working very hard to finish the job, and maybe even pull ahead of the EUniks.

Take for example what happened yesterday to Florida pastor Terry Jones, who went to trial and was even jailed briefly because he wanted to hold a protest outside a mosque in a suburb of Detroit. Not only was he denied his First Amendment rights by a Dearborn jury, but as part of the court decision against him yesterday, Rev. Jones was prohibited for three years from setting foot on the property of the mosque or adjacent areas.

Mr. Jones has never broken the law. He has never been violent nor threatened violence. However, because what he says makes other people threaten to kill him, his right to free speech — as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution — has been denied. And because violent idiots may confront him if he exercises his right to free speech, he has been denied his Constitutional right to peaceably assemble.

This is the equivalent of what is known as an “ASBO” in the UK — an Anti-Social Behaviour Order. ASBOs have been used repeatedly against members of the English Defence League to restrict their activities and keep them from participating in demonstrations.

In Britain, however, there is no formal written constitution that forbids the government from engaging in such tyrannical behavior. The British Constitution is customary rather than formal, and the customs of the state have changed radically over the last fifty years. What is happening now in Britain is brutal and illiberal, but there is no single document to which the average law-abiding Britain can point to and say, “According to this, my rights have been violated.”

So, in a way, our situation is worse, because the highest law in the land — the United States Constitution — forbids the states and the federal government from doing exactly what was done yesterday to Terry Jones.

His case may make its way all the way to the Supreme Court, but I wouldn’t count on five justices upholding his right to speak freely. One of the justices is, after all, on record as saying that he’s not certain the First Amendment protects Koran-burning. Since the Constitution means whatever five Supreme Court justices say it means, we are at most a single Obama appointment away from the formal encoding of sharia in the Constitution.

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Unfortunately for the American Left, progress — and I use the word “progress” advisedly — towards its extra-constitutional goals has been slow and intermittent. The suppression of Terry Jones has gone fairly well, but the same is not true of all American dissidents. Some of them utter right-wing words and commit non-progressive deeds, and get away scot-free.

Take, for example Derek Fenton, a New Jersey Transit worker who was fired last year for burning pages of a Koran on 9/11 at Ground Zero. Mr. Fenton has now been reinstated in his job. It took the help of the ACLU and seven months in court, but his right to do what he did has finally been acknowledged.

It’s obvious that Obama administration and its comrades in the trans-national Marxist community would like to speed up the transformation of America. Part of their impatience manifests itself as concern for the persistence and increase of hatred, bigotry, and “Islamophobia” in the USA, and now they’ve invited over some British socialists to give them some professional advice on how to handle restive freedom-loving troublemakers and bring on the socialist millennium.

According to the Center for American Progress:

The growth of Islamophobia and rising hate-rhetoric aimed at ethnic minorities and immigrant communities has become a significant feature of right-wing politics in both Europe and North America. This new politics of hate and fear represents a concerted political strategy on the part of a new right, one which presents a significant challenge to those wishing to create prosperous, tolerant and diverse societies. It cannot remain unchecked.

The Center for American Progress, in co-operation with Searchlight, will host a transatlantic conversation on the rise of identity politics and its consequences for the future of progressive politics. Bringing together leading analysts and activists from either side of the Atlantic to discuss how best to approach the rise of nationalist groups, the conversation will evaluate why Islamophobia and hate-rhetoric are on the rise in the U.S. and the UK, and the panel will share lessons from their own experiences on the most successful tactics for combating the politics of hate and fear.

Our British readers’ ears have already pricked up at the mention of “Searchlight”, and yes, you are right: the upcoming extravaganza will be a real progressive kulturfest of the Left, European style. The invitation says:

Please join the Center for American Progress for a special presentation:

Fear and Hope: Understanding Identity and Combating the Politics of Fear

April 28, 2011, 10:00am — 12:00pm

Introduction: John Podesta, President and Chief Executive Officer, Center for American Progress

Keynote Address: Rt. Hon David Miliband, MP

Panelists:

Faiz Shakir, VP and Editor, ThinkProgress, Center for American Progress Action Fund
Nick Lowles, CEO, Searchlight
Anthony Painter, Author
Eduardo Garcia, Advocacy Associate, Campus Progress

Moderator: Tara McGuiness, VP and Director of Progressive Media, Center for American Progress Action Fund

Space is extremely limited. RSVP required.

Center for American Progress
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

For more information, call 202-682-1611.

The Center for American Progress is, well, progressive. The good old Roosevelt-Dewey-Wilson sort of progressivism — remaking the world and removing our freedoms, but all for our own good. Its motto: “Progressive ideas for a strong, just, and free America.”

Before we get to the British component, let’s examine the American half of the event. The Center for American Progress is really the Obama Administration doing business as an NGO. It’s a non-profit that was set up with the express purpose of implementing the progressive Marxists-Without-Borders agenda, but outside the confines of government. It works hand in glove with the current administration, but without all those annoying legal constraints that are sometimes imposed on actual government employees.

The SourceWatch report on CAP includes this:

The Center for American Progress was begun in 2003 with funding from philanthropists Herbert M. Sandler and Marion O. Sandler. It is a Washington, DC-based liberal think tank created and led by President and Chief Executive Officer John D. Podesta, the head of Barack Obama’s presidential transition team after the 2008 election and former Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton.

In 2009 CAP’s Progressive Media project emerged as a major communications war room on behalf of Obama’s domestic and foreign policy agenda and CAP became a strong advocate for escalation in Afghanistan. Progressive Media is run through the Center for American Project Action Fund, the more political 501(c)4 arm of CAP. It coordindates [sic] closely with the Common Purpose Project, an effort to create message discipline among the pro-Obama organizations, with a direct tie to the White House. [emphasis added]

Mr. and Mrs. Sandler, as you may recall, helped inflate the real estate bubble while they were owners of Wachovia bank. They sold their holdings for a huge profit just before the collapse, after which Wachovia crashed and burned under its new owners. The Sandlers have thus been of enormous assistance to CAP, building a private adjunct for the new administration’s policy wonks.

UK readers who are well-versed in the details of their own subversive Marxist networks will recognize the name “Common Purpose”. A British group by the same name is responsible for the intensive globalist multicultural training given to teachers and civil servants, often under government mandate. It is tied in with the networks that intersect with the EU, the UN, and other international bodies, and is effectively a service of the globalized elites.

John Podesta is familiar to most American readers. He was prominent in the Clinton administration as the President’s chief of staff, and more recently moved into the coterie around Barack Hussein Obama.

The Center for American Progress is his baby now, and his role in the “transition” never really ended. With Hillary in the Cabinet, and Mr. Podesta heading CAP, the conversion of Clinton World into Obama World proceeded smoothly — after an annoying eight-year hiatus while the Republicans pretended to run the country. The Obama version of Progressivism is more radical than Bill Clinton’s, and thus probably more to the taste of Miz Hillary.

Now let’s take a look at a couple of the distinguished guests who are jetting over from Blighty for the conference.

David Miliband is the son of a Polish Communist and a well-known lefty in British politics. He was foreign secretary in the last Labour cabinet under George Brown, and had hopes of becoming party leader after Mr. Brown’s political star completed its long, lingering descent. Unfortunately, Mr. Miliband’s younger brother Ed gained the support of the unions, and beat out his big brother for the leadership of the Labour Party.

His official duties have now been greatly reduced, so he has time on his hands, and presumably must welcome this opportunity to explain to the colonials the proper way to build a full-fledged socialist state. He carries excellent credentials for the task, being a Marxist of the Frankfurt school persuasion, and a full multi-culti.

To add to his cachet, he was one of the many MPs who were caught fiddling their accounts during the notorious expenses scandal that raged in Britain a year or two ago — so he ought to feel right at home hobnobbing with the Democrat establishment in Washington DC.

Some choice selections from the Wiki on David Miliband:

Miliband stated during the programme, in a response to a question about terrorism, that “yes there are circumstances in which it is justifiable and yes there are circumstances in which it is effective, but it is never effective on its own”.

Hmm. What would he add to terrorism to create an effective policy?

In autumn 2009, as the [Lisbon] treaty came close to coming into force, Miliband was named as being under consideration for the post as EU officials regarded him as “ideal material”.

Yes, for him, as for so many other British officials in all three major parties, the British nation is passé, and national identity must be suppressed so that Britain may be folded seamlessly into Europe.

Mr. Miliband is not known as a friend of Israel, either, so he will fit right in with the Obama crowd.

Another prominent Progressive scheduled for the podium is Nick Lowles. He is the editor of the anti-fascist magazine Searchlight, and serves as the polite, respectable face of the Antifas, the “anti-fascist” anarchist gangs who violently oppose nationalists, conservatives, and any other organized group that dares to question the international Progressive agenda. The most prominent anti-fascists in Britain may be found in UAF, “Unite Against Fascism”, whose bully-boys have gained substantial publicly-expressed support from politicians of all parties, including the current “Conservative” prime minister.

Mr. Lowles also writes for The Guardian, the official mouthpiece of the Leftist establishment in Britain. As you might expect, his most urgent issues concern the British National Party and the English Defence League, who represent the growing danger of “fascism” that he has warned about for so long.

He wrote about rise of the BNP:

The emergence of the BNP is just one consequence of the change under way, and it is a change far more fundamental than many political commentators and politicians appear to register. […]

This is a phenomenon occurring across Europe and North America. In the United States, middle-American nationalism has emerged over the past 30 years, which despises the corporate elites above and the “undeserving” poor below. Across western Europe we have seen working-class voters turn towards far-right and populist parties at the expense of centre-left parties. Only a few days ago, two far right parties polled a combined 29% in the Austrian elections.

Antifascism has to change to meet this new threat. Unless we understand why the BNP is growing — and that entails accepting that its appeal is built on more than simple racism — we have little chance of defeating it.

A simple “Don’t vote Nazi” slogan is no longer enough. Of course we need to expose the true politics of the BNP leaders but we also need to address the issues on which the BNP campaign.

There is a limit to what traditional antifascism can deliver. We can certainly organise a turnout campaign to defeat the BNP in an election and through focused and localised leaflets we can undermine and expose the racism and ineffectiveness of BNP councillors and candidates. We must also get involved in the very communities where the BNP is most active, something progressives have increasingly failed to do over recent years.

More recently, Mr. Lowles wrote in a similar vein about the EDL:

The apparent willingness of the police to accommodate the EDL has had an adverse affect on many locals, including the Muslim community. Many do not trust the police to protect them, and this has bolstered calls to mobilise to defend their neighbourhoods. Compare this with the police in Bradford and Leicester, who restricted EDL demands and went out of their way to reassure target communities — and as a result reduced tensions.

I am not advocating a ban on all marches, but with freedom of speech comes responsibility. The rights of one group have to be put against the affect it has on others. […]

More worryingly, the EDL protest is likely to further alienate the Muslim community. Many Muslims will be more nervous; others are likely to be attracted by the extremist message peddled by Anjem Choudary and his Islam4UK group.

[…]

With cuts of up to 50% in the Department for Communities and Local Government, and the closing of its tension-monitoring groups, no one in the government is willing to look at the wider implications of EDL activities.

As you can see, Nick Lowles has his priorities straight. The real enemies are British nationalists of any stripe, whom he regards as essentially the same as Nazis. He’s not worried about Islamization, or terrorists — who, after all, are only reinforced and encouraged by the EDL and the BNP. Nor does he have anything to say about the grooming and pimping of white teenage girls by young Muslim men, but presumably that is also the fault of the “fascists”.

From his point of view, the important thing is to preserve and expand the trans-national socialist state, which requires the suppression of national identity and nationalist ideology. There is no room for compromise with “Nazis”, and the Muslims make strategically useful allies, since they share the same goals, albeit for different reasons: the British state must be destroyed in favor of a European state, and eventually a world state.

All for our own good, mind you.

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So it seems the Obama administration — oops, I mean the Center for American Progress — has invited over these fine Progressives to help them plan the American version of full state socialism.

As happened in Britain, this will be aided by an official government policy that promotes Multiculturalism and opposes “hate speech”, “intolerance”, “bigotry”, and “Islamophobia”. Like the British establishment, its American counterpart is enlisting Muslim Brotherhood front groups to help implement this agenda.

Also like the British, American Progressives intend to accomplish these ambitious projects quietly, without any particular notice in the newspapers or on TV, and without the need for Congress to pass many new laws. It simply requires the right administrative decisions, the assistance of well-funded private progressive organizations, and a few carefully choreographed judicial decisions by hand-picked judges.

Remember: the Labour Party brought more than two million Muslim immigrants into Britain over the course of a decade without causing a public stir, and with the acknowledged purpose of nailing down a permanent electoral base for Labour among the imported foreigners.

Remember: Barack Hussein Obama has already indicated his intention to bring thousands of additional Muslim immigrants into the USA every year. He is also intent on pushing through some form of amnesty for the illegals, and he may well achieve his goal, with the help of useful idiots in the Republican Party.

So don’t think it can’t happen here. It can happen here. It is happening here.

It’s been going on for a long time, but the Light-Bringer is really speeding things up.

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By the way — I didn’t refer to the name “Soros” in any of the above analysis, but if you start looking into some of the sources, it won’t be long before you find it mentioned.

So if you live in the Washington area, and don’t have anything better to do at 10am on April 28, you might want to saunter over to the 10th floor 1333 H St. NW and see what’s going on. You never know who you might run into there.

Admission is free, but you’ll need to RSVP — they say they expect the available seats to fill up very quickly.

Hat tips: for the AP story, heroyalwhyness; for UK material, Aeneas and Gaia.

Pastor Terry Jones held a press conference on Thursday April 21, the day before his trial in Dearborn. A group of culture-enrichers gathered at the back of the crowd and heckled him loudly all the way through the proceedings.

All the shouting and screeching makes it difficult to hear anything properly in this video. To help our readers, Vlad Tepes has subtitled certain remarks and questions. At the end of the clip Vlad provides answers for a few of the questions that were bellowed by the Muslims at Terry Jones:

Hat tip: Van Grungy.

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.

Christmas is a festival celebrating the birth of Jesus, but many of our current practices, such as giving Christmas presents, are of a relatively recent date. Although a specifically Christian celebration, like many other European ideas it has been adopted in other parts of the world as a kind of secular holiday, somewhat to the dismay of devout Christians. Even non-Christian countries like Japan have adopted certain of its traditions, for instance Santa Claus, gift-giving, decorations and Christmas trees. The same is true of China, Thailand and other places where Christians are a minority. It also contains traces of pre-Christian practices in Europe.

Pagan Scandinavians in late December, around the time of the winter solstice, celebrated a festival called Yule. Present-day Scandinavians still call the Christmas season jul. The Christmas tree, an evergreen tree decorated with lights (originally candles) and ornaments, may also partly have older, pre-Christian roots. While its history is not entirely clear, the custom may possibly be traced back to the Baltic region, one of the last areas in Europe to be Christianized, to late medieval Estonia and Latvia and then to northern Germany from the sixteenth century on. The first use of candles on such trees is recorded in the early 1600s. The custom of creating Christmas trees remained confined to the upper Rhineland for generations, before it spread beyond the Protestant regions of Germany to the rest of Europe and the world.

In the Celtic religion, trees were seen as sacred objects, and the oak tree enjoyed a particular prominence. The name “druid,” referring to members of the learned class of priests among the Celts, originally meant “oak-knower.” The oak was the sacred tree of Zeus in ancient Greece. It was also often associated with the world tree in Slavic mythology while Yggdrasil, the huge world tree supporting the universe in Norse mythology, is usually identified as an ash tree. In the Völuspá, Ask was the first human man and Embla the first human woman, created by the gods from tree trunks. The meaning of Embla is uncertain, but Ask clearly means “ash tree.”

Professor Mary W. Helms reflects on the cultural significance of certain materials. The seagoing Dover Bronze Age Boat from England in the sixteenth century BC, for instance, was primarily constructed from oak and yew. Obviously, there are practical issues to consider such as the material properties of durability, elastic strength and resistance to rot (oak wood has great strength), but it is worth recalling that both the oak and the yew were widely recognized as cosmologically special species of trees, even sacred trees, in ancient European lore.

The common yew — Taxus baccata — grows across much of the European continent. Ironically, it was simultaneously related to death (its leaves and seeds are toxic to humans and to livestock, though not to game) and to immortality since it is a very long-lived evergreen. Incredibly, the Llangernyw Yew, which grows in a churchyard in Llangernyw village in northern Wales, is thought to be more than four thousand years old, making it one of the world’s oldest living organisms. As for the oak, in the modern world it is often associated with the construction of fine furniture or the production of alcoholic beverages, for instance oak barrels for maturing wine, whiskey or cognac. In Celtic and Germanic cultures, that mighty tree was recognized as a cosmic axis mundi linking people with the sky and the gods:

Such an august association was probably very ancient. For example, Bronze Age northern Europe often utilised the oak as a coffin. Harding comments on the symbolic significance of such an interment, relating the oak tree-trunk coffin to house construction (also predominantly of oak in temperate Europe) and noting the relationship between houses and tombs both in Neolithic and Bronze Age contexts. He mentions, too, the ancient and long-lasting association of yews with graveyards (and churchyards) and the general connection of trees like ash, oak, and yew with longevity or eternal life; burial within a tree carrying the obvious connotation of a return to the source of life.

Like Christmas, Easter consists of a mix of Christian and older, pagan symbols such as spring fertility rites. Many European languages use variations over the name of the Jewish festival Passover, called Pesach in Hebrew. In Italian, it’s Pasqua; in French, Pâques; in Spanish, Pascua; in Scandinavian languages Påsk or Påske; in Dutch, Pasen; and in Russian, Paskha, borrowed from the Greek via Old Church Slavonic. However, in German it’s called Ostern. The English Easter probably stems from Eostre, a Germanic goddess of spring and fertility.

Easter is the story of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. He was crucified in Jerusalem on Good Friday and was, according to believers, resurrected from the dead on the third day, having died for the sins and salvation of all mankind. This belief constitutes the very essence of the Christian religion. The date for Easter was settled during the First Council of Nicaea, presided over in person by the Roman Emperor Constantine I in AD 325. It also adopted the Nicene Creed, which is accepted as authoritative by all major branches of Christianity and affirms the divinity of Jesus and the Trinity of God the creator as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Easter is a moveable feast taking place after the Full Moon following the spring equinox, or at some point between March 22 and April 25 in the Gregorian calendar. Eastern Christianity of the Orthodox Churches continues to base its calculations on the older Julian calendar, which means that the dates of their Christian holidays currently differ from the Western ones.

In the Western Church, Easter was preceded by Lent, a forty-day period of fasting (excluding Sundays). In early Christian thought, gluttony (overeating) had been defined as one of the Seven Deadly Sins along with wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust and envy. This was an era of scarcity. Lent is a partial fast where you abstain from certain types of food such as cheese, meat and eggs. This is very different from the fasting done by Muslims during Ramadan, who abstain completely from food and drink during the day for an entire month, including water in very hot countries, and then eat lots of cakes and watch TV during the night. Some types of fasting can have beneficial health effects, but this latter variety is not healthy for the body.

The Roman Catholic Church imposed fasting during Lent. There were certain “lean days” when it was forbidden to eat “fat” food. Meat-eating was forbidden on almost 180 days — nearly half the year — but fish came to be regarded as suitable food for fast days. This meant that trade in fish could be quite profitable. Lofoten, the scenic Norwegian island group just north of the Arctic Circle, enjoys a climate that is technically classified as “temperate” due to the warm waters of the Gulf Stream that heat northwestern Europe. Since the Viking Age, if not before, stockfish — cod hung on wooden racks to be air-dried by the Sun and the salt breeze from the sea — has been made here. It has a long storage life. By medieval times it was exported via the port city of Bergen and the trading network of the Hanseatic League to Continental Western Europe. Salted cod (bacalao) is still popular in Portugal, Spain and Italy.

Lent ends with the Last Supper on Holy Thursday, when Christ is said to have given the ceremony of communion to his followers, the Twelve Disciples: “Take of this bread and eat of it, for it is my body. Take of this wine and drink of it, for it is my blood.” One of them, Judas Iscariot, betrayed Jesus and sold him out to Roman authorities for thirty pieces of silver:

The next day, Good Friday, is the deepest day of mourning in the Christian religion because it is the day Christ was crucified (on a cross made of olive wood), died, and was buried. On Easter Sunday, Christians believe that Christ rose again and ascended into heaven. Eggs were forbidden during Lent, but were used heavily in ritual foods when fast was broken on Easter Sunday. They were in special egg breads like Ukrainian paska or Russian saffron-scented kulich. Sometimes the bread is decorated with dyed hard-boiled eggs or shaped into a cross. For Easter dinner, traditional foods depend on geography. In the Mediterranean, it is lamb; in Northern Europe, ham; in England, beef. The custom of giving painted eggs for Easter dates to the later Middle Ages. Baskets to hold the eggs represent birds’ nest. The Easter Bunny with his basket of painted eggs came to America with German immigrants in the nineteenth century.

The Easter lamb here refers to Jesus himself, as Christ was seen as “the Lamb of God.” To Christians they constitute a symbol of the Resurrection, but eggs are a self-evident symbol of creation and rebirth. The use of painted and decorated Easter eggs was first recorded in the Late Middle Ages.

The only possible ancient parallel is found among the Jews, the soup with hardboiled eggs of Passover, served after the Seder ceremony. There are no references earlier than the fifteenth century which mention the distribution of eggs at Easter, but from the sixteenth century on there are plenty. A tradition that eggs are brought by a hare or bunny is found in German lands, but it goes no farther back than the seventeenth century. It was the subject of a medical dissertation at Heidelberg in 1682, where it was announced as a novelty:

In some parts of Germany, instead of a hare, a bird or a fox brings eggs, or eggs may fall from the sky, together with church bells returning from a trip to Rome to be blessed. This started as a popular rather than a genuine folk custom of the South of France in the mid-nineteenth century, and was encouraged if not actually suggested by the clergy in an effort to make Easter celebrations more religious. Confectioners have spread the idea to all other countries, eggs and bells being an excellent way to market chocolate. Decorated eggs are not by any means all meant to be kept; most are eaten. However, in Romania and the Ukraine the shells are saved to be thrown in the river (an ancient gesture with various different kinds of significance). The shells go down into the other world to tell the dead to be of good cheer: Christ is risen, and all at home are rejoicing.

The news feed is light tonight because our Italian tipsters seem to have started their Easter holiday on Good Friday.

The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood has alarmed various secular groups who thought it was their ally, by calling for the implementation of full sharia in Egypt.

In other news, four people were shot in street violence in the Swedish city of Gothenburg. There’s no word yet on the ethnicity of the shooters or the victims, but Gothenburg is a notorious nest of intensive cultural enrichment.

To see the headlines and the articles, open the full news post.

Thanks to 1389AD, AA, AC, Caroline Glick, Diana West, Fjordman, Gaia, McR, RE, Steen, and all the other tipsters who sent these in.

Commenters are advised to leave their comments at this post (rather than with the news articles) so that they are more easily accessible.

Caveat: Articles in the news feed are posted “as is”. Gates of Vienna cannot vouch for the authenticity or accuracy of the contents of any individual item posted here. We check each entry to make sure it is relatively interesting, not patently offensive, and at least superficially plausible. The link to the original is included with each item’s title. Further research and verification are left to the reader.

“How far do we back down? How far do we give in? When do we say there is enough?

“I mean, is intimidation and fear enough of a reason to give in? And once we start giving in, well, when do we stop?

“…I don’t think it’s a good enough reason.”

Below are the closing remarks made by pastor Terry Jones during his trial today in the Dearborn courtroom. Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for YouTubing this video:

The political sensation of the moment in Austria concerns the appointment of a very young man — younger than the future Baron, so an infant from my point of view — to the important position of assistant to the new interior minister.

Our Austrian correspondent Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff has compiled a report on all the controversy. The political context can appear confusing, so here’s a preliminary listing of the dramatis personae:

• ÖVP (Austrian People’s Party): Center-right, but afraid to confront the issue of Islamization. Desperately trying to maintain position.
• SPÖ (Socialist Party of Austria): Typical European Social Democrats. Currently on the wane.
• FPÖ (Freedom Party of Austria): Right-wing, opposed to mass immigration. Currently on the rise.
• BZÖ (Alliance for the Future of Austria): Right-wing, also anti-immigration. Founded by Jorg Haider.
• Die Grünen: The Greens. Not really a player, but thrown in for completeness’ sake.

Shakeup in the ÖVP
by ESW

Major happenings in Austria. I was initially speechless, but… read on.

Ten days ago Josef Pröll (43), the vice-chancellor, minister of finance and ÖVP party leader, was forced to retire from his post for reasons of health. The result was a new ÖVP leader, current foreign minister Michael Spindelegger, who decided on a major ÖVP cabinet reshuffle.

Interior minister Maria Fekter, an integration hardliner, will take over the ministry of finance, and Johanna Mikl-Leitner will become the new interior minister. She is said to be as tough as Fekter. The big scandal, however, is the state secretary to support Mikl-Leitner: 24-year-old Sebastian Kurz, a law student (a former student of mine), whose role will be to act as the liberal watchdog to soften Mikl-Leitner’s positions.

The online forums are awash with outrage regarding Kurz: He is too young, has not finished his education, and has no idea about integration matters. 99.9% of all commenters in the forums are highly negative regarding ÖVP, look forward to voting for the FPÖ, and some even say they are sad that they voted for ÖVP in previous elections.

ÖVP currently hovers around 20% in polls, while FPÖ is at 26%, SPÖ at 27%.

I know Sebastian personally. He is a hard-working young man.

What I find despicable is not that he took on the post, but rather that Mr. Spindelegger hands an important political post to a 24-year-old without any experience. How can someone believe that a young man, actually a child, can solve problems which include culture-enrichers and Islam? It is simply baffling. I feel sorry for Sebastian. And I am angry at Mr. Spindelegger.

I cannot wait for the next election results. They will be disastrous for ÖVP. They deserve no less.

In addition, critics, myself included, contend that the post of state secretary — in effect secretary to the minister — pays a whopping €14,000 per month with a full cabinet, a chauffeur, and other perks. This is simply too high a salary for a political apprentice with no higher education.

Kurz’ supporters say “Give him a chance.” I say that this salary is way too high to “give him a chance”. This is, after all, taxpayers’ money. What a slap in the face for those hard-working people, the few that are left in the squeezed middle class.

First interview with Sebastian Kurz:

This is a huge challenge for me and all of us. A firm command of the German language is the basic necessity for good integration. This must be expanded. I particularly address children and young adults in this regard.

It is easy for [FPÖ leader Heinz-Christian] Strache to talk the talk, but in truth, most of those he puts down are Austrian citizens!

My first plans are to meet with NGOs, talk to experts, and listen to their ideas. We must improve integration because what would happen if social life doesn’t work is evident in many European cities.

A lack of German skills leads to parallel societies. I want to prevent that. I want to make a contribution so that the number of those speaking good German rises. It is important to me that we have a peaceful society.

I am in charge of integration, for those people who have a residence permit or already have Austrian citizenship. Questions of immigration should be addressed neither with daydreams nor with hate speech.

During the Vienna local elections [in fall 2010] I demanded that imams preach in German only. I am not in favor of prohibiting [the preaching in another language], but I still believe imams should preach in German.

This interview does not bode well for the future. It shows nothing new, just more of the same.

There’s more information at The Austrian Times (in English):

• Spindelegger’s new team
• ÖVP focuses on core group

Further update: Some unknown person or persons has posted bond on behalf of Terry Jones and Wayne Sapp, and they are out of jail.

You have to admire this man’s grit. He and his co-pastor refused on principle to pay a $1 bond, so they’ve been thrown in the slammer:

A judge late today sent two Florida pastors to jail for refusing to post a $1 bond.

The stunning development came after a Dearborn jury sided with prosecutors, ruling that Terry Jones and Wayne Sapp would breach the peace if they rallied at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.

Prosecutors asked Judge Mark Somers for $45,000 bond. Somers then set bond at $1 each for the two pastors.

They refused to pay. And Somers ordered them remanded to jail.

The jury at the courthouse in Dearborn, Michigan has finally ruled: by holding his demo in front of the Islamic Center, Terry Jones would be breaching the peace.

People are threatening to kill him because he criticizes Islam. That means his protest would “lead to violence”. Those are the rules of the game now in Modern Multicultural America.

Everyone says the USA is better off than Europe, but I don’t see much difference — we started out way behind them in the Islamization race, but we’re catching up fast.

It’s not clear what will happen next. The demonstration at the mosque was scheduled for 5pm, which has now come and gone. Pastor Jones says he’ll be back, but it sounds like it will be next week.

According to The Detroit Free Press:

Dearborn Jury: Terry Jones Rally Would Breach the Peace

A Dearborn jury just sided with prosecutors, ruling that Terry Jones and Wayne Sapp would breach the peace if they rallied at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.

Judge Mark Somers will now determine the conditions of Terry Jones’ bond. Pastor Jones is sitting quietly after the jury’s decision, his head tilted down a bit, staring at the table.

The development comes after the jury deliberated for several hours. Watch Freep.com for the verdict.

In closing arguments, Wayne County assistant prosecutor Robert Moran said the pastors would disturb the peace if they were allowed to protest today at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.

Jones and Sapp argued their right is protected under the First Amendment. “That’s what made America great,” said Sapp. “We’re entitled to our opinion.”

‘We’ll do it today at 5 or we’ll come back next week’ Earlier, after an intense debate in court this morning over free speech and religion, Pastor Terry Jones said that he’s not backing down from his plans to protest at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.

Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad testified today that there have been at least four serious threats made against Jones from metro Detroiters, arguing that his protest could lead to violence if allowed.

But Jones told the Free Press during his lunch break: “We’ll do it today at 5 or we’ll come back next week.”

Speaking at a McDonald’s restaurant down the street from the courthouse, Jones — who’s defending himself — said he thought the proceedings are going well. And he said the government’s case was weak.

As he spoke, someone drove down Michigan Avenue yelling “Get out of Dearborn, you terrorist!”

[…]

The opening statements of Wayne County Prosecutor Robert Moran and Pastor Terry Jones offered clashing visions as both wrestled with issues of religion and freedom of speech. The court drew both supporters and opponents, Christians and Muslims. The ACLU of Michigan was also there to monitor the case because the group has concerns that Jones’ free speech rights are being violated by Wayne County and Dearborn Police.

Jones was in court along with Pastor Wayne Sapp, who is known for burning a copy of the Quran on Jones’ orders.

In his opening statement, Jones repeated negative comments about Islam that he made last month when he oversaw the burning of the Quran in Florida. He said in court today that the Quran “promotes terrorist activities around the world.”

He also strongly defended the U.S. Constitution.

“The one thing that makes the Constitution great is the First Amendment,” Jones said to the jury.

Except for the Bible, the Constitution is the greatest document in history, Jones said.

“The 1st Amendment does us no good if it confines us to saying what is popular,” he added.

Moran said in his opening statement this was an issue of security and breaching the peace.

A favorite pastime of culture-enrichers in Denmark is to stage courtroom riots whenever one of their ethnic fellows is convicted of violating one of those silly infidel laws.

The following video shows the response to a courtroom brawl last Friday. Police were able to quell the enrichment with the help of police dogs, who did significant damage to three of the “youths”.

Does a dog bite hurt more if you’re a Muslim? I would think that the haram nature of the attacking beast could only intensify the pain.

Many thanks to Hans Erling Jensen for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

For a complete listing of previous enrichment news, see The Cultural Enrichment Archives.

Hat tip: TB.

Our Danish correspondent TB sends this unusual item — a rap video about the war in Afghanistan, by a Danish soldier who was there.

TB says:

This piece of music is probably not spot-on when it comes to the taste of the average GoV reader. It is a tribute to the soldiers (not only the Danes) fighting in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

The guy who recorded the number is a Danish rapper who went to war in 2009. His video “Goodbye 2009” was originally available only in Danish, but he has now posted a version with English subtitles.

The video has now been nominated at the GI Film Festival. Information about is posted at the military’s homepage, and here is the GI Film Festival presentation of the filmmaker Julius Telmer.

From the YouTube notes for the video:

The music video tells M.I.L.O.’s personal story over the course of six months which brought him from his last concert in his home country Denmark to the war in Afghanistan.

WARNING: The subtitles for this video include a few instances of foul language:

Pastor Terry Jones is in court today in Detroit fighting the city’s refusal to grant him a permit for his demonstration unless he posts a “peace bond” of $100,000. As of this writing, the afternoon court session has begun, with no decision yet announced.

Rev. Jones vows to demonstrate outside the Islamic Center no matter what, even if it means going to jail. In the first video below, you’ll notice that he underlines the importance under the First Amendment of “unpopular speech” — that is, speech isn’t free unless one can say what others do not want to hear.

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for YouTubing these videos. I’ve placed them below the jump to avoid the Blogger bug:

Video 1

Video 2

Hat tip: RE.

Fjordman’s latest book review has been published at Tundra Tabloids. Some excerpts are below:

The Human Web: A Bird’s-Eye View of World History from 2003 is an attempt by Robert McNeill and William H. McNeill, a father-and-son team of historians, to outline the major trends of human societies from Paleolithic times until the dawn of the twenty-first century.

Just out of curiosity, I searched for the word “jihad” in the index of The Human Web and found a single reference to it. Arab Muslims had laid siege to Constantinople in AD 674-678 but failed to take the city. They tried again in 717-718, but once more the Byzantines, assisted by Bulgars, managed to repel them. On both occasions they were crucially aided by so-called Greek fire, a mysterious, but highly effective flammable substance possibly similar to modern napalm that was successfully employed to set ablaze the attacking Muslim fleet. They lost several important provinces, but had managed to salvage Constantinople for the time being.

If you believe Robert and William H. McNeill, after this event in the year 718, “Subsequent fluctuations of the military-political balance between Christendom and Islam, though substantial, never shook each side’s commitment to their respective versions of the one True Faith. Consequently, Crusade and jihad — raid and counter-raid — came to prevail in Christian-Muslim borderlands, even though trade and intellectual contacts were never broken off.”

Describing the Crusades, which were of limited duration in time and space, with the peculiar Islamic institution of Jihad, which is valid for all times and all places, is grossly misleading.

Read the rest Tundra Tabloids.