Late last year I posted about Carnita Matthews, a niqab-clad culture-enricher in Australia who was stopped by a policeman and given a ticket for a traffic violation. She raised a big stink, threatened to make the officer pay for his treatment of her, and made good on her threat by filing an official “racism” complaint against him for allegedly attempting to forcibly unveil her.

Unfortunately for Ms. Matthews, but fortunately for the officer’s career, a dashboard camera in the police car had recorded the entire encounter. He was completely exonerated, and the burqa bimbo was charged with filing a false police complaint. The magistrate found her guilty, and sentenced her to six months in jail.

She was set free on bail, and immediately filed an appeal. The grounds for her appeal provided the most entertaining aspect of the case: she insisted that since a veiled woman had filed the false complaint, there was no way to prove that it was in fact the defendant who had done it.

The affair has now entered the realm of high farce…

…an appellate court has overthrown the conviction on exactly the grounds asserted by the defendant. Ms. Matthews is free, and her culturally enriched supporters celebrated so vigorously outside the courthouse that they had to be forcibly restrained by the police.

Vlad Tepes has gathered the latest news in a video, and follows it with a recap of what happened last year:

Whatever happened to that famous Australian no-nonsense level-headedness in matters such as this?

Does the state disqualify any appellate court judges who possess common sense?

Last December we reported on the Belligerent Burqa Bimbo in Australia who got busted for making a false complaint that a police officer had attempted to forcibly uncover her face. Well, now she has been un-busted — her conviction has been overturned on appeal. Vlad has made a summary video about the case. We’ll have more on it later.

In other news, despite public animosity towards its proposed austerity program, the Greek government has survived a crucial no-confidence vote. Thousands of trade union protestors from all over Europe have converged on Luxembourg to stage demonstrations against austerity programs in the EU. Meanwhile, the IMF warns that Spain is at risk, and Britain is contemplating the possible breakdown of the eurozone, and what it may mean for the British economy.

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

Thanks to Anne-Kit, Caroline Glick, CSP, Fjordman, VM, Zenster, 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.

Last month we posted a video of Bill Warner’s presentation of the Tennessee Freedom Coalition’s event in Nashville. Mr. Warner’s speech was popular in Germany, and one of our German contacts volunteered to translate it.

Many thanks to www.derprophet.info for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:

A German transcript is below the jump.

00:27		Nun wird Bill Warner das Podium betreten, er war|Universitätsprofessor, Geschäftsmann und Physikforscher.
00:34		Er hat in letzter Zeit seine Leidenschaft auf das|Verständnis der geistigen Prinzipien des Islam konzentriert –
00:37		wichtiger aber noch ist ihm, daß auch andere die|Kapazität entwickeln, den Islam zu verstehen.
00:42		Er wurde Direktor des Zentrums zum Studium des|politischen Islam,
00:45		er ist ein internationaler Referent zum Thema der|politischen islamischen Doktrin.
00:48		Er hat Dutzende von Büchern herausgegeben, viele|sind an dieser Veranstaltung erhältlich zum Beispiel
00:52		ein Koran, die Biographie Mohammeds und eine|Zusammenfassung der politischen Tradition Mohammeds.
00:58		Er hat auch einen brillanten Artikel mit dem Titel|sharia geschrieben
01:01		um verstehen zu können, was das sharia Gesetz|beinhaltet.
01:03		Er wird Ihnen heute Abend ein Verständnis|vermitteln, was sharia beinhaltet,
01:07		was der politische Islam in der Geschichte war|und heute ist.
01:24		Heute Morgen rief mich eine Nachbarin an|und sie sagte:
01:27		„Bill, du warst wieder in der Zeitung (The Tennessean).“|Das hört sich nicht gut an –
01:39		Die mögen mich da nicht. Die Nachbarin brachte den|Artikel aber rüber und ich war erstaunt,
01:44		daß ich mit einem Teil davon – dem Titel – sogar|einverstanden war.
01:51		Sie schrieben über Sam Solomon und Geert Wilders|und mich,
01:55		was sie aber insbesondere betreffend Sam und|Geert sagten war,
01:58		daß wir keine ausländischen Agitatoren bräuchten,|um die Amerikanischen Werte zu definieren.
02:06		Sie trafen den Nagel auf den Kopf … aber sie|sprachen natürlich von Sams und Geerts Postleitzahl …
02:22		aber sehen sie, Sam, Geert und ich sind Nachbarn;
02:28		denn wir leben in derselben Zivilisation. Wir leben|in einer Zivilisation, in der es 2 Schlüsselprinzipien gibt.
02:44		Das erste ist die Goldene Regel, das zweite ist|kritisches Denken und von den zweien leiten wir das
02:53		stärkste politische Prinzip unserer Kultur ab:|die Freiheit.
03:03		Dies scheint selbstverständlich zu sein; es|gibt jedoch eine andere Zivilisation,
03:06		welche versucht, unsere Werte zu definieren und
03:09		ich muß sagen, daß sie für viele Leute erfolg-|reich während 1400 Jahren Werte definiert hat.
03:16		Die Prinzipien des Islam sind Unterwerfung|und Dualität –
03:22		darüber möchte ich heute Abend reden – und von
03:26		den Prinzipien der Unterwerfung und Dualität leiten|sie ihr grundlegendes soziales Prinzip der Sklaverei ab.
03:34		Wir haben also eine Zivilisation welche auf|dem Konzept ruht, daß Menschen frei sind
03:39		und eine andere Zivilisation, welche auf dem|Konzept der Sklaverei beruht –
03:45		So habt ihr (die Zeitung) also recht ich will keine|ausländischen Agitatoren, welche meine Werte bestimmen.
03:59		Als ich den Rest des Artikels las, war es das|Übliche:
04:05		da war die Moralpolizei, die Tugendschützer,|welche dies tun,
04:15		indem sie Leute wie mich, Sam und Geert als|unmoralisch abstempeln,
04:21		nicht wahr, wir sind die Fanatiker und die Hasser.
04:26		Aber wissen sie, dies ist nicht wirklich, wie es|funktioniert, denn wir haben eine Moral
04:34		und wir haben Prinzipien und in Tat und Wahrheit|sind es gute.
04:38		Ich will aber mit euch über die Tatsache reden,|daß dieser Artikel fast nur aus Meinungen besteht.
04:44		Wir brauchen aber keine Meinungen, denn sie|sind ein bißchen wie Ellbogen;
04:49		jeder Mensch hat mindestens zwei davon.
04:54		Was wir brauchen sind Fakten – die konsistenteste|Botschaft, welche die Medien uns jedoch liefern ist,
05:01		daß es keine wahrhaften Tatsachen über den Islam|gibt, sondern daß es nur Meinungen gibt.
05:08		Und es wird uns gesagt, daß wir uns die Meinung|dieses Professors, jenes Imams
05:12		oder einer TV Person anhören sollen – wir|können so nicht weiterkommen.
05:19		Ich bin ausgebildeter Wissenschaftler und ich|liebe Fakten.
05:23		In Tat und Wahrheit habe ich einen kurzen|erfrischenden Überblick zusammengestellt,
05:29		den ich euch heute präsentieren will. Ich will euch|ein bißchen über manche Fakten –
05:32		dies wird so buchstabiert F-A-K-T-E-N -|des Islams lehren.
05:38		In Kürze werden sie sich vielleicht etwas unwohl in|Ihren Sitzen fühlen,
05:41		denn wir werden uns ein Dia ansehen und darauf|sind ein paar Zahlen ersichtlich.
05:46		Zuvor möchte ich Euch folgendermaßen erklären,|weshalb es nie eine Übereinkunft
05:52		zwischen den Medienschaffenden und mir|geben kann:
05:58		Ich will euch eine kleine, gut dokumentierte|Geschichte aus dem Leben Mohammeds erzählen.
06:03		Eines schönen Tages saß Mohammed in der Stadt|Medina neben seiner 12 jährigen Gattin
06:11		(die Ehe wurde vollzogen, als sie 9 war) und die|beiden schauten sich an,
06:14		wie 800 männliche Juden geköpft wurden. Deren|Ehefrauen waren schon in die Sklaverei verkauft
06:23		und die Kinder von muslimischen Familien|adoptiert worden.
06:28		Dies ist eine Tatsache, mit der jeder Muslim|übereinstimmt – und sie definiert etwas,
06:34		nämlich die 3 verschiedenen Auffassungen des Islam.
06:39		Sehen Sie, die 1. Ansicht über den Islam ist diejenige|der Muslime,
06:43		daß dies ein wunderbarer Tag des kompletten|Triumphs gewesen sei,
06:49		denn die Juden haben ja die Prophetschaft|Mohammeds abgelehnt und
06:53		dafür haben sie den ultimativen Preis bezahlt.
06:57		Für ihre eigene intellektuelle Freiheit|wurden sie umgebracht.
07:01		Okay, hier sind die 3 Auffassungen:|Für die Muslime war dies ein Tag
07:06		des Triumphs, weil Medina nun judenrein war.
07:14		Als Mohammed nämlich nach Medina kam, war die|Stadt halb jüdisch an jenem Tag triumphierte der Islam.
07:22		Nun gibt es auch eine andere Auffassung und es|ist die meinige ich bin ein kafir,
07:31		ein Ungläubiger, und meiner Meinung nach war|jener Tag eine Tragödie,
07:38		dies war ein Akt des Bösen, ein Kriegsverbrechen.|Es gibt aber auch eine 3. Auffassung
07:45		und es ist die am meisten verbreitete, wir finden|sie in den Medien und sie lautet folgendermaßen:
07:52		Dies war damals und nun ist heute – wir brauchen|nicht zu werten; der Westen
07:58		und die Christen haben Schlimmeres verübelt.
08:02		Also hier sind die 3 Auffassungen und nun merkt euch|was man kann sie niemals in Übereinstimmung bekommen.
08:11		Das bedeutet also, daß die Journalisten, welche|Apologeten des Islam sind, immerwährend denjenigen
08:19		widersprechen, welche kafir sind und manche|Tatsachen des Islam wirklich kennen.
08:27		Nun möchte ich ein wenig Zeit dafür verwenden,|sie mit einigen dieser Fakten bekannt zu machen.
08:34		dies ist ein Säulendiagramm – keine Angst,|Es ist wirklich ziemlich einfach.
08:41		Wenn man an den Islam denkt, nimmt man an,|er habe damit zutun,
08:45		wie man ein Muslim sei, nicht wahr? Aber schauen|sie sich einmal das an:
08:50		Dies besagt, daß 64% des Korans vom kafir handelt
08:57		und nicht was das Muslimsein ausmacht. Es handelt|sich also um dich und mich.
09:01		Nun führe ich 2 weitere Begriffe ein die ahadith,
09:05		welche die Überlieferungen Mohammeds sind und 37% handeln von uns.
09:11		Und nun in der sira, der offiziellen Biographie|Mohammeds, handeln erstaunliche 81% des Inhalts
09:19		von uns. Was uns anzutun ist und wie wir zu|behandeln sind.
09:24		Wenn wir uns also mit dem Islam beschäftigen,|scheinen die Muslime sehr erfinderisch zu sein,
09:30		wie sie mit uns umgehen sollen und|sie sind sich darin einig.
09:34		Es gibt einen Grund dafür sie haben eine Gebrauchs-|anweisung, sie haben diese Gebrauchsanweisung
09:39		schon seit 1400 Jahren angewendet und es|funktioniert immer noch.
09:44		Nun möchte ich euch einen anderen wertvollen|Fakt erklären:
09:52		Man hat Euch 2 Lügen über den Islam erzählt:|die erste davon ist, daß Islam eine Religion sei.
10:00		Er ist vielmehr eine komplette Zivilisation und weil|soviel davon vom kafir handelt
10:05		ist der Islam vor allem ein politisches Phänomen.
10:08		Denn sehen sie, wir – die Ungläubigen – sind nicht|im Islam eingeschlossen wir sind total außen vor.
10:13		Dies ist also die politische Natur des Islam.|Hier ist die Hauptsache 86% der heiligen
10:23		Texte des Islam handeln von Mohammed,
10:27		nicht von Allah, im Islam geht es vor allem|um Mohammed.
10:33		Das nächste Dia: Dies ist die Erfolgskurve|Mohammeds. Ich bin ein Wissenschaftler und liebe Kurven …
10:42		Schauen sie aber diese einmal genauer an; sie|besagt, daß Mohammed
10:47		die Religion des Islam während 13 Jahren gepredigt|und lediglich 150 Anhänger gewonnen hat.
10:57		Dann ging er nach Medina, wurde jihadi sowie|Politiker und nun wir haben
11:03		eine erfolgreiche Formel, eine|sehr erfolgreiche Formel.
11:10		Als Mohammed starb, gab es keinen einzigen|lebendigen Feind mehr –
11:19		Wenn er nur die Religion praktiziert hätte, wären|es lediglich etwa 300 bis 600
11:27		Muslime gewesen, die ihn überlebt hätten.
11:30		Denken Sie bitte darüber nach, was ich Ihnen|hier sage der Islam ist primär ein politisches System.
11:37		Auch der Islam, den wir antreffen, wenn er in unsere|Gesellschaft dringt und uns als Dummköpfe behandelt.
11:45		Es gibt einen Grund dafür sie haben eine|Gebrauchsanweisung und wir nicht.
11:51		Wir müssen aber eine entwickeln, während wir|voranschreiten.
11:55		Ich schlage vor, daß die Fakten bestimmen sollen,|wie wir mit dem Islam umgehen.
12:02		Dies ist ein ideologischer Krieg.
12:07		Es ist ein Krieg zwischen 2 Zivilisationen und|wir werden diesen Krieg nicht mit
12:12		Bomben und Munition gewinnen.
12:16		Wir werden diesen Krieg gewinnen, indem wir|unsere Köpfe einsetzen;
12:20		wir werden diesen Krieg gewinnen, indem|wir kritisch denken.
12:24		Noch etwas wie oft mußten sie hören, „Dies|ist nicht der wirkliche Islam“ oder „Das ist islamischer
12:37		Extremismus“ oder „Oh, bin Laden war ein|Radikaler“ Lassen Sie mich etwas sagen:
12:47		Mohammed definiert, was die Norm ist. Moham-|med definiert, was es bedeutet, moderat zu sein.
12:55		Wenn man ein Muslim ist und man so wie|Mohammed handelt, ist man moderat.
13:04		Dies sind Tatsachen, mit denen wir lernen|müssen, umzugehen. Denn wir müssen
13:08		uns mit dem Islam auseinandersetzen, nicht mit|Meinungen darüber.
13:11		Wir brauchen kein kritisches Denken,|das auf Meinungen
13:14		sondern ein kritisches Denken, das|auf Fakten basiert.
13:17		Und wir brauchen Menschen, welche sich nicht|für die Unterdrücker, sondern für die Opfer einsetzen.
13:25		Was Sam, Geert und ich tun ist wir wehren uns|für die Opfer des Islam
13:32		und wir wehren uns gegen die Unterdrücker.
13:44		Ich bitte Sie also, daß Sie Sam, Geert und mich|in diesem ideologischen Krieg unterstützen,
13:51		denn dieser Krieg ist entscheidend.
13:55		Dieser Krieg wurde in der Türkei verloren,|welches einmal christlich war und jetzt muslimisch ist –
14:00		dieser Krieg wurde im Irak verloren,
14:02		welcher einmal ein christliches Land war -|dieser Krieg wurde in Ägypten und Nordafrika verloren.
14:09		Wieder und wider wurde dieser Krieg verloren.
14:11		Er ist nun hier, er ereignet sich heute und wir|müssen uns darauf vorbereiten.
14:15		Es ist aber wirklich ein Leichtes, denn sehen sie,|wenn Sie einmal die Fakten
14:19		des Islams kennen, entdecken sie etwas:
14:22		es geht nicht darum, daß der Islam so stark ist,|sondern daß wir ignorant,
14:26		angsterfüllt, desorganisiert und folglich|schwach sind.
14:30		Wir können dies überwinden – es ist durchaus|machbar.
14:34		Ich lade Sie nochmals ein, sich Geert, Sam|und mir anzuschließen.
14:37		Vielen Dank.

I’ve just begun reading The Next American Civil War: The Populist Revolt against the Liberal Elite by Lee Harris. We’ve had the book for a long time, and I think Dymphna may even have reviewed it in this space a few months ago. But I’m just now getting to it — I’m always behind in my reading.

The passage below, from Chapter 1 (pp 12-14), is striking for its lucid description of the difference between Burkean and Lockean concepts of human liberty. The “optimism” that the author is referring to concerns the enthusiasm with which American neoconservatives embraced the idea of bringing liberty to the despotisms of the Middle East:

Behind this optimism lies a long philosophical tradition that looks upon liberty as the natural birthright of all mankind, a tradition most closely associated with the seventeenth century’s John Locke and the eighteenth century’s Thomas Jefferson, one that has been enormously influential among English-speaking people, especially in America. When President George W. Bush argued that we all want the same things — among which he included liberty — he was echoing this philosophy of freedom. But there is another English tradition about liberty that takes a radically different view of the subject.

The eighteenth-century Anglo-Irish orator and political thinker Edmund Burke gave the classic formulation of a rival philosophy of liberty when he argued that the unparalleled rights and liberties enjoyed by the English people of his time were not the result of any vague or abstract natural right but were an inheritance from their ancestors. Against those who saw liberty as a universal right of all men, Burke argued that liberty could only flourish among those whose ancestors had fought for it, and who were themselves determined to preserve and cherish the rights and privileges that had been won for them by earlier generations. Liberty was not to be found in bold experimentation, which often destroyed it, but in a kind of political conservationism — that is to say, a careful and alert stewardship over those cultural, political, and religious traditions that were the indispensable condition of the preservation of a free society.

In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the American conservationist movement sought to protect America’s great natural treasures, such as Yosemite Valley and Yellowstone Park, from destruction through pollution and exploitation. A century earlier, Burke’s political conservationism aimed to protect Britain’s great national institutions, such as Parliament and the Church of England, from reformers who wished to tinker and tamper with them. Behind both conservationist movements, however, was the same insight. Great things that are the work of time, that have arisen organically and through the interplay of many contending and conflicting forces, must be conserved, because once they are gone there is no way of replacing them. For Burke, English liberty was like the Grand Canyon — a serendipitous gift of Providence that no amount of human contrivance could hope to recreate once human folly had allowed it to perish.

At first sight, these two conflicting paradigms of liberty — Locke’s and Burke’s — may appear to be two sides of a purely speculative dispute, without any serious consequences for the real world. Yet it was the triumph of Locke’s concept of liberty over Burke’s that was ultimately responsible for one of the longest, costliest, and most controversial of all the wars that the United States has ever fought. Had Burke’s view of liberty been dominant in White House circles, Saddam Hussein might still have been overthrown, but there would have been far less extravagant rhetoric about bringing democracy to the Middle East. Indeed, one might argue that the dampening of expectations for democracy in the Middle East reflects a revival of Burke’s emphasis on liberty as a specific cultural tradition prized by some societies but not by others.

We can’t revive Burke too quickly, from my point of view. If his insights don’t start guiding our policy soon, the United States will probably destroy itself trying to do the impossible in the Middle East.

I may run into other relevant passages in the book as I make my way through it. If I do, I’ll fire up the scanner and post some more excerpts here.

The second installment of Fjordman’s in-depth evaluation of Charles Murray’s book Human Accomplishment continues at Vlad Tepes. Some excerpts are below:

In physics we find the English mathematician, astronomer, theologian and alchemist Isaac Newton (1643-1727) in first place, tied with Albert Einstein (1879-1955), born in Germany to a Jewish family, later becoming a Swiss as well as an American citizen. Behind them follow the prolific New Zealand-born British nuclear physicist Ernest Rutherford (1871-1937); the English naturalist Michael Faraday (1791-1867), a great pioneer in the fields of electromagnetism and electrochemistry; the brilliant Italian naturalist, mathematician and experimentalist Galileo Galilei (1564-1642); the gifted and highly eccentric English experimental and theoretical physicist Henry Cavendish (1731-1810); the quantum and nuclear physicist Niels Bohr (1885-1962) from Denmark, known for his contributions to atomic theory; the English physicist Joseph John “J. J.” Thomson (1856-1940) who discovered the electron, the first subatomic particle; the Scottish mathematical physicist James Clerk Maxwell (1831-1879), whose insights into electromagnetism and light were of fundamental importance for modern science and technology; the French physicist Pierre Curie (1859-1906), a pioneer in the study of crystallography, piezoelectricity and radioactivity.

After them comes Gustav Robert Kirchhoff of Germany (1824-1887), who developed spectroscopy for chemical analysis of the Sun and coined the term “blackbody” radiation, later used by fellow German physicist Max Planck; the Italian-born scientist Enrico Fermi (1901-1954), who made many contributions to nuclear and particle physics; the German scientist Werner Heisenberg (1901-1976), remembered for his work in the field of quantum mechanics and the formulation of his famous uncertainty principle in 1927; the Polish-born France-based physicist and chemist Marie Sklodowska Curie (1867-1934), known especially for her studies together with her husband Pierre of radioactivity, a term she coined; the English theoretical physicist Paul Dirac (1902-1984), who made great contributions to quantum mechanics and electrodynamics and predicted the existence of antimatter; the English scientific brewer James Prescott Joule (1818-1889), who studied the nature of heat and helped establish the conservation of energy principle and the First Law of Thermodynamics; the Dutch polymath Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695), who among many other things developed a wave theory of light; the English physician and natural philosopher William Gilbert (1544-1603), who introduced the term and concept “electricity” and whose work De Magnete described experimental studies of magnetism; the English physician and physicist Thomas Young (1773-1829), whose double-slit experiments conducted around the year 1800 converted many European naturalists to a wave theory of light; and finally the dynamic English natural philosopher and instrument maker Robert Hooke (1635-1703).

Newton’s and Einstein’s top position in this category should surprise nobody. Galileo’s ranking, based exclusively on his status as a founder of modern physics, not his contributions to astronomy, is uncontroversial. Rutherford discovered two types of radioactivity, described the nucleus of the atom and helped to develop our understanding of the subatomic world, bombarded atomic nuclei to change their composition and made many other valuable contributions. Faraday’s work on induction and on electricity and magnetism in general was of fundamental importance to the development of electrical generators and engines.

Other prominent physicists are Max Planck, Wolfgang Pauli, Hans Christian Ørsted, Antoine Henri Becquerel, Ludwig Boltzmann, Heinrich Hertz, John William Strutt (Lord Rayleigh), Evangelista Torricelli, Carl David Anderson , Hans Geiger, René Descartes, Otto von Guericke, Guillaume Amontons, George Gabriel Stokes, Archimedes, Amedeo Avogadro, Jacques Charles, Democritus, Hendrik Lorentz, George FitzGerald, Heike Kamerlingh Onnes, Ernst Mach, Thales of Miletus, Johannes Diderik van der Waals and Charles T. Wilson.

Read the rest at at Vlad Tepes. The first installment in the series is here.

As I mentioned yesterday, Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff is visiting Canada. After speaking in Montreal last night, the following op-ed by her was published in The National Post:

Attacking the messenger
by Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff

The following text is adapted from remarks delivered by the author in Montreal on June 20 at a pro-free-speech event organized by the group ACT Now for Canada.

For far too long, many of us in the West have taken our basic freedoms for granted. These rights include freedom of individual conscience, the right to assemble peaceably, and the right to practice our religion freely, or to have no religion at all. Perhaps most importantly of all, they include the right to voice our opinions freely and to publish them without hindrance.

Nowhere is this attack on free speech more evident than in Europe. The Framework Decision of the European Union states that “each member state shall take the measures necessary . to ensure that the following intentional conduct is punishable.” Such “intentional conduct” includes “conduct which is a pretext for directing acts against a group of persons or a member of such a group defined by reference to race, colour, descent, or national or ethnic origin.”

Dutch politician Geert Wilders, me and numerous other Europeans who have criticized Islam have been punished as a result. For several years, I gave lectures and seminars on the dangers that Islamic law, known as Shariah, posed to my country, Austria. A year and a half ago, I was made aware that “hate speech” charges might be filed against me because I had “denigrated religious teachings.” Eventually, I was tried, convicted and fined for little more than repeating passages from the Koran itself.

My case was not based on law. It was a political trial. It was intended to silence criticism of Shariah law. It was also intended to discourage anyone who might consider following in my footsteps. The European establishment fears a frank discussion of Islam and its legal doctrines — and is reverting to the methods of a totalitarian state to enforce silence on the topic.

This has a historical precedent [in the Second World War era]. Totalitarianism did not come quickly to Austria: It took five years, from 1938 to 1943 for a full-fledged dictatorship to appear, and for people to realize it. If it had come overnight, Austrians would have fought against it. Instead, there was creeping gradualism [in the erosion of] freedom, including freedom of speech.

Vienna today is not a city of jackboots and swastikas. It is prosperous, peaceful and civilized. But there is another Vienna, which includes areas populated by a Muslim majority, where resentment breeds high crime rates, with high unemployment resulting from Muslim youth unwilling or unable to finish compulsory schooling. Ignoring these problems will not solve them, nor will silencing the voices of those — such as me — who criticize government inaction.

Reclaiming our nations will not be an easy task, but if we do not make the attempt, European civilization — the heart of Western civilization — will be destroyed. What were formerly our nations will become regions with indistinct boundaries, populated mainly by people of foreign cultures and administered by totalitarian bureaucrats. The natives will be reduced to curators and costumed actors in a quaint theme park.

Call it “Euro World”: Authentic cuisine, ethnic dancers and fireworks at 10 o’clock. Basic freedoms, a relic of the past.

For previous posts on the “hate speech” prosecution of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, see Elisabeth’s Voice: The Archives.

Our Italian tipsters seem to be on vacation, so news from the Mediterranean is rather scanty tonight. Fjordman, however, has made up for it with his tips on science, the financial crisis, and EU political affairs.

The crisis in the eurozone continues to intensify. The other nations of the EU have stepped up the pressure on Greece to form a national unity coalition and institute the austerity measures necessary to earn a new bailout. The euro countries are obviously worried about a possible Greek default, and the IMF has told the EU in no uncertain terms that it must achieve fuller “integration” and solve the debt problem, or risk damaging the world economy.

Meanwhile, Moody’s says that it may have to downgrade Italian debt as a result of the current economic situation. This announcement caused the Italian stock market to plunge 2%.

In other news, a nine-year-old girl was kidnapped in Pakistan while on her way to school and forced to wear a suicide bomb belt by terrorists who wanted to use her in a terror attack. She escaped, however, and reached safety before her belt could explode.

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

Thanks to AC, Egghead, Fjordman, Gaia, Steen, Vlad Tepes, 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.

The Mediterranean refugee crisis has become so large that Hollywood starlets are beginning to take notice. I’ll have more to say on this topic later on in the post, but first the latest news on the boat people.

A ship from the Polish navy — which is in the Mediterranean as a part of the NATO air war against Libya — rescued an unspecified of culture enrichers trying to cross over to Spain in a dinghy. The Poles helped them reach their destination:

Polish Navy Rescues African Migrants Dingy From Mediterranean

The Polish navy has rescued a group floating on a dingy in the Mediterranean, who were trying to escape the social upheavals in North Africa, it was reported Friday morning.

The group was transported to shore in Spain and given over to local authorities.

On Thursday evening the German mine-hunter Datteln spotted a group of people floating on a small vessel at a distance of about 80 km from the coast of Spain.

The emigrants were in good condition, but feared that their boat may start to sink at any moment.

The rescue operation was coordinated by the ship Admiral Xawery Czernicki, in the area as part of NATO-led anti-terrorist operations in the region.

Meanwhile the United Nations is once again hectoring the EU over its treatment of the Mediterranean refugees:

UN Urges Refugee ‘Solidarity’ Within European Union

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, has called for “solidarity” within the EU to deal with an influx of migrants to the bloc.

Mr Guterres was speaking on Italy’s island of Lampedusa, where thousands of north African migrants, including many Libyans, have arrived recently.

But he said that “for Europe as a whole it is a drop in the ocean”, saying that many migrants had gone elsewhere.

[…]

Mr Guterres’s visit to Lampedusa — a tiny island in the Mediterranean — is to see for himself the crowded conditions faced by the migrants.

More than 40,000 refugees, including a large number of Libyans, have descended on the tiny island, often making the crossing in crowded, unsafe boats.

Some have been escaping the violence in north Africa, whilst many have seen an opportunity to get into the EU.

The next sentence is disingenuous at best:

“When one looks at the situation in Libya, about one million people left Libya after the conflict started and less than 2% came to Europe. So, sometimes the debate in Europe is — in my opinion — a debate that doesn’t correspond to the reality,” Mr Guterres said.

First of all, as this article notes, the number of refugees that has landed in Europe so far this year is more than 40,000. As a matter of fact, more than 45,000 have landed in Italy alone. Reliable numbers for Greece, Malta, France, and Spain are not available, but they are likely to exceed 10,000. This means that 55,000 refugees, or 5.5% of the total, have landed in Europe so far.

Secondly, the vast majority of the rest are attempting to make their way home to countries further south, or are refugees just across the border from their homeland. Many of those will relocate fairly quickly.

This is hardly the same issue as it is for Europe, which is required to expend large sums maintaining the migrants — probably over €10,000 per enricher just in the early stages of the enrichment process — whereas none of the African countries is doing anything similar.

So the reality is that the current crisis can have devastating economic consequences, particularly for Italy, if it continues indefinitely.

At least Mr. Guterres admits that Lampedusa has a problem on its hands:

He admitted that “for a small island like Lampedusa, to have such a large number of people coming is a huge pressure”.

But he stressed: “I believe that with adequate forms of solidarity this challenge can be overcome.”

Thousands of migrants have been sent to camps on mainland Italy, leading to a political row with other EU countries which fear the migrants may cross their borders.

Now we come to the celebrity angle: Angelina Jolie has taken up the cause of the migrants and is visiting Lampedusa. According to CBS News:

Jolie, UNHCR Head Visit Island Swamped by Migrants

Lampedusa, Italy (AP) — The tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, which has been overwhelmed in recent months by refugees fleeing Tunisia and Libya, is getting some VIP visitors: U.N. envoy Angelina Jolie and the U.N. refugee chief.

Refugee chief Antonio Guterres arrived in Lampedusa on Sunday a few hours ahead of Jolie, who last week traveled to Turkey’s border with Syria to meet some of the thousands of Syrian refugees fleeing the conflict there.

Guterres has thanked Lampedusa residents for welcoming the migrants and urged Europe to continue keeping its doors open.

He says the debate raging in Europe about immigration “doesn’t correspond to the reality” given that the number of migrants who have actually arrived is tiny compared to the numbers who have gone elsewhere.

Finally, for some light relief, not all the migrants arriving in Lampedusa are human:

The Latest Illegal Immigrant to Land in Lampedusa Had Four Legs

A sheep that crossed the sea from Tunisia adds a light twist to the daily human drama of immigrants landing on the Italian island of Lampedusa. But the warmth doesn’t last.

Among the cries of joy and relief from the Tunisian refugees on the dock of this tiny Italian island, a very different voice joined in: a sheep bleating — almost as if to say: “I made it too!”

Authorities had rescued the immigrants, like so many before near Lampedusa, from a 10-meter long fishing boat. The Tunisian vessel was carrying 12 men, six women, a nine-year-old boy… and yes, one sheep. It was white, curly-haired, and an illegal immigrant like all the others. The sheep had been brought along to supply fresh milk for the boy.

The boat arrived in the harbor, with a show of 19 pairs of hands raised in the “V” sign for victory, and a triumphal pair of animal ears. “There is a sheep aboard,” said one of the rescuers by radio to the harbor police station. “What..?” the operator asked. “A sheep,” the policeman replied. It can happen on this island, the crossroads between two continents, the landing place for people who leave North Africa to run away from hunger, and to find a new place for their children to live.

You can read more about the immigrant sheep at the original article.

There’s only one thing I’m wondering: does anybody know whether the sheep was trying to enter Italy as a part of the Spousal Reunion Program?

For previous posts about the Mediterranean refugee crisis, see The Camp of the Saints Archive.

Hat tips: AC and C. Cantoni.

JLH sends his translation of a German-language TV review from Politically Incorrect. I am as amazed as the translator that the film described could have appeared on any Western state-sponsored TV network, and in Germany, of all places.

We certainly would never see anything like it on PBS here in the USA — much less on CBS, NBC, ABC, etc. Nor can I imagine that it would be aired in Canada, Australia, or the UK. This is a breakthrough:

ARD TV Film: “Inshallah” — As Allah Wills

by Michael Stürzenberger
June 16, 2011

Yesterday evening the ARD [National broadcasting, analogous to BBC, MPBN] offered a TV film in prime time, at 8:15 PM, and watching it made you rub your eyes, more amazed from minute to minute. So many political incorrectnesses massed together in educational television governed by public law have rarely been seen. The video “Inshallah” describes the elements of the “most peaceful of all religions” with such intensity that even the eyes of the most uninformed do-gooder idealist must have been opened wide.

Astonishingly, Islam’s full program was there to be seen: A shattered marriage between a German woman and a Muslim Iraqi, who in the end took his nine-year-old daughter, Dalia, back to his home country. When she returns to Cologne at seventeen — a believing Muslim, she prays in a mosque which is being surveilled by the BKA [FBI with more guttural initials], is in close contact with the radical Islamic woman, Halimah, who teaches her to internalize the concept “taqiyya” and induces her to commit a suicide attack on infidel kuffars.

At the same time, her father, Basim, comes to Cologne to fetch her back to Iraq. In the best Islamic tradition, her mother’s opinion, of course, counts for nothing. The showdown takes place in a church: The psychotherapist Bloch is attempting with a reading from the Bible to talk the veiled suicide bomber, who has her finger on the button of the bomb, out of mass murder in service of Allah. Now, if that is not a highly insensitive attempt at inter-religious dialogue. Dalia cries fervidly to him:

“But Allah has commanded, blasphemers and infidels are to be killed! Allah is taking me by the hand and showing me the way.”

This film deserves the sobriquet “absolutely worthwhile.”

By way of exception, the ARD this time has earned respectful and laudatory reviews. With such films, it may be possible to open the eyes of the populace to what is rapidly spreading among us.

Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff is visiting Canada this week, and this afternoon she was interviewed by Ezra Levant on SUN TV.

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for YouTubing this video:

For previous posts on the “hate speech” prosecution of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, see Elisabeth’s Voice: The Archives.

As Dymphna mentioned last week, British barrister Gavin Boby has launched a new program called “Mosque Busters” at his Law and Freedom Foundation website.

His specialty is planning law, and he is willing to work pro bono to help ordinary citizens demonstrate to their local councils that the building of a mosque or an Islamic center is actually in violation of British law. Mosques play a central role in the propagation of Islamic political doctrine, which incites behavior that is illegal under British criminal law and human rights law. Local councils are therefore legally exposed if they approve the building of a mosque, and Mosque Busters will help citizens make councilors aware of their vulnerability under the law.

Citizens need to check in with their local councils regularly to find out if a request for planning permission for a mosque has been filed. This is public information, and councils are legally required to supply it upon request. If you learn that such an application has been filed in your locality, contact the Law and Freedom Foundation .

Below the jump is Mr. Boby’s latest video with advice and information on how to stop the building of mosques in local communities in the UK. Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for posting this video:

There is a donation button his website so that those who can afford it may contribute to his worthy efforts.

Greek prime minister George Papandreou called for national unity in the face of the country’s worsening debt crisis, and urged the public and the political parties to get behind the five-year austerity plan required by the IMF. However, the public is not heeding the prime minister’s call: according to the latest polls, almost half the country is against the austerity package. Eurozone finance group chief Jean-Claude Juncker warns that the euro crisis could spread to Belgium and Italy if the Greek bailout plan is not implemented quickly.

In other news, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has confirmed that the United States is engaged in talks with Taliban representatives in hopes of negotiating a peace settlement.

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

Thanks to AC, C. Cantoni, Egghead, Fjordman, Gaia, JD, Steen, TV, Van Grungy, 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.

Update: There is some kind of technical problem with the embed on this audio. Vlad is working on it. In the meantime, listen to Elisabeth at the full page version on the MRC TV site, which still works.

Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff was interviewed today on a Toronto talk radio program. She was invited to discuss Islamization, sharia, and her own conviction in Austria for “denigration of religious beliefs of a legally recognized religion”.

Many thanks to Vlad Tepes for posting this audio on MRC TV:

For previous posts on the “hate speech” prosecution of Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff, see Elisabeth’s Voice: The Archives.

Below is a brief subtitled clip of German Chancellor Angela Merkel discussing the “integration problem”. Near the end she insists that the country will have to accept a higher level of criminality among immigrant youths.

What the heck was she thinking of when she said that?

And how will it play with the party base of the Christian Democrats? Or with the rest of the German electorate, for that matter?

Many thanks to Kitman for subtitling and YouTubing this video: