The murder of Cassandra

I wrote a piece back on February 19 about the predictions of Dr. Patrick Sookhdeo, the director of the British Institute for the Study of Islam and Christianity. In an interview with the Telegraph, Dr. Sookhdeo stated his belief that England would before long see parts of its urban centers effectively ruled by sharia law. My link to the article then posted on the website of the Telegraph will no longer take you to the interview. It links to this terse--and to me, frightening--message:

The efforts of Muslim extremists to shut down discussion of and debate over the unsavory side of Islam are apparently succeeding. Ornella Fallaci is set to stand trial in June in Italy for defaming Islam. (Should she choose exile in New York over a possible prison sentence, will our government extradite her?) Robert Spencer wrote an excellent point-by-point analysis of the charges against Fallaci last year.

Loopy animal-rights table-dancer Brigitte Bardot was fined 5,000 euros in 2004 for writing that she opposed the Islamization of France, even though her main objection is to the way Muslims treat sheep.

(And to the west's discredit, we've thrown the odious David Irving in the clink for questioning the Holocaust.)

If Theo Van Gogh hadn't had his throat cut, he'd probably be on trial now as well. What Islamists don't achieve with the knife, they'll do with our own suicidal legal systems.

Update: For those interested in reading the original article from the Telegraph, it can still be found here. (Many thanks to Charles at Little Green Footballs for finding this.)

They drowned

From the Associated Press

Two Endangered American Crocodiles Killed

Two endangered American crocodiles, once considered among the most imperiled species in the United States, were found shot to death near Key West, authorities said Tuesday. Both crocodiles, a 7-footer found Saturday and an 8-footer discovered Monday on Sugarloaf Key about 12 miles east of Key West, were shot between the eyes, authorities said.
A small caliber bullet was found lodged in one crocodile's head. The other also appeared to have a bullet wound between the eyes. Both animals will be examined for a cause of death.

Um ... How much is that gonna cost?

My Danish buycott (girlcott?)

What's the opposite of a boycott? I'm not sure there's really a word for it, but I'm doing my best. Carlsberg beer is a no-brainer. I found Lurpak butter at our local cheese shop. I'm not really a fan of Havarti, but Danish blue cheese is excellent crumbled into a salad. I've eaten as many butter cookies as I can stomach. Perhaps I'll buy my next yacht from X-Yachts.

But here's my favorite Danish purchase so far:

I found this jar of Puck Cream Cheese Spread at a local gourmet food and spice shop, one founded years ago by an Armenian family. At some point the shop was purchased by Muslims, and it's now run by what appears to be a mixed staff of Christians, Muslims, and Hindus. Perhaps it is that blend that makes them their store the prime source for Middle Eastern and Asian products for all the city's best chefs. Even better, they are paying no attention to Islamist calls for a boycott of Danish products.

But here comes the conundrum. Puck is made in Denmark, but it's imported to the U.S. by Ziyad Brothers Importing in Chicago, who issued a press release on February 1 announcing that they are suspending all imports from Denmark. (I guess my jar of cream cheese spread had already made it to the shelf.) So by buying Puck I am supporting Denmark, but I'm also supporting Ziyad Brothers Importing. I wonder if any other American importers are looking to fill the gap left by the Muslim boycott. It would be nice if Ziyad ends up losing business as a result of their ungrateful stand against the core values of the nation that welcomed them.

I plan to ask at the cheese shop tomorrow if their Lurpak butter comes to them through Ziyad, and if so urge them to find an alternate importer rather than let Danish products vanish from their shelves.

Please join me in (politely) letting Ziyad Brothers Importing know how wrong they are to believe that a Muslim concept of blasphemy supercedes America's Bill of Rights. Boycotting Ziyad strikes me as petty, but there's no reason not to inform them of how we feel. You can reach their email contact form at this link. And don't forget to buy Danish.

Recognizing dissent

A group of twelve well-known writers, journalists and intellectuals have put their signatures on a manifesto against "Islamism" in Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that first published the Muhammed cartoons. Eight of the twelve are or once were Muslim. Among them are Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Salman Rushdie. Bernard-Henri Levy is one of the non-Muslim signers.

Here's an excerpt:

Islamism is a reactionary ideology which kills equality, freedom and secularism wherever it is present. Its success can only lead to a world of domination: man's domination of woman, the Islamists' domination of all the others. To counter this, we must assure universal rights to oppressed or discriminated people.

We reject « cultural relativism », which consists in accepting that men and women of Muslim culture should be deprived of the right to equality, freedom and secular values in the name of respect for cultures and traditions. We refuse to renounce our critical spirit out of fear of being accused of "Islamophobia", an unfortunate concept which confuses criticism of Islam as a religion with stigmatisation of its believers ...

I'm not hopeful that this manifesto with catch on. Most likely the mainstream media will stuff it down the memory hole, preferring to devote yet more coverage to bearded troglodytes hurling stones at embassies. I've written before pointing out the dangerous tendency in the west to ignore dissent in the Muslim world. Reuters and other major news outlets regularly print statements such as this: "Muslims consider any images of Mohammad to be blasphemous." (That winner is from a February 2, 2006, Reuter's article about the cartoon controversy.) I doubt any of the Muslim signers of today's manifesto would grant the concept of blasphemy any validity at all. Yet Reuters apparently thinks that the ummah is sufficiently of one mind that disagreement is not worth mentioning.

Clearly there are Muslims who can lead the faith into a new stage, an Islam capable of detente with modernity, humanism, and women's rights. But if we ignore those Muslims, they will very likely disappear, one by one. And then all we'll have left is the mullahs and the fearful silence around them.

Read the whole thing.