Despite the Riots and Threats, I Stand By What I Wrote
What should an honest defender of free speech say in this position?
Last week, I wrote an article defending free speech for everyone – and in response there have been riots, death threats, and the arrest of an editor who published the article.
POETENCY & APOETASY: I SLAM A PHOBIA
Was I ever excited. Obama looked to be proving me wrong on all counts, me thinking till then that Obama is a loser of world historic proportion. I saw this headline, and wow was I ever impressed with his massiveness:Obama Scores Early Victory of Historic Proportions
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, February 14, 2009; Page A09
CHICAGO, Feb. 13 -- Twenty-four days into his presidency, Barack Obama recorded last night a legislative achievement of the sort that few of his predecessors achieved at any point in their tenure.
In size and scope, there is almost nothing in history to rival the economic stimulus legislation that Obama shepherded through Congress in just over three weeks. And the result -- produced largely without Republican participation....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/ 02/13/AR2009021303475.html? hpid=topnews
Police say they have seen no indication that the Victorian blazes were a 'forest jihad', launched by a group of Islamic extremists using fire as a form of terror against Western communities - despite South Australian Premier Mike Rann labelling the perpetrators as 'terrorists'.
The suggestion of a jihad emerged from a website, identified by U.S. intelligence channels, calling on Muslims in Australia, America, Europe and Russia to start forest fires.
The website claimed that 'scholars have justified chopping down and burning the infidels' forests when they do the same to our lands.'
An Australian man has been charged with arson over one of the country’s deadly bushfires, but his identity has been suppressed and police have moved him to a secret location amid fears of a backlash by victims seething with grief and anger.An enormous backlash against an arrested individual, his family, or what? Sounds like some possible journalistic obfuscation, to me.
The 39-year-old has been charged with lighting the Churchill-Jeeralang bushfire in the LaTrobe valley region of Gippsland. The suspect is a local man. Twenty-one people died in the eastern Victorian region where the Churchill fire began.
The man appeared in the regional Morwell Magistrates Court on Friday afternoon charged with three counts – one of arson causing death, one of intentionally or recklessly causing a bushfire, and one of possessing child pornography.
There are fears of an enormous backlash by mourning members of the Churchill community, angry over the fact that one of their own has been charged with the fire that devastated 36,000 ha of land, destroyed hundreds of homes and killed dozens of their friends and neighbours.
As a result, the court hearing was closed and a suppression order was imposed on all details of his identity. The man was secretly transferred to Melbourne on Friday afternoon where he is expected to face court again on Monday.
Founded TV network to combat negative perceptions of Muslims
Bridges TV founder and Chief Executive Muzzammil Hassan founded the TV network in 2004. According to a Reuters story at that time, "his wife came up with the idea in December 2001 while listening to the radio on a road trip.":
"Some derogatory comments were being made about Muslims that offended her," Hassan told Reuters ahead of Tuesday's launch. "She was seven months pregnant, and she thought she didn't want her kids growing up in this environment."
So he founded Bridges TV to combat negative perceptions of Muslims.
But now that he has beheaded his wife, I'm afraid this prominent moderate Muslim will only be feeding those negative perceptions.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/Second World War veterans have criticised as "disgusting" the Government's refusal to help them travel to France to attend the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings.
While America and Canada are paying for their veterans to travel to the event, British war heroes are having to stump up the cash themselves.
Thousands of them are hoping to travel to Normandy for the commemoration in June, which for many will be their last.
But the Ministry of Defence has told them that the next time public money will be used for a commemoration will be the 100th anniversary in 2044, when they will all be dead.
Bob Conway, 83, chairman of the Wiltshire branch of the Normandy Veterans' Association (NVA), said: "I think it's disgusting. Surely they can do something to help us old boys go over? We are pretty upset about it. We're all over 80 now and for many this will be the last time."He and his comrades have taken to fund-raising in the cold in the middle of Trowbridge, where he lives.
He added: "It's a struggle to raise all the money we need but it's just a few thousand pounds. All our comrades from the US and Canada get their expenses paid for by their Governments but ours won't give us a penny."
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much.
Thank you for inviting me. Thank you Lord Pearson and Lady Cox for showing Fitna, and for your gracious invitation. While others look away, you, seem to understand the true tradition of your country, and a flag that still stands for freedom. This is no ordinary place. This is not just one of England’s tourist attractions. This is a sacred place. This is the mother of all Parliaments, and I am deeply humbled to speak before you.
The Houses of Parliament is where Winston Churchill stood firm, and warned – all throughout the 1930’s – for the dangers looming. Most of the time he stood alone.
In 1982 President Reagan came to the House of Commons, where he did a speech very few people liked. Reagan called upon the West to reject communism and defend freedom. He introduced a phrase: ‘evil empire’. Reagan’s speech stands out as a clarion call to preserve our liberties. I quote: If history teaches anything, it teaches self-delusion in the face of unpleasant facts is folly.
What Reagan meant is that you cannot run away from history, you cannot escape the dangers of ideologies that are out to destroy you. Denial is no option.
Communism was indeed left on the ash heap of history, just as Reagan predicted in his speech in the House of Commons. He lived to see the Berlin Wall coming down, just as Churchill witnessed the implosion of national-socialism.
Today, I come before you to warn of another great threat. It is called Islam. It poses as a religion, but its goals are very worldly: world domination, holy war, sharia law, the end of the separation of church and state, the end of democracy. It is not a religion, it is a political ideology. It demands your respect, but has no respect for you.
There might be moderate Muslims, but there is no moderate Islam. Islam will never change, because it is build on two rocks that are forever, two fundamental beliefs that will never change, and will never go away. First, there is Quran, Allah’s personal word, uncreated, forever, with orders that need to be fulfilled regardless of place or time. And second, there is al-insal al-kamil, the perfect man, Muhammad the role model, whose deeds are to be imitated by all Muslims. And since Muhammad was a warlord and a conqueror we know what to expect. Islam means submission, so there cannot be any mistake about it’s goal. That’s a given. The question is whether the British people, with its glorious past, is longing for that submission.
We see Islam taking off in the West at an incredible speed. The United Kingdom has seen a rapid growth of the number of Muslims. Over the last ten years, the Muslim population has grown ten times as fast as the rest of society. This has put an enormous pressure on society. Thanks to British politicians who have forgotten about Winston Churchill, the English now have taken the path of least resistance. They give up. They give in.
Thank you very much for letting me into the country. I received a letter from the Secretary of State for the Home Department, kindly disinviting me. I would threaten community relations, and therefore public security in the UK, the letter stated.For a moment I feared that I would be refused entrance. But I was confident the British government would never sacrifice free speech because of fear of Islam. Britannia rules the waves, and Islam will never rule Britain, so I was confident the Border Agency would let me through. And after all, you have invited stranger creatures than me. Two years ago the House of Commons welcomed Mahmoud Suliman Ahmed Abu Rideh, linked to Al Qaeda. He was invited to Westminster by Lord Ahmed, who met him at Regent’s Park mosque three weeks before. Mr. Rideh, suspected of being a money man for terror groups, was given a SECURITY sticker for his Parliamentary visit.
Well, if you let in this man, than an elected politician from a fellow EU country surely is welcome here too. By letting me speak today you show that Mr Churchill’s spirit is still very much alive. And you prove that the European Union truly is working; the free movement of persons is still one of the pillars of the European project.
But there is still much work to be done. Britain seems to have become a country ruled by fear. A country where civil servants cancel Christmas celebrations to please Muslims. A country where Sharia Courts are part of the legal system. A country where Islamic organizations asked to stop the commemoration of the Holocaust. A country where a primary school cancels a Christmas nativity play because it interfered with an Islamic festival. A country where a school removes the words Christmas and Easter from their calendar so as not to offend Muslims. A country where a teacher punishes two students for refusing to pray to Allah as part of their religious education class. A country where elected members of a town council are told not to eat during daylight hours in town hall meetings during the Ramadan. A country that excels in its hatred of Israel, still the only democracy in the Middle-East. A country whose capitol is becoming ‘Londonistan’.
I would not qualify myself as a free man. Four and a half years ago I lost my freedom. I am under guard permanently, courtesy to those who prefer violence to debate. But for the leftist fan club of islam, that is not enough. They started a legal procedure against me. Three weeks ago the Amsterdam Court of Appeal ordered my criminal prosecution for making ‘Fitna’ and for my views on Islam. I committed what George Orwell called a ‘thought crime’.
You might have seen my name on Fitna’s credit role, but I am not really responsible for that movie. It was made for me. It was actually produced by Muslim extremists, the Quran and Islam itself. If Fitna is considered ‘hate speech’, then how would the Court qualify the Quran, with all it’s calls for violence, and hatred against women and Jews? Mr. Churchill himself compared the Quran to Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf. Well, I did exactly the same, and that is what they are prosecuting me for.
I wonder if the UK ever put Mr. Churchill on trail.
The Court’s decision and the letter I received form the Secretary of State for the Home Department are two major victories for all those who detest freedom of speech. They are doing Islam’s dirty work. Sharia by proxy. The differences between Saudi-Arabia and Jordan on one hand and Holland and Britain are blurring. Europe is now on the fast track of becoming Eurabia. That is apparently the price we have to pay for the project of mass immigration, and the multicultural project.
Ladies and gentlemen, the dearest of our many freedoms is under attack. In Europe, freedom of speech is no longer a given. What we once considered a natural component of our existence is now something we again have to fight for. That is what is at stake. Whether or not I end up in jail is not the most pressing issue. The question is: Will free speech be put behind bars? We have to defend freedom of speech.
For the generation of my parents the word ‘London’ is synonymous with hope and freedom. When my country was occupied by the national-socialists the BBC offered a daily glimpse of hope, in the darkness of Nazi tyranny. Millions of my country men listened to it, illegally. The words ‘This Is London’ were a symbol for a better world coming soon. If only the British and Canadian and American soldiers were here.
What will be transmitted forty years from now? Will it still be ‘This Is London’? Or will it be ‘this is Londonistan’? Will it bring us hope, or will it signal the values of Mecca and Medina? Will Britain offer submission or perseverance? Freedom or slavery?
The choice is ours.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We will never apologize for being free. We will never give in. We will
never surrender.
Freedom must prevail, and freedom will prevail.
Thank you very much.
Geert Wilders MP
Chairman, Party for Freedom (PVV)
The Netherlands
Dear Liberal Friend,
While we look forward to spring, Valentine’s Day is almost here to help us fend off winter’s chill. If you are still looking for the right gift for your Valentine, I have a cozy red suggestion:
Make a donation of $100 or more by midnight on Saturday, February 14th, and you will receive a limited-edition red fleece scarf, embroidered with the name of my favourite Liberal Valentine, to help keep you or a loved one warm until spring arrives.
Winter may be with us a while yet. Let’s weather it together.
Warm regards and hope to see you in Vancouver,
Zsuzsanna Zsohar
Note: the market value of the gift item will be deducted from the receiptable amount of your donation.
Déjà vu at York U: Don’t look now, but Toronto’s York University has morphed into a German campus circa Der Fuhrer—or a Gaza campus circa today. I just received the following desperate plea via e-mail:As far as i can tell, the video is not yet on the web. Background on this story here.To Whom It May Concern:
As students at York University Keele Campus we would like to urgently bring to your attention several appalling incidents, which took place today, February 11th 2009 on our campus.
After an attempted media conference, regarding a successful campaign of “Drop YFS”, a racial riot broke out deeming the members of “Drop YFS” racist. “Drop YFS” is a student led group with students from different backgrounds, faiths and beliefs. In addition, the Jewish students involved in “Drop YFS” belong to Hasbara at York, Hillel at York, and other Jewish groups on campus.
“Drop YFS” is a student run initiative to have the executive members of YFS (the undergraduate student government) held accountable for their inactivity during the strike. The media conference was put in place to thank the students for their 5000 signatures, and to congratulate the students for their success.
The conference was interrupted by mobs of people who broke into chants, racial slurs, and anti-Semitic threats. Students fearing for their lives at York University had to be protected and escorted out of the room by Toronto Police - as they were trapped inside this room unable to leave, afraid. The entire Jewish population of York is intimidated, and no longer feels secure on campus. The Jewish members of “Drop YFS” were solely targeted today for their religion and their political views.
There is video footage of this taking place, and we are more than willing to answer any of your questions. Please contact us:
Aaron Rosenberg
aaron_r123@hotmail.com
Elinor Izmaylov
elinorizmaylov@hotmail.com
Please forward this to as many people you can – the community at large must become aware that Jews on campus no longer feel safe regardless of their political views.
Enraged mobs of Jew-haters hurling threats and racial slurs? Where are our politicians? Where are the media? Where’s the Canadian Jewish Congress?
Where’s Barbara Hall?
Calling it "incompatible with the atmosphere required for free speech," Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., on Wednesday scrapped its controversial "dialogue facilitator" program.It's time we all stood up as Canadians and let York University officials know that theirs has become a pariah institution and that it is completely unacceptable that they have become a place for antisemitic riots. From my own experience of York, I blame not only the left-Islamist student alliance, in support of CUPE teachers and their union's official antisemitism, but also the ideologies promoted by many of the senior non-CUPE faculty.(HTs: Blazing Cat Fur)
It caused a scandal last year when it was revealed the six student "facilitators" were mandated to intervene in private conversations to encourage discussion of social justice issues and discourage offensive language.
In a report to the administration, a panel of experts expressed "strong reservations about unsolicited interventions into the lives of students" because of the risk of "making students feel unsafe or under surveillance because of their opinions."
The panel included Leora Jackson, the school's rector, John Meisel, an emeritus professor of political science, and Keith Norton, the former head of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. They had "serious concerns" with how the program was set up.
The panel faulted Dean of Student Affairs Jason Laker for importing an American model of diversity promotion, from the National Coalition Building Institute, while failing to research any comparable programs at Canadian universities.
‘Pandemonium at York University reflects dangerous trend
of anti-Jewish agitation on campuses,’ says B’nai Brith Canada –
B’nai Brith delegation to visit York campus this afternoon
TORONTO, February 12, 2009 – B’nai Brith Canada has expressed deep concern over disturbances yesterday at York University, with reports of Jewish students fearing for their safety and being escorted off campus by police. Turmoil erupted following a press conference by some students to announce that they had successfully garnered 5,000 signatures on a petition demanding the recall of York Federation Student leaders. Amidst the pandemonium, Jewish students were pushed and shoved, antisemitic slurs were shouted, leaving Jewish students to seek refuge in a locked room away from the frantic mob.
“We are disturbed and appalled by reports of Jewish students fearing for their safety and being scared to be identified as Jews on campus,” said Frank Dimant, B’nai Brith Canada’s Executive Vice President. “Just last week we met with York University student leaders who communicated incident after incident of deliberate intimidation of Jewish students, and marginalization and isolation on campus.
“We have requested an urgent meeting with York University’s administration to ensure that immediate measures be put in place to restore order and safety to campus life.
“We have already been in communication with police and demanded that the safety and security of Jewish students at York University and other campuses be dealt with as a matter of top priority.
“A senior delegation of B’nai Brith Canada officials will be on campus this afternoon to witness first hand a day in the life of a Jewish student on the frontlines against antisemitism, anti-Zionist and radical forces that care nothing about democracy, human rights and the rule of law.”
| donderdag, 12 februari 2009 | |
| Geert Wilders has been denied entry into the United Kingdom. The Freedom Party leader was invited to show his film Fitna in the UK's House of Lords. Upon arrival at Heathrow Airport he was detained and told that he would not be allowed to enter Great Britain. "I am in a detention centre at Heathrow," Wilders told The Times. "They took my passport. I will not be allowed to enter the country. They will send me back within a few hours." | |
| Read more... |
LabourHome Poll:I wonder if gay atheists get it?
Should Geert Wilders be barred from entering the UK?
CURRENT RESULTS with 278 Total Votes :
Yes 4 votes - 1 %
No 274 votes - 98 %
PinkNews.co.uk, UK 12 February 2009
A gay humanist group has said the Home Secretary was wrong to ban a Dutch MP who is critical of Islam. Jaqui Smith said that Geert Wilders, a leading rightwing politician and a fierce critic of Muslims , has been denied permission to enter Britain on the grounds that his presence would damage community relations and threaten public order.
The Pink Triangle Trust (PTT) had declared its opposition to the ban.
"We maintain that in a free society anyone should have the right to criticise religion without being banned, dubbed racist or, even worse, threatened with death as the humanist author Saman Rushdie was over his book The Satanic Verses," said PTT secretary George Broadhead.
"There can be no doubt from reading its holy books, the Qur'an and the Hadith, that Islam is a homophobic religion, which at worst has lead to the barbaric torture and murder of LGBT people in Islamic theocracies like Iran and Saudi Arabia.
"But it is also deeply mysoginist and hostile to apostates and unbelievers like humanists.
"As the website the Skeptic's Annotated Qur'an indicates, virtually every page is a manifesto for intolerance. It is chock-full of the dire punishments in store for those who don't adhere to its beliefs.
"Those politicians who bend over backwards to portray Islam as a religion or tolerance and peace are either abysmally ignorant or deliberately ignoring the facts.
"Moreover, Jacqui Smith's decision to ban Mr Wilders is in blatant contrast to her decision to allow Ibrahim Mousawi, chief spokesman of the Lebanese group Hizbollah - a militant Islamacist if ever there was one - to enter Britain last May - a clear example of double standards."
Cabinet Office minister Liam Byrne said, on BBC One's Question Time: "This guy wasn't coming here to exercise his right of free speech. This guy was trying to come here in order to sow division between us in this country.
"Everything I've heard about this guy tells me he's a bigot and the right place for him is to stay at home."
[....]
And there's this:Labour peer Lord Ahmed, who expressed his concerns to the parliamentary authorities about Mr Wilders' visit, told the BBC: "This man doesn't have any respect for law. He's doing this for publicity and he's seeking that and getting that."
He added: "If this man was allowed into this country it would certainly cause problems within communities around Britain."
Who, you ask, is Lord Ahmed? So happy you did.
29th January, 2009Lord Ahmed was mightily pleased with himself. He flew to Pakistan to say so.
Tonight peers should have been gathered in the House of Lords for a private viewing of Geert Wilders' film "Fitna". Wilders himself would have been present to answer questions. Instead it has been cancelled because this peer, Lord Ahmed, threatened to "mobilise 10,000″ if Wilders dared to show his face in Britain's parliament.
http://www.brusselsjournal.Barely had the invitation been sent to all the members of the House when Lord Ahmed raised hell. He threatened to mobilize 10,000 Muslims to prevent Mr. Wilders from entering the House and threatened to take the colleague who was organizing the event to court. The result is that the event, which should have taken place next Thursday was cancelled.
Lord Ahmed immediately went to the Pakistani press to boast about his achievement, which he calls "a victory for the Muslim community."
DOH!Liberal Democrat home affairs spokesman Chris Huhne said: 'Freedom of speech is our most precious freedom of all, because all the other freedoms depend on it.
'But there is a line to be drawn even with freedom of speech, and that is where it is likely to incite violence or hatred against someone or some group.
'Where there is risk of harm to others, there has to be some limit.
'Having watched Geert Wilders' movie Fitna, with its raw and emotional appeals to anti-Islamic feeling and its shocking images of violence, there is no doubt in my mind that he has overstepped the line that should be defended in a civilised society and that the Home Secretary's ruling is right.'
A spokesman for the Conservative Party said it did not wish to comment....
A Saudi judge has ordered a woman should be jailed for a year and receive 100 lashes after she was gang-raped, it was claimed last night.
The 23-year-old woman, who became pregnant after her ordeal, was reportedly assaulted after accepting a lift from a man.
He took her to a house to the east of the city of Jeddah where she was attacked by him and four of his friends throughout the night.
She later discovered she was pregnant and made a desperate attempt to get an abortion at the King Fahd Hospital for Armed Forces.
According to the Saudi Gazette, she eventually 'confessed' to having 'forced intercourse' with her attackers and was brought before a judge at the District Court in Jeddah.
He ruled she had committed adultery - despite not even being married - and handed down a year's prison sentence, which she will serve in a prison just outside the city.
She is still pregnant and will be flogged once she has had the child.
It was her response to Steyn's criticism of OHRC's silence on honour killings that shocked me.Connect the dots...
"There are thousands of things that happen in the province of Ontario on a daily basis and we don't comment on all of them," she said.
But, I spluttered, women are being murdered.
"As I said, we are a small commission.
"There are many problematic things that happen in our community and we have to make choices because we can't respond to everything," Hall said.
So honour killings are merely "problematic"?
Here's a woman who's advocated for years on behalf of women's rights. She found time to crucify Steyn and Maclean's, but she's too busy to raise the issue of women who are being murdered over some hideous interpretation of "honour"?
Ouspensky anticipates Solzhenitsyn in identifying Bolshevism (Marxism) as a pernicious German invention seized on by Lenin and his followers to justify their orgy of violence against a world they hated because it had the temerity to exist apart from their desires and wishes. “As a general rule,” writes Ouspensky in the fourth letter, “Bolshevism based itself on the worst forces underlying Russian life.”(Brussels Journal)
Ouspensky repeats a refrain in all five letters that Bolshevism, being barbarism with a fancy vocabulary, constitutes a threat not only in Russia, but anywhere, hence also everywhere, because it is a destabilizing condition of ordered life, so arduously achieved, always to carry with it “barbarian forces existing inside [the] society, hostile to culture and civilization.” I could not help connecting a recent remark made by Sean Gabb in a Brussels Journal entry with the foregoing words by Ouspensky.
In a discussion of “hate speech” laws and their selective enforcement, Gabb notes that, “the soviet socialists and the national socialists kept control by the arbitrary arrest and torture or murder of suspected opponents,” but that these methods are currently “not… acceptable in England or in the English world.” Nevertheless, writes Gabb, censorious speech-legislation involving intimidating criminalization of certain words or verbal attitudes “has nothing really to do with politeness,” but is, rather, “about power.” So it is as well in the United States and Canada. Wherever governments and elites seek to control expression, whether or not as Gabb observes it has to do ostensibly with “diversity and inclusiveness,” the real agenda is to achieve “the unlimited power to plunder and enslave us, while scaring us into the appearance of gratitude for our dispossession.”
I would say that “hate crime” and “hate speech” laws represent a trial balloon of totalitarian methods. Such methods are barbarous. They betray the basic decency of the Western achievement. They take root in “the worst forces,” as Ouspensky says, “underlying our life.” Now “ought” is a counterfactual word. But it strikes me that if history taught only one lesson to the civilized it would be that as soon as any visibly power-hungry group succeeds in an agenda of intimidation, no matter how minor, sensible people dedicated to their own freedom ought to respond with all necessary resistance until the aggressors have themselves been intimidated into a retreat. Better indeed to quash such attempts before their first success, but that is a more difficult proposition. Ouspensky’s book explains what happens when timidity rather than vigor is the keynote of response to internal barbarism. So does a great library of other books, all of which came later, however, than Ouspensky’s.
The Anti-Defamation League said Tuesday that a survey it commissioned found nearly a third of Europeans polled blame Jews for the global economic meltdown and that a greater number think Jews have too much power in the business world.(Jerusalem Post)
The organization, which says its aim is "to stop the defamation of Jewish people and secure justice and fair treatment to all," says the seven-nation survey confirms that anti-Semitism remains strong.
The poll included interviews with 3,500 people - 500 each in Austria, Britain, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain.
It says that in Spain, 74 percent of those asked say they feel it is "probably true" that Jews hold too much sway over the global financial markets. That is the highest percentage in the survey.
Nearly two-thirds of Spanish respondents said Jews were more loyal to Israel than they were to their home countries.
"This poll confirms that anti-Semitism remains alive and well in the minds of many Europeans," said Abraham H. Foxman, the ADL's national director in America. "Clearly, age old anti-Semitic stereotypes die hard."
Foxman said the study's findings were "particularly worrisome" in light of the anger spawned by the global economic meltdown, and following a number of violent acts against Jews or Jewish property after Israel's military action in the Gaza Strip.
Around Europe, several attacks have been reported against Jews and synagogues in France, Sweden and Britain since the Israeli offensive began in late December. Some Gaza protests in Europe have included the use of Nazi imagery, including signs and slogans comparing Israeli soldiers to German troops, the Gaza Strip to the Auschwitz death camp and the Jewish Star of David to the Nazi swastika.
Britain consistently registered the lowest levels of anti-Jewish sentiment, and numbers there have fallen from a similar survey conducted in 2007. Austria also registered a slight drop in the level of anti-Semitism, while in other countries anti-Semitic sentiment either remained the same or deepened, the survey indicated.
British citizens can still vote. One must wonder just how long that will remain true.
Dear Mr Wilders
The purpose of this letter is to inform you that the Secretary of State is of the view that your presence in the UK would pose a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat to one of the fundamental interests of society. The Secretary of State is satisfied that your statements about Muslims and their beliefs, as expressed in your film Fitna and elsewhere, would threaten community harmony and therefore public security in the UK.
You are advised that should you travel to the UK and seek admission an Immigration Officer will take into account the Secretary of State's view. If, in accordance with regulation 21 of the immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, the Immigration Officer is statisfied that your exclusion is justified on grounds of public policy and/or public security, you will be refused admission to the UK under regulation 19. You would have a right of appeal against any refusal of admission, exercisable from outside the UK.
Yours sincerely,
Irving N. Jones
On behalf of the Secretary of State for the Home Department
Will Geert Wilders Be Arrested at Heathrow?
From the desk of Thomas Landen on Tue, 2009-02-10 17:57This morning Lord Malcolm Pearson, a member of the British House of Lords, announced that he has invited Geert Wilders, a member of the Dutch Parliament, to show the movie Fitna (see it here) in a committee room of the House of Lords next Thursday (12 February). Mr. Wilders has been asked to address a private meeting with members of the British Parliament, explaining to the Peers and MPs why he made Fitna and to engage in an open and frank discussion with them.
This afternoon Mr. Wilders received a letter from the British Embassy in The Hague [see below] saying that he is a "persona non grata" in the United Kingdom. The ambassador told Mr. Wilders that he is a threat to public security and public harmony because of the controversy created by Fitna. Mr. Wilders intends to go to London anyway. "Let them arrest me in Heathrow," he says.
If Mr. Wilders is denied entry to the United Kingdom, it will be the first time that Britain refuses entry to an elected politician from another member state of the European Union. The Dutch government has protested to the British government over the unprecedented barring of an EU parliamentarian by another EU country.
The meeting of Mr. Wilders and members of the British Parliament had originally been planned for 29 January, but was postponed. Lord Nazir Ahmed, a Muslim member of the House of Lords (Labour), had threatened to mobilize 10,000 Muslims to prevent Mr. Wilders from entering the British Parliament. Lord Ahmed boasted in the Pakistani press that the cancellation of Mr. Wilders' visit was "a victory for the Muslim community."
Full story at: http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3793
Obama Warns of 'Irreversible' Crisis: The Associated Press
ELKHART, Ind. (AP) - Making his case in the most dire terms, President Barack Obama said that if Congress does not quickly pass an economic stimulus package, the nation will slip into a crisis so deep that "we may be unable to reverse" it.
"We can't afford to wait. We can't wait to see and hope for the best," Obama said in Elkhart, Ind., a community reeling in job losses during the recession that has defined his young presidency. "We can't posture and bicker and resort to the same failed ideas that got us in into this mess in the first place."
Free Speech Death Watch Update: "Ottawa radio station chastised for comments on Muslims," by Chris Cobb for the Ottawa Citizen,
February 6 (thanks to the indomitable and magnificent Kathy Shaidle, who asks, "Dear me: how all this 'words can rape, maim and leave you for dead in a ditch!!' alchemy operates is an awful big mystery to poor stupid rightwinger me... "):
OTTAWA — A veteran open-line radio host in Ottawa [Lowell Green] contravened Canadian broadcasting standards when he made "abusive and discriminatory" remarks against Muslims, the national broadcast watchdog ruled Friday.According to the ,Canadian Broadcast Standards Council, Lowell Green launched an "uninformed and unfair" attack when he told his CFRA audience in early December that the majority of Muslims are fanatics, and extremist behaviour is symptomatic of the religion, not just a radical minority.
A. Millar, "The UK: Smothered into Submission," Brussels Journal. 3 Feb 2009.
If the communist and fascist revolutions embodied the abusive, psychotic father, New Labour's revolution is that of the overprotective, single mother, robbing her children of independence of thought, and monitoring their every action. The real world, after all, is a nasty, dangerous place, and everyone must be protected from it for as long as possible – preferably forever.
Big Mother – as we might call her – is terrified that any of her children should so much as graze their knee, and forbids "bad words." "Islamist terrorist"? No, that's just another "thug" committing more "anti-Islamic activity."
Did that three year-old say "yuk" to unfamiliar spicy food? Well that's one big indication that he'll end up like Adolf Hitler – note that down as a racist incident nursery assistant!
And, speaking of food, what if one of the little ones has a nasty reaction to something they eat? Don't worry: Cadbury has recently included a warning on the label of its Dairy Milk Chocolate bar that the product contains milk. Another UK company is selling eggs, with the warning "contains eggs" printed right on the box. And the Asda supermarket chain is now selling milk with "warning: contains milk!" printed on the clear plastic container.
Not sure what "sell-by date" means? It's a tricky one. Luckily six UK councils will be paying people to go into our homes, whether we like it or not, to explain it to us. They'll also be inspecting our fridges while they're there – just in case.
That may seem like smothering to you. But, there's an up side to 'Big Mother': she encourages creativity. And two thirds of teachers acknowledge allowing text speak instead that old-fascist English – and that's just "gr8!"
Sex is something to be celebrated – so why wait? Children under thirteen are already being given condoms by some schools in the city of Manchester. And watch out for those sex education lessons for five year-olds coming to schools all around the country.
And, one college for 14 to 19 year-olds recently hired poll dancers come in and show off their 'talent' – as part of their health and 'fitness' week. It's racy, and inappropriate, but Big Mother did love the Sixties with its wild dancing and free love. So get with the program.
Perhaps the only really bad thing about Big Mother is that doesn't really like other mothers, heterosexual marriages, or families – or grown-ups.
Of all government bodies, the "Social Services" is the most dreaded. (Though whoever created that authority had the foresight to make its initials SS.) While they have failed to take children into care that have been systematically tortured over months or years, they have nevertheless zealously taken others away from good homes, where no abuse has occurred. When a mother took her baby to hospital with a tiny bruise on his ear recently, Social Services came and threatened to have her arrested if she took her child home. According to The Daily Mail, a grandfather was imprisoned for two years because he spoke to his grandson. The boy had been placed in care, and had contacted his grandfather, saying he was being abused.
Now, it has emerged that Social Services has refused to allow two children, taken from their mother (recovering from heroin addiction), to be adopted by their grandparents. The authorities have refused despite fact that this is what the mother wants, and has pleaded for it. Despite the fact that she has said that they would make wonderful parents. At 46 and 59 the authorities consider them too old. She has diabetes (not a problem in this day and age), and he has angina (also manageable), so they're also too sick, according to Social Services.
The family has fought the authorities for two years, and have endured emotional hell during that time. But, broken, they have now conceded to allow the children to be adopted by another couple. At the very least, this heartbroken family believed, the children should grow up with a mother and father. As the mother said goodbye to her children, her son, emotionally distraught, told her, "But Mummy, I want to come and stay with you and Granny and Grandad."
Social Services have made the decision: Two married homosexual men – that the mother and grandparents have never even met – will be the children's new family.
And because in their desperation the grandparents went to The Daily Mail, the authorities have threatened them, saying that they will never see the children again.
You would complain to your local MP. But Big Mother believes that we, her children, should be seen, but never heard.
http://www.brusselsjournal.com/node/3781
If the communist and fascist revolutions embodied the abusive, psychotic father, New Labour’s revolution is that of the overprotective, single mother, robbing her children of independence of thought, and monitoring their every action. The real world, after all, is a nasty, dangerous place, and everyone must be protected from it for as long as possible – preferably forever.
Big Mother – as we might call her – is terrified that any of her children should so much as graze their knee, and forbids “bad words.” “Islamist terrorist”? No, that’s just another “thug” committing more “anti-Islamic activity.”
Did that three year-old say “yuk” to unfamiliar spicy food? Well that’s one big indication that he’ll end up like Adolf Hitler – note that down as a racist incident nursery assistant!
And, speaking of food, what if one of the little ones has a nasty reaction to something they eat? Don’t worry: Cadbury has recently included a warning on the label of its Dairy Milk Chocolate bar that the product contains milk. Another UK company is selling eggs, with the warning “contains eggs” printed right on the box. And the Asda supermarket chain is now selling milk with “warning: contains milk!” printed on the clear plastic container.
[...]
Sex is something to be celebrated – so why wait? Children under thirteen are already being given condoms by some schools in the city of Manchester. And watch out for those sex education lessons for five year-olds coming to schools all around the country.
And, one college for 14 to 19 year-olds recently hired poll dancers come in and show off their ‘talent’ – as part of their health and ‘fitness’ week. It’s racy, and inappropriate, but Big Mother did love the Sixties with its wild dancing and free love. So get with the program.
'Canadian Arab Federation on notice for disseminationWhile B'nai Brith does not raise the issue, those of us interested in the postmodern "human rights" world view must wonder if this latest incident is just another piece of evidence that either the Canadian Human Rights Commission (or BB for that matter) doesn't fully know what it is doing, doesn't know the logical end point of the left-liberal "human rights" world view, founded in reaction to the Holocaust: postmodern Political Correctness, when fully revealed, reveals itself as a new form of antisemitism, of rivalry over Jewish historical priority, in this case over the symbol of the unquestionable victim of the "Nazi/Jew" dynamic, the genocidal event that is remembered more than any other for revealing the unquestionably evil capacity of a modern Western society, implicating all its professions and most of its members. This postmodern competition over the most horrific revelation of Jewish historical centrality is why we now see the many incredibly hateful and insane comparisons of Israel with the Nazi state.
of pro-terrorist propaganda from abroad,' says B'nai Brith Canada
TORONTO, February 5, 2009 – B'nai Brith Canada has called for a full investigation of Canadian Arab Federation (CAF) activities, following the discovery that the organization disseminated pro-terrorist propaganda in a January 16th email sent to subscribers to its Gaza Daily Bulletin. Bloc Quebecois MP Maria Mourani had apparently unwittingly shared the CAF newsletter's video links that promoted terrorism in an email to her parliamentary colleagues, for which she was rebuked by her Party leader Gilles Duceppe and by Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
"This is a clear case of a Canadian-based organization actively involved in the promotion of pro-terrorist propaganda that should be of concern to everyone," said Frank Dimant, B'nai Brith Canada's Executive Vice President
"Links to video clips distributed by CAF featured prominently disturbing images of Hamas operatives undergoing terrorist training, photos of young children being indoctrinated into violence, and the image of Hamas leader Khaled Meshal, in exile in Syria, rallying his followers. The recurring images of the flags of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, two terrorist groups outlawed in Canada and many other countries around the world, smacks of the promotion of terrorist objectives, ideologies and methods.
"It is unconscionable that CAF, which bills itself as a mainstream Arab organization actively involved in the settlement of new immigrants to this country, has engaged in this type of activity.
"We call on CAF to accept full responsibility for its actions and to voluntarily come forward with the firm guarantee that the organization will refrain in future from the dissemination of hate propaganda that glorifies terrorism. Should it fail to do so, the Government must then step in and take appropriate steps to safeguard the Canadian public from the impact that such dangerous propaganda can have and its direct contribution to the ever-growing problem of radicalization and extremism, both at home and abroad."
In your HEART and in your MIND, you know it is time to MARCH to educate the world that Anti-Semitism and Terrorism cannot be tolerated. There are higher values than tolerance. Good must triumph over evil. Knowledge and understanding must triumph over ignorance and hatred. KNOWLEDGE can change history!-------------
Daat means knowledge in Hebrew. In Kabbalah, it means so much more.(Source)
Daat is the bridge between intellect and emotion.
We need both.
We need you.
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In Kabbalah -
Da'at -is Knowledge, the bridge between the intellect and emotion
The Da'at is the mystical state of unity of the 10 Sephiroth, also called the Tree of Life.
The Sefirot in Jewish Kabbalah
DAAT is also the Day Against Anti-Semitism and Terrorism
We shall march.
We shall be non-violent.
We shall, we must, believe that knowledge and goodness will prevail over ignorance and hate.
Da'at is the bridge between intellect and emotion.
In your mind and in your heart, you know it is time to march against anti-Semitism and Terrorism. This is our opportunity to spread knowledge and goodness.
April 19, 2009.
I'm rereading Matthew Arnold today. I read Arnold as a young man, ( not, at the time, realizing that in the doing I was preparing myself for marriage in middle-age,) from a sense of duty rather than passion. Today, for me, he raises the question of the benefits of Culture, by which he means High Culture of the mid-Victorian era. He writes of others as in need of the education they lack, an education which makes their philistine lives "hole and corner." Like most people, he doesn't like people not like himself. He writes of others: "Consider these people, then, their way of life, their habits, their manners, the very tones of their voice; look at them attentively; observe the literature they read, the things which give them pleasure, the words which come from their mouths, the thoughts which make the furniture of their minds; would any amount of wealth be worth having with the condition that one was to become just like these people by having it?"1.This year Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day, falls on April 21, 2009.Howard also notes:
The obscenity of Durban II - a hatefest of anti-Semitism in the guise of an anti-racism conference is scheduled right on Yom HaShoah, taking place from Aprtil 20 to 24 in Geneva.
I wrote about Durban I in my novel The Second Catastrophe and compared it, in its historical significance to the Wansee Conference during the Shoah.
There has been a severe increase in Islamic anti-Semitism following Durban I, which of course helped legitimize it.
Recent marches, supposedly in protest of the Gaza War have shown the anti-Semitic taunts, slogans and signs by the Muslim and leftist participants.
The internet is full of videos, and articles, about the horrible things being said and shouted at Jews, and the inevitable spill over into violent attacks on Jews and Jewish institutions.
The United Nations, of course, is not a solution, but in fact is a major part of the problem.
European nations, so disgraced by their actions and non-actions during the Shoah, today with Muslim populations ranging from 5% to 40%, see nothing wrong with the most hateful anti-Jewish speech and actions emanating from disaffected demographics, both Muslim and non-Muslim.
It is clear that the greater the Muslim population is in Europe, the more hostile life becomes for Jews. Many French Jews are convinced it is time to leave. English Jews are frightened.
As Barack Obama says one of the main themes of his Presidency will be to show the Islamic world how much America "respects" it and wants a "partnership", now is the time for Jews and their friends, worldwide, to stand up and say no to respect of anti-Semitic attitudes and actions. The Holocaust denial, and the use of Arab education systems, media and clergy to spread anti-Jewish sentiment is unacceptable.
We must demonstrate our view that this is unacceptable.
We must demonstrate on April 19, 2009, and show the world that we support the right of Israel to live in peace and not be threatened with genocide by Iran or its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah.
We must demonstrate and show Obama that respect is given to those who "earn" respect; otherwise the attempts at respect are misinterpreted as weakness and submission to the alien values of Islamist supremacy.
This year as Iran closes in on the completion of its development of nuclear weapons that it has pledged to use against Israel, and as Israel is the one country in the world that is chastened for defending its citizens against terrorism and bombing directed solely at civilians, it is time to ACT!
Our intentiion is to mobilize hundreds of thousands of people world wide to take to the streets in solidarity with the world's Jews including the nearly six million Jews of Israel. We must not allow another six million to perish.
We shall soon have a web site up and running devoted to the organization of this important event. We solicit the support of every human being who recognizes that the Jews of this world have always sought to improve this world. The contributions of the Jews to this world are out of all proportion to our numbers.
Now is the time to demonstrate, before it is too late.
NEVER AGAIN means that at the very least we should march on April 19th and show the strength of our numbers and the strength of our morality.
Moral equivalency, cultural relativism, and political correctness is EVIL. The world must choose - life over death, peaceful co-existence over genocide, goodness over evil.
April 19th is the time that the average Canadian and American can stand up for what is right and voice his or her displeasure with what is so obviously wrong. We are not "racist" in our attitudes on Muslims, but neither are we so racist against Jews that we shall tolerate blatant acts of anti-Semitism and incitement by Muslims.
Acts by a liberal democracy to protect its civilians from murder by totalitarian entities are NOT equivalent to acts by totalitarians against their own people and neighbouring civilians. Those who claim such equivalency are perverse.
To the Muslims --come join us in our peaceful country, but only if you reject violence and racism against Jews, only if you reject terrorism and suicide bombing, and only if you can stand strong against the minority in your religion that is seeking to impose a fundamentalist and supremacist agenda to defeat Western liberalism, instead of participating in it.
March with us in the most important demonstration ever to ensure that our children and grandchildren will live in freedom and dignity.
These demonstrations are NOT against individual Muslims but only against totalitarian entities in the Middle East, and those confused Muslim spokesmen in North America who seek to impose alien values on a liberal democratic society.
Farewell, dear readers, as I leave you with nearly 170 posts from last August, many containing essays of mine.
The shunning of my work by the mainstream Jewish organizations continues.
The situation for Jews continues to deteriorate. I somewhat naively felt that my writing and my ideas could make a small difference in this terrible world.
But in our world, it is marketing, it is images, it is sound bites, it is PR that rules....
And so, as I take up the position as Chairman of the April 19, 2009 Day Against Anti-Semitism and Terrorism, I feel that I moving on to another stage in the battle; and make no mistake, a battle it is.
We shall take to the streets; we shall be peaceful, we shall be non-racist, we shall be respectful of all laws and regulations, but we shall be in the public eye, we shall be in the "face" of the public; and we shall get our message across - anti-Semitism in the guise of anti-Israelism is wrong and is unacceptable. Those who use double standards against Israel will be exposed. Those who think that freedom of speech is only a one-way road will be overcome; those who come to America to create sharia law and isolation and ghettos of jihadist militancy shall be addressed.
This is the natural evolution of my thinking as a Second Generation Radical.
Never again.
"For fighting men, this grimmest of wars is in one small way also the gayest. Never before have the folks who entertain the boys been so numerous or so notable; never have they worked so hard, traveled so far, risked so much.”So Time Magazine begins its 2-page story from September 1943, as it chronicled the summer tour that saw Hollywood comedian Bob Hope entertaining the Allied troops fighting in Sicily as well as those serving across North Africa.
Previous Radio Memories posts:
The March Of Time: Feb 10 1938 broadcast
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