This Week in Islam

www.TheReligionofPeace.com

(3/11/07)

TROP:  In a conspicuous attempt to legitimize the deadly campaign to destabilize Iraq, al-Jazzera is referring to Sunni terrorists as "Iraqi resistance fighters" (and that's just their sanitized English-language version...  We can only guess what they might be saying in Arabic).

That the Iraqis themselves refer to their murderous antagonists as terrorists seems to have flown over the heads of the staff at al-Jazeera, who are doing their best to deny Iraqis the peace and security they seek.  The goal, apparently, is to turn Iraqis into angry, destitute pawns for hanging ver the heads of the Americans the way that Palestinians are used against Israel.

So, for the record, if you are resisting peace, security, economic rebuilding and a democratically-elected government by blasting ordinary civilians to kingdom come, then al-Jazeera calls you a "resistance fighter."  But, if you are fighting to protect the same civilians from these cold-blooded terrorists, then you are an illegitimate "occupier."

(3/09/07)

TROP:  Our WWMD page ("What Would Muhammad Do?") seems to have really caught on with a lot of readers.  We've come up with one more entry:

[Would Muhammad] encourage the rape of women in front of their husbands?

The answer is 'yes,' of course. The reference is Abu Dawud verse 2150:

Abu Said al-Khudri said: "The apostle of Allah sent a military expedition to Awtas on the occasion of the battle of Hunain. They met their enemy and fought with them. They defeated them and took them captives. Some of the Companions of the apostle of Allah were reluctant to have intercourse with the female captives in the presence of their husbands who were unbelievers.  So Allah, the Exalted, sent down the Quranic verse, "And all married women (are forbidden) unto you save those (captives) whom your right hands possess."

According to the passage (from a reliable Hadith) Muhammad's men were reluctant to rape the women captured in battle, because they felt it was wrong (particularly since the husbands were still around to witness the debauchery).  Allah the Compassionate came to the rescue with a handy imperative that allowed them to rape the women with a clear conscience.

This is the background for Sura 4:24 of the Qur'an... the Holy Qur'an, that is.

(3/07/07)

TROP:   In Thailand over the weekend, Islamic terrorists shot two teenage girls to death as they were on their way to take an exam at their high school.  Two days later, they gunned down a 70-year-old rubber worker.  All of the victims were Buddhist.  This is not the first time that the Religion of Peace has deliberately victimized children and the elderly, since they make easy targets for Islam’s “Holy Warriors.”   

Neither is it the first time that Muslims around the world have ignored the brutality in the name of their religion and searched for more petty offense (such as CAIR’s current obsession over whether someone in Minnesota did or didn’t say something bad about a Muslim congressman behind his back). 

Nope.  This is just Islam as usual.

(3/05/07)

TROP:  It’s too bad that Islamic extremists don’t bother CAIR as much as do Muslims trying to make Islam into a peaceful religion. 

In a week in which hundreds of people were slaughtered explicitly in the name of Allah, CAIR has had harsh words only for moderates such as Wafa Sultan, Hirsi Ali, and the Secular Islam Summit – a group of diverse Muslims united in their opposition to extremism and violence in the name of their religion.

In fact, CAIR is so proud of opposing peaceful moderates that it has prominently posted a video of Ahmed Bedier going after a Summit member on the Glenn Beck show.  You will see no such videos of Bedier (or any of CAIR’s other leaders) attacking an Islamic radical the way that he does the unfortunate Tawfik Hamid.

Bedier starts off complaining that secularists are the “wrong messengers,” and that the much-needed reform of Islam should be driven by people like himself who “love and respect” the faith.

By the end of the 9-minute segment, Bedier is showing his “love and respect” for Islam by taking advantage of his opponent’s struggling language skills and hurling cheap insults at him like “Jew” and “opportunist.” 

It is obvious that Muslims like Ahmed Bedier enable Islamic terrorists by undermining the only legitimate opposition to them from within the faith.  If reform of Islam can only be done by the likes of him, then it will surely never happen.  Bedier doesn't even bother to speak out when Copts are murdered in his home country of Egypt.

For his part, Glenn Beck is clearly pandering to CAIR, the organization that recently targeted him for boycott.  In spite of what had just taken place in front of him, he signs off the segment by informing viewers that CAIR is just as committed to peaceful solutions as the reformers that it opposes.  The organization’s tactics of intimidation have paid off handsomely.

If Beck still has a backbone, then he might consider asking CAIR these questions (from our CAIR Baby site) the next time he has one of their spokespersons on his show.

(3/03/07)

TROP:   According to Islamic law, if a couple divorces, then the woman is required to marry another man before the two can reconcile.  This is based on Sura 2:230, and Muhammad confirms in the Hadith that the interim marriage must be consummated.

Given that a man can divorce his wife against her will at the drop of a hat in Islam (merely by repeating the words "I divorce you" three times), it would be no surprise if such hasty decisions are often later regretted, particularly if there are children involved.  Still, if the two are devout Muslims, then the woman must have sex with another man and then be divorced by him before she can return to her family.

This is an utterly degrading law that illustrates the inhumanity of a woman in Islam.  She is a piece of property, owned by her husband.  She can be disposed of at will, and then dragged through another man’s bed if her husband later decides that he wishes to reinstate her services.

Like many other arbitrary rules, this is something that sprang from the mind of Muhammad for some obscure reason, yet has had tragic consequences due to literal enforcement. The early collectors of verses saw fit to include this in with the hodgepodge of quotes that became part of the "inerrant, infallible word of Allah," where it is memorized and venerated to this day.

In India, the Sharia courts recently heard from a couple who separated over a spat, but wanted to reconcile without having to have the woman prostitute herself.  Fortunately for them, the court found a loophole in that the husband had only pronounced the talaq (“I divorce you”) once instead of three times.

We suspect that many others have not been so lucky.

(3/02/07)

TROP:   The grim reality that importing a large number of Muslims for no conceivable reason wasn't such a good idea (in retrospect) is starting to sink in with the good people of Norway.  Crime, particularly rape, has skyrocketed in Muslim areas and the nation's women have borne the brunt of this cultural Jihad in what used to be a safe country

Anti-immigration politicians are now threatening to break out the big guns.  They are encouraging residents around a public square to use pigs' feet and "squealing noises" to ward off Friday prayers.

Yeah, good luck with that.  If there's one thing to be learned from the film, Deliverance, it's that if your enemy has you squealing like a pig, then it's already too late.

(3/01/07)

TROP:   Kudos to the Religion of Peace for posting another stellar month.  The numbers are in for February and, although the body count fell slightly from January highs, critical injuries saw a massive 58% gain - from 1,814 to 2,884!!!

(2/28/07)

TROP:   An argument that is often heard from defenders of Islam is that the terrorists of their religion can't be true Muslims because their targets are sometimes Muslim as well. 

But what these apologists leave out is the fact that in Islam there is a category of Muslims called 'hypocrites' or munafiqin, who are hated even more than non-believers.  These are considered to be Muslim in name only and judged to be doubters or unbelievers by their refusal to join the fight against the infidel.  Islamic scholars following Muhammad declared that these Muslims would occupy the hottest part of Hell (hence, their lives are of little earthly value).

The fact that terrorists kill other Muslims because they believe them to be the 'hypocrites' that Muhammad frequently spoke of could not have been made any plainer than it was in Pakistan yesterday, when a teacher was abducted and beheaded by the Mujahideen.  On the forehead of the severed head, the Islamists wrote the word 'Munafiqin."

(2/26/07)

TROP:   The Information Age may pose the greatest threat that Islam has ever faced, particularly in the uncensored West.  Many Muslims are finding out for the first time that the details of their prophet’s life are very much out of step with the revered image of a perfect and holy man.  Neither are educated Westerners finding many aspects of Islamic law to be compatible with their own values.

Muslim countries meet the challenge by censoring the information flow, blocking websites and banning the sales of certain books.  They do not allow other religions to evangelize or speak ill of Islam or its prophet, which insulates the Muslim world from critical thought.

Muslim organizations in the West face greater obstacles.  Islam, as it is popularly believed by many Muslims, has almost become a parallel religion to the Islam revealed in the Qur’an and Sunnah.  Many Muslims are taught that Islam is not much different than the Judeo-Christian tradition, and seem at a loss to explain the death and destruction done explicitly in the name of Allah.

There is a tendency for Westerners to play along with this false perception of Islam instead of demanding accountability and hard answers.  It isn’t just secular multiculturalists who are to blame either.  “6^th Column against Jihad” produced an excellent article on The Religion Barrier that should be required reading for every non-Muslim, particularly those who are religious.  Christians and Jews are susceptible to being taken in by the misconception that Islam is just another Abrahamic faith like theirs, with the noble goals of peace and universal brotherhood.

But the reality is quite different.  Despite the fact that many Muslims in the West follow more of a “pseudo-religion,” the real Islam always has a way of emerging from the holy texts and recruiting from the mainstream.  The result is not just violence, but the slow strangling of the host through a series of unilateral concessions that do nothing more than tighten the death grip of Islamacism.

Islamic organizations in the West use the “Religion Barrier” and the language of religious tolerance to fend off the challenge posed by the Information Age.  While thousands of people are butchered in the name of Allah each year, these apologists insist that the religion behind the violence should be just as immune from criticism here as it is in those parts of the world over which it has a stranglehold.

The Islamists know that suppressing knowledge and critical thinking is the key to defeating our culture and freedoms.  It therefore follows that education and critical thought are also our best defense against this darkness.

(2/24/07)

TROP:   One of the basic demands of liberalism seems to be “privacy in the bedroom” (a phrase that is worded to make it sound as if political opponents are voyeurs).  As such, it is somewhat astonishing that the Left isn’t leading the opposition to the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.

Late last month In Pakistan, a couple of lovers were tied to a tree and stoned to death by Muslim fanatics for the crime of adultery.  These weren’t a couple of hormone-plagued teenagers, however.  The victims in this case were in their 40’s.

Even if you aren’t a liberal (and regardless of your feelings about adultery) there is something deeply disturbing about grown adults being pelted to death with stones because they chose to have sex with each other.  But this is a punishment that is firmly embedded in Islamic law and tradition.  It was the penalty that was personally prescribed by Muhammad on multiple occasions.

Whether they realize it or not, liberals have more in common with Jerry Falwell than a Wahabbi cleric.  Neither of the two approves of homosexuality or adultery, for example, but only one will kill over it… and that's a difference that deserves appreciation.

(2/22/07)

TROP:   In a recent interview, German journalist Rainer Hermann says that Europeans don’t stand much of a chance against Islamic terrorism unless they agree to accept 70 million new Muslims into their European Union in the form of Turkey.  (The current Muslim “peacekeeping” force of 30 million immigrants apparently needs reinforcement). 

A good analogy for this would be a man who realizes that he has been eating from a diseased animal, but believes that devouring the rest of the carcass will provide his body with the nourishment needed to dodge or fight the disease.

Unless Hermann is saying that it is already too late to save Europe, it is hard to get past the rather sensible notion that fewer Muslims means fewer terrorists - and an easier job of keeping track of those who are.  Certainly the absorption of 70 million additional Muslims would push the continent well past the point of no return.  Muslims would automatically become the largest political group in the EU by a rapidly-increasing margin starting at 10 million. 

As the recent murder of Hrant Dink demonstrated, life in Turkey – Islam’s shining example of moderation – still isn’t much fun for non-Muslims, who do not have the same property rights or religious freedom that Muslims enjoy.  Mr. Dink’s “crime” was to speak out against the genocide of one million Christians less than a century ago.  His killer was treated like a hero.

Europeans seem to have lost the will to fight for their culture and values, even with the growing realization that the political and social essence of Islam is incompatible with Western liberalism.  Already, there are bitter problems with assimilating existing Muslims, as unreciprocated concessions to immigrants merely compound and the system creeps ever closer to a balance-of-power shift.

Bringing in Turkey would only hasten the suicide.

(2/21/07)

TROP:   According to a Gallup survey of several thousand Muslims in ten Islamic countries worldwide, about 7% say that they believe the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon on September 11th were 'justified.'  It is unclear how many Muslims may also have agreed with the attacks, but feel uncomfortable with admitting it to an American corporation.

If there are 1.2 billion Muslims worldwide, then at least 84 million (and probably more) cheered one of the most cold-hearted acts of mass murder in recent history.  This is why the problem of Islamic terror isn't limited to "a few guys in a cave somewhere," but is a deeply ingrained historical flaw that will develop into larger problems for the West if it continues to operate on the naive assumption that a growing Muslim population poses no threat.

Also contradicting the "poverty breeds terrorism" myth, the survey found that wealthier and better-educated Muslims were more likely to become "radicalized."

(2/20/07)

TROP:   Here's your daily dose of Orwell. This original article in "The Peninsula" bears the even-handed title, "In US, Fear and Ignorance Feed Christian-Muslim Divide."  Naturally, the actual content takes only Christians to task for the "fear" and "ignorance," but the author is hopeful that they will soon be jolted from their backwardness by an "atmosphere of dialogue" that is "steadily emerging" between Muslims and Christians in the U.S.

Sounds like the typical junk that is cranked out by self-styled progressives in the U.S., but in this case "the Peninsula" refers to the section of the Arabian Peninsula where Qatar happens to sit.  Yes, the same Arabia where Jews and Christians are absolutely forbidden!

Qatar itself is a bit more open to the presence of other religion, but only Shias and Sunnis may become citizens (with the exception of a tiny minority of Christians with specific lineage).  Other religions are strictly forbidden from evangelizing or operating missionary functions of any kind.  Muslims are under no such restrictions, of course.

That a country which openly discriminates against religious minorities would fail to see the obvious hypocrisy in lecturing the U.S. on religious tolerance and dialogue speaks volumes about the arrogance of Islam.  This is a religion that is so comfortable with its own ingrained double standards that its people are simply unaware of the duplicity that is so blatant to the rest of us. 

(2/19/07)

TROP:   Our regular readers are familiar with this example, but the impending sentencing of the ringleader and main figure in the beheading of three Christian schoolgirls in Indonesia provides yet another opportunity to point out just how worthless the lives of non-Muslims are in Muslim society.

Prosecutors are apparently seeking only a 20-year-sentence for the brutal beheading deaths of the three young girls (a fourth survived the attack with injuries).  Compare this to the 20-year-sentence that the same Indonesian court system handed down to a young Australian woman in 2005 for smuggling 9-pounds of pot into the country, and you will begin to understand the grim future that your children face should Islam become dominant in the West.

(2/16/07)

TROP:   We fear that the investigation into Sulejman Talovic's shooting spree at a Utah shopping mall is already tainted by pressure to interpret the attack in a way that sits comfortably with Muslim Americans.  The family, media and investigators all seem especially interested in guiding public opinion to preferred conclusions, even while claiming ignorance of the gunman's actual state of mind.

The family, for example, has "ruled out" religion as a motive.  Yet, they go on to say that they don't know what the motive is.  Why would they dismiss something out of hand if they truly have no knowledge?

The FBI says it has "no reason to believe" that the shooting was an act of "terrorism."  Apparently the agency uses the word "terrorism" these days only when there is some association with a terrorist organization.  The rest of us, of course, know terrorism when we see it, and five dead bodies lying on the ground at an American shopping mall certainly fits the description.

Although his background as a "Muslim victim" may have played a role in developing his rage, the idea that Talovic "snapped" merely because he moved around a few times with his family during the war in Bosnia is highly unlikely.  So is the media's breathless association with Srebrenica - the site of a Serbian massacre in 1995 (that actually took 3,000 lives, as opposed to the 8,000 which continues to be erroneously reported).

In the first place, Talovic left Srebrenica two years before the Bosnian massacre.  Ironically, his brief time there probably coincided with the massacre of Serb civilians at Srebrenica by Bosnian radicals under the leadership of Naser Oric.  The family even lived for a time in a house abandoned by fleeing Serbs.  Would the media care to speculate on this, we wonder?

Secondly, Talovic was between the ages of 3 and 7 at the time, and most likely sheltered from the war, since he lived for the most part at a refugee camp.  By contrast, thousands of Jewish children hid for years in far worse conditions from a Nazi genocide that claimed millions of lives.  To our knowledge, none of them went on to become mass murderers against a country that opened its arms to them.

The United States is a free nation in which the most vocal Muslim American groups vociferously indoctrinate their constituents with the belief that there is a war both on them and their religion.  The Internet is full of websites and message boards with rabble-rousers, such as Jihad Unspun, that reinforce this message with wild hyperbole and invented "fact."

Since the investigators in Utah seem more interested in soothing the delicate sensibilities of Muslim activists, we may never know what contacts or conversations Talovic actually had in the period preceding his murderous rampage.  But, unless something else surfaces to prove otherwise (and there may), we believe it is entirely reasonable to categorize this as yet another case of deadly Islamic terrorism on American soil.

Let's put it this way.  If this were a non-Muslim who "snapped" and gunned down five innocent Americans who happened to be Muslim, do you really think CAIR would be discounting religion as part of the equation?

(2/15/07)

TROP:   Here’s an interesting trivia note, Carlo Rota, who plays a non-Muslim counter-terrorism operative on Fox’s “24” (which is either the most “Islamophobic” or “Islamophilic” show on television, depending on whether or not you’ve actually seen it) also happens to play one of the main Muslim characters in Canada’s “Little Mosque on the Prairie.”

TROP:   Anyone who wonders if the Muslim world has completely lost its mind probably needs to see this MEMRI video.  Think Wafa Sultan with a beard.

(2/14/07)

TROP:   Sweet home Ali Baba!  After centuries of demands that women cover themselves from head to toe, Islamists have finally thrown guys a bone.  In addition to pleasing husbands and boyfriends, their meritable fatwa against Valentine's Day should also delight a lot of single women... we're guessing.

(2/13/07)

TROP:   We don’t have any inside information yet on what was behind a Muslim teenager’s shooting rampage at a Utah shopping mall, although the last time a Muslim wanted to commit a terror attack against American civilians at a mall (in Illinois) it was found to be motivated by “violent Jihad.” 

The news services quickly dropped their interest in the story once it was known that a Muslim was responsible for the attack (it is not even on CNN’s list of top 15 stories less than 24 hours after the shooting).  The media is focusing on the “hero cop” who stopped Sulejmen Talovic from killing more people, and offering hilariously generic theories on why a “troubled young teen” would do such a thing. 

For its part, CAIR has yet to issue their usual stale press release denouncing the attack.  The organization actually had the gall to post another complaint about the FOX drama, “24,” overnight.  Regardless of what they do end up saying about the real-life slaying of five innocent Americans, it will be far less than the attention that they have already given to a fictional television show.

(2/11/07)

TROP:   We have no problem with true interfaith dialogue between Islam and its largest rival, Christianity, but this is rarely what Muslims have in mind when they use the phrase. 

Interfaith dialogue, for us, means that both religions listen and learn from the other.  Unfortunately, Muslim opportunists have co-opted the spirit of such interaction for their own purposes, exploiting the tasteful connotation that words like "mutual understanding" have in the West merely to advance their own agenda in unilateral fashion.

This article from the Roanoke times, covering a local "interfaith" event, shows how such "dialogue" actually works.  It bears the agreeable title, "Interfaith Dialogue Aims to Erase Barriers between Islam and Christianity."  It is spiced with other wonderful phrases like, "conversation," "mutual understanding" and "respect."  Readers are informed that "stereotypes" are broken and that attendees of the event are "learning about each other."

But read between the lines.  Who are the attendees?  They are all Christians.  Who is doing the talking?  It is a Muslim imam.  The event is held at a church, in which the imam is allowed to stand in the pulpit and offer a Muslim prayer.  Afterwards, he says that the attendees are "very receptive" to his message.  You think?

This isn't dialogue, and it isn't true conversation.  This is one-way proselytizing, from Muslims to Christians.  There are no counter-events at mosques in which Christian preachers are allowed to propagandize on behalf of their religion.  In fact, Islam specifically denies Christians the right to share their faith.  Nor does it allow fellow Muslims the freedom to choose their religion.

Our editor recently asked Dan Webster of the National Council of Churches, and the promoter of such misnamed "interfaith" events between Muslims and Christians, if he knew of any Muslims who had expressed concern over the plight of religious minorities in the Islamic world, or if he knew of any Muslim organizations that were dedicated to these problems – which are far more serious than hurt feelings.  Sadly, he could not offer a single example.

For all of the talk from groups like CAIR about bigotry toward Muslims, it is Muslim bigotry towards others that is a far greater problem, since it underlies and supports the astonishing amount of violence on the part of a few and the enabling indifference from most of the rest.  We believe that pretending otherwise will only reinforce this arrogance and intolerance.

(2/09/07)

TROP:  It certainly seems to be appropriate that the most admired figure in the Arab world right now is Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of Hezbollah, whose illegal and unprovoked raid on Israel last summer resulted in the death of hundreds of fellow Arabs - and who now pushes the Arab world’s only self-sustained democracy to the brink of a new civil war.

This is part of a long tradition of support in the Arab world for those who have the most abysmal track record of improving Arab life, since they also happen to excel at demagoguery.  The episode between Israel and Hezbollah is the latest example of the well-worn pattern of self-defeating behavior among those unable to accept Israel’s existence.

First, there is the unnecessary act of aggression, designed to provoke a response from the Jewish state.  The counterattack is then met with wide-eyed outrage, as Arabs manage to forget the initial provocation and convince themselves that they are the true victims in the conflict.  A credulous Arab world plays along as civilian casualties are maximized for propaganda by the terrorists (much in the way that Iraqi terrorists recruit by using images of their own victims).

The end result is a severe setback for the local population, which paradoxically enhances the profile of those who provoked the situation, enabling them to influence measures that perpetuate the cycle of self-destruction.

(2/08/07)

TROP:  Too often we only report the bad news from the world of Islam, but now here’s some cause for optimism!  After years of uncanny stoicism in the face of the most atrocious videos of kidnappings and beheadings in the name of their religion, Muslims have finally found a hostage tape they don’t like.

Breaking long years of silence, Muslim leaders are expressing outrage over a new hostage video released at Long Island University in New York.  Granted the hostage portrayed isn’t a real person… in fact, it’s a… well, it’s more of a rubber duck.  And the hostage-takers in the video aren’t actually Muslims… just pretending to be.  And it isn’t so much the taking of a hostage that bothers Muslim leaders.  It’s the portrayal of hostage-takers as Muslims, based on their accents…

Look, the point is that this is a start.  Islamic narcissism can’t be conquered overnight.  If we continue to show patience, maybe in another thousand years or so a real human being having their throat cut by Islamic militants on tape might bother Muslims just as much as a phony rubber duck video…. maybe even more. 

We can always hope.

(2/07/07)

TROP:  According to this editorial piece on the Cronulla riots in Australia last year, the unrest started when Muslim immigrants at a beach harassed local women on their choice of bathing wear.  Lifeguards attempted to intervene and were beaten senseless.  When elements of the community retaliated, Muslims claimed that they were victims of racism (with the immediate complicity of a credulous media).

But how would Muslims handle things if the shoe was on the other foot and, say, it was a Muslim woman being harassed by a Jew?

Fortunately, we don’t have to speculate because it turns out that Muhammad faced a similar situation only a few years after arriving in Medina, when a Muslim woman was harassed by a Jewish merchant from the Qaynuqa tribe.  A passing Muslim man killed the merchant on the spot, and he, in turn, was immediately killed by other Jews who witnessed the earlier murder.

On this pretext, Muhammad sent an army against the entire Qaynuqa tribe, besieging the community for 15 days until it finally surrendered.  He wanted to kill all the male prisoners, but was persuaded out of it by an associate.  (Allah later rebuked Muhammad for not slaughtering the captives).  Instead, the tribe was evicted from their homes and land.  The Muslims took their possessions and property, with Muhammad collecting a fifth of the ill-gotten gain for himself.

(2/06/07)

TROP:  According to this article from the Daily Mail, "Disaffected, Raging, and Hungry for the Harsh Finality of Sharia Law," a sizable number of Britain's (painfully arrogant) young Muslims are "sick" of Western values and would prefer to live under Islamic law.

Unfortunately for them, the countries that do have Sharia are not livable (at least to the point that Western Muslims are willing to emigrate), while the most livable countries in the world are still quite reluctant to divest the very non-Islamic rights and freedoms to which they owe their attractiveness.

Wisdom is usually a product of maturity, but we have our doubts as to whether these youthful idiots will ever realize the irony of trying to change their hosts into the sort of societies that their parents worked so hard to escape and in which they themselves choose not to live.

(2/05/07)

TROP:  The same Muslim cleric who is currently calling for the murder of British soldiers, Omar Bakri, is one of several questionable individuals that CAIR has actually been promoting as "Voices against Extremism and Terrorism."  This is because Bakri originally came out against the 9/11 attacks (although we aren't sure what his current position is).

[Update: Check out this article from the Telegraph, which quotes members of the "British" beheading cell as crediting Bakri with inspiring their plot.  The Religion of Peace must be pretty hard up for moderate-sounding voices these days.]

(2/04/07)

TROP:  For our weekend readers who may have missed the last picture of the week, we featured the suicide bombing in Israel and pointed out that on Monday, Muslim extremists managed to kill members of just about every religion this side of the Heaven's Gate cult.  This included Buddhists, Jews, Christians, Hindus, and various sectarian foes within Islam itself.

Now, here's the thing. Muslims claim that there is a war on Islam.  In fact, this is what drives the terrorism - angry Muslims believing that they are the victims of each and every one of the vast majority of the world's conflicts in which Muslims happen to be involved.

But, let's summarize things.  Muslims are in a "war" with Buddhists. Muslims are in a "war" with Jews.  Muslims are in a "war" with Hindus.  Muslims are in a "war" with Christians.  And, for good measure, Sunni and Shia Muslims are in a war with each other.

Hmmm... 

Are you picking up on the common thread here... because the only people who can't seem to connect the dots are the ones at the very center of everything.  Even moderate Muslims seem to think that it's just a big coincidence that every major religion happens to be waging war on Islam, but not with each other.

(2/03/07)

TROP:  We don't normally post Ashura photos, because we think they are sensationalist and misleading.  This is a Shiite religious ceremony in which certain fanatics cut themselves to produce a display of blood.  Although children are sometimes cut lightly by their parents (in what might be called 'child abuse' in other places) the ritual poses no real harm to others.

We break with tradition and post this photo because it was taken in Iran and seems to underscore a point that we made a few days ago in response to Jacques Chirac's ridiculous statement that it would pose no danger to the world if Iran built "one or two" nuclear weapons (as if the Mullahs would stop there).  The French president maintained that Iran would "never" use these nukes because it would mean that Tehran would be obliterated in a retaliatory strike.

We don't share Chirac's confidence that today's Western leaders have what it takes to respond in kind, and we suspect that Iran knows that.  More than likely, the Mullahs would disguise a nuclear attack by using a proxy, as it does with Hezbollah, and then successfully work a credulous UN for sympathy afterwards.

In any event, our point here is that Cold War logic is being incorrectly applied to a different enemy for which the old rule of nuclear deterrence has no meaning.  Mutually Assured Destruction may have worked with the Soviets, but Iran is the country that pioneered the suicide bomber.

Our advice to Chirac is to take a hard look at the photo.  If this is what Iranians do to themselves in celebration, who could possibly believe that they would be deterred by nuclear martyrdom?

(2/02/07)

TROP:  Muslim groups have renewed their attack against the FOX drama, "24", for depicting terrorists as Muslims.  Although the show has represented nearly every ethnic group on the planet as a villain in some form or fashion over the last six years, only Muslims feel compelled to complain.

What makes this particularly ironic is that Muslims actually make up a solid majority of the world's terrorists, who stage attacks on a daily basis and consume enormous security resources from those who do not wish to become victims.  Despite comprising only a fifth of the world's population, the "Religion of Peace" accounts for about 70-80% of global terrorism and is involved in over 90% of international hostilities.

It is therefore perfectly reasonable for terrorists to be depicted as Muslim in a television drama that strives for realism.  Indeed, the protests of Muslims in this context offer particular insight into the effect that Islam has on those who adhere to it.

The religion appears to instill the highest degree of petulance for one's own interests and the lowest regard for others.  The delicate sensibilities of Muslims always come first, even if it means dismissing or relegating to secondary importance the horror that is meted out on the rest of the world in the name of Allah.

Of course, the most effective way of preventing Hollywood from portraying Muslims as terrorists is to take the sort of action that stops Muslims from being terrorists in real-life, but apparently the Religion of Peace is too introverted to figure this out.

(2/01/07)

TROP:  Opposing viewpoints are rarely tolerated in Islamic countries, and that appears to be a part of Ahmed Bedier's vision for America as well.  Last year the executive director of the Tampa chapter of CAIR began a blog in which he presented himself as an ordinary American just looking for a little dialogue.

This was immediately put to the test by Pim's Ghost, who challenged him on CAIR's agenda of an America under Sharia law (according to the words of its founder).  Quickly wilting under the challenge posed by a young woman who speaks her mind, Bedier promptly deleted her comments from his site and moved his blog into "censorship mode."  The opinions of others must now pass his approval before they are posted.

To confirm this, our editor tried to post a question about Bedier's recent lament over Saddam's execution on an Islamic holiday.  The CAIR executive was simply asked why he did not feel that the 93 other Iraqis who died that day (at the hands of Islamic terrorists) were deserving of his sympathy.  Unlike Saddam, none of these individuals were responsible for the deaths of over a million innocents.  Most were engaged in travel or shopping when they were cut down by the Religion of Peace.

Our guess is that Bedier chose only to criticize the execution of Saddam because of his own anti-American leanings.  Unlike the victims of Islam, Saddam was executed by an American ally.  Both Bedier and CAIR prefer to ignore the innocent blood shed by Islamic terrorists in Iraq and elsewhere because these deaths are a nuisance to the ultimate goal of Islamic hegemony over the lives of non-Muslims.

Needless to say, Bedier declined to post either the question or a response.  In the last two months, he has only allowed one comment to be posted to his blog entries - which we hope is an indication of the unpopularity of his opinions, since he is evidently allowing only like-minded viewpoints.  In any event, he is probably regretting his decision to blog, since all he has done so far is reinforce the perception that Muslims simply want to whine about themselves, while hoping the rest of us are content merely to listen.

(1/31/07)

TROP:  What timing these Islamic supremacist groups have!  The very day that a suicide bomber, assisted by Islamic Jihad, murders three Israelis at a bakery, a coalition of the usual suspects goes to bat for a Muslim-American who admits to aiding the terrorist organization.

Knowing these groups the way that we do, we certainly didn't foresee them offering a denouncement of the attack or even the pretense of sympathy for non-Muslim victims, but somehow they managed to lower the bar even further than our own dim expectations.

(1/30/07)

TROP:  Anti-war protesters in America are pulling out an old tactic -  spitting on veterans and their families.  There are several cases of this, including one in Ithaca, NY, where the father of a soldier in Iraq had to scrape off the "gratitude" of an extraordinarily self-righteous woman who objected to his bumper sticker.

Perhaps the worst incident to date happened on Sunday, when a soldier who lost his leg in Iraq was spit on by remnants of  the "Jane Fonda/Sean Penn" peace rally.

It wasn't too long ago that the anti-war crowd was pretending that sympathy for "fellow Americans in uniform" fueled their opposition to the war.  Now, frustrated perhaps by the betrayal of Democrats, they've dropped the act and are beginning to show their true colors.

So much for Camp Casey.

(1/29/07)

TROP:  Both Hamas and Fatah have praised the suicide attack against innocent Israelis at a bakery, and called it a positive step toward ending the in-fighting between the two groups.  The Religion of Peace always has to have someone to demonize and murder, you see.  In the absence of an external enemy, Islam will turn on itself until it is firmly mired in dictatorship and totalitarianism.  Then there will be peace.

(1/28/07)

TROP:  Quite a few readers reacted to our previous comments about CAIR's high-volume "death threat" theatrics and some suggested that we forward the ones we receive to the FBI as well - just to make a point.  Frankly, we wouldn't want to waste the resources of any law enforcement agency, even if what we often see in e-mail would probably make CAIR swoon.

Over the past month, some of our critics have had fun tracing our various IP addresses and telling us that they know who we are and where we live.  One recently tried to sound ominous by sending all sorts of detailed information on the small snowy town that our editor happened to be holed up in over the Christmas holiday.

E-mailed "death threats" are so inconsequential that we usually delete them with a yawn - if we notice them at all.  Take this one sent to us on January 3rd, presumably from someone named "Saima:"

You guys are such retards. You gotta get your information straight.

see you in hell:)

p.s im going to kill u

(1/27/07)

TROP:  U.S. Democrats are hammering President Bush for not sending enough troops to Iraq "to secure victory."  At the same time, they are opposing his plan to send more troops.

(1/26/07)

TROP:  It was Glen Reinsford's turn to contribute to Random Thoughts yesterday, but what started out as a 'thought' turned into a raging article against CAIR over their usual games:  

CAIR's Moral Distortion (by Glen Reinsford) on Family Security Matters

(1/25/07)

TROP:  New video and details are emerging of the Muslim massacre at a small church in Ethiopia last October. 

From those who were there, we know that a tiny group of unarmed Christians were having a worship service when a mob of Muslims descended on the building.  To flush out the Christians, the Muslims poured gasoline onto the church and set it ablaze.  Worshippers were caught as they fled the building and two dozen were hacked with machetes.  Some were forced to say "Allah Akbar" while the church itself was being desecrated.

Six people, including two priests, were killed and about fifteen others lost limbs or suffered other egregious injury at the hands of the Religion of Peace.  Video of the aftermath confirm the eyewitness accounts.

Like Lebanon, Ethiopia was once a Christian nation, but Muslims now make up about half of the populace and Christians are being displaced.  It would be naïve to believe that the rest of the Christian world is somehow immune from this fate, particular when the West eagerly pursues its own demise through Muslim immigration.

(1/24/07)

TROP:  CAIR is refusing to condemn the enslavement of 102 Sudanese at the hands of Muslim slave masters, freed by an international Christian organization last week.  This morning, the self-described "civil rights" organization is far more concerned about graffiti sprayed on the side of a Michigan mosque.

What did you expect?  This is Islam - the world's most self-absorbed religion.

(1/23/07)

TROP:  The media is having fun vindicating Barack Hussein Obama from abstract charges that he is a Muslim 'Manchurian Candidate.'  The headmaster of the Muslim school in Indonesia that he attended in the late 1960's insists that it is not the madrassa that others have claimed - which appears to be true.

But media outlets go too far in stating that Obama is not a Muslim.  If he is not a Muslim, then he is an apostate, since he was born a Muslim.  It is firmly established in Islam that the children of a Muslim father are automatically Muslim as well, and it is quite likely that Obama called himself a Muslim while attending school in Indonesia.

Although now claiming to be Christian (in the loose sense of the term, apparently), Obama has refused to speak candidly about his Muslim background.  This is his right, of course, but it is also the voters' right to ask.  In this case, the questions are important for two reasons, which naturally derive from the fact that radical Muslims are at war with America.

First, Muslims are far less tolerant of apostates from Islam than they are of other non-believers.  Americans may ask how Islamic radicals could possibly hate them any more than they already do, but the problem is that radicals recruit from the mainstream.  Their success will almost certainly be boosted by the election of a Muslim apostate to the nation's highest office.

Secondly, there is the question of sympathies.  Is a man who was reared by a Muslim father and stepfather, then educated at a Muslim school in an Islamic society, prepared to act fully in the American people's interest against the threat of radical Islam, or will he be an advocate for Muslim immigration and the CAIR agenda?  Though we personally feel that either path is possible, there is no way of knowing where Barack Obama stands unless he chooses to be completely open about his background and opinions as they relate to Islam.

Although Americans rightly consider religion a private matter in which individuals have complete freedom of choice, Islam surely does not.  The world's "fastest growing religion" maintains its title by threatening to kill any of its own who chose to leave.  It is a safe bet that a nation which elects an apostate as its leader will share the same sentence as well. 

Don't Americans have a right to all the relevant facts as they choose their next leader?

(1/22/07)

TROP:  Here is an example of how al-Jazeera shamelessly manipulates actual news into bogus propaganda against the U.S.  This AP story out of Somalia was originally titled “Somali Warlord Surrenders Guns, Militia.”  But al-Jazeera “edited” and re-posted it with the headline “Four Somali Citizens Killed by US-Backed Ethiopian Occupation Forces in Mogadishu.”

The story does indeed contain a reference to four Somali citizens who were presumably killed by fire from Ethiopian troops, but it is clear even from the surviving text that the incident occurred in the midst of a firefight, after Islamic terrorists staged an ambush on the troops themselves.  In other words, the Ethiopians were returning fire as they were being being attacked in a civilian area by Muslim sociopaths who deliberately used innocent people as human shields.

The al-Jazeera editorial staff also injects the words “occupation forces” into the article, (where they do not appear in the original) and employs other tricks, such as strategic omission, to manipulate their Muslim readership into the highest possible level of rage and misplaced paranoia.

(1/21/07)

TROP:  The Canadian Islamic Congress is "calling on Canada to stop racism," but Judeoscope observes:

(1/20/07)

TROP:  In addition to normal duties this past week, we had two projects in the works: the "24" article by Glen Reinsford - published on Family Security Matters - and this compilation called "In the Name of Allah", which is a rather tedious listing of quotes by terrorists across the globe attributing their activities to Islam.

Our critics sometimes lose sight of the fact that the violence on our list of 7200+ terror attacks is not random crime or noble struggle for democracy, and neither is it a "police blotter" of murders that happen to occur in Muslim countries.  We only list violence that can reasonably be assumed to have religious motivation - as those who commit such attacks often insist.

For the record, in the past five years we have seen about a dozen deadly attacks by Hindu fundamentalists and two shootings by Jewish radicals.  We are not aware of any killings in the name of either Christianity or Buddhism since 9/11.  It's quite possible that we have missed a handful, since this hasn't been our focus, but it's safe to say that when it comes to religious violence, Islam is the undisputed champion.

(1/19/07)

TROP:  Do Muslims ever ask themselves why the moral expectations are so much lower for Islam?

Take Abu Ghraib, for example, which has been burned into the world's consciousness as a symbol of American atrocity.  Despite the premature and incendiary accusations, sober investigations showed that not a single rape or murder was determined to have taken place there by any of the seven U.S. soldiers charged and convicted in the scandal.  Though clearly beneath American standards, the "torture" was largely characterized as psychological abuse and humiliation.

By contrast, thousands of Muslims were murdered in gruesome fashion at Abu Ghraib under Saddam Hussein, whose torturers brazenly employed rape as a sanctioned form of punishment both there and at other locations.  Yet, the Muslim world managed more sympathy and concern for Saddam's own execution than it ever did for any of the innocent souls that he butchered.

And, while the rape of Iraqi women by Americans over the last four years has been limited to only a single well-publicized incident, Muslim immigrants in Europe account for the majority of rapes in several countries in which they are a small minority of the total population.  Even though the majority of Muslims probably believe in their hearts that this is wrong, there is little to any concern expressed for the many non-Muslim victims of Muslim aggression, while the exceptions to the rule of Western tolerance are rhapsodized in the wildest language.

Islam is a harsh religion.  But the harshest thing about it may be the inflated sense of self-importance that it instills within Muslims, who seem pathologically unable to extend the same sympathy to others that they do to themselves.  This is evidenced by a tendency to exaggerate the sins of others, while completely ignoring the far greater harm that is being done in the name of their own religion.

Honest Muslims should be asking themselves why it is necessary to hold Islam to such low standards.

(1/18/07)

TROP:  Unfortunately we were wrong about what we posted below.  A better-informed reader from Germany told us that there is indeed a hadith that mandates beating children for not praying.  Some research unearthed this little gem from Abu Dawud (considered a reliable source):

TROP:  We believe that these five links to videos of the Channel 4 British television investigation into the hate and bigotry that is being preached in the country's mosques have been posted elsewhere, but they were sent to us by a reader.  These are fascinating, but probably short-lived, given YouTube's reputation for censoring the truth.  (Watch them now!)

Preaching Hate in British Mosques - Part 1
Preaching Hate in British Mosques - Part 2
Preaching Hate in British Mosques - Part 3
Preaching Hate in British Mosques - Part 4
Preaching Hate in British Mosques - Part 5

Although the narrators don't mention it, nearly every word out of the mouths of these Islamic clerics is taken straight from the Qur'an or Tradition (a notable exception being the incitement to hit children when they don't pray, which we don't believe is supported by verse). 

(1/17/07)

TROP:  CAIR is plugging an editorial in the Houston Chronicle by Jill Carroll, who insists that moderate Muslims "abound" and takes Americans to task for sometimes reaching different conclusions.  Carroll’s qualifications for telling Americans that they have nothing to fear from Islam involves having been kidnapped by Islamic extremists in Iraq last year and brought to tears by their threats to cut off her head. 

Quite honestly, if Carroll had been treated the way that other hostages were treated, then she wouldn’t be around to tell Americans not to worry.  But Carroll received highly preferential treatment from the moment of her capture.  Groups like CAIR took the very unusual step of denouncing her kidnapping and working behind the scenes for her release, insisting that the kidnappers had gotten it wrong this time and accidentally taken someone who was on their side of the conflict. 

Other Americans haven’t been as lucky.  To our knowledge, CAIR has never denounced the brutal and religiously-motivated killings of Americans in uniform.  The organization generally ignores the kidnapping of innocent people from other countries as well, even after they are bound and beheaded.  In fact, CAIR fails to acknowledge and denounce over 99% of deadly Islamic terror attacks regardless of the circumstances.  If this is the model for “moderate Islam,” then Americans have very much to worry about.

So, thanks to her special treatment, Jill Carroll is alive to tell us that there is no need to be suspicious of Muslims because “we have not had so much as a backpack bomb go off [in America] since 9/11.”  She needs to check her facts.  Even if 9/11 doesn’t count anymore (for some unspecified reason) there have been 26 Americans killed in their own country by radical Muslims and more than 3,000 overseas.  Dozens of other plots have been foiled along the way.

No, we aren’t suggesting that the average Muslim-American should to be viewed with suspicion, particularly since the average Muslim in the West isn’t all that religious and knows very little about actual Islamic history and verse.  But Carroll needs to be careful about shilling for CAIR.  The organization not only has terrorist ties and financing, but it is entirely dedicated to fueling the sort of distorted rage among Muslims, both in America and overseas, that accounts for the violence.

And just as the gunning down of six Jewish women in Seattle last July (following CAIR’s incessant demonizing of Israel) proves, these radical elements are gradually gaining influence over the moderate middle, and this can only mean that domestic terrorism will be very much in America's future.

(1/15/07)

TROP:  To our knowledge, the only time that CAIR has ever condemned Osama Bin Laden by name was three months after 9/11, when a videotape appeared in which the prolific Islamic leader took credit for the attacks.  The Muslim-American organization really had no choice at the time, since it had promised to condemn the parties responsible only a few weeks earlier.

Prior to this, CAIR was openly skeptical of Bin Laden's role in the 9/11 attacks (contrary to what they now claim).

The group is also on record as having defended Bin Laden from criticism following the embassy bombings in 1998.  That same year, as a matter of fact, CAIR vehemently denounced a billboard in Los Angeles that featured Osama's image with the words, "sworn enemy."  The "action alerts," petition, press releases and overall sense of urgency to remove the billboard message that Bin Laden was America's enemy were all conspicuously lacking after the slaughter of 3,000 innocents three years later - or for any of the 7,171 deadly Islamic terrorist attacks committed since.

Certainly if any organization in America has reason to disavow its questionable past and overact the part of condemning Osama Bin Laden, it would be CAIR.  Yet, trying to get the group to denounce specific acts of Islamic terror and groups by name is like trying to pull teeth.

The truth is that Sunni terrorist groups such as Hamas and al-Qaeda (along with Osama, even) are quite popular among the Wahhabi elements that provide CAIR with critical funding.  Victims of terror are not.

(1/13/07)

TROP:  Just how worthless is the life of a woman in Islam?  Consider that in Pakistan on January 2^nd, a man was burned alive for allegedly kidnapping a woman and raping her.  Not too bad so far, you might be saying.  Old-fashioned justice, perhaps? 

Try really old-fashioned… as in 7^th century.  The alleged victim was also burned alive, right alongside the man – and in front of their children.  The couple had been married for ten years.

(1/12/07)

TROP:  If not for the byline, we would have guessed that this Christian Science Monitor article on airport screener sensitivity training was pulled straight from CAIR's website.  It describes the "ordeal" (meaning harsh looks and assumed suspicion) that Muslim-Americans have suffered since 9/11, the day that they were inconvenienced by fellow Muslims slaughtering thousands of ordinary citizens in the name of Allah. 

After running through the recent spasm of Muslim butt-kissing by the TSA, the article declares that “Arab-American and Muslim-American leaders are applauding" such glowing indulgence.  (Enjoy it while it lasts, we might add, because Muslim sensitivities may be knocked down a few pegs on the public priority ladder after the next Islamic attack on American soil). 

The article goes on: "But, [Muslims leaders] say, it's part of a much-needed larger cultural and political conversation about Islam and Arab culture that can help the nation as it heals from the aftereffects of 9/11."  

Yeah.  The only “part of a conversation" that the rest of America needed to hear following 9/11 was white-hot outrage on the part of Muslims, followed by an unmitigated resolve to root out the radical elements of Islam that inspire daily violence.  DID NOT HAPPEN. 

And, lest there be any doubt, "the aftereffects of 9/11" referred to here do not mean smoldering ruins or devastated New Jersey families. 

"After 9/11, things were bad," says one of the Muslims interviewed, "but they weren't as bad as they are now."  

How bad are things now?  Just listen to her horror story:  A year ago she was running through a public airport in a hijab and suddenly felt compelled to drop to her knees in Islamic prayer.  When she looked up, there was a security guard standing silently next to her. 

"I could tell the people around were scared of me," she says, "and that's not good for us or good for our children." 

She must be speaking of her own children, because a natural fear of remarkably self-centered Muslims praying near airport terminals would have been quite handy on the morning of 9/11 – particularly for the eight children killed that day and the 3,051 who will grow up missing a parent. 

Let’s say (for the sake of comparison) that this airport incident occurred exactly one year prior to the publication of this article.  This would have been on the same day that two elderly Buddhists in Thailand had their throats ripped open by Muslims, who left a note promising to “keep killing innocents.”  (By the way, this is an example of what we non-Muslims mean when we say “things are bad.”) 

Even as city workers continue to find body parts beneath the streets of New York, the Muslims of America (at least according to this CSM article) have convinced themselves that they are the true victims of 9/11… and they’re waiting for an apology. 

So here’s ours: 

We’re sorry.  We’re sorry that you follow an obsessive religion that inculcates a level of selfishness and arrogance that prevents you from seeing past your own delicate sensibilities to the real horror and human suffering that Islam imposes on so many innocents in the world each and every day.  Please be sure to let us know when you figure out that the world doesn’t revolve around you.

(1/11/07)

TROP:  The Palestinian terrorists holding Israeli, Gilad Shalit, have assured the world that he “is being treated according to Islamic standards for prisoners of war.” 

As one of our readers put it, “thank God he isn’t a woman.”

(1/10/07)

TROP:  Just as we previously predicted, CNN is reporting that the "death threat" e-mail received by Basim Elkarra has been determined to be "not credible" by the FBI.  But it looks like CAIR is still milking it on the front page of their site.

(1/09/07)

TROP:  "Like all religion, Islam can be misinterpreted by fanatics…" 

Nearly every reasonable-sounding Muslim who contacts us to defend Islam against the mounting evidence that it is a violent religion manages to say something similar to this.  In other circumstances, of course, these same apologists bristle at the suggestion that their religion is just as imperfect as others, insisting that Islam is Allah’s perfect religion for mankind.

Meanwhile, the most passionate Muslims rack up huge body counts in the name of Islam, while enjoying the outright support or stark indifference from most of the rest.  The more vocal Muslims in today's world are far more interested in making excuses or engaging their critics in theological one-upmanship than they are in resolving the violence… and thus it continues.

(1/08/07)

TROP:  There are literally more than a dozen stories from legitimate news outlets right now reporting that Basim Elkarra, the executive director for the CAIR Sacramento chapter (whose award from Barbara Boxer was recently rescinded) received a death threat that is "requiring" an investigation by the FBI.  Naturally this is also the top item at CAIR's site, which is making the most of yet another opportunity to play the role of perpetual victim.

From what we can tell, the "death threat" is really just a single e-mail that was sent to Elkarra on December 30th, the text of which is not being released.  The same source also mentions that it was one of two "threatening" e-mail received by the director.

Wow.  Call out the National Guard.  We've got us a killer on the loose... who, uh... warns who he's going to kill in advance, so they'll be prepared... using a traceable IP address, so he's sure to get caught...

Oh, let's cut the crap.  If TROP ran to the FBI every time we got a threatening e-mail, they'd have to establish a new department.  We've gotten shades of hate-mail that we didn't even know existed before embarking on our project to document Islamic terror (from death threats to after-death threats even) and we sleep like babies at night.

Someone from the Bureau just needs to tell these quaking drama queens to act like men and learn how to use their computer's "Delete" key.

(1/06/07)

TROP:  Anyone still unsure of whether Keith Ellison would be playing the race card or the Muslim card this term had their question answered when the first African-American elected to national office from Minnesota chose to take the oath with his hand on a slave-owner’s Qur’an.  (Thomas Jefferson was not a religious man, but at least he took quite seriously the many verses of the Qur’an that encourage sex with slaves).

The most disturbing part of the ceremony for us, watching on CNN, was listening to the anchors gush over Ellison’s choice of Jefferson's Qur'an and attributing it to the congressman's “strong commitment” to "diversity" and the "inclusion of all religions."  But CNN should know better than to repeat press releases as if they are fact.

Anyone looking closely would see that Keith Ellison, like nearly every other Muslim leader, has not shown the slightest interest in supporting “religious diversity” in Muslim countries, such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, where tolerance and freedom of conscience are horribly lacking.  He has never advocated a Muslim’s freedom to renounce their beliefs or the system of faith-based discrimination that is institutionalized in Islamic law.

For Muslims, “tolerance” and “religious diversity” mean only that the non-Muslim West should become more Muslim.  And, in our opinion, this is a perfect example of why it should not.

(1/04/07)

TROP:  Little Mosque on the Prairie is a new Canadian situation comedy that features a family of Muslims moving to a small town and dealing with the local rubes.  The Muslims are mostly normal, upstanding and educated.  The native Canadians, predictably, are presented as buffoons, with whom the new Muslims must exhibit long-suffering patience.

You can bet that no one asks the hard questions in this series, such as how the daily "travails" of Muslims in the West compare with that of Western immigrants to Muslims countries.  Are there any Saudi television shows that humorously depict local shenanigans following a Christian family's emigration from Canada, or a Jewish family's immigration to Jordan?

Oh, that's right... Muslim countries don't accept non-Muslim immigrants.  Nor do they allow surviving religious minorities the same rights and freedom that Muslims have.  For example, Christians and Jews don't have a right to property in Turkey, the most 'moderate' of Islamic countries, or even to their own heads in Saudi Arabia, the most literal.

We're guessing that distress over the true plight of their counterparts in Muslim countries won't be a concern for the Muslim characters on this show, who will be more absorbed by their own perceived virtue...

...and this, at least, may be the only association that this heavy-handed piece of fiction has with reality.

(1/03/07)

TROP:  We counted 93 Iraqis who lost their lives to Islamic terrorists last Saturday, yet the only death in that country that inspired international moral outrage was that of Saddam Hussein, the man who murdered entire families with nerve agents, tortured reform advocates to their grave by pumping their intestines full of air (among other gruesome tactics) and was responsible for the deaths of more than a million people.

Anyone who wastes sympathy on a man like this (over the lives of 93 people who did nothing to deserve it) is merely trumpeting their own self-righteousness, since no one outside of Islam could possibly be this morally confused. 

(1/01/07)

TROP:  We notice that CAIR is featuring a list of "Top 10 CAIR Highlights of 2006" on their front page this New Year's Eve, so we thought we would remind our readers of what CAIR would prefer people not to remember about the year that was (you may want to read CAIR's list first): 

TROP's TOP 15 CAIR LOWLIGHTS of 2006

CAIR supports Sami al-Arian, who then pleads guilty to assisting Islamic terrorists.

CAIR goes to the mat for Iranian President Khatami, a noted anti-Semite and Hezbollah's chief sponsor.

CAIR shamelessly exploits Rosa Parks' image for a measly $1000 scholarship, while adamantly refusing to condemn the Sudanese genocide against Black Africans in Darfur.

CAIR is forced into a hasty site-makeover to remove prominent anti-Semitic articles after a Muslim goes on a deadly shooting rampage at a Seattle Jewish center.

CAIR denounces the pope's comments a dozen times, but not once the Muslim murder of an elderly nun (or the hundreds of other Christians butchered in the name of Islam in 2006).

CAIR is snubbed by liberal Senator Barbara Boxer, who rescinds an award to a CAIR official after finding out about the group's ties to terror.

CAIR condemns cartoons, but refuses to condemn Osama Bin Laden.

CAIR ruins Keith Ellison's Congressional career before he takes office.

CAIR refuses to denounce the killing of Americans by Islamic terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan.

CAIR promotes a list of "Fatwas against Terror" that actually includes advocates of Islamic terror.

CAIR is forced to drop their lawsuit against Anti-CAIR for calling it a terrorist front organization after realizing that it is one.

CAIR condemns the brief arrest of Hamas leaders in Gaza, but not the forced conversion of two U.S. journalists (nor 2,276 acts of Islamic terror in 2006 that resulted in the loss of innocent life).

CAIR fails to acknowledge the victims of 9/11 on the fifth anniversary of the attacks, choosing to mark it instead with a spasm of self-pity.

CAIR condemns the Israeli "massacre" of Palestinian civilians, then has to retract its statement after finding out that they were actually killed by Palestinian explosives.

CAIR protests when a woman is asked to lower her veil at Heathrow airport the day before it is revealed that a Muslim cop-killer escaped through the airport using the veil as a disguise (CAIR then stays quiet as Heathrow implements a full ban on veils.)

Well, that's what we could come up with on short notice.  Happy New Year!

(12/25/06)

TROP: It's that one time of the year again when our editor turns out the lights and curls up next to the fireplace with the dogs and an ample bottle of J.D. for a few hazy days of pondering Allah's mysterious ways.  We will be keeping up with news and attacks, but Random Thoughts will be on hiatus until the New Year.  Happy Holidays, everyone... and be safe!

(12/24/06)

TROP:  A U.S. congressman from Virginia is under fire for essentially saying that he doesn't want more Muslims in the United States.  The usual suspects are already accusing him of "Islamophobia."  Interestingly, however, we notice that many of these critics, such as Ahmed Bedier, were born in Muslim countries in which they no longer wish to live... which we find puzzling, to say the least.

If Muslims are incapable of building countries in which Muslims wish to live, then why shouldn't Americans be wary of importing them?  On the other hand, if there are Islamic countries which are appealing to these critics, then what are we to make of their reluctance to live among other Muslims?  Isn't this an apt example of "Islamophobia?"

[Editor's note: since 9/11, 22 Americans have been killed by Islamic terrorists in their own country.]

(12/23/06)

TROP:  Only days after CAIR complained about a woman being asked to lower her veil at London's Heathrow airport, it has come to light that a Muslim cop-killer escaped the country by using a Muslim veil as a disguise.  Other Islamic terrorists have used veils to facilitate the perpetration of their activities, from eluding security to suicide bombings, and the practice appears to be on the rise, even as Islamic supremacist organizations like CAIR and MPAC-UK react hysterically to any pressure or request that Muslims assimilate with the reality of the times.

Thanks to the effort of Islamic terrorists, veils do constitute a threat to public safety.  Yet Muslim organizations actively intimidate security staff into placing a higher emphasis on Muslim sensitivity.  Why would they do this if they truly care about the lives of innocent people?

From watching both CAIR and MPAC-UK over the years, we can easily conclude that their underlying goal is Islamic domination of the West.  The language of civil rights is a convenient ploy that they use merely to this end.  Neither organization shows any genuine interest in the civil rights of religious minorities in Muslim countries, even though the plight of non-Muslims is simply incomparable to the complaints of Muslims in the West.

When terror attacks do occur, these organizations act opportunistically toward their own goals.  They go through the stale motions of distancing themselves from the violence, while, at the same time, spinning it as best they can to their own advantage by implying legitimacy in the anger that propels it.

Though featured prominently on its site just yesterday, CAIR quickly purged any mention of the Heathrow incident from their front page as soon as the news broke that the veil had been used at the same airport to facilitate an Islamic terrorist's escape from justice.

The sooner we stop being fooled by this sleight-of-hand, the better off we'll be.

(12/21/06)

TROP:  According to the holy prophet of Islam, men are more intelligent than women.  According to experts in the field of measuring intelligence, Muhammad is wrong.  Women and men have nearly identical IQ on average.

Interestingly, women tend to be grouped closer to the IQ median, whereas men are spread a bit more broadly across