'Then they reached Baitul Maqdis, which is located in today's Zionist occupied Jerusalem...'

The riveting tale of the founder of Islam's night journey can be found on the website of a local Shia mosque. BTW, in case you were curious about the logistics of that long ago  "night flight," the mosque has that covered, too. Apparently, it was all shown to be scientifically plausible when the Russians sent up Sputnik--or something like that:

The heavenly journey went against the scientific and natural laws of today such as: the law of gravity of the earth; its speed of travel of 25,000 miles per hour; the weightlessness of an object that is outside of the airspace of earth; the fact that it is not possible to breathe the air that is outside our atmosphere; the various cosmic rays; meteorites and air pressure; and the speed of light that goes at the speed of approximately 300,000 kilometers a second; and other such examples.

Fortunately however, it must be known that through scientific research and investigation, the space scientists of the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. The world's first artificial satellite was about the size of a basketball, weighed only 183 pounds, and took about 98 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path, on October 4, 1957. They were able to demonstrate to mankind with ease, that they could overcome such problems as the gravitational pull, cosmic rays, problems with breathing in space, and others, through various technologically designed and built equipment and instruments.

Even today, the space science research is ever increasing and the scientists and researchers are confident that in a matter of time, they will be able to place life on one of the planets in our solar system; just as today, they have opened up the exploration to the moon and the planet Mars.

These scientific progresses and advancements in technology and industry are a clear proof that such a celestial travel (that of the Holy Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessing be upon him and his progeny on the night of Meraj) is possible and can not be classified as something that was impossible.

So I guess we have Islam's founder to thank for the moon landing, eh? ;)

Earth to Alice--the Freedom Riders Weren't Trying to Help the Racists

A NOW magazine scribbler sits down for an interview with out-to-lunch Alice Walker of the Audacity of Flatulence flotilla. Alice tells the sympathetic young man exactly where she's coming from:

ATHENS— I first meet Pulitzer Prize winning author and civil rights activist Alice Walker in the Athens port while touring the American boat participating in the flotilla preparing to set sail for Gaza.

Along with the other U.S. activists, she is training and preparing for the voyage. Sitting stoically on the deck under a canopy of an American flag with The Audacity of Hope, the ships name written across the bottom, Walker’s description of the flotilla as, "the freedom ride of this generation," comes to life.

She’s referring to the young Americans who put their bodies on the line to challenge Jim Crow segregation. Standing next to her, shaded by the star spangled awning, the moment strikes me as simultaneously ironic and abundantly optimistic...

The supreme irony: Alice thinks helping the would-be genocidaires of Hamas (Islamic supremacists who have Hitlerian hopes of expunging all Jewry) is akin to American civil rights era "freedom riding"

Did I say "irony"? What I meant to say was imbecility.

It's a "Moderate" Kind of Sharia, I Guess

Malaysia, a "moderate" Islamic nation, is mulling over a plan to reward husbands with multiple wives (a state of affairs allowed for under the terms of Islamic law) who treat their womenfolk well.

Today's Flotilla Tune

Say, "It's a "concentration camp!"
Paper over the jihadis.
Then pretend it ain't make-believe
To end Jews' sov'reignty.

Yes, it's a Hamas terror state.
Genocidal as it can be.
But claim that you're blockade-busting
So Gazans can be "free".

Without your "love,"
How could "justice" e'er be served?
Without your "love"
How would Arabs e'er get
What they've long "deserved"?

It's an agit-prop lefty world.
Just as phony as it can be.
Tell your lies 'bout "apartheid state"
To end Jews' sov'reignty.

It's About Time

Hezbo Hariri assassins indicted in Lebanon.

And Speaking of Delusional...

Writing in the Montreal Gazette, a raft of Canucki Gaza boatniks call Gaza "an open air prison."

Hey, doesn't every al fresco hoosegow have giant malls, luxury hotels and water parks?

Update: Another sign of "deprivation"--the obesity rate in Hamas's outdoor pokey is the same as it is in Canada.

A bunch of deprived inmates tuck into a meal at their luxury outdoor facility

Debbie Does Delusional

Debbie Wasserman-S.,
Debbie Wasserman-S.,
She says the Jews think O.'s M.O.
Has been a huge success.
Refuses to acknowledge it's a morass and a mess.
The positive she'll stress,
(Like a true Democrat, I guess),
Debbie Wasserman-S.

Best O' Luck With That One, Hill

Hillary Clinton has announced that the boneheaded administration for which she toils is resuming its "limited" outreach to Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

Hands up anyone who thinks that that's likely to turn out well.

Update: First the MuBros, next....Hamas?

The Islamic-Leftist One-Two Punch

The Islamists/jihadis do their utmost to do in Western civ., but unable to finish it off themselves, they enlist the help of the usefully idiotic to, say, blacken Israel's reputation via flashy agit-prop PR (eg. the flatulent flotilla). David French 'splains how it works:

...While the flotilla is obviously intended as a public-relations challenge to Israel, it has a not-so-hidden legal element as well. For years, the Left has tried to narrow and constrict the law of armed conflict so that it effectively denies Israel (and, by extension, the U.S.) the ability to conduct effective combat operations against jihadists. And while the legality of military blockades against belligerents is well-established under the laws of war, the Left essentially and functionally denies that a state of armed conflict or actual “war” exists against Hamas.

While at home we often argue about the military versus law-enforcement paradigms in our own war on terror, the distinction has real meaning in the international legal debate. Simply put, if you’re fighting a war, a lawful belligerent enjoys a freedom of action that a police officer does not. Yet when the Gaza Flotilla sails (the first ship has already left) and Israel intercepts it on the high seas, the airwaves will fill with allegations that Israel’s actions are “illegal.”

But such claims — just like the claim that the American strike on bin Laden’s compound was unlawful — are grounded in a political argument, not a legal reality. The goal of the Left is to change the law of war to render the use of military force nearly impossible. Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Taliban cannot defeat American or Israeli forces on the battlefield, so their functional allies attempt to use international law to accomplish what the actual terrorists cannot. That is the essence of “lawfare.”

And the Islamist-Leftist hookup is the essence of a malevolent folie a deux.

Update: Who's behind the second flotilla?

Update: Floating on a sea of Hamas propaganda

Clueless. Just...Clueless

A supporter of the Canada Gaza boat natters on, and on, and on:

The immediate and primary goal of the campaign is to challenge and break Israel’s blockade on Gaza. The Canadian Boat, named Tahrir (“Liberation” in Arabic) departs eminently from various points in the Mediterrean. The 45 passengers from across Canada will sail the sea and, if all goes well, enter Gaza, bringing medical supplies and, hopefully, leave with new passengers.

The secondary goal is to challenge Canada’s complicity and political and economic alignment with Israel. Wendy elucidates.

“Last month, John Baird, [Canada’s] Foreign Affairs Minister, called the boat ‘provocative’ and warned that he supported Israel’s so-called ‘right to defend themselves’ against the flotilla, and that Canada wouldn’t be coming to the help of the Canadians if there was an attack [by Israel on the CBG]. This is unacceptable. The government should be ensuring safe passage and putting pressure on Israel that they won’t harm the boat.”

The Canadian Boat to Gaza is firmly rooted in an international movement for the freedom of the people Gaza, and for a free Palestine. When chatting about public reactions to the boat, Wendy points out a common misunderstanding, which is to look at the issue through a charity, rather than solidarity, lens.

Whichever "lens" you're looking through, sweetie, it's seriously distorting the scenery.

'Tikkun Olam,' Chum

Ever wonder where the concept of "tikkun olam"--"repairing the world"--came from, and how it became synonymous with the "progressive" agenda? Here's an excellent summary of how it came to pass:

The politics of “Tikkun Olam” can be traced back to the Mishnah, which was codified around 200 C.E. Mipnei tikkun ha-olam (for the sake of the repair of the world) is commentary relating to what was, essentially, discombobulated bureaucratic procedure; courts would convene, and then cancel; people would randomly change their names; divorces would not be finalized. The idea behind the Mishnah’s version of “repairing the world” was simply to establish order on the part of governing bodies with the goal of avoiding chaos among the population at large.

Move ahead to the 16^th century and Tikkun Olam is taken to a newer, more spiritual level by Kabbalistic Rabbi Isaac Luria. His interpretation (in a nutshell) involved human beings repairing the world by divorcing the holy from the physical world through deep, contemplative spiritual acts. In fact, Luria’s Tikkun Olam didn’t require the repair of the world so much as the ending of it through the transcendence into a completely holy, spiritual realm.

Fast-forward to the 1950s when Tikkun Olam was re-fashioned again, this time by Jewish progressive causes looking to spur on social change. Applying the idea of repairing the world to the Marxist ideology of oppressor versus oppressed (boss v. worker; majority v. minority, etc.), progressive Jews took an idea meant to de-bureaucratize government and used it as an excuse to establish a huge bureaucracy in the form of a social welfare state: Repairing the world, one government program at a time.

Even more interestingly, Tikkun Olam took on the concept of collectivity at the sacrifice of individuality. Like the Protestant Social Gospelists of the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, today’s progressive Jews take Biblical teachings on communal responsibility (i.e. Cain and Abel) and, through their socialist lens, re-interpret these teachings to mean that the individual has no right over the collective. (This, despite the fact that the bureaucracy of social justice calls for varying groups—defined in terms of ethnicity, gender, sexual preference, race, and even religion—to receive entitlements over other groups.) Using a twisted form of Jewish teaching to justify their political beliefs, this progressive version of collectivist Tikkun Olam became the justification for telling any non-progressive that their politics were destroying the world.

Fast forward to today, and "tikkun olam" is all rage among collectivist, internationalist Jews (especially young ones) who, consciously or unconsciously, think if they try to "fix" the planet, they will blend into the greater progressive mass, and the Jew-haters won't notice 'em. Alas, a focus on the world has come at the expense of a feeling of solidarity with Jewry and the Jewish state. Therefore, what I would call for is "tikkun ha'am"--the need for Jews to help heal the Jewish nation.

Also, if we could put a moratorium for the time being on the term "tikkun olam," I think it would do us all a world of good.

"First dish was a stick fried rice w/ raisins, diced carrots and some spices and a lamb leg. Lamb was all but flavourless and barely warm, rice was just ok, nothing special. Second dish was a slightly spicy green bean noodle jelly with some diced veggies on top... not worth $6.49"

Steynonline's PORTS OF CALL directs our attention to a Uighur resto in Cairo--which is a novelty there, apparently. FYI, here in the DiverCity, Uighur (or Uygur) food is hardly a novelty, and Uighur fare is avilable in both the west and east ends of town. (The review cited above refers to offerings at an east-end establishment.)

Despite Comped Trip to Israel, UCC Hews To Its Old Zion-Loathing Ways

Remember how Bernie Farber of the newly-defunct Ceej (now candidate Farber of Thornhill) insisted that the United Church of Canada was bound to see the light about Israel and renounce its BDS proclivities once church mucky-mucks has been given a guided tour of ha'aretz (a trip paid for by the Jews)?

No such luck.

Update: The UCC is hot for the flotilla:

Since 1967 Israel has illegally occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. The United Church of Canada works with Middle East and global ecumenical partners to respond to the humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people, and to work non-violently for an end to the occupation. This is an urgent and necessary first step towards a just peace in for both peoples in Israel and Palestine.

Nothing illegal about it. Israel was attacked, defeated its foes, and was rebuffed at the time when it tried to give back land for peace.

The UCC is a Zion-loathing entity which will never--I repeat never--change its spots.

The Guardian of PC

According to a new study, a shockingly high percentage of those in Britain who exploit/abuse children are, ahem, "Asian." The Guardian expresses grave concern--over the report's plausibility.

Gaddafi's Raging Grannies

My, but the Tripoli peacock's female protectors are getting older and fuglier.

Seems like only yesterday that Moo Moo had the hottest bodyguards around. Now he's reduced to recruiting meeskite Grannies. How the mighty have fallen, eh?

Queen of the Boat

Alice Walker sings an old Roger Miller hit:

Seethers for rent set sail.
Meds to donate; we won't fail.
Got rage, got hope, got cause,
Those Jews must heed our laws!
Ah, but that "occupation" sucks.
Gaza people need our bucks.
I'm a chick who cares so bewares, I'm
Queen of the boat.

Third craft in the flotill'.
All aboard are loud and shrill.
Can't stand those "Zionists"--
I'm someone who "resists".
We got reporters on our deck.
Jew state's a pain in their neck.
I'm a chick who cares so bewares,
Queen of the boat.

I know ev-er-y protester in ev-er-y tub.
All of 'em like me--it's like a big club.
And ev'ry story in ev-er-y rag.
And ev'ry snark that hits its mark
Means it's in the bag, I sing...

Seethers for rent set sail.
Meds to donate; we won't fail.
Got rage, got hope, got cause,
Those Jews must heed our laws!
Ah, but that "occupation" sucks.
Gaza people need our bucks.
I'm a chick who cares so bewares, I'm
Queen of the boat.

A New Victim Group--'Expats'--Rears Its Head

The poster boy for expats, Michael Ignatieff, claims in the Globe and Mail that his bid to lead the land was motivated not by an unslakable thirst for power, but by a selfless desire to help "Canadians of convenience" feel fully Canadian:

...It was when I decided to go into politics that coming home turned into a war. All politics is local, and the question then became, “Are you one of us?” I spent five years fighting to prove I belonged, while my opponents stopped at nothing to prove I didn’t. Just in it for myself. Just visiting. Not here for you.

There was a weird insinuation: Why would anyone come home, unless you were in it just for your self?

I fought back, with the means at hand. I was fighting my own corner, of course, but I did want to win for all the other expatriates who think we’re just as Canadian as anyone else...

Clearly, those Tory "attack ads" questioning why Canadians should vote for a guy the Liberals helicoptered in, an Iggy ex machina, are still smarting.

Alice's Atrocious Ark

American Thinker Dan Gordon feels a connection to author Alice Walker, but says she's sailing in the wrong direction:

I feel a good deal of kinship with Ms. Walker. She is sixty-seven. On my next birthday I will be a sixty-five-year-old grandfather. She has chosen to put her life at risk sailing with a flotilla of provocateurs; I choose to put my life at risk continuing to serve as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces. We are, both of us, storytellers, though my writing falls short of the grace and sense of poetry I so admire in hers. She marched in the Civil Rights Movement. So did I. She stood in defiance of police batons for what she believed in. So did I. She maintains, and I believe her, that her greatest concern is with children. Having lost my firstborn son at the age of twenty-two, so is mine. 

In her blog, Ms. Walker could easily have been speaking for other well-meaning people who are supporting, I believe blindly, an action whose sole real purpose is to make it easier for terrorists to get advanced weaponry. In her blog she stated as her reason for attempting to break the Israeli naval quarantine of Gaza, "We must do everything in our power to cease the behavior that makes children everywhere afraid." 

The truth, however, is that this flotilla, and the actions of Ms. Walker and her compatriots, is behavior that will not only make the children of Southern Israel afraid, it will help murder them. That is not hyperbole, nor is it a question of theoretical murder. It is real. It is actual, and if, Heaven forbid, they are successful in breaking the Israeli naval quarantine meant to deny advanced weapons to internationally recognized terrorists, those murders will be a byproduct of their horrifically misguided actions.

'The Nanny State Has No Business in the Bedrooms of the Nation'

That, more or less, is the famous pronouncement of an infamous hopenchangemeister, the man who made Canada what it is today (i.e. "human rights"-crazed; mired in the multiculti). Mark Steyn articulates the purpose of the state's hands-off (no pun intended) approach to bedrooms: it's because if you're having a good time in that one particular room, you likely won't notice when the state stakes its claim on the rest of your house:

Big Nanny statists talk up liberty in one area only: sex. Or, more precisely, sexual identity. And the expansion of sexual liberty has provided a cover for its shriveling in almost every other sphere, from property rights to freedom of expression. As I say somewhere in my soon to be imminently forthcoming book, in a world ever more micro-regulated by the likes of [NYC Mayor Michael] Bloomberg, sexual license is one of the few things you don’t need a license for. For some of us, that’s not enough.

In other words, just 'cause you're free to let it all hang out in the Pride parade doesn't mean you're free.

Iran Slams Beeb Mo Doc

The Beeb, in proper dhimmi fashion, thought it would pay homage to Islam's founder via a documentary about his life. Not surprisingly, the move isn't sitting too well in certain (zany) quarters:

Iran's minister of cultural and Islamic guidance has attacked an upcoming BBC2 documentary series on the life of the founder of Islam, the prophet Muhammad, saying the "enemy" was attempting to "ruin Muslims' sanctity".

The three-part series, The Life of Muhammad, presented by Rageh Omaar, a Somali-born British Middle East correspondent for Al Jazeera English, is scheduled to be broadcast on BBC2 in mid-July and has been drawing increasing criticism from senior figures in Iran.

The documentary makers say it seeks to "retrace the actual footsteps of the prophet" from his birthplace in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca, his struggles with his prophetic role and divine revelations, his migration to Medina and establishment of the first Islamic constitution before his final return to Mecca following armed conflicts.

But the Iranian culture minister, Mohammad Hosseini, who has not seen the programme, said in an interview on Monday that he was worried about the BBC film.

Speaking to Iran's semi-official Fars news agency, he said: "The BBC's decision to make a documentary on the life of [the] prophet Muhammad seems dubious and if our suspicions are proved to be correct, we will certainly take serious action."

Hosseini added: "What the enemy is trying to do in ruining the Muslims' sanctity is definitely much more than causing us to react and unfortunately, some Islamic countries are not taking this issue seriously. One way to show objections is to express condemnation of the West over their despicable actions."

"Ruining the Muslims' sanctity," eh? And here I thought it was all about the Beeb's bowing down and sucking up.

CUPW Brinksmanship Means No Mail 4 U

If you're wondering why you, like I, haven't received your mail today, here's why.

Now, That's My Kind of Flotilla

Kafirs fight back with a "Freedom From Jihad" flotilla.

And the Beet Goes On...

Two words you probably thought you'd never see next to each other: "sexy borscht."

Imagination Has Its Limits

Can you imagine the outcry had George W. Bush treated Congress with the same high-handedness/cavalier disregard that His Awsomeness has?

No? Neither can I.

Gaza Misery?

Not so much.

From the "You Can Catch More Flies With Honey" Department

Muslim Bro-created ISNA emphasizes "love" 'n' "outreach" at its annual convention.


Update: I'd like to be a fly on the wall at this one:

Session 3A Room 14

Islam, Pluralism and Social Harmony

America finds itself at a crossroads with a financial crisis at home and war abroad. At every critical juncture in history, social movements--from civil rights to anti-war--have brought people of all races and creeds together among common values and aspirations. This session will offer reflections on the social movement that is needed for our times, and the sacred place of love and non-violence in realizing the call for social harmony in a pluralistic society.

Speakers: Feisal Abdul Rauf, Maher Hathout, Ingrid Mattson, John Esposito, Zaid Shakir.

Quite the rogue's gallery of  Islamo-lefties, no? Folks who talk up "non-violence" even as they embrace Zionhass and let Hamas (another Muslim Bro offshoot) do the heavy lifting, Jewlimination-wise.

Update: John Esposito's despicable credentials; Maher Hathout's a real peach, too.

Update: Noor, a "peace-minded" group that will be entertaining conference attendees, sings a song about how fed up they are with feeling afraid all the time. Pay close attention and you'll catch a glimpse of Muhammad al-Dura and his dad being shot at by the Zionists (a modern-day blood libel that has been debunked).

How to Breeze Past Airport Security--Wear As Little As Possible

In the wake of a jihadi's failed attempt to ignite his drawers and the subsequent airport security freak-out (the effects of which yet linger--just ask the unfortunate incontinent forced to drop her Depends for TSA screeners), there were those who joked that soon enough the only way you'd be able to board a plane was buck nekkid or close to it. Who knew these jokers would turn out to be prescient? Dennis Prager writes that

On June 9, a man boarded a U.S. Airways flight from Fort Lauderdale to Phoenix, dressed in women’s panties, a bra, and thigh-high stockings.

No U.S. Airways employee at the Fort Lauderdale airport asked him to cover himself. Nor did any flight attendant ask him to do so. And obviously, no one demanded that he get off the plane.

U.S. Airways spokeswoman Valerie Wunder was asked how the airline allowed a nearly naked cross-dresser to board a plane and sit next to other passengers who, one assumes, did not appreciate being seated next to an exhibitionist.

As reported by the San Francisco Examiner, she “said employees had been correct not to ask the man to cover himself. ‘We don’t have a dress code policy. Obviously, if their private parts are exposed, that’s not appropriate. . . . So if they’re not exposing their private parts, they’re allowed to fly.’”...

Candidate Farber's Deathless Sound Bites

The provincial Liberals are way down in the polls, but "star" Liberal candidate Bernie Farber (who, having announced his candidacy some weeks ago wasn't around when other Ceejers were handed their walking papers) is "confident" that he'll unseat Tory MPP Peter Shurman. Caitlin Orr, gal reporter for the local rag, captures a few of Bernie's gems that are sure to leave an impression on Thornhill voters:

Farber has been involved with the organization for 25 years, serving as CEO for the past six years. The Liberal party is touting his experience in fighting anti-Semitism and discrimination, portraying him as a leading human rights expert.

“I’m a known commodity,” Farber says. “I’ve spent a lot of time working on behalf of the residents of Thornhill to make this a better community.”

He has been involved in committees for safety and security, community and race relations, and the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police.

Shurman, a businessman and former radio talk show host, was elected four years ago.

Speaking from a dock in Mexico just before leaving on a cruise to celebrate his mother-in-law’s recovery from illness, Farber said his top priorities are the economy, healthcare, education and transportation.

The well-being of their families is what concerns voters the most, he said, adding that he is worried about PC leader Tim Hudak’s approach.

“Mr. Hudak does not seem to understand the need for healthcare funding,” he said.

Farber draws parallels between Hudak and the legacy of former PC premier Mike Harris’ Common Sense Revolution — bitter to some — when it comes to healthcare and education.

But an indignant Shurman stresses that Harris is in the past, and that Hudak is a fresh face. The Liberals are the ones who should be on the defensive, he says.

“If there are problems they’re not due to Mike Harris,” he said. “They’re (Premier) Dalton McGuinty’s problems.”...

[Shurman] contrasts the Liberal and PC approach to the economy as an example, saying that Liberals tax away money that could be used for development.

“Taxation is not economic activity,” Shurman said. “Our concept of government is to create conditions for success and (then) get out of the way.”

Farber calls Hudak’s plan to cut taxes and then raise spending “impossible”.

“The bottom line is, you need to have resources to pay for things,” he said...

You do? Huh, who knew? Better write that one down, folks, 'cause it's a keeper.

Die Laughing

Literally.

Don't Cry For Me, Saul Alinsky

A Pajamas Media scribbler compares His Awsomeness to Evita's hubby.

Flotilla Spin and Counter-Spin

Here's the media spin the flatulent flotilla floaters are looking for ("Gaza flotilla renews debate on Israel's blockade"). And here's the truth.

Update: And speaking of spin, listen as a hyper-articulate George Soros minion (on the NY Times site) insists that Islam has nada to do with terrorism, and that it's Islamophobic to claim that it does.

Saskatchewan's Move Don't Impress Me Much

Eternal the-glass-is-half-full optimist Ezra Levant is impressed that the province of Saskatchewan, for one, seems to be moving in the right direction, "human rights"-wise. The province has decided to dump part of its "human rights" apparatus--its "human rights" tribunal. (That's the kangaroo court part that hears cases when the shakedown part, the "human rights" commission, has failed in its shakedown). But since the other (the shakedown) half remains, and since the province has up and appointed three--count 'em, three--new shakedown artistes who are supposed to help "revitalize" the racket, it's hard to discern a whole lot of progress here.

When a province and/or terrority comes to its senses and dismantles the entire rickety "human rights" apparatus--the shakedown artistes and the kangaroo judges--lemme know and I'll be first in line to cheer.

When Rights Collide, Pride Parade Edition

This year's Toronto Pride parade will see the inclusion of the Iranian Railroad for Queer Refugees--and IRQR founder Ashram Parsi couldn't be more delighted. As Parsi tells Xtra, though, he is dismayed that a large number of Canadians remain adamantly homophobic:

Homosexuality remains illegal in Iran, punishable by flogging, imprisonment or death. In 2007, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while on a visit to Columbia University, denied that there are gay people in Iran. And in 2005 and 2006, there were high-profile reports of executions of young men, allegedly for sodomy.

Parsi says that he would like to see Toronto’s Iranian queers come together but that there needs to be more acceptance from his fellow Iranians in Canada.

“Our most important challenge is not by white Canadians, because most of them are welcoming. They know Canada receives many immigrants… and they can contribute to this country,” says Parsi. “Our problem is by Iranian communities. Not all of them, but most Iranian people who live in Canada, they don’t know about queer rights and they don’t support it.”

I think he should complain to Babsy Hall's provincial "human rights" body. Oh, not to lend credence to the racket. Just to see the Head Commissar's head 'splode as she grapples with the confounding and unforeseen issue of a designated victim group having a hate-on for another designated victim group.

Ban Ki Moon, Clueless Git

Here's an "Acting Deputy Spokesperson" (what an exalted position, eh?) 'splaining why the UN Sec'y-Gen would hive-five an obvious fraud of an anti-terrorism conference (really, an exercise in Shia triumphalism/supremacism) being held in Tehran:

...In fact there is a message that was delivered on his behalf. Obviously, the Secretary-General did not deliver it first-hand; but a message has been delivered on his behalf. We are getting the text, and we’ll put that out in fact this afternoon. As you know, the Secretary-General believes that all nations, all peoples are affected by terrorism; and that it is imperative that we involved as many States, as many peoples as possible in the fight against terrorism.

And he thinks "involving" Holocaust-denying, genocide-and-terrorism-promoting Tehran is the way to go about it?

Don't tell me--his first name is really Neville, right?

Situation Normal All Bollocksed Up

Despite a new policy announced with great fanfare, one meant to keep out the Muslim zanies, the Brits have let in a nutty Palestinian blood-libelist (an invitee of Labour Zion-loathers who are keen to hear his, ahem, "insights" re the Israel-Palestinian situation); much feckless finger-pointing ensues.

Transvestism, Jihadi-Style

They aren't real transvestites. The only time they dress in chicks' clothing is when they're trying to beat a hasty getaway, and the head-to-toe sharia fun-sack, they think, is the best way to do it.

Thar He Blows!

On his Sun TV show The Source yesterday, Ezra Levant kept referring to Canucki Gaza boatnik Ehab Lotayef (seen here in an earlier interview) as "Captain Ehab." That Melvillian reference apparently went right over the Zion-loather's head. Perhaps had he known that his literary precursor was deranged by an all-consuming obsession, he might have objected to the cheeky label. Then again, as long as Levant didn't come right out and call him a Moby Dickhead (although he did so in so many words), I guess the Cap'n had no problemo.

Greek Gaza Boat a Victim of 'Sabotage'?

The Christian Science Monitor reports that the Sea Archimedes (or whatever the hell the craft is called) may have been "sabotaged" by Zionists persons unknown.

Way to go, saboteurs!

Mennonites and Mullahs

Rhonda Spivak explains what the one has to do with the other here. (Upon reading Ms. Spivak's account I was inspired to revise Edmund Burke's famous saying to: All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to be absolutely clueless.)

Babsy Hall's "Human Rights" Racket Gets Its Paws on Policing

What a revoltin' development this is:

Human Rights and Policing Guide launched 

Toronto– As part of its ongoing work with police across the province, the Ontario Human Rights Commission (OHRC) today releases a new guide. Human rights and policing: creating and sustaining organizational change aims to encourage and support police services across Ontario in building human rights into all their work.

The guide was inspired by the OHRC’s project charter work with the Toronto Police Service, the Toronto Police Services Board, Ontario Police College and most recently, Windsor Police Service. Chief Commissioner Barbara Hall said, “Through that work, we gained valuable insight on how police services across the province can apply human rights principles at all levels of their organization. And that in turn, enabled us to jointly develop this new tool to help police services in Ontario build a human rights culture within their organizations.”

The guide defines and explains some of the key human rights terms and principles and includes several best practices to help police better serve the needs of Ontario’s increasingly diverse communities through inclusive police services and addressing human rights issues before they happen. It also offers advice on how to incorporate a human rights lens in every part of a police service, including internal staffing and training. While the guide refers to experiences from the Toronto Police Service human rights work, it also provides direction on how these can be applied in services of all sizes across Ontario.

I'm all for police taking heed of an individual's rights--his/her real civil rights (i.e. the right to be free from persecution by the state). The idea of police inculcating a Hall-decreed "human rights culture" (a culture of sucking up to designated victim groups; a culture of interfaithy squish) make me feel more than a little nauseous.

Collective Punishment! Concentration Camp Conditions! Illegal Blockade! Luxury Hotels!

Luxury hotels? Yup:

Two luxury hotels are opening in Gaza this month. Thousands of new cars are plying the roads. A second shopping mall — with escalators imported from Israel — will open next month. Hundreds of homes and two dozen schools are about to go up. A Hamas-run farm where Jewish settlements once stood is producing enough fruit that Israeli imports are tapering off.

Oh, the inhumanity!

Faux-Sapphic Lefty in More Hot Water

The hirsute Scot who gained notoriety when he pretended to be a Syrian lesbian blogger has been caught invented more fake identities for himself:

Tom MacMaster, the US graduate student behind the Gay Girl in Damascus blog hoax, has been accused of creating another fake Arab female online identity to defend his own reputation online.

A comment on the website Mondoweiss under the name "Miriam Umm Ibni", mounting a spirited defence of MacMaster's conduct in posing as "Amina", a lesbian Syrian woman, was traced by fellow users to the same IP address in Edinburgh that he used for the Amina hoax.

The Guardian has seen screengrabs of the IP data, emailed by one of the site's hosts Adam Horowitz, that show the post originated from the address 188.74.64.53.

Journalists, bloggers and web users unmasked MacMaster earlier this month as the unlikely hoaxer behind the Amina blog, in part after its posts were traced to the address.

In an email, later posted on the site, MacMaster acknowledged that "Miriam Umm Ibni" was a fake identity, but denied being behind it, saying a "friend of mine who would really like to remain nameless" had posted the comment in his defence. It came from the same IP address because she had been staying with his wife and him, he wrote.

"Like many of my friends, many of whom are committed pro-Palestinian, anti-war and anti-colonialist activists, she was outraged by some of the slanders made against me online. And, like many of my friends, she's been urged by me to defend me. She did so. She's that kind of person."...

That description tells you all you need to know about these clueless, amoral, self-righteous creeps.

How To Succeed in Bamboozling Kafirs Without Really Trying--Play the 'Interfaith' Card

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the driving force behind the 9/11 mosque, still wants to build, build, build. Oh, not for the sake of Islamic triumphalism (perish the thought); for the sake of "interfaith" amity. From onislam:

CAIRO – As the controversy over a project to build a mosque and Muslim center near the 9/11 site in New York is gradually subsiding, the man behind the project is becoming more hopeful that one day he would see his dream come true.

"The dream is still alive," Imam Feisal Abdul-Rauf told The Charlotte Observer in an interview, published Saturday, June 25.

"Whether it happens there, whether it happens at another place, it's going to happen."

The planned center, which would include a mosque, a swimming pool, a preschool and a 9/11 memorial, has stirred a national debate in the United States.

Opponents argue that the planned building would be an insult to the memory of the 9/11 victims, but advocates say that the mosque would send a message of tolerance in 9/11-post America.

"These centers are very important in establishing interfaith relations between faith communities," said Abdul-Rauf who spent much of his life preaching religious tolerance and the need for people of different faiths to work together.

"We felt our time has come to establish a community center that speaks not only to issues of American Muslims who are in the process of finding their American legs but also in establishing the kind of relationships between the American Islamic community and the American non-Muslim faith communities, where there are a lot of shared values."...

It's a wonder he can say this stuff with a straight face (and without his nose growing to gargantuan proportions).

Shaikh, Rattle and Roll in Ireland

It seems to me we often hear about police "reaching out" to Muslims (why, some even accept garish gifts from them). But according to Mubin Shaikh, the guy who ratted out the Toronto 18, authorities aren't doing nearly enough to nip jihadism in the bud. Of course, he doesn't use the "j" word, and I have a sense that it's strictly taboo at the international conference that Shaikh is attending, a confab in Ireland that's probing extemism of all stripes (white power types, street gangs, Muslim radicals, etc.) Here's what Shaikh had to say to the Toronto Star scribbler covering the event:

After the Toronto 18 case, he says, he wasn’t prepared for the backlash from many Muslims who regarded him as a traitor. He was also frustrated by what he says is a lack of support from the RCMP, his former employer. Last month, a document released through WikiLeaks revealed that Shaikh had been place on a U.S. no-fly list for “terrorist-related activity,” alongside the names of the convicted terrorists his work had helped lock up. Shaikh says CSIS is looking into correcting it.

It’s an example of why there is mistrust between Muslim communities and authorities here, Shaikh argues. “In effect, what they’re telling the community is swim out to reach the bridge. That’s not how you build bridges.”

He, too, wants to see a more comprehensive program developed by Muslim leaders, with government backing. “There’s this idea that we’re going to arrest and spy this problem away,” said Shaikh. “And if you think that’s what going’s to happen, I have news for you: it doesn’t work like that.”

And I have news for Shaikh: the RCMP has been building bridges galore. It ain't doing the trick. That's something one of Shaikh co-attendees, Somali-Canadian Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, well knows:

Mohamed says he is frustrated by what he regards as Canadian apathy over the problem of at-risk youths. He says he decided to go public with his story last year in the National Post in the hope of helping to stop Somali youths from being recruited to Mogadishu.

Authorities believe as many as 20 young Somalis have been lured from Canada to join the Shabab, which was designated a terrorist organization in Canada last year. Two Toronto women, one of whom was attending university and whose departure shocked her family, left in February. Sources in Somalia’s transitional government told the Star one is now believed to be training at a Shabab camp.

Mohamed, who has political science degree from Brock University and studied law in Australia, works as a Rexdale security guard and struggles to pay rent. He said the media attention about his story prompted a phone call from a government official, but his later attempts to follow up with Canada’s Public Safety Department went nowhere.

Meanwhile, NATO had tapped him for advice and he was flown to bases in the U.K. and Germany to talk about Somalia’s piracy and insurgency.

A third Canadian attendee, Pakistani-Canadian Kamran Bohhari, also has harsh words for authorities, who have been receptive to his input:

...Bokhari feels passionate about Canada and says he too has reached out to various high-level political connections suggesting that more needs to be done.

“I hear back, ‘Yes we need to do something,’ ” the 42-year-old said in an interview at his home this week. “Then there’s nothing. No follow through.”

Unlike Shaikh, however, Bokhari concedes that the feds aren't the only ones with the problem:

Bokhari believes there is general reluctance in Canada, both within Muslim communities and at the federal government level, to talk openly about the problem.

“Muslim communities have failed to adopt such measures because they lack a counter-terrorism ethic,” he wrote in a 2006 paper for the Muslim Public Affairs Journal. “Part of this can be explained as a function of their current siege mentality, where the ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ dialectic. But on the other hand, a lot of this has to do with many Muslims’ inability to distinguish between sentiments of Muslim solidarity and the dire need to view Muslim terrorists as enemies of the community.”

Such honesty is quite unusual--and truly refreshing.

Among the Troofers

Islamo-lefty e-zine The Canadian Charger rushes to defend fellow troofers from conspiracy theory-debunker Jonathan Kay, who it depicts like this:

TSA Hassles 95-Year-Old Wheelchair-Bound Depends-Wearer

Now the crack airport security screeners aren't just probing Granny's crannies, they're making her remove her incontinence gotchies. (H/T Vardit)

Don't you feel "safer"?

Give Me a 'Free'-kin Break

"Progressive" lunacy in action and in a nutshell: "Free" Gaza from Israel and "free" Cuba from America.

Uh, they realize who really rules those two "utopias," don't they?

Sun TV Reporters Fail to See the Obvious

Evidence that not even Sun News TV is immune to PC: this afternoon I heard two reporters say there is no evidence so far that anything having to do with religion or culture was implicated on the barbaric attack on a B.C. woman by her husband while on a visit to Bangladesh, where both are from. However, that's not the inference one draws from this:

Syeed allegedly gouged out Manzur’s eyes and bit her face and nose. He told police he tried to kill his wife because of jealousy over her education in Canada.

Let's see. Muslim chick. Fulbright scholar. Working toward her Masters degree at UBC. Husband waits until they get to Bangladesh, a county which heeds Islamic law (and is therefore likely to cut him tons of slack if he accuses her of adultery), until unleashing his wrath on the uppity woman whose educational pursuits he reportedly despises

Nope. Nothing "religious" or "cultural" about that.

This Is How Free Speech Works

Salim Mansur (who's a history professor, and who knows that, pace Bernie Farber and others, "free speech" did not cause the Holocaust) disagrees with what Geert Wilders has to say but defends his right to say it:

The European view on the need to prosecute “hate” speech is to be explained by the continent’s history surrounding the rise of fascism, the barbarity of the Nazis and the experience of past wars and the Holocaust.

It is a shared view among a significant segment of Europeans if Hitler’s words in Mein Kampf were taken seriously and checked in time, Europe might have been saved from what followed.

The lesson taken is free speech must be limited when minority groups are indisputably being vilified and offended.

The court, in acquitting Wilders, has indicated speech deemed offensive might still be legally permissible.

This suggests that views considered offensive by some and not others should be debated in the court of public opinion, and not in the court of law.

I was against the prosecution of Geert Wilders and wrote in support of his right to speak freely, even as I disagreed with his views on Islam.

I believe the court arrived at the right verdict and saved the reputation of Holland as a free and open society.

Update: Also in the Toronto Sun--Ezva Levant demands an apology from Liberals (who went on a feckless and now hugely expensive search for Canadian troops' "war crimes" in Afghanistan); Bono pokes much fun at the in-house lefty for asserting that the Canadian media tacks right.

Update: Here's someone who isn't nearly as sanguine as Mansur about the Wilders "victory":

[T]he offences of “group insult” and “incitement to hatred,” set forth in articles 137 (c) and (d) of the Dutch penal code, remain on the books, and the Council of Europe and European Union require such laws in their member countries. These laws attempt to distinguish between speech against members of a religious minority, which is banned, and speech against the religion, itself, which is allowed. Wilders claimed his speech was the latter, while the court’s deliberations show that the two are easily blurred. Not even Wilders argued against the basic jurisprudence behind these laws.

Whether the Wilders case sets any useful legal precedent for an ordinary Dutch citizen is particularly doubtful. That Wilders has substantial political clout and conducted an effective international campaign to warn that “lights were going out” in Europe with such prosecutions no doubt helped his case, as the national Dutch media pointed out. Average Dutch citizens are very much left in the dark about what they can or can’t say about Islam with legal impunity. Then, there’s the matter of violence to consider; Wilders will continue to require bodyguards against those who have threatened him with death for blasphemy against Islam.

Even without a conviction in the Wilders case, the chilling effect on free speech on and within Islam continues to widen in Europe.

Like a Latter Day Wannsee Conference

Whassup with that "international" "anti-terrorism" blab-fest in Iran? Well, first off, as the remarks of the Grand Ayatollah show, the point of the thing is to refine/redifine the notion of "terrorism" such that those who attack the Great and Little Satans aren't "terrorists" since they're getting rid of "hegemonic" Americans and Zionists and instituting "justice" (i.e. sharia).  Second, it's an "in your face, kafir" demonstration of how the UN is morally bankrupt and in the hands of the bad guys:

TEHRAN – High-ranking officials from 60 countries, including the main victims of terrorism, gathered in Tehran to attend the International Conference on Global Fight against Terrorism, which opened at the Summit Conference Hall yesterday and closes today.

Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Iraqi President Jalal Talebani Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, and Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir attended the first day of the conference.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad delivered a speech at the conference, in which he proposed that a secretariat should be established in an effort to coordinate counter-terrorism activities.

He said that the secretariat would make efforts to offer a single definition of terrorism, explore it roots, propose practical ways to campaign against terrorism, mobilize global support for counter-terrorism campaign, and reform colonialist and discriminatory mechanisms prevailing in the world so they incline toward justice.

Ban thanks Iran for hosting counter-terror conference

In addition, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon sent a message to the conference, which was read out by UN representative Muhammad Rafiuddin Shah.

In his message, Ban thanked the Islamic Republic of Iran for organizing the conference and said that all countries in the world shoulder a responsibility for campaigning against terrorism.

He also expressed hope that the conference would achieve its objectives...

Mission accomplished.

Update: G'head, guess which little Ayatollah-ridden land has been elected vice-president of the next session of the UN General Assembly.

The Colour Shtoopid

Behold the ravings of a madwoman who thinks lending a PR victory to Hamas has something to do with "Ghandi":

“We will be carrying letters …expressing solidarity and love. That is all its cargo will consist of," Walker wrote. "If the Israeli military attacks us, it will be as if they attacked the mailman. This should go down hilariously in the annals of history."         

"But if they insist on attacking us, wounding us, even murdering us, as they did some of the activists in the last flotilla, Freedom Flotilla I, what is to be done?” she asks.         

Her letter goes on to talk about the brave “followers of Ghandi,” and the “Jewish civil rights activists” who stood side by side with blacks in America's South and places her current “mission,” within this context.         

She concludes by rebuking Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policies, and those in the U.S. that back them.         

"What of the children of Palestine, who were ignored in our President's latest speech on Israel and Palestine, and whose impoverished, terrorized, segregated existence was mocked by the standing ovations recently given in the U.S. Congress to the prime minister of Israel?”

What of the children of Israel, victimized by the likes of Walker who dismiss/ignore Hamas's genocidal intentions? Where's their "solidarity and love," mailman Alice?

There's no fool like an old fool. And there's no more dangerous useful dupe than one like Alice--an idiot with a martyr complex.

Update: More madness— from the NY Times:

In assessing the condition of the 1.6 million people who live in Gaza, there are issues of where to draw the baseline and — often — what motivates the discussion. It has never been among the world’s poorest places. There is near universal literacy and relatively low infant mortality, and health conditions remain better than across much of the developing world.       

“We have 100 percent vaccination; no polio, measles, diphtheria or AIDS,” said Mahmoud Daher, a World Health Organization official here. “We’ve never had a cholera outbreak.”       

The Israeli government and its defenders use such data to portray Gaza as doing just fine and Israeli policy as humane and appropriate: no flotillas need set sail.       

Israel’s critics say the fact that the conditions in Gaza do not rival the problems in sub-Saharan Africa only makes the political and human rights crisis here all the more tragic— and solvable. Israel, they note, still controls access to sea, air and most land routes, and its security policies have consciously strangled development opportunities for an educated and potentially high-achieving population that is trapped with no horizon. Pressure needs to be maintained to end the siege entirely, they say, and talk of improvement is counterproductive.       

In other words, like all useful idiots, they'd rather not be confused with the facts (the reality) on the ground, especially when it conflicts with their carefully crafted (albeit totally bogus) "suffering" narrative.

Grimly Hilarious!

"Anti-terrorism" conference gets underway in Tehran.

Weekend at Bernie's Wedding

French chick marries a chap who's been dead for almost two years. (Gee, I wonder where they're planning to spend their honeymoon.)

Fired 'Stop Harper' Senate Page Brigitte DePape Backs Sea Hitler

Well, she would, wouldn't she?

The CIC's Kind of Jewess

The Canadian Islamic Congress (one of the outfits backing the Canucki Gaza boat) posts the ravings of its kind of American Jewess--the kind that loathes Israel as much as the CIC does:

My humanity and my Jewishness demand that I be part of this effort to end the inhumane treatment of Palestinians. Our boat, called The Audacity of Hope, will sail in late June to Gaza as part of the Freedom Flotilla 2. Approximately 50 of us from across the U.S. who are committed to non-violence, human rights and freedom and justice for the Palestinian people, will take part.

The Audacity of Dopes, more like. 

"Largest Handprint Painting," "Most Kite Flyers," "Most Football Dribblers"

Those are just a few of the exciting events (all of them group activities and none, you'll notice, involving competition between individuals) at the 2011 Gaza Summer Games.

My question: if they're all starving due to Israel's "illegal" blockade, how do the moppets have the energy to "compete"?

A Proustian Search for Lost Times

Liberals, writes Michael Barone in the Wall Street Journal, are poleaxed by a nostalgic longing to recapture what he calls "the Midcentury moment" of the 40s, 50s and 60s. Alas, mes amis, that Big Government ship sailed long ago and it ain't never coming back.

Alice's Malice

Novelist and flatulent flotilla floater Alice Walker said recently that she thinks

Israel is the greatest terrorist in that part of the world. And I think in general, the United States and Israel are great terrorist organizations themselves.

I think that's a steaming load of deranged lefty Zionhass, and that Alice is about as out to lunch as you can get outside the onfines of a loony bin's well-padded cell.

Update: Alice Walker and the audacity of useful idiocy

Update: Noam Chomsky dines out a la Alice.