Hippy Dippy Judy

Sounding like an aging hippy--she even quotes Che Guevara and Khalil Gibran!--rabble rouser Judy Rebick touts some anti-Capitalist, hopeychangey Utopian remedies that could finally bring about the "social justice" she's been seeking lo these many years:

We on the Left are relying too much on old ideas and old practices that worked in a time of expansion of global capitalism. In fact, change is happening in multiple ways that are different from the past whether on the Internet or in communities. For example, Wikipedia and Wikileaks, both non-profit ventures outside of traditional media circles have deeply challenged the monopoly of information held by the corporate media. Projects like Transition Towns that are creating alternative ways of living more at harmony with the earth are spreading at a local and global level. Not everyone engaged in building alternatives to savage capitalism consider themselves on the Left, for one thing. For another, the powers that be no longer have the flexibility they once had to co-opt various forms of social change. Their failure to come up with even the pretence of a solution to climate change not to mention their failure to solve the deepening economic crisis are signs of that.

Or as my friend, filmmaker Velcrow Ripper, explains more poetically in a recent piece that appeared on these pages "We need stories rooted in a fierce love, which means boldly facing the heartbreak of species extinction, of human suffering, of ecosystem collapse, while celebrating the explosion of compassion, love and possibility that is rising all over this trembling globe."

 Fun guy, that Velcrow.

Update: Transition Towns--sound like later-day hippy communes to me.

Update: Hey, Jude, this one's 4 U:

Dear Adolf

There's a Bollywood flick that riffs on the correspondence between M. Gandhi and A. Hitler. From ShalomLife:

Gandhi to Hitler is a title that seems only believable in an alternate universe, but Nalin Singh, the director of Mass Communications at NRAI, is a writer who somehow found a way to seamlessly place these characters together on the big screen. It was shot in Chandigarh with Darshan Aulakh Productions.

This unique film represents the completely contrasting ideologies between the two world-renowned figures. They are both on opposite ends of the spectrum, and this creates a dualism worth a look at.

While Hitler was on his tirade, Gandhi had sent him two letters urging him to reconsider his political decisions. This topic matter is where the film takes flight, and according to Express India, Singh says, ““It’s a classical subject that Bollywood hasn’t touched so far, and I wanted to make it,”

It’s hard to ever imagine a wildly colourful, extravagant, sing-song world like Bollywood embracing a movie featuring Hitler, but the writer has inspired some support from the (Indian) actress Nikita Singh, who plays Hitler’s wife, and lyricist Pallavi Mashra who spoke at length about the project.

Singh (actress) says, ““It’s not a documentary. It’s a commercial entertainer, and simultaneously, a tribute to our country.”

That being said, it’s clear a lot of the events will be completely fictional and even though it’s based on Gandhi’s letters to Hitler, it shouldn’t be taken too historically...

I have a feeling they left out the part where Gandhi counsels the Jews to go to their deaths happily and without a peep.

Catching Up With Mullah Krekhar

Filling in for Rush Limbaugh this afternoon, Mark Steyn used the news about a terrorist explodiation in Norway to reminisce about the "good old days" when his quoting a Norwegian-based mullah's entomological observation (the holy man said Muslims were multiplying "like mosquitoes") got Steyn a hot date with some chilly B.C. 'roos. In case, like Steyn, you're wondering what Mullah Krekar has been up to lately, this MSNBC report fills you in:

Last week, Mullah Krekhar, founder of Ansar al Islam (the first Iraqi group affiliated with al-Qaida), was indicted in Oslo for threatening Norwegian government officials with death if he were to be deported. Krekhar took refuge in Oslo in early part of the last decade and has been seeking asylum. In comments to various news media, he threatened attacks if he was sent abroad, mainly on opposition figures who have long called for his extradition to the U.S.

BTW, the MSNBC piece is headlined--risibly--"Why would terrorists want to attack Norway?: A question that's pretty much answered here:

In January 2006, the Norwegian government apologized to Muslims worldwide after the publication of 12 cartoons depicting the prophet Muhammad in the Norwegian newspaper Magazinet

The clueless, craven Norwegians have been groveling like mad for years now. As such, the better question is "Why wouldn't terrorists want to attack Norway?"

Update: From the New York Times:

A terror group, Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami, or the Helpers of the Global Jihad, issued a statement claiming responsibility for the attack, according to Will McCants, a terrorism analyst at C.N.A., a research institute that studies terrorism. The message said the attack was a response to Norwegian forces’ presence in Afghanistan and to unspecified insults to the Prophet Muhammad.

That last bit about says it all, I think. The biggest insult of all to these types is our daring to live and breathe as non-Muslims (i.e. kafirs).

Update: Prior to today's terror attacks, Norway pushed for talks with Somalia jihadis Al-Shabaab.

Update: This is the Mullah Krekar portion of a Mark Steyn piece that was one of the many, many items published in Maclean's which formed the basis of the Canadian Islamic Congress's complaint three of Canada's "human rights" bodies:

"We're the ones who will change you," the Norwegian imam Mullah Krekar told the Oslo newspaper Dagbladet in 2006. "Just look at the development within Europe, where the number of Muslims is expanding like mosquitoes. Every Western woman in the EU is producing an average of 1.4 children.

Every Muslim woman in the same countries is producing 3.5 children." As he summed it up: "Our way of thinking will prove more powerful than yours."

And here's how the CIC interpreted it (its emphasis):

Adopting a fear mongering tone, this article focuses on the influx of Muslim immigrants into Europe and North America. It explicitly and implicitly states that this influx poses a threat to the fabric of Western society, to democracy, and to human rights due to the religious identity and beliefs of uslims in general. Another significant theme contained in the article is that there is allegedly an ongoing war between Muslims and Non-Muslims, that Muslims are part of a global conspiracy to take over Western societies, and that Muslims in the West need to be viewed through this lens as the enemy.

Putting the Best Possible Spin on Islam

I was at my local library just now and lo and behold what did I espy in the "New and Recommended" section but What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam (Second Edition). Of course, by "everyone" what the chap who wrote it--perhaps the world's pre-eminent academic shill for Islam, John Esposito--really means is what every kafir should know about it so that Islam can thrive and grow like gangbusters. For fun I thought I'd open the book  three times times at random and quote what I found. Here goes:

Random selection #1:

Islamic law provides one of the clearest and most important examples of diversity of opinions. Islamic law developed in response to the concrete realities of daily life. Since of heart of Islam and being a Muslim is submission to God's will, the primary question for believers was"What should I do and how?" During the Umayyad Empire (661-750), rulers set up a rudimentary legal system based upon the Quran, the Sunnah, and local customs and traditions. However, many pious Muslims became concerned about the influence of rulers on the development of the law. They wanted to anchor Islamic law more firmly to its revealed sources and make it less vulnerable to manipulation by rulers and their appointed judges.

Random selection #2:

Islamic dress is also used as a symbol of protest and liberation. It has developed political overtones, becoming a source of national pride as well as resistance to Western dominance (cultural as well as political) and to authoritarian regimes. Many young Muslim women have adopted Islamic dress to symbolize a return to their cultural roots and rejection of a Western imperialist tradition that in their view shows little respect for women. These young women thing that Western fashions force women into uncomfortable and undignified outfits that turn them into sexual objects lacking propriety and dignity. Women who wear Islamic dress thus find it strange or offensive for people to condemn their own modest fashions as imprisoning or misogynist. The West should not condemn the hijab or Islam, they say, but rather a social system that promotes an unrealistic ideal, makes young girls obsessive about their physical beauty and their weight, and teaches young boys to rate girls based on that ideal.

Random selection #3:

Muslims who believe interest is forbidden (haram) have faced a crisis of conscience when they purchase a home mortgage or invest in the stock market. Islamic banks and financial institutions were created to respond to this need. Although Islamic finance and banking has spread in much of the Muslim world, until recently it has been relatively invisible in the America and Europe.

Well, that was fun.

'Muslim Mom' Thinks Mosqueteria Is Swell (and Seems to Think Islam Isn't the Only Religion Allowed in Public Schools)

This is from late last month but I happened upon it just now. It's a defence of school prayer in the mosqueteria by a self-described Muslim mom. She thinks transforming a public school space into a Saudi-style place of worship exemplifies the best of Canada--Canadians' freedom of choice:

Choice is one of the reason many come to Canada, because they have choices given here. WE ALL have the rights of worship, we all have the right to eat food that is good for us and I thank God whom I choose to address as Allah.The fact though is some do not think that these choices should be given in a public school setting.

So if Muslim children can not have jummah( the Friday Prayer service that lasts about 30 minutes) in the school are we then ready to take every Christan, Jewish and other religious clubs that now meet in schools at lunch time, before school, after school out as well? These organizations have existed and used the buildings to see that all children who want to fellowship and worship together can.

There are religious clubs in public schools? That's news to me. To continue:

As for a “halal” menu. I would think you would thank the parents for asking for it. “Halal” simply means not harmful and there are very strict guidelines. Any parent who has volunteered at elementary level with the snack program knows it isn’t farmed out. Most snacks are prepared right there in the cafeteria by parent volunteers. Most snacks in the TDSB have to include at least 2 food groups. There are strict guidelines and safety standards that are met by parents who volunteer time for this job. Most snack programs at are managed by parents in the case of this school most of these parents ARE Muslim. 

Some interesting facts:

• The area is densely populated with Muslim families who attend the local mosque.
• Before the prayer services were begun Muslim boys especially were pulled from school for the entire Friday afternoon, as in Islam if a Muslim man misses 3 Friday prayers he is considered to of lost his faith.
• Girls, women are welcome at jummah as well, and yes we do sit either at the back of the room,or behind a barrier( I have even seen a table with a rug thrown over it made into a makeshift one), or in another room.
• Girls in Islam are not mandated to attend jummah prayer for them it is optional.
• At that specific school I would guess you are looking at a 50% Muslim student population at least.
• Another fact many TDSB schools also meet “kosher” standards would we get rid of that option as well?

Many TDSB schools meet kosher standards? Again, I highly doubt it, since that would entail paying a Mashgiach a fee to ensure stringent compliance. Back to the mom:

By letting the school community dictate what is best for there individual school we give freedom, something I am sure we all enjoy having here in Ontario. Really some of the comments on Jihad Watch and the Blazing Cat Fur scared me as a Canadian. 

Fear not, mom. What commenters were no doubt responding to was their knowledge that allowing the school community to dictate what is best is the way we get sharia, which is the opposite--the antithesis--of freedom.

Whassup With Weiner?

Exhibitionistic ex-Congressman Anthony Weiner is said to be undergoing treatment for this, er, exhibitionism, at a location that has yet to be disclosed. The New York Post has a hunch that it might be near Orlando, Florida, because one of the rag's reporters spotted Weiner

on Wednesday night flying first-class from Orlando to La Guardia Airport on a Delta flight, carrying nothing but his iPad and several documents.

Orlando is near the Winter Park, Fla., offices of the New Leaf Center, which on its Web site says it provides outpatient therapy for sexual addiction and sexual compulsivity issues, including for "politicians." Staff there asked a reporter to leave when he asked about Weiner yesterday.

Weiner and his spokeswoman refused to comment.

What's really freaky, though, is what the reporter saw Weiner toting around with him:

Bizarrely, during his flight home from Orlando, Weiner was carrying a detailed analysis of energy issues in sub-Saharan African countries, as well as what appeared to be real-estate listings for two different grazing and farming properties in Kenya.

My, that is bizarre. Just a guess here--is it possible he's doing some work on the q.t. for his wife's boss (after all, the couple has a baby on the way and could use the extra cash)?  For his Wahhabi mother-in-law?

One Man's "Rebel" is Another Man's Flagrant Jihadi/Zion-Loather

Libyan "rebels"--you know, the ones we're pulling for to topple Gaddafi--are smuggling arms into Gaza via neighbouring Egypt.

Ingrate Kosovar 'Satirist' Islamizes The Simpsons

Al Jazeera has the comedic details:

They're recognisable characters from the popular US show The Simpsons, but on "The Pimpsons" Facebook page they have different names and personalities. Here they are the recognisable characters from Kosovar politics.

Artist Fisnik Ismaili was unhappy seeing the US ambassador to Kosovo Christopher Dell take an active role in his country's political scene. Watching Dell at a televised news conference with some of Kosovo's top political leaders Ismaili realised he looked familiar: Dell looked like "Comic Book Guy" from The Simpsons. That was the inspiration for "The Pimpsons." Based on the idea that figures like Dell were the 'pimps' of Kosovo, Ismaili created an online cartoon that cast political figures into Simpsons characters."What I'm doing is not funny," Ismaili told The Stream. "It's portraying a reality that has become a joke in this country."...

Remind me again why NATO "liberated" Kosovo?

Hotz's Mosque Hijinks

I'm not sure if this is really funny or really dumb--or both. In an episode of his new TV show (which has the same name as a famous pro-Nazi documentary) alleged comedian Kenny Hotz (of Kenny vs. Spenny non-fame) undertook to build a mosque:

Just because Hotz wants to be entertaining doesn’t mean he avoided traditionally un-funny subject matter.

“The hardest [episode] was ‘Can I Build a Mosque for Muslims,’ ” says Hotz, who’s Jewish. “It was so hard because, all of a sudden I’m trying to do a comedy series and it’s like the heaviest f–kin’ subject in the world.

“I just wanted to do something that I found to be extremely minimal, but the subject matter, the second I got into it, was so heavy and it’s really hard, like, cracking shawarma jokes when you’re a Jew trying to build a mosque in a Chinese funeral home.”

Wow, that is, like, heavy. But surely it would have been easier to build a mosqueteria in a public school, no?

NOW Magazine's Flotilla Post Mortem a Tender 'Love Story'

The hero of the kooky lefty rag's flotilla saga is one Stephan Corriveau, the dude who decamped to the French contribution to the flotilla once it became clear that the Canucki boat was going nowhere fast. Corriveau, notes NOW, has been in the activist biz for ages, but nothing compares to his latest passion:

His activist game has been a long one, dating from South African anti-apartheid work to anti-sexual-repression fights with the Catholic Church. But “Palestine,” he told me as we headed to the then secret location of The Tahrir in the tourist town of Agios Nikolaos, “is my first love.”

Spoken by a true Naqba nutter.

'Islamophobia' Is NOT the Equivalent of Jew-Hate

Melanie Phillips writes what should be the last word on the non-equivalence:

The attempt to equate anti-Jewish hatred with anti-Muslim hatred is invidious and a key element of Islamist discourse. The equation is not only false but dangerous. Anti-Jewish hatred is wholly irrational. Jews pose no threat to Britain and cause it no problem whatsoever. But British Jews are now being subjected to record levels of hatred and attack arising from a genuine prejudice.

Muslims by and large are not being attacked to anything like this degree – given the relative size of both communities. Indeed, considering the level of threat and hostility to Britain from within the Muslim community, the relative absence of attacks on Muslims is remarkable and heartily to be commended.

Of course there are some such unprovoked attacks on Muslims arising from genuine prejudice, all of which are to be deplored. And Muslims should be protected from them. But it is British Jews whose schools are now behind razor wire and whose every community function has to be guarded – principally against attack by Islamic extremists. It is simply untrue that true prejudice against Muslims has become respectable, dinner-party discourse; but true prejudice against Jews has.

Are you listening, Canucki "interfaithy" Jews?