Greenpeace Shows That Fukushima And Chernobyl Are So Safe That We Should All Go Nuclear - Forbes

It's a bit old, but what I've long thought. http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2013/12/02/greenpeace-shows-that-fukushima-and-chernobyl-are-so-safe-that-we-should-all-go-nuclear/


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Islam: feel the love...

Your wife being attacked?  Leave her to the rapists, and save your own skin. That's the Islamic way.  So say the experts.

Islam permits Muslim husbands to abandon their wives to rapists in order to save their own lives—so says Dr. Yassir al-Burhami, vice president of Egypt’s Salafi party, the nation’s premiere Islamist party since the Muslim Brotherhood was banned.

Read the rest...

Death for apostasy is an Islamic thing

Notice any pattern here?  Pew Research didn't...

Pew Research published an article with the above map: "Which countries still outlaw apostasy and blasphemy?".
The author, Angela Theodorou, managed to comment on the map without noting the single most outstanding fact: all these countries are Muslim majority countries.  Nigeria is the one possible exception, but the apostasy laws there apply only in its Muslim majority north.
This is because of Islamic law, demands death for apostates.  The Umdat al-Salik, (the “Reliance of the Traveller” in English), sub-titled "A Classic Manual of Islamic Sacred Law"is the authoritative summary of Sharia law, authorised by the al-Azhar University in Cairo, the most authoritative source of Islamic Sunni law for the Muslim world.  The Umdat is further authorised by International Institute of Islamic Thought and the Fiqh Council of North America.  On apostasy it says:

“Someone raised among Muslims who denies the obligatoriness [sic] of the prayer, zakat, fasting Ramadan, the pilgrimage or the unlawfulness of wine and adultery, or denies something else upon which there is scholarly consensus and which is necessarily known as being of the religion… thereby becomes and unbeliever (kafir) and is executed for his unbelief….” (f1.3)

“When a person who has reached puberty an is sane voluntarily apostatizes from Islam, he deservers to be killed.” (o8.1).  [ref].

"Debate" on the results of Euro elections -- immigration.

Dear BBC,

I've just been listening, here in Hong Kong, to your World Service radio about the results of the recent European elections, and especially the concerns about mass immigration to Europe and Britain.
Your reporter said it was a "debate".
Hardly.
All the interviewees were all of a mind. At the most they allowed that there might be a few losers in the process of mass immigration. But overall, it was " enriching", both socially and economically.
That's arguable, at the very least. But you did not have someone argue the other side. So, no real debate there.
And you did not touch on the single most important fact: that people are concerned not so much with mass immigration per se, but with mass Muslim immigration. (there are many good reasons for that specific concern, but I won't rehearse them here).
And: mass immigration most negatively affects the working class. There used to be a time when the Left cared about the working class.
Finally: are you going to ignore the large majority (over 70%) of Brits who think there is too much mass immigration? Are they to be simply dismissed as "populist"?

Ahhh, dear ol' Auntie! Never to be gainsaid in its pensants bien...

Peter Forsythe
Discovery Bay
Hong Kong

Related: http://www.spectator.co.uk/features/9212811/ukips-triumph/

The stolen Nigerian schoolgirls

Another in the long list of excusers of Islam who claim it has nothing to do with Boko Haram, the Islamist group that kidnapped nearly 300 Nigerian schoolgirls; from the International New York Times (17-18 May):

Contrary to the claims made by Abubakar Shekau, the leader of Boko Haram, the Quran does not condone child theft. In fact, Muhammad was himself an orphan, and there are passages in the Quran specifically intended to protect the rights of orphans, especially girls. The Quran also establishes rights for women (to divorce, reconciliation, inheritance and personal property) that were not uniformly given to women in Europe for another 12 centuries. Like so many people who pretend to know something of the Quran, this pompous Nigerian thug clearly knows nothing about it — and his self-sanctifying claims are false.
David Rounds, Ukiah, Calif.
The writer is the editor of Religion East and West, the journal of the Institute for World Religion

A few of comments:

• The girls are not orphans, or at least the majority are not -- their parents have been looking of them. So I'm not sure why Rounds raises that issue.
• The Koran does indeed condone the theft of girls, if they are seen as "infidels", which most of these were, as they are Christian. Eg, here.
• We can grant -- though it's arguable -- that the Koran "establishes rights for women" that were not granted in the west for many centuries; but note that there's been no development in their rights since then, and women are treated very badly in Islamic law, to this day.

Ask her if she likes beer, if you want go make it on the first date

For every one of the faith-based belief systems listed, people who were the least serious wrote at the highest level. pic.twitter.com/670hRn0Qcy
— Scott Kinmartin (@ScottKinmartin) May 8, 2014

From here, including the bit about beer and the first date...

"Efforts Mount to Gloss Over Islamist Ideology of Boko Haram"

This is perhaps the definitive rebuttal of the liberal/Muslim-apologist meme that Islam has nothing to do with Boko Haram.
It is factual; and devastating to the apologist position.
LATER: and here's another one.  The nonsense of "this is nothing to do with Islam" is so clear to see, that it's puzzling indeed that anyone takes it seriously...

Mercy in Islam: Young Widow, Gang Raped by Sharia Vigilantes, to Be Caned

The merciful justice of Islamic Sharia...

"The Heart Association’s Junk Science Diet"

Science shows the low-fat diet to be BS, and yet the American Heart Association keeps touting it as the ‘heart healthy’ choice. Why? The quick answer: money, honey.
The dogma that saturated fat causes heart disease is crumbling.

Very interesting... 

"There is no fun in Islam", or even any Happy

TEHRAN -- People around the world are expressing anger and disbelief over the arrests of six young Iranians who appeared in and took part in producing a video set to the Pharrell Williams song “Happy.” The video went viral online.

They shouldn't be surprised.  As Ayatollah Khomeini said in 1979, "there is no fun in Islam".

Chinese chicks write gay manga

Creating and consuming the erotic fiction known as danmei is a vehicle
for young Chinese women to explore new identities.

Who knew? (Well, I didn't, till now thanks to Didi Kirsten Tatlow in China).
BTW: "danmei" = 眈美

Islam: ‘Appalling and Abhorrent’ in the Eyes of a Blind World?

From the ever-reliable Raymond Ibrahim.
The money-shot from Amnesty International:

"The fact that a woman has been sentenced to death for her religious choice, and to flogging for being married to a man of an allegedly different religion is appalling and abhorrent.

"Adultery and apostasy are acts which should not be considered crimes at all. It is flagrant breach of international human rights law. The right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, which includes the freedom to hold beliefs, is far-reaching and profound; it encompasses freedom of thought on all matters, personal conviction and the commitment to religion or belief".  (emphasis added).

My comment: "Appalling and abhorrent" the punishment certainly is. But it's in complete accordance with Islamic Sharia law, specifically article o12.4-6 of the Umdat Al-Salik, the authoritative compendium of Islamic Sacred law. Sudanese authorities are just following Islamic law.  It's the law, stupid....

Evangelising Hate: Islamic Eduction and Research Academy (iERA)

I had never heard of the iERA until an email from the One Law for All organisation, announcing a new report from its allied Council of ex Muslims of Britain.  It's a well-written and extensively referenced report, which should concern us all in countries with significant Muslim communities. For the fact is that, even if we accept that the majority of Muslims are "peaceful" and "moderate", there are significant minorities who are the most active in the Islamic community, who push Islamification agendas, and draconian Sharia "for all".
It's worth taking the time to read this report, and seeing just how clearly the spokesmen (all men) of iERA state their positions: hatred of jews, stoning to death of apostates, gays and adulterers, hatred of non-Muslims, and the need for Islam and Sharia to take over the world. Their views are striking, clear and unambiguous; and they are horrid, hateful and revolting. They must be resisted.
There's no doubt this report should be taken seriously by the UK government (it's been sent to the Home Office and Eduction Department, inter alia).  I wonder if it will be taken seriously, or even read.  Somehow I doubt it; the need to excuse Islam on all counts -- the fear that to criticise even its extreme edges is "Islamophobic" -- is too deeply ingrained: I hear it daily on the BBC).
These iERA spokesmen quoted in the report are very serious people. They must be faced down.
Here's a quote from the Conclusion:

Whilst iERA purports to be a missionary-like charitable organisation, it is in fact a “soft Islamist” group. The aim of “soft Islamists” is to act as the Islamist movement’s public relations arm by promoting and normalising Islamist values and norms, including inciting hatred against ex-Muslims, gays, Jews, women, non Muslims and a majority of Muslims who do not share their values. In Britain and the west, groups like iERA use multiculturalism (as a social policy that segregates “communities”) and cultural relativism as well as the rights language of diversity, tolerance and inter-faith dialogue to increase influence and access. Any opposition to their theocratic aims are met with accusations of racism and Islamophobia.
Where they have more influence, society is witness to a rise in everything from women and children wearing burkas, increased gender segregation at universities, legitimisation of Sharia-compliant wills and rules, acceptance of Sharia courts for the “Muslim minority” and the Islamisation of schools and mosques.
Unfortunately, groups like iERA are not analysed sufficiently within a wider context of the international Islamist movement. Their demands for gender- segregation at universities or Sharia-compliant rules are merely seen to be “people’s right to religion” (and are defended as such by many “progressive” groups in Britain rather than understanding the implications of such groups on the increasing influence of Islamist norms in Britain).
The continuum in which extremist ideas are normalised is the area in which the iERA operate. It perpetuates a discourse that normalises hatred in religious terms, and sets the climate for “radicalisation”, bigotry and Islamism to flourish.

Read the report here.

Debunking the Extremist Myth That Islam is Anti-Jewish

Well, no, it's not a myth.

Here's my comment on the post linked below. It's awaiting moderation. What's the bet it doesn't get through...

If you search "Jews" in the quranbrowser.com, you find 283 references. 281 are negative. Jews are "schemers", "unfaithful", "unbelievers" in Allah or in the "last Messenger". They are subject to scourging or hate. Muslims are enjoined not to be their friends.
How, then, can you say there is no anti-semitism in Islam, when it is core to the Quran?

http://www.themuslimtimes.org/2014/05/americas/debunking-the-extremist-myth-that-islam-is-anti-jewish-2#comment-1312113


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Al Qaeda’s American Fighters Are Coming Home—And U.S. Intelligence Can’t Find Them

“This raises our concern that radicalized individuals with extremist contacts and battlefield experience could return to their home countries to commit violence on their own initiative or participate in al Qaeda-directed plots aimed at Western targets outside of Syria,” he said.

Gee d'ya think?
At The Daily Beast

Subway dress automatically repels the creeps

A bit of bizarreness in Hong Kong's MTR subway...

74% of Jews Say They Would Leave France

Nearly three quarters of France’s Jews have seriously contemplated leaving the country, thanks to anti-Semitism and fears they cannot “preserve their Judaism.” According to a new survey published Tuesday, 74 percent said they were considering leaving France. Of those, 30 percent cited anti-Semitism as the reason and 24 percent said they were motivated to emigrate in order to maintain their Jewish identity. Twelve percent said they were attracted to other countries, while 8 percent said economic considerations drove their desire to leave. Almost all Jews—95 percent—expressed concerns about anti-Semitism. A majority agreed “Jews have no future in France.” In recent years, France has experienced both a booming Muslim population and the rise of far-right parties that both may contribute to the scary atmosphere for Jews.

Haaretz, via The Daily Beast.

Sharia Sudan: Pregnant Christian convicted of apostasy, adultery

This story is ongoing. With the merciful Islamic judge now stating that she may give birth before she is caned and hanged for apostasy....
Note the justification of death for apostasy given by Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, one of the preeminent scholars and spokesmen of orthodox Sunni Islam.  His weekly TV show reaches 40 million Muslims in the Middle East and Europe. He is the spiritual head of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Time Mag says Boko Haram un-Islamic, ignores Qur’an verses on sex slavery

Another take down of the meme that Islam has nothing to do with Boko Haram.
In sum, the Koranic passages which permit the taking of female sex slaves are 4:3, 4:24, 33:50-52 and 70:29-30.  Koran in multiple translations is here.
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90% of Czechs oppose Islam in their country.

From the Prague Post, via The Astute Bloggers...
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The Commencement Bigots - NYTimes.com

".... the lefty thought police at Smith, Haverford and Rutgers share one thing with the knuckle-dragging hard right in Oklahoma: They're afraid of hearing something that might spoil a view of the world they've already figured out."

Timothy Egan on the increasing tendency of colleges in the US to simply shut down voices they disagree with, rather than debating them, or simply giving them a hearing. Leftist intolerance...
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Later: it happens in Australia too...

World War Webcam - Taki's Magazine

Interesting article (link below). Though one thing I'd dispute. The Islamists -- including Boko Haram -- do indeed have a coherent ideology. It's pretty simple: install Islam and its Sharia law worldwide. Some want to do it peacefully, stealthily; some want to do it aggressively, violently. But the aim is the same: one world "unified and liberated" under Islam and Sharia.

http://takimag.com/article/world_war_webcam_brendan_oneill/print#axzz31nKvphEY

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Liberal blind spot on Islam

http://mobile.wnd.com/2014/05/liberal-blind-spot-on-islam/


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Dating Race: Overview : SBS Insight

This (below link) was a very interesting and enlightening show I watched while pounding away on the treadmill at our gym here in Hong Kong. All about what racial preferences we have in choosing a partner.
A very sensitive subject. Yet all the speakers were polite, patient, tolerant and humorous. I thought that if a similar show had been done in the US, it would have been much more abrasive and probably drowned out by post-modern psycho-babble.
Presenter Jenny Brockie did an outstanding job keeping it all on track, with great good grace.

http://www.sbs.com.au/insight/episode/overview/614/Dating-Race

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US Muslim groups won’t move to excommunicate Boko Haram

As mentioned in previous posts, the "condemnation" by various Islamic groups of Boko Haram's kidnapping of 267 young girls never rises to the level of doctrinal criticism. Because Boko Haram are doctrinally correct when they say the Koran justifies their actions. As do the actions of their "perfect man", Muhammad. 

These Islamic groups have to criticize BH, because of the world-wide outrage. All they repeat, over and over and over is that BH are "un-Islamic". But that seems to be enough for western apologists, including, unsurprisingly, the BBC, who are doing their best on the "this-has-nothing-to-do-with-Islam" front. 

[snip]

Numerous U.S. Islamic groups contacted by TheDC declined to offer Islamic counter-arguments against Boko Haram. Instead, they merely said its actions are "unjust" and "un-Islamic."

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/05/us-muslim-groups-wont-move-to-excommunicate-boko-haram

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Tweeting Our Way to Justice. Shaidle on the sudden liberal outrage at Islamic Boko Haram

Great takedown by Kathy Shaidle, of the sudden awareness in the western liberal left that there's something to be concerned about with Islam. (or at least with Boko Haram. Some/most have not quite yet connected all the dots to Islam itself, though the dots are close together and the trail clear)...
http://takimag.com/article/tweeting_our_way_to_justice_kathy_shaidle/print#axzz31bsQICET


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Shamed: MoveOn.org drops petition backing Islam's Boko Haram

Hmmmm.... Similar to Hilary's refusal, as Sec of State, to have Boko Haram designated an Islamic terrorist organization. They - she and MoveOn.org - really have no clue...

http://www.wnd.com/2014/05/moveon-org-petition-supports-girls-kidnappers/#Y1vKfVoFEgepQjm0.99


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Palestinians must first meet conditions

South China Morning Post ran my letter today:

Palestinians must first meet conditions

I refer to your editorial, "Israel must seize chance for peace" (May 5).

I think a more logical headline would have been: "Palestinians must meet preconditions."

You say, "Israel is letting a golden chance to make peace with Palestinians slip by with its refusal to negotiate with a unified government".

But later you said the "unified Palestinian government has to first meet three conditions set eight years ago: recognition of Israel; a renunciation of violence; and acceptance of previous deals struck between the [Palestine Liberation Organisation] and Israel. If the PLO and Hamas can alter their positions, there is no reason why [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu should not also be forward-looking". Indeed. But that is a very big "if".

And these preconditions are surely more fundamental than Israel's failure to release Palestinian prisoners.

Hamas has now become part of that unified government in Palestine. Article 7 of the Hamas Charter urges Muslims to fight the Jews.

How can Israel "seize the chance" with those who openly wish to murder them?

Peter Forsythe, Discovery Bay

[Note: they changed "kill" to "fight" in the penultimate paragraph. I don't know why they did that when the Hamas charter (which I quoted), is clear: all Muslims must kill Jews].

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Later: about time.... Kerry told Abbas that to gain full support from America, the Palestinian government needs to agree to eschew violence and recognise Israel...

Thing I would like to tattoo on Bill Maher’s forehead inre: Islam. | Emily L. Hauser - In My Head

False moral equivalence in the Twitter post by Emily Hauser:

Boko Haram justify their actions with explicit reference to Islam -- and there is plenty of Islamic doctrine to support them (see recent posts on this blog).
Stalin did not justify his actions with reference to atheism. He did them in the name of communism.
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Added later: Hauser's tweet was in answer to this tweet by Bill Maher.

Most seem to agree with Maher, though there some brickbats. These fall into a few categories, none of which bears even casual scrutiny:

You're an idiot know nothing and assorted other ad hominem vitriolic rudeness by the likes of Tariq Saddique. "Educate yourself in the Koran".  This always makes me wonder.  I've read the Koran in several translations. There's nothing in it to make me think other than that it's a religion of violence.  It is chock full of hatred of infidels and calls to kill them. It also allows for taking female sex slaves. So why ask people to read the Koran. What, you haven't read it yourself, Tariq?

Boko Haram "misunderstand" Islam.  Quite how they "misunderstand" Islam is never explained.  In fact the reverse is the case: the Islamic doctrinal support for what Boko Haram say and do is clear, as shown here and here.

They are just a "tiny minority".  Doesn't it occur to such apologists just how MANY "misunderstanders" there are? It's not just Boko Haram, it's the whole panoply of Islamist organisations. And of terrorist organisations in the world, fully 94% are Islamic.  That's an awful lot of a "tiny minority".  Moreover, even amongst Muslims that don't want to kidnap schoolgirls and sell them off as sex slaves, there's a disturbing number that support the introduction of Sharia.  In the UK and US, the numbers are over 50% in many surveys. In Muslim majority countries the percentages are upwards of 90%.  So the Muslim desire for Sharia, whether achieved by violence or other means, is a majority of the 1.2 billion umma.  That's no "tiny majority", that's a "clear majority".

Christianity is just as violent: well, no it isn't.  The above stats prove it.  I rest my case.

Related: Bill Maher vid: he takes on a liberal group re Boko Haram. I think Maher wins the debate.

Video: Islam’s Role in Boko Haram’s Kidnapping of Schoolgirls | Creeping Sharia

Mark Durie is absolutely spot on here. Nary a word out of place...

http://creepingsharia.wordpress.com/2014/05/11/video-islams-role-in-boko-harams-kidnapping-of-schoolgirls/


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"Don't Blame Islam for Boko Haram".

The article below in the Ahmadiya Times is nonsense.
See my immediately preceding post for a devastating rebuttal of the line -- currently a main meme in liberal circles -- that "Boko Haram is nothing to do with Islam".
We should also recall that the Ahmadiya sect is itself considered non-Islamic by mainstream Sunni Muslims. For being too "moderate"... It doesn't believe in the killing if infidels, for example...

http://ahmadiyyatimes.blogspot.hk/2014/05/perspective-dont-blame-islam-for-boko.html


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Baltimore Muslim leader says Islam doesn’t justify abduction — doesn’t mention sex slavery passages of Qur’an : Jihad Watch

A thorough rebuttal of the liberal meme that Boko Haram "have nothing to do with Islam", or that they "twist" its doctrine.  They have everything to do with Islam -- not just by their own statements, but also by Islamic doctrine -- and they do not twist its doctrines, as Spencer makes clear:

http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/05/baltimore-muslim-leader-islam-doesnt-justify-abduction-doesnt-mention-sex-slavery-passages-of-quran


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Women are equal in Islam... except when they aren't

Apologists for Islam tie themselves into pretzels trying to excuse its misogynist texts.  Here's a good example from The Muslim Times, by one M. Imran Hayee.

After an etymological excursion on the meaning of the word "nashuz", often translated as "disobedience",  he concludes with an internally contradictory paragraph. 

But, first to note some drearily disingenuous dissimulation from Hayee. He says "nashuz" does not mean "disobedience" as such, but "a clear deviation from the expected conduct of a partner...".  Later he says this can be by "either" partner, man or woman.

But the relevant text in the Koran is quite clear: it is a woman, a wife, only, who can commit "nashuz".  There is nowhere mention of the husband.  And the punishment for "nashuz" by a wife (a wife, note, not a husband) is to be "beaten", "scourged" or "chastised".

The relevant text is the Koran 4.34.  On this site are ten different translations, from Orthodox Muslims (OM), Non-orthodox Muslims (NOM) and Non Muslims (NM).  So, a pretty good cross section there. 

Here's the summary of what a husband may do to a wife that is disobedient.  (Or, if Hayee wishes, "deviates from the expected conduct of a partner").  The husband may:

• Beat the wife: Yusuf Ali (OM), Hilali-Khan (OM), Shakir (OM), Khalifa (NOM), Arberry (NM) Palmer (NM). (I won't link to a definition of "beat"; surely self-explanatory; certainly it is so to the legion of men in Islam who batter and kill their wives and female kin).
• Scourge the wife: Pickthall (OM).  (Scourge = "to whip with a scourge; lash.")
• Chastise the wife: Sher Ali (NOM), Rodwell (NOM), Sale (NM).  (Chastise = "to discipline, especially by corporal punishment.")

Note that all OMs and NOMs (i.e., Muslims all) favour a translation that is either "scourge" or "beat". You'd think that if Muslims translators wanted to downplay the beating of a wife, they might choose "chastise", but they don't.  And even in the case of chastise, the primary meaning of that word is "to discipline, especially by corporate punishment".  So no let out there, in any case.  My own hard copy of the Koran, by Dawood, published by Penguin, translates the phrase as "beat" the wife.  

Back to Hayee's final para.  Here it is (and remember that this is supposed to show how "Islam embraces gender equality"):

In all other matters, Islam gives both men and women equal rights, including the right to an education, to choose whom to marry, or which career to pursue. Although the Quran makes the husband responsible for providing for the family and the wife responsible for homemaking, it neither restricts them to lend a hand to each other nor does it make one superior to the other

So, women and men are equal. As long as the little lady is a homemaker. Some equality that.  It's what feminists and the human rights folks have fought against for decades.  Yet from western feminists one will hear nary a squeak about this outdated form of so-called "gender equality".  The right for a woman to sit at home.  And they will lap up Hayee's tendentious tripe.
See also: What Sharia says about women.

Kerry’s Mideast ‘Failure’ Was a Success - NYTimes.com

Interesting..

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"If any state prevents us from spreading Islam on its soil we will wage Jihad on that state"

Apologists for Islamic Jihad say that jihad is only "defensive".  But defensive includes fighting those who simply oppose the spread of Islam or Islamism.
Sheik Ahmad Abu Quddum makes it crystal clear:
This fighting is in order to remove obstacles. It is waged against countries, not against individuals. When we declare Jihad against Germany, for instance, it is declared against the German state, for refusing to allow Islam to spread to the people of Germany. We give them a choice: Either to convert to Islam, or to pay the jizya and submit to the laws of Islam. The jizya is the only tax paid by non-Muslims, whereas the Muslims pay the zakkat, the kharraj, and the rikkaz, as well as other taxes, if there is not enough money for the army…
This is bog-standard Islamic doctrine and ideology.
h/t sheikyermami
Related: Muslims must humiliate Christians to make them convert to Islam.

"Why China's wheat-growing north produces individualists and its rice-growing south is clannish"

Grow rice and you're a communalist; grow wheat and you're an individualist.
That's the nub of this article (pdf).
Hmmmm, not sure about it...

The deception of moderate Islam

Ali Sina is the winner here....

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Lifting the Veil of “Islamophobia” : A Conversation with Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Sam Harris' conversation with the wonderful Ayaan Hirsi Ali.

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What the Frack?

Putin is no doubt shit-scared that the West, starting with the US, might become energy independent.  Then he couldn't use his gas and oil to bully them.
But that's just what's happening, at least  in the US. The fracking boom there threatens (from Putin's view) to make the US self-sufficient in energy. What if the same happened in Europe?  Gone the would be the lever to have Euros do anything more robust than clench their collective buttocks,when he decides to do a Hitler on Crimea.
So, what to do?  Smear fracking, that's what.
So, there I am in the gym, doing me treadmill and watching Russian TV (RT). I don't usually watch it at home, but at the gym, it's not bad.
Usually.
Yesterday they had a go at fracking.
Here's how it went.
Interviewer asks: and what are the dangers of fracking?
Interviewees says: well, there are people here who feel concerned that fracking may cause earthquakes and seep up to spoil the ground water.
Now, get that: "people feel concerned". Concerned.  There's nothing there that provides any proof. Just "concern".
And yet, there is no evidence that fracking causes earthquakes or spoils groundwater.
Just let "concern" trump truth. For that's what the agenda is: to dump on fracking.
Meantime, because of fracking, the US is the only developed economy that has reduced its carbon emissions: by 10% in the last decade.
There's an interesting article on the whole issue -- and related craziness on wind and solar -- here at the Spectator ($), with PDF of my own print copy here.

UK Law Society legitimises Sharia Law: shame!

 Below, this morning, an email from Maryam Namazie, head of One Law For All, UK.  It addresses the issue of Britain's Law Society legitimising Sharia law in the UK.  Namazie and OLfA do sterling work in resisting the spread of Sharia law and protecting the rights of all to be equal under the law.  That the Law Society itself is implicated in the spread of Sharia is disturbing, scary even...

As an aside: I don't agree with Namazie's characterisation of Spencer and Geller as "far right".  They are not; at least Spencer, whose writings and speeches I know rather better, is certainly not far right. He stands up for freedom of speech, freedom of conscience and equal rights for women and minorities. Since when is that stance "far right".  Over the years I have seen him be critical of presidents and politicians of both political stripes.  Geller I know less of and don't know her politics; but, again, her concerns are congruent with Spencers, and it's a calumny on their good work to write them off as "far right".

Sadly, Spencer and Namazie appear to be firm enemies.  They ought to get together over the bigger issue: the threat of Islamism, and the encroachment of Sharia laws in the west, which is mostly what Namazie's note below is all about.

The EDL is another question mark, with Namazie dismissing them, again, as "far right". Their key issue is to resist the spread of radical Islamism in the UK;  they have no overtly political platform of the Right, at least as far as I can see and at least as far as their mission is outlined on their website.
The below is of real concern... Read on....

Dear Friend

I am writing to give you an update of our work. 

LAW SOCIETY PROTEST

One Law for All, Southall Black Sisters, Centre for Secular Space and LSE SUASH organised a successful 28 April rally at the Law Society to oppose the Society’s legitimisation of discriminatory Sharia-compliant rules. The rally finished with protesters tearing pages from a copy of the Equality Act and pinning them to the fence of the Law Society, symbolising its contravention of the Act. More details can be found here:-–-protest-against-the-law-society/.

The Law Society has yet to back down and is even organising a new training course to “highlight some basic concepts and requirements of the Islamic Shari’a applicable to ”wills and inheritance and family and children"! How utterly shameful! 

One Law for All will continue to demand the withdrawal of the Law Society guidance, which discriminates against Muslim women, “illegitimate” children and non-Muslims amongst others. The guidance sides with Islamist values at the expense of all others; some of the main references in it are Islamists who defend death by stoning and gender segregation. 

We urge you to write to the Law Society at the below address calling on them to withdraw! 
The Law Society's Hall
113 Chancery Lane
London WC2A 1PL
Tel: +44 (0) 20 7242 1222
Fax: +44 (0) 20 7831 0344
You can also contact them via their website.

As I explain in a recent editorial, Sharia law is pure madness and should have no place in a modern legal system.

Richard Dawkins interviewed by Robin Ince (2013)

Dawkins at his best.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uboFsz7txe4&feature=youtube_gdata_player


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Multiculturalism against Darwinian's science of evolution

The wonderful Richard Dawkins. This video is devastating:

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xh0cf8_multiculturalism-against-darwinian-s-science-of-evolution_tech


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“Israel must seize chance for peace”

Letter to the South China Morning Post:

The headline in your Leader of 5th May surely has it upside-down (“Israel must seize chance for peace”, 5 May).  A more logical headline would have been: “Palestinians must meet  preconditions”.

You say "Israel is letting a golden chance to make peace with Palestinians slip by with its refusal to negotiate with a unified government".

But in your final paragraph you note: “... a unified Palestinian government has to first meet three conditions set eight years ago: recognition of Israel; a renunciation of violence; and acceptance of previous deals struck between the PLO and Israel. If the PLO and Hamas can alter their positions, there is no reason why Netanyahu should not also be forward-looking."

Indeed.  But that is a very big “ IF”.  And these pre-conditions are surely more fundamental and rather more important than Israel’s failure to release Palestinian prisoners.  

Moreover, you make no mention of the fact that the Hamas Charter — now part of the “unified government" — still includes vile anti-semitic statements such as that all Jews, anywhere in the world, should be sought out and murdered. Article 7: “...Muslims will fight the Jews (and kill them); until the Jews hide behind rocks and trees, which will cry: O Muslim! there is a Jew hiding behind me, come on and kill him!"

How can Israel “seize the chance” with those who openly wish to murder them?

Berkshire’s Radical Strategy: Trust

Buffet and Munger: two of my favourite capitalists....

“By the standards of the rest of the world, we overtrust. So far it has worked very well for us. Some would see it as weakness.”
That was Charlie Munger, vice chairman of Berkshire Hathawayand Warren Buffett’s best friend, speaking during the weekend at the company’s annual meeting, known as “Woodstock for Capitalists.”
Mr. Munger, 90, was ruminating on the state of corporate governance, offering a counternarrative to the distrustful culture of most businesses: Instead of filling your ranks with lawyers and compliance people, he argued, hire people that you actually trust and let them do their job.
Here’s a little-known fact: Berkshire Hathaway, the fifth-largest company in the United States, with some $162.5 billion in revenue and 300,000 employees worldwide, has no general counsel that oversees the holding company’s dozens of units. There is no human resources department, either.

Read the rest...

Enjoy! — Crooked Timber

http://crookedtimber.org/2014/05/03/enjoy/


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Nigeria: 329 schoolgirls abducted by jihadis raped 15 times daily, forced to convert to Islam

The Qur’an allows for the owning of sex slaves:
http://www.jihadwatch.org/2014/05/nigeria-329-schoolgirls-abducted-by-jihadis-raped-15-times-daily-forced-to-convert-to-islam

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Why is Louis C.K. So Funny?

....this is Louis C.K. and his crabby, melancholic, and profanely funny half-hour comedy.

I came across his show, Louis, by accident here in Hong Kong, on our cable TV.  And it's true: weirdly funny....

Brunei adopts sharia law amid international outcry

Consensual sex between homosexuals will also be criminalized, with death by stoning the prescribed punishment.

And that's only a part of this horrid Islamic scriptural jurisprudence...

15 forgotten movies you should watch

And I've only seen the Oz one, "Wake in Fright".....
Interesting selection...