Insurgents kill a local school teacher in Pattani

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQTb5gbNGus

by Esmerelda Weatherwax


I keep hearing about this modern phenomenon “the kidult”. Supposedly someone who is old enough to know better who has not yet grown up. Where have I heard that? I thought. Not from my late parents but from certain relatives of the born middle aged variety. I get “When are you going to get your hair cut? You can’t still have long hair when you are 30/40/50/55” (I am now 54) from my older and bossy cousin. I think “When are you going to stop dying yours, you can’t have bottle blonde hair at 60?” but I say nothing. Because she cannot accuse me of “needing to grow up”. Not with my and my husband’s track record of responsible work history, proven family responsibility (coping with illness, bereavement, childrearing etc.) and all round reliability.  more...

by Mary Jackson

by John M. Joyce

by Mary Jackson

by Jerry Gordon and Isabelle Cruz

by Norman Berdichevsky

by Rebecca Bynum


The New Case Against Immigration: Both Legal and Illegal
by Mark Krikorian
2008 (Sentinel Press, New York) 294 pp.

by Hugh Fitzgerald

by Theodore Dalrymple

One of the advantages of rehearsing your thoughts (or, more accurately, some of your thoughts) in public is that you often enter into friendly correspondence with interesting people. Of course, you also expose yourself to cranks and pedants, the latter ready to pounce upon the slightest error either of fact or grammar in what you have set down. They who have never published a word seem to read solely for the pleasure of finding something over which to pull authors up. (They would defend themselves, of course, by quoting Doctor Johnson on the right of people who never made a table nevertheless to criticise a table.)  more...

Douglas Murray on the subject of islamophobia and related topics in this month’s edition of Standpoint magazine.
Britain’s first Muslim minister, Shahid Malik, declared on a Channel 4 Dispatches programme this month that: “I think most people would agree that if you ask Muslims today what do they feel like, they feel like the Jews of Europe.” Foreign readers ought not to fear that they’ve missed something here. There actually aren’t any concentration camps for Muslims in Britain. No Nuremberg laws have been passed.  Only the most excitable observer would attempt to claim that Belmarsh prison is truly Treblinka. But that paranoid assertion is gaining currency. Its first victims are Muslims in Britain who, instead of being persuaded to face up to their problems and eject the extremists from their midst, might easily be flattered into believing that it’s not even their problem.
Like fashion journalists searching for “the new black”, some guys just love identifying “the new Jews”. Never mind that with violent attacks on Jews in the UK at an all-time high, the new Jews might be, well, the old Jews: the search to identify criticism of Islam or Muslims with anti-Semitism is not only mistaken, it is calculated and deliberately diverting.Leading the effort is the former political editor of The Spectator, Peter Oborne, whose Channel 4 programme, It Shouldn’t Happen to a Muslim was the catalyst for the minister’s comments.
While gaining new rights prominent Muslims compare themselves to people who were stripped of all rights. Nice work.
The term “Islamophobia” is a crock for two reasons. The first is the fact that it is a deliberate attempt to conflate criticism of a belief-system with hatred of a people for the colour of their skin. Thus “Islamophobia” is neatly allied with the real horrors of racism.
But “Islamophobia” is also a nonsense term – though this is a far less popular aspect to point out – because a “phobia” is an “irrational fear”. “Claustrophobia” is irrational because enclosed spaces tend not to kill you. Being scared of small rooms is irrational. Exaggerated and faked stories abound in journalism. But despite this, and as a mounting death-toll asserts, there are a considerable number of reasons to be fearful of some – though certainly not all – aspects and versions of Islam. Women, gay men and Jews have particular reason to be fearful. As do commuters in major European cities and continental film-directors. It’s not “phobic” to be worried about Islam. It is eminently rational.

An update to this story, from Reuters:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jlQ-WQC5GQ

"You Jews should be aware: You will never, but never have peace with Hamas. Islam, as the ideology that guides them, will not allow them to achieve a peace agreement with the Jews. They believe that tradition says that the Prophet Mohammed fought against the Jews and that therefore they must continue to fight them to the death." [from this article in Haaretz] 
 

And since Fatah, just like Hamas, is based on Islam, "the ideology that guides them," and  those in Fatah, too, are Muslims, with that Islam as "the ideology that guides them," this defector from the Camp of Islam might, had he thought more, or had more time, have noted that the Israelis cannot rely on negotiations, peace-processing, or any treaties with either the Fast Jihadists of Hamas (his main subject) or -- just as, or even more important --  with the Slow Jihadists of Fatah.

And that goes for any "agreements" with other Arab Muslims as well. For the awareness of an Arab identity, of sharing in 'Uruba, reinforces Islam. It is true that, now and then, other Muslims, especially those who have a long history of enmity with Arabs, and for whom they feel an ill-concealed contempt, such as many Turks and Iranians do, may be willing, to the extent that their ethnic identity, and its historical associations, plays against rather than reinforces Islam (which may be dimly discerned by some as the vehicle for Arab supremacism that, in fact, it is), to make alliances of convenience, out of temporary self-interest, with Israel (it happened with the Shah, it has happened in the past with the secular Turkish military).

But really, in the end it is the ideology of Islam, and not merely the particular embodiment of that in Hamas, that should prompt Israel to seek not "peace" -- it has the "peace" it is going to get, and should simply work to make that "peace" a little more "peaceful" not through any concessions or treaties, but through more aggressive action -- but to make sure that the only true and permanent and reliable peacekeeper in the region, the IDF, remains just as strong, as well-equipped and well-commanded,  as it can be.

Avi Issacharoff writes in Haaretz:

A moment before beginning his supper, Masab, son of West Bank Hamas leader Sheikh Hassan Yousef, glances at the friend who has accompanied him to the restaurant where we met. They whisper a few words and then say grace, thanking God and Jesus for putting food on their plates.

It takes a few seconds to digest this sight: The son of a Hamas MP who is also the most popular figure in that extremist Islamic organization, a young man who assisted his father for years in his political activities, has become a rank-and-file Christian. "I'm now called Joseph," he says at the outset.

Masab knows that he has little hope of returning to visit the Holy Land in this lifetime. "I know that I'm endangering my life and am even liable to lose my father, but I hope that he'll understand this and that God will give him and my family patience and willingness to open their eyes to Jesus and to Christianity. Maybe one day I'll be able to return to Palestine and to Ramallah with Jesus, in the Kingdom of God."

Nor does he attempt to hide his affection for Israel, or his abhorrence of everything representing the surroundings in which he grew up: the nation, the religion, the organization.

"Send regards to Israel, I miss it. I respect Israel and admire it as a country," he says.

"You Jews should be aware: You will never, but never have peace with Hamas. Islam, as the ideology that guides them, will not allow them to achieve a peace agreement with the Jews. They believe that tradition says that the Prophet Mohammed fought against the Jews and that therefore they must continue to fight them to the death."

Is that the justification for the suicide attacks?

"More than that. An entire society sanctifies death and the suicide terrorists. In Palestinian culture a suicide terrorist becomes a hero, a martyr. Sheikhs tell their students about the 'heroism of the shaheeds.'"

And yet, in spite of the criticism of the place he left, California can't make the longings disappear.

"I miss Ramallah," he says. "People with an open mind. ... I mainly miss my mother, my brothers and sisters, but I know that it will be very difficult for me to return to Ramallah soon."

As I was going to St Ives

I met a man with seven wives

And every wife had seven sacks

And every sack had seven cats

And every cat had seven kits

Kits, cats, sacks, wives

How many were going to St Ives?

Which is to say, it's not much of a strategy at all. WaPo:

...Gates embraces the "Long War" term that his predecessor, Donald H. Rumsfeld, invoked to equate the fight against terrorism with struggles against Soviet communism and Nazi fascism. His strategy, however, departs from Rumsfeld's focus on preemptive military action and instead encourages current and future U.S. leaders to work with other countries to eliminate the conditions that foster extremism.

"The use of force plays a role, yet military efforts to capture or kill terrorists are likely to be subordinate to measures to promote local participation in government and economic programs to spur development, as well as efforts to understand and address the grievances that often lie at the heart of insurgencies," the document said. "For these reasons, arguably the most important military component of the struggle against violent extremists is not the fighting we do ourselves, but how well we help prepare our partners to defend and govern themselves." ...

There is still no sign of any comprehension of Islam at the top. One reason for this, of course, is the fact that Hesham Islam, aid to the Defense Department’s Deputy Secretary, Gordon England, has actively blocked those who would educate the Defense Department on Islam, namely Stephen Coughlin, and who knows what other kinds of information he has changed, or colored, or blocked to reflect the mantra, Islam is a religion of peace, and woe to those who say otherwise.

Gates is also likely to stay on as Defense Secretary under either an Obama or a McCain Administration.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1EC4om5VV4

On this day, July 31^st, in 1997, New York City police thwarted a planned bombing of the city's subway system. Acting on a tip, police entered a Brooklyn apartment containing 5 bombs and 2 Muslim men. One of the men reached for a detonation switch, and the two men were injured in the ensuing gunfire.  Gazi Ibrahim Abu Mezer was later convicted of attempting to bomb a subway, while Lafi Khalil was acquitted. They were both "Palestinian" illegal immigrants, who planned to target a particular train because they believed it carried a large number of Jewish passengers. They may have had accomplices, but if so none were ever caught.

"He [Olmert] is the most realistic person in the world. "
-- from the article linked below

Is he "realistic" enough to find out even the most elementary things about Islam that any Israeli leader has a duty to find out about, such as the Muslim view that no land once possessed by Muslims can ever be yielded, and that the size of what remains un-repossessed is irrelevant?  Is he, Ehud Olmert, so much the "realist" -- the "most realistic person in the world," one friend calls him, that of course he knows all about the Treaty of Al-Hudaibiyya, as the model for all subsequent treaties made by Muslims with Infidels, so that he never for one instant had any faith in negotiations or treaties with the Arabs -- whether they are the Gazan Arabs or the other Arabs, the ones in the Arab-occupied "West Bank"? 

Surely the "most realistic person in the world" who happens to be the leader of Israel, responsible for the security of the state and its people, would -- let's be realistic -- know all about these things. Wouldn't he?  

Artemis is technically the winner of the "If Quiz" because, in his words:

Not only did I give the right quote with the right spelling (kippled, of course), but for extra credit I even gave a link to the original NER blog and the wikipedia entry!

However, my quizzes are, in the spirit of Stephen Fry's QI programme, designed to elicit interesting answers rather than correct ones. "Correct" simply means what I happen to be thinking. What I happen to be thinking may be no better, as an answer, than a "wrong" one.

Other responses were every bit as interesting as the right answer. I loved Hugh's fountain pen anecdote, and Paul's muffin of the mule. Was it King Lear who said "Muffin will come of muffin"?

As for Reaction'ry and his "Ring des Nipple Lunging" and "Schnippel Schnippel Schip", he is in a class of his own and knocks knippling into a cocked hat.

This is a very good question, and one that needs to be answered by balanced reporting and hard facts. Neither can be found in this video, posted at Gates of Vienna, and taken completely at face value by the normally sensible Roger Kimball:

The film clip linked is marred by major inaccuracies, a smug tone and ill-concealed Schadenfreude.

The inaccuracies first, some of which could have been avoided by using Wikipedia:

1. On Lord Phillips and Sharia law, please see my article here, which shows what he actually did say. Basically, Lord Phillips defined the limits of Sharia law which are the same as any other private form of arbitration, namely that it is strictly subordinate to English law. Thus there is no question of legalising honour killings or forced marriage. Those things are happening in Britain – and America, of course – but it doesn’t mean they are legal, or likely to become so.

2. I cannot comment on the details of "ex-drug dealer and born-again Christian" Paul Ray’s case. However, I find it difficult to believe that it is purely on the content of his blog that he has been arrested. If that were the case, then many writers for Standpoint, the Spectator, and even the Times would be arrested.

3. Some of those preaching violence outside the Danish Embassy were indeed arrested and charged with incitement to murder and later sent to between four and six years imprisonment. So they didn’t “get away with it” as is implied.

4. Regarding Channel 4’s Undercover Mosque, which exposed violent preaching in Britain’s Mosques, nobody was “charged” (You can’t charge a news programme anyway.) An investigation was carried out by West Midlands police, and a complaint made to the regulator, Offcom. There was insufficient evidence and no charges were brought. The complaint was rejected. The programme makers sued for libel – Britain’s evil libel laws in action. West Midlands Police and the Crown Prosecution Service apologised and paid them £100,000. Of course the investigation should never have been carried out in the first place - this should have been the focus of the news clip.

5. On “unIslamic activity” – this is absurd, perhaps more so even than the American government forbidding the use of the word “jihad”. But nobody has taken any notice of it as far as I can see, and it certainly doesn’t have the force of law.

Inaccuracies aside, the tone of the film clip, as I said, is smug and gloating. Such smugness is unwarranted in those who fail to do even the most basic research.

It seems Imran Raza made a fairly serious mistake in his film "Karachi Kids" and now the entire documentary is called into question. The children have clearly been coached as to what to say now that they are back in Atlanta.

KARACHI, Pakistan (CNN) -- It's a documentary with an alarming message: Two American boys are held captive in a madrassa, a Pakistani religious school, once visited by Osama bin Laden and with ties to the Taliban.

The film, "Karachi Kids," describes threats to artistic freedom of expression from the teaching of conservative Islam. Early copies of the film prompted outrage after the story of the American boys appeared on Fox News, CBS and other news outlets. It also led to demands from Rep. Mike McCaul, R-Texas, for the boys to be returned home.

But the independent filmmaker may have confused the madrassa with one with a similar name tied to Islamic extremists.

The madrassa the boys attended isn't linked to bin Laden or Muslim radicals; instead, it's one the U.S. State Department says is preferred by Pakistani-Americans for its moderate Islamic teachings and one recently visited by a top U.S. diplomat in Pakistan.

How could the filmmaker have got it so wrong? He blames the error on researchers he says he has since dismissed.

"I do need to take responsibility for these things in terms of these were errors that sort of spun out of control," filmmaker Imran Raza said. "I have to take responsibility for the mistakes. I take responsibility for the error in the allegation that Osama bin Laden was there. I take responsibility for the error that some of the Taliban leaders were there."

CNN learned about brothers, Noor and Mehboob Khan, ages 17 and 16, when Raza offered CNN the documentary this summer. The film focuses on the brothers, whose father, a Pakistani-born taxi driver in Atlanta, Georgia, sent them to Pakistan to get them in touch with their religious heritage.

In the film, Raza describes the teens as captives being force-fed radical jihad. In interviews over three years, the boys describe their longing for America and say the terrorist attacks of September 11 weren't carried out by Muslims. One of the brothers described punishment by beatings at the madrassa.

Raza started a campaign to return the boys to the United States. McCaul offered to help, even asking Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf to intervene.

(...)

Back in Atlanta, Noor Khan said the whole experience gave him a better appreciation of America, his family and his faith.

"I am glad I was sent to Pakistan because it taught me to be a better person. It taught me to appreciate what I had before, and I knew when I came back I wasn't going to make the same mistake of not appreciating what I have," he said.

He added, "I was never held against my will."

Noor said the "beatings" he referred to in the film were the equivalent of when American teachers years ago used to smack students on their wrists to reinforce a lesson.

"Pakistan is, what, 50 years behind America, so they do the same thing. They take a stick and hit you softly on the hand so you learn a lesson, but that didn't bother me," he said.

Did he see radicalism there?

"Look, I am Muslim, and one of the main things they teach us to do is not to lie," he said. "I witnessed with my own eyes: no Taliban, no Taliban training, no terrorist, no extremism -- nothing at all at the madrassa. The only thing they wanted to do was teach the history of Islam. That's all."

He says the comments of his talking about September 11 in the documentary were twisted and taken out of context. He said what he meant was that the hijackers weren't "true Muslims."

"If those were Muslims, they weren't true Muslims," he said. "We Muslims, we don't kill people. We're not terrorists. ... We're not violent people. We just want to live a happy life."

He then sought to make clear: "I've never met the Taliban; no one showed me how do any terrorist training or activities. I've never witnessed that with my own eyes, and when the media comes to our madrassa, our principal tells to their face, 'All the classes, all the rooms are open to you. You are free to go wherever you want.' "

Pakistan's religious affairs ministry said the Jamia Binoria school is a moderate Islamic institution. A U.S. State Department source confirmed that, saying the school "is known to U.S. officials as a moderate institution, favored by Pakistani-Americans for its moderate and tolerant Islamic instruction."

In fact, a report by the International Crisis Group -- provided by McCaul's office and the documentary filmmaker -- says the Jamia Binoria Madrassa is often mistaken for another. "Because of its name, this madrassa is often confused with the more prominent and powerful Binori Town Madrassa," the report says.

The other madrassa is the one that intelligence sources say is the school bin Laden visited and, according to the report, is the "fountainhead of Deobandi militancy countrywide. ... It also boasts close ties to the Taliban."...