"Naive" anti-terrorism film in UK

Titled "Wish You Waziristan", the film tells the story of two young Muslim brothers who travel to Pakistan to join an Al-Qaeda training center.

The £30,000-cost film shows that the two brothers went to Waziristan after being subjected to racist beating while playing football on a UK beach.

The cartoon, which combines computer game-style graphics and teenage street slang, opens with a failed attempt by the brothers to launch a grenade from a mountain-top in Waziristan.

The pair are shown watching videos of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin laden.

As they returned to Britain, the two brothers were detained at a British airport.

The video ends with the older brother making a phone call from his jail cell to his mother apologizing for what he had done and writing to his brother asking for forgiveness.

"Having these animated movies will not help in anyway whatsoever," said Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramadhan Foundation.

The British Security service estimates that 4,000 young British Muslims have travelled overseas to attend training camps since the 9/11 attacks.

Note the subtext: everything was fine until the racist English showed up. There is nothing, nnnnnnozzing! in the brother's backgrounds or culture or religion which would dispose them to violence, at least based on this blurb.

Islamic Creationism

Gaaaaghh... And you thought Christian creationism was maddening.

“At school, we believed the teachers, but here their theses are disproved: they don’t have the truth,” adds Yanina Gelassi, a 19-year-old student veiled in black. Nouri Hamid, 28, a doctoral student in genetics, is not “totally in agreement that there is a complete lack [of evidence] for the evolution of species,” but he also declares that “science has never demonstrated the connection between homo sapiens and man.”

Similarly, the “concordist” approach to the Koran, defended by the conference speakers, is popular among young Muslims. This concept states that the recent scientific discoveries only confirm the scientific content of the sacred book. “This proves to us that, despite all of the research, God has said and written everything down in the Koran nearly 1,400 years ago,” says Najoua Oubaya, a 21-year-old saleswoman.

“These discussions are good for the people because they prove that the West has discovered nothing, and that Islam is superior, even scientifically,” explained Nidhal Guessoum, a Muslim astrophysicist, in Le Monde in 2009. The author of Réconcilier l’Islam et la sciecne moderne: l’esprit d’Averroès (Reconciling Islam and Modern Science: The Spirit of Averroes), he describes the methods of Yahya as “do-it-yourself,” and defends the search for connections between science and faith, just as has been done in Christianity. In 1996, John Paul II confirmed that the theory of evolution was “more than a hypothesis,” but the Catholic Church maintains that science is not the sole contributor to the explanation of the origin of life, as Benedict XVI recalled in 2007.

“The scientific manipulations of Haroun Yahya are alarming for the Muslim community,” says Saïd Branine, who runs the site Oumma.com, and organized a training on the topic.

RIP Gil Scott-Heron

He was best known for The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, of course. He was on record in recent years claiming that it was all a satire rather than a call to arms. If so, I thought he could have added this line: "The revolution will make whites whiter and coloreds brighter". It's an allusion to a Tide detergent commercial from that era, for those under 40.


I found his song "Message to the Messengers", his bit of grandfatherly advice to the angry rappers who came in his wake, to be oddly sweet. Oddly I say, because I'm repulsed by rap and hiphop. The image of the old word warrior giving his benediction to the young turks was downright heartwarming.



As always, if the vids don't display properly, double-click to view them on YouTube. RIP.

The Interfaith Alliance asks churches to share their pulpits with Muslims

I used to criticize The Interfaith Alliance from time to time in this blog's early going. Now I see that I have occasion to do so again. The Interfaith Alliance is a load of deracinate­d relativist­s of the proggy persuasion, who wouldn't acknowledg­e their nominal co-religio­nists abroad, murdered by Muslim fanatics, if they bled to death on their front porches.* The IA emerged from the National Council of Churches, which never to my knowledge repented of its vigorous cheer-leading for nearly every left-wing dictatorship of the past half century. I'll not be scolded about American Muslims hurt feelings by people who act as though they believe America deserved 9/11.

*Harsh, but true. The search engine on their site retrieves no results for Copts, Indonesian Christians, Pakistani Christians, Nigerian Christians, who are being persecuted by their Muslim neighbors. You, however, need merely click here to stay up to date.

"In a dictatorship, it takes courage to speak the truth. In a free country, it takes courage to see the truth."
-- Natan Scharansky

The life cycle of an internet meme

From Cracked. My rule of thumb is: by the time I've heard of it, it's pretty much run its course.

In answer to The Jawa Report's question about al Qaeda's leadership...

Does anyone else notice the irony of the anti-democracy death cult electing its leader?

No irony. The hierarchy of authority in Islam runs thusly: The Koran, the hadiths, the ulema (Muslim clergy), tradition, and consensus. Arabs are capable of deciding matters in a democratic way, up to a certain societal scale, at which point clan and tribal loyalties trump civic society. Selection of leaders in this way is within the bounds of Islamic normalcy.

*koff*...I mean, it would be in the bounds of Islamic normalcy, but of course al Qaeda "has nothing to do with Islam"© Just hypothesizin'...

How About Another 1967 Line…

How About Another 1967 Line…

Roll back federal spending to 1967 levels, with accompanying graph. Ha!

What is the purpose of the United States? None!

I read this gem in an article in Businessweek about Osama bin Laden:

The United States has no purpose. That is perhaps its greatest achievement. America's founding document, its Declaration of Independence, allows that a state exists only to secure life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

That's it. There's a curious lack of ambition in those words. The United States was not founded for the greater glory of anything, or as the necessary outcome of history, but for the freedom to collect figurines, to join a clogging troupe, to take a road trip. Yet these words, which carry no ideology whatsoever, are the ones that keep winning. This is the lesson of the past 10 years, and one Osama bin Laden, a man animated by a grandiose vision of restoring a 7th century Muslim empire, never grasped. The most successful organizing principle the world has ever known is a simple guarantee that we can buy and do things that have no point greater than the satisfaction of our own happiness.


-- Brendan Greeley, "Why Bin Laden Lost", Businessweek, May 4, 2011

How much more liberating, life-affirming, and (dare I say it?) civilized our way of life is than Islam's implacably stultifying drive to "compel the right and forbid the wrong". Ditto for secular leftists' urges to winnow, purge, reforge, remake, reengineer, and ultimately waste their fellows, in pursuit of progressive visions.

brookly red banned at Little Green Footballs

Update: I'm actually not sure of brookly red's sex at all, so forgive my mistake, if it is indeed a mistake.

Just noticed, due to people landing here while looking up commenters banned by Charles Johnson. There goes another familiar face! I enjoyed some of her comments, and she mine, I'm pretty sure. Hope she finds a good home elseweb soon. One of the Monitor Lizards in particular took especial relish in bullying her, whenever they both appeared in the same thread. If she's like me, brookly red will find herself slowly being glad to be out of that oppressive atmosphere.

Since my banning, I've found myself being attracted to some of the big liberal blogs, like Huffington Post (my comments at HuffPo) and the comment threads at NPR (my comments at NPR). While I still enjoy spray-marking with like-minded types, I also enjoy engaging people of differing viewpoints (such as Obdicut, windup bird, san francisco zionist, Stanley Sea, etc., all still at LGF). I find that it's more gratifying to be the fellow who's too conservative, than to be the person who's not conservative enough. If LGF could have preserved its fleeting equilibrium among commenters--and dispensed with the controlling and bullying (it's still a shame what happened to Wild Irish Rose)--well, I might be going back and peering through glass a little more frequently.

See you around, brookly.

On the Islamic funeral of Osama bin Laden

It was wise though probably fruitless to give him an Islamic funeral. Doubtless the powers that be were thinking of the rage of Afghans against American soldiers, when the soldiers burned or otherwise (allegedly) mistreated dead Taliban fighters some time back. Judging by the worldwide displays of public grief and rage Muslims are displaying, it isn't working. They partied in the streets on 9/11, and now they mourn in the streets after he's gone. Try to tell me that this "has nothing to do with Islam" now, proggs!

The Islamic Society of North America hailed OBL's termination, denouncing him as a mass murderer of Muslims. Isn't it enough for them, that he's a mass murderer, period?

Been busy

Been out attending to some real world activities & responsibilities. Pesky meatspace...

CIA hacks Osama bin Laden's cable TV signal

Muslims mourn the death of Osama bin Laden

In Egypt and Pakistan.

Well, why not? They partied in the streets after 9/11, didn't they?

The Jihadists wail

A roundup of terrorists' reactions to Osama bin Laden's death from various jihadist forums, from Jihadology.

******************

“O Allah, make this news not true”

“Allah protect us in our loss”

“God willing, news is not true. Catastrophic if it is authentic.”

“O Lord for your kindness”

“May Allah increase you rank in Jannah o Sheikh Usamah!”

“Ameen AMEEN AMEEN! May Allah give you a place next to our beloved Prophet (saws), ameen ameen”

“Please everyone calm and pray”

“We ask God to be the news is not true Lord of the Worlds”

“If it is true then we must thank Allah that America was not able to capture him alive. Else they would be humiliating him like Saddam Hussain. At last he may have find his greatest desire of Shahada.”

“Think not of those killed in the way of Allah dead, but alive with the Lord. We consider him a martyr. O Allah, accept the martyrs. And join us by the Lord of the Worlds”

“Brothers and sisters the order to attack the shaykh didn’t come from Obama, it came from Allah SWT and we should be aware that Allah SWT has the power to obliterate the White House in no time. So have yaqeen in Allah SWT because today the kufaar celebrate but tomorrow the ash of their fitna will block out their joy.”

“The celebrations are amusing. Cheer all you want kuffar, you only have a limited amount of time in this dunya in which to do it. And then you will see the reality of this life.”

“Coming Oh America; Coming Oh Jews, Coming Oh rejectionists (Shi’a); Coming Oh Kufar, secularists, and apostates. Arrivals are coming and they are bringing the coffins with merciless devices”

“please let them celebrate, they are celebrating their own end.
osama is in the heart of every muslim, even those who dont admit publicly.
in sha Allah its the start of something. this is the day muslims will remember Allah alot and seek the destruction of this pharoanic nation of our time.
oh Allah destroy this nation for their hatred and enmity toward your deen
oh Allah seal their hearts with disbelief they shall never taste faith untill they taste your severe punishment.
oh Allah send them endless tornados to destroy their homes and earthquakes to crash them.”

“Agggh!!! This news on TV is annoying. These sell out Muslims really piss me off. I hope that Allah (swt) raises them with their community of shaytaan who they chose to side with, make friends with and obey instead of His (swts) law in the duniyah. May these sell outs also be thrown into the lowest depths of Hell with no respite.”

“My father woke me with this news, I had tears…The worst is when I saw the Kuffar celebrate on TV, I felt lousy”

“The killing of Sheikh Osama bin Laden does not affect the progress of victory, God willing. After the death of Sheikh Abdullah Azzam, Jihad did not stop. And went on…….. And went on……… And went on ………”

“If it is authentic [that] Osama [died], indiscriminate killing is the solution, is the solution, is the solution.”

“Sheikh Bin Laden is not dead! What a farce from the Tawaghit!!”

“Hope that this act will not go unpunished.”

Osama bin Laden roundup

A very good roundup of knowledgeable bloggage on the end of OBL was posted a couple of days ago, at the criminally under-publicized Jihadica blog.

Bush declines invitation to Ground Zero

That's very considerate. Unlike Carter and Clinton, who backbit him for much of his Presidency, Bush has stayed off the commentariat circuit and out of Obama's hair. "He deserves my silence", he once said. Genuine class.

Now here's a way to celebrate the end of Osama bin Laden!

ROGERS, Ark. — A district judge in Rogers marked the death of Osama bin Laden by giving misdemeanor violators a $51 break on their fines and court fees.

The amount represents May 1, or 5-1, the day a team of Navy SEALs killed the terrorist leader during a raid on a compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan.

Osama bin Laden killed

Very fitting, that the last people he ever saw were SEALs and spooks, come to put a bullet in his eye. Fitting, too, that some of his number died hiding behind a woman. Well done, guys! Have some Shakespeare:

The period of thy tyranny approacheth.
On us thou canst not enter but by death;
For, I protest, we are well fortified
And strong enough to issue out and fight:[...]
On either hand thee there are squadrons pitch'd,
To wall thee from the liberty of flight;
And no way canst thou turn thee for redress,
But death doth front thee with apparent spoil
And pale destruction meets thee in the face.

-- 1 Henry VI