Entries Tagged 'Gramfan (author)' ↓
July 17th, 2010 — Atlas Shrugs, Gramfan (author), Israel, Jihad Watch, anti-Semitism, counterjihad, enemy propaganda, sports, terrorism
By Gramfan
Jihadis victimize everyone
On Christmas Day a brave Dutchman, Jasper Schuringa, played a very big role in preventing yet another terrorist triumph.
He was able to subdue the young Islamist Nigerian man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab and stop him from murdering a plane-load of people and then getting his virgins, raisins, or whatever these brain-washed Islamists think is waiting for them in Paradise.
Now the airlines of the world have to think hard about what they can do, yet again, to keep the airlines safe.
But can they? Christopher Hitchens doubts it, and wonders why the majority of us have to endure these basically useless procedures.
Daniel Pipes suggests using the methods employed by El Al, Israel’s airline.
People who follow the activities of Islamists worldwide would not have been at all surprised.
Thwarted terror plots and Islamist Militants’ incidents are almost daily occurrences. The only surprises are the out-of-the-box methods that are constantly updated. It seems these people have nothing better to do than figure out new ways of killing people they hate and disagree with!
What a "noble goal" in life that must be!
This is a global problem, yet the leaders of the world simply don’t want to know about it, let alone deal with it effectively.
Yes, there is a river in Egypt called "Denial".
Another fact often overlooked is that these attempts at mass murder do not only occur in the west, but in many Islamic countries. Pakistan is a good example of this. Muslim on Muslim murder. And of course who can forget the beheadings by the Taliban.
In 2009 there was quite a string of such plots and incidents and they have been well-documented by those who follow these issues.
Here is an excellent summary by Pamela Geller.
She is not alone. To list all the people who document these incidents is quite a task: Robert Spencer, Daniel Pipes, and Steven Emerson, to name but a few.
It is indeed astonishing that people, moderate Muslims and non-Muslims alike, do not protest in front of their respective government agencies constantly and say "enough already!"
It is quite unbelievable. Is it fear? Political Correctness? Apathy? Ignorance? All of these and maybe more? Why should any civilized person have to put up with any form of medieval behavior in the twenty-first century?
Excusing jihadis; demonizing those who defend themselves
And yet recently I read on Ms Geller’s excellent blog about Bill Ayres et al protesting about conditions in Gaza, which, by the way, are not nearly as bad as people would have you think.
These people are ably assisted by the Viva Palestina crowd led by George Galloway who has just been accused of lying by the Egyptians.
Mention must also be made here of the "gifts" bestowed on Israel and the rest of the world by Jimmy Carter. His apology for his comments about Israel, and his role in adding to the global jihad should not be underestimated.
It is as if they are totally ignorant of what is actually happening, and ignorant of the fact that not only the Israelis, but also the Egyptians control the crossings to Gaza. It is not just ignorance. It is deceit, and it is affecting many people who live in the Middle East: Muslims, Jews and Christians alike.
But I forget: Gaza is a fashionable cause, and Israel, that tiny strip of democratic land in an ocean of Islamic theocracies and dictatorships, is the cause of ALL the problems in the world – yep, sure it is!
All those "occupied territories" ..err.." disputed territories" are the root cause of it all!!
And please dismiss from your mind the thousands of rockets that were launched into Israel which eventually lead to the Gaza war and the infamous Goldstone Report.
Israel’s legal position is well explained by Danny Ayalon.
Shame many people don’t realize the real situation in Israel.
I am not trying to demean the suffering of the Palestinians, especially the Gazans, who, under Hamas have indeed suffered, yet most of this is due to their leaders who are obsessed with maintaining power, accumulating wealth, and are totally disinterested in the welfare of their citizens.
Corruption is king. Teach your children to hate. Get money for weapons from the West and build almost NO infrastructure. Make sure the United Nations helps you all the way, and perpetuates this ridiculous situation. Can’t have a bunch of UN employees out of a job, can we?
Tennis Jihad
Yesterday I read that New Zealand is protesting an Israeli tennis player, Shahar Pe’er. This is not this first instance of "Tennis Jihad".
It has happened in Sweden too.
Is it not strange that two western democracies allow politics to interfere with a sporting event in this day and age?
Am I being naive? Are all sporting events tied to politics like they were in Hitler’s time? They shouldn’t be. Is history repeating itself?
This is the disconnect: every day we hear of Islamist terrorism all over the world. No one says a word; no one protests, no one minds being patted down and removing their shoes at airports.
People of all races and creeds everywhere are threatened by radical Islamist extremists who are willing to kill and die in the name of their belief system. (I hesitate to call it a religion).
Blame must also go to the left-wing post-modernists who ably support them in the name of political correctness and self-loathing.
But one Israeli tennis player in New Zealand, and one in Sweden, cause demonstrations. These two countries, fine examples of Western liberal democracies, should hang their heads in shame.
This situation is very hard to comprehend. "You can’t be serious!" Indeed, Mr McEnroe!
Also see:
July 17th, 2010 — Afghanistan, Gramfan (author), Islam, anti-Semitism, vehicles and transportation
By Gramfan
This true story was sent to me by one of our readers. How many of us have had interesting chats with cab drivers? Must be very many indeed. This one is a bit different.
“Yesterday, while being away in another medium-sized metropolis, I had the need of a cab driver to get me to my hotel. Like many western cities the cab drivers are usually immigrants from pretty much all over the world.This driver looked somewhat different to the ones I had had before.
As what is usually the norm, as soon as I settled into the cab we started chatting.
Cab drivers so often have a wealth of information, and insights into all things political. This, in fact, somewhat enhances the whole experience for me, even if I disagree with their perspective.
I asked him where he was from and how long he had lived here. It turns out he was a Hazara from Afghanistan.
He told me he was a Shiite Muslim, and had lived here for ten years.
He also told me that he never prayed five times a day as prescribed in the Koran because he was far too interested in making a good life for his wife and family. He felt he would not incur Allah’s wrath because he spent his time “doing good things”, and praying five times a day didn’t necessarily constitute that.
He went on to tell me that in Afghanistan things are not too good for the Hazaras. But then again one could wonder how many Afghanis are having a good time? Certainly not the women!
He asked me if I was Iranian. I was rather taken aback because I never thought I looked like an Iranian and frankly I don’t know what the “average Iranian” looks like!
“No I am not Iranian. Why do you ask?” I said.
“Because you have a moustache, and they are not so common here”, he replied.
This is not exactly accurate: many men here have moustaches, but never mind.
“So where are you from then?” he continued.
“I am, like you, an immigrant, but came here decades ago. In fact I came here after World War 2 with my parents who were Holocaust survivors. So you see I am Jewish.
“That is very interesting”, he replied. “In Afghanistan we were taught to hate Jews, even though most of us had never met one. But since I have come to this country I have realized that good people everywhere are the same.
I have changed my opinions. I really believe that more education makes a huge difference as to how one sees others and it is a pity that many people are never given this opportunity.
I no longer hate Jews or others for that matter. I have learned a lot. I do not believe in violence towards others. I just want to lead a happy life here with my wife and family”.
Needless to say I was rather impressed with his frank comments about his transformation and his attitudes.
By this time we had reached our destination. I got out of the cab, took my luggage and paid the driver. To my surprise, at this point, he shook my hand.
I know he shook it in friendship and with sincerity. I was deeply touched by his gesture. I couldn’t help but wonder what a difference a short ride in a cab can make”.
Editor’s Note: There is now only one Jew left in Afghanistan. This is possibly the most recent post on him. There is quite a lot of history of Jews in Afghanistan on this site for further reading.
July 13th, 2010 — 1389, Australia, Chicago, Gramfan (author), Islam, Jihad Watch, Sharia, U.S. Constitution, counterjihad, political correctness
- Jihad Watch: Chicago hotel backs out of hosting Islamic supremacist pro-sharia conference
Good for the Marriott Oak Brook. It will interesting to see which “moderate” Muslim advocacy groups speak out now in defense of Hizb ut-Tahrir and its conference, since Hizb ut-Tahrir openly supports Sharia and the restoration of the caliphate, with all that means for the denial of rights to women and non-Muslims [emphasis mine]. CAIR’s Brave Ahmed Rehab responded with roadblocks and detours when asked about them on Fox last year.
“Illinois hotel backs out of hosting Muslim group,” by Sophia Tareen for Associated Press, July 11
…
And that shows the weakness and short-sightedness of evaluating these groups solely on the basis of whether or not they employ or advocate violence.
Read the rest.
- Islamic hardliners return for Sydney convention after push for ban fails
by Sally Neighbour
HUNDREDS of Islamic activists are assembling in Sydney for a convention being held by the controversial Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir.
This is its first big event in Australia since a failed push to outlaw it three years ago.
Senior Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT) members have flown in from Britain for the conference, which is part of a series of events being held around the world, as the group steps up its campaign for the formation of a trans-national Islamic state.
…
In 2007, when HT held its last international assembly in Australia, the federal government considered banning the organisation in response to claims that it incites religious hatred and indirectly encourages terrorism.
But ASIO advised the then attorney-general Philip Ruddock that there was insufficient evidence to proscribe the group as it did not advocate terrorism.
HT explicitly rejects the use of violence in its quest for an Islamic state. But it supports militant campaigns against Western forces in Afghanistan and Iraq, and opposes the existence of Israel, which it calls an “illegitimate” state that “must be removed”.
Read the rest.
H/T: Gramfan
Political correctness versus survival, again
It is a disgrace that we should have to be going through this every time our Muslim enemies hold meetings on Western soil.
In the US, it is long past due for a Constitutional amendment to disqualify Islam as a religion protected under the First Amendment. Islam is not a religion in the sense that our Founders envisioned a religion to be. Like Nazism and Communism, Islam is an expansionist, totalitarian, enemy ideology that seeks to rid the world of everything other than itself.
Ideally, the amendment should go further than that, so as to ban immigration or naturalization of Muslims, as well as to forbit the signing of any treaty or alliance, the sale of any weaponry, or the rendering of any form of assistance to any country or nation with a predominantly Muslim population.
Australia and every other civilized part of the world should do the same.
June 27th, 2010 — Afghanistan, Australia, Gramfan (author), Iraq, Islam, Sharia, clothing, counterjihad, women's issues
By Gramfan
According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary Feminism is defined thus:
Date: 1895
1 : the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes
2 : organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests
Who can ever forget the iconic cover of “The Female Eunuch”, by Germaine Greer?
It was everywhere when it was first published in 1970.
It was virtually the next best thing that had happened to women since Emmeline Pankhurst and her Suffragettes worked to get women the vote. So we were told.
And certainly you cannot deny the benefits and progress that have come from these two women, and the many others who have taken over the baton and changed the lives of millions.
Many of today’s other famous feminists are living very comfortably on self-earned wealth: fine with me, it’s well-deserved.
They have turned their politics and activism into income sources by working in journalism and other media.
People listen to them.
They have power, enormous power.
Camille Paglia is but one of many whose opinions are highly respected, and it is easy to see why.
Germaine Greer is still going on strongly about all kinds of issues.
Gloria Steinem is another member of this esteemed crowd and there are also very many not-so-famous feminists.
These feminists are in almost all professions from politics to pianists, parents and yes, prostitutes – the oldest “profession” of them all!
Then of course there are the other women in the world who don’t occupy this rarified space but who have decided, and yes, it is a decison now, to become home-makers and mothers. Some of them decide to resume successful careers and some chose not to.
But I wonder if we all really received so many benefits from all these feminists? Some of us didn’t.
With all that is good and liberating in human progress there are often side effects and “unintended consequences”. Sadly there are goals that have not, and will not be achieved.
Certainly many of us get equal work for equal pay nowadays but not all of us. Then there are those who chose to be wives and mothers, who are often scorned, or looked down upon, for their choices.
They had jobs, but feminists weren’t satisfied; every other woman had to get one too. So they opened fire on homemakers with a savagery that still echoes throughout our culture. A housewife is a “parasite,” [Betty] Frieden writes; such women are “less than fully human” insofar as they “have never known a commitment to an idea.”
And….
Housewives, not men, were the prey in feminism’s sights when Kate Millett decreed in 1969 that the family must go. Feminists do not speak for traditional women. Men cannot know this, however, unless we tell them how we feel about them, our children, and our role in the home.
Men must understand that our feelings towards them and our children are derided by feminists and have earned us their enmity. Whether or not this understanding garners men’s support, traditional women must defend ourselves because the feminist offensive is, most essentially, a breach of solidarity with us, a disavowel of the obligation to honor the Women’s Pact [that religious celibates, professional women, and homemakers respect each other] that women in the movement owed to us (Source).
Oh yes, this site has more. Feminism today goes on and on, intellectualising and re-defining feminism to the extent where it is almost too difficult to follow, let alone comprehend.
Quite frankly I am more interested in the practical day-to-day realities. I take the two definitions at face value and I note it doesn’t specify any nationality,political allegiance or religion.
- the theory of the political, economic, and social equality of the sexes
- organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests
It is true a lot of this has happened in the West but rather than have Greer et al espouse “intellectual yada yada” I would rather see these women get militant again and do something to help their long-suffering sisters who live in Islamic countries, and who can but only dream of the lifestyle many of their famous feminist sisters enjoy.
All too often I see stories of honour killings, rape, female genital mutilation, subservience, domestic (and other) violence, forced marriage and utter discrimination perpetrated against women in Muslim countries and now also in the West.
Some women are getting hymenoplasties and buying repair kits before they marry.
Some are being recruited as homicide bombers.
One is punished for drinking beer, others face lashings or stonings.
An Australian Islamist tries to justify polygamy for everyone.
There are women who suffer terribly from acid attacks quite frequently.
Women in Gaza are not allowed to ride motorcycles, and Somali women are being scrutinised when wearing a bra!
Where’s Germaine when you need her, or would this make her happy I wonder?
And recently we have the on-going case of Rifka Bary who, as a minor, cannot chose her religion, and could become a victim of honorcide for apostasy. If she is sent back to her parents her fate is unknown. If she is allowed to remain alive the Islamists can deny honorcide even exists. This is happening in the USA now.
Yet in spite of these incidents feminists like Naomi Wolf manage to defend discrimination towards women in Islam and it then takes a compassionate feminist, Phyllis Chesler, who has actually lived in a Muslim country, to sort it out for her!
I know many feminists, and women in general, can be fearless fighters.
Code Pink, for example, have gone to Iraq and Afghanistan. True, they are an anti-war movement, but perhaps, just perhaps, they could have drawn some attention to the women who live and suffer in the war zones they are so adamantly against.
They could have easily added one more mission statement to what is on their website which mentions “social justice”.
Indeed, any other anti-war group could easily have done the same. I know they do not define themselves as feminists per se, but why not do more?
Could they not have met with Malalai Joya and offered some help?
Indeed, could not some of our famous feminists, female politicians and celebrities who spend so much time choking on their own venom over Sarah Palin have done the same? Are they afraid?
Or are they simply not interested in the women’s issues of today because they think it is another culture and therefore they shouldn’t interfere. They know it isn’t right but they can turn a blind eye to it, even as it happens under their noses, in their own countries.
It’s a cop-out.
The improvement of the condition of women in Islam is, to me, a far loftier goal than getting to wear trousers, getting equal pay, getting an abortion on demand, and having a man treat a woman more like a man! This was definitely an “unintended consequence” for me: trivial as it may seem.
I am much heartened by the fact that progress is being made, albeit in small steps.
Kuwati women in parliament refuse to wear the veil.
An Egyptian Cleric wants to ban burqas and other facial coverings.
Honor killing or honoricide is getting more attention.
Lubna Hussein got a lot of media attention over her sentence for wearing trousers.
Najwa Bin Laden and her son, Omar, wrote a book about their husband and father, Osama, and seem to be fearless about it. They have provided a fascinating insight into this man.
I think the real “feminist” heroines now are the ones who have literally put their lives on the line, not only for women in Islam but for the world in general.
Their goals and committment are what is truly deserving of our respect and support.
I am referring to women like Wafa Sultan, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Nonie Darwish, Supna Zaidi, Irshad Manji and women like them.
There is another one who would have possibly made it to this list: Neda Soltan.
Tragically she cannot, but in spirit she can inspire so much. I feel she deserves a mention among these brave, dedicated and fascinating women.
This is my challenge to todays feminists. Use your power again.
I am “just a Mom”. I do not have your platform and power.
This is indeed a most worthy cause to support and fight for.
With thanks to MuslimsAgainstSharia.
“Gramfan” has been blogging since 2002. She is “just a Mom” of two grown-up sons, and helps her husband of 38 years. She has occasionally written pieces for other ‘blogs, and posts comments. She now writes exclusively for Muslims Against Sharia.
January 29th, 2008 — Australia, Gramfan (author), Islam, corruption, counterjihad, crime, political correctness, sex offenses, terrorism, vehicle theft
Former policeman Tim Priest saw it begin
Tim Priest, a retired detective, gave this talk on November 12 [2003] to a Quadrant dinner in Sydney.
Excerpts are presented here, interspersed with comments by 1389. Emphasis and hyperlinks are mine.
IT WAS ABOUT 1995 to 1996 that the emergence of Middle Eastern crime groups was first observed in New South Wales. Before then they had been largely known for individual acts of anti-social behaviour and loose family structures involved in heroin importation and supply as well as motor vehicle theft and conversion. The one crime that did appear organised before this period was insurance fraud, usually motor vehicle accidents and arson. Because these crimes were largely victimless, they were dealt with by insurance companies and police involvement was limited. But from these insurance scams, a generation of young criminals emerged to become engaged in more sophisticated crimes, such as extortion, armed robbery, organised narcotics importation and supply, gun running, organised factory and warehouse break-ins, car theft and conversion on a massive scale including the exporting of stolen luxury vehicles to Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries.
Notice that, whenever fraud, vehicle theft, and other property crimes are not adequately addressed, the perpetrators become emboldened and move on to other, more serious offenses.
Tim Priest explains that the existing Crime Intelligence structure was dismantled, just when it should have begun investigating a new set of offenders.
As the police began to gather and act on intelligence on these emerging Middle Eastern gangs the first of the series of events took place. The New South Wales Police was restructured under Peter Ryan. Crime Intelligence, the eyes and ears of all police forces throughout the world, was dismantled overnight and a British-style intelligence unit was created. The formation of this unit and its functions has been best described by Dr Richard Basham — as a library stocking outdated books. The new Crime Intelligence and Information Section became completely reactive. It received crime intelligence from the field and stored it. Almost no relevant intelligence was ever dispensed to operational police from 1997 until I left in 2002. It was a disgrace…
But even more frustrating for operational police were the activities of this ethnic crime group, activities that set it apart from almost all others bar the Cabramatta 5T. The Lebanese groups were ruthless, extremely violent, and they intimidated not only innocent witnesses, but even the police that attempted to arrest them. As these crime groups encountered less resistance in terms of police operations and enforcement, their power grew not only within their own communities, but also all around Sydney — except in Cabramatta, where their fear of the South-East Asian crime groups limited their forays. But the rest of Sydney became easy pickings.
The police force became weakened by mismanagement: cronyism, ineptitude, loss of expertise, and the desire to avoid outside scrutiny.
Lacking the moxie to go after the most dangerous and well-connected criminals, many of the police instead selectively pursued those individuals and groups who could not retaliate and who thus were more “politically correct” targets.
The second in the series of events began to take shape with Peter Ryan’s executive leadership team. Under Ryan’s nose they began to carve up the New South Wales Police and form little kingdoms where a senior police officer ruled almost untouched by outside influence. They then appointed their own commanders in the police stations. Almost all of them had little or no street experience; but they in turn brought along their friends as duty officers, similarly inexperienced. Some of the experience these police counted on their resumes included stints at Human Resources, the Academy, the Police Band in one case, the various cubby-holes in Police Headquarters, almost no operational policing experience — yet they were tasked to lead. Never has the expression “the blind leading the blind” been more appropriate.
The impact that this leadership team had on day-to-day operational policing was disastrous. In many of the key areas that were experiencing rapid rises in Middle Eastern crime, these new leaders became more concerned with relations between the police and ethnic minorities than with emerging violent crime. The power and influence of the local religious and minority leaders cannot be overstated. Police began to use selective law enforcement. They selected targets that were unlikely to use their ethnic background and cultural beliefs to hinder police investigations or arrests. It was mostly Anglo-Saxons and Asians that were the targets, because they were under-represented by religious leaders and the media. They were soft targets…
In hundreds upon hundreds of incidents police have backed down to Middle Eastern thugs and taken no action and allowed incidents to go unpunished. Again I stress the unbelievable influence that local politicians and religious leaders played in covering up the real state of play in the south-west.
The third event was the reforming of Criminal Investigations into a centrally controlled body called Crime Agencies. All the specialist crime squads were done away with: Arson, Armed Robbery, Drugs, Organised Crime, Special Breaking, Consorting, Vice, Gaming, Motor Vehicle Theft were wrapped up into one-size-fits-all. Ryan once boasted that by the time he finished retraining the New South Wales Police, constables could investigate a traffic accident in the morning and a homicide in the afternoon, a statement that summed up his Alice-in-Wonderland policing theories. All the expertise and experience evaporated overnight…
As if all that were not enough, the management began collecting statistics on just six crimes – a list that excluded the major offenses associated with organized crime.
Having to meet these standards forced the police on the street to focus even less on the growing problem of organized crime.
The final straw for the New South Wales Police was the OCR — Op Crime Review, which Peter Ryan and his executive team came up with. It was loosely based on the groundbreaking Compstat program of the New York Police Department, the brainchild of Commissioner William Bratton. The difference between Ryan’s OCR and the NYPD Compstat was that the NYPD model covered everything on the criminal waterfront. The Ryan-inspired OCR had just six crimes. And those six included domestic violence, random breath testing, theft, robbery, assaults and motor vehicle theft — no drugs, organised crime, firearms, shootings, attempted murders, homicides. The crimes that instil fear into the average citizen were ignored, and with plenty of innovative answers as to why. The OCR focused police attention on a limited number of crimes and allowed far more serious and deadly crimes to get out of control…
With no organised crime function, no gang unit except for the South-East Asian Strike Force, the New South Wales Police turned against every convention known to Western policing in dealing with organised crime groups. In effect the Lebanese crime gangs were handed the keys to Sydney.
The most influential of the Middle Eastern crime groups are the Muslim males of Telopea Street, Bankstown, known as the Telopea Street Boys. They and their associates have been involved in numerous murders over the past five years, many of them unprovoked fatal attacks on young Australian men for no other reason than that they are “Skips”, as they call Australians. They have been involved in all manner of crime on a scale we have never seen before. Ram-raids on expensive stores in the city are epidemic. The theft of expensive motor vehicles known as car-jacking is increasing at an alarming rate. This crime involves gangs finding a luxury motor vehicle parked outside a restaurant or hotel and watching until the occupants return to drive home. The car is followed, the victims assaulted at gunpoint, and the vehicle stolen. The vehicles are always around or above the $100,000 mark and are believed to be taken to warehouses before being shipped interstate or to the Middle East…
Australia’s racial vilification laws, along with the entire “multiculturalism” industry, worked together to keep the growing debacle concealed from public scrutiny.
Tim Priest explained where this willful blindness would eventually lead:
I wonder whether the inventors of the racial hatred laws introduced during the golden years of multiculturalism ever took into account that we, the silent majority, would be the target of racial violence and hatred. I don’t remember any charges being laid in conjunction with the gang rapes of south-western Sydney in 2001, where race was clearly an issue and race was used to humiliate the victims. But then, unbelievably, a publicly-funded document produced by the Anti-Discrimination Board called “The Race for Headlines” was circulated, and it sought not only to cover up race as a motive for the rapes, but to criticise any accurate media reporting on this matter as racially biased. It worries many operational police that organisations like the Anti-Discrimination Board, the Privacy Council and the Civil Liberties Council have become unaccountable and push agendas that don’t represent the values that this great country was built on.
The Middle Eastern crime groups and their associates number in the thousands, not the hundreds as the government and senior police would have you believe. It is the biggest crime problem we have ever faced, and it is growing. Hardly a day goes past without some violent crime involving a “male of Middle Eastern appearance”, though I see lately that description is watered down now to include “and / or Mediterranean appearance”. To an operational policeman, there is a noticeable difference between an Italian and a Lebanese male.
That these groups of males can roam a city and assault, rob and intimidate at will can no longer be denied or excused. You need only to look at Paris and other European countries that have had mass immigration from Middle Eastern countries to see the sort of problems we can expect in years to come. My prediction is that within ten years, Middle Eastern crime groups will spread rapidly across Australia as they seek to expand their enterprises. There will be no-go areas in south-western Sydney, just like Paris.
Only recently I have seen quotes from senior police and retired police who claim that race is not the issue in organised crime. Those statements are stupid and dangerous. Organised crime groups with the exception of the bikies are almost always ethnically based — any experienced detective will tell you that. The days of Anglo-Saxon gangs are almost gone, with the exception of one or two local beach gangs…
(H/T: Gramfan)
Are jihadis still operating in Australia?
Unfortunately, yes, as shown in our other articles about events in Australia. As in the US, the legal system in Australia makes it difficult to curtail enemy jihadist activity. It’s time we all muster the political will to do something about that. See Islamic supremacist, pro-sharia conferences should be banned for more.
January 25th, 2008 — Canada, Ezra Levant, Gramfan (author), Islam, Sharia, YouTube, cartoon censorship, censorship, political correctness, video
Ezra Levant is a lawyer, blogger, and journalist who was recently compelled to appear before a “human rights” commission in Alberta, Canada, to account for his decision to publish the Danish cartoons of Mohammed in Western Standard Magazine. Full details on his battle for freedom of speech and the press in Canada are on Ezra Levant’s blog.
(H/T: Winds of Jihad)
Also see:
Want to complain about this infringement on free speech?
Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission
Northern Regional Office
800 Standard Life Centre
10405 Jasper Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta T5J 4R7
Confidential Inquiry Line (780) 427-7661
Fax (780) 427-6013
Southern Regional Office
Suite 310, 525 – 11 Avenue SW
Calgary, Alberta T2R 0C9
Confidential Inquiry Line (403) 297-6571
Fax (403) 297-6567
humanrights@gov.ab.ca
Free speech for the counterjihad: Why we are all in this together
Ezra Levant is far from alone in confronting the forces of government censorship and “political correctness” that seek to muzzle and strangle every voice in the counterjihad. Here are just a few recent instances of draconian pro-jihadist censorship that seeks only to keep the truth from coming out:
Your favorite blog could be next!
More:
(Also on FHK)
January 15th, 2008 — Afghanistan, Australia, Gramfan (author), Sharia, censorship, counterjihad, mainstream media, terrorism
Australia’s new Labour PM, Kevin Rudd, faces his first international challenge
There has been (yet another) suicide-terrorist attack:
this time in Kabul.
It took place at the five star Serena Hotel and left seven people dead. I think “murdered” is a more appropriate word and it is unfortunate that the appropriate vocabulary isn’t used.
One wonders how de-sensitised we have become, and how frequently we miss the “spin” that certain words convey. As it turns out the Australian Embassy is located at this hotel. None of the embassy staff were hurt, thankfully.
PM Rudd strongly condemned this act of terrorism as one would expect of any leader.
He is currently re-appraising the security concerns for the embassy staff and other personnel. The Australian Ambassador lives there also. Mr Rudd was recently in Afghanistan – about three weeks ago.
Brigadier Andrew Nikolic puts it well:
“We have well-established procedures to account for our people in operational areas, allowing us to confirm quite quickly after the explosion that all Australian personnel were safe,” Defence spokesman Brigadier Andrew Nikolic said in a statement.
“This is just an example of the Taliban’s ruthless and indiscriminate actions, which threaten innocent people.”
He is not mincing his words.
Neither is our new Opposition leader, Dr Brendan Nelson:
“Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson, who stayed in the hotel when he was defence minister, told Fairfax Radio Network there was still a lot of work to be done in Afghanistan.
“It just underlines the fact that we still have a long way to go in Afghanistan,” he said.
“Yes, we’ve made significant progress in the reconstruction of the country and fighting the Taliban, but these terrorists will stop at nothing to see that their evil dogma prevails.
“We have a responsibility for the next generation to make sure that we win and they don’t.”
This hotel seems to be the centre for most high-level events. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that it makes an “excellent target” for terrorists.
Australia does not have many troops in Afghanistan. There are currently 970 and most of them are not in Kabul. There are about 500 in Iraq. We do not have a large military and this is why we need the alliance of the USA – a fact many people, mostly the left-wingers, unfortunately forget. (It should be remembered, however, that our national population is less than that of California).
Whilst PM Rudd has stated he is committed to the reconstruction of Afghanistan he has no intention to increase troops numbers. He has also said [no link available] that the whole situation will be reviewed further.
Should the situation in Afghanistan deteriorate – and hopefully it won’t – it will be interesting to see how Rudd, the former diplomat, reacts.
Right now he also has another international headache: Japanese whalers.
The Federal Court has ordered a Japanese whaling company to stop killing whales in Australian Antarctic waters.
Guess which story got the most coverage?
Additional observations by 1389:
Censorship rears up its ugly head again
Brave, new, democratic Afghanistan: Journalist faces blasphemy charges
“Kambakhsh was accused of mocking Islam and the holy book, the Koran, and for distributing an article which said Prophet Mohammad had ignored the rights of women.”
Whatever Kambakhsh’s intent was, cases like this demonstrate the sort of resistance any potential Islamic reformers face. The simple act of acknowledging that Islamic texts, teachings, and the example of Muhammad himself are problematic with respect to women’s rights and human rights brings threats — and repercussions under shari’a law — such as those which Kambakhsh faces. And of course, U.S. and other coalition forces are putting their lives on the line in that same country. For this?
Sharia Alert. “Afghan journalists seek release of colleague,” from Reuters…
Read it all, including the comments.
Speaking of comments, this one says it all:
From the Afghanistan Consitution:
Article Thirty-Four
Ch. 2, Art. 13
Freedom of expression is inviolable.
Every Afghan has the right to express his thought through speech, writing, or illustration or other means, by observing the provisions stated in this Constitution.
Every Afghan has the right to print or publish topics without prior submission to the state authorities in accordance with the law.
***
And what will Victory in Afghanistan look like? When there is a free, stable and independent Afghanistan? How long will Afghanistan remain “free” while Article 34 is spat upon because Article 3 will always trump it?***
Article Three
Ch. 1, Art. 3
In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the beliefs and provisions of the sacred religion of Islam.
Posted by: USorThem AlEBaba at January 13, 2008 10:59 AM
This is a battle of ideology
It is time to re-think what we are trying to accomplish, both in Afghanistan and in other battlegrounds of the counterjihad.
For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Ephesians 6:12.
More:
December 10th, 2007 — Australia, CAIR, Christianity, Gramfan (author), Islam, Michael Savage, censorship, music, political correctness
By Gramfan
Many readers may not be old enough to have heard of Joni Mitchell
She had a brief “resurrection” in the movie “Love Actually”, listed as a personal favourite of the character played by Emma Thompson. More information here, if you’re a music buff. And here.
Also, to the younger audience who may have seen the movie Laurel Canon, the character played by Frances McDormand was loosely, or maybe not so loosely, based on Joni Mitchell.
One of her best known songs is “Big Yellow Taxi” (lyrics here). These words appeal:
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone.
Right now, they have probably taken on a different meaning; certainly to me.
Right now, I am concerned about our freedoms, and in particular, our freedom of speech.
I am sure people have written books about this topic alone. I won’t attempt that here now. People get Nobel Peace prizes for peace. and good charitable and humanitarian works which often lead to more freedom, but not always.
However, this song, “Independence Day,” with these lyrics, “…Let Freedom Ring….” sung by Martina McBride, struck a chord, no pun intended, and I am not even a US citizen!
Now I know that, after the Holocaust, this may seem like a really good idea. However, like all “good things,” there is always a catch. In this case it was “Catch the Fire” ministries. The laws were used to punish and silence two pastors simply for telling the truth.
“Australian Council of Civil Liberties president Terry O’Gorman criticized the ruling, saying it would interfere with a person’s fundamental right of freedom of speech. ‘No matter how stupid and misguided Toben’s views are, freedom of speech means the right to be stupid,’ Mr O’Gorman said.”
Free speech is something we have to hold on to defiantly. As Joni Mitchell says :
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till it’s gone.
One would immediately like a law like this without knowing the consequences fully. I admit I didn’t know them till something came up.
I am referring to what is now called the case of “the Two Dannys”
I wasn’t there. I can’t say for sure what happened. It was reported that the “Two Dannys,” Danny Nalliah and Danny Scot, gave a seminar on Islam for the benefit of their parishioners so that they could be better educated on Islam.
As far as I know they were merely explaining Islam.
As far as I know they were not inciting hatred and violence, as we often see coming from Muslim countries after Friday prayers – the latest example being the infamous “teddy bear” incident. Hugh Fitzgerald, as always, has a great piece on that.
Then came a British writer of children’s literature who changed the name of one of the characters in his book just after the bear incident: Writer renames Mohammed the Mole.
Remember that the woman in the first story was a British citizen in Sudan.
But the second story is about a British citizen living in Britain!!! Alarm bells???
Here’s where I fear we are heading. I fear we are losing free speech in the entire west. A teacher threatened with lashes because of a bear, a writer of children’s literature changes the name of a character out of fear of a fatwah, and before all this, two pastors get sued for teaching comparative religion. (And let’s not forget the Mohammed cartoons: an attempt to tell us what we can publish in our own papers.)
So what did the “despicable Dannys” do, actually?
They were entrapped by a Muslim lobby group who sought to turn the vilification law to their own advantage.
According to journalist Andrew Bolt:
And why? Because they quoted the Koran to their congregation. Because in that congregation were Muslim activists, sent by a discrimination commissar hired from a Muslim lobby group.
How preposterous, how sinister, has been this saga.
In fact, right from the passing of the Government’s vilification laws, we’ve seen politicians and bureaucrats acting like hysterics on a hunt for witches the rest of us cannot see.
If the law were applied equitably, I suppose it would be okay – but what safeguards could possibly guarantee that?
So far I can’t recall any other similar case; certainly not a high profile case.
I am suggesting one should make oneself very aware of this kind of legislation, no matter where one lives. I believe it will get a lot worse in the entire west. Just a few days ago we heard of the woes of Michael Savage counter-suing CAIR.
Hate speech isn’t nice. Racial vilification isn’t nice either. But why is there an imbalance as to who is allowed to vilify whom – when, where and why? It’s hard not to get this impression.
Back to the two Dannys.
Entrapped, then convicted of trivial infractions
According to Bolt:
The Pastors Burned
The pastors were at long last tried at VCAT before Justice Michael Higgins.
Most of the case over the weeks that followed dealt with the lecture given by Scot, and some curious things soon became clear.
First, even one of the converts had to admit that Scot, who’d been born in Pakistan and got degrees there in theology and applied mathematics, actually understood the Koran far better than did the people complaining he’d misquoted it.
Second, as I wrote at the time, many of the complaints accused Scot of no more than quoting the Koran accurately. Yes, the Koran did tell men they could beat their wives. Yes, it did have verses calling on Muslims to fight infidels until they submitted.
The verdict was also odd.
The pastors were found guilty of vilifying Muslims even though the judge identified only one thing Scot had said that was factually wrong: he’d given the wrong birthrate for Muslims here. And, the judge, added, he’d failed to quote a verse that showed Allah was merciful.
(Home page: http://blogs.news.com.au/heraldsun/andrewbolt/)
The pastors won the appeal, although they are now saddled with debts. Read more here.
Please take note that the comment ‘Muslims are demons, etc’ in The Australian are not factual. This erroneous statement and others reported by media have been proven by the Supreme Court of Victoria to have never been made by Catch the Fire Ministries and were therefore rejected!
The Australian – Breaking News
This story is from our news.com.au network Source: AAP
Church and Islamic council bury hatchet
• By Jeff Turnbull • June 25, 2007
MEDIATION and handshakes have ended a five year racial vilification battle between an evangelical Christian group and a Victorian Muslim body.
The Catch The Fire Ministries sparked a row with the Islamic Council of Victoria (ICV) in 2002 when it claimed in a newsletter that Muslims were demons training to make Australia an Islamic state, that the Koran promoted violence and killing and that Muslims derived money from drugs.
Catch the Fire pastor Daniel Nalliah said he was relieved the long-running case, which was settled in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) after a hearing in the Victorian Court of Appeal, was now over.
“No-one expected it to be so prolonged,” Pastor Nalliah said.
Are you seeing where this is going, even though it happened a while ago?
I suspect our new Federal government will strengthen this law, but I stress “suspect”. I suspect similar laws in the west will become harsher as more Muslims get into power and/or become more important as a voting block. (Is that still possible in “Londonistan?” See Melanie Phillips.)
Joni Mitchell says,
Late last night
I heard the screen door slam
And a big yellow taxi
Took away my old man
Don’t it always seem to go
That you don’t know what you’ve got
Till its gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot.
We don’t have any big yellow taxis to take us away from this “parking lot.”
