RR16/islam

From the page: "To begin with "Reforming Islam" means one thing to Western audiences and another thing entirely to Muslims. To Westerners "Reforming Islam" means bringing it into compliance with civilized norms of conduct. To Muslims it means stripping away the corruption of later eras and returning it to the pure Islam of Mohammed."

From the page: ""Art is a selective re-creation of reality according to an artist's metaphysical value-judgments. An artist recreates those aspects of reality which represent his fundamental view of man's nature."

The fundamental view of man's nature reflected in American films of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s was noble, just, and courageous. Gone with the Wind was made was 1939. â€39 was the apex, the zenith, of the golden age of Hollywood. The thirties, forties, and fifties boast a treasure trove of classic, brilliant film masterpieces, but â€39 was unmatched. Movie historians and cinemaphiles alike agree that 1939 was the greatest year in film history. Consider the exceptional Dark Victory, Ninotchka, Rules of the Game, The Wizard of Oz, The Young Mr. Lincoln, Love Affair, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Juarez, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Destry Rides Again, Gunga Din, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Of Mice and Men, Stagecoach, The Women, Wuthering Heights, and Gone With the Wind -- all made that year."

From the page: "Two weeks after voters approved a ban on minaret construction, the rightwing Swiss Peopleâ€s Party deputy Oskar Freysinger gives his reading of events.

In French-speaking Switzerland Freysinger became the voice of the yes side. He recently defended the minaret ban, accepted by 57.5 per cent of voters on November 29, in a debate on the Arab television channel al-Jazeera.

Freysinger rejects outright the argument that the yes vote stemmed from fear and ignorance and he deplores the fact that people have used the result to attack direct democracy."

From the page: "How al Qaeda Dupes Its Followers
Osama bin Laden's terror network has perfected the art of masking its unpopular agenda with a recruitment pitch that can hook just about anyone.

Last week, five young men from northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., were arrested in Pakistan, alleged to have been eager volunteers for a terrorist-linked militant group in a region rife with insurgency. "

From the page: "9/11 Never Forget Rally [Andy McCarthy]

The rain, wind and cold couldn't chill the spirit of thousands of Americans who turned out in lower Manhattan on Saturday to protest the Obama administration's decision to grant Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other 9/11 jihadists a civilian trial. As Kathryn was nice enough to mention over he weekend, it was my first experience giving a speech outside rather than inside the majestic courthouses near Foley Square, where the Justice Department plans to hold the KSM trial."

From the page: "It is of course possible to reform Islam. It is also possible to reform a serial killer. It is however not likely, and certainly not safe to stake your serial-killer prevention strategy on letting the serial killer run free, while you try and talk to him about the virtues of not cutting off people's heads and wearing their skin.
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From the page: "With the release of Wafa Sultan's book, A God Who Hates, the various Saudi front organizations have sprung into action doing their best to smear her reputation.

It is of course completely unsurprising that the agents of a kingdom that despises women and treats them like cattle would be furious at criticism of Islam coming from... a woman.

Ever since Wafa Sultan first came to the public's attention by defiantly challenging a male cleric and demanding her right to speak, she has been the target of repeated death threats and slander.

So it is also completely unsurprising that those same Saudi front groups would then use transparent lies and smears to attack her now. But their smear campaign reveals more about them than it does about Wafa Sultan."

From the page: "Today I attended a Q&A Wafa Sultan as part of a book signing for her new book, and I noticed that the common theme of virtually every question that was asked by the attendees could be summed up as, "What can we do to stop Islam?"


There is of course no simple answer. Communism, the closest parallel to the current threat we face, attacked us at a military, political and cultural level. Islam attacks us at a military, political, cultural and religious level-- making it a four part threat. And while the Soviet Union did finally collapse, looking at the state of freedom in America and Europe today, at a political environment that has dispensed with democracy in favor of judicial activism and class warfare politics that owe a good deal to the dictatorship of the proletariat-- the question of whether we defeated Communism, or Communism defeated us, remains open."