"The Discriminatory Nature of the Soup"

A fascinating story of the rise of the nationalist right in France. These rightists are threatening the Republic by serving soup. Soup with pork in it. The horror... the horror.

In 2003 Odile Bonnivard began serving soup to the homeless.

At first, she said, the group used pork because it was an inexpensive traditional ingredient for hearty French soup. But as the political significance of serving pork dawned on them and others, it quickly became the focus of their work. [...]

[T]he authorities initially left the pork soup kitchen alone, shutting it down only once to avoid an altercation with a group of indignant French leftists.

Leftists Against Soup. I can see the t-shirts now. First cartoons and now soup.

As winter closed in and other pork-soup kitchens run by similar-minded groups popped up in Strasbourg and Nice - as well as Brussels, Antwerp and Charleroi in Belgium - the authorities worried that they might be witnessing the start of a dangerous racist trend.

A dangerous trend of racist soup? The charitable act of providing soup for the hungry homeless is deemed racist?! No one has to eat it. It's given away free but as the group's Website says, "The only condition required for dining with us: eat pork". Once again, Europe's vision of multiculturalism means criminalizing traditional European culture while allowing minority groups to serve their own communities.

Europe's Islamic charities serve halal food to disadvantaged Muslims and its Jewish charities operate kosher soup kitchens.

Halal and kosher are, well, kosher. But don't serve pork damn you woman! In December

several busloads of police officers arrived to stop her group from setting up at their usual spot near the Montparnasse train station, citing "the discriminatory nature of the soup."

Busloads of police? The French police barely tried to stop the Muslim riots but the send busloads of cops to stop a secretary from serving traditional soup to the homeless. Bonnivard is made of strong stuff.

"Our freedom in France is being threatened," she said. "If we prefer European civilization and Christian culture, that's our choice."

Not really. Remember, this is France. The Eurocrats know best, not the French people. The soup is even enjoyed by those who are not homeless but live on a tight budget in expensive France. Helene, 61, is more honest about the situation in France than all of Official France.

"At least here there are people who are of the same mind as me. The French, and the Europeans in general, roll over for foreigners, and particularly Islam."

Rock on Helene! Even as the grateful poor line up for the "Identity Soup" the absurdity of modern France knows no limits.

[F]our vans filled with riot police officers were waiting at the group's
designated meeting point outside a conservative Catholic church. Bonnivard and her confederates huddled in a nearby café, plotting ways to serve their soup before the police could stop them. "They're more afraid of us than any march by Islamists or Jews," Bonnivard's husband, Roger, later declared as people slurped soup around him.

Bruno Gollnisch, the silver-haired No.2 of the far-right National Front, mingled in the crowd, calling the "persecution" of the soup kitchen a "betrayal of the French identity."Other activists handed out slices of oily sausage as flags bearing the fleur de lis fluttered overhead.

"We're not yet living in a land of Islam," Bonnivard bellowed from atop the sedan.

Not yet Odile. Not yet.

Far-Right Watch

Two interesting items regarding far-right movements: 17 counter-demonstrators were arrested at Neo-Nazi march near Orlando. No Neo-Nazis were arrested.

A group of about 100 counterdemonstrators, many covering their faces with black masks, held anti-Nazi signs. [...]

[Those arrested] faced charges including disorderly conduct, battery on a law enforcement officer and wearing a mask, the police said.

Wearing a mask is a crime in Florida? When will the police start arresting women in the niqab? I'm sure any day now.

As for those counter-demonstrators with their 'anti-Nazi' signs - The Neo-Nazis

were confronted by more than 100 protesters, some holding signs including ones that read, "Stop the hate. Stop the violence" and "Love everyone."

I have a hard time reconciling those signs with fist-fights and battery. But that's just me. Someone send me an email when a woman is arrested for wearing a mask. I'm holding my breath.

Meanwhile, the British National Party takes a page from the hippies and produces a CD of folk songs. Kumbaya it ain't.

The 11-song CD, entitled Time To Make A Stand, is billed as "a collection of patriotic British folk songs performed by a group of popular patriotic musicians". But the lyrics, mainly written by Griffin, are awash with polemic. One song, The Menace, features lyrics about "a shower of foreign traitors who want to take our land".

Eat your heart out Peter, Paul and Mary. Ironies abound as Marxist folk singer Billy Bragg threatens legal action against the CD for, of all things, possible copyright violation of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." That's oh-so capitalist of you Billy, hiring lawyers and all. So much for the abolition of private property, eh. This song is considered in the public domain and is routinely re-written or used without permission. Remember this Jib Jab animation from a few years ago. That's only one example.

The theme here is that many members of the far-right (or even the far-far-far-right) are learning to play by the rules and obey the laws of a democratic society. They are learning from the left; learning organization and marketing. They are applying for marching permitts and making CDs. Yet it's people against them who are arrested for battery.

Does society fear the message of the far-right so much that it will resort to violence to stop that message? Are some people so sentitive to the far-right that folks songs threaten them? Folk songs?

Update: Here are some photos of the march. Notice the pitiful wannabe Nazi (who are really just white supremacists with matching khaki shirts). This is what drives people to violence? It's like a Mel Brooks bit left on the cutting room floor or a deleted scene from the Blues Brothers. These clowns deserve to be laughed at and mocked. Violence only validates what passes for their worldview. As sad as these Grade-K Nazis are the thugs throwing punches at them are even sadder.

The First of Many?

Attack Fails at Huge Saudi Oil Site:

Suicide bombers in explosives-laden cars attacked the world's largest oil processing facility Friday, but were prevented from breaking through the gates when guards opened fire on them, causing the vehicles to explode, officials said. [...]

It was the first attack on an oil facility in Saudi Arabia and it targeted one of the kingdom's most important. The huge Abqaiq processing facility near the Gulf coast handles around two-thirds of the country's oil output [...]

A Saudi journalist who arrived at the scene soon after the explosion said only one car exploded and that the guards killed two people in a second car before it blew up. Guards then battled for two hours with two other militants outside the facility, the reported told AP. He said he saw workers repairing a pipeline. [...]

The Abqaiq facility processes about 5-7 million barrels a day.

The Devil and the Deep Green Sea

Straight from the Big Freaking Surprise Department:

The far-right British National Party (BNP) is to distribute a campaign leaflet
featuring the Danish cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad which have enraged Muslims around the world.

A party spokesman said on Wednesday the images illustrate how Islam and Western values do not mix but were not intended to cause offence. The BNP leaflet asks "Which Do You Find Offensive? A cartoon of Mohammad with a bomb for a turban or Muslim demonstrators calling for terrorist attacks on Europe and the "extermination' of non-Muslims".

"By showing you just how mild and inoffensive the cartoon is, we're giving you the chance to see for yourself the huge gulf that exists between the democratic values that we share, and the mediaeval views that dominate Islam, even supposedly 'moderate' versions," the leaflet said.

The leaflet can be viewed at the BNP Website here. That this is so predictable makes it all the more depressing. If the British government allows enraged mobs to scream incitements to murder then the government cannot be surprised when rightists use official passitivity as a campaign issue. If the media rigorously surpresses the cartoons then of course the BNP is going to use them, if only for their shock value and the free press.

The British and other European governments and media cannot simultaneously appease Islamists and marginalize the "far-right." The very act of appeasing Islamists empowers the nationalists. Any compromise with the nationalists would infuriate the Islamists. And I'm sure the Europeans will soon find a way to anger them both.

Europe is trapped between what its elites view as the "far-right, nationalist" Devil and the Islamist deep green sea.

The Sleeping Giant Stirs

Nigerian Christians "protest" Muslim anti-cartoon riots.

Christians in this southern Nigerian city burned Muslim corpses and defaced wrecked mosques Thursday [...]

"We don't want these mosques here anymore. These people are causing all the problems all over the world because they don't fear God," said 34-year Ifeanyi Ese, standing amid the concrete rubble of an Onitsha mosque. With a crowd gathered, Ese angrily scrawled "Mohammed is a man, but Jesus is from above" on a shattered mosque wall with a burned stick. [...]

One entire Muslim district — an area of about 100 homes — was burned to the ground. Crumpled corrugated tin roofs lay on top of the remains of smoldering houses.

The Pre-War Years in Suburbia

As part of my job I used to travel quite a bit. In the three years I’ve worked in San Diego, Puerto Rico, Virginia, Pittsburgh, Atlanta and now Kansas City. I lived in all these places at least 4 days a week for many months at a time.

Regardless of the client or consultants I worked with I found that people are the same. From Californians to Puerto Ricans to Virginians. From school district executives to telephone company employees to directors of large financial corporations. People are the same. They wrap themselves in the same blanket of willful ignorance and wallow in the same trivial distractions. In Suburban Middle America, the September 10 mindset reigns.

One particular episode is iconic for me in this regard. During the early days of the invasion of Iraq I took the red-eye from San Diego every Thursday. I would get to the airport a little early, saddle up to the one bar and order a tall Bass. Like most airport bars this one had several TV sets behind and above the bar. It was March. I had been captivated by the invasion since it started. My productivity had plummeted. I couldn’t stand to be away from the news to take a whiz. I remember being particularly gripped by the CNN footage from atop a tank; the TankCam so to speak, beaming back stunning, live images of the Iraqi dessert.

So here I was in a bar in the San Diego airport, drinking a beer and watching live images from atop a moving tank racing through the desert as our military invaded another country. (I’m still stunned by that.) I looked around the bar for someone to share my abject amazement with. I found no one. The bar was full but everyone else was watching college basketball on the other three TVs. No one bothered to watch the TankCam. To a person the crowd preferred college basketball to live images from a moving tank in a war zone. (I’m still stunned by that.) That single moment has stretched out now for nearly three years.
Most people are willfully ignorant of what is happening. The rest are only vaguely informed. They find the details confusing and obscure:

• Hizbullah is a Shi’a terror group/political party in Lebanon but Hamas is a Sunni terror group/political party in the Palestinian territories.
• Syria is a Sunni Arab country run by Alawites, considered heretics by the Sunnis, and supported by Iranians who are Persians and Shi’as. The Iranians harbor Al Qaeda figures who are Sunni Arabs but who are killing Shi’as in Iraq who are Arabs and not Persians.
• The centrifuge plant in Natanz, based on Pakistani designs, enriches uranium to make fuel for nuclear warheads to put on missiles supplied by North Korea that may reach Vienna, the headquarters for the IAEA charged with monitoring the treaty that North Korea dropped out of and Pakistan never signed.
• The majority of Jordanians are Palestinian but Jordan is not Palestine, although it used to control the West Bank where most “Palestinians” live, except those who are in Jordan where they are bombed by Al Qaeda which supports the “Palestinian cause”.

People don’t have a scorecard for this stuff. Only blog geeks know of these matters or care about such distinctions.

Most Americans, including smart people I work with, including my own family, don’t have any idea what the cartoon riots were about. There are many reasons for that. For one thing they didn’t see the cartoons. But just as importantly, they don’t understand the situation of Muslims in Europe. Americans, in their naivety, imagine Europe like something out of a 1950s movie or a tourist brochure. Most have no clue about the seething jihadists and the radical imams, or the demographic implosion of native Europeans. When I mention to people that 10% of France is Muslim they are stunned, unable to process such a fact.

Not that Americans are stupid. We just have short attention spans and are a bit self-centered. To use a very 9/11 phrase, we fail to imagine. Even those who pay some attention don’t connect the Cartoon Jihad to the Iranian nuke program to the French-Muslim riots to the London bombings to the van Gogh assassination. People are aware of each individual event but simply do not imagine that something connects them. They do not allow themselves to think such thoughts. Part of this is that Americans are basically good hearted people who don’t spend their time dwelling on tragic events. We are a land of optimists. This is normally a very good trait. But we do not live in optimistic times. We simply do not think that people who build nukes and say they want to kill Jews really mean it.

Like the crowd in the airport bar, Americans have turned their eyes from world events and anesthetized themselves with sports and celebrities and political nonsense. Cheney’s hunting accident received far more detailed coverage than the Iranian nuclear program. Jessica Simpson’s divorce is on the cover of a dozen magazines a week and on a dozen more tabloid shows but you have to be dedicated to search out a single scrap of information on Iran’s missile capacity. This may shock foreigners but it’s true. Pitiful for a superpower, but true none the less.

The average American, for example my own beloved mother, knows more about the ins and outs of the Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie relationship than about Ahmadinejad’s mad plans.

We are living, quite unaware, in the Pre-War Years. For some of us this is a time of anxiety, nervously awaiting the end of an era. But for most, it is an unappreciated Golden Age. We will look back on it with nostalgia.

That’s how it was in my beige anonymous suburb in early 2006, in the years Before The War. People drove to work, cheered at their kids’ soccer games, mowed their lawns, and went about their business, assuming that the future would be like the past.

I imagine this is very much like life was in Paris or London in 1912. Everyone was vaguely aware that war with Germany was inevitable, but only in an abstract academic sense. No one, not those paying the closest attention to events, not the most far-sighted artists and thinkers and strategic planners, no one ever imagined what the future held for them.

In the spring of 1912 Parisians filled the cafes and gossiped about which minor aristocrat attended the opening of which opera. The women talked of the season’s fashion. In British pubs men discussed cricket or the latest political maneuvers of Labor. The spirit of the late Queen Victoria still suffused life in Europe. Her blood relatives were scattered around European capitals. The Kaiser was her grandson; her granddaughter the wife of the Czar. European life continued as it had for generations.

Six years later 10 million people were dead. Whole villages in England and Wales lost every grown man under thirty. A wasteland of utter devastation stretched from the English Channel through France all the way to Italy. Three centuries-old empires were gone. Revolution seized Russia. The Sultan had been deposed and the caliphate abolished. The Kaiser had abdicated and fled into exile. The czar, his wife and children were prisoners of the Bolsheviks, waiting to be murdered. A generation destroyed in a military meat grinder. A way of life blasted out of existence.

After the Great War, no one cared about the aristocracy or opera stars. People were amazed that they ever did.

Another Charming Email from a Devout, Peace-Loving Reader

I use the word 'reader' loosely since this person seems semi-literate at best.

u know what fuck u ... u motherfucker who drew this... and u know what? go fuck urself or something instead of messing with our beliefs... and listen baby .. we're gonna c u sooon all fucked up in hell... so go eat ur motherz shit, and when i'll c u in hell u shit ... holla me burning asshole ... u know what fuck ur religion u dont even believe in jesus... so screw u assholes... and u know what we dont need ur fucking apology we're gonna screw ur fucking ass..!! anywayz go eat shit well so u get used to it when we feed it to u ... peace MOTHAFUCKER!!

The last bit is the best. After various threats and insults she signs off with 'peace'. I guess that would be the peace of the grave.

By the way, this so-called human goes by the name "roba adham". She can be reached at freshgirl2005@hotmail.com. Let her know what you think. Piece!

Puzzles and Trojan Horses

Sometimes items in the news fit so well they are like pieces of a puzzle. Each one by itself is only a blotch of color but put them together and you can begin to get intimations of the larger image, as yet unformed.

Forty per cent of the British Muslims surveyed said they backed introducing sharia in parts of Britain, while 41 per cent opposed it. Twenty per cent felt sympathy with the July 7 bombers' motives, and 75 per cent did not. One per cent felt the attacks were "right". [...] Half of the 500 people surveyed said relations between white Britons and Muslims were getting worse. Only just over half thought the conviction of the cleric Abu Hamza for incitement to murder and
race hatred was fair.

This more than supports researcher Patrick Sookhdeo prediction that

"in a decade, you will see parts of English cities which are controlled by Muslim clerics and which follow, not the common law, but aspects of Muslim sharia law."

A decade sounds optimistic. The Islamist agenda is moving along so well in Britain that all this could come to pass in much less time, through the criminal incompetence of the government.

"The trouble is that Tony Blair and other ministers see Islam through the prism of their own secular outlook. They simply do not realise how seriously Muslims take their religion. Islamic clerics regard themselves as locked in mortal combat with secularism.

"For example, one of the fundamental notions
of a secular society is the moral importance of freedom, of individual choice. But in Islam, choice is not allowable: there cannot be free choice about whether to choose or reject any of the fundamental aspects of the religion, because they are all divinely ordained. God has laid down the law, and man must obey.

'Islamic clerics do not believe in a society in which Islam is one
religion among others in a society ruled by basically non-religious laws. They believe it must be the dominant religion - and it is their aim to achieve this. "That is why they do not believe in integration."

Which leads to this piece from Canada's National Post. This is the first time I have seen this sentiment published in a major news outlet.

In the clash of cultures between secular Europeans and extremist Muslims, there can ultimately be no compatibility or compromise, only loss by one side or the other of the absolute values it holds dear. [...]
European leaders have reacted to the Muslim upset over the cartoons two ways. Publically and to buy time, they seek to calm the protesters by deploring the abuse of freedom of speech. More significantly, they seek to preserve their societies by legislating Western norms, by tightening or ending immigration from Muslim countries, by
enabling the expulsion of radical imans and other Muslim activists, and by raising the spectre of mass deportations.

The quotes from European figures are quite revealing. German Chancellor Angela Merkel:

"The notion of multiculturalism has fallen apart," she said prior to her election. "Anyone coming here must respect our constitution and tolerate our Western and Christian roots."
"Islam is now the number one enemy not only of Europe, but of the entire free world," states Filip Dewinter, leader of Vlaams Belang (The Flemish Interest), now Belgium's most popular political party. Mr. Dewinter has gained popularity by arguing that, "it is an illusion to
think that a moderate Islam exists in Europe." He states: "There are already 25 million to 30 million Muslims on Europe's soil, and this becomes a threat. It's a real Trojan horse."

Untimately that is Europe's choice: to accept sharia on European soil and resign themselves to the long darkness of dhimmitude or find a way to push the Trojan Horse out of the city. Those are some piece of the puzzle. Can you see the image they make?

Religion of Peace. If "Peace" Means Arson and Murder.

Religion of Peace. Religion of Benevolence. That's what everyone in the press and government keeps telling us. Via LGF.

Nigerian Muslims protesting caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad attacked Christians and burned churches on Saturday, killing at least 15 people [...] An Associated Press reporter saw mobs of Muslim protesters swarm through the city center with machetes, sticks and iron rods. One group threw a tire around a man, poured gas on him and setting him ablaze. [sic]

Hey that's peaceful. The peace of the grave but peace nevertheless.

Thousands of rioters burned 15 churches in Maiduguri in a three-hour rampage before troops and police reinforcements restored order, Nigerian police spokesman Haz Iwendi said. [...] "Most of the dead were Christians beaten to death on the streets by the rioters," Ezeoke [a Christian resident] said. Witnesses said three children and a priest were among those killed.

That's the second priest killed. You may remember the Italian priest shot to death in Turkey but a "youth". I know about that turn the other cheek thing but I'm wondering if there's point when even Christ would say enough is enough.

Update: CNN claims 16 dead and 11 churches burned to the ground. When will American churches start raising money to buy weapons for our besieged Nigerian brothers? I'll gladly give.

"An Enemy"

"From now on, we will define the Palestinian Authority as an enemy" [Israeli] Army Radio quoted a senior Israeli spokesman as saying Saturday, following the swearing-in of Hamas to the Palestinian Legislative Council.

I certainly hope so. A group dedicated to destroying you would seem by definition to be an enemy. But how will this translate into action? Will the Israelis cut off the PA from customs duty transferrs as some have suggested? On the face of it that seems not only logical but required. After all, how do you transferr money to an organization that does not recognize you?

On the other hand this will just allow the PA to use the "suffering of the Palestinian people" as propagnada against the "Zionist oppressors." It will be a reply of the Iraqi sanction debacle. Except this time Ahmas is a democratically elected governement. No one can claim that the "innocent populace" didn't have a choice.

Perhaps the Palestinians can learn a lesson most American college kids learn: if 90% of your budget comes from other people, it's best not to alienate them.

Revealing emails from an idiot

I keep getting these annoying emails from this address saleem_juma@comcast.net. Here is a quote:

[Y]ou call Prophet Isa by the name Jesus and believe that there is such a thing like a holy ghost and whatnot. But I give you one question, If Jesus didn't have a father, what about
Adam. he had neither father nor mother, why is he not the son of god.

Oh and another thing, I hate to say this (as I have many Christian Friends) that the Holy Trinity was made up by a Roman Emperor. Also we have more humility than you, you womanizing thugs. The terrorists do not worship what we worship and you only base your opinions on them while I have done extensive research on many religions. [...] I do though thank you for misleading many of my fellow people to your foolish religion. Christ being the son of god doesn't make sense, are you insulting almighty Allah by saying that
he had sexual intercourse with the virgin mary is that it. No he simply put him in the womb which is why he is not the son of god. One more thing, when you say Allah is stupid, you insult your god as well because Arabic speaking Christians
refer to the god of the bible as Allah.

He originally wrote accusing me of "islamophobia" and saying that I should "stop doing blasphomous (sic) things." Notice how this ignorant twit insults Christianity but can't stand a few cartoons. What a spineless hypocrite. But that's characteristic, isn't it? They can dish it out but they can't take it. "Please don't insult the sacred and precious Muhammad but Christ wasn't the son of god and Christianity is a foolish religion." Please grow the hell up! Such whining!

Note how he tries to distance "what he worships" from "what the terrorists worship." In all fairness I don't know what Saleem prays to but the terrorists tell us exactly what religion they identify with. It ain't Jainism. They attack consulates chanting Allah akbar and they behead people after reading from the koran. Those are facts that should tell you something. Saleem's "extensive research" must have been is a dark bathroom because he shows no sign of grasping even the basics of Christianity. For example, as I have written elsewhere, Christians do NOT worship the same god as Muslims. This is just another example of Islamic propaganda, similar to their plagiarism of Biblic figures who were not Arab and clearly not Muslim (as the word had no meaning before Muhmmad.)

I found his emails very revealing of a certain muslim mindset. It's not that he and those like him are unprincipled. It's that they show no sign of even understanding that principles exist. He's not a cynic. He lacks the sophistication to be cynical. It's the blind and uncritical acceptance of Islamic supremacism, an unself-conscious egomania that elevates all things Islam to the apex of human life without even the glimmer of thought that other ways of living are valuable. It's the crude reduction of the glorious splendor of human existence into the self-serving formula "Islam good. All else bad." This borders on the irrational. It is what passes for thinking among certain simple-minded people. Sad.

Feel free to contact "Mr. Juma" and let him know what you think.

Rise of the Danish Street

Flemming Rose, editor of the Jyyland Posten now on indefinite leave said:

“We are used to seeing ourselves as a permissive and open society on the side of
the good, and it is shocking to see Danes as objects of hate," he said, adding "It's easier to be lenient when your neighbor looks like you, speaks the same language and has the same habits. People are willing to pay for a welfare state, but not for Ali who comes from 5,000 miles away."

Meanwhile the leader of the People's Party, Pia Kjaersgaard, wrote that

the Islamic religious community here was populated with "pathetic and lying men
with worrying suspect views on democracy and women."

She added: "They are the enemy inside. The Trojan horse in Denmark. A kind of Islamic mafia."

Strong stuff from a party that is part of the ruling coalition. The Danes are pissed with a capital P. Brussels Journal has a fascinating translation of “We Are Being Pissed On,”an angry article by Per Nyholm, a journalist for the Jyylands Posten. Mr. Nyholm has more than just anger, he has a few policy recommendations:

“Perhaps the ambassadors that have been called home to fictitious consultations
in the Middle East should be told that they may spare themselves the cost of the
return ticket.

In so far as possible The Lying Imams probably ought to be expelled. And then we ought to make an effort to support those Muslims who in a difficult situation have proven themselves to be true Citizens.

We, for our part, have no wish to be a burden to the Arab governments. We will happily withdraw our soldiers, policemen and diplomats. If they think our money smells, we will retract our aid. Our trade must make do as well as it can. We promise to not bear a grudge and, in time, we will be glad to return, but we are through with the hypocrisy. We have better things to do than being pissed upon at our own expense.

Cut down our activities in the Middle East. The world holds plenty of other opportunities.”

Anger is not limited to editorial rooms and political party offices. It is simmering in the “Danish Street.”

About 25 Muslim graves in western Denmark were vandalized late Saturday night…

Who is surprised?

When a Danish “youth” bludgeons an Imam with a crowbar, I wonder how many editors will decide not to publish pictures of the Imam’s bruised and swollen face, so as not to “provoke’ or “enrage” people (after all words can describe it just as well)? How many columnists will examine the “root causes” of Danish anger? How many politicians will demand greater efforts to address the alienation of the Danish Street? How many Muslim leaders will declare that this was the act of a single disturbed “youth” and in no way reflects on Danes as a whole? How many Imams will talk about opening dialogue to increase understanding?

Zero.

British Press Roundup

The British press had several good pieces of the Cartoon War and related matters. Many of these links are via Watch.Winds of Change. Others I found myself.

The Sunday Times has a column on a prominent moderate group, the Muslim Action Committee, and their demands to outlaw cartoons of Muhammad :

“What is being called for,” said Faiz Siddiqi, the committee’s convenor, “is a change of culture. In any civilised society, if someone says, ‘don’t insult me’, you do not, out of respect for them.”

Here in one sentence lies the entire, tangled problem; it is all entwined round several different uses of the word “respect”. First of all there is a tendentious conflation of respect for one’s religion and respect for oneself. It may be true that in traditional Muslim thought a perceived insult to the Prophet is an insult to the believer, but in western culture there is a crucially important — and highly prized — distinction. Freedom of speech depends on people accepting that criticism of a belief, even aggressive, satirical or offensive criticism, is not necessarily intended to insult a person or an ethnic community. ...

Freedom of speech is the keystone of western civilisation, of individuality, of scientific discovery, of wealth and of democracy; without it, the entire edifice would collapse.

A fascinating column by Nonia Darwish, daughter of a famous Egyptian military officer who died in a "cross-border" attack against Israel and was hailed as a hero by Nasser himself.

But the rallies and riots come from a public ripe with rage. From my childhood in Gaza until today, blaming Israel and the West has been an industry in the Muslim world. ...

Is it any surprise that after decades of indoctrination in a culture of hate, that people actually do hate? Arab society has created a system of relying on fear of a common enemy. It's a system that has brought them much-needed unity, cohesion and compliance in a region ravaged by tribal feuds, instability, violence, and selfish corruption. So Arab leaders blame Jews and Christians rather than provide good schools, roads, hospitals, housing, jobs, or hope to their people.

Andrew Sullivan, a harsh critic of the Bush administration who supported Kerry in the last US presidential election, comes out very strong for freedom of expression. Imagine a journalists for freedom of the press. Imagine.

What are you to think? You’d think, wouldn’t you, it might be helpful to view the actual cartoons so you can see what on earth this entire fuss is about. But the British and American media have decided that it is not their job to help you understand this story. In fact it is their job to prevent you from fully understanding this story. ...

The withholding of truth has, of course, been one of the recurring themes of this war. We were not allowed to see the video deaths of those who jumped out of the World Trade Center. We were not allowed to see the coffins of soldiers arriving back in the US. We are still not allowed to see the most revealing photographs of what really happened at Abu Ghraib (the legal case is still tied up in appeals). We were not allowed to see the beheading of Nick Berg. And now we are not allowed to see . . . cartoons. Cartoons! The very things newspapers are designed in part to publish.

The cartoons may not be in the British press but plenty else is.

A leading imam in the mosque where the July 7 bombers worshipped has hailed their terrorist attack on London as a “good” act in a secretly taped conversation with an undercover reporter.

Hamid Ali, spiritual leader of the mosque in West Yorkshire, said it had forced people to take notice when peaceful meetings and conferences had no impact.
He also praised the bombers as the “children” of Abdullah al-Faisal, a firebrand Muslim cleric, who was convicted of inciting murder and racial hatred in 2003. ...

Al-Faisal, who has branded non-Muslims as “cockroaches” ripe for extermination, is serving a seven-year prison sentence but is eligible for early release next week.

Add this to last week's conviction of the hook-handed super villain Abu Hamza and the revelations of what was found in his mosque and you have to wonder what the British are thinking. Well, here's a recent poll. Let's just say most people are displeased.

The police and politicians are criticised more generally for not confronting Islamic extremism, with 80% of respondents saying the authorities show too much tolerance of Muslims who urge extreme acts. ...

Where foreigners stir up racial and religious hatred, 81% of people think they should be sent back to their own countries, even if to do so would endanger their lives.

There is widespread gloom about the future, with 87% expecting further attacks in Britain by Islamic groups on the scale of the July 7 bombings; and only 17% seeing a future in which there is peaceful coexistence between Muslims and others in Britain, while 67% think there will be a worsening of tensions.

This is also true internationally. While 34% say western nations can coexist peacefully with mainly Muslim countries, 45% disagree.

And this is in a UK which has been under Labor for what, 12 or 14 years? People feel like this under Blair? Wow. This reminded my of something Geoffrey Wheatcroft, author of The Strange Death of Tory England and contributer to The Atlantic Monthly, wrote in Slate.

[T]he most depressing thing I have seen or heard this past week (which is saying something) was from someone who suggested that there was a fundamental incompatibility between Islam "and our democratic secular values." If that's a view that, as I have more than hinted here, I am close to sharing, why was it so depressing? Because the speaker was a leader of the brutal white-supremacist British National Party.

That's pretty startling, I must say. Not that the BNP isn't working this to the best of their ability. Lucky for Britain the BNP is largely incompetent. But how long can a situation so ripe remain unexploited? People are pissed and things are happening quickly. Even a year ago, who would have imagined what has happened in the last month ...

How Many Muslims in the World?

Punish Mockers of the Prophet:

“We make a call from the podium of the Grand Mosque and the birthplace of Islam, on behalf of Muslims all over the world, that tough punishment should be imposed on those who make a mockery of the Prophet,” the imam said.

I'll look for that "tough punishment" any day now. However, this is the more interesting statement from Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais:

"The repulsive cartoons depicting the Prophet have violated the sanctity of 1.5 billion Muslims around the world and their feelings."

(Awww, puddin' did you get your little feelings hurt? Poor baby, Abdul.)

1.5 billion Muslims? Come on dude. Please. Every week I hear a higher estimate for this number. I get emails asking why I want to hurt the fragile feelings of 1.3 billion Muslims. I've seen 1.2 billion from the propagandists at CAIR. Remember each tenth of a billion equals 100 million people. These wild fluctuations in the "number of Muslims in the world" are in no way accurate. Where do they live? Let's look at the CIA Factbook which has July 2005 population estimates.

I'll start with the 'I' countries. Indonesia,241 million people, 88% Muslim. That's about 213 million. India, 1.08 billion people, 13.4% Muslims. That's about 145 million. Iran, 68 million people, 98% are some kind of Muslim. That's another 66.6 million. Iraq, 26 million people, 97% Muslim adds 25.3 to our count for a running total of 449 million Muslims. Where, oh where, are the other billion Muslims Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais?

Egypt: 77.5 million people, 94% are Muslims: 72.8 million. Turkey: 69.7 million, virtually all are Muslim. Pakistan: 162 million people, 97% Muslim: 157 million. Malaysia: 23.9 million people, about 51% are Muslim (but it is hard to tell) so let's round up and say 12.5 million Muslims. Nigeria: 128.7 million people, half are Muslim. Add another 64.4 million Muslims. These big countries add 382 million for a sub-total of 832 million Muslims. Holy overcount Sheikh! You're missing 670 million Muslims? Where can I find them?

Now we are counting loose change. Sudan: 40 million people, 70% Muslim - 28 million. Moroccon: almost all of its 32.7 million are Muslim. Likewise Afghanistan, 29.9 million, and Somalia, 8.6 million. Syria: 18.4 million people, 90% Muslim - 16.6 million. Libya: 5.7 million, 97% Muslim - 5.6 million. I'm running out of countries, Sheikh. Chad: 9.8 million people, half are Muslim - 4.9 million. China might add another 19.5 million but we are running on fumes here. Let's be generous and say Europe has 25 million and the US another 3 million. All these add 175 million Muslims.

Our total (drum roll please): 1.07 billion Muslims. That's right. The Sheikh is not even close. Let's say I missed a few million in central Asia, Thailand, Canada, Australia, etc. Let's say the CIA, as part of a plot to undermined the ummah, underestimates the figure. Sure, whatever. If this total is off by 10% that is still 1.114 billion. I'll go so far as to say that I'm off by 20% for a Big Total of 1.2 billion.

But let's get real. It's not 1.5 or even 1.3. Claims like this are just Islamist propaganda. I could just as easily claim there are 2.5 billion Christians and ask someone to disprove it. Any takers?

Update: A comenter pointed out that I forgot Bangladesh (add another 120 million Muslims) Algeria (32 million) and Tunisia (10 million). Thanks. But my larger point is that, even with these countries we are nowhere near the 1.5 billion the Sheikh claimed. Nor are we close to the 1.3 billion. Sure I forgot the 10 million in Mali but a few million here and there do not approach the clear errors of such wild exaggerated claims.

My point is that the Sheikh and CAIR and the various Islamist front organizations are not trying to provide accurate statistics about the Muslim population but are purposefully inflating these numbers as part of their propaganda efforts. They are not interested in facts but in the emotional shock value of huge, and unsupportable, figures.

Update with reply to Lindsay: I have counted less than 1.2 billion. Australia might account for another 3 million but there are virtually no Muslims in Japan. You are getting desperate to find these missing people who don't exist. Again, the point is that claims of 1.3, or 1.4 are exaggerated for political effect. And of course I am blindly accepting that every single human being that counts statistically as "Muslim" is in fact a believer and practitioners of the faith. But honestly we know that this is not true. There are atheists and disbelievers even in Iran and Egypt. Whether that reduces the number by 1% or .5% is debatable but it does reduce the number.

In short, there are not now nor have there ever been 1.5 billion believing Muslims alive on this earth. Period. Claims to the contrary are politically motivated and not based in fact.

Cartoon riots in Jerusalem

Cartoon riots in Jerusalem - Note that the "youths" didn't wave Hamas flags.

Dozens of Arab youths threw stones at police in east Jerusalem during a protest against Danish cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammad.

Police fired stun grenades to disperse protesters who waved Palestine Liberation Organization flags and tried to burn Danish flags, which they laid on the ground.

Comment from "Lilian Dorn"

An anonymous commenter who goes by "Lilian Dorn" left this comment to my earlier post "No Apologies. Get Used to It." I am posting the comment in its entirety.

So what?I'm a Muslim and I don't feel offended by a bunch of pictures. I do
believe as Chirac put it that you should exercise freedom of _expression in a
manner that is respectful of others and their beliefs. This applies to everyone.

As to some of the comments on Muslims.. I've never prayed to have anyone killed because they're not Muslims. I've never ever had to recite any of the stuff someone wrote down here. Well, maybe some people who call themselves Muslims do that, I've never known any but I guess there are idiots, unrespectful and dangerous people everywhere beyond religion or atheism.

A lot of people just don't want to think. It's much more fun to stick standard fashionable anti Muslim stuff on here. It's OK, it's your right to make sense or talk nonsense and mine to let you know before I pass you by. I'm not a masochist either and didn't even look at the pictures you've got on your site, I saw them in the papers. I only checked some of your comments.

Anyway, each to their own. Democracy is for sure lacking in Arabic countries but this goes beyond religion, it's about politics and money. I think you can work it out with a little thinking.

As to education and fun, I have both like anybody else. You must know some really strange Muslims. It's true to say that some so called Islamic Schools are Islamic by name only but they're a minority, like prostitutes in Western countries.

I guess anyone can call themselves anything and there are tedious uneducated Muslims and non Muslims.

But for the time being, your fashion site is what people want. We want Muslim terrorists and we want to show the world that Islam is synonymous for Violence. Might change the trend to Atheist Killers one day or How Atheism is a fallacy that leads to anarchy. Whatever. The Show must go on.

A rather thoughful and interesting comment. Certainly different from the usual crap ("please don't insult me it makes me sad") I often get. Make of it what you will.

Winter Olympics

Friday is a big day. First, it's the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. It's also the Muslim day of prayer, the second Friday since the Cartoon Jihad began. Italy contains more than 800,000 Muslims. Without a doubt the Friday "prayers" around the world will incite Muslims to "protest" against the cartoons, Denmark, Norway and perhaps Austria.

Who thinks the Olympics, which lasts 16 days, will pass without violence? I doubt militant Odin worshippers will cause any trouble. But the Olympics are starting at the height of a wave of anti-European, anti-Western violence that has seen arson and calls to massacre and murder. And what is more Western than the Olympics?

I know, I know. It's always a small fringe, a tiny minority, etc. But 1% of Italian Muslims in 8,000. One percent of that is 80. It took a handful of men to bomb London on 7/7. It took a dozen to bomb Madrid on 3/11. Only 19 operatives carried out 9/11. Even discounting foreign element, 1% of 1% is more than enough.

On the up side we got through the Summer Olympics in Athens without an incident. Maybe we can get lucky again. But who wants to count on luck?

Quotes from Europe

Screw Jack Straw and his spineless kowtowing. The New York Times grows some balls and publishes an article about the widening gulf between the West and Islam, complete with some telling quotes.

Flemming Rose, the culture editor of Jyllands-Posten ... "When Muslims say you are not showing respect, I would say: you are not asking for my respect, you are asking for my submission," he said.

Notice that word again, submission. You'll hear a lot more of that in the future.

"In America, few people fear that they will have to live according to the norms of Islam," an editorial in the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad read. "In European countries, with a large or growing Muslim minority, there is a real fear that behind the demand for respect hides another agenda: the threat that everyone must adjust to the rules of Islam."

Isn't that just exactly what the rioters and arsonist are saying? "Behead those who insult Islam." Where is the jurisdiction of Islamic law? Apparently the whole world.

"Islam is protected by an invisible blasphemy law," said Jasper Gerard, a columnist in The Sunday Times. "It is called fear."

Yes it is. Fear is effective up to a point. Then people turn on those who previously frightened them and it's never pretty. Average Europeans are stirring from their post-historic slumber.

"The radicals don't want an agreement, they don't want the round table," said Rainer Mion, a 44-year-old German insurance agent in Berlin. "What they want is to spread their Islamic beliefs all over the world."

Many of us have been warning about this for quite some time. Indeed one of the recurring themes of this blog is that the Islamists will go too far and awaken the violent xenophobic spirit of Europe. People think of Europe as appeasing and polite and eager to do anything to avoid conflict. They have adopted that attitude to compensate for a long history of terrible, unspeakable violence. Listen to this middle-aged Italian.

Giulio Cordese, a 50-year-old salesman in an Italian specialty deli in Berlin, added: "We have to make a point here. Personally, I would expel all Muslims in the concerned countries, because they simply don't accept democratic rules here."

Is this what the Islamists want? Because the more riots and threats and arson they spread the more they awake within average Europeans the spirit of their ancestors. Islam in Europe can either adapt to an open, competitive, modern society and all the offensive crap it produces. Or they can face the wrath of an aggrieved Europe.

Rightist Exploit Muhammad Cartoon Jihad

Maybe I can win a free trip to beautiful Sweden. Share a few brews with some lovely Swedes.

Playing with fire in Sweden? A radical rightist online newspaper in Sweden has joined the cartoon fray Tuesday after initiating a prophet Muhammad cartoon contest. The paper, Sd-Kuriren, justified its decision by saying it supports freedom of expression and backs the Danish newspaper that touched off the controversy by publishing Muhammad cartoons. "Freedom of expression in Sweden
outweighs the Islamic ban regarding prophet Muhammad," the paper's editor wrote.

Where do I sign up? If I could read Swedish I could enter the contest on the Sd-Kuriren site. Alas I cannot read Swedish. No blonde babes for me. So sad.

Seriously, this is just one more bit of evidence that the Cartoon Jihad is doing far more damage to Islam than the stupid cartoons ever did. The global Muslim freakout is feeding rightist causes all over the world. The BNP has posted the cartoons on their Website. I'm sure other nationalist / racist / rightist groups have too. Rioting Muslims threatening to behead and massacre people who "insult" Islam are giving fuel to the rightist camp.

Again, sad. Europe faces a rather unpleasant future divided between two extremes: radical Islam and nationalists. Not a pretty choice.

Islam Means Submission. Don't.

Tolerance Toward Intolerance:

Now they are asking not for respect but for submission. They want non-Muslims in Europe to live by Muslim rules.

That what Islam means, right? Submission. Not peace. That's a common error. It means submission and that is what the protesters and the radicals sponsoring, organizing and coordinating these riots what. No mere apology is good enough. And that is why we must not submit, now or ever.

Free speech means the right to offend and insult or it means nothing. Religious sensibilities are not exempt from criticism. The craven US media may be cowering in fear over these cartoon and I guess I shouldn't expect anything different. The New York Times will publish state secrets but not cartoons. So it goes.

But just because the media are spineless doesn't mean the rest of us should be. Resist dhimmitude! Don't submit.

Free Speech Muhammad

Muhammad's views of freedom of expression.

"I Forbid Satire, Mockery, or Ridicule! I Forbid Insulting or Offensive Cartoons!"

"I Encourage Murder, Arson, Kidnapping, Threats and Mob Violence!"

To me this seems self evident. Mob have attacked an embassy in Jakarta and set fire to embassies in Syria and Beirut. Mobs have incited murder in London. All the while these people are furious that anyone, anywhere would dare draw a cartoon of their demi-god Muhammad (Mohammed). Mobs across the "Muslim world" burn flags and effigies and chant "Death to Denmark" but the mere mention that rightist in Denmark would dare to plan to burn a Koran resulted in threats that "all hell would break loose."

They can dish it out but they can't take it. How can a whole culture be this insecure?

Who Will Be Our Franz Ferdinand?

The Muhammad cartoon scandal is a symptom of the fragility, the brittleness of our times. Small, even obscure and seemingly inconsequential events can occasionally have earth-shaking effects. No one in May 1914 would have dreamed that a few gunshots in Sarajevo in June would lead to war in August and 10 million dead in 4 years. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand was merely the spark. The world had been ready and waiting for war. There were too many nations and ethnicities, with complex and intertwining relations to avoid it. People thought war was inevitable someday, just not then, during that beautiful summer.

Our world now is very brittle. The cartoon jihad has now burned down embassies in Syria, the Danish consolate in Beruit, and a murdered Catholic priest in Turkey (this cannot yet be directly related to the cartoons but a week of worldwide incitement to murder cannot have gone unnoticed in Muslim Turkey).

The riots and mob violence from Jakarta to London are not spontaneous events. They are the results of a well-coordinated campaign to mobilize Muslims by manufacturing rage and murderous anger. But now events are close to spiraling out of control. For example, any Syrian government involvement in the embassy attacks is a declaration of war against the nations whose embassies were destroyed. If proven or even widely believed the Syrian regime, already under pressure for murdering two opponents, will fall. Who knows where this could lead?

The effects of the Danish cartoons could plunge a region or the world into a war everyone knows is coming someday but not today. Things are so brittle that all it takes is the right assassination, the right murder, the right suicide bombing to signal the start of the titanic struggle of our age. Who will be our Franz Ferdinand, the one death that leads to so very many more?

To switch metaphors, the world is piled high with dry kindling and the Muslim world has responded to some cartoons by trying to strike sparks. Be careful boys. You're likely to get burned.

Religion of Peace Torches Embassy

In a classic example of respect, humility and love (see previous post) a peace-loving mob of Muslims expressed their criticism of Muhammad cartoons through respectful and humble arson.

Hundreds of Syrian demonstrators set the Danish embassy on fire on Saturday to protest the printing by a Danish newspaper of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad, a Reuters witness said. ...
Protestors also threw stones at the building shattering its windows.
Chanting "God is Great," they stormed the embassy, burned the Danish flag and replaced it with another flag reading "No God but Allah, Mohammad is His Prophet."

Of course the violent, fundamentalist Christians will immediately retaliate by storming embassies around the world. Not.

How long before someone is killed? A day? A week? Once again the cartoonists are proved correct by the very actions of those who criticise them.

Update: Via Gateway Pundit - the Muslim mob burned the entire building.

Witnesses said the demonstrators set fire to the entire building, which also houses the embassies of Chile and Sweden.

More Respectful Comments from a Polite Peaceloving Jerk

I received this anonymous comment to my rather mild, even delicate cartoon Soft Muhammad.

If you truly believe in freedom of speech you'll post my message, otherwise you'll just prove you're a worthless bag of shit pissing on itself. I'm a Muslim and I guess in your eyes, therefore, worse than an animal. Okay, fine, I can live with that since you're a worthless piece of puke anyway. But must you hate 1 billion people? You're the fanatic, the radical, the fundamentalist, the intellectual whore who's given up on the things that fundamentally unite humanity and allow us to call ourselves human -- love, respect, humility. Go fuck yourself, ass hole.

Well, I posted your humble, respectful, loving drivel jerkweed. But why, I ask, should I respect a religion that threatens me and my culture, a culture far superior in every imaginable way to what passes for culture in the so-called Muslim world?

Respect is not granted automatically or because rabid mobs demand it. Respect is earned. Look at how many cartoon insult the Dalai Lama. Almost none because he displays compassion and humility and respect those of different religions. Islam however displays anything but those traits. It displays arrogance and the will to dominate through violence. The events of the past week have proven the cartoonist of the world correct. Your move my humble, respectful, loving friend.

To Be Western or Muslim. That is the Question.

Mark Steyn from a radio transcript at Radio Blogger:

[T]here aren't a lot of good options when you have a very significant militant minority in your country that is determined, effectively, to demand that its own values be imposed on society at large. You only have to look at, for example, the difference...when a Broadway playwright writes a play about Jesus being gay, and having sex with Judas Iscariot, there are a couple of protests outside the theater, and people write letters. When you attempt to show a representation of
Mohammed, you get people threatening to kill you, you get national boycotts, you get people burning down buildings. And at some point, Muslims living in Western Europe have to decide whether or not they're prepared to be offended, because that's what it involves in a free society.

Not to put too fine a point on this, but a significant percentage European Muslims aren't prepared to be offended but they are prepared to kill. Today it's threats and boycotts but it's only a matter of time (perhaps only days) until someone is murdered over these cartoon.

The clock is ticking on Europe and its Muslim population. With each enraged mob threatening European cities, with each declaration of war in a European nation Europe comes closer to the deciding whether it will be Western or Muslim. Europeans are facing what I wrote about in one of my earliest posts, The Coming Age of Conversion or Expulsion.

Simple and Stupid

Earlier today "Sarah Mohamed" left this comment to Crybaby Muhammad.

Simple minds are entertained by simple things but this has crossed the border of stupidity. I feel sorry for whoever is entertained by this.

I'm the first to say that my cartoons are stupid and simple. The drawings are crude. The satire is heavy-handed and obvious. I'm not an artist. No argument there, "Sarah".

The point of this debate isn't my lack of artistic or satirical skills. The point is that in 20 minutes I can draw a simple, silly, stupid image at my kitchen table with a box of colored pencils I bought at Target, scan it into my computer, post it to my blog and within minutes complete strangers from the other side of the earth have found my images and been offended enough to send me a threatening email.

Yes, my cartoons are sophmoric and offensive. The point of this debate isn't whether I am trying to offend people (I am) but that people are so easily offended. So, "Sarah Mohamed" we are just two different people. I make drawings for my own amusement and posts them to my obscure little blog. You spend your free time searching the Internet for images you knows will offend you.

My hobby is drawing simple and stupid cartoons. Your hobby is being offended. Now remind me again, who is being simple and stupid?

The Essentials of Islam, from Claire

Claire emailed me this earlier. Thanks.

Moparody is a blog dedicated to Mohammad cartoons and images, some from famous artworks, some by talented amateurs. Enjoy.

Selections from Threats

I’ve only received 4 or 5 threats and they’ve been mild as far as threats go. Nothing serious. I’m certainly not concerned. What pisses me off is the poor quality of the emails. Please people, put some effort into it. Here’re a few quotes:

This is a chunk from a very long and unbroken block of text. Most of it was unintelligible. Very stream of consciousness. It reminds me of a mutant hybrid of Allen Ginsberg-style Beat poetry and jihadism. Here’s the most readable part.

ALLAH have given to thos who made fun of HIM and HIS prophets...its ALLAH's word...and wait ...wait its coming when HE orders...n that day...u all will cry from pain…pLEASE KEEP ON LAUGHING...ITS THE BEST THING TO DO IN YOUR LIFE NOW..LAUGH...LAUGH...COZ U WILL BE MISSING IT SO SOON...LAUGH....TO BE DONE WITH IT...COZ ULL B LIVIN IN ANOTHR WORLD SO SOON

The next email was much more readable but way too hipster dumbass to make much sense. I got the feeling that English was this guy’s second language and perhaps he’s watched too many hip-hop videos.

what am sayin is am gonna be laughin when u burnin in hell
so i advice u take the website down and repeant

The last selection was the clearest and most literate. But he loses points for lack of originality.

What will you do if someone hurt your family by any means
possible??? You see, you Westerners (no offence implied here) do NOT understand that we, Muslims ultimately and strongly feel that Prophet Mohammad PBUH is more valuable and more precious to us than anything in our life. We can't tolerate hearing ANY defamatory remark, let alone these highly offensive cartoons, about him.

So, per my earlier promise I will be making a donation to an appropriate charity. I'll let you know which I choose.

Atomic Muhammad

I dedicate this Mohammed cartoon to Iranian President Ahmadinejad.

If the mohammadeans hated the cartoon of Muhammad and his bomb-shaped turban then they should really hate this one.

Alternate title: Mushroom Cloud Muhammad.

By the way, ZombieTime has expanded his Mohammed Image Archive. Good stuff.

Update: Claire informs me that Zombie is a girl. Shows what I know.

The Collected Muhammad Cartoons of the Wraith

Here it is by popular demand, the collected Muhammad cartoons of the Wraith. I'm catching up with the Danish. This whole thing started with 12 cartoons in the Jyllands-Posten. I have 7 and counting.

1 - Soft Muhammad

2 - Hellfire Muhammad

3 - Skull-Hammad

4 - I Am Muhammad. Cartoons Are Cool.

5 - Footprint Muhammad and the Toeprint Caliphs

6 - I Am Muhammad. Denmark Rocks.