Fjordman Files -- August updates

[31 - 8] A History of Beer - Part 3 is up at Brussels Journal.

[26 - 8] A History of Beer - Part 2 is up at Gates of Vienna.

[23 - 8] A History of Beer - Part 1 is up at Brussels Journal.

[22 - 8] On Atlas Shrugs Fjordman takes a closer look at the Swedish blood libel case: Swedish Hypocrisy Regarding Israel and Muslims

The fact that the anti-Israeli and anti-American writer Helle Klein, for many years the political editor of Aftonbladet, at her blog also speaks warmly of "free speech" is such an extreme case of hypocrisy that it simply cannot go unanswered. Free speech does not exist in Sweden. Although some countries such as Britain and Belgium are trying hard to claim the title, I would personally rate Sweden as being probably the most totalitarian and politically repressive country in the entire Western world as of 2009, and Aftonbladet has made substantial contributions to this repressive climate.

[14 - 8] On Gates of Vienna: Culturally Enriched Homophobia in Oslo

If you come to Oslo from abroad, you will usually arrive at the Oslo Central Station, which is very close to some of the worst areas in the city, including Grønland. When leaving the railway station and entering the main street, Karl Johan Street, you will be met by crowds of Somalis, Arabs and Kurds hanging around at street corners. There will be a few natives there, among them some drug addicts trying to get their latest shot of heroin or some blond girls acting as girlfriends/all-purpose sluts for members of various immigrant gangs. In the evenings you may also be fortunate enough to be harassed by aggressive Nigerian prostitutes. One recent addition to the Multicultural garden of diversity has been gangs of Gypsy criminals/organized beggars, who travelled to Western Europe instantly when Romania joined the EU. They have managed the almost impossible feat of outscoring even Muslim and African gangs when it comes to theft and petty crime.

[14 - 8] On Gates of Vienna: European Wine - A Draft. This is actually a prelude:

The following text is meant to be included in my long-announced history of beer, which will finally be published in five parts starting from next week.

Watch this space...

RECENT FJORDMAN
A History of Beer - Part 3
A History of Beer - Part 2
A History of Beer - Part 1
Swedish Hypocrisy Regarding Israel and Muslims
Culturally Enriched Homophobia in Oslo
European Wine - A Draft
A History of European Music -- Part 5
A History of European Music -- Part 4
A History of European Music -- Part 3
A History of European Music -- Part 2
A History of European Music -- Part 1
Britain: From Parliament to Police State
Some Mathematical History
To President Obama: Regarding Islam and Science
Why Christians Accepted Greek Natural Philosophy, But Muslims Did Not
Bruce Bawer on “Racism” Accusations

More Fjordman Files here.

Some light is piercing the dark...

A quite a few occasions we on KV have reported the rather spineless attitude the Christian churches in the Netherlands (protestant and catholic) take with regard to the encroaching on Dutch society of islam (see here and more recently here, for instance).

Now at last some contrary voices are making themselves heard. The Nederlands Dagblad (NL) reports that a number of prominent members of the Protestant Churches in the Netherlands (PKN) have written a open letter to the board of the synod to express their concern with the dialogue with islam.

The reason [for the letter] is an appeal, sent last year to a large number of churches, entitled A Common Word, in which a great number of prominent muslims call on christians to discuss their common ground.(...)

[The authors of the letter] wonder what concrete steps the islamic world has made to guarantee freedom of religion for christians and other non-muslims in islamic countries. For a level dialogue it is, according to them, necessary that christians and muslims create and defend room for 'free faith decisions'. (...)

The concerned PKN-members wonder whether that common basis for a dialogue - according to the prominent muslims God/Allah as the One - is so common after all. 'It isn't obvious to us that the God that is revealed in the Tenach and has come among us in Jesus Christ, is the same that speaks in the surah's of the Koran'. Exactly this subject should be the basis of a dialogue with muslims, they feel. Speaking a priori of a common ground only works to muddy the waters, they state.

Well, what do you know? Not exactly fightin' words, but the good understander needs only half a word, right? This is as strong a statement on reservations about islam as I have ever heard from within the PKN. I applaud the writers of the open letter (which can be read here, in Dutch though) for coming out to say what needs to be said. Whether the PKN will do anything with this open letter is, of course, another matter entirely.

Watching the tide turn

From DutchNews: Parents want schools to get tougher

More than half of parents would like a return to old-fashioned discipline in schools and say teachers should be tougher on pupils, according to a survey for parents' magazine J/M.

Just 5% of parents polled were very happy about their children's education. On average, they awarded primary schools 6.7 out of 10 and secondary schools 6.5.

By contrast, some 80% would like to see a return to more authoritarian teaching, with 60% calling for an end to the practise of calling teachers by their first names. Even in primary school, teachers in the Netherlands are usually known by their name.

More than one third think schools are too soft on bullies and answering back, the J/M survey showed.

Can it be true? Will we snatch Western Civilization from the jaws of Oblivion after all?

Climate extortion

From the BBC: Ministers from 10 African countries have met in Ethiopia to try to agree a common position on climate change, months before a crucial UN meeting.

More precise: they've been discussing how to guilt Western countries into handing over more cash to prop up the mostly dysfunctional regimes in that benighted continent.

They were expected to renew demands for billions of dollars in compensation for Africa because of damage caused by global warming.

And they are likely to ask rich nations to cut emissions by 40% by 2012.

Says Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai:

We are all hoping we will develop and attain a higher quality of life

I just bet you do...

Rantings of a schizophrenic

Best-selling author Sebastian Faulks in an interview relayed his experience of reading the Koran, which he did as a matter of research.

Faulks turned to the Koran for his research, and was appalled: “It’s a depressing book. It really is. It’s just the rantings of a schizophrenic. It’s very one-dimensional, and people talk about the beauty of the Arabic and so on, but the English translation I read was, from a literary point of view, very disappointing.

“There is also the barrenness of the message. I mean, there are some bits about diet, you know, the equivalent of the Old Testament, which is also crazy. If you look again at those books of the law, Leviticus or Deuteronomy, there’s a lot about who you are allowed to sleep with, and if a man had lost his testicles he wouldn’t enter into the presence of God, that is just terrible. But the great thing about the Old Testament is that it does have these incredible stories. Of the 100 greatest stories ever told, 99 are probably in the Old Testament and the other is in Homer.

“With the Koran there are no stories. And it has no ethical dimension like the New Testament, no new plan for life. It says ‘the Jews and the Christians were along the right tracks, but actually, they were wrong and I’m right, and if you don’t believe me, tough — you’ll burn for ever.’ That’s basically the message of the book.”

Never shying away from a (potentially lethal) controversy, the British press is already out making mr. Faulk into the new Rushdie: Sebastian Faulks outburst risks anger of Muslims.

A spokesman for the Islamic Society of Britain, Ajmal Masroor, said Faulk's statements ran the risk of stirring religious hatred against Muslims. "Attacks on Islam are nothing new, but the danger is this will have a 'drip, drip' effect. People don't seem to understand the consequences of saying things like this could be quite severe. History tells us it can encourage hatred."

See what is happening here? Just telling somebody what you thought when reading a bit of (atrocious) prose is 'stirring up religious hatred' these day.

(h/t De Dagelijkse Standaard)

[UPDATE001] Never mind. He actually didn't mean it, or something...

Another book you won't find on any shelf in Europe

Many in Europe and the West do not believe that the massive immigration and subsequent refusal to integrate by muslims is just happenstance, a quirk of history or circumstances. That would include the majority of the readers of our modest blog, I venture. There is now THE book that will give them the ammunition they need to make their case: Modern Day Trojan Horse: The Islamic Doctrine of Immigration.

There's a review on American Thinker which doesn't mince words:

[A]uthors Sam Solomon, a former professor of shari'ah law and convert to Christianity, and Elias Al Maqdisi, an expert on Islamic teachings, explain the migration of Muslims to the Dar-al-Harb, the "land of war," as a religious edict with a basis in Islamic doctrine. They delineate the step-by-step process of this 1,400-year-old strategy of conquest. It is a transitional strategy which they characterize as the most important step in spreading Islam and preparing for jihad. From their carefully delineated treatise on Hijra, it is clear that migration in concert with military conquest comprise the bookends of Islamic expansionism.

None of us is surprised, I guess. But as the book shows, Islamic law itself is rather clear on the subject: All is in the service of Allah. This fragment should sound eerily familiar to anyone living in a town with more then 1,000 inhabitants:

This first step of establishing the mosque as the center of local Islamic life and activities is mistakenly viewed by non-Muslims as merely the benign construction of houses of worship. Its true goal escapes notice, that of firmly establishing a purposeful non-integrated Muslim identity to advance the goal of Islamization.

Once the consolidation of the Muslim community occurs under the radar, the purposeful fight for special status and shari'ah follows. As dictated by the Koran and Sunnah, segregation from non-Muslims is a natural outcome of the advancement of the Hijra.

The end-game thus becomes almost inevitable. Read the whole review. Or better: buy the book! You won't much enjoy it, for the description of the different stages of Hijra sound too familiar for comfort. At the end I was wondering if we haven't lost, given up too much ground, already. I hope I am wrong.

(Thanks to DP111 for pointing this one out)

Science paper of the year

On a lighter note: An highly interesting an important paper, part of a PhD project at Ottawa University explains why co-existence of humans and zombies is a non-starter: WHEN ZOMBIES ATTACK!: MATHEMATICAL MODELLING OF AN OUTBREAK OF ZOMBIE INFECTION (pdf). The abstract is reproduced below:

Zombies are a popular figure in pop culture/entertainment and they are usually portrayed as being brought about through an outbreak or epidemic. Consequently, we model a zombie attack, using biological assumptions based on popular zombie movies. We introduce a basic model for zombie infection, determine equilibria and their stability, and illustrate the outcome with numerical solutions. We then refine the model to introduce a latent period of zombification, whereby humans are infected, but not infectious, before becoming undead. We then modify the model to include the effects of possible quarantine or a cure. Finally, we examine the impact of regular,impulsive reductions in the number of zombies and derive conditions under which eradication can occur. We show that only quick, aggressive attacks can stave off the doomsday scenario: the collapse of society as zombies overtake us all.

Important findings, you will all agree.

(Thanks to Pigilito for reminding me)

Three long year

Three year. It took authorities three long year to decide whether or not to prosecute anyone having the temerity to republish the Danish Motoons in the Netherlands. From DutchNews:

Tv programme Nova and politician Geert Wilders will not be prosecuted for publishing controversial Danish cartoons which poke fun at Mohammed, the public prosecution department said on Tuesday.

The department said reproducing the 12 cartoons, which led to worldwide unrest when published in a Danish newspaper in 2006, is not punishable by law because they target Mohammed not Muslims in general.

The cartoons 'do not insult Muslims nor incite hatred', the department said in a statement.

That the cartoons did not incite hatred was, of course, clear from day one. So presumably the three years were taken up by twisting reality in such a way that these slow-as-thick-manure civil servants could maintain with dry eyes, that the cartoons did not insult Muslims. If memory serves they did. Something to do with mass protests, killings and some smashed embassy. Unwarranted, to be sure, but evidently some muslims took offence. Even in the Netherlands.

Another target for possible prosecution, now acquitted, was the Arab-European League. In reaction to the Danish Motoon brouhaha they published on their website a couple of truly offensive cartoons. One features Anne Frank enjoying a post-coital cigarette with Herr Hitler. The other, republished after yesterdays acquittal, suggests that the Holocaust was a Jewish invention (a very common theme for readers of our modest blog and those like it, methinks).

Actually, republishing that cartoon is a direct provocation aimed at Dutch authorities, since yesterdays ruling said that

the pro-Arab Arabische Europese Liga has been told it does face prosecution unless it removes a cartoon featuring two Jews inventing the holocaust.

Childish in the extreme. But then again, we've come to expect nothing more substantial from the AEL to begin with.

The AEL cartoon is tasteless, offensive and in direct contradiction to established historical fact. But actually, I don't think they merit prosecution. Firstly because I don't think any cartoonist, unless inciting violence, should be prosecuted. That's a liberty thing. But secondly: Offensive, obnoxious little clubs like the AEL should be able to publish their extruded material as wide as possible. The more people get acquainted with the verbal and drawn manure emanating from the desks of those juvenile losers, the more people will recognize the AEL for the utter failure that it is.

In the same vain I diametrically oppose Geert Wilders' (in Dutch jurispudence quite legitimate) suggestion to ban the Koran. The Koran shouldn't be banned, it should be spread far and wide, so that all of the population can read the confused, tawdry, stilted and self-defeating prose that poses for Holy writ in islam.

The truth will set you free, and all that...

Mmmmh... This post ended up in a completely different place then I intended. Let me just end with expressing my relief that nobody is prosecuted here for displaying the Danish motoons. That is a step in the right direction. Now, if those same people could take a closer look at the Nekschot case. He, after all, is still facing prosecution...

Ramadan in hot water... again

From Dutchnews: New row over Rotterdam's Islamic advisor.

A new row has emerged over the controversial Islamic expert Tariq Ramadan. Ramadan, integration advisor for Rotterdam council and a guest professor at the city’s Erasmus university, is under fire for presenting a weekly talk show on the English-language Iranian channel Press TV.

In an interview with the AD newspaper on Friday, Ramadan says that he is not connected in any way to the Iranian government and stresses that he has always been free to make his own decisions in terms of the subjects and guests he includes on the show Islam and Life.

Ramadan also stresses that the ‘oppression and murder of citizens’ must be condemned, reports the NRC. The comment refers to the allegedly heavy-handed reaction of the Iranian authorities following widespread public protest in July against the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the country’s ruler.

Three opposition parties on Rotterdam council (the local party Leefbaar Rotterdam, the Socialists and the right-wing Liberals) are demanding that Ramadan be sacked as the city’s advisor.

The Liberals resigned from the city’s coalition government in April following comments allegedly made by Ramadan against homosexuals and women.

Neither Rotterdam council or Erasmus university were aware that Ramadan is employed by the Iranian broadcaster and both organisations are considering what action to take, says the NRC.

Ramadan was asked to present the Iranian tv show two years ago because of his eighth position on a list of worldwide intellectuals according to Press TV’s Matthew Richardson, reports the AD.

Richardson does not believe Ramadan will give up his job on the station because of a few ‘irritated and badly informed critics’in the Netherlands, the paper quotes Richardson as saying.

Ramadan told the AD that he will reconsider his position ‘as a free spirit, not under pressure and on the basis of my own principle’ when he returns to Europe in three weeks. He is currently on the island of Mauritius.

Esther has more.

[UPDATE 18 - 8] Chickens... home... roost: Rotterdam sacks integration advisor.

[O]fficials believe Ramadan can no longer 'lead the dialogue in the city' because he himself has become part of the debate. Last week it emerged that Ramadan presents a weekly programme on Iran's Press TV which is paid for by the Iranian authorities.

And for the traditional muslim lack of self-criticism we go straight over to Mr. Ramadan himself:

The present controversy says far more about the alarming state of politics in the Netherlands than about my person.

I'd beg to differ. The fact that the Rotterdam council and Erasmus University went out of their way to appoint him, a hugely unpopular and controversial decision right from the very start, tells us a lot about tolerance and accommodation in Western civilization. That mr. Ramadan managed to eff up this opportunity anyway says more then a little about mr. Ramadan in particular, and the muslim sense of entitlement in general.

A rather important question

Frank Gaffney in the Washington Times:

Last week, John Brennan, the assistant to President Obama for homeland security and counterterrorism approvingly recalled a key point in the speech Mr. Obama delivered in Cairo in June: "America is not and never will be at war with Islam." Unfortunately, that statement ignores the fact that the decision as to whether the United States is at war with anybody is not entirely up to our leadership or people. The real question: Is Islam at war with us?

There's a question I have been waiting to be asked out loud in the media. Go over and read the answer (if you don't already know).

Mohammed, Mohamed and Muhammed

Today Elsevier (NL) reported that in the four biggest cities of Holland (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht), the name Muhammed, and variations there-of, is the undeniable leader in the top list of names for new-born boys.

According to the SVB data it appears that in the four major cities - Amsterdam, Rotterdam, the Hague and Utrecht - Mohamed (and its variations - Mohammed and Muhammed) is by far the name most given to boys.

In the Hague they're even in places 1, 2 and 5 in the top five. The name was given three times as often in 2008 as the next most popular boy's name: Jayden.

The name is also very popular in Amsterdam. In the capital Mohamed and Mohammed take the 1st and 4th places. Rayan, Adam and Max follow at a great distance.

In Rotterdam Jayden is the name most loved by parents, but if the different spellings are added together, this name is once again number one.

In Utrecht, the fourth city of the Netherlands, Mohammed is also on top, but is followed immeidately by Adam, Lucas, Stijn and Daan.

Islam in Europe has a full translation of the item here.

Is it me, or does the fact that second and third generation immigrants of muslim descent so massively name their children after the founder of their religion/ideology hint at a certain unwillingness to integrate and an in-your-face kind of mind-set?

His first defeat

... or : The mouse that roared.

From Jim Hoft, this IBDeditorial: Honduras has won

In a welcome about-face, the State Department told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee's Richard Lugar, R-Ind., in a letter Tuesday that the U.S. would no longer threaten sanctions on Honduras for ousting its president, Mel Zelaya, last June 28.

Nor will it insist on Zelaya's return to power. As it turns out, the U.S. Senate can't find any legal reason why the Honduran Supreme Court's refusal to let Zelaya stay in office beyond the time allowed by Honduran law constitutes a "military coup."

This marks a shift. The U.S. at first supported Zelaya, a man who had been elected democratically but didn't govern that way. Now they're reaching out to average Hondurans, the real democrats.

Sure, the U.S. continues to condemn Zelaya's ouster and still seeks mediation of the dispute through Costa Rican President Oscar Arias. But no U.S. sanctions means Hondurans have won.

Barak Obama: Doesn't want to 'meddle' in Iran (where democracy is stomped on and shot at by the Mullah's thugs), unable to meddle in tiny Honduras (where democracy was defended by all who were not Zelaya or his cronies). I can think of only one word: FAIL!

And our congratulations to Honduras! Just goes to show that a little spine can go a long way...

Your read for today

In The Telegraph: Muslim Europe: the demographic time bomb transforming our continent.

Britain and the rest of the European Union are ignoring a demographic time bomb: a recent rush into the EU by migrants, including millions of Muslims, will change the continent beyond recognition over the next two decades, and almost no policy-makers are talking about it.

The numbers are startling. Only 3.2 per cent of Spain's population was foreign-born in 1998. In 2007 it was 13.4 per cent. Europe's Muslim population has more than doubled in the past 30 years and will have doubled again by 2015. In Brussels, the top seven baby boys' names recently were Mohamed, Adam, Rayan, Ayoub, Mehdi, Amine and Hamza.

Go, read and be a little bit wiser, if a little sadder.

The golden rule

Flagged up by reader DP111: A piece by Robert Spencer, the proprietor of Jihad Watch, on Frontpage: Muslims Persecute Christians.

On Saturday, a frenzied mob of three thousand Muslims stormed the tiny Pakistani Christian village of Gojra. Enflamed by (unconfirmed) charges that a Christian had burned pages of the Qur’an, the mob burned down fifty homes, burned eight Christians alive, and wounded twenty others. Thousands of Christians fled the area.

Last Thursday, enraged by the same report of blasphemy, another Muslim mob torched seventy-five Christian homes, along with two churches, in Koriyan, a village near Gojra.

In Nigeria also a seemingly organized campaign to drive out Christians is underway.

One of the fundamental rules in Western society is the Golden Rule: Treat anyone the way you would want to be treated. Given that rule, dear Muslim leaders in Europe: Do you really think we will not, at some point, start to treat you as you treat our brethren?

You may have cowed most of our political leaders. But such people come and go. Nothing lasts forever. In the mean time, ordinary citizens as sitting back, taking note, keeping score. And God help you if the Saxon has had enough.

Keep piling on those straws, my dears...

There she is again

It looks like for the first time in the Netherlands a Muslim party will enter elections. In this case it is the Netherlands Muslim Party (NMP), which will enter municipal elections in five constituencies. Esther has the goods in EN.

In Rotterdam the NMP will be headed by Bouchra Ismaili (p). This creature was featured on this blog before, when in her capacity as member of council for the PvdA in Charlois (a Rotterdam burrough) she answered an email with critical questions about the activities of Hizb-ut-Tahrir in the Netherlands with a less then polite:

"Listen well, you crazy freak. We are here to stay! Hahahaha. Drop dead! I am a Dutch Muslim and I will stay that way until I die.

You are the foreigners here!!! With Allah on my side I fear no one. Me and my fellow Muslims are alive! Your species is being consumed by hatred. Let me give you some advice: Convert to Islam and find peace at heart!"

(A translation of the full email can be found here)

Ultimately, this incident led to her dismissal from council as well as from the PvdA. And now she wants a do-over, heading the Rotterdam chapter of the NMP. And thus the first Dutch muslim party is off on a great, great start. Who ever said that muslims don't have a sense of humour?

Decidedly creepy

In hindsight it didn't take long: Just barely 8 months in office and the population in the US are starting to realize what a monumental mistake they made voting Barak Obama into office.

Especially the plans for 'Obamacare', the health care reform measures the Obama administration want implemented are met with stiff resistance. Politically as well as socially. And now the Obama administration is coming out confronting the critics. Not by telling the truth and mending their ways of course.

No, this is what they want:

There is a lot of disinformation about health insurance reform out there, spanning from control of personal finances to end of life care. These rumors often travel just below the surface via chain emails or through casual conversation. Since we can’t keep track of all of them here at the White House, we’re asking for your help. If you get an email or see something on the web about health insurance reform that seems fishy, send it to flag@whitehouse.gov.

In the USA, historically a shining beacon of freedom and democracy, we now have a president lording over an administration that encourages citizens to snitch on fellow citizens that do not agree with Obama and his cronies. Looks like Cuba is going to win after all...

Jim Hoft has more. Michelle is asking everyone to 'help' out the Obama administration.