Steynian 218

~ WE ALL SEEK A KINGDOM— whether the various utopias of the Left since the French Revolution, or the counter-blasts of the individualist and capitalist right. That is– in part– what politics is: what policy shall we adopt and pursue to bring about the kind of things we thing are right and true and good? This is a practical matter, but also a profoundly philosophical and spiritual question. Where secularisms of whatever sort agree and fall short is in asserting there is no Kingdom Come, only a utopia to work at (with more or less government), so get cracking. But to leave God out of the account is simply to worship something or someone else as ultimate. After all, it was the spiritually alive William Wilberforce who fought for the abolition of slavery in the British Empire; the heavenly-minded Sunday-Schoolers of the same time and later wanted to pass on the faith, but also to provide schooling for the poor– from that root comes our modern school system. In seeking the heavenly kingdom, they did not worship the world as it was, or as it might be in some utopia: they prayerd, worked, suffered, and changed the world for the better according to God’s will. The HRC people are seeking a kingdom of government-enforced goodness, where nobody ever needs to suffer or try to be good: all will be enforced. However, that pretzelling of human nature will not work; humans are neither government puppets, nor anarchic free-agents, but meant to be part of a better Kingdom. The deep divide between the West and the Jihad is a choice between submission, or choice. The sword-less Jesus said “Follow me”, and from that root comes our Western emphasis on human freedom, choice, and individual rights– however distorted those things may be in our puzzled and somewhat anti-religious age. ~

~ FOR THOSE of you styling your lives, tastes, and ideas after The Binks, he’s not all about brooding and issues and Doom und Gloom. For a little restorative beauty (and awesome desktops), head over to Stuck In Customs, by prize-winning photographer Trey Ratcliff. He uses the HDR (High Dynamic Range) software technique to do some amazing things with light, colour, and contrast in his work. ~

~ SAITH the evil Binks: guns! Planes! Boom-splody bang! The subs in question are perfect for a nation with three huge coasts; environmentally friendly; and they don’t catch on fire and kill people like the pre-enjoyed Used Car Lot specials we were suckered into by the Brit Navy. They would make nice artificial reefs somewhere, IMHO. ~

Mark Steyn

~ FREE SPEECH IN AN AGE OF JIHAD: “Mark’s keynote address to the recent conference in New York on free speech is now in print, along with valuable contributions from Roger Kimball, Andy McCarthy, Rachel Ehrenfeld, Ezra Levant and others. It’s available as part of our America Alone Free Speech Special: the bestselling book and the legal battle that ensued – together in one great package!” Exclusively from the Steyn Store, only $20.95 …. (steynstore)

Ezra

~ EZRA LEVANT: “I’m not Muslim, but I cringed for my Muslim friends.” In other news, noted Zionist hate-criminal and Muslim-hater Ezra Levant claims to have actual Muslim friends …. (ezralevant.com)

~ EZRA UPDATE— Muslim radicals threaten to appeal my dismissal; Shaidle bristles, snarls …. (ezralevant, 5fof)

~ THE NATPOST EDITORS on the AHRCC case against Ezra Levant: Hardly a win for free speech. Contra Catfur’s usage, a Pyrrhic victory is “One more victory like that, and we’re scr*wed.” You know, send your giant army in, battle ensues, the enemy is wiped out, and you’ve got the last 5 guys standing.. hurray …. (blazingcatfur.blog)

~ THERE’S A Youtube version of Ezra Levant vs Syed Sohawardy on AM 640 in Toronto online.Thanks to Mike the Tipster …. (youtube)

~ THE SHAIDLE— “Ezra Levant 1, Canadian Thought Police 0” …. (pajamasmedia)

~ MUST HEAR: Syed lies on radio, calls Ezra Levant a “bully” who will “soon pay” and “should be controlled” (!) …. (fivefeetoffury)

~ NOTHING TO SEE HERE.. move along… “Alberta Human Rights Commission: Let’s All Pretend This Never Happened” …. (downwitheverybody)

~ WINNERS & LOSERS: On Reason magazine’s HIT & RUN blog, Jacob Sullum explains who really won when the Alberta Human Rights Commission dismissed the second ‘toon complaint against Ezra Levant …. (scaramouche)

~ BELIGERENT, whining Muslims admit to being bullies and censors in Levant case …. (fivefeetoffury)

~ CRAZY INGRATE Mohammedan Thanks, then Blames Ezra Levant for Islamist Tendency to Lunatic Violence …. (blazingcatfur.blog)

~ BLAZING CATFUR: “Syed “Taqiyya” Soharwardy is a Goddamn Liar – Islamist Scumbag has a Law Society Complaint Outstanding Against Ezra Levant” …. (blazingcatfur.blog)

Being Legally Bullied? Innocent? Join Ezra’s Crew Now!

FreeSpeechers

~ REFRESHER: The feisty Denyse O’Leary on Liberal Fascism. And look at the kind of juvenalia Denyse has to put up with for defending her ideas. Look at the url, for example…. (deborahgyapong.blog)

~ OUR CANADIAN BIRTH-CRISIS— “In this “slam-bam-thank-you-man” of an article, Prof. Douglas Farrow pops some presumptive balloons about the culture of contraception. He also overturns the buried and tragic betrayal of the Pope by the Canadian bishops at the time” …. (socon.ca)

~ NAOMI LAKRITZ – “Human rights commission ensures balance of freedoms – “Bullsh*t Alert”. Balance of freedoms, eh? Arbitrated by whom, under what power exactly?” …. (blazingcatfur.blog)

~ CHESTERTON CONTRA MODERNITY— “In 1922 he became a Roman Catholic. “The fight for the family and the free citizen and everything decent must now be waged by the one fighting form of Christianity,” he wrote” …. (ghostofaflea)

~ SO HAS PARDEEP GUNDARA ever heard of the Magna Carta? &500,000 spent to pass the censors …. (marginalizedactiondinosaur)

~ MONTREAL Muslim Woman Files Human Rights Complaint Against YMCA …. (downwitheverybody)

~ TEAT-WARS: Windsor Crossing’s LaSenza now subject of Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario complaint …. (canada.com)

~ AN UPDATE on Howard Rotberg’s suit against Chapters & beligerent Muslims …. (fivefeetoffury)

~ PROF. MARK MERCER – The purpose of laws against the expression of hate, or “All of your speech are belong to us” …. (blazingcatfur.blog)

~ SOCIALIST AUSSIE Attorney-General Asks UN To Monitor Human Rights… In Australia …. (downwitheverybody)

~ PACHECO: “The Political Correctors of the AHRC” …. (socon.ca)

~ CANUCKISTAN: We ♥ Big Nanny-Gov! “Here is an axiom for the size of the state: The size of government is directly tied to the insatiable appetite of a country’s citizens for more in good times and the anxieties of voters when the economy and society appear to be headed in decline”.. the HRC and other instruments of bureaucratic power are part of the bigger Nanny-State problem …. (soberingthoughts.blog)

~ O’LEARY WISDOM— “Roundup, plus, Focus, guys, focus: To restore civil rights, get our laws changed, don’t attack individuals” …. (post-darwinist.blog)

~ SHAIDLE: “Not to be confused with Norman Methodistson– Muslims keep bringing the crazy” …. (fivefeetoffury)

~ ALL SANE PEOPLE will vote Liberal; you are sane, therefore you want to vote Liberal! Hurray! [Soviet Logic] “Liberal “Negative Option Billing” In Guelph” …. (forlifeandfamily.blog)

~ ALL-PURPOSE HATERS of the Westboro Church stopped at border. Mind you, if they were Islamist whack-jobs off to some Shari’a Conference, would they be caught & bounced? …. (rjjago)

~ TOLERANT Reader Mail: Drive Christianity underground …. (timeimmortal)

~ DAILY BAYONET: “Another Human Rights Bust” …. (dailybayonet.blog)

~ BUILDING HUMAN RIGHTS— Our goal should be to help accelerate the rate of change in China. “Illiberal Education”; Jay Nordlinger on China’s Olympics. “The Road to Beijing, Part V” …. (nro)

~ SOLZHENITSYN, A Great Soul, Laid to Rest …. (blog.acton.org)

~ BREAST-FEEDING UNFRIENDLY Bra store must prove itself lactose tolerant… Nursing Mom claims she faced D-Cup of Discrimination …. (blazingcatfur.blog)

~ DUST MY BROOM: “Finding your Waterloo in Canada” …. (dmb)

~ CENSORED! French Satirist Maurice Sinet’s Firing for Antisemitism Raises Free Speech Questions …. (MaD)

~ ‘FRAIDY FASCISM? A cowardly and unpopular EU …. (blogs.telegraph)

~ STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: “The Islamic Society of North America recently has joined the National Council of Churches, Jim Wallis’ Sojourners, two Jewish groups, the National Association of Evangelicals and Catholic Charities to urge Obama and McCain to give prime time convention speeches about the “plague” of poverty in America…. The left-leaning religious officials, guided by 100 years of statist Social Gospel, want to wage a government-led coercive struggle against “poverty” in the abstract” …. (theird.org)

~ STUDYING THE OBVIOUS: Lefty blogs are filled with profane filth …. (dustmybroom.com)

~ WANT OBEDIENT DRONES? Keep ’em stupid– “Slogging through the Anticulture: Some time ago the man whom I call The Boss — not Bruce Springsteen, nor a Connecticut Yankee, but Pope Benedict — observed that it takes only a brief acquaintance with history to notice that moral and intellectual progress is not inevitable and continual” …. (merecomments)

~ USB GADGET Breaches Great Firewall of China …. (wired.com)

~ NO QUESTIONS ALLOWED— Among The Barbarians; San Francisco fest features public sex with no arrests. ‘This is what the gay agenda is all about’. California Legislators tell school kids to celebrate homosexuality. Barbara Kay: AIDS is not a romantic disease …. (Various)

~ FREESPEECHER Quebec Mayor Vows to Continue City Hall Prayer Despite Legal Threats…. (socon.ca)

~ CLAUDIA ROSETT: “This is one the official guides to the Olympics won’t be handing out, but it is vital to understanding the true context of the spectacle we are about to witness in Beijing. Created and circulated by people who have kept faith with the Chinese democracy movement: The Tienanmen Massacre Map” …. (pajamasmedia)

Click for full-size 2-page version (.pdf)

~ FRESH READING— “Fans of Anthony Esolen will certainly want to know that his Politically Incorrect Guide to Western Civilization is now in print this summer” …. (merecomments)

~ AND IT’S NOT THE BCHRT HEARING-ROOM? Torture chamber found in B.C. …. (dustmybroom)

~ SPY-KIDS, REDUX: “In the days of Stalin and Mao, school children were encouraged to rat out their parents for politically incorrect thoughts expressed at home. Now it is the turn of the greenies in Europe to ape the totalitarians” …. (americanthinker)

~ FASCIST-OLYMPICS— “Faster. Higher. Stronger. (Cough. Sputter. Choke): What would a Smoglympics be without athletes sporting festive face masks during opening ceremonies? Under the circumstances, maybe they should give out medals for such new events as “highest lung capacity” and “strongest respiration”; and via Kate @ SDA “Like those regimes, whether fascist or communist, China’s leaders have sought to transform public space and sporting events into visible proof of their fitness and mandate to rule” …. (Scara, SDA)

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Jihad ‘N’ Stuff

~ FRONT PAGE Interviews Tarek Fatah …. (blazingcatfur.blog)

~ TYSON SUBMITS… TO AMERICA! Tyson backs off placing Islam first, and America in submission. woo hoo, hoo hoo hoo. Eid al-Fitr, my eye …. (atlasshrugs2000)

~ DIANA WEST— “Should one point out that from ancient times a decline in courage has been considered the beginning of the end?” …. (jihadwatch.org)

~ LEGALLY APSPLODING JEWS FOR FUN! “Paramilitary group Hizbollah is about to receive approval from the Lebanese Government which will enshrine in law the firing of rockets into Israel” …. (blogfreeworld)

~ A SIGN OF HOPE? “Today’s news that Muslim women in Britain will be guaranteed equal rights in Islamic marriages has wide ranging consequences, not just for women but for a new model of European Islam” …. (blogs.telegraph)

~ DAMIAN PENNY— “Good for Random House… not because they’ve decided against publishing a novel some Muslims may find offensive, but because they’re openly and honestly explaining their decision” …. (damianpenny)

~ MUSLIM LIFEGUARD files human rights complaint, hijab and burkini involved …. (dustmybroom)

Lifting the veil – women in Afghanistan

~ AFGHAN CHILDREN raped ‘with impunity’; Sharia law prevents accusers from coming forward …. (jihadwatch.org)

~ BOSTOM ON Romanticized Pedophilia and Polygamy …. (andrewbostom.org)

~ ANTI-CANUCKI CRY BABY: The lawyer defending one of the alleged fertilizer-of-peace bombers says his client never had any intention of engaging in actual violent acts. How could he, when he was a mere “babe in the woods”? …. (scaramouche)

~ LOOKING THE OTHER WAY— “Pakistan: Autopsy points to torture and “honor killing” of Christian man with Muslim girlfriend” …. (jihadwatch.org)

~ WHAT COULD POSSIBLY GO WRONG in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania? …. (shotgun)

~ CREEPING SHARIA: A Terrorists’ Bill of Rights? …. (creepingsharia)

~ COMMENTARY: Suspend Saudi Arabia’s Olympic Team? “Notwithstanding the Olympics’ explicit rules against all forms of discrimination, the Saudi government decided to ban its women from participating in the Olympic games that began today in Beijing” …. (investigativeproject.org)

~ DUST MY BROOM: “Are you feeling oppressed and paranoid?” …. (dustmybroom)

~ SCARAMOUCHE ON “Bleeding for Darfur; turning a blind eye to the humongous problems at home: Two of the Canadian Jewish organizations which are doing Jews and other Canadians a grave disservice by continuing to champion anti-free speech laws and Canada’s anti-democratic quasi-judicial system (which is wholly rotten) have come to the aid not of Jews, not of Canadians, but of folks in “war-torn” Darfur” …. (scaramouche)

~ THE NATIONAL SECULAR SOCIETY: “Islamic groups trying to use human rights law to stifle free speech” …. (blazingcatfur.blog)

~ WELCOME TO THE HOTEL CALIFORNIA!.. You can checkout any time you like, But you can never leave! “Woman Denied Bid to Leave Islam” …. (mypetjawa)

~ BOLDLY INTO THE 10th CENTURY! Iranians suspend death by stoning. Mind you, death by gun, backhoe, burial, hanging from a crane, and however else is still just fine …. (blogfreeworld)

~ WHEN BIN LADIN GOT GOING— “History: 10 years ago today, al-Qaeda attacks American embassies in Kenya, Tanzania” …. (creepingsharia)

~ EXPULSION.. DESTRUCTION.. PALEOSTINIANISM ENSUES — “Monday will mark the third anniversary of the forcible expulsion of the Jews of Gaza and northern Samaria from their homes. Those expulsions were followed weeks later by the withdrawal of IDF personnel from the Gaza Strip” …. (carolineglick)

~ THE MUSLIM has taken polygamy to new depths …. (Various)

~ ANDREW C. MCCARTHY: Six months for helping bin Laden kill Americans? What’s the point? “Disgraceful Hamdan Sentence Calls Military Commissions Into Question” …. (nro)

~ RELIGION OF… Barbara Kay: Iran singles out a gentle faith for persecution …. (np, SCF)

~ ZZZZZZZ: “As the West Sleeps, Islamists Work on Establishing a Global Islamic State” …. (islam-watch.org)

~ FOOTLOOSE, INDONESIA: Brawl Breaks out Between Sharia Police and Party Goers Over “Un-Islamic” Dance. John Lithgow & Kevin Bacon unavailable for comment …. (weaselzippers)