(This posting stuck toward the top for a few days. Please scroll down)
Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday for one hour at noon, Pacific Time.
The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.
Callers welcome!
Friday, November 2: Three interviewees, LA Sunsett of Political Yen/Yang: Balanced Commentary for Political Centrists, Karridine, and Simon of Power and Control, will be joining us for this week's show.
Karridine, one of our interviewees at the top of the hour, recently released the song "Wanna Go Home (GI's Lament)," honoring our men and women in our military. You can read the lyrics HERE and hear a clip HERE. Karridine views this moving piece of music as his contribution to the Fighting Forces protecting America and freedom, in Iraq, Afghanistan and around the world. "Soldier's Lament" has always been I Wanna Go Home, WHEN I've done an honorable job for my nation, family and friends. We are going to play the song on the air and discuss its message and origins.
Karridine was referred to The Gathering Storm Radio Show by Simon of the Power and Control blog. Simon and Karridine have been online buddies for several years. Simon, who believes that "Wanna Go Home" is the song for the Iraq War, has a background in both computer and radio technology and will also be joining us at the top of the hour.
LA Sunsett is our interviewee for the second half of the hour. According to his profile, LA is a political independent that belongs to no political party. I base my political ideology solely on principle, and not by daily talking points.... He blogs a variety of topics. We plan to discuss with LA our foreign policy toward Iran and his concerns about the Patriot Act.
If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen to recordings of the radio broadcasts later by CLICKING HERE.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Laura Bush Dons The Abaya
First, we have this photo posted by Reliapundit at THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS and by others elsewhere, showing First Lady Laura Bush sitting between two black sacks:
Little consolation, of course, but at least our First Lady wasn't wearing the abaya.
Um, not exactly.
I started clicking links at Foehammer's Anvil and found that Laura Bush did indeed done the abaya. Photo from the White House web site, via this posting by Debbie Schlussel:
Debbie Schlussel also found the following at USATODAY.com (emphases mine):
I say it again, just as I did in an earlier posting:
Laura Bush, you don't speak for me.
Little consolation, of course, but at least our First Lady wasn't wearing the abaya.
Um, not exactly.
I started clicking links at Foehammer's Anvil and found that Laura Bush did indeed done the abaya. Photo from the White House web site, via this posting by Debbie Schlussel:
Debbie Schlussel also found the following at USATODAY.com (emphases mine):
Given that the first lady wore a headscarf when she visited a Jewish holy site in Jerusalem and a mantilla when she met with Pope Benedict XVI, we asked if Bush will be wearing some sort of abaya while she's in Saudi Arabia. "No," Sally McDonough, the first lady's spokeswoman, tells USA TODAY's David Jackson, adding: "they do not expect nor encourage it" of Western visitors.Apparently at some "point," First Lady Laura Bush felt the "need to wear" the abaya and even to post the photo at the White House web site. In my book, that "need" is called dhimmitude.
Condoleezza Rice and Madeleine Albright didn't wear head coverings when they visited Riyadh on official business, according to the photographs in our archive.
Update at 12:45 p.m. ET: McDonough says they have a nuanced policy when it comes to women who are visiting Saudi Arabia as part of the first lady's delegation.
"According to our team, during any activities on your own time - going to the mall, going out of the hotel for dinner, etc - women need to follow Saudi law and wear an Abaya. During official meetings, it is not necessary," she writes in an e-mail to USA TODAY. "As per guidance from Embassy on the ground, as members of the official traveling party, we will not need to wear any head scarves or abayas at any point."
I say it again, just as I did in an earlier posting:
Laura Bush, you don't speak for me.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Now, It's Personal
Bear with me as I lay the foundation for the section toward the end of this posting, the portion I've bolded.
From this source:
So, what was going on? (SIOE stands for "Stop the Islamisation of Europe"; SIAD stands for Stop the Islamisation of Denmark):
Not long ago, I spoke in person to a group about the Islamification of the West, right here in the D.C. area. And guess what? Some present insisted afterwards that I have a security escort to my car. I'm not kidding! Here in America! You see, terrorism comes in different forms, including that of intimidation.
So, before you brush off the idea that the above attack is something which could happen only "over there," I suggest that you rethink your complacency. I've been rethinking mine. Understand that I am rethinking and considering some new strategies. I am not cowed. I will not submit! In fact, I feel a wave of ramping-up coming on.
From this source:
The Danish chapter of Stop the Islamisation Of Europe, SIOE, has come out with a disturbing report of what seems to be a co-ordinated attempt on the lives and/or physical well being of their leaders.The photos below come from this source:
So, what was going on? (SIOE stands for "Stop the Islamisation of Europe"; SIAD stands for Stop the Islamisation of Denmark):
On sunday the 21th October SIOE Denmark had announced a demonstration in Copenhagen....Before the demo Anders Gravers (SIOE and SIAD) and 2 other members were driving in a van with three seats in the front, following the security car(...)Kleinverzet concludes with the following:
2-5 sek. after there was a loud bang and the frontwindow was damaged. About two autonomous looking types were in the front and two on each side smashing the side windows shouting "Get him out, get him out!" and started hitting Anders and the SIAD passenger in the other site with ironbars. The SIAD member in the middle was hit of a thrown filled soda bottle in her backhead.
Anders succeded after a while to kick one of the autonomous hard in the face as he leaned in to unlock the door. Anders managed to get out with a fire extinguisher from the van and hit another one hard on the shoulder. It remained later that they attempted to stab him down when there was found cut holes in the shirt, jacket and vest. Anders was wearing his security vest which saved his life.
Suddenly they disappeared and Anders got around the van and saw a SIAD member lying on the floor while he was beaten in the head of 4-5 persons with ironbars. Apperently they also tried to stab him down, but again he also wore his security vest which saved his life.
Suddenly someone screamed RUN RUN and they disappeared up the steep driveway. The elderly woman was lying on the floor completely still. She had been in the security car and got out immediately when the driver shouted OUT OUT. She didn’t know what to do and started running. She was hunted down by two persons and banged down with an ironbar. She lay completely still in the hope she wouldn’t get anymore. She felt they stood a moment watching her if she would move. Then they presumably ran to the other SIAD member on the floor and joined the attack on him.
The SIOE site has more, including photos of the aftermath, New Zonka has background on this incident and the dereliction of duty by the Danish MSM. This was not reported AT ALL anywhere in Europe (much like the Amsterdam car-b-ques or the Brussels riots). Even the Danish MSM got it (deliberately?) wrong."That's over in Europe and could never happen here," you say. Well, after a recent experience of my own, I'm not so sure that the danger is as distant as we'd like to believe.
This could be just another stormy week in Eurabia. On the other hand, this could be the cauldron starting to boil. Fact is: I'm bracing myself.
Not long ago, I spoke in person to a group about the Islamification of the West, right here in the D.C. area. And guess what? Some present insisted afterwards that I have a security escort to my car. I'm not kidding! Here in America! You see, terrorism comes in different forms, including that of intimidation.
So, before you brush off the idea that the above attack is something which could happen only "over there," I suggest that you rethink your complacency. I've been rethinking mine. Understand that I am rethinking and considering some new strategies. I am not cowed. I will not submit! In fact, I feel a wave of ramping-up coming on.
Weekly Radio Show: October 26
Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday for one hour at noon, Pacific Time.
The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.
Callers welcome!
Friday, October 26: Two interviewees, Mr. Ducky and Hanther of Tandra Dot Com, will be joining us for this week's show.
Mr. Ducky, our interviewee at the top of the hour, is a frequent commenter at my blog and at the blogs of some of my blogger friends. In his own words, I am a leftist who is trying to understand the right. There is a pretty severe disconnect in areas of the arts, religion, economics, politics.
Hanther, our interviewee and the bottom of the hour, is an author and illustrator. According to this page of the web site: Hanthercraft International is a multi-media company dedicated to the development of new standards for the presentation of visual narrative....Tandra is character driven sci-fi biased heroic fantasy adventure set in an alternate universe. Hanther also writes commentary, such as this one which directly pertains to the theme of The Gathering Storm Radio Show.
If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen to recordings of the radio broadcasts later by CLICKING HERE.
The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.
Callers welcome!
Friday, October 26: Two interviewees, Mr. Ducky and Hanther of Tandra Dot Com, will be joining us for this week's show.
Mr. Ducky, our interviewee at the top of the hour, is a frequent commenter at my blog and at the blogs of some of my blogger friends. In his own words, I am a leftist who is trying to understand the right. There is a pretty severe disconnect in areas of the arts, religion, economics, politics.
Hanther, our interviewee and the bottom of the hour, is an author and illustrator. According to this page of the web site: Hanthercraft International is a multi-media company dedicated to the development of new standards for the presentation of visual narrative....Tandra is character driven sci-fi biased heroic fantasy adventure set in an alternate universe. Hanther also writes commentary, such as this one which directly pertains to the theme of The Gathering Storm Radio Show.
If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen to recordings of the radio broadcasts later by CLICKING HERE.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
More On Esam Omeish And Mahdi Bray
Article from the October 23, 2007 edition of the Northern Virginia Daily:
Gilbert, Athey criticize Kaine: Delegates - Ties too closeMr. Shippley also embedded the following video in the online version of the article:
By Garren Shipley -- Daily Staff Writer
Democratic Gov. Timothy M. Kaine is far too close to a Muslim group that allegedly has ties to Islamic terrorism and espouses radical views, according to two local delegates. But a group leader says the charges are founded in racism.
Kaine should move to put some distance between his administration and the Falls Church-based Muslim American Society, said Dels. Todd Gilbert, R-Woodstock, and Clifford L. "Clay" Athey Jr., R-Front Royal.
It all started when Kaine appointed Dr. Esam Omeish, the president of the society, to the Virginia Commission on Immigration. Gilbert wrote to Kaine, asking him to reconsider the appointment after seeing online videos of Omeish accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians and exhorting Muslims to "the jihad way."
Omeish resigned less than a day later under pressure from Kaine.
But after some investigation, the delegates say the connections between Kaine and MAS appear to be deeper than just one appointment.
Kaine was the keynote speaker at the society's Freedom Foundation "Standing for Justice Dinner." He was photographed with leaders of the group, including Imam Mahdi Bray, the executive director of the foundation.
In an online video of a 2000 rally in Washington, Abdurahman al-Amoudi — who would later plead guilty to charges of funneling money from Libya to Saudi militants — took to the podium and declared his support for Hamas and Hezbollah.
Hamas, now the ruling party in the Gaza Strip, started a wave of suicide bombings against Israeli civilians in 1993, according to the nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations. Hezbollah, which now holds a quasi-state in southern Lebanon, is thought to be behind the 1983 bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 servicemen.
"I have been labeled by the media in New York to be a supporter of Hamas. Anybody support this Hamas here?" al-Amoudi says in the video, drawing cheers from the crowd and fist pumps from Bray.
"I wish the added that I am also a supporter of Hezbollah. Anybody supports Hezbollah here?" he asks, drawing more cheers and fist pumps.
The video speaks for itself, Gilbert said.
"The governor shouldn't have been involved with this organization and its leadership," Gilbert said.
That being said, anyone can be the victim of bad staff work, he said.
"If [Kaine] didn't know this stuff, now that he does know it, he should say he rejects what the leadership of this organization stands for and he's going to distance himself from it, and encourage other leading Dem-ocrats to do the same."
Athey was less generous.
"It is clear that Governor Kaine and the Democratic Party sought the support of radical individuals who could turn out votes in his election. According to Mahdi Bray, the governor received that support," said Athey, referring to a story earlier this month in The Washington Times, in which Bray credited the Democrats' success in 2005 and 2006 to his organization.
"Ask Jim Webb what kind of impact we have," Bray said. "Ask the governor of Virginia what kind of impact we have. The Democrats' win hinged on the Muslim vote."
"I am not going to dignify the latest allegations by Dels. Gilbert and Athey with a comment," said Kaine spokesman Kevin Hall via e-mail. He also declined to comment on Bray's election-related statements.
Bray said Monday that he and others at the video weren't cheering for the terrorist organizations.
"The majority of the people they were kind of raising their hands, and kind of cheering, and so on because this was so uncharacteristic of al-Amoudi," Bray said. "We didn't know he had a problem with law enforcement. He was considered the pillar of the American Muslim community."
Bray said his gestures weren't in support of Hamas and Hezbollah.
"You saw me pumping my fists. You didn't see me raising my hands. If they had shown the audience, you would have seen people in the audience raising their hands and falling out laughing," he said. "For him to come and make these kinds of radical rants, no one took him seriously."
Bray said he does not support violence, and would have been more judicious in his reaction had the event happened after Sept. 11, 2001.
He also suggested that Gilbert had racist motives for his statements, noting that the delegate could be a "throwback" to Virginia's racist past.
"There are some throwbacks. And I think that Gilbert and others are throwbacks to the old days" who want to "maintain the status quo. Maybe their district is not as diverse as Northern Virginia."
Gilbert said Bray's charges are typical.
"We're so mired down in political correctness and this feeling that you have to be tolerant of all views that you can't even call somebody out for congratulating suicide bombers, and promoting and supporting recognized terrorist organizations," Gilbert said.
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Recommendation To Close Islamic Saudi Academy
(All emphases by Always On Watch)
It remains to be seen whether or not anything will come of the recommendation of a federal panel. From this source, October 18, 2007:
It remains to be seen whether or not anything will come of the recommendation of a federal panel. From this source, October 18, 2007:
McLEAN, Va. (AP) - A private Islamic school supported by the Saudi government should be shut down until the U.S. government can ensure the school is not fostering radical Islam, a federal panel recommends.Over two years ago, in an article dated October 5, 2005, significant concerns arose about the Islamic Saudi Academy:
In a report released Thursday, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom broadly criticized what it calls a lack of religious freedom in Saudi society and promotion of religious extremism at Saudi schools.
Particular criticism is leveled at the Islamic Saudi Academy, a private school serving nearly 1,000 students in grades K-12 at two campuses in northern Virginia's Fairfax County.
The commission's report says the academy hews closely to the curriculum used at Saudi schools, which they criticize for promoting hatred of and intolerance against Jews, Christians and Shiite Muslims.
"Significant concerns remain about whether what is being taught at the ISA promotes religious intolerance and may adversely affect the interests of the United States," the report states.
The commission, a creation of Congress, has no power to implement policy on its own. Instead, it makes recommendations to other agencies.
The commission does not offer specific criticism of the academy's teachings beyond its concerns that it too closely mimics a typical Saudi education.
The report recommends that the State Department prevail on the Saudi government to shut the school down until the school's textbooks can be reviewed and procedures are put in place to ensure the school's independence form the Saudi Embassy.
Messages left Wednesday with the State Department and the Saudi Embassy were not immediately returned.
Several advocacy groups in recent years have cited examples of inflammatory statements in religious textbooks in Saudi Arabia, including claims that a ninth-grade textbook reads that the hour of judgment will not come "until the Muslims fight the Jews and kill them."
Saudi officials said they have worked in recent years to reform the textbooks and the curriculum, but critics say progress has been insufficient.
The school's director-general, Abdalla I. Al-Shabnan, said Wednesday that he had not seen the report. But he said the academy has adjusted its curriculum in recent years and removed some of the inflammatory language that had been included in the Saudi text. The school's curriculum may now serve as a model for the Saudi government to use in continuing its reform of Saudi schools, he said.
"There is nothing in our curriculum against any religion," Al-Shabnan said.
He also said he is willing to show the school's curriculum and textbooks to anybody who wants to see them, and he expressed disappointment that the commission did not request materials directly from the school.
"We have an open policy," he said.
He also pointed out that many of the school's teachers are Christian and Jewish.
The commission based its findings in part on a the work of a delegation that traveled to Saudi Arabia this year. The commission asked embassy officials to review the textbooks used in Saudi schools generally and at the Islamic Saudi Academy specifically but did not receive a response.
Commission spokeswoman Judith Ingram said the commission did not request to speak to academy officials because that went beyond the commission's mandate.
The report also criticizes the school's administrative structure, saying it is little more than an offshoot of the Saudi Embassy, with the Saudi ambassador to the United States serving as chairman of the school's board of directors. The structure "raises serious concerns about whether it is in violation of a U.S. law restricting the activities of foreign embassies."
After the Sept. 11 attacks, critics questioned the nature of the religious education at the Saudi academy. The school again found itself in the spotlight in 2005, when a former class valedictorian, Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, was charged with joining al-Qaida while attending college in Saudi Arabia and plotting to assassinate President Bush.
Abu Ali was convicted in federal court and sentenced to 30 years in prison. He is appealing his conviction.
WASHINGTON - The American government is demanding that Saudi Arabia account for its distribution of hate material to American mosques, as the State Department pressed Saudi officials for answers last week and as the Senate later this month plans to investigate the propagation of radical Wahhabism on American shores.Some six months before the above article, the Washington Post published the following about the Islamic Saudi Academy:
The flurry of activity comes months after a report from the Center for Religious Freedom discovered that dozens of mosques in major cities across the country, including New York, Washington, and Los Angeles, were distributing documents, bearing the seal of the government of Saudi Arabia, that incite Muslims to acts of violence and promote hatred of Jews and Christians.
A Washington-based group that is part of the human rights organization Freedom House, the Center for Religious Freedom also found during its yearlong study that the Saudi-produced materials describe democracy and America as un-Islamic. They instruct recent Muslim immigrants to consider Americans as enemies and the materials urge new arrivals to use their time here as preparation for jihad. The documents also promote the version of Islam officially embraced by Saudi government and several of the September 11, 2001, hijackers, Wahhabism, as the only authentic Islam....
Eleventh-graders at the elite Islamic Saudi Academy in Northern Virginia study energy and matter in physics, write out differential equations in precalculus and read stories about slavery and the Puritans in English.As early as 2004, Paul Sperry wrote "Look Who's Teaching Johnny about Islam," an article indicating that that the influence of the Islamic Saudi Academy extends further than the boundaries of the school's two campuses:
Then they file into their Islamic studies class, where the textbooks tell them the Day of Judgment can't come until Jesus Christ returns to Earth, breaks the cross and converts everyone to Islam, and until Muslims start attacking Jews.
A top textbook consultant shaping classroom education on Islam in American public schools recently worked for a school funded and controlled by the Saudi government, which propagates a rigidly anti-Western strain of Islam, a WorldNetDaily investigation reveals.Susan Douglass also has connections to the Council on Islamic Education:
The consultant, Susan L. Douglass, has also praised Pakistan's madrassa schools as "proud symbols of learning," even after the U.S. government blamed them for fueling the rise of the Taliban and al-Qaida.
Douglass, routinely described as a "scholar" or "historian," has edited manuscripts of world history textbooks used by middle and high school students across the country. She's also advised state education boards on curriculum standards dealing with world religion, and has helped train thousands of public school teachers on Islamic instruction.
In effect, she is responsible for teaching millions of American children about Islam, experts say, while operating in relative obscurity.
WorldNetDaily has learned that up until last year Douglass taught social studies at the Islamic Saudi Academy in Alexandria, Va., which teaches Wahhabism through textbooks that condemn Jews and Christians as infidels and enemies of Islam. Her husband, Usama Amer, still teaches at the grades 2-12 school, a spokeswoman there confirmed.
Critics complain that Douglass, who taught at the Saudi academy for at least a decade, has convinced American textbook publishers and educators to gloss over the violent aspects of Islam to make the faith more appealing to non-Muslim children. The units on Islam reviewed by WND appear to give a glowing and largely uncritical view of the faith.I'm not holding my breath for the academy to close. Similar calls, including calls for extensive education of the institution, have come before. Besides, as I mentioned earlier in this posting, the school's influence extends much further than the boundaries of the academy's campuses. Nevertheless, closing the academy would be a step in the right direction.
Asked about it, Douglass referred questions to the Council on Islamic Education, which did not respond. CIE's website lists her in its staff directory as a "principal researcher and writer."
CIE is a Los Angeles-based Muslim activist group run by Shabbir Mansuri, who has been quoted in the local press saying he's waging a "bloodless" revolution to fight what he calls anti-Muslim bias in public schools and promote Islam in a positive light in American classrooms. Mansuri, who consults with Saudi education ministers at his center, claimed in a 2002 op-ed piece that Islam has been on American soil "since before this nation was founded."
[...]
Douglass has argued for more in-depth coverage of Islam in classrooms, while at the same time advising that Christian principles, including historic facts such as Christ's crucifixion, are clearly qualified with attributions such as "Christians believe."
Houghton Mifflin is not the only major publisher influenced by CIE. Prentice Hall also collaborates with the group. And its "Connections to Today," which is the most widely used world history book in the country, instructs students that jihad is an "inner struggle to achieve spiritual peace," according to the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Also, CIE has helped write supplemental teachers materials that engage children in entertaining Muslim role-playing activities in the class. Parents say they make the study of Christianity and other religions seem dull by comparison....
Monday, October 15, 2007
Islamic Prayer Room At GMU
Quite the controversy going on, it seems, and just in time for Islamo-fascism Awareness Week.
Labels:
Academia,
George Mason University,
Islamification
Thursday, October 11, 2007
What Is Ramadan?
This coming weekend on October 12-14, for the first time ever the Empire State Building in New York City will be bathed with green lights, the color closely associated with Islam, so as to commemorate Eid ul-Fitr, the end of Ramadan. Exactly what is being celebrated just blocks from the World Trade Center, the site of the horrific 9/11 terrorist attack on America's shores? To understand why such a commemoration of Eid ul-Fitr should be unacceptable to all those who love America, a short history lesson is in order.
Despite the feel-good recent kumbaya honorings on the part of Congress, the Pentagon (led by Chaplain Saifulislam, whose name, by the way, translates as "sword of Islam"), and President Bush, Ramadan involves more than prayers, fasting, and the giving of alms — all of which are part of the month long observance but which are also the outward signs of another message. By literal definition, of course, Ramadan commemorates Allah's "revealing" the Qur'an to Muhammad. But history clearly indicates that the "revelations" from Allah to Muhammad began around 610, some fourteen years earlier than 624.
Those earlier passages, sometimes referred to as the Meccan verses, are the oft-quoted peaceful verses in the Koran. Contrary to what one might expect, however, the last day of Ramadan does not celebrate the actual date of the earliest revelations of Allah to Muhammad but rather the Battle of Badr, the first significant military victory by the forces of Muhammad.
The Battle of Badr of March 17, 624, is one of the few military conflicts specifically mentioned in the Qur'an and holds a great deal of significance in Islam. Eid ul-Fitr, the final portion of Ramadan and which the lighting of the Empire State Building will recognize this weekend, has as its origin the aforementioned battle. Furthermore and most importantly, this battle marked the turning point for Islam, both politically and ideologically.
Having earlier fled to Medina along with followers who accepted him as their prophet whereas most of the tribes of Mecca did not, early on that morning in 624 Muhammad got word that a rich Quraish caravan from Syria was returning to Mecca. He therefore assembled the largest army he had ever been able to muster, some 300 men, with the original intent of raiding the caravan. After his men successfully overtook the caravan and brought back the booty, Muhammad then conveniently received a new "revelation" from Allah — a "revelation" which not only included rejoicing in having captured an enemy's caravan but which also called "proved" that Muhammad had been preaching the true way all along. Fulfilling Destiny, Muhammad and his forces proceeded to trounce the Quraish as punishment for having earlier rejected the prophet's teachings. From this source:
The underlying meaning of those green lights casting their glow on the Empire State Building this coming weekend is all about submission to Islam and to the will of Allah. Ah, the dhimmitude!
Despite the feel-good recent kumbaya honorings on the part of Congress, the Pentagon (led by Chaplain Saifulislam, whose name, by the way, translates as "sword of Islam"), and President Bush, Ramadan involves more than prayers, fasting, and the giving of alms — all of which are part of the month long observance but which are also the outward signs of another message. By literal definition, of course, Ramadan commemorates Allah's "revealing" the Qur'an to Muhammad. But history clearly indicates that the "revelations" from Allah to Muhammad began around 610, some fourteen years earlier than 624.
Those earlier passages, sometimes referred to as the Meccan verses, are the oft-quoted peaceful verses in the Koran. Contrary to what one might expect, however, the last day of Ramadan does not celebrate the actual date of the earliest revelations of Allah to Muhammad but rather the Battle of Badr, the first significant military victory by the forces of Muhammad.
The Battle of Badr of March 17, 624, is one of the few military conflicts specifically mentioned in the Qur'an and holds a great deal of significance in Islam. Eid ul-Fitr, the final portion of Ramadan and which the lighting of the Empire State Building will recognize this weekend, has as its origin the aforementioned battle. Furthermore and most importantly, this battle marked the turning point for Islam, both politically and ideologically.
Having earlier fled to Medina along with followers who accepted him as their prophet whereas most of the tribes of Mecca did not, early on that morning in 624 Muhammad got word that a rich Quraish caravan from Syria was returning to Mecca. He therefore assembled the largest army he had ever been able to muster, some 300 men, with the original intent of raiding the caravan. After his men successfully overtook the caravan and brought back the booty, Muhammad then conveniently received a new "revelation" from Allah — a "revelation" which not only included rejoicing in having captured an enemy's caravan but which also called "proved" that Muhammad had been preaching the true way all along. Fulfilling Destiny, Muhammad and his forces proceeded to trounce the Quraish as punishment for having earlier rejected the prophet's teachings. From this source:
In the name of Allah, the Beneficient, the Merciful.In other words, victory at the Battle of Badr proved to Muhammad and his adherents that Islam should from that time forth take on a militant aspect because such is the will of Allah. From the day of the Battle of Badr on, the tone of the verses in the Qur'an changed. These more recent revelations, sometimes referred to as the Medinan verses, abrogated the earlier and peaceful Meccan ones. Because preaching and tolerance had not brought Muhammad the following which he needed in order to establish himself and Islam as political forces to be reckoned with, Allah, via a military victory, showed the prophet a more effective way to spread Islam. Therefore, Muhammad's victory at the Battle of Badr symbolizes, for at least some Muslims, both the way to bring about the will of Allah and the will of Allah itself.
The battle of Badr was the most important among the Islamic battles of Destiny. For the first time the followers of the new faith were put into a serious test. Had victory been the lot of the pagan army while the Islamic Forces were still at the beginning of their developments, the faith of Islam could have come to an end.
No one was aware of the importance of the outcome of the Battle as the Prophet (S.A.W.) himself. We might read the depth of his anxiety in his prayerbefore the beginning of the Battle when he stood up supplicating his Lord:God this is Quraish. It has come with all its arrogance and boastfulness, trying to discredit Thy Apostle. God, I ask Thee to humiliate them tomorrow. God, if this Muslim band will perish today, Thou shall not be worshipped.[...]
This battle laid the foundation of the Islamic State...
The underlying meaning of those green lights casting their glow on the Empire State Building this coming weekend is all about submission to Islam and to the will of Allah. Ah, the dhimmitude!
Labels:
Battle of Badr,
dhimmitude,
History of Islam,
Islamification,
Ramadan
Weekly Radio Show: October 19
Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday for one hour at noon, Pacific Time.
The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.
Callers welcome!
Friday, October 19: Two interviewees, Mustang and Freedom Fighter, will be joining us for this week's show.
Our interviewee for the first half hour is my cyberfriend and mentor, Mustang of the blog Social Sense. Agree or diagree with him, you'll discover that his thought-provoking essays covering a variety of topics are among the best on the web.
Our intervieww at the bottom of the hour is Freedom Fighter of the blog Joshua Pundit: A Digest and Commentary on the War against Jihad. His blog covers current events pertaining to the so-called war against terror.
If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen to recordings of the radio broadcasts later by CLICKING HERE.
The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.
Callers welcome!
Friday, October 19: Two interviewees, Mustang and Freedom Fighter, will be joining us for this week's show.
Our interviewee for the first half hour is my cyberfriend and mentor, Mustang of the blog Social Sense. Agree or diagree with him, you'll discover that his thought-provoking essays covering a variety of topics are among the best on the web.
Our intervieww at the bottom of the hour is Freedom Fighter of the blog Joshua Pundit: A Digest and Commentary on the War against Jihad. His blog covers current events pertaining to the so-called war against terror.
If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen to recordings of the radio broadcasts later by CLICKING HERE.
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Defining Satire
(All emphases by Always On Watch)
The story of the hundreds of flyers left all over the campus of George Washington University illustrates the leftist bias in academia and in the media. At first, Young America's Foundation or the group's supporters came under suspicion. YAF's official October 9, 2007 statement about the distribution of the posters is HERE, and includes the following:
Miss Beth of the blog Miss Beth's Victory Dance provides the following, which I haven't been able to confirm:
The story of the hundreds of flyers left all over the campus of George Washington University illustrates the leftist bias in academia and in the media. At first, Young America's Foundation or the group's supporters came under suspicion. YAF's official October 9, 2007 statement about the distribution of the posters is HERE, and includes the following:
...Bridgette Behling, the assistant director of the Student Activities Center at GWU, wrote an email to one of the conservative students urging them to disavow hate speech that may originate from any future Foundation events: “due to the inflammatory nature of today’s events [falsified posters], as a good faith effort on behalf of YAF, it is important that YAF drafts a statement which states that you will not allow hate speech to be a part of any of YAF’s events, literature, written or verbal communication planned for Islamofacism Week. This statement should also include your plan for preventing these things from happening as well as the consequences for these things happening. It is important that we have this document should any further incidents occur as we move forward.”...Later some additional information came to light. According to this article in the university's newspaper the GW Hatchet:
A group of seven GW students sent an e-mail to The Hatchet late Tuesday night [October 9, 2007] admitting to hanging hundreds of controversial posters around campus early Monday morning.When all else fails, playing the race card is the tactic — never mind that adherents to and supporters of Islamo-fasicsm cross race lines.
The students - Adam Kokesh, freshman Yong Kwon, senior Brian Tierney, freshman Ned Goodwin, Maxine Nwigwe, Lara Masri and Amal Rammah - said their motives were misinterpreted. Students for Conservativo-Facism Awareness hung the posters in opposition to Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, an event being held beginning Oct. 22.
Kokesh, a graduate student and Iraq War veteran, gained celebrity over the past year because of his vocal opposition to the war. Nwigwe and Rammah are also graduate students.
[...]
Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week is being held at GW and sponsored by the Young America's Foundation, a conservative student group. It will feature several speakers - including controversial conservative author David Horowitz - slated to discuss radical Islam.
One-hundred and forty two colleges nationwide will host the event, according to its Web site. Horowitz is organizing the week.
"While the poster, even if taken seriously was not intended to cause any real harm, the systematic and glorified type of racism represented by this event is being imposed upon us from dangerous divisive outside forces" the e-mail said.
In the letter, members of the organization said their intent was to shed light on the week - which they called racist.
Miss Beth of the blog Miss Beth's Victory Dance provides the following, which I haven't been able to confirm:
It was a hoax [they claim satire] perpetrated by the Saudi-funded radical islamic front group Muslim Student Association.If true, no surprise there. Anything to stir things up instead of participating in a reasoned discussion to show that the term "Islamofascism" is a misnomer. Anything to discredit Islamo-fascism Awareness Week, which begins on October 22 at university campuses all over the United States, according to the left sidebar at FrontPage Magazine:
Berkeley -- Nonie Darwish, October 22Hot Air has this update about one of the "masterminds" behind the posters distributed at GWU:
Brown -- Robert Spencer, October 24
Cal Poly -- Greg Davis, October 25
Cal State Fullerton -- Nonie Darwish
Clemson -- Mike Adams, October 25
Columbia -- Phyllis Chesler, Ibn Warraq, Christina Hoff Sommers
Columbia -- Sean Hannity, David Horowitz, October 26
DePaul -- Robert Spencer, October 25
Emory -- David Horowitz, October 24
George Mason -- Luanah Saghieh, Alan Nathan, October 22
Lawrence University -- Jonathan Schanzer
Maryland --Michael Ledeen
Michigan -- David Horowtz, October 23
Northeastern -- Daniel Pipes, October 24
Ohio State -- David Horowitz, October 25
Penn -- Rick Santorum, October 24
Penn State -- Rick Santorum, October 23
Rhode Island -- Robert Spencer, October 24
San Francisco State -- Melanie Morgan, October 24
Stanford -- Wafa Sultan
Temple -- Rick Santorum, October 24
Tulane -- Ann Coulter, October 22
UC Santa Barbara -- Dennis Prager, October 25
UC Irvine -- Ann Coulter
UCLA -- Nonie Darwish, October 24
UCLA -- Frank Pastore, John Ziegler
USC -- Ann Coulter, October 25
Virginia -- Frank Gaffney
Washington -- Kirby Wilbur
Washington -- Michael Medved, October 25
Wisconsin -- David Horowitz, October 22
As soon as I saw it, the name Adam Kokesh rang a bell. He’s the Marine vet who got in trouble for wearing his uniform to anti-war protests, and who heads up the Iraq Veterans Against the War....The situation at GWU could have been much worse, I suppose. Just think of the uproar which could have ensued had a group distributed posters of the Danish cartoons satirizing MTP!
Weekly Radio Show: October 12
Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday for one hour at noon, Pacific Time.
The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.
Callers welcome!
Friday, October 12: Our interviewee this week for the entire hour is Cassandra, author of Escape! From An Arab Marriage Horror Stories from Women Who Fled Abusive Muslim Husbands. We welcome her back for her third appearance on the show.
If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen to recordings of the radio broadcasts later by CLICKING HERE.
The topic of discussion on this week's radio show will be Cassandra's take on Dr. Anis Shorrosh's The Twenty-Year Plan: Islam Targets America, which you can read HERE. I've also provided the text of the plan below:
The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.
Callers welcome!
Friday, October 12: Our interviewee this week for the entire hour is Cassandra, author of Escape! From An Arab Marriage Horror Stories from Women Who Fled Abusive Muslim Husbands. We welcome her back for her third appearance on the show.
If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen to recordings of the radio broadcasts later by CLICKING HERE.
The topic of discussion on this week's radio show will be Cassandra's take on Dr. Anis Shorrosh's The Twenty-Year Plan: Islam Targets America, which you can read HERE. I've also provided the text of the plan below:
1. Terminate America's freedom of speech by replacing it with hate crime bills state-wide and nation-wide.Be sure to join us for this week's show as Cassandra explains the plan to make us slaves of Allah!
2. Wage a war of words using black leaders like Louis Farrakhan, Rev. Jesse Jackson and other visible religious personalities to promote Islam as the original African-American's religion while Christianity is for the whites! Strange enough, no one tells the African-Americans that it was the Arab Muslims who captured them and sold them as slaves, neither the fact that in Arabic the word for black and slave is the same, "Abed."
3. Engage the American public in dialogues, discussions, debates in colleges, universities, public libraries, radio, TV, churches and mosques on the virtues of Islam. Proclaim how it is historically another religion like Judaism and Christianity with the same monotheistic faith.
4. Nominate Muslim sympathizers to political office for favorable legislation to Islam and support potential sympathizers by block voting.
5. Take control of as much of Hollywood, the press, TV, radio and the internet by buying the corporations or a controlling stock.
6. Yield to the fear of imminent shut-off of the lifeblood of America - the black gold. America's economy depends on oil, (1000 products are derived from oil), so does its personal and industrial transportation and manufacturing -41% comes from the Middle East.
7. Yell, "foul, out-of-context, personal interpretation, hate crime, Zionist, un- American, inaccurate interpretation of the Quran" anytime Islam is criticized or the Quran is analyzed in the public arena.
8. Encourage Muslims to penetrate the White House, specifically with Islamists who can articulate a marvelous and peaceful picture of Islam. Acquire government positions, get membership in local school boards. Train Muslims as medical doctors to dominate the medical field, research and pharmaceutical companies. Take over the computer industry. Establish Middle Eastern restaurants throughout the U.S. to connect planners of Islamization in a discreet way. Ever notice how numerous Muslim doctors in America are, when their countries need them more desperately than America?
9. Accelerate Islamic demographic growth via:a. Massive immigration (100,000 annually since 1961)10. Reading, writing, arithmetic and research through the American educational system, mosques and student centers (now 1500) should be sprinkled with dislike of Jews, evangelical Christians and democracy. There are 300 exclusively Muslim schools with loyalty to the Quran, not the U.S. Constitution.
b. No birth control whatsoever - every baby of Muslim parents is automatically a Muslim and cannot choose another religion later.
c. Muslim men must marry American women and Islamize them (10,000 annually). Then divorce them and remarry every five years - since one cannot have the Muslim legal permission to marry four at one time. This is a legal solution in America.
d. Convert angry, alienated black inmates and turn them into militants (so far 2000 released inmates have joined Al Qaida world-wide). Only a few have been captured in Afghanistan and on American soil. So far - sleeping cells!
11. Provide very sizeable monetary Muslim grants to colleges and universities in America to establish "Centers for Islamic studies" with Muslim directors to promote Islam in higher education institutions.
12. Let the entire world know through propaganda, speeches, seminars, local and national media that terrorists have hijacked Islam, not the truth, which is Islam hijacked the terrorists. Furthermore in January of 2002, Saudi Arabia's Embassy in Washington mailed 4500 packets of the Quran, videos, promoting Islam to America's high schools--free. They would never allow us to reciprocate.
13. Appeal to the historically compassionate and sensitive Americans for sympathy and tolerance towards the Muslims in America who are portrayed as mainly immigrants from oppressed countries.
14. Nullify America's sense of security by manipulating the intelligence community with misinformation. Periodically terrorize Americans of impending attacks on bridges, tunnels, water supplies, airports, apartment buildings and malls. (We have experienced this too often since 9-11.)
15. Form riots and demonstrations in the prison system demanding Islamic Sharia as the way of life, not American's justice system.
16. Open numerous charities throughout the U.S. but use the funds to support Islamic terrorism with American dollars.
17. Raise interest in Islam on America's campuses by insisting that freshman take at least one course on Islam. Be sure that the writer is a bonafide American, Christian, scholarly and able to cover up the violence in the Quran and express the peaceful, spiritual and religious aspect only.
18. Unify the numerous Muslim lobbies in Washington, mosques, Islamic student centers, educational organizations, magazines and papers by internet and an annual convention to coordinate plans, propagate the faith and engender news in the media of their visibility.
19. Send intimidating messages and messengers to the outspoken individuals who are critical of Islam and seek to eliminate them by hook or crook.
20. Applaud Muslims as loyal citizens of the US by spotlighting their voting record as the highest percentage of all minority and ethic groups in America.
Monday, October 08, 2007
Weekly Radio Show: October 5
Listen to The Gathering Storm Radio Show, which WC and I cohost. The show broadcasts live every Friday for one hour at noon, Pacific Time.
The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.
Callers welcome!
Friday, October 5: Our interviewee this week at the bottom of the hour is Alec Rawls of the Error Theory blog. The topic of discussion will be the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. According to Mr. Rawls's web site, the memorial is going to be a terrorist memorial mosque. You can read the details of the studies which Mr. Rawls has done at Error Theory.
Brief biography of Alec Rawls:
The call-in number is (646) 915-9870.
Callers welcome!
Friday, October 5: Our interviewee this week at the bottom of the hour is Alec Rawls of the Error Theory blog. The topic of discussion will be the Flight 93 Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. According to Mr. Rawls's web site, the memorial is going to be a terrorist memorial mosque. You can read the details of the studies which Mr. Rawls has done at Error Theory.
Brief biography of Alec Rawls:
My training is as an economist. I was in the PhD program in economics at Stanford until my research led me more towards moral theory and constitutional law, at which point I dropped the program and started working on my own. I was writing a book on republicanism (the system of liberty under law) for World Ahead Publishing when I discovered that the Flight 93 memorial was going to be a terrorist memorial mosque. World Ahead agreed to first publish my book about this rehijacking of Flight 93 (Crescent of Betrayal, temporarily available for free download at CrescentOfBetrayal.com). This is not my first venture into journalism. Over the years I have been a writer, opinions editor, and advisor for Stanford’s conservative campus newspaper The Stanford Review, and am currently on the Review’s board of directors.If you are unable to listen live to the radio show, you can listen to recordings of the radio broadcasts later by CLICKING HERE.
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