Agnostics continue to slaughter atheists in Nigeria.
Ah, who am I kidding? It’s Muslims slaughtering Christians (and vice versa). Nigeria’s Acting President–the ironically named Goodluck Jonathan–has promised to quell the violence, but I suspect he’ll do no more than tamp it down temporarily.
I’m about to start an Islam/Middle East themed reading project, and if anyone wants to join me, you are welcome. My selection process is complex and meticulous: I’ve scanned my bookshelves and made a list of books on the topic that I own but have not yet read.
The first three out of the gate are all written by immigrants who now live and work in the United States:
The first two look to be more or less sympathetic toward Islam, but since I haven’t read them yet, it’s hard to tell. The third pretty much telegraphs its intention right there in the title. (Wafa Sultan, you may recall, is the firebrand who shouted down a couple of Muslim men during an Al Jazeera exchange in 2006.)
If there’s enough interest, I might blog the first book chapter-by-chapter, like I did with Richard Dawkins’ The Greatest Show on Earth. Let me know!
Voters in Switzerland have passed a referendum–with a healthy margin–to ban the construction of new minarets in the country. Switzerland currently has a grand total of FOUR minarets.
There are ways to oppose the encroachment of extremist Islam, but this isn’t one of them.
By now you’ve likely heard about the massacre yesterday at Fort Hood, Texas that left 13 dead and many more injured. The shooter was Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist born in Virginia. After initially reporting that Hasan had been killed on the scene, authorities now say he is alive and in stable condition, despite being shot four times during the incident.
Much is being made of the fact that Hasan, although a native-born American and career military man, is a lifelong Muslim who was outspoken in his opposition to US actions overseas (to be fair, not an unusual position for many citizens). He reportedly shouted “Allahu Akbar! (God Is Great!)” during the shooting.
So, is Hasan a Muslim terrorist, a one-man sleeper cell wreaking havoc at the heart of the Great Satan? Or is he a mentally unstable soldier who just happened to be a Muslim? Even if we have some answers soon they won’t be satisfying.
We look at three recent TV programs that have attracted the attention of the Eye of Sauron, a.k.a. Catholic League president Bill Donohue, whose job it is to manufacture outrage anytime anyone makes fun of the Church or offers sharp criticism of it. Sarah Silverman’s video “Sell the Vatican, Feed the World” appeared on the season finale of Real Time with Bill Maher. The Simpsons mock the Eucharist in their annual “Treehouse of Horror” special with the segment “Don’t Have a Cow, Mankind.” And Curb Your Enthusiasm auteur Larry David accidentally splashes urine on a portrait of Jesus in the episode “Dealing with the Midriff.” Bottom line: if it makes the Eye apoplectic, it warms our hearts.
Speaking of TV, Muslims have yet to riot or issue any fatwas over a controversial commercial by German lingerie company Liaisons Dangereuse.
The only thing that makes me laugh more at Bill “Eye of Sauron” Donohue getting his rosary in a bunch is hearing him complain that “They only pick on the Catholics–they wouldn’t dare pick on the Muslims.” Which begs the question: why does the Eye only complain when “they” pick on Catholics, but never says a word when “they” pick on the Muslims? I wonder if ol’ Bill has seen this German lingerie commercial? (And when will the Muslims start their riots?)
You may recall, from a couple of months ago, the case of Rifqa Bary, the 17-year-old Christian convert who ran away from her Muslim parents in Ohio to stay with the minister of a Florida megachurch, claiming her parents would murder her for being an apostate. Her parents assure authorities she is in no danger, but a judge ordered her placed in foster care in Florida for the time being.
Now the courts are saying she’ll be placed in foster care in Ohio, but only if her parents can provide evidence that they maintain legal immigrant status. If they can’t–and so far they haven’t–the whole family may end up being deported back to Sri Lanka!
by John C. Snider © 2009
Is Muammar Gaddafi monitoring your tweets? Here’s the bizarre link between the social networking explosion and the inscrutable Islamic nation of Libya.
A short tutorial on URL shortening
If you use the internet much, chances are you’re familiar with “URL shortening.” In case you’re not, URL shortening is a free service that takes a really long URL (like the unwieldy strings generated by, say, the New York Times, or even by blogging sites like this one) and turns it into something more compact. For years the most common such tool was TinyURL. For example, this recent American Freethought post…
http://www.americanfreethought.com/wordpress/2009/08/11/ben-stein-loses-nyt-gig-grip-on-reality/
…when transformed by TinyURL, becomes this:
http://tinyurl.com/qvbsbz
Sure, it’s a nonsensical string of characters, but the link won’t get broken if it’s inserted in an email that wraps text–plus it’s fantastic for, say, the 140-character limitation imposed by the hugely popular social media tool Twitter.
Wright v. Hitch
Friday, December 11th, 2009Finally–two of my favorite pundits go head-to-head at bloggingheads.tv. Check. It. Out.
Tags: christopher hitchens, robert wright
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