Redstate

Iran is responding by sponsoring a holocaust cartoon contest. Which they are of course free to do, as it will only make them look more ridiculous when they see that their cartoons do not provoke bloody and deadly worldwide violence

We should establish our own contest, to guess the Iranian headlines after the Holocaust contest winner is announced. I guarantee you, they will report breathlessly on the dozens of Muslim children massacred in cities from Dearborn to Warsaw. There'll be pictures, and quotes from President Bush approving the slaughter and urging more of it.

Animals? This surely isn't human I know that much!

Maybe we can diplomatically convince Iran that cartoons are better weapons than nukes ;^)

Michelle Malkin is reporting that the perpetrator of the murder of a Catholic priest yesterday in Turkey has been caught, and that its been reported that this murderer is claiming that these cartoons were his motive. Allegedly he shouted "allah akbar" as he fled the scene as well.

One tragic aspect of this, beyond the murder of course, is that this was a teenager who did the killing, only 16 years old. Kids killing in the name of allah, lovely. Its reminiscent of the suicide-bomber teens the paletinians send into Isreal with bomb belts strapped around their bodies.

They also recently hired Jonathan Last of the Weekly Standard as a columnist.  Not bad.

Bush and his supporters should be cautious with this story. Remember, the people who are rioting against these cartoons are the same ones that Bush proposes to empower with democracy.

Jeff

No smirking, Chimpy.

I don't think the argument is that democracy is going to cure the problems of that part of the world. But I do think the argument is that with democracy there is a chance for it to change; absent democracy there is no chance for change.

of Bush's efforts with democracy in the Arab world. But taking a step back- these Muslims in Europe have been living in the most liberal democracy in the world for years if not generations, and they are becoming more extreme rather than moderating. If living in free democracies in Europe doesn't moderate these people, should we have high hopes that we can successfully foster democracies in the Arab/Muslim world that will have a moderating influence?

Obviously there are assimilation issues, but other races and nationalities do seem to be able to exist relatively peacefully in Europe- Indians and Jamaicans in England, for example. Why can't Muslims?

Europe can't assimilate as well as America can, but assimilation is a two way street also, and its fair to ask why Muslims are having such a hard time existing peacefully and assimilating into democratic societies in Europe, and if this has implications for Arab/Muslim countries to succeed with democracy. Turkey at least seems to be a good example so there is some hope.

Apparently the Whitehouse is lining up with sanity. Yesterday Danish PM Rasumssen said that the President had called to express his support for Denmark. And at a Whitehouse press conference, Scott McClellan is reported to have said "We would also urge people who are criticizing these cartoons to speak out forcefully against all forms of hate speech, including cartoons and articles throughout parts of the Arab world, which frequently espouse anti-Semitic and anti-Christian views."

Do you suppose that this will give the US media the oppurtunity they need to cover this story? Nahhh, that would be too supportive of Bush and Company. Forget I brought it up.

and one that deserves to be explored.

Didn't the Iranian President come out and claim the Holocaust never happened?  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/14/AR200512140
2403.html

How can you have a contest to come up with cartoons of a non-existant event?

of the idea that hate begets more hate, and intolerance more intolerance, I'm finding my reaction to these flag burnings is...who gives a rat's behind what these people think about the United States? My cautious, Kerry-voting side is telling me, well, you should, if they have access to nuclear weapons sometime in the near future. But my patriotic, Kerry-disdaining side retorts, by any means necessary, don't let them. It's a struggle.

Would incite the prototypical "You Racist!" remarks...  We're only allowed to ask what is wrong with America, remember?

Here in America, some heathen puts an upside-down crucifix in a jar and fills it with urine and calls it "art". Something tells me that he even got taxpayer funding thanks to the "endowment for the arts". I don't recall Christians the world over killing each other over such blatant blasphemy.

And they (in the Middle East) call US "savages".

Here's some more fuel for their fires: I believe Mohammed is the false prophet spoken of in Daniel and Revelation.

That the Joint Chiefs of Staff sent a letter to the Washington Post to protest Tom Toles' cartoon just a few days ago, and there were no burnings, and no beheadings, and I even complimented Toles (albeit in a somewhat backhanded way.)  Really, this abreaction to the cartoons is an intimidation tactic, a bullying tactic, and it should be interepreted as such:  it's designed and has been executed to intimidate moderate Muslims across the world and to strike even more fear into the hearts of the leadership in European nations that have their own problems as far as assimilation is concerned.  It has almost nothing to do with blasphemy of the Prophet, as such.

It's good to see the United States stand with Denmark, but we should also be standing with moderate Muslims who abhor the violence and intimidation their more militant bretheren have decided to undertake.

There is some art piece featuring Saddam ,of all people, that has been banned from some town in Europe because they are afraid it would offend Muslims.

I don't recall any government department issuing a grovelling suck-up to Christians when P1ss Christ was out.

I'm sorry to come across as a cold hearted cynic, and I know I will, so please bear with me.

In my humble opinion, these riots are no different than France's evenings of fun a few months ago. I read that the Lebanese rioters were bused in, and when it was over, marched back on the buses off to who knows where.

These are probing actions. Not, I repeat, not acts of rage. If they are tied to influencing the Isreali elections in March, then, I think they're stupid to boot. But, if this has anything to do with sanctions and or military action versus Iran, I would bet that the fifth column is in place with their communications active and these "riots" are test drives.

If I were in a position to find out, I'd want to know where they get their money and get ready to freeze some accounts. I'd also want to make sure the "dole" for "community activities" wasn't funding things like, say, mass transportation.

Europe got its wake up call and now they have about five weeks to get off their hands. I think it all lights up by the end of March, I hope I'm wrong, but this smells all too funny to me.

I have to go but I'll check back later to see if anyone else thinks like me, or am I just pulling fiercely on the one oar I've got.

Months after the fact and WAY too organized to be just the angry reactions of the "Arab Street". Clearly the masses have been stoked in some sort of calculated way. Sadly, I fear Europe will continue their path of appeasement. Push will eventually come to shove. Porter, both oars still in the water, imo.

Block off the important buildings, and let em riot, so they can show the world how they take criticism...by behaving like maniacs.

All they're doing is demonstrating to the world that:

1.  they deserve no respect as a religion if they can't protest what might be a valid pretense for anger in a civilized manner, and
   
2.  they're only proving to the world that they are exactly what they try to convince the world they are not.

If Islam wants to be taken seriously as a mainstream religion, then they need to learn what the Christians and Jews have learned, and that is that a modicum of tolerance of disparate viewpoints makes for a smoother ride for everyone.

If the wish to peacefully protest no problem. However if they become violent and riot, pull the rubber bullets, lock an load with FMJ and shoot them like rabid dogs.

Sooner or later we will have to deal with these thugs, what thugs understand is bussiness end of a rifle.

...but I didn't want to retype something I'd posted in another thread. Porter you are spot on in your analysis. Check this out:

An underlying pretext for the cartoon riots?  By: John Stark  

Michelle Malkin is linking to a piece at Civitas by David Conway that is highly interesting:

http://www.civitas.org.uk/blog/archives/2006/02/if_theres_hell_below_is_thi
s_where_we_shall_all_be_spending_xmas_.html#more

Apparently, Denmark becomes the chair of the UN Security council soon. You know, the same Security Council to which Iran has been referred to for possible sanctions, because Iran is threatening to go nuclear.

Now, isn't that interesting? The crux of Conway's argument is that all of this cartoon nonsense is very coincidentally timed with both the referral of Iran to the Sec. Council, and to Denmark soon becoming the Chair of that Council, and that it actually has little to do with the cartoons themselves and alot more to do with bullying Europe in general and Denmark in particular as Iran heats up its weapons program.

This fits the pattern that Iran has followed to date. Delay and stall any action by the UN, the EU, or the US, until its too late and they've acquired nukes. But why would all of these other islamic nations get on board with these cartoon riots? It couldn't possibly be because they are hoping that Iranian nukes might proliferate into their hands, could it? That by backing Iran's little schemes here, they will reap the winfall once Iran gets their hands on the nuclear goods?

There was a very good piece here at Redstate recently about the options left to the West concerning Iran, but I forget the name of the diary or the author. One of the points that was raised was that a nuclear Iran would be a nightmare, because that technology would end up in the hands of the likes of Syria and Saudi Arabia. It seems we may be seeing a bid to get the EU and the US to back down on a nuclear Iran, and it may hint at deep connections and cooperation between islamic states to further their military goals.

The fact that the Danes are taking over the chairmanship of the Security Council as the Iranians get referred to it over their nuclear ambitions speaks VOLUMES in light of the current unrest, and frankly I'm surprised that this isn't getting commented on more by the military and political analysts.

These riots are most definitely probing actions.

I cant beleive I'm recomending anything in the USA Today, but Kathleen Parker has got this one right.  I didn't even bother to read the counterpoint op-ed.  Call me closed minded, but I dont even what to hear it.

Shameful appeasement

http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2006-02-07-faith-speech-sha
me_x.htm