O God, Canada...... (groan)

The evacuation of Lebanese-"Canadians" has cost the taxpayers $85 million. Some have suggested expiring or removing the citizenship of said freeloaders but if Canada was plan B for them when Hezbollah was making life miserable for everyone (again!) I don't think that will really bother them (that is until another crisis). No, a more direct and fair approach is needed- bill them. It's only fair to do so. The Japanese have done it. PM Harper can be all Fat Tony on them: I'm afraid I must insist. The taxpayers have been most vocal on the subject of the evacuation money. 'Where is the money? Why aren' you getting the money? Why aren't you getting the money now?', and so on. So, if you please, da money."

That's how it's done.

Just Insufferable

This is why you can't have a "dialogue" with these people. Not that it is morally or intellectually repugnant to do so but impossible.
Just read the words of Saudi cleric, Salman al-Oda:

Nobody says you should face your enemy in the battle with roses or aromatic plants, or that you should give him your head on a platter. Even Christianity, which says that if you are struck on the right cheek, you should turn your left cheek, and if you are asked to give your coat, you should give your shirt as well, also includes the words of Jesus: “I came not to bring peace, but a sword.” As we see, the Christians today are the ones who attack the world of Islam. It is not the world of Islam that is aggressive. Who colonized whom? Who invaded Iraq, Palestine, Lebanon, Afghanistan, and every piece of the world of Islam? The Islamic world is subject to the aggression, the strikes, and the colonialism of the Western powers. Today, we see that the extremist, terrorist American and British administrations are attacking the Islamic world, supporting all the forces of violence and extremism, and abandoning the scales of justice.

Now you listen to me, you piece of crap, the founder of Christianity did not murder others, burn libraries, wage wars or deflower children. If you had the brains to read the entirety of the Pope's address and understand the message of a true religion of peace (the one founded by, as you may remember, "a monkey on the cross" ), then you would know that violence defies reason and is not conjunctive to the human soul, that Pope Benedict XVI was QUOTING a man under seige from lovely representatives of your backward religion and has been studying Islam extensively and that everything the Pope said was proven over and over and over again. Remember, too, that the West did not SHOOT A NUN IN THE BACK (a true martyr and a servant of God who looked after YOUR poor and suffering). There are no American, British or Zionist conspiracies. No one is trying to get you, least of all Christians (you know- whose churches you burn and from whom you demand jeziya- protection money- the pure gratitude of not being beaten up your thugs). You must think the rest of the world is stupid but you. YOU cause your own problems with your violence and ignorance.

I would like to take up Emperor Manuel II Paleogus' question: show me what good Islam has done for society. Where are the hospitals and schools (not the madrassas that recruit future suicide-bombers)? Where are the bodies of art, literature and philosophy? How many wells were dug? How many children immunised? What have you done to make everyone think that yours truly is a religion of peace and not a band of thugs who maim and butcher?

Let the world know when you think of an answer.

Mea Culpa: An Apology

If the Pope won't apologise, then I will.

I'm sorry that the comments you've neither read nor understood offended you. It was wrong for Benedict XVI to quote from an emperor who was under seige from the Ottomans and it was especially wrong for the Pope to even remotely suggest that violence is inconjunctive to the human soul. This is in no way meant to suggest that Islam's roots were mired in violence or that contemporary Muslims resort to irrational violence and/or threats at the slightest criticism or comment. No. In fact, nothing anyone does or says is even remotely radical or violent. It's not an overreaction to refer to Jesus Christ as a "monkey on the cross" (say- isn't He a prophet? Hhmmm?), threaten to assassinate the current Pope as one tried to assassinate the last one, burn churches, effigies or even kill a nun. No, these are reasonable responses for cool-headed, peaceful representatives of a religion that invented everything good under the sun.

And I'm sorry your civilisation didn't work and is propped up by obscenely priced barrels of oil which ultimately pollute the planet. It must be the Jews' fault. It usually is. Who kills Iraqis right now? It's them. Them or the Danes. I forget which.

Anyway, I do hope you accept this apology. If there is anyone who deserves it more, it's you.

Stoking a Fire

The new Holy Father cannot win. At least not the battle of reason. It takes two to reason- one to give an argument or solution and the other to hear it. The Holy Father got the first part right. The Islamic world and the press simply do not have the other.

Here is part of his address (you can read the rest here):

I was reminded of all this recently, when I read the edition by Professor Theodore Khoury (Münster) of part of the dialogue carried on - perhaps in 1391 in the winter barracks near Ankara - by the erudite Byzantine emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, and the truth of both. It was presumably the emperor himself who set down this dialogue, during the siege of Constantinople between 1394 and 1402; and this would explain why his arguments are given in greater detail than those of his Persian interlocutor. The dialogue ranges widely over the structures of faith contained in the Bible and in the Qur'an, and deals especially with the image of God and of man, while necessarily returning repeatedly to the relationship between - as they were called - three "Laws" or "rules of life": the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Qur'an. It is not my intention to discuss this question in the present lecture; here I would like to discuss only one point - itself rather marginal to the dialogue as a whole - which, in the context of the issue of "faith and reason", I found interesting and which can serve as the starting-point for my reflections on this issue.

In the seventh conversation (controversy) edited by Professor Khoury, the emperor touches on the theme of the holy war. The emperor must have known that surah 2, 256 reads: "There is no compulsion in religion". According to the experts, this is one of the suras of the early period, when Mohammed was still powerless and under threat. But naturally the emperor also knew the instructions, developed later and recorded in the Qur'an, concerning holy war. Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the "Book" and the "infidels", he addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general, saying: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached". The emperor, after having expressed himself so forcefully, goes on to explain in detail the reasons why spreading the faith through violence is something unreasonable. Violence is incompatible with the nature of God and the nature of the soul. "God", he says, "is not pleased by blood - and not acting reasonably...

The bone of contention is this: "Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached".

It does not matter to the Islamic world that Benedict XVI was quoting a conversation between the emperor Manuel Paleogus and "an educated Persian". It does not matter that violence defies reason, the essence of the Holy Father's address. It does not matter that Mohommed did, in fact, carry out his conversions with violence. What does matter is that Islam will not be countenanced or this will happen. It matters to the cowards who still do not understand that Islam is not a peaceful religion and has yet to prove that it is.

Here are some comments left on a BBC message board (not edited but names witheld):

"Pope should not be this much ignorant about islam.Don't ever insult other religions. That should be the underlining principle living in a multi-religious world." (I'll remember you said that.)

"Pope has irreversably lost his respect among the Muslims. His remarks DOES NOT however mean that the respect for Christianity (e.g., in Jesus Christ) has in any way receded in the Muslim world." (They planned to kill the previous Pope. They have no respect for him, Christianity and Christians, nor do they have any love for the proper use of grammar.)

"How dare people say the Pope was wrong. He's infallible so couldn't possibly make a mistake." (That's right. He is infallible. You, on the other hand, are very fallible.)

"Pope hasn't said this intentionally.However, He should have considered that outrage aroused due to insulting Islam by false info in quotation'll worsen Islam image at west.He should have considered that these words'll deepen hatred towards west in Islamic world & will support extremists calling Muslims to fight against illusory crusade.He should have considered that traces of cartoons crisis didn't yet fade away.He should have considered that we're trying to build bridges without more rifts." (What is there to consider? That anything and everything angers people with a short fuse? And there is nothing false about what he said.)

"YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO CALL THIS AN OVERREACTION!! " (Keep an eye on this one)

"The Pope should have watch the movie "Kingdom of Heaven", there are bits of history which were based on facts." (Uh- no there aren't. Why are you getting history lessons from Orlando Bloom?)

"It is unfortunate that the leaders in whom we entrust our faith seem to find ways to divide us instead of bringing us together. They should know better. The Pope got it wrong this time, and I am a catholic. If you see the truth please say it." (Coward. How do you like THAT truth?)

Mind, not everything said displayed cowardice, ill will or idiocy but enough comments were made to make one think that people still don't understand that there are those who do not share the values of peace and freedom. However, they would much rather attack an easy target for such a target will never lash out.

It is wrong to compel others to join one's religion by force. It is wrong to resort to violence. Don't remind the Church of that. It already knows. Remind the other guys. I think they have trouble understanding the text.

A few reflections on what everyone was thinking

I said I wouldn't do this because nothing I could post or say would erase the enormity of the disaster (I use the word deliberately) or sway those who, for some reason, believe the events of September 11th are some how the fault of the Great Satan- the West. But I have been thinking.

The West may have risen economically (so too has the Middle East with their outrageously priced barrels of oil) but has declined spiritually and culturally. This should not suggest that it is a society worth abandoning. It is the only society we've ever known and the only one worth clinging onto because the alternatives are worse. Can you imagine a worldwide caliphate run by bin Laden? Sharia law? Morality police? Departments of Religious Genocide? That is what Islamofascists and all the audacity they possess would inflict if we lose our anger and our resolve.

Don't tell me about other religions being at fault or imagined or real crimes. No other religion I can think encourages people to kill in the Name of God (alot of hospitals, museums, soup kitchens and schools have been built, though). As for crimes, who hijacks planes? Who flies them into buildings? Who gathers dangerous materials for wanton destruction and death? Who restricts the movements of women? Who restricts the freedom of the press? Who burns embassies? Who keeps their people impoverished and without hope? Is it us?

Of course it isn't. We have nothing to apologise for or amend. Others do and it's high time we make them do so.

The Summer Wind Came Blowin' In from Across the Sea...

We all remember the episode of The Simpsons when they got the pool and Bart broke his leg and Martin's dreams of popularity ended with ripped shorts. This photo album is nothing like that. It's just some photos of Midlands and a couple of Ottawa and a barbecue.

Enjoy.