Yeah, because it’s all about you

This is truly disgusting.  What better time to host ISLAMEXPO in London, than July 7th.  Via littlegreenfootballs.

ISLAM EXPO runs from the 6th of July until the 8th of July.  The full provisional programme can be found here.

So let's see what the organisers have planned for the first anniversary of an Islamist massacre of 52 innocent civilians on the London Underground.  Here are some of the sessions planned for July 7th:

11:00  Jihad: Holy War?

12:00  Social Justice in Islam: Theory & Practice

15:00  Muslims in Britain: Facts & Challenges

17:30  Muslim Youth between British Identity and the Ummah

Well, you get the idea.  Any other day of the year, fine.  Enjoy your conference. 

But to do this on July 7th . . . despicable.

Finally!

From today's Globe and Mail:

Ottawa to spend $15-billion to boost military

Major purchases of planes, helicopters, ships, trucks to be announced next week

The Conservatives will unveil a massive $15-billion procurement package at four separate announcements in four Canadian cities next week, sources told The Globe and Mail.

. . . But Prime Minister Stephen Harper told Parliament yesterday that he is following through on a campaign promise to "correct 13 years of Liberal neglect —

Finally, someone who is willing to make a decision.  This is great news for our soldiers and our country.  Without a strong and functioning military Canada's role in the world is significantly reduced.  Whether the mission is war, 'peacekeeping', enforcing Canadian sovereignity or disaster relief this equipment is essential.   

‘The Americans (A Canadian’s Opinion)’

Two recent articles help to dismantle the myth of the 'ugly American'.  The first article about US charitable giving can be found here.

 

The second article, on politeness, can be found at the Readers' Digest website here.

World of Courtesy: Ranking of 35 Cities

Below is a ranking of the most courteous to the least courteous — 35 major cities included in RD's Global Courtesy Test.

	New York	USA			80%
	Toronto	Canada			70
	São Paulo	Brazil			68

European identity is defined -in contrast to popular impressions of the American approach- by their emphasis on building compassionate societies.  Canadian identity, in a small part, is defined by being seen in the eyes of the world as the polite 'anti-American'.  These false stereotypes are rife in Europe and Canada.  America is more racist, their healthcare system is worse, violent crimes is much worse, we are 'peacekeepers' the Americans' are 'warmongers' . . .

Regardless of the facts, many non-Americans sit watching the evening news or reading their local papers and thinking, not how can our societies improve, but rather thank goodness that we're not America because they are so [insert negative adjective here].

Many years ago, the great Gordon Sinclair read an excellent commentary piece called The Americans (A Canadian's Opinion) over the airwaves at CFRB 1010 Radio. 

It's still important today because it reminds us of America's strengths and the good that it does in the world.  If we continue to define ourselves in contrast to America, it's important that we have a balanced perspective on the true character of the United States of America. 

Here is The Americans (A Canadian's Opinion) in its entirety:

The United States dollar took another pounding on German, French and British exchanges this morning, hitting the lowest point ever known in West Germany. It has declined there by 41% since 1971 and this Canadian thinks it is time to speak up for the Americans as the most generous and possibly the least-appreciated people in all the world.

As long as sixty years ago, when I first started to read newspapers, I read of floods on the Yellow River and the Yangtse. Well, Who rushed in with men and money to help? The Americans did, that's who.

They have helped control floods on the Nile, the Amazon, the Ganges and the Niger. Today, the rich bottom land of the Mississippi is under water and no foreign land has sent a dollar to help. Germany, Japan and, to a lesser extent, Britain and Italy, were lifted out of the debris of war by the Americans who poured in billions of dollars and forgave other billions in debts. None of those countries is today paying even the interest on its remaining debts to the United States.

When the franc was in danger of collapsing in 1956, it was the Americans who propped it up and their reward was to be insulted and swindled on the streets of Paris. And I was there. I saw that.

When distant cities are hit by earthquakes, it is the United States that hurries into help… Managua Nicaragua is one of the most recent examples. So far this spring, 59 American communities have been flattened by tornadoes. Nobody has helped.

The Marshall Plan… the Truman Policy… all pumped billions upon billions of dollars into discouraged countries. And now, newspapers in those countries are writing about the decadent war-mongering Americans.

I'd like to see one of those countries that is gloating over the erosion of the United States dollar build its own airplanes.

Come on… let's hear it! Does any other country in the world have a plane to equal the Boeing Jumbo Jet, the Lockheed Tristar or the Douglas 10? If so, why don't they fly them? Why do all international lines except Russia fly American planes? Why does no other land on earth even consider putting a man or a woman on the moon?

You talk about Japanese technocracy and you get radios. You talk about German technocracy and you get automobiles. You talk about American technocracy and you find men on the moon, not once, but several times … and safely home again. You talk about scandals and the Americans put theirs right in the store window for everybody to look at. Even the draft dodgers are not pursued and hounded. They are right here on our streets in Toronto, most of them… unless they are breaking Canadian laws… are getting American dollars from Ma and Pa at home to spend here.

When the Americans get out of this bind… as they will… who could blame them if they said 'the hell with the rest of the world'. Let someone else buy the bonds, let someone else build or repair foreign dams or design foreign buildings that won't shake apart in earthquakes.

When the railways of France, Germany and India were breaking down through age, it was the Americans who rebuilt them. When the Pennsylvania Railroad and the New York Central went broke, nobody loaned them an old caboose. Both of them are still broke. I can name to you 5,000 times when the Americans raced to the help of other people in trouble.

Can you name to me even one time when someone else raced to the Americans in trouble? I don't think there was outside help even during the San Francisco earthquake.

Our neighbours have faced it alone and I am one Canadian who is damned tired of hearing them kicked around. They will come out of this thing with their flag high. And when they do, they are entitled to thumb their noses at the lands that are gloating over their present troubles.

I hope Canada is not one of these. But there are many smug, self-righteous Canadians. And finally, the American Red Cross was told at its 48th Annual meeting in New Orleans this morning that it was broke.

This year's disasters… with the year less than half-over… has taken it all and nobody… but nobody… has helped. 

Well, technology has progressed and the places struck by disasters are new, but Mr. Sinclair's sentiments still hold true.

 

Global v Local

I missed this Mark Steyn article from last week's Washington Times, but he hits the nail on the head with this observation.

Here are four news stories from the last week:

Baghdad: Abu Musab Zarqawi found himself on the receiving end of 500 pounds of U.S. ordnance. 

London: Scotland Yard arrested a cell of East End Muslims allegedly plotting a sarin attack in Britain.   

Toronto: The Mounties busted a cell of Ontario Muslims planning a bombing 3 times more powerful than Oklahoma City.  

Mogadishu: An al Qaeda affiliate, the "Joint Islamic Courts," took control of the Somali capital, displacing "U.S.-backed warlords." 

The world divides into those who think the above are all part of the same story and those who figure they're strictly local items of no wider significance deriving from various regional factors . . .

Harper, Bush, Howard and Blair are all members of the first group, thankfully.

Muslim oversight of Brit counter-terror ops?

Now, this is the height of politically correct absurdity.  From the Guardian via LGF:

The police are considering a proposal to let selected British Muslims examine the intelligence used to mount anti-terrorism raids before they take place, the Guardian has learned.

. . . A senior police source with knowledge of the issues involved said: "We are working on sharing more information with the community before, during and after events so they understand as much of the context as we can provide."

. . . Any British Muslims shown intelligence would be security vetted but would not have a veto on the raid.

Well, thank goodness for small miracles.

If the goal is to enhance, or provide perspective, on intelligence then shouldn't law enforcement have some Muslims or Islamic experts on staff? 

Otherwise, including non-law-enforcement, 'community groups' is either political correctness gone nuts or an attempt to defuse blame should another raid turn up nothing.  Either way this would appear to be a dangerous precedent and a total waste of time.

Update: Sister Toldjah has similar thoughts.

al-Sistani fatwa an insult to Canada

When Canadian law just isn't reason enough. 

As reported by CTV:

Leaders urge Muslims in Canada to obey fatwa

Representatives of Canada's Islamic community issued a call to action on Wednesday, urging Muslims to obey a religious edict that condemns violence and sanctions peace.

"Muslims have undertaken to obey the laws of a country of their residence, and thus they must be faithful to that undertaking," according to the fatwa issued by Iraq's most senior Shia cleric, the Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

The Lebanese Islamic Centre's Linda Clark told reporters at a press conference in Montreal that the edict means it is a sin for Muslims in Canada to act against the fatwa, which is a legal opinion or ruling issued by an Islamic scholar.

. . . "And as soon as they enter it they are pledged to live there in the same manner as the rest of the population without causing any harm to public security and safety."

Ah, gee, thanks for the help . . . but I'm not sure I'm comfortable with the thought that any segment of Canada's Muslim community might be taking its marching orders from foreign religious leaders.

I've got an idea.  If you want to live in Canada maybe you should live by the laws of the land, just . . . because . . . and not because someone's issued a religious edict.

So what would happen if an influential, foreign, Muslim leader issues a fatwa that runs contrary to Canadian law in the future?

Of no historical value

From the National Post:

An inscription at a medieval dungeon translated as "Where God does not exist" is causing a political furor in Turkey as the Islamist-influenced government faces accusations of having ordered the erasure of the sign.

The head of the Archeology Museum in Bodrum, an Aegean resort popular with foreign tourists, said the Culture Ministry ordered the 500-year-old inscription scraped away after government inspectors decided that it had "no historical and archeological value."

Just like these were of no significant value?

Media picks its battles

I just listened to President Bush's press conference via FoxNews and one of his comments struck me.  He said that 99.9% of US military personal are good, honest people and that should not be forgotten as people read reports of the ongoing investigation into the action of US Marines in Haditha.

That makes sense.  I'm sure average people don't need this sort of lesson, but the left, the media and some politicians could use the reminder.

Why is it that these groups seem to ignore the inoccent-until-proven-guilty approach when the accused are the US military personel, but they espouse it -ad nauseum- when Islamo-fascist terrorists are accused of killing civilians, blowing stuff up or getting caught plotting mass-murder.

When it's accused jihadis, the media, politicians and the left resort to the following mantra:

a) Islam is a religion of peace;

b) 99.99% of Muslim's don't condone terror;

c) As such, they are innocent until proven guilty;

d) However, even if they are proven guilty the are simpy criminal extremists not Muslims;

It would be nice if they could find the time to apply the same evangelical zeal in protecting the presumed innocence of accused members of the American military. 

When was the last time you heard a report from the MSM with that sort of balance?

Reason to celebrate

This Michelle Malkin video over at Hotair pretty much sums it up. 

Iraqis celebrate, the left obfuscates and the media attempts to change the topic.

I agree:

The left can pout all it wants.  We can enjoy a victory.      Thank you Airforce, Army, Navy and Marines.

This is just a warm-up.  Expect the real show to begin when Bin Laden is killed.

Again, bravo

It appears that the RCMP and CSIS may be the first Western counter-terror agencies that have had success in this area. 

From the Times of London, via Neale News:

The security forces’ decision to terminate their surveillance operations and swoop on the Toronto groups earlier this month not only prevented what might have become the worst terrorist assault in Canadian history. It has also provided an intriguing glimpse of what one security source described as a “treasure trove” of intelligence on the structure and worldwide communications of the so-called home-grown terror networks that have sprung up independently of Al-Qaeda in Madrid, London and other western cities during the past few years.

The Canadian intelligence has proved so good, one senior security source said last week, that the CSIS may have successfully infiltrated a government informer into the Toronto cell.

. . . Security experts suggested last week that the Canadian authorities had taken a huge risk by allowing the plotters to remain at large for so long.

Yet the CSIS was so confident it knew what Amara and his men were up to that it allowed them to conspire for six more months. One former intelligence agent said that risk could only have been justified had there been a government mole in a key position in the group.

If it is true that the Canadians were able to infiltrate this Toronto cell, it is very good news.  If this is the case, we are entering a new phase in the War on Terror that places that much closer to victory.