| Friday Afternoon Roundup - So Much to be Thankful For Posted: 25 Nov 2011 11:14 AM PST 
(See if you can spot the Turkey)
THE TIMES THEY ARE A CHANGING
There was a time long ago when Americans were sad and unhappy, when the world hated us, people were forced to work for a living and there were no inspiring leaders. But today in this wonderful age of free health care, free mobs and freedom for Islamists, there is so much for us to be thankful for. Like that new age of freedom and democracy breaking out like a rash across the Middle East.
Sure women keep being sexually assaulted in the new liberated Egypt, but that's democracy for you. Or a democracy of Muslim men.
Caroline Sinz, a French reporter for Channel 3, was the latest to experience Islam's historical tolerance for women who walk down the street unaccompanied by a male guardian. Her story is nearly identical to what happened to Lara Logan.
The significance here is that there's nothing new about this. Egyptian women experience sexual harassment on a nearly universal basis. Egyptian were being assaulted in this way for years. I wrote about this back during the Logan assault with "Muslim Rape Culture and Lara Logan" And then there's this back in 06 on mass sexual assaults in Cairo. "It was the first day of Eid, and a new film was opening downtown. Mobs of males gathered trying to get in, but when the show was sold out, they decided they will destroy the box office. After accomplishing that, they went on what can only be described as a sexual frenzy: They ran around grabbing any and every girl in sight, whether a niqabi, a Hijabi or uncovered. Whether egyptian or foreigner. Even pregnant ones. They grabbed them, molested them, tried to rip their cloths off and rape them, all in front of the police. The ones who approached the police asking them to do something were told : "what do you want us to do? It's Eid. Happy Eid to you too!" Happy Eid indeed. You can't blame the Islamists for this or the authorities or anyone but the culture in Egypt and throughout much of the Muslim world. A culture that says a woman causes a man to attack her through her looks and that a woman who is unveiled is a whore. Islam's conquests, its commodification of women as sex slaves and loot for the victorious Muslim armies certainly helped.
And the Islamists will respond to assaults like this by calling for more morality, which means women "taking responsibility" by donning Burqas and avoiding going out without a male guardian. And just not to leave anyone out, Aliaa al-Mahdy, who had shot to prominence with a photo protest was beaten and thrown to the ground at Tahrir Square and dragged out of a protest area. No information on who the men were, but their goal was to move her out of a protest area, and all but one was clean shaven, which suggests these are some of the "heroes" of Egypt's democracy movement getting rid of an atheist girl who called for freedom.
Expectant Cairo Takes a Dark Turn, reads the Australian's headline. As if this was something that happened just now. Before Tahrir Square was just sunshine and bunnies. Now it's suddenly dark and rapey.
Tahrir Square does represent freedom. Freedom as Egyptian Muslim men define it, which includes the freedom to burn churches, assault women and dominate ethnic, religious and other minorities. That is the true face of Tahrir Square that the media romanticized.
Forget the Mona Eltahawy story, that's being utilized to call for an overthrow of the military authorities who are the only thing keeping the Islamists from sweeping the nation. The military authorities are bastards, but it should be abundantly clear to anyone paying attention that everyone playing this game are bastards and that the liberals, the Islamists and the military are no better than one another. The Sinz story proves that this is hardly some unique SCAF phenomenon. And the men dragging al-Mahdy in that video are likely members of the same liberal activists pushing the Eltahawy story. (Though to be fair Eltahawy did publish a piece in the Guardian defending al-Mahdy)
The bottom line is that Egypt has a problem with abusing women not because of Mubarak or military rule, but because the culture has a problem with human equality for anyone but Muslim men. Too many bloggers were taken in by the Kefaya movement and their Twitter propaganda on the first round. Don't fall for it a second time. This is a leftist anti-American movement of articulate upper class Egyptians with El-Baradei at the top. Their main function is to sanitize the anti-government protests whose true beneficiaries have been and will be the Muslim Brotherhood.
In response to the Sinz assault, Reporters Sans Frontières suggested that the media stop sending female reporters to Cairo. After protests followed it withdrew that statement and urged media organizations to make the security of reporters their first priority. But how much security will it take to protect a female reporter from a mob of Egyptian teenagers? Those who read the bible might suddenly find a new relevance in the stories of Abraham and Isaac traveling to Egypt and Gaza, and being forced to pass off their wives as their sisters from the Egyptians and Philistines to avoid being murdered. Though the Arabs are newcomers to the area, not much has changed over the years.
But a better solution than not sending female reporters to Cairo might be to stop allowing Egyptian Muslim men into America and France. The high rape statistics coming out of Europe link Muslim men to startling numbers of sexual assaults in countries where they are a minority. A female reporter going to Cairo has some kind of security, but what do we do when Cairo comes to us, except to start acting like Egyptian Christians? Or to quote from the al-Mahdy CNN interview Women under Islam will always be objects to use at home. The (sexism) against women in Egypt is unreal, but I am not going anywhere and will battle it 'til the end. Many women wear the veil just to escape the harassment and be able to walk the streets. But we still have to remember to be thankful because these are changing times. Very soon Egypt will be free and democratic and then bunnies will dance in the sunshine of Tahrir Square. Don't believe me? Just listen to the song.
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THANKFUL FOR JOBS
As the Summer of Recovery has faded into the Arab Spring and into the Winter of Our Discontent, those imaginary green jobs have died and fallen off the Washington cherry tree.
According to the National Association for Business Economics, "The NABE Outlook panel expects employment will improve, albeit very slowly. Monthly job gains are expected to rise steadily over the forecast horizon, from an average of 100,000 during the fourth quarter of 2011 to 130,000 by the end of next year." Now that's optimistic. Of course the Keystone XL pipeline could have created six figures worth of jobs, but who needs those anyway?
Not the Environmentalist Administration which killed the deal to get America some freedom from Muslim oil and a whole bunch of jobs. But good news to be thankful for... At the same time, my administration will build on the unprecedented progress we’ve made towards strengthening our nation’s energy security, from responsibly expanding domestic oil and gas production to nearly doubling the fuel efficiency of our cars and trucks, to continued progress in the development of a clean energy economy. I think Jimmy Fallon's drummer has an intro to go with this statement. Obama might want to ask Fishbone about making that his theme song. But at least the Islamists and the People's Republic of China have something to be thankful for this Thanksgiving. Saudi Arabia has an even bigger stack of oil barrels, and on top of that black pyramid is a degenerate royal family wearing crowns of terrorism and tyranny. Iran has its own pyramid with hanging women dangling off it and the corpses of murdered student protesters floating in the crude. And if the environmentalists really cared about any of that, at least to the extent of wanting to end the wars, then they would be laying a pipeline that would funnel money out of the House of Saud and the Mullahs back to the United States of America. Instead billions have been poured into the People’s Republic of China, which lends us the money to pay for the solar and wind power components that we buy from them, and after the handful of watts from green power have been exhausted to spread joy and peace across parts of Vermont and Oregon, the country goes back with hat in hand to the grinning petroleum plutocracies. Read the rest in my article at Front Page Magazine on the the Islamist-Environmentalist Alliance.
ISLAM IN AMERICA
But that's not all that we have to be thankful for. TLC's not at all fake documentary/reality show So You Want To be a Muslim All-American Muslim reminds us of how much we have to be grateful for to the immigrants coming from distant shores to culturally enrich us with their ancient heritage of beheading people who offend them and their legacy of science looted from the Indians and Greeks.
Take the previous episode where we learn how wonderful Hijabs are and how they can help you give birth when you're infertile. And the episode does feature a true Islamic scholar and feminist who has very modern and enlightened views about beating and raping women. Here are some of his answers to All-American Muslims who wonder whether it's legal to rape their wives. So, the wife must obey her husband by giving him his physical rights which he asks from her; she has to make herself available to him when he wants her; she has no right to abstain unless she has her period, a medical condition, or a difficulty that keeps her from responding favorably to him. If he demands his right and obliges her, this would not be rape in the Islamic Law, but something basic in the concept of marriage contract. Otherwise, what would marriage be without mating? Truly Islam is a beacon of human rights and enlightenment and only filthy Islamophobes would get the idea that the Religion of Peace has any negative attitude toward women. Just to prove it, here's Berry on how to beat your wife. When all peaceful methods have been exhausted and attempts to fix the problem have failed, and if this is the only means for reform, practice disciplinary confrontation with the rebellious wife. Again, Islam poses extreme conditions on this last step. The confrontation must not lead to injury or leave bruises. It must not be done in revenge or be based on hatred which trespasses the set limits, but instead be prescribed like the bitter medicine with calculated dosages to speed reform while still protect from harming the self and others. The noble fellow goes on to suggest that beating your wife should be seen as a kind of surgical procedure. Noting of course, that no one would object to a doctor’s decision to cutting open a patient’s body to cause it to heal later on. Islam, in a similar way, legalized this last effort like a surgical procedure (light confrontation) as long as it is deemed the only effective treatment to bringing a family back together that could lead to healing and allow things to return to normalcy. Islam does not require men to go to medical school to beat their wives. Still there's good progressive news coming out of all this. On the other hand, more importantly, other societies prohibit such disciplinary confrontation between the man and his wife and this could lead to legal complications that could complicate the entire problem and dissolve the family entirely. It should be understood that Islam allowed such confrontation but did not deem it an obligation. Just to be clear, Islam does not mandate beating your wife. Or raping her. And how can anyone read that and doubt that Islam is a truly progressive and enlightened faith? The Imam also has a lot of great stuff about statutory rape. "The girl’s menstrual period is a natural sign that her body qualifies her for fertility, pregnancy, or reproduction. Islam does not contradict the natural aspect of life. Therefore, it does not oppose marriage at a younger age when the girl is naturally ready." And lots of similar rulings... Q. Is it true that a fourteen year old girl can be allowed to marry? A. Yes she can be married with the permission and consent of her parents, preferably the father. This is very normal with Muslims and in Muslim states. Islam allows early marriages as a protection to society and children from the spread of corruption, fornication, and rape. In the USA, an early marriage has to be blessed in court by a civil judge in addition to the parent’s consent. And if you want an even more nightmarish answer, here you go 25: The Age of Maturity in Relationship to Marriage Q. What is the age of maturity and marriage for girls in Islam? A. According to Islamic law, a girl reaches the age of maturity when she has completed nine yours of age. A girl’s maturity is achieved at the age of thirteen, however, according to some jurists; that is when she starts her menstrual cycle and her body is ready for pregnancy and childbirth. As for mental maturity and physical aptness, these might differ from one to another. For some men and women, it could happen at the age of fifteen, for others at eighteen, or twenty, or even at forty Naturally All-American Muslim neglected to include all these wonderful things about Islam or the Imam in this episode. Sadly they might have thought that people would not understand. They didn't even include wonderful pieces of advice like this. It is also true that by not helping with doing housework, she is pushing her husband to seek a second wife who is more willing to do the work. And a piece of Hijab related advice that the episode even more unaccountably left out. 36: Refusing to Wear the Veil Q. Does the husband have the right to force his wife to wear the veil if she refuses to do so under the pretense that the veil has nothing to do with the essence of religion? What if she refuses to wear it? A. He can resort to moral influence, such as making her know that she is pushing him into looking for another wife who wears the veil. Just keep in mind this is America or it used to be. And these are the rules by which the All-American Muslims live. To follow up, Debbie Schlussel has some more on the Hezbollah ties of the fun-loving Shiites in Anti-American Muslim And one final grace note from Imam Berry. Q9. Some people refer to a saying that Muslims should not initiate the Islamic greeting to non-Muslims, including Jews and Christians. Is saluting them forbidden? A. No, it is not forbidden. The Islamic greeting is “Al-Salamo Alaykom”, which means “Peace is on you.” Of course, this greeting of peace is not fit for those who fight Muslims and are their enemy. Also, it is not favored to salute them who are like those who at the time of the Prophet (p) used to mock Muslims by changing the words of our greeting, saying to Muslims “Al-Samo Alaykom” which means “death be upon you.” Other than that there should be no issue with saluting non-Muslims and non-believers. ...other than that.
See the entire thing in my Front Page Magazine article, "The Islamic Feminism of All-American Muslim."
ROMNEY, GINGRICH, PERRY AND IMMIGRATION
One reason I never spent much time taking Perry to task on immigration is that none of the candidates were very good on it. And that's true of the recent list of Republican presidents as well. Perry was worse than most but unfortunately none of them are much good on it.
Gingrich's panel proposal seems to be loosely adapted from something similar in Switzerland. Bringing it up is a testament to his broad knowledge, but proposing it in the United States is just stupid. In Switzerland those panels are made up of natives, in the United States they would be made up of other immigrants from the same part of the world.
Gingrich, like so many Republicans is trying to develop a rationale for distinguishing between different types of illegal immigrants, which isn't entirely unreasonable, but it's also a dead end. And unwise.
Last Shabbat I listened to Linda Lingle, the former Republican governor of Hawaii, now running for Senate, talk about the issues and like Gingrich, she showed that she had thought about the issues and came up with some interesting proposals, which were hobbled by the same inability to understand the scope of the problem. (I shudder at the prescription of stamping a green card for every university engineering grad. I can't think of a better formula for more car bombs in Times Square.)
It's easy to propose these kinds of solutions when you ignore the scope of the problem and what its long term implications are. There's a certain similar thought pattern in the War on Terror and immigration. The speaker begins from the position of, "We can't deport them all" or "We can't fight them all" and then tries to arrive at a way of distinguishing moderates from extremists or good risks from bad risks. That's fine as far as it goes, but it misses the bigger picture.
At the Restoration Weekend, I listened to a panel debate featuring Robert Spencer who discussed the dangers of shifting the meaning in order to win over the moderates. I would highlight the danger that when the meaning is shifted then we forget what the problem is.
What is the problem with illegal immigration? Disrespect for the law is one factor, but the bottom line is that illegal immigration is a demographic threat that places undue stress on southwestern states and on the national economy. That's the fundamental thing to keep in mind.
Guest workers stay on and become citizens. Which isn't a problem if we want the United States to become Mexico. Mexico isn't a bad place despite all its problems. There are much worse places in the world. But it also has a broken political culture, massive drug and gang violence and a whole bunch of other things that will change this country significantly. And large scale immigration will do that beyond our ability to control it. Importing Muslim immigrants in sufficient number means importing everything wrong with the Muslim world along with some ethnic foods. The same goes for illegal immigration from Mexico. The bottom line is do we want to live in Mexico? Do we want to live in Cairo? Because if things keep going the way they are, we will. Just ask a European.
We're a nation built on immigrants, but on a balance of immigrants set around a Western European core. Change that core and you fundamentally change the nation. On a similar note, Lawrence Auster's response to the trouble with Muslim democracy. The modern West cannot face this truth about Islam, because it would mean that not all cultures, peoples, and religions are equally capable of self-government. And that discovery would mean in turn (a) that not all peoples and cultures are equal, period, and (b) that a universal liberal order embracing all mankind is not possible. And a corollary to that is that even when Third world governments fail, we must go on believing that they can succeed to be able to go on believing in that universal order.
AND NOW THE ROUNDUP
American Digest has narrowed down the primary candidates to just one.
OccupyMiami is OccupyIslam, via Boker Tov Boulder. No wonder it has this whole, "Jews to the Ovens" clause.
Christian refugee? Forget about it! Religion of Peaceful Beheadings? Uncle Sam Wants You.
US policy regarding the refugee resettlement program would shock most Americans if they only knew. The UN picks who becomes US refugees. Christians are being refused refugee status and face persecution and many times certain death for their religious beliefs under the sharia, while whole Muslim communities are entering the US by the tens of thousands per month despite the fact that they face no religious persecution.
Nothing to be thankful for in the Eurozone
A reminder that there are alternatives to the PA. Muslim tribal elders and leaders have governed their own clans and areas well enough and adding a layer of terrorist politicians on top paid for by the US hasn't made things any better. Restoring tribal authority makes more sense than anything else so far.
Finally a rather dark piece of satire from Latma, which like most of their Israeli stuff is well done. It helps to have some familiarity with the Israeli reality to get this one.
Enjoy the Thanksgiving weekend.
          
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