Conservative Dhimmitude

A Muslim group in Britain lays out its talking points:

• Iran has "legitimate reasons for wanting nuclear weapons."
• Muslim preachers who advocate a rejection of democracy and its institutions should not be denied entry into Britain.
• Education in Britain should be changed to provide "full recognition to the massive contribution that Islam has made to the development of Western civilisation".
• Britain should think twice about supporting Israel unless they want the wrath of the umma to come down on their heads.

So, who are this lot? A load of raving Jihadi imams? No, its the Tory party's Conservative Muslim Forum.

It's like walking into the Carlton Club in 1943 and seeing Von Ribbentrop propping up the bar.

A Winter's Tale

Seatac airport in Seattle has found a "solution" to the ONE objection to its Christmas decorations: Abolish all references to Christmas (pardon my profanity) and replace the Christmas (Sorry!) trees with bare, flocked birch trunks symbolising-- Well, not much of anything really.

Since it is so utterly craven and vacuous, I guess we can call it the "multiculti grove".

Exploding the Euro Myths

Actually, the biggest myth is that we have to be any sort of "part" of Europe at all.

Alan Coren 1938-2007

Television is more interesting than people. If it were not, we should have people standing in the corners of our rooms.

Alan Coren

The humourist Alan Coren has died at the age of 69. Times columnist, editor of Punch for two decades and a regular on The News Quiz, Mr. Coren had a marvelous writing voice as the Cricklewood Middle-class Everyman and such an evenly balanced sense of humour that even when economic hard times brought the Great Purge to the library at Chez Szondy a book of his columns survived on the grounds that I was still trying to figure out how to crib his style.

The Habit and the Hijab

The absurdity of airport security in the United States summed up in one image.

Evil; Pure Evil

A toilet that hides itself away as a decorative cabinet when not in use.

I can imagine myself encountering one of these Hunt-The-Karzis at a dinner party as the curried lentils start to assault my colon. The volley of cursing that ensued would scorch the wallpaper black.

Bookworm Alert

What Kind of Reader Are You? Your Result: Dedicated Reader You are always trying to find the time to get back to your book. You are convinced that the world would be a much better place if only everyone read more.
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The Picturephone

People did not want to comb their hair to answer the telephone.

Robert Lucky

Forbes magazine looks at birth and instant death of the Picturephone.

Queen Victoria

The Cunard Line announces the launch of their newest luxury ship the Queen Victoria.

I think "opulent" sums her up nicely.

"Youth" in Amsterdam

The Digital Journal reports that on Tuesday night Morrocan-Dutch "youths" of indeterminate religion rioted, set cars alight and stoned a police station in Amsterdam after 22-year old Bilal Bajaka, another "youth" of indeterminate religion, walked into a police station with a knife and was shot to death after he stabbed two police officers, leaving them in a "serious, but stable" condition.

Though the religion of the "youths" of indeterminate religion was not mentioned in the article, the fact that the assailant was "personally acquainted with Mohammed Bouyeri, the convicted killer of the late film director Theo van Gogh, as well as with other Moroccan-Dutch terrorist suspects", it is a fair bet that they were not Methodists.

Asked about the incident and riots,

Moroccan-Dutch residents of Slotervaart complained to reporters they were "sick and tired" of continuous "negative news reports" about fellow Moroccan-Dutch, adding they felt increasingly stigmatized.

"Sick and tired" of "negative news reports"? Here is a small suggestion for what it is worth: Maybe the "Moroccan-Dutch" of indeterminate religion would stop being "stigmatised" if they stopped brutally murdering filmmakers, forswore attacking police officers, and refrained from rioting in the streets when one of their co-indeterminate-religionists is brought to justice.

It's called civilisation. Try it some time.

Swords Have Two Edges

If you are not responsible for your actions, then you will not be given responsibility.

C. S. Lewis on the logic of the totalitarian

A new study says that obese people are not responsible for their condition and the British government "pledged to draw up a strategy to address the issue."

That's about as ominous a promise as "we're here to help." Translated this means that the overweight will be "helped" the same way smokers were by being hounded from pillar to post until they are beaten into submission.

If I were a gay rights activist I would be very worried at this edict. If a supposedly involuntary, yet unhealthy "lifestyle" can be persecuted out of existence because it has been declared a thoughtcrime by the Party is momentarily unpopular, then homosexuals, and the rest of us, might be enjoying but a brief Indian summer before a very hard winter.

Blaming the Victim

Lars Vilks, the cartoonist at the centre of the Swedish Cartoon War, is interviewed by Paula Newton of CNN, who interjects this observation (emphasis added):

Still one could argue Vilks should have known better because of what happened in Denmark in 2005, when a cartoonist's depictions of the prophet sparked violent protests in the Muslim world and prompted death threats against that cartoonist's life.

Translation: How dare Mr. Vilks refuse to act the good dhimmi and draw the wrath of the Faithful upon his head. Remember what happened to the Danes!

It's as one with Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali's claim that Australian women who refuse to wear the hijab are "abandoned meat" and therefore deserve to be raped. I expect that sort of bile from a raving Jihadist, but from a respected Western news agency it is nothing less than counseling cowardice in a time of war.

Some Revolutionaries Are More Equal Than Others

In a move of pure, unbridled cynicism not seen since the days of the Hitler/Stalin pact, the Communists and the Jihadists recently met in Tehran to form an entente cordial and the former came away with a lesson in dhimmitude:

The hope was that the conference would produce a synthesis of Marxist and Khomeinist ideologies and highlight what the Iranian leader has labeled "the divine aspect of revolutionary war." But the event itself proved rather embarrassing.

The embarrassment came when Iranian speaker, Hajj Saeed Qassemi, declared that Ernesto "Che" Guevara was actually a religious man who believed in neither Communism or the Soviet Union. Waxing on his subject, Mr, Qassemi said,

Today, communism has been consigned to the garbage can of history as foreseen by Imam Khomeini. Thus progressists everywhere must accept the leadership of our religious, pro-justice movement.

When the the late Mr. Guevara's daughter, who was attending in a proper dhimmi headscarf, made a vocal protest she and her (bewhiskered) brother were rushed away and reduced to the level of unpersons by the end of the conference.

Given the advanced age of the Communist participants and the bald confidence of the Jihadists that they were the true "progressives", it isn't surprising that things ended up with the Communists being treated less as partners than as appetisers. Perhaps the Left should rethink this alliance before they discover that the hijabs and beards have gone from a courtesy to a requirement.

Relocation

The Palace of Westminster is up for renovation and the BBC is pondering where members of parliament can be relocated to.

I have a humble suggestion, but I fear that it is already too crowded with building contractors, theatre critics, lawyers and BBC controllers.

Collaring the Clergy

In a recent Internet bulletin, Father John Hayes of St Mary's Church, Hornchurch, East London commented on the case of Shabina Begum, the Muslim girl who recently went to court over her demand to attend school in full veil. According to reports,

Hayes had said in his Internet bulletin, after hearing an interview with Shabina Begum, that it was never possible to convince anyone by argument in matters of religion.

Hayes said, “My point was that you have to demonstrate what it means to be Christian through your actions."

The result of this? A visit from the thoughtpolice constabulary investigating a possible thoughtcrime an allegation of incitement of racial hatred.

Nissan Terranaut

Finally someone comes up with a motor car that meets my needs!

Okay, whims.

History of religion

History of religion as a flash animation map. Not entirely accurate (surely they mean the "Resurrection of Jesus"), but still fun to watch.

Air Singapore

This guy is enjoying himself too damn much.

Air Singapore reveals the features of its new Airbus A380.

Given the flying cattle cars that I'm forced to inhabit on the rare occasions when I'm dragged kicking and screaming on to modern airliners, this sort of thing gives me both hope when I see what is on offer and an impenetrable black mood when I see the price tag.

Creeping Credits

One of the things that aggravate me about modern cinema is how the credits have bloated to such an insane degree that the second assistant caterer's dog walker gets a mention. To show just how bad things have become, the New York Times posted this handy graphic.

Frightening.

Thirteen to Centaurus

For your Saturday sci-fi feature we present this disturbing little J.G. Ballard tale from 1965: Thirteen to Centaurus.