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February 8, 2012
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Menachem Wecker: Though Controversial, LL.M.'s Can Lead to Specialized Legal Jobs
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February 7, 2012
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Suzanne Bohan: Leaping lizards! Tiny reptiles advancing robot design
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Jeffrey Fleishman: In newly democratic Egypt, tens of democracy activists jailed, to stand trial; their groups are 'threatening the stability of the homeland'
Julie Deardorff : Researchers say antioxidants may not be that effective and could do more harm than good
Mark Clayton: How did Anonymous hackers eavesdrop on FBI and Scotland Yard?
February 3, 2012
Edmund Sanders : Israeli official says Iran is creating missile that could reach East Coast of US
Victoria Kim: Immigrant-smuggling ring used black drivers to avoid racial profiling
February 2, 2012
Jim Carney: Wrong number call may have saved her life
Reza Kahlili : Ex-CIA spy in Iran's Revolutionary Guard: What Obama doesn't grasp about striking deals with Tehran
Tina Susman: For woodchuck rescuer, every day is Groundhog Day
February 1, 2012
Brian Bennett: US officials see increasing threat of domestic attack from Iran
Emily Brandon: How to Take Advantage of New 401(k) Fee Disclosures
January 31, 2012
January 30, 2012
Paul Richter and Ramin Mostaghim: Misreading Teheran's limits -- deadly and economically devastating as they may be -- is a risk administration, Europe seem willing to take
Suzanne Bohan: Warning: Nap-deprived tots missing more than sleep, study finds
Meg Handley: Banks Revamping Rewards Programs to Woo Customers
January 27, 2012
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Yochonon Donn: In liberal New York City, fervently-Orthodox Jews may soon be getting a district to call their own
Jeannine Stein: An inflated ego and thinking you're 'all that' doesn't just make others sick of you, it can make you ill
Katy Hopkins: New budget rules may affect how much money you get for college
January 26, 2012
Ed Koch: To the New York Times, calling for the murder of Jews by those capable of having their incitement taken seriously isn't news
Jeannine Stein: Mental illness struck one in five U.S. adults in 2010: Report
January 25, 2012
Richard Simon: House passes two bills endorsing the use of religious symbols at military memorials
Fred Weir: Putin: Multiethnic Russia cannot survive as a US-style 'melting pot'; must find its own way
Susan Johnston: 5 Sneaky Coupon Strategies Consumers Should Watch Out For
January 24, 2012
Carol Clark: The price of your soul: How your brain decides whether to 'sell out'
Caroline B. Glick: America lost most in 'Arab Spring'. Sadly, many voters still don't grasp the extent
Warren Richey: Drug criminal scores win in GPS ruling from conservative-leaning high court
Erika Bolstad: Black conservatives gather to talk about gaining strength
January 23, 2012
Melissa Dribben: Jewish voters to play a key role in Florida's Republican primary
Jordan Rau: In quest to grow, Catholic hospital system will announce this morning its break from church
Ali Safi: U.S. envoy gives Taliban terms for peace talks
January 19, 2012
January 18, 2012
January 17, 2012
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.: No-kidding red lines: U.S. response to an Iranian nuke may be bluster, but Israel's won't be
David G. Savage: They sued their principals after slandering them online --- now the cases are headed to the Supreme Court
David Francis: Where to Invest in 2012: With stocks expected to rebound, opportunity abounds for investors
January 13, 2012
Ben Lynfield: Israeli lawmakers move to annex Jewish Judea, one museum at a time
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January 12, 2012
Warren Richey: Landmark Supreme Court ruling a 'resounding win' for religious groups
Warren Richey: Supreme Court says no to new rule on eyewitness testimony
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Katy Hopkins : Consider This Before You Pay for an Online Degree
The Kosher Gourmet by Joseph Erdos: This mushroom and barley soup has an intense -- almost nutty -- flavor that mixes robust with Middle East. It has creaminess without cream
January 11, 2012
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Tom Hussain: Pakistan -- recipient of more than $21 billion in civilian and military aid -- speeds pursuit of Iranian pipeline, defying US
David G. Savage: High court signals it won't be loosening TV's 'indecency' rules
Stephen Ceasar: Oklahoma's Islamic law amendment can't go into effect, court rules
January 10, 2012
Reza Kahlili: From an ex-CIA spy: US must exploit new split in Iran's Revolutionary Guard
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January 9, 2012
Michael Doyle: Put through legal hell over dream home, couple fought back hard --- all the way to Supreme Court
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Jewish World Review
June 27, 2005
/20 Sivan, 5765
Twisted tolerance
By
Diana West
Freedom dies not just at gunpoint
http://www.JewishWorldReview.com |
With guns pointed at his shaved and visibly battered head,
Australian hostage Douglas Wood said things he didn't mean,
parroting words his captors fed him.
In a clip of film that has
become a jihadist cliché masked gunmen, dehumanized captive, Al
Jazeera logo Mr. Douglas called for coalition forces to withdraw
from Iraq, a jihadist goal he doesn't share with the thugs who
imprisoned him for nearly seven weeks. After his rescue by American
and Iraqi forces this week, the 64-year-old engineer made it clear
he'd been coerced on tape, that he had not been speaking freely.
"Frankly, I'd like to apologize to both President Bush and Prime
Minister Howard for the things I said under duress," Mr. Wood said
upon arriving in Melbourne. He also sang out a jubilant chorus of
"Waltzing Matilda," Australia's unofficial anthem.
What a twist, then, that this same week, in that same corner of
Australia, just as Mr. Wood was exulting in his renewed pursuit of
life and liberty, two of his fellow Aussies, Christian pastors Danny
Nalliah and Daniel Scot, were finding their own such pursuits
derailed not by vicious criminals in Iraq, but by civilized state
statute.
Mr. Wood could breathe freely in Australia and speak his
mind once again; but the pastors Nalliah and Scot have been ordered
by a tribunal in the state of Victoria to make public statements
against their will, their conscience and their faith: namely, to
apologize for their teachings on Islam, and to promise never to so
teach again. As the first to be convicted of vilifying Islam under
Victoria's "1984"-style Racial and Religious Tolerance Act, these
men have vowed to go to jail rather than surrender their freedom of
speech.
The cases of the kidnapped engineer and the "guilty" pastors are not
really parallel. The Victoria state court is not a murderous gang of
jihadists. But there's something similarly outrageous about the
coercion brought to be bear on these men coercion at gunpoint in
Iraq, or on pain of prison time in Australia to revoke the
precious and essential Western liberty to speak freely. Such liberty
is what compelled both pastors to flee their native Pakistan, where
"blasphemy" against Islam can be a capital offense. And there's
another connection: The Islamic doctrine of jihad that inspires the
terrorists in Iraq is precisely what lies at the core of the
Australian pastors' lectures and teachings, which are based directly
on verses of the Quran and other Islamic texts.
What is car-wreck fascinating here is Judge Michael Higgins'
conclusion that simply pointing out what the Quran says now
constitutes outlawed speech in Victoria. During court proceedings,
when Mr. Scot began to read verses from the Muslim holy book that
denigrate women, a lawyer for the Islamic Council of Victoria, the
plaintiff, cut him off, explaining that reading such verses aloud is
itself an act of vilification. "How," wondered Mr. Scot, "can it be
vilifying to Muslims in the room when I am just reading from the
Quran?"
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How, indeed. As Robert Spencer, author of "Islam Unveiled"
(Encounter Books, 2002), has pointed out, at another point in the
trial the Australian judge was affronted that Mr. Scot had said that
"the Quran promotes violence, killing and looting." Mr. Spencer
wrote in FrontPageMag: "In light of Quranic passages such as
9:5, 2:191, 9:29, 47:4, 5:33 and many others, this cannot seriously
be a matter of dispute. Muslims have pointed to verses in the Bible
that they would have us believe are equivalent in violence and
offensiveness, or have claimed that the great majority of Muslims
don't take such verses literally; but it takes a peculiarly strong
resistance to reality not only to deny that such verses are there,
but to charge one who pointed them out with religious vilification."
Mr. Nalliah, who plans to visit Great Britain to campaign against a
similar vilification law now under consideration in Parliament,
calls Victoria's shockingly totalitarian statute "sharia law by
stealth." And so it is. In outlawing criticism of Islam which, so
far, is the effect of the law Victoria has not only codified a
peculiarly strong resistance to reality, it has also adopted the
practice of sharia-ruled states. This makes for a startling
spectacle a free people placing a muzzle on speech, a limit on
faith and a damper on inquiry. Douglas Wood lost his freedom at
gunpoint; Danny Nalliah and Daniel Scot lost theirs by court-ordered
political correctness. We know who rescued Mr. Wood; who will save
the pastors?
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© 2005, Diana West
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