Islamic militants are protesting against Joseph Ratzinger (the Pope) for saying that Islam is spread by the sword. They burn churches, and kill a nun. Then according to a news story by Associated Press. We have this:

Al-Qaida in Iraq and its allies said Muslims would be victorious and addressed the pope as "the worshipper of the cross," saying "you and the West are doomed as you can see from the defeat in Iraq, Afghanistan, Chechnya and elsewhere. … We will break up the cross, spill the liquor and impose the ‘jizya’ tax, then the only thing acceptable is a conversion (to Islam) or (being killed by) the sword."

And this:

"You infidels and despots, we will continue our jihad (holy war) and never stop until God avails us to chop your necks and raise the fluttering banner of monotheism, when God’s rule is established governing all people and nations," said the statement by the Mujahedeen Shura Council, an umbrella organization of Sunni Arab extremist groups in Iraq.

And this:

Another Iraqi extremist group, Ansar al-Sunna, challenged "sleeping Muslims" to prove their manhood by doing something other than "issuing statements or holding demonstrations."

And finally this:

"If the stupid pig is prancing with his blasphemies in his house," the group said in a Web statement, referring to the pope, "then let him wait for the day coming soon when the armies of the religion of right knock on the walls of Rome."

Chilling. How much longer will our own politicians and leaders ignore the provocation and hatred these people preach? How much longer will the man in the street shrug, or turn the other cheek? How much longer will left wing intellectuals continue to not only apologize for the militants, but also blame the West for the hatred the militants spew out? How much longer – probably until after it was too late.

I don’t have a lot of respect for Joseph Ratzinger (the current Pope). But he did make a good identification on the weekend – specifically that Islam is spread by the sword.

Now Muslims worldwide have been demonstrating, and burning churches. How can anyone say that Islam is a religion of peace? It is a religion of submission.

Of course, the real battle is not really Muslim versus Christian. Some might observe it to be Muslim versus non-Muslim. A better identifiation is Islam versus rationality.

Let’s remember the 9/11 victims. but also identify the motivation of the Islamic militants that committed the 9/11 atrocities.

We often hear that Islam is a religion of peace. This is not true, it is actually a religion of submission, and war. Islamic militants have committed atrocities in London, New York, Spain, Bali. The Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Lebanon. Iran’s former president questions whether the Renaissance was a good thing; and their current president wants to wipe Israel, and America off the map. Indeed, Islamic militants want SUBMISSION to Sharia law in every country in the world.

What motivates Islamic terrorists. Here are a list of quotes from the Koran (stripped of all the flowery language): http://p4h.humanists.net/Islam%20peace/QuranPeace.html

In the last week, Iran has taken another step closer to developing nuclear weapons. It has also repeated its threat to wipe Israel off the map.

The Intellectual Activist discusses what to do about Iran. The link is http://tiadaily.com/php-bin/news/showArticle.php?id=1084 or http://tinyurl.com/plfvw. There is also a link that allows readers to email the article to other people.

Whilst the Ayn Rand Institute is standing up for free speech with its Free Speech Campaign, New York University and Borders Book Stores are both submitting themselves to the rule of Islam.

New York University has banned the public from an exhibition of cartoons by the NYU Objectivist Club. In addition the exhibition was apparently sabotaged by local NYU Muslims. The cartoons will be displayed on the campuses of USC and the University of Chicago.

Border’s has stopped circulation of the magazine Free Inquiry because it carries 12 caricatures of Mohammed.

It is more essential than ever to stand up for free speech. One way to do this is to continue to publish the cartoons and to not apologize for doing so.

Michael Leunig from the Melbourne Age apparantly did not submit a cartoon he created in 2002 for the Iranian Holocaust Cartoon Competition. The contest is deliberately designed to offend and he claims he does not want to take part. However let’s look at the original carton which can be found at the following Sunday Mail website

One thing is clear though, if the Iranians are happy to accept a cartoon that Mr. Leunig did in 2002, one has to question Mr. Leunig’s creation of the cartoon in the first place. He seems to be targeting the Israelis just because they want and have to take measures to protect themselves from hostile neighbours that are open about calling for Israel’s destruction. He is free to create such rubbish, but so are others to condemn Mr. Leunig for such creations too.

Via Tim Blair, the staff at Cracked Magazine have produced some of their own cartoons.

A very late and quick review of yesterday’s SCMP. According to the post:

Former Iranian president Khatami claims that free speech is to blame for the current riots. No, Mr. Khatami the ones to blame are radical Islam, the Iranian leadership and the rioters that came out onto the streets and participated in the violent protests.

Canning Fok, Chairman of Hutchison Whampoa’s 3G service in Italy is blaming a lack of education for investors not wanting to pay about $9 billion dollars for an interest in the 3G service. I am not a fan of 3G yet, and I am wondering whether wireless might lead to the premature death of 3G.

Henry Tang has appointed Emily Lau as vice-chairman of the Business Facilitation Advisory Committee(BFAC), which is supposed to help businesses by reducing outdated rules and regulations. There first meeting is on Tuesday and my suggestion that if they really want to help business, that the first order of business should be to remove Ms Lau from the BFAC.

The Sun in the UK has some telling photos from a demonstration against the Danish Cartoons. Some of the signs they carried included:

• Behead those that insult Islam
• Slaughter those who insult Islam
• Mutilate those who insult Islam
• Europe: your 9/11 will come

There are more. These people are a disgrace and they are continuing their rampage. Europeans in Beirut and Gaza are the latest targets.

With recent developments in Iran I have decided to add a new category called Islamic Terrorism to this blog, to highlight the threat to Western society.  Phil has a good commentary over at Flagrant Harbour on the latest controversy over those Danish cartoons. Please feel free to copy the above icons and add them to your own blogs and/or websites.

Michelle Malkin has more on this as does Tim Blair. The cartoons can be accessed at http://www.humaneventsonline.com/sarticle.php?id=12146.

I have also sent this letter to the SCMP regarding an article they published yesterday:

Contrary to what Pritam Singh writes (“‘Legitimate’ suicide bombers”, February 2), all Islamic suicide bombers by their actions and philosophy are evil. Indeed his attempt to distinguish between two types of suicide bombers fails and Mr. Singh kills his own case by admitting, “To be sure, Hamas and Islamic Jihad are often no less brutal than al-Queda or Jemmah Islamiah. But this does not mean they should be dealt with the same way.”

They should be dealt with the same way precisely because of their brutal methods and their goals, including their goal to force populations to submit to their brands of radical Islam. For example, the recently elected Hamas organization is open about its desire to destroy Israel and expel millions into the sea.

Writing that some Islamic fundamentalists are better than others is an immoral attempt by Mr. Singh to whitewash the horrors these organizations advocate and perpetuate.