Shorter Ezra

I believe in a pluralist society where I can be Jewish, he can be Christian, she can be Muslim, and we all get along peacefully – we can agree to disagree about political or religious matters. ezra levant before a US Congress Committee

Amen.

Written by jay on July 11th, 2008 with no comments.
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Outstanding…

Syed Soharwardy, he of the initial Human Rights Complaint against Ezra Levant that got the whole outraged ball of wax rolling, has changed his mind about all sorts of things to do with faith, tolerance and the Canadian way.

Apparently this ‘Road to Damascus’ conversion actually took place on a road, the Road to Sault St. Marie to be precise. No offence to the good people of The Soo, but I’ve also wanted to change my mind when I’ve arrived there, although it has more to do with location that loquaciousness.

Here is an excerpt from what Soharwardy said:

“In listening to the experiences of Bishop Henry and Pastor Boissoin, I realized how precious religious freedom is to our country and how easily freedom is lost.” daily bayonet

Go read the rest. Personally I am more than a little skeptical. Religious tolerance and respect for differing opinions are essentially cultural and nothing save this article suggests that Soharwardy really has a clue about either. But a journey always begins with the first step. There can be no other way.

Written by jay on July 11th, 2008 with 1 comment.
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Oh Dear….

Since 1980, average air temperatures in Europe have risen 1 °C: much more than expected from greenhouse-gas warming alone. Christian Ruckstuhl of the Institute for Atmospheric and Climate Science in Switzerland and colleagues took aerosol concentrations from six locations in northern Europe, measured between 1986 and 2005, and compared them with solar-radiation measurements over the same period. Aerosol concentrations dropped by up to 60 per cent over the 29-year period, while solar radiation rose by around 1 watt per square metre (Geophysical Research Letters, DOI: 10.1029/2008GL034228). “The decrease in aerosols probably accounts for at least half of the warming over Europe in the last 30 years,” says Rolf Philipona, a co-author of the study at MeteoSwiss, Switzerland’s national weather service. new scientist

Bad news for the warmists I’m afraid. ‘Cause just as Europe’s skies have cleared so have North America’s. Which would tend to account for pretty much all of the effect that Jim Hansen and the team have claimed to observe without even considering the urban heat island effect which they have been trying to pretend does not exist or, if it does, has been fully accounted for in the model.

Frankly, given the lack of sunspot activity and the general decline of global temperature over the last ten years, I have to bet that things are going to get colder. And I note that the Swiss do not even mention CO2….Hmmm.

Written by jay on July 11th, 2008 with 2 comments.
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The French begin to Get It

France has denied citizenship to a veiled Moroccan woman on the grounds that her “radical” practice of Islam is incompatible with basic French values such as equality of the sexes, a legal ruling showed on Friday.

The case will reignite debate about how to reconcile freedom of religion, which is guaranteed by the French constitution, and other fundamental rights, which many in France feel are being challenged by the way of life of some Muslims.

Le Monde newspaper said it was the first time a Muslim applicant had been rejected for reasons to do with personal religious practice.

“She has adopted a radical practice of her religion, incompatible with essential values of the French community, particularly the principle of equality of the sexes,” said a ruling by the Council of State handed down last month and sent to Reuters on Friday to confirm a report in Le Monde. reuters via Kathy

While there is much to be said for tolerance and reasonable accomodation, there is also a great deal to be said for essential principles. Basically the woman in question was kept in close confinement and had nothing to do with France and knew nothing of France. Not unreasonably she was denied French citizenship.

Now the language of the decision suggests that the woman “adopted a radical practice of her religion”. Did she? Or was this forced upon her by her husband and male relatives force this practice upon her with the full approval of their particular segment of the Muslim community?

The poor woman was ignorant of the essential principles upon which France is governed; but that is unlikely to have been her fault. Rather it is more likely to have been the fault of the males in her life who, to a degree, would have been aware of those principles and chose to directly reject them.

If anyone is at fault it is the anti-assimilationist males who kept this woman isolated. If anyone should get the boot it is the people who created the environment where this poor woman was denied the basic human dignity - or even the knowledge of such dignity.

It might well be a good idea to kick the husband and male relatives as well as the other husbands and male relatives and any religious leaders involved right back to Morocco where they would not have to deal with the interfering French state.

The poor women might be better off being allowed to stay in France in a shelter where she can be deprogrammed from the beliefs of this nasty cult.

Written by jay on July 11th, 2008 with 1 comment.
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