British Embassy pushes Islam in Washington

This is one of the photographs on exhibit at The Art of Integration Exhibition: Islam in Britain's Green and Pleasant Lands, which is or was on view at the British Embassy in Washington, DC. (Tip of the hat: Gandalf at Up Pompeii). The caption: "A Muslim Choir. Dr. Timothy Winter (Abdul Hakim Murad), of the faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, leads his Muslim choir in their recitation from the 'Muslim Songs of the British Isles' in the grounds of Cambridge college."

You can see more examples of the carefully cropped, idealized image of Islam in Britain the embassy wants to con you into believing at the exhibit Web site.

The oily text declares:

This exhibition salutes the ordinary and the extraordinary contributions made by Muslims in the everyday life of the United Kingdom. They too play an integral role in medicine, law, politics and every other profession and field. They have contributed hugely to creating the wealth and prosperity which Muslims and non-Muslims alike enjoy in the UK today.

As the British expression goes: cobblers. Ask the non-Muslim, indigenous British residents of Manchester, Birmingham, Bradford, Luton, and the many areas of London where Muslims predominate how the Prophet's followers have changed their neighborhoods. Sure, ask them about Muslims' ordinary contributions, as well as those, uh, "extraordinary" ones. Like the mosques run by imams foaming at the mouth as they preach hatred against the infidels who have welcomed them and support many of them on welfare.

The exhibit got one thing right, though: the Muslims do play an integral role in politics. Both Labour and the Tories are servile to them, ready to send even a judge to a re-education camp ("further training") for asking a woman to remove her face-hiding veil in court.

The telling pain

For the next 11 months the U.S. news media will be obsessed with the presidential contest. Unless something dramatic happens to shake our journos out of their 24-hour memories, the overtaking of the Western world by Islam will be a "small earthquake in Chile, few injuries reported" story. But the Muslim progress toward a worldwide Caliphate carries on in the background.

It's like that persistent pain that you ignore, until one day the doctor hangs the CAT scan pictures on the office wall and looks you straight in the eye while he tells you what it means and, while you're trying to absorb the fact, adds that your odds would have been a sight better if you'd sussed it earlier.

Europe, being a little closer to the sharp edge, is inclined to take more notice -- though not necessarily to respond any more sensibly than the U.S. has so far.

From The Telegraph:

Islamic extremists have created "no-go" areas across Britain where it is too dangerous for non-Muslims to enter, one of the Church of England's most senior bishops warns today.

The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester and the Church's only Asian bishop, says that people of a different race or faith face physical attack if they live or work in communities dominated by a strict Muslim ideology. ... Bishop Nazir-Ali, who was born in Pakistan, gives warning that attempts are being made to give Britain an increasingly Islamic character by introducing the call to prayer and wider use of sharia law, a legal system based on the Koran.

Naturally, his claim is denied by Muslim groups. For all I know, the Bishop may be mistaken or exaggerating. But given his position in the Church of England, his warning can hardly be considered frivolous or the outpouring of a fringe loony. Understanding the animosity he would earn from the "respectable" media and the left-leaning Church, he undoubtedly thought the situation was such a threat he had to speak up, regardless of the cost to himself.

This story, too, will be ignored by the American media, and forgotten by tomorrow in the British. It is just one data point along with hundreds of others that accumulate each year, on a graph that shows the clear trend toward the Islamization of Europe and everywhere else that this militant politico-religious system can get a foot in the door.

Aggressive Islam, with all it portends of Roman-derived law being replaced by shar'ia law and the consequent necessity for non-Muslims to convert to Islam or live as dhimmis, is the story of our time, far more important than who is elected president this year. But while many individuals can see what's going down, no politician dares to acknowledge it, and the mainstream media's attention is fully occupied with the election campaign and Britney Spears.

I don't believe any Western country, with the possible exceptions of Britain and Sweden, will submit to Muslim rule. Unfortunately, instead of taking the threat seriously and doing what can be done relatively easily and humanely now, such as stopping Muslim immigration, they will distract themselves with whatever comes to mind -- presidential politics, global warming politics, entertainment-world gossip -- until the Muslim takeover is very nearly a done deal.

What then? Most likely a civil war, and a nasty one. They're always nasty, with no discounts given to civilians, the young, the old, the helpless.

Does that sound hysterical? I'd like to think so. But Paul Weston, writing for Gates of Vienna, makes a sensible argument for the likelihood of civil war in Europe, in an essay that doesn't seem to have gotten much attention but should have. I urge you to read or re-read it. Thoughtfully.

Don't ignore pain. It's trying to tell you something.

The presidency as product placement

What a campaign this is turning out to be. All the presidential candidates are unelectable.

Iowa's result promises nothing good. I'll admit to a touch of Schadenfreude at seeing Hillary eating Obama's dust, but Obama still seems to me essentially an "image" candidate. He will win or lose depending on how many people like or dislike him. My problem is that I can't find anything there that compels me to do either. He is the ultimate candidate as product — which, to one degree or other, describes almost the lot of them.

He's also a Democrat, which always raises suspicion.

Meanwhile, the Republican mob is an equally sorry bunch. Particularly Parson Huckabee, whose position on the no. 1 issue, immigration, is standard liberal amnesty-by-another name:

If you can get an American Express card in two weeks, it shouldn't take seven years to get a work permit to come to this country in order to work on a farm. "So if our government is incapable of making that process in that length of time, then we should do it in a way to outsource it. And here's why: When people come to this country, they shouldn't fear. They shouldn't live in hiding. They ought to have their heads up, because the one thing about being an American is, we believe every person ought to have his or her head up and proud, and nobody should have to be in hiding because they're illegal when our government ought to make it so that people can reasonably come here in a legal fashion.

In other words, Parson Huckabee is happy to welcome all the border jumpers (not to mention the inordinate number of legal immigrants). And so they can hold their heads up and not slink around in the shadows while they congregate by the hundreds in the parking lots, they shouldn't be denied legal residency, as long as they go through a little bit of play acting. Let them spend a day in Juarez while an ultra-efficient government, or perhaps an outsourcing company, goes through the motions of checking to see if they're on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List before issuing their Express American cards.

Huckabee is particularly distasteful to me because he has the air of a religious crank, much in the George W. Bush mold, his every thought and feeling taken down in shorthand as he sits on God's knee and served up as sanctified politics.

No sale here for this product, either.

That leaves perhaps two candidates I could vote for without gagging: Romney and Paul. We shall see.

Insectuous relationship

Hundreds of thousands hit by vomiting bug
— Headline, The Telegraph, Jan. 3

Pity the poor British. Their country is a crime scene, immigration a disaster, the trains don't work, etc., etc. But this is really too much.

Have you ever seen a bug vomit? It's just disgusting. And to add injury to insult, it's going around hitting people by the hundreds of thousands.

The Home Office said in a statement, "We have no record of the whereabouts of this bug, but in any case it will be permitted to remain in the country until its plea for asylum is adjudicated, which we expect will be completed by 2015, unless the bug chooses to appeal an unfavourable ruling."

Sarko and Carla

French president Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni are having a very public affair. Now, ordinarily, news like that would send me into a coma. It caught my attention, though, because Carla has caught my attention.

Not because she is a famous model, although, by gum, she is très angélique. No, the thing is, she has recorded an album I'm fond of. It's called Quelqu'un m'a dit (Someone Told Me). Yes, she sings in French despite her Italian name and, apparently, origins.

I had never heard of her, in her modeling career or otherwise, when I became acquainted with the disc at one of those listening stations at Borders where you can listen on headphones that make every track sound like it was recorded in the kitchen of the Carlsbad Cavern Hilton. Even so, it grabbed me.

I suspect the thing sold about 50 units in the United States, including the one I bought. Foreign languages are perfumes that repel Americans. But aside from knowing enough French to get by with very tolerant native speakers, I dug the album's style and spirit.

Quelqu'un m'a dit is an album mostly of ballads, quiet and romantic. The sparing, pure arrangements are unusual for a production from France, where they go in for overheated, horn-heavy, 101-strings backings.

You won't catch me out saying Carla is the new Edith Piaf, but she makes pleasant listening and the songs, most of which she wrote or co-wrote, are attractive. This is no vanity project.

Hey, Sarko. You've got taste when it comes to objets d'amour. Now, when you get your breath back, how about drawing a dead line for the jihadists-in-waiting you continue to tolerate in practically every city of your republic?

Your purple cow will be ready in a moment

These are the first genetically modified pets, sold under the name GloFish. They are zebra fish tweaked with genes from other, exotically colored creatures such as jellyfish. The GloFish are fluorescent, and in a dark room will glow under ultraviolet light.

Genetically modified animals are now under various legal strictures -- the GloFish were developed earlier, and at least in the U.S. are still permitted under a sort of "grandfather clause." It's unlikely we'll actually see a purple cow, and I'd rather see than be one, but I thought the GloFish would be a cheering sight for those of you living under gray skies on this first day of '08. Happy New Year!