Nothing in the history of modern science has been more up and down than the Hubble. First it was fuzzy. Then it was fixed with a spectacular history-making spacewalk. Next it revealed more about our universe than the last three thousand years of astronomy. Now it's fate is up to Washington beancounters. Hey, I know, why not go check the couch cushions at the Department of Education? I'm sure they could scrape up the two billion there.
EUROPE AND JIHAD
In case best-selling videotaped beheadings over the screeching soundrack of "Allahu Akbar" aren't enough, if being called an "infidel-Crusader-Jewish-imperialist" (whether you are actually Jewish or not) doesn't do it for you, here's an article on Understanding Jihad. Too bad the last paragraph is wishful thinking:
In the longer term, there is hope that Muslims in the West will work towards the generalization of their religious precepts into more abstract moral principles, principles capable of problematizing certain of the precepts. Muslims living in the West, in Europe and North America, can have no realistic hope of establishing Islamic states to rule the majority of the population. Perhaps, in this circumstance, they will work to accommodate Islam to the civil religion we find, for example, in the United States. In this civil religion, moral precepts from many denominations are found, but they are generalized from the denominational precepts that may be in force for believers, precepts that are not enforced politically. The resources for such an accommodation can be found in Islam, in its concern for equality and social justice. If this accommodation occurs, perhaps it will have an effect on the larger umma. Until then, it is clear that one of the Islamists’ motivations to act stems from their understanding of their religious tradition, and it is just as clear that that tradition provides the resources to legitimate their actions.
The whole paragraph is wishful thinking up to the last sentence. I share in this wishful thinking. If there is no validity to it, what options do we have other than total, seemingly unending, warfare? In the highlighted passage, the author is placing hope over demographics. European nations have birthrates under two children per family, some almost as low as one. Muslims reproduce geometrically in most cases.
Another in-depth analysis for those of us who "don't really understand Islam". CAIR and MPAC always claim that learning more about Islam is necessary to prevent "Islamophobia". Funny, the more I learn about Islam the more it scares me.
The Netherlands has released a hard-hitting report which faces reality in ways unheard of until recently.
The Dutch report places the blame for the origins of the problem squarely on the deeply-rooted ideology of fierce opposition to the Western way of life among certain Muslim groups. It does not claim that the problem of radical Muslims would disappear if there were peace between Israelis and Palestinians. Israel and Jews are not mentioned in the report.
Muslims don't hide this antipathy for the West. The mainstream media in the West ignores it. "There can be no end to jihad." -- Sheikh Omar Bakri Muhammad (hat tip Jihad Watch)
I've come to the conclusion mainstream media, in most cases, would rather use wishful thinking to magically make the problem of jihad go away than deal forthrightly with the actual facts on the ground. It's a modern version of "peace in our time". Don't underestimate media cowardice or the modern tendency towards multi-cultural, politically correct, appeasement. The few exceptions include the Daily Telegraph (UK), The New York Sun, and the Washington Times.
Being tolerant of the global expansion of intolerant Islam will not work. Islam is not a religion in the Western sense. It is a political (caliphate), legal (shari'a), economic (jizya), war-fighting (jihad) ideology with deception (taqiyya) as a core principle.
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