Just an After Thought

I always somehow instinctively knew baby boomers would be the ruin of the civilized world.

Remember what they looked like as adolescents?

#GE2010: the Returns

Demotix: "Londoners cast their votes in General Elections" (images)

Tweeting the British #leadersdebate

Wilders Descends on the UK: Muslims Keen to Prove His Point

Following a Court verdict earlier this week pronouncing Geert Wilders' ban from Britain by the Labour Government invalid, Wilders finally descended on the United Kingdom this afternoon.

He was admitted into the country without a hitch.



Some thirty Muslim radicals - in the BBC article herebelow lovingly refered to as "young Muslims" - picketed the venue where Wilders originally was to have a press conference in the presence of his host, UK Independence Party's Lord Pearson of Rannoch. The meeting was in fact held elsewhere.

The protestors must have endeared themselves at once to the nation, the living proof of Wilders' point: they carried placards demanding "Sharia in the UK", "Sharia in Holland", assuring that "Islam is Superior", "Wilders Go To Hell", and those more inclined to the victimhood strategy carrying the ad hominem "Wilders Coward".

The demo in the vicinity of the Houses of Parliament drew quite a bit of media attention. 

Wilders will discuss with his host when and where he will have an opportunity to show and debate his anti Islam film "Fitna". Wilders would show the short movie in February, but he was banned and was refused admittance to the country by the Labour Government.

Read all about it in this BBC article:

BBC: "Wilders' world of protest and publicity"

After successfully overturning a ban on his presence in the country, Geert Wilders was never going to slip quietly into the UK.

The controversial Dutch politician sent a text message to Associated Press as he cleared customs at Heathrow to ensure the world's media had got the message.

But even he cannot have anticipated the scenes waiting for him in Westminster, as he swept into a side street opposite the Houses of Parliament.

His plan to stage an open-air news conference around the corner on College Green had to be abandoned when about 40 protesters arrived on the scene chanting "Wilders go to hell" and waving placards saying "Sharia for the Netherlands" and "Islam will be superior". (...) >>>

Related:

- "Geert Wilders: Persona Non Grata in Britain"
- "Geert Wilders: Let Them Eat Grits! (update)"
- "Wilders Calls for World Wide First Amendment"
- "Banned From Britain"
- "In Defence of Liberty" (file)

Update:

Robert Spencer: "Enemies of free speech yet again: Muslim students at Temple University attempt to shut down Wilders event"

The Organization of the Islamic Conference is attempting to shut down free speech worldwide, as we have noted here many times. We've also noted many times that the thuggish Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations is likewise no friend of free speech, and rather than meet its opponents in free and open debate, attempts to silence and defame them. And now the Muslim Brotherhood entity known as the Muslim Students Association is doing the same thing, or trying to, to Geert Wilders at Temple University. (...)

The Temple Muslim Students Association is attempting to shut down the scheduled appearance of Geert Wilders on Oct. 20. As part of its Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, and its campaign to Stop the Campus War Against Israel and the Jews, the David Horowitz Freedom Center is sponsoring appearances by Dutch Parliamentarian Geert Wilders at Temple and Columbia universities (Oct. 20 and 21). The Muslim Students Association has issued a statement condemning the event and calling on the Temple Administration to close it down. The David Horowitz Freedom Center statement follows (...) >>>

The Novelty of Liberal Values

Who would have thought that in our enlightened times the freedom of expression needs an army of defenders! Of course, those who are not blind enough to see, may have noticed we've been sliding into a postmodern form of fascism the last few years. 

Yesterday we were overjoyed to be able to report on the policy U-turn performed by the new British Home Secretary, Alan Johnson, the long awaited successor to Jacqui "Jackboot" Smith. He has decided to scrap his predecessor's hate list of people banned from Britain – a list that included US talk show host Michael Savage, along with an untold legion of Islamic hate preachers and terrorists. Savage was going to sue for libel, but he may review in the light of this encouraging news.

But the case opens questions on another matter, the British ban on Islam critic and Dutch MP, Geert Wilders. Although the barring of an MP from another EU member state is unheard of and techniquely even worse than the banning of Savage, the Labour Government of Gordon Brown remains unrepentant where Wilders is concerned.

At least that is what we must assume, given the fact that only a few weeks ago Wilders was also barred from attending the first session of his appeal. Today we find confirmation in an article in Dutch 'paper' De Pers, one of those free publications the early commuter might pick up from one of the world's metropolitan railway stations. Most of them, teetering on the brink of rather commendable public school bulletins, barely deserve the epithet.

This particular rag contains an interview with the Chair of the Birkenhead Society, a staunch defender of frank opinion and open debate even if they themselves happen to disagree with it. The article is an eye-opener in more ways than one: the author pretends to be confronted with such a principle for the first time in her life! She registers - perhaps - feigned surprise at such novelties as reason, laissez fair, Enlightenment, and liberal values; and whatever has the freedom of speech got to do with democracy!

It beggars belief that by now a generation has come of age that was raised in an atmosphere of "shut tf up because I say so, you moron!" - in which the natural choice in the face of intimidation is appeasement.

Here are a few of the highlights:

De Pers: "If Wilders loses, so does the Britain"

The British decision to bar Wilders from entering the country is "a threat to democracy" [!], opines the Birkenhead Society. [The author signals her surprise of such a notion.] The Society will assist Wilders in appealing the Government's decision. 

Abhijit Pandya (30), Chairman of the British Birkenhead Society cannot stress enough that the freedom of expression is at the root of our [Western, liberal] society. Wearing a grey suit and tie [to Pragmatist collectivists that's relevant!] the chairman delivers a fiery speech about liberal society in which everyone is free to offer an opinion and people seek open debate. [Again: 'feigned' surprise!]

The organization has some 60 members.  (...) Upon learning of the British Government's decision they offered to help Wilders with his appeal. (...) The Birkenhead is funded by member contributions, gifts and legacies.

What Wilders says is not the point. They would have done the same for an extreme Left politician [as opposed to this extreme Right specimen - note the absence of quotations marks], says Pandya ... even though the Birkenhead's own talking points - the burqa, immigration, integration, national identity - are in reasonable approximation of the Wilders' agenda.

- Caption: Lord Birkenhead portrait on the front cover of Time Magazine, circa 1920 - 

This isn't about Muslims either. Wilders' British lawyer stems from a family of Sheffield Muslims. It's about the discourse. "The Koran was written in a certain period of our history. That fact should be debated. We must be able to talk about its meaning and proscriptions."

Abhijit Pandya discusses the Wilders's case in legal and philosophical terms. He speaks of reason and Enlightenment, about debates and Galileo. Throughout history people who spoke the truth have been tortured and killed, he states passionately. That doesn't mean, that Wilders - whom he hasn't met - speaks the truth. "But if you silence him, you're killing the debate. We must stop protecting [the sensitivities] of minorities."

Wilders' British allies believe in ultimate laissez fair in social discourse. There should be no prohibitions, says Pandya. Not of [Hitler's book] Mein Kampf, nor of a terrorist's cookery book for bombs. (...)

The young conservative founded the Birkenhead four years ago with a small circle of friends. It followed a bout of social unrest caused by a play in Birmingham in which a Sikh woman was raped. Hunderds of furious Sikhs took to the streets and the play was cancelled. Pandya is still upset about it. "That's bowing to violent intimidation by a minority".

- Caption: Vanity Fair portrait of Lord Birkenhead circa 1900 - 

The same is true in the Wilders case. The Government feared rioting and had him barred. The next session in the legal procedure of Wilders versus the Secretary of State, is on October 12 and 13 at the Asylum and Immigration Tribunal in Londen. Much is at stake, asserts Pandya. "I'm afraid we will lose, and that would be a severe loss for Britain."

The Birkenhead is proud of the British heritage. Churchill, Thatcher, Enoch Powell are their heroes. The organization fights political correctness and positive discrimination (affirmative action). "Great Britain is much too protective of the feelings of minorities", says Pandya, the child of an Indian mother and an Ugandan father. "If someone gets racist to me, I tell him he's an idiot. That's it. We cannot shield ourselves from the opinions of others. Mature people ought to debate each other on the basis of arguments."

Does he see the irony in the offspring of immigrants defending an anti immigration politician? Pandya responds annoyedly: "I'm not a racist? Shouldn't we take his case because he's white? That's not the point. The freedom of speech is at stake."

- Filed on Articles in "In Defense of Liberty" -

Banned From Britain

The policies of Britain's Labour Government Home Secretary Jacqui 'Jackboot' Smith, decreeing who's welcome into the country and who's banned from it, are getting more erratic and haphazard by the day. In an attempt to glean some kind of pattern from issued barring communiques, the Philadelphia-born author Carol Gould - blogging on Pajamas - is making an effort to chart the hate-mongers and demagogues who are already infesting the once great island nation:

“(...) there are scores of extremists spouting loathsome views in every corner of the country. Aside from the fact that England was the location for the very first European blood libel and expulsion of Jews after the York Massacre, the stomping ground of the neo-Nazi Dowager Lady Birdwood and Oswald Mosley, not to mention the birthplace of Holocaust denier David Irving, Britain has in recent years nurtured all manner of extremist.

Dr. Azzam al-Tamimi, whom I witnessed rousing an audience of young Muslims to chants of “Jihad!” at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London and who has expressed a desire to be a martyr, was used as a “series advisor” by the BBC on The Power of Nightmares, a BAFTA award-winning series by Adam Curtis about the foolishness of the war on terror. By the same token, and as Michael Savage has said as this story unfolds, Britain is also the home of the Magna Carta. Lest one forget Winston Churchill, who stood alone against the Third Reich in the Wilderness Years. (...) >>>

But the posting sets off with a juicy bit about the Labour Secretary drawing attention to her and her husband's inability to distinguish the personal from the business of ruling on immigration policies:

“Jacqui Smith has been embroiled in a scandal involving the purchase by her husband of pornographic films; the media have grabbed onto this story with glee because it is an engaging distraction from the horrendous credit crisis and other world calamities. Because the films were acquired on an expense account, she promised to repay the government. 

Back in March she had been accused of double-charging said government for her accommodation; this story, which also related to other politicians, dominated the news cycle for several weeks. Unfortunately Jacqui Smith seems unable to avoid being news because her very own men and women of Scotland Yard (the British Home Office has governance over the police force) have come under unprecedented fire over beatings and even one fatality at the April G20 protests (...)” >>>

Dutch Islam critic Geert Wilders MP - and therefore judged a rabble rousing racist by the politically correct cohorts - just recently found himself barred from entering Britain and showing his short film “Fitna” on the invitation of the House of Lords. Yesterday he's announced he is planning to travel to London for the Court hearing of his appeal on July 9. 

Word has it, the Labour regime is increasingly embarrassed by their decision to block an EU member state parliamentarian from entering another. And so they should. But witness this week's published index of “less than welcome individuals” they may be embarrassed, but remain unrepentant on principle. While the list does not contain any Europeans (let alone MPs or MEPs), what to make of the Jackboot's decision to put the US radio talk show host Michael Savage on Britain's index of nefarious hate mongers?

The man doesn't suffer fools gladly (which happens to be the reason he's popular), but to single him out as a clear and present danger to non-existent “community harmony” borders the farcical! As one pundit had it, this is clearly a case of postmodernist racist equivalence, i.e. white, Christian 'padding' for the host of banned Islamic rage boys that are making up the remainder of the hate index.

Jill Putnam, in an open letter on the The People's Cube ads to the British buffoonery, sending it straight into the spheres of satire, where the entire episode clearly belongs if it weren't a clarion call for censorship of the opposition, appeasement in the face of terrorists and bullies, and tolerance of the intolerant! Enjoy ...

The People's Cube: “I want To Be Banned From England Like Michael Savage”

(...) I'll never understand why we broke away from Great Britain and am so grateful to Jackboot Jacqui Smith who, along with Dear Leader Obama, will correct the mistake (...) >>>

And here's Savage's furious response, with the threat of dropping a legal bomb shell in Britain.

- Filed on Articles in "In Defense of Liberty" -

Geert Wilders: Let Them Eat Grits! (update)

He's made up his mind and will definitely travel to Heathrow tomorrow for a confrontation with the weak, pusillanimous Labour Government that's holding on to dear power by a thread.

Wilders cannot lose. The British authorities can nothing but lose.

Either they give him a pass and they look pretty much like the Metropolitan police -- foolish and ineffectual; or they lock Wilders up and the world will know them as politically correct traitors to liberal democracy.

There's a third possibility. CBN News veteran, Dale Hurd who interviewed Wilders last year, thinks the Brits won't make the fatal mistake of jailing Wilders: "No, I don't think the British will arrest Wilders, but it certainly looks as if they may block his entry".

The defender of liberty for his part cannot wait to find out just how cowardly they are. Wilders - who for years hasn't been able to move without security detail - has drawn energy from the British stance - he's more determined than ever before.

Protests by the Dutch Government to date have had no effect. Dutch parliamentarians usually share some of the ambivalence towards Wilders' critique of Islam: the postmodern contempt for truth, disregard for facts, and a need to unquestioningly throw their weight behind minorities, no matter how wrong or downright evil they may be, all willingly sacrificed in the service of the blanket belief that compromise is the panacea for all of the world's ills.

But now the censorial British position has rekindled the rebel in the Dutch national character: Parliament is behind Wilders to a man! Hurray - the spirit of Cartesianism is animating the low lands once again.

Update:

Lord Nazir Ahmed of Rotherham was just interviewed on Dutch television. He wanted to share the following narrative with the viewers (intelligible excerpts only) (we'll not insult anyone's intelligence by pointing out the obvious irrationalities):

• There are also Christian and Jewish fanatics, whose unlawful deeds are never associated with their religious beliefs;

• Wilders is lumping the pieceful religion of Islam with its fanatics;

• Wilders is indicted in Dutch Courts for inciting racial hatred;

• What! Wilders hasn't even arrived yet and already Lord Rotherham himself has been at the receiving end of threats uttered by the fascist British National Party (BNP);

• Wilders has been invited by Lord Pearson (whom he respects), who left the Right wing Conservative Party to join the UK Independence Party, which has strong support of the fascist BNP (no lumping intended);
  

• He never called upon 10,000 Muslims to bar Wilders' entry to the Houses of Parliament; Lord Ahmed's lawyers will sue the magazine that falsely alleged that; he just knows there will be no one outside Parliament when Wilders will not arrive because his authorities will not allow Wilders to enter the country;

• Fitna will do nothing towards an intellectual debate, so why show a film he himself is not going to waste time on seeing?

• The two Muslims scholars who have been invited to join the debate actually aren't Muslims at all, but people who take Islam out of context and attack Muslims;

• Wilders is lumping Islam with people who do terrible things that Muslims are against;

• Asked whatever happened since Salman Rushdie's right to free speech was guaranteed by the state, Lord Nazir requests an answer to the question whatever happened to his right to exercise the freedom of conscience without being insulted or provoked?! This has no place in modern Europe;

• Nobody wanted to talk to (the Austrian politician) Haider because he said awful things about Jews; there are many Christian and Jewish fanatics who are never lumped;
  

• We are to rest assured that his authorities will send Wilders back to where he came from.
  

The anchor wrapped up the interview with the scrap of news that British Midlands - Wilders' carrier of choice - has a strict policy not to take passengers on board who have been declared unwanted by the British authorities. So we are not to be surprised if Wilders doesn't even get off Amsterdam airport.

- Filed on Articles in "In Defense of Liberty" -

The Unreformed Neotots of the Worst Generation

Mail Online columnist Peter Hitchens expresses what the authors of EURSOC and yours truly have been saying for a long time.

In "Too fat for their jeans, but Labour still think like Trots" Hitchens affirms that the worst generation's youthful commitment to totalitarianism was never rooted in idealism or limited to adolescent zeal.

I first noticed it when I met people of the old crowd years afterwards, only finding that the advancement of the years had done nothing to their basic mindset. Just as if someone had pulled the cognitive plug and personal development had ground to a halt.

The blokes of the worst generation are in their prime now; they've come to power everywhere in the Western world. They are doing their damnedest! Britain has been re-branded a neotot collective ... "dedicated to overthrowing the moral, social and cultural order."

Heaven forbid, but if the Country of Liberty happens to fall into the hands of similar postmodern pragmatists come the new year, we might consider terra-forming Antarctica into a new continent for the free individual.

In a recent series we analyzed the basic principles of Pragmatism. The philosophy is cunningly cloaked, expediently aiming at 'whatever works.' The latter may be substituted by 'whatever our ideology prescribes.' In "When Reason Fails III" we wrote: "Pragmatism is a Romanticist version of relativism. (...) Pragmatism is essentially amoral."

Far from being practical, middle of the road, and reasonable, Pragmatism in effect is entirely malignant. The firm parameters are destructive enough by themselves (anti reason, subjective and 'organically' collectivist), but just how toxic the brew gets, depends on the choices of the particular practitioner.

EURSOC: British politicians paint themselves as pragmatists. Blair excelled at this. Ten years before Nicolas Sarkozy claimed the phrase as his own, Blair was "interested in what works." (...) The revolution (...) took place and it is well on its way to becoming “irreversible”, always Blair's stated aim. (...) Blair has been highly effective in carrying out his reforms and has pretty much succeeded in imposing the kind of society he and his colleagues set out to put in place."

Those who ask the desperate question how all of this came about, might refer to the most popular video on the blog, "Just Doing His Job" ...




Postscript: Blogging may be slow in the coming days due to moving to another state (of the European Union).

Today Devoted to British Election Results: the Light!

Times Online: "Election latest: David Cameron inflicts worst drubbing in 40 years"

The Conservatives made sweeping gains across the country early today as voters gave Gordon Brown a huge rebuff in his first electoral test as Prime Minister. David Cameron chalked up important successes in the North, the Midlands and the South, securing his top target of Bury in Greater Manchester and taking control of Nuneaton and Bedworth, and Southampton. The Conservatives also took seats in Labour strongholds of Sunderland and Wigan.

Labour suffered one of its worst electoral humiliations, with its national share of the vote dropping to 24 or 25 per cent. The Tory share was projected at 43 or 44 per cent, better than its most optimistic predictions. The margin was similar to the drubbing handed out to John Major in 1995 two years before Tony Blair entered Downing Street. (...) The Tories were heading for total gains of more than 200 seats and Labour’s losses were of a similar order.

The results will put further pressure on Mr Brown’s leadership after a dismal few months. His decision ... >>>

Breakthrough in the North - Tide turns in Wales - Mixed night for Lib Dems - Red Box blog - Analysis - Graphic: the election battlegrounds

Related: Aren't we all dying to know the opines of Polly "neglected-by-the-state" Toynbee and Yasmin "hands-off-Sadam" Alibhai Brown ...?

- Comments Central: "Bogus arguments against Boris", by David Finkelstein

Alongside the hyperventilating of various B listers, today has seen two quite astonishing sets of arguments against Boris Johnson. The first is canvassed by Zoe Williams but was also made earlier by Yasmin Alibhai Brown. It is best summarised by the pay off line of Williams's (incidentally brilliantly done) piece:

We know what London is. Boris is not London.

Who is this "we" that she refers to? And how dare they assume that they know what London is. (...) And I have to say that being lectured by Polly Toynbee that Boris Johnson is too posh is, oh forget it. The second astonishing idea is advanced by ... >>>

Here's an automatically updating Google News link to Boris' election news from London!

Updated:

The Christian Choice: "ITV & BBC Censor London Mayoral Election Broadcastin - In Fear of Radical Islam"

Papers are being filed Tuesday morning at the Royal Courts of Justice after the BBC and ITV instructed London Mayoral Candidate Alan Craig to censor his Party Election Broadcasts aired last Wednesday (23rd April). The two broadcasters demanded that The Christian Choice candidate not criticise radical Islamist group, Tablighi Jamaat, over their plans to build Europe's biggest mosque next to the Olympics site in West Ham. Use of the word 'separatist' was ruled out by both ITV & BBC.

Alan Craig is asking the High Court to ensure the electoral process and freedom of speech is not threatened by fear of Islam. He is calling on the other Mayoral candidates to endorse his concern about political censorship. Commenting ahead of the action against the BBC, Alan Craig said:"Elections are about open discourse and a free exchange of views. The action of the broadcasters closed down democratic discussion and showed the fear of both ITV and the BBC in offending a radical Islamic group. In preventing rational and moderate comment, the BBC and ITV have fuelled the sort of paranoia which extreme groups like the BNP have fed-off in this election." (...) >>>

Related: Articles - Big Bro's Smoke and Mirrors: Media Corruption

- Filed on Articles in "London Calling" -