Heretical Librarian

Signing Off

2008-07-07T01:47:00.002-04:00

Yes, and I really mean it this time.My sincere thanks to all who have read this blog or any part thereof. I hope it has been a useful source of information and analysis, regardless of whether or not you agree with my positions. In particular, thanks to everyone who sent me e-mail and my apologies for being so bad about responding. I also owe a debt of gratitude to those bloggers who linked to me

Egypt's Minister of Book Burning

2008-07-07T01:13:00.002-04:00

Two months ago, Egyptian Culture Minister Farouk Hosni was widely considered one of the favorites to be selected as next head of UNESCO. Now, his hopes appear to be in doubt. This article from the May 29 New York Sun explains why:Last week, a Muslim Brotherhood member of Egypt's parliament complained about Israeli books being in Egyptian libraries. Denying that such publications were available

Iran Ponders the Death Penalty for "Apostate" Blogging

2008-07-06T23:24:00.002-04:00

Iran's Supreme Leader, Grand Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and its president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have spent the last three years engaged in a "Second Islamic Cultural Revolution" designed to save their unpopular autocratic regime by fostering Islamist ideology and curbing the growth of "un-Islamic" thought and expression. In early June, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty noted that Khamenei used the

Answering Peter McDonald

2008-07-06T22:43:00.000-04:00

Safe Libraries has the text of a message posted to the ALA Council listserv by radical leftist ALA Councilor Peter McDonald. I would be remiss if I signed off without offering my reactions to Mr. McDonald's comments. Three paragraphs in particular stand out. I'll address them one at a time:My sympathies go out to you my fellow Councilors. We have had to deal now 10 interminable years with Mr.

Change Coming to Campus?

2008-07-05T23:23:00.002-04:00

A July 3 article from the New York Times/International Herald Tribune argues that academia is becoming less dogmatically left wing as radical baby boomer faculty retire and are replaced by more moderate younger professors:Together, these Midwestern academics, one leaving the professoriate and another working her way up, are part of a vast generational change that is likely to profoundly alter the

Subverting the Che Cult

2008-07-04T01:07:00.002-04:00

I have been a frequent critic of the efforts to market the image of terrorist mass murderer Ernesto "Che" Guevara. It would appear, however, that Che merchandise has finally served a useful purpose.This Washington Post article on Wednesday's magnificent hostage rescue in Colombia, includes the following:Yesterday, two white helicopters arrived in a jungle clearing where the hostages were being

Happy Independence Day!

2008-07-04T01:06:00.001-04:00

Just wanted to wish all of you a happy Fourth of July. Posting will continue until Sunday July 6.

Antioch College Closes its Doors

2008-07-03T01:46:00.000-04:00

I have blogged previously about the sad case of Antioch College. This once outstanding liberal arts college has devolved since the 1960s from a bastion of free inquiry to an ideological "boot camp" of radical left orthodoxy, extreme even by the standards of contemporary academia. As a result, the college shed both students and faculty until only a few hundred true believers remained. This process

The Sivas Massacre: 15 Years Later

2008-07-02T23:11:00.002-04:00

Today marks the 15th anniversary of one of the most horrific atrocities in Islamism's war on intellectual freedom. The Turkish newspaper Hurriyet describes what happened in the city of Sivas on that terrible day:On July 2, 1993, a group of Islamic fundamentalists surrounded the Madimak Hotel in which many intellectuals were staying for the Pir Sultan Abdal Festival in Sivas, known as a stronghold

ALA and Cuba (Again)

2008-07-02T00:19:00.000-04:00

ALA's Annual Convention is underway in Anaheim. Those of you who remember my reaction to last year's ALA conference in DC will not be shocked to learn that I have skipped this year's festivities. Amazingly for an election year, this year's speakers lineup seems mercifully free of partisanship, though the Opening Session did feature that "impassioned, informed and gifted speaker" Ron Reagan. To be

The MEMRI Widget

2008-06-29T23:41:00.001-04:00

Just an administrative note; in order to keep this site useful after I stop posting, I have added the official MEMRI Widget to the right side menu:Get this widget!

"The ones who harm the Prophet"

2008-06-28T22:05:00.002-04:00

MEMRI recently compiled a must-read collection of comments by Arab and Muslim reformers on the question of blaspheming the Prophet Muhammed. The three individuals quoted courageously point out that Islamist fanatics are the ones who truly denigrate Islam: In an article in the Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa, titled "Muslims Against Islam," Kuwaiti liberal Dr. Ahmad Al-Baghdadi wrote: "In most countries

Other Rushdies

2008-06-27T23:52:00.000-04:00

On Wednesday, Sir Salman Rushdie officially received his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II. The announcement of the award just over a year ago drew the usual round of threats from Islamists. Thankfully, they did not deter the Queen from bestowing this well deserved honor. Sir Salman has shown great courage in speaking out against the Islamist war on free expression. Especially since, contrary to

Absence Explained

2008-06-26T21:56:00.003-04:00

Sorry for the lack of recent posting. I've just been busy with other responsibilities, which explains why I'm giving this up in a few days. To make up for my absence, I will throw in a few days of free bonus blogging. Posting will now continue through July 5.

9/11 Denial at the UN Human Rights Council

2008-06-19T23:53:00.003-04:00

In March of this year, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHCR) appointed Dr. Richard Falk to be its "Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967". Those familiar with the UNHCR's record will not be surprised to learn that Falk is a radical leftist who is pathologically hostile to Israel and the United States. In an article written

Banning Worldwide "Islamophobia"

2008-06-19T02:30:00.002-04:00

Writing in today's Wall Street Journal, Mark Dubowitz takes note of a disturbing new trend: the willingness of many Islamic states to use international bodies like the UN to globalize the censorship of free expression:Welcome to a world where criticism of militant Islam could land you in court or worse. In Vancouver, Canada's venerable Maclean's magazine awaits a hate-speech verdict from a

Banning a Book-Banner

2008-06-18T23:57:00.003-04:00

In a piece for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Aslan Doukaev notes a truly ironic development: One of the works of the late mass murdering book banning despot Ayatollah Khomeini is itself being banned, in Russia. Khomeini's most infamous act of censorship was, of course, his 1989 call for the murder of Satanic Verses' author Salman Rushdie. The regime he founded continues to ban books till this

Literature and Self-Liberation

2008-06-17T23:17:00.002-04:00

Claudia Anderson has written an excellent essay for the June 23 Weekly Standard comparing the lives of two outspoken and courageous advocates for freedom: Frederick Douglass and Ayaan Hirsi Ali:Born a little over 150 years apart, Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) and Ayaan Hirsi Ali (born 1969) both had the experience, on the threshold of adulthood--he was 20, she 22--of fleeing the culture they'd

Blogger Arrests Increase in 2007

2008-06-16T23:37:00.002-04:00

The BBC summarizes a new report showing that the number of bloggers arrested worldwide increased substantially last year:Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, says the University of Washington annual report.In 2007 three times as many people were arrested for blogging about political issues than in 2006, it revealed.More than half of all the arrests since

Has the Internet Changed How We Read?

2008-06-15T21:57:00.000-04:00

Courtesy of Max Boot at Commentary, I came across a truly provocative essay from the July/August 2008 Atlantic Monthly. According to author Nicholas Carr, the Internet is literally changing not only the way that we read, but also the way we think:I can feel it, too. Over the past few years I’ve had an uncomfortable sense that someone, or something, has been tinkering with my brain, remapping the

"I was the right person in the right place."

2008-06-10T23:57:00.003-04:00

Courtesy of Martin Kramer's site, here is an interesting interview with Iraqi National Library Director Dr. Saad Eskander from the Guardian. The article has a slight anti-American spin, which is to be expected from the Guardian, but it is still very much worth reading:In 2003, Saad Eskander had just finished his PhD at the London School of Economics when he decided to return to Baghdad. Saddam

"The academic world that I entered is gone."

2008-06-09T23:23:00.002-04:00

Alan Charles Kors, a conservative intellectual historian at Penn, has written a terrific essay on the decline of academia. He describes how the campus has evolved from a place that welcomed intellectual diversity and open debate in the 1970s to one trapped in the stultifying ideological conformity of today. Dr. Kors makes abundantly clear that simply hiring a few professors of "Conservative

"Conservative Studies" at Colorado

2008-06-08T23:34:00.001-04:00

Via this post by Neo-Neocon, I learned that the University of Colorado has announced plans to endow a chair in "Conservative Studies" in order to foster intellectual diversity on campus. An article from the May 13 Wall Street Journal offers some details. These quotes from two CU students help explain why the university administration is pursuing such a course:Jack Roldan, vice chair of the

Site Update

2008-06-06T23:47:00.002-04:00

As previously promised, an update on the future of this blog. Posting will continue until June 30. After then, this blog will no longer be active.

Marketing a Mass Murderer

2008-06-05T00:24:00.002-04:00

In a piece from the June 1 Los Angeles Times, Ben Ehrenreich looks at the enduring popularity of terrorist mass murderer Ernesto "Che" Guevara:Snapped in March 1960, Alberto Korda's iconic image of Ernesto "Che" Guevara is possibly -- who's counting? -- the most-reproduced photograph in the world. Some version of it has been painted, printed, digitized, embroidered, tattooed, silk-screened,

Beheading for Swearing?

2008-06-04T00:29:00.004-04:00

The Los Angeles Times reports on a Turkish barber named Sabri Bogday, who faces possible execution in Saudi Arabia just because he swore using God's name during an argument:Press reports say Bogday cursed during an argument with a neighbor, who later complained to police. This nation is ruled by a strict Wahhabi brand of Islamic justice that doles out lashings and public beheadings for crimes

Bible Burning in Israel

2008-06-03T23:57:00.000-04:00

In mid-May, Uzi Aharon, the deputy mayor of an Israeli town called Or Yehuda, found out that "messianic Jews" (Jews who believe in Jesus) had dropped off some New Testaments in his community. His response was to organize a group of yeshiva students who collected several hundred of the books and burned them in a public bonfire.In an interview with the Jerusalem Post, Aharon denied wanting the

Racial Harassment by Reading

2008-06-02T23:46:00.004-04:00

In March, I blogged about Keith John Sampson, a janitor at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Last November, a university official found him guilty of racial harassment because he read a book about the Ku Klux Klan in front of African-American coworkers. The fact that the book, Notre Dame vs. the Klan: How the Fighting Irish Defeated the Ku Klux Klan, is very much anti-Klan was

Almost Home

2008-05-28T00:37:00.002-04:00

I am almost done with Annual Training. As you may have noticed, I didn't have nearly as much time to post as I thought. Regular posting will resume this weekend and continue through the month of June. In the meantime, I leave you with a link to the worst music video ever.

""Our goal is to have Sharia as the permanent law of our country"

2008-05-27T23:25:00.003-04:00

The Somali news site Garowe Online reports that a number of local journalists have been forced to flee that country following death threats from Islamist insurgents:A group of Somali journalists have fled their home country after receiving death threats and facing intimidation from the government and insurgent groups vying for power in Somalia.The group consists of 13 journalists, who represent

The Movement Against Scholarship

2008-05-18T01:07:00.004-04:00

Anne Applebaum has written a fascinating review of the recent book by Nicholson Baker entitled Human Smoke. I have not read Baker's book; however, it seems that many reviewers and historians regard the work as a monument to moral and intellectual vacuity.According to critics, Baker takes the anti-American moral relativism of the last 35 years and retroactively applies it to World War II. He

Off to Annual Training

2008-05-09T01:01:00.002-04:00

No sooner do I return from South Carolina and Warrior Leader Course than I have to leave for Annual Training. This year's installment sees my long anticipated return to Ft. Huachuca, AZ. I should be able to do some posting over the course of the next three weeks. In the meantime, considering Ft. Huachuca's close proximity to Mexico, what better video to leave you with than this gripping animated

China's Golden Shield

2008-05-09T00:54:00.002-04:00

The German magazine Der Spiegel takes an in-depth look at China's all too extensive system of Internet censorship:Conventional wisdom has it that the Internet can withstand anything. Attempts to censor it are about as futile as trying to nail Jell-O to a wall. Experts have claimed that if blocked, the flow of information will simply reroute to reach its target. Too bad China isn’t listening to

"What they want is very dangerous"

2008-05-08T23:58:00.002-04:00

MEMRI has some revealing excerpts from an interview with a Saudi cleric named Muhammed Al-Munajid. The following paragraphs, in which Al-Munajid describes his view of Muslim reformers, provide a clear example of the fear and hatred Islamists feel towards free thought:"The problem is that they want to open a debate on whether Islam is true or not, and on whether Judaism and Christianity are false

Remembering Samizdat

2008-05-07T00:16:00.004-04:00

In the Soviet Union in the late 1960s, as the hopes of reform aroused by Khrushchev's "Thaw" were thwarted by the post-Stalinist totalitarianism of the Brezhnev era, a new form of surreptitious free expression appeared. Called Samizdat, this form of underground literature was published in either handwritten or typewritten form and circulated from person to person. The items distributed via

Sam Harris on Islamist Censorship

2008-05-06T23:21:00.002-04:00

Sam Harris has published a provocative essay, at the Huffington Post of all places, on the recent controversy over Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders' film Fitna. Harris is one of several famous atheist writers who have recently published books attacking religion. As he points out in the following passage, drawing on his own experience, many Westerners are far more circumspect about criticizing

Assorted Links

2008-04-17T23:38:00.002-04:00

I'm afraid I'm going to have to take a two week hiatus from blogging in order to experience the joys of something called Warrior Leader Course. In the meantime, I leave you with a few items of interest:-Lebanon is the most liberal country in the Arab world. However, as Agence France Presse reports, "state censorship is also rife on any topics that touch upon Israel or sensitive issues such as

"It Is Time for Arab States to Make Declarations of Apostasy (Tafkir) A Crime"

2008-04-16T02:04:00.000-04:00

On March 14, a radical Saudi cleric named Sheikh Abdul-Rahman al-Barrak issued a fatwa stating that two authors who wrote newspaper articles arguing that non-Muslims should not be considered "infidels" were themselves apostates who needed to be killed. On March 19, Reuters reported that a group of Saudi clerics issued their own statement on this question. The contents were sadly predictable: A

UNESCO Pulps Nearly 100,000 Books

2008-04-15T00:37:00.002-04:00

The Washington Post reports that UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, pulped nearly 100,000 of its own works as a cost and space saving measure (article available via the New York Sun):According to the report, the destruction occurred in 2004 and 2005, when UNESCO's overflowing book storage warehouses in Paris were relocated to Brussels. rather than pay to

Standing up Against Article 301

2008-04-14T23:00:00.003-04:00

The BBC takes a look at those brave individuals in Turkey who risk prosecution under Article 301 or even worse for daring to publish books that "insult Turkishness":It is a very difficult time to be a writer in Turkey.Last year the prominent Turkish-Armenian journalist, Hrant Dink, was murdered. This year, an ultra-nationalist gang allegedly had the Nobel laureate Orhan Pamuk on its hit list.Both

Disturbing Analogy of the Day

2008-04-09T01:26:00.002-04:00

Screw Loose Change, an excellent blog devoted to combating the moral and intellectual plague known as "9/11 trutherism", quoted the following passage from a 9/11 conspiracy web site. The individual in question is bemoaning the loss of influence of parts of the "truth movement":I have a theory about what is happening here. In the last year we've seen two major trends in the movement. Hits at our

Obama to Choudhury: No, We Can't

2008-04-08T00:37:00.003-04:00

Via Hot Air, here is the latest video contribution to the Barack Obama personality cult. It manages to be creepily Orwellian and unintentionally hilarious all at the same time:In the meantime, there is one individual who is probably somewhat less than impressed by Obama's gloriously vague paeans to hope and change. His name is Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury and I have written about his situation a

A Look at Iran's Blogosphere

2008-04-06T23:50:00.002-04:00

The New York Times/International Herald Tribune takes a fascinating look at the state of Iranian blogging:Troll through the Iranian blogosphere and you can find all manner of unexpectedly harsh critiques denouncing the government of the Islamic republic, from reformists who revile it as well as conservatives who support it.One conservative blogger deplored the rampant inflation undermining the

Manji on Fitna

2008-04-05T23:51:00.002-04:00

Irshad Manji has posted an interesting review of Fitna at the Washington Post web site. Here is a brief preview:"Fitna," the Arabic word for "social strife," is being trumpeted as a provocative manifesto with the potential to create yet more strife in the cosmic confrontation between Islam and the West.I have watched it. Others should too, not because it is compelling but because, in its utter

Undercover Journalism in North Korea

2008-04-04T23:03:00.003-04:00

The BBC takes a fascinating look at a handful of brave North Koreans who risk imprisonment to reveal the truth about life in Kim Jong-Il's totalitarian "paradise":In the Chinese city of Yanji, just a few kilometres from the North Korean border, one of the most risky journalistic endeavours ever undertaken is taking shape.A North Korean citizen is being trained in the techniques of using a hidden

Reader Reassurance

2008-04-02T01:49:00.002-04:00

First of all, thank you to everyone who responded to my recent post on the decline of the conservative librarian blogosphere (and the impending end of this site). To answer your questions:-The official end of this blog will probably come in June. I will try to maintain a regular posting schedule until then, but no guarantees. I will provide advance notice of the exact date.-For the benefit of

Fitna Update

2008-04-02T01:28:00.003-04:00

As a commenter pointed out, Geert Wilders' film Fitna has again been removed from LiveLeak. This time, by Wilders himself due to copyright issues. This is almost certainly because of the film's inclusion of the most controversial of the Danish Muhammed Cartoons. The cartoonist, Kurt Westergaard, has criticized Fitna and objected to Wilders's use of his drawing.In the meantime, the March 31 Wall

A Controversial "Libraries and Human Rights" Conference

2008-04-01T23:17:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, Librarians for Fairness alerted me to a conference being held in Ramallah, in the Palestinian Authority. Running from March 31 - April 2, the event, "International Conference on Libraries from a Human Rights Perspective", is designed to "highlight the importance of achieving human rights related to library work and these rights include: freedom of expression, freedom of access to

The Fitna over Fitna

2008-03-31T23:10:00.000-04:00

On Thursday, right-wing Dutch parliamentarian Geert Wilders released his controversial anti-Islam short film called Fitna on the video web site LiveLeak. Less than a day later, LiveLeak pulled the video "following threats to our staff of a very serious nature."It is important to understand the context that led Wilders to make this film. In 2004, a Somali refugee turned Dutch MP named Ayaan Hirsi

Choudhury Update

2008-03-28T16:12:00.003-04:00

An op-ed piece from yesterday's Wall Street Journal offers some disturbing news regarding Bangladeshi editor Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury:Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury, editor of a weekly newspaper in Dhaka, was charged in January 2004 with sedition, a charge that has since been broadened to include treason, blasphemy and espionage. His real "crime" was to advocate for peaceful relations between

Defiling the Holocaust

2008-03-26T23:48:00.002-04:00

The Jerusalem Post reports on a thoroughly vile attempt to desecrate the meaning of the Holocaust:A new exhibit in Gaza portrays the Jewish state burning Palestinian children in ovens.A group called the National Committee for Defense of Children from the Holocaust unveiled its premier exhibit last week, entitled "Gaza: An exhibit describing the suffering of the children of the Holocaust."Rather

The Loneliness of a Conservative Librarian Blogger

2008-03-25T23:23:00.002-04:00

It is with sadness that I note that Walter Skold's Freadom blog is no more. The site was a valuable forum for keeping the Cuban libraries issue alive and will be missed.The conservative librarian blogosphere, a tiny subset of an already esoteric part of the blogging world, seems to be disappearing. Jack Stephens walked away from his excellent blog Conservator almost a year ago. Greg McClay, the

The Resilience of Radical Islam

2008-03-24T23:51:00.003-04:00

Paul Berman wrote a provocative piece on the resilience of radical Islamism for Sunday's New York Times. While I'm not in agreement with all of his expressed views, he makes the vital point that Islamist ideology has developed over decades and continues to grow regardless of American policy. One reason for this resilience, as Berman points out, is the Islamist ability to silence their Muslim

A Different Side of Arab Culture

2008-03-23T23:56:00.002-04:00

It is important to realize that while Islamist censorship exists throughout the Middle East, it is still not yet dominant. So, to provide some perspective, and for other rather obvious reasons, I refer you to this post at MEMRI's Arab Culture Blog.

Flemming Rose Answers Bin Laden

2008-03-22T16:19:00.002-04:00

Earlier this week, for the second time in two years, Osama bin Laden threatened violence in retaliation for the Danish Muhammed cartoons.Flemming Rose, who as culture editor for the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten was most responsible for the original publication of the cartoons, has a must read response to bin Laden posted at Pajamas Media. Rose concludes his piece by asking the crucial

Bin Laden Threatens Europe over Muhammed Cartoons

2008-03-20T23:45:00.002-04:00

In an audiotape released yesterday, Osama bin Laden has threatened Europe with terror attacks because of the Danish Muhammed cartoons. Fox News has published a transcript of bin Laden's remarks, which are worth quoting for the insights they provide into his worldview:And [you also know now] that these massacres are never erased from the memories of the peoples, and the effects of this are not

Taslima Nasreen Forced to Flee India

2008-03-19T23:38:00.002-04:00

The BBC reports that Taslima Nasreen, the Bangladeshi novelist and frequent target of Islamist rage, has now left India:"She has landed safely somewhere in Europe," a spokeswoman for the writers' group, Pen, told the BBC, adding that her exact location could not be given.Ms Nasreen said earlier this week that her health had suffered as a result of spending time in hiding. Ms. Nasreen had been

Imprisoned by Books

2008-03-15T16:17:00.002-04:00

Christopher Hitchens has an entertaining piece on the City Journal web site about the travails of having an apartment overrun with books. Except for the part about getting most of them for free, I can definitely relate and I suspect I'm not the only one: I live in a fairly spacious apartment in Washington, D.C. True, the apartment is also my office (though that’s no excuse for piling books on the

"I am very pessimistic about the possibility of making real changes in our culture and society."

2008-03-15T13:39:00.002-04:00

Yesterday was the final day of Saudi Arabia's largest literary event, the Riyadh Book Fair. Certain radical Wahhabi clerics have chosen to commemorate the event in sadly typical fashion, by issuing a fatwa calling for a boycott of several participating publishers. The MEMRI Blog explains their reasoning:The companies were selling books by Arab thinkers and poets known for their liberal views,

Berkeley: A Video Update

2008-03-12T23:50:00.002-04:00

I had intended to do an update on the anti-Marine jihad taking place in Berkeley, California. However, courtesy of Hot Air, I find that the Daily Show (yes, the Daily Show) has come up with the final word on the struggle for Berkeley:The worldview of the Code Pink members and their allies pretty much speaks for itself. Just in case, though, I do have one more relevant video to link:

A Librarian in Iraq

2008-03-11T23:43:00.003-04:00

Courtesy of LISNews, Sunday's New York Times describes how a librarian from Chappaqua, NY, has ended up as an embedded journalist in Iraq:WHY would someone give up a cozy life in this leafy bedroom community for the muck and peril of writing about our soldiers in Iraq, without even a paycheck as consolation?Shelby Monroe, a librarian here, did just that. Footloose at 44, with no journalism

Video of the Night

2008-03-10T23:11:00.004-04:00

My apologies for the lack of recent posts. In lieu of regular programming, I offer you this brilliant video clip that I came across via Red State. Even some liberals are starting to be creeped out by the Barack Obama personality cult. Few things are more frightening than seeing cynical hipsters turn into glassy eyed believers almost overnight. Sorry, Michelle, but you'll have to pry my cynicism

The Demise of Antioch College

2008-03-07T14:37:00.002-05:00

Charlotte Allen, author of a must-read essay on the sad decline of Antioch College, reports that the institution is once again slated to close.The story of Antioch is a cautionary tale about what happens to an educational institution when an imposed radical orthodoxy replaces a commitment to free inquiry. Allen summarizes this process in her latest post, and notes its devastating consequences:The

"The floors are littered with holy books covered in blood."

2008-03-06T23:09:00.002-05:00

Earlier today, a Palestinian terrorist entered the library of a Jewish seminary in Jerusalem and opened fire with an AK-47. Here is how two rescue workers described the aftermath, according to the BBC:"When we got in after the police guys sterilised the place, there was a terrible scene."We saw young guys, 15-, 16-year-old guys lying on the floor with their Bibles in their hands, all dead on the

Reading the "Wrong" Book

2008-03-05T23:14:00.003-05:00

In a mind-boggling instance of political correctness run amok, the Affirmative Action Office at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis has warned a janitor at the school, Mr. Keith John Sampson, not to read a particular book in front of certain coworkers. Indianapolis's alternative weekly, Nuvo, explains how this Orwellian situation arose:Sampson is an avid reader. It’s been his habit

Exhibit Closed in Berlin

2008-03-01T23:22:00.002-05:00

In September 2006, a Berlin opera house temporarily canceled a production of Mozart's Idomeneo because it included the severed head of the Prophet Muhammed. Earlier this week, in the same city, a satirical art exhibit containing a picture of the Kaaba with an irreverent caption was closed. In both cases, the closures were due to concerns over possible violent retaliation from angry Islamists.

The Enforced Isolation of the Muslim World

2008-02-29T23:07:00.002-05:00

In a recent column for the New York Post, exiled Iranian journalist Amir Taheri made some powerful observations about the efforts of Islamists to insulate the Muslim world from the spread of "infidel" ideas, or any form of free thought for that matter. With Osama bin Laden having openly called for the murder of "freethinkers and heretics" and Iran now amending its legal code to make apostasy a

Egyptian Author Threatened with Death

2008-02-28T23:49:00.002-05:00

A female Egyptian scholar recently published a book on the sex life of the Prophet Muhammed. You can probably guess what happened next, but, just in case, Radio Netherlands has a good overview:Egyptian writer Bisnat Rashad has become the target of a fatwa and death threats after publishing her book "Sex in the Life of the Prophet Mohammed". Rashad wants to debunk the myth of Mohammed's

Belarussian Editor Released

2008-02-26T23:57:00.003-05:00

The Danish Muhammed cartoon controversy has made yet another comeback during the last couple weeks. I'll have an overview this weekend. In the meantime, there is some good news to report: a Belarussian newsweekly editor who last month was sentenced to three years in prison for publishing the cartoons has been released. Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty has the details.

The Blind Sheikh Comes to America

2008-02-25T23:03:00.002-05:00

From 1993 to 1996, Andrew C. McCarthy was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York. During this period, he led the prosecution of those responsible for the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and the subsequent plot to attack a number of New York City landmarks. McCarthy's efforts would ultimately focus on one of the leading figures in radical Islamism: an

Two Cuban Librarians Freed

2008-02-24T23:49:00.002-05:00

There was some good news from Cuba last week. Besides Fidel Castro stepping down, I mean. Last Sunday, four Cuban dissidents were freed as a goodwill gesture to Spain's foreign minister:Four Cuban dissidents arrived in Madrid yesterday after being freed by Fidel Castro's government in a deal negotiated with Spain, the Spanish foreign ministry said.All the men had been imprisoned since 2003."The

The Meaning of Gaza's Book Burning

2008-02-20T23:34:00.003-05:00

The Jerusalem Post's Khaled Abu Toameh provides additional details and a specific motive for last Friday's destruction of the Gaza YMCA library:Sources in Gaza told The Jerusalem Post the attack was in response to the re-publication of cartoons "ridiculing" the Prophet Muhammad in a number of Danish newspapers last week.The sources said at least 12 gunmen participated in the assault, the latest

Wikipedia Muhammed Update

2008-02-19T23:48:00.004-05:00

An article from Sunday's Observer provides further information on the Wikipedia Muhammed controversy:The images at the centre of the protest appear on most of the European versions of the web encyclopaedia, though not on Arabic sites. On two of the images, Muhammad's face is veiled, a practice followed in Islamic art since the 16th century. But on two others, one from 1315, which is the earliest

Islamist Valentine's Follow Up

2008-02-16T23:20:00.002-05:00

For more on Islamist efforts to suppress Valentine's Day celebrations in the Muslim world, I recommend the following two pieces by Daniel Pipes:Valentine's Day in MeccaValentine's Day in the Muslim World

Justice for Robert Stethem

2008-02-16T23:19:00.001-05:00

Robert Dean Stethem joined the United States Navy in 1981 and became a diver. In June 1985, he and several colleagues were flying back from an assignment in Greece on TWA Flight 847 when the plane was hijacked by Iranian-sponsored Lebanese terrorists. After the terrorists found out Stethem was an American serviceman, they beat him for hours before shooting him and dumping his body onto the tarmac

Library Destroyed in Gaza

2008-02-15T23:02:00.003-05:00

Agence France Presse reports that the YMCA library in Gaza was attacked and destroyed by a group of armed thugs:A gang of gunmen attacked the Gaza City premises of the YMCA before dawn on Friday and blew up its library, the head of the centre said.Eissa Saba said the attack on the Young Men's Christian Association centre, which left thousands of books burned, was carried out by 14 masked men who

An Islamist Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T23:28:00.002-05:00

Valentine's Day will always hold a special place in the annals of Islamism's war on intellectual freedom, due to the simple fact that this was the date Ayatollah Khomeini released his infamous fatwa calling for the murder of Salman Rushdie and anyone else associated with publishing The Satanic Verses. While the announcement of Khomeini's edict on Valentine's Day was merely a coincidence,

FBI Tracking Book Sales?

2008-02-13T23:57:00.000-05:00

I have been skeptical of the often overwrought claims that the federal government is monitoring the reading habits of Americans. In the interests of fairness, however, I need to note this February 11 article from WorldNetDaily. The conservative news site reports on an alleged FBI program to track the sales trends of books covering certain sensitive topics:Counterterrorist analysts at the FBI

Tariq Ramadan: Censor

2008-02-11T23:51:00.000-05:00

Tariq Ramadan is a Swiss-based Islamist intellectual and grandson of Hasan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. Many Western writers have acclaimed Ramadan as the representative of a new kind of Islamism, one that is forward looking, tolerant and compatible with liberal democracy. Paul Berman has discussed in detail why such hopes are misplaced. Further evidence of this was supplied a few

The Implications of Islamist Censorship in the West

2008-02-09T23:45:00.000-05:00

Lee Harris has written a interesting and thought provoking essay in the February 11 Weekly Standard. Harris looks at the efforts of Islamists to silence free expression in Western countries using both the legal system and threats of violence. In particular, he focuses on the cases in Canada involving Ezra Levant and Mark Steyn:The English-speaking peoples are justifiably proud of their tradition

Cyber-Iconclasm and Wikipedia

2008-02-08T22:19:00.000-05:00

On Wednesday, Fox News reported that some Muslims have started an online petition calling on Wikipedia to remove images depicting the Prophet Muhammed:"I request all brothers and sisters to sign this petitions so we can tell Wikipedia to respect the religion and remove the hillustrations," the creator of the petition at The Petition Site asks.Opposition among Muslims to images of Muhammad has its

Books Unbanned in Cairo

2008-02-07T23:36:00.000-05:00

There was a small but welcome victory for intellectual freedom at this year's Cairo International Book Fair. As I noted earlier, Egyptian authorities had banned a number of secular and Western books from being displayed at the event. However, according to a January 30 dispatch from Agence France Presse, this decision was reversed and the books were permitted to be shown:Nabil Nofal from the

Kambakhsh Update

2008-01-31T23:49:00.000-05:00

Further details have emerged in the case of Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, the Afghan journalism student sentenced to death for blasphemy. The Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) quotes Kambakhsh testifying that he was coerced into confessing to his "crime":“I was held in a small room which was very dirty,” he told IWPR. “I was held in that room for eight days, and the security guys were

Marines Not Wanted in Berkeley

2008-01-31T00:12:00.000-05:00

Free speech is under threat in a certain town in California. By an 8-1 vote, the city council has decided to align itself with a private effort to force an organization espousing unpopular views to leave the community. The city in question is Berkeley and the group they are seeking to drive from the community is the United States Marine Corps.The Contra Costa Times provides the details:Hey-hey,

Censoring the Cairo Book Fair

2008-01-30T00:01:00.000-05:00

The annual Cairo Book Fair is the largest literary festival in the Arab world. Sadly, one of the traditional features of this event is the willingness of Egyptian authorities to ban certain works from being offered. While secular books are frequently banned from the festival, Islamist texts and a charming little volume called Mein Kampf are prominently displayed. It appears that this year's Cairo

A Petition for Cuban Dissidents

2008-01-25T22:21:00.001-05:00

Barbara Dillon Hillas, an American blogger living in Poland, reports that Lech Walesa and several other prominent individuals have organized a petition drive on behalf of Cuba's imprisoned dissidents. Here is the text of the petition in English:We are appealing to the Cuban government to free all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Cuba. Their continued imprisonment violates the

Quote for the Day

2008-01-25T22:17:00.000-05:00

Former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman, in Saturday's Times of London:“The 15 years since I left the band have been the best years of my life. I should have been a museum curator or a librarian because I like that better than being a ‘rock star’.”

Kambakhsh Update: "this is how Islamists deal with those who oppose them"

2008-01-24T23:52:00.000-05:00

It appears that this week's blasphemy conviction of Afghan journalism student Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh was an effort to punish his brother, journalist Sayed Yaqub Ibrahimi. The Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), Ibrahimi's employer, quotes him to this effect in their lengthy summary of the case:Speaking about his brother’s ongoing detention in December, Yaqub told IWPR he was convinced

The Price of Dissent in Venezuela

2008-01-23T23:42:00.000-05:00

Thor Halvorssen has a must read piece at Pajamas Media about a recent attempt to murder a former Venezuelan judge and outspoken critic of Hugo Chavez. The attack on Judge Monica Fernandez occurred on January 4 in Caracas and is described in detail by Halvorssen. The Venezuelan police have labeled the incident a botched robbery. Halvorssen is justifiably skeptical:Really? The night before she was

Blasphemy and Barbarism

2008-01-22T23:48:00.000-05:00

Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh, the Afghan journalism student arrested for possessing an article critical of Islam, was convicted by an Afghan court of the charge of blasphemy and sentenced to death. The Associated Press provides some background:Kambaksh's family and the head of a journalists group denounced the verdict and said Kambaksh was not represented by a lawyer at trial. Members of a clerics

Syrian Author Gets Death Threats from Al Qaeda

2008-01-21T22:03:00.000-05:00

Posted at the invaluable MEMRI blog on January 17:Syrian writer and researcher Nabil Fayadh has announced that he will emigrate to Europe following death threats and following the posting on Al-Qaeda websites of fatwas calling for his assassination.The threats and fatwas followed the publication of a book by Fayadh that included stories of disputes between the wife of the Prophet Muhammad, 'Aisha

Editor Jailed for Publishing Mohammed Cartoons

2008-01-20T23:55:00.000-05:00

On Thursday, the editor of a weekly magazine was sentenced to three years in prison for republishing the Danish Mohammed cartoons. Which Muslim country did this occur in? None. It didn't even happen in Alberta. Instead, this travesty took place in the neo-Soviet eastern European dictatorship of Belarus.Reporters Sans Frontieres provides the details:Reporters Without Borders is outraged by the

Responding to Reader Feedback

2008-01-19T23:48:00.000-05:00

One of the downsides of having a blog devoted mostly to long-winded posts on esoteric topics is the lack of interesting criticism. It is a rare and glorious occasion indeed when it does happen. Fortunately, my recent post on the aspiring Afghan journalist charged with blasphemy has yielded such a response. As usual when this happens, I feel obliged to respond to the concerns expressed

RSF on Imprisoned Cuban Journalists

2008-01-19T23:11:00.000-05:00

There's nothing I can add to this press release from Reporters Sans Frontieres: Reporters Without Borders today reiterated its call for the release of 24 detained Cuban journalists as the population prepared to vote - but not choose, as there is no choice - its representatives in national and provincial assembly elections to be held on 20 January.In a news conference yesterday in Madrid, the

Censorship and "Human Rights" in Alberta

2008-01-18T22:54:00.000-05:00

I'm late in getting to this, but I have to comment on the case of Ezra Levant. Levant is the former publisher of a right-wing Canadian opinion magazine named The Western Standard. When the Danish Mohammed cartoons became an issue in early 2006, the Standard republished them. In a piece for Pajamas Media, Heather Cook describes what happened next:On the very day that the Western Standard with the

Afghanistan's Blasphemy Law

2008-01-16T23:17:00.000-05:00

Afghanistan today enjoys much more freedom than it did under the Taliban, but sadly the country still has a long way to go. Last October, an Afghan journalist was arrested and charged with blasphemy for distributing "anti-Islamic" literature. The young man faces the death penalty if convicted. This press release from the Committee to Protect Journalists has the details:The Committee to Protect

Not Reading Lolita in Tehran

2008-01-15T23:53:00.000-05:00

In a January 6 piece for The Observer, Iranian literary critic Saeed Kamali Dehghan reveals the disastrous impact that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Islamic Cultural Revolution is having on Iran's publishing industry:There was a time when great Persian poets such as Hafez, Rumi or Khayyam were present in people's daily lives, permeating their speech even in the very rural regions, but now books scarcely

Appeal for an Imprisoned Cuban Librarian

2008-01-15T00:35:00.000-05:00

Steve Marquardt sent me the following urgent message via e-mail:Dr. José Luis García Paneque is the director of the Carlos J. Finlay Library, which specializes in medical information. He is serving a 20-year prison term. His life is in danger as a result of a failure toprovide health care for chronic rectal bleeding and other healthproblems. Dr. Garcia Paneque has been named as a prisoner

Shooting the Messenger in Somalia

2008-01-14T23:48:00.000-05:00

In 2006, an Islamist movement with links to al Qaeda called the Islamic Courts Union (ICU) came to power in Somalia. After seizing control of most of the country, they began putting in place a repressive Taliban-like despotism that murdered journalists, closed radio stations and sought to prohibit any form of expression or entertainment deemed "un-Islamic". In December 2006, a U.S. backed

Of Che Guevara and "Constitutional Rights"

2008-01-13T22:36:00.000-05:00

During the holidays, I broke down and actually read Naomi Wolf's new book , The End of America: Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot. Its only redeeming quality was that it was a fairly quick read. Still, that's five hours of my life I won't be getting back.I'll be posting an excruciatingly long winded review of the book very soon. In the meantime, there is one particular aspect I wanted to