Friday, March 28, 2008

The bad guys won, unfortunately

Liveleak.com has taken Geert Wilders' anti-Islamist film Fitna off of its website with the following notice:
Following threats to our staff of a very serious nature, and some ill informed reports from certain corners of the British media that could directly lead to the harm of some of our staff, Liveleak.com has been left with no other choice but to remove Fitna from our servers.
This is a sad day for freedom of speech on the net but we have to place the safety and well being of our staff above all else. We would like to thank the thousands of people, from all backgrounds and religions, who gave us their support. They realised LiveLeak.com is a vehicle for many opinions and not just for the support of one.
Perhaps there is still hope that this situation may produce a discussion that could benefit and educate all of us as to how we can accept one anothers culture.
We stood for what we believe in, the ability to be heard, but in the end the price was too high.

Unfortunate as this is, I guess I understand. But it underscores the issue and proves Wilders' point -- that radical Islam is not interested in any such thing as a reasonable exchange of ideas, and certainly can't stand up to the kind of criticism that is presented in Wilders' film and earlier in Theo Van Gogh's Submission.

Both filmmakers are Dutch (Van Gogh was publicly murdered for the "crime" of making his film), and the problem of Islamic intolerance is especially bad in the Netherlands. But it's the fate that faces much of the rest of the world if we aren't ultimately honest about how primitive and evil these radicals are. There is no moral equivalence between radical Islam and Western culture. Whatever Christians may have done 500 years ago is of no importance today. We know better today. Virtually all terrorist acts committed today are done in the name of Allah. It's time we stopped making allowances for this kind of thinking.

Wilder's (and Van Gogh's) films are still available on YouTube -- albeit Wilder's seems to be showing up in a couple slightly different versions, making me wonder if some posters are making "embellishments." In any case, take a look. There are also several good interviews with Wilder, who is also a member of the Dutch Parliament.

In the Fox News interview, the (unseen) interviewer keeps trying to get Wilder to admit that maybe he shouldn't "insult" Islam and its millions of followers. Rightly, Wilder basically says we can't be cowed by savages who have no respect for us. I hope he stays alive to see some good come of his efforts -- as can be expected, the death threats arrive daily.

Monday, March 10, 2008

Plenty of people left to lie to

In Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish today, a reader points out the obvious that I can't HELP but point out, and the MSM refuse to. The Clinton Lie Factory.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Boogah-boogah!


Dave gets new glasses.
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