The Spine
New York Mosque, Hamburg Mosque, Lleida Mosque
The announcement Monday by Hamburg police that they had closed down the mosque where Mohamed Atta and some of his comrades had prayed and schemed reminds us that the other-worldly activity of worship is not all that may be done in a Muslim house of prayer. The decade-long inquiry into the Hamburg mosque shows just how scrupulous Western police can be when they are faced with mayhem by religious fanatics. READ MORE >>
Unbreakable Promises
It’s just about a week since President Obama announced that he had met his pledge to begin the American pullout from Iraq. It wasn’t exactly, as many commentators have observed, that he had announced his “mission accomplished!" But he did say that he would begin the withdrawal of U.S. troops from the country, and it has begun. God bless the Iraqis. READ MORE >>
The Mosque Is Not About The First Amendment
Mayor Bloomberg is accustomed to having his way, and maybe he will this time, too. After all, now that he has declared the opposition to building the Cordoba Initiative mosque at Ground Zero enemies of the First Amendment, he has raised the stakes so high that many perfectly tolerant and liberal people will simply shut up. How's that for the usage of freedom of speech! READ MORE >>
The Saudis Cede Lebanon to The Syrians
It hasn't been much noticed in the American press--nor, for that matter, in the British press--that Bashar Assad has re-established his condominium over Lebanon. READ MORE >>
Now that Tom Friedman has endorsed the construction of an Islamic center at Ground Zero no one can be against it. But since he has not even made a real argument for it, aside from recounting his experience at a Broadway jamboree in the White House where the only Muslim name was the president’s middle one, which is nothing more than a non sequitur, the column stands alone with neither evidence nor logic. READ MORE >>
Who’s The Happiest One Of All?
This is one of those slightly hokey surveys that measures the happiness of nations. Done by the Gallup World Poll and written up for Forbes by Francesca Levy, its results are not entirely surprising. READ MORE >>
During his campaign and at the beginning of his presidency Barack Obama promised to shut Guantanamo and give (most of) its prisoners their freedom. Freedom is a difficult state to bestow on people, especially those who have lived in the circle or shadow of terror or terrorism. In any case, the Congress won't allow the president to close the penitentiary at the southern tip of Cuba. And it certainly won't permit him to sprinkle the remaining inmates around America. This is another instance of Obama choking on his own words. READ MORE >>
It Is A Show Of Strength To Which The Democratic People’s Republic Of Korea Has Threatened To Respond With ‘Sacred War’
What's this stuff about sacred war coming from a Godless communist country? OK, revolutionary governments usually exaggerate, Pyongyang is no exception. In fact, it is a prime instance of such behavior. READ MORE >>
