Flight 297

This is in today’s BBC.  I wonder how much of this is speaking to a Western audience vs what they have really taught.  Intersting that they only mention the martial component and not the spirtual component of Jihad. But it is good to see it any way:Pakistan clerics explain ‘jihad’Pakistan’s top Muslim clerics have said it is becoming increasingly difficult for them to preach the real concept of jihad, or holy war, to young Muslims."The situation in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine is radicalising young people," says Mufti Rafi Usmani, one of Pakistan’s highest-ranking clerics. "And an angry young man is…

I think this op-ed in the NYT hits the question of Hirsi Ali’s deportation right on the head. She wasn’t ejected because she professed her hatred for Islam (not the Muslims who brought her to her state), she’d been doing that for several years. She was ejected because she hates herself, therefore she was unable to look at the situation of refugees and asylum seekers with compassion and understanding. By creating the wall of legal misanthropy, so well-crafted against her own situation, she had to know she had to go. Update: If you are not already in love with the…

Commentary coming. In the meantime, please distribute widely, and feel free to re-post on your own sites. [Disclaimer: We are not part of the Task Force. However, I believe the issue is important enough to get out the word.] ACTION ALERT: Title VI Funding Renewal Poses Dangers to Academic Inquiry, Integrity and Security Dear Fellow American Citizen: We are writing to alert you to proposed legislation, HR 3077, which poses a potential threat to academic freedom. Professor Rashid Khalidi has noted that this legislation creates “an ideological litmus test for academics” which could limit freedom of expression in the classroom…