PETA has decided to forgo their plans for a billboard depicting Tiger Woods.

How much of a chance does this have of passing? Congressmen Jeb Hensarling and Mike Pence propose an amendment to limit spending to 20% of GDP.

If you’re a car nut, but also would like to consider yourself “green”, you might like this. Ferrari has unveiled a hybrid auto.

In the Netherlands, a pilot who was not licensed for passenger flights was arrested just before takeoff.

Students protesting cutbacks in Davis, California got close to blocking an interstate highway. (H/T CDC Journal)

Earlier this evening, two police officers were shot at the main entrance of the Pentagon.

From Atlas Shrugs: In San Francisco, three muslims have been charged with shooting a gay man in the face with a BB gun.

From A Catholic View: Maryland Catholic Conference backs state plan to fund adult stem cell research. Historically, Maryland was founded to provide a refuge for Catholics who were mistreated in England.

Because of falling real estate values, spouses facing divorce are now telling each other “No, you take the House.”

From the Weekly Standard: Is Obama offering a congressman’s brother a position as judge in exchange for his vote on health care?

From Yahoo News: The Chilean quake’s effects on the earth include shortening its rotation period.

Yet more geologic activity. Fox News reports a 6.8 magnitude earthquake in Taiwan.

A staffer for the House Ethics Committee has been fired for revealing the names of seven congresscritters under investigation.

Now that RINO Dede Scozzafava has withdrawn from the special election in the 23rd House district of New York, Intrade gives conservative Doug Hoffman a 65% chance of winning. While she has thrown her support to Democrat Bill Owens, her ex-manager now supports Hoffman.

While the NY23 race has shown some internal divisions in the GOP, with some endorsing Hoffman and others previously endorsing Scozzafava, the Democrats are also having some internal dissention, as fundraising for the conservative “Blue Dogs” has plummeted.

Columnist Star Parker gives her opinion of the “hate crimes” law, recently tacked onto the Department of Defense appropriation bill.

At Right Wing News, William Teach reports that the Senate climate change bill is “on life support”.

In what looks like an honor killing, a young woman dies after her father runs her down with his vehicle – not in Iraq, Iran or Saudi Arabia, but in Arizona.

The world’s largest cruise ship squeezes under a bridge in Denmark by lowering her smokestacks. She’s now on her way to Florida.

Over a year after an explosion shut it down, the Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland is about to start operating again. According to the New York Times, two physicists have a strange idea about why it stopped working.

For some humor, from Viral Footage, the world’s worst burglar….

….and from Warming Glow, some drunk Ewoks on the Today Show.

That trap is almost all Western attempts to interpret our relations with the Arab world are based solely upon the English language portion of our interactions. Unfortunately, this is fatally incomplete, as this only encompasses what Western speakers say in our half of the conversation to our people and what Arab speakers want us to hear of their half of the conversation.

What is missing is the other half: what the Arab speakers are saying in their language to their people, and what our Arab audience is actually hearing of our portion of the conversation. And whether what the leaders are saying (in Arabic) is the same text as what their peoples are being told is being said.

Without knowing what is said in both languages, we cannot know whether what we say is what our audience in hearing – and vice versa. And more critically, we need to know whether the two are substantially different – and if so whether this difference is a mistranslation (in which case we need to correct the translation) or more seriously whether the difference is intentional – to mislead or misdirect the English-speaking and/or Arabic speaking audiences.

In brief, what we in the U.S. are hearing and reading in English is what our leaders and the Arab leaders want us (the English-speaking audience) to hear and think is what is really going on. But unless we know the Arabic words – and get an accurate translation thereof, we don’t know what the Arab-speaking leaders want their Arab-speaking audience to hear – and whether there is a deliberate ambiguity or even deception in place in which both sides of the language divide are being told different things in their language.

That is, we need to have answers to the following questions:

1) How were Obama’s words translated in Arabic to the assembled audience?

2) What official text or texts in Arabic have been released by the White House (or other official U.S. agency) or by other countries?

3) What Arabic texts are being published in Arab papers or transmitted on Arab radio stations?

4) What are the English translations of these various texts and what are the implications, especially in terms of possible Arabic/Muslim “code words”?

5) If these Arabic versions vary among themselves, are the differences substantive – and what is the significance of such differences?

6) (Most critically) If the English and Arabic versions vary – what is the significance of these differences?

I am particularly concerned about upon certain curious phrasings in Obama’s words that may be open to varying interpretations depending on how they are translated. Here are some examples just from my parsing of the English side. Others more expert in nuance may be able to identify other possible trouble areas.

1)

And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear…That is why the U.S. government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab, and to punish those who would deny it…
Freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live together. We must always examine the ways in which we protect it. For instance, in the United States, rules on charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation. That is why I am committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat. Likewise, it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit – for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear. We cannot disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretence of liberalism.

The Pope is the “defender of the Christian faith”. The Saudi government considers itself to be the “defender (protector, guardian) of the Islamic faith”. Obama here is coming close to identifying himself also as a protector of the Islamic faith – but not of the Christian faith (or other religions). Does the Arabic version use language for Obama that parallels how the Saudis describe their defender/protector role?

[As an aside note, why does Obama multiple times in his speech single out defending Muslim's women's clothing - an issue that is a particular sore point in Europe as well as a few cases in the U.S. and a key issues for those seeking equality of women - and title opposition to such as "hostility to religion".

Also, Robert Spencer has an excellent refutation here of Obama's comment that pursuit of equality for women equates with "hostility towards [Islam] behind the pretence of liberalism”]

2)

On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people – Muslims and Christians – have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than sixty years they have endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps…They endure the daily humiliations – large and small – that come with occupation.

Although not totally airtight, it juxtaposition of sentences at least strongly implies that Obama is talking about a 60-year “occupation” of Palestinian land, in which case Obama is essentially denying the legitimacy of Israel by echoing the language or Hamas and others who deny the right of Israel to exist. It thus would be interesting to know how “dislocation” and “occupation” particularly are translated and whether they match the language/code words of the Arab rejectionists

3)

The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.

This appears to go beyond earlier calls to simple halt construction but actually appears to call for the dismantling of all Israel settlements, overturning previous understandings. In any case, the call for a halt to all construction here and earlier calls in the past few days bear a similarity to laws in other Muslim nations concerning other religious communities (dhimmis) that bar construction of their structures and impede natural growth of those communities. Again, Arab translations of these statements (including the speech) could be enlightening.

4) Finally, there are Obama’s earlier repeated statements that America is not a “Christian nation” followed by his statement on June 1st that “if you actually took the number of Muslims Americans, we’d be one of the largest Muslim countries in the world”. While Obama technically does not actually call America a Muslim nation, it is quite remarkable that he would even voice this phrase even in the hypothetical, given his previous efforts to avoid titling America as any religion’s nation.

However, my bigger concern is how this was translated to the Arabic world, especially how “Muslim country” was translated – as which “house” Obama’s “Muslim country” belongs to – in order to know how this statement was heard in the Arab world.

To conclude, it’s not enough to parse Obama’s Cairo speech and his other earlier pronouncements on Islam in English – we need to know the Arab versions as well.

I’ve read Mark Steyn’s book, “America Alone“, and I am thinking that pure demographics dictate that this is going to get much worse before it ever gets better, atleast as the spread of Islam and its accompanying Sharia Law are concerned. The left will simply say that this is scare mongering and “bigotry”, and pay no attention to the man behind the curtain and “Move Along, nothing to see here folks, move along, oh that is a nice pair of Birkenstocks you have there..”

This video has an action call to Christians to spread the Gospel in response to the spread of Islam. That is an option given to us by the Great Commission of Jesus. But I’ve got another idea, how bout we in the West start procreating (and stop aborting) our children… Islam isn’t spreading because anybody actually believes it is a Religion of Peace™ and converting in any real numbers, but through their kids growing up with it. We can’t count on the liberals to pull a “Separation of Mosque and State” cuz the Islamists will simply cut their throats and then they capitulate like good little moral relativist cowards they are…

Its up to us. Get in the bedroom and get to work….

Beheading, that is.

The crime was so brutal, shocking and rife with the worst possible stereotypes about their faith that some U.S. Muslims thought the initial reports were a hoax.

The harsh reality of what happened in an affluent suburb of Buffalo, N.Y. – the beheading of 37-year-old Aasiya Hassan and arrest of her estranged husband in the killing – is another crucible for American Muslims.

Here was a couple that appeared to be the picture of assimilation and tolerance, co-founders of a television network that aspired to improve the image of Muslims in a post 9-11 world.

Yep. I for one wasn’t shocked. Nothing surprises me when it comes to Islam, the Religion of Peace.

The killing and its aftermath raise hard questions for Muslims – about gender issues, about distinctions between cultural and religious practices, and about differing interpretations of Islamic texts regarding the treatment of women.

“Muslims don’t want to talk about this for good reason,” said Saleemah Abdul-Ghafur, a Muslim author and activist. “There is so much negativity about Muslims, and it sort of perpetuates it. The right wing is going to run with it and misuse it. But we’ve got to shine a light on this issue so we can transform it.”

There is evidence of movement in that direction in the 10 days since the Hassan slaying. In an open letter to American Muslim leaders, Imam Mohamed Hagmagid Ali of Sterling, Va., vice president of the Islamic Society of North America, said “violence against women is real and cannot be ignored.”

As with terrorism, not all victims are Muslim, but those who perform these barbaric acts are Muslim. An odd coincidence? Violence against women is a common and perpetual theme in Islam. Women of Islam have never had many rights, or a voice. It starts in their childhoods- when little girls are denied educations and then sold off to old men in marriage arrangements.

He urged that imams and community leaders never second-guess a woman in danger, and said women seeking divorces because of physical abuse should not be viewed as bringing shame to their families.

Muslim women’s advocates consider the statement significant after years of indifference in a community which has seen only recent progress – for example, the opening of shelters for battered Muslim women in a few major cities.

“This is a horrible tragedy, but it gives us a window,” said Abdul-Ghafur, editor of the anthology “Living Islam Out Loud: American Muslim Women Speak.”"The next time a woman comes to her imam and says, ‘He hit me,’ the reply might not be, ‘Be patient, sister, is there something you did, sister? Is there something you can do?’ The chances are greater the imam will say, ‘This is unacceptable.’”

(Emphasis mine) Years of indifference, eh? Not according to American liberals, who will always defend the Religion of Peace. Particularly readers like Reasic, who like to pretend that Muslims everywhere denounce acts of terror…he even told us to Google these so called denouncements. Yet, as stated in this article, it is the culture of this religion, that makes these things acceptable to it’s members.

At the South Bay Islamic Association in San Jose, Calif., Imam Tahir Anwar said he preached at Friday prayer services about keeping peace in the family and denounced physical and emotional domestic violence.

“I wouldn’t say (the problem) is particular to the Muslim community, but to the immigrant community whether you’re Muslim or otherwise,” Anwar, whose parents are from India, said in an interview. “Women don’t speak up about it. It’s a taboo that all immigrant communities sort of face.”

Of Islam’s potential role in the Hassan slaying, Anwar said: “All religions have texts that can be misinterpreted. Good people regardless of faith would never do something like this.”

Of course domestic violence is not a product of Islam…however, cutting off the heads of another human being IS strikingly a trademark of Islam. Let’s not allow any misinterpretation here.

While sermons like Anwar’s are encouraging, other Muslim clerics in the U.S. likely preached that Aasiya Hassan could have avoided her fate by being more obedient, said Muqtedar Khan, an associate professor of political science and international relations at the University of Delaware.

“The imam has to be enlightened enough to recognize this violence happens, to not hide in denial or somehow blame it on American culture,” said Khan, author of “American Muslims: Bridging Faith and Freedom.”

“In order to essentially condemn violence against women, they will have to treat women with greater respect. Unfortunately, the level of enlightenment among imams in North America varies significantly.”

Exactly. When we have Imam’s making these statements, why can’t our own liberal fellow citizens understand this? Why the silence? Silence is easy, that’s why. And, it is a lot easier to blame America, than it is to blame the religion practiced by Muslims- which is the biggest factor in their culture. That culture is full of hate.

Asra Nomani, a Muslim journalist, author and activist from Morgantown, W.Va., challenged Muslims who say the murder has no link to Islamic teachings. While Islam does not sanction domestic violence or murder, a literal reading of a controversial verse in the Quran taught in some mosques can lead to honor killings and murder, she said.

“It’s sort of like the typical reaction to terrorism in the community, where people want to say, ‘This had nothing to do with Islam,’” Nomani said. “Well, it doesn’t have anything to do with your interpretation of Islam that teaches you can’t kill innocent people. But terrorism, violence, honor killing – they are all part of ideological problems we have in the community we need to eradicate.”

The passage – Chapter 4, Verse 34 – has been widely translated to sanction physical discipline against disobedient wives. There is disagreement about to what degree and whether it’s punitive or symbolic.

The verse is cited “all the time” to justify domestic violence, just as people of other faiths cite scriptures to support oppression of women, said Salma Abugideri of the Peaceful Families Project, which offers training and workshops to combat domestic violence in Muslim communities.

The verse, is followed literally, and Muslim women have suffered tremendously, because of it. Dress it down all they want, it is the source for much of the oppression and violence these women experience. Until we all see this, and stand up and call Muslims out on it, IT will continue. We can make all the excuses in the world. But that’s not our job. Muslims need to condemn their own, more often, more loudly and with meaning. Until they do, it’s very difficult to not see Islam as the Religion of Hate.

Excerpting from the press release issued by the Christian Action Network:

It seems unfathomable—nearly three dozen terrorist training compounds in the U.S. and the FBI, Homeland Security, and State Department are no help at all? But the evidence is irrefutable: as Jamaat ul-Fuqra (known in the U.S. as Muslims of America) leader Sheik Muburak Gilani professes on the Soldiers of Allah video, “We are fighting to destroy the enemy. We are dealing with evil at its roots and its roots are America.”…

The allegations are serious, which is why Christian Action Network took more than two years to research Muslims of America—going inside the compounds with their video cameras and questions to confront violence and confirm the truth. Their mission? To make Americans aware of the threats and have Jamaat ul-Fuqra placed on the State Department’s Foreign Terrorist Organization Watch List, thereby shutting down the camps in the U.S. run by ul-Fuqra’s front group, Muslims of America…

What we are witnessing here is kind of a brand-new form of terrorism. These home-grown terrorists can prove to be as dangerous as any known group, if not more so.

Unfortunately, I’m afraid that the discussion will get distracted by the identity of the producer. In particular, I am uneasy at that the video is being produced under the auspices of a group called Christian Action Network as it creates the tone of a religious conflict between Christianity and Islam rather than a conflict between violent Islamists and America.

Indeed, according to its website, the Christian Action Network was started in 1989 and has been connected with groups such as the Moral Majority, 700 Club, Jerry Falwell, and Coral Ridge Ministries – which puts this group squarely amongst the oft-reviled “Christian Right”.

We’ll have to see the reviews once the full video is released. If it documents the charges it puts forth in this trailer, then we have something very scary going on. However, I question whether this film is going to be able to get a dispassionate evaluation, as I suspect that the identity of the producer will evoke a conditioned reflex of those who are suspicious of any conservative group associated with Christian activism. And we’ll probably hear a lot about conservative Christians engaging in religious bigotry.

I sure hope the video can withstand critical evaluation of its message that can override the predicable brouhaha over the messenger. Otherwise, this video may be counterproductive to defending our nation against the threat of terrorism – especially in the era of a new leftist Democratic administration.

But again, if this video shoots straight, then it will expose an inconvenient truth that our nation and leaders must address.

Omar Bakri Mohammad’s followers in the U.K. held a conference in support of the imposition of Islamic law. A rare moment of clarity:

“Women need to be covered up, men lashed for fornication [outside marriage] and hands cut off for theft and breaking Sharia law,” he said.

When a woman in a burkha asked how he could justify this when Islam was supposed to be a religion of peace, the crowd mocked her. But it was Choudary who rose to put her in her place. “Islam is not a religion of peace,” he said. “It is a religion of submission. We need to submit to the will of Allah.”

Indeed.

Also addressed at the conference was the need for young Muslims to delete extremist videos from their computers. Not for young Muslims to avoid downloading them in the first place, just to be sure to delete them so the police won’t find them when they come a knockin’.

Dr. Shackleford finds another gem with this. I’m just surprised that they feel comfortable enough to come out and tell us exactly how it really is. And somewhat disturbed as well, since that means they fear no retribution in our P.C. environment of any kind. Britain and Eurabia…. so long…

TEHRAN,Iran — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Thursday congratulated Barack Obama on his election win — the first time an Iranian leader has offered such wishes to a U.S. president-elect since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

An analyst said the statement was a gesture from the hard-line president that he’s open to some sort of reconciliation with the U.S.

We all know that Barry Hussein stated he is willing to meet with this now co-leader of the not-so-free world. Good. Hope and change coming at us, live and in living color. Staged and scripted for our enjoyment.

I am sure Ahmadinejad has some advice Barry will consider. Ofcourse, he would be more than willing to sell our souls for a handshake with the ole’ Iranian fallguy.