Friday, February 10, 2006
Sweden shuts website over cartoon
Sweden shuts website over cartoon
The Swedish government has moved to shut down the website of a far-right political party's newspaper over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
The Swedish government has moved to shut down the website of a far-right political party's newspaper over cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.
The site's host, Levonline, pulled the plug on the website of the Swedish Democrats' SD-Kuriren newspaper after consulting with the government.
It is believed to be the first time a Western government has intervened to block a publication in the growing row.
Kuriren editor Richard Jomshof said the government was breaking the law.
"We have to do something about it. This is illegal. They can't do this just because we are a small magazine," he told the BBC News website.
The Swedish Democrats are a small anti-immigrant party with no representatives in parliament, but a few local elected officials.
Jomshof said the newspaper had a print run of about 30,000.
He had asked readers to send in their own Muhammad cartoons, but he denies intending to offend Muslims.
His website briefly posted a picture showing Muhammad from the rear, looking into a mirror, with his eyes blacked out - an image he said was about self-censorship.
taken from the BBC Online
click here for full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4700414.stm
Wednesday, February 08, 2006
Proof that, even at Northwestern University, some people are still going to be idiots...
I'm highlighting this article to show that I am not taking sides. I do believe the Holocaust happened, and that it was a horrific crime against humanity. The fact that some idiots, like this Northwestern University professor, choose to be blind is a sad, sad thing.
I'm just curious though... What does it take to be a tenured professor at Northwestern anyway? I sure as heck see that cultural sensitivity is NOT a criterion for selection.
* * * * *
Northwestern University rips Holocaust denial
President calls prof an embarrassment but plans no penalty
By Jodi S. Cohen
Tribune higher education reporter
Published February 7, 2006
Northwestern University President Henry Bienen said Monday that a professor's recent comments denying that the Holocaust happened are "a contemptible insult to all decent and feeling people" and an embarrassment to the university.
Bienen commented days after tenured engineering professor Arthur Butz commented in the Tribune and in the Iranian press that he agreed with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's assertions that the Holocaust is a myth.
Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency and the English-language Tehran Times have published Butz's comments, promoting the Northwestern professor as one of the world scholars who support the Iranian president. Ahmadinejad, who also has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," recently ordered the restart of uranium enrichment, raising fears that Tehran could try to build a nuclear weapon.
Butz's comments did not address the Iranian president's statements about present-day Israel or nuclear issues.
"While I hope everyone understands that Butz's opinions are his own and in no way represent the views of the university or me personally, his reprehensible opinions on this issue are an embarrassment to Northwestern," Bienen said in a statement to be e-mailed Monday night to all Northwestern students, faculty and staff.
taken from the Chicago Tribune online web-site
click here for the full article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0602070235feb07,1,6453318.story?coll=chi-technology-hed
I'm just curious though... What does it take to be a tenured professor at Northwestern anyway? I sure as heck see that cultural sensitivity is NOT a criterion for selection.
* * * * *
Northwestern University rips Holocaust denial
President calls prof an embarrassment but plans no penalty
By Jodi S. Cohen
Tribune higher education reporter
Published February 7, 2006
Northwestern University President Henry Bienen said Monday that a professor's recent comments denying that the Holocaust happened are "a contemptible insult to all decent and feeling people" and an embarrassment to the university.
Bienen commented days after tenured engineering professor Arthur Butz commented in the Tribune and in the Iranian press that he agreed with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's assertions that the Holocaust is a myth.
Iran's semi-official Mehr News Agency and the English-language Tehran Times have published Butz's comments, promoting the Northwestern professor as one of the world scholars who support the Iranian president. Ahmadinejad, who also has called for Israel to be "wiped off the map," recently ordered the restart of uranium enrichment, raising fears that Tehran could try to build a nuclear weapon.
Butz's comments did not address the Iranian president's statements about present-day Israel or nuclear issues.
"While I hope everyone understands that Butz's opinions are his own and in no way represent the views of the university or me personally, his reprehensible opinions on this issue are an embarrassment to Northwestern," Bienen said in a statement to be e-mailed Monday night to all Northwestern students, faculty and staff.
taken from the Chicago Tribune online web-site
click here for the full article: http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0602070235feb07,1,6453318.story?coll=chi-technology-hed
Saudi intel, Abbas predicted Hamas win; CIA wrong again
You know the funniest part of this article? The idea that "US support" would sway Palestinian voters. Are these guys for real??? Are they THAT clueless about how much some parts of the world truly hate them?
I'm a bit fearful, to be honest, of a leadership that is so deluded, it feels that it can actually sway Islamic nations to vote for unpopular, corrupt leaders just because they have the "approved by the USA" stamp.
The whole world isn't as weak-willed as Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's government. The US would have had an easier time if the elections had been held in the Philippines... OR if they had hired a Philippine election official to oversee the elections. Then Mahmoud Abbas would have won by over 1 million votes.
Guaranteed.
* * * * *
Saudi intel, Abbas predicted Hamas win; CIA wrong again
Issue Date: February 6-12, 2006, Posted On: 2/6/2006
The U.S. intelligence community has been shaken in its failure to predict Hamas's victory in Palestinian legislative elections.
The intelligence failure came despite a Saudi assessment relayed to the United States that Hamas would win the elections. Officials said the CIA was influenced by an Israeli assessment that predicted a victory by the ruling Fatah movement led by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
"There are a lot of questions going to be asked when the dust settles," an official said. "The biggest question is: do we really know what's going on out there?"
Officials said the U.S. intelligence community detected the rise in Hamas support in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But they said the State Department, particularly outgoing security coordinator Gen. William Ward, assured the president that U.S. support for Mr. Abbas would help swing the election to Fatah.
taken from Insightmag.com
for full article, click: http://www.insightmag.com/Media/MediaManager/hamas.htm
I'm a bit fearful, to be honest, of a leadership that is so deluded, it feels that it can actually sway Islamic nations to vote for unpopular, corrupt leaders just because they have the "approved by the USA" stamp.
The whole world isn't as weak-willed as Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo's government. The US would have had an easier time if the elections had been held in the Philippines... OR if they had hired a Philippine election official to oversee the elections. Then Mahmoud Abbas would have won by over 1 million votes.
Guaranteed.
* * * * *
Saudi intel, Abbas predicted Hamas win; CIA wrong again
Issue Date: February 6-12, 2006, Posted On: 2/6/2006
The U.S. intelligence community has been shaken in its failure to predict Hamas's victory in Palestinian legislative elections.
The intelligence failure came despite a Saudi assessment relayed to the United States that Hamas would win the elections. Officials said the CIA was influenced by an Israeli assessment that predicted a victory by the ruling Fatah movement led by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
"There are a lot of questions going to be asked when the dust settles," an official said. "The biggest question is: do we really know what's going on out there?"
Officials said the U.S. intelligence community detected the rise in Hamas support in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. But they said the State Department, particularly outgoing security coordinator Gen. William Ward, assured the president that U.S. support for Mr. Abbas would help swing the election to Fatah.
taken from Insightmag.com
for full article, click: http://www.insightmag.com/Media/MediaManager/hamas.htm
Payback... how it hurts when one is on the receiving end for once...
First of all, let me state that I deplore racism of any kind, and any attempt to cheapen anyone's death, much less the death of millions of people, is disgusting.
However...
If the Western nations ARE to promote a free press, as they keep stressing when they refuse to censor those cartoons about the Prophet Mohammed, then surely they have no business questioning the publication of THESE cartoons now, regardless of the intent of the people publishing it. You can't spend years calling for a "free" press in Iran and then turn around and say they can't exercise their free expression as long as they insult you. I personally think it's hypocritical.
I don't support what they are doing, but from a PR perspective, I think it's brilliant. I don't think many people in the West really understand just how offended the Muslim people felt by the Danish cartoons... and I sincerely doubt that the "Anti-Defamation League" was the first one to call for the censure of THOSE cartoons. Why then do they have the moxie to come and call for the censure of the Iranian cartoons? If you claim to support the end of racism and hatred, why not be consistent?
These Iranian cartoons really drive the point home, I think, so on that level you've got to admire the thinkers who came up with this one. It's so shocking a PR retaliation that it is bound to get global attention... and force people to test the boundaries of what they believe is "free speech," and that can't be anything but good.
Tit for tat, as they say. And isn't payback a real %&*@!?
* * * * *
Iran daily holds contest for Holocaust cartoons
Tue Feb 7, 2006 10:31 AM ET
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's best-selling newspaper has launched a competition to find the best cartoon about the Holocaust in retaliation for the publication in many European countries of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad.
The Brussels-based Conference of European Rabbis (CER) denounced the idea and urged the Muslim world to do likewise.
The Anti-Defamation League, which fights anti-semitism, described the competition as "deliberately inflammatory".
The Iranian daily Hamshahri said the contest was designed to test the boundaries of free speech -- the reason given by many European newspapers for publishing the cartoons of the Prophet.
"Does Western free speech allow working on issues like America and Israel's crimes or an incident like the Holocaust or is this freedom of speech only good for insulting the holy values of divine religions?" the paper asked.
Davoud Kazemi, who is in charge of the contest, told Reuters that each of the 12 winners would have their cartoons published and receive two gold coins (worth about $140 each) as a prize.
In Paris, CER President Joseph Sitruk, who is also Chief Rabbi of France, said: "The Iranian regime has plummeted to new depths if it regards the deaths of six million Jews as a matter for humor or to score cheap political points.
"Sadly, we are not surprised by this action," he said, recalling Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's calls last year for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and his dismissal of the Holocaust as a myth.
Taken from Reuters.com
for full article, click: http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=uri:2006-02-07T152958Z_01_L07723729_RTRUKOC_0_US-RELIGION-CARTOONS-IRAN-HOLOCAUST.xml&pageNumber=0&summit=
However...
If the Western nations ARE to promote a free press, as they keep stressing when they refuse to censor those cartoons about the Prophet Mohammed, then surely they have no business questioning the publication of THESE cartoons now, regardless of the intent of the people publishing it. You can't spend years calling for a "free" press in Iran and then turn around and say they can't exercise their free expression as long as they insult you. I personally think it's hypocritical.
I don't support what they are doing, but from a PR perspective, I think it's brilliant. I don't think many people in the West really understand just how offended the Muslim people felt by the Danish cartoons... and I sincerely doubt that the "Anti-Defamation League" was the first one to call for the censure of THOSE cartoons. Why then do they have the moxie to come and call for the censure of the Iranian cartoons? If you claim to support the end of racism and hatred, why not be consistent?
These Iranian cartoons really drive the point home, I think, so on that level you've got to admire the thinkers who came up with this one. It's so shocking a PR retaliation that it is bound to get global attention... and force people to test the boundaries of what they believe is "free speech," and that can't be anything but good.
Tit for tat, as they say. And isn't payback a real %&*@!?
* * * * *
Iran daily holds contest for Holocaust cartoons
Tue Feb 7, 2006 10:31 AM ET
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's best-selling newspaper has launched a competition to find the best cartoon about the Holocaust in retaliation for the publication in many European countries of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad.
The Brussels-based Conference of European Rabbis (CER) denounced the idea and urged the Muslim world to do likewise.
The Anti-Defamation League, which fights anti-semitism, described the competition as "deliberately inflammatory".
The Iranian daily Hamshahri said the contest was designed to test the boundaries of free speech -- the reason given by many European newspapers for publishing the cartoons of the Prophet.
"Does Western free speech allow working on issues like America and Israel's crimes or an incident like the Holocaust or is this freedom of speech only good for insulting the holy values of divine religions?" the paper asked.
Davoud Kazemi, who is in charge of the contest, told Reuters that each of the 12 winners would have their cartoons published and receive two gold coins (worth about $140 each) as a prize.
In Paris, CER President Joseph Sitruk, who is also Chief Rabbi of France, said: "The Iranian regime has plummeted to new depths if it regards the deaths of six million Jews as a matter for humor or to score cheap political points.
"Sadly, we are not surprised by this action," he said, recalling Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's calls last year for Israel to be "wiped off the map" and his dismissal of the Holocaust as a myth.
Taken from Reuters.com
for full article, click: http://today.reuters.com/news/newsarticle.aspx?type=worldNews&storyID=uri:2006-02-07T152958Z_01_L07723729_RTRUKOC_0_US-RELIGION-CARTOONS-IRAN-HOLOCAUST.xml&pageNumber=0&summit=
