Somebody’s awake.

A senior Church of England member called yesterday for the building of mosques to be banned.

Alison Ruoff said more construction would lead to Islamic no go areas dominated by exclusively Muslim populations living under sharia law.

Mrs Ruoff, a member of the General Synod, the Church’s parliament, added: “If we don’t watch out we will become an Islamic state. It’s that serious.”

…

Speaking on Premier Christian Radio, she said: “We are constantly building new mosques, which are paid for by the oil states.

“There are enough mosques for Muslims in this country.

“You build a mosque and then what happens? You have Muslim people moving into that area, all the shops become Islamic, all the housing will become Islamic and that will be a no-go area for anyone else.

“They will bring in Islamic law. We cannot allow that to happen.

“We are still a Christian country, we need to hold on to that.”

Inayat Bunglawala, assistant secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain, said: “These are very narrow-minded and bigoted remarks.

“As a Christian, she surely ought to be working to build good ties between different communities.”

Mr. Bunglawala, give us ONE example of Muslims in a Muslim country “working to build good ties between different communities.” Is there an example in Mecca? You know, that city that non-Muslims aren’t even allowed to enter?

How about Iran? Isn’t Christianity outlawed there?

Africa? That entire continent where Muslims still enslave Christians?

Shut it, Mr. Bunglawala. Keep your dirty lies and ad hominem smears to yourself. Your religion only calls for tolerance and “good ties” when it’s in the minority.

The Toronto 18 had some big plans.

The “shocking and sensational” inner workings of an alleged homegrown terror cell were unveiled yesterday in a Brampton court – and included the plotting of an attack “much greater” in scale than the London 2005 bombings that killed 52 people.

In a document made public for the first time, the Crown painted a broad picture of the expected evidence in the trial of a youth who pleaded not guilty to belonging to a terrorist group. The trial opened yesterday.

According to the allegations, the so-called Toronto 18 were attempting to secure a safe house to store weapons and practise military drills, and embarking on a mission to destroy the West – one they should be willing to die for.

Details of the alleged plot, which also included storming Parliament Hill and beheading politicians, emerged in a factum filed by the Crown that described the case against the accused as “shocking and sensational.”

The document contains transcripts of wiretaps and videotapes that include one conversation in which one of the accused speaks of the group’s ambitions.

“They’re probably expecting what happened in London or something,” he said. “… Some bombing in a subway kills 10 people and everybody gets deported. We’re not doing that. … So our thing it’s, it’s much, much greater on a scale … you do it once and you make sure they can never recover again.”

In arguing for a publication ban, the Crown said the evidence of these violent schemes and aspirations are so disturbing they could prejudice the future trials of the 14 adults who are also charged with belonging to this group. The accused were among 18 adults and youths arrested in a massive police sweep in 2006 for allegedly belonging to an Al Qaeda inspired cell. Charges against three youths have been stayed. Of the adults, 10 remain in jail and four are out on bail.

In response to concerns raised by the Crown, as well as defence lawyers representing some of the adults, the judge banned the publication of any names and a small portion of the allegations.

Until yesterday, all evidence in these cases was covered by other publication bans. The expected evidence remains to be either admitted or rejected during the youth’s trial.

While some of the allegations have already surfaced in public reports, a great deal in the factum had never been published. Some of that expected evidence includes:

• Videos of terrorist indoctrination, in which the accused are exhorted to wage battle in the new empire of “Rome” in North America, “whether we get arrested, whether we get killed.”
• Wiretap surveillance in which they discuss their desire to “establish the religion of Allah and to get rid of the oppressors” and the need for funds to finance their goals of building a “team” to “go make an attack.”
• The construction of a “radio frequency remote-control detonator” that needed to be improved because its range was nine metres.
• Allegations the accused attended two training camps. One was a 12-day camp near the town of Washago, Ont., where they practised military-style exercises in camouflage gear and undertook firearms training with a 9-mm firearm. The second was a two-day camp at the Rockwood Conservation Area, where they donned camouflage clothing and made a propaganda-style video of their military drills.

According to the Crown’s factum, the alleged terrorists first popped onto the radar of police in August 2005, when two of the adults were stopped at the Canada-U.S. border in a rented vehicle while attempting to smuggle firearms and ammunition into the country.

If you clicked on the “Toronto 18″ link above you know that there are some people pretty serious about supporting this group of jihadists. After reading the article I quoted, if you too feel the strong urge to defend these Islamic terrorists, their FaceBook support groups are here and here (must log in to view).

Emphasis mine.

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.

You think these serious threats of physical harm had anything in common with Theo van Gogh’s demise?

This isn’t as big a deal as the Network Solutions fiasco. Fitna is already viral, and will be perpetually appearing and reappearing on YouTube for good now. Hot Air has links to some torrents you can try. Here’s my copy, on DailyMotion.

And the YouTube version, in two parts thanks to their 10 minute video limit.

Earth Hour 2008 is roughly 24 hours away. Sigh.

Other cities around the globe, including Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco, will also join in.

Let’s counter this. Flat earthers everywhere, unite!

Via Atlas, this story from the Miami Hurricane, the school newspaper of Miami University.

Muslims students at the University of Miami have organized for the Islamic call to prayer, broadcasted each Friday afternoon this month from Richter Library’s clock tower in commemoration of Islamic Awareness Month.

The call to prayer, or Adhan, is spoken in Arabic and is meant to resonate throughout the area.

“It serves as constant reminder of when we have to pray, because prayer itself is a reminder of our religion and how we practice it,” said Selima Jumarali, the vice president of the organization.

The President of the University of Miami is Donna E. Shalala. She was born in Cleveland, OH to Lebanese immigrant parents. She’s Roman Catholic, a Democrat, and served as the Secretary of Health and Human Services for all eight years of Clinton’s presidency.

Says Wikipedia, “Shalala is an honorary board member of the American Iranian Council, an organization that seeks to promote closer U.S.-Iran relations.”

Atlas’s post provides the text of the Islamic call to prayer:

Allah is Most Great. Allah is Most Great.
Allah is Most Great. Allah is Most Great.
I bear witness that there is none worthy of being worshipped except Allah.
I bear witness that there is none worthy of being worshipped except Allah.
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah.
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Apostle of Allah.
Come to prayer. Come to prayer.
Come to Success. Come to Success.
Allah is Most Great. Allah is Most Great.
There is none worthy of being worshipped except Allah.

The problem here is not that the University of Miami is a state school, it’s not (Atlas seems to be mistaken). It’s a private institution. The problem is that there is no way a song would ever be broadcast across campus proclaiming “Jesus Christ is Most Great, there is none worthy of being worshipped except Jesus, the Son of God.”

Not to mention that the ACLU would jump on that as an affront to persons of other religious persuasions. So why is Islam afforded a special status? Why is there no “Christianity Awareness Month”?

BTW: I first viewed the Miami Hurricane article without registering. By the time I was finished writing this post, registering now seems to be required.

… good. It almost gets you excited to support the one-time possible Republican Senator-turned Democrat.

This ad certainly sets the tone for the campaign, even though it will only be aired in New Mexico for now. McCain will attempt to run on his “Americanism” and the fact that he was a POW. We’ll see how this works out. He has a penchant for overplaying a line, and we need to look back only as far as 2004 to see how far that kind of thing will get you: people still joke about John Kerry, who (did you know?) once served in Vietnam.

You can watch it at Hot Air and also download it using the link to the torrent. The cyber war has begun. I’ll have video up ASAP.

UPDATE: LiveLeak, the video host that Hot Air embedded Fitna from (and which wordpress doesn’t allow me to use), says they are experiencing “targetted hacking attacks.”

UPDATE: LiveLeak issues a statement.

LiveLeak.com has a strict stance on remaining unbiased and allowing freedom of speech as so far as the law and our rules allow. There was no legal reason to refuse Geert Wilders the right to post his film (Fitna) on LiveLeak.com and it is not our place to censor people based on an emotive response. We in no way endorse Geert Wilders, his views, nor the views expressed within Fitna. To many of us involved in LiveLeak.com some of the messages therein are personally offensive. That being said, our being offended is no reason to deny Mr Wilders the right to have his film seen. Pre-emptive censorship or a discriminatory policy towards freedom of speech are both things we oppose here on LiveLeak.com. A person has a simple, clear choice about whether to view this film. No one is being forced to view it and nor is it being broadcasted on every channel on their television set. If you click on media simply to be annoyed, it is pointless to blame others for your choice.

We do not intend on defending the content of Fitna, only our choice to allow it. Anyone has the full right of reply on LiveLeak.com. Any person or organizations are free to post their opinion and, dependent on said response falling within both the law and our rules, we will afford such responses equal exposure. There are undoubtedly better ways to spark a discussion but this film is now out there and we believe we should all grasp this opportunity to create an open dialogue and discussion on this subject.

UPDATE: DailyMotion is my host.

UPDATE 03/28: UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon showcases some utter stupidity.

UPDATE 03/28: Danish cartoonist Westergaard to sue Dutch politician Wilders over the use of his cartoon in Fitna.

IPT released the report on their massive investigation of CAIR, providing easy, in-depth reference for years to come.

Here’s a list of CAIR officials and members convicted or connected to terror.

· Ghassan Elashi, who attended a 1993 Philadelphia meeting called by Hamas to discuss derailing U.S. peace initiatives, was convicted in 2004 on six criminal counts, including making false statements, conspiracy to violate the Export Administration Regulations and the Libyan Sanctions Regulations, and conspiracy to file false shipper’s export declaration forms. He was a defendant again in the 2007 Hamas-support trial of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), where jurors were unable to reach unanimous verdicts on the charges against him.

Elashi served as HLF chairman and treasurer and vice president of Infocom, a computer export company. He was sentenced to 80 months in prison for making illegal computer shipments to Libya and Syria and conspiring to send money to Mousa Abu Marzook, an admitted Hamas leader.

Seeking to minimize Elashi’s ties to CAIR, Executive Director Nihad Awad assured U.S. senators in 2003 testimony, “Mr. Elashi was never an employee or officer of our corporation. The fact that he was once associated with one of our almost twenty regional chapters has no legal significance…”

· Randall Royer, the former CAIR communications specialist, has a more colorful criminal history. Police who stopped his car for a traffic violation in 2001 found an AK-47-style rifle and 219 rounds of ammunition inside. Then, in 2003, he was indicted on charges stemming from participation in the ongoing jihad in Kashmir — specifically, doing propaganda work for Lashkar-e Taiba, a Specially Designated Global Terrorist group, and personally firing at Indian positions in Kashmir.

Pleading guilty to weapons and explosives charges in 2004, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison. In later grand jury testimony, Royer admitted that the cell’s primary goal was to fight with the Taliban against United States forces in Afghanistan

Again, CAIR reacted defensively, seeking to downplay both his ties to the organization and, indeed, the nature of his crimes. “Notwithstanding the fact that any criminal action to which he pleaded guilty was done when Royer was no longer employed with CAIR and not at CAIR’s direction,” the group said, “it is important to note that the only crimes that he pleaded guilty to were weapons charges, not charges of terrorism.”

CAIR’s timing point contradicts media reports indicating that Royer still worked for the group in October 2001; while the charges to which Royer pleaded guilty do not directly contain the word “terrorism,” they involved his activities in support of a conspiracy against the United States.

Bassam Khafagi pleaded guilty to bank and visa fraud charges in September 2003, after his arrest and indictment earlier that year. “At the time of his arrest,” the Associated Press reported, “he was community affairs director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.”

Khafagi also served as a founding member and president of the Islamic Assembly of North America. That group was investigated on charges of money laundering and recruiting terrorists over the Internet and the FBI raided its offices in February 2003.

Trying to put the best face on the situation once again, Awad claimed in Senate testimony, “Khafagi was never an ‘employee’ of CAIR,” but rather an “independent contractor for CAIR.”

Among other CAIR officials:

· Nabil Sadoun, currently on CAIR’s board and chair of CAIR-Texas, helped found the United Association for Studies and Research (UASR). While there has been no criminal prosecution of the UASR, Sadoun founded it along with Hamas leader Marzook. Internal records show the UASR was a founding member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Palestine Committee in America. Federal prosecutors say that committee’s “designed purpose was to support Hamas.”

Sadoun also co-founded the Muslim American Youth Association. MAYA’s conferences, many of which it co-sponsored with IAP, have long supported Hamas.

· Mohammad El-Mezain, the former chairman and director of endowments for HLF, conducted fundraising at a 2004 CAIR-New York event, soliciting over $100,000 for CAIR. He was indicted soon afterward for providing material support to Hamas. Acquitted of most counts against him in the HLF trial, he faces retrial on a charge of conspiring to provide material support to a terrorist group.

· Rabih Haddad served as a fundraiser for CAIR’s Ann Arbor chapter. He co-founded the Global Relief Foundation (GRF), one of the largest Islamic charities in the United States — but one that the U.S. government has investigated of funding violent jihadism.

In December 2001 the FBI raided GRF’s headquarters and arrested Haddad, then its chairman, on a visa violation. He was deported to Lebanon after an immigration judge found that he presented “a substantial risk to the national security of the United States.” The Treasury Department said Haddad had been a member of Makhtab Al-Khidamat, the precursor organization to Al Qaeda.

This list was taken from this 15 page PDF. Check out IPT’s homepage for each installment of the report. Please consider saying thank you to IPT.

It should be noted that the revelation that Saddam bankrolled a trip by three Democratic Congressmen to Iraq in 2002 came about via this arrest on Tuesday night of a former CAIR official, now charged with spying for Saddam.

Add the former head of the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Michigan office to our report on CAIR officials in trouble with the law. In an indictment unsealed Wednesday, Muthanna Al-Hanooti is accused of spying for Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi government. The Detroit Free Press reports that Al-Hanooti is charged with conspiring to work for a foreign government and with making false statements to the FBI.

The indictment involves Al-Hanooti’s work with Life for Relief and Development (LIFE), a Muslim charity that operates in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, and the Palestinian territories. According to the Free Press, the indictment alleges “Al-Hanooti would travel to Iraq and meet with conspirators of the Iraqi Intelligence Service. The indictment says that Al-Hanooti was rewarded with 2 million barrels of oil for his work.”

According to a Dec. 3, 1999 story in the Arab American News, Al-Hanooti was moving to Washington to work for CAIR. Then, a CAIR press release in June 2000 identified Al-Hanooti as executive director of its new regional office in Michigan. It isn’t clear when he left the organization.

…

The indictment also alleges that Al-Hanooti gave Iraqi intelligence officials a plan of how to end U.S. economic sanctions against Hussein’s regime. That included names of congressmen who would favor removing the sanctions. In 2002, LIFE provided full financial sponsorship of a congressional delegation, joined by Michigan Democrat David Bonior, which traveled to Iraq to examine the impact of U.S. economic sanctions. Others on the trip included Representatives Jim McDermott of Washington and Mike Thompson of California.

LIFE had generated suspicion among Iraqi expatriates. They have protested outside LIFE’s Michigan office, contending that its leaders were too close to Saddam’s regime. In September 2004, Haider al-Jabori, a Dearborn resident, told The Detroit News, “This organization is well-known as a Saddam supporter.”

Goldfarb at The Weekly Standard has this quote from Representative Jim McDermott in an especially damning post worth reading.

So how does it feel to be used as a propaganda tool against your own country? McDermott, who was asked that question by CNN’s Jane Arraf when he was still in Baghdad, said it feels fine. “If being used means that we’re highlighting the suffering of Iraqi children, or any children, then, yes, we don’t mind being used.”