hey44
Burnaby Public Library
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Dreadful PlacesDreadful Places, Book
by Mahnke, AaronBook - 2018 | First editionBook, 2018. First edition
hey44's rating:
Added Feb 15, 2019
The Muhammad CodeThe Muhammad Code, BookHow A Desert Prophet Brought You ISIS, Al Qaeda and Boko Haram or How Muhammad Invented Jihad
by Bloom, Howard K.Book - 2016Book, 2016
Added Feb 02, 2019
Quotations
- [Muhammad] added a new incentive to an old idea - paradise. He offered intercourse in the cushiest place around - the palace of God. He crafted the first Playboy centerfold heaven. Or, to put it in offensive but accurate language, Muhammad put pussy in paradise. All those girls you couldn't get on Earth? All those girls who ignored you. All those girls whose fathers thought you were trash. All those girls whose bride price you couldn't afford? Forget them. Girls beyond your highest dreams were available to you n the halls of heaven. Every sexual fantasy you'd ever imagined would become a reality in the palace of Allah. And how do you get an express ticket to this lust-engorged paradise? "Paradise liesin the shadow of the swords" You kill and are killed in battle. Specifically, you kill unbelievers. p 90[Muhammad] added a new incentive to an old idea - paradise. He offered intercourse in the cushiest place around - the palace of God. He crafted the first Playboy centerfold heaven. Or, to put it in offensive but accurate language, Muhammad put pussy…
- ...Muhammad wanted his companions to understand that in his presence they should cut down any dissenter immediately, no matter how much Muhammad pretended to be forgiving and beneficent. In Muhammad's presence the default mode was murder. Thus was born the form of intolerant dictatorship, the violently meme-policed dictatorship, that today has made the Middle East one of the poorest regions in the world. Thus was born on of the world's longest-lasting and widest-spread social and political structures, a political system that has survived nearly 1,400 years. How can we account for this contradiction - ...a culture that has taken more territory than any other in history, yet a culture that all too often withers its wealth production, squelches its potential sources of vitality, kills its critics, its protesters, its innovators, and its artists or terrifies them into silence? What's wrong with this picture? p 132...Muhammad wanted his companions to understand that in his presence they should cut down any dissenter immediately, no matter how much Muhammad pretended to be forgiving and beneficent. In Muhammad's presence the default mode was murder. Thus was…
Walking to CamelotWalking to Camelot, BookA Pilgrimage Through the Heart of Rural England
by Cherrington, John A.Book - 2016Book, 2016
Added May 09, 2018
Love Voltaire Us ApartLove Voltaire Us Apart, BookA Philosopher's Guide to Relationships
by Edelman, JuliaBook - 2016Book, 2016
hey44's rating:
Added Dec 04, 2017
Comment:
I was looking forward to some humourous plays on words in this volume, but was disappointed by its generally glib tone.
The January ManThe January Man, BookA Year of Walking Britain
by Somerville, ChristopherBook - 2017Book, 2017
hey44's rating:
Added Dec 04, 2017
Comment:
I picked up this book thinking it would be about walking in the UK, and in a way it is, but it is mostly a memoir told by connecting to selected walking paths. I like the way the author connects to culture by linking the stories to "The January Man" folk song, but I found the writing oddly opaque at times, especially given the copious detail he incorporates about wildlife and plantlife he encounters on his journeys. An interesting and unique book, but I could not totally resonate with the narrative and in the end it did not hold my interest.I picked up this book thinking it would be about walking in the UK, and in a way it is, but it is mostly a memoir told by connecting to selected walking paths. I like the way the author connects to culture by linking the stories to "The January Man"…
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold FryThe Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, Book
by Joyce, RachelBook - 2012Book, 2012
hey44's rating:
Added Dec 04, 2017
Comment:
I usually read non-fiction, but this book caught my eye because I love stories about pilgrimages and I'm glad I decided to read it. As many others have said, the story will likely evoke a range of emotion in the reader, from "why on earth would anyone do such an unlikely thing as walk so far so unequipped and ill prepared?" to "why is Harold so bent on doing this in the first place?" I would agree with the reader who describes Harold's pilgrimage as an act of atonement, but the reader who said he was walking to see an old love is wrong. Harold has emotional demons to confront, as does his wife, and this is actually a story about both of them that the author resolves masterfully.I usually read non-fiction, but this book caught my eye because I love stories about pilgrimages and I'm glad I decided to read it. As many others have said, the story will likely evoke a range of emotion in the reader, from "why on earth would…
The Strange Death of EuropeThe Strange Death of Europe, BookImmigration, Identity, Islam
by Murray, DouglasBook - 2017Book, 2017
Added Sep 14, 2017
Comment:
This is an outstanding synthesis of the problems Europe, indeed most of the western world, is facing as the tide of Muslim migrants continues to flow seemingly unabated into our countries. Douglas Murray is raising the alarm in this well researched and well written analysis. We must not continue to cave to pressure to not only take in ever-increasing numbers of self-described "refugees" whilst also being soft on the monstrous Islamic doctrine such that it is allowed to flourish while we cower under cover of political correctness for fear of "offending". Too often those who are actually informed of the truth of what Islam stands for are attacked by ignoramuses who are unwilling to let truth interfere with opinion based on little more than a blind faith. Douglas Murray has a sound grasp of the issues and marshalls up a compelling argument against mass immigration of Muslims into western countries. An excellent debater and commentator, he is also with looking for on YouTube.This is an outstanding synthesis of the problems Europe, indeed most of the western world, is facing as the tide of Muslim migrants continues to flow seemingly unabated into our countries. Douglas Murray is raising the alarm in this well researched…
Added Mar 15, 2017
Quotations
- ….[m]y views on Islam are based on my knowledge and experience of being a Muslim, of living in Muslim societies – including Mecca itself, the very center of Islamic belief – and on my years of study of Islam as a practitioner, student, and teacher. The real explanation is clear. It is because they cannot actually refute what I am saying. And I am not alone. Shortly after the attack on Charlie Hebdo, Asra Nomani, a Muslim reformer, spoke out against what she calls the “honor brigade” – an organized international cabal hell-bent on silencing debate on Islam. The shameful thing is that this campaign is effective in the West. Western liberals now seem to collude against critical thought and debate. I never cease to be amazed by the fact that non-Muslims who consider themselves liberals – including feminists and advocates of gay rights – are so readily persuaded by these crass means to take the Islamists’ side against Muslim and non-Muslim critics.….[m]y views on Islam are based on my knowledge and experience of being a Muslim, of living in Muslim societies – including Mecca itself, the very center of Islamic belief – and on my years of study of Islam as a practitioner, student, and teacher.…
- We must no longer accept limitations on criticism of Islam. We must reject the notion that only Muslims can speak about Islam, and that any critical examination of Islam is inherently “racist”. Instead of contorting Western intellectual traditions so as not to offend our Muslim fellow citizens, we need to defend the Muslim dissidents who are risking their lives to promote the human rights we take for granted; equality for women, tolerance of all religions and orientations, our hard-won freedom of speech and thought. ...Multiculturalism should not mean that we tolerate another culture’s intolerance. If we do in fact support diversity, women’s rights, and gay rights, then we cannot in good conscience give Islam a free pass on the grounds of multicultural sensitivity. And we need to say unambiguously to Muslims living in the West: If you want to live in our societies, to share in their material benefits, then you need to accept that our freedoms are not optional. P 28We must no longer accept limitations on criticism of Islam. We must reject the notion that only Muslims can speak about Islam, and that any critical examination of Islam is inherently “racist”. Instead of contorting Western intellectual traditions…
- After 9/11, I began to re-examine the world I had grown up in. I began to reflect that all over the world – in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and even inside the Muslim immigrant community in Holland – Islam represented a barrier to progress, especially (but not only) for women. Besides, expressing my doubts about Islam meant that I had no spiritual home: in Islam you are either a believer or disbeliever. There is no cognitive room to be an agnostic. My family and some of my Muslim friends and acquaintances gave me that stark choice: you are either one of us, in which case you quit voicing your thoughts on Islam, or you are one of the infidels and you get out. And ultimately that was what I could not stay in the religion of my father, my mother, my brother, my sister, and my grandmother. P 47After 9/11, I began to re-examine the world I had grown up in. I began to reflect that all over the world – in Somalia, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, Kenya, and even inside the Muslim immigrant community in Holland – Islam represented a barrier to…
- The golden age of Islamic science and philosophy, which pre-dated the European Enlightenment, lies a thousand years in the past. While many Muslim nations have benefited from advances in science and economics, while they now have their gleaming skyscrapers and infrastructure, the philosophical revolution that grew out of the Protestant Reformation has largely passed them by. Instead, much of the Muslim world, both inside Muslim-majority nations and in the West, lives half in and half out of modernity. Islam is content to use the West’s technological products – there is even an app that will remind you when to say your five daily prayers – but resists the underlying values that produced them. (This, of course, helps explain the notorious lack of scientific and technological innovation that characterizes the entire Muslim world.) p 59The golden age of Islamic science and philosophy, which pre-dated the European Enlightenment, lies a thousand years in the past. While many Muslim nations have benefited from advances in science and economics, while they now have their gleaming…
- Beyond the ways it restricts women’s rights and legitimizes violence against them, sharia does something more. Because of the very foundation of sharia in the dictates of the Qur’an and the hadith, there is no vocabulary in Islam that can be used to emancipate women. All the words for female rights and basic female freedoms are invariably Western. If you fight for access to education or the right to vote or the right to drive or the right not to be beaten or stoned, the vocabulary you have to use in making that argument is Western because Islamic texts and the Arabic language simply do not have the words for these types of rights and opportunities. By contrast, when women face opposition to their emancipation, those words and that vocabulary are exclusively Islamic. P 150-1Beyond the ways it restricts women’s rights and legitimizes violence against them, sharia does something more. Because of the very foundation of sharia in the dictates of the Qur’an and the hadith, there is no vocabulary in Islam that can be used to…
- In Islamic history, the land controlled by Islam is referred to as dar al-Islam (the abode of Islam). The land controlled by non-Muslims is dar al-Harb (the abode of War). Historically, after being conquered by Muslims, groups deemed People of the Book, including Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians, were required to pay a special tax, the jizya, as a mark of their” humiliation. If they did so, they were allowed to keep their religion (9:29). Yet, there was always a strain of “eliminationism” in Islam, too. The Prophet himself promised to “expel the Jews and Christians from the Arabian Peninsula and…not leave any but Muslims….The Qur’an warns Muslims: “take not the Jews and the Christians for your friends and protectors.”… Modern Islamists go further. In some countries, governments and their agents openly sponsor anti-Christian violence, burning churches and imprisoning observant Christians. p 191In Islamic history, the land controlled by Islam is referred to as dar al-Islam (the abode of Islam). The land controlled by non-Muslims is dar al-Harb (the abode of War). Historically, after being conquered by Muslims, groups deemed People of the…
- This phenomenon of “Christophobia (as opposed to the far more widely discussed “Islamophobia” receives remarkably little coverage in the Western media. Part of this reticence may be due to fear of provoking additional violence. But part is clearly due to the very effective efforts by lobbying groups such as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Council on American-Islamic Relations [CAIR]. Over the past decade, these and similar groups have been remarkable successful in persuading journalists and editors in the West to think or each and every example of perceived anti-Muslim discrimination as an expression of a deep-rooted Islamophobia. This, of course, extends with an Orwellian illogic to coverage of Muslim violence against Christians. Yet any fair-minded comparison of recent events leads to the conclusion that the scale and severity of Islamophobia pales in comparison with the Christophobia evident in Muslim-majority nations from end of the globe to the other.p 192This phenomenon of “Christophobia (as opposed to the far more widely discussed “Islamophobia” receives remarkably little coverage in the Western media. Part of this reticence may be due to fear of provoking additional violence. But part is clearly…
Added May 04, 2016
Quotations
- My central, motivating concern is that women in Islam are oppressed. That oppression of women causes Muslim women and Muslim men, too, to lag behind the West. It creates a culture that generates more backwardness with every generation. It would be better for everyone – for Muslims above all – if this situation could change. When people say that the values of Islam are compassion, tolerance, and freedom, I look at the reality, at real cultures and governments, and I see that it simply isn’t so. People in the West swallow this sort of thing because they have learned not to examine the religions or cultures of minorities too critically, for fear of being called racist. It fascinates them that I am not afraid to do so. [p 349]My central, motivating concern is that women in Islam are oppressed. That oppression of women causes Muslim women and Muslim men, too, to lag behind the West. It creates a culture that generates more backwardness with every generation. It would be…
- I first encountered the full strength of Islam as a young child in Saudi Arabia...the place where the Muslim religion is practiced in its purest form, and it is the origin of much of the fundamentalist vision that has, in my lifetime, spread far beyond its borders. In Saudi Arabia, every breath, every step we took was infused with concepts of purity or sinning, and with fear. Wishful thinking about the peaceful tolerance of Islam cannot interpret away this reality: hands are cut off, women still stoned and enslaved, just as the Prophet Muhammad decided centuries ago.I first encountered the full strength of Islam as a young child in Saudi Arabia...the place where the Muslim religion is practiced in its purest form, and it is the origin of much of the fundamentalist vision that has, in my lifetime, spread far…
- Johan handed me a photocopy of the letter. He didn’t tell me it had been stabbed into Theo’s chest by his killer, just gave me some pages written in Arabic and Dutch. I read them. The letter was structured very precisely, like a fatwa, a religious verdict. It opened with "In the name of Allah Most Gracious Most Merciful", followed by a quote from the Prophet Muhammad, the swordsman. Then there was a summary of all the “acts of crime” I had committed against Islam. Then came a verse from the Quran, and a challenge from the writer on the basis of that verse, asking me if I was prepared to die for my convictions, as he, the letter writer, was. He went on to curse the United States, Europe, Holland, and me, and signed with the name “Sword of the Faith.”….Remkes told me the letter was found on Theo’s body, along with a poem of martyrdom….Johan handed me a photocopy of the letter. He didn’t tell me it had been stabbed into Theo’s chest by his killer, just gave me some pages written in Arabic and Dutch. I read them. The letter was structured very precisely, like a fatwa, a religious…
- …I was invited to appear on a Dutch TV program about women in Islam. There were a number of short items on girls in the Netherlands who had escaped their parents’ abuse, and about girls who chose to walk about veiled even though they were living in Holland. When I was asked for my opinion, I explained that Islam was like a mental cage. At first, when you open the door, the caged bird stays inside: it is frightened. It has internalized its imprisonment. It takes time for the bird to escape, even after someone has opened the doors to its cage. P 286…I was invited to appear on a Dutch TV program about women in Islam. There were a number of short items on girls in the Netherlands who had escaped their parents’ abuse, and about girls who chose to walk about veiled even though they were living in…
- The kind of thinking I saw in Saudi Arabia,.. is incompatible with human rights and liberal values. It preserves a feudal mindset based on tribal concepts of honor and shame. It rests on self-deception, hypocrisy, and double standards. It relies on the technological advances of the West while pretending to ignore their origin in Western thinking. This mind-set makes the transition to modernity very painful for all who practice Islam. It is always difficult to make the transition to a modern world….It was difficult for me, too. I moved from the world of faith to the world of reason...Having made that journey, I know that one of the worlds is simply better than the other. Not because of its flashy gadgets, but fundamentally, because of its values. The message of this book,..is that we in the West would be wrong to prolong the pain of that transition unnecessarily, by elevating cultures full of bigotry and hatred toward women to the stature of respectable alternative ways of life.The kind of thinking I saw in Saudi Arabia,.. is incompatible with human rights and liberal values. It preserves a feudal mindset based on tribal concepts of honor and shame. It rests on self-deception, hypocrisy, and double standards. It relies on…
- I listened to the news of riots that had erupted in Nigeria. A young woman journalist assigned to cover the Miss World competition there had written, “Muslims thought it was immoral to bring ninety-two women to Nigeria to ask them to revel in vanity. What would the Prophet Muhammad think?...He would probably have chosen a wife from one of them.” More than two hundred people were killed in the riots that broke out. The office of her newspaper was burned down, and the reporter was forced to leave the country. ..[Then], instead of blaming the violence on the men who were burning down houses and murdering people,[a British woman who had organized the pageant] blamed the young reporter for making “unfortunate remarks.” I was incensed by this excusing of fanaticism. That journalist...was right: the Prophet married most of his wives because they had caught his eye...I listened to the news of riots that had erupted in Nigeria. A young woman journalist assigned to cover the Miss World competition there had written, “Muslims thought it was immoral to bring ninety-two women to Nigeria to ask them to revel in…
The Caged VirginThe Caged Virgin, BookAn Emancipation Proclamation for Women and Islam
by Hirsi Ali, AyaanBook - 2006 | 1st Free Press edBook, 2006. 1st Free Press ed
Added Jan 19, 2016
Quotations
- Later on I stayed in a refugee camp on the border between Somalia and Kenya. I saw how women who had been raped during the war were abandoned. And I asked myself, If God exists, why does He allow this? It was forbidden to think such thoughts, let alone speak them, but my belief was crumbling. Nonetheless I continued to call myself a Muslim. September 11 was a decisive turning point, but it was not until six months later, after I had read "The Atheist Manifesto" by Herman Philipse, that I dared to admit to others that I no longer believed.......I thought a manifesto was a declaration of the devil. I could feel an inner resistance. But recently I felt ready. The time had come. I saw that God was an invention and that subjection to His will meant nothing more than subjecting yourself to the willpower of the strongest.Later on I stayed in a refugee camp on the border between Somalia and Kenya. I saw how women who had been raped during the war were abandoned. And I asked myself, If God exists, why does He allow this? It was forbidden to think such thoughts, let…
- While you may have heard of the death threats that were made against me..., you may not know that when I initially spoke on the immoral practices of the Prophet Mohammad, more than one hundred fifty complaints were made against me to the police and the government. Four ambassadors visited my party leaders - ambassadors from Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Pakistan, Malaysia. They carried a letter attached to which was a list of twenty-one countries belonging to the Islamic Conference - including Turkey - that supported the letter. The main complaint in their letter was that I had insulted the Prophet and had deeply hurt the feelings of more than 1 billion Muslims. Death threats followed against me and also against the leader of my party when he refused to take seriously this complaint and evict me from Parliament. (p xiv)While you may have heard of the death threats that were made against me..., you may not know that when I initially spoke on the immoral practices of the Prophet Mohammad, more than one hundred fifty complaints were made against me to the police and…
- I am amazed that Muslims are not more offended by the invocation of Allah and "God is great" for murder than by cartoons. Why do Muslims not fly into flights of rage when people who go to help Iraqis are kidnapped, tortured, and beheaded in the name of Islam? Political cartoons that point up problems with an extremist religion are used to manipulate people into violence instead of reflection and debate. Freedom of expression for Muslims is a one-way street. Muslims can criticize the west, but the west cannot criticize the practices of Islam. (p xv)I am amazed that Muslims are not more offended by the invocation of Allah and "God is great" for murder than by cartoons. Why do Muslims not fly into flights of rage when people who go to help Iraqis are kidnapped, tortured, and beheaded in the name…
- [W]ithout the emancipation of Muslim women, the social disadvantageous position of Muslims will persist in Western countries as well as the entire world. I see a direct link between the poor situation of Muslim women, on the one hand, and the lagging behind of Muslims in education and the job market, their high rate of juvenile delinquency, and their heavy reliance on social services on the other In reality, the upbringing of Muslim girls denies them personal independence and their own sense of responsibility, values that are essential for getting ahead in a Western country.[W]ithout the emancipation of Muslim women, the social disadvantageous position of Muslims will persist in Western countries as well as the entire world. I see a direct link between the poor situation of Muslim women, on the one hand, and the…
- If nothing is wrong with Islam, why then are so many Muslims on the run? Of the top ten countries from which people have emigrated to the Netherlands, nine are primarily Muslim. Why do we Muslims move to the West, while at the same time condemning it? What does the West have that we don't? Why is the position of women in Muslim countries so abominable? If we Muslims are so tolerant and peaceful, why is there so much ethnic, religious, political, and cultural strife and violence in Muslim countries? Why can;t or won't we acknowledge the seriousness of the situation in which we find ourselves? Why are we Muslims so full of feelings of anger and uneasiness, and why do we carry so much hostility and hate within us both toward ourselves and toward others? Why are we incapable of criticizing ourselves from within? p 11If nothing is wrong with Islam, why then are so many Muslims on the run? Of the top ten countries from which people have emigrated to the Netherlands, nine are primarily Muslim. Why do we Muslims move to the West, while at the same time condemning…
- [W]e Muslims have refused to acknowledge that a once peaceful, powerful, and robust religion carried within it elements of fanaticism and violence. We wanted, and still want, a Muslim solution for everything. We have always left the course of our lives, the organization of our society, our economic policy, the education of our children, and the relationship between men and women in the hands of God. "Insh'allah (if God [Allah] wills it) is the most common expression among Muslims. We Muslims have completely lost sight of the balance between religion and reason. Poverty, violence, political instability, economic malaise, and human suffering are the result....[W]e are unwilling and unable to believe that Allah no longer has the answers to all our questions...[W]e Muslims have refused to acknowledge that a once peaceful, powerful, and robust religion carried within it elements of fanaticism and violence. We wanted, and still want, a Muslim solution for everything. We have always left the course of our…
hey44's rating:
Added Dec 26, 2015
Comment:
I highly recommend this book - it is a compelling read that opened my eyes to the reality that Islam is a dangerous ideology and way of life, not just a religion, and how the growing incursion of Muslims into Western cultures will chip away at the freedom and liberties we have come to take for granted. Among many other things, the author also explains how the victim mentality of many Muslims and Arabs affects behavior and attitudes (and helps advance Islam while eroding western values); how women are forced to bear full responsibility for morality and sexuality while men bear none; and how and why Muslim demands increase as their population increases in a country or even a region.
Save for a few typos that the editors should have caught, this book is very well written - I found it hard to put down, even though it was difficult to read about the atrocities and human rights violations of Islam again and again. The Egyptian-born (now American), journalist author who was raised as Muslim but renounced it, is passionate about what she writes, is an authoritative source, and has lived and witnessed some of the worst of what Islam enforces on its followers. However, she does also offer many suggestions for how (and why) to counterbalance, resist and simply say no to the demands of Muslims and especially Arab Muslims, and she concludes with a list of well described recommendations.I highly recommend this book - it is a compelling read that opened my eyes to the reality that Islam is a dangerous ideology and way of life, not just a religion, and how the growing incursion of Muslims into Western cultures will chip away at the…
Quotations
- .....the most common place of cursing is inside the mosque. As a Muslim I lived most of my life watching many angry, vindictive preachers on TV who never missed a chance to curse the infidels. It felt repulsive, but I never saw anyone in my family or society comment in any negative way about this kind of preaching, and thus I grew up thinking it must be okay; not only okay, but also good and even HOLY to hate and curse. I never learned in my culture of origin that a place of worship should be holy and cursing is not holy. It took me a long time to learn this simple truth, but it was not Islam that taught me this......the most common place of cursing is inside the mosque. As a Muslim I lived most of my life watching many angry, vindictive preachers on TV who never missed a chance to curse the infidels. It felt repulsive, but I never saw anyone in my family…
- The West must act and act now. If it cannot - or will not- its citizens will wake up one day and find themselves living in an Islamic world. The history of Islam is full of similar scenarios. About sixty million Christians, eighty million Hindus, and ten million Buddhists were killed during the jihad conquests. Jews saw a mosque built on top of their temple mount in their own Holy Land in Jerusalem, and Egypt was a Byzantine Coptic Christian nation for six hundred year before Muslim Bedouins invaded this ancient civilization in the seventh century and forced Islam and the Arabic language on its citizens who suffered an extreme and brutal genocide. Africa suffered 120 million deaths from jihad in the last fourteen hundred years.The West must act and act now. If it cannot - or will not- its citizens will wake up one day and find themselves living in an Islamic world. The history of Islam is full of similar scenarios. About sixty million Christians, eighty million Hindus,…
- Islam has annihilated every culture it has invaded or immigrated into. The annihilation sometimes takes centuries, but once Islam is ascendant, it never fails to cause bloodshed and civil wars. Th ensuing war pits the very soul of the original host culture against the forces that want it to become extinct.Islam has annihilated every culture it has invaded or immigrated into. The annihilation sometimes takes centuries, but once Islam is ascendant, it never fails to cause bloodshed and civil wars. Th ensuing war pits the very soul of the original host…
- Muslims are not confident tht Islam will survive without the sword and the harsh punishments of Sharia. That has been the fear of Muslims from the very beginning, even during Mohammed's time when he had to be a warrior to enforce Islam.....Muslim caliphs had to come up with Sharia to keep their power. Sharia is Islam and Islam is Sharia, and both are for the preservation of seventh-century Arabian culture, politics, and way of life, which could not survive in this day and age except under the sword. Muslims find freedoms of the West to be very seductive, which must be fought by any means - terror, war, jihad, lies, or distortions. For them to keep their stranglehold over the population, America and all free countries must always appear evil. (p253)Muslims are not confident tht Islam will survive without the sword and the harsh punishments of Sharia. That has been the fear of Muslims from the very beginning, even during Mohammed's time when he had to be a warrior to enforce Islam.....Muslim…
- America has porous physical borders allowing physical penetration, ut we also have a porous cultural border. Muslims have access to build mosques in the West, yet give us no ace's to bald churches or synagogues in the Muslim world. They finance Muslim studies and Middle East studies departments in american universities but do not allow Christian or Judaism Studies departments in any Muslim country. They freely preach Islam around the world but kidnap and kill Christian preachers on their own soil. Christian missionary work is illegal in most Muslim countries. (p 250)America has porous physical borders allowing physical penetration, ut we also have a porous cultural border. Muslims have access to build mosques in the West, yet give us no ace's to bald churches or synagogues in the Muslim world. They finance…
- Islam is not just a religion; it is a political ideology, and Muslim leadership itself has referred to its similarity with Fascism and Communism. Consider...if Communism, Nazism, or other dangerous ideologies had successfully paraded as "religion" and been granted total freedom to be preached from within the US. The scenario could have been as follows: the Soviet Union could have built thousands of Communist temples in America, imported Communist preachers who could....agitate to abolish the U.S. Constitution and impose their own set of laws. Or how about Nazi temples preaching hate from their pulpits? So how could we....allow imams to preach the destruction of their host country's government and rule of law and the imposition of Dark Ages punishment...?.....Evil ideologies cannot simply claim to be inspired by God and expect the West to consider it religion......The West needs to closely look at the building of mosques financed by Wahabi sects from Saudi Arabia.Islam is not just a religion; it is a political ideology, and Muslim leadership itself has referred to its similarity with Fascism and Communism. Consider...if Communism, Nazism, or other dangerous ideologies had successfully paraded as "religion"…
- The West has been indulging in....moral and cultural relativism. While Muslim children were brought up with great pride in their jihad, religion, culture, and conquest of the world for Islam, in some segments of Western society, especially in Europe, several generations of children were taught self-blame, guilt over Western success, and discouragement for taking pride in their country, flag, or way of life...What the West views as virtue, Islam views as an opportunity. While the West values assimilation, Islam values segregation. While the West values freedom of speech, Islam prohibits asking questions. While the West advocates pacifism, Islam calls for war. While the West respects all religions, Islam advocates killing or subjugation those who believe in other religions.The West has been indulging in....moral and cultural relativism. While Muslim children were brought up with great pride in their jihad, religion, culture, and conquest of the world for Islam, in some segments of Western society, especially in…
- [P]olitical correctness and timidity, for whatever reason, has proven to be the most powerful weapon for the advancement of Dar al-Islam's jihadist agenda in the West. However, the political correctness of the West is not doing Islam or its reformers a favor. Without the natural self-protective reaction by the West, Muslims do not get the message and continue with their jihad obligation from Allah.... Muslims need to see themselves in the mirror by hearing the West boldly expose what is being said in mosques, by unabashedly showing the scriptures and linking it to the behavior of the terrorists. The jihadists themselves are certainly unabashed and straightforward when they open the scriptures and say "THIS is why I'm doing this."[P]olitical correctness and timidity, for whatever reason, has proven to be the most powerful weapon for the advancement of Dar al-Islam's jihadist agenda in the West. However, the political correctness of the West is not doing Islam or its…
- Those who voice concerns are too often accused of being Islamophobes. A phobia is a disease characterized by unrealistic fear. But how can such a reasonable fear be unrealistic? For a free people, NOT FEARING what is in Muslim scriptures and bring taught on American soil would be madness. When the...public is fully informed about Muslim beliefs and Scriptures a healthy level of fear of Islamic sharia is only normal and actually needed for Americans to make prudent decisions. Otherwise the safety and security of...citizens is seriously threatened. p 233Those who voice concerns are too often accused of being Islamophobes. A phobia is a disease characterized by unrealistic fear. But how can such a reasonable fear be unrealistic? For a free people, NOT FEARING what is in Muslim scriptures and bring…
- Most Muslims simply believe in the Qur'an with their hearts and not their minds. The majority of Muslims do not follow Qur'an and Sharia at all, and that is why they can create their own mental picture of a peaceful illusionary version of a Qur'an that does not exist and never existed in the history of Islam. Most Muslims judge Islam by their kind, tolerant Muslim grandparents who prayed five times every day. To them, that is the Islam that must be protected by any means. But those people either do not understand or totally ignore the horrific threat to the lives of non-Muslims and notorious violation of human rights in their scriptures. the danger to non-Muslims is real, and we do not want to wait until we have civil wars in the West to realized we have a major problem on our hands. p232Most Muslims simply believe in the Qur'an with their hearts and not their minds. The majority of Muslims do not follow Qur'an and Sharia at all, and that is why they can create their own mental picture of a peaceful illusionary version of a Qur'an…
- [V]ery few Muslims will ever realize how horrific their system can be and how hurtful the violent, incendiary, and disrespectful scriptures are to others. The vast majority of Muslims do not actually act on such violent messages yet paradoxically hold them dear as Allah's commands. And that is why the majority of Muslims are silent, confused, defensive, and in denial. A sizable portion of Muslims - some estimate as high as 15 percent - are jihadists and ready to act upon the violent commands. But here is the frightening part: to many ordinary, moderate Muslims, jihadists...are the ones who are doing Allah's work. That is how the majority feel, and that is how I once felt. take it from em. I've been there. That is why the West and its media and institutions must firmly stand up and say NO to Islamic jihad. Muslims simply need that firm message to bring about more understanding to the suffering Islamic jihad causes.[V]ery few Muslims will ever realize how horrific their system can be and how hurtful the violent, incendiary, and disrespectful scriptures are to others. The vast majority of Muslims do not actually act on such violent messages yet paradoxically…
- The demand for tolerance by Muslims is a one-way street. When one Danish cartoonist offended Muslims, all hell broke loose. Muslims in the thousands went on a rampage - burning, killing, and rioting....In the eyes of Muslims, every non-Muslim person from Denmark was responsible... Muslim governments demanded an apology from the Danish government. These are the same Muslim government who call for tolerance of Muslims and have never apologized for 9/11 or taken any responsibility for Muslim worldwide terrorism. ...While Muslims are demanding understanding and compassion, some of their schools are teaching...Muslim kids that non-Muslims are unclean and setting them up for a lifetime of resentment and conflict..."The Times" of London reported that Muslim students are being taught in their schools that non-Muslims are filth. This belief also influence how Saudi Arabia treats non-Muslims, who are not allowed to set foot in their holy cities of Mecca and Medina.The demand for tolerance by Muslims is a one-way street. When one Danish cartoonist offended Muslims, all hell broke loose. Muslims in the thousands went on a rampage - burning, killing, and rioting....In the eyes of Muslims, every non-Muslim person…
- Statistics on Muslim scriptures have been brilliantly compiled by Bill Warner, the director of the Center for the Stud of Political Islam. His survey revealed that at least 75 percent of the Sunnah (life of Mohammed) is about jihad. About 67 ipercent of the Qur'an written in Mecca is about the unbelievers or politics. Of the Qur'an of Medina, 51 percent is devoted to the unbelievers. About 20 percent of Bukhar's Hadith is about jihad and politics. Among those in Bukhari, 97 percent of the jihad references are about war, and 3 percent are about the inner struggle. Religion is the smallest part of Islamic foundational texts According to Warner, even hell is political. There are 146 references to hell in the Qur'an. Only 6 percent of those in hell are there for moral failings, such as murder or theft. The other 94 percent in hell are for the intellectual sin of disagreeing with Mohammed, a political crime. Hence, Islamic hell is a political prison for those who speak against Islam.Statistics on Muslim scriptures have been brilliantly compiled by Bill Warner, the director of the Center for the Stud of Political Islam. His survey revealed that at least 75 percent of the Sunnah (life of Mohammed) is about jihad. About 67…
- Muslims are often unhappy with their Muslim countries of origin, but instead of looking within to make them better, they want to force an "ideal" Muslim State on other civilizations, especially those that are unsuspecting and peaceful. That being a commandment from Allah is mixed with their greedy desire to take over other people's accomplishments. Greed blinds their logic. They want to take over a ready-made civilization and claim it for themselves and Islam. Sharia gives them permission to do so, setting them supreme above all those they robbed. There certainly is a lot of booty and spoils of war in America; it is the ultimate prize for the Islamist mafia.Muslims are often unhappy with their Muslim countries of origin, but instead of looking within to make them better, they want to force an "ideal" Muslim State on other civilizations, especially those that are unsuspecting and peaceful. That being a…
- Bottom line, the Muslim head of state must wage and/or allow jihad against non-Muslim nations in order to facilitate Arab and Muslim imperialism. This is not a secret; it is in Muslim scriptures, as "Islamic jihad is both offensive and defensive." This principle of Sharia is clear in today's Muslim relationships with any non-Muslim countries, even with superpowers such as the United States. Arab governments have access to proselytize, build mosques, finance Islamic Studies and Middle East Studies departments on America in college campuses, but they criminalize the reverse. Non-Muslims who proselytize in Muslim countries are arrested, jailed or killed. Not one university in any Muslim county today has a Christian Studies or Judaism Studies department; only Islam is taught. Most Americans do not comprehend that this is a one-sided access relationship.Bottom line, the Muslim head of state must wage and/or allow jihad against non-Muslim nations in order to facilitate Arab and Muslim imperialism. This is not a secret; it is in Muslim scriptures, as "Islamic jihad is both offensive and…
- Every time I see the list of countries winning Nobel Prizes, I wonder "Where are the Muslims? ..." The people they hate the most, the Jews, are amply represented in all categories of innovation and talent. Is that what Islam wants - to destroy talent and the people who are contributing the most tot he world? Muslim societies have not contributed much to humanity, but have actually destroyed and sucked away the talent and innovation bit by bit from the nations they conquered. Contrary to conventional wisdom, it is not Arab talent tat came out of the Middle East, but the talent of the great civilizations conquered by Arabs and their swords. Established great civilizations and great religions....have been practically eradicated. Just look at what happened to Egypt. Muslim society has been a taker for a long time and not a giver...Every time I see the list of countries winning Nobel Prizes, I wonder "Where are the Muslims? ..." The people they hate the most, the Jews, are amply represented in all categories of innovation and talent. Is that what Islam wants - to destroy…
- Sharia also defines the main duties and responsibilities of the caliph. the following are three among many of the caliph's responsibilities: 1. To safeguard Islam in its original form, and to protect against the introduction of new things (bid'a) into Islam. 2. To defend the rights of Muslims abroad, and to see to it that Islam can spread freely in non-Muslim lands (including the use of force). 3. To organize jihad against any non-Muslim government that prevents Muslim "dawa" (proselytizers) from entering its land.Sharia also defines the main duties and responsibilities of the caliph. the following are three among many of the caliph's responsibilities: 1. To safeguard Islam in its original form, and to protect against the introduction of new things (bid'a)…
The Road to Little DribblingThe Road to Little Dribbling, BookMore Notes From A Small Island
by Bryson, BillBook - 2015 | First editionBook, 2015. First edition
hey44's rating:
Added Dec 16, 2015
Quotations
- The news pages of the paper were liberally sprinkled with articles about pub beatings - five on one page, just from this area - but everything else was about flower shows and fun runs and people shaving their heads for charity. I had never seen such a range of kindliness and violence coexisting in one locality. When I went for a second pint, I turned round and a guy was standing behind me waiting to take my place at the bar. We went through that little side-to-side dance where you keep inadvertently blocking the other person's way. I smiled helplessly, as you do, and he looked at me as if he was thinking about shoving my head through the wall. That is the problem with Scotland, I find. You never know whether the next person you meet is going to offer you his bone marrow or nut you with his forehead. (p. 365)The news pages of the paper were liberally sprinkled with articles about pub beatings - five on one page, just from this area - but everything else was about flower shows and fun runs and people shaving their heads for charity. I had never seen such…
- Everything on offer was robustly Scottish and not the least bit appealing to someone from Iowa. (I believe I can speak for my entire state on this.) The dinner options featured haggis, neeps and tatties, and the snacks included Tunnocks teacake, haggis-flavoured crisps and Mrs Tilly's Scottish Tablet, which sounded to me not at all like a food but more like something you would put in a tub of warm water and immerse sore feet in. I would imagine it makes a fizzing sound and produces streams of ticklish bubbles........It is perhaps dangerous to conclude too much about the character and intentions of a nation based on a snacks menu in a railway carriage, but I couldn't hep wonder if Scottish nationalism hasn't gone a little too far now. I mean, those poor people are denying themselves simple comforts like Kit-Kats and Cornish pasties and instead are eating neeps and foot medications on grounds of patriotism. Seems a bit unnecessary to me. p 368Everything on offer was robustly Scottish and not the least bit appealing to someone from Iowa. (I believe I can speak for my entire state on this.) The dinner options featured haggis, neeps and tatties, and the snacks included Tunnocks teacake,…
- Our steward passed and told me that a freight train had broken down further up the line and that our engine had gone to save it. I was, it seemed, now living in a Thomas the Tank Engine story. p 369
- At the village of Scourie, I passed a sign that said 'Scourie Beach and Burial Ground', which seemed an enchanting combination. ('We're burying Grannie tomorrow. Don't forget to bring your swimming costumes.') p. 371
- I went to Inverness and visited the battlefield at Culloden, where two thousand men lost their lives fighting the English, and then to Glencoe, where still more died when Campbells notoriously massacred Macdonalds, and I sombrely reflected that the history of the Highlands is five hundred years of cruelty and bloodshed followed by two hundred years of way too much bagpipe music. p 374I went to Inverness and visited the battlefield at Culloden, where two thousand men lost their lives fighting the English, and then to Glencoe, where still more died when Campbells notoriously massacred Macdonalds, and I sombrely reflected that the…
- The British, you see, are always happy when they ought to be - when the sun is shining and thy have a drink in their hands and that sort of thing - but they are also very good at remaining happy when others would falter. If, for instance, they are walking in the countryside and it start to rain, they pull on their waterproofs and accept that that's just the way it sometimes is. Living in a British climate teaches patience and stoicism. I admire that. But what really sets the British apart is that when things go very wrong and they have a legitimate reason to bitch deeply, bitterly and at length, that is when they are the happiest of all. A Briton standing in a minefield with a leg blown off who can say, "I told you this would happen," is actually a happy man. I quite like that in a people. p. 380The British, you see, are always happy when they ought to be - when the sun is shining and thy have a drink in their hands and that sort of thing - but they are also very good at remaining happy when others would falter. If, for instance, they are…
- .....this was one of the things that I really like about Britain: it is unknowable. There is so much to it.......If you decided to visit one standing stone a week, it would take you twenty years to see them all. It's like that with every historic thing in Britain. If you tried to visit all the medieval churches in England - just England - at the rate of one a week, it would take you three hundred and eight years. You would take you three hundred and eight years. You would need an additional vastly daunting lengths of time to visit all the historic cemeteries, stately homes, castles, Bronze Age hill forts, giant figures carved in hillsides and every other category of built structure. Brochs would take a decade to see. All the known archaeological sites in Britain would require no less than 11,500 years of your time. ....Britain is infinite. There isn't anywhere in the world with more to look at in a smaller space..... (p 376).....this was one of the things that I really like about Britain: it is unknowable. There is so much to it.......If you decided to visit one standing stone a week, it would take you twenty years to see them all. It's like that with every historic…
It Was Me All AlongIt Was Me All Along, BookA Memoir
by Mitchell, AndieBook - 2015 | First editionBook, 2015. First edition
hey44's rating:
Added Oct 21, 2015
Comment:
I loved this book. The pain, the passion, the struggle, and the love come shining through on every page. The author had me on her side, rooting for her, right from the get go.
The Old WaysThe Old Ways, BookA Journey on Foot
by Macfarlane, RobertBook - 2012 | 1st American edBook, 2012. 1st American ed
hey44's rating:
Added Oct 21, 2015
Comment:
Indeed, as others have commented, there is something poetic about the writing, but in the end....well, I didn't get to the end, as I got bored with the meanderings of the writing itself. Also, the title is a bit misleading, as not all the journeys are on foot. One of the "ways" is on a waterway.Indeed, as others have commented, there is something poetic about the writing, but in the end....well, I didn't get to the end, as I got bored with the meanderings of the writing itself. Also, the title is a bit misleading, as not all the journeys…
The Canterbury SistersThe Canterbury Sisters, Book
by Wright, KimBook - 2015 | First Gallery Books trade paperback editonBook, 2015. First Gallery Books trade paperback editon
hey44's rating:
Added Oct 21, 2015
Comment:
Right from the start, there was something that irritated me about this story. I found the tone rather glib and superficial, and although I did finish the book, I never did come to like or sympathize with the main character, who I thought came across as very self-centred, judgmental and narcissistic. I did like the concept of the story - the pilgrimmage, although it wasn't particularly well fleshed out, and I never got any sense of the landscape the "pilgrims" were passing through. I did not find the characters to be well developed, especially the main character, who seemed to carrying on an extended pity party, even though she managed to always have everything be about her, while the other characters not only faded into the background, but were deemed to be too flawed for our main gal. Perhaps if the story had more depth and been more believable I would have found it more palatable.
In short, it is an ok read as long as you keep your expectations low.Right from the start, there was something that irritated me about this story. I found the tone rather glib and superficial, and although I did finish the book, I never did come to like or sympathize with the main character, who I thought came across…
Doc MartinDoc Martin, DVDThe Movies
DVD - 2011 | WidescreenDVD, 2011. Widescreen
Added Oct 21, 2015
Doc MartinDoc Martin, DVDSeries 4
DVD - 2010 | WidescreenDVD, 2010. Widescreen
Added Mar 30, 2015
All the Good PilgrimsAll the Good Pilgrims, BookTales of the Camino De Santiago
by Ward, RobertBook - 2007Book, 2007
hey44's rating:
Added Mar 23, 2015
Comment:
This book seemed more like a stitching together of several Camino pilgrimages made by the author over a number of years. This patchwork approach, while overall painting a reasonably good picture of his impressions and experiences, made it a bit hard to follow at times as he jumps back and forth in time and place. The other thing that marred this memoir (which I did mostly like), was what came across as a very judgmental attitude towards certain other authors who have also written about the Camino.This book seemed more like a stitching together of several Camino pilgrimages made by the author over a number of years. This patchwork approach, while overall painting a reasonably good picture of his impressions and experiences, made it a bit hard…
Walking HomeWalking Home, BookA Poet's Journey
by Armitage, SimonBook | First American editionBook. First American edition
Added Mar 23, 2015
Beyond BelfastBeyond Belfast, BookA 560-mile Walk Across Northern Ireland on Sore Feet
by Ferguson, WillBook - 2009Book, 2009
Added Mar 23, 2015
Doc MartinDoc Martin, DVDSeries 6
DVD - 2013 | WidescreenDVD, 2013. Widescreen
Added Mar 18, 2015
Walking HomeWalking Home, BookTravels With A Troubadour on the Pennine Way
by Armitage, SimonBook - 2012Book, 2012
hey44's rating:
Added Mar 03, 2015
Comment:
The premise of this book is dubious at best. It is promoted as the travels and travails of a “modern troubadour”, travelling with no money and relying on the kindness of strangers, yet in each chapter Armitage reports on the takings of his most recent poetry reading and how he must transport this money, some in his daypack and some (the heavier coins) in the suitcase that someone else transports to his next stop. Moreover, Armitage does not seem to really care about the kind folks who support him on this journey, the ones who provide food, warm beds, hot showers, and venues for his poetry readings. It is difficult to feel sympathetic to him (despite what surely were some very real struggles), given that he seems to have company much of the way. Some is expert company and some involves people he would rather not be obliged to keep company with. Therefore he comes across as a snob and an opportunist.
In the end, I never did understand why the author set out on this expedition other than to try to sell more of his books, and he doesn’t ever seem to truly enjoy the journey or appreciate the fact that the Pennine Way, and many others paths like it, criss-cross the UK, readily accessible to walkers like him. This one is even in his own neck of the woods, yet he seems to view the trek more as obligation than opportunity. It is difficult to want to keep reading when the author seems so half-hearted in his mission, and so unappreciative of the people and places he crosses paths with. I slogged through to the end purely out of curiosity about British walking paths and a desire to finish what I started.
The write-up for this book (which gives the book far more credit than it deserves) mentions humour, and yes there are some successful attempts at droll humour, but more often the author simply comes across as trying too hard. For real, laugh out loud funny in a similar genre of book, try Bill Bryson’s “Walk in the Woods”.The premise of this book is dubious at best. It is promoted as the travels and travails of a “modern troubadour”, travelling with no money and relying on the kindness of strangers, yet in each chapter Armitage reports on the takings of his most…
Quotations
- I also have to question the extent to which the final ascent of Sleightholm Moor can legitimately be termed a ‘path’, when in all honesty it is a quagmire, half a mile of sticky toffee pudding and black treacle with just the odd tussock to leap for. The mud, when I stand in it, which is unavoidable, is reluctant to let go, and wants to rive off my boots and my trousers as well given half a chance, and I make several detours left and right looking for a land-bridge or something with grass on it, only to be blocked by either a swamp, a flooded ditch, a stream in full flow or one of those ghostly, rheumy ponds of standing water which in the film version of this escapade would be full of severed heads. Finally, having splashed off the moor on all fours, sodden and dripping and cold, I turn around and look back over the wet, shifting horizons ad the heaving summits, and at the rain-filled and swelling moors. More than anything else, it looks like the ocean. (p 170)I also have to question the extent to which the final ascent of Sleightholm Moor can legitimately be termed a ‘path’, when in all honesty it is a quagmire, half a mile of sticky toffee pudding and black treacle with just the odd tussock to leap for.…
- ....dazzling sunlight is suddenly reflecting from the rain-coated skin of the fruit, and I notice an unusual presence walking along beside me for a few minutes, someone I haven’t seen for a while: my shadow. (p 179)
The Jane Austen Book ClubThe Jane Austen Book Club, DVD
DVD - 2008 | Widescreen edDVD, 2008. Widescreen ed
hey44's rating:
Added Mar 03, 2015
Comment:
I've watched this movie twice, the second time not intentionally but only because I didn't realize I'd seen it before. It only dawned on me about a quarter of the way into the second viewing that I'd already seen it (should have quit while I was ahead), and I think that speaks to how memorable it isn't. I did not find the characters to be especially believable, and the acting was not that great either.
What would Jane have done? For starters, she would have picked a better movie to watch, or made sure this movie better reflected the depth and character of her writing.
The concept is interesting, but not well done. There are better movie options out there.I've watched this movie twice, the second time not intentionally but only because I didn't realize I'd seen it before. It only dawned on me about a quarter of the way into the second viewing that I'd already seen it (should have quit while I was…
Doc MartinDoc Martin, DVDSeries 2
DVD - 2009 | WidescreenDVD, 2009. Widescreen
Added Mar 03, 2015
30 Rock30 Rock, DVDSeason 1
DVD - 2007 | WidescreenDVD, 2007. Widescreen
Added Sep 12, 2014
Comment: