http://wizbangblog.com/content/2008/08/20/hey-whats-that-pig-doing-up-there.php

And before anyone complains, the “pig” is a reference to flying pigs — a metaphor for us agreeing.

J.

I’ll say that if the Somalians refused to buy anything out of the machine because something they didn’t want contained animal shortening was also in the machine, then they’re overdoing it a bit.

“Kill their people”
“Topple their governments”
“Christianize their people”

Add on:

“Smear their prophets”
“Disgrace the image of Mohammed”
“Treat Muslim women as wannabe Paris Hilton whores”

If the Muslims don’t have thick-skins, they are not moderate Muslims, so let’s kill them because they are Anti-American terrorists. If there are any Muslims left let’s win their hearts and minds and give them complimentary Britney concert tickets.

That being said, anyone who fights to remove pork products from a vending machine is a friend of mine. Nothing good can come of vended pork products.

Who the fuck would buy pork products out of a vending machine? Who would PUT pork products in a vending machine?

This is what I was saying, J. Get the chip off your shoulder.

I would not dip the ham sandwich in the water, just for the record. And if I somehow managed to drop this particular sandwich, then I wouldn’t eat it either.

But it seems that we do agree on this general issue, ham sandwich aside. But I think that any sort of violence, rioting, threats, and so forth are completely out of line, even for “books in the toilet.” Even “outrage” is a bit much in my opinion. It’s irrational and unjustifiable to reasonable people. And yes, I admit, I am very skeptical of muslims, particularly in situations of mass immigration, being able to assimilate into western societies. Europe in particular is a freaking powderkeg. Don’t know if you’ve ever spent any time in the UK or parts of France, but there are literally what the locals call “no go zones” now, and they’re heavily populated with angry, ridiculously devout muslims with little or no desire to assimilate, many of them living off government tax dollars. Why any society would want that demographic in their society is beyond me. I don’t see the same problem here in the US though, well, at least not to the degree that some European nations will be dealing with this problem in the future. And mark my word, it will be a problem. History repeats itself. Especially when history is dealing with religion.

…..waiting for islamophopic/racist accusation in 9…8…7…6…5…

“Teaching the test” has been one of the most damaging education principles we’ve seen in recent years–the idea that we only teach things that will be on the test instead of also encouraging interest in things you won’t be tested on at all. I had a handful of history teachers who wouldn’t just talk about the Civil War in terms of battles, but would also tell us the otherwise trivial details of Stonewall Jackson’s death (shot accidentally by his own men, dead of pneumonia complications days later).

In principle I couldn’t agree more, and there are some really dedicated young teachers out there bringing a lot more of this stuff in, but at some point they unfortunately run up against a practicality issue, and run out of hours in the day.

The strangest thing about this to me is that the same people who’d tend to disagree with you are those who’d unequivocally tell you that the United States is the world’s ‘best’ country in every way. My standard response has always been A) Why do you feel the need to be “better” than others? and B) Other than GDP, “best” how?

(a) You’re supposed to wash your own feet in the station. There’s nobody there who does it for you. Eating a ham sandwich in that station is just being silly, and if you tried to do both, your sandwich will get all soggy.

(b) If you think that Muslims en masse are looking to vote for the candidate who promises to remove pork products from the vending machines, you either have an overly optimistic view of politicians or an overly pessimistic view of Muslims.

(c) I agree with OW as well, although “books in the toilet” is an awfully convenient generalization of what happened there. Christians and Jews would have every right to feel just as outraged if their holy books were dumped in a toilet.

(d) I do have a problem with these things, but then I have a problem with anybody of any religion refusing to do the jobs they are paid for because of their faith. They shouldn’t apply for those jobs. I would say the same thing to the pharmacists who won’t distribute birth control or morning-after pills.

I don’t think a public school should proselytize, but I think it is crucial that children learn as much as they can about other cultures’ religious tenets. I think they should learn other languages, I think they should learn the mythology of the Apache. I think that children should be taught the full and accurate political platforms of both Barack Obama and John McCain. I think children should be taught everything we can possibly teach them in the name of education, and that the most important thing we can teach them is to be curious, so they can decide to learn on their own what we don’t have the time or the funding to teach them.

By the by, j mccann, I was raised in a Muslim household. I’ve had these discussions before with people who actually know what they’re talking about when they bring these issues to the table. Even when we disagree, I’ve never found any of them to half as off-the-handle and bitchy as you have been here on OW’s blog. Grow up, already.

a) I would eat a ham sandwich anytime, especially while having a nice foot wash.

b) I think you see my point, you just choose to pretend like it’s not an issue to have tax dollars go to a foot wasing basin requested by muslims for religious practices. If they can have their little toys, can everyone? I want consistency. Nothing more, nothing less. Seems that you’re paralyzed on this issue because you must pander to this demographic for votes. As someone that has had the pleasure of working with several somalians that forced the company to have pork products removed from ALL the vending machines because it “offended their religious sensitivites,” I’ve seen how groups of people will push the envelope with things like this. But if that’s what you want, whatever I guess. Anything for votes.

c) OW is right. Islam right now is “King of the Crybabies” when it comes to religious whining. When cartoons, movies, teddy bears, and books in the toilet cause riots and death, that puts you at the top of the list. Congrats to Islam.

d) I’m wondering if you have a problem with cabbies refusing rides to people because they are transporting wine, have guide dogs, etc, because of their religious beliefs too? What about schools using tax dollars to teach religious doctrine in the name of multiculturalism? How do you feel about these things? It is happening in some places. (check out minneapolis/st. paul area)

Just wondering.

So Parthenon, you should look into the whole story, because, sadly, you’re probably 180 degrees off target.

Random House got their perception regarding this book from a UT Austin Professor, Denise Spellberg.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jewel_of_Medina

If you google it up, this is a good place to start:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121797979078815073.html
You Still Can’t Write About Muhammad By ASRA Q. NOMANI

Ms. Nomani is a Muslim journalist with some very interesting things to say.

Sadly, Parthenon, and tragically too, over the past decade there have been several/many former Muslims who have escaped death threats and have come to the US and who were first approached by conservatives and not us liberals. So right now, we are in this ugly situation where conservatives (often at AEI) are the ones supporting free speech, and a discussion of religion and religious tolerance and pressure, and WORSE, we get from time to time various liberal figures or bloggers name calling and trying to delegitimize these various former Muslims, and actually calling for limits on free speech.

A good person to read on these issues is the Apostate Blog
http://apostate.wordpress.com/about/ She is a 25 year old former Muslim, raised in Saudi Arabia, living in Northern California. On most issues she is a radical feminist, and though radical feminism and I don’t get along, it’s understandable considering her background. But she also blogs about and supports these horrible rightwing former Muslims, like Ayaan Hirsi Ali and worse.

So it’s probably easier to just think that Random House was listening to LGF than to spend time exploring this. Because if you walk this path, you may discover some really horrible things: that the conservative AEI may be on the side of good here, that various liberals are not, that there is in fact a real thing of political correctness and pc police, **that there are people who associate with David Horowitz that aren’t entire screwed up**, ***that Horowitz himself may not be entirely screwed up***

(Related: there’s a real schism in feminism over these issues, with many feminists declaring that wearing of hijab, niquab, burka are basically feminist acts, and many many feminists comparing some bizarre religious misogyny actually on a par or better than what women have to face in Western Society. An okay place to read about that is at Salon’s Broadsheet which is crazy feminist, but not as crazy feminist as some, and in the comments to some utterly stupid posts there are a variety of people who comment, sometimes relatively insightfully.)

They made a request for something that made their workday easier, and the only reason you’re up in arms about it is because it’s a bunch of those Muslims you don’t care for. Did you also protest when the left began pandering to the handicapped by giving them special parking spaces and access ramps?

And why on Earth would somebody want to stand in a foot-washing basin while eating a ham sandwich?

If you don’t think it’s an “islamic thing,” in this instance anyways, go in there, dip your dirty feet in one of them and eat a ham sandwich at the same time. I guarantee you’ll see how “secular” these basins are. This is another example of the ACLU and their horrible inconsistency…..and yet another example of spineless pandering by left-wingers such as yourself.

Gotta get those “non-white-red-staters” to vote democrat! Here guys, here’s a foot washing basin for your prayers!

Pathetic. And your intellectual dishonesty — even more pathetic.

mccann, I’m sure you already know this, because my guess is that you’ve been told your entire life. But I just thought that I would remind you: You’re an idiot.

Hell, I’d use it, and I’m Jewish. I like my feet clean.