Builders have been accused of incompetence after “mistakenly” adding nearly 5ft to the height of a mosque. Furious neighbours in Coppice have hit out at planning rules which have left them living in the shadow of a “monstrous” building, peppered with windows which will rob them of their privacy. One resident said the decision will force her to put her home of 20 years up for sale. She said: “I love my house, but it’s going to be horrendous.”
Petraeus’s condemnation of Burn a Koran Day is ‘recipe for surrender’, say Islamophobes
Matt Gertz examines the response by Pamela Geller, Robert Spencer and Frank Gaffney to General Petraeus’s statement that Texas pastor Terry Jones’ plan to burn copies of the Qur’an will undermine efforts to combat terrorism and lead to a violent backlash against US troops.
Dudley Muslim Association to go ahead with Hall Street development after failing to find alternative site
Muslim leaders are going ahead with a controversial multi-million pound mosque in Dudley town centre after abandoning hopes an alternative site will be found.
The Dudley Muslim Association says it has “no choice” but to prepare a full planning application for a mosque and community centre on land in Hall Street. Chairman Khurshid Ahmed said members could not wait any longer. They have decided to pursue the Hall Street proposal, which is expected to cost up to £1 2million and for which outline planning permission has already been secured. Detailed plans must be in by July next year.
The news is a hammer blow to Dudley Council. It has been involved in months of delicate negotiations with the DMA over Hall Street, which has attracted huge protests. The authority claimed in May the DMA had agreed to ditch the scheme in favour of a scaled down proposal in Castle Hill. The Castle Hill proposal was later ruled out sparking a fresh search for new sites.
Mr Ahmed said today: “We have no choice but to go ahead and make a full planning application for Hall Street. I’m very disappointed the council have not been able to come up with a viable alternative which would have resolved the issue.”
Express & Star, 7 September 2010
And note the comments that follow the report. There are a few individuals arguing in defence of the development, but they are outnumbered by the usual crowd of bigots:
“so the wishes of the Dudley majority christian population go ignored”
“problem is if you disagree with the muslim faith your a racist, just remember voters who to vote for next time eh”
“Got to think of the future majority population and their vote. IT WILL BE BUILT”
“no need for anymore mosques there are far too many in this country as it is”
“As their number increase,then so does the need to build more mosques”
“If this mosque is built it will be like the new mecca and thousands of muslims will move into Dudley and surrounding areas”
“If this goes ahead then it shows Councils and the Government are not for the indignous population. Why should one faith cause so much trouble for the majority? Why should their demands be continually met, yet those of others ignored. And why is one minority so demanding and intent in destroying their ‘host’ homeland?”
“NO MORE MOSQUES !!!!!”
“Im sorry but this is just wrong, what has a muslim mosque and community centre got to do with the black country roots……… Nothing!!!!”
“NO ! NO ! NO ! NO ! No more mosques – Full stop”
“The best site would be in Mecca!”
Netherlands: Wilders wants to restart coalition talks
Anti-Islam party leader Geert Wilders wants to resume talks on forming a right-wing coalition with the VVD Liberals and Christian Democrats, Nos tv reports on Tuesday.
Wilders pulled out of the talks after four weeks on Friday, saying he no longer had confidence in the CDA. But now Ab Klink, the CDA’s biggest critic of the right-wing alliance, has stepped down as an MP, Wilders says he would like to start talking again.
In an initial reaction, VVD leader Mark Rutte said he would be pleased to resume talks on a right-wing government. And CDA leader Maxime Verhagen also wants to reopen the negotiations. My position is the same as it was on Friday, Verhagen said. ‘The CDA wants to continue.’
Jamie Glazov loves Muslims
Over at Pajamas Media, in a piece entitled “The disastrous consequences of Muslim inbreeding”, FrontPage Magazine editor Jamie Glazov indignantly rejects accusations of Islamophobia. The subject of the article, he asserts, “is not evidence, as we are often inanely accused of by the left, that we harbor a hatred of Muslims –but very much the opposite. We are operating out of a pro-Muslim disposition and a love of the Muslim people”.
Stockholm: student wearing niqab begins teacher training – Equality Ombudsman still to rule on earlier case
A student wearing the niqab has begun attending a teacher training course in Stockholm, more than one and a half years after another woman reported a school that would not allow her to wear the headscarf in class.
Employers and principals are still waiting for a guiding principle about the niqab in classrooms from the Equality Ombudsman (DO) following the woman’s notification last year, Dagens Nyheter (DN) reported on Monday.
The new student is studying at Stockholm University. “Almost no municipality or school that I know of allows the niqab,” Stockholm University lawyer and equality coordinator Christian Edling told the newspaper. “It would be easier if we had guidance.”
The DO explained that there is the delay in the case because it is not a priority and that it requires careful treatment due to the complexities involved.
“I think it is deplorable that there such a long time has passed since this girl notified the city of Stockholm and nothing has happened,” city school commissioner Lotta Edholm told DN.
Edholm has previously reported the DO to the parliamentary ombudsman for the slow process. The DO did not offer a timeframe on when it can present a decision on new guidelines.
“In general terms, I can say that one should try to find a pragmatic solution, but the right to education is deeply rooted in law,” George Svéd, director of DO’s education division, told DN.
Lawyer who represented Rifqa Bary’s parents sues Pamela Geller
A former lawyer for the Muslim parents of a girl who ran away from home after converting to Christianity says in a $10 million federal lawsuit that a blogger and a former attorney for the girl defamed him by alleging he has contacts with terrorists and criminals.
Attorney Omar Tarazi is seeking $10 million in a lawsuit filed Friday in U.S. District Court in Columbus to compensate him for damage he alleges was done to his reputation.
FPÖ leader backs Sarrazin, says he should be offered political asylum in Austria
Freedom Party (FPÖ) leader Heinz-Christian Strache has vehemently defended controversial Deutsche Bundesbank executive board member Thilo Sarrazin.
The German caused global outcry with various statements regarding immigration and the intelligence quotient of ethnic groups made in his new book “Deutschland schafft sich ab” (Germany Abolishes Itself) which was published last week.
The German Social Democrats (SPD) are now thinking of expelling Sarrazin over his claims, while most political movements in his home country have already strongly disassociated themselves from his points of view.
Now Strache said Sarrazin would deserve asylum in Austria. The right-winger announced today (Tues): “In contrast to many others who apply for it, he would have deserved political asylum.”
New Republic editor says First Amendment doesn’t apply to Muslims
Muslims and Arabs do not not act in America as they do in the increasingly Islamicized but non-practicing Christian and democratic sovereignties of Europe. Still, I wouldn’t close my eyes or our eyes to the increasing number of both naturalized and native-born citizens who enlist in the Islamic terror networks of our time, here and abroad.
Liberal political theory has virtually ignored the philosophical, legal and ethical questions posed by the threatening demographics of Europe. Is not western society, imperfect as it may be but immensely more liberal than the domains of Islam, obliged to defend its own…and their future. Immigration is key to this discussion, and it’s the one issue that no one wants to discuss.
I want to believe that Muslims are traumatized by the unrelieved murders in Islamic lands…. This intense epidemic of slaughter has been going on for nearly a decade and a half…without protest, without anything. And it has been going for decades and centuries before that.
Why do not Muslims raise their voices against these at once planned and random killings all over the Islamic world? This world went into hysteria some months ago when the Mossad took out the Hamas head of its own Murder Inc.
But, frankly, Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims. And among those Muslims led by the Imam Rauf there is hardly one who has raised a fuss about the routine and random bloodshed that defines their brotherhood. So, yes, I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse.
Martin Peretz in the New Republic, 4 September 2010
Right-wing evangelist promises to establish ‘9/11 Christian Center’ to counter ‘the lies of Islam’
An Internet evangelist from Florida has begun holding services near ground zero to preach against Islam as debate continues over plans for a nearby Muslim community center.
Bill Keller has gained a following through his Liveprayer.comwebsite, and has promised to establish a “9/11 Christian Center” to counter what he referred to Sunday as “the lies of Islam.”
He began preaching Sunday at the New York Marriott Downtown Hotel, his temporary headquarters. His center is to open by Jan. 1.
Associated Press, 6 September 2010
See also New York Times, 5 September 2010