Free Republic

A passage where the controversial Hagen calls the prophet Mohammed a warlord, man of violence and abuser of women has, unsurprisingly, caused offense. "That the Islamic council is disappointed and angry and furious is as expected. I had more or less counted on this to happen when I wrote that," Hagen told newspaper Vårt Land. Norway's Islamic Council asked Norwegian Muslims to refrain from reacting to Hagen's book. Hagen's remarks come in connection with the massive trouble linked to the publication of caricatures of the prophet Mohammed. Hagen writes that the government's handling of the matter led to freedom of...

What actually happened when a Swedish newspaper published a picture of the prophet Mohammed as a dog? The Swedish Emergency Management Agency wants to find out, and is to give funding to Örebro University to look at reaction to the controversial publication. The university will also compare the reactions around the world to what happened following a similar publication by a Danish newspaper 2 years ago, but which reached much larger proportions. And the artist that first drew the pictures of Mohammed is taking his own look back at the controversy, by writing a musical about the events. Lars Vilks...

The decision by the Danish Folkeparti (People's Party) to use the highly controversial caricatures of the prophet Mohammed in their election campaign has resulted in terrorist threats. The Islamist terrorist organization the al-Aqsa Brigade threatened the DF in an interview with Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. "This party is dealing in the blood of the Danish population. It is dangerous," said al-Aqsa Brigade spokesman Khaled al-Jabbari. "We do not wish to see the Danish people as an enemy, but this could lead to actions." DF Party leader Pia Kjærsgaard told Jylland-Posten that they would not give way to terrorists under any circumstances,...

This week Denmark’s Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen called elections for November 13, and today Danish People’s party announced that they will place election posters around the country with a cartoon of the Muslim prophet Mohammed. They do not hide that they are inspired by the cartoon crisis in 2006 that put Denmark in the headlines around the world. Demonstrations and violence in the Muslim world erupted. The cartoon is drawn from a portrait of the prophet from a book about Islam by Alexander Ross published in 1683. Ross was behind the first translation of the Koran into English (1649)....

HOGANAS, Sweden (CNN) -- Swedish artist Lars Vilks... 1 of 3 Al Qaeda has put a $100,000 price on his head and offered an extra $50,000 for anyone who murders him by slitting his throat after the eccentric artist and sculptor drew a cartoon depicting the Prophet Mohammed as a dog. One Swedish Muslim woman who lives just an hour-and-a-half drive from Vilks said she hopes to make good on the al Qaeda threat and slaughter Vilks like a lamb.http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe/10/16/artist.controversy/?iref=mpstoryview

THE publication of caricatures depicting the Prophet Mohammed was the trigger for a failed attempt to bomb passenger trains in Germany, police have concluded. One of the main suspects, Youssef Mohammed el Hajdib, who was arrested in Germany on August 16, "interpreted (the cartoons) as an insult to Islam by the western world,'' Joerg Ziercke, the director of Germany's federal police, told Focus magazine in an interview to be published on Monday. He and the other main suspect in the failed plot, Jihad Hamad, who was arrested in Lebanon on August 24, were also influenced by the killing of the...

The creators of controversial cartoon series South Park have blasted bosses of Comedy Central for blanking an image of Mohammed during an episode, following threats of violence from Muslim fundamentalists. Just weeks after the TV executives enraged Matt Stone and Trey Parker by refusing to air a repeat of their controversial 2005 Scientology episode, the pair were further annoyed when an Islam-related episode was censored. Comedy Central president Doug Herzog has since admitted that TV executives may have "overreacted," but Stone and Parker are still upset by the decision to doctor their show. Parker says, "If you're saying that this...

Here are three videos that should be being played all over the air waves in America, but the MSM will never do it. The first details many "foreign fighters" (AQ terrorists) who have been disposed of by our forces. This is who we're fighting people. Next time someone claims Iraq is not the center of the war on terrorism, send them a link to this video (you'll have to cut and paste; my poor html skills do not allow me to link this URL to the Windows Media Player file): http://www.nefafoundation.org/video/foreignfighters.wmv The next video shows a February protest by Islamists...

Hey everyone. South Park was not allowed to show Muhammad in their latest episode. While I am sure some of you do not watch South Park or even Comedy Central. This is EXACTLY the kind of behavior the Islamist enemy demands from us. We must not let our media "submit" to the enemy's demands. PLEASE PLEASE write them and let them know you will NEVER turn to their channel again. We MUST not allow the Dhimmidom of our own US cable networks!! Sound Off! [url]http://www.comedycentral.com/help/questionsCC.jhtml[/url] Here is what I wrote: I am utterly disgusted at your censorship of South Park!...

NEW YORK - Banned by Comedy Central from showing an image of the Islamic prophet Muhammad, the creators of "South Park" skewered their own network for hypocrisy in the cartoon's most recent episode. The comedy — in an episode aired during Holy Week for Christians — instead featured an image of Jesus Christ defecating on President Bush and the American flag. In an elaborately constructed two-part episode of their Peabody Award-winning cartoon, "South Park" creators Matt Stone and Trey Parker intended to comment on the controversy created by a Danish newspaper's publishing of caricatures of Muhammad. Muslims consider any physical...

Borders and Waldenbooks stores will not stock the April-May issue of Free Inquiry magazine because it contains cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad that provoked deadly protests among Muslims in several countries. "For us, the safety and security of our customers and employees is a top priority, and we believe that carrying this issue could challenge that priority," Borders Group Inc. spokeswoman Beth Bingham said Wednesday. The magazine, published by the Council for Secular Humanism in suburban Amherst, includes four of the drawings that originally appeared in a Danish newspaper in September, including one depicting Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban with...

I had the good fortune, to participate in my second rally in support of Free Speech in front of the Danish Embassy, in less than a week. This one, organized by writer Christopher Hitchens, was all pro-freedom, with none of the hate-filled rhetoric that spewed forth from the mouth of New Black Panther Party leader Malik Zulu Shabazz, at last week’s Anti-Free Speech Rally. Those who arrived early today (the event was from 1-2pm) were treated with the offer of a free Danish pasty. Many of us who received one, choose to hoist these aloft, along with the signs and...

PESHAWAR: A local cleric who offered $1 million and a car for the death of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) cartoonists said on Wednesday that suicide bombers had volunteered to “kill the blasphemers”. Yousaf Qureshi, the imam, or prayer leader, at the 300-year-old Mohabat Khan mosque in Peshawar, announced the reward on Friday. “The Prophet Muhammad’s blasphemers will not live and there are mujahideen who visited me to assure that such people will not be allowed to live for their unpardonable act,” the cleric told a news conference. “Mujahedin suicide bombers have contacted us and they are ready...

Stand up for Denmark! Why are we not defending our ally? By Christopher Hitchens Posted Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2006, at 12:29 PM ET Chirstopher is looking for folks to join him at the Danish Embassy Put the case that we knew of a highly paranoid religious cult organization with a secretive leader. Now put the case that this cult, if criticized in the press, would take immediate revenge by kidnapping a child. Put the case that, if the secretive leader were also to be lampooned, two further children would be killed at random. Would the press be guilty of "self-censorship"...

The Muslim Al-Dimmah Foundation is charging that Vebjørn Selbekk, the editor of the journal that published the controversial caricatures of the prophet Mohammed in Norway, endangered Norwegian lives. "The publication of these images of Mohammed is inciting Muslims to riot and attempt to slay the blasphemers,” said Kawlid Muhumma, leader of Al-Dimmah, an organization of devout lunatics. “Police must arrest Selbekk and put him in a safe place before someone kills him. We cannot be held responsible for the consequences if he is allowed to roam free." Muhumma added that innocent Muslims in Norway now feel unsafe, although he was...

Honor Roll: BillF, BufordP, Calvin*, Christopher Lincoln, cindy-true-supporter, Dave*, Ed Hudgins, GeorgeTheOther, Iraqikurd, Jimmy Valentine’s brother, Josh*, JoyJoyfromNJ, Kevin*, kristinn, Marylander, Mellora*, Ryan*, Tolerance Sucks Rocks, Tom the Redhunter, Trey*The D.C. Chapter of Free Republic and friends took a stand for freedom in the face of Islamofascism outside the Danish embassy in Washington, D.C. yesterday.We were there to counter a protest of the Mohammed cartoons by the New Black Panther Party and other assorted extemist Muslims.We started gathering in front of the embassy, located on Whitehaven St., NW, at noon, an hour before the radical Muslims were scheduled to arrive...

The Muhammad cartoon protest took a new direction in Pakistan this week as demonstrators took to the streets in Islamabad brandishing signs that proclaimed "God Bless Hitler." Tens of thousands of people took part in the latest round of protests, which took place throughout Pakistan - with gunfire and rioting erupting in some precincts. By midweek, three people, including an 8-year-old boy, had been killed. Pakistani intelligence officials told The Associated Press that members of outlawed Islamic militant groups had joined the protests and were inciting violence to undermine the government of President Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Rioting also broke out...

Eleven people were killed and an Italian consulate was burned in Libya on Friday night during protests to denounce the publication of cartoons depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammed, sources in Libya said. There also was a "high number" of injuries, said an official with the Italian Embassy in Tripoli. The Italian consulate and surrounding area in Benghazi were evacuated after the protesters torched the building, Italian officials said. (Watch how authorities reacted when the protests turned violent -- 1:27) Another demonstration was held in Sebha, where demonstrators gathered after Friday prayers and issued a statement urging respect for religious shrines...

TO ACCOMPANY the editorial in the new issue of THE WEEKLY STANDARD, we have reproduced the page with the Mohammed cartoons from the September 30 Jyllands-Posten. Readers should be able to see what this controversy is about. More important, in light of recent instances of capitulation to the threats of radical Islamists, and in response to eloquent pleas by individuals like Walid-al-Kubaisi in Norway to publish the cartoons in order to protect freedom of expression, we wanted to do our small part to stand against intimidation by extremists.--William Kristol

Black Conservatives. Blogger extraordinaire, LaShawn Barber, has a thing or two to say about the NAACP, black leadership and the term "African American." LaShawn tells us the story of why this life-long liberal now calls herself a "right wing conservative!" Muslim Cartoon Controversy. Edina Lekovic, of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Child Security. What you need to know about protecting your children from predators both online and at home! Listen to Mike Salcido of Child Security Network. MP3 audio links to all the interviews are here -http://www.justawoman.org/blog/2006/2/13/what-youve-been-waiting-for-highlights-of-just-a-woman-radio.html