Free Republic

The "FRIENDSHIP (LAPEL) PIN" While commenting on another FR thread this past night/morning, I did a basic search for lapel pins that would show support when worn by us Americans for Denmark, and this is the most interesting result I found, the "Friendship Pin" from a U.S. company ("flagline.com")-- who also sells very well done American flags and many other interesting things. But, as to Denmark items, they offer the Danish flag on cloth, nylon and on dedicated lapel pins, too. I happen to really like this "Friendship Pin," however, and think it really makes the right message.

Iranians love Danish pastries, but when they look for the flaky dessert at the bakery they now have to ask for "Roses of the Prophet Muhammad." Bakeries across the capital were covering up their ads for Danish pastries Thursday after the confectioners' union ordered the name change in retaliation for caricatures of the Muslim prophet published in a Danish newspaper. "Given the insults by Danish newspapers against the prophet, as of now the name of Danish pastries will give way to 'Rose of Muhammad' pastries," the union said in its order. "This is a punishment for those who started misusing...

Is Google censoring the blogs? First do no evil right? Thinking and communicating thoughts is the essence of humanity. Example #1---here is a posting on JihadWatch today Egyptian editor who printed cartoons has left the country Egyptian Sandmonkey, who has done such important work during the entire cartoon rage episode, and was the first to reveal that the Egyptian paper Al Fagr printed the cartoons in October, now tells us that the editor responsible has left Egypt -- not surprising, since editors who printed the cartoons in Jordan and Algeria have been arrested. 1. Search Google with the phrase “...

Mohammad cartoon protests aren't unique to Islam By Michael Conlon 2 hours, 2 minutes ago The violence linked to cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad is not unique to Islam, experts say, and the protests reflect political and cultural passions more than the faith's core values. Looking for distinct features that would make Islam liable for the cartoon-related violence around the world does little to explain it, said the Rev. Patrick Gaffney, an anthropologist and expert on Islam at the University of Notre Dame. "There are parallel behaviors in every tradition," he said. "Buddhism has a violent strain despite its pacifism...

Controversy intrudes on Danish curlers 2/11/2006, 1:34 p.m. ET By CHARLES HUTZLER The Associated Press PINEROLO, Italy (AP) — After women curlers won Denmark's first ever Winter Olympics medal at Nagano in 1998, Danes would stop team member Dorthe Holm in the streets and interest in the sport soared. Now, as Holm and four other women try for a medal at the Turin Games, they face a grimmer public spotlight. Angry protests across the Muslim world set off by cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in a Danish publication have made them a potential target. Italian police have beefed up security...

Ann Coulter...was definitely Friday’s biggest draw at CPAC 2006. From the get-go the conservative columnist had the crowd cheering and was frequently interrupted by applause. Many of Coulter’s talking points came from recent news events -- such as “the great Danish cartoon caper” and President Bush’s Supreme Court nominees. “Muslims are the only group who kill because people call them violent,” she said of Islam’s rage over the printing of Muhammad cartoons. Speaking about the nation's highest court, Coulter not only expressed elation at Justice Samuel Alito’s confirmation, she also shared her feelings on Chief Justice John Roberts ... She...

TEHRAN -- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad marked the 27th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution by slamming the West for slandering Prophet Mohammad. Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, delivers his speech in front of tens of thousands of Iranians during a ceremony marking 27th anniversary of Iran's Islamic Revolution at the Azadi (Freedom) Sq. in Tehran, Iran, Saturday, Feb. 11th, 2006. The Iranian president on Saturday rejected Western pressure to freeze the country's nuclear program and issued a veiled threat to walk away from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi) "When we protest, they object saying they have freedom. But they...

Copenhagen, Denmark: Denmark has temporarily withdrawn its ambassador and other Danish staff from Syria because they were not getting enough protection from authorities, the Foreign Ministry said Saturday. The building housing the embassy in Damascus was burned last week by an angry mob protesting the Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) cartoons first published in a Danish newspaper. The Foreign Ministry said it has been pulling out Danish staff since then, and the ambassador left on Friday. "The de-escalation of the protection of the ambassador and his staff to an inadequate level is the reason for the departure," the ministry said in a...

February 10, 2006 Islamabad, Pakistan With the understandable outrage over the blasphemous cartoons tearing apart the Middle East, I felt I had to lend my support to my Islamic brothers and sisters. I chose my friend Scooter to accompany me on a trip to Islamabad, Pakistan, where we were to join the locals in protesting western infidels who make a mockery of the religion of peace. Since Scooter has an art degree, I put him in charge of creating our signs while I contacted a friend with connections to the protest leaders. I also tried to get hold of Peace...

Abdullah Badawi, Malaysia's prime minister, "says a huge chasm has opened between the West and Islam, fuelled by Muslim frustrations over Western foreign policy," according to the BBC, in a story about the Mohammed caricatures. The Beeb claims that Abdullah is "promoting a moderate form of Islam," but his anti-democratic actions prove otherwise. Au contraire, Mr. Abdullah, it is your seething, Muslim masses that are the cause of this "chasm." Again, the BBC: As he spoke at a conference in Kuala Lumpur, thousands protested outside at Western cartoons of Prophet Muhammad. ... "Long live Islam. Destroy Denmark. Destroy Israel. Destroy...

Mike Fowler is the publisher of Hometown Newspaper Publishing. Pages 4 and 5 of his three local papers, are causing controversy. "People want to know what all the fuss is all about,” said Fowler. Fowler decided to publish the caricatures of the prophet Mohammed that have led to demonstrations and even incited violence around the world. Fowler said he's showing them to inform his readers. "Our intent wasn't to disrespect the religious beliefs of any of our readers. It was not to titillate. It wasn't to do any of that stuff. It was basically to inform our readers knowing that...

...it is hard not to see that insidious forces have brought these drawings to the attention of the Muslim masses... this calculated offense (calculated, mind you, by the organizers of the distribution of the cartoons), it is hard not to link this blasphemy to a new planetary configuration, itself determined by three recent and major events. The diversionary tactic of a Syria which we never saw so concerned over religious matters... 'snip' The hardening of Iran's Islamic Republic, ready to make all kinds of theological concessions (including a grand historic alliance of Shiites and Sunnis, which experts have been telling...

The Danish Islamic scholar who brought cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad to the attention of Muslim leaders around the world says he was only trying to boost his campaign to get an apology from the Danish newspaper that first published them. INDEPTH: Muhammad cartoons: A timeline Danish Islamic scholar Ahmed Akkari, right, and Carsten Juste, editor in chief of the Danish daily Jyllands-Posten, which published cartoons depicting the Prophet, before a debate on Danish television, Sunday, Feb. 5. (AP Photo/POLFOTO, Carsten Snejbjerg) "I guess we took the illustrations to influential people so they could help," Ahmed Akkari told CBC News...

Danish ed.: I'd print Holocaust cartoons Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST Feb. 8, 2006 The Danish editor behind the publication of caricatures of the Prophet Mohammad that ignited deadly riots in the Muslim world said Wednesday that he was trying to coordinate with an Iranian paper soliciting cartoons on the Holocaust. "My newspaper is trying to establish a contact with the Iranian newspaper, and we would run the cartoons the same day as they publish them," Flemming Rose said Wednesday in an interview on CNN's "American Morning." The Iranian newspaper Hamshahri said Tuesday that it would hold the competition to...

MOSCOW (AP) - An aid group that provides food to tens of thousands of people in war-ravaged Chechnya suspended its operations on Tuesday after Chechen officials banned all Danish organizations because of the publication of Prophet Muhammad cartoons. The Danish Refugee Council's country director for Russia, Per Ilsaas, said the group had temporarily halted operations in the southern Russian region for security reasons but hoped it would be able to resume its work soon. "We hope we will be able to enter a dialogue to see if there is a way forward," Ilsaas told The Associated Press. Ramzan Kadyrov, a...

Danish soldiers on patrol in southern Iraq came under attack but escaped unharmed, the Danish military headquarters said. Iraqis shot at the patrol on Sunday as the Danish soldiers gave first aid to a group of children injured in a traffic accident south of Al-Qurnah, it said. "They were shot at as they tried to help the children," Colonel Henrik Sommer said. The soldiers shot back, withdrew from the area and took several of the children to hospital, he said. Around 530 Danish soldiers are stationed in Iraq as part of a multinational force there, operating under British command in...

Some of my leftist friends have one thing in common with the Muslims now sacking foreign embassies: a fundamental lack of understanding as to how democracy works, and how precious it is. The leftists have grown up knowing nothing but freedom and opulence, and take things like the Bill of Rights, Federalist Papers, and Constitution for granted (if they have even read these hallowed documents). The Muslim radicals (Islamists) are throwing lit jugs full of gasoline at Danish embassies because they have known nothing except Big Brother (One Newspaper, One Nation, One Religion, One World), and do not even know...

Various sources have indicated that the cartoons published in the Danish papers are not the same ones that are being used to incite the mobs. The various sources say that the cartoons being circulated were deliberately altered by a radical Danish Muslim imam to make them more offensive. I've seen the cartoons as originally published but none of the news sources have shown pictures of the altered ones being circulated to inflame the mobs. Are there any side by side comparisons? If true it would seem to me to be important for the news media to show what the Danish...

New York - At the National Black Fine Art Show, a painting by Harlem artist "Tafa" depicts an upside down "Christ-like" figure with a face that resembles Osama bin Laden. No Christians have threatened the artist, or bombed the building where it is displayed, or attacked the city government. Throughout the Middle East, state-controlled newspapers regularly depict Jews and Israeli leaders in despicable, stereotypical and anti-Semitic caricatures. These cartoons show Jews with hooked noses; Stars of David morphing into swastikas; Palestinian and Arab blood drips from Jewish hands and Jews are blamed for creating AIDS. Neither those newspapers, nor Arab...

In 1945, the anti-Nazi German pastor Martin Niemoller wrote the following: "First they came for the Communists, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn't speak up, because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me." This famous statement can be updated for Europeans: First they came for Israel, and we didn't speak up because we weren't Jews....