Free Republic

LONDON: Salman Rushdie, whose Satanic Verses first revealed and exemplified to a shocked world the massed rage of a globally-vocal, possibly violent, fearsomely-networked, resurgent Islamist extremism, has led the West's call for an Islamic reformation that brings the planet's youngest, fastest-growing religion into the 21st century. Rushdie's new novel set in Kashmir details the transformation of a young Muslim boy from shy adolescent to Islamist terrorist under the tutelage of a bearded radical mullah. He launched his appeal for a "move beyond tradition...(for) the Koran to be seen as a historical document...not supernaturally above (history)" even as his book, 'Shalimar...

On its official Web site, Northwestern offers an impressive biography of Law Prof. Bernardine Dohrn, detailing her work in children's law, her educational background, her academic appointments and other notable accomplishments. The university's profile curiously omits one of her most significant leadership positions: She was a principal organizer of the Weathermen, a radical cabal, during the late 60s and early 70s. Among its many criminal exploits, the group claimed responsibility for no fewer than 12 bombings between 1970 and 1974, and Dohrn spent a decade hiding from federal authorities to avoid prosecution for assaulting a police officer. A basic Internet...

Little proof to the contrary that we are indeed in a very long, bleak tunnel. Is there any light? Then come those times when you read about a 16-year-old girl slashing the throat of a 75-year-old woman for no apparent reason, a woman who was merely walking with her husband near a Berkeley public garden and it's right next to the one about the 16-year-old kid smiling and waving and donning a bulletproof vest before shooting nine people and himself to death in a remote, poverty-stricken region of Minnesota and you can feel the numbness like a wave.