October 17, 2006

Did you know that online gambling just became criminalized? 

Veiled (No Pun Intended) Threats from the British Islamic Community

There are fascinating developments in England in the wake of Jack Straw's laudable request for Islamic women to stop wearing the veil that separates Muslims from the rest of society. The message is getting to some in the British Islamic community that they must assimilate or leave:

Senior MPs and peers signalled their alarm at the furore triggered 10 days ago by Jack Straw's call for women to reconsider wearing face veils. They said the Muslim community felt under siege following a succession of recent headlines generated by the Government.

...The Labour peer Baroness Uddin pleaded with the Government to work to help women lead the fight against extremism. She said: "We have attacked those who would be our greatest allies in meeting the current challenges of terrorism and radicalisation." She warned that the row over veils had caused "havoc" in the Muslim community and created "a feeling of vulnerability and demonisation of Muslim women".

Lord Ahmed, another Labour peer, said members of the Muslim community were considering leaving Britain because of the row. "People are asking: 'What is our future here, do you think we should be taking our money and going somewhere else because this country has so much Islamophobia?'"

One Islamic response was to issue a veiled (no pun intended) threat:

But Khalid Mahmood, MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, warned: "There's been a huge hype over a small number of people and the only thing this has led to is Muslim-bashing. The only people this will benefit are the far-right BNP. It will also encourage extremists from the Muslim community who will say: 'We told you so."'

This is the response we see so often from Islamic leaders - 'You are saying you don't want our terrorists to attack you? You'd better not, because that will only encourage our terrorists to attack you even more.' Notice that he's threatening physical attacks ( "it will also encourage extremists from the Muslim community" ) in response to a use of free speech. Here again we see an Islamist using a threat of physical violence to restrict Western free speech. This is the message of the dictator and the oppressor. It's got no place in a free Western society.

Also notable is the cumulative effect of a series of statements from those who defend the free world:

The Labour MP John Denham, chairman of the Commons Home Affairs Select Committee, warned: "I'm worried there has been a series of pronouncements by government ministers, each one of which is individually unexceptional, but put them together it does look like a barrage of general criticism."

This is how we, who insist on protecting our free Western society and culture, gain power from standing together. We all seek to make reasonable statements, and the cumulative effect is very powerful.

Part 4 of Olah Chadasha's moving series of videos on the Israel-Hezbollah war is up on YouTube.

Curious about the birth of the iPod?

Fox News is Now One of the Top National Cable Networks

From Variety:

The Fox News Channel has muscled into the top tier of cable carriage. But it hasn't scored quite as much money as it first sought.

Channel will more than triple its monthly fee in a new carriage deal inked with Cablevision, the nation's sixth largest cable operator.

Deal, reached a week after the previous agreement expired, pays News Corp. an average of just over 75¢ per subscriber per month over the course of multiple years. That's less than the $1 per sub the channel had wanted but nonetheless vaults FNC into the ranks of the five most-expensive national cable nets. (That roster also includes ESPN, TNT, Disney Channel and USA Network.)

New deal between Cablevision and Fox News sets a template for talks with other major cable operators, such as Cox Communications, Time Warner Cable and Comcast. FNC's high fee also may make things tougher for CNN and MSNBC when they come to the table to reup with cable and satellite operators, who already feel they're getting squeezed by the news nets. CNN currently gets about 44¢ per subscriber, MSNBC 15¢.

Cablevision was the first cabler to carry Fox News Channel back in 1996, when News Corp. paid millions to secure carriage for its fledgling news net and accepted 10-year deals that paid the web 25¢ per subscriber per month.

That was long before Fox News blew past CNN in the ratings and became a cultural phenomenon behind its "Fair and Balanced" slogan, big personalities like Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity and previously unknown anchors like Shepard Smith.

Other MSM outlets may want to take note: standing up for America equals more viewers and more success.