Useful Idiot Watch

Dumber than dirt:

Prince Charles to rescue Islam, to  “combat increased levels of ignorance and hostility…”

“Defender of Faiths..”

Islam, prisons, the Prince of Wales: ‘Divine Harmony’

The Times/thanks to Mullah

This YouTube video was recorded after a conference at the Sheldonian organised by Oxford’s Islamic Society.

Tariq Ramadan was one of the speakers. We reported this here, and also carried a subsequent story about women ‘imamahs’, based on a report on the top 100 mosques due out soon from Faith Matters.

And as Sky reports, a new campaign has been launched toimprove the image of Islam after a YouGov poll showed overwhelmingly negative stereotypes are still dominant in Britain.

Read my own report at The Times and the accompanying commentary.

According to Dame Ann Owers report today on the dangers of radicalisation among Muslims in prisons,  covered in The Timesand also covered on the BBC’s Today programme,11 per cent of the prison population is Muslim and even if inmates are converting to enjoy perks, that alone cannot account for the disproportionate number of Muslims in prison. Just 3 per cent of the general population is Muslim.

The problems go deeper. A YouGov survey of 2,152 UK adults carried out last month showed 58 per cent of people associate Islam with extremism and 50 per cent associate the world religion with terrorism. The poll also found that 69 per cent believe Islam encourages the repression of women.

The Prince of Wales is among those who have been trying to help for years. He is due to speak at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies on Islam and the environment tomorrow, if his chest infection allows. Last time he spoke at the centre, this is what he said:

‘One area on which I have been focusing, with Farhan [Nizami]’s great assistance, is the teaching of the Scriptures on Mankind’s stewardship of the natural environment. I was delighted with the positive and practical outcomes of the recent Ditchley conference on ‘Islam and the Environment’ that discussed ways of raising awareness of traditional Muslim concepts and practices and considered how these can be applied in the protection of our natural environment.

‘Respect for the environment and conservation of resources are emphasized throughout the Qur’an and the Sunnah and are, of course, connected with such theological doctrines as the oneness of the Creator; the inherent worth and interdependence of all created beings; human stewardship, and man’s accountability for his actions. Like other sacred texts, the Qur’an offers some profound and perceptive understanding of human and economic development: concepts that do not calculate well-being in merely financial terms, credit crunch or not!

‘One of the conclusions of the conference was to encourage universities and other institutions to conduct research into traditional conservation practices, resource management systems and technologies in the Islamic world, such as the hima (protected areas), waqf (charitable endowment), falaj, qanat, and other rainwater harvesting methods and that there should be collaboration, where necessary, in building the capacities of local communities and other stakeholders to strengthen, improve and, where necessary restore and revive such practices within the context of the immense challenges the world now faces.

‘And one of the other challenges we face, of course, is the process of integration, which in many ways, is a dynamic one, evolving with each successive generation. To be successful – to deliver a truly harmonious society in which everyone’s talent can be recognized and developed on its own merits – we have to find the right ways to derive strength and unity from our diversity. As inhabitants of this country, we all have a role to play in shaping our society on the basis of one fundamental principle and that is understanding; understanding based upon what the three great Abrahamic faiths share in common, rather than an obsession with the differences between them. The future surely lies in re-discovering the universal truths that dwell at the heart of these religions – truths that speak directly to our hearts and transcend the sometimes narrow and literalist interpretations of divine revelation that have so disastrously and needlessly created great chasms between us. All I have ever wanted to do is build bridges that can span these chasms and unite us with the patterns Divine Harmony in our souls and within the world soul.’

Yesterday I spoke to Sarah Joseph, editor of the Muslim lifestyle magazine Emel and an ambassador for the foundation behind the Muslim poster campaign. She admitted: ‘The YouGov survey is quite worrying. If you compare it with the 2002 survey it seems to show increased levls of ignorance and hostility. Obviously a lot has happened. The 7/7 bombers came to the streets of London. It is increasingly worrying that we cannot seem to turn it around in terms of the public’s opinion about the faith or about ordinary Muslims. There is a very skewed level of engagement with Islam.’

She said Muslims had grown stronger. They no longer had the choice of hiding below the radar. ‘We have to be answerable. Muslims have this craving for respect. Muslims need to be confident. With confidence, they can contribute to the common good. This campaign is a short-term fix. We need long-term initiatives too. But this will be well-received by Muslims who will feel something positive is being done.’

Shaykh Ibrahim Mogra, assistant general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain, which is electing its new general secretary this weekend, was representative of the relief felt by so many Muslims that at last a new positive campaign is under way. For credibility within the community, it is particularly significant that there is no government funding or involvement of any kind. Shaykh Mogra said: ‘Any exercise that helps to create a better understanding and better knowledge of Islam and Muslims is to be welcomed. Many of the difficulties we face stem from people not knowing what mainstream Muslims really believe. This is a step in the right direction. We need more of this.’

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What do you get when you allow the dumbest females in America to influence public opinion?

You get  a TV show called THE VIEW with Poopie Whoopi

Thanks to Snapshots

Not everyone found Helen Thomas’ remark that Israelis “should get the hell out of Palestine” and “go home” — which she then identified as “Poland, Germany, America and everywhere else” ignorant or anti-Semitic.

Sympathy for the 89-year-old Thomas, not to mention celebrity ignorance of Jewish history and anti-Semitic themes turned up on the June 7 broadcast of ABC-TV’s weekday morning gabfest, “The View.” Thomas, the long-time “dean” of White House correspondents, already had apologized and then, as criticism grew, resigned as Hearst Newspapers’ Washington-based opinion columnist. Her anti-Zionist verbal grenade, videotaped by Rabbi David Nesenoff (RabbiLive.com), lead Nine Speakers, Inc., to drop her from its speakers bureau and literary agency..

“The View” regular Joy Behar said Thomas’ “incredible lack of understanding of history is just appalling to me. That she would tell Jews to go back to Germany and Poland, Auschwitz, and Dachau. It’s unbelievable she would say something like that.”

Whoopi Goldberg, another show regular said:

Let me ask you this. Because for many, many, many years, there were not Jews in Israel. Okay?

Statement or question, Goldberg’s premise was wrong. Jews, and only Jews, have maintained an unbroken presence in Eretz Yisrael (the land of Israel), for more than three millennia. And despite repeated conquests and expulsions, Jews also returned from foreign exile in small numbers beginning more than 500 years ago, then in larger groups starting around 1880.

After Behar replies only with “yeah,” Goldberg ventures some mistaken, generalized diplomatic history, empathy for poor Helen Thomas kicks in.

“It’s with the way she put it. I think if she had put it maybe a diplomatic way ….” Behar suggests.

“The View’s” other panelists don’t ask what a more diplomatic way to declare “Jews back to the Third Reich” might be. “Peace activists” onboard the “Free Gaza flotilla” gave it try, reportedly taunting Israeli commandos with “back to Auschwitz.” In any case, “The View” team, including Goldberg, end by discussing Thomas’ resignation as an example of suppressed free speech.

Nearly half a century ago Federal Communications Commission Director Newton Minow, declared television a “vast wasteland.” Some things, new technologies notwithstanding, never change.

Well, people always say, “Go back to Africa.”

All of this is no surprise, as Goldberg is a Marxist, who said Roman Polanski’s sexual assault on a 13-year-old girl he drugged “wasn’t rape rape,” and doesn’t believe we actually landed on the Moon.

In case you’re wondering, the other ditzes on “The View” didn’t do much of a response to Goldberg/Johnson’s BS.  Vacant faux-conservative Elisabeth Hasselbeck said nothing.  Joy Behar agreed with Goldberg/Johnson’s false claim that Jews didn’t live in Israel “for many years” and said that Helen Thomas “could have said it in a nicer way.”

Hmmm . . . what’s a nicer way of saying, “Jews get out!”?  I wonder if Behar, who is Italian, would like it if I said there’s a nicer way of saying, “Go back to Sicily.”

Bernie Goldberg Says Helen Thomas ‘Is Taking the Advice That She Gave the Israelis, She’s Getting the Hell Out and Going Home’

Goldberg said he doesn’t like seeing people lose their job from controversial statements, but he added that he “won’t lose any sleep over this one.” Freedomslighthouse