Vi bringer som bekendt jævnligt poster om f. eks. musik der optager Snaphanens redaktion. Små oaser af transcendens og ro i en verden der er blevet vanvittig. For nogle af os kan store, meget store, fænomener i universet omkring os spille nøjagtig samme rolle. Tanken flyver og der indfinder sig en ro i visheden om at der findes et andet perspektiv deroppe og derude. Har man det på denne måde kan man godt betegne dette billede som visuel musik for sjælen. Udsnittet forneden viser således det første billede af en planet, eller protoplanet, uden for vores solsystem. Én ting er at kunne konstatere disse planeter ved at måle variationer i deres stjernes lys, og dette er i sig selv en viden der skaber transcendens. En anden er faktisk at kunne se objektet, selv om det som her kun består af ganske få pixels. Vi taler om et spring af kopernikanske dimensioner, og det er for nogle af os en dybt tilfredsstillende oplevelse (LFPC). Hubble Directly Observes a Planet Orbiting Another Star

Det er klart at når lige netop homoseksuelles rettigheder er så magtpåliggende at deres tilstedeværelse skal flettes ind i matematikundervisningen og andre irrelevante steder, så skaber man en meget lav tærskel for diskrimination og nogle forventninger helt ud over det rimelige. Mere nidkære og temperamentsfulde individer vil i virkelighedens verden opleve dette som legitimering af deres indre rødgardist. Andre, mere svage gruppers velbefindende ligger ikke det rettighedsfikserede Storbritannien så meget på sinde. Det skønnes således at 667 ældre briter i perioden 2005 til 2009 er døde som følge af dehydrering og tørst (LFPC).

One week ago, I ­suggested on this page that some gay people were in danger of turning into the new McCarthyites by demonising and attempting to silence all who disagreed with the gay rights agenda. […]

For during the past seven days, I have been ­subjected to an ­extraordinarily vicious outpouring of hate and incitement to violence, via email, the internet and in the mainstream media, and much worse besides.

In my article, I expressed concern that attempting to bar a Christian GP from the government’s advisory council on drugs because of his views on homosexuality, ­bombarding the school curriculum with irrelevant gay references, and prosecuting Christian hoteliers for refusing to ­accommodate gay men in the same bedroom were ­examples of a frightening intolerance.

The response to this warning against an attempt by the gay lobby to silence dissent? An eruption of tweets on Twitter suggesting that I should be killed. Yes, really.

Apologies if the hideous and obscene ­language shocks some readers, but examples of such tweets included: ‘Someone just kill Melanie Phillips please’; ‘your homo­phobic rant equals that which comes out of a dog’s rectum. Kill yourself you ****’; and ‘throw her in the Thames’.

And emails to me included such epithets as ‘vile, poisonous, horrible old woman’, and ‘people like you should be silenced as you insight (sic) bigotry and fear. Go and suck a tail pipe, get cancer, GET RAN OVER BY A TRAIN. I hope your ******* house burns down’. […] Melanie Phillips: The calls for me to be killed this week prove the bedrock values of our society are in grave danger

Da’wa med dødstrusler. Man skulle have ventet at man når man er ude og missionere for fredens religion i det mindste ville vise sin irritation over et kamera på en lidt mindre kategorisk måde, men temperamenter er en jokerfaktor som dette trossystem aldrig vil kunne bringe under kontrol. Kigger man over i den mere belevne del af spektret finder man talsmænd der også er uhjælpeligt fanget i en retorik de ingen mulighed har for at sætte sig ud over – her tænkes f. eks. på en Abdul Wahid Pedersens eller en Tariq Ramadans manglende afstandstagen fra alskens rædsler, eller på Hizb ut-Tahrirs ulideligt flæbende offerretorik. Alene disse forhold gør det vanskeligt at konkludere andet end at islam i denne fase kun vil kunne appellere til marginale eksistenser: Straffefanger, psykisk uselvstændige kvinder, politiske ekstremister, bl. a.

Kirstine Sinclair, adjunkt fra Center for Mellemøststudier på Syddansk Universitet, kan på sin side hævde at HuT “spiller spillet ligeså godt som mange andre med en politisk dagsorden”, men det er absurd at hævde at de gør det i kraft af indlevelse i og appel til en kultur de altid vil være et fremmedelement i. Den politiske tæft handler om at kende vores samfunds Achilleshæle og udnytte dem imod os. Folk der har oplevet HuTs demonstrationer på nært hold har erfaret at truslen om vold som med fætteren på videoen her er lige ved hånden, og det er jo på ingen måde politisk kløgtigt, men tværtimod et stærkt kort vi har at spille mod dem (LFPC).

Abdul Wahid Pedersen: Politikere og medier medskyldige i terrorisme

Islamsk extremism är ett ämne som imam Abdul Wahid Pedersen ofta talar om i sina predikningar. Men hur stort problemet egentligen är i Danmark är svårt att veta, säger han.

KÖPENHAMN. Abdul Wahid Pedersen är en av de flitigaste muslimska samhällsdebattörerna i Danmark. Han är konverterad muslim och imam som varje vecka lockar minst hundrafemtio, ibland, vid stora högtider, åttahundra besökare till sina fredagsböner. […]

– I tio år har regeringen passivt sett på hur deras stödparti Dansk folkeparti fått slänga ur sig vilka rasistiska påhopp på muslimer som helst. Hela tiden får muslimer höra att de inte är riktiga danskar. Det gäller inte minst ungdomar även om de är födda och uppväxta i Danmark. Och utanförskap skapar vrede. Om danska ungdomar begår terrorbrott faller ansvaret tungt både på politiker och medier, säger Abdul Wahid Pedersen. […] ”Man angriper symptomen – inte orsakerna”

“Chrislam”: En verdensreligion under stiftelse?

Vil Kjeld Holm i så fald blive helliggjort som en af dens profeter?

This weekend, the Memorial Drive Presbyterian Church in Houston along with Christian communities in Atlanta, Seattle, and Detroit will initiate a series of sermons that have been designed to produce an ecumenical reconciliation between Christianity and Islam.

In addition to the sermons, the Sunday school lessons will center on the inspired teachings of the Prophet Mohammad. Qurans will be placed in the pews next to the Bibles.

The concept of Chrislam, now embraced by such preachers as Rick Warren and Robert Schuller, appears to have emerged from a program on the meaning of “love your neighbor” at Grace Fellowship Church in Atlanta, Georgia

“In 2001, like most Americans, we were pretty awakened to the true Islamic presence in the world and in the United States,” says Jon Stallsmith, the outreach minister at Grace Fellowship. “Jesus says we should love our neighbors. We can’t do that without having a relationship with them.”

Stallsmith maintains that a rapprochement between Muslims and Christians can be achieved by the fact that Jesus is mentioned twenty-five times in the Quran.

The Chrislam movement has gained impetus by statements from President George W. Bush and that Christians, Jews, and Muslims all worship the same God and by Rick Warren’s reference to Isa (the Muslim name for Jesus) in his prayer at the inauguration of President Barack Obama. […] QURAN IN THE PEWS JESUS IN THE QURAN

“Celebrate the gay community”: Alt, alt for langt nede i halsen for os

Efterhånden som man blogger om de kulturelle og politiske brudflader i tiden opdager man undertiden behovet for afklaring af egen position. Jeg selv er vokset op i en tid hvor det var ret enkelt: Folk skulle ikke diskrimineres på grund af deres hudfarve, og homoseksuelle skulle ikke diskrimineres på grund af deres partnervalg. Live and let live. De tider er forlængst forbi. Søger man på “queer” på Amazon.com får man 3717 hits under bøger, og det er mindst 3000 for mange. Bl. a. humaniorafagene har fået hyped ikke bare begrebet queerness, men også mistænkeliggørelsen af det der tidligere var kendt som det normale.

Alt dette sætter i virkelighedens verden tålmodigheden og tolerancen på en prøve. Man er som udgangspunkt fuldt indstillet på at live and let live, så når de snakkende klasser ikke stiller sig tilfreds med denne traditionelle attitude, skaber de på længere sigt modvilje. Helt galt går det når den akademiske verdens tentakler når ind i politik og samfundsadministration og lægger planer for folkeopdragelse af kommende generationer. Slet så galt som i Storbritannien eller Sverige står det selvfølgelig ikke til i Danmark, men pointen her er at man ender med at indtage en tredje position, hvor man på den ene side taler bøssernes sag mod det tilvandrede segment der har antitesen til live and let live skrevet ind i deres kulturelle DNA, og på den anden side må holde sig kommissærer og folkeopdragere fra livet. Hertil og ikke længere. Og ordet “celebrate” er i sig selv nok til at få en til at række ud efter strømpistolen (LFPC).

Young children are to be taught about homosexuality in their maths, geography, science and English lessons, it has emerged. As part of a Government-backed drive to ‘celebrate the gay community’, maths problems could be introduced that involve gay characters.

In geography classes, students will be asked why homosexuals move from the countryside to cities – and words such as ‘outing’ and ‘pride’, will be used in language classes.

The lesson plans are designed to raise awareness about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual issues and, in theory, could be used for children as young as four.

They will also mean youngsters are exposed to images of same-sex couples and books such as And Tango Makes Three, which tells the story of two male penguins raising a chick, which was inspired by events at New York’s Central Park Zoo. […] Gay messages built into school maths lessons for children as young as FOUR

Racebegrebet er under ‘konstant forandring’, som Kate Østergaard ynder at sige, og med det udvides også antallet af racistiske krænkelser. Nu mener vi dog at vide at ‘pommies’ (briter) selv er ofre for ‘racisme’ i Australien. Hør også (australske) Rolf Harris med Tie Me Kangaroo Down, Sport, her i en version sammen med The Beatles, fra en kulturelt mindre sensitiv tid (LFPC).

An Australian community warden is suing council bosses after accusing colleagues of making racist comments – including constantly greeting him with ‘G’day sport’.

Warden Geoff Stephens, who has been in the UK for 26 years, says he is on a ‘cocktail of anti-depressants’ because of the constant abuse.

The 48-year-old, who has worked as a community warden in Dymchurch, Kent, for the past six years, says the ‘racism’ and bullying would ‘eventually kill him’.

The warden – who is part of a team of council-employed workers who help combat anti-social behaviour – says he has asked fellow wardens to stop making Australian jokes, but they continued unabated.

A former immigration officer at the Port of Dover, Mr Stephens said he is regularly greeted by colleagues with ‘G’day sport’ and ‘Is your girlfriend called Sheila?’

Other choice phrases include ‘throw another shrimp on the barbie’ and jokes about kangaroos. […] ‘G’day sport’ greeting was ‘racist’ claims ‘depressed’ Australian worker set to sue council

Christopher Caldwell om Thilo Sarrazin

Thilo Sarrazin is breaking Germany’s taboos on welfare and immigration – and selling over a million books in the process

In Berlin in September, I noticed that Deutschland schafft sich ab (‘The Abolition of Germany’), a taboo-breaking blockbuster by Bundesbank governor Thilo Sarrazin, had just come through a new printing after having been sold out for a week. In the morning, as I walked off to work, there would always be a large table near the front of the Hugendubel bookstore on Tauntzienstrasse stacked two feet high with bright red copies. In the evening, as I returned to my hotel, the table would be denuded, or have just a few scattered copies, like the bar after an undergraduate drinks party.

Sarrazin had at that point given a few interviews, and the wildest nonsense was being said about him in the feuilletons. He was making eugenics respectable. He was a racist. He was rallying native Germans to xeno- (or Islamo- or some other kind o-) phobia. In short, he had written a Mein Kampf for our times. The Bundesbank and chancellor Angela Merkel bullied him into leaving his post. The Social Democratic Party moved to expel him. And although the Pope’s book of interviews managed to dislodge Sarrazin for a few days in November and a crime thriller called Snow White Must Die bumped him this week, his book is still near the top of the bestseller lists, having sold 1.2 million copies. It is the most important publishing event in Germany since the war.

Sarrazin’s book is no tract. It is a subtle, well-documented, almost literary argument about the failings of the German welfare state by a top-rank labour economist. Inevitably, though, it is also an attack on the political correctness that has constrained German political discourse for decades. Half a century ago Germany’s citizens — with good reason — came to a consensus that they could not soon afford another freewheeling Teutonic discussion on the matter of, let’s say, Lebensraum. Spectator.

Vid midnatt blossade nya bråk upp i Rosengård. Förbipasserande bilar besköts med raketer. Ett fordon stacks i brand. – Det går inte längre att avfärda som ungdomsupptåg, säger Skånepolisens informatör Calle Persson. – Det är vuxna män bakom attackerna.De flesta av männen är i 25-30-årsåldern. Ingen av dem är yngre än 17 år.
Ingen kom till skada vid nattens oroligheter i kvarteren runt Ramels väg och Amiralsgatan. Men det var kraftiga smällar och raketerna ven åt alla håll. Flera bilar var nära att träffas, säger Kvällspostens fotograf Oscar Persson som fanns på plats innan poliserna hann fram. Det var kaotiskt, människor fick fly undan in i port-uppgångar och till tvärgator. Det finns anledning att se allvarligt på de här upprepade attackerna med polisen som måltavla.Nya bråk har blossat upp i RosengårdOroligt på Rosengård i natt, Polisstationen i Rosengård för brandattentat. Fotos: Nya oroligheter på Rosengård i natt. Malmø – lavintensiv krig.

»A Stranger in My Own Land«

En engelsk præst vender med sin kone vender hjem til London efter fire år i Birmingham. Hun skriver anonymt i Standpoint Magazine:

I have just returned to London, where I have lived since I was 11. I have been away for four years, living as an ethnic minority in a monocultural part of the world, amassing a host of stories to tell to disbelieving friends. On the whole, I am glad to return. I shan’t miss some locals’ assumptions that, being a white woman, if I was outside after dark, as I occasionally was, usually to walk the few metres between my house and the church, I must be a prostitute eager to give them a blow job. I shan’t miss the abuse my priest husband received: the daubing of “Dirty white dogs” in red paint on the church door, the barrage of stones thrown at him by children shouting “Satan”. He was called a “f***ing white bastard” more than once, though, notably, never when in a cassock. I will also not miss the way our garden acted as the local rubbish dump, with items ranging from duvets and TV sets, to rats (dead or twitching) glued to cardboard strips, a popular local method of vermin control to stem the large numbers of them which scuttled between the rubbish piled in gardens and on pavements. Yes, I am very glad to have left Britain’s second city. For four years, we lived in inner-city Birmingham, in what has been a police no-go area for 20 years. [..]

To a London reader, born and bred with multiculturalism, I know that my stories may come across as outlandish and exaggerated, and that I must surely be a BNP voter — I have observed people’s expressions as they have listened to my tales of life in Brum. When I recently told a friend how a large Taliban flag fluttered gaily on a house near St Andrew’s football stadium for some months, her cry of “Can’t you tell the police?” made me reflect how far many of our inner cities have been abandoned by our key workers: our doctors and nurses drive in from afar, the police, as mentioned before, have shut down their stations and never venture in unless in extremis — they and ambulance crews have been known to be attacked — even the local Imam lives in a leafier area. Standpoint Magazine, Mole Special: A Stranger in My Own Land, January / February 2011. (Islamic extremism creating ‘no-go’ areas for non-Muslims in Britain, says Bishop of Rochester.)

Omvendelse under galgen

Det svenske socialdemokrati er som bekendt nu flere procentpoint mindre end det danske, en veritabel revolution i selve socialdemoktratismens elysium, Sverige. Det er egentlig uretfærdigt, for svenske borgerlige -øh,…. liberalister, er omend endnu ivrigere for at forære landet væk, men idéen om selvkolonisering udefra er nu engang først og fremmest forbundet med venstrefløjen. Den kan jo ikke gøre for, at Sveriges “borgerlige” overhaler dem indenom i selvafvikling. Jeg har et tilbagevendende, ubesvaret filosofisk spørgsmål: Hvor mange problemer skaber en gennemsnitspolitiker, for hvert problem de løser? I P 1 interviewet nedenfor siger Lars Hedegaard omtrent: “Jeg ser da frem til at Zenia Stampe og hendes parti, begynder at løse nogle af de problemer, de har været de ivrigste til at installere. For så vidt de altså kan løses”.
Carina Hägg, der tidligere har gjort sig bemærket ved sin kampanj mot Seghalla, en danslokal mellan Värnamo och Lammhult, vars ägare är sverigedemokrat, synes nu at have kvindet sig op til at modarbejde det, hun hidtil har arbejdet for, og ved vi ikke alle: når en socialdemokrat siger det samme som en Sverigedemokrat, så er det allerede både sandere, rigtigere og mere retfærdigt og anstændigt. Vores tip er: følg ikke de politiske annoncesælgere, følg opinionscifrene. SAP er pulveriserede, Sverigedemokraterne øger, de små “borgerlige” partier er på vej hvor hønsene skraber, og Reinfeldt står nu alene i spidsen for bortgivelsen af landet til endnu flere religiøse fanatikere, krigsforbrydere og fup-flygtninge. Så længe det varer.

Vår blindhet och tystnad är pinsam. Det öppna, demokratiska och sekulära samhället är hotat, men långt ifrån tillräckligt görs från regeringens eller Säpos sida. Det är även oklart hur mycket Sveriges muslimska råd och dess ordförande Helena Benaouda gör för att motverka extrema krafter inom islam. Benaouda säger sig ha varit aningslös när det gäller hennes terrormisstänkte svärson, hur aningslös är hon för extremister inom sin egen organisation? Statsrådet Stefan Attefall bör verkligen fundera på om Helena Benaouda och Mahmoud Aldebe, ordförande i Sveriges muslimska förbund, är de lämpligaste att ingå i Nämnden för statligt stöd till trossamfund. Hur ställer sig Miljöpartiet till att deras riksdagsledamot Mehmet Kaplan även har uppdraget som Muslimska rådets presstalesman? Var finns Benaouda, Kaplan och Aldebe i kampen för kvinnors och HBT-personers rättigheter?
Därför väljer S-kvinnor nu att ta kampen mot religiös extremism och fanatism på allvar. Vi vill skapa en stark motkraft och vara en samlingspunkt för de människor som har fått nog av inskränkthet och fundamentalism. Vi gör det för kvinnorna, HBT-personerna och barnen i förorten som har rätt till en vardag utan trakasserier. Vi gör det för att motverka intolerans, rasism och islamofobi. Vi gör det för att vi vet att det öppna samhället är det för bästa samhället för oss alla att leva i. Carina Hägg: Upp till kamp mot förortsfanatikerna

“No burka”-kunstner truet med brandbomber

[…] This note came in from several sources in Australia this morning:

Sergio is in big trouble. The police have told him that the word is out on the street that these radical loonies, who are financed by the Social Alliance group, are going to firebomb his studio, and they cannot protect him. We are seriously concerned for his safety. […] A Firebomb for the Mural Man in Sydney?

Delvist døbt

Church of England baptism services may be re-written to remove some references to Christianity. The plan for a new ‘baptism lite’ service designed to make christenings more interesting to non-churchgoers will be considered next month by the Church’s parliament, the General Synod.

Supporters say the baptism service should be ‘expressed in culturally appropriate and accessible language’ that is readily understood by ‘non-theologically versed Britons’.

But traditionalist clergy said the idea amounted to ‘dumbing down’. […] The christening without much Christianity: Anglican church offers ‘baptism lite’ to attract non-worshippers

Muhammedvåbenet mod de kristne i det pakistanske helvede

En af de selvindlysende sandheder der ikke desto mindre aldrig er trængt igennem hos den anden fløj i Muhammedkonflikten herhjemme: Det er forkert, det er et problem, at muslimer er så nærtagende over for kritik af Muhammed. Længere er den ikke. Nærtagenheden og den deraf følgende voldelighed kan iagttages i sin yderste konsekvens i disse dage i Pakistan, hvor primitive horder er i et stående beredskab for at opføre sig svinagtigt, og hvor dette endda kan udnyttes i familiestridigheder. Via Gates of Vienna (LFPC).

Two Christian women were beaten and publically humiliated by Muslims in Pakistan by an angry mob over accusations of blasphemy. According to local media reports, the two women and their families are now in hiding for fear of being killed. […]

According to the family, the allegations stem from a dispute between Amina, a Muslim, and her sister-in-law Zahira, a Christian, in an East Lahore locality. The two got into an argument on January 11. While the disagreement appeared to have been settled, on January 12, after her husband Zahid had gone to work, Amina walked out onto the street and started shouting that Zahira had defamed Muhammad, the founder of Islam.

A short while later, a group of men led by Muhammad Sameer, a member of an Islamic religious organization, forced their way into the house and started beating Zahira, said another of her brothers, Sohail. […]

Sameer added that he was very proud of his wife’s participation in the mob beating. “She beat Zahira more than anyone else. Her hand is so swollen that she hasn’t been able to make rotis (bread) since the day of the incident. I’ve been getting my meals from a restaurant,” he said. Pakistan: Muslims proud of beating Christians