The Urban Grind

According to Emperor Misha, the New York Sun and the Dallas Morning News will be publishing the Mohammed cartoons. And surprisingly, so will a newspaper in Jordan, whose editor in chief had the following to say:

“Muslims of the world, be reasonable,” said the editor-in-chief of the weekly independent newspaper Al-Shihan in an editorial alongside the cartoons, including the one showing the Muslim religion’s founder wearing a bomb-shaped turban.

“What brings more prejudice against Islam, these caricatures or pictures of a hostage-taker slashing the throat of his victim in front of the cameras or a suicide bomber who blows himself up during a wedding ceremony in Amman?” wrote Jihad Momani.

He told the AFP news service he decided to publish the offending cartoons “so people know what they are protesting about… People are attacking drawings that they have not even seen.”

Notice the man’s first name, anyone??? But good for him!

And here’s a more revealing reason as to why the editor of the French newspaper got fired.

Jyllands-Posten editor-in-chief Carsten Juste meanwhile said that he was thrilled at the “solidarity” shown by the European newspapers that published the drawings.

The editor-in-chief of Paris newspaper France-Soir, Jacques Lefranc, was fired by the newspaper’s Egyptian owner, Raymond Lakah, after he published the Mohammed cartoons. No reason was given for the decision to fire him, according to members of the staff.

Go figure.

Michelle Malkin writes that the L.A. Times is scheduled to publish the cartoons this weekend. I’ll believe it though, when I see it. She also says that the European press is not as gutsy as they appear to be.

Turns out that the European papers weren’t as brave as initially reported. Overseas, as noted here yesterday, France Soir has sacked its editor for reprinting the cartoons. Barcepundit notes that Spanish media are sympathizing with the Islamist howlers. And a commenter at Harry’s Place reports that the BBC was so afraid of offending Muslims that it partially blacked out some of the cartoons that appeared in France Soir–as if they were pornographic.

What else should anyone expect from terrorist loving, America hating, anti-Semitic, anti-Israeli left wing BBC?

Aaron has reprinted an editorial from the Arab News suggesting that the way to fix this “mess” would be for Denmark to pass a bill outlawing religious hatred.

I have a better idea. How about Saudia Arabia making a law outlawing religious hatred, so that non-Muslims can freely practice their religion in that country? Then again if there was such a law in the Middle East, all their imams would be in jail, as would their newspaper editors, for depicting Jews as pigs, dogs, murderers, and organ thiefs.

The other day, I posted about how twelve cartoons published in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten caused quite the international incident, and how the editor apologized for causing offense.

Well now Germany, the Netherlands, France Spain and Italy have also published the cartoons.

France Soir originally said it had published the images in full to show “religious dogma” had no place in a secular society.

But late on Wednesday its owner, Raymond Lakah, said he had removed managing editor Jacques Lefranc “as a powerful sign of respect for the intimate beliefs and convictions of every individual”.

Mr Lakah said: “We express our regrets to the Muslim community and all people who were shocked by the publication.”

The president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith (CFCM), Dalil Boubakeur, had described France Soir’s publication as an act of “real provocation towards the millions of Muslims living in France”.

Other papers stood by their publication. In Berlin, Die Welt argued there was a right to blaspheme in the West, and asked whether Islam was capable of coping with satire.

“The protests from Muslims would be taken more seriously if they were less hypocritical,” it wrote in an editorial.

Exactly! They can sure dish it out in their own countries, but they just can’t take it when the shoe is on the other foot.

To offset any damage caused the Middle Eastern boycott of Danish goods, some conservative news sites and blogs are encouraging their readers to buy Danish products. Judith Apter Klinghoffer offers a short list of Danish products that people might want to buy. If I find more of such lists, I’ll definitely post links to them.

On another note, that famous Arab “civil rights” organization, CAIR has also stuck its nose into this whole controversy.

In a letter to the Danish ambassador, CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad offered his group’s assistance “as a bridge between the Muslim community worldwide and the government of Denmark.”

He proposed a meeting “to discuss areas of mutual cooperation in helping to remedy the situation.”

“We all value freedom of expression and the right to critical thought,” said Awad. “But we should also use good judgment and common sense to avoid actions that will be perceived as intentionally insulting to others or that promote hatred.”

Awad said educational measures are the best response to such incidents.

In other words, CAIR will probably try and shake down the Danish government for money. Fortunately, no one has apologized for publishing the cartoons. And I haven’t heard anything about them being taken off the Jylllands-Posten web site. Maybe this will all be a wakeup call for the Europeans to do something about their imported fifth column.

If I were a judge, I would throw a lawsuit like this right out of court. Hopefully, then other moonbat groups would know not to waste the court’s time and taxpayer dollars.