Okay, so maybe it's because today is "hump day" and because I had to come into work on Sunday, it feels later in the week for me. But there are three stories that I feel absolutely must be blogged and made available for everyone to see.
First, this story comes out of Holland. Now, anyone who knows the history of Holland knows that when political and religious strife hit the rest of Europe during the Middle Ages, Holland was a sort of sanctuary for those with differing views. In fact, some of history's greatest scientific minds did their work in Holland free from the persecution they would have suffered had they carried on their research elsewhere. That is why this story is so disturbing and why we need to make sure that it gets disseminated far and wide.
A group of school children in Holland were on a field trip to a mosque. Ostensibly, this field trip was aimed at helping the children increase their understanding of other cultures, which is a long time tradition in Holland. But, these children were told by their Islamic guide that they were "dogs."
From NISNews.nl:
A primary school in Amsterdam wished to provide its pupils with an understanding for other cultures. But during a visit to a mosque, the children were told they were dogs.
With a view to developing understanding and respect for other cultures among children, primary school De Horizon regularly organises outings to various religious organisations. The chairman of the El Mouchidine mosque told the children from group 7 (aged 10) and their chaperones however that non-Muslims are dogs.
In a letter to the children's parents, the school expresses its regret at the incident: "We are shocked that during the guided tour, the mosque's chairman told the children and chaperoning parents that non believers were dogs. We consider this statement as unacceptable since we allow our children to partake in this project to develop respect for freedom of religious choice".
In the meantime, the school's management has addressed the mosque on the undesirable behaviour of the chairman. Both parties will say nothing further on the matter. "We will resolve the matter amongst ourselves and I have no inclination whatsoever to discuss the matter with the media", as newspaper De Telegraaf quoted the school's spokesperson Mariet ten Berge. "We have been to the mosque before and it always went well".
Angry parents had sent the letter on to De Telegraaf but were reportedly rapped on the knuckles by the school's management. "The school wishes to play this down. That is precisely the problem", as one mother commented.
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Religion of peace? Religion of tolerance? What do you think?
As for the school trying to play this down, who will that help other than the Islamics?
You can access the original article on-line here:
Children Told They Are Dogs During Mosque VisitNISNews.nl
April 9, 2008
Last night, I was watching Nancy Grace on
Headline News and saw for the first time the video showing Victoria Lindsay being beaten by six other girls while two teenaged boys stood lookout.
Now, I know that there is some history of Lindsay having anger management issues, but in the video, she was completely defensive and never once raised her hands nor kicked her feet in an offensive way. I don't care what sort of trash-talking may have gone on in
MySpace or any other website. There is absolutely no excuse at all for the gang attack that these six young women and two young men conspired to commit against Lindsay.
According to
WFTV Channel 9 in Polk County, Florida:
When 16-year-old Victoria Lindsay arrived at her friend's house where she had been staying, six girls were waiting. Immediately, they started yelling and one girl began pummeling the victim.
On the video, the girls can be heard encouraging the fight in the background, even taunting Lindsay to fight back, all while one of them held the camera. The victim's family has said it was an elaborate plot to injure and embarrass Victoria Lindsay. Lindsay's parents couldn't believe their daughter had to endure the attack.
"That's my Tori. Don't do that to my Tori," said the victim's mother.
The 16-year-old suffered a concussion, eye injuries and several bruises. During the attack, two others were outside keeping watch according to the sheriff's office.
In fact, the sheriff said, Lindsay was lured into the home for the sole purpose of capturing and posting the video on the Internet. According to the sheriff's office arrest affidavit, Lindsay told deputies they "were going to post the beating on MySpace and YouTube."
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The suspects were identified as 17-year-old Mercades Nichols, 17-year-old Brittini Hardcastle, 14-year-old April Cooper, 16-year-old Cara Murphy, 17-year-old Britney Mayes and 15-year-old Kayla Hassell. Zachary Ashley, 17, and Stephen Schumaker, 18, were identified by deputies as the lookouts. |
Now, I have a 16-year-old son and I will be the first to admit that he is no angel and has had probably more than his share of self-inflicted trouble to deal with, mostly due to poor decision making. But, I know that I was a good enough father that if he ever saw something like this, he would at the very least refuse to join in and at best immediately go for help and report what was happening. None of the eight involved in the beating did that. Some people are blaming
YouTube and
MySpace for this incident. I have more logical culprits to lay blame on.
Their parents. How bad a job did a parent have to do in order to allow a child to think that on some level, a gang-beating like this was morally acceptable? How bad a job did a parent have to do to allow a child to think that it was perfectly okay to videotape such a horrendously evil act for the purposes of gaining fame and notoriety? A pretty piss-poor job if you ask me.
I honestly hope that Victoria Lindsay's parents sue the pants off of the parents of those eight and also hope that all eight of the perps do time as adults.
As I wrote above, whatever circumstances precipitated the beating are irrelevent. What happened on that video had absolutely no excuse at all.
You can access the original article and pictures of the eight assailents on-line here:
Girls Record Brutal Attack On Teen To Allegedly Post On YouTubeWFTV.com
April 7, 2008
And finally, we have Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) talking trash about Senator John McCain. And I really do mean trash. Rockefeller clearly doesn't have enough intelligence to research his own issues before going out and making erroneous statements on those issues.
From the
American ThinkerThe Charleston Gazette reports:
Rockefeller believes McCain has become insensitive to many human issues. "McCain was a fighter pilot, who dropped laser-guided missiles from 35,000 feet. He was long gone when they hit.
"What happened when they [the missiles] get to the ground? He doesn't know. You have to care about the lives of people. McCain never gets into those issues."
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It’s even worse than a ridiculous term applied to a warrior. Rockefeller is tiptoeing into far left nuttiness, the path that leads to the argument that modern weaponry is immoral, and that McCain could be described as a war criminal for dropping bombs that might harm non-combatants.
Take note that Rockefeller mentions McCain dropping laser-guided bombs. These were not used in Vietnam. Laser-guided missiles and bombs minimize civilian casualties.
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And this:
| Perhaps Rockefeller forgot McCain was a POW and was tortured. It would be kind of hard to keep your sensitivity in full flower under the hideous torture to which he was subjected. |
Also note that Rockefeller refers to Senator McCain as a "fighter pilot." John McCain drove A-4 Skyhawks during Vietnam. The A-4 is a ground attack aircraft, not a fighter.
You can access the complete article on-line here:
Jay Rockefeller Lets The Mask SlipThomas Lifson
The American Thinker
April 8, 2008
