Stand up for Denmark! Why are we not defending our ally ? Put the case that we knew of a highly paranoid religious cult organization with a secretive leader. Now put the case that this cult, if criticized in the press, would take immediate revenge by kidnapping a child. Put the case that, if the secretive leader were also to be lampooned, two further children would be killed at random. Would the press be guilty of "self-censorship" if it declined to publish anything that would inflame the said cult? Well, yes it would be guilty, but very few people would insist on the full exertion of the First Amendment right. However, the consequences for the cult and its leader would be severe as well. All civilized people would regard it as hateful and dangerous, and steps would be taken to circumscribe its influence, and to ensure that no precedent was set. In full....Stand up for Denmark! - Why are we not defending our ally? By Christopher Hitchens

This is happening in Pakiland.A Christian was accused of blasphemy by a Muslim neighbour who had a bone to pick with him. This sparked off a sequence of events which have been well covered in the press by news items and in several columns. The point is that violence occurred because of the fact that our theocratic thugs insist that these laws remain in place and have prevailed upon the General to toe their line. Early in November, churches in the Sangla Hill area were desecrated and destroyed, Christian students were beaten up, and one Pir Mohammad Afzal Qadiri, Markazi Ameer Alam-i-Tanzeem Ahl-e-Sunnat (unworthy of this impressive sounding name and title) not only condoned the attack by his fellow Muslims upon the Christian churches and properties, but urged those of his faith to unite and eliminate Christians for the honour and integrity of Islam. In full......

The UN Human Wrongs Council The UN’s Human Rights Council has long been a sick joke, an oxymoron, a contradiction in terms. To see a most graphic demonstration of its interpretation of human rights, just look at this to see what happened when Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch, told it a few home truths. This is what he said: Mr. President, Six decades ago, in the aftermath of the Nazi horrors, Eleanor Roosevelt, Réné Cassin and other eminent figures gathered here, on the banks of Lake Geneva, to reaffirm the principle of human dignity. They created the Commission on Human Rights. Today, we ask: What has become of their noble dream? In this session we see the answer. Faced with compelling reports from around the world of torture, persecution, and violence against women, what has the Council pronounced, and what has it decided? Nothing. Its response has been silence. Its response has been indifference. Its response has been criminal. One might say, in Harry Truman’s words, tha...