“Art is not what you see,” noted Edgar Degas, “but what you make others see.” Ninety years after his death, a new maxim applies to Europe: The art that you do not see reflects what everyone already sees. And what we see is the preemptive surrender of public freedoms in the name of appeasing the continent’s restive Muslim underclass.
Grayson Perry serves as the ideal poster boy — or perhaps poster girl — for this discomfiting trend. A Turner Prize recipient and England’s most famous cross-dressing potter, Perry has been heralded for his controversial explorations of religious imagery, which include a vase entitled “Transvestite Brides of Christ” and a portrayal of the Virgin Mary that is best left to the imagination. Yet apparently there are some boundaries that even groundbreaking artists dare not cross.
“The Saudis are Coming, the Saudis are Coming”—and this time they mean to tax and silence us via lawsuit, not via military action. Paul Revere’s pre-revolutionary alarm about “The British are Coming” might still apply since British law is now actively aiding and abetting the Saudi crusade against freedom of speech in the West.
Where are all the First Amendment fanatics when we need them? Actually—they are all here. (See below for the incredible line-up of organizations that submitted an amicus curiae brief).
Yesterday, the indomitable Dr. Rachel Ehrenfeld had her day in court. This time, the New York State Court of Appeals heard her case. Ehrenfeld was sued by the ever-litigious billionaire, Sheikh Khalid Bin Mahfouz, who sued her in London for writing a book (Funding Evil) which was published in America where Ehrenfeld, an Israeli-American citizen, resides.
Ehrenfeld chose not to appear in the London courtroom and Mahfouz won a default judgment. Instead, she counter-sued Mahfouz here. Ehrenfeld is arguing that New York should have jurisdiction to decide whether such a judgment is enforceable in New York State where, after all, authors enjoy a First Amendment right to publish their views.
I am working on my remarks for tomorrow night at Columbia University as part of Islamo-Fascist Awareness Week on the American campus.
I will speak in solidarity with Muslim and ex-Muslim dissidents in the Islamic world and in the West. I am especially mindful today of the student activists in Iran who were tortured and who have now just been given prison sentences. Iranian Muslim and perhaps ex-Muslim students are protesting this.
Incredibly, in America, some campus “activists” are not protesting these harsh sentences but are, instead, protesting our right to hassle-free “free speech” on campus if we dare expose such obvious facts about Islam.
“The radical Muslims on American campuses are getting more belligerent, far more militant,” author and lecturer Nonie Darwish tells me. “They have perfected their intimidation and disruption techniques.”
Darwish is a beautiful and passionate speaker. She is an expressive, emotional orator, dramatically thrilling (as so many Arabs can be), but Darwish is also soft, almost maternal when she speaks. She is also very clear, very firm, and totally uncompromising. She grew up in Cairo and in Gaza and now lives in America. She has founded Arabs for Israel. She is pro-American and also concerned with women’s rights. Her first book, Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror, is clear-sighted, well-written, and extremely brave.
“Everything” did not change on 9/11, as some expected, but one thing certainly did: the U.S. government’s willingness to preempt enemies before they act. This new policy has outraged so many, it may be discontinued.
In foreign affairs, preemption replaced the long-established policy of deterrence. A series of speeches established the new policy, culminating in George W. Bush’s June 2002 declaration that “our security will require all Americans to be forward-looking and resolute, to be ready for preemptive action when necessary to defend our liberty and to defend our lives.” Nine months later, preemption justified the invasion of Iraq before Iraqis had attacked the United States, to the fury of many.
On January 6, 2004, I was threatened with a lawsuit for defamation by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an Islamic terrorist supporting front group which has received funding from Islamic terrorists. The reason I was sued was because I dared to tell the truth about CAIR, its “leadership” and members.
When I received the letter, I shut down our work for a few days while I examined my options. After a period of reflection, I made the decision to resume normal operations and I also posted the letter from CAIR’s attorney on the Anti-CAIR web site:
The reason I refused to surrender to CAIR’s blatant attempt at intimidation was simple: I believe that all the information we provide on CAIR is the truth, and that the truth must be defended, in order to maintain a free society.
Last week, Ontario Auditor-General Jim McCarter reported that the province’s Immigration and Citizenship Ministry has been dispensing millions of dollars in grants to ethnic groups under a process that is “not open, transparent or accountable.” In many cases, groups got money simply because their members were chummy with ministry insiders. “In essence, the decisions behind ‘who got what’ were often based on conversations, not applications,” Mr. McCarter concluded.
PART TWO of the Atlas Shrugs Radio Show interview (excerpts) with Anti-CAIR’s defense attorney, Reed Rubinstein. Discussion of how certain media directly avoids and hides CAIR’s terror ties, the cost of defending defamation lawsuits, and additional information on CAIR’s history. (Click here for part one.)
To: American Civil Liberties Union info “at” aclum.org (Massachusetts section) cc: fire “at” thefire.org, Foundation for Individual Rights in Education; bacow and barbara.grossman “at” tufts.edu (Tufts University President Bacow and Committee on Student Life head Barbara Grossman); info “at” tuftsprimarysource.org (The Primary Source)
“Freedom of speech is protected in the First Amendment of the Bill of Rights and is guaranteed to all Americans. Since 1920, the ACLU has worked to preserve our freedom of speech. Learn more and take action to protect the right to free speech.”
We are calling on the American Civil Liberties Union to put the above mission statement into effect with regard to Tufts University’s alleged attack on the First Amendment Rights of its students. The Washington Times reports:
Apparently, Yahoo! GeoCities has no problem hosting sites such as The Lebanese Marxist-Lenninist [sic] Page, which features a link for a “boycott israel campaign” and these two images:
Response to Committee on Student Life’s decision against The Primary Source To: The Primary Source cc: Tufts University Committee on Student Life, and posted to the Intenet From: Bill Levinson
Regarding:
TUFTS UNIVERSITY
OUTCOME OF THE COMMITTEE ON STUDENT LIFE’S HEARING OF COMPLAINTS BROUGHT BY DAVID DENNIS AND THE MUSLIM STUDENT ASSOCIATION AGAINST THE PRIMARY SOURCE
APRIL 30, 2007
Sophia Gordon Hall, 6:30pm-midnight
….The second [complaint], filed by the Muslim Student Association (“MSA”), represented by Shirwac Mohamed and Nayema Khan, charged The Primary Source with harassment and creating a hostile environment on campus through the publication of “Islam-Arabic Translation: Submission,” a commentary published in its April 11, 2007 edition that imitated the format of the MSA’s advertisement for events during Islamic Awareness Week.
…In the case of the Muslim Student Association (“MSA”) v. The Primary Source, by a vote of 7 to 0, we find that the MSA proved, by a preponderance of the evidence, that The Primary Source harassed Muslim students at Tufts, and created a hostile environment for them by publishing “Islam-Arabic Translation: Submission.” The Committee found that the MSA established that the commentary at issue targeted members of the Tufts Muslim community for harassment and embarrassment, and that Muslim students felt psychologically intimidated by the piece.
Turkey’s parliament has failed for a second time to elect the Islamist-rooted governing party’s candidate for president, Abdullah Gul.
Mr Gul, the only nominee, withdrew his candidacy after the vote was rendered invalid by an opposition boycott.
But Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (AKP), with his “autocratic tendencies,” has not given up his dream of steadily moving Turkey away from its secular roots, planted by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, and towards Islamist “ideals:”
On May 2, Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director of the Chicago Office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), North Americas largest Islamist terrorist supporting group, had an article published titled “Freedom is not spelled ‘Feardom’” in the on-line edition of the Middle East Times:
, is clear-sighted, well-written, and extremely brave. 
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