What to do with Faisal Shahzad

If proven guilty, what should be done to Faisal Shahzad? Senators Joe Liberman and Scott Brown have introduced legislation to strip him and others of his ilk of their U.S. citizenship. Zuhdi Jasser (and Rachel) have a better idea: try him/them as traitors.

As Jasser puts it: "Shahzad's cowardly attempt to kill innocent Americans in Times Square clearly demonstrates his loyalty lies with the Islamist radicals and not his chosen countrymen in the United States. His actions were a result of his faith in the supremacy of an Islamic State over the United States. His citizenship oath was given falsely in 2009 and was in the direct service of powers at war with the United States. His prosecution should encompass the gravity of those actions."

Yes.

Who's out to get us?

Daniel Pipes lists here all the excuses people have dreamed up to keep from acknowledging that the various attacks on New York City (and the rest of the United States) since 9/11 have been the result of jihadist ideology and action.

And Barry Rubin speculates on reactions in that vein to other crises, from the Revolutionary War to the attack on Pearl Harbor.

My analysis of the problem: "Denial is not a river in Africa." We won't get anywhere until we acknowledge publicly that Islamism is the problem here. Period. People are afraid to admit the truth, either because it pulverizes their pet theories, or because they'd have to realize just what kind of threat we face.

So imagine the gratification of hearing the CNN news anchor this morning say that she'd put together all the info on these attacks, looking for the common denominator and discovered that it was - can you believe it - Islamic fundamentalism. CNN no less! Wow!

(Thanks to Dick.)

Never again?

The latest: two Danish artists, one of them Jewish, put up posters in Berlin showing a map of the Middle East with no Israel on it. The title of the poster: The Final Solution.

Were the artists trying to shock Europeans by highlighting the existential danger facing Israel? No, they were recommending that Israel be wiped off the map, and suggesting Israelis resettle in the United States, Germany or Denmark.

So what do you think: is there - could there possibly be - any connection between anti-Zionism and antisemitism? Of course not! What a ridiculous idea! (Thanks to Clemens.)

Ah, those settlements

Here's the latest on our Mideast policy:

-- We threatened to let an anti-Israel resolution on settlements go forward at the United Nations Security Council if the Israelis didn't agree to a freeze;

-- Support for the resolution, it turns out, was the price for having the Palestinian Authority agree to indirect talks with the Israelis;

-- There's no chance those indirect talks could turn into direct ones (i.e. face-to-face, as has been the practice for years), because the Arab League made that a condition of its approval of Israeli-Palestinian talks.

I'm sure glad the Obama administration is playing hardball to stop Israeli settlements rather than to keep Iran from getting the bomb! Makes me feel a whole lot safer. (Thanks to Daily Alert.)

More on women and earthquakes

I see now that I was far too flippant about the Iranian cleric's charge that provocatively dressed women cause earthquakes. A young female scientist in Indiana took a more serious approach and performed an experiment on April 26 to test his thesis. Thousands of women, whom she organized via the internet, dressed 'immodestly' that day. She then compared earthquake activity for April 26 to the average since February 5.

No, I won't tell you the results - you have to click on the above link and find out for yourselves! (Thanks to Clemens.)

Hezbollah and rockets

Peace in the Middle East reminds me of a receding galaxy. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates says that Hezbollah now has more rockets than do most governments. The US government is apparently still not confirming that some are Scud missiles transferred to Hezbollah by Syria.

What to do about this? Apparently, nothing much. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak says the Israelis won't go to war over this - yet. Robert Ford, the new U.S. ambassador designate to Syria, is awaiting full Senate confirmation. If he's confirmed, the Syrians will interpret that as a sign of tacit U.S. acceptance of their support to Hezbollah.

Leaving Islam

Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer have quite a tale to tell: they contracted with Miami-Dade Transit to put ads on buses offering help to those who want to leave Islam. Traditionally, leaving Islam - apostasy - merits the death penalty. Only by threatening to sue Dade-Transit were they able to run the ads, which had been opposed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

And this, folks, is the land of freedom of speech and freedom of religion. Time indeed to wake up!

(Thanks to Jihad Watch.)