The terror trial not making the front pages

Well, at least the BBC decided to cover the story this time…

A former British National Party (BNP) candidate and a dentist stockpiled chemicals as part of a bomb plot, a court has been told.

Robert Cottage, 49, and David Jackson, 62, both from Lancashire, have denied conspiracy to cause an explosion with chemicals ordered over the internet.

Mr Jackson, of Nelson, also denies possessing explosives - a charge admitted by Mr Cottage, of Colne.

The pair are on trial at Manchester Crown Court.

Heh

Sometimes you read something, an attempt to be ’serious’, but can’t help but laugh out loud (lol) chuckle, chortle and so on for real.

Today, for example, going through Abu Sahajj’s Islam in the West RSS feed, I came across this:

“Islam is at odds with everything we in the west stand for. It is diametrically opposed to our enlightened forms of social governance, democracy, free thinking, scientific enquiry and common justice. The BNP remains the only political party which stands firm, speaks the truth and says that there is no place for Islam in Britain.”

BNP news article, 3 July 2007

The BNP speaking about “enlightened forms of social governance, democracy, free thinking, scientific enquiry and common justice”? Hehlarious.

(Via Islamophobia Watch.)

What if?

Umar Lee asks:

[D]oes anyone seriously think that the Saudi police would exercise much restraint of a Filipino movement using terror emerged in the kingdom or a Chinese one emerged in Indonesia?

Well?

The Golden Causal Chain

I wonder if those who argue that Muslims are only react to the conditions they are placed in by ‘outsiders’ — a view is also expressed by non-Muslims who we may broadly place somewhere in the political Left — are willing to extend this causal chain to American or Israeli actions?

No, I didn’t think so.

The Angry Arab in Pakistan

Pakistani media are in general (the ones that I can understand) far less fawning toward Musharraf than, say, Saudi media are toward the King or Egyptian media are toward Mubarak.

Like in the Arab world, there is a proliferation of satellite channels here. Like in the Arab wold, the channels represent a liberalized culture that does not speak to the majority of (the conservative) population. My impression thus far (and an expert on Muslims who has traveled widely confirmed this to me) is that Pakistani Muslims are far more religious and conservative than Arab Muslims.

Yesterday, I was told that all the street sweepers, cleaners, and servants in Pakistan are Christians. That they were former Hindus who converted to Christianity to escape caste, only to face a rigid (albeit unofficial) caste system.

IDF and Hamas: two organisations indulging in terrorism

There is very little difference between the IDF and Hamas.

Both use tactics of ‘terrorism’ to further political goals and both their apologists have no real interest in peace.

Human Rights Watch agrees with me.

Which is the bigger insult to God, His Prophet and Islam?

Which of the three do you think is the bigger ‘insult to Islam’?

Racist cartoons in an obscure newspaper that less than 0.1% of the world’s population can read and an even smaller fraction do read?

An elaborate magical-realist novel that nobody appears to have actually read?

Or someone swinging fists at people trying to help him because he was on fire (and after he had apparently tried to ram a vehicle into an airport building) whilst shouting “Allah! Allah! Allah!”?