Molly Norris Is Going Ghost

Molly is disappearing...on her own.

Her newspaper, Seattle Weekly, reports:

[O]n the insistence of top security specialists at the FBI, she is... moving, changing her name, and essentially wiping away her identity... in effect, being put into a witness-protection program—except, as she notes, without the government picking up the tab. It's all because of the appalling fatwa issued against her this summer, following her infamous "Everybody Draw Mohammed Day" cartoon.

...

ADDED: There's a big Metafilter thread about it, which I'm reading after writing that. A surprising number of people are blaming Norris for bringing the death threats on herself.

Perhaps that number of people shouldn't be all that surprising to Ann Althouse as Ann did precisely that in her blog post.  The best rejoinder to that sort of thinking comes from the comments.

PEOPLE WHO DON'T DESERVE TO BE OFFENDED?!?!?!

Good god, Ann. Their reaction is exactly what makes them deserving.

UPDATE - We also have this from Jihad Watch.

This is the sort of case that the President of the United States should be talking about. Instead of wringing his hands about the prospect of Muslim rioting over Qur'an-burning, the President should go on television and give a brief lesson about how freedom of speech is a foremost bulwark against tyranny and a cornerstone of any society that respects the dignity of the human being. He should say that the idea that Molly Norris would have to live in hiding because of a cartoon, or series of cartoons, is unconscionable, and tell the Islamic world that neither Muslims nor their prophet are harmed by cartoons depicting him, and that their violent rage over such depictions is the only thing that makes people care to draw him in the first place. He should say that to threaten people with death and to kill people over cartoons of Muhammad is sheer madness, and is a form of violent irrationality that is destructive to free societies -- and as such, it is something that the U.S. will do everything it can to resist.

Were we talking about Christians threatening critics with death, the response from the mainstream media and our government would be far more vocally supportive of the critics.  And properly so!

George W. Bush Modern Day Liberal

Huh?

That is the opinion of former US President Bill Clinton.

"A lot of their candidates today, they make him look like a liberal," Clinton told an enthusiastic crowd at a downtown hotel as he campaigned for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton.

Despite suggestions to the contrary, Mr. Bush was never some sort of wild eyed arch conservative.  He was right of center to be sure.  But America is a country that is generally a little right of center in the first place.  He may have been a little right of the country as well.  But not by much.

But I suppose that if Bertolt Brecht is your measuring standard, then there are a lot of us that look pretty far out there.

Another Top Ten List

By Mike Higgs

To ten things people will NOT say when they see the Christian bumper sticker (or more subtle fish symbol) on your car:

10. Look! Let's stop that care and ask those folks how we can become Christians.

9.  Don't worry, Billy, those people are Christians - they MUST have a good reason for driving 90 miles an hour.

8. What a joy to be sharing the highway with another car of Spirit-filled brothers and sisters.

7.  Isn't it wonderful how God blessed that Christian couple with a brand new BMW?

6.  Dad, how come people who drive like that don't get thrown in jail?


Dad, can we get a bumper sticker like that, too?

5.  Stay clear of those folks, Martha. If they get raptured, that car's gonna be all over the road!

4.  Oh, look! That Christian woman is getting a chance to share Jesus with a police officer.

3.  No, that's not garbage coming out of their windows, Bert - - it's probably gospel tracts for the road workers.

2.  Oh, boy we're in trouble now! We just rear ended one of God's cars.

1.  Quick, Alice, honk the horn or they won't know that we love Jesus!

A Brief Spasm Of Anglophilia

Because they are willing to make the hard choices.

Perhaps for similar reasons, nobody is talking about austerity in America. On the contrary, Republicans are still gunning for tax cuts, and Democrats are still advocating higher spending. Almost nobody—not Paul Krugman, not Newt Gingrich—talks enthusiastically about budget cuts. Instead, our politicians use euphemisms about "eliminating waste" or "making government more efficient," as if no one had ever thought of doing that before.

Well, to be honest, no one has taken any interest in actually making government more efficient or in really eliminating waste.  Because that would be the end of earmarks and a whole raft of graft.

But we do have a serious spending problem.  Our government spends too much.  It has made promises that are far too generous in the out years.  The fiscal debacle that I have been predicting for decades is upon us.

We face the choice of making hard decisions and surviving, or simply clinging to the hope that "things will all work out" and pile driving our country into fiscal ruin.

The former is easier to experience than the latter.  Unfortunately, the latter is easier to achieve than the former. 

Where The Problem Is - Saudi Edition

We recently learned that a Saudi diplomat has asked for asylum in the United States.  He is afraid for his life if he returns to Saudi Arabia.

Why?  Good question.

He's gay.

He also has a very close friend....lady.....who is Jewish.

He's committed three of the biggest sins you can commit if you live in the Muslim heartland.  And he believes that the government will try him and kill him if he returns home.

It seems that the Saudi's have learned of his "lapses" and opted to terminate his diplomatic position and have recalled him to Saudi Arabia.

Hopefully, our State Department will look favorably upon his request.

Images of Mohammed

Most folks know of the serial kerfuffles that arose over various publications electing to print images of Islam's Prophet Mohammed.  A guy with the nom de guerre of "Zombie" has developed and maintains an online catalog of images of Mohammed.  Many of those images come from Arab countries.

The one that I like the most is this image of Mohammed that is currently on a wall/doorway in Iran.

Poke around....learn a little something....I found it fascinating.

After you get done with the art, you may as well try the letters.....from Muslims around the world.....to Zombie....telling him in very specific detail how they feel about his compilation.

Curiously, for a group that says it practices tolerance and peace, and as a group that expects tolerance and peace, they sure don't seem very tolerant or peaceful.  At least some of them don't.

From The Blogfather...

....UT law professor Glenn Reynolds, comes this interesting question:

Question: If intellectuals are anti-American, is it surprising if Americans are “anti-intellectual?” Shouldn’t intellectuals be asking why do they hate us?

Glenn links to this story over at the Chicago Boyz Blog where Shannon Love goes on and on and on and on and on and....where was I.....ah yes, much smoke, little heat, not really enough to get all that agitated over.

By the same token, I think Glenn's question is an interesting one.  Shannon invokes the incurious leftish model of "What's The Matter With Kansas?"  Written by someone that is moderately left of center, he asks the eternal question "Why won't Kansans vote for Democrats that really have their best interests in mind?"

The unspoken additional rhetorical question being "Are they idiots?"  The question is rhetorical as we all know about Kansan idiocy based on their voting patterns, don't we?

A better approach, and a far better read, would be for the same folks to ask "What is wrong with our agenda that causes Kansans to vote for Republicans?"  Now THAT would be an interesting and introspective book.

For the record, I don't think the word "intellectuals" is being used to mean "college graduates" or "professors" or "smart people".

Pity I Don't Vote There - Democratic Edition

I checked in on my good buddy, Vin Suprynowicz, and discovered that he....like me....occasionally finds a Democrat worth voting for.  Experienced.  Competent. Scandal-free.

Pity I can't quote any of the juicier parts for you without incurring legal risks beyond measure.

Bloons!!

I beat one of the easy maps....all 60 levels....can you??