"Southern African-American folk music"
Is that another term for blues?

Brilliant. Reminds me of your "land the plane" analogy re: Clash of Civilizations.

Except for the headline pun. I should have you killed for that pun.

Is that another term for blues?

No, blues is a subset of southern African-American folk music. Acutally, it's more of a Venn diagram sort of dealie. The song he's referring to isn't blues at all - it's more a banjo- or acoustic guitar-type thing.

Well, Mr Hogan is our in-house PUNdit.

Yes I have heard it all. Didnt you know that the reason why the Spaniards were so cruel in Meso America, South America was due to their treatment at the hands of the Moors? Glorious. This is another attempt for Europeans and Christians to shuffle their anti-semitic guilt onto the Muslims.

Ironically the Jews should love that there is a Muslim problem. At the very least the Christians will be after us and not them. Diversion is life.

The Lounsbury,

Whats up with my Morrocan vacation for Eid Al Fitr?

Anyway brother can you tell me about the status of the "Pact of Umar" We are all familiar with the qualities of Umar and his strict adherence to orthodoxy. This document appears to be far too excessive for him.

Ironically the Jews should love that there is a Muslim problem. At the very least the Christians will be after us and not them. Diversion is life.

Well one never knows when the pendulum will swing back the other way. Ah well, human nature.

Actually, seeing that the song punishingly alluded to, per Eva, is apparently a "Minstrel Song" (should have guessed)I may owe more than one apology to Southern African-American folk music.

All I can see now is Slim Pickens trying to get the black laborers to sing "de Camptown ladies" in Blazing Saddles while the workers insist on doing Cole Porter.

Yeah I love how these people throw around the word "dhimmi" when you don't agree with their racist view and then try to insinuate you're an apologist for Al Qaida, when you state that they're talking BS. Another funny thing is how when the letter from Ahmedinejad to Bush was published, they somehow somewhere from the letter found that Ahmedinejad was saying "convert or die"... Maybe these people should get hooked on phonics...

Good article, but the Islamophobe would never dare let the facts get in the way of their beliefs. I mean, if Daniel Pipes said it, it is as good as gold right?

Of course don't forget all those "let's bomb Mecca" people...

The article is absurd at best and immoral historical revisionism at worst.

"Occasionally a ruler would start enforcing most or all of its prohibitions, but more often the main impediments faced by Christians and Jews were those common to all minorities"

So? Discrimination is discrimination, and apologetics for discrimination are certainly not remorse.

"This is why many Christian and Jewish leaders were required to live in capitals, where the Muslim rulers had easy access to them."

Again, an excuse. It's too easy to justify discrimination and persecution. After all, someone had to pick the cotton in the US South, eh?

"Having lost his polka-faced stoicism, he looks further back into occidental dhimmi-dom."

Yes, Christianity mistreated Jews. But your argument reduces to, "My European neighbour beat his wife and crippled her, so my Arab neighbour is praiseworthy for beating his wife without crippling her."

Israel has begun to assume a responsibility towards the plight of the Palestinians, not only through the work of "New Historians" (some accurate, some not), but also through the incorporation of the Palestinian view into its thinking: "Morris and his colleagues shifted the focus of historical inquiry away from the wonder of Jewish national rebirth to military and diplomatic maneuverings on the one hand and Palestinian suffering on the other. Dismissed at first as self-haters and even traitors, the new historians gained respect during the 1990's -- so much so that a 1998 series on state television to mark Israel's 50th anniversary borrowed considerably from their work, as did ninth-grade textbooks introduced the following year." (New York Times)

In other words, Israel has begun to recognise 60 years of indifference to, or mistreatment of, Palestinians. Europe -- even the Vatican -- has begun to recognise 1,600 years of persecution of Jews and its obligation to the remnant. When will the Arab world recognise 1,300 years of persecution of Jews and an obligation to right that wrong?

But your argument reduces to, "My European neighbour beat his wife and crippled her, so my Arab neighbour is praiseworthy for beating his wife without crippling her."

Not my argument. Just a warning about getting too high-horsey.

I never fail to get the nationalist impulse to reduce everything to a "theyre better than us, youre saying" or "no we're better than them" etc etc. That merely saying one or another isnt wholly barbaric is the same as praise. Praise isnt part of the issue.

It's not a matter of relative virtue or vice, just a matter of understanding.

As to when "the Arab world" will own up to past or present persecutions of Jews, probably not in the current climate, which is too bad, the sooner the better. But maybe that'll change, if approached with less self-righteousness.