'Nother Solent

Just because I want a thing to be true doesn't mean it is.

Just because I want a thing to be true doesn't mean it is.
Just because I want a thing to be true doesn't mean it is.

Oh, I give up. True, true, all true! Believe and rejoice!

(Via Instapundit.)

If Christian fundamentalism did not exist

... it would be necessary to invent an entirely new cliché to avoid having Islam stand out.

At the present time what Abdel Rahman al-Rashid said is true:

"It is a certain fact that not all Muslims are terrorists, but it is equally certain, and exceptionally painful, that almost all terrorists are Muslims."

It was not always the case that Islam was particularly violent. We are frequently reminded of the relative tolerance of Spain under the Moors, but repetition does not make it any less true. One day the fever of Islamofascism will burn itself out, and honest Muslim commentary such as Mr Rashid's article is the best hope of bringing that day forward. But for now, like he said. Hello, elephant, I see you.

Madeline Bunting in the Guardian can see the elephant, too. Her Guardian article is entitled "Elephants in the room." But she isn't going to mention any particular elephant by name. Allusion will be made to the existence of the category of pachyderms, but that is all:

Some fears that reared their heads in the discussion seem bizarre, such as the fear of Islam as a proselytising, expansionary faith; Catholicism has comparable ambition, but no one is demonising the rosary-reciting faithful - there's as much evidence of a stampede of converts to the confessional box as there is to the mosque. But some fears are well-founded: fundamentalism has emerged as an aberrant, aggressive phenomenon in all the world's religions.

Emphasis added by me. Bunting continues:

Recognise faith identity and does one end up arbitrating between extremist interpretations of those faiths - the evangelical Christian and the Sikh mobs between them constraining free speech?

As if Salman Rushdie had never existed. (He won't exist much longer if the renewed call for his death issued by the Iranian Supreme Ayatollah the other day is heeded.)

The only effect of this pussyfooting around is to generate sarcasm. In all the world's religions, sure, but not equally. A certain uneveness in the problem of religious violence is why earnest Guardianistas find it necessary to organise conferences on Islam, Race and British identity. If the Guardian really wanted to generate goodwill towards Muslims it could talk about the bravery of Iraqi election workers and voters. And here's where I turn my sarcasm button off: it did.

Very snug.

When musing on state employees going back to bed without penalty while the private sector toils on or suffers the consequences, I realised that the entire situation was summarised by J Dormouse:

And when Mr John Dormouse was complained to, he stayed in bed, and would say nothing but "very snug;" which is not the way to carry on a retail business.

The entire text is here. How oddly it reads without the pictures. And by double clicking on any word, even "the", you can get a dictionary definition. Correction: not any word. It doesn't work for "'ticing." It's against my principles to tice anyway.

Incidentally, I must do some more private sector toiling myself in the next few days. This will probably do my blogging no end of good: anything to put off the start of work.

Here I am

, back after longer than I thought. As usual when I return after a gap, my mind is blank. Blogging, wot dat? Perhaps I ought to go back to bed and consider matters. I could if I were an Indian schoolteacher employed by the state.

"A third of state school teachers are absent on any given day, according to a recent survey. The same applies to the country’s primary health clinics, which are more often empty than staffed."

That's from a post in the Adam Smith Institute blog that links to an article in the Financial Times by Edward Luce about bureaucracy in India.