Monday, October 02, 2006
CLASH CONVERTERS
Terrorist Christians—well, former Christians; most likely Presbyterians—in Southeast Asia:
A network of homegrown converts to radical Islam has emerged as a major terrorist threat in Southeast Asia, teaming up with higher-profile al-Qa’ida offshoots Jemaah Islamiah and Abu Sayyaf to plot attacks on Western and local targets.
Manila’s top anti-terrorism official has told The Australian that the group of former Christians known as Rajah Solaiman is highly educated and well-financed and lacked the profile of traditional Islamist terrorist groups, making it easier to evade detection.
Also in today’s Australian, an update on Minnesota’s alcohol-banning jicabbies:
The ban has created chaos at Minneapolis-St Paul international airport, where about three-quarters of the 900 taxi drivers are Somali and mostly Muslim.
Airport officials have begun working with taxi drivers to install colour-coded lights on taxi roofs to indicate which are alcohol friendly and which are not.
Uh-oh. You know what happens to roof-lit vehicles driven by the Faithful. Incoming!
UPDATE. The Australian’s editorial:
What is happening at the airport in Minneapolis-St. Paul is just as much of an indictment of multiculturalism as other incidences of self-censorship and self-flagellation that occur on a near-daily basis among Westerners seeking to avoid or atone for offending the most prudish or outlandish of Islamic sensibilities. And it shows what can happen when a culture allows immigrants to behave as conquerors, instead of politely but firmly suggesting that newcomers who wish to impose their theocratic ways on a secular community try their luck elsewhere. One wonders what Minneapolis’s cabbies will demand next. The right not to drive passengers home from the supermarket if they are carrying bacon? That couples present a marriage licence before holding hands in the back seat? (In that case, perhaps Margaret Whitlam could get a retirement job driving taxis in the Twin Cities.)
UPDATE II. Florida Cracker:
The airport authorities are working on a system of color-coding the lights on the cabs to make it easier to direct passengers to the appropriate vehicles. They haven’t decided on the colors, but I think they should keep yellow in reserve as it would be a good choice for designating which cabbies will carry Jews.
UPDATE III. Piglito:
If someone wants to lose business over a religious principle, let them, is my laissez-faire response. Market conditions will certainly sort this out. Mid-westerners will not support such businesses, and others will come along.
UPDATE IV. Wheat and Weeds:
What about a Catholic driver refusing to drive someone to an abortion clinic?