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Last updated on July 26th, 2017 at 01:06 pm
Media Watch last night exposed as myth the widely-reported and linked (including here) story of two British banks banning piggy banks lest they offend Muslim customers. “Media Watch has tracked down the origin of this story to a regional paper in the north west of England, The Lancashire Evening Telegraph,” reported host Liz Jackson.
The story was “hogwash”, Media Watch concluded, having obtained denials from the banks involved (which represents something of a breakthrough; on this issue, at least, furiously leftoid Media Watch actually trusts banks). But does Media Watch trust its own viewers? Possibly not, otherwise the program might have shown more than just the headline and first paragraph from the Evening Telegraph’s article. Here’s the entire piece, forwarded by the paper, which stands by its story:
Piggy banks are being removed from promotional displays in Blackburn town centre banks — in case they cause offence to Muslim customers.
Today the action was backed by the secretary of the Lancashire Council of Mosques, Salim Mullla, who praised the organisations for acting with “sensitivity.”
However, other religious leaders from East Lancashire expressed concern that efforts not to cause offence had a danger of stifling freedom of expression and causing resentment and intolerance.
The Dean of Blackburn, The Very Reverend Christopher Armstrong, said: “This is petty and political correctness gone mad.
“The next thing we will be banning Christmas trees and cribs and the logical result of that sort of process is a bland uniformity where nobody is different and that is a world that I don’t want to live in.
“We should learn to celebrate our differences and not be fearful of them.”
The Qu’ran bars Muslims from eating pork and considers pigs to be unclean.
Coun Mulla said that the banning of piggy banks or pig related merchandise and products was a sensitive issue.
He said: “Within our faith there are strict rules about not consuming pork or coming into contact with pigs.
“This is a sensitive issue and it all depends on what the individual person thinks or believes.
“Some people will not be bothered about seeing piggy banks but some will — everyone reacts in different ways.
“I think the banks are simply being courteous to their customers by removing the piggy banks.
“They are showing sensitivity to people’s beliefs and I think this action is reasonable.”
A spokesman for Halifax, which has branches in Accrington, Burnley, Nelson and Blackburn, said: “We no longer have any advertising that features piggy banks or is piggy bank related.
“That has now been out-phased and we use ‘Howard’ for all our promotions and advertising.
“Customers will now see cardboard cut-outs of ‘Howard’ in our East Lancashire branches.
“‘Howard is of race so we can hardly be accused of being racist. It is very important for us that we engage with all of our customers.”
A spokesman for the Nat West bank admitted piggy banks had been removed from branches in East Lancashire but insisted there had been no directions from head office and such acts would have been at a branch’s own volition.
Jackson’s claims that “this story is not just silly … Frankly, it was always incredible” are diminished by Salim Mullla’s approval of the banks’ reported actions; he clearly doesn’t think it a silly decision at all, and allows that some Muslims are bothered by piggy banks. The program has sought to conceal this. Also concealed: the full email from Halifax group communications manager Mark Hemingway, from which only a tiny extractis offered—although bank emails directly rejecting the piggy bank story are presented in full (in PDF form, at the Media Watch site).
Incidentally, according to the Evening Telegraph, neither bank has complained about this story—which was never “silly” or “incredible”, given that a Yorkshire school removed pig-mentioning books from classrooms (via Damian Penny), a Tory council ordered that novelty pigs and pig-related items not occupy office desks, and Melbourne KFC restaurants dropped bacon dishes from their menus. Still, it’s good that Media Watch is addressing the piggy bank controversy; one week they might get around to investigating other plastic creatures.
(More on this at HMS Cheesemaker.)
I was saying only the other day that the best way to tell a lie is to tell half the truth.
BTW, what was Liz Jackson wearing? There wasn’t a pleated skirt, white socks and shiny black Mary Janes under the desk was there?
Oops, what a giveaway…
— Nick
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 10/31 at 03:03 PM • permalink
- So what’s next,no ham sandwiches on the menu?
I wish I had a Muslin neighbour so I could have a pig roast in my back yard.Lots of friends,lots of beer and lots of music.Posted by starboardside on 10/31 at 03:11 PM • permalink
- Once again Media Blotch tackles the important issues snout on, and shows that any story indicating that islamic silliness is becoming a force in their politically correct parallel universe is, well, Hogwash.
Next week our fearless fimbles will prove that the Dudley Council Piglet Pogrom also is a pigment of swine fevered Imaginations.
Howard is of race so we can hardly be accused of being racist.
What does this mean, “of race”? Is there a word missing?
Once Muslims have succeeded in banning pig images, how long before they start agitating for all women to wear hijab, and all men to grow their beards? You know, in the interest of “showing sensitivity to people’s beliefs”.
- RebeccaH, you were saying…. (via LGF)
http://www.news24.com/News24/World/News/0,,2-10-1462_1823632,00.html
Its a pretty tough life when even Siberian hamsters get the chop
- off topic, but The Age today in its special color supplement on the Melbourne Cup manages to get the colors of every jockey’s cap wrong – see p2, column on the left. For example, if Vinnie Roe’s your horse, watch for the jockey’s red-check and blue cap, or maybe ignore The Age.
even more off-topic, but after the absolute crescendo of fawning coverage in The Age in past months of ABC luvvie Virginia Trioli, radio gabber and ex-Age staffer, we read today p7 The Age: “Virginia Trioli, former Melbourne drive-time host of ABC 774, received an unfortunate welcome to her new morning slot at ABC 702 in Sydney. It crashed from fifth to eighth position, with just 6.5% of audience share. The Melbourne drive slot she vacated rose from sixth to fourth, up 0.7 to 10.8%.”
In the past 12 months, The Age has referred to Virginia in 102 articles (source: Age archives). This even exceeds the number of letters from asylum-seeker tragic Marilyn Shepherd selected by the Age Letters Page editors.
The issue was credible enough for Khalid Mahmoud the Labour MP for a Birmingham to make a serious comment.
I think this is standard Media Watch conduct: Search for (insert leftie issue here) and if there is one person/organisation who has looked into the issue and who says the thing didn’t happen then it conclusively and without doubt didn’t happen. The same thing happened with the Able Danger on when one of the 911 terrorists entered the US which in Media Watch’s view conclusively didn’t happen. They have what you and I call a closed mind.
- Pork products were barred from the menu at all detention centres for as long as I worked there.
About 1/3 to 1/2 of the residents werent muslim , but the “fact” that the cooking gear would become unclean meant they would miss out.
In addition we had 2 Mosques but both the Catholic and Uniting church had to use classrooms for their Masses.
The “religous” video in one of the mosques was one depicting barbaric punishments, real ones, not “passion of the christ” stuff.
Welcome to the wonderfull world of a system where we glorify the barbaric 7th century goons at our own expense.Posted by thefrollickingmole on 10/31 at 06:39 PM • permalink
How do they keep getting away with this shit??? SIGH!!!!!
And that crap about piggy banks was preceded by
yet more about David Hicks on Four Corners and a report titled ‘Bushwhacked’ on the 7:30 Report!
All I can say is that the Four Corners website better post my comments this time or I’m gonna raise HOLY HELL!Good work for getting to the bottom of this one.
Hey, hey. The Burger King in the UK had to remove their advertisement for soft-serve ice cream because an irate Muslim threatened jihad against them if they didn’t. NO JOKE. The swirl apparently resembled a symbol for Allah. Also, watch out , dogs are even more unclean than pigs are according to Muslim sensibilities. First Piglet, then Lassie, who knows what’s next : perhaps innocent office workers in the Twin To …..oops ! They covered that one already. Winston Churchill said, “ an appeasor is one who keeps feeding the alligator in the hopes that it will eat him last.”
Posted by Jess1Dering on 10/31 at 07:31 PM • permalink
Does anyone actually know just why the prophet is said to be insulted by any reference to pigs etc.? The unclean thing does not compute,given the doubtful sanitary standards of most muslim countries.Could it have been a case love gone wrong? Jews also have an embargo on pigs but seem to manage to coexist with pig fanciers without any problems.
- #19
I spent most of the morning driving and had ABC radio on, only to escape the (3rd. party) commercials I hasten to add.
Every news clip and news break featured a bit of a rant about ‘new’ allegations (via 4Corners apparently) that Australia’s trendy martyr David Hicks had been tortured and sexually abused by American soldiers at Guantanomo Bay. The reports were non-specific as to whether or not the American soldiers were male or female, which I thought was piss-poor reporting.
All of this (apparently) through Hick’s military counsel, Major Mori. Now, I might be just the teeniest bit cynical (or am I just hopeful), but does anyone else here feel that (after the Hick’s circus is over), Mori might serve out the rest of his time in the Corps in Bumfuck, Alaska, counting toilet rolls as the Marine Corps oldest major?
Probably not! The way the world’s screwed up these days Mori will probably retire, take up one of the 100, or so, offers he’s sitting on and become a multi-millionaire within a few weeks.
BTW, I finally gave up on ABC radio, surfed the commercial stations and heard nary a more bleat about Hicks.
The world’s going mad. In today’s Telegraph (UK):
Royal Mail’s Christmas stamp insults our religion, say Hindus.
Hindus are demanding that Royal Mail withdraws one of this year’s Christmas stamps, claiming the mother and child image it represents is insulting to their religion…
The 68p Christmas stamp, which would be used to send mail to India, features a man and woman with Hindu markings worshipping the infant Christ…
Ramesh Kallidai, secretary general of the Hindu Forum of Britain, said the image was insensitive, because it showed people who were clearly Hindu worshipping Christ…
The stamps were drawn from religious images around the world. The Hindu stamp was taken from a picture that hangs in Bombay, India, and was painted in the 17th century.
Royal Mail said no offence had been intended. “We thought it would be nice to return to a religious theme,” a spokesman said.
Perhaps Royal Mail could consider stamps with a porcine theme.
Posted by walterplinge on 10/31 at 08:46 PM • permalink
Boss Hog—McMurdo Sound needs a JAG. Send him there.
And you’re forbidden to post in the UK, you traif blogger you…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 10/31 at 08:48 PM • permalink
Before Easter comes around we’d better check how Australian Muslims feel about Bilbies. The Easter Bunny is out…choc Bilbies are in.
I was in Coles in Coburg a couple of weeks back – lots of Muslim women shop there but no one was too exercised about them selling bacon, pork sausages, roast legs of pork &c.
Any readers from Detroit? I reckon the supermarkets there would be selling pork products by the pallet load.
Posted by walterplinge on 10/31 at 08:52 PM • permalink
I notice a lot of people on Media Watch’s comments board are critical – hee, hee.
— Nora (who is disturbed by Nick’s interest in Liz Jackson)
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 10/31 at 09:05 PM • permalink
it’s the jooooos again, hiding their pig hatred to make the muslims seem loony
seriously though, this pc shit has defo gone too far in australia, with banning of xmas, banning of ham sandwiches, etc etc – the muslim community doesn’t ask us to do these things, we’re just caught up in global nuttiness
What does this mean, “of race”? Is there a word missing?
Having seen the advertising campaign in question, I can tell you that Howard is, in fact, black. “Of race” is a new one on me, though; in the UK, the PC term is ‘Afro-Caribbean’ (incidentally, ‘coloured’ was an acceptable term in the UK well into the ‘80s, and you regularly heard the word ‘black’ applied to all dark-skinned people until about the mid-’90s).
#24 walterplinge:
Ramesh Kallidai, secretary general of the Hindu Forum of Britain, said the image was insensitive, because it showed people who were clearly Hindu worshipping Christ
Actually, that sounds like a reasonable complaint (assuming the story has been reported accurately).
Porcelain pigs offend Muslims:
LEICESTER—Police here in central England seized a collection of porcelain pigs from a house’s window sill after Muslims complained that they were offensive.
“I just couldn’t believe it, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry,” Mrs Nancy Bennett, the owner of the 17 miniature pigs, told the Sun tabloid newspaper.
The porcelain figures were held at the local police station, while Mrs Bennett was threatened with prosecution if she replaces the collection. Her house is located in the same street as the city’s main mosque, meaning that Muslim worshippers often passed by her front window where the pig figurines were on display.
“Muslims find pigs highly offensive,” explained police officer David Griffiths. “That is why the complaints were made”.—Sapa-AFP
Porcelain porcines prick petty PCers particularly – pity.
— Nora
Wasting time before going to a Melbourne Cup lunch
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 10/31 at 09:24 PM • permalink
#33 kae – Oh no, not the countdown! 😉
I’ve only just started thinking about Christmas shopping.
— Nora(looks at clock on computer and wishes 30 minutes would just disappear)
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 10/31 at 09:27 PM • permalink
Under exactly what charge did the police enter this woman’s home and confiscate her porcelain pigs?
If this did happen, it seems most likely to me that the police decided that the display of the pigs risked causing a breach of the peace. Still seems like a huge over-reaction, though.
My point is the date of the report, cuckoo. Seven years ago the same sorts of stories were being circulated. Depending on your opinion, that points either to the persistence of an urban myth – perhaps invented by tabloids – or to the reality of some underlying anti-pig phenomenon. Either way, the Muslims and figurine pigs affair seems to warrant examination by the Myth-Busters.
#35 and #31, the date on the article is “May 26, 1998” so it would have been rebuked or confirmed by now. It appears to be gettig some linkage at the moment thanks to Piggy-Mania.
As for what charge? I was going to come up with some hilarious porcine pun, but had no luck.
German Jokes dot com was no use either.
The Times (26.05.98) reports that: “Nancy Bennett, 49, who faces possible prosecution after complaints from Muslims over a display of china pigs in the front window of her home in Leicester, had a quotation from the Koran alongside them, it emerged yesterday”. The first national newspaper to report on the case was the Sun (25.05.98). To date, there has been no reports from Leicester papers. The Independent (26.05.98) reports that Ms Bennett, who lives near the Highfields Mosque, claims the complaint about the pig ornaments “was made after she went to the police to report allegations of harassment. It is understood that the pigs were displayed alongside a quote from the Qur’an which said: ‘Let there be no coercion in religion’. Leicestershire Police were investigating the matter and would be sending a file to the Crown Prosecution Service, who might consider bringing charges against Ms Bennett under the Public Order Act (Dundee Evening Telegraph, 25.05.98).
Dhimmi WatchThe quotation from the Koran next to the pigs indicates that she was clearly intending to provoke Muslims. Of course, in a free society, you should be able to provoke Muslims, Christians, or followers of any frakkin’ religion …
Posted by Lionel Mandrake on 10/31 at 10:23 PM • permalink
Leicestershire Police were investigating the matter and would be sending a file to the Crown Prosecution Service, who might consider bringing charges against Ms Bennett under the Public Order Act
I thought so, they were considering it likely to cause a breach of the peace.
Of course, in a free society, you should be able to provoke Muslims, Christians, or followers of any frakkin’ religion …
Free speech isn’t as strongly protected in Britain as it is in America. I think the lack of a written constitution is part of the problem, but the EU constitution shows what a mess a British constitution would probably turn out as if they tried to write one now…
The quotation from the Koran next to the pigs indicates that she was clearly intending to provoke Muslims.
Hang on a second…
The Independent (26.05.98) reports that Ms Bennett, who lives near the Highfields Mosque, claims the complaint about the pig ornaments “was made after she went to the police to report allegations of harassment.
So did she put up the provocative sign before, or after she was harrassed? Not that the sign is especially provocative in my opinion.A constitution is not always the answer by the way. Israel doesn’t have a constitution (rather a series of laws) yet its society is a model of democracy, especially given the circumstances under which they live.
O/T but this is perhaps the funniest news I’ve heard for a long time:
GREENPEACE is to be fined after its flagship Rainbow Warrior II damaged a
coral reef in the central Philippines during a climate change awareness campaign.Click the link for the rest of the story.
Ah, JamesP, I was just about to post that.
But the best bit is the clincher…
Mr Constantino said that Greenpeace divers on the Tubbataha expedition had found that healthy coral and no evidence of bleaching, believed to be caused by warming sea temperatures. He said the healthy state of the Tubbataha Reefs did not disprove the theory of global warming, which he described as an “extremely complicated science”.
Science is hard.
Posted by Quentin George on 11/01 at 12:11 AM • permalink
Don’t forget Muslims not wanting the Florentine Boar statue to be replaced (for the same reasons) in the Derby Arboretum.
But now the ABC story has got me wondering if it’s BS or not…?
Anyhoo. Here’s a link. Not saying it’s the best link – there’s plenty out there.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/001320.phpPosted by H. C. Loads on 11/01 at 01:38 AM • permalink
::tap, tap, tap impatiently:: still waiting for Media Watch to put up my comment. If they don’t I sharn’t be pleased.
— Nora
Posted by The Thin Man Returns on 11/01 at 02:11 AM • permalink
What’s with Liz Jackson’s fake nose? Is she trying to do an Owen Wilson?
Posted by Deo Vindice on 11/01 at 04:44 AM • permalink
Pork products were barred from the menu at all detention centres for as long as I worked there. About 1/3 to 1/2 of the residents werent muslim , but the “fact” that the cooking gear would become unclean meant they would miss out.
Don’t forget, Islam is the world’s fastest growing religion (in prison)…
I don’t get it with the Muslims.
I accept they may not want to eat pork. Fair enough – whatever floats your boats. I don’t particularly fancy eating horse, echidna or rhinoceros.
But I don’t hate those animals and would not object to statues, pictures, toys etc of them.
What’s their problem? Is it just another wheeze to distablise things and to distract us?
Posted by Flying Giraffe on 11/01 at 06:08 AM • permalink
Does anyone actually know just why the prophet is said to be insulted by any reference to pigs etc.? The unclean thing does not compute,given the doubtful sanitary standards of most muslim countries.Could it have been a case love gone wrong? Jews also have an embargo on pigs but seem to manage to coexist with pig fanciers without any problems.
From memory, the pig is classified as an unclean animal by God to Moses (leviticus 11 or 12?). As Mohommed based his religion on that of the israelites (ironic, no?), the pig also got the bad word from him.
There is a lot of speculation as to the reasons why the porker got such a bad trot, but the fact that disease is more easily transferable between pigs and humans than humans and sheep, for example, could be a big factor, particularly with the limited ability to practice good hygiene in primitive desert camps.
With modern piggeries, with high levels of disease control (something you will never hear the RSPCA endorsing) these problems are significantly reduced, so the original reasons for imposing the bans on pigs may no longer be relevant, except in the religeous sense. In addition to jews and moslems, christian seventh day adventists and a few other christian faiths also practice these mosiac food laws.
Don’t have clue what the problem is with dogs, though. Perhaps the Prophet stepped on some doggie doo on the way to a hot date……or hydatids. Actually, now that I think of it, that would be a pretty good reason. Never understood why people keep dogs inside, or even worse, let them lick their face!
- Re: #19.
Four Corners has censored me YET AGAIN!
The 7:30 Report site has censored my comments for most of the year. It seems that silly, old Kerry has to be protected from scary alternative points of view as well. There’s no point complaining to ABC Management, I’ve done that repeatedly over the years…YES YEARS!
I submitted an EXACT copy of my original Four Corners comments to the Media Watch site. Let’s see how far this INCREDIBLE HYPOCRISYgoes!
I’ve given up on Media Watch: it used to have attitude and a sense of humour, now it’s just lame.
Imagine life without bacon, not to mention a beer and a punt. No wonder the ayatollahs are cranky.
Funny how this porky stuff is always called “political correctness gone mad” when it’s more often just businesses making commercial decisions. The way they see it, why risk upsetting 10% of your customers when the other 90% couldn’t give a shit either way? If enough porkophiles made a fuss, they would soon change their minds.
I suspect that this latest round of Hicks “outrage” is just getting started so you might want to lay-off ABC radio for some time yet mate.
And you better give SBS a wide berth too while you’re at it. Tomorrow night Dateline re-returns to Abu Ghraib, and to top it off they’re sitting down for a little chat with Joseph Wilson…yes that Joseph Wilson!
Maybe the pigs should ask themselves “Why do they hate us?” I mean, seriously, the genocidal pedophile even managed to say “He who played backgammon is like one who dyed his hand with the flesh and blood of swine” so trying to find reason in his madness is a futile endeavour. As Burroughs said in his “Advice For Young People”:’Do not proffer sympathy to the mentally ill; it is a bottomless pit. Tell them firmly, “I am not paid to listen to this drivel—you are a terminal fool!” Otherwise, they make you as crazy as they are.’ If only he’d been around in the 7th century, perhaps the Twin Towers would still be standing.
Though probably apocryphal, a Lebanese Christian told me that Mo developed his hatred of dogs after he’d buried something in the ground in preparation for a “miracle” he had intended to perform, and a dog dug it up. That said, dogs are truly disgusting creatures, so I have to agree with Mo on this one.
Posted by Jim Geones on 11/01 at 08:04 AM • permalink
- Foreign horrorspondent tonight and miss Jane voyeuristically exploits the catholic church and exorcisms -as you would..
Try as she might though,she just couldn’t get rid of that tilt.Hucheon nods and winks and bobs and twitches in a very unrestful way.I feel quite exhausted after a session with aunty’s horrorspondents.She intersperses the tilts with striking attitudes such as “compassionate”,”patronising”,”downright condescending”,”stoically cheerful”,”I’m educated so I understand all this even
though I despise all these morons” etc.
Then it was off to Fiji to despise the locals for being of a military mindset.
the image was insensitive, because it showed people who were clearly Hindu worshipping Christ
I haven’t seen this stamp. How can one tell the people were “clearly Hindu”?
They didn’t just mean “Indian,” did they? There are Indian Christians, after all….
Posted by Rittenhouse on 11/01 at 09:27 AM • permalink
o/t Sheik Hilaly has called for an urgent investigation into the Australian operations of an Islamic group called al Ahbash or officially the Islamic Charity Projects Association.This group has been linked by a U.N. report into the assassination of the former prime minister of Lebanon.They have a compound including a mosque and a school in Bankstown.Muslim community radio is nearby.Mr Mehio,a former vice president of Muslim radio,was visited in Australia(along with another significant leader)by an al Ahbash member who has been arrested in Lebanon.Visited more than once.Thank you Sheik Hilaly for your diligence.(source Oz)
I haven’t seen this stamp. How can one tell the people were “clearly Hindu”?
They didn’t just mean “Indian,” did they? There are Indian Christians, after all….
The report clearly states:
The 68p Christmas stamp, which would be used to send mail to India, features a man and woman with Hindu markings worshipping the infant Christ
This, of course, assumes that the report is correct. The Telegraph is better than average when it comes to factchecking, but they still get a lot of things wrong (it’s called ‘being a newspaper’).
#30. Thanks for clearing that up. So, if “Howard” is black, and that makes him “of race”, does this mean that the PCers believe being white means being “without race”? I’m extremely confused.
#54 and #21: Most scientists believe pigs (and dogs) came to be classified as unclean by the desert religions of the Middle East because those animals are particularly susceptible to trichinosis, which is a disease caused by the trichinellosis parasitic worm. Eating their undercooked meat could pass the parasite on to humans, and is an extremely unpleasant disease. Also the worm is found in bears, wild felines (such as a cougar), foxes, wolves, horses, seals, and walrus. So cook very well before you eat.
Looks like we have another media-hawked plastic turkey: the “suitcase nuke.”
Posted by Rittenhouse on 11/01 at 10:47 AM • permalink
Ah yes. The mythical Suitcase Nuke.
Whenever I question it’s existence at other, more “progressive” forums, several regulars will post a picture of some US government official with a mock-up of what one might look like and I’m told to do unpleasant things with various objects and various parts of my anatomy. No evidence of a real one has ever been produced, and since the old Soviet Union’s abilities at miniaturization were laughable at best, the idea that they managed to create a nuclear device less than one quarter the size of the smallest American nuke is patently absurd.
A full-sized atomic bomb in a shipping container is a far more likely scenario, but nearly as spooky as an Urban Legend.
Posted by Spiny Norman on 11/01 at 11:21 AM • permalink
Oh yeah! Suitcase nukes that actually fit in a suitcase that one guy can carry with one hand, that have been missing since at least 1997 without ever being found or used, and that are in good working order … uh huh. I’m real worried, aren’t you?
Posted by Stoop Davy Dave on 11/01 at 11:40 AM • permalink
Heh. Not only did I leave “not” off of “not nearly”, I used “it’s” instead of “its”—are these early signs of Margok Syndrome?
=^(
Posted by Spiny Norman on 11/01 at 12:47 PM • permalink
I expect that in the United States Muslim policemen will object to thugs calling them “PIGS” as they (the thugs)do all other police. Sure to produce a widespread Muslim police strike if the thugs refuse to do the politically correct thing. Perhaps even spreading to the general Muslim population, now having a fun time rampaging near Paris (the MSM’s best kept secret). The reasons are not clear, but the blame seems to be on the JOOOS who are accused of not selling them kosher meat.
#30 you regularly heard the word ‘black’ applied to all dark-skinned people until about the mid-’90s).
Yeah, and I’m writing to the Anti- Discrimination Commission about all the references to ‘whites’, still applied to ‘all light-skinned’ etc.
Let’s all insist we are given the ugly label ‘Caucasian’ instead, whatever that means.:-)
#70: “SBS head of radio Quang Luu said he would have to investigate the memo further.
“The person who wrote that memo is not PA of the national editor anymore. Cherill Magee is the librarian in the Melbourne production centre,” Mr Luu said. “
What, you mean the national editor had to get someone even more disgustingly anti-American?
#73 I’m of European descent. I’m not a cork-asian.
Posted by pog-ma-thon on 11/01 at 05:59 PM • permalink
- The City of Adelaide [in the top 10 cities in the world list] has four or more life-size brass pigs in its main outside shopping mall, one actually trying to eat from a litter bin.
I don’t like the chances of the Moslem Art Police getting them moved – they are one of the most popular pieces of public art I’ve seen anywhere in the world, sort of our own Trafalgar Square lions.
jic: Free speech isn’t as strongly protected in Britain as it is in America.
Rubbish, jic.
Tell that to any US kids trying to arrange a private prayer meeting on public school property.Tell that to the US Christians arrested for a peaceful, non-intrusive protest outside an abortion clinic last year.
They held up SIGNS! GULP.
the idea that they managed to create a nuclear device less than one quarter the size of the smallest American nuke is patently absurd
Don’t forget the infamous Davy Crockett atomic bazooka!
“The M388 Projectile weighed 76 pounds (the W-54 warhead coming in at 51 pounds of this total). The projectile was 31 inches long and 11 inches at its widest point.”Incidentally, I’m glad OpinionJournal is exposing the ‘suitcase nuke’ story which always seemed far-fetched to me.
Posted by Lionel Mandrake on 11/01 at 06:47 PM • permalink
#36 jic: If this did happen, it seems most likely to me that the police decided that the display of the pigs risked causing a breach of the peace. Still seems like a huge over-reaction, though.
‘Provoking’ Moslems by quoting their own words on *moderation*?
Surely someone knows how this 1998 incident turned out?
‘Huge over-reaction’ happens. jic. But in the US, and now in the UK with its EU Bill, it can be justified by a ‘Bill of Rights’.
Yeah, that soccer fatwa thing seems to be making the rounds right now. My newsweekly of choice reported on it Monday last week…I wouldn’t be surprised if the inspiration came from this Michael Ledeen article at NRO, since his name gets dropped in the magazine now and then. His article, in turn, is based on this MEMRI post.
Interestingly, neither MEMRI nor Ledeen (nor any other newspaper article I’ve seen on this) included the Guardian’s claim that the Al Watan newspaper published the fatwa “as part of a government drive to eliminate frivolous fatwas”. Given that the newspaper was apparently widely criticized for publishing the thing (indicating that it wasn’t done for mockery), I dare say that the Grauniad is trying to spin this so as not to make the Saudis look like complete buffoons. Anyone surprised? Me neither.
#84 – The joys of shariah soccer!
I loved the bit about not playing 2 halves – play one half or three halves!!
May be they set the VCE maths syllabus.
Posted by pog-ma-thon on 11/01 at 08:11 PM • permalink
#54, The Prophet was a cat person, so naturally he did not like dogs. Since his behavior is the paradigm of the perfect life, one must follow his behavior and prejudices. QED.
As to this anti-piglet and anti-piggy bank stuff, this represents Muslim grievance-mongers trying it on. The more they are appeased the more they wil demand. That happened with black radicals in the USA. I particularly remember a story from about 1968, reported in Surveyby its editor Leo Labedz (an academic journal of Slavic studies), about black scholarship students at Brandeis University in New York. That is a Jewish institution. The students were threatening to strike because the school’s kosher kitchens in the dorms did not serve traditional Negro pork dishes.
If Muslims don’t like piglet they don’t have to buy mugs with piglet on them, nor do they have to have piggy banks (a niche market for Murray Hill, camel banks for Muslim children). No one is forcing them to eat pork, or look at pictures showing images of human beings (another serious no-no in Islam). If these things offend them, why they can return to Saudi, or Pakistan, or whatever paradise of justice and prosperity they, or their immediate ancestors, came from in the first place.
Don’t try to appease the unappeaseable.
Posted by Michael Lonie on 11/01 at 08:17 PM • permalink
Shariah soccer—the ball has a pull-pin…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 11/01 at 08:40 PM • permalink
Lionel Mandrake—The Davy Crockett was famous for having a blast radius wider than its firing range. Pull the trigger and you were standing at ground zero. The first thing the crews learned to do was dig a DEEP foxhole…
Posted by richard mcenroe on 11/01 at 08:42 PM • permalink
The RSPCA wouldn’t like this one either but could we build suicide pig bombers. Strap some plastic explosive on to Pigs run them into a village under “al Quaeda in Mesopatamia” control and blow the poor piggy up. Pigs guts everywhere. Works a bit like a neutron bomb gets rid of Al Quaeda but leaves the buildings. To give it a bit of an “Apocalypse Now” feel to it we could Have Tom Jones singing “Pig Bomb Pig Bomb Your my Pig Bomb…” over loud speakers say 30 seconds before ignition.
Posted by the nailgun on 11/01 at 08:52 PM • permalink
#54 Entropy and #64 RebeccaH.Your information helps but I’m still at a loss to understand why metal piggybanks or porcelain ornaments should raise such indignation.I suspect #87 Michael Lonie is much closer to the money.By the way many very nasty parasites and diseases can be contracted by eating a variety of partly cooked meats,including lamb and beef.This fact doesn’t appear to have dawned on the followers of the prophet who don’t mind munching on raw mince,not pig of course.
- #93
Since the UK is part of the EU it is subject to the European “Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms”.
Have a look at this Wikipedia article , especially the last bit.Posted by pog-ma-thon on 11/01 at 11:00 PM • permalink
Ooops, #92 refers to #92, not #93,
Posted by pog-ma-thon on 11/01 at 11:02 PM • permalink
Adopt-A-Hog for your blog, tim!