Islam is not the only religion that, if given its head, would severely restrict liberty. Libertarianism is opposed by fundamentalists of every stripe. But libertarianism helps to undergird the rights of all believers.
Here are some things that Moslem clerics have in mind:
# Men and women are forbidden to mix socially.
# Extramarital sex is severely punishable.
# Men must cover the body from navel to knee.
# Women must cover the whole body except for face and hands. Suggestive clothing is prohibited.
# Prayer is compulsory five times daily.
# Payment for charity is required from annual savings.
Of course, even Christendom of yore had similar straitjacket tendencies -- which I, for one, don't want to revive. Free choice, not compulsion, is what America is all about. Compulsion exists, but we try to keep it to a minimum.
Islam denies the core beliefs of standard Christianity, accepting that Jesus was a prophet born of a virgin, but who was not crucified, is not God's son and is not the savior. (I'm unsure why the "last prophet" Mohammed didn't rate virgin birth.)
Of course, Muslims in America have a right to these beliefs.
However, for many fundamentalists, it is the aim of Islam to order society so that such restrictions can be applied. Once they take over, forget freedom of speech, press, religion or association. These liberties will exist nominally, but in reality will be severely restricted.
As for violence, Islamic theologians do not deny the violent conquests by Mohammed and his followers, but argue they were energized by Allah.
Violent resistance is still considered a moral obligation when a Muslim country is attacked by a non-Muslim country, according to Sunni theologian Abul a'la Mawdudi. All Muslims are exhorted to join such holy struggles.
The point of all this is that America must be vigilant about the desire of some Muslims to overthrow the Great Satan and institute Islamic social controls. Congress might want to consider the rate of immigration of people from such cultures. Too high an inflow can spell trouble for everybody.
Lars Vilks, the Danish cartoonist whose drawings of Mohammed have sparked Muslim outrage, has been invited back to Uppsala University in Stockholm to give a lecture. His previous lecture was cut short by unruly Muslim students. His residence in Denmark was also the target of an arsonist.
Molly Norris, the Seattle cartoonist who originated Everybody Draw Mohammed Day was the Facebook user whose personal information was compromised by a hacker who called himself a "Pakistani student" who "loves Mohammed," according to blogger Khawerkhan. Death talk appears on the hacked page shown by Khawerkhan.
A Muslim blogger, Sanasaleem, explains why he opposes Pakistan's censorship of Facebook without endorsing Everybody Draw Mohammed Day. It is apparent that he was besieged by critics who don't get it.
Blogger Michael Corcoran has a first-rate essay at deceivedworld.blogspot.com describing Israel's rigorous censorship system. The essay is so good that one can overlook his concerns about the Illuminati.
An FBI linguist was sentenced to 20 months in prison for leaking classified documents to an unnamed blogger. The Israeli American lawyer, who pleaded guilty, wanted to expose misconduct, he said. Information on this matter is skimpy. See Secrecy News, published by the Federation of American Scientists.
Russians watching TV news were kept ignorant of a protest by miners in Western Siberia following the coal mine disaster there, reports the Christian Science Monitor. Russians who read one of the dwindling number of independent newspapers or who had access to the internet could have learned of the protest, which included the blockade of a rail line.
Eugeny Morozov says in a Foreign Policy blog that Yuri Milner, the chief of the widely hailed Russian firm Digital Sky Technologies, has been hired by the Kremlin to cleanse the internet of illegal content. We can well imagine that in future DST's censorware will block videos of protests by coal miners.
Commercial censorware is becoming, in the minds of some, excessive, reports the Australian. Not only are employees and users of public computers finding that "bad" sites are blocked, filter systems such as SmartFilter and Websense can be set to block servers that host news sites.
Tabnappers pose a significant threat to privacy, Federal Radio News reports.
Hackers use Javascript to secretly change content of open but idle tab browser windows. All major browsers for Windows 7 and Mac OS are vulnerable, FRS said.
Yikes! Cyberattacks on pacemakers have become a realistic scenario, FRS said.
France and the Netherlands have joined forces to try to establish international standards guaranteeing an uncensored internet, the Dutch Foreign Ministry said in an Agence France-Presse dispatch.
Papua-New Guinea journalists protested the government's detention of two French television journalists who had been covering a protest. The government said their papers were not in order.
The Society of Professional Journalists is applauding a Wyoming appellate court's overturning of a judge's order forbidding newspapers from printing a story about a local educator. He had sought the gag order against the papers on the basis that the Laramie Community College's report on his behavior on a jaunt with students couldn't be revealed because student privacy is protected under Wyoming law.
Why there is a First Amendment: The Trentonian reports that James Lynch, mayor of Bordentown, N.J., wants to compel removal of a web site critical of his administration. Read all about it at bordentownmayorreallysucks.com
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