At last: new law prohibiting abortion, extra-marital sex, and more!

Who'd have thought we'd see the day when a legislature would pass laws to reverse society's slide into immorality... or, worse, amorality. But it's going to happen! Not in the AABC countries (America, Australia, Britain, Canada), which are not Christian even in name these days, but in... wait for it... mostly Muslim Indonesia. 

Although it's not officially an "Islamic republic" like, say, Iran, Indonesia is the world's biggest country, by  population, in which Muslims are the majority, with Hindus and Christians tiny minorities. Reuters reports that Indonesia's government is introducing a new criminal code which, according to Edward Omar Sharif Hiariej, deputy justice minister, will be "in line with Indonesian values."

The  new code will ban sex outside marriage. It also carries stiff penalties for abortion, “black magic” and insulting the president. The punishment for extramarital sex is up to one year in jail. And that's  just the punishment in this world, never mind the next.

The usual suspects have long warned the new law, which has been decades in the making, would violate the rights of women, minorities, and the alphabet people, as well as undermine freedom of speech. And, they say, it will be bad for business too! The law applies to foreigners as well as Indonesians, so there'll be no more going to Indonesia for a dirty weekend!

Bali, in particular, has traditionally been a top holiday destination, attracting millions of tourists every year. A spokesthingy for Indonesia's Employers' Association told Reuters the morality clauses of the new criminal code would "do more harm than good," especially for businesses engaged in tourism and hospitality. "For the business sector," she said, "the implementation of this law will create legal uncertainty and make investors reconsider investing in Indonesia."

The legislation also bans expressing any views contrary to Indonesia's state ideology -- that would be Islam -- and criminalizes abortion, with the exception of rape victims. Insulting the president, a charge that can only be reported by the president, carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison. [Don't tell Brandon or Trudeau about this! Ed.]

The draft,which looks set to be passed into law next week, has the support of many conservative Islamic groups, whose influence is growing across the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation. Indonesians who feel that their right to be immoral is being infringed are advised to move to any of the aforementioned AABC countries, where that right is enshrined in law.

Further reading: "Indonesia ranks among most religious countries in Pew study", Jakarta Post, 30/7/20.

Indonesian fisherman says he saw MH370 crash

Regular readers of WWW will know of my abiding interest in the flight of MH370, the Malaysian Airlines B-777 which vanished from the face of the earth on 8 March 2014. The Malaysian and Australian governments have been working, off and on, to find more than a few fragments of the plane, but admitted last fall that they still don't know what happened to it, or where. For a recap of the more recent developments, see "More pieces of MH370 (?) spark calls for renewed search", WWW 30/11/18.

Theories, including conspiracy theories, abound. My own, as posted several times in the years between then and now, is that the plane crashed into the northern part of the Indian Ocean, somewhere east of the island of Diego Garcia, which is home to a huge US military base. I believe the Pentagon, which has kept shtum on the matter, knows what happened and who is responsible, if only through a regrettable accident. Of course I could be wrong, but... lifetime pct .988.

Still, the mystery remains unsolved a new clues continue to surface. [Was that pun intended? Ed.] Today Yahoo News UK reports that an Indonesian fisherman claims he knows exactly where the missing aircraft went down. He is seen here pointing to the location, in the Strait of Malacca, a busy shipping lane wast of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Rusli Khusmin, a 42-year-old fisherman, says he saw the plane go down in a plume of thick black smoke. "I saw the plane moving from left to right like a broken kite," he told the meeja. "There was no noise, just black smoke as a result of fires before it crashed into the water." He added that there was a strong smell of acidic fumes in the air before the plane crashed. As he watched he recorded his co-ordinates on a GPS, which has now been handed over to investigators.

Mr Khusmin did not say why he waited nearly five years to come forward, but swore an oath of truth on the Koran. His evidence will be sent to Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad. Stay tuned.

Egyptian woman jailed for sexual harassment... of monkey!

Walt is a clean-living guy and doesn't pay a lot of attention to stories about sexual perversions, unless of course it's the ones recommended in the new sex-ed curriculum introduced by Ontario's former Liberal government and now "being reviewed" by the Conservative Ford government. But every now and then I see a story about bestiality -- humans having sex with animals -- which is sick but (IMHO) funny.

Earlier this month we had a story from Zimbabwe involving a man and a goat. Other countries mentioned in the past included the USA (Alabama), Germany and Canada. Since, as we all know, Islam forbids such things, I didn't think I would ever see such a story emanating from a Muslim country. I was wrong!

Yesterday the Arabic website Albawaba reported a case in the Mansoura (Egypt) Misdemeanor Court in which a housewife was sentenced to three years in prison for sexually harassing a monkey in a pet shop in Mansoura city by touching its genitals. The actual charges were: inciting sedition, "provoking emotions" [Emotions are illegal in Egypt? Ed.] and committing lewd acts in public.

Unfortunately, Ed. has been unable to find the video of the incident which Albawaba says went viral on social media in October. Apparently it showed the defendant touching the genitals of a monkey in a public store "with the intention of arousing the animal's sexual instincts and inciting the public to commit adultery." Don't people often get such feelings when watching the monkeys at the zoo?

The police identified the suspect, a woman named Nesma, 25, who resides in a village in Dakahlia government. Inspector Mohammed testified that Nesma had previously been charged in a prostitution case and was trying to promote herself by using this video. She confessed that, with the help of a friend who was recording the video, she tried to arouse the monkey sexually by fondling its genitals. Albawaba does not specify whether the monkey was male or female but perhaps that's best left to readers' imagination.

I'm reminded of an old joke about two British army officers who were stationed in Egypt during the British occupation in World War I. As they chatted in the mess, one said to the other, "Did you hear about Smedley? Got drummed out of the corps for having sex with a camel!"
Asked the other, "Male or female camel?"
"Female, of course," the first replied. "Nothing wrong with old Smedley!"

Meanwhile, in the Muslim-majority nation of Indonesia, a zoo keeper at the Surabaya zoo has been arrested and charged with sexual assault on a number of animals, including impregnating a female orangutan.

Worldnewsdailyreport.com reposts an item in the Kalimantan Press which says the 38-year-old man was caught red-handed (so to speak) by hidden cameras put in place by the zoo's security officials after the man's "devious actions" towards the zoo animals aroused suspicion.

A longtime zoo employee, obviously troubled by the news, told the meeja, "Some animals seemed sexually aroused when it was time to feed them. But what made us most suspicious was when we discovered Marylin, our oldest orangutan, was pregnant. She has never been in contact with any other orangutans because of her aggressive nature, so it didn't make any sense."

Note from Ed.: Limitation of space preclude any more stories about bestiality. We also wish to make clear that the monkey pictured is not the alleged victim of the Egyptian woman. [It's a chimpanzee, not a monkey! Walt]

Indonesia: 4 more Musllim extremists sent to Paradise

Remember the scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark where Indian Jones pulls out a revolver and calmly shoots dead a huge Arab threatening him with a scimitar? Things like that don't actually happen, do they? Oh yes, they do, even in this day and age. Just today, in fact, Indonesian cops sent to Paradise not one but four sword-wielding Muslims who attacked a police headquarters in Sumatra.

In the latest in a spate of Islamic militant attacks across the Muslim-majority country -- see "The family that prays together slays together" and "'Allahu akbar!' - another Muslim family, another terrorist attack" -- a spokesthingy for the national police said four men attacked officers after driving a minivan into Riau province's police headquarters. The driver of the vehicle was arrested trying to escape. One officer, who was hit by the minivan, died and two were injured.

The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack in a statements carried by its Aamaq news agency. Police identified the group as "members of an IS-affiliated group of NII," referring to Negara Islam Indonesia, also known as Darul Islam, an Islamic group that aims to establish an Islamic state in Indonesia.

As reported on WWW (see links above), suicide bombings Sunday and Monday in Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city, killed 26 people, including 13 attackers. Two families carried out the attacks, using children as young as 7. Earlier this month, six officers at a high-security detention centre on the outskirts of Jakarta were killed by Islamic militant inmates who took control of part of the prison and held hostages until being overwhelmed by police.

The flurry of attacks, and the tactic of using children as suicide bombers, has shocked Indonesians, who fear that IS has inspired a new wave of violent extremism in the country of more than 260 million. Contrary to what the (((controlled media))) would have you believe, ISIS is not finished, and its activites are not confined to the Middle East or Asia. Atrocities such as these could happen anywhere. Maybe even in your country... in your city... in your neighbourhood. Just because the "progressives" have declared Islamophobia a "hate crime" doesn't mean the jihadis aren't out to get ya!

"Allahu akbar!" - another Muslim family, another terrorist attack

"All in the Islamic Family" is the title of a new Muslim TV drama being shot right now in Surabaya, Indonesia. Really. The very next day after a family of Indonesian Islamic terrorists succeeded in attacking three churches in Surabaya, killing 12 and injuring many more, another family attacked the city's police headquarters.

National police Chief Tito Karnavian said four of the perps were killed, or, should we say, killed themselves. A girl aged about 8 who was riding on a motorbike with two of the attackers was thrown clear by the blast and survived. Four cops and six civilians were wounded.

Chief Karnavian said the family who attacked the police HQ were friends of the family that went to Paradise attacking the churches. As I reported in yesterday's post, the latter family had gone to ISIS to help the soldiers of the prophet wage war on the infidels (Shia Muslims and non-believers in the Religion of Peace), but returned when ISIS lost its grip on Syria and Iraq. Both families were friends of yet another family whose homemade bombs exploded in their apartment Sunday night.

The flurry of attacks have raised concerns that militant networks in the world's most populous Muslim-majority nation have been reinvigorated by the return of some of the estimated 1100 Indonesians who went to fight with ISIS. Experts have warned for several years that when those fighters return, they could pose a significant threat. However, such warnings have largely been ignored because, as the Pope keeps telling us, Islam is the religion of peace, and has nothing to do with Islamic terrorism. Yeah, right!

Innocent questions for our dear readers: How many returned jihadis are living in your neighbourhood? Do you know who they are and where they are? Does your local constabulary (police department/FBI agent/DHS agent/Officer Barbrady) know? Are they doing anything? If you're not sure, Walt advises you to watch your infidel ass! And if you see something, say something! [To whom? Ed.]

The family that prays together slays together! - ISIS suicide bombers hit Christian churches in Indonesia

About 9% of Indonesia's 260 million people are Christians. Many of them are ethnic Chinese, who thus have not one but two strikes against them in the majority Muslim nation. There are a dozen fewer Christians in Surabaya today following three suicide bomb attacks on Christian churches, carried out by... you know who.

Oh, you don't know? National police chief Tito Karnavian has confirmed to AP that a family of six, included two girls aged 12 and 9, were responsible for the out deadly attacks on three churches in Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city. According to Chief Karnavian, the father exploded a car bomb, two sons aged 18 and 16 used a motorcycle for their attack, and the mother, her face properly veiled by a niqab, took her pre-teen daughters along for the ride to Paradise. The family had returned to Indonesia from ISIS-controlled territory in Syria.

The first attack struck the Santa Maria Roman Catholic Church. Four people, including one or more bombers were killed there, with 41 people, including two cops, wounded. Blasts at the Christian Church of Diponegoro and the Surabaya Pantekosta Church followed minutes later. A civilian security guard described the woman carrying two bags who approached the Diponegoro church along with two girls. "At first officers blocked them in front of the churchyard, but the woman ignored and forced her way inside," said the witness. "Suddenly she hugged a civilian, then (the bomb) exploded."

The bombings were the worst to target churches in Indonesia since a series of attacks on Christmas Eve in 2000 killed 15 people and wounded nearly 100. Religious minorities in Indonesia, especially Christians, have been repeatedly targeted by Islamic militants.

A spokesthingy for the national police said his men fatally shot four suspected Islamic militants and arrested two others early Sunday in West Java. It wasn't clear if the shootings were connected with the church attacks. "They have trained in order to attack police," he said, identifying the militants as members of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, a network of Islamic extremist groups implicated in a number of attacks in Indonesia over the past year. It pledges allegiance to Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

Walt's advice: If you're in the vicinity of a Christian church (anywhere in the world), and you see a woman (?) dressed like the one in the picture coming towards you and making like she wants to hug you, RUN!

The new boat people: how come nobody wants them?

Two related stories in the meeja this weekend are causing a good deal of handwringing and hypocrisy at urgent sessions of the Disunited Nations, the European Quasi-union and other One-World talking shops. The Brotherhood of Man is being challenged by the arrival of boatloads of 1000s of mostly Muslim "refugees" from north Africa, the Middle East and south Asia now washing up on the shores of Europe and southeast Asia. Although no-one likes to admit it, the real reason no-one wants them is to be found in the two words preceding "refugees" in the previous sentence.

First, the bad news from the Mediterranean. In spite of widely reported drownings of hundreds of refugee wannabes, the tidal wave of dark people keeps increasing in size, and now threatens to inundate Italy and slop over into Switzerland, Germany and Austria. Everyone agrees that Something Must Be Done. Surely we're not going to let those "poor" people drown! But what is to be done? And by whom?

To make matters worse [Is that possible? Ed.] an adviser to the Libyan government [They have a government? Ed.] told BBC News this weekend that Islamic State (IS) fighters are being smuggled into Europe in the midst of the "genuine" refugees. Officials in Italy and Egypt have previously warned that IS militants could reach Europe by migrant boat, but say now -- possibly for fear of being labelled as "racists" or "Islamophobes" -- that it is very difficult to verify or assess such claims.

The Libyan official, Abudul Basit Haroun, based his claim on conversations with smugglers in parts of North Africa controlled by the militants. He "alleged" -- the BBC's word -- that IS was allowing the boat owners to continue their operations in exchange for half of their income. Earlier this year, -- the EU’s "alleged" -- Walt's word -- border control agency, Frontex, warned that it was "possible" that foreign fighters were using "irregular migration routes" to get into Europe.

Egypt’s ambassador to the UK has warned of "boats full of terrorists" if the international community does not act, while the Italian government has expressed fears of militants infiltrating the boats, while emphasizing that the boats are... wait for it... a "humanitarian crisis".

So what to do? BBC News reports today that EU foreign and defence ministers are expected to approve a mission to destroy the boats used by people-smugglers operating in war-torn Libya. (Notice how no-one talks any more about who start the war that destabilized Libya. Ye reap what ye sow.)

Speaking on arrival for an urgent meeting with the sprouts in Brussels, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said "today the main point will be taking the decision to establish the operation, the EU operation at sea to dismantle the criminal networks that are smuggling people in the Mediterranean." She did not say whether the boats would be destroyed before or after they were loaded.

Meanwhile, a parallel "humanitarian crisis" unfolds 1000s of miles away, in the Indian Ocean, where three countires -- Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia -- are being condemned by the do-gooders at the UN for refusing to rescue, let alone accept, 1000s of Muslim migrants adrift in the Andaman Sea.

Last week, at least 700 Bangladeshis and Rohingya from Myanmar were rescued off the Indonesian island of Aceh, bringing the numbers of "refugees" in camps there to at least 1500. The Rohingyas, if you haven't heard of them, are an ethnic group who have lived for yonks in northwest Burma [or Myanmar. Take your pick. Ed.] but are denied citizenship because they are, errr, Muslims, and Burma is a Buddhist country. 1000s of Rohingyas have shipped out, fleeing persecution and poverty in Myanmar. They are stranded at sea along with additional 1000s of Bangladeshis -- also Muslims -- who are just looking for work.

Aid agencies say a "grave humanitarian crisis" is in train as countries in the region refuse to accept the migrants. Visible on the sides of the refugee boats are numerous black marks which appear to have been made by ten-foot poles. Thailand, the closest country to Bangladesh and Burma is, like Burma, a Buddhist country, which doesn't want to be overrun by Muslims. Thailand's reluctance is understandable, given that they already have a problem with Islamic terrorists in their southernmost provinces.

Malaysia and Indonesia are, errr, Muslim countries, but don't seem any more disposed to receive their co-religionists than the Buddhists of Thailand. Indonesian authorities have told fishermen not to help the migrants unless their boats are sinking or they are in the water. Military spokesperson Fuad Basya said fishermen could deliver food, fuel and water to the boats, or help with repairs, but that bringing them to shore would constitute an illegal entry into Indonesia.

The Muslim boat people are believed to be severely malnourished. Survivors who have made it to shore say there have been deadly fights on board over food. UNHCR spokesthingy Vivian Tan called the lack of rescues over the past weekend "a bad sign" and warned that "time is running out" to help the migrants. The BBC quotes her as saying, "We were hoping that more ships would be found, and that more people would be rescued and allowed to come onto shore. Unfortunately, this didn't seem to have happened".

Who will take in the poor Muslim "refugees"? Walt suggests that American and Canadian authorities keep their eyes on their countries' Pacific coast, to see what the tide will bring in. Hey, it's happened before, and of course we "Christians" couldn't refuse entry to these huddled masses, because to do so would be anti-Muslim, racist, etc etc etc.

"Noah" theologically unsound, "vaguely New Age... strange..."

I'm not going to see Noah. Why would I? I know the story. I was there! See pic below. I was younger then.

OK, it's not me. It's Russell Crowe in Noah, the latest Hollywood blockbuster to sully the silver screen. It was released on March 29th, in an obvious bid to attract Christians [and Jews? Ed.] who feel vaguely guilty about not going to church and not knowing their Bible history. You may be tempted to go see it. Don't bother.

The lamestream media are amused by a report that Russell Crowe (himself) invited Francis the Party Pope (himself) to go to a special screening. The Holy Father is said to have declined. Now the semi-official Catholic newspaper L'Avvenire has criticized the film as "ecologically and vaguely New Age", a "missed opportunity" that ignores God.

This is the first (somewhat) official comment from the Church since Noah was released. The movie is very loosely based on the Genesis account of the great flood, but director Darren Aronofsky has described his adaptation as "the least-biblical biblical film ever made". When the... errr... creator says it's not Biblical, I think we can believe him.

In the Excited States of America, as you might expect, Noah topped the weekend box office, with opening sales of $44 million. It's not so popular in the rest of the world though, especially Muslim countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, where it's been banned outright. The Christian Post quotes Muchlis Paen, the head of Indonesia's censor board, as saying the film contradicts the flood stories in both the Koran and Bible.

Meanwhile, a screening of Noah in an Exeter cinema was cancelled due to flooding. That should be all the warning ye need.

What to expect when the Muslims take over your country

Quick, now, what's the largest Muslim country in the world? Noooo... not France, not Algeria, not even Pakistan. The right answer is Indonesia! [I knew that. Ed.] The southest Asian country sprawls over a huge archipelago -- two time zones wide -- and has a population of 251,000,000. 2% of Indonesians are Hindus. 3% are Catholic. 6% are other Christians. And 86% -- eighty-six percent -- are Muslims.

In the western Indonesian province of Aceh, the percentage who are followers of the Prophet rises to 98%! That number may rise due to an exodus of "infidels" expected in the wake of last week's announcement that the provincial government will extend the enforcement of Sharia law to non-Muslims. Click here to read the report in the Jakarta Post.

Violations of Sharia include drinking liquor, khalwat (affectionate contact between an unmarried couple), and (for women) wearing tight pants or not wearing the hijab. Anyone found drinking alcohol or breaching the codes on moral behavior, whether residents or visitors to Aceh, could face between six and nine lashes of the cane.

Police have been stopping women -- Muslim or non-Muslim -- seen not wearing the correct headgear. The Fides news service reports the 62 people have been detained in Aceh in recent days for "inappropriate clothing." Christian leaders in the Indonesian province have decried the new directives as "harmful for human rights and religious freedom."

Moral of the story: Don't even think of going to Aceh!

WARNING! Do you think your country is safe because Muslims are not in the majority...yet? Just wait! In the name of political correctness, almost every Western government is encouraging immigration from Muslim countries, or at least accepting 1000s of "refugees" every month from the war-torn sandpits of Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and so forth -- Muslim countries all.

To make matters worse, while we "Christians" ignore the Church's prohibitions on artificial birth control and abortion, the Muslims are breeding like rabbits! Even if our borders were closed tomorrow [fat chance! Ed.], Muslims would become more numerous than non-Muslims later, rather than sooner. In the French-speaking countries of north Africa and the Middle East, it's called la revanche du berceau -- the revenge of the cradle... coming soon to your country!

Answer: "Helloo dere! I'se your new neighbuh!"

And the question? "What are the six most-feared words in the English language?"
(Thanks to Johnny Carson's alter ego, Carnac the Magnificent, for the format.)

Yesterday we talked about how Anglo-Saxon immigrants chased the Celts out of England in the 5th century A.D. It happened again of course, in the 11th century, when the Norman French came. Today there are very few "English" people of purely Anglo-Saxon descent. And it's happening again... right now...

A massive influx of aliens who cannot or will not integrate themselves into the host society challenges the host people's capacity for tolerance and goodwill. Since WWII, some countries -- America, Britain and Canada -- have managed not too badly, although patience is wearing thin. Other nations remain quite xenophobic. And they don't like foreigners either!

Recently two Swedish economists decided to study whether there is any correlation between economic (and social) development and the warmth of the welcome extended to immigrants. Putting it another way, does economic freedom make people more or less racist? 

They asked respondents in more than 80 different countries to identify kinds of people they would not want as neighbours. The more frequently that people in a given country say they don’t want neighbours from other races, the economists reasoned, the less racially tolerant you could call that society.

Max Fisher, of the Washington Post, put the results in the form of a "racial tolerance map". Here it is.

The countries most tolerant of "diversity" are the bluest ones. [Wonder if Fisher's a Democrat. Ed.] The Swedes and Norwegians are near the top of the list, of course. The AABC countries -- America, Australia, Britain and Canada -- are also OK with neighbours who are "different". So is the rainbow nation of Brazil.

The least tolerant countries are... wait for it... mostly Muslim countries! No surprises there! Jordan led the list. They don't even like Palestinian refugees. Indonesia (the world's most populous Muslim country) was right up there, along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Iran. Even worse was India.

The only "developed" country hauling in the welcome mat right sharpish is France. Could it be that the French think they're getting more than their share of immigrants from, errr, Muslim countries? Could be!

Peace and love on St. Valentine's Day

Ah yes, St. Valentine's Day... Or just "Valentine's Day" to all you modern Catholics and non-believers. A day when we celebrate love, peace and tolerance for those of other races and creeds. Here are two items from today's news.

Lots of Westerners don't know this, but the largest Muslim country in the world is actually Indonesia. The huge archipelago [there's that word again! Ed.] has significant Christian and Hindu minorities, whom the Muslim extremists in and out of government keep trying to suppress. They can't help it -- or won't help it -- because that's the nature of Islam.

Anyway, on Wednesday Indonesian officials and Muslim clerics called for young people to skip Valentine's Day, saying it's an excuse for couples to have forbidden sex. Not to mention buying gifts for persons of the opposite sex, which was also banned in the province of Aceh.

The deputy mayor of a town on the outskirts of Jakarta called on parents not to give their children any chance to celebrate Valentine's Day "because they may be expressing love to their lovers more freely.… It could lead to forbidden sexual relations."

He called on residents to make their children take cold showers. When told that almost no-one in his town had hot running water, he advised taking the children to Islamic religious activities instead.

OK, premarital sex is forbidden (in theory, at least) by the Church too. But what's wrong with giving gifts? Well, a prominent cleric of the Aceh Ulema Council says, "It does not reflect love in accordance with Islamic teachings.… It's the same as promoting faiths other than Islam." So there.

Meanwhile, Father Raymond de Souza reports from the Promised Land on the struggle between ultra-Orthodox Jews and the rest of Israeli society.

You don't have to be religious to be Jewish. One can be a Jew, culturally, and yet be an atheist or an agnostic. And amongst religious Jews there is a broad spectrum of faith and observance, ranging from the the ultra-liberal Reform branch of Judaism all the way to the ultra-Orthodox -- the ones with the hats and lots of kids.

That's fine in America, but in Israel, Father de Souza tells us, many people feel that while there are many Jews, there are too few synagogues. That is, there is a lack of pluralism. There is only the ultra-Orthodox Judaism which meshes with political Zionism.

The norms that regulate prayer and deportment at Jerusalem's Western Wall are set by its chief rabbi. The rabbinate of the Western Wall is controlled by the ultra-Orthodox and, over the past years, the regulations have become increasingly reflective of ultra-Orthodox practice. For the large majority of Jews, both in Israel and globally, who are not ultra-Orthodox, how they are permitted to pray at the Western Wall has become a priority both practical and symbolic.

On Monday, Father de Souza goes on, a group called Women of the Wall held a prayer service. The service was in reality a demonstration against the ultra-Orthodox strictures imposed upon them there, including the space allocated to them and the prohibitions on women praying aloud and wearing prayer shawls. The Women of the Wall did both of those things, and for their pains, got themselves arrested.

The dispute at the Western Wall touches a deeper issue in Israeli society: should Judaism in Israel be defined by the ultra-Orthodox? Israel desires to be a Jewish state, but for which kinds of Jews? As noted above, there are many streams of Judaism, but the only official synagogue belongs to the minority ultra-Orthodox.

The issue can thus be seen as one of basic religious freedom. How can it be that Jews (who happen to be women) can be arrested at the Western Wall for praying as they do at synagogues in London or Los Angeles? Yair Lapid, leader of a party which one 19 Knesset seats in last month's election, asks, "Can it be that the only place in the Western world that Jews do not have religious freedom is at the Western Wall?"

So, outside of politically correct North America, it would appear that prospects for religious pluralism and the celebration of diversity are as dim as ever.
Memo to "Peter the Roman" (or whatever the next pope will call himself): All paths of faith do not lead to the One True God.

The Komodo dragon expert

There's a story on the AP mojo wire this morning from the wilds of eastern Indonesia. It's in that eastern part of the archipelago [How long have you been waiting to use that word? Ed.] that you would find the islands of Komodo, Padar and Rinca, home of the fabled and fearsome Komodo dragon.

Yes, folks, the Komodo dragon really does exist. And here's what one looks like.

Ugly brute, isn't it? How would you feel if one of those wandered into your workplace? Well, that's what happened at Komodo National Park, where one of the monster reptiles attacked two park rangers... in their office!

A KNP spokesthingy, Heru Rudiharto -- no hero he! -- said the 2-metre-long lizard bit the rangers badly enough that  both had to be evacuated to a hospital on Bali.

This story reminded me of a classic sketch by the greatest radio comedians ever to be heard on US airwaves. I refer of course to Bob Elliott and Ray Goulding,  known to legions of fans as "Bob and Ray".

The Bob and Ray Show began, more by accident than anything else, in 1946 on WHDH in Boston. It ran under various titles on national networks including NBC and NPR, until 1987. There was even a TV version, briefly, back in the golden (i.e. black-and-white) years. The TV version didn't do all that well, possibly because the spoofs were created for radio, and didn't depend at all on visuals for the gags.

It came as something of a surprise, then, when stage versions -- Bob and Ray: the Two and Only and A Night of Two Stars -- played for months to packed houses at Carnegie Hall and on the road. Walt was there, and remembers clearly hearing and watching them do one of their best radio sketches, "The Komodo Dragon expert". No video has found its way to YouTube, but here's the audio portion.



Hey... they're not making that stuff up. What the expert told you are the facts about Komodo dragons. If you'd like to know more about life in the land they come from -- eastern Indonesia -- you're in luck, because one of Walt's agents lives and works there. Click here to read her blog, "Life is a gift; live it!" Good words to remember, especially if a Komodo dragon wanders into your workplace.

Christianophobia strikes again

It's getting so massacres of Christians in Muslim countries (Iraq, Pakistan, and now Egypt) or Hindu countries (India) barely make the front page.

If you didn't see it in your local birdcage-liner, 21 Coptic Orthodox Christians were killed in Egypt a couple of days ago as they left mass. Meanwhile, in Iraq, where hundreds of Catholics were murdered by Islamic fundamentalists, celebrations of the Christmas season feasts were held in private homes, rather than risk having another church desecrated and more martyrs sent to Heaven.

Pope Benedict XVI has spoken out against this obviously rising "Christianophobia", but the reaction of the lamestream media has been a big ho-hum. "Well," you can hear them saying, "he would say that, wouldn't he?"

So let's give credit to USA Today -- not usually known for incisive or in-depth coverage of hard news -- for an item in its "Faith & Reason" blog entitled "Does Egypt bomb blast signal rising 'Christianophobia?'"

Hello, blogger! The answer is YES! Isn't it obvious? While you're at it, why not ask if the Pope is Catholic?

But at least USA Today is asking the question. Other lamestream media outlets still haven't noticed!

Footnote: Walt followed a link in the blog to the map below. Here you can see for yourself where the state forbids or restricts the practice of Christianity (red) and those where violence against Christians is endemic (orange). Includes a lot of the world, doesn't it?