Above are Andy Bostom and Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch. I happened to take the photo at the exact moment that someone made a very funny joke, which served my purposes much better than “cheese”.
At the right is Tony Blankley, who is a well-known columnist for The Washington Times and Townhall, and who also worked on Capitol Hill for a number of years as a press secretary for Newt Gingrich. I spent some time talking with him and Paul Belien of The Brussels Journal about the political ascendancy of European socialists, particularly in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Europe was quite well represented at the party. In addition to Paul, Lars Hedegaard, the chairman and founder of Trykkefrihedsselskabet (the Free Press Society) was in attendance. Most of our readers already know his face, and he has appeared many times here in photos and videos.
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Geert Wilders couldn’t make it, but one of his associates was there. Like Mr. Wilders, Martin Bosma is a member of the Dutch Parliament for the Partij Voor Frijheit (PVV, Party for Freedom). He spent much of the evening discussing the Dutch political situation — especially the issue of Islamization — with both the American and European guests.
Brigitte Gabriel of the American Congress for Truth was one of the honored guests for the occasion. That’s her in the photo below with the ubiquitous Andy Bostom.
It was an enjoyable and informative evening, and I’m grateful to Diana West for suggesting that I be included.
16 comments:
I'm jealous, Baron. You get to hang around such interesting people!
Wow! Andrew is one lucky man to be that close to Brigitte Gabriel. I always knew she was gorgeous, but not that she was so well endowed. I think I am in love.
Ah, but Natalie, you're the future! You'll be hanging out with just as interesting and important people long after I'm pushing up daisies.
Not only that, you'll probably be one of the important guests that other people come to the party to meet and have their picture taken with...
Why are the Europeans not laughing?
Why are the Europeans not laughing?
Maybe because the Islamification clock is closer to midnight in Europe?
Devoting so much of your lives to such serious global issues, it's refreshing to see you fully enjoying this camaraderie and smiling in a big way.
I lift my glass (it's orange juice at this hour folks) and propose we all live to witness and in similar fashion, together toast many small victories in the near future.
Mine has wine in it. I'm having a decadent day, (moderately) drinking with a late lunch.
... ah! There we go, you can't have moderate Islam for the same reason you can't have moderate alcohol. All you can do is dilute it. Consuming 4% beer in large quantities has the same effect as consuming a couple of shots of vodka. Same with Islam.
I'm a freakin genius! I should drink at lunch more often.
I can't tell if Tony Blankley has an accent or a speech impediment. Any info on that?
And hopefully, Natalie, you will broaden your mind and perspective as you grow older, abandoning the ideological certainties that are the easy way out, stopping the pigeonholing of all issues into a single distorted lens - such as equating the beleagured Muslims of Bosnia, Kosovo, and even Chechnya with the monsters of al qaeda and Saudi Arabia.
Or you could end up like the Baron. With further ossified and stratified thinking as you grow older, using the pigeonholing to come to the absurd conclusion that Barack Obama is, alternatively, a closet Muslim or the Antichrist.
Not that the Baron necessarily holds those particular views - but others with similar pigeonholed viewpoints have been coming to those absurd conclusions.
Unfortunately, even intellectuals such as Bostum and Spencer fall into the pigeonholing trap. Bostum, for example, refuses to admit that Islam has ever had any redeeming value as a civilization since the 7th century, a hypothesis for which he has performed intellectual gymnastics worthy of the underage Chinese women.
Spencer is cagier - having handed me my head early in my LGF career because I conflated the words of one his admiring reviewers with his on the Bosnia issue. As a result, I have more respect for him than Bostum.
Although Bostum's savaging of Charles Johnson was a worthy event - he's not completely worthless.
Thanks, Baron :)
Gordon, I think you should broaden your mind beyond what the media tells you. You'd find that there is no moderate form of Islam and that Russia may not be as bad as you think.
And Andrew Bostom is right: what has Islam done for our civilisation (or any civilisation) at all besides conquer, subdue, make war, and generally impose themselves on us? Absolutely nothing. All achievements that are credited to them are stolen from other civilisations.
"Or you could end up like the Baron. With further ossified and stratified thinking as you grow older, using the pigeonholing to come to the absurd conclusion that Barack Obama is, alternatively, a closet Muslim or the Antichrist."
Baron has called Obama the antichrist?
"Not that the Baron necessarily holds those particular views - but others with similar pigeonholed viewpoints have been coming to those absurd conclusions."
Oh, you were setting up an absurd straw-man argument. Now I understand.
I recommend you go take a walk in lieu of wasting any more of your valuable time typing the tripe that you similarly offered above.
Uh oh. Is that a bottle of beer Robert Spencer is holding in his hand? Now they're really going to be pissed off at 'im! :-)
I see Gordon is still rolling his boulder up the hill.
It's funny to watch anonymous internet cowards condemn those who've actually risked their lives in the counter-jihad.
Or you could end up like the Baron. With further ossified and stratified thinking as you grow older, using the pigeonholing to come to the absurd conclusion that Barack Obama is, alternatively, a closet Muslim or the Antichrist
He's not?
And by the way Gordon, I would consider it the greatest honour if I ended up like the Baron, as you put it.
As an example of ossified and stratified thinking, Natalie, look no farther than upthread - where the Baron apparently agrees with some nutcase named Fausta that the current financial mess in the U.S. is primarily to blame on the secret communist conspiracy to foist Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac onto the gullible American homeowning public.
I suggest you visit that thread, and follow the links provided, to get an education as to the Baron's lack thereof.
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