Gungadin

You do presumably mean "Missionaries sent to an islamic theocratic nation"? Because I know some people who went to Egypt and Turkey to preach Jesus. They all got home in one piece, although I doubt they were very succesful. They would most likely have been exiled at the very least had tried doing that in Iran, but it's important to distinguish between states like Iran and states like Turkey. Deepone, you seem to be identifying the common Muslim with the people rioting, burning flags and calling for extinction of Jews. I must ask you however: Do you believe that the common Muslim, be he living in Turkey, Sweden, Indonesia or Iran, is a more violent and nasty invidual than anybody living in a Christian country? I know that this looks like a strawman, but if you'd care to answer I'll say no more about it. I do stand by my point that what the various holy books of the world say is largely unimportant and can mainly be used to win discussions about the religion. What IS important is how these words are interpreted by their followers and thus practiced, and what already existing cultural customs are then integrated into these practices, such as circumsision of women in Northern Africa having been attributed to Islam, despite there not really being texts supporting it. (If you know of any, I'd like to read it.) All of this will most likely seem like soppy socialist apologism to you, but it just seems to me that you and those like you are being overly hostile towards followers of a largely peaceful religion based on the actions of the few and that rhetoric like that used by both websites like PoD and hugely influential European parties aren't really helping the situation any and are only widening the divide between Christians and Muslims. The amount of untruth regarding the recent west vs Islam war being told in the Muslim community is already appaling and will only get worse, since more and more Muslims are inclined to believe it every time some stupid little thing like Abu Ghraib comes up, and the same goes for the Christian communities. Such levels of ignorant hatred on both sides can only lead to trouble in the long run. My point is: Why add to the hatred? Why stand up boldly and declare Islam a religion of terror and hatred? This will cause nothing good and will only serve to antagonize moderate Muslims, pushing them further to the extremes, as can be clearly seen in countries like Denmark, where hate-speech against Muslims is getting ridiculous. (You can take my word for this, by the way. Notable politicians speak of Muslims in a way that would make Goebbels blush. I'm not kidding - "Black cancerous cells" being one of the phrases used about Muslims. Another prominent politician claims that the Koran and Mein Kampf are essentially the same book.) Somebody's got to act classy for Islam/western relations to improve, and it sure as hell isn't going to be the Danish Muslim community, which is too divided culturally, ethnically and philosophically to really pull together as well as too proud to admit being in the wrong. The burden must then fall on the west. As for western culture being superior to Islam: If this is truly so, Islamic nations will realize this sooner or later and convert to secular free-market capitalism. Anti-Islamic propaganda won't help in this matter as it's a fight the progressive Muslims must fight and win within their own states. It's getting some momentum here, with pro-western Muslims finally banding together and taking a stand against Abu Laban and his ilk. You say I base my opinons on what I read. Mainly, I base my opinons on the people I speak to. I used to think that I knew no Muslims. It did then occur to me that I know a number of Muslims personally, but that I just never thought of them as Muslims, since I grew up with them, played ball with them and had schoolyard fights with them. Most of these people are no more violent than anybody else and are pretty unconcerned with holy warfare. The ones I know that ARE violent aren't devout Muslims at all. They just get a kick out of boozing, fornicating and beating up various people for no good reason, behaviour which I have yet to meet a sensible, faithful Muslim that defends and certainly have a hard time recalling any scripture that defends such behaviour. I really can't shake the feeling that, somewhere, there's a message board entirely in Arabic, where Christianity is being decried as the harbinger of all evil on earth, with people making educated posts peppered with their own brand of propaganda and seasoned with Old Testament verses, taken out of context, of course, describing the unholy slaughter perpetuated by Jews and Christians against everybody. We need understanding. Not divisive propaganda by either side. I'd like to close this first with a quote from Ibn Warraq, critic of Islam: "People tried reforming Islam; it never worked. Again and again, Islam was mortgaged in the hands of killer leadership, while the rest of the Muslim world only said "this is not real Islam" Meaning that Muslims who truly believe in peace will have to see through the hatefulness that is being fed to them and actually practice Islam as they say it is - A religion of peace I like this website, by the way: http://www.secularislam.org It doesn't claim that Islam is inherently evil and destructive, but rather that Islamic countries should be secular and abandon their primitive. That is a hundred times more constructive than anything PoD could ever say IMO.

You assume too much DeepOne and are clearly biased against Islam as a religion. I'm sorry, but you completely lost me with your "crusades were defensive wars" statement. But go ahead, read "The Politically Incorrect Gude to Islam" by Robert Spencer for his take on it. I found it lolleriffic. I like how branding your own work as "Politically Incorrect" is somehow a badge of honour and an excuse for faulty research. In other news, I dislike Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She lets her hatred for the religion cloud her judgement enough to directly contradict herself. Paraphrased from her: "In order to defend Freedom of Speech, it is imperative that Muslim clerics shut the hell up." Also aruges that the end of Islam is night. Barring the apocalypse happening soon, I find it hard to see how a religion with 1.4 billion people in it can suddenly disappear. Unfortunately, she gets more attention than she really should, since she's brown, which is a shame, since there are far better critics of Islamic practice than her. I was a little disappointed that the Imam troublemakers couldn't be exiled from the country by some obscure law. I'm real tired of listening to them by now, and most Muslims see that the anger against the Imams will get redirected against all other Muslims. Local "Burn the heathen sand-niggers" political party just got a 30% increase in votes. I sure hope your people will thank you for making everybody hate them Mr. Laban. The cross-burning was hilarious. Danes are just about the most non-religious people on the planet, and the Muslims choose to burn crosses? I think the PM messed up by defending the cartoons. He should, IMO, just have kept a VERY low profile and let people fight it out amongst themselvs. But noooo, he thought he could reason with another people whom he had no way of understanding and slick his way out of it, thus harming Danish exports even more. The Americans also messed up. It went like this: Yanks: "We, as Americans, keep on invading Muslim countries, but we're still VERY offended by these drawings that are highly disrespectful towards Islam and condemn them. Love us now and stop revolting now, please." Danes: "The hell? We supported your last two retarded wars and had people killed for it. This is how you repay us?" Yanks: "Oops, sorry, our bad, we did of course mean that we support everything Denmark does and enjoy eating Danish Pastries as well. Please love us." Muslims: "See? The Great Satan supports the Tiny Satan and his drawings! Death to America" Net result: Both Danes and Muslims angry at the US. Seriously clumsy diplomacy there.

Source please.

Hooray for scrawny geeks with too much time on their hands: Providing us all with amusement since the advent of the Internet.

Houston, we have a problem. All photos from Abu Ghraib released. I used to agree that it was really stretching it to call it "torture." I am now convinced. Large bleeding wounds and ugly looking burns aren't the results of "fraternity hazing." It occurs to me that there are a lot of people in the occupation forces that are less interested in winning the hearts and minds of the poor widdle Iwaqis than they are in having the opportunity to hurt people for kicks without the possibility of retribution. Lyndie England and her cronies should be brutally executed for endangering the lives of US troops.

Interesting fact: In many US states, it's legal to own a military-grade flamethrower. That is awesome.

You've seen Bateson act? He knows his stuff, although I've only seen him do comedy. I also saw him play a rapist/murderer in one movie. Other possible subject that could pull off the coolness part would be Jason Statham of The Transporter. http://minireviews.com/interviews/statham.jpg

Living in Denmark, I've had the pleasure of seeing David Bateson, the voice actor for Codename 47, act in plays, and he's not only an excellent stage actor whom I am sure could pull off the icy appearance and demeanor of 47, but 47 was also modelled on his looks. See www.davidbateson.dk for comparison. The Hitman is a good character and has the potential of being one of the better game to movie adaptions with good directing, but why have that ham Vin Diesel play the main character rather than the actual voice actor? Diesel looks nothing like the Hitman, and this movie will most likely turn into more bullettime John Woo wannabe bollocks.

Jeez, what a pussy.

A lot of that is out of context and most of can be interpreted in more than one way, especially the word "fight". The Koran is apparently written in such a way that even native Arab scholars debate what Allah actually MEANT. Weak arguments, which isn't more than I've come to expect from the PoD people, who're about as objective about Islam as Stormfront are about negroes. Besides, how is the Koran saying that non-Muslims will burn in hellfire any worse than ANY Christian saying the exact same thing? I personally perceive the Koran to be highly hostile towards Jews, less so against Christians, but I've yet to find verses actually commanding slaughter of them. (I recall one verse ordering heretics to "kill yourselves", which the footnote suggested might also be translated "kill your evil desires.") Most of the verses commanding it are more difficult to interpret. Generally, after talking to an Amdi about interpreting the Koran, I feel that people with little knowledge of the Koran in the original language really aren't really qualified in discussing it. I can kinda see his point. If a Holy Book can be so ambiguous in its written language, imagine what it's like when translated by people, often non-muslims, who may or may not have an agenda themselves. I can's speak for the Sunnah. Never read them. Therefore I feel that if you, a westerner, really want to persecute Islam as a religion, you'd have to pay attention to how it's practiced and preached, something which also needs criticizing, with a lot of middle-eastern preachers acting as if the Prophet (PBUH) was still alive and preaching middle-age norms and practices. For critical reading, I can suggest Ibn Warraq, a fallen Muslim. I leafed through one of his books, he raised decent points without resorting overly to quoting scripture. I can also suggest that you stay the hell away from anything written by Robert Spencer. The man claims that the crusades were waged on the Muslim countries in self-defense and that no atrocity was ever committed by Good Christian Soldiers. His bias is ridiculous. I personally find this entire Jew/Christian/Muslim rivalry to be retarded, since it's the same deity being worshipped in practically the same way. I think we should all team up and wage war on the Buddhists and Hindus instead.

Development in the case that is quite despicable, but something I find completely hilarious all the same. An Iranian newspaper has now decided to publish a series of cartoons poking fun at the holocaust, with the justification of "Hey, why you criticizing us? We're just exercising our freedom of the press. You should criticize yourself for getting all worked up about some drawings."

[it's been going on since the days of Islamic scripture (around 700 A.D.) if you call that modern. Muhammad spent a great deal of time railing against Jews, Christians, and Muslims who wouldn't fight (he called them hypocrites). Provide quote for this.

How is falling off a tower fighting off attacking Sopwith Camels with your bare hands while protecing the woman you love not totally badass and cool? No, what would be uncool would be if he'd become a huge star and then gone on to fade into obscurity, dying of obesity and addiction to banana-liquor. Note: Dying of drug-related stuff isn't neccesarily uncool. Kurt Cobain shot himself because of depression and serious drug problems after having become world famous and rich, something he'd planned to do since he was a kid. He even left a suicide note for an imaginary friend. THAT is keeping in character and very true to his legacy.

Hello. After thinking about it, and being inspired by the Monty Python skit "Famous Deaths", I've come to the conclusion that there are two ways for a famous person to die: One in which he dies in a heroic and/or notorious manner to be remembered for the sheer badassery of it, and another where his death is wholly anticlimatic and embarrasing to his legacy and did most likely have Saint Peter slapping his thighs in laughter. To illustrate: Captain Blackbeard, aka Edward Teach. Spent his whole life sailing the Carribean, plundering ships and executing people without mercy. Did at one time shoot fellow crewmember Israel Hands, whose name was later nicked by Robert Louis Stevenson, in the knee, just to demonstrate to his crew that he was a mean mofo. Had a habit of putting burning cannon fuses in his beard while in battle. Had huge dreadlocks. Death: Killed while being boarded by British naval forces. Reportedly took 20 stab wounds and 5 gunshots and refused to die. Lt. Maynard, commander of the British forces, then decided that enough was enough and chopped off his head, mounting it on his bowsprit. Legacy: Considered to be one of the most vicious and nasty pirates to have ever lived. Now THAT is a totally badass way to die, one befitting his legacy! Now, consider Lord Horatio Nelson. Dedicated his entire life to serving The Queen in the Royal Navy, achieved famous victories over Spanish, French and Danes, having lost both an eye and an arm to the enemies of Her Majesty. Death: Killed in Battle of Trafalgar. Uttered famous last words to his fist mate Hardy: "Kiss me Hardy" Although historians argue that he might actually have said "Kismet, Hardy", meaning it was his fate to die that way. Legacy: Remembered as an aging maritime queer with a crush on his first mate who somehow got stuck up on a pillar in Trafalgar Square. WHAT a bummer for Lord Nelson! Other famous examples of uncool deaths: Genghiz Kahn: Ruler of Mongolia. United warring Mongol clans into the greatest warlike empire in the world. Kicked immense amounts of ass. Kept a starving man chained to his dinner table because he felt that made the food taste better. Death: Fell of his horse. The ruler of the Mongols, a people known to be born in the saddle, fell. Off. His. Bloody. Horse. That is MOST uncool! Wayne Maclaren. The Marlboro Man. An image of 100% Americanism, masculinity and a reminder of the ever-so badass cowboy/western past of the US. Death: Lung cancer caused by smoking. Thomas Edward Lawrence, AKA Lawrence of Arabia. Worked as an agent in Arabia during WW1, aiding the Arabs in their revolt against the Turks, also an enemy of the UK. Became one with the desert and its people. Highly praised by Winston Churchill for his efforts. Death: After surviving war in Sandy Hell, Lawrence crashed on his motorcycle outside of Dorset, England. Pretty anticlimatic. Goliath. Biblical terror of the Hebrew people. Stood 9½ foot tall. Challenged every Jew in Palestine, yet none dared face him. Death: Killed by a kid with a slingshot. Uncool on a BIBLICAL scale. Bruce Lee: Kung Fu movie superstar. Brought martial arts chop-socky to prominence in the West. Rebelled against stagnant kung-fu practices, sought to revolutionize martial arts. Great screen presence. Had lots of bitches. Death: cerebral edema caused by allergic reaction to a painkiller he took for a headache. Note: I am personally offended that Bruce Lee died of anything but a kung-fu deathmatch, preferably involving Ninjas, Dinosaurs and Lo Pan. Elvis Presley. THE KING OF ROCK AND ROLL! Death: Died a fatass and an addict of a heart attack caused by said addiction and fatness. How the mighty have fallen. Ferdinand Magellan: Famous naval explorer, first man to attempt a successful circumnavigation of earth in 1519. Has straight named after him to the south of South America. Death: Killed by cannibals before even completing his circumnavigation, which was completed without him. Those cannibals really know how to ruin a man's day. Will update this thoroughly saddening list as I think of more. Feel free to chip in. Historical cases preferred. Note: the deaths of people like Tupac Shakur and Buddy Holly are unacceptable, since they died in ways very much fitting their life and legacy.

From my understanding, the word "Jihad" actually means something like "effort" or "endeavour"