Posted on 02/23/2006 5:02:24 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
Prime Minister John Howard has refused Muslim calls to censure Treasurer Peter Costello over comments he made about Islamic extremists.
And Mr Costello has challenged Muslim leaders to pledge their allegiance to Australia before they criticise him over his comments about citizenship.
Muslim leaders have called for Mr Howard to censure Mr Costello over his speech last night to the Sydney Institute in which he said anyone who believed Islamic sharia law could co-exist with Australian law should move to a country where they felt more comfortable.
Islamic Friendship Association president Keysar Trad said Mr Costello had unfairly singled out Muslims and was promoting division and Islamophobia.
But Mr Howard said Mr Costello's comments were "fundamentally accurate".
"He's not trying to stir up hostilities with Islamic people any more than I was when I made some comments three days before the Cronulla riots," Mr Howard told Southern Cross Broadcasting in Melbourne.
Mr Costello said Muslim leaders should be pledging themselves and their followers to Australian values before they started criticising him.
"Rather than try and censure me ... they should make a clear statement that they subscribe to all of these views - that they are loyal to Australia, they respect the rights and liberties of others, they believe in democratic government and they believe that all Australians should live unequivocally under the one law made by the Australian parliament - and endorse these values and recommend them to their followers," Mr Costello told Southern Cross Broadcasting.
"Pledge themselves unequivocally to these values first of all, and then call on their followers to pledge themselves unequivocally to these values.
"This is what I would invite them to do, rather than to criticise me because all Australians should in my view subscribe to these values."
But Mr Trad said nobody was protesting against Australia's secular laws through any other means than the normal democratic process.
"We have not asked for sharia law to be imposed," he told ABC Radio.
"I don't know anyone in this country who is asking for sharia law to be imposed and I don't known anyone in this country who has rejected the rule of law.
"I am genuinely hopeful that the prime minister will censure the treasurer over these ridiculous comments, that the treasurer is grossly out of line.
"Rather than try to promote understanding and harmony in this society, his comments are highly divisive and he is stirring up Islamophobia, and these comments should really be beneath any decent politician."
Mr Trad said the Muslim community in Australia had disowned Islamic fanatics.
In his speech, Mr Costello said where there was reason to believe people were not truthfully or honestly meeting their citizenship test, there was every right for them to be denied citizenship.
He likened entering Australia to entering a mosque, with people entering a Muslim place of worship expected to take their shoes off as a mark of respect.
"If you don't want to take your shoes off, don't go into a mosque. If you want to come into Australia, you will be asked respect for its values," Mr Costello told the Nine Network this morning.
"If you don't have respect for those values, don't ask to come into Australia.
"This is what we ask of people. We have to preserve a way of life which makes us the greatest country in the world."
He said more demands should be made of people wanting to become Australian citizens.
Way to go Aussies!
Put up or shut up! The Euros could learn a thing or two here.
It is rational, it doesn't get into ethnicities, religious (read: cult) issues, and it lays down the legal groundwork for proper but civillized action.
Great going, Aussies! As soon as I'm at the point in the South Beach Diet where I can lift a beer again, I'll toast a Foster's to ya!
I can just hear the muslims:
"They aren't going to apologize and fire this man as they usually do when we claim outrage? Whats going on here? What are we supposed to do now?"
Because they're the only sonsuvbitches moving in and wanting to change their host country to be more like their Turd World homeland..
Semper Fi
'Islamic Friendship Association president Keysar Trad' wasn't feeling so friendly when he wrote this little number:
Saturday, October 12, 2002
- Jason Soon, 12:00 PM
Keysar Trad shows his true colours
The Muslim community leader who was recently given an a$$-licking profile in the Herald doesn't sound too happy with his adopted country - Chris Textor has something to say about this. Here are some charming comments from Trad's essay:
"...from the Muslim viewpoint, our ideology is the best salvation for the people of Australia, and the people of the world in general. Yes, we are a threat to the culture of drunkenness, paedophilia, and mostly we are a big threat to the culture of ELITISM ...
The criminal dregs of white society colonised this country, and now, they only take the select choice of other societies, and the descendants of these criminal dregs tell us that they are better than us. And because we are not elitists, we tolerate them. Yet they want us to assimilate, perhaps they will only become satisfied when we each die our hair red, wear blue/green contact lenses, and operate a fish and chips shop, otherwise, we would not be truly assimilating, would we?..."
But don't worry, he's an equal opportunity vilifier:
"India, the Asian country which is dominated by the lowest of the low amongst racists, the class society which divides its own people into four classes and places people of other faiths, and Muslims in particular as the lowest of the low. The policies of these cow worshippers, and their extermination of Muslims in their countries and inside Kashmir (to the silence of Western countries) is one more example of how this feeling of elitism is not restricted to the colour of the elitist, it is a lifestyle of those idiots who have intoxicated themselves with a false feeling of power, and who actively exercise this power against others..."
Perhaps that's why India has a Muslim President.
It seems he doesn't like fat people either - all you PC crusaders at the Herald, take note of what your arse licked profilee has to say:
"It is astounding how, when Pauline started the assimilation argument that the media found a Muslim woman wearing the Hijab, slightly overweight, doing her shopping, and channel nine would show her in an advertisement for one of their shows, right after the assimilation comment. They do not film a fat Australian woman in tight bicycle shorts, or tight pants, or an Australian drunk, or a nun, or an Australian welfare cheat. NO!!! They show a Muslim woman wearing a Hijab, she is not assimilating, it would be okay if this same woman walked around in bicycle shorts, with her body vulgarly bulging out to the point of regurgitation."
I am on record as favouring robust free speech and Mr Trad can vilify all he wants. However it's worth pointing out that if someone had written about Islam on the same terms as Mr Trad has compared various countries unfavourably to his Islamic utopia, that person would be before the courts in a tick and his co-religionists would be screaming about outbreaks of 'racism' against Muslims. In this country you should be willing to take as good as you give, 'Brother' Trad. Unfortunately people like you want to have the best of both worlds.
http://catallaxyfiles.blogspot.com/2002_10_06_catallaxyfiles_archive.html
It is rational, it doesn't get into ethnicities, religious (read: cult) issues, and it lays down the legal groundwork for proper but civillized action.
AND ANYONE CAN DO IT!
(If they aren't selling our heritage and their souls to buy the muslim vote, that is.)
(Denny Crane: "I Don't Want To Socialize With A Pinko Liberal Democrat Commie. Say What You Like About Republicans. We Stick To Our Convictions. Even When We Know We're Dead Wrong.")
Dead on.
The same thing applies here in the US. If you love us, and you want to be one of us, then you already are one of us, and welcome you are.
If not, please move along and find a country that better represents your values. I'll pay for the ticket.
Islam is creating the Islamophobia.
PM Howard is a breath of fresh air. And clarity. Ping!!
He has been a staunch ally and isn't going to give in the way most of the EU did. The EU is lost if they continue on this path.
He's a bloody gem. Best PM we've had!
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