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AP: Protests Over Muhammad Drawings Intensify

Outrage over caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad erupted in a swell of protests across the Muslim world Friday, with demonstrators demanding revenge against Denmark and death for those they accuse of defaming Islam’s holiest figure.

In Iraq, the leading Shiite cleric denounced the drawings first published in a Danish newspaper in September, one of which depicted the prophet wearing a turban shaped as a bomb. But the cleric also suggested militant Muslims were partly to blame for distorting the image of Islam.

Some European newspapers reprinted the caricatures this week, prompting protests Friday in Britain, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Pakistan, Indonesia, Malaysia and Palestinian areas. In Sudan, some even urged al-Qaida terrorists to target Denmark.

“Strike, strike, Bin Laden,” shouted some in a crowd of about 50,000 who filled a Khartoum square.

The U.S. and British governments criticized publication of the caricatures as offensive to Muslims, raising questions about whether the line between free speech and incitement had been crossed.

The Danish government tried to contain the damage. Foreign Minister Per Stig Moeller called Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas and said the Danish government “cannot accept an assault against Islam,” according to Abbas’ office.

On Monday, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen said his government could not apologize on behalf of a newspaper, but that he personally “never would have depicted Muhammad, Jesus or any other religious character in a way that could offend other people.”

Many Muslims consider the Danish government’s reaction inadequate.

Flap disagrees with the United States government.

This is a free speech issue and the Islamic world better get over it. They do NOT control the Western World or the Western Press. If they wish to protest or boycott so be it.

By the way, BUY DANISH!

Hundreds of Morrocan Muslims protest against the Danish and Swedish publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, in front of the Parliament in Rabat, Morroco, Friday, Feb. 3, 2006. Incensed Muslims filled squares and streets across the Middle East on Friday to condemn Europe’s publication of cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, trampling and burning Danish flags, and even calling on al-Qaida to carry out revenge attacks.

More photos of the IDIOTAS at Michelle Malkin: IN THEIR OWN WORDS

Oh Yes……American Newspapers WIMP OUT and will not publish the cartoons…….Disgracefully politically correct……..

Stay Tuned………

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Muhammad Caricature Watch: Anger Over Cartoons of Muhammad Escalates

Day by Day by Chris Muir on CNN

Day by Day by Chris Muir on Muhammad Caricatures

Cox & Forkum: Publication of Caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by a Danish Newspaper

Technorati Tags: Jyllands-Posten, ProphetMuhammad, Islam, Muhammadcaricatures

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, right, jokes with, from left, California Assembly Speaker Fabian Nunez, Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Sherman Oaks, and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa during a news conference Friday, Jan. 13, 2006, in Los Angeles. Schwarzenegger signed a bill to speed up expansion of notoriously clogged Interstate 405. Three months after a disastrous special election left him politically shaken, the Republican governor has started his re-election year with a retooled message about building highways and schools, a new chief of staff (a former Democratic activist) and a more businesslike image stripped of Hollywood frippery and stunts.

OC Register: Governor boosts Carona’s support

Sheriff Mike Carona’s re-election bid came roaring out of the gates Thursday with the help of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, bringing in about $700,000 at a St. Regis fundraiser – a single-event high for a local candidate here.

Schwarzenegger, the guest speaker, fondly recounted his 4-year-old friendship with Carona and compared his generous praise to the Valentine’s Day sentiments he’ll be delivering to his wife, Maria Shriver.

“No matter what my schedule was, I wouldn’t have missed this event,” he told about 460 people in the resort ballroom. “I would go through anything for Mike Carona. … There’s no other person who should be sheriff for the next four years. He’s the man.”

The governor credited Carona for making Orange County one of the safest places in the country.

The friendship between Carona and Schwarzenegger began when the sheriff joined the 2002 Proposition 49 after-school campaign backed by the actor. Carona subsequently served on Schwarzenegger’s gubernatorial transition team.

The $1,500-a-plate event gives the incumbent about four times as much money in the bank as his three challengers combined.

The dinner provided a respite to the political turmoil being faced by both men, something Carona acknowledged after receiving a standing ovation.

“You don’t know how good that feels after the past year,” he told the crowd.

Carona’s last re-election campaign failed to attract a single opponent. But a rash of bad publicity in Carona’s past term – including sexual harassment accusations, the indictment of his former top assistant, and an ongoing FBI investigation of the department – has brought both challengers and protesters out of the woodwork. About two dozen demonstrators picketed outside the St. Regis.

“If he’s honest in his denial (of sexual harassment), why do women keep coming forward?” said Huntington Beach’s Leigh Ann Gilmore, a small-business owner holding a sign that read, “Why would the governor support a sheriff who demeans women?”

Now if Carona can keep his campaign and office PR staff quiet regarding the Governor’s re-election chances.

Technorati Tags: ArnoldSchwarzenegger, MikeCarona, OrangeCounty, California, CaliforniaElection2006

OUTRAGE: Palestinians burn a homemade Danish flag Monday in front of a European Union building in Gaza City, Gaza Strip.

Los Angeles Times: Anger Over Cartoons of Muhammad Escalates

Protests erupted in the Muslim world and militants issued threats against Europeans on Thursday in response to the publication in Western media of controversial caricatures of the prophet Muhammad.

Debate over the drawings, which were first published in September by a Danish newspaper, is being seen as a collision between freedom of expression and religious sensitivities in European nations, where Muslim populations have struggled to fit in.

The caricatures have appeared recently in newspapers in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands and even Jordan.

Muslims, who consider any depiction of God and the prophets blasphemy, are outraged by the caricatures, one of which shows Muhammad with a bomb as a turban. Another shows the prophet standing on a cloud as he tells a group of suicide bombers that paradise has run out of the virgins said to await martyrs upon their death.

The conflict heated up on multiple fronts Thursday. In the Gaza Strip, masked Palestinians fired weapons into the air as they surrounded an office of the European Union and a French cultural center. Two Palestinian militant groups threatened to retaliate against the newspapers by kidnapping European citizens and targeting churches and European offices.

Thes folks need to learn some sensitivity and TOLERANCE of others. The world does NOT revolve around Muhammad as much as they may WISH it.

A Jordanian weekly that ran the cartoons with a plea to Muslims to “be reasonable” fired its editor, withdrew the edition and faced possible sanction from the government, Associated Press reported.

In Paris, the tabloid France Soir abruptly fired its managing editor for reprinting the caricatures in Wednesday’s edition, the cover of which carried the paper’s own cartoon of Muhammad alongside Christian, Jewish and Buddhist holy figures. “Don’t complain, Muhammad, we’re all being caricatured here,” the Christian God says.

Tunisia and Morocco banned the sale of copies of France Soir.

In Jakarta this morning, Muslims protested in the lobby of a high-rise that houses the Danish Embassy, pelted the building with eggs and burned the Danish flag outside.

Editorialists, political leaders and advocates of press freedom said the Muslim backlash, which has included boycotts, death threats and flag burnings, jeopardized democratic rights.

Certainly the Muslims have the right to protest but to carry it to the extremes of violence is over the top.

And the American/European press cowering to religious extremist demands is disheartening and saddening. A free press is a free press.

Book burning is book burning.

Michelle Malkin has a good piece, THE COWARDLY AMERICAN MEDIA (VIDEO ADDED)

“The reaction in Muslim countries shocks me because it confirms the weight that radical Islam has acquired,” said Patrick Chappatte, a cartoonist quoted in the Swiss newspaper Le Temps. “A real totalitarianism is at work in the world and wants to impose its views not only on Arab Muslims, but on the West. The same way that they veil women, Islamic radicals want to veil cartoons in the press.”

But Muslim leaders accused European media of provoking strife by humiliating Islam. “Freedom of expression cannot be the freedom to lie,” said Dalil Boubakeur, imam of the Mosque of Paris and president of the French Council of the Muslim Faith. “The prophet did not found a terrorist religion, but on the contrary, a religion of peace.”

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said the furor had exacerbated religious tensions.

“Any insult to the holy prophet — peace be upon him — is an insult to more than a billion Muslims,” Karzai said in a statement.

Western leaders responded gingerly. They were mindful that the issue could unleash violence reminiscent of the assassination of Dutch filmmaker Theo van Gogh, who was killed in 2004 by a Dutch Muslim extremist angered by the filmmaker’s depictions of Islam.

Stay tuned as the Europeans walk the tight rope between freedom of expression and their radical Islamic immigrant communities’ protests this weekend.

Michelle Malkin: THE MUHAMMAD CARTOONS BLOGBURST

Human Events Online

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Day by Day by Chris Muir on CNN

Day by Day by Chris Muir on Muhammad Caricatures

Cox & Forkum: Publication of Caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad by a Danish Newspaper

Technorati Tags: Jyllands-Posten, ProphetMuhammad, Islam, Muhammadcaricatures

Technorati Tags: DaybyDay, ChrisMuir, MuhammadCharicatures, CNN