Welcome again to the Rantburg Test Kitchen, where the elite meet to eat. With the grueling days of Ramadan (and several dozen pork recipes) behind us, we now turn our attention to the upcoming holidays. I'd like to begin by thanking everybody who contributed the last time around. It wouldn't have been nearly as much fun without your help. In another week or so, I'll be publishing a master index to the Rantburg Ramadan recipes.
On with the show. This time around, it's no holds barred. Pork is no longer the central theme and it opens up the subject matter in a big way. Even though nostalgia ain't what it used to be (sniff), just for old time's sake I'm going to begin with a recipe that uses sausage. Not just one or two, but three different types of sausage. This recipe is a tradition that I have kept for almost two decades. I'm confident that my neighbors would break down my door with pitchforks and torches if I didn't bring around the usual bowls of it like I do every year. Please be sure to try this if it seems to your liking. You will be in for a very pleasant surprise.
Triple Sausage, Red Wine and Sourdough Stuffing Thanksgiving Turkey Dressing
Preparation Time: 2 Hours
Serves: 10-20 People
Ingredients:
2 Lbs. Chicken or Turkey Giblets
2 Loaves Sourdough French Bread*
2 12 oz. Packages Thomas' Sourdough English Muffins*
1 12 oz. Package Jimmy Dean Sage Recipe Sausage*
1 12 oz. Package Hillshire Farms Beef Li'l Smokies*
2 6 oz. Packages Swift's Premium Beef Link Sausages*
2-4 Large Eggs
œ -1 Lb. Button Mushrooms
4 Cloves Garlic
4 Shallots
3-4 Ribs Celery (plus leaves)
2 Sticks Butter
1-2 Yellow Onions
1 Bunch Italian Parsley
1-2 Tsp Salt
1 Bottle Red Wine
1 Tsp Ground Celery Seed
1 Tsp Ground Sage
1 Tsp Ground Thyme
œ TSP Whole Peppercorns
œ Ground Black Pepper
Dash of Crystal hot sauce*
Fresh herbs or Bells Poultry Seasoning
* Do not substitute these products
Preparation:
Make the croutons:
This may be done the day before. The croutons may be made days in advance if needed. Preheat your oven to 250°F for twenty minutes. Cut the bread and English muffins into cubes smaller than half an inch. Cover a cookie sheet with a thin layer of bread cubes and bake until they begin to brown slightly. Remove from the oven and cool completely before storing. Continue until all of the bread is toasted.
Make giblet stock:
This may be done the day before. Cook the giblets and those from the bird, including the neck, heart and gizzard in a large pot with 1-2 quarts of canned stock or just water plus a teaspoon of salt. DO NOT use the liver when making the stock, it will contribute an off flavor. Feel free to add a clove of garlic, a spoonful of chopped onion and some peppercorns to the broth. Reduce over a fast simmer until a few cups of liquid are left. If the giblets are very tender after cooking some of them may be chopped up and used in the stuffing. Tinned chicken broth may be substituted but it will not have the rich flavor of freshly made stock. Strain off the stock and reserve it for later use.
Cook off the sausages:
This may be done the day before. Crumble the Jimmy Dean sausage into pieces the size of marbles and fry until golden brown. Remove the fried sausage and add the whole Swift's Premium link sausages to the grease and fry until browned. When draining any of the sausages, do not press down on them as this will leave them too dry. The little smokies should not be cooked before hand or they will lose a lot of their moisture. When the sausage is finished cooking, drain off the grease and add the red wine to deglaze the pan. Use a good quality wine. A zinfandel like Ravenswood Vintner's Blend or Sutter Home will do nicely. Reduce the wine to half its volume so that you have about two cups remaining. While the wine reduces, scrape the pan in order to deglaze it. Pour off the wine and reserve it for future use.
Prepare the stuffing:
Preheat a pan over medium heat and add half a stick of butter. Thin slice the mushrooms and add to the pan. Continue to cook the mushrooms until they have released a lot of liquid. Pour off this liquid and reserve it for later use. Add more butter to the mushrooms and continue to sauté until lightly browned. While the mushrooms cook, parboil the celery. When prepping the celery, detach a rib from the bunch, grasp the leafy top of the rib and bend backwards to snap it, then pull down along the back of the rib to remove the strings from it. Chop the ribs into medium thin slices and parboil them. Use some of the giblet stock and briefly cook the celery until it is no longer crisp. Be sure to add some of the leaves from the heart of the celery bunch. They will carry a delightful perfume into the stuffing.
Once the mushrooms are finished cooking, transfer them into a very large bowl. Peel and chop the shallots and onions. Place them in the frying pan with a little butter if needed. Cook them until they are translucent and then push them to one side and add the chopped or crushed garlic. DO NOT brown the onions or the garlic as this will ruin the stuffing. Cook the little smokies in a small saucepan with a pat of butter and a bit of water. Heat the sausages until they are plump, then immediately add a little over half of them to the stuffing mixture. In the large bowl begin to combine the other ingredients. Coarsely chop the link sausage and add it to the mushrooms with the crumbled sausage. Add the minced parsley as well. Once the onions, shallots and garlic are finished add them to the bowl too. Add the spices and fold the mixture to evenly distribute them. The use of fresh herbs is strongly recommended. Buy two bunches. One for the stuffing and one for inside the bird. Avoid breaking up the crumbled sausage too much.
You are now ready to add the croutons. Before doing so, crack the eggs into a small bowl and beat them well. Fold the croutons into the mixture and be careful to avoid breaking up the ingredients too much. Combine the reduced red wine with a stick of melted butter, 2 cups of the giblet stock and the liquid from the mushrooms. Drizzle this over the stuffing until everything is evenly moistened. At this point, the stuffing may be held at room temperature for a few hours if needed. If you add the eggs to bind it, you must begin cooking it right away. I do not recommend refrigerating the stuffing as this congeals it and can add an undesirable density it.
After binding the stuffing with the beaten eggs, wipe the interior of an over proof pot with melted butter or oil. Fill it with the stuffing but avoid packing it down in any way. Scatter the top with more of the smokie links. If needed, use two pots to accomplish this. Bake for ~30-45 minutes covered and then remove the lid or foil and allow it to brown for another fifteen minutes. For best results, dot the surface with bits of butter during the browning.
Note: I do not recommend filling the turkey with stuffing. Too often, the bird's juices will make the dressing soggy and leaden. For the best results, rub the bird's exterior and interior with a mixture of salt, pepper, ground thyme, ground sage, garlic and onion powder plus some ground celery seed and a dash of sugar. Before cooking, fill the bird's cavity with one or two peeled potatoes, onions, shallots, carrots, cloves of garlic and ribs of celery or the celery heart. If you have used fresh herbs, toss in a small bouquet of them as well. These ingredients will perfume the turkey while it roasts. The bird will roast more evenly and the cooking time will be shorter due to the lack of filling. This will give you moist, juicy and tender results every time. The bird is done when the internal juices run clear and very little to no pink is present in the meat. A meat thermometer should indicate 180°F when inserted away from any bone. Stop roasting a few degrees short of the finished temperature to ensure perfect cooking. DO NOT roast at a temperature of less than 325°F.
Remove the neck and giblets from the birds cavity. The giblet sack is often stored in the neck area, do not miss it. Fold the wing tips underneath the birds body to prevent them from burning. Be sure to baste your bird with melted butter. Start the roasting process with a pint of stock in the pan. Use a wire rack to keep the turkey up out of the liquid. DO NOT use a roasting bag. You will steam your bird and the results will be mushy. Periodically use a baster to transfer all liquid from the cavity back into the roasting pan and then replenish it with fresh stock from the pan. Loosely cover the bird with a foil tent until the last 30-60 minutes of roasting, depending upon size. Remove the foil and decrease the heat by 25-50° F. Baste frequently during the final hour, about every ten minutes. Alternate between melted butter and stock from the roasting pan. This will give you brown crispy skin with an intense savory flavor.
Turkey Hints: Buy a hen turkey, they are usually much more moist. Place the bird in your oven with its neck facing towards the back. This will keep the bulk of the turkey in the hottest region of your oven. After roasting, be sure to allow the turkey to rest for a minimum of 10-20 minutes before carving it. This allows the bird to reabsorb the juices that were released during the roasting process. While the bird rests, separate any fat from the pan drippings, use the stock to make the gravy and finish baking the stuffing. When carving the bird, do not miss the "oysters". They are underneath the bird, in between the legs and the body along the back. These two small golf-ball sized pieces of meat have the very finest flavor of any cut from the entire fowl.
This recipe continues to receive rave reviews from all who taste it. People who do not even like stuffing have tried this preparation and were instantly won over. If you are pressed for time on the big day, merely make the ingredients ahead of time as the recipe suggests. I have done this quite often and the end product does not suffer in the least.
(This is for those who really like asparagus, and has an obscene amount of calories.)
6 T butter
1/2 green or red bell pepper finely chopped
1/2 onion finely chopped
4 T flour
2 C milk
1 t salt
1/4 t pepper
American Cheese Slices
3 cans asparagus
8 sliced hard-boiled eggs
1 C buttered bread crumbs
Saute chopped green pepper and onion in butter in top of double boiler. Then put over heated double boiler water, blend in flour. Slowly add milk until smooth and thick, stirring constantly. Add salt and pepper.
In casserole dish, alternate layers of asparagus, sliced egg, American cheese slices and sauce. A final sauce layer over the top is then sprinkled with the buttered bread crumbs.
Bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. Serves 6-8.
#4
Here is a classic of French Christmas cuisine:
Dinde au whisky
Serves 6
1. Buy a turkey weighing about 5kg, a bottle of Whisky, salt, pepper, olive oil and some bards of lard.
2. Bard the turkey with lard, tie, salt and pepper and add a dash of olive oil.
3. Pre-heat the oven, thermostat 7, for 10 minutes.
4. During this time, pour yourself a glass of Whisky.
5. Put the turkey in the oven in an oven dish.
6. Next, pour yourself two glasses of Whisky and drink them both.
7. Increashe the thermoschtat to 8 after 20 minutes to seal in the juices.
8. Knock back three more glasses of Whisky.
9. After half an hour, get in the oven and check the turkey's progresh.
10. Take the bottle of Whishky and schpill a glashful all over yourshelf.
11. After another half hour, schtagger over to the oven, open the oven door and burn, spurn, churn - hic! - er, put the turkey the other way round.
12. Burn your hand on the blasted oven door while trying to close the damn thing - hell's bells!!
13. Try to sit down on a son-of-a-bitch of a chair and soak up five or six Whisky of glasses, or the opposhite - dunno!
14. Book, look, hook, rook, cook - no, well, yes, cook the mean so-and-so for four hours.
15. Whoa!! Five more glashes! By jove, you needed that!
16. Bake, rake - no, take the turkey out of the oven.
17. Wash down a fair gulp of Whisky.
18.Try to take the oven out of the rotten turkey again 'cos you didn't manache it the firscht time.
19. Pick up the turkey from the door, poor, hic! - floor, clean it with a piesche of kitchen roll and slap it on a slate -hic! - plate. Oh, what the hell!!
20. Fall over and break your neck on the tiley greases, or the greasy tiles (don't care any more) and try to stumble up.
21. Decide it's much more fun to stay on the floor and finisch the bottle of Whischky - hic! - hic!
22. Clamber to the bed, schleep like a log all night.
23. Next morning, eat the cold turkey with a luvverly mayonnaise (warning: pick off very carefully the kitchen roll still stuck to the turkey)
24. Spend the rest of the day cleaning up the awful mess you made in the kitchen the day before
In the first nine months of this year, almost 100,000 people left the Netherlands to settle elsewhere, 12,000 more than the same period last year. [ ] The net effect means the Dutch population was reduced in the 2004-06 period by 75,000. In the preceding three years, there was a positive net migration of 75,000. Despite the dramatic reversal, the number of immigrants is also on the increase.
Faced with poor job prospects, high taxes and an intrusive bureaucracy, more and more Germans are choosing to emigrate. Most of those who leave, though, are highly qualified which could mean devastating economic consequences. [...] They are fed up with living in a country where all opportunities already seem to be taken: opportunities to succeed in ones career, to own property and to achieve prosperity.
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
At this point, its no longer a surprise when we find that major news networks have a huge bias. It still, however, shocks me how they will do anything to make Israel look bad. Now, Israelis regretfully killed 18 Palestinians. Why/How you can find out at any major news network. However, propaganda exposure you can find here:
I went through like 300+ pictures on Yahoo! News and they had pictures from Reuters, the A(w/t [MM]P, and the AFP. Now, aside from the fact that in all 300+ captions they mention that Israel troops killed 18 Palestinian civilians, mostly women and children, they also mixed photos of mourning people at a funeral with the destruction of the city that the Israelis caused. Now, if they had put the pictures of the destruction all in the same group, you would have noticed that they simply took the same building and shot pictures of different people standing in/on/around it.
Notice, also, the progression of the hole in the wall- pardon the pun. First it starts off kind of small (1), then it gets slightly larger (3), then its large enough to fit 2 small children in (4). Are people doing construction work and attending the funeral at the same time? Are photographers, then, just happening to get shots without the demolishers and with random by-standers? Interesting if you ask me.
#1
A5089, I appreciate your interesting posts and comments on France. My French is a bit rusty, but I am pleased to see that there are French bloggers who "get it". I hope that the anti-leftist bloggers will change a lot of minds.
#2
I really dunno; french internet had a real influence on the EU "constitution" referendum, as it was the only mean available for the "no" advocates to bypass the information control and the opinion-shaping of the french msm (who were overhelmingly biased toward the "yes", to the point of being undemocratic).
Still, I wonder about the real influence the internet can have against the massed artillery that television is, for example. It is great for an individual to get "re-information" and being exposed to other views, but I doubt, or at least don't know if, it can change public opinion.
Well, the Republicans lost, which means the Dems are in power. As usual before all elections, the liberal blogs were being responsibly proactive and whining about how those elections were about to be stolen by the incumbent party. After all, that's how they got there in the first place, right? Firm contermeasures must be taken mmediately! Proper mechanisms must be put in place to keep this from ever happening again! Here's how you can "steal back your vote", even if it means committing fraud! [Hey, it's OK to "steal back" that which is rightfully yours, right?]
Apparently, either they were not stolen or, far more likely [only if you're a Democrat], Rove's efforts were just not enough to do the trick.
In any case, I haven't heard a peep from the very same blogs (or the MSM for that matter) about a problem that theoretically should still exist. Aren't they worried about the next elections, or is it theoretically possible that it was all crap? They'd better get on it while they have a chance or for sure the Evil Pimply-Faced Republican Youth with No-Vote lists on their blackberries will do it again!
Any bets on exactly how much meaningful effort will be put towards curing this problem before the next elections? >:-)
I think this might be a good subject even for the MSM or, far more likely, other blogs. Maybe even shame the MSM into picking it up in a meaningful way.
#1
Let's ask St Louis for a complete and verifiable accounting - send in enough US Marshals, FBI, and National Guard to make sure the job's done right.
#3
ACORN is under investigation for turning in fake voter registrations there
Posted by: Frank G ||
11/11/2006 20:54 Comments ||
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#4
Actually, liberal blogs are discussing the need to prevent election fraud by the Rovebots and the political value of making election reform a major issue for their new majority quite a bit.
Some of the nuttier (it's a relative term) are theorizing that the fraudsters laid low this time so the forces of righteousness would let their guard down before the real effort to steal the '08 elections for the GOP.
They had to run that clip because the much of the rest of his speech was an absolute riot.
He started off by mentioning that "tomorrow is an extremely important day for America," and the crowd went wild, thinking he was talking about taking power. But of course, he launched into his praise of the Marine Corps, and the crowd cheered a little less loudly. Then he thanked all the brave veterans and brave men still fighting, and the crowd cheered a little less loudly again.
Then he mentioned that he received a call from Sen. Allen, and the crowd went nuts again. Then he mentioned how pleasant and dignified Allen was, and the crowd grew quiet. Then he said he was having lunch next week with Allen and the crowd was dead silent. Finally he told the audience that they should all thank Sen./Gov. Allen for his many years of dedicated service to the people of Virginia and you could almost hear the people gathered looking at each other asking, "What the $#@! did we just do?"
#1
This was "the setup" that prompted the reader email...
I think all of the predictions that Webb will make for one of the Senate's most interesting senators are all probably true. There's a lot to admire about the guy. But, I also get the distinct impression that he will end up having a real political tin ear and turn out to be amazingly prickly. One small example: the networks keeps running this clip from his victory rally where he calls on the president to denounce the sort of negative campaigning which divided Americans in this election. It's a really, really lame soundbite and the press probably deserves some grief for airing it so much. But it's telling. Here this guy just won this huge election, the Democrats are all on their "bipartisanship uber alles" talking points, Allen has just conceded graciously and called for unity, and here's Webb calling for Bush to denounce yesterday's news. There's no percentage in it. Nobody will want to talk about it. Bush isn't running for anything and asking the head of a party to, in effect, apologize for how it ran a losing campaign is deeply ungracious in political terms. The sense I got is that Webb is still peeved about the negative ads and he won't let it go even on his day of victory. Recall that Webb couldn't last long as Secretary of the Navy either. Obviously, it's too soon to tell, but my guess is that within a year the conventional wisdom will be that he doesn't play well with others.
#2
"Doesn't play well with others" was the verdict back under Reagan. No surprise here, other than to the Dems who know so little about the military that they think finding a veteran who criticizes Bush means they've found a soulmate.
Webb is Not Ready for Primetime in political situations, whether in the Pentagon or in Congress. He sees himself as representing the lower middle class white, Scots-Irish southerners and so he'll be happy to vote for higher minimum wage and protectionist trade policies. But he will be a loose cannon who cannot be depended upon by EITHER side of the aisle, if his stint under Reagan is any indication.
#3
Webb is Pat Buchanan, or, rather, what Pat Buchanan would be if Pat Buchanan had a touch of class* and a successful writing career. Hell make common cause with the likes of Sherrod Brown** on economic issues, but he'll definitely have trouble getting along with the "celebrate diversity" and "our troops are war criminals" bunch, and I wouldn't be totally surprised if he ends up hawkish on the WoT and a sort of de facto ally of the President, at odds with his own caucus.
*-Thanking Sen. Allen for his service and treating him nicely on the way out is the classy thing to do. (If it's insincere--and I don't knos that it is, mind you--well, remember that hypocrisy is the homage that vice pays to virtue.)
**-Standard-issue Mk. 1 Mod. 0 Northeast Ohio union-backed populist ward heeler. I grew up among these sorts of people in Youngstown. I left town as soon as I could.
Posted by: Mike ||
11/11/2006 8:30 Comments ||
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#4
That's the hope. We'll see ....
And I say that as a 30 yr Dem from a blue collar / military family.
#4
MSNBC is locked out on my satelite reciever, no one in this house is allowed to watch it. It's a bunch of feltching, anti US of A, socialist claptrap. It's license to use RF to hit it's satelite should be revoked.
#5
Won't happen. The Reps went after Clinton in part because they wanted to carry a moral rectitude issue into the 1999 campaign. The Dems do NOT want to drag a security issue into 2007. Why? They will get killed. What happened in Iraq will stay in Iraq.
Oriana Fallaci, RIP, was a prime example of this abuse of Western legal institutions against us. This is an important topic... another vector of the pathogen and one that can silence those with the stones to inform the dullards. Jeff does a nice job.
#2
Surrealism has now entered the courtroom. This is nothing short of intimidation or silencing of those authors who have the courage to expose questionable or dangerous practices. Islam is a prime candidate and it is quite obvious that its proponents are utilizing England's Victorian libel laws in an attempt to stifle exposure of same here in the United States.
If American courts refuse to stand up for our constitutional rights, they had better be prepared for some extreme civil disobedience.
#4
UK lawyers are notorious for coercing results for corrupt clients, by filing endless pre trial Motions. Not only do these cost money, work time loss costs jobs. Imagine filing a trans-Atlantic affidavit, being cross-examined on same, returning home, and then facing a Motion to squelch the Affidavit. And any victory would be subject to endless appeals.
A US-UK agreement on process abuse by aliens should be in the works or this use of UK courts to advance Wahabi aggression and enable confiscation of profits from US writers, will never end.
#5
Surrealism has now entered the courtroom. This is nothing short of intimidation or silencing of those authors who have the courage to expose questionable or dangerous practices.
"Surrealism" is the wrong word. "Fascism" is the right one.
If you hold unpopular views and give a speech on campus, the college-aged thugs will shout you down, assault you, and you will be blamed. If you hold unpopular views and write a book about it, the better-financed and older thugs will sue you even if they have to have your book shipped across the world to find a friendly court.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/11/2006 8:56 Comments ||
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#6
A US-UK agreement on process abuse by aliens should be in the works or this use of UK courts to advance Wahabi aggression and enable confiscation of profits from US writers, will never end.
Never happen. The British politicos would have to side with the US against Muslims to do it.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
11/11/2006 8:57 Comments ||
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#7
"Surrealism" is the wrong word. "Fascism" is the right one.
#8
Doesn't this pair up with German "universal jurisdiction" on war crimes? Can't these countries keep busy enough enforcing their laws inside their own countries?
I was greeted in March 2006 by Manmohan Singh in a small sitting room in the quite modest prime ministers bungalow in New Delhi. The prime minister of India wore a broad smile, for he had just days before concluded a revolutionary nuclear deal with George W. Bush. Probably outside of Israel, no foreign capital is as pro-Bush as Delhi. Singh was basking in the glory of the Bush deal.
Indeed, Indias political and strategic elite, even more than Americas, understands the epic nature of the new strategic relationship with Washington. It has been rightly compared with Nixons opening to China in the 1970s. Its different in many ways, but it has the same potential to reshape almost all geostrategic equations, particularly those involving China.
The economist academic who happens to be Indias prime minister is still not really a politicianthats one of Singhs great strengthsbut he was prepared to accept a little gentle praise for the Bush deal. In Washington, there is much (reasonably justified) self-congratulation over the India initiative, which is rightly seen as a masterstroke, but America has scarcely recognized Indias own complex and many-faceted motivations for entering the new relationship. One, which political correctness prevents both Indians and Americans from publicly discussing much, is Indias growing strategic competition with China. With a characteristic Asian feel for the balance of power, New Delhi has reached out to the superpower to counter-balance, in part, its giant neighbor and inevitable rival China. I predict that throughout the rest of this century Indias strategic competition with China will intensify and become almost as fundamental a part of the global order as the Sino-American contest.
Posted by: john ||
11/11/2006 07:26 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[6 views]
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#1
With a characteristic Asian feel for the balance of power, New Delhi has reached out to the superpower to counter-balance, in part, its giant neighbor and inevitable rival China.
Ahh, the subtle strategic masterstroke of the Asian feel for balance and counter-balance. So inscrutable to we imbalanced, ham-footed Westerners.
#2
The ancient Indian treatise on statecraft and power - the Arthashastra - written around 250 BC - presents the concept of the near and far emperors.
The near emperor is your enemy. He represents a challenge to your kingdom.
The far emperor is however a potential ally.
Posted by: john ||
11/11/2006 8:59 Comments ||
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#3
Indias emergence as a strategic equal of China is a good thing for the world, so long as New Delhi and Beijing manage their inevitable competition effectively.
Rape, genocide and gross human rights violations against ethno-cultural groups induce victims to adopt defensive mechanisms. Hindu women in South Asia adopted traditions to protect themselves from Muslim invaders, who perpetrated the largest holocaust in history against Hindus. According to Dr.Younis Shaikh (Pakistani author of the study Islam and Women), eighty million were slaughtered and millions of women were raped. Sexual violence occurred on a gory and unimaginable scale: it was standard practice for Islamic warlords like Ghori and Ghazni to unleash the mass rape and enslavement of hundreds of thousands of women after the slaughter of all males. A large percentage of Muslims in South Asia today are the progeny of forcible conversions and systematic rape campaigns by marauding Muslim invaders.
As a result, Hindu women often veiled themselves in public to avoid the eyes of rapacious Islamic conquerors. This was especially prevalent in regions with high Muslim populations, such as Hyderabad under the Nizams. The tradition of sati, where Hindu women voluntarily cast themselves onto burning cremation grounds after their husbands death, gained widespread acceptance during the Islamic invasions. The most famous instance took place when Muslim invaders overran Chattisgarh in 1568: rather than submit to the rape and slavery that would follow, eight thousand heroic Hindu women committed sati en masse.
Western nations with high Islamic immigration rates are also beginning to see mass rape and sexual violence emanating from Muslim fundamentalists. Paul Sheehan of the Sydney Morning-Herald reported the clear link between Australian rapes and Muslim immigrants. In one instance, a Pakistani in Australia charged with rape argued in court that his cultural background is responsible for his acts. Last week, one of Australias senior-most Islamic clerics, Sheikh Hilali, compared unveiled women to uncovered meat who invite rape.
In Europe, Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten reported that Oslo police reports found two-thirds of Norwegian sexual crimes are committed by non Western immigrants. The Swedish Crime Prevention Council reports that males born overseas commit rape at four times the rate of natives Swedes. In both of these nations, Muslim immigrants comprise the largest non European population, which is echoed across Europe. TIME magazine reported in 2002 that sexual assault is rampant in Frances poverty-stricken suburbs, inhabited primarily by members of the five million-strong French Muslim population.
Thus, we are seeing a repeat in the West of what occurred in ancient Hindu civilization: the freedoms enjoyed by liberated women are steadily being eroded by beliefs diametrically opposed to our values of pluralism and freedom.
Within some societies, it is customary for women to bear the blame and responsibility for sexual crimes. The niqab and hijab cover female bodies and it is the duty of women at all times to remain covered and avoid male attention. In Pakistan, women are sometimes stoned to death for adultery and imprisoned when they are raped. When Mukhtar Mais brother was charged with an offence, Pakistani courts ordered her to be gang-raped by four men for her brothers offense.
Viewed in this light, it is apparent why British PM Blair and Italian PM Prodi have recently raised concerns about the wearing of veils. France has wisely banned the wearing of veils in public schools.
Whether or not immigrants can adapt successfully to progressive societies is dependent on how deeply entrenched are the negative values of their homelands. Oppression, enslavement, and sexual violence are rooted within the fundamentalist Islamic psyche. Many Islamic leaders who perpetrated mass rape in South Asia were deeply religious Muslims with considerable authority within the faith.
Fundamentalist Muslim attitudes towards women and minorities are so divergent from civilized norms in other cultures that clashes are inevitable. These conflicts can result in drastic changes in the host cultures, such as regional adoption of veils by Hindu women and an upsurge in sati traditions. In Europe, the massive sexual violence perpetrated by Islamic fundamentalists is slowly changing society. Unni Wikan, professor of sociology at University of Oslo, in 2001 blamed Norwegian women for dressing provocatively in front of Muslim men, and suggested that they should adapt themselves to a multicultural society.
Western societies will soon be forced to decide whether to protect their democratic traditions or submit to medieval standards of conduct.
Ron Banerjee is the director of the Hindu Conference of Canada.
#1
Ron Banerjee is the director of the Hindu Conference of Canada.
Right to the f*ck on. This is blunt, blunt talk for Canada. Hindus may be the best friends of the West at the end of the beginning. India, Japan, USA... shape of kick ass!
#2
Well...Just motivate those chicks to buy handguns and learn how to protect themselves (and their spouses). Uh, Oh... "What's that you say"? That "the u.n. has taken away the rights" of private individuals (not to mention entire Continents) to bear arms? As if! Get fucked, Assholes. Later. at
Posted by: AT ||
11/11/2006 20:30 Comments ||
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I have not been posting much this week since I was attending the general meeting of the Mont Pelerin Society in Guatemala City. Today (it is still 9 November here) is the 17th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. We just heard a speech by former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, who brought homage to Ronald Reagan, Margaret Thatcher, Pope John Paul the Great, Alexander Solzhenitsyn and others and asked us never to forget the millions of victims of communism. Aznar also said that todays threat is no longer Soviet missiles. The threat is terrorism. He added that Islamic terrorists consider our democracy and freedom to be unbearable and that policies of appeasement do not work: Appeasement will not work against Islamic terrorism. We must not forget this lesson, he said.
I wonder what the position of the Spanish government would be today if Aznar were still Prime Minister of Spain. He did not refer to last Tuesdays American elections in his speech, but would he be worried? I have expressed concern that a victory of the Democrats in the U.S. might have very serious consequences, especially in Europe, if this leads to a withdrawal of the US Army from Iraq. Most Europeans are satisfied that the Pelosi band won, but if Iraq ends in a debacle for the U.S. this will seal the fate of Europe.
The reason why so many Europeans are pleased with the Democratic victory is because they see it as a vindication of their own anti-Americanism. Some Europeans will deny this, and say that they are not at all anti-American just anti-Bush or anti-neocon. It this were true one might just as well argue that the reason why the regimes in Iran and Syria are pleased with the outcome of the American elections has nothing to do with anti-Americanism but only with feelings of antipathy towards the Bush administration. I do not buy that argument. Anti-American feelings are growing in Europe. I think these feelings will exacerbate in the coming years for three reasons, all of which have to do with the current crisis in Europe:
(1) Its welfare states are on the brink of implosion;
(2) Its moral and legal order is collapsing, while the influence of radical Islam is growing;
(3) Its nation-states are falling apart.
Before coming to Guatemala I spent over two weeks in the U.S., where I could feel the exasperation with Europe and the growing anti-Europeanism. One university professor told me that the Americans made a mistake when they dropped two atomic bombs on Japan during WWII, because they should have dropped them on Europe. He was only half joking and made it quite clear that America would never again come to the rescue of Europe. He is closely involved with one of the think tanks related to the White House. He told me (and I believe him because I heard a similar observation from someone working for the administration) that Americas leading politicians, despite words to the opposite, have also given up on Europe. To be honest, I find this quite understandable. It would, however, help if they were to concede this publicly, because only the shock of realizing that they are on their own and will have to rely on themselves instead of on America will persuade the Europeans to pull their act together.
Meanwhile the thing that strikes me most in Guatemala is the abundance of children. The average fertility rate is 4.4 births per woman, compared to 1.1 among non-immigrant Europeans in Europe. Some Guatemalans complain that the birth rate in their country is a problem, but I do not think so. On this issue I agree with the late Julian Simon who argued that people are the ultimate resource, they are a countrys greatest wealth. Europes birth dearth is the root cause of its problems.
In Guatemala, where women exert little control over their reproductive lives, maternity is a risky undertaking...Between 1980-87, the overall maternal mortality rate in Guatemala was 110/100,000 live births, compared to a rate of 9/100,000 in the US. Many of these maternal deaths result from diseases and complications arising in the perinatal period, usually epileptic seizures, bleeding, premature labor, abortion, and postpartum infections. In addition to the women who die from pregnancy complications, many more are left permanently disabled. Complications such as infections and bleeding often result from illegal abortions, usually performed in unsanitary conditions by inexperienced individuals. Abortion rate estimates range from 4%-18% of all pregnancies. Guatemala bans abortion, except in a few life threatening conditions, when approval must be obtained from a committee and a physician. In reality, only women who can afford a private physician can secure approval for an abortion. While a 1985 WHO report argued that family planning is the first step in preventing illegal abortions and reducing maternal mortality, the growing anti-abortion movement in Guatemala has also begun to threaten support for family planning.
#3
Yes, why not welcome immigration from South America?
Different problem, but surely less of an existential threat... populations who could assimilate more easily, common civilizational background... and if they ultimately become the majority, at least they won't erase our past because it predates the Master Religion(I don't care about 2006 Europe, but I value its past and achievements).
But it won't happen, even if the EU preaches for opening the immigration floodgates because of the coming european demographic winter... immigration from the east is already more regulated than immigration from the south. It's not a bug, it's a feature.
#4
5089 - but consider the point of view of a possible Guatemalan emigrant - who go to a place of declining prospects, no hope, and filled with losers? Muslim emigrants may see themselves as the vanguard of the Umma, conquering new lands for Islam, but most people from south of the border don't see the situation that way.
#5
Most of the really poor Guatemalans live in the mountains because their ancestors fled to avoid having anything to do with European culture when the Spanish arrived 500 years ago. Many of them still speak Mayan dialects and have limited to no Spanish even today. I doubt you'd see many takers on an offer to migrate.
Unbelievably hard working people. It would be nice if their country straightened out enough to give them a fair shake and benefit from their potential.
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