Muhammad Cartoons

Oh, the irony. As you've probably heard, Muslim groups throughout the Middle East (and elsewhere) are causing a ruckus in response to some satirical caricatures of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad published first in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten and subsequently in several other European papers.

To quote from an article from the Canadian Press:

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Tens of thousands of angry Muslims marched through Palestinian cities, burned the Danish flag and called for vengeance Friday against European countries where caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad were published.

The demonstrations were the latest sign of growing anger against the cartoons that has spread across the Muslim world.

Early Friday, Palestinian militants threw a bomb at a French cultural centre in Gaza City and many Palestinians began boycotting European goods, especially those from Denmark, where the cartoons where first printed.

"Whoever defames our Prophet should be executed," said Ismail Hassan, 37, a tailor who marched through the pouring rain along with hundreds of other angry Muslims in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

"Bin Laden our beloved, Denmark must be blown up," protesters in Ramallah chanted.

Fundamentalist Muslims protested outside the Danish Embassy in Malaysia, chanting "Long live Islam. Destroy our enemies" and accusing Denmark's Jyllands Posten newspaper, which first published the cartoons, of seeking to incite hatred.

"It's an uncivilized act. It's heinous," said Hanifah Maidin, youth wing spokesman of the Pan-Malaysian Islamic party. "We want the Denmark government to tender an apology to the Muslim world."

[...]

It's shockingly hypocritical (and yes, ironic) that they can denounce cartoons as uncivilized and, in the same breath, call for death and destruction in response, and it's worrisome that governments are probably going to try to appease them rather than chastise them for it.

Down with the Duke

As you have no doubt heard, Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham (R-CA) has admitted to accepting bribes in excess of $2.4E6 in exchange for showing favoritism in the awarding of military contracts.

The whole debacle is summed-up nicely in this New York Times article.

In addition to losing his seat (actually, he stepped down, but what's the difference?), Cunningham will likely be subject to heavy fines and/or jail time. Not to mention the fact that no one will trust or respect him ever again.

Harsh? Yes. Deserved? Absolutely.

We give public servants the authority to make decisions on our behalf. This system is grounded in the fact that we trust public servants to use their power for the common good. Abuses of that trust undermine the system, are detrimental to the common good, and should not be tolerated.

PS
To make matters worse, Cunningham "forgot" to report all that bribe money as income on his tax forms, so you can add the IRS to the long list of people who are angry with him.

Riots in France

Gated communities operate based on a small-scale social contract. As a resident, one implicitly agrees not to commit crimes against others within the community. The penalty for residents who violate this contract is simple -- above and beyond being subjected to traditional legal troubles, violators are expelled from the community.

Upon becoming a resident of a nation, a similar social contract applies. Similar but different. Commit a crime, and your nation will punish you to a greater or lesser extent. What your nation will NOT do, is deport you.

That is, most nations would not. According to this article in the New York Times, France is taking a somewhat different route. For those who aren't aware, "youths" in France, many of them foreigners, have been rioting for about two weeks now -- burning cars, smashing windows, and whatnot. The riots were supposedly spurred by the somewhat questionable deaths of two of young men who were electrocuted while fleeing police.¹

As of today, French Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy -- who has been widely criticized for labeling the rioters as "scum" -- has announced that foreigners caught rioting will be deported.

According to the article, humans rights groups are already calling for this order to be rescinded, saying that it is "illegal and needlessly provocative."

Illegal? Doubtful.
Provocative? Certainly.
Needlessly? I don't think so.

Riots are nothing but violence and destruction. They accomplish nothing, and there is no excuse. None. If you want to live in a civilized country, try acting like civilized human beings. I say throw them out, and good riddance.

¹ Details about this incident are decidedly lacking. My personal feeling is that anyone who chooses to "flee police" was probably causing trouble in the first place, and is asking for more by running. Unless there is more to it, I don't have much sympathy.