USA: Ayaan Hirsi Ali: "My View About The West & Islam Is The Same As Last Year: Pessimistic"
In an interview with The Jewish Journal a year ago, following publication of her best-selling book "Infidel”, the Somali-born libertarian feminist questioned the West’s comprehension of Islam and the roots of terrorism, as well as America’s devotion to the concept of multiculturalism. She also argued that there was little basic difference between the outlooks of “moderate” and “extremist” Muslims. Asked last week whether her earlier feelings about the West’s incomprehension in the face of Islamic threats had changed, she seemed even more pessimistic than a year ago. “I felt safer under President Bush than now,” Ms. Hirsi Ali, a former Dutch parliamentarian, said. “But basically, nothing has really changed. In Pakistan, there is continuing anarchy and [President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad is determined that Iran will become a nuclear power. At the same time, European governments give lip service to opposing Islamic terror, but when you ask for concrete action, they say no,” she said.
As Booker Rising has mentioned several times, Britain has had and is still having scandals where parliamentarians claim expenditures on homes, meals, etc. that they did not have. New rules have come down, with parliamentarians again allegedly trying to work the system. However, Times Online names one parliamentarian for special praise: Adam Afriyie of the Conservative Party: "One of the few not to lose out from Sir Christopher Kelly’s report is a millionaire businessman. Adam Afriyie’s Windsor constituency is on the fringes of London and he is likely to be caught by the '60-minute' commuting rule that will bar him from claiming for a second property. In fact, the Tory is a paragon of virtue, having voluntarily forgone his £23,000-a-year [US$38,000] second home allowance. Nor does he employ a spouse or use any of the £10,000-a-year [US$16,600] communication allowance. He has a second home in Westminster, which colleagues admire jealously, but funds it entirely out of his own pocket."
Netherlands: Black Tulip Named After Ayaan Hirsi AliIn the garden of the Rijksmuseum, a national museum in Amsterdam, 100 black tulips - called "Ayaantulps" - were planted to celebrate the work of Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the Somali-born libertarian feminist, writer and former Dutch politician. The tulip is the Netherlands' national flower. Black tulip grown today are 20th century introductions – and are actually dark maroon, as truly black flowers are virtually unknown in nature.
The Rijksmuseum launched the tulips to emphasize that "that a vital, open society as we had in the Golden Age cannot be without foreign phenomena" (article in Dutch). The museum director said the Rijksmuseum is where independent minds can blossom. There are already several black tulips on the Dutch market. "But", says tulip breeder Lydia Boots, "the Ayaan tulip is one of the finest black tulips I have ever seen."
Ms. Hirsi Ali, who now works in the U.S., attended a similar planting ceremony in New York.
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