The daily unfoldings of this story are simply too precious to leave alone. The BBC has a great page of comments on this whole fiasco, many are worth reading. One in particular caught my eye,
"the wanton destruction by the Taliban...of the historic Buddha images carved into the a cliff [in Afganistan]. Buddha is a prophet too, but I cannot recall any demonstrations of the Muslim world to protest this inane destruction. Double standards..."
How true. The slightest misstep by any non muslim is like kicking over a hornets nest. They begin with simple marches in the streets, but this soon leads to a mob mentality, with effigy burning, signs threatening suicide bombings, and the occasional invasion and burning of, guess what, non muslim buildings. Should any dissenters be the in the location, they will at least be beaten if not killed.
Where was the outrage when the massive, 15 story tall, ancient Buddha statues were blown up? Where was it when the synagogues were burnt in Gaza following the pullout? Where was it when more radical elements of the muslim world killed hundreds of people throughout the last 10 years in everyplace from Chechnya to Kosovo to the Phillipines to India to the Sudan?
But now the muslim world erupts because of...cartoons?
