I agree with the person above who objected to the photograph itself. It's appalling when our art becomes Soviet. But in this environment art cannot help but become Soviet, or fascist, instead of human. As far as the Second Coming reference goes, it's deeply offensive to any Christians who take seriously the actual content of their faith (as opposed to the ersatz Christianity of public life or the anti-christian Christianity of the Left). This is the kind of thing, both the pose and the caption, that shows you how close we are to the unveiling of the real Antichrist - a Hitlerian figure with all the power of the once-free democracies behind him - a persecutor of everything Jewish, Christian, and humane. God help us!

The video is just a little background, little analysis of course. The Muslim guy said the signs were stupid and ignorant. Scary how something like this can get play in Europe! As far as the headlines which follow the video, the French ones are as follows: The first headline says that "An islamophobic campaign has been authorized in the New York subway - Pamela Geller isn't new at this game." The second: "Islamophobia: American justice [court system] authorizes placards of hate." AJIB.fr [clever domain name because it would sound like the word "hajib"] - news of Islam and of Muslims in France. So I assume that one is a for real Muslim-managed site. Don't want to visit it. The third: "'Anti-jihad' [note the scare quotes] campaign of placards/posting in the New York subway." My German isn't so good to understand the later ones.

I was able to tell that the quoted news article was from a country such a Pakistan. How?

America and the West need to learn sooner rather than later what is the meaning of the black flag with the white calligraphic script. It would also be a good idea to learn the meaning of the white flag with the black calligraphic script. However, it does not seem anyone is interested in do so - not will they be interested until the latter flag is first raised over an important city which has traditionally deemed "Western." By then it will be too late to turn the tide without a full-on civilization war.

Pamela, thank-you for posting about this topic. I know you are Jewish, and so as a Christian I appreciate your calling attention to this strange sickness of fearing to offend others, a sickness that is sweeping the world. If a person is more afraid to offend Islam than his own god, is he even a follower of his own god? For many of us Christians I think this is especially appalling because of the particular groups involved. Organizations of this type have been filled with noble people who in some cases have literally given their lives in order to translate the Scriptures into languages which have never had the Word of the Lord before. To think they would kowtow in this fashion by actually changing God's Word leaves me in utter disbelief.

Pamela, keep up the good work. At the risk of making myself a pest on the issue, please remind (inform?) the legislators that under the US Constitution the Federal Government must guarantee to each state a republican form of government. A fortiori the States must ensure that they have a republican form of government. Shari'a is of course a theocratic system completely predicated upon religious discrimination and mandates legal disabilities for those not members of the favored group. It is therefore far more oppressive than the British monarchy or any other system the Founders might have contemplated when drafting the Constitution of the United States. Incorporating any portion of Islamic Shari'a law renders any government, ipso facto, not a republican form of government and therefore illegitimate as the Federal government is obligated to prevent such an outcome. In The Federalist Papers No. 43, Madison wrote in support of this guarantee clause, "who can say what experiments [in State governments] may be produced by the caprice of particular States, by the ambition of enterprising leaders, or by the intrigues and influence of foreign powers?... Whenever the States may choose to substitute other republican forms, they have a right to do so, and to claim the federal guaranty for the latter. The only restriction imposed on them is, that they shall not exchange republican for antirepublican Constitutions; a restriction which, it is presumed, will hardly be considered as a grievance." Following Madison's reasoning, implementing any degree of Shari'a would violate the typically generous human rights provisions which may be found in any State Constitution and would constitute an illegal attempt by the Legislature or a court, as the case may be, to deny a person the protections of the Constitution of the State or limit the applicability of the US Constitution to persons affected. This may seem extreme to some but an Alaskan is no more obligated to obey Shari'a (regardless of what the Legislature or a Court does) than he would be to obey a person who set up a monarchy in Alaska. Reference: Article IV, U.S. Constitution.

Pamela, the US Constitution says that the Federal government shall guarantee to each State "a republican form of government." The inequities inherent within the sharia certainly do not amount to anything even approximating same. Sharia is already therefore just as illicit as a monarchical system would be if someone were seeking to impose it in the US. Even Wikipedia knows this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_Four_of_the_United_States_Constitution#Clause_1:_Republican_government I went to law school but am no longer in active practice. Can't ANY of the the smart lawyers who are in the litigation battleground day in and day out figure out that sharia is ALREADY unconstitutional? You have the contacts to point these litigators in the right direction. The Founders by including that clause have already saved us not only from the despotism of a monarchy but from that instituted by any religion seeking to vaunt its tenets over those of the civil authority. Thanks for your attention. Barnabas

Be warned - that black flag you see is the flag of the army of the Mahdi or, if you like, the Caliphate, which many of them believe will be headed by the Mahdi as Caliph in any case. I quote Joel Richardson: "The Mahdi’s ascendancy to power is said to be preceded by an army from the east who will be carrying black flags or banners of war. Sheikh Kabbani states: Hadith indicate that black flags coming from the area of Khorasan will signify the appearance of the Mahdi is nigh. Khorasan is in todays Iran, and some scholars have said that this hadith means when the black flags appear from Central Asia, i.e. in the direction of Khorasan, then the appearance of the Mahdi is imminent. "Another tradition states that: The Messenger of Allah said: The black banners will come from the East and their hearts will be as firm as iron. Whoever hears of them should join them and give allegiance, even if it means crawling across snow. "In Islam there are two flags. One is white and one is black. Written across both flags in Arabic are the words, “There is no God but Allah and Muhammad is his Messenger”. The white flag is called Al-Liwaa and serves as the sign for the leader of the Muslim army and is the flag of the Islamic State. The black flag is called Ar-Raya and is used by the Muslim army. It is also called the flag of jihad, and is carried into battle. One flag is governmental and the other is a military flag. When Muhammad returned to his home city of Mecca after being exiled for eight years, he returned as a conqueror. With him were ten thousand Muslim soldiers. They carried with them black flags. On the flags was one word written in Arabic: punishment. "I was once talking to a group of young Muslim men and asking them some questions. I asked them if the obvious superior militaries of America and Israel compared to the militaries of any Islamic nations were a source of difficulty for many Muslims. One of these men then became very angry at my question and snapped out, “You Americans and Zionists better get ready, because the black flags are coming!” At the time, I had no idea what he was talking about. Later I learned the meaning."