Defending free speech is defending Western Civilization and Human Rights

I don't agree with a lot of Charlie Hebdo's politics, and its cartoons tend to be over the top and offensive not only to Muslims, but Jews and Christians too. Jews and Christians shrug it off. Muslims, certainly these Islamist Terrorists, not so much. Like the Anchoress, I defend Charlie Hebdo's right to offend. We can not allow ourselves to self censor in fear of these radicals, we need to defeat them.  

So if Charlie Hebdo cartoons are not your taste, the Anchoress has a selection of classics:

Botticelli, Mohammed in Hell (illustration from Dante's Inferno)

Is Mohammed in hell?
I hope not. I wouldn’t wish damnation on anyone, and with God all things are possible. Even the perpetrators of yesterday’s slaughter are capable of being forgiven when, God willing, they are swiftly found and just as swiftly sent on their way to the afterlife.
But as we face this endless war–and it is a war, with every computer and newspaper and city a battleground–we must not yield to intimidation and threats.
And for now, that we means we must offend.

The New Yorker did a good commentary too: Who to blame for the Charlie Hebdo attacks:

But the murders in Paris were so specific and so brazen as to make their meaning quite clear. The cartoonists died for an idea. The killers are soldiers in a war against freedom of thought and speech, against tolerance, pluralism, and the right to offend—against everything decent in a democratic society. So we must all try to be Charlie, not just today but every day.

Folks on the left love to bring up how in the West the Catholic Church tried to suppress thought and free speech.  Most of their examples go back to hundreds of years, but we got beyond that with the Enlightenment. Our Constitution is a reflection of the concept that people have the natural and unalienable right to think and say what they want. You are not free unless you can say and think what you want. To those on the left who want to engage in relativism on Islamic violence, you have completely missed the point. I do not care what Muslims think. They are free to practice their faith, provided it does not interfere with me. You deal with attacks like this by responding back with appropriate and directed force to destroy those who would destroy us.

Mark Steyn/Hot Air: Charlie Hebdo was a target due to Media cowardice

Mark Steyn: The Fire Rages and I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees
TOM: Muslim Fanatic Anjem Choudary defends attacks on Charlie Hebdo
Instapundit: Christopher Hitchens on today's Paris massacre
Instapundit: Show some backbone (people on the front lines in the middle east are doing so)
AoSHQ: For shame Bill Donahue
Lem's Place/Chip Ahoy: Je suis Charlie
AmPowBlog: First photos of Charlie Hebdo

@GayPatriot what's wrong with loving pussies? H8er! @rsmccain @AceofSpadesHQ @MarkSteynOnline http://t.co/qU1k8HglTN pic.twitter.com/DIew3Ej1Uh
— Evi L. Bloggerlady (@MsEBL) January 8, 2015

The monstrous, venal stupidity of William Donohue, and a serious criticism of @hughhewitt as well http://t.co/IDcVPN9rPf
— LeContredicteur (@AceofSpadesHQ) January 8, 2015

Chilling photo of #CharlieHebdo newsroom reveals aftermath of massacre http://t.co/stad9oY4Xz pic.twitter.com/sK5ffMfBAG
— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) January 8, 2015

A Great Breakfast Recipe: Baked Christmas

Thank you Anchoress!

Merry Christmas to you all.

Update:
Smitty contributes to the culinary world with how to cook steak in your cooler...it had to be steak?

Elmore Leonard RIP

The Anchoress had this sad news.

RIP Elmore

Elmore Leonard's Rules on Writing.

Update:
Leonard's work ethic advice...

Pope Benedict Leaves Vatican

Pope Benedict leaves Vatican

Pope Benedict's Last Night at Vatican

Django Unchained: Movie Review

If you liked Inglourious Basterds, Pulp Fiction, Spaghetti Westerns and Blacksploitation films from the seventies, and the scene where Sonny dies in The Godfather, you will really like Django Unchained.  It is completely over the top, with every bullet hitting flesh an arterial shot (and it is a fair criticism to disagree with that as an artistic statement).  I get a little annoyed with attempts to pass rural California off as the South, but it was entertaining.  And the film got Spike Lee all fired up.

And it even had some serious moments (warning: this is a spoiler):

Django Unchained’s Moment of Moral Clarity shar.es/hVAQx via @firstthingsmag
— Elizabeth Scalia (@TheAnchoress) December 31, 2012

Update:
Samuel L. Jackson refuses to answer question when interviewer refuses to say "n-word."
Jammie Foxx and Samuel L. Jackson coach DiCaprio on saying the "n-word."
Raaaaaacist Django action figures? 
Now this is BSC:  Samuel L. Jackson's character "Stephen" is Clarence Thomas?  The left have lost their friggin minds.
This is an interesting take on Django...
This is correct too:  Since Tarantino's frame of reference for just about everything is cinema, Django Unchained is not about slavery or racism, but about slavery and racism in movies...   
Friday Fashion Fail...

Happy Birthday H.L. Mencken

What H.L. Mencken wanted written on his tombstone: "If, after I depart this vale, you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner and wink your eye at some homely girl."

H.L. Mencken getting a toast on his 70th birthday in 1950

I am embarrassed I was not on this yesterday, given I have a Mencken quote on the banner of this blog.  But the wonderful Anchoress had a post to remind me.  The Anchoress' post is great for using topical examples of things happening now with the media and the current "Arab Spring" crisis that would have made Mencken cringe.

Mencken had a dim view of democracy, considering most voters to be ignorant yokels.  I don't share all of it, but he had a point about the ignorance of many in the population.  Mencken has a way with words and a wonderful acerbic wit (similar to Christopher Hitchens and Dorothy Parker's).  Happy Birthday H.L. Mencken!  

A suggestion for our GOP Congress to do immediately on Obamacare...

Daniel Bernstein makes this suggestion at Volokh Conspiracy:

If I were a Republican Congressman I’d schedule a new vote in the House on the individual mandate, but replace the “penalty language” with language specifically acknowledging that the “penalty” is actually a tax. If the Democrats vote “aye,” they’ve acknowledged breaking the Obama pledge not to raise taxes on the middle class. If the Democrats–specifically those who already voted for the mandate–vote “nay”, what becomes of the tax argument in future litigation?

h/t The Anchoress 

I respectfully disagree with the Anchoress' position on the Roberts' ruling (I do not like the ruling).  I am also not sure of what "future litigation" there will be. The Supreme Court has ruled.  I doubt any votes will change.  But politically it makes sense to put Democrats in a tough position.

From Smitty at TOM:  Ott finds humor in the decision...

Obama Framing Fail: Attacking Ann Romney is not working for them...

Here is the Drudge Page link.

Ann Althouse does a very good job explaining how this has backfired on the Obama White House.
Talking about hypocrisy:  Obama's White House pays women less than men?  
Democrats create firestorm over claiming stay at home moms not working...
The Anchoress (via Instapundit):

“There is irony in Rosen sneering that Ann Romney knows nothing about working women, while she, Rosen, supports an administration that pays its female employees less than men. But I digress. Rosen seems to truly not get why people, especially women (both working and at-home) took offense at this. . . . Because — unlike Rosen, or her favored women – I’ve actually lived the life of both struggling at-home mother and struggling working mom, I am inclined to take offense at the notion that a woman who finds her first vocation in child-rearing has surrendered her intellect, and therefore has nothing to say to the room. And make no mistake, that is precisely the sentiment that rests at the heart of Rosen’s remarks — an ugly disdain wholly at odds with the standard feminist rhetoric about the dignity of women and their choices.”

Prior EBL Post:
The Democrats and their media allies make up lies about Ann Romney

Update:
No surprise here:  Debbie Wasserman Schultz is involved...
White House is saying Hillary Rosen is not connected to them (under the bus with her!).  Sorry, that is not going to fly.  Hillary Rosen has multiple meetings with President Obama and most of his senior staff.  She is definitely tied in.
The Blogmocracy on the topic.

Unbelievable:  Democrat and Obama ally Hillary Rosen doubles down and defends what she said about Ann Romney!
Obviously Alexrod must have sent her a message:  Now Hillary Rosen is apologizing.
Legal Insurrection notes something not surprising:  Hillary Rosen is a hypocite and partisan hack
Red State:  Hillary Rosen and the war on (conservative and stay at home) women...
The Anchoress:  "Hilary Rosen may not formally work for the Obama campaign, but last night she was shilling for it." 
Tweet of the day: The woman who “never worked a day in her life” just won a media war with a career political communication “expert.”
Professor Jacobson has some more excellent tweets (just not as good as the one above).  
Protein Wisdom:  Ann Romney inauthentic woman?  White House makes Rosen take one for the team...
The Other McCain:  Feminism, Careerism, Lesbianism
Weasel Zippers:  Biden drives bush over Rosen!  
Twitter Firestorm over this story...

Palm Sunday Painting

Palm Sunday

I like this painting.

Palm Sunday link:  The Anchoress

What Are You Doing New Years Day?

H/T:  The Anchoress

This works just as well on New Years Day!