In honor of Ramadan, let's start with barbecued pork ribs:
PREFACE: I model my pork rib recipe after that served by Charlie Vergo at Memphis legendary barbecue house, The Rendezvous . While consulting on the design of a failure analysis laboratory, I was invited to their company Christmas party. The labs owner has just been in Memphis for a convention and, being Greek, had dropped by The Rendezvous. This inspired him to Fed Ex in some forty pounds of Rendezvous barbecue for the event. It was simply the finest I had ever tasted in my entire life. Additionally, the sauce contained no tomato products, which is something that I prefer. Needless to say (then why say it?), I had to physically restrain myself from going back for a third helping. I did manage to tell all in attendance that they were tasting the real thing and to remember the flavor as a gold standard for future reference.
Remarkably enough, just a bare few weeks before, I had watched Tennessee Ernie Ford host a PBS television special called, Great Barbecue Chefs of the Midwest. Never in my entire life have I seen a two hour documentary that contained so little factual information. Each and every time Ford would ask a given barbecue chef about his ingredients or cooking method all you would get for a reply was something along the lines of, hommina, hommina, hommina, yadda, yaddita. Out of over a dozen chefs interviewed, only Charlie Vergo went into really specific detail, which I memorized on the spot. What follows is largely based on his instructions. I have posted this recipe elsewhere only to have someone come back and start an independent thread about how these were the best ribs theyd ever had. So, I must be doing something right. On with the show and a happy Rantburg Ramadan to all of you.
Barbecued Pork Ribs Authentic Memphis Style Ribs
Submitted by Zenster
Ingredients:
5-10 Pounds Fresh Corn Fed Pork Spareribs (frozen if fresh is not available)
1-2 Quarts Apple Cider Vinegar
3-4 Gallons Filtered Water
1 Pound Barbecue Dry Rub (recipe pointers to follow)
1 Quart Barbecue Sauce (recipe pointers to follow)
Optional:
7 Pounds Ice
1 Sixpack Beer (or more prn)
Preparation:
1. Buy the meatiest ribs you can find. They should have a fair degree of streaking to them (i.e., fat). Avoid frozen ribs as they can be very dry from the freezing and thawing process. If you really want to throw your money away, buy "baby back" ribs. The concept of parboiling or oven roasting the ribs is for crude beginners and will not be discussed further. I still shiver to think of my beginner days when I would cut up the slabs and simmer them off in Chris and Pitts' tomato based garbage sauce before grilling them over an open kettle.
2. Per The Rendezvous, I soak my ribs overnight in a bucket of water and apple cider vinegar. If spoilage is a concern, toss in a sack of ice. Somewhere around 10-25% by volume cider vinegar is required, depending on if you will be using ice and how long the ribs marinate. Use more vinegar with more ice. Be sure to stir the tub every so often, as the vinegar will settle and chemically cook those ribs on the bottom. Better yet, every few hours, turn the ribs in the tub, moving the bottom ones topside. Be sure to save the marinating mixture for mopping and humidifying the ribs during cooking.
3. In the morning, get the ribs out of the tub and completely dry them off. Be sure to get under the flap meat as well. I usually lay out the ribs on a slit open (unused) garbage bag. Massage the ribs by hand to loosen up the connective tissue. Get out your dry rub and sprinkle it all over the ribs. Get a good coating in place as the meats moisture will dissolve a thin dusting. Cover the racks with plastic if you are concerned about hygiene or bee bugs. About this same time, place a generous handful or two of hardwood chips in a bowl of water and weigh them down with another plate or bowl to keep them submerged. Hickory and apple wood are some of my favorites.
4. Get outside and light off your briquettes. For superior results, use real 100% mesquite. Be sure to pile all the charcoal to one side of your kettle. If possible, avoid using starter fluid. I just shave up some wood and start it all with crumpled newspaper. Electric charcoal lighters work just fine. If you are in a hurry, use a hair dryer or heat gun to fan the coals. Yeah, you look a little silly styling your kettle, but you'll have coals in less than a half an hour. Put the grill over the coals to burn off any encrustation from the previous use. A wire brush can also help with this.
5. Before starting the ribs, place a clean tin can full of the marinating mixture on the grill over the coals. This will provide a moist environment for your barbecue. If you have a small kettle or a large quantity of ribs you may want to have some more coals ashing up in another grill to restock the main one during the cooking process. If you are using a propane rig start both sides on high to warm up the entire grill. Let the burners run for at least ten minutes. Before placing the ribs on the grill, turn off the burners on one side and crank down the others to low. Then place the ribs over the unlit section. The placement of the coals to one side and having one end of your propane grill unlit both accomplish the same thing. You want INDIRECT heat to cook over. If you want to serve charred and crusty inedible crap on your table, go ahead and cook directly over the coals.
6. If needed, oil the grill ahead of time. Be sure to wait for any flare-ups to die down before proceeding. Place the ribs bone side down on the grill. ALWAYS barbecue your ribs bone side down for the entire duration of the cooking period. Only if you are in a dreadful hurry should you ever flip your ribs over to the meat side. I usually just stack about three or four slabs on top of each other. Be careful not to scrape off a lot of the dry rub when placing the ribs on the grill. If needed, patch up any bare spots with a sprinkle or two of dry rub. At this time add a small amount of the soaked hardwood chips to the coals. Check to make sure the tin can of marinade is topped off and place the cover on your kettle. Choke off the kettle's airflow so it allows a bare minimum of ventilation that will keep the coals burning and watch or listen carefully for any flare-ups. If flare-ups do occur, use a spray bottle to douse them. Dont try to fan or blow out any flames, youll just scatter ashes all over your prize ribs.
7. Every so often, check the stack of ribs and rotate the bottom slab to the top. If you have a fancy propane rig with the middle and top racks, use them for excellent results. Rotate your ribs between the racks and the grills cooking surface every 15-30 minutes. Again, be careful not to break off too much of the dry rub crust when rotating the slabs. Once the crust has set well, you may occasionally mop the slabs with some of the marinating liquid. Always check the tin can and top it off whenever required. Use tongs to avoid piercing the meat and drying it out. Remember to add some more of the hardwood chips periodically in between beers. Start warming up your barbecue sauce somewhere around this time.
8. The ribs are done when the meat pulls back from the ends of the bones by about Œ"- œ". There should be a nice tawny glaze on them and they should be moist and tender. Cut off one of the tiny end ribs to check. The end rib should be thoroughly cooked with almost no pink so that the larger ones will be at the perfect state of tenderness. It is at this point that the fistfights can begin. All of you pantywaists can feel free to apply some sauce during the last stage of cooking (about 10-15 minutes). Adding the sauce any sooner will allow it to burn and create a bitter carbon crust from the scorched sugars. Any sufficiently prepared ribs will not benefit from this. You will merely mask your splendid dry rub and stop your guests from appreciating the magnificence of a dry rubbed rib. Nuff said.
9. As you bring the slabs to your table, prevent any guests from charging at you by using pepper spray or a Taser. Singulate the ribs and dispense them with the righteous and regal air that you deserve. Try and remember to have some sauce on them, but be sure that your guests try a rib or two without any sauce so that they understand the culinary magic that has been woven in front of them. Take a bow and keep your recipe well hidden from prying eyes.
10. If this does not make for the finest ribs you've ever had. I will personally refund every penny you paid for these pointers.
PS: Some people remove the underside membrane, also called silver, from the racks of ribs. This is not my own practice, but it might yield an even more tender and smoky product. I may even try it sometime.
#1
Memphis Style Dry Rub Herb and Spice Barbecue Seasoning
Submitted by Zenster
Preparation time: 1 hour
Serves: Enough for 6-12 racks of pork ribs.
Ingredients:
2 lbs. Golden or Light Brown Sugar (must be fresh to avoid clumping)
½ cup White Cane Sugar
½ cup Sea Salt (or Kosher, not iodized)
½ cup Onion Powder
¼ cup Garlic Powder
¼ cup Corn Starch
¼ cup Ground Paprika
Heaping Tablespoon Each of:
Allspice (or 2-3 per taste)
Fine Ground Black Pepper (or two per taste)
Cayenne Powder (adjust per desired octane)
Ground Sage
Heaping Teaspoon Each of:
Ground Cumin
Chile Powder (mixed spice is ok, but straight powdered chile is best)
Preparation:
Mix all of the ingredients. Hold back on the salt and cumin at first and balance it at the end. Push all of the combined ingredients through a coarse sieve to ensure a free-running consistency. The final product should have a slightly sweet, yet salty and hot flavor to it. There should be a nice complex and dark, warm taste from all of the spices, but none of them should stand out like a sore thumb. It's really hard to overdo the garlic or onion powder but watch out for the ground cumin, you can blow away a whole batch of dry rub with a single slip of the measuring spoon. For best results, use freshly ground sea salt and pepper. I recommend New Mexico or Pacifico (California) red chili powder.
NOTE: This recipe is modeled after the style of barbecue served by Charlie Vergo at The Rendezvous in Memphis, Tennessee. Use this dry rub with the barbecued rib recipe posted above.
Important Points:
Do not be afraid to experiment or modify this recipe. It is all about personal taste. Is this my exact own personal set of ingredients? Heres a hint; Youll have to pry my recipe out of my cold dead hands.
Use both kinds of sugar, even three types, such as turbinado can yield interesting results.
There are several other herbs and spices that can enhance this basic recipe. Hint, hint.
Keep the heat down. Few people appreciate anything over two alarms.
Remember, when developing your dry rub recipe, you can always go light at first and augment any flavor notes by adding more of one or another herb and spice later on.
When applying the dry rub, make sure to work it all over each slab, including beneath the flap meat on the underside. Massage it into the rack a bit using your fingertips. If needed, dust the racks another time to establish a secure coating that will stand up to handling. Allow the rub to rest on the meat for at least an hour but not more than two.
#2
Here's a nice little make-ahead dessert -- flavoured with rum -- that fits the theme, I think.
Charlotte Russe (serves 8, or 16 if half-slices are wanted) This recipe was given to my mother as a baby gift when I was born. She passed it on to me as a wedding gift, along with an alcohol-free variation shed developed for tea-totalers. Both versions freeze beautifully, and can be kept for months.
Note: Charlotte Russe is traditionally a round, bombe cake. However, since this recipe is so extremely rich, Ive found it better to make as a loaf shape served in slices. It also fits better in my freezer that way.
Cake:
2 packages ladyfingers (about 24 pieces)
3 Tbsp (45 ml) each rum and water
Filling:
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tbsp (30 ml)water
1 Tbsp (15 ml) rum
1 teaspoon (5 ml) almond extract
12 oz. (340 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips (I like Girardelli, Mama prefers Nestle)
4 large eggs, separated
1 cup whipping cream
Place mixing bowls and beaters in refrigerator to chill -- both egg whites and cream whip higher in when beaten in chilled bowl. Line a 9x5 loaf pan with plastic wrap, leaving generous overhangs so that the finished cake can be sealed air-tight for storage. On a large plate split the lady fingers, and sprinkle or brush the flat sides with the rum/water mixture. Line loaf pan bottom and sides with ladyfingers, taking care to leave no holes. There should be enough ladyfingers left over to lay on top of the filling later. Set aside.
In a double boiler, melt together sugar, water, rum, chocolate chips and almond extract until completely melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly, then whisk egg yolks and stir in.
Meanwhile, in one large bowl beat egg whites until very stiff. In another large bowl whip cream until stiff. Fold chocolate-egg yolk mixture into whipped cream, then gently fold in the beaten egg whites.
Pour filling into prepared loaf pan, then top with reserved lady fingers. Seal plastic wrap tightly to prevent lady fingers from drying out.
Refrigerate cake if to be served within 24 hours, otherwise put directly into freezer.
Take out of refrigerator/freezer just before serving dinner to give the Charlotte time to come to the best eating texture. If serving a crowd, cut into slices and plate now; for more intimate gatherings, bring uncut to the table later. To serve, garnish cake with powdered sugar or a sprinkle of unsweetened cocoa powder, and serve each slice with a generous dollop of unsweetened, softly whipped cream.
Alcohol-free Charlotte Russe
Rub ladyfingers with freshly grated orange zest, instead of sprinkling with rum.
For the filling, replace rum and almond extract with 1 1/2 Tbsp grated orange zest plus 1 Tbsp orange juice
#4
There was a BBQ joint just down the street from Tampa,Fl CAIR HQ. I noticed that this has become Sinbad Mideast Food. It has since become history but at least the offending BBQ joint is gone.
Posted by: bruce ||
09/26/2006 8:24 Comments ||
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#7
Anyone-can-make-it Apple Pie (actually a nice tart, but we'll call it Pie as in "motherhood and ...)
Crust:
1/4 lb butter (firm)
1 cup flour with a pinch of salt added
1 egg yolk
ice water
Cut butter with a knife or fork or pastry knife into pea-sized bits. Add the flour and mix well so that you have a coarse texture of tiny bits of butter coated with flour. Mix the egg yolk with 3 Tablespoons of cold water and mix into the flour/butter with a fork. Dribble a little more water as needed to produce a dough that hold together into a ball - but avoid making it really sticky. (If you do, add a SMALL amount of flour.) Pat into a 9" pie pan with your fingers.
(Note: unlike traditional pastry, this can be mixed in a food processor and still comes out flaky!)
Heat the oven to 425 degrees F. while you prepare the filling, as follows:
Peel 4-5 Granny smith apples. Quarter them and remove the core. Mix 1/4 cup flour and 1/4 cup sugar and spread on the bottom of the unbaked pie crust. Cut apples into smaller chunks (1 inch x 1/2 inch or so) and layer on top of the sugar/flour. Dripple 1 T water over the fruit, then sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on top.
Bake at 425 for 15 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees and bake for 20-30 minutes longer, until the fruit is soft (but avoid allowing the crust to get dark brown - take it out while the crust is still golden).
Ways to spice this up:
(1) Add some dried cranberries in and among the apples.
(2) Add some chopped walnuts in and among the apples.
(3) Using a zester or a grater or a thin knife, remove the zest (yellow part of the peel) from 1-2 lemons. This has the essential oils that give taste and smell to fresh lemons. Mix the chopped zest in with the fruit. Squeeze the lemons and dribble the juice over the fruit (instead of water) before topping with sugar and cinnamon.
#8
If you're in a hurry for food and not up to Zenster's 500-word recipes or hours of cooking...
Sprinkle pork tenderloin with SeasonAll and bake at 400F for 25 minutes per pound. Surround with microwaved new potatoes and sauerkraut microwaved with the pork drippings. Wash down with beer.
#9
DAMN these all look really good! Who needs "America's Test Kitchen" when I can just go to the 'burg?
(If this keeps up till around the Christmas/Chanukah season....have I got a chocolate truffle recipe for you guys!)
But first, a technical question or two for the Zen Man....
1) It's probably my browser (Firefox), but for some bizarre reason your dry rub recipe isn't giving me the measurements for the garlic powder/cornstarch/paprika (it shows as a "j" instead of a number) or the cane sugar/sea salt/onion powder (it shows as a "S"). I was thinking the S might be one-half cup and the j might be one-quarter, but thought I'd ask before plunging ahead.
2) From time to time I see a slab o' ribs here that they label "St Louis Style". Is that the kind you use?
Was never allowed near the grill when I was growing up, sorry. That was the men's realm at my house....but then again, they got the hell outta my kitchen without a squeak when I demanded it, so it worked out well. ;)
(As of last Thursday, I've lost 88.8 pounds. Slim chances I'll break 100 by the end of the year; birthday, Thanksgiving, trip to Disney World, followed by Christmas and finally New Year's.)
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
09/26/2006 9:53 Comments ||
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Posted by: Frank G ||
09/26/2006 10:39 Comments ||
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#16
You have My admiration, RC. I'm not willing to put in the sacrifice to lose 30 (the tumor and radiation took out 25 or so, but I don't recommend it), so 100 is beyond visioning.
#20
*intoned most proficiently through her nose* We must all make sacrifices in times of war, Rob. *Back to her normal voice* Well done, Rob! Especially as you've already survived Oktoberfest Zinzinnati, one of my own little trip hazards. Besides, while Zenster's ribs are very much of the moment, you can make my Charlotte Russe for setting aside in the freezer until you are good and ready to eat it, so that's kind of ok. ;-)
Swamp Blondie, save your truffel recipe to give to us as a Christmas present. Or it will do nicely for Ramadan if it has alcohol in it... *hintng madly* As you suspected, it's 0.25 cup garlic powder/cornstarch/paprika, and 0.5 cup cane sugar/sea salt/onion powder.
#24
RC, I'ma headin' down the Orlando way myself with the wife and (one of) the kids myself in a few weeks. And, I've also gone the Weight Watchers route too (informally), and have lost around 20-25 lbs. But, 80+ is phenomenal! Congrats on that (and the "bigger" car).
BTW, if Zen's receipe is akin to Rendevous', I wholly endorse it (and I'm a typical smother it in sauce type Southerner)! The only "dry" BBQ I've had, and it was well worth it! Even if it's not like Rendevous', it's the least we could do for ramadan, eh?
Posted by: BA ||
09/26/2006 13:07 Comments ||
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Posted by: BA ||
09/26/2006 14:00 Comments ||
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#27
This is the first time I've ever been excited about Ramadan. I love Pork Ribs! Thanx Zen et al. I can't wait to tell Habib down at my local Convenient/Check Cashing/Lotto/Beer store. Maybe I'll bring him some to try.
#28
Wow, thank you all for the replies and, especially, the other recipes. I'm hoping we can assemble a fine collection that Fred and the mods could market for extra revenue as "The Rantburg Cookbook".
I'll be creating an index for all of the recipes as they are posted. The index will be included in each recipe thread that I post. I'm going to try and do this daily, throughout Ramadan, and then may switch over to a weekly basis, if bandwidth and the Mods permit.
I really appreciate this opportunity to contribute some of my favorite kitchen creations here at Rantburg. Unless noted at the bottom with a; "Cheerfully stolen from ...", all of these are my own creations. I've been a culinary enthusiast for my entire life and have also worked as a volunteer and professional chef during some of Silicon Valley's economic downturns. In this most recent post 9-11 recession, I switched over to assisting with the management of operations for catering firms and also serve on the advisory board for a local culinary institute.
With moderator permission, I will occasionally mention specific products and services which I consider to be superior. In certain recipes I will call out for some of these and recommend against substitution. Please proceed with utter confidence when I do so. My recipes may seem extremely detailed, partly due to my prior work writing technical specifications and laboratory procedures, but I promise that you will find them easy to follow and comprehensive in terms of preparation. On with the show!
It's probably my browser (Firefox), but for some bizarre reason your dry rub recipe isn't giving me the measurements for the garlic powder/cornstarch/paprika (it shows as a "j" instead of a number) or the cane sugar/sea salt/onion powder (it shows as a "S"). I was thinking the S might be one-half cup and the j might be one-quarter, but thought I'd ask before plunging ahead.
Swamp Blondie, the characters being lost by your browser are condensed font representations of 1/4 and 1/2. Ever the thoughtful one, trailing wife has already provided the substitutions needed.
2) From time to time I see a slab o' ribs here that they label "St Louis Style". Is that the kind you use?
There are four cuts of ribs that you will commonly find in most supermarkets:
1.) Regular slab: This may be packaged as an intact side of ribs or cut into two parts for packaging purposes. Ribs come from the "belly", which is known in the trade as a "primal cut", with "shoulder", "loin" and "ham" being the other pork primals. Regular slabs are what the above recipe calls for.
2.) St. Louis cut: This is a rack of ribs with the least meaty part removed, namely, the bone tips or "heel" of the slab. The tips are marketed separately as another cut to be discussed later. While this gives you a compact and meaty rib, you usually pay an extra 25-30% in price for the loss of some 10-15% in weight. You also lose the indication of doneness by way of pullback on the bone when the meat is finished cooking. There will be some pullback, just not as much.
3.) Baby back: This is where they really sock it to you in price. Almost half of the heel is removed and the cost can skyrocket by double or triple the slab price. Yes, you get a very meaty rib, but you've got to hit the hip big time for it. They will cook faster, but with the same shortcomings noted above.
4.) Chinese riblets: These are long strips, usually between one and two inches wide, taken from the slab's heel when cutting St. Louis or baby back ribs. They are wonderful in a black bean garlic sauce and can sometimes be found at very economical prices. Cooking them is an entirely different matter. I recently found a recipe for Chinese barbecue sauce that is simply out of this world and will be sharing that as we work our way through this Rantburg Ramadan.
BTW, if Zen's receipe is akin to Rendevous', I wholly endorse it (and I'm a typical smother it in sauce type Southerner)! The only "dry" BBQ I've had, and it was well worth it! Even if it's not like Rendevous', it's the least we could do for ramadan, eh?
BA, thank you for checking in with a testimonial regarding The Rendezvous. People have told me the service is snooty and the food is a bit over-rated, but I've yet to hear of anyone who hates their chow. Within less than three attempts, I managed to get within about 80-90% of their flavor and quality. I'll be posting my barbecue sauce recipe later on to complete today's offering. Sadly, I cannot find a copy of it and will have to reconstruct it from memory. It is a Carolina style tomato-less sauce based on molasses, mustard and vinegar.
Finally, special congratulations to Robert Crawford on improving his health. It's something nearly all of us struggle with. At least I can alway take refuge in the old saying:
#30
This post is delightful. Thanks, Zenster and assorted RB foodies! Next time Fred's sympathy meter wriggles, we'll know it was really the Ramadan Ribs talking.
#34
TW, sadly, no, there is no alcohol in the truffles. There could be an insignificant amount should you choose to add extract, but I'm not sure it would be un-halal to do that, so we'll wait till later. Come to think of it, for a party girl like me I really only have one recipe with alcohol in it (cioppino, a/k/a San Francisco-style fish stew). I prefer not to contaminate my booze with food. :P
And thanks, Zenster, for the edumacation regarding rib cuts. Will get the appropriate cut later (Ramadan is this whole month, right?) and experiment with my sweetie.
#35
Carolina Style Barbecue Sauce No Tomato Sauce for Barbecue
Submitted by Zenster
Preparation time: ~1 hour
Makes: ~1 Quart
Ingredients:
2 Cups Light Molasses
1 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar (or white but not red)
½ Cup Golden Brown Sugar
¼ - ½ Cup Yellow Mustard (or use 1-2 TBS Colmans dry mustard for more spice)
2 TBS Onion Powder
2 TSP Water
1-2 TBS Vegetable Oil
1 TSP White Cane Sugar
1 TBS Garlic Powder
1 TSP Paprika
1 TSP Allspice
1 TSP Fine Ground Black Pepper
½ TSP Sea Salt (or Kosher salt)
½ TSP Cayenne Pepper
½ TSP Louisiana Crystal Hot Sauce (for heat, adjust octane as required)
¼ - ½ TSP Ground Cumin
Optional:
Red Pepper Flakes (for extra heat)
Substitute brown mustard or Dijon for the prepared yellow type
White cane sugar for extra sweetness
Extra water to control viscosity
Preparation:
Mix all of the wet ingredients in a medium sized saucepan. Hold back on the mustard and balance it at the end. As always, be very careful with the ground cumin, it has a rather distinct flavor. Place saucepan on stove over low heat. In a separate bowl, mix all of the dry and powdered spices with the water until they are a smooth paste. Stir this into the sauce until completely blended. Bring to a low simmer but do not boil. Balance the mustard, salt and sweetness to taste. Run the warmed sauce through a fine sieve to remove all grit resulting from the ground spices. The final product should have a tangy but sweet flavor with a complex background of spices and heat.
Important Points:
Do not be afraid to experiment with or modify this recipe. It is all about personal taste.
Try different ratios of brown and white cane sugar.
Experiment with other herbs and spices. Clove, cinnamon, grated ginger and Chinese five-spice powder can all lend interesting top notes. Mix a tiny bit of spice with a small quantity of your finished sauce to test for new combinations.
Some Southerners would add Coca-Cola, Worcestershire sauce or even a bit of butter to this recipe.
For those who insist upon a standard tomato style sauce, merely add Heinz 57 ketchup to taste. Now your prize sauce will taste like every other one on the market.
Keep the heat down. Few people appreciate anything over two alarms.
Barbecue for Ramadan sounds great; I'm gonna see if I can figure out how to make some without breaking the diet.
Probably heresy, but I think a North Carolina style mustard sauce might be low-cal enough to work. God knows the pork itself is gonna be a tough one; 6 ribs is about half of what I can have in a day.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
09/26/2006 20:06 Comments ||
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#37
I prefer not to contaminate my booze with food.
It's hard to argue with such impeccable logic!
And thanks, Zenster, for the edumacation regarding rib cuts. Will get the appropriate cut later (Ramadan is this whole month, right?) and experiment with my sweetie.
Any of the standard rib cuts I mentioned will work, just be careful to monitor the shorter cuts for doneness as they will cook faster.
In 2006 Ramadan is from 09/23 to 10/22. I'm going to try and have a new recipe for each day of it, Mods willing (Peace Be Upon Them).
Who knew Ramadan really meant "Pork Festival"?
Chortle. Well, that's just the way we do things here at Rantburg.
#39
Even though I said it just a while ago, I want to say it again -- thanks for the kind words. When I get a swift kick from reality, it helps to know SOMEBODY appreciates what I've done.
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
09/26/2006 21:03 Comments ||
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#40
we all do - just quit setting stds I won't meet, dammit
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/26/2006 21:06 Comments ||
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#41
One of the wife's infinite number of cookbooks - one she keeps by the stove is...
"The Great Ribs Book" Hugh Carpenter & Teri Sandison (Barnes & Nobel) ISBN 0-7607-5704-2
A good starting point - She uses that book with Moo & Oinks 10lb boxes of Rib Tips.
By ELIZABETH A. KENNEDY, Associated Press Writer
Mon Sep 25, 4:01 PM ET
NAIROBI, Kenya - A descendant of Kenya's most famous white settlers fatally shot a black man on his vast estate simply because the man was poaching a gazelle, not because he posed any threat, a prosecutor said Monday in a case that has stirred racial tensions in East Africa.
#2
Appears they are once again returning to their Mau Mau legacy RWV. Only this time the Queen will not appear. Hanging instead will be the few whites who fail to immigrate elsewhere.
When Abu Izzadeen, the firebrand Islamist militant, berated John Reid last week for "daring" to visit a Muslim area, the Home Secretary bridled, as did many others, at his suggestion that part of London was off limits for a British minister of the Crown.
There was nowhere in this country from which anyone should be excluded, Mr Reid said; nowhere that could be called exclusively Muslim. He was speaking just a couple of Tube stops from West Ham, close to the site for the 2012 Olympic stadium, where a huge row is about to erupt over plans to construct a mosque. However, this is not any old mosque built to serve the local community. It will be the largest place of worship in Europe, a gigantic three-storey Islamic centre, with schools and other facilities, able to hold at least 40,000 worshippers and up to 70,000 if necessary.
It will be called the London Markaz and it is intended to be a significant Islamic landmark whose prominence and stature will be enhanced by its proximity to the Olympic site. When television viewers around the world see aerial views of the stadium during the opening ceremony in six years' time, the most prominent religious building in the camera shot will not be one of the city's iconic churches that have shaped the nation's history, such as St Paul's Cathedral or Westminster Abbey, but the mega-mosque.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/26/2006 00:00 ||
Comments ||
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#1
Much of the funding for the Markaz, which will cost about £100 million, is expected to come from Saudi Arabia.
If these idiots cannot connect the dots between Saudi Arabia and Wahhabist extremism, then they deserve a gigantic terrorist hive in their midst.
#3
From Melanie's Diary: In the war being waged by radical Islamism against the west, such symbolism is of the utmost importance and significance. It is itself a strategic weapon of cultural and religious demoralisation. As Johnston observes, when people look at the Olympic village, itself a showcase for Britain, the dominant image will be not a church but a mosque towering over it. It will be a symbol of Islamic domination of Britain and Britains cultural surrender to the jihad, and as such will inspire many more jihadists on the basis that Britain has given up the cultural ghost.
#6
Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Indonesia there are no new churches - not even little ones. They are outlawed and you could get executed for building (or organizing) one.
"the Home Secretary bridled, as did many others, at his suggestion that part of London was off limits for a British minister of the Crown."
Hmmmmm... reminds me of a walk Ariel Sharon took about 6 years ago.
Once they have their way, you can't even walk by on the sidewalk, or enter that part of town.
#11
It will be the largest place of worship Jihad Indoctrination and Training in Europe, a gigantic three-storey Islamic centre, with schools and other facilities terrorist training classrooms, able to hold at least 40,000 worshippers future Jihadis and up to 70,000 if necessary.
#12
When you read this in the Telegraph most respondents are vehemntly against this. Rightfully so. Muzzies use these mosks as armories world wide. They would have ability to cache enough weapons and troops to almost outnumber the entire British Army, and outnumber the those staged in the homeland, concentrated in East London. If this is allowed to go forward, Britain is lost.
BERLIN (Reuters) - German politicians condemned on Tuesday a decision by a Berlin opera house to cancel performances of Mozart's "Idomeneo" over concerns they could enrage Muslims and pose a security risk.
The Deutsche Oper in west Berlin announced on Monday it was replacing four performances of "Idomeneo" scheduled for November with "The Marriage of Figaro" and "La Traviata".
The decision was taken after Berlin security officials warned that putting on the opera as planned would present an "incalculable security risk" for the establishment.
In the production, directed by Hans Neuenfels, King Idomeneo is shown staggering on stage next to the severed heads of Buddha, Jesus, Poseidon and the Prophet Mohammad, which sit on chairs.
Two weeks ago Pope Benedict sparked outrage in the Muslim world by quoting, in a speech in Germany, from a medieval text linking the spread of the Islamic faith to violence.
Last year, the publication of cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad in a Danish newspaper sparked violent Muslim protests around the world.
German politicians denounced the opera house's move, deputy parliamentary speaker Wolfgang Thierse saying it highlighted a new threat to free artistic expression in Germany.
"Has it come so far that we must limit artistic expression?" he told Reuters. "What will be next?" Continued...
#1
Note well the comments on the 'Burg last week. From Protestant to agnoistics, about if the muzzies laid a hand on this Pope they'll regret the day for eternity. You'll see an explosion of religious commitment and it won't be to Mecca. I don't think Islam is catching fire anyplace in America other than its prisons. Now there's a prime mover of a faith. If you think about the recidivism in the joint it make sense in that harm to the kaffir doesnt count.
#2
Islam is often viewed as an aggressive faith because of the concept of jihad, but this is actually a misunderstood term. Because Muslims believe that God wants a just world, they tend to be activists, and they emphasize that people are equal before God.
Yes, yes. The jihad thing. Not a problem, not a big deal.
#3
Come on. Anyone who could say that Islam treats women well and uses Iran as an example has to be smoking something damn potent. And it's not the good shit, either.
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/26/2006 9:27 Comments ||
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Wow...that article made me feel warm and fuzzy all over -- sort of like that tarred and feathered feeling. I guess I should think of Muslims more as Ewoks than terrorists, since they are obviously NO threat to a capitalist, fairly well-balanced society. I think what the writer of this article is missing is the fact that the United States was founded based on religious TOLERANCE. I have yet to see Muslims practice any kind of tolerance, even toward opposing factions of their own belief system.
#6
they emphasize that people are equal before God
Really? Hard to square with all that ranting and raving, especially the "The Pope Should Know His Place" crap. Or "behead those who insult Islam".
Posted by: Rob Crawford ||
09/26/2006 9:55 Comments ||
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#7
Very funny article. The poor man.
It'll be good to know that PETA and Muslims and Jews can walk hand in hand, down the lane towards the ritual slaughter.
It'll be good to know that Nancy Pelosi and Gloria Steinem can hold their hands up in joy because they can pray at the same time in the same room as those egalitarian male Muslims.
#8
The colonists did NOT believe in toleration, at least in Massachusetts, as Anne Hathaway and Jonathan Edwards could testify. Those who settled New England and even the Quakers could easily be described as religious extremists in their day. And they certainly were fundamentalists. This site gives a worst case, wikipedia type, view of the extent of religious preferences in the colonial period. Tolerance came slowly as the zeal of the initial settlers ebbed in their descendants. The Congregational Church was the Established Church of Massachusetts until 1831.
#9
Egalitarian? What about Steve Centani and his camerman being forced to say they will convert to Islam--at the end of a rifle? What about the way women are treated within Islam? What about the violence of the religion?
I listened to a piece on NPR about Hispanics converting from Catholism to Islam in New Jersey. (NPR. Well, I question these folks motives too.) This is something that I find difficult to understand. I see no appeal in Islam. Of course this might be propaganda put out by Muslim organizations and supported by NPR. They (NPR) said they don't have any numbers on the conversions.
#10
As we have seen Islam has it's attractions. ( not to me)
The author is a sick man.
The hispanic converts are a worry.
LaRAza types say that christianity was forced upon them, and could choose Islam just to make a choice, which could be really bad as it spreads.
#11
Islam and liberalism go hand in hand. They are just flip sides of the same coin. Liberalism says you can tolerate anything. But it's not possible to tolerate everyone/everything - so they are forced to blame others to say why the world is not a perfect place.
Islam is also about blame. Everything wrong is the fault of the Jews and now the West. They have absolutely no tolerance for anything other than their own views. However unlike liberals, they simply force you to convert.
Thus Islam is the stronger view and will dominate Liberalism by force. Liberalism can not fight back and will naturally be forced to succomb.
#12
Islam is democratic in spirit. Islam advocates the right to vote and educate yourself and pursue a profession. The Qur'an, on which Islamic law is based, enjoins Muslims to govern themselves by discussion and consensus. In mosques, there is no particular priestly hierarchy. With Islam, each individual is responsible for the condition of her or his own soul. Everyone stands equal before God.
This doesn't describe any Islamic country or society that exists or has ever existed. Islam is feudal, with the strong ruling the weak by force.
I don't see the appeal, either. But then I don't see the appeal in gambling. You are probably not a lost soul floating about in the ether waiting to be captured by a true believer any more than I get a rush from winning big. It's the same fertile ground the Scientologists plow. It's there. We just don't understand how anyone's life could be so, well...empty.
#14
I don't think Islam is catching fire anyplace in America other than its prisons
That's mostly true. Also, with the uneducated, ignorant, poor and so-called 'disenfranchised'. (basically anyone who wants to shirk their personal responsibilities and blame 'whitey', the 'decadent west' and 'infidels' for their problems).
Islam is the next American religion? Please. There are far too many of us who can read, think, analyze and understand to ever allow that to happen.
. . . To his supporters Noam Chomsky is a brave and outspoken champion of the oppressed against a corrupt and criminal political class. But to his opponents he is a self-important ranter whose one-sided vision of politics is chosen for its ability to shine a spotlight on himself. And it is surely undeniable that his habit of excusing or passing over the faults of America's enemies, in order to pin all crime on his native country, suggests that he has invested more in his posture of accusation than he has invested in the truth.
To describe this posture as "adolescent" is perhaps unfair: After all, there are plenty of quite grown-up people who believe that American foreign policy since World War II has been founded on a mistaken conception of America's role in the world. And it is true that we all make mistakes--so that Prof. Chomsky's erstwhile support for regimes that no one could endorse in retrospect, like that of Pol Pot, is no proof of wickedness. But then the mistakes of American foreign policy are no proof of wickedness either.
This is important. For it is his ability to excite not just contempt for American foreign policy but a lively sense that it is guided by some kind of criminal conspiracy that provides the motive for Prof. Chomsky's unceasing diatribes and the explanation of his influence. The world is full of people who wish to think ill of America. And most of them would like to be Americans. The Middle East seethes with such people, and Prof. Chomsky appeals directly to their envious emotions, as well as to the resentments of leaders like President Chavez who cannot abide the sight of a freedom that they haven't the faintest idea how to produce or the least real desire to emulate.
Success breeds resentment, and resentment that has no safety valve becomes a desire to destroy. The proof of that was offered on 9/11 and by just about every utterance that has emerged from the Islamists since. But Americans don't want to believe it. They trust others to take the kind of pleasure in American success that they, in turn, take in the success of others. But this pleasure in others' success, which is the great virtue of America, is not to be witnessed in those who denounce her. They hate America not for her faults, but for her virtues, which cast a humiliating light on those who cannot adapt to the modern world or take advantage of its achievements.
Prof. Chomsky is an intelligent man. Not everything he says by way of criticizing his country is wrong. However, he is not valued for his truths but for his rage, which stokes the rage of his admirers. He feeds the self-righteousness of America's enemies, who feed the self-righteousness of Prof. Chomsky. And in the ensuing blaze everything is sacrificed, including the constructive criticism that America so much needs, and that America--unlike its enemies, Prof. Chomsky included--is prepared to listen to.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/26/2006 06:52 ||
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. . . To his supporters Noam Chomsky is a brave and outspoken champion of the oppressed against a corrupt and criminal political class.
Supporters of Mao and Stalin said about the same thing about their wonder boys too.
Communism - 100 million dead in the 20th Century and still counting.
Can't wait to see academia preen over a slaver and monarchist on the faculty too. If you gush over having Marxists, why not those bankrupt human institutions too.
#3
It will never happen, EE8004. With their vocal support for the extreme America-hating left wing, they have the best of all possible worlds. They get to show they are "down" with the oppressed people of the world, while enjoying a privileged existence in the ivory tower, immune from the economic and social costs of their cherished ideologies.
You don't actually think they should have to live like those people, do you? I mean, really....they're needed right where they are to support the struggle....have to raise awareness of the evil that Amerikkka does, you know, and where better to do that than in the very belly of the beast.....besides, you just can't get good help in those countries, and quite frankly, they smell.....
#6
anonymous5089 , with all due respect , say what you will about Chomsky but (IMO) to assert that he is an anti-Semitic Neo-Nazi is absurd. I especially found it humorous how the author in the last paragraph of the thesis you linked obviously recognizes his justifications are transparently guilt by association.
#7
There are plenty of sources that document Chomsky's anti-semitism. Of course, he's very subtle about it, letting others do his dirty work. Try here, for example. Read the whole thing.
As media scoops go, those based on "classified" information seem to have a special cachet. But judging from the latest, selective intelligence leak about terrorism, we wonder if anyone would bother to read this stuff if it didn't have the word "secret" slapped on it.
That's our reaction to Sunday's New York Times report claiming that a 2006 national intelligence estimate, or NIE, concludes that "the Iraq war has made the overall terrorism problem worse," according to one of the unidentified "intelligence officials" cited in the article. This is supposedly because the war has provoked radical Islamists to hate America even more than they already did before they hijacked airplanes and flew them into buildings. "If only we hadn't attacked them, we might have been able to reason with them."
If this is the kind of insight we pay our spooks to generate, we're in more trouble than we thought.
It's impossible to know how true this report is, of course, since the NIE itself hasn't been leaked. The reports are based on what sources claim the NIE says, but we don't know who those sources are and what motivations they might have. Since their spin coincides rather conveniently with the argument made by Democratic critics of the war, "Golly, Dr. Dean, it's like they was reading our minds or sumpin'. What're the odds o' dat?"
and since this leak has also conveniently sprung in high campaign season, wise readers will be skeptical. . . .
As for the substance of the 2006 NIE's alleged claims, does anyone doubt that many jihadis are rallying against the American presence in Iraq? The newspapers tell us that much every day. Whether the war in Iraq has produced more terrorist hatred than would otherwise exist, however, is a matter of opinion and strategic judgment.
We recall, for example, that one of Osama bin Laden's justifications for declaring war against the U.S. was American enforcement of sanctions and a no-fly zone against Iraq before the 2003 invasion. Bin Laden didn't need the war to hate us. More broadly, the liberation of Iraq and Afghanistan has deprived the jihadis of two safe havens and sources of funds. So while there are still many al Qaeda-type terror cells out there, there's no reason to believe they are any more dangerous now than before April 2003. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of the terrorists who was harbored in Iraq before the war, certainly isn't any more dangerous; he's dead.
The real issue at stake here is a political and policy fight over the future of Iraq. The Democrats claim that Iraq is a "distraction" from the war on terror and so a rapid U.S. withdrawal would leave the U.S. with more resources to fight elsewhere. Mr. Bush says Iraq is now the central front in the war on terror, and that withdrawing would create a vacuum that the Islamists would fill and give them a potential new state-supported base of operations. That's the choice voters really ought to be thinking about as they go to the polls in November, and if the NIE has something useful to say about that debate, Mr. Bush should disarm the selective leakers in his bureaucracy by making it public.
Posted by: Mike ||
09/26/2006 06:33 ||
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I am kind of against declassifing the NIE and other documents. It would send a really bad precident and I don't think that our nations secrets should be used for political gain/attack. I am in favor of finding and prosecuting the leaker. I did notice that none of the memebrs of the Intelligence oversight commitee (D or R) are quoting or citing the NIE. That should tell you that maybe the "leaked" information doesn't have the whole picture. Sure it is nice when Kennedy (Communist-Mass) has to eat his words but that won't stop him form opening his yap in the future so why bother.
In toto - Visit the site, they have everything you might want
By Ronald A. Cass
Former President Bill Clinton, never one to let truth stand in the way of a good line, has decided to reincarnate himself as our tough, anti-terror President. The man who ran away from military service and displayed striking contempt for our armed forces has now announced that he did more - and would do more - to combat Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda than anyone else. In his view, he should be recognized as the best man to fight that enemy.
Speaking to Chris Wallace on Fox News Sunday, Clinton made a bevy of startlingly anti-factual remarks. He announced, for instance, that conservatives had criticized him for obsessing about bin Laden during his presidency - rather than the truth that he was roundly condemned for doing next to nothing about this serious threat to American security. Clinton blamed the Bush Administration for failing to stop the al-Qaeda terrorists before 9/11, saying that the Administration had eight months to get bin Laden and didn't. That conveniently overlooks that Clinton's Administration had eight years to do that job, with al-Qaeda using the last two of those years to plan 9/11.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/26/2006 00.:00 ||
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#1
Wouls someone please get out the big hook and drag this bozo off the stage?
#2
If he's going to get rebukes like this from members of the establishment, I hope he stays on the stage till all the PC punks in academia have been forced to concede what a prevaricating puke he is or reveal them selves as worse and force their employers to take action to cleanse their institutions.
#3
"He turned down Sudanese offers to cooperate in tracking down and capturing bin Laden."
Clearly former National Security Advisor Samuel R. Sandy Bergers willingness to commit federal crimes and former NSC terrorism specialist Richard Clarkes ability to massage history helped enable the Sept. 11 commission to conclude in one of its staff reports that it had "not found any reliable evidence to support the Sudanese claim." However, to be fair, given the complexities of events at the time the Silver Platter accusation is indeed simplistic. However, the recollection and analysis of Timothy M. Carney, former US Ambassador in Khartoum under the Clinton administration, points to a more troubling set of behaviors and the inept decision making process at the highest levels.
#1
That was the exact line I said to my girlfriend after we watched the interview:
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
Posted by: Mark E. ||
09/26/2006 13:29 Comments ||
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Truly surprised that this was published in the LA Times. Maybe the Tribune's threat to lay them off because of declining circulation and revenues was a cluebat for the editorial staff.
#3
Reagan and Clinton. More a story of the greatest generation and the ME generation.
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
09/26/2006 14:59 Comments ||
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#4
The generation test fails due to Bush 43. You really don't think he will be a boob like Bubba, do you? The boomer generation is split, as these two demonstrate. But consider that the Gipper was the only "greatest" generation president to finish two full terms. At least the boomers finish what they start, even if you don't like what they start.
#5
OK NS I give ya that one. The Boomers are split, guess they always have been. I alway beat on that generation, maybe I should not. Some great leaders have come from the ranks of the boomers. There sure are some powerful moonbats in their ranks though!
Posted by: 49 Pan ||
09/26/2006 15:16 Comments ||
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#6
If Bill Clinton were to run again tomorrow morning he'd win hands down. He's adored in Europe. Domestic moon bats, social engineers, and the something for nothing crowd is still wildly enthused about him. Most can relate to his BJ in the office antics and could care less. Those that get'em, love em. Those that give'em, share a strange presidential-Monical commaraderie and ladder climbing carrerist self acceptance.
#8
Besoeker, Clinton would only win if he could again find a fool like Perot, say perhaps McCain, to split the opposition vote for him. Clinton never won a majority of the popular vote, even against the sacrificial GG, Dole. After what came out about Broderick in the second term, I doubt he'd get 40%. Don't let the MSM, which would still give him 95%+, mislead you.
#11
Gotta agree with Nimble here. Clinton won the first time because of the Perot factor, and the second time because of an uninspired Dole campaign and numerous independent factions. He never garnered close to a majority of the vote.
Knowing what we know now about him (I knew before he was President because I worked at the Little Rock Convention and Visitors Bureau and saw him with whores provided by the Arkansas State Police), and assuming it were a two party race, he'd get his ass handed to him.
To counter any suggestion that Islam is a violent religion, Muslims attacked churches in the West Bank, Gaza and Basra this week. In Somalia a religious leader named Abubukar Hassan Malin echoed a British religious leader named Anjem Choudary who seemed to be in agreement with a religious leader from India called Syed Ahmed Bukhari that Pope Benedict XVI had to be forced to apologize.
Forced? Bukhari left it open how, but Choudary felt that subjecting the Pontiff to "capital punishment" may be persuasive, while Malin was inclined to think that the situation called for hunting down the Holy Father and killing him "on the spot." And, perhaps to indicate that these were no idle threats, as the week wore on, an Italian nun was murdered in Somalia, along with two Assyrian Christians in Iraq.
What did the Pope do? As most readers know, he quoted a remark made by the Byzantine emperor Manuel II Palaeologus: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached."
Was the anointed of Byzantium on to something? The Pope certainly didn't say so. He just quoted the beleaguered emperor, who -- being squeezed between hostile Turks and demanding Venetians at the time -- had vented about the Prophet and his bellicose followers in conversation with a Persian scholar. Little did he suspect that his words would hit the fan nearly 600 years later.
"The infidelity and tyranny of the Pope will only be stopped by a major attack," announced al-Qaeda from its cave on the Afghan-Pakistani border. Al-Qaeda's political arm in New York, a.k.a. the United Nations, took no position, only using the opportunity to condemn Israel for one thing or another.
Why do some Muslims have such an uncanny talent for proving the case of their critics? When accused of violence, they threaten violence. Better still, they engage in it. "Call us unruly and we riot," they say, in essence. "Call us murderers, and we kill you." Don't they see that this makes them a joke?
Well, no, they don't -- and they're right. Saying such things may make someone a joke in a debating society, but Islamofascists fight in a different arena. They don't care about winning the debate; what they want to win is their Kampf, better known these days as Jihad.
Lo and behold, they're winning it. By now the whole world tiptoes around the sensibilities of medieval fanatics. We take pains not to offend ululating fossils who cheer suicide bombers. Or raise them. We prop up rickety regimes whose sole contribution to modern times is to nurture ancient grievances and revive barbaric customs. We worry about the feelings -- feelings! -- of people who stone their loved ones for sexual missteps. We pussyfoot to protect the delicate psyche of oily ogres who amputate the hands of petty thieves, issue fatwas on novelists and cover up their hapless wives and sisters to the eyeballs.
We do this, obviously, not because we're impressed by the logic of the Islamofascist line -- "call us murderers and we'll kill you" -- but because we're intimidated by it. The Jihadists don't care about the quality of their argument. One doesn't have to, if one's aim isn't to persuade, but to coerce. The mullahs of militant Islam aren't worried about proving their critics' case. So some pundits think we're proving Benedict XVI or Manuel II right, imams Choudary and Malin might say. Big deal. Logic may be essential for pundits. It isn't essential for our followers who are willing to blow themselves up to get their way.
Come again, slowly -- blow themselves up to get their way? Yes, sir. How's that for logic?
The sheiks and mullahs of conquering Islam don't give a hoot about the hearts and minds of the West (the place that used to be called Christendom). They figure, not without justification, that if they get us by the balls, our hearts and minds will follow. This phrase, by the way, usually attributed to John Wayne, is a rare example of successful cross-pollination between the West and the East. It comes from cowboy country, but even Taliban-types understand it.
We're fortunate, though. To grab us by the balls, the Islamofascists would first have to find them. Good luck.
Last question: Did the Pope apologize for upsetting the mobs so the poor things had to vandalize and murder? Well, that depends on what sono rammaricato means in English. The Vatican seems to think it means "I am deeply sorry," but some commentators swear it only means "I am disappointed." Personally, I'd be disappointed if it meant "I am deeply sorry" -- but that's only me.
Posted by: DanNY ||
09/26/2006 09:25 ||
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The FBI profile of the anthrax killer originally described an adult male with a science background who worked in a laboratory where he had access to anthrax. Profiles often change during an investigation, but the FBI refuses to discuss any revisions it may have made. Still, agents say they believe they are looking for one culprit. . . .
"Adult male" ... the source of all problems. Here's an interesting read from Scheer.
Of course it couldn't have been Dr. Death, the FBI profile indicates "adult male." This essay originally appeared in Truthdig.com posted Dec 28sth, 2005.
Why is it not bigger news that those infamous Iraqi female scientists once routinely referred to in the media as "Dr. Germ" and "Mrs. Anthrax" have been quietly released from imprisonment in Iraq without any charges being brought by their US captors? Don't the newspapers and TV networks that all but pre-convicted them of crimes against humanity owe them--and us--the courtesy of an explanation for the sudden presumption of their innocence?
After all, it was to stop these mad leaders of Saddam Hussein's allegedly booming weapons-of-mass-destruction programs that the United States invaded Iraq in March 2003. We were told at the time by the White House that the UN inspectors scouring the country were being blocked by lying officials and scientists, themselves complicit in breaking UN sanctions, and so we wouldn't get the truth until we could interrogate them as prisoners.
Yet, when Rihab "Dr. Germ" Taha and Huda "Mrs. Anthrax" Ammash, both of whom were once on a Pentagon most-wanted list, were released after two-and-a-half years, their US captors didn't even announce it. When questioned afterward as to why no war crimes charges had been brought against the pair, US commander Gen. George Casey said in a joint statement with the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad, that they "no longer posed a security threat to the people of Iraq and to the Coalition forces." US forces "therefore, had no legal basis to hold them any longer."
The violence by Muslims responding to comments by the pope fit a pattern that has been building and accelerating since 1989. Six times since then, Westerners did or said something that triggered death threats and violence in the Muslim world. Looking at them in the aggregate offers useful insights.
1989 Salman Rushdie's novel, The Satanic Verses prompted Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a death edict against him and his publishers, on the grounds that the book "is against Islam, the Prophet, and the Koran." Subsequent rioting led to over 20 deaths, mostly in India.
1997 The U.S. Supreme Court refused to remove a 1930s frieze showing Muhammad as lawgiver that decorates the main court chamber; the Council on American-Islamic Relations made an issue of this, leading to riots and injuries in India.
2002 The American evangelical leader Jerry Falwell calls Muhammad a "terrorist," leading to church burnings and at least 10 deaths in India.
2005 An incorrect story in Newsweek, reporting that American interrogators at Guantánamo Bay, "in an attempt to rattle suspects, flushed a Qur'an down a toilet," is picked up by the famous Pakistani cricketer, Imran Khan, and prompts protests around the Muslim world, leading to at least 15 deaths..
February 2006 The Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten publishes twelve cartoons of Muhammad, spurring a Palestinian Arab imam in Copenhagen, Ahmed Abdel Rahman Abu Laban, to excite Muslim opinion against the Danish government. He succeeds so well, hundreds die, mostly in Nigeria.
September 2006 Pope Benedict XVI quotes a Byzantine emperor's views that what is new in Islam is "evil and inhuman," prompting the firebombing of churches and the murder of several Christians.
These six rounds show a near-doubling in frequency: 8 years between the first and second rounds, then 5, then 3, 1, and œ.
The first instance Ayatollah Khomeini's edict against Mr. Rushdie came as a complete shock, for no one had hitherto imagined that a Muslim dictator could tell a British citizen living in London what he could not write about. Seventeen years later, calls for the execution of the pope (including one at the Westminster Cathedral in London) had acquired a too-familiar quality. The outrageous had become routine, almost predictable. As Muslim sensibilities grew more excited, Western ones became more phlegmatic.
The Muhammad frieze in the U.S. Supreme Court.
Incidents started in Europe (Mr. Rushdie, Danish cartoons, Pope Benedict) have grown much larger than those based in the United States (Supreme Court, Rev. Falwell, Koran flushing), reflecting the greater efficacy of Islamist aggression against Europeans than against Americans.
Islamists ignore subtleties. Mr. Rushdie's magical realism, the positive intent of the Supreme Court frieze, the falsehood of the Koran-flushing story (ever tried putting a book down the toilet?), the benign nature of the Danish cartoons, or the subtleties of Benedict's speech none of these mattered.
What rouses Muslim crowds and what does not is somewhat unpredictable. The Satanic Verses was not nearly as offensive to Muslim sensibilities as a host of other writings, medieval, modern, and contemporary. Other American Evangelists said worse things about Muhammad than Rev. Falwell did; the southern preacher Jerry Vines called the Muslim prophet "a demon-possessed pedophile who had 12 wives," without violence ensuing. Why did Norwegian preacher Runar Søgaard's deeming Muhammad "a confused pedophile" remain a local dispute while the Danish cartoons went global?
One answer is that Islamists with an international reach (Ayatollah Khomeini, CAIR, Mr. Khan, Abu Laban) usually play a key role in transforming a general sense of displeasure into an operational fury. If no Islamist agitates, the issue stays relatively quiet.
The extent of the violence is even more unpredictable one could not anticipate the cartoons causing the most fatalities and the pope's quote the fewest. And why so much violence in India?
These incidents also spotlight a total lack of reciprocity by Muslims. The Saudi government bans Bibles, crosses, and Stars of David, while Muslims routinely publish disgusting cartoons of Jews.
No conspiracy lies behind these six rounds of inflammation and aggression, but examined in retrospect, they coalesce and form a single, prolonged campaign of intimidation, with surely more to come. The basic message "You Westerners no longer have the privilege to say what you will about Islam, the Prophet, and the Qur'an, Islamic law rules you too" will return again and again until Westerners either do submit or Muslims realize their effort has failed.
From www.danielpipes.org
Posted by: Steve ||
09/26/2006 13:49 ||
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Fjordman is arguably the best cultural analyst in the blogosphere. Agree or disagree, his arguments are faultlessly constructed. I'm a huge fan (of his writings).
#3
Part of the Catholic Church, anyway. Lots of them are still wound up in that horrible liberation theology thingy. But those that are speaking out just now are saying things the whole world needs to hear, so I'm not complaining -- my particular branch of my faith is still stuck on stupid.
#4
I think it would behoove us all to remain focused on the root issue. Yes, the Catholic churches and Christianity, in general, are almost blithering in their refusal to recognize the threat that Islam presents. Yet, at day's end, the real problem remains and is Islam itself. The Christian churches only worsen their position through such inane opacity, but Islam is the seat of all trouble.
One quote in Fjordman's article spells out rather clearly where we must retool our approach to Islam:
Notice that while Muslims, following each case of Islamic terrorism, are quick to say that not all Muslims should be punished for the actions of a few, this is precisely what sharia prescribes for non-Muslims.
If Muslims see fit to impose collective punishment against offenders to their faith, and they have, then we must begin a campaign of collective punishment against Muslims. It should only relent when Islam, as a whole, renounces the entire concept of dhimmitude. Any refusal to do so should serve as further justification for continued collective punishment of Muslims.
Those who insist upon conversion by the sword must be brought right to the sword's pointed end for a thorough re-examination of their credo. Anything less than this merely coddles Islam and invites further atrocities.
In the face of any future atrocities, we must be prepared to launch a withering and brutal retaliatory strike out of all proportion to what we have suffered. Only by exposing Islam to the direct ramifications of its own vicious ideological tenets will we ever make clear to Muslims exactly what must change if they are to reform their faith in any sort of acceptable manner. The reward for continued unwillingness to change or reform must involve massive loss of life and unendurable misery for those who resist. Anything less is nothing but suicide for the West.
A quote from Jack Wheeler on To the Point News, 19 September 2006
[The Pope] knows that a religion capable of responding to criticism only with violence and incapable metaphysically incapable of reasoned dialogue has no future. He knows he is no Manuel II facing vast Moslem armies he has no capacity to withstand. There are no more vast Moslem armies. All that Islam has left are terrorists, suicide bombers, and imams preaching hate.
[ ] The time has come for Islam to be scrapped. It cannot be reformed, it cannot be saved by moderates from the extremists who have hijacked it. Its finished. Time for folks to spiritually begin anew. Call it a theological application of Greshams Law. Bad money drives out the good. It doesnt matter how many Islamic moderates hold up their religious currency and claim it is worth something. [ ] Christianity will survive and triumph because the nexus between God and Man is Mans Essence, that which makes him both human and in the image and likeness of God his capacity for reason and rational self-examination. Islam will fail and die because it rejects any such connection.
This is what Pope Benedict understands, this is what he meant in his speech. Some day in years to come, there will be a plaque at the University of Regensburg which will read: On this spot, on September 12, 2006, where Pope Benedict XVI delivered a lecture on Faith and Reason, the God of Islam known as Allah, died.
From the desk of Paul Belien
Dr Koenraad Elst, one of Belgiums best orientalists and an occasional contributor to this website (if I had time I would translate more of his Dutch-language contributions into English), told me last week that he thinks Islam is in decline, despite its impressive demographic and military surge which according to Dr Elst is merely a last
upheaval. He acknowledges, however, that this decline can take some time (at least in terms of the individual human life span) and that it is possible that Islam will succeed in becoming the majority religion in Europe before collapsing.
I am not a specialist of Islam. Hence, I do not know what to think of this analysis. Perhaps it can be argued that Islam is in agony, and that this is precisely the reason why Muslims reacted so sensitively to twelve, mostly inoffensive, Danish cartoons earlier this year and why they respond in a fury beyond all reason to the words of a 14th century Byzantine Emperor quoted last week by Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope emphasized that he did not approve of the quote, but the reactions of Muslims to the Emperors words Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, only lends credibility to what the Emperor said.
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#1
SO much Intellectialist-Scientifist-Secularist, anti-materialist Utopia wiped out by something as provincial as not enuff kids due to not enuff sex due to not enuff parents/adults wanting to have sex due to Socialism-Governmentism failing to live up to its promise to take care of everyone + everything without want nor need to work due to not having enuff tax revenues due to not having enuff taxpayers due to not having enuff kids due to ... due to...due to ..... SECULARISM-PROGRESSIVISM > says that the world will be taken over by something(s) BETTER, NOT WORSE!?
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
