"Peace Train" - With a Wink...

From George Orwell's 1984:

The past was dead, the future was unimaginable. What certainty had he that a single human creature now living was on his side? And what way of knowing that the dominion of the Party would not endure for ever? Like an answer, the three slogans on the white face of the Ministry of Truth came back to him:

WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

Which leads me here....

Yusuf Islam, the radical Muslim singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, must certainly smirk when he sings "Peace Train". Is he thinking of the trains that took the Jews to the concentration camps, or maybe the ones that al-Qaeda destroyed in Madrid? 'Cause he certainly is not thinking about peace the way you and I understand it. Via the Brussels Journal, we can link to articles that let us know (as the media that pushed his "comeback" refuse to) that Yusuf Islam is notorious for having supported the Islamic death penalty for Salman Rushdie, and that he also refuses to denounce Hamas.

Seems pretty obvious he speaks of the "peace of the grave", no? Well, obvious to everyone except our intellectual superiors in Europe, who have just awarded him with some type of bizarre multicultural peace prize:

Yusuf Islam is to be awarded the Mediterranean Prize for Peace today January 4, 2007 in Naples, Italy. Yusuf is being awarded the prestigious award as a result of the work he has done to increase peace in the world. […] The prize is assigned each year to personalities of political, cultural, and artistic worlds that contributed with their actions to reduce tensions and begin an upgrading process of cultural differences and shared values in the area of the Greater Mediterranean.

Fjordman at the B-Journal comments further:

Our so-called leaders through the European Union are busy selling our continent and the freedom of our children down the river, and smile while they are doing it. The only way to stop this is to dismantle the European Union. All of it. If we don't do so, and soon, Europe simply won’t survive.

We learn a little more about our singer-songwriter, whom Europe somehow believes is a man of goodwill, from the Gates of Vienna:

In 1988, he authored the pamphlet “Eyewitness,” in which he claimed:
The Jews seem neither to respect God nor his creation. Their own holy books contain the curse of God brought upon them by their prophets on account of their disobedience to Him and mischief in the earth. We have seen the disrespect for religion displayed by those who consider themselves to be ‘God’s chosen people.’...There will be no justice until all the land is given back to its rightful owners... Only Islam can bring peace back to the Holy Land.

In 1989, a week after Ayatollah Khomeini issued his fatwa for the murder of “Satanic Verses” author Salman Rushdie, Islam agreed:
He must be killed. The Koran makes it clear: If someone defames the prophet, he must die.

And Islam’s views haven’t changed much. A map of the Middle East currently on his website doesn’t recognize Israel. There is only “Holyland” on his Map of Hate. In 2004, Islam told ABC News’ Elizabeth Vargas that he supports HAMAS.

Borders is actually pushing this Jew-hating, America-bashing, terrorist-supporting hatemonger, listing him as part of their "holiday guide", touting him with "Borders Exclusives " and calling him simply a "pop-singer" .

If Yusuf Islam is a pop singer, than Hitler was no more than a motivational speaker....

As if I needed another reason to boycott Borders....