Mark Steyn
National Review Online
5/14/2012

When I was asked to write a foreword to Geert Wilders’ new book, my first reaction, to be honest, was to pass. Mr. Wilders lives under 24/7 armed guard because significant numbers of motivated people wish to kill him, and it seemed to me, as someone who’s attracted more than enough homicidal attention over the years, that sharing space in these pages was likely to lead to an uptick in my own death threats. Who needs it? Why not just plead too crowded a schedule and suggest the author try elsewhere? I would imagine Geert Wilders gets quite a lot of this.

And then I took a stroll in the woods, and felt vaguely ashamed at the ease with which I was willing to hand a small victory to his enemies. After I saw off the Islamic enforcers in my own country, their frontman crowed to The Canadian Arab News that, even though the Canadian Islamic Congress had struck out in three different jurisdictions in their attempt to criminalize my writing about Islam, the lawsuits had cost my magazine (he boasted) two million bucks, and thereby “attained our strategic objective — to increase the cost of publishing anti-Islamic material.” In the Netherlands, Mr. Wilders’ foes, whether murderous jihadists or the multicultural establishment, share the same “strategic objective” — to increase the cost of associating with him beyond that which most people are willing to bear. It is not easy to be Geert Wilders. He has spent almost a decade in a strange, claustrophobic, transient, and tenuous existence little different from kidnap victims or, in his words, a political prisoner. He is under round-the-clock guard because of explicit threats to murder him by Muslim extremists.

Yet he’s the one who gets put on trial for incitement.

In 21st-century Amsterdam, you’re free to smoke marijuana and pick out a half-naked sex partner from the front window of her shop. But you can be put on trial for holding the wrong opinion about a bloke who died in the seventh century. ..

…Europe’s political establishment insists that unprecedented transformative immigration can only be discussed within the conventional pieties: We tell ourselves that, in a multicultural society, the nice gay couple at Number 27 and the polygamous Muslim with four child-brides in identical niqabs at Number 29 Elm Street can live side by side, each contributing to the rich, vibrant tapestry of diversity. And anyone who says otherwise has to be cast into outer darkness.

Geert Wilders thinks we ought to be able to talk about this — and indeed, as citizens of the oldest, freest societies on earth, have a duty to do so. Without him and a few other brave souls, the views of 57 percent of the Dutch electorate would be unrepresented in parliament. Which is a pretty odd thing in a democratic society, when you think about it…

Read the complete article at National Review Online.

The U.S. Senate rejected five competing budget plans as Republicans attempted to embarrass Democrats for failing to adopt a budget this year.

Taking advantage of an obscure Senate rule, Republicans today forced votes on their budget plans as well as one modeled on President Barack Obama’s tax-and-spending request.

Though each was defeated, the votes were designed to emphasize Republican complaints that Senate Democrats refuse to explain how they’d reduce the government’s $1.2 trillion budget deficit. Republicans say that voters’ anxiety about the deficit will outweigh their concern for domestic programs targeted for cuts.

“Democrats can’t even put a plan on a piece of paper,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican. “As far as I can tell, their only plan is to take shots at our plans and hope nobody notices that they don’t have one of their own.” The votes, he said, will show the public “who’s got a plan to fix the mess we’re in and who doesn’t.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Republicans were “wasting a day of the Senate’s time on useless, political show votes,” maintaining that last year’s deal to raise the debt limit amounts to a budget …

…Utah Senator Mike Lee’s bid to cut the size of the government in half over the next 25 years fell, 17-82. Senator Patrick Toomey’s plan would have balanced the budget in eight years, far faster than Ryan’s budget that wouldn’t eliminate the shortfall until 2040. It was rejected on a 42-57 vote.

Read the complete article at Bloomberg.com

Related: McRINO Teaming Up With Democrats To Craft Campaign Finance Reform That Will Benefit Democrats…

Boehner seeks action on debt reduction

First it was a CNN news head bringing truth into a discussion with an Obama campaign hack. Now it’s Van Jones admitting he knowingly kept quiet during the gulf oil spill to protect Barack Obama. This day of honesty is one for the calendar!

Update: Ratings: CNN Hits 15 Year Low

Obama Campaign Press Secretary Scorched In CNN Interview