Ben-Peter Terpstra
Ben-Peter Terpstra is an Australian satirist and polemicist. His works have been posted on numerous sites from The Daily Caller (Washington D.C.) to Quadrant Online (Sydney, Australia). He blogs at Positively Churchillian.
Recently, I read the 2010 paperback edition of Surrender: Appeasing Islam, Sacrificing Freedom (with a new afterword). Inside author Bruce Bawer slams the forces of political correctness, and with good reason. Yes. We live in a world where puppy posters offend hypersensitive anti-dog Muslims, where beer is associated with evil according to Islam, and where the murder of Koran-unfriendly artists is seen as complex, or at worst, legitimate.
But should we submit? Appease? Sacrifice our freedoms?
Here are my 10 it-made-me-think quotes from Surrender. read more…
You’ve probably read about Pamela Geller of late, or seen her on the news. Most recently, she received a long profile in The New York Times. She has a book out with Robert Spencer, “The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration’s War on America” and a very successful blog, Atlas Shrugs.
Geller has also been unfairly attacked by pro-appeasement elites and their media organs, from the Guardian, London (a terrorist-friendly newspaper) to the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg. It can’t always be easy.
There’s no debate. Amnesty International (AI) doesn’t believe in debates. The international “human rights” group militantly states that:
Amnesty International opposes discrimination in civil marriage laws on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and calls on states to recognize families of choice, across borders where necessary. States should not discriminate against minority groups based on identity.
But who defines “discrimination”? And who declares that “discrimination” is always bad? I, for, one am in favor of laws that guard a child’s right to a biological father and mother. Indeed, that’s why so many conservatives (a) oppose expressive divorces and (b) discourage social engineering – or the purposeful establishment of fatherless families. read more…
Just read The World Turned Upside: The Global Battle Over God, Truth, And Power by the British agnostic, Melanie Phillips. Inside you’ll discover a collection of wonderful quotes, from David Horowitz to Peter Staudenmaier, and other words of encouragement, for the friends of free speech. Most courageously though, Phillips supports the position that Christianity and science are more than friends. read more…
No this post isn’t just about John Edwards cheating on his cancer-stricken wife. But here’s a question: Why aren’t we allowed to talk about the “private lives” of politicians? I ask because questioners are raising questions about Australia’s first female PM, Julia Gillard and her former lovers. Meanwhile, anti-questioners in the elite media are questioning questioners for questioning. They say that Julia Gillard deserves “privacy” (unlike her victims).
If you think voters in France don’t care about the private lives of their politicians, then you’re naïve, or being lied to too. This issue crosses borders. The so-called privacy debate is also raised in the United States and (believe it or not) Europe after an affair is exposed. But back to PM Julia Gillard. From The Australian’s Women Weekly – “Our First Female Prime Minister souvenir issue” (July, 2010, p. 24): read more…
Can Republicans and so-called Blue Dog Democrats benefit from following the Australian elections? I know Obama is paying attention. Why? Because it looks like a debate over immigration. What’s more, former-Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was recently rolled by the now-Prime Minister Julia Gillard, in part, because he wouldn’t get tough on border security. read more…
Reza Aslan is no stranger to controversy:
Iraq should look to Israel for a model that combines democracy and religious belief.
But now the Daily Beast columnist is taking on the “new atheists” and their “peculiarly evangelistic” sermons. On The Washington Post’s website he states: read more…
The libertarian Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995) wore many hats. Economist. Economic historian. Libertarian political philosopher. Dean of the Austrian School. Capital punishment advocate.
“Capital punishment advocate”? Yes that’s right. Capital punishment advocate. read more…
Well, someone had to say it.
In his controversial new book The Bible of Unspeakable Truths, the host of Fox News’s Red Eye, Greg Gutfeld writes (p.25):
Laurie David, Al Gore, Prince Charles, and Arianna Huffington are in a quandary: How can they continue to lecture Wal-Mart shoppers about their ever-increasing carbon footprint, when they find themselves jetting all over the globe in private, gas-guzzling planes and sipping gold-flecked champagne from the skulls of bald eagles while watching snuff films on flat-screen diamond- encrusted DVD players?
Actually, we also know this book is controversial because it was recommended by the controversialist Ann Coulter. In fact, that’s why I bought it. read more…
Expelled from Saudi Arabia. Unsafe in Europe. The libertarian-minded atheist, Ayaan Hirsi Ali will not be silenced. In her latest book, Nomad: A Personal Journey Through the Clash of Civilizations, the former Muslim takes on the Muslim veil (p. 16):
The Muslim veil, the different sorts of masks and beaks and burkas, are all gradations of mental slavery. You must ask permission to leave the house, and when you do go out you must always hide yourself behind thick drapery. Ashamed of your body, suppressing your desires – what small space in your life can you call your own?
It is a question that Muslim-first libertarians (often middleclass white males), don’t like to answer, probably because they can’t (in a convincing manner, at least). It is a question left-liberal college women like to avoid, in order to show off their supposed multicultural credentials. But is Ayaan Hirsi Ali creating problems or facing problems when she talks frankly? read more…
This week, I asked the busy author of Losing Our Religion, S.E. Cupp, two questions and she was gracious enough to respond.
One: What do atheists do on Sunday mornings? (Sorry, I had to ask.)
I have no idea what other atheists do on Sunday morning. read more…
It was my first week in London. My employer instructed me to sign up for “free healthcare,” if there is such a thing. Thankfully, the paperwork was easy because I carried a European Union passport, but I had to visit my local “clinic,” if that’s the right word. (It looked more like a shabby chic Edwardian flat.) The doctor was nice enough but her broken English was hard to follow. The next year, I visited a friend in a grotty hospital, and was equally unimpressed. His room was crowded, noisy and outdated. Still, on the plus side, visiting the year 1974, while we were in fact living in 2004, was quite an experience.
Welcome to socialism. But spare a thought for Peter Hitchens (brother of the celebrated atheist Christopher). In his latest book, The Rage Against God, he writes honestly about his experiences under militant egalitarianism. Page 82: read more…
