Foreign Correspondence

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On the lighter side: FCs Craft Corner

Papier Mache Pigs Made From the Koran

For Muslims, the Koran is not a holy book, like the Christian Gospels or the Jewish Torah, but the incarnate presence of Allah on Earth, dictated to the Prophet Mohammed word-for-word by the Archangel Gabriel. It is not prophecy, but the presence of divinity, as a number of commentators have observed, including this one (The crescent and the conclave, April 19, 2005).
#msg-6582324

I don’t like to see our flag burned albeit Bush has done more to destroy what it once stood for in the eyes of the world than any match.

Alvarez apparently subscribes to the theory that two wrongs make a right. My belief is that two wrongs usually make things worse.

-Am


US military recruit's website shows how to make papier mache pig with the Koran

Raw Story has this report:

Recruit's website: Make a papier-mache pig with the Quran


On his Web site, www.pabaah.com, Alvarez invites people to create a papier-mache pig using pages of the Quran. Links show how to get a free copy of the Quran and how to make papier-mache.

Alvarez said the contest will illustrate the hypocrisy of Muslim extremists who burn the American flag, "because of the supposed desecration of the Quran," Alvarez said.


http://logicvoice.blogspot.com/2005/06/us-military-recruits-website-shows-how.html





Soldier's Quran ‘Contest’ Brings Trouble

Tuesday, June 21, 2005 By Shane Hoover Repository staff writer


When Jon Alvarez joins the Army Reserve’s 403rd Civil Affairs Battalion, he will wear its motto on his uniform: “To win hearts and minds.”

Sponsoring an online contest for the best papier-mâché pig made from the Quran doesn’t further that mission, the Army told Alvarez on Monday. A recruiter asked him to remove the contest from his Web site. Alvarez complied. “The generals have deemed it too insensitive to our enemies,” the former Canton resident quipped.

Alvarez joined the Army Reserve this spring under a rule change that raised the age limit for new recruits to 39, his age. He is scheduled to report Aug. 2 for basic training. The Army’s recruitment command is assessing Alvarez’s future in the military, said Michael Murk, a civilian spokesman for the U.S. Army Recruiting Battalion in Syracuse, N.Y.

“I think Mr. Alvarez is in a unique situation,” Murk said. “Usually a person coming into the Army is not getting this much ink.”

The 1984 graduate of St. Thomas Aquinas High School has said he wants to serve in Iraq or Afghanistan. As a civil-affairs soldier, he would work on reconstruction projects, likely having contact with the Muslim citizens of those countries.

Alvarez credits the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, for moving him to enlist and stirring his political activism. He posts his opinions on the Web site of Patriotic Americans Boycotting Anti-American Hollywood, a group he formed.

Two weeks ago, Alvarez announced the “Create a Pig From the Koran” contest on www.pabaah.com The contest featured links to instructions on papier-mâché and to a Web site offering free Qurans. The winning pig would be auctioned, with the proceeds split between the artist and a charity benefiting the children of slain American soldiers, the Web site said.

The contest caused a media stir in the Syracuse region, where Alvarez lives and is known as a political activist. Soldiers can have political views, said Murk. They can write to members of Congress. They can vote. There are also things they can’t do, such as go to a political rally in uniform, Murk said.

Desecrating the Quran is serious business. When Newsweek ran a story about American interrogators flushing a Quran down a toilet — the magazine retracted the story — at least 15 people died in riots in Afghanistan.

And not all the stories are wrong. Earlier this month, the Pentagon confirmed five incidents of Quran mishandling at the Guantanamo Bay prison for terror suspects.

“With the controversy about the military and the Quran,” the recruiter told Alvarez he might want to remove the contest from his Web site, Murk said. The request was not an order, Murk said.

Alvarez replaced the contest with this message: “We regret to inform you that the PC police have required the termination of the ‘Create a Pig From the Koran’ arts and crafts contest.”

The contest was meant as a commentary on the lack of outrage when protesters, especially those in the Middle East, burn American flags, Alvarez said.

If Alvarez goes to Iraq, he will keep his personal opinions separate from his mission to “kill the bad guys and help the good people,” he said. “It’s not like I’m going in to deface Qurans.”

http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=228880&r=2&Category=11


http://www.pabaah.com/