QUOTE OF THE DAY – AT 11:08 A.M. ET:  From straight-shooting liberal commentator Kirsten Powers, who proves that a liberal can overcome conformity and see the world as it really is.

She comments about the recent controversies around women's rights advocate Ayaan Hirsi Ali, one of the great fighters against Islamic extremism of our time.  Hirsi Ali had an honorary degree rescinded by Brandeis University after pressure from Muslim students and from the usual battery of leftists concerned about "Islamophobia."  Powers points out the monumental hypocrisy in our quote of the day, from USA Today:

In reviewing her book, Nomad, Nicholas Kristof lamented that, "Hirsi Ali denounces Islam with a ferocity that I find strident. … Her memoir suggests that she never quite outgrew her rebellious teenager phase." Yes, if only she would be more demure in describing her own oppression. Guardian columnist Emma Brockes complained that in criticizing Islam, Hirsi Ali "is startlingly direct" and is "deliberately, almost narcissistically provocative."

Yet, when author Anne Rice announced she had "quit Christianity" because it was anti-gay, anti-feminist and anti-science, Brockes only wanted to know "what took her so long?" Speaking of "startlingly direct," Rice said, "(I) began to really study (Catholicism) and I found that it was not an honorable religion, that it was not honest."

So, condemning the Catholic Church and Christianity broad-brush is heroic. But a woman who breaks with and criticizes Islam is a mouthy, immature narcissist who must be silenced. Got it.

COMMENT:  So-called "intellectuals," who never cease their panicky desire to be conformist, with it, and trendy, love to condemn "Islamophobia."  But, as Kirsten Powers says, condemning Christianity is oh so veddy, veddy sophisticated.  Add Judaism to that.  Anti-Semitism is back in style on the trendy left. 

In pulling Hirsi Ali's honorary degree, Brandeis may have done her a favor – she's now more famous than ever, and her courage (she needs 24-hour protection) in speaking out against Islamic extremism toward women is finally being recognized.

Praise to Kirsten Powers, a liberal with common sense.  There used to be many.

April 17, 2014