This just came from Australia and needs to be said here. The times are a changing.
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Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of Australia, as the government targeted radicals in a bid to head off potential terror attacks.

A day after a group of mainstream Muslim leaders pledged loyalty to Australia and her Queen at a special meeting with Prime Minister John Howard, he and his Ministers made it clear that extremists would face a crackdown.

Treasurer Peter Costello, seen as heir apparent to Howard, hinted that some radical clerics could be asked to leave the country if they did not accept that Australia was a secular state, and its laws were made by parliament. "If those are not your values, if you want a country which has Sharia law or a theocratic state, then Australia is not for you", he said on national television. "I'd be saying to clerics who are teaching that there are two laws governing people in Australia: one the Australian law and another the Islamic law, that is false. If you can't agree with parliamentary law, independent courts, democracy, and would prefer Sharia law and have the opportunity to go to another country, which practices it, perhaps, then, that's a better option", Costello said.

Asked whether he meant radical clerics would be forced to leave, he said those with dual citizenship could possibly be asked to move to the other country. Education Minister Brendan Nelson later told reporters that Muslims who did not want to accept local values should "clear off".

Basically, "people who don't want to be Australians, and who don't want to live by Australian values and understand them, well then, they can basically clear off", he said.

Separately, Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spy
agencies monitoring the nation's mosques.

Quote: "IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. "

Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. "

Since the terrorist attacks on Bali, we have experienced a surge in patriotism by the majority. "However, the dust from the attacks had barely settled when the 'politically correct' crowd began complaining about the possibility that our patriotism was offending others. I am not against immigration, nor do I hold a grudge against anyone who is seeking a better life by coming to Australia." "However, there are a few things that those who have recently come to our country, and apparently some born here, need to understand." "This idea of Australia being a multicultural community has served only to dilute our sovereignty and our national identity. As Australians, we have our own culture, our own society, our own language and our own lifestyle.

"This culture has been developed over two centuries of struggles, trials and victories by millions of men and women who have sought freedom. "We speak mainly ENGLISH, not Spanish, Lebanese, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, or any other language. Therefore, if you wish to become part of our society, Learn the language!

"Most Australians believe in God. This is not some Christian, rightwing, political push, but a fact, because Christian men and women, on Christian principles, founded this nation, and this is clearly documented. It is certainly appropriate to display it on the walls of our schools. If God offends you, then I suggest you consider another part of the world as your new home, because God is part of our culture. "We will accept your beliefs, and will not question why. All we ask is that you accept ours, and live in harmony and peaceful enjoyment with us. "If the Southern Cross offends you! , or you don't like " A Fair Go",then you should seriously consider a move to another part of this planet. We are happy with our culture and have no desire to change, and we really don't care how you did things where you came from. By all means, keep your culture, but do not force it on others.

"This is OUR COUNTRY, OUR LAND, and OUR LIFESTYLE, and we will allow you every opportunity to enjoy all this. But once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about Our Flag, Our Pledge, Our Christian beliefs, or Our Way of Life, I highly encourage you take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, 'THE RIGHT TO LEAVE'."

"If you aren't happy here then LEAVE. We didn't force you to come here. You asked to be here. So accept the country YOU accepted."

Rather preachy attitude, Bill.
We in the US should take Austrailia's cue and reaffirm exactly what our founding fathers had set down without equivocation; that we are a secular state, period. We welcome all religions, though we will not consent to be governed by any of them. This includes your wonderful and virtuous, though not omniscient, religion of Christianity.
Peaceful coexistence is a noble virtue, a rather Christian value actually, and is a good precedent to keep in a country as diverse as ours. This should be the point being emphasized.
So don't go venting to Muslims about some perceived hostility toward "our Christian beliefs" as I don't recall their validity being called into question by the US Muslim community in the first place.
Judge not, lest ye be judged, Bill. I have descendants dating back to the Mayflower, and will be dictated to by neither Christians nor Muslims. Got that? So it's not like anyone's going to be imposing any religion on anyone else today, and that goes for you too.

Wow.

Extremely well put. Civil liberties above all is merely a guise.

What truly baffles me is the lack of solidarity in the Muslim community to protest against terrorism and terrorists. They are sympathetic to terrorists and are just so shocked and baffled when they are fingered for it.

The door swings both ways.

Absolutatley spot on - please become a polotician and move to the UK, you would win by a landslide.

AMEN !!!!!!!!!!!!!! WELL SAID
EVERYONE NEEDS TO THINK LIKE THAT !
IT'S A HONOR NOT A REQUIREMENT.
AWESOME !!!!!!!

I remember hearing this before; "When in Rome, do as the Romans do".
Maybe if enough folks say 'enough is enough' perhaps the US officials will follow suit and and get down to it. Let's stop whinning about 'racial profiling' in the airports and just say the words, "if you are of mid-eastern descent, expect delays", period......

Don't like it?... then don't let me keep you from leaving, and have a nice life....

All of the rants from Down Under really were said, but they were said by at least four different government officials, not one, and they were at the time all speaking as private citizens. What is reported here is NOT government policy.

And as for "just in", all of these things were said within a few days of the London bombings, which makes them over a year old, and definitely not "new news". We should all check our sources before we post these things . . . Hey, isn't that one of the things a lot of posters complain that the Mass Media doesn't do? Maybe we should cut the MM some slack until we get our own "stuff" together.

DONT LET THE DOOR HIT YA WHERE THE DOG SHOULDA BIT YA!!!!!!

Robert,

Does it matter that the comments were from a year ago? The problem has only gotten worse, and it stands to reason that sentiment has followed suit.

If you keep racial profiling to those of 'mid-eastern descent', the profile will change. Remember that some of those suspected of involvement include Americans who converted to Islam --

As long as extremists (Islamic or otherwise) exist and have power to act, there will be violence.

Are you kidding me?! Dreek's comment refering to Muslims having to expect a wait is ridiculous. How about this? Who is to say that Al Qaeda would not hire a person of different decent to do their dirty work? So, let us please let that person through the line because they are not Muslim. Come on now! You need to think outside the box. If we want safe traveling, we ALL need to expect delays!!!

Hey Bill you seem to forget that Australia is a secular state, but other than that - well said.
I'm Agnostic and personally I think that religion is the root of all the problems in the world.

I for one am tired of giving into these idiots because we don't want to offend them. How many countries welcome us with open arms?? NONE! We let everyone in this country because we are idiots. Look at how we now have to have Spanish speaking teachers here...this is America if you can't speak the language learn it or go home!!!

The basic truth emerging after so many years of failed immigration policies, not only in Australia but above all in the UK and other EU countries and the US, has been denied in favor of the convenient notion of multiculturalism.

What I find significant after the recent plot was revealed in the UK is the reaction of the leaders of the Muslim communities in the UK as well as the US. Gone is the guilt that prompted at least some disassociation, after the New York and London attacks, with the criminal element abusing their faith from within. Abusing their trust. Using their communities as cover to plot against the country which gave them or their parents a refuge.
They only have disbelief or outright denial, now.

I should hasten to add, in the same breath if it were possible, that this inexcusable attitude can be explained as a by-product of many failures in foreign policy and the conduct of the so-called war on terrorism by the US administration in particular.

What we see, however, from the Muslim communities and their leaders, has been there all this time except the hosts have also been in denial: Muslims will be first Muslims, some extremist as we know now, before they will be anything else. In spite of the safe haven they got from the host countries.

Just as the criminals who plot and execute terrorist acts in the name of some grievance or another, having no regard for innocent life, so will now the communities that whelp them find all sort of excuses for their aberrations, without any regard for sound reason, to the point of sharing the same aberrations.

This must come to an end. Muslims must accept the responsibility for what originates from their midst.
They must deal with the fanatics and in doing so the first requirement from their part is to adopt the countries who took them in as their own.
That is what they should have done to begin with, as soon as they settled in a free society.