Nothing Worse Than A Reformed Smoker

Good news:

FIREBRAND Islamic convert Yvonne Ridley... believes Australian attitudes to Islam are hardening faster than any other nation.

Ridley is a British journalist and 2003 convert to Islam who discourages British Muslims from co-operating with anti-terrorism police and refers to suicide bombings as "martyrdom operations".

She is in Australia for the First Annual Australian Islamic Conference:

Organisers laughed off suggestions the First Annual Australian Islamic Conference was staged over Easter to insult Christians. "We certainly meant no insensitivity," organiser Adel Salman said. "We weren't making any particular statement or any religious statement. It was purely a convenient time to schedule the conference."

Yeah, right, whatever.

In other news from the Religion of Peace:

A PAKISTANI mullah has set up a Taliban-style Islamic court at his mosque in the capital and pledged "tens of thousands" of suicide attacks if the government tries to shut it down.

...while:

THE Australian Federal Police has seized documents and will question key Islamic community figures after widening its investigation into allegations Australia's mufti Sheik Taj al Din al-Hilali gave charity funds to supporters of al-Qaeda and Hezbollah terrorist outfits in Lebanon last year.

...and:

Dallas police and federal terrorism officials are investigating two women, both dressed in camouflage pants under their traditional Muslim robes and scarves, who were seen conducting what appeared to be surveillance and acting suspiciously at Dallas Love Field (Airport)... "I'm a trained sniper and proud of it," Ms. Al-Homsi said in an interview Thursday... "I am not a dangerous individual." Ms. Al-Homsi (and Aisha Abdul-Rahman Hamad were spotted at Love Field wearing Muslim robes and camouflage pants and "acting suspiciously,"... The surveillance video shows one of the women walking back and forth, apparently pacing off distances. When confronted, the women told officials they were looking for the Frontiers of Flight museum. They left in a red Honda. Descriptions of the incident and the car were circulated at the airport.

Two days later, the museum executive director was leaving for the evening when he noticed the Honda parked facing the runway. A woman, later identified as Ms. Al-Homsi, was sitting on the hood, looking through binoculars at the airplanes. He told the women the museum was closing, and they left. Dallas officers stopped the car nearby, but the women refused to let police search their car...

-- Nick

Update: Grandma Rudd sniffs the wind and tries to look tough:

THE Government must explain why a British Muslim who has praised suicide bombers as martyrs was allowed into the country, Labor leader Kevin Rudd said today.

Of course, it was Labor that imported the problem in the first place.