Australian Senator Threatened

This is a bit off-topic, but I know I have at least one Australian reader, and I see that Australia has at least one politician with his head screwed on right. Liberal parliamentary secretary Cory Bernardi was critical of Islam and received death threats. The story appears in French at Yves Daoudal and Bivouac-Id.

The version below is from an Australian news source.

(…) While the immigration debate usually differentiates between the religion of Islam and extreme fundamentalist interpretations, Senator Bernardi confronted the issue head-on yesterday.

"Islam itself is the problem - it's not Muslims," he told radio station MTR.

Note: His statement is the one thing about Islam that you are not allowed to say. Bush and others insisted that the religion had been highjacked by fanatics. In fact it was Bush and the others who were highjacked by Islam, and lacked the insight or the courage to admit it. We are paying and will continue to pay a dear price for this government failure.

"Muslims are individuals that practise their faith in their own way, but Islam is a totalitarian, political and religious ideology.

"It tells people everything about how they need to conduct themselves, who they're allowed to marry and how they're allowed to treat other people."

Senator Bernardi said Islam had "not moved on" since it was founded and that extremists wanted fundamentalist Islamic rule implemented in Australia.

The senator also inflamed the row over funeral expenses for asylum-seekers by declaring that it was "wrong" for taxpayers to foot the bill.

The remarks provoked a strong reaction from Ikebal Patel, president of the Australian Federation of Islamic Councils, who said Senator Bernardi had "crossed the line" with his attack on Islam.

"These comments are more than offensive; they are bigoted," Mr Patel said.

"Cory Bernardi needs to have a good read of the Bible if he is a practising Christian.

"This is hardly the language of a religious person."

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen also slammed the senator's remarks.

"The Liberal Party professes to have said this week it would not make political points out of race and religion, but here we have Tony Abbott's parliamentary secretary launching an attack on a religion," Mr Bowen said.

If you visit the above site, you'll also find links to articles about the earthquake that struck Christchurch, New Zealand. This one describes the aftermath and the possibility that half of the CBD (central business district) will be demolished.