OK, it should be flamingly obvious that Ezra Levant's hearing before the Canadian Human Rights Commission for having the audacity to exercise his right to free speech and free press to publish the infamous Mohammed Cartoons are going to be a high point in the struggle for freedom against Islamofascism and the nanny state. Mr. Levant is posting videos of the hearing on his YouTube channel, and we here at Wizbang think that the events shown there are so damned important, we're going to post the embedded YouTube videos here.

We also encourage anyone with the ability to do so to download and save the videos, as YouTube has a remarkable history of removing videos that show Islam in a bad way (also known as "speaking truth to psychos&quot.

Today, the country of Saudi Arabia proudly beheaded an Indonesian maid who suffocated her Saudi employer to death with a pillow. The maid is already the second to be executed this year by Saudi Arabia by means of decapitation. In fact, beheading is the Saudi state's official means of carrying out the death sentence because of its strict interpretation of Islamic law. A moderate Muslim state, indeed.

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life has occasional events for journalists and scholars in Key West. Last month, they held one in which Wilfred McClay, professor of history at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, gave a talk about the relationship between secularism and religion in America. McClay basically argues there is philosophical secularism -- of which the recent "new atheists" like Richard Dawkins are a type -- and political secularism, which could allow religion a place in the public square. An interesting observation is that it's part and parcel of the American system to find our way about all this through conflict. Not particularly encouraging, in one sense, but seems to fit our current situation as well.

Islamic law has already accounted for 23 executions, five hands and five feet in Iran, and that’s before the first two full weeks of 2008 are out.

Religions are founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few. - Stendhal All religions are the same: religion is basically guilt, with different holidays.

-Cathy Ladman Anyone who can worship a trinity and insist that his religion is a monotheism can believe anything--just give him time to rationalize it. Forgive me for being blunt.

- Robert Heinlein

The "Tree of Knowledge" erected in front of the West Chester county courthouse by the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia was vandalized at least four times during the month of December. The tree also drew many complaints. It seems that many Christians do not think atheists should be allowed to have any sort of holiday display.