Protests stop ("No Friends") Rice's mosque visit

[muriel_volestrangler]

A visit by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to a mosque in Jack Straw's constituency has been cancelled under the threat of protests.

Muslims opposed to her trip to the Blackburn mosque had planned to protest in the building ahead of her arrival, spokesman Ibrahim Master said.

Safety concerns meant the visit to the Masjide Al Hidayah mosque on Millham Street had to be cancelled, he added.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/lancashire/4860496.stm

The latest in a long line:

Poet boycotts Condoleezza concert

Roger McGough said he did not want to take sides

Liverpool poet Roger McGough has pulled out of a gala concert to welcome Condoleezza Rice to the city, amid protests by anti-war campaigners.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/merseyside/4840916.stm

Condoleeza Rice's Liverpool visit on Friday 31 March is still creating a storm of controversy. After local poet Roger McGough pulled out of a concert to be held at the Liverpool Philharmonic Hall in honour of the US Secretary of State, organisers chased Scouse actress Cathy Tyson, star of the 1986 gangland thriller Mona Lisa. However, Ms Tyson has declined the invitation too, saying she will instead join others in a peaceful protest against the war in Iraq.

http://aboutknowsley.typepad.com/news/2006/03/daily_digest_28.html

[hatrack]

1. What if they held a state visit and nobody came?

:evilgrin:

[saigon68]

23. They don't like PIGS in Mosques

Especially angry, murdering War Criminal PIGS, like her Empress below

[dipsydoodle]

26. Not a PIG - a COW

and as we're supposed to be clear of mad cow disease I'm not sure how she even got into the country.

Mind you - in that picture I must confess she looks more like she's singing I Am The Walrus.

[saigon68]

34. A Walrus--that's an apt term

[leftchick]

2. The most Hated Woman on Earth?

Lucky us, we have the most hated couple on Earth!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

4. a lot of realists in UK. Why don't Americans get it about her?

She is a walking, stalking, disasterous cluster-fuck. Everything that she touches turns to dust. She is the Anti-Midas of the Administration.

[leftchick]

7. I think the only ameriKans that like her

are bush's base. At least I hope so.

[donsu]

15. remember CNN running, REPEATEDLY, Rice's life story??

of course her life was was presented from a neo-con viewpoint.

and they did the same with Powell's life

I don't watch Fox but I'm sure they must glorify her daily.

[saigon68]

35. So does free republic

In the twisted world of rimjob she's a good negro.

[rodeodance]

3. good for the Brits.

[Supersedeas]

17. a salute to educated English citizens with a conscience

[tanyev]

5. Hubby and I were watching some of the special features

of The Constant Gardner the other night. Interviews with Ralph Fiennes, Rachel Weisz, Bill Nighy, etc. They all sounded so intelligent, articulate and passionate about the issues covered in the film. I told hubby, "OK, the British really are just smarter than Americans." This article also supports that theory.

[xchrom]

6. the fright-mistress of the u.s gracing the u.k.

with her carniverous charms.

:scared:

[Rhiannon12866]

8. How nuts are they that this was even on her schedule?

Hundreds of thousands of Britons protested the Iraq war before the invasion.:crazy:

And this is good news for Condi. There are endless opportunities for shoe shopping in the UK...:eyes:

[dipsydoodle]

27. Especially considering

that the pop. of Blackburn eligible to vote is about 25% Muslim. Hopefully this may lead to "Goodbye Straw" who's just one of Blur's lackies.

[TheBaldyMan]

36. Jack Straw is her British counterpart as Foreign Secretary

his constituency of Blackburn is near to Liverpool and they are both Beatles fans. Thye worked this visit between the two of them.

Strange to think two ex-hippies are the poster children for the most unpopular war of recent years.

I wonder what John Lennon would have thought of this ?

[acmejack]

9. Evil personified

She deserves to be shunned by all civilized people on Earth, Hell and in between. The creature is frightening.

[Canuckistanian]

10. Exactly - Civilised people should shun her

What this administrtion is doing is so harmful, all people who believe in a better world FOR EVERYONE should treat them as an obstacle to progress and civility.

[salin]

11. So no love lost for "Mushroom Cloud" Rice? What a surprise...

Too bad she didn't bring Karen Hughes along to smooth the way via aggressive image management.

[rodeodance]

12. Ms. Rice--do you get it now--they do not want you there!

[Rex]

13. They hate your guts Condi.

Get it through your thick skull. Rice is a mental reject!

[JawJaw]

14. Couldn't Condi Send An Envoy?

I know a Democrat who went down quite well on his visits to Ireland...

[hippiechick]

16. Wow, cancelling because there's a threat of PROTESTS?

What a bunch of chickenshits. Hiding from Protestors?
Oooh, I'm really confident in their chest-thumping 'with us er agin us, gonna smoke 'em out' dogma now ... :eyes:

[onager]

18. Aw, she cancelled the mosque visit herself...

When she found out you have to take off your shoes upon entering the mosque.

:evilgrin:

For the record, this atheist Demoncrat has visited a lot of mosques and never had a problem. (I spent much of the past year in Egypt, and am still here. In Alexandria, for the curious.) Of course, I don't go around lecturing the whole world on its shortcomings and generally acting like a complete assh...er, Rice.

I had a great experience at the Quitbay Mosque in Cairo, built in 1472...or about 20 years before that Columbus guy set sail. I got to climb the minaret, which is over 100 feet high and gives you a stunning panoramic view of Cairo. On (rare) very clear days, you can see the Giza Pyramids in the far distance.

Heck, Condoscencia should visit that one. It's located in Cairo's rather infamous "City Of The Dead," where the police won't even go. Maybe I could bribe an Egyptian to take her there and leave her. After dark.

(Alexandria has some great mosques, including one stunner built in the 1930's by an Italian architect. The style is sort of Moderne, and the minaret looks like a big ol' rocket ship.)

[maddezmom]

19. kick

[Hissyspit]

20. Blackburn UK Mosque Cancels Condi Rice Invitation

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/foreignaffairs/story/0,,1743742,00.html

Blackburn mosque cancels Rice invitation

David Ward
Friday March 31, 2006
The Guardian

Muslim leaders yesterday withdrew an invitation to the US secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, to visit a mosque in the Blackburn constituency of the home secretary, Jack Straw.
Ms Rice was due to go to the Masjid al- Hidayah mosque tomorrow during her two-day tour of Blackburn and Liverpool as a guest of Mr Straw.

"The invitation to Ms Rice to visit the mosque came, as I understand it, from officials in Jack Straw's office," said Hamid Qureshi, chairman of the Blackburn-based Lancashire Council of Mosques. "They might not have consulted with the congregation and members were very angry and decided she should not come."

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "It's a pity we will not be visiting a mosque. Everything on this visit is being done with respect to the communities involved."

Yesterday about 40 parents and protesters gathered outside Blackburn's Pleckgate high school, which Ms Rice and Mr Straw are due to visit today.

MORE

[Oversea Visitor]

21. Lice

Who like them
Maybe chimp

[tenshi816]

22. I was watching the BBC this morning

and they had a segment on Rice's visit. I was cooking breakfast for the family so I missed the beginning of it, but what I did pick up on was that Condi will be visiting the Blackburn Rovers football (soccer) ground and meeting the players. The Beeb interviewed the American goalkeeper, Brad Friedel (who used to be on the US World Cup team but now plays for Blackburn), asking him about Rice's visit. Unfortunately Friedel mumbles like my 14-year old son and has picked up such an accent that I couldn't make out what he was saying. He didn't look thrilled, but maybe he's always like that, I don't know.

The BBC also interviewed the mayor of Blackburn and asked him about protestors. He said he was fine with a protest, as long as it remained peaceful. Didn't look bothered by the idea at all.

There's a protest in Blackburn tomorrow that I'm hoping to get to, but it depends. Distance isn't a problem for me, but I've got a very sick 9-year old (103 degree fever, vomiting, etc.) and if he's not a whole lot better in the morning, then I'm not leaving the house.

I'm sure it will all get TV coverage - and in the UK that includes the protests - so it should be interesting. The BBC will be having live coverage starting later this morning.

[Binka]

28. Sorry Your Son Is Sick

We are narrowing down the particulars for our trip and it looks like the end of May. I sure hope you will be in country then!

[tenshi816]

30. You betcha I will be here.

I've been looking forward to your visit ever since you first mentioned it! I've been thinking of trying to round up some British DUers for a meet-up in Leeds. How would you feel about that?

We've got lots to talk about and wine to drink and good times to be had.

Hope Ben's getting better. Little baby steps...

Edited to add: Aidan's feeling rotten, and it's a really nasty bug going around, so bad that it was covered on local television. Parents have been asked not to send their kids back to school until they've been "clear" for 48 hours. One day this week there were 10 kids absent from my son's class alone, out of 27 children. He'll be fine, as soon as this nasty thing runs its course.

[Binka]

32. My Friend Chris Lives In Leeds

I would love a DU meet-up! I've already told baby mouse (he is in Edinburgh) my family is coming and he is up for it!

[tenshi816]

33. Then we will make it happen.

This is going to be so good. PM me if you need any hotel info or anything, and if there's enough time and people are interested, we could have a BBQ at my house or something like that.

[Moderator]

24. Kick

[Stockholm]

25. Rice arrives in UK to a reception as cool as the weather

It was to have been Jack Straw's repayment for the hospitality that the Foreign Secretary was afforded in Condoleezza Rice's native Alabama last year: a two-day whistlestop tour introducing the US Secretary of State to the "real" Britain of Blackburn and Liverpool.

But Ms Rice's trip to north-west England reached the realms of fiasco yesterday when a mosque withdrew its invitation to her, a headteacher fielded complaints about her visit to his school and anti-war protesters geared up for hostilities.

In Liverpool, a local newspaper columnist likened the visit to one by the British Fascist leader Oswald Mosley in the 1930s, and the Philharmonic Hall scoured its C-list of possible compères for a gala evening in her honour, following refusals by the poet Roger McGough and the actress Cathy Tyson.

The response to the visit in Mr Straw's Blackburn constituency had been relatively positive before the Masjide Al Hidayah mosque, in the heart of the Muslim district,withdrew its invitation. Ibrahim Master, a member of the mosque's governing committee, said there were safety concerns over plans by Muslims to protest in the building beforehand.

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/politics/article354787.ece

[malaise]

29. I'm watching her spew some more lies on BBC

Will try to find a link of the speech -about liberal democracy. What a moron. Here's a report.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/4863262.stm

The speech is live on BBC.

Edit - add.

[sattahipdeep]

31. Artists at tonight's concert Jennifer John to sing John Lennon's Imagine

"The opportunity to stand opposite the most powerful black
woman in history, whose politics I do not share, and sing
Imagine is not something that I could refuse."

One of the artists at tonight's concert in Liverpool, Jennifer
John, has chosen to sing John Lennon's Imagine as a direct
riposte to Ms Rice.

http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1744070,00.html