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01/25/09 - An Iowa Reader Still Waiting For Agriprocessors' Sholom Rubashkin To Apologize

From: Martin Kelly (e-mail him)

Re: Brenda Walker's Blog: Contempt At Colosseum Irritates Italians

On Good Friday 1993, it was my privilege to attend the evening Stations of the Cross conducted by the late Pope John Paul II at the Colosseum.

As my company and I walked up the Via Imperiali towards Vespasian's charnel house, a young man approached us frantically handing out leaflets.

I took one, mostly to make him go away. Printed in English, and sadly I no longer have it, I remember the one word that appeared on its front - "Lepanto".

The Islamic demonstration at the Colosseum, about which Walker wrote, ostensibly in support of Gaza's famously belligerent rocket-lobbers, neck-smiters and heavenly virgin-chasers, was not just a calculated insult to the Italian state, but an anti-Christian act of passive jihad.

They knew precisely what they were doing.

John Paul II dedicated the Colosseum to political prisoners but the Islamic protesters will say Gaza's jihadists are also political prisoners—of Israel.

The Colosseum is also the place where early Christians lost their lives even though the jihadists will say that the Gazans are also enduring martyrdom.

But the difference is that the Islamic concept of martyrdom is an aggressive act for the advancement of its religion, not the ultimate act of supreme love in its defense as is the case with Christianity.

The Venerable Bede wrote that for as long as the Colosseum stands, Rome will stand. And for as long as Rome stands, the world will stand.

If the Italian state possessed an iota of guts, it would have those who attempted to defile the Colosseum spending the night in the Regina Coeli before escorting them onto the first plane back to Somalia.

What happened at the Colosseum is not in line with what Garibaldi fought for, what Cavour's genius strove to create, and what Salvemini, whose words are as true now as they ever were, went into exile to defend.

If the Islamic deeds go unpunished, then De Gasperi will have labored for nothing and Aldo Moro will have died for naught. Civil Italy, the common dream of all those giants, will be over.

With apologies for my execrable Italian, one can only say "Viva Roma! Viva Italia!"

Kelly is a Glasgow, Scotland-based blogger and contributor to VDARE.COM. His archive is here and his letters, here.