What a Relief: Muslim Terror Attack in Sweden Finally Puts 'Far Right' Under Microscope

It's apparently a good thing that a Muslim terrorist blew himself up in Stockholm last weekend, as it finally puts the spotlight on the real scourge facing Sweden: Those on the right who would develop a negative image of Muslims. Hey, they've got their priorities in order.

The bombs had barely exploded in Stockholm's bustling shopping district before members of the far-right, Islam-bashing Sweden Democrats rushed to their blogs and Twitter feeds. "Told you so," said one. "Finally" tweeted another.

The government and just about every editorial page has warned against blaming Sweden's growing Muslim minority for the Dec. 11 suicide attack carried out by an Iraqi-born Swede, who appears to have been radicalized in Britain.

But the far-right fringe is doing just that in another challenge to Sweden's famed tolerance, already frayed in recent months by the Sweden Democrats' entry into Parliament and a serial gunman's sniper attacks against people with dark skin.

Authorities say there's a risk that even more extreme groups, long marginalized in Sweden, will use the opportunity to advance their positions.

"The biggest worry isn't that the Muslim community will become radicalized but what this means for the view of Muslims in Sweden," said Erik Akerlund, police chief in Rinkeby, an immigrant suburb of Stockholm nicknamed "Little Mogadishu" because of its large Somali community.

A wonderful view of things, isn't it? Worry more about the "view of Muslims" more than you do the actual safety of your own citizens.

While investigating the attack, the Swedish security service is also keeping an eye on any potential reaction from right-wing extremists, said Anders Thornberg, the agency's director of operations. Those groups have kept a low profile since a series of attacks on immigrants and left-wing activists in the 1980s and '90s.

The suicide bomber, Taimour Abdulwahab, killed himself and injured two people when some of the explosives he was wearing exploded among panicked Christmas shoppers in downtown Stockholm.

Police suspect the explosives went off by mistake too early, and that he had planned to detonate them in a more crowded place like a shopping center or train station.

One theory is that Abdulwahab had a problem with the equipment and walked off a busy pedestrian street to a side street to fix it "and that's when something happened," Thornberg said.

An audio file sent shortly before the blast from his cell phone referred to Sweden's military presence in Afghanistan and an image by a Swedish artist that depicted the Prophet Muhammad as a dog, enraging many Muslims.

Anti-Muslim bloggers said the bombing came as no surprise, heaping blame on Sweden's generous immigration policy. Tens of thousands of people from the Middle East, Somalia and the Balkans have fled to Sweden in the past two decades. No Western country admitted more Iraqi refugees amid the bloodshed following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Sweden Democrats lawmaker William Petzall wrote "I hate to say it, but we told you so," on his Twitter account.

"Is this the time when you're allowed to say: 'I told you so'? finally," said another tweet from party leader Jimmie Akesson's secretary, Alexandra Brunell. She later apologized, saying the wording was unfortunate.

The attack should serve as an "awakening" for Swedes, party lawmaker Kent Ekeroth wrote on his blog.

"What I mean is that people's attitudes about what Islam is and stands for are naive," Ekeroth told The Associated Press. "When finally there's been a terror attack on Swedish soil, then maybe people will understand. It's unfortunate that this is what it takes."

This overwrought concern with the feelings of Muslims is like a virus spreading across the globe, as witnessed most recently in Portland.

Also churning in my head is regret over the stress that the incident is causing for our Portland-area Muslim community. The suspect, Mohamed Osman Mohamud," ruined it for everybody," is how one Somalian man, Ahmed Ali, put it in comments to The Oregonian newspaper. "Our religion says we cannot kill innocent people. This is the reason we left Somalia."

It seems the only hope we have of defeating this menace is if the enemies of civilization laugh themselves to death.

A Riot In Sweden

So what's the big deal? Riots go on all the time. What makes this one so special? What makes it special is the pretzel the news agency reporting on this went to to not identify the rioters. They are called immigrants, youths, everything under the sun but what what they really are. Just more outraged Muslims acting like petulant children as only Muslims can.

Rioters in the Swedish capital, Stockholm, have burned down a school building and thrown stones at police in a second night of disturbances.

The trouble began on Monday after a group of youths in a suburb with a mainly immigrant population were refused entry to a school dance.

Police say up to 100 youths went on the rampage, throwing stones and setting several cars alight.

So how can I make the assertion that they were Muslim? Easy at the very end of the story is this little bit of background information.

Rinkeby is home to a large number of first- and second-generation immigrants. Many of them are from Somalia, so the area is sometimes nicknamed Little Mogadishu.

No doubt receiving inspiration from their brothers in Paris. Uh speaking of which doesn't Maine and Minnesota have large Somali populations? I seem to recall some stories of young guys from Minnesota going to Somalia to wage jihad not too long ago. I am sure it was just my imagination.

Grim News: Too Much Coffee Can Reduce Breast Size

Maybe I'm slowing down, but somehow I managed to miss this heartbreaking tale late last week from Sweden, where it's been reported drinking too much coffee could reduce breast size.

Women who drink a lot of coffee may see their breasts become more petite, according to the results of a new Swedish study.

Around half of all women possess a gene shown to link breast size to coffee intake.

"Drinking coffee can have a major effect on breast size," said Helena Jernström, a lecturer in experimental oncology at Lund University.

But while a regular brew appears to have a somewhat deflationary aspect, there is also one very positive effect in that coffee reduces the risk of breast cancer.

Woman with an average weight but big breasts and a high number of mammary glands run an above average risk of developing breast cancer.

Previous studies have shown that women can reduce this risk by drinking at least three cups of coffee a day.

Jernström wanted to know if there was a further correlation: If drinking coffee and breast size were both connected to the risk of developing breast cancer, could there also be a link between coffee and cup size?

Whatever the case, just keep Adriana Lima away from Starbucks.

Sign of the Apocalypse: Swedish Men Complain Claim Sex Toys Are Discriminatory

Apparently these twerps, who for some reason are unnamed, feel slighted that they can't get some sex toys for guys over the counter, as women can now acquire their special, um, toys at the state-run pharmacies.

Which begs the question--why don't they just use what they ladies are using or perhaps just take matters into their own hands?

Sweden is famous for breaking sexual taboos, so barely an eyebrow was raised when state-run pharmacies began to sell over-the-counter sex toys this summer, alongside the more conventional headache pills and hot water bottles.

Now the shops are being hauled before the Equal Opportunies Ombudsman, the government referee on sexual discrimination, after two men complained that the erotic toys – the bestselling are vibrators and vagina balls – discriminate against males.

The pharmacy chain, Apoteket, had a “misguided and untrue view of sexuality whereby a woman with a dildo is seen as liberated, strong and independent, while a man with a blow-up plastic vagina is viewed as disgusting and perverted”, said one of the petitioners.

Apoteket has made a spirited defence. Eva Fernvall, its head of retailing, said it was simply a matter of maintaining standards.

Seems there's a lot of gender-related confusion in Sweden.

Young Swedish men were upset at the sight of even younger women wafting past club doormen while they were turned away as minors. “Bars tend to use women to attract more male customers and thus lower the age restrictions,” said Magnus Jakobsson, of the ombudsman’s office.

Next thing you know they'll offer drink specials for the ladies, always a popular attraction back in my misspent youth.

Mystery Men Released After Swedish Nuke Scare

Apparently this was much ado about nothing.

Swedish police said on Thursday they had released two men who had been held on suspicion of planning to sabotage a nuclear power station.

Police detained two contract workers on Wednesday after one of them was stopped in a security check at the Oskarshamn nuclear plant, on the southeast coast of Sweden, with traces of a highly explosive material thought to be TATP.

TATP, or triacetone triperoxide, is extremely unstable, especially when subjected to heat, friction and shock.

"I can confirm that they have been released at 12:15 pm today," said Kalmar County Police official Kenth Andersson. Police are due to hold a news conference later on Thursday.

Mysterious 'Swedish' Men Held in Nuke Plant Scare; One Has a Record

Authorities are now disclosing that the two mystery men behind today's suspected sabotage attempt at a nuclear power plant are Swedish citizens, but no media accounts disclose the names of the pair.

This account says they are maintenance workers.

Swedish police arrested two maintenance workers on suspicion of plotting sabotage after they tried to enter a nuclear power plant Wednesday with traces of a powerful explosive like that used in the 2005 London transit bombings, officials said.

The plant's operator, OKG, said no bomb was found and the incident did not pose a threat to the Oskarshamn generating station, which provides 10 percent of Sweden's electricity.

Experts said a bagful of the suspected explosive would not be powerful enough to damage a nuclear reactor but could wreak havoc in a power plant's control room.

Police with bomb-sniffing dogs searched the plant 150 miles south of Stockholm and were examining a substance detected on a plastic bag carried by one of the workers. It was believed to be triacetone triperoxide, or TATP, which is extremely dangerous even in tiny amounts.

"It's not something you use at home," Anders Osterberg, a spokesman for plant operator OKG, told The Associated Press. "We're not dealing with toys here."

The two men were contractors hired to do maintenance work on one of the facility's three reactors, which was shut down May 11 for an annual check, plant spokesman Roger Bergman said.

It goes on to say there are Swedish citizens and one is "known to police."

Police did not release the men's identities, saying only that one was born in 1955 and the other in 1962 and both were Swedish citizens. The older suspect was "known to police" from prior investigations, police spokesman Sven-Erik Karlsson told AP, but he declined to give details.

Here it says they were contracted welders.

A spokesman for the OKG company that runs the plant, Anders Oesterberg, told AFP the two were welders who had been contracted for work on one of the plant's three reactors, which had been shut down for maintenance.

He said one of them had been working inside the plant for two weeks, and that sniffer dogs would be sent in to search the area they had worked in.

"One must of course take into account the information we have about where these people have been working ... and in cooperation with the police and bomb sniffing dogs search these areas to make sure these people have not left behind any explosives," the police spokesman added.

Of course, it certainly isn't beneath al Qaeda to recruit Westerners to do their dirty work.

Hopefully the authorities there get to the bottom of today's events and let us know who may have been behind this if it indeed was something sinister.

Never Underestimate The Courage Of A Nazi

Nazis assault feminist festival-goers
At least seven people attending a festival promoting feminism were assaulted on Sunday evening by a group of neo-Nazis in a small Swedish village.

One man was left needing hospital treatment after he was attacked with a metal pipe by an unidentified gang in Österfärnebo in east central Sweden.

“The men drove around the area in a car, shouting ‘sieg heil’ and doing a Nazi salute,” police investigator Kalju Poltrago told newspaper Upsala Nya Tidning.

It was around 1am when a group of people aged 17 to 25 left Färnebo Community College at the end of a three-day feminist festival. The festival, which is organized by the college, is eight years old and attracts people from all over Sweden.

“Witnesses described how a group of Nazis or skinheads got out of a car, which was circling the area. After shouting ‘sieg heil’ and doing the Nazi salute the men then proceeded to assault the teenagers who had exited the college” said Poltrago.

“They assaulted the teenagers with metal pipes. One girl was beaten bloody and another thirty year old man was battered while he lay on the ground. He was injured so badly that he had to be rushed to the local hospital for treatment.”

The police have classed the attack as grievous bodily harm of a racist nature.

“We are aware of the Nazi organizations but we are unsure which one is responsible. We have not accused anyone at this time,” said Kalju Poltrago.

Österfärnebo is an idyllic village with a population of around 700 people, situated beside one of Sweden’s most beautiful national parks. It is famous for its moose hunting, course fishing and clean air.

“It is a tragic thing when this kind of violence enters a community. We are not used to this kind of thing. I am shocked,” said Annika Eriksson, a lifelong inhabitant of Österfarnebo.

Damnable cowards.

Via The Local

al-Gore Hoax Alert

Winter's return causes confusion
Heavy snow falls were seen in many parts of northern Sweden on Saturday as winter made a comeback. Forecasts indicate however that this should be the last snow of the season.

The snow falls caused widespread power cuts.

"I am just heading out to shovel the snow, it's feels a little tough. I measured this morning and 24 centimetres [9.4 inches] of snow had fallen during the morning," said Evelyn Nykvist in Sörskog in Dalarna to news agency TT.

The snow falls covered much of Dalarna, inner Hälsingland, Härjedalen and up towards Jämtland and the ski resort of Åre. Swedish meteorological agency SMHI reported that 14-15 centimetres [5.5 - 6 inches] of snow fell in Leksand, Malung and Rättvik in Dalarna.

"It has snowed quite a lot, as far south as parts of Värmland. Further south than that the snow turns into slush," said SMHI meteorologist Sten Laurin.

Many residents in the affected areas have suffered confusion in May as one day they cycle to work and the next have to rummage around in their attics to dig out winter clothes, hats and gloves.

Svealand (the central region of the three regions that makes up Sweden) has not seen snow in May since 2005. Forecasts indicate that this will be the last of the season's snow.

Theres was some chaos on the roads as many motorists had already switched to summer tyres. Several cars slid off roads in the Falun-Borlänge area.

"But there have not been any accident involving injuries to people," said Christer Nelefelt at Dalarna police.

Several thousand households were without electricity in parts of Svealand as the heavy, wet snow weighed down power lines on Saturday morning. Problems persisted for many into the afternoon.

al-Goracle was unavailable for comment.

Via The Local

Police to Swedish Artist: You Better Leave Now

This is what happens when you pander to a bloodthirsty mob.

But don't forget, they're the Religion of Peace.

Good thing they're celebrating Ramadan, otherwise he might be dead already.

Police tell threatened Swedish artist to leave home

A Swedish artist threatened with death over his drawing of Islam's Prophet Mohammad has been told by police he is no longer safe living at home.

Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the self-styled Islamic State in Iraq, offered up to $150,000 on Saturday for the murder of artist Lars Vilks for drawing the head of the Prophet on the body of a dog.

"I can't live here," Vilks told Reuters by phone. "SAPO (Sweden's security service) have judged that it (the threat) is very serious."

He was allowed to go home and collect some things but it may be a long time before he is able to return again, he said.

"We have had contact with him (Vilks) and together with him are taking the decisions that are necessary," a police spokesman said.

In an audiotape posted on the Internet, Baghdadi offered a lower bounty for the death of the editor of daily Nerikes Allehanda, which published the drawing last month in what it called a defense of free speech.

Top Swedish firms such as truck maker Volvo, mobile network builder Ericsson and retailer Ikea were also threatened unless an apology was forthcoming for the drawing.

The threats against Vilks and the newspaper mirror a crisis in Denmark last year.

Cartoons published in a Danish paper and reprinted around the world sparked riots in the Middle East, Asia and Africa in which at least 50 people died, and attacks against Danish embassies and a boycott of Danish goods.

That silence you hear is emanating from the leftist freedom of speech crowd.

Bounty on Swedish Cartoonist

My, these terrorists are so sensitive.

They haven't the slightest problem chopping off someone's head, but if you dare insult kiddie rapist Mohammed (propeller beanie upon him), then they come unglued.

More cartoons, please.

Al-Qaida: Bounty on Swedish cartoonist

CAIRO, Egypt - The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq offered money for the murder of a Swedish cartoonist and his editor who recently produced images deemed insulting to Islam, according to a statement carried by Islamist Web sites Saturday.

In a half hour audio file entitled "They plotted yet God too was plotting," Abu Omar al-Baghdadi also named the other insurgent groups in Iraq that al-Qaida was fighting and promised new attacks, particularly against the minority Yazidi sect.

"We are calling for the assassination of cartoonist Lars Vilks who dared insult our Prophet, peace be upon him, and we announce a reward during this generous month of Ramadan of $100,000 for the one who kills this criminal," the transcript on the Web site said.

The al-Qaida leader upped the reward for Vilks' death to $150,000 if he was "slaughtered like a lamb" and offered $50,000 for the killing of the editor of Nerikes Allehanda, the Swedish paper that printed Vilks' cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad with a dog's body on Aug. 19.

Vilks said from Sweden he believed the matter of his cartoons had been blown out of proportion.

"We have a real problem here," Vilks told The Associated Press by telephone. "We can only hope that Muslims in Europe and in the Western world choose to distance themselves from this and support the idea of freedom of expression."

Ulf Johansson, editor in chief of Nerikes Allehanda, said he took the bounty "more seriously" than other threats he had received. "This is more explicit. It's not every day somebody puts a price on your head."

Johansson said he had contacted the police and that they had already started work on the threat.

Aside from a few scattered protests and condemnations by Muslim countries, the reaction to the cartoon has been muted, in contrast to last year's fiery protests that erupted in several Muslim countries after a Danish newspaper published 12 cartoons of Muhammad that were reprinted in a range of Western media.

In an attempt to defuse the tensions caused by the cartoon in both Sweden and abroad, Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt last week invited 22 Sweden-based ambassadors from Muslim countries to talk about the sketch.

Reinfeldt expressed regret at the hurt it may have caused, but said that according to Swedish law it is not up to politicians to punish the free press.

Al-Baghdadi added in his message that if the "crusader state of Sweden" didn't apologize, his organization would also attack major companies.

Summer Snow Hits Sweden

Another inconvenient truth for the global warming lunatics.

It might be only one week to Midsummer, but nobody seems to have told mother nature. Snow has returned to parts of central Sweden, with five centimetres falling in some places.

The snowfall came in the mountainous Härjedalen area of northern Dalarna. A meteorologist from weather service SMHI told Svenska Dagbladet that snow was unusual at this time of year, usually falling roughly once every ten years.

Algore was unavailable for comment.