Benny and the Nuts

Pope Benedict has created the biggest furor in the Muslim world since the Danish cartoons. The Pope quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor on a recent speech, and that has turbans in a wad worldwide:

The furore over comments made by Pope Benedict about the Islamic concept of Holy War continues to grow. Today British Muslims joined in, fiercely criticising his remarks.

The pontiff was accused of falling into "the trap of bigots and racists" with the comments he made on a visit to Germany.

Last night Vatican officials were scrambling to defend the comments, saying the Pope had never intended to offend Muslims.

During a speech, he quoted a 14th century Byzantine emperor who said the prophet Mohammed had brought "things only evil and inhuman".

But Britain's Ramadhan Foundation, a youth organisation based in Rochdale, reacted angrily to the comments, comparing the Pope unfavourably to his predecessor John Paul II.

In a statement it said: "If the Pope wanted to attack Islam and Prophet Muhammad teachings he could have been brave enough to say it personally without quoting a 14th century Byzantine Christian emperor.

Maybe the Pope was just trying to invoke the memory of someone to whom the Muslims could relate. After all, many sects of Islam would have us all living in the 14th century. He was just speaking their language.

And from the Department of Irony, there's this (h/t LGF):

Pakistan’s parliament unanimously adopted a resolution condemning the pope for making what it called “derogatory” comments about Islam, and seeking an apology from him. Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry also called the pope’s remarks “regrettable.”

“Anyone who describes Islam as a religion as intolerant encourages violence,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said.

How tolerant of them. And you know the critics have finally jumped the shark when you read this:

A Turkish lawmaker said the pontiff would go down in history "in the same category as leaders such as Hitler and Mussolini" for his words.

Remember HolyCoast rule #1 - the first guy who calls the other guy Hitler, loses.

Finally, please explain this:

As I understand it, a single-hump jihad is known as a "dromedary jihad", as opposed to the "bactrian", or double-hump jihad.

Just look at the fascinating stuff you learn by reading this site.