July 12, 2002

Hope you caught my excorciation of John Derbyshire's "Islam is about Peace" piece in the N.R.O.
Of course, if my readers (all 5 of you) know me at all, they'll know I troubled to email Derb my opinion also. Heh-heh.
Well, I had lots of company: poor Derbyshire was apparently inundated with email protesting the message of the piece.
[As Mike of Cold Fury fame maintains on his blog today, The Corner at NRO is a great place to catch up on buzz 24/7 from the staff.
It's supposed to be a blog, but it's more like a erudite chat room.]
Here's what Derb had to say about reader reaction (you gotta love it!):

NOT WAVING BUT DROWNING [John Derbyshire]
In e-mail, that is. I haven't prompted this many responses since I called on the nation to rise up against the menace of Chelsea Clinton. A slight majority of what I've read so far is thoughtful, well-reasoned disagreement; but, Mike & Jonah please note, "atavistic, puerile hatred of Islam" is alive & well in America. Lots of people want to refight the Battle of Hattin.

Even though I got my B.A. in History, I had no idea of what the Battle of Hattin was--Thank you, John, you well-read British Man of Letters, you!
The 4-1-1 on the Battle of (the Horn of) Hattin is well worth knowing.
July 4th, 1187 saw the monumental defeat of the Crusaders, led by the Knights Templar, and the loss of Christian control of the city of Jerusalem, by Saladin and his Muslim minions.
Until America came along with her Declaration of Independence in 1776, this July 4th was a well-known date in Western Civilization.

Read all about The Battle of Hattin--JULY 4,1187! at the Knights Templar History site!