Conservative Hippie,
According to Martin and Goodman in The Western Journal Of Medicine (issue 176 2002) the mortality rate for the 17th century epidemics in California and New Mexico was as high as 25%, the mortality rate for smallpox generally is about 30%. With the exception of some nomadic tribes Pre Columbian Amerindian health was in general very poor and had gone into serious decline in the 1000 years before contact with Europe so the arrival of admittedly lethal diseases from other parts of the world was a disaster for people with weak immune systems and chronic health problems.
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/29/science/don-t-blame-columbus-for-all-the-indians-ills.html?pagewanted=2
The story about the infected blankets has been propagated by Ward Churchill and other left wing activists, serious historians give it no creedence and Churchill is can we say, a disgraced academic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ward_Churchill
The introduction of smallpox to the plains tribes such as the Mandan and Blackfoot was a tragic accident and the men in charge of Fort Clark and the riverboats on the Missouri tried their best to arrest the epidemic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1837_Great_Plains_smallpox_epidemic
There was no "genocide", there has never been and never will be any such thing as a genocide and there's no such thing as a "White Mans' disease". Syphilis came to Europe from the Americas via returing sailors, is syphils an Amerindian disease? Smallpox originated in Africa and was introduced to europe by Invading Arab armies, so why is it a "White man's disease"?

Jo
Great post Jo it makes more sense than many of the others do. I also think that the Kurds are inspirational. As for the Australian doctor who has joined Isis he is best described as a foolish victim of a host of fallacies. As a Danish cartoon depicted there can’t be enough virgins left to supply the demand.

Perhaps the good doctor in his defence could quot the Hippocratic Oath.

Hi SILLER,

Yes, I suppose lechers like this bloke are hoping that Allah will be merciful and give him his allotted seventy two renewables.

I've never understood that, if it's men who have the urges and cravings and needs yada yada, then why is it women who have to hide themselves ? Why is total male domination always assumed, like it's unchangeable, and it's women who have to work around it ? Why not devise some religious rule where the blokes get either snipped, or put on some sort of sedative ? Why should women suffer for the afflictions of men ?

On the other hand, why don't men in Muslim societies make the effort to control themselves ? It seems to work more or less okay in Western societies ? Yes, it might require that women are recognised as equals, that they can walk the streets in relative safety like in Western countries [ex-feminists, get stuck in].

Hopefully individual Muslims will read some of the Koran and realise that most of the stuff they have been fed by self-styled imams etc. is complete rubbish. But that's up to them to find out, if they dare.

Joe

Loudmouth is absolutely right, but I think his last paragraph should not be aimed just at Moslems. Since our governments have imported and are nurturing a Fifth Column, it is those whom Islam intends to enslave (i.e. us) who should read and take on board the prescriptions in its holy books and bring pressure to bear on governments to revise drastically their policies of appeasement, especially in the context of immigration and multiculturalism. It's the dhimmis among the Kafirs who most need educating. A reading of Mein Kampf would have generated a more realistic attitude and government policy in the 1930s without Mr Churchill having to run himself ragged talking alone to deaf ears.

Hi Jules,

Yes, you're right: everybody should read the Koran, or at least dip into it at random. This is a good place to start:

http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/quran/

For balance, readers should dip into the bible as well, and maybe compare the two on similar themes - for example, charity towards 'others', i.e. non-believers; the status and role of women; the place of love and forgiveness, and alternatively, killing and vengeance.

Joe