Chuckie...jsut cause you dont like the guy deosnt mean his numbers are wrong
good try though.........
FOLLOW-UP LETTERS
Multiculturalism and Denmark
From: Elisabeth Arnold and Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen, Members of the Danish Parliament National Post September 6, 2002 Letters
As Danish politicians, we are offended by the way integration problems in Denmark were portrayed by Daniel Pipes and Lars Hedegaard and we wish to set the record straight ("Muslim Extremism: Denmark's had Enough," Daniel Pipes and Lars Hedegaard, Aug. 27).
The authors claim that 40% of Danish welfare expenses are consumed by Muslim immigrants. Denmark has a much broader spectrum of welfare costs than countries in North America. We include not only unemployment benefits and social security but also substantial allocations to housing, transport, homecare, early retirement, protected workplaces, daycare and other smaller schemes. Muslim immigrants do not receive 40% of those allocations even though they represent a substantial part of the clients. The main reason being: It is hard to compete on a job market not interested in employing immigrants.
The further assumption that more than half of all rapists in Denmark are Muslims is without any basis in fact, as criminal registers do not record religion.
Mr. Pipes and Mr. Hedegaard mention that only 5% of young Muslims in Denmark wish to marry a Dane. A sign of self-inflicted isolation, indeed. We welcome the brave 5% who accept intermarriage—they are true pioneers for peaceful co-existence and human contact across cultures. However, the new Danish government has made it extremely difficult for Danish citizens to bring a foreign spouse to Denmark. The ruling opinion obviously is that intermarriage should be avoided.
Mr. Pipes and Mr. Hedegaard also claim that Muslim violence threatens the 6,000 Jewish citizens in Denmark. Rumours—also hitting the front pages of major newspapers—tell that identified Jewish Danes figure on a death list. Danish authorities consider death threats very serious, but police investigators have so far found no evidence of real threats.
During the coming decade, Denmark will need 100,000 new pairs of hands in the workforce. The Danes produce fewer children and live longer. Integration must work better and immigrants admitted to Denmark should be welcomed. On this point, we take inspiration from Canadian society, which is open to other cultures and religions.
Re: Multiculturalism and Denmark
From: Daniel Pipes and Lars Hedegaard National Post September 10, 2002 Letters
Elisabeth Arnold and Elsebeth Gerner Nielsen, two members of the Danish parliament, are "offended" by our article "Muslim Extremism: Denmark's had Enough" (Aug. 27).
Most Canadian readers may not realize that both writers are politicians belonging to the Socialist-Radical Liberal government that was defeated last November --- indeed, Ms. Nielsen was its minister of culture. They have an axe to grind.
Both protest our conclusion that Muslims "make up a majority of the country's convicted rapists," saying that because Danish statistics do not correlate religion with crime, this assertion "is without any basis in fact." Statistics Denmark does, however, produce numbers on immigrants from Third World countries and their descendants, which it reports makes up 5% of the population; and it is known that Muslims make up four-fifths of this element. The latest police figures show that 76.5% of convicted rapists in Copenhagen belong to that 5% of the population, and from that we drew our understated conclusion.
Our critics then sow confusion about the word "welfare." We wrote in English for an English-speaking readership, and used "welfare" in the conventional English sense of meaning public assistance in the form of cash or food stamps—not in the Danish sense of including "housing, transport, homecare, early retirement, protected workplaces, daycare and other smaller schemes" as mentioned by the two politicians.
As for the numbers involved, former Socialist spokeswoman for immigration and integration Ritt Bjerregaard has leaked figures from an unpublished study showing that in 1999, the 5% of the Danish population made up of Third World immigrants received 35% of all welfare payments (Danish: kontanthjaelp). This percentage is higher today and therefore we wrote that that 5% consumes "upwards of 40% of the welfare spending."
Both MPs may not believe Danish Jews are threatened but the Jewish population itself believes it is under siege. This obliviousness of Ms. Arnold and Ms. Nielsen is part of a larger problem, whereby they have long been among the most vocal cheerleaders of massive immigration and completely blind to the problems this creates. Unfortunately for them, Danish voters do see the problems and threw their coalition out of office last November.
Finally, we are at a loss to explain the notion our critics forward that the current government believes "intermarriage should be avoided" between Danes and foreigners, an outrageous accusation which no one of any political stature has advocated. To the contrary, the policy of the government is integration, not segregation.
