Magic Statistics

The trial of Turan Topal and Hakan Tastan, Turkish Christian converts charged with "denigrating Islam and Turkishness" in October 2006, carries on, even though the prosecution has yet to offer any evidence.  Another delay was granted last week after two prosecution witnesses failed to appear.  The next hearing is set for 24 June.

The state prosecutor had called for the Christians’ acquittal last July, noting that the youthful plaintiffs in the case had given contradictory testimonies and no credible evidence had been produced to prove the charges. But the new judge assigned to the case in November accepted prosecution lawyer demands to call another dozen witnesses to testify.

“Of course our clients are distressed by this,” [defence lawyer Haydar] Polat told Compass, noting that the two Christians are being required to attend and hear the new prosecution witnesses, some of whom deliberately fail to appear in court. “All these extra witnesses are being called simply for the purpose of prolonging the case. There is no other purpose.”

The European Union has been adamant that Article 301, the law under which Topal and Tastan have been charged, must be changed if Turkey wishes to be admitted to the EU.  The government keeps promising to do so, but has yet to present actual legislation.

Turkey’s prime minister, justice minister and president have declared repeatedly over the past two years that amending the law was both needful and “high on their agenda.”

But last week AKP [Turkey’s ruling Justice and Development Party] deputy Nihat Ergun admitted that although a revised draft of Article 301 was completed, it had been shelved indefinitely.

In related news today, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has responded to recent allegations by the chief prosecutor that the AKP is determined to turn Turkey into an Islamic state governed by Sharia law.  He is considering a legal change that would remove much of the chief prosecutor’s power.

Previous related posts:

• Turkish police knew of plan to kill Hrant Dink, but did nothing
• Accused Christians should be acquitted, says prosecutor
• Turkish Christians fined for “illegal collection of funds”

Finnish blogger Mikko Ellila was harassed by a government official after he posted crime statistics produced by the Ministry of Justice.  Authoritative government statistics show that African immigrants commit far more crimes per capita than Finns do.  That kind of information is apparently too sensitive to be publicised by politically incorrect bloggers.

Mikko Puumalainen, Finland’s Ombudsman for Minorities, asked the Central Criminal Police (Finland’s counterpart to the FBI) to interrogate Mr Ellila.  He was eventually questioned by municipal police.

Finnish government bureaucrat Mikko Puumalainen want to establish a Chinese-style governmental firewall on the internet to prevent all 5,000,000 (five million) people in Finland from reading websites that “strive to maintain an anti-immigrant political climate” by e.g. publishing facts such as official statistics on crime rates.
. . .
Quotes from official crime statistics published by the Ministry of Justice undoubtedly “help maintain an anti-immigrationist political climate” because they prove that e.g. the Somalis commit more than 100 times more (over one hundred times more, as in, over 10,000% more) robberies per capita than the Finns do.

Since Puumalainen has repeatedly said that he thinks all those who ”strive to maintain an anti-immigrant political climate” by publishing facts or opinions that might make other citizens more critical of immigration are “racists” and since, according to Puumalainen, “internet racism” is the same thing as “hate speech against an ethnic group” which is a crime, this means that Puumalainen considers it to be already illegal to publish crime statistics.

I wonder whether he is going to sue the Ministry of Justice.

Mr Puumalainen should consider advising Finland to adopt Canada’s way of dealing with crime statistics identifying the ethnicity and immigrant status of perpetrators: Don’t collect the information in the first place, and then no such statistics can be produced.

The post at Mr Ellila’s blog is dated 3 May 2007, but I only saw it today.  On 22 July 2007, the system administrator closed the blog for advocating “racialist” policies.

In related news, earlier this week a Swedish man was convicted of agitation against an ethnic group for carrying a placard accusing immigrants of gang rape.  He displayed the placard at an anti-racism rally. 

h/t: Tongue Tied

We already know that Jeremy Clarkson, the incorrigibly politically incorrect British automotive critic, hates the Toyota Prius because it’s slow and ugly. The appeal of the Prius, however, lies not in its appearance but in its alleged fuel economy.  Toyota claims that the Prius gets an average of 65.7 mpg, although that is disputed by many owners.

Two automotive experts, Nicholas Rufford and Jason Dawe, conducted a real road test of the Prius for The Times of London.  Does Toyota’s hybrid car live up to its reputation?

To find out we set a challenge: to drive a Prius to Geneva using motorways and town driving. The direct route is 460 miles but we drove almost 100 miles further to give the Prius the advantage of running in urban conditions where its petrol-electric drivetrain comes into its own.

We took along a conventionally powered car – a diesel BMW executive saloon – for comparison and drove both cars an identical number of miles (545).

The fuel tanks of both cars were filled to the brim before they hit the road to Geneva.  Upon arrival, both would be filled again to see which car had greater fuel efficiency.

The two drivers describe the features of their vehicles and their trips here; I’ll just cut to the chase.

The BMW averaged over 50 mpg, while the Prius averaged only 48.1 mpg.  Prius driver Jason Dawe concludes:

Coasting down the mountain into Geneva my Prius averaged 99.9mpg for a full 10 minutes. It was the highlight of my journey and improved my overall average fuel economy by a full 2mpg. But it was not enough. For all my defensive driving, slippery bodywork and hybrid technology, my average fuel consumption was 48.1mpg. I’d lost to a Beemer and I was disappointed; I had never driven so slowly or carefully for so long in my life. I’m considering buying a V8 Range Rover and opening my own oil well in protest.

The official combined fuel consumption of the BMW 520d is only 55.4 mpg, but it used less than the Prius for the same journey.

American readers please note: Mileage is measured using the imperial gallon, which is about 20% larger than the US gallon.

h/t: Greenie Watch

Previous related posts:

• One of Jeremy Clarkson’s least favourite cars in the world
• Hybrid cars use more energy than conventional cars