Posts with the tag bigotry

Aboriginal Jews, Native Jews, their natural rights in their historic homeland VS Arab immigrants ("Palestinians")

Natalia from Acampo, CA — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 21:36:43 EDT

Aboriginal Jews, Native Jews, their natural rights in their historic homeland VS Arab immigrants ("Palestinians")

Their fight against the bigotry by Arabism & Islamism who won't "accept'" them

Contents

Definition

Israel - Rightful Historic Homeland of Aboriginal Jews

Canadian MP and former justice minister Irwin Cotler: For Israel, rooted in the Jewish people, as an Abrahamic people, is a prototypical First Nation or aboriginal people, just as the Jewish religion is a prototypical aboriginal religion, the first of the Abrahamic religions.

In a WORD, the Jewish people is the only people that still inhabits the same land, embraces the same religion, studies the same Torah, hearkens to the same prophets, speaks the same aboriginal language - Hebrew - and bears the same aboriginal name, Israel, as it did 3,500 years ago.

Israel, then, is the aboriginal homeland of the Jewish people across space and time. It is not just a homeland for the Jewish people, a place of refuge, asylum and protection. It is the homeland of the Jewish people, wherever and whenever it may be; and its birth certificate originates in its inception as a First Nation, and not simply, however important, in its United Nations international birth certificate.

The State of Israel, then, as a political and juridical entity, overlaps with the "aboriginal Jewish homeland"; it is, in international legal terms, a successor state to the biblical, or aboriginal, Jewish kingdoms. [1]

Historical Roots

Jews

Aboriginal Rights to Israel, Aboriginal Native Jews to Israel "Palestine"

There is an enormous body of archaeological and historical evidence demonstrating that the Jewish People -- like the Greek People or the Han Chinese People -- is among the oldest of the world's Peoples. Thus, it is well known that the Jewish People has more than 3,500 years of continuous history, with a subjective-objective national identity that, in each century, has kept a link to the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. For example, the Jewish Bible, the Christian Gospels and the Koran all specifically testify to the connection between the Jewish People and its historic homeland. Like other Peoples, the Jewish People has a right to self-determination. Though the self-determination of the Arab People is expressed via twenty-one Arab countries, Israel is the sole expression of the self-determination of the Jewish People, which of all extant Peoples, has the strongest claim to be considered aboriginal to the territory west of the Jordan River.

Thus, the Jewish People is aboriginal to Israel in the same way that, in Canada, certain First Nations are deemed aboriginal to their ancestral lands. And, it is noteworthy that the Supreme Court of Canada has decided that, where aboriginals maintain their historical connection with the land, aboriginal title can survive both sovereignty changes and influx of new populations resulting from foreign conquest.Yet, (bigotry by) Arabs, Muslims have denied that the Jews are a People within the context of the modern political and legal doctrine of the self-determination of Peoples. Keeping in mind that the Middle East has always had a significant Jewish population, including some Jews who, in each century, continued to live west of the Jordan River. Today, many of the sons and daughters of these Middle Eastern Jews are citizens of Israel, where they have been joined by Jews from many other countries. When In October 1917, the British Cabinet adopted, as a declared war aim, the creation of an entirely new country called "Palestine" to serve as "a national home for the Jewish People," it was done to help realize the Jewish People�s self-determination on its ancestral lands... so was the announcment to the world of Jewish-National-Home Palestine in the November 1917 Balfour Declaration. As the international decision to establish "a national home for the Jewish People" was the sole rationale for the 1922 creation of Jewish-National-Home Palestine which, under the aegis of the League of Nations. While deep into the 20th century, Arab leaders themselves failed to recognize the right to self-determination of a distinct Palestinian Arab People. For example, as principal Arab leader at the 1919-1920 Paris Peace Conference, Prince Feisal specifically accepted the plan to create Palestine as �a national home for the Jewish People� and his father, the Hashemite King of the Hedjaz (later part of Saudi Arabia) was party to the 1920 Sevres Treaty that explicitly stipulated that the newly-created Palestine would be "a national home for the Jewish People." [2]

One has described a "remarkable synergy" between the Australian aboriginals and the Jews: "The Jewish community is an ancient and oppressed people, as the Aborigines are; we were the indigenous people of the land of Israel who were kicked out of our land 2000 years ago." [3]

Jews - Ancient Indigenous Natives in the area

There's extensive research on The Dhimmi: (Indigenous) Jews & Christians Under Islam [4], 850,000 Jews had to flee Arab Muslim lands where they had lived for centuries - often longer than the Arabs who now claim to be its indigenous national people. [5]

JIMENA stands for: 'Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa', it is a human rights organization seeking to educate and advocate for the plight of Jewish refugees from the Middle East. Prior to 1948, approximately 850,000 Jews lived in Muslim countries of the Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf. Today, 99 percent of these ancient Jewish communities no longer exist due to Arab and Islamic government actions that directly led to their displacement. [6]

Jews are a multi-racial, multi-ethnic people. For about 50 years, the majority of the Jewish population of Israel has been Mizrahim - Jews indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa. Moreover, this community of Jews has lived in the Middle East and North Africa since time immemorial. Until the mid-twentieth century, in the 4,000-year history of the Jewish people, Mizrahim never left the region. (When Arab Muslims conquered the Middle East and North Africa, Jews were one of the few indigenous peoples that resisted conversion to Islam), [7]

Arabs

Arab immigrants and their lies about being "natives"

The Arabs in the Holy Land - Aliens, not Natives! [8], The True Identity of the So-called Palestinians. The current myth is that these Arabs were long established in "Palestine", until the Jews came and "displaced" them. The fact is, that recent Arab immigration into the Land of Israel displaced the Jews. That the massive increase in Arab population was very recent is attested by the ruling of the United Nations: That any Arab who had lived in the Holy Land for two years and then left in 1948 qualifies as a "Palestinian refugee". Palestinians are the newest of all the peoples on the face of the Earth, and began to exist in a single day by a kind of supernatural phenomenon that is unique in the whole history of mankind, as it is witnessed by Walid Shoebat, a former PLO terrorist that acknowledged the lie he was fighting for and the truth he was fighting against: "Why is it that on June 4th 1967 I was a Jordanian and overnight I became a Palestinian?" "We did not particularly mind Jordanian rule. The teaching of the destruction of Israel was a definite part of the curriculum, but we considered ourselves Jordanian until the Jews returned to Jerusalem. Then all of the sudden we were Palestinians - they removed the star from the Jordanian flag and all at once we had a Palestinian flag". "When I finally realized the lies and myths I was taught, it is my duty as a righteous person to speak out". [9], in fact, the myth of the Palestinian People serves as the justification for Arab occupation of the Land of Israel. [10]

An explanatory film came out to 'dispel Arab propaganda', on the tactics disguising the Arab immigrants as "indigenous native Palestinian" [11]

Even Fatah's Mahmoud Abbas Admits Palestinian Arabs Are Not Indigenous. From a speech given to the PLO [12]

A writer in: 'The Myth Of The Palestinian People,' Only one question never seems to be addressed: Who are the Palestinians? Who are these people who claim the Holy Land as their own? What is their history? Where did they come from? How did they arrive in the country they call Palestine? Not only pre-state Arabs lied about being indigenous. Even today, many prominent so-called Palestinians, it turns out, are foreign born. Edward Said, an Ivy League Professor of Literature and a major Palestinian propagandist, long claimed to have been raised in Jerusalem. However, in an article in the September 1999 issue of Commentary Magazine Justus Reid Weiner revealed that Said actually grew up in Cairo, Egypt, a fact which Said himself was later forced to admit. But why bother with Said? PLO chief Yasir Arafat himself, self declared 'leader of the Palestinian people', has always claimed to have been born and raised in 'Palestine'. In fact, according to his official biographer Richard Hart, as well as the BBC, Arafat was born in Cairo on August 24, 1929 and that's where he grew up. [13]

A writer in "The Real Palestinian Refugees": Jews have lived in Israel/Palestine for 4000 years and those Jewish families who have constantly lived in the country since Biblical times, the mustarabim, are the indigenous Palestinians. (There has never been a 2000 year absence).

The first Arabs came to the country in the 7th century in the wake of their conquering armies after the death of Mohammed. They've been immigrating, and emigrating, ever since, bringing with them their civil wars (in which Jews were severely persecuted by both sides) and their screwed-up environmental concepts that turned forest into desert. Other groups of peoples also immigrated to Israel/Palestine during this time, especially the Druze. (Today, if you call a Druze an Arab, you've just insulted him. This was told to me by a Druze.) Perhaps the earliest Zionist pioneers did have to fight Arab marauders and make the desert bloom, but they did not come to an empty land. Maybe it was sparsely populated, but it was not empty of Jews.

In 1920/1. The first Palestinian refugees were Jews. In the aftermath of WWI, after the Arab riots.

In 1922, in a continuing policy of appeasing the Arabs, 75% of Palestine was taken away from the Jews and the Emirate of Transjordan was created, later to become Jordan. First the British, then the Arabs, banned the entry of Jews from the area - a policy that continued until very recently. [14]

Desolated "Palestine" in the late 1800

The Land of Israel, according to dozens of visitors to the land, was, until the beginning of the last century, practically empty. Alphonse de Lamartine visited the land in 1835. [15]

On a visit to the Ottoman-controlled Holy Land in 1860, Mark Twain described it as "the prince of desolation." "The hills are barren� the valleys unsightly deserts� peopled by swarms of beggars struck with ghastly sores and malformations� Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes� only the music of angels could charm its shrubs and flowers again into life."

Other writers and artists visiting the Holy Land (chiefly from Britain and Germany) � as well as geographers, archeologists, and cartographers � were equally stunned by its utter desolation.

It was only toward the end of the 18th century, when a growing stream of Jewish immigrants rehabilitated the land � draining swamps, reclaiming deserts, and controlling the diseases (chiefly malaria) � that a decimated Arab population began increasing. The resuscitation of the land by the Jews and the economic opportunity they created brought an influx of Arab immigrants from dirt-poor neighboring Arab states to swell the number of Arabs in Palestine, so that by the turn of the century there were about 250,000 Arab Muslims and 150,00 Jews living there. 100,000 Christians and others was common colonial practice: divide and rule. In India, it enabled the British to subdue the subcontinent with few troops by pitting hostile segments of the indigenous population against each other. They employed this strategy in Palestine too. British officials, many of them avowed anti-Semites, fanned Arab resentment over broken British promises to make the Arabian chieftain, Faisal, king of Damascus and Syria, and redirected it against Jewish aspirations in Palestine. Their naming the mandate over the Holy Land "Palestine," rather than the land of Israel, was a deliberate effort to obliterate the Jewish connection to the land by calling it by its Roman name. [16]

In the early 19th century, Palestine was a backward, neglected province of the Ottoman Empire. Travelers to Palestine from the Western world left records of what they saw there. The theme throughout their reports is dismal: The land was empty, neglected, abandoned, desolate, fallen into ruins.

In Jerusalem, all reports and journals of travelers, pilgrims and government representatives during these years, repeatedly record the poverty, filth and neglect and the desolate nature of the countryside. Early photographs show lepers in rags and dilapidated buildings. Jerusalem was surrounded by marauding bands of Bedouin Arabs and had to close her gates at nightfall and reopen them at first light, a practice that was similar in Biblical times.

Some quotes from the writings of these visitors before modern times:

Nothing there [Jerusalem] to be seen but a little of the old walls which is yet remaining and all the rest is grass, moss and weeds. [English pilgrim in 1590]

The country is in a considerable degree empty of inhabitants and therefore its greatest need is of a body of population. [British consul in 1857]

There is not a solitary village throughout its whole extent [valley of Jezreel] -- not for 30 miles in either direction... One may ride ten miles hereabouts and not see ten human beings. ... For the sort of solitude to make one dreary, come to Galilee ... Nazareth is forlorn ... Jericho lies a moldering ruin ... Bethlehem and Bethany, in their poverty and humiliation... untenanted by any living creature... A desolate country whose soil is rich enough, but is given over wholly to weeds ... a silent, mournful expanse ... a desolation ... We never saw a human being on the whole route ... Hardly a tree or shrub anywhere. Even the olive tree and the cactus, those fast friends of a worthless soil had almost deserted the country ... Of all the lands there are for dismal scenery Palestine must be the prince. The hills barren and dull, the valleys unsightly deserts [inhabited by] swarms of beggars with ghastly sores and malformations. Palestine sits in sackcloth and ashes ... desolate and unlovely ... [Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, 1867] [17]

National Liberation

Israel - result of a national Liberation of the aboriginal Jews

Israel can be seen as the result of the national liberation movement of the region's aboriginal Jews. Liberation of the aboriginal Jews (and anyone else lucky enough to find refuge within Israel's borders) from the twin fascisms of pan-Arabism and Islamism which have oppressed and even eliminated so many of the region�s aboriginal ethnic groups. Israel's aboriginal Jews were not unique in accepting outside help (and even immigration) in their liberation struggle, so were Lebanon's Maronites; Egypt's Copts, Iraq and Turkey's Kurds, and Iran's Zoroastrians. [18], as a commentator said: It is immoral to ethnically cleanse Judea of its aboriginal Jews. as It is immoral to ethnically cleanse Australia of its Australian aborigines, It is immoral to ethnically cleanse Judea of its Jewish aborigines (Jews = originally from Judea). [19]

One major difference between the Jews' return to the Land of Israel and the restitution of the title that indigenous groups have to their traditional lands in Australia and Canada is that the latter occurred within the political framework of states that have established legislative and judicial institutions and law enforcement agencies. These institutions draft the principles that define the relationships among all of their subjects, and they settle any disputes which might arise. In contrast, the Jews' return to Palestine occurred in an international context in which such legislative, judicial, and law enforcement institutions were in their embryonic stages. [20]

ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN’S PERSECUTION OPPRESSION OF MINORITIES - ISLAMIC APARTHEID

Unknown user — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:37:34 EDT

ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN’S PERSECUTION OPPRESSION OF MINORITIES - ISLAMIC APARTHEID

In General, Christians, Baha’i, Kurds, Jews, Azeris, Baluchis, Ahwazi Arabs

Again, religious persecution in Iran
February 20, 2009
Ethel C. Fenig
As Thomas Lifson noted yesterday Iranian authorities destroyed a Sufi holy site, continuing their practice of pressuring and discriminating against religions that do not strictly follow the Shi’ite form of Islam. But the Sufis are not the only religious minority suffering discrimination in Iran.

The 2500 year old Jewish community, which numbered over 80,000 thirty years ago at the time of the Khoemeni Revolution which overthrew the Shah, has dwindled to about 20,000. Those remaining Jews live restricted personal and religious lives, always under suspicion of being traitors for pro “Zionist” activities.
Despite the official distinction between “Jews,” “Zionists,” and “Israel,” the most common accusation the Jews encounter is that of maintaining contacts with Zionists. The Jewish community does enjoy a measure of religious freedom but is faced with constant suspicion of cooperating with the Zionist state and with “imperialistic America” — both such activities are punishable by death. Jews who apply for a passport to travel abroad must do so in a special bureau and are immediately put under surveillance. The government does not generally allow all members of a family to travel abroad at the same time to prevent Jewish emigration. Again, the Jews live under the status of dhimmi, with the restrictions im posed on religious minorities. Jewish leaders fear government reprisals if they draw attention to official mistreatment of their community.

Iran’s official government-controlled media often issues anti-Semitic propaganda. A prime example is the government’s publishing of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious Czarist forgery, in 1994 and 1999.2 Jews also suffer varying degrees of officially sanctioned discrimination, particularly in the areas of employment, education, and public accommodations.The Islamization of the country has brought about strict control over Jewish educational institutions. Before the revolution, there were some 20 Jewish schools functioning throughout the country. In recent years, most of these have been closed down. In the remaining schools, Jewish principals have been replaced by Muslims. In Teheran there are still three schools in which Jewish pupils constitute a majority. The curriculum is Islamic, and Persian is forbidden as the language of instruction for Jewish studies. Special Hebrew lessons are conducted on Fridays by the Orthodox Otzar ha-Torah organization, which is responsible for Jewish religious education. Saturday is no longer officially recognized as the Jewish sabbath, and Jewish pupils are compelled to attend school on that day. There are three synagogues in Teheran, but since 1994, there has been no rabbi in Iran, and the bet din does not function.At least 13 Jews have been executed in Iran since the Islamic revolution 30 years ago, most of them for either religious reasons or their connection to Israel. For example, in May 1998, Jewish businessman Ruhollah Kakhodah-Zadeh was hanged in prison without a public charge or legal proceeding, apparently for assisting Jews to emigrate.Other religious groups are persecuted too. This week Iran admitted that seven Bahai leaders arrested and detained more than eight months ago would be charged with spying for Israel. The Bahai faith, which began in the 19th century in what is now Iran, claims their founder, Baha’a'llah, is the last Moslem prophet, not Mohammed. Bahai’s international headquarters are located in Haifa, Israel where Bahais, along with Moslems and Christians of various backgrounds, plus other religions in addition to Jews can practice freely.This is not true in Iran.Bahais claim 300,000 followers in Iran, but there are no independent statistics on the denomination’s size in the country. The Islamic republic allows Christians, Jews and Zoroastrians, who are regarded as members of monotheistic religions, to hold religious gatherings. Bahais are forbidden to hold such meetings, and those who make their faith public are banned from studying at universities serving in the army and working in government offices. The Iranian prosecutors claim“All evidence points to the fact that the Bahai organization is in direct contact with the foreign enemies of Iran,” Dorri-Najafabadi wrote in the letter, (snip) “The ghastly Bahai organization is illegal on all levels, their dependence on Israel has been documented, their antagonism with Islam and the Islamic System is obvious, their danger for national security is proven and any replacement organization must also be dealt with according to the law,”This charge is part of the latest prosecution against Iranian Bahais. The Bahai International Community, which represents members of the faith worldwide, says hundreds of followers have been jailed and some executed in the years since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.
http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2009/02/again_religious_persecution_in.html

Religious minorities in Iran: Information from Answers.com http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521770734

Iran Minority News
http://iranminoritynews.org/

Middle East Minorities Unite! by Joseph … Iran ’s Islamic republic has created serious problems for the large communities of non-Persian minorities, including the Azeri’s and the Baluchis and is … http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=24209

Q&A: Iran’s Waning Human Rights - New York Times, Iran is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which affords legal rights to minorities and minors. Persecution of religious minorities …http://www.nytimes.com/cfr/world/slot1_081006.html?_r=3&oref=slogin&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Islamists threaten terror attacks in Germany (For betraying 'Granddad Hitler' / Islamo-nazism)

Natalia from Acampo, CA — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:40:35 EDT

Islamists threaten terror attacks in Germany (For betraying 'Granddad Hitler' / Islamo-nazism)
adnkronos ^ | 04,22,09

Terrorism: Islamists threaten terror attacks in Germany

Berlin, 22 April (AKI) - The Al-Qaeda linked Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan on Wednesday released a video threatening the "criminal" German government and citizens of the Jewish faith, according to German media.

In the video, the third released this year, shows a man identified as "Commander Mohammad", who criticises the presence of German troops in Afghanistan.

The man accuses "the sons of Germany of being in the service of the Jews" unlike "Granddad Hitler".

Investigators believe the video's release may be linked to a major Islamist terrorism trial which opened on Wednesday at a high-security court in the northwestern German city of Duesseldorf .

In the trial, three Germans and one Turkish national are accused of planning a series of simultaneous bomb attacks against discos and pubs and the United States airbase in Ramstein and against Germany's Federal Prosecutor's Office.

Two of the German suspects are converts to Islam while the third is a German citizen of Turkish descent. They face charges of belonging to a terrorist organisation, plotting murder, and conspiracy to conduct a bomb attack.

The trial is expected to last one to two years. If the defendants are found guilty, they could face prison terms of up to 15 years.

Prosecutors claimed the men were planning to use about 10 times as much explosives as were used in the deadly July 2005 attacks on London transport that killed 56 people and injured thousands.

The plot was at an advanced stage and the attacks could have killed over 50 people, according to police.

Around 300 German federal agents were involved in monitoring the cell for several months, before police swooped in on the group in what was one of Germany's biggest anti-terror operations to date.

Three of the defendants were arrested in the Germany's western Sauerland region and the fourth was arrested in Turkey and extradited to Germany in November last year.

Prosecutors say the four men belong to a little-known group called the Islamic Jihad Union with roots in Uzbekistan and ties to Al-Qaeda.

http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=3.0.3239023359

The race card by Arab Muslim bigots at the UN (Durban II)

Natalia from Acampo, CA — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 02:26:34 EDT

The race card by Arab Muslim bigots at the UN (Durban II)

Even though it’s really Islamism that is the epitome of bigotry and it’s Arabism that Equals Racism against all non-Arabs, including: Kurds, Berbers, Jews (not only inside Israel), Persians, Africans (not only the millions of victims in Sudan), etc. and as an Arab admitted the true Nature of the Twin Fascisms of Islamism and Pan-Arabism’ that dominates the Arab Muslim world , yet the UN, in its Durban proclaiming to be an anti-racism forum, bows to the Arab Muslim lobby control to ignore the above but concentrate rather on anti-Arabism and Islamophobia, both terms which have been used as tools by Islamists to gage any criticism of intolerance in the Arab-Muslim world (and radicals have been politicizing genuine feelings, to call true fear of terror as “racism” ).

______________

Kicking Israel Around [Anne Bayefsky] April 07, 2009 What’s behind all this? The OIC countries are locked in a struggle with EU states over the ability to stifle free speech (such as “defaming” Islam) in the name of protecting religion. The Russian move helps the OIC nations by letting them use the anti-semitism clause as a bargaining chip, to be played in exchange for the EU’s allowing free-speech restrictions. In a related issue, the Danish are unhappy with the mention of something the U.N. invented called “anti-Arabism.” That phrase has been inserted in the paragraph about discrimination in the form of Islamophobia, Christianophobia and anti-semitism. But the rest of the EU has told the Danes to get lost, on the grounds that if the EU proposes deleting anti-Arabism, the OIC will insist on deleting anti-semitism. As EU officials explain to observers, “We want to show restraint.”

http://corner.nationalreview.com/post/?q=Mzk3YjI3NDQxNDMzYzE1ZTQ4NzY4ZjU4Y2VkNTE4ZTI=

Human Rights of Non-believers, Apostates and Free-thinkers “The terms belief and religion are to be broadly construed”. General Comment 22 on Article 18, United Nations Human Rights Committee, 1993. We find paragraph 10 of the draft outcome document to be deeply flawed in that it singles out only Christians, Jews and Muslims as named victims of “phobias”. Furthermore, while the term “Islamophobia”, for example, is undefined, it is used to falsely equate disdain for or opposition to Islam with intolerance of, or violence and hatred towards the believer. Secondly, no mention is made in paragraph 10 of discrimination, intolerance and violence towards non-believers, Polytheists, apostates, and free-thinkers. Yet the human rights of non-believers, free-thinkers and those of other faiths are systematically denied in many parts of the world, and many face discrimination, abuse and even death. We urge delegations to recognise that all are entitled to protection from discrimination, whatever their belief or lack of belief. We therefore respectfully suggest either that the list of specific types of discrimination be deleted from paragraph 10, or the list be expanded to include non-believers, polytheists, apostates and free-thinkers. We are equally concerned that anti-Arabism is included in the list, while no mention is made of the anti-Westernism endemic in many parts of the world. Again, we would respectfully suggest that either the reference to anti-Arabism be deleted or that the list should be extended to include anti-Westernism. Our preferred text, which we respectfully offer to delegations, then becomes: 10. Recognizes with deep concern the negative stereotyping of religions, beliefs and non-beliefs, and the global rise in the number of incidents of racial or religious intolerance and violence. With, as an alternative: 10. Recognizes with deep concern the negative stereotyping of religion, beliefs, and non-beliefs, and the global rise in the number of incidents of racial or religious intolerance and violence, including Judeophobia, Christianophobia, Islamophobia, anti-Arabism, anti-Westernism and intolerance and violence towards non-believers, polytheists, apostates and free-thinkers.

http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/025617.php

Islamic Agenda: “Defamation of Religion” The Islamic Group (Pakistan) stated, “Defamation is not about freedom of expression, but the abuse of this freedom.” Iran was very active throughout the week, taking the floor more than any other country on this issue. It consistently advocated “elaborating” legislation to fight racism, proposing further, “Model legislation on the necessity of upholding respect for…reputation, public morals as well as incitement to racial and religious hatred [code for defamation].” As the debate on defamation was getting underway, the chair asked two journalists to leave the room, explaining that members of two regional groups had requested that the cameras be removed from the room in that they have had adequate time for filming. The journalists were from the French-German cultural channel ARTE and were making a documentary about the human rights debate at the UN. Pakistan, South Africa, and Egypt expressed their concerns that these journalists would engage in “selective interpretation” of the discussion. Counter-terrorism, Islamophobia Pakistan wanted to include even more language to equate counter-terrorism with racism. Pakistan, Algeria, and Iran also wanted the words, “Islamophobia” and “anti-Arabism” to remain in the document.

http://www.unwatch.org/site/apps/nlnet/content2.aspx?c=bdKKISNqEmG&b=1316871&ct=6645721&printmode=1

Arabism - Racism virus spreading in... Venezuela under Dictator Chavez

Natalia from Acampo, CA — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 20:20:56 EST

Arabism - Racism virus spreading in... Venezuela

So... is Hugo Chavez "arab" enough now?

---

From a 2000-2001 Report of Antisemitism And Racism, Responses to the intifada in the media, in wall graffiti and by Arab organizations in Venezuela such as FEARAB (Arab Federation for Latin America) were directed at de-legitimizing the State of Israel, which was accused of causing the Palestinian tragedy.
The radical language used against Israel was not infrequently antisemitic, for example, the comparison of Israeli soldiers with Nazis *.

In January 2009, Venezuela expelled Israeli ambassador over Gaza, due to influence by Chavez's government's Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami, who is of Arab descent * and a sizable population of Arab descent, hundreds of people who marched against Israel * (at Israel's anti terror operation of cast lead * *, Descendants of Arabs thriving in S. America, Venezuela has a flourishing Arab community of about 1.5 million, business and commerce. Shop names like Flower of Palestine are a common *).

In Jan. 1, 2009, Antisemitic graffiti was painted on the corner of Cristobal Colon Sinai Jewish School in Caracas *.

There was worldwide condemnation pouring down on Venezuela After Synagogue Attack in Caracas, with written racist messages like: "Jews, get out," in the worst ever attack on the Venezualan Jewish community *, Death threats against rabbis and the menacing of the Jewish community has apparently led to vandalism of a synagogue in Caracas. Marauders entered the temple and profaned the Torah and Ark, strewing them on the floor and fired shots in the air *, it has been said that 'Palestinian' and Arab supporters in Venezuela were responsible * and Chavez's (described by many as a dictator * * ** * * * * *, who is a new "hero" in the Arab world *) close ties with the radical Islamic Republic of Iran's leader Ahmadinejad (that has called for genocide, to 'wipe out Israel' *** ) * *.

Hugo Chavez - extreme Arabism, he also forged alliances with dictators of rogue Arab states such as Libya' s Qaddafi, Iraq's Saddam Hussein, Exhorting his countrymen to return to their "Arab roots" *, he has illegally given more than 270 Venezuelan passports to Arab extremists *, Waleed al-Tabtabai A Kuwaiti Islamist MP called for moving Arab League headquarters from Cairo to Caracas after he expelled the Israel's ambassador, Tabtabai said that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez "has proved that he was more Arab than some Arabs"
*.

At least one case of "Moderate" Arab Muslims' bigotry - defeated [Arabism's racism]

Natalia from Acampo, CA — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 04:53:39 EST

At least one case of "Moderate" Arab Muslims' bigotry - defeated [Arabism's racism]

Bret Stephens on http://www.foxnews.com/journal/"hits & misses", The Fining of UAE over denial of visa to Israeli tennis player is a "defeat for bigotry"

WTA fines Dubai Open organisers after Israeli Shahar Peer denied visa - Feb 20, 2009 The Women's Tennis Association has fined the Dubai Open organisers $US300,000 ($A465,000) after the United Arab Emirates refused to grant a visa to Israeli ...

http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,25086276-23209,00.html

Under-fire UAE likely to give Israel's Andy Ram a visa
Israeli doubles specialist Andy Ram is likely to be granted a visa by the United Arab Emirates to play in the Dubai Championships next week, which could prevent a major crisis for tennis...
"To discriminate as the UAE did against one player in this way smacks of bigotry and racism," the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations said in a statement. "This must be declared unacceptable by the WTA and all international sporting associations. As we learned in the past, failure to condemn such actions and take corrective measures, proves destructive to international sporting competition."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/tennis/atptour/4692024/Under-fire-UAE-likely-to-give-Israels-Andy-Ram-a-visa.html

Sponsors pull out of Dubai Open after UAE deny visa to Israeli
RACISM ROW: The Wall Street Journal Europe and the Tennis Channel have revoked their sponsorship of the WTA Dubai Open because the UAE denied a visa to Israeli player Shahar Peer.

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,25072951-5005401,00.html

Tennis: Racism Rears Its Ugly Head Shahar Peer is an Israeli tennis player. The United Arab Emirates barred her from participating in the Barclays Dubai tournament

http://ballhype.com/story/tennis_racism_rears_its_ugly_head/

United Arab Emirates (UAE), which has no diplomatic links with Israel, denied her an entry visa into the country. "To discriminate as the UAE did against one player in this way smacks of bigotry and racism,"

http://www.javno.com/en-sports/jewish-leaders-call-on-wta-to-sanction-dubai-event_235390

Israel VS Genocide (updated Feb. 2009)

Natalia from Acampo, CA — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 11:39:38 EST

Israel VS Genocide

Israel VS Islamo Arab campaign of Genocide.

Attempted Genocide From the Start [1] Israel has always faced (radical) Arab genocide, To fully understand current conflicts in the Middle East, history must be recalled. [2] It exist a common phrase: 'If the Jews would just lay down their weapons there would be no more Israel' [3].

Table of Contents

1 1920s
2 1967
3 Current
4 Radical Islam (as a whole)
5 Mainstream [Palestinian & other] Arabs
- 5.1 Genocidal Agenda under 'Pro Palestinian' propaganda

1920s

The first Arab sponsored terrorist attacks upon Jews occurred in 1920 [4] a highlighted tragedy is The Hebron Massacre of 1929 where thousands of Arabs descended from Har Hebron, shouting "Kill the Jews!" in Arabic [5] [6].

This was not the first mass racist attack by Arabs against unarmed civilian Jews in British Mandate ‘Palestine,’ nor would it be the last attempted extermination. [7].

It was the Mufti who sought to annihilate the tiny State of Israel [8], The Palestinian Mufti's Deal with Hitler: 'Kill All the Jews in the Middle East' [9].

1967

Though Haim Weizmann declared he would accept a Jewish state even with the size of a tablecloth — still, even that was rejected by the Arabs who swore to "throw the Jews into the sea" and attacked in force to fulfill that oath. [10].

What the Fight in Israel Is All About... Spring of 1967 the Arab countries, led by Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt, prepared to attack Israel and, in their own words, “throw the Jews into the sea. [11] [12], the Arab leaders' slogan : We’ll Throw Them into the Sea" [13]

CurrentRadical Islam (as a whole)

New Radical Islamic Thinking Justifying The Genocide of Infidels [14], Specifically Radical Islam's Threat of Genocide against the Jews is more and more revealed [15][16] [17].

The Palestinians Encourage Genocide [18] and on Palestinian TV openly call: Kill All The Jews [19], Palestinian Muslim cleric urges all Arabs to kill Jews, Christians [20], (Even calling to Kill all Americans [21]), Islamic sermons broadcast on Palestinian Authority have also been openly genocidal [22] An ideology of genocidal radical Islamism - Jihad-Islamism.[23]

At the second Palestinian violent Intifada, they came up with a new (tool in) Genocide: Suicide Bombing, designed to massacre the most masses of civilians possible [24] [25].

An emphasis in radicals' work is indoctrinating Palestinian Children to Genocidal Hate, Imams are extremely influential in successfully emphasizing the goals of jihad and martyrdom [26] Especially the Islamic party: Hamas promotes Islamic supremacy over the world, "The Hamas Ideology of Hatred and Genocide: Islamic supremacy over the world, destroying Israel and Jews [27], vows to 'drink' Jewish blood, group would drink the blood of Jews [28], Hamas Mickey-Mouse-like character to incite for genocide [29], Genocide of Jews remains Hamas goal [30] and declare: "The Final Goal of the Resistance is to Wipe This Entity Off the Face of the Earth" "We are making the preparations for a confrontation. This is not because we need to be prepared for an Israeli act of aggression - after all, aggression is intrinsic to this entity - but because the final goal of the resistance is to wipe this entity off the face of the Earth. This goal necessitates the development of the capabilities of the resistance, until this entity is wiped out." [31]

Hamas, the Muslim-Brotherhood-linked terror group dedicated to the annihilation of Israel through jihad [32], The people who comprise Hamas are dedicated to the annihilation of Israel and the slaughter of every Jew who lives there [33] in its Charter 1988 it states: 'Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it' ... Hamas wants the ‘islamisation’ of all the Middle East (as a first phase) [34].

Al Qaeda

In Al-Qaeda's Intellectual Legacy - Islamic Thinking justifying the genocide of infidels, According to al- Ali, all citizens of Israel are to be considered combatants. [35].

Hezbollah

In her book 'Lebanon's Hezbollah' (2003, Page 49) Ann Byers writes: 'In the 1990s, Hezbollah was training members of the terrorist groups Al Qaeda... (it supported the PLO as) in its early days the PLO was dedicated to the annihilation of Israel'. [36].

The Hezbollah Founding Statement contains a section titled “The Necessity for the Destruction of Israel,” which reads as follows: “We see in Israel the vanguard of the United States in our Islamic world. It is the hated enemy that must be fought until the hated ones get what they deserve . . . Therefore our struggle will end only when this entity is obliterated. [37]

Hezbollah calling on Muslims to kill all Jewish Israelis with firearms, knives and poison [38]

The widening arena of Hezbollah's attacks stemmed from Nasrallah's perception that Jews anywhere are legitimate targets. In fact, Hasan Nasarallah has said: If they (Jews) all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide. (Daily Star, Oct. 23, 2002) [39].

More from Hassan Nasrallah, Leader of Hezbollah on Al Manar: "Let the entire world hear me. Our hostility to the Great Satan, America, is absolute. Regardless of how the world has changed after September 11, death to America will remain our reverberating and powerful slogan: Death to America." (House Record: 'war is ugly but tyranny is uglier'). [40], "Martyrdom operations -- suicide bombings -- should be exported outside Palestine. I encourage Palestinians to take suicide bombings worldwide. Don't be shy about it." [41]

Hezbollah’s renewal of Jihad Genocide on Global “Jewish Targets” (June, 2008) [42].

The Muslim Brotherhood

The 'Muslim Brotherhood's Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi: 'There is No Dialogue between Us and the Jews Except by the Sword and the Rifle' [43]

Ahmadinejad

Islamic Republic of Iran's President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's call for Israel to be "wiped off the map" has triggered a sharp international response and widespread condemnation [44] [45] (It was not mistranslated [46]). has been described as wanting to carry out another genocide aimed at destroying the State of Israel [47], He 'faced genocide case', in 14 Dec 2006 was expected to be the target of a lawsuit which accuses him of inciting genocide against Israel. [48] [49].

In 2007, Ahmadinejad has threatened (again) the State of Israel with annihilation, Iran: 'Israel, US will soon die' [50]

Mainstream [Palestinian & other] Arabs

Even many of 'moderate Arabs' have been accused of this [51], in a poll of February 16, 2007 '75% of Palestinians do not think that Israel has the right to exist' [52].

Jerusalem Post's C. Glick: No Tolerance for Genocide , Genocide: The Spirit of Palestine... in Palestinian society today. It is not just Hamas or Tanzim or Islamic Jihad that we must fight, but Palestinian society itself must be transformed for there to be peaceful coexistence. Poll after poll shows that a solid majority of Palestinians from all socio-economic levels supports suicide bombers and other forms of terrorism against Israel. In fact the polls show that the higher the socio-economic level of the respondents, the stronger their support for terrorism. Virulent, Nazi-style Jew hatred and dehumanization has become for the Palestinians, as for the Germans before them, the central unifying theme of society. The best-seller lists in the PA for years have included such works as Mein Kampf and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. [53] [54] [55] [56].

Genocidal Agenda under 'Pro Palestinian' propaganda

On the so called 'Palestinian documentaries'. T. Menaker: 'College Film Festival: Kill the Jews', It is understandable that the mere existence of Israel in such close proximity is unbearable. What is strikingly serious in all these films is that if one were to count the most often used words, these words would be "humiliation" and "Kill the Jews!" Even in the most peaceful and idealistic documentary... a young boy asked what he wants to do when he grows up is prompted by his father: "Kill the Jews!" When asked to draw a picture of his future he draws himself killing Israelis. [57]

The International Solidarity Movement - a 'Palestinian' propaganda machine, organized many activities, including on US campus, both, the ISM and PSM support in thinly veiled language suicide bombings... in their gatherings the audience chanted "Kill the Jews" - "Ittbach al yahood" in Arabic [58].

The International Solidarity Movement (ISM), its American, student affiliate the Palestinian Solidarity Movement, and other radical left-wing groups label every inch of Israeli territory as “occupied Palestine,” advocate destroying the Jewish State by “any means necessary,” and openly condone terrorism and Muslim suicide bombers as a means for accomplishing this goal. These groups are working to eliminate a population of six million Jews. [59].

At Israel's operation against Hamas terrorists in 'cast lead' [60] December 2008-January 2009, anti Israel Arab Muslim protesters called for Jews to 'Go Back to the Oven', to 'kill all the Jews', or: “Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas” [61], Other demonstrators held signs that said "Nuke Israel," and a number made comparisons to the Holocaust [62] [63] [64] [65] [66] [67].

Phyllis Chesler: Today, we have grown used to seeing Palestinian and Hamas supporters goose-step, Nazi-style, shoot out their arms as they deliver the Hitlerian "Sieg Heil" salute. They also chant and scream: "Jews to the ovens," "Hitler did not kill enough of you," "Jews to the gas chambers." [68].

And the opiate of the people is...

March4health4All — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 22:28:03 EST

There is a big difference between rival opinions and bigotry. Sharing a stage with those with opposing views is tolerance, sharing it with bigots is complicity.

I am not gay, but according to Rick Warren, as a secular Jew, I am going to hell anyway. According to Warren so would Obama’s own mother. The tone is gentel, the words are pure hate mongering.One quarter of Evangelicals voted for Obama, Jews, atheist, agnostics, gays and other liberal heretic voted for him in the 90% range. We are all insulted. We already had a president for the Christian Nation, Obama was supposed to be the president of the whole nation; Warren’s voice is insulting, embarrassing, his gentle manner belies the white cloak of his beliefs.

On an even more basic and fundamental point, lets start with the irony of swearing on a bible to protect and defend the Constitution, separation of State and church excepted. Religion, not spirituality, but fundamentalist organize religion playing a staring roll in the inauguration is an abominable distortion of the fundamental principles of the constitution and democracy itself.

Rick Warren

Tim Schram — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:31:58 EST

Rick Warren giving the invocation is as appropriate as Louis Farrakhan or David Duke. All three are bigots and hate mongors. I understand that some people need to feel that there is some reason for their existence, happiness, and suffering other than that they are. But, do we need to elevate a closed, narrow minded manipulator to such national attention? Couldn't we find someone that stands for acceptance of humans because they are human? Someone that tries to lift the spirits of all? Warren tries to lift the spirits of his followers by attacking others. He openly fights to oppress members of groups that he doesn't personally agree with. He is another example of an individual that holds to his beliefs and F@!TH inspite of reality and facts. Didn't we have enough of that kind of stupidity with 8 years of Bush/Cheney?

I for one would like to see this invitation withdrawn and a clear message sent that we will not promote this type of devisive bigotry. The actual delivery of the invocation means nothing to me personally. I don't know if there is a god or not and I don't care. But, since it is important to many I have no problem with the inclusion of this ritual. My only wish is that it would be done by a true spiritual and moral leader that doesn't preach, but promotes open dialog about common morals and ethics. We don't need to hear from someone that PREACHES intolerance and bigotry. Just my opinion.

Don’t Give Up Because of One Decision!

Mickiboop (P.O.B.) Be the Change — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 23:29:30 EST

To all Americans who are against Rick Warren giving the invocation at P.E. Obama’s inauguration:

You are American whether you are gay or straight, and that makes you an important part of our country. Don't move away, don’t loose hope, and don’t believe for one second that you are being defeated. Stay in the fight - this presidential victory was hard fought and long overdue for all of us. We must continue this fight to take back our country together. It is important that ALL Americans stay in the fight because as P.E. Obama told us more than once, THIS WAS NEVER ABOUT HIM, IT’S ABOUT US – We The People of the United States!
Some of my family members were slaves and most of us have had to fight for everything for our entire lives. Don't you give up hope because of ONE seemingly stupid and unexplained decision. P.E. Obama told us that he is not a perfect man and would not be a perfect president. But he is the best person for the job to come along in my life time, and I bet he has a plan!

You cannot fight against ignorance or bigotry from afar. You have to look it in the eyes and go round for round with it – up close and personal until you choke the life from it. You have to be here, in America, and in the moment to stand up against all who will continue to breed ignorance, hatred and bigotry of any kind where ever you find it. Now is not the time to live in fear, we are through with that madness; Now is the time for boldness, courage, strength and a damn fine fighting spirit full of the determination to battle and win! Fired Up - Ready to Go!!!

DOesn't anyone think a church spending 40 million to Ban rights is WRONG

Ed from Fort Lauderdale, FL — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 15:47:40 EST

Why isn't anyone questioning the spending of 40 million dollars by the MORMON church to ban gay marriage. The IRS has established laws against this and here they are: http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rr-07-41.pdf Second: Why is a church spending 40 million dollars to ban gay marriage when the money could have been used to feed the poor, help the homeless, pay mortgages for members losing there homes, pay or help in someones medical bills and the countless other ways to help people. Why is not a member of this congregation even questioning the use of 40 million dollars in this manner. As a Catholic, if my church spent 40 million dollars to ban gay marriage they would never see a dime from me FOREVER yet these people who give their church money are happy with the way it is being spent. IS this what following the bible is all about and YOU PEOPLE THINK it is ok for a church to be using its donations for this purpose? This is proof that these people are stupid ignorant brainwashed people who cannot think for themselves and this church's motives are political and NOT charitable and thus should lose their non-profit status immediately. LETS hit where it hurts in the pocketbook since the morons who belong to this church seem to be incapable of thinking rationally for themselves. WHERE ARE THE LAWYERS AND PROSECUTORS on this..THEY BROKE THE LAW

America - Together (post election)

Alex Karoub — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:44:40 EST

..... Contact: http://Alex.Karoub@gmail.com

WHO IS THAT GUY BARACK OBAMA? HE IS US.

We have made historic headway by together pointing our nation in the right directions. After decades, we have America focused on the issues of fundamental importance. Now, each of us acting in concert can together move our country to lead the world to the fruitfulness of moral goodness. I have no doubts about my abilities and the abilities of fellow Americans to work smart and hard to achieve these goals.

Barack Obama has the visions, leadership, and integrity for us to correct and redirect our country to once again lead the world for the fruitions of good. Let's closely listen, learn, and move forward based on that which we know deep inside is good and which we can validate with our hearts.

I hope that those who had but a few reasons to support Obama, look further into the other issues more deeply. I found the more I explored, studied, and listened to Obama the more I found us in agreement. The couple of issues that I did not have depth of knowledge of, quickly became obvious in need. This was unusual for me since I have always refused to be any kind of a follower, and still am not. I find Obama to be a deep thinker who is articulate and inspirational; and, of most fundamental importance, Obama makes excellent moral sense.

Hopefully, our country has learned lessons from the past of mistakenly following leadership blindly, as was done with Nixon and Bush. There are leaders who are simply in it for themselves and will cater to individuals or groups in order to grab for their own benefit. Corrupt and bad leaders hide at all levels. This is especially true in city government as well as county and state government. The corrupt deals of politicians need to be exposed, and those responsible need to be weeded out in the coming local elections. Others need to be investigated by law enforcement and be prosecuted for illegal dealings; for deals they often make for their hidden personal agendas. Let’s look at the bad experiences of the past as bitter medicines, let’s eliminate the need for such bad medicine in the future. Let us use what we know is good to go forward.

I believe we have chosen wisely, not by greed and not by misguided retaliatory anger. I believe this time our country has chosen with open eyes, with each of us listening and examining our choice of leadership closely, driven and validated by our hearts.

I hope we can continue to make our efforts even more inclusive (in many more ways than I touch on here). Far right republicans will be stubborn to change, but we will need to include them to change if we are to succeed. Sure a few more will leave our country, but that is not the American way. No, we really don't need their false fronts of power, money, insider knowledge, or other trappings that they have taught many to 'respect?'. Let's recruit as many as we can, that's the American way, evolving and changing together as one nation. Try to be understanding as we move forward; by better understanding each as individuals and people with various desires and needs we will find ways to reach out with friendship and have them join our causes of good.

Be on the lookout, and root out bad leadership in government and business. Do not be intimidated by those who use the false fronts of power and give a false sense of security in order to lead. Be extra leery of those who say or imply ‘Trust me’; those who give a sense that they somehow omnipotently know better. No longer will Americans be dazzled by phony displays of brilliance or baffled by baloney. There are government aristocrats and business leaders who still believe in the old adage of: “If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, then baffle em with bullshit”. We can embrace complexity by demanding true, fundamental, and understandable explanations. We can root out falsehoods by not accepting double speak. We as Americans know how to grow ourselves by first believing in ourselves. Don’t be a follower. Don’t be a follower of followers.

However, when we find leaders who are good; a leader that thinks, speaks, and acts from their heart; one that is honest, has integrity, and leads by sincere examples; then we need to in a big way, join them, support them, and promote their causes of good. From much research, investigation, and scrutiny, I believe Barack Obama is such a person. I hope we search for and find many more who are similar, who we can add to service at all levels of government. We need to add/replace leaders in business with ones that have honesty, integrity, and show quality in leadership. We need more people in leadership roles who are moral, like Barack Obama.

Remember, we are not fighting a battle, we are the artisans and sculptors of the future for ourselves and generations to come. Rarely do societies have opportunities to make such dramatic moves forward as we now have in this opportunity of today. Take pride and practice in being inclusive as we stride forward. In moving forward, create opportunity not only for yourself, but also for all. Hope is a wonderful thing to behold; but without opportunity, hope can become but a dream never achievable. We can, will, and must, create opportunity.

In the coming year I hope that we do not lose our spiritedness, but instead continue to build and make headway. I hope we all continue our campaign for change in government and business. We will succeed in moving forward once again, it will take much effort and good oversight on the part of each of us. We will make great strides in the months and years ahead in order to achieve the fruitions of good. Let's keep our enthusiasm progressing through these coming toughest of times. Let us use the light of goodness and love to motivate us with historic momentum.

I have chosen Barack Obama because he best represents my deepest beliefs in America. Please take time to read the issues that Barack Obama has published on this website. Also, give your attention to see how he leads us to move our nation forward in the time ahead. Most importantly, be part of America's great future, participate in the greatness that together we will make. Participate!

We will each and all flourish, if we think, speak, and act, by using the love in our hearts.

Your reply is welcome. Contact: Alex.Karoub@gmail.com

Resolving Your Obama Race Dilemma - How You Got It and Where To Put It

David from Houston, TX — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:42:16 EDT

Resolving Your Obama Race Dilemma -- How You Got it and Where to Put It

David Scheinman

Are you reluctant to vote for Obama because he is black? Hesitant to pull that lever or punch the keyboard even though his ideas and character are compelling? Do you think, if only Hillary had won I wouldn’t have this dilemma? To make matters even worse, are you hesitant to share your latent – and somewhat embarrassing -- uncomfortable feelings with others? Did you grow up in the 1940’s, 50’s or 60’s? If so, your feelings are perfectly understandable, especially if you grew up in a home where equality wasn’t taught. Have you always thought you were an open minded person, yet here you are, surprisingly reluctant to vote for Obama?

Where Were the Black Professionals When You Were Growing Up?

How many black professionals did you encounter growing up? Doctors? Dentists? TV reporters? Police and firemen? Managers? Lawyers? How many black kids were your classmates? Neighbors? Did you meet black kids at summer camp? Did you know that President Woodrow Wilson segregated the federal work force in 1913? And that it and the armed forces were legally segregated until Harry Truman issued two executive orders on July 26, 1948? Did you know that Truman’s now famous low approval ratings in 1948 – before Korea and firing Macarthur -- were due partially to his civil rights activism? Truman was furious when he learned in 1946 that Isaac Woodard, a black serviceman in uniform, returning home from the war, was blinded by a beating inflicted by police in South Carolina. His bus driver complained that Woodard caused trouble by asking the driver to stop so he could relieve himself. Besides that, Truman was the first president to address the NAACP in 1947.

Did you have relatives who told you blacks were dumb, lazy, and good for nothing? That’s what an uncle told my good friend Dennis in Tennessee in the 1950’s. When Dennis came home and told his mom he met the niggers, his school teacher mom was furious. She set Dennis straight and banned the uncle from her home. Dennis clearly remembers being taken around a poor black community and receiving the racist indoctrination from his uncle. “Dennis, these are niggers, and this is how they live. “ If his mom hadn’t sternly told him his uncle was full of crap, Dennis could be experiencing a similar dilemma. Dennis wound up marrying a black woman. They have three adorable teenage girls and are still married.

My mom drummed equality into my soft head. In the 1950’s my mom told me about a black singer named Marian Anderson who was not allowed to perform in Washington’s Constitution Hall in 1939 by its owners, the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) , because she was black. It was one of the earliest incidents that brought racial discrimination to our attention. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt invited Anderson to perform in front of the Lincoln Memorial. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQnzb0Jj074 ?

She was introduced by Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYZoeMKkxkg&feature=related

Where We Were and Where We Are Today -- From Slavery to Obama

Due to many factors, the black people you encountered growing up were probably maids, factory hands, garbage men, and laborers. They lived in segregated run down communities on the wrong side of the tracks. They spoke funny slang, hung around together, ate weird foods like collard greens, weren’t seen at the restaurants your folks ate in – except as busboys and waiters – BUT they were easily identified by their color.

So how did all this happen, and why in 2008 is our society suddenly chock-a -block with black professionals? Go to any school now and you will see black teachers, administrators, and principals – not just janitors. Go shopping and you will meet black supervisors. Buy a car, insurance, or clothes and you will often see black personnel. Turn on your TV and there is a black anchor or expert being interviewed in his area of expertise, which is not race relations.

And most intriguingly, why did many African students studying here in the 1980’s and 90’s return to Africa and tell me they had more white friends than black ones on campus? Why were black Africans readily accepted into white social circles when black Americans were either excluded or segregated themselves into all black dorms?

To get to the bottom of this, and to get you off the hook, let’s return to how black people wound up living on the wrong side of the tracks and how in 2008, many more of them are your neighbors or workmates. What in world changed? Why do kids of all colors in my son’s high school eat lunch together in 2008?

Blacks were the only group that came here involuntarily, in chains. They were captured by rival black tribesmen and sold to Arabs who subsequently sold them to slave dealers. Coming from different tribes, most of the slaves couldn’t even communicate with each other in a common language. Thousands of slaves from all over Africa converged in the American south and didn’t even share a common language or history. They were ripped away from their familiar world and, unlike prisoners of war, couldn’t even talk to each other initially. They weren’t allowed to learn how to read, write, or even swim.

They eventually had kids, but these kids could never be taught the legends or stories that make up a culture. They lacked the fundamental accouterments of culture that include shared beliefs, art, language, institutions, manners, dress, religion, rituals, and so forth. All they knew was the plantation and their narrow world. So when freed from slavery in 1865, they had no skills, capital, land, or even literacy. Their real culture was agriculture – plus what they created as slaves. They had the slang they created and, of course, each other. Since whites gave them few responsibilities, they developed few skills and consequently had the reputation of being lazy, shiftless, and dumb. They learned to believe they were inferior -- and often reinforced that stereotype by acting commensurately.

Imagine for a moment how that gets into your head. Most of what we become as adults is tattooed onto our soft brains as toddlers. My mom used examples to teach me that all people were equal. Having the term inferior branded onto your character often relegates a person to life’s junk heap. Ambition and dreams are snuffed out. People who define themselves as being not good or smart enough just shuffle along life’s paths. They don’t feel they can succeed, so often don’t even try.

If you think the effects of slavery and segregation have vanished, you are wrong. I recently chatted with a racially mixed mom – her dad was white mom black – at a football game both our kids were playing in. We started chatting about where we were from. She was from Louisiana so I asked about segregation in the 1950’s.

“My dad made me lay down on the rear floor of our car when we stopped to eat. I wasn’t allowed to go inside so he’d buy my favorite food and bring it to our car.” So imagine growing up and not being allowed to have a fun vacation meal with our parents on the way your Florida vacation. From the day she was born, society told her she wasn’t good enough to enter public facilities in her home state. And do these feelings trickle down to her 16 year old son in 2008? Probably.

After slavery ended, blacks had freedom FROM, not freedom TOO. Since they had no access to the adequately funded schools we white kids attended by the accidents of our births, they never learned the essential survival and social skills we white kids acquired naturally. Their segregated educations were inferior; they were banned from attending the flagship state universities in the south until 1962 when James Meredith was escorted to class at the University of Mississippi by federal marshals.

During the hundred years from emancipation in 1863 to 1962, black people just shuffled around generally carrying out jobs immigrants perform today. Consequently they banded together for community and self preservation. They lived in segregated communities, founded black churches and over 100 black universities and colleges, developed their own way of speaking English, and lived in an inferior parallel society.

Results of School Integration and the Civil and Voting Rights Acts Are Huge

The civil rights movement sprung out of the black churches in the 50’s and 60’s. This led, after much bloodshed, to the civil and voting rights bills being passed in the mid 1960’s. Prior to the voting rights act of 1965, many blacks were excluded from voting due to poll taxes, literacy tests, and residency requirements that were applied only to black voters, particularly in the south. That was barely two generations ago! When the Civil and Voting Rights bills were passed in 1964 and 65 and the Supreme Court ruled segregation was unconstitutional in 1954, the doors of limited privilege began to creak open.

As these doors opened in the 1950’s and 60’s, blacks began slowly entering mainstream society. In the 1970’s and 80’s we began seeing black reporters on TV and some blacks were featured in TV commercials. More and more black faces were seen on college campuses. Yes, many felt insecure and kept to themselves. Many had congenital inferiority complexes caused by lying on the floors of cars and being banned from selected business and public places, like bath rooms and schools. They also knew from their parents that keeping a low profile was a survival skill. Who wanted to wind up lynched like Emmet Till?

Now, just 46 years after James Meredith integrated Ole Miss, 20% of the student population there is composed of students from minority groups. Most surprisingly and positively, the university sponsored the prestigious first presidential debate this season. And who could have imagined in 1962 that this would occur and that one of the major candidates would be black? Black professionals are in every profession and serve all customers, not just blacks.

Beneath Our Radar, Dynamic Shifts are Taking Place in Schools Today

Folks my age just shake our heads in bewildered awe. It happened again yesterday at another football game on a glorious afternoon. I chatted with a well dressed white woman – native Houstonian -- from an oil services company.

As helmets loudly cracked on the field, we discussed Obama and, more importantly, how much racial mixing there was at both our high schools. She was astonished that her son once dated a black girl without the slightest sense of scandal or tittle-tattle. According to her son, kids of all colors shared lunch table in the cafeteria, and there was no racial tension. She was also astounded that these changes were occurring out of the blue and beneath her radar.

My son’s school is 30 percent each black, brown, white, and 10 percent Asian. They hang around together, enjoy the same lousy music, and don’t cluster in segregated groups. Looking at the legs of the football players from the stands provides a vision of the new America – every shade of human color is represented. It is the same watching 3000 kids as they stream out of school in the afternoon, chattering away in diverse groups. And when I ask my son about racism – he is mixed – he sighs and says “Dad that is such an old school question.” I don’t even ask any more.

Black accents are fading as more and more blacks enter mainstream society and worry more about their job prospects, portfolios, and retirements than racism. Parents of racially mixed kids (me) are dumbfounded and thrilled that the racism I anticipated when my little girl was born in 1986 never materialized. Problems arose more from selected black peers who felt there should be black solidarity. Like my African friends experienced, the racism came from the blacks, not the whites.

This occurred amongst some old-school Blacks when Obama initially declared his candidacy. Some blacks felt because he didn’t grow up in the ghetto he wasn’t a legitimate black person. They slowly came around, but initially there was much skepticism and resentment. Finally many realized that their sacrifices paved the way for an Obama to emerge.

Relax, Your Racial Dilemma is Normal

But you are still reluctant to vote for him. I understand. When you were growing up and learning how the world worked, blacks weren’t your peers at all. They did the mindless drudge and dirty work. They were aliens; a visible underclass. And because of their color – unlike similarly unschooled working class whites – they were easily identified. Hence, it was normal to chant, “Eeny meeny miney moe, catch a nigger by the toe.” Or to ask, “How far did you chase a nigger for that tie?” Then there were those familiar playground terms from the popular song “Colored Spade” 1960’s musical Hair. I’m a Colored spade, a nigger, black nigger, jungle bunny Jigaboo, coon, Pickaninny, mau mau,
Uncle Tom, Aunt Jemima, Little Black Sambo, Cotton pickin, 'Swamp guinea, junk man, Shoeshine boy,
Elevator operator, Table cleaner at Horn & Hardart, Slave, voodoo, Zombie, Ubangi lipped,
Flat nose, Tap dancin' Resident of Harlem…”

When you saw a fellow white person, you had no idea who he was, where he came from, or what he stood for, especially if he dressed appropriately. There were many poor whites, but their skin bestowed immunity on them. They blended in and did not have the stigma of coming to America as involuntary slaves. No one owned their great grandparents.

Since your impression of blacks was forged prior to blacks entering mainstream society, those old programs are still running in the background of your brain. And that is as normal as all the other values you picked up as a kid like rooting for your favorite sports team, liking a certain food, or knowing hard work is a virtue. You grew up seeing black people as chronic underachievers. Of course many were. They had no access to the institutions you accessed due to the lucky accident of your birth.

It Is Class, Not Color

These negative ideas do not automatically make you a racist. Now I’ll demonstrate that you really aren’t racist after all. When I quizzed African students who studied here, some mentioned that American blacks often gave them an ultimatum. Don’t hang out with whites. Choose us or them! If you hang out with whites you will not be welcome in our black society. A black girlfriend I had in 1979 when in grad school received the same treatment from her black peers. “Why are you dating a white boy? Aren’t we good enough?

It eventually dawned on me that racism was a socioeconomic phenomenon. And people were “racist” only because blacks stood out like sore thumbs due to their color. But why were Africans welcomed into white society, why did they readily accept the friendship of their white peers, and why didn’t they care about the threats they received from black Americans? One Somali friend of mine even hung out at a redneck country bar in Michigan where he was the only black person. He went because he liked the music and it was the easiest place to pick up girls. “And the redneck guys?” I asked. “I was polite, sized up the situation, wasn’t pushy, and gradually got to know everyone and became a regular. No one cared that I went home with white girls. They even asked around if I missed a few days.”

Soon I realized that the Africans were middle to upper class kids who had much more in common with middle to upper class white kids on campus than they did with black students who grew up in poor segregated communities . It was culture that mattered, not color. The Africans never defined people by color. They discriminated instead by tribe. Where they came from, everyone was black. Consequently they had little in common with black American students, aside from their shared skin color. The American blacks were yet another alien tribe to them – and a subservient one at that! Color counted for nothing, just like white skin is not the number one catalyst for white bonding.

The Africans were never denied anything in their home countries due to race. So they naturally hung out with their social class peers, white middle class kids. Few reported any racial problems in the 15-20 years I posed the question. They knew some of their most brutal repressive dictators, like Idi Amin from Uganda and Mengistu from Ethiopia, were black.

Now You Can Vote For Barack

And your perceived racism? A myth. You just want to hang out with your peers and don’t want to spend time with people you have little in common with. Since African students and white kids shared a common class background, they were well matched -- far better than black Americans whose criteria for friendship were based on shared discrimination and color. Black Americans and black Africans shared little in common at all, just pigment. Hence the reluctance of the African students to be friends with them just because they shared a common color.

Back to Barack. You are attracted to him. You like his message of hope. You admire how he took withering fire over Reverend Wright and survived. He is battle tested. You also recognize that McCain clumsily stumbles from issue to issue and has a weak grasp of economics. He said the fundamentals of our economy were strong, and then abruptly reversed himself just fours later. You like Obama’s choice for vice-president and think McCain used poor judgment and acted impulsively and irresponsibly when he chose Sarah Palin. You thought when McCain suspended his campaign it was a gimmick. You worry about your retirement, yet McCain offers no solutions. And you know you would vote for Obama in a heartbeat if only he were white.

Obama is black. But he is a 2008 Black man, not a 1948 model. But after just two generations of many blacks having access to the same institutions we attend, look what happened. In an amazingly short time, racism is vanishing from our kids. There are black professionals in every field. And that was just what Lyndon Johnson and civil rights leaders hoped for and anticipated in the 1960’s when the civil and voting rights bills were passed. The idea was that once the doors of opportunity were thrown open to all citizens, discrimination and racism would slowly fade away. And that is exactly what is happening in many of our schools today. Johnson also predicted that his civil rights legislation would set the Democratic Party back at least 25 years. He was absolutely right. The republicans capitalized on white resentment. Nixon’s southern strategy in 1968 was a wink and an approving nod to the racists. The message was, we understand your resentment towards civil rights legislation, and we support you. The South then flipped from voting democratic since reconstruction, to voting for the party of Lincoln, the GOP.Due to Supreme Court decisions and congressional legislation, blacks are represented in all professions. Black people have been elected as mayors of major cities since the1960’s. And now a black candidate is running for president.&nbs

Resolving Your Obama Race Dilemma - How You Got It and Where To Put It

David from Houston, TX — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 12:42:16 EDT

Resolving Your Obama Race Dilemma -- How You Got it and Where to Put It

David Scheinman

Where Were the Black Professionals When You Were Growing Up?

She was introduced by Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYZoeMKkxkg&feature=related

Where We Were and Where We Are Today -- From Slavery to Obama

Results of School Integration and the Civil and Voting Rights Acts Are Huge

Beneath Our Radar, Dynamic Shifts are Taking Place in Schools Today

Relax, Your Racial Dilemma is Normal

It Is Class, Not Color

Now You Can Vote For Barack

David Scheinman

tanga4@yahoo.com

Available for Distribution:

www.tashi48.wordpress.com

Please copy and distribute to all wavering voters.

New Mexico Republican Women's Leader Calls Obama "A Muslim Socialist"

Mark C. Eades — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 17:07:46 EDT

Marcia Stirman (pictured here), head of the Republican Women of Otero County, New Mexico, published a letter in the Alamagordo Daily News Oct. 21 stating her belief that Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is "a Muslim socialist." The letter listed Stirman's reasons for being a Republican, including her belief that "Muslims are our enemies," and concluding with her belief that Obama is "a Muslim socialist."

In fact, as most Americans know full well, Obama is neither a Muslim nor a socialist. Ms. Stirman is obviously an ignorant bigot.

Interviewed by the Associated Press following the publication of her letter, Stirman said of Muslims: "I don't trust them at all. They've sworn across the world that they are our enemies. Why we're trying to elect one is beside me." Sassy Tinling, chair of the Otero County Republican Party, said Wednesday that Stirman would be asked to resign from her position as head of the Republican women's group. Stirman herself has stood by her remarks and has offered no apology to any who might have been offended.

Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said of Stirman's statements: "Because these hate-filled remarks were made by a prominent Republican, it is incumbent on state and national GOP officials to repudiate her divisive and intolerant views." Stirman remained unapologetic, however, as she expressed in the Las Cruces Sun News: "I still have freedom of speech and an opinion. If the Islamic group doesn't like it, well, I don't like what's going on in their camp, either."

Stirman is an interior decorator with Artistic Interior Solutions, 1702 23rd St., Alamogordo NM 88310. Comments may be directed to Stirman by e-mail at mstirman@yahoo.com or by telephone at (575) 437-9362.

Mark C. Eades
http://www.mceades.com

Why I am voting for Barack Obama, the Death of a Good Reputation, and Know About the Office You are Seeking BEFORE you give an interview about it (4 or 5 times)

Terri — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:35:12 EDT

I, like probably a majority of Americans, am sick to death of the divisiveness, hatred & bigotry and just plain lies or half-truths that the McCain-Palin Campaign has, I started to say evolved into, but I can't remember a time when it was anything else. I went and excitedly cast my vote today for Senator Barack Obama and Senator Joe Biden, our next President & Vice President. I am 43 years old and I believe this is THE MOST IMPORTANT election of my lifetime. Senator McCain is EXACTLY the wrong man to be President, at this time anyway. Ms. Palin, I just shake my head every time I think of her, is not now nor will she EVER be right to hold either office. I say that because she has already shown us what kind of person she is, in her heart (what little there is) and soul (however much she hasn't sold to the devil). Ms. Palin is a hateful, hurtful, self-centered, egotistic, lying, power-hungry, dangerous politician!!

First, they said Senator Obama was a terrorist, or he had terrorist friends and that AMERICA wanted Senator Obama to explain his relationship to Mr. Ayres, Reverend Wright, and anyone else that they deemed a 'problem'. Even after they were repeatedly told that people don't care and that this is NOT an issue to the majority of Americans, they still continued to insist that it was an issue. That alone shows how much they really don't care about the rest of us. If I were running for office and talking about something that I found out no one cared about, I would stop!!! They just can't and why??? They are losing and they know it!

Then they started on Joe the Plumber, please!!!! First, Joe the Plumber isn't even a licensed plumber! (lie #1) Second, Joe the Plumber doesn't own his own business and his employer didn't even make 250k last year, like Joe said (lie #2) Third, Joe the Plumber made 40k last year, which means he would benefit from Senator Obama's plan, even though he told Senator Obama that he made between 250k and 278k last year (lie #3) and "my tax will be more under your plan, won't it?" Just in case three lies aren't enough, the man didn't even pay the taxes he owed on the 40k he made. Still Senator Obama stood there and gave that man several minutes of his time, trying to thoroughly explain that the man might end up actually paying more under McCain's plan. Senator Obama was very cordial and sincere and spoke directly and thoughtfully to this "Joe the Plumber". Guess what....turns out the guy was a ringer!!! Joe the Plumber donated to Senator McCain's campaign. Joe the Plumber is a regular on right-wing talk radio, imagine that. Yet, even with all these issues about Joe the Plumber being revealed, Senator McCain and Ms. Palin are, to this day, continuing to talk about 'poor Joe the Plumber'. What a joke!!!

Let me explain something here, all of the people I know, consider someone who makes a quarter of a million dollars a year to be doing very, very well!!! You might not be 'rich' at 250k a year, but unless you just blow every cent you get, you are EXTREMELY comfortable!!! Okay, I guess they're not doing as well as Senator McCain and his wife (Cindy McCain reported income of $4.2 million dollars last year), but then again, who is? My point is that most of the people I know make $50k a year or less!!! My last job, working full-time and working my butt off, I made almost $24k a year. That's making $11.00 an hour, with overtime. What about all the people that are working two or three jobs and just making minimum wage? I would be absolutely THRILLED to make 250k a year. I would gladly pay more tax than someone who makes so much less, it's only fair!!!

I referenced my last job. I am not working now because I am disabled. I started babysitting when I was 13 years old. I got a job working fast food when I was 15 or 16. I went to work for an accountant when I was 18 and I started working for the State of Indiana when I was 20. I worked for the State for almost 12 years. I have worked pretty much my whole life. I didn't have a job for about two years while I took care of my terminally ill grandmother but she couldn't care for herself and someone had to do it. Now, I say I didn't have a job for that two years, but if you have ever taken care of a terminally ill loved one, that is some of the hardest work you will ever do. The emotional toil it takes on you is tremendous. The week after my grandmother died a got a job. I worked until, and even for a long time after, I started having numerous medical problems of my own. I got up and went to work on mornings that I just didn't know how I was going to make it. I did this for as long as I could. Eventually, I had to admit that I just couldn't anymore. When you have worked all your life, it is hard to accept the fact that you just can't anymore. I am in terrible pain 24 hours a day, seven days a week, three-hundred sixty-five days a year. I have been to numerous hospitals and doctors, to no avail.

So, I applied for Disability through Social Security. I was, of course, denied due to my age. I filed an appeal and am now at 25 MONTHS of waiting for a hearing. Why have I waited for a hearing for so long? The state is that far backlogged. No fault of my own. If not for my mother, I would be homeless right now! Does anyone think that Senator McCain could relate to this? I really doubt it!!! I can't get health insurance because the insurance companies turned me down, due to my medical condition. Even though I had insurance at my job, when the COBRA ran out, that was it.... more insurance. My medications are over $500 a month. What does Senator McCain's plan do to help me, absolutely NOTHING!!! Senator Obama's plan on the other hand will allow me to have insurance again.

John McCain & Ms. Palin get up there at their rallies and lie and twist the truth. They say that Senator Obama's tax cut is for 95% of Americans and it is just 'another big government giveaway'. Whole truth: Senator Obama's tax cut is for 95% of WORKING AMERICANS. People who don't work or pay taxes (like me) won't get anything!!! Ms. Palin gets up there in her $12,000 suits and smiles and proceeds to spew some of the worst venom and outright crap I have ever heard in my life. I am just surprised that they haven't accused Senator Obama of being an alien from outer space! That's about all they haven't tried yet. Then Ms. Palin has the nerve to talk about Joe Biden's comment that 'the new President would be tested'. Of course, the new President will be tested, they always are, and that goes without saying. But Ms. Palin has the unmitigated gall to talk about Senator Obama's lack of experience...what about hers???? Oh, I forgot, she can see Russia from her front door.

Ms. Palin is also of the belief that the Vice President 'runs the Senate'. Simply, NO THEY DON'T!!! Here she is running for an office that she knows little to nothing about. She spent over $150k on clothing for her and her family paid for by the Republican National Committee. How do you do that? I couldn't even imagine spending that much money on a bunch of clothes!?!?! The only thing I would consider spending that much money on would be, oh, a house!!! But, I probably wouldn't spend that much money on even a house. I need to find one but the ones I have been looking at, that I really like are less than $120k TOTAL!!! And then this person spends 150k on clothes???? She sure isn't 'like any of us'!!! She also took her family (including all her children) with her on several trips where the good people of Alaska picked up the bill. She was found to have "abused her power" in the troopergate scandal and is still under investigation to determine whether or not she & her husband & her administration 'put pressure' on Mr. Monegan to fire her ex-brother in-law State Trooper Wooten. Of course she did and how do I know....all you have to do is watch and listen to the woman. That is EXACTLY what she would do if somebody got on her bad side. Is there anybody out there that doesn't believe she wanted Trooper Wooten gone?

I just wish Senator Obama had someone in my position stand up and say, there are people a lot worse off than Joe the Plumber!! There would be, of course, no comparison. Senator McCain and Ms. Palin, no way, could even begin to relate to someone who is, through no fault of their own, disabled and having to live, day in and day out, knowing that without the assistance of a parent, they also would be homeless!!! Senator McCain & Ms Palin keep quoting Senator Obama as saying "spread the wealth" and saying that Senator Obama is a socialist and worse inferring he is a communist AND still also inferring he is a terrorist.

Taxes are unfortunately a necessary evil. Without taxes we wouldn't have police or fire protection, roads, social programs, etc. At any rate, I used to have a great deal of respect for Senator McCain, I really did! The shame of the whole thing is that I have lost almost all of that respect. How could a man, who I thought, even if I disagreed with what he said, had almost a stellar reputation, allow all the terrible things that have been said, and in fact said some of it himself, in the his name just trying to win election to an office, any office. You see if you run for President of the United States you need to conduct yourself in a manner in which you don't sell your soul or the reputation you have spent your whole life building. Sadly that is exactly what Senator McCain has done. Ms. Palin was right when she told Rush Limbaugh she didn't have anything to lose. If she has always been, what I have seen lately, she didn't have a good reputation to worry about protecting anyway. She has just let the whole world know what kind of person she is.

Sad Return

Duval — Sun, 19 Oct 2008 15:23:08 EDT

As the crow files, my father and I are separated geographically by over three thousand miles. I live on the west coast, he on what he often calls the "right". The wonders of technology have enabled us to remain in nearly daily touch with one another - I, a steadfast writer of email, he a voracious email forwarder.

A staunch Democrat his entire life, when I was only six years old he proudly presented me with a very important book, long before I was old enough to appreciate it. John F. Kennedy's Profiles In Courage. Not long after he stood stock still in front of our small, square black and white television, hand over his heart, as John F. Kennedy's cortege made its slow, meandering, mournful way to Arlington cemetery.

It was the only time in my entire fifty three years that I ever witnessed my father weep.

Since the inception of the 2008 presidential race my father has made his political leanings very clear. They are new to me and, much as I wish I could say they're profoundly puzzling, they are not. His political liaisons are new to him, too.

He will vote for John McCain.

Day after day his missives arrive in my in-box. Pro-McCain, pro-Republican, pro the war in Iraq, and, very strange, suddenly pro George W. Bush. Most bizarre and deplorable of all is none of these emails are authored by him. They're all opinions, hopes and heresay hogwash written by other members of the new lunatic fringe, those ultra conservative far right neocons, all apparently penned under the influence of Christian fundamentalism.

In the beginning, when these forwarded emails started coming, I'd email my father back and politely try to express my dismay at his sudden change of personal politics. I'd remind him that these past eight years of Bush have plunged our nation into an economic quagmire that will take many years for us to survive, even longer to correct. I'd send him links to well written and easily verified articles that prove Senator McCain's lackluster military career, his thirst for power and blood. More than once I aped my father's favorite bible passage right back at him - Exodus 20:13, Thou Shalt Not Kill.

Throughout all of it I've been unable to engage my aging father in one single personal discussion concerning his radical change of political party and his dismaying and disappointing change of heart. At least it has served me in obtaining a small education in our political process and instilled in me a greater thirst for staying informed. I am convinced this is the most important election of my entire generation, possibly of the past entire century. While I have remained loyal to the values of Democracy and the virtures of voting my conscience, the true legacies bestowed upon me by my father, I've been virtual witness as he's turned his back on his own beliefs and convictions.

Finally, after growing weary of what has felt like an ongoing assault, I simply began routing most email from my father with "Fwd:" in the subject line stright to the trash folder. I informed him of my practice and was so certain he'd agree with me that it's fine to agree to disagree. His forwarded claptrap kept and keeps coming. A recent exception to my recent "dad spam" rule, one which sickened me, was an email full of photos of Sarah Palin in her various inceptions as soccer mom, bloody hunter of wildlife, model of chic designer clothing and beauty queen. The caption beneath the photos was nothing short of crass yet glaringly long on utter stupidity - "I don't care what her politics are, this sexy babe's got my vote!".

How I wish I'd stuck to my guns.

I can only shake my head but I have no need to wonder. Sadly, I know what has brought about my father's startling, near ephiphanic changes. I wish I had need to ask him but he'd never confess.

I am a permanent absentee voter and last week, with pride and certitude, I cast my ballot for the 2008 presidential election. After carefully aligning the stamp on the outer envelope and happily attaching it to the mailbox I emailed my father to inform him that his befuddling quest to convert me to political beliefs he once disdained was over. Of course, I couldn't help rubbing it in a bit but feel I did so respectfully in telling him I did NOT vote for John McCain. I did, however, express hope that perhaps now we might return to some semblance of what had once been a very enjoyable father-daughter relationship, albeit by email. I closed it with my hopes for America's peace and prosperity, regardless of this important election's outcome and, like always, with all my love.

Before I could close my email program my father's response arrived. In fact, it came so fast that I can't help but think he's been ready and waiting for me to announce my vote. Yet another forwarded email, this one authored by a man from Maine. It's a mock version of what this man feels George Bush's farewell speech to the Oval Office might be. It's also an old piece of folderol which I've read before so no doubt it has been forwarded around the globe countless times. Since chances are great many of you have alredy read it I won't paste it up here. Suffice it to say that nearly every single line of this impudent contrivance contains words like "fools", "idiots", "nitwits". It's raft in accusations that we Americans are lazy, uninformed, that the pro-Dem media has sold us a bill of goods. All of it is slimy invective from a small and sophomoric mind.

All in all, to me it's an insult of a response to what I'd hoped would be a new beginning, at least some return to normalcy, in my relationship with my father. I am insulted. Had my father the courage of convictions he once possessed, had he the grit to write directly to me and call me a nitwit, fool, idiot, loser, I could stomach it. That he chose someone else's ill-written and erroneously conceived ideas to respond to my choice and my vote for Barack Obama makes me see red and makes me feel disillusioned, even disinherited. I don't know how to respond and no longer feel the need. Like my own, my father's mind is made up. He's a new Republican. I am not.

The mysterious question in it all is "why"? Why is my once dignified, fair minded, peace loving Democratic father who personally knows America's desperate need for positive change now suddenly a rabid supporter of a Republican war hawk who has conducted a disreputable election campaign based on falsehoods, innuendo and a winking Alaskan seductress? What could have possibly dissuaded my father from the values of honesty and integrity which he always tried to instill in his children and always maintained in his own life and incorporated into his own vision for our nation? What could have caused his departure?

Sadly, his departure is a return.

It's a return to something I believe he tried to overcome, or at least quell. It's the return to something so many others are unable to resist. A return to the product of the past, that good ol' boy Southern upbringing and the ghosts of bigotry which may often abate but never die. If Barack Obama arrived with the same credentials as Jesus Christ but only with a lighter shade of skin it would still be the same - being half African-American means he's all unacceptable.

I am ashamed for my father. And I am fearful for Senator Obama who is correct in stating that the fight is far from over. There will be no landslide victory. Nothing's in the bag no matter how good the polls may look right now. The South is trying to rise again, not only in the South but in many places throughout our great nation. No doubt the feeling of divisiveness I'm feeling this morning is one many others are experiencing. For daring to cross the race line, a line of demarcation which should never have existed or at least be long buried in any progressive society, in some way I've finally felt the stinging slap of my father's once kind hand.

I don't know how to cajole him to return to his once fair minded beliefs.

I will not depart from my own.

Godspeed, Barack Obama. America needs and awaits you.

The Unfortunate Season

Ben — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 12:48:54 EDT

The McCain/Palin campaign has dragged our political discourse to a dark and unfortunate place. I have never seen such venality, racism, and fear mongering emanating from a campaign before. These guys make the Bush smear machine look like a bunch of amateurs. As a result of the foul discourse Republicans have forced into our political world, I have come to regard the McCain/Palin campaign as the most divisive, bigoted, and destructive force in modern politics. I cannot comprehend being a Republican voter and feeling anything but shame and disappointment in response to the last two weeks of sludge that has oozed from the Republican ticket. We stand at a unique moment in our history. This election has truly become a choice between those things which are hopeful, just, and decent and those things which are fear-based, divisive, and petty. This is about what kind of America we want to be. Can we truly say that we want to be an America that rewards hate and divisive lies? Or, can we stand up and repeat the sentiment of Senator Obama by loudly proclaiming, "ENOUGH." We must find the courage to become the better America we all want and need, an America where division is something from the past and hate is an intolerable and unusual concept. It is my belief that if Democrats lose this election, the resulting demoralization and suppression of future voters will be beyond measure and nearly irreversible. The American public is hungry for hope and begging for a world free of fear and devoid of bigotry. We cannot afford to prolong the dread, the division, and the desperation of the last 8 years. Change is more than a word now, it is an absolute necessity.

The Bradley Effect and Obama

Bev Haut — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 16:52:39 EDT

A friend of mine wrote to me the other day with her concerns that the "Bradley effect" might well be a factor in the upcoming presidential election.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Bradley effect, here's a brief summary from what my friend located on the web:

"The term Bradley effect, less commonly called the Wilder effect, refers to a frequently observed discrepancy between voter opinion polls and election outcomes in American political campaigns when a white candidate and a non-white candidate run against each other. Named for Tom Bradley, an African-American who lost the 1982 California governor's race despite being ahead in voter polls, the Bradley effect refers to a tendency on the part of voters to tell pollsters that they are undecided or likely to vote for a black candidate, and yet, on election day, vote for his/her white opponent.

"One theory for the Bradley effect is that some white voters give inaccurate polling responses for fear that, by stating their true preference, they will open themselves to criticism of racial motivation. This effect is similar to people refusing to discuss voting choice at all. If you state you are undecided, you can avoid being forced into a political discussion with someone highly partisan. The reluctance to give accurate polling answers has sometimes extended to post-election exit polls as well. The race of the pollster conducting the interview may be a factor into voters' answers."

The Bradley Effect was largely unheard of at the time, primarily because there were precious few African-Americans holding such an office, and it was most definitely a factor in Tom Bradley's defeat in '82. But that was 26 years ago.

Think of that ... 26 years ago, 1982. I wasn't living in SoCal then, but I remember it well (yes, they do get the news back in Georgia, although events over the past 10 years or so -- and as recently as yesterday -- have made me ashamed of my home state). In the past 26 years, we've seen immense progress towards improved race relations -- not enough progress, obviously, but racism and bigotry are not as rampant as they were in '82.

Of course the Republicans are going to do everything they can to get McCain elected, but there's a huge spotlight on political campaigns in the 21st century, thanks to the internet and a 24/7 news cycle. The public and the media are everywhere (cell phones, hidden cameras, TV, radio). It's going to be a lot more difficult to rig this election than anyone can possibly imagine.

There will always be rednecks and crackers, people who believe in their hearts that anyone who isn't just like them are less than human, don't deserve common respect, shouldn't be allowed to hold a major political office, or even vote. I know this because I am a direct descendant of two people who felt the same way. My father was the worst; I won't go into some of the nightmares he used to conjure or the hideous behavior. Just imagine the worst cracker you ever knew and square that by 100.

Fortunately for me, when I was 11, John F. Kennedy was running for office. (Some of you are too young to remember that his Catholicism was a huge factor in that election, with non-Cathols worried that JFK would somehow cohabit the White House with the Pope. Seriously.) That was my first connection with politics, and it opened my eyes.

(Disclaimer: It didn't hurt that on my 12th birthday, I received a letter from JFK, written on his Senate stationary. Dated December 3, 1960, he wrote, "Dear Miss Blackwell ... I want to thank you for the very friendly message you sent to me after my election to the presidency. I am most heartened by the many expressions of good will which I have received. I am sure that they reflect a broad unity of purpose in our nation. I hope that my record during the next four years will sustain your generous confidence. With every good wish, I am, Sincerely /John F. Kennedy/" It is my most prized possession. It is his signature; I've had it verified. It breaks my heart to read the last sentence and remember the hope, the promise, that his presidency held.)

Thus began my love affair with the Democratic Party, and politics in general. When the first black student took her seat in my 8th grade class, I was proud that Atlanta had been so progressive in matters of race, thanks mostly to Dr. King's presence, and sad that when I went to introduce myself to her, she shied away from me a bit, likely out of fear of what I might do or say. We became friends, and remained so throughout our school years. I lost touch with her many years ago, but I think of her often.

Now, I want all of you to think of everyone you know. Think of each one of them and ask yourself, "Is this person a racist? A bigot? Does this person mirror my feelings about my country and its citizens?" If the answer for any one of these people is "yes," think about how your own behavior could affect theirs. Could you have a conversation with this person without it turning into "Nazi"? A lot of 'em will blow you off, angrily; it's hard to talk about such deep-seated emotions without getting emotional, and if that's the way he/she is, so be it.

But what about this other person? Maybe he/she would actually welcome a conversation; not a yelling match, but an honest, cordial, even friendly talk? Those are the ones we must reach; those are the ones who are intellectually curious, who can observe and listen at least somewhat objectively.

Hundreds of people out there are indeed racist assholes. But thousands more are NOT racists! We now outnumber them! Names are dropping from the pathetic rolls of the Aryan Nation like gnats around Sarah Palin's mouth. The KKK is nearly dead, and I never thought I would live to see that day.

We cannot control what The Others do. We *can* control what we do when they pull out their bag of transparent tricks. Respond, in whatever forum you might find yourself, but do it without fear and without anger. You can't have a fight if one party won't fight. And that, my friends (I can't believe I just wrote that), is the best way in the world to piss of John McCain.

Wear the world like a loose jacket ~ turn to your Zen place, if necessary ~ and be like BO. Unflappable. Unshakeable. Certain. Affable. Courageous. Aware. Informed. And, more than anything, hope.

Don't let petty distractions into your life (or your mailbox). Don't concern yourself overly much about what The Others are doing and saying ~ yesterday, for the first time, John McCain finally spoke out. A woman at one of his rallies said she'd read all about Obama and flatly stated that he was an Arab. McCain, at long last, earned back about an ounce of his honor by saying to her, "No, ma'am," several times, shaking his head in disagreement. "He's a decent, family man, [a] citizen that I just happen to have disagreements with on fundamental issues and that's what this campaign is all about." And for that, John McCain was booed.

This is the greatest and most effective grassroots campaign we have ever seen. Thousands of Democratic and Obama volunteers - people like you and me - are, for the first time in their lives, truly involved in a political campaign. The polls don't reflect Obama's real lead because they're only polling voters who were already registered, NOT the hundreds of thousands of new Democratic voters who have been registered in the past 20 months.

I beg everyone to believe in their hearts and minds, to know with certitude in this: Barack Obama will win this election by a landslide. Know this: Barack Obama will be our next President, and he will be the greatest President in the history of America. Do not doubt yourselves for one moment; we cannot afford such negative thoughts at a time when the future of our country, and the world, rests on the outcome of this election.

Without hate, without fear, walk this historic walk, these last few miles - only 25 more days! - please, walk with me, with millions of others and with Senator Barack Obama as he continues to march into only his second home, the White House.

(I apologize for the length of this post, but these are topics that raise my passion, and for some reason, even though I've been blocked for weeks and I'm sick as a Georgia Bulldog on nasty Tennessee grass (UGA!), I felt the absolute need to write this, if not for me, then for the one person out there who does read it and takes something good away from it.)

NO FEAR!!!!!!!!

I wanna be like BO!

Bev Haut
www.myspace.bellesocal
www.beverlyhaut.com

MCCAIN'S LEGACY OF RACISM AND HATE!

Juli Norwood — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:35:03 EDT

Americans are facing great strife, it is a time of great worry and concern, it is a time of great stress and even greater fears. It is a time we look for leaders and for hero's to lead us, to inspire us, to give us hope! It is a time to unite and come together as one nation.

America is waiting for leaders and hero's to step up to the plate!

A war hero like John McCain whom has the power to inspire, the power to incite hope, the power to quash fears and restore confidence purposely chose to inspire and plant the seeds of racism and incite hate and anger!

The McCain - Palin campaign rallies resembling KKK rallies, whipping supporters into a frenzy by preying on their fears of terrorists, terrorism and 9-11... they give the terrorist a face and a name... Barack Obama! Then they define him as America's enemy!

The hatred spills over into the crowd, so strong that it demands action...

chants of... Terrorist! Traitor! Kill Him! and Bomb Him! fill the air!

John McCain reaps what he has sown!!! HATRED, RACISM, FEAR AND ANGER!

What integrity and honor John McCain had earned in his lifetime is now lost! His Legacy is now one of nothing more than Racism and Hate!

That is what he will be remembered for! Because that is what he stood for!

I have complete faith in America... We've grown and evolved as a country and are above and beyond the bigotry of our past!

That is why Barack Obama will become our next President of the United States!

McCain uses the an unacceptable racist term "tar baby" when responding testily to a black man.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNGXB_qx0xk

Juli Norwood

It's time to leash the pitbull

Palmer — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 16:33:09 EDT

While I am certain Barack Obama won the debate easily last night, I am much more concerned with the mob responses to Sarah Palin's speeches. When you hear her listeners shouting "TREASON!" and "KILL HIM!!!," you have to wonder how things could have gotten this bad. Palin doesn;t even have the decency to rebuke her followers...instead, she eggs them on.

McCain no longer has a shred of honor or decency. If he had, he would have already denounced what she is saying and the emotions she is stirring up. This is a form of race hatred we have not seen in politics in years. Oh, no, she does not mention race as such, but she does not need to.

Her whole campaign is disgusting and sickening. It has taken a governor from Alaska to take us back to the kind of politics the South suffered throguh in the days of the Dixiecrats.

Polls - How It Adds Up

Mel — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 09:44:42 EDT

I’ve sat wrapped in my own political pragmatism and belief that the government should manage the country for the benefit of all citizens not understanding how it’s possible for 40-45% of Americans to consider voting for any Republican ticket.

Response to troll - Jo from Coleman Falls, VA

Mickiboop (P.O.B.) Be the Change — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 21:00:07 EDT

Here's some real "Straight Talk" for you...
Your misguided use of partial excepts from Barack's book is only matched by your ignorance. No one on this site believes your negative bullshit about Barack. He is a Christian and a good man. Even if he were Muslim, it would not matter to us because we respect the people in this nation and their right to worship as they please. Have you forgotten our constitution? Folks like you are keeping the divisions in this country alive when we must pull together to fight against other threats - terrorism, poverty, deseases, war, child abuse and neglect, our enconomy, lack of jobs, etc.

We want Barack Obama and Joe Biden to lead our country and we advise bigoted folks like you to stop the hatred of other races, religions and cultures. Your ugly bigoted spirit has helped to split this nation into separate groups and no one needs or wants the divisions to continue.

The world is moving on and leaving your ass behind! This is the 21st Century, and we the people refuse to allow your bigoted fear tactics to fool us into turning against the man who will lead this nation to change for the better. So STOP THE MADNESS - or take it to a site where bigotry is appreciated, it surely isn't here!

Obama - Biden '08, Can't Wait!!!

Come on, America, Get Over Racist Bigotry, 21 Sep 2008

George Beddoe — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 14:05:57 EDT

This whole campaign I have been saying that Barack Obama has to overcome the racial bigotry that continues to exist in the United States. Now an AP-Yahoo News-sponsored poll conducted by Stanford University confirms that deep-seated racial bigotry could cost Obama the White House if the election is close.

In view of the weak position the Republicans find themselves in with most Democrats running far ahead of their Republican opponents, Barack finds himself running only a couple of points ahead, which won’t be enough to overcome the racial divide. He wasn’t counting on Republicans voting for him, but there are far more Democrats than Republicans. The difference is that racial bigotry is not a Republican or Democratic issue; it pervades both parties.

Polls show that Americans who hold graduate degrees favor Obama over McCain by about 85% or more. With those who only have a bachelor’s degree, the campaign divides more evenly. Among those whites with only high school diplomas or those not graduating from high school, McCain holds a wide margin. So, it appears that education is the differential.

There is no difference between a black educated politician and a white educated politician except in the perception of those under-educated voters. There is little difference between an under-educated black politician and a white under-educated politician; neither should be in politics. America deserves better. Clearly, Barack Obama is very highly educated, much more than John McCain who finished near the bottom of his Naval Academy graduating class. Barack holds degrees from both Columbia University and Harvard Law School, being selected as head of the Harvard Law Review, the first black ever. The difference in education and intelligence, by the way, is clear. Barack Obama, the bi-racial black guy, wins hands up. This doesn’t seem to make a difference to the under-educated white Democrats. Education appears to be a negative to them and ties in with their bigotry.

The Stanford study concludes there are fewer bigots than there were 50 years ago, but that doesn’t mean there’s only a few bigots.

My conclusion, then, is that the Obama campaign needs to widen its lead considerably over the next forty-some days in order to win on November 4. The three debates could make the critical difference. The first is this Friday, September 26, at 9 p.m. Eastern time.

For the long term, adding sociology to the high school and college required curriculum would appear in order. More Later.

George

Candidate's foot soldiers encounter name-calling, vandalism, bomb threats

Winston Riley — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 08:47:17 EDT

My niece's house was the target of vandals last week, when their Obama signs were destroyed and acts of senseless destruction left their yard littered with For Sale signs and garbage. It actually appeared to be a small war zone.

Vandals were a tribe which invaded the Roman Empire and according to Wikipedia, their actions "led to the association of the name of the tribe with persons who cause senseless destruction, particularly in diminution of aesthetic appeal or destruction of objects that were completed with great effort."

Arabism's Racism and Wikipedia bias

Loma from Warner Robins, GA — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 10:06:12 EDT

The wiki Pan - Arabism page

A Jordanian Arab 'Contrieng' (that some how has no idea about history, that 1800's & 1900's attack on Jews by Arabism' nationalism' is long before any lame excuses connecting it to the M.E. conflict, or other gross misinformation trying to alter PEW's polling that shows anti Jewish racism among Jordanian Arabs, where 100% viewed ANY Jews unfavorably trying to charactorize it as 'anti-zionist-occupation') & a Kurd 'KhoiKhoi' (who should know better after Saddam's Arabist anti-Kurd genocide campaign or in light of Syrian anti-Kurdish policy) have been "objecting" the "relativity" of Arab racism in wikipedia's 'Pan-Arabism'.

The Arab Contrieng's "objection" is mainly against Atabism's anti-Jewish section, which is of course only reaffirming again Arab racism by staunch Pro-Arabism.

(There's also a bias tendency on some at the wikipedia "administrators" to block certain users under a cover of baseless "charge" of sockpuppet-ing, no, not when it comes to anti Jewish racist editors...).

Well, here we reiterate it again, I am the editor and I distribute it to others [free to use it] who might use wikipedia [figthing unfairness & bias].

Well, here are a few points about the undisputable connection.

Another important point, the POV push by some on wikipedia that Arabism is 'only' secular is totally wrong, historically or present, though not always is it 'religious' either, but there have been Islamism & Arabism connection since the beginning, and still going on today.

_______________

Pan-Arabism's anti-Jewish ideology

The champion of pan-Arabism Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser used the infamous anti-Semitic "protocols" libel in his war against Israel. [29], Both pan-Arabism and pan-Islamic ideologies looked to Hitler's Germany as a model Haj Amin al-Husseini expressed his admiration for the way 'the Germans have definitively solved the Jewish problem,' [30] & Gamal Abdel Nasser's affinity for the Mufti was great [31], Joachim Wurst describes the emergence and psychological mechanisms of modern anti-Semitism and particularly of genocidal Islamist anti-Semitism. He traces the development of this trend from the Muslim Brotherhood and the Mufti of Jerusalem in the 1930s and 1940s through the pan-Arabism of the 1950s and 1960s up to the present-day Islamism. [32].

1800's & 1920's.

The origin of anti-Jewish feelings among Arabs do not originate from what they preceive as 'the occupation of Palestine' and the creation of Israel. Even before the creation of the Israeli state in 1948 on what was before Palestine, a largely uninhabited terrain, many Jews were recorded attacked in various settlements by Arabs since the late 1800's [33].

_________

The WIKI Script can be copied from here: http://geocities.com/masteringwiki/Wiki-Arabism.html

Pan-Arabism and Arabization - a movement for unification among the peoples and countries of the Arab World, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Arabian Sea. It is closely connected to Arab nationalism which asserts that the Arabs constitute a single nation. At times Pan-Arabism has tended to be secular and often socialist, but often it embeds within it Islamic tradition and culture or Islamism (like the genocide in Darfur). and has strongly opposed colonialism and Western political involvement in the Arab world. Also historic Arabizing of the middle east [1] and in Africa that process is still going on today [2]. Pan-Arabism is a form of nationalism and cultural nationalism .

There's a strong argument that Arabism was never detached from Islamism, To this day, Islam has retained its imperial ambitions. The dream of regional and world domination has remained very much alive, despite the destruction long ago of the last great Muslim empire, which has left the Islamic caliphate vacant. The 20th century doctrine of pan-Arabism (exemplified by Egypt's Gamal Abdel Nasser), though secular in appearance, has been effectively Islamic in its ethos, worldview, and imperialist vision. Karsh quotes Nuri Said, longtime prime minister of Iraq and a prominent early champion of pan-Arabism: "Although Arabs are naturally attached to their native land, their nationalism is not confined by boundaries. It is an aspiration to restore the great tolerant civilization of the early caliphate." [3].

Contents

1 Racism

[edit]Racism[edit]In General

'Arabism Equals Racism', in an elaborated article, Gerald A. Honigman writes on the "acceptance of anyone else�s political rights in a multi-ethnic region that most Arabs see exclusively as "purely Arab patrimony." That's the Arab-Israel conflict in a nutshell; but it is also the core of the Arab-Berber, Arab-Kurd, Arab-Black African, Arab-Copt, Arab-Assyrian, Arab-non-Arab Lebanese conflicts, as well, among others. The Arabs' Anfal Campaign against the Kurds and their actions in Darfur and the rest of the southern Sudan are just a few of many examples of Arab genocidal actions against all who might disagree." [4].

Walid Phares writes about Arabism's denial of identity of millions of indigenous non-Arab nations as an ethnic cleansing on a politico-cultural level [5].

Christians of Iraq site published an extensive historic account on "The Foolishness of imposing Oppressive Arab Nationalism on Non Arabs, Non-Arab Muslim minorities such as the Amazigh, or Berbers, Kurds, and Turkmen found themselves officially out of favor. They faced the prospect of becoming "Arabized" or of being denied political and even civil rights. Groups that identified themselves as neither Arab nor Muslim had it even worse: Southern Sudanese, Copts, Jews, and Assyrians were plunged into a protracted nightmare that saw their communities ground into anonymity, forcing many to emigrate permanently. Even Maronites, whose retention of political power in Lebanon immunized them from utter marginalization, watched with alarm as Arab nationalist propaganda increasingly portrayed them as a foreign and sinister element in the heart of the Arab nation." [6]

Adel Makhoul wrote in May 1, 2005 about Pan-Arabists: Hiding Arab Racism, that they're agents of racism: Arab Racism, that always supported Arab unity and "Islam" at the expense of non-Arab and non-Moslem peoples and tries to deflect the world's attention from Arab and Moslem attrocities committed against Christians, Kurds, Jews, Israelis, Coptic Christians, non-Arab Sudanese, etc. he also points to the fact that Sadam Hussein's poisoning of the Kurds has never been condemned by one Arab intellectual or leader. This is because a racist prevalent attitude in the Arab mind is that the entire Middle East should be Arab. This also explains the attitude towards Israel, a country that is predominantly non-Moslem and speaks a Middle Eastern language other than Arabic.[7] Michael Totten decries the tired Arab nationalist myth that Arabism protects Christians. [8]

The linkage to terror - Protecting terrorism, Pan-Arabism: the inhuman progenitor of Islamic Terrorism [9].

[edit]Anti-Persian

A historic account of Pan-Arabism's Legacy of Confrontation with Iran & Arab racism against Iranians. [10], Iran Heritage says that It was in Saddam Hussein's Iraq where Arab racism attained its most vulgar ... The "Arabization" of Persian contributions on the world stage was in full. [11]

[edit]Anti-Kurd

The Kurds in Syria between 2 to 2.5 million [12] they're second class citizens, for many not citizens at all, the attempts of Erasing Ethnic Identity. Syrian Kurds were banned from giving their children names reflecting their ethnic identity. Pary Karadaghi, Director of Kurdish Human Rights Watch in Washington, says one of the most basic ways of showing Kurdish identity was taken away. "The campaign of 'Arabization' actually replaced the Kurdish names, People could not have Kurdish names on cities, buildings [and] businesses. Children's names could not be Kurdish." Syria's Kurds struggle for years to survive despite government oppression on many fronts. [13] And a cry against syria's oppression has gone out. [14]

Iraq's Saddam Hussein's Anfal campaign was designed to depopulate ethnic cleansing the Kurdish regions in northern Iraq. [15], Kurdish writers decry the massacre of Halabja and The Racism of so-called Arab Intellectuals towards Kurds and Kurdistan [16] [17].

[edit]Anti-Berber

The UN documented the racism against Indigenous peoples Multi-ethnic States, The Imazighen Berbers are the indigenous peoples of northern Africa and the Sahel [18]. Despite Arabization's oppression in north-Africa, they are a proud people[19], Morocco's Berbers Battle to Keep Their Culture [20], in 2004 they spoke out and attacked Moroccan state racism [21]. Berber Leader Belkacem Lounes: �There Is No Worse Colonialism Than That of the Pan-Arabist Clan that Wants to Dominate Our People� [22].

Kabylia info writes about oppression and tyranny of its people by Arabic-Islamic colonialism [23], the IHT's description: This is Kabylia, one of Algeria's most restive regions - home to a stubborn and proud ethnic minority of Berbers who since the end of the colonial era four decades ago have fought to preserve their cultural identity and independence. [24]

[edit]On Caucasians

SHEIK Taj Din al-Hilali: "The Western people are the biggest liars and oppressors and especially the English race," the Mufti of Australia said in Arabic during the extensive interview in Egypt, his birthplace. [25]

On the racist gang rape spree by Arab Lebanese in Australia targeting specifically white girls, From the Sydney Morning Herald 2002 Racist rapes: Finally the truth comes out, So now we know the facts, straight from the Supreme Court, that a group of Lebanese Muslim gang rapists from south-western Sydney hunted their victims on the basis of their ethnicity and subjected them to hours of degrading, dehumanising torture. The young women, and girls as young as 14, were "sluts" and "Aussie pigs", the rapists said. So now that some of the perpetrators are in jail, will those people who cried racism and media "sensationalism" hang their heads in shame? Hardly. [26]

Saudi Arabia's King Fahd Bin Abdul-Aziz, Jeddeh 1993: "I summon my blue-eyed slaves anytime it pleases me. I command the Americans to send me their bravest soldiers to die for me. Anytime I clap my hands a stupid genie called the American ambassador appears to do my bidding. When the Americans die in my service their bodies are frozen in metal boxes by the US Embassy and American airplanes carry them away, as if they never existed. Truly, America is my favorite slave." [27]

In 2006 Arab "Youths� Kick Man to Death on Crowded Bus in Antwerp Belgium [28].

[edit]Anti-Jewish[edit]In General

Pan-Arabism's anti-Jewish ideology

1800's & 1920's.

'Historical and Investigative Research' examins if Arab anti-Jewish racism in the first half of the 20th c. (that was marked already then with slaughtering of Jews with the racist shouting of Itbach al Yahud - kill the Jews) was fundamentally indifferent from the European variety [34]. On March 1, 1944. the famous Mufti: Amin Al-Husseini makes speech from Berlin addressing Muslim SS Nazi troops: �Kill the Jews wherever you find them. This pleases God, History and Religion. This saves your honor. God is with you.� [35].

On Syria's Baathism's racism [36] Major ideas of Baathism center around racism and anti-Semitism. The Baath party stems from the Pan-Arab movement [37], examples: Syrian Daily Al Baath, October 21, 1998 had an antisemitic cartoon, and on October 21, 1998 on Syrian TV: In these days, all of us, Arabs and Muslims, must stand together against the Jews [38].

Egypt has played gross anti-Jewish TV extravaganza "Horse without Horseman" which also portrays the Arab/Israeli conflict in an antisemitic anti-Jewish format [39]. so does anti-Jewish themes in Hezbollah Media. [40] Memri So does the ADL [41], Saudi Arabia bans Jewish visitors [42]. Pew's finding in 2005 found that in Muslim nations such as Jordan most viewed Jews. [43].

But it knows no borders, of the ADL's records that documents antisemitic attacks wordlwide [44], the larger portion of those listed since 2002 (to 2008) were attributed to Arabs, especially those in Europe, in a sport game in Chile, Non-Jewish Goldberg (mistaken for Jew) made headlines after fans of Palestino, a Chilean team set up by Palestinian Arabs hurled racial slurs, 'They called me J. garbage' [45].

In 2007 the London editor of pan-Arab daily was praying for Iranian nuclear genocide attack on Israel [46] "if the Iranian missiles strike Israel, by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight." circulating its propaganda to about 50,000 readers [47].

Europe: A few examples in France: Already in October 2000 among a very long and troubling list of attacks, Jews threatened and shoved by Arabs outside O.Y. Synagogue in Paris (first of two incidents) & 'Death to Jews' painted on two Synagogues in Marseilles [48], between 2000-2001 200 Arabs attacked Jews on the Champs Elysees [49], in March 2003 French Arab Muslims attack Jews in Paris in an "anti-war" march [50], in 2003 Jewish congregations in Sweden have noted a sharp increase in "harassment threats and attacks by Arabs and Muslims against Jews [51], in 2004 Six Arab youths attacked a twenty three year old young mother with her thirteen month old baby [52] after "deciding" she was Jewish, cut her hair with knives, slashed her clothes and scrawled swastikas on her belly in black felt-tip pen [53],in March 2006 Jews attacked in Paris suburbs by Arabs [54] in June 2008 Jewish Boy Attacked by Arab Muslim Mob in Paris [55], A 17-year-old French Jew Rudy Haddad attacked by North-Africans (Arabs) Jewish teen brutally beaten in apparent anti-Semitic attack in Paris, "[Sarkozy] assures the victim and his family of his support and renews his total determination to fight all forms of racism and anti-Semitism," said a statement from Sarkozy's office. A 23-year-old French Jew, Ilan Halimi, was found naked, tortured and covered in burns near Paris on February 13, 2006, after being held captive for three weeks. He died on the way to the hospital. The crime shocked France and raised fears of surging anti-Semitism among French Muslims. In February of this year, another Jewish teenager was tortured in the same town in which Halimi was killed, in yet another anti-Semitic attack. [56].

At the UN, The Arab Lawyers Union of Egypt in Durban in 2001, distributed a booklet of violently Ani Jewish cartoons and has, since then, continued its incitement to Jew-hatred [57].

Jeremy Jones wrote in a report in 2004 on Australia that some of the most overt anti-Jewish rhetoric in recent years has come from the Muslim and Arab groups & communities, and within the Arab and Muslim communities there is a group of activists who seek at every opportunity to denigrate Jews, not only in association with attacks on Israel[1].

On campus: The university of Columbia's investigation into charges of anti-Jewish intimidation by Arab professors [58].

Harassment on Jewish students in Canadian universities by Arabs like in Carleton [59], Concordia University [60] which has been described by some as "centre of militant Arabism in Canada" [61]. [62] there were charges (in 2002) of militant Arabism in Canada's Concordia University.

More on campus, On May 7 2002, an example has been seen at the SFSU while a large, angry crowd of Arab Palestinians and their supporters swarmed a Jewish peace rally (where students wore t-shirts that said "peace" in English, Hebrew and Arabic) members, used physical violence, and shouted "Get out or we will kill you" and "Hitler did not finish the job" [63] [64] [65].

There are complaints against the Muslim Students Association MSA of racism against Jews coming from its Arabs, Muslims, in 2008 Author David Horowitz, a popular conservative writer, was derided in a Nazi-like anti-Semitic cartoon, put out by the Muslim Student Association. The cartoon, which was copied and spread around campus, portrays Horowitz, a Jewish man, as a hooked-nose Nazi hiding in a trash can [66].

[edit]Roots and cause of Middle east conflict

Pundits explain that the conflict in the middle east Arabs Vs Israel (that started with racist massacers on Jews accompanied with the slogan "Itbach al Yahud - Kill the Jews" [67] already in the 1920's [68], through Hitler's buddy [69] the Mufti Mohammad Amin al-Husayni is just another Arab Muslim intolerance, the plight of Israel - being a minority in a majority hostile middle east. [70] [71] [72] And even progressive, left wingers in Israel realize that Arab racism must go, and that "There will be no peace around here before Arabs view Jews as human beings." [73], or as others have phrased it: Racism and Middle East Politics, As long as middle-eastern Arabs teach their children to hate Jews, there will be no lasting peace [74]. 'Facts and Logic About the Middle East' asks: Racism in the Islamic World How can peace prevail in the Middle East in the face of Islamic bigotry and hate? When will moderate Muslims speak out? [75], and the phenomenon of the new anti-Semitism which demonizes Jews and Israel alike, has fused itself with the "old" European anti Jewish bigotry [76]. Saddam Hussein's "Three Whom God Should Not Have Created: Persians, Jews, and Flies" [77] who also led a racist [78] genocide campaign [79] against the Kurds, coincides with that in moments before his death, he shouted: 'Palestine is Arab', meaning only Arab. [80], as part of a culture of hatred, the racism that denies historic roots of the Jews to Israel [81].

The first recorded Arab attack on Jews in Palestine was already back in 1886 in Petach Tikva [82][83] [84] [85].

Regarding the racist expulsion of 850,000 to 900,000 Jews from Arab countries [86] [87] the ethnic cleansing of the Jews [88], the UN Watch Mar 19, 2008 has raised the importance of Historic truth in: Testimony at the UN - "Racism and Historical Truth: Jewish Refugees from Arab Lands" [89].

On anti-Jewish racism's effect on clarity of the middle east, Interfaith Office Acknowledges (May 2008) Anti-Jewish Motifs and Stereotypes in Commentary About Arab-Israeli Conflict [90], concern about Carter's pro-Arabism and veteran historian of Islam and the Middle East [91] & Bernard Lewis is concerned that the �Arab strain of racism, untruths and hatred against Jews and Israel is not only more virulent than its European counterpart, but is not counterbalanced by true scholarship or competing reason.� As a result, he believes, attitudes and beliefs �long discredited in the modernity of western countries take root with gullible, impressionable Middle Eastern audiences from a pre-modern culture.� [92].

There's extensive research on 'Palestinian Anti-Semitism' [93], In its official media, the PA daily described: The Fable of the Holocaust [94], the JCPA elaborates About Anti-Semitism among Palestinian Authority Academics and how The Palestinian Authority's academic anti-Semitism has built an extensive case against Jewish existence [95] This Palestinian racism is particularly dangerous because this hatred of Jews is portrayed as the will of Allah. [96] The Arab-Palestinian racism of killing only Jews In Israel, for the sole reason of being Jewish. they target every Jew, regardless of his or her individual political views, and they apologize when they accidentally kill a non-Jew, regardless of his political view. [97]

Rachel Neuwirth Wrote "Judenrein Palestine?" about Arabs forcing Israel to remove Jews from their historic Judea and asks: Why can�t Jews live in their historic homeland if there really is peace? After all, there are 1.2 million Arabs living as citizens of Israel in the one Jewish country in the world, while there are only a handful of Jews living in any of the 22 Arab countries. In fact, in Jordan and Saudi Arabia, not only is it illegal for Jews to be citizens, they are not even allowed to live there. Therefore, she proves, instead of Israel being the "apartheid state" in the region, it is the Arab world that is not only apartheid, but also racist and religiously exclusive" [98].

[edit]Anti-African

Arab Racism against Black Africans [99] [100], Darfur is but one example of Arab racism toward non-Arabs within the broader Arab world [101]. In the New York Times June 5, 1988 about Libya's leader: Qaddafi is bringing a truly racist crusade against Chad and Africa, Chad's President, Hissen Habre, told [102]. blacks who live in Arab countries subject to racism, most Arabs refer to blacks as "Abed" which means "slave" in Arabic. [103]. Umarlee details it: �Ugly Black Women�, Perfect Arab Wives, and Matters of Race, Arab racism is not akin to American white racism. Let it be said that Arab racism is different from white (American) racism [104]. In an article in The Guardian 2008, titled 'A paler shade of black' a former Sudanese Arab described his growing up (by his family) as "superior" to blacks, that were referred to as "abd" (slave), yet when he moved to Saudi Arabia he found out that his Arabness didn't measure up, he wasn't Arab enough in Saudi Arabia's racist society. [105] Some charge the Arab attitude on Darfur, 'to the True Nature of the Twin Fascisms of Islamism and Pan-Arabism' [106].

Eritreans in Egypt suffer from racism [107], in 2008 alone at least 20 Darfurian refugees (who tried to break free from Egypt's oppression into democratic Israel) have already died at the hands of Egyptian forces [108].

Palestinian-Arab Racism: Secretary of State Rice has been the subject of some vicious racial attacks [109] including an anti-black Racist Rice Cartoon in Palestinian Authority's controlled Press Al Quds 'Black spinster' label pinned on Condi Rice Palestinian media use racist terms including 'colored dark skin lady'[110] Condemned by Black Activists [111].

[edit]Genocide in Sudan

The Christian Science Monitor 2004 affirms that Racism is at root of Sudan's Darfur crisis [112], a writer at RaceandHistory.com calls it 'Arab Racism And Imperialism In Sudan' [113], Darfur crisis linked to Arab racism, Slavery [114]. and this genocide has been described as an example of Arab racism at its worst [115]. Sudanese decry the "Apology of racism", that some Sudanese people of Arabic origin consider themselves superior than the indigenous Sudanese [116]. Der Spiegel writes about the Janjaweed: Sudan's War within a War - regime that uses tribal conflicts and Arab racism [117]. Pundits of Sudan write about "Arab racism, Islamic bigotry and discriminatory practices are the most divisive issues in the Sudan" and its terrible effect, crimes on non-Arab Sudanese [118].

Hooked nose racist Arabs paint hooked noses? - Author Derided by Muslim Students [Association] in Anti Semitic Cartoon

Tyra from Lawrenceville, GA — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 18:39:01 EDT

[Hooked nose Arabs paint hooked noses?]
Author Derided by Muslim Students [Association] in Anti Semitic Cartoon Author David Horowitz responded today to his recent controversy at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. David Horowitz, a popular conservative writer, was derided in a Nazi-like anti-Semitic cartoon, put out by the Muslim Student Association. The cartoon, which was copied and spread around campus, portrays Horowitz, a Jewish man, as a hooked-nose Nazi hiding in a trash can.
http://tothecenter.com/news.php?readmore=4895

The MSA-As Sabiqun Connection
[July 2008]
The Terrorism Awareness Project has just released this very informative video of the blatant Islamic pro-terror movement As Sabiqun, and their influence on life at UC Irvine, and universities across the United States.
http://www.redcounty.com/rccampuswatch/2008/07/the-msa-as-sabiqun-connection/

AFFIRMATIVE ACTION

raoulroach — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 10:14:49 EDT

As far as Barack's blackness is concerned, I don't believe he was given a choice. Blackness is defined on the idea that one has negroid features and hair and dark skin. It is a racist idea that defines this peculiar institution called race. Some hispanics, South Asians and in particular Asian Indians reject the notion of obvious physical attributes and call themselves "caucasians". Face it there is a stigma, especially in this country, attached to "blackness' and slave descendency.

I doubt if Obama, while driving in a white neighborhood at night ,would not be stopped by police and racially profiled, if he met a description of a 'black" suspect he would also be questioned. So he is defined, in large part, by other's perception. If you were to ask him, and any thinking person, of course he is genetically both therefore neither. Unfortunately that is not his reality when people everyday both black and white react to him in a way that is primarily based on his appearance.

That is why he is so unique, he is like a Rosetta Stone, raised by whites as an almost first generation African immigrant, without the slave history. His African American experience seen through his eyes as the brilliant son of an anthropologist is nothing short of conscience shifting. His vantage point from history to empirical experience sees the best and the worst of us as a nation. His reluctant speech on race was a window on that consciousness and I suspect it is much, much deeper.

As far as Afirmative Action goes, I take Colin Powell's opinion as guidance. How can a people blessed with so much be so selfish? According to reports only 75,000 students a year benefit from affirmative action. There is no evidence that any white student was ever denied a quality higher education because a black student kept them out of school. In particular cases, white students were denied access to their school of choice, but only because considering their advantages, they didn't compete with students with similar advantages.

Admission programs should and in many cases have considered social and economic circumstances to weight their decisions more evenly with the race factor and that is why the Supreme Court is right in saying race can be one of many factors in determining how a college or university chooses to serve the community and this nation through diversity. They are playing a vital role in the education, stability and social mobility of the citizens of this nation.

As far as business and government goes, until racism and bigotry no longer form the basis upon which some people make decisions in this area in whatever percentage, then a vigorous enforcement needs to happen to continue to integrate traditionally excluded minorities into the mainstream.

Business and government contracts continue to flow to the well networked persons. A cultural barrier to that network still exists, some of this is attributable to bigotry and/or racism, some is just institutional sluggishness. Whatever the cause it is continuing the legacy of economic and social deprivation started in the slave trade, institutionalized by state, local and Federal goverments, private social organizations and businesses through Jim Crow laws and social mores. This is what affirmative action, with shifting modifications based on empirical evidence, should address as we perfect our union.

The bigotry of anti Israel

Martha from Washington, DC — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 10:40:14 EDT

The bigotry of anti Israel

Facts & Causes

The obvious, or the ’should be obvious’

This is not really all about the Arab Muslim world, who’s anti Israel feeling and action is motivated (not by any feeling to help fellow Arab Muslims, fact is, the Arab “Palestinians” are persecuted all throughout the Arab world) by Arab racism (just as the Kurds, Maronites, Sudanese and other non Arabs suffer from the global Arabization) & Islamofascism or Islamic-Fascism, the evil ideology as Tony Blair calls it (just as non Muslims in general, dhimmi or kuffars, non-believers suffer, global wide, take it straight from the horse’s mouth, the Iranian fanatical Islamic leader Ahmadinejad’s call for genocide & ethnic cleansing on Israel that though has no regional or territorial disputes with Iran of course, “doesn’t belong on ‘Muslim land’, in the all Muslim middle east”, this anti-Israel facsism still infects most moderate Muslim countries that blindly refuse entry to anyone with an Israeli passport).
Nor is it about the few neo/old Nazis that hate all Jews (even those that tell you they hate “only Zionists”).
But this is about the bigotry of anti-Israel infected in the mainstream.

Jumping to conclusion before knowing the facts

This happens on a regular basis, but a few examples might serve as highlights if you wish:

The rush into harsh words by UN’s Secretary general Kofi Annan (before he semi-apologized for it) when some UN officials got hurt in the cross fire between Huzbullah terrorists and Israeli defense forces (Hezbullah initiated war and invasion 2006), even after realizing that the UN post was used by the Huzbullah as a tool.

The overwhelming bashing Israel in Arabs’ deaths, like the very icon the “Palestinian” propaganda machine used, as in the Arab kid Muhammad al-Dura (2002), which we all know by now, was nothing more than staged by Arabs themselves, and it was Arab shooters that killed that boy.

The rushing media in “blaming Israel” for the death of an Arab family on Gaza beach (2006), again Israel promised/asked to wait until a full investigation is complete, that concluded it was the “Palestinian” Hamas’ led mines that brought about that incident.

No matter how many times the media sees the transparency in the fake images produced and invented by the ‘Palestinians’, “PALLYWOOD” (http://seconddraft.org), it seems to “forget”, each time a new case appears.

Demanding from Israel the victim of terror more than from the perpetrator

The words an anti-Israel ‘activist’ told me, resonates throughout this conflict: “I can’t expect from the Arabs any better, but Israel/ should know better!”.
In other words, it is part of demanding from the west ever more then from the Islamic world, when it comes to morality.
The only problem is that it is not presented in this open way, it is presented as Israel is the “bad” guy, period.
As opposed to endless condemnations by the UN on Israel’s self defense, When was the last time the UN has condemned the very Arab “Palestinian” crimes on their own people that they try to pin on Israel, like:
Using it’s kids as human shields (which Huzbullah, in 2006, picked up very quickly, copied them in their war on Israeli civilians, using Arab civilians) and as human bombs?
Legitimizing and even glorifying mass murder and genocide as a ‘good holy act’ in their mainstream and official media?

The Lie of “natives” is bought

How many have fallen prey to the powerful sell of “indigenous” Arabs in the land of the Judea?
The picture of an all out ‘Arabs in the middle east’, is one of the misconception misleading clarity of history, never forget that most today’s ‘Palestinians’ have no more than 3 generations “history” in this ancient land of the Jews.
Absolutely no one has disputed the fact of Arab immigration that saw an upsurge with Zionists’ immigration (the latter only, limited by the British) in the late 1800.
The fact that the most “Palestinian” - icon of all time: Yasser Arafat was an Egyptian born fighting for “his homeland” in Israel… is so classical.
By the same token, it is not well known the fact that over 50% Israeli Jews are of children of indigenous Jews in the middle east (http://jimena.org) .

The Global Goliath Islamo Arab power

The very fact that there was so much talk and selecting/picking on one lobby out of so many different types and different interests - lobbies that operate in Washington but the utter silence on the enormous Islamo Arab lobby that basically occupies, threatens, incorporating so many in their anti-Israel racist boycott, uses oil as a weapon and dictates the international arena, including the UN, shows you just how great of bully they are.
So is the fear of European nations for unrest by the Arab Muslim (immigrant) population, (terrorism works!) that effects or rather impairs their stand on the middle east conflict.

The wrong picture of seeing Israel as the “aggressor” and the ‘Palestinian Arabs’ as the “underdog”

Question # 1:
Who has more power, the cynical Arab adult shooting behind a kid’s back, behind a woman’s squirt, or the Israeli humane soldier facing a terrible dilemma?

Question # 2
When you see the biased media showing a tank vs. kid, A) do you ever stop and think what the message is behind it? B) Does this suggest that the Israeli soldier is really after an unarmed person? C) Did you ever stop to think that the very fact that you can see the Israeli soldier but you can NOT see the Arab terrorist makes the invisible much more of a menace?

Nothing more like the situation in Iraq (2003-2007) demonstrates that you might have the most powerful army in the world, you are weaker (in many ways) than the invisible coward terrorists hiding among civilians that has no rules of basic regards for ANY human lives.

Outrageous use of baseless drama language and hollow bombastic terms on Israel’s multi-racial beautiful democracy

Take for example the admission of anti Israel Arabist: Jimmy Carter that (on December , 2006 - CNN) has admitted that Israel is a great democracy with freedom and equal rights for all, and that (in an interview to Larry King he said that) he used provocative words like “apartheid” (only) in order to provoke discussion.
All those bombastic empty words like “racism’ or “apartheid” the anti-Israel Arab racist propaganda machine is selling, has of course no support in facts on the ground, there is nothing “racist” about fighting terrorists for being terrorists, there is nothing “apartheid”, especially that they are the same Arab race and group, Israeli Arabs and “Palestinian” Arabs, with different identification cards that has nothing but security implications.
Since when is concern for security considered “racism”?

The same “Judenrein - Palestine” that is trying to ethnic cleanse all Jews, that does not even permit any Jew to live in their ‘territories’, is lecturing multi-racial, multi-religion, multi-color Israel, that has all colors and races from the darkest black to the whitest blond, that has a whopping 20-25% Arabs in it’s population, with equal rights and representations in high offices (and even more rights than Jews, giving the fact that Israeli Jews are obligated to serve in the army whereas Israeli Arabs are not).

The racism behind “questioning” Israel’s right to exist

Can you name one other country that is subject to even a question of being ‘recognized’?
Why do you think it is?
If you want to talk about history as a supposed reason, 1) Even if you are a naiive student of ‘Palestinian’ propaganda in revising history, You don’t see anyone denying the unmistakenly settlers like most European, or American or Australians right to exist. 2) speaking even about history, for the record: No matter on which political side you are on, you have no right to deny rights of a nation to exist, no one can ever erase Jews’ history to the land of Israel, at the same breath no one can claim that there was ever a sovereign Arab-Muslim “Palestine”, in fact, the same nazis or Jew-haters that used to tell the Jews in Europe: ‘Go back where you came from, go to Israel-Palestine’, the ones continue the evil torch of Nazism today ironically deny the Jews coming back to their original roots-origin.

The dehumanization of Israeli victims

Seeing Israel as nothing but a “tank”, is another racist element coming through, in brushing off Israeli victims as a “side details” at best.
When was the last time the BBC (for example) has shown any drama pictures of injured Israeli kids at a fraction of the time, passion dedicated to any Arab kid that was killed (usually) because of an Arab adult’s fault?
Can you remember reporters of the mainstream media visiting Israeli hospitals as much as you can remember them strolling down Arab ones? And Why not?
Numbers are not the reason, percentage wise you will see time and time again, Israel loses by far in media’s favoritism.

____________________________

Some references

No Tolerance for Bigotry. Edward I. Koch Tuesday, March 7, 2006 … he was affiliated with the anti-Israel organization Architects and Planners for Justice
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/3/7/125453.shtml

israelinsider: Views: Bigotry outside Faneuil HallWhen I left, award in hand, I was accosted by a group of screaming, angry young men and women carrying virulently anti-Israel signs. …
http://web.israelinsider.com/bin/en.jsp?enPage=ViewsPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=object&enDispWho=Article%5El3389&enZone=Views&enVersion=0

Ugly iceberg of bigotry | Jerusalem PostUgly iceberg of bigotry By ALAN M. DERSHOWITZ … these anti-Israel zealots are not only ignoring the real problems faced by many, they are also providing …
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1128955360838&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Anti-semitism on campus by Anna Bolman at Over A Teacup Campus newspapers have become a hotbed of anti-Semitic and anti-Israel … they cannot stop certain expressions of hate and bigotry, they condemn them. …
http://www.overateacup.com/abolman1.html

Ford Foundation Update - Ford Money Still Being Used for Anti Israel …. bigotry or violence, … The NGOs mentioned above continue to promote an anti-Israel political agenda. …
http://www.ngo-monitor.org/article.php?id=993

This goes beyond even the onerous bigotry and anti-Israel bias being exhibited by professors in many of the Middle Eastern Studies Departments
http://clarityandresolve.com/archives/2005/02/columbia_profes.php

The Struggle against Anti-Israel Bias at the UN Commission on …The same can be said for the UN as a whole; defeating its bigotry
http://www.jcpa.org/phas/phas-040-neuer.htm

Seven Christian leaders wrote the following open letter to President Bush in response to a growing number of anti-Semitic incidents around the world
‘To bigotry no sanction’. America must stand against a … Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, and the singularly anti-Israel focus …
http://www.leaderu.com/theology/nosanction.html

UN-sponsored bigotry
Many people are anti-Israel for a variety of reasons which are not anti-Semitic per … Spouting accusations and bigotry…
http://www.windsofchange.net/archives/007670.php

Melanie Phillips’s Diary » Back to unreality (3)Having given the anti-Israel bigotry of the British left its regular airing, the programme showed its commitment to balance by broadcasting a sample of …
www.melaniephillips.com/diary/?p=993 - 18k - Cached - Similar pages

It’s about bigotry, stupid!
The war on terrorism is a war against bigotry. It’s a war that cannot be won … The screening was the work of a pro-Palestine, anti-Israel …
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=37766

Immunizing Science Against Bigotry Beleaguered Israeli doctors now have to fend off mindless … anti-Semitism, which now hides behind anti-Israel rhetoric. …
http://www.aish.com/jewishissues/middleeast/Immunizing_Science_Against_Bigotry.asp

Kicking a CAIR Extremist … Ahmad is free to continue publishing anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric…
http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=25309

“British Academic Boycott Is Just Blinkered Bigotry - Forward.com” … the latest in a series of high-profile anti-Israel declarations and boycotts..
http://www.forward.com/articles/british-academic-boycott-is-just-blinkered-bigotry

Fears of anti-Semitism sweep Europe / Leftists, intellectuals …The phenomenon of extreme criticism of Israel morphing into bigotry against … “Many intellectuals will say they are anti-Israel or anti-Zionist…
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/12/14/MNGVD3N2H31.DTL
Depths of bigotry at Columbia - Campus WatchThe evidence that Columbia University classrooms are infected by a culture of anti-Semitism and anti-Israeli bigotry grows ever stronger. …
http://www.campus-watch.org/article/id/1345

Nice talk can’t hide U.N.’s anti-Jewish bigotryNice talk can’t hide U.N.’s anti-Jewish bigotry. By Joel Mowbray … Bayefsky further attacked Annan for hypocrisy in condemning Israel for killing Hamas …
http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0704/mowbray_2004_07_01.php3

WorldNetDaily: Europe blinded by anti-Semitic bigotryEurope blinded by anti-Semitic bigotry … The AUT’s indictment of Israel is short on specifics – with good reason. There simply is no case to be made that …
http://www.wnd.com/news/printer-friendly.asp?ARTICLE_ID=43891

CAMERA: Caricature or Bigotry? The Chicago Tribune ran an offensive and fallacious cartoon by Dick Locher on May 30, 2003 reminiscent of the anti-Jewish stereotypes …
http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_article=480&x_context=2

Hating Jews: when do anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism overlap? http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1568/is_9_35/ai_n6133904

Tom McMahan's Corner Presented

Marie — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 10:35:43 EDT

Just getting to hear From Tom's McMahan's Corner:

http://online.wsj.com/public/article_print/SB121755649066303381.html

When a company like Wal-Mart begins doing things like this, you hurt them in their pocket-book, and let them and the media know you're doing it.

Chattanooga TN station does nothing to counter bigotry By Tom - Aug 2nd, 2008 at 6:18 am EDT

http://wdef.com/video/is_obama_a_muslim/08/2008#comment-119999

If you want, please let this TV station know that its not acceptable to simply report on people's prejudiced viewpoints without at least making an attempt to show why they are wrong. If you want to provide links to help refute this nonsense:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/invite/christian

This leads me to believe that the reporter and station either went into this story with the idea of making fun of these poor people or promoting a prejudicial view of the candidate. I'm sure the fact that Barack Obama doesn't have an Anglo-Saxon name is newsworthy! I'm also sure that's not a requirement to be President of the United States either!

Nathan "No" Deal's No votes By Tom - Aug 1st, 2008 at 9:26 am EDT

Especially vulnerable to numbers 8 (big time), 10, 11, 30, and 34 here in north GA IMHO. Thanks Michelle! (Tom)

Good Evening This is the information I have compiled on all of Mr. NO Deal's No Votes. They only cover the period since his last Town Hall meeting last August. I get megavote every week but I was surprised at the list when compiled altogether. Outside of the DOD I don't know who he really votes for. Could you pass it on to anyone who you think might want to attend? Thanks. Maggie

Nathan "NO" Deal - No Votes

8/1/07-8/1/08

1. Farm, Nutrition & Bio-energy Act (Farm Bill) HR 6124 & HR 2419

2. Natural Resources Act S2739

3. Back up Paper Ballots HR 5803

4. Alternative Minimum Tax Bill HR 6275

5. Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act HR 5749

6. Amtrak Re-authorization Act HR 6003

7. Alternative Energy Tax Incentives HR 6049

8. G I Bill Expansion HR 2642

9. Assistance to States for Purchasing Foreclosed Homes HR 5818

10. Housing Foreclosure Assistance Programs HR 3221

11. Student Loan Provision Changes HR 5715

12. Federal Funding for Voting System Changes HR 5036

13. Amending Tax Code Provisions & IRS Practices HR 5719

14.Funding to combat AIDS, Malaria & Tuberculosis HR 5501

15. Intelligence Authorization Act HR 2082

16. Energy Bill HR 5351

17. Higher Education Act Amendments & Extensions HR 4137

18. Economic Stimulus Plan HR 5140

19. Children’s Health Insurance Program Re-authorization Act (CHIP) HR 3963

20. Homeowner’s Catastrophic Insurance Act HR 3355

21. National Affordable Housing Trust Fund Act HR 2895

22. Tax Collection Responsibility Act HR 3056

23. Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act HR 3648

24. Expanding American Home Ownership Act HR 1852

25. Student Loan Subsidy Cuts & Student Grants HR 2669

26. Renewable Energy & Energy Conservation Tax Act HR 2776

27. Requiring OSHA to Establish Combustible Dust Safety Standards HR 5522

28. Mental Health Coverage Bill HR 1424

29. Terrorism Risk Insurance Extension & Modification HR 4299

30. Mortgage Reform & Anti-Sub prime Lending Act HR 3915

31. Sexual Orientation Employment Non-discrimination Act HR 3685

32. Hard Rock Mining & Reclamation Act HR 2262

33. Electronic Communications Preservation Act HR 5811

34. Energy Act HR 6

Nothing but 'ARAB RACISM' & 'ISLAMIC BIGOTRY' created maintains drives the 'MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT'

Natalia from Acampo, CA — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 12:53:56 EDT

Nothing but 'ARAB RACISM' & 'ISLAMIC BIGOTRY' created maintains drives the 'MIDDLE EAST CONFLICT'

Simply put, the powerful Arab Muslim majority of the middle east (convinced they "own" the place) is intolerant against the (though democratic and multi-racial, multi-culture, still it's majority of the population and official identity is) non-Arab, non-Muslim Israel.

Reports of Mosque Surveillance Concerns Muslims

funkfresh01 — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 23:00:53 EDT

http://religion.info/english/articles/article_385.shtml

Source: Religioscope

Author: Richard Cimino

While there have been allegations in the past of government investigation of mosques on issues relating to terrorism, the recent report, first featured in the San Diego Union-Tribune newspaper, is said to be the first confirmation that surveillance is taking place.

An article in the Los Angeles Times (May 29) reports that information about the alleged spying surfaced in a case about classified files concerning terrorism that were stolen from a secure office used by military and civilian law enforcement officials at Camp Pendleton. Some of these classified records referred to the surveillance of Muslim communities in Southern California, specifically, the Islamic Center of San Diego. The records alleged that the mosque had been monitored as part of a federal surveillance program targeting Muslim groups, according to the Union-Tribune article.

The FBI's Plan to ‘Profile’ Muslims

funkfresh01 — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 18:03:03 EDT

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2008/07/10/muslim_profiling/index.html

Source: Salon

Author: Juan Cole

The U.S. Justice Department is considering a change in the grounds on which the FBI can investigate citizens and legal residents of the United States. Till now, DOJ guidelines have required the FBI to have some evidence of wrongdoing before it opens an investigation. The impending new rules, which would be implemented later this summer, allow bureau agents to establish a terrorist profile or pattern of behavior and attributes and, on the basis of that profile, start investigating an individual or group. Agents would be permitted to ask "open-ended questions" concerning the activities of Muslim Americans and Arab-Americans. A person's travel and occupation, as well as race or ethnicity, could be grounds for opening a national security investigation.

The rumored changes have provoked protests from Muslim American and Arab-American groups. The Council on American Islamic Relations, among the more effective lobbies for Muslim Americans' civil liberties, immediately denounced the plan, as did James Zogby, the president of the Arab-American Institute. Said Zogby, "There are millions of Americans who, under the reported new parameters, could become subject to arbitrary and subjective ethnic and religious profiling." Zogby, who noted that the Bush administration's history with profiling is not reassuring, warned that all Americans would suffer from a weakening of civil liberties.

CAIR Calling on Obama to Invite Women to Future Rally

funkfresh01 — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:33:10 EDT

http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/new.php?n=12985

Source: Catholic News Agency

In an attempt to silence rumors that he is secretly a Muslim, two Barack Obama campaign volunteers prevented two women wearing headscarves from appearing in a picture with him at a Monday campaign rally. Reacting to the news, the Council on American-Islamic Relations told CNA that they are asking for Obama to invite the women to another rally.

According to news reports, Aref Koussan and Shimaa Abdelfadeel were prohibited from sitting behind Barack Obama’s podium so that they wouldn’t appear in photographs or on television in their hijabs (Islamic headscarves) with the presidential candidate.

When Ignorance Meets Bigotry

Bruce Mirken — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:10:01 EDT

A colleague of mine who works at MPP's Washington, DC office (disclaimer: As many on here know, I work for the Marijuana Policy Project, but all opinions expressed here are strictly my own and not those of my employer) told me of something that happened recently that's stuck in my mind -- and, I think, illustrates a bit of the dilemma Barack Obama faces.

Doing some errands on his lunch break, he walked past a contruction site where the workers were also on break, and he overheard some of their conversation. One (white) worker said to his friends, "If Obama's elected, he's gonna pass a law making whites the minority." This was said in all seriousness, with no sign of irony.

The mind reels, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, to be most appalled by the bigotry or the ignorance. Did this person, working literally walking distance from the Capitol, not know that an institution called Congress has something to say about what laws get passed? And should President Obama and Congress somehow agree that they wanted to "make whites the minority," how would this work? Ban whites from having kids? Ship us all overseas (presuming, of course, some unlucky country was dumb enough to take us)?

But there is a larger point here: While this construction worker may have been an extreme case, we live in a dumbed-down nation where serious discussion of news and politics is nearly absent even from what passes as news in the commercial media, a nation in which many voters operate on little knowledge. They operate on instinct, and the human instinct is to feel comfortable with the familiar and uncomfortable with the unfamiliar. For many white Americans -- not just overt bigots, who are probably hopeless, but a larger segment whose familiarity with black America consists of seeing the latest Will Smith summer blockbuster and hearing (and probably disliking) occasional snatches of hip-hop music -- the notion that a black guy named Barack Hussein Obama could be the next president of the United States is profoundly foreign and strange.

Those of us who frequent this site -- a self-selected group of politically aware, engaged, and generally progressive-leaning individuals -- can be pretty detached from how a lot of Americans perceive things. It's easy for us to forget that we are asking America to take what feels to many like a leap into the unknown by electing Obama.

Yes, the fact that it feels like a leap into the unknown to so many is profoundly sad, but it is so nonetheless. We have never, ever had a president who wasn't a white male with an Anglo Saxon-sounding name. Within my lifetime the notion of a Catholic president was still controversial. We've still never come close to having a Jewish president.

This is why I don't get too upset when I see Obama taking steps to reassure such people that he's a "normal American" -- one who's patriotic, believes in God and faith, and is serious about protecting the country from terrorists. We are a nation that's been ruled by fear for so long that it's not possible to unlearn that habit overnight. Our candidate knows that there are a lot of people out there who aren't overt bigots, but feel a vague unease at handing the presidency over to this dark-skinned guy with a foreign-sounding (or even, perhaps, Islamic-sounding) name.

America is crawling when it needs to run, but first it must learn how to walk. The learning process will not be easy or quick.

Washington Post submission

Beth from ColoradObama — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 15:46:00 EDT

Following is a lengthy response to a column by Dan Balz (really?).

Wisdom from the past

Dan McNamara — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 12:19:28 EDT

I recently stumbled on a quotation from Margaret Chase Smith (1950), the first woman ever elected to the United States Senate (R - Maine).
Although she wanted her party to win in the next election, she said

"I do not want to see the Republican Party ride to victory on the Four Horsemen of Calumny - fear, ignorance, bigotry, and smear"

Sadly, these are the very tactics the Republican party is bringing to bear against Barak Obama today by lies, distortions and cowardly whispering campaigns. Either McCain is not the honorable man he purports to be or he is too weak a leader to control his people, let alone be president. OBAMA '08

Dan McNamara

Obama Campaign Apologizes for Muslim Snub

funkfresh01 — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:07:58 EDT

http://www.nysun.com/national/obama-campaign-apologizes-for-snub-of-muslim-women/80282/

Source: New York Sun

Senator Obama's campaign is apologizing after campaign volunteers reportedly kept two Muslim women from appearing behind the senator at a Detroit rally on Monday because they were wearing headscarves.

One witness, Ali Koussan, told the Politico that one volunteer cited "the political climate," "what's going on in the world," and "what's going on with Muslim Americans" before stating that it wouldn't be helpful for one of the hijab-wearing women to appear in television pictures with Mr. Obama.

"I was like, 'You've got to be kidding me? Are you serious?" Mr. Koussan said.

"This is of course not the policy of the campaign. It is offensive and counter to Obama's commitment to bring Americans together and simply not the kind of campaign we run," a spokesman for the campaign, William Burton, told the political news outlet. "We sincerely apologize for the behavior of these volunteers."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations called on Mr. Obama to invite the two women who were snubbed to appear with him at a future event.

Senator Obama apologizes to 2 local Muslim women

funkfresh01 — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:59:16 EDT

http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080619/NEWS15/80619066&GID=rXlakoBVcc8WumLcjE0kGJ6K56ieqk8CejNNX5IUZw0%3D

By NIRAJ WARIKOO • FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER • June 19, 2008

Barack Obama personally called to apologize Thursday to the two Muslim women from Michigan barred from sitting next to him during a campaign rally Monday because they wore Islamic head scarves.

One of the women, Shimaa Abdelfadeel, told the Free Press that Obama called her "to personally convey his deepest apologies and acknowledge that this was inexcusable."

Obama also left a voice mail for the other woman, Hebba Aref, 25, of Bloomfield Hills, according to Abdelfadeel.

Obama volunteers didn't allow the two women to sit behind Obama at a Detroit rally on Monday out of fear their Muslim headscarves, known as hijab, would create a negative impression.

"We both immensely appreciate the Senator's phone call and his commitment to remedy this issue," Abdelfadeel said. "We commend him for displaying qualities befitting an effective President."

Speaking about the incident, Abdelfadeel said that on Monday, “two volunteers denied us seating behind the stage the Senator would soon take.”

Racist Anti-Obama Pin Sold at GOP Convention

funkfresh01 — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 18:46:48 EDT

http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/06/stick-a-pin-in-it.html

Posted 6/18/2008 4:11:00 PM

Source: Dallas Morning News

Author: Christy Hoppe

While a number of speakers -- such as Railroad Commission chairman Michael Williams and Mike Huckabee -- have praised the advance of Barack Obama and what it means towards a colorblind society, at least one vendor hasn't gotten the message.

At the Republican state convention, a booth hosted by Republicanmarket was selling a pin Saturday that says: If Obama is President will we still call it the White House.

There were other pins that weren't necessarily conveying the positive, inclusive, united front that has been portrayed during the convention. One said, "Press 1 for English. Press 2 for Deportation" and another, "I will hold my nose when I vote for McCain"

New York Muslim’s Struggle for Justice in America

funkfresh01 — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 16:08:55 EDT

http://atlanticfreepress.com/content/view/4016/32/

Source: Atlantic Free Press

Author: Stephen Lendman

Yassin Aref is a 37 year old Albany, New York resident and one of many Muslim victims of police state justice in post-9/11 America. They've been hunted down, rounded up, held in detention, kept in isolation, denied bail, restricted in their right to counsel, tried on secret evidence and trumped-up charges, then incarcerated as political prisoners or deported to where they face possible arrest and torture.

Because of his faith and ethnicity, Aref was victimized by US "justice" in a post-9/11 climate of fear. He's an Iraqi Kurd who emigrated to the US as a UN refugee in 1999 with his wife and three young children. He's now in federal prison but committed no crime. He's also the author of a poignant memoir/autobiography titled "Son of Mountains: My Life as a Kurd and a Terror Suspect." He wrote it in custody at Troy, New York's Rensselaer County Jail after his wrongful conviction in October 2006.

Muslim Activists Seeking Probe of Reported Surveillance

funkfresh01 — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 15:18:08 EDT

http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_C_muslim30.426eaa8.html

Source: Press-Enterprise

Author: Paige Austin

A civil-rights group and a coalition of Muslim activists headed by a Corona man called on Congress this week to investigate a report that military and law enforcement officials stole surveillance records of Southland Muslims from Camp Pendleton.

The request stems from a news report that military officials and law enforcement members of the Los Angeles County Terrorist Early Warning Group illegally took the top-secret documents from the base's Strategic Technical Operations Center.

According to the San Diego Union-Tribune, Marine Gunnery Sgt. Gary Maziarz has been court-martialed and convicted for his role in the thefts.

While the details of the surveillance and the alleged theft remain largely unknown, the incident provides confirmation that the military and law enforcement groups have been gathering information about local Muslim communities, said Michael German, policy counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union's Washington Legislative Office.

Florida Muslim Leaders Testify at United Nation Racism Hearing

funkfresh01 — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 20:59:14 EDT

MIAMI, FL, 6/4/08) - On June 2, 2008, Florida Muslim leaders met with Doudou Diène, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, at a Miami hearing to discuss Islamophobia and anti-Muslim discrimination.

For photos of the event: http://picasaweb.google.com/bedier/UNMiamiHearingOnRacism

Special Rapporteur Diène is visiting several cities across the United States to "gather first-hand information on issues related to racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia."

Reuters: U.N. racism investigator to visit U.S.

http://www.reuters.com/article/latestCrisis/idUSL16843098

U.S. MARINES ACCUSED OF PROSELYTIZING IN FALLUJAH

funkfresh01 — Sat, 31 May 2008 22:07:21 EDT

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004444827_iraqgospel29.html

Source: McClatchy Newspapers

Author: Jamal Naji and Leila Fadel

At the western entrance to the Iraqi city of Fallujah on Tuesday, Muamar Anad handed his residence badge to the U.S. Marines guarding the city. They checked to be sure he was a city resident, and when they were done, Anad said, a Marine slipped a coin out of his pocket and put it in his hand.

Out of fear, he accepted it, Anad said. When he was inside the city, the college student said, he looked at one side of the coin. "Where will you spend eternity?" it asked.

He flipped it over, and on the other side it read, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16."

Autistic Kid Voted out of Class; Teacher is Worst Person in the World!

Jerod Poore — Tue, 27 May 2008 16:23:11 EDT

Does this ever bring back memories of my getting kicked out of one day care out after another until I was a 7-year-old latchkey kid.

Wendy Portillo, a kindergarten teacher in St. Lucie, Florida thought the best way to handle an autistic child’s problems fitting in was to have him stand in front of the class, have all of the other kids tell him what they don’t like about him, then take a vote if they want him to stay in class or not.

Reality TV / Lord of the Flies based education. One more sign that America is going the way of the Roman Empire.

Wendy Portillo – Worst Person in the World!

Details in the extended section of the post.

White People

Jim — Wed, 14 May 2008 22:56:24 EDT

Maine is mostly white. 98% White. Iowa is 91% white. Colorado is 92% white. Vermont is 98% white. Connecticut is 87% white. Delaware is 76% white. Kansas is 91% white. Get the point? I am grappling with the Clinton campaign's "newest" argument that "white working" people do not support Obama. The states I just listed all voted for Obama, and several of them voted strongly for Obama. And, in case you were wondering, many of those white people who voted for Obama work.

I can speak about some of those working white people in Maine, where I live. Many of them are not rich. Maine has one of the highest state income taxes in the nation. It is freaking cold here over half the year, so we spend a lot of money on heating oil which, as you know, has gone through the roof. Many are lobstermen, who need diesel to run their lobster boats. A good chunk of Maine is rural, with some pretty lousy jobs. Paper mills, shoe shops, lobstermen. In the more prosperous southern Maine, over 8000 people work long, hard shifts at Bath Iron Works, not exactly an "elite" job.

Not that there aren't pockets of wealth. Portland is thriving, Freeport is doing well, as long as you have a job at LL Bean's, and there are areas of wealth clustered along the coast. But all in all it is a state of "white working class" people. And most of them voted for Obama. And came out in record numbers, in the dead of winter.

So I have to wonder what is going on in rural Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia? It can't simply be "white working class" people. It is either that Obama ran poorer campaigns there, which I doubt, or that Hillary ran a better campaign, which is possible. Or that the people there are different from all of the "white" people in all those other "white" states that voted for Obama. Are they racists? Could it be that the south still lives, only it has moved up north a bit?

I think the answer is yes, but I am ready to stand corrected if someone can show me otherwise. If those areas are white racists, (perhaps bigot is a better word?), then Hillary did run a better campaign by playing into their fears. I say better with disdain, however, because Obama has worked his heart out to transcend race and run beyond the theme of black versus white. Rove and Bush and company knew who these people were and fed their fears, pumped up the "us versus them" mentality and got their votes. Shame on them. Shame on Hillary and her advisors.

When Obama is running as our candidate, he and his team will clearly devote time and energy towards reaching out to and educating these anachronistic bigots. I am an optimist. If the all-white rural people of Maine can reach out, then I believe the good people of West Virginia, Kentucky and rural Pennsylvania and Ohio can change. If they don't, it won't be for a lack of effort on our part. And you can be sure that the Democratic campaign won't pander to them but rather educate, reach out and help them to see just how much the rest of the country has changed already, without them. But don't be so naive to think that the Republicans ignored yesterday in West Virginia. And shame on them now. You know they are already planning bigoted attack ads based on yesterday's exit polls.

For those who still don't get what the Obama campaign about, now is the time to understand. Reach out for the sake of coming together. NOT for the sake of partisan divisiveness. It is time to transcend race, religion, sexual orientation and ancestry. Haven't we had enough of that for 8 years with the Bush/Rove/Cheney debacle? It is time for the good people of America to unite and strengthen the country.

Response to an earlier post by Andrew Lietzow titled Morons – Is this a hate crime?”

Mickiboop (P.O.B.) Be the Change — Tue, 06 May 2008 17:39:43 EDT

Thank you Andrew, I appreciate hearing from you and your expressed passion against BIGOTRY. The article: http://weblogs.baltimoresun.com/news/politics/blog/2008/05/a_busy_indiana_morning_for_oba.html

Let’s really talk about this – a real conversation. Being an AA middle-aged female, I have seen and experienced this type of treatment first hand. It is INEXCUSABLE, and when you are the one receiving this type of ignorant treatment, it makes you feel badly.

For people in my age group, 50+, who have experienced racism up close and personal, it is an indescribable feeling of sadness, anger, hatred, disgust, regret, and inadequacy, all rolled up together. When people like me who have a strong sense of self-worth, pride, ego, strength, ambition, honor, intelligence and integrity, are treated with such disdain and bigotry, it causes pain and a feeling of “less than”; less than others, not as good, inadequate, and most of all, low self-esteem. If a person and their race is treated this way for years, they become very angry and bitter about life and the race that has treated them this way.

The man in that restaurant was taught to feel, act and react in a bigoted manner. As the human race ages, it is vitally imperative to raise children with a sense of positive cultural imagery about our differences, and to give them an awareness of the importance of each race depending on each other in order to promote equality. It is our responsibility to advance race relations to an improved level in order to give future generations a chance at surviving. I say this because our planet is becoming over-populated, and the food supply is becoming tainted because of global warming, and the earth’s drinking water is becoming more polluted.

Our future generations MUST learn to live and work together so that they continue to discover and use their talented innovative minds for the good of the earth and all of its people. It is our duty to stand up against injustice of every type, especially when it can separate and destroy the Human Race. This is not the most important reason to elect Barack Obama, but for some, it is a small part of the equation.

Catch the Fever - Barack Your Vote!

McCain's endorser, John Hagee goes unchecked...unlike Farrakhan or Wright

Molly LaCombe — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 18:15:37 EDT

The media focus on Obama and his various associations has been highly publicized. We know that many people criticize Rev. Wright for some of his beliefs, and that Farrakhan has made controversial statements in the past. We also know that both men's history are, sadly, ones that are filled with racial injustice towards them, and their communities and families. Therefore, I find Rev. Wright's story very compelling and forgiveable, if there's anything to forgive. Wright was the pastor of a very warm and welcoming, and unabashedly proud black church...one that has blessed the community it lives in. It has restored pride to many African Americans as well.

What troubles me is that the endorsement of McCain by John Hagee has seen little fanfare in the media. It's pretty much a non-issue. Hagee is unabashedly a supporter of Israel, has had awards bestowed upon him by Jewish groups as well. However, his comments about women, the Catholic Church, and gays and lesbians has gone virtually unattacked.

The media has not made us as familiar with Hagee's controversial statements about the Catholic Church which he called a "false cult" and "great whore," his comments about women with PMS being akin to a "snarling Doberman pinscher" wearing "lipstick," that women are "by instinct, a manipulator of situations." We are not reminded that Hagee call Katrina, "God's judgment against New Orleans." (see http://www.staugustine.com/stories/042608/opinions_txt01_041.shtml)

In fact, "On February 29, McCain stated that Hagee "supports what I stand for and believe in." see http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=3316

Essentially, if you are a white bigot, that's ok. If you are a black man who makes controversial, racial, or bigoted comments, you're the devil himself. In fact, the records of transcripts that I've seen show Wright as rather benign compared to what this guy's been saying. Wright may discuss racial inequities, but he has not gone so far as to denounce entire faiths, or genders.

McCain pressed on 'Islamic' terror label

funkfresh01 — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:28:53 EDT

http://washingtontimes.com/article/20080421/NATION/438135169/1001

By Rowan Scarborough

A coalition of American Muslim groups is demanding that Sen. John McCain stop using the adjective "Islamic" to describe terrorists and extremist enemies of the United States.

Muneer Fareed, who heads the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), told The Washington Times that his group is beginning a campaign to persuade Mr. McCain to rephrase his descriptions of the enemy.

"We've tried to contact his office, contact his spokesperson to have them rethink word usage that is more acceptable to the Muslim community," Mr. Fareed said. "If it's not our intent to paint everyone with the same brush, then certainly we should think seriously about just characterizing them as criminals, because that is what they are."

An aide to Mr. McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee who is counting on his pro-Iraq war stance to attract conservative voters, said the senator from Arizona will not drop the word.

The Muslim myth still dogging Obama

funkfresh01 — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:24:38 EDT

http://www.thetimes-tribune.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19501048&BRD=2185&PAG=461&dept_id=415898&rfi=6

BY ROJA HEYDARPOUR, STAFF WRITER

Source: Times Tribune

It’s been said many times: this is an election year of firsts. The first viable woman presidential candidate. The first viable black presidential candidate.

But the first Muslim presidential candidate?

One in 10 Americans believes that Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is a Muslim, according to a Pew Research Center News Interest Index survey taken in March.

Mr. Obama is, in fact, a practicing Christian, as underscored by the debate over the controversial sermon delivered by his pastor after Sept. 11, 2001.

The same survey found that 79 percent of the general public had heard rumors that Mr. Obama is Muslim, while 38 percent had heard “a lot” about it.

Indeed, rumors have circulated on blogs and comment boards since the fall, spurred by pictures of Mr. Obama in a turban, by talk of childhood time spent in Indonesia — a Muslim country — and by his middle name, Hussein, among other things.

An apology from a former Republican from Texas

Sheri Obamacan fromTexas — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:27:34 EDT

"This is our chance to declare independence from the current Politics” that’s why I am running for President of the United States of America” - Barack Obama

I feel I need to apologize on behalf of White American’s in this country. Our history of racial bias is an example of generational bigotry taught to our children and their children. It is with sincere regret that Caucasian American’s would take their gift of a vote and abuse the privilege it offers them to make a difference in this world. Please accept my deepest sincere apology for our ignorant behavior. Education is freedom and when we can mirror the rest of the world in our tolerance of different skin color perhaps we will truly be free. I am sorry if the White vote has disappointed anyone in America. I am ashamed of our ignorance.

"First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Socialists and the trade unionists, but I was neither, so I did not speak out. Then they came for the Jews, but I was not a Jew, so I did not speak out. And when they came for me, there was no one left to speak out for me. – Martin Niemoeller (1892-1984)

The Obama Name Games Painful to Muslims

funkfresh01 — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 19:51:05 EDT

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89766811

Author: Jamie Tarabay

Barack Obama is not a Muslim, but a recent survey found that about 10 percent of Americans believe he is. That perception has been fueled by a campaign of rumors and innuendo. It's a campaign that has caused pain in many Muslim communities, including one in Pennsylvania, which holds a key presidential primary Tuesday.

Obama had a Muslim stepfather. As a child, he learned about Islam and sometimes went to mosque. Nevertheless, he's a devout Christian.

But his middle name, Hussein, has been used by opponents to imply that he's a Muslim. . .

The trickle-down effect of such messages over radio, TV, the Internet and e-mail can be felt in West Philadelphia, in the city's Muslim community.

'No Shame to Be a Muslim'

"We felt sad," says Abdul Musaitif, who runs a Muslim pizzeria in Germantown. "It's no shame to be a Muslim."

Musaitif, a Palestinian from Ramallah, is now a naturalized U.S. citizen. He decries the idea that a reference to Obama being a Muslim could be seen as an accusation. But he says this is just the latest piece of negativity he has witnessed.

He adds: "They say this is a [democratic] country."

Musaitif also owns the butcher shop next door. His employees are all Muslim, and all the meat he serves, including pizzas, burgers and bacon, are halal — pork-free and Islam sanctioned. Despite everything though, Musaitif says he still feels very American.

"I've been here 24 years; my kids [were] born here," he says. "Everything I own is here."

Standing beside him is Khalil Abdul Jabbar. An African-American convert, he now wears the sort of garb — a long black tunic, prayer cap and unkempt beard — that singles him out as a devout Muslim. He says he's not surprised that labeling Obama a Muslim is considered a smear

My Homemade Obama Sign Stolen, yard trashed in PA

DJ Coffman — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 14:44:41 EDT

Scottdale, PA - The sign I made for my yard last week was stolen while I was on a trip to NYC, and my wife's flower bushes were trashed. I had gotten this news from my wife, and it really worried me that someone would be back to do some more damage. You see, like in my earlier post about making the Obama sign, there was a shortage of signs, so I made my own and set it near the road-- We would put it back near our porch at night--

So who stole it and why? Did they just like it so much they wanted it for their yard? Was it an angry Hillary supportor, or one of the closeted bigoted-close-minded ignorant fools who live around here? Maybe someone just stole it for the wood?

One things for sure... first thing I did when I got home... I made ANOTHER sign and put it out. A day before the election, I think it's needed. As I was painting the sign, my wife said she was worried that someone would come back and damage our property... but I said I wasn't afraid of that. My soul is pretty damn resiliant, and I know that CHANGE cannot be stopped, stolen or stalled. -- I told me wife, that Karma would likely catch up to those who stole it...

I believe they stole it to silence my freedom of speech and expression. To silence my HOPE for change in Pennyslvania and in American politics. They thought they'd take away my sign that everyone could read... but I painted another one. And if they steal it, I'll paint another one... and another one and on and on. But back that karma statement.... I told my wife, if you do wrong, it comes back on you tenfold. That's what my old irish Grandmother Laugherty told me when I was a wee kid... And sure enough.... while once there were on Obama signs in Scottdale, we took a ride around the block and the day after our sign was stolen, there were multiple signs all through Scottdale--- and in the main entry to Scottdale there were 10 signs in a row long a nice stretch of welcoming grass.

You can't stop this message... and when you do, it will multiply it even more. I think about the person who stole that big heavy sign, only to see 30 smaller ones pop up the next day.

Vote tomorrow for change in Pennsylvania!

Kansas Muslim Attacked with 'Molotov Cocktail'

funkfresh01 — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 00:38:06 EDT

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/17/08) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today asked local and national law enforcement authorities to bring appropriate hate crime charges against the alleged perpetrator of a March "Molotov cocktail" attack on a Kansas Muslim.

A clerk at a Lenexa, Kan., gas station told police that a man came into the store and asked the clerk if he was Muslim. When the clerk replied in the affirmative, the man reportedly started harassing him.

Soon after the man left the store, a Molotov cocktail incendiary device was thrown through the front window of the store. A similar incident occurred at another store in area. A 26-year-old man was later charged with two counts of criminal use of explosives and one count of criminal damage.

SEE: Molotov Cocktail Hurled At Gas Station (KCTV)

http://www.kctv5.com/news/15721008/detail.html

"We ask that local authorities and the FBI file any appropriate hate crime charges against the alleged perpetrator in this case," said CAIR Civil Rights Manager Khadija Athman. "The additional charges would send a clear message that bias-related attacks will not be tolerated in Kansas or anywhere in America."

Earlier this week, CAIR's Minnesota chapter asked the FBI to investigate reported threats against the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy charter school in that state as possible hate crimes.

SEE: Muslim Civil Liberties Group Seeks FBI Probe of School Threats (Star Tribune)

http://www.startribune.com/local/17673284.html

The Kansas assault and the threats to the Minnesota school came following other recent incidents such as a fire-bomb attack on a Minnesota Muslim-owned business and an arson attack on a Tennessee mosque by three members of the white-supremacist "Christian Identity" movement.

SEE: MN: Investigators Say Fire Could Be Hate Crime

http://www.cair.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?ArticleID=24208&&name=n&&currPage=1&&Active=1

SEE ALSO: CAIR Applauds Arrests in TN Mosque Arson

http://www.cair.com/ArticleDetails.aspx?ArticleID=24197&&name=n&&currPage=1&&Active=1

CAIR is urging Muslim individuals and institutions nationwide to review security procedures using advice contained in CAIR's "Muslim Community Safety Kit."

SEE: CAIR Muslim Community Safety Kit

http://www.cair.com/ActionCenter/CommunityToolKit.aspx

CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Strategic Communications Director Ahmed Rehab, 202-870-0166, E-Mail: arehab@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com

Mad as hell and not gonna take it anymore!

Beth from ColoradObama — Wed, 16 Apr 2008 11:52:31 EDT

Aarrrrgggghhhh.....! Thanks to so many of you who have led me back to sanity!

Obama shows trust and respect for voting public: Hillary not so much

Craig from Dalton, MA — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 16:20:14 EDT

Obama has embarked on a profound sociological and political gamble. He gambles by offering the electorate a deep respect by quietly and firmly telling truths. His campaign, to a degree unparalleled in normal campaigning, constantly and repetitively gambles that voters of all stripes, indeed, can handle the truth. It must be at times agony to watch the 'gotcha' spin from opponents and the press while waiting to see if the American citizenry can make intelligent decisions faced with a cacophony of spin.

So far the voters have proved Obama's respect for them to be well placed. They have showed their common sense by ignoring mindless spin battles and continuing to vote increases in Obama's winning lead primary numbers.

Hillary has made herself into the politician's worst nightmare, a caricature of the pandering politician. This week I am against trade deals says she as she enters a post-industrial state. This week I am a bird hunter she advertises. Last week I was a policy wonk and before that Mrs. Experience and whoops I find myself in rural hinterlands so fetch me a shot and a beer.

IRAQ AWAITS CRITICAL FATWA

funkfresh01 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:04:00 EDT

Date Posted: Tuesday, April 08, 2008

Posted By The Media Line Staff

IRAQ (The Media Line) April 8, 2008 — Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki announced on Monday he would ban a powerful Shi'ite parliamentary bloc from running in the next local elections unless it disarmed its 60,000-strong armed force.

The 'Sadri parliamentary bloc, led by Muqtada A-'Sadr, responded by saying it would disarm its armed force, known as the Mahdi Army, only if the Shi'ite religious authorities ordered them to do so.

"The Mahdi Army does not accept its orders from anyone except A-'Sadr and the religious authorities with whom he consults. If the religious authorities would ask him to disarm the Mahdi Army, he will definitely execute their demand," spokesman for the 'Sadri bloc, 'Salah A-'Ubeidi told reporters.

Ten things to know about Senator John McCain

funkfresh01 — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 22:54:51 EDT

For all the coverage this week of Senator John McCain's background, you will not learn some important things about him from the TV networks. His carefully crafted positive image relies on people not knowing this stuff—and some of it might surprise you.

Please check out the list below, and then forward it to your friends, family, and coworkers. We cannot rely on the media to tell folks about the real John McCain—but if we all pass this along, we can reach as many people as CNN Headline News does on a good night.

Click here to tell us how many people you can pass it on to—and to see our progress nationally:

http://pol.moveon.org/mccain10/?id=12407-5077189-XKR_ot&t=231

Ten things you should know about John McCain.

1. John McCain voted against establishing a national holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Now he says his position has "evolved," yet he has continued to oppose key civil rights laws.1

2. According to Bloomberg News, McCain is more hawkish than Bush on Iraq, Russia and China. Conservative columnist Pat Buchanan says McCain "will make Cheney look like Gandhi."2

3. His reputation is built on his opposition to torture, but McCain voted against a bill to ban Waterboarding, and then applauded President Bush for vetoing that ban.3

4. McCain opposes a woman's right to choose. He said, "I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned."4

5. The Children's Defense Fund rated McCain as the worst senator in Congress for children. He voted against the children's health care bill last year, then defended Bush's veto of the bill.5

6. He is one of the richest people in a Senate filled with millionaires. The Associated Press reports he and his wife own at least eight homes! Yet McCain says the solution to the housing crisis is for people facing foreclosure to get a "second job" and skip their vacations.6

7. Many of McCain's fellow Republican senators say he is too reckless to be commander in chief. One Republican senator said: "The thought of his being president sends a cold chill down my spine. He is erratic. He is hotheaded. He loses his temper and he worries me."7

8. McCain talks a lot about taking on special interests, but his campaign manager and top advisers are actually lobbyists. The government watchdog group Public Citizen says McCain has 59 lobbyists raising money for his campaign, more than McCain has any of the other presidential candidates.8

9. McCain has sought closer ties to the extreme religious right in recent years. The pastor McCain calls his "spiritual guide," Rod Parsley, believes America's founding mission is to destroy Islam, which he calls a "false religion." McCain sought the political support of right-wing preacher John Hagee, who believes Hurricane Katrina was God's punishment for gay rights and called the Catholic Church "the Antichrist" and a "false cult."9

10. He positions himself as pro-environment, but he scored a zero—yes, zero—from the League of Conservation Voters last year.10

John McCain is not who the Washington press corps make him out to be. Please help get the word out—forward this email to your personal network. And if you want us to keep you posted on MoveOn's work to get the truth out about John McCain, sign up here:

http://pol.moveon.org/mccaintruth/?id=12407-5077189-XKR_ot&t=232

Thank you for all you do.

–Eli, Justin, Noah, Laura, and the MoveOn.org Political Action Team

Saturday, April 5th, 2008

Sources:

1. "The Complicated History of John McCain and MLK Day," ABC News, April 3, 2008

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/04/the-complicated.html

"McCain Facts," ColorOfChange.org, April 4, 2008

http://colorofchange.org/mccain_facts/

2. "McCain More Hawkish Than Bush on Russia, China, Iraq," Bloomberg News, March 12, 2008

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=aF28rSCtk0ZM&refer=us

"Buchanan: John McCain 'Will Make Cheney Look Like Gandhi,'" ThinkProgress, February 6, 2008

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/06/buchanan-gandhi-mccain/

3. "McCain Sides with Bush on Torture Again, Supports Veto of Anti-Waterboarding Bill," ThinkProgress, February 20, 2008

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/20/mccain-torture-veto/

4. "McCain says Roe v. Wade should be overturned," MSNBC, February 18, 2007

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17222147/

5. "2007 Children's Defense Fund Action Council® Nonpartisan Congressional Scorecard," February 2008

http://www.childrensdefense.org/site/PageServer?pagename=act_learn_scorecard2007

"McCain: Bush right to veto kids health insurance expansion," CNN, October 3, 2007

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/03/mccain.interview/

6. "Beer Executive Could Be Next First Lady," Associated Press, April 3, 2008

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5h-S1sWHm0tchtdMP5LcLywg5ZtMgD8VQ86M80

"McCain Says Bank Bailout Should End `Systemic Risk,'" Bloomberg News, March 25, 2008

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHMiDVYaXZFM&refer=home

7. "Will McCain's Temper Be a Liability?," Associated Press, February 16, 2008

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory?id=4301022

"Famed McCain temper is tamed," Boston Globe, January 27, 2008

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/01/27/famed_mccain_temper_is_tamed/

8. "Black Claims McCain's Campaign Is Above Lobbyist Influence: 'I Don't Know What the Criticism Is,'" ThinkProgress, April 2, 2008

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/04/02/mccain-black-lobbyist/

"McCain's Lobbyist Friends Rally 'Round Their Man," ABC News, January 29, 2008

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4210251

9. "McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam," Mother Jones Magazine, March 12, 2008

http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/03/john-mccain-rod-parsley-spiritual-guide.html

"Will McCain Specifically 'Repudiate' Hagee's Anti-Gay Comments?," ThinkProgress, March 12, 2008

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/03/12/mccain-hagee-anti-gay/

"McCain 'Very Honored' By Support Of Pastor Preaching 'End-Time Confrontation With Iran,'" ThinkProgress, February 28, 2008

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/02/28/hagee-mccain-endorsement/

10. "John McCain Gets a Zero Rating for His Environmental Record," Sierra Club, February 28, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/environment/77913/

Support our member-driven organization: MoveOn.org Political Action is entirely funded by our 3.2 million members. We have no corporate contributors, no foundation grants, and no money from unions. Our tiny staff ensures that small contributions go a long way. If you would like to support our work, you can give now at:

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Not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.

KEITH OLBERMANN Responds to Rick Basora Request - SHAWN HANNITY and FOX Owner RUPERT MURDOCH Now Featured on WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD!

Rick — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 10:11:01 EDT

GREETINGS OBAMITES!
Some of you know that I lead an ongoing "charge" against the insidious journalism practiced by FOX NEWS and SHAWN HANNITY. I have taken it personally, as have many of you, when these Neoconservatives apply these dangerous, misleading and offensive practices to our candidate. While the attached letter was sent to over 80 newspapers, Editors and pundits, I took the liberty of forwarding it, separately, to Mr. Keith Olbermann and COUNTDOWN at MSNBC. I did so, because I know NO OTHER PUNDIT who could vocalize the feeling of indignation that so many of you have told me that you have felt. It warranted, I felt, the castigating tone that is one of Mr. Olbermann's "to the point" hallmarks. I was honored in that he conveyed my message "loud and clear." This, my friends, was beyond imperrative, because Mr Hannity's incidiary tone could have reasonably been expected to incite radicals who, in an a "John Wilkes Booth-like" show of mutated patriotic bigotry, could very well attempt to do PHYSICAL harm to Senator Barack Obama or to members of his family. Keith, however, took it ONE STEP FURTHER, and exposed the expressions of SANCTIONED HATE that have come forth from FOX owner, RUPERT MURDOCH and the patrons of his public-opinion boards and blogs. I have posted the TWO relevant links in the "boxed" section immediately following this one, as well as at the points of relevance in the main body of this piece for easy reader correlation. It may interest you to know that, yesterday, it was made clear, that Democratic Governor, and staunch Clinton supporter, Governor Ed Rendell, of Pennsylvania, has endorsed…FOX NEWS! (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23889508#23889508). The Governor described it as "a fair and balance"news service. Keith immediately bestowed upon him the same "testimonial" earned only by the members of that most "exclusive of exclusive," "members only" order; THE WORST PERSONS IN THE WORLD!

Subsequent letter: Shawn Hannity: STOP the anti-OBAMA “FOX-VIRUS” NOW (http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/rickbasora/gGBnpb)

KEITH OLBERMANN presents: THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD

                 March 19, 2008 -  Hannity's Site Features Outrageous Obama Posts
                 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23716643#23716643

                 March 21, 2008 - FoxNews.com HATE SPEECH
                 http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23716643#23750779

From: Rick Basora [the_dragonwolf@comcast.net]

Sent: Tuesday, March 11, 2008 11:23 AM

To: KEITH OLBERMANN & COUNTDOWN [countdown@msnbc.com]

Subject: FW: SHAWN HANNITY - THE PINNACLE OF IRRESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM AT ITS WORST

The very “worstest” person in the world

Keith, You are my absolute “bestest PUNDITARIAN hero.” I’ve circulated this “modestly” but my deepest hope is that it gets to you. Kindly note the “Olbermannisms.”

SIC’EM!

Nothing can excuse the extremes of irresponsible journalism exhibited by Shawn Hannity and FOX on the 3/9/08 edition of Hannity's America. There, he deliberately attempted to vilify a Presidential candidate with tabloid-worthy disinformation. This is how tyranny is raised; by feeding it. I wrote this letter and sent it to the journalistic world in order to expose this un-American "jester". I am forwarding it to the respectable and credible Keith Olbermann, in hopes that he may use it as a "belt" with which to "spank" this buffoon for discrediting your legitimate profession of "informers of the world." If this “Roman Circus” of an election campaign succeeds in its apparent objective of robbing America of its “popular” will, let all Americans know, that Shawn Hannity stands charged and convicted of complicity.

From: Rick Basora
Sent: Monday, March 10, 2008 11:26 PM

To: Hannity@foxnews.com; Feedback@foxnews.com; yourcomments@foxnews.com

Cc: 'americasnewsroom@foxnews.com'; 'Myword@foxnews.com'; 'Friends@foxnews.com'; 'Jamie@foxnews.com'; 'Newswatch@foxnews.com'; 'Foxreport@foxnews.com'; 'Atlarge@foxnews.com'; 'JER@foxnews.com'; 'Lineup@foxnews.com'; 'Martha@foxnews.com'; 'Ontherecord@foxnews.com'; 'Special@foxnews.com'; 'Cavuto@foxnews.com'; 'editor@ajr.org'; 'mailto:editor@ajr.org'; 'rrieder@ajr.org'; 'rsmolkin@ajr.org'; 'tkunkel@ajr.org'; 'executive-editor@nytimes.com'; 'managing-editor@nytimes.com'; 'washington@nytimes.com'; 'national@nytimes.com'; 'metro@nytimes.com'; 'news-tips@nytimes.com'; 'public@nytimes.com'; 'president@nytimes.com'; 'CEO-CarolineLittle@wpni.com'; 'executive.editor@washingtonpost.com'; 'wsj.ltrs@wsj.com'; 'a.murray@wsj.com'; 'a.latour@wsj.com'; 'd.pettit@wsj.com'; 't.cullen@wsj.com'; 'j.fry@wsj.com'; 'darren.mcdermott@wsj.com'; 'ombudsman@washpost.com'; 'metro@washpost.com'; 'national@washpost.com'; 'tips@tribune.com'; 'ctc-tribletter@tribune.com'; 'publiceditor@tribune.com'; 'EAchenbaum@tribune.com'; 'ctc-editor@tribune.com'; 'bdold@tribune.com'; 'TMcNulty@tribune.com'; 'gdelama@tribune.com'; 'JCWarren@tribune.com'; 'aaguilar@tribune.com'; 'aahmed@tribune.com'; 'KAlleynemorris@tribune.com'; 'LBAnderson@tribune.com'; 'rranderson@tribune.com'; 'kataiyero@tribune.com'; 'NBendavid@tribune.com'; 'lbowean@tribune.com'; 'SChapman@tribune.com'; 'LCohen@tribune.com'; 'JChase@tribune.com'; 'JCrewdson@tribune.com'; 'HDardick@tribune.com'; 'MDorning@tribune.com'; 'askamy@tribune.com'; 'national@latimes.com'; 'tvtimes@latimes.com'; 'op-ed@latimes.com'; 'letters@latimes.com'; 'info@ap.org'; 'mediainquiries@msnbc.com'

Subject: SHAWN HANNITY - THE PINNACLE OF IRRESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM AT ITS WORST

To Shawn Hannity and to the Management of Fox Broadcasting;

Last night, as I watched Shawn Hannity, on Hannity’s America, corrupt the minds of “the corruptible” with a program that tendered accusations of “terrorist” affiliations between Barack Obama and William Ayers of the former Weathermen, I was reminded of the collective “brainwashing” that, as a child, I was taught to believe was a characteristic only of “evil” nations like the former Soviet Union and of former Nazi Germany. As a child, I recall being assured by my 6th grade teacher that such a robbery of the human “will” would never be tolerated in America. FREEDOM, she said, could only be achieved by a people who were empowered with TRUTH as the element that, along with a sense of identity, made valid their RIGHT to CHOOSE it. Last night, your Shawn Hannity usurped that right from those Americans susceptible to the inflammatory; from those vulnerable to the politics of FEAR and from those ignorant BY CHOICE to the REALITIES of the Presidential candidates at large.

Mr, Hannity, I am compelled to remind you that, despite your reluctance, we still reside in a country where the rule of law prescribes that a person is innocent, and not by association, until proven guilty. I feel further obligated to engage your cynical racial and religious bigotry by reminding you that, if African Americans find refuge in institutions and churches whose very names herald a predictable WELCOME, it is because the sins of our fathers have forced them, however subconsciously, to find refuge in an identity. (Keith Olbermann's observations - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23716643#23750779) No, Mr. Hannity, a church with a name that speaks to a black congregation is not a racist statement; it is a statement of fraternity that you and our forefathers insisted on disallowing white America from fully participating in…and yet…they welcome us. Further, you “mouth” the word “Muslim” as if it were the very “sound” of social and religious leprosy. You might recall that legitimate Muslims are a peaceful people in non-complicity with the fanatics that did us and still wish us harm. Your message, sir, is one that has a history of inciting lynch mobs and, just in case Jenna, LA taught you nothing, ALL OF AMERICA will put that mob DOWN. While I am certain that Senator Obama would strongly sensor my statement, I will ask you that, if you must hate the mutations of religious principal, then, Sir, hate the religion of The Crusades, of the THOUSAND YEARS of European Inquisition, of Waco, Texas and of The Salem Witch Trials. Hate whatever fed the narcissism of Reverends Jim Baker and Jim Jones and you can start by hating the perversion of 10,000 pedophile priests, the Institutions that fed them our children. Hate those who sanctioned their rape and that, in doing so, stripped many of us of the comfort that one should find in the words “In God We Trust.”

As it has become commonplace with radical Conservatives, last night Mr Hannity invoked the late President Reagan and his anecdote of a father who, back in the days of the “cold war”, declared that he would prefer to see his two little daughters dead…rather than to see them live under a faithless and godless Communist regime. With that story, Mr. Hannity attempted to rouse his audience to a “pitch” of nationalistic outrage. It appeared to me that he was IMPLICIT LY charging Senator Obama of practicing a communist-like godlessness. Allow me to remind FOX and Mr. Hannity that it was Mrs. Hillary Clinton’s Wellsley College thesis honoring her ANTI-ESTABLISHMENT mentor, Saul Alinsky and his MARXIST teachings, that earned her the appellative “Alinsky’s daughter.” The document necessitated its being SEALED to the public by a 1993 special Presidential order issued by her husband who considered it a political liability because of its “radical” content. This document was “unsealed” in 2001 after the Republicans took office and is currently available for your scrutiny and review. What happens to human convictions after 40 years have passed is known only to those minds that contain them and to God Himself who made them; not to Shawn Hannity.

He went on to showcase President Reagan in a clip from his “Star Wars” speech, where he indicated that America was “a country that did not start wars.” Gentlemen, if this was Shawn Hannity’s way of weaving “illusions of war-mongering” with which to surround a Presidential candidate who stands on a platform of DIALOGUE as his preferred weapon of pre-emption of war, you may want to advise him about the fact that we ARE, in fact, in a war unjustly started; a war that he endorsed and that he is a member of the political party that started it. Senator Obama was the legislator who attempted unsuccessfully to galvanize an effective movement to avoid it. History has proven him to have been STRATEGICALLY CORRECT and no degree of Mr. Hannity’s resenting him for it will grant him access to that elite minority reserved solely for the JUDGEMENTALLY SOUND.

As the pariah of last nights “Hannity’s America” unfolded, it was clear that Mr. Hannity extended warm and humane concern for the life and wellbeing of one Britney Spears. In stark contrast, was his misguided and malicious presentation of the character, principals, religion and persona of one Barack Obama; a legitimate Senator of the United States, respected by what most polls reflect as the majority of our country’s electorate. In doing so, this contemporary carpetbagger has insulted the MILLIONS whose voices are the mandate that drives his candidacy. Hannity has slapped the essential face of Democracy; of the decent journalists and pundits of FOX and of our media. He attempted a coupe on the people’s right for TRUTH to be allowed to guide the American Electoral process. Most of all, Mr. Hannity has provided the most educated minds in America, described by Frank Newport of the Gallup Organization as being the core of Senator Obama’s support, with irrefutable evidence that any legitimate opposition to Senator Obama’s Presidential bid can only find momentum in feeble minds inspired by synthesized realities delivered by “tabloid” journalists beholden to tyrants who, regardless of their party affiliation, are certainly worthy of the descriptive, “MONSTERS.” It is no wonder, gentlemen that we are referred to in Europe as “hypocritical contradictions of ourselves.”

Perhaps, Mr. Hannity, you may want to discuss issues that are current and of legitimate concern to America. I might suggest that you begin with programming devoted to the more than TEN MILLION DOLLARS in Saudi, Middle Eastern and Taiwan contributions received by the Clintons and disclosed by The Washington Post, The NY Times, Jihad Watch and more. Some good questions to begin with would be; how will this impact “President” Hillary Clinton’s foreign policy decisions regarding the war on terror if she and her husbands personal interests are funded by the world’s largest supporters of it? How will this Saudi endorsement affect her right to speak to women’s rights? How will Taiwan’s “offering” temper her engagement of China as the possible new “owner” of America? There are REAL issues, I assure you, that scream for addressing; issues of far greater nobility than your need for tabloid ratings. If, however, that is all that we can expect from you, you might consider a piece on the story that just broke on New York’s Governor Spitzer admitting to involvement in a prostitution ring. It is, as you know, yet another scandal from a State plagued by the seemingly polar opposites of unspeakable hardship and of chronic corruption by its politicians. That should be sordid enough to satisfy your personal and/or political libations, Sir.

Take heed of these, my closing words. The irresponsibility of Shawn Hannity’s “rabble rousing journalism” could very well inspire right wing radical extremists to commit acts in PATENT SUPPORT of his bastardized rant. Because you, Mr. Hannity, are in contempt of the most basic of professional standards and of the ethics of personal decency, we, the majority of America’s electorate hold you and The Fox Network personally responsible for any such actions and further hold you accountable for promoting them and for inspiring them. (KEITH OLBERMANN'S observations - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23716643#23716643)

If we are to learn the lessons willed to us by the American “giant” that was Robert F. Kennedy, it behooves us to recognize that YOU, Mr Hannity, are THE EXTREMIST.

“What is objectionable, what is dangerous, about extremists is not that they are extreme, but that they are intolerant. The evil is not what they say about their cause, but what they say about their opponents.” Robert Francis Kennedy

Rick Basora

Fort Lauderdale, FL

US ELECTION DIARY - THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT

funkfresh01 — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 23:07:56 EDT

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/E4C51233-2D21-4FBB-85FD-7D7F5AF173D9.htm

By Rob Reynolds in Columbus, Ohio

On the road to clinching the Republican Party nomination for president, John McCain worked hard for the endorsement of influential Evangelical Christian ministers.

The ministers are helping shore up McCain's support on the party's right wing, which has always been skeptical about whether the Arizona senator is a true-blue conservative.

But one of those minister's beliefs about Islam and Muslims raise disturbing questions.

Rod Parsley, the pastor of a large and profitable Ohio mega-church, calls Islam a false religion. He says Allah is a demon spirit and that Muslims are bent on world conquest.

Parsley endorsed McCain in February, praising him as a "strong, true, consistent conservative".

Sharing a Cincinnati, Ohio, stage with Parsley, McCain said: "I am very honored today to have one of the truly great leaders in America, a moral compass, a spiritual guide, Pastor Rod Parsley. Thank you for your leadership and your guidance. I am very grateful you are here."

He certainly had reason for gratitude - a week later, Parsley's support helped McCain win the important Ohio primary.

Evangelist

Reverend Parsley, who often holds services in which people are supposedly cured of disease by divine intervention, runs the sprawling World Harvest church near Columbus, Ohio.

World Harvest has a 12,000 member congregation, a bible college, and a television studio, which broadcasts his sermons.

A frequent theme of those homilies is the threat to Christian values posed by gays, liberals, and Muslims.

In his book, Silent no More, Parsley says the United States was ordained by God to defeat Islam.

In one chapter, titled The Deception of Allah he writes: "I cannot tell you how important it is that we understand the true nature of Islam, that we see it for what it really is. In fact, I will tell you this: I do not believe our country can truly fulfil its divine purpose until we understand our historical conflict with Islam. I know that this statement sounds extreme, but I do not shrink from its implications. The fact is that America was founded, in part, with the intention of seeing this false religion destroyed, and I believe September 11, 2001, was a generational call to arms that we can no longer ignore."

We asked Parsley for an interview, but through a church spokesman, he declined. We also sent him written questions, but he did not respond to those either.

Dividing communities

Abukar Arman, a Muslim community leader, says Parsley's remarks are threatening.

"It has a psychological toll on Muslims in central Ohio and beyond, that you are not part of the society that America was founded, in his words, to obliterate Islam," says Arman, president of the Central Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

McCain and other politicians should "distance themselves from the politics of hate and polarization", Arman said, noting that rhetoric that marginalizes American Muslims only contributes to poor relations between communities.

"In the grand scale of things," he says, "it hurts even the national security of this country because it fuels anti-Americanism."

Media interest

Interestingly enough, Parsley has been largely ignored by the US media, in sharp contrast to the intensive scrutiny given to sermons by Jeremiah Wright, Democrat Barack Obama's pastor.

Wright's homilies were widely criticized as unpatriotic and racially inflammatory, and have been replayed over and over on cable TV news channels.

Obama rejected Wright's remarks, but McCain has not denounced Parsley's comments about Islam, nor has he sought to distance himself from the minister.

In fact, some of McCain's campaign rhetoric virtually echoes Parsley's sermons. McCain, too, talks about a threat - although he focuses on extremism in Islam, not the religion as a whole.

"I'd like to talk to you for a minute about why I'm running, primarily," McCain told a Wisconsin rally on February 19.

"We face the transcendent challenge of the 21st century. That is the threat of radical Islamic extremism. My friends, I know you know that this is an evil of transcendent and unbelievable magnitude. You can see other times when our nation and our way of life were threatened, but this ranks among the greatest."

McCain's campaign told Al Jazeera that "... he [McCain] rejects politics that degrade our civics, and will be running a respectful campaign".

However, in seeking a path to the White House, it seems McCain is counting on the politics of fear and relying on a disturbingly belligerent spiritual guide.

Oklahoma Conference to Examine Islamic Perspective on Terrorism

funkfresh01 — Fri, 28 Mar 2008 00:42:03 EDT

(OKLAHOMA CITY, OK, 3/25/08) - On Saturday, April 5th, the Institute of Interfaith Dialog will host a day-long conference, "Denouncing Violence in the Name of God: The Case of Islam." Participants at the event will have an opportunity to hear Islamic scholars, academics, law enforcement officials, and journalists discuss the "Islamic perspectives on terror, especially terror that is associated with Islam."

WHAT: Institute of Interfaith Dialog's "Denouncing Violence in the Name of God: The Case of Islam"

WHEN: Saturday April 5, 2008, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

WHERE: Oklahoma City University, The Henry Freede Center (Southwest corner of 27th and Florida)

KEYNOTE SPEAKER: Dr. Cherif Bassiouni - Professor of Law at DePaul University College of Law and President Emeritus of the International Human Rights Law Institute

ADDITIONAL SPEAKERS: Robert Pape - University of Chicago; Muhammad Abu Laylah - Al-Azhar University, Egypt; Fred Von Der Mehden - Baker Institute for Public Policy, Rice University; Greg Barton - Monash University, Australia; Dr. Robin Myers - Oklahoma City University; Ekrem Dumanli - Editor of Zaman newspaper, Turkey; John Coyle - Special Agent of FBI, Oklahoma; Andrew Tevington - Daily Oklahoman; and Dr. Imad Enchassi – Imam of Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City (ISGOC)

CONTACT: Orhan Kucukosman, Phone: (405) 426 5425, E-Mail: osmanokc@gmail.com

The conference is free of charge and open to the public. Lunch will be provided.

Orhan Kucukosman, from the Institute of Interfaith Dialog, stated the reason for holding the conference in Oklahoma: "In the early days of Oklahoma City Bombing in 1995, there were speculations on individuals associated with a religion who might be responsible for the bombing.

As the truth was revealed, the bombing had no connection with any religion, but was a consequence of mentally challenged personality."

Sponsors include Wimberly School of Religion at Oklahoma City University, OU Religious Studies, Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism Texas, Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City and Mainstream Baptists, and the Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OK).

For more information goto:

http://www.interfaithdialog.org/

Shawn Hannity: STOP the anti-OBAMA “FOX-VIRUS” NOW

Rick — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 21:03:29 EDT

From: Rick Basora [the_dragonwolf@comcast.net]

Sent: Sunday, March 23, 2008 6:00 PM

To: letters@time.com; WebEditors@newsweek.com; Letters@newsweek.com; letters@usnews.com

Cc: 'Atlarge@foxnews.com'; 'Hannity@foxnews.com'; 'JER@foxnews.com'; 'Lineup@foxnews.com'; 'Martha@foxnews.com'; 'Ontherecord@foxnews.com'; 'Special@foxnews.com'; 'Cavuto@foxnews.com'; 'yourcomments@foxnews.com'; 'editor@ajr.org'; 'rrieder@ajr.org'; 'rsmolkin@ajr.org'; 'tkunkel@ajr.org'; 'president@nytimes.com'; 'executive-editor@nytimes.com'; 'managing-editor@nytimes.com'; 'washington@nytimes.com'; 'national@nytimes.com'; 'metro@nytimes.com'; 'news-tips@nytimes.com'; 'public@nytimes.com'; 'letters@nytimes.com'; 'CEO-CarolineLittle@wpni.com'; 'executive.editor@washingtonpost.com'; 'letters@washpost.com'; 'ombudsman@washpost.com'; 'metro@washpost.com'; 'national@washpost.com'; 'wsj.ltrs@wsj.com'; 'a.murray@wsj.com'; 'a.latour@wsj.com'; 'd.pettit@wsj.com'; 't.cullen@wsj.com'; 'j.fry@wsj.com'; 'darren.mcdermott@wsj.com'; 'tips@tribune.com'; 'ctc-tribletter@tribune.com'; 'publiceditor@tribune.com'; 'EAchenbaum@tribune.com'; 'ctc-editor@tribune.com'; 'bdold@tribune.com'; 'TMcNulty@tribune.com'; 'gdelama@tribune.com'; 'JCWarren@tribune.com'; 'aaguilar@tribune.com'; 'aahmed@tribune.com'; 'KAlleynemorris@tribune.com'; 'LBAnderson@tribune.com'; 'rranderson@tribune.com'; 'kataiyero@tribune.com'; 'NBendavid@tribune.com'; 'lbowean@tribune.com'; 'SChapman@tribune.com'; 'LCohen@tribune.com'; 'JChase@tribune.com'; 'JCrewdson@tribune.com'; 'HDardick@tribune.com'; 'MDorning@tribune.com'; 'askamy@tribune.com'; 'national@latimes.com'; 'tvtimes@latimes.com'; 'op-ed@latimes.com'; 'letters@latimes.com'; 'ctc-TribLetter@Tribune.com'; 'info@ap.org'; 'headlinenews@cnn.com'; 'mediainquiries@msnbc.com'; 'letters@msnbc.com'; 'Nightly@NBC.com'; 'Dateline@NBCUNI.com'; 'transnet87@aol.com'; 'countdown@msnbc.com'; 'race08@msnbc.com'; 'Inquirer.Letters@phillynews.com'; 'views@phillynews.com'; 'letters@post-gazette.com'; 'opinion@tribweb.com'; 'mm-tips@mediamatters.org'; 'barrett_td@yahoo.com'; 'wholesalershoppers@yahoo.com'; 'karendillard@hotmail.com'; 'dplouffe@barackobama.com'; 'john@greenskydesign.com'; nancymillinger@theamericaninitiative.org; Blackberry Muppet; Mutt; Sis; Cousin Jeannette; Marmaduke's Office; Marmaduke ; Mike Beauregard; Rick Basora ; Tuneta; Gizmo Chula; Broomrider; The Wielder of the Wand; Wiccan Bride of the Elder God

Subject: Shawn Hannity - STOP the anti-OBAMA FOX VIRUS NOW

Dear Mr. Hannity;

By now you must certainly be aware that a NATIONAL MOVEMENT is in motion against you and against what America has come to know as THE FOX VIRUS that comes forth from the RADICAL EXTREMIST NEO-CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN mouthpiece that you and FOX have become. Presenting our voice to the media of America now comes in the form of the Robert Greenwald film “Fox Attacks Obama (Spreading the Virus)” which, as you can see, is the envelope sent “special delivery” and containing the national petition now underwritten by moveon.org and their Political Action’s Adam Green.

After the travesty of ethical journalism perpetrated by FEMA on October 26, 2007, where it hosted its own “staged” televised news conference reporting on the state of EMERGENCY SERVICES to victims of Hurricane Katrina, it was brought to the attention of America that, not only was the person addressing this “skit” a FEMA official, but so were those asking the questions who, while posing as reporters, were exposed by Al Kamen of The Washington Post in his article FEMA Meets the Press, Which Happens to Be . . . FEMA. The fact that the article alleges that you carried this charade LIVE, and then passed on the video to MSNBC and other news outlets, renders FOX Television, and its agents, complicit in the efforts of what Christy Hardin Smith, of FIREDOGLAKE, calls The Department of Planting Your Own Propaganda And Hoping No One Notices assigned to the Bush administration.

Mr. Hannity, neither you, nor your colleague-at-arms, Rush Limbaugh, can be allowed, by a nation on the very brink of social, economic, political and global chaos, to continue manipulating puppet strings, pushing buttons and pulling levers the outcome of which you CLEARLY know nothing about. Mr. Limbaugh’s disgracefully titled attempt at hijacking the current Presidential election has earned him the dubious distinction of being named WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23908634#23908634) by MSNBC's KEITH OLBERMANN. It now appears on his own website with the headline Operation Chaos Under Assault.

As you frantically attempt to continue the milking of the Reverend Jeremiah Wright controversy, synthetically created by your Conservative minions, you appear less than pathetic before an increasingly intolerant nation that, as you can see, by Senator John McCain’s attainment of the honorable position of The Republican Presidential Nominee, America has declared you and your Neoconservative “cult”, politically, philosophically, morally and subversively UNDESIREABLE.

I, and America, continue to observe your frenzied contribution to the engineering and staging of a premeditated and choreographed conspiracy aimed at discrediting the legitimacy of Senator Barack Obama as a Presidential candidate, as well as the WONDER of the grass-roots movement taking shape around him. We watch in dismay as you question your guests, carefully selected to provide the most desirable answers for the damming of the voice of HOPE that FOX radio has described as “sounding like Hitler.” Yet, when Democratic Analysts, Tanya Acker and Bob Beckel, as well as your own Alan Colmes, have asked you questions as simple as “So, are you saying that every child whose parents took them to the Trinity United Church of Christ is, therefore, disqualified from growing up to aspire to one day becoming President of the United States,” you conspicuously, and at every turn, refuse to answer the question. You are fully aware that, answering that question, honestly, would reduce you to the hypocritical contradiction of yourself that you are. Take note, Mr. Hannity, your refusal to respond implicitly convicts you in spite of you.

I was held in utter disbelief … which then slowly grew to anger when, last night, you summoned former House Speaker, Newt Gingrich, to join in the spreading of THE FOX VIRUS. I found two things to be in poignant opposition with your intention of subverting America. The first was Mr. Gingrich’s repeated insistence that he did NOT question Senator Obama’s integrity, his loyalty to America or his non-alignment with Reverend Jeremiah Wright’s apparent anti-American rants. Later in the same program, and despite your best efforts, this same opinion was echoed, with even greater emphasis and eloquence, by Senator John McCain, who insisted on addressing issues of legitimate concern to our country and clearly, refused to participate in your scripted outcomes. You must, as a consequence, Sir, be torn between wondering if the walls of correctness are closing in on you or whether they, in fact, are spreading so far apart that your only company would be the members of your own League of Liars.

The second observation, born of your program’s intentions, last night, was your patent set-up of “JUDGMENT” as the supposedly flawed characteristic displayed by Senator Barack Obama in his choosing to continue to attend Wright’s Trinity church. You spoke the word “JUDGMENT,” with diacritical accentuation, no less than a dozen times and consistently modified it with adjectives such as “flawed,” “poor,” etc in your transparent attempt to pre-empt the Senator’s platform of SOUND JUDGEMENT in the furtherance of his Presidential bid. I will excuse myself from redundancy and I will quote my own words from the letter that, on March 16, 2008, I sent to you and Fox Management titled SHAWN HANNITY - THE PINNACLE OF IRRESPONSIBLE JOURNALISM AT ITS WORST:

“Gentlemen, if this was Shawn Hannity’s way of weaving “illusions of war-mongering” with which to surround a Presidential candidate who stands on a platform of DIALOGUE as his preferred weapon of pre-emption of war, you may want to advise him about the fact that we ARE, in fact, in a war unjustly started; a war that he endorsed and that he is a member of the political party that started it. Senator Obama was the legislator who attempted unsuccessfully to galvanize an effective movement to avoid it. History has proven him to have been STRATEGICALLY CORRECT and no degree of Mr. Hannity’s resenting him for it will grant him access to that elite minority reserved solely for the JUDGEMENTALLY SOUND.”

Last night, what achieved the “apex of the offensive,” Sir, was that you utilized former Speaker, Newt Gingrich, to assist you in making the point of presenting Senator Obama’s judgment as, somehow, flawed. Might I remind you that Newt Gingrich headed the 1998 charge to impeach President William Jefferson Clinton on charges stemming from the extramarital affair that he sustained with one Monica Lewinsky. In a March 8, 2007 Associated Press article featured on your very own FOX News, titled "Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich Acknowledges ...Having Affair During Clinton Impeachment," we are presented with an interview with James Dobson of Focus on the Family that reveals the following:

“Gingrich argued in the interview, however, that he should not be viewed as a hypocrite for pursuing Clinton's infidelity.”

"The president of the United States got in trouble for committing a felony in front of a sitting federal judge," the former Georgia congressman said of Clinton's 1998 House impeachment on perjury and obstruction of justice charges. "I drew a line in my mind that said, 'Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept ... perjury in your highest officials."

Sir, translated into common English, this says…There are rules and laws that apply to ALL, including the President of The United States, but that I, because my name is Newt Gingrich, a Neoconservative, reserve the right to exempt myself from them. No, Mr. Hannity, your show, your network, your self-righteous, pontificating ploys called supporting guests, your intentions, your manic obsession with imposing dynastic rule… but most of all, YOU… are tacitly UNACCEPTABLE as is your effort to present this morally diseased neoconservative “fowl” as someone qualified to “judge the judgment” of EAGLES. I am taking the liberty of forwarding this correspondence to Representative Henry Waxman, who, last year moved to have yours and Mr. Rush Limbaugh’s actions investigated, as well as to Federal Communications Commission Chairman, Kevin Martin, who, I am advised, has been put on notice of the nature of your endeavors, that now appear to many, as being contrary to our very national security.

America will NEVER belong to your minion of disguised patriotic indigence, Sir, and, least of all, to YOU. I would suggest that you listen to a song, considered by many of my generation as an American Anthem, and that I recently sent to the Democratic Superdelegates as well. In ’64 Bob Dylan spoke of times that were “a-changing. I submit to you, Shawn Hannity, that there is an unmistakable wind of CHANGE in the air and MILLIONS, like me, bear witness to its hopeful reality. To you, and to those like you, frantically trying to stop this will be like trying to stop the wind. We have paid for this campaign and for this movement, unlike the politicians of yesteryears and of today, with our own monies, 5, 10, 25 dollars at a time. I know that you must resent the force that such a movement presents. Your colleagues must , as well, fear the threat to their lifetime relationships with lobbyist dollars that will scatter like fallen leaves on this wind. Yes, Mr Hannity, make no mistake. More than times a-changing, Sir, the times …THEY DUN HAVE CHANGED!

                          Come senators, congressmen
                          Please heed the call
                          Don't stand in the doorway
                          Don't block up the hall
                          For he that gets hurt
                          Will be he who has stalled
                          There's a battle outside
                          And it is ragin'.
                          It'll soon shake your windows
                          And rattle your walls
                          For the times they are a-changin'.

From the song The Times They Are A-Changin’ by Bob Dylan (1964)

Complete lyrics - http://www.bobdylan.com/songs/times.html

Listen to it here - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9vou4qUu5YY

RICK F. BASORA

Fort Lauderdale, FL

The_Dragonwolf@comcast.net http://my.barackobama.com/page/dashboard/public/gGR355

US deaths in Iraq approach 4,000

funkfresh01 — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 19:40:48 EDT

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080322/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iraq

By ROBERT H. REID, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD - A roadside bomb killed three American soldiers north of Baghdad on Saturday, pushing the U.S. death toll in the five-year conflict to nearly 4,000.

Also Saturday, Iraqi authorities reported that a U.S. airstrike north of the capital killed six members of a U.S.-backed Sunni group — straining relations with America's new allies in the fight against al-Qaida.

Two Iraqi civilians also died in the roadside bombing, which occurred as the Americans were patrolling an area northwest of the capital, the U.S. military said in a statement.

Two of the soldiers were killed in the blast and the third died of wounds, the statement said. The soldiers were assigned to Multinational Division-Baghdad, the statement said, but gave no further details.

The latest deaths brought to 3,996 the number of U.S. service members and Pentagon civilians who have died since the war began on March 20, 2003, according to an Associated Press count. Rocket or mortar fire killed one U.S. soldier and wounded four others Friday south of Baghdad, the military said.

Army Vet Speaks Against Mistreatment of Guantanamo Bay Detainees

funkfresh01 — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:52:54 EDT

http://media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/news/2008/03/21/University/Army-Vet.Speaks.Against.Mistreatment.Of.Detainees-3278241.shtml

Author: Lee Ann Holman

James Yee went from being a decorated U.S. Army soldier serving in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to being accused of espionage, spying and aiding the facility's detainees.

He spoke to students about his experiences Thursday night at the UT Law School Auditorium.

When returning to the U.S. for vacation after serving 10 months as chaplain, Yee was arrested in secret and accused of having classified documents in his backpack. While being transferred to prison Yee was subject to sensory deprivation, a torture tactic. He was held in solitary confinement for 76 days without being charged.

He was exonerated and honorably discharged after deciding to quit the army.

Yee converted to Islam shortly after graduating from West Point. He said it was a way to solidify his monotheistic faith in one God. Yee was hand-picked to serve as a Muslim minister to facility detainees.

While ministering detainees, Yee said he advised commanders on proper religious practices. He made suggestions on treatment of the detainees and spoke out against soldiers violating prisoners' human rights. Yee said that though he never participated in interrogation tactics, he counseled prisoners on their treatment.

Yee said he witnessed the desecration of the Quran. Prisoners also spoke of sexual harassment by female interferometers and being put in a pentagram while being forced to renounce Allah.

This treatment will not win the hearts and minds of the Muslim world, he said.

"People in the military have a gross lack of misunderstanding of the Muslim culture, which is counterproductive," Yee said.

Kristine Huskey, a clinical law professor, has been representing Guantanamo detainees since 2002. She said she believes any new presidential administration will shut down Guantanamo Bay, because it is not helping the U.S. fight terrorism and is breeding more people who hate America.

Muslim Leader Has Opposed War

funkfresh01 — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:31:54 EDT

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/localnews/columnists/sblow/stories/032008dnmetblowcolumn.6a03f9a.html

Author: Steve Blow

We first sat and talked in those numb days right after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.We mourned together, and Mohamed Elmougy helped me understand a little more about what had befallen us.

I returned several times over the years to visit with the local Muslim community leader. And this week's fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq seemed a good time to once again glimpse the world through his eyes.

Mohamed, 49, owns the Pyramids Hotel in Allen. He's Egyptian by birth and American by choice.

He opposed the war from the start. "You will remember that I said getting out won't be nearly as easy as going in," he said.

I remembered, particularly since I had bought the argument that Iraqis would welcome us.

"We were fools to think we were going to be seen as liberators," Mohamed said. "We are seen as occupiers, and we always will be."

Mohamed agreed that Saddam Hussein needed to go but says he should have been captured in a surgical strike and put on trial in an international court, like Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.

Of course, hindsight is of little help at this point. I was most eager to hear his thoughts on what we should do now. And since the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates offer such divergent strategies, I asked the question in that context.

"Six months ago I had every intention of voting for John McCain," he said. "I felt he was very sincere, that he was speaking his mind, and I respected him as someone who really understands war.

"But after seeing how he has changed his tone to cater to the evangelical right, I just can't support him anymore. It would just be more of the same," he said.

He believes Hillary Rodham Clinton would be seen overseas as simply the return of the Bill Clinton administration, with whatever lingering baggage that involves.

After 5 Years, the Tragedy Continues

funkfresh01 — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 18:29:49 EDT

http://www.masnet.org/views.asp?id=4959

From the Desk of Ibrahim-Abdil-Mu'id Ramey, MAS Freedom Civil and Human Rights Directo

WASHINGTON, D.C. (MASNET) March 18, 2008 — The conundrum of American primary politics, American Idol worship, and the fall from grace of the former Governor of New York, may have shifted the market-based media focus from the story, but for those who may otherwise be unaware, March 19, 2008 marks the fifth anniversary of the most recent U.S. invasion of Iraq - yet another tragic date in U.S. history that will live in infamy.

What, exactly, has been the cost of the U.S. adventure in Iraq? We are now careening to the number of 4,000 American combat deaths and 40,000 seriously wounded troops. Many of the wounded have been abandoned by their government to a fate of permanent disability and mental distress from the psychological wounds of combat. But this number is dwarfed by the devastation suffered by the Iraqis themselves: 650,000 to one million dead; 400,000 persons displaced from their homes; and the bitter reality of a raging sectarian civil war that has left the nation terrorized and divided.

The recent U.S. troop "surge" has been a useful diversion for the proponents of the war, who now claim some hollow "victory" because of ephemeral military gains in the combat operations against Al-Qaeda and other assorted armed insurgents. But the fundamental contradictions and divisions in the country remain. And Iraq, for all the horrors of it's own history of dictatorship and war, is a far more dangerous and oppressive place that it was under the rule of Saddam.

In the meanwhile, the Iraq war has not only divided U.S. citizens, it has also consolidated world opinion against this nation in a way that no one could have anticipated five years ago. Blatant torture of Iraqi captives, attacks on the civil liberties of Muslim individuals, institutions, and charities in America, and countless violations of both domestic and international law have become the hallmark of the arrogant and recalcitrant regime in Washington that continues the prosecution of the war.

But the conflict in Iraq has also resulted in countless casualties at home, measured in increased domestic violence, family disintegration, alcoholism, and drug abuse suffered by returning U.S. combatants.

War, in every case, results in the massive transfer of wealth from one social class to another. The war in Iraq is no different.

But what is different is the reality of the naked ambition of the global energy and arms oligarchies that have feasted on the $1.2 trillion dollars spent by American taxpayers on the war to date. This violence continues, despite the deepening economic crisis in the nation and the devastation of the national social infrastructure.

In Washington, DC, activists from 40 states plan to gather to mark this tragic anniversary, and in some cases, to engage in non-violent direct action in opposition of the war in Iraq. We must continue to press for the demand to end the war, even if the Democratic Congress lacks the will to oppose the Bush regime's war machine.

The popular tide of resistance to the war will—and must—continue, until the war is ended, and the massive damage to both the United States and to the people of Iraq is fully repaired.

For more information about upcoming events and gatherings, please visit:

www.5YearsTooMany.org

McCain's Insensitivity and socio-geographic ignorance

Kenne — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 12:14:06 EDT

It is apparent to many people that John McCain is possibly in the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease.

What else can explain his not once, not twice, but three times making the same mistake about Shia's and Sunni's in Iraq? it is sad that he is the best the the G.O.P. has to offer up as an alternative to presidential candidate, Barack Obama.

And Sen. McCain, for all his purported experience and knowledge should know better than to defame an entire ethnic group. the following excerpt from an article a friend posted is just outrageous!

Sen. John McCain told reporters, "I hated the gooks. I will hate them as long as I live." Although McCain said he was referring only to his prison guards, there are many reasons why his use of the word "gook" is offensive and alarming. Here is the article it comes from.

http://www.commondreams.org/views/030200-104.htm

The pundits and Repugnicans keep harping about Sen. Obama's former pastor's remarks-which anybody with half a brain would not only take with a grain of salt, but realize that they are the rantings of an aged man who has entirely different experiences than younger people. I know my own Father would have agreed with Rev. Wright and I would never disown my Dad.

But the point is that if they denounce Obama for his former pastor's remarks, what are they GOING to do about McCain's OWN comments which defame an entire cultural group. WE KNOW EXACTLY who he is talking about. If anyone plays dumb the should be ashamed! And he said he will ALWAYS HATE THEM. I really want to hear what the Asian-American constituency has to say.

McCain's ‘Spiritual Guide’ Says Destroy Islam

funkfresh01 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:19:31 EDT

McCain's ‘Spiritual Guide’ Says Destroy Islam

http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/03/john-mccain-rod-parsley-spiritual-guide.html

Author: David Corn

Senator John McCain hailed as a spiritual adviser an Ohio megachurch pastor who has called upon Christians to wage a "war" against the "false religion" of Islam with the aim of destroying it.

On February 26, McCain appeared at a campaign rally in Cincinnati with the Reverend Rod Parsley of the World Harvest Church of Columbus, a supersize Pentecostal institution that features a 5,200-seat sanctuary, a television studio (where Parsley tapes a weekly show), and a 122,000-square-foot Ministry Activity Center. That day, a week before the Ohio primary, Parsley praised the Republican presidential front-runner as a "strong, true, consistent conservative."

The endorsement was important for McCain, who at the time was trying to put an end to the lingering challenge from former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, a favorite among Christian evangelicals. A politically influential figure in Ohio, Parsley could also play a key role in McCain's effort to win this bellwether state in the general election. McCain, with Parsley by his side at the Cincinnati rally, called the evangelical minister a "spiritual guide."

Students Stage Die-In to Protest War

funkfresh01 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:15:21 EDT

Students Stage Die-In to Protest War

http://media.www.dailyillini.com/media/storage/paper736/news/2008/03/14/News/Students.Stage.DieIn.On.Quad-3269402.shtml

Author: Paolo Cisneros

Thursday morning was an unusual one for Karen Medina, graduate student in library and information sciences. Instead of studying for exams or sitting in class, she was chalking body outlines on the Quad.

Medina and dozens of other anti-war activists took to the streets Thursday morning to stage a march and "die-in" protest as a way of demonstrating their discontent with the upcoming fifth anniversary of the Iraq war.

"We're calling it a 'condemoration' because we're both condemning and commemorating the war," Medina said.

The two-hour event was organized primarily by the Campus Greens and University chapter of the Campus Antiwar Network.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, Students for Justice in Palestine, Champaign-Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice and the College Democrats co-sponsored the event.

The cooperation of the groups was a large part of the morning's success, said Jeremy Polacek, senior in LAS. "We (Campus Antiwar Network) don't have a monopoly on the anti-war effort by any means," he said. "The collaboration of these groups was really important."

The demonstration began at roughly 11 a.m. Activists gathered to chant anti-war slogans before marching down Green Street to Fifth Street and then back around the Quad.

Many held signs condemning the war as others provided vocal support for the cause.

"This war has been going on for five years now, and, at this point, most people are against it," said Mark Mallon, junior in LAS. "We need to stop spending billions of dollars on this illegal and immoral war."

War's Costs Will Be Felt for Years

funkfresh01 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:10:50 EDT

War's Costs Will Be Felt for Years

http://www.dailybulletin.com/ci_8620269

Author: George Watson

The cost of five years of the war in Iraq can be seen in almost any community in the United States.

Families whose loved ones were killed or wounded struggle to put their lives back together. The economy teeters, thanks partly to what a renowned economist projects will ultimately be a $3trillion war bill. Gas prices soar. A political landscape that cost many Republicans their seats in Congress continues to fuel anti-American sentiment outside the nation's borders.

Despite substantial political and infrastructure improvements directly attributable to U.S. involvement in Iraq, few observers believe that as of today - the fifth anniversary of U.S. bombs first falling on Baghdad - an end to America's presence there is in sight.

The consequences of a continued stay, they say, will be felt in Americans' bank accounts and in politicians' ability to govern. . .

From the perspective of Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations' Los Angeles chapter, the war's cost has been multifaceted.

Ayloush is an American with school-age children, and he worries about the state of their education, given California's budget crisis, cuts to education funding and teacher layoffs.

He, too, worries about the economy, the cost of gasoline, and the future of health care.

The war has other, less tangible costs, he noted.

"The biggest nonfinancial, nonmaterial casualty is the damage to our credibility and moral standing in the world today," Ayloush said. "When we issue reports on human rights, which the State Department does, people laugh at it now. They say, `Be quiet."'

Ayloush, who visited Syria and Jordan recently, said he was struck by how angry people are at the United States. The war in Iraq has displaced 2.4million people and induced another 2million to live abroad, primarily in the two countries he visited. Before the war, 500,000 Iraqis lived outside the nation's borders.

"We have caused misery to thousands of their lives and we haven't accepted responsibility," Ayloush said. "We expect neighboring countries to carry that burden without any financial help."

CAIR-LA Rep Speaks at Anti-War Protest

funkfresh01 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:05:55 EDT

CAIR-LA Rep Speaks at Anti-War Protest

Author: Mike O'Sullivan

Protesters in several US cities held anti-war rallies Saturday to mark the fifth anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, March 20th. More rallies are planned in coming days in other U.S. cities. Mike O'Sullivan reports, several thousand joined an anti-war protest in Los Angeles.

Marchers chanted and some carried flag-draped coffins as speakers demanded that U.S. troops come home.

Sharaf Mowjood of the Council on American-Islamic Relations says the continued presence of American troops is worsening conditions in Iraq, and diverting attention from domestic U.S. problems, including rebuilding New Orleans. The city was devastated by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

“We need to pull out immediately. That's the main thing right now we need to do. It's a conundrum as it is," he said. "So it's in a situation where the best viable option is to pull out because you have a lot of these internal problems you have to deal with, health care, sub-prime mortgage crisis, Katrina, all that. We need to work on those issues first."

Members of religious, labor and community groups joined the Los Angeles demonstration. Madelyn MacKay, a Quaker, says the protests are sending a message to the candidates in the November 4 presidential election.

United States Mosque Used by Iraqi Refugees Vandalized

funkfresh01 — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 10:58:46 EDT

United States Mosque Used by Iraqi Refugees Vandalized

http://www.news-leader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080318/NEWS01/803180345

Author: Cheryl Wittenauer

Neighbors in the tidy, middle-class Southampton neighborhood in south St. Louis said Monday they barely noticed the comings and goings of one of their enclave's newest arrivals.

Nothing out of the ordinary anyway, aside from a steady stream of Iraqi cab drivers and other workers, and women and children, arriving for evening prayer services at the Islamic mosque.

The Islamic religious and community center, housed in a nondescript storefront building, was vandalized over the weekend. It was the second such incident since the Imam Hussin Foundation building opened last April.

"If someone is trying to send us a message," with this act, "we receive it," said Salah Ajmi, the mosque's imam and a businessman. "But we do everything right and legal. This is wrong."

Vandals damaged seven large glass windows with a blunt object sometime between midnight and 10:30 a.m. Sunday, police said. Vandals struck the first time last summer, and Ajmi said he suspected teenagers. This time the damage was more extensive.

Police took fingerprints and are investigating. They wouldn't say whether they consider it a hate crime. The FBI declined to comment.

THE SPEECH - THE CLIMATE - THE WARNING

Rick — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 04:30:12 EDT

Post from Lair of the Dragonwolves:
The last words, "Thank you," had barely left the mouth of the candidate on TV and I heard a boisterous commotion coming from just outside of my middle class, suburban Fort Lauderdale home. I started to become apprehensive and instinctively reached for "protection" (top drawer on the right) while trying to silence the "Alpo" security system. As I looked beyond the blinds, what started as a cacophony of voices, yelling, screaming; two women hugging and weeping in a driveway…, dropped in noisiness and rose in both theme and essence. As I stepped out, curiously, a neighbor yelled out "Did you hear the speech?" I asked myself, is this hoopla of laughter and weeping over Barack Obama's speech? Nah uuh…" The two women embracing had, for a long time, been neighbors but, more so, friends. The "Wright controversy" had really tried their friendship because one was an Obamite; the other, a Hillerean (both husbands Republicans). We are "close" on our block and we can find any excuse to kick up our heels and "get silly;" so…the beer, the music and the collapsibles came out as people spoke to people and to cell phones at the same time; Bill, Mike and Pedro blocked off the street with their trucks (Pedro's a State Trooper so…YES WE CAN (lol) and doors were opened and an impromptu block party was underway. I would have wished for "converts" but…oh well. The new subject of contentious BUZZ: a black Bobby Kennedy or a "jacksonized" Luther King? THIS IS NUTS, I thought! Conspicuously missing was the cloud of suspicion that had recently come to pollute the interactive trust of our block community and that had lingered until just before noon. All of a sudden I realized just how affected America has actually been over the Wright controversy. As I excused myself because I was compelled to satisfy the need to pen this, I was overcome by an almost melancholy sense of accomplishment. I knew then…in my heart…as did the people outside making the noise…that if America did NOT elect Barack…it was because it was not yet ready for the wonder that it would first need to grow into.

Today, on this the 18th day of March, 2008, we have been served with what may be written into history as the 21st Century's most defining moment in the chronicle of a people's transition from THE SINS OF OUR FATHERS to THE DESTINY OF OUR CHILDREN; from hate and fear to compassion and understanding; from resentment to thoughtfulness; from denial to courageous realization; from sempiternal racial division to a celebration and exaltation of the magnificent multi-colored tapestry stitched by the very hand of GOD into the splendid work of wonder that is HUMANITY.

Today, those who have depended on the demons of fear, ignorance and distrust to act as their captive audience made ripe for the continuance of a SOCIAL DIVISION that has become the drug of choice for those sociopaths obsessed with its perpetuation, have been dealt a mortal blow. On this day, the people of America have been given an improbable, albeit remarkable tool with which to breach the SOCIAL DIVIDE that has become the sole and hungry client base of the career American BIGOT; WISDOM.

Make no mistake, however. The celebrated triumph of the human spirit that most of us are, at this very moment, reveling in, must and will be met with violent repudiation by those who stand in opposition of reconciliation. If the words of Barack Obama are allowed to speak to the very heart of a country hungry for unity and who, in moving forward, turns its back on the icon which is INTER-RACIAL FEAR, the leaders and lieutenants of institutional, racial and social prejudice will be denied the listeners for their sole subject of expertise; the GRAIL that they have practiced to validate, justify and champion; THE VERY CHALICE of HATE. Despite the disdain that I heard in the televised voice of Mr. Rush Limbaugh, it will be written that, in the middle of a day, in the middle of March on the year of the most contested presidential election in the history of America, even those held in humanistic stagnancy, not through malice, but by ignorance, have been literally pushed upward into a conscious, enlightened awareness that guarantees that, from this day, the harvest of recruits available to the minions of the morally indigent; those drawn to the ranks of racist America, will be reduced to the chronically cynical, the galactically disoriented, to those in terminal denial and to those choosing to live, from here forward, for the words "The HATE will Rise Again."

The landmark discourse, made minutes ago by Senator Barack Obama, has been quickly touted as the most significant address of race issues in America since King's now legendary 1963 "I have a dream…"speech. It provides those who did not merely listen, but who objectively assimilated its content, with a rational narrative of answers to the questions that, with obvious and transparent intent, have been repetitiously brought forth, regarding his 20 year relationship with the Reverend Jeremiah Wright and his Trinity United Church of Christ. A metal beyond his years was evident as this young legislator from Chicago showed the resolve to denounce Wright's radical rhetoric while retaining the integrity that it took to declare inviolate the spiritual kinship that has existed with this, his former minister, who, quite frankly, would have been given up as burnt offerings by any of the other contenders facing the same "trial by fire." The most poignant reality is that it is a disconnection with the enigma that is HONOR that explains any inability to regard this courageous action as anything but HEROIC. The nobility of the gesture augured that, when pushed to the wall, Barack Obama, as my President, will not barter ME for political safety. Of equal importance, Barack spoke to the post-trauma of the black experience in America and reminded a beleaguered white working class that they too suffered from a post-traumatic syndrome rooted in their own history as kindred targets of unfairness and disregard.

To "accuse, denounce, renounce, decry, rebuff, rebuke, reject, beat with a bat, dismember and summarily execute" are the standards of acceptable disassociation that, throughout this campaign, have been reserved SOLELY for the candidacy of one Barack Hussein Obama. Despite the tacitly ridiculous, I feel that the answers to any concerned questions have been tendered beyond any reasonable expectation. It would need to be left to the polls to determine if the rest of America concurs. Therefore, if the people of America call for the tired issue to be laid to rest, any Neoconservative measure intended to perpetuate that which has now been answered to the point of the redundant, can only be interpreted as an act of HARASSMENT and should be met by a vote of solidarity returned to sender in the words of those who spoke them to the centuries of distorted inhumanity that shaped Reverend Wright's painfully distorted views; "GET OVER IT!" It will be at the time, when those words are forced from our lips, that the floodgates will be thrown open on what has become known as "THE LAUNDRY LIST" of Obama's opposition. This WILL NOT happen because Barack will initiate or even desire it. It will be driven by citizens, worn by the "trailer park politics" that are the trademark of "The King of the Double-Wides", Rush Limbaugh, and his "pimp your vote 'n pull my finger" election strategies and who, like me, WILL FORCE THE ISSUE in our courts. Moving towards the election of a President, America must observe the politically postured alignment of FOX Television and its Neoconservative pundits, anchors and commentators. History has shown that their obsession with the forced-feeding of America can be predictably expected to drag this campaign episode to a conclusion of political martyrdom. As I listened to an MSNBC viewer e-mail being read on the air and insisting that the media now let go this matter in favor of legitimate ECONOMIC issues of paramount concern, I was reminded of the Clinton - Lewinski scandal of the late 1990s. Neocons of the Republican party, and their media vocals, blatantly disregarded the populous and dragged an American President through a highly protested impeachment proceeding that ultimately fell short of the 2/3 Senate majority needed to convict and remove him from office. In doing so, our "Magoo-like" conservative visionaries failed to see that, the only thing that they had succeeded in dragging across a snickering world stage; ragged, bloodied, ridiculed and clad in a muddied clown suite, was not Bill Clinton...it was AMERICA ITSELF. Those of us who can still recall that episode, as well as those of sufficient age to understand the function and mechanics of GOVERNMENT BY THE PEOPLE will inevitably incur a rendezvous with OUTRAGE in confronting the following. At the time that this happened, the polls taken of the nations electorate showed that an average of 70% of Americans was against pursuing the allegations and impeachment. (N Y Times December 21, 1998). Neo-Republicans disregarded an overwhelming national majority...and simply...DID IT ANYWAY. I, for one, am on record as having shown my repudiation and disdain for neo-conservatism, and the EXTREMISTS that it breeds, by officially renouncing of my 20 year affiliation with the GOP. From that day forward, some ten or so years ago, I have been a proud registered DEMOCRAT. If this happens again, however, or if Superdelegates self-appoint themselves as the demi-gods that can replace a populous in the determination of an electoral outcome, we MUST then be attentive to the promise in the air that heralds the charter of The Constitutionalist National Committee aka THE CONSTITUTIONALIST PARTY. Most agree that it is an idea whose time has come. If we are to teach our children to believe in Democracy, then it is DEMOCRACY itself that we are bound to provide for them.

As for Shawn Hannity, we can be assured of a unilaterally myopic assessment of today's event that, while panting with wet tongue slavering in the wind, will inspire him to eek out an "Atta boy" from his trailer-bound master, Rush Limbaugh, for having rolled over, played dead and for "fetching" a ball made slimy with the trivialization of the words of A GIANT. I await his show and you can expect that I will confront Limbaugh's political mongrel, Shawn Hannity, with the same stick that I did on March 10, 2008 and that, amongst numerous others, inspired American Initiative co-chair, Nancy Millinger, to follow with her now coined, "two word," grass-roots e-mail that simply said "TAKE THAT!"

I leave you now to re-join the dancing in the MULTI-RACIAL streets...literally! RICK F. BASORA