Posts with the tag intolerance

Carrie Prejean: Are Progressives Becoming as Intolerant as Conservatives?

Eric from Covina, CA — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:55:07 EDT

BENEATH THE SPIN • ERIC L. WATTREE

Carrie Prejean: Are Progressives Becoming as Intolerant as Conservatives?

I've always been proud to consider myself a progressive, because being a progressive meant that I was open-minded, willing to assess every issue on its own merit, and I'm tolerant of varying points of view. But it seems that many of today's "progressives" have corrupted the term. Though many of these people call themselves progressives, they are not progressive thinkers–they are progressive in name only. Over the years they seem to have somehow lost their way, and as a result, have managed to redefined the term "progressive" to simply mean, not conservative.

A case in point is the unconscionable way in which the so-called progressive community has demonized Carrie Prejean after she indicated, almost apologetically during the Miss America Pageant, that she thought marriage should be between a man and a woman. Why in the world did she say that?!! Thereafter, she was called a bitch, seminude photos of her have been posted on the Internet, and she's been generally, dragged through the mud. It is unbelievable that people who call themselves progressive could do that to that young woman.

A few points about the racist UN - Durban "anti-racism" conference

Natalia from Acampo, CA — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 03:38:40 EDT

A few points about the racist UN - Durban "anti-racism" conference

1) When will Arab racists & Islamic bigots let go of the UN and stop hijacking it with it's lobbies (silencing Arab racist genocide in Darfur, yet daming innocent Israelis who merely try to survive)?

2) Why is Arab terror singling out Jews not racist?

3) Why is the essence of the entire "conflict'" in the M.E. not a form of bigotry by Arab Muslims who can't "accept" the non Arab non Muslim pluralistic democratic Israel?

4) Are Jews living, or even allowed to live in racist "Palestinian" controlled territories (Judenrein - ethnic cleaning)?

5) When will lefty radicals (Meretz/B'Tzelem) talk about preferential treatments to Arabs OVER Jews inside Israel, like in Hebron and in other cases?

6) Why are (Arab Palestinian or Hezbollah) the ones using its own kids as cannon fodders considered "innocent victims"?

7) Is Israel battling just terrorism or an ARAB MUSLIM CAMPAIGN OF GENOCIDE since the 1920's?

8) Since Muslim nations (OIC & Iran) push to criminalize criticism of Islamists' bigotry, doesn't it mean that anything being said in that conference is the opposite of tolerance and of truth?

9) How can the UN avoid the largest practitioner of racism, which is Arabism (against: Kurds, Berbers, Africans, Jews, Assyrians, Asians, etc.), but focuses on the so called "anti-Arab racism"?
[ http://geocities.com/panarabism - Arabism is racism! ]

10) How more racist can the Durban-conference get, If the two oppressive regimes: Libya & Iran are the "stars"?
Libya - whose Muamar Qaddafi (besides his own persecution of non-Arabs, especially blacks in his country) the one of the champions in today's racist Arabization, and Arabist racism against Africa (whose "vision" has been compared to Hitler's "lebensraum"), in: Chad, Nigeria, etc., ultimately his crimes in the Sudan region helped in leading the current Al-Bashir's genocide on Millions of Africans (financed mainly by Libya and S. Arabia).
Iran, the regime of Islamic bigotry's oppression on its own population with an added special persecution on all on-Muslims: Christians, Baha'i, Jews, etc. or on non-"pure-Persians" like: Ahwazi - Arabs, Kurds, Azeris, Baluchis, etc. now under the leadership of: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad [EichmannJihad - the Islamic Hitler] who plays as if he "denies" the holocaust only in order to prepare for (his wishful) the second, "wiping off Israel".
Thus, the shame of the UN, kidnapped by the epitome of intolerance today, the infamous twin fascism: Arab racism, as in Gadhafi, and Islamic bigotry as in Amadinejad, are going to be "preaching" (and determine) to the world on tolerance.

A comment regarding Maggie Gallagher and other agents provocateur of intolerance and hatred

k_michael — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 14:54:19 EDT

Contrary to the claims of Maggie Gallagher, polygamy is not about "an attempt to secure stable mother-father families for children" - it is for the *production* of children, but beyond that, what it is primarily attempting to do has little else to do with children, and everything to do with the desires of the adults and, more specifically, their sectarian culture. Religious sects always emphasizes the *production* of children - but once those children are produced, the main focus of religion becomes, not safety, not security, not self-fulfillment or personal growth, but *obedience* to the patriarchy.

As for "traditional" marriage: If a relatively tiny proportion of the population can in *ANY* way "destroy" it, then the fact of the matter is that "traditional" marriage was/is already on its death-bed and cannot be resuscitated by Gallagher's hysterics about "making babies to preserve the culture" (which sounds to me like "code" for *white* society, since her speeches imply she is not in favor of adopting Asian, African, or Middle-Eastern children...).

Further more, if marriage is, as Gallagher and her acolytes claim, ALL (i.e., only) about *producing* children, then the inevitable extension of that is: once those children reach the "traditional" age of adulthood, these marriages should be dissolved - as should any childless marriage; and *any* people unable to have children should be prohibited from getting married. This would of course include such "lifestyles" as Genetic Mosaicism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetic_mosaicism) and Intersexuality (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intersex) - which, given Gallagher's sectarian so-called "logic", must, contrary to any and all known biological science, also be "a lifestyle choice" because "God does not make junk".

Like other obsessive paranoid narcissists, however, Gallagher is incapable of following through to the consequences of her, and her followers', own so-called "reasoning". Given that men still generally have shorter lifespans than women, one wonders what she and her cabal plan to do about "single people in nursing homes" - perhaps follow the ancient "tradition" of "send the wife into the afterlife along with her husband"?

If "traditional" marriage is "in danger", it is because

1) too many people are pressured to marry at too young and age;

2) absurd romanticized pap about "white knights" and "riding off into the sunset" continue to supercede real and practical information about things like how to budget, how to share finances, and how to maintain one's own personhood within a relationship;

3) women are still too often treated as subservient to the husband, and too many "traditional" marriages are not any different at all from the Koranic implication that a woman is worth 1/2 of a man;

4) there are still far too many loveless marriages;

5) and several other well-documented stresses within "traditional" marriage that lead to things like the 50%+ divorce rate, sd well as battered spouses and children.

It is NOT "under threat" because a rather small minority of people wish to practice their civil Constitutional right to enter into the contract known as marriage. Just as it is not "under threat" because, in addition to priests, pastors, rabbis, and so on, *the State* also grants people such as Justices of the Peace, in some rare cases Notary Publics, and so on, to pronounce closure of the contract - which must also be registered with City Hall in order to be considered legal. This is why even a religious representative says: "By the power invested in me by the state of [insert state name], I now pronounce you..." In other words, marriage is a legal contract, and the Constitution grants equal rights to all citizens under the law - most especially concerning contract law. Again, Gallagher and her ilk invoke the Constitution in the same selective way that they invoke the Bible: when it suits *their own* purposes - meaning, their own egocentrism.

The things that are wrong in "traditional" marriage will NOT simply disappear even if the agents provocateur of intolerance and hatred *did* manage to prevent gay marriage (or fulfill their end-goal of wiping out all GLBT people...) If anything, that sort of obsessive narcissism, funneled into hatred of anyone and anything that is not an exact clone of the narcissist, and leading to a compulsion to control others to force them to be "appropriately" compliant, *is* one of the problems in "traditional" marriage. Were this not the case, Gallagher and her ilk would spend more time addressing the psychoemotional, physical, and even sexual abuse that, distressingly to the rest of us, is not all that uncommon in the much-vaunted and supposedly-perfect "traditional" marriage and family. At elast some of those who have endured, and survived, such abuse consider this deliberate oversight to be, at best, disgusting and serving nothing but their own narrow-minded obsession.

Anti-Zionism is hate, racism

Unknown user — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 01:33:40 EDT

Anti-Zionism is hate

By Judea Pearl March 22, 2009

In January, four longtime Israel bashers were invited to the University of California, Los Angeles, to analyze the human rights conditions in Gaza, and used the stage to attack the legitimacy of Zionism and its vision of a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians.

They criminalized Israel’s existence, distorted its motives and maligned its character, its birth, even its conception. At one point, the excited audience reportedly chanted “Zionism is Nazism” and worse.

Jewish leaders condemned this hate-fest as a dangerous invitation to anti-Semitic hysteria. The organizers, some of them Jewish, took refuge in “academic freedom” and the argument that anti-Zionism is not anti-Semitism.

I fully support this mantra, not because it exonerates anti-Zionists from charges of anti-Semitism but because the distinction helps us focus attention on the discriminatory, immoral and more dangerous character of anti-Zionism.

Anti-Zionism rejects the very notion that Jews are a nation - a collective bonded by a common history - and, accordingly, denies Jews the right to self-determination in their historical birthplace. It seeks the dismantling of the Jewish nation-state: Israel.

Anti-Zionism earns its discriminatory character by denying the Jewish people what it grants to other historically bonded collectives (e.g., French, Spanish, Palestinians): namely, the right to nationhood, self-determination and legitimate coexistence with other indigenous claimants.

Anti-Semitism rejects Jews as equal members of the human race; anti-Zionism rejects Israel as an equal member in the family of nations.

Are Jews a nation? Some philosophers would argue Jews are a nation first and religion second. Indeed, the narrative of Exodus and the vision of the impending journey to the land of Canaan were etched in the minds of the Jewish people before they received the Torah at Mount Sinai. But philosophy aside, the unshaken conviction in their eventual repatriation to the birthplace of their history has been the engine behind Jewish endurance and hopes throughout their turbulent journey that started with the Roman expulsion in A.D. 70.

More important, shared history, not religion, is today the primary uniting force behind the secular, multiethnic society of Israel. The majority of its members do not practice religious laws and do not believe in divine supervision or the afterlife. The same applies to American Jewry, which is likewise largely secular. Identification with a common historical ethos, culminating in the re-establishment of the state of Israel, is the central bond of Jewish collectivity in America.

There are, of course, Jews who are non-Zionists and even anti-Zionists. There are also Jews who find it difficult to defend their identity against the growing viciousness of anti-Israel propaganda.

But these are marginal minorities at best; the vital tissues of Jewish identity today feed on Jewish history and its natural derivatives - the state of Israel, its struggle for survival, its cultural and scientific achievements and its relentless drive for peace.

Given this understanding of Jewish nationhood, anti-Zionism is in many ways more dangerous than anti-Semitism.

First, anti-Zionism targets the most vulnerable part of the Jewish people, namely, the Jewish population of Israel, whose physical safety and personal dignity depend crucially on maintaining Israel’s sovereignty. Put bluntly, the anti-Zionist plan to do away with Israel condemns 5.5 million human beings, mostly refugees or children of refugees, to eternal defenselessness in a region where genocidal designs are not uncommon.

Second, modern society has developed antibodies against anti-Semitism but not against anti-Zionism. Today, anti-Semitic stereotypes evoke revulsion in most people of conscience, while anti-Zionist rhetoric has become a mark of academic sophistication and social acceptance in certain extreme yet vocal circles of U.S. academia and media elite. Anti-Zionism disguises itself in the cloak of political debate, exempt from sensitivities and rules of civility that govern inter-religious discourse, to attack the most cherished symbol of Jewish identity.

Finally, anti-Zionist rhetoric is a stab in the back to the Israeli peace camp, which overwhelmingly stands for a two-state solution. It also gives credence to enemies of coexistence who claim that the eventual elimination of Israel is the hidden agenda of every Palestinian.

It is anti-Zionism, then, not anti-Semitism, that poses a more dangerous threat to lives, historical justice and the prospects of peace in the Middle East.

Judea Pearl is a professor at UCLA and the president of the Daniel Pearl Foundation. This article originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times. http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.israel22mar22,0,72685.story

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Work to do...

Jeff the Teacher — Sun, 16 Nov 2008 14:50:57 EST

A certain foundation was laid in order for Barack Obama's election to become a reality. That foundation was built on the backs of civil rights workers; by the risks they took, the hard work in which they were engaged, and the blood they shed. Going back to Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglas--and before--through W.E.B. Dubois, Rosa Parks, Dr. King, and countless others known and unknown, our next president and all of us who support him stand on the shoulders of courage and dedication. Those who challenge the status quo know that power does not yield without a fight. The Bull Connors and George Wallaces of the world are just a few of the very public examples of what occurs when entrenched thought, attitudes, and world views are shoved off their pedestals of power.

Within my own family my wife and I have had to deal with these entrenched attitudes. I have heard the "uppity N****r" comments along with, "once a muslim, always a muslim." Additionally--and most recently--another member of my family couldn't wait to reveal to us the new information concerning Barack Obama found on the internet: it would appear that Mr. Obama has close ties to the Chicago mob and that our government will really be run within those levers of power in the Windy City. Insert papacy and Vatican for mob and Chicago and you have a recycling of the same types of prejudices that confronted President Kennedy. It would seem that old habits die hard.

Comments that reveal racial attitudes and paranoia aside, the obvious falsity of religious and criminal assertions are easily dealt with providing you live in the reality based world. These are simply expressions of bigotry by those who have found a more polite way to spew their invective. Muslim = terrorist = Arab. Mobster = gangster = gangsta...you can guess where this one goes. Racism isn't dead, it has found new ways to spread. Below I've included an article from the Associated Press. It would appear that we have much work to do. And please note that some of the following incidents occur far from the South.

Obama election spurs race crimes around country
By JESSE WASHINGTON (AP National Writer)
From Associated PressNovember 16, 2008 12:00 AM EST
Cross burnings. Schoolchildren chanting "Assassinate Obama." Black figures hung from nooses. Racial epithets scrawled on homes and cars. Incidents around the country referring to President-elect Barack Obama are dampening the postelection glow of racial progress and harmony, highlighting the stubborn racism that remains in America.
From California to Maine, police have documented a range of alleged crimes, from vandalism and vague threats to at least one physical attack. Insults and taunts have been delivered by adults, college students and second-graders. There have been "hundreds" of incidents since the election, many more than usual, said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate crimes.
One was in Snellville, Ga., where Denene Millner said a boy on the school bus told her 9-year-old daughter the day after the election: "I hope Obama gets assassinated." That night, someone trashed her sister-in-law's front lawn, mangled the Obama lawn signs, and left two pizza boxes filled with human feces outside the front door, Millner said. She described her emotions as a combination of anger and fear. "I can't say that every white person in Snellville is evil and anti-Obama and willing to desecrate my property because one or two idiots did it," said Millner, who is black. "But it definitely makes you look a little different at the people who you live with, and makes you wonder what they're capable of and what they're really thinking." Potok, who is white, said he believes there is "a large subset of white people in this country who feel that they are losing everything they know, that the country their forefathers built has somehow been stolen from them."
Grant Griffin, a 46-year-old white Georgia native, expressed similar sentiments: "I believe our nation is ruined and has been for several decades and the election of Obama is merely the culmination of the change. "If you had real change it would involve all the members of (Obama's) church being deported," he said. Change in whatever form does not come easy, and a black president is "the most profound change in the field of race this country has experienced since the Civil War," said William Ferris, senior associate director of the Center for the Study of the American South at the University of North Carolina. "It's shaking the foundations on which the country has existed for centuries."
"Someone once said racism is like cancer," Ferris said. "It's never totally wiped out, it's in remission. "If so, America's remission lasted until the morning of Nov. 5. The day after the vote hailed as a sign of a nation changed, black high school student Barbara Tyler of Marietta, Ga., said she heard hateful Obama comments from white students, and that teachers cut off discussion about Obama's victory. Tyler spoke at a press conference by the Georgia chapter of the NAACP calling for a town hall meeting to address complaints from across the state about hostility and resentment. Another student, from a Covington middle school, said he was suspended for wearing an Obama shirt to school Nov. 5 after the principal told students not to wear political paraphernalia. The student's mother, Eshe Riviears, said the principal told her: "Whether you like it or not, we're in the South, and there are a lot of people who are not happy with this decision."
Other incidents include:
-Four North Carolina State University students admitted writing anti-Obama comments in a tunnel designated for free speech expression, including one that said: "Let's shoot that (N-word) in the head." Obama has received more threats than any other president-elect, authorities say.
-At Standish, Maine, a sign inside the Oak Hill General Store read: "Osama Obama Shotgun Pool." Customers could sign up to bet $1 on a date when Obama would be killed. "Stabbing, shooting, roadside bombs, they all count," the sign said. At the bottom of the marker board was written "Let's hope someone wins."
-Racist graffiti was found in places including New York's Long Island, where two dozen cars were spray-painted; Kilgore, Texas, where the local high school and skate park were defaced; and the Los Angeles area, where swastikas, racial slurs and "Go Back To Africa" were spray painted on sidewalks, houses and cars.
-Second- and third-grade students on a school bus in Rexburg, Idaho, chanted "assassinate Obama," a district official said.
-University of Alabama professor Marsha L. Houston said a poster of the Obama family was ripped off her office door. A replacement poster was defaced with a death threat and a racial slur. "It seems the election brought the racist rats out of the woodwork," Houston said.
-Black figures were hanged by nooses from trees on Mount Desert Island, Maine, the Bangor Daily News reported. The president of Baylor University in Waco, Texas said a rope found hanging from a campus tree was apparently an abandoned swing and not a noose.
-Crosses were burned in yards of Obama supporters in Hardwick, N.J., and Apolacan Township, Pa.
-A black teenager in New York City said he was attacked with a bat on election night by four white men who shouted 'Obama.'
-In the Pittsburgh suburb of Forest Hills, a black man said he found a note with a racial slur on his car windshield, saying "now that you voted for Obama, just watch out for your house."
Emotions are often raw after a hard-fought political campaign, but now those on the losing side have an easy target for their anger. "The principle is very simple," said BJ Gallagher, a sociologist and co-author of the diversity book "A Peacock in the Land of Penguins."
"If I can't hurt the person I'm angry at, then I'll vent my anger on a substitute, i.e., someone of the same race."
"We saw the same thing happen after the 9-11 attacks, as a wave of anti-Muslim violence swept the country. We saw it happen after the Rodney King verdict, when Los Angeles blacks erupted in rage at the injustice perpetrated by 'the white man.'"
"It's as stupid and ineffectual as kicking your dog when you've had a bad day at the office," Gallagher said. "But it happens a lot."

The campfire.

Xander — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:24:26 EDT

I never post in blogs, never have felt the need to. I talk to my friends basicly every day, and most anything I have to say I feel I can say to both them, and my family. At least, until one side of the families end of summer campfire just this past Saturday.

So, here's the setup. Big family get together, spend most of the night outside under the stars watching the fire burn and talking back and forth. For the most part, that's just what it was too, overall it was one of our better get togethers we've had recently, except when politics where eventually brought up. It was then that I couldn't help but sit in silent horror at some of the hate that was spewed toward Obama, and the democratic party in general. To top it off, most of the talking points being used, I quickly realized, where pulled strait out of a McCain campaign rally.

This was the night my support for Obama was set in stone.

McCain-Palin Holy War Against Muslims

Doug Clapp — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 13:59:55 EDT

Well folks it's official: John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin are waging a holy war against Muslims. They have apparently forgotten that those who attacked us in 2001 are radical fringe Islamists, not mainstream Muslims. McCain and Palin have forgotten that those same radical fringe Islamists have killed far more Muslims than non-Muslim people. McCain and Palin have forgotten that our enemy, Al Qaeda, is also the enemy of mainstream Islam. Instead the McCain-Palin campaign is engaging in blatant religious and racial stereotyping; exhorting Americans to be afraid of Senator Obama because his middle name is Hussein and suggesting Obama has ties to terrorists. Can any thinking America believe such preposterous innuendo and fear-mongering? Amazingly, this kind of tactic has succeeded before. Is this the "change" that John McCain has promised us? Sorry, but this is just more of the Bush-Rove Big Lie machine operation that has brought America the last 8 years of economic pain and international shame.

It is high time for America to send a message to those who use fear, lies and religious and racial stereotyping as weapons against ideas and truth to steal elections. Tell them we vote for truth, ethics and progress! Send the McCain-Palin-Rove campaign and their "snake oil" sales apparatus packing by voting for Obama-Biden for the Change We Need!! Our future - and our children's - depends on it.

Sarah Palin is Pat Buchanan in lipstick ...

Martin Edwin "Mick" from Churchton, MD — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:30:31 EDT

Each day that passes, Sarah Palin reveals herself as a paleoconservative hatchman in pumps.

In this time of economic turndown, a moment when the search for scapegoats may be just around the corner, it might be wise to remember the words of author Sinclair Lewis, which hopefully will not turn out to be prophetic:

“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying the cross.”

Turn a deaf ear to this Pat Buchanan in lipstick?

You betcha!

Bobby Kennedy and the Waffles.

Meghan from New York, NY — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 16:20:52 EDT

Bobby Kennedy once said, "Let us dedicate ourselves to what the Greeks wrote so many years ago: to tame the savageness of man and make gentle the life of this world."

He also said, "But suppose God is black? What if we go to Heaven and we, all our lives, have treated the Negro as an inferior, and God is there, and we look up and He is not white? What then is our response?"

I thought of this quote today as my stomach turned while reading an AP story about the waffles the Republicans sold at an event. I thought - how dare they? I physically felt sick thinking about it.

I know - you think you can't win the race question. You think if you "play the race card," you'll lose. But let's face it - things aren't going your way at the moment. If you're going to do something - why not DO something? The higher road is the noble course, but sometimes silence is tacit acceptance. Sometimes, it's necessary to use your voice to stand up for the many.

The waffle incident isn't just about you. It's about the disdain these Republicans have for basic human decency. It's about the 12% of Americans (about 36 million Americans) who were also denigrated by the hateful, horrible Republican display.

What would the Republican's say - what would they do if you had a picture of Bristol Palin, barefoot and pregnant, apron around her waist, serving her husband his breakfast? You would have to drop out of the race for the battering you'd take. Oh, the sexism.

Well, I'll tell you what: I'm a professional, white woman and an Ivy League graduate. I have never in my life faced sexism. I have never in my life not been able to achieve what I wanted because I am a woman. I'm fortunate, I know. But I strongly feel that race, far more than gender, impacts opportunity.

Think of what it says to the millions of black boys and girls out there looking to you as a leader and inspiration when you let such blatant, unacceptable racism go unchallenged by having "no comment" in response to the AP's article - no comment at all!

I know you don't want to make this campagin about race. But why not make it about what the Republicans are doing? Call a spade, a spade! While everyone's talking about Palin's historic moment, you seem to have forgotten yours. You've forgotten what you represent.

For the millions of black men and women out there, can't you express some astonishment, some incredulity that the Republicans think this is okay? Can't you ask what they would think if John McCain were black and that was your idea of "satire?" Maybe have a town hall with John McCain - bring a box of waffles with you - and ask him to his face if he truly thinks it is acceptable "satire."

They shouldn't be allowed to behave in such a depraved manner and not have to account for it.

Perhaps you don't think it's such a big deal. But to me, it is... It is because it is indicative of all that is wrong in this campaign and with the Republican party. The Republicans can say whatever they like, black is white, wrong is right, lies are truth and you have to spend your time trying to prove them wrong. Then when you say 2+2=4 - they say you are wrong. How can this be acceptable?

They are making a mockery of our nation. They have made the presidency about the lowest common denominator. But this country is better than that - it needs better than that. Knowledge, thoughtfulness and decency are virtues - and they want to make them liabilities. It can not be stopped just by ignoring it.

All I'm asking is that rather than having no comment, you say something like:

"If John McCain had any ideas for the future of this country, he would share them with voters. But all he's got are dishonorable and insulting swift boat tactics. All he can do is try to make people believe this country shouldn't expect anything better in the next four years than it has had in the last eight.

"As for me, I'm going to talk to voters about a 'Pathway to Prosperity.' I'm going to talk about how to protect people's homes, lower middle class taxes, save our environment, fix education and end oil dependence. I'll leave it to the voters to decide what they care about more - twentieth century stereotypes and worn-out insults, or a change to new ideas for a new time."

To borrow again from Kennedy:

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly."

"Now I can go back to being ruthless again."

PS "Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total; of all those acts will be written the history of this generation."
Robert Kennedy

PPS referring back to a previous blog about packaging Obama's policies, I want to thank the people who left comments with such excellent ideas! I plan to collect a few more and send them to the campaign. Here's to each of us and our work to change a small portion of events....

PPPS All Kennedy quotes were found at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/robert_f_kennedy.html

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

CONFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST' ARABS VS ISRAEL ANOTHER ARAB MUSLIM INTOLERANCE CASUALTY

Natalia from Acampo, CA — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:34:04 EDT

'CONFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST' ARABS VS ISRAEL ANOTHER ARAB MUSLIM INTOLERANCE CASUALTY:

Being a minority in a majority hostile middle east - ["Goliath"] Arab racism & Islamic bigotry against ["David"] IsraelArabs VS Israel, The blatant intolerance that created the 'conflict', persecutes little Israel, isolates it, demonetizes it, and threatens it constantly since its re-establishment.

What does the cruel vicious racist giant want from the innocent little one?

Let's face it, had Israel be just another Arab, Muslim country, nothing of - what's now known as - an 'Arab Israeli conflict' would have existed at all.The fate of a minority in a double sense, it is neither an Arab state, but a full democracy with Arabs as a major equal minority, nor is it a Muslim state, its system is like any western free secular society.
[though in reality, Arabs, Muslims are often treated as first class citizens over Jews in Israel's democracy, some examples are: [1] access to holy sites (like: The Temple Mount is always closed to non-Muslims on Fridays and during the entire... (Ramadan), Temple Mount shut to non-Muslims on election eve, or the case in 2005), [2] cases of land disputes, Israeli courts would order only the Jews to be moved out already before any decision is made, [3] We see that the Israelis routinely decide in favor of the Palestinians against their own government, and [4] giving favor in not-handling any illegal Arab settlements VS swift action on Jewish (so called) "illegal" ones, Gov't Allows Arabs To Squat on Jewish Farmland, Arab "Land Grab" in Israel gets shielded by Israel's Supreme Court, it is favoring Arabs over Jews in its self-image, [5] Israel's courts go as far as favoring some one or two Arabs' convenience over Israelis' security as in altering the fence to accommodate some Arabs Fence Rulings: Democracy in Action Israel's Supreme Court sided with the Palestinians in a precedent-setting decision,ordering the government to reroute part of its West Bank ..., etc.].

"LAND"Had it been really [mainly] about [having more, or having less] "land" (or/and about a flag), the Arabs would have no problem complying with the UN's partition plan/offer in 1948.But No! The Arab racists and Islamic bigots wouldn't have it as long as there's also a Jewish state.What "territories" did the Arabs "fight" about in the Arab massacres since the 1920's on the Jews?Would it be just about a strip of land, you would have expected that with [always the giver:] Israel's gigantic gesture of its land Gaza give-away, a change [somewhat] of behavior will occur among Arab "Palestinians", instead of genocidal rise of Hamas. Can anyone point for me the exact "territory", the callers for Genocide: Islamic Republic of Iran's "case" in "dispute" is all about?

Ahmadinejad was NOT mistranslated

A typical Islamic hypocrisy, its name is Ahmadinejad, with all his Islamic intolerant regime's anti-Arab racism, persecuting all his minorities especially his Arab ( The Plight of the Ahwazi Arab) population, can be the last (in the Middle east) to claim he just aches for Arab "Palestinians".

Islamic flaming bigotry will stop at nothing: Iran Holocaust Denial--Rewriting history to suit their political ends.
Just as Iran's founded/led and Syrian backed Islamic Hezbullah terror group is all about: csmonitor: Hizbullah's real goal is racist: To free the Middle East holy lands of Jews... Hizbullah's goal is not the "liberation" of Palestine. Its members are not Palestinian. They are Islamic extremists.

...

THE SAME OLD...

That culture of racism that has pushed, intimidated the British appeasers to restrict Jewish immigration while allowing the massive Arab immigration (reminder: Arab immigrants settlers, can never turn into "natives", no matter how many lies their grandchildren try to tell you) into Jews' [ & never ever Arab] historic land.Intolerant Arabia fact# 1: What kind of an excuse of re-appearing the State of Israel was there for one of the major crimes post WWII, to expel the 850.000 Jews from Arab Muslim countries in 1948 & confiscate their property?

DIVIDED ARABS: 'UNITED WE STAND IN EVIL RACISM!

'Intolerant Arabia fact# 2: What united the (always divided) Arabs to attack the Jews in 1948, 1967, 1973?
(Iraqi example of Arab on Arab in the most beastly way type of slaughter, is rooted in old hatred among Arabs, Muslims, sectarian and otherwise, as are other Arab vs Arab massacres: Algerian, "Palestinian" and so on, in any case, even when in peace, still there is never any harmony among Arab leaders, never any unity in the Arab world on anything besides shear blind anti-Israelism). Intolerant Arabia fact# 3: What kind of a world is it that they will cheer to "Palestinian" Intifadas & Hezbollah (- 2006) [using abusing -] playing kids & women's lives as a ping pong (as always, not caring about Arabs' lives but turning only) against Israel?

Intolerant Arabia fact# 4: "Moderate" Arab Muslim Jordan leads the world in hatred of Jews.If not for the unbelievable consistency of Arab racism, (which started to manifest itself in the 1800's, up-scaled since 1929 [*, *, *, *, *] there wouldn't have been a conflict nor the prolonged suffering of both sides, well, it's all too bad that the ["Palestinian"] Arabs suffer from their own racism.

from the 'Hebron Massacre' 1929

NEVER PRO ARAB - "PALESTINIANS" BUT ALWAYS 'ANTI - ISRAEL'

Had it been about Arab world being "preoccupied" with the Arab "Palestinians", the Arabs wouldn't have hated, oppressed, persecuted, massacred them (in Lebanon, Kuwait, Jordan, S. Arabia, Iraq, etc.).Had the Arab world been real brothers to the Arabs that call themselves (since the 1960's) "Palestinians", they wouldn't have prevented any chance by humane heroic Israel to improve their status, but No! The Arab anti-Israel racists always preferred using them and their misery against the "Zionist enemy", it also served/serves as a devious diversion for their population being constant victims of the horror of all Arab oppressive dictatorships, "palestinians"...as a foil to keep their own oppressed population focused on Israel instead of deplorable human rights in their own countries.What do you make of such facts like 'In 1954, the king of Saudi Arabia stated that the Arabs should be willing to sacrifice what amounted to 20% of their population to destroy Israel'? Because it was never about "Pro-Palestinian-Arabs" but all about anti Israel. Just like in 1948 when the Arab leaders told them to flee, to evacuate it (Palestine) and leave for the bordering Arab countries thus created the "refugee" problem.
Not much has changed, truth is Arab nations don't care about the Palestinians [exposing the lie in the middle east]. Just a side note, Can anyone answer me this, How come it was rather the Arab filthy oil rich countries that were left so far behind at Europe's pledge drive of billions of dollars to the "Palestinians" in 2007?

A PROFILE OF AN ARAB RACIST: SADDAM HUSSEIN

Take the most notorious butcher of our time, that classic brutal Arab racist Saddam Hussein of course, master of sectarian persecution, who defined his Arabism by the extent of his brutality against non Arab Kurds, non Arab Persians, it was only appropriate for the racist's last words to be: "Palestine is (all) Arab!" ['Palestine's patron mourned], meaning: Only Arabs, 'No Jews'!

Halabja: The Racism of so-called Arab Intellectuals towards Kurds and Kurdistan

Assyrians in Iraq

a million people lost their lives in Saddam's initiated Iraq-Iran war It was in Saddam Hussein's Iraq where Arab racism attained its most vulgar ... The "Arabization" of Persian contributions on the world stage...
Saddam�s Racism, [from the devil's mouth:] "Three whom God should not have created: Persians, Jews, and flies"

A GLIMPSE INTO THE TOTALITARIAN EVIL EMPIRE OF SAUDI ARABIA - EXAMPLE OF ARAB RACISM

The mistreatment of non-Arab workers, the sex slavery upon Asian women and other oppression, are well known facts.
Not to mention the repression of any non Muslim activity/voice.

Amnesty News: Saudi Arabia: Asian workers continue to suffer behind closed doors ...Asian migrant workers in Saudi Arabia are at risk of human rights violations ... or coerced into signing a statement in Arabic, which they don't understand. ...

White slavery of female American citizens in Saudi Arabia, The girl, Bariya Ibrahim Magazu, was sentenced under Islamic law after three men forced her into having sex last September. Saudi Arabia: land of child rapists... In Saudi Arabia, marriage can come as young as 12 years old for girls. (Wall Street Journal)

'Sex slave' trial starts in US Exploitation and Abuse of Migrant Workers in Saudi Arabia ... Interestingly, Nazar, like many of these poor Asian slaves

Filipino 'Sex Slaves' Rescued In Malaysia Sue Recruiters For Human . .... Europe & the middle east especially Pinoys in Saudi Arabia.

SAUDI ARABIA AND SLAVERY

How my eyes were opened to the barbarity of Islam...Look at Saudi Arabia, a strict Islamic state... trade and trafficking of women as sex slaves

How a British jihadi saw the light, My first clash with Saudi culture came when, being driven around in a bulletproof jeep, I saw African women in black abayas tending to the rubbish bins outside restaurants, residences and other busy places. "Why are there so many black cleaners on the streets?" I asked the driver. The driver laughed. "They're not cleaners. They are scavengers; women who collect cardboard from all across Jeddah and then sell it. They also collect bottles, drink cans, bags."
Racism was an integral part of Saudi society. My students often used the word "nigger" to describe black people. Even dark-skinned Arabs were considered inferior to their lighter-skinned cousins. I was living in the world's most avowedly Muslim country, yet I found it anything but. I was appalled by the imposition of Wahhabism in the public realm, something I had implicitly sought as an Islamist.

Slaves in Saudi Arabia, A report from a Muslim: Anyone who has visited Saudi Arabia knows the racism with which ordinary Saudis treats the brown and black-skinned masses that come for Hajj. Like hundreds of Bangladeshis every year, my parents endured these indignities during their recent pilgrimage. When he returned from Mecca, my father told me, "To them, we will always be miskeen (beggar). Doesn't matter what we do, or where we come from. They see our skin and don't need to see more. " If this is how pilgrims are treated, imagine how much worse is the plight of the "Guest Worker." Yet, we Muslims remain silent on these abuses -- after all the Saudis are the keepers of Islam's holiest site, so they cannot possibly be racist!

Arab racism is such that most Pakistanis would prefer to work in Britain than in Saudi Arabia.

SOME ARAB RACISM HIGLIGHTS IN GENERAL

- Then there's Kuwait... children to take illegal drugs and then used these children as sex slaves

- More discriminative and racist behavior against Indians (by Kuwaiti police)

- RISE OF RACISM, INTOLERANCE IS SERIOUS THREAT.. Kuwait was concerned that racism had been made an ordinary thing by

- Show me the real you� the ugly face of Racism, Racism in Kuwait has a whole lot of meaning in it.

- Yawar is now a feeble negligible lame-duck President. In spite of that he does not think of any political, diplomatic, moral and even tribal considerations, as a new husband of a political Kurdish woman, to restraint his essentially racist views, He frankly expresses his racist hatred of Kurds, his true Arab fascist a nature which does not recognize any form of democracy or freedom of expression, nor the rights of people to self determination and democratic determination of their future.

- Darfur - Islam's Killing Fields ... historic context -Darfur is but one example of Arab racism toward non-Arabs within the broader "Arab world. ...

- The Coptic Christians in Egypt are subjected to government-sanctioned discrimination in employment ...

- Copts were massacred in their churches and villages in Egypt and tourists have been ... Arab racism consists of calling the country of Israel, Arab land, ...

- Christians in the Middle East, Coptic, Maronite... In Egypt, the large Coptic nation is systematically discriminated against... The religious persecution and oppression is normally conducted...

- ...about the plight of Yemen's outcaste Al Akhdam minority, ... All Forms of Discrimination and Racism, Anti-Slavery International...

- "Discrimination Against Al-Akhdam People in Yemen Criticised...

- Mention should be made of the oppressed Kurdish minority in Syria. .... world conference against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia...

- The Syrian regime does not permit its Druze citizens to visit their relatives and friends

- [Eritreans in Egypt] face racism and economic marginalisation, rights activists say.

- Arab racism is deeply embedded in the history of North Africa itself... the Berbers, and other non-Arab peoples are confined to the fringes of ...

- They're not Arabs. Like Iraq's Kurds or North Africa's Amazigh (Berbers). ... of North Africa) is mostly about Arab racism and chauvinism� pure and simple.

- ...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,

- Obama & Arab Racism

- Moroccan Amazigh Party not legitimate, government says... In Morocco, the Arabs back racism to the point of preventing inhabitants...

"PALESTINIAN" ARAB MUSLIM RACISM, AGAINST BLACKS TOO!

'Black spinster' label pinned on Condi Rice Palestinian media use racist terms including 'colored dark skin lady'

PALESTINIAN MEDIA USE RACIST TERMS FOR CONDI RICE: Newspapers ...Eurweb.com, CA - Aug 2, 2006* The Palestinians' overall hatred ... Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been using racist terms in ... A cartoon that ran last week in the PA controlled Al Quds ...
Black Activists Condemn Racist Rice Cartoons in Palestinian Press ...
Pali media welcomes 'colored,' 'dark-skinned,' 'black ...Jul 31, 2006 Which is more racist, the rhetoric itself or the free pass Palestinians get from ... A cartoon last week in the PA controlled Al Quds depicted Rice pregnant...

A PART OF GLOBAL ISLAMO ARAB RACISM

What's the difference between "merciful" Arabs, Muslims attacking [spitting, beating, etc.] Jews in Paris (murder of Ilan Halimi among so many), London, Brussels, or Muslims beheading Jews (Daniel Pearl) in Pakistan, Iraq (Nick Berg), Islamic Iran's killing of Jews in Argentina, and Arabs attacking Israelis?

AN OASIS OF TOLERANCE & DEMOCRACY IN A DESERT OF DISCRIMNITORY & TOTALITARIAN ARABIA

Why can't the Arab Muslim majority [instead of fascistic wars and racist boycotts for 60 years 1948-2008] simply accept the Israeli minority in its midst just as the Israeli open free democracy accepts its 20% Arab minority? [giving them equal freedom and full equal rights - Arab representation in the government, etc., The productivity and tolerance of the Jews in the state they created have given birth to an Arab citizenry inside Israel of more than one million people, even though it is the only refuge for persecuted Jews while Arabs have so much of vast land].Whereas Israel is at the merciless hands of Arab Muslim undemocratic, saturated with Arab Racism, Islamic Fascism, Islamic intolerance, Islamic bigotry toward non-Muslims, facts, and 'human rights' terrible abuser middle east, Israel is just another minority such as Christians, or any "infidel" in their own radical regimes, Infidels can be permitted to exist only as dhimmis, and in such a non-Muslim state as Israel they would no longer be dhimmis, (the continuation of dhimmitude, The fates of non-Muslims in Islamic society, "Jihad Conquests and the Imposition of Dhimmitude -- A Survey, in The legacy of jihad: Islamic holy war and the fate of non-Muslims. ) but in fact its doomed only far worse, it can't even be given a 'right to exist'.

(In this context, It is important to note the general historic Arabization and Islamicization upon the indigenous people & more about the myth that "all of the middle east is originally Arab").

[GUESS WHAT] THE MIDDLE EAST DOES NOT "BELONG" TO ARABS

What historic human suffering done is done, the Arabization monster that has swept through the middle east crushing [eliminating, dwindling its population & wide oppression] in its way all other indigenous people in the middle east and in north Africa, its consequences are still resulting in minorities' plight, but the Arab world have yet to grow up and realize the reality that neither the world nor the middle east belongs only to one race.

WHY NOT TALK ABOUT PRE ISRAEL'S RE-ESTABLISHING?

Why do you think the Arab propagandists always avoid the initiation milestone of Arab massacres on Jews by Hitler's buddy the Arab Islamic leader the Mufti [*, *, *,

*, *] (the inspirer of the butcher: Yasser Arafat) ? If not for it being the mark and typical exposed cause (which is plain hatred)

talking about the hatred cradle of the conflict, it is no surprise that: British National Archives unveil presence of Nazi S.S. agents in Mandatory Palestine, working closely with Arab-"Palestinian" leaders. Historical documents... show Nazis shipped arms to "Palestinians".Much has been written about The Nazi Roots of 'Islamic Antisemitism', Nazi Roots Of radical Islamic Fascism.

UNPRECEDENTED RACIST ISOLATION BY THE POWER OF THE ARAB MONSTER

Show me one more country that is so isolated, economically, politically and (more importantly) security wise, by haters, as the Israel freedom island in the ocean of Arab racism & tyranny

As lamentably the UN, EU & its policies, and even US policy makers that push for an Arab- 'Palestine' state while pressing only Israel for more concessions, are entirely hijacked by the oil Arab bosses, who should [then] even care about a "Zionist" lobby in Washington?Just remember that it's this international Arab lobby that is so intolerant as much as so powerful, it will shut down or at least minimize the world outcry about (Arab racism's crimes on Africans especially) the genocide in Sudan,

So, in Sudan's western region of Darfur, it's Arab versus black, regardless of religion. Ditto for Arab versus Kurd, Amazigh, and so forth. In Sudan's largely non-Muslim south, it's a combination of both Arab racism and the conquest of the 'Dar ul-Islam' as exemplified also in the expected subjugation and dhimmitude of Egyptian Copts, Lebanon's Christians, Near Eastern Assyrians, and Israel, the Jew of the Nations, home to whom Arabs call their "kilab yahud Jew dogs."
Arab racism, Islamic bigotry and discriminatory practices are the most divisive issues in the Sudan because they are the major factors
the plight of non-Arab or/and non-Muslim minorities in all of the Arab Muslim apartheid world (Like "apartheid South Africa". ... non-Muslims are treated as second-class citizens the despised Dhimmi.), or even human rights violation of all citizens in that repressive world, but will keep pressing [instead] damning 'resolutions' & bullying the world on racist boycotts against the Israeli victim of Arab terrorism.

If not for the Arab international vast power, how else can one explain the world media & UN's silence on "Palestinian" crimes against humanity upon their own people? [asides from the usual massive corruption and stealing from their poor people] like Terrorist organizations operate from within civilian population, while cynically exploiting uninvolved civilians and using them as human shields, using young boys as human bombs, willingly, or unknowingly, even using toddlers?

DEHUMANIZATION OF ISRAELIS [INCLUDING ISRAELI VICTIMS]

When not busy hearing lessons, sermons by radical Islam's animalistic teaching referring to Christians as "pigs" and to Jews as "apes" [* * * * *], the "best" respect the Arab mainstream media and leaders can [let their audiences to] relate to Israelis is in a frame of "brutal soldiers", Can somebody explain to me how come Israeli soldiers who are (among) the most humane in the world, knocking on door to door, in spite of booby traps awaiting them, risking their lives in every anti-terror operation trying so hard not to cause too many casualties on the aggressive Arab side. Inventing low range missiles maximum precision to minimize collateral damage, and these beautiful soldiers that are more compassionate on Arab kids then their proper Arab parents are [those that send them on the front line covering for coward adult terrorists, in the 'Pallywood' bloody theater of war to gain sympathy in international cameras when finally Arab kids are hurt, it's the Israelis who are the last ones that want this to happen, which is exactly why the Arabs choose to use these inhumane tactics against Israelis' humanity,] are called by any vile name in the book by Arab racists?In fact, unlike in Israel that any incident is reported, no matter who's side lost lives, there are hardly any Israeli victims of Arab attacks in Arab mainstream & "moderate" media, You don't see Israelis as humans, never pictures of Israeli children who are victims, a cry a tear a laugh, you see only "occupation tanks".
Isn't it time to point the finger on who's really inciting the Arab streets, which is not an event in it of itself, but the venomous reporting by their irresponsible leadership, clergy and "intellectuals"?
As the great Nonie Darwish said in an astonishing clarification: "We Arabs fight a Jew of our own imagination"..
Lebanese Brigitte Gabriel: It was Israel who came to help the Christians in Lebanon. ... I realized I was sold a fabricated lie by my government, about the Jews and Israel....

ARABS = HYPOCRISY

And if you haven't had enough of Arab hypocrisy

(who define in their charter that they are Arab & Islamic but Israel can't have one place for Jews escaping persecution), try this, it's rather this Arab goliath of persecuting Arabism's racism, the Arab world's racism The A to Z of ethnic and religious groups in the Middle East embraces Alawites, Armenians, Assyrians, Baha'is, Berbers, Chaldeans, Copts, Druzes, Ibadis, Ismailis, Jews, Kurds, Maronites, Sahrawis, Tuareq, Turkmen, Yazidis and Zaidis (by no means an exhaustive list), and yet serious discussion of ethnic/religious diversity and its place in society is a long-standing taboo., the culture with inherited racism that dares categorizes Israelis' natural fear for their lives [What? Fear of terror? you've got to be kidding, the Arabs can't even "give" that to Israeli victims (The Arab racism of playing Israelis' fear of Arab terror as "racism"), I guess, that in Arab racism's animalism that don't see them as human but (Christians & Jews) as apes & pigs (or in the "best - moderate" case, still not human enough), it can start making senseless "sense",] as "racism" [before and after that infamous Durban bigotry conference *, *, *] & efforts of defense as "apartheid", imagine that.Speaking of Arab hypocrisy, why isn't there any Jew [allowed to reside] in 100% racist real [not as in Arabists propaganda or those paid, financed by the Arab lobby to use empty bombastic language term, but in the real sense of:] Apartheid, "Judenrein" - "Palestine" controlled land?What about this despicable inexcusable "pure Arab" supremacy and ethnic cleansing that goes on undisturbed in the 21st century anyhow?Not to mention "Palestinian" apartheid's Islamization of Bethlehem - Driving the Infidels Out , take their land & property, oppression, pogroms, the Denial of Religious Rights by the Palestinian Authority Not just Jews, but Christians have also been victimized by Islamic intolerance for 'infidel' holy sites, a continuation of [the same bigoted Arafat / "Palestinians" with Syrian Arabs who massacred the Christians in Damour - Lebanon [the background cause for Arab Christians killing of "Palestinians" in Sabra Shatila] Arafat's Islamization, that has constantly persecuted & terrorized them, they currently live in fear, worried and on edge. CULT OF HATREDBut what makes their fascism so monstrous is also their burning diabolical flames of hatred:Here are some typical hate & death cult messages from the Islamic bigotry of Jihadism:
From a Lebanese Suicide Bomber Induction Ceremony (1996): "We swear by the blood and severed bodies of our children and the torment of our prisoners, and we will reply blowing our bodies!"
Hassan Nasrallah = Hizbollah Sec. Gen. (2005): "We consider [America] to be an enemy because it is the greatest plunderer of our treasures, our oil, and our resources, while millions in our nation suffer unemployment, poverty, hunger, unmarriageable, ignorance, darkness, and so on."
"Our motto, which we are not afraid to repeat year after year, is: Death to America."
Hassein Suadd Al-Qassam Brigades Commander (Dec. 2005): "We succeeded, with Allah's grace, to raise an ideological generation that loves death like our enemies love life."
Palestinian TV - Suliman Sutari, before thousands of chanting fanatics. (July 8, 2005): "Annihilate the infidels and the polytheists. They're [Allah's] enemies and the enemies of the religion. Allah, count them and kill them to the last one, and don't even leave one."
Radical Islamism = racism = genocide. Jihad -Islamism.
- Muslim "Palestinians" teach their kids: 'Wipe Out the Jews'. Anti-Semitic Hate Speech in the Name of Islam ...May 16, 2008 ... Hamas ... Disney clone...
-Death cult & hatred for non Muslims, Usama bin Laden declared: "Death is better than living on this Earth with the unbelievers among us."
- Hamas advocates Killing Jews, simply for being Jews. - Wave of hatred concentrates on Jews in Britain, Vitriolic hatred of Jews is also a regular feature of the speeches and sermons of extremist Islamists and Jihadists.
A terrible admission: We were brought up to hate - and we do - Telegraph, They said: "May God destroy the infidels....
- Muslim leader: Only Muslims are innocent... he notes that because non-Muslims have rejected Islam, none of them are innocent. Therefore attacks like 9/11 and 7/7 are perfectly justified.
- 'The Palestinian Struggle Must be An Islamic Jihad' .... The Jews and Christians are infidels, enemies of Allah, his Messenger, and the believers.
- Nasrallah was on record boasting: "The Jews love life, so that is what we shall take away from them. We are going to win because they love life and we love death."
- Center for Religious Freedom, Various Saudi government publications gathered for this study, most of which are in Arabic, assert that it is a religious obligation for Muslims to hate.
- Hamas slogan, which has inspired countless jihadist bombers: "Allah is its goal, The Prophet its model, the Qur'an its Charter, jihad .. Hamas is committed to continuing jihad against "the Jews" until Allah's victory ... Oh Allah, show the

Jews a black day... Oh Allah, annihilate the Jews and...

There was nothing of an exaggeration in Golda Meir's expression that: "Peace will come when Arabs will begin to love their children more than they hate us"

SPINNING PALLYWOOD - EMPTY FALSE "ISSUES"

A thick dark cloud over the years created by the "Palestinian" Arab hollywood [or Pallywood] propaganda has shadowed over the reality of the middle east.No war [probably] has been so altered in history books and even in present conscious in any mainstream reporting.The Arabs are masters in creating symbols and flags on what their so called struggles are supposedly all about, it is a weather changing phenomenon, as deceptive as they always are, in an attempt to "revive" world's sympathy for their self made "victim-hood" from the beginning, past & present self inflicted self-destruction, every "season" they manage to refresh - come up with a new "issue", today it's a defense wall against Arab genocide bombers, yesterday it was a checkpoint for terrorists, the day before that it was 'how dare Israeli police "invade" and arrest a Jihadi leader', before that they pinned some Arab children killed by Arab adults [only in order to be able to pin it] on the Zionists, (Muhammad Al-Dura anyone?) etc. the "best" and most prolonged spin is of course that "occupation" crappy excuse, while quite a few subjects have been falsified so thoroughly as the recent history of the West Bank and Gaza, never mind that winning a battle hardly justifies such a term, especially by a bunch of people [whose parents are mostly] not natives (a not-just-rhetorical question: What is Arabs' connection to Judea or Muslims to Jews' Jerusalem & to other of their holy places anyhow?) nor is it any answer to the massacres intended mainly inside mainland Israel,

or all the slaughtering before the 1967 birth of the so called "occupation", and on top of all that, little is known that the Arab bigots refer to all of the land as "occupation", these infamous liars with forked tongues [will lie to western media on what they really want], by mentioning it among themselves they really mean the end of Israel.

WHAT "CAUSE"?

If you are still brainwashed by the "occupation" myth, Try this, find the common theme that runs through Hezbollah's Nasrallah's words: If they (Jews) all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide. , Fatah's "moderate" Mahmoud Abbas' Holocaust denial & Hitler's 'MeinKampf" being best seller in Gaza or in the wider middle east?Ever wondered why is it that with each new offer from the kind Israelis, the Arabs always go backwards and nothing tangible of peace is really achieved?You don't need a medic to tell you that if you can't define the disease a cure is impossible. THE [TINY MINORITY] FEW COURAGEOUS ARABS THAT STAND UP

AGAINST RACISM AND FOR ISRAEL'S RIGHT

Not all is lost in Arabia, the few heroes like Arabs for Israel, should be applauded, it shows that once you start recognizing the root of the "conflict" = bigotry, confront it & fight it, you can finally move on and coexist with people who are different in: race, religion, origin, culture, etc.
(See more rare moderates).
Replacing tolerance for bigotry, love for hatred, peace for war.

NO RACISM NO CONFLICT!

The only "conflict" applicable [in case you prefer to use rather the term "conflict"], is that it's actually a conflict between Islamo Arab deadly intolerance and [clashing with] Israelis' quest for life and tolerance.Calling the "conflict" by its real name is important to "solve" it.It is clear, it was always the case [and still is] that the Arab Muslims' initiated "conflict" with the non Arab, non Muslim minority, was/is nothing but Arab racism & obsessive Islamofascism, (The role that bigotry plays in the Arab-Israeli conflict) as long as the Arab Muslim mainstream does not halt its hatred drive, put a stop to instilling the virus in their children, in 'Death cult' indoctrination, and their masses "indulging" in satanic cartoons, hype anti Israel propaganda in every "report", blaming Arab kids' deaths on Israeli innocent defenders rather than on Arab culprit adults that exploit and use them, the glorification of "Palestinian" mass murderers as "martyrs",

and its plain Anti-Semitism in the Arab/Muslim World (documented), including among "friendly" Arab States to the west, no gesture [release of 'Palestinian' terrorists or land give away], on top of so many gestures by Israel the gem, will erase the "conflict", the past, present and future responsibility is entirely on the Arab Muslims bloody (with the blood of both sides) hands.

People Exacting Revenge on Obama Supporters

Ken — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 18:11:38 EDT

It's bad enough that my fiancee's father disowned her because she supports Barack Obama for president and attended his rallies here in town, among other reasons; these things happen all the time in racist America. But now she is being persecuted at work by a Romney bully. What makes this especially perplexing is that she works her heart out for a famous Minnesota company in the personal care products marketplace that has a reputation for being "green." Maybe somebody should tell Billy Lauder that intolerance and greed has run amuck in one of his prized holdings?

Anybody else having these kinds of problems, plausibly deniable or otherwise?

Warning: The danger of portraying the Islamic "Palestinians" aggressors as "victims", the genocidal thugs as "poor innocent"

Odonald from New York, NY — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:11:38 EDT

Warning: The danger of portraying the Islamic "Palestinians" aggressors as "victims", the genocidal thugs as "poor innocent"

Not only is it untrue to talk about those Islamists ['Palestinian' or Iranian leadership and it's Hezbollah global Mahdi army * * * * * *] seeking to annihilate the Jews as if they have some "political issue" or "resistance", but it's simply extremely dangerous, as Islamic fascism uses the 'Palestinian victim hood' myth as an excuse to hit.

Please do not help Jihad by justifying mass murder of the innocent!

* if you are unaware of the tricks [like using human shields, etc.] radical Islamists [Arab 'Palestinians' * * or Hezbollah *] are using in order to make sure that their kids die so that Israel gets tarnished, get informed, but don't bash Israel the real victim.

* Ever wanted how desperate they are for you to see them as "victims" that they will bring about their own children's death? Why do you think do they have the custom of shooting out of densely populated civilian areas, firing behind their kids' little shoulders or hiding under women's skirts? *, *, *, *, ** If you don't know that the Arab 'Palestinians' are no more a generation or two away from Arab settlers, immigrated into Israel 'Palestine' * , check out the facts but don't keep buying 'Palestinian' lies as if they are "natives for thousands of years".

* If you don't know that the Arab racists started massacring the Jews in Israel - 'Palestine' already at the turn of the century *, *, study the history of the region instead of copying 'Palestinian' propaganda as if the 'problem started in 1948'.

* If you really believe the images & stories coming out of 'Palestinian' sources as "fascts", than you don't know about Pallywood *, *, * booming industry.

* If you fail to see that the goliath Arab Muslim world controls the international decisive organizations such as the U.N. * * and others via oil, economic power and terror tactics, ask yourself the constant persecution of racist boycotts and "condemnations" on anything Israel does to defend itself from murderers terrorists, comparing all that to the silence on 'Palestinians', leadership, teachers, imams and parents crimes on their own people in leading them to a radical Jihad death cult.

* Why is it still a PC to sing that song: 'oh those poor Palestinians' [thus 'make their day' for ruthless terrorists]? When will we see the mainstream (biased *) irresponsible media finally recognize that: the Muslim 'Palestinians' have no one but themselves to blame for their self destructive, self inflicted wounds,since 1948 *, and still recenly *, * by choosing 'victim-hood' status over advancement, bigotry over recognition of the 'non Muslims', 'non Arabs' Israelis to exist, teaching their kids *, [The Indoctrination of Palestinian Children to Seek Death] hatred instead of peace & harmony, Death; Suicide & Genocide - how to die and murder instead of how to live?

* If you don't know about the Arab lobby control over policy, be surprised how the Goliath Arab Muslim lobby is powerful. *, *, *, *, *, *

* If you thought it's just a small minority that is so evil among 'Palestinian' Atab Muslims, think again, Friday, February 16, 2007 NEC 12-15 February Poll: 75% of Palestinians do not think that Israel has the right to exist, Poll: Most Palestinians think Hamas should not recognize Israel ...[19/09/06], Fatah leaders appeared on TV praying in the mosques even when the sermons delivered preached genocide. Islamic education was given prominence in the PA's school system... FATAH'S RELIGIOUS pretense was so successful that it Islamicized its own people, especially Palestinian youth.
In a March 2005 poll, 70 percent of Palestinians preferred Islamic law, Shari'a, to the laws of the PA parliament. Less than a year later, in January 2006, Hamas completed its journey from a fringe movement to the Prime Minister's Office. The push by Arafat and Abbas to make religion a dominant motivation behind the war with Israel had been more "successful" than they could have anticipated.
Yes, it's mainstream and majority of Islamo Arab "Palestinians" that is so terrible!

* If you don't know that the Islamo Arab coward attackers [of little heroic Israel] always called to annihilate Jews ['Itbach al Yahud' * - their slogan since the 1920's, 'throwing them into the sea' - in the Arab Israeli wars *, 'wiping off' *, *, *, *, *, *, *] than you don't know the first thing Israel is 'fighting for', survival of course.

For truth and justice sake and for survival against terrorism - Do not play into Islamofascism's propaganda hands.

Ultimately it's for anyone's survival too - * ,*, *, *, *, (Hamas reiterates goal of world domination by Islam - annihilation, ) totalitarian Islamification of everyone else.

Patience, Acceptance and Compassion -- The Cure for Intolerance and a Judgmental Attitude

Rev. Nur — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 18:06:56 EDT

Ernest Holmes' writing for July 13th is especially pertinent during these trying times.

I Judge, and Am Judged, With the Justice of God

"My judgement is just; becasue I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hat sent me." John 5:30

Jesus, the greatest of all the illumined, said, "Judge not that ye be not judged, for with what judgment ye judge ye shall be judged," by which he meant that we cannot judge others harshly without receiving back into our own consciousness and experience the very things we claim for others. While Jesus was the most compassionate of all people, he was also the most just, for he knew that our lives are governed by an exact and immutable law of cause and effect. He knew, and we all must learn, that it is impossible to wish something for someone else without at the same time willing it for ourselves. If we all were to follow this rule we should become more kind, if only for the purpose of self-preservation and personal happiness, for no one wishes to injure himself. Always, then, we are placed in this position--we dare not wish anything for anyone that we would be unwilling to accept for ourselves. If everyone were to live by this rule there would be no injustice in the world.

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.

Fight the Smears: Since when is being a Muslim a smear?

Leonard Novick — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 16:24:00 EDT

You've probably seen the new site - www.fightthesmears.com. The second smear that is listed is that Obama is a Muslim. My skin crawls a bit when I even have to write the word 'smear' and 'Muslim' in one sentence. As if being accused of being a Muslim is a smear. Sady, I know it is a smear to those people for whom the smear has been invented and that's the real point here that needs responding to. Not a simple denial of the 'smear.'

The answer against the smear on the website is:

"Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian."

The tone and the staccato strength of the words - 'has never been' - 'was not raised' - actually makes it sound like it would be a terrible thing if it were true. God forbid! Imagine? A Muslim!!!????

I am as realistic as the next guy. I know this rumour can cause political damage to Obama. But in addressing this particular 'smear' it seems neccessary to add how repugnant it is that some people even consider such an idea - that someone running for office would be a Muslim - to possibly be a smear.

Just imagine if the smear was - Senator So and So is a Jew. There is no way in hell that the response would be: "The Senator has never been a Jew, was not raised a Jew, and is a committed Christian." My goodness, a denial of that nature would cause ten times as much negative repurcussions as the original 'smear' itself. And why? Because people would be reacting primarily to the repugnant suggestion that there could somehow be something so wrong with being a Jew. And secondly, every Jewish political organization would quite rightly activate their base to cry foul, loud and clear.

It saddens me that even for this candidate (from whom I expect much more) and the public at large (from which I unfortunately don't expect so much), it seems quite normal that the accusation of being a Muslim needs to be denied as if there is something wrong with it.

(Full disclosure: I myself am Jewish and my significant other is Muslim).

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."

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.

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

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

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.

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.

Letter to the Editor: Let's have the Wright conversation

Wayne — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 17:56:54 EDT

Let's face it: there's way too much flaming that goes on in internet forums and in local newspapers over Reverend Wright's sermons.

It generates a lot of heat, but no light.

So how about if we back up a little and try to do what Barack has asked us to do: sit down and have a quiet conversation and try to understand one another?

Here is a letter...

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/

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 ‘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.

CAIR Co-Sponsors Letter to Congress on Wiretapping

funkfresh01 — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 23:02:26 EST

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/6/08) - On March 5, 2008, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) joined other individuals and institutions who work to preserve civil liberties in sponsoring a letter to members of Congress commending them for refusing to pass the FISA Amendments Act of 2007 and urging them to allow it to expire.

The letter is as follows:

March 5, 2008

Dear Representative,

We the undersigned organizations commend the House for refusing to yield to administration fearmongering by passing the worst possible surveillance legislation - S. 2248, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments Act of 2007. This bill would grant the administration unfettered access to all communications coming into or out of the United States without any meaningful court review or finding of wrongdoing and grant complete immunity to companies that cooperated with illegal wiretapping over the last several years.

As you go forward with negotiations, we ask that you leave the Protect America Act exactly as it is -- sunsetted. As House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and the Cato Institute noted, America is in no danger from the expiration of this unconstitutional law. Orders issued since last August remain in effect until their internal cease date, up to a year after issuance, ensuring that current surveillance programs will continue, in some cases, into 2009. These programmatic orders are not limited to individuals or facilities so that new targets can be tapped under existing orders. Of course, the government always has the option of tapping targets immediately and returning to court within 72 hours to obtain a court order under the FISA procedures that have served our intelligence community for nearly 30 years.

What Do Smears Against Obama Say About Society?

funkfresh01 — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 11:31:18 EST

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-obamamuslim_thinkfeb24,0,6345949.story

Author: Ahmed M. Rehab

OK, we get the point. Barack Obama is not a Muslim. He has made that clear, time and again.

As well he should: The rumors are baseless, maliciously spun by political adversaries with the intention of taking votes away from Obama's promising presidential campaign run.

Obama is entitled to set the record straight. But that's not the end of the story.

The broader issue is: What does this attempt to smear Obama say about our society?

More personally, what does it say about my newborn nephew's standing in society? Is he entitled to the dreams of his Muslim father that the boy could grow up to be president if he works as hard as Obama and is as ambitious?

Obama has not gone far enough to challenge the notion that religious affiliation could disqualify Americans from serving their nation. Nor has Mitt Romney, a Mormon, Mike Huckabee, a Baptist, or any other candidate.

It's time for all of them to be quizzed on the meaning of citizenship as preached and practiced in this great democracy. As a voter, I would much rather know their stance on equal employment policies than which church they attend.

Whenever I address young Muslim audiences that may be struggling with identity issues, I remind them that this is their country, too. I tell them they should observe their civic duties, vote and, if it behooves them, run for public office and help bring about the positive reform they often passively expect of others.

Urge Congress to Halt Humanitarian Disaster in Gaza

funkfresh01 — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 16:37:38 EST

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 01/21/08) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on American Muslims and other people of conscience to urge their elected officials to immediately intervene to put an end to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

The crisis was triggered by an Israeli-imposed blockade Sunday evening, which forced the closure of the only electric plant that serves Gaza City's 400,000 residents and one third of the Gaza Strip's 1.5 millions residents. The blockade prevents the entry of fuel that is essential to the operation of the plant.

SEE: Gaza Dark Amid Israeli Blockade (LA times)

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-gaza21jan21,1,576321.story?track=crosspromo&coll=la-headlines-world&ctrack=2&cset=true

Gaza is already suffering from economic hardship, which according to the World Bank, is primarily a result of being cut off from the rest of the world by Israel. Without power, hospitals, water facilities and other crucial lifelines may completely shut off and homes may be left without heat, plunging Gaza into disarray.

Intolerance makes my blood boil...

Christine — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 01:45:05 EST

Lots of times when people see the Obama bumper sticker on my car, they'll honk their horns and I'll turn to see their own car plastered with them. Living in Columbia, SC, support for Barack is pretty high. I attend a beautiful all-female college in I guess what you'd consider the "ghetto" side of town. Obviously, that places a lot of Hillary supporters in my midst, but the population is pretty split. We have a Students For Barack Obama organization that is going pretty strong. I even managed to convert my sister, who I swore, if you would have cut her, she would have bled red white and Clinton. I forced her to accompany me to Barack Obama's rally at the Gamecock stadium downtown to see Michele Obama, Oprah Winfrey, and Barack speak. It was enough to make her change her mind. She is so set on voting for Obama that in fact, three days ago, Hillary Clinton was on our school's campus. We were walking past the gym where she was to speak at a town hall meeting. I asked my sister if she wanted to attend. We saw the limosines and police escorts filing in past our girls holding up signs in support of Clinton. My sister just glanced at the crowds forming around Clinton and shrugged with indifference. "Nah, not really. Let's go get some lunch."

I'm ecstatic to be somewhere that seems to be glowing with excitement over Obama's campaign.

However, often times I will get that look when I mention my support for Senator Obama. That "ARE YOU INSANE?!" look that drives me absolutely crazy.

My roommate chirped in with a, "I'm Christian, and I know what the Bible says about Barack Obama."

I glanced at her in disbelief. "Honestly, Mal, I am pretty sure that 'Barack Obama' are not words mentioned anywhere in the Bible..."

She went on to say how the Bible says that the end of the world will come from a man of another nation ruling the country and causing the apocalypse. Basically, she proclaimed that Barack Obama was the prophesied Antichrist.

How can somebody be so brash? If I have my facts right, he was born in Hawaii. Well.. that's America. His mother was from Kansas, making him an American citizen.

Also, I don't think that the Bible specifically references America anyway. This country was undiscovered at the time the Bible was penned. I'm tired of Americans feeling that we are the center of the world -- there are other countries out there!

Another huge issue I've encountered is his middle name, Hussein, and the fact that he is allegedly a "Muslim".

First, a name is a name is a name. My given name is Mary. This is no way connects me with Christ's mother. Just like Barack's middle name, passed to him from grandfather to father to son, my first name was that of my grandmother. It is a very common practice. His middle name has nothing to do with the Iraqi dictator.

Second, Barack Obama and his wife Michele attend a Christian church in Chicago. (Am I correct with the city?) After all of his honesty, I highly doubt if Obama were a Muslim that he would go to such lengths to conceal it as attend a church of a "rivaling" faith.

Sure, his biological father, a Kenyan, was raised Muslim. However, he was atheist at the time Barack was born, and both his mother and stepfather were not concerned with religion.

Those who are so worried about it should actually think it is a GOOD thing that Barack Obama, after not being raised religiously, has turned to Christ.

HOWEVER - who cares? If Barack Obama were Muslim, I doubt it would affect anything. This is the kind of discrimination that I hope that he, as President, can help to dispel. I understand how it would be scary to most Americans, just because Christians have painted pictures of Muslims as being "terrorists" and "infidels".

But just remember - the religion does not make the man.

Many "God-fearing" men led ill lives (Hitler ring a bell?)

Many non-Christians did great things (Gandhi, maybe?)

As our country progresses more and more towards being a unified, open society, I hope that I hear less of these irrational judgments.

But for now, I'm just going to cross my fingers and get out there and vote - and hope that the rest of the country does so responsibly.

Does U.S. Tolerate Anti-Muslim Speech?

funkfresh01 — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 21:12:21 EST

Author: Omar Sacirbey

http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/1204/p02s02-usgn.html?page=1

Lu Gronseth listens regularly to WWTC, a conservative talk-radio station in Minneapolis, and even advertises his mortgage-loan business on the station. But when he learned that a nationally syndicated radio show host had told WWTC listeners that Muslims should be deported and made rude comments about what they could do with their religion, Mr. Gronseth pulled his ads from the station.

So have at least two other Minnesota businesses, at the urging of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, D.C., as have a handful of national companies, including OfficeMax, JCPenney, Wal-Mart, and AT&T. But the comments by host Michael Savage in October – and previous anti-Muslim speech – have not created the furor that knocked radio icon Don Imus off of MSNBC and CBS Radio after he denigrated a black women's basketball team. That leaves many Muslims-Americans – and non-Muslims like Mr. Gronseth – suspicious that Americans have a double standard when it comes to Islam.

Help to stop an endless occupation in Iraq

funkfresh01 — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 22:21:42 EST

Have you seen the news? President Bush is negotiating a deal with Iraq to keep our troops there indefinitely--it could include permanent bases and a massive military presence for years! Bush is trying to tie the hands of the next president.

Congress can stop him from setting up permanent bases in Iraq and block an indefinite occupation--but they need to hear a groundswell of pressure from us immediately and loudly so they act on this quickly.

I just signed a petition demanding that Congress stop the president from committing to a massive military presence in Iraq for decades. Can you join me?

http://pol.moveon.org/endless/?r_by=11723-5077189-Cf.Eao&rc=comment_paste

Thanks!

NORTH CAROLINA CHURCH SAYS ‘NO” TO MUSLIMS

funkfresh01 — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 19:30:15 EST

Source: Oriental Harbor

http://www.orientalharbor.net/hotoffthepress.html

Oriental's Episcopal Church has 'un-invited' a Muslim group that was to speak at the church to quell a parishoner revolt against '"non-Christians" and keep peace in the parish.

"Concern was expressed that non-Christians should not be given a voice in our church," Senior Warden George Robinson wrote in the church's October newsletter, The Moorings. "Others felt that to gain understanding, particularly about 'the enemy' was important."

The Muslim group was invited after a local Methodist congregation had them speak and thought it added to understanding between faiths, according to the newsletter. The Muslim group was invited to St. Thomas Episcopal Church as part of its "One God" series of seminars.

But some members objected, and at a September meeting at the church where both sides presented their cases, the church's Rev. Jeremiah C. Day apparently stepped in to quell controversy, saying the group would be un-invited, based on the newsletter.

The Muslim group was the idea of the church's Christian Education Committee.

"So what was the result of all the discussion? Father Day suggested that ministers in the community might have a forum for the whole community. Pat Webster, of the Christian Education Committee – the group suggesting a Muslim speaker – suggested we could spend some time together trying to develop a tolerance for diversity," Webster wrote on Page 5 of the October newsletter.

"Consequently, the Muslim speaker is not coming to St. Thomas, as Father Day noted, to keep peace in the parish.

Quick recommendation

Seth — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 09:39:01 EDT

Let me just take a few minutes to recommend a text by Chris Hedges entitled American Fascists, The Christian right and the war on America. Mr. Hedges proves to be a one-man wrecking crew against the evangilists he so eloquently compares with radical islamists and Mussolini fascists. Specifically, by "turning a mundane existence into an epic battle against forces of darkness...[it gives] a rhetorical license to engage in acts of violence that are nomally taboo in a democratic society. It becomes permissible to hate." The evangalists promote a lack of tolerance and command an allegiance to the divine cause, usurping standard common-place moral boundries in preference of forced conversion to the leader's beliefs.

This same type of movement has been the underlying cause of countless genocides and ethnic cleansings throughout recent history.

We must protect tolerance. As Karl Popper puts it, we must not tolerate intolerance.

Finding Peace in the Face of Evil

Regina from Redmond, WA — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 22:48:24 EDT

People are entitled to have their own points of view. That's called "diversity."

But, when that diversity of thought turns into violent and hateful action, it's called a "crime."

And, when it's done by a person who is backed up by the long arm of the law, it's called illegal, a violation of civil rights and a disbarrable offense.

Barack Obama has long talked about creating a better America. One of the best things he can do at this point, is to get down to Jena, Louisiana and talk to those crazy people down there. Bring them some light, and take the hands of people in the black AND white communities, people with good intentions, and help them figure out how to mend the wounds caused by hatred in that town.

I wish I could say it was mutual hatred, but the fact is that the hate runs one way. The hateful actions run one way. But, peace is a two-way street, and people who don't have a lot of power still have a lot to say.

People are so good at leaks and snipes and shots at the other candidate. let's see the Demoratic party get down to Jena and intervene in the way that politicians know best. I'm sure that the haters down there go to church, at least some of them. Why not have an ecumenical healing?

I'm sure that the lawyers downt here took an oath to uphold the Constitution just like I did. Just like Obama di. Just like many of the members of the campaign must have done. Why not ask for a bar inquiry, to make sure that the lives of those 6 young men are not snuffed out by incarceration, death or despair.

The Obama campaign is about hope: I sincerely HOPE that the short-term result is that this case becomes a rallying point for tolerance on a social level and justice on the very personal level of those 6 men who were the target of selective and extremely racist prosecution.

I don't mean to snark, but where is the Republican voice? Let's see how good their reality testing is on this one. Do they "get it"?

Thanks to Amy Goodman who broke the story [www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/07/10/1413228]; Daily Kos has also picked it up [ www.dailykos.com/story/2007/6/28/144445/384 ].