Monthly Archives: May 2012

Neo-Nazi arrested by FBI’s Terrorism Task Force after buying AK-47 from undercover agent

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Racist truck

A Manassas man accused of being a white supremacist was arrested Wednesday by members of the FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force after allegedly receiving a fully automatic AK-47 from an undercover agent.

Court records show Douglas Howard Story, 48, of the Manassas area, allegedly provided a semi-automatic AK-47, along with $120, to an undercover law enforcement agent with the intent that it be modified to become fully automatic. He then allegedly received the modified weapon from an undercover agent and was subsequently arrested, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Neil H. MacBride and FBI  Assistant Director for the Washington Field Office announced Story’s arrest Wednesday.  He has been charged with a violation of the National Firearms Act – a charge that carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

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Luton: Sikh and Muslim representatives hold ‘positive’ meeting

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A “constructive” and “positive” meeting has been held between police and the Sikh and Muslim communities following a protest at a Luton police station.

The groups held talks on Wednesday after hundreds of Sikhs gathered at Buxton Road on Tuesday night. The protest was over allegations a Muslim man had assaulted a Sikh woman. Police said officers were working with the two groups and wanted any concern about criminal activity to be reported.

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Planning Inspectorate rejects Newham Council’s attempt to shut down Islamic school

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Hasib HakmatAlif Academy, an independent Islamic school in Forest Gate, has been granted planning permission after attempts by Newham Council to close them down.

A public inquiry was set up by The Planning Inspectorate in February to inspect the council’s enforcement notice on the grounds that the primary school and nursery was not safe or fit to operate as a school.

The enforcement notice was quashed and planning permission granted at Newham Town Hall in East Ham on May 23.

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Camden UNISON defends Muslim worker’s right to prayer time

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Camden UNISON bannerThe Town Hall last night (Wednesday) backed down on plans to deduct five minutes worth of pay every time one of its Muslim employees takes a quick break to pray. Children’s department chief Councillor Nash Ali said yesterday that he has asked for the deductions to be stopped after the council’s biggest union cried foul.

The move followed a dispute brought by Camden Unison, which claimed the worker concerned – in the play service – was effectively being penalised for his religious beliefs. Camden is adamant that the case was not rooted in any religious prejudice and that the tone of the union’s claims, published on its web site, had been “inflammatory”.

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New York: Sikh and Muslim transport workers win right to religious head coverings

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Sikh MTA workerMuslim and Sikh transit workers will be allowed to wear religious head coverings while on the job under a settlement with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority announced on Wednesday. The agreement ended a winding legal case propelled by the Sept. 11 attacks.

The authority faced a series of lawsuits, including one from the United States Justice Department, in the years that followed the attack; the suits claimed that the authority was selectively enforcing policies on head coverings worn by Muslim and Sikh employees and that it had transferred workers to nonpublic positions if they refused to remove the coverings or attach the authority’s logos to them.

Under the new policy, any religious headgear will be permitted as long as it is blue, the color of the authority’s logo, said Adam Lisberg, the authority’s chief spokesman.

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Islam is a religion, and therefore protected by the Constitution

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Shariah law is religious law, but because it is the law of a demonized religion associated with terrorism and anti-Americanism, Brandon can label it political, depriving it of First Amendment protections. I don’t assume this is a cynical ploy. Blinded by bigotry and their notions of “true” and “false” religions, Islamaphobes may be sincere in the counter-factual belief that Islam is purely political.

That belief is essential to the claim that Shariah law can’t be tolerated because it conflicts with the Constitution. Once you acknowledge that Islam is a religion and Shariah law is religious, its conflicts with secular law become arguments for, not against, religious liberty. Of course, Shariah law is inconsistent with the Constitution. So are the tenets of Catholicism, Judaism (especially orthodox Judaism), and most if not all other faiths….

Religious and secular laws often conflict; that’s precisely why we have a First Amendment. It provides a legal framework for ensuring that religion and government can “co-exist.” If religious law were categorically subordinate to the Constitution (as Joe Brandon imagines Shariah law should be), then the Catholic Church would be required to ordain women, Orthodox Jews would have to sit together in shul, and religious groups that oppose gay marriages would be required to perform them.

It’s not hard to imagine the uproar that would greet the slightest hint of official interest in violating such basic guarantees of religious liberty, especially if directed against majority or respectable, minority religious practices.

Wendy Kaminer demolishes the arguments of Joe Brandon, attorney for the plaintiffs in the lawsuit against the Murfreesboro Islamic Center

The Atlantic, 30 May 2012

‘Exploitative’ EDL hijacks Sikh protest in Luton

Posted on by Bob Pitt

EDL and Sikhs
EDL leader Kevin Carroll pretends to be an ally of the Sikh community at last night’s protest – and (right) an EDL demonstrator shows the membership’s real attitude to Sikhs

A Sikh elder today shared his concern at attempts by the English Defence League to hijack a protest by the Luton Sikh community. The protest outside Luton Police Station last night was in response feelings of a lack of action by the police force.

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Bill protecting religious garb passes California Assembly

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A bill that would protect the rights of workers who wear religious-oriented clothing at work was overwhelmingly passed by the California Assembly on Tuesday, May 28. AB 1964 now goes to the State Senate, where its proponents hope it will pass before the Legislature adjourns at the end of August. Then it would go to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature.

The bill, dubbed the Workplace Religious Freedom Act of 2012, essentially would not break new ground but would clarify the federal Fair Employment and Housing Act, said Rachel Linn, spokeswoman for Assemblywoman Mariko Yamada, D-Davis, author of the measure.

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Judge’s ruling halts construction of Murfreesboro Islamic Center

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Not WelcomeA judge in Tennessee ruled Tuesday that the public wasn’t properly notified about a meeting where local officials approved the plan for a proposed mosque, meaning construction of the disputed project will be stopped.

The new facility for the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro was one of several Muslim projects in the U.S. that hit a swell of conservative opposition around the same time as the controversy over a plan to build a Muslim community center near New York’s ground zero.

Chancellor Robert Corlew noted that his ruling doesn’t stop the Rutherford County Planning Commission from reconsidering the issue and again approving the site plan in the booming city of about 100,000 people southeast of Nashville.

Saleh Sbenaty, a spokesman for leaders of the mosque, said the ruling was disappointing but his group remains committed to building the Islamic center. They have been worshipping for many years at a smaller site in the community.

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