Category Archives: USA

Muslim New Yorkers seek dignity, respect from NYPD

Posted on by Bob Pitt

NYPD protestNEW YORK — “No to racial bias”, and “Yes to dignity for all”, read the posters held by community leaders and members from diverse groups on the steps of City Hall.

On Tuesday, city officials joined civil rights leaders, representatives from the Muslim American Civil Liberties Coalition (MACLC), Muslim and immigrant organizations, and interfaith groups to voice their concerns over the New York Police Department’s (NYPD) use of a controversial film about Islam and Muslims to train officers working in Muslim communities.

The documentary film, “The Third Jihad”, recently reported on by The Village Voice and described as an “anti-Muslim horror flick”, was seen as smearing American Muslims and Islam. The 72-minute film explores the existence of radical Islam in America and depicts Islam and Muslims in an offensive and prejudicial way stated MACLC officials. They claim that using it as part of NYPD training will lead to increased racial and religious profiling.

“We are here today to call upon the police department to right its wrong,” said Councilman Daniel Dromm. “This is a basic civil rights issue. What has been done to malign the Muslim community can be done to any community in New York City.”

Reverend Chloe Breyer from the Interfaith Center of New York echoed this stance of unity. “We are in this together – Muslims, Jews, Christians, Sikhs, and those with no religious tradition. We need each other and it is wrong for anyone, particularly the police, to perpetuate hateful stereotypes that pit communities against each other,” said Breyer.

The NYPD did not address any of their concerns and demands, stated MACLC representatives. After MACLC sent two letters to the NYPD, and had a meeting with NYPD representatives, they only received a brief letter from Commissioner Raymond Kelly stating that the video was no longer being used.

Epoch Times, 22 March 2011

See also WNYC, 22 March 2011

Protest against Deborah Pauly faces small counter-demonstration

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Deborah Pauly protestAbout 500 demonstrators from various groups marched and chanted slogans against or in support of Councilwoman Deborah Pauly in front of Villa Park City Hall on Tuesday evening.

The large majority of demonstrators were Muslim supporters who organized in response to a speech by Pauly last month at a Yorba Linda rally. About 50 people showed up Tuesday night to support Pauly.

The two groups faced off on the walkway in front of City Hall before the council meeting shouting at one another through bullhorns and displaying signs with phrases such as, “I’m a Muslim not a terrorist,” and “Deborah Pauly is a patriot.” The protesters also chanted at and over each other: “Deborah Pauly, I’m your neighbor. Why are you such a hater,” “No Sharia law,” and “Hey, hey, ho, ho, the racism’s got to go.”

The protest was largely peaceful, but the exchanges among the demonstrators were heated. A pro-Muslim supporter shouted at someone “You don’t even know what you’re fighting for, you racist pig.” The Pauly supporter retorted: “You’re a disgrace.”

The demonstrations are a response to a speech Pauly gave at a rally during an Islamic Circle of North America fund-raiser Feb. 13, which many have interpreted as anti-Muslim. Her remarks are prominent in a YouTube video created by the Council on American-Islam Relations.

In the packed council chambers after the protest, the public comment section of the council meeting became a heated argument over topics ranging from Pauly’s speech to the merits of Shariah law. Sheriff’s officers stood at the doors and prevented anyone who wasn’t on the speaker’s list from entering.

Pauly listened as Muslim constituents and Pauly supporters repeatedly asked her to apologize or affirm her words with audible cheers and boos punctuating each comment from the hundreds of protesters outside.

Orange County Register, 22 March 2011

Hysteria over sharia in Florida

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Conservatives are freaking out over a Florida judge’s decision to use Islamic law to arbitrate a lawsuit over a local mosque. Erick Stakelbeck at CBN cried that this was “the latest example of how it is slowly and stealthily creeping into our judicial system.” The judge, however, isn’t invoking Islamic law because he simply felt like it; he’s doing so because this is essentially a contract dispute in which the agreement was drawn up according to Sharia.

Adam Serwer at The American Prospect, 23 March 2011

See also Mother Jones, 23 March 2011

Franklin Graham’s new Obama-Muslim conspiracy theory

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Franklin-GrahamYes, there’s a new Obama-Muslim conspiracy theory on the right: The evangelical son of one of America’s most famous evangelists says that President Barack Obama has allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to become part of the US government and influence administration decisions.

In an interview last week with Newsmax.com, a conservative website (that pushes the Obama-was-born-in-Kenya conspiracy theory), Franklin Graham, an evangelist like his father, Billy Graham, claimed that the fundamentalist Islamic political group has burrowed into the Obama administration and is shaping US foreign policy. Sounding a bit like Glenn Beck, Graham explained:

The Muslim Brotherhood is very strong and active in our country. It’s infiltrated every level of our government. Right now we have many of these people that are advising the US military and State Department on how to respond in the Middle East, and it’s like asking a fox, like a farmer asking a fox, “How do I protect my henhouse from foxes?” We’ve brought in Muslims to tell us how to make policy toward Muslim countries. And many of these people we’ve brought in, I’m afraid, are under the Muslim Brotherhood.

Infiltrated every level of our government – that’s quite a claim. Yet Graham did not name a single Muslim Brotherhood infiltrator or cite a specific Obama administration decision that has been manipulated by these crafty behind-the-scenes Islamists.

Mother Jones, 22 March 2011

Pastor Terry Jones oversees Qur’an burning in Florida church

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Terry Jones and Wayne SappA controversial US evangelical preacher oversaw the burning of a copy of the Koran in a small Florida church after finding the Muslim holy book “guilty” of crimes. The burning was carried out by pastor Wayne Sapp under the supervision of Terry Jones, who last September drew sweeping condemnation over his plan to ignite a pile of Korans on the anniversary of September 11, 2001 attacks.

Sunday’s event was presented as a trial of the book in which the Koran was found “guilty” and “executed.” The jury deliberated for about eight minutes. The book, which had been soaking for an hour in kerosene, was put in a metal tray in the center of the church, and Sapp started the fire with a barbecue lighter. The book burned for around 10 minutes while some onlookers posed for photos.

Jones had drawn trenchant condemnation from many people, including US President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, over his plan to burn the Muslim holy book in September. He did not carry out his plan then and vowed he never would, saying he had made his point.

But this time, he said he had been “trying to give the Muslim world an opportunity to defend their book,” but did not receive any answer. He said he felt that he couldn’t have a real trial without a real punishment.

The event was open to the public, but fewer than 30 people attended. Life in the normally quiet city of Gainesville is centered around the University of Florida. And while there were public protests against Jones’ 9/11 activities, this event was largely ignored.

Jadwiga Schatz, who came to show support for Jones, expressed concern that Islam was growing in Europe. “These people, for me, are like monsters,” she said. “I hate these people.”

Jones said he considered this event a success. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” he said.

AFP, 21 March 2011

US presidential hopeful claims Islam has ‘an objective to convert all infidels or kill them’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Herman Cain

Republican presidential contender Herman Cain said in an interview Monday that he “resent[s]” Muslims who try to convert Americans to Islam, and that the religion has “an objective to convert all infidels or kill them”.

“The role of Muslims in America is not to convert the rest of us to the Muslim religion. That I resent,” Cain said in an interview with Christianity Today. “I push back and reject them trying to convert the rest of us. And based upon the little knowledge that I have of the Muslim religion, you know, they have an objective to convert all infidels or kill them.”

Cain qualified his comments by saying that there were “some peaceful Muslims” but that Americans “can’t sit back and tolerate the radical ones simply because we know that there are some of them who don’t believe in that aspect of the Muslim religion”.

Cain, who is a former businessman and an ordained minister, was the first potential Republican candidate to announce he was launching an exploratory committee to run for president against Barack Obama in 2012.

In an interview with TheDC, Cain’s spokesman said that his comments about converting Americans to Islam were referring to what Cain sees as the threat of Muslims spreading Sharia, or Islamic law, in America.

“What he was referring to was Sharia law,” Cain’s Communication Director Ellen Carmichael told TheDC. “I think the statement speaks for itself. I would take it for what it is.”

On Cain’s comments about Islam offering a choice between converting or killing unbelievers, Carmichael said: “I’m pretty sure that’s a common understanding.”

Daily Caller, 21 March 2011

Obama is ‘backing Al Qaeda in Libya’ – Geller sides with Gaddafi

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Well, you have to hand it to Obama, he is consistent in his extreme anti-Americanism. Throughout his presidency and all of the Islamic revolutions sweeping the Middle East and Africa, he has sided with the Islamic supremacists at every turn. His fierce islamophilia threatens free men the world over. Taking his marching orders from the vile America-hater and Jew-hater, the devout Muslim Sheik Qaradawi, Obama paves the way for an Islamic state in Libya.

Atlas Shrugs, 19 March 2011

Second fire in two days at Houston mosque

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Clear Lake mosque fireNobody has been hurt in the second suspicious fire in as many days at a mosque in suburban Houston.

Arson investigators on Thursday night were called to the Clear Lake Education Center when some worshippers saw flames and smoke in the rear of the building.

Member Syed Mohiuddin told KTRK-TV that the structure serves as a prayer hall and mosque. Much of the damage was to the back of the complex. Nobody was injured.

Another fire was reported at the mosque on Wednesday. Mohiuddin says it’s “not an accident because somebody is doing it.” Investigators declined to say whether they believe the mosque has been targeted.

Associated Press, 18 March 2011

See also abc13.com, 18 March 2011

See “CAIR asks FBI to probe bias motive for Texas mosque fires”, CAIR press release, 18 March 2011

Resisting the Islamification of Alaska

Posted on by Bob Pitt

An Alaskan lawmaker hopes to guard against Islamic Sharia law by prohibiting state courts from honoring foreign law that violates Alaskan or U.S. constitutional rights.

Though the bill’s language does not specifically target Sharia, Rep. Carl Gatto, R-Palmer, said the legislation is a reaction to what he sees as the growing use of international law codes in courts that have robbed people of their constitutional rights.

In a hearing before the House State Affairs Committee, Gatto’s chief of staff Karen Sawyer said Sharia is an example of the type of transnational law that has appeared in family law, divorce and child custody cases nationally, though she knows of instances of it appearing in Alaska courts.

“Sharia is clearly offensive to the U.S. Constitution,” Sawyer said. “It is the foremost foreign law that is impacting our legal system.” Sawyer added that countries following Sharia law do not allow freedom of religion or equal rights to women.

Gatto called the law a preventative measure necessitated by the religious beliefs of recent immigrants. “As a kid, we had Italian neighborhoods, Irish neighborhoods … but they didn’t impose their own laws,” Gatto said. “When these neighborhoods are occupied by people from the Middle East, they do establish their own laws.”

Associated Press, 17 March 2011

See also “Alaska lawmaker smears American Muslims”, CAIR press release, 18 March 2011

San Diego woman denied flight blames King hearings for rising anti-Muslim sentiment

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Irum AbbasiA San Diego Muslim woman wearing a headscarf who was removed from a Southwest Airlines plane at Lindbergh Field on Sunday has received several apologies from the airline and a voucher good for a free flight “as a gesture of goodwill”.

But the woman, Irum Abbasi, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an advocacy and civil rights group which has taken up her cause, said at a Wednesday morning news conference at Lindbergh Field that this event is a sign of a anti-Muslim sentiment spreading through the country.

A Pakistan native and U.S. citizen, Abbasi was removed from a flight to San Jose on Sunday after an attendant thought she heard her say “It’s a go” on her cell phone. Abbasi said she actually said “I’ve got to go” because the flight was ready to depart.

“I was in tears,” said Abbasi. “I have lived in the United States 10 years. I am a U.S. citizen.” While she was quickly cleared, Abbasi said she was told she could not re-board the flight because the crew was uncomfortable with her presence.

Abbasi and CAIR both link her ejection to last week’s controversial congressional hearing on “The Extent of Radicalization in the American Muslim Community” by Rep. Peter King, R-New York.

“Apart from the negative image it portrayed of the Muslim community in front of all the people at the airport, I strongly believe that this was a direct result of the hearings held by Peter King,” said Abbasi, a graduate student in experimental psychology at San Jose State who was returning there for a research project.

San Diego Union Tribune, 16 March 2011