US Army sticks ‘war on Islam’ teacher in bureaucratic depths

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Once, Army Lt. Col. Matthew Dooley’s superiors wrote that he was a “must-select” for command and promotion to full colonel. Then Dooley taught a class to senior U.S. officers musing about a “total war” on Islam, which the chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Martin Dempsey, shut down. Now, Dooley has his next assignment – deep in the bowels of the Army bureaucracy, far from command.

Dooley’s Army career has been in jeopardy after he received an administrative reprimand for his elective course at the Joint Forces Staff College, which discussed using “Hiroshima”-style tactics against Islam’s holiest cities as part of a “total war.” But the Army didn’t fire Dooley. It sent him to bureaucratic limbo instead.

Danger Room, 26 November 2012

Posted in USA

‘Anti-sharia’ law supporters push for action on Michigan House bill targeting Islamic ideology

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Supporters of an “anti-sharia” bill that’s been sitting in Michigan’s State House Judiciary Committee for over a year are pushing state lawmakers to put the measure to a vote.

If adopted, the bill he introduced would “limit the application and enforcement by a court, arbitrator, or administrative body of foreign laws that would impair constitutional rights.”

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Islamophobia doesn’t exist, according to AP

Posted on by Bob Pitt

The Associated Press style guide has prohibited use of the terms Islamophobia and homophobia. Under the heading “phobia” we find the following: “An irrational, uncontrollable fear, often a form of mental illness. Examples: acrophobia, a fear of heights, and claustrophobia, a fear of being in small, enclosed spaces. Do not use in political or social contexts: homophobia, Islamophobia.”

Update:  See Patrick Strudwick, “‘Homophobia’ and ‘Islamophobia’ are the right words for the job”, Comment is Free, 27 November 2012

As he points out: “Phobias are of course a spectrum. Someone who thinks that gay men might be too hedonistic to properly bring up a child is less phobic than someone who refuses to sit next to a Muslim because they are convinced anyone belonging to Islam is harbouring extremist tendencies. But they’re all symptoms of an irrational, disproportionate fear: a phobia.”

Polish court reportedly rules against allowing ritual slaughter

Posted on by Bob Pitt

A constitutional court in Poland reportedly has ruled against allowing Jewish and Muslim ritual slaughter in the country. The Warsaw court’s ruling, which was made known on Tuesday, said the government had acted unconstitutionally when it exempted Jews and Muslims from stunning animals before slaughtering them as their faiths require, according to Piotr Kadlcik, president of the Union of Jewish Communities in Poland.

JTA, 27 November 2012

See also “Polish court bans ritual slaughter, EU gives go-ahead”,AFP, 27 November 2012

Welsh Muslims report widespread racist abuse

Posted on by Bob Pitt

RCC reportThe Institute of Race Relations draws our attention to a Wales Online report on a new study of racism and race equality in Wales by Professor Heaven Crawley that was commissioned by Race Council Cymru.

It found people from minority ethnic backgrounds in Wales are still experiencing racism in health, education and housing services, as well as in employment. And in many cases when racism occurs, it found victims are not reporting or challenging it, but instead changing their behaviours, language and clothing to “fit in”.

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UKIP founder Alan Sked says the party is ‘morally dodgy’ and ‘extraordinarily right-wing’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

David Cameron has been under fire for dismissing the UK Independence Party (Ukip) as a party of “fruitcakes, loonies and closet racists”, in a now-notorious radio interview in 2006.

However, he may have won support from an unusual quarter – the founder and former leader of Ukip, Professor Alan Sked, says the party he launched in 1993 has become “extraordinarily right-wing” and is now devoted to “creating a fuss, via Islam and immigrants. They’ve got nothing to say on mainstream issues.”

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Headscarfs and homosexuals – feminist ideals in xenophobic politics

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Open Democracy has published an extract from a pamphlet by Johanne Mygind and Anders Rasmussen which explores the contradictions at the heart of the Islamophobic populism of the Danish People’s Party, whose packaging of their anti-Muslim politics as based on a concern for the rights of women and the LGBT community stands in sharp contrast to the party’s own record on these issues.

Daniel Nalliah fights Melbourne mosque plan – on the grounds that Islam ‘doesn’t value freedom of religion’

Posted on by Bob Pitt

Doveton No Mosque sign

Anti-Islam crusader Daniel Nalliah and his evangelical Christian church are set to fight a plan to build a mosque in the same street.

Mr Nalliah, a pastor at Catch the Fire Ministries, said his church was weeks away from building a $2 million base at 25 Green Street, Doveton.

He recently learnt of a planning application by an Afghan community group to build the Omar Farooq Mosque next door. The church, along with more than 100 petitioners including adjoining residents, will formally object to Casey Council over the mosque proposal.

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