Fighting The Stupid

Obama the Muslim?

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Man Mistaken for Muslim Harassed at NY Anti-Mosque Rally

An African-American man who was mistakenly thought to be Muslim was harassed at an anti-mosque rally yesterday in New York City. A crowd shouting "no mosque here" confronted the man and called him a "coward." The man is led away by rally organizers while one man shouts "Muhammad is a p*g." One person shouted "he must have voted for Obama." When some rally participants seek to defuse the confrontation, one man says, "we're against the Muslims, not each other."

Hamas Bans Gaza's Lingerie Displays

Hamas has demanded that shops in Gaza stop displaying female lingerie, the latest in a series of new rules imposed in the name of "public morality". The most popular lingerie shop in Gaza has been told not to display bras, underwear or nightdresses, even inside the shop. The lingerie display rule comes after Hamas banned women from smoking shisha on beaches or riding on motorbikes. Al Jazeera's Nicole Johnston reports from the Gaza Strip.

This is utter and total stupidity.

How is displaying lingerie in a lingerie store un-Islamic? How pathetic do you have to be to find a female mannequin provocative? And why is it OK for men to smoke in public and not women?

Hamas needs to worry about more important things rather than trying to make life even more miserable for the people of Gaza.

Palestinian Democracy Under Threat

Excellent article in the Economist on the current situation in Palestine. It talks about how the Palestinian Authority has annulled the third election in less than a year and how Western countries turn a blind eye because they want to ensure that the PA remains in power.

...the American administration and the European Union have both balked. “The last thing many in Europe want is for Hamas to regain an executive role in the West Bank,” says a European official. “We prefer division and no elections to reconciliation and elections.”

And it's not just the PA that doesn't want these elections...Hamas is also trying avoid ballot boxes because of their own fears of losing power.

Both Hamas and Mr Fayyad rule by decree, merging executive and legislative arms into one. Both promise elections sometime in the future but in the meantime round up their opponents and silence unlicensed independent media outlets.

And of course...my favorite Arab country is included in this article:

Egypt may even have urged the PA to halt its local elections.

Surprise, Surprise!

What's going on between the PA and Hamas is not just about "democracy" or lack thereof, but it's about something much bigger and more important. It's about unity of a people and unity of a cause. Unfortunately, however, both the PA and Hamas only care about retaining power in their enclaves...all to the detriment of the Palestinian people.

Judge Allows Confession Extracted By Threatening 15-year-old With Rape

Thanks for disappointing me, yet AGAIN, President Obama.

In one of the first military commissions held under the Obama administration, a US military judge has ruled that confessions obtained by threatening the subject with rape are admissible in court.

The case involves Omar Ahmed Khadr, a citizen of Canada who was apprehended in Afghanistan when he was 15 years old and has remained in Guantanamo Bay for the last seven years awaiting trial for terrorism and war crimes. (Click here for entire article)

Khadr, then 15 years old, was taken to Bagram near death, after being shot twice in the back, blinded by shrapnel, and buried in rubble from a bomb blast. He was interrogated within hours, while sedated and handcuffed to a stretcher. He was threatened with gang rape and death if he didn't cooperate with interrogators. He was hooded and chained with his arms suspended in a cage-like cell, and his primary interrogator was later court-martialed for detainee abuse leading to the death of a detainee. During his subsequent eight-year (so far) detention at Guantánamo, Khadr was subjected to the "frequent flyer" sleep deprivation program and he says he was used as a human mop after he was forced to urinate on himself.

In closing arguments before the judge's ruling, Khadr's sole defense lawyer, Lt. Col. Jon Jackson, told the judge, "Sir, be a voice today. Tell the world that we actually stand for what we say we stand for."

Though President Obama promised that coerced evidence would not be used against detainees in the military commissions, today's ruling suggests that as a country, we stand for abusing a 15-year-old teenager into confessing, and using those confessions against him in an illegitimate proceeding. (Link)

Jennifer Turner at the ACLU says it best: "although President Obama promised transparency and sharp limits on the use of tortured and coerced statements against the accused," a detainee captured during the Bush years and sentenced earlier this week at Guantanamo Bay continues America's pattern of abuse.

Happy Ramadan America

Here's Jon Stewart's take on Ground Zero Mosque Critics:

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Muslim Canadian Congress Opposes Building Mosque

Must read piece from a friend of mine.

Muslim Canadian Congress Opposes Building Mosque
By: Juhina

While many American’s have voiced overwhelming support for the initiative to build a new mosque in downtown Manhattan near the trade center landmark, we have seditious organizations like the Muslim Canadian Congress spewing their familiar sophist rhetoric in opposition to this proposal.

Representatives from the MCC have flown to New York today in order to publicly denounce having this mosque built. They claim that it is a “fitnah” i.e. a mischief-making practice condemned in the Quran itself.

I urge the MCC to read the Quran more carefully.

Where in God’s Holy book does it say that building houses of worship are tantamount to acts of mischief-making?

Where in God’s Holy book does it say that Muslims with good intentions should refrain from building mosques in which peace and glorification of God are paramount?

Where in God’s Holy book does it say that it is acceptable to make assumptions about the intentions of their fellow Muslims [i.e. in reference to the statement that “the mosque is meant to be a deliberate provocation, to thumb our noses at the 'infidel.”]?

Why is the MCC drawing the conclusion that building a mosque is equivalent to supporting the acts of those who perpetrated 911?

Every type of religious community in New York City has sent forth a representative to voice their support for the mosque project. This includes Protestant ministers, Catholic Priests, Monks, Jewish Rabbis, and clergy members of other faiths.

Why then do we have a religious organization who claims to have the best interests of the Muslim community in mind, alleging to be Islamic itself, raging against the idea of building the mosque?

It is completely understandable and inevitable that in a democratic society, there will be groups who oppose this project. The basis of a democracy is that there will always be those in favor and those in opposition, and no single policy or initiative will acquire complete unanimity. But to hear such bigoted intolerance coming from a purported Muslim group professing to represent the majority of “moderate” Muslims, is absurd.

Mayor Bloomberg is quoted as saying: “It is my hope that the mosque will…help repudiate the false and repugnant idea that the attacks of 9/11 were in any ways consistent with Islam.”

The MCC should take this advice to heart and rid itself of its discriminatory narrow sightedness, support the Muslim initiative, and abandon this hypocritical platform of deceit.

Please take a moment to voice your own concerns to the MCC. This is a propagandist organization that impedes on the rights of Muslims nationwide, and it is our obligation to condemn their words and actions by professing our censure and discontent.

For the original article: http://www.muslimcanadiancongress.org/20100809.html
For a FOX interview: http://thecanadiansentinel.blogspot.com/2010/08/muslim-canadian-congress-rep-opposes-g.html

To email one of the Islamaphobic Demagogues: muslimcanadiancongress@rogers.com

PA Lowers Adhan Volume Near Settlements

The Palestinian Authority has reportedly agreed to an Israeli request to lower the volume on mosque loudspeakers in Palestinian villages surrounded by settlements.

The Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported Sunday that the PA has also agreed that Friday prayers will be held in one mosque per village, after several Israeli settlers complained to Israeli authorities over the volume of the call to prayer.

Of course the Palestinian Authority denied that they are trying to appease Israeli settlers:

PA religious endowments (Awqaf) minister Mahmoud Al-Habbash confirmed the changes, which he said were made for religious reasons and not for the benefit of Israel's settlers.

"Our religious affairs are not subject to political bargaining," he told Ma'an radio on Monday.

Yeah right!

All I can say is WOW! Who gives a rat's ass if the Adhan is "too loud" for these thieves? These settlements are illegal under international law and should not even be there. Palestinians should not cooperate with or do anything to make their lives easier or more comfortable.

It's a CALL TO PRAYER...an announcement so that Muslims can get up and pray. How come the volume level doesn't bother Christian, Agnostic, and Atheist Palestinians? 

This is pure religious bigotry from Israeli settlers and total stupidity and capitulation on the part of the Palestinian Authority.

Israel Picking On Little Children

A bedouin girl helps her brother wash his hands following the destruction of their home in the Al-Akarib village by Israeli authorities. (David Buimovitch AFP/Getty Images)

Israel, You Disgust Me!!

Five-year-old Palestinian boy begs Israeli soldiers not to take his dad.

Click here to read the entire story.