As the nation witnesses a new surge in anti-Muslim hate crimes the question has to be asked: to what extent is the political leadership guilty of encouraging such acts? Recently, a Muslim cab driver in New York was stabbed and another man entered a mosque and accused the worshipers of being terrorists and then urinated on prayer rugs. And over the weekend there was an arson attack against an Islamic community center building site in a Nashville suburb.
Democrats have either been silent or offered mostly timid support for the rights of American-Muslims. But one Republican after another has given at least sanction to anti-Islam prejudice if not publicly voiced such views themselves:
Former Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich has compared Muslims to Nazis and accused the American Muslims behind the Park51 project of being Islamist supremacists seeking to build a triumphal mosque near Ground Zero in a throwback to an era of Islamic conquests of Christians lands. All this and more was attributed by Newt Gingrich to people seeking to build a community center which swimming pools and a basketball in the name of interfaith outreach, but which includes a prayer space which is already in use by Muslims.
Former Republican Congressman Virgil Goode (V.A.; defeated in 2006) in a letter to constituents: "The Muslim Representative from Minnesota was elected by the voters of that district and if American citizens don’t wake up and adopt the Virgil Goode position on immigration there will likely be many more Muslims elected to office and demanding the use of the Koran. . . . I fear that in the next century we will have many more Muslims in the United States if we do not adopt the strict immigration policies..."
Republican Reps. John Shadegg (Ariz.), Paul Broun (Ga.), Trent Franks (Ariz.) and Sue Myrick (N.C.) have accused Muslim interns in Congress of being 'spies' and have called for investigations against them.
Congressman and former Republican presidential candidate Tom Tancredo (C.O.) has stated that terrorism committed by Muslims is "a dictate of their religion", that Islam is "a civilization bent on destroying ours" and has called for the "taking out" [i.e. nuking] of Muslims holy cites - Mecca and Medina.
Republican Senator Jon Kyl (A.Z.) has hosted in an official Congressional event the far-right, anti-Islam Dutch extremist Geert Wilders who has called the Qur'an a "fascist book" that should be banned, that the Prophet Islam is "the devil" and that "there is no such thing as 'moderate Islam."
Republican Sarah Palin has come to the defense a preacher whose anti-Islam pronouncements are such that the Pentagon banned him from a multi-faith prayer breakfast because of his offense against Muslims in the military. "His comments in 2001 were aimed at those who are so radical that they would kill innocent people and subjugate women in the name of religion. Are we really so hyper-politically correct that we can’t abide a Christian minister who expresses his views on matters of faith? What a shame. Yes, thing have changed," Palin wrote on Facebook. But evangelist Franklin Graham's comments were not exclusive to radicals and terrorists, but he has on several occasions made clear that he is opposed to Islam and Muslims in their entirety. In the past, Graham has called Islam "a very evil and wicked religion" and "a very violent religion" which must be fought, and stated days ago on Larry King: “The teaching of Islam is to hate the Jew, to hate the Christian, to kill them. Their goal is world domination.” But apparently for Palin such language is appropriate and an opposition to Graham's statements is not due to matters of respect and decency but nothing less than extreme political correctness.
And, finally, in the state of Tennessee which has just witnessed an act of violence against Muslims seeking to build a house of prayer, the Republican Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey recently had this exchange with a constituent: "Now, you know, I'm all about freedom of religion. I value the First Amendment as much as I value the Second Amendment as much as I value the Tenth Amendment and on and on and on. But you cross the line when they starting trying to start bringing Sharia Law here to the State of Tennessee -- to the United States. [...] You could even argue whether being a Muslim is actually a religion or is it a nationality, way of life or cult, whatever you want to call it."
"Sharia" is the new catchphrase by anti-Islam bigots designed to scare Americans that Muslims want to "destroy their way of life". No such threat exists. Amongst millions of Muslims in the country, only a handful would ever consider "sharia". A "threat" no more significant than the far-right Christians who want the Bible to be the basis of law. And Islam is not a cult, but a religion that counts one out of every four people as a follower.
But with such ignorance, unfounded fears and prejudice promotion by a many Republicans it is not surprising that some Americans have come to view their American Muslim co-patriots as a fifth-column enemy seeking to destroy America and that some would act out in violence against innocent Americans who happen to be Muslim.
Comments
The neocons were mostly Republicans.
The neocons are an extention of the zionist movement. Americanized and Christianized for US consumption. Their powerbase was from the large number of conservative Christians behind them. These Christians keep the US aid flowing to Israel. And contribute to the ethnic cleansing being practiced there with OUR money.
Zionists HATE Islam. Because quite frankly, Islam is standing in their way of world control at the moment. The people behind the zionists are also behind the New World Order. (And no, it's not an urban myth)
Therefore all who are extentions of zionism will be pro Israel. The neocons were. The Tea Party is nothing but an extention of the neocons. The fundamentalist Christian community in the US has been groomed in this direction for the past 40 years or so.
It is the zionist element in NYC that is the driving force behind the mosque issue. When the ADL weighed in with an opinion, it was a clear indicator of who was behind the scenes of this hatefest of Islamophobia.
Ever since Reagan, all presidential cabinets have been loaded with these zionists. They write foreign policy in our name, which ultimately inflames the situation in the Middle East and brings terrorists to our shores.
youtube.com/watch?v=JhS6B9U13aY
The war on terror is a sham. It's being used to hide another agenda, another attempt at world control. The Muslims are being used to keep you busy while this New World Order continues to unfold in the background. We're not the good guys this time, folks.
The real enemy is already here and well entrenched. They don't have Arabic names either. Mostly Hebrew.They've taken the country without firing a shot.
Most zionists are also white. The same fake Jews Helen Thomas called out recently.
They're not religious Jews. They're supremacists who see Jews as a race. A kosher KKK. These are the people who actually founded modern Israel as a racist , apartheid society.
Radical Islam was born as a response to their aggressive colonization of Palestine. It is kept strong and healthy as an enemy because zionism needs enemies to offer "protection' from, thereby keeping themselves in power.
Worked in Israel. It's working here now too...
x
This week the American terrorists (we call them democrats and liberals) have threatened the Tea Party so violently and excessively, that they had to move their headquarters to a secure building in D.C. They also shot out the GOP HQ's window.
"Radical Islam was born as a response to their aggressive colonization of Palestine."
Only morons believe that. It was born out of the fact Americans were just on Arabian soil, and OBL couldn't handle it.
Youngster.
The situation in the Middle East began with the followers of Theo Herzl. A Jewish supremacist who's followers decided to colonize Palestine. It wasn't even their first choice. Romania was.
But in order to grow, they needed the help of religious Jews. So Israel came to be.
It's a spiritual fake. And it deceives many.
x
You really should stop reading terrorist comic books.
This whole issue is STUPID there someone said it! This mosque "debate" will not help anyone in the long run and there's no way in hell the media will even be talking about this issue a year from now. You know why: Because it's MEANINGLESS. This outrage on both sides is PHONY POLITICS at it's worse.
This whole issue is STUPID there someone said it! This mosque "debate" will not help anyone in the long run and there's no way in hell the media will even be talking about this issue a year from now. You know why: Because it's MEANINGLESS. This outrage on both sides is PHONY POLITICS at it's worse.
This whole issue is STUPID there someone said it! This mosque "debate" will not help anyone in the long run and there's no way in hell the media will even be talking about this issue a year from now. You know why: Because it's MEANINGLESS. This outrage on both sides is PHONY POLITICS at it's worst.
You know I've been trained to believe,
In this so-called American dream,
Brainstorm your media scheme,
The CIA doesn't know what I mean,
They've got their hands in the devil's pocket,
The government is gonna build us a rocket!
Blast another billion off into space,
While they try to keep us focused on the terrorist race,
Cause it's a New World Order.
The main goal is to keep us in debt,
Inside info in a stock market bet,
Try to keep us broke and hope we forget,
That somebody knew about all that shhhhh!
Try to keep us all livin in fear,
From an enemy that's not even real,
Just keep watching your Headline News,
Keep your head in the sand if you can't take the truth
Cause it's a
New World Order.
The more conscious I get about what really goes on in politics, the more sick I feel. Most Americans have no idea, really. The average citizen takes in what, 15 minutes of news each day? I talked to a seemingly smart guy the other day - he had no idea that we had an oil spill in the gulf. Seriously? And folks who see only FOX News are not given much of a chance to get at the balanced truth - lots of propaganda going on over there.
Republicans have once again used fear-mongering to divide us all and take attention off of the President's message about Republican obstruction. They absolutely LOVE the fact that we're all talking about Quran burning and mosques. This way, we don't consider that they have no economic plan other than to reinstate Bush's tax cuts for the wealthy, to the tune of $100,000 for each millionaire. Oh, and to start hacking away at programs that help the underserved, the needy, people who are struggling and who could use a hand. They'll probably try to reinstate the Bush/Cheney Torture Program while they're at it - just in time for their invasion of Iran.
The right-wing has proven itself to be a fearful, hateful, homophobic, bigoted group who care for nothing other than their own power. They gladly block legislation that provides unemployment extension to good people. They block legislation that would provide health care to 911 First Responders. But golly-gosh, those tax cuts for the richest 2% of us are far more important, right?
And, now, to consciously raise the temperature of a hate-filled fear-based anti-Muslim sentiment...what can you say about that? What can you say? The right-wing in this country doesn't seem to be much interested in peace. Not if it means losing a vote or two, or heaven forfend, allow Barack Obama a victory, such as the tax credits he'd like to offer small businesses or the $30 billion bill that would provide funds to small community banks for small business lending.
The Republicans and the right-wing media have spent the better part of two years trying to destroy Barack Obama. He has been called everything from a terrorist to a socialist, a fascist, a communist, marxist, Hitler, baby-killer, euthanizer, witch-doctor, un-American, the long list goes on. They have done everything they can to destroy the hope Barack Obama provided after 8 years of rule that destroyed our economy and our moral image in the world. They just wouldn't let it breathe for even a day. It is a miracle so much has been accomplished in the face of snarling and unyielding and unscrupulous opposition.
Please, force everyone you know to vote Democrat in November. Even if you hate every Democratic candidate, vote anyway. One thing we can count on if Dems maintain control is that the TORTURE PROGRAM will NOT be reinstated. At least some face will be saved, as much already has.
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