Category: Islam

Hmmmm …

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Press release from the Herman Cain campaign:

For Immediate Release:
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
For More Information:
Ellen Carmichael, (678) 601-2772
[email protected]

Cain Meets with American Muslim Leaders

(Stockbridge, GA)- Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain met with American Muslim leaders this afternoon at the ADAMS Center in Sterling, Virginia. After the meeting, Cain issued the following statement:

I would like to thank Imam Mohamed Magid and the ADAMS Center for extending their hospitality to me this afternoon. We enjoyed heartfelt fellowship and thoughtful dialogue about how patriotic Americans of all faiths can work together to restore the American Dream.
While I stand by my opposition to the interference of shariah law into the American legal system, I remain humble and contrite for any statements I have made that might have caused offense to Muslim Americans and their friends. I am truly sorry for any comments that may have betrayed my commitment to the U.S. Constitution and the freedom of religion guaranteed by it. Muslims, like all Americans, have the right to practice their faith freely and peacefully.
As I expected, we discovered we have much more in common in our values and virtues. In my own life as a black youth growing up in the segregated South, I understand their frustration with stereotypes. Those in attendance, like most Muslim Americans, are peaceful Muslims and patriotic Americans whose good will is often drowned out by the reprehensible actions of jihadists.
I am encouraged by the bonds of friendship forged today at our meeting, and I look forward to continuing this very healthy dialogue. The relationship we established was so positive that the Imam has invited me back to speak to not only some of their youth, but also at one of their worship services.

In attendance at Wednesday’s meeting were:
Imam Mohamed Magid, Executive Director of the ADAMS Center.
Sister Humera Khan, Director, Muflehun.org.
Joshua Salaam, Youth Director of the ADAMS Center, former U.S. military officer.
Robert Marro, Board of Trustees at the ADAMS Center, former U.S. Foreign Service Officer (Minister, Counselor of Embassy)

The ADAMS Center serves more than 5,000 families in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. To contact the ADAMS Center, please call (703) 433-1325.
Friends of Herman Cain will release photographs of the meeting later this week.

Well? Will all those who were denouncing Cain as an “Islamophobe” apologize now? Or will those who defended Cain against such accusations now abandon him? Will this suffice to end the whole “Cain-vs-Islam” controversy?

These are just questions.

Answering such questions is above my pay-grade.

UPDATE: The readership does not seem to approve — to put it rather mildly. In the comments below, Bob Belvedere cites references indicating that Imam Magid and ISNA are connected to the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas.

As readers might deduce, I was rather stunned by this press release. Even more stunning? More than an hour and a half after I posted Cain’s press release, Drew M. hat-tipped Byron York for the same press release.

Because Byron York is important. And I’m chopped liver.

Muslims: Don’t Hurt Their Feelings!

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For example, it hurts their feelings when an Australian court says they can’t have sex with 8-year-olds.

And it especially hurts their feelings when you suspect them of involvement with terrorism:

Right-wing websites quickly pointed the finger at “jihadis,” and Pamela Geller, publisher of the website Atlas Shrugs and executive director of Stop Islamization of America, wrote on her site: “You can ignore jihad, but you cannot avoid the consequences of ignoring jihad.”
Counter-terrorism experts soon weighed in, implicating Al Qaeda.

Pamela Geller gives it right back at ’em. Why do none of these oh-so-sensitive liberals ever worry about  hurting Pamela’s feelings?

Krikorian on Cain, Islam and Immigration

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Mark Krikorian semi-disagrees with Herman Cain:

If a large and growing Muslim population represents a threat to liberty — and I believe, with Cain, that it does — then that’s yet another reason to reduce future immigration. But once you admit people, we’re bound to judge them individually, by the same yardstick we use for everyone else.

Fair criticism, I suppose. Yet Krikorian ought to acknowledge what few have noted about the 2012 GOP primary field: Herman Cain has the strongest conservative stance on immigration. I would ask Krikorian to talk to the candidate and see if he doesn’t agree that Herman Cain is closer to Tom Tancredo’s get-tough stance than anyone else in the Republican presidential campaign.

VIDEO: Herman Cain Talks Mosques, Sharia and the Muslim Brotherhood

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EXCLUSIVE — Must credit TheOtherMcCain.com
During a private event Sunday with supporters in Bethesda, Maryland, Republican presidential candidate spoke frankly about his opposition to a proposed mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Cain said that one Tennessee attorney representing opponents of the mosque told him that the controversial project is being supported by the Muslim Brotherhood.

Cain’s public opposition to the proposed Tennessee mosque, as well as his March statement that he would not be comfortable appointing Muslims to his presidential cabinet, have been criticized by many liberals and also by some Republicans. However, the Atlanta businessman told his Maryland supporters during a question-and-answer session at a private home in suburban Montgomery County, he considers Islam not merely a religion, but also a political system that does not recognize separation of church and state. His remarks were greeted with applause.

About 80 supporters — including aides to two Republican members of the Maryland legislature — attended the Bethesda event. Maryland’s 2012 GOP primary is April 3, and Cain’s visit to the state could be seen as evidence that his campaign is planning a long-term nationwide strategy toward winning the Republican nomination. New party rules for 2012 have ended “winner take all” delegate apportionment in most states, which means that the GOP presidential primary campaign will likely continue well beyond the first round of early voting in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

UPDATE: Linked by Jim at Anthropocon and by Conservatives for America — thanks!

UPDATE II: “Herman Cain gets it.” writes Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs. “He will be slammed by the leftist/Islamic machine as they continue to enforce Islamic blasphemy laws, bulldoze the American people and bulldoze individual rights. Any Republican candidate that hopes to win the nomination had better have the guts and political courage to speak to greatest threat facing our nation, foreign and domestic.”

UPDATE III: Cain discussed this issue on “Fox News Sunday.” (Via Memeorandum.)

UPDATE IV: Linked by Donald Douglas at American Power.

Cain talks with Maryland businessman and GOP activist Jerry Cave.

A group of Cain supporters pose for a photo with the candidate.

Talking off-the-record with Cain campaign chief of staff Mark Block. Keen-eyed readers will notice that I’m drinking a Flying Dog ale. Since my negotiations for an endorsement deal with Corona have reached an impasse, I’m now open to offers from other brewers of quality beverages.

My 12-year-old son Jefferson poses with Herman Cain. Jeff is a huge fan of Mr. Cain and said of the Bethesda event that it was “awesome.” Jeff also sweet-talked one of the Cain campaign volunteers into selling him a $20 Cain-for-President T-shirt for $1.

Cain shares a laugh with a supporter while posing for photos.

Cain greets another supporter — there was a long line of Maryland Republicans lining up to get their photos taken with the candidate.

Elicia Afton is Nevada state director for the Cain campaign. The last time I saw Elicia was at the March 2010 “Showdown in Searchlight” rally.

Jeff Brown, a member of the Maryland GOP state committee, listens patiently while I explain my plan for getting a lucrative endorsement deal from Flying Dog brewery.

UPDATE V: Linked by Unified Patriots — thanks!

UPDATE VI: Linked by Jane Jamison at Uncoverage — thanks!

Genesis 12:3

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“And I will bless them that bless thee,
and curse him that curseth thee . . .”

Disagreements about foreign policy are one thing. Jew-hating is something else. When someone says, “Zionists not welcome,” watch out.

Da Tech Guy informs us that some unpleasantness has developed among counter-jihad bloggers, requiring me to say: I’m with Pamela Geller.

I stand by my concern about the increasing antisemitism in the ranks of the admins at the EDL. We have no intention of breaking with the EDL if they purge these antisemitic elements. If they do not, they will be finished as a force for good in England. I was immediately reassured that these rogue elements would be routed out. End of story.

Like Da Tech Guy, I come to this controversy without any knowledge of the backstory that caused Baron Bodissey to address an open letter to Pamela, and with no enmity toward anyone involved in this dispute. I note that my friend Stogie at Saberpoint signed the open letter, as did Diana West. Given that these people were staunch allies of Pamela during her war with Charles Johnson, I do not doubt the seriousness of the controversy, nor do I question the sincerity of their concern.

On the other hand, if Pamela detects a tendency toward anti-Semitism among some members of the English Defense League, shouldn’t concern be directed toward dumping the Jew-haters — or at least correcting a dangerous misimpression — rather than chastising Pamela?

Leaving aside entirely whatever led to this dispute (again I profess ignorance of the backstory), doesn’t it seem politically prudent for the EDL to err on the side of caution as regards any hint of tolerance toward anti-Semites? And if Pamela had cause to complain, doesn’t this suggest that at least the EDL has been less cautious than they should have been?

Better the blessing than the curse, I say. And some people might be surprised how faithful God is to His promises.

UPDATE: Thanks to Zilla of the Resistance for calling attention to the post with which Pamela Geller stirred up this blog storm, including this key sentence:

Notorious blogger Max Blumenthal at the Huffington Post have even gone so far as to call the EDL “Atlas’s Thugs.” And I never wavered.

Read the whole thing. Again, I profess ignorance of the backstory, but surely the fact that she’s hated by Max Blumenthal is all the justification any conservative needs to support Pamela.

Geert Wilders Not Guilty of Hate Speech

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A big victory for free speech in Europe. The courageous Dutchman’s most enthusiastic American admirer Pamela Geller is celebrating.

I trust commenters will alert us when Charles Johnson tries to rationalize this latest defeat for his “Eurofascist” smear campaign.

UPDATE: Could he possibly be more predictable?

Let’s pause first to ask whether anyone did more in the way “inciting hatred” than did Charles Johnson 1.0, back in the day when LGF was foremost among “the right-wing ‘anti-jihad’ loons.” It was only after he conceived a grudge against Pamela Geller (for her attendance at the October 2007 Brussels “Counter Jihad” conference) that Johnson sought to assert his authority among conservative bloggers to issue fatwas against Geller, Robert Spencer and others.

By the time Johnson denounced Geller as a “Poster Girl for Eurofascists” in April 2009, he had already spent some 18 months waging a one-man crusade to purge others (including Ann Coulter and Sean Hannity) from the ranks of “acceptable” conservative voices. And it was only because his attempted purge failed that Johnson then flipped and began positioning himself as an opponent of conservatives who had once been his only supporters. He has never been able to articulate any coherent political rationale for his conversion to the Left, and we can only conclude that his motives were selfish, spiteful and petty.

Thanks to commenter Randy Rager for the tip.

UPDATE II: The relentless LGF-watchers at Diary of Daedalus suggested checking the history of Charles Johnson’s blogging about Wilders, and from January 2008, we find this:

This is significant for a couple of reasons. Just three months earlier, CJ had begun attacking Geller over her association with European anti-jihadists. Yet he was still referring to Islam with the phrase “Religion of Peace™” — i.e., signifying as a conservative supporter of the Global War on Terror — and did not yet identify Wilders as a villainous “hatemonger.”

In early 2008, then, Johnson still identified with the Right, but was trying to push Geller and Spencer out. As I say, it was the failure of that purge — the frustration of his attempt to play arbiter of membership in the conservative blogsophere — that caused him to “part ways”  with the Right.

IRS Strips CAIR of Charity Status

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About damned time, too:

Donations to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) no longer are tax deductible after the organization was among 275,000 tax-exempt organizations purged earlier this month by the Internal Revenue Service.
The groups failed to file required annual reports, known as form 990s, detailing their revenues and expenses, for three consecutive years. CAIR had been a non-profit on its own, but in 2007, the IRS approved a separate tax-exempt CAIR Foundation. The foundation never filed any subsequent reports. Both the foundation and CAIR national are on the purge list.

(Via Memeorandum.)

Disorderly Conduct at Right Online?

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Well, maybe we got a little rowdy at happy hour, but I didn’t think anyone did anything worth getting arrested for, so you can imagine my surprise at this headline today:

GOP blogger arrested at Netroots Nation
for allegedly harassing two female bloggers
for wearing Muslim head scarves in public.

What was that about? Minnesota Public Radio:

A St. Paul blogger faces misdemeanor charges after he allegedly harassed two Muslim women last week in downtown Minneapolis.
Minneapolis police say John Hugh Gilmore, 52, who writes a blog called Minnesota Conservatives, caused a scene Thursday night on Nicollet Mall. Sgt. Bill Palmer, a police spokesman, said Gilmore appeared to be drunk when he confronted the two women wearing the Muslim headscarf known as the hijab.
“Mr. Gilmore made some comments that he didn’t believe the women should be in the United States, and that he thought that they were ruining America,” Palmer said.

I have never met Gilmore and, until I saw this story, had never heard of him or his blog. The “hijab flash mob” appears to have been a provocative stunt by the Left — at one point, these women came to Right Online trying to waylay Herman Cain — and I regret that any conservative would allow himself to be provoked, which served only the purposes of the provocateurs. Here is Tony Katz of PJTV covering this publicity stunt:

Since the Left is so intent on accusing the Right of bigoted insensitivity, I’ve got an idea: Next year, I’ll ask a couple dozen of my buddies from the Sons of Confederate Veterans to show up at Netroots Nation in authentic rebel uniforms, flying the Confederate battle flag, and see if we can get any “progressives” arrested for disorderly conduct.

After all, if the Left wants to demand that multiculturalism requires us to enthusiastically embrace the devotees of a 7th-century Arab fanatic like Mohammed, I don’t see how they could deny such tolerance to the admirers of Jefferson Davis.

Deo Vindice!

UPDATE: Related news:

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Organizers of the liberal Netroots Nation conference to be held in Providence in summer 2012 have taken steps to keep a traditional conservative counter-event at a distance.
The conservative conference RightOnline, a project of the Virginia-based group Americans for Prosperity, has staged its convention in the same city around the same time as Netroots Nation since 2008.
Raven Brooks, Netroots Nation’s executive director, said Tuesday the group had a noncompete clause in its contracts with the Rhode Island Convention Center and two Providence hotels.
“Good luck finding a venue in 2012,” he tweeted over the weekend, in reference to RightOnline. “Two words, non-compete clause. Hugs and kisses.”
Erik Telford, executive director of RightOnline, said his group has made “no firm decisions” on where to hold its 2012 conference. Providence is a top contender, but locations on the West Coast, among others, are also under consideration.

Permit me to say that many bloggers at this year’s Right Online kept saying, “Minneapolis? Why the hell are we in Minneapolis?” The 2010 conference in Las Vegas was awesome, and many Right Online attendees suggest that we stop following around Netroots Nation and instead establish Vegas as the permanent location. I’ll leave it up to Erik Telford and the AFP brain trust to decide, but I’d personally prefer a genuine resort location — Miami, San Diego, or any place with sun, sand and palm trees — to Providence, Rhode Island.