Muslims just want to have fun.

Oh Lawd! What is going on here in A-merry-ca? Why is it harder for Muslims to pursue happiness than the rest of you A-merry-cans? BTW, Speaking of pursuing happiness; I guess we won't be up in arms about this latest social media flash mob phenomenon. I mean they are just college students, and I didn't see any of you Negroes in the crowd scaring folks. But I digress.

 "Rye Playland was shut down Tuesday after cops scuffled with Muslims upset that women wearing head scarves were barred from the rides, witnesses said.
Fifteen people, including three women, were charged with disorderly conduct and assault in the chaos, authorities said.

The Westchester County park was packed with Muslims celebrating Eid-ul-Fitr - the holiday marking the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
One woman, Entisai Ali, began arguing with cops over the amusement park's head scarf, or hijab, rule, said Dena Meawad, 18, of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
The ban, which is not Muslim specific, was imposed about 3 years ago mostly to prevent hats from falling onto the tracks of roller coasters and other rides, park officials said.

"The cops started getting loud with her and she started getting loud, too. They pushed her on the ground and arrested her," Meawad said.
Her cousin, Kareem Meawad, 17, went to try to protect the woman and was beaten by cops and also arrested, she added. Her brother, Issam Meawad, 20, was pushed to the ground and taken into custody when he tried to help his cousin, she said.

"She just wanted to get on a ride. That was it," Dena Meawad said of the initial confrontation. "It's clear, this all happened because we're Muslim."
John Hodges, chief inspector of Westchester County Public Safety, insisted that police did not use excessive force.

He said up to 100 cops from surrounding departments converged on the park.
Two park rangers were injured in the melee, prompting felony assault charges against two people arrested, officials said.
The ugly incident happened just after 1 p.m. The event was organized by the Muslim American Society of New York, and attracted 3,000 Muslims from Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Westchester County.

Ali's sister, Ayman Alrabah, 24, of Brooklyn said her husband, brother and father were all tackled by cops and put into handcuffs when they tried to help her sister.
Alrabah said she was unaware of the head-scarf rule until she and her sister tried to get on the park's Dragon Coasters.

"We requested a refund and all of a sudden an argument became a riot," Alrabah said. "Cops came. They were hitting my brother, my dad. My husband was on the floor and they were handcuffing him.

She said her 4-year-old son was "traumatized" by seeing his father arrested.
"They treated us like animals, like we were nothing," Alrabah said. "They came with their dogs and sticks. We came to have fun." [Source] 

Oh stop it! Where have you ever heard of cops attacking people with "dogs and sticks"? Oh wait....never mind.

Finally, I am not an expert on climate change and global warming [or the lack of it], but I do know that we have been having some unusually freakish weather occurrences all over the world of late, and that reasonable people can disagree on just how much man made behavior is causing the earth's weather patterns to change.

Reasonable people. The wingnuts in this country, and folks like their presidential candidate, Governor Big Hair, are not convinced.  They believe that global warming is all a hoax. And thanks to their 24 hour propaganda machine and the ignorance of quite a few most of our fellow citizens, they are actually gaining the upper hand in the debate. Which is really kind of sad, because if they had their way there would be no debate in the first place.

   

The greatest threat.

There must be some really bad stuff in the air around here. Just this weekend a man went all Musashi on his family in a [upper]middle class neighborhood right outside of Philadelphia:

"Montgomery County prosecutors have charged a 23-year-old man with fatally stabbing his father, mother, and twin brother.

Joseph McAndrew Jr. was arrested Saturday and charged with three counts of first-degree murder related to the stabbing deaths of Joseph C. McAndrew, 70; Susan C. McAndrew, 64; and James D. McAndrew, 23, in the family's Upper Merion home.

King of Prussia District Justice William I. Maruszczak said McAndrew did not speak at his araignment Sunday morning. He is being held without bail.

Neighbors said police arrived late Saturday, and four police cars were at the house on Holstein Road when one neighbor arrived home at 1:30 a.m. Sunday. "It's traumatic and very shocking," said the man, 23, who had attended Upper Merion schools with the brothers.

Speaking of Joseph Jr., the neighbor said, "I played soccer with him growing up. I never thought that anything was possible." The man asked not to be identified. He said the family had lived in the house for more than 20 years.

According to a police affidavit, all three were killed by "multiple cuts and lacerations" in the house, where police found several knives and a "samurai-style sword," the Norristown Times Herald reported. The two-story, white-stucco home is on a narrow, two-lane road." [More]

Yes, we never think certain things are possible with certain types of people. I mean just when you think you know someone...Anyway, clearly this young man had some serious issues and it's sad that it had to come to this. But hey, nothing surprises me anymore in A-merry-ca.

Finally, because nothing surprises me anymore, I shouldn't be surprised to hear that a certain wingnuut politician wants to have hearings on the "radicalization" of Islam in A-merry-ca.

"Rep. Peter King said Sunday he'll hold hearings on the "radicalization of the American Muslim community" - but some critics fear an anti-Islamic witchhunt.

King (R-L.I.) said a Congressional probe is needed because Al Qaeda has increasingly targeted Muslims living legally in the United States as potential terror recruits.

Despite the threat to their own community, King said, some Islamic clerics resist cooperating with investigators.

"We want to assess the extent of the radicalization of the Muslim community," he said. "It's clear to me there has not been sufficient cooperation."

"With Al Qaeda trying to recruit from within their community, it's important that they cooperate," said King, who will be chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security in the new Republican-controlled Congress. King's call drew fire from Muslim groups, who said they fear the hearings will only fuel bigotry and hatred." [Source]

This is what happens when you give wingnuts the power over anything; they abuse it. Good luck with those hearings Mr. King. I hope you get a chance to weed out all those radicals and crazies living among us. Although I think you might want to start with the crazy people living among our own families, first.

I have a little burning to do as well.

Who knew that being a media whore in A-merry-ca could get you so much attention? Take my man pastor Jones down in Florida, for example. Thankfully, his Koran burning is off for the moment. Still, he is lapping up his 15 minutes and using his new found power and fame to negotiate with the Muslims from that center at Ground Zero. If you don't build your Mosque I won't burn your Koran. Ain't that a b&^%#?!

But can you blame the guy for being like the lyrics from that Jean Carne song all of a sudden? The President! The Vice President! Generals! Heads of state! All begging him not to burn. That would give every red blooded A-merry-can the big head.

Well I want my 15 minutes, damn it, so I have decided to do a little religious burning of my own.

But first, a scripture from the good book:

"I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more." (Ezekiel 34:29)

It' s like this: on September 11, 1987, Peter Tosh was shot and killed by a Rastafarian named Dennis "Leppo" Lobban. Lobban broke into his home, demanded money, and when Tosh didn't give in to his wishes; he was shot execution style in the head.

To show my disgust for this cowardly act, I will burn what Rastafarians hold sacred on September 11th and I dare any Rastafarian anywhere in the world to stop me. Your "tree of life" and herb that heals nations will be lit up like a Christmas tree on September 11th, so get used to it. The good pastor in Florida backed down, but I won't, there is too much at stake. There are too many heathens in the land.

The "Fourth Reich"?

It's starting to feel like 1933 here in A-merry-ca. February 28, 1933, to be exact.

But thankfully, folks are still allowed to write opinion pieces like the following:

"The first thing that must be said about the mosque at ground zero is that it is not just a mosque, and it is not at ground zero.

Granted, calling it an Islamic center that contains a prayer space, a spa, a swimming pool, community meeting rooms, a 9/11 memorial, an auditorium, a basketball court, classrooms, and an exhibition space - to be located two blocks away and around a corner from ground zero, at a site Muslims are already using for prayers - doesn't have quite the same kick as calling it the mosque at ground zero. It's just a more accurate description.

Facts matter, and they seem to be in short supply in this ugly fight.

It's also important to note that the controversy over the center, which has now engulfed the president, is only one of several that have flared up across the country over mosque construction or expansion plans. Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Wisconsin, California - all have seen fights over mosque proposals. There are even two other New York mosque projects, in Brooklyn and Staten Island, that have provoked attacks and demonstrations.

There have also been attacks on existing mosques, not just planned ones. A bomb exploded during services at a mosque in Jacksonville, Fla., and there have been reports of arson and vandalism of mosques in Texas and Tennessee. (No one was hurt in the incidents, which are being investigated.)

Murfreesboro, Tenn., is witnessing a particularly ugly construction standoff, with many of the same features as the fight in Lower Manhattan. Mainstream politicians running in tough primary races have attacked the project there, and so have grassroots activists affiliated with local tea party groups........as Park51 after its address on Park Place - were high-profile grassroots activists, including Mark Williams, then-leader of a group called the Tea Party Express. He labeled the center a "monument" for the "worship of the terrorists' monkey-god."

One key opposition group, Stop the Islamization of America, is well-known for the inflammatory rhetoric of its leaders. They include Pamela Geller, who didn't bother providing a shred of evidence when she suggested that funding for the center could be "tied to jihad or terror." (There is no funding at the moment.) Geller has called for a ground zero rally on the anniversary of 9/11, and she has been touting Geert Wilders, a virulently anti-Muslim Dutch politician, as a featured speaker.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks hate groups, has highlighted Geller associate John Joseph Jay as "truly vicious." According to the center, Jay wrote in his (all-lowercase) blog: "if islam kills non-believers as a matter of religious doctrine, then why should muslims expect to be free of retribution in the name of those islam kills?"

These are the people who defined and framed the debate over the Lower Manhattan Islamic center. Now the controversy has gone viral, attracting opposition to the project from ambitious mainstream politicians, including Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich, both of whom are toying with presidential runs, and Rick Lazio, a Republican candidate for governor of New York. Palin has ratcheted up the rhetoric, referring to Park51 as the "9/11 mosque....We should bear in mind that it's election season, and some politicians have clearly calculated that opposing the center - and similar projects around the country - will translate into political and financial support. But why should that be? And why should the construction of a house of worship in America - a country founded partly for the sake of religious refuge - become a full-blown national controversy?

Here we come to the key fallacy driving these fights - the "big lie," to use Hitler's term for a falsehood so preposterous that it goes unchallenged. In this instance, the lie is that Muslims attacked America in the name of Islam.

The U.S. government bears much of the responsibility for propagating this myth in the wake of 9/11. It allowed - indeed, encouraged - the view that a political attack carried out by a tiny group of radical terrorists was, in fact, an attack on America on behalf of all Muslims in the name of Islam. This was the argument disseminated by al-Qaeda itself. Hence, the federal government was in the curious position of promoting al-Qaeda's propaganda.

That al-Qaeda is a gang of disgruntled thugs - many of whom were our disgruntled thugs during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan - is deemed irrelevant in this view. They were our "freedom fighters" when Ronald Reagan was president; now they "hate our freedoms," as George W. Bush put it.

Of course, President Bush spoke in mosques, invited imams to the White House, and intoned that "Islam is peace." At the same time, though, his administration was interrogating tens of thousands of Muslims and jailing thousands of them, investigating Muslim students, using Byzantine immigration laws against Muslims and deporting tens of thousands of them, employing the Energy Department to monitor mosque radiation levels, using the Census Bureau to identify Muslim neighborhoods, and sending the FBI out to count American mosques.

This intense investigative focus on Muslims during the last several years, coupled with a constant labeling of terrorist plots as Muslim, created a fertile field for xenophobia.

Now Bryan Fischer, a leader of the fundamentalist American Family Association, has gone so far as to state flatly that Muslim Americans are by definition treasonous. "Permits should not be granted to build even one more mosque in the United States of America, let alone the monstrosity planned for ground zero," Fischer wrote recently on his blog. "This is for one simple reason: each Islamic mosque is dedicated to the overthrow of the American government."

Fischer's solution? Repatriate Muslims to their home countries. This completely ignores the fact that close to a majority of the five million to eight million Muslims in this country were born here, and roughly a third are African American. Facts do matter. " [Story]

No they don't Mr. Salisbury, not if you are a wingnut.

Finally, I just read that James Jackson Kilpatrick is dead. May he go straight to hell. (If there is such a place.) The next time one of you black conservatives try to justify your political stance here in A-merry-ca, just remember that folks like James Jackson Kilpatrick was one of the founders of your movement.