Archives for January 2014

Hate groups thrive on immigration debate

The website, “Creeping Sharia” posted an anti-muslim article about foodstamp fraud in Maryland. The article, titled, “Maryland: Two More Muslims Arrested in $1.5M Food Stamp Fraud.”  quoted part of an article posted on the FBI website www.fbi.gov titled ” “Two More Retailers Arrested for Food Stamp Fraud”    Nowhere on the original FBI article did it mention muslims. How the authors of this site ascertained the religion of these individuals can only be deduced; if you have a middle-eastern name, you are a Muslim. What the Muslim religion has to do with the food stamp scam is still a mystery.

There is a banner prominently displayed at the top of the website that reads, “Stop Amnesty for Illigal Aliens,” and then lists a phone number. Hoping to speak with the creators of the blog, I called the phone number listed on the banner. A receptionist answered and asked me what state I was calling from. I told her, “California,” and she quickly routed me to another number and after a few rings I got Sen. Diane Feinstein’s message machine. I think I was supposed to leave a message against amnesty with her.

Trying to find anyone willing to stand up for this blog, I clicked on a bunch of links and although I didn’t find contact information for anyone behind the blog,  I did find a link to the American Freedom Law Center, among other smaller blogs. Could this organization be behind this article?

On another part of the page, again, prominently display is a quote about freedom of speech, “If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” ~ George Washington

Below that quote is another ad with links to websites that teach you how to get around your government or company’s web filters.

  • Steps to bypass Internet Censorship

    If you are unable to access Creeping Sharia due to IP, corporate, government or other censorship, go here orhere for easy ways to access our content anywhere.

These guys are seriously fighting for free speech. Yay!

Oh, wait. Just a little further down the page they put up these links:

Seriously. There aren’t but a few inches separating these statements. You would think the author would see how hypocritical he was being and re-think his position. One can either be for censorship or freedom of speech–you cannot be for both.

So, once again, hiding behind the shadow of anonymity, are our would-be saviors. They must see themselves as superheros, you know, caped crusaders who hide behind a mask but fight for truth, justice and the American way. Someone should tell them that instead of Batman, they are acting more like the Penguin. Supervillains hide behind secret identities too, but their motives are much more self-serving.

There is a banner on this website that reads, “We remember 1915.” A link takes you to a website that tries to link the Ottoman empire to Adolph Hitler. 1915? Really, they remember that? Why? And even if they really could remember 1915, why would anyone want to?

“If we are to strive for world peace, we need to forget the wrongs that have been done to us and focus on the good we can do together. Anyone can go back thousands of years and find people who have been harmed in order to find justification for anger and resentment, but somehow we find it impossible to look one day into the future and see people doing good things for the justification of love and forgiveness.”

Plan A- Equality

There has been a lot of talk about what needs to be in our upcoming immigration bill. I have been debating this issue for a couple of years now and see that a sixth imperative needs to be added in order for any new immigration legislation to be truly successful.

Equality.

Without Equality an immigrant will find this whole process less than fulfilling and almost certainly harmful.  If they are not 100% a part of our community, an immigrant will have no vested interest in helping us succeed. They could go back home at any time and compete against us, or otherwise help another country’s economy. With the recovery from the recent recession taking so long, we need all the help we can get right now getting our country back on track. We need more people creating jobs and providing affordable services.

Every US citizen needs to be equal in the eyes of the law and our government.

taxation_without_representationIf there is a sub-class of citizen who lives among us, works with us and pays their fair share of taxes, but who cannot vote or otherwise fully participate in their destiny, we will have failed to give all of our citizens equal access to the American Dream. If they can’t vote, they would be vulnerable to be treated like second class citizens by our government, police, and other institutions and groups of our society. If we have learned nothing else from our civil rights era, we should have at least learned this.

no_taxation_without_representation_mousepad-p144410742047262307envq7_400Taxation without representation was one of the precursors to our struggle for independence from England. If not being able to control our own destiny was a good enough reason to rebel against an oppressive government and seek our own self-determined solution, then why would we subjugate a portion of our society to suffer that same fate? This would be about as un-American an act as we could possibly inflict against a part of our society.

In order to appease the more conservative among us, if we accepted someone into our society and they committed some horrible act that warranted their expulsion, we should also have the right to revoke their citizenship and deport them, never allowing them to return. This should be the only difference between someone born on American soil, and someone adopted into our family. This would prevent them from becoming a disenfranchised part of our community, as well as protect us from someone who would do us great harm.

1115Q_CIVILhousing1_35p Equality should be the number one goal for all of our society. There are those among us today who are fighting for this very freedom and it should shame us to no end that we continue to allow this type of behavior to endure. A hundred years after the civil war gave slaves their freedom, African-Americans still had to fight for equality. Many still struggle today.

 

 

National_Association_Against_Woman_SuffrageAlmost a hundred years after women won the right to vote, they still fight to gain equal footing with men in many areas.  The rights for Gay men and women are being fought today and there is little sign that this will end any time soon. Dare we add another group of  Americans to this sad list of  persecuted and under-represented citizens?

What will it take for us to treat each other with dignity and respect, and become a truly civilized society?

Next week- Conclusion

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