Sharia Vigilante Street Justice in America
EXCERPTS: Nonie Darwish, http://frontpagemag.com/2011/09/27/sharia-vigilante-street-justice-in-america/—About a year ago, I posted an Arabic language poem titled "Tears at the Heart of the Holocaust" on my website, ArabsForIsrael.com. The poem expressed its Arab author's love for the Jewish people and his mourning over what happened to them in the Holocaust. The brave poet, Mr. Alaa Alsaegh, is an immigrant to the U.S. from Iraq, who now lives in Missouri. Such poems did not sit well with the Muslim community, which caused Mr. Alsaegh to be alienated from it. He received threats because of his support for the Jewish people, was called an infidel and a traitor to Islam, but he continued with his writing of poems and did not take the threats too seriously....The mainstream media insist that there is no need to fear Sharia or its enforcers in America and that we are exaggerating our plight from Islam. We are told that what happens in the Arab streets can never happen in the streets of America.
Tell that to Alsaegh, after the unthinkable happened to him, when on August 14, 2011, and in broad daylight and heavy traffic, he was viciously attacked on the streets of St. Louis, Missouri. According to Mr. Alsaegh, as he was driving at 10:30 in the morning on Compton St. near Park Ave., a small white car cut him off and hit his car, while another car stopped behind him. The occupants of the cars, some of whom wore security guard-type uniforms, quickly entered Alsaegh's car, pointing a gun at him. They pushed his upper body down against the steering wheel, stabbed him and pulled off his shirt to expose his back. Then, with a knife, they carved the Star of David on his back while laughing as they recited his pro-Jewish poem. Mr. Alsaegh believes that the attackers could be Somalis, but he was not sure. After the attackers fled the scene, Mr. Alsaegh was surrounded by witnesses to the crime and was taken to the hospital. The photo representing this story was taken at the hospital.
After I learned of the attack on Mr. Alsaegh, I did not want to rush to judgment and waited until he told me that the FBI concluded that this was a hate crime. I believe that my article on this incident is the first to be reported in the media. This incident has been totally ignored by the mainstream media.
Why is it that attacks perpetrated by Muslims against Muslim infidels or honor crimes are ignored? Crimes done by Muslims against other Muslims who are considered apostates should alert the American public of what is coming to American streets if Muslims start increasing in numbers. The dirty little secret of Islamic hate and intolerance is clear from this story, and no one in the media cares to expose it and alert the American public.
Are we going to call Mr. Alsaegh and those of us who have had similar threats "Islamophobes"? Are American media outlets covering up Islamic atrocities not only in the Middle East, but also in America? We former Muslims are putting our lives on the line to tell America that we are all in danger from the Islamic doctrines of jihad and Sharia, but few are listening, and our own media and politicians are calling us Islamophobes. Is that the America I love?
Obama to Gay Group: We're Not Done Yet
Michael Foust, Obama to gay group: We're not done yet, Baptist Press, Washington, October 3, 2011—Speaking at a fundraiser for the nation's largest gay organization, President Obama Oct. 1 touted his first-term achievements for the gay and lesbian community but also vowed to "continue to fight alongside you." It was the second time Obama has spoken at a Human Rights Campaign event, the last being in 2009. More than 3,000 people attended the latest event, HRC's 15th annual National Dinner.
"We are making change. We're making real and lasting change," Obama told an enthusiastic crowd of gays, lesbians and their supporters. "We can be proud of the progress we've already made. And I'm going to continue to fight alongside you."
He added later, "I'm confident we can continue to write another chapter together."
The president listed his accomplishments for the gay and lesbian community, from the repeal of the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy to passage of a hate crimes bill that contains protections for homosexuals and transgender people.
Although Obama has yet to explicitly embrace gay "marriage" in public, he implicitly gave approval to New York's recently passed gay "marriage," law, labeling as "progress" what has taken place "in legislatures like New York." He also vowed to "keep up the fight against the so-called Defense of Marriage Act" (DOMA), which he called discriminatory. The 1996 law defines marriage in federal law as between a man and a woman and gives states the option of not recognizing another state's gay "marriages."
"I need your help to fight for equality, to pass a repeal of DOMA, to pass an inclusive employment nondiscrimination bill so that being gay is never again a fireable offense in America," Obama said. "And I don't have to tell you, there are those who don't want to just stand in our way but want to turn the clock back, who want to return to the days when gay people couldn't serve their country openly, who reject the progress that we've made, who as we speak, are looking to enshrine discrimination into state laws and constitutions—efforts that we've got to work hard to oppose, because that's not what America should be about."
Citizens of two states next year—Minnesota and North Carolina—will vote on constitutional amendments defining marriage as between a man and a woman. A majority of states (29) have similar amendments.
Wild Allegations Heaped Upon Pastor
Mission Network News, October 4, 2011, http://mnnonline.org/article/16304—The life of an Iranian pastor continues to hang in the balance as the Iranian state media is now getting involved in the case. Thirty-four-year-old Pastor Yousef Nardarkani was arrested two years ago this month for protesting Muslim education for his children because he is a Christian. He was convicted of apostasy, but now new false charges are being leveled against him.
Todd Nettleton with Voice of the Martyrs says, "Now they're saying that what he's actually going to be executed for is not apostasy, not becoming a Christian, but actually rape and extortion that are the charges that he will be executed for. So it's really a 180-degree turn for the Iranian government."
According to Nettleton, this is mindboggling. "After an initial court hearing, an appeal to the Supreme Court, and then another hearing back at the local court—after all those hearings where they never talked about extortion and never talked about rape, now they're saying he's actually going to be executed for rape and extortion."
A bit of good news about this case, according to Nettleton, is that "the international pressure is working. The Iranian government is hearing from people around the world, including regular people like you and me, as well as government officials and government agencies. They're saying, 'Listen, you cannot put this man to death for being a Christian. That's a complete violation of human rights.' The Iranian government is hearing that, and it's having an effect."
There [is] something you can do to help Pastor Nardarkhani. Nettleton says you can pray for him as he continues to be in prison. You can also "go to PrisonerAlert.com [where] you can write Pastor Yousef himself and also send e-mails to Iranian government officials, including the office of President Ahmodinejad. So we can pray first, and then we can also have a voice for him, as well."