“Let me close with a story, but remember that it’s only one of many American stories that could be told. Mohammed Salman Hamdani was a 23-year-old paramedic, a New York City police cadet and a Muslim American. He was one of those brave first responders who tragically lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attacks almost a decade ago. As The New York Times eulogized, “He wanted to be seen as an all-American kid.” [...] Mr. Hamdani bravely sacrificed his life to try and help others on 9/11. After the tragedy some people tried to smear his character solely because of his Islamic faith. Some people spread false rumors and speculated that he was in league with the attackers only because he was Muslim. It was only when his remains were identified that these lies were fully exposed. Mohammed Salman Hamdani was a fellow American who gave his life for other Americans. His life should not be defined as a member of an ethnic group or a member of a religion, but as an American who gave everything for his fellow citizens. ”
—A tearful Rep. KEITH ELLISON (D - Minnesota), the first elected Muslim in Congress, in his closing remarks during testimony at GOP Rep. Peter King’s “hearings” into the radicalization of American Muslims.
Lest we forget: American Muslims have also made sacrifices for our country, Peter King.
“I recently hosted a forum in my district called Women's Rights in the Era of Extremism. And this is an era of extremism. These same people who want to shrink government till you can drown it in a bathtub also want mom to get back in the kitchen and take her shoes off and get pregnant. You understand? They are offended by strong, powerful women. And here's the sad part -- some of them are women themselves. Michele Bachmann being an example. So let's stand up -- let's stand up for women's rights, and brothers don't leave the sisters out there. We gotta be in this thing together.”
—Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN)
Love is All Around (Theme from Mary Tyler Moore)
Stephen Colbert/Keith EllisonStephen Colbert shines a little Mary Tyler Moore magic, with a little help from Congressman Keith Ellison on The Colbert Report’s Better Know A District.
“These are the Grover Norquist disciples who want to 'drown government in the bathtub' as Norquist, whose pledge they've all signed, famously said. Why? Because if they actually let government work, then people could have faith that government can work. In short, when your entire philosophy is that government is the problem, you make government the problem. Even conservative economists agree that unemployment benefits create jobs by allowing consumers to spend more money. Yet this conflicts with the Republicans' predetermined ideology that no government action can help. Broad majorities agree that having millionaires pay their fair share in taxes would reduce our deficit, and allow us to invest in jobs. But apparently no amount of evidence can convince Republicans that our government can be part of the solution. The Republican philosophy goes something like this: If you take your car to the mechanic and instead of fixing it, they take out the engine and charge you an arm and a leg, you should conclude that mechanics can't fix cars and you should probably just take yours to the junkyard and sell it for scrap metal. But the truth is; you probably just hired a bad mechanic.”
—Rep. Keith Ellison: If It Ain’t Broke, Break It
“In Western societies, Muslims may develop their own nuanced rapprochement with the LGBT community, under the rubric of pluralism and civil rights if not religious reimagining. It is notable that the two Muslims in the U.S. Congress, Reps. Keith Ellison of Minnesota and André Carson of Indiana, are members of the LGBT Equality Caucus.”
—Munir Shaikh, Contemporary Developments within Muslim Societies and Communities regarding LGBT Identity and Rights, in Muslim LGBT Inclusion Project
Note that both Rep. Ellison and Rep. Carson are African Americans, which busts a few more stereotypes.
Fair Witchhunt for Muslim Promised
In another article today, in the NYT, at: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/09/us/politics/09king.html - the head of this Congressional Investigation says that 85% of Muslim leaders in mosques are extremist (!?) So it certainly seems a lot of general statements of suspicion are being made before the Investigation even starts. Honestly, maybe it is Extremist Zionism that is causing the problems. How about a hearing on that? — And Crazy Christians who appear eager to rush towards their Second Coming and Apocalypse and want to control personal behavior of everybody on planet Earth are another fascism force in our society. — I know such statements may seem ‘radical,’ to some but these forces swirl around us daily, like storm clouds and this Congressional Investigation of a religion is symptomatic of how worse it’s getting. Judaism and Christianity are as equally full of calls for war (and genocide) as any other religion and the words of Jesus about ‘look at yourself,’ before you start casting stones at others are good. The One Commandment of Jesus about treating others like how you’d like to be treated might be good for these Fanatic Fascist Christians to remember and return to. Of course…it’s all about the Oil (and expanding Israel) so any words that can be said to help that are said, any flags that can be thrown in our face are thrown, any false ideals to wave are waved, this Ship of Fools has long set sail. (Voting for better, non-warmongering leaders still a good idea).
Amplify’d from www.google.com
See this Amp at http://amplify.com/u/btnq5
“It is true that specific individuals, including some who are Muslims, are violent extremists. However, these are individuals but not entire communities…When their violent actions are associated with an entire community, then blame is assigned to a whole group. This is the very heart of stereotyping and scapegoating, which is counterproductive....Ascribing the evil acts of a few individuals to an entire community is wrong; it is ineffective, and it risks making our country less secure.”
—Muslim Representative Keith EllisonHoward Dean Hopes Supreme Court Throws Out Individual Mandate
huffingtonpost.comEarlier in the discussion, Dean, who has served as chairman of the Democratic National Committee, had criticized Democrats who “act like Republicans” once elected, citing them as the reason the Affordable Care Act does is not a single-payer plan.
“Let’s focus our energies on people who are going to make a difference,” Dean said. “We want real, progressive Democrats who are going to stand up and fight for change in this country.”
Dean, who served on a panel with Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), also urged the audience not to buy Brawny paper towels and other products sold by conservative activists, including the Koch brothers whose company manufactures Brawny products.
“This is not just about election year politics,” Dean said. “This is about a fundamental struggle for whether the United States of America remains a Democratic nation or not.”
Ellison amplified Dean’s remarks, saying that if the Supreme Court does away with the individual mandate, progressives would have a chance to push for a single payer system, reported the Washington Examiner’s Philip Klein.
“If this individual mandate gets thrown out, it is an opportunity for us to organize right away,” Ellison said. “We’ve got to go in, we’ve got to shape the debate right away, because the issue will be, ‘If not this, what?’ Well, the “what’ is single payer health care. We’ve got to prepare ourselves to literally pounce.”
