Fear, Inc.: The Obama Re-election Strategy for Muslim Votes
by Jerry Gordon (Sept. 2011)
American presidents have traditionally been the governors and the senators of key states. The rise of sizable politically active Muslim populations in those states positions Islamic groups to exert a strong and disproportionate influence on national politics. A governor or senator who seeks out Muslim support to get elected at a state level will form alliances that he will carry forward with him into the White House.
Basic diversity and multiculturalism means that state officials in key states are forming ties with Islamic associations that serve as front groups for the Muslim Brotherhood or other organizations that are equally antithetical to the long term survival of the United States. Through a few meetings, the Brotherhood is gaining a lever that it can use to move presidents.
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expansion of mega mosques. In the matter brought by local citizens in Chancery Court in Murfreesboro, Tennessee against the county government for authorizing expansion of the Islamic Center without proper public notification, the US Department of Justice under Attorney General Eric Holder filed an amicus brief on behalf of the defendants. This summer, Secretary of State Clinton has furthered this effort by sanctioning outreach to the Organization of Islamic Cooperation on declarations of human rights that appear to abet criminalizing criticism of religion, specifically Islam under its blasphemy laws.
The Arab American News reflected these biases in its report on the Nashville symposium.
Journalists covering issues involving the Muslim community also have had their own challenges to deal with, including a lack of experience with the issue, a lack of sources for first-hand knowledge on the faith, and immense pressure and criticism from readers and viewers who have been indoctrinated with anti-Muslim propaganda.
An audience of about 80 people included a handful of supporters of panelist Dr. Bill Warner, the founder of the Center for the Study of Political Islam, as he debated Islamic law expert Umbreen Bhati from the University of Michigan and the Los Angeles-based website Islawmix.com.
Warner, a former scientist has a following in the area as an author and producer of videos that paint Islam as a violent movement. His supporters became loud and disruptive, accusing Bhatti and fellow panelist Saleh M. Sbenaty, a Muslim engineer from MTSU, of lying as they explained the compatibility of Islam and the Constitution and experiences as a Muslim in Tennessee, respectively.
The unwelcoming response was a glimpse of the type of discrimination the Muslims of Murfreesboro faced last year as they attempted to build a mosque.
Warner and others of his ilk had been discussed earlier in the day by Bob Smietana, a religion writer for The Tennessean in Nashville. Smietana has spent many months researching key players in the anti-Islam movement in the southeast part of the country, particularly in Tennessee, and relayed some of his findings to the audience.
Salon.com report on CAP study gives you some idea of the agenda in the title, “New report maps the roots of Islamophobia: A new report traces the flow — and funding — of anti-Muslim ideas.”
Pamela Geller and think tank denizen Frank Gaffney— who will be familiar to regular Salon readers. It names Gaffney and four others as the leading “misinformation experts” who generate anti-Muslim talking points that spread in the media: Daniel Pipes of the Middle East Forum; David Yerushalmi at the Society of Americans for National Existence (who is also the architect of the anti-Shariah movement); Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch; and Steven Emerson of the Investigative Project on Terrorism.
The report also reveals that a small group of little-known foundations have in the past decade provided more than $40 million to groups promoting Islamophobia.
The report also stokes the view that rich Jews operate behind the scenes and use their wealth to control the media and government policy (politicians are also mentioned as being ensnared in this web).
The consensus text agreed by the U.N. Human Rights Council was an important achievement. For the first time in many years, OIC governments agreed to focus on the protection of individuals rather than religions.
Much needs to be done at the national level in U.N. member states to combat violence and discrimination on the basis of religion or belief. In particular, Human Rights First calls on all States to move toward implementing policies to combat hatred without restricting speech.
They called upon all relevant stakeholders throughout the world to take seriously the call for action set forth in Resolution 16/18, which contributes to strengthening the foundations of tolerance and respect for religious diversity as well as enhancing the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms around the world.
Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States.” It has its roots in the Homeland Security Department’s “Countering Violent Extremism” working group.
Marion and Herbert Sandler, who made a fortune in the sale of their sub-standard mortgage plagued Golden West Financial to troubled Wachovia for $24 billion. They personally made $2.4 billion on the transaction. The Sandlers were significant funders of CAP along with Peter Lewis, Chairman of Progressive Insurance and his pal, George Soros via his Open Society Institute. If you go to the CAP website, you will see that this liberal think tank receives over $25 million annually in grants.
Tom Daschle. Daschle was Obama's original go-to guy on health care reform and nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, before his tax problems caught up with him and was forced to withdraw.
Bob Smietana, he of questionable antisemitic associations from his North Park University days in Chicago and with the Muslim Brotherhood Da'wa proponents from Nashville and Murfreesboro. He is aiding and abetting Muslim outreach to the liberal base that elected Obama in 2008 and hopes to do it again in the 2012 re-election campaign.
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