Why Do Immigrant Groups Always Cry Racism
Minority Organizations Label Cartoonist a “Racist” rather than explore the issues that he raised about Legal and Illegal Immigration. One of the Mid Eastern Groups, CAIR, is linked to terrorism.
Cartoon #1: Mexican crossing border
The investigation begins: An interview with political cartoonist Bill Mangold:
The Problem with Legal Immigration:
Tracking down the Heritage Newspaper:
Tracking down the Protesting Groups:
Chart #1: US Population Growth Since 1970
Cartoon #3: Terrorist Coming to a Mall by You.
The other face of CAIR: Is CAIR a threat to America?
Are Islamic Terrorist Groups financing the acquisition of US businesses?
An Islamic Overthrow of America – A recent nightmare
Preface:
This is a very troubling article. It may be the most important article that I have ever published. Because this is such a controversial article I wanted to share all of the research that I uncovered. To that end I am supplying my readers with a supplement document, containing many of the actual reports and additional background information, so that you can explore the same data that I explored. Then we will see if we reach the same conclusions. This supplemental document consists of articles dedicated to the following topics:
(1) Media articles that deemed Bill Mangold’s Cartoon as racist
(2) Articles on CAIR and Terrorism
(3) Articles on Immigration, Population Control and the future of Earth
(4) A chronological table of events relating to the protests and world events
I will also try to include a form from which you can send me your feedback. I am really interested to hear what you think about what I am about to tell you.
I put a lot of effort into this for a specific reason. When President Bush comes back from his 5-week vacation, in September he is going to attempt to launch a worker visa program that will grant amnesty to nearly 20 million illegal immigrants that have ignored our laws. Like most Americans I am vehemently opposed to any variant of this plan. Instead what I think we need to be doing is placing a moratorium on legal and illegal immigration until the American worker is able to enjoy the standard of living that reached it apex back in 1973. At the same time I would like to see policies moved forward which will put all countries toward a path of self sufficiency and abundance. It is time that Americans stood up to the raping, of the American dream, by large Multi-National Corporations.
I am hopeful that once you digest this sizable amount of background documentation that you will reach the same conclusions that I have reached. Having accomplished that I would then recommend that you read about “New Age Citizens” evolving political platform, which is currently title “New Age for
Summary:
I started my morning, last Thursday July 28th, reading a Detroit Free Press article by Niraj Warikoo: “Rights groups fight immigrant's image.” The article talked about a “racist” cartoon that appeared in Dearborn Press and Guide back on June 19th. But when I read the description of the cartoon I seriously questioned whether it was really racist in any way. It seemed to me that the cartoon was merely attempting to illustrate the following caption:
"Services for legal and illegal immigrants cost taxpayers over $68 billion per year."
After reading the article I called Warikoo to for additional information. But because Warikoo never followed through, in supplying me with basic information on this story, I eventually decided to launch my own investigation.
My immediate reaction, to this cartoon controversy, was to question why none of the similar articles, which I would later read about this cartoon, ever bothered to consider the validity of the statistic in the caption. It was almost as if they wanted to change the subject rather than discuss the true costs of legal and illegal immigration. When I was done, exploring the details of this controversial cartoon, I had found that one of the groups, criticizing the cartoon, was “The Council of American Islamic Relations” (CAIR). I was disturbed when my research revealed that members of a
“On April 13, 2005, Ghassan Elashi, founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations - Texas (CAIR - Texas) chapter, long-time associate of CAIR's top leadership, and beneficiary of CAIR fund-raising support, was convicted on Islamic terrorism related charges in Dallas, Texas..."
Source: http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/587
(http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2c2933%2c153402%2c00.html)
(http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/infocom/uselashi121702sind.pdf)
I was even more disturbed to read that spokesperson’s for this organization believed that Islam should eventually dominate the
Introduction:
Cartoon #1: Mexican crossing border
And it all began with a political cartoon.
http://aaeconline.org/cartoon/display.cfm/928
On July 28th, 2005, I had just finished reading the Free Press article, ”Rights groups fight immigrant's image,” and called writer Niraj (pronounced Nir-ej) Warikoo. Warikoo volunteered that he was of Mid-Eastern decent. This is how he described the political cartoon in his article:
(The) cartoon last month (June 19th) showed a sombrero-wearing man after he illegally entered the
"No amigo, I'm not interested in the immigrations office. Just the welfare office!"
The bottom of the cartoon read:
"Services for legal and illegal immigrants cost taxpayers over $68 billion per year."
I told him I didn’t think the cartoon was “racist”, especially given the fact that it was attempting to illustrate the following statistic, which composed the caption for the cartoon:
"Services for legal and illegal immigrants cost taxpayers over $68 billion per year."
But the way he wrote the article, Warikoo, never challenges whether these allegations of “racism” have any merit. This is how his article begins:
“An anti-immigrant cartoon published in a local newspaper has riled civil rights and minority groups, who are expected to meet today in protest.”
[Note: Warikoo’s complete article is among the numerous documents included in the supplemental document.]
He infers that the “racism” allegation is a foregone conclusion, by the way he frames the article at the beginning, and never bothers to explore the possibility that the cartoonist, is merely doing what political cartoonists are paid to do: get us to think critically about political issues. In this case it is the very real issue of legal and illegal immigration.
He said he understood and promised to send me the following information:
* A complete list of the 20 groups that protested the inclusion of this cartoon in the Dearborn Press and Guide.
* Some method of contacting the cartoonist (email, phone number)
* The source of the statistic on how much legal/illegal immigrants are costing US taxpayers each year.
During the following week I learned that this story spawned multiple reports in local newspapers, television news, television websites and radio talk shows. I am intending on supplying my readers with a supplemental document, containing many of the actual reports and additional background information, so that you can see if we reach the same conclusion. I will also try to include a form from which you can send me your feedback. I am really interested to hear what you think about what I am about to tell you.
There were two curious things about all of these reports: (1) The Cartoonist, Bill Mangold, was never consulted for his side of the story: this according to Mangold; (2) All of the television and newspapers uniformly assumed that his cartoon, was in fact racist. Bill mentioned the radio talk shows, however, I didn’t know if he had heard them, or knew what position the radio talk hosts, might have taken on this controversy. Did they label him a “racist” or did they feel he was unfairly fired from the Heritage papers? Did they think he was being unfairly censored for merely exercising his First Amendment right to free and uncensored speech?
Two days later I checked my mail but the information Warikoo had promised had not yet arrived. So I sent him an email, on Sunday, where I reiterated the list of things that I was requesting. I also asked him the following question:
I don't fault you for not researching the validity of the cited statistic. But doesn't it interest you to know whether this statistic (in the cartoon) was valid and whether the source of the statistic was a reputable group or a bunch of nuts? I mean, if it came from the Congressional Budget Office, I think you would agree it was probably accurate.
I apologize if I seemed a bit over the top when we talked the other day. But this really upset me.
Thanks, in advance, for your cooperation
The investigation begins: An interview with political cartoonist Bill Mangold:
By the following Wednesday, 6 days since my original call to Warikoo, I still had not found his letter in my mail box. That morning I also attempted to contact him through email, his work number and his cell phone number. But he never replied. So I began to do some digging on my own. The first thing I wanted to do was talk to author of the controversial cartoon: political cartoonist Bill Mangold.
Through various searches on Google I finally got a phone number where he could be reached. The number turned out to be that of the Saline’s Heritage paper. When I talked to the editor I found out that he was no longer working with the Saline paper. “Had he been fired from all of the Heritage papers?” I wondered. The editor was gracious enough to give me enough information to allow me to call Mangold.
When I first called Bill was not available so I spoke to his wife. She was quite emphatic in stating that, in all the 30 years that he has been drawing cartoons, they have never experienced such a negative reaction from the public. She let me know when I could contact him and later that evening I did.
Before I talk about my conversation with Bill Mangold let me share what I found at a political cartoon association website:
Bill Mangold fell into cartooning in 1977 when the editor of the local weekly paper asked to publish a cartoon he saw that Bill had created for his children. That simple request began a relationship that has lasted almost 30 years and has led to nearly 1,500 cartoons. Bill mostly drew cartoons commenting on local and state issues at first, but by 1995, when 21st Century Press purchased the weekly, Bill began casting his critical eye and sharp wit on more national events. His cartoons can now be found in as many as 21 papers every week and many have been featured in The Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year. He is an active member of the American Association of Editorial Cartoonists. A native of
http://aaeconline.org/cartoonist/profile.cfm
http://aaeconline.org/cartoonist/contactCartoonist.cfm/MangoB
During our conversation, he commented that one of his cartoons appeared as the title page for “Best Editorial Cartoons of the Year” – for the 2003 edition. There is little doubt that this is a respected political cartoonist who has been active at this trade for nearly 30 years.
When I contacted him, that evening, I explained how I got his number and apologized if my call was not welcomed. He was very cordial and said he would be glad to talk about this “cartoon controversy.” Since I was getting a busy signal for over an hour I asked him if he was being inundated with calls from the press in regard to this controversy. I was surprised when he said that no news reporters have tried to contact him. Apparently I was the first. I thought he would have been inundated with reporters, given the numerous articles that appeared.
First off he reiterated what his wife had said earlier: he could not believe that the cartoon caused so much controversy. He said that he had published far more controversial cartoons in the past without any similar fallout. He also said he knew of other political cartoonists that had recently published similar cartoons – again, with no discernable backlash.
As an example he cited another similar cartoon by a fellow political cartoonist, which I later located.
Cartoon #2: The Alamo
http://www.latimes.com/includes/ramirez/ramirez_20050730.gif
The caption reads:
“We’re badly outnumbered. What if we just offer them work visas, driver’s licensees and free healthcare?”
He then expanded by saying it “appeared in the LA Times of California last week (07/30/2005) and was written by a Mexican American, Mike Ramirez. The point is that it came out a week after my cartoon. It was at least as controversial in the way it criticized illegal immigration. Yet Ramirez has not been reprimanded in any way. Why was my cartoon treated so differently in
I told him that I had some theories but wanted to do a little further investigation first. Next I asked him about the source of the statistic cited in the caption of the cartoon. He said he had received the information from a newsletter he had received from the group, Americans for Immigration Control (AIC). I later checked out AIC’s website but was unable to find the specific statistic that cited the specific figure of “68 billion dollars a year.” Instead I found a statistic that said legal and illegal immigration was costing the
I laughed to myself and thought; perhaps we should demand that the cartoon be republished with the larger figure of 86 billion a year. It also occurred to me that he may have juxtaposed the 86 billion as 68 billion, an honest mistake. Here is what appeared on the AIC webpage in addition to the 86 billion annual costs from legal and illegal immigrants in the
* The
* For every 100 illegal aliens who find jobs in the US., 65 American workers are displaced
* Over the last 30 years, Congress has tripled legal immigration levels
* Uncontrolled immigration will drive the
*Between 1997 and 2006, the projected total net cost to taxpayers for immigration will be $865.98 Billion.
http://www.immigrationcontrol.com/immigration_crisis.htm
Because the current census figure was stated at 270 million I figured the data must be fairly old, as the current
The only question that I posed to Warikoo was the identity of the 20-30 groups that protested. Mangold said he had no idea as to the specific groups but did say that both Mid Eastern and Hispanic groups predominated at both meetings, with the Press and Guide, and at the protests.
We continued to talk for about an hour and some of his comments were quite interesting.
One thing that really bothered him about the Warikoo article was the following quotation:
“It was written by Bill Mangold, a Michigander who has drawn cartoons before for Heritage. He could not be reached Wednesday. Both the editor and the publisher of the Press & Guide said Wednesday they couldn't comment.”
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/toons28e_20050728.htm
Bill was emphatic in stating the “no one, including Warikoo, made any attempt to contact me.” I told him that, if this is actually the case, I would be angry as well.
Mangold offered a number of additional points during our phone conversation:
* The cartoon appeared in 5 Heritage newspapers, between 06/16 and 06/19. He was then “fired” from all of the Heritage papers -- not just the Dearborn Press and Guide – just days later, on 06/20.
* Anonymous sources told him that over 30 positive OpEd’s were received by the Press and Guide. There were also a lot of positive “letters to the editor” generated by his cartoon.
* The Heritage Papers was recently bought out by “Journal Register Corporation” (JRC) located in NJ. It is a huge company with over 200 weekly and approx. 20 daily papers, according to Mangold. Another anonymous source reported that at least one of the protesting groups contacted the parent company, JRC, directly. He believes that was because the President of the Heritage papers, initially “walked out” on a meeting with the protesting groups.
* Mangold’s normal procedure for publishing the cartoons was pretty straight forward. He would have each cartoon emailed to each Heritage Newspaper from the Saline
One of the things he really didn’t understand is why the Mid Eastern groups appeared to be leading this protest campaign and initiating the controversy. After all, the carton depicted an illegal Mexican worker – not an Arabic worker – crossing the Mexican border. I replied that it seemed that they really wanted to quell any discussion of the very controversial issue surrounding the costs of immigration to American taxpayers. Accusing him of being a racist seemed like a savvy tactic to ignore the issue, which he had addressed in his cartoon, and change the subject. It seemed to work – almost too well.
Mangold also talked about the Heritage President, Jim Williams. He really believed that, had he not “walked out” on the initial meeting with the 14 protesting group members, that this cartoon controversy would never had escalated to the level that it ultimately did: resulting in Mangold’s ostracism from all Heritage papers.
During the conversation I told him that I had found some extremely disturbing information about one of the Mid Eastern groups, the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR) that was present at one of the protest events according to an article on the website for Channel 4 News: WDIV’s television station. [http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/4781568/detail.html] He was very interested in the article and I agreed to send him a copy. There will be more information on this group later in this article.
The Problem with Legal Immigration:
I often like to say that Lou Dobbs only has it half right because he is only concerned with illegal immigration. Even so, Lou deserves plenty of credit for his vigilance regarding illegal immigration and many other issues. But before I share my investigation of the Heritage newspapers I wanted to offer a sampling of my perspective on legal immigration. I expect to write extensively on the subject of legal immigration in the near future.
One thing we didn’t cover in detail was the issue of legal immigration. This issue hits real close to home. I was fired from a company about 5 years ago where I worked as a Systems Analyst. I had been working in the IT field for nearly 20 years the day that I was fired. I was making good money and loved my job and the people that I worked with. But soon after I started carrying the health insurance – because my wife wanted to work part time – the company built a paper trail and fired me. They created this “paper trail” by “writing me up” for using the words “silly” and “damn” in two of our meetings. That is about all that is normally required, for a company to throw you out of the door since “at will” contracts became dominant in the 1980’s. Under the “At Will” laws, workers have few if any rights and the most flimsy excuse is all an employer needs to terminate.
They maintained that I was fired for cause which was nonsense. But it took me 7 months to reverse their decision. After all my effort, all I got was an unemployment check – amounting to a fraction of my salary – and only for 6 months. Because they replaced a 46-year old who had a family to support, with a foreign H1B worker in his 20’s and single – the company probably saved around $6,000 a year on health insurance alone. This is a good example of how one class of Americans (e.g. managers and rich stockholders) has been selling out non-management employees. I have yet to catch up financially. Currently I am considering outing this company and exposing them as a perfect example of what corporate
In May of 2005 only 72,000 jobs were created throughout the
For a succinct view of what insourcing and outsourcing American jobs has done to the economy I refer you to the following article, recommended to me on August 8th 2005 by John Vinson of “Americans for Immigration Control” (AIC). Isn’t interesting how the national media never breaks the jobs reports down in quite the same way?
Watching the Economy Crumble
By Paul Craig Roberts
http://www.vdare.com/roberts/050808_crumble.htm
The
The media gives a bare bones jobs report that is misleading. The public heard that 207,000 jobs were created in July. If not a reassuring figure, at least it is not a disturbing one. On the surface things look to be pretty much OK. It is when you look into the composition of these jobs that the concern arises.
Of the new jobs, 26,000 (about 13%) are tax-supported government jobs. That leaves 181,000 private sector jobs. Of these private sector jobs, 177,000, or 98%, are in the domestic service sector.
Here is the breakdown of the major categories: 30,000 food servers and bartenders, 28,000 health care and social assistance, 12,000 real estate, 6,000 credit intermediation, 8,000 transit and ground passenger transportation, 50,000 retail trade and 8,000 wholesale trade.
(There were 7,000 construction jobs, most of which were filled by Mexicans.)
Not a single one of these jobs produces a tradable good or service that can be exported or serve as an import substitute to help reduce the massive and growing US trade deficit. The
Where are the jobs for the 65,000 engineers the
In the 21st century job growth in the
Economists assume that every high productivity, high paying job that is shipped out of the country is a net gain for
What is the point of higher education when the job opportunities in the economy do not require it?
These questions are too difficult for economists, politicians, and newscasters. Instead, we hear that "last month the
Television has an inexhaustible supply of optimistic economists. Last weekend CNN had John Rutledge (erroneously billed as the person who drafted President Reagan’s economic program) explaining that the strength of the
What mom and pop businesses? Everything that used to be mom and pop businesses has been replaced with chains and discount retailers. Auto parts stores are chains, pharmacies are chains, restaurants are chains. Wal-Mart, Home Depot, and Lowes, have destroyed hardware stores, clothing stores, appliance stores, building supply stores, gardening shops, whatever—you name it.
Just try starting a small business today. Most gasoline station/convenience stores seem to be the property of immigrant ethnic groups who acquired them with the aid of a taxpayer-financed
Today a mom and pop business is a cleaning service that employs Mexicans, a pool service, a lawn service, or a limo service.
In recent years the
The massive American trade and budget deficits are covered by the willingness of Asian countries, principally
This game will not go on forever. When it stops, what is left to drive the
Dr. Roberts, [email him] a former Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal and a former Contributing Editor of National Review, was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury during the Reagan administration. He is the author of The Supply-Side Revolution and, with Lawrence M. Stratton, of The Tyranny of Good Intentions : How Prosecutors and Bureaucrats Are Trampling the Constitution in the Name of Justice. Click here for Peter Brimelow’s Forbes Magazine interview with Roberts about the recent epidemic of prosecutorial misconduct.
Tracking down the Heritage Newspaper:
Before I searched for cartoonist, Bill Mangold, I decided to contact the two obvious players from the Heritage Newspapers: (1) Denise Sharp (McDonald), the Editor for the Dearborn Press and Guide and her boss (2) Jim Williams, President and Publisher of all the Heritage Newspapers.
I found Sharps phone number at the Heritage website along with the following descriptive information:
Denise Sharp McDonald has been Publisher of the Press & Guide Newspapers since 1998. She began working for Heritage Newspapers in 1985 at the Press & Guide and held several positions in the display advertising department, including assistant manager. She was named assistant manager for The News-Herald Display Advertising Department in 1997. Denise attended Ferris State University and Henry Ford Community College and is active in the Dearborn Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors, Education Committee; Henry Ford Health Systems Western Region Board of Directors, Planning and Marketing Committee; Henry Ford Community College Foundation Board of Directors, Scholarship Committee; American Arab Chamber of Commerce, Liaison between the American Arab Chamber and the Dearborn Chamber; Dearborn Rotary, and Dearborn Area Board of Realtors
http://www.heritagenews.com/aboutus.asp
When I told her I had some questions about the “cartoon controversy” she abruptly said that she could not comment. When I pressed further she said I would have to talk to her boss, Jim Williams.
But the conversation with Williams met with the same response: “No comment.” I asked the 3 questions that I originally posed to Warikoo and all he could repeat was “No comment.” Then I told him how I really felt: that I believed Mangold was being sacrificed because Williams was afraid to stand up to these groups and insist that free speech requires all opinions to be heard. Once again, he just repeated, “No comment.”
Now Jim Williams did tell me he was going to offer an apology in a future edition of the Press and Guide. But Bill Mangold said that Jim Williams actually published this apology a month earlier – on July 3rd, 2005. So I tracked down the article at the library and here is what Williams had to say:
A note from our President
To our Readers:
Historically, the role of newspapers in
In fulfilling that role, we are constantly on guard to prevent the publication of anything we deem inappropriate or that is untrue or misleading or 'otherwise violates our public trust.
With that in mind, a recent incident involving Heritage Newspapers has prompted us to review procedures that are designed to ensure that nothing gets onto our pages unless we intended it to be published.
We are aware that the dissemination of news that is relevant to our readers and their communities can and does have an impact on commerce, education, government and, perhaps most importantly, daily life. Our perceptions of one another, where we purchase homes, where we shop, where we send our children to school all are influenced by what we see and read.
As guardians of the public trust, we would never deliberately hurt anyone, or offend any segment of our Community. As a result, we were dismayed to learn that an editorial cartoon we recently published was offensive in its depiction of an ethnic group and of the issue of immigration in the
The content of our newspapers - both the written word and visual images - has to be of the highest quality, reporting the facts and, sometimes, addressing issues that need to be discussed in order to promote change. Care must always be taken, however, that no one group or person is unfairly presented.
The publications and employees who comprise Heritage Newspapers have always adhered to the highest ethical standards and have been consistently responsive to the communities we serve.
That knowledge makes the recent incident all the more troubling. Our credibility and reputation are paramount, and we cannot function effectively without adhering to core principles of responsible journalism and fair comment.
This dedication to excellence has been a strong focus of our mission during the more than l00 years some of our mastheads have been going to your homes.
Unfortunately, the recent incident that occurred made it past our internal safeguards. Since it appeared, we have apologized in print for the content of the cartoon, and we have met with community leaders who, rightfully, voiced their concerns.
At the same time, we have re-examined, our procedures to ensure that such an occurrence does not happen again, and we have ended our relationship with the cartoon service.
We want you, our readers, to know that we remain on guard in our efforts to be the newspaper you turn to for the most accurate and timely news about your communities. And we want to assure you that our commitment to excellence - which includes all of the content in our publications - will continue to be our central focus.
Should you have any questions about our procedures and our commitment to your community, please contact us.
James K.Williams Jr.
President
Heritage Newspapers
[Source: Transposed from July 3, 2005
Now if he was being honest this is how he would have probably started off his letter:
Historically, the role of newspapers in
But we don’t do that anymore. I mean we could have reported that one of the protesting groups, CAIR, recently had 3 of its
In fact we are thinking of hiring a group of Hispanic and Mid Eastern extremists to filter what gets in the paper each week. It will sure save me the little work that I actually do for the paper. I mean neither Denise or I bothered to even look at the cartoon before it was published.
Then there is the cartoon itself. We could have investigated the cartoonist’s citation about “illegal and legal immigrants costing US taxpayers 68 billion dollars a year. But our corporate owners want to decimate the living standards of Americans in order to further boost the profits of our Multi-National Corporate owners. But you are really to dumb to understand this and I’m certainly not going to own up to it.
We want you, our readers, to know that we remain on guard in our efforts to be the newspaper that consistently turns our back on the most accurate and timely news about your communities. And we want to assure you that our commitment to excellence - which includes all of the content in our publications – is really just a bunch of crap.
Should you have any questions about our procedures and our commitment to your community, don’t bother to contact us. We only care about people that have lots of money. And it looks like you just lost your 20 year career at Ford Motor because they are offshoring your jobs to
So that pretty much ended my conversation with the Heritage contacts. Since I hadn’t heard anything from Warikoo I thought it was time to take a look at some of the protesting groups.
Tracking down the Protesting Groups:
As previously stated Warikoo never sent anything, including the list of the protesting groups. So I had to attempt to gather my list by consolidating information from the various articles. “30 different groups met on the 12th floor of the
Freedom House
Catholic Archdiocese
Arab-American Institute
American Jewish Committee
Mexican town Community Development Corp
American Jewish Committee
Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR)
ACCESS, an Arab community social services organization
Once again, I was amazed that none of these groups wanted to address the issues brought up by the cartoon: the huge financial burden that legal and illegal immigration are placing upon the American taxpayer.
Instead Ismel Ahmed, the director of the Mid Eastern group ACCESS, made the following statement during the meeting:
Ismel Ahmed, the director of ACCESS, an Arab community social services organization, received a disturbing letter in the mail after the cartoon ran in the paper, the station reported. The letter stated:
"It is a shame that the cartoon in the paper singled out Mexican people. It should have singled out your Arab people. What do your people contribute to
Ahmed said his organization believes the letter is an example of the kind of thinking that the cartoon has inspired.
[Source: Newspaper Under Fire For Alleged Racist Cartoon [WDIV]
Community Leaders Ask Advertisers, Subscribers To Pull Support
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/4781568/detail.html]
I found this statement repugnant for a number of reasons. First, he is trying to infer that anyone that liked the cartoon must be an extreme racist. This is a low ad hominem attack – in that it appeals to a person’s feelings or prejudices rather than his intellect – and is completely without merit. For example, I believe that we should restrict both legal and illegal immigration for reasons of (1) environmental sustainability and (2) so that American workers can, once again, enjoy a decent, standard of living. Last year the Sierra Club was embroiled in controversy as nearly half of the members believed that a restriction on further immigration, into the
The following chart should make clear why many members of the Sierra Club, and many other organizations, want to see severe restrictions on all future immigration into the
Chart #1: US Population Growth Since 1970
Can you really imagine what kind of country you kids will inherit, in another 50 years, when our population increases by another 100 million? Keep in mind that
I think the vast majority of Mid Eastern people are hardworking, freedom loving people. But every ethnic group has a few drug dealers, tax evaders and murderers within their group. Every ethnic group has their share of “bad apples.” My experience with the Mid Eastern community has been a positive one, and I am optimistic in believing that that will continue. In fact, it was a Lebanese friend that taught my wife, a gourmet cook, the finer points of Arabic cuisine.
The second reason I found this repugnant was the fact that Ahmed and I have some previous history. As a primary organizer of the 1991 “Freedom Fest,” at
Who gives a CAIR?
Just by coincidence the first group that I investigated was the Council of American Islamic Relations (CAIR). I did not have time to investigate any of the other groups because I spent a significant time investigating CAIR. You will soon understand why.
The first place I checked for information was CAIR’s primary website. Here is the background information provided at their website:
What's CAIR's vision and mission?
CAIR's vision is to be a leading advocate for justice and mutual understanding.
CAIR's mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
CAIR's Core Principles
Click here to read about CAIR's Core Principles
How does CAIR accomplish its mission?
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a nonprofit 501(c)(4), grassroots civil rights and advocacy group. CAIR is
Since its establishment in 1994, CAIR has worked to promote a positive image of Islam and Muslims in
[Source: CAIR's About Page on the internet: http://www.cair-net.org/default.asp?Page=About]
Definitely read this first (above) because it is so distant from what you will read in the following paragraphs, it will astonish you. But before we go there let’s look at another cartoon that received a negative review from CAIR. Here is a page from the CAIR website criticizing a political cartoon that appeared in the
The number of hate crimes against Muslims has risen to disturbing levels. Cartoons such as those by The Republic's Steve Benson on July 28 and Sunday will not help this situation. The cartoons are gross misrepresentations of Muslims and totally disregarded the countless condemnations made by American Muslims every day. We are doing our utmost to speak out against terrorism in all forms. Part of the work that Council on American-Islamic Relations of Arizona (CAIR-AZ) is fostering positive relations between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities. We offer sensitivity training to organizations here in the Valley, including the airport and police departments. We engage in interfaith dialogue and raise awareness about Islam. Islam does not teach hatred. It teaches that there is no justification in killing innocent people. My wife is Christian. Islam allows Muslim men to marry from different faiths (Christian or Jewish). Islam prohibits killing innocent people, regardless of their faith. We have always been contributors to the American society in many fields - education, health, business and others - and consider this country to be our home as well. - Mohamed El-Sharkawy,
[Source: http://www.cair-net.org/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=37363&theType=NB
Of course CAIR did not show the actual cartoon so I had to hunt it down on the internet. And here it is:
Cartoon #3: Terrorist Coming to a Mall by You
[Source: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/opinions/benson/articles/072805benson.html]
The caption reads:
“Coming soon to a theater, shopping mall & train station near you . . . “ and depict a Mid Easter terrorist suicide bomber holding a copy of the Quran.
This cartoon is obviously in reference to a
According to the affidavit, Hamid Hayat told investigators that "he specifically requested to come to the
"Potential targets for attack would include hospitals and large food stores," according to the affidavit, which was signed by Pedro Tenoch Aguilar, an F.B.I. agent.
[Source: California Father and Son Face Charges in Terrorism Case
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/09/national/09terror.html
By DEAN E. MURPHY and DAVID JOHNSTON Published: June 9, 2005]
Doesn’t the cartoon closely depict what was reported in the news story? While the CAIR chairman can say “cartoons are gross misrepresentations of Muslims,” the fact of the matter is we are seeing increasing evidence of Islamic terrorist cells throughout the
In all three political cartoons there appears to be a trend: In each case the immigrant groups cry “racism” as a way to avoid talking about a serious issue the cartoonist attempts to illustrate. The only group that is better at this tactic – changing the subject – is the Bush administration.
The other face of CAIR: Is CAIR a threat to America
As important as what CAIR says, is what CAIR seems unwilling to admit: there have been terrorists working within their organization. In fact the founder of the Texas Chapter of CAIR was just convicted on April 13, 2005. Consider the following article excerpts:
The Council of American Islamic Relations ( a Saudi funded front group for Hamas), continues to live up to the appellation of the Council of Anti American Islamist Radicals. Ghassan Elayashi will join the list of CAIR employees who have been convicted on terrorism charges which includes CAIR communications director Ismail Randall Royer, and Bassam Khafagi . CAIR board member Siraj Wahhaj is an unindicted co conspirator in the 1993 WTC bombings . In 2003 CAIR directors Omar Ahmad and Nihad Awad were subpoenaed to testify in front of a 2003 Senate Commission led by Senator Kyl to testify regarding charges that CAIR has supported Hamas and had a 'soft spot for suicide bombings'.
"...On April 13, 2005, Ghassan Elashi, founder of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations -
associate of CAIR's top leadership, and beneficiary of CAIR fund-raising
support, was convicted on Islamic terrorism related charges in
(http://www.foxnews.com/story/0%2c2933%2c153402%2c00.html)
(http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/infocom/uselashi121702sind.pdf)
Current CAIR leaders also have made statements in support of Hamas and the domination of the
As WorldNetDaily reported, CAIR's chairman of the board, Omar Ahmad, was cited by a
He also was reported to have said Islam is not in
So while the CAIR website talks about “doing our utmost to speak out against terrorism in all forms” they conveniently fail to mention that some of there members have actually been convicted of terrorism. This is an indisputable fact.
Now I can just hear CAIR members saying that this is just a bunch of racist anti-Islamic groups such as Anti-CAIR.