Defending ACORN on Capitol Hill these days is a lonely, usually fruitless task, but Sen. Roland Burris (D-Ill.) took on the director of the U.S. Census Bureau on Wednesday over his decision to cut the bureau's ties with the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now (ACORN) without a formal review or inquiry.
Dr. Robert Groves, the Census director, had ended the relationship after ACORN employees were secretly filmed giving advice to undercover filmmakers, disguised as a prostitute and a pimp, about how to fraudulently fill out tax forms.
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) praised Groves at a Senate hearing on the 2010 census, saying, "I think you made a step in the right direction. . . . I can't tell you how many of my constituents contacted me about that issue."
Groves explained that ACORN was one of about 80,000 community groups that the bureau has partnered with to promote participation the 2010 census count. Although the partners are not paid and have no contract with the bureau, Groves said he ended the relationship because the controversy had become a distraction to the rest of his agency's work.
But Burris stepped in to defend the embattled group, asking Groves if he had given ACORN a formal review or hearing. Groves said he did not. "I made that decision because we are in constant contact with our regional offices, and we were learning that the recruitment of other partners was inhibited by our partnership with ACORN," he told the senator.
Burris asked if news reports of "the so-called Fox sting, which ACORN now is suing over," had contributed to Groves' decision to cut ties with the group. Groves said the scandal was part of it, but added the negative feedback from his regional offices was his primary concern. (To clarify-- The news channel did not have anything to do with the sting operation. The undercover video was actually produced and broadcast by BigGovernment.com,)
Burris argued that Groves' move stemmed from "unfair assessments based on agendas that have nothing to do with service to the community." The senator said he knows of ACORN's work in Chicago and said the organization could have been a valuable partner in getting a full census count in African American and poor communities.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2009 00:00 ||
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I forget: Is he a Corrupt Machine Partisan Hack™ or Conscience Of The Senate™ this week?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/10/2009 9:50 Comments ||
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No, He is the replacement for former Senator Barack Hussein Obama, Nobel Prize winner, President of the United States of America,and thus inherits the mantle of power, auratory suaveness and majestic Senatorial authority of "The Great One". O-yea,O-yea, Let all draw near and let it be known, from this day forth the Honorable Senator Ronald Burris, Democrat from the great state of Illinois shall be the Oracle of all things ACORN.
#8
Redneck has a point - If 95% of a particular another race wants to be racist and vote based on skin color I think they'll see a little pushback for a couple of decades. JMHO.
Out of work since he was impeached by Illinois lawmakers, Rod Blagojevich is taking his job search to TV's toughest boss -- Donald Trump.
The ousted Illinois governor will make an appearance on Trump's "The Celebrity Apprentice" reality television show on NBC, said a person close to Blagojevich's team who was briefed on the plan. The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because it hadn't been officially announced, said Blagojevich would be paid for his appearance but the amount was undisclosed.
It was unclear if Blagojevich would compete or just make an appearance on the show.
"NBC doesn't comment on casting until there's an official announcement to be made," NBC spokeswoman Amanda Ruisi said Friday.
Blagojevich spokesman Glenn Selig could not immediately be reached for comment Friday. Messages were left on his answering machine and email.
Blagojevich currently faces federal corruption charges for allegedly scheming to sell or trade President Barack Obama's former U.S. Senate seat for campaign money or a high-paying job for his wife or himself. He has pleaded not guilty and says he has done nothing wrong. His trial is due to get under way in Chicago on June 3.
Earlier this year, Blagojevich's wife, Patti, went into the Costa Rican jungle as a contestant on NBC's "I'm a Celebrity . . . Get Me Out of Here!"
She lost her chance to win the title "queen of the jungle" when she was tossed after 23 days. She later said she lost 12 pounds.
The ninth season of "The Celebrity Apprentice" is scheduled to air in spring 2010. The network has said production was expected to begin in the fall, when 16 celebrities meet and compete in business-oriented challenges. All but one will eventually hear Trump tell them, "You're fired!"
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2009 00:00 ||
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The House panel investigating alleged ethics violations by Rep. Charles B. Rangel, New York Democrat, said Thursday it voted unanimously to expand the probe.
A statement by the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct said its investigative subcommittee already has issued nearly "150 subpoenas, interviewed approximately 34 witnesses resulting in over 2,100 pages of transcripts."
The subcommittee also has analyzed more than 12,000 pages of documents and held more than 30 investigative meetings, according to the statement issued by Rep. Zoe Lofgren, California Democrat, who is the committee chairman, and ranking minority member Rep. Jo Bonner, Alabama Republican.
However, the committee said confidentiality rules restrict members from saying how or why the investigation is expanding.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2009 00:00 ||
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So all this will mean is that the investigation will take longer to complete. Since Pelosi et al. will protect him until the investigation is "complete", Rangel will never be removed from his chairmanship.
Unless, of course, the Republicans take back the house in 2010.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/10/2009 0:08 Comments ||
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1) Rangel will never be removed from his chairmanship.
2) Unless, of course, the Republicans take back the house in 2010.
#4
>Unless, of course, the Republicans take back the house in 2010.<
Yeah, but would the pubbies go full bore after Charlie and the other corruptocrats? There's a definite lack of guts (and willingness to suffer bad mouthing by the media) in the pubbies. Too much of that "my good friend" stuff. I really wish they'd fight back.
#5
Omiting, true that. What I meant was that Charlie will be removed from the chairmanship if the Republicans take back the House in 2010 - but only because then a Republican will become the chairman.
He will never be prosecuted or even censured for his actions - Congress doesn't have the balls.
If an ordinary citizen had done what Charlie did, the IRS, FBI, NY Attorney General, and many other agencies would be all over him.
Posted by: Rambler in Virginia ||
10/10/2009 13:50 Comments ||
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Expanding Probe sounds Stephen King goes to the Doc.
Ministers were accused of presiding over a 'shambles' last night as it emerged they do not know how many criminals are escaping with soft sentences. The Ministry of Justice said inaccuracies were preventing the publication of the two most important sets of punishment statistics kept by the Government.
They will now be delayed until next year -- keeping the public in the dark about the impact of Labour's controversial plea for the courts to send fewer offenders to jail.
The fiasco centres on officials not being sure how convicts are being punished for so-called summary offences, which often carry fines or communities penalties.
Tory justice spokesman Dominic Grieve said: 'This is yet another example of this Government's inability to be open and honest about crime. It is a total shambles that [Jack Straw] cannot even deliver basic figures on the prison population and sentencing. If the Government can't even measure the size of these serious problems competently, what chance does it have of dealing with violent crime and rising reoffending?'
In a statement, the Ministry of Justice said the annual sentencing figures, due for publication next month, would be delayed until 2010. Another document, Criminal Statistics 2008, which contains vast swathes of data on flows through the courts, including the number of cautions given out and details of motoring offences, will also be delayed. Officials said 'data quality issues' were affecting the documents, each of which runs to more than 200 hundred pages.
'Shambles' originally meant the wooden tables where butchers carved meat for sale. It's still used to refer to the areas in old cities like York that once hosted such activities IIRC.
How long before this headline becomes literally true for Brits as the justice system there, having been gutted in the name of multiculti sensitivity, breaks down entirely?
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2009 00:00 ||
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Compare: last year, we were 2 weeks late paying the Local Council Tax, GB£1200 pa, to empty one 80 L bin/week, and give pork to Seniors on the County Council. Despite an offer to pay, albeit late, I was taken to court, which I attended and the matter put in the hands of Bailliffs, who were sizing up vehicle and furnishings shortly afterwards.
It makes sense to compound debt and ignore justice, to some.
People driving into downtown Detroit Wednesday glimpsed the desperation that has gripped much of America's poor and melting middle class, especially in the country's central cities. The nearly 50,000 Detroiters who lined up outside Cobo Center seeking federal housing assistance recalled the images that shook the world in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. This time the culprit was not a natural disaster but a collapsing economy, foreclosure crisis and shredded social safety net that the federal government has only begun to repair.
Detroit has been in recession for a decade. But with an official unemployment rate of 30% and skyrocketing foreclosures that have thrown thousands out of their homes, the recession has become a Great Depression. Nearly 80,000 city homes are vacant, and another 20,000 could empty in the next year. The federal government, which has bailed out Wall Street and assisted auto companies, must do more to keep families in their homes and neighborhoods intact.
So far, the response from Washington has been inadequate. In Detroit, tens of thousands of people sought assistance of up to $3,000, as part of a $15.2-million federal allocation. The Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-housing Program can provide utility payments and rental, moving and legal assistance for low-income people who are homeless or at risk of losing housing. It's a good program, targeted at those who can maintain housing after getting assistance, but it will help only a fraction of those who need it. In Detroit, more than 60,000 people have secured applications, but only 3,400 will get help. "We saw a microcosm of the challenges that people are facing around the country," mayoral spokesperson Karen Dumas observed.
Detroit officials started distributing applications on Sept. 25 at Neighborhood City Halls and other locations. To be sure, the city could have done a better job of organizing the application process and distributing the forms at Cobo on Wednesday. Given the relatively small amount of aid that is available, city officials are working on better ways to handle applications for assistance, including working more closely with social service agencies to screen applicants for eligibility and validate completed forms.
Detroit faces an economic tsunami. Its leaders must work closely with community social service agencies to ensure that people know where they can get help. But information alone won't be enough.
President Barack Obama has stressed the importance of cities to the national economy. The battle for America's future, he said earlier this year, "will be fought and won in places like Elkhart and Detroit, Goshen and Pittsburgh, South Bend [and] Youngstown."
It's a battle the country could lose if it doesn't respond to the unnatural disaster Detroit and other cities face.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2009 00:00 ||
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I'm from that area and I have very little sympathy...yrs and yrs of electing corrupt politicians, govt malfeasance & absolutely no accountability on the part of most of the citizens has brought de-toilet to where it's at now. Youtube detroit city council and you'll LYAO at the sheer stupidity of the decision makers.
#4
thank you Monica Conyers, John Conyers, et al. Racist thieving aholes
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/10/2009 9:43 Comments ||
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This time the culprit was not a natural disaster but a collapsing economy, foreclosure crisis and shredded social safety net that the federal government has only begun to repair.
seriously just how many those pictured have not been on welfare the majority of thier lives? foreclosure crisis my arse!
Posted by: Dan ||
10/10/2009 13:47 Comments ||
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"Obama gonna Pay mah rent! He gonna put gas in mah car!"
remember?
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/10/2009 14:12 Comments ||
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I have NO sympathy for Detroit.
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
10/10/2009 15:07 Comments ||
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The federal government ... must do more to keep families in their homes and neighborhoods intact.
No, it does NOT. That's been the problem - instead of allowing things to work themselves out, the "Government" has stepped in and warped reality for these folks for a generation or more. Now the "government" has run out of other people's money, and everything is collapsing at once. The person that wrote this should be sent to some place like Virginia Dale, Colorado, to live the rest of their lives on what they can eke out of that part of Colorado's desert plains. Maybe that would give them an insight into what "progressivism" means.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
10/10/2009 16:02 Comments ||
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I saw the pictures and none of those people looked like they were starving. In fact, they all looked a little (or a lot in some cases) overweight. Maybe they need to get up off their butts a little more often.
Posted by: Abu Uluque ||
10/10/2009 17:46 Comments ||
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About 3,200 Medicare patients will have to pay at least $1,500 in out-of-pocket expenses annually if they want to continue to receive physician services at Mayo Clinic Family Medicine in Glendale beginning on Jan 1.
The Mayo Clinic Family Medicine - Arrowhhead sent out a letter this week to patients announcing the change, stating it will no longer be a Medicare provider for physician services beginning the first of next year. "The challenge we have had for some time with Medicare reimbursements is not unique to Mayo," said Michael Yardley, chairman of public affairs of Mayo Clinic in Arizona.
"The challenge we have had for some time with Medicare reimbursements is not unique to Mayo. It has been difficult for us to be able to sustain our own medical practice in a way to provide the best care to patients and for us."
"It has been difficult for us to be able to sustain our own medical practice in a way to provide the best care to patients and for us."
Current Medicare patients of the clinic may still continue to see their physician at Mayo Clinic Family Medicine - Arrowhead after Jan. 1 if they agree to pay a $250 annual administrative fee, office visit fees -- which the letter states can range from $175 to $400 per visit -- and agree to make an appropriate number of visits each year for their condition, including physicals. The total annual costs for the fee, physical and three office visits is expected to be about $1,500 annually, according to the letter.
Yardley acknowledges that the out-of-pocket costs will exclude a large portion of patients from continuing to receive care at the clinic. "For some it will (be cost-prohibitive), and that's why it's so painful," Yardley said. "We have a list of physicians for them that are accepting new Medicare patients. We have done homework in that area, and we have customer service representatives for folks who we are encouraging them to talk to about it."
The letter also states those Medicare patients affected will not be able to transfer their primary care to another Mayo facility.
Though the physician services won't be covered by Medicare at Arrowhead, the letter states other services, including laboratory, x-rays, anticoagulation clinic and specialty care such as cardiology and neurology will still be covered by Medicare at that and other Mayo locations.
The Arrowhead location is the only one discontinuing the Medicare coverage for physician services, Yardley said. "There is a high percentage of Medicare patients at that facility, which makes it more challenging," Yardley said. "And we have more prospective patients who have access to the Mayo Clinic now through health plans and insurance companies. So in working with those insurers and payers, and employees and their associates, (we wanted to assure) their members have access to Mayo Clinic."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2009 00:00 ||
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They can't get Indian Health Services right, they can't get the VA right, they can't get military medical care right [remember Walter Reed], and they now want to run everything else. You know if they had provided effective and efficient services there and in Medicare, would anyone really be objecting to Obamacare now? "Do... or do not. There is no try"
Then, last month, a former Soviet K.G.B. agent said in a book that Mr. Jagland, as a budding politician in the 1970's and 1980's, had been classified by the K.G.B. as a "confidential contact" because of his willingness to discuss political affairs with Soviet agents posing as diplomats. Mr. Jagland insisted that the conversations were innocent exchanges. As for the picture (which I suggest be included in the Rantburg Library): The gentleman with his hands on the lady's breats is Mr. Jagland. The lady is Synnøve Svabø a talk show host. The gentleman with the dark glasses is probably not a KGB officer, but who knows.
The incident according to Wikipedia:
In 1998, Jagland was confronted with another incident, after placing his hands on Synnøve Svabø's breasts on national television. Svabø was at that time talk show host for Weekend Globoid. Two years later, she was prosecuted for adultery against Jagland by the Labour-politician Gaute Hareide from Ulsteinvik. Svabø replied to here prosecution "Am I accused for the Jagland-grip? I had considered an accusation, but not three years afterwards. And not against me ... I was innocent". The police dropped the case shortly afterwards. It was seen by many at that time that Svabø "lured" Jagland.
Despite the best efforts of the WaPo on Deeds' behalf
Republican Robert F. McDonnell has taken a commanding lead over R. Creigh Deeds in the race for governor of Virginia as momentum the Democrat had built with an attack on his opponent's conservative social views has dissipated, according to a new Washington Post poll.
McDonnell leads 53 to 44 percent among likely voters, expanding on the four-point lead he held in mid-September. Deeds's advantage with female voters has all but disappeared, and McDonnell has grown his already wide margin among independents. Deeds, a state senator from western Virginia, is widely seen by voters as running a negative campaign, a finding that might indicate that his aggressive efforts to exploit McDonnell's 20-year-old graduate thesis are turning voters away.
Much of the movement since last month has come in Northern Virginia, where Deeds's 17-point lead has been whittled significantly, even in the area's left-leaning inner suburbs.
The poll indicates that the GOP is well-positioned to emphatically end a recent Democratic winning streak, with Republicans Bill Bolling and Ken Cuccinelli each holding identical 49 to 40 percent leads over Democrats Jody Wagner and Steve Shannon for lieutenant governor and attorney general.
The survey reflects the trend of the campaign over recent weeks. After being on the defensive since his thesis was published in late August, McDonnell has been able to retake momentum by focusing on issues, such as the economy and transportation, and articulating his vision to voters. McDonnell has been aided by airing twice as many campaign ads in Northern Virginia.
By double-digit margins, voters say that he would better handle virtually every major issue facing Virginians, including transportation, taxes, education, the state budget and the economy. Only on issues of special concern to women does Deeds hold a tepid 47 to 41 point advantage.
Also in recent weeks, Deeds has struggled in several appearances in Northern Virginia, including a debate last month in Fairfax County that he followed by bungling questions from reporters about whether he supports a tax increase. That lengthy scene has been turned into a campaign commercial by Republicans and is airing across the state.
To clarify, he penned an opinion piece for The Washington Post, in which he said he was willing to raise taxes to pay for transportation improvements. It was a rare and suicidal risky position for a Virginia candidate, and one that puts him out of step with voters, a majority of whom said they oppose paying more in taxes for roads and transit.
Deeds has also failed to consolidate support from fellow Democrats: He did not win the endorsement of former governor L. Douglas Wilder, President Obama has not committed to campaigning for him in the final weeks of the race and prominent party members have been openly criticizing the focus and tone of his campaign.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2009 00:00 ||
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"Macaca!"!!!111!!eleventy!
Posted by: Frank G ||
10/10/2009 9:46 Comments ||
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Frank - you have had too much coffee today, put down the mug and go to your room.
#3
That reminds me - I need to send McDonnell some money.
The best Deeds can do is attack a 20-year-old thesis paper McDonnell wrote. The best McDonnell can do is attack Deeds' extensive (and recent) history of never-met-a-tax-he-didn't-like, including his caught-on-tape humina-humina-humina about whether he would try to raise taxes. (Anyone who's got 2 working brain cells knows he will.)
The latest lame Deeds radio ad is 2 women talking about the job one just landed that of course has mammogram coverage as part of their health insurance & one says that there's no way she'd take any job that didn't have that. In today's employment climate. (Her point being that if McDonnell is elected, all that goes away. Last I checked, the governor doesn't have that authority or power. Undoubtedly the Democrats would like it, though - but only if a Dem is in power.)
I don't think such stupidity is helping Deeds any. I hope he keeps it up.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
10/10/2009 18:51 Comments ||
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"..area's left-leaning inner suburbs."
is this PC-speak for 'ghetto?'
Stubborn things, facts. Which is why the left works so very hard to replace them with feelings.
Conservative critics have a long list of objections to gay activist Kevin Jennings, the controversial head of the Education Department's Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. But the most contentious, and emotional, issue in the Jennings affair concerns a 1988 incident in which Jennings, then a high-school history teacher at Concord Academy in Massachusetts, was approached by one of his students, a sophomore boy, who said he had become involved with an older man he met in the men's room of a Boston bus station. Instead of referring the situation to school authorities, Jennings gave the boy advice on condom use.
Critics, like the Family Research Council, have hit Jennings hard over the incident, with some accusing him of condoning child abuse. Jennings' defenders, like the liberal media watchdog group Media Matters, hit back just as hard, accusing the critics of smears and gay-baiting.
What settles the matter, Jennings' supporters argue, is the boy's age. In a speech in 2000, Jennings said the boy was 15 years old, but we now know that he was 16. The boy "was of the legal age of consent at the time of his conversation with Jennings," writes Media Matters. Case closed, as far as Jennings' backers are concerned.
But is it? A check with education authorities in Massachusetts -- including the school where Jennings taught -- shows that his actions would not be acceptable today and could even warrant discipline from school officials and possible legal penalties.
"Today, teachers and staff know that if they were to learn of an encounter of the sort to which you refer, they would be required to report it to the Dean of Students and Community Life and/or the Head of School," writes Pamela Safford, associate head for communications at Concord Academy, in an e-mail response to my questions. Those school officials, Safford says, would be required to file a report with the Massachusetts Department of Children and Families on "any situation involving the safety and well-being of a student."
Safford has no comment on events in 1988, but says that today, "Our practice is to report any circumstance we think may be inappropriate, regardless of the student's age, and let the Department of Children and Families advise on how to proceed."
Concord Academy is a private school; it can make its own policies, within the law. As far as public schools in Massachusetts are concerned, state law requires so-called "mandated reporters" -- that is, teachers and administrators who are legally bound to report any knowledge of abuse -- to notify authorities if they have "reasonable cause to believe that a child under the age of 18 years is suffering physical or emotional injury resulting from abuse, including sexual abuse. ..."
There are consequences for not doing so. "If a mandated reporter fails to report abuse and/or neglect of a child under the age of 18 years old, that individual would be subject to a fine of $1,000," says Alison Goodwin, spokeswoman for the Department of Children and Families.
So much for the it's-OK-because-he-was-16 argument.
Jennings himself says he now "can see how I should have handled this situation differently." But there are other objections to his role as head of the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools. There is his authorship of the foreword to the 1999 book Queering Elementary Education. There is a life's work singularly focused on bringing the topic of homosexuality into the nation's classrooms, including elementary schools. (In his 2002 book, Always My Child, Jennings advocated schools adopting a "diversity policy that mandates including LGBT [lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered] themes into the curriculum.") And then, given the title of the office he heads, there is the fact that he has no experience in school safety or drug prevention.
Still, the Obama administration is squarely behind Jennings. "Kevin Jennings has dedicated his professional career to promoting school safety," Education Secretary Arne Duncan said recently. "He is uniquely qualified for his job and I'm honored to have him on our team." When White House spokesman Robert Gibbs was asked about Jennings, he referred reporters to Duncan's statement. Meanwhile, outside the administration, Jennings' defenders are busy denouncing the "conservative smear machine" in articles like Media Matters' "Right Wing Media Lynch Mob Gay-Baits White House, Facts Be Damned."
Will Jennings survive? The administration seems determined to keep him. But the case against him is becoming more and more serious.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2009 00:00 ||
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At the very least, his actions reflect an attitude of acceptance of man-boy sexual relations. He has never backed down from this acceptence. My question to him is whether he has ever had sexual relations with a person under the age of 18. If he has, how old was he and when did he last do it. Id he, himself, a pediphile?
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
10/10/2009 10:32 Comments ||
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Folks, did you not understand the election of 2008?
This is all part of "Change" the President of the United States of America, Nobel Prize winner, Barack Hussein Obama promised you during the election of 2008.
Again, the White House is reminding you that Kenneth Jennings is the embodiment of the elements of "change", bywhich the President holds in the appointment of this man.
#3
This is exactly the kind of change we did expect when it was reported that a simple majority of votes were marked for Senator Barack Hussein Obama, Jr, dear Lionel Graviger9655. Did you?
It looks like former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson isn't the only one who has Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein on speed dial.
Records show his successor, Tim Geithner, over a seven-month period, kept in constant contact with Blankfein as well as Citigroup bosses Dick Parsons and Vikram Pandit and JPMorgan Chase's Jamie Dimon.
Geithner's appointment book -- obtained by the Associated Press in a formal Freedom of Information Act filing -- showed that during his first seven months as Treasury secretary, he communicated more than 80 times with the small circle of Wall Street power players. Geithner contacted Blankfein most frequently, at least 15 times -- either in person or in Geithner's office or over the phone -- between January and July.
However, no single company got more calls from the Treasury secretary than Citi, of which Uncle Sam now holds a 34 percent stake and into which the feds have sunk $45 billion in bailout cash. The records show Geithner spoke regularly to both Parsons, the chairman, and Pandit, the CEO.
The Treasury didn't provide details of what transpired during any of these conversations.
Geithner's frequent conversations with the bank bosses raised alarms among some observers who think their sit-downs bred a cozy relationship that gave Wall Street's elite, particularly Goldman, unfair advantage over the Street's smaller fry.
Geithner's spokesman, Andrew Williams, said: "It's appropriate for Treasury officials to keep in touch with those who work in the markets every day, particularly when the economy and the markets are so fragile."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2009 00:00 ||
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President Barack Obama's adviser on Muslim affairs, Dalia Mogahed, has provoked controversy by appearing on a British television show hosted by a member of an extremist group to talk about Sharia Law. Miss Mogahed, appointed to the President's Council on Faith-Based and Neighbourhood Partnerships, said the Western view of Sharia was "oversimplified" and the majority of women around the world associate it with "gender justice".
The White House adviser made the remarks on a London-based TV discussion programme hosted by Ibtihal Bsis, a member of the extremist Hizb ut Tahrir party.
The group believes in the non-violent destruction of Western democracy and the creation of an Islamic state under Sharia Law across the world.
Miss Mogahed appeared alongside Hizb ut Tahrir's national women's officer, Nazreen Nawaz. During the 45-minute discussion, on the Islam Channel programme Muslimah Dilemma earlier this week, the two members of the group made repeated attacks on secular "man-made law" and the West's "lethal cocktail of liberty and capitalism". They called for Sharia Law to be "the source of legislation" and said that women should not be "permitted to hold a position of leadership in government".
Miss Mogahed made no challenge to these demands and said that "promiscuity" and the "breakdown of traditional values" were what Muslims admired least about the West. She said: "I think the reason so many women support Sharia is because they have a very different understanding of sharia than the common perception in Western media.
"The majority of women around the world associate gender justice, or justice for women, with sharia compliance. The portrayal of Sharia has been oversimplified in many cases."
Sharia in its broadest sense is a religious code for living, which decrees such matters as fasting and dressing modestly. However, it has also been interpreted as requiring the separation of men and women.
It also includes the controversial "Hadd offences", crimes with specific penalties set by the Koran and the sayings of the prophet Mohammed. These include death by stoning for adultery and homosexuality and the removal of a hand for theft.
Miss Mogahed admitted that even many Muslims associated Sharia with "maximum criminal punishments" and "laws that... to many people seem unequal to women," but added: "Part of the reason that there is this perception of Sharia is because Sharia is not well understood and Islam as a faith is not well understood."
The video of the broadcast has now been prominently posted on the front page of Hizb ut Tahrir's website.
Miss Mogahed, who was born in Egypt and moved to America at the age of five, is the first veiled Muslim woman to serve in the White House. Her appointment was seen as a sign of the Obama administration's determination to reach out to the Muslim world.
She is also the executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies, a project which aims to scientifically sample public opinion in the Muslim world.
During this week's broadcast, she described her White House role as "to convey... to the President and other public officials what it is Muslims want."
What do we want?
Sharia and the caliphate!!
When do we want it?
Now!!!
Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, said Miss Mogahed was "downplaying" Sharia Law. "There is a reason sharia has got a bad name and it is how it has been exercised. Regrettably in the US there have been acts of injustice perpetrated against women that are driven by the Sharia-type mindset that women are objects not human beings," she said.
She cited the example of Muzzammil Hassan, a Buffalo man who ran a cable channel aimed at countering Muslim stereotypes and was charged earlier this year with beheading his wife after she filed for divorce. "Americans understand by example, it's not as if we are an ignorant mass of people. Just as we don't broad brush all Muslims, so should Dalia not downplay the serious nature of sharia law."
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2009 00:00 ||
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Sorry Dalia. Sharia rhymes with diarrhea...and that's what you have between your ears.
#6
Folks, did you not understand the election of 2008?
This is all part of "Change" the President of the United States of America, Nobel Prize winner, Barack Hussein Obama promised you during the election of 2008.
BOBTOWN (KDKA) A small community in Greene County is embroiled in controversy after local officials decided to ban trick-or-treating this year. "Nope. Nope. Can't do it. Too dangerous."
Instead, Bobtown will hold a four-hour Halloween party. "And we're gonna have iced tea. In recyclable paper cups."
Supervisors in Dunkard Township say they are taking the steps for safety reasons. "We haven't lost any children to trick or treating yet, but y'never know. Better safe than sorry."
The party will be held at the Bobtown-Dunkard Volunteer Fire Station, but not everyone is pleased with the idea. "When they try to take away trick-or-treating for our children, we have to step up and fight back," Parent Michael Skumlien told KDKA-TV. Maybe you should suggest the supervisors try bobbing for French fries?
"I think they're taking all the fun from our kids. This is a small town and our children need something," Freda Menear, a Bobtown grandparent, said. Oh, yasss. Small towns are the worst!
Hannah, a student at Bobtown Elementary School, said all the kids she knew have been talking about it and are disappointed by the supervisors' decision. "Wotta bunch of maroons!" the 9-year-old said...
Bob Huggins, a Dunkard Township supervisor, said many local residents agree with town officials that it would be better for local youngsters not to be going door-to-door. "Precisely how many of them?"
"Oh, ever so many!"
With a party at the fire hall, he says both the kids and the candy they receive would be safe. Bored, but safe.
Assistant Dunkard Fire Chief David Pritchard, running unopposed for supervisor in the election, said he was surprised by all the negative reaction to the decision to ban trick-or-treating. Maybe it's a good thing. Nobody stopped Assistant Fire Chief Pritchard from trick or treating when he was a child and look at what an anus he grew up to be.
He says there's been a lot of break-ins lately and that older people in Bobtown were scared. "Aye, that's right, sonny! Us old farts are skeert some 4-year-old in a princess costume's gonna break into the house and steal all our drugs!"
According to Pritchard, the township was trying to keep everyone safe. Bored to death, but safe.
Posted by: Fred ||
10/10/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
According to Pritchard, the township was trying to keep everyone safe.
The bureaucratic logical conclusion then should be to lock everyone up in protective custody.
#4
parents should say screm em and let their kid's enjoy....i would ignore this nanny state dictate
what are they going to do...round up the kids? Then when all the parents recieve thier court notices get one big lawsuit going and take it all the way...we americans need to begin rising up and defeating the leftist encrochment on our rights..
in one loud voice SCREW 'EM
Posted by: Dan ||
10/10/2009 13:44 Comments ||
Top||
#5
Oh, yes, Harare, Bobs-ville, non-stop tricks, and no p*55in' Guy Fawkes for you either.
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BOBTOWN (KDKA) A small community in Greene County is embroiled in controversy after local officials decided to ban trick-or-treating this year. 
