Reformed Hippie

This is probably going to get a pass in the MSM (Main Stream Media… in case you forgot)… but our government is inviting the wolf into the hen house.  The wolf is not breaking in… but is instead being courted by our illustrious Treasury Department.  The one government agency who is at the head of the economic crisis.  Today they planned on giving interested parties in Congress, U.S. bank regulators and other Executive Branch personnel a lesson in Islamic Finance in Washington, D.C.

As in our own lives, when we get in a panic, we tend to make irrational and perhaps dangerous decisions in a rush to fix our problematic lives.  The same goes double with our government.

The Washington Times is reporting that we are on the verge of inviting Islamic states into our very soul just in the name of stopping the financial bleeding.

Deputy Secretary of the Treasury Robert Kimmitt set the stage with his recent visit to Saudi Arabia and other oil-rich Persian Gulf states. His stated purpose was to promote the recycling of petrodollars in the form of foreign investment here.

Evidently, the price demanded by his hosts is that the U.S. government get with the Islamist financial program. While in Riyadh, Mr. Kimmitt announced: “The U.S. government is currently studying the salient features of Islamic banking to ascertain how far it could be useful in fighting the ongoing world economic crisis.”

What this means is if the United States wants investment from places like Saudi Arabia (or so-called friends) to help bail us out of our financial debacle, we will have to subscribe to “the Islamist financial program”. I realize the reasons behind enticing other countries to invest in the United States.  But it is a foolish and suicidal move when we ask Islamists to be our bed fellows.

And there are some that will ask what the big deal is.  Dollars are dollars.  Their money spends just like ours.  The difference is that ours do not have fatal strings attached.

What the Treasury Department is dabbling around with is Shariah-compliant finance.  Here are the main requirements of their financial system:

• Shariah-compliant finance involves investments and other transactions that have been structured to conform with the orthodox teachings of Islamic law.
• They can’t charge or earn interest… this is the backbone of the American credit and investment markets.  Without being able to earn money based upon credit lines or investment you would have neither. So if Islamists cannot charge or earn interest, what’s in it for them???
• All returns from investments (or ‘zakat’… i.e. giving) must be “purified” by transferring at least 3% into Islamic charities.  This purification is nothing more than a glorified money laundering scheme.  Islamists just spin it and call it a contribution.  That is what is in it for them.
• But it gets even worse… a significant portion of the ‘gift’ must go directly to support of jihad.  In other words, our so-called ‘giving’ will then be used to buy munitions and bombs to use against us.  Not a smart idea.

But this is what happens when bureaucrats get involved in a theocratic financial system that they are ignorant of the inner workings.  Another plus for the Islamists is that organizations must hire Muslim scholars to bless the investments.  Talk about the ultimate money-laundering scheme!  I bet Al Capone and the Mafia would have loved to have such a government backed operation.

And of course there would be no accountability or oversight into how these ‘gifts’ are used.  Once given they could be used for anything… legal or illegal.

Folks… our country is sinking fast.  We had better start speaking up and find a way to stop up the plumbing before we have a major leak that threatens our very existance.

Bookmark It

Tags: Islam, SFC, Sharia

Bookmark It

Tags: 9/11, Remembering

Good for Tyson… due to the overwhelming outrage of American citizens, Tyson has decided to reverse itself on giving a paid holiday for Muslims… the press announcement:

Labor Day Reinstated as Paid Holiday at Shelbyville, TN, Plant; Tyson Foods Requested Change from Union

Springdale, Arkansas – August 8, 2008 - Tyson Foods, Inc. announced today it has reached a new agreement with the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), an American union, reinstating Labor Day as one of the designated paid holidays under the contract for covered employees in the Shelbyville, Tennessee, plant.

Tyson made this request on behalf of its Shelbyville plant employees, some of whom had expressed concern about the new contract provisions relative to paid holidays. In an effort to be responsive, Tyson asked the union to reopen the contract to address the holiday issue, and the union agreed to do so. The union membership voted overwhelmingly Thursday to reinstate Labor Day as one of the plant’s paid holidays, while keeping Eid al-Fitr as an additional paid holiday for this year only. This means that in 2008 only, Shelbyville employees will have nine paid holidays.

For the remainder of the five-year contract period, the eight paid holidays will include: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and a Personal Holiday, which could either be the employee’s birthday, Eid al-Fitr or another day requested and approved by their supervisor.

This issue concerns only the plant at Shelbyville, Tennessee. Labor Day has always been celebrated, and continues to be, at the other 118 Tyson plants across the country.

The Shelbyville complex employs approximately 1,200 people. Approximately 1,000 workers are covered by the RWDSU union agreement at that location.

Bookmark It

Tags: Islam, Tyson

The Islamification of America is continuing… from FoxNews this morning:

Workers at the Tyson Foods poultry processing plant in Shelbyville will no longer have a paid day off on Labor Day but will instead be granted the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr.

According to a news release from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a new 5-year contract at the plant included the change to accommodate Muslim workers at the plant.

Tyson’s director of media relations Gary Mickelson said the contract includes eight paid holidays — the same number as the old contract.

Eid al-Fitr — which falls on Oct. 1 this year — marks the end of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month of fasting.
Union leaders say implementing the holiday was important for the nearly 700 Muslims, many of them Somalis, who work at the plant that employs a total of 1,200 people.

Whatever happened to Muslims assimilating themselves into American culture?  Will Saudi Arabia give Americans working in their country Good Friday off?  How about the 4th of July?  How about Tyson giving Christians Good Friday off since that is a religious holiday?  The bottom line is if Muslims want to celebrate Eid al-Fitr then fine, let them do so in the privacy of their own homes and communities.  But do not expect the United States to give them a paid holiday for it!

Labor Day was created by unions as celebration of the great strides that the unions had made.  Since its creation it has become a national holiday.  Now the union wants to abolish that holiday!

As for me and my house, we will no longer purchase any Tyson product.  And I urge all Americans to consider boycotting Tyson as well.

Bookmark It

Tags: Islam, Tyson

Over the last several days the reaction to the film Fitna has been very high-level and without any of the street riots as has previously been the practice. Perhaps Muslims are beginning to get the picture? We shall see. Though one should not be surprised if there is a time delayed violent reaction.

Of course Muslim officials from various Arab nations have been rattling their sabers and calling for the death of the film’s author. However it is very funny how these same Muslim officials never called the violence depicted in the film — violence that the perpetrators justified with reference to the Qur’an — “hateful, blasphemous, and un-Islamic.” Did any of them say that about 9/11? 7/7? The Madrid train bombings? Any act of Islamic terror?

Jihad Watch has an interesting take on that. The site notes that Muslim apologists have offered a list of Muslim scholars who disapprove of the Jihad… but the same people who oppose it are the same people who encourage it.

Sheikh Yusuf al-Qaradawi, who has endorsed suicide attacks against Israeli civilians; Sheikh Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, who has also endorsed such attacks; Mohamed Elmasry, who has limited the legitimacy of such attacks to Israelis over the age of 18; CAIR, which has been named an unindicted co-conspirator in a Hamas terror funding case and has had several of its officials convicted on various terror-related charges; and Siraj Wahhaj, who testified as a character witness for the jihadist Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, mastermind of the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993.

Hypocritical isn’t it?  Ah, what a world we live in.

Bookmark It

Tags: muslims fitna

From the Chicago Sun-Times:

Islam has surpassed Roman Catholicism as the world’s largest religion, the Vatican newspaper said Sunday.

”For the first time in history, we are no longer at the top: Muslims have overtaken us,” Monsignor Vittorio Formenti said in an interview with the Vatican newspaper L’Osservatore Romano. Formenti compiles the Vatican’s yearbook.

He said that Catholics accounted for 17.4 percent of the world population — a stable percentage — while Muslims were at 19.2 percent.

”It is true that while Muslim families, as is well known, continue to make a lot of children, Christian ones on the contrary tend to have fewer and fewer,” the monsignor said.

They’re everywhere, they’re everywhere.

Bookmark It

Tags: catholics islam muslims

UPDATE: 4:37PM

From LiveLeak:

Following threats to our staff of a very serious nature, and some ill informed reports from certain corners of the British media that could directly lead to the harm of some of our staff, Liveleak.com has been left with no other choice but to remove Fitna from our servers.

This is a sad day for freedom of speech on the net but we have to place the safety and well being of our staff above all else. We would like to thank the thousands of people, from all backgrounds and religions, who gave us their support. They realised LiveLeak.com is a vehicle for many opinions and not just for the support of one.
Perhaps there is still hope that this situation may produce a discussion that could benefit and educate all of us as to how we can accept one anothers culture.
We stood for what we believe in, the ability to be heard, but in the end the price was too high.

They bowed to the pressure… but LiveLeak did their job. They kept the video on the net long enough that nobody will be able to put the toothpaste back into the tube.

Get the Flash Player to see this player.

In the heels of a U.N. Resolution passed yesterday (some coincidence huh?), the Wilder’s Fitna film was released on the Internet.

The top U.N. rights body on Thursday passed a resolution proposed by Islamic countries saying it is deeply concerned about the defamation of religions and urging governments to prohibit it.

The European Union said the text was one-sided because it primarily focused on Islam.

The U.N. Human Rights Council, which is dominated by Arab and other Muslim countries, adopted the resolution on a 21-10 vote over the opposition of Europe and Canada.

EU countries, including France, Germany and Britain, voted against. Previously EU diplomats had said they wanted to stop the growing worldwide trend of using religious anti-defamation laws to limit free speech.

The document, which was put forward by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, “expresses deep concern at attempts to identify Islam with terrorism, violence and human rights violations.”

Although the text refers frequently to protecting all religions, the only religion specified as being attacked is Islam, to which eight paragraphs refer.

I personally do not care what the U.N. says… they do not have the chutzpa to stand up to Islam. ‘Fitna’ is an Arabic word translated as ’strife’ or ‘ordeal’ As I stated earlier ("Freedom of speech???"), if the video is released then I will put it on my site. So here it is. Have a look at the Religion of Perpetual Outrage. The video speaks for itself.

Kudos to LiveLeak for posting this… they will probably get bombarded with hate email. But so far they are staying the course, stating in part that some at LiveLeak were offended by portions of the film however “our being offended is no reason to deny Mr. Wilders the right to have his film seen. Pre-emptive censorship or a discriminatory policy towards freedom of speech are both things we oppose here.”

Bookmark It

Tags: fitna islam muslims

Not really surprising…

In its first session since last week’s general elections, the new Iranian parliament is expected to discuss a law that will condemn to death anyone who decides to leave the Muslim faith and convert to other religions.

The parliament, also known as the Majlis, will debate the new law which has been presented by the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Under the proposed law, anyone who is born to Muslim parents and decides to convert to another faith, will face the death penalty.

Currently converts, particularly those who have decided to leave the Muslim faith for Evangelical churches, are arrested and then released after some years of detention.

Bookmark It

Back in 1988, Andres Serrano submerged a crucifix in a vat of his urine, photographed the result and called it “art.”

Naturally, most of the world’s Christians were shocked and angered by this blasphemous display. Even members of Congress called for an investigation into the National Endowment for the Arts which helped fund Serrano. Public outcry against Serrano was vocal and widespread.

As the uproar grew, numerous editorials in defense of the “Piss Christ” were printed in newspapers. Of course the liberal New York Times beat the “freedom of expression” drum for all its worth sympathizing with Serrano and depicting him as courageous. In New York City four hundred artists held a public rally in support Serrano and of his work.. he became a celebrated art world hero.

Though Serrano’s work was beyond the pale, he and his work were not forced underground. His life was not seriously threatened. Christians did not roam the streets of major American and European cities chanting obscenities about Serrano or calling for his head to be lopped off.

Consider the Christian reaction of his blasphemous display against the reaction of Islam regarding the cartoons originally printed by the Dutch newspaper Jyllands-Posten in September 1995. Radical Muslims have since called for the deaths of the cartoonists, the Jyllands-Posten editors and staff, assulting newspaper vendors and other violent acts. The Danish Consulate in Beirut was torched as well as the Danish and Norwegian Embassies in Syria… and many killed in riots in Afghanistan in trumped up outrage over the cartoons. In fact just yesterday Osama bin Laden issued another diatribe condemning the re-publication of those original cartoons and issued threats against the European Union.

Yet anti-Semitic cartoons are often published in Arab and Muslim newspapers. Christians living in predominately Muslim countries are beaten and put to death. Violence and death to Jews and Christians are often encouraged on Arabic television. Yet there is barely a peep out of the Muslim religious community condemning the intolerance. Where is the courage of the Muslim religious leaders. They call for tolerance and respect for their customs and laws. Where is the tolerance for Christian values and beliefs. It is quite the opposite with Muslims however… infidels are to be killed according to the Qu’ran. And so-called moderate Muslims are afraid to speak out too loud for fear of reprisals from the radical branch of the family tree.

So in honor of this momentous day in history I was tempted to redisplay all those cartoons… but what would that accomplish? To show that we stand in solidarity with the Danish? I guess it would. But just as much as I hate blasphemous depictions of Christ, I am invoking the Golden Rule and decided not to show those cartoons again. This weekend also marks the time of year when Christians celebrate the Passion and Resurrection of Christ. So I think it would be more appropriate to show a depiction of the leader that, contrary to the Muslim leader, Christians are not ashamed to display.

But for the naughty click this link…"So you are not a believer in the Golden Rule, huh?"

Bookmark It