Louisiana: Oil Rig Explosion Cheered On by Westboro Baptist Church Hate Group (Photo: U.S. Coast Guard)
After the tragic accident, the Westboro Baptist Church hate group, however, cheered the accident, stating on their blog that:
— “THANK GOD OIL RIG EXPLODED IN GULF OF MEXICO – 12 MISSING; 15 INJURED!”
— “The oil rigs of Louisiana are filthy, especially the conduct of the brutes on board. At their hand the SCOTUS had to address same-sex sexual harassment. Voodoo+doomed-america’s-‘Christianity’=wallowing overpaid thugs drilling oil for your slovenly lifestyle.”
— “Tuesday (4/20) an oil rig explosion left 12 missing and 15 seriously injured. The US Coast Guard is on the scene with cutters and rescue planes. Your Coast Guard efforts are in vain! GodSmack!”
Saudi cleric fired for advocating mixing of sexes
— AP: “The head of Saudi Arabia’s powerful religious police has fired the chief of the Mecca branch for advocating the mixing of the sexes, an official from the force said Tuesday.”
— “Ahmed bin Qassim al-Ghamidi’s suggestion in a newspaper interview this week that men and women should be left to mingle freely directly clashed with a central preoccupation of the force.”
Saudi Gazette – April 6, 2010: “Segregation of sexes: Hai’a chief stands by his comment”
— “Ahmed Qassim Al-Ghamdi, the head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice (the Hai’a) in Makkah, has said he will not go back on his previous comments on the segregation of the sexes, and described opposition to his views from within his own organization as disgruntled individuals trying to ‘get their own back’.”
— “With a notable security presence and an audience of both sexes, Al-Ghamdi addressed the Taif Literary Club Sunday on a series of sensitive topics, although questions put to him concerning his views on segregation were blocked by the chairman and any attempt to broach the subject from other angles was quickly put paid to.”
— “Al-Ghamdi said, however, that the policy was not of his making.”
— “‘I didn’t ask the club to bar the subject or any questions on it from discussion,” Al-Ghamdi told Okaz. ‘You can write in the newspaper from my own mouth that I still hold to the view I expressed on ikhtilat, and I won’t go back on it, and I’ll continue to repeat what I wrote.'”
— “In an interview reported by Saudi Gazette last December Al-Ghamdi spoke at length on the subject of the mixing of sexes – “ikhtilat” – in which he described it in the current usage as ‘a recent adoption unknown to the early people of knowledge’.”
— “‘Mixing used to be part of normal life for the Ummah and its societies,’ he said, adding that the word ‘in its contemporary meaning has entered customary jurisprudential terminology from outside’.”
— “‘Those who prohibit ikhtilat cling to weak ahadith, while the correct ahadith prove that mixing is permissible, contrary to what they claim,’ Al-Ghamdi said.”
— “The Sheikh revealed, however, that among those who opposed his views were some Hai’a officials who he had previously ‘punished for administrative irregularities’.”
— “‘Their response was a form of vengeance. They were trying to stir trouble and get their own back,’ he said, believing them to have seen the interview as a ‘provocation’ and a chance to take revenge for being punished. “Some of them were extremists in thought, something which we won’t accept in the Hai’a,” he said.” December 11, 2009 – Saudi Gazette: Hai’a chief: Kaust an ‘extraordinary move and huge accomplishment’ — “The head of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice in Makkah has added his voice of support to the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Kaust) and addressed the issue of “ikhtilat” – the mixing of the sexes – that has prompted numerous scholars and commentators to speak out in recent months.”
— “‘The term ‘ikhtilat’ in this usage is a recent adoption that was unknown to the early people of knowledge,’ Sheikh Ahmed Al-Ghamdi said in a lengthy interview with Okaz.”
— “‘Mixing was part of normal life for the Ummah and its societies.'”
— “‘The word in its contemporary meaning has entered customary jurisprudential terminology from outside,’ Al-Ghamdi said.”
— “‘Those who prohibit the mixing of the genders actually live it in their real lives, which is an objectionable contradiction, as every fair-minded Muslim should follow Shariah judgments without excess or negligence,’ Al-Ghamdi said.”
— “‘In many Muslim houses – even those of Muslims who say mixing is haram – you can find female servants working around unrelated males,’ he said.”
In Dove World Outreach’s April 21 article, they defended the Westboro Baptist Church hate group’s practice of protesting at American soldiers funerals. In addition, the Dove World Outreach article states that “We have also learned that when you speak out about what God hates, you will be hated. We do not agree with all of Westboro’s methods, but we admire their determination to find radical ways to preach the truth of the Bible, as we do.”
Multiple reports from the media and NGOs are being released this week on multiple efforts to attack Nigeria Christians and farmers, some of which have been prevented by the military and some which have resulted in deaths. On April 21, 2010, THISDAY reported the exhumation of seven new bodies of people murdered by Fulani herdsmen in Riyom, where two Christian farmers were murdered on April 19, 2010.
Nigeria – This Day: Jos Killing: Seven Bodies Exhumed in Riyom
— “Seven fresh dead bodies believed to be those of travelers were yesterday evening exhumed from three shallow graves by Military Special Task Force (STF) in Rahoss in Riyom local government area of Plateau State.”
— “They were believed to have been killed secretly in the early hours of yesterday by hoodlums.
— “This followed a renewed attack in the area on Monday evening in which suspected Fulani herdsmen allegedly killed five in the area.
— “The youth in the area were said to have gone wild after the attack, a development that allegedly led to the attack of the travelers.
— “THISDAY gathered that the Fulani made an unexpected attack on Rim village on Monday evening and raided some farmers who were returning from their farms, killing five and injuring many others, before the men of the Military STF got to the scene.
Compass Direct News: “Nigeria: Pastor, Wife Killed in Northern Nigeria ” — “Suspected extremists last week abducted and killed a Church of Christ in Nigeria pastor and his wife in Boto village, Bauchi state in northern Nigeria. The Rev. Ishaku Kadah, 48, and his 45-year-old wife Selina were buried on Saturday (April 17) after unidentified assailants reportedly whisked them from their church headquarters home on Tuesday (April 13) and killed them. Their burnt bodies were found hours later.”
Nigerian troops foil sectarian attack
— AFP: “The Nigerian army said Monday it had averted an attack by suspected Muslim extremists on a mainly Christian village in the flashpoint central Plateau State, killing two gunmen.”
Nigeria: Two Christian farmers killed in Nigeria
— AFP: “Kano – Two Christian farmers were killed on Monday and two others went missing in fresh attacks by suspected Muslim-Fulani nomads in Nigeria’s central Plateau State, police and residents said.”
— “The Fulani nomads allegedly attacked the farmers who were working on their farms ahead of the rainy season in Christian-dominated Riyom village, 30km south of Jos, capital of the volatile state.”
— “‘We received reports that four people were declared missing in Riyom after they went to the farm in the early morning but never returned,” Plateau State police spokesperson Mohammed Lerama told reporters on the phone from Jos.”
— “‘A search team discovered two bodies out of the four missing farmers. The two others are still unaccounted for,’ Lerama said.”
— “Riyom resident, Daniel Pam, blamed Fulani nomads for the attack.”
— “‘It is obvious the killings were carried out by the Fulani nomads who have been on the prowl in the last two months,” Pam also said on phone from Riyom village.” April 19, 2010 – NEXT: Two killed in another attack in Jos — “At least two persons were killed in the early hours of Sunday morning in an attack on Bisichi Community, in Jos South Local Government Area of Plateau State.”
— “The Chairman of Jos South Local Government Council, Moses Dalyop, confirmed the attack to the News Agency of Nigeria, saying that the attackers invaded the village at about 3 a.m.”
— “Mr. Dalyop said, ‘I am a very sad person today following an attack on Bisichi again in the early hours of today. I am surprised that innocent people have continued to be killed in their sleep, despite the curfew.'”
Burials of victims at the Dogo Nahawa village, in Jos recently. Photo: NEXT
CNN reports: — “The student body president of California State University, Chico, was recovering Monday from stab wounds suffered in what police believe was a hate crime, officials said.”
— “Joseph Igbineweka, who was born in Nigeria, was stabbed early Sunday while walking in a Chico neighborhood near the college where mostly students reside, Chico police Sgt. Rob Merrifield said.”
— “Igbineweka passed two men who began to make racial slurs, Merrifield said. He ignored them and continued to walk, but they followed him and continued to yell at him.”
— “Igbineweka eventually turned around, and one of the men struck him, Merrifield said. He fought back, but the man pulled a pocket knife and stabbed him at least four times, in the neck, chest, stomach and arm, according to Merrifield. The attacker fled on foot.”
April 19, 1995: The north wall of the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was blown off by explosives packed into a rented truck. (AP photo)Flowers left at the Oklahoma City National Memorial Monday morning (Photo by John Clanton)
On April 19, 2010, the Los Angeles Times reported a story on American politics that “Few trust the government, poll finds,” stating that only 22 percent of Americans “trust” the federal government, based on a telephone poll by Pew Research Center. The LA Times states that such lack of “trust” has only been matched in the 1992 to 1995 period (17 percent in summer of 1994), and in 1980 (25 percent).
But what the report on the Pew Research Center poll fails to communicate is that “trust” and “agreement” are not the same thing, nor should they be the same thing for those who believe in representative democratic government. Moreover, it fails to mention that some of governments that were not well “trusted” while in power and actively involved in decision making, saw their “approval ratings” go up dramatically by nostalgic Americans once such former government leaders were no longer making decisions and leading government. Jimmy Carter’s approval rating went from 34 percent in 1980 to 66 percent in 1999. Nor is that phenomenon unique to him alone.
Americans elect leaders to “do something” in Washington DC. But if the decisions made in an ever changing, dynamic world are not the ones we agree with, then should we no longer “trust” such leaders? Or is it really that we “disagree” with their decisions?
Agreement or disagreement is a choice that we can and must make as active participants in representative democracy.
But choosing to no longer “trust” is only a choice if we want to essentially reject representative democracy.
In over 30 years living in the Washington DC area, I can categorically state that I have not unilaterally agreed with any of the administrations that have been running the United States executive federal government: Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama. Nor did I unilaterally agree with the Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford administrations before I lived in the Washington DC area. So essentially for all of my adult life, I have not agreed on major issues with the U.S. executive federal government.
There have always been things that I have sought and urged America’s government to do differently. I would not be surprised, if most of us are honest with ourselves, that most of us would find that they have felt the same way. I am sure that almost all of us could write a book “Issues We Haven’t Agreed with the U.S. Government Over the Years.”
But I trust America and its government. I can disagree and still trust. That is the foundation of the success of representative democracy. It is not just electing those who represent every view that we agree with in an ever-changing world (good luck finding that candidate), but it is also working with those elected by others who represent views we don’t agree with.
I have consistently trusted the representative democracy of the United States of America. Let’s be clear when we are addressing “trusting the government” that it is really the representative democracy that we are talking about — not merely about trusting any one leader of the government at that time.
“Trusting the government” is really about trusting ourselves.
We don’t have to like each other to trust each other as Americans.
We don’t have to agree with each other to trust each other as Americans.
But if we want to be a United States of America, we ultimately must trust each other.
To those looking to really understand America, such shared trust is the essence of how America works, at least thus far.
If we seek to do anything grand and noble together, such as continuing to support a representative democracy, we have to trust each other. Especially when we don’t agree and especially when we don’t like each other, it is essential that we still trust in our representative democracy that we maintain together.
In 30 years here, I have also seen that the people in Washington DC are mostly just like other Americans, with the same strengths, the same weaknesses, and same dreams as most other people. It is not a city of “power” to the elected representatives of our 300 million Americans, other than to the extent such “power” is given to their representatives in our democratic system. You, your neighbor, and every other American has a choice to select your representatives, and also to become a representative yourself. Everyone of us together control the destiny and the direction of America; this democratic vision is what we put our trust in.
The definition of trust is “assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something.” The character, ability, strength, and truth that we are gauging is not of one elected politician, and not of our government’s stand on one issue. It is larger than that. What we are really trusting in are the “truths that we hold self-evident” that are fundamental in America’s definition. What we are really trusting in is the ability, strength, and truth “that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth” — even when all “the people” don’t agree.
April 19, 1995: The north wall of the Alfred Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City was blown off by explosives packed into a rented truck. (AP photo)
All Americans should stop and remember April 19 – as a day that shows the consequences of no longer “trusting” in ourselves and in our shared representative democracy in America. We must never forget that there is a difference between “disagreeing” – voting for new representatives or advocating activism for policies and positions that we believe must be represented in government, and no longer “trusting” our democratic process at all.
Inspired by the white supremacist, Nazi leader William Pierce’s hate diatribe “The Turner Diaries,” terrorist Timothy McVeigh attacked the U.S. federal government building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on April 19, 1995 with a truck bomb, destroying half of the nine-story building. The terrorist attack was at 9:02 AM, just moments after parents had left their small children at a day-care center there at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building. Terrorist Timothy McVeigh murdered 168 Americans, including many innocent, helpless children. Many more were injured and more than 220 buildings in downtown Oklahoma City were damaged.
The terrorist Timothy McVeigh could no longer “trust” in America or what America’s government represented. Timothy McVeigh didn’t merely “disagree” with American government leaders or their policies, he distrusted the American government so much that he actively sought its destruction. While some debate the political partisan gains or losses of polls showing a lack of “trust” in America’s democratically elected government, we need to remember the real results of where such lack of “trust” has led our nation in the past.
Two months ago, on February 18, 2010, we saw another terrorist attack on a U.S. federal government building this time in Austin, Texas by Joseph Stack, who flew his plane into the Austin IRS office and murdered an IRS employee and a U.S. veteran. For his actions, some praised Stack’s terrorist attack as the acts of “a hero,” and others mocked the terrorist attack on our nation as merely “going out with a bang.” This past week, CNN broadcast a television program about the terrorist attack and Joseph Stack’s background. It addressed his tax woes and disagreement with the IRS, as well as his political manifesto calling for violence. What it didn’t address was Joseph Stack’s responsibility for his actions, including his decision not to pay his taxes, his wealth with a luxurious home that he burned down, his wealth that allowed him to buy a private plane which he used to attack the U.S. government. Some of those defending Joseph Stack have also defended Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh’s terrorism on April 19, 1995, as well as the 9/11 terrorists attacks. They believe that no longer trusting one another is a call to justify and urge violence against one another.
February 18, 2010 Terrorist Attack on Austin, Texas IRS Office (Photo: Jana Birchum, Getty Images)
A few weeks ago in Michigan, Ohio, and Indiana individuals were arrested as part of a “Christian militia” Hutaree that allegedly was plotting attacks to murder law enforcement individuals. On April 12, 2010, it was reported that one of the alleged Hutaree plotters had an audio recording of “The Turner Diaries,” the same hate screed created by white supremacist Nazi William Pearce that inspired Timothy McVeigh to kill children and other innocents on April 19, 1995.
What we see once again is the inevitable outcome of when we choose not just to disagree, but to no longer trust in representative democracy, its institutions, and its results. Those who abandon our shared representative democratic system, laws, and liberties, feel that they can make their own laws, make their systems, and even believe that they personally can choose who has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. They can even seek to create their own separatist nations, divided from the United States of America.
There are always those ready to teach us to hate one another. There are always those ready to teach us to deny the truths that we hold self-evident on equality and liberty. There are always those ready to urge division within our nation. There are even those ready to urge us to do violence against one another.
But they can only succeed if we choose to stop trusting one another as Americans and stop trusting in our shared representative democracy in America. So much of our society, from our economic system to our representative shared democracy is dependent on trusting one another. We need to acknowledge the importance of trust, and we need to work harder to build such bonds of trust with one another as Americans.
Choose trust – as part of a UNITED States of America.
The Manchester Evening News quotes Ali Anees, chairman of the Eccles and Salford Mosque, who told reporters that: “We have had problems regularly. In March, someone threw paint over the outside of the mosque and wrote graffiti. Then at about 2am last Saturday two men got into the grounds. One is on film throwing bricks which had been taken from a wall of a neighbouring building. They attacked the building twice in about 20 minutes. Three sections of the windows were smashed and bricks were found inside the office of the mosque. We had another incident in March when eggs were thrown at people leaving the mosque by people driving past. After a lot of damage was caused in 2006, we had people come forward to help us and in the last two years we have spent £425,000 on new buildings. We have up to 500 members and they are very angry about the attacks. We want the culprits caught.”
Clip from YouTube Video of Attack on Mosque by Brick Throwing Individual (Photo: YouTube)Broken Windows Shown in Eccles Mosque Attack (Photo: Manchester Evening News)
Embedded YouTube Video of Attack
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) supports our unqualified, universal human rights for all people.
Egyptian Cleric Mazen Al-Sarsawi Cites 7th-Century Muslim Scholar: If Your Wife Bothers You – Beat Her with the Rod
— MEMRI reports: “In a recent TV sermon, Egyptian cleric Mazen Al-Sarsawi extolled the virtues of corporal punishment to keep wives in check. Using stories from the early days of Islam to support his argument, Al-Sawsawi said that when there are marital problems, ‘the solution is to give the man a free hand to discipline his family members and to control them. By no means can a woman be the head [of the family].'”
— “In the sermon, aired January 7, 2010 on the Egyptian Islamic channel Al-Nas TV, Al-Sawsawi recounted the story of Said Ibn Al-Musayyib, a 7th-century Muslim scholar known for his piety, who married off his daughter to his student, Abu Wada’. Al-Musayyib imparted to his son-in-law advice on how to deal with his new wife: ‘If she bothers you – if something annoys you, or if you suspect anything – beat her on the spot with the rod. Break her head.'”
— “He continued with another story – that of Asmaa, the daughter of the Caliph Abu Bakr, whose husband Zubeir would tie her to his other wife by their hair and beat them both. When Asmaa complained to her father about this unfairness, (‘he beat me black and blue, even though I didn’t do a thing”), Abu Bakr’s response was: ‘Go back to Zubeir. He is a good man, and he may become your husband in Paradise.'”
— “Al-Sarsawi blamed modern media – television and the movies – for fomenting ‘a revolution in domestic leadership,’ such that today ‘in many homes, the woman is the man. She tells her husband what to do, and he says: ‘Yes, ma’am.'” He warned that handing over the leadership to women, who “cannot drive a car, let alone head a home, or anything beyond that,’ is destroying Muslim homes.”
— “Al-Sarsawi also lashed out at women’s rights supporters, saying that they hate women and “bring them down to sin.” He said that women who go out to work expect equality and want to discuss everything – with the result that the home is turned “into a parliament.” “Women’s rights supporters in Europe and America are all swindlers,’ he said.”
Clip 1 from MEMRI Translation of Egyptian Cleric Mazen Al-Sarsawi Television Broadcast on Women (Photo: MEMRI)Clip 2 from MEMRI Translation of Egyptian Cleric Mazen Al-Sarsawi Television Broadcast on Women (Photo: MEMRI)Clip 3 from MEMRI Translation of Egyptian Cleric Mazen Al-Sarsawi Television Broadcast on Women (Photo: MEMRI)
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Responsible for Equality And Liberty (R.E.A.L.) supports our unqualified, universal human rights for all people.
“Egypt: Acid attack on converted Muslim girl in Egypt”
— PCP/AINA report: “Dina el-Gowhary, the 15-year-old Egyptian Muslim-born girl who converted to Christianity, was subjected to an acid attack the latest in a string of failed attempts by Muslim fanatics against her and her father, 57-year-old Peter Athanasius (Maher el-Gowhary), who converted to Christianity 35 years ago. Several Fatwa’s were issued calling for the ‘spilling of his blood,” which makes their lives in constant danger in the face of the reactionaries and advocates for the enforcement of Islamic apostasy laws, which call for the death of a convert.”
— “Dina said that three weeks ago as she ventured out from their hiding place in Alexandria with her father to get some bottled water, her jacket was set on fire due to acid being thrown at her. ‘My father quickly took my jacket off before the fire reached my arms. Ever since then I am terrorized to go out in the street, with or without my father.'”
— “Through an aired interview with Freecopts advocacy Dina addressed an open letter to President Mubarak of Egypt begging him to save her and her father and allow them to leave Egypt.”
Peter Athanasius (Maher el-Gowhary) and 15 year old Daughter Dina el-Gowhary
