Unlicensed lawyer at center of dispute
By Anne Krueger
EL CAJON – A dispute over who is entitled to a $1.1 million insurance settlement has delayed the rebuilding of an El Cajon mosque and Kurdish cultural center that burned down in August 2006.
A Los Angeles-area man who says he represents the Saudi Arabian owner of the property doesn't want to split the proceeds with a company that helped arrange the settlement.
A lawyer for the insurers says the representative shouldn't receive the settlement money – let alone decide where it goes – because he isn't a licensed attorney.
“It's just a mess,” said Derrick Sturm, attorney for Amco Insurance, who filed a lawsuit in San Diego Superior Court seeking to resolve the situation.
The building on Magnolia Avenue housed a mosque – a house of prayer for East County Muslims – and the Kurdish Community Islamic Center before it was destroyed in an early morning fire Aug. 17, 2006.
El Cajon fire officials never determined the cause of the fire, but said its origin was not suspicious. The FBI and other federal authorities were called in to investigate the fire because it occurred at a place of worship.
The property where the mosque once stood is a barren patch of land. The people who used to convene there now say their prayers at other mosques around the county.
The owner of the property is Saad A.S. Al-Habeeb Inc., a corporation owned by Saad al-Habeeb, who lives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The mosque was in the news soon after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, when the FBI investigated Omar al-Bayoumi, whom al-Habeeb had hired as the building's maintenance manager.
FBI agents wanted to know whether al-Bayoumi helped set up a terrorist cell in San Diego and aided two 9/11 hijackers when they lived here.
Al-Bayoumi, who denied any connection to terrorism, had left San Diego County for England in 2000. He was arrested in England but released a week later without charges being filed.
After the August 2006 fire, trustees of the mosque hired Pacific Public Adjusting to negotiate the claim with Amco, which insured the building. The contract called for Pacific to receive 3 percent of the insurance claim.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Unlicensed lawyer at center of dispute
Showing posts with label california. Show all posts
Showing posts with label california. Show all posts
Saturday, February 09, 2008
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: UPDATE ON THE MURDER OF CHAUNCEY BAILEY
Bey IV speeches a month before Bailey killed
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
One month before the slaying of a journalist who was investigating Your Black Muslim Bakery, the bakery's young leader urged his followers to be "strong soldiers" and combat the many enemies he said were conspiring to bring down the embattled Oakland institution.
"We fight the government, we fight the police, we fight our own families, we fight our own people, and we fight Caucasian people daily - just to do right," Yusuf Bey IV declared in a fiery videotaped sermon obtained recently by The Chronicle.
"They use our own people to go against us - people like you or I - to go against a strong organization like Your Black Muslim Bakery," he also said. "It's going to take strong men to stand up, it's going to take strong soldiers to stand up and do something for ourselves."
The sermon, delivered sometime in July, presaged the Aug. 2 street corner shooting death of Chauncey Bailey, editor of an African American community newspaper, who had been working on a story about infighting and financial problems at the bakery.
Arrested on unrelated kidnapping and torture charges after Bailey's death, Bey IV denied complicity in the journalist's murder. But police quoted Bey IV as saying Bailey had slandered his late father, bakery founder Yusuf Bey, who died in 2003.
Meanwhile, the bakery handyman who confessed to the slaying, Devaughndre Brouassard, 19, told police he had killed the journalist to be a "strong soldier," according to an investigator's notes - the same words Bey IV used in the sermon. Broussard later recanted and is awaiting trial.
A video recording of another Bey IV sermon from 2007 also provides insights into the bakery's close relationship with former Oakland Police Chief Joseph Samuels, now a federal airport official in Florida. Bey IV declared that Samuels had "told all his officers: Leave Your Black Muslim Bakery alone, they're brothers."
By contrast, Bey IV said current Chief Wayne Tucker, whose officers at the time were investigating Bey IV's followers on suspicion of a long list of crimes, was a "racial devil."
Bey IV, 21, delivered the sermons at a time of turmoil. Unable to pay the mortgage and payroll taxes, he had put the bakery into bankruptcy. He also was awaiting trial on charges of directing the trashing of two Oakland liquor stores, reportedly because they were violating religious law by selling alcohol to black people. Much of his vast family had sided against him in a bitter and allegedly violent power struggle that had begun after his late father died of cancer while awaiting trial for rape.
In both videos, he stands at the pulpit in the bakery's San Pablo Avenue compound, portraits of his late father and Nation of Islam founders W.D. Fard and Elijah Muhammad hanging on the wall behind him, and urges his followers to defend the bakery against its enemies.
"Anybody out to get Your Black Muslim Bakery or sabotage Your Black Muslim Bakery, God has plans to go right back against you," he said in the July sermon. "This is the reason that after 45 years, we're still in business."
The bakery, he said, has endured because God acts against its enemies.
"As long as you are doing what God wants you to do, and God is in your favor - excuse my language - the hell with everybody else," he said.
...
***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***
Chauncey Bailey
Pertinent Links:
1) Bey IV speeches a month before Bailey killed
Jaxon Van Derbeken, Chronicle Staff Writer
One month before the slaying of a journalist who was investigating Your Black Muslim Bakery, the bakery's young leader urged his followers to be "strong soldiers" and combat the many enemies he said were conspiring to bring down the embattled Oakland institution.
"We fight the government, we fight the police, we fight our own families, we fight our own people, and we fight Caucasian people daily - just to do right," Yusuf Bey IV declared in a fiery videotaped sermon obtained recently by The Chronicle.
"They use our own people to go against us - people like you or I - to go against a strong organization like Your Black Muslim Bakery," he also said. "It's going to take strong men to stand up, it's going to take strong soldiers to stand up and do something for ourselves."
The sermon, delivered sometime in July, presaged the Aug. 2 street corner shooting death of Chauncey Bailey, editor of an African American community newspaper, who had been working on a story about infighting and financial problems at the bakery.
Arrested on unrelated kidnapping and torture charges after Bailey's death, Bey IV denied complicity in the journalist's murder. But police quoted Bey IV as saying Bailey had slandered his late father, bakery founder Yusuf Bey, who died in 2003.
Meanwhile, the bakery handyman who confessed to the slaying, Devaughndre Brouassard, 19, told police he had killed the journalist to be a "strong soldier," according to an investigator's notes - the same words Bey IV used in the sermon. Broussard later recanted and is awaiting trial.
A video recording of another Bey IV sermon from 2007 also provides insights into the bakery's close relationship with former Oakland Police Chief Joseph Samuels, now a federal airport official in Florida. Bey IV declared that Samuels had "told all his officers: Leave Your Black Muslim Bakery alone, they're brothers."
By contrast, Bey IV said current Chief Wayne Tucker, whose officers at the time were investigating Bey IV's followers on suspicion of a long list of crimes, was a "racial devil."
Bey IV, 21, delivered the sermons at a time of turmoil. Unable to pay the mortgage and payroll taxes, he had put the bakery into bankruptcy. He also was awaiting trial on charges of directing the trashing of two Oakland liquor stores, reportedly because they were violating religious law by selling alcohol to black people. Much of his vast family had sided against him in a bitter and allegedly violent power struggle that had begun after his late father died of cancer while awaiting trial for rape.
In both videos, he stands at the pulpit in the bakery's San Pablo Avenue compound, portraits of his late father and Nation of Islam founders W.D. Fard and Elijah Muhammad hanging on the wall behind him, and urges his followers to defend the bakery against its enemies.
"Anybody out to get Your Black Muslim Bakery or sabotage Your Black Muslim Bakery, God has plans to go right back against you," he said in the July sermon. "This is the reason that after 45 years, we're still in business."
The bakery, he said, has endured because God acts against its enemies.
"As long as you are doing what God wants you to do, and God is in your favor - excuse my language - the hell with everybody else," he said.
...
***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***UPDATE***
Chauncey Bailey
Pertinent Links:
1) Bey IV speeches a month before Bailey killed
Thursday, August 09, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: THE BLACK MOSLEM BAKERY & THE JIHADIST AMONGST THEM
Police: Oakland Post editor's killer confesses to slaying
By Harry Harris, Kristin Bender and Kelly Rayburn
A 19-year-old handyman at Your Black Muslim Bakery admitted to police Friday night that he ambushed and killed Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey, investigators said.
Police said Devaughndre Broussard told them he killed Bailey because he was angry over stories the journalist had written about the bakery, its employees and leaders in the past. Investigators said Broussard also was concerned about stories that he thought Bailey might be working on.
Bailey had apparently been working on a story about the group and its finances, authorities said.
Broussard made the admission to Sgts. Derwin Longmire and Lou Cruz. Broussard had been arrested at his home Friday morning in the 1000 block of 59th Street in Oakland, where police recovered the shotgun that they believe was used to kill Bailey the day before.
Police said Broussard had found out where Bailey lived and before the killing Friday morning had gone to the newspaper's office to see if he was there. When he found that Bailey had not arrived at work yet, he began driving around in a van looking for him and spottedhim in the 200 block of 14th Street, where he confronted him and shot him several times with the shotgun.
Expended shotgun shells found at the scene were matched to the shotgun recovered at Broussard's residence, police said. Broussard had worked at the bakery as a handyman and occasional cook for eight months before leaving in March to find other employment. But when he could not find a job he returned to the bakery about a month ago and was given a post again, police said.
Broussard is currently on probation for a San Francisco robbery. He is scheduled to be booked on suspicion of murder today.
Six other people who were arrested in a raid at the bakery Friday morning were still being interviewed late Friday night, but no one else was expected to be booked on murder charges.
Those arrested included Yusuf Bey IV, the son of the Black Muslim Bakery founders.
Those in custody Friday were arrested in past assaults, gun attacks and a kidnapping. Two others are still being sought by police.
They have not been formally arrested in connection with any killings, including the slaying of Bailey, but homicide Lt. Ersie Joyner III said police believe they have the people responsible for Bailey's death in custody.
Officers from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, and police departments in Fremont, Hayward, Livermore and Alameda assisted with the raids.
Lorna Brown, an Oakland attorney who has represented the Beys in the past, did not return calls for comment.
Bailey, a former Oakland Tribune reporter, was walking to the Oakland Post, a free weekly that covers the African-American community, when he was gunned down at 14th and Alice streets about 7:25 a.m. Thursday.
Walter Riley, an attorney for the Oakland Post, said Bailey had been working on a story about "the financial status of the organization" and the "activities of a number of people who were working in the organization," including possible criminal activity.
Riley said the newspaper was unable to verify key details of the story and decided not to run it, possibly abandoning the article altogether.
Bailey was known for not shrinking from any source, said Donna Ayo, a founder of the youth community group BARONS Bridges. Ayo, who knew Bailey for 14 years, said that included the Black Muslim Bakery group.
"He was forthright and gave (the group) their due when they were doing positive things," she said. "When they started doing negative things, things that harmed the community, he had to notify the community. ... He made a decision."
Ayo knew Bailey's reporting had angered people affiliated with the Black Muslim Bakery. "But they're not above the board," she said. "They (the Black Muslim Bakery members) don't get a pass."
Late Black Muslim patriarch Yusuf Bey founded the bakery four decades ago. He built the organization on ideals of black empowerment, respect and self-reliance. In recent years, the group has been tied to murders, racism, sexual assaults on young girls and vandalism.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Police: Oakland Post editor's killer confesses to slaying>
By Harry Harris, Kristin Bender and Kelly Rayburn
A 19-year-old handyman at Your Black Muslim Bakery admitted to police Friday night that he ambushed and killed Oakland Post editor Chauncey Bailey, investigators said.
Police said Devaughndre Broussard told them he killed Bailey because he was angry over stories the journalist had written about the bakery, its employees and leaders in the past. Investigators said Broussard also was concerned about stories that he thought Bailey might be working on.
Bailey had apparently been working on a story about the group and its finances, authorities said.
Broussard made the admission to Sgts. Derwin Longmire and Lou Cruz. Broussard had been arrested at his home Friday morning in the 1000 block of 59th Street in Oakland, where police recovered the shotgun that they believe was used to kill Bailey the day before.
Police said Broussard had found out where Bailey lived and before the killing Friday morning had gone to the newspaper's office to see if he was there. When he found that Bailey had not arrived at work yet, he began driving around in a van looking for him and spottedhim in the 200 block of 14th Street, where he confronted him and shot him several times with the shotgun.
Expended shotgun shells found at the scene were matched to the shotgun recovered at Broussard's residence, police said. Broussard had worked at the bakery as a handyman and occasional cook for eight months before leaving in March to find other employment. But when he could not find a job he returned to the bakery about a month ago and was given a post again, police said.
Broussard is currently on probation for a San Francisco robbery. He is scheduled to be booked on suspicion of murder today.
Six other people who were arrested in a raid at the bakery Friday morning were still being interviewed late Friday night, but no one else was expected to be booked on murder charges.
Those arrested included Yusuf Bey IV, the son of the Black Muslim Bakery founders.
Those in custody Friday were arrested in past assaults, gun attacks and a kidnapping. Two others are still being sought by police.
They have not been formally arrested in connection with any killings, including the slaying of Bailey, but homicide Lt. Ersie Joyner III said police believe they have the people responsible for Bailey's death in custody.
Officers from the Alameda County Sheriff's Office, and police departments in Fremont, Hayward, Livermore and Alameda assisted with the raids.
Lorna Brown, an Oakland attorney who has represented the Beys in the past, did not return calls for comment.
Bailey, a former Oakland Tribune reporter, was walking to the Oakland Post, a free weekly that covers the African-American community, when he was gunned down at 14th and Alice streets about 7:25 a.m. Thursday.
Walter Riley, an attorney for the Oakland Post, said Bailey had been working on a story about "the financial status of the organization" and the "activities of a number of people who were working in the organization," including possible criminal activity.
Riley said the newspaper was unable to verify key details of the story and decided not to run it, possibly abandoning the article altogether.
Bailey was known for not shrinking from any source, said Donna Ayo, a founder of the youth community group BARONS Bridges. Ayo, who knew Bailey for 14 years, said that included the Black Muslim Bakery group.
"He was forthright and gave (the group) their due when they were doing positive things," she said. "When they started doing negative things, things that harmed the community, he had to notify the community. ... He made a decision."
Ayo knew Bailey's reporting had angered people affiliated with the Black Muslim Bakery. "But they're not above the board," she said. "They (the Black Muslim Bakery members) don't get a pass."
Late Black Muslim patriarch Yusuf Bey founded the bakery four decades ago. He built the organization on ideals of black empowerment, respect and self-reliance. In recent years, the group has been tied to murders, racism, sexual assaults on young girls and vandalism.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Police: Oakland Post editor's killer confesses to slaying>
Friday, August 03, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: SWAT TEAMS AT "YOUR BLACK MOSLEM BAKERY"
SWAT Teams Swarm Your Black Muslim Bakery
EMERYVILLE, Calif. -- Oakland and Fremont police have surrounded the Your Black Muslim Bakery in Oakland.
NBC11 News has learned that SWAT team negotiators and various high-ranking police officials are at the scene.
Officers from Oakland, Fremont, Alameda and Emeryville are at the scene, reported NBC11's Christie Smith. The police chief and assistant police chief from the Oakland Police Department are also at the scene, reported Smith.
Such a heavy police presence was needed to serve the warrants because of the violent nature of the alleged crimes, according to Oakland Assistant Police Chief Howard Jordan.
The alleged crimes include, "serious violent felonies including murder, robbery and kidnapping," said Jordan.
The incident is happening along San Pablo Avenue near the border of Oakland and Emeryville. A command center has been set up about a mile away in Emeryville.
Police roped off about seven blocks in the area and served several warrants for violent crimes. Police detained 19 people at the bakery and in the area surrounding the bakery, reported Smith.
Police told Smith that the warrants were part of an investigation that has been going on for months.
The late Yusuf Bey was the founder of Your Black Muslim Bakery, famed for its bean and carrot pies and known as having an open door to struggling families. Bey's reputation took a hit in later years as he defended himself against rape allegations in Alameda County.
Most of those charges were later dropped, and one was pending when he died.
More recently, Bey's son and some other young men were identified as the young toughs who bashed liquor bottles in Oakland corner stores and berated the owners for selling alcohol in the community.
Also, longtime Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey was reportedly researching an investigative piece into Your Black Muslim Bakery before he was shot and killed Thursday morning.
It remains unclear whether that killing is connected to Friday morning's heavy police activity at the bakery.
Pertinent Links:
1) SWAT Teams Swarm Your Black Muslim Bakery
EMERYVILLE, Calif. -- Oakland and Fremont police have surrounded the Your Black Muslim Bakery in Oakland.
NBC11 News has learned that SWAT team negotiators and various high-ranking police officials are at the scene.
Officers from Oakland, Fremont, Alameda and Emeryville are at the scene, reported NBC11's Christie Smith. The police chief and assistant police chief from the Oakland Police Department are also at the scene, reported Smith.
Such a heavy police presence was needed to serve the warrants because of the violent nature of the alleged crimes, according to Oakland Assistant Police Chief Howard Jordan.
The alleged crimes include, "serious violent felonies including murder, robbery and kidnapping," said Jordan.
The incident is happening along San Pablo Avenue near the border of Oakland and Emeryville. A command center has been set up about a mile away in Emeryville.
Police roped off about seven blocks in the area and served several warrants for violent crimes. Police detained 19 people at the bakery and in the area surrounding the bakery, reported Smith.
Police told Smith that the warrants were part of an investigation that has been going on for months.
The late Yusuf Bey was the founder of Your Black Muslim Bakery, famed for its bean and carrot pies and known as having an open door to struggling families. Bey's reputation took a hit in later years as he defended himself against rape allegations in Alameda County.
Most of those charges were later dropped, and one was pending when he died.
More recently, Bey's son and some other young men were identified as the young toughs who bashed liquor bottles in Oakland corner stores and berated the owners for selling alcohol in the community.
Also, longtime Oakland journalist Chauncey Bailey was reportedly researching an investigative piece into Your Black Muslim Bakery before he was shot and killed Thursday morning.
It remains unclear whether that killing is connected to Friday morning's heavy police activity at the bakery.
Pertinent Links:
1) SWAT Teams Swarm Your Black Muslim Bakery
Friday, July 27, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: SAN DIEGO'S CARVER ELEMENTARY IN THE NEWS AGAIN
Previous stories concerning San Diego's Carver Elementary:
[1]
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: U.S. DHIMMI TAXPAYERS FUNDING MADRASSAH'S IN SAN DIEGO
[2]
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: CARVER ELEMENTARY & MOSLEM PRAYERS IN CLASS LEAD BY A TEACHER
[3]
http://americaninfidelthinks.blogspot.com/2007/07/dar-al-harb-usa-mosque-state.html
School Stops Scheduling Class Time For Muslim Prayer
A San Diego school that drew international attention for setting aside time for Muslim students to pray in the classroom will no longer do so, it was reported Friday.
Instead, Carver Elementary's schedule will be reconfigured so students can say their required midday prayers during lunch. Courts have long upheld students' rights to pray on their own during lunch or recess, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
When the new school year begins, Carver will have two lunch periods, including one that will fall when Muslims typically say their midday prayer -- between 1 and 2 p.m., the newspaper reported.
Another controversial element of Carver's educational program geared toward Muslim students -- single-gender classes -- will be eliminated, the Union-Tribune reported.
Superintendent Carl Cohn stressed in a July 18 memo that single-gender education is legal under federal law, but at Carver it "has become a serious distraction from learning rather than a vehicle to promote learning," according to the newspaper.
Carver added the single-gender classes and a daily 15-minute in-class break for voluntary prayers last September after it absorbed a failed Arabic language charter school that served primarily Somali Muslims.
Since a substitute teacher publicly complained about Carver's practices in April, the San Diego Unified School District has been inundated by letters and phone calls from as far away as Europe and the United Arab Emirates, according to the Union-Tribune.
Some alleged that the school was violating the separation of church and state by giving Muslims time to pray. The district maintained that it is legally required to approve students' request for religious accommodation.
Pertinent Links:
1) School Stops Scheduling Class Time For Muslim Prayer
[1]
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: U.S. DHIMMI TAXPAYERS FUNDING MADRASSAH'S IN SAN DIEGO
[2]
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: CARVER ELEMENTARY & MOSLEM PRAYERS IN CLASS LEAD BY A TEACHER
[3]
http://americaninfidelthinks.blogspot.com/2007/07/dar-al-harb-usa-mosque-state.html
School Stops Scheduling Class Time For Muslim Prayer
A San Diego school that drew international attention for setting aside time for Muslim students to pray in the classroom will no longer do so, it was reported Friday.
Instead, Carver Elementary's schedule will be reconfigured so students can say their required midday prayers during lunch. Courts have long upheld students' rights to pray on their own during lunch or recess, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.
When the new school year begins, Carver will have two lunch periods, including one that will fall when Muslims typically say their midday prayer -- between 1 and 2 p.m., the newspaper reported.
Another controversial element of Carver's educational program geared toward Muslim students -- single-gender classes -- will be eliminated, the Union-Tribune reported.
Superintendent Carl Cohn stressed in a July 18 memo that single-gender education is legal under federal law, but at Carver it "has become a serious distraction from learning rather than a vehicle to promote learning," according to the newspaper.
Carver added the single-gender classes and a daily 15-minute in-class break for voluntary prayers last September after it absorbed a failed Arabic language charter school that served primarily Somali Muslims.
Since a substitute teacher publicly complained about Carver's practices in April, the San Diego Unified School District has been inundated by letters and phone calls from as far away as Europe and the United Arab Emirates, according to the Union-Tribune.
Some alleged that the school was violating the separation of church and state by giving Muslims time to pray. The district maintained that it is legally required to approve students' request for religious accommodation.
Pertinent Links:
1) School Stops Scheduling Class Time For Muslim Prayer
Friday, July 13, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIASTAN: THE BATTLE HEATS UP - - - THE ISLAMIZATION OFAMERICA'S SCHOOL CHILDREN - - - WHOSE SIDE ARE YOU ON?!?
Public schools grapple with Muslim prayer
A San Diego school adjusts its schedule to accommodate Muslim worship.
By Randy Dotinga
San Diego - When afternoon recess comes at an elementary school on the outskirts of San Diego, some students rush out for a quick game of hopscotch, while others gather in a room for Muslim worship. Like a growing number of school districts around the country, San Diego's is changing its ways to meet the needs of its Islamic students. Here, a controversy with constitutional overtones erupted: In accommodating Muslim students, is the school unfairly promoting religion?
The school's policy "presumes that Christians are less religious and less inspired to worship and praise the Lord and come together," says Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute. He is asking the school district to set up special rooms where Christians can pray, too.
This outcry, and others like it from conservative commentators and attorneys, suggest that the whole matter may land in court. Potentially at issue is to what extent actions taken by a public school to accommodate special religious needs of some students might require similar allowances for other students.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Public schools grapple with Muslim prayer
A San Diego school adjusts its schedule to accommodate Muslim worship.
By Randy Dotinga
San Diego - When afternoon recess comes at an elementary school on the outskirts of San Diego, some students rush out for a quick game of hopscotch, while others gather in a room for Muslim worship. Like a growing number of school districts around the country, San Diego's is changing its ways to meet the needs of its Islamic students. Here, a controversy with constitutional overtones erupted: In accommodating Muslim students, is the school unfairly promoting religion?
The school's policy "presumes that Christians are less religious and less inspired to worship and praise the Lord and come together," says Brad Dacus, president of the Pacific Justice Institute. He is asking the school district to set up special rooms where Christians can pray, too.
This outcry, and others like it from conservative commentators and attorneys, suggest that the whole matter may land in court. Potentially at issue is to what extent actions taken by a public school to accommodate special religious needs of some students might require similar allowances for other students.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Public schools grapple with Muslim prayer
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: ANOTHER LAWSUITE BY A SHMATA WEARING MOSLEMA
Muslim Sues Jeweller Over Headscarf
A Muslim woman sued a national jewelry chain Tuesday for allegedly not hiring her because she wore a headscarf, the plaintiff's attorneys said.
Shereen Attia, 24, of Fairfield, had worked for Whitehall Jewelers Inc. in a Solano County mall as a part-time sales associate starting in 2004. She received good reviews but was fired when business slowed. Her manager invited her to reapply six months later, in Oct. 2006, when a full-time employee quit, according to the suit filed in Solano Superior Court.
Between employment, she'd become more religiously observant and started wearing a headscarf that covers her hair and neck, but not her face.
When Attia turned in her second application to work at the suburban San Francisco store, she was wearing her headscarf. She never got a call back from the company, she said.
Attia charged in the suit that the district manager had advised her former manager against hiring someone with a headscarf.
"I felt betrayed," said Attia. "I had worked for the company for more than a year and had a proven track record. I was a good sales person. I'm still the same person with the same personality."
A spokeswoman said the Chicago-based company didn't comment because executives had not yet reviewed the suit.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Muslim Sues Jeweller Over Headscarf
A Muslim woman sued a national jewelry chain Tuesday for allegedly not hiring her because she wore a headscarf, the plaintiff's attorneys said.
Shereen Attia, 24, of Fairfield, had worked for Whitehall Jewelers Inc. in a Solano County mall as a part-time sales associate starting in 2004. She received good reviews but was fired when business slowed. Her manager invited her to reapply six months later, in Oct. 2006, when a full-time employee quit, according to the suit filed in Solano Superior Court.
Between employment, she'd become more religiously observant and started wearing a headscarf that covers her hair and neck, but not her face.
When Attia turned in her second application to work at the suburban San Francisco store, she was wearing her headscarf. She never got a call back from the company, she said.
Attia charged in the suit that the district manager had advised her former manager against hiring someone with a headscarf.
"I felt betrayed," said Attia. "I had worked for the company for more than a year and had a proven track record. I was a good sales person. I'm still the same person with the same personality."
A spokeswoman said the Chicago-based company didn't comment because executives had not yet reviewed the suit.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Muslim Sues Jeweller Over Headscarf
Monday, July 09, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: SFSU SUED FOR INVESTIGATING STOMPING ON FLAGS OF HAMAS & HIZ B'ALLAH
SFSU sued for investigating stomping of flag with Allah's name
SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco State University was sued Monday for allegedly violating students' right to free speech when it investigated an incident during which students stomped on flags bearing the name of Allah.
The Alliance Defense Fund and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs - the College Republicans club and members Trent Downes and Leigh Wolf.
The case charges the university with having violated the plaintiffs' First Amendment rights by dragging them through a five-month investigation and campus tribunal after they stepped on Hamas and Hezbollah flags during an anti-terrorism rally. The flags bear the Muslim name for God, Allah.
"The Supreme Court ruled long ago that the First Amendment protects the right to burn even an American flag in political protest," FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said in a statement.
"There are no special protections for Hamas and Hezbollah flags. SFSU knew this, and there is no excuse for putting these students through a five-month ordeal."
Officials with FIRE said they wrote to SFSU President Robert A. Corrigan twice saying that students can't be singled out for peacefully protesting, but the university continued its investigation, eventually clearing the students.
University officials declined immediate comment Monday because they hadn't reviewed the suit.
The lawsuit seeks to hold the university responsible for mistreating students who engaged in constitutionally protected behavior. It also wants the university to strike down codes the plaintiffs consider unconstitutional, because they limit speech on campus.
Pertinent Links:
1) SFSU sued for investigating stomping of flag with Allah's name
SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco State University was sued Monday for allegedly violating students' right to free speech when it investigated an incident during which students stomped on flags bearing the name of Allah.
The Alliance Defense Fund and the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education filed the federal lawsuit on behalf of the plaintiffs - the College Republicans club and members Trent Downes and Leigh Wolf.
The case charges the university with having violated the plaintiffs' First Amendment rights by dragging them through a five-month investigation and campus tribunal after they stepped on Hamas and Hezbollah flags during an anti-terrorism rally. The flags bear the Muslim name for God, Allah.
"The Supreme Court ruled long ago that the First Amendment protects the right to burn even an American flag in political protest," FIRE President Greg Lukianoff said in a statement.
"There are no special protections for Hamas and Hezbollah flags. SFSU knew this, and there is no excuse for putting these students through a five-month ordeal."
Officials with FIRE said they wrote to SFSU President Robert A. Corrigan twice saying that students can't be singled out for peacefully protesting, but the university continued its investigation, eventually clearing the students.
University officials declined immediate comment Monday because they hadn't reviewed the suit.
The lawsuit seeks to hold the university responsible for mistreating students who engaged in constitutionally protected behavior. It also wants the university to strike down codes the plaintiffs consider unconstitutional, because they limit speech on campus.
Pertinent Links:
1) SFSU sued for investigating stomping of flag with Allah's name
Monday, July 02, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: CARVER ELEMENTARY & MOSLEM PRAYERS IN CLASS LEAD BY A TEACHER
S.D. elementary at center of dispute
By Helen Gao
A San Diego public school has become part of a national debate over religion in schools ever since a substitute teacher publicly condemned an Arabic language program that gives Muslim students time for prayer during school hours.
Carver Elementary in Oak Park added Arabic to its curriculum in September when it suddenly absorbed more than 100 students from a defunct charter school that had served mostly Somali Muslims.
After subbing at Carver, the teacher claimed that religious indoctrination was taking place and said that a school aide had led Muslim students in prayer.
An investigation by the San Diego Unified School District failed to substantiate the allegations. But critics continue to assail Carver for providing a 15-minute break in the classroom each afternoon to accommodate Muslim students who wish to pray. (Those who don't pray can read or write during that non-instructional time.)
Some say the arrangement at Carver constitutes special treatment for a specific religion that is not extended to other faiths. Others believe it crosses the line into endorsement of religion.
Supporters of Carver say such an accommodation is legal, if not mandatory, under the law. They note the district and others have been sued for not accommodating religious needs on the same level as non-religious needs, such as a medical appointment.
Islam requires its adherents to pray at prescribed times, one of which falls during the school day.
While some parents say they care more about their children's education than a debate about religious freedom, the allegations – made at a school board meeting in April – have made Carver the subject of heated discussions on conservative talk radio. District officials have been besieged by letters and phone calls, some laced with invective.
The issue has drawn the attention of national groups concerned about civil rights and religious liberty. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, Anti-Defamation League, American Civil Liberties Union and the Pacific Justice Institute are some of the groups monitoring developments in California's second-largest school district.
Among the critics is Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel with the nonprofit, Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center devoted to “defending the religious freedom of Christians.”
He said he's “against double standards being used,” such as when there is a specific period for Muslim students to pray and not a similar arrangement for Christians.
Carver's supporters noted that Christianity and other religions, unlike Islam, do not require their followers to pray at specific times that fall within school hours, when children by law must be in school. Amid the controversy, the district is studying alternatives to the break to accommodate student prayer.
[See, islam is 'special' and Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. can take their complaints and shove them where the sun doesn't shine...The islamo-leftist alliance has spoken...e.d. A.I.]
Capitalizing on what it considers a precedent-setting opportunity created by the Carver situation, the Sacramento-based Pacific Justice Institute has offered to help craft a districtwide “Daily Prayer Time Policy.”
In a letter, the religious-rights organization urged the district to broaden its accommodations to Christians and Jews by setting aside separate classrooms for daily prayer and to permit rabbis, priests and other religious figures to lead children in worship on campuses.
A lawyer representing the district said those ideas would violate the Constitution's prohibition against government establishment of religion.
The uproar over Carver comes as schools across the country grapple with how to accommodate growing Muslim populations. In recent weeks, the University of Michigan's Dearborn campus has been divided over using student fees to install foot-washing stations on campus to make it easier for Muslim students to cleanse themselves before prayer.
“These things are surfacing more and more in many places where large communities of Muslims are coming in and trying to say this is our right,” said Antoine Mefleh, a non-Muslim who is an Arabic language instructor with the Minneapolis public schools.
His school allows Muslim students to organize an hour of prayer on Fridays – Muslims typically have Friday congregational prayers – and make up class work they miss as a result. During the rest of the week, students pray during lunch or recess.
The San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations supports the Carver program.
“Our country is transforming demographically, religiously,” said Edgar Hopida, the chapter's public relations director. “Our country has to now accommodate things that are not traditionally accounted for before.”
Carol Clipper, who is the guardian of two grandchildren enrolled in the school's Arabic program, said she believes students should be “given the freedom” to pray. Clipper is Christian, and her grandchildren are being raised in both Islam and Christianity.
“I take them to the mosque and they go to church with me,” she said.
Another parent, Tony Peregrino, whose son is not in the Arabic program, said he's OK with the Muslim students praying. What he cares about, he said, is that teachers are doing their job, and his son's education is not affected.
Courts have ruled on a series of school prayer cases over the past half-century, but legal scholars say a lack of clarity remains.
“This is an area where the law is notoriously erratic,” said Steven Smith, a constitutional law professor at the University of San Diego.
Voluntary prayers by students are protected private speech, the courts have said. That means students can say grace before a meal and have Bible study clubs on campus, and several San Diego schools do. Public school employees, however, cannot lead children in prayer on campus.
Students also can be excused for religious holidays, such as Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, and Good Friday during Holy Week.
The federal Equal Access Act requires that extracurricular school clubs, religious and non-religious, be treated equally.
San Diego Unified was sued in 1993 when it denied a University City High School student's request to hold lunchtime Bible fellowship. The court found the district discriminated against religion, because it allowed secular clubs to meet during lunch.
Brent North, a lawyer retained by the district to address concerns related to the Carver program, said the district learned from the University City High case to be “careful about restricting students' right to their own private religious expression, including when it's on campus.”
The district cites Department of Education guidelines on prayer:
“Where school officials have a practice of excusing students from class on the basis of parents' requests for accommodation of non-religious needs, religiously motivated requests for excusal may not be accorded less favorable treatment.”
The midday prayer for Muslims here generally falls between 1 and 2 p.m., North said, and that is before the school day ends.
“What is unique about this request is the specificity of the religious requirement that a prayer be offered at a certain time on the clock,” he said.
North went on to say, “The district's legal obligation in response to a request that a prayer must be performed at a particular time is to treat that request the same as it would treat a student's request to receive an insulin shot at a particular time.”
Mefleh, the Minneapolis Arabic instructor, said he allows his Muslim students to pray at the end of class during the monthlong observance of Ramadan, Islam's holiest period.
“Some accommodation has to come from both sides,” he said. “I just tell them prayer is good. Class is good, too. Your time is precious. You have to come to an agreement with them without making a big fuss. If you want to pray, I understand, but I don't want to interrupt the class too much.”
and
OVERVIEW
Background: The U.S. Department of Education's guidelines say students can pray at public schools during school hours by themselves or with fellow students. However, Šteachers and other public school officials may not lead their classes in prayer, devotional readings from the Bible or other religious activities.
What's happening: A substitute teacher claimed that Carver Elementary School in San Diego was indoctrinating students into Islam, and that a teacher's aide led Muslim children in prayer. An investigation failed to substantiate the claims, but the allegations have thrust Carver into a nationwide debate over prayer in schools.
The future: Carver, which has set aside a 15-minute break to allow time for students to pray, is considering alternative prayer accommodations. Religious and civil rights groups are monitoring developments.
Pertinent Links:
1) S.D. elementary at center of dispute
By Helen Gao
A San Diego public school has become part of a national debate over religion in schools ever since a substitute teacher publicly condemned an Arabic language program that gives Muslim students time for prayer during school hours.
Carver Elementary in Oak Park added Arabic to its curriculum in September when it suddenly absorbed more than 100 students from a defunct charter school that had served mostly Somali Muslims.
After subbing at Carver, the teacher claimed that religious indoctrination was taking place and said that a school aide had led Muslim students in prayer.
An investigation by the San Diego Unified School District failed to substantiate the allegations. But critics continue to assail Carver for providing a 15-minute break in the classroom each afternoon to accommodate Muslim students who wish to pray. (Those who don't pray can read or write during that non-instructional time.)
Some say the arrangement at Carver constitutes special treatment for a specific religion that is not extended to other faiths. Others believe it crosses the line into endorsement of religion.
Supporters of Carver say such an accommodation is legal, if not mandatory, under the law. They note the district and others have been sued for not accommodating religious needs on the same level as non-religious needs, such as a medical appointment.
Islam requires its adherents to pray at prescribed times, one of which falls during the school day.
While some parents say they care more about their children's education than a debate about religious freedom, the allegations – made at a school board meeting in April – have made Carver the subject of heated discussions on conservative talk radio. District officials have been besieged by letters and phone calls, some laced with invective.
The issue has drawn the attention of national groups concerned about civil rights and religious liberty. The Council on American-Islamic Relations, Anti-Defamation League, American Civil Liberties Union and the Pacific Justice Institute are some of the groups monitoring developments in California's second-largest school district.
Among the critics is Richard Thompson, president and chief counsel with the nonprofit, Michigan-based Thomas More Law Center devoted to “defending the religious freedom of Christians.”
He said he's “against double standards being used,” such as when there is a specific period for Muslim students to pray and not a similar arrangement for Christians.
Carver's supporters noted that Christianity and other religions, unlike Islam, do not require their followers to pray at specific times that fall within school hours, when children by law must be in school. Amid the controversy, the district is studying alternatives to the break to accommodate student prayer.
[See, islam is 'special' and Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, etc. can take their complaints and shove them where the sun doesn't shine...The islamo-leftist alliance has spoken...e.d. A.I.]
Capitalizing on what it considers a precedent-setting opportunity created by the Carver situation, the Sacramento-based Pacific Justice Institute has offered to help craft a districtwide “Daily Prayer Time Policy.”
In a letter, the religious-rights organization urged the district to broaden its accommodations to Christians and Jews by setting aside separate classrooms for daily prayer and to permit rabbis, priests and other religious figures to lead children in worship on campuses.
A lawyer representing the district said those ideas would violate the Constitution's prohibition against government establishment of religion.
The uproar over Carver comes as schools across the country grapple with how to accommodate growing Muslim populations. In recent weeks, the University of Michigan's Dearborn campus has been divided over using student fees to install foot-washing stations on campus to make it easier for Muslim students to cleanse themselves before prayer.
“These things are surfacing more and more in many places where large communities of Muslims are coming in and trying to say this is our right,” said Antoine Mefleh, a non-Muslim who is an Arabic language instructor with the Minneapolis public schools.
His school allows Muslim students to organize an hour of prayer on Fridays – Muslims typically have Friday congregational prayers – and make up class work they miss as a result. During the rest of the week, students pray during lunch or recess.
The San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations supports the Carver program.
“Our country is transforming demographically, religiously,” said Edgar Hopida, the chapter's public relations director. “Our country has to now accommodate things that are not traditionally accounted for before.”
Carol Clipper, who is the guardian of two grandchildren enrolled in the school's Arabic program, said she believes students should be “given the freedom” to pray. Clipper is Christian, and her grandchildren are being raised in both Islam and Christianity.
“I take them to the mosque and they go to church with me,” she said.
Another parent, Tony Peregrino, whose son is not in the Arabic program, said he's OK with the Muslim students praying. What he cares about, he said, is that teachers are doing their job, and his son's education is not affected.
Courts have ruled on a series of school prayer cases over the past half-century, but legal scholars say a lack of clarity remains.
“This is an area where the law is notoriously erratic,” said Steven Smith, a constitutional law professor at the University of San Diego.
Voluntary prayers by students are protected private speech, the courts have said. That means students can say grace before a meal and have Bible study clubs on campus, and several San Diego schools do. Public school employees, however, cannot lead children in prayer on campus.
Students also can be excused for religious holidays, such as Yom Kippur, the Jewish day of atonement, and Good Friday during Holy Week.
The federal Equal Access Act requires that extracurricular school clubs, religious and non-religious, be treated equally.
San Diego Unified was sued in 1993 when it denied a University City High School student's request to hold lunchtime Bible fellowship. The court found the district discriminated against religion, because it allowed secular clubs to meet during lunch.
Brent North, a lawyer retained by the district to address concerns related to the Carver program, said the district learned from the University City High case to be “careful about restricting students' right to their own private religious expression, including when it's on campus.”
The district cites Department of Education guidelines on prayer:
“Where school officials have a practice of excusing students from class on the basis of parents' requests for accommodation of non-religious needs, religiously motivated requests for excusal may not be accorded less favorable treatment.”
The midday prayer for Muslims here generally falls between 1 and 2 p.m., North said, and that is before the school day ends.
“What is unique about this request is the specificity of the religious requirement that a prayer be offered at a certain time on the clock,” he said.
North went on to say, “The district's legal obligation in response to a request that a prayer must be performed at a particular time is to treat that request the same as it would treat a student's request to receive an insulin shot at a particular time.”
Mefleh, the Minneapolis Arabic instructor, said he allows his Muslim students to pray at the end of class during the monthlong observance of Ramadan, Islam's holiest period.
“Some accommodation has to come from both sides,” he said. “I just tell them prayer is good. Class is good, too. Your time is precious. You have to come to an agreement with them without making a big fuss. If you want to pray, I understand, but I don't want to interrupt the class too much.”
and
OVERVIEW
Background: The U.S. Department of Education's guidelines say students can pray at public schools during school hours by themselves or with fellow students. However, Šteachers and other public school officials may not lead their classes in prayer, devotional readings from the Bible or other religious activities.
What's happening: A substitute teacher claimed that Carver Elementary School in San Diego was indoctrinating students into Islam, and that a teacher's aide led Muslim children in prayer. An investigation failed to substantiate the claims, but the allegations have thrust Carver into a nationwide debate over prayer in schools.
The future: Carver, which has set aside a 15-minute break to allow time for students to pray, is considering alternative prayer accommodations. Religious and civil rights groups are monitoring developments.
Pertinent Links:
1) S.D. elementary at center of dispute
Saturday, June 30, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: A MOSLEM REVERT IS TOLD TO STAY AWAY FROM MOSQUE
Judge orders man to leave Irvine mosque alone
Worshipers say they reported him to authorities after he asked to become a convert and began talking about jihad.
By H.G. Reza, Times Staff Writer
At the beginning, worshipers at the Islamic Center of Irvine said, they thought Craig Monteilh was just an overzealous convert when he criticized U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. But when he started talking about jihad and dropped oblique references to violence, congregants contacted authorities.
On Friday, an Orange County judge issued a restraining order barring Monteilh from going near the mosque and its employees. Members of the mosque testified Friday in court that the FBI opened an investigation earlier this month.
An FBI spokeswoman declined to confirm or deny that an investigation was underway.
Monteilh, 44, has not responded to numerous telephone calls and e-mails seeking comment and did not appear at the hearing. He told mosque members he worked as a personal fitness trainer.
In interviews and testimony at Friday's hearing, four men said Monteilh appeared at the Islamic Center in September and said he wanted to convert.
Mohammad Elsisy, a mosque volunteer who teaches Arabic, said Monteilh wanted to be called Farouk Monteilh and appeared eager to learn about Islam.
But earlier this year, Monteilh began shifting religious discussions to jihad, or holy war, talking about "operations" against U.S. military targets, and suggested that he had access to weapons, said Ashruf Zied. No weapons were seen, Zied said in an interview.
"I said, 'Dude, stop right there, What are you talking about?' " said Zied, a software engineer who said that he was born in Ohio and that his father worked for NATO. "I was trying to steer the guy in the right direction. He was talking about something that's taboo."
Zied, who testified at the court hearing, said that he was frightened by Monteilh's rhetoric, and that it was the last discussion between the two.
They used to socialize, but after that talk, Zied said, he changed his phone number so Monteilh could not contact him.
Former Islamic Center president Asim Khan testified that several worshipers felt threatened by Monteilh and that he talked about getting involved "in a 9/11-type operation."
Some stopped attending mosque because of him, Khan said.
"We're members of the American community, and it's our duty as Americans to make law enforcement aware of these activities," he testified.
In an interview, Elsisy recalled driving Monteilh and another Muslim to Friday prayers at King Fahd Mosque in Culver City. The three men discussed the war in Iraq.
"It was a serious discussion. But when [Monteilh] asked if we knew of an operation because he was ready to help us, the conversation stopped," said Elsisy, an architect.
Elsisy said he and the other man reported Monteilh's comments to mosque officials.
The Islamic Center of Irvine has had a contentious relationship with the FBI. Members believe the mosque is under surveillance, a charge that the agency had denied.
J. Stephen Tidwell, FBI assistant director in Los Angeles, presided at a town hall meeting at the mosque in June 2006 and assured the community that there was no monitoring going on.
Pertinent Links:
1) Judge orders man to leave Irvine mosque alone
Worshipers say they reported him to authorities after he asked to become a convert and began talking about jihad.
By H.G. Reza, Times Staff Writer
At the beginning, worshipers at the Islamic Center of Irvine said, they thought Craig Monteilh was just an overzealous convert when he criticized U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. But when he started talking about jihad and dropped oblique references to violence, congregants contacted authorities.
On Friday, an Orange County judge issued a restraining order barring Monteilh from going near the mosque and its employees. Members of the mosque testified Friday in court that the FBI opened an investigation earlier this month.
An FBI spokeswoman declined to confirm or deny that an investigation was underway.
Monteilh, 44, has not responded to numerous telephone calls and e-mails seeking comment and did not appear at the hearing. He told mosque members he worked as a personal fitness trainer.
In interviews and testimony at Friday's hearing, four men said Monteilh appeared at the Islamic Center in September and said he wanted to convert.
Mohammad Elsisy, a mosque volunteer who teaches Arabic, said Monteilh wanted to be called Farouk Monteilh and appeared eager to learn about Islam.
But earlier this year, Monteilh began shifting religious discussions to jihad, or holy war, talking about "operations" against U.S. military targets, and suggested that he had access to weapons, said Ashruf Zied. No weapons were seen, Zied said in an interview.
"I said, 'Dude, stop right there, What are you talking about?' " said Zied, a software engineer who said that he was born in Ohio and that his father worked for NATO. "I was trying to steer the guy in the right direction. He was talking about something that's taboo."
Zied, who testified at the court hearing, said that he was frightened by Monteilh's rhetoric, and that it was the last discussion between the two.
They used to socialize, but after that talk, Zied said, he changed his phone number so Monteilh could not contact him.
Former Islamic Center president Asim Khan testified that several worshipers felt threatened by Monteilh and that he talked about getting involved "in a 9/11-type operation."
Some stopped attending mosque because of him, Khan said.
"We're members of the American community, and it's our duty as Americans to make law enforcement aware of these activities," he testified.
In an interview, Elsisy recalled driving Monteilh and another Muslim to Friday prayers at King Fahd Mosque in Culver City. The three men discussed the war in Iraq.
"It was a serious discussion. But when [Monteilh] asked if we knew of an operation because he was ready to help us, the conversation stopped," said Elsisy, an architect.
Elsisy said he and the other man reported Monteilh's comments to mosque officials.
The Islamic Center of Irvine has had a contentious relationship with the FBI. Members believe the mosque is under surveillance, a charge that the agency had denied.
J. Stephen Tidwell, FBI assistant director in Los Angeles, presided at a town hall meeting at the mosque in June 2006 and assured the community that there was no monitoring going on.
Pertinent Links:
1) Judge orders man to leave Irvine mosque alone
Thursday, June 28, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: CREDIT INFORMATION & THE IDENTITIES OF CALIFORNIA FIREFIGHTERS STOLEN & THAN USED BY JIHADISTS?!?
Identity theft scam involving firefighters from VC may have terrorism connection
By Kim Oakley
An identity theft scam involving credit cards that affected hundreds of Cal Fire firefighters across the state, also hit several who live or work in Valley Center. What’s more, the ID theft has suspicious implications that could connect it to terrorism.
Experts say terrorists are “regularly schooled in the art of subsisting off credit card fraud,” while abroad and in the U.S.
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Technology and Terrorism on July 9, 2002 FBI agent Dennis Lormel reported, “an Al-Qaeda terrorist cell in Spain used stolen credit cards… for numerous purchases for the cell.” He added, “targeting this type of activity and pursuing links to terrorist financing will likely result in the identification and dismantlement of previously unknown cells.”
A month earlier, before the committee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, the General Accounting Office testified that, “the events of September 11… have heightened concerns about the role identify fraud plays in facilitating terrorism and other serious crimes.” More troubling is a “synergistic growth among transnational crime groups and terrorist networks.”
Upon careful analysis, services and items purchased with firefighters’ cards include flowers, IBM computers, laptops, software, a Global Positioning System, chemistry set, clothes, shoes, a limousine ride, Church’s Chicken, soccer gear, along with a donation to the Islamic Relief Fund.
Multiple transactions occurred at UPS, Wal Mart, Best Buy, Yahoo.voz and Blizzard.com.
Card activity occurred in Arizona, Australia, New York, India, Dallas, France, Germany, South Carolina, Spain, Florida and the United Kingdom.
“My bank called me when 11,000 dollars worth of transactions occurred one night—all at the same time in different places,” said Steven Io, a Cal Fire captain who works in Soquel, a quiet coastal town in Santa Cruz County.
To date, over a $100,000 worth of fraudulent credit card charges have been documented, involving an estimated 200 firefighters.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Identity theft scam involving firefighters from VC may have terrorism connection
By Kim Oakley
An identity theft scam involving credit cards that affected hundreds of Cal Fire firefighters across the state, also hit several who live or work in Valley Center. What’s more, the ID theft has suspicious implications that could connect it to terrorism.
Experts say terrorists are “regularly schooled in the art of subsisting off credit card fraud,” while abroad and in the U.S.
Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Technology and Terrorism on July 9, 2002 FBI agent Dennis Lormel reported, “an Al-Qaeda terrorist cell in Spain used stolen credit cards… for numerous purchases for the cell.” He added, “targeting this type of activity and pursuing links to terrorist financing will likely result in the identification and dismantlement of previously unknown cells.”
A month earlier, before the committee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security, the General Accounting Office testified that, “the events of September 11… have heightened concerns about the role identify fraud plays in facilitating terrorism and other serious crimes.” More troubling is a “synergistic growth among transnational crime groups and terrorist networks.”
Upon careful analysis, services and items purchased with firefighters’ cards include flowers, IBM computers, laptops, software, a Global Positioning System, chemistry set, clothes, shoes, a limousine ride, Church’s Chicken, soccer gear, along with a donation to the Islamic Relief Fund.
Multiple transactions occurred at UPS, Wal Mart, Best Buy, Yahoo.voz and Blizzard.com.
Card activity occurred in Arizona, Australia, New York, India, Dallas, France, Germany, South Carolina, Spain, Florida and the United Kingdom.
“My bank called me when 11,000 dollars worth of transactions occurred one night—all at the same time in different places,” said Steven Io, a Cal Fire captain who works in Soquel, a quiet coastal town in Santa Cruz County.
To date, over a $100,000 worth of fraudulent credit card charges have been documented, involving an estimated 200 firefighters.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Identity theft scam involving firefighters from VC may have terrorism connection
Thursday, June 21, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: STUDENT TOLD TO TAKE OFF THE MOSLEM SCARF - - - CAIR IS WINDING UP TO HUFF & PUFF
CAIR-SFBA calls for public apology, diversity training for school staff
SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA) today called for a public apology and diversity training following a June 19th incident in which a high school official demanded that a Muslim student remove her hijab, or Islamic head scarf.
According to the 13-year-old Muslim student, a supervisor in the lunchroom of Seaside High School in Seaside, Calif., demanded that she remove her scarf, despite being told that it was worn for religious reasons. The student, who was visiting the school to take part in a summer algebra program, says she broke down in tears after the supervisor allegedly shouted, "You have to take it off now," in front of more than 100 other students in the lunchroom.
Despite the shouted demands of the school official, the girl refused to remove her scarf.
CAIR-SFBA contacted the school principal who confirmed that the incident occurred as described. He offered to arrange a face-to-face apology with the supervisor and student but did not agree to a public apology.
"It is a gross violation of authority to demand that a student violate his or her religious principles in order to receive an education," said CAIR-SFBA Executive Director Safaa Ibrahim. "Because the student was humiliated in public, it is only reasonable to make an apology or statement in public to mitigate the damage caused by the supervisor's unacceptable actions."
Ibrahim also asked that the school institute diversity training for all staff and that appropriate measures be taken to ensure that this type of disturbing incident is not repeated.
She said CAIR publishes a booklet, called "An Educator's Guide to Islamic Religious Practices," designed to avoid just such incidents.
CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 33 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
Pertinent Links:
1) CAIR-SFBA calls for public apology, diversity training for school staff
SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The San Francisco Bay Area chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SFBA) today called for a public apology and diversity training following a June 19th incident in which a high school official demanded that a Muslim student remove her hijab, or Islamic head scarf.
According to the 13-year-old Muslim student, a supervisor in the lunchroom of Seaside High School in Seaside, Calif., demanded that she remove her scarf, despite being told that it was worn for religious reasons. The student, who was visiting the school to take part in a summer algebra program, says she broke down in tears after the supervisor allegedly shouted, "You have to take it off now," in front of more than 100 other students in the lunchroom.
Despite the shouted demands of the school official, the girl refused to remove her scarf.
CAIR-SFBA contacted the school principal who confirmed that the incident occurred as described. He offered to arrange a face-to-face apology with the supervisor and student but did not agree to a public apology.
"It is a gross violation of authority to demand that a student violate his or her religious principles in order to receive an education," said CAIR-SFBA Executive Director Safaa Ibrahim. "Because the student was humiliated in public, it is only reasonable to make an apology or statement in public to mitigate the damage caused by the supervisor's unacceptable actions."
Ibrahim also asked that the school institute diversity training for all staff and that appropriate measures be taken to ensure that this type of disturbing incident is not repeated.
She said CAIR publishes a booklet, called "An Educator's Guide to Islamic Religious Practices," designed to avoid just such incidents.
CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 33 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
Pertinent Links:
1) CAIR-SFBA calls for public apology, diversity training for school staff
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: U.S. DHIMMI TAXPAYERS FUNDING MADRASSAH'S IN SAN DIEGO
San Diego Arab public school implements shari'a - forms taxpayer funded madrassah
Carver Elementary - San Diego Public School Bows To Sharia
June 12, 2007 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Those having doubts that New York Department of Education's proposed Arabic school - Khalil Gibran International Academy - will inevitably turn into a madrassah should consider how a similar experiment in the San Diego Unified School District is turning out.
In September Carver Elementary school [kindergarten - eighth grade] accepted nearly 100 students from a failed charter school which served a Somali Muslim constituency.
The school population now numbers approximately 400.
Though these kids are now being educated within the wall of Carver, they have not been incorporated into the main student population and operate as a school-within-a-school, segregated elite with special privileges.
The controversy became a matter of public record when a substitute teacher Mary-Frances Stevens made a report to the local school board in which she claimed that Carver's Muslim children were being led in Islamic prayer by a teacher's aide. Steven's, who subbed at the school on March 8 stated that the lesson plan she was given included the allotting of one hour for prayer.
The teacher's allegation of religious indoctrination led to an investigation.
In true multicultural fashion, the school has gone to extreme lengths to accommodate its new students; the curriculum features the teaching of Arabic - the language of the Quran - single gender classes for girls as well as organized prayer...for Muslims only.
A new dhimi class schedule - expressly designed to kow tow to Carver's new students - was instituted. It created an extra 15 minute recess period as part of an hour set aside so that Carver's Muslims can pray en-masse while in class. Additionally, the school cafeteria menu no longer serves pork or other foods which conflict with fundamentalist Muslim diet restrictions [halal].
Even Carver's "winter holiday" celebration has not escaped the wrath of this brand of extreme multiculturalism, ripping the heart out of what was formerly the Christmas holiday by injecting extraneous cultural artifacts; as the San Diego Union Tribune notes:
Confronted by an apparent double standard which elevates Muslims over Christian and Jewish students, school principal Kimberlee Kidd attempted to explain, "I think there are so many misconceptions."
The actions taken by Carver's officials have made them agents whereby Sharia [Muslim religious law] has been extended into a region of the public domain where heretofore an ACLU interpretation of church-state separation has prevailed.
On that note, the local ACLU is still "considering" its options in this matter…don't hold your breath.
...
Read the rest & weep...
Pertinent Links:
1) San Diego Arab public school implements shari'a - forms taxpayer funded madrassah
Carver Elementary - San Diego Public School Bows To Sharia
June 12, 2007 - San Francisco, CA - PipeLineNews.org - Those having doubts that New York Department of Education's proposed Arabic school - Khalil Gibran International Academy - will inevitably turn into a madrassah should consider how a similar experiment in the San Diego Unified School District is turning out.
In September Carver Elementary school [kindergarten - eighth grade] accepted nearly 100 students from a failed charter school which served a Somali Muslim constituency.
The school population now numbers approximately 400.
Though these kids are now being educated within the wall of Carver, they have not been incorporated into the main student population and operate as a school-within-a-school, segregated elite with special privileges.
The controversy became a matter of public record when a substitute teacher Mary-Frances Stevens made a report to the local school board in which she claimed that Carver's Muslim children were being led in Islamic prayer by a teacher's aide. Steven's, who subbed at the school on March 8 stated that the lesson plan she was given included the allotting of one hour for prayer.
The teacher's allegation of religious indoctrination led to an investigation.
In true multicultural fashion, the school has gone to extreme lengths to accommodate its new students; the curriculum features the teaching of Arabic - the language of the Quran - single gender classes for girls as well as organized prayer...for Muslims only.
A new dhimi class schedule - expressly designed to kow tow to Carver's new students - was instituted. It created an extra 15 minute recess period as part of an hour set aside so that Carver's Muslims can pray en-masse while in class. Additionally, the school cafeteria menu no longer serves pork or other foods which conflict with fundamentalist Muslim diet restrictions [halal].
Even Carver's "winter holiday" celebration has not escaped the wrath of this brand of extreme multiculturalism, ripping the heart out of what was formerly the Christmas holiday by injecting extraneous cultural artifacts; as the San Diego Union Tribune notes:
"The school's winter holiday celebration featuring multicultural performances was a big hit. African-American, American, Muslim and other traditions were celebrated.
"Carver has always been sensitive to the different cultures and always looked at the variety of cultures we have as an enrichment, not a problem," teacher Pamela de Meules said." [source "District wants to provide options," by Helen Gao http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/education/20070412-9999-1m12carver.html]
Confronted by an apparent double standard which elevates Muslims over Christian and Jewish students, school principal Kimberlee Kidd attempted to explain, "I think there are so many misconceptions."
The actions taken by Carver's officials have made them agents whereby Sharia [Muslim religious law] has been extended into a region of the public domain where heretofore an ACLU interpretation of church-state separation has prevailed.
On that note, the local ACLU is still "considering" its options in this matter…don't hold your breath.
...
Read the rest & weep...
Pertinent Links:
1) San Diego Arab public school implements shari'a - forms taxpayer funded madrassah
Friday, June 01, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: A BACK & FORTH BETWEEN A RABBI & IMAM IN ORANGE COUNTY CALIFORNIA
It begins with:
SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE: Irrational intolerance is a frightening reality
By MARK S. MILLER
I taught at UC Irvine for 22 years. I am glad to have left a campus that has become fertile ground for hate speech and take pride in joining Chapman University, where discourse is passionate but civil.
Last year, I was invited back to UCI to speak about Israel to several hundred political science students. The ad hominem attacks launched by the Muslim class members, the insults they flung at me, the rage that contorted their faces, indicated an irrationality never to be imagined in a university classroom. Later, the professor confessed his fear that physical violence would explode and that he had considered calling security to protect me as I left.
Muslim students recently sponsored programs geared to whip up a frenzy against Israel. The only democracy in a sea of tyrannical and primitive regimes was likened to Nazi Germany and apartheid in South Africa. It is a crime punishable by imprisonment for a Christian to wear a Cross in Saudi Arabia, and yet this is the culture that attacks Israel for its alleged intolerance.
Islam, a faith profoundly inimical to Western values, divides the world into realms of dar al Islam, believers, and dar al harb, unbelievers. The Koran of Medina commands: "Then your Lord spoke to His angels and said, 'I will be with you. Give strength to the believers. I will send terror into the unbelievers' hearts, cut off their heads and even the tips of their fingers!' " We of the West, who affirm, "Love your neighbor as yourself," recoil at the global jihad that daily implements this homicidal Koranic message.
We must condemn speech that descends into vilification. As Lebanese-born Arab reformer Brigitte Gabriel recently said to my congregation, "What is at stake on campuses is our future; the students of today will become tomorrow's leaders."I tremble.
Mr. Miller is the rabbi at Temple Bat Yahm in Newport Beach.
The imam's response:
Respect, peace must be spiritual priorities
By SAYED MOUSTAFA AL-QAZWINI
The reality of today's world is that we are living in a very precarious and unstable time. In every part of the world, there is some form of human conflict. As spiritual leaders it is our mission to try to comfort, assure and give hope to people. Our duty is to build within each soul the human qualities of love, respect and acceptance of others.
I believe that America has the potential to pollinate the fields of religious diversity within its land and carry it worldwide.
American religious leaders have already begun to cultivate relations by holding interfaith dialogue, visiting each other's places of worship, building joint academic and community ventures, and supporting one another through mutual reverence. Truly, many spiritual leaders are manifesting the theme of their divine book — the Koran, Torah and Bible — "love your neighbors as yourself."
It is not befitting of any spiritual leader, let alone a scholar, to manipulate a passage from the Koran to support a claim that Islam is "inimical" to Western values ("Irrational intolerance is a frightening reality," Spiritual Guidance, May 19).
For the sake of argument, one could easily apply the same elementary tactic to the Old Testament and New Testament. Would it be worthy of me, to extract out of context, selected cruel and inhumane passages from the Torah or Bible to validate that Jews and Christians also preach violence? How would that benefit me or the world that I live in? What sort of preaching or accuracy would I be promoting? We must stop spewing rhetoric that slanders a faith that is shared by more than a billion peaceful people.
Instead of finger-pointing, we must work together to find common grounds to develop solutions for the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Spiritual leaders must not mirror the rage, animosity or prejudice seen in others but rather reflect the rays of ethical justice, compassion, understanding, forgiveness. And, most important, they must labor for a peaceful outcome. We must be able to provide a forum to genuinely listen to one another respectfully without insult or accusation.Students of today must have the right leaders to model in order to ensure that they become rightful leaders of tomorrow.
It is our duty, as representatives of faith, to continue to reach out to others, to find amicable solutions through dialogue and to heal and strengthen the common bond of man.
IMAM SAYED MOUSTAFA AL-QAZWINI leads the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County.
The Rabbi fires back:
MAILBAG:Foundations of Islam are at odds with what the West values
Imam Sayed Moustafa Al-Qazwini objects to my claim (in "Irrational intolerance is a frightening reality," Spiritual Guidance, May 19) that Islam is inimical to Western values ("Respect, peace must be spiritual priorities," Community Commentary, May 25).
The foundational value of Western society is democracy. Where is the tradition of democracy or its presence today in Islamic lands? A Western value is freedom of religion. How is it that in Islamic lands the wearing of a Cross or possession of a New Testament is an "insult to Islam" and a punishable offense? The West upholds the value of equality. The Sharia police ensure the subordination of women in Islamic lands, which extends to their even being seen. The value of peace is enshrined in Western thought. I hope the imam will forthrightly and consistently condemn the thousands of Muslim leaders who spew the most vile anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism to millions of adoring worshippers and who call for a global jihad against the U.S. and Israel.
Before the imam deals with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he should look to his own house. As Professor Salim Mansur writes: "More Muslims have been killed by Muslims, more Muslims continue to be victimized by Muslims, and more Muslims are in danger of dying at the hands of Muslims than non-Muslims." The number of casualties inflicted by Israel in wars forced upon the Jewish state is paltry compared with the millions of Muslims murdered by fellow worshippers of Allah.
And let him also confront the fact that the gravest threat to life and civilization in all of history emanates from Iran, a Shiite theocracy.
MARK S. MILLER
Mr. Miller is the rabbi at Temple Bat Yahm in Newport Beach.
I wonder if there will be more in this exchange...
Pertinent Links:
1) SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE:Irrational intolerance is a frightening reality
2) COMMUNITY COMMENTARY:Respect, peace must be spiritual priorities
3) MAILBAG:Foundations of Islam are at odds with what the West values
SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE: Irrational intolerance is a frightening reality
By MARK S. MILLER
I taught at UC Irvine for 22 years. I am glad to have left a campus that has become fertile ground for hate speech and take pride in joining Chapman University, where discourse is passionate but civil.
Last year, I was invited back to UCI to speak about Israel to several hundred political science students. The ad hominem attacks launched by the Muslim class members, the insults they flung at me, the rage that contorted their faces, indicated an irrationality never to be imagined in a university classroom. Later, the professor confessed his fear that physical violence would explode and that he had considered calling security to protect me as I left.
Muslim students recently sponsored programs geared to whip up a frenzy against Israel. The only democracy in a sea of tyrannical and primitive regimes was likened to Nazi Germany and apartheid in South Africa. It is a crime punishable by imprisonment for a Christian to wear a Cross in Saudi Arabia, and yet this is the culture that attacks Israel for its alleged intolerance.
Islam, a faith profoundly inimical to Western values, divides the world into realms of dar al Islam, believers, and dar al harb, unbelievers. The Koran of Medina commands: "Then your Lord spoke to His angels and said, 'I will be with you. Give strength to the believers. I will send terror into the unbelievers' hearts, cut off their heads and even the tips of their fingers!' " We of the West, who affirm, "Love your neighbor as yourself," recoil at the global jihad that daily implements this homicidal Koranic message.
We must condemn speech that descends into vilification. As Lebanese-born Arab reformer Brigitte Gabriel recently said to my congregation, "What is at stake on campuses is our future; the students of today will become tomorrow's leaders."I tremble.
Mr. Miller is the rabbi at Temple Bat Yahm in Newport Beach.
The imam's response:
Respect, peace must be spiritual priorities
By SAYED MOUSTAFA AL-QAZWINI
The reality of today's world is that we are living in a very precarious and unstable time. In every part of the world, there is some form of human conflict. As spiritual leaders it is our mission to try to comfort, assure and give hope to people. Our duty is to build within each soul the human qualities of love, respect and acceptance of others.
I believe that America has the potential to pollinate the fields of religious diversity within its land and carry it worldwide.
American religious leaders have already begun to cultivate relations by holding interfaith dialogue, visiting each other's places of worship, building joint academic and community ventures, and supporting one another through mutual reverence. Truly, many spiritual leaders are manifesting the theme of their divine book — the Koran, Torah and Bible — "love your neighbors as yourself."
It is not befitting of any spiritual leader, let alone a scholar, to manipulate a passage from the Koran to support a claim that Islam is "inimical" to Western values ("Irrational intolerance is a frightening reality," Spiritual Guidance, May 19).
For the sake of argument, one could easily apply the same elementary tactic to the Old Testament and New Testament. Would it be worthy of me, to extract out of context, selected cruel and inhumane passages from the Torah or Bible to validate that Jews and Christians also preach violence? How would that benefit me or the world that I live in? What sort of preaching or accuracy would I be promoting? We must stop spewing rhetoric that slanders a faith that is shared by more than a billion peaceful people.
Instead of finger-pointing, we must work together to find common grounds to develop solutions for the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Spiritual leaders must not mirror the rage, animosity or prejudice seen in others but rather reflect the rays of ethical justice, compassion, understanding, forgiveness. And, most important, they must labor for a peaceful outcome. We must be able to provide a forum to genuinely listen to one another respectfully without insult or accusation.Students of today must have the right leaders to model in order to ensure that they become rightful leaders of tomorrow.
It is our duty, as representatives of faith, to continue to reach out to others, to find amicable solutions through dialogue and to heal and strengthen the common bond of man.
IMAM SAYED MOUSTAFA AL-QAZWINI leads the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County.
The Rabbi fires back:
MAILBAG:Foundations of Islam are at odds with what the West values
Imam Sayed Moustafa Al-Qazwini objects to my claim (in "Irrational intolerance is a frightening reality," Spiritual Guidance, May 19) that Islam is inimical to Western values ("Respect, peace must be spiritual priorities," Community Commentary, May 25).
The foundational value of Western society is democracy. Where is the tradition of democracy or its presence today in Islamic lands? A Western value is freedom of religion. How is it that in Islamic lands the wearing of a Cross or possession of a New Testament is an "insult to Islam" and a punishable offense? The West upholds the value of equality. The Sharia police ensure the subordination of women in Islamic lands, which extends to their even being seen. The value of peace is enshrined in Western thought. I hope the imam will forthrightly and consistently condemn the thousands of Muslim leaders who spew the most vile anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism to millions of adoring worshippers and who call for a global jihad against the U.S. and Israel.
Before the imam deals with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he should look to his own house. As Professor Salim Mansur writes: "More Muslims have been killed by Muslims, more Muslims continue to be victimized by Muslims, and more Muslims are in danger of dying at the hands of Muslims than non-Muslims." The number of casualties inflicted by Israel in wars forced upon the Jewish state is paltry compared with the millions of Muslims murdered by fellow worshippers of Allah.
And let him also confront the fact that the gravest threat to life and civilization in all of history emanates from Iran, a Shiite theocracy.
MARK S. MILLER
Mr. Miller is the rabbi at Temple Bat Yahm in Newport Beach.
I wonder if there will be more in this exchange...
Pertinent Links:
1) SPIRITUAL GUIDANCE:Irrational intolerance is a frightening reality
2) COMMUNITY COMMENTARY:Respect, peace must be spiritual priorities
3) MAILBAG:Foundations of Islam are at odds with what the West values
Thursday, May 31, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: "THE COLLAPSE OF EUROPE" CONFERENCE
"THE COLLAPSE OF EUROPE" CONFERENCE
On Sunday June 10, 2007 the American Freedom Alliance will hold a one day conference on the topic:“THE COLLAPSE OF EUROPE?”at Pepperdine University in Malibu.
The conference will address this topic from a number of angles - sociological, political, economic and cultural. It will feature such recently published authors such as Claire Berlinski ( Menace in Europe), Henryk Broder (Hurray, We Surrender!) from Germany; Daniel Pipes (from the U.S.) and Mark Steyn (America Alone) from the U.S.
SOME OF THE TOPICS THE CONFERENCE WILL ADDRESS INCLUDE:
1. The Rise of Islamo-fascism in Europe
2. The European welfare state and its impact on theEuropean economy
3. Negative Growth: Europe’s aging population
4. The Impact of the French riots and the Danish cartoonriots on European politics and culture.
5. Immigration: the battle for control of the street
6. Anti-Semitism and the end of the European Enlightenment
The American Freedom Alliance is an organization devoted to promoting freedom of conscience, freedom of expression and freedom of inquiry among the practitioners of the world’s religions.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) The Collapse of Europe Conference
On Sunday June 10, 2007 the American Freedom Alliance will hold a one day conference on the topic:“THE COLLAPSE OF EUROPE?”at Pepperdine University in Malibu.
The conference will address this topic from a number of angles - sociological, political, economic and cultural. It will feature such recently published authors such as Claire Berlinski ( Menace in Europe), Henryk Broder (Hurray, We Surrender!) from Germany; Daniel Pipes (from the U.S.) and Mark Steyn (America Alone) from the U.S.
SOME OF THE TOPICS THE CONFERENCE WILL ADDRESS INCLUDE:
1. The Rise of Islamo-fascism in Europe
2. The European welfare state and its impact on theEuropean economy
3. Negative Growth: Europe’s aging population
4. The Impact of the French riots and the Danish cartoonriots on European politics and culture.
5. Immigration: the battle for control of the street
6. Anti-Semitism and the end of the European Enlightenment
The American Freedom Alliance is an organization devoted to promoting freedom of conscience, freedom of expression and freedom of inquiry among the practitioners of the world’s religions.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) The Collapse of Europe Conference
Tuesday, May 22, 2007
DAR AL HARB/ISLAM - U.S.A.- CALIFORNIA: LOS ANGELES HAS A LARGE RED BULLSEYE ON ITS BACK & AL QUEDA IS STILL GUNNING FOR IT
Al-Qaida still considers Los Angeles top target
LOS ANGELES, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Los Angeles remains a top target of Al-Qaida which sees the city as vulnerable to attack as before 9/11, it was reported on Tuesday.
Terrorist groups may get funding from street gangs which are draining resources from law enforcement agencies working to head off future attacks, the Daily News quoted security experts as saying.
"We are not safe and we will not be safe for many years," Los Angeles police Deputy Chief Mark Leap said.
"There are many, many more people who consider themselves jihadists now. And criminal enterprises are being used to support terrorist activities."
Links between organized crime and terrorism are particularly troubling in light of a message posted on an al-Qaida Web site saying the group wants to kill 4 million Americans in retribution for the killing of Moslems.
"Al-Qaida recently announced on their Web site that they have two main targets -- Los Angeles and Melbourne, Australia," said Michael Intriligator, a terrorism expert at the University of California in Los Angeles.
"I don't know why they picked Melbourne, but Los Angeles was specifically mentioned as a target for their next terrorist attack," said Intriligator.
...
"I think we are not at all prepared for this and we are living in what psychologists call a state of denial," he said. "It's such a horrendous thing to think about. We think it happened way back in 2001 and that it can't happen again."
Pertinent Links:
1) Al-Qaida still considers Los Angeles top target
LOS ANGELES, May 22 (Xinhua) -- Los Angeles remains a top target of Al-Qaida which sees the city as vulnerable to attack as before 9/11, it was reported on Tuesday.
Terrorist groups may get funding from street gangs which are draining resources from law enforcement agencies working to head off future attacks, the Daily News quoted security experts as saying.
"We are not safe and we will not be safe for many years," Los Angeles police Deputy Chief Mark Leap said.
"There are many, many more people who consider themselves jihadists now. And criminal enterprises are being used to support terrorist activities."
Links between organized crime and terrorism are particularly troubling in light of a message posted on an al-Qaida Web site saying the group wants to kill 4 million Americans in retribution for the killing of Moslems.
"Al-Qaida recently announced on their Web site that they have two main targets -- Los Angeles and Melbourne, Australia," said Michael Intriligator, a terrorism expert at the University of California in Los Angeles.
"I don't know why they picked Melbourne, but Los Angeles was specifically mentioned as a target for their next terrorist attack," said Intriligator.
...
"I think we are not at all prepared for this and we are living in what psychologists call a state of denial," he said. "It's such a horrendous thing to think about. We think it happened way back in 2001 and that it can't happen again."
Pertinent Links:
1) Al-Qaida still considers Los Angeles top target
Monday, May 21, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: "HAMAS: POLITICS, CHARITY & TERRORISM IN THE SERVICE OF JIHAD"
Charity sues ex-Bush official
KinderUSA and its L.A. chairwoman seek a libel judgment against a book that says the Islamic nonprofit helped fund terrorists.
By Greg Krikorian, Times Staff Writer
A former Bush administration official has been sued for libel by a U.S.-based Islamic charity for alleging in a book that the organization has helped fund Middle East terrorists.
The lawsuit — filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court by Kids in Need of Development, Education and Relief and its chairwoman, Dr. Laila Al-Marayati of Los Angeles — accuses Matthew Levitt of falsely linking the charity to extremists. It also names Yale University Press and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy as defendants for their role in publishing the book last year.
Levitt, deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the U.S. Treasury Department until earlier this year, has been a government witness in several federal terrorism cases and is a senior fellow at the institute.
Spokespeople for the defendants said the allegations were without merit. The Dallas-based charity, known as KinderUSA, was founded five years ago by a group of physicians and humanitarian relief workers with the goal of bringing educational, health and rehabilitation programs into war zones and areas of disaster, according to its lawsuit and website. To date, it has received and distributed about $4 million to $5 million overseas.
The lawsuit, filed April 26, contends that Levitt's book, "Hamas: Politics, Charity and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad," inaccurately portrays the organization as an accomplice to terrorism, suggesting that it has funded Hamas and has connections to Al Qaeda.
In one passage cited in the lawsuit, Levitt links KinderUSA to another Texas-based charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which has been closed by the federal government and is now fighting government allegations in Dallas that it is connected to Hamas.
"Even after the closure of the Holy Land Foundation in 2001, other U.S.-based charities continue to fund Hamas," the book says. "One organization that has appeared to rise out of the ashes of the [Holy Land Foundation] is KinderUSA."
In court documents, Levitt has been listed as a potential government witness in the Holy Land trial, which is to begin in July.
Levitt's book also states — falsely, the lawsuit alleges — that "the formation of KinderUSA highlights an increasingly common trend: banned charities continuing to operate by incorporating under new names in response to designation as terrorist entities or in an effort to evade attention. This trend is also seen with groups raising money for Al Qaeda."
Al-Marayati could not be reached for comment. Her attorney alleged that Levitt's book makes "spurious and unsubstantiated" suggestions that the charity funds terrorism.
Attorney John P. Kilroy said KinderUSA not only has been designated as a lawful charity by the IRS but has twice been a guest of the Treasury Department's counter-terrorism unit to participate in conferences. He also noted that Al-Marayati has been honored by the government for her work on an international health panel.
"This [book] is all part of the witch hunt against Muslim charities in this country … where all Muslim charities that do international work are considered suspect," Kilroy said.
...
and
Quick Takes: Purdue Renews Investigation, NCAA Punishes Temple, Yale Press Sued, Tufts Magazine Sanctioned, Medical Schools Get Poor Grades, New Reason for Newspaper Theft, Community Colleges and Teacher Ed, Gender Gap Narrows for UK Faculty
...
Yale University Press is being sued for libel in connection with the publication of Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad, according to The New Haven Independent. KinderUSA says that it is a legitimate charity and was unfairly discussed in the book. The group’s suit charges, among other things, that the Yale press did not do any fact-checking for the book — a charge denied by Yale officials.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Charity sues ex-Bush official
2) Quick Takes: Purdue Renews Investigation, NCAA Punishes Temple, Yale Press Sued, Tufts Magazine Sanctioned, Medical Schools Get Poor Grades, New Reason for Newspaper Theft, Community Colleges and Teacher Ed, Gender Gap Narrows for UK Faculty
KinderUSA and its L.A. chairwoman seek a libel judgment against a book that says the Islamic nonprofit helped fund terrorists.
By Greg Krikorian, Times Staff Writer
A former Bush administration official has been sued for libel by a U.S.-based Islamic charity for alleging in a book that the organization has helped fund Middle East terrorists.
The lawsuit — filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court by Kids in Need of Development, Education and Relief and its chairwoman, Dr. Laila Al-Marayati of Los Angeles — accuses Matthew Levitt of falsely linking the charity to extremists. It also names Yale University Press and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy as defendants for their role in publishing the book last year.
Levitt, deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the U.S. Treasury Department until earlier this year, has been a government witness in several federal terrorism cases and is a senior fellow at the institute.
Spokespeople for the defendants said the allegations were without merit. The Dallas-based charity, known as KinderUSA, was founded five years ago by a group of physicians and humanitarian relief workers with the goal of bringing educational, health and rehabilitation programs into war zones and areas of disaster, according to its lawsuit and website. To date, it has received and distributed about $4 million to $5 million overseas.
The lawsuit, filed April 26, contends that Levitt's book, "Hamas: Politics, Charity and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad," inaccurately portrays the organization as an accomplice to terrorism, suggesting that it has funded Hamas and has connections to Al Qaeda.
In one passage cited in the lawsuit, Levitt links KinderUSA to another Texas-based charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, which has been closed by the federal government and is now fighting government allegations in Dallas that it is connected to Hamas.
"Even after the closure of the Holy Land Foundation in 2001, other U.S.-based charities continue to fund Hamas," the book says. "One organization that has appeared to rise out of the ashes of the [Holy Land Foundation] is KinderUSA."
In court documents, Levitt has been listed as a potential government witness in the Holy Land trial, which is to begin in July.
Levitt's book also states — falsely, the lawsuit alleges — that "the formation of KinderUSA highlights an increasingly common trend: banned charities continuing to operate by incorporating under new names in response to designation as terrorist entities or in an effort to evade attention. This trend is also seen with groups raising money for Al Qaeda."
Al-Marayati could not be reached for comment. Her attorney alleged that Levitt's book makes "spurious and unsubstantiated" suggestions that the charity funds terrorism.
Attorney John P. Kilroy said KinderUSA not only has been designated as a lawful charity by the IRS but has twice been a guest of the Treasury Department's counter-terrorism unit to participate in conferences. He also noted that Al-Marayati has been honored by the government for her work on an international health panel.
"This [book] is all part of the witch hunt against Muslim charities in this country … where all Muslim charities that do international work are considered suspect," Kilroy said.
...
and
Quick Takes: Purdue Renews Investigation, NCAA Punishes Temple, Yale Press Sued, Tufts Magazine Sanctioned, Medical Schools Get Poor Grades, New Reason for Newspaper Theft, Community Colleges and Teacher Ed, Gender Gap Narrows for UK Faculty
...
Yale University Press is being sued for libel in connection with the publication of Hamas: Politics, Charity, and Terrorism in the Service of Jihad, according to The New Haven Independent. KinderUSA says that it is a legitimate charity and was unfairly discussed in the book. The group’s suit charges, among other things, that the Yale press did not do any fact-checking for the book — a charge denied by Yale officials.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Charity sues ex-Bush official
2) Quick Takes: Purdue Renews Investigation, NCAA Punishes Temple, Yale Press Sued, Tufts Magazine Sanctioned, Medical Schools Get Poor Grades, New Reason for Newspaper Theft, Community Colleges and Teacher Ed, Gender Gap Narrows for UK Faculty
Friday, May 18, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: ANOTHER SATELLITE OFFICE OF JIHAD RECEIVES APPROVAL FROM ISLAM'S HANDMAIDENS
Plans For Islamic Center Move Forward
by Tony Shin
SAN DIEGO -- An Afghan Islamic community center and mosque is one step closer to being built in Serra Mesa.
On Thursday night, the Serra Mesa Planning Group approved a conditional permit to construct the building, designed to accommodate 257 people, on Sandrock Road.
The center has been a center of controversy since the plans were announced last year. After that, someone began circulating fliers saying "No terrorists in our community!"
During Thursday night's meeting, members of San Diego's Afghan community assured residents that labels are ignorant and unfair. They told residents that Afghans are peaceful people and should not be stereotyped because of the Taliban.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Plans For Islamic Center Move Forward
by Tony Shin
SAN DIEGO -- An Afghan Islamic community center and mosque is one step closer to being built in Serra Mesa.
On Thursday night, the Serra Mesa Planning Group approved a conditional permit to construct the building, designed to accommodate 257 people, on Sandrock Road.
The center has been a center of controversy since the plans were announced last year. After that, someone began circulating fliers saying "No terrorists in our community!"
During Thursday night's meeting, members of San Diego's Afghan community assured residents that labels are ignorant and unfair. They told residents that Afghans are peaceful people and should not be stereotyped because of the Taliban.
...
Pertinent Links:
1) Plans For Islamic Center Move Forward
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: ISLAM IS NOT TO BLAME, THE CAUSES OF THE JIHAD ARE: POVERTY, LACK OF POLITICAL FREEDOM & FAILED U.S. POLICIES...
First lady of Qatar argues Islam not the root of extremism
The first lady of Qatar, a close U.S. ally, argued that Islam has been incorrectly blamed for the rise of extremist violence when the real culprits include poverty, a lack of political freedom and what she called failed U.S. policies.
Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned told the Los Angeles World Affairs Council Tuesday that societies worldwide were failing to provide jobs, hope and a feeling of greater good for their citizens.
As a result, youth "are seduced by a global culture of violence that is fueled by cynicism," said Sheikha Mozah, dressed in pants, a business blazer and with her hair covered.
"In the Middle East, youth feel politically paralyzed, and are doubly excluded. Like the general population, they cannot choose their governments and are severely limited in venues of self-expression," she said. "Certainly, failed U.S. policies in the Middle East have provided a fertile ground for radical groups."
Her 15-day U.S. tour includes stops in New York, Los Angeles and Houston to push her country's vision for the future of the Middle East and expand sister campuses with U.S. universities.
...
The Sheikha must not have understood the Arabic in the qur'an, because I certainly understand the cause of the jihad and it has nothing to do with the reasons she names...
It all has to do with the satan worshipping mohammad and his 'religion of head choppers', murderes, rapists, child abusers, pedophiles, etc. , islam...
The Sheikha may find the following: Islam & Terrorism interesting reading...She will find the 'root causes' of the jihad and they are not 'failed U.S. policies'...
Pertinent Links:
1) First lady of Qatar argues Islam not the root of extremism
The first lady of Qatar, a close U.S. ally, argued that Islam has been incorrectly blamed for the rise of extremist violence when the real culprits include poverty, a lack of political freedom and what she called failed U.S. policies.
Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned told the Los Angeles World Affairs Council Tuesday that societies worldwide were failing to provide jobs, hope and a feeling of greater good for their citizens.
As a result, youth "are seduced by a global culture of violence that is fueled by cynicism," said Sheikha Mozah, dressed in pants, a business blazer and with her hair covered.
"In the Middle East, youth feel politically paralyzed, and are doubly excluded. Like the general population, they cannot choose their governments and are severely limited in venues of self-expression," she said. "Certainly, failed U.S. policies in the Middle East have provided a fertile ground for radical groups."
Her 15-day U.S. tour includes stops in New York, Los Angeles and Houston to push her country's vision for the future of the Middle East and expand sister campuses with U.S. universities.
...
The Sheikha must not have understood the Arabic in the qur'an, because I certainly understand the cause of the jihad and it has nothing to do with the reasons she names...
It all has to do with the satan worshipping mohammad and his 'religion of head choppers', murderes, rapists, child abusers, pedophiles, etc. , islam...
The Sheikha may find the following: Islam & Terrorism interesting reading...She will find the 'root causes' of the jihad and they are not 'failed U.S. policies'...
Pertinent Links:
1) First lady of Qatar argues Islam not the root of extremism
Tuesday, May 15, 2007
DAR AL HARB - U.S.A. - CALIFORNIA: OPPOSING SPEAKERS, SHOEBAT (EX-JIHADIST) v FINKELSTEIN (HOLOCAUST DENIER), AND THE USE OF STATE FUNDS
UC Davis campus in Jewish-Muslim spat
DAVIS, Calif., May 15 Jewish and Muslim students at the University of California Davis are enmeshed in a spat over two guest speakers, each of whom one group opposes.
In February, Walid Shoebat, a controversial self-proclaimed "former Islamic terrorist" turned Zionist spoke, which incensed the Davis Muslim Student Association, The Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday. Muslims said Shoebat was spreading hate by claiming the majority of the world ' s Muslims support radical Islam. Now, the Muslims have booked DePaul University Professor Norman Finkelstein to speak Wednesday and Jewish students plan to protest, the report said.
Finkelstein is the son of Holocaust victims but also author of "The Holocaust Industry: Reflections On The Exploitation of Jewish Suffering." He denies critics ' claims he is a Holocaust denier and said his message is Israel should retreat to its original borders. Jewish students have protested the university paid $440.76 to the Muslim Student Association to bring Finkelstein to campus, while Shoebat's visit was funded privately, the report said.
Pertinent Links:
1) UC Davis campus in Jewish-Muslim spat
DAVIS, Calif., May 15 Jewish and Muslim students at the University of California Davis are enmeshed in a spat over two guest speakers, each of whom one group opposes.
In February, Walid Shoebat, a controversial self-proclaimed "former Islamic terrorist" turned Zionist spoke, which incensed the Davis Muslim Student Association, The Sacramento Bee reported Tuesday. Muslims said Shoebat was spreading hate by claiming the majority of the world ' s Muslims support radical Islam. Now, the Muslims have booked DePaul University Professor Norman Finkelstein to speak Wednesday and Jewish students plan to protest, the report said.
Finkelstein is the son of Holocaust victims but also author of "The Holocaust Industry: Reflections On The Exploitation of Jewish Suffering." He denies critics ' claims he is a Holocaust denier and said his message is Israel should retreat to its original borders. Jewish students have protested the university paid $440.76 to the Muslim Student Association to bring Finkelstein to campus, while Shoebat's visit was funded privately, the report said.
Pertinent Links:
1) UC Davis campus in Jewish-Muslim spat
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