An American Muslim Journal

Joe Walsh - Enemy of Moderate, Muslims, Women, Immigrants, Middle Class, Diversity

Congressman Joe Walsh is an extremist.  I suppose he's the product of his own pathetic life experiences. He's a dangerous influence in our nation's capitol and he's out of touch with the citizens of the 8th congressional district.  That he has supporters only proves that we live among some very desparate people who are willing hang their misfortunes on a host of straw man bad guys (Muslims, women, immigrants, the poor, etc).

He needs to be voted out of office.  We need to vote him out of office so convincingly that it effectively ends his political career once and for all.

Project Mobilize produced a television ad to warn voters in the 8th congressional district about why Joe Walsh is so bad for our district.  I volunteered to be one of the two voters who spoke out in the ad.  Here it is:

Please share this clip widely.  It's running on a few channels during certain spots throughout the last three days leading up to election day, but it's greatest impact will be felt through its wide dissemination via the internet.

Good luck and God Bless.  Vote Democratic on November 6th!

Palestine succeeds at U.N., Israel cries foul, then announces more settlements...

The current Israeli government and those Israelis that support this current government's policies towards Palestine are evil***. Here's what Israeli spokesman Mark Regev is quoted as saying on the Palestinians' pursuit of non-member observer STATE status:

"I think we're going to see political theatre today at the UN... it's a foregone conclusion, they have an automatic built-in majority there, and they'll get their resolution through, but it's bad theatre because it's a bad day for peace and a bad day for reconciliation. Obviously from Israel's perspective, this is a violation of understandings, of signed agreements that the Palestinians said they would resolve outstanding issues through negotiations with us, and instead they're going to the United Nations with this one-sided resolution. We're going to have a political crisis now, and it's totally unnecessary, because it changes nothing on the ground. The trouble with what's happening today at the UN is that it's just theatre, it doesn't deal with the core issues, it doesn't deal with Israeli concerns. How can you make peace while ignoring Israel?"

via Al-Jazeera Online (English)

The core issues are Israel's stealing of land, and its utter disregard for non-Israeli, non-Jewish life.

Regev says its a bad day for peace? Hmmm.

I say it's always a bad day for peace when the IDF is killing innocent people in Gaza, when Israeli policies restrict the caloric intake of Palestinians, when Israel literally and blatantly allows discrimination against its Arab citizens, when Israeli policies allow Israelis to steal the homes of Palestinians and so on and on and on. 

Israelis deserve to live in peace. The Palestinian people deserve exactly the same. 

The U.N. created the state of Israel. But it's recognition of Palestine as a non-member observer STATE is somehow irrelevant? Someone help me understand this please!

And then, to add insult to injury, the Israelis announce more settlements in East Jerusalem today.  I can only assume that Israel is fighting a slow battle to take over what some Jews view to be "Greater Israel" and the hope is that the rest of the world will never get up the gumption to stop them until its too late.

Following a landmark United Nations vote upgrading the status of the Palestinian territories to become a “nonmember observer state” in the international body, Israel said Friday it would construct an additional 3,000 units of Jewish housing in the West Bank.

The government is also moving forward with preliminary planning for a controversial development on the outskirts of Jerusalem that U.S. officials have opposed for decades, according to a government official, who requested anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the issue.

The hillside development, known as E-1, would connect the West Bank settlement of Maale Adumim with East Jerusalem, cutting off access between the Palestinian cities of Ramallah and Bethlehem. U.S. officials have long urged Israel to freeze the project because they feared it would make it more difficult to create a contiguous Palestinian state.

via the LA Times

It's almost as if the Israelis are goading the world into hating them...

One of my Jewish friends posted this on my Facebook wall in response to a comment I made about Israel's actions vis-a-vis Palestine's recent bid for non-member observer STATE status:

As I was reading this my first thought was of Regev saying "Yeah, because don't the Palestinians know that only WE'RE allowed to go to the UN with one-sided resolutions?" but you beat me to the punch. It's absurd. It's like complaining that the other team wouldn't let you play without a referee. It's getting more and more impossible for Israel to keep blindly denying Palestine's legitimacy and they're pissed about it. So, the officials of the Israeli government can whine all they want, but they'd better enjoy it while it lasts, because the jig is up and Israel knows it. If Israel wants to go kicking and screaming every step of the way, so be it, but the rest of the world is still going to keep dragging them in the direction of justice.

Another one of my Jewish friends posted the following status and link on his Facebook wall:

Hey friends-it's time to stop saying, "It's too complicated!" You can't stay on the sidelines anymore. Watch this Jewish Voice for Peace 6 minute mini-primer about why Israelis and Palestinians are fighting, why the US-backed peace process has been an impediment to peace, and what you can do to make a difference. Find out more atwww.jvp.org/101

And I know that I have many other Jewish friends who are wrestling with the angst caused by Israel's apartheid but remain silent in public because they are also sincerely concerned about Israeli security concerns raised by Hamas, Hezbollah & Co.

This human rights tragedy (nor any other human rights tragedy for that matter) is going to be solved without people of good will coming together through their shared humanity (and no, this isn't some fluff statement: I mean to say that we've got to get past our tribalism - including our religious tribalism).  

For the children of Israel and of Palestine this means Muslims and Jews in America have to find a way to speak together in a unified voice along with many other Americans.  Without the uncritical (read: blind) support of America I don't believe Israel can continue its brutal occupation.

_______________________________________

******Let's be absolutely clear: I believe the policies and the people who espouse these policies are evil.  I am NOT speaking of Jews in general.

Sabeel Food Pantry, American Muslims for Activism and Learning (AMAL): Turkey Drive

Once again a group of local American Muslims, God Bless them, are raising money to provide Thankgiving turkeys to needed families (irrespective of their religion)!  American Muslims for Activism and Learning (AMAL) and Sabeel Food Pantry are working together to deliver 750 turkeys this Thanksgiving.

Please help!  Here's a little bit about the program in their own words:

For the past 10 years Sabeel Food Pantry and American Muslims for Activism and Learning (AMAL) have teamed up to bring turkeys to the families of the students at Emmett Till Academy on the south side of Chicago. Through the generous contributions of members of our community, we have successfully been able to give out hundreds of turkeys to families who would otherwise not have them on their tables. Last year marked the 10 year anniversary of the drive and we were successful in distributing 750 turkeys to these families. This year we hope to meet that goal again, but we'll need your help.

According to the Sabeel Food Pantry website they are at 375 turkeys.  Yikes!  There's a lot more work to be done!  This is a wonderful way for American Muslims to show their compassion for fellow Americans.  To participate please visit the Sabeel Food Pantry Turkey Drive website (click here).  Please share this information with others!

Telling people that we are a kind and compassionate community is fine, but putting our kindness and compassion into action for an American holiday speaks much louder!  We have time to blow past this goal of 750 turkeys!

Share this post with others.  Post a link to the Sabeel Food Pantry Turkey Drive page on your Facebook wall.  Send the links to this blog post to all of your contacts via email.  Tweet about the good work these people are doing!

Thank you!

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Click here to read about the turkey drive effort from 2010.

Click here to read about the turkey drive effort in 2009 and to see a news coverage clip of the drive!

President Obama Wins, Duckworth wins, American Muslims active

This web-home page makes me so happy!

Yes, I am gloating.

American Muslims were as engaged as they have ever been.  I think we've opened a new chapter in American Muslims' civic engagement.  I saw it all over and even in my own family.

American Muslims were doing phone banks in Muslim-owned banquet halls and in homes across my congressional district (the IL 8th).  My father and my uncle were volunteering for phone banks, working in campaign offices (including local candidate campaigns).  My immediate family embraced political activism as the norm. Imams and Muslim organizations and well known Islamic scholars called voting a religious duty.  Wow.  Just wow!

On the eve of this election a nasty Hindutva movement tried to taint our diverse community by slinging Islamophobia in newspaper and tv ads supporting that nightmare known as Joe Walsh (lame duck thank God!), but even here American Muslims overcame!

I'm as optimistic as ever for the role American Muslims can make in America and in the world!

Why Romney is the Better Choice for Muslims

As the child of immigrants from Mexico, Governor Romney understands the value in promoting legal immigration and opportunity.

via www.illumemagazine.com

Com'on man! Really?

Damn, that's some hard "truth" right there...

New Indian SuperPAC jumps into Duckworth-Walsh race - DailyHerald.com

The formation of a new Indian American SuperPAC supporting Congressman Joe Walsh’s campaign illustrates the political division within the Asian community in the 8th Congressional District.

Indian Americans for Freedom, a group founded by Carol Stream businessman Shalli Kumar in August, is airing ads on cable television and in several newspapers questioning Hoffman Estates Democrat Tammy Duckworth’s support of the Council on American Islamic Relations.

via www.dailyherald.com

Shalli Kumar brings shame to the thousands of Hindu Americans in the 8th District who co-exist in peace and friendship with other Indian Americans (Muslim, Sikh and Christian).

What is most humorous is that what he wrongly accuses CAIR of being and doing is exactly what he is in fact. His support of Narendra Modi, the Butcher of Gujarat, is indicative of his sympathies with the ultra-nationalist movements in India. However, he couches his support of Modi as being predicated on Modi's emphasis on anti-corruption in the Indian state of Gujarat.

It sounds like a cover if you ask me...

American Muslims & grassroots politics in 2012

I'm ecstatic about the uptick in political engagement among American Muslims in the metropolitan Chicagoland region.  We are slowly but surely getting more engaged and that's a very good thing.

Last night I was at a family dinner in Elmhurst, Illinois and I saw a campaign sign in someone's lawn that read "A. Ghani State Senate".  Cool!

This afternoon I went decided to vote early and headed to my designated Early Voting polling place.  There, standing away from the entrance, were a group of volunteers for the various local candidates and among them was a childhood friend named Shabazz.  We chatted a bit after I finished voting.  He said he's been doing a lot of work for Rep. Fred Crespo.  Wow!

I went to Masjid al-Huda after voting early today (the 2pm khutbah) and there, waiting outside of the mosque in the public space were Muslims passing out Tammy Duckworth literature.  After the prayers one of the board members made an announcement about early voting and about voting on election day. Awesome!

One of my uncles has been doing office work and some field work for Duckworth, State Rep. Michelle Mussman and State Sen. Dan Kotowoski consistently for over 3 months.  On Halloween night a Muslim neighbor and friend dropped by to talk politics and was fired up about getting American Muslims mobilized to get out the vote (and that he was quite passionate about how he felt about Republicans certainly made me smile).  Outstanding!

On Halloween night a local Muslim business - Lazzat Banquets - hosted a get out the vote phone bank for Tammy Duckworth.  On Halloween night our house received 2 calls from American Muslim volunteers specifically asking us to get out the vote for various Democratic candidates.  Fantastic!

Keep it going everybody!  And for those who haven't gotten involved yet - now is the best time to jump in and lend a hand!  The weekend before election day is the time for getting out the vote!  Leave me a message here at this post with your email and I will try to help you connect with a Democrat!

I'm very pleased to see so much hands on, grassroots engagement among American Muslims.  This is how we need to do things.  We need to be extraordinary in our civic engagement.  Given the power of anti-Muslim voices in government, and given the media's inclination to report sensational (read: negative) stories about Muslims over good-news happenings, we need to do more and do what we do better to make an impact.

The best news is that we have municipal elections coming up in April 2013 and there are numerous American Muslim candidates running for office!  And then in 2014 we'll have a gubernatorial race in Illinois followed by another presidential election in 2016!

We are on our way.  This is our time to turn a corner in the journey for political empowerment of the American Muslim community.  As long as we stay true to our commitment to the common good (and fighting Islamophobia is certainly a part of that), no matter what our individual stances on specific issues may be, our engagement will be good for the community.

Rep. Joe Walsh is a great divider but not much else

One of the things I love most about America is the promise that this is a country where people from diverse backgrounds come together.  There are very few places in today’s world as diverse as America.  In one sense, we are a laboratory for inter-cultural, inter-ethnic and inter-religious relations in an increasingly interdependent world.  That’s important.   

Unfortunately, the 8^th congressional district is represented by a great divider whose expertise lay in polarizing his constituents.  Mr. Walsh has a knack for exploiting differences when, as a leader, he should find ways to bring us together.  The Indian American community in the 8th congressional district of Illinois is a prime example.  India is home to many faiths including Hinduism, Sikhism and Islam.  These faith communities have coexisted for centuries in peace.  There have been, however, periods of bloody, brutal inter-religious strife.  And in the past 60 or so years cunning politicians in India have whipped up inter-religious enmity to help them aggrandize power. 

A microcosm of India’s diversity now exists in the 8th congressional district of Illinois.  Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs live together among Christians, Jews and others.  And by and large, we have risen above the false flag grievances and moved towards creating lives of cooperation and peaceful coexistence.

Politics is one area in particular where Indian Americans of the 8th congressional district have found we can leverage our community’s numbers to make a difference.  Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs, standing together as the Indian American community, constitute upwards of 10% of the 8th congressional district.  That’s significant.  And it’s also overwhelmingly Democratic.  While there are notable professionals and entrepreneurs in the Indian American community, we are predominantly middle class, we care about immigrant rights and are concerned about civil rights.  These are our issues and that’s why we supported Raja Krishnamoorthi in the Democratic Primary and why we now support Tammy Duckworth. 

This, among many other factors, bodes ill for Mr. Walsh’s re-election effort.  Mr. Walsh’s campaign strategy, under these circumstances, is to drive a wedge within the Indian Americans and the best way for him to do that is to take up the cause of a reviled Indian politician named Narendra Modi.  Mr. Modi is the chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat.  He’s held this position for over a decade.  And in that time he has overseen some of the most horrific acts of communal violence since the withdrawal of the British Raj and the partition of India.  Because of Mr. Modi’s complicity in thousands of murders, gang rapes and destruction of residential, business and religious properties of enormous value in Gujarat in 2002, the U.S. State Department has repeatedly barred Mr. Modi from traveling to America. 

This has rankled a small but powerful minority of Indian Americans.  They are ardent Modi supporters who, despite evidence of his complicity in the 2002 pogrom of Indian Muslims, repeatedly deny Mr. Modi’s culpability. Mr. Walsh’s embrace of Mr. Modi and his tireless campaign to secure a visa for Mr. Modi to come to America has nothing to do with promoting stronger trade relations with India.  That is happening now and will continue irrespective of Mr. Modi’s ability to visit America.  Mr. Walsh’s championing of the Modi visa cause is a calculated effort to divide Indian American voters and to distract Indian American voters from the pressing domestic issues that impact their lives. 

This was brashly on display at a speech by Mr. Walsh on October 23, 2012 at the Hyatt Regency in Schaumburg, Illinois.  The event was, according to a regional ethnic newspaper, co-sponsored by a newly formed super PAC called Indian Americans for Freedom.  This super PAC was responsible for an Islamophobic attack ad in yet another local ethnic newspaper last week.  Mr. Walsh closed his speech to about 150 Indian Americans by reaffirming his support of Mr. Modi and to his commitment to bringing Mr. Modi to America.  It was an applause line tailored to this crowd and it succeeded marvelously.  It garnered a standing ovation. 

Among the attendees at this event were some very hateful people.  I was verbally assaulted with a barrage of hateful rhetoric.  And those within earshot who heard the vitriol did not say a word in protest against the hate nor in support of its target.  It was a shameful display but one that’s to be expected when Mr. Walsh is involved. 

Good leaders bring people together.  They unite people through compromise and through sensitivity for the various points of view within the community.  Joe Walsh fails to do any of this, and that is why he will lose in November.

Afghan Suicide Bomber Kills Dozens of Worshipers - NYTimes.com

KABUL, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber struck in northern Afghanistan on Friday morning, killing at least 45 people, just as worshipers were emerging from a mosque to celebrate the first day of Id al-Adha, the most important Muslim holiday, officials said. It was one of several attacks in Afghanistan on Friday, and by far the most lethal.

via www.nytimes.com

Whom shall we blame for this attack?  Is this too a conspiracy to make Muslims look bad?

Sick.

National Indian American Public Policy Institute hosts a meeting with Joe Walsh and pretends it's a debate

 

Manny Sharma introducing Rep. Joe Walsh

The India Tribune ran an editorial promoting a "debate" between Joe Walsh and Tammy Duckworth, candidates for the 8th congressional district, as one that would be focused on Indian American issues. The editorial said the nation was waiting to hear what these candidates had to say about issues of importance to Indian Americans.  While I was pretty sure most of my friends weren't on pins and needles over these issues, I decided it would be worthwhile for me to go.  And so I did!

The "debate" was held this evening, October 23, 2012 at 8 PM, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Schaumburg, Illinois.  I was worried that I might be stopped at the door.  The editorial made it clear that this was a "by invitation" only event.  I contacted sharma@niappi.com (the email to which interested persons were to directed to contact) and had an email exchange where I had to: (1) prove I was Indian American, then (2) describe the issues of concern to me, then (3) affirm my U.S. citizenship and registered voter status, then (4) provide my home address and then (5) disclose my favorite Indian food (okay, I'm kidding about the favorite Indian food question but everything else is true). Although I gave up all of this information to sharma@niappi.com, I still didn't get the invite.

I went anyways.  As I walked through the parking lot I saw a busload of Indian American senior citizens pull up to the hotel.  Bingo!  I found my cover.  I "blended" in with the crowd.  I was about twice as wide as the biggest of them.  I was as bald as the baldest of them.  But I was good 20 years younger than the youngest of them.  That last factor, and the fact that I look more Latino, Filipino or Arab than I do Indian, blew my cover.

 

I tried to blend in with the busload of Indian American senior citizens...

I got looks.  

But no one said anything and I just acted like I belonged.  But I still wasn't sure I would get in.  I had to "register" at a table outside the ballroom.  Lucky for me a doctor acquaintance from my neighborhood joined the line.  I looked back and smiled at JY.  JY (I'm not using his name because I'm not sure he was happy to see me) looked like he'd seen Lucifer himself.

"Hey!  How's it going?" he asked me with a half smile and a forced enthusiasm I know he didn't really feel.  I've know JY because he's a local doctor who works with the doctors in my family.

"Great!" I replied as a put my arm around his shoulders and gave him a big hug.  We're chumy as hell at all the Indian doctor parties (yes, Indian physicians have their own monthy get-togethers) so why the hell can't I gush a little here?  He was my ticket in if someone tried to give me grief about not being on the list.

It worked.  I made it a point to talk up JY the whole time.  The people running the event obviously knew JY.  I went in.  JY excused himself and I found a seat up front.

So far, so good.

I knew going into the event that it was not a "debate" because Tammy Duckworth already declined the invitation a while back.  Joe Walsh simply does not have enough substance to necessitate a follow up debate after all the ones they've already had (although I'm willing to wager that Joe wouldn't disappoint by flooring us with yet another "flat earth" idea if given the chance).  But the night held other funnies so I wasn't going to leave unentertained.

The meeting room had a sign that said "Joe Walsh and Tammy Duckworth Debate" and at the front of the room were two tables set atop a raised platform with two table cards with the names of the candidates printed on them.  A room with seating for about 250 people was set up.  There were plenty of cameras and a guy wearing a CNN hat running a video camera (but I don't think he was from CNN).

By 8:15pm I knew I was at a desi event because it was 15 minutes past the start time and there was no indication that anything was going to commence.  A few more minutes later a gentleman took to the stage with a mic in hand and announced (with a straight face mind you) that Joe Walsh has arrived, and that, although Tammy Duckworth declined the invitation, the organizers were going to give her a few more minutes to arrive (yes, he confirmed that Tammy Duckworth already declined the invitation... go figure!).

A few more minutes passed and the man with the mic introduced himself as Manny Sharma (could this be sharma@niappi.com who never got back to me?).  He introduced Joe Walsh.  Joe Walsh came in and sat down.  Mr. Sharma then gave a too-long introduction to the organization hosting the "debate" (the desi gene never fails).

Before handing over the floor to Joe Walsh Mr. Sharma announced, with a heavy sigh for dramatic effect, that Joe Walsh will not be taking any questions because Tammy Duckworth was not here and that this was no way to debate.  Instead, he would say a few words to the audience.

Apparently Joe Walsh, Manny Sharma and all the other organizers were holding their collective breath in the hopes that Tammy Duckworth was just pulling their leg about not attending and was actually in the hallway waiting to make a dramatic entrance.  That, or they took the audience for fools.

Joe Walsh took 10 minutes to stroke the audience.  Indian Americans are business owners. They work hard.  They are smart.  They are what's best about America.  The 8th Congressional District of Illinois has one of the largest Indian American populations in the nation and that's one of the things that makes it so great.  The U.S. debt is bad.  Bad people all over the world want to kill Americans.  

Deep policy stuff to be sure.  

And throughout the stroke-fest were "apologies" for Tammy Duckworth not being at the "debate".  He then admonished the audience to not vote for someone who doesn't show up to a "debate".

And then the closing!  It was a zinger!  This is what Joe Walsh said to close the event and then walked off stage and out of the hotel without taking a single question:

I have become one of the biggest advocates of Mr. Modi in Washington, DC.  I sent two letters to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton asking her to give Mr. Modi a visa to come to the United States.  We should invite him here. We have to invite him here.  We can learn from Mr. Modi and from what he's done in Gujarat.

The audience loved it.  The stroke-fest hardly moved the half-filled room of senior citizens, but the closing featuring Joe Walsh's love for Narendra Modi garnered lots of applause.  Who knew?

Afterwards I remained to mingle.  Right away I saw my neighbor and 22nd State Senate District candidate Cary Collins holding court with some of the attendees.  Cary is a Republican and was there as part of Joe Walsh's camp.  Cary was saying something about how all religions are peaceful and that got a handful of people all worked up.  Two gentlemen in the crowd, Ravi and Raja (per their name badges), were particularly fired up about correcting Cary's erroneous belief that Islam is peaceful and that faithful Muslims are peace-loving.

 

Republican State Senate (22nd Dist) Candidate Cary Collins

Cary saw me.  I went up to say hello, and I was sucked into the hate-fest.

These folks (not Cary Collins) were unabashedly Islamophobic.  And the people around them were mum. Shameful.

In truth, it was amusing to interact with some of these folks.  And it's amazing what a smile and an even keel will do to a hatemonger.

This event was obviously a set up to make Tammy Duckworth look as if she does not care about here Indian American constituents.  We know better.

The last line of Joe Walsh's speech is the tie that binds the folks at this event together - a passion for Narendra Modi.  All the other stuff is just window dressing.

Narendra Modi, the chief minister of the Indian state of Gujarat, has the blood of thousands of Indian Muslims on his hands.  That this group in the U.S. is so passionate about a man who ordered the police in the state of Gujarat to remain disengaged as thousands of innocent Indian Muslims were butchered by other Indians speaks to their values.

In the U.S., American Muslims who would champion people like Osama bin Laden or other terrorist leaders are considered pariah and held at bay.  We call them out for what they are even if they try to disguise themselves in the cloak of religion.

No doubt the same is true among the Hindu American community when it comes to these folks.

Informant: NYPD paid me to 'bait' Muslims - WSJ.com

NEW YORK — A paid informant for the New York Police Department's intelligence unit was under orders to "bait" Muslims into saying inflammatory things as he lived a double life, snapping pictures inside mosques and collecting the names of innocent people attending study groups on Islam, he told The Associated Press.

Shamiur Rahman, a 19-year-old American of Bengali descent who has now denounced his work as an informant, said police told him to embrace a strategy called "create and capture." He said it involved creating a conversation about jihad or terrorism, then capturing the response to send to the NYPD. For his work, he earned as much as $1,000 a month and goodwill from the police after a string of minor marijuana arrests.

"We need you to pretend to be one of them," Rahman recalled the police telling him. "It's street theater."

via online.wsj.com

Is New York City modeling itself as the first "police state" in America? This is really outrageous. This, in my opinion, goes beyond the sting operations conducted by the FBI.

I'm all in favor of promoting programs geared towards countering violent extremism (CVE) but this is taking things to a whole new (and grossly misguided although not unlawful) level.  But countering violent extremism requires a genuine partnership between law enforcement and the communities where there are concerns of violent extremism.  If the concern is to counter violent extremism with the American Muslim community, then law enforcement needs the full cooperation of this community.  That's not going to be happening when the cops are paying criminals within the American Muslim community to instigate, record and report inflammatory comments.

This does not make us more safe.