Archive for the ‘Tolerance’ Category
July 21, 2010
When you screw up, say you screwed up, apologize, and attempt to repair the damage, Kudos to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who screwed up big-time yesterday by firing Shirley Sherrod on the basis of a sharply edited right wing video. He did the right thing today. The following is from Politico:
“POLITICO Breaking News:
“Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack has personally apologized to Shirley Sherrod, the employee who was forced to resign Monday after videotapes surfaced of her making remarks that initially sounded racially discriminatory. Vilsack said Sherrod was “extraordinarily gracious” in accepting his apology and said he offered her a job that would take advantage of her “unique experiences” working with black and white farmers in Georgia. Sherrod, he said, wanted to think about it before answering. “This was my decision and it’s a decision I regret,” Vilsack said, saying he received no White House pressure to force Sherrod to resign. Vilsack plans to meet with the Congressional Black Caucus later Wednesday to discuss Sherrod.”
var sc_project=6152467;
var sc_invisible=1;
var sc_security=”2276aa67″;
34.064458
-118.451661
Tags:apology, screw-up, Sherrod, Vilsack
Posted in Ethics-general, Politics, Tolerance | 3 Comments »
July 20, 2010
Until Monday Shirley Sherrod was a low-level political appointee working in Georgia for the Department of Agriculture. A right-wing website posted a videotape appearing to show Sherrod saying she refused help to a farmer save his farm because he was white. Fox News played it endlessly, with all the fair and balanced commentators screaming racism and demanding Sherrod’s head.
The NAACP bit and denounced Sherrod’s apparent racism, and Agriculture Tom Vilsack pushed her out—all the way out—of government employment. The White House announced that the President supported Vilsack’s decision.
As the old saying goes, it was all lies, including the words an and the. The video had been edited to turn Sherrod’s remarks 180 degrees. She had been telling her personal tale of growth out of racism. She had thought of not helping the white farmer, identified in several news reports as Roger Spooner, then realized that the issue was rich and poor, not white and black, and had gone to great lengths to help him save his farm. And the whole thing took place 24 years ago, long before she entered government service. (more…)
34.064458
-118.451661
Tags:Department of Agriculture, Fox News, lies, NAACP, Obama administration, racism, Roger Spooner, Shirley Sherrod, Tom Vilsack, White House
Posted in Ethics-general, Politics, Tolerance | 5 Comments »
July 19, 2010
The Tea Party is a loosely organized group of people who favor generally conservative causes—lower taxes, smaller government, gun rights, and more immigration enforcement. But the party has attracted people to its rallies carrying signs comparing Obama to Hitler and telling him to “Go back to Kenya.” And members have spat epithets of faggot and nigger at congressmen Barney Frank (D-MA) and Jim Clyburn (D-SC).
As a result the NAACP passed a resolution last week calling on Tea Party leaders “to repudiate those in their ranks who use racist language in their signs and speeches.” (Several of those signs are shown here.) Tea Party Express spokesman Mark Williams, asked to tell racists “you’re not welcome” in the tea party, replied, “Racists have their own movement. It’s called the NAACP.”
Not satisfied to let things stand, Williams posted on his web site a letter supposedly written to Lincoln by “colored people” protesting emancipation and praising slavery.
While Williams defended his letter as satire, he has used ugly racial language regularly, especially in opposition to the proposed mosque near Ground Zero. He derided Mohammed as “the terrorist monkey god,” and called Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer, who backs building the mosque, a “Jewish Uncle Tom who would have turned rat on Anne Frank.” President Obama was an “Indonesian Muslim turned welfare thug.” (more…)
34.064458
-118.451661
Tags:Anne Frank, Barney Frank, Candy Crowley, CNN, colored people, conservative causes, David Webb, emancipation, ethics, faggot, Ground Zero, Hitler, Jim Clyburn, Kenya, Lincoln, Mark Williams, Mitch McConnell, Mohammed, monkey god, mosque, NAACP, Nigger, Obama, racism, Scott Stringer, slavery, Tea Party, Tea Party Express, Tea Party Federation
Posted in Ethics-general, Politics, Tolerance | 5 Comments »
July 17, 2010
The hate message is undisguised: “Where we Americans weep, they rejoice and intend to erect a shrine to the 9/11 terrorists they hail as martyrs. “
The “they” in the message can only refer to the moderate and patriotic American Muslims who support building a mosque and community center 2-1/2 blocks from Ground Zero. It’s not too big a stretch to think it also refers to Mayor Bloomberg, the Jewish Community Center of Manhattan, and everyone else who supports it.
The message is courtesy of Scott Wheeler, whose web site, www.goptrust.com, explains, “The National Republican Trust Political Action Committee (NRT PAC) was formed as an independent organization to help promote American values and support federal candidates for Congress, Senate and the Presidency who share those values. The NRT is committed to continuing the legacy of Ronald Reagan.”
Watch the vile ad to see what hate is being spread under the mantle of conservatism and Ronald Reagan. NBC and CBS have refused to air it, but it’s viral on the internet. Shades of the anti-Semitism of the 1930s.
var sc_project=6152467;
var sc_invisible=1;
var sc_security=”2276aa67″;
34.064458
-118.451661
Tags:. NBC, 9/11, American Muslims, anti-Semitism, CBS, community center, ethics, Ground Zero, Hatred, Jewish Community Center of Manhattan, martyrs, Mayor Bloomberg, mosque, National Republican Trust, Ronald Reagan, Scott Wheeler, terrorists
Posted in Ethics-general, Tolerance | Leave a Comment »
July 15, 2010
The long-running saga of a Muslim-American group’s effort to build a community center and mosque two and a half blocks from Ground Zero ended another chapter Wednesday night. New York’s Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on whether to declare the group’s 150-year old building to be a historic landmark, and thus require its preservation as is.
The hearing drew a robust crowd, hardly any of whom cared a bit about the building. The real issue was whether to allow a Muslim center near Ground Zero. Most of the arguments made in favor of landmark designation were anti-Muslim rants, like that of an unidentified woman who said “It would be a terrible mistake to destroy a 150-year old building in order to build a monument to terrorism.”
Dania Darwish, a new graduate of New York’s Fort Hamilton High School, argued for the mosque:
“My family died that day…You’re yelling at me and you don’t know. If a mosque was built maybe you would know what Islam is about.”
The community isn’t particularly bigoted—New Yorkers pride themselves on their diversity, and a Manhattan community board recently voted 29-1 with ten abstentions to approve the mosque.. If you expected New York Jews to be opposed, guess again: New York’s Jewish Week reported that Jewish leaders haven’t made a big deal about the center, and the Jewish Community Center of Manhattan even offered some advice. Jewish elected officials (more…)
34.064458
-118.451661
Tags:bigotry, Dania Darwish, diversity, ethics, Fort Hamilton High School, Ground Zero, hate, historic landmark, Jerrold Nadler, Jewish Community Center of Manhattan, Jewish Week, Landmarks Preservation Commission, Manhattan community board, Michael Bloomberg, mosque, Muslim Center, Muslim-American, New York, New York Jews, Scott Stringer, terrorism, tolerance
Posted in Ethics-general, Tolerance | 1 Comment »
June 18, 2010
Turkey, long America’s most reliable, and Israel’s only, ally in the Muslim world, is now being called anti-American, anti-Israel, and most alarming, Islamist, especially after the deadly May 31 incident when Turkish activists sailed into an Israeli blockade of Gaza and came off second best.
Turkey’s Prime Minister, Recap Erdogan (pronounced Re-jep ERD-uh-WAN) is the favorite whipping boy of just about anybody who is for Israel or against Iran, radical Islamists, or Muslims in general. It’s ironic that Erdogan, who has led Turkey toward most of the western democratic-style reforms demanded by the European Union as a condition for Turkey’s acceptance, is at now being accused by many, including many Turks, of wanting to return Turkey to the Muslim caliphate of pre-Ataturk days.
One of the West’s most insightful observers of Turkish affairs is South African journalist and author Hugh Pope, who for years headed the Istanbul office of the Wall Street Journal. Pope has an op-ed in today’s Haaretz, Israel’s most respected newspaper headlined Erdogan is not the bogeyman. In it he debunks the idea of an “Islamist foreign policy for Turkey, (more…)
34.064458
-118.451661
Tags:Ataturk, blockade, caliphate, democratic-style reforms, Erdogan is not the bogeyman, ethics, European Union, Gaza, Haaretz, Hugh Pope, Iran, Islamist foreign policy, Israel, May 31 incident, Muslim world, Palestinians, radical Islamist, Recap Erdogan, Turkey, Wall Street Journal
Posted in Ethics-general, International, Politics, Tolerance | Leave a Comment »
June 12, 2010
I went to see for myself what the mosque at Ground Zero is like. Considering the fuss made over the mosque by the New York Post and by the thousands of people who post rabid anti-mosque messages every three minutes on a Facebook group, I thought it would be easy to find; just go to Ground Zero and look around.
Nope, you can’t see it from Ground Zero, and none of the half-dozen locals I asked had any idea what I was talking about. I finally remembered that it was in a former Burlington Coat Factory store. I googled “Burlington Coat Factory Ground Zero New York,” and there it was: 45 Park Place (closed). Two blocks up Church Street from Ground Zero and a half-block into Park Place.
You can’t see the mosque from Ground Zero, and you can’t see Ground Zero from the mosque. We walked in and were greeted by Kemal, the caretaker, who was busy scrubbing the floor. He invited us to take off our shoes and look around. There wasn’t much to see—old drab retail space, completely empty except for the indoor/outdoor carpet that serves as a prayer rug.
The Imam is Feisal Abdul Rauf, a graduate of Columbia University who has worked for twenty years to build bridges between American Muslims and the broad public, and between America and the Muslim world. (more…)
34.064458
-118.451661
Tags:45 Park Place, 92nd Street YMHA, American Muslims, Anwar al-Awlaki, Burlington Coat Factory, ethics, Facebook group, Feisal Abdul Rauf, mosque at Ground Zero, Muslim Center, Muslim world, New York Post
Posted in Ethics-general, International, Politics, Tolerance | 4 Comments »
June 3, 2010
The Bible says “eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand.” (Exodus, 21:23) The Israeli government has long since amended this commandment. Israel’s policy appears to be eye for tooth.
Israel’s latest military action was to interdict an attempt to run an Israeli blockade of Hamas-controlled Gaza. The blockade-running flotilla sailed from Turkey with humanitarian supplies. It was stopped by Israel Defense Forces, who subdued the crews, killing ten of them, seized the boats and supplies, and brought the 700 activists, mostly Turkish, to Israel. The Israeli government said it would deport almost all of them within the next two days, but about 50 would be held for investigation into their part in the violence at sea.
It was another great victory for the once vaunted Israel Defense Forces over unarmed civilians. Here’s the recent scorecard of deaths:
· 2010 Gaza blockade incident: Israelis 0, Turks (and a few others) 10
· 2008-9 Gaza invasion: Israelis 13, Palestinians 1300
· 2006 Lebanon invasion: Israelis 162, Lebanese 1035
Israel asserts the right of self defense, and clearly some of the people they killed were fighting against Israel, including against the civilian population. But most opinion inside Israel is that the vast majority of those killed by the IDF have been unarmed non-combatants.
Israel’s relentless war on Palestinians and those who support them (more…)
34.064458
-118.451661
Tags:Bible, ethics, Exodus, eye for eye, Gaza, Hamas, humanitarian supplies, IDF, interdiction, Israel, Israel Defense Forces, Israeli blockade, Israeli government, Judith Ellis., Lebanon invasion, Muslim world, non-combatants, Orthodox Jews, Palestinians, Pyrrhic victory, Pyrrhus, right of self defense, scorecard of deaths, Today’s Zaman, Turkey, Turkish flags, unarmed civilians
Posted in Ethics-general, International, military, Tolerance | 1 Comment »
May 30, 2010
There’s a Facebook group called “1,000,000+ people who disapprove of building a mosque at Ground Zero!” It has 109,000 members so far, and the postings are mostly rabid anti-Muslim rants and slurs. Most of the members—even those not apparently driven by hate of Muslims—refer to all Muslims as “they”—as in they are terrorists, or they attacked us on 9/11.
There’s some background on the mosque here. Just last week a Manhattan community board struck a blow for New York-style tolerance and diversity by voting 29-1 with ten abstentions to approve the mosque. There are more hurdles ahead, but the community sentiment is in a good place.
I’ve joined the group to join the conversation. Wouldn’t it be nice if 109,000 more people joined who believed in religious freedom, and in NOT attributing to an entire people the acts of the worst of them. Go ahead and join up. You could join the conversation and perhaps inject a note of love-your-neighbor to the group. Who knows, it might be catching.
var sc_project=6152467;
var sc_invisible=1;
var sc_security=”2276aa67″;
34.064458
-118.451661
Tags:"1, 000, 000+ people who disapprove of building a mosque at Ground Zero!", 9/11, Anti-Muslim, conversation, Facebook, hate, love-your-neighbor, mosque at Ground Zero, religious freedom, terrorists
Posted in Ethics-general, International, Politics, Tolerance | Leave a Comment »
May 27, 2010
First the good news: The New York Times reports that a Manhattan community board voted 29-1, with ten abstentions, to approve a proposed Muslin community center two blocks from Ground Zero. The board’s vote is advisory, but the Times notes that the vote is a measure of community sentiment. Score one for New Yorkers and one for tolerance.
And the bad news: A Quinnipiac poll of Connecticut voters showed only 33 percent were less likely to vote for Richard Blumenthal after he lied about serving as a Marine in Vietnam. Sixty-one percent said it doesn’t make a difference. And some indecipherable four percent said they were more likely to vote for him because of his lie. Sadly, 54 percent bought Blumenthal’s claim that he merely misspoke about his military service, while only 38 percent said he lied. Thumbs down for Connecticut.
var sc_project=6152467;
var sc_invisible=1;
var sc_security=”2276aa67″;
34.064458
-118.451661
Tags:Blumenthal, Connecticut, Connecticut voters, Connecticuters., Ground Zero, lies, Manhattan community board, Marines, military service, misspoke, Muslim community center, Muslims, New York City, New Yorkers, Quinnipiac poll, The New York Times., tolerance, Vietnam
Posted in Ethics-general, military, Politics, Tolerance | 2 Comments »
When you screw up, say you screwed up, apologize, and attempt to repair the damage, Kudos to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, who screwed up big-time yesterday by firing Shirley Sherrod on the basis of a sharply edited right wing video. He did the right thing today. The following is from Politico:
Ethics Bob 