6 Minnesota Imams drop "John Doe" passengers from their lawsuit

We all remember the 6 Imams who were removed from a US Airways flight for "suspicious behavior" that included excessively loud praying, chanting "Allah, Allah, Allah," and angry, muttered conversations. Well, they removed the "John Doe" passengers who reported their behavior as suspicious from their lawsuit. Normally I'd celebrate a victory of common sense over stupidy, but they still plan to move forward with the suit against US Airways and Minneapolis airport workers. You can't expect too much good news at once... Hat tip: LGF

I'm back!

It's scary how time flies when you haven't blogged in a while... Everything's going fine over in the Wookie household, I was just too busy at work to blog. I rarely blog from home, especially since the little Wookette was born. So that really just leaves work, and since they'd been drowning me in paperwork lately, my blogging suffered. True only 3 off you noticed the hiatus, but we love our loyal readers here at Cake or Death, so I'm back. And to be truly honest, I really wasn't very excited about blogging anything lately. Nothing in the news was really grabbing my attention. I needed a jumpstart and who'd have guessed it'd come in the form of an email forward. The Fetching Mrs. Wookie hasn't been feeling well the past couple days, so in her recovery time, she sent out a few forwards. Some are political, some are religious, some are just fun, but one in particular caught a couple people's attentions which led to an interesting reply. The email in question was about, the Religion of Peace. A state employee was participating in a regular training session that included representatives from Protestant, Catholic, and Muslim faiths who were there to summarize their beliefs. Each got their turn to speak, and when the Q&A period came the original author of the email asked the Imam some pointed questions regarding jihad (holy war against infidels), infidels (non-believers), and who qualifies to be labelled as an infidel (anyone not Mulsim), and what devout Muslims are supposed do to infidels (namely, kill them). It was interesting in that the Imam acknowledged everything including the interpretation that Muslims are supposed to kill infidels. But it was the replies to the email that the Fetching Mrs. Wookie got that started the blogging juices flowing again. One friend replied back saying how emails like this promote discrimination and hatred, that Muslims are a peaceful religious community, and that we ought to do the Christian thing and stop such prejudiced emails. That got me a little fired up. My reply was as follows... The problem is that the vocal sects are the ones with the extremist tendencies and the peaceful Muslims around the world stand by and say nothing as the extremists in their midst tarnish the good name of their religion. If a Christian commits crime in the name of Christianity, pastors, clerics, and priests around the world would (and have) publicly denounce the extremists’ actions as evil and not in accordance with their religion’s beliefs. But where are the Imams publicly defending their peaceful religion that’s been hijacked by ruthless killers? They are unfortunately to few and far between. The email was in no way an attack on the millions of peaceful Muslims here in the US or abroad. It was certainly an indictment and criticism of how their religion has been distorted, but not distorted by US citizens or those who distribute these emails. It wasn’t distorted by the news media or our government. Its good name is being destroyed by its own practitioners; those who peacefully practice their religion but say nothing as well as those who murder in the name of Allah. “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” – Edmund Burke So you can either view this email as an attempt to incite hatred and prejudice against Muslims or you can view it as an attempt to flush out those who smear the true nature of Islam and motivate Islam’s peaceful but silent followers to publicly ostracize those who abuse their religion. It's good to be back...

Newly elected Congressman Ellison insists he'll only swear in on a copy of the Koran

He's the first Muslim elected to US Congress and he's refusing to swear in on the Bible. Some think, what's the big deal? He's not Christian; he's Muslim, so let him swear on his own holy book. A fair argument, but Dennis Prager's become the latest conservative labeled a racist by the PC police thanks to this column that says it is a big deal what book he uses to swear in on. Forgive me, but America should not give a hoot what Keith Ellison's favorite book is. Insofar as a member of Congress taking an oath to serve America and uphold its values is concerned, America is interested in only one book, the Bible. If you are incapable of taking an oath on that book, don't serve in Congress. In your personal life, we will fight for your right to prefer any other book. We will even fight for your right to publish cartoons mocking our Bible. But, Mr. Ellison, America, not you, decides on what book its public servants take their oath. It's a good point. America reveres its symbols; from the flag to the bald eagle to our public officials swearing to uphold the laws of this great country and taking that oath with their left hand on the Bible and right hand in the air. Can we just subsitute that powerful imagery to suit the person taking the oath? Would it mean the same if a Mormon swore on the Book of Mormon? A Scientologist on a copy of Dianetics? Should a left handed person be allowed to swap their hands around, right hand on the Bible and left in the air? Would those images have the same meaning to the American people? It may seem arbitrary, but like most symbols, it's the meaning that's important. What's the big deal about the flag? It's just some stars and stripes... Who cares if we burn it our not? WHo cares if an "artist" puts it on a wall covered in urine and feces? Or the bald eagle... it's just another bird. It's the people who fought, bled, and died for those images that gives the image meaning. Washington, Jefferson, and Madison swore on the Bible. So have thousands of other Christians, Jews, agnostics and aetheists who served as congressmen, senators, and presidents. Why should Muslims receive preferential treatment? Dennis also cautions that we ought to take this seriously because of the message this send the Muslim world. The appeasement crowd would say that this would show our accceptance of all cultures, creeds, and religions. That would matter if our primary concern was making the rest of the world like us. But our enemies could see this as the beginning of their ultimate goal: the Islamicization of America. Take some time to read the whole article. It's well worth it...