But is Rifqa Bary free to practice her religion, Mr. President?

we also celebrate how much Muslims have enriched America and its culture -- in ways both large and small."

What in god's name is he talking about? Muslims have played no role in the founding or development of the legal and political instiutions of this country. The first Muslims are not even recorded until the early 20th century, and there were only a handful until the last few decades. And even if we were to include the numbers belonging to the unorthodox Nation of Islam (and Elijah Muhammad was regarded by orthodox, Middle Eastern Muslims as not the real thing), fewer than 1% of this country is Muslim, and fewer than 1/3 of 1% are orthodox Muslims of the kind Al-Azhar or the ayatollahs of Qom would recognize.

Tell us please how Muslims have "enriched America" or, for that matter, how they are right now so noisily "enriching" Great Britain, Denmark, The Netherlands, Spain, France, Germany, Italy, Norway, and Sweden.

Tell us all about the contributions to art and science that have been made not despite Islam, but in the spirit of Islam, tell us about the contributions to political theory (and don't leave out the Washburn School of Law Professor, a Muslim, who has argued in a law review article that apostates can be killed on a kind of bizarre intellectual-property-cum-national-security theory, for revealing "protected knowledge" -- the knowledge known presumably only to Muslims -- to the enemy Infidels).

Let's have that list of all those enrichments, and then some of us will, on that basis, whether or not to go forward with -- in the court of our own opinions -- our not-so-soft impeachments.

Obama forgot to mention that Islam also gave us 9/11.
The American people knew what Obama was when they voted for him, but they voted for him anyway. This has to be the most stupid generation.

The One is such a stooge.

Obama: Pimp My Islam.

A one man sleeper cell.

...She even traveled to Washington to testify before Congress.

Maybe she can have us non-Muslims travel to Mecca and Medina to learn about Islam.

/Oh wait, Islamic apartheid doesn't allow us as we'd defile those cities with our presence.

Great, I'm going to send the speech to ;

Governor Charlie Crist's office:
Phone: (850) 488-4441, (850) 488-7146
Fax: (850) 487-0801
Email: Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com

Florida Department of Children and Family:
George H. Sheldon, Secretary
1317 Winewood Blvd.
Building 1, Room 202
Tallahassee, Florida
Phone: (850) 487-1111
Fax: (850) 922-2993

One of those values is the freedom to practice your religion -- a right that is enshrined in the First Amendment of the Constitution. Nashala Hearn, who joins us from Muskogee, Oklahoma, took a stand for that right at an early age. When her school district told her that she couldn't wear the hijab, she protested that it was a part of her religion. The Department of Justice stood behind her, and she won her right to practice her faith.

So will the Department of Justice stand behind Rifqa Bary and her right to practice Christianity? Or is the DOJ only interested now in making sure that no one ever again pours water onto poor, old, misunderstood Khalid Sheikh Muhammad?

It is obscene that there is an iftar dinner at the White House. Muslims have done NOTHING to enrich America. The islamic fifth column is a large sleeper cell, quietly growing and gaining power. They don't call much attention to themselves right now but just wait until there are ten or twenty million of them. Then we will begin to experience the trials and tribulations of Europe.

I could be wrong but I don't think Americans will tolerate the crap that's going on in Europe vis-a-vis islam and muslims. Islam is irrelevant in America with one exception: its insidious, malevolent doctrine makes every devout muslim a security threat. I don't know how anyone could sit down and eat with a bunch of deceitful, conniving muslim supremacists.

Robert Ferrigno anyone? Looking more plausible day by day....

Stating 2001, the year America lost the twin-towers and 3000 innocent civilians, while a 'war-on-terror' was on, the White House celebrate the enemy:
http://www.blip.tv/file/256032

“Elsheba Khan's son, Kareem, made the ultimate sacrifice for his country when he lost his life in Iraq. Kareem joined the military as soon as he finished high school. He would go on to win the Purple Heart and Bronze Star, along with the admiration of his fellow soldiers. In describing her son, Elsheba said, "He always wanted to help any way that he could." Tonight, he's buried alongside thousands of heroes in Arlington National Cemetery. A crescent is carved into his grave, just as others bear the Christian cross or the Jewish star. These brave Americans are joined in death as they were in life -- by a common commitment to their country, and the values that we hold dear.”

Really? Does the death of one Muslm soldier – was he a True Believer, a devoted Muslm, or was he one who wore his Islam most lightly? And what was the reaction by other Muslims who lived near his family, to his joining the army, or to his death? Was it one of great and heartfelt support, and pride, and an eagerness to encourage other young Muslims to follow his example,or was perhaps the attitude one of deep hostility, and of indifference to his death, save on the part of course of his relatives? This kind of anecdotal evidence is the kind of sentimentalism that Bush, and Clinton, and others have taken to doing (I think especially of Bush pointing, in the audience at one of his idiotic State of the Union speeches, tp an American war widow, the wife of a Marine, sitting next to an Iraqi woman, a most unrepresentative Iraqi woman, who was there as a deeply grateful (and presumably “typical”) representative of Iraq.
And Obama in this speech does the same treacly and intolerable thing. And his appalling speechwriters for this event allowed him to blandly recycle the very same Muslim soldier – for god’s sake don’t tell me there was only one Muslims soldier in the American army who died in Iraq – and in any case whom hope to impress or sway by such obvious and, under the circumstances, unjustified pandering – that is, the very same story of Kareem Khan, who died in Iraq, but enrolled, and fought, not because he was following the dictates of Islam in enrolling in the army of an Infidel nation-state but, rather, because he chose – as very few other Muslims chose—to ignore those dictates, and that inculcated hostility to the institutions of an Infidel nation-state. Could not someone in the entire Obama administration come up with at least one othe example, instead of using the one that Colin Powell used last year? And by the way, are the Muslim communities in this country reminiscent of, or very different from, the Ital0o-American and German-American communities during World War II, where every boy hastened to enroll in the army, or sign up for the draft, and every barbershop proudly displayed pictures of soldiers, and especially of those who had died. And does the behavior of Muslims in this country, during the past eight years since 9/11/2001, especially in regard to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, put us in mind of, for example, the Japanese-Americans who signed up for the 442nd Regiment, that became the first or second most decorated American regiment in World War II? Any similarities there? No, I didn’t think you would find any.

The fact that Kareem Khan is the very same soldier who was used by Colin Powell, in his indignation last year, not so much about the charges that Obama was a Muslim – that could be objected to –but rather that anyone would think there would be anything worrisome or objectionable to a President, as the fashionable and studiedly casual phrase people like to use has it, “who just happens to be Muslim.” But he, Colin Powell, has no idea what it would take to learn about Islam. He thinks his years as that unappealing and even dangerous thing, "an old Washington hand," has allowed him, by osmosis, to acquire a knowledge of Islam. He has been taken to task, as some may remember, by several people, including -- unforgettably -- Wafa Sultan. Oh, Colin Powell knows all about Islam, because Colin Powel was the regular tennis partner of the affable Prince Bandar, lord of all he surveyed, and nice, generous Prince Bandar (that Jaguar personally delivered to Mrs. Colin Powell, the same exact model as one she had once owned, and missed so terribly), could of course be trusted to show Colin Powell the true face of "moderate" Islam -- with just a touch of port-and-cigars let's-all-be-men-of-the-world together, hein, mon vieux?

The real story of Kareem Khan is about how very few Muslims have enrolled, and about the examples of treacherous behavior, and even murder of fellow non-Muslm soldiers, by some of the very few Muslims who enrolled. There was that man who orginally came from Lebanon who as a Marine in Iraq deserted from his post -- was it with some secrets? weapons? what? -- and then, having been found, was brought to justice in America, or would have been, except for the fact that, after delivering a deeply sincere tearful speech to the press, in which he signed off with "Semper Fi," then proceeded to desert again, and as far as we know he is back in northern Lebanon. There was the Muslim soldier who rolled a grenade into the tent of sleeping officers, killing two of them and wounding many more. There was the Muslim sailor who, on a ship in the Persian Gulf, somehow sent word to other Muslims on shore that he could supply military secrets to them. There have been other examples, too, and Obama surely knows them. But he would like to rewrite this history, as apparently he is willing, in his attempt to woo Muslims or, still worse, to mislead non-Muslim Americans about the nature of Islam and to convince them of the all-round swellness and all- Americanness of Muslims -- forget about CAIR, forget about MPAC, forget all of them, forget the list of Muslims arrested, tried, convicted, forget tghe list of Muslims who suddenly disappeared, having decamped in order to avoid being questioned or even charged, and that includes a few imams celebrated for their participation in those deceptive but apparenty heart-warming Interfaith Healing Get-Togethers, about which we now know so much more than we did an innocent eight years ago, but Obama apparently wants us to regain that innocence, and cast off those lendings of that hard-won knowledge, acquired so often by study despite, and not with the encouragement of, our confused and benighted political and media elites.

I wrote about Colin Powell last year, when he invoked the same anecdotal evidence of Kareem Khan, and Kareem Khan's death, for all the world as if that lone example signified an outpouring of Muslim loyalty and support, practically a one-man 442nd Regiment. It bears reposting:

Fitzgerald: Colin Powell and Jihad: A dereliction of duty

In evaluating the threat of Islam and Jihad, for the colin-powells of this world what counts is the flimsiest of anecdotal evidence. He takes the sentimentalism of our depraved politics at face value: "and then there is Mary, who lives in Sioux City, Iowa and makes $13.42 an hour." In this he recalls Bush at one of his State-of-the-Union farces, pointing to an Iraqi woman, who had been deliberately seated next to the parents of a Marine killed in Iraq. He asks her to stand up and acknowledge the applause of the crowd, applause presumably due her because she is "an Iraqi woman" who has not tried to kill Americans, and may even support what they are doing, or think they are doing, in Iraq -- which makes her, of course, a hero.

In an interview yesterday, Powell reached new heights or depths (they are the same in this case) of anecdotal absurdity. He offered up this:
"I'm also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say, and it is permitted to be said. Such things as 'Well you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.' Well the correct answer is 'He is not a Muslim, he's a Christian, he's always been a Christian.' But the really right answer is 'What if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country?' The answer is 'No. That's not America.' Is there something wrong with some 7-year old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she can be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion he's a Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.
"I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo-essay about troops who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in you can see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards, Purple Heart, Bronze Star, showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then at the very top of the headstone, it didn't have a Christian cross, it didn't have a Star of David. It had a crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Karim Rashad Sultan Khan. And he was an American, he was born in New Jersey, he was 14 at the time of 9/11 and he waited until he can go serve his counrty and he gave his life."
So, on the basis of having seen a picture of a Muslim mother of a Muslim son who had been killed in Iraq, Colin Powell uses his (apparent) prestige to tell the interviewer and all of America, that there is nothing wrong with Islam, nothing wrong with the ideology of Islam, nothing to be concerned about in Sharia supremacism, nothing wrong with the idea of a Muslim president. His irresponsibility astounds.
He once held high office. And though he never demonstrated any particular gifts, he acquired -- possibly because there had to be something good about him to focus on -- the reputation for "integrity." Apparently the gift to his wife of a Jaguar from Prince Bandar, his tennis partner, who was recently revealed in Great Britain to have been the recipient of up to $2 billion in kickbacks from a British aerospace company, and who was famous for distributing his largesse to powerful people in Washington, did nothing to modify this reputation for "integrity." It would be useful to know, by the way, whether Colin Powell has been on the Arab lecture-circuit, the way so many others among our high and mighty have been, picking up, for a single lecture, a hundred thousand, two hundred thousand, even a million dollars (if you are Bill Clinton, or the first George Bush). But palling around with an obvious fixer and influence-peddler who worked on behalf of a sinister ruling family of a most sinister country, Saudi Arabia, befriending him, becoming his tennis-partner, says a lot about Colin Powell's judgment -- none of it good.
But in his offhand remarks In Defense Of Islam -- remarks based on his having seen a photograph of a mother mourning her son -- demonstrate what is so wrong with so many of our high and mighty, who presume to instruct and protect us. What does that photograph tell us? It tells us nothing at all about what Islam inculcates. Unless Colin Powell has studied the Qur'an, Hadith, and Sira, unless he has read the Qur'anic commentators, and such influential people at present as Qaradawi and Tantawi, he knows nothing about Islam, and has a duty not to make pronouncements as if he does. The dead soldier was, it appears, one of a very few Muslims who joined up. Indeed, there have been widespread reports of how the handful of Muslim (not Black Muslim) soldiers in the American and British armies have been subject to harassment and threats and even, in Great Britain, plots, by fellow Muslims who are outraged that they would behave in so un-Islamic a fashion, and dare to join an Infidel army to "fight against Muslims."
Is Colin Powell aware of how few Muslims are in the army, the Reserves, the National Guard? Is he aware of how few are like the soldier whose grieving mother at his gravestone apparently struck him so much that he felt it gave him the right to pontificate to the public at large about Islam? He only has that right when he learns enough about Islam. And there are no signs, none, that he has been any more diligent or responsible in fulfilling that task than Bush, or a hundred others, at the top of the Washington heap, who have squandered so many men, so much money, so much material, so much attention, so much time, in their insensate inability, or willful refusal, to learn about the ideology -- the politics, the geopolitics -- of the Total Belief-System of Islam.
What Powell did was a clear dereliction of duty. He baselessly, on the slimmest and most misleading of anecdotal evidence, jumped to sweeping conclusions about Islam and Jihad. A glimpse of a grave and a griever tugged at his heartstrings, but did not tell him anything about what the texts and tenets of Islam are all about, and why that particular grieving mother was, if she had no regrets about her son joining the American army, as little representative of Muslims as her son was. That photograph had no larger significance. It said nothing about the texts, tenets, attitudes, and atmospherics of Islam. An intelligent observer would have understood this. A responsible observer, aware of his own ignorance of Islam, would never have dared to draw a conclusion, and impose that conclusion, on a presumably naive, and in some cases far too respectful, audience.
Of course Powell is behaving just like those who sentimentalize everything, reducing issues to this or that "real life" individual who may, or may not, be a useful representative or guide. But the error in this case was particularly egregious, and the irresponsibility flabbergasting, given the dangers the Infidels everywhere face. Does Powell know what is going on in southern Thailand? Does he think about the Biafra War, or southern Sudan? What does he know about the treatment of Hindus in Pakistan and Bangladesh? What does he know about the spending of a hundred billion dollars by the Saudis alone to spread Islam all over the globe? What does he know about the present and certain future troubles, presented by no other group of immigrants, the result of the Muslim presence in Western Europe? He knows, I suspect, nothing of this. He's a big shot. He delivers lectures. He speaks slowly, and portentously. He has an air, some think (I don't) of "rectitude." We are expected to admire him, and to forgive this kind of negligence -- a failure to perform due diligence in investigating the matter of Islam -- that does damage to the ignorant and the simple-minded, who may not recognize anecdotal evidence, or be able to see how misleading it is.
Why should we forgive Colin Powell? What's so wonderful, what has ever been so wonderful, about him? And when will he give back that Jaguar to Prince Bandar?

[Posted by Hugh at October 20, 2008]

Human rights in the PC MC paradigm are only for "ethnic" people -- and Rifqa Bary, by forsaking her "ethnic" parents and her "ethnic" religion & culture (indeed, the most privileged "ethnic" culture & religion in the world today, Islam), and by embracing a "white" religion (evangelical Christianity), has effectively become an "Honorary White": i.e., a pariah in a West deformed by PC MC and its perverse dogma of Reverse Racism.

You think I'm kidding? You think I'm exaggerating? No: this is the political reality we are dealing with. This is exactly why this madness is going on. Until we pinpoint the pathology, we will be flailing around with tangential protests.

When are you guys going to get it? The madness and irrationality of the West is due solely to the fact that MOST MUSLIMS ARE BROWN PEOPLE.

I have the feeling that the only time Obama is going to be mentioning Rifqa Bary, will be after she is dead........

If he mentions her at all.

Let's hope common sense prevails and that Rifqa Bary will be allowed the American tradition of "Freedom of Worship".......

Common Sense is a hard thing to find these days.....

But I can only hope.....

Great Post Hugh!
(As Always!)
Keep up the truly inspiring and *great* work!

I am glad that Hugh brought up the question about in what ways have muslims enriched our culture??!!

But, then I thought of a few ways - they certainly have enriched it. Now we have them infiltrating our schools via the MSA and distorted history books in the lower grades. We have them infiltrating our government offices, the electoral college, our security agencies. We have untold numbers of lawsuits by bullying tactics to try to shut us up because they don't like us discussing their atrocious texts. The list goes on, I think you all get the drift.

Now, I can say they have enriched my life because I have spent years studying islam and found that I have turned to my own religion more fervently and thanking God that He gave me this life. And I pray for muslims everywhere who are the first victims of islam and its immoral death cult.

I wonder what nice things BO will be saying about Christian and Jewish people and the contributions they and their culture have brought to Western civilization.

To add to Hughs list

John Allen Muhammad who in January 1991 exploded a grenade in an Army tent during his military service in Saudi Arabia and earlier stole an M-16 rifle on a base in Germany.

John Allen Muhammad is better known as the beltway sniper

I have a question why wasn't Sgt. Hasan Akbar, a Muslim American soldier, who killed two colleagues and wounded 14 other troops after tossing grenades into tents while soldiers slept at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait on March 23, 2003 mentioned by Obama?

Yes muslims 'enriched' America Just ask the relatives of those who died on 9-11 in which ways islam 'enriched' America.

*Enriched* America?

Really?

After all those wasted millions and billions in de facto jizya poured into the sand in Iraq and Afghanistan and Pakistan and Egypt and Jordan and Turkey and let's not forget the bottomless pit known as 'the Poor Palestinians [TM]'???

Not to mention all the money that's had to be spent on extra security measures at airports, and so on.

Barack Hussein Obama shows he is at one with the Muslim world.

SO, Kareen Khan is the exception that proves the rule?

Is Obama going to have a sedar after Rosh Hashonah? Maybe he can invite Neturei Karta.

Please insist upon celebrating Jewish Holidays in the WH. Write, call, whatever, you Christians even.

Nobama is such a putz.

The Underground Railroad is up and running again.
This time they are slaves from Islam.
The same Islam that sold the Africans slaves to everyone and too over 120 million Black Africans for themselves, a fact that has been hidden, but NOT ANY MORE.
ISLAM HAS TO BE DESTROYED, LIKE THE KKK AND NAZI THEY ARE,
TELL OBAMA TO SAY MERRY CHRISTMAS TO THE MUSLIMS WORLD. RAMADAN IS A MOON GOD AFFAIR WITH THE CRESCENT MOON AND STAR WHICH BELONGED THE TO ANIMIST ARABS BEFORE mUHAMMAD WAS BORN.
MODERATE MUSLIMS ARE A LIE AS MUHAMMAD HAD THOSE KIND OF MUSLIMS KILLED.

At last! The Obamahdi has revealed his true purpose! He will take your silly America and make it submit to Islam! Praise Allah!

- Abdullah Bhullah, the wacky mullah

So on this occasion, we celebrate the Holy Month of Ramadan, and we also celebrate how much Muslims have enriched America and its culture -- in ways both large and small.

Ain't nothing holy about Ramadam, or Islam and Moslems, for that matter.

*** 15:26 ***

Folks here in America are fast getting fed up with Prez Obama. Mainly because he's full of crap. A real dumbass, he, poorly educated and incapable of little beyond receiving the gifts of Diversity, which is HR-speak for racial discrimination packaged in the Happy Face of ignorance and vileness.

Doesn't this clown ever shut the hell up?

*** Ishaq 5:17 ***

Please, Mr. President, sir. Got back to Indonesia where ya belong. And take your shovel-face ingrate with you. Please?

Stooge? No. Ignorant of islam? No.
Dhimmi? No.
Closet muslim? Yes.
Anti-American? Yes.
Communist wanna be dictator? Yes.
Anti-Christian? Yes.
He does these things out of hatred for America and love for islam and the slavery thereof.
He has nothing in common with us...nothing.

Obama is a liar and Truth is
killing his Marxist agenda.

Obamahdi a Marxist! Impossible! Haram! Haram!

- Abdullah Bhullah, the wacky mullah.

Obama is Not a closet Muslim - just yet another over optimistic lazy thinking lefty who thinks that there is such a thing as a moderate majority of muslims, these sorts then kid themselves that only a very small minority of fanatical jihadists pose a problem. In other words a useful idiot.

Mr Spencer provides valuable evidence that the problem lies in the core scipture and the personal historic model of Mo himself.

Don't know about America but in UK muslims have 'enriched' our culture with their ubiquitous corner shops selling harcore porn and alcohol in all our towns and cities.

I expect there is some text that allows this when selling to 'pigs and monkeys'

I was thinking a bit more about this article and this complete junk that Ramadan is "HOLY" is just that - junk.

I found a good article about how Ramadan and EID got started and as usual it is surrounded by some pretty smarmy events of ole mo.

www.faithfreedom.org/2009/08/23/how-ramadan-and-eid-became-noble-rituals-in-islam/

And one thing that marks so much things that are islamic - the blood is still flowing in their 'holy' month.

Obama is such a good little dhimmi! He will win the dhimmi-of-the-year award by a landslide. I sure hope he comes to the award ceremony - it will be another chance for him to read a speech in front of the TV camera.

As Obama participates in the Muslim observance of Ramadan, in particular here an Iftar, or fast-breaking dinner, an interested observer might take note that a Muslim contributor at Suite 101.com, Christine Benlafquih (that's a thought- provoking first name) states that, regarding holidays (eids) in Islam:

"Muslims already observe three established holidays (eids) in Islam: Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, and the weekly Jumu'ah eid. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) warned Muslims not to add or remove anything from their religion, saying: "If somebody tries to introduce into this faith of ours (Islam) something which is not a part of it, it is to be rejected and that person is condemned." (al-Bukhaari and Muslim)

Therefore, Muslims should be satisfied with their faith and avoid the traditions and holidays of non-Muslims ..."

Although this particular article is about Mothers' Day, her advice is clear that Muslims should not participate in the holidays of other religions.

She specifically states, "Celebrating holidays other than Islamic holidays is regarded as bid'ah (innovation) and therefore forbidden.
Muslims should adhere to their own religion and avoid following non-Muslim traditions."

http://islamic-practices.suite101.com/article.cfm/mothers_day_fathers_day_an_islamic_view

There wouldn't be a double standard at work here would there?

Sweet. Now I can send my kid to school with a hat on if he wants! Right? :-)

Freedom of Religion, I guess we can't make those satanists take off their horns and capes and dragon tails anymore and make gothic warlocks take off their robes and sandals.

Seriously. With the appointment of "i'm better than any white person" to the justice department they will create a sharia department soon, take a look at the UK. Simply put, there is a dress code. Abide by it or go somewhere else. I believe there is a school right outside of DC somewhere that wants you there.

Keep religion in your home and your place of worship, when you are in public the priority is to respect other people, not your religion.