They're laughing because everyone knows Sharia could never, ever come to Oklahoma, right?
Actually, Americans in general are getting used to a lot more Sharia, bit by bit, piece by piece, than they realize.
Preemptive strike: "Islamic Sharia Law to Be Banned in, ah, Oklahoma: Oklahoma Calls Ban on Islamic Law a 'Preemptive Strike,'" by Joel Siegel for ABC News, June 14 (thanks to all who sent this in):
Oklahoma is poised to become the first state in the nation to ban state judges from relying on Islamic law known as Sharia when deciding cases.The ban is a cornerstone of a "Save our State" amendment to the Oklahoma constitution that was recently approved by the Legislature.
The amendment -- which also would forbid judges from using international laws as a basis for decisions -- will now be put before Oklahoma's voters in November. Approval is expected.
Oklahoma has few Muslims - only 30,000 out of a population of 3.7 million. The prospect of sharia being applied there seems remote. But a chief architect of the measure, Republican State Rep. Rex Duncan, calls the proposed ban a necessary "preemptive strike" against Islamic law coming to the state.
"I see this in the future somewhere in America," Duncan, who chairs the state House Judiciary Committee, told ABC News. "It's not an imminent threat in Oklahoma yet, but it's a storm on the horizon in other states."
Sharia - which means "path" in Arabic - governs many aspects of Muslim life and influences the legal code in a majority of Muslim countries.
There are many interpretations of what Sharia means, but in some countries strict interpretations "are used to justify cruel punishments such an amputation and stoning as well as unequal treatment of women in inheritance, dress and independence," according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
There is actually no form of Sharia that doesn't contain those things. There are Muslim countries where these elements of Sharia are not enforced, but there is no version of Sharia itself that doesn't have them.
Sharia has gained a toehold in some western countries, notably Great Britain, where five sharia courts have been established to settle certain disputes among Muslims, with the government's blessing.The proposed Oklahoma amendment is aimed, in part, at "cases of first impression," legal disputes in which there is no law or precedent to resolve the matter at hand.
In such cases, judges might look to laws or rulings in other jurisdictions for guidance. The proposed amendment would block judges in Oklahoma courts from drawing on sharia, or the laws of other nations, in such decisions....
It almost happened in Ontario Canada. Their laughters could turn into "oh nos" if they continue to be in a state of denial.
Madeline Gruen in The Huffington Post:
The radical Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir America (HTA) will host a conference in Chicago on July 11 to hype the virtues of an Islamic state ruled according to the strictest interpretation of Islamic law. The group launched an online social media campaign to promote the event; one that serves as a prime example of how extremists are able to expose the mainstream to their ideology.
HTA hosted a similar conference outside of Chicago last year, which drew about 500 participants. This year, the campaign to promote the conference is more comprehensive, and the group expects many more participants as a result; it has booked an 11,000-square-foot ballroom at the Chicago Marriott Oak Brook that can accommodate more than one thousand.
HTA is part of a worldwide organization, Hizb ut-Tahrir (HT), which works towards the establishment of an Islamic state (Khalifah) in a Muslim country. Once a government and a military have been installed, it intends to spread Islam to the rest of the world. HT condones violence against Western troops in Muslim countries and advocates the eradication of Israel, but has so far maintained a non-violent approach to its objectives.
9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is a former HT adherent. He, like others, joined a militant organization after becoming impatient with HT's softer methods, which is why some observers have labeled HT "a conveyor belt to terrorism."
A component of HTA's strategy is to instill a sense of alienation among American Muslims so that they will turn away from their country and instead identify themselves as members of the Ummah (worldwide Muslim community). HTA tells Muslims not to vote or to embrace the culture of the "unbelievers." However, HTA will indulge in socializing online in order to generate support.
2010 Propaganda Campaign
Social media is more popular than ever. The web is no longer simply a series of static billboards for celebrities and corporations that do not allow for two-way interaction. Social media lets users generate content, creating a sense of propriety. Facebook and Twitter provide instant satisfaction derived from the approval of peers in response to the sharing of ideas and experiences. Peer endorsements are an effective element of political propaganda and marketing campaigns.
On June 5, HTA launched its campaign to publicize the "Emerging World Order" conference with a video for YouTube. The video promises the "dawn of a new era" with "Khilafah on the horizon." An intense musical score accompanies the graphics. Likely, the soundtrack was created from software, such as ProScores, which is specifically designed to engineer "hard-hitting" "tension-building" moments in promotional videos. Music has long-been valued as an effective element of political propaganda campaigns because it can instantly frame perceptions by triggering emotions.
Simultaneous to the video release, HTA created a Facebook page to promote the conference. The page already has more than 2,000 "fans." HTA asks fans to swap out their existing profile picture for the graphic of the event flier. The image comes with an attached caption saying, "Get involved! Make this your Profile Picture till July 11." As the number of people using the flier as a profile picture increases so will the number of people receiving information about the upcoming conference. Thus, the pool of potential HTA supporters expands.
In addition, HTA requests Muslims to change their "political views" on their Facebook profile to "Islamic Khilafah" (as opposed to Democrat, say) to indicate their support for HTA's goals.
The Facebook page also provides a link to a lecture called "Islamic Caliphate vs. Democracy" by the al-Qaeda-linked cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who is infamous for providing spiritual guidance to several American homegrown terrorists, including Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan.
HT supporters in the U.S. and around the world have "Tweeted" news of the upcoming Chicago conference. "Tweets" are easily "ReTweeted," extending the reach of the message far beyond the circle of supporters already known to HTA.
Implications
Over the past year we have seen U.S. citizens radicalized to the point of committing acts of terrorism. While HT has not been tied to any of these cases, its objectives and ideology are consistent with many Islamist terrorist organizations. The group demonizes the U.S. and its allies, it seeks to make American Muslims feel disaffection towards their country, and it does not fully condemn acts of terrorism; rather, it places blame on the victim society for bringing violence upon itself.
How an extremist group reaches its audience is key to understanding how radicalization occurs. While HTA is spreading word about its conference, it is simultaneously exposing new audiences to its ideology and furthering its strategy to isolate American Muslims from the rest of society. Isolation and disaffection are first steps along the path to radicalization--the same path that may eventually lead to terrorism.
Hitler was laughed at by the pooh-poohing class... until September 1939.
The airheads chuckle at all inconceivable threats... until the knife is at their neck.
"How could this have happened?" are most probably the famous last words in history.
The only solution to the ubiquitous, studious ignorance about Islam:
READ THE DAMNED KORAN.
Or else.
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/saudi_sharia_laws_applied_in_us_courts/comment-page-1/
Cohen may have spoken too soon....
Yes—and then there is "mainstream civil rights organization" CAIR, whose chairman Omar M. Ahmad spoke before a packed crowd in Fremont, California in 1998:
"Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faith, but to become dominant. The Koran should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth".
So—good for Oklahoma State Rep. Rex Duncan. Oklahoma is the first state in the union to ban Sharia—let's hope they are not the last.
Americans in general are getting used to a lot more Sharia, bit by bit, piece by piece, than they realize...
Incrementalism is a threat on many fronts because it works.
For example, the overthrow of the Constitution started with the Griswold decision, then further advanced with Roe, then ratcheted up with Affirmative Action legislation, and moved to a yet higher stage of lawlessness with the New London decision watering down the right to private property. Bit by bit. Each barely bit digestable in and of itself, but a travesty when all are put together.
*** 4:142 ***
The unaware frog in the boiling pan on the stove and all that. The key to incrementalism is in the consumability of each increment. After all, who can argue against privacy or urban redevelopment? In the same way, who can argue against a religion's right to exist and do its thing?
*** 8:39 ***
The key to incrementalism is politesse, the central driver of the Fictive Realities around race, political economy, and, yes, religion. We're immersed in an ocean of self-censorship and cynical opinion programming, and we're drowning. Piece by piece.
*** 8:12 ***
Kudos to this dude in Oklahoma, where Saddam Hussein pulled off the second most successful Jihad war terror operation ever on American soil, then watched as Bill Clinton and Janet Reno cover up the crime on his behalf so that even the public's right to know was cancelled. Crime by crime.
*** 92:8 ***
The willful abandonment of principle will smooth our path to misery. Left ignorant of reality, fact by fact.
Oklahoma in many ways remains one of the most sensible of all fifty states. This is a good example of such.
I'm assuming the "laughter from the galleries" is coming from Charles Johnson, who wrote something particularly idiotic about this sharia ban on Monday.
http://newstime.co.nz/sharia-law-punishment.html
The word of Muhammad's sock puppet Allah:
http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/crcc/engagement/resources/texts/muslim/quran/005.qmt.html#005.033
005.033
YUSUFALI: The punishment of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger, and strive with might and main for mischief through the land is: execution, or crucifixion, or the cutting off of hands and feet from opposite sides, or exile from the land: that is their disgrace in this world, and a heavy punishment is theirs in the Hereafter;
005.038
YUSUFALI: As to the thief, Male or female, cut off his or her hands: a punishment by way of example, from Allah, for their crime: and Allah is Exalted in power.
Folks,
I need your help.
I have just sent an e-mail to the American hero Paul Sperry
Re:
1) The disasterous situation of our nation, bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, achieving absolutely nothing, broke, and kept afloat my the money it keeps borrowing from China;
2) The flood of Muslim immigrants and "students" into this country that had actually increased after 9/11;
3) The total inadeqacy of both the Democratic and Republican parties to adress the challenges of today's world;
4) The dire need to create a new party that will rescue the USA;
5) A plea to Mr. Sperry to contact another American hero Rudy Giuliani and create a takiyya-proof Center party, which will attract the sensible middle of both Republican and Democratic parties;
6) A call to both great men to attend the 9/11 demonstration organized by Jihad Watch, SIOA and David Horowitz, and to speak there.
Folks, please back me up and e-mail Paul Sperry at:
sperry@sperryfiles.com.
I can imagine Paul gets lots of e-mails, so please turn his attention to mine. The more of you e-mail, the greater the chance he notices mine. It does not need to be long. Just write something like: "Mr. Sperry, please give serious consideration to Mr. Ruslan Tokhchukov's e-mail. Please get together with Mayor Rudy Giuliani and create a new party".
Just a couple minutes' work! But it can make a great difference. Let's turn the Internet into a powerful tool to change the destiny of our country and the world. Please, please, everyone of you, e-mail Paul now!
Ruslan Tokhchukov, Currently Not Enraged But Motivated To Take Action.
Time for Merle Haggard to limber up the vocal cords for "Okie from Muskogee" -
"I'm proud to be an Okie from Muskogee,
A place where even squares can have a ball
We still wave Old Glory down at the courthouse,
And white lightnin's still the biggest thrill of all"
In a few years, when the U.S. is starting to look like the U.K., we'll have the same clueless libertards asking, "How did this happen? We had no warnings..."
I sent him an email. Lets hope he consider's this request.
Robert, Hugh, Marisol and all other JW folks:
Please read my previous post & invite Paul Sperry and Rudy Giuliani to the 9/11 rally as honorary speakers. Who can be more appropriate to address the gathering on this tragic anniversary than New York City's hero Mayor?
And plese bring my idea Re: creation of the Center Party and Giuliani & Sperry presidential ticket to the 2 gentlemens' attention.
I am a Giuliani supporter who contributed to his presidential bid beyond my means, and I have personally met the great man in Hunts Point, Washington on a very memorable day for me, September 29, 2007.
Please, please folks, do invite Rudy & Paul as speakers. And they will provide great draw and publicity for the event. And if your rally gives birth to the Center Party, it will make it a great historical day, changing the destiny of our country and the world.
Warmest regards,
Ruslan Tokhchukov, Currently Not Enraged But Swept Away With Enthusiasm.
I always knew that a red state would be the first in the union to take a radical step towards preventing sharia. Good on you, Oklahoma. Once the coastal states are destroyed by tolerance of Islamism, the informed will flee towards the center of the country.
desidude,
Thank you very much, buddy!
Ruslan.
From Ms. McGruen's article on HuffPo: "Isolation and disaffection are first steps along the path to radicalization--the same path that may eventually lead to terrorism."
How does she determine they were integrated before there was isolation? How did she measure the disaffection when there is no affection or patriotism? Why is it a "path" to terrorism when the very word Israel is enough to make them spit on the ground?
How can you be integrated when you're a big niqabed tent walking around, pleased with your modesty, but just coming off as fluttery and invisible?
Skazano -- sdelano.
There are actually over 70 Shari'a courts in the UK now. God bless Oklahoma.
Good for Oklahoma! Let's see how many other states have the good sense to follow suit.
Oklahoma, where no jihadis come sweepin' down the plain,
And the wavin' wheat can sure smell sweet
Without Sharis to muddle up the brain
Oklahoma, ev'ry night my honey lamb and I
Sit alone and talk and watch a hawk
Poop in Mohammed's eye
We know we belong to the land,
This Dar-ul-Harb is grand!
And when we say
Yeeow! Islamophobiay!
We're only sayin'
You're doin' fine, Oklahoma
'Cause no Sharia's okay!
"But a chief architect of the measure, Republican State Rep. Rex Duncan, calls the proposed ban a necessary "preemptive strike" against Islamic law coming to the state."
Bravo. Oklahoma is OK.
I can't believe "shar'ia law" in America. How in the world did that happen? We must stop the barbarians and their barbaric "law."
This sort of thing could be do-able in Australia, Canada, all sorts of places where you have local and regional administrations with a fair degree of autonomy.
I don't know about other parts of the world, but I know that in Australia certain shire / city councils, with much fanfare, declared themselves 'nuclear free zones', back in the 1960s and 1970s and 1980s. It was quite the fashion.
Well...why should not shire and city councils, or county councils, once a critical mass of Islamosavvy citizens is reached, declare themselves 'sharia-free zones'?
How does that slogan go, that was created at the time of the Mohammed cartoons, to support Mr Westergaard and company? "No toleration for intolerance. No apology for being free'.
Jewdog - niiice one.
Can you sing?
Put a scratch choir together, record yourselves singing it, and post the results on youtube...see how many hits you get.
Louisiana also is banning sharia NOLA
The Oklahome anti-Islamist law amentemt will be declare illegal by federal court than big corporation willnot like it as it will be bad for international busienes.
Obviously Defender, you've never been to Oklahoma.
I lived there for 2 1/2 years in the early 90's and I can tell you nobody will be declaring any amentemt illegal in federal court, international business or no international business. What the friendly folks in OK will do though is turn you from a rooster into a hen faster than you can say "Allahu Akhbar" if they ever catch you having sex with any little Oklahoma kids. That one, my friend, you can take to the bank. ; )
"The Oklahome anti-Islamist law amentemt will be declare illegal by federal court than big corporation willnot like it as it will be bad for international busienes [sic]"
I wouldn't count on that, for the simple reason that no business would be directly affected by the state constitutional amendment, if it were to pass.
The reason for this is simple: the amendment would only restrict the government of Oklahoma, and not any other person or entity. If a business in Oklahoma were to adopt a Sharia practice, it would in many situations be free to do so. However, no state law under the amendment could sanction Sharia, and most importantly, no state court could refer to it.
This actually could create some interesting legal situations. Oklahoma might not be able to regulate a Sharia practice by name, so it might create some Islamic wiggle room not already granted by the U.S. First Amendment. But the main effect of the amendment is positive: it will become very difficult to carve out exceptions to state law for Sharia. Equal protection of the law, a cornerstone of American liberty, will be preserved.
Hi DDA
I hope you are right about Australia and Canada. However, a lot of those resolutions are really symbolic and have no legal power. A similar example in the U.S. is the "sanctuary cities" movement on behalf of illegal aliens.
The powerful thing about the Oklahoma action is that, despite decades of Federal encroachments, the U.S. states are still largely sovereign governments with a great deal of constitutional independence from Washington. The proposed amendment will not encroach on Federal powers and so will most likely withstand scrutiny upon enforcement.
From what little I know about, say, the Constitution of New South Wales, its powers sound comparable to a U.S. state. True?
Tom Davios you forgot about the interstate trade and bussienes part of the concunstitution of the United State and Internation Trade power of the federal Government,
Mrs Crusader may-be if about time than federal court treach the people of OK not to be lawless in they action. There was no middle east element involsved in the bombing of the federal builting it was domonet christian terrorist group behind that.
Great preemptive move, Oklahoma.
The second part of the amendment, not so much. In Refah v. Turkey, the European Court of Human Rights acted in a way I would like to see all American courts copy, by declaring Islamic law unfit as a political party platform.
If than muslim own Texas bussien have than clause that allow Islamist civil law and than person from OK bussien sign it but doesnot live up to the agreement that ament take away that Texas bussien right to use OK court to enforcement liveing up to term. Than texas book compancy was force to return money to our Islamist School for not sending the textbook as the owner want to take action against Islam for 9-11 the court disagree with the owner of book compancy as since the books whetre pay for either sent the books or return the money. He didnot want to sent the book to the school or return the money to the school which is illegal under bussien law.
You wrote "Tom Davios you forgot about the interstate trade and bussienes part of the concunstitution of the United State and Internation Trade power of the federal Government,"
No, I didn't forget.
Interstate trade issues would likely not arise in state court, but rather in Federal court. There are exceptions, of course, but those would likely be so limited in scope that they would remain in state courts.
And international trade is no different than interstate trade, unless there is a ratified treaty involved. Please then, tell me which trade agreement ratified by the U.S. Senate protects sharia? I'd love to know.
Finally, you don't get it. Even if the Federal government took a pro-sharia stand in a legal matter, it is still a Federal matter that at most would preempt whatever state law was at issue. It would not preempt the state constitution as amended, because that does not actually restrict sharia, it only restricts the state government of Oklahoma's ability to consider sharia. I'd wager that as long as the state avoids illegal discrimination - such as using it as the basis for telling a state employee that he can't take a day off for Eid - then it will stand.
Good for OK. They are truly OK. And the song...I love the bird part esp.
According to the Constitution....about which the "defender" seems to not have that much knowledge...States can have MORE freedoms than the Federal government, but not fewer. Since sharia laws take away freedoms, to make them part of a State's laws or Constitutions would, in fact, take away freedoms that are now granted by the U.S. Constitution.
Women were given "equal rights" in this country several years ago. Sharia would take away those "rights," hence, that would be unConstitutional.
The Constitution guarantees "freedom of religion" which sharia law would take away if one were to enforce it upon others who wished to live a different religious life, following a different religious code.
The UK does not have a Constitution like America has. That is why these people were allowed to have their courts in that country. Also, even if muslims wish to live by those laws, have their mullahs tell them what to do, by the Constitution, they would not have the legal standing to force others to go along with their religious practices. And if they attempt even to use sharia to try to justify "punishment" that involves stoning, beheading, mutilation, lashings and the like, the U.S. Constitution has the amendment that says "no CRUEL or UNUSUAL punishment" which rules out these practices, making them unacceptable in any state in the Union. No State would be able to make a law that would allow for these practices as punishment for "crimes" even of the worst sort.
We can hope that other states will see the trend in the world and take precautions. OK is attempting to guarantee the rights that have been long standing across the country, but may now be in danger. I say good for the Okies.
Hugh,
Spasibo, drug.
Ochen lyubezno s vashei storony, Sudar.
Iskrenne Vash,
Ruslan.
"Mrs Crusader may-be if about time than federal court treach the people of OK not to be lawless in they action. There was no middle east element involsved in the bombing of the federal builting it was domonet christian terrorist group behind that."
And maybe, Defender, it's time for you to get over it.
Not sure what a domonet christian terrorist group is but it's already been established that Timothy McVeigh was not a practicing Christian, nor did he blow up the Murrah building in Oklahoma City in the name of Christianity, unlike you who would like to establish the misery of Sharia in the name of your damned Islam. It appears you are lying, yet again.
Nice try.