Which Will The GOP Support:“Soft” Shariah or Free Speech?

Which Will The GOP Support:“Soft” Shariah or Free Speech?



By Dell Hill

Today I welcome a guest blogger who really needs no introduction.  Richard Falknor writes the    

BlueRidgeForum

        
“Conservatives and culture in Maryland and Virginia”

Richard was a guest blogger at Uncoverage, and has graciously agreed to be a contributing writer here at Dell’s Bottom Line.

Which Will The GOP Support:“Soft” Shariah or Free Speech?

                                
“I don’t know how to state this any more plainly: Americans are in danger of losing their precious free-speech rights guaranteed under the First Amendment due to pressure and intimidation by the Muslim Brotherhood”. . . . “In other words, the ‘Muslim Mafia’ is winning – slowly, but surely, in imposing a kind of soft Shariah law on American society through fear and intimidation.” – Joseph Farah WND Editor

Disturbing news reaches us this morning of even more Shariah-inspired attempts to suppress free and open discussion in Maryland, Tennessee, and Texas.

The redoubtable Ken Timmerman reports today in the Daily Caller that “Muslim groups, Hispanic advocates, gays aim to shut down Maryland conservative conference” –
“Saqib Ali, a former Democratic member of the Maryland state legislature, aims to shut down a planned conference hosted by the Maryland Conservative Action (MDCAN) on Saturday, charging that speakers include “the nation’s leading Islamophobes.”

An open letter spearheaded by Ali has attracted the official endorsements of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the Islamic Society of Annapolis, CASA de Maryland and Equality Maryland, a group that promotes gay marriage.”

Jerry Gordon (scroll down in foregoing link) of the New English Review details the attack on a major Nashville conference slated for November 11 in his TFC: Hutton Hotel in Nashville Caves in to Pressure and Threats - -
“Below is a news release issued by TFC [Tennessee Freedom Coalition] about yesterday’s decision by the Hutton Hotel group.

Hutton Hotel in Nashville TN Caves in to Pressure and Threats
Cancels Preserving Freedom Conference and Denies U.S. Christians, Jews and Citizens their rights under the U.S. Constitution

Today, the Hutton Hotel in Nashville, TN slammed the door on the United States Constitution and the right to free speech due to threats which we perceive came from the Islamic community. The location was the planned host for the Preserving Freedom Conference to be held on November 11, 2011. With less than three weeks prior to the event and after accepting payments from many attendees and sponsors, Nashville’s Hutton Hotel backed out of the contract as location host of the event, citing threatening letters and phone calls demanding the conference be cancelled.”

. . . . .

“Having spoken tonight with Lou Ann Zelenik, Executive Director of the Tennessee Freedom Coalition (TFC), the actions of the Hutton Hotel Group rival that of what happened to the New English Review at our 2009 Symposium, ‘Understanding the Jihad in Israel, Europe and America.’  After talking over similarities between both events, ours in 2009 and the TFC -Sharia Awareness Action Network (SAAN) event in 2011,  the first thing that came to mind was the fabled malapropism of  baseball great, Yogi Berra, ‘It’s deja vu all over again.’

Back in 2009, the management of the  Loew’s Vanderbilt property cancelled  the contract for the NER Symposium because of  alleged concerns over ‘health, safety and welfare of their employees and other guests.’ because of  threats of picketing and protest. The Nashville Scene headlined the event: ‘The World’s Most Respected Islamophobes  to Gather in Nashville for Symposium’. Earlier in 2009, the Florida Security Council led by Tom Trento had organized an event for the Hon. Geert Wilders at a Marriott property, when the owners promptly cancelled their contract over similar concerns.

Former Army intelligence officer Gordon explained – -

“These events, whether in Florida or Tennessee, whether in 2009 or in 2011,  are all about the same thing.  Pressure verging on intimidation and the use of lawfare by Muslim advocacy groups and allies directed against defenders of free speech endeavoring to alert Americans to the threat of Sharia to our Constitution and our way of life. Sponsoring groups like the NER, FSC and, now the TFC-SAAN, are forced to enter costly and time-consuming commercial litigation. All while the perpetrators endeavor to deny your rights to express your views in the public square, protected speech under our First Amendment.”

Author Timmerman pointed to a very recent Texas Islamist attack on free speech – -
“CAIR and other Muslim groups used similar tactics to convince the Hyatt hotel in Sugarland, Texas to cancel a tea party event on October 18. Author Pamela Geller, a vocal critic of Islamist movements, was scheduled to speak at that event.
Pressure from CAIR and its allies caused the hotel to cancel the event just hours before it was supposed to be held, forcing the organizers to rent another conference room at the last minute.”

Meanwhile back at the GOP ranch, the Republican governor of Virginia plans to host a fancy money-raiser tomorrow evening for pro-Ground Zero-mosque-advocate and 87th district delegate candidate David Ramadan. As we asked last April, will voters ever get Mr. Ramadan’s detailed perspective on how Shariah relates to the US Constitution and our traditional liberties?

Tomorrow morning some GOP stalwarts, together with the governor, dance attendance on Virginia state senate candidate Dick Black at another money-raiser. But has Mr. Black uttered any public contrition for the substantial campaign contributions he has received from these questionable donors?

Only Virginia Representative Frank Wolf among major Virginia Republican voices has acted positively on these matters – - both to Bell the Grover Norquist Cat and to probe the Islamic Saudi Academy in Fairfax County.

Maryland Republican leaders are also quite silent on the threat of Shariah. Yet House of Delegates GOP leader Tony O’Donnell managed to urge (writing as House of Delegates Minority Leader) United States Senate confirmation of former Casa de Maryland figure Tom Perez as assistant attorney general for civil rights.  Among Mr. Perez’ zealous priorities?  “There are ‘our Muslim-American brothers and sisters subject to post-9/11 backlash. . . .’” Over a year ago, we declared that Marylander Perez  will undoubtedly be the moving force behind any Federal effort to use so-called hate-crimes legislation against those who protest Shariah.

It falls to the independent Tea Partiers and to the grass-roots conservatives to get the local (and national) GOP chieftains  to move now and vigorously to speak out for our ancient liberties — and to support only those candidates who also do so..

Note From Dell:  Please take a moment out and visit Richard’s blog.  You can do so by clicking on this link.