Conservative Claims U.S. Muslims Have No Free Speech Rights

"The right to freedom of religion guaranteed in the United States Constitution doesn't apply to Muslims, according to a blogger writing for a conservative Christian organization.

"Bryan Fischer, a blogger for the ultra-conservative American Family Association (AFA), declared Thursday that Muslims have no First Amendment rights in the United States.

'The First Amendment was written by the Founders to protect the free exercise of Christianity,' he wrote in his column at Renew America. 'They were making no effort to give special protections to Islam. Quite the contrary.'

"Islam has no fundamental First Amendment claims, for the simple reason that it was not written to protect the religion of Islam. Islam is entitled only to the religious liberty we extend to it out of courtesy, Fischer continued.

"Our government has no obligation to allow a treasonous ideology to receive special protections in America, but this is exactly what the Democrats are trying to do right now with Islam.

"Fischer added that Muslims have no constitutional right to build mosques.

'They have that privilege at the moment, but it is a privilege that can be revoked if, as is in fact the case, Islam is a totalitarian ideology dedicated to the destruction of the United States,'" he said.

Yes, folks you read that correctly.  Bryan Fischer, a batshit crazy conservative, is claiming Muslims have no constitutional protections in this country.  My question is where the hell does the conservative movement find people like Bryan Fischer?   Let's be clear about Fischer's tactics.

In 2004 another hateful, mentally deranged religious bigot, Michelle Malkin, authored a book advocating concentration camps for Muslims.  Combined with Fischer's false claim regarding First Amendment rights of Muslims, the intent of far-right conservatives is quite clear.

Fischer, Malkin and others of their loathsome ilk, are working to dehumanize, disenfranchise and segregate Muslims.   The words and proposals of Fischer and Malkin sound eerily familiar to the societal and legal restrictions placed on Jews by Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in 1930s Germany. 

Folks, this is an anti-American as it gets!

Here, readers might be thinking the [Friedrich Gustav Emil] Martin Niemöller quote " First they came for the communists, and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist" is soon to appear.  However, you'll never find me quoting a despicable character like Niemöller.  Why?

It's goes to the fact that German Christians, Protestants and Catholics, strongly supported the Nazis.  In the case of German Protestants, their support for Hitler and the Nazis was based, in part, on the party's opposition to modernism.  As for Niemöller, he welcomed Hitler's ascension to power in 1933 believing it would bring a national revival. 

He only began to oppose the Nazis when Hitler threatened to attack the churches via the Aryan paragraph.  The Aryan paragraph is a clause in the statutes of an organization, corporation, or real estate deed that reserves membership and/or right of residence solely for members of the Aryan race and excludes from such rights any non-Aryans, particularly Jews or those of Jewish descent, as well as to those who were then referred to as Negroes. Aryan paragraphs were an essential aspect of public life in Germany and Austria from 1885 to 1945, and they were also used in many suburban real estate deeds in the United States up until the late 1950s (as an aside, during his confirmation hearings, William Rehnquist defended Aryan paragraphs). 

However, the dark side of Niemöller can be seen in the fact that, even as he gradually abandoned his sympathies for the Nazis, he continued to make pejorative remarks against Jews.  For example, in a 1935 sermon, Niemöller employed the oldest pillar of Christian anti-Jewish bigotry, the deicide canard.  He remarked: "What is the reason for their obvious punishment, which has lasted for thousands of years? Dear brethren, the reason is easily given: the Jews brought the Christ of God to the cross!"

In the same hateful vein as Niemöller, today we're witnessing the worst elements of conservatism and Christianity demonize Muslims.  The similarities between the words and actions of Martin Niemöller, Bryan Fischer, Michelle Malkin, Glenn Beck and hundreds of other conservatives and Christians cannot be ignored if we are to remain a society that protects the rights of all Americans.  We cannot remain silent in the face of attempts to deny American freedoms to a group based on religion. 

Let's recognize Bryan Fischer for what he is, namely a hateful anti-American religious bigot.

Source: 

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/03/24/fringe-conservative-group-claims-u-s-muslims-have-no-free-speech-rights/

New Milestone: 1 in 6 in U.S. A Hispanic

Today, the Census Bureau is releasing its first data related to the 2010 census.   For those of us who've observed the changing demographics of the United States, this is what we expected.

Examination of the data reveals Hispanics accounted for half of the increase in U.S. population over the last ten years, overall rapid minority growth, growth of suburbs and an aging white population.  

"Racial and ethnic minorities are expected to make up an unprecedented 90 percent of the total U.S. growth since 2000, due to immigration and higher birth rates for Latinos. Currently the fastest growing group, Hispanics are on track to exceed 50 million, or roughly 1 in 6 Americans; among U.S. children, Hispanics are now roughly 1 in 4."

The growth in the Hispanic population wasn't confined to states most of us traditionally think of as having significant Hispanic populations, i.e. Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.  The Census Bureau data indicates there were significant jumps in Hispanic population in Alabama, Louisiana, and North Carolina.

In addition to the tremendous growth in the Hispanic population, Asians had a larger gain than African Americans, and Americans who identify themselves as "multiracial" increased by more than 25 percent to total 8.7 million.

White Americans, according to the latest Census Bureau data, saw their numbers drop from 69 percent of the population in 2000 to 64 percent in 2010.  The primary reason is declining birth rates; the median age for white Americans is now forty-one.  

What does this mean for the United States?  One important topic is Social Security and the changing face of the workforce. 

This issue was the topic of research for "Burden of Support: Young Latinos in an Aging Society." The book,  written by David Hayes-Bautista, Werner Schink, and Jorge Chapa and published by Stanford University Press,  discusses the fact that, as baby boomers age and retire, the labor force will be increasingly comprised of minority workers and, therefore, the costs of maintaining Social Security and Medicare will increasingly fall to non-white workers while a large number of recipients will be white.

What societal issues may arise from this change in demographics?

We'd be better served if we stepped off the anti-immigration train and began understanding that one of our highest priorities should be educating every member of our changing society.  This means investing in education not balancing budgets on the backs of children and, yes, it means paying higher taxes to fund infrastructure such as new schools, new textbooks and better pay for teachers.   It's time we, as a society, stopped using teachers and teachers' unions as scapegoats for the economic mess created by giving unneeded tax cuts to the wealthiest two percent, tax subsidies rewarding corporations that take jobs offshore and two unnecessary wars created, in large part, by outrageous lies.  

Otherwise, we'll see a quicker decline of the American empire than we're already witnessing.