Suspected Muslim Terrorist Right Here

The events of Fort Hood and the sudden rise to the surface Islamophobics has brought me to the surface as well. The past few days I did not blog because I was spending some of my blogging time on a local newspaper website shutting down people who want to believe Islam is the root of evil and therefore terrorism. Some of them wanted to debate the Qur’an with me, selecting individual passages out that “prove” Islam is a violent religion. All of their sources and quotes come straight from a selection of Anti-Islam websites that I have already seen before. It was not worth my time to explain to them why they were incorrect so I ignored the passage quoting despite their repeated insistence. After running them into circles where the only argument they seemed to be able to have is those passages and the idea that Muslims are killing all over the world, despite the fact that they do not acknowledge their own flaws within the argument, so it started to become a pointless debate.

So, of course, me being a troublemaker (I really should stop doing this.. but it’s so much fun..lol ) I took some of my old posts, edited them slightly and posted them on the site. One of the ones I wrote back on September 11th of this year and that just pissed him off and he became Rep. Joe Wilson typing “YOU LIE!” so I can tell I got under his sleeve a little. It really pissed him off that I didn’t allow free posting on my blog and so he proceeded to call me a coward and then took his comments and posted his own blog with the following introduction:

ThespianDuckie, a new anti-American screen name here on these pages has posted his vile treasonous venom here: http://link to where my blog was…

I strongly suspect this guy is a muslim terrorist, or at the very least, a muslim who sympathizes with the terrorists. His arguments, like we are to blame for 9/11, are utterly ridiculous and come straight from the AQ playbook.

Like a typical gutless anti-American coward, he has turned screening on for his blog. What follows is my response to his treason — because I doubt very seriously that he will allow it to be posted.

I ended up taking his posting and breaking it apart piece by piece. This guy thinks the Patriot Act is a good thing & it is “better them than us” in reference to killing Taliban/Afghani people.

He ended his rant responding to my statement: “Do not place a higher value on one US Citizen compared to an Iraqi or Afghanistan citizen.” With the following:

What kind of anti-American piece of crap are you? YOU D@MN WELL BETTER BELIEVE AN AMERICAN LIFE IS WORTH MORE THAN ANY CITIZEN OF ANY OTHER COUNTRY. YOU be a citizen of the world, traitor, *I* am an AMERICAN.

This is a typical “I’m an American, I’m better than everyone” mentality and it needs to end. I’m glad we have success, I’m glad we have freedom and I’m glad we want to share it with the world, but to say the American life is worth more than any other person on this world is the whole reason we are in this mess. A long time ago, the United States was the leader in freedom & innovative thought. Now, we are the leader in corruption of wealth, breaking of treaties and violations of laws. Since 9/11, we have broken numerous international laws, blocked Israel from facing war crimes, invaded sovereign nations and are threatening another. We sit and complain about our health care being too expensive and then watch as half of our tax dollars go to fund wars that are only increasing the chance of terrorism not stopping them.

I left him a comment on his blog post after all of that stating that I did post his comments, including a response that said the reason I do not let them post automatically is because I do not trust a radical like him to post something without it causing harm to people I support. If it was not a statement like that, it would be posted with a response from me.

I also said the following:

I am an American who questions the government – a dissident. If this makes me worthy of the names you call, so be it. I still love my country, whether you agree with me or not. In addition, my faith has nothing to do with my stance. I have not indicated whether I am Christian, Muslim, Jewish or Atheist. You can put me into any group you wish, it doesn’t change the fact that as an American Citizen, it is my duty to question everything my government does in my name.

If this makes me hated, so be it. But at least I know I have done something to end the illegal occupation of nations in my name, the murder of innocent women, men and children. At least I have spoken up to end the suffering of people.

I do not support the wars, the people who are fighting in them and the people who are hired to protect them. I do not wish harm on our soldiers and demand that we bring them home.

Judge rules Gmail is not protected by 4th Amendment

Earlier this year, a US Federal Judge has ruled that the government has a right to look at your emails without notifying you. Judge Michael Mosman’s ruling was handed down in Portland, Oregon during a case in which the government has probable cause for a search and asked Google to provide nine months of a Gmail subscriber’s e-mails as they were seeking evidence of the crime. However, the feds asked that the search warrant be sealed and that the searching of the emails shouldn’t shared with the user.

Mosman’s ruling reversed an earlier decision that the user must get a receipt after the government rifles through e-mail. Though he says electronic communications are protected by the Fourth Amendment, which guards against unreasonable search and seizure, those protections don’t apply to the e-mail user. (source)

Mosman’s opinion is that email is not owned by the user since it is owned by the Internet Service Provider and likened his ruling to a similar understanding that authorities can intercept a packaged at Fed-Ex by providing a search warrant to Fed-Ex and never notifying the person who is receiving or sending the package

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Anyone else think the federal judge and government are overstepping their bounds as laid out by the 4th Amendment? I’m all for the authorities being given access to information if they have warrants, but to go as far as to say that they do not have to share it with the user who’s email they are searching for is playing with fire. The government can therefore legally intercept your email communications without your knowledge.

This is growing into a bigger problem of what is legally free expression on the internet. Someone recently got arrested for spreading information on twitter to inform protesters where police were so they could protest without fear of police activity. We have wiretapping of phone lines which was made legal by the patriot act and now we cannot send an email to family, friends or co-workers without worrying that the federal government can ease drop without your knowledge.

There are some people out there who would rather worry about whether your neighbor is a terrorist than worry that their freedoms are being taken away slowly. Wake up America, you are no longer free, you haven’t been for years.

The truth has no enemy but oppression

I wasn’t able to blog about this at the time, but I wanted to mention that members of certain countries walked out during his speech, primarily because of these statements the were critical of Israel:

How can one imagine that the inhuman policies in Palestine may continue; to force the entire population of a country out of their homeland for more than 60 years by resorting to force and coercion; to attack them with all types of arms and even prohibited weapons; to deny them of their legitimate right of self-defense, while much to the chagrin of the international community calling the occupiers as the peace lovers, and portraying the victims as terrorists.

How can the crimes of the occupiers against defenseless women and children and destruction of their homes, farms, hospitals and schools be supported unconditionally by certain governments, and at the same time, the oppressed men and women be subject to genocide and heaviest economic blockade being denied of their basic needs, food, water and medicine.

They are not even allowed to rebuild their homes which were destroyed during the 22-day barbaric attacks by the Zionist regime while the winter is approaching. Whereas the aggressors and their supporters deceitfully continue their rhetoric in defense of human rights in order to put others under pressure.

- Ahmadinejad in a speech to the UN General Assembly, 2009 (source)

During his speech he was also critical of the UN and is pushing to change the organizing structure so that no member country has veto power or permanent control over the governing body.

I agree with most of what he said in his speech & find it very unproductive for members of nations to walk out on a speech because they do not like something being said. Any nation who’s deligation walked out on this speech is practicing a childish act that needs to be reprehended. It is unacceptable. No one is above the law, no one is above being criticized and the only way the UN can regain it’s legitimacy in the world is to change the way things are handled towards nations such as the US and Israel.

When do we stand up and shout – what Israel is doing to the Palestinians is unacceptable, what Israel is doing to the stability of the region by threatening Lebanon, Syria and Iran is unacceptable. What the United States is doing to the world by occupying Iraq and Afghanistan is unacceptable. And, what the countries of Saudi Arabia, Egypt & Jordan are doing to the world as they refuse to speak out for the rights of all citizens of the world so they can protect their own riches and power. Iran is not immune to criticism either, but just because of what happened during the middle of the year with their election, this does not remove the truth to any of the statements.

The truth has no enemy but oppression. Are you oppressed? Or are you free?

It’s 9/11 – What Have We Done?

Today is September 11th. Today marks the 8th anniversary of a series of terror attacks using Aircraft flying into buildings. Often people remember the Twin Towers in New York City as the biggest image of the day’s events. Nearly 3,000 innocent people lost their lives on that day. We should honor those who have fallen, the heroes of the day and remember how the country bonded together with a renewed sense of patriotism.

However, stop right there.

Are we honoring these people correctly? What have we done in response to the day’s events?

In direct response to the day’s events, on October 7, 2001 we invaded Afghanistan & began to occupy the country. We believe it was to “get the terrorists” (Al-Qaeda) lead by Osama Bin Laden. It was expanded to remove the Taliban from power because they provided a safe haven for Al-Qaeda. During the past 8 years, we have set up a corrupt government that barely has support of the people, the Taliban is still operating, has control over parts of Pakistan & Osama Bin Laden is still alive. Sure, Al-Qaeda has been weakened, but have they really? Or have we been giving them more propaganda to make it easier for them to convince more people to join their cause.

Estimates of deaths & injured are hard to come by, but a conservative estimate has the total dead at no less than 20,119 & total injured at 53,435. (Source)

In addition, we have spent over 225 billion dollars in Afghanistan for this war.

On October 26, 2001, the Patriot Act was signed into law giving the Government new powers under the veil of protecting us against the terrorists. It has already been discovered that this law has been used for purposes that it was not intended, but yet, it’s still in our law. Under this law, our government has the ability to listen in on your conversations, obtain telecommunication information from your computer, phone or cell phone without a warrant. (which is a direct violation of the constitution).

In 2001 continuing to at least 2003 but some reports say it has gone on longer and might even still be going on today, in violation to US Law & International Law – we began torturing people to “get the terrorist.” Recent reports even indicate that it was partly an attempt to create evidence to our Invasion of Iraq.

On March 20, 2003, we invaded Iraq under the idea that the country had weapons of mass destruction and was a harbor of terrorists. This became the second sovereign nation that we have invaded, seized control and occupied. We have yet to find the weapons of mass destruction.

Estimates of deaths & injured are hard to come by, but a conservative estimate has the total dead at no less than 733,280 & total injured at 1,398,087. (Source). However, other estimates have it much higher: justforeignpolicy.org puts the estimate of just Iraqi Citizens at over 1.3 million.

In addition, we have spent over 680 billion dollars in Iraq for this war.

And, so, 8 years after 3000 people died, have we killed enough people in revenge? Have we tortured enough people to satisfy us? Have we given up enough of our freedoms, broken enough of our own laws? Have we spent enough money? How much are 3000 people and a few buildings worth to you?

As you remember the events, the fears and those that lost their life on September 11, 2001. Also, remember those who have lost their life since. Do not place a higher value on one US Citizen compared to an Iraqi or Afghanistan citizen. We are all humanity.

Stop these senseless wars, stop occupying countries we have no business being in. End the game of fear. Give me back my freedoms & start following the constitution.

Stop torturing people & bring to justice those who broke the law.

Do not stand by and watch as your country goes to shit because you fear that some day, another plane may hit another building. This country is not the country I was born into & it has nothing to do with the terrorists.

I want transparency.
I want accountability.
I want justice for those who committed crimes.
But, most of all, I want a country that fights for their freedoms, their democracy, their rights.

We have lost our country to the terrorists, not because they killed our people and destroyed our buildings with planes. We lost our country because we allowed our government to destroy what was left standing.

Six months later, Gaza conditions worsen

“Can you imagine, I have even been deprived of my own basic human right to live with my wife under one roof for the past six months.” Abu Nimer Hasan, 53, father of four.

Hasan is Palestinian and lives in Gaza, his home was hit by an Israeli shell during the Israeli assault & massacre at the beginning of the year. He is forced to live in a tent because his house was destroyed.

Yet, six months later there has been no progress in being able to reconstruct his home due to Israeli blockades that have barely allowed any supplies or humanitarian aide get through. Even water is scarce.

Umm Naim, sitting in the bedroom holding a broom, and finding little relief from the midday heat, spoke of the difficulty of caring for her children in a tent. “The place is not clean at all, there is dust everywhere inside and out,” she complained. “I often can’t get enough water even to wash the kitchen utensils.” She expressed the constant fear that her children, her husband or herself might be bitten by a snake. “Life in this tent is unbearable,” she said.

(source)

Even with these stories coming out of Gaza, including a report last week by the International Committee of the Red Cross stating that the conditions in Gaza have worsened in the last six months, nothing is being done about it. The ICRC spokesman Antoine Grad told The Electronic Intifada

“The objective of this report is to raise awareness, and to call on Israel and others to take all possible measures to reopen the crossing points so that the population of Gaza stops paying the price for this conflict. What I can say is if the situation continues, the people of Gaza will get poorer and poorer, and more and more people will fall into poverty and misery.”

(source)

With all of this news, the images that came out of Gaza during the massacre and the fact few people in this world seem to care about the situation, I am outraged. Where is the media coverage? Where are the political activists? Where are the humanitarians? Have we already forgot?

Why are we in the United States more concerned with Governor Sanford’s Argentinian sex life? Why do we continue to allow Israel to oppress people, steal their land, their life and their right to life & freedom?

If you are not concerned about the little children, mothers and fathers that live in Gaza – you should be ashamed. If you defend Israel’s actions in this injustice – you are an idiot & I hope you rot in hell for your disregard for basic human freedoms and conditions.

I don’t care who you are, but if you can’t even get enough water to wash your dishes – it’s just wrong. These people are not terrorists – and anyone who believes they deserved it – fuck you.