Our sheriff is apparently an idiot.
http://www.dnj.com/article/20120215/NEWS01/302150027
QuoteMURFREESBORO — Local Muslims and a prominent national Muslim civil rights organization are questioning the validity of a seminar being offered to Rutherford County law enforcers by a Virginia-based organization that refers to Islamic centers in its training materials as "potential military compounds."
Rutherford County Sheriff Robert Arnold on Tuesday confirmed that about 25 of his officers — along with one officer from the Murfreesboro Police Department, four from the Smyrna Police Department and one from the La Vergne Police Department — are attending the three-day seminar at World Outreach Church about Islam and the threat of terrorism. The training is being conducted by Arlington, Va.-based Strategic Engagement Group.
Attending officers will receive 24 training hours towards a required 40 per year from the Tennessee Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, the state agency whose website says it is responsible for "developing and enforcing standards and training for all local police officers" across the state.
Arnold's confirmation came amid concern in the Islamic community that an investigation of local Muslims could be on the horizon as a result of the police participation in the seminar. That's at least partially due to the involvement of a former FBI agent in the seminar who claims Nashville's mosques have no legal right to exist.
John Guandolo, vice president of the Arlington, Va.-based Strategic Engagement Group, spoke at an anti-Shariah law event at Cornerstone Church in Madison on Nov. 11, calling local mosques front organizations for the Muslim Brotherhood with no right to exist.
"They do not have a First Amendment right to do anything," Guandolo said then.
Arnold said his officers are simply trying to learn more about "Muslims" and "Islamic culture." Such interest comes in a county that has wrestled with religious tolerance the past few years following a move by members of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro to build a much larger mosque just outside the city limits.
The new building for the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro, under construction near the corner of Bradyville Pike and Veals Road, has been controversial since it was approved in May 2010. The issue has drawn national and international media attention.
Opponents organized marchers, community events and eventually a lawsuit was filed to block the mosque. Counter protesters and others in the community have expressed support for the local Muslim community's right to religious freedom and point to their peaceful presence in the county for three decades.
Chancellor Robert Corlew III denied a request for an injunction to stop the mosque in November 2010.
Still at issue is whether the Rutherford County planning commission published adequate public notice before approving the project. A trial on that matter is set for April 25.
Such local tensions reflect the growing uneasiness within portions of the Bible Belt and elsewhere as Muslim American communities continue to get bigger while radical Muslims around the globe commit atrocities in the name of Islam.
"There are not many classes out there for anything when it comes to Muslims ... but this training isn't just about that, it has many other components to it," Arnold said, pointing out that he and other employees of the sheriff's office also attended a four-hour training on Islam offered by the U.S. Department of Justice Human Rights Division back in May 2011. "My stance is and my office's stance is, we are not here to pick sides. I am here to protect the people of this county, and I am never going to waiver from that."
Officers were paid by their departments to attend sessions held between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. Monday and Tuesday. Today is the last day of three-day seminar.
Sheriff 'not trying to offend' Muslims
Local Muslims such as MTSU professor Saleh M. Sbenaty and the national Muslim civil rights organization, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), were "shocked" to hear that both the Tennessee POST Commission and Arnold were OK with the type of training program being offered by the group.
More at the link.
Well, Arizona has some catching up to do, don't we? :lulz:
We should all write letters to John Guandolo, expressing our thanks to him for pointing out that the 1st amendment doesn't apply to smudgy people.
:lol:
Yeesh. People are crazy. I love how the seminar on islam and terrorism is being held at a church. Totally no way that might be biased. That's like democrats holding a seminar on conservative ideaology and latent homosexuality.
QuoteA separate Monday night event hosted by the SEG titled "Understanding the Threat to America" was put on by the Tennessee Freedom Coalition. The Tennessee Freedom Coalition is led by executive director Lou Ann Zelenik of Murfreesboro, a former congressional candidate who narrowly lost in the Republican primary in 2010. She also was one of the organizers of the anti-Shariah event in November.
Ladies and gentlemen. Mrs. Lou Ann Zelenik...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cr7wh1ol18
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 15, 2012, 08:12:47 PM
Well, Arizona has some catching up to do, don't we? :lulz:
I think you've at least got some real competition here.
Quote from: Oysters Rockefeller on February 15, 2012, 08:36:06 PM
Yeesh. People are crazy. I love how the seminar on islam and terrorism is being held at a church. Totally no way that might be biased. That's like democrats holding a seminar on conservative ideaology and latent homosexuality.
INORITE! It's like they're
trying to inflame people.
Quote from: Emo Howard on February 15, 2012, 08:50:20 PM
Quote from: The Good Reverend Roger on February 15, 2012, 08:12:47 PM
Well, Arizona has some catching up to do, don't we? :lulz:
I think you've at least got some real competition here.
Sheriff Joe finally got told he can't pull people over for being Hispanic.
Now he pulls them over if they are "dressed like an illegal".
:lulz:
Quote from: Emo Howard on February 15, 2012, 08:51:19 PM
Quote from: Oysters Rockefeller on February 15, 2012, 08:36:06 PM
Yeesh. People are crazy. I love how the seminar on islam and terrorism is being held at a church. Totally no way that might be biased. That's like democrats holding a seminar on conservative ideaology and latent homosexuality.
INORITE! It's like they're trying to inflame people.
Hahahaha. No way. That couldn't be happening.
Quote from: Oysters Rockefeller on February 15, 2012, 08:55:30 PM
Quote from: Emo Howard on February 15, 2012, 08:51:19 PM
Quote from: Oysters Rockefeller on February 15, 2012, 08:36:06 PM
Yeesh. People are crazy. I love how the seminar on islam and terrorism is being held at a church. Totally no way that might be biased. That's like democrats holding a seminar on conservative ideaology and latent homosexuality.
INORITE! It's like they're trying to inflame people.
Hahahaha. No way. That couldn't be happening.
:lulz:
Tori Amos has a song about this sort of thing.
Quote from: Oysters Rockefeller on February 15, 2012, 08:55:30 PM
Quote from: Emo Howard on February 15, 2012, 08:51:19 PM
Quote from: Oysters Rockefeller on February 15, 2012, 08:36:06 PM
Yeesh. People are crazy. I love how the seminar on islam and terrorism is being held at a church. Totally no way that might be biased. That's like democrats holding a seminar on conservative ideaology and latent homosexuality.
INORITE! It's like they're trying to inflame people.
Hahahaha. No way. That couldn't be happening.
It's not just a church, either. It is, in fact, a racist church.
QuoteThe Rev. Allen Jackson, pastor of the World Outreach Church, was among dozens of opponents who spoke against the mosque to the Rutherford County Commission on June 17, 2010.
"I would submit to you that we have a duty here at home to understand thoroughly the nature, the intent, the funding of any group that is being invited into our community under that general banner (of Islam)," Jackson said at that meeting.
They truly have hit the trifecta!
Not sure if everyone will find this as relevant as I do, but The Kominas (islamic punk band) have a pretty beautifully sarcastic song called Sharia Law in the USA that might be worth checking out.
Linkage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrypdueIJew
After reading this, I'm backing off my claim that the sheriff is an idiot... for now.
Quote"And the funny thing is, I haven't been personally contacted by anyone from any organization, but we keep getting dragged into this," Arnold explained. "The funny thing is that the guy speaking out for the mosque at MTSU (Saleh Sbenaty) — his wife baby-sits my daughter. I trust her with my 4-year-old."
Arnold said the criticism this time is coming from the TFC, because of his plan to send some of his deputies to an upcoming "Counter-terrorism Conference" at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation in Nashville.
That event, scheduled for Feb. 27 and Feb. 28, is being sponsored by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee and the Nashville Joint Terrorism Task Force. It's being held in conjunction with the FBI's Counterterrorism Division and the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, according to a U.S. Attorney's Office event flyer.
Guest speakers, according to the flyer, will include personnel from the American Muslim Advisory Council, a group of private citizens who want to assist law enforcement in reaching out to the Muslim communities and better establish communications and a working relationship.
Former congressional hopeful Lou Ann Zelenik of Murfreesboro, who narrowly lost the Republican primary to U.S. Rep. Diane Black for the 6th District in 2010 and who paid for the SEG seminar in Murfreesboro, issued a news release Friday critical of the planned conference in Nashville.
Zelenik and the Tennessee Freedom Coalition camp claims something nefarious lies behind the U.S. Attorney's Office's decision not to name specific speakers set to appear at the event, specifically those presenting on behalf of AMAC. She claims it's because the U.S. Attorney's Office knows members of various "Islamic organizations," including CAIR, that have provided material support to Hamas are slated to be speakers.
"Inquiries about this event have been made by Patrick Poole of PJ media, Tennessee State Legislators and others to determine who, specifically, is the American Muslim Advisory Council (AMAC) and who are the guest speakers," Zelenik stated in a TFC news release. "The U.S. Attorney's office originally replied by saying they had no information about them other than a telephone number which they provided. It has been determined that this phone number is a non-traceable/disposable cell phone that has a voice messaging service attached to it. Additional inquiries led to the response that the event was private and the speakers names were not going to be disclosed nor were the members of the AMAC."
"potential military compounds." You could call any building a potential military compound.
Just as much as you could call the police station a potential military compound. In fact all Virginia police stations are potential terrorist training camps.
Quote from: Faust on February 20, 2012, 10:39:08 AM
"potential military compounds." You could call any building a potential military compound.
Just as much as you could call the police station a potential military compound. In fact all Virginia police stations are potential terrorist training camps.
'In order to prevent the establishment of terrorist training facilities, new laws have been brought into effect which prohibit the gathering of four or more walls and a ceiling in any one location without a permit...'
Quote from: Demolition_Squid on February 20, 2012, 10:45:51 AM
Quote from: Faust on February 20, 2012, 10:39:08 AM
“potential military compounds." You could call any building a potential military compound.
Just as much as you could call the police station a potential military compound. In fact all Virginia police stations are potential terrorist training camps.
'In order to prevent the establishment of terrorist training facilities, new laws have been brought into effect which prohibit the gathering of four or more walls and a ceiling in any one location without a permit...'
Can I send high fives through the internet? It's 2012, that's got to be a thing by now.
Quote from: Oysters Rockefeller on February 20, 2012, 05:27:26 PM
Can I send high fives through the internet?
Nope. Fucks up your plasma screen.
Quote from: Oysters Rockefeller on February 20, 2012, 05:27:26 PM
It's 2012, that's got to be a thing by now.
Well, yeah, but they aren't releasing it until they figure out how to use it to send your fingerprints to the FBI if your post is deemed "radical".
Stuff like this has been pissing me off constantly since about 2009. As I'm sure you can all appreciate. Apparently 4 years with some of the world's greatest experts is not needed, you can just create powerpoints based off Christian whackjob screeds and you're suddenly a "counter-terrorism expert and consultant".
I bet these fucks couldn't even tell you the difference between an organised and disorganised killer. It's like having someone who obsessively watches Gray's Anatomy declare themselves a surgeon....it just makes me so angry. One of my professors, who was an FBI consultant, and indeed currently works in America, went to great lengths to try and defuse the whole "holy war" mindset among certain post 9/11 recruits. It seems he was wasting his time. Never mind he spent decades working with the Irish and British police during the Troubles, or that he has background in forensic psychiatry. Some redneck preacher said the Muslims want to rape all the white Christian wimminz!
It's enough to drive a man to drink.
Cain, what is your opinion of CAIR, AMAC, and the Muslim Brotherhood?
Quote from: Cain on February 23, 2012, 01:01:27 PM
It's enough to drive a man to drink.
Well, if you insist.
Nah, it actually is bullshit. I know a guy who SWEARS that he knows oil is natural produced by The Earth, because there were no dinosaurs in America and all the oil is where the garden of eden would have been.
It's like...dude...there are scientists who spend millions of dollars in researching this stuff. A redneck with free time doesn't trump that.
Quote from: Oysters Rockefeller on February 25, 2012, 04:18:04 AM
Nah, it actually is bullshit. I know a guy who SWEARS that he knows oil is natural produced by The Earth, because there were no dinosaurs in America and all the oil is where the garden of eden would have been.
Your friend is a complete fucking retard. Just saying.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on February 25, 2012, 04:32:42 AM
Quote from: Oysters Rockefeller on February 25, 2012, 04:18:04 AM
Nah, it actually is bullshit. I know a guy who SWEARS that he knows oil is natural produced by The Earth, because there were no dinosaurs in America and all the oil is where the garden of eden would have been.
Your friend is a complete fucking retard. Just saying.
Hahaha. I didn't say he was a friend, I just said I knew him. But yeah, that's pretty retarded.
Quote from: Oysters Rockefeller on February 15, 2012, 09:08:46 PM
Not sure if everyone will find this as relevant as I do, but The Kominas (islamic punk band) have a pretty beautifully sarcastic song called Sharia Law in the USA that might be worth checking out.
Linkage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrypdueIJew
A: RAD!
B: I just learned another one of the bands the Dead Milkmen name in "You'll Dance to Anything".
C: on-topic: gah...I think I'm going to have to avoid these "news about a class of people another class of people like to fuck with" threads, for a while. I am seriously just stupefied the amount of effort people put into being fucking dicks. I'm like an hour a week tops and all my being an asshole needs are covered. Maybe I should teach a seminar on getting it done without all the fox and friends and law-suits and stuff.
Quote from: Doktor Howl on February 25, 2012, 04:32:42 AM
Quote from: Oysters Rockefeller on February 25, 2012, 04:18:04 AM
Nah, it actually is bullshit. I know a guy who SWEARS that he knows oil is natural produced by The Earth, because there were no dinosaurs in America and all the oil is where the garden of eden would have been.
Your friend is a complete fucking retard. Just saying.
Yeah I... Wow. I've heard of this kind of batshittery before, but not with the Garden of Eden angle. My understanding of inorganic origin of petroleum hypothesis is that it's being explored, but nothing has emerged to suggest that it happens on a large scale, or even at all. Deep carbon is a pretty mysterious thing still.