Month: January 2008

Walkersville, MD citizens organizing against re-zoning for Muslim compound

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update 1/17/08:  The final night of hearings was last night and the final decision is weeks away according to this report in the Frederick News Post. 

Update 1/16/08:  The hearings continued yet another evening with cross-examinations and wrap-up statements.  Here is what the owner of the property said:

He closed his presentation by saying he believes the real reason some people do not want Ahmadiyya to buy the land is because they do not want the group to have a large voting block in Walkersville.

See the full account here.

 Update 1/15/08:    Citizens unanimously opposed the AMC request for re-zoning in hearings that continued last evening reported here in the Frederick News Post.  Also, see commentary we posted on yesterday here.

 Update 1/12/08:  Here is the latest, it must have gotten interesting, especially see the discussion about a film from an AMC “convention” in Great Britain.   Be sure to read the comments too.

 Update 1/11/08:   Things got a little testy last night as Walkersville hearings continued.  Read about it here.  Also see The Patriot Sharpshooter, a local blogger, on the hearings here.

 Update 1/10/08:   Hundreds packed the Walkersville Town Hall last night according to the Frederick News Post to listen to testimony on the second night of 4 scheduled hearings on this project.  A land planning expert testifying on behalf of the Citizens for Walkersville said that 20,000 Ahmadyyia attended a similar gathering as the one planned for Walkersville in Canada in 2007, raising the spectre that more than the projected 5000 could ultimately attend the Walkersville event.

Update 1/9/08:    You can read about the first night of hearings in the Frederick News Post today.  One thing not mentioned in this article is that an attorney for the Muslim sect attempted to discuss “religious rumblings” as part of the group’s testimony but was told by the Zoning Board that he was not permitted to do that. 

Although this isn’t about refugees per se, it does follow on the theme of recent days and that is Muslim immigrants seeking to set themselves apart and in this case by creating a compound for religious activity.   Residents of small towns such as Walkersville, MD are spooked by this and citizens are organizing in hopes of defeating a 200 plus acre facility adjacent to town.  

Judy and I attended an early public meeting and citizens who spoke up indicated they didn’t care if it was a Muslim project or a Catholic project; re-zoning agricultural land for a religious facility of this size would hurt the quiet character of this little town they told a standing room only crowd.  However, in a recent radio program to discuss this Pakastani sect of Islam, leaders of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community did not distance themselves from precepts of Sharia law.   So, I (Islamophobe that I am!) would be more than a little nervous about what plans were in place for a closed facility, although the citizens organizing against the rezoning are more concerned with the quality of life, crowded roads and increased demands for services.

To learn more go here.   And, check out the Citizens for Walkersville website here.  The public hearing will begin on Jan. 8, 2008 at 7 p.m. and run till 10 p.m.,  and then continue for several more nights due to an anticipated large number of people who might wish to be heard.

UK Bishop: Multiculturalism ruining Great Britain

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Great Britain is a few years ahead of us on the immigration problem, so we should look to what is happening there as a harbinger of what is to come in America if we don’t take a serious look at our own out of control immigration.   Here the Bishop of Rochester, a Pakastani Christian, warns his fellow citizens.  

The Rt Rev Michael Nazir-Ali, the Bishop of Rochester and the Church’s only Asian bishop, says that people of a different race or faith face physical attack if they live or work in communities dominated by a strict Muslim ideology.

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In an attack on the Government’s response to immigration and the influx of “people of other faiths to these shores”, he blames its “novel philosophy of multiculturalism” for allowing society to become deeply divided, and accuses ministers of lacking a “moral and spiritual vision”.

Lewiston, ME, not exactly singing Kumbaya yet

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update 1/7/08:  See my post today on this here. 

When we had our public meeting in Hagerstown, MD back in September we were surprised that a young woman from Lewiston, ME just happened to be in the audience to report that everything was just going swimmingly in Lewiston after a few rough patches with the Somali refugee influx there.   An incident reported yesterday indicates she might have jumped the gun with that assessment. 

A poster of a lost dog named Mohammad was posted near a Somali owned store.   See the news coverage here.  (Hat tip:  Eric)    All people of good will condemn such an act.  But, it further demonstrates that communities are increasingly stressed by large numbers of immigrants of any race or religion, legal or illegal, flooding into small cities in rural areas at a rate faster than any community can absorb.   I think we need a breather and suggest the solution is a moratorium on all immigration.  For immigrants already here, there needs to be less focus on their rights and more on their responsibility to learn how to live as Americans. 

Shelbyville Times-Gazette Reporter under attack

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

 Update 1/6/08:   Be sure to follow the link for the Volunteer Voter.com below, you will find the comments there very instructive.

Yesterday we reported on attacks on author Mark Steyn by Canadian Muslims and even the government, essentially branding him a racist for undisputed facts on Muslim and European birth rates that he published in his best seller, America Alone.  Now, Shelbyville, TN Times-Gazette reporter, Brian Mosely, who did a Herculean reporting job in recent weeks in a series on the tension that exists between the growing Somali community, lured to this southern town by employment at a Tyson’s Food plant, and the residents of Shelbyville. 

In fact, early in the series, readers, and those commenting on the paper’s on-line forum, accused Mr. Mosely of being too soft on the Somalis.    Either read the original series or go to our many posts on the topic, and judge for yourself.  I think you will agree the reporting is straightforward.  While comments are pretty flamboyant, one can hardly blame the reporter for citizens taking an opportunity to vent after what appears to be several years of growing frustration.

In a letter to the editor this past week, Robert Allison said:

First of all, Brian Mosely should not have been selected to author a news series profiling a racial / religious group because he has made clear in his personal blog and other writings that he cannot be impartial toward races and religions other than his own.

So, every reporter in America will now have litmus tests where some Committee for the Preservation of Political Correctness will scrutinize a reporters past writings and make a determination if he or she will be permitted to report on a certain controversial topic.    But that’s not the whole story about this building witch hunt; certainly a tough reporter will just shrug off a highly critical letter to the editor.

The other issue is that people with personal axes to grind are whipping up a frenzy and building bonfires ready to burn this so-called “racist” reporter at the stake.   Here is a blog called Volunteer Voter.com  trying desperately to strike the matches.    Note that Mr. Mosely’s editor defends the paper and reveals that those making the charges have previously brought a lawsuit against this reporter and the paper.

As Brian’s (acting) editor, I question whether Katie [Katie Allison Granju] is in a position to question Brian’s journalistic ethics. What she didn’t tell you is that her family has a prior legal dispute with Brian and the newspaper, which it’s inappropriate for me to discuss in this forum. We ran a blistering letter to the editor [quoted above] from another member of the family yesterday, which accused Brian of being a racist, without pointing this connection out, but if the family is going to dogpile on Brian I think it needs to be said.

Mr. Mosely is extremely fortunate to have an editor like John Carney who has the fortitude to stand up against this nonsense and forcefully defend his reporter.  You must see Mr. Carney’s column yesterday here. 

I’m betting there is more to come for this reporter who dared to discuss the taboo subject of Muslim Somalis in small town USA.   What’s next, will Mr. Mosely and his editor have a little visit from the Race Relations Reeducation Committee for Silencing Wayward Racist Reporters (RRRCSWRR)?

A must read for all who value free speech!

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I wrote last week about the free speech controversy on-going in Canada about Mark Steyn and his brilliant book, America Alone.   Jihad Watch has an update here yesterday that you must read.  

Westerners who understand the need for and value of free speech need to stand up for and with Steyn and Savage and all the rest — before it’s too late, and we can’t stand up for them, because we will be imprisoned or worse for doing so.

Here’s a suggestion, go out and buy America Alone by Mark Steyn as a show of solidarity.   Better still, buy a second copy and be sure your local library has it!