A counterterrorism project in Los Angeles that would collect information about Muslim neighborhoods is drawing outrage from Islamic groups and civil libertarians who say it unjustly singles out residents based on faith and could lead to unconstitutional police tactics.
The groups complain that the Los Angeles Police Department’s “community mapping” project, which aims to prevent radicalization and homegrown terrorism, unfairly brings suspicion on Muslims.
They say it undermines trust established between Muslims and police since the 9/11 attacks and is reminiscent of how Nazis identified Jews during the Holocaust.
“This is anti-Semitism reborn as Islamophobia,” said Shakeel Syed, director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California. “We will fiercely resist this.”
The mapping project would collect information about specific neighborhoods but not individuals, according to Michael Downing, the LAPD’s counterterrorism chief.
Pray tell, how does one collect information about neighborhoods without collecting information about individuals? Tabulate the types of trees planted and the architecture, perhaps?
So we have to strip-search Lutheran grannies so as to not to apppear to be oppressing 20-something Muslim males? Is civil rights about self-lobotomizing one’s society?
B-b-b-but we _have_ to be careful and check out everyone! You never know when those millitant Quakers might be planning to unleash a WMS (Weapon of Mass Shunning) against the unsuspecting populace of Lancaster . . .
Not a bad idea, if only considering the “Black Muslim Bakery” episode in Oakland.
At the risk of sounding ‘snarky’
“well, boo-hoo!”
Jefferson,
Well … if those Lutheran grannies are packing Lutefisk, they need to be check. That crap is toxic! 🙂
Maryland Brian
MD Brian
Lutefisk is good. Married to a Norge. Had to say that.
We have met the enemy and they is us!! (Pogo)
Old,
I’ll pray for you. Unceasingly. I too am married to a Norge, but perhaps she’s a much more sensible woman; no Lutefisk shall enter our abode. Gad, I actually tried that stuff once. This Irish Lutheran was not amused!
Md Brian
[blockquote]Well … if those Lutheran grannies are packing Lutefisk, they need to be check. That crap is toxic! [/blockquote]
I think you might be on to something: [url=http://iowahawk.typepad.com/iowahawk/2005/05/newsweek_lutefi.html]Newsweek Lutefisk Story Sparks Fury Across Volatile Midwest[/url]
[i][b]Decorah, IA[/b] – The debris-strewn streets of this remote Midwestern hamlet remain under a tense 24-hour curfew tonight, following weekend demonstrations by rock- and figurine-throwing Lutheran farm wives that left over 200 people injured and leveled the Whippy Dip dairy freeze. [b]The rioting appeared to be prompted, in part, by a report in Newsweek magazine claiming military guards at Spirit Lake’s notorious Okoboji internment center had flushed lutefisk down prison toilets.[/b] Newsweek’s late announcement of a retraction seems to have done little to quell the inflamed passions of Lutheran insurgents in the region, as outbreaks of violent mailbox bashings and cow tippings have been reported from Bowbells, North Dakota to Pekin, Illinois.
Whether the violence was triggered by Newsweek’s report of lutefisk desecration or frustration over chronic shortages of Beanie Babies and Old Style, one thing seems certain – occupying U.S. troops face a steep road to reestablish trust in this tinderbox of ancient hatreds and delicious dairy products. Some analysts say the latest outbreak represents the most vexing challenge to US strategy since its invasion the region three years ago.
“It could be months before we get the area back under control,” said Brigadier Gen. Glen Hastings of the US Army’s Southern Minnesota Command. “We’re hoping the tractor pull and swap meet seasons will help calm down some of the violent elements.”[/i]
MD Brian
My wife was born in Larvik. She taught me that lutefisk can best be tolerated after drinking large amounts of aquavik. This anglo catholic celt prefers corned beef and cabbage with porter but what the hey…
Excuse please…..that would be aquavit.
Old,
You must love her very much.
BTW, I too have learned to speak excellent Norwegian when needed. Most of my Norwegian sounds remarkably like, “Yes dear.” At least that seems to be the response that works best. Only change is when it comes to Lutefisk. Then it’s something else, but it comes out more like French …
Md Brian
Back to the thread: So the question is, “Must one wait until a Muslim terrorist commits a crime or is it legal and permissable to act preventively?” LM
Until Lutheran terrorists become a problem, those Muslims and allied whiners have nothing to complain about, especially since Islamic terrorism is motivated by Islam itself.
I could say more, but I best not.
It seems to me that the LAPD are treating the Muslim community no differently then they treat other racial/cultural groups that have had a strong organized criminal element hidden within them – the Chinese triad gangs, the various neighborhood street gangs, other immigrant community gangs. All of these groups have been able to conduct criminal activities because their ethnic communities have been too scared or complacent or ethno-centric to help the police sort out the ‘bad fish’ (consider that a lutefisk pun). As Salmon Rushdie pointed out less then a month after the 9/11 attack, unless the voices of moderate Islam, and particularly Muslim women, began speaking out and working against the Islamists, the rest of the country will not trust them – and with good reason.
Question: What goes, “Clop, Clop, Clop, BANG!, Clop, Clop, Clop?”
Answer: An Amish drive-by shooting.
Old Soldier I don’t know which tastes worst lutefisk or aquavit, do you drink the aquavit to remove the taste of lutefist or vice versa?
Is there anything that DOESN’T draw ire from these people?
Dave B
Come on now, aquavit is not that bad a schnapps. Indeed, after 4-5 wee jars lutefish looks and tastes like finnan haddie.