CALIFORNIA YANKEE

The "Political Lynching" Of An Arab-American

Sami Merhi is a businessman, Democratic fund raiser, and the first Arab-American to be a Democratic candidate for freeholder. At least he was until new Jersey's Democratic Governor Corzine and Senator Robert Menendez issued statements in opposition to Merhi's candidacy.

According to the Associated Press, the "little tent" Democrats are unhappy about comments Mehri said at a September 2002 fund-raiser for U.S. Representative Bill Pascrell:

Merhi condemned the Sept. 11 terrorists as "cold-blooded murderers." When asked if he would apply the same label to Palestinian suicide bombers who target Israelis, Merhi said, "I can't see the comparison."

A week ago, the editorial page editor of the Herald News Alfred P. Doblin, wrote that while there is no known recording of Mehri's remarks at the Pascrell fundraiser, Pascrell says at no point did Merhi qualify any form of terrorism as justifiable. Doblin went on:

Democratic leadership knew of Merhi’s 2002 speech, yet they supported him.

[. . .]

Too many state politicians have rushed to raise the American flag as they denounce an Arab-American because of what he may have said four years ago. No one took the time to talk to Merhi. That is inexcusable.

[. . .]

In America, people are judged by words and deeds. In the absence of a transcript, what was said at an April 2002 fundraiser remains murky. Four years later, memories blur. But there is nothing in four year’s worth of Sami Merhi’s history to suggest he supports or advocates any form of terrorism.

Today, in The Record Mehri rises to his own defense.

Mehri writes about his godson, Jude Safi:

BORN AND RAISED in Brooklyn, Jude Safi was an ambitious and assertive young man. An avid sports fan, he rooted for his beloved Yankees and Knicks. He graduated from Staten Island College with a degree in business finance. Jude's diligence and determination were rewarded when he secured a position with Cantor Fitzgerald as an equity trader.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Jude was among the approximately 3,000 people to perish at the World Trade Center. Jude was one month shy of his 25th birthday. A life full of promise and potential was tragically taken away. He was my godson. His family and I miss him dearly.

The heinous acts perpetrated by a bunch of thugs, or more appropriately, a band of cowards, on that ill-fated day were abhorrent and unforgivable. I vehemently condemn terrorism because it goes against everything I believe in.

Merhi came to the United States from Lebanon, seeking the American Dream:

Back in my native country, I fell in love with what John Locke and later Thomas Jefferson would espouse: life, liberty, and what I refer to as the pursuit of justice. Upon arriving on America's shores, I was eager to raise a family and fulfill the American Dream.

Merhi is motivated by the Biblical imperative, "to whom much is given, much is required." Eventually Merhi chose politics as a way to abide by the Biblical directive:

My commitment to seek joy in what I can give and not in what I can get inspired me to get involved in politics. As an immigrant who pulled himself up from his bootstraps, I believed it could be a noble profession.

For more than 20 years I volunteered my time and money to various Democratic campaigns. In 2004, I decided to toss my hat in the ring and seek a seat on the Passaic County Board of Freeholders.

After the screening of all of the candidates, I fell one vote short of winning the nomination. Some members of the party attributed my defeat to remarks I made at a fund-raiser for Rep. Bill Pascrell. My detractors quickly cast aspersions and erroneously accused me of making statements in support of terrorism. I moved to clarify any confusion or misinterpretation of my remarks. I was under the impression that the situation was rectified.

Two years after my unsuccessful bid to represent my party, I decided to try again. I was duly selected by my party's leaders to become the first Arab-American to be a Democratic candidate for freeholder.

Within 24 hours Merhi became the object of the Democratic party's new McCarthyism:

The party that I had given my blood, sweat and tears to for 26 years was trying to take away what I rightly earned.

The week was the worst of my life. Excessive pressure was applied for me to withdraw. I repeatedly and resoundingly declined. I was elected by the party's leaders fair and square.

On March 25, they removed me as the party's nominee.

I feel betrayed by the very people I believed in and supported. The party that gave us the New Deal and the Fair Deal, gave me a raw deal.

It is troubling that Democrats would do something so undemocratic. They made a mockery of democracy.

Why were Corzine and Menendez so quick to pass judgment on me? Neither of the two ever spoke to me before issuing their statements. They were not interested in hearing my side.

I would never have imagined that the Democratic Party would use fear and smear to derail my candidacy. I will certainly recover but I am not sure the party will. I anticipate severe political repercussions for those responsible.

What a shame! Instead of celebrating the nomination of the first Arab-American to be a Democratic candidate for freeholder, Arab-American leaders are telling Governor Corzine that the dumping of a Lebanese-born candidate amounts to a "political lynching."

At The Moor Next Door, Nouri Lumendifi comes down hard on the Democrats:

Arabs are not PC right now, not even American ones. It seems that to Democrats, Arabs are continually equated with terrorism. I'm not sure if their racist view of Arabs, Arab-Americans and other things associated with Arabs extends beyond politics, but it doesn't really matter because, to me, actions matter more than sentiments. Sure, they may not think they're racists, or they may not hold any ill will towards Arab-Americans, but their actions say otherwise and their actions are what Arab-Americans see. It doesn't much matter if you oppose slavery and you refuse to help free a slave when given the opportunity. Actions are more important than words.

Nouri has more to say read the whole thing.

Obama Rallies Connecticut Dems For Lieberman

Illinois Democratic U.S. Senator Barack Obama rallied support for Connecticut's Senator Lieberman Thursday night, predicting Lieberman would overcome the challenge from anti-war Greenwich millionaire Ned Lamont:

"I am absolutely certain Connecticut is going to have the good sense to send Joe Lieberman back to the U.S. Senate so he can continue to serve on our behalf," he said.

When I first heard that Lieberman had lined up Obama to be the keynote speaker at the Democrats' annual Jefferson-Jackson-Bailey fundraising dinner, I thought it would be another Democratic lovefest for Lieberman. But according to the Associated Press, even though Obama praised Lieberman's intellect, character and qualifications, scattered boos greeted Lieberman when he took the podium to address the sold out audience of 1,700.

UPDATE: The Norwich Bulletin's Ray Hackett has a different impression of the Jefferson-Jackson-Bailey dinner.

Hackett, focused on the symbolism of Obama's presence to the Democrat's appeal to the party's roots:

"His presence is important in that we, who are minorities, are in a position to make decisions for other minority groups," Norwich Alderwoman Jackie Caron said. "Other people aren't going to know what those issues are. What I hope is to bring back some new ideas to my community."

Daniel Lee Cornelious Jr., 25, of Norwich did not attend the dinner, but said Obama's visit to Connecticut is important because of the publicity it generated.

"He has an appeal to new voters, especially (the)African-American community," the University of Connecticut sophomore said. "In a way, he does represent the American dream, that if you work hard you can be successful.

"He's reaching out on a national level," Cornelious said. "It shows that he cares about the party, and he wants to strengthen the Democratic Party. And it needs to be strengthened."

Hackett didn't note the boos reported by the Associated Press, but he did report that State Democratic Chairwoman Nancy DiNardo took a shot at Lamont:

"We're supposed to be running against Republicans, not Democrats," DiNardo said, before the start of the evening's event. "It takes away from the other candidates, it takes away from the party."

As I have posted before, the Democratic leadership is not going to let Lieberman loose his senate seat.

UPDATE II: The Hartford Courant's Mark Pazniokas also failed to mention the boos, reporting Lieberman was afforded a polite, though tepid, response by the audience. Pazniokas did note that the event organizers managed to snub Lamont:

Lamont was excluded from a roped-off compound of a dozen tables reserved by the podium for party leaders. He and his wife, Annie, sat at Table 96, by the entrance to the kitchen.

He was joined by James Dean, who runs the liberal advocacy group Democracy for America. Dean is the brother of Howard Dean, Democratic Party chairman.

At ConnecticutBLOG, CTblogger, who attended the fundraiser, was "shocked with the amount of boos Joe received."

More thoughts at Connecticut Local Politics, Decision 08 and Ex-Donkey Blog.

Unmanned Predator Kills Three Terrorists

A Predator unmanned aerial vehicle killed three terrorists in the process of planting a bomb along a road near Balad Air Base, Iraq, yesterday evening.

The Predator monitored the three terrorists for about a half hour while they dug a hole in the road, placed explosives in the hole, and ran wires from the hole to a ditch. When it was clear the terrorists were placing a bomb, the Predator launched Hellfire missile, killing all three terrorists.

Air Force Brig. Gen. Frank Gorenc, commander of the 332nd Air Expeditionary Wing at Balad, said "Based on the information we had available, we had a pretty good idea there might be some activity in the area, and we were right," Gorenc said. "This strike should send a message to our enemies that we're watching you, and we will take action against you any time, day or night, if you continue to stand in the way of progress in Iraq."

Well said General Gorenc.

First Brazilian In Space

Brazil's first astronaut blasted off with the Russian-U.S. crew bound for the International Space Station.

Marcos Pontes, a 43-year-old Brazilian Air Force pilot, will return to earth in 10 days with the outgoing crew, American Bill McArthur and Russian Valery Tokarev.

Pontes graduated as a military pilot from the Brazil Air Force Academy. He is trained as an instructor, a flight safety officer and test pilot. He has logged over 1,900 flight hours in more than 20 different aircraft, including the F-15, F-16, F18 and MIG-29. He attended the Naval Postgraduate School, and was selected for the astronaut program after his graduation.

Pontes has been training for his space flight since 1998.

The Soyuz spacecraft is due to dock at the station early Saturday.

Italy Welcomes Rahman

The Associated Press reports Italy granted asylum to Abdul Rahman, the Afghan who faced the death penalty for converting from Islam to Christianity. Premier Berlusconi said Rahman is in the care of the Italian Interior Ministry after arriving in Italy:

Abdul Rahman "is already in Italy. I think he arrived overnight," Berlusconi said, declining to release more details.

Earlier today, Afghanistan's parliament demanded that the Rahman be prevented from fleeing the country.

Muslim clerics in Afghanistan condemned Rahman's release, saying it was a "betrayal of Islam," and threatened to incite violent protests.

This should be recorded as another victory over our enemies in the War Against Terror. Had the extremists managed to murder Rahman, Western support for Afghanistan would have crumbled.

Lieberman - "Fighter Of 'Big-oil Republicans.'"

Senator Lieberman, fending off a challenge from anti-war Greenwich millionaire Ned Lamont, has begun airing a radio commercial to firm up the Senator's environmental credentials.

The ad casts Senator Lieberman as a fighter of "big-oil Republicans." According to the Hartford Courant, in the ad, Patty Pendergast, an environmentalist, highlights Lieberman's opposition to drilling for oil in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge:

"The Republicans, all they want to do is drill oil and they don't see the ecosystem consequences," Pendergast said. "Joe Lieberman had no problem standing up to the big-oil Republicans. He was the leader on the arctic refuge."

The ad also notes Senator Lieberman's concern for Long Island Sound:

"He knows that Long Island Sound is Connecticut's national treasure and he has always worked to keep it a treasure," Pendergast says. "Sen. Joe Lieberman's Long Island Sound Stewardship Act will protect Long Island Sound for generations to come."

Meanwhile, the Lamont campaign is sounding desperate already. Lamont's campaign manager, Tom Swann went negative by calling Lieberman's for the Energy Policy Act of 2005 a "vote in favor of Dick Cheney's energy bill."

Lieberman was one of 74 senators who voted in July for the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The Sierra Club's Votewatch records Senator Lieberman as voting pro-environment 52 times and anti-environment only 5 times in the last five years.

In an interview with the Journal Inquirer Friday, Lamont said he already was weary of being described simply as a "Greenwich millionaire" or single-issue candidate concerned only with opposing the war in Iraq.

Lamont better get used to it. That's about all he will hear between now and the expected August primary.

Lamont, whose grandfather was chairman of the J.P. Morgan investment bank, Lamont says he is prepared to spend some of his own fortune on the campaign, but won't say how much:

"I'm no Jon Corzine," Lamont said, referring to the New Jersey governor and former U.S. senator who spent millions of dollars he earned as chairman of the Goldman Sachs investment firm on his and other political campaigns.

That's right, "no Jon Corzine," just an anti-war millionaire from Greenwich.

AFL-CIO Opposes Guest Worker Plans

The nation's largest labor organization, the AFL-CIO, broke with its Democratic allies on Tuesday, and reiterated its opposition to guest worker programs.

In February, leaders of the 54-union federation made it clear that a temporary guest worker program was unacceptable to the Democrat-supporting union organization:

"To embrace the expansion of temporary guest worker programs is to embrace the creation of an undemocratic, two-tiered society," AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Linda Chavez-Thompson told a news conference.

AFL-CIO President John Sweeney released a statement yesterday saying:

Guest worker programs are a bad idea and harm all workers. They cast workers into a perennial second-class status, and unfairly put their fates into their employers' hands.

Sweeney's statement praised numerous provisions of the overall immigration legislation, particularly a part that gives illegal aliens an opportunity to apply for citizenship. Still, his criticism underscored the unusual political pressures at work as President Bush and Congress grapple with an emotional issue in the run-up to midterm elections.

The breakaway Service Employees International Union, which left the AFL-CIO in July, issued a statement supporting the legislation approved by the Judiciary Committee. The Service Workers support the McCain-Kennedy so-called immigration reform bill, euphemistically titled "The Secure America and Orderly Immigration Act."

Opposition by the nation's largest labor organization, which represents more than 9 million workers and works closely with the Democratic party, is sure to slow the seemingly inevitable approval of a guest worker program.

Spanish-Language Media Promoted The Protests

The Associated Press reports many of the 500,000 people who crammed downtown Los Angeles last Saturday to protest the Border Protection, Antiterrorism, and Illegal Immigration Control Act learned where, when and even how to demonstrate from the Spanish-language media.

The mass protests against the legislation designed to stem the tide of illegal immigration were not spontaneous. According to the Associated Press the protests were organized, promoted or publicized for weeks by Spanish-language radio hosts and TV anchors as a demonstration of Hispanic pride and power:

In Milwaukee, where at least 10,000 people rallied last week, one radio station manager called some employers to ask that they not fire protesters for skipping work. In Chicago, a demonstration that drew 100,000 people received coverage on local television more than a week in advance.

"This was a much bigger story for the Latino media," said Felix Gutierrez, a professor at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School for Communication. "If the mainstream media had been paying better attention, there would not have been the surprise about the turnout."

Adrian Velasco first learned of House legislation to overhaul immigration policy on Los Angeles' Que Buena 105.5 FM. Over two weeks, the 30-year-old illegal immigrant soaked up details about the planned march against the bill from Hispanic TV and radio. On Saturday, he and three friends headed downtown.

I have always found it annoying that I am forced to pay for Spanish language channels from my cable provider. Why should I pay for something I won't use and don't desire. Now I find it objectionable and offensive. Somehow it doesn't seem right that we have enabled a sub-culture to become established in the United States that doesn't even have an aspiration for assimilation.

Returning To The Moon

President Bush announced in 2004 that the United States is planning to build a permanent base on the moon in preparation to putting human beings on Mars.

The Washington Post's Guy Gugliotta writes about the technological challenges facing this undertaking. More interesting than the spacecraft that will transport U.S. astronauts are the issues like dust, low gravity, temperature swings and the cost of flying things to the moon:

Dust can ruin spacesuits, pollute the air supply and bring machinery to a screeching halt:

Dealing with dust is also a major concern in building shelters on the lunar surface.

[. . .]

Dust also makes it virtually impossible to use any kind of machinery with ball bearings. Civil engineer Darryl J. Calkins, of the Army Corps of Engineers Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory, warned that the combination of dust, low gravity, temperature swings and the high cost of flying things to the moon is going to define the lunar tool kit in unforeseen ways.

"You can't put a diesel up there; you can't put a 20,000-pound bulldozer up there; and none of our oils or hydraulic fluids are going to survive," Calkins said in a telephone interview. "We may have to go back to the 19th century to find appropriate tools — use cables, pulleys, levers."

And even then, it will be difficult to level a base site and haul away the fill because there's not enough gravity to give a tractor adequate purchase. Instead, Calkins envisions a device that can "scrape and shave" small amounts of soil and take it away bit by bit.

Like the American pioneers, the modern space explorers will have to be self-reliant. The moon is 250,000 miles away, Mars is 34 million miles from Earth at its closest point. The future space explorers will have to fend for themselves. It takes at least three days to send help to the moon. It will take months to send help to Mars.

Thanks to Matt for the tip.

Abdul Rahman Released

Abdul Rahman, the Afghan man who faced the death penalty for converting to Christianity has been released.

According to the New York Times, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said Mr. Rahman had asked for asylum outside Afghanistan.

Mr. Rahman's case demonstrates what a rough and narrow road we must travel while trying to bring democracy and freedom to the Middle East:

Clerics led hundreds of people in a demonstration in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Monday, demanding that Mr. Rahman be tried under Islamic law and executed.

A witness named Shaahed said people at the demonstration had shouted slogans against President Bush and Zalmay Khalilzad, who is originally from Balkh Province in the north and is now the American ambassador to Iraq.

"They were shouting: "Death to Bush! Death to Khalilzad! Death to America!" said Mr. Shaahed, who like many Afghans uses only one name.

He said the police there had controlled the protest, which was peaceful. "They were also shouting: 'Abdul Rahman must be executed! We don't want any country to interfere in our Islamic affairs,' " Mr. Shaahed said of the protesters.

Afghanistan's Constitution is said to ensure religious freedom, but it states that Islam is the supreme law.

In A November 2003 editorial, “Blueprint for a new Afghanistan,” the Washington Times praises the draft Afghan constitution. The editorial stated the constitution effectively balances “hard-line calls for institutionalized Islamic law and the more secular leanings of its urban people.”

I posted then that the competing interests were, unfortunately, weighted towards institutionalized Islamic law.

I also posted I was disappointed with the Afghan Constitution's declaration that "Afghanistan is an Islamic Republic," combined with the following provisions:

The religion of Afghanistan is the sacred religion of Islam. Followers of other religions are free to perform their religious ceremonies within the limits of the provisions of law.

In Afghanistan, no law can be contrary to the sacred religion of Islam and the values of this Constitution.

The deference to Islamic law concerned me. The experts said it was unlikely that the sort of brutal punishments imposed by the Taliban, such as stoning adulterers and cutting off the hands of thieves, would ever be meted out under the Afghan constitution. Nevertheless, Afghanistan’s draft constitution should prohibit such fundamentalist extremism.

The Washington Times reports Muslim scholars do not expect a wave of similar apostasy cases in light of the uproar over Mr. Rahman. Mr. Rahman was only charged after he told investigators he was a Christian in the middle of a legal battle with his ex-wife over the custody of their two daughters.

But according to the Washington Times, two other Afghan Christians had been arrested in recent days, while others had been subjected to beatings and police raids.

The Rahman matter, like the cartoon wars has drawn attention the chasm between Muslim world against the West. Last week United Press International's Claude Salhani wrote the Rahman matter "depicts the difference between an accommodating Western culture, and a brand of Islam closed onto itself:"

Muslims who have opted to live in the West were for the most part well-received -- though not always welcomed -- into Western society. Regrettably, the same cannot always be said of the reverse. Many observers note that while multiple mosques were erected across Western Europe and the United States, Saudi Arabia has still to allow a single church to be built in the kingdom.

One of the major differences between the two cultures is that the freedom to choose one's religion in the West is considered to be part of man's basic human rights.

Salhani reported the Milan's Corriere della Sera, an Italian daily, suggested that Western nations help Afghanistan launch a movement to reform Islam.

Scholars agree that reform in Islam is needed and that it can be achieved through the practice of ijtihad or the interpretation of Islamic law (sharia) to take into account changing historical circumstances and different points of view.

In 2004, the United States Institute of Peace and the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy produced a special report calling for the revival of the practice of ijtihad. We should encourage ijtihad to enable Muslims "to reinterpret Islam for the 21st century."