Chariman’s Report for October 21, 2010

THE GROUND ZERO MOSQUE

THE PETITION CAMPAIGN – Normally organizations collecting petitions on a particular issue will hold them until there are enough for a photo opportunity, delivering several boxes of them at a time. We at the Religious Freedom Coalition have decided not to hold our Ground Zero mosque petitions for a photo-op, but rather to deliver them almost daily to Mayor Michael Bloomberg. One of the driving considerations for this decision was the actual effect on Bloomberg and his staff. If we deliver a cart load of 50,000 petitions to New York City Hall, they have to deal with it once and put them in storage. You are probably familiar with the saying, “out of sight, out of mind!” We don’t want the protests over the Ground Zero mosque to be out of Mayor Bloomberg’s thoughts.

Our strategy at the Religious Freedom Coalition is now to send the petitions against the Ground Zero mosque almost daily, as they are received. As of now we are shipping a package containing several hundred petitions to Mayor Bloomberg almost every day, with the total in the tens of thousands and still climbing.

So far the Religious Freedom Coalition has mailed over 100,000 petitions to individuals who we believe will sign them. Those are being returned to us signed, and we have learned that some people are sending them directly to Mayor Bloomberg as well. Several individuals have copied the petitions and had their friends and relatives sign them also. If you want copies of the printed petition to sign, you can print them directly from the Internet. On the homepage of no911mosque.org links can be found to both the Internet and printed version of the NO 911 Mosque petition. If you print copies to be signed by others they can be sent to us in bulk, or directly to Mayor Bloomberg in New York City!

COURT ORDERS SLUM LANDLORD RAUF TO PAY UP – A New Jersey Superior Court judge has ordered Imam Feisal Rauf to reimburse Union City, New Jersey for the salary of off-duty police officers who were forced to stand watch for 10 days outside an apartment building he owns, because he refused to install a working fire alarm system. The judge also ordered rent money from the month of October held in an escrow account rather than being paid to Rauf because of  more than 200 other fire and health code violations Union City inspectors have found, including moldy bathrooms and infestations.

Of course the imam’s attorney blamed persecution for the lawsuit: “There were no violations that were given notice until the problems with respect to the mosque in New York,” said lawyer Thomas Espinosa. “What I believe is that it is clear that something attracted attention.” What attracts many people’s attention is the fact that Imam Rauf could find someone to plunk down $150 million bucks to buy a building at Ground Zero, but could not afford to have a working fire alarm in an apartment building he owns.

RAUF HAD GOVERNMENT MONEY FOR SLUM PROPERTIES – Imam Feisel Rauf has owned numerous “low income” rental properties for which he received large sums of government money for development.  Much of that money was lost.

Rauf received a $384,000 loan endorsed by Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.), plus $1,295,000 underwritten by then Hudson County Executive, Robert C. Janiszewski. Despite all the government funding, several of his properties were foreclosed on and he was sued by at least one of his business associates for “misrepresenting” the properties in question. Somehow, Imam Rauf manages to come up with people to front him money for even bigger ventures such as the mosque at Ground Zero which he now claims will be more of a secular center making a profit than a mosque … BUT … he still wants a tax exemption for the building.

MOSQUE DEVELOPER SUED BY BANK, KICKED OUT BY LANDLORD – The slum lord imam is not the only one associated with the Ground Zero mosque who is in financial and legal trouble. A new lawsuit has been filed against the developer who actually purchased the property for the mosque as well. Valley National Bank has sued Sharif El-Gamal and his company, Soho Properties, for $95,778 plus interest on a credit line he defaulted on. His company had a $100,000 line of credit that El-Gamal personally guaranteed. He exercised the credit line, took the money and did not pay it back as required.

In addition El-Gamal’s company moved out of its headquarters in the middle of the night just as his landlord began eviction proceedings. According to the landlord El-Gamal was delinquent to the tune of $39,000 in back rent.  As for the site of the mosque itself, El-Gamal failed to pay $270,000 in back taxes. He has now signed an agreement for a payment plan with the city, but if he can’t pay his rent where will the money come from to pay the taxes? Although some media, such as the New York Post, is reporting the financial problems of the main players behind the mosque, the mainstream liberal media is protecting them with silence.

El-Gamal and Imam Feisal Rauf are raising money all over the world in the name of building a mosque at Ground Zero. Why can’t they pay their bills?

STATE DEPARTMENT SUED OVER RAUF LINKS – On August 13^th the Religious Freedom Coalition filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request with the Department of State demanding details of its dealings with Imam Feisal Rauf including his paid trips to the Middle East to discuss “the role of religion” in American society. The State Department, of course, will not pay any Christian theologian to travel or speak anywhere because of “separation of church and state.” It appears that this rule does not apply to Muslims.

The State Department acknowledged that they received the Religious Freedom Coalition’s FOIA request, but have so far refused to furnish the information. Several other organizations made the same request in August, including the Liberty Counsel and Judicial Watch. By law the State Department was required to furnish the information to us by September 23^rd, and to Judicial Watch by September 24^th, which they have not done. Judicial Watch, which has attorneys on staff, has now filed a lawsuit against the State Department demanding that the information be furnished.

Imam Rauf’s cozy relationship with the State Department did not begin with the Obama Administration. Despite the fact that he blamed the United States in part for the 9-11 jihad attack on the United States, it was Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice who first hired Feisal Rauf. Apparently she sent him to the Islamic World Forum in Doha, Qatar in February 2006 and then to Bahrain, Morocco, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates in 2007. In 2010 he was paid to attend the Bureau of International Information Programs in Egypt and then of course this past summer the State Department sent him on his “role of religion” tour of the Middle East.

The Religious Freedom Coalition is working with the Liberty Counsel and Judicial Watch to get the truth from the State Department on Imam Rauf and any other Muslim leaders employed by the State Department to travel to the Middle East. Judicial Watch has now filed a lawsuit against the State Department to obtain the information on Rauf and others.

WHAT WILL BE TAUGHT AT GROUND ZERO MOSQUE? – What will be taught at the Ground Zero mosque (rabat)? Will Imam Feisel Rauf suddenly deny the Qur’an and the Hadith and declare that all religions provide human kind a path to heaven, as President Barack Obama believes? Or will Imam Rauf teach that Jews are descendants of pigs and that Jesus Christ will return to Earth to destroy the cross and establish Islam as the one true religion? We need look no further than the Hadith which teaches that Jesus will return to Earth to destroy the church and establish Islam.

“There is no prophet between me and him, that is, Jesus (peace be upon him). He will descent (to the earth). When you see him, recognize him: a man of medium height, reddish fair, wearing two light yellow garments, looking as if drops were falling down from his head though it will not be wet. He will fight the people for the cause of Islam. He will break the cross, kill swine, and abolish jizyah. Allah will perish all religions except Islam. He will destroy the Antichrist and will live on the earth for forty years and then he will die. The Muslims will pray over him.” (Sunan Abu Dawud, Book 37, No. 4310)

THE PRESIDENT

OBAMA AND THE RULE OF LAW – “Equal in the eyes of the law.” Beginning in the 1960’s liberals began their attack on the concept of the “rule of law,” the concept that made America a great nation morally and financially. Beginning with the “point systems”  of government hiring that favored some over others based on sex and skin color, our society moved toward special privileges that “protected” some groups and punished others. President Barack Obama has taken it upon himself to bury what is left of the concept of the rule of law. Here are a few examples: ObamaCare, which he claimed would benefit all, has now issued exemptions to some very large corporations, while forcing other businesses to enter the system. Interns can no longer train in for-profit corporations, only in government jobs. Obama’s Justice Department made it clear it will not file charges against anyone violating the voting rights of whites or Orientals during the upcoming election. The list goes on, but the difficulty of predicting which arbitrary laws will apply to which groups is destroying our economy as investors can’t figure out the rules that apply to them. Hope is the casualty of the Obama war against the rule of law.

THE CONGRESS

50% OF DEBT FOREIGN OWNED? – An official chart issued by the Department of the Treasury shows that 50% of the debt issued by our government is “foreign owned,” but is that true? The Treasury Department also shows less than 20% of that foreign owned debt as going to the  Middle East.  Do you believe for a second that this is correct? Of course not. While China owns US bonds directly, many of the Saudi princes own US bonds and other debt instruments through hedge funds that are incorporated in the United States. Much of the Saudi ownership of America’s debt is shown as “domestic” when in fact it is not. In reality well over 50% of the nation’s debt is held by foreigners, many of whom are human rights offenders. Our government owes so much to so many that recovery is virtually impossible, yet our Congress continues to spend and continues to borrow as if no repayment will ever be required.

CULTURE AND RELIGION

CARTOON FEAR STRIKES NEWSPAPERS IN US – The Non Sequitur” comic strip by Wiley Miller has won many awards and appears in hundreds of newspapers.” But when Miller did a takeoff on “Find Waldo” called “Find Mohamed,” major newspapers dropped the strip out of fear. Miller said that editors, “… didn’t see the satire was on them, of being petrified to run anything related to him (Mohamed).” There was no actual depiction of Mohamed in the strip, but liberal newspapers such as the Washington Post, New York Times and Los Angeles Times refused the strip for fear of Islamic reprisal.

CAMPBELL’S MUSLIM ONLY SOUP – Campbell’s Soup of Canada is now producing a line of halal certified soups for Muslims. The Islamic Society of North America is certifying the soups for Campbell’s under its “Halal Certification Program.” Apparently the giant soup company either did not check or did not care that the ISNA has direct ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, according to Jihad Watch. Already a Boycott Campbell’s Soup page has been established at Facebook.

MY OATH TO USA WAS A LIE – Faisal Shahzad, the jihadist who attempted to set off a car bomb in Times Square, has been sentenced to life in prison. At his sentencing hearing in October, Shahzad said he lied when he swore an oath to become a citizen and then said, “Brace yourselves because the war with Muslims has just begun. Consider me the first droplet of the flood that will follow.” He then told the judge what virtually all Muslims in America are taught by their imams, “We do not accept your democracy or your freedom because we already have Sharia law.” Welcome to the reality of Islam that President Barack Obama and his politically correct crowd do not understand.

INTERNATIONAL

IRAN ARRESTS MORE IN STONING CASE – Iran arrested two foreigners for interviewing the son of a woman facing execution by stoning. Iran will not give the nationality or even gender of the two, but claims they have links with “anti-revolution” groups. Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said that the two posed as reporters and were “preparing a report” on their meeting with the family of Sakineh Mohammadi-Ashtiani. Ashtiani is facing death by stoning, on trumped up charges in Iran. Her attorney has also been arrested as punishment for bringing the brutality of the Iranian government to the attention of “foreigners.”

MAHMOUND AMA-NUT-CASE TAUNTS ISRAEL AT BORDER – Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is a threat to world peace and may bring the world to war in the same time frame of his dictatorship as did Adolph Hitler. He is also a man with whom President Obama wants “dialog.”  This week he stood at a border crossing in Lebanon, in sight of Israel, and incited tens of thousands of rallying Hezbollah supporters, calling for the destruction of “the Zionists.” Mr. Ahmadinejad cried out to the huge crowd, “The world should know that Zionists will perish!” Iran has heavily armed Hezbollah in the last few years. The United States has also furnished Lebanon with war supplies that have been turned against Israel.

William J. Murray, Chairman