Why absolutely! Those crescent moons on outhouse doors have been used since Thomas Jefferson!
Posted on 02/19/2015 9:04:47 AM PST by COUNTrecount
We hear a lot about the United States' Judeo-Christian heritage, but according to President Obama, "Islam has been woven into the fabric of our country since its founding."
That's what the president told a White House conference on "countering violent extremism" on Wednesday.
Obama has said similar things in the past:
"I also know that Islam has always been a part of America’s story,” Obama said in a June 2009 speech in Cairo, Egypt. "Islam has always been part of America," he said in a 2010 statement marking the start of Ramadan. And in a 2014 statement marking Eid, Obama said the holiday "also reminds us of the many achievements and contributions of Muslim Americans to building the very fabric of our nation and strengthening the core of our democracy."
In his speech on Wednesday, Obama was making the point that Western nations must show that they "welcome people of all faiths," at a time when "extremists" are saying that Western nations are "hostile to Muslims."
"Here in America, Islam has been woven into the fabric of our country since its founding. Generations -- (applause) -- Generations of Muslim immigrants came here and went to work as farmers and merchants and factory workers, helped to lay railroads and to build up America.
"The first Islamic center in New York City was founded in the 1890s. America's first mosque, this was an interesting fact, was in North Dakota." (It was established in 1929).
Both of those milestones happened well after America's founding, however. In fact, the new nation's first dealings with Islam were tense and unpleasant.
According to a Heritage Foundation paper, shortly after America's founding, the United States "was dragged into the affairs of the Islamic world by an escalating series of unprovoked attacks on Americans by Muslim pirates, the terrorists of the era," who looted American ships and captured American sailors, holding them for ransom or selling them as slaves.
The paper notes that America's struggle with Muslim pirates from the Barbary States (modern-day Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya) began soon after the 13 colonies declared their independence from Britain in 1776 and continued for roughly four decades.
In his remarks on Wednesday, President Obama said Muslim Americans now serve as police officers, firefighters, soldiers, "and in our intelligence communities and in homeland security."
He said Muslim American heroes are buried at Arlington National Cemetery, "having given their lives in defense of all of us."
"And, of course, that's the story extremists and terrorists don't want the world to know -- Muslims succeeding and thriving in America. Because when that truth is known, it exposes their propaganda as the lie that it is.
"It's also a story that every American must never forget, because it reminds us all that hatred and bigotry and prejudice have no place in our country. It is not just counterproductive. It doesn't just aid terrorists. It's wrong. It's contrary to who we are."
So-called hate crimes against Muslims escalated in this country after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001 -- attacks perpetrated by Islamic radicals -- but they have never reached the level of hate crimes against Jews, according to the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Reporting statistics.
In 2013, for example, 62.4 percent of hate crime victims were attacked because of anti-Jewish bias, while 11.6 percent were victims of anti-Islamic bias.
Compare that with the year before the 2001 terror attacks: In 2000, of the 1,699 victims of anti-religious hate crime, 74.6 percent were victims of an offender's anti-Jewish bias; and only 2.1 percent were victims of an offender's anti-Islamic bias.
President Obama on Wednesday stressed that U.S. is not at war with Islam:"We are at war with people who have perverted Islam," he said.
He also said the West and Islam are not in conflict; and that Islam is not incompatible with modern life, although in the same speech he urged other countries to invest in the education of both males and females -- "because countries will not be truly successful if half their populations, if their girls and their women, are denied opportunity."
In a speech to the same summit on Thursday, Obama noted that many Americans don't personally know a single Muslim, and they form a distorted impression about Islam by what they hear on the news.
Yes, Bammy, it was called the Barbary Pirates “altercation” and Jefferson kicked ass.
George Walker Bush might do it!
yeah.... the barbary pirates are part of our history... correct
take a stroll thru arlington national cemetary and find a single muslim grave... report back.. end of story
he is ONE OF THEM and should be IMEPACHED asap...
Joseph Goebbels:
On the “Big Lie”
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
He’s invested in it, that’s why. As if the other 30,000 or so hints couldn’t tell us.
So how does a people face up to the challenge? I don’t know about generic American patriot, but Christian has a personal God to call upon.
I wouldn’t say it was our first. We did have the War for Independence, Indian War in the Northwest Territory and the Naval War with France beforehand. It is interesting that of the two Barbary Wars we fought, the more unsuccessful of the two gets the most ink. The War with Algiers in 1815 was way more decisive than Jefferson’s conflict. The First Barbary War was a draw in that Jefferson agreed in the end to pay the ransom for the Bey of Tripoli’s ( he was Albanian by the way) hostages. However in 1815, the US Navy defeated Algiers decisively, with Tunis asking for terms soon after.
New media memo. All Islam all the time. The fabric of Islam was defined by the Marine Corps kicking the crap out of them in Tripoli. They had nothing to do with the nation.
The people who have perverted Islam are the only ones we can get along with because they are not following the tenets of the Koran.
Yes I remember being taught about the first Eid al Fitar that was celebrated by the Pilgrims. Over time it evolved into Thanksgiving. Then we learned about the Black Rock of Plymouth. Who can forget the famous words uttered by our founders at Lexington Green, “ Alahu Akbar” Yes a rich Islamic history indeedy. :-)
Why absolutely! Those crescent moons on outhouse doors have been used since Thomas Jefferson!
...who knew.........?
yep
Checking the Vietnam casualty list, if I remember correctly, there were only two (2) of the Muslim faith listed as KIA.
yeah.... the barbary pirates are part of our history... correct
take a stroll thru arlington national cemetary and find a single muslim grave... report back.. end of story
he is ONE OF THEM and should be IMEPACHED asap...
woven....like in skid mark.
oh lol
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