CAIR WINS, FREE SPEECH LOSES AT ABC RADIO

Jewish World Review ^ | August 22, 2005 | Michael Graham

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

The First Amendment and I have been evicted from ABC Radio in Washington, DC.

On July 25th, the Council on American-Islamic Relations demanded that I be "punished" for my on-air statements regarding Islam and its tragic connections to terrorism. Three days later, 630 WMAL and ABC Radio suspended me without pay for comments deemed "hate radio" by CAIR.

CAIR immediately announced that my punishment was insufficient and demanded I be fired. ABC Radio and 630 WMAL have now complied. I have now been fired for making the specific comments CAIR deemed "offensive," and for refusing to retract those statements in a management-mandated, on-air apology. ABC Radio further demanded that I agree to perform what they described as "additional outreach efforts" to those people or groups who felt offended.

I refused. And for that refusal, I have been fired.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

This is both outrageous and shameful! Time to unload on the spineless suits at WMAL and ABC Radio.

http://www.abcradio.com/index.cfm?bay=comm.vpcontact

http://www.630wmal.com/contactus.asp

[Peach]

This is outrageous. We have CAIR dictating policy at ABC News now?

[EveningStar]

Already posted

[L98Fiero]

Evidently so.

[princess leah]

Perhaps FOX will picked up this honest and fair broadcaster?

[Joe Boucher]

A.B.C. with or without petey jennings is the most antiAmerican garbbage company there is in the newwsbusiness.
I refuse to have anything to do with this,"news outfit".
Won't read or watch anything or have anything to do with any thing else a.b.c. owns.

[Millee]

You mean the ACLU didn't defend Mr. Graham? I'm shocked. No really, I am. /s

[JimRed]

The people who most need free speech and open dialogue on the issues facing Islam today are America's moderate Muslims. These are people of good will who have the difficult job ahead of reforming and rescuing their religion. They need all the help they can get.

To the true-to-the-Koran Islamist, they are nothing more than apostates, to be killed along with the Infidels. That's why they are so quiet.

[SolidSupplySide]

The First Amendment and I have been evicted from ABC Radio in Washington, DC.

What did the government do to violate the First Amendment rights at ABC radio?

Or is this guy just whining that a business made a decision with which he doesn't agree and he is falsely claiming a First Amendment issue? That wouldn't make him look good.

[advance_copy]

Rush should pull his broadcast from WMAL and move it to WTNT. That way you wouldn't have to change the channel after Laura Ingraham.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

I agree that technically this is not a 1st Amendment issue and the government is not involved, but all rhetoric aside, free speech, expression, and thought in the public arena by conservative broadcasters are most definitely threatened by the terrible precedent. Have you not been keeping up with this whole sorry story...?

[Gritty]

CAIR is on a roll. Check this one out;

Muslim Group Sues Critic for $1.35 Million

[FreedomAvatar]

I agree. Much as I find CAIR and what they represent to be repugnant on many levels, this is not a free speech issue.

It's a gutless lefty MSM outlet caving in to a front for HAMAS.

[L98Fiero]

I agree. God forbid we should offend our enemies.

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

Good point! I hadn't thought about that!

[ClubCaved]

What Rush _should_ do is hire Micheal as a substitute host!

[radar101]

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=45895< > Editor's note: The following commentary is what led to talk-show host Michael Graham recently being fired from ABC Radio station WMAL in Washington, D.C., after pressure was applied by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. <.........................................> By Michael Graham<.......................> I take no pleasure in saying it. It pains me to think it. I could very well lose my job in talk radio over admitting it. But it is the plain truth: Islam is a terror organization. <........................> For years, I've been trying to give the world's Muslim community the benefit of the doubt, along with the benefit of my typical-American's complete disinterest in their faith. Before 9-11, I knew nothing about Islam except the greeting "asalaam alaikum," taught to me by a Pakistani friend in Chicago. <.....................> Immediately after 9-11, I nodded in ignorant agreement as President Bush assured me that "Islam is a religion of peace." <............................> But nearly four years later, nobody can defend that statement. And I mean "nobody." <.................> Certainly not the group of "moderate" Muslim clerics and imams who gathered in London last week to issue a statement on terrorism and their faith. When asked the question "Are suicide bombings always a violation of Islam," they could not answer "Yes. Always." Instead, these "moderate British Muslims" had to answer "It depends." <..................> Precisely what it depends on, news reports did not say. Sadly, given our new knowledge of Islam from the past four years, it probably depends on whether or not you're killing Jews. <.....................> That is part of the state of modern Islam. <............> Another fact about the state of Islam is that a majority of Muslims in countries like Jordan continue to believe that suicide bombings are legitimate. Still another is the poll reported by a left-leaning British paper than only 73 percent of British Muslims would tell police if they knew about a planned terrorist attack. <..................> The other 27 percent? They are a part of modern Islam, too. <.............> The Council on American-Islamic Relations is outraged that I would dare to connect the worldwide epidemic of terrorism with Islam. They put it down to bigotry, asserting that a lifetime of disinterest in Islam has suddenly become blind hatred. They couldn't be more wrong. <......................> Not to be mean to the folks at CAIR, but I don't – care, that is. I simply don't care about Islam, its theology, its history – I have no interest in it at all. All I care about is not getting blown to smithereens when I board a bus or ride a plane. I care about living in a world where terrorism and murder-suicide bombings are rejected by all. And the reason Islam has itself become a terrorist organization is that it cannot address its own role in this violence. It cannot cast out the murderers from its members. I know it can't, because "moderate" Muslim imams keep telling me they can't. "We have no control over these radical young men," one London imam moaned to the local papers. < > Can't kick 'em out of your faith? Can't excommunicate them? Apparently Islam does not allow it. < > Islam cannot say that terrorism is forbidden to Muslims. I know this because when the world's Muslim nations gathered after 9-11 to state their position on terrorism, they couldn't even agree on what it was. How could they, when the world's largest terror sponsors at the time were Iran and Saudi Arabia – both governed by Islamic law? < > If the Boy Scouts of America had 1,000 scout troops, and 10 of them practiced suicide bombings, then the BSA would be considered a terrorist organization. If the BSA refused to kick out those 10 troops, that would make the case even stronger. If people defending terror repeatedly turned to the "Boy Scout Handbook" and found language that justified and defended murder – and the scoutmasters in charge simply said "Could be" – the Boy Scouts would have driven out of America long ago. Today, Islam has entire sects and grand mosques that preach terror. Its theology is used as a source of inspiration by terrorist murderers. Millions of Islam's members give these killers support and comfort. The question isn't how dare I call Islam a terrorist organization, but rather why more people do not. As I've said many times, I have great sympathy for those Muslims of good will who want their faith to be a true "religion of peace." I believe that terrorism and murder do violate the sensibilities and inherent decency of the vast majority of the world's Muslims. I believe they want peace. Sadly, the organization and fundamental theology of Islam as it is constituted today allows for hatreds most Muslims do not share to thrive, and for criminals they oppose to operate in the name of their faith.

[krasdorf]

i am sending our ipetition to wmal even though it is beating a dead horse. you can see the petition results PDF file on http://www.supportmichaelgraham.com/ under the "what you can do" page

you can sign the petition at
http://www.ipetitions.com/campaigns/SupportMichaelGraham