Posted on 10/10/2006 6:12:43 AM PDT by Verloona Ti
By Tom Lyden
Web Produced by Michael Durkin
MINNEAPOLIS – In her bright pink hat, Paula Hare has found herself waiting on her stoop a lot lately, for taxi cabs that never come.
Not to avoid confusion, Paula even tells the taxi dispatcher she’s transgendred. But on three occasions when the taxi actually showed up, she says Muslim drivers have refused to give her a lift.
“This is more than just religion, it’s flat out discrimination,” hare said. “And we’ve got laws against that in this state.”
The city of Minneapolis says she’s right.
Of the nearly 2,000 taxis in the Twin Cities metro, estimates are as many as half the drivers are recent immigrants – many Muslim.
The culture clash is most apparent at Twin Cities international Airport, where two to three times a day, taxi drivers refuse a fare because someone is carrying a bottle of alcohol. Some drivers believe the Koran forbids it.
Soon, the airport will even color code the light bar above taxi’s to indicate those who won’t carry booze.
When FOX 9 stopped by the airport taxi lot to talk about the controversy, we got a near riot. No one said they would give us a ride with a bottle of wine, and they told us to go somewhere else.
Back at Paula’s place, the taxi arrives this time, although the driver gives her quite a look. Paula Hare doesn’t care, as long as she gets there.
“They say it’s their religion, but they pick up women without veils,” Hare said.
The owner of Blue and White Taxi says they suspended one of their drivers who refused to give Paula a ride. That driver eventually quit.
The owner also says three local imams, Muslim religious leaders, have said there is no violation of the Koran if you transport alcohol – they just can’t touch it.
While the airport is compromising on this alcohol issue, mainly it seems out of a fear of litigation. The city of Minneapolis is not making a compromise, saying if the passenger has alcohol, or is going to a liquor store, cabbies must still give them a ride.
If Mr. Hare had a goat with him there'd be no problems. Unfortunatly, goats at airports are hard to find.
What about pharmacists who refuse to dispense the "morning-after" pill because of their religious beliefs? Seems like they have just as much right as cab drivers to follow their religious convictions.
Oooooh! A threesome! Kinky!
"Cab for you today sir?"
"Um, no thanks. I'm waiting for a white driver."
Except that they agree to follow the rules of the airport in order to use the airport pickup line.
Doesn't being homo trump everything to liberals? Unless you're a republican congressman of course.
Agreed, but the airport should also have the right to refuse equal access to taxi cab companies which discriminate against any of their clientele.
Don't piss 'em off, Paula. They might fly an airplane into the Foshay Building.
I think your take on it is the best yet.
Agreed.
They've shown no more interest in the atrocities commited against homosexuals in moslem countries then they have those commited against women. Nor have they protested against the enslavement of pagan/Christian/nonmoslem-in-general black Africans by the much lighter-skinned North African moslems. It looks like, to liberals, it's moslems uber alles. Why? I don't know. Maybe the hatred that moslems have against western society makes them so attractive to liberals?
I was reminded of the alcohol incident when in Sam's this weekend. Up near Baltimore on Route 40 - lots of Muslims in the store. I wondered how their fellow Muslims can refuse rides to people with alcohol yet shop in a store that openly sells pork, ham, bacon, etc?
And their imams are stating that the prohibition is against drinking alcohol-not simply being around it or moving it. So that for me indicates that alcohol is being used as an excuse ; the real intent is stealth sharia.
I wonder how these Muslim cab drivers react when a Hasidic Jew or other identificable religious person gets in their cab. Can they refuse to take them to their synagogue or temple?
Go to my LGF link in the reply above, and read reply 80 on that thread. That should give you a hint as to how some moslem taxi drivers ALREADY feel free to treat Jewish fares.
"Soon, the airport will even color code the light bar above taxi’s to indicate those who won’t carry booze."
The color-coded sign should read, "Former driver doing time in prison."
That's not going to work. See http://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/index.php/Civil_rights, which states in pertinent part:
Congress, using its power to regulate interstate commerce, enacted the Civil Rights Act of 1964 under Title 42, Public Health and Welfare, Chapter 21, Civil Rights, of the United States Code. Discrimination based on "race, color, religion, or national origin" in public establishments that had a connection to interstate commerce or was supported by the state is prohibited. See 42 U.S.C. § 2000a. Public establishments include places of public accommodation (e.g., hotels, motels, trailer parks), restaurants, gas stations, bars, taverns, and places of entertainment in general.
What the Taxi companies are allowing is a violation of the Civil Rights Act and of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Since it is being sanctioned by the state and city at a public airport, the state and city are also liable. Call the lawyers and start filing lawsuits against the cab companies, the city, and state. Should be a few bucks in there for the lawyers.
They're turning the Wichita Horror into entertainment-a film. The director of Saw and Saw II is making it.
From Rue Morgue magazine, page 9, May 2006 issue:
"Wichita is going to push the limits of what people can handle more than any other film before it,"Bousman stated confidently...Set during the holiday season, the story concerns a singular event which sets in motion the eventual detruction of eight separate people. ...Boseman...notes that it's based on real events.
I like the 'eight separate people', with the two vicious murderers being lumped in with the victims as equally worthy of sympathy.
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