Murphy reports: "Kansas lawmakers have passed legislation intended to prevent the state courts or agencies from using Islamic or other non-US laws in making decisions, a measure critics have blasted as an embarrassment to the state."
Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback has not indicated whether he will sign the new legislation. (photo: Getty Images)
Kansas Bans Islamic Law
13 May 12
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ansas lawmakers have passed legislation intended to prevent the state courts or agencies from using Islamic or other non-U.S. laws in making decisions, a measure critics have blasted as an embarrassment to the state.
The legislation, which passed 33-3 in the state Senate on Friday and 120-0 previously in the House, is widely known in Kansas as the "Sharia bill," because the perceived goal of supporters is to keep Islamic code from being recognized in Kansas.
The bill was sent to Republican Governor Sam Brownback, who has not indicated whether he will sign it.
In interviews on Saturday, a supporter of the bill said it reassured foreigners in Kansas that state laws and the U.S. Constitution will protect them. But an opponent said the bill's real purpose is to hold Islam out for ridicule.
Kansas Representative Peggy Mast, a lead sponsor of the bill for the past two years, said the goal was to make sure there was no confusion that American laws prevailed on American soil.
Mast said research showed more than 50 cases around the United States where courts or government agencies took laws from Sharia or other legal systems into account in decision-making.
Commonly, they involved divorce, child custody, property division or other cases where the woman was treated unfairly, Mast said.
"I want people of other cultures, when they come to the United States, to know the freedoms they have in regard to women's and children's rights," said Mast, a Republican. "An important part of this bill would be to educate them."
State Senator Tim Owens, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said there was no need for legislation reaffirming American laws that already exist. All the proposed legislation does, he said, was target one particular group - Muslims - for discrimination.
'Utter Nonsense'
"It's based on fear, it's based on intolerance and it is not based on understanding of the Constitution," said Owens, a Republican, who said the measure is an embarrassment to Kansas.
"People will ask, 'How narrow has that state become?'" Owens said. "How unwelcoming is this state?"
He said non-U.S. companies may be unwilling to do business in a state whose residents object to "anything different than what they think is appropriate."
Roughly 20 states have considered legislation similar to what has passed in Kansas, said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington. Some state legislatures, including Kansas, have passed laws that do not mention Sharia by name, he said.
Hooper said there was a movement by conservative-leaning state legislatures to introduce anti-Islam bills that have no legal foundation.
"Really, the goal seems to be (to demonize) Islam and (to marginalize) American Muslims," Hooper said. "Some (states) have passed these watered-down bills and declared a great victory. It's utter nonsense, but if your goal is to promote intolerance, I guess you won."
After Oklahoma voters approved a law in 2010 barring state judges from considering Sharia law specifically in making decisions, federal courts granted an injunction preventing the law from taking effect.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver upheld the injunction, ruling the law unfairly discriminated against a particular religion.
Sharia, or Islamic law, covers all aspects of Muslim life including religious obligations and financial dealings, and opponents of state bans say they could nullify wills or legal contracts between Muslims.
A report earlier this year showed that nearly a third of Americans believed American Muslims want to establish Sharia law in the United States.
The same report, by the Brookings Institution and the Public Religion Research Institute, showed 88 percent of Americans acknowledged knowing little about Muslim beliefs.
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here I wrote 9 days ago:
Activista 2014-07-01 10:53
"Hamas in Gaza responded Monday evening to the discovery of the bodies of the three Israeli teens, kidnapped on June 12, denying complicity in the kidnapping and blaming Israel for "preparing the ground" for an attack against Gaza."
www.haaretz.com - I find Haaretz or Hamas more trutworthy than Israeli/USA mass media ...
That Israel will use its propaganda blitzkrieg to attack Iran (now IF but when).
Because many Conservatives are still living in the 1950's, when "Left Wing Media Bias" actually had some small truth to it? And for those who know better and craft GOP narratives, because it still plays with the ignorant base, getting them to drink the Corporate Kool-Aid voluntarily?
I wonder if they'd be quite so gleeful, though, if they realize that what they're really admitting is that (1) our intelligence services are vulnerable to being led by the nose by those willing to provide false information which fits their (right-leaning) institutionaliz ed prejudices, and (2) conservatives are more than happy to provide such false information, even when they know, or have good reason to know, that it is false. Or, to put it another way, that our spy agencies are suckers for right-wing disinformation, and right-wingers are happy to sucker them.
I always laugh at this chestnut. My come-back is always that this take solely suggests is that the GOP are very effective liars, not that some liberals being duped by them provides any proof that deliberate lies weren't being told. Any psychologist will tell you that Sociopaths are always good at lying.
Now Miller works at FOX news and Gordon is still the well greased conduit for the lies of the military industrial complex.
There is no "free press" in the US. The major media are simply conduits for the ruling elites to tell the masses what they intend to do. They inform the masses so the masses will support the actions, such as a war against Iraq or the funding of a coup d'etat in Ukraine.
There's nothing to say about Anders Fogh Rassmussen. He's simply a whore. He does what the ruling elites tell him to do. There's no lie that is too disgusting to him. There's no amount of wanton killing that he's not willing to authorize. that's why his career has been so successful. He's a political whore of the first order.
We've a saying: "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but names can never harm me." I agree that people like Anders Fogh Rassmussen and Benjamin Netanyahu aren't the nicest people in the world, and calling them names may make one feel good, but it's not going to change anything unfortunately.
I am somewhat depressed right now because the only country in the world today that I thought could've changed anything, that could've stood up to the U.S., that could've opposed U.S. world domination, has just capitulated its power away to the United States, and that country is Russia. I refer you to the following short article that came out today:
http://seekingalpha.com/news/1839155-russia-not-interfering-as-ukraine-surrounds-donetsk
Putin has just told the United States of the world that it will not stand up to the U.S. and that the U.S. is virtually free to do whatever it wants to do in the world today.
Name calling doesn't work when you're dealing with very thick-skinned people, people who are absent a conscience and a soul, evil wicked people.
Anyone who depends on any corporate media outlet for accurate information should have their heads examined.
Remember, one definition of insanity is to continue the same behavior expecting different results.
What if we ignored the NYT? Would it figure out it needed to provide accurate information?