Tikun Olam-תקון עולם: Make the World a Better Place

The Republican Party has gone from controlling the presidency and both houses of Congress to trolling through the cesspools of hate and bigotry.  I’m guessing they may be a minority party for many years to come if they continue with the types of bizarre attacks they’ve dreamed up in the past few days.

In the first attack, the Republican National Committee tweeted about a doctored video in which Adolph Hitler praises Nancy Pelosi for her efforts on behalf of health care reform.  The video was featured by a far-right site, Moonbattery and retweeted by the RNC.  Not only were Democrats royally pissed, Jewish groups were none to happy either.  This was the best the Republicans could muster by way of apology or explanation:

NRCC spokesman John Randall says they have pulled down the Tweet and offered a mea culpa:”We saw the video this morning and thought, like other parodies, that it was funny,” Randall just told me. “In 20-20 hindsight, we realized it was in poor taste and pulled it down… I don’t want anyone to think we’re comparing Democrats to Nazis and to Hitler.”

Republicans comparing Democrats to Nazis?  Heaven forfend.  Why would such a thought even cross anyone’s mind?  I’m waiting for Abe Foxman’s denunciation of the utter inanity of this RNC gem.  My guess is we might have to wait a long time.  Abe is quick on the trigger when liberals or Democrats err.  But when it’s conservatives abusing the Holocaust?  Not so much.

Jeff Siddiqui sends me a remarkable story about four Republican Congressmembers who, with great fanfare and in their best Joe McCarthy imitation, announced to their colleagues they would make “public a national security threat on Capitol Hill.”  Was it an al Qaeda sleeper cell in DC?  Not quite.  Apparently, someone dug up a Council on American-Islamic Relations memo which summarized their national program, including efforts to recruit young Muslims to work as interns and staffers on the Hill. Here’s the smoking gun proving Muslim perfidy:

We will impact local Congressional districts with each member influencing at least two legislators through strong grassroots responses.  We will focus on influencing Congressmen with responsibility for policy that directly impacts the American Muslim community.  For example, Congressmen on the judiciary, intelligence and homeland security committees.  We will develop national initiatives such as lobby day and placing Muslim interns in Congressional offices.

This is something, by the way, that Aipac does with great success.  Not only does it help place young Jews in such positions, members of Congress are often eager to have them.  This nexus helps cement bonds between Aipac and Congress and vastly aids in their lobbying efforts.  So let’s ask a simple question: why when Aipac does something is it as American as apple pie, but when CAIR does it it’s a national security threat?

An added shocker to this story is that one of the four Republicans, Sue Myrick (NC), has written the forward to a new book by Dave Gaubatz, Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that’s Conspiring to Islamize America.  When I first read Gaubatz’s name it immediately rang a bell.  He’s the “investigator” who “infiltrated” mosques in the D.C. area claiming to have uncovered militant Islamist cells which threaten America’s welfare.  He perpetrated this outrage together with another shady Jewish anti-jihadist, David Yerushalmi (ne Beychok), who I’ve written about extensively here.  Together they run an outfit called SANE Works for US, which claims (along with Daniel Pipes and other militant Islamophobes) that American Muslims are orchestrating a sharia state for America.  Here’s one particular Yerushalmi proclamation:

WHEREAS Islam requires all Muslims to actively and passively support the replacement of America’s constitutional republic with a political system based upon Shari’a.

Whereas, adherence to Islam as a Muslim is prima facie evidence of an act in support of the overthrow of the US Government through the abrogation, destruction, or violation of the US Constitution and the imposition of Shari’a on the American People.

HEREFORE, IT IS RESOLVED THAT: It shall be a felony punishable by 20 years in prison to knowingly act in furtherance of, or to support the, adherence to Shari’a.

The Congress of the United States of America shall declare the US at war with the Muslim Nation.

Further, they argue that this justifies holding American Muslims in concentration camps as a threat to national security.  Interestingly, the Sane Works site has gone from being public and accessible to members-only.  One wonders what Yerushalmi and Graubatz have to hide.  I’d say they’re trying to erase their tracks and any public record of their racism, not just against Muslims, but all “non-white” groups (except Jews, of course).

Really, this is with whom the Republican Islamophobes have gotten themselves into bed.  And I say for shame.  What do you have to say about that, Abe Foxman?  Oh, that’s right, you’re only concerned about violations of the Jewish civil rights.  Muslims and Armenians, not so much.