Free showing of Obama movie in Carrollton this Thursday

The Carroll County Tea Party and the Carroll Country Republican Party have joined forces to sponsor a showing of "2016: Obama's America" in Carrollton, Ga.

The movie, which has been panned by many critics, details Barack Obama's early life and purports to show how he was influenced by radical anti-colonialists. The film argues that if Obama is elected to a second term, he will fundamentally alter the United States and its role in the world.

The movie is based on a book by best-selling conservative author Dinesh D'Souza and produced by Gerald Molen, who also produced "Schindler's List," "Jurassic Park," "Twister," "Days of Thunder," and "the Minority Report." D'Souza's book, "The Roots of Obama's Rage," was released in 2010 and is the basis for the fi lm.

The film was initially released in July and by August it was outgrossing new Hollywood films according to the Hollywood Reporter. It is poised to become one of the top political documentaries of all time. According to the Huffington Post, the Obama Administration called the film "an insidious attempt to dishonestly smear the president."

The movie can be seen at no charge on Thursday, October 25 at the Amp in Carrollton. The movie will run from 7:30 - 9:30 p.m. A second free showing will be on November 1 at the Mill in Villa Rica.

Originally published on Examiner.com

http://www.examiner.com/article/free-showing-of-obama-film-carrollton-this-thursday

Woman who mailed pig foot shot by police in apparent jihad attempt

A Marietta grandmother who mailed a package containing a bloody pig foot to N.Y. Rep. Peter King and a Curious George doll to N.Y. State Senator Greg Ball earlier this year was killed by police on Christmas Day at her home. Her death came a few weeks after her indictment and plea of not guilty in federal court for mailing threatening communications. The federal judge had ordered her to undergo a psychiatric evaluation according to WSB TV. She was reportedly out on bond.

According to reports of the incident, Jameela Barnette, 53, a self-described “Messenger of Allah,” was killed by Cobb County police officers responding to a panic alert triggered from her apartment. Barnette allegedly attacked the officers with a gun and a knife when they responded to the alarm. The officers shot her in the course of defending themselves.

Examiner readers may remember that the Atlanta Conservative Examiner published a series of articles on the mail incident beginning on April 18, 2011. The original article appeared on my personal blog, CaptainKudzu.com, simultaneously with its publication on Examiner.com. Barnette, herself a blogger who waged an internet campaign against people and websites that she perceived as anti-Muslim, read the article on Captain Kudzu and left several comments. I subsequently published some of these comments in a second Examiner article on April 19. Barnette also posted several comments on a Captain Kudzu Easter article, “In defense of miracles,” during the same time period.

I was able to obtain her email address through the comments she left and attempted to contact Barnette to learn why she sent the packages. Although she initially had no interest in telling her side of the story, she later consented to an email interview and provided me with the now-famous picture with Dustin Hoffman. The email exchanges culminated in an article simultaneously published on Examiner and CaptainKudzu.com on April 26.

After that article was published, she thanked me for my objectivity and “unbiased honesty” in another email. Other than occasionally receiving more of her messages “from Allah,” which were soon relegated to my spam folder, I had no other contact with her after that. Until her death made the news this week, I was not even aware that she had been indicted for her mailings. She had been confident that she would escape prosecution because she didn’t make any overt threats.

In our correspondence Jameela was always polite and respectful. It was only when she got up on her Islamist soapbox, that she spouted hatred. Her messages are some of the most vile, racist and profane missives that I have ever read. Although a former Jew, she unapologetically likened Jews to apes and pigs (Surah 5:60) and was no friendlier to Christians who worship “a bloodied, battered and partially-eaten and bled-out, rotting DEAD [emphasis hers] Jew.” She was not shy about her desire to turn the United States into a Muslim nation in which “white b-----s” [expletive deleted] name their children Mohammed and wear veils in accordance with Islamic law.

A major reason that I gave Jameela the chance to speak out in my column was that I felt that she provided a valuable insight into the minds of radical Muslims. Jameela might have been a loner in Marietta, but there are thousands of other Muslims in this country and millions around the world who share her beliefs. It was people who shared Jameela’s beliefs that carried out the 9/11 attacks. It is people who share Jameela’s beliefs that have been at war with the United States for decades, much longer than the United States has been in Iraq or Afghanistan.

While not all Muslims share Jameela’s fanatical and racist ideology, even a small percentage of them can add up to thousands of extremists in this country and millions around the world. A withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan will not change the attitudes of these radicals. For them, it was never about Iraq or Afghanistan. It is about spreading their brand of orthodox Islam around the globe and ridding the world of the Jews.

Even though I had not thought of Jameela in months, I cannot say that I was surprised to hear of her death. My initial thought was that the incident sounded like what is often called “suicide by cop,” in which someone who wants to die threatens police in order to get them to kill him. After more consideration, however, I no longer believe that to be the case.

My opinion is that Jameela launched her own terrorist attack against representatives of the United States. Lacking the knowledge and materials to build a suicide bomb vest, she summoned police with the intention of killing as many as possible and then becoming a martyr. In her twisted theology, she likely believed that the police were infidels who doing the bidding of their Jewish masters in tormenting her. In the end, she was no different from the terrorists in Iraq and Palestine who believe that sacrificing themselves to kill innocents is a worthy and noble cause that will secure their place in heaven.

To most of us, Jameela’s words and actions seem crazy. If she was crazy though, what does that make the multitudes of other radical Muslims around the world who share her beliefs and are also willing to martyr themselves?

I wish to extend my condolences to Ms. Barnette’s family, especially her grandchildren, who will now have to grow up with the shame of her actions on top of the loss that they will undoubtedly feel after her death. I also pray that God will have mercy on her poor misguided soul.

Read this article on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/woman-who-mailed-pig-foot-talked-to-examiner-before-police-shooting

A visit to Occupy Atlanta

Protesters on Peachtree (David W. Thornton)

As Occupy Atlanta entered its second week, I decided to see for myself what was going on at Woodruff Park. With my three-year-old daughter in tow, I set out for downtown Atlanta to find out if the local occupiers were as rowdy as the Occupy Wall Street crowd in New York.








My first brush with the activists occurred as I was driving down Peachtree St. toward Woodruff Park. Appropriately enough, as I approached Peachtree and Wall St., I heard drums and saw marchers parading up the sidewalk, accompanied by a bicyclist who was somewhat reminiscent of Grizzly Adams. I snapped a couple of pictures as they passed by and then continued toward the main encampment.







Woodruff Park, a small green space located in the midst of downtown Atlanta, was mostly quiet early in the afternoon. As I approached, the site of scores of tents was contrasted with a light jazz music that seemed to be emanating from speakers around the park. The activists, who probably numbered between one and two hundred, were almost equaled by curiosity seekers and locals enjoying the tables by the fountains or playing chess with oversized pieces. There were also a number of people who appeared to be homeless and may or may not have been connected with the occupiers.



A large tent at the entrance to the park beckoned visitors. Another sign proclaimed the rules: “Love everybody, no alcohol, no drugs, [and] no weapons.” An American flag fluttered in a tree behind the welcome tent. Other facilities including a tent offering free child care, a first aid tent with a sign on the adjacent trash can warning “do not pick from this trash can it is right by the medic station.” A “free store” was a large tarp in the center of the encampment with a few clothing items arrayed. Wal-mart, it wasn’t.







In contrast to reports from other cities, Woodruff Park was not covered with litter. There were protest signs scattered on the ground, but the area seemed clean otherwise. A number of porta-potties were set up on a street beside the park. Police officers and downtown ambassadors, both of which were present in force, said that the protesters had not caused any trouble.







There seemed to be relatively few activists around. Many were sleeping or lounging in the shade. One played plastic bucket drums. On the other side of the park, another activist painted designs on more bucket drums. One small group sat under the trees listening to a young man strum a guitar. Few seemed to pay attention to the sight-seers wandering in their midst.







One of the first activists that I spoke with was a black Marine Corps veteran. He offered one of the few concrete reasons for taking part in the protest. He was upset that his mortgage rate was over seven percent after Congress had given trillions of dollars to bail out Wall St. investment firms and provide capital for banks. Even after President Obama’s mortgage modification program was enacted, the man had still not been able to get his loan refinanced in spite of being charged numerous fees to apply for a new loan.







One man, Logan, held a sandwich board that read, “Close your account now.” I asked what he suggested that people do with their money after they closed their accounts. “Try a credit union,” he suggested. That’s hardly radical. I am a longtime credit union member myself. Mainstream consumer activists like Clark Howard and Dave Ramsey would probably approve as well.







Another sign that the activists were not totally sour on corporations and capitalism was the presence of an ice cream vendor just outside the encampment. Although not exactly doing a brisk business on the pleasant afternoon, Bo, the operator of the stand, said that the occupiers were friendly and recognized that he worked for a small, local company. One might wonder how big and successful or in how many cities a company must be before it becomes evil and greedy.







Signs hinted at a smattering of progressive causes. A hand-lettered sign proclaimed the park to be “Troy Davis Park,” a reference to the convicted cop-killer executed by Georgia recently. Another sign said “MARTA cop killed Joetavius Stafford.” Yet another decries “four years of education [and] ten years of debt.” Anti-war messages were sprinkled throughout the encampment, as were signs requesting donations.







A tall, black man who wore a paramilitary uniform drew my attention. I recorded a video of him talking to several people and explaining what the activists believe. Later, he said that his name was Wilgeens Rosenberg. Rosenberg said that he was general in Haiti Sovereignty Initiative, which opposes U.S. and U.N. involvement in Haiti. Indeed, a common thread among all the activists was an isolationist bent, opposing the war in Iraq and Afghanistan as well.







I asked Rosenberg, the most outspoken of the activists, if he knew the origin of the occupier statistic that one percent of the population controls 99 percent of the wealth. He acknowledged that there was probably no factual basis for the claim, asking me what agency would compile such data for the U.S., let alone the world, but said that he believed it nonetheless because it seemed “obvious” from “what you see.”

The Atlanta occupiers seem somewhat more moderate than their Wall St. counterparts. Two signs seemed to capture the mood. One said, “I’m not against corporation[s] just greed.” The other read “separation of corporation and state.” Most of the activists that I spoke with did not seem to be angry at capitalism itself. Rather they were angry at the collusion of government and capitalism, what John Stossel calls “crony capitalism.”

The activists were not campaigning for Obama. In fact, most of them seemed to feel disappointed in President Obama. They were aware of Obama’s numerous connections to Wall St., and did not seem placated by his health care reform, which was not even mentioned. To my surprise, more often than not they expressed interest in Republican candidates for president in 2012. In particular, several seemed interested in Ron Paul and Herman Cain.

I only witnessed one altercation while at the encampment. This was between a conservative visitor and another man who identified himself as a Democrat. Much of the exchange was captured on video. Even this was not violent, but merely a spirited discussion.

On economic issues, the activists at Occupy Atlanta seem to hold views similar to the Tea Party. On social issues they remain left of center, which probably explains the fascination with Ron Paul. Paul melds conservative economics with libertarian social policies, which are similar to leftist positions in many cases.

By and large, the occupiers are not a pro-Democratic Party group. Their existence is symptomatic of the failure of the president’s policies to resolve the economic crisis. While they are a left-leaning group, many of them seem open to new ideas and new faces. Even though many, perhaps most, of the occupiers will vote Democratic, the occupation movement signals dissatisfaction among the Democratic base and is a harbinger for the party of problems to come.

Read this article on Examiner.com:

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/a-visit-to-occupy-atlanta

Slideshow of pictures from Occupy Atlanta:
http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/occupy-atlanta-picture-1

Woman tells why she sent bloody pig foot to congressman

Jameela with Dustin Hoffman in 1996 (Courtesy of Jameela Barnette)

As a follow up to the story last week about Jameela Barnette, the Marietta woman who allegedly mailed a pig foot to Rep. Peter King and a Curious George doll to N.Y. state Senator Greg Ball, Examiner.com spoke with Mrs. Barnette to find out just why she sent the packages to the lawmakers.  In the story last week, Examiner.com detailed how Barnette was accused of sending anti-Semitic and anti-Christian letters along with a bloody pig foot and a stuffed Curious George doll emblazoned with anti-Semitic references.  The story was simultaneously published on CaptainKudzu.com, where Jameela left several comments. 

Mrs. Barnette says that her name is Jameela Barnette, in spite of initial reports that her first name was Jacquelyn.  She is married with two daughters and one granddaughter.  She is originally from California, but now lives in Marietta. 

Mrs. Barnette confirms that she did send the letters, the pig foot, and the monkey to Rep. King and Sen. Ball.  She provided copies of the letters sent to the lawmakers.  As initially reported the letters would be deemed offensive and insulting, and probably alarming as well, by most people. 

Mrs. Barnette was reportedly a blogger, but says that she does not have her own blog.  She says that she posts on anti-Muslim websites such as Jihad Watch and Creeping Sharia.  She has provided several examples of her “revelations,” some of which will be attached to this article as comments.

When asked whether she believes that her mailings broke the law, Mrs. Barnette states that she is certain that she did not.  She states that she attended law school for a semester and that one of her daughters and a son-in-law are attorneys.  She says that she does not have a prior criminal record and that she still has not been contacted by law enforcement.  She does say that she sent Rep. King an email on a prior occasion.  The congressman contacted the U.S. Capitol police, who then contacted Mrs. Barnette.  She says that the matter never went any further.  She also provided the author with a copy of a letter sent to Attorney General Eric Holder in November 2010 accusing Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.) with treason for pledging allegiance to Israel.  This letter can also be seen in a Facebook posting.

Rep. Peter King

According to inquiries with the U.S. Capitol police and the N.Y. State Police, the matter is under investigation.  The F.B.I. declined to comment and the Marietta Police Department and G.B.I. say that they are not aware of the case.  The letters are rife with hateful speech and insults, including an invitation for Rep. King to “kiss my black, Muslim-American a--” and a prophecy that Sen. Ball will contract prostate cancer, but seem to stop short of overt threats.  She seems to have tried to avoid breaking the law, even while pushing the law’s limits to make her point. 

What was her point exactly?  In her words, “My only goal was to warn them of the coming torment of their Lord.”  Mrs. Barnette is a Hanif Muslim.  Hanif Islam’s adherents believe that it is a pure form of Islam that was originally practiced by Abraham, the Biblical patriarch.  Hanifs are neither Sunni nor Shia.  They reject the hadiths, traditions of the sayings and actions of Muhammad outside the Quran that are accepted by Sunnis and Shiites. 

Mrs. Barnette says, “There is only one branch of Islam and it is called Hanif Islam, the religion of Abraham, who was a pure Muslim. Those who break themselves into sects (i.e. Shia and Sunni) have disobeyed their Lord, Allah, therefore there is no Shia and Sunni, only disobedient wanna-be [sic] Muslims.” 

Mrs. Barnette, who typically signs her name with the terms “Messenger of Allah and Defender of Islam,” says that she does not attend a mosque because “because I choose not to be in the company of compliant and cowardly Muslims, who are not Muslims [emphasis hers] because they consider themselves ‘Moderate’ Muslims and they have compromised their religion away.” 

Interestingly, Mrs. Barnette says that she used to be Jewish.  She says that she attended Ohr Hatorah Synagogue in the Los Angeles area when she lived in California.  After reading the Quran, she became convinced that it represented absolute truth.  She says that both of her daughters still practice Judaism.  Mrs. Barnette now believes the words of the Quran when it says that Jews were transformed by Allah into “monkeys and swine” (Surah 5:60).

Mrs. Barnette answers with a simple “yes” when asked if terrorist attacks and suicide bombings are justified.  When asked whether she has any connection to groups that use violence or terror, she says,”Yes.  By virtue of my citizenship, I am a citizen of the biggest terrorist group in the annals of history, the United States of America.”

She says that she does not hate the United States, however.  “How can I hate the country that my ancestor’s slave labor built?  I consider myself to be the Last American Patriot.  Just because I don’t agree with the majority of Americans on foreign policy, doesn’t mean I hate my country.   I love the country that my ancestor’s slave labor built.  And on the Day of Resurrection, you will learn the majority was wrong about religion” [emphasis hers].

Whether she hates the U.S. or not, Mrs. Barnette would like to see it changed.  She says that she would like to see Islamic law, referred to as sunnah, imposed on the United States, although she doesn’t believe it will happen in her lifetime.  She quotes a hadith verse which says that “all mankind will be required to embrace Islam with no other alternative” (Abu Dawud 37:4310).  Her letter to Rep. King looks toward a future where “America will be a bright, Muslim-friendly America, it will be an America where white b-----s will name their sons Mohammad and those former, blond-haired, blue-eyed, bible-belt b-----s will veil their dirty-white faces and the faces of their dirty-white daughters…”  She says that America’s only option is to “accept defeat and embrace Islam.” 

When asked who she voted for in the 2008 presidential election, Mrs. Barnette says that her vote for Barack Obama was “the worst mistake I can recall making in recent history.  I miss President George Bush, as do most Americans.”

http://www.examiner.com/conservative-in-atlanta/woman-tells-why-she-sent-bloody-pig-foot-to-congressman"> 

The Enemies Within

It hasn’t been long since Major Nidal Malik Hasan became the most recent jihadist to launch a terror attack on US soil. The unique thing about Major Hasan’s attack, in which he murdered 13 soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas was that he was not only a US army officer, he was a US citizen who was born and raised in the United States. Prior to Major Hasan’s attack, terrorist attacks in the US were primarily carried out by foreign terrorists.

The weeks since the Fort Hood attack have brought the discovery of more American jihadists within the United States. A developing story involves the Somali-American communities in Seattle and Minneapolis. Over the past few years, numerous Somali-American men have disappeared from their homes without a trace. At least three of these men have been turned up dead in Somalia. One of these men, Shirwa Ahmed of Minneapolis, gained the dubious distinction of becoming the first American suicide bomber when he detonated a car packed with explosives in front of the Ethiopian embassy in Somaliland on October 29, 2008, killing 20 people.

The FBI believes that the Somali men are leaving the US to train as terrorists and wage jihad. Some, like Ahmed, ended up in Somalia with al-Shabaab (“the youth”), an al Qaeda affiliated group fighting the Ethiopian presence in Somalia. A second Somali-American is believed to have carried out a suicide bombing against African Union peacekeepers in Somalia on September 15, 200, killing twenty-one.

Another American, David Coleman Headley of Chicago, was recently arrested on charges that he was a spy for the Lashkar, a Pakistani terror group. Headley, whose original name is Daood Gilani, is of Pakistani descent and spent his early childhood in Pakistan. Along with Tahawwur Hussain Rana, a Pakistani businessman, Headley is accused of helping to plan an attack on a Danish newspaper that published cartoons about Mohammed and helping to coordinate the 2008 attacks in Mumbai, India that killed more than 160 people.

Finally a group of five American college students from Washington were arrested in Pakistan in early December 2009 as they tried to make contact with Pakistani terrorist groups. The families of the men became concerned after discovering a farewell video in which they stated the need to defend Muslims. A Pakistani report states they “were of the opinion that a jihad must be waged against the infidels for the atrocities committed by them against Muslims around the world” [cnn]. The men had previously tried to contact terror groups through internet sites such as Facebook and Youtube.

Together with Major Hasan, these discoveries show a disturbing trend. They show that American Muslims are increasingly vulnerable to radicalization. In the past, this sort of radicalization has been seen in the Muslim communities of Europe, but has been rare in the US.

The cases have several factors in common. First, the terrorists in all cases come from a Muslim background. All were American citizens. Some were native born, while others immigrated and became citizens later in life. Additionally, a common theme among many of the jihadists is that their friends viewed them as normal Americans and could not believe their association with terror groups.

It appears that the radicalization can be traced to local mosques and religious awakenings. It has been revealed that Major Hasan attended the same Virginia mosque as two of the 9/11 terrorists. Shirwa Ahmed and the other Somalis typically disappear after becoming involved in local mosques. David Headley became heavily involved in Islam after a series of drug arrests in the 1990s and moved to an area of Chicago known for Muslim immigrants. He attended a local mosque with Rana there. Finally, the Washington Five were all members of a youth program at a mosque in Alexandria, Virginia.

While not nearly all Muslim-Americans are at risk for radicalization, we do have to realize that out of the 1-2 million Muslims in America, there could well be thousands who are quietly becoming radicalized via radical internet websites or local mosques. In 2007, Pew Research polled Muslim Americans and found that five percent of American Muslims had a favorable view of al Qaeda. A further 27 percent responded that they did not know or refused to answer the question (Inside the Revolution, p. 144). Further, when asked if suicide bombings against civilian targets were ever justified, thirteen percent indicated that suicide bombings were justified “sometimes (7 percent), often (1 percent), or rarely but not never (5 percent).” An additional nine percent refused to answer the question. The numbers increase for Muslims between 18 and 29 years old. These younger Muslims also tend to be more radical and more religiously observant.

Estimates of the total Muslim population of the United States vary widely, but approximately 1.5 million seems to be an accepted figure [adherents.com]. This means that as many as 75,000 Muslim Americans have a favorable view of al Qaeda and a further 405,000 are unsure or refuse to answer. Additionally, some 195,000 Muslim Americans believe that suicide bombings against civilian targets are justifiable with an additional 135,000 refusing to answer. Other polls show that these percentages are even higher in other countries.

It would be very easy for homegrown terror cells to form and train via the internet and launch terror attacks on their fellow Americans. Timothy McVeigh, the original World Trade Center bombers, and the DC Sniper illustrate how easy it is to use common items for terrorist attacks. Stolen or legally purchased firearms or bombs created from common items with an internet instruction manual could wreak havoc in numerous cities and small towns around the country. Dozens of small-scale attacks scattered around the country would maximize terror.

The good news is that the silent majority of Americans of Muslim faith is beginning to show more support for the US government. In the case of the Washington Five, their families alerted the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), an organization that has often been believed to be an apologist for terrorist groups. In this case, CAIR referred the families to the FBI.

Many, probably most, American Muslims do not share the radical desire for a worldwide Islamic caliphate. They have no desire to live under Sharia Law. They do not want to see suicide bombings and terror attacks become commonplace in the United States.

These arrests underscore the importance of establishing and maintaining close ties between the law enforcement community and the Muslim communities. Counter-terror and law enforcement must become aware of what is happening within the walls of mosques around the country. Likewise, steps should be taken to monitor or shut down websites that recruit and indoctrinate young Muslims into terror groups. The threat is real and cannot be ignored. Neither can the threat be countered without the help of loyal American Muslims.

Sources:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704517504574589841594836308.html
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/09/23/somalia.bombing.american/index.html
http://www.startribune.com/local/44231707.html?elr=KArksUUUU
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB126057977267688241.html?mod=WSJ_hps_LEADNewsCollection
http://www.dnaindia.com/world/report_deceptive-answers-at-the-airport-led-to-david-headley-s-arrest_1321788
http://www.ndtv.com/news/india/david_headley_feet_in_the_east_and_west.php
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,579888,00.html
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/12/11/pakistan.americans.profiles/index.html?eref=time_us
http://www.adherents.com/largecom/com_islam_usa.html
Rosenberg, Joel C. Inside the Revolution. Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, IL. 2009