?Worship Satan? Spray-Painted On St. Louis Mosque In Second Act Of Vandalism In As Many Weeks
Posted in Main Blog (All Posts) on September 30th, 2010 4:37 am by HL
?Worship Satan? Spray-Painted On St. Louis Mosque In Second Act Of Vandalism In As Many Weeks
Two weeks ago, vandals spraypainted the words “Worship Satan” and drew a pentagon along the side of the Masjid Qooba mosque in St. Louis. The FBI immediately began investigating the incident, but made no arrests.
Now, vandalism has once again befallen the mosque. The words “Worship Satan” were spray-painted over a different wall of the same mosque, alarming its worshippers. The FBI and St. Louis Police are both investigating the incident, and suspect the same vandals from the incident two weeks earlier may be responsible.
In an interview with local news station KMOV, mosque spokesman Tim Kaminski said the mosque is not interested in pursuing charges against the vandal or vandals. “What we would like is for this person to come forward and come clean,” said Kaminski. “We have no rancor, no anger. We want to talk to this person. Explain to them what Islam is, that we worship the same God as the Christian and Jewish traditions do.” Watch it:
Jim Hacking, a local attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, told local news station KMOX that right-wing figures have helped gin up the hatred against Muslims that is leading to vandalism. “Nationally on things like FOX News, you have people like Newt Gingrich comparing Muslims to Nazis,” Hacking said. “Just really negative, stereotypical hatred that’s been spewing out, and it’s really at its worst level, even worse than after 9/11.”
Richest House Member Darrell Issa Wants Tax Rates For The Rich Lowered From Bush Rates
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) went on Fox News last night to promote the GOP line that the government must not let the Bush tax cuts expire for the rich, repeating his charge that the House should hold a vote on the Bush tax cuts “or resign.” Issa dismissed the cost of extending those cuts for the rich (more than $800 billion over the next decade). “It isn’t that much,” he said.
Incredibly, Issa later argued that the tax cuts should be extended for the rich because those making less than $250,000 per year might one day win the lottery. “One of the things that you lose in the debate is most people don’t make over a quarter million dollars a year. But a great many people once in their lifetime will sort of win the lottery,” he said. But not only does Issa want to extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, he actually wants the tax rates that the rich pay to be lowered:
ISSA: We were better off at 28 percent under Reagan than we’ve been since. And we are going to be at 39 percent come January. And in my state that is over and above over another 10 percent. You are looking at 50 percent of every dollar of every California business is being taken before they get to reinvestment.
Watch it:
Seeing that Issa doesn’t seem to care about the cost of extending the Bush tax cuts for the rich, he probably isn’t too worried about the additional hundreds of billions in debt that would result from cutting them even more. Rather, he stands to handsomely benefit from lower tax rates on the rich. The California lawmaker is one of the richest members of Congress:
The wealthiest members of Congress grew richer in 2009 even as the economy struggled to recover from a deep recession. The 50 wealthiest lawmakers were worth almost $1.4 billion in 2009, about $85.1 million more than 12 months earlier, according to The Hill’s annual review of lawmakers’ financial disclosure forms. […]
Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), with a net worth of $160.1 million, is the second-richest member of Congress under The Hill’s formula, even though his wealth declined by more than $4 million in 2009.
According to Open Secrets, Issa was the wealthiest member of Congress in 2008.
