{"id":4249,"date":"2011-03-08T06:00:30","date_gmt":"2011-03-08T14:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/?p=4249"},"modified":"2011-03-08T06:00:30","modified_gmt":"2011-03-08T14:00:30","slug":"peter-kings-hearings-gop-hate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/2011\/03\/08\/peter-kings-hearings-gop-hate\/","title":{"rendered":"Peter King’s Hearings: GOP Hate!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Shortly, Peter King (R-NY) will begin his hateful investigation into the radicalism of American Muslims.  The irony here is that America faces a far greater threat from the radicalization of Republican pseudo-Christians.  There is no basis for singling out Muslims for this investigation, and Democrats are beginning to take a stand against the bigoted hatred that Republicans are promoting.<\/font><\/p>\n

\n

\"GOPIn only three days, Rep. Peter King\u2019s (R-NY) controversial hearings into the threat of radical Islam will begin on Capitol Hill. Already, hundreds of faith leaders in King\u2019s district and in California have asked him to cancel the hearings. Protests at his district office<\/font><\/a> and in Times Square<\/font><\/a> have drawn hundreds of demonstrators, and one member of Congress who spent time in a World War II-era Japanese-American internment camp has pleaded<\/font><\/a> with King not to \u201cdivide or target Americans simply on the basis of their faith or ancestry.\u201d <\/font><\/p>\n

Now, more lawmakers on Capitol Hill are speaking out. Twenty-six House members have signed onto a letter being circulated by Reps. Pete Stark (D-CA) and John Dingell (D-MI) that expresses \u201c[deep concern] that the stated narrow scope and underlying premises of these hearings unfairly stigmatizes and alienates Muslim Americans.\u201d The letter, a copy of which was provided to ThinkProgress, asks King to \u201creconsider\u201d the hearings:<\/font><\/p>\n

Dear Chairman King:<\/font><\/p>\n

We are writing regarding the Homeland Security Committee\u2019s upcoming hearings, which you have stated will focus exclusively on radicalization among Muslim Americans and homegrown terrorism. We agree that Congress and all levels of government have a duty to protect America from terrorism, whether from abroad or homegrown. <\/font>We are, however, deeply concerned that the stated narrow scope and underlying premises of these hearings unfairly stigmatizes and alienates Muslim Americans. We ask that you reconsider the scope of these hearings and instead examine all forms of violence motivated by extremist beliefs, rather than unfairly focusing on just one religious group.<\/strong><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n

We believe that the tone and focus of these hearings runs contrary to our nation\u2019s values<\/font><\/strong><\/span>. Muslim Americans contribute to our nation\u2019s wellbeing in many professions including as doctors, engineers, lawyers, firefighters, business entrepreneurs, teachers, police officers and Members of Congress. Their hard work helps to make our country exceptional. <\/font><\/p>\n

Signatures are still being collected until the close of business tomorrow. Current co-signers of the letter are Reps. Baldwin (D-WI), Blumenauer (D-OR), Chu (D-CA), Conyers (D-MI), Edwards (D-MD), Frank (D-MA), Fudge (D-OH), Grijalva (D-AZ), Gutierrez (D-IL), Hirono (D-HI), Holt (D-NJ), Honda (D-CA), Jackson (D-IL), Jackson-Lee (D-TX), Kucinich (D-OH), Lee (D-CA), McCollum (D-MN), McDermott (D-WA), Meeks (D-FL), Moran (D-VA), Polis (D-CO), Rush (D-IL), Schakowsky (D-IL), Scott (D-VA), Serrano (D-NY), and Waters (D-CA)\u2026 [emphasis original<\/em><\/span>]<\/font><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Inserted From <Think Progress<\/a>><\/p>\n

Thanks to all the Democrats who are standing for justice here.  Cenk Uygur and Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center explain the lack of justification for King\u2019s stance and the need for more concern about the hate groups that now constitute a large part of the Republican base.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/embed><\/object><\/font> <\/p>\n

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news<\/a>, world news<\/a>, and news about the economy<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n

I hope you noted the list of groups that are now welcome under the Republican banner.<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shortly, Peter King (R-NY) will begin his hateful investigation into the radicalism of American Muslims.  The irony here is that America faces a far greater threat from the radicalization of Republican pseudo-Christians.  There is no basis for singling out Muslims for this investigation, and Democrats are beginning to take a stand against the bigoted hatred […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","category-5-id","post-seq-1","post-parity-odd","meta-position-corners","fix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4249"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4249\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.politicsplus.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}