Man who stabbed Muslim cabbie worked w/ a global peace org.

[Green_Lantern]

This is weird.

http://blogs.wsj.com/metropolis/2010/08/26/who-is-michael-enright-tracing-the-suspect-in-the-taxi-stabbing/">One of the first facts to emerge about Michael Enright, also on his Facebook page, is his affiliation with Intersections International, a non-profit organization that promotes global peace and reconciliation — and that had recently endorsed the Islamic center at Ground Zero. “He was a good guy,” Sara Reef, a program director for the group, told The Journal. “He got along with my colleagues.”

I wonder if this is PTSD related...he did just come from a warzone where the "enemy" are Middle Eastern.

[Taverner]

1. Didn't the CIA have a mind control program?

But then I'd be talking crazy talk...

[Green_Lantern]

3. everyone knows seeing warfare up close makes people happy

Yeah right.

[Taverner]

7. Oh its tinfoil all the way. And it shouldn't be taken seriously.

Unless it should, then all bets are off

[Warpy]

2. He yelled something about a checkpoint while he was slashing

so I imagine it was a combination of PTSD and possibly alcohol and/or other drugs, prescription or not.

He wasn't your garden variety Freeper bigot.

[Green_Lantern]

4. it was weird...he acted like he was still in Afghanistan...

nt

[Green_Lantern]

5. it was weird...he acted like he was still in Afghanistan...

nt

[Hassin Bin Sober]

6. "Peace org." doesn't mean what it used to...

"Dove World Outreach" is burning Korans.

[Green_Lantern]

9. no..this group is really a peace group...not anti-Islam..

It is a big supporter of Muslim outreach.

[Glassunion]

8. Wait a second...

I saw no less than 5 posts and about 10 blogs yesterday about how this guy was a right-wing, tea-bagging, racist, etc...

How come now it's all PTSD now that it's out that he had ties to left leaning organizations? What was "natural" to a Republican is now a "disease" to a Liberal?

Just calling it like I see it, sometimes the bigot is in the mirror.

[Green_Lantern]

10. no...it's not just ties to "left leaning organizations

But a group that supports tolerance toward Muslims.

Yeah the fact he was tolerant of Muslims and then all the sudden he's attacking a Muslim after he gets back from a war zone is pertinent to whether or not it's hate or mental illness.

Based on the statement he made to the cabbie the guy doesn't seem to be operating in reality.

[Glassunion]

18. Ok. Not the point I was making.

So, we are supposed to be on him like white on rice as a racist repuke, but if he turns out to be a liberal, it is a mental disorder.

Because... All racists are Republicans and all Republicans are racist. A Democrat could never be a racist, and no racist could ever be a Democrat.

My point was that in reading posts on this very site, this guy was immediately labeled a Republican, a Tea Bagger, etc... Because of his actions, he could have never, ever, even remotely been a part of the left wing.

[Green_Lantern]

19. well I never said he was GOP because he attacked a Muslim...

I didn't say leftists can't be violent.

[Glassunion]

23. Was not directed at you.

I cannot direct you at the posts I was referring to as it would violate DU rules on calling people out. I just found it ironic that when we found out that the man was on a team that supports our views he is suddenly an ill individual, not just a racist.

[Green_Lantern]

25. yeah I've seen it here too

It's just a knee jerk reaction.

Also...the idea that Obama is to the right of Eisenhower.

[nadinbrzezinski]

62. From the word go I said this struck me as PTSD

I did not look for any links to left, right center or whatever organizations. I've seen PTSD explode this close up as a medic, so there were many signs that struck me as PTSD.

When he was referred for psych it did not shock me or surprise me. You can google this on here by the way. What this is... the war coming home.

[Mimosa]

45. PTSD and/or alcohol

From the NYT article:

"The arresting officers said Mr. Enright seemed to be drunk, the police said, and a city official briefed on the investigation said there was an empty bottle of Scotch in his backpack. The police did not do a Breathalyzer test."

[Uncle Joe]

11. It makes no difference whether he was right wing, tea bagging racist or a liberal in either case

FOX "News'" spewing fear and hatred is a major contributor.

1. If he's a right wing, tea-bagging racist, then being directly exposed to FOX "News" hate and fear based propaganda can be blamed.

2. If he's a liberal, peace maker having spent time in Afghanistan or any war zone, there would be no motivation to commit such a fear/hate based violent act unless he was suffering from PTSD and the general fear/hate atmosphere either initiated or magnified by Fox propaganda would still be a contributing factor.

[Glassunion]

13. Ha! Good one...

[Uncle Joe]

15. In which case or even if you include mental illness as a possibility, does the initiation or

magnification of fear and hatred improve the situation?

Unless your contention is that FOX "News" doesn't promote fear, hatred, religious intolerance and racism?

[Green_Lantern]

17. my contention is that Fox News isn't accmplice to crimes

The way Rwandan radio personalities were in massacre of Tutsis.

[Uncle Joe]

28. My contention is that American Propaganda, and knowledge of mass psychology

is much more advanced than that of Rwanda.

The corporate media has spent hundreds of millions of dollars throughout the 20 century studying the human condition, psychology, sociology, market targeting and how to sell the American People a product, candidate or down the river against their own best interests, our consumer economy has become based on this science.

They know how to get reactions just as Pavlov learned by teaching his dog to associate food with the ringing of a bell.

The War with Iraq is a prime example, just by mentioning Saddam Hussein's name in the same sentence or paragraph as 9/11 enough times and a majority of their viewership came to believe he was responsible for it against all contrary evidence.

[Glassunion]

29. Your right. But remember, the door swings both ways.

I have seen exactly the same amount of complete bullshit from Fox news, as I have front the NYT.

One leans left, the other right. In the middle is a giant pile of bullshit.

[Uncle Joe]

31. I don't consider the NYT as swinging left, they're just less to the right but in fact,

promoting corporate interests is the prime directive of the vast majority of the corporate media, with very few exceptions.

They know which commercial buying corporations butters their bread and which parent corporations own them.

In some ways I consider FOX "News" to be the red flag, with the supposedly less conservative corporate media to be the actual sword that kills the best policies for the American People, health care reform coming to mind as one recent example.

[Glassunion]

37. Ok.. Just replace the NYT with the Huffington Post. No matter how you slice it,

Left or right both are full of bullshit.

[Uncle Joe]

39. Right, aka; corporate supremacist point of view dominates the airwaves.

You count Huffington Post as liberal and yet Arianna Huffington as a talking head member of the corporate media helped enable Bush to power, at best she and her website are moderate.

If you wish to equate left wing bullshit to right wing bullshit, which I don't, that still isn't the issue no matter how you slice it, right wing or corporate supremacist bullshit is what dominates political discourse on corporate controlled media of all kinds.

This lopsided presentation of information to the American People has pulled the nation dangerously off the right hand side of the road on the edge of a cliff.

Edit for P.S. The Internet may be one of the few exceptions and that's precisely why the corporate supremacists won't be satisfied until they can do to it what they've done to television, radio and print, conglomerate it in to a few hands and/or control the flow of information. That's why they're trying to kill Net Neutrality.

[Glassunion]

47. Ok.

All media is right-wing, whose sole existence is to crush the left with their corporate fearmongering?

Is there nowhere to turn for unbiased news?

[Uncle Joe]

49. All news and information is biased regardless of it's source, just by it's mere presentation.

Six corporations own 90% of everything the American People see on television, hear on the radio or read in print, their perspective can only be skewed toward the corporate point of view.

This is top down, one way, mass information and everyone in that system has a conflict of interest in perpetuating corporate rule to a greater or lesser degree, their paychecks depend on it.

Because of this universal single payer was never given it's due in serious debate by the corporate media, they used Pavlovian Bell codewords instead screaming "socialism" instead of promoting in-depth coverage of the pros and cons of such a policy.

This isn't a recent trend, corporate domination began in the 19th century when a Supreme court clerk, two years after the fact scribbled that corporations were persons, the Chief Justice in that case had already died.

The growing power and influence of the Internet is the first serious challenge to that century+ year old dynamic.

This isn't a question about bias, it's a question about monopoly and the abuse of such power in the hands of a few and how the public good is damaged by this abuse.

[Green_Lantern]

16. I don't think Fox has called for Muslims to be attacked..

Because that's th line between free speech and criminality.

[Glassunion]

20. You missed it. Beck last night said that if you are in a cab you should stab the Muslim driver.

He gave it a good 15 minutes.

[Green_Lantern]

22. I do think Fox sows distrust and reactionary thinking..

But it's not illegal to be ignorant.

[Glassunion]

24. You are correct.

Could we make it a code violation? Just a little fine and you are on your way.

[Uncle Joe]

32. I agree it's not illegal to be ignorant or for that matter fearful, but it can be dangerous. n/t

[Posteritatis]

35. Good lord, are you serious? (nt)

[Glassunion]

38. No.. Should have used the sarcasm tag.

[Uncle Joe]

21. They don't have to blatantly call for it, they can do everything but, just short of that and

the brainwashed or fragile minded can snap.

They've consistently sowed fear and hatred of Islam, just one example is this continuous First Amendment raping slander against the President questioning his religion.

They don't do that just to damage Obama, coming after 9/11 with much of the nation still suffering from PTSD, this is the equivalent of Joe McCarthy's red scare days after World War II.

To update the question of that day "Are you a Muslim or have you ever been a member of the Muslim religion?" if they're doing that to the President of the United States, it damn sure isn't going to stop there.

[Green_Lantern]

26. no...that's like blaming Michael Moore if someone robs a bank

Because the saw Capitalism A Love Story.

No adult person would kill a Muslim because Fox News opposes a "mosque".

[Uncle Joe]

30. Michael Moore isn't beamed in to millions or tens of millions of American Televisions 24/7.

It isn't just FOX "News" opposing a Mosque, it's their entire propaganda package of sowing fear and hatred.

For the record what was being proposed to be built wasn't so much a mosque, as it was a multi-religious community center, two blocks from ground zero, but you wouldn't be able to tell that from watching FOX propaganda.

[Green_Lantern]

42. Fox News is propaganda no doubt..

But I've seen nothing about them calling for violence. Do you not understand that telling viewers to harm others is a criminal act?

[Uncle Joe]

44. That takes us back to my post # 21.

They don't have to blatantly call for it, they can do everything but, just short of that and the brainwashed or fragile minded can snap.

They've consistently sowed fear and hatred of Islam, just one example is this continuous First Amendment raping slander against the President questioning his religion.

They don't do that just to damage Obama, coming after 9/11 with much of the nation still suffering from PTSD, this is the equivalent of Joe McCarthy's red scare days after World War II.

To update the question of that day "Are you a Muslim or have you ever been a member of the Muslim religion?" if they're doing that to the President of the United States, it damn sure isn't going to stop there.

If you demonize a people enough in the eyes of a majority, violence will occur on it's own and FOX damn well knows it.

[Green_Lantern]

46. I don't watch Fox News so I don't know if they've demonized

Muslims. They may demonize certain politicians but criticizing and demonizing the President is not a crime. If it was most of DU would be in prison.

[Uncle Joe]

48. I'm not talking about them demonizing the President although they do enough of that.

If 20% of the American People are still under the illusion that President Obama is a Muslim, it's because the corporate media, most specifically FOX present this is as legitimate question or issue.

I'm talking about FOX using their propaganda to demonize; in this case a religion consisting of over a 1 billion people tying them to 9/11.

I'm talking about FOX giving a distorted picture of the Constitution; in this case the First Amendment as a means to alienate said major religion from it's place in American Society.

FOX "News" feeds the anger, hate and fear either by omission, distortion, obfuscation, symbolism, or out right lies, they don't enlighten, inform nor give adequate in depth explanation, their viewers are left fearful, ignorant and hateful.

They claim to support the troops while making their jobs overseas more difficult by alienating the very people; that we need to win over.

[Green_Lantern]

50. I'm not saying Fox News is good...

I'm just not going to say they endorse or are accomplice to violent acts.

The Jewish Anti-Defamation League opposes the Islamic center too...so it's not just Fox News.

Secondly this isn't a First amendment issue because as proponents keep saying "it's not a mosque."

Ironically if it was a Christian evangelical church DUers would be screaming about church and state issues.

It's odd to see skeptics of religion drool all over Islam which is a pretty restrictive religion.

[Uncle Joe]

51. The Jewish Anti-Defamation League isn't beamed in to tens of millions of American Televisions 24/7.

FOX "News" with their propaganda present this issue as a mosque and this uprising against Muslim places of worship isn't restricted to New York, it's happening around the country.

My support or non-support of religion isn't the issue, I don't care about what type of church, synagogue, mosque or multi-religious community center is being proposed.

My concern is with the promotion of hatred, fear, violence and the trashing of the Constitution, in this case the First Amendment by institutions that are dependent upon that same Right for their very existence.

If it doesn't meet a zoning or code requirement, that's a different issue, but I believe the banning because of hatred and fear is destructive to our democratic republic and the Constitution.

I also see it as potentially leading the nation in to a 21st century version of the witch-hunt days of Joe McCarthy.

[Green_Lantern]

52. there has been no ban on anything...

Whose First amendment rights are being violated?

[Uncle Joe]

54. What do you believe all these protests and propaganda war against

the building of either multi-religious centers or Mosques are all about?

They're trying to pressure the government to stop it,and if the government caves in to all this hate and fear mongering, that's a violation of the First Amendment which protects freedom of religion along with that of speech.

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging freedom of speech or of the press; or the right of the people to peaceably assemble and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

[Green_Lantern]

55. I thought the protesters were trying to pressure the private owners

Of the building, not the government.

Private citizens can't violate the 1st amendment and I hate to tell you but the First amendment allows people to call for the destruction of democracy if they want. It may be crazy but it's a right.

[Uncle Joe]

56. The corporate media in general and specifically FOX "News" has turned this in to national debate,

not a private owner issue. That's why they've questioned national political leaders as to their stance on this issue.

I did say in my previous post in case you missed it, "If Congress caves in to the pressure and acts to ban" but going even further if the states stop them from building, they could be violating the Fourteenth Amendment.

Section. 1. All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

I do make an exception in case these structures are violating codes or zoning laws.

One other point the First Amendment does have limitations, you can't advocate for the violent overthrow of the United States Government nor violence against the President, however if the people are so stupid as to advocate and vote for the repeal and elimination of their own Rights or "destruction of democracy" as you put it, that is legal but hardly wise.

One of my points on this thread being that's precisely what FOX "News" and a good chunk of the corporate media are ultimately pushing for with this propaganda offensive, they thrive on divide and conquer.

[Green_Lantern]

57. Congress isn't even discussing banning this building

All I'm saying is Fox isn't responsible for violence unless they expressly endorse it.

Saying Muslims are terrorist is terrible but not criminal.

Saying the President is a socialist is dumb but not illegal.

[Uncle Joe]

65. I disagree, saying Muslims are terrorists is hate speech,

legal responsibility is one thing and moral responsibility another, especially when you're a major branch of the so called "fourth estate."

On your own OP, you speculated this was possibly a case of PTSD but even if it were mental illness, extreme emotions of hate, fear and stress can trigger the ignorant or fragile minded to do stupid, violent things.

When a major news organization with the ability to pump propaganda in to tens of millions of American homes and businesses labels an entire group of people; by religion, race, region, sexual orientation, etc. etc. either directly or by continuous inference as being terrorists or less than human, they are as responsible as Josef Goebbels was in brain washing the Germans.

[Glassunion]

27. I occasionally flip on Fox.

I'm not seeing that. I do see some right wing stuff, but I think you exaggerate a bit. Yes, they do not share our views, but an outright fear and hatred of Islam? Your making shit up.

[Uncle Joe]

34. Watch this video of Ingraham on this thread, post #3. I had a problem with

the OP link.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x9022052

I didn't see any counter protest clips in support of the Cordoba House being built, just those in opposition to the building of a "Mosque" and implicitly tying that entire religion of over a billion and a half people to 9/11.

This is the same propaganda method used against Saddam Hussein during the run up to the War with Iraq, there is nothing "fair and balanced" about it.

I haven't figured out how to freeze frame yet or I could post those clips for you.

I'm not making this shit up.

[totodeinhere]

61. How do you know he even watches Fox news. They average about 2 million viewers for their

prime time programming. That's out of 300 million Americans.

[changed4thebetter]

41. B..B..B..But some are animals are more equal than others

More of the same double-talk that makes average, everyday Americans move AWAY from the Democratic Party. Foolish, just plain foolish.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

58. I'm impressed you mustered the willpower to type that "ic". It must have been hard.

[pinboy3niner]

12. The NYT story has some interesting detail

I don't think we know enough to conclude anything yet, but the end of this story adds some details I hadn't seen elsewhere:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/nyregion/26cabby.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

[pintobean]

14. The consensus here at DU

would say that the victim is a bigot.

<snip>
Mr. Sharif, who lives in Jamaica, Queens, with his wife and four children, came to the United States about 25 years ago and was a cook before becoming a cabdriver 15 years ago. He said nothing of this nature had happened to him before. Recently, some passengers asked him about the center planned near ground zero, he recalled, and he replied that he was against it, that there was no need to put it there.
<snip>

[nadinbrzezinski]

63. Hate to say it, but I did partially call it

it had all the markers.

[readmoreoften]

33. According to his diary, his attitudes towards Muslims changed after being in Afghanistan.

Per the article: he recently wrote: Muslims are “killers, ungrateful for the help they were being offered, filthy murderers without a conscience.”

[devilgrrl]

36. Now where do those Afghans get off getting all pissy about unwanted guests in their country?

What a bunch of whiny bitches.

:sarcasm:

[robcon]

40. His affiliation with Intersections International means nothing.

He's a hater.

[Green_Lantern]

43. that's speculation and not necessarily true

He could be mentally ill.

[nadinbrzezinski]

60. I guess every mentally ill person is a hater

here is a clue... if this is PTSD, this is the war coming home.

Now that does not mean he should not face a court of law, if he is capable... but this very well may be the war coming home.

[Green_Lantern]

53. the Colbert Report put this in perspective

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/351603/august-26-2010/you-mosque-be-kidding?xrs=share_copy

[nadinbrzezinski]

59. Yes, I suggested this the day this broke

he was sent to the Psych ward, for eval... one of the things they are doing eval is... PTSD... another, I am sure, is Bipolar...

The story screamed PTSD at me from word go.

[struggle4progress]

64. Some other little details from your WSJ link: Enright's an amateur videographer

whose favorite movie "depicts a frustrated man who snaps and goes on a violent rampage" and whose diary calls Muslims “killers, ungrateful for the help they were being offered, filthy murderers without a conscience”

The Village Voice reports: We called up Intersections International to ask them if they employed a Michael Enright, and the operator who picked up the phone told us he was a "freelancer"
See:
The "Ground Zero Mosque"
Was the Muslim Cab Driver Slashing the First "Ground Zero Mosque" Hate Crime? (Updated)
By Foster Kamer, Wed., Aug. 25 2010 @ 1:15PM Comments (53)
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2010/08/was_the_muslim.php

Enright's not listed as staff on the organization webpage: http://www.intersectionsinternational.org/about-us/our-staff

It's a bit hard to figure out what the 3 year old organization really does