Dog Named Muhammad' Comment Irks Councilman

[The Straight Story]

Dog Named Muhammad' Comment Irks Councilman

San Juan Capistrano City Councilman Larry Kramer takes offense at his colleague's public announcement of a pet's name.

If an elected official names his dog Muhammad, San Juan Capistrano City Councilman Larry Kramer doesn't want to hear about it during a public meeting.

So he is asking his council colleagues to set some ground rules on decorum.

The move comes after City Councilman Derek Reeve's recent announcement that he named one of his family's new basset hounds Muhammad.

Kramer, in a letter to the council, labeled Reeve's comment "offensive." (In the Arab world, dogs are traditionally considered unclean.)

http://sanjuancapistrano.patch.com/articles/dog-named-muhammad-comment-irks-councilman

[RZM]

1. Having covered city councils before

I'll bet these two have preexisting problems with each other. Personalities clash quite often in local politics. I've seen them try to score cheap points and needle each other in open session before. This sounds like that.

Who gives a shit what he names his dog anyway?

[enuegii]

2. Simple solution: just rename the dog Jesus.

[TheManInTheMac]

5. Why rename the dog? No problem here; no solution needed.

[provis99]

3. I've known people who named their dobermann Hitler.

so? Its a dog not a human. Maybe the guy likes Mohammed, the way these people loved Hitler.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

4. Maybe it's after Ali (n/m)

[socialshockwave]

6. Get over yourself, Kramer.

It's a name. Who cares?

[Marrah_G]

7. Who the heck announces their dogs name?

The guy is a city councilman...who even gives a damn if he has a pet?

:eyes:

The whole thing on both sides is juvenile.

[kiranon]

8. Someone who wants to be offensive or is clueless. Since it was

announced at a public meeting, I'm leaning toward his wanting to offend but then again dumb knows no bounds. It's another unsolved mystery.

[Nye Bevan]

9. Who the heck writes a letter to the City Council

complaining about the name someone gave their dog?

[Marrah_G]

10. Exactly!!!!

The whole thing is so ridiculous.

[Douglas Carpenter]

11. many Arab people typically name a dog after an enemy

Perhaps Councilman Reeve did not know this. Maybe he did. I have no way of knowing. But most Arab and Muslim people would tend to interpret this as intentionally antagonistic. Just as a public official or anyone else for that matter should not make comments that Jewish people are likely to interpret as anti-Semitic or that African-Americans are apt to interpret as racist - Perhaps in some of these cases people who do make such comments may not realize how it may sound - I would hope that a public official would have a little sensitivity on these matters.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

12. Not in that area...

It is an intentional poke at muslim sensitivities, and in area where some are quite thin skinned