Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Islanders ...

As most of the regulars here know, I'm a proud Long Islander. There are a lot of great things about this place. The ethnic diversity (the original Melting Pot), the hundreds of miles of world-class beaches, and a 40 minute drive (not at rush hour, however) to Times Square and all the culture of New York City. Not to mention a buncha great bloggers. Heh ...

That said, we have a boil on our collective ass and its name is Peter King. In '06, as most of you know, I did my damnedest to unseat him, backing the best candidate we've had to date, Dave Mejias. No such luck and the bastid is still there, presumably for life (last year's challenger was weak and financially overpowered by King).

King is an absolute moron, a conservative who toes the party line without wavering, and says shit that constantly embarrasses us. His latest verbal diarrhea is most distasteful and has no basis in fact.

As he heads upstate tonight to gauge support for a U.S. Senate run, Rep. Peter King said Sunday he has no plans to tone down his comments about Muslims and their cooperation with law enforcement -- a long-simmering issue that flared up again over the weekend.

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In response to a Department of Homeland Security report about domestic right-wing extremism, King (R-Seaford) told MSNBC Friday that the department "has never put out a report talking about look out for mosques. Look out for Islamic terrorists in our country. Look out for the fact that very few Muslims come forward to cooperate with the police."

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He's also made statements regarding the Nassau Country Police and FBI infiltration of our local mosques and intimated law enforcement has them under constant surveillance - something both agencies strongly deny.

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The Seaford congressman, who is the ranking Republican member of the Homeland Security Committee, also said that "right now there are a number of mosques under surveillance by law enforcement agencies" on Long Island. He would not state which mosques or which law enforcement agencies, but said the surveillance has been going on for four or five years.

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In the first place, Long Island's Islamic community is one of the most "well-behaved" demographics of any of the dozens inhabiting this big sandbar. I can't remember the last time (I've lived here for 38 years of my 47 year life) any trouble has been traced to our Islamic neighbors, yet Peter King makes a point of singling them out whenever he can. He creates an environment of fear for Nassau County's Muslims that should not be tolerated. The key is the term "Nassau County", the reddest in the NY Metro (NY, NJ, CT, PA) area and King's 'jihad' against the Muslim community plays with the base, mostly retirees who haven't made it to Florida or North Carolina.

One can only hope King runs for the Senate seat Kirsten Gillibrand has to defend next year, and losees. Prayers might be answered if a strong Dem can challenge his House seat during that time and our terminal boil can be lanced once and for all.

Most Long Islanders are proud of our racial, ethnic, and religious diversity and the great majority of us live together in peace and cooperation. Idiots like Peter King are dinosaurs and will soon be extinct. Not soon enough for me but the writing is on the wall.

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