March 26, 2011

The Week in Sharia: Terry Jones’ Revenge

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Flickr: Jason AdamsFlickr: Jason AdamsEveryone stay calm:

  • Sharia came to Florida, and it was not so bad.
  • Tennessee lawmakers rewrote their anti-Sharia bill to turn it into a material support for terrorism law.
  • Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour, former Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann demonstrated their presidential bona fides by cozying up to Bryan Fischer, a far-right radio host who thinks the First Amendment doesn’t apply to Islam. He’s also written that “deaths of people and livestock at the hands of savage beasts is a sign that the land is under a curse.” That last sentence was about grizzly bears.
  • As Governor of Minnesota, GOP presidential candidate Tim Pawlenty oversaw a program that helped Muslims get Sharia-compliant mortgages. No big scandal there—just a state housing agency helping people get houses. But Pawlenty wants you to know that he had nothing to do with it: “As soon as Gov. Pawlenty became aware of the issue, he personally ordered it shut down. Fortunately, only about three people actually used the program before it was terminated at the Governor’s direction.”
  • Chupcabras are, apparently, not real. But in their absence, the Rev. Franklin Graham has a new terrifying bogeyman for you: It’s called the Muslim Brotherhood.
  • Texas pseudo-historian David Barton (among others) also subscribes to Graham’s view. Which is why it was so surprising—or maybe not—to see Newt Gingrich lavishing praise on the WallBuilders founder at an American Family Assocation forum on Friday.
  • Requisite Terry Jones disclaimer: We fully acknowledge that Gainesville pastor Terry Jones has a following of about 30 people. Requisite Terry Jones update: The Gainesville* pastor celebrated “International Judge the Quran Day” by putting Islam on trial—as one does. Islam was found guilty, and Jones carried out the sentence by, finally, burning a Quran. Explained Jones, “We tried to set it up as fair as possible, which you can imagine, of course, is very difficult.” Quite.
  • And finally, your qualifying clause of the week. Atlanta pizza mogul and totally random GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain spoke with Christianity Today about Islam and apparently he’s not a fan. While lamenting that Muslims push their faith on others, Cain explained: “[B]ased upon the little knowledge that I have of the Muslim religion, you know, they have an objective to convert all infidels or kill them.”

*This post originally stated that the Rev. Terry Jones’s church is in Orlando.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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