When the name "Michael Enright" was coming up as a top search term yesterday, you could have been mistaken as I was in thinking the reference was to the long-time broadcaster at CBC Radio One. Instead, this Michael Enright is a coward who -- if the reports are correct -- stabbed a Muslim cab driver in NYC. Enright has been charged with three counts, the most serious being attempt murder two with the aggravating circumstance of a hate crime, which carries up to 25 years in prison. Even crazier is that this Enright may be the same one who was a volunteer at Intersections International, a Manhattan group that promotes religious tolerance.
Thankfully, the driver, Ahmed H. Sharif, is okay although certainly he is going to have to cope with PTSD maybe for the rest of his life.
So far, Sarah Palin, John Boehner and Rush Limbaugh have been amazing silent about this. Strangely though Bill O'Reilly wasn't.
I realize passions are running high over the proposed Corboda Center near Ground Zero, but did it really have to get to this? Since when did we hallow ground over a military defeat? Oh yeah, been there done that. Kosovo (battled over by Serbians and Albanians for as long as anyone can remember), the Plains of Abraham (now a federal park, no doubt to the angst of the Québec separatists), Anteitam (a Confederate victory on Union ground) ...
Just an observation.
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4 comments:
Ugh. Terrible.
I'm with Christopher Hitchens on this issue. (Both of his recent Slate articles.)
lol - can't mention a prejudice-fueled crime without name-dropping conservatives eh? even though they have NOTHING AT ALL to do with the story!!
real quality blog ya got here.
Admittedly on my part not my best entry as of late. But I had to sound off on this. As for name-dropping, if the shoe was on the other foot, you'd likely be naming A-list liberals who were silent. You'd think especially with Palin saying her opposition to the center has nothing to do with being "anti-Muslim" she'd be amongst the first to condemn the attack. But still no word. Why?
I wouldn't apologize too much BlastFurnace. Claiming that Palin & Limbaugh have "nothing at all to do with the story" is a load of crap.
The story isn't an isolated stabbing. It's a stabbing in the context of what's possibly the biggest protest about Islam in living memory and one in which Palin & Limbaugh have played significant roles.
I wouldn't say they're in any way responsible, but they do have a responsibility to condemn this act loudly considering the context.
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