Gay Pride and Islam Part 2

The Anti-War Committee is ready for the Minneapolis GLBT Pride:

Sat 6/ 23 & Sun 6/24, all day @ Loring Park, Mpls.
Come help take our anti-war message to the queer community. We are looking for tabling volunteers for Saturday & Sunday at our booth & for folks to march with us on Sunday under our banner "Out Now! Queers out of the closet! US out of Iraq!"

The Anti-War Committee is nothing more than Islamic appeasers who would use the GLBT community to further their agenda. I once again went looking for more Muslim opinions on homosexuality, and hit the mother load at IslamOnline:

Homosexuality: The Nature of Perversion

Some of my "favorite" questions included Death Fall as Punishment for Homosexuality, How to Deal with Homosexuals, and Homosexuality… From an Islamic Stand. From the latter:

In fact, Islam considers homosexuality to be clearly sinful. As far as Islam is concerned, it is a profound mistake, specially that humans are not homosexuals by nature. People become homosexuals because of their environments.

There is a consensus among Islamic scholars that all humans are naturally heterosexual. Homosexuality is seen by scholars to be sinful and a perverted deviation from the norm. All Islamic schools of thought and jurisprudence consider gay acts to be unlawful.

Food Shelves Request Ethnic Donations

Same hunger, different diets

Move over, mac and cheese. The local food shelf could use a little fufu.

Twin Cities' food banks and food shelves are racing to stock more ethnic foods to keep up with the area's growing number of new immigrants.

Culturally specific items sought at food banks and food shelves:

# Different kinds of rice: basmati, jasmine, saffron and brown rice

# Beans of all kinds

# Meat that is halal, certified for the Muslim community

# Fufu, an African porridge

# Plantains

# Fresh fruits and vegetables

# Guilin rice noodles

# Bean thread

# Soy milk or beverages

# White gourd juice

# Corn meal, corn flour and corn oil

# Fish sauce

I guess beggars can be choosers.

Khat Trial Update

The Khat trial in New York continues:

Khat case may hinge on definition of drug

A year after federal agents arrested nearly a dozen Somali men in the Twin Cities in connection with an alleged international drug smuggling ring, four defendants on trial in New York have an unusual defense: The substances in question aren't drugs.

The men are charged with smuggling 25 tons of a leafy plant called khat into the United States and profiting from its sale. But defense attorneys are arguing that the men can't be charged with drug smuggling, because there was no "drug" in the khat plants by the time they reached the United States.

And while importing khat plants that lack potency might violate U.S. agriculture rules, it isn't drug dealing, defense lawyers argue. The government, however, holds that khat contains enough stimulant to be considered illegal.

The trial, which started last week in a New York federal court, is being closely watched by Minnesota's Somali community, the largest in the United States. Last July, federal agents swept through Minnesota, Washington, New York and several other states, arresting 44 people. Three of the four defendants on trial are from Minnesota.

"This case will set a legal precedent on the issue ... and people are concerned," said Omar Jamal of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul. "People are calling each other, calling people in New York, and asking, 'How is it going?' " said Jamal, the center's executive director. "This is a classic clash between two cultures," he said. "People don't understand why the government is making such a big deal out of this. [Khat] is legal in England, Germany and other countries."

This isn't England, and this isn't Germany. This is the United States, and you live by our laws. If the Somali community doesn't like it, they can go elsewhere to live where their drugs are legal.