I heard this on Boortz this morning.

http://www.startribune.com/462/story/709262.html

Essentially, Minneapolis-St. Paul Muslim cab drivers won't take passengers that are openly displaying alcohol or if they are aware of the person is carrying it. Fair enough, they are free to not take a passenger, assuming as part of their licensing with the airport authority they are allowed to do this.

But what Boortz stated, and I haven't scoured google yet, is the "rule" at the airport is the cabbies wait in line, and if they don't want to take a passenger when it is there turn up, they can refuse but are supposed to swing back around and get back in line, what he claimed was, a three hour line.

So, the Muslims, not liking this hit to their wallet, want the airport authority to change the rules so that they don't have to swing back around, that they can take the first available person not carrying alcohol.

10/11/2006 11:22:47 AM

I say get back in line. That's the way it works. You can't flip through until you find a rich looking passenger who might tip well.

10/11/2006 12:35:37 PM

I read about this a few days ago except that it was happening in Australia. One article that I read, mentioned that it was not only people carrying alcohol but people with guide-dogs getting refused service.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,,20544559-661,00.html

10/11/2006 12:50:55 PM

the alcohol i can understand to some extent


but

Quote :

"but people with guide-dogs getting refused service."

wtf

10/11/2006 12:56:46 PM

Quote :

"MUSLIM taxi drivers are refusing to carry blind passengers with their guide dogs or anyone carrying alcohol. At least 20 dog-aided blind people have lodged discrimination complaints with the Victorian Taxi Directorate. Dozens more have voiced their anger."

So, do their dogs bark a certain way when they see Muslims or were the taxi drivers dumb enough to say "No ride for you, I'm Muslim" ?

10/11/2006 1:17:29 PM

ha damn this is stupid

10/11/2006 2:00:52 PM

What do the terrorists...I mean muslims (jk ) have against guide dogs?

10/11/2006 2:50:27 PM

Quote :

"`I don't refuse to take people, but it's hard for me because my religion tells me I should not go near dogs,'' he said. "

They come to the US because we have freedom, then want their religion to trump the laws of the land. How beautiful is that?

10/11/2006 3:08:57 PM

Wait wait wait...they can't go near dogs now?
WTF?


Also, I read recently about a mutual fund that trades on muslim principles and they had a cleric tell them they had to stop trading in any companies that had debt or that had a lot of cash (meaning they were lending it) because its against islamic law to borrow or lend money. They disregarded the clerics opinion because after all the filters they needed to run 0 companies on the S&P 500 met the filters.

10/11/2006 3:23:00 PM

I hate Muslims like this. And they give a bad name to the religion and all the followers.

These cab-drivers, if they are so Islamic, they should go live in Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, or Afghanistan. They have that option. They chose to come to the US.

If they don't want to take a passenger with alcohol, fine, that's their choice. But they HAVE TO get back in line. They can't ask for special rules for them. That's f'ed up.

And this:

Quote :

"I don't refuse to take people, but it's hard for me because my religion tells me I should not go near dogs"

Is infinitely more ridiculous. Yes, dogs are bad in Islam, and they shouldn't be kept as pets, but there are exceptions, such as guide-dogs, security-dogs, hunting-dogs, etc. These people are commanded by Islam to be nice to people with disabilities, and refusing a blind person service is just wrong.

There is an anecdote of a prostitute in the old times who used to give water to a dog that used to come to her door everyday, and Prophet Mohammed said she would go to heaven for that.

Unbelievable.

10/11/2006 8:43:41 PM

just proves that stupidity/ignorance does not discriminate based on religion....

10/11/2006 10:42:20 PM

Quote :

"its against islamic law to borrow or lend money"

Is this true? Do they have such things as mortgages, loans, bonds, etc in islamic fundamentalist countries?

10/11/2006 11:46:54 PM

Quote :

"What do the terrorists...I mean muslims (jk ) have against guide dogs?"

I bet it's cheaper to put dogs on commercial planes than it is air marshals.

10/12/2006 7:35:28 AM

Quote :

"Is this true? Do they have such things as mortgages, loans, bonds, etc in islamic fundamentalist countries?"

Well, I read it in Barron's and I doubt they lie. It was a whole piece on religious and ethics funds. My boss keeps sending me stuff for the Ave Maria fund and trying to get me to tout it in church. But I don't want to sell a Catholic fund to people, because then they'll assume I'm super-Catholic and they'll get mad when they see that I'm just regular-Catholic.

10/12/2006 7:53:03 AM

What IS forbidden is Islam is interest. And strictly so; it is termed as "War against God".

Islamic banking is a hot thing these days, and a lot of European countries are opening Islamic banks also because they realise they are better overall than capitalist banks. The Islamic banking sector, though still very small, is expanding exponentially worldwide, and will become a sizable percentage of the total banking in the next few years.

Islamic banking's core principle is "profit sharing". You share the profit, as well as the loss. Hence, the decree against interest. I don't know too much about it, but you can look this up online.

10/12/2006 8:29:55 AM

the sad thing is that they will get what they want.

10/12/2006 8:33:28 AM

Quote :

"they are better overall than capitalist banks."

how is that?

10/12/2006 8:55:33 AM

Quote :

"These people are commanded by Islam to be nice to people with disabilities, and refusing a blind person service is just wrong."

are they commanded by Islam to be nice to everyone with disabilities, or just Muslims with disabilities?

10/12/2006 9:04:43 AM

Quote :

"Islamic banking's core principle is "profit sharing". You share the profit, as well as the loss. Hence, the decree against interest. I don't know too much about it, but you can look this up online."

Share in what profits? The profits from lending the money...you know, interest?

10/12/2006 9:22:18 AM

^ No, no interest.

Again, as I said, I don't know the details. Some trivia:

Quote :

"Today there are many financial institutions, even in the Western world, offering financial services and products in accordance with the rules of the Islamic finance. For example, legal changes introduced by Chancellor Gordon Brown in 2003, have enabled British banks and building societies to offer so-called Muslim mortgages for house purchase. The Islamic finance sector was worth between 300 and 500 billion dollars (237 and 394 billion euros) as of September 2006, compared with 200 billion dollars in 2004. The number of Islamic retail banks and investment funds number in their hundreds and many Western financial institutions offer products that comply with Sharia law, including Citigroup, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Lloyds TSB and UBS. [1]"

Anyway, follow these links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_banking (the best link)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_economics

http://www.nubank.com/islamic/primer.pdf (html version linked below)

http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cachepPTXu7bCUAJ:http://www.nubank.com/islamic/primer.pdf+islamic+banking+primer&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1

10/12/2006 9:48:43 AM

Quote :

"are they commanded by Islam to be nice to everyone with disabilities, or just Muslims with disabilities?"

its a serious question

10/12/2006 10:09:32 AM

Islam commands believers to be kind to those "lesser" than us, i.e., poor, old, children, disabled, the sick, oppressed, distressed, etc etc.

It doesn't say they have to be Muslims. That cabbie's actions are UNISLAMIC.

10/12/2006 10:11:50 AM

fair enough

not only unislamic, just a shitty human in general

10/12/2006 10:15:51 AM

why were you listening to Boortz, you don't strike me as a Boortz kinda guy

10/12/2006 11:59:08 AM

Quote :

"That cabbie's actions are UNISLAMIC."

No it's not. Muhammad told his followers to kill Christians and Jews if they couldn't convert them.

10/12/2006 12:02:42 PM

Oh and Islamic banking must be a real treat. I mean, look at the thriving islamic countries! They're such engines for wealth generation!

[Edited on October 12, 2006 at 12:03 PM. Reason : .]

10/12/2006 12:03:33 PM

ya ya ya and God told the Jews to kill people who mixed different types of thread.

10/12/2006 12:03:52 PM

Quote :

"In an Islamic mortgage transaction, instead of loaning the buyer money to purchase the item, a bank might buy the item itself from the seller, and re-sell it to the buyer at a profit, while allowing the buyer to pay the bank in installments. However, the fact that it is profit cannot be made explicit and therefore there are no additional penalties for late payment."

Ok, so it looks to be like they're simply bastardizing the banking system so they don't feel like they're paying interest. I mean, they're free to do this if they want (Christians do these kinds of things too, we just don't notice it as much) but you are totally pretending if you really don't think that this is the same thing as interest.

10/12/2006 12:04:07 PM

^^ COmpletely different. Try reading. Mosaic law no longer applies in todays world. The latter teachings of Muhammad are the ones that the clerics agree are most relevant... subsequently, his latter teachings are when he was a warmonger killing a bunch of people.

10/12/2006 12:09:41 PM

Quote :

"why were you listening to Boortz, you don't strike me as a Boortz kinda guy"

Me? What do I strike you as, just curious, I won't be offended by anything you have to say?

Quote :

"Ok, so it looks to be like they're simply bastardizing the banking system so they don't feel like they're paying interest. I mean, they're free to do this if they want (Christians do these kinds of things too, we just don't notice it as much) but you are totally pretending if you really don't think that this is the same thing as interest."

I had a similar thought when I read that too, reselling the house for profit, might as well be usury, huh? But to be fair, this is a Wikipedia entry, and that point is clearly made. I didn't study it all just now, but I did get the impression that a lot of the practices are just "workarounds" to the whole interest thing. In general, I like the concept of shared profit and loss though. I really despise the capitalist system where it generally takes money to make money. You can do it with hard work too, but it's kinda shitty when all you have to do is have money to make more of it, without really doing anything. It's mildly fucked up a bank will loan you money with impunity, then when you can't pay it they just take everything you own.

10/12/2006 12:14:36 PM

Well, it is true that it takes money to make moeny, but it isn't true that if you don't have any money you can't make an idea work.

I mean, you said hard work can do it and you're right and you acknowledged loans already, but remember all the equity capital that small businesses can raise. Angel investing is really popular, as is venture capitalism.

In this country you need a great idea and dedication (and of course some luck) but if you can get someone to believe in your idea, you can get the start-up cash, you'll just have to share profits or pay it back in the form of interest.

10/12/2006 1:03:39 PM

Don't get me wrong, I think capitalism is fine and it breeds more inventiveness and entrepreneurial spirit than any other system. I just think it is a little too heavily skewed in favor of those with the money already.

10/12/2006 1:50:18 PM

Quote :

"Oh and Islamic banking must be a real treat. I mean, look at the thriving islamic countries! They're such engines for wealth generation!"

Wow, what an astute comment!

Maybe the condition of Muslim countries has to do with corrupt authoritarian leaders, bribery/corruption, crime, lack of education, etc

Oh, and for what it is worth, you know what? Islamic banking is far from the primary system used in Muslim countries. It is gaining ground, but still far off.

[Edited on October 12, 2006 at 1:59 PM. Reason : ]

10/12/2006 1:57:59 PM

I bet you wouldn't be around here defending a bank that I decided to start called God's Bank or Bank of Christianity or Yahweh's Branch Banking and Trust, would you?

10/12/2006 2:09:57 PM

You know, if our religion didn't get with the times (as a lot of muslims are) we'd still have to pay wages each day before sunset. That's one of our old school God-rules

10/12/2006 2:48:18 PM

Quote :

"Me? What do I strike you as, just curious, I won't be offended by anything you have to say?"

you've always seemed to be more liberal than libertarian on most matters


I don't pay that much attention to what you say, but when you've responded to me in different topics it seems that way

not trying to be a dick or anything

10/12/2006 2:50:14 PM

I probably come off as liberal because I generally detest this administration. Overall, I think I tend towards the fiscally conservative socially more liberal side of things, though some days I find myself thinking we should let Darwin do his thing and not support those that don't want to help themselves.

I listen to Boortz occasionally just to get that viewpoint. I like the Fair Tax idea more so for the capability of eliminating the behemoth that is the IRS and the crazy tax code (the bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy) than any sort of "fairness" it might impose on the system.

10/12/2006 3:30:52 PM

I agree completely

[Edited on October 12, 2006 at 3:42 PM. Reason : huge boortz fan here]

10/12/2006 3:42:01 PM

Quote :

"Maybe the condition of Muslim countries has to do with corrupt authoritarian leaders, bribery/corruption, crime, lack of education, etc"

Maybe it has to do with their stupid culture/religion.

10/12/2006 4:51:40 PM

10/27/2006 5:32:03 PM

^ hahahaha that cartoon is totally retarded and you know it

10/27/2006 6:05:19 PM

^^ i rather like that cartoon actually


and as for the alcohol/dog thing, i'll just say what i always say:

i fucking HATE religion

10/27/2006 8:18:16 PM

Muslim cab drivers refuse to transport alcohol american drunks

Religion is just a convenient excuse. Not that I blame them.

10/27/2006 9:55:19 PM