Gordon Wagner

Gordon Wagner
Location
California,
Birthday
September 21
Bio
Graphic Designer / Illustrator. Single father, two teenagers, two cats. Holding together in the suburban badlands near San Diego.

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AUGUST 22, 2010 11:21AM

Florida mosque firebombed, US Media silent

Rate: 7 Flag
 
By karoli Wednesday May 19, 2010 2:00pm

On May 10th, a middle-aged man carried a can of gasoline and a pipe bomb into the Jacksonville Islamic Center of Northeast Florida during evening prayers and detonated it. Fortunately, there were no injuries to people, though the bomb did damage property.

The surveillance video above gives a fairly decent picture of this man, who is clearly white, middle-aged, and on a mission.

The local news is all over it, of course. WOKV.com reports the FBI investigating it as a hate crime and possible domestic terrorism.

"It was a dangerous device, and had anybody been around it they could have been seriously injured or killed," says Special Agent James Casey. "We want to sort of emphasize the seriousness of the thing and not let people believe that this was just a match and a little bit of gasoline that was spread around."

Casey says surveillance video from the Islamic Center shows the arsonist carrying gasoline and the pipe bomb. When the explosive went off, parts of it were found 100 feet away on 9A.

So, a mosque is bombed by a white guy and the bomb isn't exactly small, but the national media sees no value in reporting it? Really? And yet, that is evidently the case.

Anti-Muslim sentiments in Florida have been bubbling to the surface, particularly after Republican Dan Fanelli's campaign commercial was aired asking if a man appearing to be from the Middle East "looked like a terrorist." According to Yahoo News, there were two other ads with even more pointed messages against Muslims:

Another ad has Fanelli saying, "This is a terrorist," as he presents a "Middle Eastern" man strapped with a "bomb" and wearing what appears to be a dish towel "turban."

Yet another ad shows two Arabic-speaking "terrorists" constructing a bomb while discussing "martyrdom" and "killing infidels." The ad also mocks long-standing due process rights such as Miranda warnings and access to lawyers.

These ads air, and a mosque is bombed. The bomb could have killed many people. To further stir the pot, this:

Last month, CAIR reported that a Muslim university professor was appointed to the Jacksonville, Fla., Human Rights Commission despite a prolonged smear campaign by the anti-Islam hate group ACT! for America, whose leader says Muslims should not be allowed to hold public office.

There's a deep pattern of anti-Islam behavior in Florida. CommonDreams.org has the list. It's a story worthy of attention by every single citizen in this country.

I did a quick Google news search. I found lots of local stories. But look what happens when I try major news sites:

FOX News: Nothing

CNN: Nothing

MSNBC: Nothing

CBS News: Nothing.

Why is that?

---

I couldn't believe it and had Google News in another window and searched there, not a peep. Weird, eh?

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Comments

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We call it selective sensitivity. r
I agree. The most disturbing part of this story is its lack of existence in general media outside of FLorida.
Now, if you could somehow add in a kidnapping of a pretty blue eyed blonde woman you could get for this story widespread awareness and 24/7 coverage.
This pisses me off. I had no idea about this incident. It doesn't surprise me it wasn't covered by the MSM. The hypocrisy in this country continues to amaze me.
Damn, if anyone needs proof of our media crap shoot, this is a good example.
-R-
Corporate media wants everyone to pay attention to the comic fringe right. Real criminal activity being investigated would eventually turn a lens on corporate media itself. Comic fringe right distracts. Real fascist crime is far too serious.
Of course running the story might have given aid and comfort to the Enemies of America. Thanks for doing you bit to rectify yet another failing of the MSM.
I read it online, but I saw nothing about it on our local news, or in our local papers here in the Tampa Bay Area.
Heck, had they reported it these yokels would be dancing in the street.
hORRIBLE. mEDIA IS TOTALLY SILENT THEY ARE BIASED. Check out my new post on whether the US Constitution is truly democratic. Would love your opinion
He would become a right-wing media darling overnight. He should have known better than to bomb something on a weekend. Geez-what an amateur. Five corporate news giants and when Comcast buys NBC then it will be a true monopoly.