No Ma'am, I'm Just a Paralegal

Life at the Bottom of the Legal Food Chain

JoeinAustin

JoeinAustin
Location
Austin, Travis, Rep. of Tex.
Birthday
March 05
Bio
Born in the oil and gas deposit-rich region of North Texas, on the fraying edge of the Permian Basin, my mother was a special ed teacher, my father, a “pumper,” a far more glamorous job among the petroletariat than the name would indicate. I managed to escape the small town that spawned me promptly after High School graduation, a modicum of sanity still intact to ride shotgun with my generous portions of anger and resentment. Some five years later, I copped a BS degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Said institution and I gladly parted ways. In the intervening 20-plus years, though my only ambition has been to have ambition, I have miraculously coughed-up a boatload of freelance articles, a couple of books of dubious merit, and a metric ton of songs of occasionally inspired quality, not to mention a paralegal certificate, 11 years of experience as a legal underling, and tens of thousands of bicycle commuter miles.

NOVEMBER 6, 2009 11:00AM

Report says Fort Hood Gunman Shouted "Allahu Akbar"

Rate: 2 Flag

According to a Guardian UK story posted earlier  today, Fort Hood Gunman, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, shouted the Arabic phrase "Allahu Akbar" or "God is greatest" as he commenced his shooting rampage on Thursday.


The Guardian story also states that "...family and fellow officers said Hasan had complained of harassment by other troops about his Middle Eastern ethnicity and Muslim faith" and that "...the FBI was last night going through Hasan's phone and computer records to see if a motive could be identified. Agents were checking back on website postings by a man who identified himself as Nidal Hasan that appeared sympathetic to suicide bombings."

See full Guardian Story.

See altmuslim.org comment

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His facebook page was taken down almost immediately but not before some got a look at it; unfortunately filled with what is being called extreme muslim connections, links and opinions. He was born and raised in the U.S. but we know we have home grown terrorists here, as does Britain. I hope it doesn't turn out to be terrorism.
Listening to BBC-- the debate on Muslims in the military has started. I may not know all the facts, but I think this had more to do with stress than any act of terrorism. Maybe we'll figure it out when all the facts come in.
All of this speculation reminds me of when the Va Tech rampage occurred and everyone was gnashing their teeth over whether the Korean boy responsible was expressing his Asian immigrant rage. I'll say now what I said then. Um, mental illness, mental illness, mental illness. It's a problem. We should do more. For everyone's sake.
Give me a fucking break. The man had been continually persecuted for his religious beliefs, his car had been vandalized, and his superiors had done nothing about it. Which is both apalling and religious discrimination, not to mention a real war crime.

Furthermore, he had repeatedly asked for an honorable discharge, while offering to pay back the cost of his education, again, something he was repeatedly refused. Again, that is a war crime.

The fact that he was a Muslim is absolutely irrelevent except perhaps that he could not face fighting or being involved in perpetuating the slaughter of innocent civilians in any of the immoral acts of war we are perpetuating over OIL, not terrorism.

And he exhibited exactly the same kinds of behavior that many other soldiers of all religions, colors, beliefs, and sexes are and have been doing for YEARS, including both shooting other soldiers and committing suicide (which is what yesterday really was, because I don't think he really believed he was going to survive) that DoD is DOING NOTHING ABOUT.

The real war criminals here are both Obama, for escalating these wars and Congress, who make personal profits off of war by first approving these budgets and then channeling the appropriations to spouses and relatives. Like say, Feinstein and Murtha.

And economically, what the hell are we doing perpetuating two wars over OIL, which is what this is really about. And if you don't believe me, see the latest news about multinational oil companies moving in for the kill in Iraq, signing contracts with the Iraqi government for additional dollars per barrel as we and other Empires and multinationals have always done, not to mention why every Empire has always gotten involved in wars they have always lost in Afghanistan.

Not to mention why the hell are we spending so much money on wasteful and destructive wars, which, from an economic and socioeconomic perspective, increase acts of violence and tolerance for it both at home and abroad, increase disdain for America abroad, waste valuable tax money that we should be investing in OUR OWN ECONOMY when our unemployment rate, according to economists like Krugman and Reich is approaching twenty percent, and that is not counting the additional twenty percent of the economy, people with disabilities, who are deliberately discriminated against and kept out of the workforce, and not counted by the Labor Department, and which this administration has DONE NOTHING about.

Not to mention the fact that war based economies do not "spread the wealth around" but rather further concentrate wealth at the top. Which further undermines democracy and further creates oligarchy. Which at this point, when 90% of the wealth of this country is owned by 1% of the population, we don't need anymore of, thanks all the same.

So it's wake up time in America folks.

This was not an act of "terrorism" just because the guy was a Muslim. Any more than any other poor kid who cracks under the strain of repeated tours of duty, or anybody in this country who is suffering from the deluded and corrupt policies of our out to lunch and corrupt national leaders who are bleeding, literally and figuratively, this country to death.

And trust me, we will see alot more of this unless Americans put their feet down NOW and SAY ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. STOP NOW.