Besieged Franktfort Township official Paul Ruff to address anti-Muslim charges Wednesday

Frankfort Township Assessor Paul Ruff, who I reported has been under siege for allegedly making anti-Muslim comments in an email sent out to residents in Frankfort will hold a press conference Wednesday at 1 PM at the Township building. Here is the email notice of the event that Assessor Ruff sent out Saturday afternoon:

I just wanted to take a moment to extend my sincere appreciation and thanks to
everyone who has contacted me over the last several weeks to express their
support. The phone calls, e-mails and letters have been overwhelmingly
positive.

As most of you know, the media coverage has been much less positive, and in consideration of this I will be holding a press conference at 1:00 PM, Wednesday, August 20th. The press conference will be held at the Township Building, 11008 W. Lincoln Highway, Frankfort, in the meeting room available to all residents.

I will have a Will County sheriff’s department deputy available to make sure there will no demonstrations. Please, feel free to join me as I need your support, if you can’t come I understand about this short notice.

Thanks again for your continued support and, as always, you can contact me at any time by e-mail, paulruff@msn.com or through my web site www.paulruff.org

Warmest
regards,
Paul

PS, You Must read this Sundays Southtown-Star on Page A-10; you will not be disappointed.

The controversy received much press, as Ruff notes, including this column by a writer at the HuffingtonPost.com, where I also write.

I tried to reach Mr. Ruff but could not get through and he did not respond to my emails.

I believe the email he sent out was one he received and then forwarded to others, something people do all the time, incuding with material that is somewhat edgy in nature. There haven't been an prior instances of Ruff expressing anti-Muslim sentiments.

My only concern is that the township will be using its staff or a Will County sheriff to prevent free speech in the form of counter demonstrations. There's a middle ground here on this issue that is important and while I am not sure if Ruff did or did not cross the line -- things involving Muslims always gets exaggerated on both sides of the contrvoersies -- I don't think anyone should be prevented from expressing their views or even protesting.

That said here is what I believe:

Mainstream Americans like Ruff have real concerns about Islam that are not being addressed.

There is a tendency for some Muslims to gather around the wagons on every issue involving a Muslims -- oftentimes I am denounced (ridiculously) as "anti-Muslim" simply because I criticize the ridiculous and stupid actions and dictates of Islamic extremists like the Bridgeview Mosques Imam Jamal Said who has reportedly told his Muslim parishioners that it is a sin" to participate in Halloween. They also denounce Valentine's Day and even Thanksgiving as "sins." It's pathetic, but the real problem is the even more naive and ignorant mainstream American media which over reacts on every issue.

I don't believe Ruff is a racist. I think he may (or may not) have dispatched an email that said bad things about Muslims and he should know better, but that doesn't deserve the attacks he is getting.

On the otherhand, some of the loudest supporters rallying around Ruff are extremist Christian racists and fanatics, too, like some of those who have been writing letters to the editor, cited by Ruff above, in the Sunday Southtown/Star.

There is a moderate middle ground and it behoves everyone to try their best for the sake of preserving our great society to find it.

-- Ray Hanania
www.TheMediaOasis.com

Frankfort Township official crosses the line on Arab and Muslim hatemongering -- but some of the response is hypocritical

Frankfort Township Assessor Paul Ruff, whose government job is to serve as a liaison on their property taxes with the Cook County Assessor, seems to have expanded his duties recently when he sent out an email to a lot of people in his township that expressed his concerns about Muslims who live in America.

No one actually has the exact email that Ruff allegedly sent out, and Ruff is not returning phone calls or emails so we don't know if he actually wrote it, or more likely, received the email and thought it was worth forwarding to his email list (which is something so many people do often.)

But several groups are trying to organize protests against Ruff and they are partnering with some good groups and some groups that are not so good, like CAIR, the Council on American Islamic Relations which has a habit of browbeating those in the Arab and Muslim community who go too far in denouncing extremism and anti-American violence (more below on CAIR).

Here is what has been written in all the local newspapers about what Ruff wrote:

The e-mail, circulated in June, said America should follow the lead of Australia's former prime minister John Howard, who said Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law should get out of Australia.

"Once you are done complaining, whining, and griping about our flag, our pledge, our Christian beliefs or our way of life, I highly encourage you to take advantage of one other great Australian freedom, the right to leave," the e-mail said, supposedly quoting Howard.

The e-mail actually was based on a column by Georgia state lawmaker Barry Loudermilk.

"Maybe if we circulate this amongst ourselves, American citizens will find the back bone to start speaking and voicing the same truths," the e-mail continued. "If you agree, please send this on."

Loudermilk is a racist and a bigot. I doubt that Ruff is a racist and he probably is just reacting the way most Americans do when they see Islamic fanatics make all kinds of threats against Americans (as they are doing targeting the Beijing Olympics), but only see many high profile Islamic "leaders" like CAIR waffle and walk carefully in their limited denunciations of "extremists."

What CAIR does is to denounce extremists and extremism, and violence. Yet, they do not hesitate to stand with fanatics and extremists who do not denounce violence and extremism. And, CAIR has walked a fine line, denouncing Osama Bin laden and al-Qaeda, but NOT denouncing Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which are terrorist organizations that use violence and the reprehensible and indefensible suicide bombing violence in which young, misguided Muslims and Arabs are brainwashed by their fearless leaders who convince them to sacrifice their lives for the cause while the fearless leaders do not sacrifice their own lives.

CAIR's Chicago spokesman is Ahmed Rehab. He is a very good person. Very genuine. But CAIR is sometimes "racist" (I define that as a group that discriminates againsts omeone else on the basis not only of race but also religion and ethnic and religious political views) and often engages in the same kind of hatemongering against individuals that it often denounces that is done to Muslims in America.

In otherwords, CAIR will denounce people like Ruff, but they remain silent when Muslim American extremists attack and denounce and intimidate Christian Arabs like myself and other secular Muslims.

The majority of Muslims in Chicagoland are moderates. They are not engaged in any anti-American activities. Yet, they are intimidated and browbeat by organizations like CAIR to shut up or be ostracized. (Just look at the case of Omar Najib, a Palos Heights based lawyer who has been the target of a hate campaign by extremist Muslims, many at the Bridgeview Mosque, and yet you WON'T hear CAIR denounce that extremism from among their own ranks.)

That's the hypocrisy that CAIR represents. Rehab is trying to change that but after waiting three years for him to do something, I think the time is now to put pressure on CAIR to either genuinely denounce extremism (including those extremists in the Muslim community right here in the United States and in the Chicago area) and stop being hypocrities about hatemongering, or there should be a formal campaign to ostracize CAIR and expose it for what it is.

Ironically, well intentioned groups like the Southwest Interfaith Team (SWIFT) -- the coalition of Christian, Muslim and Jewish leaders -- are ignorant of the reality of the hatemongering that takes place inside the Arab and Muslim American community. They speak out against hatemongering against Muslims but DO NOTHING to stand up to the hatemongering by organizations like CAIR and others against Christian Arabs like myself and secular Muslims.

The Arabian Club of Orland Park is planning a public meeting where some of these issues can be discussed and I hope you will attend. Until then, here is some background on the issues discussed here:

Ruff's Township Assessor's Web Page

Story in the Southtown July 22

Story on Ruff's achievements in the Frankfort Station Newspaper April 8

The Council on American Islamic Relations Chicago Page

SWIFT Web Page

We were unable to reach Ruff for a comment.

-- Ray Hanania
http://www.themediaoasis.com/