The wee little lad pictured to the far right in the photo above is State Rep John Bennett. He's one of the extreme whackos in our Oklahoma legislature, and not surprisingly, suffers a bit from little man syndrome when it comes to Muslims (a.k.a. people who are different than him).
Earlier this week, John made some news when he posted on Facebook that we should all be wary of the "individuals" who call themselves "Muslim Americans." Apparently, this is because the 2.7-million Muslim Americans living in our country apparently want to kill all the Christians and other non-believers.
From John Bennett's now very private Facebook Page:
Yes, if someone is a Muslim they subscribe to the Koran and want to kill all non-Muslims, you know, just like how all Christians like John Bennett who subscribe to the Bible want to kill all non-believers, women who are not virgins on their wedding night and blasphemers. That's how it works, right?
The answer is "No, of course not." As we all know, most Muslims and most Christians don't want to kill non-believers, heretics, etc., but there are extreme, vocal, psychotic factions on both sides that do, and of course, these people get all the attention and run for public office and get elected and all that crazy stuff.
The fact that John Bennett posted such a crazy comment shouldn't be too big of surprise. As the false prophet Yoda would say, strong is the crazy with this one.
Last year, John created the Oklahoma counter-terrorism caucus in the Oklahoma legislature. The purpose of the fear mongering group was to educate and inform Oklahomans about the growing Muslim threat, and prevent the Muslim Brotherhood from “establishing world-wide rule” and “imposing Shariah law" across our state. So far, the caucus has done a great job at accomplishing its goals. Since its inception, judges handing out punishments such as lashes for adultery and amputated limbs for theft have remained at their historic lows of zero, while the acceptance of negative stereotypes towards Muslim Americans and a general Islamophobia in our state continues to rise.
But if you really want to see some crazy in action, check out some other things John has posted on his Facebook timeline. It looks like something you'd see while eating a burger at Little Mike's during Ramadan. Just about every post spreads misinformation and lies about Obama, muslims, Democrats--you name it. His dedication to being a right-wing whacko is so high that it makes your reclusive uncle jealous.
Once again, the page is private, but here are some screen shots:
First of all, the video's a joke and shows heavily edited clips of Obama making a logical case as to why we should not base our nation's laws on oral traditions and stories passed down from bronze age tribesmen. With that being said, if Christians believe all blasphemers should be executed, does that mean Bennett thinks the president should, well, you know? Just sayin...
Here's another one:
Remember, John Bennett is an elected official. Now read this via Snopes:
Although the tax increases listed in this item did come to pass, they took effect at the beginning of 2013 (not 2014), were completely unrelated to the Affordable Care Act, applied only to very high-income earners, and have been overstated in this list. These tax hikes were enacted through the passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, a compromise bill pushed through Congress as a partial resolution to the then-looming "fiscal cliff" crisis....
It's important to note that the increase in marginal tax rates for federal income tax, capital gains, and dividends affected only those persons with taxable incomes over a $400,000 (single)/$450,000 (married) threshold. It's also important to note that the previous estate tax rate of 0% was a special rule that applied only to the estates of persons who died in 2010...
The list's reference to an "income payroll tax" increase from 37.4% to 52.2% is something of a mystery, as this is not a standard term for any type of government income- or payroll-related tax. The only adjustment to payroll-related taxes resulting from the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was that a two-year old cut to payroll taxes which had previously reduced the rate from 6.2% to 4.2% for 2011 and 2012 was not extended.
Additionally, this item's coda claiming that "not one Republican voted to do these taxes" is completely false. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 passed Congress by a margin of 89-8 in the Senate with 40 Republican votes in favor, and a margin of 257-167 in the House with 85 Republican votes in favor.
Yeah, screw truth and accuracy. FEAR!!! OBAMA!!! FEAR!!!
Here's where things get really crazy:
Newsflash: It's easier for people to call you a racist and Islamophobe than it is to realize the facts when you're a racist, Islamophobe who totally ignores the facts!
Seriously, is Captain Lollipop Guild mentally unstable or a brilliant performance artist? He claims that a story about a school shooting plot in Pickerington, Ohio, that was posted to JihadWatch.com shows he "was right again," but when you check out the real story from the Pickerington Times-Sun, you see he was nothing but wrong:
The Norwegian man charged Saturday with a pair of attacks in Oslo that killed at least 92 people left behind a detailed manifesto outlining his preparations and calling for a Christian war to defend Europe against the threat of Muslim domination, according to Norwegian and American officials familiar with the investigation.
Oops, that was a snippet form a New York Times article about the crazy Christian dude from Norway who killed all those kids while calling for a holy war. Here's the Pickerington Times-Sun article:
Fairfield County sheriff's deputies and Pickerington police officers this afternoon (Wednesday, Aug. 27) escorted Pickerington Local School District students out of school buildings following a late morning threat...
Sheriff Dave Phalen said PHS North received a call about 11:15 a.m. Wednesday from an individual with a “heavy accent” who sounded like an adult.
The person identified his first name as “Mohammed” and Phalen said the last name given “sounded something like Jihad.”
“He indicated he was upset about what was going on in Israel and he was going to come to the school and shoot some kids,” Phalen said. “He indicated he lived in the area and he had an assault weapon.”
Phalen said his office was taking the threat seriously but noted he suspected the call was a hoax.
Oh, so the sheriff thinks the whole thing was a hoax! Doesn't that just sound, uhm, very believable and logical?
If you can handle it, here's one final post. It's the one where he chimes in on the Michael Brown situation:
What's sadder? Is it that we have an elected official in our state calling an innocent, unarmed black teen who was shot by police a "thug" on Facebook, or is it that we have 79 people liking those racist comments? Can we call it a draw?
That being said, I'd agree with John Bennett on one thing. He does think too much. Maybe he can do the State of Oklahoma a favor and stop.
