Cat Stevens on Terrorist Watchlist - Plane Diverted

[rikzilla]

Well if Osama were to take a United flight from London to Washington I bet we'd find him too!

Besides...per my "newage" contacts,... The Department of Paranormal Affairs and Defense's main operative, HellBoy, is currently chasing Osama through the fourth dimension.

The chase can be followed by dialling 666 on your Quija board.

-z

 

[headscratcher4]

Well if Osama were to take a United flight from London to Washington I bet we'd find him too!

Besides...per my "newage" contacts,... The Department of Paranormal Affairs and Defense's main operative, HellBoy, is currently chasing Osama through the fourth dimension.

The chase can be followed by dialling 666 on your Quija board.

-z

All fine and good...but what is being done about KennyG?

 

[Atlas]

You guys suck!..Isin't there anybody here that thinks his muzak was crap?!

I still have good memories of his music. I didn't mind that he turned muslim. I didn't like it that it meant he had to retire from making music. I think it was the first indication that the whole think was twisting the wrong way for him. Sports figures from football and basketball were changing their names but nothing else. Cassius Clay didn't give up the ring.

The Salman Rushdie thing gave me deep sadness. Here was the Peace Train crashing. What had happened to his thinking that someone's "blasphemy" required the faithful to extinguish that voice. Yikes.

I never heard about the Hamas thing. That too is disturbing. They were doing good works in their own community while condoning and participating in murder. Reminds me a little of Robert Byrd and the Ku Klux Klan.

I do not believe he is a terrorist and seems to want to distance Islam from the mindset that good little muslims must jihad against the West. That's not a bad message. He shouldn't be deprived of travel in the US in my opinion.

And when I get nostalgic, listening to his music takes me back happily.

 

[Mycroft]

I don't think he stayed in the conventional music biz for too long after converting to Islam.

I found a biography on him somewhere where it said it was his conversion to Islam that had him stop making music. It seems the guy he was learning from convinced him that music was trivial and distracted from what was truly important in life. Later, much later, he figured out that wasn't exactly true and that making music was not incompatable with Muslim beliefs.

Which is pretty sad for both him and his fans that he was taken away from music for such a long time.

 

[TragicMonkey]

I found a biography on him somewhere where it said it was his conversion to Islam that had him stop making music. It seems the guy he was learning from convinced him that music was trivial and distracted from what was truly important in life. Later, much later, he figured out that wasn't exactly true and that making music was not incompatable with Muslim beliefs.

I see where you're going: we need to bribe a Kabbalist rabbi to tell Madonna the bad news.

 

[Mycroft]

I see where you're going: we need to bribe a Kabbalist rabbi to tell Madonna the bad news.

Oooh, good idea! Maybe he could talk her into dropping out of public life altogether!

 

[Dorian Gray]

I agree it's stupid to put Cat Stevens on any watch list, but this "peace activist" is also on record for speaking in support of the death threat against Salman Rushdie, praising Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War, has campaigned in Britian to maintain a ban on homosexuality in schools, and was kicked out of Israel for donating money to Hamas.

Supported a death threat? Pat Robertson supported a nuclear strike on the State Department. He's not on the watch list. Praising Saddam? Donald Rumsfeld SHOOK SADDAM'S HAND. He's not on the watch list. Ban on homosexuality in schools? George Bush has campaigned to maintain a ban on homosexuality in marriage. He's not on the watch list. Donating money to Hamas? Bush again has given lots of money to groups in Saudi Arabia. Again, not on the watch list. Not saying necessarily that the groups were terrorist organizations. But, not saying necessarily that they are NOT terrorist organizations, either.

 

[TragicMonkey]

Supported a death threat? Pat Robertson supported a nuclear strike on the State Department. He's not on the watch list. Praising Saddam? Donald Rumsfeld SHOOK SADDAM'S HAND. He's not on the watch list. Ban on homosexuality in schools? George Bush has campaigned to maintain a ban on homosexuality in marriage. He's not on the watch list. Donating money to Hamas? Bush again has given lots of money to groups in Saudi Arabia. Again, not on the watch list. Not saying necessarily that the groups were terrorist organizations. But, not saying necessarily that they are NOT terrorist organizations, either.

How can you compare probable-terrorist Cat Stevens to Bush? Only one of them has caused thousands of deaths by his actions. Oh. Never mind.

 

[Mycroft]

Supported a death threat? Pat Robertson supported a nuclear strike on the State Department. He's not on the watch list. Praising Saddam? Donald Rumsfeld SHOOK SADDAM'S HAND. He's not on the watch list. Ban on homosexuality in schools? George Bush has campaigned to maintain a ban on homosexuality in marriage. He's not on the watch list. Donating money to Hamas? Bush again has given lots of money to groups in Saudi Arabia. Again, not on the watch list. Not saying necessarily that the groups were terrorist organizations. But, not saying necessarily that they are NOT terrorist organizations, either.

Hey, didn't I say it was stupid to put Cat Stevens on a watch list?

Further, if you want to put Cat Stevens in the same company as Pat Robertson, Donald Rumsfield and George Bush Jr and Sr, I will agree with you there too. In that company, his credentials as a "peace activist" are shot.

 

[BPSCG]

While I think putting him on a watch list would be ridiculous if all he ever did is what's been posted here, you have to admit you may not know all the reasons he's on it. You don't know if the FBI has reason to believe he's laundering money or something, and you know they aren't about to tell you.

Again, not saying he's a terrorist threat - just that we may not have all the facts here.

 

[varwoche]

All fine and good...but what is being done about KennyG?

Since kennyg still lives in my neck of the woods (so far as I know), I take this challenge personally headscratcher, a higher calling, kinda like Bush and Iraq.

 

[epepke]

While I think putting him on a watch list would be ridiculous if all he ever did is what's been posted here, you have to admit you may not know all the reasons he's on it.

Also, "watch list" is not the same as "no fly list." Usually, all that happens when someone is on the watch list is that their luggage doesn't go on the plane until they do. If you read the 9/11 report, this happened with about half the hijackers. Diverting a plane is quite unusual, and it's hard to know if it was done just because of Cat Stevens.

 

[Skeptic]

I think it's "Wide World".

By Jove, I think you've got it!

 

[phildonnia]

Re: Re: Cat Stevens on Terrorist Watchlist - Plane Diverted

Oh, baby baby it's a watch list.

Now that I've been fully dissed
You say you wanna start up a list
And have my name inserted;
My plane's diverted...

 

[Mycroft]

Another article that lists Cat Stevens questionable philanthropy:

http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/news/092204_nw_cat_stevens.html

It's alleged he gave thousands to the militant Palestinian group Hamas, and to the son of blind cleric Omar Abdel Rachman who was believed to have masterminded the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Yusuf Islam denies giving money to terrorists, and claims he thought he was donating to the poor.

I dunno, my guess is he's gullable and willing to give to anyone. It does make one wonder who's directing his charitable contributions.

 

[Charlie Monoxide]

I could care squat about a performers views or opinions. I prefer to let their art speak for itself. That being said, I think Cat Stevens was a great song-writer/singer/performer.

What's-her-name (Jewel I think), made a bundle of cash doing her version of "The First Cut Is The Deepest". I was amazed at how much airplay the song got knowing that everytime it played, it was a nickel or dime in CS's pocket.

Letting Yusaf Islam into the US might spread some peace and understanding. That's not on the GOP agenda.

Charlie (unapologetic CS fan) Monoxide

 

[TragicMonkey]

What's-her-name (Jewel I think), made a bundle of cash doing her version of "The First Cut Is The Deepest". I was amazed at how much airplay the song got knowing that everytime it played, it was a nickel or dime in CS's pocket.

I think that was Sheryl Crow, or else they both did a version. I hope CS takes the same view as Dolly Parton does with Whitney Houston's dog-summoning song from that Kevin Costner movie: sure, it sucks, but it's another dollar every minute.

 

[Hutch]

Later, much later, he figured out that wasn't exactly true and that making music was not incompatable with Muslim beliefs.

You can say that again! In the Emirates, there were two or three music channels (albeit one was Indian) and while they were not in any way explicit as MTV (if one can actually find MTV showing a video these days) the women's faces were not covered for the most part and !dancing! (but no touching) was allowed (I doubt you'll find these channels in Saudi). The singing was more out of the 50's-60's crooning-style, and seemingly stuck to 1 octave only, but CD's were available everywhere (Virgin megastore in Dubai was my favorite), both English and Arabic.

Not to mention that atonal sing/chant I heard 5 times a day for four years....

 

[Skeptic]

Sadly, both the "he's a modetate Muslim, he was against the WTC bombing" and the "he's an extremist, he supports Hamas" side are correct.

He is a typical "moderate" Muslim--like Bhahatir Muhammad who gave the speech about the jews controlling the world in the Islamic Conference.

That is, he opposes terrorism, killing of civilians, and genocide in general... except in the case of the jews. israel is the one exception, the one place where terrorism, genoicde, and murder is justified and encouraged.

Look at the rest of the "moderate criticism" of terrorism now emerging in the Muslim world, and you'll see the same pattern: if terrorism is condemned, it will be condemned everywhere except israel; if killing innocents or genoicde or sensitivity to the faith of others should be encouraged, it should be encouraged with everybody except the jews from the "zionist entity".

 

[CBL4]

The problem is that Cat Stevens has supported causes (killing Rushdie) and groups (Hamas) that are not acceptable in civilized society.

Should he be banned from flying? Probably not. Should his luggage and person be searched extremely thoroughly. Probably.

I doubt very much that he is a killer but he has supported people who are. Is it guilt by association? Yes but would you really be comfortable with an non-famous Hamas supporter next you on a plane?

Just because he is a famous person should not give him any extra rights.

CBL