Maine Fines Organization for Inflammatory Speech

Visit our News page Maine Fines Non-Profit Organization… One of the Allegations: “Inflammatory Anti-Muslim Message” Dear Solstice, In April the Delray Beach Marriott, in what appears clearly to be a breach of contract, unilaterally canceled an event designed to educate attendees about the threat of radical Islam. In May the Loews Hotel unilaterally canceled a similar event. Ten days ago the City of Dearborn, Michigan issued an order, upheld by a judge, prohibiting a Christian organization from handing out flyers at a large International Arab festival being held on public streets. Then, on Friday we received news that the state of Maine had levied a fine against the Christian Action Network (producers of the “Homegrown Jihad” documentary) apparently in part due to content the state called “an inflammatory anti-Muslim message.” (See the article below). The state is claiming the Christian Action Network violated state fundraising laws, but the inclusion of an allegation that the organization had included “inflammatory anti-Muslim language” in its fundraising is both suspicious and troubling. The events we’ve been tracking over the past 60 days have not happened in Britain, France, Germany or Canada, but here, in a country where the right to free speech is enshrined in the first amendment to the Constitution. This Saturday we celebrate our national holiday commemorating our independence. The signers of that document pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to achieve independence, not merely for the sake of independence, but for the sake of freedom and self-determination. They did not wait until every vestige of liberty had been stolen from them. They understood that precedents unchallenged become the norm in a society. The global advance of Islamic jihad and the subjugation of “infidels” is not being advanced solely through violence and terrorism, but also very successfully through “cultural jihad”. The Muslim Brotherhood’s plan for the West calls for subverting the West from within. Precedents are being established in our country that are the ominous signs that this is indeed beginning to happen. Islamists are counting on most Americans to be either too afraid or too complacent to resist. As you can see from our email alerts this year, ACT! for America is doing all we can to fight for our safety (such as lobbying for missile defense protection) and our liberties (such as our phone calls to the Loews Hotel corporation). As we approach July 4th, is there any action you can take that will help us “fight the fight” more effectively? Can you become a Patriot Partner? Can you become a Contributing Member? Can you start a local chapter? Can you get one friend or family member to sign up for our email alerts? Those who fought for our freedom and independence under generals like George Washington left us a legacy unmatched in the history of the world. They starved at Valley Force and died at Bunker Hill. They would be appalled by the action that the state of Maine has taken. We each can honor their legacy, and help leave a legacy of freedom and safety to the generations that follow us, by doing something today to make ACT! for America stronger — for all of us. Maine Fines Group for ‘Inflammatory Anti-Muslim Message’ The Christian Action Network runs afoul of bureaucratic political correctness. June 25, 2009 - by Patrick Poole http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/maine-fines-group-for-inflammatory-anti-muslim-message/ An organization in the national spotlight recently for producing a documentary identifying several dozen potential terrorist training compounds in the U.S. has offended the sensibilities of Maine bureaucrats, who have fined the organization $4,000, alleging among other things that the group sent out mailings containing an “inflammatory anti-Muslim message.” The group in question, the Christian Action Network (CAN), received notice of the fines and the fundraising ban in a May 6 letter from Elaine Thibodeau of the State of Maine’s Department of Professional and Financial Regulation. Enclosed in the letter was a prepared consent agreement for CAN to sign agreeing to all of the state’s allegations, waiving all rights to appeal, and agreeing to pay the $4,000 fine. As part of the consent agreement, CAN is required to agree to all of the state’s allegations, including their assertion that their mailing amounted to hate speech. “These bogus charges and fines the State of Maine has imposed are nothing but an attempt to stifle our free speech and silence our organization from speaking out about the steady creep of radical Islam in America,” CAN president Martin Mawyer told Pajamas Media. “We fully intend to appeal the state’s penalties because if they successfully silence us here, we will quickly find that we won’t be able to speak out anywhere.” CAN was in the news earlier this year following the release of their documentary, Homegrown Jihad, which details dozens of compounds across the U.S. operated by Pakistani Sheikh Mubarak Gilani, who has previously been identified in State Department reports as a terrorist leader, and his group, Jamaat al-Fuqra. The documentary looks into the past terrorist acts of the group in the U.S., including the assassination of two moderate Muslim leaders, the firebombing of non-Muslim religious facilities, and an investigation by Colorado authorities that led to convictions and lengthy prison sentences. These activities have been covered in several FBI domestic terrorism reports and a more recent assessment by the Center for Policing Terrorism. Other prominent convicted terrorists, including “shoe-bomber” Richard Reid, D.C. Beltway sniper John Allen Muhammad, and NYC landmarks bomb plotter Clement Rodney Hampton-El, have been identified as former members. But what has Maine bureaucrats roiling is a fundraising mailing sent by CAN (a copy of which was provided to Pajamas Media) regarding a public school curriculum used in California requiring students to pray to Allah, dress up as Muslims, adopt Muslim names, and learn the five pillars of Islam. Since Christians and Jews are not given similar accommodations, CAN encouraged their supporters to send a petition to Maine Gov. John Baldacci asking him to prevent such instruction in Maine public schools. Among the stated allegations in Thibodeau’s letter and the consent agreement is that this amounted to hate speech, claiming: 5. The correspondence contained an inflammatory anti-Muslim message. In two separate rounds of correspondence with Thibodeau, I inquired what basis the state used to determine that the mailing was “inflammatory,” but she refused to address that question on both occasions. In addition to running afoul of ideological sensibilities of Maine state employees, Thibodeau makes two regulatory claims that prompted the $4,000 in fines. The first claim made by the state is that CAN was not properly registered when the mailings were sent. The second is that CAN used Maine Gov. John Baldacci’s name without his permission. CAN responds that they made all efforts to comply with state law and promptly provided additional information requested by Thibodeau’s office. And they provided Pajamas Media with documentation that seems to flatly contradict the State of Maine’s allegations. While Thibodeau’s letter claims that CAN’s charitable solicitation license expired in November 2007, CAN produced copies of canceled checks cashed by the Maine state treasurer that accompanied their 2008 renewal and registration. (Continue reading) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ACT for America P.O. 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