Note: The following post is a quote:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1818330/posts
MAC OKs Penalties For (Muslim) Cabbies Who Refuse Fares (MN)
WCCO.com ^ | 4/16/07 | AP
Posted on 04/16/2007 2:06:51 PM PDT by ButThreeLeftsDo
The operator of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport on Monday approved tougher penalties for cabdrivers who refuse service to travelers carrying alcohol, as some Muslim drivers have done for religious reasons.
The Metropolitan Airports Commission voted to suspend a driver’s airport taxi license for 30 days for the first offense and revoke it for two years for a second offense. The new penalties take effect May 11.
Airport officials say more than 70 percent of the cabbies at the airport are Muslim, and many of them claim Islamic law prohibits them from giving rides to people carrying alcohol.
Under the old rules, a driver who refused to transport someone carrying alcohol would be told to go to the back of the taxicab line. Airport officials said that since January 2002, there have been more than 4,800 instances of a driver refusing service because a customer possessed, or was suspected of possessing, alcohol.
The dispute has been simmering for months.
One pilot program had drivers who wouldn’t transport alcohol display a different top light on their cab, but the public’s reaction was overwhelmingly negative and other taxi drivers who feared it would make travelers avoid taxis altogether.
On Monday, cab driver Abdinoor Dolal called the penalties punitive and asked commissioners to take a measured approach. Other drivers urged the commissioners to vote against the new penalties and consider compromises.
However, commissioners said the new penalties were needed to ensure customers get safe and reliable taxi service at the airport.
“Today’s action will strengthen compliance with our taxicab ordinance and ensure people who seek taxi service receive it,” said MAC Executive Director Jeff Hamiel in a news release.
Off Topic:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1819089/posts
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/122128
30 Nisan 5767, April 18, ‘07
Published: 04/16/07, 3:34 PM
“Muslim Anti-Jewish Crusade Also Pursues Christians”
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “(IsraelNN.com) Muslim fundamentalists, aligned with Al Qaeda, bombed a Christian bookstore and two Internet cafes in Gaza on Saturday following previous attacks on churches as part of its religious crusade to replace the secular Fatah faction.
The “Sword of Islam” terrorist group took responsibility for the bombings of Internet cafes and music stores, which they consider an offense to the Muslim religion because they represent Western society.
The same group has issued warnings to Gaza women not to hang out in Internet cafes. The Swords of Islam has bombed more than a dozen Internet cafes in several weeks and destroyed the vehicle of one young man who was playing his radio tape at high volume. It also ordered women to wear a full-face veil.
Muslim courts in the Palestinian Authority (PA) increasingly operate as the moral authority over local areas, and one town in Samaria barred a music and dance festival.
The Muslim crusade has spread across the ocean to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where the local Community and Technology College last week was accused of promoting religion because it acceded to Muslim demands for foot-washing basins, used by Muslims before prayers. The Minneapolis Star Tribune noted that the same college removed a coffee cart form the campus because it was playing music related to Christmas.”