Muslim taxi drivers refuse to transport customers with dogs and Booze

[kaydee457 13]

Apparently these yahoos are mostly from Somalia....I say america, love it or leave it!.....

Here's the article....

These idjits should be deported.......

Some Muslim Cabbies in Minneapolis Refusing Service to Passengers With Alcohol, Dogs

Thursday , January 04, 2007

MINNEAPOLIS — Some Muslim cab drivers are refusing service to a growing number of passengers with alcohol or dogs, and officials at Minneapolis-St. Paul International airport are trying to fight it.

"Our expectation is that if you're going to be driving a taxi at the airport, you need to provide service to anybody who wants it," said Patrick Hogan, spokesman for the Metropolitan Airport Commission.

Each month, about 100 people are denied cab service at the airport. Refusals for religious reasons have grown in recent months, airport officials said. About three-quarters of the 900 taxi drivers at the airport are Somali, many of them Muslim.

The belief that carrying alcohol or dogs, including those that help people with disabilities, violates religious beliefs is "unfortunate," Airports Commissioner Bert McKasy said.

Officials on Wednesday asked the commission for permission to hold public hearings on a proposal that would suspend or revoke drivers' airport licenses for refusing service for reasons other than safety concerns. The commission is expected to vote Jan. 16.

Last year, the airports commission received a fatwa, or religious edict, from the Minnesota chapter of the Muslim American Society saying "Islamic jurisprudence" prohibits taxi drivers from carrying passengers with alcohol, "because it involves cooperating in sin according to Islam."

Eva Buzek, a flight attendant, said she was recently refused service by five taxi drivers when she was carrying wine as she returned from a trip to France.

"In my book, when you choose to come to a different country, you make some choices," said Buzek, a native of Poland. "I never expected everything to be the same way as in my homeland, and I adjusted. I never dreamed of imposing my beliefs on somebody else."

Muslims do not consume, carry, sell or buy alcohol, and Islam also considers the saliva of dogs to be unclean, Hassan Mohamud, an imam and director of the Islamic Law Institute at the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, told the Star Tribune newspaper.

Mohamud said he would ask airport officials to reconsider.

But many Somali taxi drivers do not have a problem transporting passengers with alcohol and are worried about a backlash, said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center. Jamal said he supports the tougher penalties.

"We tell the taxi drivers, if you don't want to do this, change your job," he said. "You are living in a country where alcohol is not viewed the way it is in your country."

Hogan said the goal is to have a new policy in place by May 11, when airport taxi licenses come up for annual renewal.

[Trumplestiltskin 5,791]

Deported? Seems a tad extreme.

Yes it is ridiculous - but surely if they choose to behave this way then not only will they lose money, but they will find it increasingly difficult to find employment as a cab driver.

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Wasn't this same story posted a couple of months ago ?

Deja vu all over again....

[sarah and hicham 3]

Wasn't this same story posted a couple of months ago ?

Deja vu all over again....

Isn't saying "deja vu all over again" redundant?

[kaydee457 13]

Wasn't this same story posted a couple of months ago ?

Deja vu all over again....

No, it wasn't....

Tru=y to pay attention- there may be a test later.....

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Wasn't this same story posted a couple of months ago ?

Deja vu all over again....

Isn't saying "deja vu all over again" redundant?

Well yes. That's the point.

http://www.quotedb.com/quotes/1304

[luvaLimey 0]

Yes, it was already posted : http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=36382

and, as I pointe out in THAT thread, it doesn't just happen in America. (pet peeve of mine, people saying this or that could only happen here... obviously stupid people are born the world over...)

It happens in the UK too: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...in_page_id=1770

[eric&gen 0]

Alcohol and dogs? sounds like the owner is going to have a wild orgy night lol

[kaydee457 13]

Deported? Seems a tad extreme.

Yes it is ridiculous - but surely if they choose to behave this way then not only will they lose money, but they will find it increasingly difficult to find employment as a cab driver.

Yes it is ridiculous and that's as far as you need to go.....

Anyone, or any group, that won't acclimate to U.S culture and society should be deported- of course those people should be identified by individualy, but nevertheless, once identified as an individual they should be deported....

We do not abide by Sharia law.

Where do theese people get visas and "status"?

Nice to see that "resident liberals" are sticking up for their "rights", even though they don't have any.......

[PalestineMyHeart 1,897]

Wasn't this same story posted a couple of months ago ?

Deja vu all over again....

No, it wasn't....

Tru=y to pay attention- there may be a test later.....

It seems you are the one who wasn't paying attention....

http://www.visajourney.com/forums/index.ph...0dogs&st=15

[LaL 418]

isnt this like the same argument for pharmacists choosing not to provide the morning after pill? if you are subcontracting your car, or own your car, why not have the choice to refuse? how about not picking up hookers and johns?

/late night ramblings... maybe not making too much sense by now!

[luvaLimey 0]

gah... bad link to the dailymail: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/arti...in_page_id=1770

[eric&gen 0]

Dogs and Booze dont mix

[ceriserose 1]

Substitute:

"Muslim" for "Christian"

and

"refuse to transport customers with dogs and booze" for "refuse to dispense birth control/morning after pill."

I'm pretty sure that there are those on this board who would be okay with one but not the other.

My next question is a doozy though. So are we to assume that all Muslims are foreigners? I can count a few here that might want to stand up for their rights as US Citizens to have the freedom to practice their religion as they see fit, considering that not transporting dogs and booze aren't life threatening or terroristic in nature...

Of course, neither is refusing to dispense a legal prescription.

Personally I have a big problem with drunk dogs in public. That should be stopped and the owners publically shot at dawn.

isnt this like the same argument for pharmacists choosing not to provide the morning after pill? if you are subcontracting your car, or own your car, why not have the choice to refuse? how about not picking up hookers and johns?

/late night ramblings... maybe not making too much sense by now!

It made sense to me, but then I'm winding down after a bad day with copious amounts of Baileys.

[Alex+R 0]

Apparently these yahoos are mostly from Somalia....I say america, love it or leave it!.....

Here's the article....

These idjits should be deported.......

Well, "Kaydee," the problem with that logic is that many, many of them are citizens and many have been here about 10 years. I know because I did all their paperwork for airport passes this summer at MSP airport.

The other issue is that these immigrants aren't like other immigrants, for the most part. The Polish flight attendant in the article is probably not a refugee. She probably chose immigration. These immigrants left their homes because they are fleeing something, not because they're seeking out the American dream. When you have immigration like that, culture clashes are going to emerge. Don't we want to be a country that accepts those people even if it causes a little friction in the first generation?