World Affairs Council Welcomes Ms. Samar Ali to the Board of Directors

From Tennessee's World Affairs Council, September 24, 2015, NASHVILLE – Tennessee’s World Affairs Council announced today that Ms. Samar S. Ali, distinguished local attorney and former Assistant State Commissioner for International Affairs, has been elected to the Board of Directors. Ali is a member of the Nashville law firm Bone, McAllester and Norton where she concentrates on cross-border transactions, international law and private diplomacy.

In making the announcement Council President Patrick Ryan said, “The Tennessee World Affairs Council’s ability to deliver global awareness education programs and resources to the community is greatly enhanced by the addition of Ms. Ali to our board.” He added, “She has built a sterling record of accomplishments advancing public and private interests in the global arena in Washington and in Tennessee and we are thrilled to have her as a member of our board.”

Samar Ali

 Ms. Ali, a Vanderbilt University alumna – undergrad and Law School – worked as a White House Fellow and adviser in the Homeland Security Department in Washington and in Doha, Qatar before being named by Governor Bill Haslam as an assistant commissioner in the Tennessee Economic and Community Development Department. There she managed the state’s global economic relations overseeing an international strategic plan to build international commerce related jobs and opening and managing offices around the world to boost Tennessee trade and investment.

In addition to working in Administrative Law, Business and Corporate Law and International Law practices at Bone, McAllester and Norton, Ms. Ali is Director at Lodestone Advisory Group in Nashville, specializing in international business development. “Ms. Ali’s work in the community includes numerous boards and projects serving public interests and we’re gratified that Nashville leaders of her caliber count the World Affairs Council as among the educational organizations that have earned their support,” said Ryan. “The Council’s mission of educating and inspiring people, especially youth, to learn more and engage more in global affairs is an important element of citizenship and I’m sure Ms. Ali’s time and talents will make a difference in tackling that challenge.”

The World Affairs Council is an independent, nonpartisan educational organization that is part of a 96-member network of similar grassroots organizations in the United States, the World Affairs Councils of America. They serve to educate Americans on international developments. “Although some of the country’s world affairs councils are almost 100 years old there had never been one in Tennessee until we established our Council several years ago in Cookeville,” said Ryan. “We’ve recently launched from Nashville after several years in Cookeville and it’s rewarding to know that leaders like Ms. Ali are directly supporting our service to the community and we can benefit from their vision.”

The Tennessee World Affairs Council, a nonprofit group, hosts town hall meetings where visiting speakers share insights and perspectives on global issues; small group discussions at venues around the city; and global awareness programs in schools like the WorldQuest program for students that encourages world affairs familiarity through competition. WorldQuest, which includes a trip for the state’s winning team to a national championship match in Washington, recently launched the 2015-2016 season. Past Nashville winners have included teams from Martin Luther King, Jr., Magnet High School and Montgomery Bell Academy.

The speakers program, which is hosted at Belmont University, is very popular, said Ryan. He noted that visits from foreign Ambassadors, like past events with the Kazakh and Czech envoys, were popular and insightful. In addition other leaders and specialists are regularly featured and provide equally informative presentations. “We aim for monthly speaker events including about four ambassadors this year, and we’re in talks with the embassies of Russia, South Korea, Italy and others for visits.” On October 5th the Council and Belmont will host a Town Hall on US-China economic relations.

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Haslam right to defend Samar Ali from being 'unfairly maligned'

Haslam right to defend Samar Ali from being 'unfairly maligned' 

December 5, 2012, Examiner.com, By: David Oatney- 

 Samar Ali was born in Waverly, Tennessee-that’s Tennessee, not Tehran. She was the student body President at Vanderbilt. Vanderbilt may be many things since it has adopted it’s intolerant policies about tolerance, but a center of terrorist activity it is not, nor is it some kind of universal hub of militant Islam. I don’t know how personally conservative or liberal Ms. Ali is, but I have not only known Muslims who were moral or social conservatives, but I have known more than one who have been rather vocal in their support of the Republican Party. As was said in this very column in July, it certainly seems as though the primary problem that most of the people who have been so vocal in opposing Ms. Ali’s presence in State government have with her is that she is a Muslim. None of these people have produced one single shred of evidence that Samar Ali is anything other than a fellow Tennessean who is educated, an expert in her field, and who happens to go to a mosque on Fridays. I don’t think it is a stretch to say that many of the same people who are-as the Governor rightly says-unfairly maligning Samar Ali have never even met a Muslim, let alone shook hands with one, eaten with one, spoken with one, or associated with one. The only thing most of these characters know about Muslims is that they have funny-sounding names and that some of their co-religionists are militant to the point of war in their hatred of Israel and America. The latter reality is a real concern, but suicide bombers are no more representative of all Muslims than David Koresh was representative of all evangelicals or Seventh Day Adventists, or Warren Jeffs might be representative of Mormons.

My Comment: Amen. I agree. Rod

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More of Haslam at 1st Tuesday: Sharia law question.

 GOP Tennessee Governor Blasts Critics Of Muslim Adviser

By Hamed Aleaziz on Dec 5, 2012, Think Progress- Tennessee’s Republican Governor, Bill Haslam, has had it with attacks on an economic adviser, Samar Ali, a Muslim-American lawyer, who has been attacked by Republicans in the state and anti-Islam groups. Speaking at a Republican event, the governor was asked, according to the AP, whether “he was incorporating elements of Islamic law into state government” in having Ali a part of his staff. Haslam, incredulous, responded with a soaring defense of the accomplished Ali:

“Samar is somebody who quite frankly I think — and I know there are some people in this room who disagree with me — that I think has been incredibly unfairly maligned. We believe in people having the freedom in our country to exercise their religion as long as it doesn’t violate the Constitution, and that’s a big ‘as long as’.”

My Comment: The writer of the article was not there. The words quoted are accurate but I would have not described Haslam's comments as a "soaring defense."  Haslam, while serious did not appear angry and his tone of voice was calm and matter-of-fact.

After his answer to the question he got a big round of applause. 

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Muslims look on Shariah in many ways

Muslims look on Shariah in many ways

The Tennessean, ‎by Bill Andrews

On the wedding night, the groom suspects that his young bride is not the virgin he presumed her to be. He brings his case before the judges, and ......

You worry that something like this could happen in Tennessee ...... You really believe that Shariah law can be imposed on us by a minority of less than 1 percent of our state’s population? Get real.

It is doubtful that a Vanderbilt-educated American woman born in Michigan would interpret the Quran in the same way as an illiterate tribesman in Waziristan.

My Comment

Please read the above article. I find this much more believable and rational than the stuff I hear coming from the anti-Muslim "experts."  The author says that just as in Christianity there is a wide diversity of interpretation of the religion, there is also diversity in Islam.  There are even secular Muslims.  Not all Muslims are jihadist in waiting. 

One of the things I find preposterous about the anti-Muslim movement is the believe that with Muslims representing only 6/10th of a percent of the U. S. population and with us having a constitution which guarantees certain rights and procedures that we are in danger of falling under Sharia Law. As Mr. Alexander says, "get real."

For those who are not conservative political activist, you may not know of the extent of the anti-Muslim movement.  It is huge. There are websites, organizations, speaking tours, seminars, books and movies devoted to "educating" people about the dangers of Islam. I have attended several of these presentations. There is never any balance to the presentations.  The anti-Muslim "scholars" are usually people who are self-taught in the subject.  Some are educated people, but their education is in other fields.  People who attend these anti-Muslim programs are never presented with any real scholarship. One would never know that not all Muslim are not committed fanatics waiting to cut your throat if one gained their knowledge of Islam from attending one of these seminars.

I am glad to see opinions like this expressed. People need exposure to a broader range of opinion rather than that that is coming from the anti-Shariah movement. 

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So who is this apparent jihadist in waiting?

State tea partiers focus anti-Islamic sentiment on highly accomplishedKookogey claimed that the Haslam administration has continually defended Ali's experience with Shariah finance by saying that for the state to be in business ...
nashvillecitypaper.com/.../state-tea-partiers-focus-anti-islamic-s...


This well-written article from the City Paper is a summary of the issues surrounding the hiring of Waverly Tennessee native Samar Ali who is Muslim, and the resulting criticism of Governor Haslam by the anti-Sharia movement.  It includes comments by Williamson County GOP chairman Kevin Kookogey who has taken a leadership role in attacking the Haslam administration and the response from Client Brewer of the Haslam Administration. The role this controversy is playing in the race between incumbent Senator Mark Norris of Shelby County and challenger Woody Degan is examined.

New in this article is more information about Samar Ali.  Below is an excerpt from the article reporting  comments made by Samar Ali at Vanderbilt's “Come Together” service following 9-11:

“I was asked to speak to you all today as an Arab-American Muslim,” she said. “All I know to do is to tell you something from my heart, and my heart is filled with pride to be a student of this amazing Vanderbilt community. Look at us; we are a family. I am proud to be an American and to feel the patriotism right here, right now.”

As a Muslim, she said, she was upset and wondered how anyone could carry out such horrors in the name of her religion. She said she had received more than 40 phone calls on the day of the attacks, from “Arab Americans, Palestinians, and people in Syria and Jordan.” She concluded by looking to the future.

“We cannot let these terrorists succeed and fill our hearts with hatred,” she said. “We cannot allow them to split us apart as Americans. We must come together; we have come so far. We must not fight hate with hate.”

She continued, “The people who did this are a disgrace to mankind. While they claim to be fundamentalist Muslims, they are of no religion at all. I know of no true religion that celebrates a loss of lives. Islam condemns these acts. The people who did this do not represent any true religion or any ethnic group. These are individual attacks, and they are horrific and absolutely terrifying and must be prevented.”

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The line between bigotry and concern

Crossing the line between concern and bigotryExaminer.com
... State Executive Committee take some kind of action against Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam, a Republican, because-among other things, Haslam hired a “specialist in Sharia law” to the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development ...

....Healthy concern about those who would sympathize and collaborate with the enemies of America is quite a bit different from open religious bigotry against someone because they are a Muslim, and advocating apparent discrimination against them because of their religious beliefs. However, it would seem that we may have an ever-widening group of people that are simply making the assumption that if a person is a Muslim, they are the enemy because of their religion alone....

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Minutemen continue the attack on King George Loyalist

Maury County Republicans join the rebellion.
GOP resolution aimed at Sharia Law | Columbia Daily HeraldThe Maury County resolution states that Ali is a “Sharia Finance specialist,” which could require her to promote political Sharia law. “Governor Haslam has ...
www.columbiadailyherald.com/.../gop-resolution-aimed-sharia...

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Woody Degan gets the "pants on fire" rating from PolitiFact

Candidate says state hired Vanderbilt alum to make department of economic ...PolitiFact
Bill Haslam has appointed a director at the state Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD) who Degan says specializes in "Sharia compliance" and is working to make the agency "Sharia compliant" in order to "go after Sharia money." Here is ...

Clint Brewer, ECD’s assistant commissioner for communications, wrote in an email that Degan’s assertions are false.

"Samar Ali was hired to be ECD’s international director. Her job duties are to manage the TNTrade export program and to supervise our four international offices in Germany, Japan, China and Canada." He added: "There is no part of her job -- or any department operations -- that involves Shariah compliant finance or Shariah law."

Brewer also said there is no such effort under way, or planned, to make the agency Sharia compliant. "None whatsoever nor will there be any," he said.

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J. Lee Douglas of 9-12ers addresses the troops:

Freaks and Twelvers,

 

Did you see today's Tennessean article which contained bits of information about one of our members, Kevin Kookogey?  The article was about the rebellion of the Republican party towards its party chief, Governor Haslam. 

 

Are  you surprised?  Did you believe that our work and our coaching by such men as Glenn Beck, Mark Levin, Rush Limbaugh, Walter Williams, Laura Ingrahm, Frank Gafney, Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann and other good Americans would almost never raise the temperature of the body politic?

 

Because we outnumber socialists like Obama, Valerie Jarrett, Pelosi, Reid, Soros, Clinton and all of their very famous and very rich followers, it is only normal to begin to see a fracturing of the system as a whole.

 

Most of us recently came from and abide in the Republican party so it's only natural that the first crack would be nearest to the source of the increasing pressure!!  You, ACT, the Tea Party have built a force that is finally demanding the Republican Party's attention.  Finally.

 

You were right to be asking, "How long will they do this to me".  It's true, Romney wasn't our first pick but there are only two hands in front of us and we aren't offered a third.  If we had set forward the primaries for President by 2 years to 2014, I suspect the result would be much more agreeable to all of us.  The wave of change is just now starting to catch up.  The seeds are breaking through. 

 

I'm proud to say that it was 912ers influence and organizing that saw to our member, Kookogey, becoming Chair of his county GOP.  He has been a champion and he's one of many other liberty-minded Republicans who are becoming the future of the GOP in Tennessee. 

 

By the end of the week, the eight Tennessee County GOPs on record for criticizing Governor Haslam will have grown to twenty who are breaking the silence of approval to anything our Republican elected officials do. 

 

We've patiently waited to see a significant sign that we, who have been doing the work, do matter.

 

I need more help to keep tipping the statue as we build a genuine conservative statue to take its place.

 

Part of the push that is going to rattle the Republican establishment happens this Friday when our Resolution is going to be published in the Tennessean, either in section A or section B...won't know until Friday morning.

 

Forty of our members have stepped up bear the cost of this Resolution.  The range of contributions varies from as little as $10 to more than $1,000. 

 

A full page ad, the one that will give the greatest effect, costs $5,000.  Currently, we have $4,250 and are in need of the last $750.

 

I believe that anyone who has contributed more than $500 should not further contribute.  I ask that you not.

 

Of our full membership, we ought to be able to get enough donations, even small ones, to reach the full $750...by tomorrow at noon.

 

If you will contribute via Paypal with your credit card or Paypal account, please donate at

https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_s-xclick&hosted_button_id=T4Z5PDK48JEUY

If you cannot pay via credit card but can assure me that you'll send me a check for this project, please Email me the amount that you'll give and the day that you'll send it out.  We're so close.

Make checks payable to  912 Project Tennessee    and send to

J. Lee Douglas

999 Lookout Ridge Dr.

Brentwood, TN 37027

These funds will be going to Friday's step 2 of taking back the Republican party.

The next step will be in two phases, August 2 and then November 6.

We love the Republicans but honestly, as a party they have been entrenched in old ways producing irresponsible Lamar Alexanders, Dick Lugars, Lindsey Grahams.  We are out of time and cannot be any nicer than this. 

There is so much buzz about what is going on this week, I agreed to do an interview with Fox's Channel 17 to discuss Governor Haslam and his partnering with Shariah focused Muslims, to even form a Muslim Advisory Council...in the name of Tennessee !    It airs tonight at 9:00.

If you want to see a copy of the Resolution that will be printed on Friday, please Email me with your statement that you won't forward it to anyone until Friday morning. 

Be encouraged, we have cause,

 

Lee

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Governor Haslam Under Fire from Fellow GOP Members - Erika Lathon

Watch J. Lee Douglas attacking Governor Haslam.

Tomorrow morning a full page ad, costing $5000, paid for by members of the 9-12 group, will appear in the Tennessean condemning Gov. Haslam for the hiring of Samar Ali, a native born Tennessee Muslim attorney.

http://m.fox17.com/news/Governor_Haslam_Under_Fire_from_Fellow_GOP_Members_-_Erika_Lathon

Jul 17, 2012 8:53pm (CDT)
A half dozen County Republican Chapters including Williamson County have passed resolutions condemning Governor Bill Haslam or calling for sanctions against him. Some GOP members are taking issue with Haslam employing openly gay staffers and the hiring of Muslim American Attorney, Samar Ali. Tea party members accuse Haslam of abandoning conservative values. State Republican Party Chairman, Chis Devaney says Haslam has a 70% approval rating and calls the attacks a distraction.

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9-12'ers to buy 1/2 to full page ad in Tennessean attacking Haslam

This Friday expect to see a half-page to full-page ad in the Tennessean condemning Governor Haslam because the State Department of Economic and Community Development hired an attorney to an important post in that office, who happens to be a Muslim.  The ad is being financed by the local 9-12 project. Below is an email being circulated by the leader of the local 9-12 group:

Our 912 members have been more generous than ever imagined in contributing funds to publish our Resolution to Governor Haslam in next Friday's Tennessean. Although we're still awaiting some checks in the mail, I can tell you that our donations are enough to purchase an entire half page and then some.

When all promised donations arrive, it is possible that we'll have enough for a 2/3 page ad or, best case scenario, we'll have received sufficient funds for a full page ad to state our bona fide case to Governor Haslam and everyone across the state who reads the Tennessean.

To read more about this issue, see this post: 

Regarding Samar Ali: The Haslam administration has already answered the 912ers.

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County Republican Parties taken over by right wing fringe condemn Haslam

Apparently several county Republican parties across the State have been taken over by elements of the right wing fringe. I really hate to publicly criticize other Republicans at a time we ought to be focused on denying Obama a second term. I would much rather just ignore our differences.  However, when the right wing fringe takes over County parties and passes resolutions condemning a great Republican governor who has reformed education, enacted tort reform, cut government waste, and cut taxes, they cannot be ignored. It is time for mainstream Republicans to take the party back from the radical fringe. 

Below is the Tennessean article on this topic: 

 County GOP chapters circulate resolutions condemning Haslam

The Williamson County Republican Party, the Stewart County Republican Party, the Carroll County Republican Party and perhaps several others have adopted resolutions critical of Haslam. Stewart and Carroll County call for the State Executive Committee to take “appropriate action against the administration of Governor Bill Haslam.” 

While the Haslam position on guns in parking lots and his refusal to sign a joint house resolution condemning Agenda 21,  a United Nations report on sustainability which the legislature condemned as an "insidious" communist plot, has irritated the extreme right, the thing that has really made the right wing  kooks go off the deep end is that the Department of Economic and Community Development hired a well-qualified, Tennessee native, who happens to be a Muslim, to head its international trade office.

For a related story see this post:

Regarding Samar Ali: The Haslam administration has already answered the 912ers.

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