UTTERLY SICKENING – AT 8:34 A.M. ET:  Apparently the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee is opposed to discrimination against Arabs, unless they're Arabs seeking freedom in the Mideast.  From The Politico:

A leading Arab American group dropped a prominent Syrian-American musician from performing at their annual convention in a dispute over a freedom-tinged song that he was set to perform.

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, a longtime Washington civil rights group, repeatedly asked the German-born Syrian composer and pianist Malek Jandali to reconsider his piece choice, Jandali told POLITICO. When he refused, Jandali was told today that he couldn't perform at this weekend's event.

Jandali's "Watani Ana: I am my Homeland" doesn't specifically mention Syria or the broader Arab Spring uprisings, but is heavy on the themes of freedom and liberty. Jandali calls it a "humanitarian song." But lyrics include "oh my homeland, when will I see you free" and "When the land is watered with the blood of martyrs and the brave/ And all the people shout: Freedom to mankind."

I guess that's just too hot to handle.  I wonder why.  Maybe here's why:

The chairman of the ADC board, gynecologist Safa Rifka, is aligned with Syria's ambassador to the United States Imad Moustapha. In a blog post, Moustapha called Rifka one of his three "best friends" in Washington D.C. The ADC describes itself as the largest Arab-American grassroots advocacy group and vows to end "discrimination and bias against Arab Americans wherever it is practiced."

But in the Mideast, their advice to the Syrian government seems to be, "Fire away!"

Let's see if the fashion plates of the media, like Christiane Amanpour or Nicholas Kristof, have anything to say about this.  Don't hold your breath.

June 9, 2011