Rod Blagojevich, Governor of Illionois, has appointed a Nation of Islam official to his anti—discrimination commission. The Nation of Islam is the organization headed by anti—Semite Louis Farrakhan, who called Judaism a "gutter religion." The Chicago Tribune reports:

Blagojevich said commission member Claudette Marie Muhammad should be judged by her own words in support of tolerance and acceptance, which she expressed in a brief written statement released earlier in the day.

"What Mr. Farrakhan said was deplorable, hateful, wrong and harmful," Blagojevich said in an interview with the Tribune. "What I'm not going to do is engage in the practice of guilt by association. Ms. Muhammad didn't say those things."

Muhammad, who serves as chief of protocol to Farrakhan, said that she believes in "fairness to all people regardless of race, creed, color, national origin or religious beliefs" and that she respects those who "practice the true tenets" of any religion. She also said she supports human rights for gays and lesbians.

What do suppose she means by "true tenets"? Is she referring to what Farrakhan calls "false Jews"?

Would Governor Blagojevich appoint an official of the American Nazi Party, so long as he or she provided soothing words in a written statement?

Thomas Lifson   3 02 06

UPDATE: The Republican Jewish Coalition speaks out:

The Republican Jewish Coalition of Chicago strongly urges Governor Rod Blagojevich to remove his 2005 appointee Claudette Marie Johnson from his Commission on Discrimination and Hate Crimes because she serves as the minister of protocol to Nation of Islam Leader Louis Farrakhan, who espouses hate and anti—Semitism.

At the annual Nation of Islam's Saviours' Day conference in Chicago Sunday, Farrakhan told an audience of thousands, 'your country has been taken from you by the synagogue of Satan.' [Saviours' Day, Chicago, Illinois, 2/26/2006]

He added, "These false Jews promote the filth of Hollywood that is seeding the American people and the people of the world and bringing you down in moral strength. . . It's the wicked Jews the false Jews that are promoting Lesbianism, homosexuality. It's wicked Jews, false Jews that make it a crime for you to preach the word of God, then they call you homophobic!' [Saviours' Day, Chicago, Illinois, 2/26/2006]

There is much more.