The American Spectator

My friends at the Maryland Conservative Action Network were kind enough to invite me to speak on a panel about New Media at their “Turning the Tides” conference Saturday in Annapolis. Then on Friday, a friend sent me a link to a Huffington Post article calling for protests of the conference:

In light of the recent report by the Center for American Progress, “Fear Incorporated: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America,” which exposed the $42.6 million industry that fuels the Islamophobia infrastructure in America, American Muslims have begun to challenge this grassroots movement by waging their own counter-grassroots movement… .
This national trend is being played out in Annapolis, Md., this weekend. On Oct. 29, the Maryland Conservative Action Network will host the Turning the Tides conference, and they are facing protest due to the involvement of Frank Gaffney and several other leading Islamophobic speakers. Former Maryland Delegate Saqib Ali, along with Khuram Zaman, a social media activist, are organizing a coalition to raise awareness about the event to Maryland residents. Zaman and Ali have partnered with Equality Maryland, CASA de Maryland, the Islamic Society of Annapolis, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in denouncing the Turning the Tides conference… .

This is very good news: Nothing like a bunch of noisy left-wing protesters to garner some free publicity and, as every conservative knows, you’re nobody until you’ve been denounced by CAIR.

The HuffPo article called me “an extremist right-wing blogger,” but I confess I’ve been so busy covering the Herman Cain presidential campaign lately that I haven’t done much work for “the $42.6 million industry that fuels the Islamophobia infrastructure in America,” Then again, I wasn’t aware this “industry” was so lucrative. So I’ve told the conference organizers to cut me in for my share of that $42.6 million — small bills, please — and we’ll consider it an advance payment for future fear-mongering.

Lord Monckton will be among the featured speakers at Saturday’s conference and will join attendees at a post-conference “happy hour” at the Annapolis Doubletree Hotel. The conference fee is $75 and all right-wing extremists are welcome.