Rep. Keith Ellison, D-MN, is going to take the ceremonial oath of office in a private ceremony in Nancy Pelosi's speaker's office on a Koran that belonged to Thomas Jefferson, after objections to him taking it on a Koran were voiced by Rep. Virgil Goode, R-VA. So sez the WaPo, linked by K-Lo.
The problem here is that EVERYONE is missing the point. The objection to Ellison should not be that he wants to take his ceremonial oath on the Koran (he will be taking the binding oath during the en masse swearing-in in the House chamber prior to this, so the whole story is basically a non-issue), but that Ellison has ties to the Nation of Islam that were not well-disclosed during his campaign, and as such he is alleged to have engaged in traitorous and/or illegal actions at some point in his life.
(But then, John F. Kerry was undeniably a traitor, and he's in the Senate.)
It does not concern me that a Muslim per se has been elected to Congress. It does concern me that someone with Keith Ellison's alleged background has been elected to Congress. It will concern me when Muslims become enough of a bloc in Congress that they start agitating for sharia. And that's the point.
