Ocean City Prayer Breakfast Used Tax Dollars? // Extremist Jerry Boykin Event Sponsored by State Police & Area Governments

UPDATE: Maryland Juice is hearing behind the scenes that at least one of the entities listed on the door of the prayer breakfast is responding that their organization did not sponsor the event; rather individuals bought tickets with their own funds and sat together. Hmm.

This morning, Ocean City's Mayor held his annual "Prayer Breakfast," over the objections of hundreds of concerned vacationers. The Mayor's special guest, former General Jerry Boykin, is a well-documented extremist and homophobe. Though we hear the controversial speaker declined to repeat some of his more incendiary views at this morning's event -- a new problem is emerging. Even with General Boykin's muted remarks, this event still appears to be violating principles of Church & State separation.

An attendee forwarded Maryland Juice the following two photos of signs that were taped to the doors of the "Prayer Breakfast." The notices highlight the sponsors of the event, but they alarmingly list a number of governments and taxpayer-funded agencies.

A few troubling sponsors of the "Prayer Breakfast" are:

• Maryland State Police
• Worcester County Board of Education
• Town of Berlin
• Berlin Police Department
• Ocean City Fire Department
• Worcester County Jail
• Worcester County State's Attorney

See full images below:

Ocean City Ignores Complaints About Extremist Speaker & Plays Dumb About His History // Ideas for A New Vacation Spot?

UPDATE: Progressive Maryland just blasted the Ocean City petition to their members: [ SIGN TODAY ]. Over 580 signers and counting!

Maryland Juice has another update on the rapidly evolving story over Ocean City's disgraceful "Prayer Breakfast." The event is in less than 48 hours, so let me catch you up quickly:

• Ocean City's Mayor hosts an annual "prayer breakfast."
• This year's annual guest is truly an extremist (ie: talks about Hitler and Obama, no 1st amendment rights for all religions, was a General during the "War on Terror" and publicly called it a religious war, said W. Bush was annointed by God, etc).

-----------> PFAW/CAIR & JUICE BLEW THE WHISTLE 

• Hundreds of Marylanders are now calling on the Mayor & City Council to respond.

Today, Ocean City's elected officials broke their silence, and it appears that their response is to play dumb. Delmarva Now reports:

MD DISGRACE: Ocean City Mayor's Special Guest Says "No Mosques in America," Invokes Hitler Against Obama, Etc.

UPDATE: CAIR is now calling on Ocean City's Mayor to rescind his invitation to Jerry Boykin.

Today Maryland Juice received news that Ocean City Mayor Rick Meehan is embarrassing the Free State with his choice of special guest at his annual "Prayer Breakfast." Last week, Ocean City's Dispatch wrote:

Ocean City Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast Director Bruce Spangler expressed excitement this week about Lieutenant General William G. “Jerry” Boykin of the US Army, retired coming to Ocean City next month.

“Talking to people that know this guy, they say he’s a soldiers-soldier … he isn’t somebody that lives from behind but is upfront leading,” Spangler said....

“He is an expert on Islamic history,” Spangler said....

The Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast will be held Jan. 26 at the Clarion Hotel....

“Our speaker for this year’s 22nd annual event is in much demand throughout the country and has been seen on all major networks, as recently as last week.  He has an exciting testimony that you do not want to miss,” Spangler said.

This year the event will also last a little longer than normal giving Boykin plenty of opportunity to share his knowledge and experience with those in attendance. The event begins at 7 a.m. sharp and will end promptly at 9:15 a.m.

Before you decide whether to make the trek out to Ocean City to see Mr. Boykin speak, you can watch some of his expert testimony on Islam below:


BOYKIN: "No Mosques in America"

Can Robin Ficker Win Maryland's 6th Congressional District Republican Primary? // Roscoe Bartlett Retreating on Taxes

Maryland Juice early on predicted that GOP candidate Robin Ficker would win the 6th Congressional District Republican Primary. Though some people found the idea preposterous, others are at least addressing it in their own ways. I caught this cute repurposing of Yahoo.com's "Ask" tool on the web today:

But Maryland Juice was only half-joking when predicting a Ficker victory. We were actually trying to make a point that the flood of new Montgomery County Republicans would need to be factored into the GOP's CD6 equation. Today I present two more pieces of evidence that the MoCo GOP may not be as Tea Party-friendly as the rest of the CD6 GOP. Check out this response on Facebook to Robin Ficker's participation in a protest against Islamophobia:

Photos & Video: Protest Against Islamophobia with Saqib Ali, Ike Leggett, Kumar Barve & Robin Ficker // Lowes Gaithersburg MD

Maryland Juice readers Amit Mistry and Robin Ficker (CD6 GOP candidate) have sent in photos from Sunday's protest at Lowes Home Improvement in Gaithersburg, Maryland. As we noted previously, the event was organized by former Delegate Saqib Ali over complaints that Lowes had caved in to Islamophobia:

Last week Lowes Hardware store caved in to rank Islamophobia by withdrawing its commercials that were scheduled to run during the TLC TV show "All American Muslims." Lowes did this because a fringe right-wing hate-group called the "Florida Family Association"  complained that the depiction of American Muslims as normal people was actually “propaganda clearly designed to counter legitimate and present-day concerns about many Muslims who are advancing Islamic fundamentalism and Sharia law." Lowes' shameful decision has sparked a huge national controversy.

The Montgomery Village Patch had video of the event, which they say was attended by approximately 60 protestors:

You can also see photos of the event at Maryland Juice's Facebook Page:

MoCo Juice Blender: Leggett Joins Lowes Protest, #1 Influential Councilmember, Huge Police Overtime & Corporate Welfare

UPDATE: Maryland Juice just received the following email from a CD6 GOP candidate: "Robin Ficker for Congress and Jobs will join his friend Saqib in the protest on Sunday too!" Interesting that a GOP candidate from Montgomery should reject extremist fear-mongering and join a protest against Islamophobia. 

Also, earlier today, Maryland Juice reader Dave Kunes sent us a Klout influence ranking for Montgomery County's State Legislators. #1: Heather Mizeur.

Here's a random blend of political tidbits from recent Montgomery County news, starting with an update from former Delegate Saqib Ali on his protest against Lowes:

Juice #1: Saqib Ali's Email Message Announcing Ike Leggett Joins Lowes Protest: Last week Lowes Hardware store caved in to rank Islamophobia by withdrawing its commercials that were scheduled to run during the TLC TV show "All American Muslims." Lowes did this because a fringe right-wing hate-group called the "Florida Family Association"  complained that the depiction of American Muslims as normal people was actually “propaganda clearly designed to counter legitimate and present-day concerns about many Muslims who are advancing Islamic fundamentalism and Sharia law." Lowes' shameful decision has sparked a huge national controversy. You can read about it here.

This decision has been condemned by prominent people from Rap Moghul Russel Simmons to Actress Mia Farrow to Newark Mayor Corey Booker. People from all walks of life are outraged that Lowe's kow-towed to such un-American demands. Imagine for a second if Lowes had pulled its commercials from a show just because it depicted Catholics or Jews as normal people. This is no different.

Saqib Ali Organizes Protest Against Montgomery County Lowes // Former MD Lawmaker Calls Out Caving to Islamophobia

UPDATE:  Saqib Ali just sent the following update: "Many people have already RSVPed, including the Majority Leader of the MD State House of Delegates Kumar Barve." Maryland Juice contacted Mr. Barve to confirm his attendance, and we received the following response: "Yes, I'll be there unless I have the flu (which everyone else seems to be getting)."

Maryland Juice just received the following email from former Maryland Delegate Saqib Ali:

Lowes Hardware store has decided to cave in to rank Islamophobia by pulling its commercials during the TV show "All American Muslims" http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/11/showbiz/all-american-muslim-lowes/index.html. They did this because some people complained that the show falsely depicts American Muslims as "normal people".

This decision has been condemned by politicians, activists and show-business celebrities. All kinds of people from all walks of life are outraged. Imagine for a second if Lowes had pulled its commercials from a show that depicted Catholics or Jews as "normal people". This is no different.

We will be picketting a Lowes store in Montgomery County, MD on Sunday December 18th. The exact location will be announced shortly. Please visit the Facebook page for this event by clicking here: http://on.fb.me/vtxEnt

- Saqib Ali

We'll update you on this story when we hear more!