Asad Zaman "attacked" the KSTP news crew

This week's feature chronicles the troubled history of TiZA, the controversial charter school blasted by conservative critics as the "Minnesota madrassa."

TiZA began humbly, serving poor Somali immigrants in Inver Grove Heights. It grew into a media darling, and Congressman Keith Ellison enrolled his youngest child at the school, as we detail in our story. But after Katherine Kersten wrote a column in March 2008 accusing TiZA of being an "Islamic school," a wave of legal problems descended upon the academy.

Its officials reacted aggressively to criticism, hiring a PR firm and lobbying the media. Its monitor, Wayne Jennings, wrote a letter to the Star Tribune defending TiZA. Executive Director Asad Zaman traveled to the Strib's offices to demand Kersten be fired, according to a former parent at the school. But that paled in comparison to the school's reaction when KSTP reporter Chris O'Connell made an unwelcome visit in May 2008.

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Katherine Kersten will decide if your child sees people of other races at school.

​Katherine Kersten, the conservative schoolmarm from the Star Tribune, has been appointed to a panel of 12 that will evaluate the use of state money to racially integrate schools.

Considering Kersten's well-known anti-diversity leanings, we're expecting she'll come to the conclusion that "separate but equal" wasn't really so bad. Perhaps some of the money could be used to install Whites-only drinking fountains?

What other great lessons will we learn from the Kersten Kurriculum? We skimmed her hysterical Star Tribune columns for indications of what kind of diversity "education" is in store for our children.

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Katherine Kersten wants to defend you from the truth.

​There are many falsehoods in today's latest loony epistle from conservative school marm Katherine Kersten, not least of which is the notion that enemies of gay marriage are the ones who need to fear intimidation--as if gays were trying to whip the state into a frenzy to vote against the validity of heterosexual relationships.

But there is a particularly heinous act of obscuration that she commits when trying to explain why so-called "Defense of Marriage" amendments have passed in so many states where the citizens actually oppose banning gay marriage.

What is happening is that polls are telling the truth that legislators are hiding, and a lot of voters are getting fooled at the ballot box.

Which means the ban on gay marriage could pass here even though more than 50% of voters in Minnesota are actually against banning gay marriage.

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The best part about conservative religious scold Katherine Kersten's ongoing war with the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, or "TiZA," is that we are treated to the irony of her making common cause with the American Civil Liberties Union -- the bane of all conservative religious scolds everywhere. And we can almost hear Kersten clearing her throat for another screed against the charter school for Muslims, now that the state Department of Education has reinstated a $375,000 federal grant that it suspended last year over what it said were violations of the state's teacher licensing requirements.

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Photo by aakalia

In her latest column, Star Tribune scold Katherine Kersten has decided that the University of Minnesota's College of Education is hell-bent on destroying freedom of thought among its students with what she called "mind control." And it appears that Bill O'Reilly has picked up her cudgel.

Kersten writes:

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Last month we reported on MinnPost's decision to give controversial conservative columnist Katherine Kersten a free pass to hold forth on her views in a Q&A-syle interview with writer Michael Bonafield. This month, MinnPost is repeating its template with U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann.

Managing editor Roger Buoen defended the Kersten piece by saying that it was important for MinnPost's readers to hear from a prominent voice from the right -- and that his readers would understand. He's betting they'll understand today, too, but he's penned a lengthy column to head off an anticipated flood of complaints.

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