The Ellison Report: Ramadan and More Debt Ceiling

Editor's Note: "The Ellison Report" is a new feature that offers a look every weekday at coverage of Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), who represents St. Louis Park in the U.S. House of Representatives. Have you seen an interesting news story or blog post about Ellison that you think should be mentioned? E-mail a link to michael.rose@patch.com

The Islamic month of Ramadan began Monday and continues through Aug. 29. On Wednesday, several online blogs and news sources referenced Rep. Keith Ellison's appearance last week at a panel discussion called "Muslims in America."

The event was hosted by the Faith and Politics Institute at the Newseum in Washington and was reported by Voices in America, a multimedia broadcaster funded by the U.S. Government.

Ellison talked about how he has been treated as the first Muslim to be elected to Congress:

• "I want to assure you that I have been well treated, well received. Well respected by my colleagues."

At the panel Ellison also acknowledged some Muslims are willing "to kill or die over … religious identity":

• "If you use your religion as an identity as opposed to a path to divine, inspirations and guidance, then you are no different than Crips and Bloods [gangs]. And I want to say that I mean that."

Also Wednesday, coverage of Ellison's opinion on the debt-ceiling debate continued.

In PoliGraph, MPR reporter Catharine Richert said Ellison was wrong when he said this was the first time a debt-ceiling increase was connected to deficit cuts:

• "Certainly the deal is unique in its savings and debt targets, but it's not the first time Congress has linked spending cuts to an increase in the debt ceiling," Richert wrote.

She went on to give examples from 1985, 1997 and 2010.