Letters to the Editor
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Bored, late, nothing better to do.
1) Imam Shahin, leader of the North American Imams Federation and spokesman for the infamous flying imams, worked for KindHearts, linked by the US Justice Department to Hamas. He also represented two Muslims who were removed from an America West flight for twice trying to open the cockpit, actions that led the FBI to suspect they were doing 9/11 dry runs.
2) The largest mainstream Muslim organization in the US, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the criminal trial of the Holy Land Foundation, charged (like Shahin's KindHearts) with supporting Hamas.
3) A quarter of Muslims in America, when polled, supported suicide bombing in defence of Islam. Approximately the same number could not or would not state an unfavorable opinion of al Qaeda.
I think that addresses Glenn's article very nicely.
1--"linked to Hamas"?. Suspicion is not proof. Heck, by the six degrees test, you're probably linked to OBL, especially if you have met Bush personally. GB-->GWB-->Bandar "Bush"-->Saudi royal supporters of OBL-->OBL. Heck, Hamas is a political party which has been democratically elected to power among the Palestinians. Remember when we supported democracy and democratic processes?
2--"unindicted co-conspirator" could mean that the prosecutors did not even have enough evidence to reach the probable cause threshold to indict someone. I have been advised by attorneys that that is a very easy hurdle to clear--but the prosecutor did not even go for that (and effectively ran under that hurdle to make that connection).
3--http://letters.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2007/05/22/polls/permalink/
6122d9b644192560a68ffb3451a60a26.html (remove the return after permalink/)
A more accurate interpretation of the polls than the one you just manufactured (again).
I admit, you address Glenn's article, but from another dimension. Nicely?
Nice
2 b : exacting in requirements or standards
3 : possessing, marked by, or demanding great or excessive precision and delicacy
5 b : well-executed
(from m-w.com)
Nope.
4 Obsolete: TRIVIAL
(also from m-w.com)
Now that's more like it. And I mean both parts.
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Confirmation
Missed El Cid's cite:
Judge Fish is still expected to rule at some point on a request by the Council on American-Islamic Relations. On Aug. 16, it filed a request to have its name and hundreds of others purged from the government's unindicted co-conspirator list.
Wow, guilt by asserted association...where have I heard that before?
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Hey guys, I'm back!
Did I miss anything?
[looks forlornly over the shattered remains of a discussion thread - shakes head]
Well I can't say I didn't warn them.
In the meantime for GB:
http://www.healthyplace.com/Communities/ocd/sandra/treatment.htm
Please take two of these at bedtime and don''t bother showing up in the morning
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Glenn, I love you
That is all.
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The Irrationality of Fear
John Amato at Crooks and Liars had a great line apropos to Glenn’s topic:
Many people have turned into scared little bedwetters after the 9/11 attacks who threw their civil rights to the wind while supporting a pre-emptive doctrine which will lead us down the road to hell. I talk about the right wing blogosphere and their talk show buddies of course. Being a NYer, the attacks stunned me, but NY picked itself off the floor and went on with life. These people see jihadists in their rear view mirror every time they get on the highway…
One would have expected those who were most directly affected by the attacks (Pennsylvania, New York and D.C.) would have jumped right into the arms of the fear-mongering Republicans, but they all voted against Bush in 2004 just as they did in 2000. Illogically, it seems to be those from areas that would appear have the least exposure to attacks that seem to have the most fear. To carry this a step further, it seems Europe would be constantly shaking in their boots since they don’t have an ocean separating them from doom, and that they would have jumped at the chance to join us in our Middle East escapades, but, no, most of them drew the line at invading countries that had not attacked them or their allies. I guess they think it’s best in the long run not to unnecessarily antagonize their global neighbors.
I posted the following at Daily Kos about a year ago near the five-year anniversary of 9/11 and around the time ABC/Disney tried to pass off that piece of right-wing propaganda, “Path to 9/11,” as historical fact:
The irrationality of fear
The right-wing authoritarians’ game plan of steering the discussion to terrorism at a totally irrational level certainly is working - some statistics:
Deaths in U.S. from 9/11/01 terrorism actions as counted by CNN: 2,973
Approximate number of deaths in U.S. since then from the following causes (from National Center for Health Statistics):
Heart disease: > 4,000,000
Cancer: > 2,500,000
Accidents: > 500,000
Suicide: > 150,000
Murder: > 80,000.
Approximate number of premature deaths in U.S. since then from lack of health insurance (from study by Institute of Medicine finding 18,000 such deaths a year, with study also noting the odds are that the number is higher in reality): > 90,000.
Rough percentage of space in the last five days on Daily Kos and like-minded sites devoted to postings and comments on terrorism-related issues: 75% (Daily Kos has been significantly lower than most due to campaign/poll/daily feature content).
Rough percentage of space in the last five days devoted to medical and social care issues: <2%?
{skip rest of post}
by rollotomasi on Sun Sep 10, 2006 at 08:48:47 PM PDT
Wouldn’t one’s time be better spent trying to find ways we could improve our nation’s physical/mental health and crime/accident prevention instead of gathering anecdotal evidence from dubious sources on a few bad guys in a pitiful attempt to raise others’ fears and hatred to the level of their own?
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A good question from rollotomasi
Wouldn’t one’s time be better spent trying to find ways we could improve our nation’s physical/mental health and crime/accident prevention instead of gathering anecdotal evidence from dubious sources on a few bad guys in a pitiful attempt to raise others’ fears and hatred to the level of their own?
Unfortunately it runs aground against the Prime Directive that has driven the Republican Party since the ascention of Saint Ronny in 1980: Government is the problem, not the solution.
Of course given how much negative use Reagan and ilk made use of the instruments of government, its a rather sad commentary on the elephants.
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The real threat . . .
According to the Army War College in a 2002 report finalized and issued AFTER September 11, 2001, as well as a separate Pentagon report issues late in 2002, the biggest threat to the United States is GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE. These are not reports issued by liberal think tanks but by the Pentagon and the Army War College.
Pay attention to what you pay attention to . . .