Browsing PBH By Articles

Perceptions of Terrorism

When a percentage of Muslims support civilian casualties, it’s called an internal threat and terrorism. When an even higher percentage of Americans support intentionally attacking civilians, what do we call it?

The past week, a highly publicized Pew Research Center poll was released on the beliefs and political perceptions of Muslim Americans. The survey concluded, that Muslim-Americans are “largely assimilated, happy with their lives, and moderate with respect to many of the issues that have divided Muslims and Westerners around the world.” Yet on prominent mainstream media outlets, the survey was slanted as “Supporting Terror?” on a CNN crawl, on CBS News online, the headline incorrectly stated that 26% OF YOUNG U.S. MUSLIMS OK BOMBS, and in USA Today, more scare tactics: POLL: 1 IN 4 YOUNGER U.S. MUSLIMS SUPPORT SUICIDE BOMBINGS.

Yet the poll actually showed only 8 percent of US Muslims said suicide bombing can be justified with 83 percent saying suicide bombing can never be justified. Says Hussein Ibish, “I can almost guarantee that the overwhelming majority who were asked the suicide-bombing question were thinking about Palestine—not Iraq or America. They’re not willing to say it’s never OK because they think Palestinians have no other options. They’re wrong, but that’s what they think. It’s exactly the same kind of statistic you’d get if you asked young Israelis about torture, demolition of villages, assassinations—they’d say yes because they know the Israelis have done it but loathe to say it’s wrong. I’m sure, knowing the Muslim community, that if you resolved the occupation in Palestine, that number would go very close to zero.”

Most interestingly, on an international level Americans poll worst than every Muslim country in regards to attacks against civilians. From the The myth of Muslim support for terror in the Christian Science Monitor:

Those who think that Muslim countries and pro-terrorist attitudes go hand-in-hand might be shocked by new polling research: Americans are more approving of terrorist attacks against civilians than any major Muslim country except for Nigeria…

The survey, conducted in December 2006 by the University of Maryland’s prestigious Program on International Public Attitudes, shows that only 46 percent of Americans think that “bombing and other attacks intentionally aimed at civilians” are “never justified,” while 24 percent believe these attacks are “often or sometimes justified.”…

Contrast those numbers with 2006 polling results from the world’s most-populous Muslim countries – Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nigeria. Terror Free Tomorrow, the organization I lead, found that 74 percent of respondents in Indonesia agreed that terrorist attacks are “never justified”; in Pakistan, that figure was 86 percent; in Bangladesh, 81 percent… Our surveys show that not only do Muslims reject terrorism as much if not more than Americans, but even those who are sympathetic to radical ideology can be won over by positive American actions that promote goodwill and offer real hope.

46 percent of Americans think attacks intentionally aimed at civilians are never justified, compared to numbers ranging in the 70’s and 80’s for the majority of Muslim countries. Do these findings mean that Americans are closet terrorist sympathizers, and what does this say about the perceptions of Muslims versus the perceptions of ourselves?

Sources & References

Europhobia, Islamaphobia and American Muslims Surveyed, http://wsibrusselsblog.org/?p=136

Muslims in America, http://atlanticreview.org/archives/678-Muslims-in-America.html

The myth of Muslim support for terror by Kenneth Ballen, Christian Science Monitor, http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0223/p09s01-coop.html

You Say Islamo-Fascist, I Say Militant Islamists, http://www.teambio.org/2007/05/you-say-islamo-fascist-i-say-militant-islamists/

Media Coverage of Muslims Bombs: A Pew poll on Muslims in America painted a positive picture. So why was the coverage so negative? By Lorraine Ali, MSNBC, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18853924/site/newsweek/

Do vampires need nails in their coffin??

The Article: The Last Nail in the GOP’s Coffin by David Frum of AEI. Yes, AEI.

The Text: The Republican party is hurtling toward disaster in 2008. The latest polls report that 61 percent of Americans think that the Iraq war was a mistake. More than 70 percent of Americans think the country is on the “wrong track”–an astonishingly bad number for a non-recession year.

Historically, Democrats have been perceived as the more caring and compassionate party; Republicans as the more honest and effective party.

Yet today, Democrats enjoy a 5:3 advantage over Republicans on the question, “Which party can manage government better?” They hold a 2:1 advantage on integrity and ethics. They even outpoll the Republicans on national security, for the first time since the Johnson-Goldwater race of 1964!

In this hour of gloom and danger for the GOP, the party leaders have just chosen to launch all-out war against the last remnants of their support.

In recent days, Republican and Democratic Senators acting with the support of the White House concocted a deal on immigration that grants amnesty in all but name to the 12 million illegal aliens inside the United States. The deal also proposes large increases in legal immigration, plus a temporary worker program to import hundreds of thousands of low-wage workers for two years at a time.

At a reception Wednesday, House Minority Leader John Boehner eloquently expressed the feelings of many Republicans about the deal the Senators negotiated in secret: “I promised the President today that I wouldn’t say anything bad about . . . this piece of s–t bill.”

But it did not matter what profanities Boehner said or did not say. The voice of protest was taken up by Web sites and radio stations. The President’s poll numbers tumbled to some of the lowest levels seen in his presidency, under 30 percent.

Bush is in trouble because his own party does not trust him to enforce border security.

Of the estimated 12 million illegals in the United States, four million have arrived since he became president. Bush has made clear in hundreds of speeches that he would prefer to solve this problem with an amnesty in all but name for existing illegals–and higher limits on future immigration.

By working so hard for an amnesty, the President sent a powerful signal to would-be migrants all over the planet: Get in while you can, your green card will arrive soon.

The post-2000 surge of illegals has imposed heavy costs all over the United States. The median American worker earns less today than in 2000, in considerable part because of the wage lowering effects of immigration.

Taxpayers have had to bear heavy new burdens. The state of North Carolina paid an estimated $10 million to educate the children of illegals in 1995; $210 million in 2005. Illegals cost every household in the state of California an estimated $300 per year in extra state and local taxes.

Illegals present serious security threats. Between 1990 and 2005, 94 foreign- born terrorists plotted or attempted terrorist attacks inside the United States. Earlier this month, the U.S. government foiled a plot by six Kosovo-born terrorists to attack Fort Dix, NJ.

Above all, illegal immigration raises issues of disrespect for law that deeply offend the conservative values of Republican voters.

President Bush and the Senate Republicans have had ample warning of the deep unpopularity of their approach within their party. They tried to pass similar measures in 2001, 2004 and 2006, and had to give up every time. They are trying again now only because they sense that it will be easier to pass their quasi-amnesty through a Democratic Congress.

They are right on that last point. Hispanics vote Democratic by majorities of 60 percent and up. So, naturally, Democrats are eager to welcome and register as many as possible as fast as possible.

And Democrats also recognize what President Bush would not–that the attempt to pass a quasi-amnesty through Congress would trigger a bitter debate within the Republican party–which would thereby alienate Hispanics from Republicans even further.

All of this has come to pass. Senate Democrats, watching Republicans tear their party apart over this issue, must echo Cleavon Little’s smug comment in Blazing Saddles: “Oh baby, you are so talented–and they are so dumb.”

I spoke yesterday to a Republican congressman. He had been given the thankless task of dialing donors to invite them to the President’s Dinner, the GOP’s biggest fundraising event of the year. “How’s it going?” I asked. “Worst ever,” he answered.

Conservatives think the Republican party has betrayed them. Hispanics–America’s largest and fastest-growing minority–think that the party has turned its back on them. Ordinary voters now say by 2:1 margins that the Democrats care more about “people like them.” All signs point to a GOP debacle in 2008. And this immigration bill looks like the point of no return.

The Analysis: Am I the unsuspecting victim of a modern Twilight Zone? Or is the Republican base going Pat Buchanan ape-shit about immigration and I haven’t been paying attention? Either way, it’s affecting the Republican Presidential hopefuls already with the loud outcry from dey took der jobs section of the party. And I will roll in my pig shit until told otherwise.

Democratz seyz: I want my baby back ribs (bbq iraq sauce)

If you get erections from political sellouts, this week was your week to shine (with hard-ons). No sooner did the Democrats get control of the House and Senate on the anti-War, anti-Bush platform did they cave in to have their pockets lined with delicious government money. Oh boy, the sea of change:

We are in the midst of an intellectual crisis in this country where certain dogmatic and incoherent beliefs are allowed to dominate the discourse in spite of the fact that they are demonstrably false. It’s one of the most difficult problems we ace.

Other things worth checking out: War Crimes at Waiter Rant, where he dissects the idea of fellatio practicing and chocha shaving, Think Before You Post (or you may have hot 40 year old males waiting for your underwear), and yet another funny/sad example of Fox News “interesting” take on the world.

Happy Memorial Day

An Iraqi boy hides behind a U.S. soldier on Monday amid gunfire after a car bomb in Central Baghdad killed 24 people:

Poland wants to get to the bottom of androgyny

The Article: Poland to probe if Teletubbies are gay. Seriously.

The Text: Poland’s conservative government took its drive to curb what it sees as homosexual propaganda to the small screen on Monday, taking aim at Tinky Winky and the other Teletubbies.

Ewa Sowinska, government-appointed children rights watchdog, told a local magazine published on Monday she was concerned the popular BBC children’s show promoted homosexuality.

She said she would ask psychologists to advise if this was the case.

In comments reminiscent of criticism by the late U.S. evangelist Jerry Falwell, she was quoted as saying: “I noticed (Tinky Winky) has a lady’s purse, but I didn’t realize he’s a boy.”

“At first I thought the purse would be a burden for this Teletubby … Later I learned that this may have a homosexual undertone.”

Poland’s rightist government has upset human rights groups and drawn criticism within the European Union by apparent discrimination against homosexuals.

Polish Education Minister Roman Giertych has proposed laws sacking teachers who promote “homosexual lifestyle” and banning “homo-agitation” in schools.

But in a sign that the government wants to distance itself from Sowinska’s comments, Parliamentary Speaker Ludwig Dorn said he had warned her against making public comments “that may turn her department into a laughing stock.”

The 10-year-old Teletubbies, which features four rotund, brightly colored characters loved by children around the world, became a target of religious conservatives after Falwell suggested Tinky Winky could be homosexual.

The Analysis: I thought Jerry Falwell was dead? What the fuck? And since when is it the government’s job to discover why Bobby likes Mark — god forbid it’s something genetic or natural, fagdom is of course accomplished by years of ambiguously asexual children’s programming. Maybe they can hire Fred Phelps as a special consultant.