gerard:

“Peace is not just the absence of war, but an activity undertaken by millions of people who, starting from scratch, have to learn the fundamentals of peace-making and practice the hows and whens together every day of their lives. Money has to be spent on peace; schools, churches, media and government have to teach peace.  Big job, but our only hope if the human race is to save itself from suicide.

The main reason people think war is inevitable is that they don’t want to bother to learn anything else.”

oh yes, and how. You are dead-on here, gerard.

Gary Mont:

“In fact, if this website begins to produce anything remotely resembling concrete solutions that might interfere with the ongoing feeding frenzy, it will be infiltrated by federal forces and become a tool for the opposition, over night.”

No. I refuse to believe that.

JDmysticDJ:

“Your charge that certain persons instigate ethnic hatred against Muslims is PATENTLY FALSE, for the simple reason that ISLAM IS NOT AN ETHNIC GROUP, but instead a political ideology combined with a religion.”

Who cares? Muslims are being stigmatized in America and this is wrong.

Gary Mont:

“The USA created the terrorists and fueled their hatred and every single action the fed has taken since 9/11 has contuned to fuel and build their hatred.”

Exactly.

Marshall:

“Perhaps mainstream muslim groups can do more to distance themselves from the jihadists who twist and corrupt their religion.”

Just as soon as America, distances itself from the extremists who have permeated their media, politics and military.

This is all such a crock of shit.

Terrorism is the last resort of a people who have been bombed into the stone age, to retaliate against an aggressor who wields superior armament while occupying the lands of the people they conquered.

If a foreign nation invaded America and destroyed its hospitals, schools, electric power grid, water purification systems, roads, houses, businesses, and every male over 13 years of age, American kids would be the ones wearing bombs and walking into the camps of the invaders. They would be just as proud to do it too.

If the USA wanted to end all Terrorist activities tomorrow, world-wide, all they need to do is offer reparation to all the countries they have destroyed in the name of American Economy, without any sort of direction or strings attached. It would likely cost as much as a week’s worth of warfare, all told.

But the US fed and its war machine do not want to end terrorism. It needs terrorism to instill fear into the American Public, so that it can pretend to defend Americans from the enemy by removing every right Americans have fought and died for over the duration of its existence as a nation - Goebels has a famous quote explaining the whole process and how easily it is to install in any nation once you have a good enemy selected.

The USA created the terrorists and fueled their hatred and every single action the fed has taken since 9/11 has contuned to fuel and build their hatred. It chose the Muslim community because it knew the American Christian community would welcome the chance to eliminate its age old competitor for the chance to be the Only One God Religion In Town. The fed can now claim that all its actions were sanctioned by the people and simply point at the Christian community.

The idea that the US fed needs to keep the American public in chains in order to ferret out the muslim bad guys is such a lame excuse for tyranny that you have to wonder how Americans have been unable to see thru it all this time.

Maybe the military has invented a stupidity inducing machine and they started it up on 9/11 and its been simply working wonders since then.

By Virginia777, May 9 at 10:35 pm Link to this comment

“there is a concerted drive going on to create hatred towards Muslims in this
Country.”

Perhaps mainstream muslim groups can do more to distance themselves from the
jihadists who twist and corrupt their religion.  Although some groups do vocally
disown jihadism, it seems the message doesn’t always come through thus giving
the impression of tacit support.  Jihadism is poison to mainstream islam and
should be directly and vocally repudiated.

“This is not a man whom has his mind outside of his head. “
Deep… up the anus.

Spread this to those who need to see it!

Muslims in the West:
http://www.muslimsinthewest.net

Join us on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Muslims-in-the-West-A-Photo-Journal/203491649689405?ref=ts

Follow us on twitter:
http://twitter.com/#!/muslimphotoblog

By Igor Slamoff, May 9 at 1:31 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)

Mr. Hedges
“Your charge that certain persons instigate ethnic hatred against Muslims is PATENTLY FALSE, for the simple reason that ISLAM IS NOT AN ETHNIC GROUP, but instead a political ideology combined with a religion. I think that first of all you should try to get your terminology straight.
Due to Islam’s equivocal, neither-fish-nor-fowl nature, it often poses as an ethnicity, by means of the all-purpose term “Umma”, which represents the community of believers (who often believe in completely different   things, by the way). 
Now if you were to claim that Moslems are being defamed as a religious group, that would at least make sense.
I have not yet perused this brochure you mention called “Manufacturing the Muslim Menace”. However. As an Arabist and former student of Islamic Studies at the Free University of Berlin, I find the title of this work extremely deceptive. So much so, indeed, that I assume it is a mere work of lying propaganda, created by a lobbyist.”

“Your assertion that Islam is “a political ideology combined with a religion,” is not at all correct. Islam is by authoritative definition, “A monotheistic religion characterized by the acceptance of the doctrine of submission to God and to Muhammad as the chief and last prophet of God.” Furthermore, Islam is defined as, “The people or nations that practice Islam; the Muslim world.” “The civilization developed by the Muslim world.”” Ethnicity is defined by “ethnic traits, background, allegiance, or association.” “Zionism is a political movement among Jews (although supported by some non-Jews) which maintains that the Jewish people constitute a nation and are entitled to a national homeland.”

According to these recognized definitions, Islam is made up of an ethnic group, while Zionism is a political movement (Ideology.) Hopefully the “terminology” is now “straight.”

I’ve taken an interest in you, you have posted comments in many places, you claim to be an Arabist, but you strike me as being an Arab hater. 

Having read a previous comment by you from another thread:

“Egypt will never become a democratic country. The population is so brainnwashed by this Islamic horseshit that they are not even capable of grasping the meaning of the word freedom. They claim they’re for democracy, but they also support persecution of Christians, Jews… imposition of Sharia law and the rest of it. Islam is a totalitarian ideology. Consequently few Muslims can ever be real democrats. Democracy is a Western concept. They will merely get a newfangled dictatorship.”

Let me suggest that you return to the respected Free University of Berlin and finish your education. If by the remote chance that you earned a degree from the Free University of Berlin, then my respect for that institution is greatly diminished. Regardless of what credentials you might or might not have, Hedges’ credentials are far superior to yours. Compared to Hedges you can only be considered just another moron.

gerard: By any chance,do you know anything about the work of Gene Sharp?

Only in a general sense. He promotes non-violent revolution.

In the west, non-violent protests are simply ignored by the media. Violent protests are hyped as being caused by Terrorists or Anarchists or whatever Ist happens to be on the best Ist of the Day List.

The only kind of non-violent protest that stands even a remotest chance of succeeding - abeit only a little bit - is a general stike nation-wide.

Considering the utter lack of solidarity apparent throughout north america, this seems as likely to happen as hot snow flakes.

Inherit The Wind, May 10 at 9:19 am Link to this comment

.......You CAN chose not to play his game.

Do what I do: Hide the matches.

This is, of course, a sensible and mature suggestion. Allowing his tripe to remain unanswered would probably result in his eventual departure to other, more fruitful(?) forii. Ignoring, however, fails to elicit the type of response from him that proves his lack or worth, lack of mental stability, and provokes the gales of laughter that do so break up a day.

Every so often I read a quote worthy of remembrance. Today I found one and wish to share it again:

GRYMie is a moron

gerard: “It is fairly stupid and mean-spirited to “forget” all the people—even just those since 1900 AD—who have not only suggested, but have given their brains and blood to explore and develop specific and practical ways to oppose wars and build more peaceful communities and societies.  If we only remember and practice war, we will never get around to making peace.

in regards to my statement:

“Considering there hasn’t been a single solution offered anywhere by anyone that has a hope in hell of setting things right, we’d better get used to it.”

—-

I had hoped the part that reads “...has a hope in hell of setting things right…”, might have clarified my comment.

I certainly did not say that no solutions have been offered.

I said that none of them have a hope in hell of succeeding.

Let me elucidate:

This is not a new sitaution. This is a cyclic event that normally leads to either disolution or revolution. Revolution is simply the re-establishment of the same old wealth-is-god system and the cycle repeats. Disolution means despression, mass poverty,  starvation and finally dispersal of the nation and eventual invasion by neighbors to grab up the the newly vacated land.

The solutions offered have all been tried and failed repeatedly.

Look to history. The whole of human history is the story of tyranny. This tiny period of peaceful growth in the west under an apparently benign leadership is a mere hiccup in time. It is an aberration and not the norm.

The wealthy, once they begin this legalized feeding frenzy of their own making, cannot stop themselves.

They will continue to steal whatever they can as long as the law allows them the privilege. As they have full control over the law itself, there is no chance that it can intervene. All solutions based on the idea of legal prevention are futile.

They control the military and the police forces and they are more than willing to use those paid minions as fodder to prevent any sort of popular uprising so all solutions based on armed or unarmed revolt are futile.

They own the media, so all solutions based on “getting the message out to the people” and all forms of public protest are futile.

They’re too busy counting their wealth and partying to listen to anyone not a member of their private club, so appealing to their better natures is futile.

Wealth allows them to seperate themselves entirely from the rest of the world to private places where the problems of others do not interfere with their child-like eternal cocktail party. Other minions are paid to watch the population and prevent what MarthaA calls the Majority Common Population from doing anything effective, like becoming educted and learning effective diplomatic language skills.

Every organization that might interfere with the party-goers continued feeding frenzy is immediately infiltrated and broken from within using the latest in high tech and the best trained personel at their disposal.

In fact, if this website begins to produce anything remotely resembling concrete solutions that might interfere with the ongoing feeding frenzy, it will be infiltrated by federal forces and become a tool for the opposition, over night.

The wealthy will continue to feed until the population is entirely drained and the resources of the nation have been sent away to safe places in other countries.

When the system collapses, the wealthy will fly off in their private jets - their tons of cash stored safely away in foreign banks - and history will promote some bullshit economic rationale for the collapse that has absolutely nothing to do with the actual cause, insuring nobody in the future will think about preventing the cycle from recurring.

So either we come up with some NEW ideas, or start getting used to servitude and poverty - again.

Hopefully, that was clearer.

It is sad and depressing, but there are very ignorant, prejudiced individuals or outright hate-mongering TROLLS who post here. It is futile and waste of time to try engaging them into constructive discussion. Chief among them are GRYM, Lew Ciefer, Drew and Sudrania etc etc.

Gary Mont:  By any chance,do you know anything about the work of Gene Sharp?

“Considering there hasn’t been a single solution offered anywhere by anyone ...” ??? It is fairly stupid and mean-spirited to “forget” all the people—even just those since 1900 AD—who have not only suggested, but have given their brains and blood to explore and develop specific and practical ways to oppose wars and build more peaceful communities and societies.  If we only remember and practice war, we will never get around to making peace.

Peace is not just the absence of war, but an activity undertaken by millions of people who, starting from scratch, have to learn the fundamentals of peace-making and practice the hows and whens together every day of their lives. Money has to be spent on peace; schools, churches, media and government have to teach peace.  Big job, but
our only hope if the human race is to save itself from suicide.

The main reason people think war is inevitable is that they don’t want to bother to learn anything else.

Part 2

Muslim kids are taunted in school? Oh for crying out loud! So are fat kids, dumb kids, smart kids, and just about every other type of kid that exists on the planet. Have you taken the time to speak to the children of Jehovah’s Witnesses?

Muslims are harassed in airports? Welcome to the club! Everybody—thanks to Islamic terrorist activity—is harassed in airports and suffers intrusive surveillance. It’s a direct result of ISLAMIC terrorist action against the U.S. and its CIVILIAN population and those of other countries.

That little white girl about 6-8 years old was physically searched—arguably molested—in the airport by a TSA agent not because 8 year old white girls go around blowing innocent people up but because ISLAMIC ADULTS do and she didn’t like it one bit Chris ... she cried! She was singled out to demonstrate to Muslims that there isn’t any bias against them! She was searched in hopes of assuaging Muslim sensibilities. What part of that is beyond your ability to comprehend?

None of us like it and we’re never going to regain those lost liberties –thanks to Islamic terrorists– without much bloodshed wresting them from the hands of the Ruling Oligarch.

Your friend, Sheik ali baba or whatever whines like a little baby because some knee-jerk, bureaucrat “offended” him. He calls his Senator and not only gets through, but is offered PREFERENTIAL treatment by having the backboneless Senator escort him through airport security? Are you for effing real? That’s how the Nazis treated the Jews Chris? They provided them with PREFERENTIAL treatment to facilitate easier traveling and assure that Jewish sensitivities weren’t wounded? If that’s your idea of religious and political persecution then please –pour it on! I want some of that!

Why don’t you whiners grow the eff up! I’m one of those blue-eyed, Scots/Irish of whom Joe Bageant wrote so much about and I’ve been insulted and offended by simpleton bureaucrat immigration agents throughout all my adult life. Even before 9/11! Not only have they been grossly rude but their buddies in Customs have searched through my bags so many times I can’t count that high. And my effing Senator won’t even return my phone calls! If I’m lucky enough to even have the phone answered it’s usually some liberal office temp with the typically bad attitude who can’t even remember his/her own name.

And isn’t that Shoebox guy a Middle Easterner? Yeah, he’s Jordanian isn’t he? Another batshit crazy from the Islamic world ... go figure! Every side has its quacks. The Right doesn’t have a monopoly on screwballs. Let’s see… Farrakhan, Wright, Algore…

When you mentioned Serbia why did you leave out the part about Nazi America intervening on behalf of all those Muslims that we are now—supposedly—turning into ashes? Why?

Why no mention of the treachery, deception, and all the other high-jinks Pakistan and other Islamic paradises give to us in return for the BILLIONS of tax dollar aid? 

I have a hard time with this Chris. Nazi America is cooking up Muslim stew in their ovens and at the same time defending Muslims? What’s wrong with that picture?

Muslims would do well to consider what Jesus said about wolves coming in sheep’s clothing. Judas was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, wasn’t he Chris? Tell me… how would an operative from the Ruling Oligarch appear if the plan was to fan the flames of social strife?

What was it that Paul said?

For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. No wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end will be according to their deeds.

Part 1

Human beings have a tendency to categorize and label other people and ideas. It is, for better or worse, a fundamental part of how we understand the complexities of the world. This component of human nature, like most any other, can be abused as a powerful tool for social manipulation. By framing a polarized debate according to artificial boundaries, and establishing the two poles of that debate, social engineers can eliminate the perceived possibility of a third alternative. The mainstream media apparatus is the key weapon to this end.! - Giordano Bruno

I’ll have to admit that it took every bit of intestinal fortitude left in my cancerous body to persevere through this fatuity being passed off as intellectual polish. I’m surprised that the DHS hasn’t paid you a call, Mr. Hedges.

So “the plight of Muslims is beginning to mirror that of targeted ethnic minority groups on the eve of the war in the former Yugoslavia, or Jews in the dying days of the Weimar Republic. Really Mr. Hedges? It’s that bad? So there are gangs of American Nazis, roaming the streets of American cities looking for some Muslim and Commie and Socialist ass to kick? Tell me it isn’t so!

Would you post the latest copy of an American Nazi Julius Streicher’s Der Stürmer for us please. I went to my local news stand and not only did they not have a copy of anything closely resembling such tripe but they had no idea what the hell I was talking about. Is it possible that all that Muslim bigotry exists only in those walled Ivory Towers of American elitists ... especially those of the media elite?

I did notice that the photo accompanying the “article” does resemble something like that which one would find in an old copy of Der Stürmer with respect to the Jews. You’ve even got “sandnigger” scribbled on the wall behind the figure of a child in, not a red but a somewhat rose head covering,—shades of Shindler’s List? Kudos! You do know your hype! When exactly did Nazi America start gasing and cremating Muslims Mr. Hedges? Are Muslims forced, by law, to wear indentifying armbands, as those in the photo have on their sleeves? Kinda stepping over the line aren’t you Hedges?

I went down to the docks in Miami last night looking for a ship named St. Louis and hundreds of fearful Muslims attempting to escape before Big Brother fired up the ovens. Not a single Muslim on the docks! Might you present us with some evidence of a mass migration of fearful Muslims fleeing for their lives FROM the U.S. back to their Islamic paradises from whence they came? Should we hold our breath waiting for you to forge all that evidence?

“Not only does it threaten to erode basic civil liberties, it threatens freedom of expression and freedom of worship.
The effects of this campaign of racial hatred are being felt throughout the Muslim community.” 

Mr. Hedges, Muslims ARE NOT a minority nor are they a race! Muslims are the second largest group of human beings by association in the world. They are outnumbered—by a very small amount—only by Christians. Muslims are not a race of people anymore than Catholics, Pentecostals, Atheists, Communists, Socialists, Wiggins, or Episcopalians.

“The Muslim community is not a monolith. It is composed of numerous ethnic, national, cultural and racial groups that often have little in common and in some cases are antagonistic.” –Chris Hedges

Therefore one cannot exercise racism against Muslims. Even old Archie couldn’t find it in himself to be a racist of every single race to comprise the Muslim community. One can be a bigot and maintain anti-Muslim bigotry but it would be a strange duck indeed that maintained racist sentiments against all Muslims. She’d actually be a racist against her own race.

Night-Gaunt: “So maybe such things as the attack on 9/11/01 was a retaliation strike.”  Maybe.  And maybe it was a pro-active strike to allow them “to spread their external empire’s barbed tentacles into strategic areas of the world” justified by some sort of weird criminally-insane doctrine—religious or otherwise.  Certainly fanatical.

Besides, there *is* the suspension of “our freedoms.”  The Bill of Rights has been decimated, via the Patriot Act (sic), “in times of war,” which we now experience as an unending state.  So effectively our freedoms are superceded.  As we all see (as Chris reports), this is applied to Muslims.  But, my friend, you could legally be declared a domestic terrorist and lose all your rights to defend against such allegations. (Somebody correct me if that’s too extreme!)  Fortunately (I assume) you’re not a Muslim, so you are not in any danger yet unless push really comes to shove.  So I claim the real terrorists do hate our freedoms!

Personally, I was surprised on the evening of 9/11/01 when Peter Jennings reported, “and now Americans are going to have to give up some of their freedoms” (paraphrase from memory of recent 911 news re-broadcasts).  I could not see how that followed from the tragedy of 911, but it was put out over the airwaves that evening, soon followed by the complete solution to the surprise attack of 911 (which defeated the U.S. air defenses and even entered Pentagon space without a military transponder) to be fed to the public over and over again.  Orwellian Newspeak without any evidence other than PR and fabrications from the Ministry of Truth to back it up.

Gotta run.  Peace out.

gerard: “where is the mechanism, tactic, heart for reconciliation of differences, for mutual understanding, for getting beyond the tit-for-tat
stage?

It was given to the banks by the government, along with your future and hope.

After all, what possible use could peasants have for such things. Worrying about such lofty things can only interfere with the peasants’ ability to do a proper day’s labor.

All they left for you is fear and pain, confusion and doubt - the usual lot for the slave class.

Considering there hasn’t been a single solution offered anywhere by anyone that has a hope in hell of setting things right, we’d better get used to it.

It probably doesn’t help much, but this string of comments illustrates so clearly that Pogo was right?
“We have met the enemy, and he is us!” 

What to do about it?  Can anything be done about it here?  For sure, I’m not attacking freedom of speech, but ... where is the mechanism, tactic, heart for reconciliation of differences, for mutual understanding, for getting beyond the tit-for-tat
stage?

“Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: ’We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that’s more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?’”

“Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: ‘I think this is a very hard choice, but the price—we think the price is worth it.’”

—60 Minutes (5/12/96)

Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark: 1.5 million (includes sanctions, bombs and other weapons, depleted uranium poisoning).

British Member of Parliament George Galloway: “a million Iraqis, most of them children.”

Economist Michael Spagat: “very likely to be [less than] than half a million children.”

The numbers are in dispute, but by all measurements the numbers are large.

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, October 11, 2006

“A team of American and Iraqi epidemiologists estimates that 655,000 more people have died in Iraq since coalition forces arrived in March 2003 than would have died if the invasion had not occurred.”

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“On Friday, 14 September 2007, ORB (Opinion Research Business), an independent polling agency located in London, published estimates of the total war casualties in Iraq since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.[1] At over 1.2 million deaths (1,220,580), this estimate is the highest number published so far. From the poll margin of error of +/-2.5% ORB calculated a range of 733,158 to 1,446,063 deaths. The ORB estimate was performed by a random survey of 1,720 adults aged 18+, out of which 1,499 responded, in fifteen of the eighteen governorates within Iraq, between August 12 and August 19, 2007.[2][3] In comparison, the 2006 Lancet survey suggested almost half this number (654,965 deaths) through the end of June 2006. The Lancet authors calculated a range of 392,979 to 942,636 deaths.
On 28 January 2008, ORB published an update based on additional work carried out in rural areas of Iraq. Some 600 additional interviews were undertaken September 20 to 24, 2007. As a result of this the death estimate was revised to 1,033,000 with a given range of 946,000 to 1,120,000.[4][5]”

GRYMie highlights actions of the most extreme in order to demonstrate that Muslims are bad, while the 5th Grader asks, “Aren’t they both bad?” GRYMie pushes fear and hate, fear and hate that falsely justify death and misery. GRYMie is a moron.

Once you pass all the added things like religion you still come to the core which is human. One that can react emotionally and irrationally to violence and violations of their person, nation-state, slights upon their belief systems. Religion, or any other philosophy or theosophy, is the frame work but down deep it is the human’s fault for acting that way.

We don’t live in a vacuum. Some people don’t like the idea of some foreign power in their country. Just look at how paranoid some here are talking about “losing sovereignty” etc over all kinds of conspiracies that have no basis in fact. Now imagine those in other countries where they have experience with such things as reality? The whole middle east was drawn by foreign powers just 90 or so years ago.

So maybe such things as the attack on 9/11/01 was a retaliation strike. It doesn’t make it right, just understandable. But the narrative is that we did nothing and they attack us for some other reason like “our freedoms.” Whatever allows them to spread their external empire’s barbed tentacles into strategic areas of the the world.

Wrong Man, sadly, you do not understand. I’d pray for you but I’m an atheist. So it’s just a sad shake of the head and a hope for enlightenment.

ITW….hope springs eternal.

tomack,

I understand you don’t see the unchecked bigotry and, not-so-subtle, racism in the writings of Chris Hedges.

Ozark Michael—I have to doubt that many Muslims read Truthdig.

The more hostile sort of Muslims seem to regard the West as a monolithic entity of pure evil; they certainly wouldn’t want to get any ideas from so quintessentially Western an institution as a progressive social-democratic publication, any more than our haters want to get ideas from the Koran or the writings of Sayyid Qutb.

Amazing how people cling to their fables, even at the cost of killing and dying.  Fables must be of enormous value to us.

Hope you guys know you have made GRYM incredibly happy.  He LOVES to pour gasoline all around and then set it on fire.  Better still, he wants YOU to light the fire.

You CAN chose not to play his game.

Do what I do: Hide the matches.

Don’t hate ALL muslims; remember that some are brown-nosers of empire, like Hedges friend!

Go Wrong Young Man writes:

‘Is it possible that Mr. Hedges fails to recognize the anti-American hatred which is spread about every thread on this Web space?  Does he recognize the anti-Americanism in nearly every article he writes?’

Answer: not really…

At this stage, reading lines like that coming from you, it would please me no end to incite you, to invectively engage you, to lower my being to the level of schoolyard exchange (which, by the way, I have seen you do on numerous occasions).

Alas, I cannot. I will not. How can you take the above approach, or the converse, a civil approach, with someone who has absolutely no vision. How can you take serious an individual who retains only what he wants to see from the words offered; cannot look INTO what others MEAN with their words; and will not even attempt to take one at face value; accept one’s opinion as valid—without adding insult.

Wrong Man, these folks—Hedges included—do not spread American hatred, they spread American hope. They do not write words of anti-Americanism, they write words of pro-hope and anti-empire. 

Wrong Man, these folks love America; they love the America that has the potential of spreading goodness and kindness throughout the world (as we have on many an instance), not the America that has the potential of spreading death and destruction (as we have on many an instance). 

Wrong Man, these poeple actually believe that we can help the world more with honey than vinegar. And these poeple are smart enough not to believe in the invention of enemies, like those mentioned in this article invent and spread every day. You talk about spreading hatred. Wow! They end up looking just like the enemies they are inventing. 

Wrong Man, having and expressing an opinion is great, but it’s all in how you communicate it that counts.

Wrong Man, more important is listening to other’s opinions and understanding the MEANING behind them.

As a total stranger to you, and at the risk of sounding like the wise old uncle, I would beseach the use of more honey and less vinegar.

Lastly, critique—meaningful critique—takes effort and is a sign of love—and every citizen’s DUTY by he way. Shallow critisism takes seconds and is the enemy (real enemy) of the citizen.

Try understanding your fellow posters before formulating your replies. Otherwise people may stop responding. And that’s a bad thing…

The reason we are dumping unlimited amounts of cash into security is not because of the threat of underwear bombers, but the threat of democracy to those who want to own and control all aspects of life. Democracy, communism and socialism are all threats to the “self devouring beast” of capitalism. Now that the Soviet Union no longer exists, the “war on terror” has taken its place as the main weapon against government “by the people”.......all by design.

It has been estimated that over 1000 churches have been attacked around the Arab and Muslim world in the past decade.

Chris Hedges seem either not to care or, conversely, he has no idea it’s happening.

This is not a man whom has his mind outside of his head.

katsteevns, - “Are you implying that these crimes are somehow more devastating than what is happening in our own back churchyard to many of our own children, including sustained sexual assault….?”

-

Not at all.

I’m saying the sheer magnitude and volume of attacks by a small number of fanatical Muslims against fellow Muslims makes it extraordinary that more human beings are not opposed to Islam.

Go Right Young Man,
Most of those attacks you described are from 2011 which doesn’t, in itself, give us a clear picture of motive or Muslim ideology.
Are you implying that these crimes are somehow more devastating than what is happening in our own back churchyard to many of our own children, including sustained sexual assault and racist indoctrination?
It seems you romance the least honorable aspects of nationalism.

Manchild, - “For those with an actual brain I offer that there are 1.4 billion followers of Islam ,which, by the by, makes it the largest organized religion in the world. That a mere handful of extremists choose violence, or that others of that faith become sympathetic to said violence should, in no way, condemn the entire religion.”

-

The only sensible collection of words I’ve ever witnessed from you.  Today you’re mimicking the things I write and pass them off as, somehow, original.

This reading comprehension thingy is not your strongest talent.  LOL…....

Go Right Young Man, May 10 at 3:44 am

Of all the participants in this forum you are the last person to speak to fairness, truth , justice, or even accuracy of comment.

You have run away from every post containing links that disprove your latest tripe, and have done so each and every time.

You condemn Islam and then point out that others do so, take your meds please as your posts are painful enough to read as it is, how low can you fall I wonder?

For those with an actual brain I offer that there are 1.4 billion followers of Islam ,which, by the by, makes it the largest organized religion in the world. That a mere handful of extremists choose violence, or that others of that faith become sympathetic to said violence should, in no way, condemn the entire religion.

Perhaps if so many muslim nations were not sufering the effects of the American Empire, including the installation and support for tyrants, there would be less sympathy for violence against said exploiters. Perhaps if you werent such a phony derogatory posts at your bullshit woudlnt be necessary as well.

Is it possible that Mr. Hedges fails to recognize the anti-American hatred which is spread about every thread on this Web space?  Does he recognize the anti-Americanism in nearly every article he writes?

Bigots and racists congregate on this Web space daily.  Martha, ardee, virginia, sinbad, hero, phenry and others.  Even the peace advocate, gerard, spreads the most myopic, unsupported and fear-filled narratives regarding the United States.

Considering the USS Cole, the Riyadh bombing, the North African bombings, the first attack against the World Trade Center, the destruction of the World Trade Center, the bombing of the Pentagon, the panty bomber and the dozen or so foiled attacks specifically against civilian targets, the level of anti-Muslim attitudes in the United States is, in reality, extremely low.  Tolerance amongst Americans is commendably high.

While the intolerance and lack of civility on this Web space daily reaches a fevered pitch, the tolerance within the vast majority of Americans is incredible to behold.

-

Look at the nom de guerre Sinbad uses.  While his chosen identity is extremely offensive to Arabs all over the globe no one, not one individual on this Web space, brings attention to the offense.

There goes GRYM with his cartoon-version of history
again…

“A form of Islam which kills fifty times more Muslims
than any other ethnic or religious group on the
planet.”

How about white, American males in the military-
industrial complex? All of the Muslims killed in
recorded history wouldn’t come close to the slaughter
financed & carried out by the US over the last 200+
years.

I love how Ozark Michael asks and answers his own questions . . .

Quick question . . How many people died last year because of radical islam? How
many people died between 2000-2008 because of the global gag order?

I believe the word you are seeking isn’t Christian but fundamentalist . . .I don’t like
any of them . . free market fundamentalists, islamic fundamentalists or christian
fundamentalists . . . all take their ideology way too seriously.

“Men never do evil so completely and cheerfully as when
they do it from religious conviction.” - Blaise Pascal

Arabian Sinbad:

“I am convinced beyond any shadow of doubt that this country we call home is ruled and controlled by a bunch of merchants of death who continue to hide behind a thin false veneer of democracy and freedom of speech to continue their evil acts”

I can vouch for the fact they hide behind freedom of speech. The concept of free speech has been totally utilized to spread truck loads of hatred across our Country, unimpeded by any law or obstacle.

Having seen the full extent of anti-Muslim trolling on the internet, I can vouch for the fact there is a concerted drive going on to create hatred towards Muslims in this Country.

By Go Right Young Man

“...the goal of Muslims, both inside and outside of the United States, is to replace the Constitution with Islamic or Shariah law.”
=================================================
If your hate-filled diatribe against Muslims in general and some 6-7 million American Muslims who would be able to override the will and choice of some 294 millions other Americans in a democracy, to impose their Sharia laws and destroy the American Constitution, then the implication of your irrational statement is not how bad Muslims are, but that the American democracy is so weak and fragile to the point that it can be replaced by the whims of a tiny minority!

Your nonsense is more an attack on the American democracy and way of life than being an attack on Muslims.

Some people speak out through their badly smelling rectum, and you, GRYM, exemplify that group! You must be eating a lot of pork products and drinking too much Kool-Aid!

So, what’s new under the sun about tax-money used to foment anti-Muslim hatred and spelling their cheap blood?!

For decades, American tax-payer money has been used to:

1. Support Muslim dictators who would do the American dirty job of killing Muslims who were deemed to be politically incorrect.

2. Abort and fight democratic movements in Iran, Algeria, Palestine and other countries with majority Muslim populations.

3. Support with weapons of mass destruction and treasure the occupation, oppression, dispossession, and killing of the Palestinians in their homeland in favor of fascist, apartheid and colonialist Israel.

4. To wage with precious treasure and blood direct immoral and illegal wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, based on lies and deception; wars that not only destroyed the lives of millions of Muslims, and have lasted longer than the two World Wars I and II, but has resulted in bankrupting America. Yet, no son of a bitch in the military-industrial evil complex has dared yet to acknowledge or even to hint that these evil wars are responsible for the financial woes of this once prosperous country called America.

I am convinced beyond any shadow of doubt that this country we call home is ruled and controlled by a bunch of merchants of death who continue to hide behind a thin false veneer of democracy and freedom of speech to continue their evil acts; yet the eternal unanswered question persist:

“Why many people around the world, and particularly Muslims, continue to despise and hate us?!”

These comments are getting pretty rabid.  Lots of scared people out there, which means that common sense is in danger of a violent death. Warning:  Take a deep breath and calm down.  When people are crazed by fear and hate, they’ll do anything they are told to do, no matter how heinous

@TheGodKiller:  Get your facts straight! Around 62% of the world’s Muslims live in
ASIA, with over 683 million adherents in such countries as Indonesia (the largest
Muslim country by population, home to 15.6% of the world’s Muslims), Pakistan,
India, and Bangladesh. About 20% of Muslims live in Arab countries. So contrary to
your BS, most Muslims are not Arabs.. they’re Asians.

“I don’t like the Muslim religion honestly,” even with the good intentions of your overall post, you just displayed what Hedges is talking about. Why in the world do you even have to include that in your comment?

Most Muslims are of Arabic ethnicity, but Muslim itself is not a ethnic group.

I don’t like the Muslim religion, honestly. This does not translate, however, to mean I think they should be killed or that I support the invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan because I don’t. In fact, I find myself most of the time defending Muslims even though I don’t like the religion because of these extreme pro-war idiots with their crazy conspiracy theories.

Mr. Hedges and others imagine Muslims under verbal attack by Western racists.

-

Egypt: churches attacked by angry Muslims
May 8, 2011 ...

More churches attacked in Egypt, military sides with Muslims April 10, 2011

Indonesia: 700 churches attacked in past decade Oct 26, 2010 ...

Third Church Attacked as Pakistani Extremists Declare War Over ...Mar 30, 2011 ...

Churches attacked in Mosul. Christians Kidnapped and Injured Dec. 7, 04

Fourth Malaysian church attacked in ‘Allah’ feud Jan 10, 2010 ...

Three Priests Killed in Attack on Baghdad Church | Catholic Exchange Nov 3, 2010 ...

Churches attacked in Indonesia - The Irish Times - Tue, Feb 08, 2011 Feb 8, 2011 ...

Catholic church attacked in Turkey | Armenia News Feb 15, 2011 ...

-

We don’t see Westerners blowing up Mosques and not one of us here has ever seen a church in Riyadh.

Chris Hedges keeps his focus strictly on himself.

That is a very provocative article by Hedges. The picture accompanying the article is worth a thousand words. One must of course decry prejudice, and the picture suggests what prejudice is all about, a girl in ‘Muslim’ attire is marched by graffiti that says: “sandn——s”. Mr Fish put it there for you, recapturing a Norman Rockwell style. Very effectively done.

According to Truthdiggers here, whose fault is all this? It is Religion. And in America, which religion is the culprit for all the prejudice? It is Christianity. Furthermore, who do we blame for the wars we are in? It is the religious right, in short… the Christians.

The repeated message at Truthdig: “It isnt our fault, its those fundamentalist fascist Christians.”

You see it in the articles, you see it in the posts here. Remember that people from all over the world read these articles. People from all over the world read these posts.

Supposedly the Muslim is the most downtrodden, the one ‘race’ that the world beats up on.

But wait a moment and think it through. They say that the real “n——” is not the downtrodden, but and even lower clas of universally hated people that the downtrodden can beat up and kill without consequence. Just like the downtrodden poor whites would beat up on the black man, which gave the white man a feeling that he wasnt in the bottom, he had his “n——”  to beat up on. That meant that the black man was at the real bottom, he was placed in the role of scapegoat for all the downtrodden white men to beat up on.
I would like to point out that the downtrodden Muslim is not the “n——”  of the world. No sir. No ma’am.

The downtrodden Muslim can turn around and beat up on… the local Christians, and they do it without consequence.

The downtrodden Muslim has more than a little encouragement to beat up his local “n——” . One source of encouragement is from you Truthdiggers, who blame Christians for everything.

Oh, you would never admit it. But almost all of you have made Christians the scapegoat, and you knowingly or unknowingly provide justification for making Christians into the “n——”  all over the world. In the Muslim parts of the world Christians are persecuted, every week a church is burned and Christians are killed. Not much is reported on Truthdig. Doesnt fit the script.

You will complain that my reference to “n——” is making something mundane out of real racism in American history?  Dont bore me with your hypocrisy, little cicadas.  The Truthdig article used “n——”  to incite your anger and you didnt protest that at all. You just hummed your angry cicada buzz on cue.

You reading this now, havent you played the scapegoat game with Christians? Havent you said something like: “It isnt us Leftists that caused the troubles, its those nasty fundamentalist fascist Christians that are so dangerous.” or “It was the Crusades that are to blame for…” etc etc etc, on and on.

Yes you have written it, variations of it, and more. People who I thought were intelligent people play the scapegoat game.  People who i thought were good people play the scapegoat game. Christians are your scapegoat.

Remember that people from all over the world read Truthdig, read your posts.

Look at the picture that accompanies this article.  What is it trying to make you feel? And then ask yourself, who does it make you feel angry at? Who would a Muslim in Egypt be angry at when he sees that picture, and who will he be angry at after he reads what you write? Who can he reach out and harrass in ways great and small every day?  Who is the real “n——” in all this?

Who is YOUR “n——” that you blame for everything?

Who do the downtrodden feel free to persecute and kill with your encouragement?

Answer: the Christians.

Who gives the signal to the downtrodden Muslim that their “n——”  deserves what is coming to him?

Answer: You.

By Go Right Young Man

“the goal of Muslims, both inside and outside of the United States, is to replace the Constitution with Islamic or Shariah law. “

Hmmmm…..that sounds a little more appetizing than our government planners agenda of replacing it with a dystopian paradise.
And how about those 70 virgins, dude? You’d be a fool to pass that up!!

Hedges is again a voice of wisdom. This country is getting pretty sick in the head. I’m also glad Hedges mentioned Bill Maher, he’s just a watered-down liberal who gets attention for yelling “f—k!” in a crowded room but without anything else of value to contribute.

We need to return to radical forms of thinking to take on the fascist trends spreading in our society. Capitalist barons are more dangerous than phantom “Islamic threats” anyday.

from unseen control freaks… to government policies…
they’re brainwashing mindsets… for biased monopolies…
slyly engaging ideas… leading folks to buy into…
manipulative false notions… for thoughtholds to cling to!...

(of all the things we ourselves think we know…
how much comes from someone else telling us so ?)...

When you’re planning a hundred year war, you have to start with a really good enemy. Muslims are the absolutely perfect “soon2B non-human enemy”, for so many reasons.

After all, they look different than us and dress different than us and talk different than us, making it as easy to make propaganda posters and advertisements as it was when we demonized the Japanese.

And since they used make-shift bombs to fight off the American invaders in their homeland, after the US destroyed their entire civilization, the posters can show them self-exploding and blowing up their own children, and claims can be made that they hate life and love death and the American people - dumbed down to the level of drunken five year olds - will buy it in an instant.

Always best to pick an enemy that is as unlike Americans as possible in appearance and custom.

It’d be a real serious bitch going to war against the Canadians for example - buggers look so much like Americans that it’d be nearly impossible to create a decent demonization program. Worse still, they talk exactly like everyone in hollywood! They could infiltrate every aspect of the US and still remain invisible… a good fake birth certificate and they’d be running for POTUS.

Without the ability to caricature and demonize the enemy as being extremely different than Americans, it’d be hell to get the public hatred and fear solidly behind the war effort.

But the Muslims, hell, they’re perfect. The Fanatical Right Wing White Supremacist Christians always wanted a war with the competition for position of One God, so they can now become the front line propagandists and spokesperson experts for this new American Century of global terror.

Sure is a good time to be a banker.

No more booga booga al qaeda under your bed just dust bunnies.

As an atheist and, in fact, an anti-theist, in that I believe if all irrational beliefs, particularly those that are supposedly endorsed by a supernatural commandment or promise some eternal ecstasy, were replaced with the pursuit of facts and pragmatism, the world would be a much safer and liberal place.  That said, I don’t for an instant expect this to become a reality anytime soon.  I feel that all religions are equally dangerous as well as the corollary that all religions are equally benign on a larger scale.  Religion and other irrational beliefs are only dangerous on the individual level if the individual is mentally unstable otherwise.  To become dangerous on a scale threatening to the world, the religious group has to be pushed to the edge.  Add outright villainizing the entire religion and belief system in addition to military occupation, a history of backing despots to control the “unpeople”, killing innocent women and children via drone attacks and Israel, etc and the danger will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.  Why does the Right skip the first amendment and go to the second?  The prior makes the world a potentially safer, freer place while the latter makes the world a potentially more dangerous one.

While churches burn, with hundreds killed and roughly a thousand injured, inside Egypt in the past two days Hedges insipidly complains about those who remain cautious of a deadly form of Islam.  A form of Islam which kills fifty times more Muslims than any other ethnic or religious group on the planet.

This is not an individual who has his mind thinking out of his head.

I am sorry, however, all I see here are bigots and racists who assume the same in others.

Hedges is the worst kind of fear-monger and elitist bigot.

It is true that U.S. law enforcement is a good deal more educated today on the threat posed by a very small, but decidedly deadly, version of Islam.  There is nothing racist in understanding a proven threat.  A threat which has proven much more deadly for Muslims than anyone else.

Yes, law enforcement across the U.S. is beginning to understand that this minority within Islam preaches that Islam is a warrior religion, that an Islamic “fifth column” or “stealth jihad” is subverting the United States from within, that some mainstream American Muslims have ties to terrorist groups, that Muslims use litigation, free speech and other legal means to advance the Muslim agenda and that the goal of Muslims, both inside and outside of the United States, is to replace the Constitution with Islamic or Shariah law.  Exactly as we see all over the globe.

Hedges needs an education.  He needs to get his mind out of his head.  He needs to listen to Zawahiri, Rahman, Nasrallah and, the now defunct, bin Laden if he wishes to participate in the real world.

-

Hedges is a thinker, alright.  A man who can’t get passed his hate of self.

you’d like to think that this is a problem that is something that is new and will go away soon, unfortunately this is old news.. been going around for hundreds of years in different forms.  not going to change now

I sincerely think its horrible that Mr. Hedges’ friend was treated rudely by someone at airpot security. The speaker in the video was also obviously a nut case.  However, I am now awaiting a story on the systematic persecution, abrogation of human rights and murder of Christians in Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and throughout the Moslem world that have been taking place on a daily basis for years.  The majority of Iraq’s Chaldeans have already been pushed out through murder and intimidation.  Now Egypt’s Copts are seeing their churchs burned and their people killed.  Rejecting bigotry against Moslems does not rule out standing up for social justice for persecuted minorities in Moslem dominated nations.  Or perhaps, are some victim groups too “politically incorrect” to protect?

“If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.” (Thomas Jefferson, 1816.)
                       
“To be avoided at all costs is the solace of opinion without the pain of thought.” (Rev. William Sloane Coffin.)

What is this sickness, this disease, this pathology, that has always plagued the American psyche? Answer: Religion.

All that seems to have changed over the decades is who gets to the new _iger de jure. Even then all that has changed is how much overt hate we will tolerate.  Scapegoating Jews never seem to go out of fashion, attacking gays as became déclassé, racism is cloaked in innuendo (birther bull and Obama’s not really Harvard Law material), but while hate’s covert operations continue as a pig-sty beneath a dull facade, it seems that Americans must have some object for overt bigotry. ‘Somebody gotta be da _igger.’ And, as always, religion is the driving force for evil done in the name of virtue.

What is terrifying is when the overt bigotry bubbles up to into so-called ‘higher education’: Recall the Bertrand Russell hysteria with CCNY, Chris Hedges being censored at his Rockford College commencement address (hey, it was freakin Rockford (Al Capone’s home town) what can you expect?).

There is much that Chris Hedges writes that I simply don’t agree with such as his defense of Norman Finkelstein whom I regard as a bit of a crackpot.  But the marginalization of people whom we disagree with is a ‘clear and present danger’ to our Bill of Rights and it’s an insult to all of us. I am perfectly cable of listening to Finklestein or Kushner and deciding for myself whether I think they are crack pots or sages. What’s the matter? Are the propagandists and the censors afraid I am intelligent enough to formulate my own informed opinions? 

Whether we agree with Kushner, or Finkelstein, or Hedges, we do ourselves a disservice when we cynically censor others and we do humanity a grave dis-service when we chomp at the tainted bate of Muslim hatreds. Feeble pea-shooter brains are incapable of taking people as they find them - they must judge classes of people… this is what the Fourteenth Amendment is all about: treating one class of ‘persons’ differently. As usual, as always, what is the driving force? Religion of course. Religion. Surprised? Really?

When we openly foment falsehood, bigotry, prejudice, group hatreds, when we use the media and the Internet to pour Napalm over the fires of ignorance WE are a ‘clear and present danger’ to the constitutional bedrock we call our Bill of Rights. We trash America. When tax dollars, ‘faith-based (!)’ tax dollars are spent fomenting such propaganda we are clearly degenerating into precisely what we should despise and hold up for contempt and ridicule.

North American Perimeter Security and the Militarization of the Northern Border
———————————
“A Press Release by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security stated that according to the study, “the risk of terrorist activity across the northern border is higher than across the southern border because there are active Islamist extremist groups in Canada that are not in Mexico, it is easier to cross the northern border because it is twice as long as the southern border, and DHS has a fraction of the law enforcement officers and surveillance assets on the northern border than it has in the south.” It went on to say, “The border with Canada is also dotted with large population centers and criss-crossed by numerous highways and roads, making it harder to detect illegal activities amid the large volume of legitimate trade and travel between Canada and the U.S. that is so important to both countries.”
———————
“With the release of a U.S. Congressional report that found only a small fraction of the border with Canada was being adequately monitored, there is now more focus being placed on the northern border. As a result of increased scrutiny, there are efforts to militarize and expand surveillance on the Canada-U.S. border. The new found attention is also attributed to a proposed trade and security perimeter agreement between the two countries which promotes a shared approach to border management.”.......................“While there are many questions surrounding the proposed Canada-U.S. trade and security perimeter agreement, the overall objectives are to secure the external and internal borders of both countries. The plan is a continuation and expansion of the Security and Prosperity Partnership agenda. In a Fortress North America, the U.S. seeks to push out its security perimeter whereby the northern border would act as another layer of security. It would be open to trade, as well as trusted travellers and labour mobility. The move towards a North American security perimeter is nothing more than a pretext for U.S. control over the continent.”
http://beyourownleader.blogspot.com/2011/04/north-american-perimeter-security-and.html

1984…here we come!!! I hear they are hiring over at the Pre-Crime unit.  We will all have jobs, finally, working in Obama’s “civilian army”....And you thought he was joking.

Got any names? I’ve heard it before, from the Conservative hypocrites that is.

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            Sweet Jesus Help me!

“In short, liberals pose as our moral superiors, more altruistic, more sensitive to the needs of the oppressed, and less concerned with money and self-interest than anyone else.”—Peter Schweizer “Do as I Say (Not As I Do): Profiles in Liberal Hypocrisy”

Re: By mindful, May 9 at 12:44 pm

mindful wrote:

“Talk about stupidity for the gullible. Chris Hitchens is so right. Religion and God the greatest danger.”
——————————————————————————

Although I am an atheist, I totally disagree with you.
Religion is used as an excuse, but it is not the REAL culprit. The real culprit is human greed and the lust for wealth, power and control. If it happened to be, that there were no religions, many other excuses would have been used: how about race, ethnicity, political ideology, location (North, south, East, west),
fabricated stories about threats…etc etc etc.
I admit, religion makes waging war and inciting hatred, in some instances, much easier.
Chris Hitchen is a haughty British snob, who is a mouth-piece for war.

JJW, May 9 at 6:13 am, said, “You can’t justify $1.2 billion annual expenses on the military without having enemies and wars,” a figure was corrected to $1.2 trillion by Night-Gaunt.

Right you are.  More and more I’m appreciating how insightful Orwell was, notwithstanding the nuances of our culture and media and technology.  The irrational frenzy to demonize some “other” is at the root of the concept of “sin” (separation), while the core of religions speak of “oneness” (various terms in various languages).

Agreed, there are backward fundamentalists in all religions who miss the point of compassion, emphasizing fixity of thought over heart.  *Some* Jews (not generally) get to hate “the Arabs.”  *Some* Christians (not generally) get to hate “the Muslims.”  But what a powerful combo.  Apparently the religious extremists control our Oceania and The Party (CH gets this right), while the public stamps its feet to the Newspeak (PR) of the official 911 Muslims-did-it conspiracy theory (he misses the overwhelming evidence that it was false-flag).  Simplistic, I know, but you get the picture.

Personally, I wish Jesus would return and take some of these rapturists with Him, though I don’t think they’re going where they think they’re going.

Shalom! Salaams!

Walid Shoebat is a fraud. There is no evidence he was ever a “terrorist” and maybe not even a Muslim.

Religion is a facilitator but it is the human condition that is the deciding factor. If you have a creed of any sort, secular or religious, and it is without humanism it will be cruel and deadly. There are plenty of examples in history for both.

Here’s my letter to the South Dakota Dept. of Public Safety emailed today, May 9, 2011—

Dear people: 

I was shocked to learn that your Department is sponsoring a man named Walid Shoebat as a speaker at your Second Annual Conference.

I am hoping he is only one member of a panel discussion, not billed as an authority or given a platform to promote dissention.

Perhaps you have not heard this man speak.  He is a fringe religious enthusiast who actually believes and preaches that all believers in Islam are enemies of democracy and freedom.

He is using America’s freedom of speech to preach hatred, fear and prejudice.  His message is undemocratic and works to destroy homeland security far more than to protect it.

Homeland security is a high calling meant to protect democracy, further open discussion of differences, and work together toward peaceful solution of problems.

Thank you for your consideration.

Talk about stupidity for the gullible. Chris Hitchens is so right. Religion and God the greatest danger.

JJW don’t you mean $2 billion a day, just for our wars alone? Your number is way too small. Or did you mean $1.2 trillion annually?

The whole idea of GWOT is that it is supposed to feed the need for a large globally based, globally used military force so that the empire and its backers can always be needed.

Interestingly back in 1992 I saw a quote from a president of Turkey talk about the next enemy of the West will be the Muslim to replace the Communist. Turgot Ozal and he was right. Also popular culture here was already gearing up the “rag heads” as the next enemy of the US of A. Disgusting.

I always pictured the World Anti Communist League (WACL) to change its name to the World Anti Mulsmim League (WAML) but they didn’t. Since they have right wing Muslim members along with Nazis and other right wing militant types.

When you have an empire to build truth is an inconvenience and is manipulated as needed to maximize the short term effect like what was done for Iraq war I and II.

Wow.  I couldn’t even watch that guy in the video.  That’s who’s
training Homeland Security?
urrrrrp, I just threw up a little in my mouth.

butchu - i used to be a fan of bill maher until i realized he’s extremely racist
and a huge apologist for the democrats. if you’ve watched enough of his shows,
you’d see that he allows only the most superficial criticisms of israel while
constantly reminding his audience that there is something inherent about
muslims that make them more susceptible to being crazy terrorists. but what
the US and Israel do is of course not terrorism. and whenever someone like
jeremy scahill makes a rare appearance on his show, and tries to speak some
truth, maher always cuts him off and makes clear his opinion that obama is
much better, that things are steadily improving. i can’t understand how any
honest progressive can watch maher’s show, or the daily show for that matter,
and not have their head explode from frustration.
his film “religulous” was also rather disgusting, focusing on the red herring of
religion as the cause of all the turmoil in the middle east and not at all focusing
on our wars of occupation and israel’s slow motion genocide in palestine.
hedges’ lumping in of bill maher among the other rightwing hate speakers is
entirely appropriate.

Jeebus Came Back and Was Assassinated in Cold Blood!

What would happen if Jesus came back as a man, a historical figure today?  Jesus was a spiritual leader who preached nonviolent resistance to the great oppressive empire of his time – the Roman Empire.  Jesus was a champion of the poor and oppressed.  His teachings of nonviolence and compassion were twisted by his followers and used to justify all manner of violence.  He spawned a religion that has provided the moral justification for the greatest killing, violence, and oppression -especially of women and the poor - that the world has ever seen..  And, sadly Jesus was killed for telling the truth - a truth that most of the world just didn’t want to hear.

A similar spiritual leader come back, who much like Jesus, preached resistance to the great oppressive empire of our times – the U.S.  Although he did not teach nonviolence, his followers were every bit as eager to kill for him as were Jesus’ followers.  It was Usama bin Laden who came back, and like Jesus he was killed not by crucifixion but by cold-blooded assassination.  My question for Amerika?  What is the difference between Bin Laden and Jeebus?  What is the difference between al-Qaeda and the U.S. military?  What is the difference between the “War on Terror” and our “War of Terror”?

Note:  Jeebus is the fictional spiritual leader and god created by Amerikan religion and politics to further there own murderous, profit-driven agenda – loosely based on the historical figure Jesus of Nazareth.  Similarly, Osama bin Laden is a fictional spiritual leader and devil created by Amerikan religion and politics to further their murderous, profit-driven agenda - loosely based on the historical figure Usama bin Laden.

Images of Islamic extremists carrying a satchel charge represent an easy sell to a damaged, ignorant, fearful American population living on the financial edge. We must not lose sight of the reality that the mercenary propagandists being paid with our tax dollars to sell the lie and spread the hatred only represent another of the countless media sideshows manufactured to divert attention from the real business of the day: The looting of the American economy and subversion of our Constitution and Bill of Rights.

    Lets not forget that there are indeed some Islamic “bad boys” who mean America harm and there are dedicated Americans standing in harms way daily to prevent another catastrophe like 9/11. Our task as “C"itizens is (as Mr. Hedges attempts with this article) to discern the difference between corrupt corporate buffoons like Boehner. Gingrich and Palin and take action on actual American reality. Spite voters and snivelers gave away the small edge “We the people…” held in the last election. If you want the final fascist darkness to fall give the White House to the Republicans.

    Our only true path to power is major campaign finance reform to remove corporate cash from our political system. Until that happens we’re left with the choice between bad leadership and very, very bad leadership. American Democracy is under direct attack. Stand now or perish.

    FREE BRADLEY MANNING!! REPEAL THE PATRIOT ACT!! CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM NOW!!

If we non-Muslims in this country allow the victimization of Muslims, we are doing exactly what Osama bin Laden would wish us to do.  The main tenet of his teaching and his justification for terrorism was the “Western” fear and hatred of Islam.

That we can, and may, fall victim to such teachings, and thereby increase the influence of Bin Laden, is one of the most terrifying ironies of our time.

We cannot win the “Global War On Terror” if such a thing exists if we keep referring to the the most obvious victims of that terror into advocates of it.

In other words, we MUST understand that of the 1.something billion Muslims in the world, the vast majority of them are TERRIFIED of orgs like Al Qaeda and even the Taliban.

But, like most people, if they have the choice of facing the unknown terror of Al Qaeda, vs the known terror of the Taliban, they’ll take the Taliban and figure they just have to live within the rules.

Still, as long as we have Dick Cheneys and Sarah Palins and the Huckabees and Hannitys, and we let them tweak our fear, we’ll continue down that rat hole of making the situation worse by hurting the people we should be helping.

For once, Chris Hedges has nailed it.  I give the man credit when he actually gets it right.

The only solution is to justifiably demonize EMPIRE.

It is the disguised global EMPIRE that is precipitating this deadly crap!

It is precisely Empire that is deluding the world and dividing honest people against each other—- as Empire has always done!

The solution is to explain that it is EMPIRE which needs to be feared, understood, publicly exposed, honestly confronted, and then EXCISED from our society; not the honest and democratic-loving Muslims, blacks, Mexicans, Latinos, or anyone else.

The “Empire-thinkers” (as George Lakoff might describe this tiny, but very dangerous and extremist minority) are the only element to be justifiably feared in our country and our world.

The vast majority of good, honest, empathetic middle/working-class Americans and all citizens of the world are the sane and balanced “democracy-thinkers” who are being targeted by the radical and sociopathically deranged “Empire-thinkers”.

All we need to do is to openly, publicly, candidly, and clearly point-out, ‘call-out’, and point the finger in solidarity at Empire (and deceitful “Empire-thinkers”) destroying our peace, our world, our environment, and our future.

This disguised global corporate/financial/militarist Empire, which now almost fully controls our former country (and several others) by hiding behind the facade of Empire’s bought and owned TWO-Party modernized Nazi-‘Vichy’ sham of faux-democratic government can be easily, totally, and ONLY confronted by exposure.

The lying, murdering, looting, war-making, vainglorious, sociopathic, inhumane, but disguised Empire will very quickly collapse by merely EXPOSING IT.

Like a vampire, EMPIRE can not survive the light of the Sun (or The Son).

Alan MacDonald
Sanford, Maine
Liberty & democracy over violent empire—People’s Party USA 2012
Global People’s Anti-Empire Action—2011/NOW!

On the one hand, in spite of these efforts at demonization, the democratic aspirations sweeping the Middle East, combined with the crushing of al-qaeda may bring an end to Islamophobic hate-mongering. We may even be seeing the beginning of a collapse of the right in the U.S. as the ugliness and outright ridiculousness of the teabag mentality is increasingly rejected and the economic realities of failed capitalism hit home. On the other hand, the Machiavellian tendencies of the national security state demands enemies, fear, and scapegoating in which Muslims along with immigrants play a vital role.

I applaud the comments of suloco and would only add that the tactic of fear mongering and hatred of differences makes us all so much easier to control.

It scares the crap out of me, the comparrison of nazi propaganda and their portrayal of Jews and this filth US officials are using to demonize Muslims. I feel this influence too, upon myself, my perception of Islam and Arab world. It is very hard to resist although I consider myself not entirely mentally deprived person, it is still there.

Peace can be reached only through understanding and open minds. I pray for peace and understanding between religions and societies, knowing, that it probably never will be reached.

What I don’t understand is, why is US alienating it’s own (muslim) citizens instead of making an ally out of them. It would be so great if American muslim could speak some good about western society, but sadly, from their point of view, they would be lying.

The sooner we realize they’ve got us where they want us to be, the sooner this madness will be over. If ever…