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May 22, 2013
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Creating the Muslim Manchurian CandidatePosted on Mar 30, 2012
By John Feffer, TomDispatch (Page 3) The Upcoming Elections The 2010 midterm elections witnessed a sharp uptick in anti-Islamic sentiment. In addition to the concocted “Ground Zero mosque” controversy, Florida preacher Terry Jones threatened to burn the Qur’an in front of the world’s cameras; a group called Stop Islamization of America bought anti-Islamic ads on buses in major cities; and a movement to pass anti-Sharia legislation at a state level began in Oklahoma. In response to this brushfire of hatred, Time magazine devoted a cover story to Islamophobia that year. On the right at least, Islam seemed on the way to becoming a litmus test in the way communism was during the Cold War. Two years later, the hysteria seems to have subsided. The Islamophobes haven’t gone into hiding. They tried to organize an advertising boycott of the TV show All-American Muslim; they campaigned against halal meats. But these efforts didn’t get much traction. Meanwhile, Park51—the real name of the cultural center inaccurately dubbed the “Ground Zero mosque”—opened in its original Park Street location with an exhibition by a Jewish photographer. Terry Jones is pursuing a quixotic bid for the presidency far from the media spotlight. Time has returned several times to the topic of Islamophobia, particularly after Anders Breivik’s bombing and shooting rampage in Norway in July 2011, but with none of the intensity of the summer of 2010. The anti-Sharia campaign has passed legislation in several states, and laws are pending in more than a dozen more. But the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Oklahoma anti-Sharia statute unconstitutional, and the anti-Sharia crowd has been unable to provide a single piece of evidence that Islamic law poses any challenge to the U.S. legal system. Advertisement Mitt Romney has a more ambivalent relationship to religion as a wedge issue, given the level of discomfort that many American have toward Mormonism. But there are no Mormon countries to which Romney can be accused of owing primary allegiance. It will be safe, in other words, to challenge Obama for acting rather than being Muslim, for deferring to the Muslim world much as anti-Catholic voters in 1960 imagined John F. Kennedy to be taking his orders directly from the Pope. Romney is already lining up his ducks, welcoming onto his team Islam critic Walid Phares and attack ad specialist Larry McCarthy (who did a distortion-laden spot on the “Ground Zero mosque” back in 2010). After securing the nomination, Romney will simultaneously appeal to the center and shore up support among evangelicals. The message that Obama is weak, anti-Israel, and appeases Islamic movements and countries could catch the attention of both constituencies. A disconnect between accusation and reality hardly matters in American politics these days. Obama the “socialist” somehow manages to work hand in hand with Wall Street financiers. Obama the “Nazi” courts AIPAC. Obama the “peacenik” has been very much a war president. And Obama the “Muslim” gets a big thumbs-down from the Muslim world. The president makes a lousy Muslim Manchurian candidate, for he has disappointed his imagined Muslim handlers at virtually every turn. In an election in which racist slogans are off the table, however, the Islamophobic accusation of “acting Muslim” remains a politically acceptable chauvinism. Given the deep anti-Islamic currents in American culture, such accusations might unfortunately prove effective as well. John Feffer is the author of the just-published “Crusade 2.0: The West’s Resurgent War on Islam” (City Lights Books). A TomDispatch regular, he is the co-director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies and will be starting an Open Society fellowship later this year. Follow TomDispatch on Twitter @TomDispatch and join us on Facebook. © 2012 John Feffer
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By moonraven, April 5, 2012 at 11:12 am Link to this comment
Feelgood Racist:
Please learn English. Again, your writing is incoherent—but the burps and farts of hate come through loud and clear in your racist attacks against my person.
Report thisBy Leefeller, April 4, 2012 at 12:41 pm Link to this comment
Gebeebiz Moonbeam, some of my friends are Native American though I do not know anyone from India, how would I know you where a Native American Indian, unless you told me, otherwise I would or could construe you are an old Indian women from India?
Of course I am a raging white person, because this is a fact because of the what seems manifestations of a physic old Indian women from India who is not really Native American any more than I am white.
Damn, Moonie stereotyping and generalizing in broader terms then some of the misanthropic Tea Baggers who post here, must mean you are a Tea Bagger? All you Indians are hate mongering people like all you liberals are this or all you white folks are raging loones. Yeah Moonie all of everyone is just as you see them, or prefer to myopicaly demand to see them.
Just an observation.
I have no conception of all of anyone except Republicans, they make me fall into the blind pit of Mooning Stereotyping, but in the case of Republicans, I feel for good reason!
Report thisBy moonraven, April 4, 2012 at 12:25 pm Link to this comment
Hettie:
Fact (oh, shit, you don’t know that word—well, look it up): Several years ago in the state of Washington the governor’s race was too close to call. The vote counting went back and forth several times, and finally someone suggested that no absentee votes had been counted.
Fact: They spent a long time recovering absentee ballots as many were not findable as they had not been handled properly with an intent to count them:
“Discovered ballots
King County Council Chairman Larry Phillips was at a Democratic Party office in Seattle on Sunday December 12, reviewing a list of voters whose absentee votes had been rejected due to signature problems, when to his surprise he found his own name listed. Phillips said he was certain he had filled out and signed his ballot correctly, and asked the county election officials to investigate the discrepancy. They discovered that Phillips’ signature had somehow failed to be scanned into the election computer system after he submitted his request for an absentee ballot. Election workers claimed that they had received Phillips’ absentee ballot in the mail, but they could not find his signature in the computer system to compare to the one on the ballot envelope, so they mistakenly rejected the ballot instead of following the standard procedure of checking it against the signature of Phillips’ physical voter registration card that was on file. The discovery prompted King County Director of Elections Dean Logan to order his staff to search the computers to see if any other ballots had been incorrectly rejected.
Logan announced on December 13 that 561 absentee ballots in the county had been wrongly rejected due to an administrative error.[13] The next day, workers retrieving voting machines from precinct storage found an additional 12 ballots, bringing the total to 572 newly discovered ballots. Logan admitted the lost ballots were an oversight on the part of his department, and insisted that the found ballots be counted. On December 15, the King County Canvassing Board voted 2-1 in favor of counting the discovered ballots.
Upon examination of the discovered ballots, it was further discovered that, with the exception of two ballots, none of the ballots had been cast by voters whose surnames began with the letters A, B, or C.[14] There was a further search for more ballots, and on December 17, county workers discovered a tray in a warehouse with an additional 162 previously uncounted ballots.[14] All together, 723 uncounted or improperly rejected ballots were discovered in King County during the manual hand recount.”
That’s from Wikipedia—If you want to finish reading about this prime example of US vote-counting procedures, there is plenty more available on the internet!
As for those of us who abstain, it’s fairly simple to compare the total electorate and those who voted in any particular election. I suggest you give it a gander.
Report thisBy heterochromatic, April 4, 2012 at 12:20 pm Link to this comment
tangled in your own web, deceitful little boy?
Report thisBy moonraven, April 4, 2012 at 12:14 pm Link to this comment
Leefeller:
Your post just proved my point, white racist hatespeecher.
If you were a Native American, you would know that we use Indian as a term among ourselves.
We can all see now just how much you “appreciate” my sentiments.
Another hypocritical gringo.
Report thisBy Leefeller, April 4, 2012 at 12:02 pm Link to this comment
Well Moonbeam, most or half of my post was quotes from you, the only potential rage you can possibility observe seems to be your own? I am working on the Queens English, apparently as white as it may be.
Actually speaking for whites seems to be coming more from your corner than mine, I do not propose to speak for anyone except myself, nor would I tell an old Indian women pesky or not to get lost? By the way is Indian women not politically incorrect, unless one is speaking of coming from India? Always thought you happened to be Native American? Maybe you can explain your Avatar then, it must mean something to you and sort of reminds me of the presidential seal,....Urp….Urp!
Report thisBy heterochromatic, April 4, 2012 at 11:59 am Link to this comment
sorry moonie….but you can only go by the voting electorate ....unless and until
you can produce some data about theos who abstain.
Report thisyour assumptions have no value in and of themselves.
By moonraven, April 4, 2012 at 11:13 am Link to this comment
Leefeller:
Translation of your post to me:
Pesky old Indian woman, get lost. We whites expect you to bow down to us.
Leefeller: It might be helpful if you learned English, as most of your post is incoherent with white rage but not parsable.
Report thisBy moonraven, April 4, 2012 at 11:06 am Link to this comment
Hettie:
Don’t confuse electorate with the suckers who compulsively vote.
Many of us are part of the electorate (sic) and we know that voting in a one-party system is a waste of time.
Besides, absentee ballots are routinely tossed in the trashcan.
Report thisBy Leefeller, April 3, 2012 at 4:00 pm Link to this comment
Moon,
“There is no group of people (sic) on this planet more blood-thirsty in regard to the non-white majority than the gringos.”
“All you have to do is look at the verbal violence and savagery on this site to have that statement confirmed: It is more than 70% pimps for patrtiotism (aka white privilege), and that’s just among the plastic progressives!”
Come on Moonie, not all Gringos are like your generalized stereotype, except for the convince and comfort of your mind! Maybe you could cite a factoid percentage of gringos with some truth behind it, instead of using emotional generalizations.
Though I appreciate your sentiments, and discontent, I feel your comments are contentious show little difference then Rush Limbaugh like rhetorical hate.
Report thisBy heterochromatic, April 2, 2012 at 8:48 pm Link to this comment
Arianna—- i’ve seen such things previously and there’s not anything that
scientists would accept as much more than anecdotal accounts and possible
statistical spikes that can not at this time be attributed to any specific cause.
assuming the hype to have a basis in fact, your number of “millions” is still utterly
Report thisabsurd…...having you any idea of the total population of Fallujah and the
surrounding area?
By DHFabian, April 2, 2012 at 8:32 pm Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
What President Obama has been doing is unforgivable. He has slowed down our upward redistribution of wealth in favor of economy stability, trying to rebuild this country. Can you imagine? He has actually dared to call for job creation in the US, rather than following the Republican lead of giving corporations billions of dollars to build factories in foreign countries, exporting our jobs. On the religion issue, how can these right-wingers lie in the name in Christianity by sinfully declaring what Obama “really” believes? In view of everything that Christian presidents have done since the 1980s that directly contradicted Christ’s teachings—repeatedly waged war, turned their backs on the poor, incited hatred for the powerless, pitted neighbors against neighbors, praised greed, etc., etc.— maybe we need to re-examine the role of Christianity in America.
Report thisBy Arianna, April 2, 2012 at 8:12 pm Link to this comment
hetero, check out Dr. Doug Rocke. Even better, google
Report thisDU Damage in Iraq, and view the horrifying pictures of deformed babies that have resulted from their parent’s exposure to the DU used in that genocidal conflict. It’s not just Iraqis, as I said previously,
American military are spawning the same problems when they return from deployment. DU was banned by the UN until it was used in the balkans, then in Iraq. It takes something like 2.5 million years to dissipate, and one molecule, if inhaled can cause all kinds of adverse health effects. I don’t make up the things I post here, I research for facts. You must have fluoride in your water supply. Obviously you have been compromised. Look it up buddy, do your homework as I have.
By heterochromatic, April 2, 2012 at 3:26 pm Link to this comment
Ariannna——no, millions of people will not die from the depleted uranium used
there…...
wherever did you get hold of that idea?
Report thisBy Arianna, April 2, 2012 at 2:29 pm Link to this comment
hetero, even though he didn’t start the war in Iraq, millions of people will die from the depleted uranium that has been used there. Not just Iraquis, but American service men and women as well. And what of the thousands that have died in Libya, Sudan and every
Report thiswhere else the US’s interventionist fingerprints show up? Ever hear of proxy war? I haven’t seen one iota
of truth come out of Obama’s mouth during his term. How can anyone trust a liar? Once the trust is broken
it only gets worse. He has waffled on a number of issues, including the NDAA, passed a law making it a felony to protest on federal property, and had SecDef
Panetta tell the Senate that we take our marching orders from the UN, a traitorous and treasonous act! He’s gotta go!!!
By heterochromatic, April 2, 2012 at 1:55 pm Link to this comment
balkas—- I would ask you to consider that communism and socialism as creeds of
Report thiscaring are not at all closely related to the former Soviet Union which was a
totalitarian empire unconcerned with the welfare of individuals throughout its
possessions.
By balkas, April 2, 2012 at 1:05 pm Link to this comment
CH often mentions soviet union, but in a negative light. communism and socialism at least give rat’s ass for
Report thisoppressed people and often more than that.
but since CH doesn’t like people who reject ‘religions’, or really cults, he often disparages these people even tho
they are the only ones who look after the ‘lower’ classes and prevent rise of billionaires and negative influences of
‘religions’, would-be colonialists, war mongers.
it seems he still thinks that one can change ideology and attitude of the 1% by taking it to court or complaining
about it.
i say, one cannot achieve nothing by such behavior.
mind you, i like the man, but i think he’s vastly deluded if he thinks one can change the greatest criminal minds
among us by just complaining.
read this post 10 or 20 y from now and then—unless americans form a viable socialist party—berate me for
being wrong.
i wonder how different CH is from ron paul regarding the most basic human rights?
in any case, CH, as far as i know, eschews these matters. why?
By heterochromatic, April 2, 2012 at 11:18 am Link to this comment
moonie—- choosing Obama over the Repub’s offering of McCain/Palin didn’t seem
Report thislike a poor selection to most of the electorate.
By heterochromatic, April 2, 2012 at 11:16 am Link to this comment
moonie—- choosing Obama over the Rebup’s McCain/Palin didn’t seem like all
Report thisthat poor a selection.
By moonraven, April 2, 2012 at 9:16 am Link to this comment
Hettie the hatespeecher:
All he needs is the next four years that you lemmings are going to give him.
During that time he will either achieve Pol Pot Junior status, or he and the rest of Gringolandia will be flushed into the sewers of history.
Report thisBy Doubtom, April 2, 2012 at 8:43 am Link to this comment
Regarding the recent poll indicating that only 14% of Republicans in Alabama and
Report thisMississippi believe that Obama is a Christian, another recent poll indicated that
only 10% of those people qualify as intelligent life.
Why pay attention to anything emanating out of an area that has been persuaded
to vote against their own best interests by allowing the party of the rich 1% to take
over the entire South?
By LocalHero, April 2, 2012 at 8:38 am Link to this comment
I wish Obomber wasn’t a Muslim OR a Christian - at least then, you might be able to talk some sense into him.
Report thisBy heterochromatic, April 2, 2012 at 8:15 am Link to this comment
Arianna—- nothing that Obama has done has resulted in millions being killed.
Report thisBy Arianna, April 2, 2012 at 7:38 am Link to this comment
Fair enough to want to look at both sides of the story, however, Obummer is being influenced by Wall St. and the mega-banks, his interventionism and nation
Report thisbuilding have resulted in millions of innocents being killed, he waffled on signing a law(NDAA)that treats
Americans like terrorists, first claiming he wouldn’t,
then saying he’d veto it, then signing it on New Year’s Eve, when no one was watching. He also claims to take his marching orders from the UN and NATO, stating that he doesn’t need congressional approval to start a war. I don’t care if he’s muslim, catholic, or if he came from Mars. He has got to go and the offerings we have to replace him are not going to change what the financial sector has planned for them. There is only one candidate that will act independently of the controllers, but the lame stream media has already convinced America that he can not win the nomination.
By heterochromatic, April 1, 2012 at 5:35 pm Link to this comment
moonie——he’s not going to be in power for 40 years like the Middle Eastern
Report thisdespots., so he won’t have all that time.
By vector56, April 1, 2012 at 3:24 pm Link to this comment
Post (stories) like this one seem to be a-dime-a-dozen on so-called left wing cable TV (MSNBC)and sites like the Daily Kos, Crooks & Lairs…. They spend far to much time telling us of the right’s paranoia concerning Obama being a “Muslim Manchurian Candidate”, but rarely do they explore his true role as a “Corporate Trojan Horse”.
Report thisBy moonraven, April 1, 2012 at 1:46 pm Link to this comment
Give him time.
He’s only been at the genocide game for less than 4 years.
Bush had longer.
Us government-backed Pol Pot had longer.
So did Hitler.
And Stalin had plenty of time.
The US-imposed president (sic) of Mexico, C alderon, has killed 75,000 in just over 5 years.
The military junta in Argentina was clearly a bunch of humanitarians—they only did in 35,000 in 7 years.
I’m sure if you throw in Ruanda you can have ole Obomber come out smelling like a Nobel-perfumed rose.
Report thisBy Michael Cavlan RN, April 1, 2012 at 1:44 pm Link to this comment
http://my.firedoglake.com/jest/2012/04/01/video-rocky-anderson-forcefully-dismantles-the-logic-of-2-party-system-apologists/
Article from TruthDig
Ever wonder why the “progressive” blogs prattle on about right wing talking points?
Perhaps because the 501c3 Industrial Complex do not want you to know about people like this man.
Rocky Anderson- Running for president
Report thisBy heterochromatic, April 1, 2012 at 1:41 pm Link to this comment
Obama far less.
Report thisBy heterochromatic, April 1, 2012 at 1:40 pm Link to this comment
The Assad family has killed more than 40,000 Muslims Sinbad.
Report thisBy moonraven, April 1, 2012 at 1:36 pm Link to this comment
balkas:
I am basing my percentages on the overall bloodthirstiness I have seen in Internet political sites.
I have seen the far rightwing sites such as the Miami Herald to have the same number of violent posters as this site, or common dreams—or even zmag.
My family origins are Abenaki and French in what is now Quebec, so I am aware that there is very little difference between the percentage of white bloodthirsty canadians and white bloodthirsty gringos.
I live in a country, Mexico, where mestizos are the majority. They are racists, too—but Mexico doesn’t have a history of supporting the US in its wars except in the case of WWII—and that was not military support.
Report thisBy balkas, April 1, 2012 at 1:22 pm Link to this comment
moonie,
Report thisthanks for ur comment [u’r not offended by my spelling, i hope]. i did say that AT LEAST 70% of americans
were lusting for bloodshed.
since i do not know the actual %, i decided to use the estimate “at least 70%.”. it cld have been, tho, as high
as 90% or even higher.
i think that in canada perhaps only 60 or even 70% supported coming aggression against iraq.
i base these numbers on how many cars tooted in approval of the antiwar banner we held early ‘03 at
vancouver city hall and other sites.
about 60% of canadians oppose our occupation of afgh’n. we were not at war against iraq; so, there is no
poll taken, as far as i ma aware, of how many oppose occupation of iraq right now.
how about americans? is it now 70% opposing occupation of and military ventures in afgh’n? how about iraq?
thanks
By moonraven, April 1, 2012 at 12:23 pm Link to this comment
Is Laurence Harvey still alive?
Sinatra isn’t.
Guess that’s why they made a remake a few years ago which this former film critic chose not to see….
Report thisBy moonraven, April 1, 2012 at 12:20 pm Link to this comment
Surfboy wrote:
“May the light of the HOlY GHOST come to rest upon these people who for generations have been filled with territorial invidiousness and enlighten their hearts and their minds.”
I assume he is writing about gringos—who maintain colonial bantustans in a territory ripped off from the indigenous folks and of which more than 40% was never even referenced in the bogus treaties they imposed upon same indigenous folks—and who ripped off more than 50% of the territory that the spanish ripped off fromindigenous folks and called Mexico—then grabbed Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Philippines and other Pacific Islands from Spain after blowing up their own ship, the Maine, in the harbor of La Habana and killing 3000 of their own sailors—approximately the same number of folks they killed in the false flag 9/11 Twin Towers Takedown so that they could invade the muslim-majority countries on the planet.
The Holy Ghost has its work cut out for it with that bunch of genocidal goons!
And Easter is bearing down on it like a rabid rabbit….
Report thisBy moonraven, April 1, 2012 at 12:14 pm Link to this comment
balkas:
I’d say your 70% figure of US folks panting for blood is low.
There is no group of people (sic) on this planet more blood-thirsty in regard to the non-white majority than the gringos.
All you have to do is look at the verbal violence and savagery on this site to have that statement confirmed: It is more than 70% pimps for patrtiotism (aka white privilege), and that’s just among the plastic progressives!
Report thisBy balkas, April 1, 2012 at 11:09 am Link to this comment
obama is not yet of, but is with all his heart and mind [or mind-body] with and for the 1%.
as soon as he gathers lots of $millions, he’d also become one of THEM.
but blaming one person or even several people for crimes against pashtuns, et al, does
not elucidate the situation.
i think at least 70% of americans wanted bloodshed in afgh’n, iraq, and elsewhere.
this % may be down, but bloodshed continues, anyway.
wars continue and more will be waged, because US’ TWENTY PERCENT wants more than
just one quarter of known earth—it wants all four quarters of it.
if this assertion is false, then, why is it waging wars against countries that represent no
danger to US of whatever kind?
caveat about most americans wanting to wage wars against afgh’n, iraq: they wld have
Report thisnever wanted to wage those wars if they wld have been allowed to know the truth.
By Bill Desmond, April 1, 2012 at 9:26 am Link to this comment
(Unregistered commenter)
Some day, hopefully before the end, some politician
Report thiswill have the guts to stand up and say, “I am a liberal
secular humanist, who does not hold superstitious
belief in gods, devils, angels, or so called divine
words.”
Currently, and sadly, in the U.S., his political
career, and quite likely his life, would be measured in
less time than it takes to read this.
By CassandraSpeaks, April 1, 2012 at 12:20 am Link to this comment
Obama’s brutality in Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan and Yemen should readily put to rest any belief that he is a true Muslim, or for that matter, a true Christian.
Report thisBy moonraven, March 31, 2012 at 12:08 pm Link to this comment
Too bad McCain is not a “decent family man and not an arab at all”, nor anyone else in gringo politics.
Report thisBy Arabian Sinbad, March 31, 2012 at 10:59 am Link to this comment
I think I speak for most Arabs and Muslims in America and elsewhere that we disavow Obama to be a Muslim or even close to it. No one besides the evil George Bush has killed more Arabs and Muslims than those Obama killed.
The evil of fanatic Republicans who want to disgrace Obama by calling him Arab or Muslim is the worst form of bigotry and fascism, since it defames a whole race and a whole religion, constituting one-fourth of humanity.
Thanks, but no thanks bigoted, fanatic and evil Republicans; for Obama is more suitable to be in the league of Hitler, George Bush, Netanyahu and many other evil ones; his black skin not withstanding! What is common among those and many other evil ones from the savage West is that they all have a lot of Arab-Muslim blood on their hands and they keep getting away with it!
Report thisBy fitley, March 31, 2012 at 10:47 am Link to this comment
These people you are writing about all have the same last name and their family tree is a branchless stick.
Report thisBy berniem, March 31, 2012 at 10:28 am Link to this comment
The only thing more obscenely ignorant than the average republican is a confederate republican! FREE BRADLEY MANNING!!!!
Report this