US vs Islam - Is all quiet on the Western Front????

Mike, thank you so much for a very lucid response (the first and only so far--not that I expected any to begin with), and pointed questioning too, I might add, to my Liberal (far-left?) reflection on Tom's friend's anti-Muslim and anti-Obama administration rant. I am hopeful of providing you with as an equally clear and sensibly stated rejoinder.

[I really enjoyed your introductory paragraph..."Warning: If you don't read this the Great Pumpkin will eat you up. ...you can go suck an egg!"]

First, I went back and reread the article being discussed. I wanted to fully redigest the essence of the article to affirm or countermand my response. After rereading the article several times and reflecting on my remarks I found that I was initially prejudiced against the article before even reading it because of the warning in Tom's lead-in statement, "...he is pretty right-wing so...contains some anti-administration/Obama inferences,..."

Secondly, I really believe that any extremist position, whether Right-wing or Left-wing, that advocates against and actively pursues a policy that engenders the depuration of segments or politic bodies, and specifically religions, of our society to where they cannot openly advocate for their cause, religious or otherwise, and where these actions facilitate fear-mongering and hate-mongering, poses a serious problem to the safety and security to not just only individual Americans but to America itself. That this promulgation of fear-mongering and hate-mongering and depuration of classes or entities is considered as patriotic escapes me. And, though being unpatriotic may not be necessarily anti-Americn it surely doesn't seem, to me, to be pro-American.

Now, your questions:

Q: I'm puzzled about your closing as well. What is the pitiful morass to which you referred? Is it Christianity, Democracy,or both?

A: I believe our country is in a terrible multi-faceted quagmire (pitiful morass) encompassing the economy, a disfunctional infrastructure, fragmented foreign policy, and a decimated world opinion that threatens and hinders our ability to ameliorate world problems. It would probably take a book to completely synthesize all these elements, but let me just say that if the congress would have been Democratic during GWB's reign and the POTUS had been other than GWB we'd not be in this pitiful morass. Don't believe I'd include Democracy or Christianity in the morass.

Q: Define the scope of the pitiful morass and what you believe to be the root cause; not placing blame on anyone, but rather what action or activity you believed caused it.

A: For "Scope," see above. "Root cause" blame has to be placed--and it's squarely in the lap of the Republican Party, Republican congress, a Republican POTUS. Their actions/and decisions led this country into a personal and completely unnecessary unilateral (illegal) war of choice with Iraq (which helped to kill our economy [and many young Americans] and erode our world status); "rubber-stamped" every action asked for by GWB leading to the most gross and unconstitutional abuse of Presidential power in the history of this country (which not only produced a climate of fear throughout the nation, obliterated many of our constitutional freedoms and rights, but reduced the confidence in our nation's leadership and produced "laws" which led to the decimation of our banking/marketing system--which led to our housing crisis [with the help from Congress' complete lack of "Inspector-General" supervision]);

Q: I would like you to define "right wing" in the context you used it.

A: Do you not think this is a lead into blaspheming democrats up and down the pike: 'Those in the know are quite aware that our political and military leaders either refuse to understand or don't understand and the true nature of our enemy and the many different tactics they employ." That kind of talk certainly doesn't sound like left-wing rhetoric to me with a Democratic administration in office. Also, does the statement, "Obama Busily Appeasing Jihadists." sound like President Obama is being lauded?


Q: I have difficulty understanding how someone expressing concerns about what he describes "Islamist enemies" as anti-American.

A: First, I did not say he (or anyone) was anti-American for being concerned about our "Islamist enemies." I said there was a "slightly anti-American flavor" in his writing. I probably should have said "un-American," as I felt he was advocating our own "holy war," jihad, against Muslims in general since he, inclusively, equated or related the various nomenclatures of "Islamist enemies" (Islamists, Jihadists, Islamist enemies, militant jihad) to be Muslims without qualification. How about the Nation of Islam?

Muslims, people of the Islam faith, believers in one God, Allah, believe in and follow the Five Pillars of Islam, the Islamic way of life, which does not advocate general militant jihad (the extension of Islamic domination over the world) but employ jihad only in a protective manner. Also, Islamic law directs a communality with People of the Book, revealed religions such as Jews and Christians. One particular obligation of the Islamic faith is to "commend good and reprimand evil."

The people of the Islamic faith, Muslims, nor the Islamic faith itself, are not our enemies; I don't believe we have over 1,200,000,000 (1 billion 200 million!)--at least--Muslim enemies facing us down. Woe unto us it that were true! Let us be specific in who we attribute to be our enemies. Can we say terrorists are Jihadists? Probably so, since the present-day vernacular of Jihad ("holy war" for God; Jihad being a term that both prescribes and directs how a devout Muslim focuses his daily life to do all things necessary to live his life in a manner commiserate with the "Islamic way of Life" as prescribed by the Quran) has been corrupted into "Jihadist," meaning specifically one who militarily conducts war against non-Muslims perportedly in the name of Allah in an effort to kill or subjugate non-Muslims and spread "Islamic' dominition, the "Islamic" faith, both politically and culturally, around the globe. These militarist Islamics, Jihadists, are fanatics who in no way represent the real, the true Islam. It is the Jihadists, and only the Jihadists, whether they be Al Queda, Taliban, or whatever fanatic, extremist, Muslim splinter group, who are the terrorists not Muslims.

Another friend, I guess, asked me how I could compare the spread of Islam to the spread of Democracy and Christianity.

A: First, I did not outright "compare" the spread of Democracy and Christianity to the spread of Isam. That being said, the Islam faith encompasses both a political and religious precept and the Quran dogma calls for the spread of Islam--but does not call for it to be in a militaristic manner, a military jihad. I understand the body of the Christian faith also calls for the spread of "The Word," the word of God. And, can anyone not challenge that GWB called for the spread of Democracy around the world?

This may not satisfy everyone, and it most likely will not, but hopefully most will at least understand where I'm coming from--I believe in the constitution of our United States of America, the right to freedom of speech and all of the other rights embodied in our constitution; I believe in fair play and justice for all; I believe in the Golden Rule and God; I believe passionately that our government should first do no harm--and then to never do any harm; I like to believe we have honest and honorable politicians; I believe that no one is guilty until proven guilty; and I believe that no matter how bad things get, whether nationally or personally, that the sun will rise tomorrow on a new day that may just be the beginning of the resolution the many challenges that face each of us and those that face our country.