The Rant

________________________ SO THE POPE SEEMS TO THINK THAT ISLAM HAS A PROBLEM WITH VIOLENCE. AND SOME OF ITS ADHERENTS SEEM TO HAVE A PROBLEM WITH ANGER MANAGEMENT . . . HOW DO THE NEWS STORIES REFLECT ON THIS BELIEF? . . . . ________________________ Five Palestinian Area Churches Attacked By ALI DARAGHMEH , 09.16.2006, 11:38 AM Palestinians wielding guns and firebombs attacked five churches in the West Bank and Gaza on Saturday, following remarks by Pope Benedict XVI that angered many Muslims. No injuries were reported in the attacks, which left church doors charred and walls pockmarked with bullet holes and scorched by firebombs. Churches of various denominations were targeted. http://www.forbes.com/business/businesstech/feeds/ap/2006/09/16/ap3021954.html _________________________________ Christian Killed in Iraq in Response to Pope's Speech: Islamic Website Posted GMT 9-16-2006 20:40:58 (AINA) -- According to the website Islam Memo, one Christian

post by Bob Clasen Here is the controversial part of the Pope's speech that has aroused anger in the Muslim world: [Quotation begins] I was reminded of all this recently, when I read... of part of the dialogue carried on - perhaps in 1391 in the winter barracks near Ankara - by the erudite Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an educated Persian on the subject of Christianity and Islam, and the truth of both. In the seventh conversation...the emperor touches on the theme of the holy war. Without descending to details, such as the difference in treatment accorded to those who have the "Book" and the "infidels", he addresses his interlocutor with a startling brusqueness on the central question about the relationship between religion and violence in general, saying: "Show me just what Muhammad brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." The emperor, af

by Bob Clasen I don't have much hope in Iraq with respect to the religious leaders running things. I keep hearing that we need to remember that the terrorists are extremists, not representative of the people. But where are the moderate Islamic leaders in Iraq or anywhere else? As you have suggested, we in the West have learned to take the Biblical injunction with a grain of salt. But how many Moslems advocate this approach? And if they do, are they in danger of being murdered for heresy? How many Moslem leaders are willing to publicly renounce the Koranic verses enjoining violence against the infidel (the ones I have quoted here repeatedly). So I suppose the alternative is some sort of secular state. Bush is always talking about how everyone wants freedom. But do the Iraquis want freedom? Or do they just want their particular sect in charge, whether it be Shiite or Sunni or Kurdish? I have to admit that I don't have a clear idea of the final state of Iraq we are working

by Bob Clasen I watched the 9/11 movie on ABC. While it so happens that the Democrats were in charge until Bush took over, both parties were criticized. I thought the point of the movie was not to attack Democrats, but to point out the sort of policies that allowed a fairly incompetent group of arabs to take down the two towers. There were so many opportunities to catch them, all passed up. The movie did not even bring up all of the examples listed in the 9/11 commission. No one was alert to the threat at that time. That was the point. Note that Mosauwai's computer was never searched and the Justice Department did not go through the alleged procedure for allowing a legal search as it felt there was no good cause. As for Bush's speech, he never mentioned Democrats once. The reaction of the Democrats to Bush and the movie is an interesting one, psychologically speaking. If the Democrats feel comfortable with their position on terrorism, why are they so amazingly defensive

911 Plus Five Equals...? By Will Durst, AlterNetPosted on September 8, 2006, Printed on September 12, 2006 http://www.alternet.org/story/41439/ Monday is the fifth anniversary of IX-XI, and President Bush has apparently decided to prepare us for our national day of mourning by delivering a weeklong series of seminars on fear mongering. Okay, okay, maybe "fear mongering" is a bit much. Perhaps a better phrase would be "PR campaign of cheap political calculation," or "systematic exploitative pandering" or "a typical sleazy example from the Karl Rove electioneering handbook." Or as we have to come know it during the last six years: "business as usual." First Dubya played the Nazi card, calling Democratic plans for a phased withdrawal of our forces from Iraq an appeasement similar to Chamberlain's treatment of Hitler in '39. I'm surprised he didn't unveil secret footage of Nancy Pelosi brandishing a rolled-up umbrella. Then

by Bob Clasen __________________________________________ The biggest surprise to me, five years after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center by militant Moslems is that no further attack has successfully occurred in our country since. Credit has to be given to the many agencies that have responsibility for uncovering criminal conspiracies and thwarting them before they occur. Because good news is no news in our peculiar culture, this fact is easy to ignore. In fact, it is rarely mentioned in the news. Or perhaps it is superstition. I myself "knock on wood" when I think such thoughts. Another surprising fact, at least to me, is that a substantial percentage of Americans (36%) distrust their own government so much that they prefer to believe that the 9/11 attack was some kind of government conspiracy by Bush and Cheney than a real attack by foreign born terrorists. http://www.scrippsnews.com/911poll This leads me to believe that part of the problem with the “war” on t