The Rant

Meanwhile, my wife and I are off to the mountains to commune with nature. Have a nice weekend, you all. Bob Clasen

By Bob Clasen I love the idea of Republican, moderate humanist Moslems. That is why I included the following Blog entry by such a moderate arguing that she is not evil. It is the only hope to avoid a global war of civilizations; some reform minded, rational Moslems gradually reforming Islam from within. We should join and encourage such moderate Moslems in their difficult task to reform their own religion. I am sure that there are many moderate Moslems, but they also have a responsibility of speaking out against those who would hijack their religion for purposes of tyranny and terror.

by MUTNODJMET http://mutnodjmetsmusings.blogspot.com/2006/09/i-am-not-evil.html I AM NOT EVIL (And Neither are most Muslims) Dear Friends: There is a blogostorm brewing, and I wanted to contribute some thoughts on this subject. In a nutshell, there is a demand for introspection being made on Conservative bloggers and pundits on how Muslims are considered and discussed in print and on the Internet. In fact, my humble blog began by as a chronicle of the experience I shared with a respected, humanist Muslim (Ali Eteraz) when he briefly posted on Ann Coulter Official Chat (where I am the site Librarian). I strongly feel that too many on the right side of the world have little knowledge of the complexities of Islam, and make rude, demeaning, and ignorant claims about Muslims and Islamic faith in posts and dialogs. As a student of Ancient Egypt, and having some knowledge of this history of the Levant (gleaned from more than reading the Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam), I have more expe

The Democrats' Iraq Problem By David Ignatius WASHINGTON -- No matter how you slice it, the National Intelligence Estimate warning that the Iraq War has spawned more terrorism is big trouble for President Bush and his party in this election year. It goes to the heart of Bush's argument for invading Iraq, which was that it would make America safer. Many Democrats act as if that's the end of the discussion: A mismanaged occupation has created a breeding ground for terrorists, so we should withdraw and let the Iraqis sort out the mess. Some extreme war critics are so angry at Bush they seem almost eager for America to lose, to prove a political point. Even among mainstream Democrats, the focus is "gotcha!'' rather than "what next?'' That is understandable, given the partisanship of Republican attacks, but it isn't right. The issue raised by the National Intelligence Estimate is much grimmer than the domestic political game. Iraq has fostered a new

by Bob Clasen Why is it okay for Islam to insult Western Religion, but not okay for westerners to question Islam? If Islam does not want to be criticized, it should not issue threats and condemnation about us. If it is going to threaten and insult the west, then turnaround is fair play, as far as I am concerned. The truth is that Western religions did murder people commonly about religious issues . . . . . five hundred years ago. Nowadays, religions and religious icons are commonly subjected to comedy and satire. In the West we believe that a free and open discussion of issues, including religion and politics will shed light on the darkness and help people to make a bettter choice among the options. In American, Buddhists, Christians, Jews, Moslems, agnostics and atheists freely debate religious questions, publish their books and appear on television preaching their gospels. Fundamentalist Islam is still living in the fourteenth century. It prohibits people to think

Little Melissa comes home from first grade and tells her father that they learned about the history of Valentine's Day." "Since Valentine's Day is for a Christian saint and we're Jewish," she asks, "will God get mad at me for giving someone a valentine?" Melissa's father thinks a bit, then says "No, I don't think God would get mad. Who do you want to give a valentine to?" "Osama Bin Laden," she says. "Why Osama Bin Laden," her father asks in shock."Well," she says, I thought that if a little American Jewish girl could have enough love to give Osama a valentine, he might start to think that maybe we're not all bad, and maybe start loving people a little bit. And if other kids saw what I did and sent valentines to Osama, he'd love everyone a lot. And then he'd start going all over the place to tell everyone how much he loved them and how he didn't hate anyone anymore. "Her father'