Fox Shows Photos Of Muslim Men: ‘Would You Want A Guy Like This Living In Your Backyard?’
Fox Shows Photos Of Muslim Men: ‘Would You Want A Guy Like This Living In Your Backyard?’
Since President Obama’s announcement last week that he would shut down the Guantanamo Bay detention center within one year, Fox News has done its best to frighten its viewers about the rule:
SEAN HANNITY: That’s somewhat frightening, you’re going to close Guantanamo Bay, you don’t know what’s going to happen, you don’t know where you’re going to put these people. [1/23/09]
GLENN BECK: Somebody told me that if this goes through and we put 200 people into this system, that it will shut down our justice system. Our justice system just won’t be able to do it.[1/20/09]
BRIAN KILMEADE: You’re talking about the worst of the Taliban, the worst of al Qaeda, and we have to let them go, give them trials? Why do we need to do this and compromise the CIA and our intelligence bureau — a lot of the intelligence was built on these guys, was done using our clandestine operations. So we have to expose that for these trials? [1/22/09]
Rep. Jack Murtha (D-PA) said last week that the U.S. could hold the detainees in federal prisons, just like we hold thousands of other dangerous inmates. This morning, Fox and Friends responded by sending a reporter to Murtha’s district to flash photos of suspected terrorists — their only identification being Muslim headgear — and ask residents, “Would you want a guy like this living in your backyard?” Watch it:
Despite Fox’s suggestion that detainees could be pitching a tent in your backyard, Guantanamo detainees transferred to the U.S. for trials would be housed in federal prisons — where dozens of dangerous terrorists are already held. In fact, the United States has already successfully prosecuted 145 terrorism cases in federal court, a sharp contrast to the series of debacles in Guantanamo prosecutions.
Later in the segment, the Fox hosts repeated some of the right wing’s favorite myths about Guantanamo. They endorsed the “great idea” conservatives have been pushing of sending detainees to Alcatraz or a “haunted” prison in West Virginia:
CLAYTON MORRIS: We’ve got Alcatraz that exists. We give tours out there. Put them out on an island on Alcatraz, which is under our jurisdiction. What about Moundsville State Penitentiary? Someone from West Virginia wrote me and said it’s a haunted prison. It’s vacant.
In other words, Fox News and the right wing would prefer to send Guantanamo detainees to theme parks rather than to maximum-security federal prisons.
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Why is everything always so “frightening” to Hannity?
¶AIO
January 26th, 2009 at 12:32 pmI believe a better question is would you want the Faux Noise people living in your backyard?
January 26th, 2009 at 12:34 pmSince when do we put prisoners in tents in peoples back yards?
January 26th, 2009 at 12:36 pmThe fear card is getting sort of shabby.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:37 pmI hate to keep pushing the same button, but the media has again portrayed this image of what a ‘terrorist’ is and what he/she represents. If we were told the truth that most terrorists are simply criminals who perform illegal acts for religious/political reasons rather than for money, it would take a lot of fear factor out of the term ‘terrorist’.
Why can’t we use the same prisons for someone who would kill me for my beliefs as the people who would kill me for my wallet? The bottom line is that I don’t want to be dead.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:37 pmPlease.
We all know that Alcatraz would be in Nancy Pelosi’s district, and they love the PR possibilities of putting her on the spot, explaing why they can’t be housed in her district, and making her look like just another NIMBY without any real answers to the problem.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:38 pmalphainfinityomega Says:
Imagination unregulated by intellect.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:38 pmFox should change it’s name to the Racist, Piss-Soaked & Chafed Whiners Network (RPSCWN).
January 26th, 2009 at 12:38 pmHoodathunk Says:
I have this image in my head of Hannity attaching a whole deck of “Fear Cards” to the spokes of his bicycle………….
January 26th, 2009 at 12:40 pmGLENN BECK: Somebody told me that if this goes through and we put 200 people into this system, that it will shut down our justice system.
I think the NYC court system does this on pretty much a daily basis.
Glenn, that is a sock on your hand, not somebody.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:40 pmRECYCLE FEAR In the 40’s this was used for blacks. Big signs and Media propaganda WOULD YOU WANT A BLACK PERSON LIVING NEXT TO YOU AND YOUR FAMILY? Now it’s back this time it’s Muslims. Notice how quickly Americans forget Bush walking with the Saudi King on his visit to the Ranch and how Bush held his hand and kissed it as he asked for more oil. Now no one was saying don’t to by country but were begging for lower prices in oil. Americans call Chavez every name in the book but welcomed his discount oil prices during the winter so Americans wouldn’t have to chose between food/heat. We are who we are and it’s not pretty, we’re become just like the Bush Administration has taught greedy, hateful and racist were we are users.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:41 pmGood grief, who’s running that network, David Duke.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:41 pmboreas Says:
Hoodathunk Says:
The fear card is getting sort of shabby.
I have this image in my head of Hannity attaching a whole deck of “Fear Cards” to the spokes of his bicycle………….
And the sound they make makes more sense than the drivel coming out of his mouth.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:42 pmHannity, Morris, Beck, & Kilmeade remind me of those who wanted to uphold Jim Crow segregation in the early 1960s.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:43 pmI know for a fact that I would not want Hannity, Beck, Malkin et al living in my back yard or across the street from me for that matter.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:45 pmI just don’t want Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, or Brian Kilmeade living in my backyard!
January 26th, 2009 at 12:46 pmWell, that is the problem with the U.S. and Israel, we keep making the Muslims live in the backyard after we kick them out of their houses…
January 26th, 2009 at 12:46 pmI am already really afraid because I know I saw Ramzi Yousef buying suspicious stuff at my local Walmart last week.
/snark off
January 26th, 2009 at 12:47 pmShayne Says:
Since when do we put prisoners in tents in peoples back yards?
Well, see, that’s how dem’s treat criminals and terrists, because the dems’ (and libs) are all friends of criminals and terrists. hey, roughing it in the back yard isn’t always a bag of lollypops, you know.
But they will be served cookies and milk, and cooled by palm-leaf fans waved by scantily clad maiden daughters of the suburbanites whose backyards they will be camping in, while the sons of the suburbanites will begin laboring to construct gold-domed mosques and learning the ways of radical terrorist Islam, so that they can turn on their country. Shortly after that America will completely and serviley succumb to the whims of Iran and will be known as “little Iran”, and all the town and street names will be changed to names Americans cannot pronounce. Blood will flow in the newly re-named streets and the spectacles of death and human sacrafice will make the Aztec civilization look like Sesame Street (tm – don’t sue me). Ah, the dastardly Dem plan is now in the light, and there may be no stopping it….
HAA, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ,ah….ach…akk … (cough, cough)… ha, ha, ha, ha, ha …. ha….. ha,ha….. heee… whooo……….
January 26th, 2009 at 12:48 pmSame old crap, different day. I object to classifying all Muslims as terrorists. This is NOT true, and it is an insult to all our law abiding Muslim-American citizens.
These folks can be safely held in American prisons. If they can be held at Guantanamo and nothing happened to the Cubans, they can be held in prisons in the US with nothing happening to Americans. Their reasoning is flawed, among other things.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:48 pmThese people manage to make Joe McCarthy seem vaguely respectable.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:51 pmHoodathunk Says: The fear card is getting sort of shabby.
It’s all they have. Well, that and delusion that they can still get away with breaking the law, bullying, and extortion:
January 26th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
O.k.. My patience and willingness to seek compromise have just about been used up. The Republican/neocon/conservatives are hateful, party only, fear-driven weaklings. They deserve to be removed form our political system, and treated for their cult programming (GOP = nationalized cult).
Repugs: go BACK to hell. We don’t need your greed and selfishness.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:52 pmloud mouth bullies are always the biggest cowards at heart.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:52 pmI personally don’t want anybody who watches Fox News in my neighborhood. That’s why whenever I hear somebody make a really stupid comment I ask them if they’ve been watching Fox News. If they say no then you know they listen to Rush.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:53 pmThe freaks really are on the right nowadays.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:54 pmWould you want a war criminal living in your backyard? Would you want someone living freely in the United States that thinks they are above the law? How about if they bring their own tent?
These idiots seem to think that since terrorists don’t respect the law, all rational logic no longer applies. The law can be applied to people who don’t abide by it: it has worked and will work in the future.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:57 pmIsn’t there any way to fine Fox for inciting fear and/or false reporting or something? I mean, face it, there are people that take whatever they say at face value and run with it. Those poor people are being tricked by people that know better.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:58 pmTheir reasoning is flawed,
This is key to figuring out our response to their nonsense. People respond, voting and otherwise, out of emotion much more than by intellectual reasoning. I think Obama won in great measure because he took an emotional path to campaigning (hope, caring about our children’s future, American pride). So, how can we emotionally respond to the emotionally-charged comments by these pundits? How about this:
“Why do Hannity, Beck, and Kilmeade insult Americans? Americans are tough and resilient. They are not going to be bullied into changing the best judicial system in the world by some thugs that need to be legally locked away. Americans are not going to suck their collective thumbs, sitting in the corner, and worrying about the boogeymen that Hannity, Beck, and Kilmeade are telling us about. Under Obama’s leadership, Americans will keep our judicial system and keep us safe at the same time.”
January 26th, 2009 at 12:58 pmCageyCretin Says:
Shayne Says:
Since when do we put prisoners in tents in peoples back yards?
Well, see, that’s how dem’s treat criminals and terrists, because the dems’ (and libs) are all friends of criminals and terrists. hey, roughing it in the back yard isn’t always a bag of lollypops, you know.
I know you’re joking, but I saw interesting statistics on Norway’s penal system. It’s more humane than tents, but it’s similar in idea of establishing a semi-isolated commune where people are rehabilitated rather than punished, and taught how to get along with other people. They basically treat them with respect and kindness.
I’m sure you can now easily guess who has the lowest incarceration, repeat offender, and homicide rates in the Industrialized World….
January 26th, 2009 at 12:58 pmAhhhhhh! Th reptilian brain…… how consistent it is.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:59 pmThe logical solution is to send them to Texas!
January 26th, 2009 at 1:03 pmCageyCretin Says:
Shortly after that America will completely and serviley succumb to the whims of Iran and will be known as “little Iran”, and all the town and street names will be changed to names Americans cannot pronounce.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
____________
Interestingly, there’s quite a huge population of Iranian ex-pats in LA, who’ve begun to dub the city “Tehrangeles.”
And as we all know, Los Angeles has become a city governed by strict shari’a law, in which alcohol has been outlawed, modesty and piety are the most prized of all values, and all women are subject to a strict dress code.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:03 pmLOL As they drive Indies further and further away. All they have left are some really whacky, drooling, Freepers.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:03 pmunbelievable Says:
It is my hypothesis that conservativism is at the root of all the areas where America has stopped leading the world.
Were I an historian I could prove my hypothesis.
But, alas, I am naught but a cretin. ;)
January 26th, 2009 at 1:05 pmIt really sounds like these guys are terrified that someone else will glom onto all the good locations since those no good US homeless have already staked out the overpasses and alleys.
Word of warning, if you don’t want a Faux newsie setting up a cardboard condo in the backyard, don’t buy a new refrigerator.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:05 pmDoes this smack of the Japanese-American camps of WWII or am I just projecting? That sure worked out well for us and them!
And, would you want to own a McMansion in the same neighborhood in Dallas a a certain yet-to-be-indicted war criminal?
HMMMM! There goes the resale value!
January 26th, 2009 at 1:06 pmDaveG Says:
Isn’t there any way to fine Fox for inciting fear and/or false reporting or something? I mean, face it, there are people that take whatever they say at face value and run with it. Those poor people are being tricked by people that know better.
January 26th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
____________
Not if we want to remain a nation of laws, governed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. As distasteful or blatantly false as Fox’ reporting might be, it’s not illegal for them to lie on national television. If so, our prisons would be swelling with pundits.
The only way to fine Fox for their crappy reporting is to hit them where they hurt – their wallets. We can pledge not to patronize their advertisers. With enough participants, we might affect some change.
It’d be the ultimate irony – progressive liberals using the free market to bring down a conservative network.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:08 pmThis blather from FOX is on par with the War on Christmas–hysterical posturing about a subject they refuse or are incapable of discussing rationally.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:09 pmCageyCretin Says: It is my hypothesis that conservativism is at the root of all the areas where America has stopped leading the world. Were I an historian I could prove my hypothesis. But, alas, I am naught but a cretin. ;)
You might wanna check out Howard Zinn’s “A People’s History of the United States”. He is a Historian, and he’s conveniently done all the work for you – starting with Columbus having ‘discovered’ and already inhabited continent…
My hope is, after 4 years of Obama’s improvements, Conservatism in America will be relagated to basements and mudholes where only the most delusional will still support it.
After all, in Canada and Europe Conservatism has become left-of-center, and supports gay marriage, demands legal abortion, and accepts evolution.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:09 pmDynamo Says:
Forget the fact that Muslim extremists commit most of all terrorist attacks around the world in the last 10 years.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:07 pm
_________
I will, because it’s not a fact. Muslim extremists are not the #1 culprit in terrorist attacks. Most terror attacks or attempted attacks worldwide are carried out by separatist movements rather than religious groups.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:10 pmhussein toasterhead Says:
Of course it has already begun! The Dems have political majority in the government!!! The Great Plan of the well-oiled Dem machine lurches forward, heedless of the screams of the aborted babies under its wheels.
As LA goes, so will the rest of America.
A terrorist in every home! A IED in every pot!
Run!!!!! Run all good conservative/neocon/republicans!!! Run in fear!!!!!!!! Aaaaahahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!…… Run to Alcatraz, because you know Pelosi won’t put the terrists there, so you’ll be safe. Go and hide from the terrists, because the Dem’s cannot, and do not want to, keep YOU safe: they LOVE terrists!!! They LOVE criminals!!!! Ruuuuuuunnnnnnnn!!!!!
(Am I a bit snarky today?….)
January 26th, 2009 at 1:10 pmSEAN HANNITY
GLENN BECK
BRIAN KILMEADE
If any of these pissers finally got caught with their child p0rn, they’d be whining and crying “innocent until proven guilty!” and “I haven’t even had a trial yet!” Waaaahhhhh!!!
But these guys in Gitmo, who have never had due process, are guilty as hell in Hannity/Beck/Kilmeade World.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:11 pmActually, I think there are laws on the books about ‘inciting dissension’. Maybe it was in the Patriot Act?
January 26th, 2009 at 1:11 pmhussein toasterhead Says: Most terror attacks or attempted attacks worldwide are carried out by separatist movements rather than religious groups.
Separatist movements generally based on religious beliefs…
January 26th, 2009 at 1:13 pmDynamo Says:
Forget the fact that Muslim extremists commit most of all terrorist attacks around the world in the last 10 years.
Seeing as most sexual harrassment is carried out by ugly white men, I suggest a picture of O’Reilly every time the subject comes up.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:16 pmGLENN BECK: Somebody told me that if this goes through and we put 200 people into this system, that it will shut down our justice system. Our justice system just won’t be able to do it.[1/20/09]
Uh, Glenn, the US has more than two million people behind bars. I’m pretty sure they can handle 200 more.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:18 pmYou’re an idiot. Would you have said the same things about the Irish if this had happened when Ireland was in flames?
January 26th, 2009 at 1:19 pmSeparatist movements generally based on religious beliefs…
Like whom?
And I guarantee for every separatist-movement-with-religious-ooga-booga you can name, I can name a two separatist-movements-without-religious-ooga-booga.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:21 pm5. Ur-Fascism is xenophobic and racist.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVVa1IvHdKc
Ur-Fascism grows up and seeks consensus by exploiting and exacerbating the natural fear of difference. The first appeal of a fascist or prematurely fascist movement is an appeal against the intruders. Thus Ur-Fascism is racist by definition.
Fourteen Warning Signs of a Fascist State
January 26th, 2009 at 1:22 pm-by Umberto Eco
Rather have them than most of the Faux news/editorial team. How about we put YOU on display in a Museum of the Grotesque?
January 26th, 2009 at 1:23 pmAlmost all American born terrorists have been right wing nuts. These are the same people who always threaten to come after progressives with their stockpiles of guns. How big is Alcatraz?
January 26th, 2009 at 1:23 pmunbelievable Says:
Separatist movements generally based on religious beliefs…
January 26th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
_________
Not necessarily. I wouldn’t call ETA a Catholic terrorist group, or Nepal’s Maoist rebels an Atheist terrorist group.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:24 pmDynamo Says:
Forget the fact that Muslim extremists commit most of all terrorist attacks around the world in the last 10 years.
Oops. I hadn’t realized that Timothy McVeigh was a Muslim.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:26 pmFred Says: You’re an idiot. Would you have said the same things about the Irish if this had happened when Ireland was in flames?
He is an idiot, but unfortunately, religion is a major cause why people fight one another (Protestants vs Catholics in Northern Ireland included). He just won’t recognize that Christianity has been around longer, and been responsible for more murders than Islam. Not that I’m defending Islam either. I dislike all organized religions that breed hatred.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:26 pmGLENN BECK: Somebody told me that if this goes through and we put 200 people into this system, that it will shut down our justice system.
Somebody told me that Beck has a boil on his ass the size of Australia.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:27 pmhussein toasterhead Says: Not necessarily. I wouldn’t call ETA a Catholic terrorist group, or Nepal’s Maoist rebels an Atheist terrorist group.
Why I said ‘generally’ – there are almost always exceptions. :)
January 26th, 2009 at 1:27 pmhussein toasterhead Says:
unbelievable Says:
Separatist movements generally based on religious beliefs…
Not necessarily. I wouldn’t call ETA a Catholic terrorist group, or Nepal’s Maoist rebels an Atheist terrorist group.
Or a number of separatists in Africa, or Sri Lanka, or the Kurds, or Ukraine . . . I’d say the opposite was true.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:28 pmI am far more afraid of being diagnosed with something my insurance won’t cover than Islamic extremism. Heck, I’m more afraid of Ted Haggard moving into my neighborhood.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:32 pmReally unbelievable I think it’s all about money and power cloaked in religion. T
January 26th, 2009 at 1:32 pmhussein toasterhead says: It’d be the ultimate irony – progressive liberals using the free market to bring down a conservative network.
Bless you! I always enjoy your posts, snarky or not. . . well, maybe MORE, at times, when they’re snarky! [We have a family saying, taken from a mispronounced although defiantly hurled insult betwixt two siblings in their youth: "Wipe that snirk off your face!" We've spread "snirk" as noun, verb, and interjection amongst the family friends. So "snark" warms my heart even further.]
January 26th, 2009 at 1:35 pmThe bottom line is that as long as we have human beings who believe they are better for whatever ethnic, nationalistic or religious reasons they can come up with, we will have ‘terrorism’.
Get used to it. Mankind is trapped in the 8th grade.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:37 pmunbelievable Says:
Why I said ‘generally’ – there are almost always exceptions. :)
January 26th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
_________
Fair enough – however, I believe religious groups are actually the exception rather than the rule. There was an INTERPOL study that came out a few years ago that showed that out of several hundred terror attacks or attempted terror attacks in Europe in 2006, fewer than ten were committed by Muslim groups. Most were committed by either separatist groups or radical anti-immigrant or animal-rights groups.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:40 pmPatrioticLiberalChristian says: “Why do Hannity, Beck, and Kilmeade insult Americans? Americans are tough and resilient. They are not going to be bullied into changing the best judicial system in the world by some thugs that need to be legally locked away. Americans are not going to suck their collective thumbs, sitting in the corner, and worrying about the boogeymen that Hannity, Beck, and Kilmeade are telling us about. Under Obama’s leadership, Americans will keep our judicial system and keep us safe at the same time.”
SUPERB. As a patriotic liberal Christian myself, I occasionally cringe at the vilification of Christians in general which percolates through some of these threads. To read the thoughts of an intelligent and erudite fellow Christian reminds me not to take personally the attacks from fellow progressives who are clearly not familiar with what we NON-haters consider to be a genuine Christ-like life.
THANK YOU.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:40 pmDumb Fox the Average Golfer Says: And I guarantee for every separatist-movement-with-religious-ooga-booga you can name, I can name a two separatist-movements-without-religious-ooga-booga.
Many of the so-called ethnic and racial movements are based on religion (white supremecy, for instance) or use religious texts and beliefs for discrimination against women, gays, atheists that drive those fights.
I can’t find the article I read the other day on this topic, but wikipedia has a list of movements that I argue are mostly based on religious drives than anything else.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Separatist
January 26th, 2009 at 1:41 pmJust a thought from sunny SoCal, but why not house those Gitmo prisoners in Texas and Wyoming? Plenty of wide open spaces (just like the part of the world the prisoners are from)…Should be easy to keep an eye on them there…And,it would provide jobs for Bush and Cheney’s home states which should just thrill their old constituents.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:42 pmhussein toasterhead
And as we all know, Los Angeles has become a city governed by strict shari’a law, in which alcohol has been outlawed, modesty and piety are the most prized of all values, and all women are subject to a strict dress code.
STOP IT! That’s TWO cups of coffee passed through my nose and onto my monitor today. . . I live near Tehrangeles and damned near choked to death trying to breathe through that explosion.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:45 pmShayne Says: Really unbelievable I think it’s all about money and power cloaked in religion.
Maybe by the few who start the wars, but you know tha those who fight them are true-believers.
Look at what Joan of Arc was able to get France to do, and it turns out that she was schitzophrenic, so that religion wasn’t really the cause, but it definitely was the ammunition.
Same can be said of the Kurds. It’s an ethic, but also religious group who believes they are fighting for their version of god and what he wants. Etc…
January 26th, 2009 at 1:45 pmhussein toasterhead Says: Most were committed by either separatist groups or radical anti-immigrant or animal-rights groups.
I’m not denying the separatist part. I’m just adding that those separatists almost always believe they are fighting for some religious claim – usually in the name of some god-figure or religious ideology. Abortion clinic bombers are always claiming to be doing god’s work. I imagine many animal-rights activists are the same.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:48 pmBeck, Hannity, and Billo are much more frightening than anybody else could ever be. They take “scary” into the realm of “horrible.”
January 26th, 2009 at 1:48 pmtelestai2 Says: what we NON-haters consider to be a genuine Christ-like life.
The hijacking of our religion for political purposes and the caricature of religion depicted by many are two of the reasons I use the screen name I do and why I so strongly advocate separation of church and state. Neither church nor state is safe when they are mixed.
I have enjoyed the few posts from you that I have read and look forward to more.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:49 pmCageyCretin, Except for the fact that my conservative and/or Republican friends wouldn’t get it, I’d send your entire post #19 to every address in my contact list. [Yes, I do have con/Rep friends. . .I'm ecumenical. I practice the tolerance that I preach. But I do still try to bring light, as it were, into their darkness. . . Don't hate me because I even have Rep brothers! Basically, they mean no harm. . . ]
January 26th, 2009 at 1:50 pmtelestai2 and PLC, I am not what one would call a ‘Christian’ but I do believe what the man had to say made a lot of sense. It’s a pity organization and politics have buried the basic message. It isn’t about churches or buildings or power.
Its about people.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:51 pmAmen, Hoodathunk, amen.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:54 pmPatrioticLiberalChristian You’ve just done a great kindness, my friend. Thank you! I’m new to these threads, new to the appalling and fascinating fears held by others ABOUT Christians. I’m already drenched in the appalling and no-longer-fascinating fears held by “Christians,” and have been fighting those for about 40 years now on every front available to me during those times, including churches, family, classrooms [I am a retired prof], Sunday School classes, conferences, seminars, letters [some published] to national media. A LOT of us have fought the good fight for decades, in ways that seemed right to us; I am glad for the opportunity to continue that fight–although I suspect that the people who most need to hear what we are saying will not peruse these threads.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:55 pmGlenn Beck seems unaware that we have 2.3 million people behind bars here in “the land of the free.” It’s the highest incarceration rate in the world. He thinks 200 detainees will overwhelm the system? ROFL.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:56 pmThey don’t seem to get the implication they’re making. If they’re not safe enough for these terrorists, how are they safe enough for the criminals in there?
I’m not going to feel any better knowing there’s some serial killer or rapist in there instead of a “supposed” terrorist that hasn’t even been formally accused of anything. What do these terrorists have that makes them so much more capable of escaping these prisons? And if it’s something THAT obvious, then shouldn’t I be concerned that any prisoner could do it?
It’s just weird. You can go on and on with this and make people scared of any little thing.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:56 pmThe courts can’t handle 200 cases this year.
I’m so glad the crime rate in the USA is SO LOW that they don’t have enough courts to handle 200 cases.
January 26th, 2009 at 1:59 pmGLENN BECK: Somebody told me that if this goes through and we put 200 people into this system, that it will shut down our justice system. Our justice system just won’t be able to do it.
This has to be one of the dumbest claims I have ever heard. It blows me away how many people accept Fox New’s logic.
Another Example: Obama is going to give tax cuts to people who pay no taxes. That’s not even possible! You have to pay a sells tax to buy a pack of bubble gum out of a gas station. When is America gonna wake up and stop drinking this conservative koolaid.
January 26th, 2009 at 2:02 pmYou right wingers forgot the part where George Soros buys off the family house so the terrorists don’t have to live in the backyard.
January 26th, 2009 at 2:02 pmQuestion:
Can you classify a terrorist similar to a sex offender?
By that I mean it is believed that a criminal sex offender will never change. They do what they do because they are hard wired that way and everybody better watch out.
Are terrorists similar? Not your spoiled American teens that want to stick it to mommy and daddy, but real terrorists that believe death is the only way to get what they want. Think about it. What kind of mind will purposely find insecure and depressed young people to blow themselves up and kill everyone in sight?
I don’t know if this is just a crap comparison, but I am curious. Any thoughts??
One more thing, the prison system in America is crap. The rate of return is high. 2 out of 3 will be rearrested and 1 our of 2 (50%) will end up back in prison within 3 years of release. And let’s not forget that some of the most powerful criminal organizations in the country were started in prisons. In some of these gangs, it is required to go to prison to move up the ranks. With this in mind, what do you think a real terrorist will do? What if the gangs side up with the terrorists? Is it possible?
January 26th, 2009 at 2:06 pmI’m sorry, but gosh, christianity aint all that guys. I respect your spirituality but when you say you are ignorant as to why we fear you then you just must be enlightened. I believe that PLC know this already but I fear that you don’t understand at all.
Most of the wars and horror of history are a direct result of religion. Your religion just signed on to the war in Iraq as a god ordained act. If you were standing against that then your voice was not heard.
When a religious organization starts getting political and trying to decide how others will live then it has gone beyond what you want to believe it’s purpose is and it happens often.
Hitler used religion to gain power:
“Secular schools can never be tolerated because such schools have no religious instruction, and a general moral instruction without a religious foundation is built on air; consequently, all character training and religion must be derived from faith.”
“We were convinced that the people needs and requires this faith. We have therefore undertaken the fight against the atheistic movement, and that not merely with a few theoretical declarations: we have stamped it out.”
“The National Government will preserve and defend those basic principles on which our nation has been built up. It regards Christianity as the foundation of our national morality and the family as the basis of national life.”
ADOLF HITLER
January 26th, 2009 at 2:08 pmI’m more afraid of the looney ultra-right that’s wandering around free, buying AK-47s at gun shows and renting U-Hauls and packing them with fertilizer. These are the folks who will bring the country to its knees — and Hannity and Beck, et al, are preaching to these guys. They will get more extreme, more audacious and finally something is going to blow, and it will be our own home-grown terrorists–McVeigh wannabes–who will finally outdo anything bin Laden could dream up.
And Beck, Hannity, Limbaugh, Coulter, Fox News, etc. will NEVER be held accountable for their words and actions.
January 26th, 2009 at 2:09 pmShow people of Hannity and ask if they would want him living next to them…
….or maybe Boner…Foley?
January 26th, 2009 at 2:14 pmFox to their beloved and scared to death viewers:
January 26th, 2009 at 2:16 pm“And if you get paranoid due to closing of Gitmo compound,we can sell you new Gitmo depression pills”.
unbelievable Says:
hussein toasterhead Says: Most were committed by either separatist groups or radical anti-immigrant or animal-rights groups.
I’m not denying the separatist part. I’m just adding that those separatists almost always believe they are fighting for some religious claim – usually in the name of some god-figure or religious ideology. Abortion clinic bombers are always claiming to be doing god’s work. I imagine many animal-rights activists are the same.
You’re right, unfortunately. PatrioticLiberalChristian says it superbly here:
The hijacking of our religion for political purposes and the caricature of religion depicted by many are two of the reasons I use the screen name I do and why I so strongly advocate separation of church and state. Neither church nor state is safe when they are mixed.
The actual separation of church and state mandated in the Constitution actually “protects” the church from the state; there is no reverse protection of the state from the church. The ONLY way to keep the church safe, however, is to INSIST on separation from the state! According to the Constitution, the government may make no law prohibiting the free exercise of religion or mandating an official religion. All that the neocons see is that if we had “the right” government [they mean not only "correct" but "right wing"], then somehow the US would suddenly become Christian from coast to coast. It never crosses their blinkered minds that theocracy in any form is DEADLY. It’s also extremely unblblical, Christians, since, according to scripture, ANY “one-world” government that manifests before Christ’s return will be THE GOVERNMENT OF THE ANTICHRIST. [Bear with me, progressives; I'm speaking their language in hopes that they will understand.] Those Christians who vote ONLY on the basis of a candidate’s professed religion end up voting for the numerous liars, hypocrites, fear-mongers, deviants, war-mongers, plutocrats, racists, sexists, misogynists, and general sociopaths among those “professing” candidates.
Those same Christians–those who look no further than the candidate’s PROFESSED, not proven, faith–entirely ignore the fact that tyrants of any stripe could get themselves elected by lying thus. . . and would then be free to try to impose ANYTHING that they deemed “religion” onto the populace, if “concerned citizens” have obliterated the Constitutional barriers between church and state.
Masses of Christians believe that a “Christian” government would automatically produce a “Christian” nation, by which they mean a nation which conforms to THEIR ideas of Christianity. They need to take a closer look at Islam, which shares a disturbing number of “Christian” ideas about the place of women, the penalties for “crime,” the “rights” of the father of a family, the penalties for “non-believers.” How easy might it be for dedicated Muslims [for whom lying to the infidel is permitted in the Qu'ran] to lie about being Christians, get themselves elected, and reduce the US to a shambles by instituting “true” religion?
Incorporating one’s values in one’s political choices is vital, no question about it. But one must first EXAMINE those values AND examine the BASIS for those values. Scripture does NOT support most of the radical right’s views, if scripture is studied IN CONTEXT and in depth. Using “Christianity” as an excuse to elect incompetents is a dereliction of Christian duty. God will not be amused.
January 26th, 2009 at 2:20 pmAnd the other question is how do we know any of those still detained are terrorists. They’ve already tried and found guilty over 100 of them. Maybe the folks they’re keeping at Gitmo are the ones they have no credible evidence against, except that which they’ve extracted by torture. The keep saying how dangerous these guys are. If they have evidence they’ll be tried, convicted and sent to whatever prison the judge decides. It’s not up to the states to squabble. They’re federal prisons not state prisons.
January 26th, 2009 at 2:23 pmMurtha didn’t mention anything about “Minimum Security” from what I’ve seen – and there aren’t any Federal Penitentiary’s in his district. There’s one in Lewisburg and one in Canaan. This is a ridiculous Strawman argument, the most likely place from the “worst” of these people to go is the same place that held Tim McVeigh, Ted Kascynski and Ramzi Yousef – The Florence Supermax Federal Detention Facility in Colorado!
Vyan
January 26th, 2009 at 2:27 pmA suggestion…get past the idea the world is black and white. Not all terrorists are ‘hard wired’ to hate America. Some are deeply religious people manipulated by their religion’s less than nice leaders. Some are out for vengeance because of things that have happened in their life and families. Some are opportunists who just are nasty.
Same is true of Repugs, Christians, Dems, heck, pick any group. Life is a bell curve and everybody has their own reasons for doing what they do. Not all people who murder are serial killers. Not all Christians get their faith from the Cliff Notes version of the Bible and TV evangelists. Not all Repugs are brain-dead parrots puking talk points. Not all progessive types are Casper Milktoasts.
The American public has been sold many bills of goods by grifters and con artists who like money in their pocket. It is time to think about what we buy.
January 26th, 2009 at 2:27 pmI don’t care who practices what. I do wish that American Christian missionaries would stay out of countries that don’t want or need them there.
Don’t we have enough trouble.
January 26th, 2009 at 2:31 pmMore fearmongering from Faux News.
Why do they even bother with reports anymore? Why not just have the following on the screen all the time?
BE AFRAID! BE VERY AFRAID!! ARE YOU AFRAID THAT YOU’RE NOT AFRAID ENOUGH? BOO!! RUN AWAY! RUN AWAY!!
January 26th, 2009 at 2:32 pmShayne Says: “Don’t we have enough trouble.”
Sadly, martyrdom will never go out of style
January 26th, 2009 at 2:34 pmIts simple
The remaining Gitmo prisoners who arent suspected terrorists and held without a shred of evidence (+ the hundreds already released) should if possible be sent back home to their home countries, with the US government at the very least giving them a public apology and compensation for the abuse they’ve suffered the last 6-7 years. If they cant be sent back to their home countries they should be allowed to stay in the US. Back in 2001 some of the detainees had actually left their countries to seek a better life in America the land of the free they had heard so many good things about. Ironic isnt it?
The suspected terrorists should be tried like any other suspected criminal or terrorist. Sensitive classified information can be handled just fine without “compromising” the work of the CIA
January 26th, 2009 at 2:36 pmtelestai2 Says:
I agree that your religion has been hijacked in America by the American taliban. I also know there are many good Christian and Muslim people of faith in the world.
The problem is that it is often hijacked by powermoners and used as a political tool. Evidence the last 8 years.
This statement by you concerns me though:
You try to imply that the founders found no value in keeping the church and state affairs seperate. America was not founded as a christain nation:
USA not founded as christian nation
The evidence for this is quite clear.
Your statement that it is not in the constitution seems to somehow justify mixing religion and politics. The truth is that many of the rights you take for granted are not mentioned in the constitution either.
Nowhere in the constitution will you find a reference to “right to privacy” or even “right to a fair trial.”
Do you accept those concepts to be American laws and values? Of course you do.
Understand the opposite view
I am still stymied by your statement that you do not understand why we fear religion……
January 26th, 2009 at 2:50 pmThe brown people “terrorist” are worse than our homegrown/white “terrorist.”
January 26th, 2009 at 2:51 pmI’m pretty sure there’s no data on this, but I’d be interested to know how many of these ultra-super-ninja cyborg vampire terrorists even speak English.
Of course, since we have so few people who speak arabic, let alone Pashto, the Gitmo crew probably taught them the language.
We’re supposed to be afraid of Muslim terrorists IN PRISON?
Maybe if we keep them in a plastic cell suspended in space so they can’t usee their magnetic powers to escape?
I’ve got it! Put them in the Phantom Zone!
January 26th, 2009 at 2:51 pm======> <=========
What’s between repugs’ ears.
January 26th, 2009 at 3:04 pmYes, actually, I would absolutely love to see about 100 dark, swarthy, unshaven, unkempt, gun toting, non-english-speaking crazies living in their backyards.
January 26th, 2009 at 3:20 pmAll they would need to say is BOO, and the heads of Hannity, Beck and Kilmeade would explode.
The Muslims are coming!!!
January 26th, 2009 at 3:34 pmThe Muslims are coming!!!
I must run and tell the King!!!!
Faux doesn’t seem to worry about the “terrorist” chimpy let go without a trial.
January 26th, 2009 at 3:40 pmUpside99 @37 I couldn’t agree more.
Whats the differance between snatching someone in Afgahnistan
or Pakistan, holding them indefinetly on hearsay evidence,
and what we did to American Japanese 65 years ago?
Oh right, we tortured them and put them in solitary
confinement 23 hrs a day.
Why not just round up ALL the moslems and Arab looking people
and put them in prison, then maybe the frightwingers
will be happy.
Oh right, we tortured them and placed them in solitary
January 26th, 2009 at 3:51 pmconfinement 23 hrs a day.
Fred, I totally agree with you; there are powerful reasons for people to fear or even hate religions, including Christianity. I failed to make my point clear; here is what I should have said:
What I was NOT used to was hearing intelligent, concerned progressives and/or liberals lash out at Christians with such virulence. Most of the posts on these threads make useful suggestions, give relevant statistics, and/or point out flaws which need to be addressed, leveling justified criticism at a variety of targets. However, when I read post after post indicating that Christians are mostly responsible for the mess that has been made of our country, THEN I experience surprise, because the tone and content of those accusations so closely resemble repug/neocon finger-pointing.
The historical horrors which have been committed in the name of religion certainly merit honest condemnation, and Iheartily condemn–have condemned for decades–the “Christian” contribution to such viciousness, rapine, cruelty, etc., in the name of “Christianity.” What those “Christians” did, and what some are still promoting, is sheerest blasphemy.
Almost without exception, however, those “Christian”-caused horrors were perpetrated by POLITICIANS who twisted and wrenched scripture out of all coherence and context. The people who initiated and carried out such criminal policies were NOT Christian in any sense of the word–except by title.
Until recent times, Catholicism did not encourage–and in earlier times, did not even ALLOW–adherents to read or study scripture: obedience to the “inerrant” Pope, to his papal bulls [nice pun there; "bull" is the Latin root of "bulletin"], and to one’s local priest was demanded, and anyone who questioned was branded–sometimes LITERALLY–a heretic, and was punished severely, even to death.
Yes, a lot of the same goes on today, especially among Republicans and right-wingers. I maintain that many of them are Christian IN NAME ONLY; there’s plenty of proof out there; bombing of abortion clinics, misogyny, persecution of gays and immigrants. Those actions do NOT = Christianity.
The genuine Christians? I cannot judge the state of ANYONE’S soul, but I CAN assess their actions. And few of those actions are damaging. Genuine Christians are, by and large, appalled by the deeds, ideas, and words of their supposed coreligionists. Genuine Christians run programs to help unwed mothers instead of railing about abortion or bombing clinics. They run programs to minister to the poor instead of ranting about illegal immigrants. They join the ACLU instead of attacking minorities. They keep their word; they preach and practice peace. They judge themselves rather than judging others. They abominate hypocrisy. Most of what genuine Christians do and advocate, if one observes their actions, is NON-violent.
Even genuine Christians, however, are still human. So they still do stupid things; they still make mistakes; they still have blind spots; they still hold biased points of view. Some of them have exceedingly narrow minds; some of them have a limited perception of reality.
Some of them voted for Bush. Stupid, but human.
January 26th, 2009 at 4:23 pmI wouldn’t want Glenn Beck or Sean Hannity in my backyard unless they were covered in pastel colors, strung up, stuffed full of candy and I had every local MEChA chapter either there or on the way.
January 26th, 2009 at 4:28 pmHannity, Beck, and Killmeade. Now there’s a trio of geniuses for you. I’ll tell you what’s frightening … that people listen to and believe those carnival barkers.
January 26th, 2009 at 5:29 pmDynamo Says:
I would MUCH rather have a Muslim MOSQUE in my neighborhood than a bigoted moron like YOU.
January 26th, 2009 at 6:13 pmPant-pissing fear of turbans is certifiable.
January 26th, 2009 at 8:28 pmWhy don’t we put the Muslims terrorists in the same prison as the Zionist terrorists?
I hear there’s an unused prison somewhere in Beverly Hills.
January 26th, 2009 at 9:54 pmAre you scared of terrorists, drick23? Afraid they want to have gay sex with you?
January 26th, 2009 at 11:30 pmThese guys are living in La-La Land if they think that Bush has captured the worst of the worst.
The worst of the worst have been roaming the Afghanistan countryside for the last eight years. The worst of the worst has been at large ever since 9-11–Osama bin Laden.
And, if I recall correctly, the torture rationalizer Marc Thiessen (Frenchie? Probably) claimed that torturing one prisoner gave us information about another prisoner we already had in custody.
In the immortal words of the Church Lady: How con-VEEEEEN-ient. Torturing some slob terrorist who gives up somebody who’s ALREADY IN CUSTODY. Wow. In the immortal words of Emil Sitka: I feel safer already.
January 27th, 2009 at 11:29 amI can remember when they showed pictures of african americans and asked the same question “Would you want to live next to this guy?”. Vintage scare tatic. Find a cozy little white community and ask the people the question, then flash a picture of the american flag and Patriot Ave street sign and there’s your non-verbal racist messege driven deeper into the american psychie where only the republicans can tap it when they need it.
January 27th, 2009 at 12:35 pm