“My” leader Rand Paul? Would this be the same guy who is scurrying around assuring Evangelical groups that he fully supports the so-called “War on Drugs” that blights the lives of millions of Americans, enriches criminals, wastes resources on prisons, and is the proximate cause of death of thousands of Mexicans and Latin Americans? Yeah, nice try, but no sale.
Last time I checked, our putative standard bearer is Gary Johnson. Good luck tarring him with racism. However, given that you appear to have lost interest in our original discussion, I am confident you can come up with some other ad hominem non sequitur.
Heh, thank you Mr. Cole for elucidating my philosophy. Silly me all these years imagining the reason concentrating regulatory power in a central authority was a bad idea is because the 1% inevitably capture control of it and have their way with the rest of us.
I don’t know who it is that claims to be a Libertarian and “promised” you that reducing central governmental regulations would eliminate sociopaths, but I suggest that the two of you explore collaborating on a work of fiction given your powerful respective imaginations.
Most Libertarians accept the need for government to adjudicate situations where individual rights are in conflict and, as an incentive for proper behavior, to mete out justice in cases where rights have been violated. In this case, should it be proven the facts are substantially as related in your article, most Libertarians would cheer for the perpetrator to be appropriately punished.
Getting back to the novel idea, perhaps an historical milieu would serve. I expect you could really get into telling the story of how Libertarianism caused the Fall of Rome, the Black Plague, the Inquisition, or the Curse of the Bambino, for example.
Wait...so if some sociopath in a country with relatively lax regulation breaks the law and thereby violates the rights of his fellow citizens, this invalidates Libertarianism?
So then, if some sociopath in a country with relatively stringent regulations breaks the law and thereby violates the rights of his fellow citizens, would that validate Libertarianism?
Tom, I will be persuaded the opponents of the Park 51 community center are not being Islamophobic when I see them calling for the removal of *all* religious institutions within two blocks (or whatever) of the former WTC properties. There are at least two churches that are closer than Park51 will be.
As it is, opponents of Park51 such as Newt Gingrich and Glenn Beck manifestly have difficulty distinguishing their friends from their enemies. Al Qaeda, the guys who crashed the jets into the WTC on 9/11—the ones who consider themselves at war with the USA and ignore the Geneva Convention by targeting civilians—are bad guys. The Taliban—the ones who consider modernity, individual liberty, equality for women, and tolerance of all religions inimical to moral living—are also bad guys (not because of their beliefs but because of their attempts to impose them on others, not to mention their harboring of Al Qaeda).
The good guys include those such as Shaykh-ul-Islam Prof. Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri—author of the 500-page anti-terrorism fatwa—and guys such as Cordoba project leader Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf—whom the State Department is flying to the Middle East to promote America by telling audiences what it’s like to practice Islam under our regime of religious freedom and equality. The good guys include the vast majority of American Muslims—one of the fastest growing Islamic communities on Earth—who by-and-large are here for the same reason we all are: a better life and more opportunities for their children.
In case you missed it, on 9/11 the bad guys killed a bunch of these good guys, along with the rest of us Americans (partial list of Muslim 9/11 victims):
* Samad Afridi
* Ashraf Ahmad
* Shabbir Ahmad (45 years old; Windows on the World; leaves wife and 3 children)
* Umar Ahmad
* Azam Ahsan
* Ahmed Ali
* Tariq Amanullah (40 years old; Fiduciary Trust Co.; ICNA website team member; leaves wife and 2 children)
* Touri Bolourchi (69 years old; United Airlines #175; a retired nurse from Tehran)
* Salauddin Ahmad Chaudhury
* Abdul K. Chowdhury (30 years old; Cantor Fitzgerald)
* Mohammad S. Chowdhury (39 years old; Windows on the World; leaves wife and child born 2 days after the attack)
* Jamal Legesse Desantis
* Ramzi Attallah Douani (35 years old; Marsh & McLennan)
* SaleemUllah Farooqi
* Syed Fatha (54 years old; Pitney Bowes)
* Osman Gani
* Mohammad Hamdani (50 years old)
* Salman Hamdani (NYPD Cadet)
* Aisha Harris (21 years old; General Telecom)
* Shakila Hoque (Marsh & McLennan)
* Nabid Hossain
* Shahzad Hussain
* Talat Hussain
* Mohammad Shah Jahan (Marsh & McLennan)
* Yasmeen Jamal
* Mohammed Jawarta (MAS security)
* Arslan Khan Khakwani
* Asim Khan
* Ataullah Khan
* Ayub Khan
* Qasim Ali Khan
* Sarah Khan (32 years old; Cantor Fitzgerald)
* Taimour Khan (29 years old; Karr Futures)
* Yasmeen Khan
* Zahida Khan
* Badruddin Lakhani
* Omar Malick
* Nurul Hoque Miah (36 years old)
* Mubarak Mohammad (23 years old)
* Boyie Mohammed (Carr Futures)
* Raza Mujtaba
* Omar Namoos
* Mujeb Qazi
* Tarranum Rahim
* Ehtesham U. Raja (28 years old)
* Ameenia Rasool (33 years old)
* Naveed Rehman
* Yusuf Saad
* Rahma Salie & unborn child (28 years old; American Airlines #11; wife of Michael Theodoridis; 7 months pregnant)
* Shoman Samad
* Asad Samir
* Khalid Shahid (25 years old; Cantor Fitzgerald; engaged to be married in November)
* Mohammed Shajahan (44 years old; Marsh & McLennan)
* Naseema Simjee (Franklin Resources Inc.’s Fiduciary Trust)
* Jamil Swaati
* Sanober Syed
* Robert Elias Talhami (40 years old; Cantor Fitzgerald)
* Michael Theodoridis (32 years old; American Airlines #11; husband of Rahma Salie)
Their blood is our blood; their honor is our honor. Our common enemies would murder an American Muslim if anything even more readily than other Americans, because the very existence of such a person contradicts their contention that modernity and Islam are incompatible. The fact is that modernity and the concomitant education (even for women) and individual liberty are grave threats to the “traditional” male-dominated Islamic hierarchy precisely because they are attractive to most Muslims on the planet (as well as most other people). And because genuinely “true” Islam—back when it first started—embraced human progress and knowledge. Islamic culture as late as the 9th Century was the most advanced on Earth, contributing breathtaking mathematical, medical, literary insights; in their hearts, the troglodytes know that while they have for 1000 years succeeded in distorting and crippling Islam, ultimately they are fighting a losing battle against human nature.
Speaking of blood and honor, the heroic 9/11 first responders—including the 400 who died—put their lives on the line that day in defense of nation and our way of life. True to our principles, they did not ask anyone they were rescuing if he or she was Christian or Islamic or Jewish (as Michael Bloomberg articulately pointed out). It does these true American heroes no honor to invoke their memory in support of discriminating against a particular religion.
So, Americans of all religions should be cheering for the Cordoba House project! Not only is it the right thing to do to support freedom of religion, but it is a stick in the eye for our common enemies! They attacked us on 9/11 in the desperate hope they could incite us into a new anti-Islamic Crusade, and thus turn the Muslim-in-the-street against the West and prolong their unnatural ascendancy. If our answer is to build an American Muslim mosque in lower Manhattan it will dramatically demonstrate that when they claim Islam and modernity are incompatible, they lie! Insofar as that action contributes to welcoming Islam back into the fold and enabling Muslims everywhere to embrace education and return to form with respect to their contributions to human civilization, it will be a good thing for America, a good thing for Muslims, and a good thing for all humanity.
But if our answer is to descend to their level and discriminate against our own citizens who happen to be Muslim, then our enemies will not only have baited us into proving we are no better than Crusaders, but they will have tricked us into smiting ourselves a terrible blow against all that we hold dear and that the heroes of 9/11 died to defend.
Well…I have never slashed anyone in my life but I did live in Manhattan on and off for nearly 40 years and most of that time I carried a knife. Had I ever been attacked by drunk Republican cab driver, I would have been prepared.
Quite aside from being evil, Islamophobia is so obviously against the interests of the USA that one has to wonder if darker forces are behind this fomenting. Who would benefit from instigating a war between the USA and, say, Iran? Al Qaeda, obviously, but they lack the resources to be fomenting among clueless Americans who can’t tell their friends from their enemies except during NFL games. China, who seeks to hasten our eclipse? Banksters and their political tools, who need the dog wagged to distract everyone from their looting of the corpse of our murdered economy? Fox “News,” to pump up their ratings?
It’s as if we’re all getting our pockets picked, and at the end of the day, we’ll have neither our wallets nor our knives, and no idea whom to blame.
Aside from Muslims, that is. And maybe immigrants.
“My” leader Rand Paul? Would this be the same guy who is scurrying around assuring Evangelical groups that he fully supports the so-called “War on Drugs” that blights the lives of millions of Americans, enriches criminals, wastes resources on prisons, and is the proximate cause of death of thousands of Mexicans and Latin Americans? Yeah, nice try, but no sale.
Last time I checked, our putative standard bearer is Gary Johnson. Good luck tarring him with racism. However, given that you appear to have lost interest in our original discussion, I am confident you can come up with some other ad hominem non sequitur.
Heh, thank you Mr. Cole for elucidating my philosophy. Silly me all these years imagining the reason concentrating regulatory power in a central authority was a bad idea is because the 1% inevitably capture control of it and have their way with the rest of us.
I don’t know who it is that claims to be a Libertarian and “promised” you that reducing central governmental regulations would eliminate sociopaths, but I suggest that the two of you explore collaborating on a work of fiction given your powerful respective imaginations.
Most Libertarians accept the need for government to adjudicate situations where individual rights are in conflict and, as an incentive for proper behavior, to mete out justice in cases where rights have been violated. In this case, should it be proven the facts are substantially as related in your article, most Libertarians would cheer for the perpetrator to be appropriately punished.
Getting back to the novel idea, perhaps an historical milieu would serve. I expect you could really get into telling the story of how Libertarianism caused the Fall of Rome, the Black Plague, the Inquisition, or the Curse of the Bambino, for example.
Wait...so if some sociopath in a country with relatively lax regulation breaks the law and thereby violates the rights of his fellow citizens, this invalidates Libertarianism?
So then, if some sociopath in a country with relatively stringent regulations breaks the law and thereby violates the rights of his fellow citizens, would that validate Libertarianism?
Tom, I will be persuaded the opponents of the Park 51 community center are not being Islamophobic when I see them calling for the removal of *all* religious institutions within two blocks (or whatever) of the former WTC properties. There are at least two churches that are closer than Park51 will be.
As it is, opponents of Park51 such as Newt Gingrich and Glenn Beck manifestly have difficulty distinguishing their friends from their enemies. Al Qaeda, the guys who crashed the jets into the WTC on 9/11—the ones who consider themselves at war with the USA and ignore the Geneva Convention by targeting civilians—are bad guys. The Taliban—the ones who consider modernity, individual liberty, equality for women, and tolerance of all religions inimical to moral living—are also bad guys (not because of their beliefs but because of their attempts to impose them on others, not to mention their harboring of Al Qaeda).
The good guys include those such as Shaykh-ul-Islam Prof. Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri—author of the 500-page anti-terrorism fatwa—and guys such as Cordoba project leader Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf—whom the State Department is flying to the Middle East to promote America by telling audiences what it’s like to practice Islam under our regime of religious freedom and equality. The good guys include the vast majority of American Muslims—one of the fastest growing Islamic communities on Earth—who by-and-large are here for the same reason we all are: a better life and more opportunities for their children.
In case you missed it, on 9/11 the bad guys killed a bunch of these good guys, along with the rest of us Americans (partial list of Muslim 9/11 victims):
* Samad Afridi
* Ashraf Ahmad
* Shabbir Ahmad (45 years old; Windows on the World; leaves wife and 3 children)
* Umar Ahmad
* Azam Ahsan
* Ahmed Ali
* Tariq Amanullah (40 years old; Fiduciary Trust Co.; ICNA website team member; leaves wife and 2 children)
* Touri Bolourchi (69 years old; United Airlines #175; a retired nurse from Tehran)
* Salauddin Ahmad Chaudhury
* Abdul K. Chowdhury (30 years old; Cantor Fitzgerald)
* Mohammad S. Chowdhury (39 years old; Windows on the World; leaves wife and child born 2 days after the attack)
* Jamal Legesse Desantis
* Ramzi Attallah Douani (35 years old; Marsh & McLennan)
* SaleemUllah Farooqi
* Syed Fatha (54 years old; Pitney Bowes)
* Osman Gani
* Mohammad Hamdani (50 years old)
* Salman Hamdani (NYPD Cadet)
* Aisha Harris (21 years old; General Telecom)
* Shakila Hoque (Marsh & McLennan)
* Nabid Hossain
* Shahzad Hussain
* Talat Hussain
* Mohammad Shah Jahan (Marsh & McLennan)
* Yasmeen Jamal
* Mohammed Jawarta (MAS security)
* Arslan Khan Khakwani
* Asim Khan
* Ataullah Khan
* Ayub Khan
* Qasim Ali Khan
* Sarah Khan (32 years old; Cantor Fitzgerald)
* Taimour Khan (29 years old; Karr Futures)
* Yasmeen Khan
* Zahida Khan
* Badruddin Lakhani
* Omar Malick
* Nurul Hoque Miah (36 years old)
* Mubarak Mohammad (23 years old)
* Boyie Mohammed (Carr Futures)
* Raza Mujtaba
* Omar Namoos
* Mujeb Qazi
* Tarranum Rahim
* Ehtesham U. Raja (28 years old)
* Ameenia Rasool (33 years old)
* Naveed Rehman
* Yusuf Saad
* Rahma Salie & unborn child (28 years old; American Airlines #11; wife of Michael Theodoridis; 7 months pregnant)
* Shoman Samad
* Asad Samir
* Khalid Shahid (25 years old; Cantor Fitzgerald; engaged to be married in November)
* Mohammed Shajahan (44 years old; Marsh & McLennan)
* Naseema Simjee (Franklin Resources Inc.’s Fiduciary Trust)
* Jamil Swaati
* Sanober Syed
* Robert Elias Talhami (40 years old; Cantor Fitzgerald)
* Michael Theodoridis (32 years old; American Airlines #11; husband of Rahma Salie)
Their blood is our blood; their honor is our honor. Our common enemies would murder an American Muslim if anything even more readily than other Americans, because the very existence of such a person contradicts their contention that modernity and Islam are incompatible. The fact is that modernity and the concomitant education (even for women) and individual liberty are grave threats to the “traditional” male-dominated Islamic hierarchy precisely because they are attractive to most Muslims on the planet (as well as most other people). And because genuinely “true” Islam—back when it first started—embraced human progress and knowledge. Islamic culture as late as the 9th Century was the most advanced on Earth, contributing breathtaking mathematical, medical, literary insights; in their hearts, the troglodytes know that while they have for 1000 years succeeded in distorting and crippling Islam, ultimately they are fighting a losing battle against human nature.
Speaking of blood and honor, the heroic 9/11 first responders—including the 400 who died—put their lives on the line that day in defense of nation and our way of life. True to our principles, they did not ask anyone they were rescuing if he or she was Christian or Islamic or Jewish (as Michael Bloomberg articulately pointed out). It does these true American heroes no honor to invoke their memory in support of discriminating against a particular religion.
So, Americans of all religions should be cheering for the Cordoba House project! Not only is it the right thing to do to support freedom of religion, but it is a stick in the eye for our common enemies! They attacked us on 9/11 in the desperate hope they could incite us into a new anti-Islamic Crusade, and thus turn the Muslim-in-the-street against the West and prolong their unnatural ascendancy. If our answer is to build an American Muslim mosque in lower Manhattan it will dramatically demonstrate that when they claim Islam and modernity are incompatible, they lie! Insofar as that action contributes to welcoming Islam back into the fold and enabling Muslims everywhere to embrace education and return to form with respect to their contributions to human civilization, it will be a good thing for America, a good thing for Muslims, and a good thing for all humanity.
But if our answer is to descend to their level and discriminate against our own citizens who happen to be Muslim, then our enemies will not only have baited us into proving we are no better than Crusaders, but they will have tricked us into smiting ourselves a terrible blow against all that we hold dear and that the heroes of 9/11 died to defend.
Well…I have never slashed anyone in my life but I did live in Manhattan on and off for nearly 40 years and most of that time I carried a knife. Had I ever been attacked by drunk Republican cab driver, I would have been prepared.
Quite aside from being evil, Islamophobia is so obviously against the interests of the USA that one has to wonder if darker forces are behind this fomenting. Who would benefit from instigating a war between the USA and, say, Iran? Al Qaeda, obviously, but they lack the resources to be fomenting among clueless Americans who can’t tell their friends from their enemies except during NFL games. China, who seeks to hasten our eclipse? Banksters and their political tools, who need the dog wagged to distract everyone from their looting of the corpse of our murdered economy? Fox “News,” to pump up their ratings?
It’s as if we’re all getting our pockets picked, and at the end of the day, we’ll have neither our wallets nor our knives, and no idea whom to blame.
Aside from Muslims, that is. And maybe immigrants.