Al-Queda re-releases Hysteria under new label (BinLaden Records)

John Nichols of NPR.ORG wrote an interesting if not outlandish opinion about the Ft. Hood shootings. The article is titled “The Nation: Ft. Hood horror invokes Islamaphopia” . http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120161052. Islamaphobia? I thought that was an album from 80’s metal band def Lepard, no wait that was “Pyromania”. Anyways, the article is entertaining, if not far-fetched. According to Nichols, because the shooter Maj. Nadal Malik Hassan is Muslim, there was a predictable outbreak of prejudice against any and all Muslims. Nichols quotes a few Imams, or Muslims religious leaders, who all said the right things such as the actions of Hassan do not reflect the feelings of the majority of Muslims who reject this type of violence. I do not question their sincerity but their response doesn’t make Mr. Nichol’s point.

Nichols mistakenly believes Americans are in a rush to judgment by lumping Hassan in with all Muslims. I think most people make the rational analysis that currently, the only major religion calling for the death of Americans happens to be certain Middle Eastern terrorists, all who are practicing Muslims. That doesn’t make all Muslims bad, only the ones who have declared a Jihad (Holy war) against this country. In an effort of fairness if the Pope ever declares a Jihad on America, I suggest US Customs cancel his Visa and have the CIA and FBI give him a closer look as well. Maybe they’ll do a better job on him that they did on Hassan.

This issue here is really about religious zealotry, not a class or group of people. Muslim extremists are in the same class as White supremacists’ who claim their race is a master race and that everyone else is inferior. The common thread among all zealots is that they belong to a group that is superior which makes everyone else inferior. The goal then becomes for the superior group to wipe out the inferiors. Some examples throughout history would be the Nazis, the Spanish Inquisition, the Bosnian War, etc…

The real issue with this story is how the federal government dropped the ball on Hassan’s actions prior to the killings. It is well documented that Hassan’s peers and supervisors informed his chain of command about Hassan’s anti-American rants and they responded by doing nothing. Also, I would think that any uniformed officer who gets investigated by the CIA or FBI for terroristic activities would have been put through the administrative ringer by the Armed Forces since that person would be in a position to harm troops that might be in vulnerable positions.

So how can I tie in an 80’s hair metal band to a national news story? To quote Def Lepard’s song “Billy’s got a gun” from the Pyromania album: “…Billy’s got a gun….got evil in his eyes, got a reasons to despise, there’s danger in the air..” Told you Mr. Nichols confused Islamaphobia with Def Lepard.

I Can't Believe It's Justice

John A.M. blog had a recent post titled “Is the justice System Fair?” http://ournationalgovernment.blogspot.com/ Generally speaking, no it isn’t. Convicted criminals rarely get what they deserve. When one actually gets sentenced, you can take their sentence and divide by 3 and that’s the time they will end up serving assuming they don’t get paroled earlier. There aren’t enough bed spaces to hold all the convicts that should be incarcerated, so the prisons turn into revolving doors as the State attempts to maintain the appropriate balance of garbage in/garbage out.

Specifically speaking about the Yogurt shop murders, I would like to point out some things:

1. For the time being, Springsteen and Scott both got away with murder. A careful examination from District Attorney Lehmburg’s statement is that they have dropped charges at this time, not forever. She said “I remain confident that both Robert Springsteen and Michael Scott are responsible for the deaths at the Yogurt Shop but it would not be prudent to risk a trial until we also know the nature of the involvement of this unknown male.” She’s saying she wants to find out whom that DNA belongs to because she realizes it’s going to be a sticking point with the jury.

2. DNA found on one of the teens could mean anything. For example, it could mean she had willing sex with a known partner prior to entering the yogurt shop. It could also mean that an unknown suspect was with Springsteen and Scott during the crime. Just because the DNA is not theirs doesn’t mean they weren’t involved.

3. The fact that Springsteen and Scott knew details about the murder that only someone at the scene would know is very incriminating. Didn’t Scott confess to the whole thing??

For those wanting objective information about this case, please don’t go to Wikipedia. For one thing, Hector Polanco didn’t force confessions from Springsteen or Scott. He coerced them from a couple of Mexican nationals who later recanted their confession. Also, he wasn’t fired for his involvement in this case. He worked for many years at APD afterwards and got a fat, healthy retirement package. The Austin Chronicle mentions his retirement in this article http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Issue/story?oid=oid%3A82897 Oh yes; he also sued the City on an unrelated discrimination case and won about $300,000. I’m sure he’s somewhere on a sandy beach knocking backing cold ones laughing at the whole thing. I’m not saying its right, I’m just sayin’….

Also, I wouldn’t consider some of thee Wikipedia’s references as exactly unbiased, especially the Texas Justice external link, whose website was designed by the defendant’s wife. I’m not saying Wiki is all wrong, but if they got the part about Polanco getting fired wrong, what else is incorrect information?

One thing I do agree with you is that the families of these young girls are suffering and that is a shame. The police investigators assigned to the case succumbed to immense public pressure and some of them acted shamefully which tainted a good portion of this investigation. Most juries would be justified in casting a wary eye at the police after some of the shenanigans they pulled. Springsteen and Scott are guilty as sin. Now that they're free, maybe they can team up with O.J. and look for the real killers.