GROUNDLESS BASE FOR ISLAMAPHOBIA

Ignorance and fear of Islam are widespread in this
country, and dangerous, because they lead to tragic
mistakes (like Iraq) that are costly and destructive.
"Islam is an evil religion," said Franklin Graham, the
influential evangelist. He was blaming Islam for the
actions of a few terrorists as typical of that religion.
That is like blaming Christianity for the Crusades, or
the Inquisition, or the Hundred Years War in Europe.

Another leading preacher, Pastor John Hagee of a
16,000 member church in San Antonio, in an interview
with Terry Gross on NPR in 2006, said that all Muslims
are programmed to kill and we can never negotiate with
any of them. TG: "If you use the Bible as the basis for
policy, is there any room for compromise? And if you
use the Bible as the basis for policy, should Muslims use
the Koran as the basis for their policy, and then again,
what possible basis is there for compromise at that point?"
Pastor Hagee: "There is really no room for compromise
between radical Islam --" TG: "I'm not talking about
radical Islam. I'm just talking about Islam in
general." Hagee: "Well Islam in general -- those
who live by the Koran have a scriptural mandate to kill
Christians and Jews."

That of course is totally false: there is no such teaching
anywhere in the Koran. Read it for yourself. The Koran
tells us to "live at peace with your neighbor. Do not ini-
tiate hostilities against him. God does not like the aggres-
sor." And "Permission to fight is given only to those who
are oppressed." And "there is no compulsion in religion."

Terrorism violates the fundamental teachings of Islam
just as clearly as the use of torture violates the teachings
of Jesus. Mainstream Islam's leading authorities agree
on this point. In 2005 King Abdullah II of Jordan con-
vened in Amman a conference of 180 of the world's top
Islamic scholars and religious authorities. They repre-
sented all 17 of the different groups, sects, and "schools"
of interpretation in Islam, and together issued a fatwa
summed up by the King: "Muslims from every branch
of Islam can now assert without doubt or hesitation that
a fatwa calling for the killing of innocent civilians -- no
matter what nationality or religion: Muslim or Jew, Arab
or Israeli -- is a basic violation of the most fundamental
principles of Islam."

For a brilliant discussion of the Koran, its origin and
interpretation, and the history and teachings of Islam,
see No god but God, by Reza Aslan. He is an American
Muslim born in Iran and educated in the U. S., and a
professor of religious studies at Univ. of California at
Riverside. His book has been translated into thirteen
languages, and has been recognized by many experts
as the definitive work in English on these matters. He
points out that Muslims are often confused themselves
about what is in the Koran, and what it means, just as
many Christians don't know what the Bible actually says.

In the case of Islam, the hadith (oral sayings and tra-
dition) remembered from speeches and conversations
of Muhammud and written down later, are often mis-
takingly attributed to the Koran. Professor Aslan says
this about that: "The hadith, insofar as they addressed
issues not dealt with in the Quran, would become an
indispensable tool in the formation of Islamic law. How-
ever, in their earlier stages, the hadith were muddled
and totally unregulated, making their authenticaton
almost impossible . . . in less than two centuries after
Muhammed's death, there were already some seven
hundred thousand hadith (emphasis mine) being circu-
lated throughout Muslim lands." He adds that most of
these were fabricated by people who wanted to legiti-
mize their own particular belief or practice. It is easy to
see how almost anything can be advocated or justified
by finding a suitable quote from the "sayings" of the
Prophet.

(To be continued)

NONSENSE ABOUT HEALTH INSURANCE

Here is a letter I wrote recently to the local paper:

Jenni West writes (Mailbag, 3/25/10) that some
San Francisco restaurants add a surchare to custo-
mers' bills to cover health insurance costs for their
help. She forgot to mention that San Franciso is the
only city in the U. S. that has real universal health
care for every single citizen, and has had it since 2007.
Obamacare will now help those restaurants (and all
small business) with substantial tax relief and other
help in providing insurance for their employees. So
they won't need a surcharge to do it! Jenni's fears
that our local supermarkets will start adding a sur-
charge, even though most of them have covered their
employees for years, are probably unfounded (and
alarmist.)

In the same Mailbag, Chuck Mills "was overcome with
grief at such a major step (in health insurance) in giving
up personal freedom as well as the workings of the free
enterprise system." (Sounds like Rush or Glenn, doesn't
it? Don't feel so sad, Chuck: That mean free enterpise
system was bankrupting millions of people with way
over-priced inferior coverage and leaving millions more
unprotected. So something had to change. Was it the
right change? Beats the hell out of me! But as the edi-
torial (same day) said, we'll have to see.

As for the freedom you lost, which one specifically was
that? Was it the freedom to be turned down or can-
celled because of a pre-existing condition? Or maybe
the elimination of the life-time cap on coverage? Was
it the tendency of insurance companies to cancel poli-
cies when a serious illness shows up? Most of us are
happy to see these gone, along with vanquishing bank-
ruptcies due to illness.

I know Fox Noise has been telling you this is govern-
ment takeover of health care. That's hogwash of course,
like most of the nonsense they peddle. The insurance
companies are still in control, siphoning off $billions in
profits as always. It wouldn't be much different if the
government did run health care, becasue --hello! -- the
banks and insurance companies run the government!
This couldn't have happened without their okay. They
knew something (or someone) had to give. We all knew
that would be us! We also know that power corrupts
and great power corrupts greatly. Deal with it.

jgoodwin004@centurytel.net

BANGING ON KARZAI

The President has been in Afghanistan recently,
urging and warning that country's president to
clean up the corruption there. Obama is wasting
his time. What he is doing is like beating a dead
horse: any power K. has is derivative and extremely
limited. Karzai serves only with the permission and
backing of the warlords, and because he is the conduit
of money from the U. S. to said warlords. One of
them is his own brother, who is also on the U. S.
payroll and enrolled in the booming herion trade
as well. He is reputed to own a high-rise office
building in Dubai. Corruption is the way of life (and
death) in Afghanistan -- part of the air they breathe.
Karzai, although not known to be personally corrupt,
rides the wave of corruption there, and is helpless to
stop it. We are carrying our precious water there in an
extremely leaky bucket over a very long road indeed!