THE DAILY BLADE: Home-Grown Muslim Terrorism Discombobulates The Media
In the first-ever, nationwide survey of Muslim Americans, the Pew Research Center suggests that 26 percent of the 2.35 million Muslims in the U.S. believe there are circumstances in which suicide bombings are acceptable.
Nearly half (47 percent) think of themselves as Muslim first, American second. Among those under the age of 30, 13 percent believe suicide bombings to defend their religion are sometimes justified; 11 percent say this tactic is rarely justified; two percent say it can often be justified.
The Pew Research Center interviewed 1,050 randomly selected Muslim American adults aged 18 and older, from Jan. 24 through April 30, 2007. Half identified themselves as Sunni, 16 percent as Shiite. Sixty-five percent were foreign-born, 35 percent were born in the U.S.A. (three out of five of these are converts to Islam).
So how did the MSM report the shocking and frightening fact that there could be as many as 610,000 people living among us - the population of Charlotte, NC - who can justify terrorism against American civilians under certain circumstances?
A scan of the headlines shows that some played it straight, some downplayed the ramifications of the survey and some – bizarrely – chose to ignore the threat of homegrown terrorism altogether and focus instead on how "happy" and "assimilated" U.S. Muslims are (note the National Public Radio and Voice of America headlines; your tax dollars at work):
Just-The-Facts-Ma’am:
† CBS News (NY): Poll: 26% Of Young US Muslims OK Bombs
† CBS 42 (TX): Poll: One In Four US Muslims OK Suicide Bombs
† KTVO (MO): Some young US Muslims OK with suicide attacks
† Lone Star Times (TX): What about the enemy within?
† Los Angeles Times: Some younger US Muslims say suicide bombings could be justified
† Reuters: Poll finds some US Muslim support for suicide attacks
Burying The Lede:
† The Associated Press via York (PA) Dispatch: Poll: Most US Muslims critical of extremism, al-Qaida
† KRQE (NM): Poll: Most US Muslims reject extremism
† The Washington Post: Pew Surveys Muslims in America
† WLBT-TV (MS): Poll: American Muslims reject suicide bombings, but pockets of discontent
† Wyoming News: Most US Muslims Reject Suicide Bombings
Bizarro Land:
† BBC News (UK): Muslims 'well integrated' in US
† CBC (Prince Edward Island, Canada): Muslims in US decidedly American: study
† DetNews.com (MI): Survey: Muslims largely assimilated in US
† The Ledger (FL): American Muslims: Happy to be here
† NPR: Pew Study Sees Muslim Americans Assimilating
† Voice of America: Poll: US Muslims Feel Post-9/11 Backlash Despite Moderate Outlook
† WBIR-TV (TN): STUDY: Some American Muslims discontent
† USA Today: Poll: Muslim Americans overwhelmingly Democratic, but conservative on many issues
Editorial Note: This article was cross-posted on Free Republic, where one reader suggested that the poll results may be completely unreliable because of the Shiite (Shia) Muslim practice, al-Taqiyya:
The word "al-Taqiyya" literally means: "Concealing or disguising one's beliefs, convictions, ideas, feelings, opinions, and/or strategies at a time of eminent danger, whether now or later in time, to save oneself from physical and/or mental injury."
Some Sunnis assert that al-Taqiyya is an act of pure hypocrisy that serves to conceal the truth and reveal that which is the exact opposite (of the truth). Furthermore, according to those Sunnis, al-Taqiyya constitutes a lack of faith and trust in Allah (SWT) because the person who conceals his beliefs to spare himself from eminent danger is fearful of humans, when, in fact, he should be fearful of Allah (SWT) only. As such, this person is a coward.
In the poll, 16 percent of the respondents were Shiite. It is possible that all of them – not just those under the age of 30 - believe that suicide bombings are permissible under certain circumstances, and told the polltaker the reverse. It is also reasonable to assume that some of the 50 percent who are Sunni – probably those who are less devout – also practice al-Taqiyya, which is normally frowned upon by Sunnis.
And such "dissimulation" would skew the results of other questions as well – whether the respondent considers himself an American first or a Muslim first, whether his views of al Qaeda are favorable or unfavorable, and so on.
Al-Taqiyya may explain why "moderate" Muslims may condemn terrorism and beheadings, but do little to stop these Islamofascist practices.
Illegal Immigration Discombobulates Environmentalists: Part II
Hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants tramping through fragile ecosystems and wildlife refuges discarding hundreds of thousands of tons of trash have caused incalculable environmental damage in Arizona’s Sonoran desert and the Rio Grande Valley. Yet, for reasons ranging from fear of alienating lefty donors to concerns over cutting off animal migration routes, environmentalists are opposed to border control measures.
The Associated Press reports that environmentalists who have acquired and preserved 90,000 riverfront acres of Texas scrub and forest in the Rio Grande Valley over the past 30 years object to Department of Homeland Security’s plans to erect 70 miles of fencing on wildlife refuges along the border with Mexico:
[T]hey fear the hundreds of miles of border fences will undo their work and kill some land animals by cutting them off from the Rio Grande, the only source of fresh water.
A fence could also prevent the ocelots and other animals from swimming across the water to mate with partners on the other side. …
Homeland Security spokesman Russ Knocke said environmental concerns will be taken into account in the final decisions. But Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff has used his authority to waive environmental regulations for security reasons in other states, and Knocke said he would do so in the Rio Grande Valley if necessary. …
The refuges show signs of immigrant activity - food wrappers and water jugs, discarded wet clothing, the plastic bags used to carry a change of clothing across the river. Similar evidence is found up and down the river, despite the presence of Border Patrol agents and the sensors and cameras that make up the current "virtual" fence.
One environmental impact study suggests that the actual damage caused by illegal immigration is far worse than the hypothetical harm fencing could cause.
Adult Skin Cells Can Regenerate Hair Follicles
Breakthrough research by scientists at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine demonstrates for the first time that skin can regenerate hair follicles by triggering genes active only in developing embryos. In a study involving adult mice, the scientists found that as wounded skin heals, cells have greater plasticity. By applying wnts - proteins involved in hair-follicle development - into open wounds, the scientists were able to generate hair follicles from non-hair-follicle stem cells and grow new hair. The wnt-treated skin also healed with less scarring. These findings can help shed light on baldness, wound healing, tissue regeneration and stem cell function.
Meet Susan Seligson
Curvy women who live or work in the New York tri-state area are invited to meet author Susan Seligson (see, "What It’s Like To Have Big Boobs") on Thursday, May 24, from 5:30 to 7:00 pm, at La Petite Coquette (51 University Place at 10th St. in New York). The event is free; wine and refreshments will be served. Anyone who purchases a copy of her book, "Stacked: A 32DDD Reports From The Front," will get a 10 percent discount on all lingerie.
Before you go read this article on how to buy a bra, which caught Washington Post media critic Howard Kurtz’s eye, for some reason.
Update: At the book signing/lingerie party for "Stacked," The Stiletto met author Susan Seligson and can report that she’s smart, funny, warm, has a trim figure and – yes – big boobs. This is a woman who won the genetic lottery, folks. The Stiletto also took advantage of the staff expertise at La Petite Coquette and found out that like most women, she was wearing the wrong sized bra. Turns out The Stiletto is a 36D, not a 38D and it’s amazing what a difference going down one band size makes! How would you like to look as though you lost five pounds and gained a couple of inches of length in your torso? That’s what wearing the right sized bra can do. Thanks, Barbara!
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