THE OTHER SHOE DROPS: Turning back the tide of information overload with a digest of the latest developments in news conservatives need to pay attention to:

† “Sudden Jihad Syndrome”: A study by researchers at the Parnassia Psychiatric Institute in The Hague published in the December issue of The American Journal of Psychiatry may provide the scientific underpinnings for Daniel Pipes' “Sudden jihad syndrome” theory. Reviewing psychiatric records on patients between the ages of 15 to 54, researchers determined that there is an inverse relationship between the incidence of psychotic disorders and a person’s age when (s)he immigrated to Holland, The New York Times reports:

In four ethnic groups — people from Suriname, the Netherlands Antilles, Turkey and Morocco — the risk of psychosis was most elevated among those who immigrated before age 4. There was no association of psychosis with age among immigrants from Western countries.

There are nearly one million Muslims in the Netherlands. The largest group is from Turkey (358,000, or 40.5 percent), the second largest is from Morocco (315,000, or 35.6 percent) and the third largest is from Suriname (70,000, or 7.9 percent). FYI, Suriname's population is 20 percent Muslim, the highest percentage of Muslims of any country in the Western hemisphere.

This study raises the possibility that immigration at a young age from a Muslim-majority country or province may be a factor in developing a mental illness that raises the risk of sudden jihad syndrome or susceptibility to radicalization, and homegrown terror experts in Western countries should examine whether there is a correlation.   

† Multiculturalism: Jihad By Other Means: The U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld a lower court injunction prohibiting enforcement of State Question 755, an OK ballot initiative that would have amended the state Constitution to banned the incorporation of Sharia and other international law into court proceedings in the state (related article, penultimate item on the page).  The initiative, which was supported by 70 percent of voters in the state, was challenged by Muneer Awad, executive director of the OK chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) on the grounds that it violated his rights under the establishment and free-exercise clauses of the First Amendment, The National Law Journal reports:

Specifically, Awad complained that enforcement of State Question 755 would result in his being stigmatized for his faith; would inhibit his ability to practice Islam; and would limit his access to Oklahoma courts, particularly regarding enforcement of his last will and testament. …

"Appellants argue that the balance weighs in their favor because Oklahoma voters have a strong interest in having their politically expressed will enacted, a will manifested by a large margin at the polls," Judge Scott Matheson wrote. "But when the law that voters wish to enact is likely unconstitutional, their interests do not outweigh Mr. Awad's in having his constitutional rights protected."

Oklahoma Attorney General E. Scott Pruitt, who argued that Oklahoma had a "compelling interest" in deciding what law is applied in Oklahoma courts, issued a statement soon following the ruling suggesting that the state would not seek a rehearing.

"With the decision by the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold a temporary stay of State Question 755, the case will return to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Oklahoma to determine its constitutionality," he said. "My office will continue to defend the state in this matter and proceed with the merits of the case."

The appeal court did not address the merits of Awad's constitutional challenge.

Commenting on the unfortunate ruling, The Washington Times notes that specifically mentioning Sharia law “gave Muslim activists a wedge to take the case to court, claiming they were being unfairly discriminated against”:

The amendment then fell under strict scrutiny standards that it could have avoided had it not singled out Islam. True, there is no pressing movement to read Catholic canon law into the American legal corpus or to insist that all readings of the law be "Mosaic compliant," but focusing on Islam was a tactical error, calling attention to the obvious.

The appeals court addressed this matter as an establishment clause case. The decision notes that Mr. Awad had standing to sue because he "suffers a form of 'personal and unwelcome contact' with an amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution that would target his religion for disfavored treatment." This is ironic because proponents of basing American legal decisions on the Koran seek a form of favorable bias that the Oklahoma amendment sought to forestall. Mixed-up thinking on this issue was on display in September 2010 when Supreme Court Associate Justice Stephen G. Breyer mused on "Good Morning America" that the fact that mobs of foreign extremists riot over people burning the Koran should force American jurists to consider limits on free expression in the United States [emphasis, The Stiletto].

† When environmental values collide: Back in the 1970s, the tiny snail darter held up construction of a dam for six years. Now, the Interior Department’s Fish and Wildlife Service is considering issuing a “take” permit to West Butte Wind Power LLC. The permit would allow up to three protected golden eagles to be hacked to pieces by the blades of wind turbines over a five-year period as long as the wind farm developer contributes to a breed program to keep their population stable, MSNBC.com reports:

It’s the first eagle “take permit” application to be received and acted on by U.S. Fish and Wildlife under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act. (“Take” means to kill, harass or disturb the birds, their nests or their eggs.)

The legislation, enacted in 1940, prohibits anyone from killing or disturbing any bald or golden eagles without a permit from the Interior Department.

Regulations adopted in 2009 enabled the agency to authorize, for the first time, the “take” of eagles for activities that are otherwise lawful but that result in either disturbance or death. …

“This is a type of project where it’s appropriate for them to issue this kind of permit,” said Liz Nysson, energy policy coordinator with the Oregon Natural Desert Association She noted that only a small number of golden eagles are believed to be in and around the area where the wind turbines will be built.

Hydroelectric energy is not politically correct, so it took an act of Congress to exempt the Tellico Dam from the Endangered Species Act. But environmental groups are fine with blowing off golden eagles for wind power.

† So Easy, A Conservative Can Do It: Part III: Washington Post pundit Chris Cillizza reports that “a new Pew Research Center poll suggests that most voters have little idea about even the most basic facts regarding the backgrounds of the men seeking the Republican presidential nomination this year.” But that’s not the whole story. Republicans were better informed than Democrats:

Pew asked registered voters four questions: 1) “Which candidate served as the speaker of the House” 2) “Mitt Romney was the governor of ___” 3) “After Iowa and New Hampshire, the next primary is in ____” 4) “Which GOP candidate opposes U.S. involvement in Afghanistan” …

Just 43 percent of all registered voters — these people are actually registered to vote — got at least three of those questions right. Forty eight percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning voters got three right — not surprising given that the questions were GOP-focused — while 41 percent of Democrats and Democratic leaning independents knew the answers to at least three questions. …

The average voter is a low-information decider, making his or her choices about candidates based on often times incomplete or just plain wrong facts.

The analysis of political races — from the presidential race on down — often assumes a level of involvement and information that the average voter simply lacks.

The Stiletto does not agree with Cillizza that “the questions were GOP-focused”:

‡ The Speaker of the House is a position of national prominence and the partisan affiliation of the person holding that office should not matter, given how often his or her name is in the news;

‡ IA, NH and SC traditionally hold the first three nominating contests for both parties, so it should not matter that Dems don’t have to participate in caucuses or primaries this time around; and

‡ Since a plethora of articles and broadcast news reports on ObamaCare have likened it to then-MA Gov. Mitt Romney’s universal healthcare plan, Dems should have known the answer to that question as well.

On the other hand, seeing as how few people pay much attention to Ron Paul, only that last question qualifies as a stumper.

Thus, Cillizza’s conclusion holds true for Dems more so than for Repubs (related article, second item on the page). In The Stiletto’s experience, voters who were allowed to submit questions for the candidates to answer at the Republican debates were very informed and asked incisive questions (second item on the page).

† TSA (Thieving Security Agent): Former John F. Kennedy Airport –based Transportation Security Administration agents Coumar Persad and Davon Webb have been sentenced to six months jail and five years' probation after pleading guiltyto grand larceny, obstructing governmental administration and official misconduct for stealing $40,000 in cash from a checked bag, The Daily Mail (London) reports:

Prosecutors said Persad X-rayed a piece of baggage on January 30 last year and noticed money inside. He then phoned Webb, who was in a baggage belt area, to tell him about the discovery.

Authorities said Webb showed up and marked the bag with tape. Persad then intercepted it in another handling area, and removed cash from the bag.

The pair later met in the bathroom to divide the money and hide it in their clothing.

† Not your father's (or your) sex education: Pauline Davis, 45, is suing her former employer, J&J Snack Foods plant in Moosic, PA, for firing her after she wore a prosthetic penis to work as part of her preparation for gender re-assignment surgery, Philadelphia Daily News reports:

She confided in several co-workers about the device, and someone told management, according to the complaint.

She subsequently was fired from her job as a packer/line inspector. Her termination, she claims, was discriminatory because a male co-worker who wore female clothing and prostheses and took hormone treatments was not fired nor disciplined.

Further, argued her Bucks County-based attorney, Lalena J. Turchi, her fake penis was concealed and "in no way interfered with her ability to do her job."

Davis wants back pay, damages for suffering and humiliation and punitive damages.

† John Edwards: The King Of Heels now and forever: Back when he was John Kerry’s running mate, John Edwards was derided as the “Breck Girl” because of his perfectly – and expensively – coiffed locks. Now, Time magazine is likening him to rotting animal flesh:

John Edwards is the putrefied meat of the American political system – literally, as far as your brain is concerned. Think about Edwards for a moment – the perfect hair, the honey voice, the oleaginous smile. Your lip curled ever so slightly, didn't it? A teensy bit of bile may have risen in your throat. The lip curl is a threat display, the bile is an attempt to purge a toxin. Both were triggered at least partly by your prefrontal cortex and your temporal lobes – and both would have also occurred if you'd smelled a piece of food gone bad.

Edwards, the one-time North Carolina senator and serial presidential candidate, was back in the news last week, as he motioned for another postponement of his campaign finance trial, set to begin Jan. 30 on charges that he illegally used campaign donations to cover up his affair with a staffer – with whom he later had a child. While his wife was dying of cancer. …

There are a lot of things that make the ex-senator the pariah he is, and the brain is indeed one of biggest players. It was only in the last decade or so, with the widespread use of functional magnetic imaging (fMRI), that neurologists discovered the overlapping circuitry that governs morality and disgust. …

"There is literal disgust and moral disgust, and the two overlap," says Jonathan Haidt, professor of psychology at the University of Virginia. "Betrayal, hypocrisy, certain kinds of baseness trigger the brain's moral response."

Editorial Note: We now know that the reason Edwards wants a delay in his trial is because his cardiologist says he has a life-threatening heart condition that will require surgery next month.