09 | March | 2011 | Robot Pirate Ninja

Yea, I know, it doesn’t make sense to me either, but that seems to be the plan.

House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King’s (R-N.Y.) hearing on “the extent of radicalization of American Muslims.” The hearing, which starts at 9:30 a.m., will feature six witnesses, including Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), the first Muslim American elected to Congress, and relatives of young American Muslims who became violently radicalized.King’s hearing has drawn fire from critics who charge that it scapegoats Muslim Americans and is a “public exercise in Islamophobia.” Proponents of the hearing, meanwhile, say that it’s appropriate for the Homeland Security Committee to investigate the roots of radicalization.

[full story]

To understand the level of hypocrisy we are talking about here…read this bit of history on Peter King…

In the 1980s, King frequently traveled to Northern Ireland to meet with IRA members.^[12] In 1982, speaking at a pro-IRA rally in Nassau County, New York, King said: “We must pledge ourselves to support those brave men and women who this very moment are carrying forth the struggle against British imperialism in the streets of Belfast and Derry.”^[12]^[18] “In 1985, he convened a press conference before the start of New York City‘s St. Patrick’s Day parade (for which he was Grand Marshal), and offered a defiant defense of the IRA: ‘As we march up the avenue and share all the joy,’ he declared, ‘let us never forget the men and women who are suffering and, most of all, the men and women who are fighting.'”^[19] Regarding the 30 years of violence during which the IRA killed over 1700 people, including over 600 civilians, King said, “”If civilians are killed in an attack on a military installation, it is certainly regrettable, but I will not morally blame the IRA for it”. King compared IRA leader Gerry Adams to George Washington and asserted that the “British government is a murder machine”. ^[20]

He called the IRA “the legitimate voice of occupied Ireland.”^[21] A Northern Irish judge ordered King ejected from the former’s courtroom, describing him as “an obvious collaborator with the IRA”.^[12] King called himself “the Ollie North of Ireland.”^[19]

^{[from the pedia]}

BTW, if you take King’s rhetoric, then find and replace “British” with “American”, you have a pretty standard set of Al Qeada complaints. The idea that only Muslims can ever be radicalized is out and out bigotry.

When it came time to make choice, however, King chose his fear of Muslim terror over his support of Christian terror.

[King] stopped supporting the IRA after being offended by Irish public opposition to the invasion of Iraq, labelling it as begrudgery rather than suspicion of and opposition to the war.^[13]

The fact that public witch hunts have historically had a tendency to legitimize radical’s complaints…well…that’s a level of thinking that goes well beyond what Rep. King and his fellow islamophobes are capable.

UPDATE: Here’s a nice summation of the major problem with King’s approach, and why this is such a shady proposition…

“It’s absolutely the right thing to do for the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee to investigate radicalization,” Ellison said. “But to say we’re going to investigate a religious minority, and a particular one, I think is the wrong course of action to take.”

[full story]

When you take a look at the cross-section of folks picked up for acts of mass violence, attempted acts of mass violence, mass violence based on b.s. rhetoric, and plans for mass violence…you find a much greater mix of people than you will at this hearing.

This is what they meant by “jobs, jobs, jobs”….making sure Republicans keeps theirs, no matter what happens.

Boosted by major electoral gains in state legislatures nationwide in the 2010 campaign, Republican lawmakers in 32 states are pushing measures that would require citizens to show a state identification or proof of citizenship to vote. Meanwhile, in New Hampshire, GOP lawmakers are proposing new limits on college students who vote in the state, potentially eliminating a key base of electoral support for Democrats in the state ahead of the upcoming presidential election.

As the Washington Post’s Peter Wallsten writes, the measures have set off a partisan battle over voting rights across the country, with Democrats accusing Republicans of trying to suppress voters, including young people and minorities, who would cast their ballots for President Obama and other Democratic candidates next year.

In New Hampshire, Republicans are pushing to end rules that allow same-day voter registration in the state, which has often provided key swing votes for candidates from all parties in the state. State GOP lawmakers are also proposing new limits on students, including a bill that would allow them to vote in college towns only if they or their parents had established permanent residency in the state.

Before you get off thinking there is some sort of legitimate, non-partisan reason to try and restrict voting rights for women, college students and minorites, you should know this…of the over 100,000,000 votes cast in 2008, 3 (three) were found to be cast fraudulently in-person (what this legislation purports to curtail).

It is merely a coincidence that this has been introduced by 32 Republican controlled legislatures. A coincidence explained here…

Some GOP lawmakers in New Hampshire have billed the measures as an attempt to crack down on voter fraud in the state–but recent remarks from the newly elected GOP state House speaker have suggested otherwise.

In a recent speech to a tea party group in the state, House Speaker William O’Brien described college voters as “foolish.” “Voting as a liberal. That’s what kids do,” he said, in remarks that were videotaped by a state Democratic Party staffer and posted on YouTube. Students, he said, lack “life experience” and “just vote their feelings.”

[full story]

That’s the top Republican in the legislature, making it obvious what this is really about.

It should also be noted that these laws do absolutely nothing to change voter perceptions about fraudulent votes.

So if, in a few years, you sit there and wonder why the percentage of Americans voting keeps going down and somehow a group that represents the economic interests of 2% of the country and social goals of 20% of the country somehow continues to control the majority of government, you know why.