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I really only understood racism – or at least I came to understand it as well as I understand it now – one day about 10 years ago while walking through Dublin, Ireland.  I was surrounded by hundreds of members of my ethnic group – Celts.  As an American, I had never been in that circumstance before.  And walking by the Post Office in Dublin, at the foot of Grafton St., I had a kind of epiphany.

Being amongst a crowd of one's own kind is very seductive!  The Europeans here all know this already, but I didn't.  I'd never felt so relaxed in a crowd before.  Doubtless some kinship toggle in my brain switched into "home" mode for the first time in my life.  And my brain liked it.

I'd always thought of racism as simply an expression of anger or resentment, so the comfort of being around people who are ethnically similar to me took me by surprise.  It's a very dangerous thing – like an addictive drug.

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I read about that too…what a shame.  Do you think it's only BenGay, or could that go for IcyHot as well? (that's what we keep in my home).

"methyl salicylate"

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Nationalism and patriotism are not the same thing.  Nationalism generally means racial or cultural pride of the sort that really began to rear its head after World War I.  Patriotism is generally meant as the more restrained sense of devotion to a state or territory that was prevalent prior to World War I, and remains dominant in places like the U.S.

I'm a dedicated patriot, but not much of a nationalist.  How can I be a nationalist when there's no ethnicity called "American"?

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I wish Anne Heche would pick a team and stick with it.

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Do the phrases " I may not agree with what you say but will fight with my last breath you right to say it" and " Innocent until proven guilty" mean anything anymore. To me they were the cornersones of American sensibility's but Alas they seem to have been swept aside by political expediency.

It's "presumed" innocent until proven guilty, and that's a limitation on the government, not on me.  I am free to reach my own conclusions.

As for defending the right of people to commit sedition or treason, whichever it is, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find a Founder who was willing to do that.

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Don't confuse treason with stupidity.

Don't worry, I won't.  Stupidity is forgivable.

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THEIR

Ristard, I spend two days trying to bait you with anti-Canadian slurs and all I get is "THEIR"?

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Well I have to disagree with you on this one. Fairness and leniency are two different things. Everyone deserves the former, only some deserve the latter.

Islam isn't a person or even an entity.  It has no rights and I have no obligations to it.

And according to that wiki entry, you 're opposing the right of some or all muslim citizens to choose the way they want to be organized and develop their laws as they see fit? Why would you do that? Internal workings of a country are none of your business as long as they don't harm you. And please don't say that they do harm you as there is no way on earth to prove that law you, as well as everyone else outside a particular country, don't have to abide to actually hurts you.

There is no right to tyranny, slavery, to treat women as livestock or torture homosexuals to death.  Sharia is wrong and should not be tolerated.

Extremism, irrationality, distortion of simple facts, lack of proper education, personal problems and bias are the enemies of humanity through the ages. It's as simple as that.

There's also evil in the world, Yaponvezos.  There are people who are driven to do evil things.  Islam gives those people a free pass, so long as they do it in the name of Allah.

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Then the use of the word "Islamist" is wrong as well as it's just a synonym to "Muslim". "Jihadist", "Jihadi" and "Radical Muslim" are more like it.

No matter how a word might be used in one part of the world or another, the meaning of a word, in its literal form, should be clear and used accordingly. Above all else it's just a matter or respecting any language of the world.

Here's the Wikipedia entry on Islamism.  I have to admit that I'm not unusually concerned with fairness to Islam.  I think it's an irredeemable death cult and hope to see it wither away.  And yes, I've read the Quran and knows lots of Muslims.

(Actually reading the Quran was a real eye-opener, and I encourage everyone to do so.  This blog post is also instructive.)

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The main difference is intent.  If you are able to prove that Michael Moore and Charlie Sheen had the intent that their movies/documentaries were to be used for Al-Qaida and the Taliban rather than just spitting out worthless conspiracy theories (as they are), then I would jump onto the "They are committing treason" bandwagon, but as it is, the burden of proof is on you to prove their intent.  Without intent there is no treason.

Michael Moore's last anti-American lie-fest is being used by the enemy to motivate its fighters, and he was so horrified by this that he went out and made another anti-American distortion, this time cozying up to Fidel Castro instead of Osama bin Laden.

Michael Moore manufactures anti-American propaganda to sell overseas, and then lives fat and happy in the United States.  I think his intent is pretty obvious: he wants to be rich and he doesn't care how many of his fellow citizens he has to throw under the bus to get there.

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