First Hate Crime After Fort Hood by a Marine Reservist

Abstracting enemies...."He's a terrorist" is taught by the military, where everyone is the enemy....terrorist....when the real terrorists is our state terrorist/Empire foreign policies

Really? Is that what they teach in the military? Why don't you enlighten us with the lessons you learned while you, personally, were in the military.

NA224:

I am an army brat, with two military fathers, and what I learned about the military and its criminal, fascist foreign policies, had everything to do with ideological pollutions, "abstracting the enemy" where every "Gook" was a communist, and every Muslim was a "terrorist"....which accounts for the fact that nearly 70 percent of the clueless Americans, who got their news from corporate cheerleading, warmongering, especially Fox News, assumed that Iraq attacked us on 911....completely wrong......WHAT THE HELL DOES BEING IN THE MILITARY HAVE TO DO WITH CONSCIENCE, MORALITY, INTELLIGENCE.......PLEASE EXPLAIN....YOUR CHEERLEADING NONSENSE???

Good for you Eric. As a former Army officer who spent two years in Iraq, I can tell you with certainty that we do not teach that every Muslim is a terrorist. We do not teach that every Muslim is the enemy. If you spent two years in Iraq or Afghanistan, you would understand that. The truth of the matter is that our military men and women spend far more time doing things like rebuilding roads, schools, and infrastructure than they do in armed combat. Unfortunately, you won't hear about most of this on the news because it is not sensational enough to garner headlines. However, if you simply rely on the news and fail to do any independent research before you make the types of wild claims you made in your post, then you are one of the "70 percent of the clueless Americans" to whom you refer, which is an appropriate - if somewhat ironic - illustration of the very point you were trying to make.

WHAT THE HELL DOES BEING IN THE MILITARY HAVE TO DO WITH CONSCIENCE, MORALITY, INTELLIGENCE

Being in the military has nothing to do with any of these things. That is not why I asked you the question. I asked the question because you made the following assertion:

Abstracting enemies...."He's a terrorist" is taught by the military, where everyone is the enemy....terrorist

If you have not actually served in the military during either of our current conflicts, then you have no basis of knowledge with which to support such a statement (which is patently untrue). This is directly in line with virtually every one of your posts in both this as well as other articles; you make wild claims without any factual support for any of your arguments, and you present your personal beliefs and assumptions as "truth." The truth is, the military simply does not teach that every Muslim is a terrorist and, hence, an enemy, and it is completely inaccurate to impute the actions of one dumb Marine reservist to the entire military. That is as ignorant as saying that every Muslim is a terrorist.

PLEASE EXPLAIN....YOUR CHEERLEADING NONSENSE???

This has absolutely nothing to do with "cheerleading," as you put it. This has to do with your continued insistence on making baseless assertions and presenting them as the truth. Simply put, I asked you about what you personally learned in the military because it was clear that you have never actually personally served and, therefore, have absolutely no basis to present as fact what is "taught" within the military. As a result, your previous post is nothing other than a presentation of your personal beliefs, grounded in wild assumption as opposed to facts or reality.

I expect that you will respond to this post with more of your usual ranting, and spewing of conclusory labels in support of your "point." This is what I have come to expect from your postings on this forum. However, I would challenge you to support your assertion that the military "teaches" that all Muslims are terrorists with actual facts or evidence before you make such a claim.

In order to kill as a soldier must do for his country, his comrades, and himself, we have learned to dehumanize the enemy. that in part is what allows a soldier to do his job and then return to his/her home and try to "get on with life" It was especially dangerous in vietnam to consider the enemy in any other light other than a gook, as many a dead soldier learned.

Eric,

I am an army brat, with two military fathers

I was a military brat too, but what I learned by joining was that being a brat is nothing, but being a brat.

Until you learn first hand, it is nothing more then hear-say and something you will never truely know.

NA224

wihout condoning what was done by this guy in ft. hood (rather condeming), I do have a question as to why (as it came out in the news) he was riducled in the military by others for being a muslim. Are there any rules and procedures to report such an abuse in the military ? and a subsequent procedure for appropriate action.

I have heard many cases of people suffering abusive slurs, taunting comments and even threats in public life because they looked like being muslism. In fact one of the convience store owner got shot in AZ a few years ago because he had a beard (looked like a muslim)and he was not even a muslim but a sikh.

norsam,

Are there any rules and procedures to report such an abuse in the military ? and a subsequent procedure for appropriate action.

I can answer that from an US Air Force perspective, NA224 will need to do it from an Army perspective. Each Service has its own regulations.

When I served, it was against the regulation to do this. It was considered Prejudicial to good order and conduct unbecoming.

There were procedures in place to deal with it and they dealt with it quite harshly, depending on the case. It could have been anything form mandatory classes on sensitivity to actual time in jail.

BTW, Eric,

and what I learned about the military and its criminal, fascist foreign policies,

The military does not make foreign policy. I have no idea why you would think that they do.

Thnks for the info USAF. I can understand most military types are "take the orders and go" irrespective of what the orders relate to or the cosequencies, irrespective of any country. There are a few conciousous objectors everywhere.

norsam,

I can understand most military types are "take the orders and go" irrespective of what the orders relate to or the cosequencies, irrespective of any country.

Actually, I was trained as to what orders are legal and what orders aren't. Then, they taught us that we had an obligation (both morally and legally) to question orders that were not legal orders.

I can agree with that if you are talking about Geneva Rules which are applied universally.

Do they teach anything about world religions, cultures and Islam in the military - also are the code of conduct (moral ethical) weighed in terms of religious moral teachings ?

I am still surprised despite all this there are case of abuse in military (abu graib being one - publisized and a recent confession by a British soldier of abuse on a prisinor by others that lead to his death).

Do they teach anything about world religions, cultures and Islam in the military - also are the code of conduct (moral ethical) weighed in terms of religious moral teachings ?

Actually, no. That might violate the Separation of Church and State. They do teach about honor, integrity, and duty and that is the center piece of morality for the military.

They did teach about tolerance and accepting others.

Cultural teachings were taught on a case by case basis. For example, pointing in Turkey is considered the same as flipping someone off (F.U.).

I am still surprised despite all this there are case of abuse in military (abu graib being one - publisized and a recent confession by a British soldier of abuse on a prisinor by others that lead to his death).

You and me too. I am sure that many veterans wondered how this ever happened. IMHO, those involved may have questioned it, but were concerned about taking it further up the chain of command.

The training I had, said that you did not treat prisoners that way. The idea was that if you treated them as nice as possible, they would concede that the enemy (US) wasn't as bad as they had been lead to believe. It was a part of winning hearts and minds.

norsam,

The policies described by USAF Vet-923294 are virtually identical as the Army policies. Discrimination or harrassment of a soldier or officer because of his or her race, religion, or gender is not tolerated, and every commander I have ever known takes reports of such conduct very seriously. This type of conduct very quickly leads to a breakdown in discipline, which can be extremely detrimental to the effectiveness of the unit.

I am still surprised despite all this there are case of abuse in military (abu graib being one - publisized and a recent confession by a British soldier of abuse on a prisinor by others that lead to his death).

Despite all of the training soldiers receive regarding proper treatment of prisoners, you will always have a couple of stupid individuals who refuse to follow the rules. Unfortunately, the acts of a few reflect poorly on the entire organization, regardless of the fact that the vast majority do the right thing.

It's a shame that the cry of "terrorist" has been so over-used and so identified with anyone who seems "foreign" that this kind of thing can happen. We need to tone down the rhetoric and quit using fear as a political weapon.

redsfan

Don't be surprised to be hit with a barrage of 'terrorist sympathizer' and 'liberal coward' labels.... ;)

Rationality isn't very well accepted by some......

I have never seen SO many Muslim supporters that claim its SOMEONE else doing these crimes in the name of their religion....I do not condone this man, but he SHOULD have been a bit more diligent in noticing the man was GREEK, afore going off the deep end.
Human nature being what it is, likely a knee jerk reaction to the events that occurred, but he was absolutely WRONG, in attempting to falsely arrest a person, by lying about being robbed.

He should be facing charges.

Is it a hate crime... I do not think so.
More an act of fear, however unsubstantiated or unfounded.

he SHOULD have been a bit more diligent in noticing the man was GREEK, afore going off the deep end.

Right. Because being Greek makes him a good guy, but being non-Greek would have made him a terrorist.

but he was absolutely WRONG, in attempting to falsely arrest a person,

Falsely arrest my ass. He hit the guy with a tire iron. This idiot was just out to bash a Muslim, and the guy turned out to be not Muslim.

I have never seen SO many Muslim supporters that claim its SOMEONE else doing these crimes in the name of their religion.

You mean beating old Greek priests over the head because of insane bigotry?

Britlassy, and suppose the priest had turned out to be a Muslim lost and asking for directions? Would the Marine have then been perfectly justified?

Falsely arrest my ass. He hit the guy with a tire iron.

Don't you want to wait for the facts, first? Last I heard, you still hadn't made up your mind on the Fort Hood murders and attempted murders of fifty people.

Why, for example, is "marine reservist" significant here? Was the man in uniform? Did he shout marine slogans?

Since "hate crime" is brought up, how does "hate crime" PREVENT incidents like this? Should there be less consequences if someone hits you with a tire iron, simply because he doesn't like your haircut, or because he likes your watch? Does a man who thinks he is chasing a terrorist stop and consider that catching terrorists might be a hate crime?

Of course not.

In fact, the only motive evident is that he thought he was catching a terrorist. That gives the perpetrator's lawyer ample ammunition for a mental capacity defense, if not insanity.

Of course, the murderer of 13 soldiers at Ft Hood could claim insanity too. That's his best hope. Demonstrate that he was brought up reading the Koran, was a devout Muslim, and show, easily, how that influences tens of thousands of people to kill in the defense of Islam. Any newspaper would suffice for proof.

Slam dunk, I would think. Off to an asylum for a couple of years, until and if the person could overcome his indoctrination. With drug therapy, it might be possible. Who knows?

I think Marine reservist is very important here. For one thing, I would hope that a trained serviceman would have more control over his raw emotions than was demonstrated here. I think that his military connections are pertinent if this is a response to Ft. Hood. And if he is just plain nuts, then maybe it would behoove the Marines to do mental evaluations on all their personnel. No telling how many nutjobs are lurking in our military, is there?

It could be that he has a short fuse? A bully? An attitude? Anger issues? Whatever the reason - he was wrong. Period.

In 2007, Bruce was accused of pushing a tow truck driver in the back and chest when his Jaguar was about to be towed, records show. Bruce told police the truck driver had grabbed him to stop him getting in his car.

Bruce pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery, records show. Adjudication was withheld.

You think this is pertinent...

You would not be called upon as a witness, rest assured.

maybe it would behoove the Marines to do mental evaluations on all their personnel.

It amazes me that there are so few incidents of bumps to the head being inflicted, out of the tens of millions of service persons, serving or who have served. But here, "a marine reservist," apparently the only background that matters, it becomes apparent that the writer's motives and mental state are more obvious problems than the "marine reservist's."

So lets do mental evaluations of writers, instead.

Last time I checked "trained killer" was not high on the list of requirements as a writer. The Ft. Hood perp was military. This guy is military and they are linking his berserk behavior to Fr. Hood. Connect the dots, judge.

I connect the dots. From a nutty writer finding that one of thousands of assaults across the country in the last 24 yours involved a nut who attacked a Greek priest as an Arab terrorist, significant, somehow, because the perp was one of fifty million people in the service, or who have been in the service.

It is about as useful in predicting or narrowing likely cause as would be knowing his ancestors originated in Africa a few million years ago.

Yeah, right. Let's see how it plays out. At this point it appears that the Ft. Hood atrocity was religion-based and this deplorable incident mistaken-religion-based revenge. If you do not think there is a connection, that's fine. I didn't want to think the worst (what appears to be the case) about Ft. Hood. But it seems from what we are being told, that the worst is true. It is unsettling to think we have enemy inflitrators in our military. It is also unsettling to think there are wackos serving. This discussion is assuming there is a connection between the two incidents.

It's LIKELY that there is a connection. Insignificant, however is the a military connection, even if the nut who wrote this found that it makes perfect sense to conclude that military personnel, past or present, think that Greek priests are Arab terrorists.

Personnally, I would find out what the perp had been drinking.

How can a Greek priest be an Arab terrorist. We generally think of Arab terrorists to be Muslim and Arab. Wouldn't a Greek priest be an Orthodox terrorist of the Christian persuasion? This is getting way too confusing. And I hope you aren't suggesting that drinking is an excuse?

It just doesn't seem many of the posters actually READ the entire article.........

Bruce chased the priest for three blocks, “and even called 911 to say that an Arabic man tried to rob him.” According to a news release:
“During the chase, the suspect called 911 and claimed an Arabic male attempted to rob him and he was going to take him into custody,” a Tampa Police Department news release states. “When officers arrived, the suspect claimed the man was a terrorist.”

I do not condone this man, but he SHOULD have been a bit more diligent in noticing the man was GREEK, afore going off the deep end.
Human nature being what it is, likely a knee jerk reaction to the events that occurred, but he(THE MARINE) was absolutely WRONG, in attempting to falsely arrest a person(THE GREEK PRIEST), by lying about being robbed.

The Marine attacked this man(Greek Priest) thought he was Arab and a terrorist, and in the meantime, he called 911 and reported FALSELY that the Priest had attempted to Rob Him(the Marine)

I have never seen SO many Muslim supporters that claim its SOMEONE else doing these crimes in the name of their religion.

I said this with the intent that because of all the anti-Muslim fervor, the supporters of Muslims,([particularly referring to the Ft Hood shootings) seemingly to be overwhelmingly willing to point the finger of blame and cause elsewhere, at some other person or reason, when crimes are committed in the name of the Islamic Religion.....its the Extremists.. its not moderate Muslims, it couldn't be that they BELIEVE that killing and atrocious acts in the name of their religion is justified, yet it is supposed to be accepted, that the rest of the Muslim community is shocked.
Settle down, get the facts straight... The Marine was so wrong, for the attack, and then compounding the situation, by accusing the Priest of trying to rob him...
Where any other conclusions were drawn, I haven't a clue......

A link from the article above directs to another, more in depth article in a Tampa Bay.com site.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/publicsafety/crime/tampa-police-marine-reservist-attacked-greek-priest-he-mistook-for/1050707

Those that are seeking to make controversy over "the Suggestion" that was stated:

and suppose the priest had turned out to be a Muslim lost and asking for directions? Would the Marine have then been perfectly justified?

This didn't have any purpose but to taunt, create bigotry and bait.

It is only attempting to stir the racial cauldron.

Brit, read your own post again. The implication is that the Marine was wrong because the victim was a Greek priest. No. The Marine was wrong because the victim was a human being. (And this is assuming that the Greek priest did not chase the Marine down the street demanding directions.) It was not my purpose to taunt you, but to point out that your reasoning is strange.

Brit, read your own post again. The implication is that the Marine was wrong because the victim was a Greek priest. No. The Marine was wrong because the victim was a human being. (And this is assuming that the Greek priest did not chase the Marine down the street demanding directions.) It was not my purpose to taunt you, but to point out that your reasoning is strange.

Brit, read your own post again. The implication is that the Marine was wrong because the victim was a Greek priest. No. The Marine was wrong because the victim was a human being. (And this is assuming that the Greek priest did not chase the Marine down the street demanding directions.) It was not my purpose to taunt you, but to point out that your reasoning is strange.

So by your logic every crime should be a hate crime?

I have not read anyone here seriously saying that what this guy did is justified. I am pretty sure we can all agree that he needs to be punished for any crimes he committed. However, what people are objecting to is the hate crime label being applied so immediately, without the completion of an investigation into the incident. I would like to see the results of a full police investigation into the events leading up to the attack, and to find out his motives before putting a hate crime stamp onto this.

Definitely a hate crime...what they reap so shall they sow - congratulation's to all those who have condemned someone or anyone to the point that anyone with a brown skin and a funny accent should be fearful of visiting the USA.

Indeed - and some of the victims at Ford Hood had brown skin and were not born in this country. But the people who see someone different and cry "terrorist" or other labels will not recognize that many of our military would fit the ridiculous criteria they use for such labels. Truly tragic.

Just like after 9/11 when several Sikhs were beaten, and at least one killed, because they wear turbans. Turbans = Muslim. Except for Hindus and related beliefs.

But, what the heck, they were ferriners, and probably had swarthy skin, too!

You've just got to love aggressive ignorance...

In London after 7-7 some members of the Sikh community wore tee shirts - 'Don't freak...we are Sikh' - They knew and know 'Brown or Black' irrespective of who you are, where you come from, and what you believe, does not matter if the 'mad' pack wants to come after you.

PanhandleMike

Using hyperbolic language to generalize members of an entire religion can hardly be considered an example of 'reason'. A vast majority of Muslims wouldn't claim any of the radical terrorists who've killed people in this country, or any other for that matter.

Harboring such an attitude, as well as openly expressing it, is exactly the type of behavior that helps foster an environment where individuals will baselessly lash out at an innocent person based on a label.

It's also the same environment that has helped foster such hatred of the United States by radical muslim groups; an environment which motivates some radical muslims to kill innocent Americans.

Instead of aiding in the creation of a religious world war, why not take the high road and refrain from the usage and/or promotion of incendiary labels, especially while trying to point out how dangerous the consequences of labels can be ;)

A vast majority of Muslims wouldn't claim any of the radical terrorists who've killed people in this country, or any other for that matter.

Unfortunately, they don't disown them either, at least not in large enough numbers to be heard.

It's also the same environment that has helped foster such hatred of the United States by radical muslim groups; an environment which motivates some radical muslims to kill innocent Americans.

Much like the acts of Al Qaida against Americans (i.e. WTC '92, African Embassies, USS Cole, 9/11) have fostered hatred of radical Muslims?

Unfortunately, they don't disown them either, at least not in large enough numbers to be heard.

Actually they did....maybe you just didn't want to listen

http://groups.colgate.edu/aarislam/response.htm

Also, if I were a muslim, I would be a little concerned with expressing support for a nation that bankrolled (directly or indirectly) the same extremist regime that we are now asking everyone else to rat out and disown ;) It shouldn't be surprising that some Muslims would choose to just keep their chin down and stay out of the crossfire.

Much like the acts of Al Qaida against Americans (i.e. WTC '92, African Embassies, USS Cole, 9/11) have fostered hatred of radical Muslims?

Exactly my point. We behave in exactly the same way that we condemn someone else for behaving.

Headwear, beard, accent. Must be a terrorist, right?

Freaking idiot.

He would catch a suspicious Hippie with beard and exotic scarf if it was the sixties

I was with you right up to your last sentence. The fact that it was a Catholic priest, a Christian doesn't make this a single bit worse or any more of a crime.

The irony of your irony is that the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church was completely behind Hitler, the Vatican was adopting and supporting his beliefs against Jews right up to the end. In fact, they never renounced their own actions until just very recently. They were even bigger criminals and idiots than this guy in very much the same way.

Rick_VT post #11.1:

I was with you right up to your last sentence. The fact that it was a Catholic priest, a Christian doesn't make this a single bit worse or any more of a crime.

You have completely miscomprehended my last sentence. Obviously the irony is that the Marine Reservist Jasen D Bruce, thought that he was attacking a Muslim when in-fact; he was attacking a Catholic Priest. Which he never would have done if he had known that in the first place, that is the obvious irony that I was talking about, not that it was worse because he was a Christian, that is your miss-interpretation of my last sentence.

I am surprised that you could not comprehend that Rick, perhaps you should discern more carefully what you are reading or ask for clarification before you jump to hasty and incorrect conclusions.

As for the rest of your post, I don't know what any of that has to do with my comment and this topic, your logic is shaky and incoherent. Perhaps you should think harder before you post, that way your comments will probably be more sensable and relevant to the topic in discussion.

Hey Bright...

Perhaps if you had written in a clearer manner there wouldn't have been any misunderstanding on my part. The last part of your post was obviously an after-thought and not well integrated into the rest of your writing. And FYI, I don't typically have any reading and comprehension issues.

However, your condescending insults pretty much makes me want to just blow you off with an equally rude line like "bite me, you arrogant troll", but I won't. That would just put me at your level of slinging sloppy retorts and if you don't mind, I'll pass.

Rick_VT Post #11.3:

"Perhaps if you had written in a clearer manner there wouldn't have been any misunderstanding on my part."

No it was very clear and obvious, you just didn't comprehend it.

"The last part of your post was obviously an after-thought and not well integrated into the rest of your writing."

You can't even comprehend what I posted; and now your saying that you know what I was thinking when I was posting, what did I tell you about jumping to hasty incorrect conclusions.

"And FYI, I don't typically have any reading and comprehension issues."

"You don't typically have".......so that means this was the exception?

"However, your condescending insults pretty much makes me want to just blow you off with an equally rude line like "bite me, you arrogant troll", but I won't. That would just put me at your level of slinging sloppy retorts and if you don't mind, I'll pass."

Hold on there Missy, I did not insult you. I was honest and forthright with you and I told you the truth, "But You Can't Handle The Truth" can you Missy? It seems as though you can't even understand your own post, You do realize you contradicted yourself don't you? First you call me names and insult me, then you say you won't call me names and insult me, but you insulted me and called me names before you said that.

I offered sensible advice to help you improve yourself; and you get all huffy and angry with me? You responded to my first post by lecturing me with a nonsensical rant about the Pope - Hitler - the Vatican - the Jews... all things that had nothing to do with my post or the seed topic. You looked foolish, so I told you what you needed to hear and you took it the wrong way. You not only have reading comprehension problems but you are not secure enough in yourself to own up to your errors and to accept honest advice.

You need to calm down Missy, your over reacting and you sound a bit off and a little on the irrational side; that's why I called you Missy, because you don't sound like a calm Manly man who is in control of his emotions, you sound like an emotionally over-reactive teenage school girl.

You know Missy, your skin is very thin and you are sensitive and self important; that's a bad combination. I call a spade a spade and I say what I think, you chose to be offended. I will continue to call a spade a spade and say what I think. So I have another piece of friendly advice for you, put me on your ignore list. I will not be the least bit offended if you do, and I think it would be for the best. Your to fragile and delicate and emotionally over-reactive to speak to in an honest way. ]:-)~

I understood your first post and agreed with it.

Then I read your lame, over reactive, comments afterward. Does flying off the handle on the interent make you feel like a big boy?

and I thought brightone was a woman from the photo, but it's a he's just posing as one, and wearing her panties that are obviously in a wad and not so comfy. Ouch baby got a a rash or what?

geez.

Missy!.......what happened, you contradicted yourself again. Remember what you said?

Missy Post #11.3:

However, your condescending insults pretty much makes me want to just blow you off with an equally rude line like "bite me, you arrogant troll", but I won't. That would just put me at your level of slinging sloppy retorts and if you don't mind, I'll pass.

Then you posted this:

Missy, post #11.6,

"and I thought brightone was a woman from the photo, but it's a he's just posing as one, and wearing her panties that are obviously in a wad and not so comfy. Ouch baby got a a rash or what?"

What happened to: "but I won't. That would just put me at your level of slinging sloppy retorts and if you don't mind, I'll pass," that is an obvious contradiction Missy?

Boy, I really hit a nerve didn't I; "You can't handle the truth" you made a fool of yourself by saying one thing and then directly contradicting what you said. I gave you friendly advice, suggesting that you ignore me because you were to sensitive and insecure to be told the truth about yourself, and your latest post shows this; you were so obviously shaken up and disturbed when I spoke the truth about you that you hastily posted a rebuttal making another hasty assumption about the Brightstarone photo with out even bothering to to read the bio - section of the page.

You are so anxious to respond to me that you are now "at the level of slinging sloppy retorts" Which you unequivocally stated that you would not do, remember what you said Missy: "...and if you don't mind, I'll pass,"

Missy, you should not take yourself so seriously, take my friendly advice and ignore me, this will not do you any good. You could post all the lame insults you want it means less to me then the dirt on the souls of my shoes. Apparently though, it means a great deal to you, now see if you can let go Missy, unless I've become so important in your emotional life; then you could continue your contradictions and emotional school-girlie behaviour. It's you prerogative to continue doing this, if you don't care about embarrassing yourself furthermore then you all ready have.

You pose as a woman and yet call me "missy"? You are one sick, warped %^#%&!

Missy!.......what happened, you contradicted yourself again. Remember what you said?

Missy Post #11.3:

"However, your condescending insults pretty much makes me want to just blow you off with an equally rude line like "bite me, you arrogant troll", but I won't. That would just put me at your level of slinging sloppy retorts and if you don't mind, I'll pass."

OOPS!....... there you go again, "slinging sloppy retorts" Missy, Missy, Missy, you cannot let go can you, apparently I have become very important in you emotional life. Here I was thinking we were done and moved on, but you cannot help yourself can you Missy? You cannot bare to ignore me can you Missy?

How embarassing for you Missy.

I tell you what, if you stop acting like an emotional, over-reactive teenage school girl, I won't call you Missy anymore. How's that? ]:-)~

Ozark Mountain Sage

I sometime wonder how many people think Hilter had the right idea with his Aryan race.

Unfortunately, it seems that the "Us vs. Them" mentality has been hardwired into our DNA. Maybe it had a survival function when it was just pack vs. pack or even tribe vs. tribe; now it's a threat to us all.

Our abstract expansion and identification with a larger sense of "Us" is a fragile thing indeed.

Why do righties beat priests with tire irons?

boons Because they're there.

I beg to differ, sounds like a marine who has been following the news. It seems he took to heart the bashing of Muslims that has been going on since 9/11. It looks like maybe he followed those that would like to see all Muslims in internment camps, because supposedly we are at war with them.

The kind of environment that is being created by claiming Ft. Hood was a one-man jihad can largely be blamed. Nowhere in the news have I seen a distinction between Muslims and Jihadists and unfortunately it is well over the mental capabilities of many to distinguish between the two.

Xanthiana

Nowhere in the news have I seen a distinction between Muslims and Jihadists and unfortunately it is well over the mental capabilities of many to distinguish between the two.

You mean each and every one of one billion Muslims on this planet isn't spending every waking moment trying to figure out how to kill us because of our freedoms?!? That's not what Pat Robertson, Cal Thomas, and Faux News say!!

Uthaclena

I think you have misread the situation in terms of Pat Robertson, Carl Thomas, and Faux News (I'd say it's safe to throw abou 95% of congressional Republicans in there too). They don't think every one of the one billion muslims on this planet are spending every waking moment trying to figure out how to kill us because of our freedoms.

However, they KNOW for a fact that SOME of them are.......so they believe we should imprison everyone of them and leave them imprisoned until each Muslim can prove that they don't want to kill all us.

What's that?? It's impossible to prove a negative??

Oh, well in that case, we better start building more prisons....... ;)

*Welcome to the small, linear thought process of the twisted fear mongerer.....scary isn't it......*

I know shame on me for missing the obvious ;-)

How many other crimes have you heard of? Or are you talking about the Muslims in the military attacking their fellow service members?

I agree with Steven (above)...the Marine, along with many other decent Americans, has been lied to and manipulated by people who use hate speech as a political tool...convinced that the "foreigners" are terrorists who are invading our country and raping our children.

It would be nice if every American took the time and effort (and had the resources) to verify the lies being streamed into the political discourse on a daily basis...but for whatever reason, that verification does not always take place. Thus you have an attack with no basis in reality, but very understandable in terms of hate and fear being spewed by the right-wing.

In this particular case its not only Islamophobia it,s xenophobia ofall foreigners

a Marine reservist who works in a pharmacy in Palm Harbor, said he was acting in self defense.
He accused the priest of being a robber, terrorist and molester

This is a Marine reservist who has never served anywhere overseas, let alone in any of our 2 wars and is an aspiring model.

Not exactly a hero in the making or worthy of reverence just because he's a weekend warrior Marine.

Acoe

2 days after the attack and hospitalization he performed a funeral.

He's recovering nicely from what our local reports are saying.