Well, in the past week or two, we've seen a couple examples of how the right-wing of the GOP is even more wingnutty than the Vatican.  Today, in Jordan, Pope Benedict XVI visited a mosque and spoke out against divisions between Muslims and Christians.

The Holy Father expressed concern at the fact that some people "assert that religion is necessarily a cause of division in our world". Yet, he asked, "is it not also the case that often it is the ideological manipulation of religion, sometimes for political ends, that is the real catalyst for tension and division, and at times even violence in society?"

The New York Times adds this report:

Visiting a mosque on the second day of his closely watched first visit to the Holy Land, Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday denounced the "ideological manipulation of religion" and called for greater understanding between the Christian and Muslim faiths.

I had originally planned this as a two-part series concluding yesterday, but it struck me mid-morning yesterday that the series needs a conclusion.  Wednesday we explored whether conservatives really believe in democracy, and while some do not I believe most do.  Yesterday we looked at the three-legged stool of the conservative movement, and how each leg looks back to a different "golden age" for its vision of America.  I suggested yesterday that the differences in those visions outweighed their commonalities, but today we'll explore a key point they share, and one that distinguishes conservatism from progressivism.

Oh, and please wait til dawn to go outside, because your intrepid Kossologist looked at the stars for you, and ... you'd probably rather not see them for yourself.

More below the fold....

In the NH McCain event I went to in Londonderry, the cross in the dirt story was a major part of his opening piece. He told the story much as he did here:

The New York Times has a cautionary tale of how mainstream hate masquerading as patriotism can destroy projects designed to promote peace and understanding.  The front-page article - Her Dream, Branded as a Threat - is a sad tale of an idealistic educator whose vision of a school for teaching NY City kids Arabic was ruined by a hate campaign organized by the well-known neoconservative "scholar" Daniel Pipes.

(imagine scrolling yellow text)

Columnist Walter Williams wrote a piece entitled "Peaceful Muslims," blaming the peaceful majority of Muslims for the actions of terorists. This reflects a very common theme coming from all sides, left and right, of the non-Muslim world. Such a column is an easy one to write, to be sure, as it seems so obvious and there is such a broad consensus in the West on this point.

Since the West can't "stop terrorism", apparently, it's up to the much-maligned and responsibility-shirking Muslim Masses to do the job. Their bias is that all things Islamic are bad, all things Western Christian are good. Onward Christian soldiers, et al.)
My response to Mr. Williams, and the presumably vast wave of humanity that agrees with him, is (most of a letter written to Mr. Williams):

Do nothing. It never existed. One of Dubya’s boys made it up from whole cloth. Kinda like all them WMDs Saddam never had. Or like them connections Saddam and Al Quaeda never had. Or Dubya being from Texas. That kind of shit. Never existed, no basis in Reality. Made from whole cloth. Horse pucky. Chicken of the rubber variety.

Note to reader, whosoever you may be: Do not confuse IslamoFascism with Terrorism. By all means be afraid of Terrorism. That’s why it’s called Terrorism. Yes. Be, um, very afraid. Anyways...

'CONFLICT IN THE MIDDLE EAST' ARABS VS ISRAEL ANOTHER ARAB MUSLIM INTOLERANCE CASUALTY:
Being a minority in a majority hostile middle east - ["Goliath"] Arab racism & Islamic bigotry against ["David"] Israel
Arabs VS Israel, The blatant intolerance that created the 'conflict', persecutes little Israel, isolates it, demonetizes it, and threatens it constantly since its re-establishment.

In Washington, House Minority Leader John Boehner is struggling to rebrand a downtrodden and disheartened Republican Party in time for the 2008 elections.  It's no wonder.  Its agenda stymied and burdened by an unpopular war and an even less popular President, the GOP is being pulverized in the polls.  And with its evangelical base splintered and big business supporters jumping ship, the only message seemingly uniting Republicans is disdain - of immigrants, of blacks, of gay Americans and above all, Muslims.  The GOP is now the Party of Hate.

Considering that both Christianity and Islam are off-spring of the monotheistic Judaic religion, one would almost think we were back in the days of Cain and Abel, when jealousy led to the latter's slaying and the charged question, "am I my brother's keeper" was raised to reverberate down through the ages.  And still brothers don't automatically get along.  

This past week, colleges around the country mobilized in support of Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, a project of that oh-so-liberal minded David Horowitz. In celebration of Islamo-Fascism Awareness, conservative college students were told to put on events, show movies and generally spread the word about "the violent, expansionary ideology of the so called ‘religion of peace’ that seeks the destruction or subjugation of other faiths, cultures, and systems of government."

Fareed Zakaria has a rather thought provoking article in the current Newsweek. Here's a quote:

President Bush's disturbingly flip comment Wednesday about Iran and World War III not only revealed his apparent comfort when discussing global conflagration.  Bush's gaffe also showed the common vision between himself, the man most likely to succeed him as head of the Republican Party and those who advise them both.  For George Bush, Rudy Giuliani and the likes of Norman Podhoretz, the only dispute about "world war" is whether we're already fighting it and what number we're on.

It has been revealed that the patriots of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) wrote the draft for the Kyle-Lieberman resolution which received 76 Senate votes including that of Harry Reid and Hillary Clinton. We must congratulate our Senators on this expression of bi-partisan comity! In store later this fall are a series of extravagazas designed to educate Americans about the need for war with Iran. They include:
--the Islamo-fascism awareness week at college campuses across the country starting Oct 22.  The American patriot David Horowitz is responsible for this event http://www.terrorismawareness.org/
--A 200 million dollar Bomb Iran Campaign brought to you by Freedom Watch  

It is an act of faith that Iran should not have nukes and the major candidates have issued fatwas against Iran ("no military option off the table"). I would suggest that Iran’s having nukes is a good thing and could hasten what we all want, a nuclear free world.  When one group (Us/Israel) is all-powerful in a region, the result is highly destabilizing. Lord Acton’s famous quip that absolute power results in absolute corruption has been proven in social psychological experiments, e.g. Zimbardo’s prison study which showed that when one group has absolute power over another, the result, even when the group holding power is "good," is domination, cruelty, and degradation.  On the other hand, we know that when there is rough parity in power, the potential for dialogue and negotiation is enhanced.  It is significant that the parity in nuclear power between the US and the Soviet Union during the cold war did not result in a nuclear Armageddon.  MAD (mutually assured destruction) kept each player in line.  

Good evening friends.

Tonight let's look at the newest winger rage and that is "Islamofascism Awareness Week" upcoming for the week of October 22.

Festivities galore are planned!  Speeches by notable wingers, and lots of belching and farting on the wingnut blogs promises to be just a "joyous" orgy of racially charged religious hate.  Let's take the jump and look a little closer.

Glenn Greenwald does a short entry today and makes mincemeat out of Bedwetter Media co-founder Roger L. Simon. Glenn's article is here.

Folks, Simon, like a number of others on the far right are lost in the fear of Islamofascism, whatever the hell that is, the last Islamic political movement by Iqbal was denounced as Communism, so I wonder if Islamofascism is a made up word to frighten the rubes in fly-over country.

Glenn points out the grip this terror of Muslims has on the far right!  At last I understand the pre-occupation of Malkin et. ux. with this word.  Let's jump.

The GOP innoculates itself from attack by accusing other people first.

This is how dishonest people tip their hands in real ife. The thief accuses other people of stealing, because they know other people will notice stuff has been stolen. The liar accuses others of lying, because other people will discover that crazy rumors are going around.

The GOP has accused the Democrats of voter fraud to protect the GOP from charges of stealing elections, they talk about "liberal bias" while buying up the media, they talk about the horrors of homosexuality while consorting with gay hookers.

So why are they in love with "IslamoFascism?" It's the buzzword for Newt, Beck, Haggee, and the bobbleheads at the Washington Times. Could it because they are trying to distract people from the GOP's love of the tools of fascism? That's pretty much a no brainer.

So let's look at the GOP's use of themes from Mein Kampf....