Prevailing Winds "For the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is there is freedom . . ." 2 Cor. 3:17, TNIV

February 11, 2010

One Of These Things Just Doesn’t Belong Here

Filed under: Uncategorized — keelyem @ 8:01 pm

(One of these things just isn’t the same . . .)

I’m too old to really have benefited from Sesame Street, but I do remember the wacky wholesome goodness involved in the sing-song game from which the title of this post comes. Typically, there would be a duck, a parrot, and a tractor, and the kid would pick out the tractor — you know, because it’s not a birdie and all. For adults, a bottle of pinot noir, a bottle of cabernet-pinotage, and a bottle of viognier would work. Or, if you’re interested in civil rights and national security, you could go with these three:

“We shouldn’t focus on what a terrorist looks like, but on what a terrorist acts like.”

— Farhana Khera, Executive Director of Muslim Advocates, on racial and ethnic profiling of airline passengers.

“There should be a separate line to scrutinize anybody with the name Abdul, Ahmed, or Muhammed.”

— Radio Host Mike Gallagher, giving ample evidence that possessing a voice made for radio doesn’t necessarily correspond with enjoying a brain made for thinking.

“100 percent of the Islamic terrorists are Muslims, and that is our enemy today. So why should we not be profiling people because of their religion?”

— New York Representative Peter King, evidently relying on his razor-sharp insight that, indeed, Islamic terrorists are likely not Presbyterians.

(Is it possible that the Obama TSA’s list of 14 countries, 13 of which are Muslim, whose citizens must undergo body pat-downs or body scans when flying to or from the U.S. simply emboldens terrorists to recruit from other countries, including our own? Any thoughts on that one? Or should we just go with the geopolitical acumen of these two? All quotes taken from The Progressive, February 2010, Vol. 74, No. 2)

1 Comment »

  1. These comments are indeed deplorable and it is good to deplore them.

    And then stop.

    It does not then do to carry this line of reasoning forward and say there should be no profiling at all. There SHOULD be profiling and it should be done by experienced detectives.

    Why subject EVERYONE to a patdown and elaborate security check when a good detective can pick out a shady character in a crowd? Good policework is what is called for.

    Comment by Ashwin — February 15, 2010 @ 1:44 pm

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