Heading in

Surgery is scheduled for 9:30 this morning. We took the dogs for a nice walk this morning and I am about to take a shower and we will head over. I am nervous, but not terribly so. Just ready to get this done. The shoulder has ached more the last day or so, and reminds me that it is aching while I am not doing anything with it. In other words, I need to get this done so I can reach for cereal and mow the lawn and stuff like that.

Anyway. I will update when I get the chance.

Christianity and the GOP

Before I forget, I wanted to call attention to a wonderfully thoughtful comment by Monk in our thread on
how Reagan might do in the modern GOP. I think this better explains my own angst at how the church of my youth has changed:

"How can anyone use hate to climb the rungs of power and might and call it Gospel living? No matter what, that is NOT the Gospel.

I feel like it isn't just a political party that has been damaged, it is the Church. We have been seduced by wealth and power, and put our faith in guns, bombs, and torture rather than God. It appears to me that we have forgotten the gentle Shepherd from Nazareth, and happily marched to war and torture with hardly a thought to peace or loving our enemies.

While being totally consumed with gays and Islam, we have forgotten those prisoners in our own gulags, and the thirsty world looking for Grace. Politics has stripped compassion from the Church, and we have given up our soul, our birthright for a meal next to the President."

His entire comment is worth reading. And I would be more than glad to see this conversation continue, and will even jump in there when I regain the ability to type.

An update on the Streak house

Streak (the dog) is still doing quite well, and we are hopeful for more time before we have to do another treatment. In fact, he has felt good enough to go on two walks per day as the weather has cooled rather nicely.

I, on the other hand, go in tomorrow (gulp) for my shoulder surgery. I am a bit overwhelmed, but also ready to get this over. My surgeon is impressive and has a great reputation around here, and he has done a few hundred (at least) of these exact surgeries. My nurse yesterday, in fact, had a very similar surgery a month ago by the same surgeon. I am nervous for the anesthesia and nervous about the first several days of being useless and angry. There will be machines for ice and for movement, and some kind of pump that keeps a local anesthetic on the wound for a few days. And I am nervous about how long it will take before I can teach and do my job.

But I am amazed at how many friends around us have offered to help in ways they can. My friend Anglican has already covered a class for me when I met with the surgeon, and is willing to do more. Other friends are covering classes, a colleague is picking up exams, and still more have assured us that they are around should we need rides, or errands, or chicken soup. And those who are far away have sent their good wishes and prayers.

Thanks to everyone, and hopefully, I will be posting soon.

Obama and Israel

An interesting column on what Obama should tell his team: What Obama should tell his Middle East team | Stephen M. Walt.

Listening to the news on the settlements in Israel and their leadership makes me sad. Makes me sadder knowing that the settlements are cheered by evangelicals in this country who have appropriated a foreign country's policy issues for their narrow reading of an ancient text. That makes me really sad.

But here was something that caught my ear the other day--that, unfortunately, makes this worse. NPR reported that the construction was already continuing on projects already planned. But, and this was almost a throw-away line, they said that new projects would probably not soar in the next few months, primarily because the Palestinian construction workers would not have access during a Jewish holiday.

Seriously? Israelis are completely unwilling to negotiate with Palestinians, are looking the other way while their government interns them in Gaza, and refuses to consider halting settlements, but they will use them as cheap labor?

For some reason, when I thought of Israeli settlements, I pictured hard working Kibbutz-dwelling Jewish Fundamentalists building their small houses by hand, or in groups. I resented them for their fundamentalism and their rigidity. But now I hear that they are using the Palestinians they hate for labor? Kind of like the running joke about building a wall on the border with illegal Mexican labor. But more to the point, it reminds me of Apartheid South Africa, or how that could have been had the white minority had the backing of evangelicals everywhere who were convinced that their settlement among the heathen was God's will, and a key to the end times.

New candidate for dumbest Republican running for office

There are just so many amazingly stupid things in this interview. Like when Cooper asks her if she realizes that we are supporting a Muslim government in Afghanistan, and she says that is why we have to "do these things," and that means supporting peaceful people. But those building the Mosque? Dumb.

My favorite is her saying that we are not fighting radical Christians, but radical Muslims, and "i am not running for a popularity contest in New York, or DC or on TV. I am running for the people of district 2, North Carolina, who are good, hard working Christian people." Cooper: "What about Muslims, do you want their vote?" Idiot: "Absolutely, I want everyone's vote. As a nurse," I have taken care of every race, creed or something. God, she is so bigoted and so fucking dumb.

Thanks, Tea Party. Thanks, Sarah Palin. Thanks for the dumbest fucking candidates in American history.

Supply side economics supposed to increase revenue, right?--Updated

That is what we have been told. I will have to pull out my notes on my Reagan lectures, but as I recall, I talk about the role that David Stockman played in pushing the Laffer curve idea that justified the massive tax cuts in Reagan's first term. But I also seem to remember that Stockman later admitted that the "trickle-down" or even the "supply-side" ideas were largely fiction. They just wanted to cut taxes on the rich.

But that idea has become gospel. As I have said here, I think that many of those tax rates needed to come down, and that targeted tax cuts can be stimulative. But the idea that you cut taxes, period, is simply irrational, and that is the description of the GOP economic policy.

This morning, I caught this interview with David Stockman and saw this, among other great lines:

RAZ: David Stockman, let me ask you about the idea of making the Bush tax cuts permanent. Some economic analysts have said that if you do that, that by the year 2020, the government wouldn't have enough money to spend on anything except for Medicare, Social Security and defense if it's lucky. Do you think that sounds about right?

Mr. STOCKMAN: Yes, I do. We couldn't afford the Bush tax cuts when they were put in in 2001, 2003. Now, we're - eight years later, we're trillions in additional debt later, we're two unfinanced wars later, we're a trillion dollars of stimulus spending later, 800 billion of TARP, so it's pretty obvious if we couldn't afford them back then, in no way, shape or form can we even dream about affording them now.

Stockman is not nice about Obama wanting to cut middle class taxes either, and I rather agree on that. But it is nice to see one of the architects of this madness admit what we have said around here for years--that we couldn't afford those tax cuts then, and certainly not after two unfinanced wars and Medicare Part D--we sure as hell can't.

One note, btw. Stockman includes TARP, which I know is not very popular, but everything I have read suggests that we will get all of that money back. It worked. It wasn't pretty, and it included helping a lot of bad people, but it worked.

*****

Bootlegger sent me this on comparing our tax rates now to Reagan and Eisenhower as well as this convenient historical chart on tax rates. Those Tea Party members who claim to be "taxed enough already" are delusional. They are angry because they have been told to be angry.

But for those who claim to be super-patriots from this group, they should note the tax rates during our wars--until Bush and company took over. That was when we actually agreed to band together. Don't preach to me about your patriotism when you refuse to pay for the wars you supported.

Conservative principles

What have conservatives stood for over the last 100 years? Put another way, where would we be if they had their way? I am asking this in all honesty, by the way, and am not trying to be shrill. This includes many conservative Democrats, by the way, and liberal Republicans (those used to exist) have done a lot of good. But would we have:

Integration?
Clean Air?
Clean Water?
The American Bald Eagle?
Women's sports?
domestic violence legislation?
a ban on child labor?
anti-lynching laws? (Students of history will know that civil rights activists spent the better part of 60 years trying to get federal redress for lynching. It was usually left up to local officials, and in places were lynching was a problem, the local officials were usually involved in the lynching).
Women Republican candidates?


I ask these, because I see conservatives willing to stand on principle to protect the oddest damn things. Not always, of course. I have also seen conservatives stand on actual principle to protect religious freedom and free speech. But I am looking at the Republican vow to repeal healthcare and it just struck me that conservative are willing to go to battle to make sure that people have less healthcare. Less. They think that the mandate is unconstitutional and so are standing on principle to say that people should have the right to not buy insurance, and later stick us with their bills.

That last part is partly tongue in cheek. Of course, if it is actually unconstitutional, then we need to fix the constitution. I don't mean to suggest that all of them are unprincipled. But it just strikes me as a long list of questionable defenses. Conservatives defending the corporations' right to hire children or underpay immigrants--or avoid responsibility for worker safety. Conservatives going to bat for property owner's right to discriminate against people of color, or gay couples. Conservatives defending keeping women out of college athletics or certain professions. Conservatives defending property rights for polluters. And now, defending insurance companies who kick people off who need care.

I don't get it.

Obama socialism--oh the horror

Santa Barbara, Calif. - Cap Lifts, and So Do Spirits - NYTimes.com

Yeah, the Hitleresque healthcare bill took more effect today. Removed pre-existing conditions for kids and removed the lifetime caps. The bastards! They might as well line people up for the ovens.

Except not. Perhaps we have another window on the Tea Party. They don't have pre-existing conditions, and have not had illnesses that pressed against their lifetime cap. So why should they care about those who do? WWJD? Evidently, that doesn't include caring for others.

But then again, I am a socialist muslim. Or something.

Republican lawmaker: Reagan would face 'tough time' in today's GOP

Interesting. And clear that today's GOP seems to have forgotten that Reagan raised taxes, banned torture, and suggested reasonable foreign policy.

When Reagan now looks like a liberal Republican, what in the hell does that tell you about today's GOP?

Oh, the poor rich people

Like Krugman, I feel so sorry for them. Raising taxes on them is, as one suggested, exactly like Hitler invading Poland. And we should just note that thanks to Republicans, we can just forget phrases like "public good" or "public interest." No, the only thing that matters is what the rich people like. If they don't want to contribute to our society's laws and institutions--even though those institutions and infrastructure allow them to be rich in the first place--then we can't make them. Because as rich people, they are worth more in every way. Better that we just push taxes toward the middle and lower classes than possibly alienate the rich.

Until they need bailed out, that is.

Republicans banking on Islamophobia?

Gingrich Calls For Federal Ban On Shariah Law In US | TPMDC.

We have a guy here in Oklahoma who has pushed for the same thing. Is this really an issue? Or is this just a dog whistle? After all, who here is for sharia law? Not me, and certainly no Americans I know. I think this is Gingrich betting that his ticket to the President is to be the toughest on Muslims and to raise as much fear as he can about them. Tell me that isn't fascist.

But also, I would love some assurance that the religious right--the same people who did nothing when Bush authorized torture against Muslims--will not cheer Gingrich on this.

------

Different topic, but one thing that we have noted before is that now that Christine O'Donnell won her primary, there are no moderates in the Republican Senate race, and none that even believe in climate change. Of course, their knowledge of the subject is next to nothing, but they are convinced that any attempt at "greening" America is some Socialist Kenyan plot. (The stupidity really does burn). Well, not only are they anti-intellecutal and anti-science, but as Thomas Friedman points out, they are cutting the throat of our economic future as well. Turns out, China is embracing the issue of climate change and fundamentally attacking it at a technological and economic level. They are investing in green communities and houses, and even factories. And those American companies that want to participate, are doing so without American jobs because our politicians are a joke. Check that. Our conservative politicians are a joke--from both parties.

Got to love American conservatives right now. They will call you a fascist or Hitler for wanting to expand healthcare, and would prefer that sick people talk to someone else (can't someone else do it?); they will cheer and demand more torture because they truly believe that Fox's 24 was a documentary; and they will mandate that kids only be told to avoid sex, but absolutely ban any discussion of safe-sex or contraceptives--even though as a policy, it clearly puts a lot of kids at risk for STDs and unwanted pregnancies.

The GOP--their new slogan should be something like: We hate Science and Muslims.

More from the Values Voters

Wackjob Christine O'Donnell took to the stage yesterday, and evidently was quite popular. The Tea Party is everywhere.

Couple of things about her speech. I didn't watch the entire thing, but heard a little on the radio when I ran my errands yesterday. As TPM notes here, she follows the Palin line and lambastes the "elites" even as she doesn't seem to quite get how many "elites" in the conservative movement are running things. The Koch family is hardly mom and pop, and Dick Armey isn't some shmo off the street. And let's not forget that Sarah Palin is now part of the same media elite she loves to both avoid and attack.

But she had a line that is not listed here (and you can't make me watch any of these people speak). She said something about not wanting to "reclaim" her country, because (to great applause) she said, "we are the country." Or something along those lines.

That sentiment is repeated so often. I have heard the same from distant relatives who patted me on the head for my frustrations with Bush, but who have decided to not even talk to me because I support Obama. One jumped me on a FB wall about a year ago, when I dared defend Obama speaking to the school kids (remember that insanity?). His mother told me that he was just "very worried about the direction of the country." Yeah, and I wasn't when Bush and Cheney were torturing? Or wiretapping?

No, their patriotism is superior--their concern is more valid, and ultimately, they believe that as conservative Christians, this country is theirs. Not mine. One from that same family told me that I was overly sensitive to the charge that Democrats were disloyal, because they actually were, and I didn't want to admit it. Republicans and conservatives can never be disloyal or unpatriotic, because they define those terms.

The arrogance is amazing. I believe there is a strong progressive thread in this country, but I would never say that conservatives don't belong here. But they truly believe that it is their country. I think that explains the conservative angry about disrespect of the flag who has the tattered and ragged mini-versions hooked to his truck windows. It is only disrespect when a liberal does it.

Well Howdy, Value Voters Summit--I wonder what "values" you vote on?

At least one Republican (Mike Huckabee) believes that values means actually opposing insurance for those with pre-existing conditions. Yeah.

And it gets better. He compares a pre-existing condition to a property insurance company being asked to provide coverage for a house that already burned down.

I am beginning to think that Huckabee is a moron. Truly. And a heartless moron to boot. Is this really what Republicans believe?

That is monstrous, and monstrously stupid. I feel like finding the Billy Madison clip again, but I can't keep running that every time a national Republican speaks out. LB, I really feel for you. You are clearly a smart and capable and compassionate individual. It must hurt very much to be in the same party with these idiots.

Your Tea Party in action

Paladino: No Mosque Wherever The 9/11 Human Remain Dust Cloud Landed (VIDEO) | TPMDC

And these people won more primaries the other day, I guess. I read elsewhere that we will have no Republican senate candidates (new ones, I guess) who actually believe that we should do anything about climate change. The one who won in Delaware believes that we should urge people to stop masturbating. Yeah, that's right.

And then we have the good old stand-bys like Sharron Angle and Rand Paul--and we can't forget that their leaders are SARAH "OUR FOUNDERS WANTED US TO GOVERN BY THE BIBLE" PALIN AND GLENN "PROGRESSIVES ARE LIKE HITLER" BECK!

Now this moron who wants to stop any mosque (it isn't a fucking mosque, you moron) from being built where human remains from 9-11 landed. Yeah, except that there were actual innocent Muslims who were killed by those murderers that day, you idiot.

In all seriousness, this is the problem we have--that Palin and Gingrich have succeeded in getting most Republicans to define this issue as us (non-Muslims) v. them (all Muslims) instead of us (rational people) v. them (fucking wingnut extremists).

Man, imagine how angry my posts will be when I am in post-op pain.

:)

Patriotism and sports

For those outside the Oklahoma City area, you may not realize that we are embroiled in a controversy over patriotism. Not only patriotism, but football--and in these parts, football ranks higher than most things. Of course, those things have been combined for years, but we always have to sing the National Anthem to start these contests. Why? I have no clue. I remember playing that song on my trumpet in front of my home-town crowd (small town). I was scared to death.

But patriotic, evidently.

But if you attend an OU football game, you will hear an odd ending to the song. Where it usually says, "home of the brave," Oklahoma's faithful shout "home of the Sooners."

Yep.

I noticed this first a few years ago. This is one reason I really prefer to watch the game at home. I love football, I really do. But I hate all the bs that goes with it--the constant pushing of merchandise and need to entertain and then the need to act as if this football game is somehow connected to a sense of patriotism or national identity.

But I have to admit, I was surprised the first time I heard that ending. Turns out, it has been an issue for a while, and with the Air Force Academy coming to town this weekend, locals have been debating this. The Daily Oklahoman's Berry Tramel called it a shame and said that the fans deserved an "F" for patriotism. My neighbor and I discussed it last night and he said that while he himself liked to defer to those around him who were offended, he was rather surprised that Tramel made such a big deal of this. "Offensive," said my neighbor, "was sending our service men and women to die in that war." Norman Transcript's Clay Horning agreed, noting that:

You say screaming “Sooners” dishonors the brave?

Housing them at that rat-infested dump of a wing at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, a disgrace it took the Washington Post to bring to light, dishonors them.

Screaming “Sooners,” not so much.

I can really see both sides, but what has really annoyed me is the selective outrage that so many conservatives have had on patriotic symbols. When waved by a war protester, they scream epithets and accuse them of disloyalty. If a Democrat dares not demonstrate suitable respect at the flag or anthem, they are called unamerican. But if that same flag or anthem is used to sell mattresses, or to sell merchandise of any kind, not a peep. If in the name of that flag and that country, people are tortured and killed? Not a sound.

I am with the last two people. This is football. It is meaningless and fun--and we already pay way much attention to it. But it has absolutely nothing to do with our national identity. Neither, I would add, does the tattered flag on your antennae, or your "these colors don't run" t-shirt, or "God Bless America" hat. Those are consumer goods--and you paid for them--just as you might buy a gag gift or orange soda. What matters is our constitution, and our democracy. Those should matter, and they should matter even when we are in an economic crisis or scared to death of terrorists.

"Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." It doesn't have to be. But you will pardon me if I am suspicious when anyone trots out the "you aren't patriotic enough" line.

Going under the knife

Or scope, or whatever. My MRI showed "hypertrophic changes at the AC joint" and a "slight downward hook of the distal acromium." In addition, there is a "rim rent tear which may be full thickness" of the supraspinatus tendon.

But my labrum "appears grossly intact." So I have that going for me. Which is good.

In English, I have a bone spur that is poking a hole in my rotator cuff and causing my discomfort and swearing. So the surgeon is going to go in with a scope and grind that bone spur down and check the tear to see if it needs any stitches. I am a little nervous just in that I am not used to being completely under and am a bit concerned that the recovery is going to be painful. The shoulder, as I have discovered, tends to move when the rest of your body moves, and so soreness there tends to be hard to avoid. But, the doctor was also quite positive that at the end of this, I would feel better. I would like that. While my shoulder hardly stops me from living my life right now, it is a constant discomfort and sometimes sharp discomfort when I move wrong.

Speaking of that, during the endless paperwork (exaggeration) at the Orthopedic Surgeon's office, the form asked what caused my shoulder to hurt. I listed those motions, including mowing the lawn, pushups, raising my hand above my head. The second question was what made the pain better. I added, "not doing the above motions."

Kind of thought that was implied.

So anyway, I am looking at surgery in a couple of weeks, assuming I can get my courses all scheduled correctly. I will need some help from some colleagues, but think that I will be able to do so with minimal downtime. Hopefully.

Lovely Republican discourse

Yeah, the Tea Partiers went back to Washington on 9-12. Why? Of course, to demonstrate their superior patriotism, as the above banner shows. Because, Tea Partiers are the only true Americans and are willing to shoot people--or at least threaten it. Why? Well, because their President is not even American. Just ask them. They are all convinced that our elected President is not legitimate. And they are threatening a revolution by force if he remains in office.

Because they are fucking morons.

But it isn't just them, of course. The former Speaker of the House and Man who Would Be President spoke out today (of course, while he is releasing a movie that will encourage more Americans to distrust any Muslims they know or meet--Why? Because Racism is good politics for the Republican base. LB, I know you disagree with me, but I would like some evidence to the contrary. Palin does it, and Gingrich does it. Throwing red meat like "fear brown people, they want to blow you up or take your job or whatever" has become the go-to play for the far right). And so Gingrich speaks, and says Obama is a ‘Kenyan, anti-colonial’ thinker:

"What if [Obama] is so outside our comprehension, that only if you understand Kenyan, anti-colonial behavior, can you begin to piece together [his actions]?” Gingrich asked, according to the report. “That is the most accurate, predictive model for his behavior.”

Of course that isn't some kind of race baiting dog whistle, is it? And why is Obama so completely out of our comprehension? What makes him this otherly world figure in Gingrich's mind?

Duh. He thinks that everyone should have health insurance. Hell, he is so crazy that he thinks that even Muslims get religious freedom in this country. He wants--can you imagine the insanity--our government to maybe watch the giant banks who oversee our economy. Hell, he wants to give money to the states so they can pay their bills and keep people employed. The man is clearly just like Hitler. Of course, if Hitler were Kenyan and hated colonialism at a secret dream level that only idiots at the National Review can see.

Just remember. That is what we are dealing with. All this anger and rage and hatred over fucking healthcare.

What is Christianity?

I have really avoided the Anne Rice story. If you don't know, she came back to her faith after years and then just recently suggested that she was leaving institutional Christianity even as she remains a Christian by belief. She found the anti-gay sentiment among so many Christians finally too much to bear, including a "Christian" punk band that evidently believes that gays should be executed--a band that Michelle Bachmann supports.

Rice's resignation from institutional Christianity has elicited a lot of responses--including, I believe, some like my friend Greg who found her response naive. Did she really not know that the conservative church was this bad?

But others, including me, see her as a fellow traveler who is just simply repulsed by the co-opting of a faith that has some real meaning. How in the hell did an itinerant preacher who reached across racial and class and very importantly, gender, boundaries become the patron saint for the gated community of anti-feminist, anti-Muslim, Republicans connected to power and wealth? How the hell does that happen?

Michael Rowe suggests that Rice is actually exhibiting Christian values and notes that what the right is doing is deadly to the faith of Christ:

"Still, it is possible to murder faith.

You murder faith same way you murder love: one bruise at a time, with small, daily cuts, with grinding contempt, with neglect. You murder faith by exposing it to bullets inscribed with Bible verses that kill Afghan and Iraqi children. You murder it by separating an elderly lesbian couple in a hospital because their union is considered 'unnatural.' You murder it by linking it to greed, to the 'God wants you to be rich' movement which marinates in loathing for the poor and needy, in defiance of Christ's commission to care for them, then call it 'good for America.' You murder it by exposing it to any number of atrocities wrapped up in an inviolate nationalism that claims divine authority as its basis, with no room for dissent, and no mercy for dissenters. You murder it with self-righteous, violent militarism, with intolerance, with lack of compassion, with lack of humility and, most importantly, with lack of humanity.

It dies a little bit more every time a gay or lesbian teenager commits suicide because they've been taught to hate themselves because God 'loves' them but hates what they are."

Our friend, Natalie (where we found this story, btw) agrees and notes sadly:

"Pretty soon there will be so many people who are this disappointed with institutional Christianity that we will outnumber those who consider themselves still in the fold, if not already. I say "we" because I haven't found a church community yet and am still feeling pretty disillusioned with Christianity-with-a- capital-C."

Yeah. That is me too.

Sunday reflections

This has been a tough time, it seems of late. Streak is doing better, mind you, and we are grateful for that and for the fact that we are largely doing ok ourselves. I am going in for an MRI here in a few hours to see what is wrong with my right shoulder, but that is in the minor annoyance category. Yeah, I can't play golf or tennis right now, but that pales in comparison to what so many around us face.

Friends around us have struggled mightily of late. Another friend is in the hospital after a routine endoscopy nicked her intestine. She is stable, but quite sick, and we are miles away and unable to help in any way. It is at this time that I understand the way many people talk about prayer. It gives some people a way to do something in a situation where they can do little else. I don't quite see prayer that way, but I have been thinking about our friend and her family all weekend. If God does stuff in these situations, I trust that he (or she) is aware of the situation and how much we care about our friend and her family. They have had more than their share of health issues of late.

This morning started out rough. Some very weird dreams, a little anxiety about the MRI, and then I read this morning a reminder that Republicans want to repeal healthcare and further cut taxes. I have two fears about our healthcare situation. The first is that Republicans will end up repealing or gutting the meager advancements we have made, because of their ignorance (largely). I understand some are legitimately concerned about the process and even the role of government, but I am rather stunned that extending healthcare to others or removing lifetime bans or pre-existing conditions makes me a fascist. Or a socialist. Or a Kenyan--fuck, I can't even keep it straight.

Meanwhile, I am reminded of the issue from the last post, that Republicans would rather cut programs for the needy and working poor than raise taxes on the wealthiest Americans. That is so messed up I can't even wrap my head around such insanity. That so many of them identify as Christians baffles me even more. It is as if they truly believe--despite the mounting evidence--that private charities can take care of all the needs of the poor. Or that they believe that the poor, as I have been told by a few, must be really lazy or stupid if "they can't make it given all the breaks we give them." Seriously.

My second fear is that our healthcare reforms have been so watered down that it will not change the mounting healthcare bills that so many of my friends face. We have so demonized government that we are incapable of coming together as a people for anything other than bombing another nation. That is sad beyond belief.

Anyway. I will hope that things get better for my friends. And I wish I could do something.

For my racist fundy trolls

From The New Yorker this poignant image reminds us that when we talk about Islam and Muslims, it is not we (non-Muslims) v. them (Muslims), but rather us (hopefully peaceful and compassionate people of all faiths) v. them (extremist terrorist and hate-filled racists).