Randi Rhodes: Be Afraid!

Tomorrow the Islamic witch-hunt hearings are scheduled to begin, chaired by Congressman Peter McCarthy, I mean Congressman Joseph McKing, I mean Tailgunner Pete… gee, I seem to be having trouble naming names. Congressman Peter King is the new head of the Homeland Security Committee. Maybe the first thing he should have done is to rename it the House Committee on Un-American Islam-Activities.

King accuses critics of seeking some sort of “kumbaya moment” with Islamic extremists. Pete, we don’t want to sing around the campfire. We just want to prevent you from burning anyone at the stake. King’s supporters say he’s not going after mainstream Muslims, just radicals. The problem is that Peter King has a very radical notion of what constitutes “radical.” Ironically, to radicals like Peter King, anyone who doesn’t agree with them is a radical.

Congressman King’s past support for the Irish Republican Army makes his accusations against the Muslim community particularly ironic. But if Peter King isn’t going to be deterred by decency, he certainly won’t be deterred by irony. Maybe King doesn’t want people sitting around singing “Kumbaya” with radicals, but he doesn’t seem to have too much of a problem sitting around singing “Danny Boy” with radicals.

Japanese-Americans who lived through the internment camps back in World War II support Muslim Americans in their opposition to Peter King’s hearings. Peter King hasn’t yet suggested that we round up Muslims and put them in camps out in the desert. Of course, Peter King would probably think that Muslims would be too comfortable out in the desert.

In the world of fiscal insanity, the budget cuts passed by the Republican House would lead to the loss of 700,000 jobs. Brilliant. The Republicans have actually managed to find “savings” that cost us more than we’re already spending. It would be one thing if the GOP cuts would end up costing us more down the road, but these cuts cost us more right now! These budget cuts are worse than just short-sighted—they’re stone blind.

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Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) gavels a town hall meeting closed on Monday when residents push back against the Wisconsin GOP lies…



And this wasn’t Sensenbrenner’s first time at the ‘taking my ball and going home' rodeo – flashback to 2005 when he decided that a hearing on the Patriot Act had gone on long enough.