Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/612741
One particular passage in President Obama's Sunday night address to the nation caught my attention: "As we've become better at preventing complex multifaceted attacks like (Sept. 11), terrorists turn to less complicated acts of violence like the mass shootings that are all too common in our society. It is this type of attack that we saw at Fort Hood in 2009, in Chattanooga earlier this year, and now in San Bernardino." AtFordHood,aradical- ized Muslim soldier, Maj. Ni- dal Malik Hasan, killed 12 soldiers and one civilian. In Chattanooga, another radical- ized Muslim, Mohammad Ab- dulazeez, killed four Marines and a sailor. And we all know what happened in San Ber- nardino. What's significant is that Obama linked all the as- sailants to Islamic extremism — or, in his words, to "a per- verted interpretation of Is- lam." He didn't quite say "Is- lamic terrorism" (the GOP's preferred terminology), but he has shifted nonetheless, dumping some of the politi- cal correctness that has long hampered him. You may re- call that when Fort Hood happened in 2009, Obama refused to state the obvi- ous — despite the fact that Maj. Hasan had repeatedly emailed with a radical Islamic cleric, and that he had pub- licly contended, in lectures at the military base, that all Muslims should "fight those who do not believe in Allah." Indeed, Obama's Pentagon brass refused to call the at- tack an act of terror; they de- scribed it as just another case of workplace violence. So I was glad when Obama plainly stated that "an extremist ide- ology has spread within some Muslim communities." Many Americans, who think that he has been pussyfooting around that issue for too long, needed to hear him say it. Perhaps some of the skeptics were also pleased when he challenged the Muslim community. "It's a real problem that Muslims must confront with- out excuse," Obama said. "Muslim leaders here and around the globe have to con- tinue working with us to de- cisively and unequivocally re- ject the hateful ideology that groups like ISIL and Al Qaeda promote, to speak out against not just acts of violence, but also those interpretations of Islam that are incompatible with the values of religious tolerance, mutual respect, and human dignity." But there is another big challenge Obama didn't ex- plicitly articulate. Since he's now willing to state the obvious about the re- ality of Islamic extremism, it's past time for the Obama hat- ers to cede some ground of their own. It's time for them to state the obvious about the reality of mass shootings in America — that these hideous acts are mostly perpetrated by home-grown all-American white people who are fueled by workplace fury, anti-gov- ernment zeal, antisocial pa- thologies, anti-abortion ex- tremism, or whatever. And that, most importantly, they can all too easily indulge their furies because this particular nation is saturated with mass weaponry. The husband and wife team in San Bernardino got their handguns legally from a Cali- fornia store called Annie's Get Your Gun; they got their semi- automatic rifles from some- one who reportedly bought them legally. Conservatives who insist on the term "Is- lamic terrorism" should at least be willing to recognize the value of hindering the weaponization of Islamic ter- rorism. "We also need to make it harder for people to buy pow- erful assault weapons, like the ones that were used in San Bernardino," Obama said. "I know there are some who reject any gun-safety mea- sures, but the fact is that our intelligence and law-enforce- ment agencies, no matter how effective they are, cannot identify every would-be mass shooter, whether that indi- vidual was motivated by ISIL or some other hateful ide- ology. What we can do, and must do, is make it harder for them to kill." I have no prob- lem throwing Islamic extrem- ists (or, as Obama calls them, "perverted" interpreters of Is- lam) into the toxic Ameri- can stew. Domestic terrorists come in all shapes and sizes — be they fanatics like the Fa- rooks, who heard the ISIS dog whistle; or fanatics like Rob- ert Lewis Dear, the Planned Parenthood killer who was raised Baptist and who, ac- cording to his ex-wife, "be- lieved wholeheartedly in the Bible." Some are more ide- ological than others, while some are simply more nuts than others. But what they all have in common is they live in a na- tion awash in easily obtain- able weaponry. So doesn't logic dictate that we should impede the ability to wreak havoc? Is that concept really so hard to grasp? In the spirit of a nation coming together? Don't answer that. DickPolmanisthenational political columnist at NewsWorks/WHYY in Philadelphia (newsworks. org/polman) and a "Writer in Residence" at the University of Philadelphia. Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com. DickPolman Akeyshi for Obama in ISIS address Cartoonist's take CAPTION Some have asked, "What did Planned Parenthood do to bring violence and death upon that Colorado fa- cility?" You could also ask: "Given the controversy over practices they engaged in, shouldn't they have made an ef- fort to both stop those practices and publicly distance their or- ganization?" or "Now that their own actions have invited such a violent attack, shouldn't they stop the objectionable ac- tions?" I don't seriously propose the above queries; there have been, however, numerous similar questions and answers offered by the left after other deadly incidents. When a "Draw Mu- hammad" event put on by Pa- mela Geller was violently tar- geted by Islamic terrorists, the left rejected free speech ar- guments and held Geller up for culpability because "it was an exercise in bigotry and ha- tred (and she had a) provoca- tive goal." After the 9/1 001 terror- ist attacks, there were many on the "blame America" left— and some on the libertarian fringe—that quickly rolled out long-held narratives that as- signed legitimacy to the griev- ances of Islamic radicals against America. To wit that America brought it on itself. It could have been our sup- port for Israel (Muslim hatred for Jews predated the United Nations creation of a Jewish homeland); or American—i.e. infidel—military troops sta- tioned in Saudi Arabia (Amer- ica's military has repeatedly liberated Muslims from despo- tism); or the America-inspired westernization of countries like Iran, Iraq, Egypt, etc. Our own Secretary of State, John Kerry, let a verbal gaffe slip when commenting on the Is- lamic terrorist attacks in Paris wherein he contrasted those supposedly senseless attacks with "defensible" jihadist at- tacks over the Charlie Hebdo Muhammad cartoons. Again, I consider those who inflict violence on any inno- cent victims, no matter the po- litical context, to be solely re- sponsible for their actions, even when found mentally un- stable. I am pointing out that there is a history of liberals in politics and the news media jumping to almost predeter- mined conclusions and "talk- ing point" propaganda. I am calling hypocrisy where I see it. When the left and the media run with a similar narrative before the facts are established and any genuine causality or motivation is proven, it must be exposed and refuted. For instance, now that a nearly hysterical movement over perceived racial injus- tice has been fomented on col- lege campuses, the incidents of hoax hate crimes has prolif- erated. Misguided fanatics among the African American activ- ist groups have reported rac- ist incidents that, when inves- tigated, ultimately turn out to have been made up or staged for publicity in support of their cause. Threats, swastikas, nooses and violence are among the hoaxes. Even worse, the left ada- mantly refuses to accept that the Black Lives Matter move- ment has any responsibility for the killing of law enforce- ment personnel after marchers chanted "pigs in a blanket, fry 'em like bacon," and other calls for dead cops. Irony and hy- pocrisy abound. In "Behind the Left's Selec- tive Treatment of Tragic Vi- olence" (search and read it), Paul Mirengoff deconstructs, together with Jim Geragh- ty's help, the "suggestions that harsh criticism of Planned Par- enthood is to blame for the at- tack on a PP facility in Colo- rado. Pointing to the attack on the Family Research Council two years ago, [Paul] noted the selective nature of this type of argument." He refers to a shooter that was motivated by the Southern Poverty Law Center's designa- tion of the Family Research Council as a "hate group" for their adamant support of tra- ditional marriage; he carried a map printed from SPLC's web- site. That killer certainly in- tended to "terrorize" the FRC over gay rights issues. He even brought Chic-fil-A sandwiches (a Christian-owned chain that supports traditional mar- riage) to shove in the mouths of those he murdered. He was killed by an armed guard be- fore carrying out his ghastly deeds. We were told that "we may never know what motivated a 24-year-old Muhammad Youssef Abdulazeez to kill four Marines and a sailor in an at- tack on Chattanooga's U.S. Na- val and Marine Reserve Center last July." I think I know. Likewise, "there's little rea- son to ask whether the Oregon shooter's decision to target Christians reflects a broader, societal hostility to Christians, or whether it reflects his per- sonal allegiance to demons." I can ask and I can answer. "Of massacres and media myths" (G. Malor, New York Post, 7/24/2012) gave almost a dozen examples, from 2009 to 2011, of how "media assump- tions that violence is right- wing are routine—and rou- tinely wrong." (Both articles recently posted at donpolson.blogspot. com.) The hanged census-taker, the small plane flown into an IRS building, an Alabama pro- fessor that killed three peo- ple, the shooting of two Penta- gon security officers, a Times Square car bomb, a stabbed Muslim cab driver, hostage- taking at the Discovery Chan- nel's headquarters, Jared Lee Loughner's shooting ram- page—all chocked up to "right wing violence" and all utterly wrong. Asking if this "selective treatment of tragic violence" really makes sense, Mirengoff says, "It does to me. It's part of an attempt by the left and its allies in the mainstream me- dia to put conservatives on the defensive and to discour- age them from speaking freely. We see the same phenomenon on college campuses and in ef- forts to curb speech by climate change skeptics. The authoritarian tendency of the modern American left is hiding in plain sight in the news and editorial pages of our major newspapers." Malor: "The media's habit- ual blaming of the political right is endemic and incur- able." Don Polson has called Red Bluff home since 1988. He can be reached by e-mail at donplsn@yahoo.com. The way I see it Violence, some causes and excuses Sounding off A look at what readers are saying in comments on our website and on social media. Hurrayforcourageouscustomer.Wayto step up. Sheryl Turner: On a store robbery that was foiled by a customer Wow, you can rob a store with a knife and only get $50k bail? Why not just release him on a citation? Shaking my head at the circus they call our judicial system. Heather Eastridge-Brunello: On a store robbery that was foiled by a customer Greg Stevens, Publisher Chip Thompson, Editor EDITORIAL BOARD How to have your say: Letters must be signed and provide the writer's home street address and home phone number. Anonymous letters, open letters to others, pen names and petition-style letters will not be allowed. Letters should be typed and no more than two double-spaced pages or 500words. 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Box 220, 545 Diamond Ave., Red Bluff, CA 96080 Facebook: Leave comments at FACEBOOK.COM/ RBDAILYNEWS Twitter: Follow and send tweets to @REDBLUFFNEWS Don Polson StateandNational Assemblyman James Galla- gher, 2060 Talbert Drive, Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 895-4217, http://ad03.asmrc.org/ SenatorJimNielsen,2634For- est Ave., Ste. 110, Chico 95928, 530 879-7424, senator.nielsen@ senate.ca.gov Governor Jerry Brown, State Capital Building, Sacramento 95814, 916 445-2841, fax 916 558- 3160, governor@governor.ca.gov U.S. Representative Doug La- Malfa, 507 Cannon House Of- fice Building, Washington D.C. 20515, 202 225-3076 U.S.SenatorDianneFeinstein, OnePostSt.,Ste. 2450,SanFran- cisco94104,415393-0707,fax415 393-0710 Your officials OPINION » redbluffdailynews.com Tuesday, December 8, 2015 » MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS A6