What doesn't he know, and why doesn't he want to know it?

La Belle Soeur Jean forwards another interesting article from Mr. Krugman. I'm glad to see he's addressing what a few media people are at last willing to discuss - the use of the anti-semitic hammer to quell any idea of breaking with Israeli policy.

He also brings up a point that many (including myself) have been talking about: Bush is in La-La Land. (And for my money, isn't wanting to leave.)

Mr. Bush's ignorance may reflect his lack of curiosity: "The best way to get the news," he says, "is from objective sources. And the most objective sources I have are people on my staff." Two words: emperor, clothes.

...Muslims are completely wrong to think that the U.S. is engaged in a war against Islam. But that misperception flourishes in part because the domestic political strategy of the Bush administration — no longer able to claim the Iraq war was a triumph, and with little but red ink to show for its economic plans — looks more and more like a crusade. "Election Boils Down to a Culture War" was the title of Mr. Fineman's column. But the analysis was all about abortion and euthanasia, and now we hear that opposition to gay marriage will be a major campaign theme. This isn't a culture war — it's a religious war.

Which brings me back to my starting point: we'll lose the fight against terror if we don't make an effort to understand how others think. Yet because of a domestic political struggle that seems ever more centered on religion, such attempts at understanding are shouted down.

Which brings me to another point of my own: the Christian religion itself is responsible for some of the world's most heinous crimes of terrorism throughout history. The Crusades, the Inquisition, decimation of native populations by Columbus in the "New World", sodomy and child abuse - to name a few.

Top that, Muslims.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.