Colin Powell's answer about Barack Obama not being a Muslim and whether or not it should even matter was both right and wrong. He was correct and actually quite moving when he said: Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer's no, that's not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president?
The fact is that people in this country are afraid of Muslims as a group and that is wrong. The fact is that Muslims are more likely to encounter racial/ethnic hatred in this county than Jews, Buddhists or Hindus, let alone Christians. That too is wrong. And so is the idea that the American Dream should belong more to any one faith or ethnicity.
Hatred of all Muslims is also based on a false premise i.e. that the world's 1.3 billion Muslim community is monolithic in its hatred of America, Christians, Jews, etc. Not only is the notion of that kind of uniformity in any group inane, polling of Muslims around the world indicates that it is not true. So for all of these, and many other reasons, Collin Powell's remarks were dead on. His answer was also dangerously incomplete.
The fact is that many Americans are scared because more than three thousand Americans were murdered for the "crime" of being in America. Many are scared because even as I write this, Christians are running for their lives from Mosul and much of the rest of Nineveh province in Iraq. They are scared because while 1.3 billion Muslims do not hate this country and that for which it stands, as many as 300 million report that they do. That's a country's worth, and that is scary.
General Powell failed to address this reality alongside the real and painful challenges faced by many Muslims in America and that was simply wrong. It was also dangerously blind to the work that must be done by both sides before things will improve.
Where are the Muslim voices of outrage speaking out against the ethnic cleansing of Mosul? Where are the leaders who address the real fears that are born of the fact that more people have died in recent years in the name of Islam than any other faith? Where is the public demonstration, in numbers that rival the dead, which declares that this is not the only way to live a full Muslim life?
And before one person writes asking me "how much do you want us to apologize" or "why do I have to prove anything to you", let me tell you something: you don't. The reason for such public demonstrations is not for anyone but you. The reason for such demonstrations is because you want to take back your own culture.
When hundreds of thousands took to the streets following the religiously motivated assassination of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, it made a difference. And it would if the world saw tens of millions of Muslims (the proportional equivalent) do the same thing now. The moral authority to take hateful and fearful Americans to task rests with the ability to create mass awareness of the decency of most Muslims with acts as big as those that generate the fear and hatred.
People will only give up their hate when they can put down their fear and putting down fear requires an admission of its partial truth. When that partial truth is acknowledged then we can demand that the other partial truth, that we having nothing to fear from most of our Muslim brothers and sisters, makes it totally irrelevant whether or not Barack Obama is a Muslim.
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Author, radio and TV talk show host, and President of CLAL-The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, Brad Hirschfield is the author of 
This time I agree with the Rabbi. While Americans should teat every man as an individual and we should not carve out whole classes of people for discriminatory treatment, the problem is fundamentally for Muslims to solve.
I do not expect Christians or Muslims to solve our problems with the bigotry of the Haredim or their recently discovered high incidence of pedophilia (See Oct 10, 2008 FORWARD). While the thumpers among Christians and Jews have a ind set which can escalate to the massive violence we see in the Muslim world, it has not gone to that level. Why? Because the rest of us won't let it. The suicide bombers, the rampant child abuse, the degradation of woman occur in Muslim countries because the vast bulk of Muslims permit it to occcur.
Ruvain seems to have his head in the sand. In a short time, we will better know what America will tolerate in terms of bigotry.
We all see that McCain is running a campaign of divisiveness and bigotry. According to Palin, there are "real parts of America," Bachmann from Minnesota calls for the media to investigate anti-American members of Congress whom she asserts are there in large numbers, and McCain perpetuates the lies about "Joe the Plumber" as a divisive wedge between Americans. and then there is the never ending lies about Ayers -- who was appointed by conservative Republican Annenberg Foundation. McCain wants to kick all Gays out of the military -- that's far to the right of Don't Ask don't Tell. Palin wants a constitutional amendment against gay marriage -- the fact she wants a constitutional amendment is an admission that gay marriage, which her religion opposes, is constitutional.
Today, McCain is having a Joe The Plumber Day -- based upon lies in order to stirs up inter-group hatreds. But let's look at Joe: He made about $40,000.00, not $280,000.00 and he would fare far better under Obama's tax plan; he was not buying his boss's business and he did not have a plumber's license and the business was worth about $150,000.00. There was no way that anyone could have a taxable income of $280,000.00 from a business worth $150,000.00. Joe has a tax lien of $1,100.00 against his home, and Joe skipped out of Arizona with $700 of unpaid parking and/or traffic tickets. Thus, the Joe The Plumber whom McCain mentioned 21 times during the debate and whom he is honoring today is a liar and a tax dodger.
Why is this relevant? Yes. The basic trick behind this type of illicit campaign is to get millions of people to believe something that they know is false. The true story behind Joe The Plumber is relevant here because McCain is counting on bigotry and prejudice to blind people's eyes to the obvious truth. McCain's policies have seriously injured the middle class,, they have been responsible for the global financial meltdown, and his economic plans would further harm the middle class as well as the world economy. The only people who benefit are the super wealthy who are making billions of dollars in these huge market swings. Just by trading in the stock of The Hartford in the last few weeks, one could triple his money. That's nice when you have an extra $100,000. If The Hartford is your insurance company and your house has just burned down, that's not so nice since it won't pay your claim.
The same type of mindless religiosity which allows most Muslims to ignore reality is operating to allow millions of Americans to ignore the reality that Joe The Plumber is a Lie. What would have happened if 70% of all Germans had objected to and taken action against the anti Jewish laws in the early 1930's? What would have happened if 70% of all Arabs had supported the two state solution in 1948? What would have happened if 70% of all Americans in 1898 had stood up against Separate But Equal?
The worldwide terrorist threat grew in Arab and Muslim communities which allowed it to grow, and within two weeks, America will see whether it supports race baiting, lies, deceit, and the turning of one American against another. It is pretty much a foregone conclusion that a majority of Californians will vote to exclude Gays from constitutional protection. How far will America go to reward the hate mongers? we've already agreed to give over $1 Trillion to the crooks who caused the worldwide economic crisis and not one cent for its victims. These horrible things happen because the consciousness of the people allow them to happen. That is true for the Muslim world and for America.
I do not see how my head is in the sand, but if I try to be objective, I supposed that would be part of having one's head in the sand -- an inability to see what was happening.
Aside from that, I will add an observation about Joe the Plumber. I suspect that anyone who has such a hatred of paying taxes, who already has a tax lien on his home, and did not pay his traffic fines, probably cut a few corners on his IRS 1040 Form. I betcha he didn't report $280,000.00 in taxable income -- and I'll double betcha that he under reported his taxable income and overstated his deductions.
By now everyone knows about poor poor poor Joe. He may be in need of a job. If you live in his city.
Steven Joseph who calls himself Joe the Plumber is living in a place where you do not need a licence to be a plumber. He has been working in another city where you do need a license and is working for another plumbing firm. Often that means the owner is the licensed plumber and those under him or her may or may not be licensed. Unfortunatly one of the media types among many looked into things and, supposidly found out that nobody in the company Joe works in is licensed. If true it may be closed by now and I bet they are all thrilled with their buddy!
As for the electon let us hope on that day or whenever the results are known the McCains and the Palins all get together to have mooseburgers and beer. Then the Palins go back to where they have been staying and pack up everything-the clothes and items that the Republican party says they bought and will want back included-and the Palins go back to Alaska to await the birth of their newest additon and he McCains go to rest at one of the many homes that Cindy inherited before McCain resumes his job in Congress. Hopefully that will take place Nov. 5th.
I am really happy that Gen. Powell brought spoke on the topic regarding Muslim Americans. I think the discussion should have come up much sooner.
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