"Extent of radicalization among American Muslims" hearing; Rassmussen: 39% Say U.S. Govt. Not Focusing Enough on Threat of Domestic Islamic Terrorism

If, like me, you don't get C-SPAN 3 as part of your cable or satellite package, you can watch the House Homeland Security Comm. congressional hearing titled "Extent of radicalization among American Muslims" that I wrote about yesterday at:
http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN3/

The entire four-and-a-half hour meeting will be re-run again this afternoon on C-SPAN 3, and will also be shown in its entirety on C-SPAN starting at 10 p.m. tonight.

If you want to see a tone-deaf article that completely mis-characterizes both the purpose of the hearing and the reason why it's long-overdue, I've got just the article for you, and trust me, the confusion is neither accidental nor is it due to language or translation problems.

That's my way of saying to those of you who have wondered from time-to-time, via emails, why I mention so many things here that are related to either Swedish or Scandinavian sources -short answer: because I can and they're interesting- that I'm not going to give you a link here to something that's all in svenska.
I'm really not.

No, the offending article that stands common sense on its head is one that is easily found on one of the world's most popular media sites, The Telegraph, which I have been reading in print or online, for more than thirty years.

That dates back to my days at IU in Bloomington when I had one of the most distinguished professors of comparative politics and British politics in the country as a teacher and sounding board, the late James B. Christoph.
http://www.grad.ubc.ca/awards/james-b-christoph-prize

I took every undergraduate class on British politics that he taught and was fortunate enough to be among several British Politics students asked to attend an annual barbecue he hosted at his home for folks who were really, really into the subject.

He was a great professor who knew his subject inside-and-out and inspired his students to think more clearly and wisely for themselves.
What else can you ask for?

Prof. Christoph's wisdom, keen insight and thoughtful comments on the interplay between politics, human behavior and cultural tradition, and why some systems work and others don't, during what were then the early days of the Margaret Thatcher administration, still ring in my ears.

What also rings in my ears are the names of the myriad books and the newspapers he both required -and strongly recommended- we read, even if we might disagree with them politically, to get the true nuance and context.
Obviously, for both reasons of history and the quality of its writing, The Telegraph was on that list.
That was enough for me.

A few years ago, once I started this blog, I even ran some of their widgets on this site in order to give them the widest possible circulation, but they had technical problems too often so I had to remove them.

Early this morning, I left a comment at The Telegraph relative to the Alex Spillius column titled, US hearing on radical Islam: a waste of time, but not witch hunt http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/alexspillius/100079257/us-hearing-on-radical-islam-a-waste-of-time-but-not-witch-hunt/

Spillius definitely seems like he could pass that rigorous employment process at NPR and start work tomorrow. And yes, you know exactly what I mean when I say that.

Today's Rassmussen Reports has a poll detailing results of how Americans feel about some of the issues mentioned in today's hearing:

39% Say Government Not Focusing Enough on Threat of Domestic Islamic Terrorism
Thursday, March 10, 2011

A House committee is expected to begin controversial hearings today about the potential danger of domestic Islamic terrorism, and a sizable number of voters think the government is not paying enough attention to this possible threat. Most voters still worry, too, about homegrown terrorist attacks.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 39% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the federal government does not focus enough on the potential threat from domestic Islamic terrorism, although nearly as many (38%) say the government’s anti-terrorism focus is about right.

Read the rest of the report at: http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/general_politics/march_2011/39_say_government_not_focusing_enough_on_threat_of_domestic_islamic_terrorism

For more information, see: www.homeland.house.gov

Zuhdi Jasser of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, its President and Founder, had many good common sense points to make, esp. between 1 and 1:30 p.m., the last hour of the meeting, and I encourage you to go to their website and learn more about their efforts.

Their goal: "taking back Islam from the demagoguery of the Islamo-fascists."
http://www.aifdemocracy.org/