I live in a beautiful rural valley of 700 people in eastern Idaho and after I came to live here I found out that Utah isn’t the only place that is fifty percent Mormon.

As a compulsively inquisitive geo-political junkie I decided to look through the Book of Mormon so I could learn a little about the belief of my neighbors. As with any outsider looking into another’s faith, I found many outlandish passages that would require faith to swallow, however, this is a characteristic that all religions share. What I have learned of my Mormon neighbors in the years since my voyeuristic venture into the sacred book of the LDS Church is more telling. My anecdotal experiences have revealed to me that I couldn’t have better neighbors or live in a finer community. ---------------------------> More

Norman MattoonThomas (November 20, 1884 - December 19, 1968) was a leading American socialist, pacifist, and six-time presidential candidate for the Socialist Party of America. He was ordained as a Presbyterian minister in 1911. As a candidate for President of the U. S. Norman Thomas said, in a 1944 epoch speech:

"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism. But, under the name of "liberalism", they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program, until one day America will be a socialist nation, without knowing how it happened."

He went on to say: "I no longer need to run as a Presidential Candidate for the Socialist Party. The Democratic Party has adopted our platform."

In the wake of the Iraq War, there has been much Monday morning quarter backing by America's weak offensive line (liberals) who insist the “War on Terror” is to be waged only against Osuma bin ladens al Qaeda. This essay is to make the connection of pan-Islamo Fascism and its long terrorism history. As the democratic world confronts al Qeada's Osama bin Laden, Ayman al-Zawahiri, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hezbollah 's Hassan Nasrallah, and their followers, many among us are trying to understand militant Islam, where it came from and its aims. The following background material is designed to give an overview of the phenomenon that has been called "militant Islam," "fundamentalist Islam," “Islamo Fascism” “Islamism,” or "radical Islam."

"Allah is our objective. The Prophet is our leader. Koran is our law. Jihad is our way. Dying in the way of Allah is our highest hope." - The Muslim Brotherhood

Early Islamism

The roots of militant Islam go back to the thirteenth century; to a traditionalist legal philosopher named Ibn Taymiya, who opposed Islam's incorporation of western influences. The most successful militant Islamic movement, which drew its inspiration from Ibn Taymiya is the Wahhabis of Saudi Arabia, the birthplace of Islam. Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, a fundamentalist sheikh who preached religious reform, forged an alliance with a local village chief, Muhammad Ibn Saud, to overturn un-Islamic practices that had become prevalent among the Arabia's people. As with his ideological ancestor Ibn Taymiya, Ibn Wahhab fought Muslim rulers who he believed failed to implement a pure form of Islam. Between 1773 and 1819, the Saudis and the Wahhabis united to conquer the Arabian Peninsula, and found the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.---------------------------> More

My enemy is your enemy therefore you are my friend. That is why we allied with Stalin our ideological enemy in 1939 and gave him billions of dollars of munitions during WW2. Hitler partnered with the Japanese not because he included Asians in his master race concept or because they shared the same worldview; he worked with them despite his ideology because they were the enemy of the United States therefore his friend.

Several years ago observation provided an epiphany that testosterone may be a factor of political ideological persuasion; later Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger put forth his oversimplified hyperbolic “girly-men” comment about the California Legislature apparently coming to a similar hypothesis. Anthropology is the study of humanity..............

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