Tom the Dancing Bug by Ruben Bolling for October 29, 2010

“No passion so effectually robs the mind of all its powers of acting and reasoning as fear.”

~ Edmund Burke

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed – and hence clamorous to be led to safety – by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

~  Henry Louis Mencken

This kind of problem would most likely have been averted and a lot of unpleasantness been avoided if the self-proclaimed apostles of the religion of peace had shown some outrage at this and other terrorist acts and publicly and officially disassociated themselves from the terrorists instead of reproaching those of us practicing other beliefs for having the gall to be outraged at the acts. By remaining silent, they virtually assured that they would be associated with the radicals.

You reap what you sow.

Butch: Oh. I get it now. 9/11 was imaginary and a hobgoblin. And something like that can never happen again. Thanks for setting me straight. I feel better already.

Doug: Finally. A rational, sane statement. You bring hope to a country leaning so far left it is alarming.

Butch: So you’re saying Muslim terrorists are imaginary? Where have you been the last nine years?

Doug: You are right as far as you go about the silent Muslims, but I demand more of them. They should be turning in the terrorists all around the world.

My local PBS station: Look for my donation card with no donation and the name Juan Williams.

pschearer

Right, You and all the other nutbags who never donated before are going to raise havoc by not donating now.

I would be more concerned by sitting next to a right-winger and remaining silent. My wife won’t let me watch TV during the run-up to the election– I shout at the commercials.

I’m only worry about the terrorists on the plane that DON’T look like Muslims. I’m sure that a real terrorist would be trying to keep a low profile.

What a brilliant comic (as usual).

I’m starting to think it hit a nerve.

butch: excellent comments

geedee: if more people realized this I would be less concerned about the gullibility and ease of xenophobia in our population.

ButchInWaukegan, thank you, but I wish you had posted these quotes sooner. Here in the boonies, we have only a weekly paper, and it’s too late to send these quotes to the Letters to the Editor. Oh well, there’s always the next election.

pschearer: It was NPR not PBS. Please get your facts straight.

The only thing funnier than this cartoon is the comments of the loony right wing nuts defending their insane behavior (with lies, no less). It’s amazing how this cartoon brings the cockroaches out of the wooodwork. Too funny.

Personally, I’m more worried about the loony Christians detroying our country than any Muslims on planes.

Chiku, that vermin do not want America to be America. They demonstrate that every time they utter their disgusting filth.

Oh, and by the way, the extremist violence has been condemned numerous times by numerous Islamic leaders. Additionally, they also remind us (Americans, that is) that terrorist violence is not just something that happens with adherents of Islam.

And you Nov 2 prognosticators. Do not count your chickens…

Hey, if you don’t want to be mistaken for a fanatically religious, fear-fostering, backward-looking, xenophobic extremist carrying hidden weapons, leave your cowboy hat and oversized belt buckle at home!

True, the majority of Texans do NOT pose a threat to our safety and freedoms, but it’s only natural to “make the connection” and be fearful of anyone wearing Texan garb or making the “Longhorns” hand-gesture (recognizable in the rest of the world as devil’s horns) in public. Why don’t rational, peace-loving Texans speak out against these bad apples?

Personally, I like this joke by Jimmy Kimmel:

“After President Obama spoke, the Republicans gave their rebuttal, during which they pointed out that Obama has repeatedly failed to solve any of the problems they created under President Bush.” -Jimmy Kimmel, on Obama’s State of the Union Address

So true, really…

Hey – we bomb them, they bomb us. It’s a way of getting along. I’m waiting for my shot at a Muslim garbist, though, so I can get a Fox contract for myself!

We do have more to worry about lunatics re-writing our constitution, closing down our government, and selling us out to the Communist Chinese. Vote on Tuesday or DIE!

Was the Muslim wearing muslin?

@ pschearer

They should be turning in the terrorists all around the world.

Why would they do that?

Most Muslims in the countries where the terrorists like to hang out are familiar with brutal governments that imprison people without trial, torture them, and summarily execute them. They've heard that the governments of the West are different, but they're sceptical. And when the United States government does get its hand on alleged terrorists, what does it do? It imprisons them without trial, tortures them, and summarily executes them. (The big difference seems to be that the U.S. will only kill you if they haven't captured you; after capture, you're fairly safe.) Meanwhile, they've been hearing rumours that the terrorist attacks are really being done by Mossad, not by Muslims at all. And they're going to turn in their friends and neighbours just because they're getting involved with radical groups?

You and I know that Al Qaeda is an organisation of murderous terrorists, that 9/11 was not a Jewish plot, and that Guantánamo Bay is an aberration (although one that shows no sign of ending so far). But the Muslims in a position to turn in terrorists know none of this for sure, and the U.S. government is doing nothing to win their trust (indeed seems to be going out of its way to act untrustworthy).

If I were in that position, including that lack of certain knowledge, I wouldn't turn anybody in. Heck, even here in the West, I wouldn't turn anybody in unless I was certain that they were in a position to kill people (or something equally nefarious). I'd rather die than send somebody to the black hole of Guantánamo on mere suspicion or talk.