It is what it is. Your post doesn't make me feel any differently about muslims

Muslims are also murdering innocent civilians. Payback is a bitch.

I think I may be unique in that I am an Iraq war vet, an actively serving Guardsman, and a resident of Mt Airy. I see and have alway seen service in the military as just that, service. The ideal is that we are used for just causes and the responsibility for this is in the hands of our elected officials, not those of us that serve. We don't have the luxury to "opt out" of any given action or war, and frankly if we could our military would be totally ineffective and our country much less safe because of it. I for one put my faith in my fellow citizens to help choose our leaders with some thought as to how they may utilize the military. I also have faith with each passing election that we will all be making the right decision. Naive? Maybe. Either way, after I retire from service I'll feel better that there will still be young men and women who like me decided, whatever the reason, to serve, and yes, defend our country. We need to do better as a country and choose leaders, public servants, who serve the public and not their warped religious, economic, business and personal agendas. Honor those that serve (not just the military, but the Peace Corps, Red Cross volunteers etc.) by going to the voting booth and choosing those that are truly there to serve the public. Memorial Day is fine, but this is more important.

Oh and by the way, my Mt Airy neighbors have never expressed any dismay towards my service. Its a fantastic neighborhood, seemingly inclusive of all, even someone in uniform.....not sure where you found this friction....hard to believe.

Wait, haven't Christians done the same exact things throughout history? Convert or die? Wasn't that what part of the Holy Crusades were all about? They lasted from 1095 to 1291 and the Roman Catholic church actually apologized for them. Do you also hate Christians?

Please see below:

Emperor Alexius asked Pope Urban II for assistance. On 1095-NOV-27, the Pope called on Europeans to go on a crusade to liberate Jerusalem from its Muslim rulers. "The first and second wave of Crusaders murdered, raped and plundered their way up the Rhine and down the Danube as they headed for Jerusalem." 1 The "army" was primarily composed of untrained peasants with their families, with a core of trained soldiers. On the way to the Middle East, they decided that only one of their goals was to wrest control of Jerusalem from the Muslims. A secondary task was to rid the world of as many non-Christians as possible - both Muslims and Jews. The Crusaders gave the Jews two choices in their slogan: "Christ-killers, embrace the Cross or die!" 12,000 Jews in the Rhine Valley alone were killed as the first Crusade passed through. Some Jewish writers refer to these events as the "first holocaust." Once the army reached Jerusalem and broke through the city walls, they slaughtered all the inhabitants that they could find (men, women, children, newborns). After locating about 6,000 Jews holed up in the synagogue, they set the building on fire; the Jews were burned alive. The Crusaders found that about 30,000 Muslims had fled to the al Aqsa Mosque. The Muslim were also slaughtered without mercy.

__________________
“Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue. Realize the strength, move on.”
- Henry Rollins

Well, I'm not a huge fan of religion period, but that was over 700 years ago. Much of Islam is still in the 7th century, at least the ones we are talking about. Somebody back there accused epoxy of being racist for his comments about Muslims. Islam is a religion practiced my a huge variety of ethnic groups and people of all skin tones. The word racist is almost meaningless now as everyone uses it to describe anything not politically correct.

For one thing, you can support the troops without supporting the war. Don't blame them for the ridiculous administration. Where do you think we'd be if they hadn't volunteered? Yup, there would be a draft. We can't all work for Greenpeace, sweetheart.

Secondly, some soldiers are on their best behavior while deployed, and some are not. There will absolutely be civilian deaths. It's horrendous. I'll bet that we don't know the half of the bad behavior going on over there, but it is not the majority. I also don't know if a person's testimony of events experienced prior to suicide is going to be 100% accurate.

Thirdly, I'm not a fan of religion either. The treatment of women in the conservative Muslim faith makes my blood boil. I think that many people here are exposed to Muslims they hear about on the news, and to area Black Muslims. We really don't hear about the many moderate and secular Muslims. A lot of American Muslims, originally from the Middle East are so different than this picture painted by the media, and by Farrakhan and the like.

__________________
http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/be30300653

They DID do that in the past, but they changed there ways and aren't doing it today. I'm more concerned about 2008 and the muslims who want to kill everybody today.

Excellent post.

Geno:

There is no dispute that Islam is a religion as opposed to a race (frankly, the concept of race is a slippery one). As a literal matter, you are correct -- epoxy's happiness that we are killing Muslims is religious, as opposed to racial, bigotry. As a practical matter, I see this as a distinction without a difference.

Epoxy's rejoinder that "Muslims hate everybody who is not muslim. Period" is simply untrue. It is no more accurate or fair than saying that white people hate everybody who is not white, Jews hate everybody who is not Jewish, or straight people hate all gays. Undoubtedly there are SOME white people, jews, straight people, and Muslims who fit this description, but none of these groups are a monolith. Making such a generalization about any large and diverse group based on the worst behaviors and words of its most radicalized and insane members is logically and morally wrong.