[R-G] Koran Burning Cynical Ploy, Obama Stimulus Not Enough

[Gary Crethers]

Koran Burning Is Cynical Ploy. Obama New Stimulus Not Enough.September 7th, 2010  

Dr.Welton Gaddy of the Interfaith Alliance today said on  Rachel Maddow’s show 
that in a meeting with Attorney General Holder,  Holder said the burning of the 
Koran by Preacher Terry Jones is “both  ignorant and dangerous”. 

Religious leaders today came out with a press conference condemning anti-Muslim 
rhetoric and demonstrations. 

This is from a Christian Science Monitor Article on the event.
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Election-2010/Vox-News/2010/0907/CNN-covered-interfaith-call-to-oppose-Koran-burning.-Who-didn-t

“The Islamic Society of North America organized a press conference at  the 
National Press Club in Washington where leaders from the Christian,  Jewish, and 
Muslim faiths argued against what organizers called “an  atmosphere of fear and 
intolerance” toward Islam.
C-SPAN and CNN carried the interfaith press conference live. Fox News  Channel 
had no coverage, but instead had commentator Lou Dobbs holding  forth on 
President Obama and the “sad isolated state this president has  put himself in.” 

Pastor Terry Jones of the Dove World Outreach Center, which has an  anti-Islamic 
philosophy, told the Associated Press he would go ahead  with plans to burn the 
Koran this weekend to protest the 9/11 terrorist  attacks. General David 
Petraeus, the top US general in Afghanistan, has  said the Koran burnings could 
endanger American troops.
“Images of the burning of a Koran would undoubtedly be used by  extremists in 
Afghanistan – and around the world – to inflame public  opinion and incite 
violence,” Petraeus said in an email to the AP.”
I am opposed to book burning in principal. I am a book lover. But it  seems to 
me that it is clear that the right wing in the USA is trying to  rile up the 
American public into a frenzy of anti-Muslim hate. This is  taking advantage of 
the general anger at the state of the economy and  redirecting that anger at a 
minority group that is an easy target  because of the association of Muslims 
with the events on 9-11. No matter  how many times Muslims in the mainstream 
tell us that they do not  endorse terrorism, any more than most Christians do 
not endorse the  terrorism that went on in Northern Ireland, there are still 
those in the  radical right and even cynical Republican operatives who know that  
there are meatheads out there who are just looking for an easy target to  blame 
for the problems the country faces. It is easier to blame Muslims  or immigrants 
and not face the fact that most of the problems the USA  faces are the result of 
decisions made by the Republicans and some  Democrats over the last three 
decades or so.
I am opposed to all racist attacks. It certainly is the right of  that pastor to 
burn the Koran, but it is decidedly not a smart move for  the American People. 
It simply provides ammunition in the long run for  the Al Queda’s of the world. 
There may be a short term gain in rallying  an increasingly angry percentage of 
the American people but this  manipulation of people’s feelings of there being 
something wrong with  the world, will only lead to more death, destruction and 
ignorance.
Obama needs to come up with a dramatic job improvement plan. More  corporate tax 
cuts are not the answer. Robert Reich has a pretty decent  argument against 
them.
This is from his column on the subject. 
http://robertreich.org/post/1079916360/why-obama-is-proposing-whopping-corporate-tax-cuts-and

“The reason businesses aren’t investing in new plant and equipment  has nothing 
to do with the cost of capital. It’s because they don’t need   the additional 
capacity. There isn’t enough demand for their goods and  services to justify it. 
Consumers aren’t buying because they’re trying  to come out from under a huge 
debt load, including mortgage debt; they  have to start saving because their 
nest eggs are worth substantially  less; and they’ve lost or are worried about 
losing jobs and pay.”
I am no economist but it make sense to me that what we need are  payroll tax 
cuts which might be in the works. Infrastructure development  is fine, but jobs 
are what we need and to get jobs. Consumer spending  is one way to prime the 
pump, assuming people spend the extra money that  comes with payroll tax cuts. 
Another way is to start hiring people to  do those green jobs Obama has talked 
about. A massive spending program  on high speed trains, insulating and putting 
solar panels on every roof  in America or building large wind farms in the 
desert and off shore like  in Europe. Building solar cities like they are doing 
in China. These  are the kinds of things we need. Not half measures.