From David Mixner's Blog

From David Mixner's Blog


America's War On Islam
By David Mixner
Copyright By David Mixner
Sept. 1 2010
http://www.davidmixner.com/2010/09/americas-war-on-islam.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DavidMixnerCom+%28DavidMixner.com%29


Despite reassurances from our governmental leaders to the Muslim world that our military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq are not a War on Islam, American citizens are doing their best to prove them wrong. In fact, the anti-Muslim activity in America is growing so fast that it is undercutting our own troops and their mission. The radical right has seized a new issue from which to raise money, stir fears and get votes. Jumping rapidly ahead of the issues of the LGBT community and abortion is the campaign against Muslims.

The issue of building the Mosque blocks away from Ground Zero is the one that is getting enormous national attention. One only has to look at many in the crowds to see the hate and anger in their faces. When one man who appeared to be a Muslim recently walked through one of those crowds he was surrounded and clearly was on the verge of being attacked when cooler heads prevailed. As I watched the video tape of that incident all I was immediately taken back to the hateful crowds that attacked civil rights workers in the 1960's.

The incidents of hate grow by the day. All over America citizens are insisting no mosques be allowed anywhere. In Tennessee, a mosque that was being built was set on fire and shots a few days later were fired into the area. A cab driver in New York who was asked if he was Muslim had his throat slit. In community after community, crowds gather in public forums or outside building sites demanding 'no mosques". In Florida, a minister is organizing a 'burn the Qur'an Day" on September 11. Guarded by right wing armed private milita, he plans a bonfire of the holy book of Islam. Imagine those images going over the media to Nigeria, Indonesia and the Middle East!

You can count on this fact. Each one of these incidents are being played on the media outlets to Muslims around the world. With each new clip, the feelings intensify that this is indeed not a war against dictators but a war against their deeply held religious beliefs. Even the President with his considerable rhetorical skills can not overcome those horrifying images that are emulating from America. All we have to remember as citizens is how we are horrified and united when any American is treated badly in an Islamic nation. Imagine if an American's tourist throat was cut by a Muslim in Nigeria in the name of their religion. Get the point?

Focus on the Family and others are demanding that no mosques be allowed anywhere in America. The Pat Robertson's of the world are calling this a war on Islam and that people who are Muslim have a greater tendency to be more violent and dangerous. Really? More so than the Germans in World War II? The inflammatory statements coming from the radical right has risen to the stage that it is giving people permission to commit violence and believe they are patriots. Their hateful words are undercutting this nations foreign policy around the world.

Over 40 nations have populations that are 50% or more Muslim. Near 60% of Africa is Muslim. And no we are not just talking about Libya or Egypt but such nations as Cote d'Ivorie, Chad, Gambia, Guinea, Niger, Sierra Leone and Tanzania. Are we at war with such nations as Turkey (99% Muslin), Indonesia (95%), Malaysia (52%), Albania (75%), Azerbaijan (93%) or Nigeria (75%)?

We have now been at war near a decade. Over 6,500 American troops have been killed. A horrifying 45,000 American soldiers have been seriously wounded. Tens of thousands of civilians in both nations have been killed and injured. For near two hundred years (1095 -1291), the Europeans engaged in the Crusades to return the Holy Land to Christians. In recent times, Russia spent a decade attempting to control Afghanistan. The results of our ventures in Iraq are shaky at the best. The situation in Afghanistan is growing more dire by the day.

The last thing we need at this time is American citizens conducting their own war against Islam with hate filled language, mobs, arson and violence. These actions not only are in direct conflict with every Constitutional principle we know but seriously hurts are ability to be effective in the global community.





LGBT Civil Rights: Here Come The Republicans!
By David Mixner
Copyright By David Mixner
Sept 2 2010
http://www.davidmixner.com/2010/09/lgbt-civil-rights-here-come-the-republicans.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DavidMixnerCom+%28DavidMixner.com%29


In the last few months, we have seen a flood of prominent Republicans come out for marriage equality. Many of them are not only supporting the issue but actually speaking out and raising funds to assist in the battle. Most of them are getting behind the American Foundation For Equal Rights Court Case. Some LGBT leaders and activists are having difficulty adjusting to the new allies who have opposed us in the past, come from a totally different ideological spectrum and still support candidates who don't support us.

While it is understandable that people would have a difficult time adjusting to this shift in support for marriage equality, trust me, this is good news - very good news. Most importantly, nothing more symbolizes that we are edging very close to victory than the emergence of these new allies. In fact, our entire movement has been geared to organize where our opposition will be isolated as right wing nuts. With respected and thoughtful conservative and libertarian voices joining our struggle, that is exactly what is beginning to happen in this battle for full equality.

In 1978, the LGBT community was fighting the tidal wave of victories by Anita Bryant and her allies. She won in Miami, St. Paul, Wichita and Eugene. Ms. Bryant seemed unstoppable as she brought her hate band wagon to California. With the public support of State Senator John Briggs, they put on the ballot Proposition Six that would have made it against the law for school teachers to be homosexual. Initially no one thought we could win but a group of us were determined to fight. In the last weeks of the campaign, we couldn't quite reach the magical 50% plus 1 that we needed for victory. Exasperated but determined, Peter Scott and I went to Governor Ronald Reagan to ask for his support. Many in the community were appalled that we would seek the support of a man who opposed everything we stood for in life. To make a long story short, we obtained his support and he put us over the top. We won with 54% of the vote.

On that election night as thousand cheered and wept in celebrating our victory, not one person came up to me to question getting Reagan aboard. It was a huge victory.

Winning full equality in 2010 is not going to happen until we build new allies out of our traditional base. That is the purpose of a movement - to educate and change minds, to extend hands and create winning coalitions. No one is served to punish our new allies for having contrary backgrounds or different ideologies. Believe it or not, this is not about any individual's personal beliefs; it is about the next generation being free from fear, hate and oppression.





Larry J. Sabato's Election Predictions With Sixty Days To Go
By David Mixner
Copyright By David Mixner
Sept 3 2010
http://www.davidmixner.com/2010/09/larry-j-sabatos-election-predictions-with-sixty-days-to-go.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DavidMixnerCom+%28DavidMixner.com%29


Sabato Larry Sabato is a highly respected political scientist who is Director of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics. Every Labor Day, he issues his "Crystal Ball" forecast for the upcoming elections. This year is nothing but bad news for the Democrats. Sabato believes it is possible for the Majority Party to lose both the House and the Senate. You should read his entire forecast but here is the key excerpt:

Given what we can see at this moment, Republicans have a good chance to win the House by picking up as many as 47 seats, net. This is a “net” number since the GOP will probably lose several of its own congressional districts in Delaware, Hawaii, and Louisiana. This estimate, which may be raised or lowered by Election Day, is based on a careful district-by-district analysis, plus electoral modeling based on trends in President Obama’s Gallup job approval rating and the Democratic-versus-Republican congressional generic ballot (discussed later in this essay). If anything, we have been conservative in estimating the probable GOP House gains, if the election were being held today.

In the Senate, we now believe the GOP will do a bit better than our long-time prediction of +7 seats. Republicans have an outside shot at winning full control (+10), but are more likely to end up with +8 (or maybe +9, at which point it will be interesting to see how senators such as Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, and others react). GOP leaders themselves did not believe such a result was truly possible just a few months ago. If the Republican wave on November 2 is as large as some polls are suggesting it may be, then the surprise on election night could be a full GOP takeover. Since World War II, the House of Representatives has flipped parties on six occasions (1946, 1948, 1952, 1954, 1994, and 2006). Every time, the Senate flipped too, even when it had not been predicted to do so. These few examples do not create an iron law of politics, but they do suggest an electoral tendency.

The seat switches are probably coming in Arkansas, Colorado, Delaware (but only if the eventual GOP nominee is Rep. Mike Castle), Indiana, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania. We expect Republicans to pick off at least a couple of these states: California, Illinois, Nevada, Washington, and Wisconsin. While it is possible that Republicans will lose one or two of their own open seats, the only 50-50 chance of that right now is in Florida—and it might not happen even there. There can also be unanticipated shockers if a GOP wave develops. While we rate Gov. Joe Manchin (D) the early favorite to fill the late Sen. Robert Byrd’s seat, his Republican opponent, John Raese, is a self-funder in a strongly anti-Obama state.