Column: Guest Column, by Jim Hanson

Columnist David Behling makes the comment: “Things actually got this bad: commentators on Fox News wanted to start terrorism watch lists for all Muslims in America.”

Mr. Behling, can you tell us who those commentators are — and what date it aired? I’ve searched Fox and Google and can’t find any reference to that by Fox “commentators” — but then, not being liberal, I’m not equipped to constantly find offense where none exists.

Perhaps he was referring to the response to “comedian” Jon Stewart’s attack by Eric Bolling on the popular news discussion group “The Five.” Bolling refuted Stewart’s assertion that “Muslims don’t hate us” by citing multiple examples of polls of Muslims that do endorse jihad. Perhaps he was referring to fellow “The Five” panelist Bob Beckel — one of the liberal panelists (there’s that “balance” again), a former Democratic operative and assistant secretary of state —when Beckel advocated a temporary moratorium on admission of Muslim students. You can watch both on one short video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxIWZdG3ylU&feature=player_embedded.

In both cases, it was an opinion show — and the only person advocating “starting a terrorism watch list” was one of the liberals on the show — certainly not “Fox News.” If this is the show Behling is referring to, it is hardly the horror that he makes it out to be. If so, I hope he is not teaching a journalism class.

Perhaps Behling was confused because the mother of alleged Boston bomber Dzokhar Tsarnaevis is on the no-fly list (according to the Huffington Post — not exactly a conservative site) or that the older terrorist was on the Russian watch list.

Behling continues: “Angry citizens and cowardly cemetery officials apparently even tried to block a burial for Dzokhar’s brother. What did they want to see happen to the body? Dragged through the streets behind a Humvee? Put on a display in the freezer at a local grocery store? I’m hoping that these fantasies of retribution and revenge fade quickly away, because those ideas are horrible, inhumane and unconstitutional in so many ways I can’t even count them all.”

Behling is creating a straw man that he can then attack — first creating absurd scenarios (can he name any cemetery officials that advocated his alternative scenarios?), then condemning an action that didn’t happen. Do you suppose that the cemetery officials didn’t want the burial place turned into a shrine — for the very same reasons that President Barack Obama OK’d burial at sea for Osama bin Laden? I’m sure that wasn’t bin Laden’s first choice, either.

Behling decries the “sound and fury spewing from the TV” — but so far, hasn’t been able to document that source — either for the statements he alleges, or the fantasy scenario he has created for himself. Has he ever looked at the vitriol “spewed” (liberals like to use that word) from MSNBC?

Like the recent phenomenon of teenage girls advocating leniency for the young terrorist, Behling asks the rhetorical question: “How responsible is someone in Dzokhar’s position for the things that they do? Completely and unforgivably? No extenuating circumstances taken into account?”

The answer has long been settled. At age 19, he is an adult — given the rights and responsibilities of an adult — and liable for adult crime — in this case, multiple murders, wounding of 200 people and assault on a police officer. Most rational people would agree that if found guilty, he should be given the prescribed sentence. There are no “extenuating circumstances” for that behavior.

Is there nothing that a liberal mind cannot rationalize?

 

Jim Hanson resides in rural Clarks Grove and manages a company that services the Albert Lea Municipal Airport.