Marking the second anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations has released a poll that, among other things, reflects American Muslim political views.
Suffice it to say the majority aren't in George W. Bush's camp.
Only 2 percent said they would vote for President Bush. One in 10 Muslim respondents say they support the president's Iraq policy.
Asked which 2004 presidential candidate would get their vote, American Muslims (a large majority of whom vote in presidential elections) from 41 states favor former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (26 percent), followed by Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio (11 percent), Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts (7 percent) and former Sen. Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois (6 percent).
When asked to name the political party that best represents the interests of the American Muslim community, far more respondents named the Democratic Party (27 percent) and Green Party (25 percent) than the Republican Party (3 percent).
As for the television news outlet that most fairly provides coverage of Islam and Muslims, taxpayer-supported PBS topped the list. The Fox News Channel exhibits the most biased coverage, according to those polled.
PRAGUE TO K.C.
Central Europeans like what they see in America's heartland: themselves.
We've learned that the Czech Republic later this month will open a consul's office in the Kansas City metropolitan area, of all places. The Czech Republic's ambassador to the United States, Martin Palous, a strong supporter of President Bush in the war in Iraq, will even be on hand when the office opens.
Why Kansas City?
Rep. Dennis Moore (D-Ka.) tells us that thousands of Czechs and Slovaks immigrated to Kansas, Missouri and Nebraska in past centuries, their descendants forming "a vibrant part of America's rich cultural tapestry."
"Now, after only a decade since becoming a free and autonomous nation," the congressman notes, "the Czech Republic's amazing progress toward democratization has created a unique opportunity to further strengthen the ties between Eastern Europe and America's heartland."
LAWMAKERS FOR A DAY
As one Ohio Democrat sees it, Congress doesn't have the liberty to criticize President Bush's "deceptive" policy in Iraq.
 So he's granting his constituents the floor.
More than a century and a half ago, Rep. Sherrod Brown notes, Congress passed a rule banning the discussion of "slavery" in the House.
"In those days," he says, "John Quincy Adams, former president, was a member of the House ... and while he was banned, was prohibited from discussing slavery, former ... Congressman Adams as an abolitionist believed that slavery was the biggest blot on our nation's history and wanted to remove that.
"He came to the House floor day after day, week after week, and because he could not talk directly about slavery, he read letters from his constituents in Massachusetts expressing their concern about slavery," Brown recalled.
Along those same lines today, the Democrat says the Republican-controlled Congress "will not allow us to debate the issue of the president's perhaps not telling the whole truth about his decision to attack Iraq."
So, Brown has taken to the floor of the House and begun reading letters from his constituents, several of whom are calling on Congress to create an independent commission to investigate the Bush administration's "distortion of evidence of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction program" - as one Ohio letter-writer refers to it.
AVID READER
He's made a name for himself as speaker of the House, as CEO of the communications firm the Gingrich Group, as senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and Hoover Institution, and as a political pundit on virtually every major TV network.
Now, Newt Gingrich has been voted a "Top Reviewer" by Amazon.com readers.
"Speaker Gingrich is an avid reader," says the giant bookseller, which counts 120 recent reviews by Gingrich. "He does not review all of the books he reads. You will not find any bad reviews here, just the books he thinks you might enjoy." Continued... |