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Ugly is Forever

Keith Ellison is a Muslim.
That is like saying that Mitt Romney is a Mormon,
or that Rabbi Zephyr is Jewish.

Ellison represents a part of Minneapolis in Congress.
He doesn't run as a Muslim, but as a Democrat,
but then John Boehner doesn't run as a Sun Tanner, either.
Boehner is a Republican; you know:  orange.

To say Keith Ellison is a Muslim
is like saying that Mike Huckabee is a Baptist,
or that the Dali Lama is a Buddhist.
Ellison has pre-medieval religious beliefs,
but so does the Pope.  So does Michele Bachmann.

Ellison is a very good, hard-working Member of Congress.

But now--apparently--Lynne Torgerson wants Ellison's seat.

"Keith Ellison represents one of the most significant threats to America, and that's why I need your help to defeat him.  This is your chance to help ride our nation of a radical Muslim Fundamentalist, like the people who:

  • carried out a shooting at Fort Hood;
  • attacked the World Trade Center and Pentagon on 9/11;
  • attempted to detonate a bomb in Times Square this past year."
(Quoted in a letter from Keith Ellison)

The whole town is full of Christian fundamentalists, 
but no one is accusing them of boiling liberals in oil,
however attractive that may sound during Bible Study.
No one is accusing fundamentalist Buddhists of
serenity in the face of human atrocity.

Ellison isn't radical, and he isn't a fundamentalist.
He did not fly a plane into a Trade Tower,
nor--in the wildest speculation--did he favor it.  
He is just an American who is Muslim, in Congress,
doing the best he can for his neighborhood constituents.

I suppose one can be forgiven for being religious,
but hate is ugly.  A repentant sinner may be forgiven,
but ugly is forever.  

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