Free Republic

Several months ago, I took part in an interview with the magazine Psychology Today for an article on political transformation, particularly in the post-9/11 landscape. My inclusion was based on an SFGate.com article I'd written on the subject, "The Making of a 9/11 Republican" as well as the online discussion group I started for fellow former lefties, the 9/11 Neocons. The Psychology Today article, titled "The Ideological Animal," is now published in the January/February 2007 issue. With the exception of the inaccurate term "pro-war rallies" to describe my experiences as a counter-protester at leftist rallies, I felt that I was...

As'ad AbuKahlil—a political science professor at California State University, Stanislaus—spoke last month at a day-long "teach-in" at the University of California, Berkeley titled, "Building Solidarity with the Arab Spring." It consisted of a number of "workshop sessions" at the Valley Life Sciences Building, followed by a "plenary session" at the Multicultural Center, and was co-sponsored by the Arab Resource Organizing Committee, the Berkeley Muslim Students Association PAC, the International Socialist Organization, and the Syrian American Council. AbuKhalil's workshop on "The U.S. and the Arab Uprising" was held in a tiny, hot, windowless room filled with students wearing hijabs and keffiyehs....

As much as we like to think otherwise, human behavior is fairly predictable, and sometimes ironically so. Muslims reacting to depictions of violence within the Muslim world (during the Danish cartoon controversy) with, well, violence, comes to mind. This time around, it's been Obama supporters responding to my SFGate column on Palin Derangement Syndrome with, well, Palin Derangement Syndrome. The avalanche of e-mails I received (not to mention the 913 comments at SFGate) was evidence of the collective nervous breakdown that has met Sarah Palin's arrival on the political scene. It was all there: the condescension, elitisim, sexism, paranoia, personal...

Hot on the heels of my column yesterday, "Islam in America's Public Schools: Education or Indoctrination?," which included mention of the Islamic Saudi Academy (ISA) in Fairfax, Virginia, comes news that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has released its findings from a review of the school's textbooks and found that they promote hatred, intolerance, and violence. As reported by the Associated Press: -The authors of a 12th-grade text on Koranic interpretation state that apostates (those who convert from Islam), adulterers and people who murder Muslims can be permissibly killed. -The authors of a 12th-grade text on monotheism write...

After a contentious two-year campaign waged by the General Union of Palestinian Students (GUPS) and other supporters, a mural dedicated to the late Columbia University English and comparative literature professor Edward Said was unveiled at San Francisco State University (SFSU) last week. Former SFSU Arabic professor Fayeq Oweis – now teaching the same subject at Santa Clara University – was the lead artist for what's been labeled the "Palestinian Cultural Mural." The mural does include various symbols said to be associated with Palestinian culture, but it is Said's likeness that looms largest. This is perhaps appropriate for it was Said's...

Earlier this month, fellow SFGate contributor Mark Morford featured a sort of "best of" hate-mail collection, proving that vitriol emanates from both sides of the political spectrum. It's a symptom of the Wild-West-frontier-like atmosphere of the Internet. Anything goes, and that's the beauty of it. As a right-leaning columnist in a left-leaning town, I've been the recipient of some rather colorful hate mail myself. And, over the years, I've been collecting and posting it at my Web site. The following is a sampling of these e-mails, presented in their original condition, but with profanity obscured, names omitted, and, in some...

Americans have yearned to see current geopolitical realities portrayed in popular culture ever since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Before then, Islamic terrorists were a staple, albeit a stereotypical one, of action films such as "Executive Decision," "Back to the Future" and "True Lies." But after Sept. 11, the arbiters of political correctness, fearing that fiction hit too close to home, all but erased such terrorists from the public eye. Hollywood finally started coming around in the last year or so with films directly related to Sept. 11, such as "United 93" and "World Trade Center." But television...

America's college campuses, once thought to be bastions of free speech, have become increasingly intolerant toward the practice. Visiting speakers whose views do not conform to the prevailing left-leaning political mind-set on most campuses are at particular risk of having their free speech rights infringed upon. While academia has its own crimes to atone for, it's the students who have become the bullies as of late. A disturbing number seem to feel that theirs is an inviolate world to which no one of differing opinion need apply. As a result, everything from pie throwing to disrupting speeches to attacks on...

The terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, may have united America as a nation, however briefly, but they also sharpened the political differences between many of its citizens. As someone whose politics went from left to right as a direct result of Sept. 11, I experienced firsthand the sort of upheaval political disparities, newfound or otherwise, can have on personal relationships. My oldest friends and I have been able to salvage our friendships, even if voluntary silence on political matters is necessary at times. But it was that most intimate of personal relationships -- marriage -- that unfortunately fell prey...

With the upcoming release of the film "United 93," the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have returned to the fore of public consciousness. While for many Americans such painful memories remain forever seared in their minds, for a small but vocal minority the Sept. 11 attacks have taken on a mythical character. These are the Sept. 11 conspiracy theorists. If Web sites such as whatreallyhappened.com, 911truth.org and scholarsfor911truth.org (among countless others) are any indication, the Sept. 11 conspiracists have become a movement in their own right. Despite a host of differences, they share the belief that the widely accepted version...

The issue of illegal immigration, while long roiling beneath the surface of American politics, is now boiling over.The eruption began with the introduction of House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner's (R-Wis.) bill HR 4437 to the Senate following its passage by the House last December. The first attempt at real immigration reform since 1986, this commonsense legislation would have made being an illegal immigrant a felony, authorized additional fencing at the border and required all employers to use an electronic verification system to ensure that workers are legal residents. Yet the Senate supported the bill only after watering it down...

Worldwide protests, riots, and threats aimed at Denmark and its citizens have taken place ever since the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten printed cartoons featuring the Islamic prophet Muhammed. In response to this unprecedented assault on the right to free speech, rallies supporting Denmark have occurred in Washington D.C. and New York,.  Others are planned for Chicago, London, Toronto, Montreal and Sydney. In addition, there will be a "Rally to Support Denmark and Free Speech" outside the Danish Consulate in San Francisco: When:  Friday, March 10, between noon and 1pm. Where:  Danish Consulate - One California Street (Suite 330) - San Francisco - Map....

Readers will no doubt recall the hysteria from the mainstream media and anti-death penalty forces on the left over the execution of Stanley’s "Tookie" Williams last month. Countless articles were written bemoaning Tookie’s loss and news anchors spoke glowingly of his supposed contributions to ending gang violence. That Tookie himself was the founder of the notorious "Crips" gang, responsible for so much murder and mayhem over the years, didn’t seem to enter into the equation. Neither did the four people he murdered in cold blood. Now California’s next execution is scheduled for Tuesday, January 17, with multiple murderer Clarence Ray...

A UCLA political scientist conducted a recent study on media bias and came to the conclusion that many of us reached a long time ago. The media tilts left. But the study did produce some unexpected results. It turns out that PBS’ NewsHour With Jim Lehrer is the most "centrist outlet," while the Drudge Report "leans left." Most readers find the Wall Street Journal’s editorial page to be conservative (with the exception of their stance on illegal immigration, which mirrors that of the far left), but the UCLA study found that the news pages are "even more liberal than The...

Upon leaving a San Francisco shop last week, I wished the clerk a cheery "Merry Christmas," only to be met with a surly "Happy Holidays" in return. With that simple exchange, our positions at opposite ends of the political spectrum were revealed. The celebration of Christmas has indeed been overshadowed by politics in recent years, to the point where every greeting is pregnant with meaning. And even non-Christians are swept up in the Christmas kerfuffle. As a member of the Jewish faith, I've never once felt intimidated, bothered or offended by Christmas. In fact, I grew up celebrating Christmas and...

  On November 4, 2005, Jewish Defense League (JDL) member Earl Krugel was murdered in an Arizona prison.  It was only his third day into a 20-year sentence at the Federal Correction Institution in Phoenix.  The 62-year old Navy veteran and former dental technician was exercising when another inmate came up behind him and hit him over the head with a concrete block, killing him instantly.  Why a loose cement block was just hanging around the exercise yard is still unknown.  Authorities have been fairly tightlipped so far, but the investigation has reportedly focused on a white supremacist inmate.   While this...

A deafening silence overcame the Jewish community this month after Jewish Defense League member Earl Krugel was murdered in an Arizona prison. The 62-year old Navy veteran and former dental technician — three days into a 20-year federal sentence — was exercising when another inmate came up behind him and hit him over the head with a concrete block, killing him instantly. Why a loose cement block was just hanging around the exercise yard is still unknown. Authorities have been fairly tightlipped so far, but the investigation has reportedly focused on a white supremacist inmate. Despite all the questions surrounding...

Since Israel's disengagement from the Gaza Strip, the Palestinians have basically been left to their own devices. The world has gotten an eyeful of just what a much-anticipated Palestinian state might look like, and it's not a pretty picture. The dust hadn't even settled after the last of the Jews had been removed from Gaza when Palestinians resorted to form. Looting and demolishing buildings they might otherwise have been able to reside in, the Palestinians displayed the sort of destructive and dysfunctional behavior they've become known for. They soon graduated to burning down synagogues, a time-honored tradition from the...

Leftist Bush-bashing is certainly nothing new, but recently the president has been getting an earful from his right flank as well. For some time now, a lively debate has been raging among conservatives over a variety of Bush administration policies and decisions. For conservatives, criticism of the Bush administration centers not so much on style than on substance. Unlike the left's scattershot attacks, the president's appearance, past habits or religious beliefs are unlikely to figure in the equation. Disagreement exists over the war in Iraq, but conservatives are largely united in the belief that the war on terrorism is the preeminent...

A crowd of around 10,000 protesters gathered in San Francisco on Saturday, September 24, allegedly to express their displeasure with the war in Iraq. But it wasn't Iraq this rally was really about, but rather radical leftist and anarchist politics manifested by a hatred for America and Israel, and, of course, a chance to rail against the supposed evils of capitalism. This was fitting given the two main groups, International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop the War and End Racism) and United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), that organized the event. For those in the know, those are front groups...