Ken's Comments

I find myself in the unpleasant position of having to agree with a Federal Court Judge who overturned a Federal law that makes genital mutilation of females unconstitutional.  Female genital mutilation (FGM) is a horrific practice employed by some members of the Muslim faith.  Congress passed a law making this a crime and a Judge in Detroit ruled that law unconstitutional and, based on a very limited review of the case, I agree with his reasoning.  This may be a good decision made in a bad situation. The situation was that a doctor in Michigan was arrested and charged with violating a Federal law that prohibits performing genital mutilation on young girls.  For the record, the attorney for the doctor is quoted as saying the physician did not do this.  But the issue at hand is whether the Federal law is Constitutional.  Here is the test for Conservatives - just because something is horrible does that give the Federal Government the right to regulate it? ...

How are conservatives able to call Ted Cruz the real conservative candidate when he calls for police targeting and patrolling Muslim neighborhoods?  That's less government?  That conforms to the spirit of the Bill of Rights?  That's different than Donald Trump? Other candidates and Republican Party officials pushed Donald Trump to sign the pledge to support whomever is the nominee.  Now that Donald Trump is the nominee, where is their support?  What about their Pledge? Is that what the Republican Party stands for?  We lie to people we don't like to get them to play by our rules and then if the voters who make up the party pick someone we don't like we'll stab them in the back. Montana is like the last primary before the Party Convention and it looks like the Primary will actually mean something.  I don't know who I will vote for, I've never been a fan of Trump, but I'm pretty disgusted with the Party leaders and leading Republican...

One of my complaints about Donald Trump is how he states his ideas.  First it was banning all Muslims from entering the country.  Now it's giving power to Christians.  The fundamental idea he is advancing is right, the way he says it is wrong. Flipping channels I happened on a re-broadcast of the Republican Debate hosted by Fox Business News.  The moderator asked Donald Trump about his position on Muslim immigration.  Then every other candidate was asked their position.  Other than not singling out Muslims, every other Republican candidate agreed that the current process is broken and immigration needs to be throttled or stopped while the current immigration process is fixed. His most  recent comment about Christians is similar.  I think most Republican candidates would decry liberals' war against religion but to say Christians would have the power is a statement designed to create a sensation.  But both of these comments redirect all o...

Excluding Muslims - no, I don't agree with that concept.  First, it is wrong to single out people based on religion and, as a practical matter, how are you going to do it. Where The Donald is right is that the current method for screening immigrants is broken.  What Trump should have said was that all immigration should be halted while the process is fixed and not singled out just Muslims. But if you have any question about whether the process is broken, just watch this video of a Dept. of Homeland Security high official testifying in Congress.  You cannot, after watching this, tell me you have any confidence in the Federal Government's ability to prevent terrorists from entering the country right now. https://www.facebook.com/RepDeSantis/videos/1001434629914597/?theater

I'm attaching a link to an article describing a report by Megan Kelly of Fox News.  This appeared in early December after the shooting at Planned Parenthood by a nut job. http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/nb/curtis-houck/2015/12/01/megyn-kelly-takes-left-media-task-double-standard-placing-blame Ms. Kelly points to a number of instances where an event occurs that is viewed as "right wing" violence and the Media reacts harshly.  But when "left wing" violence occurs, the Media circles to find other reasons why the event occurred - absolving the "left wing" from blame or blaming the victim themselves. The event in San Bernardino occurred after this broadcast by Ms. Kelly but I remember commenters on CNN immediately suggesting the event was another act of "right wing"violence before any facts were known about the shooters.  Credit goes to a couple of the moderators who, when one of their experts said something like that, were quick to point o...

Today Donald Trump suggested that all Muslim immigration be halted.  Here is what I think is wrong about that: 1. Blatant bias against a single religion and the people who believe is not appropriate anywhere and especially not in the United States, given our history. 2. It is not the correct approach to the current problem.  We do have a problem with immigration controls.  It's clear that we have no control of our borders - both under the current Administration and under the Bush Administration to be honest - and the process of vetting people entering the country, both newcomers and our citizens who leave and come back, does not identify folks like the ones in California that just committed acts of terror.  But the solution is not banning Muslims.  We are seeing people from a variety of backgrounds going to the Middle East and getting converted.  Even that statement - that are borders are porous and we don't vet well - is an oversimplif...

There should be a new game - is it Islamophobia or is it the truth? Saadiq Long, a US Air Force veteran living in Qatar is put on the No Fly list.  In late 2012, he wants to fly back to the US.  A stink ensues and liberals and American Islamic groups get up in arms.  So the Govt. takes him off the list long enough to fly home.  He was put back on the list so to get back to Qatar, Mr. Long had to take a bus to Mexico and fly from there. Fast forward to present day.  Mr. Long and 8 or 9 others are now in jail in Turkey.  Some media reports are saying he was part of an Isis cell.  Others are saying he was arrested for being in Turkey without a visa. What's the saying?  Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean people are not out to get you?  Also - at the time Mr. Long wanted to fly, there was massive media attention.  Now that he's arrested, those same media outlets who supported Mr. Long are remarkably silent. https://pjmedia.co...

So Donald Trump wants a database with the names of (insert a group here - Muslims, immigrants, illegal immigrants, whatever).  Is it really that bad? Governor John Kasich's campaign has an ad with a minister comparing the idea to Nazi Germany registering Jews.  Gov. Jeb Bush, Dr. Ben Carson, Sen. Ted Cruz, Secretary Hilary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders also were critical of Donald Trump's comments.  Carson said that singling out a specific religion is a bad idea.  Cruz said that a registry of Americans is wrong. First of all let's clarify.  Originally, Donald Trump was calling for a registry of illegal immigrants.  Now he is now saying he wants a registry of Syrian immigrants.  I've not seen any clip of him saying all Muslims or American citizens of any religion. But let's consider the question of whether a database is a bad idea.  Is it like Nazi Germany registering the Jews?  Well, if it is then Hilary Clinton is a Nazi too....

I am not a huge fan of Donald Trump.  I'd put him somewhere between 5th and 9th if I was ranking the candidates in order of my preference.  But I can't help but be outraged at how the media misrepresents what he says. At first, the media did not take him seriously.  Now the liberal media does take him seriously and they often misrepresent what he says.  From their behavior, I have to conclude that the liberal media wants to damage Trump's candidacy. To give a single example (so this article does not get too long) - the Associated Press incorrectly reported that Donald Trump said we need to create a database of Muslims.  First of all, that is not what Donald Trump said.  At that time, what Donald Trump really said was that he wanted a database of people in the country illegally (now he is talking about a database of Syrian immigrants). But when the Associated Press sent out a story, every paper in America subscribes to the AP and ma...

So says Sean Illing of the liberal leaning Salon.com website.  Truer words could not be spoken.  As Mr. Illing said: "All religions are not the same. All faith traditions are not equally wise or equally tolerant or equally peaceful….A devout Quaker and a committed Wahhabist have very different ideas about justice and equality and morality" I will take a step back from the generalization Mr. Illing and the folks who excerpted his article at the Newsbusters.org side made.  There are liberals, like Bill Maher, who don't shy away from saying the words "Islamic terrorist."  Not every liberal has this problem but the Democrat candidates for President do. We'll get a real discussion about this next year in the Presidential election where the Democrat candidates have been very clear about not saying the words "Islamic terrorist" while Republicans have not at all been shy in this regard. If you want to read more, Mr. Illing's article is excerp...

Giving credit where credit is due, Frank Rich, a columnist with the NY Times, had an outstanding suggestion: "In his Cairo speech last June, President Obama effectively built a connection with the Muslim mainstream. Maybe he could spark the debate by asking that same audience this question: 'Whenever something like Fort Hood happens you say, ‘This is not Islam.’ I believe that. But you keep telling us what Islam isn’t. You need to tell us what it is and show us how its positive interpretations are being promoted in your schools and mosques. If this is not Islam, then why is it that a million Muslims will pour into the streets to protest Danish cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad, but not one will take to the streets to protest Muslim suicide bombers who blow up other Muslims, real people, created in the image of God? You need to explain that to us — and to yourselves." Mr. Rich is right on with his suggestion - President Obama is the perfect person to call out the Muslim com...