My “scary racism” comment is primarily focused on the video clip below, not necessarily Sarah Palin's comment. She's just a regular racist. Some who rally around her are the scary ones.

Secondly, I'm not sure where your “15,700 terrorist attacks” statistic comes from (but I'd love to know), but it fails to compare to the 100,000 civilians who have died in Iraq alone. http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

I also challenge the “1,200 years of…conquest strategies” comment, because history is at least as ugly for the U.S.A. and Europe. In fact, the history of Judaism, Christianity, and the West in general is that of conquest, genocide, enslavement, and oppression. I certainly would not conclude, from this ugly past of ours, that we are on a path to all become genocidal imperialist lunatics. But if you do want to apply that logic to Muslims, look in the mirror first.

But the main problem with this argument is that what we see around us simply doesn't compute. I remember Israel, and for that matter my folk in Ireland, during the 80's and 90's. Blood bath almost every day. If Islam itself is to blame, then why haven't any of the dire post-9/11 predictions come true. There are 1.5 billion Muslims. 15,700 terrorist attacks, if true, is a drop in the bucket when compared to the murders created by “Christians” in this country alone.

Also, I've read many parts of the Qu'ran. I, of course, was most curious about the juicy “kill the infidel” bits, and I find nothing to be afraid of. In fact, I'm a Catholic who's read much of the Christian Bible, and it's got a lot of pretty screwed up parts. Some scholars have suggested that there is far less violence in the holy scriptures of Muslims than those of Christians and Jews.