<img attachment="keith_ellison.jpg" align="left" class="frame" caption="Keith Ellison, Terrorist?">The United States has its first Muslim Congressman in Keith Ellison (D-MN). It's good timing and he seems a good sport as the racist shitheads come crawling out of the woodwork---shitheads like Glenn Beck, who interviewed him on TV recently. <a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200611150004" source="Media Matters" title="CNN's Beck to first-ever Muslim congressman: '[W]hat I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies'">CNN's Beck to first-ever Muslim congressman</a> has the lowdown on this new low in American television. He was unutterably rude to the Congressman, hiding behind a "I'm just askin' what everybody's thinkin'" facade. You can hardly blame Beck for his fear---look at the guy; a hardened America-hating A-rab if there ever was one. It looks like envisioning the moment when he's ripped the still-beating heart from a true-blue American's chest---probably one of our troops---and can offer it to his Lord and Savior, Osama Bin Laden. The thing is, Ellison just grinned and assured him he wasn't a terrorist. He should have told him what a rude, pathetic excuse for a newsman and human being he is and declined to continue the interview until Beck agreed to behave himself. It's not like any newsman every told David Duke he was afraid that he was going to burn a cross on their lawn---and that guy was a grand wizard of the KKK. Ellison was born and raise in the United States; he got elected to Congress. Because he's also black and a Muslim, he's fair game for discrimination nonetheless. Happily, he's decided that he wants to swear in on a Koran instead of a Bible. The sound you hear is the sphincter of the right-wing blogosphere clenching as they shudder in a paroxysm of fear and hate that renders them nearly unconscious with its blinding, white power. To say they are beside themselves is an understatement. This is America, bub, you swear on a Bible like a good Christian or you pack up your shit and go back to Russia. Granted, it's a bit dated, but history and accuracy therein never was their strong suit. You know what? This is America. There is nothing in the law that says you have to swear on <i>anything</i>. The important thing is the oath, not the prop. It's just a curious, happy coincidence that almost every elected official is fine, upstanding Christian---or purports to be in order to get elected. The Koran is important to him and will impart the ceremony with the proper solemnity? Fine, swear on a Bible. Swear on a stack of Playboys, if that floats your boat, but <b>mean it</b>. That's the important thing. <b>Mean it.</b> Public servants who swear on a Bible and break their oath every single day that they're in office are a dime a dozen. How can it possibly matter what they swear on? If you're thinking that this is a real issue, you're wrong. It's not. Sit down, shut your cake hole and think again ... or for the first time, whichever the case may be.