This is the first installment of what will be a weekly column entitled Ask a Shiite. Our resident expert will be fielding questions of a philosophical, physical, and political nature in regards to Shiite Islamic belief and Middle East perception from his own eyes. Interested in asking a question? Send an email to alec.

Question: What is the overall effect of the Israeli / Palestinian conflict on Muslim perspectives of the United States role in the Middle East? And what is the general perception of America given the current political climate for Muslims?

Given PBH’s recent success of declaring jihad on Natasha Mitra, I am ready to declare another jihad, this time on American society. I know, I know, it’s not Fatwa Friday, but alas, this 9 year old girl gets baked and fried to look like a fucking oompa loompa with the prodding encouragement of her mother. All so that she can look like Linsday drug-riddled, anorexic-harpy Lohan for her yearbook picture. I hate you America:

In today’s edition of Haaretz (liberal Israeli daily), there’s a rather pallid article called Shin Bet arrests three Hamas militants who tried to attack IDF troops. Nothing to see here — it’s your typical Israeli-Palestinian situation of shoot, retaliate, and arrest. But check out this gem in the Web 2.0 of Haaretz’s instantaneous discussion and feedback for articles, evidenced no greater than by the zinger at #7 titled ‘to all the ubove’:

Can any one of you(from your past experience in Europe)suggest few romantic,unhurtfull ways to resist militery occupation,humilation and seggrigation?please!!

Zinged to irony and beyond! Nothing like inflicting the same treatment on others like you received yourself for karmic reprisal, because when you suffer greatly, why bother learning from it? Because otherwise, you are entitled to a life of guilt-free mistreatment of anyone who gets in the way of your crazy nationalistic dreams!

When a percentage of Muslims support civilian casualties, it’s called an internal threat and terrorism. When an even higher percentage of Americans support intentionally attacking civilians, what do we call it?

The past week, a highly publicized Pew Research Center poll was released on the beliefs and political perceptions of Muslim Americans. The survey concluded, that Muslim-Americans are “largely assimilated, happy with their lives, and moderate with respect to many of the issues that have divided Muslims and Westerners around the world.” Yet on prominent mainstream media outlets, the survey was slanted as “Supporting Terror?” on a CNN crawl, on CBS News online, the headline incorrectly stated that 26% OF YOUNG U.S. MUSLIMS OK BOMBS, and in USA Today, more scare tactics: POLL: 1 IN 4 YOUNGER U.S. MUSLIMS SUPPORT SUICIDE BOMBINGS.

The Article: The Last Nail in the GOP’s Coffin by David Frum of AEI. Yes, AEI.

The Text: The Republican party is hurtling toward disaster in 2008. The latest polls report that 61 percent of Americans think that the Iraq war was a mistake. More than 70 percent of Americans think the country is on the “wrong track”–an astonishingly bad number for a non-recession year.

Historically, Democrats have been perceived as the more caring and compassionate party; Republicans as the more honest and effective party.

The Women’s Rights Essay I Spent Nine Mostly Painful Hours Forcing Out

Women: Some just say “Sure, they’re those things with vaginas in ‘em.” others understand the feminine identity as an endless majesty of intellect, strength, and fashion sense. All throughout history, differences between males and females have shaped the way society looks at the shapelier sex, and the unfortunately common patriarchal societies have pushed the female potential-sometimes all too literally-to the back burner. However, with the 19th and 20th centuries came the blossoming of social, technological, and medical advances. These changes became the mother’s milk of progress, and birthed the modern Women’s Rights Movement. In this essay we will expose ourselves to the legal background of one of the most titillating issues surrounding women’s movement in America: Reproductive Rights.

If you get erections from political sellouts, this week was your week to shine (with hard-ons). No sooner did the Democrats get control of the House and Senate on the anti-War, anti-Bush platform did they cave in to have their pockets lined with delicious government money. Oh boy, the sea of change:

We are in the midst of an intellectual crisis in this country where certain dogmatic and incoherent beliefs are allowed to dominate the discourse in spite of the fact that they are demonstrably false. It’s one of the most difficult problems we ace.

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An Iraqi boy hides behind a U.S. soldier on Monday amid gunfire after a car bomb in Central Baghdad killed 24 people:

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It’s fitting that on Memorial Day we Americans remember those that are no longer with us. Traditionally this day is reserved for those of the armed services that have fallen from combat, but the sentiment can and should be extended to all those that are now gone. President Bush has held office for nearly eight years now, and of those that started that journey with him, few remain of the original staff. The Cabinet of the 43rd President has been a veritable revolving door of appointments and confirmations. I will take today, to remember those members of President Bush’s ruling body that have been fired, resigned, or quit in protest. The list is long, and the reasons for their not being here today are varied, but they shall be remembered.