I'm getting real sick of the suggestion that radical Islam represents a threat to Western Civilization greater than fascism or communism. In the Townhall article, Prager tries to scare us by pointing out that if only 10% of Muslims subscribe to radicalized Islam, that's still more than those who believed in Nazism, communism, etc. He could have made it 50% for all I care. The point is that x percent of Muslims believe in it, but none of them have the power of an industrialized state to execute their desires. Nazi Germany was a threat because it was roughly equal in power to the Allies. Soviet Russia was a threat because it was, briefly, roughly equal in power to the United States. Is Iran roughly equal in power to the United States? Indonesia? And what if the Middle East were to become a superstate, with enough political organization and military power to credibly threaten the West? This is all nonsense. Total, raving, John Birch-style nonsense.

People like Prager (apparently they call themselves "conservatives") desire conflict with The Other, whether it is Muslims, immigrants, Jews, blacks, women, homosexuals or anyone else that threatens their fragile and archaic identities. They are cowards and they are weak. They have no idea how to fit themselves into the modern world so they wish to destroy and purify it. And that is exactly what the Nazis wanted to do. The fact that this bigot is on the Holocaust Memorial Council would be slightly less appalling if it weren't for the presence of the man in the White House. I'm increasingly less shocked by things like this, but I can also see the unsustainability of this "conservatism." There's plenty of sypathetic bigots out there who will listen to ignorant bigots like Prager. Under principled leadership, this country will surely marginalize them and their entire program of antimodernism, rather than encouraging it with winks and nods. Real critics of modernity do so with their minds, not concentration camps.

Thank you, Sage

This unholy alliance between Evangelical Christians and Orthodox Jews continues to baffle me.

While the short-term gain may be support for Israel and common ground on social conservative issues, the long-term plan, according to Christian scripture, is the elimination of all Jews, via conversion or death.

Who does Prager think O'Reilly is talking about when he discuess his "War on Christmas?" Have we forgotten Pat Robertson's comments about Ariel Sharon's coma?

The fact that this is lost on so many just stuns me to no end.

To Stalenyc: It shouldn't stun you. Prager is simply an operator. His piety is a gimmick. He is the faux-religious version of David Horowitz who was a raving Stalinist until he became a raving rightwing Republican.
It's all about making a buck.

Sigh. Sorry to hear that us Conservatives and Reform Jews ain't religious enough for you. I bet that the various rabbis that presided over my schooling, confirmations, bar mitzvah, marriage, births, deaths, etc., would disagree with you. I suspect there are Lubavitchers that might consider you to be a goy.

I hope I am mistaking your meaning and if so, let me be the first to apologize.

Not to mention of course, all of my fellow Jews that I have celebrated Judaism with at services, at minyans, etc....

this is ridiculous. it's not incitement. he's an asshole. and there's no way he should rep for anything on this holocaust council.

Both Josh and I believe that Prager is a real self-hating Jew. The irony is that anyone who has ever seen Dennis Prager on the tube knows that self-love rather than self-hate is his defining characteristic.
Nevertheless.....

What is really absurd about Prager's "Muslim's hate life; Nazis loved life" nonsense is the sheer ignorance it represents. He seems to be unaware of the German suicide squads formed late in the war. Early in 1945, when it became clear that the Luftwaffe could not check the American attacks by conventional methods -- too many P-51 Mustangs -- a new kamikaze scheme was adopted.

Over 2,000 Luftwaffe pilots volunteered for this suicide operation. The plan was assemble a large collection of fighters, perhaps a thousand or more, and launch a suicide attack on an American formation in which it was hoped that as many as 500 heavy bombers would be destroyed in ramming attacks. This would so demoralize the 8th Air Force, it was believed, that the air war would be halted long enough for the jets to arrive in great numbers. The plan basically fizzled out because they could never assemble enough planes, although there were a few suicide attacks.

In extreme military situations, it is not uncommon for people to volunteer for suicide attacks in the national cause. Religion has little or nothing to do with it.

The first American hero of the Second World War was Colin Kelly, who supposedly crash-dived his B-17 into a Japanese battleship in the Philippines. That wasn't true. Kelly was certainly a brave flier who was killed in battle, but not in a suicide attack. But the American people believed he had sacrificed his own life in an attempt to sink an enemy battleship and admired him for it.

I agree with the post that Prager should be kicked off the federal Holocaust Council, but I believe that the post is missing something.

From the post

Dennis Prager is a bigot who believes that America essentially belongs to conservative white Christians. He rails against homosexuals and considers equal rights for gays as threatening western civilization. He opposes programs that benefit minorities and women. He believes that Jews, Muslims and other non-Christians are second class citizens who should accept second class status as their due.

(emphasis added). The point is not whether Prager himself is a bigot. Prager is a radio talk show host and (I presume) a columnist. Prager is selling a product, but it isn't the product that you might believe. In his radio talk show gig, he is selling listeners' ears to his show's advertisers, and in his columnist gig (presuming he has one), he would be selling the eyes of the people who buy the newspapers, etc., of the news outlets that buy his columns to their advertisers. In point of fact, it is people who listen to Prager's radio talk show and who buy the newspapers, etc., that buy his columns that are the bigots. And that should not be de-emphasized.

Last night, Josh Marshall on TPM noted that "As I mentioned a couple days ago, in a former incarnation radio yacker Dennis Prager was fairly sane." So why would he have changed? I'll give an analogy from a few years ago. Remember Dr. Laura Schlessinger? When she was a relatively local radio phenomenon, she, too, was relatively sane--she even liked gay people. But when she later wanted to become syndicated, the syndicator told her that she was "too nice." So, when she was syndicated, she began her anti-gay rants, her christian-based judgementalism (odd for a professed Jewess) and so forth, because it would be better for her ratings in syndication. (Fast forward a few years. Because of her excesses in her ranting, she's pretty much a has-been, but that's another issue.)

I suspect, but cannot prove, that Prager's story is pretty much the same. Prager was told that, in order to build ratings, he had to become a ranter to build controversy with a particular segment of the audience (the bigots), and he did so. But Prager is nothing more than the modern-day equivalent of a carny-barker--come in, come in, come in, and listen to my commercials.

MJ, I sent Josh an email explainig why I don't think prager is a self-hating Jew. I think he is a non-observant Jew who is looking for a way to break into the top tier of the wingnut welfare gravy train.

He's seen how ann coulter did it by degrading other women and he knows that if he is going to get a chunk of the scaife, heritage foundation money he's got to be willing to elevate white Xtian males and degrade religious and racial minorities including his fellow Jews.

Prager should stay and we should stop giving in to muslim pressure groups and political correctness.

I'm not sure you're getting the problem here.

What if somebody said "Religious Christians are Catholics" or "Religious Christians are born-again"?

Would that be helpful?

To Rick:
I believe Judaism is different than Christianity in this regard. The term religious really does not apply. The question is observance.
Jews like me (and Prager) are non-observant i.e we drive on Saturday and don't attend an Orthodox minyan.
By Jewish stands, people who are not observant are deemed not religious.
Jews cannot even pray alone. We pray only in groups of at least ten.
Accordingly, religious means religiously observant which means "davening" (praying) in a traditional i.e. Ortho synagogue.

I absolutely agree with your analysis, that the hidden subtext here is gaining power via demagoguing 'The Other.'

Daniel, I'll give you respect for articulating your views intelligently these past few months, and for rightfully calling out Prager, however, what I mostly dislike is his, and to a smaller extent your, propensity for a.) lumping all Muslims into a monolithic horde, and b.) inflating the power of said groups to achieve their boasted aims.

First of all, let's face facts and admit that the supposed 'Third Column' or 'sleeper cells' in the US simply don't exist at any meaningful level--Ayman Faris' plan to blow up the Brooklyn Bridge and Jose Padilla's dirty bomb were fever dreams with no basis in reality, and the other 'threats' have all largely revealed to have been politically motivated arrests to help shore up the Bushco 'War on Terror.'

Second, to attribute all of the violence in the ME to illogical religious fanaticism and hatred is to ignore large aspects of the underlying causes: In other words, there are legitimate grievances against US and Israeli actions in the region, both historic and contemporary--this is by no means is an apologia for violence and killing, it is merely saying that some do a disservice towards understanding what's going on by simply saying 'They're religious fanatics and they hate us.'

Third, it's easy to get excited about Islamic radicals threatening to blow up the Great Satan, however, talk is cheap, and means are hard to come by: As a metaphor, I could go into any inner city in the US, and whip up a thunderstorm of death threats against 'The Man/Whitey/Rich people,' but yet, this threat doesn't materialize. You can get all bent and say this is because 'they aren't religious radicals,' or you could more realistically say that it is human nature to make big threats that they have no intention or means to carry out.

I absolutely don't want to minimize the possibility of an Islamist terrorist attack, however, my point is that inflating the threat, as Prager has done, is counterproductive to the point of stupidity.

You're still missing the point.

How are conservative Jews and reformed Jews "non-religious"?

There are many Jews who are not Orthodox who would take great offense at your categorization. There's a fairly large difference between "non-observant Jew" and "reformed Jew".

Where is personal liberty, freedom of religion and freedom of speech?

Prager is free to say the Congressman is wrong, but the rest of us who believe in our liberties and rights should go to the mat to defend the Congressman.

LEL - why shouldn't we applaud the Congressman for doing what he believes regardless of what anyone thinks??? 

What do we call it if we keep a kosher home but are casual about eating out, attend an egalitarian minyan, only partially observe shabbes (ie, drive to services), etc.?

'crossover star'

Great label for the political world but consider what it says about how politics have changed.

Once we had coalitions. Just that word "coaltion" means that the participants  take part in the action. When we shift to "star" then the rest of us only exist to watch and be entertained. Even more, the person we watch is the star, set apart from the rest of we the people.

As to prostititution any of us who works gives up some piece of themselves. The struggle is how to limit the amount given up.

Prager is an ignorant little fool..

I agree with whoever said he just needs to convert from Judaism to whatever..

It's sad to know that he's not the only Jewish person who has made comments like this - and even sadder that he has listeners to that radio show he somehow manages to keep (but, unfortunately - people like him abuse the first amendment to pull crap like this..)

My great-grandparents were in the Holocaust camps and to hear someone make comments like that, it hurts...

He really should be kicked off...

Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each other because they don't know each other; they don't know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated.