BY KAREN WEBB

Juan Williams lost one out of two jobs because he is stupid – and he got a raise at his other job for the same reason. It is supposed to be against policy at NPR for commentators to be too partisan and at Fox News the opposite is true.

He said something like this:

When I see people dressed as Muslims in airports, when they seem to want to identify themselves as Muslims, I get scared.

My memory must really be going because I seem to recall that not one of the hijackers on 9/11 was dressed as a Muslim. I don’t even think they dressed as Muslims when they arrived before 9/11 nor anytime while they were in the U.S.

Fox and Juan Williams recommend that you forget your religious beliefs when coming to this country.

I may think it is goofy for radical Mormon women to all dress in long jumpers of boring colors or that the Amish need to modernize their attire and customs, but this is the United States.

Maybe I think wearing crucifixes or praying at the flagpole are broadcasting your self-righteousness and that both are directly opposite to the teaching of praying not to be seen of men, but this is the United States.

If you think wearing graven images around your neck, long dangling earrings, make-up that qualifies as a mask and sequins to make a show girl jealous is what the well-dressed female evangelist should wear on TV or dressing like a homesteader in 1850 will get you to heaven, then go for it.

It appears Juan Williams and the entire Fox News channel are too stupid to bother with. Every hijacker on 9/11 dressed similar Tim McVeigh so as not to call attention to themselves.

That does not mean that I feel terrified every time I see a man who is darker than Glenn Beck in an airport, regardless of his attire.

Are these people ever going to catch on to the idea that dressing or being different is not always a threat? If you want to do something illegal whether it is shoplifting or blowing up buildings, the idea is to look like everyone else if you want to get by with it.

In retail you are taught to look for people who look different, but Ted Bundy could walk out of department stores carrying TVs and get by with it because he always wore a business suit and no one expects guys who are dressed like CPAs to steal.

What does scare me is that some of the candidates, like Joe Miller in Alaska and Sharron Angle in Nevada, preach that a violent overthrown of the government is OK and should be left on the table if the majority doesn’t go your way in an election.

– Karen Webb lives in Moore, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer