criminal acts cannot be excused by mental illness — and we have an obligation to find those who may — note I said may — have influenced, provoked or supported a mentally ill person into crossing the line to criminality.

I have never said that criminal acts can be excused by mental illness. Only my opponents here have erroneously claimed that was what I said. However, punishment for the mentally ill should not be the same as for the mentally competent. It must take into account different circumstances.

You say we have an obligation to find anyone who provoked Haq to criminality. But there IS NO SUCH PERSON. Why do people look for conspiracies where there are none? I assure you that with the level of news coverage of this event if there were even a hint of such a conspiracy the outlines of it would be known by now. Since you claim to know something about mental illness are you claiming that such individuals cannot or are likely not to engage in criminal acts without the motivation of an outside party?

I have determined which gun shop at which the guns were purchsed [sic]

Good work, Sherlock. Now let’s see you prove that a vast jihadist conspiracy funded his purchase of the gun & whipped him into an anti-Semitic frenzy which led to the shootings.

When a Jewish person has mental illness, the Jewish community does what it thinks best for him, get him medical atttention & see to it that he does no harm to self or others

That’s utterly preposterous. What you can say is that when a Jewish person is mentally ill there are resources in the community that he/she may turn to for help. However, if you lived in a small community like Richland, WA (there may be no immediate resources available unless there is a Jewish communal presence there). Certainly in Richland there would be almost no organized communal presence of the Muslim community & hence few such services.

And another thing you neglect to understand in your smugness–most ethnic communities are NOT organized as well as the Jewish community is. It is unusual for many ethnic communities to provide the array of services that we do for those in need. I speak from extensive experience having been a Jewish Federation fundraiser in two communities for a total of four years.

When a Muslim is mentallly ill, he & the militant Islamists find each other.

Again, you provide absolutely no evidence that this happened in Haq’s case. You provide no evidence that this happens in any case. Everything you’re saying is utter useless drivel.

Bottom line: Jews hold all life precious; Islamic extremists actively seek maximum destruction of life.

Of course that is absolute truth. Jews hold all life precious–except Lebanese, Gazan & anyone who is Arab or Muslim. Then we hold those lives worth mere pennies compared to Jewish blood which is sacred. And pls. explain the Rabbinic Council’s decree linked in my comment above which chides the IDF for giving too much respect to the lives of Lebanese civilians. So we don’t hold ALL life precious, only Jewish life. I shouldn’t say “we” since that’s not what I believe. I should say “you” meaning you and other Muslim-haters.

You have a bit of a problem. You’ve managed to set up the world in such a neatly compartmentalized way–except for one problem. Your compartments don’t in any way correspond to our real world. They correspond to what you see. But what you see isn’t what IS. In other words, you’re full of crap.

Richard Silverstein is technically correct in that I cannot be sure that ‘this particular mosque’ is run by Islamic extremists

No, I am not “technically correct.” I am CORRECT period. The mosque is not run by Islamic extremists. I’ve done my research. Local journalists have written about the mosque and Haq’s father. Not a single word in tens of thousands published here in Seattle on the subject claims the father or the mosque are Islamic militants.

In fact, Haq’s family delivered a personal note to the local Richland synagogue apologizing for their son’s act. They also delivered through a local Seattle Muslim, a note of apology to the grieving families on the day of Pam Waecheter’s funeral. But of course for all you Muslim haters that’s all posturing since no Muslim can ever be sincere in expressing wishes for peace between Islam and other religions & nations.

But I ask my other more reasonable readers whether it sounds like a family steeped in Islamic fanaticism would do such things as this one has done??

And until you can present proof of such Islamic fundamentalism in Richland’s mosque, you do not get the right to insinuate anything other than it is a house of worship like any other. You don’t even earn the right to say that the latter contention is ‘technically correct.’ It is correct till you prove otherwise plain & simple.

the majority of mosques worldwide are of this nature [extremist], certainly here in Australia, UK, Europe etc.

Bless my soul, you are a ranting lunatic. How did you learn this to be true? What is your source? Where is your proof other than that it is a “well known fact” in your circles?

In fact, in Islam more than any other religion, there is a direct correlation between religiosity and extremism, and hence violence…as all scholars know

You are full of crap. You know nothing about Islam. Where do you find any proof that this is so from any reputable source? I love the “as all scholars know.” Who are “all scholars?” Bernard Lewis, Daniel Pipes and who else?

What proof does dear Miriam’s provide for these contentions? Palestine Media Watch. Now, this my friends is a wholly non-partisan organization with impeccable credentials for objectivity in its coverage of Islam. Let’s take a look at PMW’s own explanation of its mission:

Palestinian Media Watch analyzes Palestinian Authority culture and society from numerous perspectives, including studies on summer camps, poetry, schoolbooks, religious ideology, crossword puzzles, and more.

Palestinian Media Watch has been playing the critical role of documenting the contradictions between the image the Palestinians present to the world in English and the messages to their own people in Arabic.

Leave aside the tortured syntax of this passage (how do you analyze the “Palestinian Authority culture and society”?). But by its own admission, it “studies” Palestinian society via summer camps and crossword puzzles, among other ‘critical indicators’ of a nation’s culture and ideology. Now that’s a credible source, don’t you think?

it is a known fact that almost all suicide terrorists in the Mid-East and in the West have been inspired or indocrinated by Islamic clerics in the name of Islam.

I love it when ideologues & demagogues talk about “known facts,” by which they mean “speculation that passes for truth in our circles.” And if clerics indoctrinate suicide bombers, this proves what, precisely? That Islam in its entirety is a religion of extremism and violence? Where do you get that from? Even if “almost all” suicide terrorists were inspired by Islamic clerics (a contention that is neither provable nor credible), this “fact” does not prove that the entire religion believes in such barbarity. It proves that there are barbarous clerics among Muslims just as there are barbarous rabbis among Jews.

BTW, how do you explain that one of the world’s largest Orthodox rabbinic organizations last week called for the IDF to kill Lebanese civilians with no moral compunctions? See Rabbis: Israel Too Worried Over Civilian Deaths (you see unlike you I provide reputable sources for my claims). As far as these rabbis were concerned, all Lebanese civilians were terrorists and deserved their fate. Don’t know about you, but that sure made me proud to be a Jew.

While there are certainly Muslim individuals who are moderate and modern, they are the minority out of the world’s 1.4 billion Muslims.

And again, you know they are the “minority” how? By demographic polling data you collected? Or some other sociologist or polling expert collected? You are one of the most ignorant people I’ve ever come across when it comes to this subject. You make sweeping generalizations about everything Muslim under the sun & yet present no proof or evidence whatsoever that it is true. What a wonder life must be for you to have so much certainty in your opinions about the world. Don’t let a little reality get in the way of those fever dreams, you hear? It would be so untidy & inconvenient to let that happen.

there is no official moderate or reform Islamic ideology

And you’re an expert on Islamic theology (or “ideology” as you mistakenly call it) now too. Your intellectual skills are a marvel!

Any thinkers who have tried to reform Islam have been attacked or killed or live in fear of their lives.)

Again, I fall in obeisance before yr superior knowledge. BTW, I’ve documented in this blog numerous Islamic theologians who present precisely the perspective you claim is non-existent or endangered in Islam. And guess what–they haven’t been attacked or killed & don’t even live in fear of their lives. Imagine that.

A poll of UK Muslims after the July 7 underground bombings horrifyingly found that about 17% as least admitted (!) to supporting the terror bombers regardless.

First, you don’t present a source or link for this claim & until you do I don’t find it credible. But even if it is–40% or more of Israelis favor expelling all Israeli Arabs (who are Israeli citizens no less) from Israel. Besides being racist, this would be a violation of international law. I find that horrifying too. Further, I bet close to a majority of Israelis felt no compunction about Israel’s mass killing of (at least 1,000) Lebanese civilians. I find that too horrifying. But unlike you I don’t use this statistic as a means of vilifying the entire nation of Israel (though others may).

In the Muslim middle east 70% support suicide attacks on innocent civilians

You have truly lost yr marbles. A source to support this ludicrous claim?

This is the influence (subliminal or otherwise) that impressionable young men often pick up from their mosques, and it isn’t healthy for their host communities, as we tragically saw in Seattle.

You do drone on & on so. Again, you have no proof whatsoever that any of this applies to Haq. You haven’t proved his mosque instilled hatred in him. You haven’t even proven that his mosque provided any influence at all over his life. Does a man who converts to Christianity sound like someone for whom Islam plays a key role in his life?

And how did we get from the mad mullah in Iran threatening the world with nuclear weapons to a pitiful mentally ill loser in Seattle? In your mind, that jump is easy to make. In the minds of the rest of us, it’s a leap we’re not willing to take because the two issues have next to nothing to do w. ea. other.

I’m getting profoundly bored by your rantings. I reserve the right to discontinue them w. no prior notice. If you reply to this & say the same thing over again I will exercise my discretion to end this lovely dialogue of the deaf (you being the deaf one).