A career with a future--terrorism studies

There was Russian Language and Area Studies, Black Studies, Women's Studies, and now, a Graduate Certificate in Terrorism Studies

"The National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) is a U.S. Department of Homeland Security Center of Excellence, tasked by the Department of Homeland Security's Science and Technology Directorate with using state-of-the-art theories, methods, and data from the social and behavioral sciences to improve understanding of the origins, dynamics, and social and psychological impacts of terrorism. START, based at the University of Maryland, College Park, aims to provide timely guidance on how to disrupt terrorist networks, reduce the incidence of terrorism, and enhance the resilience of U.S. society in the face of the terrorist threat."

Isn't it odd that when an American born Muslim, member of the military with an elite education shoots up a military base and kills and wounds many Americans, the administration doesn't get too worked up about it. But when a foreign Muslim doesn't bring down a plane and doesn't kill anyone, the administration eventually goes into high gear. Perhaps it's because both these guys had the same mentor in Yemen, so their age, ethnicity, nationality and careers weren't the defining similarity. I wonder if this certificate program teaches profiling? Nah.

Liberal media checks the pulse of conservative first

Newsweek's blog is checking all the conservatives sites to see if any are offering crazy, anti-islamic thoughts about the Ft. Hood shootings. The one that makes the most sense and nails the libs perfectly isn't exactly argued with, only quoted--Victor Davis Hanson who argues that Americans' understanding of Islamic terror has not progressed in the last eight years and needs to be updated.

In other words, the narrative after 9/11 largely remains that Americans have given in to illegitimate "fear and mistrust" of Muslims in general. A saner approach would be to acknowledge that there is a small minority of Muslims who channel generic Islamist fantasies, so that we can assume that either formal terrorist plots or individual acts of murder will more or less occur here every three to six months.

And then there's the issue I raised yesterday after watching Obama's press conference in disbelief

The National Review's Jonah Goldberg poses perhaps the most interesting political question, wondering aloud about Obama's slow response to the shootings yesterday, and questions whether Obama's famed coolness could become a political liability by coming across as aloof and uncaring.

I haven't found their assessment of the liberal media--the ones who don't use the M word.