This is indeed an interesting and "reasonable" sounding piece, for a
conservative viewpoint, but like all such points, it loves to cleave to
"reasonable" sounding advice.  Just teach Aussie immigrants the true value
of their Aussie Heritage, it says, and of course, no-one would ever choose
to keep controversial aspects of their Muslim culture.  Ah, if only it were
so simple to overcome lifelong programming, historical hatred, and
collective low self-esteem.  But really, once the "reasonable" solution
fails, we're still left with the position that we all face problems from
"Muslims raving on about Jihad".  And this simplistic analysis of the
so-called "clash of civilizations" is one which leaves very few palatable
alternatives, short of expelling all Muslims to a Sharia state somewhere in
the bowels of Africa.  Let's be careful before we let ourselves be seduced
by easy-sounding rhetoric which leaves Us, Them, and a nasty ideological gap
in between us all.  As just one example, the press so obviously inflated the
story of the flaming SUV and Glasgow airport; the driver turned out to be
some kind of nutter, not an organized plot at all.  But for the ideological
conservatives, it's often safe to apply the labels you want to find there.
Garbage in, garbage out, and if your interpretations of events are what I
consider to be gargage, than your conclusions will seem the same.  So in
conclusion, I'd say this piece is written for the faithful, and will not
succeed in changing a single mind or perspective.  Thanks for showing this,
Michael.

PeterT



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]