Fucking batshit insane

That's pretty much the only way to describe this screed by right-wing nutjob Debbie Schlussel about why China's suppression of human rights may not be a bad thing. Quoting Schlussel:

Why is it that China is fighting islamic fundamentalists the way we should be fighting Islamic fundamentalists especially during Ramadan?

That's a great question. The answer is that China is far more fierce, these days, about protecting its country's borders and national security than we are. And perhaps the Chi-Coms have a stronger will for their nation to survive than ours.…

Oh, and also, the Constitution prohibits us from establishing a national religion or preferring one...unless it's Islam.

Now, I'm not entirely sure which Constitution Schlussel is referring to, but the version I've read says nothing specific about Islam beyond this clause:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…

You know, the same clause that protects every religion (or lack thereof) in the United States.

Schlussel quotes from an International Herald Tribune article describing some of the actions the Chinese government has taken:

They include barring teachers and students from observing Ramadan, prohibiting retired government officials from entering mosques and requiring men to shave off beards and women to take off veils. Mosques may not let people from outside the town stay overnight, and restaurants must maintain normal hours of business. (Many restaurants close during daytime hours over Ramadan because of the fasting, which is supposed to last from sunrise to sunset. Muslims observing Ramadan typically eat substantial meals at night.)

In nearby Xinhe County, the government has decreed that Communist Party members, civil servants and retired officials not observe Ramadan, enter mosques or take part in any religious activities during the month. Worshipers cannot make pilgrimages to tombs, so as to "avoid any group event that might harm social stability," according to the Xinhe government's Web site.

In her world, religious oppression and totalitarianism are bad. Unless, of course, we're talking about Islam; in that case, it's simply a matter of "national survival". Great logic there...

Not to be outdone, one of comments on this article actually calls for a constitutional amendment declaring Islam "an enemy of the United States and [prohibiting] its practice within the United States"; this proposed "amendment" also states that "all Mosques, schools and Muslim places of worship and religious training are to be closed, converted to other uses, or destroyed" and that "[t]he preaching or advocating of Islamic ideals…shall in all cases be punishable by fines, imprisonment, deportation, and death" (emphasis added). I'll leave you to read the Orwellian genius that is Article IV of this proposal.

Just how big a bogeyman do these people imagine Islam to be? We didn't have to append the Constitution to deal with Communism or Nazism, but we need one for radical Islam?! Were it not for the fact that I've actually had conversations with people who seriously think like this, I would simply call Poe's Law and be done with it; instead, I'm left sitting here, wondering how much further our national discourse can sink.

Hat tip to Ed Brayton (Dispatches from the Culture Wars)