Quote Of The Day: Heebie-Jeebies Edition

"We have crazies just like other faiths have them."
-- Eide Alawan, Islamic Center of America

Eide Alawan is responding to a Pew survey of American Muslims -- said to be the most comprehensive ever -- that showed 13 percent of 'em believe it's OK at least some of the time for Muslims to pursue their goals through suicide/homicide bombings. (source)

Thirteen percent. Of all the Muslims in America. So for every nine Muslims you pass on the street, figure that one of them is OK with carnage for the cause.

That's not exactly "crazies" just like other faiths. What other faiths have so many people so willing to die -- or have other people die -- for no other reason than to destroy the lives of innocents. Not even Satanists can boast [boast?] 13 percent this crazy.

Another Muslim spokesperson tried another angle to explain this shocker: Blame it on Israel.

"It is a hair-raising number," said Radwan Masmoudi, president of the Washington-based Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, which promotes the compatibility of Islam with democracy.

He said most supporters of the attacks likely assumed the context was a fight against occupation — a term Muslims often use to describe the conflict with Israel.

So it's somehow better if most of the 13 percent just think suicide/homicide bombings are OK, not for Christians, but for Jews? While it may think us feel a little safer, it certainly doesn't make those of us who don't share Islam's anti-Semitism feel any better about Islam.

Still, America rubs off on Muslims and makes them better than the bulk of the faith. In Pew's other surveys more than 50 percent of Muslims in some Islamic countries supported suicide/homicide bombings. In Britain and Spain, it's 25 percent, and in France (Liberty, Equality, Justice!), it's a third.

Remember ... Islam, the religion of peace.