Intent vs. deed

Part of the mission is covering what Our Boys (and Girls) in Washington are up to. We could probably do with more of it. But part of the whole "objective" enterprise is being able to distinguish between what people say they're doing and what the evidence says they're doing.

Rep. Sue Myrick wants America to "wake up" and stop allowing terrorism to proliferate -- and if that means revoking the passport of a former U.S. president or examining the preaching of prison chaplains, that's what she's prepared to do.

(Oh, and while we're at it? Don't run pictures of 'em posed in front of the flag, all right?)

The Charlotte Republican on Friday released a list of 10 items she hopes will help peel back the layers on how radical elements of Islam might be infiltrating the military, school rooms and other elements of society. She also wants to stop the government from supporting terrorist organizations through financial investments and military sales.

... The co-founder of the House anti-terrorism caucus has spent an increasing amount of time trying to tackle what she views as threats posed at home by extremists, an issue that fuels her commitment to deporting illegal immigrants.

...Myrick acknowledged that her 10-point plan, "Wake Up America," might hit stumbling blocks in Washington. But she thinks it's time to start demanding answers.

That's certainly what Sue would like you to think. Wanna see the 10-point plan?

1. Investigate all military chaplains endorsed by Abdurahman Alamoudi, who was imprisoned for funding a terrorist organization.
2. Investigate all prison chaplains endorsed by Alamoudi.
3. Investigate the selection process of Arabic translators working for the Pentagon and FBI.
4. Examine the nonprofit status of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
5. Make it an act of sedition or solicitation of treason to preach or publish materials that call for the deaths of Americans.
6. Audit sovereign wealth funds in the United States.
7. Cancel scholarship student visa program with Saudi Arabia until they reform their text books, which she claims preach hatred and violence against non-Muslims.
8. Restrict religious visas for imams who come from countries that don't allow reciprocal visits by non-Muslim clergy.
9. Cancel contracts to train Saudi police and security in U.S. counterterrorism tactics.
10. Block the sale of sensitive military munitions to Saudi Arabia.

Mmm! Lots of threats to our schoolrooms and society in general in there!

I suppose it wouldn't be objective to say "provincial McCarthyite twit stampedes reporter," though that is kind of the standard-issue critique of press failures in the 1950s, isn't it? It'd be fun, but it's not the right way to balance "Myrick takes aim at terrorism." Report what she did (one thinks we could find a more impartial assessor than Ted Arrington) and have done. And don't mistake political actors' claims for their deeds.