Quid Nimis - Journal

Daniel Pipes trains his gaze on the mysterious and altogether shady goings-on in Lodi where the father and son would-be terrorists, Umer and Hamid Hayat, have been arrested. The stories coming from them and their community are contradictory and raise more questions than they've answered. How is it that the American-born son, who dropped out of public school in the 6th grade, does not have a good enough grasp of the English language to understand court proceedings? Why are an ice cream vendor and a cherry packer schlepping $28,ooo dollars to Pakistan in cash (and by the by, not declaring it)? The stated purpose of one of their (many) trips to Pakistan was to obtain medical help for the mother. If you have reached your "Yeah, right" quotient for the day, you're not alone, but wait, there's more: Surprise! The maternal grandfather founded and still runs a madrassa in Pakistan and is tied in at a high level to the political and religious establishment in Pakistan.

We are very fortunate to have Daniel Pipes applying his vast knowledge and expertise to stories like this. The ordinary news coverage is very limited because reporters don't know the ins and outs of the culture and basically are afraid of asking something that will give offense, which could be anything given the hypersensitivity of the CAIR watchdogs. The preponderance of the television coverage that we have seen has taken great pains to emphasize that there has been "no anti-Islamic backlash" of any kind. That's nice- now can we have some answers?

Relevant aside: Charles Krauthammer had an excellent editorial this week about the dangers of bilingualism. Immigration isn't the problem; lack of assimilation is. The fact that a first generation American can reach adulthood without acquiring English points to a very serious problem in California's education system and certainly poses a security threat.

Less relevant aside: We think that Hamid Hayat must not have gone to Canyon Charter School. Maybe Lawrence O'Donnell will look up from his New York Times long enough to concede that his own personal experience with the California public school system may not have universal applicability.