AT TIMES, THE BEST I CAN DO IS TO OFFER A READING LIST.  AND THAT'S NOT SO BAD.  

• "Democracy Failing In Age Of No Restraint", by David Brooks, in The Day (www.theday.com) Monday, May 21, 2012, Opinion pA4.
• Papal Address to US Bishops, in Zenit.org, May 7, 2012, on the central importance of both an intellectual and a religious education.
• "Echoes Of 1967 As Israel Faces Iran", by Charles Krauthammer, in The Day Saturday, May 12, 2012, Opinion pA6.
• "The Spirit Of Vatican ll Fades Into History", by Joseph G. Murray, in The Day May 13, 2012.  
• "Romney's Critical Health Care Choice", by Ramesh Ponnuru, in The Day Wednesday, May 23, 2012, Opinion pA4. 

TO MEMBERS OF THE NATIONAL REPUBLICAN PARTY:
"WE HAS SEEN THE ENEMY...AND THEY IS US".

There is only one group of voters who can guarantee the loss of the November 2012 national elections to the Obama cabal...and that is Republicans.  The following realities are the means to avoid that disaster.

• Get out and vote in numbers not seen for decades.
• Realize that Republicans are not the only rational and ethical citizens out there.  "Independents", already turned off by the antics of both Parties, are rational and ethical and intelligent. They are listening and watching. 
• Realize that the committed Far Left are un-educable...and that they are the dangerous authoritarians of the nation.
• Realize that this nation is "Christian" but not fundamentalist, and that it genuinely respectful of all other Religions - except "fundamentalist Islam"...which is not Islam at all. 
• Demand Freedom of Religion, not Freedom from Religion. 
• Abortion is the only non-negotiable.
• Homophobia is a distraction...and it is increasingly unsustainable under the weight of new scientific facts about the biology of sexual orientation. 
• Illegal Immigration is the direct result of "that great sucking sound" of American business having drawn these people into the country for their own selfish gains. As such, this is a problem to be solved and not to be demonized by perjorative words like "amnesty".  Start with the major elements of the "Dream Act".  The people caught in this status are mainly good family people and great potential citizens. 
• Emphasis on total "Free Enterprise"without any regulation is an "Out of Mind" experience that correctly will not be tolerated by the vast majority of citizens...who know better about human nature. 
• Acknowledge, while cashing your Government check together with the other 60% of Americans, that central Government has a legitimate role to play in the life of the nation - besides in national defense. The task is to identify the "deserving underserved" vs the dead-beats and crooks of all income levels. 
• Recognize that taxes - and even tax increases - are sometimes necessary...but only after reforming that den of thieves called the Tax Code. 
• Demand and vote for meaningful reform of the moribund Public Education "system" in this country, including accountability, measurable results and competition.  Start with outvoting the Teachers' Unions...the Tobacco Industry of the current generations. This issue has rightly been identified as the Civil Rights Issue of our time.
• Call out Racism, wherever it is found, especially including "Black on White" racism so popular with the false leaders of the "Black Community". 
• Establish as a central goal of the Republican Party the convening of a U.S. Constitutional Convention to consider Amendments to the Constitution regarding Election Reform and Term Limits. Our Federal Government is now dysfunctional.  Next stop: anarchy and then totalitarianism.  
• Regarding our relationship with the rest of the world, remember that nations do not have friends; they only have interests.  All of our international actions should be at least in part in our own self-interest.  For that, we can start with "putting a sock" on the U.N.  We can also re-evaluate our role in the "world economy" under the rubric "Fair Play".  What a concept!

Only in America---Top Ten

Having read this, it is clear that the "Hope" that you note in your subject line is a fantasy until this sort of religious fanatism is simply eradicated.  Ideally, it will be disappear with acceptance of the human rights mentioned by Father Samir, but sadly I suspect it will end up (if it happens at all) being wiped out with a combination of human rights and yes, lots of the bombs also mentioned by Father Samir.  I'm continually baffled by how this world throughout history and at present rises up and wipes out (usually with savage violence) evil and extremism in all its forms, usually when it reaches a global scale.  Radical Christianity was successfully and rightfully fought; the same with radical Socialism (Communism and Nazism), Fascism, absolute monarchy, institutional slavery, and the list goes on.  Yet, like a car racing toward the cliff's edge the world comes to a screeching halt when it approaches radical Islam.

I noticed decades before 9/11 that Islam in particular is singularly supreme to every other religion and way of life in its talent for being "offended" at the slightest turn.  I specifically refrain from the term 'slightest provocation' because even moderate Muslims often see provocation where none exists.  Further, also unlike any other culture or religion Islam's reaction to "offense" is most often totally irrational, utterly lacking in proportional response, and simply accepted as one culture's way of protecting itself.  While many of the aforementioned evils used (or continue to use) the same survival tactics, only radical Islam and its often vocal media supporters are met with tolerance and/or validation.  All others are rightfully denigrated, ridiculed, and/or fought against until they are (hopefully) destroyed.       

I'm sorry if I offend anyone reading this, but other than the historical facts laid out by Father Samir much of the rest of what he said is pablum.  He has the nerve to say "so-called 'terrorist'"?  He refuses to use any connotation of the notion of secularization with Muslims as if they would spontaneously combust if they had to think the 'unthinkable'?  And,  he "invite[s] the richer countries to help" him?  Is that a joke?  The centers of the most radical Muslims on the planet are awash in the petrodollars he mentioned.  The continued propping up of corrupt military regimes by the U.S. doesn't help evolve a nation's economy they way it otherwise would be with such an influx of cash, but considering the alternative that Father Samir noted I'll take Hosni Mubarak over the Muslim Brotherhood every time.  In fact, without the fanaticism of the likes of the Muslim Brotherhood the Hosni Mubaraks of the world would never flourish.  Remember, this isn't a 'chicken-or-egg' proposition.  The consequences of WWI in the Middle East were not the catalyst for today's Muslim (and Arab) cultural and religious schizophrenia.  The West did not create radical Islam; Islam created its own fanaticism, most noteably in the late 18th Century with Wahhabism, but for centuries prior.

After 1,300 years of Ottoman rule, after 1,300 years of a Love-Hate relationship with the West, they backed the wrong horse.  And, as repeated by Iran in 1979 (notwithstanding Kemal Ataturk's endeavors in Turkey) considerable Muslim sentiment in the 1920s chose to shun Western ideology (whose cultural, religious, and economic success is unmatched in history) in favor of fanatism that continues to be their albatross, but which they irrationally view as honorable martyrdom; an expressway to God.

History is immutable, but if Hope in this case is to have any chance of success it must be manifested with exceptional understanding of that history.  Good intentions are not an excuse against the harmful consequences of those intentions.  Hoping for the sake of hope that radical Islam simply evaporates is a fool's errand.  Further, kind words and/or money directed to people many of whom already view us as weak and/or unworthy of existence will not help the situation.  While I have hope that Humanity will someday pull its head out of its ass and correct this tragedy, I have none in the notion that it will be resolved in my lifetime.

HEREWITH, ANOTHER INSTALLMENT OF "AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 OPINIONS". 

• India.  We don't hear much about this great nation.   Is that good news??
• China.  More and more, the news coming out of this country indicates that it is badly in need of a flywheel: an 800lb. gorilla on steroids.  Here, as usual, the danger is that its despotic government will look to an outside "threat" to deal with its internal turmoil.
• Pakistan. Enough, already. Through its support of the terrorist Talliban, and now with clear evidence that the Haqqani are its agents, Pakistan is trying to make Afghanistan a client state, all to the detriment of any U.S. interests in that region. Our dance with the Pakistani government is producing nothing but body bags. Let us begin to act accordingly. 
• Afghanistan. Let's get their attention as well.  They either cooperate with our very expensive "nation-building"...or we destroy their entire opium crop and substitute soy beans. 
• Throughout the world: Islam is a great Religion, and moderate Muslims are a great people.  But Fundamentalist Islam is the clear and present danger for the world.  W must somehow motivate all moderate Muslims to cut out this cancer in their midst.
• Russia.  There are signs of democratic life.  Give it a generation.  
• Europe.  Beginning to resemble a tinder-box similar to the years following WW l, when economic chaos spawned Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin. But how do you incorporate hundreds of millions of unemployed and dis-engaged young people into a world economy to the advantage of all?  Hard work and a level playing field  is how, neither of which are operative in that left-leaning continent now.  And we don't have much time.  
• Africa.  I used to think that Colonialism could be converted to a benign "Economic Colonialism" that would benefit all, especially the indigenous peoples.  But I did not figure on Fundamentalist Islam as the corrosive wild card in the game.  Sorry for that. But see above. 
• America. A nation divided by misplaced youthful hubris, Middle American "malaise" at the ballot box, and reactionary religious pap.  But there is hope, enshrined in Election Day, 2012.  For the sake of ourselves and of the entire world, we had better get our own act together...and soon. 

Connecticut may be "open for business," as Gov. Dannel P. Malloy spelled out in this year's State of the State address, but the impact of his policy changes didn't budge its business-climate ranking this year compared with 2011.

Chief Executive magazine's annual ranking of the best states in which to do business placed Connecticut at No. 44 among the nation's 50 states, the same spot it occupied last year. The rankings, based on 650 surveys handed in by chief executives of companies all around the United States, noted that Connecticut businesses are anxiously awaiting the outcome of a possible increase in the state's minimum wage.

Connecticut also saw the loss of more than 94,000 residents during the decade starting in the year 2000, according to the magazine. In addition, the combined state and local tax burden in Connecticut was put at 12 percent, compared to a national average of 2.2 percent.

"Connecticut could be the business-friendly refuge of (New York City) and New England," one anonymous executive said in a commentary section on the website ChiefExecutive.net, "but instead taxes and regulates like the crown of Old England."

Andrew Doba, director of communications for Malloy's administration, noted that the governor inherited a state that had seen no job growth in 22 years.

"We are seeing some immediate results from the governor's leadership," Doba said in an email. "Do we have more work to do? Absolutely. But that doesn't change the fact that for the first time in a long time, people know that Connecticut is open for business."

Doba pointed out that the state has seen private-sector job growth of 15,300 since March 2011. Over the same time, the state's unemployment rate has fallen from 9.3 percent to 7.7 percent, he added.

Still, the magazine survey placed only New Jersey, Michigan, Massachusetts, Illinois, New York and California in worse positions than Connecticut among state business climates. But the Nutmeg State, which had risen from 45th to 44th in the survey a year ago, was listed as in a neutral business trend rather than negative, as had occurred when it fell seven spots in 2010.

Texas earned the No. 1 ranking among states, with Florida, North Carolina, Tennessee and Indiana rounding out the Top 5.

"It may be no accident that most of the states in the top 20 are also right-to-work states, as labor force flexibility is highly sought after when a business seeks a location," according to the lead article by J.P. Donlon.