BTW, when you say:

"This whole Middle East thing is a ruse by the fascists in our government to take away our rights...and conservatives are falling for it."

We have a decent Chaldean population that shares the 'middle east thing' with a 'religion' that proselytizes conversion or extinction and are absolutely no threat. General physical characteristics, no more.

In my view, the day the religion of peace somehow manages to stop the murder of innocents, and actually gains some spiritual value, then the hostile attitude towards it might be vacated.  Something to drive home the point here:

2010.12.08 (Kohat, Pakistan) - A teen suicide bomber targets a crowd of Shia pilgrims at a bus stop, sending nearly two dozen to Allah, mostly women and children.
2010.12.07 (Tal Afar, Iraq) - Fundamentalists bomb a computer shop, killing an employee.
2010.12.07 (Varanasi, India) - A 2-year-old girl is left dead following a Mujahideen blast at a Hindu temple.
2010.12.06 (Baqubah, Iraq) - Three children bleed out when terrorists booby-trap a home.
2010.12.06 (Mohmand, Pakistan) - Two Holy Warriors massacre over forty innocents with a dual suicide blast at a gathering of tribal leaders in the name of 'enforcing Sharia.'
2010.12.05 (Baghdad, Iraq) - Four Holy Warriors bind and stab an elderly Christian couple to death in their home.

Its the evil things man does.  Behavior.

As for government trying to influence us to hate them?  Really.. Kidding right?  Bush actually called it 'the religion of peace' and talked it up more than once.  Obama is believed by more than half the country to be a closet believer.

Our government is putting the blinders on the folks who don't have critical thinking skills enough to realize the threat that is all around us.

To date, that 'middle east thing' has directly placed the lives of a number of high profile infidels at risk.  for simply speaking out, or having an opinion.