Our Moral Elite In Action II

This report is, unfortunately, not satire.

Survey finds support for restricting Muslim-Americans' freedoms (emphasis mine)

Nearly one in two Americans believe the U.S. government should restrict civil liberties for Muslim-Americans, according to a nationwide Cornell University poll on terrorism fears.

The survey also found respondents who identified themselves as highly religious supported restrictions on Muslim-Americans more strongly than those less religious.

Curtailing civil liberties for Muslim-Americans also was supported more by Republicans than Democrats, the survey found. The amount of attention paid to TV news also had a bearing on how strongly a respondent favored restrictions.

"The more attention paid to television news, the more you fear terrorism, and you are more likely to favor restrictions on civil liberties," said Erik Nisbet, a senior research associate with Cornell's Survey Research Institute who helped design the survey.

"It's sad news. It's disturbing news. But it's not unpredictable," Mahdi Bray, executive director of the Virginia-based Muslim American Society, said of the survey results.

"It's not the first time in this country's history we've seen sentiment for restricting the civil liberties of a group of people. It's a sign of the times. The nation is at war, even if it's not a traditional war. We just have to remain vigilant and continue to interface," Bray said.