US car dealer happily clings to guns and religion

After Barack Obama said that disadvantaged and "bitter" working-class Americans were clinging to their "guns and religion", car dealer Mark Muller of Max Motors in Butler, Missouri felt so insulted that he launched a new promotion: a free gun with every car purchased at his dealership. As an alternative, he offered a US $250 (Canadian $247) petrol gift card. However, so far everyone who has bought a car from him under the promotion has chosen the gun over the free petrol, the only exceptions being "one guy from Canada and one old guy".

Muller was offended by Obama's words because, as he puts it, "We all go to church on Sunday and we all carry guns." According to Muller, "We're just damn glad to live in a free country where you can have a gun if you want to" (BBC).

DHS wants to reach more Muslims

Officials from the US Dept. of Homeland Security said in Senate testimony that they want to increase outreach to the American Muslim and Arab communities, in order to prevent acts of domestic terrorism. Daniel Sutherland, the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties at the DHS, said that the US government should "work hard to deepen the engagement" with the American Muslim community.

Senator Claire McCaskill (Democrat-Missouri) said that a positive view of Islam by the US government "may be the most powerful weapon we have against terrorism" (Los Angeles Times).

A move in the right direction, definitely, but, wait a minute: the DHS has an Officer for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties? Maybe it figures that there's only one officer in that position in that vast department.