NOW, HOW DO YOU THINK THE OBAMANS WILL HANDLE THIS?  – AT 10:11 A.M. ET:  We've all been preached to about being sensitive to Islam, genuflecting before Islam, not "offending" Islam.  But what happens when the U.S. Government, in order to act decently, must "offend" an Islamic country?  This, from AP, ranks high on the "juicy" scale:

WASHINGTON — A Saudi diplomat in Los Angeles reportedly has asked for political asylum in the United States, claiming his life is in danger if he is returned to Saudi Arabia.

What?  You mean the Saudi kingdom isn't perfect?  Why, that's offensive.

The report Saturday by NBC News quoted the diplomat, Ali Ahmad Asseri, as saying that Saudi officials have ordered him back to his country because he is gay and had become a close friend to a Jewish woman. Asseri in a letter also reportedly criticized the role of militant imams in Saudi society.

Oh, now the truth comes out.  The man made friends with a Jew, and he criticized Saudi society.  Now that really is offensive. 

NBC said that Asseri, who is first secretary of the Saudi consulate in Los Angeles, was questioned by the Department of Homeland Security after he applied for asylum.

We'll try to follow this story, to the degree that information is released.  Where are the civil liberties groups?  Where are the gay activist groups? 

If the facts in the story are right, this man should be granted asylum, just as we granted asylum to Soviet defectors during the Cold War.  But will the Obama administration "offend" the Saudi king to whom Obama bowed down in that now-famous picture?

Soap opera ahead.

September 12, 2010