Building Mountains Out Of Mosque Hills

The ingenious design of the constitution is that not only is the concept of majority rule defined, but at the same time, minority protections are written into the document as well.

History is littered with very real examples of the "majority" collective mindset not always being a shining beacon of the correct path. Nazi Germany? The Civil Rights Movement activity centered around the South?

This country was settled by the Pilgrims (among others), a minority escaping the religious persecution of the crown.

The list can be voluminous.

Would a Christianity based church built within a three city block radius of George Tiller's former medical practice cause such a public hub-bub? A YMCA within the vicinity of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building site in Oklahoma City? Probably not. People choosing to follow the tenets of Christianity do not scare or intimidate me, even if sometimes it spawns dangerous radicalism on it's fringes.

Extremism is Extremism, no matter what faith it attaches itself to.

There is a difference between the Islamic faith and Islamic extremism. In the aftermath of 9/11, President George W. Bush was very careful in responsibly drawing that distinction in a crisis, a distinction that is now disintegrating behind the purposeful crafted agendas of right wing think tanks, and it's media organs. It's a cheap political ploy, but by demonizing a populace for political gain, it starts to smell like a page out of the National Socialist playbook; state sanctioned bigotry, anger, and its eventual violent outcome being its cornerstone. It is civic irresponsibility beyond the pale.

This is the REAL dangerous issue, not the construction of an Islamic community center .

As long as you aren't a conspiracy theorist and think that the Illuminati took down the twin towers to gin up a phony war to control the world's oil reserves and accept the premise that members of Al Qaeda did the deed, then an Islamic Community Center really isn't that big of a deal.... unless of course, it is engineered to appear as such.

This is a faux controversy, created to obsfucate the electorate from what is truly important in this year's election cycle, with the sheep-like acceptance of the media in promoting this quantum cartload of horse manure...on both sides of the ideological spectrum, and not just the obvious projectile bile that spews forth nightly from FOX NEWS and NEWS CORP's Murdochian maw. Because these shenanigans have to be exposed, it sucks everybody into the black hole to the detriment of all.

August is always a slow month. Last year it was "Death Panels".

The sad part is that the general populace buys this crap, year in and year out. All of these jerks are absolutely dependent on a dumbed down population, and unfortunately it is a strategy that seems to be working.

The risks and liabilities of demonizing and persecuting a peaceful Muslim faithful for the gain of a vote and political leverage will ultimately be externalized upon a populace that doesn't even realize, even in a post 9/11 world, how those risks and liabilities could manifest themselves in a future reality.

Does anyone think that widespread religious persecution of followers of a specific faith is EVER going to end well, here at home or abroad?

The whole of human history suggests otherwise. These are dark days indeed.

Mountains Out Of Mosque Hills, Part 2

I honestly don't think the beliefs of over a billion people should be indicted by it's fringe elements.



I also believe, as I personal lifestyle choice, that I will not be ruled by fear. And no matter what the polling numbers are, the numbers are skewed by fear, not a rational thought process.... it's bill of goods designed to illicit a knee jerk reaction.



These are my opinions, of course.... but history has shown, that by demonizing a system of belief, a race of people, or the denizens of the lowest strata of an economic subset, IT ALWAYS TURNS OUT BAD!



The building of Minarets has been banned in Switzerland. A Burqua Ban, passed in the assembly, and sponsored by President Sarkozy, is projected to make it's way through French parliament.



I ask all of you: How do you think this is all going to end up? Put on your predictioneering cap, and come up with the best educated guess as you can.



World wide promotion of xenophobia is a losers game, in the end. America, and it's ideals, should be a beacon of enlightenment... and I feel this whole mess is just a small indicator of what is to come, if we allow that xenophobia to wash over us.



It will snuff out that guiding light, and that, in the end, is the concept, ideals and consensual philosophy contained in The Constitution that must be protected and preserved at all costs.



The "enemy" are not the followers of Islam. The enemy is a part of us. This issue is just another societal self inflicted gunshot wound, propagated by people who aren't really interested in protecting those ideals.... and in part, yes perhaps even the majority of our society is allowing the trigger to be pulled. That doesn't necessarilly indicate its the proper action.



There will be no televised galvanizing moment ala Joseph Nye Welch baldly asking Joseph McCarthy, "....Have you no sense of decency, sir, at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?"



Things are way too fragmented. There are 1000's of channels, instead of 2 or 3 as there were in 1954. The attention of the American populace will never again have a riveting moment of communal introspection such as that.



There will be no "shot across the bow" that will cause us to awaken from our collective dream state.



Divide and conquer is the strategy and order of the day. Rule by fear. Keep everyone scared, misinformed, and confused. If truth is inconvenient to agenda, then by all means necessary, lie.



By all means, let's further open the floodgates of corporate lobbying dollars to further corrupt an already compromised Governmental system, and then force Government to work by 21st century corporation policy, where at any cost, all risk and liability of action will be assumed by an unknowing, uninformed, and unvoiced general population: All the while framing the argument that somehow, this agenda is sound policy, and then sell it to the unsuspecting.



The point of this exercise was to perhaps reveal that this is just an indicator: a tip of a very large iceberg that is breaking the water line.... and we can't figure out that we are all on the same Ocean Liner slowly headed straight for it.



Instead of grabbing the wheel, we seem more concerned with figuring out what tune the band is playing and artfully re-arranging the deck chairs.