The Bigsibling Blog

Stinking polluting SUVs. They are destroying our environment (for reference, see “An Inconvenient Truth” et. al.). Not only are they ruining OUR planet, now they are ruining Mars. That is a whole other planet! We can’t just keep our filthy emissions to ourselves now can we? Between SUVs and smoking and cattle emissions because of those evil and vile (hey, those are almost palindromes!) meat-eaters, we have spread our dire case of global warming across the galaxy.

Scientists from Nasa say that Mars has warmed by about 0.5C since the
1970s. This is similar to the warming experienced on Earth over
approximately the same period….Fenton’s team unearthed heat maps of the Martian surface from Nasa’s
Viking mission in the 1970s and compared them with maps gathered more
than two decades later by Mars Global Surveyor. They found there had
been widespread changes, with some areas becoming darker.

I suppose it should now be called ‘galactic warming.’ Just google global warming and anyone with a computer can see that the accepted cause of global warming is man-made (or at least caused) emissions. If there can be no natural cause for global warming on Earth, why should that be allowed on Mars? No, the reason has GOT to be humans.

If only we would turn off our refrigerators, perhaps we can save the Martian polar ice caps. According to Al Gore and the experts, it is far too late for Earth, but maybe, just maybe, if we all started living as we did in the 19th century, it might be possible to save the Martian ice caps. In addition, we MUST stop sending vehicles and such to Mars. It is a possibility that emissions from the Mars rovers sent up there have created a hole in the Martian ozone, much like they have here! And what if some of the ships we sent into space to observe created any emissions that may have fallen to the planet? How many other planets are we destroying by our forays into space?

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Technorati Tags: Global Warming, Mars, Polar Ice Caps Melting, Martian Warming, NASA, SUVs, An Inconvenient Truth, Al Gore

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Australia and America have a somewhat similar history. We were both colonies of the United Kingdom, and we both gained our independence just over 200 years ago. From the few Aussies I have met, both people have a similar view of their freedoms and the world.

Australia has committed troops to Afghanistan and Iraq. So it comes as no surprise to me when Aussie PM John Howard lambastes the US Congress for passing a bill that mandates the withdrawal of troops from the war on terror.

Howard, a staunch Bush supporter who has also committed troops to Iraq and Afghanistan, said the vote by the US Congress was “probably not helpful to the general situation in Iraq.”"I think it is wrong, and I don’t think it is doing anything other than giving great comfort and encouragement to Al-Qaeda and the insurgency in Iraq,” Howard said.

“They are looking at all this, they read newspapers, they see it on television and they say, ‘The American domestic resolve is weakening, therefore we should maintain our resolve.’

“If there is a perception of an America defeat in Iraq, that will leave the whole of the Middle East in great turmoil and will be an enormous victory for terrorism.”

When are the Dems going to realize that pulling out is giving up? When they go on TV – and there is no ‘national’ TV anymore, it is all global these days – when they go on global TV and announce that the US has lost the war in Iraq. What do they think that does to the enemy? Do they think that Al-Qaida is going to be energized because of statements such as these? Do they think that our own military will say ‘hoorah! We lost, we ROCK!’.

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Technorati Tags: Australia, John Howard, Iraq, Terrorism, War on Terror

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Why are people so surprised? When kids and others do bad, morally reprehensible things, why is there such surprise? Is this not exactly where society has been heading? When we, as a society, remove any moral code, when we claim anything can be justified, people will do bad things. There is nothing standing in the way to stop them. There are all sorts of stories, examples can be found here, and here, and here. These are just a sampling of the things people do. What astounds me is how people are so surprised at these actions.

In a world where we have removed any moral absolutes, where we have allowed the flimsiest of excuses to justify immoral behavior. Where society sends such mixed signals to its inhabitants, how can people be so shocked? When we let child rapists spend less than a year in jail because pedophilia is a ’sickness’, there by excusing the criminal for the crime.

Over the past several decades, society has lost its moral compass. Society says it is OK for people to do whatever they want as long as it can be somehow justified. In a discussion I had with a pure leftist, he was lamenting that society has let its moral compass go, but in the same breath declared there were no moral absolutes. I asked him about having sex with a 10 year old. He declared the act reprehensible, but if you were a mormon, and that was your belief, then it was ok. It is this kind of attitude, this kind of, anything-goes-as-long-as-you-can-justify-it mentallity that has driven people like the kid in Lewiston, Mn that threw a ham steak at some Muslim kids at his school. This is nuts. This should not have happened. This kid should have had the moral training that prevented this kind of behavior. This is stupidity in search of a crime. I can’t seem to equate a ham steak with a crime. Stupid, yes. Ignorant, yes. Prejudice, maybe. Offensive, definitely. Hateful? Probably not.

Kids are kids, they will be kids, they will always be mean and cruel. They were when I was in school, and they are now as my kids are in school. Kids tease people who are different. It is a fact of life. Kids pick on those that let themselves be picked on. It is the Darwinian nature of things. Survival of the fittest. For people who love the whole evolution thing, we, as a society, try to balk that trend every chance we get.

That is the culture we have raised them in. In the past 20 – 30 years kids have been told it is okay to behave the way you want to behave. We, as a society, are preaching that there are no moral absolutes. Wrong is not always wrong. If a kid does something bad, it is not his fault, but the fault of his environment, or his ADD or some other excuse. Wrong answers are not marked in red because it may damage self esteem.

With no moral right and wrongs, how is a kid to know that showing disrespect to their fellow students is wrong? We have brought these kids up with a belief that punishment for bad behavior is unacceptable. In a society that has misplaced its moral compass. We don’t teach kids morals any longer. So now, that kids have no morals, we are surprised when they behave immorally?

What I am getting at is that, as a society, we have gotten into the habit of not teaching kids any morals. Of not explaining basic courtesies, of not teaching them politeness. Society has found it acceptable that allowing kids to ‘grow into themselves’ is proper. Society has deemed it proper that girls should be called ‘hos’ and that there is noting wrong with advocating the destruction of human life. Society has found it ok for people to molest children and receive six month prison sentences. This is a societal problem. The general disregard for one’s fellow man.

And yes, there are absolute morals. There is such a thing as absolute right and wrong. There are actions that are wrong under any and all circumstances. By claiming there are no absolute morals, one is simply giving into, and feeding the contingents of society that want no moral judgments on anyone, anytime. But when a kid shows a piece of ham to a Muslim, well that is just morally wrong.

Can one see the dilemma here? Does one not get the contradictions in all of this? There are no moral absolutes…well, except for showing ham to a Muslim.

People say these things are reprehensible, but if one believes in living life that way, that makes it ok. This sends mixed messages. It is not OK to rape someone, unless you believe it is OK. It is not ok to have sex with a 10 year old, unless your are a Mormon, then it is OK.

Society at large sends these mixed messages, saying it is OK in insult Christians, but not OK to insult Muslims. It is OK for Mel Gibson to slam Jews, but not OK for Dom Imus to slander basketball players. It is OK for Carlos Mencia to say nigger, but not OK for Michael Richards. I find it astounding that people would be surprised by the actions of this kid with the ham steak, given that they don’t believe there is any action that is inherently wrong, as long as there are explanations or excuses to justify that action.

And yes, it does start with parents. Parents who were raised with a lackadaisical attitude to morality and absolute right and wrong, and who are perpetrating that same attitude, and more so, with their children. Parents who believe that anything is OK if it is only justified, and that anything can be justified with enough newpseak and explaining and stretching.

There are moral absolutes, because one refuses to see them does not make them not there.

Technorati Tags: Morality, Society, Culture, Moral Compass, Moral Absolutes

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I was born and raised in Topeka, KS. I have moved away multiple times, but, like Michael Corleone in Godfather III – ‘they keep pulling me back in.’ Topeka has a big problem. Most people who live there don’t really like the city much. The #1 employer in the city is the government. Not only is it the county seat for Shawnee county, so all of the county offices are stationed here, it is also the capital of the state of Kansas, so the vast majority of state government departments are headquartered here.

Topeka has made some serious mistakes in the past. When they were building up the Wannamaker area (that used to be west of town), I always thought they should be building up the east side of town instead. Why? Because Lawrence was growing west. If they had started building up the east side 20 years ago, Topeka and Lawrence would be a nice sized metropolitan area by now. But nobody asked me.

Likewise with downtown. If one were to visit downtown Lawrence, it is busy. People are downtown in the evenings, on the weekends, during the day. There are shops and stores and restaurants and bars. It is a happening place.

If one were to visit downtown Topeka (that is, Kansas Ave. from about 10th street to 4th street) one would see…boredom. It is plain, and somewhat grimy. I have known this for years. It is unattractive. There are few businesses, and seriously, the businesses don’t seem too interested in generating business outside the normal 8-5 work day.

A few years ago the city started having their Christmas Winter parade in the evening instead of during the day. This, I thought was a great idea. All the floats are lit up and it is a pleasure to watch. The problem is, there are a guaranteed couple of thousand people downtown at this event, and most of the businesses were closed. Locked, lights turned off. What kind of business person would close up shop when there was this kind of crowd guaranteed to be in the vicinity?

Topeka has made some efforts to change this image, but in the past 8 years that I have been back, not much progress is visible. Businesses open up downtown, then close because there are 1) no customers and b) too high of rent for the area. My own brother used to have a restaurant downtown, he was paying over $2K/month for rent. $2k a month? For a tiny little cramped location under the street. It was ridiculous. Meanwhile, the city spends money and gives tax incentives to businesses along the Wannamaker corridor.

I would like to see Wannamaker left to it’s own devices and give tax incentives to those opening businesses downtown. There are zero ice cream shops downtown. There is one coffee shop downtown, and that is really a sandwich shop that happens to sell coffee. There are zero bars or pubs downtown.

The Chamber of Commerce recently invested money in some outside consulting agency to tell them what they could have seen with their own eyes. Downtown Topeka is ugly.

Efforts to make downtown more attractive and make it an evening and
weekend gathering place for the community would make a big impression
on the companies the city is trying to lure to Topeka. And that is just
the perspective of businesses looking for expansion sites. It makes no
reference to such improvements making life more enjoyable for those
already here.

Of course, the organization that sucks money from the city for downtown revitalization – Downtown Topeka, Inc – says it has made huge improvements with the $1.5 million in tax dollars it was given, but they must be infrastructure, because frankly, I can’t see any difference in the downtown area.

Perhaps they could offer tax incentives for businesses to stay open more hours – later into the evenings, and on Saturdays. Normal people have great ideas about what needs to be done there, but the corrupted city council people just won’t listen. After all, if they don’t spend oodles of dough on a consultant, how will they know what is what?

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Technorati Tags: Topeka, Government Waste, Economy, Downtown

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Usually being banned is a bad thing, but I was reading Vicezilla's blog when I saw here that his blog was banned in China. 'Hey,' I thought 'I want to be banned in China too.' It seems so...I don't know...prestigious to be banned in China - kind of like some horror film where one could brag in the newspaper adverts "Banned in Illinois" or some such. Kind of like a gold star in kidergarten. I headed on over to the greatfirewallofchina.org to see if possibly I too was banned. And there I was, all kinds of banned from China.  I feel so proud!

Technorati Tags: China, firewall, greatfirewallofchina, banned

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Some people will refuse to see the growing trend, and thus the growing problem. Some will cheer this trend as a giant leap in diversity, or multi-cultural ism or what-not. Others will cheer this trend as something that is long overdue and with particular glee since the trend is decidedly anti-Christian. The trend I am speaking of is the Islamification of North America. It is starting, of course, in Canada. I say ‘of course in Canada’, not because of any ill feelings to the Canucks. I have some very good friends that are ex-pat Canucks. I have spent quite a bit of time in Canada traversing the Al-Can highway, and spending time in little towns waiting for auto parts for a broken down motor home, but that is another tale.

I say ‘of course in Canada’, because the Canadian government, by and large, is what can be defined as a ’secular progressive’ government. That is, they are more and more of the ideology that everyone is OK, no one is bad – it is their environment that made them do bad things. That they must do everything for everyone. Cradle to grave entitlements are the better way to go, everyone who has their own language, and doesn’t want to learn the language of the majority, can demand that all signs and packaging support their own language. And so on and so forth.

A group of Muslim students in Canada banded together and form the “Task Force on Needs of Muslim Students.” Boiled down, what they are after is for everyone to kow-tow to their demands. Their demands enforce, in essence, Sharia law, the law of the Koran. Their list of demands are long and vast. Their list of demands include indoctrination of non Muslims and the edict that all non Muslims interact with Muslims the way Muslims want to be interacted with. In short, it seems the Muslim students are saying it does not matter if one is a Muslim or not, as long as they act the way Muslims act, it is okay (for now anyway).

They cite the experiences of some Muslims to support their demands. Some Muslims feel put upon and unwelcome.

“A participant from the University of Windsor wearing the hijab echoed this sentiment: ‘I feel that other students are not welcoming…’”

While this may seem bad, there are many, many people, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, who feel unwelcome by others. To single this out as a Muslim problem is terribly arrogant and exhibits a great degree of narrow-sightedness.

“Regular prayer is a fundamental tenet of Islam. It is common practice for Muslims to pray 5 times a day at specified intervals. Such practices can significantly overlap with students’ time on campus and in class. Participants of the Task Force’s campus hearings regularly outlined conflicts between prayer and their in-class academic obligations often with consequences to participation marks and tests or assignments.”

I am uncertain of what universities in Canada are like, but in the US, university students generally chose their own schedules. Classes are offered at a variety of times and days to accommodate the schedules of students. It is very easy for a student to simply not take a class at a time that will interfere with their prayers. Short of that, they student has to make a decision on whether they want to pray, or go to class. The choice is theirs. The universities are in place to offer people the opportunity to obtain an education. The universities are not there to ensure that everyone’s special needs are met and accommodated and that their class schedules flow around each specific groups’ wants and needs.

“…an institution is required to evaluate the needs of a group, including accommodations for religious observances and holidays.

Most participants of the Task Force’s campus hearings lamented that Islamic holidays are not recognised by their institution. Eid ul-Fitr, which marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, and Eid ul-Adha, were most frequently mentioned as a day that students would like to be recognised.”

Simply put universities cannot recognize the holidays of all the different religious groups. If they did, there would be no time for students to actually learn something. Currently, some universities recognize the holidays for the predominate religion. That is, the religion of the majority. If there were a university where the religion of the majority of the students was Islam, then the university would recognize that religions holidays, to the exclusion of others. Somehow, I don’t believe that the Christians would be whining about having to go to class on All Saints Day.

“…students reported the frequent experience that when stereotypical views of Islam were discussed, they were commonly accepted and not challenged by professors or other students.”

There is a difference between not challenging something, and accepting it. But it looks like, if you don’t stand up and declare Islam to be a good and hearty religion, that is correct and above all others, then you are accepting the stereotypes placed on the religion.

And this is where it really gets tricky:

“Students stressed a desire to see curricula place a greater emphasis on representing Islam,…
Specifically, suggestions included more courses on Islam and consideration of Islamic history, themes of the Quran, and the Islamic world today.”

This is at the root of all of their demands. They want to indoctrinate regular students into Islam. They want to make sure that every student and teacher on campus has a positive view of Islam. If one does not agree with Islam, or believe in Allah, they are Islamophobes. If one says that Jesus is the saviour, and Muhommad a false prophet, they are Islamophobes. To these people, the people who want to change, by force, the minds all people, whomever does not believe in Islam, whomever does not hold the view that Islam is the end all and be all, is an Islamophobe, and should be dealt with as such.

This is their list of demands.

• Recognise at the administrative level, the institution’s obligation to accommodate the needs of Muslim students in a way that is consistent with the Ontario Human Rights Code.
• Expand awareness and educational anti-racism campaigns to target Islamophobia on campus.
• Encourage students who have experienced Islamophobic and racist acts to immediately register that with the appropriate campus office (security, equity services, ombuds, etc.) and the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
• Students’ unions and Muslim students’ associations should be familiar with reporting mechanisms at the institutional level and through the Ontario Human Rights Commission in order to help encourage and facilitate a culture of reporting Islamophobia and racism on campus.
• Institutions and their security staff should take seriously and promptly address reports of Islamophobic incidents.
• Statistics regarding the number of Islamophobic complaints and their nature should be compiled and maintained by the institution, the Ontario Human Rights Commission, students’ unions, and other relevant bodies.
• Conduct a review of institutional policies that relate to discriminatory practices to ensure sufficiency in dealing with Islamophobic incidents and creating a permanently safe and welcoming environment.
• Convene meetings among relevant administrators, students’ unions, Muslim students’ associations, faculty associations, and the campus media to recognise the collective responsibility to identify and stop Islamophobia and racism on campus.
• In consultation with students, develop a institutional response to Islamophobia and a plan to streamline, and make more effective, reporting mechanisms for Islamophobic acts.
• Improve and enhance institutional counselling services to properly address Muslim students’ needs by, for example, hiring Muslim chaplains, similar to those that exist for other denominations.
• Implement mentorship initiatives to connect new students to students of similar faith.
• Develop training modules on Islamophobia for campus security and maintenance staff. Islamophobic graffiti, for example, should not be removed until it has been properly documented by security staff.
• Students’ unions, Muslim students’ associations, and campus women’s centres should promote the right of all women, especially Muslim women, to participate in campus activities free of discrimination and misinformed stereotypes.
• Notify offices of human rights and anti-discrimination on campus of factual errors and prejudicial depictions in the campus media and encourage campus publications to acknowledge the problem and remedy damage done.
• Students should continue to critique media analysis of Islam and Muslim students via letters to their local and student newspapers.
• Encourage Muslim students and faculty to write for their student or community newspapers and other communications materials.
• Increase and institute recognition of religious observances on campus and in college and university policy by ensuring that information on Muslim religious observances is available to college/university administrators, faculty, academic and support staff, and students.
• Send out memoranda to professors and teaching staff in advance of religious holidays and observances.
• Increase flexibility for assignment due dates and exam scheduling to minimise or eliminate overlap with Friday prayer. Make provisions for alternate academic arrangements that are not more onerous than regularly scheduled assignments should be made.
• Ensure that students are not penalised for missed class or lab time associated with religious observances.
• Integrate education modules on Islam and Islamophobia into training sessions for general teaching staff.
• Institutional academic bodies should seek to ensure more courses offered on Islamic studies and Muslim culture.
• Require academic instructors to rely on resource materials for courses on Islam that are based on evidence and scholarship.
• Ensure diversity within course materials. Ensure that materials discussed in the classroom meet academic standards or be presented in the context of academic analysis.
• Teaching staff should not target discussion of Islam to Muslim students in the class and
  Muslim students should not be made to feel that they are subject of class discussions regarding Islam.
• Train teaching staff in anti-racist teaching practices and methods for identifying and responding to racism and conflict in the classroom.
• Encourage Muslim graduates to consider working within academia.
• Extend equity considerations in hiring to include Muslim candidates.
• Promote the retention of Muslim faculty by ensuring a positive work environment.
• Federal and Ontario student financial aid that is delivered through the Canada Student Loans Program and Ontario Student Assistance Program respectively should reduce reliance on a loan-based financial aid system.
• Governments should reduce financial barriers for students through tuition fee protection in the form of tuition fee freezes and reductions along with targeted financial aid delivered through need-based grants.
• Income contingent loan repayment and other forms of regressive financial aid schemes should be rejected by policy makers.
• Education related government loans should not accumulate interest, even after graduation.
• Ensure that adequate prayer space is acknowledged as a human rights issue and made available by the institution.
• Develop a campus plan that involves students and ensures multiple prayer spaces across campus for easy access from all points and that new building plans account for prayer space and ablution washing facilities if necessary.
• With involvement of students, conduct regular audits of the adequacy and availability of prayer space facilities including the size, convenience of locations, ablution washing facilities and separate accommodation for women.
• Make prayer space audit results publicly available, especially to new students who need them in order decide where to study.
• Ensure permanency, upkeep, and proper location of prayer space on campus.
• Conduct a food service audit with campus food services to assess kitchen facilities and food service delivery processes to determine areas of implementation and improvement of halal food provisions.
• Universities should expand their food choices on campus and provide more halal options, especially in residence cafeterias and food services. Halal food should be provided at the same quality and costs as non-halal food.
• Clearly identify halal options on menus and in campus food service facilities. Ensure clear labelling of halal food, and food ingredients.
• Improve training of food service staff in the preparation of halal food, including training food service employees to change sanitary gloves and wash cutlery and surfaces after preparing non-halal food.
• Include a requirement to provide halal food and halal practices in any new contracts with food service providers. Modify existing contracts to provide both halal food and halal practices.
• Create standard policy to allow Muslim students to bring outside food options for larger catered events, including allowances for Muslim students to bring in culturally appropriate food on Iftar and other religious holidays.
• Ensure that orientation planning is open to, and reflective of, Muslim students and their organisations.
• Provide inclusively training for orientation event organisers.
• Include in orientation packages and summer mailouts the information necessary for Muslim students to properly access necessary campus and community services, such as local mosques, prayer room locations, Muslim students’ associations and central students’ unions’ contact information and opportunities to meet with Muslim students who attend college or university for mentorship and advice.
• Include dry options in events and programmes, where alcohol is not served. Events in the evening can, for example, be “dry” for the first hour or so before making alcohol available.
• Liaise with responsible university officials to determine decision-making structures for scheduling athletics and recreation facilities.
• Conduct a student survey on athletic requirements to determine the need for gender specific hours including a use assessment of athletic facilities (i.e. identifying peak and off-peak hours, usage, etc.).
• Improve access and athletic facilities for Muslim women students.
• Provide women-only gym time. Provide curtains or screens over the observation windows looking into the swimming pool during women-only swim times.
• Ensure that more Muslim dons are hired for campus residence, or contact information for Muslim dons at the residence complex be made available.
• Provide training for residence dons and general information to residence occupants about the needs of Muslim students, especially as they pertain to alcohol.
• Increase availability of halal food in residence and allow flexibility for students to prepare their own food.
  Allow Muslim students to opt-out of mandatory meal plans where insufficient halal options exist.
• Institute alcohol-free residences on campus.
• Implement equity and diversity programming in campus events, including those organised by campus students’ unions and administrations.
• Cross promote student union and Muslim Students’ Association services.
• Ensure proper funding of central students’ unions and Muslim students’ associations to properly service Muslim students.

Some of these demands are not too far out. For instance, the food. I don’t see it as unreasonable that the university offer halal food, like they do now for kosher food. But some of these, c’mon now. Zero interest loans because Muslims don’t believe in paying interest? WTF is that? Alcohol-free residences? I understand that Muslims do not partake in alcohol, by why does that mean that no one else can partake? I am not seeing the reasoning here, unless it is to force others to conform to the beliefs of the Muslims (but that can’t possibly be it…can it?).

This next quote gives a very real glimpse of what we are looking at:

“‘Even though I haven’t, myself, experienced any physical acts of aggression or any outright Islamophobic comments, it feels like there is a measure of mistrust and suspicion and undue attention to my personal appearance.’”

Translated from newspeak into real English it reads, while nobody has treated me different, I know they are thinking about me differently.

People will undoubtedly read this and mark me as an Islamophobe. Fact is, I am no Islamophobe. The fact that I do not agree with the Islam religion, or its teachings and laws does not make me an Islamophobe. It does not make me a racist. I do not agree with the gay lifestyle either, and believe that it is wrong. That does not make me a homophobe. Frankly, I could care less if one wants to practice their religion in anyway they see fit…as long as it does not impact me, I don’t give a flying leap. One can worship the devil, they can dance around in the woods naked worshipping Diana, they can throw chicken bones in a circle and recite voodoo cantations to their hearts delight. I don’t care.

What I do care is when those worshiping Diana want to dance around naked in the city park. Or the voodoo folks start throwing chicken bones on my doorstep. Or when I have to make special arrangement, on my dime and my time for someone to pray the way they want to pray. I should not be forced to build a prayer facility with my tax dollars…for anyone, Muslim, Jewish, Christian, Zoroastrianism anything. I should not be forced to change my own standard or way of living, to accommodate your choices. And yes, I said choices. Religion, folks, is a choice. One chooses to follow a certain religion. One chooses to pray and participate in whatever religion they belong to. I should not be required to be inconvenienced in any way shape or form because of the choices made by others.

People do not have a right to ‘feel welcomed.’ People do not have a guarantee to be ‘included’ or not to feel ostracized. While it would be nice if we could all be like kindergartners, where no one really cared who you were or where you were from, only if you were nice to play with, that is not the way of the world. People today are expecting too often to be coddled and cared for some reason or another, if someone is in the minority, the majority must do whatever it can, must make whatever sacrifices are required of it, in order that the feelings of the minority are upheld and that the minority does not lose their self esteem.

Thanks to LadyPredator for bringing up this story.

You can read/download the Final Report in PDF format (56 pages).

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Islam,Canada,Students,Sharia,Koran,Muslim,Comply,Force,Pray,Hijab,Demands

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As with most of the nation, I am saddened by the events in Virginia this week. I feel sad for the dead, their loved ones and friends and classmates. I feel sad for the wounded, who will never again be the same person they were before their injuries. And (I know this is probably unpopular since I have seen no one else admit it) I feel sad for the murderer.

I sympathize with this guy. Not what he did, but what he went through. Don’t get me wrong, whatever happened in this guys life in no way shape or form justifies what he did. But I know what it is like to have hate and rage and despair in your heart. I know what it is like to live with that blackness on the edge of your consciousness.

Cho did not just live with this darkness clouding the edges of his reality. In enveloped him. It consumed him. Stories appear now who people had tried to reach out to him, but were unsuccessful. Perhaps they are true, perhaps they are not, we will never know for certain. What we do know is that Cho’s heart was black and twisted and dead long before he went on his rampage.

I live in Topeka, KS. Many might know it is the base of operations for the hate group known as the Westboro Baptist Church. Fred Phelps and his cult picket the funerals of gay people, military people who have died and anyone else where they believe they might get some news coverage. Driving through town one can see their hateful day-glo painted signs.

The hate and anger that engulfed Cho was similar I believe to the hate and anger that engulfs Phelps. Phelps is a man that is so twisted with hate, that there is barely any man left in him. Only he knows what happened in his life that allows the darkness to surround him and take him over. Some think he was molested by another man, but I don’t think that would have drove him as far as he has gone. No, I lean more towards the idea that he might have molested someone.

At any rate, these two people, with such similar darkness in them, have taken opposite paths to deal with that hate. Phelps does his best to incite other people to commit violence against him and his people so he can sue them. While Cho took the other path, and committed violence against others.

I don’t know if Cho knew what he was doing was so wrong. I would like to think that he was so consumed by the darkness that he was no longer in control. That the darkness had taken over his mind and corrupted his actions. It helps me sleep a little better at night.

This weekend I’m going to hunt down the video that was on TV and actually watch it. I hope it is not a mistake. I remember hunting down the Nick Berg video and watching that. But almost as soon as it was over, I wished to God I hadn’t watched it. I was not prepared for the emotional aftermath of watching that.

Technorati Tags: Hate, Rage, Cho, Virginia Tech, Blackness, Darkness, Despair

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I have to say something about the Virginia Tech shootings So much information floating out there, and so little actually verified. Here is what I know as of right now:

1. 2 people murdered in a dorm
2. 30 people murdered in a building where engineering classes were taught.
3. Murderer of the 30 people in the engineerying classes buidling killed himself
4. Murderer was an english major
5. Murderer was a loner and had very few friends
6. Murderer lived on campus
7. Murderer had written in ride on the inside of his arm “ISMAIL AX”
8. Murderer left a note with ‘vitriolic’ language (although, we normal folks don’t get to see the entire note, only the po-po and the press – I guess we just can’t handle the truth), inlcuding references to ‘debauchery’, ‘rich kids’ and ‘deceitful charlatans’.

For those not in the know, Ismail (a/k/a/ Ismael, Ishmail, Ishmael) was the first born son of Abraham of the Old Testament. This was the kid that Abraham had with his wife (Sarah) servant. He later conceieved Isaac with Sarah. At any rate, Isaac became the father of the Jewish people and Ismail became the father of the Arab people.

Hopefully everyone remembers the story of how God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, and Abraham was ready to comply right up until the end, when God provided a ram for the sacrifice instead. Well, the Quran turns the story around a bit, in the Quran it is Ismail instead of Isaac who is going to be sacrificed. In the Quranic version Abraham is going to perform the sacrifice with an ax.

Some folks out there in the blog universe are jumping all over this. Pointing to the fact that this kid came into the country through Detroit. Detroit, for those of you living in caves or what not, has a huge Muslim population. The are already trying to link this kid with Islamofacisists and the Jihad against America. At this time, there is simply too little validated information to make that kind of leap, I feel these people will be sorely dissapointed when they discover he was just nuts and not some kind of Jihadist.

Lets face it, that note, and the language we have been allowed to digest, could very well have been written by a devout fundamentalist ultra right wing Christian. And don’t tell me those kinds of people are above the taking of human lives for their cause. There have been plenty of killings of abortion doctors to refute that claim.

On the other end of the spectrum are the anti-gun nuts. They are once again hitting the airwaves, print media and anywhere else they have a chance to be heard. As if outlawing something would actually fix the underlying problem. After all, outlawing things has worked so well in the past. How long has marijuana, cocaine, heroine, speed, ‘ludes, ’shrooms, peyote and countless other mood enhancers been outlawed? And yet they are still easily obtainable on our city streets (and many country roads as well). All this, without even knowing where the murderer got his guns. It is unknown if he purchased them at a store, or on the street.

It would be refreshing if cooler heads prevailed all around. Give the authorities a couple of days at least to gather facts. This isn’t CSI (one of my fav shows BTW) where the hot science chicks can crack a case in 45 minutes.

Sources:
Chicago Tribune
CNN
Fox News

Technorati Tags: Virginia Tech, Muslim, Gun Control, Drugs, Ranting, Ismail, Isaac, Abraham

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This is a tough story to chew on. New York City public schools is opening a Middle Eastern-themed school. First, knee-jerk reaction is “oh heck no!” Seriously, we can’t have public education funds going to some sort of Islam indoctrination, or madrassa type of school.

According to the article, the school will teach Arabic as a second language. This isn’t all bad. Kids should learn a second language. And it is easier for them to learn it young, as in grade school, rather than secondary school. In addition they talk about teaching about the culture of the Middle East. Again, this is not inherently a bad thing. The more we understand the people of that region, the better off we are. Knowing why people do the things they do is key in preventing bad things from happening.

The principal of the school, Debbie Almontaser, claims they will not teach religion;

“Being that we are a public school, we certainly are not going to be teaching religion,” said Almontaser, 39. “Islam does not have a culture. Islam is a religion.”

This is the big decision that one must confront. Can Islam, the religion, be separated from the culture of the Middle East? In a place who’s mores and laws are based on a religious text be truly taught in a secular manner? Would the teaching of why women are not allowed to drive be taught objectively? I don’t think it can. The only explanation as to why women in the Middle East are treated with such disdain is that Sharia – the law of Islam – mandates it as such.

While it may be true that Islam is a religion, and thus has no culture, it cannot be said that Islam is not the basis for the culture of the Middle East. I wonder why the ACLU is silent in this manner? If the NYC schools wanted to open an Israel-themed school, would the ACLU object to that? Would CAIR?

source

Technorati Tags: Public School, Madrassa, Islam, Middle East, Sharia, ACLU, CAIR

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