Adam

I want to try and find something we can all agree on, since I respect those that make comments (and I hope that is reciprocated). Can we all agree that no one in the world should torture anyone else, since we are all human beings?

I don’t even want to get into what is torture. I’m sure we’ll differ on that. But can we agree that torture shouldn’t be a part of any strategy for any country? Can we collectively take it off the board?

I feel like this should be a point of agreement, which would be nice.

Enjoy some like-mindedness, for once.

Adam Feser

“I don’t know what the big deal is,” Cassandra said. “It’s freedom of religion, you know?”

The Wall Street Journal recently talked to some strippers that work at one of the two strip joints within three blocks of Ground Zero – you know, hallowed ground. They also talked to some gamblers at an off-track betting center three blocks from Ground Zero (hallowed ground). One bettor had this to say about the proposed location of Park51:

The bums used to sit right in front of it.

He apparently does not agree that a Burlington Coat Factory constitutes hallowed ground.

The comments of strippers Cassandra and Chris have been some of the best I have heard during this entire debate. Here’s some thoughts from Chris (who volunteered for the Red Cross’s recovery effort):

But Chris, the stripper who volunteered in the Ground Zero recovery, sat on a barstool in a tiny, shiny red dress and defended Park51. “They’re not building a mosque in the World Trade Center,” she pointed out. “It’s all good. You have your synagogues and your churches. And you have a mosque.”

Chris said she lost eight friends on Sept. 11, 2001 — firefighters from the Brooklyn firehouse next to her home at the time. “The people who did it are not going to the mosque,” she said.

The people who did it are not going to the mosque. If only Newt Gingrich or Sarah Palin were this logical.

Enjoy a spirited hunt for October.

You may have heard that News Corp., the group that owns Fox News, The Wall Street Journal, and The New York Post, gave $1 million to the Republican Governor’s Association. It probably seems worse than it is. A lot of groups give money to both parties. It does, however, make for a fun opportunity to parody Glenn Beck’s mission of following the money to whatever communist is trying to destroy the country. Here it is:

Enjoy Husker fever.

Adam Feser

Updated Below

In Middletown, N.J., we do bar mitzvahs, Christmas parties and 9/11 memorials as a community. Am I now the enemy?

Osman Adnan and his brother serve their country with pride. They are Muslims. When people start throwing a fuss over a Muslim center, it stings people like Osman. It also stings his brother, who received a Purple Heart for his service in Iraq. We should consider these people before we pass judgment on an entire religious group. A couple of solid paragraphs from the article:

I believe Rauf’s goal with Park51 is in harmony with the goals of our nation’s founders. George Washington himself once wrote to a Jewish congregation in Rhode Island, reassuring them of our nation’s religious tolerance. “For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.” I flew halfway around the world to promote that great vision, and my brother came close to giving his life to protect it.

George Washington also reminded us to guard against the “imposters of pretended patriotism.” Mr. Gingrich and Mrs. Palin: Please do not confuse the public and slander all Muslim-Americans as being responsible for 9/11. Please don’t tell my shrapnel-scarred war hero brother that he is no different than the 9/11 hijackers. Sadly, you represent the very spirit of intolerance you attack in others.

Enjoy knowing 70% of Americans are against the mosque, yet claim to love freedom.

Adam Feser

Update:

Salon has a good list of loads of people that have taken some position on the issue. It’s worth a look if you’re at all interested in this and want to see how various politicians decided to respond. (Hint – there are a lot of cowards.)

Updates I and II below and poll added

This has been going on for awhile and doesn’t seem to be going away. A plan to build a community center and mosque a few blocks (600 ft.) from Ground Zero has been dubbed the Ground Zero Mosque. It has, as you can imagine, sparked a ton of controversy. The mosque recently was approved by NYC’s Landmark Preservation Commission.

Of course this isn’t the end of it. President Obama recently discussed the issue, asserting his commitment to religious freedom, which is no small feat considering 70% of Americans oppose it. (Obama did clarify that he believes it is their constitutional right, but that doesn’t mean he supports their decision.)  Mayor Bloomberg supported their right to build the mosque with a stirring speech. One of the stronger parts:

The attack was an act of war, and our first responders defended not only our city, but our country and our Constitution. We do not honor their lives by denying the very constitutional rights they died protecting. We honor their lives by defending those rights and the freedoms that the terrorists attacked … Political controversies come and go, but our values and our traditions endure, and there is no neighborhood in this city that is off-limits to God’s love and mercy.

He received a lot of praise and hate for his speech. In my opinion, he nailed it. We can’t call ourselves “The Land of the Free” if we stop a completely legitimate group from practicing their religion based on where it stands.

People like Newt Gingrich have been throwing (more…)

It’s been awhile since we’ve had a song of the day. Skye brought up the late, great Senator Paul Wellstone in the comments section and it made me crave a particular song. This track is “Ballad of Paul and Sheila” by Mason Jennings, who is a Minnesotan. The song is a tribute to Paul and Sheila Wellstone and a call for not letting their lifes’ work die. It’s beautiful, sad, yet motivational.

Enjoy knowing a close friend of Paul’s has his seat.

Adam Feser

Congressman Bob Inglis, a long-time conservative from South Carolina, recently got beat in his primary by a margin of 71-29. He had previously won six elections. Why did he get beat down in his primary?
at least partly because he refused to bow to the Tea Party. Apparently his 93 lifetime rating from the American Conservative Union isn’t conservative enough.

Inglas gained notoriety for telling some crazy town hall people to turn off Glenn Beck. (I made this statement: But the fact remains that the fear-mongering might end up hurting politicians like Bob. How true that has been.) He also called for Joe Wilson to apologize for yelling “You lie” at a State of the Union Address. This clearly is not good enough for the Tea Party.

Bob also got grief for refusing to call Obama a socialist. Why wouldn’t he? Because he doesn’t want to lie. I recommend reading the whole article, but here are a few quotes:

His description of a meeting with a dozen Tea Party activists:

I sat down, and they said on the back of your (more…)

There is yet another crazy guy arrested after committing heinous acts in order to eventually overthrow the federal government. This one is Raymond Peake III, a Pennsylvania prison guard. He allegedly shot a guy at a shooting range to steal his automatic weapon. He was stockpiling weapons so that he could overthrow the federal government.

There isn’t a lot more about where this desire to overthrow comes from or how exactly he planned on doing it, but I have a feeling overblown rhetoric about our country being stolen didn’t help.

Enjoy the ever-congenial election season.

Adam Feser

Check out this warning from Boehlert. It compiles a lot of the things we have seen wrong with the opposition to the Obama administration and discusses what it could lead to. Here’s a key quote:

Note that the radical right’s media rhetoric is no longer even political in a partisan sense. Instead, it’s purely revolutionary. It isn’t, “We think taxes should be lower” or “Obama should be more hawkish overseas.” It’s, “There’s an insidious and deadly plot afoot by Democrats and progressives to strip Americans of their freedom and this country of its greatness.” Obama is now the incarnation of evil (the Antichrist?), and his driving hatred for America, as well as for democracy, runs so deep that he ran for president in order to destroy the United States from inside the Oval Office.

Those with the biggest audiences (especially Beck), frame what’s happening as an evil plot to destroy America. It’s no wonder that guys like Byron Williams get drunk, load their truck with guns, and take off to shoot up liberal non-profits.

Rhetoric framing our political leaders as the enemies of America hell-bent on its destruction are irresponsible.

Enjoy TO ruining the Bengals’ chances.

Adam Feser

A boat hit a well causing an oil geyser.

In other oil news, over 800,000 gallons of oil were spilled from an oil pipeline into a creek in Michigan. The oil has made its way to the Kalamazoo River.

Almost forgot, China had an oil spill of their own. They really do want to be the next superpower. They claim to have kept the 465 square kilometer slick out of international waters. Who knows?

Enjoy ads claiming the companies responsible for spills are shining examples of safety.

Adam Feser