One of my friends aptly calls the whole fiasco horseshit… and he’s correct… but I think it is manufactured horseshit.

I don’t think people are really all that offended by any new house of worship, or religiously sponsored community centers… I think this is a very carefully targeted and manufactured wedge issue meant to simultaneously depress mainstream American voters so they have lower voter turnout numbers this November 2nd while exciting the lunatic fringe haters so they are encouraged to vote because they are angry about something.

If everyone votes, it completely diffuses this sort of insanity.

Just like many other manufactured distractions, the facts don’t support the claims and assertions of the talking heads.

It’s not a mosque. It’s not that close to the former world trade center. Sufis (the sponsors for this community center) are generally not terrorists. Americans largely don’t really care in any case. Most of the blowhards talking loudest about this have the least facts (which is typical also for these manufactured wedge issues). Move on America… and remember to vote in November, when you don’t vote you let the most politically motivated on all sides have their say unchallenged. Be the voice of moderation and speak your mind.

Update: turns out I am not the only one who finds all this hoopla suspect, a friend pointed this out: Salon article “How the “ground zero mosque” fear mongering began”

Update 2: on a more humorous note: Outrage Over Plans To Build Library Next To Sarah Palin

If you’d written that thesis then gradually changed over the years, I might find it a fiction harder to dismiss; but you didn’t. You have been opposed to privacy, humanity, education, and equality for a very long time; I do not believe that you have suddenly seen the light. Your “heavenly lies” will not work on this unbeliever. As recently as 2001 you voted against equal pay for women. You actively pursued at least 10 of the goals in your thesis that you now disavow throughout your 14 years in the general assembly. While in the assembly, you voted to forbid private companies from extending insurance benefits to domestic partners. That is not even government’s place!

Where are my Libertarian friends? Call this “government should only be big to monitor your bedroom” clown out and help defeat him.

Where is the outrage about McDonnell’s positions on women’s rights and equality in the work place?

I am offended as a Buddhist by McDonnell’s theocratic ideals. I am offended as a married man by McDonnell’s treatment of women and gay friends. I am offended as a former divorcee by McDonnell’s attempt to make it hard for people who have made a mistake to correct their own mistake at minimal expense (No Fault Divorce).

It is outrageous that either of the two major parties in our country can even think of backing this man. It is also completely unbelievable that McDonnell’s sudden shift towards more moderate positions is so perfectly timed to coincide with his serious run for the governor’s office.

He is clearly dishonest and is not even apologetic about it. It is also scary the kinds of ideals that Regent University’s propaganda agenda in education fosters.

Update: wow, I wish I had read Vivian Paige’s excellent posting on the same subject before I wrote this, she is far more eloquent than I am, and her posting on Bob McDonnell’s World is definitely worth a reading.

The United States of America is not, and never has been a theocracy. We cannot allow that to happen. Faith is not faith if it is the only choice. For people to be free to have faith, they also need to be free to have no faith or a different faith. Without that freedom, it is not faith at all.

Huge hat tip to The Group News Blog (in honor of the amazing Steve Gilliard). Very interesting reading on a regular basis.

Here is Obama’s explanation:

Simple link for those who don’t get embedded videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=syIEoSIJHis

I am beginning to form a new theory about it, not necessarily one I agree with on timing, but I suspect that Obama is concerned about those Americans who cannot think for themselves, and there are millions of them. If Warren speaks in the same public forum as Obama and many others, and pulls his usual sociopathic ass-hattery, then perhaps some of those Americans will see for themselves Rick Warren’s message of hate and cherry-picking of scripture. Perhaps by shining a bright light on the contrasting messages in full public view we can get some decent public discussion going about these people who preach hate. Obama might be sending the message that we all need to start pulling our own weight. We supporters need to actively combat ignorance and stupidity, and not remain passive to the aggressive onslaught of hate-mongers in America.

Full Disclosure: I actually own a copy of Warren’s book “The Purpose Driven Life”, given to me by a very confused brother one year after he discovered I was Buddhist. The brother is still very lost and confused and thinks I am damned. The book is horrible beyond belief, but I keep it to remind me how messed up huge portions of our country’s people are and how easily they can be misled.

This is tantamount to a free will argument. The religious argument goes, why would God give mankind the power to chose unless that choice is an important one. By that argument Christians must choose to have Jesus in their life. Likewise, citizens should have the power to choose life for the right reasons, but they need to be free to make that choice for moral, ethical, social, and religious reasons.

Abortions can be stopped, if we eliminate unwanted pregnancies. We must stop rapes, incest, unsafe sex, and foolish abstinence-only sex education (abstinence has a place, amongst other choices, but relying on it alone is just silly). We must improve health care for young and poor mothers so having a child is not a career crippling event. That is the right way to prevent abortions, and I think Americans are waking up to that fact.

Like prohibition, making abortions illegal is an ineffective technique to achieve a worthy goal. People need to be free to choose to do the right thing, or the wrong one; and we need to make it possible to do the right thing by supporting them. The key word in “choose life” is the choice. Obama sees that, and will effectively prevent far more abortions than our stacked supreme court.

Am I the only person who thinks it is completely unacceptable for any strict Creationist to be seriously considered for the office of President of the United States?

Blueweeds has a more thoughtful summary, it is well worth a read:
http://blueweeds.typepad.com/blue_weeds/2008/08/palin-a-risky-j.html

This is more evidence of horribly bad judgement on the part of Senator McCain.

I know, she is not the candidate – he is; but given his age, and the fact that we are a nation at war, the choice of vice president actually does matter…

Problems:

• She admits she does not know the first thing about what the job of vice president entails.
• As Governor of Alaska she tried to push the teaching of Creationism in public schools.
• She fought to keep funding for the infamous bridge to nowhere (so much for that bogus entry in wikipedia that described her as a reformer)
• She is avidly pro-life
• She fought to prevent same sex couples from getting benefits for their non-working partners in Alaska
• Her record on the environment is horrible
• Her lack of experience, while acceptable to me in general, blatantly shows how little respect McCain and his handlers have for the intelligence of the American voter. Her experience pales compared to Obama’s, yet McCain and his cronies feel free to attack Obama and still propose Palin for V.P.?!?!?

This is not just bad judgement folks, it is risky (McCain could be elected, and could die in office), and it is insulting. McCain is telling us all he just does not give a crap what we think.

This hotel is posh. We were welcomed with champaign and strawberries. Our suite is like a small apartment. They brought fresh fruit when they turned down the bedding while we walked around the square. The bedding is very nice, and there is a spa we probably will not have time to enjoy, but the idea is pleasant enough. The alarm clock/radio is also a dock for iPods, and you can play your iPod through the thing if you prefer. The TV has a DVD player.

When we walked in the square, we passed a bunch of people practicing with plastic light sabres. The little bit of Western martial arts training I have has ruined the fun of seeing this sort of thing because now I can’t help but see flaws in the fighting styles I witness.

The Mexican restaurant, Cantina Los Caballitos, is very, very yummy (Thanks Jim!). We ordered too much because it all sounded so good, and Tasha got stuck with some take-home left-overs. Fabulous conversation outside on a perfect night with just a slight breeze.

Sunday morning Tasha picked us up and took us to a Zen tea ceremony, liturgy chanting (Heart Sutra) and Dharma discussion in New Jersey at Pine Wind Zen Center. It was very different from our normal Soka Gakkai meetings, but interesting. The discussion was excellent, and focused on extending the compassion parents have for children to other human beings. We had much to talk about on the way back to Philadelphia.

Erci had to study for her MBA class a little, and Tasha had to do some child-care duties, so I was left to walk over to Philadelphia’s beautiful Rodin Museum on my own, which turned out to be splendid as I had plenty of time to contemplate the sculptures that inspired me, and was also free to rush by the ones I was not interested in. There were several that inspired me, including: “The Man with the Broken Nose,” “The Hand of God,” “Shame (Absolution),” and “Kneeling Fauness.” The thing that continues to strike me about Rodin’s work is the hands. So alive, so expressive, so much energy and tension. Amazing. Awesome. Wow…

Wow, just wow. If you are at all interested in dance, you need to get to a local showing of the live traveling show “So You Think You Can Dance” with the top dancers from the TV show of the same name. We saw a lot of the same routines we saw during the competition on TV, but the dancers have had time to refine the routines and polish their performances. Also they added a few new routines. The show was fantastic.

Thank you Erci, for scoring tickets and making us go to Philadelphia to see the show!

Monday was a vacation day for me, and we came back from Philadelphia, and then I caught a couple dance lessons and an episode of season 1 Heroes.

I am reading Sam Harris’ “The End of Faith” right now – so her diatribe about religion causing violence strikes a familiar chord in me. Anyway, enjoy. I downloaded the album “Momento Mori” and I am enjoying it – though I’d like to buy higher quality version I think.

I mentioned this to some guys a work and Rob suggested extending it from just spouses calling each other “domestic partner” to using the generic term partner to describe all kinds of relationships between same and different sexed people. What an awesome idea. So now you are all partners!

In other news I wore my “Jim Webb for Senate” t-shirt today and walked into a Baja Fresh for a burrito. Another customer said hello and asked if I worked the Webb campaign. I told him I had as well as several other campaigns. He said he used to be involved in politics, got focused on family and career for a number of years but would like to get involved again. He asked me to hook him up with the local Democratic party, that the Webb victory gives him hope, and gave me his business card. Now I am glad I wore that shirt today! I met a new partner in continuing to bring compassion and democracy to the state.