Muslims Prayed in the World Trade Center Before - And Now They Should, Too!

It makes no sense to me to say that the Muslim mosque & community center must be relocated in order to be sensitive to 9-11 victims and their families. Muslims prayed in the twin towers before they fell. Muslims worked there. Muslims interacted with others there. They ate lunches there. They were there - just as everyone else was.

The only desecration taking place here is the desecration of American values of freedom and expression. Opponents of the mosque & community center are peddling fear, ignorance, misunderstanding, and, in some cases, hatred. These are not American values. These are values of terrorists and theocratic dictators: our way or no way.

Let's support the zoning and other planning already in place for ground zero. In fact, let's celebrate this planning as a distinct American ideal. It's why we are different - and better.

Link to The NY Times article I relied on:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/nyregion/11religion.html?hp

Recording Public Police Stops: A 16 Year Sentence??

A motorcyclist was stopped in March by a gun-wielding plain-clothes MD police officer who failed to identify himself as a police officer initially. The cyclist recorded the event using a camera mounted on his bike that he routinely used to record scenery during his motorcycle trips. Rather than being lauded for pointing out, on video when posted to YouTube, the questionable actions of the officer, the cyclist has been charged with a felony, punishable by up to 16 years in prison. When the inevitable press, media, blogger, and civil liberty advocates made this a big issue (which it is!), the local prosecutor couldn't understand why - because he's prosecuted several other similar cases.

Police actions - and actions of individual officers while on duty - are public actions for the most part, undercover operations aside. The cyclist, at worst, should pay a fine for popping a wheely, which was the cause of the stop. In no way should he be charged with - let alone punished for - recording the event. First, it was recorded in the normal course of his activity. It wasn't done clandestinely or for bad reasons. Second, the encounter should be considered a public event - by both the cyclist and by the officer.

It's astonishing that a prosecutor - and the officer and all the others who support the officer - cannot see that there is no case here. The cyclist is not a felonious criminal because he kept his video camera on when approached by a gun-wielding man in plain clothes. Or even if the gun-wielding man was in uniform. Privacy is not an expectation of police officers or other public officials in the performance of their public duties. In fact, I think all arrests, interviews, interrogations, and interactions of the police with the accused should be video-taped - not for the protection of civil rights of the officers, but for the preservation of and the guarantee of the rights of the accused. And to ensure that officers & other officials act according to established and legal procedure. It's time we start holding officers and others to higher standards - especially standards that assume and guarantee the rights of free citizens in a free country. Let's stop making innocent and concerned citizens the villains and the criminals.



http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/06/15/AR2010061505556.html?sid=ST2010061505592

Winners & Losers. Especially LOSERS!

I agree with this blogger that we should not be giving every youth & child athlete a trophy or award at the end of the season. I really do not know or understand what these parents think when they vote & decide such rules. I feel the same toward soccer leagues and t-ball leagues that do not keep score.

KIDS KEEP SCORE. WE SHOULD, TOO! They know who wins. They know who loses. They may argue about who is the top team or most valuable player, but they sure know who is NOT in the running, who are the worst players and teams, and who are the average players who do not stand out.

Let's give trophies and awards for top players and teams. For THE single Most Valuable Player. For the winners. Let's keep score. And have winners and losers!

Link to City Room Blog at "The New York Times"
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/complaint-box-m-v-p-most-vacuous-praise/?ref=nyregion

No Surprise: More Gay Republicans Come Out of the Closet

Their time may be long overdue, but here they come. Some of us welcome them warmly. Others of us remain bitter about their actions in past leadership positions in the Republican party. There has been a long and continuous string of such announcements. The latest is Ken Mehlman, former RNC Chairman and Bush's 2004 campaign manager.

I welcome these folks to the "family." I'm saddened by some of their past actions and suggest they do a little more than others in an effort to make up for their past actions. I think it only fair. Being in the closet, living such a lie, does harm to individuals and to our community as a whole. However, when a closeted person does such damage to the community from a position of power, then that person really must do something to help repair the damage. Do not leave a path of destruction for the rest of us to clean up.

THE EDGE story about reaction from the political left & right:
http://www.edgenewyork.com/index.php?ch=news&sc=&sc2=&sc3=&id=109588

THE NEW YORK TIMES story about Mehlman coming out:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/26/us/politics/26mehlman.html?scp=1&sq=mehlman&st=cse