On Mosques and Principles

I was going to let the issue of the so-called 'Ground Zero Mosque' go by without commenting, but Bill O'Reilly's latest tirade on The View (no, I don't actually watch the show) got me angry and here's my take on the issue, as pithily as I can put it:

Under normal circumstances, I would have ben the first to dismiss the building of a place of worship—be it a church, mosque, synagogue, temple, etc.—as an unnecessary extravagance. I would probably have gone so far as to say that we don't need to expand whatever extent religion already has; and I would definitely have ventured to advocate, instead, the building of a more universally beneficial type of building, such as a school, hospital, or no building at all and a park or garden instead.

But given the airtime that was given to this issue, and the ink and bile that was spilled over it, I have to come out now, as a strong supporter of the 'Ground Zero Mosque.'

First of all, there was a lot of deliberately misleading information on the so-called 'mosque.' Calling it a 'mosque' was supposed to make people conjure up images of a lead-domed building with sky-piercing, imposing minarets. And they did. The building in question is, in fact, a multi-faith cultural center that will provide the Manhattan community with more 'secular' amenities such as a gym, pool, daycare center, etc..

Secondly, the debate in question should never have taken a national dimension. But it did (thanks, Palin!). The only people making a decision on it should have been local authorities responsible for issuing building permits and the like; the only laws to be observed should have been safety and zoning laws; the only additional considerations should have been on the aesthetics of the building—and that, only if NYC has any.

By overtaking the national airwaves, the debate over this cultural center reached a level of perversion that many self-righteous (read: mistaken) citizens across the nation embraced as justified. Suddenly, an organization whose whole reason-for-being is combatting bigotry discredited itself by coming out against this building; then a bigot in X or Y county felt proud to say that allowing such a building was 'insensitive' or 'un-American' (question: who died and made you a moral dictator of America?); then a zealot in Florida threatened to organize a Koran-burning event that escalated attacks and violence against our troops in Afghanistan and Iraq, while also aggravating any existing ire of Muslims across the globe. Yes, in just a matter of weeks, a debate that never should have gone beyond the requirements of local formalities became national and eventually medieval.

Thirdly, it should be understood that everybody has the right to voice his or her own opinion on whatever issue; but nobody has the right to pervert long-standing constitutional principles on issues of 'sensitivity,' especially when doing so means depriving others of the first freedom guaranteed by the Constitution.

I'm sorry, angered Americans-at-large: it's not up to you to decide whether a church or mosque or whatever else gets built in your country. It is not up to me, either....

I'm sorry, Manhattan residents: it's not up to you to prevent the construction of a building you don't 'like.' Comply with the decisions of the people you have chosen to represent you in enacting and enforcing local building and zoning laws.

Lastly, I'm sorry families of 9/11 victims: your pain and anger, however real and 'raw' (to use a word that was thrown around by Palin & Co.), do not entitle you to abridging the rights of any group, much less those of Muslims as a whole, who—as a whole—were never against us.

We were attacked by religious zealots with radically perverted views of Islam and the world, and with a total lack of consideration and respect for human life. Perhaps an example closer to home would serve to better illustrate it: the latter are the equivalent of the many (pseudo-)Christian groups in this country whose hateful and bigoted ideas spring up every day in dark and dreary basements across America, and whose abusive rhetoric or violent actions often reach the public scene.

Above all, remember that we are a state of laws; laws that condemn harmful behavior on others, and laws that defend liberties of individuals who set foot in this country (including minorities that can easily be overwhelmed by a majority). We have those laws for a reason and, despite whatever defects our legal-judicial system may have, intolerance of this kind is not one that should be imposed on or expected of it, no matter what the angry or otherwise emotional multitudes say about it.

It's a matter of principle.

Strong Words

I hate—HATE—what McCain has become in the last two and a half years. Yes, I thought this before reading the article linked above. And no, I don't think 'hate' is too strong a word to describe the more-than-resentment I feel toward him. I hate him for having become the personification and, at times, the epitome and the sole agent of the obstructionism that has plagued our Congress since the last general elections. He went from being a true maverick and a bridge between the two parties, to campaigning on it, to soiling his campaign and reputation, to becoming an intractable old coot, and to abjuring his moderate past and even the title he campaigned on.

But most of all, I hate him for unleashing—again, I don't think I'm wording this too strongly—Sarah Palin on the national political scene, along with the bigotry, hate, ignorance, and opportunism she exemplifies. Her dreaded ubiquity, hate-mongering, fear-mongering, vitriolic language, and shallow example served to bring to the scene other ignorant, opportunistic pseudo-politicians who unscrupulously exploit hard times and people's legitimate frustrations for their own personal gain, while setting whatever civilized debate we had in this country back by decades.

Thanks a lot, McCain!

The North Star Empress

I finally got a chance to read Vanity Fair's report on Sarah Palin and there was nothing in it that shocked me. I am not claiming to be clairvoyant but she has shown her ugly and uglier sides time after time. I just wish those who follow her also knew how she really is. Unfortunately, they won't even bother to read this article because, why would they go on to question their belief in the 'North Star.'

Warm and effusive in public, indifferent or angry in private: this is the pattern of Palin’s behavior toward the people who make her life possible. A onetime gubernatorial aide to Palin says, “The people who have worked for her—they’re broken, used, stepped on, down in the dust.” On the 2008 campaign trail, one close aide recalls, it was practically impossible to persuade Palin to take a moment to thank the kitchen workers at fund-raising dinners. During the campaign, Palin lashed out at the slightest provocation, sometimes screaming at staff members and throwing objects. Witnessing such behavior, one aide asked Todd Palin if it was typical of his wife. He answered, “You just got to let her go through it… Half the stuff that comes out of her mouth she doesn’t even mean.” When a campaign aide gingerly asked Todd whether Sarah should consider taking psychiatric medication to control her moods, Todd responded that she “just needed to run and work out more.” Her anger kept boiling over, however, and eventually the fits of rage came every day. Then, just as suddenly, her temper would be gone. Palin would apologize and promise to be nicer. Within hours, she would be screaming again. At the end of one long day, when Palin was mid-tirade, a campaign aide remembers thinking, “You were an angel all night. Now you’re a devil. Where did this come from?”

The whole report is seven and a half pages, but take your time and go through it. I did. And I know quite well I wouldn't want someone like the person described above controlling our nuclear arsenal.

Addendum: More on the empress's new clothes.

Shakespalin

Just check it out. If you know Shakespeare, you'll appreciate it more. But no need.

A highlight: 'My Lord! There is no stuff in my thoughts!'

Awkward Family Dinner Waiting to Happen

In the back-and-forths between Sarah Palin and the father of her grand-son, Levi Johnston, it is not hard to see whom to believe. Sure, Levi said everything he said about Sarah because he got attention, but nothing he has said has seemed exaggerated or untrue, considering what Sarah Palin has shown herself to be since her appearance on the national political stage.

Just for kicks, though, here is what he has said about Sarah Palin and her family that would give her reason to put strychnine in his Thanksgiving dinner.

(via The Daily Dish)

Palinisms

Mrs. Rushton would not have been happy with her run-on sentences....

Not to mention the senseless crap they actually attempt to spew.

Poor Ol' Plain Palin

Eh... not so plain.

As this contract posted on the ABC News website shows, she requires everything to be prepared to her exact specifications, down to two bendy straws on her lectern, size of private jets, skirted tables, and the background for photo-opportunities (this last one comes with a diagram).

Did I mention she has gotten over an estimated $12M (that's MILLION!) dollars since she resigned as governor of Alaska? Now tell me she's not an opportunistic attention whore wearing a populist mask....

Enough!

I must admit I liked Sen. John McCain before the idea of becoming a president went to his head. He was, indeed, a maverick, a moderate Republican who, albeit in disagreement with my general views, voted on his principles and common sense. Then the hallowed day came when it became clear that he would become the Republicans' nominee for president and he was transformed. His hunger for the presidency took the best of him and brought forth a John McCain I definitely couldn't like and could possibly no longer respect. He remained in that position throughout his campaign. I could forgive him for that and even make excuses for him; you know—he was too passionate about it, he got carried away, and the like. What I cannot forgive him for is the transformation he brought to American politics and civilized debate by unleashing upon the nation a dangerous individual like Sarah Palin.

It is no secret Sarah Palin is a power-hungry politician (voracious or ravenous could work here, as well; superlatives are not an exaggeration in her case). It should be no secret either—and, to my chagrin, this still hasn't reached a lot of people—that she is as incapable a politician as she is a devoid of conscientiousness. Not that the latter and politics go hand in hand; far from it. Time after time, she has easily proved herself wrong on many things she has said, done, or purported to have said or done. In a normal political climate, those many, many, many lies she has fabricated and embellished to unprecedented levels would have brought her political career to an end even sooner than she 'ended' it herself by resigning from her position as Alaska's governor. How many people have asked themselves the question, 'why did she do that?' If you have, here is my answer: because Alaska was not big enough for her. Once her notoriety reached national levels, Alaska was a backyard game for her and she'd have none of it. Her next mission: the lower 48, as she calls them (lucky for Hawaii, huh?).

To succeed in that mission, to climb up the ladder of a political career, she was and is determined to tread on anybody she comes across; she was and is prepared to lie and mislead the American public to places that help her to better shape her political future. THAT is my biggest problem with her. At a time when our president—in great part thanks to what she started and perpetuated during the McCain-Palin campaign—is under a multitude of attacks whose only purpose is to portray him as an outsider, she is actively feeding those flames and, in the process, she needs and never hesitates to appeal to the worse angels of our nature. She exploits the frustrations, fears, indecisiveness, hatred, resentment, misinformation, and insecurities of the American people—some of which I share myself!—in order to turn them into gain for her future political career. She does not care about the American people. She never did. She likes the attention. She likes the national attention, I should say, and she is going to be a fixture (an ugly, ugly one) of American politics for at least two more years until the 2012 presidential elections.

Have no doubt, she will run for president that year. Have no doubt, also, that she will continue along the same path that she forged during the McCain-Palin campaign and is carrying to date. Have no doubt that she will maintain the same rhetoric, the same divisive vitriol she puts out there and that is repeated manifold by Fox News and the pseudo-conservative-but-actually-hate-mongering media. Have no doubt, as well, that, by the end of the campaign and after the presidential elections of that year, the country will be more divided than it will have ever been since the Civil War. You think the latter Bush did awful things for the country and divided and polarized people, turned neighbor against neighbor, friends into enemies? Just wait and see how we will all be thanks to her. Or wake up and smell the rankling winds of the Alaskan front that is Sarah Palin and rise above it and say

ENOUGH!

Meet Homo Palineus

No wonder they like her! They're exactly like her: politically uneducated, misinformed, inarticulate, raging idiots!

Best quote: 'I just believe it. I've heard it over and over again that.... I know it's going on. These procedures are happening. [...] I watch Fox News—a lot!'

(Found through boingboing)

What Palin Really Said on Oprah

Conan O'Brien's take on it.

The True 2012 Apocalypse

Sarah 'Pinocchio' Palin

Her mendaciousness summarized.

Going Rogue and Palling Around

Despite what her annoyingly frequent and constantly fallacious Facebook posts might suggest (puh-lease! other people write those), Sarah Palin could not put together a coherent, cohesive piece of writing if her life depended on it. Winks and smiles do not translate so well in print. So, how, might you ask, did she write her upcoming book in the space of just a few months? She didn't, of course. Other people did.

And here is a short description of their œuvre.

Women in the News

In light of the latest gender scandal in sports, BuzzFeed has compiled a list of famous disputed/questionable genders in Olympic history. They are all interesting, I must say.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has made the news thanks to her way of doing diplomacy around the world. NPR audio below.

On the other side of the spectrum, Sarah Palin remains in the news, this time thanks to the Huffington Posts, which posted some of the most memorable videos of her from this past year in the national arena.

On two separate articles, the BBC reports that England and Wales have made it possible for lesbian couples to have each of their names put on birth certificates of their children. Criticism, no doubt, followed.

Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, women's rights have suffered, as fewer women showed up at the polls, reminding the world that progress is too distant for Afghani women.

Newsweek has an interesting article on women's efforts to break the glass ceiling. Apparently, their success depends on their ceasing to be 'good girls' and becoming 'bitches.'

When David Brooks is Right

It doesn't happen often, but he did it twice today on Meet the Press:

In calling Limbaugh's fear- and hate-inciting rhetoric 'insane,'

... and in calling Sarah Palin's latest assessment of the healthcare plan 'crazy.'

I also happen to think those qualifiers describe the original speakers, not just what they said.

Palin's Poem Part Deux

Conan & Shatner have done it again. This time it's with Palin's tweets on twitter.

Palin's 'poem'

I'm not a big fan of William Shatner, nor Conan, but this video is funny. They make Palin's last speech as governor of Alaska sound like the product of a poet who has spent too much time in an opium den.

Maybe Conan is right: 'It's a poem. It was always meant to be a poem.'

A demented maverick

Here's Countdown's recapitulation of the ph(oo)e(y)nomenon that is Palin.