1) Where was I when the 9/11 attacks happened?
I was at University of Hawaii that time, living at the dorms!
Because of the time difference between NY and Hawaii, I was asleep when the attacks happened!
I first found out about it when my mom called me at 5:45. She mentioned that the World Trade Center blew up. At the moment, I was thinking it would've been similar to the bombing that occurred in the World Trade Center in 1993.
Only when I listened to the radio (the TV in my dorm room was screwed up at the time), when I found out it was actually airplanes that hit the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania.
Later that morning, I was in the cafeteria, when a student was concerned that a class I had with him was going to be cancelled. He also fear that Pearl Harbor might get hit again.
I had 2 classes that day. In the 1st class, the professor mentioned about the 9/11 attacks, then went on with the lesson of the day. I think it was the appropriate way to deal with it.
Acknowledge what happen, but don't let it stop everything.The 2nd class that day, the teacher just cut it short.
In that semester, I was working at the UH dorms, both the Lokelani and Lehua buildings. Coincidentally, 9/11/2001 was the 1st day I was working at the Lehua building. Hectic circumstances.
3 days after the 9/11 attacks, I was hanging out with a long-time friend. We were talking about the week's events, plus all the racist hate crimes committed against Arab Americans occurring in the mainland. Then the friend said that I better shave (at that point I didn't shave for a whole week) or someone might look at me the wrong way. (Though I am Latino, some have said I look like I'm from the Middle East, especially if I didn't shave) Needless to say, I shaved my face that night (though I kept my infamous mustache).
2) More on this "having a mosque near Ground Zero is an insult to the victims" bull nonsense!
There already was a mini-mosque INSIDE the World Trade Center!
Read that sentence again people!
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/11/nyregion/11religion.html
In that article, a Muslim electrician named Sinclair Hejazi Abdus-Salaam mentioned about his experiences working in the World Trade Center!
Over the next few days, noticing some fellow Muslims on the job, Mr. Abdus-Salaam voiced an equally essential question: “So where do you pray at?” And so he learned about the Muslim prayer room on the 17th floor of the south tower.
He went there regularly in the months to come, first doing the ablution known as wudu in a washroom fitted for cleansing hands, face and feet, and then facing toward Mecca to intone the salat prayer.
On any given day, Mr. Abdus-Salaam’s companions in the prayer room might include financial analysts, carpenters, receptionists, secretaries and ironworkers. There were American natives, immigrants who had earned citizenship, visitors conducting international business — the whole Muslim spectrum of nationality and race.
(skipped paragraphs)
Given the vitriolic opposition now to the proposal to build a Muslim community center two blocks from ground zero, one might say something else has been destroyed: the realization that Muslim people and the Muslim religion were part of the life of the World Trade Center.
Opponents of the Park51 project say the presence of a Muslim center dishonors the victims of the Islamic extremists who flew two jets into the towers. Yet not only were Muslims peacefully worshiping in the twin towers long before the attacks, but even after the 1993 bombing of one tower by a Muslim radical, Ramzi Yousef, their religious observance generated no opposition
My comments: Does any of this information surprise you? If you're over 18 years old and those italicized paragraphs surprise you, then you are an EXTREMELY ignorant person!
A mosque near Ground Zero is only an insult to extremely ignorant people who think in stereotypes!
It is NOT an insult to the victims! The people who were working and visiting the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001 were of many faiths! There were Christians, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, and yes, Muslims!
If that shocks you, you are mega-ignorant! Are you really that lacking in brains that you didn't know there were employees within World Trade Center that are from Islamic cultures? Are you really that lacking in brains that you really thought only Christians, Jews and atheists were employed in the World Trade Center?
New York is an immigrant city, where people come from all over the world! Even Muslim countries! Get over it already!
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Friday, September 10, 2010
9/11 - 9 years later
Tommorrow would be 9 years after the 9/11 attacks.
While there's a whole new generation of kids who were either too young to remember 9/11/2001 or born after 9/11/2001, it is still painful for millions here in the USA, and worldwide.
Even 9 years later, there are new controversies involving the 9/11 attacks!
I already went over the so-called "Ground Zero mosque" in my previous blog posts
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html#3796073365359224117
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html#9063910843393117198
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html#5830602967227993055
---------
Another new controversy has come up!
A fringe Christian minister in Gainesville, Florida named Terry Jones proposed a "Burn a Koran" day tommorrow, on the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/10/AR2010091007428.html?hpid=topnews
Obviously, this has caused international outrage, with protests worldwide.
President Obama has pleaded with Pastor Jones to not go forward with this.
http://www.salon.com/news/2010/09/09/obama_implores_minister_to_call_off_quran_burning/index.html
Said Obama: "Look, this is a recruitment bonanza for Al Qaida. You could have serious violence in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan." The president also said Jones' plan, if carried out, could serve as an incentive for terrorist-minded individuals "to blow themselves up" to kill others.
"I hope he listens to those better angels and understands that this is a destructive act that he's engaging in," the president said of Jones.
(skipped paragraphs)
Also, Army Gen. David Petraeus, the ground commander in Afghanistan, has said the act of burning the Quran could endanger troops fighting there.
On Wedneday, the State Department has ordered U.S. embassies around the world to assess their security ahead of the planned weekend demonstration in Florida.
Officials said U.S. diplomatic posts have been instructed to convene "emergency action committees" to determine the potential for protests over the congregation's plans to burn the Quran to commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The posts are to warn American citizens in countries where protests may occur.
---
As I mentioned earlier in the posts about the "Ground Zero mosque", that anti-Muslim biogtry in the USA & Europe MAKES IT A WHOLE LOT EASIER for Islamic Fascists to promote anti-American hatred and anti-American terrorism!
The Koran burners and the anti-mosque fanatics may think they're so "heroic" and love to have the image of "hey, look at us everyone, we're politically incorrect" but they just end up looking ridiculous! It shows them to be uneducated, close-minded people who only think in terms of stereotypes. In other words, they're just the Judeo-Christian version of the Islamic Fascists!
Not only do the Koran burners and anti-mosque fanatics alienate reasonable people, and they also make people of Islamic cultures defensive! It gives those of Islamic cultures feel "under siege"! That makes it easier for the Islamic Fascists to recruit young, naive, gullible, insecure minds to join their cause!
Meanwhile, the Islamic Fascists are blaming Obama for the "Burn a Koran Day"! Or they're angry at Obama for not using law enforcement to stop the "Burn a Koran Day"
In many Muslim countries, percieved insults to Islam are punished by law.
But in the USA and many democratic countries, there is Freedom of Speech. You can offend whoever you want!
Let's remember, even though the USA is a Christian-majority country, people have gotten away with insulting Christianity! People have put the cross in a jar of urine, painted a picture of the Virgin Mary with elephant feces, TV shows and movies mock Christians as "narrow-minded followers", Ted Turner referred to Christians as "Jesus Freaks" and underground rockers also insult Christianity in their songs!
So those Muslims who expect Obama or any other North American or European politician to ban "insults to Muslims" are fighting the wrong battle! North Americans and Europeans cherish the "right to offend" and even the dominant Christian religion isn't safe from insults!
So the Koran burners and anti-mosque fanatics can speak all they want!
And the best weapon against Bad Speech is Good Speech! No laws, No bans, just Debates, Debates and more Debates!
While there's a whole new generation of kids who were either too young to remember 9/11/2001 or born after 9/11/2001, it is still painful for millions here in the USA, and worldwide.
Even 9 years later, there are new controversies involving the 9/11 attacks!
I already went over the so-called "Ground Zero mosque" in my previous blog posts
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html#3796073365359224117
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html#9063910843393117198
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2010_08_01_archive.html#5830602967227993055
---------
Another new controversy has come up!
A fringe Christian minister in Gainesville, Florida named Terry Jones proposed a "Burn a Koran" day tommorrow, on the 9th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/10/AR2010091007428.html?hpid=topnews
Obviously, this has caused international outrage, with protests worldwide.
President Obama has pleaded with Pastor Jones to not go forward with this.
http://www.salon.com/news/2010/09/09/obama_implores_minister_to_call_off_quran_burning/index.html
Said Obama: "Look, this is a recruitment bonanza for Al Qaida. You could have serious violence in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan." The president also said Jones' plan, if carried out, could serve as an incentive for terrorist-minded individuals "to blow themselves up" to kill others.
"I hope he listens to those better angels and understands that this is a destructive act that he's engaging in," the president said of Jones.
(skipped paragraphs)
Also, Army Gen. David Petraeus, the ground commander in Afghanistan, has said the act of burning the Quran could endanger troops fighting there.
On Wedneday, the State Department has ordered U.S. embassies around the world to assess their security ahead of the planned weekend demonstration in Florida.
Officials said U.S. diplomatic posts have been instructed to convene "emergency action committees" to determine the potential for protests over the congregation's plans to burn the Quran to commemorate the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The posts are to warn American citizens in countries where protests may occur.
---
As I mentioned earlier in the posts about the "Ground Zero mosque", that anti-Muslim biogtry in the USA & Europe MAKES IT A WHOLE LOT EASIER for Islamic Fascists to promote anti-American hatred and anti-American terrorism!
The Koran burners and the anti-mosque fanatics may think they're so "heroic" and love to have the image of "hey, look at us everyone, we're politically incorrect" but they just end up looking ridiculous! It shows them to be uneducated, close-minded people who only think in terms of stereotypes. In other words, they're just the Judeo-Christian version of the Islamic Fascists!
Not only do the Koran burners and anti-mosque fanatics alienate reasonable people, and they also make people of Islamic cultures defensive! It gives those of Islamic cultures feel "under siege"! That makes it easier for the Islamic Fascists to recruit young, naive, gullible, insecure minds to join their cause!
Meanwhile, the Islamic Fascists are blaming Obama for the "Burn a Koran Day"! Or they're angry at Obama for not using law enforcement to stop the "Burn a Koran Day"
In many Muslim countries, percieved insults to Islam are punished by law.
But in the USA and many democratic countries, there is Freedom of Speech. You can offend whoever you want!
Let's remember, even though the USA is a Christian-majority country, people have gotten away with insulting Christianity! People have put the cross in a jar of urine, painted a picture of the Virgin Mary with elephant feces, TV shows and movies mock Christians as "narrow-minded followers", Ted Turner referred to Christians as "Jesus Freaks" and underground rockers also insult Christianity in their songs!
So those Muslims who expect Obama or any other North American or European politician to ban "insults to Muslims" are fighting the wrong battle! North Americans and Europeans cherish the "right to offend" and even the dominant Christian religion isn't safe from insults!
So the Koran burners and anti-mosque fanatics can speak all they want!
And the best weapon against Bad Speech is Good Speech! No laws, No bans, just Debates, Debates and more Debates!
Wednesday, September 01, 2010
UH sports and conference changes
The college football season starts tommorrow with Hawaii playing Southern California at Aloha Stadium!
But the off-season had plenty of action too!
1) The Big 10 and the Pac-10 wanted to expand!
The Big 10, whose territory stretches from Pennsylvania to Iowa, considered expanding East (adding teams from the Northeast) or West (adding teams from the Great Plains). The Big 10 (which already had 11, NOT 10 teams) just decided to have a 12th team in Nebraska!
The Pac-10, which is short for Pacific 10, not only had teams from California, Oregon and Washington (all of which touch the Pacific Ocean) but also from Arizona (which doesn't even touch an ocean at all). The Pac-10 decided to add more teams from landlocked states, adding Colorado and Utah! They even considered going even further away from the Pacific Ocean, offering invites to teams from Texas & Oklahoma. They declined!
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) currently has Hawaii, Fresno State, San Jose State, Nevada, Idaho, Boise State, Utah State, New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech!
Boise State decided to leave the WAC for the Mountain West after this upcoming sports season! Then Fresno State and Nevada plan to follow!
So, the schools with the top football programs are leaving the WAC.
That leaves Hawaii alone with schools with weaker reputations!
So now what?
2) Some say Hawaii should lobby to join the Pac-10!
UH fans would LOVE to play the Pac-10 teams every year! The UH teams wouldn't have to travel as far for road trips! The UH would be among the big-time programs.
But the Pac-10 isn't interested! Pac-10 only wants big-time teams! UH hasn't even won enough conference championships! UH loses to Boise State way too many times!
UH fans sometimes emphasize that "Hawaii would be good for the Pac-10 because Hawaii is the gateway to Asia".
Yes, UH has marketed to Japan! Yes, Hawaii got Asian cultural connections! But guess what? So do the schools in the Pac-10! Let's not forget the West Coast also got large Asian populations.
The Bay Area got way more Chinese people than Hawaii does! So Cal and Stanford could easily outmarket UH in China!
LA got way more Korean people than Hawaii does! So USC and UCLA could easily outmarket UH in Korea!
Hawaii's Asian population is mostly Japanese and Filipino, so that is where UH could concentrate its Asian marketing on!
3) Some say UH should leave the WAC and just be "independent", no conferences!
Don't these people even remember 2007?
That year, UH had hard time filling its football schedule!
Then UH Athletic Director Herman Frazier got a lot of criticism over that!
But some things were out of his control!
UH was scheduled to play Michigan State that year. But Michigan State canceled that game, and bribed UH with $250,000 into accepting that game's cancellation!
Frazier attempted to schedule the season's opening game at the other big university in the state of Michigan. That's right, Frazier attempted to schedule UH to play the University of Michigan at its huge stadium at Anne Arbor. Michigan refused to play UH, and decided to play an even lesser-known school Appalachian State. Ironically, Appalachian State pulled a historic upset at that game!
Because of those scheduling difficulties, Frazier had to schedule small-time teams from Northern Colorado and Charleston Southern!
Frazier already had 8 games guaranteed, due to WAC affiliation. He just had to fill in 4-5 more games! Even that was difficult!
If Frazier had difficulty getting 4 more teams to play UH, what makes you think UH would have an easy time scheduling all 12 or 13 games by itself as an independent school?
Many college teams don't want to travel all the way to Hawaii! Too far, too expensive, too time-consuming!
And if the team wants to play in this so-called"national championship" bowl game, they'll usually need to be undefeated! Do you think those teams would want to travel all the way to Hawaii, where they might lose? No, because if they lose, they'll lose the prestige of being invited in this so-called "national championship" bowl game!
Remember that, next time a Boise State, TCU, Hawaii, etc has an undefeated season, and you hear critics whining "who did they beat?" Hello, big name teams refuse to play them! Big name teams play non-conference teams ONLY if they're mega-junk teams! That's why you usually see big name teams schedule home games against San Jose State or New Mexico State, instead of Boise State or Texas Christian!
UH needs to be in a conference! If it means stay in the WAC, then stay in the WAC!
That also means UH would have less excuse for not winning more conference championships more often! Win those conference championships plenty of times, beat some major non-conference games, THEN Hawaii could get invited to a major conference!
Go Warriors!
But the off-season had plenty of action too!
1) The Big 10 and the Pac-10 wanted to expand!
The Big 10, whose territory stretches from Pennsylvania to Iowa, considered expanding East (adding teams from the Northeast) or West (adding teams from the Great Plains). The Big 10 (which already had 11, NOT 10 teams) just decided to have a 12th team in Nebraska!
The Pac-10, which is short for Pacific 10, not only had teams from California, Oregon and Washington (all of which touch the Pacific Ocean) but also from Arizona (which doesn't even touch an ocean at all). The Pac-10 decided to add more teams from landlocked states, adding Colorado and Utah! They even considered going even further away from the Pacific Ocean, offering invites to teams from Texas & Oklahoma. They declined!
The Western Athletic Conference (WAC) currently has Hawaii, Fresno State, San Jose State, Nevada, Idaho, Boise State, Utah State, New Mexico State and Louisiana Tech!
Boise State decided to leave the WAC for the Mountain West after this upcoming sports season! Then Fresno State and Nevada plan to follow!
So, the schools with the top football programs are leaving the WAC.
That leaves Hawaii alone with schools with weaker reputations!
So now what?
2) Some say Hawaii should lobby to join the Pac-10!
UH fans would LOVE to play the Pac-10 teams every year! The UH teams wouldn't have to travel as far for road trips! The UH would be among the big-time programs.
But the Pac-10 isn't interested! Pac-10 only wants big-time teams! UH hasn't even won enough conference championships! UH loses to Boise State way too many times!
UH fans sometimes emphasize that "Hawaii would be good for the Pac-10 because Hawaii is the gateway to Asia".
Yes, UH has marketed to Japan! Yes, Hawaii got Asian cultural connections! But guess what? So do the schools in the Pac-10! Let's not forget the West Coast also got large Asian populations.
The Bay Area got way more Chinese people than Hawaii does! So Cal and Stanford could easily outmarket UH in China!
LA got way more Korean people than Hawaii does! So USC and UCLA could easily outmarket UH in Korea!
Hawaii's Asian population is mostly Japanese and Filipino, so that is where UH could concentrate its Asian marketing on!
3) Some say UH should leave the WAC and just be "independent", no conferences!
Don't these people even remember 2007?
That year, UH had hard time filling its football schedule!
Then UH Athletic Director Herman Frazier got a lot of criticism over that!
But some things were out of his control!
UH was scheduled to play Michigan State that year. But Michigan State canceled that game, and bribed UH with $250,000 into accepting that game's cancellation!
Frazier attempted to schedule the season's opening game at the other big university in the state of Michigan. That's right, Frazier attempted to schedule UH to play the University of Michigan at its huge stadium at Anne Arbor. Michigan refused to play UH, and decided to play an even lesser-known school Appalachian State. Ironically, Appalachian State pulled a historic upset at that game!
Because of those scheduling difficulties, Frazier had to schedule small-time teams from Northern Colorado and Charleston Southern!
Frazier already had 8 games guaranteed, due to WAC affiliation. He just had to fill in 4-5 more games! Even that was difficult!
If Frazier had difficulty getting 4 more teams to play UH, what makes you think UH would have an easy time scheduling all 12 or 13 games by itself as an independent school?
Many college teams don't want to travel all the way to Hawaii! Too far, too expensive, too time-consuming!
And if the team wants to play in this so-called"national championship" bowl game, they'll usually need to be undefeated! Do you think those teams would want to travel all the way to Hawaii, where they might lose? No, because if they lose, they'll lose the prestige of being invited in this so-called "national championship" bowl game!
Remember that, next time a Boise State, TCU, Hawaii, etc has an undefeated season, and you hear critics whining "who did they beat?" Hello, big name teams refuse to play them! Big name teams play non-conference teams ONLY if they're mega-junk teams! That's why you usually see big name teams schedule home games against San Jose State or New Mexico State, instead of Boise State or Texas Christian!
UH needs to be in a conference! If it means stay in the WAC, then stay in the WAC!
That also means UH would have less excuse for not winning more conference championships more often! Win those conference championships plenty of times, beat some major non-conference games, THEN Hawaii could get invited to a major conference!
Go Warriors!
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
More on how anti-mosque fanatics hurt the US war on terror!
In my previous blog post, I mentioned multiple ways the anti-mosque protesters are hurting the US War on Terror, by giving out the image of "US is anti-Islam". The idea of "the US is anti-Islam" is what the Islamic Fascists tell people in Muslim countries, riling them up to with anti-US hatred!
Then when US conservative correctness activists like Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and Glenn Beck protest against the mosque, that gives the Islamic Fanatics the opportunity to say "see I told you that the US is anti-Islam", which makes Al Quaida recruitment a lot of easier.
New York Times editorial writer Frank Rich wrote a great editorial titled "How Fox Betrayed Petraeus"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/opinion/22rich.html?_r=1
Anti-mosque fanatics, read that paragraph again! And again!
Your idiotic campaign is insulting the allies we need to win in Afghanistan! It is insulting the allies we rely on in Pakistan! In war, you need allies! In the war on Terror, you need allies who are Muslim. We rely on the anti-Taliban Afghans to win in Afghanistan! We rely on Muslims in Pakistan to fight against the Islamic Fascists! We rely on moderate Muslims to keep the peace in Iraq! You alienate them, you'll make them vulnerable to the Islamic Fascists!
More from Frank Rich
Read that paragraph again, anti-mosque fanatics! Bush understood we needed Muslim allies! He understood that we had to rely on the Northern Alliance to fight off the Taliban! He understood that we needed to rely on Harmid Karzai to keep Kabul to falling under the Taliban rule again! He understood that we needed to rely on the Pakistani government to fight against the Taliban! He understood that we needed Muslim allies in order to make the 2007 US troop surge in Iraq work! He understood that the US needed an image of "we respect Muslims too", so that the Islamic Fascists would have less gullible people to brainwash into thinking "US is anti-Islam"
For all the criticisms of George W Bush in the previous decade, people are now starting to realize what good he was attempting to for tolerance! He discouraged anti-Muslim hate crimes, and discouraged anti-immigrant bashing! He attempted to get the Republican message marketed to non-whites as well! Too many left-wingers ignored that about Bush!
But now that Sarah Palin, Jan Brewer, Glenn Beck, et al are now the leading spokesman of the Republicans, now the left-wingers have belatedly realized that George W Bush wasn't the evil guy they portrayed him to be, because now they understood that there are people who are WORSE than Bush could ever be!
I don't agree with Bush on abortion, gay marriage, the war on drugs, nor did I like the fact that he hired inexperienced people to run FEMA! But I will always respect the fact Bush was trying to get the Republicans to be more pro-immigrant, more pro-Muslim, to do more outreach to non-white communities! I was really hoping that the other Republicans will follow his lead on those issues!
Unfortunately, a civil-war among the conservative movement has erupted, with the craziest voices (ie Jan Brewer, Tom Tancredo) and the pander bears (ie. so-called mama grizzly Sarah Palin) has made the Republican Party radio-active to many non-whites and libertarians!
So far, Bobby Jindal hasn't publicly objected to the mosque, possibly because he understands how toxic such sentiment is! Jindal is an articulate, well-educated, fiscal and cultural Christian conservative, and he is of Indian ancestry! He is the most likely to get the Republicans in the right path when it comes to tolerance of minorites - racial, cultural, religious, etc. He was the voice of competence during the oil spill!
The Republicans need to someone like Bobby Jindal run for President in 2012, instead of hateful lunatics like Tom Tancredo nor pander bears like Sarah Palin! Otherwise, that party will continue to be seen as radioactive to minorities, libertarians and moderate voters, giving Barack Obama an easy victory in 2012.
Then when US conservative correctness activists like Sarah Palin, Newt Gingrich and Glenn Beck protest against the mosque, that gives the Islamic Fanatics the opportunity to say "see I told you that the US is anti-Islam", which makes Al Quaida recruitment a lot of easier.
New York Times editorial writer Frank Rich wrote a great editorial titled "How Fox Betrayed Petraeus"
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/opinion/22rich.html?_r=1
So virulent is the Islamophobic hysteria of the neocon and Fox News right — abetted by the useful idiocy of the Anti-Defamation League, Harry Reid and other cowed Democrats — that it has also rendered Gen. David Petraeus’s last-ditch counterinsurgency strategy for fighting the war inoperative. How do you win Muslim hearts and minds in Kandahar when you are calling Muslims every filthy name in the book in New York?
Anti-mosque fanatics, read that paragraph again! And again!
Your idiotic campaign is insulting the allies we need to win in Afghanistan! It is insulting the allies we rely on in Pakistan! In war, you need allies! In the war on Terror, you need allies who are Muslim. We rely on the anti-Taliban Afghans to win in Afghanistan! We rely on Muslims in Pakistan to fight against the Islamic Fascists! We rely on moderate Muslims to keep the peace in Iraq! You alienate them, you'll make them vulnerable to the Islamic Fascists!
More from Frank Rich
After 9/11, President Bush praised Islam as a religion of peace and asked for tolerance for Muslims not necessarily because he was a humanitarian or knew much about Islam but because national security demanded it. An America at war with Islam plays right into Al Qaeda’s recruitment spiel. This month’s incessant and indiscriminate orgy of Muslim-bashing is a national security disaster for that reason — Osama bin Laden’s “next video script has just written itself,” as the former F.B.I. terrorist interrogator Ali Soufan put it — but not just for that reason
Read that paragraph again, anti-mosque fanatics! Bush understood we needed Muslim allies! He understood that we had to rely on the Northern Alliance to fight off the Taliban! He understood that we needed to rely on Harmid Karzai to keep Kabul to falling under the Taliban rule again! He understood that we needed to rely on the Pakistani government to fight against the Taliban! He understood that we needed Muslim allies in order to make the 2007 US troop surge in Iraq work! He understood that the US needed an image of "we respect Muslims too", so that the Islamic Fascists would have less gullible people to brainwash into thinking "US is anti-Islam"
For all the criticisms of George W Bush in the previous decade, people are now starting to realize what good he was attempting to for tolerance! He discouraged anti-Muslim hate crimes, and discouraged anti-immigrant bashing! He attempted to get the Republican message marketed to non-whites as well! Too many left-wingers ignored that about Bush!
But now that Sarah Palin, Jan Brewer, Glenn Beck, et al are now the leading spokesman of the Republicans, now the left-wingers have belatedly realized that George W Bush wasn't the evil guy they portrayed him to be, because now they understood that there are people who are WORSE than Bush could ever be!
I don't agree with Bush on abortion, gay marriage, the war on drugs, nor did I like the fact that he hired inexperienced people to run FEMA! But I will always respect the fact Bush was trying to get the Republicans to be more pro-immigrant, more pro-Muslim, to do more outreach to non-white communities! I was really hoping that the other Republicans will follow his lead on those issues!
Unfortunately, a civil-war among the conservative movement has erupted, with the craziest voices (ie Jan Brewer, Tom Tancredo) and the pander bears (ie. so-called mama grizzly Sarah Palin) has made the Republican Party radio-active to many non-whites and libertarians!
So far, Bobby Jindal hasn't publicly objected to the mosque, possibly because he understands how toxic such sentiment is! Jindal is an articulate, well-educated, fiscal and cultural Christian conservative, and he is of Indian ancestry! He is the most likely to get the Republicans in the right path when it comes to tolerance of minorites - racial, cultural, religious, etc. He was the voice of competence during the oil spill!
The Republicans need to someone like Bobby Jindal run for President in 2012, instead of hateful lunatics like Tom Tancredo nor pander bears like Sarah Palin! Otherwise, that party will continue to be seen as radioactive to minorities, libertarians and moderate voters, giving Barack Obama an easy victory in 2012.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Follow up on the Ground Zero mosque controversy
Yesterday, I completed my blog post on the Ground Zero mosque controversy. I started the post on August 14, but didn't finish it until August 17. But because I started it on August 14, Blogger will have "Saturday, August 14, 2010" stated above that blog post!
Another great point that I forgot to mention was that this anti-mosque hysteria HELPS Al Quaida!
Osama bin Laden loves to rile up people in the Muslim world by stating that "Europeans and Americans hate Muslims", "the US and Israel is at war with Islam", blah, blah, blah!
So who's helping Osama bin Laden with that propaganda? ANSWER : Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and all the other fanatics who scream about a mosque being built near Ground Zero! Because of Gingrich, Palin, Beck, etc. this gives an opportunity for Al Quaida to tell Muslims "See, I told you Americans hate Muslims". That will then energize the hate some young Muslims feel toward the US!
So it is Palin, Gingrich, Beck et al that is endangering national security!
From
http://www.salon.com/news/ground_zero_mosque/index.html?story=/opinion/feature/2010/08/18/gop_islam_war
This following link was from an article by Naomi Klein written in 2005, after the London subway bombing in 2005! It fits my earlier points!
http://www.thenation.com/article/terrors-greatest-recruitment-tool
Read that again, anti-mosque fanatics! Your rantings is a great recruitment tool of Al Quaida.
You want to know why? Your kids hear your rants, that will indirectly encourage them bully classmates who are of Arab, Pakistani, North African, Somali ...etc .... ancestry! Guess how'll their victims feel. Feeling like they can't take this bullying anymore, Just like those Columbine killers!
Whereas if you teach your kids to respect different cultures, they'll likely to make their classmates who are of Arab, Pakistani, North African, Somali ......etc... ancestry feel welcome. They'll likely play a pick-up basketball game, ride their bikes or boards, play music, etc. Now would those Muslim kids who felt invited by their non-Muslim peers feel inclined to join Al Quaida? Hell no, they're more likely to tell Al Quaida to "(beep) off! You don't represent us! Those Christians, Jews, Buddhists, atheists, etc are my homies, now go to hell Al Quaida!
Another great point that I forgot to mention was that this anti-mosque hysteria HELPS Al Quaida!
Osama bin Laden loves to rile up people in the Muslim world by stating that "Europeans and Americans hate Muslims", "the US and Israel is at war with Islam", blah, blah, blah!
So who's helping Osama bin Laden with that propaganda? ANSWER : Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and all the other fanatics who scream about a mosque being built near Ground Zero! Because of Gingrich, Palin, Beck, etc. this gives an opportunity for Al Quaida to tell Muslims "See, I told you Americans hate Muslims". That will then energize the hate some young Muslims feel toward the US!
So it is Palin, Gingrich, Beck et al that is endangering national security!
From
http://www.salon.com/news/ground_zero_mosque/index.html?story=/opinion/feature/2010/08/18/gop_islam_war
Regardless, now that the issue’s joined, President Obama’s stuck with it. Insulting our Muslim allies and giving Osama bin Laden a huge propaganda victory by making the struggle against terrorism appear to be a war against Islam -- exactly as he claims -- would be a strategic disaster.
Recognizing that very danger, Joe Conason points out, was always one of President George W. Bush’s virtues. Generally speaking, silence has become him since January 2009. But his party has now gone badly astray, and he owes it to the country to say so.
This following link was from an article by Naomi Klein written in 2005, after the London subway bombing in 2005! It fits my earlier points!
http://www.thenation.com/article/terrors-greatest-recruitment-tool
This last statistic shows that the brand of multiculturalism practiced in Britain (and France, Germany, Canada...) has little to do with genuine equality. It is instead a Faustian bargain, struck between vote-seeking politicians and self-appointed community leaders, one that keeps ethnic minorities tucked away in state-funded peripheral ghettos while the centers of public life remain largely unaffected by the seismic shifts in the national ethnic makeup. Nothing exposes the shallowness of this alleged tolerance more than the speed with which Muslim communities are now being told to "get out" (to quote Tory MP Gerald Howarth) in the name of core national values.
The real problem is not too much multiculturalism but too little. If the diversity now ghettoized on the margins of Western societies--geographically and psychologically--were truly allowed to migrate to the centers, it might infuse public life in the West with a powerful new humanism. If we had deeply multi-ethnic societies, rather than shallow multicultural ones, it would be much more difficult for politicians to sign deportation orders sending Algerian asylum-seekers to torture, or to wage wars in which only the invaders' dead are counted. A society that truly lived its values of equality and human rights, at home and abroad, would have another benefit too. It would rob terrorists of what has always been their greatest recruitment tool: our racism.
Read that again, anti-mosque fanatics! Your rantings is a great recruitment tool of Al Quaida.
You want to know why? Your kids hear your rants, that will indirectly encourage them bully classmates who are of Arab, Pakistani, North African, Somali ...etc .... ancestry! Guess how'll their victims feel. Feeling like they can't take this bullying anymore, Just like those Columbine killers!
Whereas if you teach your kids to respect different cultures, they'll likely to make their classmates who are of Arab, Pakistani, North African, Somali ......etc... ancestry feel welcome. They'll likely play a pick-up basketball game, ride their bikes or boards, play music, etc. Now would those Muslim kids who felt invited by their non-Muslim peers feel inclined to join Al Quaida? Hell no, they're more likely to tell Al Quaida to "(beep) off! You don't represent us! Those Christians, Jews, Buddhists, atheists, etc are my homies, now go to hell Al Quaida!
Saturday, August 14, 2010
The mosque near Ground Zero
Sometimes, I'm amazed at the level of ignorance out there.
There is one woman who was on my facebook list, only because she was a "friend of a friend". Her status updates usually tend to be about nightlife, fashion, entertainment, etc. All of a sudden, she wanted to start commenting on more political things. But she forgot one thing -- getting all your facts straight before making public comments. Getting a minor detail wrong is one thing! Getting multiple major facts wrong in one paragraph shows you're not ready for prime time!
Here was that woman's status update!
----
So many errors in 1 paragraph
#1 - Obama is NOT building that mosque! No government is building that mosque! That mosque's construction is built with PRIVATE money!
And the mosque is NOT "built near where the twin towers lay", it's built near 2 blocks away!
On a block where a mosque already exists! They're just remodeling that block into a (omg ....no) a community center that happens to have a mosque within it!
#2- "Muslims from Iraq" did NOT bomb us! There were absolutely ZERO Iraqis involved in 9/11. ZERO! The 9/11 attackers were mostly Saudis, with a few from Egypt and United Arab Emirates involved as well!
Ironic, since that woman, like me, is from Hawaii, where we laugh at anyone who gets the Asian groups confused. You wanna call Bruce Lee "Japanese"? People here will laugh at you! You want to say "Chinese bombed Pearl Harbor"? Everyone here will be quick to remind that it was the Japanese, NOT the Chinese who bombed Pearl Harbor!
It's ironic that here in Hawaii, we like to lecture mainlanders on diversity, and laugh at those who get Asian groups confused, yet many of the SAME EXACT PEOPLE are totally clueless about other places in the world! So, we got this woman of Japanese ancestry who claimed Iraqis "attacked us on 9/11" when it was guys from OTHER Middle Eastern countries who were involved!
We got radio DJs at 102.7 who said rapper/singer MIA is a "red dot Indian" (already an insulting term), when MIA is NOT from India, she's from Sri Lanka!
And I remember hearing someone telling me about a group presentation about Puerto Rico that mentioned tacos & burritos (MEXICAN food, NOT Puerto Rican food!)
The US war on Iraq was never about 9/11. The whole thing started with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Under then US President George Bush Sr., the US forces help kick out the Iraqi troops out of Kuwait. Afterwards, there was concern that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein wanted to retaliate against the US. Bill Clinton decided to just keep an eye on the situation, but not to invade unless Hussein launches attacks on the US. After 9/11 (which Iraqis weren't involved) George W Bush thought that Saddam Hussein still wanted to retaliate against the US and wasn't going to wait until Hussein launch any attacks on the US. Therefore, we launched a pre-emptive strike (meaning "strike them before they strike us") on Iraq. It was NOT about 9/11!
Whereas the 9/11 attackers were from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, none of their governments were involved. The ones who planned the attacks (Osama bin Laden and his organization Al Quaida) were based in Afghanistan, so that's why the US is fighting there!
#3 - a mosque near where the World Trade Center used to be is NOT an insult to the victims!
This is all based on the stereotypes of "hey, if some Muslims were involved, that means all Muslims want to do the same to us". If you think that way, you really need to enter the real world!
This "insult to the victims" stuff is so stupid for so many reasons.
---
Yeah, some Muslims killed Americans on 9/11. But they weren't the ones who were conquering and slaughtering the Native Americans! It was the European Christians who were doing that!
So what, are Christian churches in the Americas an "insult" to Native Americans killed by European Christian conquerors? Or is mass murder only bad if committed by Muslims?
Yes, Christians and Muslims were using violence to intimidate and conquer non-believers throughout history! But also throughout history, most Christians and Muslims weren't interested in conquering others. They're more interested in keeping their friends and family in line with their religious beliefs!
----
A mosque near Ground Zero is an "insult to the victims"? HELLO, some of the victims are Muslims!
New York City is a city that attracts immigrants from every corner of the world! Many of those immigrants come from places like the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, all areas with large Muslim populations!
Many of those Muslim immigrants work in various careers in New York, including but not limited to finance, food service, taxi service, custodial work, and medicine! Many were in the area when the planes hit the World Trade Center and many of them were killed in the attacks. Also, some of the resuce personell, and hospital workers helping the survivors were also Muslim.
IF you are an adult, and if you didn't know that, you are extremely ignorant! You obviously know nothing about the kind of city New York is! You obviously know nothing about the lives of Muslim immigrants. You obviously limit your information from news soundbites and you are one of those who don't even try to learn about different cultures around the world!
-------
A mosque near Ground Zero is an "insult to the victims"?
So what if they put a mosque in the Pentagon? The Pentagon was also attacked in 9/11!
Guess what, the Pentagon has its own min-mosque inside! It's been there for years already!
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/08/05/muslims_infiltrate_pentagon/index.html
And let's not forget, there's many Muslims in the US military putting their lives on the line to fight Al Quaida! Our CIA would NEVER be as good as it in gathering intelligence in the Middle East if it wasn't for the Muslims who work for them!
If you are an adult who didn't know that, you are supremely ignorant!
-------
A mosque near Ground Zero an "insult to the victims"? HELLO, not every survivor nor relative of those killed on 9/11 agrees with the anti-mosque fanatics!
http://www.thenation.com/article/154008/ground-zero-free-speech
----
Newt Gingrich said we shouldn't have a mosque near Ground Zero, because some Muslim-majority countries ban Christian churches and Jewish synagouges!
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/07/24/this_week_crazy_newt_gingrich/index.html
This is the idiocy of many in the conservative correctness crowd. They scream about "freedom" and "don't tread on me" at tea-party rallies, but many of those same people want to restrict the freedom of others because "other countries do it too!" This "Monkey-See, Monkey-Do" mentality is what our Founding Fathers warned about! The USA is supposed to be about freedom for all, regardless of what idiocies go on in other countries! Mature adults aren't supposed to go down to the level of immature kids, and the USA shouldn't go down to the standards of dictator-run nations!
It's also ironic that many right-wing conservatives claim to be for "private property rights".
Well, this mosque is on private property!
Don't like it? Just ignore it! No one's going to force you inside!
-----
The anti-mosque fanatics also love to point out opinion polls showing "the majority agrees with us".
WHO CARES?
Plus, it's more important to be on the right side of history, to be judged well by future historians than it is to give in to the opinion polls of today.
A lot of segregationist politicians of the 1950s & 1960s claimed to be for the "majority opinion". That includes George Wallace, Strom Thurmond, Robert Byrd, Jerry Falwell and Jesse Helms. But when "majority opinion" changed, all of a sudden, they all claimed to be integrationists!
That shows you what phonies they are!
As decades go by, the Ground Zero mosque is already built and in use, majorities of the future would wonder what the fuss was all about! They'll be laughing at the fear-mongerers of today, wondering why they fell for such negative stereotypes of Muslims. Future generations will have grown up with peers of Arab, Turk, Iranian, Pakistani, North African and Indonesian ancestry who act like the average suburban Anglo-Americans. They'll understand that many Muslims are not "jihad screamers", and definitely not "jihad bombers".
The politicians of today who gave in to the "anti-mosque fanatics" who are still alive 2 decades from now will act as if they supported the mosque all along! YouTube will expose them as the pandering phonies that they are!
-------
Now for some smarter quotes from my facebook list!
Then that same person added!
Amen to that! Some conservative correctness bozos said "what if they put a Shinto shrine near Pearl Harbor?" IF that happened, ALMOST NOBODY in Hawaii would complain! Hawaii got so many Japanese, and most of us had Japanese teachers and Japanese co-workers, and we know most Japanese-Americans don't agree with the Pearl Harbor bombers. The only complainers will be the bigoted doofuses from the continental US, plus Midweek's ultra-conservative writer Jerry Coffee!
2)This one from Grant Crowell
That commenter also gave us a link to the following article
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/36962_Hallowed_Ground
And a quote from that link.
Last thing before I end this, here's some links to smart commentary from some New York politicians
From New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/08/03/mayor_bloomberg_on_mosque/index.html
Representative Jerrold Nadler, whose district includes the former World Trade Center
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/08/05/nadler_defends_the_mosque/index.html
There is one woman who was on my facebook list, only because she was a "friend of a friend". Her status updates usually tend to be about nightlife, fashion, entertainment, etc. All of a sudden, she wanted to start commenting on more political things. But she forgot one thing -- getting all your facts straight before making public comments. Getting a minor detail wrong is one thing! Getting multiple major facts wrong in one paragraph shows you're not ready for prime time!
Here was that woman's status update!
Ok.. does anyone else think that its crazy that OBAMA is building a MOSQUE where the twin towers lay... Like the muslims from Iraq bombed us cause of the way we live here and killed thousands and no he wants to build a mosque where they died? Like thats like a slap in the face to america if you ask me... IM interested ...to see who supports this cause that is retarded! It should be turned into a memorial if anything
----
So many errors in 1 paragraph
#1 - Obama is NOT building that mosque! No government is building that mosque! That mosque's construction is built with PRIVATE money!
And the mosque is NOT "built near where the twin towers lay", it's built near 2 blocks away!
On a block where a mosque already exists! They're just remodeling that block into a (omg ....no) a community center that happens to have a mosque within it!
#2- "Muslims from Iraq" did NOT bomb us! There were absolutely ZERO Iraqis involved in 9/11. ZERO! The 9/11 attackers were mostly Saudis, with a few from Egypt and United Arab Emirates involved as well!
Ironic, since that woman, like me, is from Hawaii, where we laugh at anyone who gets the Asian groups confused. You wanna call Bruce Lee "Japanese"? People here will laugh at you! You want to say "Chinese bombed Pearl Harbor"? Everyone here will be quick to remind that it was the Japanese, NOT the Chinese who bombed Pearl Harbor!
It's ironic that here in Hawaii, we like to lecture mainlanders on diversity, and laugh at those who get Asian groups confused, yet many of the SAME EXACT PEOPLE are totally clueless about other places in the world! So, we got this woman of Japanese ancestry who claimed Iraqis "attacked us on 9/11" when it was guys from OTHER Middle Eastern countries who were involved!
We got radio DJs at 102.7 who said rapper/singer MIA is a "red dot Indian" (already an insulting term), when MIA is NOT from India, she's from Sri Lanka!
And I remember hearing someone telling me about a group presentation about Puerto Rico that mentioned tacos & burritos (MEXICAN food, NOT Puerto Rican food!)
The US war on Iraq was never about 9/11. The whole thing started with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. Under then US President George Bush Sr., the US forces help kick out the Iraqi troops out of Kuwait. Afterwards, there was concern that Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein wanted to retaliate against the US. Bill Clinton decided to just keep an eye on the situation, but not to invade unless Hussein launches attacks on the US. After 9/11 (which Iraqis weren't involved) George W Bush thought that Saddam Hussein still wanted to retaliate against the US and wasn't going to wait until Hussein launch any attacks on the US. Therefore, we launched a pre-emptive strike (meaning "strike them before they strike us") on Iraq. It was NOT about 9/11!
Whereas the 9/11 attackers were from Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates, none of their governments were involved. The ones who planned the attacks (Osama bin Laden and his organization Al Quaida) were based in Afghanistan, so that's why the US is fighting there!
#3 - a mosque near where the World Trade Center used to be is NOT an insult to the victims!
This is all based on the stereotypes of "hey, if some Muslims were involved, that means all Muslims want to do the same to us". If you think that way, you really need to enter the real world!
This "insult to the victims" stuff is so stupid for so many reasons.
---
Yeah, some Muslims killed Americans on 9/11. But they weren't the ones who were conquering and slaughtering the Native Americans! It was the European Christians who were doing that!
So what, are Christian churches in the Americas an "insult" to Native Americans killed by European Christian conquerors? Or is mass murder only bad if committed by Muslims?
Yes, Christians and Muslims were using violence to intimidate and conquer non-believers throughout history! But also throughout history, most Christians and Muslims weren't interested in conquering others. They're more interested in keeping their friends and family in line with their religious beliefs!
----
A mosque near Ground Zero is an "insult to the victims"? HELLO, some of the victims are Muslims!
New York City is a city that attracts immigrants from every corner of the world! Many of those immigrants come from places like the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, all areas with large Muslim populations!
Many of those Muslim immigrants work in various careers in New York, including but not limited to finance, food service, taxi service, custodial work, and medicine! Many were in the area when the planes hit the World Trade Center and many of them were killed in the attacks. Also, some of the resuce personell, and hospital workers helping the survivors were also Muslim.
IF you are an adult, and if you didn't know that, you are extremely ignorant! You obviously know nothing about the kind of city New York is! You obviously know nothing about the lives of Muslim immigrants. You obviously limit your information from news soundbites and you are one of those who don't even try to learn about different cultures around the world!
-------
A mosque near Ground Zero is an "insult to the victims"?
So what if they put a mosque in the Pentagon? The Pentagon was also attacked in 9/11!
Guess what, the Pentagon has its own min-mosque inside! It's been there for years already!
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/08/05/muslims_infiltrate_pentagon/index.html
Yes, Muslims have infiltrated the Pentagon for their nefarious, prayerful purposes -- daring to practice their religion inside the building where 184 people died on Sept. 11, 2001. They haven't even had the sensitivity to move two blocks, let alone a mile, away from that sacred site.
The
The "desecration" began shockingly soon after the attacks. Cox reported in October 2001:
Army Chaplain Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad, the first Muslim chaplain to serve in the military, read a verse from the Koran at the memorial service at the Pentagon on Thursday, exactly one month after the attack. Muhammad, who became a chaplain eight years ago and works at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, ministered to rescuers in front of the smoldering Pentagon after the attack.
Army Chaplain Abdul-Rasheed Muhammad, the first Muslim chaplain to serve in the military, read a verse from the Koran at the memorial service at the Pentagon on Thursday, exactly one month after the attack. Muhammad, who became a chaplain eight years ago and works at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, ministered to rescuers in front of the smoldering Pentagon after the attack.
And let's not forget, there's many Muslims in the US military putting their lives on the line to fight Al Quaida! Our CIA would NEVER be as good as it in gathering intelligence in the Middle East if it wasn't for the Muslims who work for them!
If you are an adult who didn't know that, you are supremely ignorant!
-------
A mosque near Ground Zero an "insult to the victims"? HELLO, not every survivor nor relative of those killed on 9/11 agrees with the anti-mosque fanatics!
http://www.thenation.com/article/154008/ground-zero-free-speech
Actually, there are 9/11 survivors and families on both sides of the Park51 proposal. Opening the center is "consistent with fundamental American values of freedom and justice for all," said the group September 11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows. And although a Marist poll found that 53 percent of New York City residents oppose the center, 53 percent of Manhattanites support it—let's hear it for the much-mocked Upper West Side.
----
Newt Gingrich said we shouldn't have a mosque near Ground Zero, because some Muslim-majority countries ban Christian churches and Jewish synagouges!
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2010/07/24/this_week_crazy_newt_gingrich/index.html
This is the idiocy of many in the conservative correctness crowd. They scream about "freedom" and "don't tread on me" at tea-party rallies, but many of those same people want to restrict the freedom of others because "other countries do it too!" This "Monkey-See, Monkey-Do" mentality is what our Founding Fathers warned about! The USA is supposed to be about freedom for all, regardless of what idiocies go on in other countries! Mature adults aren't supposed to go down to the level of immature kids, and the USA shouldn't go down to the standards of dictator-run nations!
It's also ironic that many right-wing conservatives claim to be for "private property rights".
Well, this mosque is on private property!
Don't like it? Just ignore it! No one's going to force you inside!
-----
The anti-mosque fanatics also love to point out opinion polls showing "the majority agrees with us".
WHO CARES?
Plus, it's more important to be on the right side of history, to be judged well by future historians than it is to give in to the opinion polls of today.
A lot of segregationist politicians of the 1950s & 1960s claimed to be for the "majority opinion". That includes George Wallace, Strom Thurmond, Robert Byrd, Jerry Falwell and Jesse Helms. But when "majority opinion" changed, all of a sudden, they all claimed to be integrationists!
That shows you what phonies they are!
As decades go by, the Ground Zero mosque is already built and in use, majorities of the future would wonder what the fuss was all about! They'll be laughing at the fear-mongerers of today, wondering why they fell for such negative stereotypes of Muslims. Future generations will have grown up with peers of Arab, Turk, Iranian, Pakistani, North African and Indonesian ancestry who act like the average suburban Anglo-Americans. They'll understand that many Muslims are not "jihad screamers", and definitely not "jihad bombers".
The politicians of today who gave in to the "anti-mosque fanatics" who are still alive 2 decades from now will act as if they supported the mosque all along! YouTube will expose them as the pandering phonies that they are!
-------
Now for some smarter quotes from my facebook list!
1)If Muslims can't have a community center in New York, Marines can't have a base on Oahu, Jews can't have homes in the West Bank, Germans can't live in France, whites can't live in the Southwest United States, black Americans can't go to Liberia and Christians can't go anywhere.
Then that same person added!
There's a million sushi restaurants in the shadow of Pearl Harbor. Actually, come to think of it ... PEARL HARBOR is still in the shadow of Hawaiian land ... filling it with oil ... and jet fuel.
Amen to that! Some conservative correctness bozos said "what if they put a Shinto shrine near Pearl Harbor?" IF that happened, ALMOST NOBODY in Hawaii would complain! Hawaii got so many Japanese, and most of us had Japanese teachers and Japanese co-workers, and we know most Japanese-Americans don't agree with the Pearl Harbor bombers. The only complainers will be the bigoted doofuses from the continental US, plus Midweek's ultra-conservative writer Jerry Coffee!
2)This one from Grant Crowell
Guess what has ALREADY been built within 2 blocks of Ground Zero? A strip club and off-track betting parlor. So much for the already phony "hallowed ground" argument. (I wonder if strippers flew the planes into the world trade center, there would be the same level of anger today?)
That commenter also gave us a link to the following article
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/36962_Hallowed_Ground
And a quote from that link.
--
Look at the photos. This neighborhood is not hallowed. The people who live and work here are not obsessed with 9/11. The blocks around Ground Zero are like every other hard-working neighborhood in New York, where Muslims are just another thread of the city fabric.
Last thing before I end this, here's some links to smart commentary from some New York politicians
From New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/08/03/mayor_bloomberg_on_mosque/index.html
Representative Jerrold Nadler, whose district includes the former World Trade Center
http://www.salon.com/news/politics/war_room/2010/08/05/nadler_defends_the_mosque/index.html
As an elected official who believes strongly in the separation of church and state, I contend that the government has no business deciding whether there should or should not be a Muslim house of worship near Ground Zero. And, as a representative of New Yorkers of all faiths and cultures, I find the singling out of Muslim-Americans -- because of their faith -- for animus and hate to be shameful and divisive. We should instead work toward building tolerance and understanding. For centuries, New Yorkers have exhibited a great capacity to incorporate and benefit from diversity. The Cordoba House, which is the product of moderate Muslims, has the support of the local community board and a wide swath of Lower Manhattan community leaders.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
World Cup 2010
Earlier this summer, the world was entertained by the ultimate soccer tournament - The World Cup!
This year's version took place in South Africa! It was the first World Cup to be held in Africa!
Even though watching soccer isn't usually an everyday thing for me, I LOVE the World Cup! There's also so many storylines surrounding the games, so much drama, a new controversy to discuss! This year's World Cup didn't disappoint!
1) Some doubted whether South Africa could be a good host to the World Cup!
There were delays in construction of many needed facilities!
There was the worldwide economic crisis!
There were concerns about the high crime in South Africa. Would it be safe enough for the fans?
The verdict is now in! The facilities were built in time, and there has been no violent incidents surrounding the games! There weren't many reports of fans getting robbed in the streets, nor were there any riots from the fans!
It was a major public relations victory, not just for South Africa, but for all of Africa in general!
It was a great show for a country that 2 decades ago, was a segregated country in which the descendant of European conquerors once denied basic civil liberties to the native population! It was a great show for a country that overcame its shameful past, and show a happy, united front where all its citizens can celebrate!
It was also great show for the continent of Africa. For too many outside of Africa, Africa is portrayed as a land of war, starvation, corruption, disease and poverty. THERE'S A LOT MORE TO AFRICA THAN THAT! Not every African country is at war, not every African is starving, not every African is poor! There's African entrepreneurs, Africans who can afford the same luxuries the average US citizen has! There's African cities with a great nightlife! There's many styles of African celebrations! While this should be common sense already, too many of the TV portrayals show the negative side of Africa! While people should be aware of the negatives occurring there, it shouldn't be the only thing people know about Africa!
This was why the World Cup 2010 was great for Africa's reputation! People from outside of Africa got to the see the African styles of celebrations, some of their great cities, and just seeing them have a good time! They see that Africa that isn't always at war, Africa that doesn't only have starving children begging for another day.
Now that the world has seen the success of the World Cup 2010, I really believe that there should be a future Summer Olympics in South Africa. 2012 is already booked for London! 2016 is already booked for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! That would be a 1st for South America! Hopefully, South Africa could get one for 2020!
2) The USA team
While the USA made every World Cup since 1990, its record there isn't very consistent. The USA did very well in 1994 and 2002. However, 1998 and 2006 showed a very embarrassing USA performance!
While many of the top USA athletes tend to play basketball, baseball, and American-style tackle football, its soccer stars has had an increased presence on the world stage. Some of the top USA players play in the top European professional leagues!
So could the rising power of USA soccer make an impact this year?
The 1st game was against England. This was to be a major test for the USA!
The game was invented in England, and England has one of the top professional soccer leagues in the world!
While England is officially part of the United Kingdom (with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), it does have its own soccer team. It is what one writer, Gary Younge call a "90 minute nation", meaning for the length of the game, England is its own separate nation!
Read more at http://www.thenation.com/article/36871/what-soccer-says-about-us
The game turned out to be the story of 2 goalies. The USA goalie, Tim Howard was able to prevent England from scoring many times. The England's goalie, Robert Green, was trying to stop one USA goal, but he couldn't hold a strong grip to the ball, which went straight into the net!
Unfortunately for him, for all his past success, it would all be overshadowed by that one play!
But it could've been a lot worse! In 1994, Colombia's Andres Escobar accidentally kicked the ball the wrong way, and that ball ended up scoring a point for the USA! When Escobar returned to Colombia, he was murdered!
The USA-England game ended a 1-1 tie! Great for the USA, a scandal for England!
USA's 2nd game was against Slovenia. Slovenia was basically humiliating the USA in the 1st half, scoring 2-0. USA came back from behind to score its 2 goals to tie the game! USA's kicked another ball into the goal that could've won the game for the USA! But the referee disqualified that goal in one of the most controversial calls of the World Cup 2010. But since that goal was disqualified, the score was a 2-2 tie!
Then USA played Algeria! USA already had 2 ties! While ties are better than defeats, the USA got tired of ties! We wanted a victory. The game was score-less until the very last minute when USA's Landon Donovan kicked the game winning goal! USA -1, Algeria - 0! And even more embarrassing for Algeria, after the game, one of their players attacked a female reporter who wrote a story he didn't like. She fought back, with the player getting a cut in his face!
See the picture of that player feeling the pain at
---
Time for the 2nd round! This time, Win or Lose, No Ties!
USA played Ghana. Ghana was the last African team standing. The South African audience rooted for Ghana! Could USA come out of this alive? Will they break the habit of needing a last minute miracle?
Unfortunately for the USA, Ghana was the stronger team. The game ended ended Ghana -2, USA -1!
3) This was the most popular World Cup for USA audiences. TV ratings were up, bars were filled!
Unfortunately, there's a few party poopers here in the USA!
Ironically, the loudest ones were some prominent right-wing pundits who just love to proclaim themselves "more patriotic than thou". Those pundits were Glenn Beck and G.Gordon Liddy!
http://www.thenation.com/blog/glenn-becks-blues-why-far-right-hates-world-cup
Instead of cheering for the USA teams, those 2 traitorous scumbags thought it was a good idea to promote anti-soccer hatred.
Well, they were out of touch with America! They were out of touch with the increased popularity of the World Cup in the USA! Those 2 guys are a pathetic joke and deserve to be laughed at!
It's also ironic that those same right-wing pundits were whining about that USA-Mexico game that took place a decade ago in the Rose Bowl, where the Mexican fans outnumbered the USA fans. The anti-immigration fanatics blamed "pro-immigration liberals" for that! I BLAME THE USA'S RIGHT-WING PUNDITS FOR THAT FIASCO!
IF the USA's right-wing really was patriotic, they would've showed up to that game in full-force! If there's another game in the USA in which Mexico fans outnumber USA fans, I WILL point the finger of blame directly at Glenn Beck!
4) Instant Replays
In the US, college & professional (tackle) football has instant replays. After a referee makes a controversial call, a coach can challenge the call! The referees will watch videos taken from different angles of the stadiums. If needed, the referee will announced if his previous call will stand or if it's over-turned!
This is done because referees can't possibly see everything! The angle in which they view a certain play also matters. Also, instant replay will reduce the amount of personal bias of the referee in affecting the game!
However, the geniuses running the World Cup didn't allow for instant replay! They say "it takes away the human element". The controversies supposedly make things entertaining!
But what about justice?
While people in the USA are talking about the disqualified USA goal against Slovenia, that's not even the worst call in the World Cup.
The worst call I know about, was during the Brazil vs Ivory Coast game. I was watching that one live! The Brazilian player accidentally elbowed the Ivory Coast player in the chest! The Ivory Coast player fell down and pretended that he got elbowed in the face! The referee fell for the scam and gave the Brazilian player a red card! That means the Brazilian player was not only expelled from the game, he was automatically suspended from the next game (which was to be against Brazil's former colonizer - Portugal)!
You tell me that is justice? For a player to pretend he got hurt? And for him to get away with it? And for the other player to be expelled due to his opponent faking an injury?
The results would've been different with instant replay! The referees would've watched a video replay of that incident, and would realize that the Ivory Coast player faked his injury, and give him the red card instead!
Here's an article about that incident at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/sports/soccer/21brazilcol.html
Some also say that instant replay would "slow the flow of the game". So what? Justice is too important to be set aside! They should at least use instant replay for every goals and cards!
Also, another stupid policy is that after the Argentina-Mexico game (where the players nearly got into a fight in half-time over a controversial goal call), it was decided to not have replays shown on the Jumbotron. That means, if you were in the stadium, and were too busy talking to your friend while the goal was scored, you'll never see a replay on the screen!
I mean, there were games I was watching on the TV, in which I wasn't looking at the screen when I heard the audience cheering about the goal! At least on TV, I get to see a replay! The people at the stadiums wouldn't be so lucky!
5) The Games, the Hype, The Drama
In the 2006 World Cup, Italy beat France in the final game.
Both countries didn't live up to the hype this year! Neither made it to the 2nd round.
Italy's coach was known for making weird personnel decision. But France had an even more embarrassing meltdown! The players and coaches couldn't get along, a trainer quit after arguing with a player, the players boycotted a practice, and they didn't make it to the 2nd round.
---
While the games were played in Africa, people expected a few African teams to advance into the 2nd round!
However, only Ghana did!
South Africa tied Mexico, lost badly to Uruguay and beat the dysfunctional French team. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to help them advance to the 2nd Round. They were the 1st host nation to not make the 2nd round!
Cameroon's case was even more embarrassing! They were one of the top African teams. Their captain, Samuel Eto'o, is a major star in the European professional leagues. However, Cameroon lost all 3 of their scheduled games and was the first to be eliminated from the possibility of going to Round 2! To make matters worse, when they returned to Cameroon, one of their countrymen viewing their arrival at the airport held up a sign written in French, which if you translate it to English meant "You Do Not Like Cameroon! Shame on you" That is brutal! That's how overboard some people take their team's loss.
See that angry Cameroon fan with that sign at
http://g.ca.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Cameroon-got-a-pretty-horrible-welcome-home?urn=sow,251541
Even more brutal was how the Nigerian team was treated! While Nigeria was able to tie South Korea, they lost to Greece and Argentina. For that, their government banned them from international play! This is STUPID! How are they supposed to get better if they don't face competition?
Ghana was Africa's last hope! The made it to the 2nd Round! All of Africa was cheering for Ghana! They were the crowd favorite in South Africa stadiums. The crowd was so excited when Ghana beat the USA!
(in a funny note, a Ghana fan posted a sign apologizing to Obama about the game). See photos at
http://yeyeolade.wordpress.com/2010/06/27/obama-ghanian-world-cup-fans-apologize-to-obama-for-defeating-us-team/
Next, Ghana was to play Uruguay! The game was tied, when a Ghana player kicked the ball towards the goal. It could've been the game-winner, but Uruguay's Luis Sanchez (who wasn't their goalie) used his hand to block the goal. Sanchez got the red card! Ghana had a chance to make a penalty kick! Didn't go through! Being that the game was still tied after regulation and extra-times, now penalty kicks! Uruguay won that battle, and Africa's last hope was eliminated!
------
For a while it looked like South America had the better teams. Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile and Uruguay were very strong in the First Round.
Will Brazil win it again? Could Maradona coach Argentina to the championship? Could Paraguay come out of obscurity and beat Spain?
Unfortunately no! Paraguay lost the heartbreakingly close game to Spain! Brazil got eliminated by the Netherlands, Argentina got eliminated by Germany!
So the last South American team standing was Uruguay! Uruguay was the only non-Europe team in the Final 4. Uruguay lost the 3rd place game to Germany.
--
So, it was down to Spain vs Netherlands in the Final Game! For almost the whole game, there was no scoring! It was about to be one of those stereotypical score-less soccer games! Just a bunch of guys getting too rough but not scoring! The 3rd place game was more exciting than this!
Then the last few minutes, Spain scores! Spain, though it has one of the most prestigious professional leagues, didn't win a World Cup before! Now it finally got one! A nation divided by regions come together to celebrate a victory!
6) The Future of the World Cup
The next World Cup will be in 2014, in Brazil! It will be in the land one of the most passionate soccer fans in the world. Sounds like fun!
Brazil will also host an Olympics in 2016. This could be the decade for Brazilian sports!
-----
Another thought about the future of soccer. While this World Cup has more African teams than before, I still think FIFA is still too Euro-centric. 13 out of 32 teams were from Europe! That's 40%! I understand European teams tend to be the strongest in soccer, but do they really need to have 40% of the spots in the World Cup reserved for them! Couldn't they just have 8 spots!
The Americas have 8 teams, Africa have 6 teams.
The Asia-Pacific region, the region with the largest population in the world, only got 5 teams? The region with the largest population in the world, has about 15% of the spots reserved for them in the World Cup? We're talking about a large land mass, from the Middle East, India, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands! They only got 5 spots reserved for them in the World Cup?
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/teams/index.html (has a map of all the countries in the World Cup)
While FIFA deserved credit for having the World Cup 2002 in Japan & South Korea, they still need to expand opportunity for the Asia teams! That's a huge market out there for soccer!
Japan and South Korea made it to the 2nd round this year! Congrats to them! The other Asian teams need to step up! South Korea & Japan shouldn't have a monopoly on Asian soccer!
But FIFA seriously trade a few spots in the tournament from Europe to the Asia/Pacific region. The strongest European teams will still shine! But the World Cup shouldn't be so Euro-centric, and the Asia-Pacific market is too big to ignore!
---
As for the vuvuzelas, though I understand some people's irritation with them, I thought the sounds made the game a more exciting spectacle! From now on, it wouldn't be a real soccer game until the vuvuzelas are on! :)
This year's version took place in South Africa! It was the first World Cup to be held in Africa!
Even though watching soccer isn't usually an everyday thing for me, I LOVE the World Cup! There's also so many storylines surrounding the games, so much drama, a new controversy to discuss! This year's World Cup didn't disappoint!
1) Some doubted whether South Africa could be a good host to the World Cup!
There were delays in construction of many needed facilities!
There was the worldwide economic crisis!
There were concerns about the high crime in South Africa. Would it be safe enough for the fans?
The verdict is now in! The facilities were built in time, and there has been no violent incidents surrounding the games! There weren't many reports of fans getting robbed in the streets, nor were there any riots from the fans!
It was a major public relations victory, not just for South Africa, but for all of Africa in general!
It was a great show for a country that 2 decades ago, was a segregated country in which the descendant of European conquerors once denied basic civil liberties to the native population! It was a great show for a country that overcame its shameful past, and show a happy, united front where all its citizens can celebrate!
It was also great show for the continent of Africa. For too many outside of Africa, Africa is portrayed as a land of war, starvation, corruption, disease and poverty. THERE'S A LOT MORE TO AFRICA THAN THAT! Not every African country is at war, not every African is starving, not every African is poor! There's African entrepreneurs, Africans who can afford the same luxuries the average US citizen has! There's African cities with a great nightlife! There's many styles of African celebrations! While this should be common sense already, too many of the TV portrayals show the negative side of Africa! While people should be aware of the negatives occurring there, it shouldn't be the only thing people know about Africa!
This was why the World Cup 2010 was great for Africa's reputation! People from outside of Africa got to the see the African styles of celebrations, some of their great cities, and just seeing them have a good time! They see that Africa that isn't always at war, Africa that doesn't only have starving children begging for another day.
Now that the world has seen the success of the World Cup 2010, I really believe that there should be a future Summer Olympics in South Africa. 2012 is already booked for London! 2016 is already booked for Rio de Janeiro, Brazil! That would be a 1st for South America! Hopefully, South Africa could get one for 2020!
2) The USA team
While the USA made every World Cup since 1990, its record there isn't very consistent. The USA did very well in 1994 and 2002. However, 1998 and 2006 showed a very embarrassing USA performance!
While many of the top USA athletes tend to play basketball, baseball, and American-style tackle football, its soccer stars has had an increased presence on the world stage. Some of the top USA players play in the top European professional leagues!
So could the rising power of USA soccer make an impact this year?
The 1st game was against England. This was to be a major test for the USA!
The game was invented in England, and England has one of the top professional soccer leagues in the world!
While England is officially part of the United Kingdom (with Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland), it does have its own soccer team. It is what one writer, Gary Younge call a "90 minute nation", meaning for the length of the game, England is its own separate nation!
Read more at http://www.thenation.com/article/36871/what-soccer-says-about-us
The game turned out to be the story of 2 goalies. The USA goalie, Tim Howard was able to prevent England from scoring many times. The England's goalie, Robert Green, was trying to stop one USA goal, but he couldn't hold a strong grip to the ball, which went straight into the net!
Unfortunately for him, for all his past success, it would all be overshadowed by that one play!
But it could've been a lot worse! In 1994, Colombia's Andres Escobar accidentally kicked the ball the wrong way, and that ball ended up scoring a point for the USA! When Escobar returned to Colombia, he was murdered!
The USA-England game ended a 1-1 tie! Great for the USA, a scandal for England!
USA's 2nd game was against Slovenia. Slovenia was basically humiliating the USA in the 1st half, scoring 2-0. USA came back from behind to score its 2 goals to tie the game! USA's kicked another ball into the goal that could've won the game for the USA! But the referee disqualified that goal in one of the most controversial calls of the World Cup 2010. But since that goal was disqualified, the score was a 2-2 tie!
Then USA played Algeria! USA already had 2 ties! While ties are better than defeats, the USA got tired of ties! We wanted a victory. The game was score-less until the very last minute when USA's Landon Donovan kicked the game winning goal! USA -1, Algeria - 0! And even more embarrassing for Algeria, after the game, one of their players attacked a female reporter who wrote a story he didn't like. She fought back, with the player getting a cut in his face!
See the picture of that player feeling the pain at
---
Time for the 2nd round! This time, Win or Lose, No Ties!
USA played Ghana. Ghana was the last African team standing. The South African audience rooted for Ghana! Could USA come out of this alive? Will they break the habit of needing a last minute miracle?
Unfortunately for the USA, Ghana was the stronger team. The game ended ended Ghana -2, USA -1!
3) This was the most popular World Cup for USA audiences. TV ratings were up, bars were filled!
Unfortunately, there's a few party poopers here in the USA!
Ironically, the loudest ones were some prominent right-wing pundits who just love to proclaim themselves "more patriotic than thou". Those pundits were Glenn Beck and G.Gordon Liddy!
http://www.thenation.com/blog/glenn-becks-blues-why-far-right-hates-world-cup
Instead of cheering for the USA teams, those 2 traitorous scumbags thought it was a good idea to promote anti-soccer hatred.
Well, they were out of touch with America! They were out of touch with the increased popularity of the World Cup in the USA! Those 2 guys are a pathetic joke and deserve to be laughed at!
It's also ironic that those same right-wing pundits were whining about that USA-Mexico game that took place a decade ago in the Rose Bowl, where the Mexican fans outnumbered the USA fans. The anti-immigration fanatics blamed "pro-immigration liberals" for that! I BLAME THE USA'S RIGHT-WING PUNDITS FOR THAT FIASCO!
IF the USA's right-wing really was patriotic, they would've showed up to that game in full-force! If there's another game in the USA in which Mexico fans outnumber USA fans, I WILL point the finger of blame directly at Glenn Beck!
4) Instant Replays
In the US, college & professional (tackle) football has instant replays. After a referee makes a controversial call, a coach can challenge the call! The referees will watch videos taken from different angles of the stadiums. If needed, the referee will announced if his previous call will stand or if it's over-turned!
This is done because referees can't possibly see everything! The angle in which they view a certain play also matters. Also, instant replay will reduce the amount of personal bias of the referee in affecting the game!
However, the geniuses running the World Cup didn't allow for instant replay! They say "it takes away the human element". The controversies supposedly make things entertaining!
But what about justice?
While people in the USA are talking about the disqualified USA goal against Slovenia, that's not even the worst call in the World Cup.
The worst call I know about, was during the Brazil vs Ivory Coast game. I was watching that one live! The Brazilian player accidentally elbowed the Ivory Coast player in the chest! The Ivory Coast player fell down and pretended that he got elbowed in the face! The referee fell for the scam and gave the Brazilian player a red card! That means the Brazilian player was not only expelled from the game, he was automatically suspended from the next game (which was to be against Brazil's former colonizer - Portugal)!
You tell me that is justice? For a player to pretend he got hurt? And for him to get away with it? And for the other player to be expelled due to his opponent faking an injury?
The results would've been different with instant replay! The referees would've watched a video replay of that incident, and would realize that the Ivory Coast player faked his injury, and give him the red card instead!
Here's an article about that incident at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/21/sports/soccer/21brazilcol.html
Some also say that instant replay would "slow the flow of the game". So what? Justice is too important to be set aside! They should at least use instant replay for every goals and cards!
Also, another stupid policy is that after the Argentina-Mexico game (where the players nearly got into a fight in half-time over a controversial goal call), it was decided to not have replays shown on the Jumbotron. That means, if you were in the stadium, and were too busy talking to your friend while the goal was scored, you'll never see a replay on the screen!
I mean, there were games I was watching on the TV, in which I wasn't looking at the screen when I heard the audience cheering about the goal! At least on TV, I get to see a replay! The people at the stadiums wouldn't be so lucky!
5) The Games, the Hype, The Drama
In the 2006 World Cup, Italy beat France in the final game.
Both countries didn't live up to the hype this year! Neither made it to the 2nd round.
Italy's coach was known for making weird personnel decision. But France had an even more embarrassing meltdown! The players and coaches couldn't get along, a trainer quit after arguing with a player, the players boycotted a practice, and they didn't make it to the 2nd round.
---
While the games were played in Africa, people expected a few African teams to advance into the 2nd round!
However, only Ghana did!
South Africa tied Mexico, lost badly to Uruguay and beat the dysfunctional French team. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough to help them advance to the 2nd Round. They were the 1st host nation to not make the 2nd round!
Cameroon's case was even more embarrassing! They were one of the top African teams. Their captain, Samuel Eto'o, is a major star in the European professional leagues. However, Cameroon lost all 3 of their scheduled games and was the first to be eliminated from the possibility of going to Round 2! To make matters worse, when they returned to Cameroon, one of their countrymen viewing their arrival at the airport held up a sign written in French, which if you translate it to English meant "You Do Not Like Cameroon! Shame on you" That is brutal! That's how overboard some people take their team's loss.
See that angry Cameroon fan with that sign at
http://g.ca.sports.yahoo.com/soccer/world-cup/blog/dirty-tackle/post/Cameroon-got-a-pretty-horrible-welcome-home?urn=sow,251541
Even more brutal was how the Nigerian team was treated! While Nigeria was able to tie South Korea, they lost to Greece and Argentina. For that, their government banned them from international play! This is STUPID! How are they supposed to get better if they don't face competition?
Ghana was Africa's last hope! The made it to the 2nd Round! All of Africa was cheering for Ghana! They were the crowd favorite in South Africa stadiums. The crowd was so excited when Ghana beat the USA!
(in a funny note, a Ghana fan posted a sign apologizing to Obama about the game). See photos at
Next, Ghana was to play Uruguay! The game was tied, when a Ghana player kicked the ball towards the goal. It could've been the game-winner, but Uruguay's Luis Sanchez (who wasn't their goalie) used his hand to block the goal. Sanchez got the red card! Ghana had a chance to make a penalty kick! Didn't go through! Being that the game was still tied after regulation and extra-times, now penalty kicks! Uruguay won that battle, and Africa's last hope was eliminated!
------
For a while it looked like South America had the better teams. Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile and Uruguay were very strong in the First Round.
Will Brazil win it again? Could Maradona coach Argentina to the championship? Could Paraguay come out of obscurity and beat Spain?
Unfortunately no! Paraguay lost the heartbreakingly close game to Spain! Brazil got eliminated by the Netherlands, Argentina got eliminated by Germany!
So the last South American team standing was Uruguay! Uruguay was the only non-Europe team in the Final 4. Uruguay lost the 3rd place game to Germany.
--
So, it was down to Spain vs Netherlands in the Final Game! For almost the whole game, there was no scoring! It was about to be one of those stereotypical score-less soccer games! Just a bunch of guys getting too rough but not scoring! The 3rd place game was more exciting than this!
Then the last few minutes, Spain scores! Spain, though it has one of the most prestigious professional leagues, didn't win a World Cup before! Now it finally got one! A nation divided by regions come together to celebrate a victory!
6) The Future of the World Cup
The next World Cup will be in 2014, in Brazil! It will be in the land one of the most passionate soccer fans in the world. Sounds like fun!
Brazil will also host an Olympics in 2016. This could be the decade for Brazilian sports!
-----
Another thought about the future of soccer. While this World Cup has more African teams than before, I still think FIFA is still too Euro-centric. 13 out of 32 teams were from Europe! That's 40%! I understand European teams tend to be the strongest in soccer, but do they really need to have 40% of the spots in the World Cup reserved for them! Couldn't they just have 8 spots!
The Americas have 8 teams, Africa have 6 teams.
The Asia-Pacific region, the region with the largest population in the world, only got 5 teams? The region with the largest population in the world, has about 15% of the spots reserved for them in the World Cup? We're talking about a large land mass, from the Middle East, India, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Australia and the Pacific Islands! They only got 5 spots reserved for them in the World Cup?
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/teams/index.html (has a map of all the countries in the World Cup)
While FIFA deserved credit for having the World Cup 2002 in Japan & South Korea, they still need to expand opportunity for the Asia teams! That's a huge market out there for soccer!
Japan and South Korea made it to the 2nd round this year! Congrats to them! The other Asian teams need to step up! South Korea & Japan shouldn't have a monopoly on Asian soccer!
But FIFA seriously trade a few spots in the tournament from Europe to the Asia/Pacific region. The strongest European teams will still shine! But the World Cup shouldn't be so Euro-centric, and the Asia-Pacific market is too big to ignore!
---
As for the vuvuzelas, though I understand some people's irritation with them, I thought the sounds made the game a more exciting spectacle! From now on, it wouldn't be a real soccer game until the vuvuzelas are on! :)
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