[note: I completed this post on 9/22/10, but because I started workin on it on 9/20/10, the Blogger system says this was written "Monday, September 20, 2010". If anyone knows how to change those settings, let me know]
Last week Saturday (9/18/2010), Hawaii had it's primary elections.
That's when people chose who should be their favored political party's candidates! They also had non-partisan elections for Honolulu mayor, prosecutor, and state Board of Education!
The General Election will be on November 2, 2010. That will be when the people will make the final choice for who will be the next governor, as well as state and federal representatives.
1) The Mayor's Election
Because Mufi Hanneman wanted to run for governor (which I'll discuss later), he had to resign from the mayor's office, and a special election had to be held for the Honolulu's mayor's office!
http://hawaii.gov/elections/results/2010/primary/files/cch.pdf
Former special prosecutor Peter Carlisle won the winner-take-all election, with 38.8% of the vote! Kirk Caldwell (who was Hanneman's assistant as "managing director) was 2nd place with 34.6% of the vote!
My favored candidate Panos Prevedorous, the only major candidate opposing the rail project, got 18.5%
For my reason opposing the rail project, check out
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2008/06/light-rail-and-property-confiscation.html
And the GREATEST NEWS from this mayoral election?
Former City Council member Rod Tam only got 1.5% of the vote!
Tam was very well known for all the wrong reasons.
The most infamous one was back in 2008, during a city council meeting on the construction of the UH-West Oahu campus, Tam said he didn't want "wetbacks" working on the project!
After angry protests, Tam with his usual evasiveness, claimed he didn't know "wetbacks" was an insulting term towards Mexicans, and claimed he was just opposed to "illegal aliens" working on the construction project!
Nevermind, that his district (downtown, Chinatown, Liliha, Nuuanu) has WAY MORE Asian immigrants than Latin Americans! Hawaii, in general, has way more Asian immigrants than Latin American immigrants, but especially Tam's district, which is the center of Chinese culture in Hawaii!
For more general info on that controversy, check out
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2008/06/my-editorial-on-rod-tam.html
http://pablowegesend.blogspot.com/2008/06/who-youre-calling-wetback-rod-tam.html
--
Later, Tam had another controversy relating to ethnic issues! In his quest to ban people from riding the bus if they "smell stink", Tam had this to say
http://www.usatoday.com/news/offbeat/2009-09-02-honolulu-bus-odor_N.htm
"As we become more inundated with people from all over the world, their way of taking care of their health is different. Some people, quite frankly, do not take a bath every day and therefore they may be offensive in terms of their odor."
Pay attention to what I highlighted in orange. Rod Tam is blaming immigrants for "bad odor" on the bus! Rod Tam is basically calling immigrants (though he didn't mention a specific ethnic group) "dirty" and "stink"
Rod Tam thinks he could get away with insulting minority ethnic groups and still get elected to the mayor's office!
Rod Tam thinks he could get away with referring to Mexicans as "wetbacks" since the Mexican population in Hawaii is small!
But when Rod Tam used the word"wetbacks", he didn't just make the small Mexican population (and other Latinos) upset!
He also pissed off many Asians, Pacific Islanders and European-Americans in Hawaii, who are offended when ANY ethnic group gets discriminated against!
That's right, there's MORE THAN ENOUGH Asians, Pacific Islanders and European-Americans who weren't happy with Rod Tam using racially divisive words, even if it's not referring to their own ethnic group!! MORE THAN ENOUGH of them got tired of Rod Tam's crap and chose other candidates for mayor!
Good riddance to Rod Tam!
2) The Democratic Primary Election for Governor
The 2 major candidates running for the chance to represent the Democratic party in the governor's race were Mufi Hanneman (former Honolulu mayor) and Neil Abercrombie (former US House representative).
Hannemann and Abercrombie ran against each other for the Democratic ticket for the US House seat back in 1986. While Hannemann won the chance to represent the Democrats that year, he end up loosing to Republican candidate Pat Saiki!
This was the re-match, though this time for governor!
Mufi Hannemann started off making some strong points against Abercrombie! Hannemann emphasized that Abercrombie didn't have executive experience and hadn't held a private sector job in 40 years.
However, those strong points got diluted on July 17, 2010 when Hannemann and Abercrombie made an appearance at a forum for the Hawaii Carpenter's Union
http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/hawaiinews/20100718_Gubernatorial_rivals_court_carpenters_union.html
Hannemann told carpenters they deserve a candidate they can relate to, who shares their values, and who identifies with working-class families. The mayor, who is of Samoan and German ancestry and grew up in Kalihi, did not mention Abercrombie's background, but his remarks drew a contrast with the white, Buffalo, N.Y.-born former congressman.
"I can identify with you," Hannemann said. "When I look in the audience, I look like you, you look like me. Is that a right thing to say? And even for our Caucasian brothers in the audience, I'm local to the max. My last name is Hannemann. That's German. My middle name is Francis. English. So I'm Samoan-German-English, born and raised in Hawaii, and married to a katonk, a Japanese-American woman.
Again, look what I highlighted in orange. "I look like you, you look like me"? We sure as hell aren't talking about height, since Hannemann is almost a foot taller than the average man!
It sounds like Mufi Hannemann is telling the members of the Hawaii's Carpenter's Union (many of whom are Polynesians or Filipinos) "hey, vote for me since I'm as brown as you guys".
Some have said that Hannemann is trying to tell the audience "vote for me, not that haole boy Abercrombie"! Of course, Hannemann would be quick to point out he's part-German, even though emphasizes his part-Samoan side WAY MORE OFTEN!
Either way, he shouldn't have emphasized this "I look like you, you look like me" stuff! Who cares what you look like? This emphasis on "I look like you, you look like me" insulted our intelligence and have caused Hannemann to lose many supporters, even those who "looked like him"!
--
Also, weeks before the election, it turned out many residential property owners who lived near "industrial areas" had their property tax dramatically increased. Since it's the city & county that collects property taxes, and the mayor is in charge of the city, it's Hannemann's fault!
An article from Hawaii Free Press on the issue
http://www.hawaiifreepress.com/main/ArticlesMain/tabid/56/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/2825/Hannemannrsquos-property-tax-hike-forces-eviction-of-Kalihi-nonprofits.aspx
Among the tenants being forced out are the Hawaiian Hope computer literacy center and several other non-profit groups at 611 N. King St. Under the newly enforced tax assessment rules, the affordably-priced storefront space they had been using on the ground floor of a four story apartment building triggers a reclassification of the entire building at the much higher commercial property tax rates. The difference-$40,000 per year in new taxes—makes continuing with the commercial space unrealistic for the landlord. The groups are ordered to vacate by September 15.
That’s not all. According to Curtis Kropar, Executive Director of Hawaiian Hope, “Notices found hanging in the building announce to residents that rent will be going up for all of the 400 low income apartments unless something else is done about it.”
Nonprofit leaders say it will be difficult for them to find commercial space priced comparably to the $1 per square foot they had been paying.
The tax changes are part of a package which became controversial when low-income Kalihi homeowners suddenly found themselves owing $13,000 in annual property taxes because the city chose to reassess their homes based on the industrial zoning of the property they sit upon rather than its residential use.
Even more damaging to Hannemann, a large number of those victimized by Hannemann's property tax increase live in Kalihi, where Hannemann could say "I look like you, you look like me". But if your property taxes has dramatically increased to the point you might go bankrupt, IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT THE MAYOR LOOKS LIKE! He could look like you, and you still want to vote him out!
And that's exactly what happened to Hannemann! It's over for him!
3) Democrat Nominee for Lieutenant Governor
In a crowded race for the Democratic nomination for Lieutenant Governor, filled with legislators like Bobby Bunda, Norman Sakamoto, Lyla Berg, Gary Hooser .......... Brian Schatz came out on top!
Schatz is a relatively young and charismatic guy. Easy-going, nice guy. Seems to be filled with compassion! The type of guy you would want to have as a son! The type of guy you want your daughter to marry!
Well, I remember a few years back, when he used to write for the Honolulu Weekly. This one editorial he wrote had 5 ideas, 2 of them very ridiculous!
http://honoluluweekly.com/diary/2007/12/high-five-2/
Schatz wanted to ban plastic bags and wanted to restrict public self-storage facilities!
Here's why I HATE the idea of banning plastic bags!
http://archives.starbulletin.com/2008/01/17/editorial/letters.html (my letter was on the top!)
And if you got stuff you want to keep, but don't have the room for, you would love public self-storage facilities, they same one Schatz wants to get rid of!
If the Republicans find out about what Schatz wants do about plastic bags and public self-storage facilities, they could easily ridicule him as an "out of touch, far-left elitist"! If more people found about those Schatz proposals, they would think twice about voting for him!
4) The Republicans
James "Duke" Aiona and Lynn Finnegan had an easy time getting their party's nomination for governor & lieutenant governor! Charles Djou also easily got his party nomination for the US House seat
Since the 1950's, the Republicans had a hard time winning major elections in Hawaii. Sure, some of the candidates won a few elections (ie. Pat Saiki, Frank Fasi) but Democrats won way more often. In the late 1990's, when Hawaii was trailing the other US states economically, people were willing to give the Republicans a 2nd look. Linda Lingle, a moderate Republican, was able to get the votes of many of those who usually vote Democrat! While Lingle lost a close one in 1998, she got elected governor in 2002 & 2006!
Now that Lingle's time is up, the question remains! Is the Republican Party really rising, or will the voters go back to voting Democrats as usual!
On the continental US, the conservative Republicans got the momentum right now! After the Hope & Change promised by Barack Obama, the recession is still on-going. People are worried that the Democrat policies would lead to more taxes, over-regulation and bureaucratic red tape!
But here in Hawaii, Obama is still popular. Here, he's "the Punahou grad", "the guy who surfs at Sandy's", and off course, "the first minority president". Preaching anger at Obama will NOT work in Hawaii!
Being that Aiona is Native Hawaiian, and Finnegan is Filipina, no one can call the Hawaii Republicans "the haole party". Hannemann couldn't use the "I look you, you look like me" stuff because Aiona & Finnegan also "look like a lot of voters". I even go as far as saying Aiona & Finnegan look MORE like the average local person, since they're not a foot taller than them!
While even in Hawaii, European-Americans are still more likely to vote Republicans than other groups, even many Asians and Pacific Islanders agree with the Republicans on taxes, business, civil unions, education and moral issues. But the question remains - would that be enough for the Republicans to win the governor's seat!
Also having Aiona & Finnegan run on for governor is good P.R. for the Republicans in the rest of the US!
Some Republicans this year are emphasizing the fear of Muslims and making phony rumors of Mexican illegal aliens beheading people (ie. Jan Brewer of Arizona)! That doesn't look good for the long-term health of the Republicans since the non-white population of the US is growing!
However, Democrats aren't immune from prejudice either, especially the already mentioned examples of Rod Tam and Mufi Hannemann. If any white Republican said what those 2 guys said, there would be articles about them on http://www.thenation.com/ or http://www.salon.com/ . But since they're Democrats, the liberals on the continent pretty much ignored their idiotic statements!
The Republicans need to have high profile people like Duke Aiona, Lynne Finnegan, Bobby Jindal (governor of Louisiana) or Nikki Hailey (running for South Carolina governor)! They need to make in-roads with the non-white populations. Those non-white politicians sure as hell not liberals, and not every non-white is a far-left liberal.
Republicans nationwide need to distance themselves from the anti-immigration crowd, no matter how noisy they are! If Aiona & Finnegan win in Hawaii, it will be a sign that Republicans could make in-roads with the growing non-white audiences elsewhere!
Monday, September 20, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
9/11 - 9 years later (part two)
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!
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!
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!
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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!
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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!
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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!
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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
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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!
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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!
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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!
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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.
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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!
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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!
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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.
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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.
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