The Mosque, The Muslims, and Obama

"A good Muslim is a dead Muslim." - Nelson
"What do you call a mosque with 300 Muslims? An opportunity." - Honkie Rodeo
"Go home Muslims. Go kill each other in the middle east. We don't want you here." - B. Beverly

These are just three random quotes I pulled from the comments section of a Yahoo! article regarding the proposed mosque that might be built close to ground zero in New York City. There were many, many more just like this one. Too many to even count.

There's a disturbing trend going on in America right now. There's an enormous amount of hatred directed at Muslims unlike anything I've ever seen in my lifetime. I can imagine that it's similar to what Japanese Americans experienced here after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. What I've been seeing isn't just a few racist remarks by extremists, it's normal everyday people calling for (at the very least) a mass exodus of Muslims, or (at the very worst) complete extermination. Wow.

Let's look a little closer at what we're doing here: we're taking a hated religious minority, blaming all the problems of society on it, comparing them to vermin, and condoning violence against them. Just recently a Muslim cab driver was stabbed in New York City by a white college student. That college student is now considered a "hero" by many. Welcome to Nazi Germany my friends! But this time it's right here in our own country. What makes matters worse is that right wing leaders like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck, people who have enormous influence, are just fanning the flames of hatred instead of condemning it. How much longer until we hear the same words coming from a Conservative, right wing senator or Presidential candidate? How much longer until Muslims are rounded up and put into camps? Hard to imagine? It feels like that's the path we're on.

"Those who don't know history are destined to repeat it." - Edmund Burke. Better words could not be said.

Personally, I don't think a mosque should be built at Ground Zero. But then again, I don't think anything should be built there. It should be a park, or just a quiet place of observance for those who died. Put some benches there. Build a pond.

As for President Obama, people seem convinced that he's a Muslim. That he's a traitor who is out to destroy America from within. That he's going to get on TV, shout "Allahu Akbar!" and nuke the country. Give me a break. He has stated several times that he's a Christian. No president in history has gone through what this man is going through. Saying he's a Christian and having people reply back "No, you're a Muslim!" What the hell?

If there's anything I've learned from living abroad, it's that we have to be tolerant of other cultures. The Chinese have a lot of wacky superstitions that I don't understand, like not washing your hair for a month after you have a baby, but I accept it because that's their way. Just because Muslims read the Qur'an, doesn't mean they follow every passage literally. If we followed everything in the Bible literally, we'd have the right to kill our neighbors (and our own family) for all kinds of ridiculous reasons.

I'll admit that I'm not without fault. I have prejudices too. Do I get a little uncomfortable when I see someone who looks like Osama Bin Laden get on the same airplane as I do? Sure. There was a guy like that who sat next to my daughter once, but he was actually a really nice guy, and never once complained about her crying all the time. I work alongside a Muslim nurse (from Iraq, no less!) at the hospital, and she's one of the nicest people I have met. Like any race or religion, you can't let a few bad ones represent the entire people.

So come on America, let's stop the hatred directed at people who don't really deserve it. Instead, let's focus on the truly evil, like BP and the woman in the UK who threw a kitten into the trash bin for fun.

Sara Starts Kindergarten

Today was Sara's first day of Kindergarten. We spent a good portion of the weekend trying to track down all the supplies that Sara was required to have before her class starts. While some were quite easy to find, others proved to be elusive. It was bit like going on a scavenger hunt. Here's the list of "required" items:

1 Regular size backpack, no wheels
6 folders with "brads" (I wasn't sure what "brads" were, but once I found out, I could only find two of these folders at the various stores we went to)
2 packs multi color construction paper 9x12
1 pack multi color construction paper 12x18
2 packs of manila paper 12x18 (the hardest thing to find here was this paper)
2 packs of manila paper 9x12
2 Wireless journal/composition books
6 boxes of Crayola crayons - 24 count
2 pack of #2 pencils, 24 count
2 boxes of washable markers
2 pairs of blunt Fiskar's scissors
6 small bottles of Elmer's glue
2 glue sticks
1 school box needs to fit in desk
3 boxes of Kleenex
1 box of quart or sandwich Ziploc bags
1 box gallon size Ziploc bags
1 package of 50 paper plates
1 package of Play Dough

Can you believe this list? Am I supplying one child, or the entire class? Back when I was in school, the only supplies I can remember bringing were paper, pens, and a notebook. Has the school system gotten so bad that now the parents handle the school supplies budget? Just think if every parent buys all the items on this list, the school is set. We found most of the items on the list, but not all of them. What we did find set us back about $50.

Naturally, Sara was very excited to go back to school. She woke up early on Monday morning and came into my room.
"Why are you up so early?" I asked her. "School doesn't start until tomorrow."
"I just wanted to practice waking up early." she said.

Wow. I don't remember having this much enthusiasm about going to school, but I think it's great that Sara does. I think she'll be an excellent student.

The Bugs of Summer

This is my third summer in Texas. I really hate the summers here. We get about 3 months straight of temperatures that are above 100 degrees. When you walk outside, you literally feel like you're inside an oven, the sun burning your flesh like a Thanksgiving turkey. On weekends, whenever my wife suggests we go to the park or a lake or some other outdoor activity, I almost always reject it because "It's too freakin' hot!" Instead, I'll suggest we go to a local pool, or a library, or a movie, or anything that's indoors.

This is our first summer in our new house, and I've now discovered that summer brings out (what seems like) every bug on the planet. Our backyard is filled with spiders, ants, grasshoppers, ladybugs, an occasional frog or two, and hundreds of other species that I'm not aware of. Whenever I mow or water the lawn, I see all sorts of movement going on within the grass.

Now, I don't really mind bugs as long as they stay outside, but lately they've been getting inside as well. Just recently, our house has been invaded by ants. They started out in our laundry room. Once we sprayed there, they moved to the kitchen. Then the bathroom. Then our bedroom. Now this morning I find them in the kids bedroom. And these ants aren't of the friendly variety either. These are aggressive freakin' bastards. They have bit me and everyone else in our family (except Kyle, for some reason). When I was a kid, I remember I use to let ants walk on my hand, and it wouldn't do anything. Now they bite the hell out of you. I have bites all over my hands. Sara has them on her arms and legs.

We've bought "Bug Barrier" from Raid, which you spray all around the perimeter of the house. It's worked pretty well for all the other bugs, but not the ants.

It sucks. It makes me really wish that winter would hurry up and get here.