Today on USA Today's website (http://www.usatoday.com/) there was this article posted: "Is arson at Tennessee mosque site a kind of terrorism? (http://content.usatoday.com/communties/Religion/post/2010/08/mosque-muslim-arson-/1) I can't believe that we are having this conversation in 2010. It is absolutley incredible that we believe that we are always right, and that anyone who is different from us is evil.
The best step is to look at what Terrorism is: dictionary.com fails to clearly define what terrorism is, but terrorism would be the result of terror. And terror is a state of mind and thus a perception. People live in fear of governments impeding their freedom and of military's coming in and shooting at all costs. If we look at the big picture everyone could be a terrorist and produce feelings of terror in different cultures. Take the events since September 10, 2001: On September 11, 19 arabs and other people of Middle Eastern descent flew 3 airplanes into both World Trade Centers and the Pentagon, while the fourth flight went down in Pennslyvannia. The Americans deemed this an act of terrorism, and since they were on the receiving end of the acts they are correct. However there are different perceptions throughout the world. In October of 2001 the USA launched a war against Afganistan which was the last known whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. The people of Afganistan could easily have deemed this an act of terrorism, while in the western world it was deemed a justifiable retalitory act. Then in March of 2003, the Bush administration launched a war against Iraq, as a part of the War on Terror.
The interesting thing is that terror and terrorism is a perception of events, not an actual state or an actual, tanigble feeling.
Now the Mosque;
The US Constitution's first amendment states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or adbridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people to peacefully assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances."
This means that the building of mosques is protected under the consitution, and now the people of Tennessee are fearful that a new mosque will be a training ground for terrorists. This is incredibly stupid to even think of but alas that is the notion of thought right now. The media in the USA has been compliant in this thought throughout the last nine years doing nothing but generating hate against muslims and being fear mongers. The people of the US who mostly listen to the opinions on news shows without question have adopted this attitude based on the baseless fear mogering of the media. This has brought about a mini communist country within the USA. The attitude is you do things our way or no way.
Those are just some thoughts on this issue.
Sunday, August 29, 2010
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Plan 51 and New York
There has been a lot of talk about the proposed Mosque just two blocks away from Ground Zero in New York City. I am not a religious person and should not be confused as a person that knows really much about religion. However this is more about the first amendment in the USA and religious freedoms of their citizens.
The Daily Show has been reporting upon this, has CNN, FOX News and other major news outlets, but I guess my main issue is why is it a big deal?
Last week, Dr. Laura Schlessinger retired from her radio after using the N-word and when she retired she wanted to 'regain her first amendment rights in this country and avoid criticism'. Those are two competing ideas there, because everyone has the right to say what they want and some will criticize for using the N-word on a National Radio show. Anyway the main point here is that isn't this the same thing?
The Muslims in the USA and in Canada have the right to practice their religion and while it is popular belief that all Muslims are evil, it is simply not true. Of course this is coming from a population of people who believe Barack Obama is Muslim (he is not, he is a Christian). In Tennessee there are also protest about a Mosque being built, leading the rationale person to believe that is not a location problem but rather a Muslim problem that the Americans have.
While I cannot say who is right or wrong, well I can and this is my blog, so I will. But Tuesday Morning Quarterback writer Gregg Easterbrook (ESPN.com writer) notes in this week's article that there is a Mosque IN the Pentagon, not near, or a couple of blocks away, but IN. So why can the Pentagon get over it but not the citizens of New York and Tennessee.
Frankly if Americans are so up on their first amendment rights, then they need to back off and allow religious freedom to exist in their country.
Just some thoughts on a troubling topic.
The Daily Show has been reporting upon this, has CNN, FOX News and other major news outlets, but I guess my main issue is why is it a big deal?
Last week, Dr. Laura Schlessinger retired from her radio after using the N-word and when she retired she wanted to 'regain her first amendment rights in this country and avoid criticism'. Those are two competing ideas there, because everyone has the right to say what they want and some will criticize for using the N-word on a National Radio show. Anyway the main point here is that isn't this the same thing?
The Muslims in the USA and in Canada have the right to practice their religion and while it is popular belief that all Muslims are evil, it is simply not true. Of course this is coming from a population of people who believe Barack Obama is Muslim (he is not, he is a Christian). In Tennessee there are also protest about a Mosque being built, leading the rationale person to believe that is not a location problem but rather a Muslim problem that the Americans have.
While I cannot say who is right or wrong, well I can and this is my blog, so I will. But Tuesday Morning Quarterback writer Gregg Easterbrook (ESPN.com writer) notes in this week's article that there is a Mosque IN the Pentagon, not near, or a couple of blocks away, but IN. So why can the Pentagon get over it but not the citizens of New York and Tennessee.
Frankly if Americans are so up on their first amendment rights, then they need to back off and allow religious freedom to exist in their country.
Just some thoughts on a troubling topic.
Sunday, August 22, 2010
Little League World Series and Instant Replay
Baseball purists hold on to your hats, there is a baseball competition that is using Instant Replay. Gasp! And too top it off it is working. Two years ago Little League International put in the use of replay, it was just for the dead balls and boundary calls. This year they expanded to just about everything except strikes and balls. In the first two years of replay, there were exactly 4 challenges and all of them were unsuccessful. Heading into Day 3 of the tournament there were 5 replay requests, and 3 of them were successful. Now does this mean that the umpires are booting more calls? Of course not, it means that the coaches are using the challenge system well. Now the system says that the coach can challenge as many times as they want as long as they are successful, so once they are wrong they cannot challenge anymore. The challenge comes back to them if the game goes to extra innings.
Now I was able to watch a game with a challenge and shockingly it did not delay the game. The process was simple, the coach went out to ask the umpire about the call. There was a brief conference with the other 5 umpires, they decided the ump was right. Then the coach requested the use of replay. On that play, the umpire was correct, but the whole thing took maybe 1 minute.
When a simple google search of "LLWS replay" reveals the top articles "Sending the Wrong Message" is a strong component of the themes of the articles, it just shows how much of the old school people control the thoughts of baseball fans.
ESPNs Karl Ravech discusses replay reasonably and he thinks it is a good idea. He notes the three main arguments are "I love baseball the way it is and that is how it should stay", "Takes too much time" and "Eliminates Human Error and Drama". If you talk to umpires, most want to get the call right, and that takes out the Human Error nonsense. This week has proven that replay does not take that much time, as most challenges take a total of 60 seconds including the manager coming out to ask for the replay challenge. And finally the it has always been this way argument. Seriously that is the argument, since 1990 there have been the following changes in baseball: Expansion to 30 teams, Wild Card playoffs, Steroids, All Star games that count, and players with huge salaries and bigger egos. Part of Baseball lore has been change, the only difference is that now this change threatens to move baseball into the 21st Century, something that they are not use too.
Baseball needs replay, as today the fans at home can see if the umpire is wrong or right, the players, coaches and umps will know as soon as they get to the clubhouse, why not correct the call? So Bud Selig, I am imploring you to watch the Little League World Series, and see the replay and see how it works.
That is all for now, go Canada, who are being represented by Little Mountain, BC, who ripped through the Canadian Regional Tournament going 7-0 en route to Williamsport. Also Ancaster umpire Stephen Meyer is down in Williamsport umpiring in the world series, so watch for him as well.
Now I was able to watch a game with a challenge and shockingly it did not delay the game. The process was simple, the coach went out to ask the umpire about the call. There was a brief conference with the other 5 umpires, they decided the ump was right. Then the coach requested the use of replay. On that play, the umpire was correct, but the whole thing took maybe 1 minute.
When a simple google search of "LLWS replay" reveals the top articles "Sending the Wrong Message" is a strong component of the themes of the articles, it just shows how much of the old school people control the thoughts of baseball fans.
ESPNs Karl Ravech discusses replay reasonably and he thinks it is a good idea. He notes the three main arguments are "I love baseball the way it is and that is how it should stay", "Takes too much time" and "Eliminates Human Error and Drama". If you talk to umpires, most want to get the call right, and that takes out the Human Error nonsense. This week has proven that replay does not take that much time, as most challenges take a total of 60 seconds including the manager coming out to ask for the replay challenge. And finally the it has always been this way argument. Seriously that is the argument, since 1990 there have been the following changes in baseball: Expansion to 30 teams, Wild Card playoffs, Steroids, All Star games that count, and players with huge salaries and bigger egos. Part of Baseball lore has been change, the only difference is that now this change threatens to move baseball into the 21st Century, something that they are not use too.
Baseball needs replay, as today the fans at home can see if the umpire is wrong or right, the players, coaches and umps will know as soon as they get to the clubhouse, why not correct the call? So Bud Selig, I am imploring you to watch the Little League World Series, and see the replay and see how it works.
That is all for now, go Canada, who are being represented by Little Mountain, BC, who ripped through the Canadian Regional Tournament going 7-0 en route to Williamsport. Also Ancaster umpire Stephen Meyer is down in Williamsport umpiring in the world series, so watch for him as well.
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