Back in the saddle

I’m back! Did you miss me? If so, now you gotta kiss me.

This was a ruminative vacation for me, and I won’t be writing about it or posting pictures. Suffice it to say it was enjoyable and a much-needed break from the mundane. I haven’t been pleased with myself lately, and I needed to think about why. One of the things I wanted to work on is spending less time on the computer and reading more. I did that on vacation, and it felt right. I’m not going away, by any means! And today, I haven’t stuck to that, as I’ve tried to get caught up on some things. But I think it’s a good decision to not spend as much time online and it’s always a good decision to replace some of that with reading! My blogging and Facebook friends probably noticed my conspicuous absence; Facebook posting was minimal. That was by choice, and I feel good about it. I’m still trying to find a balance between the serious and the fun. I don’t want to be consumed by politics at the expense of my sense of humor, and I don’t want to be completely frivolous in my postings, either. I want to make an effort to keep up with various blogs and feeds, but I don’t want to be beholden to having to. Can she find a balance? Will she ever come to terms with being caught up in politics but still loving to laugh? Can two such differing states of mind ever find middle ground? Tune in and find out next week, same Bat time, same Bat channel!

Today’s topic is one I visited about a month ago, the potential building of a mosque at Ground Zero. I think I expressed myself pretty well in that entry, so you can read my thoughts there. It is still in the news, because apparently the final approval has not been given, and there are many who staunchly oppose it. Many of my liberal friends oppose it. You know who else opposes it? Sarah Palin. I hope that makes my liberal friends take another look at this issue. I honestly don’t want to get into a debate with anyone about it, because I do understand why it would bother some people. Maybe I have no right to an opinion, because it wasn’t my city that was attacked; but I still think I do, because it was my country, too.

It looks as though Palin had to weigh in on the topic, and took Mayor Bloomberg to task for even thinking of allowing such construction. Bloomberg’s response:

Everything that the United States stands for and New York stands for is tolerance and openness and I think it's a great message for the world that unlike another place where they might actually ban people from wearing a an item or they might actually keep people from building a building, that's not what America was founded on nor is it what America should become.

I have to say, I’m with the mayor (not the Quittah from Wasilla) on this one. That has been my feeling from the beginning. We are about religious tolerance, and cannot legally discriminate on the basis of religion (or lack thereof). Palin disagreed with him and said, “This is not an issue of religious tolerance but of common moral sense” and “This is nothing close to ‘religious intolerance,’ it’s just common decency.”

This illustrates perfectly the slippery slope we’re looking at if we wish to prohibit this mosque and community center from being built merely on the basis of the religion espoused by the builders. Who defines “common moral sense” and who gets to tell others what constitutes “common decency?” Sarah Palin? Do you really want her definitions of morality and decency being implemented in our country? I know I sure don’t. The truth of the matter is that we cannot legally prohibit them from building this on a basis of their religion. I suppose officials can get around it by not issuing permits, that sort of thing, and I know that happens all the time—it wouldn’t surprise me if it happens here. But the argument that they should not be allowed to build it because of their religion is simply invalid, wrong, and unconstitutional.

As I pointed out when I wrote my previous entry about this subject, Timothy McVeigh was raised as a Catholic. Would anyone protest a Catholic church being built near the site of the Oklahoma City bombing?

I just think we have to be really careful about how we proceed here. It’s still a raw wound for many people. I know that, and there are times that I still feel it acutely, too, when I think back to those horrible days. I believe we need to react rationally and fairly, not on the basis of emotion or hatred. We are the better for it if we can manage to do that.

One more note about Palin’s remarks. Her tweet on the subject called for peaceful Muslims to “refudiate” the project. That would be a nonsense word. I guess “refute” and “repudiate” got all mixed up in her tiny little insect brain, although neither of those would really work for what she was trying to say. Both are generally meant to be used in an debate situation, as in “I have demonstrated that your arguments in support of your position are incorrect; therefore, I have refuted your argument.” She removed the word, but defended her usage by saying that Shakespeare also made up words.

Believe me, Sarah...no one is ever going to confuse you with Shakespeare. There is a rhythmic beauty to his words; your tortuous and twisted cadence reminds me of the sounds made by someone running their fingertips vigorously over a fine mesh cheese grater.