Bits & Pieces

I’m a bit befuddled here at the end of the week; no real inspiration from any of a myriad of potential topics, so maybe I’ll just monologue for a bit and see what comes.

The biggest news for today has to be the President’s endorsement—strong endorsement—of the mosque planned at near Ground Zero.

I’m not much of a religious individual; I believe your religion should be between you and your god, or gods and my choice to not participate is between me and, well, me I guess.

It’s no secret, if you’ve read anything here, that I am not a fan of this President and the current agenda of the party in power. I think the Federal Government has we the People have allowed the Federal Government to transcend—that’s way to nice a word—its Constitutional bounds for an extended period of time, far longer than just this current administration.

I apologize for the tangent. The meat of that is a topic probably best left for another post.

However, the President’s endorsement of the proposed building, and appeal for religious freedom for all strikes me as odd. Not odd that he would endorse it, it fits with his stated agenda of reaching out to the Muslim world. Odd that he would do so now, and there. I would think that endorsement is going to drive his already lagging popularity down even further.

I will grant that my first thoughts tend toward—perhaps rush toward is better phrasing—the disparaging. Such as: how can a man who spent 20 years in a church under the tutelage of a racist, vitriolic, hate-filled preacher know anything at all about freedom of religion? How could he have any credibility in that area? And, why would he need to weigh in at all, unless he was pushing a personal agenda?

And, after the fiasco with NASA’s new mission, and the subsequent White House denial of the administrator’s statement long after the fact, plus a myriad of other hints, statements and actions, I’m not convinced the President is anything but a Muslim. And in all honesty, my first thought after that is “so? Who cares?”

And then, the qualifiers start creeping in… as long as he’s not a radical Islamocist … or a deeply planted agent … or trying to impose Sharia law … or … any of a plethora of other “ifs” impossible to know or to control and equally applicable to a host of other individuals.

So, in a long, round-a-bout, we return to the mosque. If the location is private property, and if there is no known criminal or terrorist links to the owners of that property, then, as long as current laws and building code and zoning regulations are followed—i.e., no special exceptions or impositions—the mosque should be allowed to proceed.

I understand that that will offend some people’s religious sensibilities. But, the Ist Amendment to the Constitution guarantees freedom of religion to the citizens of America. Fortunately for all of us, it doesn’t specify which religion.

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Patiently awaiting responses to our informal list of questions from Mr. Nolan ad Mr. Gilyeat. And still waiting on responses of any kind from the balance of the AZ Senate candidates.