9 September 2010 rehabilitation

Shoulder: improved; then again I went back to the naproxen. Last night, it was my wife waking me up.

Knee: right knee (the operated one) is fine, the left one is improved but slightly sore.

Workout: 2 mile walk, 1 mile treadmill run (9:48), 100 sit ups (4 sets of 25 on the incline), 2 miles AMT (23 minutes; kept increasing the resistance), 1 mile treadmill walk (12:45, moved up to 3 on the incline), rotator cuff with the bands.

Here is an African’s view on the Koran Burning.

I think that this post is very thought provoking. Read the whole thing. Here is a teaser:

But various bleeding heart christian liberals in the United States are crying out for all of us to respect people’s religious beliefs. They are nuts! ALL religions promote violence. I’m sorry, as long as I have any remnant of sanity left in me, I will never respect any religion and the human division, hatred and violence that all of them promote. I am an atheist, I am a humanist.

People in East Africa are sick and tired of Christian fanatics like Joseph Kony, the white American fundamentalists who come to East Africa to teach Africans to hate and kill one another, and here in Uganda and Kenya, we still haven’t recovered from the Islamic-led bombings of people watching TV football. More than 80 people have died here in Kampala because of the 11th July 2010 bombings. And we’re suppose to respect the moslem religion?

Note: this is much more than “a pox on both their houses” post.

Update: check out Jerry Coyne’s post: he captures much of the ambivalence that I feel.

On one hand, I really don’t like the Koran burning. On the other hand, I am not going to tolerate some idiot telling me that my burning their Holy book or insulting their prophet “violates their rights”.

9 September 2010 posts

Strangely enough, a CONSERVATIVE sent me this article. I suppose that I don’t disagree with all conservatives on everything. Here is a snippet:

[...]If I may sally briefly into unloved seriousness: What puzzles me, as one who has lived extensively abroad, is how little Americans are able to see things through the eyes of others, how little empathy they have (this latter defect being characteristic of both psychopaths and narcissists).

Consider a headline from Anti-War.com of a sort appearing almost daily: “US Drone Strike Destroys House Full of Children in Pakistan.”

Apparently no one in the Great Rubber Room north of Mexico has an inkling why this might arouse hatred in Pakistanis. Can you imagine the fury that would ensue if a Moslem blew up a house full of American kids in, say, Queens? But when we kill their kids, no one cares. “Yeah, well. Tough. Giv’em a few dollars.” Buncha dirty raghead larvae. No better than cock roaches, right?.

Now, we’re going to have a pop quiz. Take out a sheet of paper. Question: Can you think of any reason why Moslems might be unhappy with America?

Right! They hate our freedoms.

In which case they daily have less to hate us for. [...]

I find it strange that a conservative would approve of the above sentiment but I am glad that a few do.

John Boehner: judge for yourself; here are some of his false statements.

Economy: Republican policies are geared toward helping the wealthiest. Of course, Republicans are ok with that.

Barack Obama: most respected leader in the world. Of course, Republicans see this as a negative.

Economy Republicans argue for more tax cuts for the rich. Democrats want more stimulus. But the long term: we need to get people ready for jobs that will be there and that means being more competitive with the world’s economic powers. That is one reason I favor the equipment and R and D tax cuts. But it will be harder than we think.

Republicans: are even turning on Andy Griffith. Why? He supported Obama and health care reform.

Muslims in America and Koran Burning and my Ambivalence

Needless to say, many of my friends are up in arms over a Church in Florida saying that it will burn Korans on 9-11. This came on the heels of a politically driven campaign to discourage Muslims from building a community center (with a prayer area) in New York City, a couple of blocks from ground zero. Needless to say, many Muslims are feeling unwelcome in the USA and are wondering if they will ever be accepted.

So, before I go any further, let me make my own opinions clear:

1. The Muslim community center is being built legally and to serve New Yorkers. They have every right to do that, and the fact that Al Qeada consisted of Muslims really should have no bearing at all; after all Muslims fight each other all the time and Christians fought each other. The attack was by Al Qeada, not by Islam. I hope that they build it and that it thrives.

2. I denounce the burning of the Korans. It is a hateful, immature act. I’ve joined a couple of facebook groups which denounce it.

But…there is the other side: the United States of America is a free speech country. Burning the Koran is a part of free speech. Unfortunately, free speech is something many public Muslims have a problem with:

Burning the Quran is not freedom of expression. It is a violation of the rights of one billion and 570 million Muslims

Dr. Diaa Rashwan

This is a profoundly stupid statement. Burning a book that you own doesn’t violate the rights of anyone else, period.

Yes, I understood some of the rioting over the Muhammad cartoons in Europe. Why? Many countries in Europe do NOT have free speech; they have laws which forbid the expression of certain ideas including certain anti-Semitic ideas. So the Muslims might think “they are protected, so why aren’t we?”

But this burning would be taking place in the United States of America. We. Have. Free. Speech. A book might be sacred to YOU but that doesn’t make it sacred to me. The rules of your religion don’t apply to me and you have no “rights” over my expression.

And of course, we see scenes like this: evidently these Muslims thought that they had a right to censor what others can see:

They don’t.

People who cannot accept that the US has free speech really don’t belong here.
Those who do accept that we have free speech can worship or not worship any way they please and should be able to do so without fear of being harassed.
Of course, their IDEAS are always open to being questioned and critiqued.