9-11, ground zero mosque, quran burning & why I love America

Nine years ago, on the morning of September 11, I walked into my work at Toyota. at the time I was the communication starpoint for Home Position E. For those of you who don"t work with me, that means I was in charge of reading the daily announcements. Normally these were work related items, or safety tips. But the morning of 9-11-2001 may manager handed me a piece of paper with a news story off the internet and told me to read it over a few times before reading it. As I read about a plane being flown into the world Trade center, I could not believe what was on the paper. As the day proceeded the work being done was a minimal, as we all huddled around the radio between cycles, and listened as news unfolded.

At some point in the day, they told us we could go home if we had time to cover it, and if we wanted to. My wife, Bekkee was home with our 2 year old daughter Dakotah, and expecting our second child. I wanted to be home, so I left work earlier. These are my most vivd memories of 9-11. And of course I remember the way America rallied together, and for a moment almost seemed like the United States again, instead of a bunch of partisan idiots. I remember flying the flag in front of our apartment. I remember little Dakotah getting excited whenever she'd see a flag..."Look, America!" she would say. I remember one day walking out on our patio and seeing Dakotah just looking up at our flag flying there. I took an adorable picture, which I can"y find anymore.

Nine years after America was attacked, in an act of hatred; Nine years after America showed that through Love brotherhood and unity, hatred could not succeed in breaking us down; as we face the anniversary of the greatest tragedy in our countries history; the news is once again filled with stories of hatred. The current hatred is not shown on such a massive scale as it was on 9-11, but still hatred is the root of two of the hottest topics buzzing around the news, and internet chat spots.

The first story is of the ground zero mosque (forgive any spelling errors please). I understand the viewpoints of both sides here. If my family were in New York, and I had lost close friends and relatives in the WTC attacks, I would not want anything that reminded me of the attacks that close to the sight of the attacks. Whether the Muslims building it had anything to do with the groups behind the attacks or not. And as an American it would be my right to feel that way. If I were the Muslim who owned that land, and wanted to build a worship center there, and if I were an American citizen, that would be my right also. That is why I love America. People with differing views are allowed to live and to express their views freely. That is what is great about America. Now it were up to me, the government should claim the area near and around Ground Zero, and build a memorial, and a museum to remember the victims.

But the thought of the mosque has made so many people lash out in hatred, not even taking time to learn anything about the people putting the mosque, or whatever it is, up. I admit that I myself have not researched either, and I find the idea similar to if a group of Americans had gone to Japan ten years after Hiroshima and built a large Baptist university on the sight. But we just can't react with hate against the mosque. We are America, we must rise above hate.

And of course the second story all over the news is the crazy preacher in Florida who wants to burn the Quran ( again forgive my spelling). And I saw, to a point, this is his right as an American, and probably would have been a harmless act of stupidity, had the news media not picked up on it, and taken it beyond the walls of his 50 member church, and made it a world wide headline. Now, as much as I support the preachers right to express him self, even in a stupid way such as burning Muslim holy books; I have to agree with the US military officer who has said this act could ignite hate in the Muslim world, and endanger the lives of US military overseas. So I pray the minister gives up his act of hate, in order to prevent accelerated attacks on US soldiers.

To me it is a terrible shame that the media has brought these two stories to the forefront, and once again made hatred the center of attention, rather than the memory of the fallen of 9-11. So please for the day, put your anger, and your political leanings aside, and just say a prayer for the lives lost on 9-11, and all those who have lost their lives in the 9 years since, in service to their country.

Lunchroom Story, a cautionary tale

This is the story of three young men; Lee, Sam and Joe. They were all middle school students at the same school. Lee was known everywhere as a bully. He would regularly harass students and make them give up their lunch money, or shove them into their locker. People knew to stir clear of Lee.

Joe was a new kid at the school, and he had a habit of to the front of the lunch line, even thought the school had an established code of lunch room etiquette that said you were not allowed to cut in line.

Sam was the son of the principle, and had a long reputation as a leader in the school. One day he decided to talk to Joe about cutting in the lunch line. He told Joe this was against the rules and if he saw Joe cutting again he would move Joe to the back of the line.

The next day Lee was in the assistant principal's office and told him that the school had a problem with bullies. The Vice Principal said he agreed and pointed out the Sam had treated Joe, trying to keep him from cutting in line. He wondered how Sam could have dared to ask Joe not to cut in line.

Later that day Joe's dad came and had a conference with Sam's father (the Principal) and expressed concern over Sam's actions. Sam's father agreed that Sam was out of line for asking Joe to respect the rules. He even promised to ask the school board to change the rules and make it ok for Joe to cut in line.

Does this story seem a bit silly to you. A bit illogical. Well this is an illustration of the ridiculousness that happened in world politics this past week. China had the nerve to accuse the US of human rights violations; and our deputy Secretary of State had the nerve to agree, and sight Arizona's immigration law as an example. Then Mexico's president came to Washington to complain about the Arizona law and to say that we should loosen our immigration laws. And The President had the nerve to agree. Hey Mexico, when are YOU gonna loosen your immigration laws??


So let me know what you think of this.

Give me a break!!

So here in California we are preparing for primary elections. This is where we get to pick among other thing the candidates who will battle it out in November for Arnold Schwarzanegger's (i know I butchered the spelling...sorry Arnold) governor seat. On the Democrat side we have most likely, Jerry Brown...if anyone is running against him, I haven't heard...he isn't even bothering campaigning much yet, because he is saving his money, I assume for he November election.

On the Republican side we have two major candidates. Steve Poizner, and Meg Whitman. Whitman used to run eBay; Poizner, I'm not sure, but has been involved in State Government.
Both Candidates say we need to fix the economy (DUH!!) but rather than tell us how they can fix it, they are both basically spending all their campaign dollars to tell us that the other candidate is a liar, and not as conservative as they claim to be. So, okay Meg and Steve LISTEN UP!! You're politicians, we know you lie, and you're from California, we know you can't be THAT conservative. So, Give Me A Break!! Stop slapping each other around, and tell me how you're going to fix our state. How are you going to be better than Arnold? Don't tell me why I shouldn't vote for your opponent, tell why I SHOULD vote for you.

Ok rant done. Thanks for reading.

Why I Support Arizona's Immigration Law

There probably has not been a piece of legislation in quite a while that has stirred up as much controversy as the Arizona Immigration Law that recently enacted. And people are polarized on their views; people either strongly support, or are strongly opposed to this law.

I support this law. This does not make me a racist. I have nothing against Mexicans, or any other race of people. Some of my best friends at my job are Hispanic. One of my friends at work comes from a family that immigrated from Mexico before my father's parents cam over from Holland. But when his ancestors came to America, they registered and became American Citizens, as my grandparents did when they arrived from Holland. They were Legal aliens And that is what this law is all about. It is not about hating on Mexicans, it is about legal versus illegal immigration. There is a process involved in coming into any country to live and work. And the Arizona law simply is saying, "Hey, if you're here without the proper paperwork, we're going to send you home."

If an American is found in Mexico without proper papers, they could be subject to up to 2 years in prison and of fine of up to 5000 pesos. Being an illegal alien in Mexico is a felony. So why is Arizona's law racist?

In Russia the Visa regime is constantly changing, and if an American is caught not in compliance with these laws he is subject to fines, imprisonment and or deportation. Why shouldn't Arizona be allowed o enforce the laws that the US government has set for immigration?

In China you can be held for up to 10 days before being brought to trial if you are not in compliance with their immigration law. And Japan also has a very tight registration process for non-nationals living in Japan, and if you are not registered, or if you over stay the term for which you are registered, you are subject to deportation.

I feel the Arizona law is simply an attempt to enforce the United States immigration laws. I don't see anyone protest all the immigration laws that the various other countries around the world have, Yet America is supposed to just open its borders and let anyone come in, whether they are registered or not. I have no problem with Mexicans who choose to live in the United States if they apply for visas or citizenship. But if you enter the country illegally and live here without paying taxes, and expect us to educate your children on our tax dollar, please go back to Mexico, where your citizens can pay taxes to send your children to school there.

And please, lest you still think I'm prejudiced against Mexicans, I am opposed to anyone living here without the proper papers. If you find any Dutch folks her without a visa, send their butts back to Holland.

Every country has its immigration laws, a way to keep the country from being over run by people not contributing to the country, but just living off the hard work of others. And every country should have the right to enforce those laws. Three cheers to Arizona for having the guts to enforce our immigration laws.

New Blog...ground rules

Ok, I've decided to leave behind my non-political rule. On my Facebook page as well as Twitter and my Growing Old Gracefully blog, I have chosen for the most part t remain non political. For this blog I will tell you from the start I will be very political. Many of you will probably disagree with at least some of what I will post. That's fine, if everyone agreed, life would be pretty boring. But I do ask you to follow at least a few simple rules if you want to respond to my posts. First, I will not tolerate hateful comments. Feel free to disagree with my opinions, just do not attack me, or any people I may be discussing. Ideas can be attacked, but please not any person or group of people. second, no foul language; I know it is very common today to throw in choice expletives to spice up your comment. To my this shows a lack of thoughtfulness. These two things will be removed from responses, other than that I will try to read and respond to ant responses. So tune in soon for my first Real post on this blog. I will be touching on my feelings toward the Arizona Immigrant Law that is all over the news right now. You won't want to miss this.