Ground Zero Mosque is a No-Win Issue for Obama

Incoherent.  Inconsistent.  Idealist.  These seem to be the words of the week when it comes to President Obama.

He’s being attacked from all sides because of his “incoherent” message regarding the construction of a mosque near ground zero.  And yet, nobody seems to be giving any credit to a person who chooses not to dumb down his own ideas when responding to complex and nuanced issues.

Obama essentially said this week that while it may not be the best decision to build a mosque near ground zero in Manhattan, it is without a doubt their right to do so.  I’m not sure what is so incoherent about that.

It seems to me that the president is recognizing the fact that this is not just a right or wrong issue.  It is an issue carrying the weight of emotional reaction, a sense of honor, and a misdirected feeling that building a mosque near ground zero would somehow degrade the memory of those lost there nearly a decade ago.

Unfortunately for Obama, there really is no way for him to win in this debate.  If he says they shouldn’t do it, he is branded as being intolerant of religious freedoms.  If he shows support for it, he is disrespecting the memories of the fallen.  So, he’s left with two choices; he can either choose to say nothing on the subject (but, of course the media would never let that happen) or he can try to give a balanced, non-decisive answer that takes into account both the legal and ethical impacts.

Sure, Bush would have been more decisive.  He would have either hidden from the media in his usual, secretive fashion and used Fox News to propagate a conservative position, or come right out with a rehearsed, five-word sentence that he would repeat over and over, avoiding any unnecessary complexity even with such a complicated issue.

I, for one, am glad to see that we have a president who is willing to admit to the complexity of the world and not resort to yes/no, good/evil, black/white politics that only serve to avoid achieving any kind of thoughtful debate.  Sure, Bush and his cronies may have been better at branding their message and politicizing it for their own gains, but I’m glad to see that we have someone in office that can move beyond simplistic, misleading labels like “evil-doers,” “axis of evil,” and “patriot act.”

We live in a complex, global community.  And, I’m glad to see that we have someone in office who recognizes it.  Obama’s not perfect… not by any means.  And, saying that he flip-flops on issues is certainly a fair criticism.  But to say that he should take a decisive stand on such an emotionally-wrought, no-way-to-win issue is absurd.  Sometimes, the middle-road is exactly the one a president should take.

The Black Keys Rockin’ the House!

The Black Keys put on another crazy-good show at the Fillmore Saturday night.  As usual, my only post-show wish was that they would have played longer than their usual fifteen-song-or-so set list.  But, I guess there is something to be said for leaving them wanting more.  Here are two songs from their set… as a sample, for those of you who have not yet had the chance, to see one of the best bands around.

Prison-Cell

President Obama signed a new law making it illegal for prisoners to possess or use cell phones and other wireless devices from behind bars.  Lawmakers say that this new measure should cut down on prisoners and gang members from being able to conduct illegal business from prison.  According to a CNN article, last year more than 3200 cell phones were confiscated from prisons in the U.S.

I suppose my question is,  if cell phones were already prohibited inside prisons, but inmates were still able to get access to them, how will this new law change anything?

This new regulation seems to mirror the same flawed logic as our nation’s drug policies.  Politicians and lawmakers just don’t seem to be able to read the writing on the wall.  Just as people who choose to use and sell drugs are not going to stop just because it’s illegal, prisoners are not going to stop using or having cell phones smuggled in to them just because there’s a law against it.

The argument is always that if we were to decriminalize drug use, everybody will start using drugs.  The fact is that there is in all likelihood, not a single person who has ever chosen to do drugs without realizing that they are illegal.  Additionally, there are probably not very many people who currently choose not to use drugs, that would suddenly begin just because it’s decriminalized.  The only thing our harsh and extreme drug policy does is put more and more non-violent offenders behind bars every year.  And, it only fuels the violence that surrounds illicit drug use and sales in this country.

So, lets stop pretending that by passing a law, we can control the behavior of others.  People don’t choose not to murder because it’s illegal.  They don’t choose not to use drugs because they’re illegal.  They make these choices because of who they are and what they believe.  So do drug dealers and murderers.  Maybe if our prisons were not overcrowded by recreational drug users and non-violent criminals, it wouldn’t be so hard to prevent people from sneaking cell-phones in.

And we wouldn’t even have to pass any new laws to do it.  We’d just have to get rid of the ones that don’t work.

What Can Your Governor Do For You?

“If we get the pro-life issue right, that kind of gives us a framework for every other issue,” said a friend, Kathleen Crombie, a Right to Life worker.

Even as jobs–and by proxy, people–continue to stream out of Michigan, there are still some people who vote based on the most ridiculous criteria imaginable.  With Rick Snyder winning out in Michigan’s gubernatorial primary, hopefully voters will now concentrate on what matters most… jobs!

Snyder was able to beat out Mike Cox, who was endorsed by Michigan’s Right to Life PAC because of his adamantly pro-life stance.  With Snyder being a less than perfect poster-boy for the movement–he does claim to be pro-life, but strongly supports stem-cell research–hopefully the pro-lifers will stop worrying so much about such an irrelevant issue in a gubernatorial election.  Do they even realize that a governor has absolutely no say in national policy?  No matter who wins, they are not going to change the law or influence the supreme court.

It’s time to stop worrying about things that don’t matter.  The right to life position is only used as a distraction for people who think with their hearts instead of their heads.  Start worrying about whether or not you’ll have a job tomorrow and stop being distracted by things that your governor has absolutely no control over.

If you agree with the candidate’s economic policies and plans for reform–regardless of who they are–go ahead and vote for them.  But if you’re voting based on irrelevant social issues, we’re all going to find ourselves in an even bigger mess than we already are.

New Rule

We have to create a standardized test that all political candidates must pass before they get their name on a ballot.

Now that Basil Marceaux is not going to be governor of Tennessee, we have to start forcing political candidates to pass the same standardized tests that we place so much stock in for our public school funding.  If it’s good enough for our schools, it should be good enough for our congressman, senators and presidents.

It seems like every election cycle now, we have to sit through the latest porn star, ex-child actor, and country bumpkin that decides they want their fifteen minutes in the spotlight.  The saddest thing about it is that these people end up getting more publicity than the candidates that have a legitimate chance to do something good.

It’s time we hold the people we trust to run the country to the same standards as our children and public school teachers.  Check out Basil Marceaux’s official website.  No offense to ignorant, illiterate hillbillies, but if they can’t pass a basic skills test or write an intelligible sentence, they shouldn’t even get their name on the ballot.  The problem is that one of these days, one of these people is actually going to get elected, and we’re going to have to deal with the results of it.

So, let’s hurry up and get this thing passed before 2012.  We missed our chance ten years ago to avoid the fiasco that was “W.”  But maybe if we act now,  then we won’t have to sit through another fourteen months of listening to Sarah Palin talk about hockey-moms, shooting wild game from helicopters, and comparing herself to Shakespeare.

If Asked, Don’t Tell

Wanted: Brave, patriotic American who speaks fluent Arabic and is willing to risk their life overseas.  Must have an unquestioning love of country and be attracted to the opposite sex.

Lt. Dan Choi was honorably discharged from the army this week after admitting that he was gay last year on “The Rachel Maddow Show.”  He is now one of the more than 12,000 people who have been discharged from the military since the rule went into effect in 1993.

At what point do our best national interests begin to trump our worst social prejudices?  Choi is a West Point graduate who served as an infantry platoon leader for almost two years in Iraq.  Not only has he proven that he is more than competent from a military standpoint, but his knowledge of  Arab languages should make him indespinsible while our nation is at war in the middle east.

And yet we continue to care more about who people are sleeping with than we do about protecting our country and the troops who are risking their lives everyday.  As the pentagon scrambles to find individuals who can speak Arabic to aid in military intelligence and interrogations, they throw away people who have dedicated their lives to the defense of our country.

I suppose the next time a soldier is killed or our country is attacked because there were not enough people around to interpret the intelligence and recognize the warnings, we can at least take solace in the fact that we don’t have any openly-homosexual individuals in the military.  That should make us all sleep better tonight.

New Rule

I’m going to borrow from Bill Maher for a moment and present my New Rule of the week:  If you are a bus driver, and you refuse to drive someone on your bus, you are not allowed to call yourself a bus driver!

CNN recently reported on a story in which a Texas bus driver, Edwin Graning, is suing his former employer for wrongful termination after he refused to drive a woman to an abortion clinic.  He claims that in being fired, he is being persecuted for his religious beliefs.

I’m wondering if, when Graning applied with the Capital Area Rural Transportation System and checked the box on his application that read “Bus Driver,” he knew what the duties of that position entailed.  It seems pretty obvious to me.  If you’re hired to be a bus driver, then refuse to drive someone on your bus, you are not performing the job you’re being paid to do.  That seems like a pretty logical reason to be fired.

Graning can claim that it’s his religious beliefs that got him fired all he wants.  But in the real world, if you don’t do the job you’re being paid to do, you get fired.  And, if you don’t feel comfortable performing the duties of your job, you can quit.

This is not a story about abortion rights or religious beliefs.  This is the story of a judgmental, ignorant man who would rather push his beliefs on others rather than performing the duties he’s being paid to do.  He can believe anything he wants.  He can express those beliefs in any way he wants.  If he doesn’t want to drive women to abortion clinics, that is his right every bit as much as it was this woman’s right to have an abortion.  He can choose to give up his job and do something else.  But to try and sue his employer and claim that his religious rights are being infringed upon is absolutely ludicrous.

I’m wondering what’s next, Mr. Graning?  Are you going to refuse to drive a Muslim to a mosque?  A gay person to an adoption center?  Are you then going to claim that you can’t be fired because that would be religious persecution?  Give me a break!  Exactly who is persecuting who, Mr. Graning?

You have a choice.  You can choose to be a bus driver and drive people where they want to go, or you can choose to STOP BEING A BUS DRIVER!  What you can’t do is claim to be a victim.

Small Victories

Since I haven’t really watched any movies this week or seen anything in the news that makes me want to rant, I’m going to write about something that happened in the SIP program this week.

I’ve been working in the Summer Incentive Program at EMU for about three weeks now and all-in-all, it’s been a great experience so far.  Generally speaking, the students are really great and I have a lot of fun working with them.  But, for the first couple weeks, there was a student named Chris, who was really throwing me and my teaching partner for a loop.

Most of the students in the program have been working really hard and putting a lot of effort into doing their work, even though they are swamped with assignments and challenged by their first college-experience.  While many of them struggle with their writing, they have no problem working hard and trying to improve.  But, there has been one student that has struggled more than the others.

Chris doesn’t struggle with understanding the work as much as actually putting for the immense effort it takes to complete it.  For the first couple weeks, he tried his best to just keep his head down and try to go as unnoticed as possible.  Of course, we wouldn’t let him succeed in his efforts.  When the students were given their first reading assignment (about five pages) he complained that he couldn’t read that long and it was boring.  When he was given his first writing assignment, it was a struggle to get him to even start it.  He kept falling back on the same old excuses: “I don’t know what to write.”  “I don’t have anything else to say.”

Chris is obviously intelligent.  He is more than capable of doing the work… he just wasn’t motivated enough to still do the work even when he was bored by it.  It started to become a real problem

Finally, at our weekly staff meeting, we felt that something needed to be done before it was too late.  We discussed the issues he was having and talked about possible solutions.  While we didn’t come up with anything solid, we at least made everyone aware of the situation.

When we went to class, we were expecting another day of struggles with Chris.  But to our surprise, and for reasons unknown to us, he had a really great session.  He worked hard.  He asked questions.  For the first time, he actually seemed engaged with the material.  Something lit a spark under him.  We weren’t sure if it was going to last, but everyday since then, he has shown the same effort.

Maybe his parents talked him into it.  Maybe his friends.  We still don’t know what it was, but just as we were beginning to give up on him, he took it upon himself to change right before our eyes.  Honestly, it’s been really nice to see and I guess it just goes to prove that as a teacher, you can never really give up on a student no matter how difficult they make things.  Even if you’re not the one that inspires them to change, it can come from somewhere else.  And in the end, it doesn’t really matter how they get there… as long as they do.

It seems to me that the biggest challenge for freshman is in getting them to realize that they can’t get through college the same way they got through high school.  Most of us are motivated to do well in high school not for ourselves, but for our parents.  So that we won’t get punished or have to listen to them yell at us.  But, that doesn’t work for college.  Until you decide that you will succeed for yourself and not for someone else, you can never force yourself to read boring assignments or write papers that don’t interest you.  Some can come to that realization quickly, some take longer, and still others may never get there.  But it seems, at least for now, that Chris has come to this realization and hopefully it will be the first step he takes towards becoming a successful college student.

DON’T PANIC!!!

I must admit that I laughed a little when I saw that Facebook is now offering a “panic button” app to protect teenagers from cyber-predators.  I didn’t laugh because I’m cold-hearted or don’t believe in protecting children.  I laughed because this seems to me, to be the
biggest illusion of safety since we started taking our shoes off at the airport.

First, the app is not automatic.  People will need to download it to their Facebook page in order to use it.  For some reason, I don’t see a lot of teenagers downloading a panic button unless it’s to play a prank on their friends.  Ha-ha!  Gotcha’!
I reported you as a sex offender.  In your face!

The app is being promoted by CEOP as a tool to combat not only cyber-predators, but also cyber-bullying.  But again, it seems more likely to be abused as a tool for cyber-bullying, rather than an effective means to prevent it.

Most importantly though, it seems illogical to think that a panic button is going to prevent children from being victimized by cyber-predators.  Studies have shown that most incidents do not involve random solicitation of children.  Those who fall victim to cyber-predators usually do so after knowlingly engaging in risky online behaviors such as talking explicitly about sex or exchanging personal information.  A panic button would do little to help in such cases.  Additionally, most incidents do not involve young children being lured into meetings by significantly older adults.  In the majority of cases, both the victim and the predator are teens or young adults who are unaware of each other’s ages.

Kids are not as dumb as we think.  Most know that the best way to avoid these kinds of issues is through using common sense and not
participating in risky online behavior.  But the fear-factor is sold to parents and perpetuated by the media to such an extent,
that absurd protections like Facebook panic buttons and not allowing a person to fly with a full size tube of tooth-paste are seen as effective measures of protection.

“Tales From the Script”

Have you ever dreamed of being a big-time Hollywood screenwriter?  Have you ever watched a B-Horror Movie and said, “C’mon!  I can do better than that!”  If you’ve ever had aspirations of making it big behind the silver-screen, Tales From the Script might prove to be a valuable reality-check for those who think getting a movie made in Hollywood is their path to easy street.

Peter Hanson’s marvelously engaging documentary looks at first-hand accounts of the trials and tribulations of making it in the trenches of Hollywood.  Appearances from legendary (and somewhat grizzled) screenwriters such as William Goldman (Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid), Paul Schrader (Taxi Driver), John Carpenter (Halloween), and Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption), among many others, given this film a sense of legitimacy that cannot be denied.  Their anecdotal accounts of breaking into the business, trying to get scripts approved and produced, and eking out a living in the most glamorous city in the world may also scare the bejeezus out of any novice screenwriters with Tinsel Town aspirations.

The gritty realizations expressed by some of the most successful screenwriters of all time show that even after you’re finally able to write a hit movie, there are no guarantees that new doors will be opened.  The battle to be recognized in a cut-throat industry, struggling through writes and countless re-writes to appease the powers-that-be, and losing complete control over your work once production begins makes even the best and most successful screenwriters question their job-choice.  While there are certainly stories of success, most involved in this project seem to come to an agreement that the dream they had as kids turned out to be more nightmare than fairytale.  And, the struggles that they had to endure to break into the business never really stop.  In spite of this fact, there are few on this panel of scribes who would choose to do anything different.  And, as one writer notes, screenwriting may indeed be “the hardest way to make an easy living.”

Rating: 8.5/10