Woke to pouring rain, and found wind into my face at 13 km/hour on the bike ride to work. So, our nice summer is finishing and I missed most of it! My grass is half dead so I'm glad for the watering.
My memory is still not 100% and I'm just now grasping for what I listened to. It's not just a memory lapse, it's mainly because my usual headphones are in one of the kids' rooms and I only heard portions of the NPR show. On...the planned New York "mosque" near the World Trade Center site. I'm torn on that one because I don't think the local Muslims are in any way using this to commemorate 9/11 and in purely rational terms it shouldn't be an issue. I think they simply want a local place to worship, and of all places in the world, New York City is likely the most multiculutral and accomodating environment one could find. However, 9/11 is still too recent to be thought of in purely rational terms, and I completely understand the pushback.
The "mosque" is not a conventional mosque and is evidently a dedicated worship room in a local building. No minarets and no wailing mullahs etc. I have to side with the Muslim community because they are keeping their faith low key and I guess purposely hidden from public view. I also think the opposition is from a small group of vocal individuals with an extremely negative message and point of view that I can't believe reflects the average person. However, the average person can't even voice a moderate opinion now because they rightly fear of being targeted in the same way the Muslims are.
Since it's now such a high profile and sensitive topic I would ask the Muslims to simply move farther away, and avoid the unavoidable fall out. It's a no-win for all involved because it's also un-American and is counter to what the vocal extremists are fighting for and represent.
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