scottsimpson.net

The leader of an anti-discrimination group called for tolerance after a sign reading “Stamp out Islam” was posted in the hometown of an American contractor murdered in Saudi Arabia. (read more)

As a person in possession of a rational mind, I must question the fervor with which certain luddites attack the existence of Islam. I am neither Muslim nor a scholar of Islamic history, but I find the anti-Islamic attitude patently offensive.

The nature of my disgust for this attitude stems from my contempt for the popular opinion that all Muslims are terrorists. I’d like to think that I live in a country where people have some semblance of rationality, but nearly every day I’m convinced otherwise. America as a whole needs to seriously get over itself.

Instead of casting all Muslims as horrible people that hate America, why not stop for a minute and consider the plight of mainstream Islam, which is similarly under siege around the world? Al-Qaeda and the like are aberrations. Islam, like Christianity purports to be, is a religion of peace and tolerance. Only in the hands of misinformed radical fundamentalists do the teachings of Mohammed (and on domestic shores, Christ) become perverted into the drivel that emanates from terrorist groups.

What we are fighting is a war of ideology. The antagonists are not, as some would portray it, Islam and Christianity, but rather the antagonists are Fundamentalism and, for lack of a better word, Normalcy. Fundamentalism, of any strain, is as dangerous as any weapon conceived by man and should be regarded as such. By and large, the US Armed Forces recognize this — a vast majority of the undertakings in Iraq are shows of good faith (rebuilding, security, etc.) until a local government can raise itself from the ashes of tyrrany. And the supporters of our troops in Iraq should realize that their hatred of all things Muslim or Iraqi in the long run make things more difficult for everyone helping to rebuild Iraq. Iraq is not the enemy. Islam is not the enemy. ‘Irresponsible use of force’ and ‘baseless war’ are not the enemy. The enemy of our age is Fundamentalism and it must be regarded as a fire. Opportunistic commerce fuels the fire. Misunderstanding fuels the fire. Baseless hate fuels the fire. Poverty fuels the fire. What happens when you remove the fuel from a fire? It goes out.

And just as a clarifier, some positions that I stand by:

Islam: support
Fundamentalism: oppose
War: oppose
Troops in Iraq: support, probably more than most [and no, for the last time, it's not a damn contradiction]
Invading Iraq: oppose
High-tailing out of Iraq: oppose
UN in Iraq: support
Troops in Afghanistan: support
Bush: oppose
Kerry: marginally oppose

And let’s all take a minute or two to consider what Fundamentalism is about to do to the family of one unfortunate South Korean man. Did he or his government have any kind of gripe with anyone? No. Dammit, Al-Qaeda, this thing is between you and the people of the world, don’t bring individuals into it.

General

A teacher’s aide who forgot to put away her marshmallows and hot chocolate at Yellowstone National Park last year was taken from her cruise ship cabin in handcuffs and hauled before a judge, accused of failing to pay the year-old fine. (read more)

Talk about over-reacting… Freaking bill her or something. The article continues, noting that the fine was paid previously though the woman spent nine hours in prison before they figured that one out. Clever, folks.

Ray Bradbury is demanding an apology from filmmaker Michael Moore for lifting the title from his classic science-fiction novel “Fahrenheit 451″ without permission and wants the new documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11″ to be renamed. (read more)

I’m gonna have to go with Ray on this one. There are very few things that production companies take care of that matter and legality is one of them. Surely someone at Lions Gate noticed a little similarity in the titles. I don’t know how many working documents I’ve had that I titled like great works because I was feeling particularly clever at the time … but I changed the names when I published them or turned them in. I’d call this one about 30% Moore’s fault and 70% the fault of the production company. Shame on their lawyers.

A Northwest Airlines flight that was headed to Rapid City, South Dakota, landed a few miles off course at Ellsworth Air Force Base, and passengers had to wait in the plane for more than three hours while their crew was interrogated. (read more)

Now, I ain’t no pilot, but I reckon I could tell the difference from the air between a civilian airport and a military airbase. One’s got, you know, 747’s and the other has F-18’s. They look a little different. And with that new-fangled G-P-S system up there in space, it’s hard to miss on distances more than about a meter.

Some of the world’s largest record companies are testing a new music format in Europe known as the pocket CD to spin new life into faltering music singles. (read more)

Yeah, just knock it off already. Who’s going to carry a CD around with them? It’s 300MB, tops, which fits on a large usb drive. And like hell I’m carrying around ringtones on a CD. That’s exactly what the internet is for. Digital music is here, it comes through the internet, the CD is dead. Deal with it. Get a helmet.

The exodus of soldiers like Muller continues even as concerns grow about military troop strength, according to a new study. Some 770 people were discharged for homosexuality last year under the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy.

The figure, however, is significantly lower than the record 1,227 discharges in 2001 — just before the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. Since “don’t ask, don’t tell” was adopted in 1994, nearly 10,000 military personnel have been discharged — including linguists, nuclear warfare experts and other key specialists.
…
Hundreds of those discharged held high-level job specialties that required years of training and expertise, including 90 nuclear power engineers, 150 rocket and missile specialists and 49 nuclear, chemical, and biological warfare specialists.

Eighty-eight linguists were discharged, including at least seven Arab language specialists. (read more)

Yeah, who needs linguists and nuclear warfare experts, especially now? Let’s get rid of ‘em just because they don’t like the same stuff as everyone else. Talk about childish. Jesus Christ. Maybe we should divide the ranks into coffee-drinkers and tea-drinkers, just in case a caffeine issue comes up. But they won’t be allowed to talk about it. Note to pro-freedom people (read: every thinking person) — if we can’t get over petty constructed barriers here we’ll never get over serious real barriers anywhere else.

…and from the Wired.com sidebar:

Syria Strikes Back
Better grab your wallets, America: Syria is getting ready to slap the United States with trade sanctions. Syrian lawmakers drafted the America Accountability Act in response to a 2003 U.S. law that calls for sanctions against the Middle Eastern country for its alleged support of terrorism. “We are not simple-minded to the degree that we imagine we can affect the great American economy,” said a Syrian lawmaker who backs the proposal. “But we are able to maintain our dignity and slap the Americans so they know that if they continue with their arrogant policies, people everywhere around the globe will spit at them.” Ouch.
— Lewis Wallace

General