Michael Moore and the Mosque

Michael has a new blog where he intends to write every day. The one he wrote for today, 9/11, is:

If the 'Mosque' Isn't Built, This Is No Longer America

I've been talking about this for weeks, that we should be building a mosque right AT ground zero which would stick it in the face of oppressive Muslims world-wide. Mike says the same:

I am opposed to the building of the "mosque" two blocks from Ground Zero.

I want it built on Ground Zero.

Why? Because I believe in an America that protects those who are the victims of hate and prejudice. I believe in an America that says you have the right to worship whatever God you have, wherever you want to worship. And I believe in an America that says to the world that we are a loving and generous people and if a bunch of murderers steal your religion from you and use it as their excuse to kill 3,000 souls, then I want to help you get your religion back. And I want to put it at the spot where it was stolen from you.

You tell 'em, Mike! Much more at the blog and it's worth checking out, like this quote from George Washington:

"The citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy -- a policy worthy of imitation. ...

"It is now no more that toleration is spoken of as if it were the indulgence of one class of people that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent natural rights, for, happily, the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens ...

"May the children of the stock of Abraham who dwell in this land continue to merit and enjoy the good will of the other inhabitants -- while every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid."

Too bad America has seldom lived up to that ideal.

Kindness

A few days ago Lorena asked me where I got the first quote over to the right about kindness. I couldn't remember but got curious, best I could find is that Plato was the first to say a version of that and many version have been said many times since then.

I also came across a website that I like very much called Quotations About Kindness. There were many good quotes, I will only share a few so go to the site to read the rest.

How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been all of these. ~George Washington Carver

I have to say that this comes damn close to the heart of my own personal philosophy.

Remember that everyone you meet is afraid of something, loves something and has lost something. ~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

If every man's internal care
Were written on his brow,
How many would our pity share
Who raise our envy now?
~Peitro Metastasio

One man cannot hold another man down in the ditch without remaining down in the ditch with him. ~Booker T. Washington

Life is short but there is always time for courtesy. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson,Social Aims