Archive for the ‘Iowadawg’ Category
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08.18.10
We are a “tolerant” society.
I am now trying my level headed best to not take sides on the entire Ground Zero mosque uproar. I can see both sides of this argument. I can also see that the far-left and the far-right are WAY off base on the entire thing. So when I ran across this earlier, and had read it all (you better read it all dammit), I am now middle of the road.
Plus the history of muslims in the USA is a long history! If you search out, you can find a long of information about the muslims in American. Thomas Jefferson himself, as president, welcomed the FIRST muslim ambassador to the USA.
Face it people, there are nut jobs in ALL religions! I am not talking about going back to the Crusades or anything in history, but today. Not going there today.
Jonah Goldberg at National Review has an excellent view of what a “tolerant” society we really are. Here is an excerpt, but read the whole thing.
This is an incredibly, amazingly tolerant country. That’s one of the reasons why we grow so many fewer (which is not to say none) homegrown Jihadis than they do in Europe. The openness of our country is how and why the 9/11 terrorists were so successful. And, despite that fact, this country remained astoundingly open and tolerant. The supposedly “crusading” and bloodthirsty President Bush could barely finish a sentence without saying “Islam means peace.” And, contrary to the perversely disfigured narrative constructed by the Left and much of the media, the overwhelming majority of Americans, including the overwhelming majority of supposedly bigoted conservatives, have acquitted themselves honorably and decently. Whatever excesses, real or alleged, that have come from the justice system or from main street, are by any historical standard — including any previous analogous period in American history — trivial.
And yet, every time there is an Islamic terrorist attack, we’re told that we must brace for yet another anti-Muslim backlash, which never arrives.
……………..In any decent society, tolerance must work both ways. If the majority is expected to show respect for a minority, the minority must also show some tolerance for the values of the majority. I’m no strict majoritarian – one with right on his side is the majority as far as I’m concerned. But this isn’t a clear-cut issue of right and wrong. It’s more complicated than that. It’s about deference and decency and common sense. And one of the things common sense should tell us is that it is not only unfair but terribly ill-advised to portray 7 out of 10 Americans as bigots when they are anything but.
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Okay a few more items about the mosque.
Is the 9/11 Mosque a Publicity Stunt?
This is from Dr. M. Zuhdi Jasser, a devout Muslim and the president and founder of the American Islamic Forum for Democracy. Please read the entire letter, but it says in part:
Mr. President this is not about religious freedom. It is about the importance of the World Trade Center site to the psyche of the American People. It is about a blatant attack on our sovereignty by people whose ideology ultimately demands the elimination of our way of life. While Imam Faisal Rauf may not share their violent tendencies he does seem to share a belief that Islamic structures are a political statement and even Ground Zero should be looked upon through the lens of political Islam and not a solely American one.
As a Muslim desperate to reform his faith, your remarks take us backwards from the day that my faith will come into modernity. I do not stand to eliminate Imam Rauf’s religious freedom; I stand to make sure that my children’s religious freedom will be determined by the liberty guaranteed in the American Constitution and not by clerics or leaders who are apologists for shar’iah law and will tell me what religious freedom is.
‘Park 51′, ‘The Cordoba House’ or whatever they are calling it today should not be built, not because it is not their right to do it – but because it is not right to do it.” Mr. President, your involvement in this issue is divisive not uniting. Your follow-up stating that ‘you will not speak to the wisdom of the construction of that mosque and center’ indicates a passive-aggressive meddling on your part that only marginalizes those Muslim and non-Muslim voices against it while pretending to understand both sides of the debate.
via NRO
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08.17.10
Cool Today for a Change
Okay, it was cool here today! I mean like fall time cool. It was 63F this morning, and raining, when we left to go to Des Moines. Rained all the way there and the entire time we were there. Did not stop until we were about 10 miles from our exit. Rain here was not much, though we kept getting drizzles off and on until late afternoon. Rain was enough though to water out the gardens, thus again saving me the work of getting the hose out and watering the gardens.
And it never got about 68F. This I know from the big round thing with numbers all around it and the big arrow that crept up and stayed at 68F. Just checked the round thing again and the arrow dropped down to 64F. Expected low tonight is 59F. And no, aint gonna wake up in the middle of the night to check the big round thing!
Went to Des Moines to visit Aunt Louise. Brought her some good food again, plus a pack of microwave popcorn. Wife popped up the bag. Aunt Louis said put that bag right here to I don’t have to reach for it. Am thinking, she by this time has emptied that bag of popcorn. Wife cut her hair and permed it up so that Aunt Louise looked simply gorgeous.
Then we went to Aldi to get all those groceries my wife says we need to continue eating. Lots of canned goods, since they are cheaper than Fareway or HyVee. Got some pringles in new flavors since they had a ton of them and all on sale. The hot wing ones are okay, but then I really not into potato chips of any variety.
Quick stop at QT for some coffee and something to eat. Telling you, QT has some great sandwiches, hot dogs, sausages, and different kinds of what I call oversized taquitos.
And after we got home, got a phone call from our phone company. Just checking to see if our cable was working to our satisfaction after the upgrades and the service calls last week. Just how many phone companies do you know that would do that?
Then a phone call from the doctor my wife saw last week. Her ultrasound shows nothing wrong with her gall bladder and liver. He right now has no clue as to wife still has the pains. Probably will set her up to have her scoped out. Told her to continue taking the Xantac (well, actually the generic).
Wife brewed up a pot of coffee earlier. Said she just wanted a cup of coffee since it was so cool. So I am enjoying coffee with a hint of cinnamon (wife hates that). I just put a smidgen of cinnamon in my mug and pour the coffee in.
Just renewed two domains. Man, the registrars have coupons all the time to register new domains at a low cost, but then grab you good come renewal time.
And earlier, sold one of my blogs. Was one that more or less was an orphan blog that I rarely updated. And have a pending sale on a domain that I decided I have no use for. I may put up a couple of other orphan blogs and domains just to unload them. Reminds me, do check out the Fresh Dropped Domains blog, as I put up a new list every day of domains that are dropping or have dropped for that day. These are domains that strike my fancy as good domains that someone or a bunch of someones should go and register.
Take care you all. We are. And we are enjoying the cool weather (will be back to 80F tomorrow) with the windows opened and the fans atwirling.
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08.16.10
Wife to the Doctor
Bright and early (and I do mean bright and early, like we had to be there at or about 820am) this morning took my wife to the doctor.
Nope, not a scope down the throat! But instead an ultrasound. Wife was poked and prodded from front to back. But she was given a full make up of her stomach area, liver, gall bladder via ultrasound. From the front, the sides and the back.
Didn’t take long, about 20 minutes.
Now we have to wait for our doctor to read the ultrasounds and get back with us. Hopefully tomorrow since wife just called the doctor’s office but he and his nurse left early. Word given to wife is tomorrow sometime, as to make sure they left a note for the doctor.
Then stopped to get some birthday cards. Oldest daughter has her birthday today. She and her husband took the day off from their respective jobs and went to the Iowa State Fair for the day and maybe the evening. Just them, no one else. Told wife, sure was mean of them to leave while we were at the doctor office, they could have waited and taken us to the fair.
That’s the news from us for the day.
Maybe, just maybe, something earth shattering will happen and I can post a long post about something.
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08.15.10
Weekend Update
Just the odds and ends of our lives the past few days. So don’t expect a long post, any juicy information or naked pics.
Son-in-law went the other day to the specialist about the aneurysm in his brain. First problem was the specialist had never received the MRI scans from a month earlier! So he has to go back in a few more days. But the specialist did tell him that in all probability the aneurysm has calcified on the surface. That it is at the top of his brain stem. And that unless the MRI scans show different, he will probably run a catheter from his left leg to the aneurysm to drain it. Lastly he told son-in-law to take it easy, no heavy or strenuous activity (including walking), and rest as much as possible. Now why did the first doctor that found the aneurysm tell son-in-law that? Thus he is a bit stressed out and just not himself the past few days.
Of course, it also stresses him out about his brother. His brother had a kidney taken out (cancer) last week and now they are waiting for the biopsy to see how bad it is and if it has spread elsewhere. He also is taking it very easy.
Grandkids from Des Moines and their mother down this weekend. Grandson Jordan (spoke many times of him) spent the night with us Friday and Saturday. The girls and their mother came over yesterday. They were not too happy that they could not irritate me! LOL. Or even get me to irritate them. Even my wife commented that I was such a good boy and not roughhousing with them.
Picked about 36 good sized jalapenos the other day. Second harvest and more to come. Today I cleaned them and then sliced all of them so that my wife can pickle them like she did the first bunch.
Wife still worried about her tomato plants and if she will get more than three dozen tomatoes harvested. I told her, give them time, the rains we had put them back quite a bit, but they are snapping out of it and they will be overloaded soon. She does not believe me! Today she again fertilized each plant. Said maybe she should have fertilized more often and they would be bigger and better.
Friday got a can of wasp/bee killer. That evening, must of sprayed half the contents into the little hold in the brick where the little bees are. The rest all over the eaves, etc. Man, those bees came out a swarming! Most did not get too far before dropping dead. Got to plug the hole later today with steel wool (just a little hole, about the diameter of a pencel).
Wife got some cream cheese and added blueberries to it. Awesome and so delicious! Yes, I had it all spread on crackers. Think wife got like maybe 3 or 4 crackers. hahahahah…told her, next time at the grocery store, get more cream cheese and fresh berries. Make more blueberry and strawberry.
No political rant today. Just that the more and more our president and his bunch are in power, the more and more I believe we are getting screwed, our children getting screwed and grandchildren getting screwed. And I see so far that the republicans on the whole are no better! We really freaking need a new independent party that is totally beholden to the people only, not lobbyists or companies or anyone or anything else.