Bigotry and the Islamic Center in New York

As others have pointed out, the question is not "why build an Islamic center (it is not a mosque) a few blocks from Ground Zero?" The question is "why so much opposition to this project?" The only and simple answer is pure bigotry. There is no rational reason for opposition, though opponents raise the spectre of offending the survivoring relatives and friends of those kill on September 11, 2001 when the World Trace Center was destroyed in New York. The United States of 2010 is a hotbed of bigotry, whether racial or religious. This brouhaha is a prime example. It seems that bigotry sells well to some voters, so politicians are playing it to the hilt. They know no shame no matter how disgusting their positions are. They characterize the Imam leading this project as extremist, even though he is a leading proponent of interfaith unity and a staunch opponent of terrorism. Personally, I don't like any religions and any religious institutions. But I distinguish between my own personal views and the right of others to have their own. Too bad that the bigoted bombasts are unable to do that, whether on Islamic centers, abortion rights, or gay marriage.

Spinning Obama or Obama is Spinning

Obama's deputy press flack says that leftists won't be satisfied unless we have Canadian style health care and abolish the defense department. Let's deconstruct that.

Of course, Canadian style single payer health care would be wonderful, but is that what we are criticizing Obama about? No, we are criticizing him for abandoning leadership entirely on that and many issues. Did Obama acknowledge that single payer is the only solution which addresses our many health care problems and then make concessions to get a bill which would pass? That is leadership. No, he eliminated single payer and single payer advocates from the discourse at the outset. The result, a health care bill that Rep. John Conyers called "a piece of crap." The health care industry loves it.

Let's ignore the straw man of abolishing the defense department and look at the real issues. Leftists want Obama to get us out of Iraq and Afghanistan. Instead, he has mired us more deeply in Iraq and is pursuing an insane, psychotic (in the sense that it is totally out of touch with reality) program in Afghanistan.

In fact, on both wars, Obama is continuing Bush's manic policies without significant modifications. Ironically, if the Republicans attack Obama for endangering national security, they will be right since Bush and Reagan were the biggest producers of national insecurity we have yet seen.

Of course, it goes way beyond the two distorted issues Obama's flack raised. Policy toward Israel has not changed one iota. The focus on Iran, which is hardly a credible threat to anyone, is a cruel joke. Obama put finance capital in charge of his economic policies, and the rest of us are paying the price. It really is a case of the same sour wine in new bottles with different labels.

But let's be clear on one point. I am not disappointed. Obama is exactly as awful a president as I predicted he would be, which is why I didn't vote for him. That is my no-spin opinion.