Ground Zero Mosque

First off, it's not even a mosque. It's a community center. Sure, they're going to put a prayer room in it, but that doesn't make the building a mosque.

And it's not AT Ground Zero, it's two blocks away. Also, there are at least ten Christian churches within two blocks of the former World Trade Center, and I've never heard any opposition to their existence.

I don't care if you are prejudiced or intolerant. That's your right. But it's no one's right to say they can't practice their religion freely in America. The only reason people are objecting to the cultural center is because it's going to be used by Muslims. And that is unconstitutional, un-American, and inhuman.

When the first European settlers came to North America in the early 17th century, they were fleeing religious persecution. They wanted the right to practice their religion freely. However, they were no better than the oppressors they left behind. They made their religion the new state religion, and other beliefs were illegal. In the 18th century, at the beginning of the United States, when our founding fathers were working out the first details of our government, they knew that one of the things the government should never have control over was religion. Thus the first clause of the First Amendment in our Bill of Rights: "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof".

Now, I know the United States is far from perfect, and I know we have a rather violent and discriminatory past. But one thing we've always had right is the freedom of religion. You can believe anything or nothing, and no one has any right to tell you that you're wrong.

So what happened? Have people forgotten our past? How is it within anyone's rights to prohibit another religious group from building a community center specifically geared toward their own group? What happened to "Congress shall make no law...prohibiting the free exercise [of religion]"? People have no right to ask the government to stop this community center. Like I said before, you can think whatever you want. But you can't blame an entire culture for the crimes of a few extremists. Not unless you want to go back to World War II, when American citizens were arrested and put in prisons- sorry, "concentration camps", just because they were of Japanese descent.



This is America. One nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for ALL.

If I wasn't a fan before I certainly am now

I watched Humanoid City Live for the first time today. Just finished it a few minutes ago, actually. I'll try to write coherently, but no guarantees.

First off, I have to say, Bill Kaulitz is without a doubt, hands down, the most beautiful human on the planet. And second, my absolute favorite moment in the DVD was the line "I promise you right now, I'll never let you down" during Ready Set Go. So sweet.

Also, they are the best band ever. Period. There are other bands I like, of course. Madina Lake, U2, Green Day. They're all good, but Tokio Hotel is better. That's all.

Okay, best songs on the DVD. Pain of Love was amazing. And Dogs Unleashed was SO good live. And Hey You. Zoom into Me was so sweet and beautiful. My favorite song- well, I can't really say. There's no way I could pick a favorite song. I love them all.

It's so beautiful that they keep thanking the fans.

There are some bands who make good music. I'll buy their CDs, maybe go to a concert if they're in my area. But they're not good people, and they're not good to their fans. Their only selling point is the music.

Then there's Tokio Hotel. Obviously I don't know them personally, but from what I've seen, all four of them are sweet, amazing, beautiful people. They're the kind of band for whom I'd do all I could to support. They may not be perfect; I might not like everything they do. But they are nice. And that counts for a lot.

My first Lughnasadh

Yesterday morning I was meeting some friends who are part of the local pagan society, and they informed me that today (Aug 2) was a holiday, and that I was invited to the ritual. Apparently it's halfway between summer solstice and autumn equinox. In paganism, they believe in a wheel of the year, and there are eight "spokes" on the wheel: summer and winter solstice, spring and fall equinox, and four halfway points, Sanhain (pronounced "sow-inn"), Imbolc, Beltaine, and Lughnasadh (pronounced "lou-nah-sah").

Those four, Sanhain, Imbolc, Beltaine, and Lughnasadh, were originally celebrated by the Celtic people in ancient Europe. Their year began on November 1 (Sanhain), which is similar to today's Halloween traditions. In fact, Sanhain is where most of Halloween traditions came from. On Sanhain, the barrier between the physical world and the spiritual was lowered, and ghosts of their ancestors would return for that one night. People left food outside to appease their ancestors, and they barred themselves inside their houses throughout the night.

At the ritual (called Lammas in modern paganism), they lit candles and recited lines about each direction, burning a different incense for each direction. A straw figure representing the god of grain was burned, along with our wishes for the coming year, and another figure representing the goddess of corn was laid to rest in a wooden box, symbolizing the corn being harvested and stored through the winter. Then we went inside for a dinner. It wasn't that good, to be honest. All I had time to make was cookies, so that's pretty much all I ate there. Hopefully next time I'll be able to plan ahead a little. If there is a next time.