I was away last week and unable to update my blog - so there is lots to talk about!
1. Braveheart - the Mel Gibson reference is unintentional, though maybe it is a Freudian slip. In any event, I do not receive many comments for consideration, and of those I do, almost all are legitimate comments about something I have written about, or linked to. However, occasionally, I do get the odd piece of what I will loosely describe as "hate mail". Last week was one of those occasions when someone from the deep dark recesses of cyberspace, using the cloak of anonymity, submitted a rather nasty comment about Israel. I did not publish the comment as it served no purpose - I might be tempted to do so if the person had the courage (hence the title for this section) to give their true name and address.
While obviously I do not condone in the least anything that Mel said in his attack against Jews in 2006, or in his latest tirade there is at least one thing you can say abut Mel - he did not do things anonymously.
2. The Ground Zero Mosque - this story seems to grow by the minute. Friday, President Obama stated his support for the right of Muslims to build "... a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances". Yesterday, he backed off that comment by stating that he was "...not commenting on the wisdom" of the project." Sounds like the President will be awarded the "Waffler of the Year" title.

In the circumstances, I am 1,000,000% against the right to build the mosque. I do not believe this to be a freedom of religion issue. I believe that the overt purpose of the mosque is political, not religious. I do not think that the United States has to show tolerance in this fashion, especially when the leading national practitioners of Islam (e.g., Saudi Arabia) are anything but tolerant. As one of the many commentators on this issue has written, and I am paraphrasing, Islam is great at asking for (demanding) tolerance, but is not so great at showing it.
Here are a variety of links on this very current and controversial topic:
3. Islam - I am not going to smear every practitioner of Islam with the brush of radical Islam. I do not know a lot of Muslims, but the few I do know are the same as anyone else I know except they adhere to different religious beliefs. They are primarily interested in making a living and providing for their families.
15. Lebanon - things are getting busy here:
16. Judaism - some links from the world of Judaism:
17. President Obama - I am not a fan of the President, though (except for above) I have not linked to much of the recent criticism against him - until now: