Me? A Ball of Nerves?

First of all, let me wish everyone a happy Fat Tuesday. That being said, each and every Tuesday of the past 12 years has been a fat Tuesday for me, so whoop-di-freakin’-do. However, tomorrow the missus has me starting a diet, so maybe I’ll have some not-so-fat Tuesdays coming up real soon. So, for the next few months, it would be a good idea to keep any chicken wings or cheesesteaks out of arms length of me – or else I’m likely to pounce.

I have been called many things during my 33 years on terra firma. One thing I have NEVER been called, until now, is nervous. This would be especially true of my work experiences up to this point. I have worked in all kinds of environments, and any nerves that I might have had usually dissipated after a few days on the job. Late last week my boss told an amusing anecdote about an ex-coworker and began it by saying “if you think Vince is a ball of nerves, you should have seen so-and-so!...”.

The worst thing about the jolt that went through my body when I heard those words was that he was right. Maybe I am wrong when I think back on the first 33 years of my life and judge myself to have been a fairly easy-going individual, especially when my childhood is taken into account. I have always been a competitive person, and have had bouts with my ability to control my emotions during games. But that was hardly an example of nervousness. As far as I can tell, I was fun to be around – nights of chip-on-my-shoulder on-campus and bar fighting notwithstanding. In high school (prior to moving to the ‘burbs to attend Methacton for my 3rd Senior year) and middle school I was most definitely a class clown. So I wasn’t a nervous type back then. In all of my prior work experience, I was highly confident in my abilities and was told by more than one boss that I needed to ratchet down the cockiness a bit. Does a nervous person captain his sports teams? The answer is no. Yet here I am, 9-plus months into a job where the people around me consider me to be nervous.

I have worked for a lot of different types of people in my life. None of them ever intimidated me. I have always grasped a new job pretty quickly, and I always knew that I was pretty good at whatever I was doing at the time. I always knew that if for some reason things didn’t work out wherever I was, that I’d most likely be working again within a couple of weeks. This place has been different for me so far. For some reason, when the boss or his wife ask me to do something, I turn into a complete stammering nimrod. When I am questioned about something that I have produced, I get all flabbergasted and jumpy. Even when I know I have done everything right. This is SO not me.

I was just asked to act as web site administrator for a lead group as part of my expanded job description, and a conversation I had with the guy who set up the website made me feel a lot less mental. He must have overhead my co-worker and I joking about my being called nervous, and he said that I didn’t seem like a nervous type. He then asked me a couple direct questions. He asked, “recently married?”. I answered yes. He asked, “mortgage?”. I answered yes. He asked, “any kids?”. I told him about our Zachary being born just over six months ago. He said quite simply, “well there you go. It’s called responsibility, my man!”. This gentleman, let’s call him Matt, is most wise. I am holding on way too tight, like Cougar at the beginning of Top Gun. I am starting off on a completely new career path, and I am over-magnifying every misstep or criticism. I have always been a fall-on-the-sword type, and I am trying way too hard to impress my new bosses while completely abandoning the confidence in my abilities that got me hired in the first place. Now, the boss here likes to break people down, but that is a story for another day. From here on out, I am going to be myself. I am going to go back to being the confident guy who is a good at a lot of different things, and I am not going to let this guy break me down anymore. Looking back on the couple months of blog posts, I have turned into a complete Nervous Nancy. I hate nervous nancies...

[Currently Listening: Spacehog – “In the Meantime”]

Milton Waddams

I am starting my work week feeling a lot like the Office Space character Milton Waddams. However, unlike Milton, when I was asked to change work spaces within the office I was allowed to bring my stapler with me.

I have to admit, I was getting pretty spoiled having my own office for the first nine months of my time at my current job. I have worked in many cubicle farms, and I had an open work space when I managed the insurance agency. I worked a counter position for a couple years prior to coming here, and then I got spoiled. I had my own office. Man. For a few months there I felt like I made it. Granted, the walls were pink and there were no windows, and I am not being paid as well as most people with their own offices, but I digress. It was MY office. I liked it. I got used to it. It felt good.

Last week, the boss came in and said that a new project manager was coming in and that he needed the office I was currently inhabiting. Originally my office was to be up front next to the owner’s, which was (and is) occupied by his wife, who is the defacto company controller. She was going to be moving to a home office, and would not need to maintain one in our building. However, she continues to maintain both the home and work offices, so I have been moved across the hall to a work station with the only privacy provided by two looming file cabinets. This work space has also served as the company ejector seat of late. Since I have been here there have been three people assigned to this work area. The first was a project manager who quit. The second was a project manager who was fired. The third was the service manager (and the owner’s brother) who couldn’t hack it being cooped up in the office and went back into the field as a lead tech. And now, here I am. Resume on standby.

One thing that is keeping me rolling today was a much-needed message that my very wise friend Kev D: No matter how much stress the boss here puts on me, or how f'd up a work environment this can be at (most) times, I still have it pretty good. Click the link above to see what I mean.

[Currently Listening: Da Back Wuds - "I Don't Like the Look Of It"]

Then Comes the Blue Goo

It has been an interesting last few days for the Fat Man...

Friday afternoon I got to see my own heart at work. I have been having intermittent pain in my chestal region, and I had a let's-cover-all-bases echo stress test in Paoli. For those who have never had a stress test, let me explain what it is. First, they make you take off your shirt. Then they shave select areas of your chest hair - creating a nice contrasting effect when the entire chestal hair region is viewed all at once. They then apply multiple electrode-sensor thingies that work with the ultrasound to let them see your ticker. Then comes the blue goo. The blue goo was quite cold, and goopy. The goo allows for conductivity of the images, and for easier sliding of the knobule across areas that may or may not have resistant chestal hair at this point. The next few minutes entail various breathing, or breath holding, as they capture the "before" images. Before as in before they put you on the treadmill to get you to your max heart rate - which for someone with 74% body fat like myself, shouldn't take very long. I was told that the treadmill would speed up and incline every three minutes. It took only 12 for me to reach the threshold, which is a good thing because while my chest felt ok, my calves felt like they were going to separate from my legs in order to run and hide. As I exited the treadmill, I was dizzy. Not sure if it was from my heart rate being so high, or from staring at my feet the entire time I was on the treadmill so I wouldn’t fly off. I went back to the table, and they got their images as I lay there wondering why it felt like my heart had moved into my skull looking for an escape route. All-in-all, they found two slightly leaky valves (which I was told was completely normal) and everything else looked okay to the cardiologist. Thus, the pain I keep getting in my chest is musculoskeletal. Which is a good thing.

Work continues to be interesting as well. Finally got to sit down with the owner's wife (my immediate supervisor) to talk about how I am doing, what I can do better, etc. I have been dreading this conversation because I was under the impression that she didn't like me very much. This was pretty distressing for me because one thing that has always been a constant for me in the workplace is people liking me and having confidence in me. The sit-down went surprisingly well. We went over my job description and I am doing a good job in most of the areas. Some of the accounting stuff I need to get a little sharper on, but all-in-all I felt really good after talking to her. That lasted about an hour, until the owner came in, found out we had what was a mostly positive talk, and promptly reminded me how much I suck.

Speaking of sucking, I played in my first hoops game in over three weeks last night and I have bottomed out as far as how bad I have gotten. It became most apparent last night that I have egregiously fallen below the point where I can take as much time off as I want, carry as much weight as I want, and still perform at a high level. I scored 2 points. I was 0-2 from the foul line. I had maybe 5 or 6 rebounds. As recently as two seasons ago I was dominating games inside. Now, I am a shell. It has come down to a couple of fundamental choices: either start working out and practicing some in between games, or quit. The good news is we have played 5 games and I haven't been thrown out yet (just one technical so far). The bad news is we are 2-3. Worse news is the guys we split from are 4-1. And we play them next Wednesday. I like my team a lot better this season than the group we used to run with. A lot of those guys will not play defense, will not rebound, are soft, and just want to stand outside the arc and shoot threes. My new team is better defensively, rebounds better, but we do not have any three-point snipers. That being said, I like how we match up defensively against them, and we are just going to have to make it tough for them to score. I am optimistic about our chances for sure.

I was going to write about Prez Dubbya basically telling Congress and everyone else to F Off concerning the port control deal with the company out of the United Arab Emerates and also about how figure skating is not a sport, but I'll save those topics until later...

[Currently Listening: Juelz Santana - "Oh Yes"]

Their Time?

I had a conversation with a dear friend on Friday that had my head spinning for the better part of the weekend. Other things contributed to my head spinning as well, and I will address those shortly. I am still unsure as to what my friend and I were talking about that led us to the topics of fate, death and some sort of cosmic plan, but we got there - and a most interesting debate ensued. You see, my friend believes that when someone dies, it is "their time" to die. That, when the last breath is drawn, it is God's will that made it happen - and God has called the dead person home, as it were. I, on the other hand, do not subscribe to this point of view. At least not in most cases.

As I have stated in previous blogs, I consider myself to be a Christian (more on this topic later). However, one of the biggest stumbling blocks for me on the way back to believerhood when I was a kid was the subject of "God's Plan". It has been my belief for a long time now that too many religious folk use their God or their religious dogma as a crutch (and as a weapon, but I digress) when life's crap hits the proverbial fan. Things that often happen in life are too scary or overwhelming to be handled with any sort of logic, so things get chalked up to God's plan or God's will. Now, I am no master theologian, however I have spent some time with the Good Book and cannot for the life of me remember any passages that spell out what God's plan might be, and how people dying fall into said plan.

What I do believe is that when God created man, he gave man consciousness - and free will. We were not created to be automatons, and we are all given a choice as to whether or not we will follow the Word of God or not. It is this that keeps God entertained (for now), and makes life worth living. It is this gift that God bestowed on mankind that powers my stance that there is no predetermination. It is a paradox of the highest order to think that God gave us free will and the ability to make choices, insofar that no matter what you choose to do with your life from one minute to the next, your destiny is already determined by some cosmic plan of the Maker. To think this way is to completely ignore the gift of free will and the harsh reality of causality. That, and the well-documented Biblical clash between Good and Evil that we are confronted with almost every day of our lives.

Perhaps it was the timing of this particular conversation with my dear friend - coinciding with the passing of my Grandfather (Vincenzo Blando) on Thursday, some religious soul-searching I have been doing of late, continued extended family headaches, a complete dearth of a good night's sleep (The Man is teething and has ear infections) over the past couple of weeks, or my worrying over the results of my echo-cardio stress test on Friday afternoon - that made it affect me so.

I do believe that some people are "called home" by God. My beliefs tell me that God can do whatever He wishes to whomever He chooses. My Grandfather passed away last Thursday after long bouts with cancer. He was 91. Is it fair to suggest that it was "his time"? Sure it is. But, is it God's will every time someone dies? Or, every time anything happens anywhere on the planet? I would argue a wholehearted NO. Is it God's will when a pedophile rapes, tortures and kills a small child? Is it God's will that people starve to death in Africa while their countries are torn apart by civil war? Is it God's will that millions of people have died from AIDS? Cancer? Is it God's plan when a family of four is wiped off the face of the earth after being hit head-on by a drunk driver? To say that all of these things are the result of God's will or God's plan is to completely let the human race (and Satan) off the hook for the choices they make. If it were God's will that the victim of a psycho pedophile die a tortuous death, then why prosecute the offender? If it were God's will for a family of four to be killed by a drunk driver, should the drunk driver not be set free - as they were merely an instrument of God's penultimate plan? People who attribute every earthly life occurrence and other sundry horrible event to God's will have completely forgotten some seriously-important parts of the Bible - you know, the ones where we are taught to resist the temptations of evil. This is the argument that has always made me scratch my head when I see how many hard-core Rightists are pro-death penalty. It makes no sense.

It is my belief that God gave the commandments to Moses and to the people of Israel as guidelines for the difference between right and wrong. In the immortal words of the Bloodhound Gang in their timeless classic Lift Your Head Up High (And Blow Your Brains Out) - "Life is short and hard like a bodybuilding elf". Life is short. Life is hard. I can totally understand people's need to make sense of it. If chalking it all up to God's plan is how you choose to cope, then that is your right. But I ask this, if I were to have a heart attack today and die - is it my time or God's will? Or, is it a result of my eating retarded amounts of fast food for every meal for the better part of a decade? Was it God's will that I ate three sandwiches and a super-sized fries washed down with a vat of cola, or was it me making really stupid dietary choices? It had NOTHING to do with God's will. It was MY will that led me to those choices. Was there some sort of cosmic battle going on between God's teachings and Satan's temptations? Sure there was. Vince's Cholesterol Scoreboard: God - 0. Satan - 0. Ronald McDonald - 208.

My friend and I have agreed to disagree on the subject, and I am okay with that. One of these days I will learn to let this type of thing go... Okay, maybe not.

[Currently Listening: Matisyahu - "King Without a Crown (Live)"]

Love Being a Dad - Pressure's On

With all of the craziness going on in the world today, I often find myself wondering what is wrong with us as a species, and just how much longer will the world let us live on it given how we treat it and one another. Between the Republicans allowing their friends in industry to hold down the fast-forward button on the kill-the-planet remote, large-scale riots by the Muslims over the publishing of cartoons, the bird flu continuing its march across the globe, and NASA announcing the need to speed up efforts towards colonizing new worlds due to the impossibility of a single-terran species surviving for an extended period of time, I struggle every-so-often with my motivation to face the stresses of every day life. That is, until I see my son in the mornings, before I leave for work.

I have to say that I love being a Dad. Kim and I are lucky to not only have a healthy baby, but The Man Zachary is also an especially good-natured baby. Even when he is sick, he does not fuss much - and usually greets us with smiles and giggles. I have come home from some of the most horrible work days I have ever had in my life, and one smile from The Man when I walk in the door and everything feels right with the world. When I am holding him while he sleeps on my chest, the rest of the world melts away. His laugh makes me laugh, and seeing him so happy most of the time gives me some optimism that maybe I might be a good Dad, or at least a better Dad than I had expected to be.

Of course, having a child makes me even more worried about some of the problems I listed above. How can I protect my son from global warming? Rising sea levels? The Asian bird flu? Rampaging anti-cartoon anti-Western Muslim extremists? The Republicans? My anxiety over these national and world developments can get overwhelming at times. Sometimes I look at my son and feel guilty for bringing a kid into a world like this – one with such an uncertain future. But maybe, just maybe, he will be a part of the solution. I do not think he will be tall like me (I read another one of those “How Tall Will Your Baby Be?” formulas. 6’1. Bah!), but God willing he will be smarter, and a better person than I am. Maybe he will be able to make a difference in the world like I should have.

I am more determined than ever to do everything I can to not only be a good Dad, but to be a good influence, and to do what little I can to make our world a better place for our kids. It hurts me to know what kind of world they will inherit from their forefathers (and mothers). It is becoming more and more obvious that the powers that rule this planet will not allow change without a fight, or a global catastrophe. It is time all of us woke up and took notice of what is happening here and around the world. There is more to life than our bank balances, the NFL and getting our collective groove on. If things do not change, and change soon, there will be no banks, no sports, and no grooving. The Ross Ice Shelf is melting, glaciers in the Alps are melting, temperatures around the world are up, and we continue to tune in to American Idol in record numbers while a minute fraction of the population profits grotesquely at the expense of our only home - Planet Earth.

It is high time we started paying attention, and making our voices heard. If not for ourselves, then for our children.

Author's Note: There is absolutely nothing wrong with the NFL, fantasy football, bank balances (when they are healthy), American Idol, or getting one's groove on. I am a big fan of all of these things.

[Currently Listening: Rod Stewart (w/ Jeff Beck) – "People Get Ready"]

Overreaction Central

It would seem that our friends in the Muslim world have taken the voicing of their displeasure over the infamous "Muhammad cartoons" to new heights. Storming embassy lobbies and burning flags apparently failed to bring the needed "oomph" they were looking for, so the protesters have now taken to burning some embassies to the ground. Now THAT is a statement. The Muslim world has spoken! The publishing of cartoons is reason to commit acts of violence, destroy property, and to show abject hatred of entire nations from which an offending publication might have originated.

I was a youngster in 1989 when the “artist” Andres Serrano presented the world his infamous work "Piss Christ". In case you have forgotten what the "Piss Christ" was all about, basically the piece was a plastic crucifix dropped in a jar of the artist's urine and passed off as art. I remember the outcry from Christian conservatives, and in particular Jesse Helms on the verge of blowing a gasket on the Senate floor as he railed against the National Endowment for the Arts funding of Mr. Serrano's "work". I recall a lot of hurt feelings, intense debate, some protests and the usual gnashing of teeth - but I do not remember any structures being burned to the ground by even the most hardcore Christian conservatives. As an aside, I am a Christian and do find the "Piss Christ" mildly offensive. I have read the arguments by art critics that say that Mr. Serrano's piece displays the humanity of Jesus. I am not sure if I subscribe to that bit of artistic illumination, as I have not met many humans who swim in urine. I have heard rumors of some German porn that dabbles in this sort of thing, but that isn't my cup of tea. That being said, I try to avoid flying off the handle every time someone does something that might be offensive to my religious beliefs. The Muslims are complaining about politically satirical cartoon depictions of the Prophet Muhammad – because any depiction of said figure is deemed heretical. Listen. The central figure of my religion (Jesus Christ, for anyone not paying attention) is depicted on the animated television show South Park as a Denver-area talk-show host! And you know what? It is funny! If Christian fundamentalists reacted the way their Muslim counterparts do, the offices of Comedy Central would have been a smoldering heap long ago, and Matt Stone and Trey Parker, comic geniuses that they are, would have been dragged through the streets of Los Angeles.

In my previous post, I applauded the Danish newspaper (Jyllands-Posten) for taking a stand against Islamic fundamentalist bullying of free speech in Europe and beyond. For the past five years (at least), the Islamic fundamentalists have had the world press cowering from their wrath. I was initially surprised by the relative quiet from the White House concerning the whole Muhammad cartoon issue. I theorized that perhaps our government was going to sit this one out and let the Islamic anger point towards someone else for a change. After watching the news reports last night it dawned on me that the US government speaking out on this issue would completely reek of hypocrisy – as we use our military strength to create a bully pulpit for US foreign policy the world over. As much as I hate to say it, this is one quagmire that our government is better served by sitting out, at least for now. Sure, in an ideal world where the US hasn't been strong-arming everyone and their mothers to conform to our whim, this would be a perfect opportunity to champion an ideal held dear by all democracy-loving nations: free speech. However, given where the United States is trying to be taken by our own religious ultra-conservatives, free speech might not very high on the causal pecking order in Washington.

I wondered aloud (if you write a blog and no one reads it, does it make a sound?) a few months ago if there might be some truth to theories which suggest that racial groups are wired differently. I backed down off of that ledge, realizing again that human beings are all cut from the same cloth - and that sociological issues play the biggest roles in certain demographic behavior patterns. This brings me to the clear differences between those of us living in the "West" (America, Europe, etc.) and our fellow human beings living in the Muslim-dominated areas of the planet (the Middle East, Indonesia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, etc.). We may all be made from the same biological building blocks, but these people are a little TOO keyed up. I once believed that American southerners, or rednecks as they are known, were the least tolerant people alive. It is now apparent that Islamic extremist fundamentalists have earned the title. If there is a more hateful group on Planet Earth, I do not know of them. Not only do many of these extremists hate all things not of Islam, all things Western, all things American, and all things Israel - they hate within their religion. The Shi'ite – Sunni rift is well documented, as are many other intra-Islamic blood feuds. The reason for all of the hatred, and for the ridiculous overraction over the Muhammad cartoon, came to me as I watched the protests on CNN. These people have nothing better to do. Where some people see religious devotion and piety, I see abject boredom. My theory: when people have nothing else better to do than subjugate their female populations and pick the sand granules out of their beards, rioting in the streets over the publication of political cartoons must seem like Mardis Gras. I am not suggesting that the people in these regions do not have harsh lives. They do. They live in inhospitable areas, usually under repressive governments, with nothing to look forward to in their day-to-day lives. Religion and the promises of a better (after)life is everything to many of these people. It is why so many of them are eager suicide bombers, it is why so many of them are easily led into lives of hatred and fear of those that are different.

Is it possible to reason with groups that are so hateful? I am sad to say that I am leaning towards an answer of no. I have always championed the causes of diplomacy over warfare, of peaceful co-existence. Even in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, I understood why some in the world would hate us - and why they would feel the need to attack us. It was in the days following the attack, when I watched people from the Muslim world celebrating in their streets, that I began to feel embittered. Thousands of innocent civilians were killed with no chance to defend themselves. This was a cause for parties in the Islamic world. There is something fundamentally WRONG with that. Similar parties will be thrown in these same areas if a Western nation is similarly attacked in the future, or should Israel be stricken. Both the U.S. and Israel have killed civilians in their various military dealings, but it was never cause for celebration. The only conclusion that can be drawn is that there is a lack of civility on one end of this spectrum. A civilized society does not celebrate the deaths of innocent civilians. Civilized people are able to co-exist with others of different sociological backgrounds. Civilized people do not riot over the publication of satirical political cartoons – realizing that while it is heretical for a Muslim to depict the Prophet Muhammad, that everyone in the world is not bound by the same religious laws you choose to live your lives under. This gets to the fundamental reasoning for why our American forefathers put such an emphasis on the separation of church and state.

I pray that the American people nip the growing power base of the religious right in this country in the bud – and that we prepare ourselves to support our European friends should tensions continue to mount between the Islamic zealots and the European democracies. I have known a number of Muslims and have been lucky to call many of them friends. The majority of Muslims are good people, peace-loving people who love their God, and who practice their religion and live their lives without imposing their will on others. Religious fundamentalists, whether it be hard-core Islamic or ultra-right-wing American Christians, should understand that religion is something that should not be force-fed to people. Not everyone wants to live according to your relgious beliefs. Life is short, and people should be living life the best way they can, and enjoying as much of it as real-life allows. If you want to shield yourselves from all things fun and entertaining, so be it. Don't expect everyone else to follow you and for the love of God, lighten up.

[Currently Listening: Dance Hall Crashers “Lost Again”]

Something Rotten In Denmark?

There is something rotten in Denmark. At least that is what most of the Muslim world seems to believe. I am generally one who is most respectful of other peoples’ cultures, beliefs and sociological nuances, but the current brouhaha concerning Muslim protests of a Danish newspaper publishing caricatures of the Great Prophet Muhammad (and other subsequent European publications) reeks of knuckleheadosity. I am slightly embarrassed that as a former Political Science and History major that I was unaware that any depiction whatsoever of the Great Prophet’s image is considered heretical and blasphemous according to Sharia law.

I was planning to write today about my strong belief in the Forefathers’ establishment of a separation of church and state – and my fear concerning a growing number of right-wing Republicans who are trying to circumvent this separation. My topic today is loosely related to this issue in that they both involve religious zealotry. Zealotry is defined by Merriam-Webster as “fanatical devotion”. Someone who is fanatical is rarely thinking or acting logically – and when they are, they are usually only serving the cause they are throwing themselves behind, people who think differently be damned.

It is probably important to actually see the 12 cartoons that have spawned the protests and hurt feelings. While I am not a Muslim (or a touchy Christian for that matter), it is easy to see why some Muslims would find the cartoons offensive. The one with Muhammad sporting a turban laden with a bomb stands out in this regard. However, I applaud the Danish newspaper (Jyllands-Posten) for its guts in this instance. Officials from the newspaper claim that the cartoons were published partly to test whether or not Muslim extremists have effectively strong-armed and adversely affected European free speech (The answer, a resounding yes. Until now). Other European papers followed suit with re-publications of the cartoons, and a collective European shot was fired in the battle to defend free speech worldwide.

Muslim religious fanatic extremists reacted as they are stereotypically depicted as reacting – with violent outbursts. Embassy lobbies were stampeded and destroyed, and calls were made for attacks on the nations where the offending newspapers were located. Some Muslim countries have told those working in their respective Danish embassies to “go home”. Various delegates of Muslim governments and other organizations have gained audiences with representatives of the “offending” European nations seeking public apologies and reprimands of the newspapers. Is it me, or is it obvious that the Muslim world has gotten a little too big for its collective britches and/or burkas? One delegate, the Egyptian Ambassador to Denmark - Mona Omar Attia - had this to say after Denmark refused to sanction Jyllands-Posten or offer an apology: “"This means the whole story will continue and that we are back to square one again. The government of Denmark has to do something to appease the Muslim world". My reaction: WHY?!?!?

The “Muslim world”, as referred to by Ambassador Attia, has gotten away with the bullying of Europe, its press, and that of the rest of the free world by virtue of the overhanging threat of violence perpetrated by supposed Islamic “freedom fighters” who have proven time and time again that they are more than willing to take the lives of innocents to make their collective point. Islam is supposedly a religion of peace. But how do Islamic leaders expect the world to view their religion when the most notable impact it has on the world is the long list of attacks perpetrated in the name of “Allah”.

It is high time someone stepped up and took a stand against the runaway train that is Islamic extremists and their bully tactics. The cartoons that have caused this latest stir were meant as satire. No one was physically attacked by these publications. Some of the meaning behind the satirical cartoons would seem to be right on the money. Any display of the visage of the Prophet Muhammad might be blasphemous to Muslims, but my guess is that it is the truth behind the satire that hurts more.

I can understand a lot of the Islamic world’s hard feelings towards the United States. I would never suggest that the U.S. government is an innocent world player – especially with this current regime running the show. I would like to see the U.S. stay out of other sovereign nations’ business a lot more, but we as a nation should be standing up and applauding Jyllands-Posten, Denmark, the other European papers that ran the cartoons, and their governments that are supporting free speech. Free speech is at the very foundation of democracy succeeding in the world. It is what I fear might be the first to go as the American version of religious fundamentalism (the religious right) attempts to take control of our nation. If we are to be the bastion of all that is free and good in the world (ahem!), then we MUST support the Europeans who are taking a huge step in re-establishing their freedom of speech in the face of threats from a surging force growing on the strength of bully tactics. Kudos to Jyllands-Posten, to Denmark, and to all of those who fight for free speech and true democracy around the world.