Moving and a transitioning away from my Angie's List gig have kept me busy and away from my online endeavors, so I've been unfortunately quite silent about the election. But as a fan of Monty Python, John Cleese, and the future of the United States, this I had to share.
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Though it's several years old, I've received a chain email message from many people recently titled "Allah or Jesus Christ?" which gives the impression that every person of the Islamic faith believes in holy war (jihad) against non-believers (infidels.) I've replied with this link from Snopes.com, which debunks the story about a prison imam, or priest, being questioned about beliefs inherent to Islam. Read to the end to get the full effect: it might take a few minutes out of your day, but it could shine some light on how you view other people not of the same belief system.
Though I don't by any means condone hatred or death perpetrated by Islamic radicals — or radicals in any other belief system for that matter, whether it be political or religious — I think it's unfair for people to assume that everyone involved in a religion adheres strictly to every "belief" in that religion no matter how crazy, in this case jihad. Islam is a far-reaching, vast religion, with many different types of adherents, much like Christianity; spreading chain emails such as this basically amounts to gossip, polarizing people further to one side or the other. Stoking the fires of ignorance-based hatred only serves to endanger everyone involved: more danger and terror is something this world does not need right now.
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Care about climate change/the environment/our national energy policy? If you drive a car, eat food that travels via a gas-fueled vehicle, use electricity, or are alive today, you should.
Thus far, the presidential candidate debates have been sidestepping the environmental and energy-related issues. Not to say that the war in Iraq, health care, and the economy aren't important, but everything's related, so we should give consideration to other things. This handy-dandy chart from Grist compactly compares the candidates' viewpoints on greenhouse emissions caps, fuel economy standards, renewable energy, biofuels, coal, and nuclear energy. Since few people in the mass media are talking about these things in the primaries, you might want to research it yourself before picking a candidate.
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