And then you wistfully look back on those days when you were occasionally bored, thinking, "Man, I could use a couple weeks of boring right now."

I'd even take Mildly Annoying. Like, dog poops on the floor, but that's the ONLY thing that goes wrong. Boy howdy, I'd love that.

Yeah, I actually think the folks that want to build the community center in lower Manhattan ought to say, "Oh man, this is ouchy. Never mind. We'll pick another spot." This is a moral judgment, not a legal one.

So, for moral reasons should Jewish community centers not be built in areas where Palestinians live, even if there is a large Jewish population in the same neighborhood to be served? Of course Jews are not responsible for what Israel does. But neither are Muslims responsible for what Al-Qaeda does.

Hey thanks! Yeah, I've been kind of marveling at how un-productive I've been the past few days--the house is a wreck, my to-do list at work is massive and growing, and it's not actually like me. Or the me of the past, say, three years. I mean, you know it's bad when I can't even get it up to watch White Collar. But then I look back at the past two weeks and I realize that I may be a little freaked out/stressed out/in chronic pain. So maybe I can cut myself a little slack.

But I need to snap out of it pretty quick. The students are moving in this week whether I get my act together or not.

Gar, yeah. I actually think everyone should be (morally not legally required to be) uber sensitive of everyone else.

I would go along with that, except it seems to me that nobody weighing in is actually there. Hypothetical sensitivity shouldn't count.

Thanks Erika

According to polls, People actually living in the neighborhood support the community center. Opposition seems come mostly from people living elsewhere on their behalf.

Going with Typo Boy, here. My Street has : white families, vietnamiese family , two interracial family,a family from Sweden( not American ) at least one atheist family, a number of conservative Christians, one right wing family, a bunch of liberal intellectuals , senior sinners ( live together not married, blue collar , whit collar, pink collar , musicians , auto mechanics--- and that is just the 8 houses or so I can think of. If I go out side of the street - well lets just say you can't really do anything with out someone thinking you are crossing a line. and there are six flavors of churches - at least. And that's in the 2 mile radius -- less then 5 to add a mosque and a sikh temple

The argument goes something like - sure it's legal but it's disrespectful so it shouldn't be allowed

You know what's really fucking disrespectful? Jack-hole former politicians from Georgia and Alaska telling people in lower Manhattan who breathed the ashes of their neighbors as they fled for their lives what they should and should not put on their own fucking block.

The Scary Scary Muslims aren't the interlopers here.

God I'm getting sick of this.

Trudy, I was just saying to Matt that that is the strongest argument

eta: my fingers and eyes should pay more attention

people in lower Manhattan who breathed the ashes of their neighbors as the fled for their lives what they should and should not put in their own fucking neighborhood.

That pretty much covers how I feel. If the people in that neighborhood are cool with it, that's all that matters. A Muslim community center in lower Manhattan will have utterly no effect on some yahoo in (for instance) Alaska.