Islam and the Mexico drug war

Please forgive me if this is poorly written, I am using my phone and a new app to try to blog from.

I read a blog by an uber conservative blogger recently that still has me all hot and bothered. It talked about my generation being a bunch of Jersey Shore watching real wannabe housewives. We are completely disappointing and lost in our reality shows and malls. She also focused on religion and Islam; namely that they are a very scary religion we should go too war against. Her words were scary to say the least and I was more than offended. So I left a comment with many organizations that used christianity as a reason for terror and murder. I also pointed out that taxi drivers and pedestrians have been attacked for appearing to or admiring to be Muslim.

The comment was quickly dismissed because these organizations I named were "not Christians." Which was precisely the point! These organizations at the core are hate organizations with the intent to gain power through violence and intimidation, BUT they used organized religion as a means to organize, recruit and build support. It works.

Look at the Mexico drug trade right now. The big drug cartels, one of which its named "la familia" is a prime example. The highest members go to church and encourage everyone else to do so. The larger organized crime "families" also are known for there family "values"and for keeping religion close to heart.

Islam is not the enemy. The Koran has murder as the SECOND worst sin while it is commandment number 6 in the Bible.

I believe Islam is not the enemy. I believe Muslims come in all shapes, sizes, and spectrums of beliefs. I do not believe we should persecute an entire religious belief due to a subset. We didn't persecute the entire group of peoples who believe in God for the catholic molestation and child abuse issues. Or because of the KKK, Hitler and other "Aryan nation" crazies. Or all mormons because of the crazy ranch in Texas that believed in marrying 12 year old girls to 30 plus year old men.

These are people using the Islamic faith and more than anything the growing American discriminationagainst Muslims to recruit to gain power.

Human Trafficking

According to the U.S. Department of State's 2007 Trafficking in Person's Report, there are approximately 27 million people in modern-day slavery worldwide. Even worse, approximately one MILLION children are exploited by the global commercial sex trade (Dept of State, The Facts about Child Sex Tourism 2005).

I saw a documentary on human trafficking, and I had never looked at it that way. I didn't realize how widespread it was, and that it affected the United States so widely. Even more so, 20% of the human trafficking in the United States is in Texas. Houston is considered one of the biggest hubs of human trafficking, and I'm looking to get involved with Houston Rescue and Restore.

September 18th-26th is the fourth annual Human Trafficking Awareness Week. Keep in mind places where victims of human trafficking are massage parlors, strip clubs, bars, and are usually in seedy locations.

Horses

It rained all day today. No, it didn't rain, it poured. It can't-see-the-highway rained. Trucks spinning off the road rained. Well, that's more of a Texas thing than a rain thing. While my plants were grateful and I am certain we needed the rain, I am a little disappointed that it rained so much. I didn't go to the barn at all this past week, and I know it's only been a week, but I feel like I haven't ridden in forever.

My half-chaps, boots and breeches are starting to look pretty rough. The elastic on the ankles are pulling off, my boots are cracking and the swede on my half-chaps are essentially gone. The half-chaps are fine, but I would like to get new boots and breeches.

My last lesson Jessica rode Sam and I rode Oslo. Jessica was really nervous, and the first 15 or 20 minutes of the lesson were a little tense, but she relaxed and the lesson ended up going really nicely. Oslo is difficult to get used to, but he is amazing. He's so fun to ride and he has such beautiful strides. The biggest challenge for him is setting him up to the jump and making sure not to jump ahead of him.

I've found I struggle the most with finding distances to jumps. I'm hoping we'll do more in the way of gymnastics to help improve that.

I get to see one of my favorite people in the world soon, and that makes me really happy!!