What's Wrong With a Mosque at Ground Zero?

Nothing. Islam is the largest religion in the world. The extremists fit into a small minority. Therefore, it would be irrational to suggest in any way that a mosque is a symbol of terrorism or a threat to the USA.

Fox news recently did an interview the Republican Senator of Texas, John Cornyn. When asked about this topic, Cornyn said, "Whether you're connected with people, whether you're listening or whether you're lecturing to them, I think this is sort of the dichotomy that people sense, that they're being lectured to, not listened to, and I think that's the reason why a lot of people are very upset with Washington," Cornyn said.

As you can see, he is playing the "Americans are being condescended to by the elite Ivy League liberal grads" card. This is a recurring theme and tasteless strategy used by Republicans whose constituencies consists of back-woods hicks and low IQ hillbillies. That's who buys the rhetoric of repubs such Cornyn, unlike us educated elitist northern folk. Now I understand that as a libertarian, I agree more with republicans than I do democrats. However, many of the tactics I see used by republicans in their arguments just seem phony and calculated. The "common sense" approach to everything in politics is getting tiring to say the least.

One of the common arguments against the building of the mosque near ground zero is that it insensitive to those who died on 9-11. I do not understand this one bit. By doing research, one can easily find out that Muslims too perished in the 9-11 attacks, along with Christians and many other religious people. Whether or not building the mosque is in "bad taste" is completely subjective. What is objective is the law and the constitution, which both fall on the side of those who wish to build the mosque.

These arguments for government intervention in a religious freedom issue mainly plays on the emotions of Americans who are sensitive to what happened in the atttacks on the Twin Towers. For those of who are mature and intelligent, labeling any mosque as a terrorist base/breeding ground is illogical upon any fair analysis. But not for many flag-waving lunatics, apparently.

Ironically, it seems that the Americans who are the most patriotic are the ones that you are most embarrassed to share the same nationality with.

A Shift in Thoughts of Sweat

So fitness is something that I've just recently taken up. The whole idea off braking a sweat was something that I dreaded until I turned 20. One day I just happened to notice that I had quite a gut on me. Not one that showed through most clothes, but one that you may see if the shirt was tight enough. At 5'11, I weighed in at 193 lbs. This came as quite a shock to me. I finally realized that I had to do something about it.


As I sat in my car in the hot sun because of a massive car event a few weeks later, I began to wonder if joining this gym would be worth it. I mean, I wasn't actually fat, was I? No one could tell that I was a bit overweight, so why even bother? Good tasting food is one of the many joys in life. Well, needless to say I still decided to go through with it. I actually passed the gym because of it's strange location, but I was sure to head back out a few days later. This was my first ever gym and I was not at all surprised by what I saw. Unfortunately, the gym was not co-ed. This did not help me get girls, but hey, the idea was to get in shape right? The only girls that were present were the trainers and desk clerks, who were as condescending as I've ever experienced. No surprises there, however.


At first, nothing. I did mostly cardio, just running on the treadmill for about 20 minutes. This did absolutely nothing for me in terms of weight loss. I was beginning to lose motivation. One day, however, it all changed. I decided to experiment with my diet. Unfortunately, until then, I had never thought to change up my diet in order to get results. I finally tried, and lo and behold, I was at 189 lbs. I felt great. Nothing had been going right for me at that time, but this came through. I started to count calories. Less than 2000 a day. One other trick I learned was to eat nothing after 6pm.


Losing Weight While Still Eating Fast Food

Now that's where it got difficult. It is extremely hard to go without dinner every night. But you know what? It worked like a charm. When I woke up, I checked the scale and I was losing at least 1-2 per day. I flew through the 180's very quickly. Then it hit me: weight loss is more about DIET than it is FITNESS. Exercise, in my opinion, is nothing more than icing on the cake in terms of strictly weight loss. I was dropping lbs faster than I ever thought possible. I actually became quit obsessed with it, checking the scale 2-3 times a day, looking at websites that had information about BMI, etc.


Taco Bell, Checkers, McDonald's, Burger King. All places that I ate. The key is not to order fries or sodas. Get a burger, perhaps with no cheese. Drink the tea or just get a water. That's the way to go. The chicken wraps are also very good and light on calories.


So here we are today. I'm at 157 lbs. Everything worked out for me. I am heading in the direction of being cut and having a 6-pack, and to what do I owe this accomplishment to? Myself, of course. Only I could do this. Not a doctor, not a diet plan, not a pep talk. It was all self-motivation. I had to have the self-control and willpower to be able to go a few days without food. I had to have the determination to head to the gym at odd hours and put in a good workout.

Sweat and physical pain are now things I strive for, because I know the results will be worth it.

Here is how I lost over 30 lbs. I still ate fast food, by the way. Follow these tips and your golden. It's all about willpower.

1. Count calories. Eat 1500 or less per day. Take in most of them in the morning.
2. No soda, period. No fries, period. You order water or unsweetened tea. And for coffee drinkers such as myself, go all black. No cream, sugar, or anything.
3. No food past 7pm. This includes snacks. Nothing but water and tea at night.

Do these 3 steps and the results will come in almost immediately, guaranteed