Muslim sickness

pparently not. They will not stop until they bring us down to their level of rigidity and one-track-mind. In short, what the hell are they doing in the world of "non-believers" if they hate it so much? To some, the shout is "Yankee go home", now it's getting more like "Muslims go back to your desert" because your "religion of peace" is spreading war among other serious discontent.

People ar people

While we try to keep our mind out of the gutter and go for something that elevates the spirit, we are humans and we will fail.
So we fail.I suppose the trick, as in all things, is not to fall too low in the said gutter. After all, we have our limits. On the other hand, some people will be willing - will want to try anything at least once. So why not - if it is among consenting adults and nobody gets hurt. Prohibiting something only makes it worse. As with the Catholic Church and its famed Index. As with the U.S. and the Prohibition (and all the Al Capones who became filthy rich). And as with certain laws about which the now deceased Pierre E. Trudeau, former Prime Minister of Canada said that the government had nothing to do in the bedrooms of the nation. What adults do behind closed doors is theirs business.
So exploring is good but the dangers are great - not to your soul, that's another problem - but to your health if you dont protect yourself properly. So enjoy - with care.

Religious blinders

Again, Islam is not the only religion-cum-political system with blinders. The Catholic Church seems to prefer to pay off huge court settlements to priests/pedophile's victims and ignore the real problems Or rather, the real "state" of human nature.
Humansat large do not choose what religion they're born into. And it's not by prohibiting, say, homosexuality, or deny that it exists that it will go away.. Other form of sexual "crimes" are even more insiduous. A few years ago in Montreal a young man (of muslim heritage) was (eventually) found guily of rape. His defence was that he was not guilty of rape. To put it delicately, he'd not "deflowered" the girl, he'd simply sodomized her. An acceptable thing in his culture (apparently) because she was still a vigin (in a manner of speaking) when he was done with her.. She could pass the virginity test anytime with flying colors.
Hypocrisy prevails. We are all so pure.
Again, I want to see a splinter group within this Islamic stuff. A "Protestant" Islamic section as it were, A guiding light without the extremism.
Peacr. Not Iran, not Irak, notSaudi-Arabia or North Africa.
Just peace.
And leave your Burkas behind, please.

Sects, sects, sects.

Actually, all religions, big and small, are nothing but sects which succeeded and grew. Others remain marginal while a bunch of even smaller ones simply whither and die. The present day Catholic Church has a pretty tight grip all around and "protestant" groups in its midst are excommunicated quickly enough. But they exist and are trying to make this Church move foward. Of course, the Catholic Church itself will die before changing any of its principles or softening any of its rules . So they're losing members by droves and people at large don't care.
The Protestant Church comprises too many groups to mention. But ideas fly and there is an open-mindedness in many of its groups including the Anglican Church.
The history of Judaism is full of all sorts of groups, sub-groups and left wing and right wing "orthodox " crowds . A world in motion.
The only group seemingly stuck in the Darkest of the Dark Ages is Islam. Sunnis and Shiites battling it out. Nice religion. No central core, no Central Entity to guide the crowd. Oh, I suppose one could say that the Wahhabites, Extremists to the core, represent some kind of ideal. But lets remember that the Saudi Royal family belongs to this group. Draw your own conclusions.
Anybody can guide - anybody can be an Imam. All is needed is that he has the support of his peers, of those who seek his advice. no special training, nothing. Or he can have an exceptiona memory, become an hafiz (a muslim who knows the Koran by heart) and perhaps be considered to be "The Next One".
Perhaps what is needed is a new sort of Imam who, regardless of the consequences will rise up adapt his (or, yes, her) teachings to the modern world and guide his flock along an equally righteous road.. Teahchings will allow adaptations to a new world while keeping the best - and most charitable of the old.

Moderation

Somewaht of an example for Islam to follow might be Turkey. The Turkey of Mustafa Kemal, a.k.a. Ataturk (1881-1938) who laicised the government. So Turkey sits astride East and West, wishing to keep the old traditions and yet join the European Community. A lot of work remains to be done (and the Kurds will have to be respected) but one gets the feeling that Turkey is more "appoachable" than, say, Iran and the Ayatollahs (who the heck are they to tell you what to think and how to act?). heir revolution was certainly a huge regression towards the bowels of hell. May Allah have pity on everybody if those idiots get their hands on an atomic bomb.

Islam, religion of love

Tell me about it. Sunni versus Shiites. A lovefest that's been lasting forever and intensified in Baghdad recently It's enough to want to bring back Saddam Hussein and a semblance of order.
Sunnis versus Shiites. They're over there. At home. And now they're coming here. All insulted and demanding excusues because of some caricatures because, seemingly, the Koran prohibits representations of Muhhammed. Meanwhile other academics (muslims and well-versed in the subject) say that's hogwash and that nothing in the Koran says any such thing.
Islam, to me, is more a symbol of aggression, intolerance and extremism. Just take a look at the little footage we get of Mecca during the pilgrimage. Total craziness. Total disregard for others and thus dozens and dozens of deaths every time. It's so uplifting to see such religious zeal. And when this religious zeal blends in with everyday life, how can it not affect it?
In a manner, I couldn't care less what they do to (and with) each other "over there" but all the hatred and the intolerance in the land of Allah and what remains of the caliphates cannot be brought over here in a muslim's baggage. But it is. It's ingrained. It's in the DNA; and rather that adapt to the Societal Norms of the host country, they keep to the rigidity of their homeland (to wit: the extremist who killed the cineast Van Gogh and added that he would gladly do it again).
It's a total mystery. To see women get away from Islamic controlled lands and still bow down to those rigid rules is rather scary. But what faith. I remember riding the bus from work on that fateful September 11 and seeing a woman wearing her scarf. As if, as a muslim person, she wasn't concerned at all. Total faith. Or totally idiotic. France has decided to ban those scarfs in public schools. They should be banned entirely - as a first step towards a sort of modernization of Islam, a "religion" of War, Extremism and Fratricidal Hatred

Horoscope

Reading that stuff is like buying a little bit of hope. True hardly anybody will admit to reading these short pieces in the newspaper, but every one of those skeptics will know his or her astrological sign.
Strange, isn't it? So I'm a Capricorn, whatever that means and I never went further than that in my study of this sign in particular or of the astrological field in general.
But this area of study works for some people who make a very lucrative return out of predicting the future. As it's been said before, a sucker is born every day. Yes, we're all suckers for hope, good news and a bright tomorrow.

Reincarnation

A matter of cultural belief. I suppose what you come back as is a bit of a lottery. And is possibly based on what kind of life you lived prior to your departure. A concept offering hope to the masses and why not if it offers the prospects of a better life as a reward to the deserving and as a just punishment to those who were rats on two legs and come back as real four-legged ones.
Justice.
As for me, once around will be enough. As for what's on the other side - hey, if humans couldn't share this globe peacefully, why would they share Heaven any differently?