And now for a reality check on the USA

Whatever your political leanings this year, or whatever you may think about General Colin Powell, what he said on Meet the Press Sunday morning is a powerful reminder of what the US of A is supposed to be all about (something that some of us have lost sight of in the heat of the campaign). Ignore the endorsement bit if you must, but I strongly encourage you to read a transcript or watch the interview.

The meatiest part is excerpted at Huffington Post along with the picture Powell talks about. That section of the video runs at about 4:28 into the 2nd segment of Powell's appearance.

Here are his remarks in reference to people dropping hints that Obama might be a Muslim (after saying, for what must be the 8 billionth time in this campaign, that Obama is a Christian)...

"Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer is no. That's not America. Is there something wrong with a seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing he or she could be president? Yet I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion that he is a Muslim and might have an association with terrorists. This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

I feel particularly strong about this because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay, was of a mother at Arlington Cemetery and she had her head on the headstone of her son's grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone, and it gave his awards - Purple Heart, Bronze Star - showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death, he was 20 years old. And then at the very top of the head stone, it didn't have a Christian cross. It didn't have a Star of David. It has a crescent and star of the Islamic faith.

And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan. And he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was fourteen years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he could serve his country and he gave his life."



P.S.: I am proud to live in the first Congressional district in the country which understands religious freedom and tolerance enough, and which respects separation of church and state enough, to have elected the first Muslim to a federal office.