On Septembers, 38 Years Apart

On an overcast September morning, there was a blast.  Windows were blown out and walls collapsed.  The work of a group of terrorists would be exposed.  Thousands of mourners would gather to hear national leaders speak.  Songs would be written.  National laws soon after changed.

Some years after, members of the same religion as the terrorists would try to build a community center downtown, only a couple of streets away from the horrible act.

But no one revolted.  No one protested.  It wasn’t considered “bad taste” or “an affront to the victims” In fact the community center would be supported by the Governor.  And by the 1990’s, this center would be heralded for its value to students. (article)

The blast was the September 1963 16th Street church bombing in Birmingham Alabama.  And it was carried out by an extremist organization, the United Klans of America (history here and here).  They screamed for the take down of American Jews.  They terrorized their neighbors into silence and spoke in the name of Christianity. 

In fact no one associated these terrorists with Christianity.  No one assumed they were a bulwark of Christian values. They were a hate group.  And the country gathered to mourn its people’s losses and fight for its people rights. Martin Luther King inspired us to dream.

Today, my dental hygienist said she thought it was an affront to the honor of the 9-11 victims that “they” would build a mosque near the WTC.  She didn’t mean any harm, and in fact she said she wanted to learn more by reading Three Cups of Tea.  But the winds of intolerance seem to be blowing (article).  I don’t blame her.  I blame the lack of Martin Luther Kings.

Posting from New Orleans

In the middle of the keynote presentation of the Microsoft Developers Network conference in New Orleans.  There’s a guy talking about “the cloud”.  It’s big here.

While he’s talking, I’m reading an awesome piece from Politics Daily on how evangelicals are coming around regarding the environment.  The best line :

We've had an inadequate view of human sin. Because we believe in free markets, we've acted as though this means we should trust corporations to protect the natural resources and habitats. But a laissez-faire view of government regulation of corporations is akin to the youth minister who lets the teenage girl and boy sleep in the same sleeping bag at church camp because he "believes in young people."

Thanks Grant for the recommendation on Blue like Jazz – finished it on the plane and tied in very well to this article.

Back to the cloud.  Viewing some Communicator 14 releases that seem to replace Live Meeting and Messenger and wraps together some enterprise apps into a single package.   Oh cool, people are tweeting on it from this room when I Google Communicator 14.  Whoa, stand down inner geek.