On the Mosque...

[darin]

The more I think about the situation with the proposed "cultural center" to be built a couple football fields from where the World Trade Centers stood, the more I lean towards the side of the Mosque.

I get it. I understand the implications of a religion whose followers - in massive numbers - call for the destruction of our way of life. I understand members of that faith, thinking they were acting upon God's will, flew planes into buildings across the street. I understand the ballsy-hypocrisy of some Muslims, as they cry for tolerance in their oppressive beliefs. Yes, I understand too how muslims would start burning things and killing people at random if anything like this happened in reverse.

The muslims planning this thing were reasonable, good people they'd absolutely build the structure elsewhere. Where they are doing is shoving their arrogance down the throats of that community. America will look softer to the Muslim world - those in the muslim world who wish to kill us.

But.

Here's the rub. Insensitive? Absolutely. Freedom, however, trumps sensitivity every time.

FREEDOM. American Citizens who are Islamic absolutely possess the right - the same as every member of the democratic party "leadership" - to be complete assholes. Tools. Jack-wagons. Just as Nancy Pelosi absolutely has the right to be TERRIBLE for this nation, because she was seemingly elected to be who she is - ate up like a soup-sandwich.

Those who are financing and planning the building of this mosque are displaying "FU!" attitudes, but...nobody has a right to never be offended.

A collection of NY Citizens are free paint every building around that mosque with cartoons showing Mohammed having sex with a pig. Perhaps that's too graphic. Maybe a group of free Americans purchase a neighboring building for a butcher, specializing in Pork? Just maybe billboards around the area can be legally leased to highlight the murderous and immoral life Mohammed might have lead. Heck, even Cartoons of Mohammed would be fine, without any graphic action.

When the Islamic community accepts other points of view, they will start to earn the respect they demand.

[Kathianne]

The more I think about the situation with the proposed "cultural center" to be built a couple football fields from where the World Trade Centers stood, the more I lean towards the side of the Mosque.

I get it. I understand the implications of a religion whose followers - in massive numbers - call for the destruction of our way of life. I understand members of that faith, thinking they were acting upon God's will, flew planes into buildings across the street. I understand the ballsy-hypocrisy of some Muslims, as they cry for tolerance in their oppressive beliefs. Yes, I understand too how muslims would start burning things and killing people at random if anything like this happened in reverse.

The muslims planning this thing were reasonable, good people they'd absolutely build the structure elsewhere. Where they are doing is shoving their arrogance down the throats of that community. America will look softer to the Muslim world - those in the muslim world who wish to kill us.

But.

Here's the rub. Insensitive? Absolutely. Freedom, however, trumps sensitivity every time.

FREEDOM. American Citizens who are Islamic absolutely possess the right - the same as every member of the democratic party "leadership" - to be complete assholes. Tools. Jack-wagons. Just as Nancy Pelosi absolutely has the right to be TERRIBLE for this nation, because she was seemingly elected to be who she is - ate up like a soup-sandwich.

Those who are financing and planning the building of this mosque are displaying "FU!" attitudes, but...nobody has a right to never be offended.

A collection of NY Citizens are free paint every building around that mosque with cartoons showing Mohammed having sex with a pig. Perhaps that's too graphic. Maybe a group of free Americans purchase a neighboring building for a butcher, specializing in Pork? Just maybe billboards around the area can be legally leased to highlight the murderous and immoral life Mohammed might have lead. Heck, even Cartoons of Mohammed would be fine, without any graphic action.

When the Islamic community accepts other points of view, they will start to earn the respect they demand.

I understand the right to private property and agree they have the right to build there. I also agree that if they truly mean they want to bridge the differences, they'd choose a different site, one further away.

There are some questions though regarding the leadership of the group and just how much they want to bridge the differences:

http://www.weeklystandard.com/articles/mosque-grows-near-brooklyn


According to its sponsors, the Cordoba Initiative and the American Society of Muslim Advancement (ASMA), the structure would cost $100 million and would include “a 500-seat auditorium, swimming pool, art exhibition spaces, bookstores, restaurants,” and an area for Islamic prayer. The Cordoba Initiative and ASMA were created by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a Kuwait-born cleric of Egyptian background.

Every inch the professional moderate, Rauf has the imprimatur of the State Department, which sent him on an international bridge-building tour earlier this year. And he has cloaked the Cordoba effort in the rhetoric of reconciliation, describing himself and his colleagues as “the anti-terrorists.” But he deflects inquiries about its financing. On July 7, New York Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio called on state attorney general Andrew Cuomo, who is also Lazio’s Democratic opponent in the coming election, to “conduct a thorough investigation” of three aspects of the project:

- Rauf’s refusal to acknowledge that Hamas is a terrorist organization;

- Rauf’s leading role in the Perdana Global Peace Organization, “a principal partner,” in its own words, of the Turkish-launched flotilla that tried to break the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza;

- and the project’s questionable sources of funding.

Lazio has been supported in this demand by New York Republican congressman Peter King...

http://www.forbes.com/2010/07/30/imam-faisal-ground-zero-mosque-money-opinions-columnists-claudia-rosett.html


Where In The World Is Imam Feisal?
Claudia Rosett, 07.30.10, 6:07 PM ET
Plans for a $100 million high-rise Islamic Center next to New York's Ground Zero are generating lots of controversy, as well as great distress among families of some of the thousands murdered in the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. So one might suppose that the Imam spearheading this project in the name of harmony and dialogue would be more than willing to help allay fears by disclosing down to the last penny where he's getting the money. Instead, Feisal Abdul Rauf--Imam Feisal, to his followers and friends--keeps stonewalling. The questions keep multiplying.

One of those questions right now is: Where in the world is Imam Feisal?

Simply locating him this week turned into an intriguing exercise. Feisal Abdul Rauf is chairman of a tax-exempt foundation called the Cordoba Initiative, which is spearheading the nine-figure project to replace a downtown Manhattan building, damaged in the Sept. 11 attacks, with the planned Islamic Center--to be called Cordoba House. Rauf's Cordoba Initiative has an office in upper Manhattan, from which Rauf and his wife, Daisy Kahn, together with a Manhattan real estate developer, made the Cordoba House pitch approved in May by a Manhattan community board.

...

[darin]

None of that has to do with the specific location of the mosque, however. If the mosque is gonna be a terrorist-haven, doesn't matter if it's near WTC or Brooklyn.

[Kathianne]

None of that has to do with the specific location of the mosque, however. If the mosque is gonna be a terrorist-haven, doesn't matter if it's near WTC or Brooklyn.

Two issues though. The supposed building bridges. Then the financing or potential terror connections.

Respect helps in building bridges:

http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB1000142405274870427180457540533035043 0368.html

[darin]

I have not seen any constitutional verbage that requires folks to 'build bridges'. Freedom means having to put up with assholes.

[Kathianne]

I have not seen any constitutional verbage that requires folks to 'build bridges'. Freedom means having to put up with assholes.

I never said they should be legally prevented from being there, now whether it's right?

[darin]

Freedom.

[namvet]

I ask again. why not a church or a memorial with artifacts???? would Japan let us build one in Hiroshima??? I don't get it. millions would volunteer time and labor for a church or memorial.

[Kathianne]

I ask again. why not a church or a memorial with artifacts???? would Japan let us build one in Hiroshima??? I don't get it. millions would volunteer time and labor for a church or memorial.

In all honesty, it's not public funds.

[namvet]

In all honesty, it's not public funds.

would public funds support a church or anything but this disgrace????

[Kathianne]

would public funds support a church or anything but this disgrace????

Public funds should never be used in any locale for churches or any religious buildings.

[darin]

I ask again. why not a church or a memorial with artifacts???? would Japan let us build one in Hiroshima??? I don't get it. millions would volunteer time and labor for a church or memorial.

Freedom. Freedom trumps just about everything. Freedom requires tolerance of things which are distasteful, such as KKK, Black Panthers, Jessie Jackson, Liberals, Organized religion at times....