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August 19, 2010

Go Get 'Em, Nancy!

Monique Chartier

For some reason, it never occurred to the Speaker that the negative reaction of many millions of people to the construction of a mosque within the crash zone of Ground Zero was spontaneous and not in response to a pre-arranged, pre-paid campaign.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is raising questions about who is funding criticism of the so-called "Ground Zero mosque."

Pelosi told KCBS is San Francisco yesterday that she joins "those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque being funded." She added: "How is this being ginned up?"

Thanks, Speaker Pelosi, I'll pass on the gin. But you leave no stone unturned or astroturf farm uninvestigated as you track down the funding of this ... er, conspiracy. The longer you're in pursuit of untamed waterfowl, the less time you'll be able to devote to inflicting awful legislation on us.

Comments

The Islamic Center of Temecula, California has been seeking permits to build a mosque, its proposal is scheduled to come before the Temecula planning commissioners
And so Tea Party activists are planning to protest outside of the Islamic Center's existing facility and urging participants to bring dogs in order to intimidate worshipers because "MUSLIMS HATE DOGS"

Posted by: Sammy at August 19, 2010 10:48 AM

I disagree with Pelosi's theory, but this whole campaign against the mosque is based on one huge fountain of misinformation.
It won't be built IN the tub which housed the Twin Towers, for starters. But you'd never know that from listening to the cottage industry that has risen up against it.

Posted by: rhody at August 19, 2010 1:30 PM

Gee Sammy, you wanna ban dogs at demonstrations?Might offend some Muslims?They have been catered to like nobody's business recently in our overdone efforts to bend over backwards in fairness.
Their response has been less than gracious.
California schools have had programs where students are forced to undergo a "learning" experience involving "being a Muslim for a day"and that's ok with you?
If it involved being an Evangelical Christian for a day,you'd probably be howling.The ACLU would have a diarrhea attack on the spot.
We don't have to kiss their *sses.All we HAVE to do is not prevent them from observing their religion.That does not include allowing Sharia law,unless you'd really like seeing more "honor killings",or stonings,or beheadings.
If any religion suborned human sacrifice,could you imagine that falling under the 1st amendment?
Sharia law being recognized would deny Constitutional rights to Muslims who ran afoul of Imams.

Posted by: joe bernstein at August 19, 2010 1:43 PM

Joe, just call Stuart by his real name...

Posted by: Patrick at August 19, 2010 2:40 PM

In Murfreesboro, Tenn., Republican candidates have denounced plans for a large Muslim center , and hundreds of protesters have turned out for a march and a county meeting.

In Sheboygan, Wis., Christian ministers led a noisy fight against a Muslim group that sought permission to open a mosque in a former health food store bought by a Muslim doctor.


In all of the recent conflicts, opponents have said their problem is Islam itself. They quote passages from the Koran


While a high-profile battle rages over a mosque near ground zero in Manhattan, heated confrontations have also broken out in communities ACROSSN THE COUNTRY where mosques are proposed for FAR LESS hallowed locations.

Posted by: Sammy at August 19, 2010 4:47 PM

Joe writes:

"Gee Sammy, you wanna ban dogs at demonstrations?Might offend some Muslims?"

What do you call a Somalian walking a dog?

A caterer

I'm going to burn for that one, I know it.

Posted by: Warrington Faust at August 19, 2010 4:52 PM

{snip}

Posted by: triplerichard at August 19, 2010 5:45 PM

I have not heard anyone say that Imam Rauf should be barred from building his mosque. That doesn't mean it hasn't happened but I've read a lot of arguments against the GZM and I have yet to see one advocating government action to prevent it. Everyone acknowledges that they have a right to build the mosque so listening to mosque supporters flog the First Amendment all day gets tiresome.

Rather, people are just saying they don't like the idea of a fifteen-story Islamic community center going up within the Ground Zero footprint. Their comments are addressed not to the government authorities but to Imam Rauf himself, who claims to be interested in dialog with the non-Muslim community.

You don't have to be an Islamophobe or a bigot to be uncomfortable with the thought of this project. You can recite the "Islam is a religion of peace" mantra all you like but the fact remains that nineteen hijackers killed almost three thousand Americans while claiming to be acting in the name of Islam. A significant portion of the Muslim world celebrated their actions and they were defended by senior Muslim clerics throughout the Middle East. Imam Rauf's denunciation of the attacks was less than full throated. To say nothing of the fact that he cannot bring himself to call Hamas a terrorist organization.

Furthermore, even if Imam Rauf's motives are absolutely pure, I think its very likely that this "community center" will become a Mecca (if you'll pardon the pun) for radical Islamists who want to come to New York to do a sack dance on the graves of 2700 infidels.

They have a constitutional right to build this mosque. This week a federal judge affirmed the right of the Westboro Baptist Church to picket military funerals with antigay signs and slogans. Will those who accuse mosque opponents of bigotry also attempt to squelch any criticism of Westboro Baptist?

I guess I think the most creative response yet devised for the GZM comes from Greg Gutfeld who plans to open an Islamic-friendly gay bar next door to the mosque. The bar is to be called "Dialog" and will feature halal meals from the kitchen and non-alcoholic beverages at the bar (72 "virgin" drinks).

Posted by: David P at August 19, 2010 6:28 PM

triplerichard's "snipped" comment may have some basis in fact. That joke is so old it is "pre internet". I heard it back in the day when you had to know a stock market trader to get today's joke today. In those days, Wall Street was humor central.

Posted by: Warrington Faust at August 19, 2010 8:00 PM


This is a GNOP wet dream come true.


A "MOSQUE" right "AT" ground zero.


Never mind that it is not a mosque and it is not at ground zero. Saying "community center" and "a few blocks from" ground zero does not sound nearly as scary for the pants pissers to wet themselves over.


Just in time to drag up the boogeymen to scare the racist pants pissers.


Posted by: Sammy at August 19, 2010 8:18 PM

Who Will Stand Up To The GOP's War On Islam?
If we don't stop the hysteria soon, bin Laden will score one of his biggest propaganda victories yet

Regardless of how hard they try to disguise it, if only from themselves, those who would forbid the project express an essentially tribal view of Americanism specifically repudiated by the U.S. Constitution. "Is there any reason to oppose the mosque that isn't unconstitutional?. . .
Walking the neighborhood, a New York Daily News reporter recently took note of the Pussycat Lounge, a strip joint two blocks from ground zero, and the Thunder Lingerie and Peep Show. Also Off Track Betting facilities, along with 11 bars, and 17 separate salons" offering what's euphemistically called "bikini waxing." Evidently, not everybody understood it was all sacred ground until Republicans decreed it.


Regardless, now that the issue's joined, President Obama's stuck with it. Insulting our Muslim allies and giving Osama bin Laden a huge propaganda victory by making the struggle against terrorism appear to be a war against Islam -- exactly as he claims -- would be a strategic disaster.


Recognizing that very danger, Joe Conason points out, was always one of President George W. Bush's virtues. Generally speaking, silence has become him since January 2009. But his party has now gone badly astray, and he owes it to the country to say so.

Posted by: Sammy at August 19, 2010 8:29 PM

As Monique said under another post, the fact that wreckage from one of the hijacked planes landed on the building where the GZM is to be located puts this location within "Ground Zero." And it is a mosque, among other things. The "community center" will encompass a number of rooms and functions, including a mosque.

Posted by: David P at August 19, 2010 8:31 PM

The "Stuart"thing crossed my mind,but "Sammy"sounds a little different somehow.
Oh,yeah-Stuart under his new guise at RIF referred to us as the "local vermin".
Interesting thought,though.
Brian Hull at RIF doesn't encourage ad hominem attacks.

Posted by: joe bernstein at August 19, 2010 9:40 PM