No Mosque
On the wall of the Touro Synagogue in Newport, Rhode Island–the oldest synagogue in America–is a letter from President George Washington welcoming the congregation to our shores. It is a moving document, for it affirms that this new nation, only a few years old, intends from the beginning to live up to the ideals upon which it was founded.
Washington eloquently states, “The Citizens of the United States of America have a right to applaud themselves for having given to mankind examples of an enlarged and liberal policy: a policy worthy of imitation. All possess alike liberty of conscience and immunities of citizenship. It is now no more that toleration is spoken of, as if it was by the indulgence of one class of people, that another enjoyed the exercise of their inherent national gifts. For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”
Here are the words of Newt Gingrich, welcoming another religious congregation: “Nazis don’t have the right to put up a sign next to the Holocaust museum in Washington,” and “we would never accept the Japanese putting up a site next to Pearl Harbor. There is no reason for us to accept a mosque next to the World Trade Center.”
At least he can speak in complete sentences, unlike Sarah Palin, who tweeted her own strident opposition to the mosque with these words: “Doesn’t it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate.”
My, how far we’ve come.
To see more cartoons like No Mosque, have them delivered to your email, join the discussion, and more, visit EdSteinInk.com
With the Nutter Left, Sarah Palin paranoia trumps appreciation of the IslamoTerrorism threat, and what in the world has any of this got to do with the Oklahoma City bombing?
No Hamsque,
NoBama,
Nope,
No.
In order to prove I can think in complete sentences, unlike that Sarah Palin, and to promote harmony within our human community, I was thinking; . . That new design for the World Trade Center Tower by the brilliant Berlin architect who designed the Denver Art Museum, has a very special top on the building. In the vicinity of the 103rd floor, in the area where sensitive persons may fear going any higher because of past history on that site, the architect has designed a sculptural appendage jutting high into the sky. Some have criticized this as homage to the twisted ruins of the original building and the tremendous human carnage. Some have even said it is a victory symbol for the IslamoFascist Terrorists. I was wondering if in order to quell the national hysteria about Muslims, and specifically of the IsmamoFascist Terrorist variety, what you would think if we dedicated this twisted ruin portion atop the building to this sect of penniless hippie misunderstood Muslims. They could build the new communilty center atop the new World Trade Center, at the very pinnacle of the building incorporating the twisted sculptural effect. Maybe Mr. Obama could even fund it. It would surly attract positive attention to their sect. They could even recruit and train new sect members there. If it would stop the ignorance and hatred, I would be for it. How about you?
Kumbya, Peace and Love,
Gene
gene
Gene – OK, granted, you can speak in complete sentences, but one thing I could not glean is your opinion of the proposed mosque itself.
I know you hate O, everything he says, and everything he stands for. So, if he had never been born, and was not a factor in this issue, nor Ed, nor, for that matter, Newt – what would be YOUR opinion?
Not why (yet, at least) – just what. Do you think they have a right to build the mosque, and it is OK? Do you think they have a right, but it is in incredibly bad taste? Do you think they should have no right at all?
Please let me know. -Mary
Dear Mary,
I do not hate anyone.
Do they have the right to build the mosque? Well, according to local planning and zoning regulations NYC, they apparently do. We do not have a national land use policy, as such – thank God. However under the local land use regulations, as you know, all kinds of people get denied permission to do things with their land for all sorts of reasons. Mostly, it has to do with the consensus of the neighborhood, compatibility of use, aethetics, quality issues and a million other reasons loosely based on health safety and wefare, light and air, etc. Don’t get me started on zoning! The Supreme Court says zoning is okay, go at it boys. You have seen Morman temples denied the right to build in neighborhoods because they generate too much traffic or have too high a spire with Gabriel on top. Try to drive out South Parker Road on a Friday, and see the Mosque with a million yellow cabs and pedestrians clogging the road, but that is okay. Try to get a liquor license near the Country Club Neighborhood and you will not. However a medical marijane place is okay. Don’t get me started. Do they have the right? What are you talking about? Obama didn’t know what he was talking about. He showed absolutely no knowledge of constitutional law. He was talking out of his butt like most liberals do. Obfuscating.
The reason there is objections to this mosque in this location are based on the nature of the terrorist attack on the United States. Muslims have a long history of building a mosque atop the ruins of a Christian church, for example. It is a symbol of victory. Check out the Cordoba House name, they want to use. It is not very well concealed. The relatives of victims killed in the attack understand this. I will not comment on whether Obama knows this. Did you read my tongue in cheek piece above? I am repeating myself. That is what Sarah Palin is saying. . “Doesn’t it stab you in the heart.” Ed Stein is critical of her short sentences. It is called twittering or tweeting or such where number of characters is limited. Ed was trying to be cute. Sarah Palin captures the essence of the argument. Liberals get twisted up arguing for religious freedom. It is not something they do very often. Only when it stabs the heart of America, do they support some religious concept.
I hope this helps.
Gene – thank you. Very much. This does help. I am not doing very well at all, and you have gone to considerable trouble to clarify for me. I waited until I could actually read and absorb this post – I see the next, even longer one, but I will not do you the disservice of blowing over it without reading it. So I hope to read it and respond tomorrow. I promise to read it, really read it, as soon as I am able.
As for this post – as far as I can tell, everything you say is absolutely true, but also incomplete. Christians, also, have a history of building churches on top of destroyed mosques. In fact, as far as I can tell, they started it (at least on the Christian vs. Muslim level), about a thousand years ago during the crusades.
The bottom line is that hate is not restricted to any religion. Nor is love. Perhaps we can’t transcend our personal hatreds, but shouldn’t we at least try??
No.
Again we, or I anyway, do not hate. They are trying to kill and dominate us. Do not accept a moral equivalency. They are the bad ones. We are not. Period. I don’t care what Obama tells me, we are not the bad ones. This is the fight we are in. We will have to defeat them to survive. They know it. We sure as heck better know it.
OK, but who are “they”?? 90% of the populations of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Iran say, and truly believe the same about us.
I’m not trying to kill them – are you?? Kill the terrorists, yeah.
Do the terrorists want to kill us? Yes. Are they they ones who want to build the Mosque, on private land, in New York? No.
My neighbor Muttaz drives one of those cabs you object to so much (until you need a ride somewhere). He drives about 100 hours a week, sometimes half again that, to support his family. His wife Nevein has brought over home-cooked food about every three days since my surgery. They are my friends. Are they Muslim? Yes. Do they want to kill you, me, or anybody for that matter? Not even. Oh, and they’re Sudanese refugees – as immigrants, that makes them a double threat. Do you want to kill them?
Talking about the IslamoFascists, Mary.
They are still trying to kill us. They are a wily enemy. They hide behind the women and children and men who are not trying to kill us. When the fight heats up, the mosque on Parker Road hangs big signs on their fence, “WE ARE PEACEFUL” etc. And I assume every one of them is peaceful. Their only front group is CARE who lies through their teeth about everything, so it is hard to know. But that recent nut-job from Aurora (and father) who drove DIA shuttle busses and who tried to bomb the NY subway was from this mosque, was he not? So. This is what we are fighting. The IslamoFascists. Where ever they are around the world.
Mary,
Regarding the current controversy – O. created it, and he would not have had to. It is like the Skippy Prof. Gates controversy at Harvard. Neither were things he had to comment on. He couldn’t help himself. He elevated both issues to the national platform. I know you do not read links I recommend. So you may have to shut your eyes immediately; Following is Bob Tyrrell’s opinion essay yesterday in American Spectator. Titled “Worse than Carter.” He says it much better than I can.
WASHINGTON — It is becoming apparent for all to see, that a man who made his name as a community organizer does not have the skills to be President of these United States. Maybe he could develop the requisite skills as a governor. Possibly, he could develop such skills were he to sit in the Senate for a couple of terms. Yet there are delicate sensitivities, the ability to listen, to stick by your guns, occasionally to remain reticent. These are the fundamentals of a leader, and President Barack Obama has demonstrated that he lacks all of them, most notably reticence. I now think it is clear even to Official Washington that President Obama is the worst president of modern times. President Jimmy Carter is redeemed.
The other night at a White House dinner solemnizing the opening of Ramadan he leaped right in to endorse the building a mosque at Ground Zero. He — a man who has shown no religious fervor during his time in the White House — let out a ringing defense of religious liberty and tolerance. Of a sudden, he was at the center of a national controversy that was growing. It put me in mind of his inability to defuse the controversy over healthcare. Any sensible president would have relented, as opposition to healthcare grew to the majority position. He would have settled for some sort of compromise, but not the community-organizer-turned-president. He wanted it all. He lunged on and created among the electorate a row over national healthcare that divided the nation, and put some of us in mind of a civil war that continues to rage. What is more, he imperiled his party’s margins in both houses.
Notwithstanding his apparent personal insouciance toward religion, he made it clear that the mosque should be built. Who cares about the sensibilities of the loved ones of the 3,000 victims? Or for that matter, of the 68% of the American people who according to a CNN poll oppose the mosque? It took him less than a day to make things worse. While on a swing through Florida, he claimed that he was not speaking “on the wisdom” of building the mosque. He was merely commenting on the Constitutional right to build the mosque and to practice one’s religion. A right “that dates back,” the prof allowed, “to our founding. That’s what our country is about.” Blah, blah, blah — the community organizer turned-lecturer at the University of Chicago could not resist.
Now he has a red hot national controversy on his hands. It is somewhat like the controversy he created over Professor Henry Louis Gates when he pronounced the Cambridge police’s reaction to Gates’s truculence “stupid.” Or when Mr. Obama barged into the Arizona immigration pother. He cannot resist showing the world how smart he is, but at what cost? Every Democrat battling a tight race will be called to answer questions about the mosque. It will become an issue even in remote places such as Nevada. There the Senate leader, Harry Reid, fighting for his seat against a Tea Partyer, Sharron Angle, has come out against the President. He announced that it is not a question of right but a question of prudence. He says the mosque should be built elsewhere. How many other Democrats will join him? This could develop into a major rebellion against President Obama’s leadership. It could be the beginning of the end of his presidency.
President Obama represents the leadership of a sterile elite. His weird lectures play at the University of Chicago or in the communities he has organized in Chicago, but not among the mainstream of the American electorate. He has brought it together and it is against this idiocy. As I said in this space two weeks ago, he represents the leadership of the Ruling Class. It is not the leadership of the consensus of the American people. Only the most extreme voices in this debate are speaking intolerantly about Islam and its right to build a mosque. Most of the American people are siding with the dread Sarah Palin who was quick to say, “Mr. President, should they or should they not build a mosque steps away from where the radicals killed 3,000 people? Please tell us your position. We all know that they have a right to do it, but should they? And no, this isn’t above your pay grade.”
Yet it is. It is above the pay grade of a community organizer. That is what our president is. Increasingly, it is clear that the Democrats brought down on the country a community organizer as president. Maybe in the future they will consider experience a qualification for the presidency. Possibly the age of charisma is behind us. Possibly Mr. Obama even lacks that dubious quality.
OK, I read this – what does it have to do with my original query, other than to give you a platform for another diatribe? I said “If he had never been born…”
Contrary to your apparent belief, not every single breath anyone takes in this country has anything to do with O. None of my opinions about Muslims, Islamists, or any of our wars have been changed by a single iota by anything POTUS ever said…
Also, I agree with you that our prez seems to be in over his head. Almost as bad as his predecessor….
I think I am making progress with you!
“In order to prove I can think in complete sentences, unlike that Sarah Palin, and to promote harmony within our human community, I was thinking; . . ”
This is actually a sentence fragment.
Thank you, Paul Phillips.
Is not one supposed to capitalize a proper name?
Or do you do that because of internet formats and common practices when writing?
Pelosi’s investigation of Harry Reid&Howard Dean&others who oppose Ground Zero Mosque will be enlightening,we’re sure.(Note to AP: GZM term)
(This was Sarah Palin last night on Twitter. It may be code. Ed Stein will not be able to figure it out. Paul Phillips, sorry paul phillips, may be able to analyze the grammar and punctuation. I am available if anyone need help with the humor, the irony, or any of Ms. Palin’s qualifications to present her opinion. Apology to Mary, my v. good Science reading friend, if you happened onto this snippet. If you did accidently read my above ramblings, how does it square with your 100-years of personal experience. It is what is in the media these days.)
I thought Indenvertimes was trying to differentiate itself with its main competitor the Post. Why then Ed Stein?
I suppose Ed Stein is to feed the Mike Litwinnitwits.