Archive for August, 2010

They Should Have Said…

Posted in Politics on August 18th, 2010

Liberal politicians said a lot of things about the Muslims’ proposed building of Park 51 nee Cordoba House. Almost universally what they said was wrong and as much of an insult to the American people as the original plans of the Muslims.

There were, however, things that they should have said. Some variation of the following would have been the American response to the situation:

The idea of building a high profile mosque named Cordoba House that close to Ground Zero is wrong, insensitive, insulting, and counterproductive to open dialog between Muslims and Americans. Just because they have the right to build it doesn’t mean that they are right to do so.

It is, however, their right, as guaranteed by America’s constitution, to build such a mosque wherever they so choose and no force of law should be brought to bear against any legal endeavor to do so.

Mr. Gamal and Imam Feisal have the right to expect tolerance from the American people but should not conflate tolerance with blind acceptance. Acceptance must be earned and something as divisive and inflammatory as the Ground Zero Mosque is not a step in that direction.

Such a statement seems perennially beyond the ability of any Liberal politician to issue. Perhaps they are afraid, with some reason, of their diminishing constituency’s response to it. Perhaps they just don’t – perhaps can’t – conceive of such a sentiment much less speak it.

These politicians of the likes of Mayor Bloomberg and President Obama should have said something like the above. They chose instead to overtly or tacitly once again insult and deride the American people as bigoted, racist, Islamaphobic, and intolerant.

No Cordoba House!

Posted in Politics, Religion, Society on August 17th, 2010

Cordoba House - Now Called Park 51There will be no vile “Cordoba House” built overlooking Ground Zero, nor will there be a Muslim Cultural Center being opened at Ground Zero on 9/11, and there may not be a masjid built there overlooking and commemorating the Islamic terror attack upon the World Trade Center.

Some things have changed and these particular atrocities are not going to happen – at least not exactly as originally planned.

Some things have changed, arguments and responses have shifted, and some things never actually were in the first place it seems.

No Cordoba House

The Muslim’s building will no longer be named Cordoba House, which every Islamist in the world recognize  as a symbol of Islamic conquest. It will be called The Community Center At Park 51 or just Park 51.

We are calling it Park 51 because of the backlash to the name Cordoba House. It will be a place open to all New Yorkers and that is a very New York name.

— Sharif Gamal
Developer for Park 51

Changing the name of the Islamic Center from Cordoba House to something far less insulting and inflammatory is a big step in the right direction. It will not so easily embolden the jihadis and will not be such a constant left-handed slap in the face to Americans.

No 9/11 Attack Anniversary

Park 51 will also not be opening on September 11, 2011. It will them 18 months to three years to come up with the $100-$150 million price tag for the facility assuming no further delays or hurdles. It’s conceivable that it might open on some future 9/11, but I’m finding that more and more unlikely as things shift and Americans make their voices heard.

The whole idea that this center would open on 9/11/11 seems to have been predicated upon a misunderstanding of something said back in early May by Daisy Khan, the executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement and a board member of the Cordoba Initiative, the two organizations sponsoring the Islamic project.

The Muslim organizations plan to announce the groundbreaking later this year, possibly to coincide with the 10th anniversary of the attacks, Khan said. It could take up to three years to build the Cordoba House; the groups currently have no funds for the project but plan to start raising money, she said.

A groundbreaking ceremony on 9/11 would be an insult to Americans but not nearly so much of one as an opening ceremony. It was also only a possibility, one likely to be discounted now from the sound of things.

Funny how Liberals are now claiming that Newscorp lied about it opening on 9/11/11 when all their Leftist MSM outlets agreed that such was the planned opening date as well and defended it.

Are they implying that the NY Times, ABC, CBS, CNN and a host of other left-wing, Liberal propaganda outlets get their facts from Fox News and the New York Post as well?

Any or all of those media outlets could have “refudiated” it. 😉

Not doing anything involving Park 51, whether breaking ground or opening its doors on the anniversary of the jihadis’ terrorist attack on NYC would definitely be the best bet for all concerned.

A Mosque or Not?

The matter of whether or not Park 51 will contain a masjid – what most would call a mosque – is somewhat more clouded and “nuanced.” The Park 51 website claims that the Muslim Center will contain a masjid but Daisy Khan demurred on August 13, 2010.

The top two floors would house a domed space for prayers. “We insist on calling it a prayer space and not a mosque, because you can use a prayer space for activities apart from prayer. You can’t stop anyone who is a Muslim despite his religious ideology from entering the mosque and staying there,” said Imam Rauf’s wife and partner, Daisy Khan, who runs the American Society for Muslim Advancement, from an office housed on the Upper West Side’s famed Riverside Church. “With a prayer space, we can control who gets to use it.”

It’s really anyone’s guess at this point whether or not Park 51 will house a masjid or just unconsecrated prayer space, but it seems that Imam Feisal Abdul-Rauf has recognized his error in judgment and opted for the latter, less offensive and less dangerous option.

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My take on these developments in the Ground Zero Mosque / Cordoba House row is quite simple. Since my complaints were based upon the combination of name, place, and timing, I no longer have any particular cause for grievance or reason to take issue with Sharif Gamal’s and Imam Feisal Abdul-Rauf’s plans to build a Muslim community center in lower Manhattan – even if it is quite near Ground Zero. Without being name Cordoba and being opened on an anniversary of the 9/11 attack it’s just another building without particular symbolism.

Do I like it? No! I strongly dislike the ever-growing number of Muslims choosing to congregate at and around Ground Zero since it strikes me as too reminiscent of a dark hajj.

I do, however, actually approve of and like Gamal’s, Imam Feisal’s and Daisy Khan’s responses to Americans’ complaints. They, unlike either Bloomberg or Obama, chose an actually moderate and unifying – or at least not further divisive – path to resolution of the problem instead of fanning the flames.

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And a H/T to Moe, who provided me the impetus to sift through several months of reports in order to get a straight story about the center’s intended opening date.

Americans Are Wrong

Posted in Humor on August 16th, 2010

Americans are wrong, socially inept, and gauche – or so our titular allies in Europe and Britain so often of take great pains to tell us. A case it point:

A US Marine fresh from deployment in Afghanistan enters a train in Europe. The train was quite crowded, so the Marine walked the entire length lf it ooking for a seat, but the only seat left was taken by a well dressed, middle-aged, French woman’s poodle.

The war-weary Marine asked, “Ma’am, may I have that seat?”

The French woman just sniffed and said to no one in particular, “Americans are so rude. My little Fifi is using that seat.”

The Marine walked the entire train again, but the only seat left was under that dog.

“Please, ma’am. May I sit down here? I’m very tired.”

She snorted, “Not only are you Americans rude, you are also arrogant!”

This time the Marine didn’t say a word; he just picked up the little dog, tossed it out the train window, and sat down.

The woman shrieked, “Someone must defend my honour! Put this American in his place!”

An English gentleman sitting nearby spoke up and said to the Marine, “Sir, you Americans seem to have a penchant for doing the wrong thing. You hold the fork in the wrong hand. You drive your cars on the wrong side of the road. And now, sir, you seem to have thrown the wrong bitch out the window.”

As a general rule I prefer dogs over Americans. Europeans – especially the French until very recently – are farther down on my list of favored or tolerated animals so I’d have to grudgingly agree with the Brit in this instance 😉

Islam Is Submission

Posted in Religion, Society on August 15th, 2010

Islam is submission; that is even the transliteration of the Arabic word, “Islam,” which is a verbal noun that is derived from the Arabic verb Aslama, which means “to accept, surrender or submit.” Of course the levels of submission required are not the same for all people under Muslim rule.

Islam is Submission - of course what women must submit to is a bit different
Some Must Submit To More Than Others Under Islam’s Rule

Subjugation, humiliation, enslavement, physical abuse, rape, genital mutilation, and pedophilia (child brides), and brutal murder – both by individuals and by the “state” – are all part and parcel of the lives of girls and women under the misogynist rule of the foul cult of Islam. This is true irregardless of the underlying ethnic culture wherever Islam has been allowed to spread.

How prevalent and how extreme the atrocities are is solely dependent upon- and directly proportional to how much of an infection a nation suffers from and how much of voice Muslims have been stupidly allowed to have within each nation.

Islam does supposedly preach that all Muslims are equal in their submission to their God, Allah At least according to their holy book it does.

O men! Behold, We have created you all out of a male and a female, and have made you into nations and tribes, so that you might come to know one another. Verily, the noblest of you in the sight of God is the one who is most deeply conscious of Him. Behold, God is all-knowing, all-aware.

— Qur’an, Sura 49 (Al Hujurât)

It just seems that in common, almost universal, practice some Muslims are more equal than others.

Read the rest of this entry »

Enforcing The Law

Posted in Politics on August 15th, 2010

The bulk of the Liberals love the fact that President Obama has sued Arizona over SB 1070. This is for a variety of reasons, all of which mark them as enemies of America.

I’ll say this for them though – they’re consistent in their faith, however vile and anti-American that it might be.

Pot Heads Approving Of Obama
You Can’t Have People Enforcing Federal Law

Fortunately for them their President isn’t near so consistent when it comes to upholding his Oath of Office and executing sworn duties. He’s proven more than eager to wage a paper jihad against Arizona’s attempt to defend the safety of American women and children by enforcing the federal immigration laws – laws the Obama Regime has refused to enforce – but has been utterly sanguine about- and supportive of California actively flouting and contravening federal drug laws.

Of course Obama swore his Oath of Office upon a copy of the Christians’ Bible and I sincerely doubt that he considers such to be binding upon him; his theology seems to lay elsewhere. 😉

But Obama does possess a deeper level of consistency that is shown by his actions and the people he has surrounded himself with, and this consistence of agenda sits well with- and lends material aid and comfort to his followers and constituency.

The Obama Regime’s and his followers’ newfound love of inconsistent enforcement of America’s laws when it suits them is a dangerous course of action for them. The idea that “bad laws” just shouldn’t be enforced is based upon subjective values and such a mindset stands a good chance of running afoul of the Law of Unintended Consequences.

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Keep your eyes open. Travel light but load heavy, and always put another round in the enemy after they’re down. 😉