It is a good point about the working, day to day NY'ers who are just trying to live. It is not hallowed to them...it is just life. And that is as it should be.
We’ve got “Freedom Of Religion”. . . . , I understand . . . . ,
But Ground Zero is one location, where a Mosque shouldn’t stand…..!!!
(Chorus)
We’ve got to stop the Mosque at Ground Zero . . . ,
From thumin’ its nose at every victim and hero . . . ,
Thousands of Americans died in the attack . . . ,
It’s a sacred place, and that’s a cold hard fact . . . ,
There’s a painful memory in our minds . . . ,
Our hearts keep breakin’ when we envision that tragic time.
(Chorus)
God help us retain the honor and trust . . . ,
For all the families…., who have suffered so damn much . . . ,
Many Innocent Americans were killed . . . ,
If we let them build it, can't you see . . . ,
They'll turn 9-11 to a mockery . . . ,
(Chorus)
Why is it that right-wing protest songs are always so shit?
Posted: Wed Aug 25, 2010 11:32 pm Post subject: Mark Steel: If anyone is fanatic it's Sarah Palin
How far away is it permissible to be a Muslim? Maybe there should be special guidelines - for example, three blocks before you can whistle anything by Cat Stevens
To give yourself a stressful and futile day, try telling people there are no plans to build a mosque at Ground Zero. You'll get nowhere, although the truth is there are plans to build an Islamic centre, with a swimming pool open to everyone, two blocks away from Ground Zero. So if this is a continuation of the terrorist agenda as claimed, it's been a peculiar plan, and Bin Laden must have started by telling his followers "First we will destroy their buildings – and then, oo it's so deliciously evil, we will get people to swim near to where the buildings were... mwaHAHAHAHAHA."
The centre will include a memorial to victims of the attack on the towers, but even so Sarah Palin has called upon "peaceful Muslims" to reject the building. So, as she's asking Muslims to oppose a centre open to everyone, and that commemorates the victims of 9/11, it seems likely she's a militant Jihadist who thinks the building will be a betrayal of true radical Islam. She's certainly got experience of being filmed with rifles so she's probably sat by one while making a video up a mountain right now, leaning into the camera and booming "The front crawl is the agenda of the infidel, my friends."
The centre will also include a basketball court, but that doesn't convince these people because it won't be proper basketball, it will be Muslim basketball, and there's bound to have been some senator on Fox News howling "We've got to ask ourselves why these guys want to learn an American sport like this. Now, you imagine you've got the tallest Muslims learning to jump up high, next time you want to bring down a tower you don't have to fly planes to do it, you just get these guys to jump up with whatever bomb they've smuggled in through Mexico and whack, you've got five million dead."
And it's two blocks away, which in Manhattan is another district. So how far away is it permissible to be Muslim? Maybe there needs to be specific guidelines, for example three blocks before you can whistle anything by Cat Stevens, five blocks away before you can stop eating during Ramadan and so on, so as not to offend the families of the victims.
One persistent argument of those who oppose the mosque that isn't a mosque on Ground Zero that won't be on Ground Zero is that Ground Zero should remain a special place of sombre tranquillity.
So instead of this centre there should be more buildings such as The Pussycat Club, which is next door to where the towers were, and boasts of being the area's premier strip joint. But that must be in keeping with the sombreness, presumably because the girls start their slide down the pole in a fireman's uniform in honour of the heroic firefighters of that fateful day.
Then there are the salesmen who hover round Ground Zero. As you contemplate the poignancy of the site, someone from this franchise stands soulfully by you, taps your shoulder and opens a leather-bound collection of photos of the Twin Towers on fire.
"Hi, I'm offering souvenirs of 9/11," I was told when I was there. What are you supposed to say to that? Are you meant to go "Oo yes, you've caught the contrast between the fire and the clouds on that one, what a delightful shade of crimson?" So wait until Fox News and the Tea Party hear about that level of dishonouring the victims. Oo they'll be cross.
A philosophical argument against the new building came from Mark Williams, chairman and spokesman for the Tea Party, who said "The mosque would be for the worship of the terrorists' monkey god." To start with he appears to have mixed up Islam with Hinduism, so it may be when he finds that out he'll change his mind, and say "Oh it's Hindus with the monkey god. Silly me, well in that case go ahead with the mosque, it's Hindus I have a problem with, it's all to do with being squeamish about monkeys."
Similarly, Newt Gingrich, who hopes to be Republican candidate for President, said "The folks who want to build this mosque are radical Islamists."
And this is where they're more honest, because they seem to believe all Muslims are terrorists. In which case they don't really care where a mosque or Islamic centre is built, just as if the Continuity IRA applied for planning permission to build an explosives-testing plant, you wouldn't say "Well alright but not if it's less than half a mile from Canterbury Cathedral as that would be insensitive."
So there have been protests across America against mosques, in places such as Tennessee and Wisconsin. Presumably the argument there is "Imagine if someone who was in the Twin Towers on 9/11 was still so traumatised that they sleepwalked, and by chance one night they dreamily ambled into Grand Central station and got a train to Wisconsin and got out and wandered through the state and woke up just as they were by the new mosque, well it could be quite a shock."
More likely is there's a section of America that hates Muslims, and those like Palin and Gingrich are delighted to lead them. According to the latest survey, 24 per cent of America believes that Barack Obama is Muslim, and the Tea Party politicians promote that nonsense.
Obama seems willing to try and placate characters such as Palin, but he might be better off saying "Alright then – nothing Islamic near Ground Zero, but that principle applies to everything. So every Catholic Church within two blocks of a school is being shut down, as it would be grossly insensitive to allow an institution with such a record of child abuse to worship near its victims.
"We're withdrawing every branch of Macdonalds and Starbucks from Vietnam, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama or anywhere else we've ever bombed, and we're telling Wall Street that it has to move to New Jersey, as the Twin Towers were called the World Trade Center and the bankers were the ones that stopped the global economy in it's tracks."
Victim: New York cab driver Ahmed H Sharif, 43, lies in New York's Bellevue Hospital after he was attacked and slashed across the neck, face and shoulders by a passenger he was driving because he said he was Muslim New York cab driver stabbed after saying he was Muslim as Ground Zero mosque tensions threaten to spill over
26th August 2010
A cab driver has been stabbed in New York after telling his passenger that he was Muslim. Ahmed H Sharif was slashed in the face and neck after the passenger, 21-year-old Michael Enright, allegedly attacked him. The attack came as tensions over plans to build a mosque at Ground Zero are threatening to spill over into the streets of New York.
Tensions: Michael Enright sits in a New York City courtroom yesterday as he was charged with attempted murder as a hate crime
Sharif picked up Enright at about 6pm on Tuesday evening at East 24th Street and Second Avenue, police spokeswoman Deputy Inspector Kim Royster said. Sharif - who is originally from Bangladesh - told authorities that during the trip Enright asked him whether he's Muslim. When he said yes, Enright allegedly uttered an Arabic greeting and told Sharif: 'Consider this a checkpoint'. Enright then pulled out a weapon - believed to be a folding tool with a knife blade called a Leatherman - and attacked Sharif, Royster said.
Sharif was seriously wounded in the neck and suffered cuts to his forearms, his face and one hand while trying to fend off Enright, prosecutor James Zeleta said. Sharif tried to lock Enright inside the cab and drive to a police station, police said. The attacker jumped out a rear window at East 40th Street and Third Avenue, 17 blocks from where he hailed the cab. An officer there noticed the commotion, found Enright slumped on the pavement and arrested him. Police believe he was drunk at the time. A case for the tool was found inside the cab, but the tool was missing, police said.
Sharif, a 43-year-old immigrant who's driven a cab for 15 years, was quoted in a news release from the New York Taxi Workers Alliance as saying the attack left him shaken. 'I feel very sad,' he said. With the tension over the mosque increasing, Sharif stated: 'All drivers should be more careful'.
Sharif accepted an invitation from Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a staunch supporter of the mosque, to visit City Hall today. 'This attack runs counter to everything that New Yorkers believe no matter what god we pray to,' the mayor said in a statement.
Enright is a college student who did volunteer work in Afghanistan. He is being held without bail on charges of attempted murder and assault as well as hate crimes and possession of a weapon. He faces a maximum eight to 25 years in prison if convicted of the attempted-murder count.
He volunteered for Intersections International, a group that promotes interfaith dialogue. The group has supported the controversial plans for the Islamic centre and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero, although Enright was not involved. A group representative, the Rev. Robert Chase, called the situation 'tragic'. 'We've been working very hard to build bridges between folks from different religions and cultures,' Chase said. 'This is really shocking and sad for us.'
-------------------------
Here's hoping this terrorist is jailed for a long time.
FOX Failed To Mention Co-Owner Is One They Accuse Of 'Terror Funding'
Jon Stewart continued his coverage of the 'Ground Zero Mosque' debate last night, focusing on Fox News' incongruities harder than he ever has. In a segment called "The Parent Company Trap," Stewart shared with his viewers how Fox News' plan to "follow the money" from mosque builder Imam Rauf to terrorists will be a tricky one because it leads right back to Fox News.
Stewart showed clips from his show last week, in which he mocked Fox News for playing a dangerous game of association based on speculation, and wherein Fox continued to mention a nameless man with ties to Imam Rauf through the "Kingdom Foundation." It turns out the man they are referring to but never name is Saudi prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, one of the biggest shareholders of Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.
Showing a photo of the prince shaking hands with Rupet Murdoch, Stewart exclaimed, "That's right, the guy they're painting as a sinister money force OWNS Fox News." Stewart then used Fox's own logic to explain how the "terror mosque" is funded by Prince Alwaleed, despite being a co-owner of Fox News, and therefore funding terrorism. So, using their logic, Stewart said, "If we want to cut off funding to the terror mosque, we must, together as a nation, stop watching Fox."
But with this new information, one thing is now uncertain. Did Fox actually not know the name of the Kingdom Foundation leader or that he is a News Corp investor? Or did they, as Stewart said, "purposefully cover it up because it didn't help their fear-driven narrative?"
Stewart turned to John Oliver and Wyatt Cynac to figure out whether Fox is, in fact, evil or stupid?
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