Capitol Hill Blue Forums Political Issues The Obama Administration Obama Defends Ground Zero Mosque Plans In Ramadan

Continued:
This is a private property issue, not a religeous issue, and the two should not be conflated simply because a pol wants to pander to his Ramadan dinner guests. the only "commitment" that should be "unshakable" in this instance is property rights. In this case the property is privately owned and, to my knowledge, there are no restrictions against building regious buildings on it, so that should settle the matter. All the rest is politics.

As to the reasons given for building it, I have to say I think it is a load of bull chit, and if the goal of the group behind building the place was for bringing divergent peoples together (Hah!) then they would not be building it within two blocks of a location that stirs great emotion in New Yorkers.
Yours,
Issodhos

Of course there are politics involved Iss--from both sides---but I also think that in 20 years most will wonder what all the fuss was about.

Assuming the mosque is actually built.

If there is any bullchit involved it is this:
The President took what appears to me to be a position with no political payoff at all, but one of principle. Just because the principle he stood for isn't you holy god of private property doesn't mean he didn't stand for principle.

He only brought on more of the "he's a Muslim" crap and stood against the stupidity of a majority of Americans.

What an incredibly naive claim -- or perhaps partisan.;-) The issue is simple, the right to build on one's own property sans any pre-existing restrictions. That means, "case closed". It is not about religious freedom. He panders at least twice -- once to somewhat mend fences with US lefties who are reportedly a bit miffed with him, and secondly to "ring the empty clarion call of religious freedom" which the naive gobble up even though it is not at all a part of this issue. It really is that simple, Phil.:-)
Yours,
Issodhos

The people who own the property have sold or allowed the Islamic community to proceed with these plans. That is also allowed under the Constitution. Mayor Bloomberg approved the use. I don't like why it's there, either. Islam has a tradition of building mosques and shrines where they consider to have triumphed and I feel that is what this is. But just like I can't stop the KKK from owning a place to meet, or PETA, or ALF/ELF, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Fred Phelps or James Dobson(I dislike them all), legally, we cannot stop the mosque being built on the site of 9/11.

I do feel that the Islamic community is making a grave mistake, and this act belies their claim of being peaceful and wanting to heal. But that is their prerogative and the full right under the law.

IMO, it is a combination of real property use laws, freedom of speech and freedom to exercise religion. You have to take the sweet with the sour.

The attack on the World Trade Center opened up a hornets nest in the face of Islam. Only the most radical of them could consider it a triumph of any sort. But then they seem to relish in swollen lumpy faces....

In response to know particular post: this thread is a crock.

In one instance, we argue that it is a private property issue pure and simple then proceed to attack the builders because of an inferred motive for which there is no evidence on the public record

In another instance we argue that while the right exists to build a mosque here, doing so flies in the face of the sensitivities of New Yorkers. Apparently we can conveniently disregard the sensitivities of the New Yorkers and visitors to the area who were Muslims and who died in the World Trade Center disaster, as well as the sensitivities of their friends and relatives, many of whom remain New Yorkers and Muslims! Their religion has no place in the vicinity of the site of their deaths? Rot, rot, and more rot!

And we ascribe heinous motives to the choice of this location without taking into any consideration the role of the imam who is behind it in calming the situation on the ground at and around ground zero in the days after the disaster and worked extensively with the Bush administration to try to keep this kind of Islamaphobia from taking over the country. If one looks beyond the convenient basis of a pseudo-christianesque basis for being offended by this plan at the actual plans for the site, one is hard pressed to conclude that the purpose of the site is anything other than a contribution to both the Islamic and the broader communities that all aspects of the redevelopment of this part of Manhattan seek to create.

This thread is offensive on so many levels it is hard to square its presence with the otherwise reasoned thinking of so many of my friends here. As well as others.

Evil motives are in the eye of the beholder. Mirror mirror on the wall, who sees evil in each and all?

What i really hate about all this is the way Obama forced Palin (and some of her fellow travellers and special needs politicians) into making a BIG f-ing deal bout this in the first place just so he can pander to the islamites.

what a bastard