NYPD has spent $250K keeping 24-hour watch on the so-called Ground Zero mosque
“As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country,”
“That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances.”
“This is America and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable.”
President Obama on Friday backed construction of a proposed mosque and Muslim cultural center near the site of the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York — a project opposed by U.S. conservatives and many New Yorkers.
- Reuters
“Five years ago, the ADL honored me with its Hubert H. Humphrey First Amendment Freedoms Prize,” Zakaria writes in next week’s Newsweek. “I was thrilled to get the award from an organization that I had long admired. But I cannot in good conscience keep it anymore. I have returned both the handsome plaque and the $10,000 honorarium that came with it. I urge the ADL to reverse its decision. Admitting an error is a small price to pay to regain a reputation.”
Newsweek writer and CNN host Fareed Zakaria has returned an award he received in 2005 from the Anti-Defamation League over the Jewish group’s opposition towards the Ground Zero mosque.
““I don’t want to be lectured by them about religious liberty at a time where there is not a single church or a single synagogue in Saudi Arabia.” - Newt Gingrich [Gingrich weeks ago argued that the Mosque shouldn’t be considered until Saudi Arabia warms up to Christianity.]
“Exactly!” “Why should we as Americans have higher standards of religious liberty than Saudi Arabia?” - Jon Stewart”
Jon Stewart Calls Out Those Blindly Opposed to Ground Zero Mosque
Jon Stewart Calls Out Those Blindly Opposed to Ground Zero Mosque - video here
The battle over the mosque near ground zero is not the only such controversy. Confrontations have broken out in other communities, including Temecula, Calif.
continue reading… nytimes
Cenk Uygur (host of The Young Turks) filling in for Chris Jansing on MSNBC debates Muslim Stephen Schwartz and Carl Paladino (R candidate for NY Governor) on a proposed mosque near ground zero.
These republican arguments are making me really nauseous…. Bravo to Cenk, though.
So let me get this straight, if any member of the Supreme Court reflects upon European law or refers to any norms held worldwide in their opinions it’s an outrage and condemned by the Right immediately. Damn left-wing activist judges. They hate America.
If Dems compare American health care with health care systems around the world we are supposed to believe that they do not believe in American exceptionalism. The comparison alone is akin to treason.
Hey Newt, you do realize, you are suggesting that America take its lead from a country that is the birth place of Osama Bin Laden.
