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Americans have a right to assemble and worship freely in this country, period. It's not only a founding principle of this nation, but a main justification for its founding. It is why many white Christians flooded to this country in the first place.
Those opposed to American Muslims practicing their right to build a religious and cultural center on their private property near Ground Zero and in concordance with all laws and regulations reluctantly concede that they have no legal grounds to challenge it. So they argue instead that the Muslims should voluntarily forgo their right out of sensitivity for the sacredness of that site.
This is a particularly disingenuous line.
If it is about sensitivity for the sacred, then why aren't those same people opposing the deli, bar, coffee shop, and offices, or strip club for that matter, that are open for business in that same sacred vicinity?
What is particularly indecent or insensitive about American Muslims building a house of peace, community, and worship that doesn't apply to the New York Dolls gentlemen club?
Let's be blunt: it is only indecent and insensitive if you buy into the canard that American Muslims are somehow collectively guilty for 9/11. That is the coded message at the heart of opposition to the center. It is a message we reject on its face.
American Muslims bear no collective guilt. We have nothing to apologize for and everything to be proud of, including our loyalty and hard-earned livelihoods. We are not guest citizens, we are not second-rate citizens; we reject marginalization and require no validation. We are equal citizens living and worshipping in our country.
We are part and parcel of the diversity of America including the diversity of the 3,000 people who died on 9/11. We are part of the diversity of the hundreds who were injured and those who were first respondents to Ground Zero. We are part of the diversity of the millions who grieved and still grieve. When "they" attacked "us," we were attacked. We are part of the "us" not the "they."
The whole brouhaha about the "Mosque at Ground Zero" is frankly bogus. It has little to do with sacred ground, or sensitive hearts. It does however have everything to do with the exploitation of the sacred and the sensitive for the furtherance of the sacrilegious and the insensitive: the phenomenon of Muslim-bashing that is ravaging our nation today./p>
The Cordoba House, now Park51, is an old story. In fact, it was reported on in the New York Times and other mainstream media as far back as two years ago. Why the frenzy now?
That's not all: Muslims have been worshipping at Mosque Manhattan a few blocks away from Ground Zero, long before Ground Zero was Ground Zero; in fact, since 1970, before the twin towers were the twin towers.
So again, why the sudden frenzy?
Failure to ask "why" is a collective indictment of the media establishment (with a few notable exceptions). Just as the media shirked its responsibilities in questioning the Bush administration on the justifications for the war in Iraq, now too it fails to properly investigate, scrutinize, and report the origins of this controversy. Here is what it failed to tell you:
The"Ground Zero Mosque" fiasco is a fabricated controversy that traces its origins to a couple of long-time anti-Muslim goons from the annals of the hate blogosphere by the names of Robert Spencer and Pamela Geller as a flagship campaign of their newly founded organization, Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA). SIOA is part of an emerging phenomenon of astroturf anti-Muslim organizations that seek to project any public expression of Muslim life in this country as tantamount to a stealth "Islamization of America." (Except it's not so stealth since everyone and their mother is talking about it).
It was SIOA that first coined the misnomer "Mosque at Ground Zero," purposely twisting the reality that the proposed Muslim cultural center near Ground Zero is neither a Mosque nor at Ground Zero. It was the SIOA that sought to redefine Imam Rauf as a radical Imam even though he was heralded by the Bush administration, the FBI and others as a moderate voice of reason. It was the SIOA and its partners that ruthlessly sought to stoke the fears and suspicions of otherwise good, unsuspecting Americans. (Read rest of article)
Truth + Knowledge =
POWER !
Sign that welcomed The President's visit.
U.S. Army Stryker armored vehicles cross the border from Iraq into Kuwait on Wednesday, Aug. 18. The U.S. Army's 4th Stryker Brigade is the last combat unit to leave Iraq as part of the drawdown of U.S. forces. President Barack Obama had set a goal of reducing the number of American troops in Iraq to 50,000 troops by Sept. 1. (Maya Alleruzzo / AP) B4B Note: But he's early !Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
LAST OF AMERICAN COMBAT
Good afternoon,
Shortly after taking office, I put forward a plan to end the war in Iraq responsibly. Today, I'm pleased to report that -- thanks to the extraordinary service of our troops and civilians in Iraq -- our combat mission will end this month, and we will complete a substantial drawdown of our troops.
To dispel all rumors/misinformation/lies that the Bay is some separate body of water
" Land of the Free...Home of the BRAVE "
....yea right !
I have NEVER seen such a bunch of COWARDS in my life (mostly on the Right).
Afraid of the Mexicans, afraid of the Muslims, afraid of The
Government, afraid of the Dems, afraid of The President, afraid of
Blacks, afraid of Iraq, afraid of Iran, afraid of N. Korea, afraid of
the Taliban, afraid of Al Queda, afraid of the gays, afraid of Hamas, afraid of the Left, afraid of 'anchor' babies, afraid of Hezbollah, afraid of unions, afraid of community organizers...and now...afraid of a building. PATHETIC !!!
(Greg Jones, National Director, Blacks4Barack
A multi-racial, net/grassroots org....Dedicated to TRUTH !)
WASHINGTON – On the 75th anniversary of Social Security being signed into law, President Obama promised that he would protect it from the Republican leaders in Congress who have made privatization a key part of their agenda. Despite the financial crisis, they still believe that gambling Social Security on Wall Street is a good idea. This President will not let that happen. For several generations, Social Security has been a promise to America’s seniors – that they will have the chance to retire with dignity – and he will safeguard that promise.
WATCH ADDRESS:
President Obama addresses guests at an iftar dinner, the meal that breaks
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
*As Congress reconvenes next week to pass a $26 billion bailout of state and local governments entombed in their own deficits, we witness a foretaste of the crisis that will be the central event of the first half of next year: the collapse of state governments.
*As long as the Democrats control Congress, they will continue to rubber-stamp Obama's requests for bailouts of profligate states. But when the Republicans take control, they will be less than forthcoming. Republicans will ask the central question: Why should taxpayers from states that have cut their budgets and observed spending restraint, pay for the extravagances of the other states? Why should forty-seven states have to pay for California, New York, and Michigan?
*The Republican solution to state financial distress should be simple: The Party should insist on a change in the federal bankruptcy law providing for a procedure for state bankruptcy (none now exists). This process must call for abrogation (means=to end) of all state and local public employee union contracts as is usually done in private sector bankruptcies. By freeing states and local governments (including school boards) of their union obligations on wages, work rules, staffing, and pensions, they have a chance to survive and, indeed, to prosper. But merely subsidizing these massive expenditures just prolongs the misery of the states in question.
*The collapse of overspending state governments must trigger the diminution of the power unions hold over their budgets and their politics. Their coming bankruptcies offer an opportunity for reform and the Republican Congress - backed by newly elected Republican state governments - give us precisely the opportunity we need to effectuate it. (*=Excerpts from emailed Dick Morris.Com newsletter entitled "The Coming Catastrophe: State Governments")
First lady Michelle Obama has taken their youngest daughter, Sasha, to Spain. Their other daughter, Malia, is away at summer camp.
Obama hasn't shied away from talking about his birthday, noting that his hair is getting grayer and his metabolism is slowing down as another year passes. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs says that while there's no doubt that the presidency comes with enormous physical and mental strain, Obama "greatly enjoys" the job.
Obama is heading home to Chicago for a birthday celebration dinner Wednesday evening with friends. He'll spend the night in his own house in the city's Hyde Park neighborhood. Meanwhile, the president's birthday – though a year shy of the Big 50 milestone – is being used in this election year as a prime fundraising opportunity for Democratic candidates and party organizations, through mailings, e-mails, parties and other birthday-themed outreach.
On Thursday, Obama will tour an auto plant in Chicago and attend Democratic fundraisers before returning to Washington. (AP)
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B4B NOTE: And for the high number of absolute morons that polls show still exist, below is a copy of both The President's birth certificate along with a picture of his birth announcement which appeared in the Honolulu Advertiser on August 13, 1961 on page B-6. Incredible...the lies we must fight.
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