OK, now the compromise position, which I disagree with, is for the builders of the mosque to back down and move the mosque to some other part of the city. Somewhere... "less sensitive". Let;'s pretend that isn't a violation of their basic constitutional rights. Let's look at how far away we're talking about. A compromise can't be that bad, right? As has been well reported, the build site for the planned mosque is two blocks away from ground zero. So, how far away are other mosques in the city (NYT link)?
Masjid Manhattan, on Warren Street, four blocks from ground zero, was founded in 1970. Masjid al-Farah, formerly on Mercer Street, moved to its present location on West Broadway, about 12 blocks from ground zero, in 1985. Both mosques — essentially one-room operations — routinely turn people away for lack of space.
So there is an existing mosque that is FOUR blocks away from ground zero.
This controversy is pure political demagoguery appealing to the worst (racist) instincts of people. Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrinch and all the others involved in this should bow their heads in shame and apologize for being so offensive. And so unbelievably wrong.
OK, venting over. Back to financial models.
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Travis, while I generally agree with you regarding the "mosque", I have to disagree when you say that Obama walked back his position on Saturday. If you closely look at what he said on Friday, he didn't provide an opinion on the appropriatenes (or lack thereof) of a mosque. He simply stated the first amendment right. On Saturday, he simply restated/clarified what his remarks.
ReplyDeleteAlso, can we alert the far RIGHT? It's NOT a mosque!!!! It's a community center being proposed by GW Bush's 'Islamic envoy' to the middle east (Islamic envoy is my term).
Good points. I probably bought into the press line a bit too fully. Regardless, I'd prefer if he hadn't even made the comment on Saturday at all. It just gave an opening to anybody who wanted one.
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