Free Republic

AS my flight approached America last weekend, my mind circled back to the furor that has broken out over plans to build Cordoba House, a community center in Lower Manhattan.I have been away from home for two months, speaking abroad about cooperation among people from different religions. Every day, including the past two weeks spent representing my country on a State Department tour in the Middle East, I have been struck by how the controversy has riveted the attention of Americans, as well as nearly everyone I met in my travels. We have all been awed by how inflamed and...

The proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero has prompted passionate debate about freedom of religion and the open nature of American society. Defenders of the project solemnly intone that the terrorists will win if the mosque is not permitted, although they cannot credibly articulate why. Through all sanctimony, responsibility for tolerance is placed solely on the American public, never on the religious ideology that spawned the 9/11 terrorists. Secular liberals ignore the significance of shrine building at sites of victory over the “infidel” and demure on whether there is any obligation to accommodate non-Muslim sensitivities. They also fail to acknowledge...

I was watching a video on the anti-mosque rally on youtube, and I was surprised to see people in the comment section invoking “private property rights” to defend the mosque. First off it’s a bit odd for ‘these people’, broadly speaking, to be defending that. Where were they when American Renaissance meetings were shut down by “anti-racist” race terrorists? Where were they when Scientology meetups get harassed? I’m sure if you looked you could find many other examples. If they don’t want to defend “private property”, fine. But this selective invocation of principles is hypocrisy. Second off, if you support...

Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah has come out strongly in support of the controversial Islamic center proposed for construction in New York, even as his party appears to be using opposition to the so-called "Ground Zero mosque" as a campaign issue. In an interview over the weekend with Fox 13 News in Salt Lake City, Hatch noted that "there's a huge . . . lack of support throughout the country for Islam to build that mosque there, but that should not make a difference if they decide to do it." "I'd be the first to stand up for their...

The Proxy War At Ground Zero The first layer of the onion The argument is about what the argument is about: Is the matter of the mosque to be settled by legalities or the proprieties? Once the test is decided upon, the argument is over. That is one reason why the parties talk over each other. The left, now miraculously indued with commitment to the free exercise of religion and a renewed respect for property rights, argues that the matter is to be decided solely on the constitutional and property prerogatives of Muslim penitents. But seven out of ten Americans...

I had all my notes ready for this week's column and grabbed them to think in peace and quiet in the Georgetown Rathskeller, one of the few non-tarted-up boites left in this growing-ever-richer Capital City. I can't work in an atmosphere of botoxed babes hustling the latest mango-pomegranatetinis at brightly lit granite bars.

Mysterious Group Buys Building Next to Ground Zero For Mosque Wednesday, December 16, 2009 Jim Hoft A mysterous Muslim group with unknown sponsors has purchased a building steps away from Ground Zero. Hudson New York reported: An identified group with unknown sponsors has purchased building steps away from where the WorldTrade Center once stood — to turn it into potentially one of the largest New York City mosques. At the moment the building, the old Burlington Coat Factory, already serves as a mini-mosque: an iron grill lifts every Friday afternoon for a little known Imam leading prayers a few yards...

Good article by Roger L. Simon on the term "Islamaphobia" that is being bandied around a lot lately over the Ground Zero Mosque: Along with “progressive” (a word that should be restricted to poker), “Islamophobia” is one of the more maddening propaganda constructs of our time. Orwell could not have done better. Of course we all know what a phobia is – an irrational fear. It comes from the Greek phobos, meaning “fear” or “morbid fear.” Common ones are acrophobia (heights) and agoraphobia (crowds). With very minor exceptions, I have seen little irrational fear of Islam in our society. What...

In a stunning revelation, it appears that the controversial Imam Rauf has been quite instrumental in the crafting of the speech that Obama gave in Cairo. This report comes from Walid Shoebat who speaks fluent Arabic. It is a shocking audio recording of Rauf's own voice boasting in Arabic that Obama's historic speech in Cairo was provided by the Imam's work with the Cordova Initiative. Once a terrorist, Walid Shoebat is now an American citizen and lives in the USA under this assumed name. He has a unique insight into the world of terror from the perspective of someone who...

It has been widely reported that Michael Enright, who has been arrested for attacking the Muslim cab driver, worked as a volunteer for "Intersections International" (II). It has also been reported, in some of those sources, that II was in favor of the Ground Zero Mosque(GZM). What has not been reported is that this leftist and globalist organization (II), is not merely in favor of the GZM, but lists on its website both the Cordoba Initiative (CI) and the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA) as "partners." Both CI and ASMA are central to the GZM project and the political/Jihadist...

A "tolerant" lefty this one is: (language alert) [VIDEO AT SITE] or on this FR thread. This line from the nimrod is something: “I have no problem cursing out an unpatriotic, treasonous piece of garbage that wouldn’t know the (sacrilegious expletive) Constitution if it hit him in the (expletive) face, OK?” Uh, yeah.... Wasn't it patriotic not too long ago to protest against various things (Iraq, wiretaps, gitmo, etc.) when Bush was in office? Now, if someone feels this mosque shouldn't be built and wants to protest against it...it's now unpatriotic? And then he goes on to say the survivor...

According to Newsmax “Ron Paul unleashed a lengthy and at times angry statement on his website Friday that supports the rights of Muslims to build what’s become known as the “Ground Zero Mosque.” As they read about it, I’m sure not a few of his admirers will disagree with him. But as usual they’ll dismiss it as another aberrant outburst from someone whose views they otherwise applaud. If Newsmax is right about his feelings, though, it makes sense to ask why he feels anger at the people opposing the GZM project. I think it’s because he accepts the view that...

When it comes to controversial issues such as same sex marriage, global warming, and fighting Arizona's immigration laws, Hollywood has never held back in advancing their opinions. However, in the wake of President Obama’s announcement that Muslims have the “right” to build up a mosque near New York’s 9/11 Ground Zero, the typically outspoken entertainment industry is staying strangely silent. A couple of celebrities such as Kevin Nealon and Russell Simmons, posted links to the story on their Twitter accounts, but withheld any personal judgments. Kirk Douglas wrote on his MySpace page that he was “confused” about the mosque plans...

This is sweet, sweet music to the ears of his liberal backers… “We tend to forget, in the West, that the United States has more Muslim blood on its hands than al-Qaeda has on its hands of innocent non-Muslims. You may remember that the US lead sanction against Iraq lead to the death of over half a million Iraqi children. The West needs to begin to see themselves through the eyes of the Arab and Muslim world, and when you do you will see the predicament that exists within the Muslim community.” (Note: He uses Michael Moore’s propoganda film “Fahrenheit...

JUST LOOK at how close the disengenuous 5th-columnists of the Obama Administration are to the "moderate" Imam behind the Ground-Zero mosque... like try paying him with our tax dollars to go on a Middle East tour on behalf of the US! The imam behind the plan to build a mosque near Ground Zero surfaced yesterday far from the controversy -- in Bahrain, where he's on a taxpayer-funded trip to the Middle East to spread good will. Appearing in public for the first time in weeks, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, speaking at a mosque near Bahrain's capital of Manama, said he...

In the Ground Zero mosque debate, de fenders of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf have pointed out that in 2003 the FBI brought him in to help train its agents -- so how radical could he be? The first problem is that Rauf's "help" turned out to be worse than worthless. The bigger problem is that the FBI has a rotten record when it comes to identifying moderate Muslims -- as opposed to ones who are happy to feed non-Muslims the pabulum they're willing to swallow. Start with Rauf and the FBI. He was brought into the New York field office...

The New York imam behind the Ground Zero mosque has struck a partnership with the founder of the so-called 9/11 mosque in the Washington suburbs that gave aid and comfort to some of the 9/11 hijackers, WND has learned. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf counts the lead trustee of the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center among partners in his Cordoba Initiative, which features a 13-story mosque and a "cultural center" for his project to bring shariah, or Islamic law, to America. Families of 9/11 victims oppose construction of the proposed site so close to Ground Zero. Jamal Barzinji, one of the founders...

Palin is on FIRE!!!