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In the demagogue's parade highlighted in today's Times' coverage of Mayor Bloomberg's heroic defense of the plan to build an Islamic Center in lower Manhattan, one particularly vicious thug stood out:
But even as the mayor called for the mosque to be embraced, those opposed to the project pledged to aggressively fight it, using both litigation and public pressure. A prominent Republican and foreign policy analyst said he was working with business, civic and political leaders to organize a campaign to persuade architects, contractors and donors to steer clear of the project. He said they would also aggressively scrutinize any donors who supported it.
Aggressively scrutinize any donors? What's he going to do, put them on a terrorist watch list? Is this kind of intimidation legal? And where do I sign up to donate? [UPDATE: here. Andrew, your donation is now complete --UPDATE 8/5: see correction above: donations directly to the Islamic Center can be made at Park51.]
The Republican, Daniel Senor, a former high-ranking official with the coalition government in Iraq, said that anybody who works with the center “needs to know there is going to be a real stigma associated with this project.”
“Do they really want to be involved with something so detrimental, that might set New York back?” he asked.
What's next, a Muslim kristallnacht?
Bloomberg was right yesterday -- "this is an important test of the separation of church and state as we may see in our lifetimes, as important a test. And it is critically important that we get it right." We are entering the danger zone.
Hmmm...can we go back and "aggressively scrutinize" the Mormon Church for Prop 8? Oh, wait, that's an attack on religious freedom.
ReplyDeleteI didn't even know Dan Senor was running for Gauleiter.
ReplyDeleteThis was my tipping point. I just donated $20.
ReplyDeleteIf Dan Senor had any shame (ps: he doesn't; he's pure flak) he would spend the rest of his life questioning any Big Shot who was in the serious debacle that was the Coalition Provisional Authority in Iraq and their incompetent, arrogance that set Baghdad and the rest of Iraq back. See IMPERIAL LIFE IN THE EMERALD CITY by R Chandrasekarian.
ReplyDeleteRoy Schulze, I just did the same thing.
ReplyDeleteThe right-wing attacks on this project have been disgusting. Donation made.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting how Senor hates American freedoms like religious expression.
ReplyDeleteI wonder why he hates America so much.
I was considering donating this morning. Reading Senor's despicable statement just made me follow through. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteAre conservatives good for anything these days? It seems that conservatives are bent on destroying the fabric of this country.
ReplyDeleteI just added $10, kiss my ass Senor
ReplyDeleteHow the heck is a community center going to "Hold New York back"? Is he really arguing that Islam stifles innovation and retards communal progress? By what artifice does the act of living openly as a Muslim retard innovation and growth?
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Kristallnacht, doesn't this passage from Adam Kirsch's TNR review of Alan Steinweis's study of Kristallnacht seem particularly resonant today?
ReplyDeleteTo Grynszpan, then, the shooting of vom Rath was intended to make a clear political statement: it was an act of Jewish revenge against the Nazis. Ironically, the Nazis were only too glad to take that explanation at face value. It allowed them to make the ineffectual lashing-out of a helpless refugee sound like a strategic offensive in the war between Germany and “international Jewry.” At around 9:30 p.m., Steinweis shows in his meticulous reconstruction, the German News Agency--an arm of Goebbels’s Propaganda Ministry--sent a memo to the nation’s newspapers, instructing them on how to report the crime. “Not only was the guilt of ‘international Jewry’ obvious,” Steinweis writes, “but so was its motive: ‘the extermination of National Socialist Germany.’” And if the Jews were collectively responsible for Grynszpan’s action, then “it would be ‘right and proper’ if ‘Jewry in Germany were to be called to account for the shooting in the Paris embassy.’” It is a characteristic example of the diabolical logic of Nazi anti-Semitism: the Nazis victimized German Jews, and if Jews abroad protested, it was proof of the international conspiracy that justified the victimization in the first place.
Given that Senor has invested so much of his reputation in the idea that Iraq can be a stale nation and a friend to the United States, you'd think he'd be eager to support anything that represents moderate Islam and interfaith communication. You'd think.
ReplyDeleteI am amazed at the naivete of everyone on this board. Do you not know the historical and cultural signifigance of "Cordoba"? In Cordoba, Spain, it was the site of a Catholic cathedral which was razed and built into a mosque as a symbol of Islamic victory in Europe. This name being chosen was no mere coincidence. There is a definite message being sent to the world. Were the people involved in this truly trying to promote peace and understanding between Islam and the West, why would they name it Cordoba? And why would they fight so hard to place it within feet of the site of the terrorist attack - an attack, mind you, perpetrated by and for Islamic jihadists? This mosque and Islamic cultural center will be a daily reminder of the pain and suffering New Yorkers experienced. It will engender resentment, anger and even hate. Not peace and understanding. Way to go, donating to such a misguided and sinister cause.
ReplyDeleteI will say that the Mosque has a right to be built next to Ground Zero. But as Americans who watched as the planes hit the towers and our Americans heroes ( police, fireman, and citizens)we killed when the towers fell, do we really believe the Mosque being placed here is in good taste. Or is this a ploy to say that this is conquered land. Check the meaning of the name they originally wanted to call it. So yes they have the right, no I and many Americans do not believe it is appropriate. And no donation from me, my family, or any of my friends that will listen.
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