Trifecta vs The "No Labels" Movement

For those not familiar with the "No Labels" movement, you can read about it here. It's nonsense and is totally contrary to the way our government is supposed to operate. The Trifecta of AlfonZo Rachel, Steve Green, and Scott Ott of PJTV do a great job of deconstructing this new movement, the goal of which ("Extreme Moderates") they accurately label an oxymoron. You can watch their presentation by clicking here.

By the way, I checked the list of Citizen Leaders of "No Labels" and look what I found:

Daisy Khan
Daisy Khan is Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), a non-profit organization dedicated to developing an American Muslim identity and to building bridges between the Muslim community and general public through dialogues in faith, identity, culture, and arts. Daisy Khan frequently lectures and participates in panel discussion debates in the United States and internationally.

Daisy, you will recall, is the outspoken wife of Feisal Abdul Rauf , the man behind the project to build the Ground Zero Mosque.

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Needs Help

Photo provided by the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America, Archbishop Demetrios, right, leads a vigil on the eve of the Feast Day of St. Nicholas to pray for the rebuilding of St. Nicholas Church (NY Daily News)

From Atlas Shrugs:

95-YEAR-OLD ST. NICHOLAS CHURCH AT GROUND ZERO SUES FOR RIGHT TO REBUILD WHILE BLOOMBERG LOBBIES FOR 911 TAXPAYER DOLLARS FOR GROUND ZERO MOSQUE SUPREMACISTS


For background on New York Mayor Bloomberg's total support for the Ground Zero Victory Mosque and his total disregard for the Greek Orthodox St. Nicholas Church, which was at Ground Zero even before the World Trade Center was built, go here.

And for further information on what Charles Krauthammer has referred to as a sacrilege, click on the below label: "Ground Zero Victory Mosque."

Man Bites Dog in New Jersey

Robert Spencer of Jihad Watch.Org posted this man bites dog story today on his website. It's big news when the ACLU and CAIR come down on the right side of anything. They both came out against the firing of the NJ Transit Authority employee who burned a copy of the Koran on the 9/11 anniversary in Lower Manhattan to protest a planned Islamic community center there.

You can read Spencer's post here.

Ground Zero Victory Mosque Design Is "Diabolically Audacious"

Robert Spencer at Jihad Watch posted the above architecture rendering of the proposed Ground Zero Victory Mosque.

Be sure to read the links on his post to Atlas Shrugs.

“In the magical universe there are no coincidences and there are no accidents. Nothing happens unless someone wills it to happen.”

William S. Burroughs

Does 60 Minutes Take Sides?

Pamela Geller, who managed to hold her own in the seemingly biased interview with Scott Pelley, had more to say on her Blog, Atlas Shrugs.

Does Bloomberg Have An Ulterior Motive?

Robert Spencer of JIhadwatch.org has posited what just might be the true motivation behind the cowardly mayor of New York City, Michale Bloomberg, in his rush to label as bigots all those who object to the LOCATION of the Ground Zero Victor Mosque.

You can read this interesting theory here.

So This Is What We Call Soft Power?

Caroline May of The Daily Caller posted an eye opening account today about how our State Department is funding the restoration of Mosques around the world. How about that?

While much attention has been focused on questions surrounding the Ground Zero mosque and the appropriateness of the State Department funding Ground Zero mosque imam Feisal Abdul Rauf’s trip to the Middle East, little attention has been given to the fact that U.S. taxpayer money is funding mosque development around the world.

She cites 26 examples of federal funds going to fund construction, renovation, and rehabilitation of various mosques abroad. The benefiting countries include Bulgaria, Pakistan, Mali, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Benin, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Egypt, Tunisia, the Maldives, Yemen, Turkmenistan, Tanzania, Uganda, Azerbaijan, Sudan, Serbia and Montenegro.

Nicole Thompson, a State Department spokeswoman, told The Daily Caller that the U.S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation is a type of diplomatic effort and outreach, what she says Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calls “soft power.”

“It is helping to preserve our cultural heritage. It is not just to preserve religious structures,” Thompson said. “It is not to preserve a religion. It is to help us as global inhabitants preserve cultures.”

Click on the link below to read the whole article.
http://dailycaller.com/2010/08/24/u-s-government-funds-mosque-renovation-and-rehabilitation-around-the-world/

Verum SerumBlog: Park 51... Priceless

John at Verum Serum Blog just posted this today, and I couldn't resist.

Park51…Priceless
John on August 22, 2010 at 10:34 pm

A 13 story Islamic center two blocks from ground zero: $100 million.

Sending Imam Rauf overseas to spread tolerance on the taxpayer’s dime: $16,000.

Refilling the prescription on Frank Rich’s blood pressure medication: $14.

Watching progressives argue that religious freedom should never be questioned…

Priceless.

Also today: Heard that the AP has instructed all outlets to henceforth refer to what we have been calling the Ground Zero Mosque as "The New York City Mosque." Given that there are roughly 90 Mosques in New York City, according to a Google search on the topic, I propose we be even more specific in describing the Mosque in question as "The Ground Zero Victory Mosque."

Peter Johnson, Jr: Time To Do the Right Thing

That's Peter Johnson, Jr., Fox News Legal Analyst. He delivered these remarks this morning standing in front of the Burlington Coat Factory, the proposed site of the now infamous Ground Zero Mosque.

Time to Do the Right Thing
Friday, August 20, 2010
Peter J. Johnson, Jr.

I am standing at the site of the proposed mosque and community center about 500 feet from Ground Zero. I lost many friends here. As a lawyer, I represent retired firefighters and fathers who suffer cancer and other serious illnesses as a result of the rescue and search operations for their sons who perished at the site of the attack.

For some, including the president, this has become about civil rights: the First Amendment. But it is not really about the First Amendment. It is about America giving and taking. It is about Americans respecting other Americans; about neighbors supporting neighbors; about feeling each others pain; about being sensitive to the loss of life in a horrific act of war, where it still hurts almost nine years later.

We are proud that we are one of the few countries in the world which allows the free exercise of religion. But, when we resort to legalisms, when we invoke our First Amendment as a sword not a shield without seeing what there was to be seen and hearing what there is to be heard, well, it means we have lost touch with and lost faith in the victims. Because we know, whether it is the Fort Hood shooter or the Christmas Day bomber or the Times Square bomber or in battles in Iraq and Afghanistan, our nation is still under siege. But as united as we were as a people on 9/11, we are just as divided today.

We have forgotten the important wellspring of our nation's strength that when it comes to our national interest, we are neither Christians, nor Jews, nor Muslims. We are Americans first.

But our common bonds seem to be fraying. Why?

Does our government sanction disrespect and disagreement between our peoples? When we demonize an entire state like Arizona because of the failings of the federal government? Do our courts sanction, disrespect and incivility when they allow a so-called religion to protest at servicemen's funerals, holding signs that say "Thank God for dead soldiers?" And then say the First Amendment makes it all OK.

How have we fallen so far, so quickly?

The developer of this mosque promises to build bridges, yet reportedly announced that its ground breaking would take place on September 11, 2011. When questions are asked about this site as to whether it is to be a reminder of Islamic triumphalism or supremacy, no assurances can be given except to deny that Hamas is a terrorist organization and refuse to deny that this community center will accept funding from our implacable enemy, the nation of Iran.

Governor Paterson and Archbishop Timothy Dolan have each taken steps to resolve this crisis. They understand the importance of the inalienable right to worship, but also understand the need for sensitivity of a kind neighbor understanding the loss of another neighbor in a time of distress, anger and yes, painful healing; the concept of right idea, wrong address.

Our hope and prayer is that this is no longer about government or politicians, or pain or protest, but about neighbors becoming good neighbors, about Americans being good Americans.

Thank God and the Founders for the First Amendment. But God help us if it all comes down to the need to rely upon it. Before we start talking about rights, let's start acting on our unique American responsibility to do the right thing.

— Peter J. Johnson, Jr., has served as a legal analyst for the Fox News Channel since 1997

Here's a link to a video of Johnson delivering the above remarks posted this afternoon on the Fox and Friends website.

http://video.foxnews.com/v/4316460/do-the-right-thing

Hey Bloomberg, Build This!

This is truly the greater scandal that nobody in the main stream media is talking about. St. Nicholas, a Greek Orthodox Church, was founded in 1916 by Greek Immigrants on the site where much later was built the World Trade Center. The Church was crushed by the collapsing of 2 World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001 after Islamic Radicals flew planes into that building and its twin. The Church and the World Trade Center are still awaiting approval from the government to rebuild almost nine years after the catastrophe. There was, as you might know, no Mosque on the site - or near the site - but Mayor Bloomberg is upset with those of us who are upset with the very idea of building a Mosque on this scared site. Charles Krauthammer calls the idea of a Mosque at Ground Zero, a sacrilege, and most Americans agree with him. One might ask how upset Mayor Bloomberg is with the fact that New Yorkers, for nine years, have been staring into a massive hole in the ground where the World Trade Center and St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church formerly stood.

So you can see the exact location of St. Nicholas Church, here is a photo taken on September 11, 2001.


(St. Nicholas Church, minutes before the collapse of 2 World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001. Photo: Eric O’Connell)

To read more about St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church go here.

Survivors Vs Ground Zero Mosque

Thanks to Keep America Safe. Com for this video.

The Ground Zero Mosque Reality Check

Bill Whittle of PJTV sums up the events that led up to the reluctance of our government (and others) to do the right thing rather than the easy thing when faced with Islamic terrorism, and ends with the best argument against the Ground Zero Mosque: it's not about tolerance at all.

Michael Bloomberg, who bought the New York City Mayor's office with his personal fortune, is a coward and an appeaser, i.e., he's feeding the crocodile hoping it will eat him last. Bad news, Mike, it will eat you first.

http://www.pjtv.com/?cmd=mpg&mpid=56&load=4031

Moderate Muslims and Progressive Catholics

That's Steven Emerson, who is doing the Lord's work as the founder of The Investigative Project on Terrorism. He was a guest on Bill Bennett's radio show this morning talking about Radical Islam, and the phony reasons being put forth by Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf for the building of a Mosque at Ground Zero. Mr. Emerson's Blog can always be accessed through My Blog List on the right side of this Blog. Unfortunately, it doesn't have a feed so new posts do not appear as soon as they are published. You have to click on the link to see what's new on the site.

For prior posts on Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who is about to embark - at your expense - on a U. S. State Department tour of those friendly, religiously tolerant Middle Eastern countries, none of which has condemned the massacre on 9/11, go here and here.

Emerson, while talking with Bill Bennett, made many laudatory remarks about an American Muslim doctor, Zuhdi Jasser, of Arizona. Here's a photo of Dr. Jasser with yet another gift to the country from the state of Minnesota (as if Al Franken wasn't enough), Representative Keith Ellison, the first Muslim to serve in the U. S. House of Representatives. Jasser is on the right.



These two gentlemen engaged in a rather lively debate on the subject of Islam. The debate was recorded in nine parts on You Tube, and is worth the time to watch. You can watch the first part here. Suffer through the first few minutes of Congressman Trent Franks of Arizona, who sponsored the debate; you won't regret it.

Dr. Jasser comes across as being exactly what he is touted to be: a moderate Muslim, but Pamela Geller isn't sure about him. She published this post about him on her Blog, Atlas Shrugs, back in May 2009.

Zuhdi Jasser impressed me as being completely sincere in his beliefs and, just as importantly, in his loyalties (he served as a medical officer for 11 years in the U. S. Navy). Somehow, though, I can't forget the words of Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Prime Minister of Turkey: "There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s it.”

I think Erdogan and Rep. Ellison are right about Islam, and Dr. Jasser is wrong. "Muslims" who do not believe in Sharia Law are not moderate Muslims; they're just NOT Muslims. Dr. Jasser, not only does not believe in Sharia; he believes in "separation of Mosque and state." I think Dr. Jasser is very much like today's so-called Progressive Catholics who have no problem with abortion or same-sex marriage (among other things). They're not "Progressive Catholics;" they're simply NOT Catholics.

Obama: Build the Mosque

This should not be a shock to anyone who has been paying attention for the past 20 months.

For a reasonable and intelligent analysis of the Ground Zero Mosque debate, read the column posted yesterday by Charles Krauthammer, here.

Tolerance Check for Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf

By now everyone is familiar with the "moderate Muslim cleric" pictured above who wants to build the giant mosque at Ground Zero, in the interest (he says) of tolerance. Comes now Greg Gutfeld with an interesting idea to test the tolerance of Mr. Moderate Muslim himself. Gutfeld says he's "dead serious" so this could get extremely interesting. Here's the post from Gutfeld's Blog, The Daily Gut.

MONDAY'S GREGALOGUE: MY NEW GAY BAR

So, the Muslim investors championing the construction of the new mosque near Ground Zero claim it's all about strengthening the relationship between the Muslim and non-Muslim world.

As an American, I believe they have every right to build the mosque - after all, if they buy the land and they follow the law - who can stop them?

Which is, why, in the spirit of outreach, I've decided to do the same thing.

I'm announcing tonight, that I am planning to build and open the first gay bar that caters not only to the west, but also Islamic gay men. To best express my sincere desire for dialogue, the bar will be situated next to the mosque Park51, in an available commercial space.

This is not a joke. I've already spoken to a number of investors, who have pledged their support in this bipartisan bid for understanding and tolerance.

As you know, the Muslim faith doesn't look kindly upon homosexuality, which is why I'm building this bar. It is an effort to break down barriers and reduce deadly homophobia in the Islamic world.

The goal, however, is not simply to open a typical gay bar, but one friendly to men of Islamic faith. An entire floor, for example, will feature non-alcoholic drinks, since booze is forbidden by the faith. The bar will be open all day and night, to accommodate men who would rather keep their sexuality under wraps - but still want to dance.

Bottom line: I hope that the mosque owners will be as open to the bar, as I am to the new mosque. After all, the belief driving them to open up their center near Ground Zero, is no different than mine.

My place, however, will have better music.
For investment information, contact me at dailygut.com

Build the 9/11 Mosque in Mecca

(Click to enlarge)

The proposed building of a Mosque at Ground Zero in New York City was addressed earlier on this Blog. If you missed it, you can see that post here.

Now comes R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr., Editor-in-Chief of The American Spectator with a definitive piece on the absurdity of the whole idea, and especially on the speciousness of the arguments advanced in support of the entirely inappropriate and insensitive placing of the edifice by member-in-good-standing of the "ruling class," Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who said the following:

"What is great about America, and particularly New York, is we welcome everybody, and if we are so afraid of something like this, what does it say about us?"

R. Emmett Tyrrell counters:

"First of all, we do not welcome everybody, not drugs lords, not Nazis, not Islamofascists. Secondly, we are not "so afraid of something like this." Rather, we recognize it as an affront to the fallen and to the Nation. Ad arguendo, the affront might not be intended by those wishing to put up the mosque, but it will be recognized by others throughout the world as an affront. Possibly it will be recognized as a sign of the triumph of Islam over non-believers. It ought not to go up."


To read the entire article in The American Spectator, go here.

Things got worse within hours of posting the above. Claudia Rosett, journalist-in-residence at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, posted this piece at Pajamas Media this afternoon.

It seems Feisal Abdul Rauf, imam of the plan for a mosque and Islamic center near Ground Zero, is scheduled to spend the rest of the summer on a swing through those bastions of religious tolerance: Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Bahrain, and Qatar, courtesy of the U. S. State Department. Actually, his entire trip will be courtesy of U. S. Taxpayers. Another day - another scandal.

Stop the Mosque at Ground Zero

Someone who completely supports the building of the Mosque at Ground Zero is New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, and he wants to run for President of the United States. He really does.

Atlas Shrugs: Ground Zero Mosque is SECOND Mosque Being Built on 9/11 Site

This is a blogburst from Alec Rawls of Error Theory Blog. He and Pamela Geller (Atlas Shrugs) are leading the fight against the building of mosques on 9/11 sites in New York and Pennsylvania.


Flight 93 father: ground zero mosque is the SECOND mosque being built on a 9/11 site

Pamela Geller, who is leading the fight against the ground zero mosque in New York, has posted the following letter from Tom Burnett Senior.


To our fellow 9/11 families and to all who are concerned about the Ground Zero mega-mosque in New York:

We want everyone to know that the Park Service is right now building an even larger Islamic victory mosque atop the Flight 93 crash site. Many of you were outraged in 2005 when the Crescent of Embrace design was unveiled to be a half-mile wide Islamic shaped crescent:


Left: 2005 publicity shot of the Crescent of Embrace design. Right: typical Islamic crescent and star, viewed from a similar angle.

Few people know that this giant crescent actually points to Mecca, or understand the religious significance of this orientation. A crescent that points the direction to Mecca is a very familiar construct in the Islamic world. Because Muslims face Mecca for prayer, every mosque is built around a Mecca direction indicator called a mihrab. The classic mihrab is crescent shaped. Here are the two most famous mihrabs in the world:


Left: the Mihrab of the Prophet, at the Prophet's mosque in Medina. Right: the mihrab of the Great Mosque in Cordoba Spain.


Face into the crescent to face Mecca

As with the Medina and Cordoba mihrabs, a person facing into the Crescent of Embrace will be facing Mecca. In the image below, superimposed red lines show the orientation of the Flight 93 crescent. The green qibla circle is from an online Mecca-direction calculator:


A person standing between the tips of the crescent and facing into the center of the crescent (red arrow) will be facing almost exactly in "qibla" direction (the Muslim prayer direction). You can verify the qibla direction from Somerset PA using any number of on-line Mecca-direction calculators.

To be precise, the Crescent of Embrace points 1.8° north of Mecca, ± a tenth of a degree. The final construction drawings alter this orientation slightly, so that instead of pointing a little less than two degrees north of Mecca, the actual crescent will point less than three degrees south of Mecca. Such small deviations from Mecca are insignificant by Islamic standards, which developed over a period of more than a thousand years during which far flung Muslims had no accurate way to determine the direction to Mecca.

The Park Service does not call the Crescent of Embrace a crescent anymore. Now they call it Circle of Embrace, but the only actual change was to add an extra arc of trees (planted to the rear of a person facing into the giant crescent) that explicitly represents a broken off part of the circle. The unbroken part of the circle, what symbolically remains standing in the wake of 9/11, is just the original Crescent of Embrace. It is still a giant Islamic shaped crescent, still pointing at Mecca.

This is the Park Service's official explanation for the design: the terrorist attacks are depicted as smashing our peaceful circle and turning it into a giant crescent. A clearer depiction of Islamic victory is hard to imagine, so no one should be too surprised that the damned thing points to Mecca, and actually turns out to be a mosque.


Other mosque features

Mosque design is based on a dozen typical mosque features, every one of which is realized in the Crescent/Circle design, all on the same epic scale as the half mile wide crescent-mihrab. Note, for instance, that the 93 foot tall minaret-like Tower of Voices is topped with another Islamic-shaped crescent, akin to the crescent-topped minarets seen in many Islamic countries:


An Islamic shaped crescent, soaring in the sky above the symbolic lives of the 40 heroes, which literally dangle down below. In Islam, there is only heaven and hell. Symbolic damnation?

The Flight 93 mosque needs to be stopped, along with the Islamic victory mosque at ground zero in Manhattan. May the fight against these two desecrations strengthen each other.

Sincerely,

Tom Burnett Senior
Loving father of Flight 93 hero Tom Burnett Junior


Pamela's Atlas Shrugs post includes a second letter from Mr. Burnett, thanking her for her help and passing on some information about the design selection process. (The vote for was 9 to 6 from a judging panel where family members were outnumbered 8-7 by left wing design professionals.)


Want to join our blogburst against the crescent mosque?

Just send your blog's url.

There is also an online petition that people can sign.

Contact information for the Flight 93 Memorial Project here.