Bloomberg on the proposed Muslim community center

spike

spike

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“This morning, the City’s Landmark Preservation Commission unanimously voted not to extend landmark status to the building on Park Place where the mosque and community center are planned. The decision was based solely on the fact that there was little architectural significance to the building. But with or without landmark designation, there is nothing in the law that would prevent the owners from opening a mosque within the existing building. The simple fact is this building is private property, and the owners have a right to use the building as a house of worship.

“The government has no right whatsoever to deny that right – and if it were tried, the courts would almost certainly strike it down as a violation of the U.S. Constitution. Whatever you may think of the proposed mosque and community center, lost in the heat of the debate has been a basic question – should government attempt to deny private citizens the right to build a house of worship on private property based on their particular religion? That may happen in other countries, but we should never allow it to happen here. This nation was founded on the principle that the government must never choose between religions, or favor one over another.
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Full text here:

http://www.mikebloomberg.com/index.cfm?objectid=38F02174-C29C-7CA2-FB24F2BA115AF739
 
I believe I will now move to Manhattan and, without capital, amass an automatic weapons factory, museum & shooting range. Bloomberg would be happy, no?
 
The, I'll find my friends from Israel, (we haven't spoken in years :( ) and we can start a Synagogue in Mecca.
 
Gonz said:
I believe I will now move to Manhattan and, without capital, amass an automatic weapons factory, museum & shooting range. Bloomberg would be happy, no?
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Why would he care and how are you going to do it without capital?
 
I remember vividly my first visit to Ground Zero. It was August 2002 and flags, wreaths, cards and floral bouquets still adorned the streets around the 16-acre hole in the ground. One particular image lingers: a navy blue T-shirt, emblazoned with the logo of the New York City Fire Department, on which a mourner had written: "We will never forget the brave firefighters who were killed by terrorists on September 11". Someone had crossed out the word "terrorists" and replaced it with "Muslims". As a Muslim, I could only despair at the repugnant notion that all Muslims, and indeed Islam itself, shared responsibility for 9/11. But time, I reassured myself, would be a great healer.

I was wrong. Fast forward to the present: August 2010. A $100m proposal to build a facility for Muslims in lower Manhattan, called Cordoba House, has become the focus of an intense controversy. Outraged rightwing protesters have spent several months trying to block the construction of what they call the Ground Zero mosque, claiming it is an "insult" to the victims and a "victory" for the terrorists.

Ignorance and bigotry abounds. Cordoba House is not a mosque but a cultural centre, which will include a prayer area, sports facilities, theatre and restaurant. The aim of the project is to promote "integration, tolerance of difference and community cohesion … a place where individuals, regardless of their backgrounds, will find a centre of learning, art and culture". Nor is it being built at Ground Zero. The proposed site is two blocks to the north.

Neither of these inconvenient facts, however, have stopped a slew of high-profile Republicans falling over one another to denounce the project. The former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, in her now-notorious tweet, urged "peaceful Muslims" to "refudiate" the proposed "mosque", because it "stabs hearts". Former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani said the project was a "desecration" and the former Speaker of the House of Representatives, Newt Gingrich, declared that "there should be no mosque near Ground Zero so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia".

The craven silence of leading Democrats is equally unforgivable. President Obama, accused by some opponents of being a "secret Muslim", has yet to utter a single word in support of the project.

Meanwhile, across the US, intolerance of Islam and Muslims is growing. In recent weeks, there have been public protests against new mosques in Temecula, California, and in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. A church in Gainesville, Florida, has plans for a "Burn a Qur'an day".

Unlike many Muslims, I have always been an Americanophile. I know the majority of Americans are decent people, committed to freedom and tolerance. Don't believe me? The mayor of Gainesville has condemned the idea of a "Qur'an-burning" day. In Temecula, the number of locals who turned out to support a new local mosque outnumbered protestors by four to one. In New York, a poll revealed that more Manhattanites were in favour of the "Ground Zero mosque" than were against it, including businessman Charles Wolf, who lost his wife in the attack on the twin towers.

And on Tuesday, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg made an impassioned speech to his fellow Republicans in which he argued that Muslims "are as much a part of our city and our country as the people of any faith", adding: "To cave to popular sentiment would be to hand a victory to the terrorists".

The mosque row has become a struggle for the soul of the United States, the nation where freedom and democracy is supposed to reign supreme. As both a Muslim, and a friend of America, I hope and pray that the decency of Bloomberg and Wolf triumphs over the bigotry of Palin and Gingrich.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentis...g/07/ground-zero-mosque-row-michael-bloomberg
 
Gonz said:
Then, I'll finance a Nuclear Bomb monument in Hiroshima.
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I don't believe there's anything stopping you but this doesn't make any sense with what was planned. There's no connection here. The people involved aren't putting up a monument to terrorism.
Gonz said:
The, I'll find my friends from Israel, (we haven't spoken in years :( ) and we can start a Synagogue in Mecca.
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Since when did we proclaim Manhattan to be the Christian holy city? (I'm assuming your going for the Christian equivalent angle here, but I'm not sure.)
 
How about a Jewish Synagogue (aren't Christian centers called Churches?). Not Christian...how many Jewish Holy Centers are allowed in Mecca? How about Churches?

Not a monument to terrorism? Perhaps you've not looked into Rauf. The simple fact is, this asshole is placing this Mosque as an insult. There are plenty of Mosques in NYC. Hell, he can build it in any of a thousand places & nobody will give a shit. Instead, he's rubbing the nose of NYers right in it. He's using our system against us & laughing all the way.
 
Gonz said:
How about a Jewish Synagogue (aren't Christian centers called Churches?). Not Christian...how many Jewish Holy Centers are allowed in Mecca? How about Churches?

Not a monument to terrorism? Perhaps you've not looked into Rauf. The simple fact is, this asshole is placing this Mosque as an insult. There are plenty of Mosques in NYC. Hell, he can build it in any of a thousand places & nobody will give a shit. Instead, he's rubbing the nose of NYers right in it. He's using our system against us & laughing all the way.
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But, Gonz, it's our system.

In any other country, you would not be free to build something as controversial as this mosque. A Jewish Synagogue in Mecca? Of course that would never be permitted. Nor would an atomic bomb monument in Hiroshima. In most parts of the world, that concept would be insane.

However, we are not most parts of the world. We are not any other country. We are a free country.

Anyone who has any idea about what this country stands for can clearly see that their right to freely practice their religion on their own private property far outweighs any 'right' you may think you have to not be offended by them.

The 'war' between radical Islam and the United States is not just a physical one, it is an ideological one. They don't hate us individually - they hate our freedom and our equality. If we give up those in order to fight them, then they win.

The Taliban wants our decisions to be ruled by fear, and ruled by hate. They do not want our decisions to be ruled by justice, liberty, and equality. When we stoop to their level, they win. By continuing strict adherence to the principles that our nation is founded upon, we send a message that no matter what crimes they commit against us, they can never achieve their ultimate goal of making us abandon those principles.
 
Altron said:
Anyone who has any idea about what this country stands for can clearly see that their right to freely practice their religion on their own private property far outweighs any 'right' you may think you have to not be offended by them.
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Fair enough. Tell me then, why was a church turned down, on the exact same spot, due to the city wanting that site to attract a taxpaying enterprise?
 
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