Here's an idea… don't put a microphone in front of the lunatic preacher and his band of 50 followers who plan to ban hundreds of copies of the Qu'ran on 9/11. Don't put a camera on his face. Don't invite him on your news show to explain what he intends to do. Well, I guess it's too late for that. It's … Read More
Fox News = Terrorist Funder
Yesterday morning on Fox & Friends, Fox News contributor Dan Senor observed that The Kingdom Foundation, whose chairman is Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, is a funder for the Cordoba House Initiative. “The Kingdom Foundation, so you know, is this Saudi organization, headed up by the guy that tried to give Rudy Giuliani $10 million after 9/11 that was sent back, funds radical madrassas … Read More
Truth Gets Its Boots On
The Associated Press sent out a memo today to its writers and editors advising that they should no longer use the phrase "Ground Zero mosque" to describe the controversial Islamic cultural center and former Burlington Coat Center store, located in lower Manhattan two blocks (and out of view) from Ground Zero. While I applaud the Associated Press for its stance, this would … Read More
Mission Accomplished
So with the last combat troops leaving Iraq, I guess now is a good time to reflect on the war itself. Did the War in Iraq accomplish its goals? Get Saddam? Check. Return Iraq to a stable region, thus stabilizing the Middle East? *Ahem* well, actually… uh…. Find those weapons of mass destruction? Uh, heh… *cough*… hey, is that a rainbow? At … Read More
Kathleen Parker On Why The “Mosque” Should Be Built
She's a conservative, and she's making sense. This is why plans for the mosque near Ground Zero should be allowed to proceed, if that's what these Muslims want. We teach tolerance by being tolerant. We can't insist that our freedom of speech allows us to draw cartoons or produce plays that Muslims find offensive and then demand that they be … Read More
War In Iraq Is Over
Final U.S. combat brigade pulls out of Iraq. By the end of this month, the United States will have six brigades in Iraq, by far its smallest footprint since the 2003 invasion. Those that remain are conventional combat brigades reconfigured slightly and rebranded "advise and assist brigades." The primary mission of those units and the roughly 4,500 U.S. special operations … Read More
Hallowed Ground?
In most cities, including Washington, 13 stories constitute a very tall building. But in the environment of Lower Manhattan, Cordoba House will be just another structure—which is not exactly consistent with the view that it is a Towering Monument to Jihad. In short, people are overestimating the extent to which this building will interact with, or be noticeable from, … Read More
“Terror Babies”: The New Immigration Scare Tactic
These politicians are just making up shit now for political gain, and it's sad.
“I Mean, Come On” Clause Of the Constitution
House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-Va.) chatted with National Review this week, and shared his thoughts on the proposed Cordoba House a couple of blocks from Ground Zero in lower Manhattan. Cantor gave the kind of thoughtful, well-reasoned response we've come to expect from the GOP leader. "Everybody knows America's built on the rights of free expression, the rights to practice your faith, but … Read More
The Mosque Controversy: Partly Ginned Up, Partly Bigotry of the Worst Kind
Adam Serwer's link-o-riffic piece is right on the money, mostly: The New York Times has a new piece up on Faisal Rauf and Daisy Khan, the couple behind the proposed Islamic community center near Ground Zero that has brought rank Islamophobia into the Republican mainstream: "Daisy Khan, who immigrated, also as a teenager, to Jericho, on Long Island, from Kashmir, married Imam Feisal in 1997. They … Read More
Once Again, With Feeling
I can't believe the debate about the proposed "mosque" to be located "at Ground Zero" is still going on. So much of what you read from the anti-mosque-eteers is just plain wrong. So, at the risk of repeating myself: (1) This isn't really a mosque. There are going to be any minarets, for example. Or bells chiming at all hours of the … Read More
Unintelligent Intelligence
Everyone should read the Washington Post's recent effort in investigative reporting, Top Secret America. As a piece of journalism, it represents what actual journalism should be — not what passes for journalism in today's he-said-she-said creaming-heads world. That said, the subject of the piece is distressing. Since George W. Bush, we've had this reckless, ridiculous, uncoordinated expansion of intelligence agencies, all sucking … Read More
Palin Tweets Again (and Again) About Downtown Manhattan Mosque
The controversy, for those unaware, centers around the proposed building of a mosque "at Ground Zero". This has sent conservatives into an apoplectic fit. It doesn't seem to matter that the mosque is to be built three city blocks from Ground Zero, and not at Ground Zero. It doesn't seem to matter that the mosque is really more than just a mosque. Called the … Read More
Iran Bans The Mullet
They really did. Also long hair, ponytails. Basically, anything "western" in terms of hairstyles. Banning the mullet — that'll show us they mean business. Well, business in front. Ironically, the mullet may not have originated in Western civilization: The haircut may have originated in the Middle East, but Alan Henderson, author of Mullet Madness!: The Haircut That's Business Up Front and a … Read More
You Say To-may-to….
McChrystal out; Petraeus in.