NO WAY
Re: R. Emmett Tyrrell, Jr.’s No Mosque:
Wow. What a great piece on one of the obvious upside-down issues facing America. As a proud member of the “Country Class,” I am refreshed by reading articles that mirror my thoughts. Great job.
— Candy Snipes
Mobile, Alabama
I have read that what is proposed is an Islamic centre and the Mosque is a small part of the centre. So I think that it is time that when discussing this issue we should not refer to a Mosque but the Islamic centre. If this is done, then those that approve of this building will, perhaps, lay of calling opponents bigots.
I don’t think that the issue is framed properly. In history, when one religious sect battled and defeated another they always destroyed the existing religious centre and built a new one on top of the it. This was usually done to show the superiority of the victors and to denigrate the losers. This was and is true of Islam. Some writers have suggested that this is what the builders of the centre are all about. It is necessary to understand the true motives of the builders and those that are financing the centre.
Is it educate non-Muslims in what Islam is, is to commemorate the victims of 9-11 as the builders have said, or to show the superiority of Islam over all others. If the reason for the centre is to educate then why locate so close to Ground Zero, If it is to commemorate the victims, why, it is not needed as a memorial is set up already (Ground Zero itself). So we are left with the last motive and this is what the debate should be about.
— Mervyn Freedman
Bayfield, Ontario, Canada
Do I see collusion when you couple proposals to build a 13 story mosque two blocks from Ground Zero and a proposal by Obama’s DOJ to try KSM and his cronies in lower Manhattan as well. Coincidence? I haven’t heard too much about the KSM trial lately, but it’s still on, isn’t it?
— Anthony Reese
The Mayor of New York is a pompous ass. After the attempted car bombing in Times Square, Hizzoner had the audacity to scold Americans about backlash against Muslims. Then, standing with the Statue of Liberty as a backdrop, he once again seriously intones and preaches about tolerance. He is so far out of touch with the average beer drinking Joe (like me) that it makes me want to wretch. I’m from Pittsburgh but if he smugly gives me a lecture one more time, I’m driving to New York and socking him. As always, you have hit the proverbial nail on the proverbial head.
— Ray Rieber
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
It would seem to me that the project, which will probably move forward as a sign of the strength of our diversity, could be delayed until we’re all dead by the fire inspectors, the electrical inspectors, the concrete and steel inspectors, and on and on and on…once that layer is breached, then the labor unions should be able to step in and get a floor built every 20 years or so….kind of like the asymmetrical crap we’ve had to put up with for the past 10 years…then final certificate of occupancy could be delayed due to the fact the fire evac system is so outdated, they’d have to re-install it and that could take years
The Country Class is needed to install the damn thing, so let us use the leverage we have over the ruling class.
Just my two cents worth.
— Ted Marolf
San Juan Capistrano, California
Please address the underlying issue. That the Mosque represents not a true religion — but a theocracy. Unless a “Moderate” Muslim calls
for the end of sharia and a reformation of Muslim beliefs from the ninth century (which they have declared finished and done and unchangeable),
they by definition, have as their “religious” goal to obtain submission from all non-believers and install sharia law.
Since this is a direct threat to our Western civilization; even though they cross national lines, they are our declared enemy.
For example, name another religion that requires death for all those who will not convert? And does not recognize government — unless they use that government’s laws to overthrow it.
The Country Class is educating themselves in Islam. And common sense is common sense.
Jefferson would never have been so blind!
— Jo Anne Kroener
Dallas, Texas
I think what Lincoln once said applies here: “If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong.” If putting a mosque this close to Ground Zero is not wrong, nothing is wrong.
— Robert Nowall
Cape Coral, Florida
Don’t forget to add that America was formed as a Judeo-Christian nation — this fact is what has driven Islamisists to declare war and hate us so much.
— Deanna Whitfield
Aiken, South Carolina
IF the mosque is built, would hog farmers and hog slaughtering plants be willing to very quietly donate hog lagoon waste water for the cement and concrete, hog waste sludge to disperse over the ground, and other pig parts for that ground.
Even a bit of pig feces in that concrete and cement. Then announce those actions after the place is built.
Just an idea.
I’m sure that all involved in the actual construction work would be willing to cooperate.
— Donald A. Holloway
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Yes Mosque
— David Schor
THIRD TIME’S A CHARMER
Re: A. James Antle III’s A Losing Proposition:
No matter where one stands on Gay Marriage, the fact is, a judge completely overturned a duly won election. Where are the “voter’s’ rights” of those who voted FOR Prop 8 which passed by 52% in spite of the tons of money poured into this election to defeat Prop 8.
Disgusting. It’s the third time that I’m aware of which election results have been overturned, by a non elected entity — Prop 187, and California’s initiative making English the Official language of the State are the other two.
— SarahSue
San Francisco. California
VOLT FACE
Re: Eric Peters’ Electric Sticker Shock:
If you could get beyond the mindless New York prejudice against American car makers for a minute, you might remember that someone at General Motors did tell Obama that Americans don’t want a $41k Camry. He used to be the CEO; Obama had him fired.
— Dennis Duggan
Unless I am wrong, the press releases have said that the electric component of the Volt will be good only for 40 miles before re-charge is necessary…meaning that a 20-mile commute to work or other activity is the best hope for a day. But the manufacturer has covered this with a 340-mile capacity of the gasoline engine component. Which is to say that this car is designed to run about 10% green and 90% by traditional internal combustion. Some things just never seem to change.
Questions for those who would buy, rather than lease, a Volt. What will be the electricity cost to charge its battery? Where will such a large battery be disposed? And how does it affect resale price when the second buyer has to factor in replacement of a multiple-thousand dollar battery?
I think I’ll stick with my Impala.
— John R. Tannehill
Dallas, Texas
MISSING THE TARGET
Re: Jed Babbin’s Bonfire of the Neocons and Bonfire of the Neocons, Part 2:
Jed Babbin stands vindicated by the facts in Afghanistan. “Nation building” was the optimist’s corollary to Colin Powell’s statement: “you break it, you own it.” Well, Powell was a warrior once young and brave. But he later embodied the caution of bureaucratic and political war that cannot understand the simple fact of a hard lesson delivered bluntly and without apology. Better the Mideast and all of Islam fear the secular West, which they can, than try to convert them into respecting and embracing us, which they won’t. We can break them and not own them. And we can break them again if called for. And again. We mean them no harm until they seek to harm us, then lights out. Let them own the consequences of their behavior. Anyone who makes war without a sense of historic pessimism should not be a general or national leader. War is tragedy because we must wage it from time to time….nation building is the silly idea that this war can be the last. In Afghanistan, we should administer a frightful offensive, hunt and kill the Jihadist leadership, leave our calling card, then pull out waving the flag of victory.
— Christopher Roberts
Brattleboro, Vermont
Mr. Babbin’s two-part series on the notion of nation-building is the best short analysis I have yet read on the subject of our spectacularly less than successful ventures into Iraq and Afghanistan. We may have “Scotched the snake” of al-Qaida and the Taliban but we are a long way from killing it.
Our policy of short-sighted war in which we confine ourselves to the battlegrounds of our enemies choosing and stubbornly refuse to hunt down and destroy the enablers of the fight against us is analogous to a doctor prescribing only an antipyretic for a fever and refusing to prescribe the antimicrobial necessary to kill the organism causing the fever. That is medical malpractice. Our way of 21st Century war, so far, is political malpractice verging on national calamity.
I hope those in positions of authority hear and heed the words of Mr. Babbin.
— Keith Varni
Excuse me, but aren’t all the arguments here going in the same circle? If the root of the problem is that a militant, malignant, and imperialist version of Islam has taken over the discourse and policies of that civilization, then what other cure for the disease can America apply except the “nation-building,” which both political parties hold in horror but neither can seem to avoid as a practical proposition? Isolationism was a bankrupt ideology in FDR’s time. Today it is simply an escapist fantasy, as is the other rabid extreme of nuking them all.
Bush II and the neo-cons applied nation building without being honest about why it is needed. The old-line conservatives identify the problem but deny the cure, even while their own formula for withdrawal and disengagement makes Neville Chamberlain look like George Patton. (The liberals’ program is abject surrender and the performance of indecent acts, as always. Further than this we need not go, Allah be praised.)
IMHO, the train left the station some time ago. We should never have been reduced to such limited choices, but there’s no help for it now. It’s either shoulder the White Man’s Burden (suitably re-named) or collaborate in our own destruction.
— Martin Owens
Sacramento, California
