The Golden Temple, a sprawling and serene complex of gleaming gold and polished marble that is the spiritual center of the Sikh religion, is one of India’s most popular tourist attractions. Revered by Indians of all faiths, it is a cherished emblem of India’s religious diversity. So it was no surprise when the gold-plated marvel was promoted as the likely third stop on President Obama’s visit to India, scheduled for early November.
But the United States has ruled out a Golden Temple visit, according to an American official involved in planning. Temple officials said that American advance teams had gone to Amritsar, the holy city that is the site of the temple, to discuss a possible visit. But the plan appears to have foundered on the thorny question of how Mr. Obama would cover his head, as Sikh tradition requires, while visiting the temple.
“To come to golden temple he needs to cover his head,” said Dalmegh Singh, secretary of the committee that runs the temple. “That is our tradition.”
Mr. Obama, a Christian, has struggled to fend off persistent rumors that he is a Muslim, and Sikhs in the United States have often been mistaken for Muslims.
...The Golden Temple is a popular stop for famous visitors. In 1997 the Queen of England padded around the glittering temple in her stocking feet. Another kind of royalty, the scion of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that controls India’s Congress Party, Rahul Gandhi has also been to the temple. He sipped tea from a metal bowl there, sitting on the ground like every other visitor, head draped as temple tradition demands. Last year Canada’s prime minister, Stephen Harper, also covered his head when he visited the temple.
For Mr. Obama, who will be seeking to cement the crucial but sometimes testy relationship between two of the world’s biggest democracies, the temple was one of several possible backdrops intended to convey America’s kinship with India. Mr. Obama will visit Mumbai and New Delhi.
H. S. Phoolka, a prominent Sikh lawyer in New Delhi, said he was disappointed that Mr. Obama would not visit the temple.
“We have worked so hard to establish in America that Sikhs have a very different identity than Muslims,” Mr. Phoolka said. “It is very unfortunate that even the White House is conveying the message that there is no difference between Muslims and Sikhs.”
This is crazy on a number of fronts.
It's nuts that Obama refuses to be seen with his head covered when visiting a temple in India that requires it. The stubborn Obama prefers to skip the visit. Not good.
Throughout this article lies the message that there's something wrong with being Muslim.
Whatever you do, don't confuse Sikhs with Muslims. Sikhs - good. Muslims - bad. Don't look like a Muslim!
Also, Obama is the guy who has preached about religious tolerance, stating that there should be a mosque at Ground Zero; yet he won't wear the appropriate attire when visiting a temple in a foreign country. It's so hypocritical.
He's not setting a very good example in terms of outreach.
Obama lacks courage. He doesn't do the right thing.
He should go to the temple and cover his head. He shouldn't be afraid. It's sending a terrible message, that he's a self-centered wimp.
Covering his head for a few minutes isn't the end of the world. Wouldn't it be a great opportunity for a teaching moment?
Obama is not showing the proper respect for his hosts in India. And he's saying that he'd rather diss them than be taken for a Muslim. There's a lot wrong with that.
Obama is very skilled at simultaneously insulting diverse groups. Quite a talent.
On The View, Bill O'Reilly's comments about the Ground Zero mosque, 9/11, and Muslims prompted Whoopi Goldberg and Joy Behar to storm off the set.
O'Reilly asserted that people don't want a mosque at Ground Zero because Muslims killed us on 9/11.
Barbara Walters was really angry. She was pissed off at her colleagues for screaming and walking out. She said it should not have happened. She also was disturbed with the audience for cheering Goldberg and Behar's protest, explaining that people should be able to disagree and still discuss an issue.
Walters then directed her controlled anger at O'Reilly. She got O'Reilly to apologize and clarify the distinction between Muslims and Muslim extremists.
Goldberg and Behar returned to the set after O'Reilly's clarification.
MICHAEL MOORE: Why don't we have words for people like Gingrich and Palin? You know, because they're essentially our moolahs, you know, our Taliban. We don't, we don't really ever refer to them as... but we should start calling them Cleric Gingrich and Moolah Taliban Palin, or whatever. See how that fits. Because I think that their level of bigotry is so un-American and I just, I just, um, you know, here's my question to the 70 percent who don't want [the Ground Zero mosque] built there: They don't want it two blocks from Ground Zero so how far away is enough? Four blocks? Eight blocks? Where is the Muslim-free zone? Just give me the idea of where the parameter is.
BILL MAHER: Well, this guy Paladino, this guy Paladino said it -- wherever the cloud dust went.
MOORE: Yeah, well, you know, the sad thing about that, Bill, is that there were over 60 Muslim-Americans who perished in those towers.
MAHER: All right, it's a comedy show. Anyway, um, let me turn your question around and ask...
MOORE: The only way to get a Muslim-free zone there is for Palin to raise those Muslims up from the dead and then move them out of there because their ashes are still there on Ground Zero.
MAHER: Well, enough uh... Enough comedy.
MOORE: Hey, how about that McDonald's two blocks from Ground Zero, Bill? That's killed more people than the 19 hijackers.
JAY LENO: This was kind of scary yesterday. This is the age we live in. The Eiffel Tower was evacuated because of a bomb threat. I don't want to say who phoned in the threat, but they also said, 'Hey, after it's gone can we put a mosque there?'
Bill Maher was Jay Leno's guest on the Tonight Show on Monday.
Not again!
I guess it has been quite a few months but that's too soon for me.
Leno said that in the past when Maher was on the show, they used to get complaints. But now, the reaction to Maher's appearances is positive. People agree with him and realize that he's right.
Oh, good grief.
I doubt that Americans have come around to share Maher's views. I think Leno has just lost a good portion of his audience that's repulsed by Maher.
Leno has really chucked his middle of the road persona. He's out of the closet as a dyed-in-the-wool liberal.
Maher was on the show to hawk his new DVD, a comedy special, and Real Time on HBO returning this Friday. But of course Maher really was wallowing in having a forum on network TV to spew his opinions which are supposed to pass for entertainment.
After Maher mentioned that he gets high before the show, and before getting into his offensive material, Leno mentioned that Maher is getting a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Tuesday.
I suppose that's fitting, given the sorry state of Hollywood.
As usual, Leno fed Maher prearranged topics and allowed him to be as demeaning as he wanted to be.
First, Leno brought up the Ground Zero mosque, what Leno called "this Islamic center near Ground Zero." (Does Leno work for AP?)
Video.
Bill Maher
Bill Maher, continued
Transcript
BILL MAHER: Well, if you want me to talk about this, let me get it all out because I got into trouble talking about this subject before, so I want to get all my points. My first point about that would be I am against a mosque at Ground Zero.
(Audience cheers and applauds)
I said let me get it out! I am also against a mosque anywhere. I'm against a church anywhere or a Hindu temple or a synagogue.
(Only some applause)
See, there are people out there like this who understand. These are houses of worship which mean there are places where people go to retell nonsense stories from a time before men understood what a germ or an atom was or where the sun went at night. They try to telepathically communicate with their imaginary friend. There are places, these are places that fleece people and scare people and they perpetuate mass delusion. We shouldn't build any of them. But...
JAY LENO: That being said...
MAHER: That being said...
LENO: Let me finish...
MAHER: Right, but I'm not wrong. But people are going to still build houses of worship so they should be able to build them anywhere. There's a thing in this country called the First Amendment. And if somebody ever read it to Sarah Palin she would understand that you're supposed to be allowed to worship whatever fairy tale you want to wherever you want to. That's why we have churches and mosques and synagogues in Utah. And any religion should be able to do that, just because there are some people in the religion who are violent, anti-Semitic, and hate women -- Mel Gibson is allowed to build a church so should Islam.
LENO: Right, right.
MAHER: But one more point-
LENO: I just love the fact that you questioned my intro before, and now they're all going, 'Oh, I see what Jay was talking about.'
MAHER: But let me also say this, 'cause I was watching MSNBC, the liberal network, a few weeks ago. And they were all going nuts. Everybody on there -- and I like the people on their station -- they were all going nuts about the fact that there was a poll that said Republicans think that Islam is more likely to lead to violence. Yeah, I'm with that. They are. OK? That's the truth, too. They have nuts and we have nuts. Their nuts are a lot more numerous and a lot more violent. That mouthbreather down in Florida who was gonna burn a Quran -- what would have happened? Nothing. To retaliate, you know, they could have burned our most sacred book, Eat Pray Love. They could have burned the Bible and nothing would have happened.
LENO: Right.
MAHER: OK? So, I mean, you have to recognize that difference, too. They keep their women in beekeeper suits.
Sarah Palin is an evil dingbat who thinks God opens doors. She never tried to kill anybody for eloping which is what they did in Afghanistan a few weeks ago, 'cause in her family everybody elopes.
Why such hate for religion? Why such anger? Maher is still on his anti-God crusade.
Why such hate for Sarah Palin? The Left's obsession with her is so weird.
After the break, the topic was Obama and his religion.
Interesting that Maher doesn't mock Obama for his Christian faith. Obama clings to his Bible. Well, actually, I think he clings to his Blackberry as his source of spiritual reading.
LENO: Now President Obama's the president for a year and a half yet something like one out of every five Americans still think he's a Muslim.
MAHER: No, no, Jay. You got it wrong. Not 'still think.' That number is increasing. That's what's scary about it, a year ago, and before he was president, a less number. You'd think the more he was president the more people would get the truth. It's very sad how in the information age, you cannot get information into people's heads. As long as you write something on the Internet and do not add 'lol,' it is true.
LENO: Right.
MAHER: I'm not sure he's a Christian. I'm not sure he's a mammal, Jay. He could be a werewolf. No but, I mean, you have to understand that there is now two subsets of crazy conservatives. There's the 'birthers' - Any birthers here? - people who don't think he was born in America because they don't know Hawaii is a state. And now the people, I call them 'churchers.' These are the people who don't think he is a Christian even though he continually professes it, even though two years ago - remember when they were screaming about his Christian minister, Rev. Wright? Right, he was too much of a Christian two years ago. Now they're saying he was actually a secret Muslim. That is one undercover brother, Jay. I have to say, I mean, wow.
Could Maher be more screwed up about Obama and the Rev. Wright controversy? It wasn't about being "too much of a Christian."
Then it was on to the Tea Party and immigration.
LENO: How do you think this Tea Party will affect the midterm elections?
MAHER: Ah, the Tea Party, the nativist bed-wetters who somehow control our national dialogue. Yes, I call them the Pee Party, Jay, because they're always peeing in their pants about something. They're just, they're afraid of a mosque being built in New York. They're afraid of guns.
You know, they think Obama, who like every other pussy Democrat has never said a single word about gun control, but they are very sure that he and his Negro army are coming after their guns.
You know what? If you think that he's coming after your guns, you need to get out of your chat room and have your house tested for lead. He's not coming after your guns or your Bible or your fishing pole or your chewing tobacco. And there's not a monster under your bed. That's the Ab Lounger you ordered and never used.
So, but yeah, mosques, guns... Did you see that the governor of Arizona was talking about the fact that illegals are conducting beheadings?
LENO: Yeah, there was no... Yeah, that was nothing. Yeah.
MAHER: It's just, they're just afraid of everything. Beheadings? John McCain said illegals are purposely causing car accidents. Lou Dobbs used to say they're bringing in leprosy. I've had a gardener for 25 years in LA, I never saw one time his arm fall off.
That's right. Don't mess with Tea Party participants' fishing poles and chewing tobacco. The Tea Party patriots are just a bunch of uneducated hicks.
Next topic: The BP oil spill.
LENO: Something I love are these commercials for BP where the guy goes, 'We're out every day looking for the oil,' like they're detectives, like they can't find it. It's not right there.
MAHER: I love the way as soon as they capped the well, immediately the oil just disappeared. It was like Jesus from the tomb. It's gone. It's a miracle. It's just magic. The oil has gone. Sorry, Jay. I know it's a tough night for the Baptists. But um, I apologize, but I mean, it is ridiculous that this oil has just disappeared. It hasn't disappeared.
Well that's an ugly load.
What's troubling to me is not Maher's greasy shtick. There are lots of people seriously on the same page as Maher. They don't see it as comedy. He's expressing their views. They hate people of faith. They hate conservatives. They consider them buffoons, racists, and enemies of their America.
Where's the tolerance, oh enlightened and brilliant Bill Maher?
DAVID GREGORY: I want to talk the economy, but I do want to talk about 9/11 and this tumultuous week, a surreal week in many ways, with the threats from the Florida pastor and this ongoing debate about what's going on in lower Manhattan. And, and we look at this, the views of Islam in The Washington Post poll, unfavorable now at 49 percent. Look at that, eclipsing even the unfavorable rating in October of 2001. And you look at the, the flag burnings, some of the reactions that we've seen to the debate we've been having here going on in the Middle East, in Afghanistan, in Pakistan, burning flags, you see this kind of thing. This is a hearts and minds campaign that General Petraeus is waging in Afghanistan and elsewhere in Pakistan, and there are setbacks to it.
Reza, you wrote this as part of an NPR commentary at the end of the summer, "The fear is that this [Islamaphobia] may lead to the same kind of radicalization among Muslim youth in the U.S. that we've seen in Europe. It has already played into the hands of al-Qaeda, which has for years been trying to convince American Muslims that the unfettered religious freedoms they enjoy is a mirage. ... Are we in danger of proving al-Qaeda right? I am a liberal, progressive, secularized American Muslim. But when I see that bigotry against my faith - my very identity - has become so commonplace in America that it is shaping into a wedge issue for the midterm elections, I can barely control my anger. I can't imagine how the next generation of American Muslim youth will react to such provocations." What's behind this?
REZA ASLAN: Well, look, I think part of it has to do with the controversy surrounding the Islamic community center in lower Manhattan. And while it's true that there are those who oppose the project because they do believe that it will disturb the sensitivities of some 9/11 victims--though I, I, I do want to remind everyone that in this country we do not define our constitutional rights by how they disturb people's sensitivities--you only had to spend a few minutes at Ground Zero yesterday and to take in this international cabal of anti-Muslim zealots that had gathered together to spout the most vile racist bigotry to know that this is about something more. Anti-Muslim sentiment in this country is at unprecedented levels. We all know this. But what's truly disturbing is how mainstream it's becoming with politicians on both sides--and I would have to include the former mayor in this, in this category--openly and explicitly associating American Muslims with al-Qaeda. I mean, what I'd like to know from, not just the former mayor but from, you know, the people who, who keep talking about this Islamic community center, is that what is it that this multifaith, multistoried community center being led by an American imam that two presidents, Republican and Democrat, have used as a--as an ambassador to the Muslim world, cultural ambassador to the Muslim world, what does that have to do with al-Qaeda? The answer is kind of simple, actually: Islam. But let's call a spade a spade for a moment. If you are painting 1.5 billion people with the same brush of violence and, and, and extremism, you're a bigot. And I think what's, what's disturbing is the way that that's become part of the, the, the natural discourse now.
"[I]nternational cabal of anti-Muslim zealots that had gathered together to spout the most vile racist bigotry"?
Wow.
Aslan doesn't hesitate to paint those at the protest in opposition to the Ground Zero mosque with the same brush. He's not drawing any distinctions.
No, he has no problem calling all the protesters bigots.
Furthermore, Aslan doesn't have a problem insinuating that bigotry underlies most any opposition to the Ground Zero mosque.
He wants to call a spade a spade. OK, let's call a spade a spade.
Is this "Islamic community center in lower Manhattan" that Aslan talks about really a "community center"?
That implies it will be a place where ALL in the community are welcome and accepted. Can Jews and Christians and other infidels freely use the facilities without restrictions? Will they be allowed to freely roam ALL the spaces in the center? Will it be like the Y?
Aslan also doesn't acknowledge the views of those behind the project. For example, Feisal Abdul Rauf is on the record as being unwilling to label Hamas a terrorist organization.
Some Americans are uncomfortable with that.
Then, there's the issue of funding. What's the source of the money to build it? Will it come from terrorist groups or groups that bankroll terrorists?
Especially when we're talking about Ground Zero, those are legitimate questions.
I think Aslan is being disingenuous or he's blinded by his own zealotry.
Geert Wilders, the controversial Dutch lawmaker behind the controversial film, "Fitna," delivered a speech at a rally against the Ground Zero mosque yesterday.
I think it's unfortunate that the outrage over the Ground Zero mosque and the outrage over Terry Jones and those of his ilk weren't put aside on the observance of the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
For that one day, I wish the protests and divisions would have been replaced by just a few hours of unity and solemn remembrance, as well as clear condemnation of the barbaric actions of the terrorists.
Surely, all reasonable people can find common ground and stand in solidarity, without reservation, against the intentional slaughter of 3000 innocents.
First, Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who set the world on edge with plans to burn copies of the Koran on Sept. 11, said Thursday that he had canceled his demonstration because he had won a promise to move the proposed Islamic center near ground zero to a new location.
Then, hours later, after learning that the project’s leaders in New York had said that no such deal existed, Mr. Jones backed away from his promise and said the bonfire of sacred texts was simply “suspended.”
The sudden back and forth suggested that the controversy — the pastor drew pointed criticisms from President Obama and an array of leaders, officials and celebrities in the United States and abroad — was not yet finished even after multiple appearances before the news media on the lawn of his small church.
Mr. Jones seemed to be struggling with how to save face and hold on to the spotlight he has attracted for an act that could make him a widely reviled figure.
But Mr. Jones seemed to have been wrong or misled from the start.
Minutes after he announced the cancellation alongside Imam Muhammad Musri, a well-known Islamic leader in Florida who had been trying to broker a deal, Mr. Musri contradicted Mr. Jones’s account. He said that Muslim leaders of the project in New York had not actually agreed to find a new location. “The imam committed to meet with us but did not commit to moving the mosque yet,” Mr. Musri said.
Even that may not be accurate. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the leader of the New York project, said in a statement that he had not spoken to Mr. Jones or Mr. Musri, who said later that he received the pledge of a meeting from a staff member in Mr. Abdul Rauf’s office.
The saga of Mr. Jones appeared likely to continue — with more pressure likely to come as well. In just the past week, the list of his critics had come to include Mr. Obama, the Vatican, Franklin Graham, Angelina Jolie, Sarah Palin, dozens of members of Congress and Gen. David H. Petraeus, who was among the first to declare that the burning of Korans would put Americans soldiers and civilians in danger.
That risk of violence seemed to be rising, as large protests against Mr. Jones were staged over the past week in Kabul, Afghanistan, and Jakarta, Indonesia. It led the Obama administration to work furiously to end Mr. Jones’s plans.
This is insane.
A pastor with a 50-member church in Florida is attracting worldwide attention.
WHY?
Why not ignore him and dismiss him as the nutcase that he is?
We know that in the Muslim world groups are always gathering to burn American flags and chant "Death to America" and "Death to Christians." It seems to be a favorite pastime over there. Thousands take part, but there's no concern whatsoever about inflaming the Western world. They don't care about offending us.
But here we have the doofus Jones and if he takes a match to a Quran, World War Whatever may break out.
It's crazy.
This is being fed by the media. The New York Times reports on Jones' latest statements and plans while it questions the media's role in the saga.
A renegade pastor and his tiny flock set fire to a Koran on a street corner, and made sure to capture it on film. And they were ignored.
That stunt took place in 2008, involving members of the Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka, Kan., an almost universally condemned group of fundamentalists who also protest at military funerals.
But plans for a similar stunt by another fringe pastor, Terry Jones, have garnered worldwide news media attention this summer, attention that peaked Thursday when he announced he was canceling — and later, that he had only “suspended” — what he had dubbed International Burn a Koran Day. It had been scheduled for Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Unlike the Koran-burning by Westboro Baptist, Mr. Jones’s planned event in Gainesville, Fla., coincided with the controversy over the proposed building of a Muslim community center in Lower Manhattan near ground zero and a simmering summerlong debate about the freedoms of speech and religion.
Mr. Jones was able to put himself at the center of those issues by using the news lull of summer and the demands of a 24-hour news cycle to promote his anti-Islam cause. He said he consented to more than 150 interview requests in July and August, each time expressing his extremist views about Islam and Sharia law.
By the middle of this week, the planned Koran burning was the lead story on some network newscasts, and topic No. 1 on cable news — an extraordinary amount of attention for a marginal figure with a very small following. On Thursday, President Obama condemned Mr. Jones’s plan, and his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said that there were “more people at his press conferences than listen to his sermons,” in a bit of media criticism.
...The episode has given rise to at least a little soul-searching within news organizations. Chris Cuomo, an ABC News anchor, wrote Thursday afternoon on Twitter, “I am in the media, but think media gave life to this Florida burning ... and that was reckless.”
Yeah, it was really lame.
I suspect that on a daily basis the Bible is burned in protest in this country and around the world more often than the Quran.
The numbers don't matter. What matters is that the Jones case has been blown out of proportion and nearly into an international crisis.
Thank you, media. Good work!
It's nuts. Who is Terry Jones that he should be receiving this sort of attention?
Obviously, Jones doesn't really care about burning the Quran. He cares about satisfying his ego. Period.
Jones is like Richard Heene, orchestrator of the balloon boy hoax. They're media whores at heart, and the media are drawn to whores like moths to flames.
A protest doesn't have to be a media event, let alone a worldwide media event.
As an American, Jones and his flock can quietly burn Qurans. As long as he doesn't violate any fire codes or other regulations, he's good to go. End of story.
But Jones didn't want it to stop there, and I don't think the media wanted it to stop either until the whole thing started to snowball out of control and they realized how foolish it had all become. Plus, there was that added factor of the possibility of violence and death thanks to Muslim radicals being in the mix. Not good.
Now there's a lot of embarrassment to go around.
I think it's time for Jones to be stripped of his all-powerful monster status and sent back to being just another inconsequential loon.
Note: You can burn whatever book you want and there won't be any problem. Just don't alert the media or hold press conferences or post a recording of the event on the Internet.
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board opposes the planned protest by Terry Jones and his church, the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida. On the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Jones and his group will burn Qurans.
The Board declares that action to be "un-Christian" and "just plain wrong." But it doesn't stop there. The JS Editorial Board goes on to equate Jones' protest with the many Americans opposed to the Ground Zero mosque.
Jones undeniably has a First Amendment right to burn books, holy or otherwise. But, as the saying goes, just because there is a right doesn't make it right. And it doesn't mean a single news camera has to show up.
This burning would be wrong even if no troops were endangered.
Earlier, there was the deep resistance to an Islamic center near ground zero. Why? Well, because it's insensitive and represents caving in to radical Islam, we're told. How is it insensitive? This remains vague. But polling does show lack of support for the center. Which proves, yes, "the people" can be wrong.
This center is insensitive only if one can blame all Muslims for the fanaticism of some Muslims. But by this measure, Jones' actions would constitute good reason for all of Islam to believe the fiction that all Christians hate them. And that, of course, is nonsense. There is a reason Jones has only 50 followers and why the vast majority of Muslims aren't terrorists. Bankrupt ideas are hard sells.
Clueless.
The Board declares insensitivity about building a mosque at Ground Zero "remains vague."
No, it doesn't. There's nothing vague about it. It's wrong to give radical Islam another victory. Weren't the murders of 3,000 innocents enough? Why be OK with a mosque so very near to the site of the slaughter? Why not care about the feelings of the surviving victims of 9/11, the loved ones of the dead, and their pain?
There's nothing vague about that.
It would be hateful and intolerant and unconstitutional to ban mosques in the U.S. and prevent all Muslims here from practicing their faith because of the actions of the radicals. That's not happening.
Book burning, even holy book burning, isn't close to being the moral equivalent of committing mass murder on an enormous scale.
The JS Editorial Board fails to grasp the difference, preferring instead to take the example of Jones' intolerance to accuse the people opposed to the Ground Zero mosque as being similarly intolerant and recruiters for radical Islam. That's as wrong as it is cruel.
Disgracefully, the Board has the nerve to rule that burning Qurans AND opposing the Ground Zero mosque is "un-Christian." That's a terribly inflammatory and unfair swipe.
Moreover, since when did the Board become concerned with the Christian thing to do?
It has shown such a lack of respect for Christianity, in particular, the Catholic Church, so frequently blaming the Church for the sins/crimes of a very few.
...The pastor, having already confirmed the false suspicions of many Muslims with his intentions, should reconsider. It would be the Christian thing to do.
Why would Jones reconsider when he's being given so much attention? He's feeding off the publicity and enjoying the power the media and government and military officials continue to give to this little man.
I suspect that dramatically more Bibles and American flags are burned in protest in this country and around the world every day than what Jones and his minuscule group of followers intend to set aflame on Saturday.
One more thing--
Isn't it twisted that the JS Editorial Board, defender of free speech, is exhibiting concern regarding Jones' protest endangering our troops when it has its own lengthy record of taking positions that have done exactly that?
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN: When did you settle upon this location, which is just about two blocks north of Ground Zero, for your new Islamic cultural center? Why that particular spot?
IMAM FEISAL ABDUL RAUF: Well, first, I must remind everybody that I have been imam of a mosque just 10 blocks from that spot, 12 blocks from Ground Zero. I've been serving that community and that neighborhood for the last quarter of a century.
When 9/11 happened, we couldn't reach our mosque in the Tribeca area. You know, and finally we came back. There was flower, letters. We're part of this community. I've served this community. And this is a community that I have worked for so long. And is important for us as Muslims, as Muslims who are in Lower Manhattan, to want to give back to the city and the country that's given us so much.
O'BRIEN: So why that particular spot?
RAUF: Well, what happened was Sharif Gamal, the owner of Soho Properties, a member of my congregation, has noticed how our -- the need for prayer space has expanded. He felt a commitment to do something for his community. And he found this particular building. And he negotiated it, acquired it, and offered it for us to use and to establish a center that would be the space for a vision that I've had for over a decade, or 15, almost 20 years, which is to establish a space which embodies the fundamental beliefs that we have as Jews, Christians, and Muslims, which is to love our god and to love our neighbor, to build a space where we'll have a culture of worship. And at the same time, get to know each other and to forge personal bonds because that's how society, how community, is built, and how we can create something that will snowball to push back against the radical discourse that has just hijacked the discourse in our country and in much of the world.
O'BRIEN: What's been created has snowballed a little bit. There's a lot of anger and hostility at that site. And there are many people who have said, why not just go somewhere else?
RAUF: I understand the sensitivity of the people. I really do. And I'm very, very concerned about it. We've reached out and are still reaching out to 9/11 families.
O'BRIEN: Did you reach out to them before?
RAUF: Yes.
O'BRIEN: To all the families?
RAUF: Not to all the families, but to as many as we could reach, especially those who are very concerned about this issue.
O'BRIEN: Before you started the proposal?
RAUF: No, not before we started, but once this thing happened. I need to remind the audience that this story first broke last December in "The New York Times." It was a front page article in "The New York Times." And no one objected. This controversy only began in May. And it began as a result of some politicians, who decided to use this for certain political purposes. And this is when it began to snowball, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: So you think it's been politicized?
RAUF: Absolutely. This is very dangerous and tragic for two reasons.
Reason number one is that it goes against the fundamental American principle of separation of church and state. This concept of separation of religion and politics or church and state has a wisdom behind it. And the purpose behind it is not to politicize religion. Because when you politicize religion, it is dangerous.
O'BRIEN: But ultimately, when you look at the polls, something like 71 percent of Americans think that even though there's a right to build there, a center that will include a mosque and other things, which we'll talk about in a minute, the wisdom of it may not be there.
RAUF: Well, here's the--
O'BRIEN: Is that political?
RAUF: Well, here--
O'BRIEN: Or is that just people saying it's sensitivity wise, it's the wrong thing to do?
RAUF: I am extremely concerned about sensitivity. But I also have a responsibility. If we move from that location, the story will be that the radicals have taken over the discourse. The headlines in the Muslim world will be that Islam is under attack. And I'm less concerned about the radicals in America than I'm concerned about the radicals in the Muslim world.
O'BRIEN: But isn't that also saying you're less concerned about the voices of opposition here?
RAUF: And if we do -- no, no, no, no. I'm sorry, I don't mean it that way. I meant it, the danger from the radicals in the Muslim world to our national security, to the national security of our troops.
I have a niece who works in the Army and served in Iraq. The concern for American citizens who live and work and travel overseas will increasingly be compromised if the radicals are strengthened. And if we do move, it will strengthen the argument of the radicals to recruit, their ability to recruit, and their increasing aggression and violence against our country.
O'BRIEN: There are Ground Zero families that I've spoken to who are on all sides of the debate. I mean, they're not of one voice, as you well know. They've said, but what about me? I can't find my son's body. And they want to build a mosque on a spot where he might be.
RAUF: Well, first of all, this is not the -- this is not that spot. This is not Ground Zero proper. This is--
O'BRIEN: It's two blocks.
RAUF: Yes. No one's body is in that location. I'm very sensitive to those feelings. As an imam, as any religious person does, we have to minister to the pain and hurt of our congregations and our ministry and our communities. And it is part of our intention.
This is why we're reaching out more to 9/11 families. We would like to have a memorial in this center for 9/11 families. Congregations and our ministry and our communities. And it is part of our intention. This is why we're reaching out to 9/11 families. We would like to have a memorial in this center for 9/11 families. We have not finalized all our plans yet. We are willing to sit down and engage and do something that will help us heal. You cannot heal a trauma by walking away from it. We have to sit down. We have to talk about it. We have to dialogue about it and find a way to move through it and beyond it.
Suddenly, Rauf is concerned about our national security. He says that moving the mosque will mean radicals will have a recruitment tool because the headlines in the Muslim world will read that Islam is under attack.
In terms of sensitivity to the voices of opposition, Rauf says, "I'm less concerned about the radicals in America than I'm concerned about the radicals in the Muslim world."
So, a mosque in that location is necessary to avoid increasing violence against our troops and our country.
That's a sleazy threat, an attempt to make the vast majority of Americans against the mosque there feel guilty. It's an effort to make Americans give in to the demands of radicals.
To me, that's not a winning argument.
If anything, Rauf is providing a reason to move it.
"Muslims consider the Quran the word of God and demand it be treated with the utmost respect.
"The U.S. embassy in Kabul issued a statement condemning the church's plans, saying Washington was deeply concerned about deliberate attempts to offend religious or ethnic groups."
I would never take part in "Burn a Quran" Day. I find it offensive and disrespectful.
I also find the burning of the American flag offensive and disrespectful. "Death to America" chants certainly are a deliberate attempt to offend Americans.
But we have freedom of speech. Although I don't think Terry Jones is exercising it responsibly, it's his right to burn Qurans.
However, having the right to do something doesn't mean it's the right thing to do.
For example, millions of Americans find the plans for the Ground Zero mosque to be disturbing, but those plans are being defended by Obama. The president of the United States isn't condemning the insensitivity of the developers and supporters of the mosque. To the contrary, he and those of his ilk are calling people against the Ground Zero mosque Islamophobic and haters.
Can you imagine the U.S. embassy in Kabul issuing a statement condemning the Muslims' protest in Kabul, saying Washington was deeply concerned about deliberate attempts to offend Americans?
I can't.
Respect isn't a one-way street.
I think these protesters in Afghanistan need to reach out to Terry Jones and his church. Perhaps instead of lashing out, they need to examine what makes the Gainesville church members so angry that they plan to burn Qurans. They need to look at what they did to bring about this rage.
The protesters should try to understand Terry Jones and his flock, and apologize for mistakes made by the Muslim nation throughout its history.
Speaking to David Letterman, Donald Trump makes an excellent case for the Ground Zero mosque to be moved.
Letterman, on the other hand, marches in lockstep with the liberal elite. At least he didn't call Trump an Islamophobe. It probably took a lot of self-control, something Letterman is known to lack.
DONALD TRUMP: As far as the mosque is concerned, I think it's very insensitive to build it there. I think it's not appropriate, a I think it's insensitive and it shouldn't be built there. (Applause) [pause as Letterman frowns] I don't know if he agrees.
LETTERMAN: Well, I don't know -- I'm so ignorant about stuff. What about the notion -- I can remember, I can't remember but, remember when the pilgrims came over? Folks, remember when the pilgrims were here? And the puritans, and they came seeking religious freedom, and freedom from religious persecution, looking for religious expression. And as far as I've always known, that's a fundamental building block of what makes this country great.
TRUMP: I agree. And, you know, it's called very simply freedom of religion. And I would agree with that 100 percent. In this case, it's caused such a storm that the people doing it would make so much good will if they said, “hey, listen, we want to make everybody happy, including ourselves. We're going to pick a site that's a little further away.” Everybody would be happy... I think the mosque is a real big issue in this city and in this country and I think it's very insensitive to build it there and I think they should go someplace else. (Applause)
LETTERMAN: Insensitive, and describe for me what insensitivity is manifested if it's built there.
TRUMP: Well, I just think there's such ire. There's such -- I've never seen anything quite like it. I mean, I go by that site because I have a big building down there, 40 Wall Street, and the level of animosity and hatred and all of the things that this mosque is engendering, it's very inappropriate. And I'm like you, I believe freedom of religion, but at the same time, sometimes you have to sort of make a turn. It shouldn't be forced upon them. If they did it of their own volition it would be such a popular thing for them.
LETTERMAN: If they did what?
TRUMP: If they moved it to a different site.
LETTERMAN: The notion -- does this suggest that we are in fact officially at war with Muslims? Is that what this suggests?
TRUMP: Well, somebody knocked down the World Trade Center.
LETTERMAN: Yes. No denying that, and they were Muslims, but they weren't, it's not, how do I want to express this? We're not at -- we're at war with those people and they happen to be Muslims. We're not at war with Muslims. (Applause)
TRUMP: Well, I would say that's right, David, I would say that's right. And whether you like it or not, there's a lot of people in this country that are just absolutely -- you see the people who died in the World Trade Center, when you see their mothers and their fathers and their wives standing there just weeping and crying because of the mosque, I just think it would be a great thing if they would move it, if they would voluntarily say, “you know, we're going to move this.” I think they would engender, I mean, it would be so good for them.
LETTERMAN: Yes, but I don't believe, not having read the Koran, I don't believe that part of that belief, that pursuit is here in your face, take a look at this, what do you think? What are you going to do?
TRUMP: Well, somebody's blowing us up. I mean, somebody's blowing up buildings, and somebody's doing lots of bad stuff.
The Ground Zero mosque imam, Feisal Abdul Rauf, considers himself to be playing the role of "bridge builder," a marriage counselor to work through the issues between al Qaeda and the United States. Rauf sees the U.S. and the barbaric, murderous terrorists as a quarrelling married couple.
Two men taken off a Chicago-to-Amsterdam United Airlines flight in the Netherlands have been charged by Dutch police with "preparation of a terrorist attack," U.S. law enforcement officials tell ABC News.
U.S. officials said the two appeared to be travelling with what were termed "mock bombs" in their luggage. "This was almost certainly a dry run, a test," said one senior law enforcement official.
...The two were allowed to board the flight at O'Hare airport last night despite security concerns surrounding one of them, the officials said.
...Airport security screeners in Birmingham, Alabama first stopped al Soofi and referred him to additional screening because of what officials said was his "bulky clothing."
In addition, officials said, al Soofi was found to be carrying $7,000 in cash and a check of his luggage found a cell phone taped to a Pepto-Bismol bottle, three cell phones taped together, several watches taped together, a box cutter and three large knives. Officials said there was no indication of explosives and he and his luggage were cleared for the flight from Birmingham to Chicago O'Hare.
Rauf should be working on a bridge for Ahmed Mohamed Nasser al Soofi and Hezem al Murisi.
They appear to want to kill innocent people.
Of course, the Leftists will continue to paint people against the Ground Zero mosque as Islamophobes and racists.
And what kind of "phobes" are al Soofi and al Murisi?
JAY LENO: According to a report in TIME magazine, experts say that this recession... I love when they do this. You know, they always try to make lemonade here. They say the recession is good for people because fewer people drive to work, which means fewer deaths in auto accidents. Fewer people can afford to eat so we don't gain as much weight. That's what it said. You know what that means? President Obama's economic plan is also his health care plan. It's genius! It's genius, I tell you!
More jokes on the economy--
JAY LENO: The economy is so bad today President Obama had to play golf on a public course. That's how bad it is.
JAY LENO: In fact, the only housing starts in the United States now are mosques in New York City. Those are the only housing starts at all.
ABC News was busted. Eventually, it released a statement admitting the wrongdoing.
However, according to Lafferty, the statement from Jeffrey W. Schneider, senior vice president and spokesman for ABC News, was inadequate and deceptive. Although Schneider acknowledged there was inappropriate behavior, he misrepresented what happened and failed to be forthcoming about the ABC employees involved in the situation.
MAN WITH CAMERA: Hey, bro! Bro, how does it feel to curse out an old man who's a Holocaust survivor? How does that feel?
PRO-MOSQUE MAN: I have no problem cursing out an unpatriotic, treasonous piece of garbage that wouldn't know the G-- damn Constitution if it hit him in the f---ing face. OK? Got that?
.....
PRO-MOSQUE MAN: (Speaking to the man taping the incident) So that's how it feels, OK? Holocaust victim? You know what? Obviously he didn't learn his lesson all this time he was a Holocaust victim because right now he wants to do the same G-- damn f---ing thing to the Muslims that had to happen to him.
MAN WITH CAMERA: Oh, nobody wants to kill Muslims.
PRO-MOSQUE MAN: That is a disgusting, and obviously you're on his side. You know what? Who cares? You don't know what you're doing either, camera guy!
At Sunday's Ground Zero mosque protest, I spoke to one man who had been with the counter-protesters, Joey “Boots” Bassolino, immediately after the police pulled him out from the crowd. What happened, I asked? “There was a guy standing up, a Pakistani guy, who had identified himself as a Pakistani, and he said: ‘We’re not going to sit there and back these Zionist Jews,’” Bassolino recounted, still clearly a little shaken up.
“And I’m like, whoa, wait a minute. What’s up with the racism? And they’re like, ‘what’s racist about that?’” The guy behind Bassolino yelled “f*** you,” reached forward, grabbing his camera and hitting it. “So I kicked him in the shin,” Bassolino said. Bassolino, a disabled U.S. army veteran, claims that he’s an “objective” observer and was in the group of counter-protesters to “document what was going on.”
“These are people that are supposedly protesting racism, yet you get people standing up there on a soap box yelling about ‘Zionist Jews.’ What the hell is that? That’s racism to me, man,” Bassolino explained to me.
OK so I went down to cover the protests both for and against the proposed mosque at Ground Zero and when I questioned the blatant anti-semitic racism of one of the pro-mosque supporters who was on the soap box speaking to the crowd I was yelled and cussed at and told to let him speak. One of the pro-mosque supporters then cussed me and I told him about his need for a dentist and then when I went back to filming the next speaker I was hit in the head from behind and my camera grabbed by the f-bomb dropping man, so I then kicked him and the anti-semites then turned on me quickly and to the NYPD's professionalism they were in the mix within seconds to escort me away from the turning mob of hypocrites who cry racism when speaking of those against the mosque yet promote and support it themselves. How dare I question a racist anti-semite!
This is really all so ugly.
There's so much turmoil and anger.
When is TIME going to do a cover story on anti-Semitism in America?
"And my job is to shut other white people down when they want to interrupt."
"We have to, at the DNC, provide training. We have to teach them how to communicate, how to be sensitive, and how to shut their mouths if they're white."
"Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners, and if we kick 'em all out, you'll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts."
"When I would deny that there was a significant racist component in some of the politics on our side, it was because the people I hung out with were certainly not. When suddenly, this rock is turned over, there is this—'Oh shit, did I not see that?'"
----------------------------
"In any other scenario, Hillary Clinton's lying about her emails, and her pay-for-play relationship with the Clinton Foundation would be disqualifying issues. The only reason they're not disqualifying is because Donald Trump is a fundamentally more repellent, dishonest figure."
"I made a mistake in recalling the events of twelve years ago... I said I was traveling in an aircraft that was hit by RPG fire. I was instead in a following aircraft."
"I would not look to the U.S. Constitution, if I were drafting a constitution in the year 2012. I might look at the constitution of South Africa. That was a deliberate attempt to have a fundamental instrument of government that embraced basic human rights, had an independent judiciary. It really is, I think, a great piece of work that was done."
"The death of Andrew Breitbart disproves the adage that only the good die young."
--JULIAN BOND
"The National Institute of Health has said that it is a danger to women's health and safety of their families that for 30 years to be exposed to the prospects of pregnancy."
"Why did- Couldn't the President have said at that moment, way back in December of last year, 'no game playing. No hostage-taking. No terrorizing this country with the debt ceiling. I'm not going to negotiate with you guys. You can't play it that way.' Could he have done that?"
"I remember distinctly an image of--we were sitting on his couches, and I was looking at [Obama's] pant leg and his perfectly creased pant, and I'm thinking, a) he's going to be president and b) he'll be a very good president."
--DAVID BROOKS
"I feel like calling her back and smackin' her around."
"[I]f you go back to the year 2000, when we had an obvious disaster and - and saw that our voting process needed refinement, and we did that in the America Votes Act and made sure that we could iron out those kinks, now you have the Republicans, who want to literally drag us all the way back to Jim Crow laws and literally - and very transparently - block access to the polls to voters who are more likely to vote Democratic candidates than Republican candidates. And it's nothing short of that blatant."
--DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ
"This is probably one of the worst times we've seen because the numbers of people elected to Congress. I went through this as co-chair of the arts caucus. In '94 people were elected simply to come here to kill the National Endowment for the Arts. Now they’re here to kill women."
"The protesters have proven today that they‘re not going away. It was a pretty rough night last night. You can imagine if people said, well, we just can‘t fight the power. Instead, this morning, they came by tens, by hundreds, by thousands. By midday today, it was easily more than 10,000, perhaps as many as 15,000 people on the square here in Madison. Not organized by anyone, just grassroots citizens who came out just like the Minutemen in 1776."
--JOHN NICHOLS
"They're sitting on the money, they're using it for their own -- they're putting it someplace else with no interest in helping you with your life, with that money. We've allowed them to take that. That's not theirs, that's a national resource, that's ours. We all have this -- we all benefit from this or we all suffer as a result of not having it. I think we need to go back to taxing these people at the proper rates."
"Why don't we just raise the taxes and let these folks have their collective bargaining, have their union representation and go back to their jobs? Raise the taxes on the wealthy."
"So I would urge my Republican colleagues, no matter how strongly they feel -- you know, we have three branches of government. We have a House. We have a Senate. We have a president. And all three of us are going to have to come together and give some, but it is playing with fire to risk the shutting down of the government."
"I'm Rebecca Kleefisch. I performed fellatio on all the talk show hosts in Milwaukee. And they endorsed me and that's how I became lieutenant governor."
"[Military leaders] tell us that childhood obesity isn’t just a public health issue; they tell us that it is not just an economic threat -- it is a national security threat as well."
"[Obama] has to realize that Mitch McConnell has virtually said so that politically he wants to cut out his heart and throw his liver to the dogs."
--DAN RATHER
"And the instructions are not to improvise a comedy sketch, but to elect a group of unqualified, unstable individuals who will do what they are told, in exchange for money and power, and march this nation as far backward as they can get, backward to Jim Crow, or backward to the breadlines of the '30s, or backward to hanging union organizers, or backward to the trusts and the robber barons.
"Result: the Tea Party. Vote backward, vote Tea Party. And if you are somehow indifferent to what is planned for next Tuesday, it is nothing short of an attempted use of democracy to end this democracy."
"I gotta wonder when people are gonna start wearing uniforms. I mean they've got an army out there in Alaska of militia people. You've got these guys going around acting like street thugs. I mean it isn't far from what we saw in the thirties, where all of a sudden, political parties started showing up in uniform."
"[Sharron Angle] is a moron on top of being evil...
I'd like to see her do this ad in the South Bronx. Come here, bitch. Come to New York and do it. I'm not praying for her. She's going to hell. She's going to hell, this bitch."
"So people have been hurting and I understand that. And it doesn't give them comfort or solace for me to tell them, you know, but for me, we'd be in a worldwide depression."
"And to play Dick Cheney, all I had to do was find my Dick Cheney. And you can find all the villainy in the world in your own heart, and that's what an actor's job is. I always say to kids, inside you is Hitler and Jesus. And you got to find the appropriate person and bring them out."
"Because I live in the District of Columbia which is so predominantly Democratic, I am a registered Democrat. But I am an avowed neutral. And to put that into practice, I take my young daughter into the voting booth and she votes for me. She's now 14. We've been doing this since she was about age 4. She's now quite informed."
"Sarah Palin's an idiot. Come on. This is a remarkably, stunningly, jaw-droppingly incompetent and mean woman."
"The Democrats may have moved into the center, but the Republicans have moved into a mental institution."
--AARON SORKIN
"Perhaps the greatest threat of all is the undermining of our Constitution and the systematic attack against the inalienable rights of the citizens of this nation, rights that are guaranteed by our Constitution. At the vanguard of this insidious attack is the Tea Party. This band of misguided citizens is moving perilously close to achieving villainous ends."
"Ah, the Tea Party, the nativist bed-wetters who somehow control our national dialogue. Yes, I call them the Pee Party, Jay, because they're always peeing in their pants about something. They're just, they're afraid of a mosque being built in New York. They're afraid of guns. You know, they think Obama, who like every other pussy Democrat has never said a single word about gun control, but they are very sure that he and his Negro army are coming after their guns.
You know what? If you think that he's coming after your guns, you need to get out of your chat room and have your house tested for lead. He's not coming after your guns or your Bible or your fishing pole or your chewing tobacco."
"That's a trade-off society is making because of very, very high medical costs, and a lack of willingness to say, you know, is spending a million dollars on that last three months of life for that patient, would it be better not to lay off those ten teachers and to make that trade-off in medical costs. But that;s called the 'Death Panel' and you're not supposed to have that discussion."
"[If Rush Limbaugh suffered a heart attack in my presence, I would] laugh loudly like a maniac and watch his eyes bug out. I never knew I had this much hate in me. But he deserves it."
--SARAH SPITZ
"You want freedom, you going to have to kill some crackers. You going to have to kill some of their babies."
"If this was Texas, which is the state that, that is directly on the border with Mexico, and they were calling for a measure like this, saying that they had a major issue with, you know, with undocumented people flooding their borders, I would say I would have to look twice at this.
"But this is a state that is a ways removed from the border. And, um, it just, it doesn't make sense to me that when you google this subject, if you put in 'Arizona S.B. 1070,' that you see a picture of the governor of Arizona meeting with President Obama in May of 2010. If you have direct linkage to the president, there are already National Guard troops on the border in Arizona."
"Tell [the Jews] to get the hell out of Palestine. Remember, these people are occupied and it's their land. It's not German. It's not Poland. [The Jews] can go home. Poland. Germany."
--HELEN THOMAS
"After the last eight years, it's good to have a president that knows what a library is."
--PAUL McCARTNEY
"By the way, I just want to point out I'm wearing my splash shield because I was told I was going to be in the splash zone (during Harry Smith's colonoscopy on live TV)."
--KATIE COURIC
"And that Word is, we have to give voice to what that means in terms of public policy that would be in keeping with the values of the Word."
----------------------------
"Think of an economy where people could be an artist or a photographer or a writer without worrying about keeping their day job in order to have health insurance or that people could start a business and be entrepreneurial and take risk, but not job loss because of a child with asthma or someone in the family is bipolar—you name it, any condition — is job-locking."
--NANCY PELOSI
"Back in World War II, we viewed the Japanese as 'yellow, slant-eyed dogs' that believed in different gods. They were out to kill us because our way of living was different. We, in turn, wanted to annihilate them because they were different. Does that sound familiar, by any chance, to what's going on today?"
--TOM HANKS
"The 'White Right' is trying to set Barack up to be assassinated.... Here are Christians praying for God to kill Barack Obama."
--LOUIS FARRAKHAN
"I refuse to accept the notion that the United States of America is not going to lead the world economically throughout the 20th Century."
--JOE BIDEN
"Obama's critics keep blasting him for Chicago-style politics. So, fine. Channel your inner Al Capone and go gangsta against your foes. Let 'em know that if they aren't with you, they are against you, and will pay the price."
--ROLAND MARTIN
"Martha Coakley is running to fill the rest of Ted Kennedy's term, and her opponent is a far-right tea-bagger Republican."
--CHUCK SCHUMER
"I tell you what, if I lived in Massachusetts, I'd try to vote ten times. I don't know if they'd let me or not, but I'd try to. Yeah, that's right, I'd cheat to keep these bastards out. I would. 'Cause that's exactly what they are."
--ED SCHULTZ
"We also see how revved up the tea baggers are at the thought of hijacking health care reform and every chance we have at making progress in Washington."
--JOHN KERRY
"A few years ago, this guy (Obama) would have been getting us coffee."
--BILL CLINTON
"I didn't realize I had written a column defending Roman Polanski and minimized his crime - are you sure it was me? I mean, I? There is, apparently, more to this crime than it would seem, and it may sound like a hollow defense, but in Hollywood I am not sure a 13-year-old is really a 13-year-old."
--TOM SHALES
"Joe Wilson yelled 'You lie!' at a president who didn't. But, fair or not, what I heard was an unspoken word in the air: You lie, boy!"
--MAUREEN DOWD
"One awkward moment for Sarah Palin at the Yankee game... During the 7th inning, her daughter was knocked up by Alex Rodriguez."
--DAVID LETTERMAN
"I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life."
--SONIA SOTOMAYOR
"We all considered sexual abuse of minors as a moral evil, but had no understanding of its criminal nature."
--REMBERT WEAKLAND, Archbishop of Milwaukee 1977- 2002
"You know, you might want to look into this, [President Obama], because I think maybe Rush Limbaugh was the 20th hijacker, but he was so strung out on Oxycontin he missed his flight."
"Rush Limbaugh -- 'I hope the country fails.' I hope his kidneys fail."
----------------------------
"[Obama] told me I did a great job. The first lady said the same thing. I got a 'well done' from the president, I'm on cloud nine."
--WANDA SYKES
"Americans are looking for more government in their life, not less."
--COLIN POWELL
"[Tea Party goers are] just a bunch of wimpy, whiny, weasels who don't love their country."
--PAUL BEGALA
"I wouldn't want [gay marriage] to go to the United States Supreme Court now because that homophobe Antonin Scalia has too many votes on this current court."
--BARNEY FRANK
"Going forward, my mind will be open to every solution -- except one. We should not -- we must not -- and I will not -- raise taxes."
--JIM DOYLE, Liar
"He's a terrorist. Rush Limbaugh is a terrorist."
--JOY BEHAR
"You know, I just want to say to her (Sarah Palin), just very quickly...F--- you."
--JON STEWART
"Should I be worried about being a slave and being returned to slavery?"
--WHOOPI GOLDBERG
"I also believe that America is the greatest sin against God."
--FR. MICHAEL PFLEGER
"Those who think they can revive the stinking corpse of the usurping and fake Israeli regime by throwing a birthday party are seriously mistaken. Today the reason for the Zionist regime's existence is questioned, and this regime is on its way to annihilation."
--MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD
"We'll be eight degrees hotter in ten, not ten but 30 or 40 years and basically none of the crops will grow. Most of the people will have died and the rest of us will be cannibals."
--TED TURNER
"Look, [Mitt] Romney comes from a religion founded by a criminal who was anti-American, pro-slavery, and a rapist. And he comes from that lineage and says, 'I respect this religion fully.'"
--LAWRENCE O'DONNELL
"Mexico does not end at its borders... Where there is a Mexican, there is Mexico."
--FELIPE CALDERON
"The planet has a fever. If your baby has a fever, you go to the doctor. If the doctor says you need to intervene here, you don't say, 'Well, I read a science fiction novel that told me it's not a problem.' If the crib's on fire, you don't speculate that the baby is flame retardant."
--AL GORE
"Don't fear the terrorists. They're mothers and fathers."
--ROSIE O'DONNELL
"Is America ready for a black president? Well, I say we just had a retarded one. When did being black become a bigger deterrent than being retarded?"
--CHRIS ROCK
"Shut the f--- up! Shut up if you can't take a joke [about President Bush]!"
--BARBRA STREISAND
"Right, oh, yeah, Happy 9/11! Celebrate the day, right?"
--JAMES BROLIN, Mr. Barbra Streisand
"I think President Bush very well may have signed an authorization for the 9/11 attacks."
--KEVIN BARRETT, UW-MADISON Lecturer
"I said what I said. I am not guilty."
--SADDAM HUSSEIN
"Terri will not be starved to death. Her nutrition and hydration will be taken away."
--MICHAEL SCHIAVO
"On the eve of the election last month my wife Judith and I were driving home late in the afternoon and turned on the radio for the traffic and weather. What we instantly got was a freak show of political pornography: lies, distortions, and half-truths -- half-truths being perhaps the blackest of all lies. "
--BILL MOYERS
"I hate the Republicans and everything they stand for."
--HOWARD DEAN
"The Iraqis who have risen up against the occupation are not 'insurgents' or 'terrorists' or 'The Enemy.' They are the REVOLUTION, the Minutemen, and their numbers will grow -- and they will win."
--MICHAEL MOORE
"And there is no reason, Bob, that young American soldiers need to be going into the homes of Iraqis in the dead of night, terrorizing kids and children, you know, women, breaking sort of the customs of the--of--the historical customs, religious customs."
"I'm not going to have some reporters pawing through our papers. We are the president."
--HILLARY CLINTON
"It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is."
--BILL CLINTON
"And let me tell you something -- for the first time in my adult lifetime, I am really proud of my country. And not just because Barack has done well, but because I think people are hungry for change. And I have been desperate to see our country moving in that direction and just not feeling so alone in my frustration and disappointment."
--MICHELLE OBAMA
"If asking a billionaire to pay the same tax rate as a Jew, uh, as a janitor, makes me a warrior for the working class, I wear that with a badge of honor."
"[F]or most of my lifetime, the United States was such a dominant economic power, we were such a large market, our industry, our technology, our manufacturing was so significant that we always met the rest of the world economically on our terms. And now, because of the incredible rise of India and China and Brazil and other countries, the United States remains the largest economic and the largest market but there’s real competition out there. And that's potentially healthy. It makes -- Michelle was saying earlier I like tough questions because it keeps me on my toes. Well, this will keep America on its toes."
----------------------------
"If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, 'We're gonna PUNISH OUR ENEMIES and we're gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,' if they don't see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it's gonna be harder and that's why I think it's so important that people focus on voting on November 2."
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"We don't mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but THEY GOTTA SIT IN BACK."
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"We can absorb a terrorist attack. We'll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever... we absorbed it and we are stronger."
"We talk to these folks because they potentially have the best answers so I know whose ass to kick."
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"We're not trying to push financial reform because we begrudge success that's fairly earned. I mean, I do think at a certain point you've made enough money. But, you know, part of the American way is, you know, you can just keep on making it if you’re providing a good product or you're providing good service. We don't want people to stop fulfilling the core responsibilities of the financial system to help grow the economy."
"It is a vital national security interest of the United States to reduce these conflicts because whether we like it or not, we remain a dominant military superpower, and when conflicts break out, one way or another we get pulled into them. And that ends up costing us significantly in terms of both blood and treasure."
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"But I -- I think that the most important thing for the public to understand is, we're not handling any of these cases any different than the Bush administration handled them all through 9/11."
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"One such translator was an American of Haitian descent, representative of the extraordinary work that our men and women in uniform do all around the world -- Navy CORPSE-MAN Christian [sic] Brossard. And lying on a gurney aboard the USNS Comfort, a woman asked Christopher: 'Where do you come from? What country? After my operation,' she said, 'I will pray for that country.' And in Creole, CORPSE-MAN Brossard responded, 'Etazini.' The United States of America."
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"I hear that Dr. Joe Medicine Crow was around, and so I want to give a shout-out to that Congressional Medal of Honor winner. It's good to see you."
"I am going to teach [my daughters] first about values and morals, but if they make a mistake, I don't want them punished with a baby."
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"The reforms we seek would bring greater competition, choice, savings, and INEFFICIENCIES to our health care system."
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"Over the last 15 months, we’ve traveled to every corner of the United States. I’ve now been in 57 states? I think one left to go. Alaska and Hawaii, I was not allowed to go to even though I really wanted to visit, but my staff would not justify it."
--BARACK OBAMA
NOTEWORTHY QUOTATIONS
"In a word, freedom is ever new. It is a challenge held out to each generation, and it must constantly be won over for the cause of good.... [A] democracy without values can lose its very soul."
--POPE BENEDICT XVI
"When freedom does not have a purpose, when it does not wish to know anything about the rule of law engraved in the hearts of men and women, when it does not listen to the voice of conscience, it turns against humanity and society."
--POPE JOHN PAUL II
"We ourselves feel that what we are doing is just a drop in the ocean. But the ocean would be less because of that missing drop."
--MOTHER TERESA
"To promote choice for its own sake is more akin to self-indulgence than self-determination. It is the philosophy of a pre-schooler in a candy shop."
--BRIAN POLLARD, M.D.
"The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people."
--MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.
"The house we hope to build is not for my generation but for yours. It is your future that matters. And I hope that when you are my age, you will be able to say as I have been able to say: We lived in freedom. We lived lives that were a statement, not an apology."
--RONALD REAGAN
"Liberalism is the philosophy of the stupid."
--MARK LEVIN
"We are Warriors forever."
--BO ELLIS
"I know how much you're supposed to enjoy every sandwich, you know."
