Ground Zero Mosque

The Republican And Conservative Exploitation Of September 11 :(

Ronald Leave a comment

On the eve of the 9th anniversary of the most horrific day in American history since Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, it is shocking to recognize how the Republican leadership and conservative talk show hosts have utilized September 11 to divide this country by promoting hate, hysteria, and panic on a level WORSE than Joseph McCarthy and his Republican and conservative backers stirred anti Communist “witch hunts” during the late 1940s and early 1950s!

There is nothing that these despicable public figures will not do to promote their agenda, including comparing Pastor Terry Jones’s threat to burn Korans with the Islamic interfaith center that is planned for two blocks from Ground Zero in New York City! The former is designed to promote hate and bloodshed, while the latter’s purpose is to promote interfaith understanding and dialogue!

It is not too much for Newt Gingrich, John Boehner, and Sarah Palin, among others, to exploit this comparison, but also Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck find no problem in exploiting September 11 for financial gain, by holding a gathering in Anchorage, Alaska with highly expensive tickets to be bought on Ticketmaster, and selling liquor as well, to commemorate that fateful day! Any such event should not have a ticket charge, and liquor being served is totally against the somber nature of the event!

But Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck have no shame and no limits to their hypocrisy, as also John Boehner, Newt Gingrich, and many others, including the many Republican leaders who chose to remain silent and avoid taking a stand for principle, on the evil of Pastor Terry Jones and the principle of religious freedom and diversity represented by the interfaith plans near Ground Zero!

The Danger Of The Right Wing Attack On Hispanics, Muslims, And African Americans! :(

Ronald 1 Comment

The United States is facing an alarming scenario! The country is being split wide open by right wing assaults on Hispanics, Muslims, and African Americans, and this is a great danger for the future security and safety of the nation! 🙁

The Arizona immigration law, which antagonizes Hispanics; the emotional attacks on the issue of the so called “Ground Zero Mosque” and mosques being built anywhere in the nation, which enrages moderate Muslims; and the Tea Party paranoia about African Americans as expressed in their rallies, and in their guide to Tea Party people attending the Glenn Beck-Sarah Palin rally at the Washington Mall on the anniversary of the Civil Rights March of August 28, 1963, to avoid African American areas of the District of Columbia; –these are all alarm bells ringing in the night! 🙁

These right wing forces in the Republican party and the Tea Party Movement fail to understand that this is not a nation of just white upper class and upper middle class Christians! We are a diverse nation, and rapidly becoming less white and less Christian, whether one likes it or not!

To antagonize, victimize, and scapegoat Hispanics, Muslims, and African Americans is an exercise in futility, and can turn law abiding, moderate citizens of these backgrounds into radicals and extremists to our detriment!

These right wingers are spewing hatred and poison, and if they do not watch their rhetoric and action, could provoke a race war, a civil war in this country–an absolutely terrifying concept! All this does is help promote an image in Latin America, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, that the United States is a nation of bigotry, racism, discrimination, and prejudice!

It actually helps fuel the terrorism we are trying to prevent and neutralize! If young men and women in this country, of these various backgrounds, feel threatened, they could become the enemy from within and undermine the future of this country!

The American people must not allow themselves to be exploited and divided in this fashion by the right wing propagandists on talk radio, Fox News, and in government, as all this does is embolden these whackos to further incite hate and paranoia! 🙁

The way to overcome this is to have the people in November repudiate the right wing hate mongers in government; and boycott these propagandists on radio and cable, by demanding that corporations stop advertising on these hate shows, or begin a boycott by consumers, as has started with Target Corporation over the promotion of a right wing politician in Minnesota, Tom Emmer, who is spewing hate and division in his race for Governor! 🙁

This is a country for ALL Americans, not just white, upper class Christians who fail to understand that the future is not in their hands! Reality requires that we all learn to live together in peace, and with tolerance for each other, if we are to keep this nation stable, secure and safe for the long term future!

Time For George W. Bush And Other Principled Republicans To Speak Out On Mosque Controversy!

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The Washington Post today has come out with an editorial calling upon former President George W. Bush to speak out against the demagoguery going on within his party, with many Republicans remaining silent as Newt Gingrich, Sarah Palin, and others make the “Ground Zero Mosque” a political football, and in the process, are promoting anti Islamic hatred, a tremendous danger to the nation and its future!

One can criticize and find fault with Bush on a multitude of issues during his eight years as President, but one cannot fault him for always trying to make clear that our war was against Al Qaeda, not the Islamic world, a belief that President Barack Obama has continued to promote!

Bush should condemn those who use the mosque issue as a way to divide America, and promote fear and hate! If he was to do so, it would improve his image, and maybe get timid Republicans such as Scott Brown, Olympia Snowe, Susan Collins, Richard Lugar, and others to come out in support of his stand!

So far, only New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and commentator Pat Buchanan, indeed a strange duo, have had the courage to speak out against the hysterical tide!

We have so many important issues to deal with, and we should not be fighting and splitting over the building of a house of worship! American ideals and principles require the end of this outrageous fear mongering being promoted by its original creator, the loony blogger Pamela Geller, in league with talk radio hosts and Fox News Channel, and endorsed by potential Presidential candidates Gingrich and Palin, who should be roundly condemned for their divisive tactics! 🙁

Anti Islamic Hysteria: The New Nativism Very Dangerous For America! :(

Ronald Leave a comment

The year 2010 will, sadly, go down as the year of extreme nativism, and promotion of ethnic and religious hatred! 🙁

As if it was not enough to persecute and harass people of Latino and Hispanic heritage, now the push is on by politicians, right wing media, and other irresponsible elements to use the so called “Ground Zero Mosque” controversy to label all people of Islamic heritage in America as enemies and threats to American society! Apparently, some seem to want a holy war against Islam worldwide, against 1.2 billion people! 🙁

And if you notice who is leading the charge in this regard, it includes Christian fundamentalists and people who claim to be religious, but employ their Christian faith to cover their own hypocrisy! 🙁

Most Muslims in America are good, honorable citizens, who go about their business every day–work hard, pay taxes, obey the laws, are patriotic, serve in the military, and were victims of the September 11 attack on the World Trade Center!

If we allow demagogues of the right to promote antagonism and hate against these good people, we endanger ourselves, as the alienation of these Islamic citizens could encourage lawlessness and violence by them, which already is occurring AGAINST Islamic citizens due to hysteria, and the propaganda of these right wing extremists! 🙁

The author has already stated earlier his thoughts that it would be preferable for the “Ground Zero Mosque” to be built further away from the World Trade Center site, but the disputed project is on private property and therefore legally, and based on the Planning Commission vote and the backing of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, there is no legitimate way to block it!

But when Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin and other despicable politicians exploit the issue and stir up hate and emotions, they should not be rewarded with support, and it is good that others, including New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and commentator Pat Buchanan, have the courage to criticize their exploitation of the issue for political gain! 🙁

And the suggestion of Christian extremists that NO mosques be allowed to be built in America, as all of them are recruiting stations for terrorists, must be roundly condemned and repudiated! 🙁

It is amazing how some people who claim to believe the Constitution and Bill of Rights, and are so called devout people tied to the Bible, are ready to deny religious freedom and promote hate in the name of Jesus Christ, who himself would have been anything but a bigot and hypocrite! 🙁