The Audacity of Jihad

The audacity of Jihad!

While I know that the tactic of fear mongering is fully in effect in our modern day society, I never thought the sheep of the people would be so quick to follow. It's time to add another entry to my long list of American controversies that could be resolved with a simple "who gives a crap?"

Because I've seen a lot of laugh out loud republican campaign ads in my day, hell I typically point them out to everyone and laugh at them, but this one takes the cake for absurd statements and fear mongering.



Holy crap, I'm going to boost my nerd points but that's the voice of the narrator from Homeworld. Good to see the recession hasn't hit him hard. Or maybe it has and that's why he's doing this sort of work.

"A mosque is about to be erected on the hallowed acreage of lower Manhattan's Ground Zero. Where we Americans weep, they rejoice and intend to erect a shrine to the 9/11 terrorist they hail as martyrs. This offense cannot stand."

Now normally I would consider that nothing more than some sort of Onion level satire. Because read that. There's so much wrong with that statement and yet here we are with those words being written... Someone took pen to paper and wrote those words. My mind sort of melts just thinking about that.

I don't think they start dancing the moment the clock hits 9:11 nor do I think that they're even thinking about the terrorist attacks. I mean, maybe as much as Catholics think about the Spanish Inquisition. And let's be honest, I make fun of 9/11 probably more than any mosque goer does. I'm not going to pretend I'm a saint - I just laugh about this Nevar forgetting bullshit. As if at some point I'm going to not remember that during my life time two large buildings came down in New York and killed a lot of people.


Somehow I think that number is a bit fudged.

Maybe I should start going up to people and telling them "You know that 9/11 thing? Yeah, I didn't much care for that." I mean, get over it already people. You really shouldn't be using 9/11 to stop a church from being built. Even if it's near ground zero.

Just imagine a place were one of the bloodiest battles in history was fought, one that was used to justify the use of The Bomb. and then they came and built military bases all over, shrines to the religion of permanent war on that hallowed ground

What the hell are we in Iraq for? I thought we were fighting this war for our freedom. Doesn't seem like such a free place when some religion can't built their place of worship. This sort of thing is odd coming from me. I'm a hard atheist. Though most people don't believe in God(s), only an atheist takes it one god further.

Then again, you could just be like this fucking moron and claim that a group of Mooooooslim terrorist crashed two planes into the world trade center, killing millions on purpose just so they could build this temple here..



Need I remind you that for several months after, the 9/11 death toll was literally reported at twice the actual figure. Guess you just had to make it personal in order for everyone to be fully supportive of going to war with Iraq in Operation Defending Freedom. From who? I'm not entirely sure.

Any rational person would realize that freedom from religious persecution is something that America was founded on. So with that excuse sort of nixed it's just a matter of trying to come up with another reason as to why they shouldn't allow this mosque to be built. Their latest attempt was a stupid ship buried under the rubble.

In the middle of tomorrow, a great ribbed ghost has emerged from a distant yesterday.

On Tuesday morning, workers excavating the site of the underground vehicle security center for the future World Trade Center hit a row of sturdy, upright wood timbers, regularly spaced, sticking out of a briny gray muck flecked with oyster shells.

Obviously, these were more than just remnants of the wooden cribbing used in the late 18th and early 19th centuries to extend the shoreline of Manhattan Island ever farther into the Hudson River. (Lower Manhattan real estate was a precious commodity even then.)

“They were so perfectly contoured that they were clearly part of a ship,” said A. Michael Pappalardo, an archaeologist with the firm AKRF, which is working for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to document historical material uncovered during construction.

By Wednesday, the outlines made it plain: a 30-foot length of a wood-hulled vessel had been discovered about 20 to 30 feet below street level on the World Trade Center site, the first such large-scale archaeological find along the Manhattan waterfront since 1982, when an 18th-century cargo ship came to light at 175 Water Street.

The area under excavation, between Liberty and Cedar Streets, had not been dug out for the original trade center. The vessel, presumably dating from the mid- to late 1700s, was evidently undisturbed more than 200 years.

News of the find spread quickly. Archaeologists and officials hurried to the site, not only because of the magnitude of the discovery but because construction work could not be interrupted and because the timber, no longer safe in its cocoon of ooze, began deteriorating as soon as it was exposed to air.

But protesters, for an instance, began to ponder if they could use this discovery to claim that the site could be used as a historical site and not to be touched with and thus, not allowing the mosque to be built... failing to realize that the freedom towers will never be built.

Then again, they never were going to be finished anyway. Its been nine years and the WTC isn't reubuilt. The height of government stupidity and bureaucracy is just amazing. How about writing about that, NY Times. We'll have our first Muslim president before they actually finish the freedom tower. Oh wait, we already do...

But at least that hurdle was taken care of over the last few days..

The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission — "responsible for identifying and designating the City's landmarks and the buildings in the City's historic districts" — has decided not to assign landmark status to a building on Park Place, two blocks north of Ground Zero.

After the board's unanimous vote, its chairman, Robert B. Tierney, said the structure, which previously home to a Burlington Coat Factory, "does not rise to the level of an individual landmark."

What are they trying to say about Burlington Coat Factory?! $9.11 for my blazer - Never Forget! Bu thank fucking GOD! I mean, seriously.. this was a pretty weak attempt to toss a nail in the road for this. Maybe Islam is the light after all..



Did you know that the site of the WTC used to be a landfill. In fact it currently is a landfill. I just want to know if that boat was used to sell slaves or destroy pods of whales? Maybe Bin Laden's not a terrorist and is just a very aggressive archaeologist. I'm pretty sure this is Noah's Ark and thus proving that America is God's country. I'm certain that god actually put the boat there specifically to remind us of that so they wouldn't build the mosque.

My hope is that it contained an ancient but active strain of smallpox that we have no vaccine against. Perhaps there will be some slave shackles and we can reminisce about simpler times in America. Fun Fact - The WTC finally reached full renting capacity right before it blew up.

I know I was waiting real hard to hear if they found another boat just so I could say "A SECOND BOAT HAS BEEN FOUND UNDER THE WTC!" But then again, that would be completely tasteless.



If it ended up being a slave ship, it could totally be a version of the tell-tale heart. And if it isn't a slave ship, I'd so want it to be a Barbary trading ship. Then it would turn out that the WTC was built on a foundation of Islam all along.

I'm just glad that both CBS and NBC decided that they will not air this ad. Capitalism at work. But I really am confused by the latest piece of news on this one. It seems that the ADL jumped into the fight against the mosque.

We regard freedom of religion as a cornerstone of the American democracy, and that freedom must include the right of all Americans – Christian, Jewish, Muslim, and other faiths – to build community centers and houses of worship.

We categorically reject appeals to bigotry on the basis of religion, and condemn those whose opposition to this proposed Islamic Center is a manifestation of such bigotry.

However, there are understandably strong passions and keen sensitivities surrounding the World Trade Center site. We are ever mindful of the tragedy which befell our nation there, the pain we all still feel – and especially the anguish of the families and friends of those who were killed on September 11, 2001.

The controversy which has emerged regarding the building of an Islamic Center at this location is counterproductive to the healing process. Therefore, under these unique circumstances, we believe the City of New York would be better served if an alternative location could be found.

In recommending that a different location be found for the Islamic Center, we are mindful that some legitimate questions have been raised about who is providing the funding to build it, and what connections, if any, its leaders might have with groups whose ideologies stand in contradiction to our shared values. These questions deserve a response, and we hope those backing the project will be transparent and forthcoming. But regardless of how they respond, the issue at stake is a broader one.

Proponents of the Islamic Center may have every right to build at this site, and may even have chosen the site to send a positive message about Islam. The bigotry some have expressed in attacking them is unfair, and wrong. But ultimately this is not a question of rights, but a question of what is right. In our judgment, building an Islamic Center in the shadow of the World Trade Center will cause some victims more pain – unnecessarily – and that is not right.

I have to say that it's pretty ironic that something called the anti-defamation league is opposed to something purely on the basis of religion.

I recall when the ADL appealed to the US government to deny the Armenian genocide.. Yeah, they're classy that way. I guess the message that should be taken away here is that Muslims destroyed the towers. Not an extremist group. Just all Muslims.

It's as if we can't have some socialist Islamic "community" center anywhere near our shrine to crass capitalism. Now if they built a private corporate-run flight school or something that would be something we could get behind for those tax dollars.

Not to sound like a complete asshole but 9/11 happened ALMOST A DECADE AGO! I think we're all pretty much done healing from it. Has the fact that the mosque isn't on the actual WTC site and is like a few blocks away just totally dropped out of the discourse or what? Then again, when have facts ever mattered in things like this.

And if having a mosque blocks away from the WTC defiles the whole deaths there, perhaps using any public restroom wouldn't be the best thing. I mean, you would be taking a shit a few blocks away from WTC. Way to shit on the glorious remains of the World Trade Center with that healthy diet of hummus and halal food.

At least there's some folks that aren't completely ignorant.