Free Republic

I just watched our "president" give his 9/11 address, and I was amazed. I have seen this man twist and distort and outright lie for five years now. I am still stunned at what I just heard. As tone-deaf and arrogant as we have come to know this empty-suit to be, he just set a new low for even himself. The thrust of his entire 9/11 address was a very thinly-veiled scolding for those who oppose the Ground Zero Mosque. The man is a shameless pig who routinely defiles the office he feigns to hold. I am going to be...

As the summer of 2010 comes to a close, American tempers are dramatically rising over the Ground Zero mosque. A fine example of the heat this issue is generating occurred on Wednesday's "O'Reilly Factor" on Fox News. In the left corner was Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. On the right filling in for the usual host was Laura Ingraham. What ensued was an ideological battle that likely pleased folks on both sides of this contentious debate (video follows with transcript and commentary, h/t our friends at the Right Scoop):

Hear Islamic leader propose plan Israel says will bring about its disintegration JERUSALEM – The controversial imam behind a proposal to build an Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero has advocated a plan that is widely regarded here as promoting the eradication of Israel as a Jewish state. In uncovered audio, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf pushes for a "one state" solution of Jews and Arabs sharing the same country. While the idea may sound moderate to those unfamiliar with Mideast politics, such a proposal, which has been touted by Palestinian leaders, is seen by Israel as pressing for its destruction...

Two protests on Sunday morning, in the normally quiet blocks north of Ground Zero, claimed to be on the side of tolerance. One camp stood in favor of the mosque and Islamic center that has been proposed for the area; the other argued against. Around 500 of those opposed gathered in a cordoned-off area, heavily monitored by police. They sang patriotic songs and spoke of a hijacked Constitution, a renegade presidency and tolerance toward the sensitivities of New Yorkers whose relatives died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. A counterprotest, smaller but equally passionate, gathered steam two blocks away, where...

How do you think the Muslim call to prayer will go over when it’s BLARING OVER A PA SYSTEM at Ground Zero 5 times a day?

Until about 40 years ago, churches in most U.S. cities had an inherent right to build anywhere without enduring a lengthy and often expensive public hearing process. But now, even though a congregation may be small and wanting to open in a blighted region, city officials no longer believe churches have intrinsic worth. Increasingly, congregations wanting to relocate to a new area or to expand existing facilities are met with resistance from both neighbors and city officials anxious about increased traffic, a decreased tax base, and parking and noise problems. Most church leaders want to be good neighbors, but some...

The director of Al-Arabiya TV, a popular Arab-language news station, wrote that "Muslims never asked for" the proposed mosque at Ground Zero, and "do not care about its construction," in a column for London daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat on Aug. 16. “I can't imagine that Muslims [actually] want a mosque at this particular location, because it will become an arena for the promoters of hatred, and a monument to those who committed the crime,” wrote Al-Arabiya director Abd Al-Rahman al-Rashid in the column, which was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute.

Subbing for Ed Schultz on MSNBC this evening, Cenk Ugyur suggested that the roughly 70% of Americans who oppose the Ground Zero mosque are "ignorant." Ugyur was debating the mosque matter with Republican strategist and former Newt staffer David Winston. Winston suggested that the people behind the mosque could, in light of the overwhelming oppposition of Americans to the plan, show sensitivity by agreeing to site it elsewhere. That provoked Cenk's snide insult, which, as you'll see, actually revealed his own lack of knowledge on the subject . . . Constitution Is Big Barrier

Barack Obama has backtracked over his support for plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero. The U.S. President was hit by a furious backlash from victims of the September 11 terrorist attacks after he backed the highly controversial plans in a speech on Friday. (snip)Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son was killed at the World Trade Center, condemned the President for a 'gross lack of sensitivity to the 9/11 families and to the people who were lost'.

Take yourself back to September 12th, 2001, if you can. Imagine, with the bodies still burning, the full death toll still unknown, the future of the war declared on us by Islamic jihadists unclear, that someone had told you: In nine years, a U.S. president named Barack Hussein Obama, at a White House dinner in honor of the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, will insist that a mosque should be built overlooking the mass grave of the victims of this attack. Breathtakingly bizarre, it would have seemed, and offensively ridiculous too. Surely anyone must admit that. And yet that's where we...

The battle over plans to build a mosque near the site of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York is fuelling a surge in anti-Muslim protests across the US, including opposition to new Islamic centres from California to Georgia. Religious leaders and civil rights activists warn that a tide of Islamophobia that has swept the country since the destruction of the twin towers is being heightened by political exploitation of the New York dispute before nationwide elections and is increasingly bound up with hostility to immigrants and other forms of racism.

For the last week or so, the Daily Show with Jon Stewart has presented relentless coverage of the Ground Zero Mosque issue. All of the coverage was in favor of the Mosque. Comedy Central are even pleadingly presenting the Muslim generated straw-man arguments. CC insists that it is not a mosque, it is a 'cultural center' (yeah right) and Muslims are good honest people and only Al Quiada is bad. We know that the Left uses, so called, 'comedy', to say what they really believe and to attack people personally in the most vulgar way possible. The Daily Show is...

Symbolism is at play in the debate over a grand mosque being built near the site of Islamic extremism’s greatest terrorist victory against a democracy. While many embrace its construction as symbolic of a democratic society’s tolerance, there is danger in not understanding the symbolically sinister side of its construction as well. As much as we hear about Islamic extremists only representing a small percentage of the Muslim community, it is difficult to forget the images of euphoria in many Muslim countries as news of the 9/11 attacks spread.

With city approval of a proposed mosque and Islamic center two blocks away from Ground Zero nearly secured, the battle over the project is moving away from zoning boards to the court of public opinion. The expected clearing of another major regulatory hurdle on Tuesday is unlikely to silence the debate around an issue that has become a call to arms for national Republicans—who have been emboldened by polls showing widespread public skepticism about the project—and a divisive policy matter for religious groups.

Following a New York Times report that he exaggerated his military record, Democratic Senate hopeful Richard Blumenthal has lost ground in match-ups against all his potential Republican challengers in Connecticut. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in Connecticut finds Blumenthal with just a three-point advantage over Linda McMahon, 48% to 45%. Two weeks ago, he led the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment by 13 percentage points. The New York Times story broke late Monday; the survey was taken Tuesday evening.

Following a New York Times report that he exaggerated his military record, Democratic Senate hopeful Richard Blumenthal has lost ground in match-ups against all his potential Republican challengers in Connecticut.

A mosque rises over Ground Zero. And fed-up New Yorkers are crying, "No!" A chorus of critics -- from neighbors to those who lost loved ones on 9/11 to me -- feel as if they've received a swift kick in the teeth. Plans are under way for a Muslim house of worship, topped by a 13-story cultural center with a swimming pool, in a building damaged by the fuselage of a jet flown by extremists into the World Trade Center.

Maybe in passing along the land, the farmers of old forgot to pass along how valuable land is. Not in the monetary sense. But valuable because farmers are charged with taking care of the land. Nurturing it like it was a child. Loving it. I remember my grandfather and other older farmers always bending down to scoop up a handful of earth. They ran it through their fingers. They tasted it. They simply loved and cherished it. I think farmers of old just naturally thought the love and the well being towards their land would always be a part of...

You all know how much we love the bar Sidetracks here in Boystown. In a lot of ways, it’s like our little clubhouse, where we plan many an adventure and get the scoop on all sorts of things here in Boystown, especially on Showtunes and Comedy nights, which we love. That’s when the VJs play little clips of Broadway musicals for people to sing-a-long to, or snippets of comedy routines from TV for people to laugh at. Unless they’re clips of Janeane Garofalo, who isn’t, and has never been funny, in which case you’d just hear crickets.

NBC/WSJ survey also shows a drop in his overall job-approval rating WASHINGTON - Despite his public-relations blitz over the past two weeks to promote his plans to reform the nation's health-care system — including holding two town halls on Wednesday — President Barack Obama has lost ground on this issue with the American public, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.