"I am for freedom of religion and against all maneuvers to bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another”

I love that quote attributed to Jefferson.

So I was thinking: Why is it that people can be such blatant hypocrites in A-merry-ca and get away with it? For instance; my man Glenn Beck is all over this Mosque being built near Ground Zero, and his argument goes something like this: (I am paraphrasing) Of course they have a right to their religious freedom under our Constitution, but why do they choose to build a church there given how people feel about that? They should be more sensitive to the feelings of their fellow A-merry-cans, just because they have a right to do it, doesn't mean that they should do it.

Ahhh Glenn (and I hate to agree with your colleague, Greta Von Frenkenstein, but do you notice something about that kettle staring you in the face? Yep, it looks just like you.
My man, you are doing the very same thing when you hold your march on the anniversary of Dr. King's I Have A Dream speech. Of course you have a right to do it, but should you? Given how some folks feel about you and your views on race. (You did call A-merry-ca's first black president a racist) I call bullshit on it being a mere coincidence, you knew exactly what you were doing.

And as for this Mosque at Ground Zero, I see that something like seventy percent of A--merry-cans oppose it. I wonder how many of them lost loved ones on 9/11? I agree with
Bob Cesca when he writes the following:

"If we take Sarah Palin, Glenn Beck and Newt Gingrich at their word, their objection to the proposed community center two blocks north of Ground Zero is that the entire area is hallowed ground, and a Muslim facility so close to the site is an insult to the victims and heroes of September 11.

Of course this is entirely about a swath of 9/11 fetishists, mostly Christians, ginning up anti-Muslim fear and demagoguery to score political points. It's a cheap and obvious exploitation of the widespread American prejudice that anyone who happens to be Muslim is equally as guilty and offensive as the terrorists who hijacked and crashed two airplanes into the World Trade Center towers.

It must be an election year because Republicans are once again rolling out September 11 as a wedge issue. You know, because they care about honoring the fallen. When it helps them politically.

If Beck, Limbaugh, Palin and Gingrich, along with the entire population of far-right AM talk radio, really cared about hallowed ground and historical preservation, they wouldn't be limiting their crusade to Park 51 (formerly Cordoba House).

As many of us have heard, there's a strip club two blocks away. I'm not sure how lap dances are less offensive than a religious community center. In fact, there are quite a few places in lower Manhattan within short walking distance of Ground Zero that would have to be eliminated as part of these stringent guidelines dictating how sacred ground ought to be respected. Via Twitter, Sarah Palin urged President Obama to weigh in on the Park 51 issue. Well, I urge Sarah Palin to weigh in on the strip club "at Ground Zero." We're waiting, Sarah. Will you campaign against the strip club? How about the gun shows that happen at Cox Pavilion, not far from the site of the Oklahoma City bombing? Or the shinto shrines a mile or two from Pearl Harbor?" [Article]

And I agree with Robert McIlvaine:

"Robert McIlvaine still struggles and probably always will. When the subject of his son, Bobby, comes up, McIlvaine asks that I give him a minute so he can compose himself.

Bobby McIlvaine, a Princeton graduate and aspiring writer who worked in media relations for Merrill Lynch, was on his way up to the 106th floor of the World Trade Center for a seminar that September morning when the plane hit. He never made it there. He was only 26.

Once the elder McIlvaine starts talking about the mosque controversy, sadness gives way to anger. How can people shred the Constitution to justify their biases?

"Nobody's asked me, and there are plenty of 9/11 families who feel the way I do," says McIlvaine, 65, a retired teacher who lives in Oreland.

When he first heard of the proposed Islamic center, he had no problem. "I didn't give it a second thought," he said. "And if you knew my son, you'd know he'd be rolling over in his grave over this."

As would the American Muslims who also died on that day.

"It's a sin what [fearmongers] are doing, making this about politics at the families' expense," McIlvaine adds. "It's producing hate, and it's the last thing this country needs right now." [Story]

Mr. McIlvaine, it's folks like you who makes us all realize that the terrorist lost that day. Sadly, if folks like Beck and company have their way, our victory will be short lived.