Will The Bullies Win Again? Not if Al Franken Can Help It!

sabrina 1

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Thu Aug-19-10 02:50 PM
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Will The Bullies Win Again? Not if Al Franken Can Help It!

Edited on Thu Aug-19-10 03:32 PM by sabrina 1

The fabricated controversy over the Mosque and Community Center two blocks from the WTC has once again pitted the demands of bigoted, radical elements in our society against the rights guaranteed in our Constitution to all Americans.

The last time this kind of faux outrage was generated, the fearful reaction was swift and Shirley Sherrod lost her job and almost lost the reputation she built up over her lifetime.

ACORN was not as lucky as Sherrod, also the victims of the bigoted far right wing, because before the truth was finally established, Congress, and yes, including most Democrats, reacted swiftly and in the end, many decent people's lives and reputations were ruined and millions of poor, mostly minorities lost the advocacy they had come to rely on for over 40 years.

I could make a long list as time after time we, the 'left' end up reacting rather than taking control the moment it begins and the source is obvious.

Nancy Pelosi has wondered aloud 'who is funding' this latest supposed grass-roots movement. They didn't like her suggestion, which imho, means we should definitely do as she suggested, investigate.

Because if one of their non-profit groups is behind this political ploy, they should lose their non-profit status at the very least. I think Nancy is on the right track.

So, here we go again, with some even on the 'left' anxious to 'get this controversy behind us in an election year' suggesting we cave to the bullies, allow the lies they tell to go unchallenged and to deny the rights of U.S. citizens to be left in peace to conduct their business legally and under the protection of the Constitution.

A little information on the Imam and his sect eg, blows the whole Newt Gingrich/Sarah Palin 'terrorists in our midst' lie completely apart.

Here's a link that talks a little about just who is building this Mosque and Community Center and as you will see, if you didn't know already, these Muslims are as different from Al Qaeda as France is from the former Soviet Union. For one thing, the Imam is from the Sufi Sect but to the haters on the right, that means nothing, they are 'all the same'.

Sufis like the Feisal Abdul Rauf are reviled and targeted by al Qaeda. So why does Newt Gingrich pretend they're one and the same?

Speaker Newt Gingrich put his opposition to the project, which is two blocks away from the site where the World Trade Center once stood, in no uncertain terms this week: �The folks who want to build this mosque� are really radical Islamists,� he insisted on Fox News, before comparing Muslims -- presumably all of them -- to Nazis and the Axis-era Japanese.

Actually, Cordoba House, the proposed community center is spearheaded not by a �radical Islamist,� but by an Imam named Feisal Abdul Rauf, who previously worked as part of President George W. Bush�s Middle East peace team. Feisal is from the Sufi tradition of Islam -- a tradition deemed illegitimate by the thought police of al Qaeda, who adhere to the severe beliefs of the Wahhabi school. In fact, Sufis are frequent targets of al Qaeda and Taliban terrorists ....

The former Speaker of the House went on to assert, �Those folks don�t have any interest in reaching out to the community. They�re trying to make a case about supremacy.�

In a sane society, those statements by Gingrich would put him on the political trash heap, where I thought he was anyhow to be honest. They are, aside from being hateful, complete lies and probably actionable.

Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf worked for George Bush's Middle East Peace team! Because he himself, is in danger constantly from the extremists he is stupidly accused of being himself. He helped the FBI eg after 9/11 to understand the kind of extremism they were charged to deal with as opposed to those like himself, a longtime critic of extremism. He was highly respected then ...

More about this 'terrorist' Imam:

'Ground Zero Mosque' Imam Helped FBI With Counter-terrorism Efforts

Flash forward six-and-a-half years, and Feisal Abdul Rauf occupies a far different place in the political consciousness. The imam behind a controversial proposal to build an Islamic cultural center near those same FBI offices has been called "a radical Muslim," a "militant Islamist" and, simply, the "enemy" by conservative critics. His Cordoba House project, meanwhile, has been framed as a conduit for Hamas to funnel money to domestic terrorist operations.

For those who actually know or have worked with the imam, the descriptions are frighteningly -- indeed, depressingly -- unhinged from reality. The Feisal Abdul Rauf they know, spent the past decade fighting against the very same cultural divisiveness and religious-based paranoia that currently surrounds him.

It's not as though this information was hard to find. No, it was IGNORED because haters will not be deterred by facts and when GOOD PEOPLE remain silent, or worse, rush to appease the bullies, bad things happen, and keep happening.

So what are we going to do about it this time?

Cave once again, force the Imam to change his plans? Then what? If you thought this was only about that particular Mosque, you are wrong. They are targeting Mosques across the NYC and the entire country? At what point do we stand up to them?

I want to thank a few of those who already have taken a stand already:

President Obama for the eloquent words reminding people of our Constitutional Rights

Sen. Russ Feingold for being on the right side of this even though it is a political risk for you

Ted Oslen whose statement on not allowing one evil deed to cause us to become hateful was very moving

Mayor Bloomberg thank you for being a voice of reason on this.

And THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Al Franken: :applause: :applause:

Al Franken: Conservative Criticism To Mosque 'Disgraceful,' Gingrich Nazi Comparison 'Offensive'

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) said on Wednesday that conservative criticism of plans to develop a mosque and Islamic community center in close proximity to "Ground Zero" in New York City is "one of the most disgraceful things that I've heard."

"I don't know how many of you have been to New York, but if a building is two blocks away from anything, you can't see it," he said, according to the State Journal-Register.

�It�s a community center. They�re going to have a gym. They�re going to have point guards. Muslim point guards,� Franken said, to laughter and applause.

�They (Republicans) do this every two years. They try to find a wedge issue, and they try to work it.�

I am sad to see a few Democrats I respect get on the wrong side of this. I'm sorry but suggesting that this Imam move to another location even while recognizing his right not to do so, is the equivalent of saying to a Black Family (which we know has happened) 'look, you have the right to buy that house but it would be insensitive to all your white neighbors if you did'.

Do we really want to do that, again? Because of a few unhinged, insane radical haters?

To cower in fear so that they win again?

When we know what the right thing to do is?

I don't know about anyone else, but in my experience the best way to deal with bullies is to get in their face and never back down.

I hope those Democrats I respect, like Howard Dean eg, have learned a little more about this group as I still believe Howard did not have all the information when he made his statement, and will rethink his position on this.

Because being on the wrong side of a similar issue several decades ago haunted otherwise great Democrats like Sen. Byrd to his life-long regret, for the rest of his life and as he himself acknowledged, 'it will be part of my legacy' no matter how he tried to make up for it.

It's the right thing to do. Thanks Al! I knew we could count on you.