Obama backs mosque near ground zero

[Verily]

IIRC, didn't it just turn out that the Cordoba Initiative or whatever they call themselves don't actually own the land where they want to build the mosque?

Possible....I haven't really been following this, but that's an entirely different issue than what appears to be the "debate" in public.

They don't own any of it, but have a 99-year lease. They do, however, plan to buy the whole property. It was recently discovered that only half of the property was owned by Soho Properties, with whom they had contracted to purchase the land, with the other half being owned by NYC utilities giant ConEd. But ConEd has also now contracted to sale.

Anyway, obviously the correct position, but he'll be punished for it. I'm not sure why he chose to be vocal on this issue while staying silent on other "liberal" issues that are less unpopular or downright popular.

[Verily]

Lunar, c'mon, while it's not a federal issue, the President weighing in on an issue which everyone thinks is related to 9/11 is standard fare.

Everyone needs to calm down.  What he said was (translated into plain english)

1)  They have a right to build it, and

2)  It's a dumb f****ng idea.


If he omitted #1 everyone would be jumpin' ugly, saying he doesn't understand the fundamental principles of our nation and he added #2, which is what he really thinks.

I hate when Presidents "clarify" what they mean when they didn't say anything wrong to begin with.

Except it's not a "dumb ing idea". Aside from the people getting their panties in a twist on TV about it, all of whom are blatantly doing so only for political gain, no one would care if they weren't told that they should care. Certainly the "9/11 families" whom everyone claims to be defending don't care--if they did, you'd think FOX would have found an angry family member to blast across the TV screens by now.

No one getting angry about this has any emotional investment in the WTC, and claiming otherwise is pure bullsh**t.

[Verily]

The group he gave money was shut down by the feds and the people were jailed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Land_Foundation_for_Relief_and_Development

Isn't that worrisome in the least? I understand your point about it was common, hell I have family who gave money to the PLO a long time ago, that doesn't make it right however.

Yeah, the group looks bad. I wonder how much people who donated knew where the money was going--it's unclear from the link and my memory from when it happened was that they presented themselves to donors as helping people with food and medicine etc. Given that this guy donated to LaRouche, all bets are off as to whether he has any sense or restraint about his donations.

What doesn't worry me is using this guy's donating money to one group as significant with regard to his giving money to another, unless he was on a board of directors for the Islamic center, or unless he was actively involved in the HLF. But it's an effective headline for Fox to run with in the service of its greater cause, certainly.

Most people, especially rich individuals, know exactly where their money is going.

I think it's pretty clear that this isn't true, especially of rich people. After all, the money a wealthy person donates means very little to them. Often, they donate for no reason but to get a tax write-off; why should it matter much to them where that money is going? (Answer: It usually doesn't, although this depends on the person.)

He probably did intend the donation, though. Not that this matters; all sorts of nasty individuals donate to good causes, and it doesn't reflect on the cause.