NYC Mosque vs. Thomas Jefferson

Everybody agrees that our Freedom of Religion gives Muslims the right to build the NYC mosque. Everybody, that is, except Thomas Jefferson. This founding father knew that the time would come when someone would try to subvert and misuse our freedoms and here is his response to that:

A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high virtues of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger are of higher obligation.

This quote by Thomas Jefferson was used at the very end of a book by an Egyptian woman who immigrated to the US and converted to Christianity when she was 30. Until then she had been a Muslim in an Arab country, following the Sharia laws and living a life of fear and subjugation. The book, Cruel and Usual Punishment by Nonie Darwish is a fascinating insider’s look at the Islam religion, Sharia laws and how they came into being. But it was the author’s last chapter regarding America which I found to be both compelling and chilling.

You can almost hear the desperation in Ms. Darwish’s voice as she tries to convince the reader that Islam is not a religion of peace. For example, she states that there are 35,213 references in the Koran, Sharia laws and various Muslim scriptures basically advocating killing non-believers. Yes, the Old Testament is also rather bloodthirsty in places however the whole premise to Christianity is Jesus’ messages in the New Testament. He repudiated the Old Testament and taught that in the face of violence we should turn the other cheek and He gave us the Golden Rule. Islam, on the other hand, is the exact opposite. In the early parts of the Koran Mohammed was respectful of the “People of the Book” meaning Jews and Christians. As both Muslims and Jews were desert tribal people back then there was a natural affinity that is until Jewish tribes declined Mohammad’s “request” that they convert and join his tribe. Their refusal triggered a hatred of all Jews continuing to this day. From that point forward the Koran gets bloodier and bloodier in its suggested treatment of all infidels and apostates.

For Islam, this hatred of Jews has remained unchanged in the past 1400+ years. One example in Darwish’s book is that in 2005 the British House of Commons passed a bill aimed at curbing religious hatred. A delegation of prominent Muslims applied to have Islam exempt from the bill since followers of Mohammed must humiliate, hate, distrust, deceive and kill Christians and Jews. They therefore knew that readings from the Koran would be hate crimes under the new law as hatred of non-believers continues to be a central doctrine of Islamic scriptures. The scary part is that anti-Semitism is facing resurgence particularly in Europe which has experienced a large influx of conservative Muslims.

Ms. Darwish brought up an interesting and very relevant point about her former religion. In the US we strongly believe in separation of Church and State. Muslims, however, have intertwined Islam with the Sharia laws. You can’t have one without the other. The author then stated that historically, once Muslims start building mosques in a country they will next begin to push for acceptance of Sharia laws. This is already happening here and in Europe. We have all started to hear of stories ranging from taxi drivers refusing passengers carrying alcohol to Muslim women wanting to take their drivers license picture in full regalia with only their eyes showing.

But why are we letting them get away with it in the first place? Either it is a religion (Islam) or it is a political party with their own set of laws (Sharia). Darwish wondered what would have happened if Lenin had said that Communism was a new religion and began building Communist temples in the US under our Freedom of Religion. What is the difference? We must enforce separation of Church and State allowing Islam without Sharia. Muslims in America must obey our laws and recognize that this is a country where women are treated equally, daughters aren’t killed if they “dishonor” their fathers and we settle disputes in courts not with violence. And just as we forced Mormons to change their religion to fit in with out monogamous society so must we deal with any illegalities found in Islam/Sharia.

As the NYC mosque situation was hitting the headlines I was reading this book which made it that much more chilling. At the end of her book, Ms. Darwish, who lived her first 30 years in a conservative Arab country asks “the West to send a strong and firm message to Muslims everywhere. Muslims need to hear that the human right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness is above the right of any religion that wants to take it away. Muslims need to hear the word ‘No’”.

Although Ms. Darwish ends her compelling book with Jefferson’s quote, on the next to last page is another timely quote:

Great nations rise and fall. The people go from bondage to spiritual truth, to great courage, from courage to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness, from selfishness to complacency, from complacency to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence back again to bondage. – Author Unknown.

So which stage are we at and can we learn to just say 'No'?

Babies, Debt and Erasing History

Times are not good. We are in the middle of a recession or maybe it’s a depression or a double-dip but a rose by any other name… People are hurting. Jobs are scarce. Businesses are closing since no one has any income to buy things. In fact there were two recent statistics that caught my eye. People are not having children and they have stopped running up their credit card debt. For once it seems as if the public is actually being responsible. Times really must be tough!

There was an Associated Press release out today that stated we had the lowest birth rate in 100 years with a current birthrate of 13.7 births for every 1000 people. (Although my family is doing their best to bring the number up and yes that is a picture of the newest addition David James Roberts.) Now I am simply quoting an AP report but it seems to me that it would make more sense to state the number of births for every woman or better yet every woman in the child-bearing age range rather than per person. It strikes me as being more than a bit silly to include men and children or even women pasta certain age. But as this is how it was shown then this is what I am stuck with – 13.7 births per 1000 people. In comparison, in 1932 the birthrate dipped below 20 births per 1000 people (another AP phrase so I don’t know the exact number). The lower birthrate today is not surprising considering there was no pill back then. The AP report mentioned another reason for our lower birthrate – fewer births by immigrants. Actually what they were saying is that our bad economy has deterred foreigners from moving here. I suppose that could be the silver lining in a very stormy cloud!

According to CNNMoney, the amount of credit card debt consumers are carrying dropped to an eight-year low and delinquencies continued to decline in the second quarter as consumers look to shore up their savings. The report goes on to state that credit card debt fell 4.1% to an average $4,591 during the quarter. This is the fifth straight quarterly decline and the first time since 2002 that credit card debt has dropped below $5,000. This is pretty amazing news. You would think that the high unemployment might lead people to depend more on their credit cards but apparently not. You can’t help but feel a bit optimistic about people and the future. In fact the politicians should take note that we understand we have to tighten our belts, deny buying and maxing out our credit cards and even hold off on making major life changes. Too bad Obama, Pelosi and Reid don’t understand this. No wonder people are mad – we are doing the responsible thing yet watch helplessly as our Congress continue to spend, increase our debt and make major life changes. Then again, a message may be coming their way in November.

In the midst of our deepening recession, there is one statistic that has not hit the news. Don’t you just know that if a Republican was in office that we would be inundated with reports about the increase in homeless families, overflowing shelters and touching stories about ex-servicemen living on the streets. But I haven’t seen a word about it – have you? Not even when temps were hitting record highs making living on the streets life threatening. I really had to search before I found even one recent story by a mainstream media outlet, in this instance CNN Money which stated that the great recession drove more families into homeless shelters in 2009. The report went on to say that 170,000 families needed shelter last year, up from 159,000 in 2008. I somehow must have missed all the coverage this summer by mainstream media about this growing problem.

Speaking of missing things, I had a strange experience that I just have to mention. For another story I wanted to go back and take another look at all the pictures from Michelle’s trip to Spain. Specifically I wanted to review the pictures of her surrounded by all the security men while she was shopping. When I first wrote that story there was a large selection including a picture showing a very bored First Daughter which I thought I might now use for another story. There was just one problem – all the pictures are now missing. I googled Michelle Obama Spain shopping and not a single picture remains. Oh sure, there are a few showing the First Lady with the King of Spain and even one of her getting off a plane but not one of her shopping. Now I am not going crazy as I know they had been posted during her trip since I used this one in my blog. But now? They are all gone, including the one I used. I’ve heard of revisionism history but this is a bit scary. I thought the internet was a place of freedom and yet somehow somebody, the Obama administration I assume, has managed to delete or hide or misplace these photos. Call me naïve but I didn’t know this was possible. I guess it is.

I couldn’t help but wonder if the Obama administration is truly rewriting history. So I tested out one more image – to find a picture of President Obama with Jeremiah Wright. There was one – that’s it. A lot of picture of just Wright but when I googled Jeremiah Wright and Obama only one picture remains and all other pictures from their friendship, going to his church and having Wright as his spiritual advisor are gone. Sort of like trying to find a picture of Obama with a cigarette even though he continues to smoke or even trying to find many snapshots of Obama on the golf course. Come to think of it, yes, there are a few pictures showing Obama golfing but I have rarely seen pictures of his golfing partner. Who are they and better yet, why is it that much of a secret? This secrecy is very scary. And these were just a few minor issues but I wonder what else is being kept out of the news or disappearing from the web. Why isn't there more of an outcry about this and where are the determined journalists and photographers who have the courage to take these pictures… and keep them on the web for history’s sake.

Another Strange Florida Election

Florida elections, oh my. There is just something about Florida elections that end up resonating across the whole nation. Our primaries Tuesday were no exemption as we had a billionaire, a multi-millionaire, career politicians, a Tea Party hero, at least one honest to goodness crook, multi millions spent on nasty ads with some sleazy politics thrown in, too. What fun!

In the Senate race, only Democrats had a choice between former state trooper Kendrick Meeks and billionaire Jeff Green. No matter how much money Green poured into his campaign voters simply couldn’t get past his sleaze factor. Green had made his money by betting against our housing market and while people were losing houses he was raking in the money. In this race, the nice guy did finish first and by a wide margin winning 57% to Green’s 31%.

This Senate race is now set between Meeks (D), Rubio (R) and Florida Governor Crist who dropped out of the Republican primary to run as an Independent when he realized that lose, and badly to state senator Marco Rubio. This relative newcomer was a Tea Party candidate before there was a Tea Party. It doesn’t hurt that Rubio is a good looking, charming, second generation Cuban-American who is living the America dream and has become the poster boy for the Tea Party.

No one was surprised when Crist declared himself as an Independent. His leftish tendencies were starting to show what with his much publicized hug with Obama and what killed his chances as a Republican was his acceptance of Obama’s stimulus money while other Republican Governors were refusing it. Although pleased that Crist dropped out of the Republican primary, many Republicans were concerned that the Republican vote would be split between Crist and Rubio which would open up the way for Meek to win. I now believe the opposite will happen.

This summer the new power couple seemed to be Obama and Crist as the news constantly showed the two of them side by side and deep in conversation as they strolled down Florida beaches after the BP oil spill. Not only had Obama sent a couple of top aides to assist Crist but the Governor showed a complete lack of respect for his former party when he refused to return campaign money.. These former supporters are enraged that their money, donated initially to a Republican candidate, is now being used by that candidate to further far left issues.

Based on all of this, I think that instead of splitting the Republican voters with Rubio, Crist’s leftward turn means that he and Meek’s will now split the Democrat vote while Rubio garners all the Republican voters and becomes our next Senator.

And why should non Floridians care? Because if I am wrong and Crist does win he will join the Democrat party and be one more Senate vote for Obama. But the race for Governor is even more important nationally particularly with the upcoming 2012 presidential race. Just think of the importance of Florida in the 2004 and 2000 presidential elections. The new Governor of Florida could once again be a pivotal player in 2012.

In the gubernatorial race, Florida Republicans did have a clear choice between two very different men – career politician Bill McCollum and multi-millionaire Rob Scott. McCollum was backed by all the big name Republican politicians while Scott admitted to criminal charges and yet against everyone’s predictions Rob Scott won the Republican primary. How did this happen?

Bill McCollum, who has been around for decades, is from my District in Florida so I remember him as far back as when he was a Congressman helping to impeach Clinton. I never really liked the man although for less than lofty reasons – he just looks like such a dork. For years now I have tried to recall who McCollum reminds me of and I finally came up with it. For those of you over 50 you might remember the old TV show My Three Sons in which the youngest son, Ernie, is a rather geeky looking kid with a chipmunk cheeks, large thick glasses and a goofy smile. (And how I can pull that name out after all these years but can’t remember the important things my teachers tried to teach me is beyond me!)

Anyway, not only does McCollum look geeky but he always seemed so earnest, prim and rather humorless. To be fair to him, I think he has been a very patient man, doing whatever the party wanted him to do, including his current stint as Florida’s Attorney General. By all accounts McCollum should have won the Republican primary for Governor. And he would be celebrating his primary win if it hadn’t been for Rick Scott entering the fray.

If you live in Florida, you would know that Rick Scott made his millions in the healthcare industry. Not only was he the CEO of the largest network of hospitals but he also has the dubious distinction of having quit just before the healthcare chain was fined $1.7BILLION in Medicare fraud case. No doubt about it, this man was crooked and all he can say is he’s learned and moved on. So it was the kind of election where you held your nose and voted for either a professional politician or a crook.

To everyone’s surprise, the crook won. Why? Yes it was partly due to Scott’s vast pocket having poured nearly $40 million into his campaign. But it was the content of the ads that swayed voters when Rick Scott hopped on the Tea Party bandwagon and rode it straight across the finishing line. As soon as a new Tea Party issue surfaced, Scott would have an appropriate ad espousing the far right views and criticizing McCollum be it the Arizona immigration law or the NYC mosque issue.

National pundits have been saying for a while that people are angry at the Obama administration and even career politicians on both sides. They have been predicting a tidal wave of change as voters throw out the old and vote in conservative politicians. Yet I have worried that perhaps analysts have overstated this or that Republicans might get too cocky and sure about themselves and might ultimately lose in November. After Florida’s primary I no longer am the least bit worried. If voters are willing to vote in a known crook then their anger at the current group of politicians can’t be overstated. In fact instead of a projected tidal wave electing Republicans in November it will be more like a tsunami obliterating everything in its path and revealing a brand new landscape when it is finished.

Greg's Idea of a Gay Bar for Muslims

Like many Americans, I am disgusted that plans continue to go forward to build a mosque next to Ground Zero. However, this week, I heard the funniest and cleverest retort to the proposed muslim mosque. Instead of giving you bits and pieces I am going to let you read the entire article by Greg Gutfeld from his blog The Daily Gut. Enjoy!

MONDAY'S GREGALOGUE: MY NEW GAY BAR
So, the Muslim investors championing the construction of the new mosque near Ground Zero claim it's all about strengthening the relationship between the Muslim and non-Muslim world.

As an American, I believe they have every right to build the mosque - after all, if they buy the land and they follow the law - who can stop them? Which is, why, in the spirit of outreach, I've decided to do the same thing.

I'm announcing tonight, that I am planning to build and open the first gay bar that caters not only to the west, but also Islamic gay men. To best express my sincere desire for dialogue, the bar will be situated next to the mosque Park51, in an available commercial space.

This is not a joke. I've already spoken to a number of investors, who have pledged their support in this bipartisan bid for understanding and tolerance.

As you know, the Muslim faith doesn't look kindly upon homosexuality, which is why I'm building this bar. It is an effort to break down barriers and reduce deadly homophobia in the Islamic world.

The goal, however, is not simply to open a typical gay bar, but one friendly to men of Islamic faith. An entire floor, for example, will feature non-alcoholic drinks, since booze is forbidden by the faith. (In a later follow up Greg added that this non-alcoholic section will offer 42 virgin drinks.) The bar will be open all day and night, to accommodate men who would rather keep their sexuality under wraps - but still want to dance.

Bottom line: I hope that the mosque owners will be as open to the bar, as I am to the new mosque. After all, the belief driving them to open up their center near Ground Zero, is no different than mine.

My place, however, will have better music.

For investment information, contact me at dailygut.com

Don't you just love it? And since Monday he has received some legitimate property offers and a lot of media attention from both the left and the right. For updates see his website at http://www.dailygut.com/.

I learned about this when I saw him interviewed on one of Fox's talk shows. Perhaps the best part was in the discussion of what to name this gay muslim bar. Since most names suggested aren't printable then use your own imagination to think of a name.

Since Monday, Greg actually went so far as to twitter the Cordoba House, the muslim group behind the mosque and they twittered back a reply "You're free to open whatever you like. If you won't consider the sensibilities of Muslims, you're not going to build dialog." Huh. Maybe they should stop to consider the sensibilities of Americans. And if they won't then perhaps I'll see about renting office space next to the gay muslim bar to house offices for a new muslim version of the Working Women magazine geared to professional Islamic career women. :-}

Not Exactly Your Average Summer Vacation...

The First Lady and youngest first daughter, Sasha, are currently visiting Spain. At first it sounded as if it would be a nice mother-daughter trip. In my mind I imagined the twosome visiting old historical places and turning the vacation into a semi-educational trip. Why not? It’s a perk that goes with being the wife and daughter of the President of the USA and it wouldn’t be the first time a First Lady took a child overseas. I recall images of Hillary and Chelsea or the Carters and daughter Amy taking trips around the world visiting orphanages and hospitals. And it doesn’t hurt our image for the world to get a glimpse of the First Daughter doing good deeds. At least this is what I thought until I read an article on the NYDAilyNews.com all of which I confirmed via other sources.

It turns out that the mainstream media swallowed the line fed to them by the White House that this visit was "a private, mother-daughter trip with longtime family friends". First this “trip” is only for four days. That’s not a trip but a long weekend. Plus what few reporters have dared to mention is that this “private” mother-daughter trip includes not a handful but 40 of Michelle’s closest friends. Who has 40 close friends? And I’m sure Sasha will get a lot of private time with her Mom with all these people around. Yeh right.

This entourage along with approximately 70 Secret Service agents flew first class in Air Force 2. When they landed in Spain there were an additional 250 Spanish personnel waiting for them, which means that roughly 360 people accompanied this private mother-daughter trip. A picture of them shopping shows the First Lady and Sasha surrounded by the massive security detail. (And, again I wonder, must Mrs. Obama always bare her shoulders? Doesn’t this woman own any shirts or dresses that have sleeves?)

While in Spain they will be on the very chic Costa del Sol on the coast of southern Spain. There they will stay at Hotel Villa Padierna a 5-star hotel nestled in the hills above the resort town. Their luxurious hotel has been described as “posh”, "trendy" and “a millionaire’s playground” overlooking the coast. Oh great, just what a nine year old needs. Yet the First Lady and her 40 closest friends reserved 60 rooms at this elegant resort, more than a third of the 160 rooms available. The price? Room rates are as high as $2,500 for a room per night to $6,500 per night for a villa which includes 24-hour butler service, and private pool and garden. Gee, I wonder which type of room Michelle will have….

I’m sorry but this just doesn’t seem right. Not when the rest of the country is suffering with no end in site. Even more importantly is that this lavish spending is not a one-time incident. Remember their $70,000+ date night? And on their recent vacation in Maine they had the gall to fly their dog up in his own plane! They justified this by saying Bo was accompanied with other staffers but still why even bother with the dog at all? This might be acceptable if they were going to be in Maine for a few weeks but all my research points to their being in Maine for a weekend! I keep hoping I have this wrong for who would fly a friggin’ dog in another plane to join the family for what, just 3 days? Surely the First Kids could go without their dog for a few days and I bet they could find someone in the White House to walk Bo while they were gone. But sadly, for our country, this is a true story.

What makes all of this so disgusting is that the Obama’s try to portray themselves as an average couple. In a recent ABC interview Obama said that they are “not that far removed from what most Americans are going through." He also said "it was just a few years ago that we had high credit card balances, we had two kids, thinking about college. We had our own retirement accounts, wondering if we were going to be able to get enough assets in there." Oh right, just your run of the mill couple struggling to make ends meet in this deepening recession.

Our country may be drowning in debt, the economy is not bouncing back and unemployment is still high, but I'm sure everyone feels better knowing that our leader has been relaxing with his rounds of golf. In fact what reporters have managed to keep quiet is the fact that Obama has played 41 rounds of golf in the past 18 months for a total of about 200 man-hours. That’s the equivalent of twenty five eight-hour work days, or five work weeks spent hitting a little white ball which is reminiscent of Nero fiddling while Rome burned! For comparison, Bush2 played just 24 rounds of golf in his 8 years and he was seen as being a lazy, elitist, frat boy. So what does this make Obama? And did you know that Bush2 stopped playing golf entirely in October 2003 out of respect for the soldiers fighting and dying in Iraq? On the other hand in the nine weeks from April 2, 2010 – May 22 Obama played eight rounds of golf. Even after 11 people were killed in the greatest environmental disaster to hit the US, our current president managed to get in a round of golf every weekend but one. Comforting, isn’t it?

Speaking of the environmental disaster, why couldn’t Michelle and Sasha, along with their 40 best friends have picked a resort on our Gulf Coast? The Gulf is nearly clean of oil now, a fact which I think is a real miracle and a sign that the earth is a lot tougher and more resilient than environmentalists would have us believe. Anyway, the Gulf may be nearly back to normal but our tourist trade is hurting badly and sure could have used the boost a 4-day vacation by the First Lady. Hell, they could even have flown the damn dog down, too.


So while the rest of us worry and suffer as our country falls apart, our country's leader repeatedly relaxes on a Country Club’s lush golf course while his wife and her 40 closest friends spend the taxpayers money in a posh resort in Spain. Not surprising that some conservative media, after learning of the First Lady’s recent trip, are beginning to call Michelle the “material girl” or worse – a "modern Marie Antoinette". Oh well, on the bright side, thanks to Michelle’s anti-obesity campaign at least we don’t have to worry about the First Couple lecturing us to ”let them eat cake”.