Honor the Fallen.
Honor our American heroes.
And say a prayer.
Obama Backs Mosque Near Ground Zero, And So Do I
This is just about prejudice. And the right wing should be ashamed.
Thank you, Mr. President, for speaking out.
You deserve a second term, sir.
President Barack Obama on Friday forcefully endorsed allowing a mosque near ground zero, saying the country’s founding principles demanded no less.
"As a citizen, and as president, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country," Obama said, weighing in for the first time on a controversy that has riven New York City and the nation.
"That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances," he said. "This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable."
Obama made the comments at an annual dinner in the White House State Dining Room celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
The White House had not previously taken a stand on the mosque, which would be part of a $100 million Islamic center two blocks from where nearly 3,000 people perished when hijacked jetliners slammed into the World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001. Press secretary Robert Gibbs had insisted it was a local matter.
And if you’re American, you’ve gotta love this:
Obama elevated it to a presidential issue Friday without equivocation.
While insisting that the place where the twin towers once stood was indeed "hallowed ground," Obama said that the proper way to honor it was to apply American values.
"Our capacity to show not merely tolerance, but respect towards those who are different from us — and that way of life, that quintessentially American creed, stands in stark contrast to the nihilism of those who attacked us on that September morning, and who continue to plot against us today," he said.
Obama harkened back to earlier times when the building of synagogues or Catholic churches also met with opposition. "But time and again, the American people have demonstrated that we can work through these issues, and stay true to our core values and emerge stronger for it," he said. "So it must be and will be today."
God Bless America, no matter how you call God.
On Target: Turns Out Liberals Have Money
Target is in trouble, and would be wise to stay out of politics.
$150,000 is nothing to sneeze at.
Protesters have been rallying outside Target Corp. or its stores almost daily since the retailer angered gay rights supporters and progressives by giving money to help a conservative Republican gubernatorial candidate in Minnesota. Liberal groups are pushing to make an example of the company, hoping its woes will deter other businesses from putting their corporate funds into elections.
A national gay rights group is negotiating with Target officials, demanding that the firm balance the scale by making comparable donations to benefit candidates it favors. Meanwhile, the controversy is threatening to complicate Target’s business plans in other urban markets. Several city officials in San Francisco, one of the cities where Target hopes to expand, have begun criticizing the company.
"Target is receiving criticism and frustration from their customers because they are doing something wrong, and that should serve absolutely as an example for other companies," said Ilyse Hogue, director of political advocacy for the liberal group MoveOn.org, which is pressing Target to formally renounce involvement in election campaigns.
Conservatives are all in a huff and don’t want Target to back off.
As I said, Target needs to stay out of politics all together.
Media Matters Demands Advertisers Immediately Drop Dr. Laura
Press Release from Media Matters for America:
Media Matters for America President Eric Burns released the following statement in the wake of Dr. Laura Schlessinger’s racist outburst on the air:
“Dr. Laura’s offensive outburst provided listeners with a window into her true beliefs about race in America. By deliberately choosing to sponsor her program, Dr. Laura’s advertisers are not only funding her offensive radio show, but are implicitly endorsing its content. Companies must demonstrate that they won’t tolerate bigotry and immediately stop advertising on her show.”
Major companies who recently purchased ad time during Dr. Laura’s show include Pfizer, Chase Bank, Netflix, Motel 6, and Home Depot.
Yow. I have a Netflix account, and may just have to drop it.
Home Depot? Say it isn’t so.
Drop her now.
Dr. Laura Schlessinger Said Something This Week
And I could give a care.
This is all the mention she gets on Turning Left.
Florida Church To Mark 9/11 With Koran Burning
They have got to be kidding.
No, I guess they’re not.
So how are you going to spend this September 11? I have no plans yet myself, although I’m sure that at some point my thoughts will wander back to that ghastly day in 2001 when I climbed up to the roof of the building I was working at and watched the smoke billow into the sky and the two towers go crashing to the ground. Others will find solace in religious services and in mourning their losses in the company of friends and relatives.
But it doesn’t have to be this way: A church in Florida is planning a spectacular event with deep historical roots. Yes, the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville will be marking the ninth anniversary of the September 11 tragedy with a public Koran burning. The non-denominational DWOC, which is run by Rev. Terry Jones and whose membership figures are hard to come by, enjoys a reputation throughout Florida for its in-your-face demonstrations against pornography, homosexuality, and abortion. It announced its latest provocation in late July and has been publicizing the burning on Youtube (see video below) and through its own Facebook page. The purpose of the event, we are told, is “to bring to awareness to [sic] the dangers of Islam and that the Koran is leading people to hell. Eternal fire is the only destination the Koran can lead people to so we want to put the Koran in it’s [sic] place – the fire!”
[sic] indeed.
As-Salamu Alaykum, and Ramadan Mubarak to all our Muslim friends.
Newton Gingrich: Do As I Say, Ignore What I Do. Ex-Wife Speaks Out
We always knew Newton Gingrich was a piece of work, but, wow. What. A. Piece. Of. Work. he really is.
Here’s a must-read from his second wife, Marianne Gingrich, reported in Esquire:
"He believes that what he says in public and how he lives don’t have to be connected," she says. "If you believe that, then yeah, you can run for president."
Coward Shoots 5-Year-Old Angel in Chicago
This is horribly ugly.
A young girl was killed after being struck by a stray bullet in a Far South Side shooting that also left two other children injured Tuesday night, police said.
The three children were shot at 7:55 p.m. near Indiana Avenue and 107th Street, according to Calumet Area detectives.
The children were hit by stray bullets after two men on bicycles fired shots and fled, a police source said.
Police said a young girl was shot dead at the scene.
Fire officials said a 5-year-old girl was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn in very critical condition.
A 7-year-old was also shot and was taken to Roseland Community Hospital by her mother, Fire Media Affairs Chief Joe Roccalsalva said. She was listed in good condition. Police indicated the child may have suffered a graze wound.
Yolanda White, a neighborhood resident, said the shooting stemmed from an earlier confrontation near 108th Street and Indiana Avenue. That argument then escalated to a larger confrontation between people in the neighborhood, she said.
Gunfire broke out and everybody started running, White said.
The only thing we know for certain: the shooter was a coward.
Another Angel Shot and Killed in Chicago: 5-Year-Old Jonathan Jackson
This one is haunting.
The inseparable twin boys were all set to start school today. They even had their clothes laid out.
But on the eve of the start of school, while playing with what they thought was a toy gun Monday night, one of the 5-year-old twins was accidentally shot in the abdomen and killed, police and relatives said.
Sources said one of the twins may have accidentally shot his brother, although the shooting was still being probed.
Killed was Jonathan Jackson of the 700 block of South California in the Lawndale neighborhood, authorities said. He also suffered a graze wound to his hand, suggesting he didn’t pulled the trigger, a source said.
Jonathan and his twin brother had just taken a bath and were playing in their pajamas in their bedroom when the tragic accident happened, said their great uncle, Bruce Prince. The boys’ great-grandmother was in the kitchen, their grandmother was in bed and their mother was on the stoop.
“Everybody heard the gunshot,” Prince said. Then “there was chaos.”
The surviving brother “walked out of the bedroom and then John crawled out. He was in a lot of pain. They thought it was a toy gun.
Our thoughts and prayers are with the family, and especially with the young one lost, and the young one left behind.
Greenspan Turns Left: Calls for Repeal of All the Bush Tax Cuts
Former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan has officially moved to the left of President Obama on taxes. And that’s something, coming from a self-described lifelong Republican libertarian.
It was not enough, it seems, for Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman and a self-described lifelong Republican libertarian, to call for stringent government regulation of giant banks, as he did a few months ago.
Now Mr. Greenspan is wading into the most fierce economic policy debate in Washington — what to do with the tax cuts adopted, in large part because of his implicit backing, under President George W. Bush — with a position not only contrary to Republican orthodoxy, but decidedly to the left of President Obama.
Rather than keeping tax rates steady for all but the wealthiest Americans, as the White House wants, Mr. Greenspan is calling for the complete repeal of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, brushing aside the arguments of Republicans and even a few Democrats that doing so could threaten the already shaky economic recovery.
“I’m in favor of tax cuts, but not with borrowed money,” Mr. Greenspan, 84, said Friday in a telephone interview. “Our choices right now are not between good and better; they’re between bad and worse. The problem we now face is the most extraordinary financial crisis that I have ever seen or read about.”
Mr. Greenspan, who led the Fed for 18 years until he retired in 2006, warns that without drastic action to increase federal revenue and reduce the long-term growth in health care costs, bond investors could make a run on Treasury securities, driving up the nation’s borrowing costs and leading to another global economic crisis. This is not the first time Mr. Greenspan has urged fiscal restraint; he warned in 2008 that the country could not afford the tax cuts proposed by Senator John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate. But his sweeping call for rescinding the Bush tax cuts, which he has articulated in a recent appearance on “Meet the Press” and an interview with The Financial Times, among other settings, has rankled former colleagues.
I never understood Trickle-Down Economics. Cutting government revenue never results in economic growth. Instead, the richest of the rich buy bigger yachts, and the national debt increases, often exponentially. Republicans never had the discipline to cut spending. Democrats fund projects that offend the G.O.P. and libertarians, but also balance budgets, repairing damage done by the G.O.P.
I’m with Harry Truman and Bill Clinton: "If you want to live like a Republican, VOTE FOR DEMOCRATS."
Sometimes, it’s that simple.
Thanks, Alan.