• Ochotexto

    It seems today religion divides people more than anything else. Like JS said., go home and pray. I don’t care if someone goes home and worships a Billy goat., just don’t impose it upon me.
    If someone wants to build a mosque that’s one thing., if there are proven to be known Al Qaeda in there., thats another., burn the mofo to the ground.

    • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

      We have a bingo.

  • saneman

    I dont care for that article. I read bits and pieces of it. It had a couple of decent points mixed in with a lot of tangential stuff. Here are my rebuttals. YEs, Islam has some really intolerant aspects to it. I am not going to pander to muslims and say they have a beautiful religion. I don’t think it is. And it is certainly a religion that hasn’t evolved with the times. Then again, I am an agnostic. And I see nothing wrong in proiving to the world over and over that we have better individual rights than they have.

    The mosque is being built on PRIVATE property that has been zoned in a city which does not exactly have that many muslims in administration. Hell, the mayor is Jewish. . Right wing Republicans seem to like to choose when government should interfere in private business. Taxation is not the only individual liberty related issue. Why didn’t a christian group buy that property before?

    Here is an easy thing. Have a pork ribs place as close to the mosque as possible. If they protest, just ask them to shut up and deal with liberty. THat wiill be more of an effective deterrant rather than the slippery slope we are dealing with. I don’t mind if they investigate the leaders of the mosque and revoke their immigration if they show a trend of of anti-American activity. But I do not agree with the talking points

    I personally think islamic terrorism is a huge threat to the world, but at the same time, we are not going to win any war on terrors with this kind of trivial crap. BTW, I just took a flight last night. DOn’t get me started on loss of liberty I feel when I travel. Some of those TSA regulations are retarded and ineffective.

  • Mary hallow

    Fox pisses people off because you get people like Beck making connections to Obama and Chinese and how it’s obamas plan to let the Chinese take us over. And right wing nuts believe him. They are the same people that believe Star magazine.

    • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

      Too bad they don’t have credibility like Dan Rather and the NY Times.

  • Mary hallow

    Proof of other networks giving money to dems like fox did with reps. You are the king of making comments without facts.

    • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

      GE contributed lots of money to Obama. Murdoch also gave money o Hillary Clinton in 2008. Much ado about nothing.

  • Louis

    The devil is in the details. Who is going to construct this mosque? It’s in NYC and the heart of union territory. Are the unions going to go for building this at near a site where so many died? This will be an interesting subplot to the story.

  • Gabby Sanchez

    Last week I saw you had a blog about how the gulf oil disaster wasn’t really as bad a disaster as what people thought originally and that you knew it all along. Just wanted to pass this along:

    http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,5921433,00.html?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf

    • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

      Dueling analyses. Who could have imagined that?

  • Mary hallow

    So if a group of white people killed blacks because they hated them, would we say the same things that we are saying here? Would we complain if white people wanted to build near the black people’s families? No. Racial hatred has been in this country forever and still continues but we would never question those groups as to why a black would move in a white area or vice versa. The only difference is that 9/11 was national and this issue is in NYC. If this was shanksville, no one would bring it up.

    • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

      You lost me on that one. Sorry.

  • Mary hallow

    Big difference between vandalizing and building a building. Very poor analogy.

    • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

      The analogy was Arlington VS Ground Zero and whether it would be a LOCAL issue. I wasn’t comparing the actions. I was comparing the reaction.

  • Mason

    Please – can everyone stop talking about a Constitutional Right – absolutely NO ONE is arguing that they don’t. If you don’t think they are trying to show domination by placing the mosque at near to Ground Zero as possible – why will they not take up the offer of free land to move elsewhere?

    Where did all of you pro-mosque’ers stand when the NRA wanted to put a themed restaurant in Times Square?

    http://edition.cnn.com/2000/US/05/18/nra.restaurant/

    • Richard

      Obama should convert to Catholicism and piss everyone off. It’d piss off the church, piss off conservative Catholics like Bill Donahue, piss off the evangelicals who hate Catholics. It’d piss off liberals. It’d be perfect.

      • Tim

        Obama could piss off Bill Donahue simply by wearing a condom.

        Bush pissed him off by sending out “holiday” cards instead of “christmas” cards.

        http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4512156.stm

        • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

          Holiday cards piss me off.

  • Mary hallow

    Actually it takes guts to go against people. And it’s not his job to give an opinion. It’s his job to follow the constitution. End of story. There are bigger issues to deal with so move on.

    • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

      There is no bigger issue than national security and, while the mosque may not directly effect our national security, Muslims do, unfortunately. Presidents are supposed to lead. That means leading by WORD and deed.

      • Frank

        “I was not commenting and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there. I was commenting very specifically on the right people have that dates back to our founding. That’s what our country is about. And I think it’s very important as difficult as some of these issues are that we stay focused on who we are as a people and what our values are all about.” – Barrack H. Obama AKA The Chosen One AKA Our Savior

        So when the chips are down, he is less a President than a lawyer, carefully choosing his words in order to straddle fences. Shocking. Barry could have done something great. Yeah, I already get that Muslims have the same rights as we do, I get it.

        Building the mosque isn’t illegal, but it is in horrible taste. If he would have said that to the mosque supporters, he would have at least garnered a little bit of respect in my book.

        Sadly, he couldn’t do it because he’s scared. He fears the idea of being tagged as one of those Islamaphobes. Coming off as insensitive is the deciding factor in our “leaders” decision making. That frightens the hell out of me.

        During his support for the mosque, he should have spoken out against Sharia Law and terror groups. If he really wanted to pretend like he gave a damn about Americans, he would have asked the mosque developers to reconsider their choice of location out of consideration to those who lost family members on 9/11.

        Unfortunately, that would have required having a pair.

        • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

          The people who think Obama was right to stay out of it are the same people who winced when Reagan had the bad manners to call the USSR an evil empire.

      • Gabby Sanchez

        But this isn’t a national security issue. If they were building a house for terrorists, then I’d agree with you. This is an issue over how people “feel” and that’s it. While I am sympathetic to 9/11 victims, you can’t group every single Muslim together. That’s discrimination. And the President has more important things to do than to talk about this. This is a local issue, not national.

        • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

          What’s taught in my grandkids’ school is a local issue–or should be. The country’s feelings about 9/11 and the possibility that the people responsible for killing 3,000 of us are rubbing our noses in it is a national issue. Sorry. If terrorists were to vandalize Arlington National Cemetery, would that be a D.C. issue?

      • youroldproducer

        stags… my sister writes for a nat’l newspaper and has been to the middle east a lot… yes, she leans a little left, but had a great point… seeing the situation up close, she was amazed that muslims and their enemies are still killing each other over things that happened hundreds, even thousands of years ago… do you realize that we had a CIVIL WAR barely 150 years ago??? and yet that terrible hatred has been reduced to jokes about the yanks and johnny rebs… right wing or left wing, we have the ability to remember and yet put the hate behind us… not sure what that sez about the rest of the world… let ’em build the mosque… it doesn’t mean we don’t forget, it just means we have other things to do than hate… now, if we could just find an alternative to oil, we could leave them to rot…

        • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

          I’m all for letting them kill each other. That would be fine.

      • victor surma

        The spreading stain of radical Islam is creeping into our daily lives & under our doors like a noxious odor. 20 years ago we didn’t even know what a Muslim was & now thats all we talk about. The fact that 65% of our country is at odds with our president is a victory for them. Yes, they want to kill us & destroy our way of life & you know what, they can win. They can win because they don’t fear death–they welcome it. If our next President is not a strong leader & not like this bowing, fawning wimp Obama, we are in Big trouble.

        • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

          Bingo.

      • howard

        Not sure I get how he’s not doing that because you disagree with the direction he wants to lead us. There is a difference in what he’s doing and what you are saying, and you know that.

        • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

          He should grow a pair and take a stand. He wasn’t shy about doing that with the cop and the professor. Of course he screwed that up, too and pulled two hamstrings trying to backpedal.

  • David Stuart

    I turned on Fox News tonight to hear about this mosque and Glenn Beck was going on and on with one of his insane conspiracy theories. Fox can’t let this die down and then I found this:

    http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/08/17/fox-news-takes-heat-for-news-corporations-gop-donation/

    Very fair and balanced indeed, huh?

    • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

      You don’t think NBC, ABC and CBs are in bed with Obama? Come on.

      • Tim

        Seriously does anyone under 50 watch the network national news anymore?

        • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

          No.

          • Gabby Sanchez

            From a study:
            “A CNN review of financial contributions made by media corporations showed that the parent companies of CNN, ABC, CBS and NBC have all made at least six-figure contributions to political parties and candidates. But none of them have given one organization so much money relative to its equivalent association on the other side of the aisle.” Guess I have to find the facts for you.

          • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

            So, what’s your point?

      • Gabby Sanchez

        I just read that and you are changing the subject John. The article referred to Fox. Find me some proof on what you said above. If you don’t have proof, then don’t make a comment like that.

        • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

          Proof of what, liberal bias in the media? You’re kidding, right?

      • Blasto

        To compare NBC, ABC and CBS’s supposed and alleged “support” of Obama to the outright overt Republican lap dog/ propoganda arm of the GOPe party that Fox news serves as is a joke…an absolute joke. Beck, Hannity, O’reilly..please tell me the comparables on the major networks.

        • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

          Chris Matthews, Keith Olberman, George Stephanopolus, for starters. O’Reilly and Hannity are commentators. They’re conservative. No more conservative than Olberman and Matthews are liberal. Fox’s reporters are no more conservstive than the other reporters are liberal.

          • Blasto

            Man…are you drinking the Kool-aid. For starters, none of those that you mentioned have a nightly prime-time show on any of the major networks that you cited. The 3 amigos are on every night with the daily dose of Fox fear for the masses. You compared ABC, NBC and CBS to FOX..that is a terrible comparison. Now, if you want to say MSNBC compares to FOX then you’re at least in the ballpark…although the MSNBC morning show is hosted by a republican congressman of the past. You won’t find a Dem hosting anything on FOX.

          • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

            You’re calling O’Reilly and Hannity news, I’m not. Nobody would suggest that they don’t lean right. Same with Beck. The Fox Report at 6:00 is as fair as any other network newscast and not even close to being as biased as Dan Rather’s CBS Evening News was. 60 Minutes has always leaned left. So has just about everything that’s ever been on NPR. Meet The Press was hosted by a former aid to a Democratic Senator and ABC’s This Week was hosted by one of Bill Clinton’s top advisors. He now hosts Good Morning America–which is passed off as news and entertainment. Walter Cronkite was as liberal as they come. So is Katie Couric. So is Brian Williams and so are Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer. Again, Fox has liberals foaming at the mouth because it dares NOT TO BE LIBERAL.

      • Rob M

        But you always say Fox is fair and balanced and they report and let you decide. Just admit they skewer their reporting to the right, and the other networks skewer theirs to the left.

        • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

          When did I not admit that. The reason liberals hate and fear Fox so much is because it had the nerve not to be liberal like every other major news outlet. Fox is no more “skewered” to the right than the other networks are to the left.

          • Blasto

            I don’t hate or fear FOX..but I see it for what it is. The communication arm of the GOP.

          • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

            That’s you’re right, but it’s no more the communicstion arm of the GOP than CNN, MSNBC, CBS, ABC, NPR, The New York Times and the Washington Post are the co0mmunication arms of the Democratic party. (And have been for years.)

  • http://justwatchthegame.com Mario4Prez

    C’mon guys. Mormon bashing= not cool. They may seem a little, er, off, but they’re exercising their God-given right to worship as they please.

    • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

      I don’t dispute their right and I have a right to be turned off by it. Shut up and pray.

      • VinceL

        You don’t dispute their right then you want them to shut up?If their ad turns you off,turn the channel.

  • John

    The link is one of the more ridiculous things I’ve seen on here Steigy, and that is saying something.

    Are we really to the point where it is sufficient to say that what we’re doing is OK because it is better than what is done in Saudi freaking Arabia? Don’t we hold ourselves to a higher standard and steadfastly stand by our ideals and principles, of which the freedom of religion is one of the bedrock ones?

    I don’t like the idea of the mosque being built where it is planned any more than the next American. That said, on what grounds should it not be allowed? It is private land. Thanks to the first amendment, mosques haven’t been outlawed. Why would, or how could, we stop them? Contrary to popular belief, we are ruled by law and not popular opinion or strict majority rule.

    The rule of law is what made us great, and two of those laws are that every citizen can freely practice their own religion and that every citizen deserves equal protection under the laws. If the government, (local, state, or national) tries to stop this mosque from being built, it violates both of those laws, and devalues what makes this country better than Saudi Arabia or any other country that hack from the National Review would like to compare us to.

    • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

      Once again, nobody is denying their right to build what they want on their property or to be insensitive or provocative. People are PROTESTING their decision. I’m pretty sure that’s covered by the First amendment. I think McCarthy does a pretty good job of shooting down the “This is our chance to show that we’re better than Saudi Arabia” argument.

  • Anthony

    It’s important to differentiate between Muslims and the fundamentalists. The fundamentalists that bomb places make up 1% of actual Muslims, and there’s no reason they should ruin it for the whole sect.

    Remember, Christians and Jews have done plenty of crap and killing over history as well. That doesn’t mean all Christians or all Jews are evil.

    That’s why tolerance is important. Al Queada represent a small fraction of bad apples within a religion. And they cant be allowed to ruin it for everybody else.

    • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

      All of those people dancing in the streets on 9/11—was that the entire 1%? If so, they do a great job of getting out the crowd. How about all those people who were shooting at us un Iraq and watching as our soldiers were strung up an burned? Part of the 1%? Come on.

      • Anthony

        There’s about 1.57 billion Muslims in the world John. Are you saying that all of them are evil?

        Have you met any?

        • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

          Not all. Way too many.

          • Anthony

            Then why shouldn’t those who practice and act correctly be allowed to build a mosque wherever they please?

          • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

            Who says they can’t?

    • Niblick

      Tolerance is not important. It makes you weak. Action is needed. It doesn’t matter that maybe some of the Muslims out there aren’t terrorists. What does matter is that most if not all of the terrorists are Muslims. If the so called “good” Muslims won’t stand up to the so called “bad” Muslims, then someone else needs to. If that is the U.S. then so be it. Someone has to put a stop to this ridiculous religious cult. Actually someone needs to put a stop to all religions. They have been the basis of wars and conflicts for thousands of years.

  • mike wenger

    John, you constantly cry and moan about too much government. So, why do you feel that the President of the United States should be involved with this decision? Deciding what private property, several blocks away from the World Trade Center should or should not be used for is not really the President’s call. If you think it is, then I want to know why the President allowed that God awful looking cement block that is The Rivers Casino to be built on the Northshore. That thing is an eyesore.

    • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

      I don’t think he should be involved in the decision. I also don’t think he should be involved in Lebron James decision on where he’s going to play basketball, but he didn’t have a problem expressing an opinion on that. For him not to have an opinion shows a lack of leadership. I don’t think he should use the force of government to affect the outcome, but, if he thinks it’s a bad idea, he owes it to the 65% of the public who agree with him to say so. He obviously doesn’t think it’s a bad idea and doesn’t have the guts to say so.

  • Ochotexto

    Speaking of religious crackpots ., anyone else creeped out by these rash of Mormon ads.? It’s like they’re almost trying to convince us they’re real people not in a cult. We skateboard, we ride motorcycles, we surf., as if they’re androids who don’t eat and shit. They leave out the parts about having seven wives., interbreeds., and worshipping a living human. They need to go out ., drink some bourbon., smoke a cigar, and say the F word once in a while., then they’re human. Now they’re still a cult. Jeezuz crimenies of ladder day saints., the worlds gone mad I tell you. And when it ends it will be due to religion.
    I’m Ochotexto., and I am not a Mormon !

    • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

      My hearing’s not so good. I thought they were saying “I’m a moron.”

    • Ken

      I don’t think they support polygamy anymore, I’d never heard about inbreeding, and Joseph Smith is long dead. The Mormons that I’ve met have been good people.

      But yeah, those commercials creep me out too.

      • Tim

        Seriously, what religion advertises? Thank God Congress passed that do not call list a few years back. They’d probably be telemarketing if that didn’t happen.

        Speaking of commercials, they need to make it so commercials aren’t louder than the tv show you’re watching. I’m tired of getting my eardrums blown out every time commericals come on.

        • Ken

          Actually, I’ve heard commercials for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh on KDKA.

      • Federalist10

        I’ve been convinced since the first one that they’re trying to distance themselves from Glenn Beck, hence the need for a kicked-up P.R. campaign.

  • Chris

    By the way Steigy, where is the NOW gang when it comes to this religions tolerance of women’s rights and where is the GLAD gang with the tolerance of homosexuality? I guess since Bush is no longer around there are no more pressing issues and these groups have disbanded?

    • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

      Where was NOW when Palin was being ridiculed and accused of lying about who gave birth to her son?

      • Chris

        Exactly Steigy…Oh she was a no good, dirty, rotten, conservative. Cant support her. In fact, there were some who openly said they had wished she was on that plane that crashed in Alaska recently. But say something about Hillary and well, bras will be burning in the streets !!!! They will support enemies of our own country before they support Americans they disagree with politically here. Their hypocracy never ceases

  • http://toleranceschmolerance patsy714

    John, This is just another example of the wimpification of America. If we don’t stand up to radicals of all organized religions, especially the so-called muslims, America won’t survive for another hundred years.Of course, we won’t either!

  • Mike

    It’s important to differentiate between Muslim countries and Muslims in America. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf does not subscribe to many of those beliefs.

    “he routinely denounces all terrorism—as he did again last week, publicly. He speaks of the need for Muslims to live peacefully with all other religions. He emphasizes the commonalities among all faiths. He advocates equal rights for women, and argues against laws that in any way punish non-Muslims. His last book, What’s Right With Islam Is What’s Right With America, argues that the United States is actually the ideal Islamic society because it encourages diversity and promotes freedom for individuals and for all religions.”

    http://www.newsweek.com/2010/08/06/the-real-ground-zero.html

    • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

      He refuses to call Hamas a terrorist organization.

      • Mike

        What did Ronald Reagan say about someone who agrees with me 4 out of 5 times is 80% my friend and not 20% my enemy?

        Perfect? No. But a good proponent of “moderate” Islam? Yes.

        • http://justwatchthegame.com JohnSteigerwald

          I’d be a little more willing to buy the moderate Islam approach if a few million more of them would demonstrate FOR America and against terrorism. Cat got their tongues?