Mosque at 51 Park Place, NY, NY

[xoxoxoBruce]

Incredible, fucking incredible.

[Rhianne]

Sad and embarrassing. It made me laugh, but only for a moment or two. Unfortuntately I've come into contact with characters like these far too often.

[Clodfobble]

building a mosk on ground zero is like providing cotton feilds ford unemployed people

I'm sorry... what?

This is actually fairly entertaining, I may be killing time on OpenBook more often.

[glatt]

I never heard of OpenBook before. It's a neat idea.

[classicman]

funny, sad and true ... oh and entertaining.

[classicman]

Koran burner Derek Fenton booted from his job at NJ Transit
The protester who burned pages from the Koran outside a planned mosque near Ground Zero has been fired from NJTransit, sources and authorities said Tuesday.

Derek Fenton's 11-year career at the agency came to an abrupt halt Monday after photographs of him ripping pages from the Muslim holy book and setting them ablaze appeared in newspapers.

Fenton, 39, of Bloomingdale, N.J., burned the book during a protest on the ninth anniversary of Sept. 11 outside Park51, the controversial mosque slated to be built near Ground Zero.

He was apparently inspired by Pastor Terry Jones, the Florida clergyman who threatened to burn the Koran that day but later changed his mind.

NJ Transit said Fenton was fired but wouldn't give specifics.

"Mr. Fenton's public actions violated New Jersey Transit's code of ethics," an agency statement said.

"NJ Transit concluded that Mr. Fenton violated his trust as a state employee and therefore [he] was dismissed."

Fenton was ushered from the protests by police on Saturday and questioned, but he was released without charges.

"He said, 'This is America,' and he wanted to stand up for it, in a Tea Party kind of way," a police source said.

If Fenton was fired for burning the Koran while off-duty, his First Amendment rights probably were violated, Chris Dunn of the New York Civil Liberties Union said.

"The Supreme Court has recognized a constitutional right to burn the flag. As reprehensible as it may be, burning the Koran would be protected as well."

Read more:
Here we go ...................

[classicman]

on a lighter note...

The internet has a new hero: Amarillo, Texas, skateboarder Jacob Isom.

The 23-year-old single-handedly stopped a Koran burning in an Amarillo park Saturday by swiping the kerosene-soaked holy book when the militant Christian protest leader's back was turned.

"He said something about burning the Koran and I was like, 'Dude, you HAVE no Koran' and ran off," Isom told local TV News Channel 10.

Read more:

[Pete Zicato]

Originally Posted by Redux

I agree if there is ANY substantive evidence that women wearing burhkas pose a public safety threat.....any more than Sikhs wearing turbans. And I have seen none.

We're talking about this, yes?


If I worked in a bank, I'd be worried if this couple came in. You have no way of knowing if there are firearms under there. Nor indeed whether the wearer is actually a woman.

[xoxoxoBruce]

It doesn't matter if they're women or not. Women rob banks. Women carry bombs and blow themselves up. But I wouldn't let 'em cash a check.

[classicman]

Pete - If I owned a deli or a convenience store or any retail anything... I'd wanna see everyone's face - period. There is no statistical data to support this I am sure, but banks are not real keen on them coming in dressed this way.

Originally Posted by Pete Zicato

We're talking about this, yes?


If I worked in a bank, I'd be worried if this couple came in. You have no way of knowing if there are firearms under there. Nor indeed whether the wearer is actually a woman.

The ban is not based on public safety, at least according to Pres. Sarkozy, but is addressing the issue of the need for Muslims to become more integrated into French society in order to be more accepted and because he believes it is a form of oppression.

I agree with Sarkozy that is is absolutely a form of oppression for those women forced into wearing the burkha by their husbands rather than be choice.

The problem with the law is that it wont accomplish what is intended; it wont lead to these women becoming more integrated into French society or being less oppressed...but will likely leave them even more oppressed....prisoners in their own homes.

[Spexxvet]

Who knows what they're packing underneath those robes.

[Pete Zicato]

Fair enough, Spex. But at least you'd be able to identify them on the security cameras after they whacked you on the back of the hand with a ruler.

[Spexxvet]

Originally Posted by Pete Zicato

Fair enough, Spex. But at least you'd be able to identify them on the security cameras after they whacked you on the back of the hand with a ruler.

They could fit a yardstick under all that stuff. We're talking heavy artillary.

[classicman]

The developers behind the proposed Ground Zero mosque have applied for about $5 million in federal grant money set aside for redeveloping downtown Manhattan after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a new report.

The application was submitted as a "community and cultural enhancement" grant, which is a program run by the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corp.

Developer Sharif El-Gamal discussed the grant proposal in recent closed-door meetings, according to The Daily Beast.

Read more:

This should make everyone feel much better - This way the money won't be coming from supposed terrorists - it'll be coming from us. Problem solved.