Funny, I brought up the very same argument about Catholic churches when I debated this with my family the other night.
On the other hand, there is some legal precedent for depriving private property owners of building where they want because of the common good. You can't build a bar next to a school, for example, or a strip club near a church.
I've seen bars right near, next door to, even, churches. And for a while there for a time a pro-life poster was up on the side OF a bar, which my sister and I always found rather interesting.
There's also a bed and breakfast right next door to a funeral home here in town. I'm pretty sure that's not the view most people who stay at a bed and breakfast want to see out their window, but hey...
Has the mosque four blocks from Ground Zero seen outbreaks of violence and racial hatred?
Haven't heard of anything of the sort, which makes me wonder why this one, which will be TWO blocks away, is getting all the fuss. If we can live with this when it's four blocks away, why is two such a big deal? It's still not right across the street or anything like that.
but, suddenly, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich are all over it. what they want is an issue driven by pure emotion in order to help their electoral chances in the fall. the GOP has been exploiting this tragedy since September 12, 2001, what with their phony "terror alerts/Code Orange" and holding the RNC convention in New York in 2004.
And
that is perhaps what pisses me off the most about the Republican Party of the last decade. I'm sick to death of them calling people "un-American" and all that BS if we dare to support such measures as an Islamic center being built or disagree with the wars overseas or things of that nature. They're the ones who are exploiting tragedy for personal gain, and to me, that shows the utmost disrespect to those who died that day. Every time I hear those Republicans get on their high horse I want to tell them to shut the hell up.
Newt Gingrich isn't to be taken seriously anyway. He's said a load of dumb stuff over the years. And it's disappointing to see a Democrat, Reid, come out against this, too, but hey, he's gotta beat out a Republican (a hardcore Republican, too, from the sounds of it) in his state, so he's got to say what helps get him votes, regardless of whether or not he believes in what he says. So sad.
As for Obama, I'm glad he came out in support of the idea, but really, why does he need to be asked about it anyway? And why does he have to speculate on the "wisdom" of the project? No matter what he says, people have pretty much made up their minds one way or the other, so it's not like he's going to really sway anybody's viewpoint.
I also find it funny that government officials are so worried about how offensive this'll seem to people, 'cause I'm so sure our presence in certain areas of the Middle East isn't offensive to anyone
there, right?
Angela