Local (Houston) Talk Radio Host Calls for Blowing Up of Mosque

Are you calling me an extremist? How stupid are you, really?

 

Agree to disagree. I understand it is difficult for you to see. The structure is different than what is "normal" for you.

Consider, just for a second, the astronomical gap between the wealth of the leaders of these countries and their people (countries in order of Muslim population):

Indonesia 202,867,000
Pakistan 174,082,000
India 160,945,000
Bangladesh 145,312,000
Egypt 78,513,000
Nigeria 78,056,000
Iran 73,777,000
Turkey 73,619,000
Europe 38,112,000
Algeria 34,199,000
Morocco 31,993,000
Iraq 30,428,000
Sudan 30,121,000
Afghanistan 28,072,000
Ethiopia 28,063,000
Uzbekistan 26,469,000
Saudi Arabia 24,949,000
Yemen 23,363,000

How many of those people have money? How can the people challenge the wealth of those leaders?

It is a different game. It is completely different with the dynamic of oil being the difference.

The one place where there is some semblance of democracy (Turkey) the country does not have terrorists.

You must understand that the Al Saud family of Saudi Arabia have more money than all of Saudi Arabia.

Battling perception is a media war. When moderates go out and battle these perceptions, and some oil-rich country is pumping billions of dollars into impoverished Indonesia and essentially converting it to the Wahhabi/Salafi sect of Islam, what can we do?

We do what we can. The best thing to do is nothing. Don't call me a Muslim. I won't call myself a Muslim. I'm a person and judge me by my actions. I dissociate myself from the tag if the tag is tarnished and I am helpless to change it.

Honestly, if you knew the life of a multi-millionaire Saudi Arabian who wants to bring democracy to his country off his hard-earned money, you would see things differently. When you see how helpless he is with his hard-earned wealth, you will get it. When the government takes his wealth, hurts his family and screws him out of being able to do business, you will see. When you see the nationals of a certain GCC country who flew to London trying to escape persecution for wanting democracy and got SENT BACK never to be seen again, you would know.

Talk is easy. Moderates are trying, but frankly no group of 1.5 billion people have faced his kind of dominance in the past. Seeing as the dominance is supported by gigantic oil consumption and the need to "maintain peace" in the oil rich heart of the muslim-dominated world, the prospects are slim.

When oil loses its value or runs out, then we'll see. But right now, I think it's completely unfair to judge moderate Muslims for lack of effort. I'll give you that the results are poor, but it's not from lack of effort at all.

 

The victims and relatives of victims of the following incidents beg to differ.

Significant Terrorist Incidents

27 July 2008 - 18 Turkish civilians were killed in a double IED attack in the Gungoren district of Istanbul.
9 July 2008 - 3 police officers and 3 terrorists were killed in an armed attack on the US Consulate in Istanbul.
8 July 2008 - 3 German nationals were kidnapped by the PKK on Mount Ararat. They were later released unharmed.
22 May 2007 - 11 civilians were killed by a PKK suicide bomber in the Ulus district of Ankara.
18 April 2007 - 3 Christian missionaries were murdered in the city of Malatya.
29 August 2006 - 10 UK nationals were injured by a PKK device placed on a dolmus mini-bus in the resort of Marmaris.
16 July 2005 - 5 persons, including 2 western nationals, were killed by a PKK device placed on a dolmus mini-bus in the resort of Kusadasi.
20 November 2003 - Al Qaida carried out vehicle-borne IED attacks on the British Consulate and the headquarters of HSBC in Istanbul, killing 33 people. This followed similar attacks on two synagogues in the city on 15 November, which killed 23 people.


http://www.fco.gov.uk/en/travel-and-living-abroad/travel-advice-by-country/europe/turkey

Travel Summary

There is a high threat from terrorism in Turkey and a number of terrorist groups remain active in the country. Terrorist attacks are regularly carried out against the security forces in the south east of the country by the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). We advise against all but essential travel in the provinces of Hakkari, Sirnak, Siirt and Tunceli and visitors should remain vigilant when travelling in other provinces in south eastern Turkey. Terrorist attacks have also taken place against both government and civilian targets in major cities such as Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara, and tourist resorts on the Mediterranean and Aegean coasts. Improvised explosive devices (IED's) have been placed in crowded areas, restaurants, refuge bins, outside banks and hotels and on dolmus mini-buses and trains.

Al Qaida and other networks inspired by religious extremism have specifically targeted western interests in Turkey and there remains a global risk of attack from such groups.

Interesting statement! So the best you can ever do is nothing. Interesting!

That's exactly what you constantly do, and it is an easy cop-out!

That's BS and an easy cop-out. No group of 1.5 billion people has had the Internet at their disposal. Starting a facebook group for moderate muslims to denounce islamist extremism and joining it costs NOTHING.

You know what, in fact it exists and it has a whopping 86 members: http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=4280085&id=46358999591#!/group.php?gid=46878841695&ref=search

For comparison, the I ♥ Muhammad group has 591,117 members (http://www.facebook.com/search/?init=quick&q=i+love+muhammad&ref=ts&o=69&s=10#!/IloveMuhammad?ref=ts) and the "Everybody against Everybody draw Muhammad day" group has 52,870 members: http://www.facebook.com/search/?pos...10#!/group.php?gid=120015854691310&ref=search.

Well done, moderate muslims!

 

Umm, these are attacks ON Turkey with the help of the non-democratic regimes. They're funded by Iran and Syria. Extremist islamist attacks occur in Turkey, Germany, the UK, anywhere. Thanks for proving my point.

As for the rest of your comments, it's pathetic that you conveniently cut out parts of my post for your own purposes. If you expect to be taken seriously, I suggest you stop trying to deceive everyone.

 

Everyone can read your post and my post in which I quote you. I am not deceiving anyone. I am merely pointing out the unbelievable things you say. If you realize that it is embarrassing, think harder before you post next time.

 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38538068/ns/us_news-life/?GT1=43001

Panel clears way for mosque near ground zero
Sarah Palin, others argue the mosque would disrespect the memory of Sept. 11 victims

NEW YORK — A city commission on Tuesday denied landmark status to a building near the World Trade Center site, freeing a group to convert the property into an Islamic community center and mosque that has drawn national opposition.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted 9-0, saying the 152-year-old building blocks from the site of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks wasn't special or distinctive enough to meet criteria to qualify as a landmark. Commissioners also said that other buildings from the era were better examples of the building's style.

National and New York politicians and the Anti-Defamation League have come out in recent weeks against plans for the mosque, saying it disrespects the memory of those killed in the 2001 attacks carried out by adherents of radical Islam. Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who also chairs the foundation building the Sept. 11 memorial, has defended plans for the mosque.

High-profile opposition
Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin are among the opposition.

"Many Americans, myself included, feel it would be an intolerable and tragic mistake to allow such a project ... to go forward on such hallowed ground," Palin wrote in a Facebook message originally posted July 20.

"No mosque," Gingrich stated on his website late last month.

"The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave aggressively toward us while they demand our weakness and submission is over," he wrote, adding that the decision over whether to build the facility was "a test of the timidity, passivity and historic ignorance of American elites."

Contentious plan
On Tuesday, several members of a crowd of 50 or 60 applauded, while others shouted "Shame!" as commission chairman Robert B. Tierney called for the vote. One opponent, Linda Rivera of Manhattan, held up a sign reading, "Don't glorify murders of 3,000. No 9/11 victory mosque."

Supporters of landmark status, including Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio and some Sept. 11 family members, had argued that the building warranted landmark status because it was struck by airplane debris during the attacks.

But commissioner Christopher Moore noted that the debris hit a number of buildings.

"One cannot designate hundreds of buildings on that criteria alone," Moore said. "We do not landmark the sky."

Group: Center will be space for moderate Muslims
The mosque would be part of an Islamic community center to be operated by a group called the Cordoba Initiative, which says the center will be a space for moderate Muslim voices.

Oz Sultan, the program coordinator for the proposed Islamic center, said last week that the building has been changed too much over the years to qualify as a landmark.

"I think a lot of the negativity we're getting is coming from people who are politically grandstanding," Sultan said. "We're completely open and transparent."

The Rev. Robert Chase, founding director of an interfaith group called Intersections, supported the project and called it "a really positive example of how we can move forward from 9/11."

Daisy Khan, executive director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, told The Wall Street Journal in Tuesday's editions that the center's board will include members of other religions and explore including an interfaith chapel at the center.

"We want to repair the breach and be at the front and center to start the healing," said Khan, a partner in the building and the wife of the cleric leading the effort.

But the Anti-Defamation League's national director, Abraham Foxman, said Khan's proposals fail to address the crux of opponents' criticism that erecting the mosque near ground zero is insensitive to 9/11 victims' families.

The Jewish organization came out against the mosque last week, saying "some legitimate questions have been raised" about the Cordoba Initiative's funding and possible ties with "groups whose ideologies stand in contradiction to our shared values."

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, speaking on Governor's Island against the backdrop of the Statue of Liberty, praised the commission's ruling.

"This building is private property and the owners have a right to use the building as a house of worship," Bloomberg said. "The government has no right whatsoever to deny that right, and if it were tried, the court would almost certainly strike it down as a violation of the U.S. constitution."

Bloomberg said the firefighters and other first responders who died in the 2001 attacks had done so to protect the constitution. To deny religious freedom to Muslims would play into the terrorists' hands, he said.

"In rushing into those burning buildings, not one asked, 'What god do you pray to? What beliefs do you hold?'" Bloomberg said of the first responders. "We do not honor their lives by denying the very constitutional rights they died protecting."

 

While the sentiment is nice, the statements above are ridiculous.

 

I didnt read through all 15 pages so my apologies if my sentiments are nothing more than a reiteration of whats already been mentioned.

I think the discussion of what this particular radio host said is not an issue of legal acceptability, but one of social acceptability. Should we be a society that entertains such speech? yes, we allow it to exist, but we should condemn it and castigate the individuals who speak in that manner.

It requires people of conscience to say that we dont find speech that effectively relishes in hopes of a violent act as entertaining, and our legal acceptance of it should not disabuse us of a principle stance where we send letters to the radio station, program sponsors, and the host himself.

As for the actual building of the islamic center, I personally, as a Muslim, dont necessarily believe it to be the wisest move and can understand why some, especially those whose families were affected by 9/11, would object to its building. But once again, the principle has to hold that we take an even keeled approach when assessing the building of structures and in that regard, the decision to permit the building of the islamic center is a no brainer.