Will they or won’t they?  That’s the question everyone’s asking regarding whether the people behind the Ground Zero Victory Mosque will agree to move their “bridge-building” project to another location.   

So will the mosque be moving?  Don’t bet on it.   

New York Gov. David Paterson has announced plans to meet with developers of the controversial Ground Zero mosque some time this week to offer them state land , at another location, for their cultural and religious center. Paterson told Congressman Peter King about the meeting, and King said the governor asked him to make it public.    

From 1934 to 1940 , severe drought ravaged an area twice the size of Pennsylvania covering parts of Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Colorado. When the drought destroyed the crops, there was nothing to hold the soil of the wind-swept and treeless plains. The area became known as “The Dust Bowl.”

By 1935, winds reaching 60 miles per hour whipped the dirt into gigantic clouds as high as 1,000 feet blocking the sun. Dust reached the president’s desk in Washington and even reported by ships 500 miles out to sea. Storms blanketed highways in impenetrable clouds of swirling dust stranding motorists. With the land literally blown away, farmers left the area. By the end of the decade almost half the population, an estimated 300,000 from Oklahoma alone, migrated. Most headed to California in hopes of finding work and a better life. John Steinbeck immortalized the hardships and misery of these “Okies” in his 1939 novel “The Grapes of Wrath.”

The federal government moved to reclaim the land by strategically planting trees throughout the area that reduced the effect of the wind and by promoting scientific farming methods. The effort was successful. When the drought ended in 1940, the land could successfully be farmed again.

While hundreds of House members and dozens of senators hit the campaign trail in a fight to save their jobs with help from President Obama, more than 2 million out-of-work Americans are faced with being lost in a “Dust Bowl” of  unemployment obscurity by the end of the year. 

Even though Congress passed a jobless benefits extension in July, the boost only lasts until Nov. 30, meaning  a  backlog of recipients will lost their benefits all at once come December.  Between the end of August and the end of the calendar year, approximately 2.37 million Americans will stop getting unemployment checks, according to Labor Department statistics. 

The looming cessation of benefits is not going to help consumer spending among a depressed citizenry where the economy already ranks as the top issue for voters in poll after poll. 

According to Gallup Daily, 47 % of Americans believe Economic Conditions are poor and 62 % believe that the Economic Outlook is worse.

So, while President Obama is on a three-day, cross-country jaunt, doing the only thing that he is semi-competent at:   fundraising, Congress must now turn its focus from legislation to re-election.  Somehow, they have to convince Americans that their constituents’ fiscal well-being matters more to them than their own phony baloney jobs. 

Republicans criticized the president’s fundraising trip Monday. They used this fund-raising trip to show that his priorities are not in order.

The Republican National Committee has posted a new web video highlighting the five states Obama is visiting, along with the local unemployment rate for each. 

Obama will be making fundraising stops in Wisconsin, California, Washington, Ohio and Florida.  Most are states the president will have to carry in 2012 if he runs for re-election, and he is using his visits this week to campaign  for Democrats caught in tight races this November. 

Paul Lindsay, spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee said:

Every day that the president is not talking about jobs and the economy is a day that Democrats continue to show how out of touch they are with the problems of the American people.

The NRCC premiered a website Monday, titled “The West Swing,” mocking Obama’s scheduled fundraiser with party leaders in Los Angeles Monday night. 

“Don’t let Democrats mislead voters — the economic mess is a result of THEIR failed agenda,” the site says, urging supporters to contribute to “offset” the Democratic money raised in California. 

Republicans, who were against the jobless benefits extension because they said they wanted it to be paid for, claim other action can be taken to lift up the economy.  Lindsay said Republican candidates in the months ahead are going to draw increased attention to the possible expiration of the Bush tax cuts. 

While Democrats argue that most of the tax cuts should be extended for all but the textbook wealthy, Republicans say they should be extended across the board. Lindsay said letting the cuts lapse ensures job growth will continue to stagnate.   He said:

This is the small business tax.

Democrats, in a hypocritical bit of political subterfuge, proclaim that taxes should go back up for those making more than $200,000 in order to start plugging the deficit.  They falsely claim that they’ve been able to stop an economic crisis from becoming considerably worse and are proud of their efforts providing short-term relief with repeated jobless benefits extensions , even though the federally funded cushion is deflating rapidly. 

White House spokesman Bill Burton whined on Monday that while Obama is “not satisfied with the pace of this recovery,” Republicans offer only obstructionism: 

We have been able to make some progress. What you see here is the Democratic vision, which is continue to make progress, keep on with the policies that are moving us out of this crisis. Republicans, he said, want to “obstruct the progress we’ve been able to make. 

Burton used the Wisconsin energy plant Obama visited Monday as an example, saying the plant was adding 80 jobs “as a result of new investment and the fact that they’re manufacturing something that people abroad and domestically are interested in buying.” 

Obama, stopping by the Wisconsin firm on his way to a fundraiser for state Democrats, said ZBB Energy Corp. is showing how “manufacturing jobs can come back.” He described the clean energy industry as one area where job growth can be fueled. and added:

We expect our commitment to clean energy to lead to more than 800,000 jobs by 2012. 

And I expect Joy Behar to turn into Florence Henderson any day now.

Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., said the president is playing a vital role by hitting the campaign trail.  Reed said on “Fox News Sunday”: 

I know the president will be campaigning throughout the country. He’ll be campaigning in many, many districts .  I think his ability to talk about what his administration has accomplished in terms of health reform, in terms of stabilizing a terrible situation. … To go back to the Bush policies would be a disaster for the country. And many candidates will be wanting that message. 

Right, Sen. Reed.  That’s why Democratic candidates are all running away from the president.

Meanwhile, House Minority Leader John Boehner on Monday requested that the Obama administration provide a complete list of new federal rules projected to cost the economy $1 billion or more. 

Boehner said:

The Obama administration owes the American people a full accounting of the degree to which its policies may be negatively impacting  job creation in our country.

Congressman, considering that, according to Gallup:

More than 6 out of 10 Americans in Gallup polls conducted this year have consistently said “most members of Congress” do not deserve re-election. These are the highest numbers in Gallup’s history of asking this question.

I would say that both parties have a lot of work to do to regain Americans’ trust.  If Republicans rise to power in a November Mid-term electoral sweep as predicted, they have the opportunity to make a difference in their constituency’s lives.  Or they can sit on their stools at the Beltway Country Club, drinking chocolate martinis, while more and more Americans are consumed by this economic “Dust Bowl”. 

According to President Barack Hussein Obama (Peace be upon him) on Saturday, he did not express an opinion at the WH Ramadan Dinner Friday Night on whether a mosque two blocks from Ground Zero is appropriate:

Per “The World’s President”:

My intention was simply to let people know what I thought.

 

In this country, we treat everybody equally and in accordance with the law, regardless of race, regardless of religion. 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.

The president’s remarks come after a forceful proclamation made Friday at the Iftar dinner, when he wholeheartedly endorsed the idea of building a mosque and Muslim community center near the site of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attack in New York”.

As a citizen, and as President, I believe that Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else in this country.   And 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. This is America. And our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable.

However, deputy White House press secretary Bill Burton said in a statement Saturday:

Just to be clear, the President is not backing off in any way from the comments he made last night.

It is not his role as President to pass judgment on every local project.
 But it is his responsibility to stand up for the Constitutional principle of religious freedom and equal treatment for all Americans.  What he said last night, and reaffirmed today, is that If a church, a synagogue or a Hindu temple can be built on a site, you simply cannot deny that right to those who want to build a Mosque.

The problem, Bill, is that is appears to the vast majority of Americans that Obama is ducking the real issue, which is whether it is appropriate or wise for the Muslim group who wants to build the mosque and community center – the Cordoba Initiative – to do so right beside Ground Zero.

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin addressed the matter late Saturday afternoon on her Facebook page:

Mr. President, should they or should they not build a mosque steps away from where radical Islamists killed 3000 people? Please tell us your position. We all know that they have the right to do it, but should they? And, no, this is not above your pay grade. If those who wish to build this Ground Zero mosque are sincerely interested in encouraging positive “cross-cultural engagement” and dialogue to show a moderate and tolerant face of Islam, then why haven’t they recognized that the decision to build a mosque at this particular location is doing just the opposite? Mr. President, why aren’t you encouraging the mosque developers to accept Governor Paterson’s generous offer of assistance in finding a new location for the mosque on state land if they move it away from Ground Zero? Why haven’t they jumped at this offer? Why are they apparently so set on building a mosque steps from what you have described, in agreement with me, as “hallowed ground”? I believe these are legitimate questions to ask.

News comes out this morning that the sponsors of the proposed mosque near Ground Zero are not slamming the door on Gov. Paterson’s idea to build the center someplace else.

“We are open to a conversation to find out more on what the governor has in mind,” the center, Park51, formerly named the Cordoba Initiative after a famous Muslim victory,  said in a Twitter post yesterday.

While mosque opponents charge the chosen site is insensitive to 9/11 victims, NY Governor Paterson (D) doesn’t oppose the planned location.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, a useful idiot, is all for the mosque.  He said Obama’s remarks reminded him of George Washington:

Two hundred and twenty years ago this week, the Father of Our Country penned his famous letter to the Jewish Community of Newport Rhode Island or, as he called them, ‘the Children of the Stock of Abraham.’  President Obama’s words tonight evoked President Washington’s own August reminder that ‘all possess alike liberty.

Paterson and Bloomberg aren’t speaking for the majority of New Yorkers.

Rick A. Lazio, a Republican candidate for governor and a former member of the House of Representatives, said late Friday that the president was still “not listening to New Yorkers”:

With over 100 mosques in New York City, this is not an issue of religion, but one of safety and security.

Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., agreed. “President Obama is wrong,” he said:

It is insensitive and uncaring for the Muslim community to build a mosque in the shadow of ground zero.  While the Muslim community has the right to build the mosque they are abusing that right by needlessly offending so many people who have suffered so much.

But, hey, Liberals, don’t worry.  You’ve got back-up for your position.

A Hamas leader says Muslims “have to build” a mosque near ground zero.

Mahmoud al-Zahar said Muslims “have to build everywhere” so that followers can pray, just like Christians and Jews build their places of worship.

Al-Zahar spoke Sunday on “Aaron Klein Investigative Radio” on WABC-AM. He is a co-founder of Hamas and its chief on the Gaza Strip.

Be proud, Liberals.  Be proud.

White House aides would respond to questions about whether the president decided to backtrack on  his remarks Saturday based on feedback from any particular person or organization.  But you can bet that immediately after his proud proclamation of support for the Cordoba Intiative at the White House Ramadan Dinner,  Axlerod, Rahmbo, and all sorts of advisers and Democratic leaders, were pressuring him to “clarify” his remarks in an effort to save their progressive backsides from the upcoming political massacre in November.

Unfortunately for you and your political party, Mr. President, just like your 27 hour phony photo op from this weekend, where you and Sasha were actually swimming in St. Andrews Bay, not the Gulf of Mexico, Americans aren’t buying your forced “clarification”.

The title of this blog could have also been, “Taking Advantage of Misery”.

BP may possibly be paying millions in compensation to ‘fake fishermen’.

BP has already paid $308 million  to those whose livelihood has been affected by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

In order to receive BP’s money, fishermen must display a valid fishing licence.   Applications for such licenses have suddenly spiked by nearly 60 per cent, despite most fishing grounds being closed by the disaster. 

Three people suspected of abusing the system have been arrested in the past week in the U.S, but authorities are afraid that they are just the vanguard of a much bigger army of con men and women.

One genuine fisherman relayed the story of being approached by two men who wanted him to sign documents for them showing that they had worked for him.

He said he refused, but told the BBC that other captains have been offered thousands to sign similar such documents vouching for grifters trying to claim compensation.

Lt Col Jeff Mayne of the LDWF Law Enforcement Division said that Louisiana Department of  Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) has sold 2,200 licenses since the spill:

Originally BP was paying checks to just anybody who had a licence and that may have spurred some of the fraud.

‘There were no real checks and balances on whether they were they really commercial fishermen.

I would like to say I’m surprised, but I’m not. It’s a lot easier to go and steal a resource than to rob a bank.

When asked whether Scooter may sit down with “A-Jad”, Gen Jones said:

Ultimately if we find a convergence of paths all things are possible.

One thing they might do is return our three hikers. That would be an important gesture. It could lead to better relations.

 However, the President’s national security adviser warned there would be “no point in a theatrical meeting.”

With those two, would there be any other kind?

Gen Jones refused to speculate on whether military action might be considered against Iran if it fails to comply with international demands.

Meanwhile, A-Jad has trouble back on the home front.  Iranian businessmen both inside and outside the country say the economy is going in the tank (sounds familiar), while his many enemies from within the ranks of his own conservative faction in the leadership are very critical of his domestic policies. 

Recently, Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of our joint chiefs of staffs, was as comforting  as Obama on the administration’s Iran policy, saying that he had prepared an attack plan focusing on Iran’s nuclear plants while at the same time accepting he was unwilling to use it.

Both sides are open about the brinkmanship threats of force involved, with the wider Middle East fearing it will be sucked into open conflict. Gen Hossein Moghadam, former deputy chief of Iran’s Revolution Guard said:

If the US decides to take a pre-emptive action and attack Iran, Iran will have no choice but to strike the American bases in the region.

The heavy costs of such a war will not be just on the Islamic Republic of Iran. America and other countries should accept that this would be the start of an extensive war in the region.

At the same time Scooter and A-Jad are playing this game of “chicken”, the Iran Revolutionary Guard is digging mass graves for American soldiers.

The imam behind the proposed Islamic Victory Monument known as the Ground Zero Mosque is about to leave on a multi-country jaunt to the Middle East funded by taxpayer dollars through the State Department.  Americans are rightly concerned that he will be using our money to raise the money he needs to build the $100,000,000 mosque. 

According to a State Department announcement that was given on Monday, Feisal Abdul Rauf is taking the publicly funded trip to foster “greater understanding” about Islam and Muslim communities in the United States.  Yeah, right. 

When asked about the trip, State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said:

He is a distinguished Muslim cleric.  I think we are in the process of arranging for him to travel as part of this program, and it is to foster a greater understanding about the region around the world among Muslim-majority communities.

Crowley said no fund-raising for the mosque and cultural center during the trip would be permitted:

That would not be something he could do as part of our program.

However, Rauf is scheduled to make stops in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain and Qatar, Islamic countries with deep pockets.

Abdul Rauf said funds for the center will come from Muslims and members of his congregation.

In a London-based Arabic-language newspaper that interviewed Abdul Rauf, the imam says he also will collect money from Muslim and Arab nations around the world.  This means that he will be using this goodwill mission to build contacts in those oil-rich states.

Debra Burlingame, a 9/11 family member, asks some pertinent questions:

Does the State Department have any idea they are sending a guy to the Middle East who is going to be fund-raising perhaps among the very same people he will be meeting with?  We know he has a fund-raising association with Saudi Arabia.

 Burlingame also noted that the Saudis have contributed money to underwrite programs by the American Society for Muslim Advancement, a not-for-profit that Abdul Rauf runs with his wife and that is one of the sponsors of the Ground Zero mosque:

He’s going to the well, and how can they say they do or don’t know what he’s doing?

Meanwhile, New York state regulators said the sale of an adjacent Con Ed building needed to complete the Ground Zero mosque might be subject to review after all, even as clueless New York City Mayor Bloomberg insisted the project has “nothing to do with Con Ed.”

According to Public Service Commission spokeswoman Anne Dalton, state law requires the agency to sign off on the “transfer or lease” of any property a utility owns within its franchise area.

The question is whether Con Ed satisfied that requirement nearly four decades ago, when it granted a 99-year lease on the former substation site at 49-51 Park Place. 

So, just who is Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf?  Is he the “Moderate” Imam that the Liberals proclaim him to be?  Nope.  In previous posts, I presented detailed information concerning his ties to Perdana and the Gaza Flotilla, and his interviews with Ed Bradley and the popular Islamic website, Hadiyul-Islam.

I now present information that you may not have seen before:  An interview the Sydney Morning Herald, published on their website on March 21, 2004:

The US and the West must acknowledge the harm they have done to Muslims before terrorism can end, says an Islamic cleric invited to Sydney by Premier Bob Carr.

New York-based Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who impressed Mr Carr at an international conference last year, arrives in Sydney today for two weeks of meetings and public talks.

Speaking from his New York mosque, Imam Feisal said the West had to understand the terrorists’ point of view.

In a move likely to cause controversy with church leaders, Imam Feisal said it was Christians who started mass attacks on civilians.

“The Islamic method of waging war is not to kill innocent civilians. But it was Christians in World War II who bombed civilians in Dresden and Hiroshima, neither of which were military targets.”

Imam Feisal said the bombing in Madrid had made his message more urgent. He said there was an endless supply of angry young Muslim rebels prepared to die for their cause and there was no sign of the attacks ending unless there was a fundamental change in the world.

Imam Feisal, who argues for a Western style of Islam that promotes democracy and tolerance, said there could be little progress until the US acknowledged backing dictators and the US President gave an “America Culpa” speech to the Muslim world.

On July4th, 2009, United States of America President Barack Hussein Obama (Peace be upon him.), delivered that apology to the Muslim World at the University of Cairo, in the Islamic country of Egypt:

The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of co-existence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars. More recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations. Moreover, the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of Islam.

…So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn’t. And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear.

Even to the point of assisting in the building of a Muslim Symbol of Victory on the Hallowed Ground of the greatest Terrorist attack on U.S. soil in the history of our country.

Sources:  nypost.com, smh.com.au, nytimes.com

Just 84 days before a pending massacre in the Mid-term Elections, House Democrats are doubling down on stupid (That’s a Greek word for ignorant. [Thanks, Preacher!]) this week by returning from a recess that had barely begun to pass a $26 billion teacher jobs bill, ignoring the wishes of the American people to stop their record-breaking spending. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called lawmakers back to Washington from  Summer Recess last week after the Senate broke a GOP filibuster that paved the way for the bill’s passage.

The bill is meant to provide both teacher and Medicaid funding to the states.

Democrats and Obama administration officials claim that the package is paid for and will not add to the deficit. The bill, which the Democrats will ram down our throats once again, allows the ‘Rats to brag about saving tens of thousands of teachers and other government workers from being laid off before the start of the school year, and before the November election. 

In other words, the bill is a bribe to secure voters.

 Education Secretary Arne Duncan told Fox News on Monday:

This bill … will help keep 160,000 teachers around the country in the classroom as we start school the next couple weeks rather than on the unemployment line. 

But the fact that San Fran Nan and Arne evidently don’t care about, is that this vote takes members of Congress off the campaign trail to vote for yet another multibillion-dollar aid bill.   Republicans are quick to take the opportunity to use the looming vote as the latest example of Washington’s addiction to spending, something they claim they’ll put a stop to if they win back the majority in Congress. 

 Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels told “Fox News Sunday”:

It amounts at this point in time to asking the citizens of responsible states like ours to subsidize those places who have been more reckless.  It’s probably not going to help the economy. 

The bill is “paid for” with a cut to food stamps benefits and a tax increase on some multinational companies based in the United States. House Minority Leader John Boehner said those the provisions in the jobs bill would have an adverse effect.   Boehner said the vote just shows how oblivious Democrats are to concerns about spending. 

Boehner said last week:

The American people don’t want more Washington ‘stimulus’ spending — especially in the form of a payoff to union bosses and liberal special interests.  This stunning display of tone-deafness comes at the expense of American workers, who will be hit by another job-killing tax hike because Washington Democrats can’t kick their addiction to more government ‘stimulus’ spending. Democrats should be listening to their constituents. 

We’re taking money from feeding poor kids so middle class teachers don’t have to look for jobs.

Gov. McDonnell said on CNN’s “State of the Union”:

I think it has to end soon because the federal government is running out of money .  We cannot continue to have all of the states rely on the federal government. 

Michigan Gov. Jennifer Granholm disagrees.  She said that while the states do need to make cuts, the funding in the $26 billion package is necessary: 

This is not for bureaucracy. This is for people — real people who need real help out here. And this bill was entirely funded. 

From where, Governor?  The orchard of money trees behind the White House?

The state that will profit the most from the bill is California.  The state is set to receive $1.2 billion for education. The amount is projected to save up to 16,500 teacher jobs. 

With California and other states still begging for Federal money to bail them out of horrendous budget shortfalls, many lawmakers saw the congressional package as a way to boost their re-election campaigns.  Sen. Barbara (Call me Ma’am) Boxer, D-Calif., said in a written statement that the money comes “just in time” for the start of the school year. 

Just in time for her upcoming re-election battle, she means.   Ever since Barack Hussein Obama (Peace be upon him.), ascended to his throne, Congress has been spending like Michelle Obama on vay-cay.  And, unfortunately, it’s not going to get any better.  When these losers are voted out of office in November, the fiscal irresponsibility of their lame duck session will be the stuff of legend for decades to come.  On the bright side though, San Fran Nan and her bunch have given me an idea.  Let’s move Congress next door to the proposed Ground Zero Mosque.  The Muslims would never build it, then.  Too much Pork.

Sources:  foxnews.com, dailycaller.com, radioactiveliberty.com