Anderson@Large

National Politically-correct Radio

NPR’s abrupt firing of Juan Williams for expressing an opinion that is held by many Americans is generating a lot of static.

During an appearance on The O’Reilly Factor, Williams said:

I mean, look, Bill, I’m not a bigot. You know the kind of books I’ve written about the civil rights movement in this country. But when I get on the plane, I got to tell you, if I see people who are in Muslim garb and I think, you know, they are identifying themselves first and foremost as Muslims, I get worried. I get nervous.

While standing by the decision, NPR Ombudsman Alicia Shepard says the handling of Williams’ inartful remarks was, well, inartful:

I’m not privy to the why this announcement was so hastily made. NPR could have waited until his contract ran out, or possibly suspended him pending a review. Either way, a more deliberative approach might have enabled NPR to avoid what has turned into a public relations nightmare.

Williams has already landed on his feet with a $2 million contract with Fox News. Still, Republicans plan to land a knockout punch and defund NPR.

Sen. Jim DeMint, a member of the Senate Commerce Committee which oversees Corporation for Public Broadcasting, says it’s time to end taxpayer-funding of NPR and PBS:

Once again we find the only free speech liberals support is the speech with which they agree. The incident with Mr. Williams shows that NPR is not concerned about providing the listening public with an honest debate of today’s issues, but rather with promoting a one-sided liberal agenda.

We can’t keep borrowing hundreds of millions of dollars from China each year to fund public radio and public TV when there are so many choices already in the market for news and entertainment. If CPB is defunded taxpayers will save billions. This is just one of the many cuts Congress should make next year.

I plan to introduce legislation to defund CPB and force a vote on it as well as other measures to start getting our fiscal house in order.

Although I don’t agree with the effort to defund NPR, the incident represents political correctness run amok. The PC police who want to silence Williams also want to silence opponents of the Ground Zero mosque.

Imam Rauf’s Bridge to Nowhere

The wannabe bridge-builder, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, is learning a lesson in civil engineering: Americans don’t like being told my way or the highway.

During an appearance on CNN, Rauf issued a veiled threat that Islamic extremists may go to extremes if the Ground Zero mosque is moved:

If we move from that location, the story will be the radicals have taken over the discourse. The headlines in the Muslim world will be that Islam is under attack.

A newly released Quinnipiac poll found that 63 percent of voters think it is wrong to build the mosque at the proposed location.

And for the bitter-clingers who want to believe that opposition is a vast right-wing conspiracy ginned up by Fox News take note:

There is no sub-group which says it is “appropriate” to build the mosque near Ground Zero.

Rauf now says “everything is on the table.”

But if Rauf thinks not moving is a viable option, I have a bridge for sale (sign included).

To borrow a phrase from Martin Lawrence, it’s time for Imam Raul to get to stepping.

No Mosque Here

On the ninth anniversary of 9/11, I joined thousands of Americans near the site of the proposed Cordoba House to draw a line in the sand: No mosque here.

I am a native New Yorker. I also volunteered at Ground Zero for six months.

Still, I was surprised by just how close the proposed mosque is to Ground Zero. The block was closed to vehicle and pedestrian traffic so this photo was taken at the corner of Park Place and Church Street.

If you leave the proposed location, walk a few feet and turn onto Church Street, you can see Ground Zero. From that corner, you can almost hear the reading of the names of the nearly 3,000 people who died in the Twin Towers.

The location begs the question: Why there?

The Amish Market and office buildings are on one side of the street. The Dakota Roadhouse bar, “Where too much is never enough,” is next door.

There are a lot of luxury rentals and condos in Lower Manhattan. It strains credulity to suggest that a community of Wall Streeters and yuppies is the target audience.

So why there?

I interviewed several protesters. No one questions the developers’ constitutional right to build. What they do question is the lack of sensitivity to 9/11 families and the nearly 70 percent of Americans who oppose the mosque.

As one person told me:

We will never forget. They want to put a flag on the top of that building and say they conquered us.

The concerns about the true motives were echoed by Ed Stevens, who along with 13 members of the English Defense League, traveled to New York City from the United Kingdom.

Ed told me he’s seen this movie before:

Everything that’s going on here has been going on in the UK for some time…It’s their way or the highway. They are abusing America’s freedom and tolerance.

And we know the sequel is never as good as the original.

No Ground Zero mosque. Not there, not now, not ever.

Gone Fishing

I am, er, going fishing for a few days.

Between the Ground Zero mosque madness, the return of Shirley Sherrod and the dueling reclaim the dream rallies, I need a break.

I love Pablo Picasso’s “Night Fishing at Antibes.”

But don’t ask me about my fishing trip.

Fishing Trip by Koko Taylor

I’ll be back next week.

Where Does Ground Zero End?

The debate over the Ground Zero mosque is playing out in Lower Manhattan.

Blogger Tim Sumner asks: Where does ground zero end?

Sumner writes:

The dust clouds from the collapsing South and North Towers rapidly rolled out in all directions. Papers from the World Trade Center landed in Brooklyn and many homes and businesses there also had to be decontaminated. Human remains were found as far away as the East River. The streets were inch-deep with debris the length of Wall Street, which terminates at South Street near the historic Sea Port.

The Burlington Coat Factory is less than 400 feet from World Trade Center Tower 7 which also collapsed. Those who say a mosque there would not be at Ground Zero are just plain wrong.

For some, a small section of the Brooklyn Promenade, which is across the East River from the World Trade Center site, is hallowed ground.

Since 2002, this picture of the Twin Towers has hung on a fence on the famed walkway. It is protected from theft and vandalism because “hallowed ground” is a New York state of mind.

In  the immediate aftermath of 9/11, we were all New Yorkers.

No Cordoba Mega-Mosque at Ground Zero

The Coalition to Honor Ground Zero will hold a protest demonstration this Sunday to tell President Barack Obama, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Hamas and Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf: No Cordoba mega-mosque at Ground Zero:

Join construction workers, firefighters, veterans, 9/11 families and first responders, civil and human rights leaders, women’s rights advocates, and residents of the Ground Zero neighborhood will unite for a major protest at the Ground Zero mosque site.

Protesters will demand that the State Department answer: Why are you sending Imam Rauf as an envoy across the globe on the taxpayers’ dime?

WHO:    Coalition to Honor Ground Zero, 9/11 Families for a Safe and Strong America, ACT! For America, Alliance for Interfaith Resistance, Congress of Racial Equality and Human Rights Coalition Against Radical Islam. A complete list of organizations and leaders is available here.

WHAT:    Protest to stop the Ground Zero Mosque

WHEN:   Sunday, August 22 at 11:00 a.m.

WHERE:  Park Place and West Broadway

View Larger Map

WHY:  To push back against those attempting to impose harsh Shariah Islam, stealth jihad or terror on our nation. We will not be moved!

To add your name to the Coalition, send an email to <stop911mosque at gmail.com>.

Coalition to Honor Ground Zero

The Coalition to Honor Ground Zero is soliciting signatures for their petition to stop the Ground Zero mosque.