We have free speech in America and enjoy the freedom but with free speech comes consequences. The burning of the Koran could put our troops at risk. This kind of demonstration of hate could mean problems for Americans everywhere. Terry Jones’ September 11th stunt could ignite violence. Burning the Koran is an insult to Islam and Muslims around the world. It is wrong! Does Terry Jones not care for the safety of our troops? Hatred stirs up strife but love covers all transgressions.
What if another religious group threaten to burn your Holy Book? What would you do and would you care?
Update: Where are the other religious leaders, and when are they going to speak out on this atrocity?
General David Petraeus has condemned a Florida church’s plans to burn Qurans this week, warning that the scene “could endanger troops” in Afghanistan.
Petraeus told The Wall Street Journal Monday that Pastor Terry Jones’ September 11 stunt could ignite violence from Taliban forces already versed in harnessing American headlines as propaganda:
“It could endanger troops and it could endanger the overall effort,” Gen. Petraeus said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “It is precisely the kind of action the Taliban uses and could cause significant problems. Not just here, but everywhere in the world we are engaged with the Islamic community.”
City puts cost of Quran-burning security at $200,000, sends bill to church
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/quran-32985-city-security.html
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Authorities say security for last weekend’s canceled Quran burning at a central Florida church cost around $200,000. City officials say they expect the church to pay.
Police Maj. Rick Hanna said more than 200 officers were on duty last weekend patrolling the church, the University of Florida football game and “soft targets” like the mall. Another 160 sheriff’s deputies were also working because of the planned protest at Dove World Outreach Center.
Gainesville City Manager Russ Blackburn said he doesn’t know if the city has legal authority to compel the church to pay.
Pastor Terry Jones canceled the event after international pressure.
Koran-burning pastor ‘has gone mad’ and ‘needs help,’ daughter
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/pastor-mad-needs-help-daughter
The estranged daughter of a Florida pastor who has threatened to burn copies of the Koran believes he has gone mad and needs help, she said in a German media interview conducted on Friday.
Emma Jones, the estranged daughter of Pastor Jones, told Spiegel Online she had e-mailed her father urging him to drop the plan to burn the Koran.
“As a daughter, I see the good-natured core inside him. But I think he needs help,” said Jones, who lives in Germany.
“I think he has gone mad.”
No, dear, the MEDIA has gone mad for showcasing your mad father. THE.FUCKING.END!
Quran-Burning Protests In Afghanistan Turn Violent
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/10/afghanistan-quran-burning_n_711943.html
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) – Thousands of Afghans are protesting a small American church’s plan to burn the Muslim holy book. At least 11 people have been injured.
Police in the northern province of Badakhshan say several hundred demonstrators ran toward a NATO compound where four attackers and five police were injured in clashes. Protesters also burned an American flag at a mosque after Friday prayers.
In western Farah province, police said two people were injured in another protest. Police say initial reports that someone was killed were wrong.
The Rev. Terry Jones from the Dove Outreach Center in Florida triggered outrage when he promised to burn the Quran on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.
He canceled the plans Thursday but then said he was reconsidering.
Daisy Khan Tells TP She And Her Husband Would Prefer Not To Meet Terry Jones On 9/11
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/09/09/masri-jones-daisy/#comments
Earlier today, Imam Muhammad al-Masri, the head of a central Florida mosque, brokered an agreement with hate pastor Terry Jones whereby Jones would back off his pledge to burn copies of the Quran on the anniversary of 9/11. Jones asserted that Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf had “agreed to move” his Islamic center project near Ground Zero.
In a telephone conversation with ThinkProgress tonight, Daisy Khan — the wife of Imam Rauf — said there was no such deal made. She said Imam Masri had called her earlier today to ask whether Imam Rauf would be open to negotiating a relocation with Jones, and she said no.
Jones asserted earlier today that he and Masri are “flying up” to New York on Saturday to meet with Rauf. Khan told ThinkProgress that, while she and her husband are prepared to meet with Jones and Masri, she had not agreed to a meeting this Saturday. She said she told Masri that such a meeting should take place sometime in the future “when cooler heads have prevailed.” She explained that she would prefer not to meet with Jones on Saturday:
We do not want to take away from the solemn day of 9/11. Our Center is not about 9/11, the Quran is not about 9/11, we wish to commorate 9/11 with prayers for the families of the victims.
Host company pulls plug on Florida pastor’s website
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE68856620100909
(Reuters) – The obscure Christian pastor who plans to mark the ninth anniversary of September 11 attacks by burning copies of the Koran has had his website pulled from the Internet, the hosting company said on Thursday.
Dan Goodgame, a spokesman for popular web host Rackspace Hosting, said two websites operated by the Dove World Outreach Center, the tiny Gainesville, Florida church run by pastor Terry Jones, were shut down late on Wednesday.
Jones, 58, has generated international attention and has been widely condemned for arguing that as an American Christian he has a right to burn Islam’s holy book because “it’s full of lies.”
One of two websites, used to drum up publicity ahead of Jones’s planned Koran book-burning on Saturday, used the domain name “Islam is of the Devil.”
Goodgame said Dove World Outreach Center had violated “hate speech” provisions of its contract with Rackspace.
“What we did was to terminate them as a Rackspace customer because they had violated the contract,” Goodgame said.
He said the move had been requested by a complaint about the content posted by Dove World Outreach Center, but declined to say from where it had come.
He said executives at Rackspace, which has more than 100,000 business customers in 140 countries, were unaware that Dove World Outreach Center was even a customer of theirs until they got the complaint several days ago.
“We looked into it and made a determination that the two sites were in violation of the hate-speech provisions of our acceptable-use policy,” Goodgame said.
“We’re not trying to restrict anyone’s free speech rights We just feel that as a business we have the right to set rules,” he said.
McConnell & CO. are a day late and a dollar short Where were these fools months ago during the ramped up anti Muslim rhetoric and a year ago and present with the teabaggers? I’ll tell you where. Standing quietly on the sidelines watching the sideshow and applauding the madness.
Precisely! McConnel waits until the insane idiot decides to cancel the burning and then he shows up to urge the media to ignore him? WTF? Fuck McConnell!
McConnell Urges Media To Ignore Quran-Burning Pastor
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/09/mcconnell-urges-media-not_n_711163.html
Even as a Florida pastor claimed he was canceling his plans to host a Quran-burning event this weekend, the top rungs of the federal government attempted to minimize the fallout of the explosive scheme.
In an unsolicited statement from his office on Thursday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell joined the chorus of the distraught, urging members of the media to use proper editorial discretion and not broadcast Pastor Terry Jones’ plans to burn Qurans.
While I will defend any American’s First Amendment Rights, our generals in the field tell us that the men and women defending those rights would be endangered as a result of this stunt. If this group insists on going forward, I would hope that members of the media will not reward them with what they crave most: news coverage.
That statement came around the same time that reports emerged that Secretary of Defense Robert Gates called Jones to underscore how much of a risk to national security his stunt would be.
September 09, 2010 04:30 AM
Republican Leadership on Book Burning: No Comment
By Heather
When even Gen. David Petraeus and Gen. Ray Odierno have come out and spoken against this wingnut pastor Terry Jones, Keith asks, where is the Republican leadership in speaking out against it? This guy is obviously some nutcase who is enjoying all of this attention the media is giving him and it is a shame that they are but it appears that the Republicans who have been happy to stoke the Islamophobia for political gain are either silent on the issue, or if they are making statements like Sarah Barracuda did from her Facebook page, they’re not helping matters much or making them worse.
As Keith noted, the book burning has been condemned by the Sec. General of NATO, the U.S. General heading training in Afghanistan, the head of the U.N. mission in Afghanistan, Sec. Gates, Sec. Clinton, Atty. Gen. Holder, David Axelrod, NY Mayor Bloomberg, Sen. Joe Lieberman and the group of family members of 9-11 victims.
Mitt Romney, Gov. Haley Barbour and Sen. Lindsey Graham all came out against the book burning although their statements were rather tepid.
And then we have House Minority Leader John Boehner who said what Pastor Jones was doing “was not wise” but conflated it with the Park 51 Islamic center that the wingnuts are going crazy over. Followed by Sarah Palin or her ghostwriter putting up a similar sentiment on Facebook, comparing the decision to burn the Quran to the not-a-mosque “mosque at ground zero” as well.
Silent on the issue… George Bush, Newt Gingrich, Michael Steele, Eric Cantor, Mitch McConnell, Jeff Sessions, Susan Collins and Liz Cheney and last but not least John McCain. So much for “listening to the generals” huh?
Sadly as the generals pointed out, even if this man was being ignored by the media, in the age of You Tube his actions would still be causing a backlash, but the amount of coverage really has been over the top. That said, even his own church in Germany has come out against him.
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/republican-leadership-book-burning-no-comm
FOX channel is as QUIET as a church mouse, after pushing anti-Muslim meme for over a month. What’s up with them being the first cable channel to submit that they where not going to cover the Koran burnings, hmmm?
Associated Press, what’s up with y’all? No coverage either of the burnings either. FOLLOW THE $$$$$$$ FOLKS!
Something smells and it stinks to high heaven…
How is the threats to burn the Koran any different from CROSS BURNINGS?
NONE. This is more MANUFACTURED hate-fearmongering designed by the RIGHT WING GOP.
AP: Flag burning yes, cross burning yes, Quran burning no
Romenesko has posted a memo from an Associated Press muckety-muck. It’s a heads-up to let everybody know that AP won’t be moving any pictures of Qurans being burned in Gainesville, Fla. The memo states:
“Should the event happen on Saturday, the AP will not distribute images or audio that specifically show Qurans being burned, and will not provide detailed text descriptions of the burning. …
AP policy is not to provide coverage of events that are gratuitously manufactured to provoke and offend….”
That last line was certainly worth a chuckle. HOW MANY THOUSAND STORIES has the Associated Press written about Fred Phelps? How many thousand photos of “God Hates Fags” signs has AP shipped to every corner of the globe?
http://library.thinkquest.org/28172/Cross_burning_in_Alabama.jpg
Wait a minute!
After canceling Koran burning, Terry Jones tells NBC…Back to square one!
***faints***
WTF? See, this guy is getting way too much attention.
With 30-40 followers! WTF?
FOLLOW THE MONEY… GOP, FOX…. FOLLOW THE $$$
look at this rubbish:
On eve of Sept. 11, Obama struggles to balance messages of war, tolerance
By Scott Wilson
Friday, September 10, 2010; 1:49 PM
As President Obama marks nine years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, he is attempting to harness the event’s potent legacy to rally support for the war in Afghanistan while urging religious tolerance as anti-Muslim sentiment in the country rises.
Striking a balance between those messages is among Obama’s central challenges as he works to move the country toward what might be called a post-post-9/11 phase, a nation where Islam is accepted without fear and America’s wars in Muslim countries are brought to a close.
Toward that end he has concluded U.S. combat operations in Iraq and set a deadline to begin withdrawing from Afghanistan. He has preached tolerance toward Islam, at some political risk to himself, and asked Muslims abroad for a “new beginning.” He abolished some of the most controversial post-9/11 national security policies.
But working against those efforts is Obama’s own political need to keep reminding the nation that al-Qaeda carried out the attacks in order to justify his escalation of the Afghan war, which only a minority of Americans believe is worth fighting. As a Democrat who never served in uniform and spent some childhood years in a Muslim nation, Obama is also hindered in speaking about 9/11 by his own biography, raising suspicions among an increasingly anti-Islamic public whenever he tries to promote tolerance.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/10/AR2010091004370.html?wpisrc=nl_pmpolitics
These folks aren’t even trying to hide their slickness. The media are the ones fueling this suspision and anti-Muslim rhetoric.
The Media are the no good mofos. If it wasn’t for the media pumping up the Koran story concerning an ignorant racist CAC, there would have been no need for the President nor Gates to speak out about it.
The Media= divisive bitches
Media =LAME ASS GERM-A-LISM
Hmmmmm…hum
WARNING: Money-launderers using muslims as red herrings.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/9/5/135153/1284
Terry loves to go on TV and radio and talk about how his “Islam is of The Devil” campaign is really motivated out of love for Muslims.
I call bullshit.
He ain’t motivated by fear of Islam taking over America an enforcing sharia law.
He ain’t motivated by hate of the people who attacked the WTC and the Pentagon.
He ain’t motivated by some twisted dominionist reading of scripture.
He sure as hell ain’t motivated by some sense of divine mission.
No… Terry Jones is motivated by money.
The religion gig? That’s just the first level in this con artist’s layer cake. The book burning event is merely a marketing ploy to support his money machine. Sounds harsh? Let me show you what a multi-million dollar money laundering operation looks like, complete with shell corporations.
Money laundering is nothing more than a way of obscuring the source of your income. It breaks down into three stages:
CRAZY PREACHERS ARE GOOD FOR AMERICA
Evangelist Franklin Graham, son of Billy, says he sent a letter to Jones after failing in two attempts to call the Gainesville preacher and make a personal plea to for him to stop his dangerous foolishness. Franklin Graham’s opposition to the stunt is significant because of past intemperate statements he has made about the Islamic religion. Indeed, I sometimes wonder if Franklin is trying to send his daddy to the grave in order to receive his inheritance. The son of the world’s most famous evangelist often says things that must make daddy cringe.
Given all the hate-filled rhetoric spewed about Muslims in recent weeks, it would be nice to believe that the Terry Jones insanity caused people to peer into the mirror and question their own intolerance. But that is not likely to happen. The opposite reaction may occur. Many folks looking for excuses to avoid church-going will say, “If Terry Jones represents Christianity, count me out.”
In that regard, I know of what I speak. Fifty years ago (damn, I’m old), Sunday mornings were reserved for nursing hangovers. However, my then wife finally made me feel guilty enough to attend church for the children’s sake. We paid a visit to a North Hollywood, California place of worship. I’m pretty sure it was Baptist. Anyway, in the course of the sermon, the minister began preaching about the evils of electing a Catholic to lead the country. He warned that John F. Kennedy would be taking orders from the Pope.
http://www.derelictgunslinger.com/blog/2010/09/09/crazy-preachers-are-good-for-america/
Reuters now also quoting “SOURCES CLOSE TO NY IMAM” saying NO agreement to move Park 51 center
9 minutes ago via web
http://twitter.com/KeithOlbermann/statuses/24044241009
ENOUGH of this fucking lunatic! He’s had his 15 minutes of INFAMY.
Jones is one twisted mofo. Someone must have put his ass in check with a quickness. LOL
I smell Fox all over this fuckery. He wanted the White House’s attention, and I’m sure they gave it to him. His ass is being investigated, and you know they’ve found a shitload on him.
You don’t request a hookup with the White House without being investigated. You need a background check just to get a tour of the WH. They called that lil fuckers bluff and he’s backed the fuck down!
Who’s behind this Koran burning stunt? Why did Fox News suddenly release a statement saying they wouldn’t cover the Koran burning? What? After months of Muslim bashing, they don’t want to talk about it? Something smells…
Terry Jones didn’t mention one word that he received a call from Defense Secretary Gates. Hmmmm…
Pray tell? Name one black man who could get away with this and not be locked up already? Name one?! Only a white man has this privilege!
Nada, done, zero, zilch! Yep, batshyt nutso, CaCs and gets all the media attention.
Breaking News:
Terry Jones will cancel the burning of the Koran. Hateful rat bastard.
—————————————-
Breaking News Alert: Fla. minister cancels burning of Korans on 9/11, says leader of group planning to build an Islamic center near Ground Zero will relocate the center. September 9, 2010 5:15:16 PM
—————————————-
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A Christian minister in Florida is canceling plans to burn Korans on Sept. 11, heeding an international outcry that drew criticism from President Obama and religious and political leaders across the Muslim world.
Rev. Terry Jones of the Dove Outreach Center also said that the leader of a Muslim group that wants to build a 13-story Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero has agreed to relocate the center. The agreement could not immediately be confirmed.
For more information, visit washingtonpost.com
News Update: Obama calls Koran-burning “a recruitment bonanza for al-Qaeda”
I wonder who is behind this madness?
Ed Shultz is blaming the POTUS for this nutjob’s actions.
How is it the POTUS fault for what this racist cac did? Ed Shultz need to stfu. He’s taking jabs at the President because of him not going on the fat fucker’ show.
Like I said, Fox has set the tone for this foolishness and the rest of the cable station are scooping it up and running with it.
And FYI, Franklin Graham sent the looney tunes a letter. I tell you the evil forces are working… He gives his letter today, Fox & AP are refusing to cover the burning and then the nutjobs announces he’s not burning the Korans.
Can you say, Shirley Sherod?
http://www.derelictgunslinger.com/blog/2010/09/09/crazy-preachers-are-good-for-america/
Obama Denounces Planned Quran Burning, Warns Of Fallout
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/09/obama-gma-interview-quran_n_710282.html
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is exhorting a Florida minister to “listen to those better angels” and call off his plan to engage in a Quran-burning protest this weekend.
Obama told ABC’s “Good Morning America” in an interview aired Thursday that he hopes the Rev. Terry Jones of Florida listens to the pleas of people who have asked him to call off the plan. The president called it a “stunt.”
“If he’s listening, I hope he understands that what he’s proposing to do is completely contrary to our values as Americans,” Obama said. “That this country has been built on the notion of freedom and religious tolerance.”
“And as a very practical matter, I just want him to understand that this stunt that he is talking about pulling could greatly endanger our young men and women who are in uniform,” the president added.
Said Obama: “Look, this is a recruitment bonanza for Al Qaida. You could have serious violence in places like Pakistan and Afghanistan.” The president also said Jones’ plan, if carried out, could serve as an incentive for terrorist-minded individuals “to blow themselves up” to kill others.
Dove World Outreach Church Teaches Us All About ‘Real Racism’
http://wrightandleftreport.com/political-fringe/dove-world-outreach-church-teaches-us-all-about-real-racism/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_i0J7LH0CA&feature=player_embedded
Words fail me…
Quran Burning Pastor: ‘We Are Definitely Prepared To Give Our Lives’ (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/08/quran-burning-pastor-expl_1_n_709310.html
The Christian minister who has ignited a media firestorm with his intention to commemorate the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks by burning copies of the Quran appeared on “Nightline” Tuesday (Sep. 7) to reassert his church’s commitment to the plan.
Terry Jones, pastor of the Dove World Outreach Center, a small, evangelical church in Gainesville, Fla., said that he and his congregation will go forward with the proposed “International Burn a Koran Day” on Sep. 11, 2010, in spite of concerns from the government that the event could put troops in danger.
“It’s something that we feel we need to do,” Jones said. “It’s a message that we feel we need to send.”
The pastor stated that he and his congregation have received death threats and will be armed on the evening of the Quran burning. “We are definitely prepared to give our lives for this particular message and cause,” he said.
Oh, he’s a crazy mofo! We might have another Jim Jones here…
Who Is Terry Jones?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/harry-shearer/who-is-terry-jones_b_708990.html
LONDON–The American media seem spellbound by Terry Jones as a stuntmaster. They can’t stop talking about his threat to burn copies of the Koran on the 9th anniversary of 9/11, or asking other notables, from generals to cabinet members, to comment about it. The only thing it doesn’t seem fascinated by is Terry Jones the person.
The British and German press are shedding some light on that issue. Germany’s Der Spiegel quotes Andrew Schafer, a Protestant church official responsible for monitoring cults in the Cologne area, where Jones once had a congregation numbering 100, as saying:
“Terry Jones appears to have a delusional personality.”
The Times of London (hidden online behind a paywall, but I have a paper copy I borrowed from the BBC), has some blunter reporting about Jones’ background:
“He (and his second wife Sylvia) left Germany in 2008 after one of their three adult children… along with a former church elder… accused them of financial and labour (sic) abuses… (the Florida church) is funded by TS & Company, a furniture shipping business owned by the church, which buys vintage pieces from Europe and sells them at profit in the U.S. The workforce is comprised of the Jones’s disciples, who work for no wages and live cost-free in tatty properties owned by the (Joneses).”
Tatty is Britspeak for rundown, or crummy.
Breaking:
Terry Jones still considering burning the Koran on 9/11.
Crazy white trash… SMGDH
Petraeus vs. the Pastor
Why aren’t politicians speaking out against the would-be Quran-burner who’s endangering our troops?
http://www.slate.com/id/2266404/
Republicans are usually eager to trumpet their support for the troops and the war against terror. So why aren’t they condemning the Florida pastor who plans to lead his congregation in a Quran-burning bonfire on Sept. 11?
excerpt~
Advance word of the burning has already sparked anti-American protests in Kabul, with more scheduled soon. Actual images of burning Qurans, Petraeus said, “would undoubtedly be used by extremists in Afghanistan—and around the world—to inflame public opinion and incite violence,” much like the photos of torture at Abu Ghraib.
So where is John McCain, the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Services Committee, who brandishes his war-hero credentials at every opportunity and, in the past, has rushed to condemn anyone who dares criticize Gen. Petraeus? Where is the second-ranking Republican, James Inhofe of Oklahoma, who also sits on the Foreign Relations Committee? Where is Saxby Chambliss, who loudly supports big-ticket weapons systems in the name of national security (and the jobs they sustain in his home state of Georgia) but has thus far said nothing to support our troops on this front?
The silence is deafening!
I know the size of a church shouldn’t matter, but this UNChristian, hateful SOB is so ‘good’ at being a preacher that he can’t get more people that come through a barbershop on a slow day. Only way he can get ‘ pub’ for his church is through hate.
Fire Marshall already said it was a hazard, and they need to have the paddy wagon right there to arrest their asses.
Glad to hear and see this
[cnnvideo url=’http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2010/09/07/bts.islamaphobia.cnn’ inline=’true’]
http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/09/07/new.york.islamic.center.islamophobia/?hpt=T2
Hi Roschelle. Thanks for posting the video. These leaders are doing the right thing.
Attorney general: Quran-burning plan ‘idiotic, dangerous’
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39048161/?GT1=43001
MIAMI — The government turned up the pressure Tuesday on the head of a small Florida church who plans to burn copies of the Quran on Sept. 11, with Attorney General Eric Holder calling the idea “idiotic and dangerous.”
Religious leaders who met with Holder for nearly an hour Tuesday to discuss recent attacks on Muslims and mosques around the United States said those were his words on the plan by the Rev. Terry Jones of Gainesville, Fla.
The meeting was closed to reporters, but a Justice Department official who was present confirmed that Holder said that the plan to burn copies of the Quran was idiotic.
Holder also told the group no one should have to live and pray in fear and that he planned to address the issue publicly soon, the meeting participants said. He also reiterated a commitment to aggressively prosecute hate crimes, they said.
Didn’t AG Holder say some Americans are Cowards when it comes to race?
Because you know that is what this about. Ugly racist hiding behind religion.
Major US veterans group condemns planned Koran burning
(AFP) – 1 hour ago
WASHINGTON — A top US veterans group on Tuesday blasted a planned Koran burning to mark nine years since the September 11th strikes as the work of “religious extremists” whose gesture would endanger US forces.
“There is nothing to be gained and everything to lose from this selfish act,” said Richard Eubank, leader of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), the largest US combat veterans organization with 1.5 million members.
“Our war is against a small number of religious extremists who kill indiscriminately and without remorse. Let’s not allow an equally small number of religious extremists in America to widen the war,” said Eubank.
Eubank deplored that the action, planned for Saturday by a Florida Christian evangelical church, risked outweighing years of US actions that he described as having built up goodwill among Muslims toward the United States.
“No one will remember the tremendous multi-national coalition that freed Kuwait back in 1991, or America’s huge humanitarian response in Indonesia after the 2005 tsunami or this year’s disastrous flooding in Pakistan,” he said.
“The only thing Muslims will remember and our enemies will exploit was American laws permitted American citizens to burn the Islamic holy book without consequence,” he said.
The VFW stressed in a statement at that the “self-serving” move would “fuel anti-American sentiment for years” and further endanger US forces in places like Afghanistan.
Saturday’s anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks in which the World Trade Center was destroyed is also set to coincide with the festivities for the Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan.
A small Florida church has vowed to mark Saturday’s anniversary and remember the deaths of almost 3,000 people killed in the Al-Qaeda attack by burning a Koran.
Pastor Terry Jones said the Koran torching aimed “to remember those who were brutally murdered on September 11,” and to send a warning “to the radical element of Islam.”
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jMc4rBsfvVexYQMO48aH81uRJhFQ
Religious leaders unite against Koran burning
7 September 2010 Last updated at 18:17 ET Help Religious leaders have openly condemned plans by a Florida church to burn copies of the Koran on Saturday.
The statement follows the widespread condemnation of plans made by Pastor Terry Jones to burn copies of the Koran on the 9/11 anniversary.
The leaders – including Dr Ingrid Mattson, President of The Islamic Society of North America, Rabbi Nancy Fuchs-Kreimer from the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick, Archbishop Emeritus of Washington and Rabbi David Saperstein from the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism – issued a statement condemning the church’s actions during a ‘clergy summit’ to discuss the controversy over plans to build a mosque close to where the Twin Towers once stood in New York.
Video here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11223312
Protesters Denounce Pastor’s Plan to Burn Quran
NYC mayor defends minister’s right to burn Quran
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/07/AR2010090704343.html
NEW YORK — Mayor Michael Bloomberg says a minister’s plan to burn the Muslim holy book on Sept. 11 is “distasteful” but says the minister has a right to do it.
Bloomberg was asked Tuesday about Pastor Terry Jones’ announced plan to burn the Quran on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the terror attacks, amid a national debate about a planned Islamic center near ground zero. The mayor is one of the center’s strongest supporters.
The mayor says that he doesn’t think Jones would like it if someone burned a book that Jones thinks is holy.
But he says Jones’ planned act is protected by free speech rights, and “we can’t say that we’re going to apply the First Amendment to only those cases where we are in agreement.”
TNR’s Marty Peretz: Muslims Unworthy Of “The Privileges Of The First Amendment”
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/09/07/tnrs-peretz-muslims-unwor_n_707321.html
I had been wondering when I’d get to read some eye-popping quote on the Park51 controversy from racist idiot/New Republic editor-in-chief Marty Peretz, and today, I guess, is the day! Via Matt Yglesias:
But, frankly, Muslim life is cheap, most notably to Muslims. And among those Muslims led by the Imam Rauf there is hardly one who has raised a fuss about the routine and random bloodshed that defines their brotherhood. So, yes, I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse.
The First Amendment is a RIGHT! Since when did it become a privilege, airhead?
America, IT’S NOT JUST FOR WHITES ANYMORE!
Any true religion will be one that promotes God’s love for All. THE.END.
Pastor Terry Jones will hold Koran-burning rally despite warnings from White House, Gen. Petraeus
BY Sean Alfano
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER
Originally Published:Tuesday, September 7th 2010, 10:40 AM
Updated: Tuesday, September 7th 2010, 1:23 PM
Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who is planning a Koran-burning rally to protest the 9/11 terrorist attacks, plans to go through with the event despite warnings from the White House and the U.S. commander in Afghanistan that the protest could harm American soldiers.
“We have firmly made up our mind, but at the same time, we are definitely praying about it,” said Jones, who heads the Dove World Outreach Church in Gainesville, Fla., told CNN Tuesday.
Jones said his group is “weighing the situation.”
Later Tuesday, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters that burning Korans “puts our troops in harm’s way.”
U.S. officials and Muslims across the world have expressed outrage over the event.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/09/07/2010-09-07_terry_jones_pastor_of_dove_world_outreach_center_will_go_through_with_koranburni.html
Terry Jones, the Florida pastor who is planning a Koran-burning rally to protest the 9/11 terrorist attacks, plans to go through with the event despite warnings from the White House and the U.S. commander in Afghanistan that the protest could harm American soldiers.
Terry Jones is filled with hate! He doesn’t give a damn about this country nor about the lives of the troops! May he go to his own special place reserved strictly for him!
These bastards want a holy war, and they don’t give a damn who gets killed.
Pray on it? That’s laughable! Can’t you smell GOP behind this foolishness?
Hate Pastor Behind ‘Burn A Quran Day’ Responds To Petraeus: ‘We Have Firmly Made Up Our Mind’
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/09/07/burn-quran-soldiers-lives/#comments
As ThinkProgress has reported, the Dove World Church based out of Gainesville, FL, is organizing an “International Burn a Quran Day” on September 11. Gen. David Petraeus warned yesterday that the hate campaign “could put the lives of American troops in danger and damage the war effort.” Gen. William Caldwell — the commander of the NATO training mission in Afghanistan — echoed Petraeus’ admonition on CNN yesterday afternoon:
CALDWELL: What I will tell you is that their very actions will in fact jeopardize the safety of the young men and women who are serving in uniform over here and also undermine the very mission that we’re trying to accomplish.
I would hope they would understand that there are second- and third-order — second-, really, and third-order effects that will occur that will affect that young man and woman who’s out there on point for America, serving their nation today, because of their actions back in the United States.
So, hate monger Terry Jones is praying about it but has firmly made up his mind to put our troops in danger because of his hateful actions. Evil has no bounds!
Pure DOMESTIC TERRORISM. We don’t have it twisted. Mr. Jones. How does a small group of white folks hiding behind religion get to threaten the burning of another’s Holy scriptures, spew so much hate, and place so many Americans and other humans lives in peril?
The media, the USA media gives them the platform, and they soak up the attention. When are other religious leaders going to call out this small band of bigoted, intolerant fear-mongering idiots?
Exactly. It’s straight up terrorism covered under the cloak of religion!
Wonder what are Franklin Graham’s thoughts on this THREAT?
I’LL REPEAT THE ? WHERE IS FRANKLIN GRAHAM, AND WHAT ARE HIS THOUGHTS ABOUT A PASTOR WANTING TO BURN ANOTHER’S HOLY SCRIPTURES?
Rangel Joins Muslims in Rally for Downtown Mosque
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/01/rangel-joins-muslims-in-rally-for-downtown-mosque/?scp=1&sq=muslims%20koran&st=cse
Facing one of the more contentious re-election campaigns of his 40-year career, United States Representative Charles B. Rangel waded into a polarizing debate on Wednesday as he spoke out in favor of an Islamic center and mosque planned near ground zero.
The proposal for the center two blocks north of the World Trade Center site has provoked a vitriolic argument over the limits of religious tolerance and the legacy of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Opponents say building a Muslim worship space so close to ground zero would be an insult to the memory of those killed in the attacks. Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has been a staunch defender, proclaiming that the building of the center on Park Row is befitting a city that has made room for such a diverse population.
Calling himself “a patriot, one who loves this country,” Mr. Rangel said that it was important to recognize and ease the pain caused by those terrorist attacks. But, he suggested, some of the opposition to the center reflected critics’ unwillingness to embrace the country’s tradition of religious freedom and said that “we cannot allow this type of intolerance to continue.”
You betta speak, Mr. Rangel!
This Terry Jones and Dove World org. are peddling more hate-mongering and religious intolerance! Threatening to desecrate another’s Holy scripture is BEYOND THE PALE.
Personally, I would never condone such an act. Do these fools really think burning a Holy book will erase centuries of one’s religious beliefs?
And for critics, including Patreus, don’t you know that Muslims live in the United States as well as overseas?
American Muslims Ask, Will We Ever Belong?
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/06/us/06muslims.html?src=me&ref=general
For nine years after the attacks of Sept. 11, many American Muslims made concerted efforts to build relationships with non-Muslims, to make it clear they abhor terrorism, to educate people about Islam and to participate in interfaith service projects. They took satisfaction in the observations by many scholars that Muslims in America were more successful and assimilated than Muslims in Europe.
Now, many of those same Muslims say that all of those years of work are being rapidly undone by the fierce opposition to a Muslim cultural center near ground zero that has unleashed a torrent of anti-Muslim sentiments and a spate of vandalism. The knifing of a Muslim cab driver in New York City has also alarmed many American Muslims.
“We worry: Will we ever be really completely accepted in American society?” said Dr. Ferhan Asghar, an orthopedic spine surgeon in Cincinnati and the father of two young girls. “In no other country could we have such freedoms — that’s why so many Muslims choose to make this country their own. But we do wonder whether it will get to the point where people don’t want Muslims here anymore.”
Ye, Muslims belong in America. This is the “home of the free and the land of brave.”
Unfortunately Jones and crew are cowards who want to infringe on other Americans’ freedoms.
Amen!
Co-Signing all of this!
Precisely, Ametia!
God is the author of peace. Terry Jones is no man of God. How dare him exercise his right to religious freedom but dare others to do so. He is doing nothing more than peddling hate! God is not in that mess!
GOD IS LOVE, Terry Jones! THE. END.
I heard on NPR this morning that this Terry Jones said he’d reconsider burnign the Koran if the White House, or Patreus, or Clinton would contact him. Soemthing is rotten in the state of FL. and this lunatic.
This guy is being used as a pawn. PLAIN & SIMPLE. The question remains, who is behind advocating this hate of burning the Koran and why?
The guy is ignorant white trash. Did you see the video where Jones & church members hurled racial slurs against blacks?
I saw it. Someone bigger is behind this nonsense. This guy is saying that if he can speak with someone from the White House, he might reconsider? What the FUCK?! Is he blaming the POTUS for his bigoted hatred of Muslims?
Who does he think he is? And every lunatic will be requesting to speak with the POTUS and top admins… NOPE! I smell 3 day old fish with this man and his shenanigans.