Thanks, Mrs. Polly. I think the choice not to grace Geller’s gathering with your presence was a good one—if more people ignored her, it would be a better world.

Never having been to NY, but having been on many demos, I appreciated the flavor of your streetlife here. And the Buddhist monks! They get everywhere! Kudos to all who turned out.

As for that Stars & Stripes guy, he should be preserved in jelly for posterity.

As for that Stars & Stripes guy, he should be preserved in jelly for posterity.

I would like to do this with ALL Teabaggers, preferably before November.

I wonder if the man in the flag onesy is against burning the flag, because frankly, his outfit is desecration at it’s finest.
And thanks Mrs. Polly for the great peeks at the Big Apple!

The problem is not the Tea Party, New Yorkers, or Americans in general. The problem is an imam who is either grossly insensitive to the feelings of people he is allegedly trying to build bridges with, or is engaged in a deliberate provocation.

I don’t think the imam is insensitive or attempting to be provocative. He’s perhaps a bit naive because he didn’t expect unscrupulous people who are attempting to demonize all Muslims to score political points and promote themselves to latch onto his not-Ground Zero not-a-mosque project as a cause célèbre.

The problem is an imam who is either grossly insensitive to the feelings of people he is allegedly trying to build bridges with, or is engaged in a deliberate provocation.

An assertion which assumes that what he is doing is somehow inherently offensive, and that he actively courted public controversy, which he did not. The outrage here has been wholly manufactured by other people with grievance-fanning agendas of their own.

Thanks, Polly. You have proven once again that History repeats itself—the first time as Tragedy, the second time as Farce, and the third time as a really tedious Summer Stock production of “Yankee Doodle Dandy.”

Or, what Betty said. Take your pick.

The problem is an imam who is either grossly insensitive to the feelings of people he is allegedly trying to build bridges with, or is engaged in a deliberate provocation.

You are SO right! Just as those civil rights “agitators” failed to take into account the tender emotions of white Southerners when they invaded the “hallowed ground” of the lunch counters.

Fee-fees don’t trump rights. Not in Grown-Up Land. I find the confederate flag a disgusting symbol of hate, racism, and a reminder of a “heritage” that included slavery, rape, torture, and murder as part of “states’ rights.” But do I think idiots have the right to fly that rag on their own privately owned land? Yes.

And a cultural center built by people who had fuck-all nothing to do with the 9/11 attacks isn’t even the same thing as flying the Flag of Hate and Treason. Not. Even. Close.

(And Strange—I am so stealing your “Yankee Doodle Dandy” line. God, as if I don’t see enough tedious theater in my day job.)

The cynical decision to turn what had been a local matter into a convenient wedge issue in time for the midterms can be seen in the pleasant interview Laura Ingraham had with the imam’s wife. Daisy Khan, weeks before crazy Pam Gellar began her drumbeat of hateful misinformation, and Sarah and those jumped on it.

Thereal provocation came from right-wing pundits who whipped up feelings of hurt and resentment, and the media who need to turn every story into a simple wrestling match for their viewers.

Do these idiots realize that the WTC had at least two Muslim prayer rooms in them?  When the new buildings are completed, I am sure there will be Muslims officed in them, as there were in the WTC.  Miss Polly’s comments are exactly right.

Do these idiots realize that the WTC had at least two Muslim prayer rooms in them? 

Hell, they don’t even realize there were Muslims inside them when they were attacked. It was, after all, the World Trade Center—not the American Trade Center.

The carefully-cultivated indignation of dumbshits in flag-suits makes me want to puke. I’m sick of living in an America that defines itself by its juvenile insecurities and deathless grudges.