Ashooh Comments on Mosque
August 19, 2010Rich Ashooh’s campaign for Congress issued the following statement today:
Ashooh on Ground Zero Mosque: “Passing” is not an option
First Amnesty, now Mosque; Mahoney exposes second major difference between candidates
(Manchester) Republican Congressional Candidate Rich Ashooh issued the following statement today regarding Sean Mahoney’s refusal to answer a simple yes or no question concerning the controversial mosque being proposed in New York City:
“During our debate in Portsmouth last night, all the candidates were asked a series of simple yes or no questions. When Sean Mahoney was asked to state his personal opinion on whether or not he thought a mosque should be built close to Ground Zero in New York City he said, ‘pass’.
“Real leadership means taking clear stands on hard issues. In my opinion, the mosque is not an issue real leaders can pass on. Being a leader requires that you tell people where you stand on important issues – saying ‘Pass’ just isn’t an option.
“My position is clear: I do not believe a mosque should be built near Ground Zero. On September 11th, that site in lower Manhattan became a place of deep significance to Americans of all faiths. We may be nearly nine years removed from 9-11 but the pain that day caused our nation is still very much with us. Americans have voiced their strong opinion on this issue already and it is not too much to expect their leaders to do so as well.
“Clearly with less than four weeks to go before the primary, major differences are emerging between the leading candidates. Before the mosque, it was amnesty. Recently, Sean was unable to explain why he thinks illegal aliens should not be deported and why he thinks states should be allowed to give them drivers licenses. New Hampshire voters are serious about the upcoming election. At minimum they deserve real answers, honesty and leadership from candidates. Those three things are what my campaign has been all about from the start.”
OleCurmudgeon
Aug 19, 2010
Rich Ashooh’s stand on the erection of a mosque close to ground zero is correct. It would be dishonoring those who died on 9/11 and their families especially given the nationality of the terrorists. Let them build their mosque but not on the site they have chosen. We must not forget that the killers of 9/11 were Islamic terrorists and there should be no forgiving for this mass murder.
Richard L. Fortin, Manchester.
NHeck
Aug 20, 2010
Rich Ashooh on the attack again. All this guy seems to know how to do is beg for earmarks and attack Republicans.
newrepublican
Aug 23, 2010
This building IS PART OF GROUND ZERO. In case you didn’t know, part of the wreckage of one of the aircraft engines fell on the building.
The mosque at ground zero is not a protest or a rally. It is certainly not about religious freedom or cultural diversity.
It is rather an overt declaration of muslim superiority over the infidels. It’s time that people accept what the Muslims say about what their intentions are. One thing about Hamas, they are telling the truth as to their intentions.
Did you heart that Hamas and Obama are on the same side of this. Check out what they said.
Back to local politics…
Paul Hodes’ response is interesting in that it is different from what he sent to me when I inquired.
August 18, 2010
Thank you for contacting me about plans to build a Muslim community center, Park51, in New York City. I truly appreciate hearing from you, and I am working hard to stand up for New Hampshire ’s interests in Congress.
I understand your concerns about the proposed Park51 community center in New York City. The community center would be privately funded and would contain a mosque, a performance art center, a gym, a swimming pool, and other spaces available to the public. Park51 is being developed by The Cordoba Initiative, a group dedicated to improving relations between Muslims and the West through mutual recognition and respect. The Cordoba Initiative hopes to bring innovative, proactive, and positive solutions to further ethnic and religious understanding.
Community Board No. 1, which serves lower Manhattan, voted on May 25, 2010 to recommend that the New York City government approve the Park51 proposal. There is currently no pending legislation on the proposed community center before the House of Representatives. Please know that I will keep your views in mind should any legislation come before the House of Representatives for a vote.
I encourage you to continue to contact me about the issues that are important to you. Please feel free to visit my website at http://www.hodes.house.gov where you can share your ideas with me, learn about the services I can provide to you, and sign up for my periodic e-mail updates on what I am doing to help New Hampshire.
Sincerely,
Paul Hodes
Member of Congress
Thom Simmons
Aug 23, 2010
(1) No, it is not part of ground zero. That shows unfamiliarity with the event and the geography. Pieces of planes, buildings, and, horribly, people - were scattered over half of Manhattan. To say that any building hit by any debris is part of Groud Zero is to say “Half of Manhattan.”
(2) The Ground Zero site is very precisely demarcated by a fence surrounding the site where the 7 (not 2) buildings came down. The proposed Islamic Center is not within this area.
(3) It is not a declaration of victory of infidels….but even if it was, it is protected under the First Amendment. The First Amendment permitted Neo-Nazis to parade in a Jewish neighborhood in Skokie, Illinois. The First amendment permits Fred Phelps to protest military funerals. The First Amendment protects *precisely* that which the majority find repugnant. If you don’t like that….there are other countries in the world who deny these freedoms….
newrepublican
Aug 23, 2010
Maybe I should have said, considered part of ground zero.
You can claim First Amendment but you fail to understand the “cross cultural point.”
Thing of it this way, America is the dog, and they are the fire hydrant.
I am all for the FIrst Amendment. I am not for cultural/societal suicide on the part of the U.S.
Take your high ground on the First Amendment. No argument here that you can do that.
Forget all this other stuff for a moment…
Do their actions match their words?
They say this building is a place where cultures meet and learn from each other. It is a place to share and spread good will and understanding across cultures. That’s why they say their motives are.
Are their actions, having the desired effect? Think about it. If not, why not adjust your approach to produce your desired result. Oh, maybe they are getting their desired result. Namely, a mosque built near the site of their prize.
Are you even aware of the islamic practice to build mosques at conquered locations? Try the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem as a premier example. That’s what they are doing here. I wish you could see this for what it is.
Americans are demanded to be sensitive to islam and not publish pictures of the prophet.
So much for First Amendment. And what happens if someone publishes pictures of the prophet?
They get attacked or killed.
Friend, judge people by their actions, not their words.
I hope you learn this lesson before it is too late for you and your family.
Thom Simmons
Aug 24, 2010
But it’s not. It’s not considered part of ground zero. Anyone from New York would tell you that.
And it doesnt matter what they believe. They dont HAVE to be nice, they dont HAVE to like Christians or Jews, they dont HAVE to like America…NONE of that matters. Freedom of Speech, Assembly, and Religion does NOT depend on the acceptability or niceness of that Speech or Belief.
It doesnt MATTER what would happen in other countries if you published a picture of the Prophet.
THIS is America….and what makes us DIFFERENT from OTHER countries is not our religion or ethnicity or language. What makes us different is an UNFLINCHING beliefe in our Bill of Rights and the equality of ALL people before the law, with preference for none.
conserv-ed
Aug 24, 2010
I would ask those interested in this discussion to step back and look at history for a moment. Below is a You Tube video from Bill Whittle who amply demonstrates that history is repeating itself if we have learned nothing from it.
Tolerance is in fact a code word for suicide.
This is perhaps on of the best video’s that sums up the suicidal direction that progressives have led America and that Conservatives are left to deal with time after time through history. November is coming… SEE THE VIDEO AND PASS IT ON!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qg_iDPRud_c&feature=player_embedded#
TimothyHorrigan
Aug 24, 2010
I lived in NYC for 6 yrs: I moved there shortly after the World Trade Center opened. “Ground Zero” is the old World Trade Center campus proper, which is a very distinctly defined area: it is an oversized city block bordered by Vesey Street, West Street, Liberty Street, and Church Street. (7 World Trade Center, which somewhat mysteriously collapsed a few hours after the planes hit the two main towers, was actually on the north side of Vesey Street— as is a new building also called 7 World Trade Center.) When something gets built on the old WTC site, the current city block will probably become two city blocks, since Greenwich Street will likely be extended across the site. (Right now nothing has been built on Ground Zero aside from a commuter rail station: even the subway stations are still closed.)
The socalled “Ground Zero” “mosque” is three blocks from Ground Zero in a somewhat funky commercial district. The site is actually closer to City Hall than to the WTC.
conserv-ed
Aug 24, 2010
Guess you didn’t see the video!
If that is true, that the Park 51 Mosque is not part of Ground Zero, why have so many in the nation disagreed with you including me. They must see it as a larger picture not measured in inches and feet or mere blocks on a street.
Personally I think it is a very important issue to place on the table(the Mosque controversy) because it brings to light the “funding for” and operational purpose of any Mosque and the Clerics and Ideology within them. In more than one case IMAM’s IN the USA have been directly involved in mass murder by preaching Jihad like at Fort Hood. I wish to give ISLAM no quarter in that regard to preach Jihad and no quarter on the Practice of ISLAMIC SHARIA LAW in the USA. Only ISLAM produces Jihadists that will blow themselves up.
There are good USA law abiding Mosques and bad Jihadist Mosques that support the destruction of the West and the anihilation of Israel.
Can you tell the difference by looking at them. I certainly can’t!
It is the IMAM’s that operate Mosques that create a worshiper following.
This IMAM blames the USA as an accessory to 9-11 and for death in the world. Do you agree with him? I certainly do not. Nor do I support the money spent by the US state department for his trips abroad.
conserv-ed
Aug 24, 2010
Al Qaida under new American Management See “ACT for America” website
Quote from Site:
“For 18 months we have been ringing alarm bells about the wisdom of President Obama’s campaign of apology and appeasement to the Muslim world.
We have contended that this will not improve our image in the Muslim world, and will in fact produce the opposite effect—emboldening Islamists and expanding their ranks.
The results are in.
A recent poll shows the Muslim world’s disapproval of the United States is virtually unchanged since 2008.
Successful, unsuccessful and foiled terrorist attacks against the U.S. have skyrocketed (think Times Square bomber, Christmas Day bomber, Ft. Hood).
Al Qaida has restructured its leadership, staffing it with long-time residents and citizens of America. See the chilling Investor’s Business Daily column below by Paul Sperry, who spoke at the June ACT! for America National Conference and Legislative Briefing.
Appeasement of those driven by a supremacist ideology, which radical Islam is, has never worked in the past. Not surprisingly, it’s not working now.
——————————————————————————-
Al-Qaida successfully recruiting Americans in Mosques
IBD Editorials
Under New American Management,
Al-Qaida Now Poses Inner Threat
http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/ArticlePrint.aspx?id=543760
You can also go to ACT for America to learn more about this Al-Qaida Jihadist Muslim threat.
Thom Simmons
Aug 24, 2010
conserv-ed, how long have lived in New York? For how many years have you ridden the a-train or the Lex line downtown? How many footstpes have you planted on Vesey Street?
And you actually have the gall to suggest that what “you” and “so many in the nation” actually know more than those of us who lived there (I lived there from 1959 to 1990, long enough to know, and return to NYC once a month).
It is NOT PART OF GROUND ZERO. Inflamed stupidity to the contrary by clueless conservatives…it is NOT PART OF GROUND ZERO. You;ve bought sound-bites hook, line, and sinker, that fall apart under the light of intelligence and reason.
conserv-ed
Aug 25, 2010
9-11 is not a NYC thing Thom. It is an American thing!
As I said earlier, it is not about feet or blocks. It is about intent, funding and perception. And the more I hear coming out on this IMAM the more the Ire of the American people you will here. Yes I can hear your words “inflamed stupidity” now. When you no longer have constructive comments then you resort to destructive comments so typical of Progressives.
Thom Simmons
Aug 25, 2010
Interesting how those who so cavalierly offer lip service to “Private Property Rights” can suddenly lurch so far towards socialism that they convince themselves that the ignorant outraged masses somehow all own title to a piece of real estate in Manhattan.
You may lash out at progressives, but there is no one cheering the cause of Socialized Property Ownership more than you, ed, on this issue.