95 Responses to:
THE MOSQUE AT GROUND ZERO

# 1. 7/19/10 12:10 AM by Puscifer - Utardia
I believe it is meant to be intentionally provocative. Condemn the property and build a park. It will better serve the common good.

# 2. 7/19/10 12:14 AM
I would not weep if their building burned to the ground...in a big explosion.

# 3. 7/19/10 12:19 AM by Akiva - Toronto
Bob; The muslim's are not too dumb. This is what they do all over the world. Any other faith group site that they gain control over is converted into a mosque or destroyed.

This has been going on for centuries. Are you really surprised now?

# 4. 7/19/10 12:21 AM
Thank you!

Many of my friends are involved in some group protesting this temple and I just haven't been able to join the choir this time.

I have been torn on this issue and when I am torn I have to dig down and find the principle (at risk) so I know which way to go. In my mind that is the only way to preserve America and American principles.

When I dig down on this it seems to be both a religious freedom and a property rights issue. Unless someone can find a real -- not manufactured -- legal issue, it should go forward. I hate that, and I am angry that this group is so insensitive to cause this situation, but the core principles remain and that's the side that I must defend.

Similar is this protesting military funeral issue. I hate that those protestors are present. I hate what they represent. And I am profoundly offended that they would do it in the name of God. However, freedom of speech is to be protected. That is the principle at issue and that should be protected.

If Americans allow their emotions to make law rather than keep to principle -- even when it is so despicable the thought makes you physically ill -- we will fall into the trap of those who hate our freedom.

In order to protect freedom you must defend the freedom of others, even when you don't agree with how they are exercising that right. Or, your freedom will be at risk next.

# 5. 7/19/10 12:36 AM by jerry - geneseo
You had me going at the start Bob. As far as I'm concerned I don't need any muslims in my life, and they don't need to be here. We keep hearing it's just the radical ones, a small percentage that are causing the problems? How soon we forget 911. If I was calling the shots all muslims would have been deported as of 09-12-01 and we would be better for it. Seal the border and shoot anyone trying to get in. Sounds extreme? Yup exactly what we need right now.

# 6. 7/19/10 1:01 AM by JK Bell - Harrisville, Utah
"Local government panels have given approval at every step, and the project is likely to go forward, and I can think of no legal reason why it shouldn't."

Well, I can.

We have freedom of religion in this country not freedom of intimidation.

Cross burning is not protected speech The cross might be yours. You might even own the property you burn it on.

It is still illegal.

That is under specific circumstances!

Cross burning is only illegal when it is meant to intimidate.

A mosque at Ground Zero? This is much more than "a spirit of entitlement and superiority" it is a much more vile spirit then that.

This is the spirit of cross burning.

# 7. 7/19/10 1:22 AM by Brent - Mapleton
Bob, you are on target with the arrogance in the muslim culture. My sister was married to one for a while. I have seen it first hand.

Your piece on Ernie Pyle on 1180's website brought back some great memories. In the early 70's my dad worked construction at Schofield Barracks in Hawaii. When my grandmother and a great-aunt came to visit us for a week they had to go to the "Punchbowl" - National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific near Honolulu, to see his grave. This was 30 years after Ernie Pyle was killed in WWII. People really honored him and had fond sentiments of his reports from the war. Several months later on Memorial Day ('74 I think) I went as a young boy to Memorial Day services at the Punchbowl. A man in our ward was the First Sergeant for an artillery company. This company was detailed to be at those services and provide the 21 Gun Salute. My dad and I rode the army bus from the base to the Punchbowl with he and some of his men. The had on the old style tan dress uniforms and the shiny helmets. As a youngster it was really a never forgotten experience. Consequently I have never forgotten Ernie Pyle.

I hate to see you go from KNRS. Glenn is OK in the morning, but the topics aren't local. I don't listen much anymore.

# 8. 7/19/10 2:29 AM by Pete
Bob,

I moved up here from Brooklyn, Queens, NYC and lastly Long Island in 1986, my first Born was only 6 months old. I had another child 8 years later here in Rochester.

In August 2001 we took a vacation and stayed in the West Hamptons on Long Island but took a car trip into the Boroughs of Queens to show my kids where I lived and went to school and also to NYC to show them the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Battery Park, Empire State building, China Town, Little Italy, Museums, the East Village, (where I first saw Jimmy Hendrix) and the World Trade Center.

We were in the WTC in August 2001 and 15 days later it was gone because of some radical muslims who can care less about life, especially American Lives......

I don't give a flying fu#@ if only a small percentage of Muslims are Terrorists, it was Muslims who only 15 days after our visit to the WTC that attacked our Country and brought down the WTC and killed, NO MURDERED almost 3,000 Americans.......

To even think to put a Mosque on these grounds is beyond rational thinking and only a schmuck and jive move by scumbag politicians.

Screw them and the camel they rode in on....

# 9. 7/19/10 5:55 AM by lois Lane - Rochacha
I'm surprised they did not want to honor the terrorists with a statue depicting their heroism. This idea is deplorable and needs to be stopped, but no doubt political correctness will allow it to happen. America needs to get its balls back and stop pussy footing with this idea it. End. it. Now.

# 10. 7/19/10 5:56 AM by hunter - e. bethany, ny
The Flying Imams have finally landed.

# 11. 7/19/10 6:00 AM
It is the completion of the attack, the frosting on the cake.

# 12. 7/19/10 6:47 AM by Chuck - Penfield, NY
Bob,

This isn't a mistake, or insensitivity. It's a monument to a muslim victory. They know exactly what they are doing.

# 13. 7/19/10 6:51 AM by Keith - Queensbury,NY
Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols were Christians. Does that mean there should be no churches in the vicinity of the Alfred Murrah building? Just because countries that are predominately Muslim discriminate against churches and synagogues doesn't mean we have to be bigots as well.

# 14. 7/19/10 6:55 AM by OldVietVet - Rochester, NY
And that is the problem-our "rule of law". Society cannot acknowledge,much less deal with, the tyranny of the judicial system. The judicial branch of our govenment has become like the murderous directorate of Revolutionary France, and the Supreme Soviet Communist Party.No longer are the people of our Nation the source of all power, as our Founding Fathers argued. Now it is our government that is the source of all power.Even when we are engaged in a war for survival, the judicial and their rotten legally trained minions,if they feel challenged by the American people, will act in the interests of the enemy.I know, w/out being a lawyer, on whose side Washington,Jefferson,Adams,Madison,would be-and that is the side of the American People,and our demand that this filthy mosque not be built. They would recoginze tyranny where it dwells and that it dwells w/in our judicial system. And they wouldnt appeal to the enemys supposed sense of propriety.They'd put the murderous muslim slime to the sword-as Jefferson did on the Barbary Coast,and as U.S. Marines have done in Iraq.No, the mosque shouldnt be built, regardless of someones "legal rights" and all patriotic Americans know it.Those who think otherwise are the enemy.

# 15. 7/19/10 7:05 AM by Eli - Clarondon, NY
I don't think this building will be there long. Although it will undoubtedly be loaded with high tech security, someone will bring it down.

Hopefully the building will be empty and no harm done to individuals. If people are indeed injured or killed, I'm sure the muslim community will understand. They taught us that the killing of innocent civilians is perfectly acceptable when attempting to advance your cause.

I hope whoever does this gets away with it.

# 16. 7/19/10 7:07 AM by ex-pansy
And that is rude. It is self-centered

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Cor 13) If you look at things from the perspective of the Islamic center, it appears that the Muslims gained a victory.

But if you look at it from the perspective of God's Word, they've lost. They have always lost, And they will always lose. Because they have not love. In the end, all they have is a building that can be destroyed.

Walk by faith, not by sight.

# 17. 7/19/10 7:12 AM by Marie
How do you feel about the mosque in the former St. Xavier Catholic church, Mr. Lonsberry? I think that it is appalling, and I am not Catholic.

Editor's Note: i've talked about it on the air twice, but it's not gone any further than that. it's like nobody cares.

# 18. 7/19/10 7:24 AM by Brian
Cordova (or Cordoba) is the name to be given to this mosque. It is named in honor of the mosque built in Cordoba, Spain after the muslim hordes invaded and conquered that land.

It is being built a mere stone's throw from the single biggest terror attack ever.

It is being opened on the 10th anniversary of that attack.

Muslims threaten to kill people for merely suggesting that others draw an image of Islam's prophet. Muslims have looted, burned, rioted and murdered on a (false, it turns out) rumor that a koran was desecrated. They take to violence at the slightest perceived slight or insult. Yet we are supposed to ignore this obvious slap in the face? I don't think so.

All of the world's major religions' tenets teach things spiritual in nature; they do not concern themselves with economic or political systems. All religions, that is, except Islam. One may rightly conclude that Islam is NOT a religion, but a politico-religious ideology that has proven itself to be the enemy of freedom and all things we hold dear. We wouldn't tolerate Nazism or a Nazi shrine or office building, so why must we tolerate this mosque?

Their legal standing exists only until we have the intestinal fortitude to name Islam as our enemy. Why are we so scared to say the simple words: "Islam is an ideology that has spread through violent conquest and subjugation, this violence continues to this day, and it is our enemy?" If muslims don't like that obvious truth, then they must work to reconcile Islam with the rest of the world's religions and dump shari'a law as a component of their "religion".

How many Shinto shrines were built near Pearl Harbor after it was bombed? Not too many. And the reason is obvious.

# 19. 7/19/10 7:40 AM by GEORGE ( THE OTHER ONE!) - Gananoque Ontario CANADA
*

One thing they are not is stupid. This is a deliberately provocative act designed to produce exactly the kind of reaction that it has. It gives the perpetrators the ability to turn to the rest of the muslim world and say;

"See? The infidel lies about his welcoming culture. He hates us and we must conquer him."

And unless we smarten up, he will.

# 20. 7/19/10 7:47 AM by ex-pansy
They are naming the mosque Cordoba?

Does it mean its gonna have "rich, Corinthian leather?"

Now, that sure is an upgrade from Bill Clinton's El Camino with the astroturf in the back.....

SEEEEE???? Things ARE getting BETTER....

# 21. 7/19/10 7:52 AM by DD
The ones building it,,, are they the good Muslims people constantly defend?

That mosque, if built, will come down in flames. No question about that. When that happens it'll be my turn to dance in the street.

FUMP (figure it out)

# 22. 7/19/10 7:54 AM by eh Rod - CANADA`
An American decrying "cultural arrogance"? Pot, kettle, black? And Mr. FUBO condemning rudeness? That's just too funny. Anyway, so much for championing religious freedom, which evidently applies only to your religion, eh?

# 23. 7/19/10 8:03 AM by MIKE
This is a recruiting effort. Think of all those suicide bombers that are getting enraged at America for trying to defend itself against crazies.

# 24. 7/19/10 8:04 AM
Considering that all the perpetrators of the 911 attack were Muslims on a jihad, a mosque near the site is just plain stupid. I used to want to give Muslims a fair shot at the "American Dream"; now I just want them to go away, and I don't want to "nation build" or fight their wars for any of them anymore. Let them kill off each other if that's what they want. You are 100% right about their rudeness and thoughtlessness. You are the expert.

# 25. 7/19/10 8:06 AM by Rick G. - Spencerport, NY
I’m not sure what makes Muslims think you can fart in a burqa and nobody will smell it.

# 26. 7/19/10 8:07 AM by Beth - Canandaigua, NY
I would be more open minded to the Mosque if I actually saw Joe and Betty America Muslims actively protesting Muslim extremists.

But they do not.

Their silence speaks volumes.

# 27. 7/19/10 8:19 AM by Kevin - Roch
Let's make sure that the ten commandments were removed from a Courthouse and that the Stars and Bars were removed from every Southern capitol in the U.S.... But God forbid(can I say that)that we don't bend over and grab our ankles everytime for the the 'Peace Loving' Islamic Religion!!!

# 28. 7/19/10 8:24 AM by Eagle - Greece, N.Y.
I wonder how our Politicians would react if the KKK was going to build a Shrine next to an underground Railroad Museum? I'll bet they'd put a stop to that in a heartbeat, but Disrespecting 3,000 American terrorists victims is OK with them.

Eagle

# 29. 7/19/10 8:24 AM by James - Bliss, NY
Has anyone said to them something along the lines of : "Ummm... Dedicating it on 9-11-2011 may not go over well with the majority of the population, would you mind changing the date? It'd go a long way toward dismissing what people perceive as an insult."

And wait for a response.

If they were sincere, they would change the date without hesitation.

# 30. 7/19/10 8:30 AM by Jodi - Wayne County East
Same old drum beat. Conquer by political correctness, and shear numbers. Rule by arrogance,fear and intimidation as the so called, "good muslims", do they really exist?, stand silently by.

This isn't and will never be about truth, love or just common decency. It is and will always be about control. They are not an impatient or a stupid people.

Will we be so foolish to allow it continue in ever so small and unassuming steps until we are eventually overrun by their hordes as well? Possibly so.

This really is just about one world government, one world religion, the false messiah and false peace. Then sudden destruction.

People wake up, open your eyes, read your Bibles and prepare your hearts before it is too late. Our eternal souls are at stake.

Look up for the return of one true redeemer, Jesus, draws near.

# 31. 7/19/10 8:31 AM by Gary M - Hornell NY USA
How far from the site would be appropriate. 20 blocks, 10 miles?

Let them build it.

# 32. 7/19/10 8:33 AM by Shaun - Provo
Aren't they even denying and trying to say Muslims had nothing to do with the 9/11 attack? Don't they also deny that Hitler had concentration camps? Insensitivity seems to be standard operating procedure.

# 33. 7/19/10 8:44 AM by Ron
The plan is beyond disrespectful. I will lose a lot of respect for New Yorkers if they allow this.

# 34. 7/19/10 9:00 AM by D.G - Webster, NY
This is supposed to be a free society. Let them build this damn thing. Let's start a fund to raise money to purchase window space or a billboard across the street from it. We could put cartoons of Mo-hamid up, you know, pictures of him with bombs in his towel hat and stuff like that. Let's let everyone enjoy the freedoms of this country in the same manner they plan to. That should go over well, and may actually start this fight on our soil where we can all get involved.....

# 35. 7/19/10 9:09 AM
These Moslems should be embarrased and ashamed of what happened at ground zero and not want to locate their mosque anywhere near it. To locate near it shows they are proud of 9/11.

# 36. 7/19/10 9:13 AM by Rob Staples - Henrico, VA
Wake up America, run them out of town!

# 37. 7/19/10 9:21 AM by Classic Rock - Utah
The audacity to do this. What is wrong with the city people even entertaining the idea? This is purely ridiculous and a snub to the victims and those families who have that constant reminder that the Muslim Arrogance is alive and well, and America is a doormat to the Muslim People.

# 38. 7/19/10 9:31 AM by drawlr - slc, ut
How about some Jews and Christians get together and build a synagogue and a church right next to it? Then we'd sort of be like Jerusalem and the Dome of the Rock. Better yet, how about a pig slaughter house and sell some nice bacon and pork chops? Add a distillery while you're at it.

# 39. 7/19/10 9:39 AM by jim - Rochester NY
I agree with your column it is insensitive of them. And Akiva is right. They have their dome of the rock a stones throw away from the Jewish temple. On the other hand Christians did convert Pagan sites into christian ones. Not that precedent should always hold sway but it does give insight.

# 40. 7/19/10 9:46 AM by rochester escapee
This is not intended as a giant middle finger to America. It is a symbol of the conquest of America. If this is built, we have lost the war.

No one wants to say it, but there is a world war going on right now: civilization vs Islam. The war on terror is misnamed. Terror is a tactic, not an enemy.

It is impossible to be a good citizen and a good Muslim.

# 41. 7/19/10 9:49 AM
I'm sure after that mosque burns to the ground they will hold many, many meetings, symposiums and interfaith gatherings to proclaim that all Christians are not terrorists.

# 42. 7/19/10 9:54 AM by Ultra Bob - salt lake city Utah
I think that it is time for Americans who have traditionally granted free operation for religions to tighten up our religious freedom to American standards. Namely that all men (and women) are created equal and have equal rights. And freedom of religion does not permit violent war against other people or religions.

I think that the Muslim religion does not fit within the American standard for religions. And should be prohibited in America. The violence attributable to the Muslim religion is ample and exists both in America and around the world.

America should realize that we are now engaged in WWIII, the world war of religions. There are no clear boundaries in this war and enemies are merged together in every country. Until we develop the necessary kind of weapons to fight this war, we need to separate ourselves from the merge.

While this concept is absolutely contrary to the American Constitution I feel that it is absolutely necessary for the survival of America. It would take a constitutional amendment to accomplish.

# 43. 7/19/10 9:54 AM by gww - rochester, ny
I constantly hear folks on the right condemn political correctness (comment # 9 for example), yet here you go telling the Muslims they should be "PC" and not offend. Rod is right...Pot, kettle, black.

# 44. 7/19/10 9:54 AM by Laura Lincoln - Rochester
Americans feel defeated, so rarely do you have a reaction to incredulous details going on. The chaos of this country is so great and the downfall of democracy so prevalent, Americans have nothing to compare the destruction/change to, so they don't know where to begin to react. Nothing is familiar anymore. Americans are numb and resigned to the death of this great land.

# 45. 7/19/10 10:03 AM by Ryan - Victor, NY
Would you put the German Consulate next to the Holocaust Museum?

# 46. 7/19/10 10:11 AM by G - Albion
To me,it's as if they are declaring war again on this continent.

# 47. 7/19/10 10:33 AM
Hypocrisy, pure and simple. The developers behind this mosque have both the Bill of Rights and all necessary local laws on their side. Yes, the insensitivity of Muslims building a mosque next to Ground Zero is appalling -- but since when did a Conservative like you do anything other than mock attempts to let sensitivity trump the law?

# 48. 7/19/10 10:36 AM by Jolene - Sandy, Utah
So...if I am Christian, which I am, and I'm supposed to treat others as I would want to be treated, Jesus would leave them alone and love them. Right? Just as He loved the men who crucified him. It's awful. It's painful. It's uncomfortable at the very least. Like someone getting "off" for killing your family. Very rude and very painful. Like a lot of other cruel people in the world.

# 49. 7/19/10 10:36 AM by Phillip
The proposal by the Cordoba Initiative to build an Islamic center near Ground Zero has drawn major media attention and engendered fierce debate. Right-wing political commentators, politicians, hard-line Christian ministers, bloggers and some families of 9/11 victims have charged that it is insensitive to 9/11 families, dishonors memories of the victims and will be a "monument to terrorism."

But here are the facts:The center is not at Ground Zero but two blocks away, and the Cordoba Initiative seeks to build a center, not a mosque. The center is not designed as a local mosque for a Muslim community but rather to serve the wider community.

It is meant to improve interfaith and Muslim-West relations and promote tolerance -- not just to provide services to Muslims. The proposed 15-story community center will include a prayer room, offices, meeting rooms, gym, swimming pool and performing arts center.

Editor's Note: and a mosque, imam.

# 50. 7/19/10 10:56 AM
Muslim zealotry felled the towers?

In most criminal cases, the criminals are investigated. The answers they give are used to determine their motivation.

In this case, those responsible said that they carried out their actions as retribution for the inhumane evils that the US government is committing in Muslim countries.

Fact checker required for journalistic career choices.

People who take it personally when governments fight each other deserve what they get.

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