BREAKING: Pyro Pastor Terry Jones issues 2-Hour Deadline to Ground Zero Mosque Imam (updated) Deadline passes; now what?

Video of presser at the link.

Whether he’s an out-and-out nutcase or a calculating publicity whore, you have to give him credit for the Chutzpah.

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The pastor at the centre of the Koran-burning row has given a New York Imam two hours to contact him about plans to build a mosque near Ground Zero.

Pastor Terry Jones and his colleague Pastor K A Paul read out two telephone numbers live on television and urged the Imam to contact them as soon as possible.

They did not say what would happen if he failed to get in touch by the time the deadline expires just after 8.30 tonight.

Sky News' US correspondent Robert Nisbet, who was at the news conference, said: "This is absolutely extraordinary.

"It appears the pastor has reconsidered his earlier deal over the New York mosque."

He added: "Worryingly, none of the US cable networks showed the press conference - so Imam Rauf may not have seen it!"

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Sky News was apparently the only major news outlet with a crew at the presser, but local outlets were present and probably uplinked it to their networks.  And I’m sure that even if Fox News and the also-rans weren’t there, Imam Rauf got word.

I guess we’ll see what happens at 4:00 EDT.

Update: Meanwhile, Reuters is saying that the Imam has not agreed to meet with Pastor Jones, and ABCNews says “oh, hell no” Jones will not be flying to New York as a guest of the network.  This just keeps getting weirder and weirder.

Update II: The Wall Street Journal site has a more in depth article on the deadline, which passed approximately 10 minutes ago, and adds this little twist:

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At a press conference outside his church earlier Friday, Mr. Jones said he would travel to New York with Imam Muhammad Musri, the president of the Islamic Society of Central Florida. Mr. Jones said he planned to meet on Saturday with Mr. Rauf. Mr. Jones said he didn't have a scheduled meeting with Mr. Rauf and wasn't sure the imam even knew he was coming.

Rob Schenck, of the National Clergy Council in Washington, D.C., said on Friday he was helping arrange the pastor's desired meeting with the iman. He said he hasn't been in touch with the imam directly, but has been communication through high-level Islamic intermediaries.

After Mr. Jones issued his deadline to the imam, Mr. Schenck said: "This creates a new problem and complicates our role in it." He added: "Muslim culture is not given to deadlines and ultimatums." Mr. Schenck still plans to go to New York himself to meet with the imam.

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Chalk it up to cultural ignorance, or chalk it up to calculation.

Update III:  The deadline has passed.  We wonder what happens now and wait with bated breath…

Update IV: And here we go.

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The pastor at the centre of the Koran-burning row says the imam behind plans to build an Islamic centre near Ground Zero has ignored his deadline to get in touch.

Pastor Terry Jones and his colleague Pastor K A Paul had given the imam two hours to call them on one of two telephone numbers read out live on television.

They deadline passed just after 8.15 pm without "any word from the imam or his team."

Dr Hall said he was disappointed at the iman's silence but still hoped to fly to New York to meet him.

He revealed Pastor Jones had agreed not to burn copies of the Koran on Saturday as planned in the hope of finding a peaceful solution to their grievances about the location of the Islamic Centre.

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There is still no word yet whether the Quran BBQ is on again, off again, or what.

GREAT NEWS: Another Pastor now planning Quran Burning

I wonder if the stammerer in Chief will make two phone calls, now. 

I believe Terry Jones was just looking for cheap publicity.  But this dude sounds like a legitimate nutcase:

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Conservative Christian leaders condemned a Florida pastor who plans to burn 200 copies of the Quran on Sept. 11, saying Wednesday that Christians don't burn other religions' holy books.

It's as simple as the "separation of church and hate," said the Rev. Rick Warren, a California megachurch pastor who prayed at President Obama's inauguration.

The National Association of Evangelicals, the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue and Southern Baptist leaders all issued similar statements leading up to Saturday's anniversary of the worst terrorist attack in American history.

"Book burning is a cowardly act by those afraid that their beliefs aren't strong enough to attract people if they are allowed a choice," said Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life.

The Rev. Bob Old of Springfield, Tenn., doesn't care what they think.

The longtime Baptist minister says the Rev. Terry Jones of the Dove World Center Outreach in Gainesville, Fla., is doing the right thing by burning the Quran. So he's going to do likewise.

Old plans to set fire to a Quran on Saturday at his home and then post a video of the burning book online. And if he had his way, there would be no Muslims in America.

"If they want to have their religion, they can have it somewhere else," said Old, former pastor of First Baptist Church in Joelton and Academy Heights Baptist Church in Gallatin, which merged with another church. He no longer has a congregation and instead runs an evangelical ministry called Disciples of Christ.

News of the local Quran burning angered the Rev. Larry Herbert of Faith Covenant Church in Springfield. He dismissed it as a publicity stunt.

"The guy is a nut," Herbert said. "This is crazy. I am sorry that anyone who names the name of Christ would do this."

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It is extraordinarily stupid for either man to deliberately inflame members of a faith they don’t believe in and don’t practice.  Don’t care for Islam?  Fine.  Preach the Gospel.

UPDATE: Forgot to link the news that Jones has cancelled his little dog and pony show, apparently because the Ground Zero Mosque leader has agreed to move his project.

It’s time for somebody to show some leadership. 

On the Ground Zero Mosque and now the Quran burning issue, Obama whiffs

At his August 13 Ramadan dinner speech, Obama stated his support for a new Mosque to be build at Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan. Less than a day later, he was walking back the support in one of those off-teleprompter moments.  He has since been silent, letting his minions and mouthpieces address media questions while the controversy storms across America.  Most polls show that a solid majority think building the mosque at Ground Zero is a bad idea, even though the same polls show Americans believe Imam Rauf and his supporters have a First Amendment right to do so.

As President of the United States, Obama serves all of the American people.  Not a favored constituency or a misunderstood minority.  All of us.  At issue are some very heated emotions that threaten to divide Americans, rather than unite them.  He has a political, if not moral responsibility to resolve the matter one way or the other.  Whether he has people do the dealing behind the scenes or he take a high profile stab at mediating a relocation of the construction site. But he shows absolutely no signs of willing to spend the political capital to do so.

Meanwhile, down in rural Florida just outside of Gainesville, a fundamentalist Christian pastor is scheduling a Quran burning on the anniversary of 9/11, in protest of the Muslims who used its teachings to attack the United States.  Again, no red-blooded American would dispute his right to hold such a holy barbecue, but neither would they agree that such an outright insult to Muslims is provocative and unnecessarily incites division.  Again, Obama weighs in, explaining that it’s a bad idea.  The Holy Book Barbecue pastor says he’d reconsider his protest if the White House asked him to, but just like the GZM controversy, Obama seems unwilling to step in and get involved.  Why?

Isn’t this what leaders are supposed to do?  Isn’t a leader supposed to resolve matters that divide those he leads?  Of course he is.  George W. Bush, in resolving the stem cell research issue, took the time to consult advisers (spiritual, medical and political) and decided on a course of action.  That action didn’t satisfy everybody, but in light of the current President’s inability to provide any leadership or guidance, Bush’s stem cell XO seems Solomonesque in its wisdom and discretion.

Obama has had two opportunities this summer to show that kind of leadership courage and reasonableness, and has whiffed—badly—both times.  He needs to speak directly with Imam Rauf and Pastor Terry Jones and ask them both to stop trying to divide the people of this great Nation.  As a famous man once said, just having the right to do something doesn’t make doing it right, and neither of these men are doing the right thing.  Obama needs to do the right thing, too.  He needs to grow a pair of balls and resolve these matters before someone takes the issues far too seriously and starts hurting people.

Caption This – Socialist “Community Organizers” at Ground Zero Mosque Protest

State run media issues gag order on “Ground Zero Mosque” usage

“These aren't the radicals you're looking for. You can go about your business. Move along... move along.”

Nothing to see here, right?

Incredible. 

The Associated Press, aka the “State Run Media,” has instructed its correspondents to henceforth cease using the term “Ground Zero Mosque” in stories covering the red hot controversy surrounding plans to construct a Muslim mosque and community center at the site of the Twin Towers:

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Aug. 19, 2010

Colleagues,

Here is some guidance on covering the NYC mosque story, with assists from Chad Roedemeier in the NYC bureau and Terry Hunt in Washington:

1. We should continue to avoid the phrase "ground zero mosque" or "mosque at ground zero" on all platforms. (We’ve very rarely used this wording, except in slugs, though we sometimes see other news sources using the term.) The site of the proposed Islamic center and mosque is not at ground zero, but two blocks away in a busy commercial area. We should continue to say it’s “near” ground zero, or two blocks away.

WE WILL CHANGE OUR SLUG ON THIS STORY LATER TODAY from “BC-Ground Zero Mosque” to “BC-NYC Mosque.”

In short headlines, some ways to refer to the project include:

_ mosque 2 blocks from WTC site
_ Muslim (or Islamic) center near WTC site
_ mosque near ground zero
_ mosque near WTC site

We can refer to the project as a mosque, or as a proposed Islamic center that includes a mosque.

It may be useful in some stories to note that Muslim prayer services have been held since 2009 in the building that the new project will replace. The proposal is to create a new, larger Islamic community center that would include a mosque, a swimming pool, gym, auditorium and other facilities.

2. Here is a succinct summary of President Obama’s position:

Obama has said he believes Muslims have the right to build an Islamic center in New York as a matter of religious freedom, though he's also said he won't take a position on whether they should actually build it.

For additional background, you’ll find below a Fact Check on the project that moved yesterday.

Tom

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If you want to manage the message,  control the debate by controlling the terms people use to describe the controversy.  It’s not really a mosque at Ground Zero.  It’s a community center somewhere in lower Manhattan; a commercial area that also has strip clubs and Subway Sandwich shops nearby, or something.

In fact, let’s help defend the embattled President by “succinctly” defining his position as non-controversial, non-inflammatory, a non-issue.

“These are not the radicals you are looking for. You can go about your business.  Move along.”

Do yourself and your fellow Americans a huge favor.  Use these three words in almost every email, blog post, tweet or facebook update:

"Ground Zero Mosque.”

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

Obama’s mosque position nationalizes the mid-term elections

With his ill-advised and blindingly stupid statement in support of the Cordoba Project last Friday night, President Obama did something that the leadership of the Republican party has been struggling to do since the passage of the healthcare colossus. 

He nationalized a midterm election.

What’s interesting is that the issue presents no options for government to intervene and resolve.  The First Amendment’s establishment and expression clauses are quite clear—there is nothing the government or an agency could do to halt the project, except on minor non-federal regulatory grounds (you can’t build a structurally unsafe mosque or fail to conform to local zoning regulations just because you want to build a religious structure).  So there was no reason for Obama to say a word.  He can’t do anything to stop it, and he can’t do anything to promote or sort it.  He should have never uttered a word.  He did, anyway.

It’s worth noting that on every major current affairs issue we’ve had cross our recent news feeds, TV screens and local paper, the President has chosen to side against sizable majorities of the American people.

Healthcare reform was opposed by at least a plurality in some polls and outright majorities in others.  Yet, it was Obama’s “signature policy” issue, and he ignored public opinion to ram it through.

The Gulf of Mexico oil spill led Obama to institute a draconian moratorium against all deepwater drilling in US waters, despite absolute majorities of Americans being against it.

When Arizona passed legislation enabling the state’s police agencies to enforce Federal immigration law, Obama ignored a two-thirds majority favoring the law and sued Arizona to stop the law from going into effect.

But none of these issues by themselves had the ability to transform a traditionally locally-oriented midterm election into a galvanizing national election like 1994.

Until, for the fourth time, Obama ignored the will of absolute majorities of American voters and voiced his complete support for the Cordoba Project.  It appears to have become the proverbial straw on the proverbial camel. 

Americans are a patient, trusting and optimistic bunch.  But even the most naive voter sees a President who just doesn’t seem to give a flying damn what Americans think.  You can stick your thumb in the eye of a patient electorate so many times.  This was one time too many.

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

What about the Ground Zero Church?

St. Nicholas was a small, four-story masonry building, housing a Greek Orthodox Christian Church that was destroyed on September 11, 2001 when one of the Twin Towers collapsed on it during the worst terrorist attack in this history of this country. 

While the Cordoba House Project—the Ground Zero mosque—raced through regulatory approval last month, the rebuilding of St. Nicholas was put on hold by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.  Government officials say the matter is closed and will not be reopened.

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The Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America accused New York officials on Tuesday of turning  their backs on the reconstruction of the only church destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks, while the controversial mosque near Ground Zero moves forward.

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An archdiocese official said Tuesday that the situation has created "consternation" for those still struggling to jump-start talks over the church.

"We have people that are saying, why isn't our church being rebuilt and why is there ... such concern for people of the mosque?" Father Alex Karloutsos, assistant to the archbishop, told FoxNews.com. He said "religious freedom" would allow a place of worship for any denomination to be built, but accused officials with the Port Authority of making no effort to help move the congregation's project along.

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Someone please explain how government officials can fast track the construction of a brand new shrine to a Islam at Ground Zero and stand in the way of the rebuilding of a church that already existed there?  The mosque is a new project.  It will replace a facility that was damaged by the landing gear of one of the planes, and damaged so badly that engineers recommended its demolition.  The church was already there.

Michael Berry, a radio talk show host at KTRH in Houston, penned an editorial yesterday, which ran today in World Net Daily. In that piece, Michael writes the following:

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On May 7, 2009, the first National Day of Prayer of his administration, President Obama broke with tradition by failing to hold a White House ceremony to honor the day.  Earlier this year he marked the second National Day of Prayer of his administration with the same inaction.  The president did, though, hold an Iftar dinner for Muslims, the feast breaking the daily fast during Ramadan, the holy month of Islam on August 13.  He invited ambassadors from Islamic nations like Saudi Arabia to celebrate the Muslim event.

It was at this event that he expressed his support for the mosque near the site of where the Twin Towers were taken down by Muslim terrorists.  While his press secretary declined to state the president's position on the issue earlier last week, calling it a question for "local decision-making," for some reason the president broke his silence during Ramadan observance and spoke out.  Such off-teleprompter bombs have caused his press team headaches in the past, but they suggest Obama's unscripted, core beliefs and expose a rare – if ugly – honesty in his calculated public positions.

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Perhaps the liberals running New York are getting inspiration from Obama, who doesn’t hold the traditional, church going American in very high regard.  We are the “bitter clingers” he referred to when speaking to supporters in a part of the country that the left refers to as “fly over country.” Obama supports the construction of the mosque at ground zero because he knows how much of an insult it would be to ordinary Americans who simply want to worship in peace and have sacred ground remain sacred ground.

The plight of St. Nicholas is a microcosm of how the leftist ruling class views the other 75% of the country.  Thwarting the reconstruction of an existing Christian church while fast-tracking the construction of a new Islamic mosque—at Ground Zero—is spitting in the eye of America.

Update:  Doug Ross @ Journal has a different possibility for why the Obama mosque might get a little special nudge.

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

Obama’s Ground Zero Mosque gaffe is the gift that will keep on giving

 

Holy Toledo, Batman.  When CNN is lamenting the fact that Teh One has stuck his foot in his mouth, and the Democrat Senate Majority Leader is putting distance between himself and the President who just campaigned for him, you know this is truly, truly a golden gift.

I honestly can’t think of anything Obama could have done at this particular time that could have done more damage to the Democrats’ ability to control the message.  Don’t get me wrong—I don’t think people are going to change their votes in November because of what they heard about Obama supporting a mosque at Ground Zero.  I do think they might change their votes because of what they did not hear their Democrat candidate say about jobs and the economy.  It’s hard to talk about issues like these when the bandwidth is full of stuff the Democrats would rather not talk about.

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Washington (CNN) -- By wading into the ground zero mosque issue, President Barack Obama provided Republicans with an emotion-ridden attack vehicle while diverting attention from campaign themes of fellow Democrats.

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Despite the concerns of Democrats, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada on Monday came out against building the Islamic center and mosque two blocks from where the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks killed more than 2,700 people

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Nearly 70 percent of Americans oppose the plan, according to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation Poll released Wednesday.

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The Harvard-educated law professor, author of two books and post-partisan President doesn’t seem to have a very good grasp of American politics.  Friday evenings are traditionally the slowest news period of the week.  It’s “doc dump” time—reserved by the powers that be for pulling nominations, announcing the deaths of legislative policy pushes, the firing/retiring/resigning of someone in trouble, etc. There’s no political news on Friday night, unless you make political news on Friday night. 

Obama made it.  He waded into an intense, emotional debate at a time when no one had anything else to do except cover it.  The intensity and the emotional level of the debate are important to understanding the gravity of this.  The 70% opposition to the project means America’s mind is made up—that mosque needs to go someplace else.  Harry Reid gets it.  Obama doesn’t, and in his comments at a private, catered affair trimmed with the trappings of power, he sides with the 20% or so who support it going right there at Ground Zero.

But worse, barely 12 hours later, he told CNN’s Ed McHenry that his off-the-cuff remarks weren’t about the wisdom of building the project, but of the right of the developers to pursue it.  Huh?

At first he looks aloof, detached and uncaring about the sensitivities of his countrymen.  And before lunch the next day, he says that what he really cares about is the right of the developers to be as uncaring about the sensitivities of his countrymen as they want.  

For his soon-to-be former friends and allies on Capitol Hill, this is the worst damage he could have done, and he’s done it at the worst possible time.  Democrats on the campaign trail need to be talking about jobs, the economy, environment, saving Social Security from evil GOP plans for privatization, etc.  Instead, Obama knocked them off of their message and now all of their precious bandwidth is being devoured by a controversy Obama need not have even gotten involved in. 

What a gift!

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

Arab Street: Opposition to Ground Zero Mosque means Americans are islamophobic racists, or something

From CNSNews.com: Ground Zero Mosque Controversy, As Viewed From the Muslim World:

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Editorial, Arab News, Saudi Arabia, August 16, 2010:
Unfortunately there are people who think mosques are breeding grounds for terrorism. No matter what Muslims do or say and how much they condemn terrorism, they are still all guilty in the eyes of many. The anti-mosque people were probably anti-Muslim before 9/11.

M.J. Akbar, columnist, Khaleej Times of Dubai, August 16, 2010:
Ignorance is too generous an alibi for [former U.S. House speaker Newt] Gingrich and [former Alaska Gov. Sarah] Palin. They have been candidates for the most powerful job in the world. It is foolish to dismiss them as fools.
A mosque at Ground Zero will interfere with their politics, in which the Muslim must be etched as an irredeemable zealot with manic eyes and foaming mouth; the mosque must be distorted into a fountainhead of hatred; and every Muslim be blamed for the sins of the few bigots and terrorists who perpetrated 9/11. A range of political forces has a vested interest in the myth of the mad Muslim as the last evil standing between civilization and chaos.

Editorial, Dawn News, Karachi, Pakistan, August 16, 2010:
Unfortunately, some American politicians appear to have calculated that Islamophobia is a potent vote-getter. But that is as dangerous as it is self-defeating. Al Qaeda and militant Islamists could probably not dream of a better propaganda opportunity: see, they will say, America really is against Islam. The furor over the mosque isn’t winning hearts and minds for America, it is poisoning them.

Editorial, The Peninsula, Qatar, August 16, 2010:
Opponents of the Islamic Center are opponents of religious harmony and wanted to perpetuate a harmful stereotype against Islam.

Aijaz Zaka Syed, opinion editor of the UAE daily Khaleej Times, writing in Egypt’s Al Ahram Weekly:
The entire U.S. media and rightwing brigade are acting as if Muslims have invaded America and are building a monument to Osama Bin Laden at the site where the World Trade Center once stood.

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Doesn’t this have an eerily familiar ring to it?  When the Tea Party movement really gained its momentum last summer, its targets accused the ordinary Americans behind the movement racists, extremists, fringe groups, etc. 

None of those opposed to the mosque at Ground Zero deny that the developers have the right to pursue the project.  The opposition is not based on the what, it’s based on the where.  Opposing the location where the mosque is going to be built has nothing to do with religious discrimination.  This is a tolerant society.  Some say far too tolerant, but the majority of Americans would actually oppose trying to use governmental power to block the project.

Americans may not always agree with each other, and we do not all worship the same or practice the same religion. But with our lives and sacred honor, we will defend Americans’ right to express themselves and worship freely.  So, the “Arab Street” has it wrong.

Another eerie parallel:  How the Arab media and the American media so quickly ascribe ulterior motives to those with ideas and positions they disagree with.

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

Obama’s Mosque firestorm has “political legs”

Of course this controversy has political legs.  As Ed Driscoll pointed out late Friday night, this was an “unforced error.” There was no good political reason for him to wade into the controversy that the White House had previously (and smartly) regarded as a “local issue.”

But wade in he did, and he didn’t make things any better by backtracking yesterday.  On ABC’s This Week program (via The Hill), the panel lamented the political implications of the mess Obama has created:

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President Obama’s handling of the controversy over building a mosque in lower Manhattan has thrust the issue onto the political stage and will linger long after the debate ends on where to erect the structure, ABC contributor Cokie Roberts said on Sunday.

“The political issue will continue because even though the president’s remarks Friday night started a firestorm, I think the backtracking is even worse,” she told "This Week," adding, “What tomorrow is he going to say?”

Roberts and other participants at the program’s roundtable agreed that the president helped to make the issue “white hot.”

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The mosque at Ground Zero is opposed by 70% of Americans, including a solid majority of 54% of Democrats and a supermajority of 70% of independents. A left-of-center politician with any instincts would take a 100-mile detour around this subject, but on one of the slowest news nights of the week, Obama wades in and drops a bombshell.  All he had to do was repeat the “local issue” meme, eat his Halal iftar meal, smile for the cameras, and STFU. But, no…

In a mid-term election cycle that was already promising much political bloodshed for the left, Congressional Democrats have to be wondering—incredulously--why is he providing so much political ammunition for our opponents?!?.

Gimme some feedback in the comments.

Featured in the news: Bloggers react to Obama’s backing of Ground Zero Mosque

• Atlas Shrugs – “If you had any doubt who Obama stood with on 911, there can be no doubt in our minds now. .. Once again, Obama puts himself directly at odds with the majority of the American people, as is his way and the hallmark of his presidency.”
• Ace of Spaces HQ – “You know who else my enemy is? My enemy is someone who think it's a good idea to advertise the virtues of Islam next door to Islam's Greatest Hit.”
• Doug Ross @Journal – “President Obama doesn't care what you or I think. Facts, logic, reason and history play no part in his "decision-making". Only ideology matters with this particular breed of hard-left Democrats.”
• Weasel Zippers – “Obama spits in America’s eye…”
• Gateway Pundit – “Well, this is real stunner.  Since most voters in America are against building a mosque at Ground Zero, it only figures then that our radical far left president would join the 20% who believe it’s a good idea.”
• Hot Air – “Besides, the left has invested so much energy over the past month patting itself on the back for its moral superiority that they’d have wigged out if he had sided against them here. He can deny them a public option, but god help him if he denies them a Teachable Moment at the wingnuts’ expense.”
• Riehl World View – “I don't think anyone is questioning their right to worship. This is about where. You don't have a right to say a Christian prayer in a public school.”
• Ed Driscoll – The White House was much better off declaring the Cordoba House a local issue. By wading into this, if conservatives weren’t already fired up, ready to go (to coin a phrase) this November, they will be now after reading this.
• Protein Wisdom — “The people of New York who don’t want it? They’re just going to have to learn how to be good Americans.”
• Jennifer Rubin – “He is entirely – and to many Americans, horridly — a creature of the left, with little ability to make moral distinctions. His sympathies for the Muslim World take precedence over those, such as they are, for his fellow citizens. This is nothing short of an abomination.”

Riddle:  What do you get when you cross a radical Muslim with a radical Communist?
Answer: Barack Hussein Obama!  mmm hmm hmm