The Most Un-American Statement...

Warning, this post is a bit of a rant but because the topic has bothered me deeply since I read about it yesterday morning in the New York Times, woke me in the middle of the night and has had me tied up inside all morning, I felt I needed to get it out of me.

First of all, I don't want or need to get into why anyone wants to build a mosque in the area of the former World Trade Center. I actually don't care about that any more than if a shopping mall or a condo complex was being built there. It has been confirmed that the mosque meets all zoning and legal requirements of the city of New York and that is all that matters to me.

What I am troubled by are the statements that came specifically from former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich. There was a time when I was a Newt Gingrich supporter and while my political views have moved one way, while his have moved in a different direction, I always felt that Mr. Gingrich has the best for the country in his heart and that his opinions were rooted in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. But yesterday, Mr. Gingrich crossed a line that has me befuddled, bothered and made me a little afraid for what is happening to our country. These were Mr. Ginrich's statements as reported by the New York times and not refuted by Mr. Gingrich:

"Mr. Gingrich said the proposed mosque would be a symbol of Muslim “triumphalism” and that building the mosque near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks “would be like putting a Nazi sign next to the Holocaust Museum.”

“It’s profoundly and terribly wrong,” he said."

What I am appalled by is the small minded thinking that would cause Mr. Gingrich to associate a world-wide religion with the political Nazi party and think that it okay, under our Constitution to limit the rights for Americans to worship in whatever law-abiding way they choose. I have to ask, does Mr. Gingrich really think that all people who practice Islam were involved and support the terrorist acts of 9/11? Timothy McVeigh was Catholic. Should we also restrict the building of a Catholic Church in Oklahoma City?

The only appropriate reference and comparison to Nazi Germany that I can think of in this situation is that it was this type of segregationist, closed-minded thinking that Mr. Gingrich espouses that gave Adolph Hitler the platform to single out and eradicate the Jewish population of Germany and Eastern Europe. We are also not innocent as a country as this same type of thinking put Japanese-Americans in internment camps during World War II.

We have vowed as a country to never allow ourselves to return to that type of thinking, so please Mr. Gingrich, do not try and use your platform to sway people to return to a place where any American's religious beliefs, color of their skin or national origin, in any way restricts their American rights and their pursuit of happiness.

Only in New York City - The Big (but shrinking?) Apple

I happen to be in New York City this week. It is not particulary hot here for September but there is a meltdown happening. 10%+ lost in the market in the last two days. It's not good. It is worse here than elsewhere being that the financial industry represents 5% of all employment in the city but 25% of all NYC payroll. That's a big number and this week's problems will have some real ramifications here in the city. But, only in NYC do you hear stories like this: When I am here on business and don't have dinners planned (which I don't like to do anyway), I like to find a local sports bar/pub, saddle up to the bar with my laptop, watch the local sports (Yankees losing this time of year) and catch up on email, etc. Tonight I was in a restaurant on 50th Street and while sitting here I overhear two guys who work in the financial industry. One of the guys was talking about what a terrible week he has had already. He stated that it started on Saturday with Ohio State being beat, then the Cleveland Browns got beat, then they broke in on TV and said that Lehman Brothers had filed for bankruptcy and then Monday through Wednesday market downturn. It was not a good week for this fellow. He then went on to say that the only good thing that happened to him this week was that his Ferrari won a gold medal in some car show in New Jersey on Sunday. What's wrong with this picture? It only happens in New York City.