Sorry for coming to this party a bit late.

I am appalled at so called leaders who are opposing the building of a cultural center (not Mosque, tho that has more emotion attached to it).

Sometimes it is the job of leaders to lead constituents out of the darkness, rather than follow the flow to the most airtime/votes.

In this morning's news I saw a story about a preacher from Florida who wanted to have a Koran-burning day. Sad to say, the media reported it without outrage. Perhaps he'd next like to have a Crystal Night and break all the shop windows of Muslim store owners.

Flogging hate for the sake of attention or votes is just plain shameful.

"People who are outraged at the proposed Islamic center near the World Trade Center site might consider that the Masjid Manhattan has operated a house of worship on Warren street, between Broadway and Church, since 1970."

This illustrates that the majority of critics are not bigoted. If they were, they'd have tried to expunge all mosques from the area, even established ones.

"... just as the residents of Manhattan proper have had no particular objections to the proposed Islamic center ..."

Two-thirds of New Yorkers in a recent New York Times poll say the mosque should be built elsewhere: http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/poll_results.pdf

"One, and I think this was supposed to be the sockdolager, asked how I would like a Japanese temple at Pearl Harbor. As it happens, Lisa Miller reports in Newsweek, about fourteen percent of Hawaiians consider themselves to be ethnically Japanese, and presumably some of them live and work on Oahu."

I'm not sure what this proves, except that just as there as Japanese in Hawaii, there are Muslims in New York, a point that's not in dispute.

"Moreover, there already is a Buddhist temple, the Aiea Hongwanji Mission, half a mile from Pearl Harbor."

Was it built in 1950?

"The hoo-hah over mosques in America will not come as a surprise to anyone who has read Mr. Hofstadter’s Paranoid Style in American Politics."

Indeed, no public outrage against anything will surprise anyone who knows anything about manipulating groups.

"We have been prone to these ugly and embarrassing outbreaks since we hanged witches in Salem. Like our periodic financial panics, they pass."

Wish there was a way you could make your point without equating objections to this mosque with state-sanctioned murder.

There was plenty of heat on the news last night about the proposed Koran burning on the anniversary of 9/11. Our generals are saying this act may cost American lives. In Afghanistan the preacher is being burned in effigy. Wonder if he is having any second thoughts about fanning the flames?

Dahlink, my money is on, Not A Second Thought In Sight.

At the risk of stirring the pot, would someone kindly explain what the proper, respectful distance for Muslims wishing to worship might be?

It seems that Minister Terry Jones, of Gainesville,Fl. will not call off "The Koran Book Burning."

What if Muslims- let's say in Dearborn,Michigan were to have a "Burn the Bible Day."??

Do you suppose there would be outrage and protest over it.?? Hmm.......

Minister Terry Jones of Gainesvillle Fl. is still planning his "Koran Book-Burning" on Sept. 11th...

What if Muslims- let's say in Dearborn, Michigan were to plan a "Burn the Bible Day."?? do you suppose there would be protest and outrage over it.?? Hmm....

Why hyphenate "mosque-burnings" but not "ethnic cleansings"? I'm assuming that it has to do with "mosque" being a noun and "ethnic" being an adjective. I barely know AP, though; CMoS, which I know somewhat, would treat them the same, hyphenating neither.

On the other hand, I admit that a hyphen in "mosque-burnings" looks much better than in "ethnic-cleansings." So this is not a case of AP being weird and inconsistent (of which there are many) but of Chicago being counterintuitive (again, of which there are many examples), the counterintiuitiveness being not hyphenating "mosque burnings" here.