From the Hardhats of New York

[RuthlessRider]

Robert,

First I would have to agree with Bobbo, we either livbe with the American ideals that make us Americans or we sink to the level of those who are our enemies.

Second, you seem short on historical fact. Suliman the "Magnificent" lived from 1494 to 1566. The Dome of the Rock was built between 689 and 691 CE. It was updated by the then head of the Ottoman Empire Mahmud II in 1817.

I understand your anger at the event of 9/11. I don't know anyone who witnessed that act of agression that wasn't infuriated by the attack. But in the end, it is rational heads that prevail, not knee jerk reactions fueled by emotion. Over 300 Muslim employees who worked in the towers were also killed that day. This was not an act by Muslims any more than Mussolini's acts were the acts of Cotholics in the 1930s and 40s. It was an act of violence by terrorist who used religion as an excuse for cowardly acts.

[Bobbo]

Too late…  99% of Fox News and conservative radio talking head listeners believe we have a Muslim as our current president.  

It’s telling that you think I was attacking Fox news.  If you apply standard English grammar, you will see that the subject in my sentence is ”listeners” and that Fox news is simply an adjective.  I don’t mean to lecture anyone on grammar, but it helps the response if you understand the sentence.  BYW, it was a tongue-in-cheek statement, anyway.

In fairness, Bob, at my first reading I intepreted the sentence with Fox News as a subject.  Sometimes conjunctions can be a bit confusing.  I read it as (Fox News) and (conservative radio talking head listeners).

Despite whatever confusion there was over the subject and modifier, the 99% was a known and intentional exaggeration.  As to the tongue-in-cheek status, a wise person once said that people say in jest what they would prefer to say in earnest.  Many a duel has been fought over the insult given in jest.  

I'm a pretty fair student of standard English grammar despite the fact that both my own grammars have been departed for over thirty years.

Be safe, my friend, and take yourself a bit less seriously than do others.  

I agree conjunctions can be misread, but it should be clearer since I placed 99% before Fox news, which would imply that it pertained to the following conjunction as a whole.  If I had stated “Fox News and 99% of…” then it would mean exactly as your first reading.

Most exaggerations can be quickly identified as such, and understood in that context.  I admit I can have a dry sense of humor at times, and it can be lost in a text-based forum.  Even when I use the “emoticons”, it still doesn’t always get across!

I still have one of my Grammars left, and she is a lively 91 this year!

[3fan4life]

Too late…  99% of Fox News and conservative radio talking head listeners believe we have a Muslim as our current president. 

And YOU can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are wrong?

Muslims consider him to be one of them because his father was a muslim.

Mr. Obama has stated that he is a Christian  

I guess for now we have to take the man @ his word about what he is or is not.

One thing that I know for sure: If he is a Muslim and a radical one at that, may God have mercy on our souls.  

[3fan4life]

I agree that building an Islamic center in downtown Manhattan is a bad idea, but the idea of government intervention purely on religious reasons is wrong.

On this point I agree with you 100%


The only thing is: I haven't seen where ANYONE is calling on the government to stop it or is saying that they don't  have a right to build it.

What I'm hearing everyone saying is:

That it ISN'T RIGHT for them to build it there and that it shouldn't be done.

[3fan4life]

Too late…  99% of Fox News and conservative radio talking head listeners believe we have a Muslim as our current president.   

BYW, it was a tongue-in-cheek statement, anyway.

If the post truly was meant "tougue and cheek", then I apologize for kinda getting up in your face about it.

You might find however that this emoticon:  or this one,  or even this one  do a better job of implying that something was meant in jest than this one: 

[Bobbo]

Too late…  99% of Fox News and conservative radio talking head listeners believe we have a Muslim as our current president. 

And YOU can prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are wrong?

Muslims consider him to be one of them because his father was a muslim.

Mr. Obama has stated that he is a Christian  

I guess for now we have to take the man @ his word about what he is or is not.

One thing that I know for sure: If he is a Muslim and a radical one at that, may God have mercy on our souls.  

Quite frankly, it doesn’t matter to me what President Obama’s religious beliefs are. 

If Obama is a Muslim, he’s “got some ‘splaining to do!!” (Rickey Ricardo voice)

[Bobbo]

or this one, 

Oh, no...  Not that one...  It didn't work on a previous post!

[3fan4life]

Quite frankly, it doesn’t matter to me what President Obama’s religious beliefs are. 

If Obama is a Muslim, he’s “got some ‘splaining to do!!” (Rickey Ricardo voice)

THE FOLLOWING REPLY IS NOT MEANT TO CONTINUE DEBATE OVER WHAT RELIGION MR OBAMA IS OR ISN'T:

I know that Muslims are banned from drinking alchohol.

But, when I was in Suadi Arabia one of our Lt's (a muslim) pointed out a small monument like thing (too small to be a mosque) that was near a bridge that went from Saudi to Bahrain. He said that it was so muslims could pray to be forgiven of any "sins" committed while in Bahrain.

Bahrain is the Las Vegas of the Middle East and I always figured this was their way of sayin: "What happens in Bahrain stays in Bahrain".