Outside the Beltway

Given public opinion on the proposed Islamic community center that is currently cominating the news, we would expect that opposition to the project would be strongest in Manhattan itself.

How did the future of this former Burlington Coat Factory turn into a national political issue ? Well, it’s a rather interesting story.

A major part of the problem with the seeming growing wave of anti-Muslim sentiment in some quarters of US politics is that it seems to equate Islam as “the enemy.” If that’s the case, then US foreign policy has some ‘splainin’ to do.

The GOP is playing a dangerous game with the anti-Islamic rhetoric that it seems to be courting these days.

Barack Obama has significantly widened his predecessor’s global war on terrorism, even if he’s no longer calling it that.

President Obama’s decision to speak out on the so-called “Ground Zero Mosque” has turned what was a hot-button cable news item into a political issue that even his fellow Democrats don’t want to deal with.

If it was called the “Burlington Coat Factory community center” would anyone care about Cordoba House?

President Obama waded into the “Ground Zero” mosque controversy at a Ramadan dinner last night.

The American Family Association has ramped up the nation’s anti-Muslim sentiment yet again.

Tonight’s topics: Yesterday’s primary elections, the cost of hiring workers in the public and private sectors, anti-Muslim sentiment, and the move to repeal birthright citizenship.

Greg Gutfeld claims to be working to build a gay bar next door to the controversial Cordoba House Muslim cultural center a few blocks from Ground Zero.

Hezbollah can tolerate the restoration of a synagogue, but many Americans are apoplectic about a Muslim community center and mosque two blocks from where the WTC once stood.

Protests against mosques aren’t just limited to Manhattan. And that’s a problem.

A number of disturbing incidents point towards increased anti-Islam hostility in the United States.

The Anti-Defamation League has taken an unfortunate stand on a issue involving religious tolerance and bigotry.

The Lt. Governor of Tennessee suggested recently that religious freedom possibly shouldn’t apply to Muslims, but he’s only part of the problem.

According to Maureen Dowd, Barack Obama’s biggest problem is that there are too many white people in this picture.

The world would undoubtedly be a better place if Islamic fundamentalism reached even 19^th century Western notions of individualism and gender equality. But cultures evolve over decades, and bans on their practices are not useful means of promoting positive change within them.

Newt Gingrich says that because there are no churches in Riyadh, we shouldn’t allow a mosque in New York.

Andrew Sullivan is back from vacation and back obsessing over the birth of a two-year old kid in Alaska.

Sarah Palin tweeted, and took the wrong side in a story that doesn’t even deserve to be a controversy.

Should outrageous people like Pamela Gellar be invited to spread their message on national television?

Pakistan is the world-wide leader in internet porn searches. And they have some strange tastes over there.

Since 9/11 there has been a steady trickle of stories about jihadists hooking up with Latin American drug cartels and the like. Here is a guide of story points that can help you identify when such a story is almost certainly bogus.

Muhammed may be in a bear suit, but he still got an Emmy nomination.

NASA engineers are already “close to testing” a solid rocket booster powered by combustible animal dung, and operated according to principles discovered by Ibn Al-Haytham, Islam’s best-known scientist, who died in 1039 AD.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in an interview that he considered raising Muslim self-esteem about their contributions to science one of the goals of his agency.