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A request made all the more outrageous by the fact that Rauf & Co. have shown themselves to be some of the most startlingly incompetent managers of money and property in recent memory:
In late August, we found out that the mosque developers were tax deadbeats to the tune of $224,000. In an application for tax-exempt status, Rauf claimed to operate a mosque that could hold 500 people, but in reality was an apartment that could not hold so many worshipers if they were crammed in like clowns in a Volkswagen. Rauf has filed a false tax return. He is a slumlord – the worst in Union City, New Jersey.
Meanwhile, the thug Sharif el-Gamal has been sued for an unpaid loan, and faced eviction from his SoHo office over $39,000 in back rent. He was found to owe $21,000 in fines on a property with 13 violations. And there are other unanswered questions.
And now they want more money – your money. The sense of entitlement that pervades the entire Ground Zero mosque project never ceases to amaze, as unsurprising as it is given the triumphalist agenda that drives it.
“Mosque Money Shocker,” by John Avlon for the Daily Beast, November 22 (thanks to all who sent this in):
Developers of the controversial Park51 Islamic community center and mosque located two blocks from Ground Zero earlier this month applied for roughly $5 million in federal grant money set aside for the redevelopment of lower Manhattan after the attacks of September 11th, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter.
The audacious move stands to reignite the embers of a divisive debate that dominated headlines surrounding the ninth anniversary of the attacks this fall, say people vested in the issue.
The application was submitted under a “community and cultural enhancement” grant program administered by the Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation (LMDC), which oversaw the $20 billion in federal aid allocated in the wake of 9/11 and is currently doling out millions in remaining taxpayer funds for community development.
The redevelopment board declined to comment on the application (as did officials from Park51), citing the still ongoing and confidential process of determining the grant winners. While news of the application has not previously been made public, developer Sharif El-Gamal outlined it in closed-door meetings, according to two individuals he spoke with directly. The thirtysomething, Brooklyn-born El-Gamal is motivated more by real estate ambition – one of these sources describes him as aspiring to be the next Donald Trump – than Islamic theology or ideology.
Well, he’s not The Donald. But why couldn’t it be both?
Park51′s developers clearly had a legal right to apply for the grant. A list of Frequently Asked Questions that accompanied the application specifically states that religious organizations can make funding requests for capital projects “as long as the request is for a facility or portion of a facility that is dedicated to non-religious activities or uses.” According to an individual familiar with the Park51 application, it requests funds to cover a number of cultural, educational and community development aspects of the proposed 13-story building – but the prayer room is excluded from the grant application.
But the question on whether they could have is trumped by the question of whether they should have. The stated aim of the Park51 developers is to provide a community center for lower Manhattan’s 4,000 Muslim residents. Their own website explained that they understood the need to “appeal to the undecided, and change the conversation about Muslims in America.” It’s pretty clear that this play for federal dollars will generate none of that, starting with the lack of disclosure or community consultation before developers submitted their application, which was due November 5th.
“If Imam Feisal and his retinue want know why they’re not trusted, here’s yet another reason,” says Irshad Manji, author of The Trouble with Islam and Director of the Moral Courage Project at NYU, when I asked her about the grant proposal. “The New Yorkers I speak with have questions about Park51. Requesting money from public coffers without engaging the public shows a staggering lack of empathy – especially from a man who says he’s all about dialogue.” [...]
But the project likely doesn’t quality for a grant in the first place. Specifically, the grant criteria mandate a demonstration of a project’s financial feasibility, based on benchmarks set by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The government will help complete development projects – but it does not provide seed capital. And in their last public financial statement, Park51 was found to have less than $20,000 in the bank for a project with a slated cost of $100 million.
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TSA Pat-Down Leaves Cancer Survivor Covered In Urine, Humiliated – MLive
A bladder cancer survivor traveling to Orlando, Fla., was left humiliated, upset and covered in his own urine on Nov. 7 after a TSA pat-down went awry at Detroit Metropolitan Airport.
Thomas D. Sawyer, of Lansing, must wear a urostomy bag that is sealed to a stoma from his stomach via a wafer as a result of his condition. On the day he traveled, Sawyer was flagged for a pat-down.
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TSA Makes Cancer Survivor Remove Her Prosthetic Breast – INews
Cathy Bossi of Charlotte, who has been a flight attendant for the past 32 years, said she was asked to go through the new full-body scanners at Charlotte Douglas International Airport.
As a 3-year breast cancer survivor Bossi said she didn’t want the added radiation through her body, but reluctantly agreed. “The TSA agent told me to put my ID on my back,” Boss told WBTV correspondent Molly Grantham.
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TSA Defends ‘Strip Search’ Of Little Boy At Airport – Gateway Pundit
Of course, we couldn’t use top-notch behavioral profiling like they do in Israel. The corrupt state-run media won’t tell you about those highly effective profiling techniques. Instead, children and grandmas are getting groped and strip searched.
How much of this abuse will you take? The TSA is defending the strip search incident of a child at the Salt Lake City Airport.
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Passenger Strips To Avoid ‘Naked Scanner’ – News AU
A traveller has been arrested after shedding his clothes in a bid to avoid being frisked by airport staff. Sam Wolanyk was planning to fly to Barbados but declined to go through the full-body scanner.
His refusal meant he was singled out for a pat-down search instead. Mr. Wolanyk allegedly decided to strip down to his underwear instead, his lawyer Jason Davis of Orange Country said.
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At Least 278 Killed After Stampede At Cambodian Festival – Globe And Mail
A stampede on a bridge in Cambodia’s capital killed at least 278 people late on Monday, most of whom were women.
Most of the victims were crushed or drowned, after thousands panicked when several people were electrocuted while celebrating the end of an annual water festival. State television said two hospitals reported 278 were killed, among them 240 women.
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29 Escape Barefoot From Flooded Chinese Coal Mine – USA Today
Barefoot and wrapped in white quilts, 29 miners were pulled out of a Chinese coal mine Monday after being trapped by a flood and waiting a day for rescuers to pump out water.
State broadcaster China Central Television showed medics leading out the miners, naked and with their eyes shielded from the light after 24 hours in darkness. Crowds cheered as they were taken to ambulances.
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EPA Could Destroy 7.3 Million Jobs – Big Government
Environmental Protection Agency officials Wednesday provided power companies and states with new guidance on the EPA’s plans to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
A D.C. lobbyist for two major power companies told Bloomberg News that “the energy and manufacturing sectors will essentially be in a construction moratorium” as a consequence.
darcprynce
Dave C
Gatordoug
