Bad idea: likely
Legal and Constitutionally protected: No doubt.
The "would they let jew's build a temple in Saudi" argument is so stupid it makes me dizzy.
Solution: Larry Flint builds his greatest strip club of all time across the street featuring a "super jersey girl strip-off of all time" contest on 9/11/11 as they host their dedication. Let nature take its course from that point.
PS. I suspect there will be a nudie bar across the street. Not that I know a dude who owns a few nudies in NYC or anything...
Isn't this the problem? By denying them the right to build the thing we piss off muslims. If it gets built, it will inevitably get trashed on because it's so disrespectful (in my opinion intentionally), and we piss off the muslims.
I say we tell them to f*ck off right now, instead of waiting for "nature to take its course". Either way the consequences are the same.
By telling them to eff off we spit on the fundamental principles our country was founded on and lose much of our "higher moral ground" that we claim so often. The consequences aren't even remotely the same.
The intent to stir crap up so they can propagandize anti american bullshit in the mid east is as transparent as the windshield on Al Gore's KingAir. Anyone who denies that is willfully ignorant.
Probably. So what? They have always done so and will continue to do so. There are much more important issues here. Denying their right to build would be just a tiny ding against their Islamic propaganda champaign, but it would be an utter disaster and embarrassment for us.
If you're an Islamic leader you are hoping to hell that we block the building. Another mosque built doesn't mean much, but baiting the US to climb off it's moral pedestal and undermine it's own constitution? Now that's a goldmine.
I don't know about you, but I kind of take pride living in a country that still protects freedom even when it's not easy, even when it's downright infuriating. Actually,
especially when it's infuriating. I'd like to keep it that way. It will be a cold day in hell when any outside influence, especially one that stands for nothing at all but oppression and tyranny, gets me to forget the very principles that make my country what it is.