C'mon, you racist retards - I know you can be even more stupid and hateful than this

Personally, I don't think anybody who seeks favors and answers from an invisible sky wizard should be allowed to build anything, anywhere, ever. Or drive. Or vote. But until that blessed day comes, all the freakazoids are equally brainless and dangerous, so there's no point in discriminating.

Not that the lack of a point is stopping northern Kentuckians from shitting themselves over a planned house of worship terrorist training center in their very idio-christo midst.

Media Czech:

What happens when vile opportunistic bigots like Sarah Palin, Frank Gaffney, Glenn Beck, Newt Gingrich and Sean Hannity fan the flames of anti-Muslim bigotry and paranoia? It spreads. Fast.

And it's hit Florence, KY:

FLORENCE - The announcement that a mosque is being planned near Mall Road in Florence has drawn a strong reaction from some in the community.

Florence city officials say they have gotten several calls about the proposed worship center and a flier is being distributed in the city's neighborhoods.

There is also a website run by a Boone County resident that posts anti-Islamic messages and encourages people to "Stop the Mosque."

Oh, and here's the lovely site. There, you can learn about how Islam should be abolished in America and how they already occupy the White House.

The site takes comments. Ahem.

Until then, bigots, good luck with embracing the communist takeover of private property in defense of religious tyranny. You're making Newt Gingrich proud.

An anonymous commenter adds:

Florence is located in Boone County, location of the Creationist Museum. I'm embarassed to admit that I'm from the same area, but I never questioned Christians' right to build that ridiculous ode to an anti-science and anti-commonsense agenda.

Just for shits and giggles, how about some real American common sense from the 9-11 families? Who support the proposed not-a-mosque-not-at-Ground-Zero.

As plans to build an Islamic cultural center near Ground Zero in New York City become political fodder for the fall elections on a national scale, it's become shorthand to imply that all 9/11 families oppose the erection of the mosque two blocks from the site where terrorists downed the World Trade Center nearly nine years ago.

But in fact, no cohesive position has emerged from the thousands of 9/11 families who have been politically influential on many issues in the past. One group which has opposed war has come out strongly in favor of the mosque project, known as Cordoba House. Others have avoided even addressing the issue.

"There is no simple, singular 9/11 group who really should or could speak for all 9/11 family members," said Donna Marsh O'Connor of September Eleventh Families for Peaceful Tomorrows, a coalition of more than 250 families which recently endorsed the mosque. Since the endorsement, the membership numbers have grown, she said.

And that silly bitch all over Faux claiming she speaks for the families, who will writhe forever in excruciating torture if we don't kill every raghead in the country right now this minute?

Yeah, she's lying.

The most cursory googling shows that she's been advocating a string of right-wing positions going back over the last decade. Indeed, she's the cofounder with Liz Cheney of Keeping America Safe.

Also very worth noting is that none of the 9/11 Families groups who actually seem to be membership organizations made up of families of the victims seem to have taken positions on the mosque issue at all. I looked at the websites of several such organizations. And they each contain 'about' pages with some information about the organization, its membership and in most cases boards of directors. The website of Burlingame's group, 9/11 Families for a Safe & Strong America, contains no such information. But it's statement of purpose does give some sense of viewpoint: "The war against sharia is a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity."

PZ Myers gets the last word. He quotes Jeffrey Rowland:

There's been a lot of pointless bickering lately about a Mosque being built near where Nine Eleven happened. Exactly what is a "safe distance" to put a Mosque away from a place so that it doesn't have some imaginary effect on it? I'd prefer a ban on ALL religious buildings being built within 1,000 miles of a place where ANY MEMBER of ANY SPECIFIC religious organization did some harm unto society.

This is the advantage of being a non-religious person. We just look at situations like this and scratch our heads, then we move on and try to figure out how to make life less terrible in ways that can actually help.

I like his ban. It would instantly free up a lot of real estate for productive use.