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.
What brazen chutzpah !
Just when you think that Rauf & Co., have hit the lowest rung on the ladder, they manage to out do themselves.
They have absolutely no shame, in anything they do.
Once the world understands that you have been wrong in one, it may rightfully assume that you have been wrong in many.
Never has this life maxim been more true than in the case of Rauf & Co.
BTW, members of the public are welcome to submit comments (written ones are best) to the IRS which informs us that it is always looking for ways to stop the abuse of tax-exempt entities.
Comments to other relevant authorities which Rauf & Co. are trying to defraud such as this Lower Manhattan Redevelopment Corporation are always appreciated by these authorities. The LMDC web site is here,
http://www.renewnyc.com/
Ground Zero mosque developers want $5 million in federal money intended to rebuild Lower Manhattan after 9/11
.................
My God, what gall.
More:
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
.................
Well, that's the least of it. Why should these good Muslims care about being careful with the Kuffar's money? sarc/off
On the other hand, being in frequent arrears himself did not stop the thuggish Sharif el-Gamal from assaulting a tenant and *breaking his nose and cheekbones* when he was late with his rent.
More:
He (Rauf) is a slumlord -- the worst in Union City, New Jersey.
.................
That takes some real doing—Union City, New Jersey is a pit. Unpainted apartments, roaches, and broken radiators are almost the norm in many neighborhoods. No, Rauf's properties are not just run-down and filthy, but actually *dangerous*.
I don't know about you, but I would be rather loath to give redevelopment money to a slumlord, in any case.
But that he wants to use taxpayer money to raise a monument to the very people who necessitated the rebuilding of lower Manhattan in the first place represents the very depth of perversity.
Please readers,let us not forget to sign the petition to save ASIA BIBI,the Christian woman in Pakistan who will be hanged for blasphemy.ASIA NEWS has launched a campaign to save her.
ARTICLE ABOUT HER FROM ASIA NEWS:
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Pakistani-Christian-sentenced-to-death-for-blasphemy:-a-campaign-like-for-Sakineh-19963.html
LINK TO WHERE TO WRITE TO HELP SAVE HER:
http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Your-signature-to-save-Asia-Bibi-and-Pakistan-19997.html
Samuel i. 25:
How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle!
Pressure grows for pardon of Aasia bibi
LAHORE: A Pakistani cabinet minister on Monday ratched up the pressure on President Asif Ali Zardari to pardon a Christian mother of five sentenced to death for blasphemy.
Aasia Bibi was sentenced to hang in Pakistan’s central province of Punjab this month after being found guilty of insulting the Prophet Mohammed.
Pope Benedict XVI last week called for Bibi’s release and said Christians in Pakistan were “often victims of violence and discrimination.”
“According to my own investigation, it was a personal dispute and she did not commit blasphemy,” said Pakistan’s minister for minority affairs, Shahbaz Bhatti, who is himself a Christian.
http://www.dawn.com/2010/11/22/pressure-grows-for-pardon-of-aasia-bibi.html
OT
Another girls’ school blown up in Landi Kotal (Pakistan)
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010\11\22\story_22-11-2010_pg7_10
More on Aasia bibi. It is interesting to note how the various news outlets report this story.
From Dawn.com (Pak)
The case began in June 2009 when Bibi was asked to fetch water while out working in the fields. Muslim women labourers objected, saying that as a non-Muslim, she should not touch the water bowl.
Bibi was later arrested by police and prosecuted after Muslim women complained that she made derogatory remarks about the Prophet Mohammed. http://www.dawn.com/2010/11/22/pressure-grows-for-pardon-of-aasia-bibi.html
Express Tribune (Pak)
Aasia Bibi did hard labour for the local bricklaying industry in Nankana Sahib and had the usual complaint about unfair and violent labour practices. She, however, also ran the gauntlet of living in the midst of an increasingly narrow-minded Muslim community of poor labourers presided over by a bigoted blasphemy law-loving cleric. Two reasons are related to why she was entrapped by an equally colluding police: that she was provoked by other women drawing water when they said that she was ‘napaak’ (impure); and that she had asserted to other women that the meat of Muslim qurbani (sacrifice) was haram (prohibited) for her.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/80301/the-shame-of-aasia-bibis-blasphemy-charade/
Daily Times (Pak)
She said it was just a dispute over water but the people accused her of blasphemy and implicated her in a false and fabricated case, adding that she respected the Holy Prophet (PBUH) as the last prophet, and would never think of passing blasphemous remarks.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2010%5C11%5C21%5Cstory_21-11-2010_pg1_5
Not a single cent of Federal money should be advanced to aid the construction of PORK51.
I look forward to hearing that a large quantity of porcine blood has been injected into the foundations, along with a few heads.
I guess Rauf & Co. could raise funds running refresher courses for Ali Baba and his 40 thieves.
I feel sorry for Muslims. This endless assault -- around the globe well over 16,000 deadly jihadist attacks on civilians since after 9/11 -- is going to come back on them eventually, and then none of the lying, the excuses, the sense of entitlement, is going to matter a damn.
Monthly Jihad Report, compiled by www.thereligionofpeace.com
October, 2010
Jihad Attacks: 181
Countries: 17
Religions: 5
Dead Bodies: 616
Critically Injured: 923
The curse of Muhammad is upon Muslims and non-Muslims alike.
On page 222 (326 in the Arabic) of the earliest Muslim biography of Muhammad, he affirms that those who do not follow him will be slaughtered.
The dhimmis in charge of the NYC Redevelopment Agency will probably approve the grant, failing to see any church-state issues here.
Personally, I think they are working for Robert's Dhimmi of the Year award. They recognize all that Obama has done to win it, and they need to take some extreme steps in order to edge him out for the prize.
Will they succeed? Inquiring minds want to know...
So how long before Al-Qaeda applies for a subsidy for purchasing American-made weapons?
The PA take on the Western Wall, or, Islamic Supremacism 101: http://www.jpost.com/Israel/Article.aspx?id=196329
If Islamic organization X, whether characterized as "religious" or not, were denied recognition as a charity then Islamic organization X would not exist as a legal entity to then apply for such public funds.
The degree of separation between the so-called extremists (with a reference point of the so-called non-extremists) is not between 1 2 or 3 degrees but rather within a range of one quarter degree to three quarters of a degree. Hence, my characterization of Islamists as a two-headed snake, one with fangs and the other without, and that it makes no difference which one we feed because the body will grow the same either way.
The OIC can show its loyalty to moderateness (recognition of generally understood human rights) by expelling any member state that supports or fails to restrain actions such as capital punishment for apostasy, or otherwise supports punishment of anyone who would dare criticize the claim of exclusive and complete judicial authority of some megalomaniac religious theologian that still lives in the dark ages, or longs for return of the same.
Anywhere this slimy slumlord Iman Feisal rauf can raise money he will do it, the American tax payer, the Wahabi lobby, you name it, so that he can build bridges to Islam and Islam only.
He in fact has been sucking money from the tax payers for years from trips abroad paid by the Federal Government, to improvement money granted him by New Jersey to fix his apartment complex of which he did not, and now trying to suck money out of the 9-11 fund-- the creep makes me sick.
Jewdog
I read that article about the latest lot of Muslim nonsense and lies concerning the Kotel and the Temple Mount.
It made me want to throw up. I detest and despise the brazenness, the strutting arrogance, with which Muslims LIE - dirty, ugly lies driven by their devouring greed, total selfishness, and the will to humiliate and HURT other human beings. They need their bottoms kicked, good and hard. They MUST NOT be allowed to get away with deliberate, malevolent, self-serving falsehoods. Sometimes I am surprised that the earth does not simply open up and swallow them, given that the evil that they constantly do - and are *proud* of - is so enormous.
If only, back in 1967, the Israelis had just dynamited and then removed - right down to the last speck of dust - those two hideously boastful Muslim edifices on the Temple Mount and then declared the place to be what it is, Jewish property and Jewish sacred land, full stop.
Well said, DDA !
Yes. All property within the nation state of Israel should be understood as, reaffirmed and declared to be, exclusively the domain or property of Israel. And, conversely, at some time in the future when it's appropriate, the oilwells and oilfields in Islamic states should be seized by a coalition of governments and declared to be permanent "international property" (just to balance things out and make it fair). And that would be fair and good, for everyone.
The 911 Victory Mosque project should not receive one dime of money from the public trough. With 90+ other mosques in Manhattan, they can't claim that there isn't a place to pray -- and in addition to that, the precedent of using public money to build a mosque or any other church is a very bad one.
The Victory Mosque shouldn't be built anyway - but if New Yorkers want it so badly, perhaps they should dig deep into THEIR pockets (not the Federal Treasury) to see this abortion constructed. I'm sure Bloomberg could just write a check...
>"The Victory Mosque shouldn't be built anyway - but if New Yorkers want it so badly, perhaps they should dig deep into THEIR pockets (not the Federal Treasury) to see this abortion constructed. I'm sure Bloomberg could just write a check.."
It's the Muslims who want the GZ mosque "so badly" and not the New Yorkers. New Yorkers don't want this mosque anywhere in New York. But, of course, imam Blumberg wants it badly -- perhaps he can write a small 5M$ check to his favorite constituents. It's only a chump change for him
When PARK51 is a mosque, will they rent the top floor of the building next to them (the one on the corner) which has a clear line of sight into the hole that is (shockingly) Ground Zero? I imagine roof-top parties, complete with a photographic station ("Get your picture with a view of GZ behind you!"). That will make it the premiere destination for any Muslims who are looking to celebrate 9/11 as a victory against the Great Satan.
(Then again, for all I know, they already own that building too.)
If only, back in 1967, the Israelis had just dynamited and then removed - right down to the last speck of dust - those two hideously boastful Muslim edifices on the Temple Mount and then declared the place to be what it is, Jewish property and Jewish sacred land, full stop.
IF only! or rather "If only"?
Israelis are just as "progressive" as the rest of us. And progressive folk don't fight religious wars - they are too advanced to stoop to that level. They, like us, fantasize they have long ago passed that stage of human development and they most vehemently deny that the war waged against them is religious one because they don't want to be seen fighting one.
Therefore, instead destroying the religious symbols, temples and institutions of the religion that wants them dead, which is the only way to fight an evil religion, they pretend before themselves, their friends and enemies that the war is "normal" one and that it can be prevented through peace talks and dialogue.
They refuse to see that although they may "win" hundred wars they will all be lost if they fail to weaken the real enemy. The inexorable fact is that the real war is waged against Israel and us by the Religion of Islam. If we accept the truth that the only way to win a war is to defeat the enemy we must adopt means and strategies best suited to do so. And the only way to fight a religious war is simply to fight the enemy religion. Everywhere. Otherwise we will perish.
Dear imam fecal, no money for you!
hello dda!
good to see you after the weekend marathon with the 742 muslime-defender.....
just checked in and saw the thread about the 'palestinian authority study'.....here's my reply to 'doom and gloom' which unbeknown to me was almost tailor made for this thread as well. here it is:
"dear d&g
the idealist in me, says, like you do:
"we could have had peace a long long time ago, a real two-states solution (more precisely three, but nevermind) - an Arab Palestinian state next to Israel" ...
but the realist in me knows that my eyes do NOT lie.
israel is surrounded by a swamp of hatred... and it is seeping towards its core...
1967 was an incredible missed oportunity for a population exchange and the establishment of de facto borders.
we all know what happened since:
the invention of the century.....
'palestinian people' all of a sudden came out of nowhere, the unshaved murderer who got a nobel peace prize (!!!)was well coached by kgb how to establish and perpetuate a lie...and voila! palestinian people....
these poor wretched falaheen have always been used as pawns.
their school books are a good gauge of things to come:
hatred! r a w h a t e r e d that is.
so i am sorry, d&g, i don't see HOW you could make peace that really MEANS something and not a bullshit paper that the jihadist in chief at the wh wants to bully israel into signing ...
israel is losing its deterrent power.
to be so strong and not to use it...then why bother? caroline glick calls it :"the shackled warrior"...
ESPECIALLY when pisslam is the enemy...
gosh! nowadays even likud starts to look and act a little 'labour'ish....
I would like to draw your attention to the grasping gesture that Feisal Abdul Rauf employs while speaking.
You can see it here where he is constantly, grasping, gripping, grabbing, clutching, clawing, hugging, or hefting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5WKLfpGSig&feature=related
Given what we know about this person, I find it a little alarming to watch him do this.
Here is my take on it - "the Yuppie Islamist".
Re: Rauf's grasping gesture: He does it with his voice and his glances too. He slithers. (No insult to snakes.) Expect him to get uglier and uglier as his facade such as it is starts peeling off his slimy face.
The bottom line is that they have no money. Because of the bad publicity and controversy it generated, Saudi may not be willing to pump the money into the project like they do to many other mosques. They have no sense of shame, or responsibility.
Feisal is a very manipulative person.
Feisal Abdul Rauf is a very manipulative person.