Morning Must Reads: Running the Gantlet

“Well, the fallacy is that al-Qaeda attacked us.”

Way too easy, Mr. Nadler.

http://michaelfury.wordpress.com/2010/08/13/blue-skies-from-pain/

I listened yesterday to Matthew Dowd and others on _This Week_ speak about the lack of “sensitivity” related to locating Cordoba House at the proposed site. I’m not certain, but I imagine that those who decry the placement of Cordoba House are unflinching in their support for Israeli settlements in disputed territory. Sensitivity indeed.

The key is disputed territory. The West Bank and Gaza are disputed, not occupied, with both Israel and the Palestinians exercising legitimate historical claims.

There is no dispute that Ground Zero is a massive graveyard through the action of Islamic extremists.

I think Nadler either was misquoted or used the word “fallacy” incorrectly.

The only reason they make the “sensitivity” argument is because the know it’s unacceptable (and I’m beginning to wonder how long it will be until it become acceptable) to state what’s in their hearts – that the First Amendment may not need to apply to Muslims and that the government should step in to stop this project regardless of its legality. I actually got a wingnut on my local newspaper’s message board (a scary place…and I live in NJ, not exactly wingnut central) to pretty much admit this over the weekend.

“There is no dispute that Ground Zero is a massive graveyard through the action of Islamic extremists.”
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There is also no dispute that the proposed site is not at Ground Zero and that the folks proposing to build it are not responsible for the attacks on 9/11. And while those occupied territories may be under dispute, there is no dispute that the construction of this center is allowed under local NYC zoning laws and the United States Constitution.

Those opposed to religious freedom not only are anti-American, they have aligned themselves with Al Qaeda, who are the big winners from the Republican opposition.

and you can’t make this stuff up!
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“GISS uses measured temperature data from lower latitudes and then extrapolates them to the Arctic. Using this method, any readings warmer than average in the lower latitudes are pushed into the Arctic by a smoothing technique. GISS uses a 1,200 kilometer smoothing for its data, meaning that the temperature reading for one thermometer is used as the temperature for a 1,200 kilometer box in all directions from that location. Where there are more thermometers, the boxes overlap, and the readings of one thermometer are averaged with others around them. This reduces the effect of each individual thermometer.

But in data-sparse regions, the value of one thermometer takes on a much greater value.”

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http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/noaa-warmest-june-ever-caveat-we-made-it-up/?singlepage=true

No one is arguing against religious freedom. But it is interesting that the stalwarts of political correctness flaunt the First Amendment while cheer leading “hate crimes” and Hate speech rules on college campuses.

So I assume you and the rest of the high minded liberals are ok with folks flying the flag of the Confederacy. Right?

The GOP has turned a corner from a main stream political party to White Supremacy faction; intolerant of other cultures, and races; living in fear, and losing what they think is theirs, I.E. dignity, respect, and integrity.
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I wish I could say otherwise, but I can’t.

“intolerant of other cultures, and races; living in fear,”

BY the first you mean the ones trying to kill us by using any means including innocent women and children

and by the second you mean the ones that are hear illegally and are criminals than yes you are correct. It doesn’t explain why you hate America

If you mean hate America as in disagree with the GOP, read my post. I however do not equate the two. See you do, and is precisely my point.

“action of Islamic extremists”
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Read your own words, Freepy. Not all Muslims are extremists. Al queda is not building a mosque in NY. Islamic extremists are not building a mosque in NY. Muslims are. Learn the difference.
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“ok with folks flying the flag of the Confederacy”
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Are you postulating that all southerners are sympathetic to the goals of the Confederacy? That’s the only way your second comment makes sense. If you’re capable of telling the difference between a southerner and a Confederate sympathizer, then one would think you’re capable of telling the difference between an Islam extremist and the rest of Muslims.
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Is this a free country or not? Do we believe in the Constitution? Or only when its convenient?

Your point is you support those who try to kill and undermine our country and flagrant law breakers. You can say that you don’t hate America but your actions say otherwise.

Your post 6.3
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See what I mean?

your actions say otherwise
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Actions? What actions?
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The “actions” of typing and clicking?

“the ones trying to kill us”
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Multiple choice question, Freepy: Who are ‘the ones’?
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A) Al Queda, The Taliban, and other Islamic extremists.
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B) All Muslims.
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I’ll give you a hint. A is not the same as B

the battle of false equivalencies

and pronouns

yeah, that quote threw me too but if you keep reading he makes more sense. He just mused the word. His point is really that we weren’t attacked by “Islam”, we were attacked by some fringe nutty Muslims.

MoronMom

“Al-Qaeda is an international terrorist network led by Usama bin Laden [the “Osama” spelling is deprecated, because there is no letter “O” in Arabic). Established around 1988 by bin Laden, al-Qaeda helped finance, recruit, transport and train thousands of fighters from dozens of countries to be part of an Afghan resistance to defeat the Soviet Union. To continue the holy war beyond Afghanistan, al-Qaeda’s current goal is to establish a pan-Islamic Caliphate throughout the world by working with allied Islamic extremist groups to overthrow regimes it deems “non-Islamic” and expelling Westerners and non-Muslims from Muslim countries.

In February 1998, al-Qaeda issued a statement under banner of “The World Islamic Front for Jihad Against the Jews and Crusaders” saying it was the duty of all Muslims to kill US citizens—civilian or military—and their allies everywhere”
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You argument that”not all Muslims are terrorists” is specious. The looney loft has no problem condemning all conservatives, Tea Party members are Republicans in general for the action or words of one.

Your argument about the Confederacy flag is a diversion in which you don’t answer the question. I never said it was a sigh of all the south. Do you agree that any person or state has the right to fly that flag. A quite simple question

B may not be all A But A are all B. And can you tell which of the Bs are not As? Being that liberals are all knowing. I know this is true you all keep telling us that.

“This isn’t really a debate about religious freedoms; few question Muslim Americans’ right to worship”

So true!

“Muslims all across the country have run into local opposition when they’ve tried to build new houses of worship” (NPR)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128545975&ft=1&f=1016

You don’t need to argue against religious freedom in order to demonstrate you are opposed to it.

“You argument that”not all Muslims are terrorists” is specious.”
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In what way? The only way that statement is in any way fallacious is if you believe all Muslims are terrorists.
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“The looney loft has no problem condemning all conservatives, Tea Party members are Republicans in general for the action or words of one.”
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I do not like the Tea Party or their stated ideology, which I believe is often rooted in xenophobia. Saying that is much different than saying I don’t think the Tea Party should be allowed to have a clubhouse in NY. The Tea Party is allowed to organize, congregate and even open a storefront on Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco, if they so desire.
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“Your argument about the Confederacy flag is a diversion in which you don’t answer the question. ”
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A diversion YOU brought up.
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” Do you agree that any person or state has the right to fly that flag. A quite simple question”
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Simple answer: Yes. If someone wants to fly a Confederate flag in honor of treason in the support of slavery, they are free to do so. I encourage it, it makes them easier to identify and avoid.

“And can you tell which of the Bs are not As?”
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The fact that the vast majority of Muslims are NOT terrorists seems lost on you. So much for innocent until proven guilty. Nice to know conservatives have thrown that quaint old concept out, too.
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Who else should we pre-judge? Most crimes are committed by young people. Maybe we should start locking up everyone until they are 30, y’know, just in case. After all, some small percentage of them are going to commit crimes.
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You constantly assert stuff like “all liberals think all conservatives are racists” or some such generalized nonsense. A lot of people are able to identify individuals and understand they hold nuanced positions on many topics. I guess its just easier to say “All Muslims are potential terrorists” than to consider that amongst over a billion individual Muslims, there may be some variation of opinions. They’re not all out to get you, or destroy America, etc.

Must read today (for grape_crush):
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This is the Democrat that Obama picked to head the “left” side of the Cat Food Commission, no joke:

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/jan1998/nf80120c.htm
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BUSINESS WEEK ONLINE
January 20, 1998
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ERSKINE BOWLES: CORPORATE AMERICA’S FRIEND IN THE WHITE HOUSE
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Five years into his Presidency, Bill Clinton still gets no respect from the business community. Despite a booming economy, Corporate America doesn’t give the President much credit for either helping to reduce the deficit or spur growth.
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Business can’t complain about Clinton’s latest accomplishment, however: The President persuaded Chief of Staff Erskine B. Bowles to stay on the job rather than return to the private sector. Bowles, a venture capitalist from the entrepreneurial wing of the Democratic Party, has been a stabilizing influence on the White House and a moderating influence on White House policy initiatives.
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As a manager, the conservative Democrat has run a tight ship in the West Wing…

Yes, they really are running from a Third Way policy playbook circa 1998.
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That’s your Democratic Party, folks. That’s your “entitlement reform.” This is real.
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Did you ever think that this was what you were electing to bring Change We Can Believe In –”CORPORATE AMERICA’S FRIEND IN THE WHITE HOUSE?”

Thats actually false Freeinpa, for example you can see temperature records from Barrow Alaska (71°17′44″N 156°45′59″W around 1300 miles form the North pole) at the NOAA website
http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/detect/overview.shtml

In addition, Nunavut (part of the Canadian arctic, where I have actually done field work and seen evidence of large scale permafrost melt and heard first hand accounts of increased temperature from locals) has been experiencing record heat waves (which alone does not prove anything, but with record temperatures recorded around the global this data supports, not counters the models of AGW).

The DMI has daily records for the past 52 years, and they show them. What you will see is that while individual days fluctuate above and below the mean regularly, even in the early years, there are more positive spikes in more recent data (and even though we haven’t got into the fall yet, where in previous years the larger deviations occur, this year looks to be similar to the previous this decade, i.e. hot).
http://ocean.dmi.dk/arctic/index.uk.php

or you could trust ship bound measurements, like these from a German research institute (its an old link, from 2004 since it was based on a paper released then , and new papers confirming old results aren’t news,But go to their site today and see they talk about the continual warming of the Northern waters)

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200408/s1187058.htm

OR here are data from Arctic city weather stations.
http://www.arctic.noaa.gov/detect/climate-temps.shtml

note the pattern of increased warm temperatures across the in recent years.

Do we rely on satellite data, yes, is the coverage as good as we would like, nope, but the methods used are not “guesses”. The best in the field (people with a lot more experience in this subject than you or I) have devised methods that are recognized as giving accurate data, despite the limitations of sample size. I suggest you actually read up on the primary literature or talk to actual scientist (we don’t bite, honestly) before you mock them. People spend thousands of hours trying to get accurate measurements from some of the least accessible places on earth, sometimes risking their own lives in the field to make accurate computer models to see just how bad we are messing up this planet. (you try camping in a tent in polar bear country on an arctic Island, 3 hours twin otter, a small twin prop plane, ride from anywhere and a day from a hospital , if the weather allows, which it regularly doesn’t. Then spending hours making sure your equipment is properly functioning so the data you get is correct and the tens of thousands of dollars you spent, out of your own research budget , is not wasted. Then you can mock the work of these people using satellite data and reconstructions to measure areas where they can’t reach. As I’ve said I have done field work in the far North, granted in paleontology, but in similar areas and conditions to climate researchers, and it is no picnic)

So in conclusion Freeinpa, yes estimated data is used, but this is all based on real data. This is similar to what happens in engineering, medical sciences or military strategy, and do you believe all these fields just make everything up? Please do some primary research, do not trust secondary sites, as they will slant the data through their own ideological prism (either left or right), especially a site which has to post a correction admitting it misinterpreted the words of a main research to make it seem like scientists were making things up (i.e.the headline) when in the correction they admit thats not true.

I really have been alarmed (disappointed, too, but since I never counted on O to “fix” anything, it was not a new disappointment) at the different face of the same, growing trend of putting industry cheerleaders in regulatory positions over the industries whose pom-poms they wave.
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But it’s really not a snow-job. It’s just more effluent from a cesspool that has been filling faster than the pace of technology to treat is has been growing, because the investment in producing the blackwater has been ongoing and legislatively advantaged while investment in de-toxifying it has been legislatively stifled.

My fear is that they will raise the SS age beyond that which the majority of Americans can sustain. At the same time there will be no protection for seniors from job discrimination. As they raise retirement age Corporate America will at the same time argue that seniors are physically unable to do the work. Even as those same seniors upgrade their skills, to attempt to move to less strenuous positions, they will find that their age will prevent them from finding new positions within and out side their current employer.

Even as those same seniors upgrade their skills, to attempt to move to less strenuous positions, they will find that their age will prevent them from finding new positions
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That’s a very important point, one that’s completely lost on bubbled, incoherent ideologues like Tim Geithner who casually toss off this rot:

The combined effect of government actions taken over the past two years — the stimulus package, the stress tests and recapitalization of the banks, the restructuring of the American car industry and the many steps taken by the Federal Reserve — were extremely effective in stopping the freefall and restarting the economy.
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We have a long way to go to address the fiscal trauma and damage across the country, and we will need to monitor the ups and downs in the economy month by month.
The share of workers who have been unemployed for six months or more is at its highest level since 1948, when the data was first recorded, and we must do more to ensure that they have the skills they need to re-enter the 21st-century economy.

The problem, of course, isn’t that the long-term unemployed don’t possess “the skills they need to re-enter the 21st-century economy.”
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Telling 50-year-olds to retrain to take the entry-level service jobs that haven’t moved offshore, or to compete with a huge cohort of 25-year-olds for those that can’t physically be relocated (despite the ingenuity of executives) is not only insulting and worthless for their prospects, it’s a damaging, foolhardy way to run a consumer-driven economy.
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Either the “skills they need for the 21st century” line is a Third Way euphemism for “expendable,” or we’re in worse policy shape than we liberals thought was possible, given the lunatic inadequacy of the past eight years.

OK Freep I’ll bite, even though it’s a non-sequitur to what we’re discussing since no lives were lost over a flag dispute:
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If you fly the rebel flag on your non-government property it’s certainly legal. (I see one every time I drive up I-95 in my town.) Standing up for Confederate values (as perverted/antiquated as they are now) is certainly not against the Constitution, although it wouldn’t be wise for a government to officially endorse it–hence several Southern states changing their flag designs.

thank you rahonovis2

oh, and you are appreciative also, are you not, freeinpa?

The reality of course is that the Government can not be relied upon. It has become the tool of Corporate America, and the purpose of the common man has been lost. Thus we have the TEA Party, which in many ways is a revolt against the promise never fulfilled, which at the same time is working to see that it isn’t. It is a lost of faith in the system.
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It is a mess.

“My fear is that they will raise the SS age…”
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My hope is that they will completely misread the mood of the public and try to trim the hard-earned retirement benefits of working class people while, at the same time, protect the outrageously undeserved wealth, perks and privilege of our social elites. There’s a class war going on in this country, it’s about time someone beside our oligarchs and few liberals started fighting it.

And more from Drudge on the ground zero mosque.
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http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1303463/Obama-backtracks-Ground-Zero-mosque.html
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This one even comes with nice pictures, a map showing the distance from ground zero and everything!
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I really loves these statement by 9/11 Family members;
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“Debra Burlingame, a sister of a pilot killed when his plane was flown by a hijacker into the Pentagon and a spokesperson for victims’ families, said: ‘Barack Obama has abandoned America at the place where America’s heart was broken nine years ago, and where her true values were on display for all to see.”

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Sally Regenhard, whose firefighter son was killed at the World Trade Center, condemned the President for a ‘gross lack of sensitivity to the 9/11 families and to the people who were lost’.

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But, of course we have support for President Obama from not only Hamas, but others are now speaking out as well…
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“The site was bought by the not-for-profit group the Cordoba Initiative for £3million.
It plans to spend £75million on a complex including a prayer room, mosque and ‘September 11 memorial and contemplation space’.
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Developer Sharif el-Gamal said: ‘We are deeply moved and tremendously grateful for our President’s words.’

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Absolutely no one disputes this specific group of Muslims do have every right to build this mosque on this site. No question, no doubt. It even amazes me now that President Obama would even question a fellow American’s understanding of that essential right granted by our Constitution.
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But, less than 9 years from the date of that fatal event. When our history was changed forever. To be so insensitive to those who sacrificed so much for this country, we condone building a mosque less than a few blocks away from where the bits and pieces of body parts are still lying in the ground. Where people who had no other choice lept to the deaths on the streets below.
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I suppose to give our dear leader the benefit of the doubt, maybe he did not watch as these people died as it was plastered all across our TV screens on that fateful day. To watch one after another, fellow Americans jumping from those two burning skyscrapers to their deaths.
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Perhaps Mr Obama and the Imam Rauf did not watch as those towers crumbled and fell, as the smoke, dust and debris filled the air like a mushroom cloud from an atomic bomb. Did not watch as thousands of people ran for their lives no knowing what may happen next. As heroic firefighters and policemen did not hesitate once, and ran towards those buring buildings to try and save as many people as possible.
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This is the insensitivity which has been spoken of. A mosque will be a constant reminder of those who committed these crimes against our own people. It will not heal those wounds. It rips at those wounds instead like a claw hammer across freshly opened skin.
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It is not a question about what someone can do legally, or what is constitutionally permitted. It is a question of what is simply the right thing to do. The memories for most are still too fresh in our minds. Perhaps in 20 years or 40 years or maybe 60 years we can allow those memories to fade enough to say, “alright, go ahead and build your mosque. You have the right to do it, but it still doesn’t make it the right thing to do”.

I think they have already divided and conquered the public.

and I’ll take a bite, too
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after all, I haven’t had breakfast yet
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hope I don’t choke
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When I see a Confederate flag on someone’s wall or in their window, I first think of hippie tapestries and low-budget curtains, and collectors’ items. I appreciate the flair, the utility, and the fun.
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When I see one on a flagpole on private property, I think about how angry and brainwashed the residents must be, and visions of DNA absent hybrid vigor come to mind. I remind myself to be prepared to be skillful in conversation and body language if I ever encounter them in a situation where their emotions might be triggered.
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I am not offended. I am judgmental. I am reminded that one of the ancillary values of the Freedom of Speech is that we get to see with whom there is still educational work to do in the realm of getting to a more harmonious social fabric. I am reminded that such work will be more likely be successful with their children than with them. I am reminded that, should I witness violence or harassment being conducted, to call the cops for backup as I appropriately begin to interceded.
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If I see it on public property, I am amazed.

I heard an interesting discussion on NPR this week-end (sorry don’t have time to look it up right now – think it was Marketplace Money) when Chris Farrell said what they really ought to do is lower the retirement age to make room for younger workers. Raising the cap on wage limits would take care of almost all of the current funding problem of Social Security,

althingsinaname@9.4`
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allthingstootrue

cross fingers
hope no hammer hits them for a two-for-one

But, of course we have support for President Obama from not only Hamas,
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Of course Hamas has no political agenda in it’s statement, they certainly do not understand that their comments will stir up resentment against the Mosque from the gullible among us, and thus paint America as anti-Muslim.
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You are being used Rusty.

The New Yorker has a good editorial on the Cordoba “controversy.”

Well, for a start, it won’t be at Ground Zero. It’ll be on Park Place, two blocks north of the World Trade Center site (from which it will not be visible), in a neighborhood ajumble with restaurants, shops (electronics, porn, you name it), churches, office cubes, and the rest of the New York mishmash. [...]
Where the “Ground Zero mosque” is concerned, opposition is roughly proportional to distance, even in New York. According to a recent poll, Manhattanites are mostly for it, Staten Islanders mostly against.

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2010/08/16/100816taco_talk_hertzberg

Of course, the New Yorker is published from New York, and not from Real America, so it probably doesn’t count.

Ivy~
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Did the NPR piece incorporate the angle in this LA Times article?
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http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/08/business/la-fi-hiltzik-20100808

Raising the cap on wage limits would take care of almost all of the current funding problem of Social Security,
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Too simple. There needs to be a way to keep the funds out of the general funds. Amazing how we can have a War off budget, and unpaid for, but we cannot have SS that is paid for by both my employer and me. Why isn’t SS off budget?

Wow I am so grateful you pointed that out to me, allthings. I truly do.

“Raising the cap on wage limits would take care of almost all of the current funding problem of Social Security.
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That’s the beauty of it Ivy_B, it’s a crystal clear choice. Our obscenely wealthy oligarchs can chose to spend a ridiculously small percentage of their ill-gotten booty on the already suffering working class (as a direct result of their greed and incompetence I might add) or they can choose to make them suffer further out of pure, sociopathic selfishness. You know what I’m betting on.

now that you have gotten around to the position that it would be illegal to deny the project, perhaps it is time for you to tell us just how YOU would have responded to this matter, as President of the United States
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If it helps, here is what I would have considered doing. Order the Department of Homeland Security to discover where the funding was coming from, and if it was illegal. Order that to be kept completely quiet. Stay completely quiet about the entire subject until the opening ceremonies. Attend them, and there pray on television for the victims, name all the faiths they practiced when they were alive, denounce their killers and anyone who supported them or would support anyone like them, denounce anyone who rejoices in the murders, and ask for the help of each of their names of God to help us all root out the perversions in each of their faiths that are able to allow even a semblance of justification for such acts. Give thanks for the Constitution of the United States and our Rule of Law that made it possible for me to be here on this day to honor our dead with a hope for their country to use their tragic fate to embolden the struggle against jihadism.

12.3 was directed to newfreedomblog

freeinpa,

Regarding the West Bank and Gaza. Gaza is no longer occupied or disputed. The Israelis left it some years ago. As far as the West Bank, it is occupied. Only the Israelis consider it “disputed” and not all Israelis think even that. Israel did not claim it in 1948 and conquered it during the 1967 six-day war. Even then Israel offered it back and immediately passed a law forbidding Israelis to settle in the West Bank. Over time, extreme Zionists illegally settled the West Bank and successive Israeli government used them as tools to bargain with the Arabs for peace. Only in the past 30 years have some right wing Israelis “revised” their thinking from “occupied” to “disputed” territories.

Free, there is an old saying: If it looks like a duck, smells like a duck and quacks like a duck, its a duck. An objective review of history would tell you that the West Bank is “occupied” and not “disputed”, and any more than Kuwait being the 17th province of Iraq as Shaddam claimed.

P.S. As far as the “Confederate” flag, which is not actually the flag of the Confederate States of America, it is actually the battle flag of northern Virginia, anyone is free to fly it they want. However, they should understand that the flag made its reappearance in the 1950s in response to integration. So the heritage people are celebrating is either one of treason or legallized segregation, take your pick.

Derek: do you notice those on the right always rebut a point by some false equilivancy? Sort of the Newt Gingrich stance that they don’t allow religious freedom in Saudi Arabia, so why should America? There is rarely direct rhetorical debate.

Experience of a 62 year old supervisor laid off after many years at the same company:
. A number of employees over 50 laid off.
. Company being sold. This was a way to shave overhead. Ins for older workers cost more and older workers usually at higher salary level. I was the highest paid supervisor because I earned it but also had been there the longest.
. After lay off, I applied at one company for an entry level phone customer service job. Had to take a physical. Like many my age, have higher than normal blood pressure. Given 3 days to bring down and retest.
. Found another entry level job making much less than my previous job. Decided to retire with Social Security. Had to wait 3 years for Medicare. Scary.
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My son’s employer has had big downsizing. Mostly older workers. It is very hard to prove ageism.

Right wingers on this site, why have you given up your principles regarding:
property rights, rule of law, and federalism?
Is this what your fear and xenophobia have done?

“Right wingers on this site, why have you given up your principles…”
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Would that it were. Majorities of Americans support Arizona’s racial profiling legislation and this anti-Muslim religious bigotry. This, of course, makes it even less likely that the corporate press will ever tell the truth about right-wing treason and the effects of the Limbaugh/FOX lie machine on society, which would include their own cowardly refusal to cover this monumental story.

Daffy: A-HA! . . . Pronoun trouble.

No, april, what we are exercising is called good, common sense! and this is a commodity that seems to be very much lacking today. Why is it necessary to build at this specific site, knowing fully well how Americans would react (68% opposed) Why would you choose to name it Cordoba, knowing the implication would inflame Christians. None of this makes ANY sense, so why are you surprised? There are mosques all over America where Muslim’s go to worship with complete freedom and safety, so WHY choose this specific site. As I stated, it simply makes NO sense. Get over yourself and your magnanimity….this is not about race and prejudice, it is simply called using your head.

a lot of common sense is good valuable, but not all. There have been many times throughout history where rigorous inquiry discovered that reality was the opposite of what common sense led one to believe.
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There are better examples which escape me at the moment, so I will use a classic (though worn out, example). For a very long time, it was common sense that the earth was flat.
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Ah, that helped me remember a more contemporary example. From at least as far back as the late 1800′s.and up until about 30 years ago, it seemed to be common sense in America to suppress all wildfires if one could do so. Then the data of the actual results of that began to be looked at ever more thoroughly. Now, we know that is a good idea sometimes in some places under some circumstances, only.
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Also, there have been polls before that showed Americans as-or-more in favor of, or opposed to, things which the federal government, composed of Democratic and Republican controlled versions alike, did not change their stance on in the face of, even on issues with no pesky Constitutional issues complicating the field of such changes. And sometimes later the common sense shifted in the face of additional data and analysis.
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I bring all that up because, from my perspective, while the common sense you describe is completely valid, I think that it is not enough of the picture from which to draw the conclusion that the government must prevent the mosque from being built.
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Which reminds me of a question that has been nagging me for weeks: Why do I not see a “market” solution being proposed? Why is there all-of-a-sudden a clamor for the government to regulate free enterprise with a heavy hand, especially on a micro-management scale? Especially if, as some commenters have declared, this 68% are all the “non-Liberals’?

14.3 is @ earlj