Bloomberg’s “Ayatollah-like Power grab”

 

Some time ago when I was discussing Heidegger and his advocacy of the Ubermensch, I thought Blogblather was on the other side. There were a few things he liked about Heidegger, but not that. Following the "Great Man" can lead a nation to totalitarianism. But maybe I'm imagining that he opposed totalitarianism.  His invocation of Mayor Bloomberg would make Heidegger and Nietzsche, not to mention Thomas Carlyle, proud.

Here is another article about Bloomberg, this one by Pamela Geller: http://www.americanthinker.com/printpage/?url=http://www.americanthinker.com/2010/08/free_speech_lawsuit_nyc_bans_9.html In it Geller writes, ". . . He is now widening his ayatollah-like power grab to imposing blasphemy laws (Islamic sharia laws) on the secular marketplace. Bloomberg's frenzied Ground Zero mosque push may have inspired Al-Azhar clerics to oppose the Ground Zero Mosque, calling it a "a zionist plot."

Zeller is bent because she tried to run a "bus ad campaign" only to discover that Bloomberg didn't permit that sort of free speech. CBS Outdoor told her "that the city said that 'images of 911 were not allowed."

She goes on at some length describing the changes she made to the ad trying to get the CBS Outdoor to allow her campaign, but they rejected each attempt, no smoke, no fire, no planes, etc. She seems pissed: "as soon as the Shariah-faithful cowed Mayor Bloomberg and the MTA into dhimmi-like submission, the First Amendment to the Constitution gave way to Shariah's blasphemy laws. How long before the Mayor's office begins issuing fatwas against those who dare counter the ‘noble and peaceful outreach' narrative?"

I'm sure Billy Blogblather would be outraged. He would tell Geller that he trusts Bloomberg more, far more, than her. But some of the rest of us are sympathetic with Geller. Bloomberg does indeed seem to be going rather far to accommodate an ideology that has vowed eternal enmity to all nations that embrace Liberal Democracy (or any other non-Islamic belief).

The last paragraph explains that as soon as Geller & some others sued the MTA, they backed down and let Geller run her ad campaign as originally conceived. Is Geller now willing to take it all back? Doesn't seem like it.

Here is an interesting addendum from MEMRI: "Al-Azhar Clerics Oppose Ground Zero Mosque. Several clerics from Al-Azhar have rejected the construction of a mosque near New York's Ground Zero.

A member of the Al-Azhar Islamic Research Center, Dr. Abd Al-Muwati Biyumi, said that the mosque's construction could connect Islam and 9/11, while Islam is innocent of the deed. He also called the plan a "Zionist plot." http://www.thememriblog.org/blog_personal/en/29156.htm

There you go: The old "Zionist Plot" argument; which has to be right up there with "I trust Bloomberg more than you, way more than you!"