not in my back yard!

two stories this week about what new yorkers (and out-of-towners) don't want built in our fair city:

a lot of people have been saying that feisal abdul rauf, the imam heading up the park 51 community center in tribeca, has connections to unsavory people in countries like saudi arabia. perhaps i was wrong about defending this whole "ground zero mosque thing".

saudi prince alwaleed bin talal has donated over $300,000 into the park 51 project, and also heads the kingdom foundation, which supposedly funds radical madrasas. that's not good, and personally it's enough to make me second guess myself. any institution having a connection to a radical saudi prince is clearly a terrorist organization.

also deeply connected to prince alwaleed bin talal? fox news. outside of the murdoch family, prince alwaleed is the largest share holder of news corp, the parent company of FNN. woooooooooopppsss! i was just joking about that whole second guessing thing. they should definitely build that mosque. [wnd]

in other news:


With the amount of controversy greeting the proposed construction of 15 Penn Plaza, you would think Muslims wanted to pray inside of it. The owner of the empire state building is unhappy about a proposed 1,216 ft tall skyscraper a few blocks from the 1,250 ft tall landmark. they believe it will destroy new york's iconic skyline. it's an interesting comparison to the park 51 controversy, as this land use issue has none of the religious, political or emotional pitfalls faced by the islamic community center. i would be interested to know if sarah palin "refudiates" this planned development for it's unnecessary and provocative impact on the city's skyline. probably not. she's never been big on conservation.

kylie thinks 15 penn plaza looks like an uncircumcised penis, and i have to agree. we already have one of those in jersey city, thank you very much.

update: (the city council has taken the first step to approving the 15 penn plaza design)