He also said today, that Islam has always been a part of America. In that he is correct. Jefferson started the Marines in order to stop Islamic piracy and constant jihad upon the seas. I suppose one might also say that is a contribution to US society in a way. In exactly the same way that Ebola motivated the creation perhaps, of some specific wonder antibiotics.
Eeyore for Vlad
H/T Ted L
NBC, msnbc.com and news services
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Friday endorsed plans for a Muslim mosque two blocks from ground zero in New York City, declaring that “Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as anyone else in this country.”
In remarks prepared for delivery at a White House dinner celebrating the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, Obama said all Americans have the right to worship as they choose.
“That includes the right to build a place of worship and a community center on private property in lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances, Obama said. “This is America, and our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakeable.”
Obama emphasized the point as New York City is immersed in a deeply sensitive debate about whether a mosque should be built near the site of the World Trade Center’s twin towers.
It was the president’s first remarks about the mosque controversy. The White House previously called the matter solely a local one.
At the dinner attended by two Muslim-American congressmen, Obama acknowledged that hot-fire emotions the planned mosque and cultural center have stoked.
“Ground Zero is, indeed, hallowed ground,” the president said.
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TOP LEFT TO RIGHT: Idris Nsubuga, Mohamood Mugisha, Haruna Hassan Luyima and Issa Ahmed Luyima
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Windsor Police have released these undated photos of Mohamud Abukar Haji, 27.
Introduction by Nancy Kobrin, author of 
February 27th 2008. On a cold and windy Wednesday (for cyclists like myself), I took a deep breath, grabbed the microphone and did something that changed my life. In front of the Copenhagen Mayor’s Integration and Social Services Office there were gathered several journalists, a faithful Muslim musician from the famous MTV-band ‘Outlandish,’ dozens of Imams and Muslim spokesmen and a couple of hundred social workers with Muslim and Danish backgrounds. I began to say what everybody already knew, but, what nobody either wanted or dared to say: that those who are referred to as foreign criminals, religious extremists, or terrorists in the making and who are the cause of lawless parallel societies (what the conference “Diversity and Safety in the City” was about) are all Muslim. I argued that we should stop talking about “criminal foreigners” and start using the more precise term, “criminal Muslims.” As a psychologist, having had more than a hundred Muslim clients, I told them that politicians and professional social workers need to understand the cultural and religious backgrounds of criminal foreigners. That is, if we want to come up with, at least, somewhat effective and targeted plans on how to reduce the social unrest, anti-democratic religious movements, the violent and anti-social forces among foreigners.
