My Tunnel BBQ on Park Place

The Second Essential Scary Truth

The so-called Ground Zero Mosque has created the loudest screaming match concerning the First Amendment currently found in the media and blogosphere. 61% of New Yorkers oppose building the Mosque. Those opposed believe we are ceding land close to the World Trade Center/Ground Zero site to those Islamists who destroyed the Twin Towers in the 9/11 attacks. They cite the Moors turning the Catholic Church in Cordoba, Spain into the largest Mosque in Europe as method of humiliating the Europeans.

Those in favor of the Mosque fall into two camps: the first are Muslims who want their house of worship/community center near Ground Zero. The second group includes those who may be opposed to a Mosque in the former Burlington Coat Factory building on Park Place but feel the First Amendment allows the structure to be in that or any other area properly zoned for houses of worship.

I loathe the very idea of a Mosque near the site where 40 people I knew were murdered by the co-religionists of the Islamists who planned and carried out the terror attacks on 9/11/01. However much I think the Imam who claims to have bought the Park Place building for $4.5 million cash is attempting to wage his own form of Jihad (he has ties to both Hezbollah and Hamas), I am forced to agree with those who believe the First Amendment is the controlling law in this instance.

I don’t like this Osama/Arafat wanna-be preaching his hatful bullshit next to the big hole in the ground either but asking the courts or the government to get rid of the Mosque is just flat out wrong. Imam Faisal Abdul Rauf bought the building and land. He has the deed. So, either we buy it from him for say $5 million or we have to live with the Ground Zero Mosque and hope it doesn’t become a breeding ground for the next Major Hassan.

I’d like to offer another idea, one more in line with our First Amendment values: opening a serious of Synagogues, Fundamentalist Churches and a branch office for the Scientologists. And right across from the Ground Zero Mosque, I intend to open my dream bar/restaurant. . A place where the bar is run according to my specs, with an old school barman, a few TVs and great beer, wine and booze. The kind of joint where a good burger, a steak, some Sole and perhaps a fabulous French Onion soup can be found. Most importantly, for me anyway, my joint will have ribs, fabulous ribs – slabs and slabs of ribs, made just like the Tunnel BBQ ribs I used to get as a child.

And when there’s a problem, the Mosque’s Imam can come on over and have a slab of the most succulent baby back ribs on the menu and wash them down with a few Stroh’s, Dixie’s and Pacifico’s. Of course, I anticipate CAIR and a few other to protest pork, Jews, Christians and other non-believers on their street but hey, it’s the First Amendment baby. You don’t have to like it but you have to live with it.