While I am of two minds on the broughhaha over the siting of Mosque near the WTC site, I have a suggestion to make for those folks who are most affected.
If the people of New York really want to protest the building of a Mosque near the WTC site, they have to do something that will really really make an impact. Mass protests will not. Violence will not do enough of the job (and, to be honest, would be quite wrong).
A good idea for them is to have a list of those firms which bid on, and accept the various construction jobs in the building of the Mosque....Publish that list. Any carpentry firm which chooses to work on the Mosque should face penalties. They should be protested, and any other potential building project should exclude them from the list of potential bidders. Same goes for any ironwork, masonry work, electrical work, telephone/communication work, painters, drywallers, plumbers, etc. In fact, the trade unions should strongly suggest (with all that that implies in New York!) to their members that they should refuse to work in the place. Any firm which chooses to employ them after they begin work on the Mosque should be protested as well. Drive those who would aid and abet this insult out of business. If they cannot get, or find it difficult to find, anyone licensed to do the work, then this will make the project untenable. But this means that those who choose to do the work must fear the consequences of choosing to do so, and must fear the repercussions....
This too is constitutionally acceptable. And if the people of New York really care enough, they can make this happen. No violence, no mass protest, nothing but dissuading those who woukld do the work to renovate/construct the Mosque. Even if there were enough firms which would take the chance, if enough union members would refuse to work on it, it would keep the Mosque from being built. All it takes is the courage to take a stand.
There are those who have said that the will of the people should be followed. I disagree. Currently the Mosque is legal, and therefore it should be allowed to be built AS FAR AS ANY GOVERNMENT AGENCY IS CONCERNED. The prevention of the mosque from being built by any government agency opens the path to a very slippery slope. We are, after all, a nation of laws....and those laws should be followed, even when such a project as this is unpopular. But this does not mean that a project in such bad taste, nor as insulting to those folks living in the area should not have it's roadblocks.
If this solution were followed, no firm would DARE to bid on any part of the project, and no workers (union or not) would dare to work at the site......Therfore, no builing or renovation would take place
They will employ Muslim company's to build it.
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