acrossthepond

i agree; it is ironic the way the islamofacists have so many allies in liberal western society. if i was a new yorker, i'd have strong feelings about a mosque being built so close to the site of the world's biggest ever terrorist atrocity. clearly they're not all terrorists. but shouldn't moderate muslims be a bit more clued up as to the reaction this move would surely trigger? This is a good way to hammer home the point I was making earlier. Yes, moderate muslims definitely should be more clued up as to the reaction that would follow. But no, New Yorkers - and I am one now, for better or worse - should not have reservations about a "mosque" built "so close" to the WTC site. The real issue to be addressed here is that they - and most of America's right wingers - do have those reservations. That's the problem that needs fixing, because that's intolerance.

I think you will find there are quite a few 'wings' around the world that are more intolerant currently than the GOP. I wouldn't question that the US right-wing contains a worrying amount of bigotry and the rest of it but I would much rather live under their rule than that of the Ayatollah or Kim Jong Il or any number of theocratic and totalitarian despots that linger around the globe. Although the U.S. constitution has been violated more than I care to mention, the first amendment is still adhered to with reasonable vigour and I would wager that you have greater freedom of expression in certain states than in England at present. Gimmicky name, trolling posts, complete strawman arguments and false comparisons - did he say that the GOP is more intolerant than totalitarians? No? So why'd you make the comparison? Who might you be?

My earlier comment was sarcastic. Safety wink next time. I would not agree with the idea of building a mosque "near" or even "at" Ground Zero could possibly be "insensitive." A mosque is meant to be a house of God, where people are equal and at brotherhood. How could that be insensitive? (And, as previously mentioned, "mosque" isn't even really what this proposed structure is.) I do agree to some extent that it was a terrible idea, however, and if I were in charge of building mosques I would not have chosen the location in question. It was just all too easy for unscrupulous people who want to make political hay out of their racism to jump on the idea. Now they have nationwide media platforms from which to spout their hatred and lies and considering the general level of ignorance in the United States, they will have much more success in undermining what the Cordoba Group is attempting to do than if they had never chosen a location. So, ironically, the choice to build an inter-faith community centre has led to poorer inter-faith relations. If they had chosen a spot five blocks away, nobody would have batted an eye. I question who they hired as their PR people. America is not short of Muslim councils and pan-faith organizations who could have advised the Cordoba Group, correctly, to stay away from that area. It is an injustice that the ignorance of some people prevents Muslims from being able to build their centres wherever they like in a "free country", but the greater injustice will turn out to be the number of people turned against us by the flagrant lies and negative spin put on this by the right-wing media. It should never have been proposed.

Give it 30 years and nobody will even care about us. It'll be Sinophobia. Instead of anyone with brown skin it'll be anyone with epicanthic folds. I'll wait.

The only redeeming feature about Savage is that he actually speaks his mind unlike most pundits who just spew out rubbish and football cliches. Unfortunately the mind that he speaks is utter bullshit and he's a wanker, but at least he's an honest one. Sort of like Bellamy in that regard.

Doesn't sound half foolish now, does he? He misses a chance against Man U and he's finished...then he only goes and gets a hat-trick.

Unbelievable. I've just watched it and still can't believe it. Have it you Brummie scum. Who's your next messiah?

GET IN! Where'd that come from?

Heeeeeeeeey!! But seriously, that was an unnecessary 'tackle' by Harper. Rush of blood to the head...hoping that's all it was.

"I think Hughton's expectations will be very different from the many fanatical fans who always expect Newcastle to do exceedingly well." Aye, fuck off with that, will you?

Same starting lineup as the Man U game. Lovenkrands on the bench.

Christ, not another one. Please keep your idiotic bickering to the tens of threads you have already derailed. This one is actually about a player we might get so I can't ignore it.

I know the Daily Mail is a load of rubbish, but it's a long way from "Newcastle might bid for this guy" to "Newcastle have had a bid accepted and he's had a medical." Hughton definitely didn't deny the link in an earlier interview. Quietly optimistic on this one.

Any reason we could not have used the money that we now supposedly have for this bloke to buy/put in a better loan offer for Ben Arfa? EDIT: Already been listed as our player on Wikipedia. They don't half work quick over there.

Don't think he fancied your man-management skills.

I thought Routledge was good against Man U. Sure, he didn't offer a lot in the attack but then none of our players did, and he was working double-time covering for Perch. So I'd have him playing against Villa. Got a good feeling about this one actually. Villa haven't really improved squad-wise from the side we beat at home in our last PL season.

Would hardly be the first time a club has said "oh we aren't interested in signing him" and then turned round and bought him.

Of course, there's always the chance that it's only the papers that have noticed we lack in those departments and Hughton's got nothing to do with it. I've doubted for a while now that he has anything to do with player recruitment.

Can't find a timestamp on it, but sites have only started to report it today, so I'm guessing it's from today. Says that Klaus Allofs told Sat.1, which is a German tv station (I think) the quote I gave.

And Werder's sporting director has ruled out a move for Ben Arfa: "We do not need a replacement for Mesut. While we always look for players to improve ourselves, Ben Arfa is not one of them." Fingers crossed.

I could see that happening, unfortunately. Let's hope it's just made up at this point.

Let's hope for a few more. I know Danny is probably lurking and wanking himself silly as our anti-Spurs bias is finally proven, but I don't care. I fucking hate Spurs and I hope they crash and burn.

I thought you'd taken the huff and flounced off? Would you kindly?

I'll settle for 3-0. Bunch of patronising wankers on the telly here but there's one thing they're right about and that's that we should expect nothing from this fixture anyway. Carroll as a lone striker is simply not going to work unless players get up and support him. Sounds like a job for Ben Arfa, right...?

Perch/Jonas have been bloody awful and Coloccini has reverted to type. Positives include Routledge looking good and...er, Enrique's been good? Another 2 for them and we'll call it a night, I think.