American tax $$$ saving mosques overseas

[cj's dad]

In the USA we are constantly reminded of “separation of church and state”. Yet according to the article I have posted, the US government is sending millions overseas to rebuild or repair mosques. How in the hell does this go unreported nationally ?

From the article:

An Atlanta television news station, WSB, reported that "the State Department is sending millions of dollars to save mosques overseas. This investment has received criticism as the United States makes an effort to slash nearly $4 trillion in government spending." The anchor noted that the U.S. Agency for International Development has granted copious funds for mosques in Cairo, Cyprus, Tajikistan and Mali.

More here:

http://townhall.com/columnists/chucknorris/2011/07/26/the_separation_of_mosque_and_state

[DJofSD]

If it is anti-Christian, this government is all for it.

[Tom]

Hey mostie, this in the jerk's budget?

Time to impeach. This clearly violates the constitution.

[FantasticDan]

http://www.factcheck.org/2011/03/funding-mosques-overseas/

:sleeping:

[Tom]

Fact check - one dollar for any of this is nonsense.

[falconridge]

http://townhall.com/columnists/chucknorris/2011/07/26/the_separation_of_mosque_and_state
Granted, only a veteran, impeccably-credentialed investigative reporter and policy analyst like Chuck Norris could unearth such incontrovertible evidence of the kind of perfidy exposed in this thoughtful, in-depth report. :lol: Nevertheless, in the interest of promoting healthy debate among pundits scrutinizing this problem from other perspectives, you might also want to provide links to SSN (Steven Seagal News Service; formerly the Soupy Sales News Service) and IRPI-JCVD (L’institut de la recherche politique internationale de Jean-Claude Van Damme). Reporting on the Pacific Rim’s reaction to these developments, field correspondent Jackie Chan might provide yet another slant. :eek:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_D2__HdsjZFA/TMGMBuGV3FI/AAAAAAAACBA/sGsX_YGJFSs/s400/chuck_norris.jpg

Righteous Ranger Chuck "kick 'em in the head" Norris makes his point.

[fast4522]

Granted he has done a few impeachable offences, currently not enough votes in The House to carry a vote. The country is set to pay its bills that come due without a debt ceiling increase, take from SS or military to pay liberal programs or raise debt ceiling on his own will be real bad tea and then the votes will be there to impeach.

[cj's dad]

http://www.factcheck.org/2011/03/funding-mosques-overseas/

:sleeping:

from your article:

"The State Department says (http://exchanges.state.gov/heritage/afcp.html) that, in total, the fund has contributed nearly $26 million "

that's $26 million too much.

[cj's dad]

Granted, only a veteran, impeccably-credentialed investigative reporter and policy analyst like Chuck Norris could unearth such incontrovertible evidence of the kind of perfidy exposed in this thoughtful, in-depth report.

Your sarcasm is boring and not the least bit funny. The point is that the US completely divests itself from any formal religion in this country as far as $$$ are concerned and I have no problem with that stance.

Following that position, answer rationally (if you can) why we are sending money overseas to repair religious structures etc.

[DJofSD]

Minor correction: the US substitutes itself (government) for religion.

[Tom]

Where the hell is the ACLU on this one?
Put up a manger scene at Christmas and those leeches are all over you.

[Spiderman]

from your article:

"The State Department says (http://exchanges.state.gov/heritage/afcp.html) that, in total, the fund has contributed nearly $26 million "

that's $26 million too much.

You and other repugs wanted democracy in Iraq, supported the lies about WMDs and avoided taxes to pay for the war. Now, your argument is to not pay for what was promised. Good luck with that, Chuck Norris.

[cj's dad]

You and other repugs wanted democracy in Iraq, supported the lies about WMDs and avoided taxes to pay for the war. Now, your argument is to not pay for what was promised. Good luck with that, Chuck Norris.

Another reply that does not address the issue of $29 million of our tax dollars going to religious purposes. Amazing !!

[Robert Fischer]

Where the hell is the ACLU on this one?
Put up a manger scene at Christmas and those leeches are all over you.

thank you:ThmbUp:

i'm ****ing tired of people that favor one religion over another. We can see what is right, why can't the gov't? Democrats think we "promised" this crap? Time to impeach.:mad: Enough is enough.

[Spiderman]

Another reply that does not address the issue of $26 million of our tax dollars going to religious purposes. Amazing !!
FTFY

[cj's dad]

FTFY

Thanks. Your contributions to this site are worthless.

[cj's dad]

Oops. I meant priceless. FTFY

[falconridge]

Following that position, answer rationally (if you can) why we are sending money overseas to repair religious structures etc.
Yes, I can—and, since you ask, I shall do my level best to oblige. “We” continue to allocate funds for the projects mentioned—and for a great many others not discussed in the source you cite—because in 2001 the 107th Congress established the U. S. Ambassadors Fund for Cultural Preservation, which received the enthusiastic benison and support of President George W. Bush. To his considerable credit, President Bush, via this now ten-year-old agency of the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Education and Cultural Affairs, maintained these eleemosynary subventions throughout his two administrations. President Obama has followed suit, targeting causes remarkably similar to his predecessor's.

Of the many deliberate distortions and half-truths Mr Norris (or whoever wrote and affixed the TV Ranger’s name to this piece) advances in his ill-informed rant, none is more heinous than his failure to mention any of the numerous non-Moslem recipients (in fact the majority) of awards and grants disbursed from this same fund. Yes, the $50,437 for the conservation of Sunderwala Burj in New Delhi and the $30,393 for the restoration of the fort at Lubu, Kenya jibe with the figures published in the State Department’s annual reports and announcements of AFCP awards. But on the very same pages of the reports (in fact, on lines interlarding those in which mosques and minarets are mentioned) from which the author (the fictional Lone Star lawman or his unnamed ghost) culled these figures, we find the following: Conservation of Early Christian Frescoes from the Episcopal Basilica at Stobi (Macedonia): $72,600; Restoration of the Early 20th-Century Cathedral of Santa Ana (El Salvador): $43,430; Restoration of the Mid-18th-Century Church of Mary Magdalene in Totogalpa (Nicaragua): $90,243; and so on. (http://exchanges.state.gov/heritage/afcp.html)

Here are a few random samplings from the AFCP’s Annual Report of 2002-03 (the first full fiscal year accounted for under Bush’s regime: Mohabat Khan Mosque Preservation Project (Islamabad, Pakistan): $14,436; Repair, Restoration, and Rehabilitation of the Historic Bagh E Babur Gardens (Kabul, Afghanistan): $37,000; Restoration of the Mosque and Library of Osman Pazvantoglu Complex in Vidin (Sofia, Bulgaria): $25,000; Preservation and Promotion of Crimean Tatar Culture (Kiev, Ukraine): $17,760. The common denominator of projects deemed worthy of AFCP subsidy is culture—not religion, politics, or ideology. That many of the grantees will use their awards to restore or preserve religious iconography and buildings owes only to many artworks and historical records being located in places of worship: synagogues, mosques, temples, churches, shrines, reliquaries—but also in libraries, palaces, and other government buildings and public places. Jesuit, Mormon, and Lutheran missions established in non-western countries, and laid waste by totalitarian regimes or natural disasters or centuries of neglect and desuetude, all qualify for AFCP funding.

The third paragraph of the commentary ascribed to Norris has no pertinence whatsoever to the issues he purports to examine. None of the projects he enumerates and ridicules falls within the AFCP’s purview—not now, not ever. The United States Agency for International Development is a different kettle of fish. Established in 1961, the USAID was created to unify already existing humanitarian and social assistance programs providing food, shelter, sanitation, medicine, education, technology, agricultural development, and other aid to peoples across the globe—the kind of things the Peace Corps did during its early years, but on a much larger scale.

If you’re still interested, here’s another source:

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/08/24/helps-fund-mosque-minaret-restoration-world-cultural-outreach/

The linked article correctly states that the $26M USD allocated by the AFCP is for all projects funded by that agency since 2001, and that the AFCP “also will fund projects to restore Christian and Buddhist sites as well as museums, forts and palaces”—albeit only in the fifth and sixth of the seven paragraphs allotted to the subject. Don’t let that quote from Secretary of State Clinton lull you into believing that this is a partisan, Democrats-only program. You’ll find in the pages of those AFCP Annual Reports many glossy, hi-res photos of Laura Bush and Condoleezza Rice making nice with the locals, too. Good for them.

Any adults in the room?

[Tom]

I cannot justify one dollar in any kind of aid going anywhere. We are frigging broke.

Time for the wanna-be nations of the world to stand on their own and take care of themselves. If they cannot do it, they have no business calling themselves a nation.

American taxes for American people.
End of story.

Now, anyone out there feeling so bad for the rest of the world, send over your own checks. Stop spending my money on your causes.

[DJofSD]

I cannot justify one dollar in any kind of aid going anywhere. We are frigging broke.

Time for the wanna-be nations of the world to stand on their own and take care of themselves. If they cannot do it, they have no business calling themselves a nation.

American taxes for American people.
End of story.

Now, anyone out there feeling so bad for the rest of the world, send over your own checks. Stop spending my money on your causes.

Hell, I want a refund.

[Rookies]

Put up a manger scene at Christmas and those leeches are all over you.

Quite frankly, I've never gotten this one and it exists in both our countries.

Put the Christmas scene up in the public place (at no cost to the taxpayers) and INVITE any of the other religions to participate by laying their own symbols to cross commemorate this wonderful event and Statutory Holiday.

Rather than attempting a foolish PC religion attack, rendering everyone unhappy.:ThmbDown:

[JustRalph]

Put the Christmas scene up in the public place (at no cost to the taxpayers) and INVITE any of the other religions to participate by laying their own symbols to cross commemorate this wonderful event and Statutory Holiday.

That's the problem. The left wants the holiday repealed and such. So they continue an assault on the periphery because they know they could never get the holiday changed (officially)