Islamic Cultural Center and Mosque or Terrorist Training camp?

I'm always amazed at how quickly people are able to forget the events of the past and how little acts of restricting one groups rights based on irrational fear, leads to a overt oppression of these groups.

Limiting the rights of Muslim Americans based solely on their religious affiliation is unconstitutional and flies in the face of the expressed goals of President George W. Bush and Republicans (at least republicans before Obama was elected). Back in a couple of 2001 speeches President Bush said the following:

I also want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the world. We respect your faith. It's practiced freely by many millions of Americans, and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends. Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah. The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself. The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends; it is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists, and every government that supports them.

This is a slippery slope that Republicans (and some Democrats) are leading us down. If it is not OK to have a Islamic cultural center two blocks from an attack by Islamic extremist then how far away is OK? Why stop at the Islamic center what about Muslims who live near the twin towers site? Can Muslims visit the 9/11 attack locations?

Irrational fear of a specific group led to the Japanese internment around WWII, yet America was never attacked by Japanese on American soil. It is similarly absurd to suggest the Muslims in America want to impose Sharia Law and establish terrorist training camps.

New Yorkers defend the constitutional right to build the mosque by a 64-28 margin. Luckily for us our laws are dictated by our constitution and not political whims. If you would like to start cherry picking which groups get protection under our constitution I say good luck but I think years from now we will look back on this event and be embarrassed by our paranoia.