Surprise, Surprise:
The second largest shareholder in News Corp. -- the parent company of Fox News -- has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to causes linked to the imam planning to build a Muslim community center and "mosque" near Ground Zero in Manhattan, says a report from Yahoo!News.
One can only wonder, is Fox trying to make the news instead of report it? We all know Fox likes to create faux scandals, but this is quite something on a grander scale. Or is it merely coincidence, and reality has just bitten Fox in a gigantic irony? Who knows??? But Fox has just been EXPOSED.
Read on to find out more about Fox and the NY "mosque" funding.
Oh, yes, this "gets better" here, by a great scoop by reporter John Cook:
Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal, who owns seven percent of News Corp., "has directly funded [Imam Feisal Abdul] Rauf's projects to the tune of more than $300,000"... Prince Al-Waleed's personal charity, the Kingdom Foundation, donated $305,000 to Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow, a project sponsored by two of Rauf's initiatives, the American Society for Muslim Advancement and the Cordoba Initiative, which is building the Manhattan mosque.
Oh, yes, Fox News has done a sweet job of stirring up their faux outrage about the "terror dollars" funding the proposed "mosque":
The opponents of the proposed Cordoba Initiative Islamic center planned for Lower Manhattan are fond of suggesting, by way of lengthy and often confusing chains of causation and association, that its principal planner, Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, is connected to terrorism. "The imam has been tied to some shady characters," Fox Business Channel's Eric Bolling recently said, "so should we worry that terror dollars could be funding the project?"
Well, now, the world is about to know who is funding these "terror dollars" for the proposed "mosque":
...As none other than Rupert Murdoch's New York Post reported last May, the Kingdom Foundation, al-Waleed's personal charity, has donated a total of $305,000 to Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow....Al-Waleed owns a 7 percent, $2.3 billion stake in News Corporation. Likewise, News Corporation owns a 9 percent, $70 million stake — purchased in February — in Rotana, Al-Waleed's Saudi media conglomerate. Put another way: Rupert Murdoch and Fox News are in business, to the tune of billions of dollars, with one of the "Terror Mosque Imam's" principal patrons.
Personally, I see nothing wrong with building that muslim community center as long as local NYCers are fine with it, it's their city. But what Fox is doing here is so far beyond the pale, it warrants their own "terror dollars" phrase to be used against them.
Update: Kossian PhoenixAshram has rightly pointed out that the "mosque" building is protected by the constitution. If that is so, I certainly support constitutional rights. However, this diary is not to take sides on the controversy but to point out Fox's role.
Who is funding the "terror dollars" for the NY Cordoba Initiative proposed "mosque"? Who again? FOX!
Tip to kossian ANY THING TOO ADD for mentioning the story in his comment in another diary that inspired this diary.