It isn’t often that a politician of Sarah Palin ’s national clout weighs in heavily on an obscure House race , much less does so against her own party’s candidate. When Palin endorsed Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman over GOP moderate Dede Scozzafava , it was a fair question to ask: “why?” Mainstream media accounts that only touch on Scozzafava’s political beliefs are just telling part of the story. The New York Times , The Washington Post , and CBS News all frame the issue in fairly broad terms.

The original Crescent of Embrace memorial to Flight 93 faced less than 2° from Mecca. That made it a mihrab , the Mecca-direction indicator around which every mosque is built. (Some mihrabs are pointed-arch shaped, but the classic mihrab is crescent shaped.) The Park Service dismissed concern about the Mecca-oriented crescent on grounds that the construction drawings had not yet been finalized.

The original Crescent of Embrace memorial to Flight 93 faced less than 2° from Mecca. That made it a mihrab , the Mecca-direction indicator around which every mosque is built. (Some mihrabs are pointed-arch shaped, but the classic mihrab is crescent shaped.) The Park Service dismissed concern about the Mecca-oriented crescent on grounds that the construction drawings had not yet been finalized.