Imam Declines Cleveland Position Due to Blog Criticism

This is the story of the day. Not because the thing itself is huge -- though for the blogosphere it's pretty big. But more than that, it implicates so many meta issues, not least is the prospects of continuing to share this rock with one billion Muslims.

The unnamed bloggers in the AP story are, among others, Tom Blumer of BizzyBlog, etc. and Patrick Poole of Central Ohioans Against Terror. Tom apparently broke the story about the Imam Alzaree's dicey past sermon and Patrick followed up with questionable content since scrubbed from the website of the Imam's previous mosque. Tom has a Wide Open post up with links to the past stories and a lively ongoing discussion.

I have thoughts, but also errands to run. I'll get something up tonight; in the meantime, check out the links in Tom's post.