Safe Landing in New York!

That's my outstanding friend Norm, enjoying a wonderful sandwich from Katz's Delicatessen on the Lower East Side. He was waiting for me at La Guardia. The flight arrived on time and Norm dropped me off at the Radisson Hotel Lexington Avenue. After checking in we headed down to Katz's. It's a beautful night in New York. All kinds of vibrant people enjoying the evening, and some of the most beautiful women in the world!

Here's a shot of the food. I had beef brisket. We shared fries and cole slaw:

A picture of Rep. Charles Rangel, with the proprietor, in happier (and younger) times:

It's a nice place:

Norm mentioned that the deli scene from "When Harry Met Sally" was filmed here:

Leaving the restaurant, a view from the sidewalk:

Back at my hotel room, I turn on Fox News --- and I'm immediately brought back to the Ground Zero Mosque controversy:

I don't worry about keeping up with the news while traveling. Some folks were logging on at the airport before boarding this morning. But I just caught up with some dead-tree newspapers (and I'm reading a new book as well). I'll be at the center of events tomorrow, so check back. Meanwhile, I guess President Obama held a press conference today, and the New York Times reports, "Obama Tries to Calm Tensions in Call for Tolerance":

President Obama gave an impassioned call on Friday for tolerance and better relations between Muslims and non-Muslims at home and abroad, defending the “inalienable rights” of those who worship Islam to practice their religion freely.

Mr. Obama made his statements as protests and violence continued in Afghanistan, set off by a Florida pastor’s plans, now suspended, to burn Korans on Saturday, the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, and against the backdrop of the controversy in New York over a proposed Islamic center near ground zero.

With relations between the United States and the Muslim world perhaps at their most frayed since the invasion of Iraq seven and a half years ago, the president sought to appeal to America’s core founding principles.

Mr. Obama said it was imperative for people in this country to distinguish between their real enemies and those who have the potential to become enemies because of continued vilification of Islam in the United States. At a time when polls suggest that a substantial number of Americans erroneously believe that Mr. Obama is Muslim, the president cited his own Christian faith at one point.

I have not watched the video clip yet, but I'm bothered --- extremely bothered --- that Obama continues to feed the leftist meme that it's the families speaking for sensitivity, to say nothing of the 80 percent of Americans --- who are responsible for the alleged "vilification of Islam."

I'll have more later. Just thinking about this is taking buzz off from my visit with Norm.