Arun Venugopal

Most of the coverage of today's Siena poll has focused on the large majority of New York voters -- 63%-- that opposes the mosque near Ground Zero. That's even higher than last week's Marist poll, which showed 53% opposition.

But even more interesting than that first question is the follow-up, focusing on constitutionality.

Regardless of whether you personally support or oppose the proposal to build the Cordoba House, do you believe the developers of the Cordoba House have a Constitutional right to proceed with the construction of the mosque and Muslim cultural center or not?

The answers to that question were eye-opening: 64% of voters overall said the developers have the right to build there. That includes 67% of Dems and 56% of Republicans.

When I asked him to reconcile that dichotomy, Steve Greenberg, the Siena pollster, said, "The majority of New Yorkers are saying 'I don't want to see it built there, but they have the right to build it there.' I sort of think it's analogous to the old saying, 'I don't like what you're saying, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it.'"

Asked about the project by local reporters in California, Pelosi said the mosque is a local issue, and added that she thinks the funding of the mosque opposition needs to be investigated.

Ten years after they were last allowed to march, members of the LGBT community re-joined New York City's India Day parade on Sunday. Led by openly gay City Councilman Danny Dromm and Council Speaker Christine Quinn, a small contingent of gay and lesbian marchers made their way down Madison Avenue, past tens of thousands of spectators.

City officials are hoping a new asthma center in East Harlem will improve health in a neighborhood that has some of the highest rates for the respiratory disease. The $3.5 million facility on East 110th street will offer free treatment to asthmatic children. 

I caught Fareed Zakaria on Charlie Rose Tuesday night.

CHARLIE ROSE: Your parents are Muslim?

FAREED ZAKARIA: Yes, and I was brought up that way. I am just not a particularly religious person. I think I sealed my fate when I became the wine critic for "Slate" magazine.

CHARLIE ROSE: That will do it.

I found that exchange pretty funny, but also illuminating, given that Zakaria could be considered one of the most famous Muslims in America, and by his own account, he's a MINO: Muslim in Name Only.

Federal investigators arrested 11 people, including seven city employees, after discovering what they say is a widespread corruption scheme. At a press conference, U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara says four day care operators, who call themselves "The Congregation," bribed officials at three city agencies to approve vouchers for childcare services that were never provided.

Just how much do New Yorkers dislike the idea of a mosque/community center being located near Ground Zero? The good peeps at Marist decided to find out. Their latest poll put forth 2 questions to registered voters:

In February I covered the legislative movement to legalize medical marijuana in New York. Given how little grassroots opposition there was, I figured passage wasn't too far in the future and I'd soon be getting triumphant emails from the pot lobby and evites to smokey, bong-filled celebrations (which I'd naturally decline).

Well, it's August, and Albany is still Albany, so maybe it's no surprise that medical marijuana is still not legal. But here's an entertaining -- and rather apocalyptic -- animation made by Brooklyn-based Haik Hoisington, who's smoked pot for 15 years and wanted to articulate his opposition to the "policing of pleasure in the United States."

The city Landmarks Preservation Commission’s 9-0 vote denying landmark status to 45 Park Place means that construction of an Islamic cultural center can now move forward. Judging by the pretty weak showing of opponents at the meeting, a few of whom shouted “Shame!” and other comments at the fast-departing commissioners at the end of the meeting, you didn’t sense there’s much steam left in the stop-the-mega-mosque crowd, cable news notwithstanding. That made things especially hard on the hordes of reporters who were looking for quotes, and were willing to mob someone — anyone – who looked like they had an opinion of any kind.

In a unanimous vote Tuesday denying a Tribeca building landmark status, the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission cleared the way for an Islamic cultural center to be built just two blocks from Ground Zero. Opponents had assailed the project, calling it an insult to the memories of the nearly 3,000 victims of the September 11th attacks.

The commission voted Tuesday to deny landmark status to a building two blocks from Ground Zero, which can now be demolished.

Has the Muslim community been too slow to condemn terrorism? Or is it simply incapable of being heard when it does issue condemnations? Last year, Kamran Pasha, a novelist and screenwriter who’s worked for NBC and Showtime, and who is Muslim, vented about the subject in a blog post, “The Big Lie About Muslim Silence on Terrorism.”

Eating while reporting can be a tricky thing. A few years ago, I did a story on the triumphant arrival of Indian mangoes on American shores. The Indian distributor, a dentist by day, brought a case of mangoes up to our newsroom and prodded me to enjoy one during our interview.

That's MISTER Flyer to you.

As a native of Houston, it's always fun to watch hometown politics from afar, especially when it becomes intertwined with New York politics. Here's an interesting AP story [run on a Beaumont news site] on how Houston's former mayor, and current gubernatorial candidate Bill White, is struggling to distance himself from Mayors Against Illegal Guns, the group Mayor Bloomberg founded.

Last week, the Queens D.A. sent out a release about the conviction of 18-year-old Harpreet Singh, of Maspeth. The conviction followed a seriously disturbing incident: Singh had gotten in touch with a 16-year-old girl on MySpace, at first asking her for head-and-shoulder photos of herself, then asking her to send progressively more revealing images, including, finally, shots of herself nude.

Eventually (on June 23, 2008), Singh started blackmailing the girl, saying he'd post the nude photos online and send them to his friends if she refused to have sex with him. She agreed to his demand, and the next day, when she arrived at the home of his friends, he raped her, after which his friends -- Norman Gondal, Anjam Shahzad, Vikgram Singh and an unnamed juvenile -- took turns with her.

"That afternoon," the press release reads, "the girl returned home distraught and, locking herself in the bathroom, ingested medicine. She then attempted to tie a cord around her neck. Fortunately, her mother arrived home and called 911."

The thing that stood out to me initially was the fact that the defendants appeared to be South Asian. I can't remember hearing of another incident this brutal being committed by a group of young desis.

But who is the victim? Is she Indian or Pakistani as well?

I was just positive the mama horse was covered in copper, so beautiful and shimmery was its coat. But you know what, I was wrong. Glass tiles.

So sorry -- I don't have the artist's name.

The first Burmese restaurant I ever went to, next to Cooper Union, was so-so, and has since shut down. The next one I went to, on Roosevelt Avenue, was better, and has since shut down. There's apparently a Cafe Mingala on the UES, but really, what could be more incongruous than that?

Thai guy, Jimmy Wongwanich, whom I met in Woodside. I can generally read Sanskrit script, but not numbers. Apparently these say '1978' -- year of his birth.

Happy Puerto Rican Day. I like how the soft fuzziness of this gentleman's wristband offsets the hard chunkiness of his finger-bling.