Long, interview-type meme ahead! Beware!! Keep Reading …

The Youngest Muslim Reverts in the World - probably one of the strangest (or most intriguing) things I’ve ever seen.

How Westerners and Muslims View Each Other. An interesting study, initially brought to my attention by my dear cousin. :-) Also check out Voices from Countries.

I’m not sure if I should be proud that I got 13 out of these 14 questions correct. I know my righties, what can I say?

http://www.giveupblog.com/hitlercoulterquiz.html

Could it get any more ‘minimum’? Although a wage raise is really just a coverup for all the problems faced by poorer Americans, can anyone deny that they need it? Yes, anyone can. The money (virtual, of course) is all going to building fences across our border to keep out undesirables (those stupid yearning huddled masses!), weapons to kill people in other countries and countless other ridiculous things, even minting a $50 (sells for $800) gold coin (what the hell are we, pirates?)

If Congress Deserves a Raise, Why Don’t Workers?
Congress Values Own Paychecks More Than Workers
If minimum wage is raised, who benefits?

While looking through the recent Senate votes record, I found a few interesting things. Among them, an amendment which states the ’sense’ of the Congress that - although we call what we’re doing in Iraq a “war” - “the Government of Iraq should not grant amnesty to persons known to have attacked, killed, or wounded members of the Armed Forces of the United States.” (SEC. 1209.)

That’s a great idea, to have the new Iraqi government bogged down with trials (incarceration, torture?) for people who were defending themselves. I’d like to know what the U.S. expects the Iraqi citizens to do, being the opposition in this “war.” Are they meant to stand still and take it? What about our brave and heroic servicepeople who have attacked, killed or wounded citizens of Iraq? Where’s that amendment? [Edit: I take that back, sometimes our govt. does try to be just. 8 Troops Charged In Death Of Iraqi - let’s see what happens next.]

I really can’t help but agreeing with this. If we see this country as setting the (moral?) standard for the world, we must expect imitation of our actions, good or bad.

The bodies of the two captured U.S. soldiers were found in Iraq - bearing signs of “barbaric torture.”

How quaint.

I hope Alberto Gonzales and John Yoo will sleep well tonight, with visions of those boys’ bodies and the horrible barbarities inflicted upon them dancing in their heads. Perhaps Gonzales, and Yoo, and Rumsfeld and Bush will be able to envision the same inhumanities being visited upon their family members and loved ones as they drift off to peaceful slumber.

This cannot stand. We cannot allow this administration and its incomprehensible defense of and support for torture in violation of the “quaint” Geneva Conventions to remain.

The chickens have come home to roost. As ye sow, so shall ye reap.

- From Daily Kos.

For a moment yesterday, a horrific thought went through my head. Several of my former classmates (and younger) are serving (or have served) in Iraq — suppose I had taken that route after graduation, as so many did? I was, at the time, sitting, comfortably reclining on a couch, reading a book. My mind flashed gory, bloody images, blinding, suffocating heat, insecure and sleepless nights, fear… How must it feel to be in a WAR? Those of us observing from outside probably can’t begin to understand what it’s like.

And then, what if I was an Iraqi?

I recently finished Khaled Abou El Fadl’s book “Speaking in God’s Name”. I’m comfortable admitting that, too often, the complex juristic explanations went right over my head, making me re-read a page several times. I still gained a lot from reading it. I’ll share a gem from it and a big point in this book:

The most pronounced feature of the legal determinations that exclude women from public life is the obsessive reliance on the idea of fitnah. In these determinations, women are persistently seen as a walking, breathing bundle of fitnah….

It does not seem to occur to the jurists who make these determinations that this presumed fitnah that accompanies women in whatever they do or wherever they go is not an inherent quality of womanhood, but is a projection of male promiscuities. By artificially constructing womanhood into the embodiment of seductions, these jurists do not promote a norm of modesty, but in reality promote a norm of immodesty. Instead of turning the gaze away from the physical attributes of women, they obsessively turn the gaze of attention to women as a mere physicality. In essence, these jurists objectify women into items for male consumption, and in that, is the height of immodesty.

If you haven’t heard “Weird” Al Yankovic’s newest song “You’re Pitiful” (Parody of James Blunt’s “You’re Beautiful”) — I think you need to. He does such a great job on these songs. Official Weird Al site.

American Muslim Clerics Seek a Modern Middle Ground - NYTimes. Hamza Yusuf and Zaid Shakir discuss Islam in America (kind of). With a video!

“It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species,” Hawking said. “Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of.”

The latest from Professor Stephen Hawking.

I find it strange that he doesn’t seem to make the connection between the things that he listed as possible civilization-ending events and the “accomplishments” of humankind. Rather, we’ve destroyed this planet, let’s move on to the next?

Global Warming? Hawking admits human involvement. (CNN interview)

Nuclear war? Human scientists invented weapons to help bring about the end of the world.

Genetic engineering? Manipulation of the genes of living organisms, by humans, for humans!

Dangers we have not yet thought of? Does he mean, not yet thought up? Or have not considered or have not invented?

This position of certain scientists, that we have done so much damage to the planet we are already on that we somehow need (or deserve) another planet, is unbearable to me. Without mentioning the need to correct and repair our mistakes, we “must” go to another place. Without mentioning the elitism and arrogance of the whole idea. Do the scientists think that everyone on Earth, regardless of wealth would be allowed to go to the new, clean planet? Surely, wouldn’t some of the less-desirable elements in society be left behind on the Earth we made? And what happens after that “next” planet is destoyed? Do we just keep moving around, draining the planet’s resources and then leaving?

What does this say about our civilization?