The “free pass” has been withdrawn, Mr. Bush.

You did not act to prevent 9/11.

We do not know what you have done to prevent another 9/11.

You have failed us—then leveraged that failure, to justify a purposeless war in Iraq which will have, all too soon, claimed more American lives than did 9/11.

You have failed us anew in Afghanistan.

And you have now tried to hide your failures, by blaming your predecessor.

And now you exploit your failure, to rationalize brazen torture which doesn’t work anyway; which only condemns our soldiers to water-boarding; which only humiliates our country further in the world; and which no true American would ever condone, let alone advocate.

And there it is, sir:

Are yours the actions of a true American?

Keith Olbermann socks ‘em in the gut… AGAIN!

The children cheered when asked if they’d be willing to give up their lives for Jesus, prayed over a cardboard cutout of President George W. Bush and cried as they pleaded for an end to abortion.

…

“This is war! Are you part of it or not?,” Fischer shouted at the children.

…

“I want to see young people who are as committed to the cause of Jesus Christ as the young people are to the cause of Islam. I want to see them as radically laying down their lives for the gospel as they are over in Pakistan and in Israel and Palestine and all those different places. Because we have, excuse me, but we have the truth.”

-source

The name of the cult movement: (no lie)

KIDS ON FIRE.

These happy little “terrorists” (no?) are starring in a new documentary called “Jesus Camp“. Oh man, are they creepy.

Western Rubbish is Destroying Africa and Musharraf: U.S. threatened to bomb us back to Stone Age… Oh, what a world we live in.

This is old news, but something that I wondered about when it came out (no pun originally intended.) Recently the Daily Show did a bit about it which you can see now on YouTube.

Why are/were so many of the military’s Arabic linguists gay? This MSN article says that around 20 linguists were fired for being gay. Is the percentage of gay men in the military somehow higher in their linguists unit? Why is that? Does anyone else think it’s strange? My conspiracy theorist brain says that the military wants to keep as much misinformation going as they can and keeping skilled linguists out (by whatever means) is one way to do it. (Interestingly, a few Farsi translators were also fired.)

Anyone have any other info on this?

A few thoughts I jotted down while watching Racism: Who Has It Worse?

- “Muslim” is not a race. [Tyra made this mistake.]

- “Middle Easterns” (I could swear she said this) = Muslims?? [She later corrected herself and asked the “Muslim” part of the audience for clarification.]

- The question, “Who has it worse?” seems a bit like a contest to me. If one group has it “worse” then the others have to shut up? Like the woman who said “you [Muslim] have had to face discrimination for two years, and we [blacks] have had it for 200 years?” i.e. your discrimination is not real?

- Seriously, the white girl on the show was amusing. I noticed she only showed up in the beginning, obviously no one believed that a white person could be a victim of racism. (The audience laughed at her.)

- It was also funny to see people admitting their ignorance and even calling their silly prejudices a result of “brainwashing.” At least they acknowledge it…

- I wonder if, like, Tyra ever did, like, a show, like, about, like, how many, like, young women, like, talk LIKE THIS! AGGGHHH!!!

- The expert on the show stated: “We’re all the same.” Everyone, even the people who had previously spouted and supported stereotypical beliefs about others, agreed.

- Is it a “supermodel thing” to believe that if you hug someone, their problems go away?

This story is funny - a teacher in Washington declared he wouldn’t shave his beard until bin Laden is caught. While I don’t know exactly why not shaving his beard makes any difference, it surely makes him look a lot like bin Laden.

Hearing Muslim Voices Since 9/11, American Muslims Five Years Later, Class of 2006 (Female Imams)

I’m totally exhausted. I don’t know why I can’t ever seem to maintain healthy sleep lengths on a trip, maybe I feel like I’ll miss something if I sleep too much?

We visited Detroit and a few nearby cities where hubby’s family lives. That was great. Lots of delicious food!

Being so extremely absent-minded and stupid, I left two important items in Detroit — my “regular” glasses and my notebook (which contains… everything). If you saw me at ISNA, I was undoubtedly wearing my sunglasses. Thankfully both of my glasses are prescription so my backup wasn’t bad, but it probably made me even weirder to people I talked to.

The sessions and lectures were really good. The whole experience was great. The only downside I would mention from the whole thing would be CHILDREN.

Almost everywhere I went, I was met with the powdery(?) smell of babies. In the lectures, it was common to be seated next to a crying, complaining or mischievous child. Too many times, my husband and I noticed a child ripping up paper or other things and leaving them on the ground. The parents never bothered to pick up their mess. There was a lot of “mess” at ISNA. I wonder if convention centers always encounter this much mess, or only when Muslims come to town?

I saw a few of the “famous” people, Aminah Assilmi, Zaid Shakir, Ingrid Mattson, Suhaib Webb, guy from Native Deen, Hesham Hassaballa and for some strange reason: Morgan Spurlock. I felt like I wanted to congratulate Dr. Mattson in real life, but I didn’t approach any of these people. I’m sure they had enough people stopping their paths as they walked around.

I also got to meet two people I like and admire: Yasmine and “Izzy Mo“.

We stayed at “the other Hyatt” but we had to catch the shuttle at the “main Hyatt” where I observed what Eteraz described as the “Club Hyatt” meat market. A lot of fashion and tight clothes, brown boys thinking they’re the ish, etc… Kind of funny for my old, married self. On the other hand, there were a few devastatingly handsome maulvis there too, furiously avoiding the gaze of all the scantily-clad ladies.

My photos from ISNA.

In ending, I leave you with the best toy EVER. Hijabman’s pig. Who, oddly, thanks the very Muslims who consider him repulsive. I wore him around on my bag all weekend.