In Perspective

The White House announced We the People, a new online engagement feature.  On this innovative WhiteHouse.govplatform, individuals will be able to create and sign petitions seeking action from the federal government on a range of issues. If a petition gathers enough signatures, White House staff will review it, ensure it is sent to the appropriate policy experts, and issue an official response.   Visitors to WhiteHouse.gov can begin submitting petitions later this month.  To sign up for an alert when it launches and preview the feature, visit http://www.WhiteHouse.gov/WeThePeople.

So proud to know Willow. Looking forward to this book.  ‘Granddad, There’s a Head on the Beach’ and Other Summer Reads – NYTimes.com. But this year’s improbably charming book about hackers is “Alif the Unseen,” a novel prompted by its author’s frustration. G. Willow Wilson, admired for her graphic novels and memoir, says that she was sick of treating her readers as separate factions (“comic-book geeks, literary NPR types and Muslims”) and sick of assumptions that blogging and social media could not have political consequences.  So she conjured Alif, a young Arab-Indian hacker living in an unnamed Middle Eastern high-security…

Here’s an interesting thought. During the Islam in America Conference Muqtedar Khan made an interesting observation. Let’s say there are six million Muslims in the US (I think the number is closer to 7 million, but let’s be conservative). The average income of Muslims is $50,000/year. That means the Muslim American economy is $30 billion dollars. Now, I grant you, not all those 6 million are working, or of working age. Let’s say only 1/3 of Muslim Americans are earning, so that’s a $10 billion economy. Not all of that is disposable income. I’m going to say only 1/5 of…