Current Affairs

Current events

Good for the Iraqis. Newsday.com is reporting that an estimated 1000 people have marched through the streets of Najaf urging Sadr and his army to leave town. A story on King Abdullah of Jordan on Slate reports other good news. “…On April 29 in Amman, Jordan’s capital, Abdullah’s wife Queen Rania led a march against terrorism. The Pan-Arab daily Al Hayat reported that close to 150,000 people turned out, some of them burning photographs of Osama Bin Laden and al-Qaida associate Abu Musab Zarqawi, a Jordanian national who had allegedly plotted a chemical attack against several targets in Amman. Jordanians…

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Web/Tech

I am Bob Herbert

Procrastinating and found this link via Shirei_Shibolim. I’m Bob Herbert and quite happy with that comparison. I don’t normally post this sort of thing, but I like the comparison, and I needed some levity. You are Bob Herbert! You’re not the most sparklingwriter, but one of the most solid and selflesson the Op-Ed staff. You focus on New Yorkpolitics, the poor, race issues, and civilliberties. You like to quote others, and rarelyplace yourself in your columns. You keep itreal. Seriously. Which New York Times Op-Ed Columnist Are You? brought to you by Quizilla

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Current Affairs

Why Rumsfeld Shouldn’t Resign

There’s a petition on-line to get Rumsfeld to resign. Sign it because I think a partial victory is better than a total loss. However, I don’t think Rumsfeld should resign. He should be fired. Joho comes to a similar conclusion. My take has more to do with the honor of America. The President should defend it and his administration should live it. Rumsfeld was given the chance to resign and to help keep America’s honor; he chose not to. He’s said that America, the American ideal, is unimportant; raping and torturing people of color is what is important. If he…

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Religion

Muslim Woman Chaplain

The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine ran an article a couple of weeks ago about the army’s first potential female chaplain. Unfortunately I found the article somewhat frustrating with respect to the issues at stake in the US military. The author hints at things like ageism and sexism, but there’s a much stronger undercurrent of discrimination in the article that never gets explored. In addition, he only hints at the reaction of Muslims in the military, or outside it, to a female chaplain. Personally, I have no problem. I pray through Bibi Fatimah, the Prophet’s daughter, for special occasions, and recognize…

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