Uncategorized

The Idea of America

In his op-ed yesterday, Thomas Friedman touched on something very dear to me – the idea of America. And in order to preserve the idea of America (he was actually talking about America’s Honor), he said that this administration needed to fire Rumsfeld, eat crow publicly, enlist help, and change course. I agree that all of these things might help preserve America’s credibility and salvage the Iraq situation, but I don’t share any of his optimism that there is any hope that this is what we will do. At least one reporter sees no end in site for Rumsfeld. Although…

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Religion

verses

If all the trees of the earth were pens And the oceans ink, With many more oceans fro replenishing them, The words of God could never be written. Truly he is all-mighty and all-wise. (31:27) read in the name of your lord who created created man from an embryo read for your lord is most generous who taught by the pen taught man what he did not know. (96:1-5)

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Current Affairs

How has it come to this?

It was only a matter of time that this would occur. This story was not picked up by the major newspapers or media sources, but it is a story that needs to be told. Seven illegal immigrants [six Pakistani and one Indian] were murdered by the Macedonian police in order for the Macedonian government to show that it was fighting with the West on the war on terror. In order to win some points, the Macedonian police fabricated evidence and executed 7 people whose only crime was to seek a better livlihood. This is not the first time that the…

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Current Affairs

An Open Letter

Dear Sir, Since the Presidential elections are coming up here in the US, I’ve decided to outline what I expect from the President, and in turn, what the President can expect from me. Like you, I too will pledge on your inauguration day to uphold the Constitution. That document is what will bind us together and act as our common language, regardless of our political persuasions.

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Uncategorized

Power and Trust (or lack thereof)

I haven’t really read the news for the last few days, party because I’ve been travelling and partly because I’m just really annoyed at the way the administration is doing things. I know, I know . . . that’s not news. However, the issue for me has progressed beyond general annoyance and crystallized around two central issues – power and trust. We live in the free world and President Bush seems to have made freedom his mantra, but his behavior seems to more closely resemble an “elected” dictatorship. I know this is naive, but aren’t there any mainstream politicians who…

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Current Affairs

Dehumanized

Non-Muslims are uncaring people who are happy when they see other people being abused and tortured. At least that’s the impression I got from reading CNN.com today. Two stories talking about the images of torture at Abu Ghuraib prison had the following paragraphs: The images sparked anger among Muslims around the world… (link) The images have sparked anger among Muslims across the world… (link) I never would have thought that CNN reporters would dehumanize non-Muslims, but I guess there’s a first for everything. Just for the record, the second article actually does talk about Muslims across the world. The first…

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Religion Weblogs

Question

I went to Dawnsinger‘s site today. Followed one of his links to Radio Free Blogistan. For those of you who don’t know, most of the islamicate collective are Apple fans, and we’ve been considering voting Sam I Am off the island for not having an iPod. Anyway, on RFB, I saw this link about news aggregators. I use NetNewsWire Lite, and so looked at Pulp Fiction. On his blog he had a question, that I wanted to share with you. Question: How do you feel about the statement: “Any god that would condemn me for seeking the truth isn’t worth…

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Current Affairs Religion

Milad un-Nabi

Yesterday was the birthday of the Prophet (Milad un-Nabi). I had wanted to do a lengthy post on the various world traditions associated with the celebration of the day. When I went on-line to try to pull resources about Egypt, Pakistan and Indonesia, all I kept getting were sites decrying the celebration of the Prophet’s birthday. Apparently because he never celebrated it, we shouldn’t either (leave aside the irony of the “guardians of faith” making this decree on the internet.) I celebrate birthdays of my friends and family, people who are important to me. I can’t think of a more…

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