Say it ain’t so

The International Institute for the Study of Islam in the Modern World [ISIM] conducts and promotes interdisciplinary research on social, political, cultural, and intellectual trends and movements in contemporary Muslim societies and communities. The ISIM was inaugurated in 1998 and is based in Leiden, The Netherlands. ISIM has just published its June 2004 Newsletter 14 in print format and online. As usual, it is full of interesting articles, commentary, and reviews. Issue 14 includes: [download newsletter 14, 1.9MB] Martyrdom * A Culture of Righteousness and Martyrdom / Elliot Colla * Suicide Attacks: Life as a Weapon / Riaz Hassan * Martyrdom and…

Lt. General Boykin is back in the news (1, 2). This time, the New York Times is calling him an embarrassment. Glad to hear that major papers are thinking this might not be right guy to be interrogating non-Christians, or to be involved in the War on Terror[ism] in any way. But for the record, what is an “Islamic American?”

Happy 4th of July! 228 years old. Obligatory reading today are both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the US. There’s also a great op-ed in today’s New York Times talking about the relevance of the Constitution to today’s America. Current favorite president: FDR. Read something about his vision of America. Always remember Lincoln and what he had to say. Of course, now we are talking about a new type of slavery, a mental one. Where is our Thomas Paine?