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Sotomayor Nomination

Frank Rice has a good piece on the Sotomayor nomination today, and how it the process highlights how difference is threatening to some people, even though difference is becoming more normative. See also Stewart and Colbert. Unfortunately, while Rich focuses on Latino/a aspects, I think he misses the larger issue of how we all fear difference. For example, this type of fear applies to Muslims, but also emanates from Muslims. Hopefully, the recent experiences with Pres. Obama and Sotomayor help highlight how we fear difference and how we can overcome it.

Bin Laden’s Lonely Crusade | Politics | Vanity Fair

Bin Laden’s Lonely Crusade | Politics | Vanity Fair. Is al-Qaeda simply going to wither away? Yes, with a little help, though not in the short term. History shows that small, violent groups can sustain their bloody work for years on end with virtually no public support. However, embedded in the DNA of groups such as al-Qaeda are the seeds of their own destruction.  To begin with, al-Qaeda and allied groups have launched terrorist campaigns from Iraq to Indonesia that have killed thousands of Muslim civilians. For groups that claim to be defending Muslims, this is not an impressive achievement.…

Note from near Urumqi – #Uyghur

Following email was received from a friend. Edited to remove identifying information. Initial email received on July 7, 2009. people who live in xinjiang province feel panic, riot just happened there, they are afraid where and when the riot will happpened again, the matter is really seriou, at the beginning i also heard the news from TV news, then I called my family and friends, but all phone numbers are baring, and was told this number does not exist. I even can not contact anybody and get any news from xinjiang except CCTV news. some calls is not easy to…