Category: Politics

Do We Value Prison More Than College? – The Dish | By Andrew Sullivan – The Daily Beast. An infographic compares the price of admission to Princeton University, $37,000, to one year at a New Jersey state prison, $44,000

NYPD Scandals Keep Rolling In – Ta-Nehisi Coates – National – The Atlantic. Over the long term, I hope we revisit how we've decided to police our communities. In short term, I have son to raise. There are numerous forces I seek to safeguard him against. The police are among them.

Chase: Iraq refugees desperate for help. What if tomorrow’s headlines screamed out the news that the Santa Ana winds have blown so fiercely that every single American in California and Oregon was forced to flee his or her home and that the environmental damage unleashed was so severe that they could not return — ever.

More on conscious shopping. Glad I came across her work. Holiday Resources for the Corporate Idealist. In my TEDx talk, I spoke about the many people fighting the good fight inside companies, working towards better social and environmental practices — which can be a lonely job. If you’re one of them, make a New Year’s resolution to connect with folks in other companies doing similar work. Believe me, it will help sustain you through 2012.

tabsir.net » The haram that is not sacred. There is a dangerous dualism that has haunted Islamic societies since the very start of the faith. I am speaking about the haram that results from individuals and groups that seek to enforce a distinction between haram and halal through violence. The recent waves of sectarian killings are a chilling reminder of the harm that can be caused in the name of stamping out haram.

A Closer Look at the Term 'Islamist' – The Takeaway. Playwright, attorney and commentator Wajahat Ali joins the program to help us pinpoint how the term "Islamist" is used and misused. He's also the lead writer of a Center for American Progress report titled "Fear, Inc.: The Roots of the Islamophobia Network in America."

The Scary Potential of the National Defense Authorization Act | Muslimah Next Door. So let’s get this straight: No longer is there the slim protection that the White House will veto the National Defense Authorization Act. Any person, citizen or otherwise, can be detained, indefinately, without trial, if they are suspected by the government to be a member of al Qaeda or its allies. I think that it would be difficult to find any American who does not support the United States protecting itself against terrorism. But at what cost? At the cost of our civil liberities? At the cost…

Lowe’s pulls TV ads – and gives a Christmas gift to Target et al | Wajahat Ali | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk. The decision by Lowe’s, behemoth chain of retail home improvement and appliance stores, to pull its advertising from TLC’s reality TV show “All-American Muslim,” ceded to the bigotry, fear-mongering and paranoia of a deluded minority whose divisive ideology poisons America’s cherished history of inclusiveness and pluralism.

And don't forget Wajahat Ali's Understanding Sharia Law. KARAMAH Launches Online Symposium on Shari’ah and Religious Freedom « Karamah. To complement these events, KARAMAH has compiled this online symposium, which showcases articles on the anti-Shari‘ah movement by various scholars, students and professionals. The articles are rich and diverse in their perspectives, addressing this movement from a variety of lenses: Some dispel myths about Shari‘ah and explain it from within the Islamic tradition, while others examine this movement from a civil rights perspective. A few articles reveal how the authors have been personally affected by this movement, sharing very open and…

Rallies Nationwide on ‘Bill Of Rights’ Day Dec. 15 | Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement. Congress is today attempting to bury the Bill of Rights. The National Defense Authorization Act of 2012 (NDAA) includes language proposed by Democratic Sen. Carl Levin and Republican Sen. John McCain that allows for the arrest and indefinite detention of U.S. citizens by the military, on U.S. soil and without the right of trial.  This is an egregious violation of our first amendment rights and comes at a time when we are witnessing unprecedented attacks on our civil liberties.