islam doesn't speak, muslims do | "the ink of the scholar is worth more than the blood of the martyr" – Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)
Pres. Obama gave a shout out to Naif al-Mutawa, creator of the comic book series The 99, during the Entrepreneurship Summit this week. It’s a great series, and Naif is a great guy. If you haven’t seen the comics yet, you must read them.
Glenn Greenwald – Salon.com. Just think about this for a minute. Barack Obama, like George Bush before him, has claimed the authority to order American citizens murdered based solely on the unverified, uncharged, unchecked claim that they are associated with Terrorism and pose “a continuing and imminent threat to U.S. persons and interests.” They’re entitled to no charges, no trial, no ability to contest the accusations. Amazingly, the Bush administration’s policy of merely imprisoning foreign nationals (along with a couple of American citizens) without charges — based solely on the President’s claim that they were Terrorists — produced intense controversy…
Andrew Sullivan asks where the fear has gone in the Obama administration.
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.
Using religion for politics. It ain’t the Muslims this time. There has been an attempt, yesterday, to convert Mama Sarah Obama, President Barack Obama’s foster grandmother, to Christianity: … Presdident Obama’s family is an extended one, of Kenyan, American and Indonesian; and of Muslims and Christians. Obama’s father and paternal grandfather were both Muslims. The mother of Obamas father, the President’s real ‘granny’, Habiba Akumu Obama was a Muslim too. Mama Sarah Obama, his foster ‘granny’ and the woman who brought up Barack’s father – to protect Mr. Obama’s presidential ambition during the recent race for the White House –…
I won’t be posting much today on Gaza, it’s going to get lost in inauguration coverage. I’ll be Tweeting thoughts on the inaugural address. David says something that I think many of us noticed. This is the Tweet I got immediately before his. And after these two Tweets. As American we cry for the hope realized. For Gazans, the tears are for hope lost. Pray for peace. Pray that Obama will make our hopes true.
Nick Kristof had an Op-Ed that echoes what I, among others, have been saying. To call Obama Muslim is the new and acceptable way of “nigger.”