Raped and Videotaped by U.S. Officials

This is disturbing beyond words:

However, the women's allegations are described in detail in an affidavit by a State Department investigator assigned to the case. In the affidavit, filed in federal court in Washington, the women give similar accounts of being assaulted by a man described as an official of the U.S. Embassy in the Algerian capital. The official is identified in the affidavit as Andrew Warren, an "employee of the U.S. government" assigned to the embassy.
. . .
ABC, quoting unnamed officials, said the women's accounts were backed up by videotapes that were found in the CIA officer's residence. The tapes, apparently secretly made, allegedly show the CIA officer engaged in sex acts with several women, including one of the alleged victims in the case who appears to be in a semiconscious state, the network reported.

Full Story/Source: Washington Post

Tupac said it best, "I wonder why we take from our women? Why we rape our women, do we hate our women? I think it's time to kill for our women. Time to heal our women, be real to our women."

This is Ridiculous

... the nerve of the [Zionist] Israelis never ceases to amaze me:

"Why did they fire rockets? There was no siege against Gaza. Why did they fight us, what did they want? There was never a day of starvation in Gaza."

Really? No siege? No starvation?

The silver lining in the story: Turkey MIGHT soon be joining the cool kids club with Venezuela and Bolivia.

Obama, Take Away the Pain in My Stomach

An open letter to Obama, from an Israeli woman:

One (Amazing) Reason to Get Married

GAZA CITY: There was no party, no celebrations when 22-year-old Aida al-Qaddumi finally got married this week.

There were no regrets either -- she said she was marrying to raise "fighters" and asked only that she might die as a "martyr" in Israel.

Three weeks of a deadly Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip forced postponement of the January 7 wedding, but it did not alter her intentions.

Source: the Times of India

This really puts things in perspective. What are we really looking for in a spouse? What do we really hope to accomplish together? (If not specifically raising fighters, then how about a more general "serving Allah" or "bettering the world" goal?) And what superficial, worldy obstacles are we bowing to, thus undermining our ability to serve Allah?

Time

Whoever said "time heals all wounds," LIED (or was suffering from a really bad case of denial).

One More Reason to Blog: For Palestine

Are you looking for something to do for Palestine? Consider counter-blogging.

[Apartheid] Israel recruits 'army of bloggers' to combat anti-Zionist Web sites

The Immigrant Absorption Ministry announced on Sunday it was setting up an "army of bloggers," to be made up of Israelis who speak a second language, to represent [apartheid] Israel in "anti-Zionist blogs" in English, French, Spanish and German.

The program's first volunteer was Sandrine Pitousi, 31, from Kfar Maimon, situated five kilometers from Gaza. "I heard about the project over the radio and decided to join because I'm living in the middle of the conflict," she said.
. . .
"During the war, we looked for a way to contribute to the effort," the ministry's director general, Erez Halfon, told Haaretz. "We turned to this enormous reservoir of more than a million people with a second mother tongue." Other languages in which bloggers are sought include Russian and Portuguese.
. . .
Within 30 minutes of announcing the program, which was approved by the Foreign Ministry on Sunday, five volunteers were already in touch, Halfon said.

Source: Haaretz

Hijab Flutter: Madina

TOMORROW: 15 Minutes of Your Time to Save Palestinian Lives

Tomorrow, Friday the 16th, has been designated a National Call in Day for Gaza. We need to get key phone lines ringing off the hook, starting tomorrow.

All we need is 15 minutes of your time.

How important is your participation? MPAC reports that <>

Can you imagine that? For every person of conscience who called in solidarity with the Palestinians, the LA Mayor's office heard from 10 people who supported the actions of the murderous state of Israel.

With the death toll now well over 1,000 and hospitals, schools and relief agency headquarters all under unprecedented military attack, 15 minutes is the LEAST we can do.

Please check out the simple instructions included below, and start calling. Then keep calling, AND please spread the word.

----------

Please Circulate Widely!

National Call-In Day for Gaza!

January 16, 2009


We designate Friday, January 16th as National Call-In Day for Gaza. Calling is quick, easy, and effective, and will take about 5-10 minutes. We need to keep the phones ringing non-stop for the duration of the day so that our message CAN NO LONGER BE IGNORED.


Contact in order of importance:


1) Call President-Elect Obama's Transition Team at 202-540-3000.

Ask that President-Elect Obama and his team call for:

1) An immediate cease-fire.

2) An end to the blockade and siege of Gaza.

3) An immediate withdrawal from Gaza.


Be firm and polite and stress the fact that over a thousand people have died and thousands have been injured in Gaza, mainly civilians. This follows months of suffering under a severe blockade that has resulted in shortages of food, fuel and basic medical supplies. When calling, mention (UN Security Council Resolution 1860 that was adopted last week which calls for an immediate ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access.


2) Call your Representative at 202-224-3121. Ask how they voted on House Resolution 34 which passed overwhelmingly in the House last Friday, with 390 Representatives voting yes, 5 no, and 22 present. The resolution "recognizes Israel's right to defend itself" and "reaffirms the United States' strong support for Israel."


If your Representative voted "no" or "present" on H.Res. 34, thank them and ask that they cosponsor Rep. Kucinich's upcoming resolution.

(See: http://endtheoccupation.org/downloads/KUCINI_001_xml.pdf)


If your representative voted "yes" on H.Res. 34 state your disagreement with their vote and ask them to co-sponsor the Kucinich resolution.


3) Call your Senators at 202-224-3121 and assert your disagreement with their unanimous vote on Senate Resolution 10 and ask that they introduce a resolution in the Senate that is similar to Rep. Kucinich's resolution in the House.


Please forward this to all your lists and personally contact 10 friends and urge them to make these calls to save lives in Gaza.


Change happens with numbers. That is how Obama became president and that is how we can bring a lasting peace and justice to the Palestinians. As people living in America, we control the discourse and the funding that has resulted in the present massacre in Gaza. Considering the fundamental role that we play in this political situation, our participation is the least we can do.


"The death of children is the death of innocence, and the death of innocence is the downfall of humanity."

– Emine Erdogan, wife of Turkey's Prime Minister, 1/10/09

Commitment Phobia (Or Something) Gone Very Very Wrong

BEIJING - A 107-year-old Chinese woman who was afraid to marry when she was young has decided to look for her first husband and hopes to find a fellow centenarian so they will have something to talk about, a Chinese paper reported.

Wang Guiying is worried she is becoming a burden to her aging nieces and nephews since breaking her leg when she was 102 and had to stop doing chores like washing her clothes.

"I'm already 107 and I still haven't got married," the Chongqing Commercial Times quoted her saying. "What will happen if I don't hurry up and find a husband?"

Source: MSNBC

Hijab Flutter: Zainab

May Allah (swt) protect all of us from such a fate.

House Resolution 34

Remember all of that excitement about finally having Muslims (yes, plural. We celebrated twice.) in Congress?

It seems, Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) voted YES on House Resolution 34, while Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Min) answered PRESENT per:

House Clerk

The Library of Congress

What is House Resolution 34? According to the bill title, it is "recognizing [apartheid] Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza, reaffirming the United States’ strong support for [apartheid] Israel, and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process."

If we couldn't get them to vote against this, aren't they for the most part useless?

Thank You Palestine

This afternoon, a friend emailed me a picture of a Friday afternoon Gaza protest that took place outside the mosque I grew up attending. I recognized some of the faces; uncle figures who had helped raise me. This small San Gabriel mosque and these people are not the type I would ever imagine affiliated with a protest. But subhana'Allah, the modern day genocide in Gaza has given the silent amongst us voices. Everybody is organizing. Everybody is acting. So, thank you Palestine:

Thank you Palestine for setting us free.
Thank you for giving the masses of Arabs a voice.
Thank you for giving the masses of Arabs a will.
Thank you for giving the masses of Arabs a uniting cause.

They were thrown down the well of humiliation,
Just like Josef; to get rid of them
They were pushed one small step at a time
Mow they are so used to it
Now they cannot tell if it was day or night

But you Palestine set them free
There is no darkness like occupation and
there is no light like liberty.

And that is not all!

Even those who were silenced after 9/11 got their voice back.
Thank you for giving Muslims in the US a voice.
Thank you for giving Muslims in the US a will.
Thank you for giving Muslims in the US a uniting cause.

Palestine you have awakened hearts from Caracas to those in a far away sea

Palestine, you have set us free so many times...

So...
When will we set you free.
When ... ?

Source: unknown

We Will Not Go Down

On Why We Will March for Palestine this Weekend:

Perhaps now more than at any other time in recent memory, we must rally and march for Gaza.

We must march for the babies, the children, and the innocent victims of aggression and mass killing.

We must let the people of Gaza, and all of Palestine, know that they are not alone in this time of existential crisis.

We must march to join hundreds of thousands of global citizens who demand an end to this orgy of killing perpetrated by an Israeli war machine that is trained, funded, and supported by American tax dollars.

We must march to uphold the rule of international law over the appetite of colonialism and ethnic cleansing.

We must march to challenge the unconscionable blockade of Gaza, and to denounce the resulting humanitarian crisis that now threatens the lives of more than 1.5 million human beings.

We must march to demonstrate our call for an end to the root cause of this war-namely, the illegal and violent occupation of Palestine itself.

We must march to build momentum to support the long and difficult work that we must all do to change the one-sided and morally bankrupt policies of the United States that give unquestioned support to the actions of a settler state.

And finally - the most important reason of all - we must march to honor the commandment of our own faith tradition to oppose injustice, with our hands, our tongues, and our hearts.

This national solidarity event will not, in itself, bring peace and justice to the people of Gaza. But it is a necessary part of a larger, and longer, strategy for mobilization to end this war, and support the conditions for freedom and justice for the people of Palestine.

Credit: MAS Freedom Foundation

Dua for Gaza

"You are not to sleep, eat or drink until you stop the killing of innocent people in the Gaza Strip."

Sappy Love Story to Make You Smile During Difficult Times

Child Elopers' Africa Plan Foiled

Two German children - aged five and six - have been stopped by police from eloping to Africa to tie the knot in the sun, reports say.

The budding lovebirds, identified as Mika and Anna-Lena, packed bathing costumes, sunglasses and a lilo and headed for the airport.

They even had the presence of mind to invite along an official witness - Anna-Lena's seven-year-old sister.

The three got as far as Hanover railway station before police intervened.

The young couple were "very much in love" and had decided to get married in Africa "where it is warm", police spokesman Holger Jureczko told the AFP news agency.

Source: BBC News

Isn't it fascinating how children can simplify what adults regularly complicate? That is, love.

Qardawi on the Situation in Gaza

“Hamas cannot give a truce for free. What is the use of a truce when I stop harming you, while you are killing me and besieging me? During the six-month truce, people in Gaza had not even the basic needs including food, water and fuel,” he said.
. . .
“The people of Gaza had two bitter choices to have a slow death by blockade, or fast death by bombardment,” he said.

The scholar also urged Arab and Muslim countries to support the Palestinians in their fight against Israel. “It is the duty of all Arabs and Muslims to help the Palestinians whether by donating money, giving weapons, sending fighters, or boycotting the goods of Israel and the countries supporting it,” he said.

He also criticised the Arab League stance on the Israeli assault, saying the way the League dealt with the crisis was frustrating. “The Arab leaders have even failed to respond to the call made by Qatar to have an emergency summit to look into ways to tackle the Zionist onslaught on Gaza,” he said.

Full Story: Gulf Times

Recruiting Activists for Palestine

Any ideas as to what might happen if I started up a website like the one launched by the Combatant Clergy Society of Iran? In the meantime, if you're looking for ideas on what you can do for Palestine check out this post by Huda Shaka over at Muslamics.

"O Allah, grant victory to the oppressed in Palestine!"

My "Namesake" & Labor Sadness

Whenever I tell fashion conscious people my name, their eyes light up and they ask "ooh like the store?" To which I respond, "yes, like the store except with an H." And why not be happy to be related in name to a great store that sells cute, classy and relatively hijab friendly store at prices even I can afford?

Well, the universe gave me a reason...

Instead of respecting employees' right to join a union, since Fall 2007, ZARA has engaged in conduct which may have violated the Quebec Labour Code, including:

• Firing four employees who supported the union at ZARA's Rockland Mall store in April and May 2008
  
• Demoting two employees who led a union drive at ZARA's downtown Montreal store in August 2007
  
• Holding anti-union meetings at three Montreal stores in 2007-2008, in one case telling employees that joining a union is "treason" against the company.

If you're as bothered as I am by this sad turn of events at a store that I and many other women love, you can take action by sending a message to the President of Zara Canada.

Subject: Respect Zara Workers' Right to Join a Union!

Dear Mr. Pastrana,

Zara is known as a progressive company on the cutting edge of fashion, but when it comes to respect for workers' rights, here in Canada Zara seems to be stuck in the 19th century.

As a Zara customer, I support the right of Zara workers to join a union and want to shop at a company that treats its employees with respect.
Respect Zara workers? right to join a union and commit to negotiating with them in good faith!

Sincerely,
Zahra Billoo

Our Neighbors

This neighbors hadith came up in a conversation this evening. I'm posting it here as a reminder and also because I'm trying to understand the different ways it can be interpreted.

The Prophet (pbuh) explained to us how to take care of our neighbors in matters of famine and hunger: He is not believing in me, the one who sleeps full while his neighbor is hungry. [Al-Bazar]

Food for thought:

1. There is a followup definition of what a neighbor is (40 houses in each direction); has the definition broadened as a result of the virtual era and the global economy?
2. Can this be interpreted to go beyond sharing what I had for dinner? Is it fair to interpret it in a manner in which all of our economic decisions are included in the conversation? Take for example supporting businesses that are known for not paying a living wage: our support of these businesses drives legitimate businesses out of the market as they cannot compete (with say WalMart wages?) and consequently forces wage rates lower (and lower). When it is our "neighbors" who labor for these corporations, are we not in effect walking-talking violations of the command to ensure our neighbors do not go hungry?
   

Stop the Starvation of Gaza!

Dec 19, 2008

Senator Barbara Boxer
Constitution Avenue and 2nd Street, NE
Washington, DC 20510-0505

Dear Senator Boxer,

I join with people all over the world in condemning [apartheid] Israel's deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza. The U.S. government sends $15 million each day to [apartheid] Israel. In addition to the military attacks against the people of Gaza, Gaza City residents are without electricity for up to 16 hours a day and half the city's residents receive water only once a week for a few hours. These are war crimes, and crimes against humanity. I demand that the United States end all funding for [apartheid] Israel.

Sincerely,

Ms. Zahra Billoo
1505 4th St Apt 203
San Francisco, CA 94158-2270

Send your own letter, it's the LEAST we can do: Act Now

Lovely Wedding News Out Of Egypt

I don't have one wedding story, I have two:

CAIRO: Exasperated by the pressures of a society obsessed with marriage and the production of children, a young Egyptian woman has come to the rescue of her country's stigmatized spinsters. In the hope of changing the prejudices suffered by the unmarried and to shed light on the difficulties of being a woman in a patriarchal society, Yomna Mokhtar set up "Spinsters for Change" about six months ago.

The group came to life on the Internet's social networking website Facebook, which has become a platform for a plethora of social protests in Egypt, and the 27-year-old's group now has more than 550 members. "Society takes a very negative view of unmarried people. It puts great pressure on them and marginalizes them" if they don't marry, Mokhtar, her face framed by an Islamic headscarf, told AFP.

In the conservative country where religion is omnipresent, getting married is an obligation for Christians and Muslims alike. Islamic associations regularly organize mass weddings for those who lack the considerable funds needed for their own lavish ceremony, with the aim of avoiding so-called "deviant" behavior - extramarital relations or homosexuality. Even though they may hold down regular jobs or are studying, unmarried women in Egypt are seen as incomplete, said Mokhtar, stressing the "psychological suffering" endured by some of her single friends.

Source: Kuwait Times

AND, the best news related to the Bush shoe throwing fiasco:

An Egyptian man said Wednesday he was offering his 20-year-old daughter in marriage to Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi, who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush in Baghdad Sunday,

The daughter, Amal Saad Gumaa, said she agreed with the idea. "This is something that would honour me. I would like to live in Iraq, especially if I were attached to this hero," she told Reuters by telephone.

Her father, Saad Gumaa, said he had called Dergham, Zaidi's brother, to tell him of the offer. "I find nothing more valuable than my daughter to offer to him, and I am prepared to provide her with everything needed for marriage," he added.

Source: Yahoo! News

The Islam Ad Campaign is Coming to San Francisco!

Remember the Why Islam project I was very excited about a few months ago? I raved all about it, here. Well, great news: it's coming to San Francisco!

Volunteer, by clicking here.
Donate, by clicking here.

It's like voting: if you don't vote, don't complain about the government. If you don't do your fair share of dawah (this is definitely not the only way; if this does not float your boat, find another), you can't complain about Islamophobia.

Oh Joy Georgey Boy

If this doesn't bring joy to your heart and a smile to your face, you need help.

"It Is You Who Are Indebted To Him"

"Never neglect to give something away every day, even if a small amount, and do this early, for hardships do not corss [the protective barrier of] charity. Never disappoint a beggar who stands at your door; give him even as little as a date or less, for he is a gift from God to you. If you find nothing to give then send him away graciously with kind words and a promise.

When you give a needy person something, smile at him and be aware that it is you who are indebted to him, for he accepts a little from you for which you receive a reward worth more than the whole world. It has been said that a single morsel of food may bring a reward from God greater than Mount Uhud.

Do not let the fear of poverty prevent you from giving charity, for it is the abandonment of charity which brings on poverty. Charity on the contrary attracts wealth. If the pursuer of the world gave much charity it would return to him multiplied."

Source: Imam Abdallah ibn Alawi al-Haddad
– The Book of Assistance, from Chapter on Zakat (p. 69).
Hijab Flutter: Ramadan Compact

Is this not amazing? Every dollar you give can bring you a reward greater than the mountains of Arabia. And if you can't give, a smile or a "God bless" or any other nice gesture still counts as giving! Further, how could we not want to give when we know that 1 in 5 children in Los Angeles and 1 in 4 children in San Francisco are living below the poverty line?

(Brown Bag Plugs: If you're looking for a grassroots window for giving in either the Los Angeles/Orange County or San Francisco area, please email me (by clicking HERE) and I'll let you how you can plug into the Winter Break projects I'm working on with friends.)

Hajj Can Empower Women...

...that is if the restrooms don't kill us first.

Check out how Hajj can have a beneficial impact on the movement to secure education and rights for women, at Muslamics.

Reminders on Eid Day

It was my first Eid away from home, and while it was different and I missed my family and Southern California friends I had a decent time. I mean who complains when you get to spend the day dressing up, praying, eating and spending time with friends? But of course the day closed with two very important very in-your-face reminders about the world we live in:

• As I left my friend to walk to her car, I heard yelling the street. So I stopped to make sure she was OK - she was. The person yelling in the street, was not. It seemed an indigent mentally unstable person had been upset by something and was now standing in the middle of a busy intersection shouting and kicking a street sign.
• As I walked to my car, a woman asked me for money for shoes. And sure enough, I looked down and this woman was standing around on a San Francisco winter night in the middle of downtown with just her socks on.

So what will we do to help those in need during the coming year?

Eid Mubarak!

Eid al-Adha, the Feast of Sacrifice, is meant to commemorate Prophet Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son on God's orders and takes place at the end of the pilgrimage. The holiday is a time for family, friendship and goodwill, a time for forgiveness and making amends and coming together.

The Hajj (pilgrimage) consists of several ceremonies, meant to symbolize the essential concepts of the Islamic faith, and to commemorate the trials of prophet Abraham and his family. The pilgrimage also enables Muslims from all around the world, of different colors, languages, races, and ethnicities, to come together in a spirit of universal brotherhood and sisterhood to worship God together.

Source: Eid Greetings from MPAC

Eid al-Adha is the auspicious day of sacrifice. The day on which Hazrat Ibrahim (Alayhi Salaam) was tested to sacrifice his beloved son, Hazrat Ismael (Alayhi Salaam) for the sake of Allah (subhana wa ta'ala). To commemorate this event, Muslims have been directed to sacrifice animals on this day so that they can reflect upon this incident and learn a lesson from it. Muslims are further reminded of sacrifice by giving away a portion of this meat to the neediest in their communities.

Source: Unknown

Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar, Laa ilaaha illallahu Wallahu Akbar,
Allahu Akbar, Wa lillahil Hamd.
(Allah is the greatest, He is the greatest.
There is no god except Allah.
He is the greatest. All praises and thanks are for Him)

Campbell Brown on Women, Careers & "Lives"

Naji Hamdan

Read about his suffering and torture at the hands of our government AND their Muslim allies, at Affad's blog.

FGM - A Career Choice

This adds to the discussion regarding the difficulties in ensuring women worldwide have access to basic human rights:


What do you do when women cut other women because it is the only means of attaining a livelihood available to them?

Violence Against Women: Acid Attacks

I'm writing a paper on female genital mutilation, and it's been a disturbing research experience. I'll share some of the stories I have found at another time.

However, on a related note (the depressing state of women's rights and safety everywhere) I was just forwarded a story about acid attacks in Asia. I met a victim of this this heinous crime years ago, but if I hadn't the severity of this type of attack would be nearly unbelievable:

This month in Afghanistan, men on motorcycles threw acid on a group of girls who dared to attend school. One of the girls, a 17-year-old named Shamsia, told reporters from her hospital bed: “I will go to my school even if they kill me. My message for the enemies is that if they do this 100 times, I am still going to continue my studies.”

When I met Naeema Azar, a Pakistani woman who had once been an attractive, self-confident real estate agent, she was wearing a black cloak that enveloped her head and face. Then she removed the covering, and I flinched.

Acid had burned away her left ear and most of her right ear. It had blinded her and burned away her eyelids and most of her face, leaving just bone.

Six skin grafts with flesh from her leg have helped, but she still cannot close her eyes or her mouth; she will not eat in front of others because it is too humiliating to have food slip out as she chews.

Full Story & Related Multimedia: Terrorism That's Personal
Hijab Flutter: Nazia Khan

Please keep the women of the world in your duas/prayers/thoughts.

Happy Genocide/Rape & Pillage/Thankstaking Day!

"Yes, I am an American. But I am an American in revolt. I am revolted by the holiday known as Thanksgiving."

It's as though we forget because time has passed. Or rather that we don't care, because we do not see ourselves as one with the victims of this genocide?

For many of us this “holiday” was explained for the first time in elementary school as a celebration of prosperity in the “New World”. I’m sure many of you remember those cherished moments in the Kinder when the teacher would dress you up like Colonists and Indians, y yo con un nopal en la frente often got stuck being a Pilgrim!

The teachers told us the stories of the Mayflower, Plymouth Rock, the Pilgrims and how they triumphed over the cold winter and failed crops. These colonists were to serve as examples because their “rugged individualism” set the foundation for this nation. This, unfortunately, marks the beginning of the first of many lies and half-truths taught to us in school about how this Western Empire was established.

For our purposes we must go back in time a little further to see that the origins of November twenty-fifth are in fact much older than the foundations of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Subsequently we must go to VIII century Europe.

In the 8th century the Muslims (Moors) conquered Spain, Portugal and France and controlled it for over 700 years. These people threatened European Christians, meaning Western Civilization.

It was not until the late 15th century that in Spain on November 25, 1491, Santiago defeated the last Muslim stronghold in Grenada. On this day King Ferdinand gave thanks to God for this victory and the Pope of Rome declared this day to forever be a day of Thanksgiving for all European Christians.

The Hip-Hop lyricist, Rass Kass, in “Nature of the Threat” states that: “When you celebrate Thanksgiving, what you are actually celebrating is the proclamation of the Pope of Rome, who later in league with Queen Isabella, sent Cardinal Ximenos to Spain to murder any Blacks that resisted Christianity.” These genocidal policies were justified by Pope Nicholas in the Inter Cetera Papal Bull of 1452, which called for the King of Portugal “To invade, search out, vanquish, and subdue all Saracens and pagans, whatsoever, and other enemies of Christ”.

These are the true religious and political motivations that formulated the white supremacist mindset that was the foundations for the economic colonization of the Americas and its Native peoples.

Thanksgiving in the United States is a part of this tradition that celebrates the subjugation of non-Western people for colonial purposes. Its roots are more directly connected to the events that occurred in the Northeast in the year 1637, when 700 men, women, and children of the Pequot Tribe, gathered for their “Annual Green Corn Dance” in the area that is now known as Groton, Connecticut.

While they were gathered in this place of meeting, they were surrounded and attacked by mercenaries of the English and Dutch. The Indigenous people were ordered from their ceremonial structures and as they came forth, they were shot down. The rest were burned alive in their homes. The next day, the Governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony declared a day of Thanksgiving, thanking God that they had eliminated over 700 Pequots. Subsequently, every Thanksgiving Day ordained by a Governor or President since was to honor that victory, thanking God that the “battle” had been won. The holiday on the 3rd Thursday of November we celebrate is in observation of that massacre and upholds this colonial mentality.

How will you celebrate Thankstaking day?

Full Article: La Prensa

More: Counterpunch

Another Stupid Encounter

This one goes in the hall of shame with the desi aunty story and the scary Mosque-hijab encounter. Last week I logged onto Facebook to be greeted on my newsfeed by the use of the "n-word." A brother I knew had posted something about wanting to play basketball that night. One of his friends had responded saying "n****r lol." 

I, of course, was offended. Who expects to see such casual use of racial epithets blasted in their face, when they log onto Facebook? So I responded simply saying "wow." And what came from there was an interesting barrage of messages from the offending brother defending and explaining his right to use the word. To add somebackground, this is a South Asian brother from a subarban (some might even classify it as one of the bubbles) portion of California. Of all of the people who might claim to have a right to use the word, this was an interesting situation.

I made two comments. The first, "wow," and then upon being told by the oh so fabulous brother that I should mind my own business I said something to the effect of "it becomes my business the second you attempt to pollute public space with racist words." For my two comments, I received at least a total of five messages defending his use of the word. His angry messages (yes, he was angry at me for saying "wow" when he was using the "n-word" in public spaced) are included below:

"naw it wasnt a supid comment..ppl dont know why i said it..and should mind thier own business"

"naw cuz u were like i wana play ball...and i was like lets play at mile square then u changed it to irvine..so i said it..and its not stupid i can say that word i got the right."

"polluting public space..what are u a lawyer..dude people say worse things than that and mean it..im sorry if sisters dont use that type of lingo...and if i knew other ppl would see it and react that way i wouldnt have said it."

"lol dude no one can wreck this...im a junior lawyer"

And to make matters more interesting he also personally messaged me, saying: 

"well yeah its in public..but i do have freedom of speech as u have the freedom to dispute what i say..doesnt make u right..doesnt make me right"

It's a sad-sad day when I have to spend the afternoon discussing the inappropriateness of the term n****r with another Muslim. This person would likely call the civil rights and hate crime task forces if he were referred to as a "camel jockey," and yet he cannot afford other ethnic groups the same respect?

My draft response to his personal message is included below:

Salaams "Junior Lawyer,"

When you are able to put together complete sentences, send me a message. Until then, please feel free to go back and reread what I said/wrote. I never said anything about your right to say the word. Rather I commented on the appropriateness of its usage and my right to respond to such usage.

Considerations here would be:

1. It is widely recognized as a racist term.

2. The word was used in a public space, and therefore becomes nothing more than a commodity in the marketplace of ideas.

3. As you maintain the right to use the term, I maintain the right to say "wow" when I am disappointed about Muslims speaking ignorantly.

I would ask, would you feel comfortable just using that word around a local shaikh? Your mom? The Prophet? Shouldn't we hold all of our speech to that standard? Given such, whether it is a private or public posting, I would ask that you rethink your justification for use of such a historically negative term.

I'm not even going to get into the issue of the gender biased remarks you made regarding a sister's vocabulary. Please see my note above: this is not an issue of brothers or sisters, it is one of Muslims and people of conscience.

Relatedly, I'd recommend you check out the following links before writing any additional ignorant half sentences:

Wiki - Market Place of Ideas

Wiki - N****r 

Ma'asalama,
Zahra

One More Reason ...

...To (Attempt To) Not To Shop At The Limited Brand Stores

1. Zionist much?

2. Sweatshop much?

And most recently:

3. Victoria's Secret sued for using formaldehyde in their bras.

 Hijab flutter: Aicha Sebaa 

Stupid Muslim Man Encounter

(This is not a "good" story, but like the Desi aunty one I'm sharing it to provide food for thought.)

I think I'm currently averaging one to two upsetting Muslim man encounters a month. I had my first November encounter today, and I think it was severe enough to count as two and satisfy my monthly quota. Sad though, right, given it's only the 7th of the month? The fiasco:

There’s a local photography student who for one of her projects wanted to use as a subject somebody who visits the mosque. A friend referred her to me. She’s working on photographing me doing every day things and visiting the mosque. I was with her for parts of Sunday, Monday, and then yesterday and today. Today I met her at the Jones Street Mosque for Jumah prayers, and she had planned to photograph me there. I arrived to find her waiting for me on the third floor, right outside the prayer area. A few people came up to her and were really nice and attempted to let her know she could go inside the prayer hall. BUT when I got there was this man harassing her. He was essentially telling her that if she didn’t cover her hair she would have to leave.

It was so obnoxious. I couldn't help it, I attempted to tell him off. He was saying she had to “make her face like a Muslim” to come inside. I told him to go to his section and not pay attention because she wasn’t sitting next to him. And he kept saying it saying it was disrespectful to the mosque so I told him he was being disrespectful to the mosque by harassing her. And at some point he even said “well she can cover or she can go outside.” I told him there was no hijab rule at this mosque. I further told him that if there was such a rule, I knew for a fact he had no position of authority at this mosque and therefore could not enforce it. And then told him thank you for your advice and started to shoo him away. By that time, Alhamdulillah!, the President came out and told him to mind his own business.

Gosh! I was sooo upset: you know that heart pounding kind of upset? I should have asked him where his beard and manners were "Mr. face like a Muslim."

It's tragic that narrow minds and bad attitudes are actively harmining the religion from within. 

Great Voting Pictures

Putting aside the "issues" for just a second, check out these great voting pictures:

Source: Hot News Turkey

Source: Huffington Post

Source: Huffington Post

Source: Huffington Post

Source: M&C

I Just Voted!

Yup. I just finished filling out my six page absentee ballot. Woohoo for overwhelming democracy in San Francisco. I'm including some of the votes I'm very excited about below:

President - Cynthia McKinney

US Representative - Cindy Sheehan

Member, Community College Board - Chris Jackson

Measure R - Yes
* One of the main reasons people oppose this is because it's an insult to our award-winning sewage plant and the people who work there, and if we're going to rename something for Dubya, it should be something truly nasty. But SEIU 1021, the union that represents the sewage plant workers, has endorsed prop R.

We think this would be a fitting metaphor for the years of hard work we face in rehabilitating and reclaiming America's reputation in the world after eight years of George Bush and his cronies dumping shit all over us.

Some people don't want anything named for our Worst President Ever because they want to forget about him. We think that's a mistake. Our children need to reminded about what a horror-show these eight years have been. And we think we all share some blame. If we'd all worked a little harder on the 2000 or 2004 elections, maybe things could have been different.
Finally, Prop R was put on the ballot by a bunch of dedicated people who have never been involved in local politics. This wouldn't be our top priority, but it's awesome to see people learn how to work the system make their voices heard. Hell yeah.

Measure U - Yes
*A symbolic policy statement, urging our leaders in Washington to defund the war in Iraq. Sure, why not. But we think voting for Cindy Sheehan is a lot more effective as an anti-war statement.

Measure V - No
*This is a sensitive issue. We respect that there are some high school kids who feel very strongly about JROTC. They argue that San Francisco's JROTC is unique. It's gender balanced, nlike our current military with its institutional sexism and INSANELY UNACCEPTABLE sexual harassment and abuse of women. SF JROTC is 50% female, with women making up a majority of the leadership. There are also several out LGBT students. But ultimately, we just can't condone having a military recruitment program in our high schools targeting 14 year olds. The military pays half the cost of JROTC and hires the instructors. They're not doing that for altruistic reasons. They want more soldiers. Our members have a variety of perspectives about the military--from pragmatists to pacifists. But recruiting 14 year olds simply isn't cool.

Proposition 4 - No
*Haven't we decided this already??? Yes. Yes, we did. As Prop 73 in 2005 and Prop 85 in 2006. This thing is like Chucky: it keeps coming back. The same very wealthy Christian Fundamentalist men put it right back on the ballot again.

Forced parental notification for abortion = BAD. Prop 4 has dangerous long-term implications for all women’s right to choose. No law can force a family to communicate, and we believe that the government shouldn’t be in the business of forcing itself into sensitive family decisions. Youth and families need real solutions like honest sex ed, access to birth control, and, definitely, choice. For the third time, HELL NO!

Proposition 5 - Yes
*Prop 5 reduces penalties for drug offenses and increases alternatives for drug treatment. If people go into drug treatment instead of prison, they're much less likely to become career criminals. That makes the world safer and means we don't have to build more prisons.

Everybody wins. Martin Sheen says Prop 5 isn't tough enough on crime, but we think maybe he's got some Catholic guilt issues about reducing punishment. Our currently "tough on drugs" strategy is a miserable failure. California has a sky-high recidivism rate, and we're wasting billions on the prison industrial complex. It's time to try something different.

All measure/proposition explanations posted are courtesy of the League of Young Voters.

Parallels on Proposition 8

These are not entirely perfect, but they provide food for thought:

1. If you would vote yes on Proposition 8, would you also vote yes on banning needle exchanges?

2. If you would vote yes on Proposition 8, would you also vote yes on banning sex education and the distribution of free condoms to "at risk" youth? And/or in "at risk" regions?

What can I say? I'm intrigued by the diversity of Muslim reactions to Propostion 8. On Saturday evening I met a brother who asked "wait, are there really young Muslims, our age, who are voting yes on Proposition 8?" He couldn't contemplate Muslims voting to strip others of their fundamental rights - and why should he have to? Scarier than Muslims simply voting yes they are also spreading homophobic propaganda. Their inability to participate in open and mature discussions without expressing fear that even simply discussing the issue might be default make them somehow gay is tragic and a big step backwards for purposes of dawah.

So really though, would yes-voters be opposed to clean needles and free condoms?

(It's possible that this is a parallel that only religious no-voters can comprehend.)

Favorite Quote This Week

Courtesy of Shazia Mirza, gracing Northern California with her comedic presence all the way from the UK:

"Muslim men don't want to marry me, because: I SPEAK."

What better way to capture last week's rishta indirectly requesting a female who did not posses a higher level education?

Bikini Brain Drain?

You may have known this all along, but now it has been demonstrated scientifically: bikinis make men stupid.

This month’s issue of the Journal of Consumer Research features a paper titled “Bikinis Instigate Generalized Impatience in Intertemporal Choice,” which is a neuroeconomist’s (definition in a moment) way of saying that men don’t make good decisions while checking out pretty girls in bikinis.
. . .
In the “bikini” experiments, Belgian researchers conducted a series of tests on 358 young men. In one test, the men looked at images of women in bikinis or lingerie and at images of landscapes. In another, some men were given T-shirts to handle and assess while others were given bras. Another batch of men was assigned to watch a commercial featuring men running over landscapes while other guys watched a video of “hundreds of young women, dressed in bikinis running across hills, fields and beaches.” (No word on whether they used “Baywatch” slo-mo).

In each test, the researchers offered the men the choice between being paid 15 euros immediately or bargaining for a larger sum that they'd be willing to wait a week or a month for. In all the tests, the men exposed to the sexy imagery or bras cited delayed reward amounts that were lower than the amounts cited by the men who saw sex-neutral imagery. For example, while a man who looked at landscapes might have demanded an extra payment of 10 euros a month later (totaling 25), the bikini-gazer might have been willing to settle for five extra (totaling 20). The sexy imagery did not work on all men all the time, but, as a group, men with sex on their brains settled for a less lucrative bargain, suggesting they were more impulsive and valued immediate gratification more than the controls.

“I observed in my studies that men are more likely to pick a smaller immediate reward over a larger later reward,” Bram van den Bergh, the study’s lead author, tells me. “Hence I do think that men might spend money on something they might otherwise not purchase. Men would become more impulsive in any domain after exposure to sexual cues.”

Full Story: MSNBC

This is great! Scientific evidence re: the utilization of women to sell crap and the need for men to lower their gazes, for their own good!

Bringing Sunnah Back

Hijab Flutter: Sadia Ahmed

Law School For Free!

I should have waited a few years and gone to UCI. It's UCI, but nonetheless imagine getting a J.D.-debt free. A girl can dream, right?

Students who enroll at the University of California’s new law school in Irvine next fall will get their legal education for free.

The law school is giving full tuition scholarships worth about $100,000 to its first 2009 class of about 60 students, the National Law Journal reports.

Charles Cannon, assistant dean of development and external affairs at the law school, told the publication UC Irvine hopes to attract high-quality students with the offer. The free tuition is expected to cost the school about $6 million, he said.

The school is seeking donations to cover the scholarships and has so far raised about a third of the money.

The story also reports that the law school had originally called itself the Donald Bren School of Law in honor of a $20 million donor, but the school is dropping the name. It will be called the University of California, Irvine, a name that is parallel to other UC schools.

Source: ABA

Hijab Flutter: Nadia Aziz

Granted one couldn't trade the experience of living in SF (where I'm enrolled in law school) for that of living in Irvine; Irvine can't compete. However, there is definitely something to be said about having $100,000 of your law school expenses handled. What I wouldn't give to not have to worry about how to pay rent, where to find the extra $3,000 for tuition increases, the prospect of graduating into a bad economy with very few public interest opportunities, etc.!

Me? My One Vote?

I'm loving this video, but realistically the difference between Obama and McCain is not as fabulous presented here. I mean McCain will bomb Iran and Obama will instead bomb Pakistan.

However, be sure to check out your local propositions and candidates. Your vote can make all the difference for the 15 year old incest victim seeking an abortion, the high school student being lured into the army by lying soldiers, and yes even the definition of marriage.

Interesting Perspective on Proposition 8

Propo​nents​ of Prop 8 conti​nue to lie in their​ telev​ision​ ads.

Vote as you please, but don't be deceived. Here’​s what’​s ficti​on and what’​s fact:​

Ficti​on:​ Teach​ing child​ren about​ same-​sex marri​age will happe​n here unles​s we pass Prop 8.

Fact:​ Not one word in Prop 8 menti​ons educa​tion,​ and no child​ can be force​d,​ again​st the will of their​ paren​ts,​ to be taugh​t anyth​ing about​ healt​h and famil​y issue​s at schoo​l.​ Calif​ornia​ law prohi​bits it, and the Yes on 8 campa​ign knows​ they are lying​.​ Sacra​mento​ Super​ior Court​ Judge​ Timot​hy Frawl​ey has alrea​dy ruled​ that this claim​ by Prop 8 propo​nents​ is “fals​e and misle​ading​.


Ficti​on:​ Churc​hes could​ lose their​ tax-​exemp​tion statu​s.​

Fact:​ Nothi​ng in Prop 8 would​ force​ churc​hes to do anyth​ing.​ In fact,​ the court​ decis​ion regar​ding marri​age speci​fical​ly says “no relig​ion will be requi​red to chang​e its relig​ious polic​ies or pract​ices with regar​d to same-​sex coupl​es,​ and no relig​ious offic​iant will be requi​red to solem​nize a marri​age in contr​avent​ion of his or her relig​ious belie​fs.​


Ficti​on:​ A Massa​chuse​tts case about​ a paren​t’s objec​tion to the schoo​l curri​culum​ will happe​n here.​

Fact:​ Unlik​e Massa​chuse​tts,​ Calif​ornia​ gives​ paren​ts an absol​ute right​ to remov​e their​ kids and opt-​out of teach​ing on healt​h and famil​y instr​uctio​n they don’t​ agree​ with.​ The oppon​ents know that Calif​ornia​ law alrea​dy cover​s this and Prop 8 won’t​ affec​t it, so they bring​ up an irrel​evant​ case in Massa​chuse​tts.​


Ficti​on:​ Four Activ​ist Judge​s in San Franc​isco…​

Fact:​ Prop 8 is not about​ court​s and judge​s,​ it’s about​ elimi​natin​g a funda​menta​l right​.​ Judge​s didn’​t grant​ the right​,​ the const​ituti​on guara​ntees​ the right​.​ Proponents​ of Prop 8 use an outda​ted and stale​ argum​ent that judge​s aren’​t suppo​sed to prote​ct right​s and freed​oms.​ This campa​ign is about​ wheth​er Calif​ornia​ns,​ right​ now, in 2008 are willi​ng to amend​ the const​ituti​on for the sole purpo​se of elimi​nating a funda​menta​l right​ for one group​ of citiz​ens.​


Ficti​on:​ Peopl​e can be sued over perso​nal belie​fs.​

Fact:​ Calif​ornia​’s laws alrea​dy prohi​bit discr​imina​tion again​st anyon​e based​ on race,​ relig​ion,​ gende​r,​ or sexua​l orien​tatio​n.​ This has nothi​ng to do with marri​age.​


Ficti​on:​ Peppe​rdine​ Unive​rsity​ suppo​rts the Yes on 8 campa​ign.​

Fact:​ The unive​rsity​ has publi​cly disas​socia​ted itsel​f from Profe​ssor Richa​rd Peter​son of Peppe​rdine​ Unive​rsity​,​ who is featu​red in the ad, and has asked​ to not be ident​ified​ in the Yes on 8 adver​tisem​ents.​


Ficti​on:​ Unles​s Prop 8 passe​s,​ CA paren​ts won’t​ have the right​ to objec​t to what their​ child​ren are taugh​t in schoo​l.​

Fact:​ Calif​ornia​ law clear​ly gives​ paren​ts and guard​ians broad​ autho​rity to remov​e their​ child​ren from any healt​h instr​uctio​n if it confl​icts with their​ relig​ious beliefs or moral​ convi​ction​s.​

Arranged Marriage

I saw this animation last year. I wanted to blog it, but I think the creator had at that time disabled embedding. Anyhow, it seems she went on to the big leagues.

Just one of the problems with the marriage crisis/situation young Muslims are facing:

Related: Arranged Marriage - Trapped Between Two Cultures

For My iPhone (& Other Trendy Cell Phones) Obsessesed Friends

Early in 2007, just as her husband launched his presidential bid, Cindy McCain decided to resolve an old problem -- the lack of cellular telephone coverage on her remote 15-acre ranch near Sedona, nestled deep in a tree-lined canyon called Hidden Valley.

By the time Sen. John McCain's presidential bid was in full swing this summer, the ranch had wireless coverage from the two cellular companies most often used by campaign staff -- Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

Verizon delivered a portable tower know as a "cell site on wheels" -- free of charge -- to Cindy McCain's property in June in response to an online request from Cindy McCain's staff early last year. Such devices are usually reserved for restoring service when cell coverage is knocked out during emergencies, such as hurricanes.

In July, AT&T followed suit, wheeling in a portable tower for free to match Verizon's offer. "This is an unusual situation," said AT&T spokeswoman Claudia B. Jones. "You can't have a presidential nominee in an area where there is not cell coverage."

Over the course of the past year, Cindy McCain had offered land for a permanent cell tower and Verizon embarked on an expensive process to meet her needs, hiring contractors and seeking county land-use permits even though few people other than the McCains would benefit from the tower.

Ethics lawyers said Cindy McCain's dealings with the wireless companies stand out because Sen. John McCain is a senior member of the Senate Commerce Committee, which oversees the Federal Communications Commission and the telecommunications industry. He has been a leading advocate for industry-backed legislation, fighting regulations and taxes on telecommunications services.

McCain and his campaign have close ties to Verizon and AT&T. Five campaign officials, including campaign manager Rick Davis, have worked as lobbyists for Verizon. Former McCain staffer Robert Fisher is an in-house lobbyist for Verizon and is volunteering for the campaign. Fisher, Verizon chief executive Ivan Seidenberg and company lobbyists have raised more than $1.3 million for McCain's presidential campaign and Verizon employees are among the top 20 corporate donors over McCain's political career, giving more than $155,000 to his campaigns.

Read On: Washington Post

See every little bit, even the telecomm companies we choose to support, matters. 

Happy Indigenous People's Day!

The case for why Columbus should NOT be honored:

Columbus planned to conquer and colonize all the Caribbean islands and the mainland. The islands were populated by over a million Taino Indians, peaceful farmers and fishermen. Unable to find enough gold to finance his schemes, Columbus captured thousands of Tainos and shipped them to the slave markets of Spain. The Tainos resisted with fishbone-tipped spears, but these were no match for artillery. Columbus demanded that each Taino pay a tribute of gold dust every three months, under penalty of amputation of the hands. In two years over a hundred thousand Tainos were dead, and the survivors were slaves in the mines and plantations. Columbus personally invented European imperialism in the Americas and the transatlantic slave trade.

Source: Red Coral

And so Columbus, desperate to pay back dividends to those who had invested, had to make good his promise to fill the ships with gold. In the province of Cicao on Haiti, where he and his men imagined huge gold fields to exist, they ordered all persons fourteen years or older to collect a certain quantity of gold every three months. When they brought it, they were given copper tokens to hang around their necks. Indians found without a copper token had their hands cut off and bled to death.

The Indians had been given an impossible task. The only gold around was bits of dust garnered from the streams. So they fled, were hunted down with dogs, and were killed.

Trying to put together an army of resistance, the Arawaks faced Spaniards who had armor, muskets, swords, horses. When the Spaniards took prisoners they hanged them or burned them to death. Among the Arawaks, mass suicides began, with cassava poison. Infants were killed to save them from the Spaniards. In two years, through murder, mutilation, or suicide, half of the 250,000 Indians on Haiti were dead.

When it became clear that there was no gold left, the Indians were taken as slave labor on huge estates, known later as encomiendas. They were worked at a ferocious pace, and died by the thousands. By the year 1515, there were perhaps fifty thousand Indians left. By 1550, there were five hundred. A report of the year 1650 shows none of the original Arawaks or their descendants left on the island.

Source: Howard Zinn's "Christopher Columbus and the Indians"

Columbus is DIRECTLY responsible for the deaths of thousands of Arawaks in Haiti. He forced them into gold mines for 6-8 months and 1/3 died, exhausted, depressed, ceased to procreate, killed their infants. Columbus also killed them thru murder, mutilation, suicide, overwork, abuse, and diseases.

The following history is one of depopulation: a heavy toll from wars of resistance, hard labor, and malnutrition. In 1492 there were 3 million people on Hispaniola. Two years later the population was cut in half. In 1515 it was down to 50,000, in 1550 it was 500 and by 1650 there weren't any left. Furthermore, Columbus' actions launched an era of modern colonialism, rape, pillage, genocide, cultural destruction, slavery, economic & environmental devastation.

To celebrate Columbus is, as one Guatemalan has noted, the same as having Jews celebrate Hitler and the holocaust. Columbus is much more than a representation of evil; he is the very embodiment of that evil.

Source: Columbus Day Protest

Need I say more?

Busta Rhymes Back At It

Here I was thinking the condition of hip hop was beginning to take a turn for the better. I should have known better, Busta Rhymes has of course "blessed" us with some new trash disguised as music:

Ron Browz, yes! 

Oh, we back in the most amazin' way 

Well, lemme introduce you to the new talk 

Let's get straight to it 

C'mon! 

[Chorus: Ron Browz] 

Shalai Lai Lai Halilili Hai Lo! 

Hi Li Ba Lai Hey Hi Li Bai Lo! 

We gettin' Arab money! 

We gettin' Arab money! 

Ha La Shiki Hai Lili Ba La! 

Milli Ai Lai Shi Lili Ba La! 

We gettin' Arab money! 

We gettin' Arab money! 

[Verse 1: Busta Rhymes] 

Now, there ain't no way that you could kill the beast dead 

I got Middle East women and Middle East bread 

I got oil well money in the desert playing golf 

Dolce shorts, dashiki with a Louie Scarf 

Chest cold, diamonds make a nigga wanna cough 

In Dubai, 20 million on the villa loft 

And then I step up in the club and then these other niggas mad as shit 

The way I make the people wanna sing the hook in Arabic! 

[Chorus: Ron Browz] 

Shalai Lai Lai Halilili Hai Lo! 

Hi Li Ba Lai Hey Hi Li Bai Lo! 

We gettin' Arab money! 

We gettin' Arab money! 

Ha La Shiki Hai Lili Ba La! 

Milli Ai Lai Shi Lili Ba La! 

We gettin' Arab money! 

We gettin' Arab money! 

[Verse 2: Busta Rhymes] 

Seven star hotels, Maybach, movie sick 

Big bitches, knock-kneed camel-toed groupie shit 

Women walk around while security on camelback 

Club on fire now, niggas don't know how to act 

Sittin' in casinos while I'm gamblin' with Arafat 

Money long, watch me purchase pieces of the Almanac 

Y'all already know, I got the streets buzzin' 

While I make you bow down and make Salaat like a Muslim 

[Chorus: Ron Browz] 

Shalai Lai Lai Halilili Hai Lo! 

Hi Li Ba Lai Hey Hi Li Bai Lo! 

We gettin' Arab money! 

We gettin' Arab money! 

Ha La Shiki Hai Lili Ba La! 

Milli Ai Lai Shi Lili Ba La! 

We gettin' Arab money! 

We gettin' Arab money! 

[Verse 3: Busta Rhymes] 

See, now I take trips to Baghdad dummy 

While I use stacked chips and count Arab money now 

I don't need to get fresh, about to grow a beard duke 

So much cake even the money look weird too 

Domestic bread, and I'm broad, I'm tryna eat right 

Prince Alwali, Bin Talal, Al Saul 

They respect the value of my worth in Maui, Malaysia 

Iran and Iraq, Saudi Arabia! 

[Chorus: Ron Browz] 

Shalai Lai Lai Halilili Hai Lo! 

Hi Li Ba Lai Hey Hi Li Bai Lo! 

We gettin' Arab money! 

We gettin' Arab money! 

Ha La Shiki Hai Lili Ba La! 

Milli Ai Lai Shi Lili Ba La! 

We gettin' Arab money! 

We gettin' Arab money!

Source: Only Lyrics

Hijab Flutter: Mujahideen Ryder

Head of Skate

This is not good. It's getting really difficult to stay away from the Sarah Palin bashing and humor:

Sarah Palin, the Feminist

Katie Couric: Do you consider yourself a feminist?

Sarah Palin: I do. I'm a feminist who believes in equal rights and I believe that women certainly today have every opportunity that a man has to succeed and to try to do it all anyway. And I’m very, very thankful that I've been brought up in a family where gender hasn't been an issue. You know, I've been expected to do everything growing up that the boys were doing. We were out chopping wood and you’re out hunting and fishing and filling our freezer with good wild Alaskan game to feed our family. So it kinda started with that. With just that expectation that the boys and the girls in my community were expected to do the same and accomplish the same. That's just been instilled in me.

Couric: What is your definition of a feminist?

Palin: Someone who believes in equal rights. Someone who would not stand for oppression against women.

Couric: Where do you stand on the Ledbetter Fair Pay Act?

Palin: I’m absolutely for equal pay for equal work. The Ledbetter pay act - it was gonna turn into a boon for trial lawyers who, I believe, could have taken advantage of women who were many, many years ago who would allege some kind of discrimination. Thankfully, there are laws on the books, there have been since 1963, that no woman could be discriminated against in the workplace in terms of anything, but especially in terms of pay. So, thankfully we have the laws on the books and they better be enforced.

Couric: The Ledbetter act sort of lengthens the time a woman can sue her company if she's not getting equal pay for equal work. Why should a fear of lawsuits trump a woman's ability to do something about the fact that women make 77 cents for every dollar a man makes. And that's today.

Palin: There should be no fear of a lawsuit prohibiting a woman from making sure that the laws that are on the books today are enforced. I know in a McCain-Palin administration we will not stand for any measure that would result in a woman being paid less than a man for equal work.

Couric: Why shouldn’t the Ledbetter act be in place? You think it would result in lawsuits brought by women years and years ago. Is that your main problem with it?

Palin: It would have turned into a boon for trial lawyers. Again, thankfully with the existing laws we have on the books, they better be enforced. We won't stand for anything but that. We won't stand for any discrimination in the workplace - that there isn't any discrimination in America.

Source: CBS News

Eid Present For The Traveller In Your Life

I couldn't figure out what to get my brother for Eid. He has everything he needs and is leaving the country in a couple of days. I, of course, resorted to fulfilling one of his few remaining American food cravings. 

However, if I had known about this earlier I think it would have been a hilarious present to him and his "friends" at TSA. These metal plates can be used to tell the baggage checkers what you really think:

. 

Evan Roth designed these custom etched metal plates to show up on X-ray machines when your luggage is scanned at the airport. And let me tell you this, airport security loooooves a good joke.

Source: Geekologie

Hijab Flutter: Lena Khan

Restore Funding for Labor Centers!

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger,

I am deeply disturbed by your veto of funding for the UC Miguel Contreras Labor Program. This was a difficult budget year, but the state budget should not be used as a political tool to target one specific research and educational program. Your action violates fundamental principles of academic freedom and university governance.

As governor, you should be representing all working families in California, but once again you have cut out funding for the only program at UC that is dedicated to labor research and education.

The Miguel Contreras Labor Program has provided valuable and highly respected research on such issues as health care reform, climate change legislation, workforce development, and paid family leave. The labor studies programs have supported new and innovative courses and educational curriculum on all ten UC campuses and the education and outreach programs represent a significant investment in California's work force.

I urge you to work with UC to ensure that the Miguel Contreras Labor Program receives funding this year, and to restore permanent funding in the future.

Sincerely,
Zahra Billoo

(Send your own letter: take action)

Don't Vote!

Caution: "strong" language, watch at your own risk.

Eid Mubarak!