Uttar Pradesh: Mayawati’s Stunning Victory

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By Nilofar Suhrawardy, Muslim Media News Service (MMNS)

New Delhi/Lucknow—The dashing performance of the Bahaujan Samaj Party (BSP) in Uttar Pradesh assembly elections leading to party supremo Mayawati’s takeover of reins as chief minister for the record fourth time also spells the charting of a new political map in the state.

Fifty-one-year old Mayawati, who entered the political fray in the mid 1980s to champion the cause of Dalits (weaker sections among Hindus, earlier known as untouchables), has won these elections by convincing upper caste Hindus and Muslims to support the BSP. It is the first political test faced by Mayawati, following the death of Kanshi Ram, who founded BSP on April 14, 1984. The late Kanshi Ram encouraged Mayawati to enter politics and played the role of her mentor till he passed away last year. Emerging from his shadow, Mayawati adopted a political strategy that is markedly different from the one BSP leaders exercised earlier. BSP first entered the political stage as Dalits’ force, making no secret of its aggressive stand against higher caste Hindus. In contrast, during these elections, Mayawati made extra-efforts to secure the support of upper caste Hindus and Muslims. This political strategy has contributed to ushering in a single party government in UP after 14 years of coalition-politics.

Soon after BSP’s simple majority was confirmed last week (May 11), while addressing a press conference, Mayawati said: “After 14 years, this is the first time that a single party has been returned to power.”

Asserting that her victory was also a signal of a major change in the UP, Mayawati said: “A big social change has taken place in UP, and all sections of society have supported the party.” At BSP headquarters in Lucknow, Mayawati was flanked by Satish Chandra Mishra and Naseemuddin Sidduiqi, who contributed in strengthening BSP’s base. While Mishra, she said, “played a pivotal role in amalgamating upper castes with party,” Siddiqui’s campaigning “ensured the Muslims voted for BSP.”

Against the 206 seats won by BSP in 403-member UP assembly, the other parties could not manage even 100. The BSP has come a long way from the 99 seats it won in the ‘02 polls. The Samajwadi Party (SP), headed by outgoing Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav, could secure only 97 seats against the 143 it won in ‘02. Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) managed only 50 against the 88 it held before, displaying its worst performance since ‘91. Congress won 22 against the 25 in the previous assembly.

The support of upper caste Hindus for the BSP, earlier assumed to be a strong base of BJP in UP, has led the latter to be pushed to third position. Likewise, the Muslim-vote, earlier held to be with Mulayam Singh, has displayed a decisive inclination towards BSP. All the political campaigning indulged in by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has not spelt any major gain for his party.

The success of Mayawati’s strategy is marked by BSP’s elected legislators including 51 Brahmins, 24 Muslims and 62 Dalits. The same strategy has been reflected in the newly-formed cabinet. She was sworn in as the UP chief minister on Sunday (May 13) afternoon. Of the 49 ministers administered the oath of office, 13 are upper-caste Hindus, five Muslims, and 31 backward Hindus.

The political rationale exercised by voters in UP also stands out. Divisive tactics tried by the BJP, reflected by its use of an anti-Muslim CD, failed to attract upper caste Hindus. The failure of small parties and independents to make a notable dent in these polls cannot also be missed. While all 46 candidates fielded by the left bloc have been defeated, only 26 of 3,937 contestants from small parties and independents have made it to the assembly. Clearly, the voters in UP decided not to let their votes be wasted. Therefore, rather than face political instability with a hung assembly, they decided to ignore parties and/or candidates with insignificant base in UP.

Mayawati is the 40th chief minister of UP. She became the first Dalit chief minister of India in ‘93, when she stepped into this office after winning elections in alliance with SP. In ‘97 and then again in ‘02, Mayawati became the chief minister in alliance with the BJP.

Born on January 15, 1956 in Delhi, Mayawati worked as a teacher in different government schools in Delhi from 1977 to 1984. During her student days, she participated in youth agitations and displayed her desire to do something for Dalits, backwards, and minority communities. Her electoral debut was a failure as she lost the 1984 Lok Sabha elections. She also lost two bye-elections to Lok Sabha from Bijnor (1985) and Haridwar (1987). But rather than quit politics, she contested again from Bijnor in 1988 to enter Lok Sabha. And since then there has been no looking back for her. It was her party’s decision to abstain from the April 1999 confidence vote that led to fall of the Atal Behari Vajpayee government.

Quietly basking in the success of their daughter, at their residence in Delhi, Mayawati’s parents Prabhudayal and Ramlata want her to rise further.

Her father, earlier a supervisor in a telecom department, said: “She is the queen of UP. One day she’ll be Prime Minister.”

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“Black Ops” in Iraq?

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Courtesy The Wisdom Fund and Association of Muslim Scholars in Iraq (AMSI)

An Iraqi who asked not to be identified . . . said that during the 2003 invasion and subsequent war, he was transported back to the interior of Iraq to carry out specific tasks assigned him by the US agencies.

“During the last war that led to the occupation of Iraq,” he recalled, “I was with a group of my comrades who had received training in America in how to spread chaos in the ranks of the Iraqi army. We were brought into Iraq across the border from Saudi Arabia. We put on Iraqi army uniforms and our mission was basically to spread rumors among the Iraqis, such as that the American army had already got into such-and-such a city, or that it is on the outskirts of Baghdad and other such things, which were part of the reason for the rapid collapse of the Iraqi forces,” he said.

The former collaborator went on: “the unit that I was with settled in the presidential palace in the al-A’zamiyah district. . . . My job was being a guard, but after a time that situation changed and the American occupation forces put me in charge of a group of a unit that carried out assassinations in the streets of Baghdad,” he said.

“Our task was to carry out assassinations of individuals. The US occupation army would supply us with their names, pictures, and maps of their daily movements to and from their place of residence and we were supposed to kill the Shi’i, for example, in the al-A’zamiyah, and kill the Sunni in the of ‘Madinat as-Sadr’, and so on.”

“Anyone in the unit who made a mistake was killed. Three members of my team were killed by US occupation forces after they failed to assassinate Sunni political figures in Baghdad. A US force that had been so-ordered eliminated them. That took place two years ago,” the former collaborator recalled.

The former collaborator said that the Americans have a unit for “dirty jobs.” That unit is a mix of Iraqis, Americans, and foreigners and of the security detachments that are deployed in Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. This unit doesn’t only carry out assassinations, but some of them specialize in planting bombs and car bombs in neighborhoods and markets. This unit carries out operations in which wanted people whom the American army does not want killed are arrested.

The former collaborator said that “operations of planting car bombs and blowing up explosives in markets are carried out in various ways, the best-known and most famous among the US troops is placing a bomb inside cars as they are being searched at checkpoints. Another way is to put bombs in the cars during interrogations. After the desired person is summoned to one of the US bases, a bomb is place in his car and he is asked to drive to a police station or a marked for some purpose and there his car blows up.”

The testimony of the former collaborator is consistent with some western reports that have disclosed the involvement of US military personnel in bombings that target Iraqi civilians. The British reporter Robert Fisk, AMSI noted, had recently met with Iraqis in Syria concerning such “black operations” carried out by the Americans.

The Egyptian writer and former editor of al-Ahram, Muhammad Hasanayn Haykal, also noted in an interview with al-Jazeera satellite TV that there are mercenaries who practically make up an army second only to the regular US army in Iraq in terms of their numbers and equipment. This force is now called the “Knights of Malta” Haykal said, and they are the cause of many of the attacks that target Iraqi civilians. Haykal noted that there are Iraqis and Lebanese working in the ranks of that force.

WE HAVE NO WAY OF VERIFYING THIS STORY, BUT IT IS CONSISTENT WITH OTHER REPORTS at http://www.twf.org/News/Y2006/1010-Regions.html

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The Last Argument of Fools–How America Has Changed Iraq

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Courtesy William Blum

“If the United States leaves Iraq things will really get bad.”

This appears to be the last remaining, barely-breathing argument of that vanishing species who still support the God-awful war. The argument implies a deeply-felt concern about the welfare and safety of the Iraqi people. What else could it mean? That the US military can’t leave because it’s needed to protect the oil bonanza awaiting American oil companies as soon as the Iraqi parliament approves the new written-in-Washington oil law? No, the Bush administration loves the people of Iraq. How much more destruction, killing and torturing do you need to be convinced of that? We can’t leave because of the violence. We can’t leave until we have assured that peace returns to our dear comrades in Iraq.

To better understand this argument, it helps to keep in mind the following about the daily horror that is life in Iraq: It did not exist before the US occupation.

The insurgency violence began as, and remains, a reaction to the occupation; like almost all insurgencies in occupied countries — from the American Revolution to the Vietcong — it’s a fight directed toward getting foreign forces to leave.

The next phase was the violence of Iraqis against other Iraqis who worked for or sought employment with anything associated with the occupation regime.

Then came retaliatory attacks for these attacks.

Followed by retaliatory attacks for the retaliatory attacks.

Jihadists from many countries have flocked to Iraq because they see the war against the American Satan occupiers as a holy war.

Before the occupation, many Sunnis and Shiites married each other; since the occupation they have been caught up in a spiral of hating and killing each other.

And for these acts there, of course, has to be retaliation.

The occupation’s abolishment of most jobs in the military and in Saddam Hussein’s government, and the chaos that is Iraqi society under the occupation, have left many destitute; kidnapings for ransom and other acts of criminal violence have become popular ways to make a living, or at least survive.

US-trained, financed, and armed Iraqi forces have killed large numbers of people designated as “terrorists” by someone official, or perhaps someone unofficial, or by someone unknown, or by chance.

The US military itself has been a main perpetrator of violence, killing individually and en masse, killing any number, any day, for any reason, anyone, any place, often in mindless retaliation against anyone nearby for an insurgent attack.

The US military and its coalition allies have also been the main target of violent attacks. A Department of Defense report of November 2006 stated: “Coalition forces remained the target of the majority of attacks (68%).”

And here is James Baker, establishment eminence, co-chair of the Iraq Study Group, on CNN with Anderson Cooper:

Cooper: And is it possible that getting the U.S. troops out will actually lessen that violence, that it will at least take away the motivation of nationalist insurgents?

Baker: Many people have argued that to us. Many people in Iraq made that case.

Cooper: Do you buy it?

Baker: Yes, I think there is some validity to it, absolutely. Then we are no longer seen to be the occupiers.

In spite of all of the above we are told that the presence of the United States military has been and will continue to be a buffer against violence. Iraqis themselves do not believe this. A poll published in September found that Iraqis believe, by a margin of 78 to 21 percent, that the US military presence is “provoking more conflict that it is preventing”.

Remember that we were warned a thousand times of a communist bloodbath in Vietnam if American forces left. The American forces left. There was never any kind of bloodbath.

If the United States leaves — meaning all its troops and bases — it will remove the very foundation, origin, and inspiration of most of the hate and violence. Iraqis will have a chance to reclaim their land and their life. They have a right to be given that opportunity. Let America’s deadly “love” embrace of the Iraqi people come to an end. Let the healing begin.

William Blum is the author of Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since World War II, Rogue State: a guide to the World’s Only Super Power. and West-Bloc Dissident: a Cold War Political Memoir. He can be reached at: BBlum6@aol.com.

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Six Questions for Tara McKelvey on Detainee Abuse

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Courtesy Ken Silverstein

Tara McKelvey is the author of the new book Monstering: Inside America’s Policy of Secret Interrogations and Torture in the Terror War, which tells the story of the Abu Ghraib scandal and, more broadly, examines the pattern of detainee abuse in Iraq. McKelvey, a senior editor at The American Prospect and a research fellow at the NYU School of Law’s Center on Law and Security, lives in Washington, D.C. I recently asked her six questions about what she learned while researching her book.

1. The general story of the abuses at Abu Ghraib has by now been well covered. What has the media missed?

The media only focused on the photographs. They missed the fact that the abuse was systematic and that the worst things were not even shown in the pictures. That’s what my book is about: what happened beyond the frame of the Abu Ghraib photos. Thousands of detainees have gone through U.S.-run facilities in Iraq, but thousands more—anyone held for less than fourteen days—were never registered or tracked. Human-rights reports and interviews I conducted show that some of the worst abuses took place at short-term facilities—a police station in Samarra, a school gymnasium, a trailer, and places like that, where individuals were held for up to two weeks. It’s also important to remember that reports from the International Committee of the Red Cross, as well as numerous military documents, show that 70 to 90 percent of the detainees had no information that would have been useful to the troops.

2. Who is ultimately responsible for the abuses?

If there’s a smoking gun, it’s in the hands of John C. Yoo. He worked at the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, and he’s the guy behind the August 1, 2002, memo that said interrogators could do what they wanted as long as the intensity of pain inflicted was less than “that which accompany serious physical injury such as death or organ failure.” It created conditions that allowed for almost any sort of physical abuse. So guys like Yoo and Timothy Flanagan, who was deputy White House counsel under Alberto R. Gonzales, discussed techniques like stress positions and sleep deprivation that were approved for high-level Al Qaeda suspects—and those techniques were used on Iraqi civilians. I had a heartfelt conversation with Flanagan and told him what I had heard from Iraqis: that these techniques had been used on men, women and children in Iraq. He feels bad about it; I know he does. But the fact is that he and Yoo and some of these other people from the best law schools and universities in this country were the ones who came up with the legal definitions that allowed for the abuse to happen.

“When [Lynndie England] told me she’d quit her job over the conditions at the plant, I was surprised. She had stood up to what she thought was wrong.” 3. What was Donald Rumsfeld’s role?

Rumsfeld has had a very lackadaisical attitude towards the Geneva Conventions. On February 8, 2002, he said, “The reality is that the set of facts that exist today with respect to Al Qaeda and Taliban were not necessarily the kinds of facts that were considered when the Geneva Conventions were fashioned.” On May 4 of 2004, after the pictures from Abu Ghraib were published, he told a journalist that the Geneva Conventions “did not precisely apply” in Iraq. There has also been testimony from people who say Rumsfeld got nightly briefings about what was gathered during interrogations.

4. Have those guilty of detainee abuse been held accountable?

More than 260 soldiers have faced punishment for detainee-related incidents since October 2001. Of those, nine individuals, all except one below the rank of captain, have been sentenced to time behind bars. Keep in mind, that’s just the military; meanwhile, there are about 100,000 contractors in Iraq, almost as many as there are troops. But only one contractor has been punished for a detainee-related crime, and that was in Afghanistan. Not a single contractor in Iraq has been punished. I doubt all those contractors are angels; we know, for instance, that several were implicated in the Abu Ghraib scandal—but those cases never went anywhere. This is not just a prison scandal. It’s a huge blow to America’s image and it’s something we’ll be dealing with for generations.

5. What do you think of former CIA director George Tenet’s recent comments in which he defended the use of tough tactics against detainees?

Tenet has said in interviews that we didn’t employ torture, that everything was authorized, and that the attorney general told us the techniques did not amount to torture. This goes back to John Yoo, who along with others broadened the definition of what was allowable. Some of the stuff, like “stress positions,” seems benign. But it covers a lot of ground. It means you can be kept crouching and not allowed to move for 45 minutes, but then they can move you into another stress position. There’s one stress position, called a “Palestinian Hanging,” which was apparently pretty common at Abu Ghraib. Your arms are pulled behind your back, and you’re hung from your arms. I interviewed a ghost detainee who was put in that position and he said it was incredibly painful. One detainee, al-Jamadi, died after being put in that position. We don’t know if these techniques are still allowed. Officially they say “no,” but we have no idea.

“This is not just a prison scandal. It’s a huge blow to America’s image and it’s something we’ll be dealing with for generations.”6. You got an exclusive print interview with Lynndie England. What was your impression of her?

Part of her defense was that she was a compliant personality but in fact, as I discovered, she’d been a whistleblower. She had worked at a chicken processing plant in Moorefield, West Virginia, and had walked off the job to protest lousy assembly line practices. Less than a year later, a PETA investigator went into the plant undercover and filmed incredibly horrific acts of animal abuse. It made it into the national media, which called it a “mini Abu Ghraib.” When she told me she’d quit her job over the conditions at the plant, I was surprised. She had stood up to what she thought was wrong. Lynndie England—and all of the people at Abu Ghraib—had the option to say “no” to the abuse. There was a combination of events that allowed the detainee abuses to happen, it wasn’t just administration policy or Lynndie’s psychopathic boyfriend, or any one thing. I was so shocked about the abuse when I first heard about it from Iraqis, and I wondered how such horrible things could happen. But by the time I’d finished the book and saw how everything had come together, the abuse seemed almost inevitable.

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How Much Will You Need?

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By Bob Wood, Muslim Media News Service (MMNS)

The primary goal of investing is accumulating financial assets for some future need. For most of us, the ultimate goal is retiring and maintaining our current lifestyle for as long as we live, with a little extra reserved for unexpected emergencies along the way. Of course, knowing with some degree of certainty how much we’ll need when that time comes is a valuable piece of knowledge. We need to know where we’re going and how to get there. The big question is: how much will be enough?

Discerning the answer to that question is harder than most investors realize. The longer you have to work before collecting the last paycheck from work, the more your situation can change. Assumptions made today regarding the cost of living, your ability to save regularly and possible investment returns are all rather fluid. Anticipating the rate of inflation adds even more complexity.

Most brokers and mutual fund companies offer retirement calculators that provide some help with estimating how much you’ll need for retirement. And while flawed, they at least help to narrow the range of possibilities, such as how much will be too little or more than enough. Within those parameters, an investor can at least embark on a savings and investing plan, knowing that annual reviews can estimate not only your progress but also potential changes to previous assumptions.

When establishing the possible boundaries for those parameters, you have two obvious choices – the best and worst cases. You can simulate the best-case scenario by assuming that your plan will work if you make at least some minimal effort to save on a steady basis, invest as successfully as possible, stay healthy, and expect inflation to behave and stay close to its historical averages.

Then consider a worst-case scenario where your savings may be interrupted from time to time due to unforeseen expenses, job loss, lower than expected investment returns or rapidly rising inflation. And all of these apply in today’s environment!

Of course, to play safe, you should assume that the worst-case scenario is the most likely to occur. If you follow this major assumption, live below your means on the bare essentials and save aggressively, invest wisely and prove to have been too conservative, you may retire with too much money. If you assume the best case, and the end result doesn’t play out as expected, you can plan to live out your days with only those bare essentials!

Consider this one little piece of anecdotal evidence to validate this assumption for yourself. In my past experience as a comprehensive financial planner, I have had occasion to speak with numerous people on the cusp of retirement and read about others in the same situation. No matter how much retirees have saved leading up to their last day of working, they all worry that it is not enough. All seem to believe that having more savings would help them feel more secure, and this includes even those with seven-figure savings!

Of course, operating as a “Bear,” not only with domestic stock markets but also with the domestic economy over the long term, I tend to assume the worst for all variables involved. I prefer to advise saving more, assuming tepid investment returns and presuming much higher prices in coming years. When I suggest assuming that investment returns will be muted in coming years, I am not predicting that too few opportunities will exist for profiting from investments in the right markets. There will always be a bull market somewhere. It’s just that Wall Street has done a great job of embedding in our minds that returns of about 10% per year are the norm. They are not, as you know if you’ve read articles on that topic that I’ve written previously for this column.

But secular, structural changes happening now appear to portend enduring consequences. If you live in the Detroit area, you already see how this economic situation is manifesting itself in your local economy. Other enduring changes are already well advanced and should also become part of all savers’ planning and accumulation goals.

Consider the following viewpoint which offers help in formulating your own set of worst-case assumptions. It comes from the Amazon.com web page, which describes the book, America’s Financial Apocalypse: How to Profit from the Next Great Depression.

‘’For nearly three decades, America has been gradually losing ground to the developed world in many critical areas. The result is that the American standard of living has been in decline for over two decades, with the middle class having been affected the most. Meanwhile, the rich have gotten wealthier and now America is a nation controlled by corporate America.

‘’Hidden by two-income households and open access to credit, declining living standards have gone unnoticed by most Americans. Spending beyond one’s means has become the American way of life and is encouraged by the government. In contrast, saving is almost unheard of in America.

‘’As a result, this once powerful nation has changed from the world’s largest creditor to the world’s largest debtor. Decades of over-consumption by Americans can only last so long before a day of reckoning occurs. The deflation of the Internet Bubble resulted in the paper loss of over $7 trillion dollars, yet most people seem to have already forgotten the most scandalous charades in U.S. history by Wall Street and corporate America.

‘’And now, as the retirement assets of tens of millions of Americans are in question, an even larger number are caught up in the largest real estate bubble in our history. As we enter the two next decades, 76 million baby boomers will retire, most of them in poverty.

‘’Thus, the generation that was responsible for creating the greatest bull market in U.S. history may, through no choice of its own, also be the same group that causes an economic meltdown due to decades of government mismanagement, inadequate planning, and over-consumption. During this same time frame, many expect the global oil production to gradually decline due to what is known as the peak oil theory. Obviously, this has enormous consequences of its own.

‘’Today, America is in the final preparatory stages that will lead to a massive economic meltdown resulting in the Next Great Depression, as over 46 million Americans already have no healthcare insurance, Social Security will be inadequate for the 76 million baby boomers who will retire over the next several years, energy prices will remain high for some time, and for the first time ever, Americans can no longer live with the comfort knowing that they are safe on their own soil.

‘’These issues will only get worse and when the appropriate triggers are set off, a domino effect will commence, sending the stock and bond markets into a downward spiral. This book claims to represent the most detailed and exhaustive analysis of America’s current and future economic plight, as well as that of its capital markets.

‘’Rather than making bold claims supported by scant data, this book makes use of several hundred figures, tables, and charts, as well as over 700 references to support the premise that a depression is inevitable for America. Finally, the final three chapters address economic and market risks and provide investment guidance and strategy for investors to position themselves to profit before and during America’s next great depression.’’

Of course, the book presents the views of one writer, referred to only as ‘’Stathis.’’ But reading the book would add depth, explaining why the author sees the future as she/he does. But on the surface, do these assumptions seem very far off to you?

Keep in mind today’s situation with many retires living on much less than they need to feel secure. They are part of the same generation that retired after living and working through the strongest period of economic growth this country has known in its history. As workers, they enjoyed wages and benefits that today’s workers could only hope for! Their pension plans and 401(k) and IRA accounts have been growing for 20 years — or longer in some cases.

Yet, many find themselves with so little! Imagine how the future may play out for today’s workers, who have been living through more difficult times. Therefore, my one best piece of advice on this subject is to assume the worst. Live within — or below — your means, save as much as you possibly can, invest conservatively with a strict aversion to losing money in stocks, and assume that much higher prices will greet you at retirement.

The worst that can happen is that’s you will have deprived yourself of some of life’s little luxuries. But those luxuries are much more transitory than your retirement years may prove to be.

Have a great week.
Bob

Bob Wood ChFC, CLU Yusuf Kadiwala. Registered Investment Advisors, KMA, Inc., invest@muslimobserver.com.

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SE Michigan (V9-I21)

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arsna-pdf-islamic-council.pdfMichigan imams create accord on honorable relations,

American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) holds successful function at Ford Community Center in Dearborn

Dearborn–May 10–American Muslims for Palestine (AMP), a new political committee, kicked off to a successful start this past Friday at Dearborn’s Ford Community & Performing Arts Center.

About 500 people sitting at 50 beautifully decorated tables were in attendance at the posh and well-organized event, most of them Palestinians–there was a large celebration of Palestinian culture, with traditional dances and many fiery speeches reflecting the theme of the evening, “Palestine: We will return.”

AMP, as explained on their website, is a not for profit with the purpose to provide “non-partisan and non-sectarian educational, social and cultural programming for the purpose of raising American public awareness of Palestine’s rich heritage and diverse people.”

“AMP’s mission is accomplished through publishing books, organizing conferences, providing educational programs and resources for all ages, incomes, and cultural backgrounds. The AMP is a membership-based association with the goal of involving all segments of the American community in its work.”

AMP has offices in Dearborn, Chicago, and Palestine.

Speakers at the event included Alison Weir from “IfAmericansKnew.com, Dr. Raji al-Sourani, a professor from Palestine, and Dr. Hatem Bazyan, the AMP President.

Alison Weir maintains a blog website, alisonweir.org.

IfAmericansKnew.com is a very interesting website also maintained by Ms. Weir; it graphically illustrates the immense disparities between casualties (and support for) Israel and Palestine. The website publishes reports on the use by Israel of, for instance, experimental weapons on its Palestinian people.

The site also describes the Israel-Palestine situation in extensive detail, from the historical context to the present, exploring whether the US in fact has interests in the region, and rigorous studies of mainstream media reporting on Palestine and Israel by the major networks. If Americans Knew publishes videos, among them “The Easiest Targets,” a documentary about “the Israeli policy of strip searching women and children”–free copies of DVD compilations of IAK’s several short videos were made available to the AMP audience for free.

On her websites Ms. Weir of course provides plenty of material on the Israeli strafing of the USS Liberty which killed 34 American servicemen and injured 170 in 1967.

The message of AMP president Dr. Bazyan was mainly that things have changed immensely in the recent past, especially in light of Jimmy Carter’s new book exposing Israel’s apartheid and arguing for peace, but that more work is needed.

The event was timed to coincide with the beginning of Israeli occupation of Palestine, which began May 14, 1948.

AMP Michigan’s website is www.ampmichigan.org.

“Ek Shaam Talat Mahmood Ke Naam” – A Memorable Evening in Detroit

To celebrate 9th Anniversary of legendary singer Talat Mahmood “Ek Shaam Talat Mahmood Ke Naam” program was conducted on May 4, 2007 at the University of Michigan Dearborn auditorium by a team of Aligarh Muslim University alumni and its well wishers led by Ashfaq Qureshi, Chair Board of Trustees Federation of Aligarh Alumni Associations of America. The main of the sponsors included Dr. Mahboob Fatteh of Lansing Michigan and Mr. Arif Ali who has a lot of experience in conducting cultural events. Other sponsors included AFMI led by local Vice President Arif Motorwala and Pakistan Association of America (PAA) led by Zahid Hussain President, Hafiz Anjum, Naved Ashraf and Mohammad Qasim. Some of the sponsors didn’t want to be identified.

The program was started with Tilawat-e-Quran, in the Aligarh tradition by nine year old Armaan Khan. Maria Siddiqui, an MBA from Aligarh acted as the Master of Ceremony. Mr. Narendra Sheth of Geet Mala radio program led the orchestra and provided musical system support.

Dr. Mohammad Haneef recited a light Ghazal. Anita Sharma, a local music teacher, recited some old songs from classical Indian movies.

Introducing Khalid Mahmood, the son of Talat Mahmood, Ashfaq Qureshi stated that Khalid was using his father’s harmonium which was a million dollar treasure for all of us. Khalid sang famous songs of his father such as ‘Tasweer Teri Dil Mera Behla Na Sakegi’, ‘Itna Na Mujhse tu Pyar Barha’ and ‘Ai Mere Dil Kahin Aur Chal’.

The audience was really stunned by the two other voices – Rujuta Joshi of Michigan who sang famous classical Indian movie songs. Munni Begum a Pakistani Ghazal singer who is already a well known figure in North America and worldwide charmed the audience by her old classical songs. She carried the rest of the program with high level performance for more than an hour and a half. Overall the whole three and a half hour program starting with the theme of ‘Ek Shaam Talat Mahmood Ke Naam’ became an all time memorable evening for the people from Michigan, Ohio and Windsor Canada.

Radio Asia (Neleen Chandra), Manoranjan (Mumtaz Haque), Indian Radio (Dr. Subhash Kelkar), Voice of Pakistan (Faiz Khan and Uzma Syed) provided free publicity for this community program for a charitable cause. Miindia.com and mumtazworld.com provided free publicity through their esteemed websites as a service to the community.

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Community News (V9-I21)

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NY state jail hires Muslim chaplain

NEW YORK, NY–The county jail where a Christian minister handed out anti-Islamic cartoons announced it will hire an imam for its Muslim inmates.

The Rockland County Jail also said it will provide religiously appropriate food.

Rockland Undersheriff Thomas Guthrie said Tuesday that the imam will work one day a week, joining the jail’s priest and rabbi.

The Christian chaplain, the Rev. Teresa Darden Clapp, was suspended with pay last month after inmates complained she was passing out anti-Islam booklets.

Pakistani-Americans plan to build cultural center

CUPERTINI, CA– Pakistani Americans in California are planning to build a community center that will feature the art and culture of Pakistan. The idea is still in its infancy but its promoters have been meeting monthly since last year to draw plans for the proposed center. Initially they want to raise about $200,000 to rent out satellite spaces in various South Bay sites, mostly for Urdu language and other cultural classes. In the long term they want to build the center of their own from scratch.

Unofficial estimates put the Bay Area’s Pakistani-American community at 6,000 to 10,000 residents.

To learn more about the center, visit http://www.pcc-ca.org or call (408) 426-4481. To meet community members online, visit groups.yahoo.com/group/PCC-CA.

Salt Lake Muslims get new imam

SALT LAKE CITY, UT–The Muslims of the greater Salt Lake area have a new spiritual leader. He is a medical doctor and is putting that career on hold to care for people of his faith in a different way.

Imam Farid Farooqi is from Pakistan, has an MD and was trained as a veterinarian. But this position, leader of a mosque, he says he has wanted for a long time.

Imam Farooqi told KSL, “From the very beginning, that was my desire from my childhood, that I should receive two types of knowledge. I believe, and also this is the belief of Muslims, that two types of knowledge are very holy knowledge; and the second knowledge is knowledge of bodice, which is, you can call knowledge of physical or medicine or physical knowledge.”

The worshipers at his mosque have come through a very difficult time, their previous imam was fired after he pleaded guilty to domestic abuse.

Imam Farooqi says his greatest desire is to instill knowledge of true Islam into those of the Muslim faith. He wants to help people of other faiths to understand his religion. The first meaning of Islam is total submission to God, and the second meaning of Islam is establishment of peace on the earth. And whosoever carries these qualities, they’re called Muslims,” Imam Farooqi said.

The imam is married. He and his wife moved here from Arizona with their three children and another on the way.

Students tour religious sites in Dallas

Harding University students Randall Baber, Michael Kee, Kreg Kell, Seth Neller and Bennett Ritchie, all of Searcy, are among the 57 students who participated in an educational tour of several religious establishments in Dallas April 19-22.

The trip is the culmination of the class, “Living World Religions,” taught by Dr. Monte Cox, director of the Center for World Missions at Harding. The group visited a Baha’i Community Center, a mosque, a Soka Gakkai Buddhist center, a conservative Jewish Synagogue, a Hindu temple, and a Sikh temple.

The students spent time learning about each religion and place of worship from adherents of each faith. They observed various rituals and practices and had opportunities to ask questions.

Cox said that by exposing students to firsthand interaction with people of different faiths, they gain a better understanding of and respect for other religions.

“There are limitations to what you can learn from a textbook,” he said. “I think it’s important for the students to be able to engage in conversation with other religious people.”

This was the first time Cox has taken a group to Dallas. Each fall, students in the class visit similar religious institutions in Chicago. Cox said he plans to lead one more spring trip to Dallas before taking groups to another major metropolitan area in the south.

Harding had a record enrollment this year of more than 6,100 students from 49 states and 53 foreign countries. It is the largest private university in Arkansas and attracts more National Merit Scholars than any other private university in the state. Harding also maintains campuses in Australia, Chile, England, France/Switzerland, Greece, Italy and Zambia.

Man files lawsuit to halt Mosque construction

POMPAMO BEACH,FL–A man fighting the opening of a mosque in his suburban neighborhood filed a lawsuit Tuesday to try to halt construction. It’s a move Muslim leaders say is anti-Muslim. Rodney Wright claims the relocation of the Islamic Center of South Florida to a new, larger building in his Pompano Beach neighborhood “presents a substantial harm to the well-being, safety and health” of the community.

Wright who calls himself a Christian claims that the leader of the mosque has alleged links with extremist organizations. However, the connections outlined in the filing appear loose and there is no accusation of direct wrongdoing.

The Imam has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing and neither he nor his mosque have been the target of any publicized investigation.

Ali-Zaidi award nominees recognized

Attending the Ali-Zaidi Award reception were from left: President Joseph Grunenwald, Ryan Hassler, Kathryn Magnuson, Sara Sesack, Katerine Jarzab, Amber Faulhaber, and Dr. Syed Ali-Zaidi.

Katie Jarzab was selected as the Clarion University nominee for the 2007 Dr. Syed R. Ali-Zaidi Award for Academic Excellence.

She was announced as the Clarion University nominee during the Syed R. Ali-Zaidi Award for Academic Excellence reception for outstanding graduating seniors held in Carlson Library. Clarion University President Joseph Grunenwald and Ali-Zaidi, a Clarion University Trustee, attended the reception.

Jarzab, a mathematics major, a daughter of Thomas and Cynthia Jarzab of Oil City and a graduate of Oil City High School was selected based on outstanding academic performance, recognition of scholarship by members of the university faculty, participation in extra/co-curricular activities during the undergraduate years; and the quality of an essay on how the university prepared her for the next career step.

Each of the 14 Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) Universities nominate a graduating senior for the Ali-Zaidi Award. A committee headed by the System’s Vice Chancellor for Academic and Student Affairs reviewed the nominations materials and selected three finalists. The Academic and Student Affairs Committee of the Board of Governors made the final decision.

The other students recognized at the reception included:

Annie Bria, a mass media arts and journalism major, a daughter of Jinny Bria of Aspinwall and a graduate of Fox Chapel High School.

Amber Faulhaber, a music education major, a daughter of Samuel Faulhaber of Waterford and a graduate of Ft. LeBoeuf High School.

Ryan Hassler, a secondary education/mathematics major, a son of Randolph and Lynne Hassler of Denver and a graduate of Cocalico High School.

Kathryn Magnuson, a music education major, a daughter of Timothy and Andrea Magnuson and a graduate of Jamestown High School.

Sara Sesack, a music education major, a daughter of Steve Sesack of Central City and a graduate of Shade High School.

Jamie Wolf, a molecular biology major, a daughter of Patrick and Patricia Wolf of South Park and a graduate of South Park High School.

Throughout his lifetime, Ali-Zaidi has followed a vision and dedication to higher education and academic achievement instilled by the example of his grandfather, who graduated from college in 1885 in India. Understanding the connection between inspiration and achievement, Ali-Zaidi wished, by means of this award, to provide recognition to PASHEE students who exhibit excellence in their pursuit of knowledge.

The Ali-Zaidi Award reception was part of Clarion University’s 2007 Academic Excellence Series. The other activities included: the Undergraduate Research Conference, where students presented the results of their research; the faculty and staff scholarship recognition reception, recognizing faculty and staff research, scholarship, professional development, external grants, and creative endeavors; Senior Honors Presentations, featuring presentations of their capstone projects by Honors Program students; Academic Convocation, recognizing scholarship winners and outstanding academic achievement; and the Graduate Research Seminar and Reception, where graduate students present their research.

CANADA

Ismaili mosque revamps plans

VICTORIA, BC–Local Ismaili Muslims have revamped plans for a new mosque in an old bank building on Esquimalt Road, after running into escalating construction costs.

But the application to change some of the finishing touches on the former Bank of Montreal building at 1250 Esquimalt Rd. concerned some councillors this week.

The building was supposed to include a paved courtyard and fountain adjacent to Grenville Avenue, as well as lattice window screens and a canopy at the Esquimalt Road entrance. Under the proposed changes — approved by council, with Coun. Barbara Desjardins and Coun. Don Linge opposed — the courtyard would include a lawn and flowering trees.

Desjardins said the mosque’s exterior amenities were a key part of the project when it was approved in October, amid concern from some residents about a building on a commercial strip being used for religious purposes. The 150-strong local Ismaili Muslim community previously rented space.

If changes are accepted so soon after approval, developers might get the idea they don’t have to stick with commitments, Desjardins said.

Desjardins, who voted against the rezoning to allow the facility, and Linge said the group should have had a better idea of costs when the proposal was made.

But Coun. Hy Freedman disagreed. “All the requests are eminently supportable and I don’t understand the nitpicking going on,” he said.

9-21

Houstonian Corner (V9-I21)

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Conference: Exploring models for peace by re-exploring the past: diversity in the Ottoman Empire

One of the world’s prominent universities, the University of Texas, held a two-day international conference on Ottoman Tolerance. The Center for Middle Eastern Studies of the University of Texas, the Raindrop Foundation, and the Institute of Interfaith Dialog, were the organizers of the conference.

The conference started with a reception held for the conference speakers and distinguished guests. Speakers from England, Turkey, Egypt, Macedonia and various cities of the US delivered detailed information about the diversity and the tolerance that existed in the Ottoman Empire.

The Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Dr. Kamran Scot Aghaie, stated that history holds examples of peace, and for sure the Ottoman Empire is one of these examples.

On the second day, the conference started with a presentation by Nisya Ishman Allovi, Director of Jewish Museum of Turkey. Allovi presented the historical details of Jewish existence in the Ottoman Empire starting with the immigration of Jews from Spain to Istanbul in 1492.

Other papers presented by scholars were: Dr. Bernadette Andrea, The Ottoman Spirit and the Multicultural Debate; Dr. Yetkin Yildirim, The Analysis of the Millet System in Light of Contact Theory; Dr. Rhoads Murphey, Living Together: Cultural Diversity in the Ottoman Empire; Dr. Linda Darling, Christian-Muslim Interaction on the Ottoman Frontier: Ghaza and Accommodation in Early Ottoman History; Dr. Mehmet Ipsirli, Remarks on Ottoman Peace and Presence in the Balkans; Dr. Kemal Karpat, From Ottoman Cultural and Religious Diversity to Turkish National Identity and Uniformity; Dr. Azmi Ozcan, Facing the Threat of Separatism in a Multi-Cultural Empire in the Age of Nationalism: An Ottoman Solution; Dr. Mehmet Akif Aydin, Pax Ottomana.

On the third day, Dr. Ihsan Yilmaz delivered a paper titled Diversity, Legal Pluralism and Peaceful Co-existence in the Ottoman Centuries. Other papers presented in the conference were: Dr. Macit Kenanoglu, Is Millet Systme a Reality or a Myth? An Alternative Approach to the Administration of the non-Muslim Subjects in the Ottoman Empire; Dr. Safsafi Ahmed Al-Katury, The Ottoman Administration and Non-Muslims; Dr. Abdel Rahman Ahmad Salem, The Roots of Religious Tolerance in the Ottoman Empire; Dr. Tom Gage, Ottoman Palimpsests: The Past Reviewed in Architecture and Literature; Dr. Iskender Pala, Ottoman Tolerance Reflected in Classic Turkish Poetry; Dr. Salim Ayduz, What Contribution did Turks do to the Science and Technology of the Modern Western Civilization?

Organizers of the conference stated that the papers of conference would be published by the university as a book. The conference showed once again that the Ottoman example can contribute to the solutions of tension and problems in the Middle East and the Balkans, where people co-existed in peace for centuries.

For more information, contact Raindrop Turkevi – Turkish Cultural Center – 5905 Winsome Lane – Houston – Texas 77057 – Phone: 713-974-1412 – Fax: 713-974-1418.

ILM Academy Providing Individualized Learning Opportunity – $225,000 Raised

A full-time Islamic school with a Pre-K Montessori Program has been initiated by the Islamic Society of Greater Houston (ISGH) Northwest Center, located at 1209 Conrad Sauer Drive.

It will soon be getting accreditation from the State of Texas.

Currently they enroll students ages 3 to 5. Other than the regular Montessori Curriculum, both Arabic Language and Islamic Studies are taught to the students to make their foundations strong.

A fundraiser for the event was held at the Hilton Post Oak in the Galleria, which was well attended. Mainly the Muslim doctors of Houston contributed much towards this upcoming state-of-the-art facility: About $225,000 were raised.

A.J. Durrani, Director of NW, gave those gathered his vision of future Islamic education in USA. The main speaker on the occasion was Imam Wazir Ali of MAS Bellfort Masjid, who inspired the people present with his eloquent talk, where he asked people to open their “Expirement Accounts” for the next life together with retirement plans for this life and said this can be done by whole-heartedly donating to noble causes.

The program started with delicious food provided by Sohail Feroze and ended with comedian show by Azhar Usman.

For more information about ILM Academy, contact Sister Zuhaira Razzack – Principal of ILM Academy at 713-464-4720 – Or Visit www.ilmacademy.org.

9-21

Boston (V9-I21)

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Imam Masood’s Deportation Hearing Postponed

Boston, MA — May 9, 2007– Boston immigration judge Robin Feder scheduled a full day deportation hearing for Imam Muhammad Masood of the Sharon mosque on October 11, 2007 instead of the requested July date. Because Masood cannot work until the immigration matter is resolved, this five-month wait is a hardship.

The Boston-area chapter of the Muslim American Society ran a signature drive and fundraiser for Masood, his wife and eight children. The organization has raised approximately $13,000 on his behalf. Local clergy including Rabbi Barry Starr of Temple Israel in Sharon, Rev. Theodore Newcomb III of the Orthodox Congregational Church UCC in Mansfield, Rev. Horacio Da Valle of First Baptist Church, Mansfield, and Rev. Diane Teichert, of First Parish Unitarian Church, Canton have signed the petition and tried to help in other ways.

Two local bloggers, Martin Solomon of Solomonia.com and Mary O’Hayes of MissKelly.typepad.com, are leading an internet campaign to support deportation.

The deportation case is complex and relates to whether Masood departed the USA as required upon expiration of his student visa. An immigration attorney has provided a parking ticket issued to Masood’s car during the period he was supposed to be outside of the country as evidence of illegal entry.

If Masood, his wife, and his five eldest children are deported, it will be very frightening for his three youngest children, who cannot stay in the USA alone even though they are US citizens. Masood has indicated he will apply for political asylum if immigration succeeds in obtaining a final deportation order.

The imam’s brother, Hafiz Saeed Masood, is the founder of Lashkar-i-Tayibba, a Kashmir liberation movement, and Imam Masood and his family would be in danger in Pakistan if forced to return. Imam Masood has denounced his brother and has had no contact with him for a long time.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Masood, his son Hassan and 31 others on November 15, 2006 and held them for one week as a part of a multi-state immigration sweep. Most of the detainees came from states whose Muslim population tipped the 2006 elections to the Democrats.

Real estate developers in Sharon have expressed interest in the Islamic Society of New England’s Sharon property.

Muslims involved in anti-mosque work?

Boston–May 12, 2007–New evidence has surfaced which indicates efforts to enlist professional critics of Islam, including Muslims, in the conspiracy against the Islamic Society of Boston (ISB). Attorney Jack Fainberg, who previously helped construct a legal case against their mosque, volunteered discovery materials to the ISB.

The ISB shared with TMO a June 1, 2004 opposition email which refers to an unnamed “pro-Jewish Muslim ally in Boston,” who used Roxbury Community College connections to help conspirators investigate parking infractions the mosque might have committed inadvertently, that could be used in a legal attack.

Khaleel Mohammed, an academic who advocates “Islamic reform” to right-wing audiences, was also mentioned in the anti-mosque correspondence.

An October 1993 Boston Herald article linked a quotation from Mr. Mohammed about mosque financing with two succeeding anonymous quotations so that he would appear to accuse the ISB of connections to “fundamentalist Islamist politics.”

ISB director Jessica Masse claims to be in possession of emails in which Mr. Mohammed discusses with professional Israel advocates the allegedly Wahhabi content of library materials at the ISB. TMO asked Mr. Mohammed to comment about his involvement with the anti-mosque group.

“I am sad to find out that organizations are now using government funds to combat the building of mosques,” Mr. Mohammed began.

“I have imparted no ‘secret’ information to anyone…I don’t know any of the people in the Boston Mosque. I would at most say that if they are into radical Islam, I would be against their building a mosque.”

Mr. Mohammed informed TMO that he verified “some translations [of statements by] someone on the mosque board” for a good friend at the ADL.

According to the ISB, Islamic scholar Dr. Jamal Badawi claimed under oath that the pro-Israel Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) misrepresented a political comment made in Arabic by ISB Board of Trustee member Dr. Walid Fitaihi.

In April 2007, Dr. Walid Fitaihi returned from Saudi Arabia to offer “an apology without condition” to Jewish leaders in Brookline, Massachusetts for his words, which “he recognized were offensive to Jews.”

Fitaihi was on a list of twenty Muslims compiled by the David Project, the ADL and Steve Emerson.

On February 3, 2005 at a synagogue in Newton, Massachusetts, Jihad Watch director Robert Spencer summarized their broad and unsubstantiated allegations in a PowerPoint presentation entitled “The Boston Mosque: Do Tolerance and Diversity go both ways?”

Original emails: http://members.aol.com/tprovoni/DavidProject/FainburgDiscovery.pdf

Boston City Councilman Chuck Turner Reaches Out to Roxbury Muslims

Boston–May 12, 2007–TMO attended a Rainbow Caucus meeting at City Councilman Charles Turner’s office in Roxbury. Viewed as more of a spiritual leader than a politician, the Councilman is fondly addressed as “Chuck” by his supporters. The Rainbow Caucus focuses on minority inclusion in the Green Rainbow Party (GRP).

The Green Rainbow Party of Massachusetts unified the Green Party and the Rainbow Coalition in 2002. Traditionally, the Greens advocate for the environment while the Rainbow Coalition focuses on issues of social justice for urban people of color. Most of the meeting dealt with internal issues. Toward the end of the meeting someone suggested that GRP might be able to expand their minority support base by specifically addressing issues of concern to local Muslims.

GRP has taken reasonable positions on matters of foreign concern, calling for “the end of all American military and economic aid to Israel” and rejecting US intervention in Sudan.

GRP has not yet addressed local Muslims’ biggest headache: the coordinated media and legal campaign against the Roxbury mosque.

Chuck Turner told TMO, “It wasn’t our major concern.”

Relatively wealthy Muslim immigrants tended to vote Republican until 2004. Then they switched to Democrat even though Democrats like Hilary Clinton returned some Muslim campaign contributions.

Turner explained to TMO that Muslims want to be in the elite class, but it’s time to face reality.

“Arabs and Pakistanis are the Negroes of the world,” Turner said.

Rainbow Coalition leaders first conceived of the Roxbury Mosque in 1989. The primarily African American Muslim Council of Boston (MCB) was to manage the project but due to lack of funds passed control of the project to the predominantly Arab Islamic Society of Boston (ISB). The new Arab leadership tended to ignore the local community. They made no special effort to hire local African American construction workers.

In 2003 when anti-mosque articles began to appear in the Boston Herald, the ISB pursued a policy of apologizing to the Boston Jewish community instead of apologizing to its friends in the African American community. The whole conflict has been a good learning experience for the ISB.

GRP activist Mike Heichman told TMO, “Chuck Turner was very eager to work with the Muslim community.”

The stage is set for greater participation of Massachusetts Muslim Americans in the Rainbow Caucus. Muslim voters could potentially replace unfriendly Democrats and Republicans through the Green Rainbow Party.

9-22

Muslimah (V9-I21)

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Introduction:

By Dr. Aneerah Ali

Dear Sisters,
Aslaam u alaikum.

Let me introduce myself. First of all to those of you who do not know me, I am Aneerah Ali and I was born and raised in New York City. My husband and I with our two sons have been living on and off for about 9 years in Flint. I received my BA in Forensic Psychology form the City University of New York and I graduated fromThomas M. Cooley Law school in 1999. In addition I am active in Islamic work. I am a Board member for Muslim Family Services. I also have been a counselor for Islam Online. I am also the secretary for Michigan Muslim Bar Association.

I have been asked to write a column for sisters in this wonderful publication, The Muslim Observer. I am honored to do this and I will over the months share with you some thoughts that I hope you will find sometimes interesting or educational or sentimental or maybe even controversial but always will be with the best of intentions to inform and share with my Muslim sisters. I want to the column to be warm and inviting and therefore I will always write in a letter format, so that we all feel that we are united as one.

Boys & Girls

Today I want to share with you my thoughts about the freedom of boys and girls freely mixing with one another. Many of our children ask why can they not just be friends with the opposite gender. They say it is just friendship and there should not be restrictions prohibiting them from hanging out or just being friends with the opposite gender. I think as far as working with each in school, work or in the community there is no problem for young men and women to talk or meet with each other as long as they are wearing the proper Muslim attire.

However, one also must be careful because if we see what is happening in the society in the United Sates , you will understand why most of the problems that exist socially do so because of this one issue of men and women having the freedom to mix with one another without any limitations.

Have you ever followed a relationship which started as boyfrined/girlfriend?: In USA that is the culture, right? Let me tell you that this is the major problem with our society, the root of many other problems. And they are blind to it. You see, the young boys and girls meet freely, in their tender teenage years, when natural changes are occurring. They start developing interest in each other. When they are freely around each other this leads to exploration. Obviously this is natural for they are humans. They experiment. Then emotions also get involved. When they experience sexual contact it feels good. That is natural. Then what happens? Well, the girl might get pregnant. What happens then? The boy backs off from the responsibility. Boys and their families all of a sudden remember that boy is young and his future will be ruined. The girl’s family can not support another life. If they can, they do, but most of the time in disapproval. If they can’t then the girl is left on her own. Then girl goes on welfare, and most live on welfare most of their life and then their children go through the same cycle. But this does not end there. There are laws that the father of the baby has to be economically responsible and pay, but he will try his whole life to get away from paying but always worrying about getting caught.

Then these young single mothers do not have health insurance, childcare or money for even food. Then first there are the programs created to deal with these issue, that takes away all the money that could have been spent on education, security, caring for the elderly, the disabled, and all the other positive enrichments of the country. In addition, these women and their children do not get educated properly and that takes away from society by losing people to the failures of the value system.

Then you have the diseases which result from these relationships. And all the money being spent on cures for these diseases and then you have the abortion debate. Abortion is a very HOT TOPIC in USA. Because what may not be known to people outside of USA is that the US is much more conservative than Europe. You see they let boys and girls meet freely but when pregnancy occurs out of wedlock and in teenagers it is very much frowned upon, but what did they expect? Most people who live in the Bible Belt, areas in the US where Christianity is very strong, are very much against abortion. Anyhow thinking logically this one freedom of allowing boys and girls to mix freely without limitations leads to so much social chaos. And is the prime reason for all the problems in society.

Do not look at it in the way that Islam is against natural feelings and desires. Islam recognizes all that but it has set down the proper way to enjoy it. And that is through marriage, otherwise think about it, when you get married are you just signing a paper? No, in marriage you are recognizing the natural needs of humans and at the same time you are entering into a contract before Allah with witnesses which will ensure that the two individuals are now committed to each other totally. The man is responsible for the economics of the household, providing for the wife and children, and he can not turn his face from it. And the woman is responsible for raising and teaching the children and preserving the household to start with, and then whatever subsequently happens with mutal agreement between the two. If they are faithful to one another they will stay Insha`Allah, healthy, and they will enjoy a relationship in which they have completely and totally given themselves to one another and no one else. It is truly special and beautiful. This way sex is respected and honored. Otherwise let me tell you on college campuses sex has become a sport. It has lost its value and honor. How can it be special and wonderful if it becomes so common. They say it is freedom, but I think logically it is just like freedom of animals.

Actually, I believe Islam is more alive in the US and is practiced more truly in the US than in many Muslim countries–but through Muslim eyes we can see more clearly where this otherwise great country has gone astray.

May Allah bless you and all of your loved ones with all the happiness and success in this world and the next. And may Allah forgive me if I have made any mistake or error.

Wasalaam
Aneerah Ali

Please send questions to Muslimah@muslimobserver.com.

9-21

U.S. Embassy Employees Fearful over Green Zone Attacks

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Courtesy Leila Fadel, McClatchy Newspapers
Khampha Bouaphanh, Fort Worth Star-Telegram

BAGHDAD, Iraq – U.S. Embassy employees in Iraq are growing increasingly angry over what they say are inadequate security precautions in the heavily fortified Green Zone, where recent mortar and rocket attacks have claimed the lives of six people, including two U.S. citizens.

In spite of the attacks, embassy employees complain, most staff members still sleep in trailers that one described as “tin cans” that offer virtually no protection from rocket and mortar fire. The government has refused to harden the roofs because of the cost, one employee said.

A second official called it “criminally negligent” not to reduce the size of the embassy staff, which a year ago was estimated at 1,000, in the face of the increasing attacks and blamed the administration’s failure to respond on concerns that doing so might undermine support for President Bush’s Iraq policy.

“What responsible person and responsible government would ask you to put yourself at risk like that? We don’t belong here,” the employee said, adding, “They’re not going to send us home because it’s going to be another admission of failure.”

Embassy employees have been ordered not to talk about security concerns or precautions with reporters, but three State Department employees in Baghdad discussed the issue with McClatchy Newspapers. All three asked not to be identified for fear that they’d lose their jobs.

The officials also complained that important security precautions appeared to have been set aside during highly publicized official visits. During a March 31 visit from Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a high-profile presidential candidate, the embassy lifted a requirement that bulletproof vests and helmets be worn at all times. When a rocket landed outside the U.S. Embassy while Vice President Dick Cheney and several reporters visited last week, no warning sirens were sounded.

“Where were the sirens then?” one official asked. “We don’t belong here, and people are afraid to say it.”

Official spokesmen have rebuffed requests for information about the embassy, citing security concerns, and repeated requests for comment from the embassy and the State Department in Washington went unanswered Monday. On Sunday, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called security the “utmost priority for” Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker.

The Green Zone, which is home to the U.S. Embassy and many Iraqi government offices and officials, has long been touted as an oasis of relative peace amid the chaos of Baghdad. Entry into the zone, which covers about four square miles in central Baghdad, requires special permits, and visitors must pass through a maze of checkpoints. Attacks have been relatively rare.

But in the past several months, security in the zone has deteriorated. On April 12, a suicide bomber exploded in the Iraqi parliament’s cafeteria, killing a lawmaker.

Rocket and mortar attacks also have become more frequent since the U.S. began a surge of additional American troops into Baghdad – and they’ve also become more accurate. On March 27, a rocket that landed behind the embassy killed an American security contractor and a U.S. soldier. On May 3, a rocket attack killed four foreign contractors who worked for the U.S. government.

Another rocket blasted a chunk of concrete from the facade of Saddam Hussein’s Republican Palace, which now houses the U.S. Embassy.

Last week, Sen. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, told reporters in Washington after a visit here that conditions inside the zone were “infinitely worse” than she’d experienced during a visit last year.

“I was concerned then,” she said. This year, however, she said that she stayed at a place where a rocket had landed a month ago and that another recent rocket attack had killed a woman not long before.

On May 3, the embassy warned Green Zone residents to keep outdoor travel to a minimum and “remain within a hardened structure to the maximum extent possible and strictly avoid congregating outdoors.” The message ordered individuals “whose place of duty is outside a hardened structure or traveling a substantial distance outdoors” to wear bulletproof vests and helmets “until further notice.”

But those precautions haven’t calmed nerves inside the Green Zone, according to the three State Department employees, who complained bitterly about security measures in interviews with McClatchy Newspapers.

The three said rising anxiety was evident during recent town hall meetings, where several speakers demanded increased protection. One speaker asked for blankets made of bullet-resistant Kevlar to protect himself from shrapnel and debris in case a rocket or mortar round struck nearby.

The employees said their trailers have been surrounded with sandbags, but that nothing has been done to reinforce the roofs to withstand a rocket or mortar hit. When some employees asked during the meeting if they could move into a hardened structure, they were told to wait for the completion of a new embassy that’s still under construction.

“In any other embassy, we would have been evacuated,” one of the employees said. “As always, the U.S. government is reactive, not proactive. They are going to wait until 20 people die, then the people back in Washington will say we have a problem.”

Unlike the U.S. military, U.S. Embassy employees are volunteers and can ask to leave if they feel unsafe at any time.

“I can’t shake my fist at Uncle Sam and say, `Why am I here?’” one official said. “We’re all volunteers.”

But people are afraid to leave out of fear that such a request would hurt their careers, one of the officials said.

“I can’t sleep, I can’t eat,” another official said. “My life should be worth more than achieving this government’s agenda.”

Two of the people who spoke with McClatchy said the conditions also have affected experienced diplomats’ willingness to serve in Baghdad and that the holes are being filled by young and inexperienced volunteers and contractors.

“We’re like a patchwork quilt,” the official said.

One of the U.S. officials expressed anger that embassy employees were told not to talk to reporters.

“They want to say everything is fine. But if I’m asked I’m not going to lie,” he said. “It’s my life and it would be my grave and it would be my body flying back to my family.”

McClatchy Newspapers correspondent Renee Schoof contributed to this report from Washington.

9-21

Imam Needed

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Job Type:

The Muslim community of Flint, Michigan is seeking a qualified Imam to lead this strong Muslim community.

Duties:

• Perform all Imam of Mosque/Islamic Center activities.
• Organize and conduct youth activities and halakas.
• Communicate effectively with all age groups (children, youth, and adults) and advise or provide consultation
• on religious and social matters in light of Quran, Hadith and Fiqh.
• Lead da’wah and interfaith activities.

Qualifications:

• Must be Fluent in English and Arabic.
• Comprehensive knowledge of the Quran, Hadith and Fiqh.
• Hafiz-e-Quran highly preferred
• Formal degree in Islamic Studies from a recognized Islamic institution is preferred.
• Proficiency in moderate level computer skills will be a plus.
• Multiple years of previous experience as an Imam or Director in the United States.

Compensation:

FIC offers competitive compensation and benefits package based on qualifications and experience.

To Apply:

Interested individuals should submit their resume with salary history and references to:–
Email: learning@comcast.net

or Mail to:

Flint Islamic Center
Imam Selection Committee
9447 Corunna Rd
Swartz Creek, MI 48473

Traditional Libyan Music

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Posted in Youtube by dooli1981 (I couldn’t find any traditional Libya… I couldn’t find any traditional Libyan music, specifically Malouf (which i’m a fan of!), and so thought I would fill the gap! Enjoy!)

Sajida and Kate

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By Mahvish Akhtar, Muslim Media News Service (MMNS)

Karachi–Sajida’s Husband got involved in drugs after 10 years of marriage and three children. He told her that he wanted her to stay with him and that she would need to support him as well since he is ill. But Sajida wouldn’t have that. She left him and started to live with her mother. Her mother was already dependent on her son but she welcomed her daughter back and took her in happily. Her two brothers supported her in every way and helped her stand on her own two feet. She found sewing work and got help from her mother and brothers with her kids. This is the reason she was not afraid to leave her husband. She knew that they would be upset with her for leaving him but in the end they would come to her aid.

Not just her family but also a local storeowner found out about Sajida’s condition and her hopes of sending her three daughters to school. He started a campaign in the community, which would provide her 1,000 rupees per month to support the girl’s schooling. Today Sajida is well settled in a small house where all three of her daughters are going to school. She says that if her husband comes to her again she will take him back because she missed him but not because she needs him. But as far as needing him is concerned…she seems to be doing just fine without him.

On the other side of the world, in Chicago IL, Kate works as a bank teller. She makes pretty good money. She is married and lives with her husband and two kids; a boy and a girl. She is a typical suburban mom. She comes home from work at 6 o’clock and cooks dinner. After cooking and serving dinner she drops her daughter to piano lessons and her son to late little league practice. There is an earlier little league practice in daylight but there is no one to take him at that time. After dropping the kids off she comes home to clean up the house and finish whatever leftover work she might have.

Oh yeah, her husband comes home somewhere in that time but he is too tired from working all day so he rests while Kate takes care of all the house chores, which after all is a woman’s responsibility. If Kate is lucky, some days she can convince her husband to go pick up the kids or drop them off for something, but than she knows that he would owe her big time afterwards.

Because of that, most times she doesn’t even bother asking.

It is important to mention those nights when Kate’s husband Mark comes home drunk and hits her. Yes, he hits her and sometimes even the kids. That’s another reason she doesn’t ask him to do much–because she doesn’t want him to take the kids anywhere while he is intoxicated. She can’t stop him from drinking because as Mark puts it, “it’s his way of unwinding after a tough day” and she needs to let him have that comfort. People could ask, and sometimes they do, if she is independent and doing everything on her own anyway why doesn’t she leave him and go live by her self. She could do that but than who would watch her kids when she needs to run her own errands? Who will, once in a while, even if it is barely once a week, help her take the kids places they need to go? See, Kate has brothers and sisters and parents, but they are too busy in their own lives, which are pretty much like Kate’s, to worry about her and her kids.

Most women in the West stay with an abusive and violent man because what else is out there? For them, really nothing. They will leave this one and find another one who is more or less the same. Or they will be alone. And when I say alone–they are not going to have their brothers and sisters and parents and uncle and aunts and cousins and the neighbors to help them, as would a woman in the East. Why won’t they help her? Well don’t you know this is the 21st century? Women are just as independent as men, they don’t need to be taken care of. They need to make their way in the world just as a man would if he was left alone.

Unfortunately, they forget that when man is left alone he is 9 out of ten times not carrying the burden of having to feed and clothe and emotionally nurture his children.

As we read the stories of these two women, which one would you say is better off? While our gut tells us Sajida is much better off, we some how idealize and want to be like Kate. We look at her beautiful house that she has made so beautiful with the two incomes and we want a house like hers. We look at her two kids who are always busy outside of the house because Kate needs them that way. She can’t deal with having kids at home with her husband and everything that she has to do. We see that and say wow look at how great her kids are they are in extra curricular activities and they will be well-rounded individuals. We look at the fact that her husband is no help to her and say look at that she is such a good wife to him he must appreciate it. When in reality he has no idea what his wife goes through all day and what misery he puts her through.

Who is Sajida? She is every woman in the Muslim world; not every woman has had misfortunate experiences of Sajida, but if a woman in such unlucky circumstances can be well taken care of we didn’t need to show you what a woman in good circumstances would be doing. Who is Kate? She is every woman in the North America, and the entire Western World.

One third of American women admit to being sexually or physically abused by a husband or a boyfriend. In 2004, women accounted for 90% of the victims of intimate partner violence and men accounted for 10% of the victims. On average, more than three women are killed every day by their boyfriends or husbands. The National Domestic Violence Hotline has received more than 700,000 calls for assistance since February 1996. Each year an estimated 503,485 women are stalked by an intimate partner in the United States. Family violence altogether costs the United States 5$ to $10 billion every year in medical bills.

A child’s exposure to the father abusing the mother is the strongest risk factor for transmitting violent behavior from one generation to the next. (Report of the American Psychological Association Presidential Task Force on Violence and Family, APA), That’s not all; Husbands and boyfriends commit 13,000 acts of violence against women in the workplace each year.

All statistics mentioned above are based on the cases that were reported. Reports say that less than half come out with their ordeal mostly with the fear of being victimized even more by the same people. If these statistics are only based on half of the population then you will be correct in assuming that the actual percentage would be much higher for battered women in the United States.

So we need to go back and reevaluate. Do we want to follow and be like a nation that treats their women like working dogs and something that needs or deserves no consideration? Or do we want to be a part of the `ummah, whose men at the time of the Prophet (s) were afraid to talk to their women because they were afraid that the women might tell on them and the Prophet (s) would get upset with them for being harsh with women?
The choice is ours…just remember we will get what we wish for–we just need to be careful what we wish for.

9-20

Gujarat Murder Exposed, Modi Probed

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By Nilofar Suhrawardy, Muslim Media News Service (MMNS)

New Delhi/Ahmedabad–Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi may have had his way during the state carnage (2002) afflicting thousands of Muslims, but now one case has pushed him and his government into a tight corner. This case is the murder of Sohrabuddin Shiekh, followed by that of the two witnesses, his wife Kausar Bi and his aide Tulsiram Prajapati. The three were pulled off a bus they were in, going to Sangli from Hyderabad, on November 24, 2005 and taken to an unknown destination. After Sohrabuddin was murdered on November 26, his wife was killed on November 28 and Tulsiram gunned down on December 28, 2006.

Gujarat police claimed that Sohrabuddin, a Lashkar-e-Taiba militant, came to Gujarat to kill Modi, and was killed in an encounter. Refusing to accept this version, Sohrabuddin’s brother Rubabuddin Sheikh and his mother Jaibunisha filed two separate petitions in the Supreme Court (January 2006) saying that it was not an encounter but murder, and Kausar Bi had been missing since then. The Supreme Court directed further inquiry into the case, which led to startling revelations this year. The Gujarat government admitted on March 23 that its officials were guilty of murder. This was followed by the arrests of three senior officers on April 24, including D.G. Vanzara and Rajkumar Pandyan of Gujarat Police and Dinesh Kumar of Rajasthan.

With Kausar Bi, reported to be missing since her husband’s death, the Supreme Court asked the Gujarat government April 27 whether it would be able to produce her. The Gujarat government confessed April 30 before the apex court that she was killed and her body burnt within a few days of the “encounter.” Later in the week, May 3, the Court admitted a petition seeking a CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) probe into the “encounter” killing of Sohrabuddin. The bench, including Justices Tarun Chatterjee and P.K. Balasubramanyam, said a prima-facie case existed and fixed May 15 for the next hearing.

Since the arrests of the police officers, proceedings in both houses of parliament have been repeatedly disrupted, with legislators raising the issue. Supported by the left parties and the RJD (Rashtriya Janata Dal), Madhusudan Mistri (Congress) raised the issue in Lok Sabha (May 3). With 21 fake encounters having taken place in Gujarat, “at instance of the state home minister and chief minister,” only a CBI inquiry could be helpful, Mistri said.
It is well known that Jammu and Kashmir and Naxal-infested areas have for long been afflicted by such fake encounters. The factors prompting police and/or security officers to indulge in this move could be lure for monetary-gains, out of turn promotion, political pressure and/or other gains. Equally relevant is discriminatory bias against Muslims, leading to their being labeled as terrorists. While such cases have considerably tarnished image of these forces, the significant role played by upright officers in conducting investigations to expose the same cannot be ignored. Senior officers of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Geetha Johri and Rajnish Rai, played an instrumental role in nailing the three police officers and arresting them. The information in Johri’s report about a fake encounter’s having taken place in the presence of the three officers, led to her being removed from the case. It was handed to another officer, before being given to Rai. But when Rai got three officers arrested, he was told to seek permission of his superiors before making further arrests in the case. Expressing his displeasure on his powers being clipped, Rai sought to be removed from the case. When the Supreme Court sought clarification from the Gujarat government on Johri having been taken off the investigation of the case (May 3), a day later she was reinstated.

Though as per rules, any arrested officer has to be suspended after 48 hours in police custody, the suspension order for Vanzara and Pandyan came on May 5, 12 days after they were arrested.

In the opinion of R.B. Sreekumar, who retired this February and was formerly in charge of intelligence wing in Gujarat police, the fake-encounter murders were “an attempt to create a sympathy wave in favor of chief minister whenever his leadership was questioned.” He had also been asked by state leaders to similarly target Muslims, but as he said: “I opposed.”

Demanding that the Gujarat Chief Minister and Home Minister Amit Shah should be prosecuted for murder, Union Textiles Minister Shankarsinh Vaghela said: “Marble traders from Rajasthan wanted Sohrabuddin to be eliminated over some financial transactions and had enlisted Modi’s help.” Accusing the Modi government of having pocketed millions of rupees by staging such murders, Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee president Bharatsinh Solanki said: “Even attacks at Akshardham were staged, not to mention the burning of the S-6 coach of Sabarmati Express at Godhra in 2002. Each alleged terrorist is always killed, severing any further links proving any proof. Why were there no terrorists when Keshubhai Patel was the CM?”

Calling for a probe at highest level, Sitaram Yechury (Communist Party of India-Marxist) said: “It should be probed at highest level and guilty officers should be punished. Not only the officers who are guilty but the complacency of government should also be probed.” Certainly, the Gujarat government is in for a taxing time. Not just over Sohrabuddin-case, but more families of fake-encounter victims and those suffering from the Gujarat riots, are planning to move to apex court in coming days. Besides, with Gujarat assembly elections due in December, rival politicians are least likely to spare Modi!

9-20

Editorial: Two Letters to Give You Hope

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America Isn’t As Bad As You Think

By Dr. Aslam Abdullah, Muslim Media News Service (MMNS)

Many of us live in America, but have doubts about its ability to accommodate us or principles of justice involving Muslims. Here are two examples that demonstrate that there are people willing to stand for justice regardless of who the perpetrators of injustice are. We often assume that the media is the representative of all Americans. It is not. What it presents is nothing but a sensationalized version of reality that is often ambiguous.

The two examples deal with fears concerning Muslims and Israel’s predominant position in this country. Make your decision after reading this. How many of us would ever appreciate this and write to such people expressing our appreciation of them.

A Letter written by Rep. McCollum:

April 25, 2007
Pastor James M. (Mac) Hammond
Living Word Christian Church
9201- 75th Avenue North
Brooklyn Park, MN 55428

Dear Pastor Hammond:
A letter of invitation to your church’s April 29th event, “A Night to Honor Israel,” was received in my St. Paul office. In response, I am writing to inform you that I must decline the invitation.

Your event and events like it are “being coordinated and conducted around the country by Christians United for Israel,” according to the invitation.

The founder of this organization, Pastor John Hagee, is prominently highlighted on the invitation as an event speaker, along with Israel’s Consul General Barukh Binah.

Pastor Hammond, freedom of speech and the freedom to practice one’s religion are cherished American rights. However, well publicized public statements by Pastor Hagee demonstrate extremism, bigotry and intolerance that is repugnant. For example:

“I believe that New Orleans had a level of sin that was offensive to God …

I believe that Hurricane Katrina was, in fact, the judgment of God against the city of New Orleans.” (Fresh Air, 9/18/2006)

“Those who live by the Quran have a scriptural mandate to kill Christians and Jews.” (Fresh Air, 9/18/2006)
“I would hope the United States would join Israel in a military preemptive strike to take out the nuclear capability of Iran for the salvation of Western civilization.” (Jerusalem Post, 3/21/2006)

These statements are not representative of the people of Minnesota nor do I believe they reflect the views of the people of Israel whom the Pastor purports to be advocating on behalf of your church. How does one “honor Israel” with an individual whose toxic statements pollute the environment of peaceful religious coexistence, cooperation and respect that we strive to achieve in America, and especially in Minnesota, among Christians, Jews, Muslims and people of all faiths?

Pastor Hammond, it seems I am not alone in this belief. A clergyman from Pastor Hagee’s own hometown of San Antonio, TX, Rabbi Barry Block, was identified in the Jewish Weekly as a supporter of Israel and characterizes Hagee as promoting, “…extremist anti-Palestinian positions and anti-Muslim prejudice…” and states, “I do not believe Pastor Hagee’s activism is good for Israel.” (Jewish Weekly, 3/9/2007)

My support and much of America’s support for Israel is built on a historic partnership between our two nations and peoples, sharing a common goal of living in peace, security and freedom. Unlike Pastor Hagee, I support working for the “roadmap for peace” in the Middle East, Israel living side-by-side in peace and security with an independent Palestinian state.

This is a goal many of us in Congress share with both Israeli political leaders and citizens.

Pastor Hammond, your invitation says this event’s purpose is for people to “speak and act with one voice in support of Israel and the Jewish people.”

As an elected official and a person of faith, I feel compelled to speak out against a voice, like Pastor Hagee’s, that promotes or, even worse, preaches intolerance and bigotry – whether in churches, synagogues or mosques.
Minnesota is a state in which multiculturalism, religious tolerance, honest debate and a spirit of respect are treasured. Pastor Hagee’s voice is clearly inconsistent with our Minnesota values and I believe with the values of the people of Israel.

Sincerely,
Betty McCollum
Member of Congress
MN Congressional Delegation

“Ask Amy” Column
Courtesy Tribune Media Services

Sunday, May 6, 2007

Dear Amy: I live in a retirement community in which all residents are provided one served meal each day.
This service, normally the evening meal, is served in a dining area for about 200 residents. High-school students serve the meals. These servers are both male and female, and wear white shirts/blouses and black pants/skirts.
It is a uniform of sorts.

Two of the female servers wear black headscarves over their heads and around their necks, consistent with, I presume, their Muslim religious tradition.

Dining management has allowed this deviation from the black-and-white uniforms.

It offends my sense of propriety to have these two servers display their religious symbols in a private dining area. I would like to complain to management, but I don’t want to stir up a hornet’s nest.

Am I wrong? – Kilroy

Dear Kilroy: Are you offended by evidence of any religion in the dining room? Or do you mind the fact that these girls are Muslim and you cannot ignore that fact? The ideal function of the hijab is to project an air of modesty to avoid attention, not draw it. It seems that a black headscarf fits in with the uniform for servers.

I wonder if you would be similarly offended if these girls wore Amish caps or if young male waiters wore yarmulkes? Perhaps you would be. If so, and if any evidence of religion in your dining room offends you, then complain to management. But you will be stirring up a hornet’s nest if you do.

These young people have a right to wear their headscarves; unless these scarves impair their ability to serve your dinner, I don’t think you have a leg to stand on. Our pluralistic society might be changing a bit fast for you, but the freedom to practice and express one’s religion is an important aspect of what it means to be an American, right?

9-20

Lifecycle Funds

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By Bob Wood, Muslim Media News Service (MMNS)

Last weekend, as I was skimming through the business section of my local paper, I saw an article about “Lifecycle Funds” by Jonathan Clements of the Wall Street Journal. According to Clements, these investments are all the rage, with assets soaring 61% in 2006. Most everyone must be buying them!

And what bigger red flag signaling danger is there than that one? I think the most popular investments are the most likely to disappoint over the long term, until they again become less popular, which brings them to proper pricing to allow for profits. When most everyone buys into something, no profit will be left to glean from it. Think back to technology stocks in the late 1990s, S&P 500 index funds in the early part of this decade, and housing in 2004 or 2005, when these investments were really hot.

In these cases, the crowd bids prices higher and higher, to the point where price premiums scare off anyone who hasn’t yet bought and too many are tempted to take profits. At some point, sellers begin to outnumber buyers by more than the margins can handle, and prices fall.

As bullish as I have been for the past few years on international and emerging markets stocks and mutual funds, I am becoming somewhat concerned at their current popularity with investors. For that reason, my enthusiasm has tempered for the short term, until a correction shakes out enough late comers to make buying them more attractive.

So how does this pattern affect the “lifecycle funds” discussed in the Clements article? Such funds are actually akin to a “fund of funds” hedge fund, in that their holdings often consist of a basket of existing mutual funds sold by the same fund company and offering the”lifecycle” option.

At first glance, the lifecycle fund approach appears to be just another way to package and sell existing mutual funds. After all, the financial services industry is the greatest sales and marketing enterprise ever invented. As in any industry, product developers either announce new and better products, or marketing teams find clever ways to package and sell the same old things. The appeals of lifecycle funds include simplicity and the ability for owners to adjust risk exposure downward as they get older.

So the need for annual rebalancing disappears, since the fund company does that for you. As Clements explains, “These funds were designed to be the ultimate buy-and-forget investment. The notion: You buy a lifecycle fund that targets your expected retirement date, and then sit back and let your money ride all the way to retirement and beyond.’’

So how do they work? Let’s examine some options from one of the better domestic fund companies, T. Rowe Price. If you are nearing retirement in the next few years, you might choose to invest in the “Retirement 2010” mutual fund. With it, you get the classic 60% allocation in stocks, with nearly 20% of the stock allocation invested in international stocks. About 32% of the fund invests in bonds with the rest remaining in cash. Of course, the actual holdings of this fund are shares in existing T. Rowe Price funds, such as its S&P 500 Index fund, Growth Stock Fund and several bond funds of differing maturities and risk ratings.

If you had retired in 2005 and previously chosen the “Retirement 2005” fund option, your fund allocated only 51% of your investment in stocks, just over 40% in bonds and about 6% in cash. This difference shows how the fund with the longer maturity will shift holdings in the coming years.

So far, I’m sure this investment approach appeals to most readers. Doesn’t this the kind of investment make sense as we get older? Once we retire, we most likely will not have discretionary money left each month to add to our savings. So reducing our exposure to downside risk seems prudent, since, if the markets fall while we’re using investment money for living expenses, we could really suffer financially.

Perhaps another reason for companies offering these investment options is how easy they must be to sell. Maybe how they ultimately perform for buyers could be secondary to how they work for the sellers in the short run.
Now that we’ve looked at some of the positive selling points such as the simplicity of having the fund company rebalance the fund each year, thus automatically reducing your risk exposure, and enabling you to ‘’buy and forget,’’ let’s explore some potential downside risks. First, reducing risk goes hand in hand with reducing performance, doesn’t it? While the fund becomes less exposed to downside risk as the owner ages, it also becomes less exposed to upside potential. That’s only fair, right? But what owners will never escape as they age is the risk of inflation making their cost of living rise faster than expected. And don’t we seem to become more acutely aware of rising prices as we get older?

The other risk exposure left unaddressed is the potential for living longer than expected. Sure, the actuarial tables issued by the insurance industry are good for estimating life expectancy, but how many men will live past age 87? That possibility seems to become more common, yet what attention is given to individual situations as some may have more reason than others to expect a longer life based on health factors or family history? What if you had been taking monthly withdrawals and getting mid single digit investment gains for longer than was expected?

Another problem may be the heavy allocation to domestic markets. Yes, I’m bearish on domestic markets and see little upside potential over the next 10 to 20 years. In the past, such allocations would have worked just fine. But that was then, and this is now. Times change, and yesterday’s returns are no guaranty of future performance.
What we see today are domestic stocks and bonds selling at premium prices. And many calculations done by my fellow Bears indicate that future performance is bound to fall due to the high prices paid for stocks and bonds and the historically low-dividend payouts from both asset classes.

So lifecycle funds violate two of my most strongly held beliefs about investing: if it’s popular, there is no money in it, and if it’s easy, there is even less money to be made. These lifecycle funds offer both: popularity and ease.
In my thinking, no room exists in any portfolio for domestic bonds of any maturity. Where is the wisdom of owning what pays about 5%/year in dividends in an inflationary environment where current prices for basic commodities like oil, gas and food are rising close to 8%/year? And with the U.S. money supply increasing at record rates, what is the outlook for inflation as we get older? Since health care costs are also rising fast, getting better returns, similar to those of still-working younger persons, seems only prudent.

So maybe we can do a better job of building our own lifecycle funds! We can start by investing in those things that we fear may rise in price faster than expected. What about energy? What better feeling can we have, when gasoline prices rise above $3/gallon – perhaps on their way to $4, than having a nice chunk of savings invested in that rising commodity or that the companies will profit from those rising prices. What are your expectations for energy prices over the next 10 or 20 years?

Some other good inflation hedges are gold and other precious metals. If we worry about rising prices or the continued loss in purchasing power of dollars in our savings accounts, let’s add a nice helping of a good precious metals fund. Very little, if any, exposure to these asset classes appears in the ‘’buy and forget’’ variety of lifecycle funds.

In addition, health care costs are sure to rise strongly in the future. But that market sector has been too popular with the crowd and professional investors for the past few years, so few bargains exist there. So, for now, I’d pass on those.

Some investors, depending on personal beliefs, may want to include an allocation in bond funds to help mitigate expected volatility. I find that international bonds are far better options now. My favorites include closed-end funds, which sell at nice discounts to their underlying portfolio’s value, since investors don’t know much about them and they are not heavily marketed. Consider AWF and ESD. I own shares of both, so consider that fair disclosure warning.

Everyone needs stock exposure for added growth potential, but the pickings are getting rather slim. Excess money printing around the world has found its way into all types of stocks and stock markets. Many markets sell at premiums, but, due to investor misperceptions about risk, several options still look far better than our domestic markets. A nice basket of international and emerging markets funds can work nicely, and we can include less of them, due to their higher performance potential, thus reducing stock exposure if risk is a concern.

While the short-run looks rather precarious, in my opinion, over the longer term this is where the best returns will be found. We can start with smaller allocations and patiently wait for a better time to load up.

This version of a lifecycle fund is not as simple or carefree as those heavily-marketed varieties. You would need to rebalance your portfolio yourself, but probably no more than once every two or three years.

But if targeting retirement expenses is more important than accepting retirement volatility, I think this plan makes a lot more sense. Retirement costs much more than we think it will before we get there. Ask anyone who has already made the transition to the “leisure set.” As economic power and growth shift to other places around the world and as jobs shift to those places, allow your stock exposure to follow.

Do a little work now to build your own lifecycle fund, for yourself, who you are as an investor and how long you might reasonably expect to live. Think about keeping a higher exposure to risk and returns since you may live longer than most and might want to leave more behind for your heirs. I think a more individual approach makes more sense than one designed for the “average person.”

Have a great week.
Bob

Bob Wood ChFC, CLU Yusuf Kadiwala. Registered Investment Advisors, KMA, Inc., invest@muslimobserver.com.

9-20

SE Michigan (V9-I20)

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Michigan International Women’s Show Attracts Local Women

By Mariam Negaran

Over 44,000 people gathered at the Rock Financial Showplace in Novi last week for the 12th annual Michigan International Women’s Show.

“It’s a woman’s magazine come to life,” declared Show Manager Beth Anderson.

The show, which ran from May 3rd through the 6th, catered to women of all ages and presented goods and services from spa treatments to cooking classes to the latest trends in health care awareness and the newest fashions of the season.

Farmington Hills residents Saira Bhatti and Syeda Anees came to see what the show had to offer.
“It’s a woman thing, so I thought, “Let’s see what’s going on,’” Bhatti said. She called her friend Anees and they headed off to the show.

“You know women, we like to shop,” Anees laughed.

Well, they were in luck, since local and international vendors were abundant at the show. Shehlla Haroon, whose sister Sheeba started up Vibgyor Textiles International, said that her family got the idea to open their own business after attending ISNA conventions.

“They had these little booths every year, so we thought it would be a great idea just to start our own business so that people can enjoy this stuff,” Haroon said, pointing to an assortment of ornate pashmina shawls. “You can’t find these everywhere and it’s all handmade.”

While the shawls are exceptional, Haroon insists that they are reasonably priced. She explained that pashmina is wool that comes from Himalayan goats, which is what makes the shawls so rare. She and her family who reside in Dearborn, Michigan, are originally from Kashmir, a disputed territory in northern India. The shawls are native to Kashmir and shawl production makes up a large part of Kashmiri livelihood.

“They’re made by people from my country, so we’re trying to help them out as well,” Haroon said, “That’s what our country represents.”

While fashion was a main attraction at the show, it was not the only objective on the mind of show founder Joan Zimmerman, when she decided to produce women’s shows in Charlotte, North Carolina, 26 years ago. According to PR Coordinator Barb Doyal, the show is also one way to market towards women in regards to their health and well being, so that they can take care of themselves and of their sanity.

“You’re the number one advocate for yourself,” Doyal insists, “So [women] need to take care of themselves number one in order to be able to be a primary caregiver to others.”

Appearances by Dr. Dale Atkins, a licensed psychologist, and Stephanie Vozza, founder of The Organized Parent, provided information to the busy women and moms of today.

Dr. Atkins is a spokesperson for balance and well-being and offered tips from her new book, Sanity Savers: Tips for Women to Live a Balanced Life.

The Organized Parent founder Vozza, a busy mom of two, presented “Surviving Summer Vacation With Your Kids!” which drew the attention of several onlookers. Her company offers parents planning material, travel games, and many other items, to make their lives a little easier. Vozza gave tips for summer sanity and urged parents to establish a routine and house rules so that kids know what to expect.

“It helps you to have a plan or a timeline for when kids are out of school,” Vozza suggested, “because the week after school you’re going to be hearing, “I’m bored.’”

She also recommended that parents turn to local newspapers for children’s activity ideas and listings and write things down on a calendar. Vozza suggested that parents ask kids what they would like to do, since parents try to plan everything for their kids without gaining their input. She also insists that it’s important to schedule in downtime or unscheduled time for kids because they should know what do with free time.

“If kids don’t know how to act inside their own time, a lot of time they get into trouble later,” Vozza said, “I think it helps children grow…and use their imagination.”

Not only did the show give women the opportunity to get helpful information and take in some well-needed TLC, but it also gave retail businesses and hospitals an outlet to market new products, give away coupons, and have women sample new things on the market.

“Women pull the purse strings,” Show Manager Anderson said, “since they make eighty percent of household financial decisions.”

That might explain why Meijer took up a big chunk of space with its product sampling, health information, and pharmacy counters.

On the Celebrity Cooking Stage, Chef Maureen Kimmel whipped up a delicious dessert in minutes. Kimmel, a busy mom of five, specializes in meals in minutes and has been cooking for Pampered Chef, a kitchen tools and products company, for 13 years.

“People want fast but not fast food,” Kimmel laughed while offering samples of her scrumptious-looking Double Chocolate Trifle to passers-by. “I call it gourmet cooking in fast food time.”

Kimmel, who mainly does cooking presentations on the weekends, revels in the freedom it gives her away from a full-time job.

“Most of the people that do this actually work a full-time job and this is something fun that they can do on the side, maybe to save for a vacation or braces or whatever,” Kimmel said.

The Pampered Chef, a company founded by Doris Christopher, seeks to empower women by giving them the tools they need to achieve a better balance between work and family. The company offers quality kitchen tools that make their customers more skilled in the kitchen, allowing them to make meals faster so that they can spend more time with their families.

Women’s health, well-being, and happiness was the undercurrent of the show, since many of the booths and stage presentations focused on these issues. Be sure to catch the show next year from May 1st to the 4th 2008 for the latest in health and fashion, and be sure to bring a friend!

For more information on the Michigan International Women’s Show and its vendors, visit the following Web sites: www.InternationalWomenShow.com, www.vibgyortextiles.com, www.theorganizedparent.com, and www.pamperedchef.com.

Tawheed Center Fundraiser at BUC

Bloomfield–May 5–The Tawheed Center held a very successful and well-attended fundraiser this past Saturday evening at the Bloomfield Unity Center. Present were perhaps 600 people, filling both the beautiful banquet facilities at BUC and the gymnasium.

Women attended in the more beautiful banquet facilities, while the men in attendance were relegated to the gymnasium.

Dr. Khalid Zafar, president of the Tawheed Center Board of Directors, welcomed the guests, and Mr. Asim Khan, from the Board of Trustees, gave details of the planning of the masjid, while the fundraising was done by Sh. Kifah Mustapha, who came to the BUC from Bridgeview Illinois.

The Tawheed Center has already made significant strides in improving its plant, having expanded its parking lot to accomodate the many worshippers who attend. Now it has plans to improve and expand the actual masjid space and add a gymnasium.

During the fundraising, about $310,000 was collected (in pledges and cash). The Tawheed Center plans to start construction in July or August of 2007.

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