Islamophobia: a Media Creation

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By Dr. AS Nakadar

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File:  Interfaith and media event headed by David Crumm.

Note:  Mr. David Crumm, founding editor of ReadtheSpirit.com, former staff reporter for the Free Press,  and activist for interreligious harmony, has held several meetings  of Michigan reporters and newspaper editors in the metro-Detroit area. At the most recent one Dr. Nakadar, publisher of The Muslim Observer, spoke on the importance of diversity and tolerance.  See remarks below.

Ladies and gentleman, I greet you with greetings of peace to you all.

Thank you Mr. David Crumm for giving me this opportunity,

It is a pleasure, privilege and honor to speak to this distinguished group of Journalists,

I am not a journalist, neither a writer nor I a communication expert.

I am a physician by profession, trained to be an Internist and cardiologist. I practiced medicine for 30 years in Western suburbs before I took an early retirement to pursue my social obligations and publication of The Muslim Observer.

This newspaper has been in the circulation for over 11 years serving the community and you may say it is an alternative voice,

Today my biggest concern and the concern of all of us should be the challenges that our pluralistic society and our country face.

Pluralism is the Achilles Heel of our society’s foundation.

And it is this ethos that has led our social, economical and political progress in a democratic setup.

The followers of Abrahamic faiths; Judaism, Christianity and Islam have played a crucial role in shaping the world and its civilization, especially, the two largest faiths, Christianity and Islam.

Today we see this pluralism and cohesiveness shaken to its roots.

In the current scenario the media coverage of Islam may be primary factor for creating Islamophobia.

Most of the time when a reporter covers the news where Christians or Jews or other religions are involved it is covered and analyzed as a political issue, or a conflict and are reported in general terms without linking of any community to an individual or a group’s act.

While a similar news event where Muslims are involved it is covered and analyzed in light of Muslim tradition, beliefs and practices. Apart from this the whole community is held responsible for the action of an individual or a fringe group.

This kind of news reporting about Muslims often invokes emotional response; it captures the audience and helps to improve the bottom line.

But in quest of profit we forget the damage it does to the harmony and pluralistic ethos of our society and to our nation.

Social harmony, respect to each other, and religious tolerance, is a prerequisite for a meaningful progress.

In today’s globalized world the relationship between different faiths is a matter of serious thought   because of increasing interdependence and the changing color of the American mosaic.

Thus it is essential we all work responsibly towards social harmony and pluralistic ethos. 

We will not be able eradicate Islamophobia, like anti Semitism, in near future unless we treat it as our national problem. 

Social activists, religious leaders, politicians our institutions and especially media have critical role to play if we want to transform our societies in eliminating voices of hate and bigotry if we were to promote global understanding of peace.

Our relations have to go beyond “us” verses “them” and to work for our common good.

Zogby survey done in 2004 showed that more than 50% of the Muslims income bracket was over $50,000 as compared to nationwide average income of $47,000 and nearly 60% Muslims are college graduates as compared to 27% as a whole.

We can’t afford to marginalize or alienate the group or the society that has so much to offer for national development.

Let us not define America on our religious or cultural identities but let us define America by the cherished and noble American values of respect for Human Rights, Freedom, Democracy, Justice and respect for the rule of law and to the American constitution. The rest of the world, look up to these values with a universal appeal to them. 

As pointed out by Karen Armstrong, “In the Islamic Empire, Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians, enjoyed religious freedom.

This reflected the teaching of the Qur’an, which is a pluralistic scripture, affirmative of other traditions.

Muslims are commanded by God to respect the “people of the book” (namely; Jews and Christians) and reminded that they share the same belief and the same God.”

Let us all work responsibly towards better understanding for the sake of our society and our country.

13-19

Muslim Organization Reactions to Death of Osama Bin Laden

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TMO Editor’s Note:  In a raid conducted in Abbottabad Pakistan  early Monday morning, four helicopters carrying Seal Team Six killed Osama Bin Laden.  This closes an important chapter in the post-9/11 world and many Muslim organizations put out press releases in response.  Below are several of the press releases.

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ISNA

Islamic Society of North America Welcomes Justice For 9/11 Victims  

(Plainfield, IN: May 2, 2011) The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) joins all Americans in thanking President Obama for fulfilling his promise to bring Osama Bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda, and perpetrator of the 9/11 attacks, to justice.

We hope his death will bring some relief to all the families, of every faith and walk of life, who lost loved ones on 9/11 and in every other terrorist attack orchestrated at the hands of Osama Bin Laden. 

Over the past decade, ISNA has stood firm on our stance that ISNA and Muslims in America condemn the actions of Bin Laden on 9/11 and all acts of terror at the hands of Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and all others who spread fear and hate through violence.  We have repeatedly condemned the calls of Bin Laden and others like him for mass bloodshed and the attacking of innocent lives across the world. 

As the President pointed out in his address to the nation, the ideology of Bin Laden is incompatible with Islam:  “Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims.  Indeed, al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own.  So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.”

President Obama marked his hope that today, Americans will “think back to the sense of unity that prevailed on 9/11” and remember that “on that day, no matter what God we prayed to, we were united as one American family.” 

osama-bin-laden32805N“ISNA joins President Obama and prays that as the nation continues to heal from the devastation inflicted upon them at the hands of Bin Laden, we will turn to each other today, united, and emerge tomorrow with an even stronger resolve to take every action necessary to protect the precious ideals of our nation that Bin Laden attempted to destroy on 9/11: peace, tolerance, respect, and freedom for all,” said ISNA President Imam Magid.

CAIR

CAIR: Bin Laden Death Leads to Maine Mosque Vandalism

‘Osama today, Islam tomorow (sic)’ painted on Muslim house of worship

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 5/2/2011) — The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on Americans of all faiths to remain unified after the killing of Osama bin Laden apparently led to the bias-motivated vandalism of a mosque in Portland, Me.

CAIR also called on state and national law enforcement authorities to investigate the incident as a hate crime.

Portland police are investigating the anti-Islam graffiti, which included “Osama today, Islam tomorow (sic),” “Long live the West” and “Free Cyprus,” painted on the exterior of the Maine Muslims Community Center sometime between late Sunday night and this morning.

SEE: Graffiti on Portland Mosque Under Investigation

Portland Mosque Vandalized in Wake of bin Laden Death

“We ask Americans of all faiths to reject intolerance and to send a message of national unity to the rest of the world,” said CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. “We urge state law enforcement authorities and the FBI to investigate this incident as a hate crime.”

Earlier today at a news conference in Washington, D.C. CAIR and other national Muslim organizations welcomed the announcement of the elimination of Osama bin Laden as a threat to America and the world. CAIR chapters nationwide issued similar statements.

CIOGC

CIOGC welcomes the end of a dark era and bringing justice to the victims of Sept. 11, 2001

(Chicago, IL – 5/2/11) — The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC) welcomes the end of a dark era and the bringing of justice to the victims of 9/11 with news of the death of Osama bin Laden.

“This is a historic moment not only to the families of the victims of 9/11 but for the whole world. A mass murderer who served as the face of global terrorism is gone,” said Kiran Ansari, Communication Director of CIOGC. “We pray that his death will bring a measure of relief to the families who lost loved ones on 9/11 and to everyone, from every faith and walk of life, who has suffered from Al-Qaida’s terrorist attacks.”

“His actions and those of Al-Qaeda violate the most fundamental teachings of Islam, the sanctity of human life, and his repeated acts of terror have been met with moral outrage by Muslims worldwide,” said CIOGC Chairperson Dr. Zaher Sahloul. “We thank President Obama for overseeing this operation and his reiterating that ‘the United States is not – and never will be – at war with Islam’”.

The operation that led to the death of Osama bin Laden is one of the most important achievements of President Obama and his national security team. We are also hopeful that the “Arab Spring,” the widespread movements in the Middle East of peaceful protestors demanding democracy and freedom, has signified the death of Al-Qaeda’s ideology of violent extremism. However, as the President noted in his statement, we must continue to be vigilant in the fight against extremism. The Council will continue to play its part.

“We stand together with our fellow Americans, as part of one family, in remaining vigilant against any and all threats to our country and we will continue to work hand in hand with our friends and neighbors to protect the values upon which our nation was founded: peace, tolerance and freedom,” said Ahlam Jbara, the Associate Director of CIOGC.

PAKPAC

US Forces Capture and Kill Osama Bin Laden

Washington DC May 2nd 2011: PAKPAC congratulates the Obama administration and our men and women in uniform for successfully carrying out an operation against Osama Bin Laden.   Bin Laden’s attack on 9/11 defined the previous decade – and our entire approach to national security.   Bin Laden’s abhorrent and heinous acts of terrorism led to wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and many other covert operations around the world.   These wars cost the lives of countless American soldiers, and scores of civilians of all nationalities and faiths.   His death is a victory for the civilized world. 

We have not yet defeated terrorism and its ideology, but today marks a significant step forward.  Moreover, PAKPAC agrees with President Obama when he stated that the, “..US is not, and never will be, at war with Islam… bin Laden was not a Muslim leader, he was a mass-murderer of Muslims.” and that, “it is important to note that our counterterrorism cooperation with Pakistan led to his capture.”   PAKPAC hopes for continued cooperation between Pakistan and United States.

Now with the Arab awakening, and democracy taking hold in the Middle East, PAKPAC is confident that Al-Qaeda and its ideology will be relegated to the dust bin of history.

Today, we remember the 3000 men and women who lost their lives on 9/11.  Today, their souls have a measure of justice.  Today, no matter our political leanings, we are all Americans, united, as one nation.

For more information write to ed@pakpac.net or call 202 558 6404.

ACCESS

Jaber: Bin Laden’s death marks a turning point

Hassan Jaber Numerous news organizations including the Detroit Free Press and USA Today quoted ACCESS Executive Director Hassan Jaber this week regarding the death of Osama bin Laden and where our nation and our community go from here. Following is Jaber’s full statement to the media:

“For the past decade, the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, have been what defined our country, both at home and abroad. The death of Osama bin Laden thankfully closes out this long winter of political upheaval, social turmoil and economic disparity – so much of it precipitated by 9/11. We commend the Obama Administration and the U.S. security and intelligence agencies for their work in bringing this painful chapter to a decisive close, and in doing so, helping the families of the 9/11 victims and those of the first responders who also suffered and died, to find closure.

“This is, indeed, a new day in America. Osama bin Laden is dead. We must not allow his legacy to live on by continuing to divide us. Extremism of any type demands our ongoing vigilance and our attention as a nation. At ACCESS, we believe the best way to counteract it is to put our shoulders to the work of healing from within to build our strength as a nation – to stand together rather than separate. We can start this process first by learning to accept one another for all our differences, for the vibrancy which makes us stronger. This is the first step in helping to heal the rifts in our fragile economy and the paralysis of our tattered political system, to demand governance that supports the well-being of all Americans and stands as a model of democracy to the rest of the world.”

13-19

The Fatah- Hamas Reconciliation

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By Geoffrey Cook, TMO

Richmond, Va.–May 3rd–I was just informed of the commencement of this project (Saturday, the last day of the previous month) that one of Colonel’s Khadafy’s seven sons was slain– and the Colonel nearly so–at the Libyan government’s Armed Forces Command and Control Center in Tripoli by an Anglo-Franco-American air strike.   Cyrenaica’s civil war is emerging as an extended one.

While from the Maghreb to Far Western Asia, Syria appears to be degenerating into a Civil War of its own.

On the bottom of the Arabian Peninsula agrees to step down immediately as soon as he receives (legally-binding) assurances that neither he nor any of his family is not prosecuted for their decisions in attempting to put down the initial unrest.  As a negotiator himself, your observer does not deem this to be an unacceptable compromise.  Yet, the great hoi-polloi have rejected this compromise, and continuing their rioting for the instant removal of the administration as it is currently constructed without any pre-conditions.

Over the world — and even the larger Islamic world — political unrest has sprouted, but I would like to focus upon the most central point of the Arab “Spring,” and this is Palestine, for their non-Arab, non-Islamic neighbor, Israel, is, as your scribe has repeated in past pieces is the key or failure of the success or failure of a unique Arab democracy (ies).  

Your author shall switch from the third to the first person because what I am to compose is opinion, and based on plan guessing.  It is, also, e  aqua — from the “tope of my head.”

Probably, the most newsworthy incident to come out of the Middle East was the reconciliation between Hamas and Fatah, the two main political parties within Palestine.  Fatah controls the West Bank while Hamas the Gaza Strip. 

After the 2006 Gaza election, which (Former U.S.) President Jimmy Carter declared the polls in that mini-(Palestinian) nation as the most free and fair that his teams had ever observed, Hamas, an Islamist Party won fairly without question.  This lead to a bloody, short civil war between the two Palestinian political parties.  With Hamas driving their “brother” faction from Gaza city.

As so often in the Arab world, the eternal world demands democracy within the Arabic-speaking peoples.  When that very things comes about the bloc that comes to power is declared a “terrorist” organization  — both the United States and Israel refused to recognize the Strip.  (In fact, Israel brought a most vicious to the innocent civilians within that State.)  Because Hamas had been mentored by the second largest party in Cairo, the Muslim Brotherhood, Mubarak, who lately headed, the Nile State, blockaded, their border into the Gazan “nation” at Rafah because the last oppressive government where afraid of Hamas (Gaza is not that far from the oldest continuous nation’s) reforms would have on their mock “Parliament” on the River.  (After disturbances brought down Mubarak’s regime Gaza is finally being supplied from their Western borders!)

Here, at Richmond, I have had several intense talks with (U.S.) Defense Department officials who were quite perturb of the Muslim Brotherhood growth of influence within the largely North African nation.  I assured them that they were politically right-of Center party who wished to put their religious morality within their policies.  The universal reply I received was “I hope you’re right!”

Back to last weeks rejoining of Hamas with Fatah to form a united political over all the Palestinian nation as it now exists.

As I have said before I am in dialogue with many progressive Jewish-Americans and even a  few Israelis.  For the most part, these groups are for settlement of the Israeli-Palestinian, and I fully support most but not all of their proposals.  What concerns me, though, is that even the liberal organization stand in opposition to the unification of the Palestinian political parties because Hamas does not recognize Tel Aviv’ right to exist.

In the next ballot, provided it is free and fair, Hamas would not only prevail in the Mediterranean, but the West Bank as well.

Although Hamas refuses as yet to recognize a Zionist State, it is better that all parties are discussion amongst themselves than not.  The object of negotiation is not that they agree with each other, but that they can find a middle ground from which a compromise; otherwise, the end object will be War, and with Israel being a nuclear State (from the Negev) mega-tragedy can develop.  I would call upon Jews in the United States to call upon your State to react diplomatically rather than militarily.  I would urge American Muslims to pressure Washington to be even-handed!

Finally, Israel has made a veiled threat to Egypt (and, thus, to other nations in the region) that, if the Brotherhood should dominate, the forthcoming vote, Israeli Jerusalem would take it as a hostile act.  Both Hamas and the Brotherhood are fully democratic organizations.

The Arab “Spring” must succeed!  An Islamic democracy must be based upon the religion’s principles and culture must be allowed to developed.  Israel must not allowed to be the spoiler.  Besides, strong regional sponsors may allow for a resolution for the dilemma of the Occupied Territories to be solved, and, incidentally, for the survival of the State of Israel’s within the Middle East in accepted secure borders alongside a viable Palestinian State.  For the present actions of that nation can only guarantee its worst fear — that will be driven into the Sea within a hundred years or less!

13-19

West Bengal Polls: The Muslim Vote

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By Nilofar Suhrawardy, TMO

NEW DELHI/KOLKATA:  The ongoing multiphase elections to West Bengal Assembly are marked by a new importance being given to the state’s Muslim vote-bank. Will the Muslim-vote play a crucial part in deciding the fate of the Left Front government, led by Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M)? The state has been headed by left bloc since 1977. The Muslims constitute around 28 percent of the state’s vote-bank. Of late, a lot of hype has been raised about possible chances of Trinamool Congress, headed by Mamata Bannerjee, in alliance with the Congress Party ousting the Left bloc from power in West Bengal. Interestingly, Bannerjee, popularly known as Didi, is not contesting from any constituency in West Bengal. This naturally has raised questions about whether she is sure of her party winning substantial number of seats in the assembly.

The polls to 294-seats, spread over six phases began on April 18. Voting in the last phase will be held on May 10. The counting will take place on May 13. Within less than a fortnight, the political picture in West Bengal will be clearly laid out. At present, the possible impact of Muslim-vote in these elections shall be elaborated on. Out of the 42 members from West Bengal in Lower House (Lok Sabha) of the National Parliament, six are Muslims, with three from Congress, two-Trinamool Congress and one from CPI-M. The state has 15 members in the Upper House (Rajya Sabha), three of whom are Muslims with two from CPI-M and one an Independent.

The Muslim members constitute around 15 percent of the strength of outgoing state assembly. Of these, more than 50 percent belong to CPI-M and less than 30 percent to both the Congress and Trinamool Congress. The Speaker of the outgoing assembly is a Muslim from CPI-M, Hashim Abdul Halim. He has held this office since May 6, 1982.

Though Muslim-legislators’ strength in the assembly falls below their population-percentage in West Bengal, it would be wrong to assume that their concerns and grievances have been ignored or sidelined. A major reflection of this trend is that the state, under the Left-bloc government, has not been witness to any communal riot targeting the Muslims. In fact, Muslims have confided about their feeling secure in West Bengal. Here, one may draw attention to West Bengal government’s reaction, when Muslims were targeted in Gujarat-carnage (2002). A considerable number of the survivors, who decided to leave Gujarat, selected West Bengal as their home. Among these was Qutubuddin Ansari of Ahmadabad, whose picture with folded hands and tears streaming down his cheeks, pleading to rioters for sparing him, was then splashed across the world. He first rushed to Maharashtra, from where he was not spared by riot-mongers and some media persons. Eventually, he found a safe shelter in Kolkata, with initiative taken by some CPI-M leaders, including Mohammed Salim, who was then a minister in charge of secretariat dealing with development of minority communities. Ansari arrived in Kolkata with his wife and children in August 2003.

Electorally, apart from image presented by politicians appealing to Muslims for their votes, it is important to reflect on the picture that certain statistics suggest. More than 1700 hundred candidates are in the fray for contesting the West Bengal assembly polls. Less than 300 of these are Muslims. The Muslim candidates from CPI-M are more than 40, from Trinamool Congress- 38 and the Congress- 23. Interestingly, Muslim candidates trying their political luck are the maximum from small parties (116) followed by Independent candidates (61). Several major parties with minimal influence in West Bengal are also testing their political fate here, with Bharatiya Janata Party having fielded six candidates and Bahujan Samaj Party – 10.

These statistics clearly indicate that only 16 percent of the contesting candidates are Muslims. Interestingly, had Muslims decided not to enter the political fray as Independents and from smaller parties, statistically their participation as candidates would have fallen by more than 50 percent. When only the numbers of Muslim candidates fielded by major political parties, including CPI-M, Trinamool and Congress are added together, they constitute less than seven percent of the total candidates.

Now, the crucial question is whether the Muslims contesting polls as Independent and from smaller parties, will play a crucial part in deciding the fate of major parties in the fray? There is a possibility that a split or even too many divisions in Muslims votes may not prove helpful in helping Muslim candidates win. At the same time, considering that West Bengal is known for its secular harmony, the religious identity of candidates in the fray may not influence the voters in taking their decision. Their vote is likely to be more strongly influenced by their political preferences than religious identity of the candidates. There is a possibility that several Independent candidates may have been deliberately fielded by political players keen to cut into vote-base of rival parties, primarily on ground of religion.

Irrespective of the degree to which the religious card is being exercised by political parties in West Bengal elections, the crucial card is likely to be played by political speculation, apprehension and the trust that the voter displays through his/her vote. And the voters’ decision shall be known only when the results are declared later this month!

13-19

Islamic Relief Malaria Conference

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By Susan Schwartz, TMO

It is easy to forget that people suffer and die unnecessarily from disease as well as from natural and man made disasters, though the latter make the headlines. It is even easier to believe, as many in this country do, that the disease will never impact their lives. Fortunately their are organizations, impelled by their faith, that address this issue. One of them is Islamic Relief.

Islamic Relief USA, one of the world’s foremost charities, held its second annual Malaria Conference this past Sunday in Anaheim, Ca. Titled: Bite the Bug, the event included workshops with well known and informative speakers and an end of Conference dinner.

The Conference was both educational and a call to action. The theme of the Conference was: Educate, Communicate and Eradicate.

The event began with a welcome by Mohammed Mertaban. He told the audience that Malaria is a scourge that effects the entire world. Though its exact time of origin remains unknown, it has impacted mankind since the beginning of history. Children constitute a disproportionate number of Malaria’s victims.

Workshops were: Malaria: Beyond A Disease; Malaria Firsthand: Effect on Community and Family, and Eradicate Malaria: As little as $10 can Save A Life.

Dr. Faisal Qazi, a neurologist, began his address by thanking Islamic Relief for two reasons: first for embracing the cause of eradicating Malaria, and second, for recognizing the global impact. He said that one must not only address the epidemiological aspects of the disease – morbidity and mortality – but the economic and social burden the disease imposes.

He cited imperatives from the Holy Quran – tools in any battle fought by Muslims: wisdom, compassion, justice and excellence.

Imam Siraj Wahaj, one of the most revered Islamic figures today, cited some of the many instances of compassion on the part of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh). “Let us have the same compassion as our Prophet (s).”

He asked the audience to study American history, particularly African American history. Imam Wahaj cited Medgar Evers, an African American killed in the early 1960’s for speaking out against the policy of the South which kept his people from voting.

With the Muslim vote “You have to power to do something about government”, he continued. Muslims have a right to guide this country and to demand more money for Malaria relief.
“I have learned so much about Malaria and its effects” said one young woman toward the end of the workshop.

Malaria, while it is a global concern, particularly affects people in Central and South America; Southeast Asia; Africa, and the Eastern Mediterranean. Malaria can be cured, and it can be prevented. It is a blood disease caused by the bite of the female Anopheles mosquito. It only takes one bite to cause infection and probable, in the absence of treatment, death.

The United Nations has estimated that Malaria could be eradicated by 2015 with the proper international effort. Islamic relief would like to see that happen sooner.

Islamic Relief has offices around the world and works not only with people afflicted with disease but also with people who are the victims of natural and man made disasters. Islamic Relief partners with many other charities both international and local and has NGO status with the United Nations.. The group serves all people regardless of their nationality, race or religion. Islamic Relief has been in Haiti in the earthquake’s aftermath; Pakistan after the earthquake and floods; Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina; Libya during the current crisis; Republic of the Congo in the aftermath of the recent renewed decades old civil war, and Darfur with its many internally displaced people. The foregoing are but a small portion of the places and times where the presence of Islamic Relief has made and continues to make a difference in saving lives and improving the quality of existence.

To access Islamic Relief’s web site and find more about the organization, please visit: www.islamicreliefusa.org.  To learn more about Malaria and to donate to that cause or the numerous others on the web site, please follow the appropriate links.

13-19

Al-Awda Convention

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By Susan Schwartz, TMO

As people of conscience throughout the world look for solutions to the unjust treatment Palestinians, one organization centers on a key issue: The Right to Return. 

Al-AWDA, the Palestine Right to Return Coalition, held its ninth Annual International Convention this past weekend in Anaheim, Ca.  The theme of the Convention was: Onward, United and Stronger.   

The event began on Friday evening with a display of cultural resistance through various art forms. The attendees snacked on Arab appetizers and listened to poetry, viewed art works and heard two film makers speak about their work.

Workshops filled most of the next day. Covered were such topics as Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions; Return from Exile Project, and Palestinian Children’s Rights Campaign.   

Dr. Paul Larudee of the Free Palestine Movement (FPM) conducted the workshop on the Return from Exile Project. Dr. Larudee declared that the Nike slogan “Just Do It” should be the slogan for Palestinians. Too long have Palestinians waited for some organization – the United Nations – for example, to smooth their Right to Return. It is time, he said, to “just do it”.

He gave as a comparison the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions. The freedom fighters there did not ask permission of an outside body nor did they act with a preconceived notion of being rescued should their attempts fail. They not only took to the streets, they did so in such large numbers that they became unstoppable.

Dr. Larudee suggested that on a pre selected day a group of Palestinians who satisfy the requirements for the Right to Return, fly from various nations into Ben Gurion Airport. They must have a family home inside the Green Line; be citizens of and have a passport from a nation from which Israel does not require a visa; should be willing to go to jail for two weeks; must be willing to resist non violently being thrown out of Israel, and be content with the knowledge that they will be denied future entry.

The movement, Dr. Larudee emphasized, is direct action and non violent. The Free Palestine Movement is an outgrowth of the Free Gaza Movement (FGM), an organization which still exists and was the first group to break the Israeli sea blockade of Gaza, Palestine with two boats in the late summer of 2008. Dr. Larudee described the feeling of euphoria as the two boats approached Gazan shores to the cheers of the residents, crowed into the area where the boats would dock. He spoke proudly of the certificate of Palestinian citizenship he received on that voyage.

The web site of Dr. Larudee’s movement is: www.freepalestinemovement.org.

During the presentation of the Palestinian Children’s Rights Campaign, two young women, students from San Diego schools, spoke of the plight of children under Israeli occupation.
“Every year 700 children are imprisoned by Israel in the West Bank.”

The speakers went on to describe middle of the night raids where children are torn from their families; interrogations with no guardian or attorney present; imprisonment for three months with no opportunity to contact the outside world, and forced confessions, written in Hebrew which the children do not understand.

“I never realized it was this terrible” said one woman in the audience. “How can this go on?”

The women went on the explain that since rebuilding materials are forbidden by the Israelis to enter Gaza, young boys often collect gravel and metal scraps. To do this they must bend over and dig. It is common for Israeli forces to open fire when the children are in this vulnerable position, the aim being to hit their legs.

The Palestinian Children’s Rights Campaign is a few months old and is an AL-AWDA project. Information may be obtained and contributions made at: www.al-awda.org.

Invited guests included: Laila Al-Arian, Michel Shehadeh, Ali Abunimah, and Dr. Salman H. Abu Sitta.

KinderUSA, International Action Center, and the International Solidarity Movement were among those organizations that held displays.

A banquet was held in the evening to honor the valuable work of Dr. And Mrs. Musa Nasir. The Nasirs are not only active and productive members of AL-AWDA, they also founded the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund (PCRF). The PCRF provides treatment free of charge to Arab children in the Middle East with emphasis on Palestine. Often the work is on site, but, if that is not feasible, the children are transported to nations where they can be treated to a restoration of health. The PCRF also trains medical personnel in the oPt and donates medical equipment to Palestinian hospitals. They have recently announced their entry into the field of pediatric oncology.

AL-AWDA is a broad based, non profit, democratic and grass roots organization which seeks to create awareness of the plight of the Palestinian people. It is composed of activists and students and seeks particularly to create such awareness among members of the media and elected officials.

AL-AWDA demands the Right to Return for the Palestinian people: the restoration of Palestinian rights including return to homes and compensation for confiscated and damaged property.

13-19

The Scourge of Piracy

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By Sumayyah Meehan, TMO

cdsBy definition, the term piracy means, “the unauthorized use or appropriation of patented or copyrighted material and ideas.” In America, piracy laws carry stiff fines and penalties for the person infringing on another’s copyright. Who could forget the story of Minnesota mother Jamie Thomas-Rasset, who was successfully sued by the Recording Industry Association of America and ordered to pay $1.9 million for illegally downloading 24 songs from the Internet? But, while artists and corporations are protected by copyright laws in America, all bets are off when the brand or label is promulgated abroad. Nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle East.

Want to see the new kid’s movie “Rio”? Or listen to Katy Perry’s latest single? If you’re living anywhere in the Middle East then chances are you can get your hands on just about any pirated movie or song, within a few days of its official release in America or Europe. And it will cost a whole lot less than getting the real thing as it trickles out from suppliers. Most pirated CD’s cost around $1.50 a piece or less. The downside is that not all are in the most pristine viewing or even listening condition. However, given the low cost, most shoppers don’t mind a bit of degraded format so long as they get their fill of the latest Hollywood flick or singing sensation.

And it’s not only pirated CD’s that are all the rage in the Middle East, giving customers a cheap means of entertainment and the “pirates” pockets full of cold hard cash. Everything from designer handbags to knockoff fashions are blatantly hawked in small shops and even large department stores. Some of the most popular labels to be pirated include Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana, and Chanel. What is most interesting is that a quick inspection of the majority of the goods reveals that they were produced in China.

China has long since been deemed the worst global piracy offender, providing cheap knockoffs of copyrighted goods at a mere fraction of the original products retail value.  According to a recent study, China causes around $2 billion in losses as a direct result of its pirating activities. And China is the biggest supplier of commercial goods to the Middle East region as a whole.

Most Mideast countries pay lip service to the pirating epidemic within the region and have anti-piracy laws on the books, however enforcing copyright laws is another matter. It just is not something that is enforced. However, one rich Gulf nation is finally taking copyright violations seriously. The municipality of Sharjah, in the United Arab Emirates, launched an initiative at the beginning of this year to crackdown on vendors selling pirated goods. As of this month, the municipality has seized more than 21,000 pirated CD’s and has issued fines to 250 retailers for selling pirated goods.

13-19

Every 15 minutes, a Muslim Couple Gets Divorced in Malaysia

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By Joseph Kaos Jr

KUALA LUMPUR: An otherwise mundane Dewan Negara question and answer session was lightened up during a query on divorce cases among Malaysian Muslims.

Datuk Fatimah Hamat was the first to raise eyebrows across the senate hall when revealing that in every 15 minutes a Muslim couple gets divorced in the country.

“These statistics are shocking,” said Fatimah.

“How effective are our premarriage courses in tackling the rise of divorce cases in the country? Perhaps, we could also organise marriage courses for couples married for 10 and 20 years to avoid divorces.”

Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Datuk Mashitah Ibrahim, however, begged to differ, claiming divorce cases were “not a bad thing”.

“We should not be shocked by the statistics. It is not a bad thing, it is halal,” said Mashitah, whose ministry portfolio is Islamic affairs.

“Divorce is actually the solution to a troubled marriage. It happens to all groups people, be it the educated, the uneducated and even professionals.”

She added as the duration of compulsory marriage courses were only two days, therefore the onus was left on the couples themselves to be responsible for their marriage life.

“Couples can equip themselves with so much knowledge, but it is still up to them how they use it,” said Mashitah.

In a supplementary question, Ahmad Hussin brought grins to senators in the hall when he said Facebook was a cause for the rising number of divorce cases.

“A man falls in love, marries, and has children. And then he logs onto Facebook and sees someone even prettier!” said Ahmad.

“This is a gross abuse of the Internet. The government needs to look seriously into this.

“Again, there is the matter of men divorcing via SMS, which I find harsh and feel sympathy for the woman,” said Ahmad.

Mashitah, however, said there were many causes of marriage break-ups and the issue of new media such as Facebook constitutes only a small number.

“Our studies show there are many causes, which include monetary problems, deteriorating sex life, bad tempered partner, irresponsibility and many more,” said Mashitah.

On divorce through SMS, Mashitah said a Fatwa had already been issued and divorce via SMS could only materialise if it satisfied the courts.

Earlier, Mashitah said Selangor recorded the highest number of divorces among all States in 2009, with 4,614 cases.

13-19

Pakistan Has Lost its Dignity and Self-Esteem

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By Imran Khan, Independent UK

2011-05-02T174839Z_710979214_GM1E753056T01_RTRMADP_3_BINLADEN

Everyone began asking: whatever happened to the Pakistani army and its intelligence?

The people of Pakistan woke up yesterday morning to be told the news that Osama bin Laden had been killed. But this news did not come from any of their leaders – not the Pakistani President, not the Pakistani Prime Minister, nor the Pakistani Army chief. Instead this news came  from US President Obama, when he appeared on television and informed the world how the US had been gathering intelligence about a town two hours north of the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.

Pakistanis were dumbfounded especially when no statement was forthcoming from their government in the wake of the Obama speech. The big questions that everyone began asking, and for which no answers have been forthcoming, were: who allowed the Americans to come to Pakistan and carry out this attack? And whatever happened to the Pakistani Army and its intelligence?

We were all still wondering when we heard, much later, contradictory information being disseminated from the Government of Pakistan and the Western media (with the Indian media outrightly accusing ISI of supporting terrorists). Many hours later the Pakistani Prime Minister claimed that all the intelligence had come from Pakistan, but the US administration and the Western media said Pakistan was totally out of the loop with no information sharing on this action.

All this has led to other serious questions being raised in Pakistan.

For instance, if the Pakistan government or the army had this intelligence, why did we not take out Bin Laden ourselves? Why did we have to rely on the Americans coming over from their airbases in Afghanistan? Equally disturbing is the tremendous level of distrust the US has for the Pakistanis, which led it to jam the radars during the duration of the operation.

There is not just confusion that prevails in Pakistan, but also a national depression at the loss of national dignity and self-esteem as well as sovereignty. There is no answer to these questions and this simply allows allegations from the West and from India to go unchallenged that Pakistan has been protecting Bin Laden and other terrorists; that Pakistan knew he was here and kept him safe.

The president, the prime minister and the army need to address this immediately and if, as they claim, they had the intelligence that led to the killing of Bin Laden, why it was not done by Pakistani forces?

Until this happens, Pakistan will suffer a great loss of credibility – and this from a country that has the fifth biggest army in the world and a hefty defense budget.

The reason we will not get these answers, of course, is that we have the most corrupt and incompetent government in our history.

And just how did it come to this? On 11 September 2001, Osama bin Laden was in Afghanistan and there were no suicide attacks in Pakistan. Fast forward 10 years and there are 34,000 Pakistani dead, the economy has lost $68bn according to President Zardari himself, a massive figure if you consider that the country has received a total of only $28bn in aid from the US.

In the past decade, hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced and we have created insurgent groups like the Pakistani Taliban.

Meanwhile, in 2010 across Pakistan there were 500 bomb blasts and today the major financial hub Karachi is aflame with people dying on a daily basis as a result of terrorism. The largest province in area, Balochistan, is prey to a violent insurgency.

Back in 2001 and 2002, the US attacks in the Tora Bora region forced some of the al-Qa’ida leadership across the porous 2,500km border with Pakistan; a border which the local tribes always traversed at will.

This was not a situation of war. What Pakistan should have done at this time was to use the tribal people to capture the fleeing members of al-Qaeda.

Instead, we got ourselves into a situation where the Army, under pressure from the US, commenced military operations against its own tribal people, which is what led to the revolt of the tribals and by 2004 Pakistan was dragged into the conflict with huge levels of collateral damage, and ultimately leading to the creation of the Pakistani Taliban.

After yesterday’s attack Pakistan is in great danger. There will be a backlash and there will be added pressure for the Army and the ISI to do more. Will we now be going into North Waziristan in pursuit of other insurgents?

The truth, of course, is that Pakistan cannot afford any of this. It cannot afford the inevitable extremist backlash; it cannot afford the targeting of its troops; and it certainly cannot afford the economic consequences.

We, the people of Pakistan, no longer have a government that represents us. It is time for Pakistan to get out of this war – and to recognise that if we continue along this path we are doomed.

Pakistan can no longer afford the human and financial costs and must, along with the rest of the world, realise that ultimately the solutions to these problems are political – and the weaker the state becomes, the less likely it will be to tackle the menace of extremism.

The US has won its battle against Bin Laden, but the war remains open ended.

13-19

Why You Need a Durable General Power of Attorney

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By Adil Daudi, Esq.

What happens to your finances when you are mentally incompetent to handle them yourself?  Without proper planning, it is likely that the court will appoint someone, who does not necessarily have your best interests in mind, to make financial decisions for you.  In such situations, as unfortunate as it is, it is becoming more and more common for people to be taken advantage of.  Therefore, it is increasingly important to draft a Durable General Power of Attorney (POA). 

A Durable POA is a legal document that allows you to name an individual that will make financial (and other important) decisions on your behalf should you one day become incapacitated. Your selected POA will be legally bound to act on your behalf with your best interests in mind as if you yourself were making the decisions. 

In Michigan there are two types of Durable POAs: Springing and Immediate. A Springing POA, which is more commonly used, comes into effect when two doctors draft separate letters indicating that you are no longer competent to make your own decisions. Once these letters are received, only then does the POA have authority to control your finances.
In contrast, an Immediate POA is established as soon as the documents are signed; therefore, there is no requirement of obtaining the letters from the doctor. It is very common for people to begin with a springing POA, and then once they reach a certain age, they make the change to an immediate POA, thus avoiding the headache of having to obtain the doctors’ letters.

Although a POA is vital to any estate plan, it is equally important to think carefully about who you appoint as your POA. Remember, you are appointing someone who will act and make decisions on your behalf; therefore, it is imperative that this individual is someone you completely trust because they will be the ones who will have access to your bank accounts, investments, stocks, mutual funds, and even real estate property. Make sure when you sit down with your attorney that you seek their advice on who you should appoint because sometimes family members, although loved, are not always the best option.  

In the event you are declared incompetent, and you have failed to draft a POA, then your family members will be left with the burden of asking the court to appoint a guardian. This process will be stressful and time consuming and the costs will be unnecessarily burdensome. However, with a little bit of planning you can ensure that your family members will not only avoid the courts, but more importantly you will have selected a trust-worthy individual to control your finances. So take those steps to ensure that your money is being managed by the person you trust.

Next week’s topic: Medical Power of Attorney

Adil Daudi is an Attorney at Joseph, Kroll & Yagalla, P.C., focusing primarily on Estate Planning, Shariah Estate Planning, Asset Protection, Business Litigation, Corporate Formations, Physician Contracts, and Family Law. To contact him for any questions related to this article or other areas of law, he can be reached at adil@josephlaw.net or (517) 381-2663.

13-19

Panic from the Houses of Congress and AIPAC?

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By Franklin Lamb

Beirut–On April 13, 2011, more than a dozen Israel “First, last and always” US congressional leaders from both houses of Congress held an urgent conference call organized by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). Their purpose was to discuss how best to promote Israel during next month’s US visit by Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu and more importantly how to confront the rapidly changing Middle East political landscape. One consensus was that no one saw it coming and that is was dangerous for Israel.

Among those participating were former Jewish Chairmen of powerful committees including Reps. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who headed the Banking Committee; Henry Waxman (D-Calif.), ex-chairman of the Commerce and Energy committee; Howard Berman (D-Calif.), ex-chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee; and Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.), ex-chairwoman of the foreign operations subcommittee of the Appropriations Committee as well as Eric Cantor, House Majority leader, the highest rankling Jewish member of Congress in history.

What AIPAC operatives reportedly told the conferees was that Netanyahu is once again furious with President Obama and outraged by what he sees as a vacillating US Government attitude towards Israeli needs. They were told that the Israeli PM sees real political danger for Israel in the shifting US public opinion in favor of the young sophisticated attractive Arab and Muslims increasingly seen on satellite channels from the region who remind the American public of their own ideals.

Netanyahu, the conferees were told, wants Congress to flex its muscle with the White House and deliver a strong message to President Obama that his political future is tied to Israel’s. Hence the current “America needs Israel more than ever stupid!” campaign wafting from the Israel lobby across the talk radio airwaves.

In addition, as more Israeli officials are indicted for various domestic crimes, and some harbor fears of arrest for international ones, 68% of the American Jewish community, according to one by poll commissioned last month by Forward, believe the US Israel lobby is increasingly fossilized with the likes of ADL (Anti-Defamation League) director Abe Foxman’s vindictive infighting among several of the largest Jewish lobby organizations which continue to lose memberships, especially among the young.

Congressman Eric Cantor lamented that “Israel is badly losing the US College campuses”, despite heavy financial investments the past few years to curb American students growing support for Gaza, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, all dreaded symbols of the growing opposition to the 19th Century Zionist colonial enterprise. Support for Palestine is skyrocketing he claimed. “Until Palestine is freed from Zionist occupation no Arab or Muslim is truly free of Western hegemony,” according to one assistant editor of Harvard University’s student newspaper, the Crimson.

Admitting that the Mossad did not foresee even the Tunisian or Egyptian uprisings some Aipac staffers, of whom there are more than 100, admit to not knowing how to react to the topics they were presented with for discussion, some of which included:

• The Egyptian public emphatic insistence that the 1978 Camp David Accords be scrapped and that the Rafah crossing be opened. The latter has just been announced and the former is expected to be achieved before the end of the year.

• The change of regimes and the dramatic rise in publicly expressed anti-Israel sentiment and insistence that Israel close its embassy and Egypt withdraw its recognition of the Zionist state.

• The apparent rapprochement between Fatah and Hamas which has been increasingly demanded by the Palestinians under occupation and in the Diaspora.

• The fact that the new regime in Cairo is seeking to upgrade its ties with Gaza’s Hamas rulers as well as Iran.

• With respect to possible PA-Hamas rapprochement, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor is trying to reassure Israel before Netanyahu’s visit by announcing this week that “The United States supports Palestinian reconciliation on terms which promote the cause of peace, but to play a constructive role in achieving peace, any Palestinian government must renounce violence, abide by past agreements, and recognize Israel’s right to exist.”

AIPAC, frequently knocks heads with the Israeli embassy in Washington for control of visiting Israeli PM’s and important governments schedules will control what Netanyahu says and does. AIPAC AIPAC Executive Director Howard Kohr recently told a group of visiting Jewish student activists from California that “sometimes there is confusion in this town over just where the Israeli Embassy is located but let me assure you it’s no more than 300 yards from the Capitol Dome on North Capitol Street, NW.”

AIPAC, not the Israeli Embassy will write the final draft of Netanyahu’s speeches including the themes he will emphasize. According to a Congressional source with AIPAC connections, Netanyahu’s visit will focus on the following:

• Bashing Iran to please the White House. However, this mantra will have to compete with the democratic revolutions that are sweeping the Arab world and which are terrifying not just Netanyahu, but also AIPAC and their hirelings in congress.

• Warning against the dangers to “the peace process” of any PA-Hamas unity government.

• Warnings about the threats to Israel from Egypt and popular calls for scrapping of the 1978 Camp David Accords, ending the Egyptian subsidy and supply of 40% of Israel’s natural gas, calls for closing the Israeli Embassy, the dangers of permanently opening the Rafah border crossing “that will allow Hamas to in the words of, an Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity to the Washington Post that Gaza’s Hamas rulers had already built up a “dangerous military machine” in northern Sinai which could be further strengthened by opening the border.

• The tried and tested bromide that “Israel has no peace partner to negotiate with will be used but this too has lost its bite given that the Palestine Papers has shown that the PA for five years habitually caved into Israel demands and are widely viewed as collaborators with Israel in preserving the status quo– so what more could be expected  from them? The truth is that Mahmoud Abbas and Salem Fayyad are Netanyahu, Liberman’s and Barak’s favorite “peace partners.”

• Netanyahu will hint at and AIPAC will drill in the idea that the Obama administration has been too hard on Israel.

While Netanyahu announced this week that “I will have the opportunity to air the main parts of Israel’s diplomatic and defense policies during my visit in the United States”, informed sources report that his main goal and timing of his visit is to undermine a rumored initiative that President Obama’s team has been working on.

Netanyahu, according to AIPAC, also plans to attack the UN’s plan to admit Palestine and its offices are preparing a media blitz in an attempt to undermine the U.N. recognition of Palestine by arguing that such a General Assembly action would not in reality mean Palestinian sovereignty over the West Bank and East Jerusalem because of the fact that Israel currently controls those territories. AIPAC is arguing that such United Nations recognition of Palestine would only reiterate the principle, previously articulated by the U.N which denies the legitimacy of Israel’s claim to territories acquired by force in the war of June 1967.

In reality, and as AIPAC well knows, UN recognition of Palestine would have a devastating effect on Israel’s legitimacy and would fuel an international campaign to force every colonist out of the West Bank.

Given the feelings of virtually all people in the Middle East and North Africa toward Israel this could dramatically undermine the apartheid state. AIPAC and Israel’s agents in Congress also ignore the fact that the U.N. is the only the international body that admitted Israel as a member state in May 1949, although the resolution noted a connection between Israel’s recognition and the implementation of resolution 181 of November 1947, which called for partition of what had been British Mandate Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states.

The reason that intense angst and even fear stalks the Houses of Congress and AIPAC is that Netanyahu will remind his hosts in the coming days that Israel has always called “home” is that some US officials are starting to express treasonous thoughts long kept to themselves.

One seemingly shocking statement was made to a visiting Oregon delegation during a recent visit to Congressional offices by a Member of Congress never known for being publicly critical of Israel. As reported via email: “He said recent events suggest that while ( the revolts spreading across the Middle East) are not the immediate end of the State of Israel, he believes they are harbingers and signal the `beginning of the end of the State of Israel as we have known it. And that will be good for America and humanity.”

“What seems to have particularly upset him was his own mentioning to the group was a recent report about a conference of Rabbis in Israel who are demanding the expulsion of non-Jews, especially Palestinians, from occupied Palestine in order to maintain the “ethnical and religious purity of the peoples of Israel.

He quoted Dov Lior, the rabbi of Kiryat Araba, an illegal settlement near Hebron, who according to media reports told a conference organized to discuss how to get non-Jews in mandatory Palestine to leave the country for the sake of Jewish immigrants who had no roots in Palestine: “Today there is a lot of land in Saudi Arabia and in Libya, too. There is a lot of land in other places. Send them there.” As scholar Khalid Amayreh reminds us, it was Lior, who in 1994 praised arch-terrorist Baruch Goldstein for massacring 29 Arab worshipers at the Ibrahimi Mosque in downtown Hebron, said peace in the Holy Land was out of question because the Arabs wouldn’t allow Jews to usurp the land.

Meanwhile, a large coalition of pro peace and pro-Palestinian organizations, under the umbrella of http://www.moveoveraipac.org/ is preparing a new and different American reception for the Israeli Prime Minister.

13-19

Advice to My Daughter

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By Karin Friedemann, TMO

Recently, I found myself sewing an old purse that my best friend gave me when I was 15. I’m really glad I still have it. When I was in my twenties, I took up sewing to help myself quit smoking, to give my fingers something to do. Sewing is more difficult with small children, as they are very attracted to the thread and the needles. I had to put my creative life on hold for a while.

Still, I love being forty. I finally feel like I am pretty. I know it sounds dumb, but it means a lot to women. I told my ten year old daughter some advice that I wish someone had given me when I was young.

Save everything you purchase. When you are a teen or in your twenties, money seems plentiful because mother and father are paying all your basic expenses. You begin to collect things like clothes, purses, shoes, scarves, and hats. Winter boots, gloves, towels, sheets and blankets. Keep all of these things. Do not give them away. Never underestimate your future needs.

When people are young, it often seems like the comforts of daily life will last forever. Trust me, they will not. By the time you are forty, the used sofa you inherited from your uncle at age 20 will have taken the final assault from your latest toddler’s pee or kids jumping on it, and it will be on the curb. Then you will not have a sofa. So even now, when you are 20, you should realize that there will come a day when sofas do not grow on trees, believe it or not. Neither do paper towels, though they are indeed made of trees. But you still have to pay for them. It will be embarrassing if you are still “liberating” rolls of toilet paper from your parents’ bathroom or God forbid the chiropractor’s office at 40.

The clothes are important. I stopped growing when I was 15. Blame it on caffeine, but I can still wear clothes that I bought in the 1980s. God praise polyester. It will outlive the human race. When you wear vintage clothing, people assume you must be a poet. This comes with its own rewards. Never throw or give away a beautiful dress or a comfortable pair of pants.
There is nothing more important in America than a good haircut. Where social acceptance is concerned, you cannot show any weakness! The key to classic beauty is to have the most socially acceptable haircut at the most expensive price. I am not entirely sure why this is true, but this rule of thumb applies even if you wear hijab. Maybe even especially if you wear hijab.

One time, I was walking through Times Square and some people from MTV interviewed me, asking me what is my advice for the youth?

I said: Give people a chance to believe you are normal. Don’t wear trendy clothes that will look stupid in a few years. Wear classic styles, and t-shirts without slogans.”

The MTV journalist was baffled that I didn’t say, “Just be yourself.”

Yet I have learned the hard way that anybody hoping to succeed in high school should at least at first strive to appear normal. If you wear hijab, combine it with loose clothing. Otherwise you will look strange.

Don’t let people label you as ‘weird’ before they have even talked to you. You can express your individuality in so many other ways. Your clothes should communicate respect for yourself and others.

And never, ever kiss a boy unless you are ready to get married. Otherwise it’s a complete waste of time. Don’t bother “falling in love”

in high school because the statistical probability of you marrying your high school sweetheart in this day and age is practically zero. If there is someone you really like, and he is a truly worthy human being, maintain a friendship with his entire family until you are old enough to discuss marriage. The longer you stay away from romantic drama, the more time you will have to concentrate on your dreams without wasting precious energy healing from the emotional traumas that are inevitable in a love relationship.

If you choose a career and go forward on that path, even if you change your mind later, you will still be way ahead of those who had no goal.

Train for a job such as Beautician or Electrician while you are still in high school. This will enable you to earn a real income immediately upon graduation, which will help you pay for college. Anything you want to do in your life, such as travel the world to see the sights, learn how to shoot a bow and arrow, or volunteer for Food Not Bombs, do it now, before you have children. Your life will never be the same again after you have children, so if there is anything you long to do or see, now is the time to start planning. When you live spiritually, you will be surprised how little travel can cost. Start saving as soon as you are old enough to earn money doing teen jobs, then invest the money wisely. My mother told me when I was a girl, which fortified me against the anxiety of facing the unknown:

“Everywhere you go, God is there. Nothing can happen to you without God knowing.”

Hold on tight to your faith, because God guides those who listen to the best path. Your path might be a little bit different from someone else’s path. Listen to your heart, pray, and choose wisely.

Beyond that, I would say, keep your hair clean. You may have to shampoo more often, once you have reached a certain age. Keep your nose clean, especially if you are a tall person (short people can see straight up your nostrils)! Keep your bottom clean, of course. Keep your clothes on.

You will know when you cannot delay marriage any longer without becoming distracted. If you are still in college, do not let this prevent you from marriage. You will have an easier time concentrating on your homework and job if you have a stable married life than those young adults who are single. Just use birth control. When you are ready to have children, you will know it.

13-19

Wake Up, America! You’re Falling Behind

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Global Public Square

Editor’s Note: The following is an edited portion of an interview with Kishore Mahbubani, the Dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore. Mahbubani previously served for 33 years in Singapore’s diplomatic service and is the author of The New Asian Hemisphere, Can Asians Think? and Beyond the Age of Innocence.

Every time the United States or the West steps into an Islamic country it presents a major geopolitical gift to China. (When the U.S. decided to intervene in Libya) China was privately saying, “Great, go ahead! Go into more Islamic countries. Make my day.”

If you’re a logical, long-term, hard-headed geopolitical realist thinker from America it is very, very clear that the only country that can overtake the United States in absolute power – militarily, economically, in every sense – is China.

The Islamic world will not overtake America– not in my lifetime and not in your lifetime. So America should be devoting 90% of its resources on managing China and 10% of its resources on managing the Islamic world.

Instead it is spending 90% of its resources getting involved in the Islamic world – whether it is Iraq or Afghanistan or Palestine or Libya– and 10% of its time managing China. In so doing, America is revealing its geopolitical incompetence.

The U.S.should engage China more seriously and try to work out a long-term, viable, geopolitical partnership with China. It should also give up its dream of achieving democracy in China. It should stop believing that a “Jasmine Revolution” is on the way and realize that this government in China is going to survive and possibly do very well.

You may wish for all kinds of worst-case scenarios for China, but as a geopolitical planner you should plan for the best-case scenario.

China is going to go from strength to strength. And if China is going to go from strength to strength and you spend all your time either in the Islamic world or having this absolutely ignorant domestic debate about how to cut the deficit, you’re just buying time for China.

A lot of my writings are intended to serve as a wake-up call to the West. I’m not anti-West nor am I anti-American – even though many people think I am. I’m actually just telling the West that you are acting against your own long-term geopolitical and economic interests in your policies towards the rest of the world. There was a time – and it lasted only 200 years – when the West could make decisions and the rest of the world had to comply. That era is gone, finished – poof!

Now the West has got to learn to understand what the rest of the world wants and pragmatically adjust. The biggest advantage that Asian countries have over the United States and other Western countries is that they’re very pragmatic and flexible and America has become ideological and dogmatic. America needs to become pragmatic and flexible too.

Unfortunately, American public intellectuals have an incestuous, self-referential and self-congratulatory discourse among themselves saying, “Aren’t we the greatest in the world? Gee, aren’t we wonderful?” And they don’t realize that Western power – including American power – is receding steadily in the world.

Look at Southeast Asia. After theU.S.won the Cold War, (Southeast Asia) was frankly an American lake. And then suddenly Americans became very arrogant after winning the Cold War and they said, “Hey, we don’t need the world; forget you.”

With a slow, pragmatic and often wise approach, China is advancing steadily in the world. I admire what the Chinese have done. It’s amazing how careful, deliberate, and systematic they are in their policies towards the rest of the world and how arrogant and ignorant American policies are.

If you want to learn about how to grow a country’s economy right now, please don’t go to Europe, don’t go to America; go to Asia. Frankly, the best governed country in the world – and I can say this somewhat immodestly – is Singapore.

Or even go to China.

Let me give you a very simple example. The most shocking thing I’ve learned recently for someone who lived in New York for 10 and a half years is that the Tappan Zee Bridge which carries thousands of cars can only survive another 10 years. Isn’t that shocking? In the meantime, while you can’t hold up one bridge across one river, guess what,China is building the world’s fastest trains and the world’s best airports.

I’ve flown several times, just by chance, directly from Shanghai to JFK (airport in New York). And when you fly from Shanghai airport to JFK, you’re flying from the first world to the third world. And yet Americans are not aware of how far they’ve fallen behind. The Americans cannot conceive of the idea that you can learn about governance from the rest of the world. China can and China does. China spends so much time studying best practices in the rest of the world and America spends no time studying best practices in the rest of the world.

So my message to America is that the clock is ticking. Time is no more on your side. And fortunately even today there are huge reservoirs of goodwill towards America in the world. Try to figure out how you can use these reservoirs of goodwill for the long-term benefit of America. Don’t waste them.

13-19

Running in the Red: How the U.S., on the Road to Surplus, Detoured to Massive Debt

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By Lori Montgomery

The nation’s unnerving descent into debt began a decade ago with a choice, not a crisis.

In January 2001, with the budget balanced and clear sailing ahead, the Congressional Budget Office forecast ever-larger annual surpluses indefinitely. The outlook was so rosy, the CBO said, that Washington would have enough money by the end of the decade to pay off everything it owed.

Voices of caution were swept aside in the rush to take advantage of the apparent bounty. Political leaders chose to cut taxes, jack up spending and, for the first time in U.S. history, wage two wars solely with borrowed funds. “In the end, the floodgates opened,” said former senator Pete Domenici (R-N.M.), who chaired the Senate Budget Committee when the first tax-cut bill hit Capitol Hill in early 2001.

Now, instead of tending a nest egg of more than $2 trillion, the federal government expects to owe more than $10 trillion to outside investors by the end of this year. The national debt is larger, as a percentage of the economy, than at any time in U.S. history except for the period shortly after World War II.

Polls show that a large majority of Americans blame wasteful or unnecessary federal programs for the nation’s budget problems. But routine increases in defense and domestic spending account for only about 15 percent of the financial deterioration, according to a new analysis of CBO data.

The biggest culprit, by far, has been an erosion of tax revenue triggered largely by two recessions and multiple rounds of tax cuts. Together, the economy and the tax bills enacted under former president George W. Bush, and to a lesser extent by President Obama, wiped out $6.3 trillion in anticipated revenue. That’s nearly half of the $12.7 trillion swing from projected surpluses to real debt. Federal tax collections now stand at their lowest level as a percentage of the economy in 60 years.

Big-ticket spending initiated by the Bush administration accounts for 12 percent of the shift. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars have added $1.3 trillion in new borrowing. A new prescription drug benefit for Medicare recipients contributed another $272 billion. The Troubled Assets Relief Program bank bailout, which infuriated voters and led to the defeat of several legislators in 2010, added just $16 billion — and TARP may eventually cost nothing as financial institutions repay the Treasury.

Obama’s 2009 economic stimulus, a favorite target of Republicans who blame Democrats for the mounting debt, has added $719 billion — 6 percent of the total shift, according to the new analysis of CBO data by the nonprofit Pew Fiscal Analysis Initiative. All told, Obama-era choices account for about $1.7 trillion in new debt, according to a separate Washington Post analysis of CBO data over the past decade. Bush-era policies, meanwhile, account for more than $7 trillion and are a major contributor to the trillion-dollar annual budget deficits that are dominating the political debate.

As Congress prepares this week to launch a high-stakes battle over whether to raise the legal limit on borrowing, the analyses offer a clearer view of the drivers of the debt — and of the difficulty of re-balancing the budget without new tax revenue.

Most Republicans reject raising taxes as part of the solution; House Speaker John A. Boehner (Ohio) has called it a “non-starter.” But Democrats won’t go for a proposal based solely on spending cuts. The“Gang of Six,” a bipartisan Senate group dedicated to debt reduction, is expected to unveil a strategy as soon as this week that couples sharp spending cuts with a rewrite of the tax code that would raise additional revenue.

(The debt ceiling, set at $14.3 trillion, covers all federal debt, including money the Treasury owes other federal entities, such as the Social Security trust fund. The CBO data focus on the portion of the debt borrowed from outside investors. The debt is the accumulation of annual deficits; if annual budgets are in surplus, the nation can pay down the debt.)

The annual surpluses that set the nation on this course emerged in the final years of the Clinton administration. In the typical American household, a surplus comes as welcome news. But the White House is not a typical household. When Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin saw the budget shift into the black in 1998, he immediately warned President Bill Clinton that, politically, it was a mixed blessing.

Rubin wanted to use the surplus to start repaying the debt, which was then just more than $3 trillion. The White House billed it as “saving Social Security first,” viewing the surplus as an opportunity to shore up the nation’s finances before huge numbers of the baby boom generation began claiming federal retirement benefits. “The problem was a whole other part of the political spectrum wanted to use the surplus for tax cuts,” Rubin said in an interview. “They said they wanted to give the people back their money. Of course, it was also the people’s debt.”

What to do with the surplus became a central issue of the 2000 presidential campaign, with Vice President Al Gore arguing that much of it should be put in a “lockbox” to protect Social Security and Medicare. Bush pushed for a broad tax cut, arguing that taxpayers at all income levels were owed a refund. “Some say that the growing federal surplus means Washington has more money to spend, but they’ve got it backwards,” Bush said as he accepted the GOP nomination in August 2000. “The surplus is not the government’s money. The surplus is the people’s money.”

As soon as he took office, Bush pushed Congress to make good on his tax pledge. Less than a week after his inauguration, he got a boost from Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, who testified before the Senate Budget Committee that “tax reduction appears required” to prevent the federal government from accumulating too much cash. Greenspan feared that large surpluses would turn the government into the nation’s largest investor, creating distortions in the markets.

A chorus of skeptics warned against spending the surplus. Some stressed the inherent uncertainty of the CBO projections. Others said a big tax cut would unleash pent-up desire in both parties to pursue expensive priorities without the pay-as-you-go restraints that had helped produce the surplus.

Congress approved a $1.35 trillion tax cut in record time. A second package, worth $350 billion, followed in 2003. Together, they constituted one of the largest tax cuts since World War II, according to the conservative Tax Foundation.

Bush’s first Treasury secretary, Paul O’Neill, resigned after the White House decided to pursue the 2003 measure. “I believed we needed the money to facilitate fundamental tax reform and begin working on unfunded liabilities for Social Security and Medicare,” O’Neill said in an interview. But the White House, he said, was focused on improving economic growth for the fourth quarter of 2004. “They wanted to make sure economic conditions were great going into the president’s reelection.”

Proponents of tax cuts argue that the legislation merely returned tax collections to their appropriate levels. They note that the CBO’s 2001 forecast assumed that tax collections would stay above 20 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (defined as the total of all economic output) — well above the historic average of 18 percent of GDP.

“It’s not obvious that America was ready to have taxes at a level this high persistently,” said Donald Marron, a former CBO director who now heads the nonprofit Tax Policy Center. “Some degree of tax cutting was inevitable.”

But some key advocates of the tax cuts now say such a large reduction was probably ill-advised.

“Nobody would have thought that all these things would have happened after you cut taxes,” Domenici said. “That you’d have two wars and not pay for them. That you’d have another recession. A huge extravaganza of expenditures” for the military and homeland security after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. “You would pause before you did it, if you knew.”

Bill Thomas, the former House Ways and Means Committee chairman who helped shepherd the tax cuts through Congress, defended the 2003 package as “fuel for the economy.” But he said in an interview that the 2001 measure was larded with “stuff that I was not all that wild about,” including bipartisan priorities such as a big increase in the child tax credit and a break for married couples — provisions Thomas believes did little to promote economic growth and amounted to “throwing money out the window.”

“I couldn’t do anything about it,” said Thomas, a California Republican who retired in 2006. “You’re the candy man when you advocate those kinds of tax cuts.”

In the end, Bush cut taxes and spent more money. Good times masked the impact, as surging tax revenues reduced the size of year-to-year deficits during the first three years of his second term. But after the economy collapsed during Bush’s final year in office, deficits — and therefore the debt — began to explode as Obama sought to revive economic activity with more tax cuts and federal spending.

Today, the CBO forecasts are unrelievedly gloomy, showing huge deficits essentially forever. As policymakers grapple with the legacy of the past decade, a demographic wave of senior citizens is crashing at their doorstep, driving up the cost of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.

William Hoagland, who was for years a top budget aide to Domenici and other GOP Senate leaders, said it is simplistic to think today’s fiscal problems began just 10 years ago. In 1976, as a young CBO analyst, Hoagland produced a long-term simulation that showed entitlement costs gradually overwhelming the rest of the federal budget.

“This situation really goes back to long before [the Bush administration], which is to say to old dead men that have long left the Congress,” he said.

Still, Hoagland said, the abandonment of fiscal discipline in the wake of the surpluses clearly didn’t help. “Nobody pushed for paying for this stuff,” he said. Not even after “it became very clear in the middle of 2003 that the line had turned on us. And the surpluses as far as the eye could see were no longer there.” http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/running-in-the-red-how-the-us-on-the-road-to-surplus-detoured-to-massive-debt/2011/04/28/AFFU7rNF_story.html?nl_headlines 

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THE WASHINGTON POST
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Today Detroit – Tomorrow, Every City in America

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By Rania Khalek

If Milton Friedman, father of the free market, were alive today, I imagine he would be jumping with joy at the prospect of the abandonment of public education for private, for-profit charter schools.

Back in 2005, following the devastation of hurricane Katrina, Friedman wrote an article in the Wall Street Journal where he said “This is a tragedy. It is also an opportunity to radically reform the educational system.” Soon after, Friedmonites rushed into New Orleans for the chance to implement what Friedman had long envisioned. With the help of the Bush administration, they dissolved the public school system and in its place built a network of publicly funded charters run, not by educators, but by private entities that made their own rules.
At the time, New Orleans residents alerted the rest of the country, that what was happening to their city was only the beginning and it wouldn’t be long before it spread to our neighborhoods. In 2006, Bill Quigley, a local lawyer and activist warned:

We know that what is happening in New Orleans is just a more concentrated, more graphic version of what is going on all over our country. Every city in our country has some serious similarities to New Orleans. Every city has some abandoned neighborhoods. Every city in our country has abandoned some public education, public housing, public healthcare, and criminal justice. Those who do not support public education, healthcare, and housing will continue to turn all of our country into the Lower Ninth Ward unless we stop them. Why do we allow this?

If only we had listened. Soon after New Orleans came the drastic transformation of the Chicago school system by Obama’s Labor Secretary Arne Duncan, New York City schools by Mayor Bloomberg, and Washington DC schools by Michelle Rhee. Which brings us to Detroit.

Following the passage of Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder’s “Financial Martial Law,” Emergency Financial Manager (EFM) of Detroit Public Schools (DPS) Robert Bobb is closing 8 schools and selling 45 to charter companies. DPS is currently preparing a charter school board through training sessions provided by the National Charter Schools Institute, which had more than 70 charter operators and entrepreneurs in attendance just this month. In addition, DPS has hired the National Association of Charter School Authorizers (NACSA) to review applications. NACSA’s president, Greg Richmond, worked with charter schools set up in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and claims “The system opened up to the people of New Orleans in a way it hadn’t before…Now there are dozens of opportunities to get involved.”

In sharp contrast to the lingering unemployment that plagues Detroit, the auctioning off of Detroit’s schools is taking place with breathtaking speed. Gov. Snyder is on a mission to reinvent public education. He is calling for more measurements of student and teacher performance, while at the same time proposing deregulation and more teacher autonomy. He says “We have to put much more emphasis on proficiency, on growth, on measurements and results than we have had in the past” and “Michigan’s public schools need to more rigorously measure students’ academic growth, but with fewer state rules to make that happen.”

Detroit residents have already started protesting. Just last week, eight students, along with their children and some faculty members of the Catherine Ferguson Academy of Detroit, began a sit-in at the end of the school day in protest of EFM Robert Bobb’s announcement to close the school. About a dozen or so were arrested by Detroit police for refusing to leave. The school is specifically designed for pregnant and teen parents and their children, and has a 90% graduation rate and 100% college and higher education acceptance upon graduation.

Gov. Snyder recently said his focus is a holistic approach to education from pre-natal to life-long learning. He says early childhood education is important and should involve “a public and private partnership.” If shutting down an award-winning school and arresting, rather than listening to the students he claims to care so much about, is his idea of a holistic approach, then Detroit is in for a treat.

Shanta Driver, National Chairperson of By Any Means Necessary (BAMN), in an interview with Voice of Detroit at the sit-in, said it best:

The massive school closures that have been carried out in DPS since 2004 have led to the depopulation of Detroit and to the deepening financial crisis of the district. Public schools are being closed to make way for charters and are part of the national attack on public education. Today Detroit – tomorrow, every city in America. The parents and students of Catherine Ferguson are fighting to maintain the right of every student in our nation to a free, quality public education. Every supporter of public education should do everything possible to support their fight and make sure they succeed.

Driver is warning us, as did the people of New Orleans in 2006. This corporately funded education reform movement that praises standardised tests, non-union teachers, and private management as the solution to the budget woes of Detroit’s education system is a threat to us all.

Rania Khalek is a young, progressive activist with a passionate dedication to social justice. Check out her blog Missing Pieces or follow her on twitter @Rania_ak. You can contact her at raniakhalek@gmail.com.

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Community News (V13-I19)

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MDC Humanitarian Award for Salman Khan

NEW YORK,NY–MDC Partners, a business transformation organization, announced the creation of the MDC Humanitarian Award to recognize individuals and organizations whose disruptive thinking and innovation have led to lasting and sustainable impact. The inaugural award was presented at the 2011 WIRED Conference in New York on May 3. The focus of this year’s conference is “Disruptive by Design,” and it brought together leaders in business and technology to discuss how using disruption and innovation will pave the way to growth.

The first award was presented to Salman Khan in recognition of his creation of the Khan Academy and his innovative approach to education. The Khan Academy was the result of Salman’s desire to help tutor his cousin in New Orleans while he was living in Boston in 2004. Over time his lesson plans evolved into videos, which he began posting to YouTube for her to complete at her own pace, and they quickly built a strong following of viewers.

“We have created the MDC Humanitarian Award because we feel it is important to recognize that true talent innovates and creates not merely for profit and prestige, but to create a legacy of transforming the lives of those in need,” said Miles Nadal, CEO of MDC Partners. “We are proud to honor Salman Khan because he reinvented broken systems to deliver educational tools across the world. Perhaps most significantly, these tools are encouraging under-served individuals to fuel their love of learning and help themselves.”
Although Khan is the only teacher at the Khan Academy, he has posted over 2100 videos and 100 self-paced exercises that have received more the 24 million views. His lessons continue to expand, covering everything from physics to finance and history. Khan’s goal is to bring a world-class education to anyone in the world completely free, and he is currently being aided by Google to help translate his lessons into all the most commonly spoken languages.

Overall, MDC Partners has pledged $100,000 to the recipients of the MDC Humanitarian Award during the first 5 years of its existence. To honor Khan’s work, MDC will contribute $20,000 to the Khan Academy.

“I am extremely honored to be the first recipient of this award, and am excited that a company like MDC is recognizing innovation beyond the business world,” said Mr. Khan. “The Khan Academy has been very successful thus far, and with the support of companies like MDC its influence and reach will only continue to grow.”

Mohammed Alamani wins award

WILKES-BARRE,PA–Every spring, the Center for Global Education and Diversity hosts a ceremony honoring members of the Wilkes community who are being recognized for fostering multicultural awareness at Pennsylvania’s Wilkes University. This year Mohammed Alamani has been named as the recipient of  Wilkes Helping Hands Student Award. The award is given to a student who has contributed the most to improve the diversity climate at Wilkes.

Woodland mosque raises money for Japan victims

WOODLAND,CA–Imam of the Woodland Mosque, Qari Aamir Hussain, recently lead a fundraising campaign for victims of Tsunami disaster in Japan, the Daily Democrat reported.

Imam Hussain appealed the Muslim Community of Woodland for funds and said that Prophet of Islam Muhammad (s) “has taught them to be kind to each other, to respect elders, and care for our children, and he also taught us that it was better to give than to receive and that each human life is worthy of respect and dignity.”

In this campaign to raise funds appeals were made for three Friday’s during the weekly prayer services and community raised $850 for the victims of Japan tsunami.

Director of the mosque, Khalid Saeed, invited representatives of Woodland Red Cross to Woodland mosque receive a check for the funds. At the Friday, April 22, prayer services two representatives of the Red Cross, Katrina Kilgore and Maria Elena, visited the mosque, where Saeed and Imam Hussain presented them a check and thanked them for their visit to the mosque.

Kilgore thanked the Muslim Community of Woodland for their generosity in raising these funds for the sake of humanity and accepted the check in the main prayer hall in front of the weekly congregation.

Tasmiha Khan speaks at Yale’s United for Sight Conference

NEW HAVEN,CT–Tasmiha Khan, a Wesleyan University student and founder of Brighter Dawns, spoke at United for Sight Global Health and Innovation 2011 Conference April 16-17 at Yale University. She spoke on “Water and Clinic Social Enterprise Pitches – Ideas in Development.”

Tasmiha Khan, a native of Chicago, founded Brighter Dawns in the fall of 2010. In the Summer of 2010, she worked with World Peace & Cultural Foundation (WPCF) in Bangladesh to offer free diabetic screenings, and seminars on hygiene and food preparation. Touched by the people she worked with, she felt the need to address many of the issues she encountered there and brought her mission back to Wesleyan University, where she is a student.

Now Tasmiha, with many of her fellow students, is working to establish Brighter Dawns as a non-profit, collaborating with WPCF to improve living conditions in the slum in Khalishpur, Khulna, Bangladesh.

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American Admirers & Friends of BB have made a Documentary on her Legacy

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Large Number Of Persons Attending The Pre-Screening of PBS Documentary BHUTTOThe Public Broadcasting Corporation (PBS) Houston Channel 8 will be airing a documentary called “BHUTTO” on Tuesday, May 10th, 2011 at 10:00pm under their “Independent Lens Series”. This documentary is directed and produced by Duane Baughman, while majority of the statements in the documentary are from Mark Siegel of USA, a close friend and advisor of Benazir Bhutto.

The preview of this Former Late Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto’s (BB’s) documentary was shown at Rice University Cinema last week, which was attended by Consul General of Pakistan in Houston Honorable Aqil Nadeem, many Americans of Pakistani origin and several indigenous Americans. Program was jointly sponsored by the Houston-Karachi Sister City Association (HKSCA) and Pakistan Chamber of Commerce – USA (PCC-USA).

Julie Coan of PBS Houston moderated the session before the screening of the movie, with brief statements given by the representatives of the two partnering organizations, namely Saeed Sheikh of HKSCA and P. J. Khan Swati of PCC-USA.

People had mixed feelings about the documentary, as they commented and asked questions during the panel discussion after the filming of the documentary. The panel discussion was moderated by award-winning journalist Patricia Gras (Patty), featured internationally acclaimed author Bapsi Sidhwa (now lives in Houston and originally from Lahore, Pakistan); and University of St. Thomas Professor of Economics Dr. Javed Ashraf.

The documentary has several stereotypical images, like while talking about terrorism and extremism; people are shown establishing congressional prayers in mosques. Another image was of jovial faced Indian leaders after the independence, while enrage faced Pakistani leaders.

Most of the people agreed with Ms. Sidhwa that the heroin of the documentary is BB and the whole film revolves around that theme and angle. The film portrayed BB as a brave lady, who originally had to wear Burqa, but then her charismatic dad Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto allowed her to come out of it, being one of the first ladies in the Bhutto family to do that. Some people felt that mistakes made by BB in terms of not fully supporting political culture in Pakistan by having it within her party, was not much highlighted in the documentary, while others said that BB fought & died for democracy.

Several people were bemused by the comments in the documentary of famous professor Dr. Akbar Ahmed, who somehow termed BB as mystic and Sufi.

Many people talked about the role of army in Pakistan and its corruption. Some said doubting comments if Pakistan and Pakistanis will ever embrace democracy.

On this our media representative at the event reminded that somehow people worldwide keep forgetting that the birth of Pakistan in fact came through a constitutional, political, and democratic struggle: So existence of Pakistan has very deep roots in democracy and political activism.

In a write-up, Duane Baughman, Director and Producer of the documentary “BHUTTO”, has said that he watched CNN in horror on Dec. 27, 2007, when Benazir Bhutto, the first woman in history to lead a Muslim nation, was blown away by a suicide bomber. Millions felt Benazir was the best hope for democracy and progress in that strategically critical nuclear-armed country. He has written that before Benazir’s death a close colleague of his reconnected him with Benazir’s advisor and close friend Mark Siegel, who had been pulling together American consultants on her behalf in anticipation of her 3rd rise to power in Pakistan. Three days after her death, Mr. Baughman watched Mark Siegel desperately trying – almost singlehandedly – to keep Benazir’s legacy alive by making the rounds on every conceivable news show. Before long, he spoke about telling the world Benazir’s story via a documentary film; and that is when they started to work on this documentary in Dubai, talking to her widower Asif Ali Zardari and three of her heartbroken children.

Duane Baughman has brought this angle in the story of BB that the Bhutto’s are called the “Kennedy’s of Pakistan.” Ironically, at Harvard, BB’s roommate was Bobby Kennedy’s daughter, Kathleen Kennedy.

Again the Public Broadcasting Corporation (PBS) Houston Channel 8 will be airing this documentary called “BHUTTO” on Tuesday, May 10th, 2011 at 10:00pm. under their “Independent Lens Series”.

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Michigan: Police Search Cell Phones During Traffic Stops

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TheNewspaper.com

The ACLU seeks information on Michigan program that allows cops to download information from smart phones belonging to stopped motorists.

The Michigan State Police have a high-tech mobile forensics device that can be used to extract information from cell phones belonging to motorists stopped for minor traffic violations. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Michigan last Wednesday demanded that state officials stop stonewalling freedom of information requests for information on the program.

ACLU learned that the police had acquired the cell phone scanning devices and in August 2008 filed an official request for records on the program, including logs of how the devices were used. The state police responded by saying they would provide the information only in return for a payment of $544,680. The ACLU found the charge outrageous.

“Law enforcement officers are known, on occasion, to encourage citizens to cooperate if they have nothing to hide,” ACLU staff attorney Mark P. Fancher wrote. “No less should be expected of law enforcement, and the Michigan State Police should be willing to assuage concerns that these powerful extraction devices are being used illegally by honoring our requests for cooperation and disclosure.”

A US Department of Justice test of the CelleBrite UFED used by Michigan police found the device could grab all of the photos and video off of an iPhone within one-and-a-half minutes. The device works with 3000 different phone models and can even defeat password protections.

“Complete extraction of existing, hidden, and deleted phone data, including call history, text messages, contacts, images, and geotags,” a CelleBrite brochure explains regarding the device’s capabilities. “The Physical Analyzer allows visualization of both existing and deleted locations on Google Earth. In addition, location information from GPS devices and image geotags can be mapped on Google Maps.”

The ACLU is concerned that these powerful capabilities are being quietly used to bypass Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches.

“With certain exceptions that do not apply here, a search cannot occur without a warrant in which a judicial officer determines that there is probable cause to believe that the search will yield evidence of criminal activity,” Fancher wrote. “A device that allows immediate, surreptitious intrusion into private data creates enormous risks that troopers will ignore these requirements to the detriment of the constitutional rights of persons whose cell phones are searched.”

The national ACLU is currently suing the Department of Homeland Security for its policy of warrantless electronic searches of laptops and cell phones belonging to people entering the country who are not suspected of committing any crime.

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Obituary: Arif Syed

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Dallas, TX–Arif Sayed, a jewelry wholesaler and experienced businessman for 33 years, was killed in Huntsville, Texas, after an altercation with thieves who attempted to steal merchandise from his van.

Mr. Sayed of Sayed Wholesale left the International Gem & Jewelry show in Houston on April 17th around 6 p.m. to return to Dallas.  Upon noticing thieves stealing merchandise from his van, he ran outside and was struck by the suspects’ vehicle.  He was taken to Hermann Hospital via Life Flight with a severe head injury. Mr. Sayed died April 20th at the age of 59.

Arif was from Budaun, U.P. India.  He immigrated to America in 1980 and lived in Dallas with his wife Khalda, and three children.  He will be remembered for his caring, humorous, and generous nature, which made him a beloved figure in his family and in the community. His hard work and experience will continue to be admired by all including the jewelry community.  He leaves behind his family and two beloved grandchildren.

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On Losing My Nana Jaan (Grandfather)

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By Nadia B. Ahmad

Nana“He’s letting you beat him.”

“So what!? At least I’m learning something.”

My grandfather, a chess master, would allow us to beat him at chess every time much to the chagrin of our relative onlookers. I was and still am awful at chess.

And after succumbing to a sudden bout of pneumonia this past January, my family laid my maternal grandfather to rest in Ocoee, Fla. Alongside my maternal grandmother who had passed 12.5 years earlier.  Outwardly it appeared Mohammad Sadullah had lived an ordinary life, but he was a remarkable human being distinguished by his keen intellect and penetrating wisdom. My grandfather was the only one who read all my articles in their entirety and never criticized me. He only offered ideas about what to write in the future, which is precisely what grandfathers are meant to do.

From the partition of India and Pakistan which pitted brother against brother and neighbor against neighbor and to the recent geo-politics and back to collapse of the Ottoman Empire, my grandfather preserved his observations and shared them only sparingly. For better or worse I was the usually the one he would discuss these matters. My grandfather attended everything from my high school graduation to my attorney oath ceremony for my induction into the U.S. District Court of the Middle District of Florida in Orlando’s federal courthouse, and my grandfather felt a sense of accomplishment that I was his granddaughter.

It was always the other way around, though—in that I admired that he was my grandfather.

You see, my grandfather worked intelligence for the Indian government.

He never discussed his work even after all that time passed. It was an on-going family joke. Incidentally, he took all those state secrets to his grave.

I miss my grandfather at the oddest of times. Just yesterday passing a road with the namesake of Gibraltar on the way to the Smokey Hill Library in Arapohoe County, Colorado, I thought back to when my grandfather first told me about that story. My grandfather, who has also been my SundaySchool teacher for some time, taught me about the history of Islam, a history of struggle and fortitude.

My grandfather lost his hearing and refused the use of hearing aids in his later years. It helped him be in his own world and so that he could continue to have a single minded determination without a tad of  concern for the world.

With the state of affairs as it is, I remember the battlefields of the Prophet Muhammad (s) that my grandfather would relate. From the Mount of Uhud to the Battle of the Trench, I hearken back to those lessons not for any sense of military strategy but for the lessons of self-sacrifice and the concept of working towards a greater good.

I am glad my grandfather is not alive today, though. I am glad he is not alive to see his brethren across the world celebrating the death of international justice, the loss of human rights, the unaccountability of lost lives, and the travesty and corruption of worldwide political systems.

My only regret was that my grandfather was not able to hold my newborn son, Senan, who was his fifth great-grandchild, prior to his death.

It is easy now to lose ourselves in this mad rush of geo-politics and consumer trending and hinge on the price of oil futures and the volatility of the world’s markets, but for me the world stands still because I lost my grandfather, but gained a son.

Is not that all life is? Everything between birth and death.

What we do between those two moments determines our eternities.

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