roger stockham arrested on terrorism charges for trying to blow up islamic center

This story got swept up in the wake of news from Egypt, but last month Roger Stockham, a 63-year-old Army veteran from California who has a history of being angry with the U.S. government was arrested outside of the Islamic Center of America (in Dearborn, Michigan) wearing a black ski mask and with a large number of M-80s and other explosives in the trunk of his car. Stockham has a "colorful" history of mental illness, criminal activity and substance abuse. The most recent twist in his case is that he fired his court appointed lawyer Mark Haidar, for being Shiite.

Detroit Free Press: Mosque attack plot suspect demands a new lawyer
Huff Post: Roger Stockham Arrested With Explosives Outside Major U.S. Mosque
NPR: California Man Arrested For Planning Attack On Michigan Mosque
Detroit Examiner: Examiner: Mosque terror suspect has history of making threats
All Voices: California man charged in trying to blow up Michigan Mosque served time for threat against President Bush

islam, yoga and cultural authenticity

I've been thinking about adopting a new health regimen for a while which has gotten me thinking about Yoga and similar practices. As a result I've started to notice some interesting back-and-forth in the blogosphere about Yoga from different religious camps.

On the one hand there are some Muslims (and Christians and Jews) who view Yoga as problematic, especially because its more ritual elements (like chanting) arguably constitute the practices of another religion. On the other hand there are Muslims (and Christians and Jews) who either replace the ritual elements with content from their own faiths, or eliminate the chanting altogether and emphasize the physical aspects of yoga (stretching, asanas, breathing).
Malaysia clerics issue yoga fatwa
Indonesian clerics ban Muslims from practising yoga
Deoband intervenes: Muslims can do yoga

At least one Muslim (for example the author of the article Islam and Yoga) goes even further and argues that while syncretism between Islam and Yoga is "spiritually invalid", nevertheless there are many correspondence between Islam and Yoga beneath the surface.

On yet another hand (after all, we are discussing Indian religion) recently the Hindu American Foundation is concerned with the way in which some practitioners of Yoga seen to have divorced Yoga from its Hindu roots and so they have launched a "Take Yoga Back" campaign. (see the article: Is Yoga Hindu?) The article reminds me of similar questions about the way Sufism (or these days Rumi's poetry) is sometimes divorced from Islam.

And on yet another hand, the last point is reminiscent of questions of cultural appropriation which we have discussed before in white people and native religion.

The moral here is tricky I think. To the extent that Yoga is just a form of physical exercise with certain heath benefits it is acceptable to Muslims (and Chrsitans and Jews). But the more Yoga is connected integrally to Hinduism, the less acceptable it is for non-Hindus to follow. And to the extent that Yoga is a cultural practice of a specific group of people, we should be aware of its history.

yup, the tea party is racist

Tea Party Nationalism: A Critical Examination of the Tea Party Movement and the Size, Scope, and Focus of Its National Factions is an incredibly extensive 94-page report on the Tea Party which, among other things, outlines its connections to various hate groups. While affirming the most Tea Partiers are people of goodwill, the report identifies non-trivial links to more extreme groups.

Based on analysis of media coverage, site visits to tea party events and tea party literature, the report finds that the tea party itself has become a site for recruitment by white supremicists and others. And, beyond this susceptibility, some members of the leadership of the core tea party groups are connected to extremist groups or positions. Tea party leaders and core members are connected or affiliated with the Minuteman, the birther movement, antisemites, professional Islamophobes (Pamela Geller), and the Council of Conservative Citizens.

And because of the decentralized nature of some of the tea party organizations, they’ve made themselves susceptible to insidious efforts of white nationalists to grasp onto the movement’s success.

From: Yup, the Tea Party’s Racist, Study Finds (But It’s Not Alone)

sherman jackson and cornel west at princeton

I've posted an excerpt from this exchange before, but here is the full two hour conversation between Sherman Abdul Hakim Jackson and Cornel West on the Problem of Black Suffering. The discussion ranged from: the distinction between suffering and struggle, how do we wrestle with invisible systems of domination, Islam as a way to empower individuals to master their nafs, metaphysical suffering, inner-cities as war zones, the dangers of pragmatism, America as an empire, the Inner City Muslim Action Network as an example of "prophetic" Islam, why is Sherman Jackson a Muslim and Cornel West a Christian, the multireligious nature of Muslim Spain, the split between political and religious authority, Obama, and the indigenization of Islam in America.

The catalyst for the event seems to be the publication of Jackson's book "Islam and the Problem of Black Suffering" (I haven't read it yet) which is apparently an attempt at an Islamic response to William R. Jones' work Is God a White Racist?

The Problem of Suffering: Muslim Theological Reflections is a nice general overview from Sherman Jackson which appeared in Huffington Post on a range of Muslim answers (Ashari, Maturidi, Mutazilite and "Traditionalist") to the problem of pain.

also see Examiner: Cornel West: "Maybe I should consider being Muslim..."

cnn on rick sanchez

Ok, I'm not going to blog on this for a while after this...Today on CNN's Sunday morning show Reliable Sources, (transcript) there was a "discussion" of the firing of Rick Sanchez. I put "discussion" in quotes because CNN basically used the show to justify their decision to get rid of Sanchez.

What I thought was ironic is that Sanchez got in trouble for saying that Jews were not really a persecuted minority in the news industry, while several of the pundits on the CNN show were essentially saying the same thing about Sanchez himself.

Carole Simpson said:

he thinks that he could have been better and bigger and all of these other things, and he wasn't because of his race, as being a Cuban-American. And then it tickles me, because he looks as white as any white man. I mean, without his name, you probably would not know he was Cuban.

While Jamie McIntyre was much more dismissive: "...to say that he was made uncomfortable at CNN because of his Hispanic heritage, I think it's close to delusional."

The most accurate comment on the show came from Paul Farhi:

Well, I mean, CNN is an employer, and in America, if you criticize your employer the way he did, you're going to lose your job. He went public. It's on satellite radio. Potentially now millions of people have heard Rick Sanchez' criticism of his own company. Not kosher.

Also see Matthew Yglesias: Rick Sanchez for a perspective from a Cuban-Jewish blogger.

blue-eyed devil

I just recently finished Michael Muhammad Knight's book Blue-eyed Devil: A Road Odyssey Through Islamic America put out by Soft Skull Press. The book is definitely worth reading but I think I would have felt better about it if I had checked it out of the library instead of buying it at Border's. The work is essentially a travelogue documenting Knight's journey's across the United States on what amounts to an Islam-in-America sightseeing tour. To be honest, I was massively impressed by the breadth of the book but he left me wishing for more depth.

He visits the annual ISNA (Islamic Society of North America) convention (twice) where he claims to have stink-palmed Cat Stevens (Yusef Islam) and Siraj Wahaj. He goes to the tombs of Elijah Muhammad, W.D. Fard and Alexander Muhammad Webb (probably the first white American convert to Islam). He meets with Azreal (one of the first white Five Percenters who followed "Father Allah" Clarence 13x). He builds with other Five Percenters in Harlem/Mecca. He goes to the compound of the followers of Malachi Z. York (or whatever he is calling himself now). He attends PMU's female-led prayer. Has dinners with Farid Esack and Irshad Manji. He has tea at Peter Lamborn Wilson / Hakim Bey's house. He visits Malcolm Shabazz (Malcolm X /El Hajj Malik Shabazz's grandson) in prison. And throughout he stops at both Sunni and Shia masjids as well as meeting with various followers of Elijah Muhammad.

For me, the most valuable aspect of the book was its discussion of who Fard was and what happened to him after he went into "occultation". Some other important points are his account of Malcolm Shabazz's (sad) life and Knight's behind-the-scenes insights on the "Progressive Muslim" movement. The rest of the book is well-written and interesting in its own way but often feels like being forced to watch a slide show from someone else's summer vacation.

hiv/aids and the us government

So let me be clear... Do I believe that the U.S. government invented HIV/AIDS in a laboratory in order to commit genocide against Black people? Nope. I haven't seen the evidence to support it. But I also don't think the theory is so implausible that anyone advocating it should considered a pariah in terms of the political conversation in the US. Here are a couple of items to consider:

1. The Tuskegee Experiment (aka Tuskegee Study of Untreated Syphilis in the Negro Male). For a period of 40 years, a group of 600 Black sharecroppers were systematically lied to by the government as a part of an unethical study . 201 were lucky enough to be in the control group. The other 399 had syphilis, but received no medical treatment for the disease. Instead, the subjects were told they had something called "bad blood" and that for participating in the study they could get free medical care, occasional meals, and money for a burial if they died during the course of the study.

As far as I know, the subjects weren't directly infected with syphilis, but in the course of the study 40 spouses became infected and 19 children were born with congenital syphilis. I'd read about the Tuskegee experiment many years ago, but after reviewing the event (in the wake of the whole Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy) I was struck by the length of the study and the extent to which the doctors (people who presumably had to take the Hippocratic oath) chose to actively deceive the sharecroppers throughout to keep it going. I was also surprised to learn that even during the last few years of the study when some of the ethical criticisms were becoming more vocal, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) wanted to keep the experiment going until the bitter end (i.e. the death of all of the subjects.)

So the fact that government-funded doctors would be willing to engage in such a sustained exercise in unethical, immoral and dishonest behavior certainly lends a certain amount of credibility to the HIV/AIDS conspiracy theory.

2. But what would the motivation be? Hat-tip to Sondjata at Garvey's Ghost for pointing me to this.

In Henry Kissinger's report "Implications of Worldwide Population Growth for US Security & Overseas Interests," written for The White House National Security Council in December 10, 1974, Kissinger writes:

"Depopulation should be the highest priority of US foreign policy towards the Third World. Reduction of the rate of population in these states is a matter of vital US national security. The US economy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad, especially from less-developed countries. That fact gives the US enhanced interests in the political, economic and social stability of the supplying countries. Wherever a lessening of population can increase the prospects for such stability, population policy becomes relevant to resources, supplies and the economic interest of the United States."

In fact, even if we reject the claim that HIV is man-made, if Kissinger's words are taken to heart we could ask what role this "highest priority of US foreign policy towards the Third World" plays in shaping the US response to HIV in Africa. More generally we could also start to examine US actions in other global hot spots and view them in the light of Kissinger's concern.

3. Another little known fact is that a small segment of the human population possess genetic attributes which provide a certain amount of resistance to HIV. Some individuals seem to have the ability to be exposed to the virus over and over again without getting infected.

The interesting bit is that the most powerful forms of genetic resistance are almost exclusively found in European populations.

An estimated 1 percent of people descended from Northern Europeans are virtually immune to AIDS infection, with Swedes the most likely to be protected. One theory suggests that the mutation developed in Scandinavia and moved southward with Viking raiders.

In other words, people of European descent will tend to have some genetic resistance to HIV while those of African descent will tend to have none. (A feature one would expect if HIV were designed to kill Black folks).

4. Chris Rock on AIDS




5, 6, ... So I'm going to stop here but I'll just quickly throw out that the US government still conducts biological weapons research and has been known to carry out an experiment or two on citizens without our consent. Furthermore, there have also been a number of recent ethical lapses in how drug companies conduct drug tests in Africa (a la The Constant Gardner) which definitely calls into question the extent to which it is possible for the medical establishment to show disregard for Black lives, especially when profits are at stake.

That's it for now... make up your own mind...draw your own conclusions...

NPR: Remembering the Tuskegee Experiment
Dallasnews.com: Obama pastor Jeremiah Wright's incendiary quotes illuminate chasm between races
Wired: Genetic HIV Resistance Deciphered
Garvey's Ghost: Did the Government Create HIV?
PLoS Biology: The Geographic Spread of the CCR5 Δ32 HIV-Resistance Allele
The Straight Dope: Is AIDS a man made disease?
The Nation: 'The Constant Gardener': What the Movie Missed

britney spears may convert to islam

Alarabiya: Britney Spears may convert to Islam

Stranger things have happened. Actually no, they haven't. Somehow in the cases of other celebrity converts to Islam (Jermaine Jackson, Everlast, Cat Stevens, Rick James, or even looking at the rumors around Prince Charles) there seemed to be a little bit more continuity, however faint. In any case, this should be interesting however it turns out. Let's keep her in our dua.

white muslims
"we shall change them for fresh skins"
i'm rick james, ukhti?
michael jackson: off the wall
Middle East Quarterly: Prince Charles of Arabia