the murder of george tiller

You may have heard of how this weekend Dr. George Tiller became the most recent victim of Christian (specifically anti-abortion) terrorism in the US. It will be interesting to see how this form of terrorism will be treated by the general public and the current administration. I wonder if, had this occurred under George W. Bush's rule, the government would have declared members of militant right-wing groups in the US as "enemy combatants" and sent them to Guantanamo?

In the wake of Tiller's murder, most anti-abortion groups and many individuals have strongly condemned the murder of Tiller and have acknowledged some of the excesses of the pro-life movement, but at least a few (e.g. Fox personality Bill O'Reilly and Operation Rescue founder George Terry have given comments which ranged from the ambiguous to unapologetic.

What I found really disturbing was a bit of analysis from an LA Times piece, "Abortion doctor George Tiller is killed" as follows:

UC Davis sociology professor Carole Joffe said that the worst period of violence against abortion providers was during Clinton's tenure, and that attacks dwindled under President George W. Bush, when the movement had an ally in the White House. But now, with a president who supports abortion rights and a Democratic Congress, she said, some abortion foes may be feeling hopeless.

"When social movements feel they're not getting anywhere, they get desperate," she said, adding that the vast majority of antiabortion activists reject violence. "This is deeply tragic but unsurprising."

So does this mean that for the rest of Obama's tenure we can expect more and more of the fascist/ militant/ racist /far-right wing crazies to come out the woodwork?

Planet Grenada eric robert rudolph
LA Times: A history of violence on the antiabortion fringe
Huffington: Bill O'Reilly Crusaded Against George Tiller For Years

a tribe called quest w/ common: the remedy

 Here's an old Tribe track from the Get on the Bus soundtrack. Planet Grenada: whatever happened to q-tip?

scientology on islam

After hearing yesterday about how Scientology is on trial in France, it made me want to find out a little bit more about the faith/philosophy/organization.

Here are some of the confused/confusing claims of L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, on Muhammad and Islam.

Hubbard : "It's an enormous stone hanging suspended in the middle of a room, this is an incident called the Emanator by the way, and this thing is by the way the source of the Mohammedan Lodestone that they have hanging down there, that, eh, when Mohammed decided to be a good small-town booster in eh Kansas, Middle-East, or something of the sort.

"By the way, the only reason he mocked that thing up, is the trade wasn't good in his hometown. That's right. You read the life of Mohammed. And he's got a black one and it sort of hung between the ceiling and the floor, I don't know, maybe they call it the Casbah or something or... Anyway, anyway, that thing is a mockup of the Emanator! The Emanator is bright, not black.

"And so, your volunteer, who insists on a sightseeing trip, goes in and this thing is standing in the middle of the room, and it's going 'wong wong wong wong wong' and he says: "Isn't that pretty?". It sure is, and then he says "Mmmgrmrm ponk" Why, I'll tell you, they cart him from there, and they take him in and they do a transposition of beingness."

see also:
nothing unreal exists
"goodbye children"

new crusades?

Some frightening pieces about the extent to which military policy under President Bush was shaped and informed by a particular reading of Biblical doctrine:

Alternet: Bush's Shocking Biblical Prophecy Emerges: God Wants to "Erase" Mid-East Enemies "Before a New Age Begins"
CommonDreams: War Room is No Place for Bible Study

see also:
onward christian soldiers
more on evangelicals at the air force academy

love is stronger than death

A few days ago a Christian friend of mine asked me to help translate a Bible verse into Spanish for him. He wanted to have a phrase from the Song of Songs (aka Song of Solomon aka Canticles) engraved on the inside of his wedding rings.

For those who don't know, the book is essentially a love poem. Some view it as a model of romantic love between a man and a woman while others view it allegorically as being about the relationship between God and Israel or God and the Church.

In any case, in the process of looking at different English translations I ended up reading different statements about the Song of Songs from a range of perspectives. For a while now I've had the general impression that the Song of Songs' status in the Biblical canon was questionable. For example, an uncle of mine who is a pastor once said something to the effect that that it wasn't fully the word of God (obviously due to the sensual content).

On the other hand I was intrigued and surprised by a comment made by Rabbi Akiva, a first century C.E. Jewish scholar: "Heaven forbid that any man in Israel ever disputed that the Song of Songs is holy. For the whole world is not worth the day on which the Song of Songs was given to Israel, for all the Writings are holy and the Song of Songs is holy of holies." In other words, the Song of Songs is not just the neglected stepchild of the Bible but an essential central text. It is reminiscent of the prominent role that love poetry has for Sufis such as Rumi and Hafeez.

starting to twitter

I'm just starting to use twitter but I'm not sure I see the fascination. 140 characters seems too small for substantial or complex thoughts. And if messages are going to be that short, it seems better to have the immediacy of a chatroom. By the way, I'm talibanana (Hanafi, soft and sweet).

obama: white house correspondents; dinner

Highlights:
Rahm Emanuel isn't used to saying "Day" after "Mother"
Dick Cheney's memoirs are tentatively titled: "How to Shoot Friends and Interrogate People."

and finally:
"You know, we [Hillary Clinton and I] had been rivals during the campaign, but these days we could not be closer. In fact, the second she got back from Mexico she pulled into a hug and gave me a big kiss. (Laughter.) Told me I'd better get down there myself."

wanda sykes: white house correspondents' dinner

reflection eternal - fortified live

azizah: a work in progress.

I've recently been listening to Sha-Key's 1994 album, a head nadda's journey to adidi skizm in my car and it's made me wonder what Sha-Key (aka Hanifah Walidah) has been up to lately. One of her more interesting projects in the works is a documentary film named Azizah ("my powerful beloved") which looks at the lives of Black American lesbians who were raised as Muslims. Definitely food for thought.

the art of war

Speaking of warriors, I recently started to work on "the greater jihad: a muslim art of war". The initial steps have been deceptively easy. With very little legwork and a halfway decent search engine one can find passages from the Quran and hadith on struggle, conflict, etc. Some more keyword searches have yielded some passages from Nahjul Balagha but eventually I'll read it the old-fashioned way as well. In time I'll add in selections from Malcolm X (many of his speeches are obviously available online too). When that's mostly done I'll have to start making trips to the library to slowly add in more obscure sources. We'll see how it goes.

water warriors

Continuing with the Earth Day/ water scarcity theme I thought I would share information/inspiration about an issue affecting poor people in Highland, MI. Basically water is being privitized more and more to the point that poor people living in the community sometimes can't afford it. In response, local activists are trying to assert and defend the people's right-to-water.

First is a brief documentary on the issue:


And secondly, a spoken word performance by Will Copeland (aka Namaste Brown aka the Ill Wizard). (I should also mention that Will is a member of Longhairz Collective and the author of the song 1nce in a Lifetime which I mentioned a while back in "i've seen ethiopians knocking out rome".



Both the documentary and the poem are entitled "Water Warriors"

happy belated earth day! (water wars and warriors)

Even though I ]missed Earth Day (It was the 22nd of April) I thought it would be good to take the opportunity to post something about the ecology. First there is an independently made video for Mos Def's "New World Water". For me, the song is a reminder of the fact that, water scarcity is becoming a bigger issue and that according to some futurists it won't be too long before governments will fight wars over water the way they fight over oil today.

when is a pirate not a pirate...

preserving inequality: analyzing obama's boycott of the durban review conference

Assata Shakur Forums: Preserving Inequality: Analyzing Obama's Boycott of the Durban Review Conference by Kali Akuno

obama's judicial nominee is a secret muslim (not!)

Huffington Post: Inhofe: Obama's Judicial Nominee is a Secret Muslim

a walk in cuba: race & rap

kings (part one)

when I first saw teasers for the new NBC show Kings they made it seem as if the show would be a contemporary girlie fairy tale a la The Princess Diaries Instead it turns out that the show is a modern retelling of the Biblical story of Saul/ Talut and David/ Dawood (as) (Mostly found in the book of 1 Samuel).

The Quran's version of the story (found at 2: 246- 252) is considerably more concise and less soap opera-ish. Samuel (the unnamed prophet) isn't even identified and the drama, violence, lust and jealousy of the Biblical account is gone.

Have you not considered the chiefs of the children of Israel after Musa, when they said to a prophet of theirs: Raise up for us a king, (that) we may fight in the way of Allah.

He said: May it not be that you would not fight if fighting is ordained for you?

They said: And what reason have we that we should not fight in the way of Allah, and we have indeed been compelled to abandon our homes and our children.

But when fighting was ordained for them, they turned back, except a few of them, and Allah knows the unjust.

And their prophet said to them: Surely Allah has raised Talut to be a king over you.

They said: How can he hold kingship over us while we have a greater right to kingship than he, and he has not been granted an abundance of wealth?

He said: Surely Allah has chosen him in preference to you, and He has increased him abundantly in knowledge and physique, and Allah grants His kingdom to whom He pleases, and Allah is Amplegiving, Knowing.

And the prophet said to them: Surely the sign of His kingdom is, that there shall come to you the chest in which there is tranquillity from your Lord and residue of the relics of what the children of Musa and the children of Haroun have left, the angels bearing it; most surely there is a sign in this for those who believe.

So when Talut departed with the forces, he said: Surely Allah will try you with a river; whoever then drinks from it, he is not of me, and whoever does not taste of it, he is surely of me, except he who takes with his hand as much of it as fills the hand; but with the exception of a few of them they drank from it.

So when he had crossed it, he and those who believed with him, they said: We have today no power against Jalut and his forces. Those who were sure that they would meet their Lord said: How often has a small party vanquished a numerous host by Allah's permission, and Allah is with the patient.

And when they went out against Jalut and his forces they said: Our Lord, pour down upon us patience, and make our steps firm and assist us against the unbelieving people. So they put them to flight by Allah's permission. And Dawood slew Jalut, and Allah gave him kingdom and wisdom, and taught him of what He pleased. And were it not for Allah's repelling some men with others, the earth would certainly be in a state of disorder; but Allah is Gracious to the creatures.

These are the communications of Allah: We recite them to you with truth; and most surely you are (one) of the apostles.

obama, religion and the daily show

Faith the Nation

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
Faith the Nation
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

It is intriguing to see some of the positive overtures that Obama is making towards the Muslim world. At the same time, it is also not surprising to hear that President Obama hasn't been to church in 11 Sundays. Given the amount of controversy which surrounded Obama's earlier choice of a church home it is understandable he would keep his own devotions private and under the radar.

fulana: lupe & juandi from the block

Fulana is a New York-based Latina artist video collective with a number of products under their belt. The project linked to above was inspired by La Virgen de Guadalupe, San Juan Diego, and Nuestra Señora de J-Lo. This music video was created to answer burning questions, such as: What's up with these designer Virgen de Guadalupe jeans?, How come El Indio Juan Diego became a white man for his saintly Vatican image?, Is the Pope concerned about losing the Latino market?, and Are we fooled by the props G-Loop's got? Is she, is she, Lupe from the Block?

see also: return to guadalupe