on joe (joseph) stack

The article Terrorism: The Most Meaningless and Manipulated Word by Glenn Greenwald takes a look at the Joseph Stack incident and uses it to underline some of the hypocrisy behind how the term "terrorist" is used today (to delegitimize Muslims).

When I first read about Joseph Stack flying a plane into an Austin office building which housed the local IRS office I pretty much saw him as a Tea Party terrorist. After reading the Joseph Stack Manifesto I have to admit that he does have some left-wing elements to his "ideology" but on balance he seems more like an ordinary "Joe" who has had a series of frustrating Kafka-esque experiences with the bureaucratic IRS. At the same time,there do seem to be some tea party types embracing him as an American hero after the fact.

In any case, even if this particular incident isn't the responsibility of someone clearly in the Tea Party camp, there have certainly been other warning signs that anti-Obama conservative backlash has been becoming more and more aggressive and has the potential for moving in violent directions. (see pray for obama and the murder of george tiller)

See also: I Am Not Saying Joe Stack Is A Teabagger, But He’s A Little Teaish By Casey Gane-McCalla

more on tato laviera

It made me terribly sad to hear about Tato's condition and I'm passing this along in hopes that it does some good:

Dear Colleagues,

I write to you with some urgency. You may have heard about Tato
Laviera’s condition. Recently, he had a brain operation to put a shunt
in his brain. Since then, he has been asked to leave his current
residence and is homeless. The attached New York Times article
explains his condition. Please give whatever you can to help provide
Tato with an apartment.

Send your contributions to:
Jesus Laviera
c/o Sanchez-Ramos
225 E. 93rd St. Apt. 8 H
New York, NY 10128

Sincerely,

William

William Luis
Chancellor's Professor of Spanish
Editor, Afro-Hispanic Review
VU Box 351617 Station B
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, Tennessee 37235-1617
william.luis@vanderbilt.edu

tato laviera

Poet Spans Two Worlds, but Has a Home in Neither
by DAVID GONZALEZ
February 12, 2010



His poems, in countless anthologies and five of his own collections, are considered part of the Latino literary canon. His plays and lectures have earned him honors etched in flowery superlatives on plaques. But Tato Laviera would rather possess a more prosaic document, written in legalese.

A lease.

Mr. Laviera has known his share of troubles in recent years, including diabetes, blindness and dialysis. But in December, life became infinitely more complicated when he underwent emergency brain surgery. Too unsteady to return to his Greenwich Village apartment, he checked into a nursing home for physical therapy.

Two weeks later, he fled.

“You could feel the drugs in the old people, in their sentiments, and I knew that was not Laviera,” he said. “But when my foot hit the sidewalk outside the nursing home, at that moment I knew I was homeless. The honors I had didn’t mean anything anymore.”

Poets, even widely published ones, do not exactly roll in cash. Now, at 59, Mr. Laviera is struggling to find an affordable apartment in the city that has been his home since he moved here from Puerto Rico in 1960.

He has reached out for help to almost a dozen community and housing groups — some of whom were generous with praise but little else. Only one, United Bronx Parents, came to his aid. Lorraine Montenegro, its director, put him in a temporary room at a transitional shelter on Prospect Avenue. She saw it not as a favor, but her duty.

“I just think that when our writers and singers and artists run into hard times, we have to be there for them,” she said. “We can’t forget them. The community that has enjoyed their work for so long has to say, ‘Presente.’ ”

She lamented how fans in the city can be fickle when it comes to helping artists once the spotlight dims. Guadalupe Victoria Yoli Raymond — better known as La Lupe — went from being the Queen of Latin Soul to a destitute existence in the South Bronx. Héctor Lavoe, the Singer of Singers, wasted away penniless in a hospital on the edge of El Barrio, where his songs had once been the soundtrack to daily life.

Since emerging in the early 1980s, Mr. Laviera has been acknowledged as a singular voice whose life and work bridge New York and Puerto Rico. His writings, which pulse to the flowing rhythms of Spanish and English, deal with the tug of allegiances to culture and home, as well as race and language.

Juan Flores, a New York University professor and an early champion, said Mr. Laviera had influenced many others who came after him, “whether they admit it or not.”

“I found his best poetry to be a jewel of New York Puerto Rican expression,” Mr. Flores said. “His way of putting together the relationship between the island and the diaspora was more finely tuned and deeper than others. He took head on the issues of assimilation and cultural preservation and innovation.”

Though seen by some critics as past his prime, Mr. Laviera has kept himself in the public eye by teaching, lecturing and staging “sugar slams,” poetry events to raise awareness about the ravages of diabetes among minorities.

His own health problems deepened one day in December when he suddenly listed to the side and began to fall. Paula La Costa, who had shared her apartment with him since 2004, caught him before he hit the floor. Water on the brain was diagnosed, and the emergency surgery installed a shunt to drain the fluid. But it left him with difficulty moving his left leg.

Both he and Ms. La Costa agreed that he would need a place that was easier to maneuver around. He entered a nursing home, but soon grew alarmed at being surrounded by what he saw as people who were no longer engaged in life, but medicated and killing time.

“I just could not do that,” he said. “So I called my sister and asked her to liberate me.”

But relatives are not able to give him a long-term home. Besides, his urgency comes not just from needing a place to sleep, but a place to write. After a fallow period, his literary output resumed with the 2008 publication of “Mixturao and Other Poems,” his first new poetry collection in almost 20 years. He just completed the 700-page manuscript of a novel, “El Barrio.”

While he earns royalties from his books and anthologized poems, he has left the money untouched, hoping to tap it as a pension when he retires from teaching and touring. His income, he said, is limited. Just like his housing choices.

“It’s not like I’m looking to be subsidized in the realm of upper-middle-class elegance and comfort,” he said. “The terminology for me is ‘affordable.’ And in this city more and more people are just being moved out. My situation has given me whole new affinity for them.

“My eyes are thoroughly open.”

When he started looking for an apartment, he thought he could cash in some of the good will he had earned from a lifetime of community workshops and readings. Among those he approached were several politicians and advocacy groups in East Harlem, the setting of his novel.

The result? He answered with silence and a smile.

“I decided to come to the mainland,” he said. “The Bronx.”

While Ms. Montenegro searches for permanent housing, Mr. Laviera is settling in at the shelter. Over the last week he has slowly moved his belongings into a small room near the entrance of the building, known as Casita Esperanza, or Little House of Hope.

He becomes animated when he talks about his new neighbors, whom he hears as they walk past his room. He has already enlisted some to rehearse his play “Chupacabra Sightings.” He plans to give poetry readings.

“This has opened me up to even more feeling,” he said. “I can create here, and that makes me feel liberated. Being here has given me the spirit of continuity and centrality, and that’s better than a salary.”

worst. company. ever.

Just yesterday I thought I'd check out the online journal In These Times and instead got a Page Not Found error message from Comcast (I'm a subscriber). At first I started to wonder if In These Times had suddenly gone out of business but then I eventually realized that Comcast was deliberately blocking In These Times because because of the articles:

Comcast Launches ‘TV Everywhere’: Say Goodbye to Free Web TV — In These Times
and also: Comcast: Worst. Company. Ever.

It is a small reminder of the dangers of corporations and the limitations (and censorship) of corporate media. It makes me wonder how the current story of Toyota's car acceleration problems would be covered if Toyota was American-owned.

More on Comcast from The Consumerist

even meghan mccain calls out the tea party on its "innate racism" and palin on hypocrisy over "retard"

Huffington post: Meghan McCain (on The View)

tom tancredo starts off the tea party convention by looking back to the good old days of literacy tests

Huffington Post: Tom Tancredo: Obama Elected Because 'We Do Not Have A Civics, Literacy Test' To Vote

see also:
latino and islamic groups want tancredo to quit

mami el negro (el africano) part two

Out of historical interest and a desire for completeness, here is THE ORIGINAL version of "El Africano" (which is the only one I've heard with a female vocalist)



And an interview with Calixto Ochoa about the story behind the song:



See also:
mami el negro esta rabioso (el africano)

all terrorists are muslims... except the 94% that aren't

Terrorist Attacks on U.S. Soil by Group,
From 1980 to 2005, According to FBI database

A couple of interesting links:
From Loonwatch: All Terrorists are Muslims... Except the 94% that Aren't summarizes an updated FBI report of terrorist acts on US soil. As you can see for yourself from the above pie graph, among the counter-stereotypical results are: 1) Only 6% of the terrorist acts on US soil in the period covered were committed by Muslims. 2) In fact, slightly more terrorist acts were committed by Jewish groups. And finally, 3) the largest category of groups associated with acts of terrorism in the US is apparently Latino! (although this includes both far-right anti-Castro terrorist groups and left-leaning pro-Puerto Rican independence groups)


Also CNN recently reported in Study: Threat of Muslim-American terrorism in U.S. exaggerated the results of a study funded by the Department of Justice which looks at how to prevent the radicalization of Muslim youth in America. The original study can be found at: Anti-Terror Lessons of Muslim-Americans


And finally, Stephen M. Walt gives one of the more candid answers to the "Why Do They Hate Us?" question in his article: Why they hate us (ii): How many Muslims has the US killed in the past 30 years?

hat tip to the Anonymous Arabist

imam luqman had been hadcuffed and shot 21 times

January 30, 2010. Late last night Fox news of southeastern Michigan reported they had uncovered confidential information into the autopsy report of Imam Luqman. After ninety-days of requests by the community, appeals by politicians and community leaders and many articles and press, the community gets some answers.

Fox revealed that the Imam was shot 21 times including the chest and the back. Most of the shots were below the waist and even in the groin area. They reported he was handcuffed.

There are some speculations by Fox as to why he might have been shot in the back, but also to what really happened to the dog. They raise suspicions by saying that "how do we know that the dog wasn't killed by a shot by the FBI." There is no known report of a necropsy conducted on the dog to help establish fact.


The Police Chief in Dearborn, Michigan will have a press conference on Monday, February 1, 2010 at 10:30 AM.

There are still many unanswered questions. Given the autopsy results, surely more questions will be raised.



see also:
remembering imam luqman

a political ideological perspective for afro-latinos

Black Thoughts: A Political Ideological Perspective for Afro Latinos by Kevin Alberto Sabioi is a brief overview of Pan-Africanism/ Afro-Centrism/ African Internationalism as it applies to Latinos along with some specific links and references.

legion

I also caught the movie Legion at a midnight opening last week. The film had its interesting moments but overall it wasn't very well made and I definitely could have waited for it to appear in the bargain DVD bin at Blockbuster.

Legion is a dark and twisted Christmas card on film. The premise: God has lost faith in humanity so He orders the angelic hosts to bring on the apocalypse. We see darkness, swarms of insects and other phenomena, but mostly we see angels possess other human beings (e.g. the foul-mouthed, wall-crawling old lady prominently featured in the commercials).

God has created a special child who will possibly be born to a pregnant waitress in a diner and could somehow oppose and counter-act the apocalypse. But then in a spectacular example of logic, He also orders the archangel Michael to kill this self-same child before it is born.

The interesting thing is that Michael ends up being almost a perfect inversion of the Islamic concept of the devil by refusing this command. At one point he even announces that when God made mankind he was the first angel to bow down to the the crowning glory of God's creation (as opposed to Iblis in the Quran who refuses to bow down to Adam). And to add another level to the inversion, just as al-Hallaj suggested that the commandment to bow was more a test of the purity of the devil's monotheism than a straightforward order, in Legion, the commandment to bring on the apocalypse was really a test of compassion (which Michael passes) by holding on to his faith in humanity.

see also:
the devil and al-hallaj

Unfortunately, this one interesting aspect is outweighed by the film's various flaws including: 1) There is way too much violence given that the film is ultimately a fable on compassion. 2) Unlike the film The Prophecy which was able to portray angels with a dark side with the right amount of tension, most of the "angels" in Legion just appear creepy and demonic. 3) More specifically, the angel-possessed crowds basically made Legion reminiscent of a zombie movie. But then the massive crowds clearly could have overwhelmed the heroes in the dinner and it isn't plausible that our heroes would last as long as they do.

the book of eli

I recently saw The Book of Eli on the Friday it opened. Personally, I really liked the setting and look of the film. The filmmakers managed to depict a really intriguing vision of a post-apocalyptic (some might even say post-Rapture) world. And Washington's character, Eli, is compelling as a sort of Christian Samurai who has been entrusted with a mission to take the last copy of the King James Bible out to the "West" in order to catalyze the rebirth of civilization.

One hole in the plot lies in the motivations of Gary Oldman's character, Carnegie (named perhaps after Dale Carnegie, author of the bestselling How to Win Friends and Influence People?) Carnegie is in charge of an unnamed desert town and is looking for the Bible as a tool and a weapon which will allow him greater control over the people around him. But what is surprising is that given Carnegie is so cynical, and given the widespread illiteracy, blindness and lack of memory in this post-apocalyptic world, why couldn't Carnegie simply make up a new religion? Or why wouldn't we see new religions fill-in the void left behind by the absence of the older faiths (along the lines of Octavia Butler's Parable of the Talents or Parable of the Sower)?

The other feature of the film which detracted from me enjoying it fully was the fact that it was ultimately too preachy. The film takes place in a world where some form of Christianity is evidently true. What is ironic is that the narrowness and exclusiveness of the film's perspective is actually most evident in a scene which was probably intended to be a PC "fig leaf" on the movie. At the end of the film we see a Bible being placed on a bookshelf among copies of the Tanakh and Torah (which are essentially already contained in the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible) and a Yusuf Ali translation of the Quran. On the surface this seems to suggest that the Bible is one great book among other great books. But on further reflection a subtle criticism is implied; after all those other books were apparently not sufficient to properly restart civilization. Which is why God found it necessary to supernaturally guide and protect Eli on his mission to preserve the King James version of the Bible.

Interview with Denzel Washington, Gary Oldman, Mila Kunis by Sara Shereen Bakhshian
Is Book of Eli A Christian Movie? An Interview with the Hughes Brothers

the war before - safiya bukhari

I've blogged about Safiya Bukhari before (see: black cats who became muslim and imprisoned intellectuals) and have been curious to find out more about her for a while so I'm especially excited to add The War Before to my reading list.

praise the lord and pass the ammo

A basic and central question which Muslims and Americans have to come to terms with is the following: To what extent is or isn't the US "War on Global Terror" a War on Islam?

I'm not going to pretend to answer that question here except to say that while I'm fairly certain that Barack Obama and other key individuals in his administration are clear on the distinction between the two "wars" and realize how important it is to maintain it, it is also clear that a good chunk of folks in the military-industrial complex are very confused about the distinction and are all too cavalier about letting one slip into the other.

This latter fact is most recently exemplified in the revelation that Trijicom, a Christian-owned manufacturer of military hardware which is currently providing equipment to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan has been putting Biblical references on some of its products.

Alternet: Shocking Report: U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes
AFP: Muslim anger over US military 'Jesus' scopes
Military Religious Freedom Foundation's round-up of articles on the Trijicom story.
Planet Grenada: 10 ways the us military has shoved christianity down muslims' throats

remembering imam luqman

I had started to blog on this a few months ago and was tempted connect it to the Fort Hood shootings and was going to put together a series of thoughts on radicalization and Islam and the Black community. But to be honest, it just wasn't happening.

As I read the articles again, I'm struck by the resonances with Martin Luther King Jr's assassination. Context is everything.

Remembering Imam Luqman Abdullah By Imam Zaid Shakir.

And see also: Death of a Detroit Imam Leaves Many Questions Unanswered by Hamdan Azhar

w. kamau bell - ending racism in about an hour

I went to school with this cat many moons ago, but only recently found out that he's had this amazing career as a conscious stand-up comedian. Actually, I think I'd seen him on Comedy Central a few years back but it didn't click that it was the same person (new hair, glasses, and he emphasizes his middle name now). Anyway, I wanted to give him a shout-out.



W. Kamau Bell's Website

the sunni beard

by Chikodi Chima

Philadelphia is known as "the city of brotherly love" and these brothas' love their beards.

bill quigley: ten things the us can and should do for haiti

Common Dreams: Ten Things the US Can and Should Do for Haiti by Bill Quigley

One. Allow all Haitians in the US to work. The number one source of money for poor people in Haiti is the money sent from family and workers in the US back home. Haitians will continue to help themselves if given a chance. Haitians in the US will continue to help when the world community moves on to other problems.

Two. Do not allow US military in Haiti to point their guns at Haitians. Hungry Haitians are not the enemy. Decisions have already been made which will militarize the humanitarian relief - but do not allow the victims to be cast as criminals. Do not demonize the people.

Three. Give Haiti grants as help, not loans. Haiti does not need any more debt. Make sure that the relief given helps Haiti rebuild its public sector so the country can provide its own citizens with basic public services.

Four. Prioritize humanitarian aid to help women, children and the elderly. They are always moved to the back of the line. If they are moved to the back of the line, start at the back.

Five. President Obama can enact Temporary Protected Status for Haitians with the stroke of a pen. Do it. The US has already done it for El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Sudan and Somalia. President Obama should do it on Martin Luther King Day.

Six. Respect Human Rights from Day One. The UN has enacted Guiding Principles for Internally Displaced People. Make them required reading for every official and non-governmental person and organization. Non governmental organizations like charities and international aid groups are extremely powerful in Haiti - they too must respect the human dignity and human rights of all people.

Seven. Apologize to the Haitian people everywhere for Pat Robertson and Rush Limbaugh.

Eight. Release all Haitians in US jails who are not accused of any crimes. Thirty thousand people are facing deportations. No one will be deported to Haiti for years to come. Release them on Martin Luther King day.

Nine. Require that all the non-governmental organizations which raise money in the US be transparent about what they raise, where the money goes, and insist that they be legally accountable to the people of Haiti.

Ten. Treat all Haitians as we ourselves would want to be treated.

Bill is Legal Director at the Center for Constitutional Rights and a law professor at Loyola University New Orleans. He is a Katrina survivor and has been active in human rights in Haiti for years with the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti. Quigley77@gmail.com

haiti earthquake relief: how you can help

From the Huffington Post

•The American Red Cross is pledging an initial $200,000 to assist communities impacted by this earthquake. They expect to provide immediate needs for food, water, temporary shelter, medical services and emotional support. They are accepting donations through their International Response Fund.

•UNICEF has issued a statement that "Children are always the most vulnerable population in any natural disaster, and UNICEF is there for them." UNICEF requests donations for relief for children in Haiti via their Haiti Earthquake Fund. You can also call 1-800-4UNICEF.

•Donate through Wyclef Jean's foundation, Yele Haiti. Text "Yele" to 501501 and $5 will be charged to your phone bill and given to relief projects through the organization.

•Operation USA is appealing for donations of funds from the public and corporate donations in bulk of health care materials, water purification supplies and food supplements which it will ship to the region from its base in the Port of Los Angeles. Donate online at www.opusa.org, by phone at 1-800-678-7255 or, by check made out to Operation USA, 3617 Hayden Ave, Suite A, Culver City, CA 90232.

•Save The Children has launched an emergency relief effort for Haiti. Donate to their fund to provide medical attention and clean water to children and families.

•International Medical Corps is assembling a team of first responders and resources to provide lifesaving medical care and other emergency services to survivors of the earthquake. The IMC previously helped recovery efforts after September 2009's earthquake in Sumatra, Indonesia, and the massive 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. Donate to the International Medical Corps through their 24-hour hotline at 800-481-4462

•Ben Stiller's Stillerstrong campaign will be temporarily diverting all donations to support the Haiti relief effort.

•Partners In Health reports its Port-au-Prince clinical director , Louise Ivers, has appealed for assistance: "Port-au-Prince is devastated, lot of deaths. SOS. SOS... Temporary field hospital by us at UNDP needs supplies, pain meds, bandages. Please help us." Donate to their Haiti earthquake fund.

•As a UN Special Envoy to Haiti, Bill Clinton appeared on CNN on Wednesday to ask for further assistance in bringing relief to populations on the ground. You can donate through the Clinton Foundation or text HAITI to 20222 to donate $10.

•Mercy Corps is sending a team of emergency responders to assess damage, and seek to fulfill immediate needs of quake survivors. The agency aided families after earthquakes in Peru in 2007, China and Pakistan in 2008, and Indonesia last year. Donate online, call 1-888-256-1900 or send checks to Mercy Corps Haiti Earthquake Fund; Dept NR; PO Box 2669; Portland, OR 97208.

•Doctors Without Borders is on the ground and has set up clinics to treat injured in Haiti. Donate any amount so they can keep their efforts going.

•Direct Relief is committing up to $1 million in aid for the response and is coordinating with its other in-country partners and colleague organizations. Their partners in Haiti include Partners in Health, St. Damien Children's Hospital, and the Visitation Hospital, which are particularly active in emergency response. Donate to Direct Relief online.

•Oxfam is rushing in teams from around the region to respond to the situation to provide clean water, shelter, sanitation and help people recover. Donate to Oxfam America online.

•The UN World Food Programme is gathering all available resources to deliver food to the recently homeless and impoverished in Haiti. Donate now to help bring food to those affected as quickly and efficiently as possible.

•The Baptist Haiti Mission is operating an 82-bed hospital that is "overflowing with injured." Donate online to BHM and 100% of your donation will go to the relief effort.

•International Medical Corps is assembling a team of first responders and resources to provide lifesaving medical care and other emergency services to survivors of the earthquake. Donate online.

•Following the earthquake, Catholic Relief Services made an immediate commitment of $5 million for emergency supplies. They are distributing food and relief supplies, and importing plastic sheeting, mosquito nets and water purification tablets from the Domincan Republic. Donate to Catholic Relief Services to assist in these efforts.

•Give to the American Jewish World Service's Earthquake Relief Fund.

•CARE is deploying emergency team members to Port-au-Prince today to assist in recovery efforts. They're focusing their efforts on rescuing children who may still be trapped in schools that collapsed. Donate to CARE.

•Orphans International America reports that they have been able to make contact with their program director in the town of Jacmel, a city about 20 miles southwest of Port-au-Prince that houses OI's hospitals and schools. Orphans International America is attempting to gather food, clean water and emergency medical supplies to Jacmel. You can contribute to them through PayPal.

•The International Rescue Committee is deploying an emergency response team to Haiti to deliver urgent assistance to earthquake survivors and to help overwhelmed local aid groups struggling to meet the immense emergency needs. They will focus on critical medical, water and sanitation assistance. Donate to the IRC Haiti Crisis Fund.

•NetHope is coordinating its response with its NGO member agencies and with the UN's Emergency Telecom Cluster to establish connectivity in Haiti. Seventeen of NetHope's members are already providing aid and deploying resources on the ground. Donate online.

•The Haitian Health Foundation is still assessing the situation of their full-time facilities and staff in Haiti. They regularly provide health care, development and relief to rural mountain villages in Haiti. Donate to the Haitian Health Foundation.

•World Vision has more 370 staff in the country. Staff members from less-affected regions of Haiti are mobilizing, and World Vision's global experts are expected to arrive in the disaster zone as soon as possible. Donate to World Vision.

•The Jewish Federations of North America is partnering with the American Jewish Joint Distribution committee and have created a dedicated Haiti Relief page for online donations.

•United Nations Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) is the UN's humanitarian fund responding to emergencies like the earthquake in Haiti. Donate online.

•Friends of the Orphans will use donations to meet the needs of first responders such as first aid supplies, shipping of necessary materials to assist in efforts, and treating the injured. Those interested in helping the relief effort can visit www.friendsoftheorphans.org, or call 888-201-8880 to make a donation.

•World Concern's staff is almost entirely composed of Haitian nationals and will be tapping into private as well as U.S. government supplies to help in the relief effort it hopes will soon be supplemented by cargo ships. Donate to World Concern.

•Merlin USA is sending an emergency response team out to the region and have subsequently launched an emergency appeal to bring urgent medical aid and assistance to those affected. Donate to Merlin USA.

HuffPost Impact is following relief organizations in Haiti and will be updating with their latest messages from the ground.

pat robertson is evil: reason #2177

CNN: Pat Robertson says Haiti paying for 'pact to the devil'

Pat Robertson, the evangelical Christian who once suggested God was punishing Americans with Hurricane Katrina, says a "pact to the devil" brought on the devastating earthquake in Haiti.

Robertson, the host of the "700 Club," blamed the tragedy on something that "happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it."

The Haitians "were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever," Robertson said on his broadcast Wednesday. "And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.' True story. And so, the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal.' "

Native Haitians defeated French colonists in 1804 and declared independence.

"You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other." Robertson has previously linked natural disasters and terrorist attacks to legalized abortion in the United States.

see also:
pat robertson is evil: reason #865
pat robertson is evil: reason #873
pat robertson is evil: reason #704