Bashir Uncle had names for some of us too. He would call me “Mualana” and would raise his hands by his ears when it was time to pray. He would smile whenever he saw Yusuf and called him Junior and would ask about him even when in the hospital.

As the eldest member of our family, he would be the one to lead the duas at our dinners. MashAllah he performed Hajj and was proud of his fistful beard. When he moved to Cambria, he was close enough to walk to the masjid. He was very often to be seen on his chair in the first saf.
In his last month, when he could no longer take care of himself, I never heard him complain. He never wanted to be a burden on anyone.

Even with so much loving family around him, he was very lonely after Aunti Shad passed away. She was the one person who he spent more time with than anyone else and the one that knew him and took care of him the best. We pray that inshAllah now their souls are united with his companion and at peace.
Ya Allah, we ask you to make it easy for Bashir Uncle. Ease the trials of the grave and have maghfirah. Grant him into jannatul firdous.
Ya Allah we took care of him to the best of our ability out of love. Please forgive our shortcomings. Accept the Quran that we have read for him and give him the reward.

Supplication for the deceased

�O Allaah, forgive and have mercy upon him, excuse him and pardon him, and make honorable his reception. Expand his entry, and cleanse him with water, snow, and ice, and purify him of sin as a white robe is purified of filth. Exchange his home for a better home, and his family for a better family, and his spouse for a better spouse. Admit him into the Garden, protect him from the punishment of the grave and the torment of the Fire.�

�O Allaah, forgive our living and our dead, those present and those absent, our young and our old, our males and our females. O Allaah, whom amongst us You keep alive, then let such a life be upon Islaam, and whom amongst us You take unto Yourself, then let such a death be upon faith. O Allaah, do not deprive us of his reward and do not let us stray after him�.

Al-Fatiha – Al-Ikhlas (3 times)

• Is the idea of  72 virgins mentioned in the Quran?
• How is Paradise described?
• What is the “hypnotic quality” of the Quran in Arabic?
• How much of the Quran reprises stories of the Bible/Torah?
• How is it different from the Bible/Torah?
• What do so called Muslim extremists and anti-Muslim Islamophobes have in common?

Lesley Hazleton expresses sentiments that resonate with the rational mind. To be honest, I am dismayed at how someone with her depth of understanding could claim to be an agnostic Jew. I found myself nodding my head in agreement with every point she masterfully articulated. I love great talks like this with a strong attention getter, subtle humor, rock solid points, and a conclusion that circles back to the beginning. Five stars!!

From TED: A psychologist by training and Middle East reporter by experience, British-born Lesley Hazleton has spent the last ten years exploring the vast and often terrifying arena in which politics and religion, past and present, intersect. Her most recent book, After the Prophet: the Epic Story of the Shia-Sunni Split, was a finalist for the 2010 PEN-USA nonfiction award.

She lived and worked in Jerusalem for thirteen years — a city where politics and religion are at their most incendiary — then moved to New York. She came to Seattle to get her pilot’s license in 1992, saw the perfect houseboat, and stayed. By 1994, she’d flown away all of her savings, and has never regretted a single cent of it. Now her raft rides low in the water under the weight of research as she works on her next book, The First Muslim, a new look at the life of Muhammad.

TEDxRainier is an independently organized TED event held in Seattle Washington.

More on Lesley from Wikipedia:

Lesley Hazleton (born 1945) is an award-winning British-American writer whose work focuses on the intersection of politics, religion, and history, especially in the Middle East. She reported from Israel for Time, and has written on the Middle East for numerous publications including The New York Times, The New York Review of Books, Harper’s, The Nation, andThe New Republic.

Hazleton was born in England, and became a United States citizen in 1994. She was based in Jerusalem from 1966 to 1979 and in New York City from 1979 to 1992, when she moved to her current home in Seattle WA, originally to get her pilot’s license. She has two degrees in psychology (B.A. Manchester University, M.A. Hebrew University of Jerusalem).

She has described herself as “a Jew who once seriously considered becoming a rabbi, a former convent schoolgirl who daydreamed about being a nun, an agnostic with a deep sense of religious mystery though no affinity for organized religion”. ”Everything is paradox,” she has said. “The danger is one-dimensional thinking”.

1) Sakeena Yacoobi – Afghan Institute of Learning

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkChdEQkuBw

2) Catherine Rohr – Prison Entrepreneurship Program

http://www.kauffman.org/KauffmanMultimedia.aspx?VideoId=1870898740&type=R

Sediq Chakari, former minister of Hajj, and who is thought to be in Britain has been under investigation into his alleged involvement in a kickback racket which made hundreds of thousands of pounds from poor pilgrims.

Each year Saudi Arabia offers 30,000 Afghans places on the Hajj pilgrimage and they pay the Kabul government £2,300 for transport, food and lodging.

The Ministry of Hajj and Islamic Affairs is annually hit by allegations of incompetence and fraud after pilgrims have been left stranded or failed to get what they paid for.

Prosecutors believe officials were demanding up to £100 per pilgrim from hoteliers and transport firms with contracts to take pilgrims to Mecca.

The international official said: “Here is a case involving theft of money from poor Hajj pilgrims, some people who have waited their entire lives for the opportunity to travel to Mecca, and there is no real interest in the leadership of this Islamic state in defending the rights of these citizens.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7532867/Hamid-Karzai-accused-of-blocking-arrest-of-official.html

Ira tells the story of the 1953 U.S. Supreme Court case that formed the basis for the controversial state secret privilege—the precedent that allows the United States government to stop lawsuits by claiming that national security secrets might be revealed in court. Ira talks to Barry Siegel, author of the book Claim of Privilege, and Judy Loether, whose father’s death was at the center of the landmark Supreme Court case. (14 minutes)

http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/383/origin-story

click play episode

When:

• Sun Oct 31,2010, 10am-1pm

Where:

• Islamic Foundation
• 300 W. High Ridge, Villa Park, IL 60181

Issues:

• Economy; Health Care Reform; Immigration; War on Terror; Ground Zero Mosque.

Panelists:

• State Rep. Paul Froehlich, Dist 56
• Laura Leon, Coalition for Better Health Care (www.cbhconline.org)
• Abdul Malik Mujahid, World Parliament for Religions (www.parliamentofreligions.org)
• Fred Tsao, Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights (www.icirr.org)
• Kamran Memon Esq.,, Muslims for a Safe America (www.muslimsforasafeamerica.org)

Moderator:

• Ali Ahmed, MD. PhD.

Russ Feingold is an excellent senator who is very supportive of civil rights, against unnecessary wars, and a tough fighter for the rights of voters and the poor. He is currently in a tough election fight against a millionaire (who would be the senate’s 70th millionairre if he wins)

Here are just five highlights from his many accomplishments:

1) Despite being in a very tough election, with 70% of Americans against his position, Russ Feingold bravely spoke up for the rights of Muslims to build a mosque anywhere and wherever they please.

2) He was the ONLY Senator to vote against the USA PATRIOT Act during its first vote. All your liberal “lions” lost their brains in the months after 911 (the vote took place Oct 23rd, lighting speed by senate standards). . . .the embers of WTC were still orange. He is one of the best advocates for civil liberties in the Senate.

3) Feingold was one of 28 US senators to vote against H.J. Resolution 114, which authorized President George W. Bush to use force against Iraq in 2002.[29]

4) Russ Feingold was a major force behind campaign finance reform. His efforts limited how much wealthy people could donate to federal races.

5) Russ Feingold has consistently advocated for the poor, including apposing NAFTA, increasing the minimum wage, access to healthcare for the impoverished

Russ Feingold’s courage and determination to do the right thing — even while representing a somewhat conservative largely rural state — should be an inspiration to Muslim Americans. That his positions on the issues largely mirror the positions that Muslims have is just an added bonus.

Please donate to Russ Feingold’s campaign directly —–> https://secure3.convio.net/fsc10/site/Donation2?df_id=1520&1520.donation=form1

If you have already given your maximum donation, please consider donating to Ohio Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur — someone who has similarly advocated for Democratic values. Ms. Kaptur was one of the few members of congress who bravely stood up to criticize Israel for it’s atrocities in Gaza. Donate to Ms. Kaptur right here –> http://www.actblue.com/entity/fundraisers/12825

I am constantly amazed at the intelligence and creativity of some young children. Many people think that kids are too young to make a difference. However, there are several examples of kids who discover their element and accomplish extraordinary things, by the will of Allah. As a teacher, I would like to inspire kids by giving them examples of kids their age who dream and work hard to make it a reality. I’ve started creating a list of a few young achievers, both Muslim and non-Muslim, that came to my mind on our wiki. I am certain there are many more and I encourage others to add to the list and spend a minute or two to briefly mention in class as you see fit.

http://ifss.pbworks.com/Inspirational-Kids

Part of the inspiration for this post was from an excellent book by Sir Ken Robinson. I was first introduced to this talented speaker through one of my favorite TED talks titled “Do schools kill creativity?”

Associate #1: “So how long did you fast for?” Well, Ramadan is a blessed period of time for Muslims which only lasts about thirty days. “Wait how do you survive without eating or drinking for a month?” Fasting is from dawn to sunset each day. We still eat in the early morning and in the evening. “Oh…ok.”  It is also a time to improve our personal character by giving charity to the needy and helping our neighbors while getting rid of our bad habits by turning off the TV and spending less time in general on entertainment.

Associate #2: “So you’re celebrating because you can finally eat again?”. No this is an Islamic holiday that Muslims celebrate around the world. We set several personal goals for ourselves in the month and now we are collectively celebrating our achievements by the Grace of God. Muslims also strive to continue the good habits that we acquired for the rest of the year.

Associate #3 mentioned that she used to fast with her husband for three days regularly when they were younger. Intrigued, I asked what her reason was for doing this. She exclaimed that we “needed to get rid of all the toxins in our body from eating junk”.

Associate #4: “Do you support the building of the Ground Zero Mosque?”. First of all, that is a bit of a misnomer. It is not at Ground Zero, it’s in an area called Park 51, several blocks from Ground Zero. It is also not a mosque but a community center with basketball courts and stuff. And btw, that’s not really a lemon cake, it’s artificially flavored benzonate triglycoride. jk!

Associate #5: “Did you know that “eid” is “die” backwards?”  You never cease to amaze me….”Eid” is actually an Arabic word that has no relation with its transliteration in English. If you want, you can think of it as the day where all the bad habits will die after 30 days of training and practicing self-restraint. Did you know that Oprah films her shows in Chicago’s Harpo Studios? Ever wonder where she got that name from?

Associate #6: “I heard Obama is a Muslim”. Well, he has stated several times that he is not. Although, even if he was it shouldn’t matter.  Muslim Americans represent one of the most well-educated, affluent, and contributing members of society. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of incorrect information that many Americans believe.

Associate #7: An Indian consultant came up to me and said “Eid Mubarak! Cake was quite tasty and yummy!” He was probably exposed to the holiday through Muslim friends or neighbors back home.

At the end of the day, in addition to a chunk of lemon cake for my commute home, there was a lot of positive discussion with several misconceptions that were addressed. I would like to thank Saqib for inspiring me, and thanks to my wife for baking the “yummy” cake!

That said, the next most useful app is one that you should already have in your springboard – Voice Memos.

How can this help me?

First, I would like to emphasize the importance of reciting the Qur’an properly – with tajweed. In salah, we all recite verses of the Quran but what many people do not realize is that it is an individual obligation upon every Muslim to recite without making clear, obvious mistakes. I would even go as far as saying that it is more important that praying Taraweeh based on the fact that the former is fard whereas the latter is sunnah.

Some examples of clear mistakes:

• Changing a short vowel into another  – like a Dammah into Fathah (i.e. Alhamda-lilah instead of Alhamdu-lilah)

• Changing a letter – like pronouncing the letter Qaaf as a Kaaf  (i.e. “Qalb” which means heart would become “kalb” which means dog). There are seven pairs like these in the Arabic language. Can you list them all? (Hint: In addition to the K sound there are A, D, H, S, T, and Z letters which have an Arabic-only counterpart)

• Ignoring elongations (Madd). This is easy to do if you are reciting too quickly. (i.e. Dhaaaaaaleen at the end of Surah Fatiha)

• Stopping or continuing at an incorrect place so that it affects the meaning. Like stopping at ‘Laa ilaaha’ (There is no God), without completing ‘illallaah’ (except Allah).

How unfortunate is the one who takes time to do ibadah but does not maximize reward due to making easily avoidable mistakes like these?

As we are now in the last 10 days of Ramadan, searching for the Night of Power in which the Qur’an was revealed, we are reciting more than anytime during the rest of the year. For many people this is also a good time to review the portions of the Qur’an that we have memorized. We may not even be aware of any mistakes we are making. Further, we should be trying to memorize additional verses. This is a critical time because mistakes made while memorizing often stay with you and become habit that is difficult to break. One of the best ways to avoid these mistakes and help you memorize quickly and efficiently is to record yourself.

One of my favorite apps on the iPhone, and perhaps one of the most underused, is Voice Memos. Although this app was designed as a way to record voice memos (as the name implies), it works equally well as a way to record your recitation. Once you have recorded a set of verses or a small surah from memory, you can play it back while looking a the Qur’an and verify that you haven’t made any clear mistakes or perhaps skipped a word or verse. I would also recommend listening to a qari online and comparing it. There are several sites for this purpose but some of my favorites are quran.com and tanzil.com. I have found that this is one of the best methods of improving your tajweed.

The Voice Memos native app is very basic and easy to use. The latest version allows you to share the files via MMS or email as well as the ability to trim the file. Unfortunately, naming the file is not as straightforward as it should be. Of course, there are other apps that provide similar functionality with more advanced features but it does the job and I haven’t found one yet that is free.

If you have found this useful please share it with others! The Prophet(S) said the best among you are those that learn the Qur’an and teach it.

20% of Americans believe that the Sun rotates around the Earth!!

90% of Americans can’t find Afghanistan on a map – even when told to look in Asia!!

24% of Americans believe that Obama is a Muslim!!

It just boggles the mind doesn’t it? And we are supposed to be the most advanced, developed country in the world?! This ignorance does, however, help explain why Islamophobia has become so ubiquitous in our country and fundamental constitutional rights such as freedom of religion are debated when it comes to building mosques to support our community.

Pricing for mobile donations

The drawback of course is that it takes valuable space which could otherwise be used by one of Tuba’s confectionery creations.

Other tips can be found here:

http://thegogreenblog.com/category/healthy-eating/

I talked about the Khan Academy in class today to give them a resource to use if they ever needed it for their classes as well as to inspire them with a positive (Muslim) role model. I found it interesting that when I mentioned the name Salman Khan, many of the 5th grade girls suddenly straightened up, alert in their chairs. I quickly followed it by clarifying that he was not to be confused with the Bollywood actor, at which point the girls slouched back down apparently somewhat disappointed.

http://www.khanacademy.org/

http://www.islam.com/islamicdates.asp

Habeeb Saab is amazed at how much more advanced the iPhone is compared with what is developed at his current employer

At a recent dawat, Habeeb Saab was overwhelmed with the number of people at the gathering that were proud owners of the iPhone. First Ilyas, then Bhatty, and most recently Asim joined the millions of Apple fans all over the United States. This was too much for Habeeb Saab to handle. He caved in under the pressure and decided to see what all the comotion was about. It didn’t take long before he was thouroughly enjoying himself. Others called his name but he was too busy in the touch screen goodness to notice. Some said it would never happen but alas it seems as if we have lost our dear Habeeb Saab to the dark side.

Those that know me personally are aware of my vested interest in promoting the dinner this year, but to my defense I wrote this post last year before I was happily married alhamdulilah

Support the only daily Muslim radio in the nation

www.radioislam.com

http://www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php

http://www.isna.net/articles/News/Fatwa-on-Swine-Flu-Safety.aspx

So I decided to check which places are really infected – besides Mexico and I was surprised to learn that the USA is next in line!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_swine_flu_outbreak

Ok so where in the USA is it really bad? Probably states that border Mexico right? Hmm…no. It seems as if IL is the most infected state in the country according to the CDC. The following link also has some nice charts of # of cases/deaths…basically keeps going up and up….I also read somewhere that a third of the world is likely infected….scary stuff huh?

http://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/update.htm

http://www.pagetutor.com/trillion/index.html

Congratulations on your recent inauguration and making history by becoming the first African American President of the United States of America. You have brought hope to our nation and the world in a way many have never seen before. The previous administration led by George W. Bush has been blamed for much of the trouble we are now in. For example, our relations with many other countries have deteriorated, particularly in the Muslim world, due to our foreign policy. However, even though you do not share the religious beliefs of a Muslim, you are in a unique situation to mend relations because you came from a Muslim family and lived for some time in the country with the largest Muslim population in the world. More importantly, you present a new paradigm in which you are willing to listen as opposed to dictate and start “a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect” as stated in your inauguration. It will not be easy to repair the damage but as we start this new era of diplomacy, I would like to suggest a project plan towards redressing our wrongs and establishing a new partnership with the Muslim world.

Since March 2003, we have been fighting, what many Americans as well as people for around the world believe, in an unjust war with Iraq. We invaded most based on the premise that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction (WMD) of which none were ever found. In the process, thousands of innocent lives were taken and we also suffered significant casualties on our side. In Iraq, the U.S. has become bogged down in an occupation that is not accomplishing its goals, not improving American security and not contributing to a stable Middle East. While the end of Saddam Hussein’s regime is not mourned, neither coalition forces nor the new Iraqi government have been able to provide Iraqis with an environment conducive to securing the basic rights of safety and liberty. The first plan of action is to develop an exit strategy and bring our troops home and transition Iraq’s control back to Iraqi forces. I would rely on data from top American commanders to access the ground situation and slowly withdraw troops per a timetable. This involves deploying units in areas which are relatively secure as well as areas in which there is confidence in well-trained Iraqi troops. The forecast based on a trend would release most of the troops by June 2010. There will still be critical units which will remain for training purposes that would be rotated based on yearly contracts. With more peace and democracy in Iraq, Afghanistan has become the deadliest place for US soldiers as well as the greatest military challenge for the US. Withdrawing resources from Iraq will allow us to focus more on Afghanistan and weaken the powerful Al-Qaeda organization which is said to have recruited more members due to families destroyed by our military campaigns.

In Iraq, our image was tarnished due to several unfortunate events such as accounts of abuse, torture, sodomy and homicide of prisoners held in the Abu Ghraib prison came to public attention in 2004. In addition, we are widely criticized for the detention camp in Guantanamo Bay which violates international law under the Geneva Convention. There are many cases like that of Murat Kurnaz who became a detainee in 2001. In 60 Minutes, he described how he was held underwater, shocked and suspended from the ceiling. Finally, in August 2006, he was released with acknowledgment of his innocence. We need to condemn torture and those responsible and explain it is not consistent with American values. We need to close down Guantanamo within a year. On a case by case basis, using a forward pass approach, each detainee’s record will be reviewed and dealt with accordingly. Those against we have no evidence of any wrong doing shall be released immediately. Although we can never give back what was taken from them, we should compensate them proportional to the time that they spent as a detainee. We may also establish a program that will aid in integrating them into American society.

Yet another pain point for people around the world including Muslims is the Israel-Palestine conflict. The current situation in Gaza due to the Israel onslaught has resulted in civilian casualties reaching in the hundreds. Bombing of or around U.N. headquarters, schools, hospitals, residences, and media outlets show that innocent civilian lives are being lost and humanitarian aid is not being reached where it is needed most. The activities in Gaza show crisis and breaching of international laws by the Israeli Defense Force. America cannot be quiet when hundreds of innocent civilian lives are being lost and international war crimes are being committed. On Sunday, January 25, CBS 60 Minutes aired an amazing segment exposing Israel’s apartheid against Palestinians. The piece is by Senior CBS Foreign Correspondent Bob Simon, who is Jewish living outside Tel-Aviv and produced by Robert G, Anderson. We can’t ignore the humanitarian crisis occurring in Gaza and the first step is to condemn the attacks on innocent civilians in Gaza, just as we would do for innocent lives in America and elsewhere in the world. Second, we need to stop giving weapons, for free or for profit, to Israel to use for genocide. Last year we gave 2.4 billion dollars to Israel, more than any other country in the world, for weapons that were mostly made in the USA. We cannot have this blood on our hands. Forecasting the future, we should veto any bill that extends more tax dollars towards this cause. As you have stated, we should send a qualified official to negotiate and broker a peace agreement by listening to both sides and with justice.

Unfortunately, due to several reasons I have already discussed, we have an uphill battle to change the tarnished image of the United States as a just world leader. On February 15, 2003, millions of people in approximately 800 cities around the world protested in unison against the U.S invasion of Iraq. This event was listed by the 2004 Guinness Book of Records as the largest protest in human history. In January of 2009, the top CIA Station Chief in Algeria was accused of raping at least two Muslim women. News like this is not widely published in American media however the rest of the world is well aware such incidents and do not forget them easily. What is required now is a massive public relations campaign headed by our Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to condemn incidents like this and speak out against injustice. We should distribute foreign aid in the form of rebuilding infrastructure and not in the form of weapons. The agenda should include visiting with officials from Muslim countries around the world on a regular basis. Secondly, we need to hold all of our officials accountable for their actions and deliver swift consequences for breaking the law. Finally, transparency in government needs to be implemented to ensure ethical decisions are being made. Towards this end, there should be ample press conferences and information available on the official white house website. Too often the media promotes propaganda and efforts should be made to make sure it promotes truthful and unbiased new to the general public.

In conclusion, in order to improve our foreign relations we need to create foreign policy that is fair and level. Just as terrorist groups like Hamas and Al-Qaida have hijacked the religion of Islam and have perverted interpretations of scripture to justify the killing of innocent human life; other groups have also wrongly justified the killing of innocent life in the name of preemption or self-defense. I believe America can help attain peace and security by being even in our judgments and decisions towards policy specifically in the Middle East. I want safety and security for our nation as well as for the rest of the world. I do not feel that we will be secure or that we will be able to attain lasting peace without fairness and justice. America is clearly the leader of the world. It has achieved that status by strong fundamental foundations of honesty, integrity, loyalty and hard work; qualities that we need to sustain generation after generation. As the leader of the free world, we have influence over our friends and enemies. Please make sure that influence is done in a fair and just manner.

Respectfully,

Fahim Bhatty

References:

1. CBS 60 Minutes for Exposing Israeli Apartheid

2. Who Gets U.S. Foreign Aid

3. Exclusive: CIA Station Chief in Algeria Accused of Rapes

4. President Barack Obama’s inaugural address

5. Five Years of My Life: An Innocent Man in Guantanamo

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=98697202

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,458744,00.html

One of those products is called Mozy. Once you install this software on your computer and tell it what to backup, you can literally forget about making backups. Mozy will remember for you, and automatically schedule those precious backups once or twice a day, or just as often as you want. The online backups are stored securely on Mozy’s servers. So if your computer or laptop is stolen or breaks, your data is still safe and sound, ready to be restored as soon as you have a working computer again. Set it and forget it!

I’ve been using Mozy for years and have enjoyed the peace of mind. Twice a day the software automatically backups all data in the folders that I’ve said are important, including any new file or subfolder I created since the previous backup. In addition to the software itself being free, you also get 2 Gigabyte of storage space on the Mozy servers free of charge.

But wait, it gets better: if you use this link to sign up, install the software and make your first backup, you even get an additional 512 Megabytes of storage space, completely free (that offer lasts until October 31, 2008. After that date you still get 256 MB of additional storage space on top of the 2 Gigabyte). Just click the link, and then click on the big “Get 2 GB for Free” button.

Sign up today!

I have always respected Colin Powell even though he was a Republican serving under George W. Bush. As Secretary of State he was the only one who brought some integrity to the administration and often opposed the views of his fellow officials.

However, now I have a new level of respect for Mr.Powell as he not only gave a very thoughtful and convincing endorsement for the Democratic nominee, Barack Obama, but also supported Muslim Americans and our struggle to fight Islamophobia in this country.

“I’m also troubled by, not what Senator McCain says, but what members of the party say. And it is permitted to be said such things as, “Well, you know that Mr. Obama is a Muslim.” Well, the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is, what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president? Yet, I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion, “He’s a Muslim and he might be associated terrorists.” This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

I feel strongly about this particular point because of a picture I saw in a magazine. It was a photo essay about troops who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. And one picture at the tail end of this photo essay was of a mother in Arlington Cemetery, and she had her head on the headstone of her son’s grave. And as the picture focused in, you could see the writing on the headstone. And it gave his awards–Purple Heart, Bronze Star–showed that he died in Iraq, gave his date of birth, date of death. He was 20 years old. And then, at the very top of the headstone, it didn’t have a Christian cross, it didn’t have the Star of David, it had crescent and a star of the Islamic faith. And his name was Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, and he was an American. He was born in New Jersey. He was 14 years old at the time of 9/11, and he waited until he can go serve his country, and he gave his life. Now, we have got to stop polarizing ourself in this way. And John McCain is as nondiscriminatory as anyone I know. But I’m troubled about the fact that, within the party, we have these kinds of expressions.”

- General Colin Powell

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/27265490#27265490

Cutting Through the Bull

Embedded video from CNN Video

Alhamdulilah! I have been waiting soooooo long for someone in the media to have the courage to say this. Kudos to Campbell Brown! Thank you!

Update:

I would be remiss if I did not also mention General Colin Powell interview on October 19, 2008 in which he endorsed then-Democratic candidate Barack Obama for President. During this interview with Tom Brokaw on Meet the Press, General Powell spoke of his disappointment with the Republican Party and their ‘allegations’ that Mr. Obama is a Muslim. He went on to say:

…the correct answer is, he is not a Muslim, he’s a Christian. He’s always been a Christian. But the really right answer is: what if he is? Is there something wrong with being a Muslim in this country? The answer’s no, that’s not America. Is there something wrong with some seven-year-old Muslim-American kid believing that he or she could be president?…This is not the way we should be doing it in America.

How awesome is that?

As for me, I’m buying everything online from now on.

RED ROSE NEBULA, photo taken by the NASA Hubble Space Telescope of an exploding star 3,000 light years away.

“When the sky is torn apart, so it was (like) a red rose, like ointment.”

Al-Quran (Surah Ar-Rahman 55:37)

Could the Arabs living in the desert more than 1400 years ago have any knowledge of the galaxy lifecycle? Is it possible the Quran was written by man? Are technological breakthroughs in science today that confirm the theories of the past mere coincedences?

I think not.

Hopping the Fence

The hot sun seared his skin as Alfredo Quiñones-Hinojosa bent in the field to pick tomatoes. It was work few Americans would do for just $155 a week, and most of his co-workers on this 10,000-acre farm in central California were, like Quiñones, illegal Mexican immigrants. It was a grim existence: He lived in a decrepit truck camper-without the truck-in the middle of a field.

One day the farm owner’s son came by. “He looked at us like we were less than dirt,” recalls Quiñones. Other workers were only too happy to be disdained by wealthy Americans who could have them deported, but not Quiñones. He carried an English dictionary in his pocket and studied it every day. He was studying to become an American.

It had been a year since Quiñones jumped the fence in Calexico. His cousin was supposed to be waiting for him on the American side. Instead he was met by the U.S. Border Patrol. Half an hour later, Quiñones was back in Mexico.

Figuring the border police would never expect the same guy to cross in the same spot on the same night, he went over the fence again. This time, his cousin was there. Quiñones hopped in his car, and the two roared off into the night toward El Centro. It was January 2, 1987, Quiñones’s 19th birthday.

The oldest of Sostenes Quiñones and Flavia Hinojosa’s five children, Alfredo began work at age five, pumping gas at his father’s Pemex station, where the family also lived, on a dusty road 37 miles south of the border town of Mexicali. It was hard work, but Quiñones didn’t mind. He also got to drive the cars now and then, perching on a stack of pillows.

By Mexican standards, the Quiñones family was almost middle-class. But in 1976 the Mexican government devalued the peso, throwing the country into turmoil. “We lost everything, just like that,” Quiñones says with a snap of his fingers. “I remember going to the back of the house to find my father crying.”

Opting Out of Injustice

Sostenes turned to his brothers, who were working in the United States as migrant farmworkers. They supplied the family with sacks of potatoes and beans. Quiñones helped bring in extra money by working at a taco stand.

Still, he kept up with school. “My father kept telling me, ‘You want to be like me? Just never go to school.’ And I was not going to follow the same path.” At age 14, Quiñones qualified for an accelerated program in Mexicali that prepared students for jobs as elementary school teachers. Each morning, he rose at 4:30 to take a bus to the school. There was no bus home in the afternoon, so he hitchhiked-or walked-in the blistering heat.

He graduated near the top of his class. But because his family had no political connections, he says, he was assigned a teaching job at a remote school far down the Baja peninsula. “I wasn’t willing to put up with that injustice,” he says.

Shortly after, he decided to leave Mexico in search of better options. He had been to America twice before, doing summer labor. So on his arrival, Quiñones headed with his cousin for the San Joaquin Valley to work in the fields. “I picked tomatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, corn, grapes.”

After a year, he had saved $8,000-almost all of his pay. “I ate what I was picking,” he says. “I wore the same pair of jeans the whole year.”

When Quiñones looked up from the dirt, the best job he could see was driving the big tractors. The drivers were skilled, and they supervised crews. He was told it took ten years of fieldwork to land such a promotion, but Quiñones was soon behind the wheel of sophisticated plows and ditchdiggers. He learned how to service the engines and qualified for a temporary work permit. “I had that hunger in my gut,” he says.

Livin’ La Vida Loca

A few months later, Quiñones told his cousin he was going to leave the farm. His response was, “What are you talking about? If you keep working here, one day you’ll be the foreman!”

“Sometimes you have to be willing to risk,” Quiñones said.

He moved to Stockton and took a job in a rail yard so he could attend night school at San Joaquin Delta College, learning English. His first job, shoveling sulfur, was the worst of his life-smelly and filthy. Once again, he scrambled to acquire new skills, this time as a welder repairing valves on tank cars. Within a year, he’d become a foreman.

With his English improving, Quiñones switched to the night shift and began full-time studies in science and math. To make ends meet, he also tutored other students.

One day, outside the school cafeteria, he met Anna Peterson, an American student. “I was fresh out of high school,” she says. “Alfredo was this fascinating guy, always in a hurry. He had long, curly hair and earrings. I walked up and introduced myself. We became friends.”

After graduating with an associate’s degree in 1991, Quiñones was accepted to the University of California, Berkeley. He moved to a low-rent district in Oakland, getting by on a combination of scholarships, loans, a small grant and, as always, work. He became a teacher’s assistant in three departments and also took a job at a men’s clothing store.

Peterson stopped by the store one afternoon. The two had lost touch, but the reunion was fateful. Soon they fell in love.

Quiñones excelled in the competitive environment of Berkeley, getting straight A’s in advanced classes, writing his honors thesis on the role of drug receptors in the brain and teaching calculus on the side-not that he paid much attention to his standing. In the spring of 1993, his mentor, Hugo Mora, looked over his transcripts and told him he stood a good chance of getting into Harvard Medical School. “I thought,” recalls Quiñones, “number one, this guy is very nice, and number two, he’s clearly living la vida loca.” Quiñones had been to a doctor only once in his life.

Then he thought some more. “My grandmother was a curandera, a town healer,” he says. “I saw the respect that she had. I decided to give it a shot.”

On the Job Skills

Harvard accepted him, and Quiñones moved East in the fall of 1994. Peterson followed, and they married in ’96. A year later, Quiñones became a U.S. citizen. “I’m sitting there, ten years after hopping the fence, and it hits me how fast I came up.”

Quiñones says he understands why people might resent him for entering the country illegally. His only excuse is that he was a brash and desperate teenager. “The last thing I was thinking was that I was going to break the law,” he says. Once he arrived, Quiñones says, the United States “opened its doors to me”-a welcome, he adds, that would be unlikely today given the heated immigration debate. He offers no solution but suggests it will not come from higher walls. “As long as there is poverty in our neighboring countries, there will continue to be this influx.”

Quiñones gave the commencement address when he graduated from Harvard Medical School and continued his training, in neurosurgery, at the University of California, San Francisco. It was an exciting but daunting prospect. Could an illegal Mexican fieldworker become a brain surgeon? It didn’t seem possible.

Residency turned out to be a low point in Quiñones’s American journey. “Neurosurgery has been reserved for people who come from a long pedigree of medicine,” he says carefully. “It’s rare that you have someone like me go into this highly demanding field, where lots of patients die.” He’d experienced prejudice before-the farm owner’s son who looked right through him, a former girlfriend whose mother disdained him for his nationality. “They just ignited my fire even more,” he says.

He admits there were times, working 130 hours a week for $30,000 a year, when he considered quitting. “I felt what my father felt, not being able to put food on the table for my family,” he says. “But I had a dream.”

“Are we ready to rock and roll?” Dr. Quiñones, now 40, sits on the edge of a patient’s bed. It’s a Friday morning at Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center in Baltimore, and this will be Quiñones’s second brain surgery patient of the day. The woman, who’s in her 60s, has two tumors; one is in the highly sensitive part of the cortex that controls motor movements. Quiñones holds her hand and looks into her eyes. “I walk a fine line every day between good and bad outcomes, and bad outcomes can mean life or death,” he tells her frankly. “Also, there is a chance that you will be paralyzed on the right side.” She nods. Dr. Q, as everyone calls him, believes patients deserve both compassion and honesty. “That is the risk,” he concludes. “So we’re set. You and I have a date.”

An hour later, in operating room five, surrounded by six attendants and an anesthesiologist, Dr. Q cuts through the woman’s scalp to expose her skull. Using a whirring tool, he carves out a two-inch-wide section of bone and pops it off like a manhole cover. He carefully cuts back the dura, a leathery layer of tissue under the skull, and the brain is exposed.

Doing a World of Good

Dr. Q specializes in a high-tech form of brain surgery called motor mapping, in which an electrical stimulator is used to locate sensitive areas. “Let’s have complete silence, please,” he says, and the room falls quiet. He touches the stimulator to the brain surface, and the woman’s arm twitches-a spot to avoid. Eventually he determines a safe path to the tumor, which he painstakingly removes, piece by piece, with an electrical forceps that cauterizes as it dissects.

The four-and-a-half-hour procedure goes well-the patient comes to with no loss of motor function-and Dr. Q is ecstatic. “Holy guacamole, that was a great day!” he says, shedding surgical garb as he heads to a meeting with the family of a man who recently suffered a massive brain hemorrhage.

Although Dr. Quiñones is a relatively young doctor, his colleagues are already impressed. “Not only is he a talented and conscientious surgeon, but he’s very sensitive to the needs of patients,” says Dr. Henry Brem, director of neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. “And he’s a joyous person-full of enthusiasm and the mission to do good for the world.”

It’s now after seven, and Dr. Q has been working for 12 hours. Other surgeons are going home for the weekend, but he is headed for his research laboratory in downtown Baltimore. The lab is an extension of his operating room: Cancerous tissue that he removes in surgery is studied with the goal of finding new therapies. “One hope is that we can make brain cancer a bit more chronic, like diabetes, instead of a devastating lethal disease,” he explains.

Dr. Q joins more than a dozen med students and residents from around the world at a table with a projector. Over Chinese food cartons, they present and discuss studies with titles like “A Functional Role for EGFR Signaling in Myelination and Remyelination.” The work is serious, but after a full day of surgery, the meetings give Dr. Q a chance to unwind.

The following afternoon, many of the students show up at Dr. Q’s home for a Tex-Mex cookout. The house, in a suburban subdivision, is spacious but hardly palatial; several rooms have no furniture, though toys are everywhere. The doctor’s hectic schedule means little time relaxing with his three children-Gabriella, eight, David, six, and Olivia, two-so today he dotes on them.

Work is never far from home. Recently, Dr. Q removed a chest tumor from Gabriella’s pet hamster, Theodore. “It was very aggressive, and I wanted to give him a chance,” he says.

Meanwhile, his BlackBerry chirps constantly with hospital and lab updates. Anna, 35, smiles. “I’m not one of those clingy, needy wives who have to talk to their husbands 50 times a day,” she says. “I run the house completely.”

Except the grill on the back porch, where Dr. Q is flipping tortillas. “I think my background allows me to interact with my patients in a more humanistic way,” he says. “When they’re scared, I’m one of them. I’m just lucky that patients allow me to touch their brains, their lives. When I go in, I see these incredible blood vessels. And it always brings me back to the time I used to pick those huge, beautiful tomatoes with my own hands. Now I am here, looking at the same color-that bright red that just fills the brain with nutrition and wonder. I’m right there in the field, and I’m just doing it.”

“…the brick walls are there for a reason. The brick walls are not there to keep us out. The brick walls are there to give us a chance to show how badly we want something. Because the brick walls are there to stop the people who don’t want it badly enough. They are there to stop the other people.”
- Randy Pausch

We cannot change the cards we are dealt, just how we play the hand.

1. Doughnuts

It’s hard to resist the smell of a Krispy Kreme doughnut, which is why I never step foot in the store. Doughnuts are fried chock-full of sugar and white flour and loads of trans fat.

According to the Krispy Kreme website, an average 3.5 ounce sugar doughnut weighs in with about 400 calories and contains few other nutrients besides fat. These sugary treats may satisfy your craving but it won’t satisfy your hunger as most of the calories come from fat.

“Eating a lot of refined sugar contributes to blood sugar ’swings’ or extreme fluctuations,” eDiets Chief Nutritionist Susan Burke said.

2. Cheeseburger with fries

The age-old classic may be delicious but think twice before sinking your teeth into that Big Mac. The saturated fat found in cheese burgers has been linked to heart attacks, strokes and some types of cancer.

“In fact, fast-food portions are gargantuan, almost double the calories per meal compared to 20 years ago,” Susan says. “Twenty years ago the average fast-food cheeseburger had about 300 calories. Today’s BK Whopper with cheese has 720. To burn the excess 420 calories, you’d have to run for 40 minutes. For example, in 1985 a medium French fry had 240 calories, 2.4 ounces. Today’s ‘medium’ is 6.9 ounces and 610 calories. “

“This fast-food meal of cheeseburger and fries has way too many calories and fat grams, not to mention grams of saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol and sodium.”

Let’s break down this meal. First, take the white-flour bun (refined carbohydrates), then add some processed cheese (saturated fat and trans fat, plus lots of additives and preservatives) and then top off with fried red meat (cholesterol and saturated fats). And let’s not forget about the condiments such as the always fattening mayonnaise.

Not sounding so appetizing anymore, huh? Oh, and let’s not forget about the infamous side dish. You cheeseburger will most likely come with a side of French fries, which is sadly the most popular vegetable dish in the U.S. Don’t kid yourself, French fries are not vegetables, they are extremely high in fat and contain a tiny amount of nutrients.

3. Fried Chicken and Chicken Nuggets

With the recent class-action lawsuit between The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) and KFC, the health risks posed by fried foods are becoming more public. The CSPI is suing the food chain for their use of cooking oil containing unhealthy trans fats. The lawsuit seeks to order KFC to use other types of cooking oils and to inform customers how much trans fats KFC’s food contains.

Foods cooked in highly heated oils (most notably partially hydrogenated oil) have been known to cause cancer, weight gain and other serious health risks if ingested regularly. A 10-piece chicken McNugget from McDonald’s has 420 calories, 24 grams of fat and 1120 milligrams of sodium. One Extra Crispy Chicken Breast from KFC has around 420 calories and eight grams of saturated fat. So unless you want to super size yourself, it’s best to make a clean break with fried foods.

4. Oscar Mayer’s Lunchables

Sure they are convenient and easy, but boy are they unhealthy! These kid-marketed lunches are loaded with saturated fat and sodium. They usually contain highly processed meats and cheeses, white flour crackers and sugary treats. Lunchables get two-thirds of their calories from fat and sugar. And they provide lopsided nutrition since they contain no fruits or vegetables.

“They insidiously promote obesity by making kids think that lunch normally comes in a cellophane-wrapped box,” Susan says. “Parents are promoting their children’s obesity by buying these items. They’re expensive, too. Pack a sandwich and save dollars and health.”

5. Sugary Cereal

Not all cereals are created equally. And while your kids might beg for the latest cookie or marshmallow chocolate surprise cereals, it is a safe bet they are about as healthy as a dessert. Keywords to look out for are puffed, dyed and sweetened.

Most kids’ cereals are so highly processed they no longer look like the grains they were originally made from. A healthy alternative is oatmeal. Although, if you are buying pre-packaged oatmeal make sure to check the label and see how much sugar it contains, you might be surprised.

“A little sugar isn’t a problem but when the first ingredient on the box is sugar, then watch out,” she said. “There is no fruit in Froot Loops. But the unsweetened original Cheerios or Rice Krispies are fine, and you can sweeten them naturally with blueberries and strawberries.”

6. Processed Meats.

What falls under the category of processed meats?

Hot dogs, sausage, jerky, bacon, certain lunch meats and meats used in canned soup products. Almost all processed meats have sodium nitrite added as a preservative.

A recent study conducted at the University of Hawaii found that sodium nitrite can act as “a precursor to highly carcinogenic nitrosamines — potent cancer-causing chemicals that accelerate the formation and growth of cancer cells throughout the body.”

So eliminate these meats from your diet before they eliminate you!

7. Canned soup

Sometimes regarded as a healthy food, soups can be very deceiving. You must stay on your guard because many canned soups have high levels of trans fats, sodium and artificial preservatives such as MSG. Just one serving (which is roughly one cup) can have almost 1,000 milligrams of salt. Also, steer clear of soups that are cream-based, they can be high in calories and fat.

Susan says it is important to “read labels from back to front. Ignore the health claims, and instead focus on the ingredients and serving size. Watch out for hydrogenated fat (trans fat) and sodium.

If you’re buying bread to go with you soup, the first ingredient should be whole grain — either whole wheat, rye or other grain.

If it just says ‘wheat bread,’ that doesn’t mean whole wheat.”

By Jaclyn Johnson
eDiets.com Staff Writer

I’m on the Soundvision.com email list so recently I got an email about RadioIslam, a daily Muslim radio talk show here in Chicago. I started reading thru a fairly long list of just some of the distinguished guests that were on the program – Noam Chomsky, Jesse Jackson Jr, the daughter of Malcolm X, the grandson of Ghandi…pretty impressive! I kept reading…Keith Ellison, first Muslim congressman, Ingrid Mattson, first female president of ISNA….more first this and first that…peace activist, Robert Spencer, Nobel Peace prize winner, even the artist who designed the Eid stamp! Wait a second…something didn’t seem right…I went back…Robert Spencer?! It was like the part in Seseme Street where they play the song “one of these things don’t go with the other”…THE Robert Spencer? The guy who basically says that Islam is evil? The guy who says horrible things about the greatest man that ever lived? I was intrigued…

The cool thing about the website is that every show is archived so I in a few seconds I could bring up the enitre program from any day. I found the day that Mr. Spencer was on and started listening. I was excited because I actually have met one of the hosts, Sr. Humaira, who btw is a wonderful mother, one of the instrumental people behind the Webb Foundation, AND somehow finds time to serve the community mashAllah. Also, I had met the other guest Salam Al-Marayati at the CIOGC dinner a few months back and have heard him on TV. So first off, Spencer comes off as a pretty intelligent guy which is scary. He also seems to know a lot about Islam and had definitely done his research. The problem is how he twists certain things and takes it out context to make his points. Anyone who doesn’t bother to dig deeper may actually believe what he says. For example, I agree with him that there are people who call themselves muslims that kill innocent people in the name of religion. But to say they represent mainstream Islam or its teachings is preposterous! Anyways, Al-Marayati did a pretty good job of countering his arguments…I believe in the end, with the help of God, truth and justice will always prevail. It was a bit amusing because near the end of the interview, Spencer finally lost his cool since he knew he wasn’t making any sense and started yelling at Salam. lol.

So anyways, my respect for RadioIslam has gone up. Gotta give props for having the guts to bring a guy like Spencer on the show. I really couldn’t believe it. It is almost like Obama inviting Clinton over to his house for dinner the day after she sends thousands of emails to people about lies that he must be a terrorist because Barack rhymes with Iraq, his middle name Hussain means he’s related to Saddam, and Obama well is almost like Osama…kinda like that…

If you are reading this, there is a dinner coming up to support RadioIslam. If you cannot attend, I would encourage you to donate to keep them on the air or at least send them an email to tell them what a great job they are doing. =)

—————-

Radio Islam is the nation’s only daily Muslim talk show. It broadcasts from wcev 1450 Am every day 6 PM and live through www.RadioIslam.com
When: Sat. April 5, 6 PM
Where: Sabre Room Hall, 8900 W 95 St. Hickory Hills, IL

LONDON (AFP) – Hans Blix, the former chief UN weapons inspector, slammed the Iraq war as a “tragedy” and blamed it on leaders ignoring the facts, in a comment piece published Thursday.

Writing in The Guardian on the five-year anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, Blix, who clashed with Washington in the run-up to the Iraq war, described the war as “a tragedy — for Iraq, for the US, for the UN, for truth and human dignity.”

In the sub-headline to the comment piece, Blix, who headed the UN Monitoring, Verification and Inspection Commission, wrote that responsibility for the war “must lie with those who ignored the facts five years ago”.

At the time of the Iraq war, Blix accused the US and Britain of exaggerating the threat from Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein’s alleged “weapons of mass destruction” — traces of which have never been found.

In his comment piece, he said the war was a “setback in the world’s efforts to develop legal restraints on the use of armed force between states” and added that in 2003, “Iraq was not a real or imminent threat to anybody.”

———————————————————————————————–

U.S. MILITARY DEATHS (IRAQ):	4011
U.S. MILITARY WOUNDED (IRAQ):	29496
IRAQI CIVILIAN DEATHS:	151000
‘EXCESS’ IRAQI DEATHS:	655000

Campaign Donors : Fundrace 2008 – Huffington Post

Book Description
In October 2001, nineteen-year-old Murat Kurnaz traveled to Pakistan to visit a madrassa. During a security check a few weeks after his arrival, he was arrested without explanation and for a bounty of $3,000, the Pakistani police sold him to U.S. forces. He was first taken to Kandahar, Afghanistan, where he was severely mistreated, and then two months later he was flown to Guantanamo as Prisoner #61. For more than 1,600 days, he was tortured and lived through hell.He was kept in a cage and endured daily interrogations, solitary confinement, and sleep deprivation. Finally, in August 2006, Kurnaz was released, withacknowledgment of his innocence. Told with lucidity, accuracy, and wisdom, Kurnaz’s story is both sobering and poignant–an important testimony about our turbulent times when innocent people get caught in the crossfire of the war on terrorism.

What is going on in this pic?

What is the guy on the horse thinking?

Imagine you were living in this time…

© 2006 E. Brooke Lanier, Staring, archival inkjet print on photo rag paper (22” x 11”)

Raised in Rochester, Minnesota, home of the Mayo Clinic, E. Brooke Lanier’s work has always alluded to medicine and science. However, it was not until her own retinal detachment at age 22 that her work began to directly refer to her disability. Lanier’s “eye art” played a great role in helping her process the experience of an artist going blind. She characterizes her artistic method and resulting artworks as “very laborious and methodical, qualities that lead to a meditative state of mind.” In creating Staring, Lanier precisely reproduced the dimensions of a Snellen Eye Chart, editing her message down to the correct amount of letters. She then hand-drew the letters on graph paper, perfected the ratio and spacing, scanned the drawings, and modified them in Photoshop before printing them at regulation size. Lanier’s work invites increased reflection and consciousness on the part of the viewer, creating awareness for those with visual impairments. Lanier holds a BA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

http://www.vsarts.org/PreBuilt/showcase/gallery/exhibits/driven/02_C_lanier.html

Another entry says:

“Relax, while I poke you in the eye”

http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=224