Apparently, two military helicopters were vandalized in the production line of a Boeing plant in Pennsylvania.  We’re not talking some kickin graffiti here folks, we’re talking a deliberate act of apparent broken/severed wires and a suspicious bolt.

Maybe I’m writting this up a bit too soon but so far I’ve seen no posts pointing the finger to homegrown Islamic terrorists.  Of course, anyone who knows anything about aerospace and the recent contract awarded to Airbus (now being disputed) or anyone who has bothered to notice the reception McCain has received by irrate Boeing employees probably has enough brain matter to pause button their quick little fingers. 

So, no, I’m not really surprised that I haven’t found posts pointing fingers but I am extremely surprised that as a nation we’re not discussing this at all.  We’re not making statements that this act wasn’t acceptable from where ever it may have come from.  We’re not wondering how this could have happened - this is a matter of national security and while yes, we may be assuming that this came from within - why are we not asking what security measures can be taken to assure that our military equipment can not be sabotaged?  Why are we not jumping the gun and pointing out all of the ramifications of this episode - like - well now Boeing will have to up security and add to the costs of any future bids they submit?  Have we become sympathizers and apologists because this just may be the work of our suffering Americans?

It’s not just this.  A few weeks back I was watching ER and hmmmm .. there was a hostage situation and there we were portraying a criminal as a human being.  Now, I realize that we do this on occasion but the difference is that this time the focus of the show was that this happened because of our economy, because of our failed credit practices.  This is something that is affecting a large portion of Americans right now and the criminal behavior was romanticized. 

You know, I’m not even the one that has a problem with this because the reality is that desperate people do desperate things.  However, all too often, we as Americans like things to be black and white when it comes to things foreign.  Many of us have no problems with the overabundance of terrorist related films - as long as the terrorist is strictly the bad guy - black and white.  However, if that terrorist suddenly takes on shades of grey, if we portray that terrorist as a human being and that terrorist suddenly no longer takes on the form of absolute evil, even though he still may be construed as “bad” and not “good” - some of us will react with absolute disgust. 

Can we be pre-emptive about facing the realities of what the ramifications are in terms of the economy?  Can we stop for a moment and think about all of the desperate acts that may be commited by people facing job loss, losing their homes, the affects of the cost of food going up, gas going up?  Can we stop for a moment and address these things as vigilantly as we address terrorism?  Can we stop for one moment to consider what thriving conditions exist for Hamas and Al Qaeda to recruit?  Can we stop for one moment and apply that to what can happen in our own society?

or wait .. maybe an Obama/Edwards ticket.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

Judge Paul Paruk (per-ROOK) requested she remove her veil during a 2006 hearing in the town of Hamtramck (ham-TRA’-mick). She was contesting a $3,000 charge from a rental-car company to repair a vehicle she said thieves had broken into.

Paruk told her he needed to see her face to judge her truthfulness and gave her a choice: Take off the veil have the case dismissed. She kept it on and sued the judge last year alleging he violated her religious and civil rights. source

Yesterday, a federal judge dismissed her case against that judge.

Hillary Clinton, makes statements that she’d go nuclear on Iran if they go nuclear on Israel - and she has no regrets.  Konservo has video of her Iran/nuclear statements and I was reminded of the whole Paksitan debate that ensued last summer.

“Why would I have any regrets?” Senator Clinton said Saturday in response to ABC News’ question as to whether she had any regrets about threatening Tehran.

“I am asked a question about what I would do if Iran attacked our ally, a country that many of us have a great deal of, you know, connection with and feeling for,” the Democratic hopeful continued.

The former first lady added that she sought to make it ‘very clear’ for Iranian echelons what to expect if they ever draw up a plan for attacking Israel.

“I sure want to make it abundantly clear to them that they would face a tremendous cost if they did such a thing,” Clinton expounded.  source

However, Clinton sure did go nutty on Obama when Obama discussed Pakistan last summer and then when Obama said he wouldn’t use the nuclear option, Hillary had this to say:

“Presidents should be very careful at all times in discussing the use or nonuse of nuclear weapons,” Clinton said. “Presidents since the Cold War have used nuclear deterrence to keep the peace. And I don’t believe that any president should make any blanket statements with respect to the use or nonuse of nuclear weapons.”  source

So which is it?  You should or should not make blanket statements in regards to the use or nonuse of nuclear weapons?  Well, okay, maybe it’s okay to bring these issues up when Independants and Republicans get to vote for you in the open Indiana primary … hmmmm …

Gimme a break.

Watch and I’ll write more a little later.

“I’d vote for her because this country needs change and maybe it’s time for a woman to be president.  You know, maybe a woman’s emotions are what we need.  I don’t think he’s going to be any different, he’s just another man”  Says one older woman to another in the waiting room at the doctors office.

I nearly choked on my Starbucks when I heard that.  Serves me right for eavesdropping on their conversation, I guess.  Still - the irony.  I mean, how sexist!  Where’s the equality ladies?

Yeah, it would be great to have a woman in the white house and not as first lady but as president but I want her to be there because she was “it”.  I want her to be there because of where she stands on the issues.  I want her to be there because she can lead this country.  I want her there because she was the best candidate and not because she was the most ambitious.  And right now, the issue is change and I want her to bring change.  When she gets there, I want her to remember where she stood on the issues during her campaign and I want her to do everything in her power to remain faithful to those promises.

Obama and Clinton, in my opinion, have both been pretty close in regards to most issues that they care to elaborate on.  I prefer Hillary’s national healthcare plan because it offers a sound solution for small businesses which help our economy.  I prefer Obama’s Immigration reform plan which would provide driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants (I don’t think anyone should be out there driving without a license and unable to aquire insurance - I don’t think it’s a fair trade to punish illegal immigrants and at the same time punish law abiding citizens who may end up in an accident with someone that does not have insurance - it also makes sense that this is a good way of knowing exactly who is in our country).

However, there seems to be much going unsaid on Hillary’s part.  Take for example Hillary on women.  She states:

“Today, despite the progress women have made, they earn only 77 cents for every dollar men earn — and women of color earn even less. Hillary is leading the charge in the Senate to strengthen equal pay laws and end pay disparities between men and women. She introduced the Paycheck Fairness Act to strengthen the penalties associated with wage discrimination, to ensure that the federal government sets a higher standard, and to increase oversight of employers. Hillary has also worked to increase access to capital and other support for women-owned businesses.”

That’s nice.  However, Obama is ahead of the game on this one as he’s not only as pro-choice, pro-family, pro-women’s rights but he addresses issues that go beyond the laws.  Laws are wonderful but if we as women can not count on the agencies responsible for enforcing those laws, they mean little to us.  Obama states:

Historically, the Civil Rights Division has been the primary protector of the nation’s anti-discrimination laws and has helped transform our nation by leading the fight against racial, ethnic, religious, and gender discrimination. Along with agencies such as the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs and the Civil Rights Divisions that have been created within other federal agencies (such as the Department of Education), DOJ’s civil rights arm has helped transform our nation. These agencies have led the fight against racial, ethnic, religious, and gender discrimination – whether it’s on the job, at the polls, in our criminal justice system, or in our educational institutions.

Under the Bush administration, these important offices have experienced a shift in their priorities, and enforcement of various types of traditional civil rights cases has gone down.

􀂾 By the end of 2006, the Civil Rights Division filed only about six Title VII employment cases per year, and very few of them involved racial discrimination. This drop in cases does not coincide with a drop in complaints: the EEOC referred over 3,000 charges of individual discrimination alone to the Division.

􀂾 The number of housing cases filed by the Housing and Civil Enforcement Section has fallen from 53 in 2001 to 31 in 2006. Cases involving discrimination have fallen by 60%. In 2003, DOJ announced that it would no longer file disparate impact cases involving housing discrimination – a sharp break from DOJ’s longstanding and bipartisan policy to aggressively litigate these cases.

􀂾 The voting section filed no discrimination cases on behalf of African American voters between 2001 and 2006. The Bush Administration has only filed three cases under Section 2 overall, and has cut staffing for voting rights cases.

Part of the decline in traditional enforcement priorities is traceable to a shift in DOJ hiring. In 2002, the Bush Administration put political appointees in charge of hiring new attorneys in the Civil Rights Division – departing from the longstanding practice of giving the job to career professionals. Since then, less than half of new hires in the Division’s important Appellate, Employment and Voting Sections have had any prior civil rights experience – and less than a quarter have had any prior experience enforcing the nation’s civil rights laws. The others, according to a Boston Globe analysis, “gained their experience either by defending employers against discrimination lawsuits or by fighting against race-conscious policies.” Barack Obama will reverse these trends and reinvigorate the enforcement activities of these agencies. Read the whole plan at the bottom of this page.

Then, of course, there’s social security.  Ali Eteraz asks the question “who’s the elitist now” in a post highlighting a Clinton - O’Reilly discussion on social security.  However, it’s quite a bit more problematic than that.  It’s an issue that Clinton is not willing to address and the question why has to be asked.  Is it perhaps because it would affect her 100% rating by the ARA?  Is it perhaps because it would affect her standing with the middle class?  Bi-partisan-shmartisan - Obama says the same thing but at least he’s being honest about considers possible solutions. 

Sometime last summer Clinton was ridiculing Obama’s stance on diplomacy .. that he’d talk to leaders of countries who we consider hostile but today her stance on diplomacy is as follows:

We know we need global coalitions to tackle global problems like climate change, poverty, AIDS, and terrorism. And to keep our country safe, we need to start engaging our enemies again. During the Cold War, with missiles pointed at us, we never stopped talking to the Soviet Union. That didn’t mean we agreed with them or approved of them. But it did mean we came to understand them — and that was crucial to confronting the threats they posed.

Her talk on Iraq says one thing, her voting record quite another .. see here.

Fine, we can learn from our mistakes, I believe in that, but we can also learn from the mistakes of others.  Just today we’re hearing all about Clinton’s gas tax vacation plan, one which is unlikely to have any congressional support and Obama’s learned his lesson on this one already.  It may save the average family $28 dollars over the vacation but it could cost 6,000 jobs - it’s allready happened in Illinois when he voted in favor of similar legislation.  It looks to me like Clinton is looking to buy votes at the price of $28 at the expense of thousands of people’s jobs. 

Well, I can’t say I’m proud of the way this campaign of Clinton’s is going, that’s for sure.  From the Is Obama Muslim crap that was comming from her staffers to the landed in Bosnia under sniper fire to the some things just don’t need to be discussed evasiveness to the let me buy your vote tactics - hmmmm .. she’s sounding a bit like Bush.  I just hope that if she makes it into the white house as first lady president that she concentrates on the change that we’re all waiting for, the change she’s promising.

On the up-side if she does make it to the White House - hey - we’re going to have a “first man” sitting pretty (hopefully, that’s all he’ll be doing) in the White House.

Musical Chef has the same ilahija done by Aziz Alili.  This one is by Hamza of MacBeth (a pop group - I’ll post one of their videos later):

and my very bad translation:

He woke in a hole, solitary confinement he saw
Beautiful Jusuf drew a breath “My Allah is enough for me”

The carters bring thirst, an empty water can they bring
Over the hole they hang: “My Allah is enough for me”

Until Aziz comes down, hard years pass
Unto her hardship: “My Allah is enough for me”

Here comes the happy day and my sad dad
And a happy return from sadness to serenity: “My Allah is enough for me”

Every night gives birth to day, in every nuisance Allah intervenes
To everything there is an end: “My Allah is enough for me”

The sick person seeks a cure, asker her sultan
The adorning seeks their adorned: “My Allah is enough for me”

I get so many hits on my blog in search of “ilahije” and “ilahija” and quite a few of you have taken a liking to the Bosnian ilahije that I have on my blog.  I’ve been searching youtube a little more these past few days and have run accross quite a few that I’m hoping to translate and post here soon (one more comming up today).  Unfortunately, I ran accross one that just has my blood boiling and it will be the first post for today so that I can just vent it all out and then roll off a few more posts so that it’s not straight at the top of my blog - it doesn’t deserve to hold that position but it can’t go ignored either.

First, I want to make it clear that my issue is not with hijab.  I choose not to wear hijab.  I have researched the matter and my reasons for not wearing it are feminist, some may say political, but they are also religious.  I will only submit to Allah.  By the same token there are women out there that choose to wear hijab, their reasons are for submitting to the will of Allah and there are plenty of Muslim feminists out there that choose to wear hijab.  I not only respect, admire and love women who wear hijab for these reasons but I’ll stand up for them. 

That being said, this post is not about whether or not hijab is a requirement, so please do not take it there, I will not take the bait into debate about this on this thread.  This post is about the sheer ignorance of this rap ilahija and quite honestly I look at it as a piece of propoganda.

Watch and read:

That scarf which you wear
You must pride yourself with it
Like that my dear sister
You only bring good with it
And that good circles all around you
You are a savior not just for yourself but for others
Don’t you preoccupy yourself with those that give you strange looks.
Who don’t wish to truthfully submit themselves to God
When some sisters pass they act as though some darkness has overcome them
Don’t you fret that you have covered your head in that way, you that have received the mercy of your god
Everyone that thinks that western culture is the answer is devastatingly fooling themselves
Western life is nothing other than disrespecting oneself
Only Islam gives savior, gives the right solution
What kind of system is that where a woman equals a little bit of money?
Where a woman happily deceives her husband? 
Would someone like to try that kind of life where a woman is nothing but a disposable object. 
In the west’s system prostitution reigns, there are less marriages and morals, everything revolves around money. 
Today is a dangerous time. 
Every girl who wants safety, let her put a scarf on, that is her best protection.
Truthfully, a woman holds a special place in Islam. 
Don’t let doubt take over you in regards to that. 
Don’t fall trap to empty stories that women in Islam sit within four walls, truthfully women in Islam have worth. 
Those that say that, I swear on Allah, they lie because those are the ones that suffocate themselves with prostitution, drugs, and criminal activity; they are those that destroy everything of worth. 
That’s their jealousy which has to grow every day. 
That’s why they attack Islam’s honor. 
Sister wake your soul and advise others to cover their head. 
Don’t you see how others around you suffer and they will until they truthfully return themselves to god.

Okay, honestly, I do take issue that this rapper is claiming that women who do not cover their hair are not truthfully submitting themselves to Allah.  I take offense that any person would claim to know how Allah sees our intentions.

However, my biggest issue with this rap is that it is an Islam, as a religion, versus The West, as a society.  You can not compare the two.  Yes, Islam does treat women as equals and respects women but in reality we can not say the same of Muslim society.  By the same token, democracy, as a system, by today’s standards, respects and treats women as equals but we can not by default say the same of society.

Furthermore, statements that prostitution, drugs and criminal behaviour are elements exclusive of western society is a false statement (links above are search to related word and middle east).  But what’s worse than those statements is the claim that the veil/scarf are a weapon to protect women from such elements.

The ills of society can not be cured through a veil.  This is the reality:

Backstage, the manager sits in his leather chair, doing business. A Saudi client is quoted $500 for one of the girls. Eventually he beats it down to $300. Next door, in a dimly lit room, the next shift of girls arrives, taking off the black all-covering abayas they wear outside and putting on lipstick and mascara.

************

There are more than a million Iraqi refugees in Syria, many are women whose husbands or fathers have been killed. Banned from working legally, they have few options outside the sex trade. No one knows how many end up as prostitutes, but Hana Ibrahim, founder of the Iraqi women’s group Women’s Will, puts the figure at 50,000.

I met Fatima in a block of flats operating informally as a brothel in Saida Zainab, a run-down area with a large Iraqi population. Millions of Shias go there every year, because of the shrine of the prophet Mohamed’s granddaughter. “I came to Syria after my husband was killed, leaving me with two children,” Fatima tells me. “My aunt asked me to join her here, and my brothers pressured me to go.” She didn’t realise the work her aunt did, and she would be forced to take up, until she arrived.

Fatima is in her mid-20s, but campaigners say the number of Iraqi children working as prostitutes is high. Bassam al-Kadi of Syrian Women Observatory says: “Some have been sexually abused in Iraq, but others are being prostituted by fathers and uncles who bring them here under the pretext of protecting them. They are virgins, and they are brought here like an investment and exploited in a very ugly way.”

This, this, this and this are all problems that Muslim societies face.  Forced divorces, women not being able to drive, women not allowed to work, lashings or death sentences passed out for rape victims, honor killings - they are all ills and not of Islam but of Muslim societies.  These are the things that are happening to veiled women in societies where the veil is not “our freedom, our choice, our right” but where the veil is “the law”.  Shouldn’t we also as Muslim women have the right to freedom of choice?  The way I see it, and I sit here in the west, there is nothing more Islamic that exists on this planet than where I sit today.  I have the freedom to be a practicing Muslim and the freedom to choose and the right to wear that veil/scarf.  I have the ability to partake in my political system through voting, lobbying, and running for office if I so choose.  I am more protected as a woman through the justice system here than through any so-called “Islamic State”. 

I simply couldn’t let this one go.  It angers me to see such lyrics in Bosnian and I can’t fathom this having some sort of influence on anyone.

Oh, and by the way .. shouldn’t this guy be avoiding rapping?  Isn’t that a western influence?  I mean, me gosh, isn’t rap associated with so many un-Islamic things?  Isn’t his rapping basically endorsing all rap?

For those of you that think this is something typical in Bosnia - it’s not.  See my post titled The Halqas and a Whirling Dervish which covers a zikir event with Bosnia’s Sulejman Bugari whose apparences require use of microphones (often from the minaret) as the audience spills beyond the interior walls and into the streets.

Excerpt:

On proper hijab (question posted by a husband on behalf of his absent wife)

Suleyman Bugari would make an excellent politician as he liked answering our questions with questions.  “How many people do you know that hang a tespih in their car but never use one?”  We all smiled and nodded.

“Never talk to a woman about covering herself.  Talk to her about the pillars of faith.  Let her find it for herself.  Let her do it because it came to her on its own.”

He went on to tell us about a sixth grader in Bosnia whose parents made her cover.  When asked why she covered by classmates that had been ridiculing her she replied “because my father makes me”.  It became a fiasco.  The story was all over the media and debates had ensued.

“It’s really not pretty when a woman can not explain why she covers her hair.  How do you feel when we see a woman who doesn’t know or unconvincingly says “it’s my identity” as opposed to a woman who with all of her heart knows and radiates her reasons through the words that flow from her heart?

After Wright’s second blunder of statements which include accusations of the government initiating the AIDS epidemic to wipe out racial minorities, even I am asking the question if it is now too little too late for Obama?

The Swamp has video of Obama’s statements.

CNN reports on Obama’s and Wright’s relationship.

So, is it too little too late?

Funny, no one is complaining that these girls are taking Indian jobs but they sure are complaining:

Indian police say the organisers of the new tournament transforming world cricket could be fined if cheerleaders are deemed to be dressed indecently.

The cheerleaders have been introduced into the Indian Premier League as part of moves to add glamour and entertainment to the game.

Some politicians say the cheerleaders are “vulgar and obscene”.
….
They include cheerleaders from the Washington Redskins.