Raid on a flotilla.

As some of you might or might not know, I am a big defender of the Jewish people. Usually my biggest fights with my ideological soul-mates are over issues having to do with the Jewish Palestinian conflict, and Israel's right to exist in the Middle East. No need rehashing that fight tonight. My position on the matter is pretty clear.

Still, tonight we have to revisit that subject, because Israel is once again in the news. Chalk it up to a raid on an alleged humanitarian boat taking supplies to Gaza. Quite a few activist were killed, (I am hearing anywhere from 7-16) and since most of them were Turkish, the Turkish government, along with the rest if the International community, is pissed. The Turkish Ambassador is calling it a very sad day and as is usually the case when Israel is involved with these types of incidents, the usual suspects are all coming to the fore.

They are burning Israeli flags in Istanbul and Athens, the UN has called for an investigation, and the Israeli PM canceled a trip to meet his O ness because of the crisis. They are calling the people who lost their lives pro-Palestinian peace activist and they allege that Israeli commandos stormed their boat and slaughtered them.

"So field, are you going to come out and condemn your beloved Israel now?" Come on field, it's clearly an act of aggression on their part which caused these poor people to lose their lives. The Turkish aid group involved released a video, field, why don't you look at it?"

Yes, I am sorry for the people who lost their lives. But unlike the folks who have been e-mailing me and commenting on this subject, I don't know all of the facts. I do know that the Israeli government has denied that this is how things went down, and they have pointed to the very same video in the link above as proof of their position.

And, for the record, if we are going to keep it real with each other; let's talk about Turkey for a minute: What's with all the outrage when they have a Kurdish population in their own damn country who have been at the shitty end of some serious human rights abuses? "People in glass houses." I mean if we are going to keep it real.

Look, I am no fan of Benjamin Netanyahu. As far as I am concerned he represents within Israel what right wingers represent in this country, and I think that there is a dangerous escalation taking place in the Middle East right now. (Poor Obama) With Netanyahu in charge there is no telling where that region is heading. So I have some concerns.

But I will end this post where I started: I don't know all the facts, so I will take a wait and see attitude before I jump all in. Unlike some folks who I just know can't wait too tell me about the evil Israelis.

Israeli Commandos kill 10 In Gaza Flotilla

The caption to this News 24 picture reads:

ANGRY: Pro-Palestinian Turks protest against Israel, at the entrance of Israeli ambassador's residence in Ankara.

This is shocking but oh so predictable.



Israel continues to be the inhumane skunk among nations.

See The Guardian's "Israel attacks Gaza flotilla - live coverage".

Also see Al Jazeera's "Israel attacks Gaza aid fleet".

Onward!

Top Image Credit
Bottom Image Credit

Stress!!

I see that there is a new poll out showing that folks are stressed out here in A-merry-ca. Maybe not as stressed as this guy. (WTF?) But stressed nevertheless. Nooo, not A-merry-ca. I thought everyone was happy here in A-merry-ca. Oh well, it just goes to show you what two active wars, money worries at home and abroad, and a Gulf full of jheri curl juice will do to you. Folks are worried about their jobs; worried about their homes; and worried about their debts:

"Cynthia Bryant, 73, feels stress from her bills - much of that heartburn related to medical expenses. ..."I need a different car. I can't afford it. I have to watch every penny that comes in," says Bryant, who worked as a purchasing agent for a computer company before she retired. Bryant, who lives in a Denver suburb, gets by on a fixed-income that hasn't budged, although her expenses - rent, groceries and other basics- have risen. "

Wow, so much for the A-merry-can dream. But Cynthia, you are 73, why are you even worried about your bills? Tell the bill collector you will pay him whenever. What's he going to do, turn you over to the credit bureau? And if you are retired, you don't need a car; walk or take a bicycle. It might do wonders for your health.

I have this uncle who still lives in the western part of the island of Jamaica. -Way Out in the country. Of all my aunts and uncles he was the least successful education and money wise. Yet I swear he is the happiest, and I am taking bets that he will outlive all of his brothers and sisters. Why? Because he has zero stress in his life. He looks younger than all of his siblings as well. Whenever the family gets together they always comment on how good he looks. Go figure. They worked all their lives to achieve success in their various fields, they have all the outward trappings of success, and yet, when it's all said and done, they aren't as happy nor do they look as good as their brother who just took it easy, mon.

We could all learn a thing or two from people like my uncle. I know I did. I work in what is supposed to be an extremely stressful job in a very stressful city, and yet, I always try to keep things in perspective. You can't get too high. (Or stuff like this and this might happen to you) And you can't get too low, either. (Or you will do stuff like this to yourself.) Suicide rates are way up in A-merry-ca. I wonder why? Life is never as bad as it might seem, there is always a silver lining somewhere, you just have to find it. That sounded hokey, but it's true. Folks living in A-merry-ca and other "developed countries" need to just slow down and smell the cannab.....I mean coffee a little bit. We would all feel so much better about ourselves and our surroundings. And I know, I know, you Negroes in A-merry-ca are feeling particularly stressed out. Hell just getting up and walking through some neighbor-hood-s is stressful. The whole urban environment is tailor made for stress. But don't let it get to you, repeat after the Field: I will make it in A-merry-ca. I will make it in A-merry-ca. I have cable television, a cell phone, and Chrysler 300 parked outside with a full tank of gas, how bad can life be?

Finally, Happy Memorial Day and shout out to all the vets out there who put their butts on the line on a regular so that folks like me can get on a blog and talk shit to a few thousand of my closest friends on a daily basis. They are the only ones in A-merry-ca who should be stressed right now, and they are stressed so that you and I don't have to be. Let's not disappoint them.

Not all religions are created equal.

If they weren't the ones who blew up our buildings and killed our people in the "Big Apple" we probably wouldn't have a problem with one of them winning Ms. USA. But, it was one of them, so we do have a problem. Yup, these same folks want to build a place of worship close to that very spot. There is just so much tolerance a good A-merry-ca can take.

And, just to make sure that those of us who don't have problem see that we should, we are going to try and state our case right smack dab on the side of some city buses:

Motown has no use for the anti-Muslim ads plastered across the sides of buses in New York City.

Detroit's SMART bus system has rejected the button-pushing placards that read "Fatwa on your head? Is your community or family threatening you? Leaving Islam?" - and direct Muslims to a Web site urging them to leave the "falsity of Islam."
"It's a purely anti-Muslim hate issue," Dawud Walid of the Council on American-Islamic Relations told the Detroit News on Friday.

"The SMART bus company, or any bus company, should not be used to marginalize a minority group."

Defenders of the ads, dreamed up by Manhattan-based right wing blogger Pamela Geller and the New York-based Stop the Islamization of America, say it's a free speech issue and they have sued.

"Americans have a right to know the truth; Islam is a religion of intolerance and violence," said Michigan lawyer Richard Thompson, who filed the suit. [Article]

Yes, that's what you say Mr. Thompson; but are they alone? I am not so sure.

And finally, before I go back to watching my fly guys play soccer on ice with the boys from "The Chi." I have a couple of other things on my mind:

First, it's important to remember that it's not only conservatives and right wingnuts who struggle with prejudice and ignorance. Sometimes liberals have issues as well. The latest example is my man Bill Maher. (h/t Miranda) I usually agree with Bill on most things, but my man really needs to broaden his horizons a little bit. Bill, not all black folks like to pack gats. Lay off the MTV Raps a little bit. Wow! First Beck now this guy. This oil spill is really bringing out the worst in folks.

Second, speaking of oil spill; I see that BP's latest plan to plug the leak in the Gulf failed. Oh oh, it could be a long summer. Just remember these two words, O man: Stay engaged.

A new low....well, maybe not so new.

I see Glen Beck had a spring time version of Black History Month ,tonight. He lectured white A-mery-ca on his program about all the contributions black folks made to help our founding fathers start this great nation. Men such as James Armistead, Crispus Attuck, and Prince Whipple. Throw in Frederick Douglas, a couple of clowns masquerading as historians, (one black one white) an audience full of house Negroes, and Beck's black history bona fides were complete.

If only it was that easy. First, Beck has an ulterior motive: Sanitize the suffering of black folks during the early days of our republic by showing that they helped to build A-merry-ca and had an equal stake in it. Second, he was not telling us anything about our history that we didn't already know. (Those of us who actually read) It was a typical Beck public relations scam. Thankfully, most of us who actually have a brain aren't buying it.

Besides, I come to rip Beck with this post not to praise him.

Today on his radio program he reached a new low by mocking the president's daughter. This, after making it a point to call out folks for making fun of Sarah Palin's little rug rats.

I suppose to all of his wingnut supporters and others who are so inclined, it was funny.

But I am not laughing. And you shouldn't be either.

Anyway, since it's now open season on daughters, I guess we can talk about his daughter, Hannah, who tried to sell his drool on E-Bay. Yes, you read that right: she tried to sell his drool on E-Bay. Talk about funny. They could write an entire Saturday Night Live program around that one.

But, as is always the case with folks who wear political blinders; he is being defended by folks on the right. ( I am pretty sure there will be comments after this post from the usual suspects defending him as well.)

"First, the idea that Beck is being hypocritical over his “leave the families alone credo” is ridiculous. He isn’t mocking Malia, he’s mocking the president for using his daughter to score political points. In the interview with Sarah Palin, he plainly stated that everyone should leave their families out of the political debate, and other people should respect that. Well, Obama DID inject his daughter into the political debate, so I’m not seeing the hypocrisy here. If he were actually mocking Malia, maybe, but he’s not. He’s mocking Obama. "

Wow! Wingnut logic: He is not actually mocking Malia; he is mocking her father by mocking her. Okaaaaay......

BREAKING NEWS! Beck has issued a written apology.

"May 28, 2010 – 14:25 ET
In discussing how President Obama uses children to shield himself from criticism, I broke my own rule about leaving kids out of political debates. The children of public figures should be left on the sidelines. It was a stupid mistake and I apologize–and as a dad I should have known better.”

Yes, a dad whose daughter sells his drool on E-Bay no less. Sorry Glenn, judging from the DNA in that drool, I am guessing you couldn't "know better".

Zapiro and Mail & Guardian Apologise, Sort Of

See also the Mail & Guardian "statement on Prophet Muhammad cartoon".

The caption from this Mail & Guardian image reads:

Have faith South Africa is not an Islamophobic country; there is no question of a burqa ban or curbs on minarets. (Oupa Nkosi, M&G)

Read the editor, Nic Dawes, "A not so simple twist of faith" that explains why his newspaper and Zapiro is backing off from producing more images of Prophet Muhammad.

Onward!

Image Credits

Losing their religion?

As if I don't have enough to be pissed off about tonight: Down in my homeland, thanks to the work of the politrickster in charge, an entire section of "concrete jungle" is at war with the po po, because he finally decided to extradite a drug Don he has been protecting.

Then there is yet another disaster in my favorite part of the country (this time man made) and now we learn that the agency charged with watching these greedy avaricious cretins were on the take all along.

And damn it, Arnold is in the hospital and could check out any day now. "What you talkin bout", field?

Yes, all of the above is pissing me off. And, to top it off, I have to still deal with ignorant Negroes here in A-merry-ca.

Like the two clowns I am about to talk about down in Florida. (I love teachers, but what is it with teachers lately?) Now some of you Negroes really need to get a grip. Massa really did a job on your heads when you were on the plantations with the whole religion thing, and it worked. It was necessary to keep you in line. Get ready for the after life and all the glory that comes with it, and you don't have to worry about the hell you are living here on earth. Just keep picking that cotton and singing those hymns and everything will be alright. But I digress. So back to these two Negroes.

It looks like they allegedly played exorcist with a colleague in front of a room full of students.

"Two Florida teachers have been suspended and could lose their jobs following an incident in which they sprinkled holy water on an atheist colleague. The Broward County school district is treating the case as "an act of bullying." Leslie Rainer and Djuna Robinson are accused of sprinkling holy water on fellow teacher Schandra Tompkinsel Rodriguez, who was discussing her disbelief in the Christian god with students.

The alleged incident took place during a "lively discussion" in Rodriguez's classroom, during which a student said the January 12 Haitian earthquake happened because of the island's Satanic pact made 200 years ago.

Rodriguez reportedly brought up points that refuted not only the "Satanic pact" theory but Christianity itself. At some point, Rainer and Robinson entered the room with a bottle of liquid.Several students witnessed the events and have come forward on behalf of Rodriguez, but Rainer and Robinson deny the accusation. The two were escorted out of their classrooms, in front of students, and told not to return to school grounds until the investigation is concluded." [Article]

Yes, the teachers have denied it, and I know we should give them the benefit of the doubt until all the facts come out. But.....well, it's my blog, and I am entitled to my opinion. So, just for tonight, I am following the old Napoleonic code, you are guilty until proven innocent. I don't know, maybe it's because the teabaggers have gotten involved with the case, but I am not feeling these two teachers. Sorry, they look like holy water throwers to me.

Free Myanmar

The caption to this News 24 image reads:

TAKING ISSUE: Protesters rally in front of the Myanmar embassy in Manila's financial district of Makati. The protesters opposed the recently issued election laws by Myanmar's military government. (Pat Roque, AP)

For more detail see: "Myanmar’s return to democracy seems a far cry" by Rajaram Panda of the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi.

Onward!

Image credit

Ms. Ariemma's class.

Hold up folks, I just put on my Air Rs (those are my racism track shoes) and I am running something down real quick. Let me check out this story:

"When Georgia high school Advanced History teacher Catherine Ariemma asked her students to dress up in costumes for a project re-enacting different historical periods, four of her pupils dressed up like the Ku Klux Klan.African-American students at Lumpkin County High School became upset and angry, especially after some of the teens dressed in KKK robes asked one Black student if he would help them re-enact a lynching for their project. Ariemma has been suspended with pay and could possibly be fired. She defended her decision to hold the re-enactment. "We have to discuss racism in our society because if we don't, we are condoning it and I don't cover it up and you can't discuss racism and not include the Klan," she told CNN.

[Check out the CNN story]

Hmmm, I have to be careful with this one. The thing about my man racism is that sometimes he can send decoys for your ass. I mean sometimes you know it's racism, like the latest crap in Jena, or this kind of ignorance. But sometimes.......I don't know.

See folks, it's like this: I have no problem with Ms. Ariemma using visual aids to teach history. The klan is a part of our history and we can't just close our eyes and pretend that they didn't exist. They did and they still do. So I am not mad at Ms. Ariemma for trying to teach her children about the klan.

Still, when I heard that there were no African Americans in her class, and that she just let the kids go out into the school population with their robes on, I have to admit that I started to have second thoughts about Ms. Ariemma. (And, as if to make matters worse, she lives in Georgia.)

So I don't know.....OK, I thought about it: I don't think Ms. Ariemma should be terminated, and I don't think that she is a racist. I think that she is a clueless Southern women from the majority population who was trying to do the right thing. I think that the powers that be should get with Ms. Ariemma and let her know in no uncertain terms that she handled this in the wrong way, and because of her carelessness something really ugly could have happened. (Yeah, I am sitting in the cafeteria and some kid comes in with a klan outfit; please believe that we are going to get all Marvin Gaye with each other.)

So no harm here, we are moving right along. I guess I can take off my Air Rs now.

Ms. Ariemma was a decoy.

*Pic lifted from Essence.com

A Brake Frum Two Seriaz

Guru Mooi knows I am knee deep in sorting through undergraduate and graduate exams. To keep me positive he sent an email with a subject line that proclaims: "I see your students have gone international."

Indeed they have!

Here are a few examples of the excellence I have apparently produced. And please don't worry, I have reserves enuff to keep you shaking your noggin for many years to come.

Enjoy. :o(













Eish they gonna fire me, again.

Pleaze note dat know student was intented two be heart bye this poss.

Images Credit: Zapiro's Best Friend, Guru Mooi

More truthfully these images are credited to Chairman LOL, Guru Mooi is merely an agent ;)

"Just plug the damn hole"

This is what his O ness allegedly told his aides while venting frustration over this whole BP mess.

O man, I am sorry, but just giving your aides a piece of your mind ain't gonna cut it. Not now. We are way past the "just plug the damn hole" stage.

When wingnuts first started saying with glee that this could be your Katrina, I was one of the first people to say that they are full of s*&t and just trying to score cheap political points. (Which, by the way, they were.) But now, as this crisis grows, I am starting to think that it very well could be. Not because of what the wingnuts think, they will never be with you. But some of your liberal friends are starting to get restless as well. They want to know, and rightfully so, why the hell the Army Corp of Engineers are dragging their feet in granting permits to start building channels to protect the Louisiana marshland. Boby Jindal is going to start crying like Ray Nagin any day now, and when he does, you are going to be toast O man. I don't care how much BP is at fault. Ken Salazar will be your Mike Brown. You remember him, don't you O man? "Brownie you are doing a heck of a job". Yeah, that guy. Salazar has been posturing and fuming at BP for days now, but the oil is still coming, and we are no closer to a resolution today than when that rig exploded what seemed like an eternity ago.

And I know I know, this is an oil company problem. They have the expertise, and they should know how to cap the hole. (Which reminds me, why aren't more companies coming together to try and solve this problem?) I have heard some folks say that if the government tried to step in and do something it could only make matters worse. So we can only sit around and wait and hope that the clowns at BP get it right. They will be using something called the "Top Kill Method", (somehow that name seems fitting) and the poor folks down in South Louisiana all have their fingers crossed. Their entire way of life and livelihood is being threatened.

But back to his O ness, because while Rome burns......just remember O man, the folks over at BP don't have to get elected. Yes, that brit with the cute accent might be the most hated man in A-merry-ca now, but he has become infamous under your watch.

And O, I hear you are going to a fund raiser out in Cali tonight. I know it's probably too late, but please don't go. Tell Barbara you will get her the next time. The stuff happening in the gulf could be life altering for A-merry-cans. Just like Katrina was. Imagery O man, imagery.

I hear that if BP messes this up the oil could be spilling into the Gulf Of Mexico for the rest of our lives. That's how much oil we are talking about. That, my friends, is some scary stuff. Most of us are far away from where this is happening, and we could care less about a bunch of Cajuns on the Bayou. Well, unfortunately, you are not as far away as you think. This tragedy will touch you in some way.

And if you are an Obamaholic, you will only have to wait until November 6, 2012, to feel it.

Arizona Pass Laws II

Sometimes a cartoon can capture more.

The quest to make Arizona white again continues unabated. See Arizona Law Targets Ethnic Studies for more racist lunacy from Arizona legislators.

It seems House Bill 2281, signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer on May 11, seeks to "eliminate Mexican-American Studies and all ethnic studies programs in Arizona public schools."

In so doing the HB 2281 would cut any reference to Latino(a)/Hispanic history and heritage out of education.

The Bill states:

“A School District or Charter School in this state shall not include in its program of instruction any courses or classes that include any of the following:

• Promote the overthrow of the United States government.

• Promote resentment toward a race or class of people.

• Are designed primarily for pupils of a particular ethnic group.

• Advocate ethnic solidarity instead of the treatment of pupils as individuals.”

Are these folks just losing the plot or is whiteness fighting with all its might to just stay relevant in a browning America?

They should just pass a law forcing all Latino/as (Hispanics) to become white.

I wonder what Obama is doing now?

Onward!

Cartoon Credit

"European style Socialism": As if that's a bad thing.

"I can see November from my house" That is my girl Sarah's new rallying cry, and she unveiled it for her fans in Denver a couple of nights ago. This was in between calling for an "Awakening of America."( BTW, can someone tell me just what the hell that means? Awaken from what?) You go girl. She was joined by Dennis Prager at the University of Denver. Prager, like Palin, is another wingnut, however, unlike Palin, he actually reads a book now and then.

"Let's stop and consider how ironic it is, though, that just as the Europeans are forced by market realities - this is reality - to dismantle their socialist welfare states, we're being marched towards that state, the European style socialism,"

These have been the buzz words among the wingnuts of late: "European style Socialism." It's everywhere. On their blogs; on their networks; their newspapers; their radio programs; you name it. It seems that every right wing pol is crying a river over the evils of "European style Socialism", and the beige man in the people's house who is taking us there.

Read what this blogger says:

"Obama wants to undo the American Dream and turn us into a European economy, where all benefits flow from the government, rather than individual effort. You can call it “socialism,” or “big government,” or “spreading the wealth,” or whatever else suits you, but the outcome will be the same: People will be locked into government induced poverty in perpetuity, the middle class will become slack, the economy will enter into stagflation, unemployment will rise, and service in every area of American life will fall as people lose their incentive (because they’ve lost the ability) to rise upwards and join in the American Dream."

Now I guarantee you that the poor schmuck who wrote that paragraph probably is living a very middle class existence. He probably has a household income of $75,000.00, to $100,000.00 per year, pays a mortgage, has kids who are in -or soon to be in college, and has almost as much debts as he does assets. In other words, your typical A-merry-can. Yet his dumb ass thinks that he is living some kind of a damn dream.

Unlike Sarah Palin,- who thanks to him and others like him, is now worth millions, because she has learned how to pimp people like him into believing that the average A-merry-can can achieve that dream- he, more than likely, will not achieve the A-merry-can dream. (No wonder she rolls with nine personal bodyguards. I would too if I knew I was running such a scam on ordinary folks.) Unless, of course, you consider the stress of working a 9-5 with three weeks vacation a year a dream. I know I don't.

What I consider a dream-like society is one where hard work will be rewarded. One where the size of a man's pocketbook doesn't make him better than the next guy. It doesn't allow him to buy politicians in order to influence them into making laws to help him make more money. It doesn't allow lobbyist to lobby on behalf of weapons that cause death and destruction because of some archaic language in a document the society holds dear. It doesn't spend billions and billions of dollars to promote some form of mythical exceptionalism by force or clandestine measures.

When Sarah Palin and other idiots like her rant and rave about the dangers of "European style Socialism," I wonder who they think it is a danger to? Certainly not people who will be able to get health care without having to take out a second mortgage on their homes. Certainly not the poor single mother of two who has to clean old people's shit every night to earn $9 an hour. Certainly not the primary bread winner in a home whose spouse just got laid off, (because the company they were working for downsized to make a few people enjoy the dream even more) and who now has to work two jobs just to make ends meet.

And for my altar call, I will leave you with the words of Brian Hines, a man who gets it:

"Driving back to Salem from Portland today, a single glance across the median of I-5 gave me a vision of how much better this country could be if we became more Euro-socialist (I prefer the term, " communitarian").

A car had stopped in the break-down lane. Next to it was a pickup with a seal on the door. I'm pretty sure it was one of the vehicles that helps drivers who are out of gas, or otherwise need assistance.

A government vehicle.

With that glance, a warm feeling of Wouldn't it be great if this act of governmental kindness extended across our whole society? rolled over me.

If people who needed health care were guaranteed they'd get it.If losing your job didn't entail the risk of being tossed out onto the streets.

If getting a good college education was available to all, poor and rich alike.

If public transportation made it possible to get around without private cars.
Whenever friends come back from Europe, they extol the way of life there. The United States is horribly backward in so many ways, compared to the rest of the industrialized world.
I'm ready for some European style socialism. So are a majority of Americans, given the results of the past few elections. We're tried of unfettered individualism and irresponsible capitalism.

Bring it on, President Obama. "

And the godless progressives said amen!

Are You Muslim? !!!

A few weeks after I arrived in this village hell to take up a teaching position I was sort of invited to a party.

I knew there would be the usual drinking copious amounts of alcohol while folks stood around listening to corny R&B tunes from back in the eighties.

About four minutes into my arrival I was introduced to a serious looking coloured man in his late fifties or maybe even mid-sixties.

Word was that his wife was a politician and that the shiny Mercedes at the gate was his car.

He seemed reluctant to speak to me. It took about three or four "come and meet Ridwan" calls before he stood directly in front of me with blood shot eyes.

As I smiled at him a woman shouted in my direction, "Are you a Pakistani?".

"No I was born here," I said in her direction.

"Are you Muslim?, the blood shot eyes man said directly into my face.

"Yes I am Muslim," I replied.

"Ya but he is an alright kind of ou (guy)," one of the guys I knew added to what was becoming a tense situation of accusatory eyes and nervous shifting feet.

"I hear you teach politics," the blood shot eyes man said. "I do," I replied.

"Well you betta be teaching dem that Iran is the devil and is going to destroy the world because they are fanatics. They gonna blow up Israel and the whole world will suffer because it will be world war three," he added.

At this point I knew it was important for me to find an exit. The nervous laughter around me indicated that if I was to take a stand it could grow ugly.

I turned to talk to other folks. I left a smile across my face not because I was happy but because I had been there before.

Once in downtown Baltimore a white man 'accused' me of being Puerto Rican. I did not back down or even correct his racist ass.

"Yep I am Puerto Rican and proud of it too," I remember saying.

"Well you should not be. This is the United States and not Puerto Rico," he howled back at me.

I looked at him in utter disbelief. I wanted to tell him that Puerto Rico is part of the US, if only a colonized territory, but I did not.

My eyes had barely left his face when his female companion shouted "Get out of this establishment, you are not welcome here."

I looked over the counter at my white neighbor who ran the little hole in the wall eatery as if to say "help me".

He just looked away in silence. I walked to the door and left. It was 1997 and my head was spinning.

I made my way away from blood shot eyes. A kinder face started talking about this and that and my Muslim identity and presence was 'excused'.

The night progressed too slowly. I left in disgust about two hours later and vowed never to be around drunk folk ever again.

My childhood friend who invited me never really grasped what happened that night. I never said anything to him and when he called me this past Saturday to join him for another party I declined.

The Qur'an speaks to the manner that incidents like this should be handled when God says: "show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid the ignorant." (7:199)

I'm working on the forgiveness part. It is not going to be easy.

Very few Muslims will be left unscathed by the rising anti-Muslim sentiment that defines our current historical moment.

Just last night my mother related to me that a Christian woman she met days ago at the bedside of a very ill friend took her aside and told her that she was not allowed to use the words "God" and "Lord".

"I was confused to hear her say this to me but I did not want to make a scene," my mother said.

Instead, my mother let the incident boil in her being for a week.

"How dare a Christian tell me that I cannot use those words, God and Lord do not belong to Christianity only. It belongs to all the believers," moms argued.

True to form me moms called that ignorant heffa up and laid into her.

"She was shocked by my confrontation. I told her never to tell me another word about my religion until she read the Qur'an. Do you know that she has lived among Muslims all seventy years of her life and has never ever even read a verse from the Qur'an?," my mother said.

"Yeah I do mummy," I said.

Many anti-Muslim bigots who are Christian are not even aware that Islam is the third Abrahamic religion and that Islam grows out of Judaism and Christianity.

For those who would want us to be the new devil it matters little.

Being Muslim is an accusation in itself.

AnyHowze, I gots to go ... got some bombing to do before my workday is over ;0)

Onward!

Image Credit

Abdus Sattar Ghazali: "Alarming Rise In Hate Crimes Against American Muslims"

Recent weeks have witnessed a dramatic increase in violent acts against Arab and Muslim Americans. These incidents involve acts of domestic terrorism, vandalism, intimidation, and discriminatory campaign tactics.

A pipe bomb explodes outside the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, during the Isha/evening prayers (1).

The Islamic Association of Michigan (Masjid Umar-bin-Khattab) in Brownstown, Michigan, is vandalized twice this month (2).

An art exhibit by a Muslim graduate student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) is defaced and vandalized (3).

An 18 year-old male is brutally beaten by officers from an Illinois Police Station in retaliation for his mother's attempt to file a complaint against the way her son had been treated (4).

In San Diego, a white man uses racial slurs during assault on Afghan-American taxi driver(5).

On the night of May 10, someone discreetly walked around the grounds of the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida, in Jacksonville, carrying a gas can which he quickly lit and ran away. Minutes later, as more than 60 people prayed inside, the pipe bomb exploded in a ball of flames and set part of the building on fire. Thankfully, nobody was injured and the fire was put out by frightened worshippers using a fire extinguisher. Currently, the FBI is investigating the incident as a possible act of domestic terrorism.

"It was a dangerous device, and had anybody been around it they could have been seriously injured or killed," FBI Special Agent James Casey told a local news station. "We want to sort of emphasize the seriousness of the thing and not let people believe that this was just a match and a little bit of gasoline that was spread around."

Not surprisingly, the attack has received little to no attention from the national media outlets. Media coverage has for the most part been restricted to Florida and that there have been no public condemnations of the bombing at the national level. If the fire bombing had taken place against a church or synagogue, it would have made national headlines within hours.

However it may be pointed out that these attacks come in a much wider context of anti-Muslim campaign. After the Times Square incident individuals have sought to score cheap political points by manipulating Americans’ heightened concerns over national security.

Preying on voters fears, Senator Joseph Lieberman sponsored a McCarthyite bill seeking to strip naturalized Americans of their citizenship if they are accused of terrorism. On May 8, 2010, days after the botched car bomb attack on Times Square, Sen. Joe Lieberman seized on renewed fears of a terrorist attack to announce his latest legislative gambit: the "Terrorism Expatriation Act" -- or "TEA" -- which would revoke the citizenship of any American "who is found to be involved with a foreign terrorist organization as designated by the State Department." (6)

Interestingly, a week before the bomb attack on the Florida mosque, Florida Republican congressional candidate Dan Fanelli ran ads openly endorsing racial and religious profiling using blatantly racist and offensive messages in his campaign commercials. (7)

May 10 bomb attack on the Florida mosque makes it the 62nd incident attempted by non-Muslim violent extremists, according to the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC). No doubt, we are facing a startling rise in domestic extremism.

The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) recently reported an alarming rise in the number of American anti-government militia and anti-immigrant groups which remained largely dormant since their heyday in the mid-1990s. The number of extremist groups exploded in 2009 as “militias and other groups steeped in wild, antigovernment conspiracy theories exploited populist anger across the country and infiltrated the mainstream,” according to the SPLC annual report titled: “Year in Hate and Extremism.” (8)

One of the most alarming cases was in March 2010, when two Neo-Nazi sympathizers were found in possession of bio-chemical weapons and had plans to attack bridges, tunnels, Federal buildings and members of Congress. Then, there’s Joseph Stack, who flew his plane into a Texas IRS building on a suicide mission inspired by anti-government sentiment. And of course, there’s also the Hutaree militia members who were arrested for plotting to kill a police officer, then attend his funeral so that they could kill more police officers. Has any politician called for draconian legislation and discriminatory policies against white males, based on these incidents?

But the incidents which allegedly involve a Muslim perpetrator get exponentially more attention from media outlets and public officials than those which involve any other violent extremists. That’s a double standard, plain and simple. Terrorism is terrorism, no matter what the identity of the perpetrator is.

Seven-million strong American Muslim community is stuck in a blatant double standard on the issues of national security. Unfortunately, instead of being treated as partners and equal citizens, Muslim Americans are increasingly facing an outright contempt, suspicion and bigotry from many political opportunists and dangerous elements in our society.

References

(1) On the night of May 10, a bomb exploded outside the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida in Jacksonville. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator. FBI officials in Jacksonville, Fla., have found the remnants of a pipe bomb used in a possible hate crime at a mosque during evening prayers. The Muslim population in Jacksonville totals around 5,000 families and that most who practice the religion do so at the Islamic Center mosque. "This incident comes after a man was seen barging into the mosque on April 4, shouting anti-Muslim slurs and threatening to come back later," according to Ibrahim Hooper, the council's communication director.

(2) The Islamic Association of Michigan (Masjid Umar-bin-Khattab) in Brownstown, Mich., has reported two incidents of vandalism. The first occurred on May 9 and the second on May 15 when vandals broke windows and the glass in an entryway door.

(3) On May 11, vandals defaced an exhibit by Muslim graduate student Anida Yoeu Ali at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC). The exhibit, which addressed racial profiling and the rise of violence and hate directed at Muslims in the post-9/11 era, was vandalized with large caricatures and a word bubble highlighting the text “Kill all Arabs.” Ali's exhibit is part of a larger ongoing series of work, the "1700% Project," which is a collaborative project that uses art as a form of response to hate crimes.

(4) An 18 year-old male was brutally beaten by officers from an Illinois Police Station in retaliation for his mother's attempt to file a complaint against the way her son had been treated. The mother is a Muslim-American woman and wears the Hijab, the traditional Muslim headwear. During the beating, one of the officers yelled at the young man that this was all because of his “Muslim bitch” mother.

(5) In San Diego, a white man in his 50’s shouted, “You idiot, you mother f**ker, go back to where you came from,” as the victim was concluding his sunset prayer in a park near Mission Bay on May 12th night. The assailant then followed the victim as he returned to his taxi. When the victim attempted to enter his taxi and put on his seatbelt, the assailant repeated his slurs, grabbed the victim’s shirt and punched him repeatedly in the right eye and left shoulder. As a result of his injuries, the victim underwent a CAT scan as a precautionary measure. The alleged assailant was taken into custody by police.

(6) The measure came less than two months after Lieberman's introduction, with Sen. John McCain, of another radical bill: The "Enemy Belligerent, Interrogation, Detention, and Prosecution Act of 2010," which would grant the president the power to order the arrest, interrogation, and imprisonment of anyone -- including a U.S. citizen -- indefinitely, on the sole suspicion that he or she is affiliated with terrorism. Lieberman's new bill is an offshoot of the same principle, circumventing the Constitutional guarantees of due process for U.S. citizens by conveniently stripping their citizenship, and reducing American terror suspects to "enemy belligerents" who have no rights.

(7) In the spot, which ran over the weekend on a Fox affiliate in central Florida, Fanelli stands between a middle-aged white man and a younger, swarthy fellow. "Does this look like a terrorist?" he asks, gesturing towards the white man. Then, pointing to the darker dude, he adds: "Or this?" When asked if the message of the spot was that darker people are more likely to be terrorists, Fanelli, Naval and airline pilot insisted that it wasn't. He claimed that the ad's point was that people from countries like Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Syria who "require a higher level of security."

(8) The SPLC documented a 244 percent increase in the number of active Patriot groups in 2009. Their numbers grew from 149 groups in 2008 to 512 groups in 2009, an astonishing addition of 363 new groups in a single year. Militias - the paramilitary arm of the Patriot movement - were a major part of the increase, growing from 42 militias in 2008 to 127 in 2009. Hate groups also grew slightly, from 926 to 932, continuing what the SPLC said was a trend that began around 2000, and rising 54 percent in the decade.

Abdus Sattar Ghazali is the Executive Editor of the online magazine: www.amperspective.com
email: asghazali@gmail.com

Publication Credit: Countercurrents.org (22 May, 2010)

Hunting "Dudus".

"Welcome to Jamdown, poor people a dead at random Political violence, can't done! Pure ghost and phantom, the youth Dem get blind by stardom Now the Kings Of Kings a call Old man to Pickney...To see the sufferation sicken me Them suit no fit me, to win election dem trick we" ~Damian Marley~

Because of some personal reasons-some obvious, some not so much- I have tried to avoid blogging about the following story. It involves an alleged Jamaican drug dealer, Chris "Dudus" Coke, and the A-merry-can governments attempt to have him extradited to this country.

Mr. Coke has been charged with leading an international drug ring by the authorities in New York. He fled to the rock where a government that is friendly to his political leanings is in power, and where he has been sheltered ever since. Even with the United States threatening all sorts of sanctions, Bruce Golding, the Jamaican Prime Minister, has refused to extradite the man to Uncle Sam. They have even paid a firm to lobby on his behalf.

Now, sadly, the streets of Kingston- to use the parlance of the natives-a gu bun like fiah.

"Jamaican authorities declared a state of emergency in Kingston after gang members supportive of an alleged drug lord wanted by the United States attacked police stations and blockaded a large swath of the city.

Two police stations were evacuated after being hit with Molotov cocktails, while the status of a third was unclear. Gang members blocked off a miles-long area of Jamaica's capital city -- mostly in West Kingston -- using vehicles, sandbags, barbed wire and anything else they could find."

My people my people, when will you learn? Robin Hood was only cool when he was in Sherwood Forest. Dons are not modern day Robin Hoods, and they sure as hell do not respect the life of the innocent. Political violence is a way of life on the rock, and we Jamaicans like to rally around each other, but why the hell are we rallying around Dudus Coke?

And here is the irony: the JLP who is the party Coke is affiliated with, has traditionally been the party of the right and more aligned with A-merry-ca. When the CIA destroyed the Manley government in the seventies, it was to put the pro western, A-merry-can friendly government back in power. Now, as Malcolm famously said: "The Chickens have come home to roost." JLP Dons have been in and out of A-merry-ca for years, and they have had no problem moving between both worlds. No one would be surprised if they had set up lucrative drug organizations (or posses as they have been called) and profited greatly from them. And, if you know anything about us yawdies, it's that we don't like to do anything small, so it's not only A-merry-ca that has been touched by this problem, but across the pond in Britain they are worried as well.

Chrisopher Dudus Coke is the latest in a long line of powerful political Dons from the rock who would moonlight as drug dealers. (Google Claude Massop) They were paid well by politricksters in charge to do their dirty work, which often involved killing entire families in the areas that were populated by political rivals. It's still going on, and it's as brutal as ever.

Jamaicans can be beautiful and loving people, but I am going to keep it real with you; Jamaicans can be the most vicious people you will ever want to meet. I have some stories.

Still, I love my people, I am who I am. But I have to call out my peeps when we do wrong as well.

This latest dust up, largely inspired by Laborites in Kingston, (Google Tivoli Gardens & JLP) is a perfect example of poor people with twisted loyalties. But this is to be expected when politricksters use people as pawns to profit from their political games. Jamaicans don't play games too well. Not when it comes to our politics. What was it that Damian Marley's dad said? Oh yeah, "a hungry mob is an angry mob."

"At Coke's direction and under his protection, members of his criminal organization sell marijuana and crack cocaine in the New York area and elsewhere, and send the narcotics proceeds back to Coke and his co-conspirators," the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency said in a release accompanying the charges.

"Coke and his co-conspirators also arm their organization with illegally trafficked firearms," the DEA said in a statement at the time." [Article]

Translated: Coke would allegedly bring guns and weapons into Jamaica to arm his political allies in exchange for drugs and cash stateside. Thirty five years ago Uncle Sam knew about it, he still does. It's just that this time he is calling it illegal.

"Women be shopping!"

It's Saturday night and my dogs are barking. Why? Because, unlike most real men, I had my black ass dragged to the outlets so that Mrs. Field could buy a couple of handbags that cost what folks in some Third World countries earn in a year. Yes, I am experiencing some guilt. But hey, it's her money. And, to be fair, she can be generous with it at times.

Still, it's not cool sitting in the hubby-seat while women lose their natural minds in a store that is set up just for them. The poor old guy sitting next to me-newly retired, living in Chester County, granddaughter just going off to college, and wife doing what she does best. Shop. I know all this, of course, because the poor guy and I had no choice but to exchange pleasantries and our life stories while we waited- was feeling just like I was: Trapped. So in between checking my blog and messages on my crackberry, and listening to the poor guy talk, all I could do was watch and wait in amazement.

If I wanted to live my second life as Lothario, when I die I would come back as a designer handbag. Nothing gets a woman's attention like a designer handbag. Nothing.

Of course it didn't stop there. There were other stores to see. Other things to buy. This is the "for worse" part of those marriage vows. Why can't outlets and malls come up with a kind of day care for husbands? A big room with refreshments, and television sets on every wall with ESPN and various sports channels on every one of those bad boys. And while we are at it; let's throw in some magazines to read, pool tables, and the whole nine yards. Kind of like the VIP lounge at an airport. The mall that comes up with that concept will double their business withing weeks. I guarantee it.

Oh well, all is well that ends well. I am home, safe and sound, and I was not trampled by a pack of deal hunting females.

Finally, in keeping with the spirit of this post, I have a confession to make: I watch basketball wives because of Royce Reed. Does that make me a bad person, or shallow in any way? I sure hope not, because after what I went through today, I realize that I deserve some guilty pleasures in life. I think Mrs. Field would understand.

Some Rand-om thoughts.

Preachers killing their wives and storing them in freezers. Preachers claiming to be literally thrown under a bus . And rodents in the White House. (I swear they can't let you Negroes live anywhere.) What the hell is the world coming to? Wait, did I mention that the soon to be country of Texas decided to teach white only his...correct that; conservative white history in their schools? (The word slavery is now a no no. (It's now "Atlantic triangular trade" or some s#&t.) Must be nice. Nothing like a little white washing of history to make the natives feel better and soothe the jingoistic fever running amok here in A-merry-ca.

And through it all Rand just keeps talking:

“The thing is that, you know, the drilling right now and the problem we’re having now is in international waters, and I think there needs to be regulation of that and always has been. I think there are hundreds of pages of regulation.

What I don’t like from the president’s administration is this sort of, you know, I’ll put my boot heel on the throat of BP. I think that sounds really un-American in his criticism of business.
I’ve heard nothing from BP about not paying for the spill. And I think it’s part of this sort of blame-game society in the sense that it’s always got to be someone’s fault instead of the fact that may be, sometimes, accidents happen.

I mean, we had a mining accident that was very tragic, and I’ve met a lot of these miners and their families. They’re very brave people to do a dangerous job, but then we come in and it’s always someone’s fault. Maybe, sometimes, accidents happen."

I think I am going to like this guy. He is a bloggers dream.

Rand Rand Rand. First, Obama shouldn't put his "boot heel" on BP's throat, he should demand that the federal government put its hands in their pockets. And, for the record, those hands better be long, because those pockets are deep.

"Maybe sometimes accidents happen". The problem with that statement, of course, is that this was no accident, it could have been prevented. Just like those mining accidents could have been prevented. Tragic things happen when you put profits over people, and this was a tragedy (and continues to be) on a grand scale. But, to get all legal with it, the consequences were foreseeable. So Rand, I think you put your size 8 (OK 9)in your mouth again. (Second thought, make that a 7)

My man Rand is asking for a honeymoon. Don't worry Rand, over at Radio Rwanda you will get more sex than you could have ever dream of. That's because, fortunately for you, you will be on a very long honeymoon with them. You can thank your political leanings for that. You can thank your mouth (and to a lessor extent your brain) for the other stuff.

And finally, let's have a moment of silence for this guy's 2012 presidential run.............

"He has a doctorate in the social sciences and taught briefly at the college level. He has been married three times, divorced twice and confessed to an extramarital affair. He has never served in the military and lives in one of Washington's poshest suburbs. He is the very personification of his much-reviled "cultural elite." He is Newt Gingrich, and he is out to get himself."

Mr. Cohen, he already did.

Zapiro On Prophet Muhammad

This depiction of Prophet Muhammad by cartoonist Zapiro has angered the The Jamiatul Ulama (Council of Muslim Theologians).

News reports say they are seeking a court interdict to stop the Mail & Guardian from publishing the cartoon.

I am a Muslim and a fan of Zapiro. In the past I have taken the position that his depictions of President Zuma, for example, cannot be stifled.

For me it has always been a matter of free speech. And, in this case I think the same is true.

That said it is also apparent that the cartoon will fuel the flames of anti-Muslim sentiment, and I don't expect that was what Zapiro intended.

Already I have come across comments from readers that emphasize the supposed propensity of Muslims to "bomb", "attack", "kill innocents", etc.

With the World Cup just a few weeks away some of the comments fan the nonsense about Muslim terrorism and the World Cup.

See for example these pearls:

"Now why would Zapiro try to irritate these guys before the world cup now. They are not focusing on us, please man. Do your thang after the world cup, not before. They might think you represent the nation, like they thought Mr Bush represented the Americans. Please man, go easy on this subject next time. For sure I would not want to be a statistic."

Or this more graphic one:

"F#cking muslims they'll be flying planes into buildings and strapping dynamite to their kids next."

This nonsense is predictable and Zapiro should have known that the fallout on either side was inevitable.

I understand that most Muslims do not want depictions of the Prophet Muhammad. It is not an edict in the Qur'an, but a longstanding tradition among Muslims.

Zapiro is not a Muslim, South Africa is a secular country and, most of all, the cartoon does not incite violence against Muslims.

Primarily for these reasons I am not standing by The Jamiatul Ulama's actions to get the cartoon banned.

I am not that easily led and offended.

This is an issue of free speech and we live under a constitution that guarantees free speech that does not incite hate or violence.

A few years back I had a Zapiro cartoon on my office door at Portland State University that depicted the prime minister of Israel dressed in Nazi get-up.

I thought it a powerful critique of Israel's inhumane war against Palestinians. It was also a brave stand by Zapiro who is a Jew.

In these contexts, I am hardly offended by this cartoon. There are greater injustices that require us Muslims to stand up.

Acting all sanctimonious and offended about a stupid cartoon is not struggle. It is, however, an indication of just how easily some Muslims are led by their noses.

I remember the words of Libyan revolutionary Omar Mukhtar, seen here in chains before his assassination by Italian fascists in 1931, who said "they are not our teachers, let us not follow them."

Indeed, those who would needlessly make fun of the Prophet or associate Islam and Muslims with acts of barbarous violence do not describe our religion, its purpose, or its content.

"They are not our teachers ...", Islam belongs to Muslims.

Onward!

Zapiro Credit
Omar Mukhtar Credit

See also "Haffajee supports Zapiro cartoon" in News24.

The Times continues to carry abusive comments aimed at Muslims. I just read this one by a reader called Gumdrop: "Mohammed and his nazi followers can go choke on a fat racist african dick." (May 22, 2010)

I am somewhat shocked by the anti-Muslim sentiment to be found among South African readers, especially in The Times.

Gumdrop's comment is hate speech and should not appear on the electronic pages of a leading newspaper in South Africa.

Rand Paul has a bad hair cut and some interesting thoughts.

One of the beautiful things about a democracy is that everyone has a chance to express his or her political views and beliefs, and to be chosen by like minded people to lead them. I would like to apologize to the teabaggers and the rest of the wingnuts who have been pushing hard for a seat at the A-merry-can political table over the past few months. Here I thought you folks were bad for A-merry-ca and that you would dumb down debate and poison the intellectual well. I was wrong. You gave us Rand Paul, who, I am sure, is going to make some folks uncomfortable with his views on civil rights and Title II of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. But we needed Rand, if only because maybe, just maybe, he will shed some light on a movement that might not like the glare.

Here is an exchange between the good Doctor and Rachel Maddow on her show, recently:

"Maddow: Do you think that a private business has a right to say that 'We don't serve black people?'
Paul: I'm not in favor of any discrimination of any form. I would never belong to any club that excluded anybody for race. We still do have private clubs in America that can discriminate based on race."

`Oh come on Field, what's wrong with that? The guy takes a position that any decent A-merry-can would take. `

Yes, but then he said this:

"Maddow:... How about desegregating lunch counters?

Paul: Well what it gets into then is if you decide that restaurants are publicly owned and not privately owned, then do you say that you should have the right to bring your gun into a restaurant even though the owner of the restaurant says 'well no, we don't want to have guns in here' the bar says 'we don't want to have guns in here because people might drink and start fighting and shoot each-other.' Does the owner of the restaurant own his restaurant? Or does the government own his restaurant? These are important philosophical debates but not a very practical discussion..."

Hmmmm, "philosophical debate". OK let's have one: So following your logic, Doctor; If a private person owns a movie theater (a public place, just like a restaurant) and decides that the colored folks should sit in the balcony and the white folks downstairs, that would be cool with you? See folks, Dr. Paul believes that private business should be allowed to do whatever they want when it comes to whatever. He has stated this before which is what prompted Maddow to ask him these questions.

The good Doctor believes that a truly free society will allow people to discriminate against whoever, and the free market will decide whether that person's business should prosper or not. Like many other conservatives and wingnuts, he doesn't believe that the Commerce Clause (which applies to interstate commerce) should have been used by the the advocates of civil rights to do away with segregation in public places. The ruling in this case pretty much said that A-merry-cans could go ahead and use the Commerce Clause to stop segregation in public places, but that is not cool with Dr. Paul and his ilk. Stunning!

For the record, I have no problem with folks doing whatever with their own private clubs and organizations. If they want to keep out blacks, Gays and Jews, they can go for it as far as I am concerned. But I think that doing away with the Commerce Clause as it relates to civil rights would be wrong. I don't see anywhere to hold on to on that slope. It's just way too slippery.

So sorry Doc, I have to agree with the following quote taken from Crooks & Liars:

"Obviously, the tea party adulation, in all its authoritarian and uncritical glory, did not prepare Rand Paul for prime time. He's clearly uncomfortable with follow up questions and being confronted with his own stances. Even though he brought it on himself by telling the Louisville Courier-Journal and NPR that he thought the Civil Rights Act should be done away with, Paul whines about "red herrings" and that the act is forty years old, so why is anyone asking him about it?"

Yes, but Rand is just the first. I am sure that there will be many more like him to come.

Gay Couple Sentenced To 14 Years In Malawi

News24 reports that "(a) judge has sentenced a gay couple to the maximum 14 years in prison for unnatural acts and gross indecency."

The sentence includes hard labor.

Addressing the two men, magistrate Nyakwawa Usiwa Usiwa said:

"I will give you a scaring sentence so that the public be protected from people like you so that we are not tempted to emulate this horrendous example ...

Malawi is not ready to see its sons getting married to its sons."

Geez I wonder if Malawi is ready to step into the 21st century?

The sentence can be appealed but I don't expect that it will be overturned.

Cracking down on gay folk across the continent seems to be a priority over protecting the human rights of all.

I am disgusted by this kind of inhumane nonsense.

Just a few days ago here in the land of the faded rainbow a lesbian woman was assaulted by a man who kicked her in the crotch to "convert her" according to a media report.

This in a country where gay and lesbian rights are protected under the constitution.

And before anyone makes this into a black/African vendetta against gays and lesbians it would be prudent to note that the women who was kicked is white and so is her attacker.

Anti-gay sentiment crosses the race, gender, and class divides in South Africa and the continent in general.

Same-sex couples or relationships are considered "un-African", whatever that may mean.

Gangs of men are known to rape lesbians in an act referred to as "corrective rape".

Since 1998, 31 "lesbians have been reported murdered in homophobic attacks," according to a media report.

And these are merely the cases we know about. I fully expect that the number far exceeds what is on the books, and the number of assaults in total is not even known.

We have a long way to go. Here in the faded rainbow and on the continent in general.

Gay and lesbian rights are human rights.

No exceptions.

Onward!


Image Credit

UPDATE (May 31, 2010): President Bingu wa Mutharika has decided to pardon and free the gay couple without conditions. The decision came after meeting with UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon.