Author: mara.ahmed

“That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence, and therefore all men have an equal, natural and unalienable right to the exercise of religion according to the dictates of conscience, and that no particular sect or society ought to be favored or established by law in preference to others.” (State of Virginia, 1789)

what i love about this segment is that john stewart is coming at this whole thing from outside the box.

within the framework of “muslims did 9/11” any argument to the contrary will look defensive and weak. for if muslims did 9/11 then it is a slap in the face of the victims to build a “mosque” to the muslim god, in close proximity to ground zero.

however, that framework itself is flawed. “muslims” didn’t do 9/11, misguided militant extremists did. so muslims have every right to build an islamic center in ny just like jews have the right to build jewish centers in ny and elsewhere.

the funny thing is, even if we buy the govt’s story on 9/11 (and it’s hard to do that in view of the govt’s track record), then 9/11 was all about politics and american foreign policy. it was hardly a religious event – how have islam or muslims benefited from what happened? in fact, muslims have suffered most grievously as a consequence of that crime. i guess the idea was to bring the war to the u.s. and make it rethink the wars it funds and carries out in other parts of the world.

stewart is cleverly pointing out that american muslims have the right to practice their religion and build houses of worship like other americans. the constitution guarantees that right. in focusing on that he sidesteps the erroneous argument that “muslims” did 9/11 for some “islamic” reason.

Alarmingly, one of the administration officials who spoke to the Washington Post also stated that the administration was prepared to release him because senior officials were “comfortable” with making an exception for him “because of the guy’s background, his family and where he comes from in Yemen,” thereby admitting that the perception of a prisoner’s family background is now more important than whether he is innocent or not. In order to release Odaini, the administration had to break a moratorium on repatriating any Yemeni prisoners, which was introduced by President Obama in January, in response to a wave of hysteria following the revelation that the would-be Christmas Day plane bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, a Nigerian, had been recruited in Yemen. Full article.

We need to transcend systems rooted in human arrogance and greed that lead us to believe that any individual is more valuable than another, that any group of people should dominate another group, or that people have a right to exploit the living world without regard for the consequences for the ecosystem. Because each of us has within us the capacity for constructive and destructive actions — for good and evil — our collective task is to shape a society that helps us act with caution and compassion. Full article.

?”Genetic damage and health in Fallujah Iraq worse than Hiroshima” – yeah, that’s what 2.4 million pounds of depleted uranium will do to u. so who is evil again? the taliban?

read full article.

?”Rapid progress with the technology has raised alarm at the United Nations. Philip Alston, its special rapporteur on extrajudicial executions, warned last month of the danger that a “PlayStation mentality to killing” could quickly emerge. According to analysts, however, Israel is unlikely to turn its back on hardware that it has been at the forefront of developing — using the Occupied Palestinian Territories, and especially Gaza, as testing laboratories. Remotely controlled weapons systems are in high demand from repressive regimes and the burgeoning homeland security industries around the globe.” Full article.

“The country’s largest ethnic group is growing increasingly frustrated and angry with the government and its foreign backers. From house raids and air strikes, to problems in the classroom and civil service, they believe they are the main victims of a war deliberately targeting their very way of life.” Full article.