Too Scary for the Classroom?

Too Scary for the Classroom?By TARIQ RAMADANAs a professor and a Muslim, I make no apologies for my critical look at both Islam and the West.Too Scary for the Classroom?By TARIQ RAMADAN
Published: September 1, 2004

Geneva — Right now, I am supposed to be in South Bend, Ind., beginning my term as a professor of Islamic studies at the University of Notre Dame. After all, my petition for a work/residence visa in the United States was granted in May, after meticulous clearance procedures. But nine days before I was to move, I received an urgent message from the American Embassy: my visa had been revoked. If I wished to reapply, I was told, I was welcome to do so; but no reasons for the revocation were given. Classes have now begun at Notre Dame, while my wife and children and I wait here in a barren apartment.
The State Department's reasoning remains a mystery. For some time I have been considered a controversial figure in France; but this was well known by the American government when I received the visa in the spring. I have been accused of engaging in "double talk" - that is, of delivering a gentle message in French and English, and a radical, violent one in Arabic.
My detractors have tried to demonstrate that I have links with extremists, that I am an anti-Semite and that I despise women. Repeatedly I have denied these assertions, and asked my critics to show evidence from my writings and public comments. Their failure to do so has had little effect: I am repeatedly confronted with magazine articles and Web postings repeating these accusations as facts and fabricating new ones.
And now the web of lies has spread across the Atlantic Ocean. The most damaging accusations were in an article in Vanity Fair claiming that I had written the preface to a volume of essays that endorsed the stoning of women caught in adultery. Actually, the book condemned the practice as un-Islamic.
I admit that my intellectual project is inherently controversial. My goal is to foster communities within the Islamic world that are seeking a path between their often bitter experience with some American and European policies on the one hand, and the unacceptable violence of Islamic extremists on the other. I understand, share and publicly discuss many of the Muslim criticisms of "Western" governments, including the deleterious worldwide effects of unregulated American consumerism.
I find current American policies toward the Middle East misguided and counterproductive, a position I believe I share with millions of Americans and Europeans. Yet I have also criticized many so-called Islamic governments, including that of Saudi Arabia, for their human rights violations and offenses against human dignity, personal freedom and pluralism.
My more specific stances have also raised hackles in France. For example, I strongly oppose France's new law banning female students from wearing head scarves, although on general human rights grounds rather than because I am a Muslim. (I condemn the kidnapping of two French journalists in Iraq and think the French government should not submit to the blackmail of the kidnappers, who say they will kill the captives unless the ban is overturned.)
I was also accused of anti-Semitism after I criticized some leading French intellectuals - including Bernard-Henri Lévy and Alain Finkielkraut - for abandoning France's noble traditions of universalism and personal freedom because of their anxiety over Muslim immigration and their support for Israel.
The fact is, in the more than 20 books, 700 articles and 170 audio tapes I have produced, one will find no double talk, but a consistent set of themes, and an insistence that my fellow Muslims unequivocally condemn radical views and acts of extremism.
Just days after 9/11, I gave an interview calling on Muslims to condemn the attacks and to acknowledge that the terrorists betrayed the Islamic message. I have denounced anti-Semitism, criticizing Muslims who do not differentiate between the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a political issue and the unacceptable rejection of individual Jews because of their religion and heritage. I have called for a spiritual reformation that will lead to an Islamic feminism. I reject every kind of mistreatment of women, including domestic violence, forced marriage and female circumcision. My opponents also accuse me of being the grandson of Hassan al-Banna, the founder of the radical Muslim Brotherhood movement in Egypt. I plead guilty to this charge. My response is: am I to be judged by the words and deeds of an ancestor?
Those critics obsessed with my genealogy ought to examine my intellectual pedigree, which includes advanced study of Descartes, Kant and Nietzsche, among others. They should examine the time I have spent working in poverty-stricken areas with the Dalai Lama, Mother Teresa and the Brazilian human-rights leader Dom Helder Camara, as well as with countless other Christians and Jews, agnostics and atheists.
For 20 years, I have dedicated myself to studying Islamic scripture, Western and Eastern philosophies and societies, and built an identity that is truly Western and truly Muslim. I make no apologies for taking a critical look at both Islam and the West; in doing so I am being true to my faith and to the ethics of my Swiss citizenship. I believe Muslims can remain faithful to their religion and be able, from within pluralistic and democratic societies, to oppose all injustices.
I also feel it is vital that Muslims stop blaming others and indulging in victimization. We are responsible for reforming our societies. On the other hand, blindly supporting American or European policies should not be the only acceptable political stance for Muslims who seek to be considered progressive and moderate.
In the Arab and Islamic world, one hears a great deal of legitimate criticism of American foreign policy. This is not to be confused with a rejection of American values. Rather, the misgivings are rooted in five specific grievances: the feeling that the United States role in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is unbalanced; the longstanding American support of authoritarian regimes in Islamic states and indifference to genuine democratic movements (particularly those that have a religious bent); the belief that Washington's policies are driven by short-term economic and geostrategic interests; the willingness of some prominent Americans to tolerate Islam-bashing at home; and the use of military force as the primary means of establishing democracy.
Instead of war, the Arab and Muslim worlds seek evidence of a lasting and substantive commitment by the United States to policies that would advance public education, equitable trade and mutually profitable economic and cultural partnerships. For this to occur, America first has to trust Muslims, genuinely listen to their hopes and grievances, and allow them to develop their own models of pluralism and democracy.
Simply sponsoring a few Arabic TV and radio channels will not lead to real changes in Muslims' perceptions. Instead, America's only chance of making peace with the Islamic world depends on consistency between words and actions, and the development of cross-cultural trust over time.
I believe Western Muslims can make a critical difference in the Muslim majority world. To do this, we must become full, independent Western citizens, working with others to address social, economic and political problems. However, we can succeed only if Westerners do not cast doubt on our loyalty every time we criticize Western governments. Not only do our independent voices enrich Western societies, they are the only way for Western Muslims to be credible in Arab and Islamic countries so that we can help bring about freedom and democracy. That is the message I advocate. I do not understand how it can be judged as a threat to America.
Tariq Ramadan is the author, most recently, of "Western Muslims and the Future of Islam."

Dallaire furious over response to Sudan crisis
Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The Canadian general who watched helplessly while genocide raged in Rwanda launched a tirade Wednesday against Western countries for their "lame and obtuse" response to unnervingly similar horrors unfolding in Sudan. .....


Canada sending equipment but no troops to Sudan

CTV.ca News Staff
Sudan will be getting about $250,000 in military equipment from Canada, but there are no plans to send our troops there, according to Defence Minister Bill Graham. ....

what the.....??????

I understand the catastrophic part, but what is the success part......what is he talking about? It should be sooooo obvious that the emperor has no clothes.....



Bush stumps in West Virginia, defends Iraq war

BEN FELLER, Associated Press Writer
Sunday, August 29, 2004
(08-29) 12:53 PDT WHEELING, W.Va. (AP) --
President Bush on Sunday defended the invasion of Iraq, calling it a "catastrophic success" despite continued violence and the lack of weapons that drove the country to war.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2004/08/29/politics1553EDT0560.DTL

Bush campaign ready to change the subject

Now that everybody knows the Bush campaign is behind the Swiftboat smear, they're ready to change the subject. They've been caught breaking campaign laws, so they'd like to talk about something else now. Georgie-boy is being "noble" for the "Today show" and Eddie (the weasel) Gillespie was "ready to move on" when he appeared on c-span this morning.
But, they're BUSTED! And it may not work out the way they'd like. Perhaps they've used smear tactics once too often and all of the American people will realize that Georgie-boy and his pals are phonies and just plain low-lifes.

Bush Says Kerry 'More Heroic' for Going to Vietnam
from REUTERS:
....But the president told NBC's "Today" show that both sides should drop the debate over their wartime service, saying, "I think that we ought to move beyond the past. ... The real question is who best to lead us forward." ....

....Kerry accuses the Bush campaign of colluding with the Swift Boat Veterans on the ads, a charge the White House has denied. But its case was hurt this past week when a top lawyer for the Bush campaign, Benjamin Ginsberg, resigned after disclosing he was providing legal advice to the veteran's group.

After Ginsburg's resignation, 50 percent of Americans said they believed the Bush campaign was behind the Swift Boat Veterans ads, according to a survey by the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center. ......

Canadian MP calls U.S. 'idiots'

those canadians again......i suppose we'll soon have bill o'reilly calling out those boycott dogs again.. oh, that's right, they are one of our largest trading partners...... oh, and our next door neighbors....hmmmmm........you go carolyn!!!!!!


OTTAWA, Canada (Reuters) -- Canadian Member of Parliament Carolyn Parrish had said she hated "damned Americans" and called them bastards in the run-up to the Iraq war.
source:

Family clout got Bush out of the Draft

From this mornings New York Times:
Former Speaker of the Texas House admits he used his influence to get George W. Bush into the Texas Nat'l Guard in 1968.

Speaking at a Kerry rally on May 27, Ben Barnes (former speaker of the Texas House) also said: "I walked through the Vietnam Memorial the other day, and I looked at the names of people who died in Vietnam and I became more ashamed of myself than I've ever been because the worst thing I did was get a lot of wealthy supporters and a lot of people who had family names of importance into the Guard and I'm very sorry about that and I apologize to you and the voters of Texas."

You can see the Video clip of his remarks, here

Bush’s Sleeper Cells

All it takes is a wink and a nod from the White House, and this network springs into action

WEB EXCLUSIVE
By Eleanor Clift
Newsweek - Aug. 27, 2004

....."My Republican mole on Capitol Hill says the green light has gone out to Republicans to do whatever it takes to get Bush elected. “This is the way we hold onto power,” he says with disgust.".....

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The Cat is out of the Bag - The Bush campaign has no principles, Bush will say anything to win the election, Bushs "high morals" are a facade, He's a fake.

"Country Before Party"

i look forward to working with these people to take our country back and begin the lively discussion as we find the solutions as americans.

We are ordinary Republicans from across the political spectrum -- moderate, conservative, and progressive -- who believe in the sanctity of our Constitution and Bill of Rights..........
http://www.republicansforkerry04.com/

The truth about Iraq from those who served

Operation Truth is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that seeks to educate the American public about the truth of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan from the perspective of the soldiers who have experienced them first-hand.

http://optruth.com/main.cfm

Swiftboat vets for (?)..... Boooooring!

After days of feeling angry and insulted by the smear tactics of Bush's Swiftboat-vet hit-team and the stupidly excessive media coverage of them and their rightwing 'journalist' co-conspirators, I'm just tired of the noise. There's one simple question that settles whether or not the "Swiftboat vets for 'truth'" are worth listening to: IF there were really any question about John Kerry's valor or honesty during his service in Vietnam, wouldn't Nixon have assigned someone to bring it up before Kerry testified to the Senate? Remember, back in '71 John O'Neill debated John Kerry and never questioned his service.

Bush opposes Free speech

I was just listening to Bush's statement about the Swiftboat liars. He won't condemn them for lying about John Kerry's military record, but he says he wants 527s done away with because they're bad for the system. Yes, bad for controlling the message! It's easy to understand why Bush wouldn't want grassroots groups like MoveOn out there telling the truth. In Bush's world only the rich and powerful should have the right to be heard...

Source: Bush urges group to end anti-Kerry ads

Dole joins the league of Low-life's

Dole Questions Kerry's Vietnam Wounds

Monday August 23, 2004 12:01 AM
By PETE YOST - Associated Press Writer

CRAWFORD, Texas (AP) - Former Republican Sen. Bob Dole suggested Sunday that John Kerry apologize for past testimony before Congress about alleged atrocities during the Vietnam War and joined critics of the Democratic presidential candidate who say he received an early exit from combat for ``superficial wounds.'' ......
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['superficial wounds'? What the f*ck is Mr. Viagra talking about? And who's he to question... I'd always heard that bad arm of his was from jackin'-off too much.]

Should we compare Kerry's "early exit from combat" to Bushs hiding in the Tx. Nat'l Guard or Cheneys deferments (how many did he have?).

What these troglodytes are really pissed-off about is that Kerry came back from Vietnam and protested the war.

They don't want to face having been part of an illegal, immoral war. A war conceived by ivy league, ivory tower, pencil-necked, pin-heads; based on false assumptions and pursued with increasing fury as their assumptions were proved wrong. Even Robert McNamara (former Sec. of Defense for LBJ) has FINALLY said, 'The domino theory was baloney, the conflict in Vietnam was a civil war and the U.S. military shouldn't have been there'.

White House Says It Is Not Behind Attack Ads

Can Scott McClellan really have it both ways?

McClellan described the Republican donor, Bob Perry, as "a supporter" of the president, and acknowledged Perry's personal ties with Bush's top political adviser, Karl Rove.

Perry has contributed $200,000 to Swift Boat Veterans, according to an analysis by Texans for Public Justice, a non-partisan research organization that tracks money in Texas politics.

Records show Perry is also a long-time Bush supporter. He contributed $46,000 to Bush's 1994 and 1998 campaigns for Texas governor, and has contributed the maximum allowable $2,000 to Bush's current reelection.

Perry also worked with Rove as early as 1986 when Perry served as campaign treasurer for Republican gubernatorial candidate William Clements and Rove served as a campaign consultant and fundraiser, Texans for Public Justice said.

Perry was the largest single contributor to the Texas Republican Party during the 2002 election cycle, giving $905,000.

And then He's got the gall to say

"We weren't involved in any way in these ads," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan, who in a new line of attack said Bush's Democratic rival had been "losing his cool" over the accusations.

And what's with the wide-eyed innocents act?

McClellan said Kerry had been "angry" about the advertising campaign and Bush campaign chairman Marc Racicot said in an interview on CNN that he looked "wild-eyed" talking about it.

The latest comments made by McClellan and Racicot were similar to those Bush's allies used to portray Sen. John McCain as "unstable" and temperamental in the 2000 race for the Republican nomination.

Every American should be furious at the disrespect
the Republican party shows our veterans

Kerry campaign spokesman David Wade responded tersely to McClellan's comments on Friday. "Maybe if George Bush had seen combat up close his hired gun mouthpiece wouldn't be so flip about the dishonest and dishonorable attack funded by the President's Texas pals," he said.

Source:

Oooh MY God!... We're living in a Federico Fellini flick!

Senator? Terrorist? A Watch List Stops Kennedy at Airport
By RACHEL L. SWARNS

Published: August 20, 2004

ASHINGTON, Aug. 19 - The meeting had all the hallmarks of an ordinary Congressional hearing. There was Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, discussing the problems faced by ordinary citizens mistakenly placed on terrorist watch lists. Then, to the astonishment of the crowd attending a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on Thursday, Mr. Kennedy offered himself up as Exhibit A.

Between March 1 and April 6, airline agents tried to block Mr. Kennedy from boarding airplanes on five occasions because his name resembled an alias used by a suspected terrorist who had been barred from flying on airlines in the United States, his aides and government officials said.

Instead of acknowledging the craggy-faced, silver-haired septuagenarian as the Congressional leader whose face has flashed across the nation's television sets for decades, the airline agents acted as if they had stumbled across a fanatic who might blow up an American airplane. Mr. Kennedy said they refused to give him his ticket.... Full article

Heimlich maneuver survivors for truth???

leads me to wonder if the bush crime family will start the offensive before it goes big and another republican stands up for kerry....
(as proposed on air america radio)

republican stands up for kerry

amazon review for a great read!!!

2112 of 2129 people found the following review helpful:

Presidential material, through and through!, July 6, 2004Reviewer: Lolla Fallujah (Hannah Storm's house) - See all my reviews After reading the enclosed story "The Pet Goat," I was stunned by its lyrical beauty and easy cadence. The tempo, the choice of words, and the layout on each page captured my imagination so much that it took me about seven minutes to recover my bearings.

give rush the boot!!!!

please sign the petition to remove rush from armed forces radio......this whack job (rush)should not be a mouthpiece for america. his rhetoric is disgraceful, dangerous and insulting! http://www.petitiononline.com/mmfa2/petition.html

creative resistance during the republican convention

http://shutitdownnyc.com/

Brain Diseases Linked To Environmental Factors

August 15, 2004

Brain diseases have been on a steady increase over the past two decades and researchers believe they have found a link between these diseases and the environment....

...Researchers found dementia rates have tripled in men and increased by about 90 percent among women over two decades...

Source: Health Talk

Well isn't that damn wonderful! After 35 years of doing the right thing: recycling, not using pesticides and herbicides around the house & yard, buying organic whenever I could, driving fuel efficient vehicles; what do I have to look forward to in my declining years? Dementia!

Is it time to take back the government? Do ya think!

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Republicans Fearmongers are at it again

A group calling itself Doctors for Medical Liability Reform has been blitzing the Seattle area with a half-hour info-mercials. This past weekend they ran their propaganda film a dozen or more times.

This film is a FEAR-FEST: People describing themselves as; Doctors, nurses and patients claim that all the doctors are leaving Washington state. Various Washington state Republican politicians, known for their allegiance to anti-democratic forces, also appear in the film. The film sets up a drumbeat of fear: 'doctors are leaving'; 'students are dropping out of Med. school'; 'if you get sick, no-one will be there to help you'.

Then the real purpose of the film pops-up. Our Democratic Senators are attacked and vilified for not voting to take citizens right away. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell are berated over and over again for voting against what is called "Medical liability reform".

Of course, this is bait and switch legislation. The purpose of this deceptively named legislation is to limit the rights of citizens; setting a discount price on any settlement an injured patient might win, before they ever enter a courtroom.

This kind of legislation has been passed in some states. It does limit the amount of damages a patient can recover in a malpractice case. It doesn't achieve its stated purpose of reducing the cost of medical liability insurance. But, the new laws do achieve their real goal of increasing the profits of insurance companies.


Here are some real source of information about the "so called" medical liability reform.
Beware of Infomercials Touting Reform
FACT-CHECKING THE INFOMERCIAL
Contrary to ads, doctors replaced, clinics still open
Doctors group targets state in fight over malpractice-insurance rates
The Attack on Patient Rights
President Uses Dubious Statistics on Costs of Malpractice Lawsuits