In the month of August:

- A mosque was burned down to the ground in in Joplin, Missouri. It was the second time the mosque had been set on fire this summer

- In California,two women dumped pig parts outside a home while Muslims prayed inside

- In Illinois, a man fired an air rifle outside a mosque and a 7-up bottle with acid and other materials were thrown at an Islamic school. Both incidents took place while evening prayers were going on.

Meanwhile on the other side:

- In England, alcohol and eggs were thrown at an Islamic Centre and a Muslim taxi driver’s cab was set on fire while he was praying at a local mosque

- In France, 2 pig heads were hung outside a mosque in France

Go on tell me more about those ‘extremist’ Muslims and all the ways in which they’re out to destroy the West.

(Source: fariyah, via jayaprada)

mehreenkasana:

Are you surprised? He had a 9/11 tattoo.

(via samraadeni)

Saving Private Capital

Forgetting Sarah Palin

The Bourne Into Supremacy

The Deported

Start Wars

Minority Deport

I Won’t Pronounce You Chuck and Larry

Three Men and a Panel about Women’s Reproductive Health

omg I can’t

Keshav (the Englishman) wishing us Yankees a happy fourth of july

Hey, I heard that: “Oh, no, the black columnist is writing about race, again.”

Yes, I am. Deal with it. The moment we allow ourselves to be browbeaten out of having important discussions about issues that persist, we cease to command the requisite conviction to wield the pen — or to peck on a keyboard, but you get my drift.

Varying political views among racial and ethnic groups are real.

They have always informed our politics, and no doubt they will continue to do so. The idea, naively held by many, that the election of the first black president would nullify racial grievances, bridge racial differences and erase racial animosities has quickly faded. We find ourselves once again trying to wrestle with the meaning and importance of race in our politics.

In fact, one could argue that examinations of racial attitudes in politics have become more fraught as racial motives, political objectives and accusations and denials of racism and reverse-racism serve as a kind of subterfuge hiding resentments and prejudices.

Either racial attitudes are naked, blatant and visible, this thinking goes, or they’re nonexistent, manufactured by race baiters and hucksters as devices of division. The middle ground, sprinkled with land mines made up of racial labels, is now a place where fair-minded people dare not tread.

That’s a shame.

But it’s not going to stop me. Strap on your lead boots and let’s go for a stroll.

A Pew Research Center American values survey released this week offers fascinating insights into how racially divergent values and the changing racial compositions of political parties influence our politics.

Let’s look at the racial makeup of the two major parties: from 2000 to 2012 the percentage of Republicans who are white has remained relatively steady, about 87 percent. On the other hand, the percentage of Democrats who are white has dropped nine percentage points, from 64 percent in 2000 to 55 percent in 2012. If current trends persist, in a few years the Democratic Party will be a majority minority party. But the largest drop in the white percentage has been among Independents: they were 79 percent white in 2000, but they are only 67 percent white now.

The racial diversity among Democrats and the lack of it among Republicans means that the two bases bring differing sets of concerns to the national debate.

For instance, blacks and Hispanics are far more likely to believe that poverty is a result of circumstances beyond a person’s control than a result of lack of effort.

Blacks and Hispanics also look far more favorably on the role of government, particularly as it relates to guarding against poverty and evening a playing field that they feel is tilted. Seventy-eight percent of both blacks and Hispanics believed that government should guarantee everyone enough to eat and a place to sleep, while only 52 percent of whites agreed with that idea.

This is not to say that minorities who favor a stronger government want more government handouts. There was very little difference in the percentage of blacks, Hispanics and whites who believed that poor people have become too dependent on government assistance programs (it’s pretty high for all three groups, at 70, 69 and 72 percent, respectively).

They seem to want a chance, not a check.

To wit, 62 percent of blacks and 59 percent of Hispanics say that we should make every possible effort to improve the position of blacks and other minorities, even if it means giving them preferential treatment. Not surprisingly, only 22 percent of whites agreed with this idea. Only 12 percent of Republicans — almost all of whom are white — agreed. This percentage has been decreasing since 2007, while the percentage of white Democrats who agree has been increasing.

Now what does that mean for the presidential race?

A staggering 90 percent of Romney supporters are white. Only 4 percent are Hispanic, less than 1 percent are black and another 4 percent are another race.

Of Obama’s supporters, 57 percent are white, 23 percent are black, 12 percent are Hispanic and 7 percent are another race.

And what of the all-important swing voters (those who are undecided, who lean toward a candidate, or who say that they could change their mind)? Nearly three out of four are white. The rest are roughly 8 percent each blacks, Hispanics and another race.

That might explain why the Pew poll found that the swing voters lean more toward Obama voters on issues like civil liberties and the role of labor unions, but are closer to Romney voters on the role of social safety nets, immigration and minority-preference programs.

Put another way, Romney voters and swing voters — who are both overwhelming white — agree on the more racially charged issues.

Pointing out these correlations is not only valid, it is instructive and helpful. In large part this election will be about the role of government in our lives, and different racial and ethnic groups view that particular issue very differently.

The economy always looms large, but for those who feel left behind by the economy even when it’s roaring, but especially when it sputters, social safety nets and governmental activism can also have tremendous weight.

The trick will be to have a conversation about the direction of the country that takes that into account but lifts the language to a level where common goals can be seen from differing racial vantage points — to show a way to be merciful to those struggling while providing a path to financial independence and social equality. Contrary to what many Americans think, most people do in fact want a hand up and not a handout.

-Charles Blow for the NYTimes

(Source: arabstateofmind, via paxamericana)

Sitting at the Russ Feingold pizza talk, listening to him talk about what it was like to be on the Daily Show (and other very very cool things)

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/tue-february-21-2012/exclusive—-russ-feingold-extended-interview-pt—1

Russ Feingold is a boss even if he hadn’t recently been interviewed by Jon Stewart.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russ_Feingold

Probably one of the coolest senators in the United States of America. ”They say I’m a trained filibuster.” OH DID I MENTION HE WAS THE ONLY SENATOR TO VOTE AGAINST THE PATRIOT ACT during the first vote on the legislation?? My hero.

It’s definitely been too long since I visited SLE.

He was the golden snitch and the stealthiest secret-keeper our generation has known.

He showed our generation what homicide and suicide look like at the same time, what it really means to die for something you’re passionate about and take others with you.

The tragedies at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon definitely reminded me how tall and massive the Sears Tower in my hometown Chicago was.  When I was ten, I looked out the window every morning to make sure that a tornado or an airplane hadn’t taken it down.

Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube are windows for us now.  Even for the White House.  The government was the main subscriber, the main follower of Osama bin Laden’s V-logs.  Rebecca Black, watch out for how many views tally between now and Friday—he might be more popular than you.

But before Hulu and Vimeo replaced CNN and MSNBC, and before blogs and nytimes.com replaced the New York Times delivered at your doorstep, bill statements were still primarily “unplugged,” spam meant a trash bag full of credit card offers to go to the dumpster, and pen pals still had credit.  The cyber-world has made us a greener nation and I think the threat of anthrax helped.

“Farenheit 9/11,” “World Trade Center,” “Inside Man,” “XXX,” “Traitor,” “Body of Lies,” Team America: World Police,” “Vantage Point,” and even Disney Channel Original Movie “Tiger Cruise”—all of these are a few of the last decade’s movies that concern terrorism in one way or another, believe it or not.

By the time we got to “The Hurt Locker” and “Avatar” it was more culturally significant to see the Hot War in Blu-ray than blue people therein.

Don’t exclude the inspiration and lyrical content of songs like “Where is the Love?” by the Black Eyed Peas, “American Terrorist” by Lupe Fiasco, “21 Guns” by Green Day, “B.Y.O.B.” by System of a Down, “B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)” by Outkast, “Dirty Harry” by Gorillaz, “Mosh” by Eminem, and “Waiting On the World to Change” by John Mayer.

Remember to support the artists that remind you of the people you’ve loved and lost.  If there is a song on your iPod that is one of those reminders, I hope you at least bought it—musicians are especially gratuitous in the times we need them to honor our tragedies.  Globally, nationally, personally.

Recall too that in our generation Muslims were unpopular.  Bless their souls and let the discourse of the next ten years undo the symbolic violence to and corruption of their faith, which was so popular in the last ten.  Bless America, God, Allah, every American’s higher power.

As far as the way terrorism inspired ignorance at the administrative level, remember the ever-relevant ties between Obama and Bill Ayers of Weather Underground 1969-1973, his middle name being Hussein, his first name rhyming with that of the world’s most wanted.  Remember the nonsense which was remarkably such a crucial element of the 2008 Presidential Election.  Bless our President that he may never again be the direct victim of stupid and tangential association given to him by many in a country he swore to defend and as of May 1st, 2011 has followed through.

Bless the airline industry, especially Southwest which expanded rather than cut its services in an era where air travel and life insurance feel like antithetical investments. 

I would say bless TSA, but this should just remind them to actually do their jobs.

Bless the Gulf Coast—Katrina hit the Gulf Coast in 2005, the Gulf Coast was engulfed in oil as of 2010, nearly twenty years after the 1991 Gulf War oil spill engulfed the Gulf Coast.  I think the word “gulf” has been engulfing the Gulf Coast for decades now and they need a break.  From disasters and from oil.

Bless our soldiers in Afghanistan.  Forgive me for sounding naïve, but both Bush’s and Obama’s administrations have been trying to find this man for ten years.  The impossible has been done, so maybe now we can entertain the possibility that our beloved in uniform can soon come home.

And bless the man of the hour.  Bless every leader who was on history’s “Most Wanted” list for evil.  I do mean Hussein, Stalin, Hitler, so on and so on.  To celebrate the extermination (no less the death) of a man really sucks.  I hope that FPS/TPS, Tom Clancy, and the fantastic war-simulation graphics that have given us games like 2010’s Call of Duty: Black Ops haven’t excused us of our sense of humanity.

These blessings, really, are for the death of a symbol for this country, for a decade in this country.  Osama bin Laden is dead.  Keep things like this in mind as you and me close the chapters on a lot of books this next decade.  Remember the significance of this in the same way you will when Part Two of our generation’s favorite fantasy epic comes out this July, when the album market is completely gone, when the 2012 scare becomes the 1999 scare all over again and people actually take the 2009 film seriously. Remember that we only have 2-3 decades to define a generation—it’s 2011, and many of us still haven’t fully realized that yet, let alone how fast all of this is getting away from us.  So, if nostalgia means anything, remember:

Andy, Woody, Buzz, Mr. Potato Head, Bo Peep, 1995, 1999, 2011—all ours.

Documentaries like 2002’s Bowling for Columbine, 2004’s Super Size Me, and 2006’s An Inconvenient Truth shows America and the world its ass—all ours.

Harry, Ron, Hermione, Voldemort, the entirety of Hogwarts, 2001-2011—all ours.

Humor takes on a new face of crude and sarcastic with 1997’s South Park, 1999’s Futurama, 1998’sFamily Guy, 2003’s Chappelle Show, and movies like 2004’s Dodgeball, 2005’s The 40-Year-Old Virgin, 2007’s Knocked Up and Superbad, 2008’s Pineapple Express, 2009’s The Hangover—all ours.

America wins in the global swimming arena: Michael Phelps, drug tests, everything, 2008—all ours.

The world loses pop’s most influential icon, June 25, 2009—all ours.

“George Bush doesn’t care about black people,” 2005 and “Imma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time,” 2009—ours.

The federal government takes over Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Washington Mutual, 2008—ours.

“Friday” has 127,000,000+ views on the Tube as of May 2, 2011—yes, all ours.

Bush (“W.”) and Gore, 2000; Bush and Kerry, 2004; Obiden and McPalin, 2008—all ours.

Thus, never forget:

September 11th and The War on Terror, 2001; a decade of a Hot War; and Osama bin Laden, found in Abottabad and killed in a firefight by U.S. forces, May 1st, 2011—all ours.

All of this history is the present generation’s.  All of it.  And shame on us if we remember our war independently of the rest of our times.

Written on Tuesday, May 3, 2011 at 3:53am

By Tyler C Brooks 

I reblogged a couple well-written pieces from Tumblr, but now I’m putting one that personally spoke to me - it’s written in a very apolitical way, focusing more on the people who experienced 9/11, rather than the cold facts of what happened that day.

It was written after the capture of bin Laden, by a friend of a friend - Tyler D Brooks. He goes to my college, Stanford, but I don’t know him personally, (although I REALLY wish I did) He is an amazing writer, and seems to be a very cool individual as well.

https://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=10150586378540524

that’s the link. It may not work, but on the off chance that someone sees this who knows Tyler, they’ll be able to view the actual link.

As for the rest of the tumblr community: I’m putting the link here:

http://samraadeni.tumblr.com/post/10088268414/he-was-the-golden-snitch-and-the-stealthiest

God bless us all.

(Source: socialuprooting)

mohandasgandhi:

mehreenkasana:

Time for the US to Investigate Torture

There’s overwhelming evidence of torture by the Bush administration. The Obama administration has a legal obligation to investigate. Jessie Graham reports.

“The widespread abuse across three continents was not the result of low ranking soldiers who broke the rules. It was the result of high administration officials who cast the rules aside to shape their own desires.

[…]

When the United States refuses to investigate American officials for their involvement in torture and ill treatment, it undermines the global effort to press for accountability for human rights abuses in other countries. The US is right to call for justice in places like Darfur, Libya or Sri Lanka but there can’t be double standards.”

For the uninitiated, a few links below have been provided to give you an idea of how the Bush regime not only administrated torture methods on detainees but also justified each and every one of them:

• George W Bush recounted in his memoir, Decision Points, that when he was asked in 2002 if it was permissible to waterboard a detainee held in secret CIA custody outside the United States, he answered “damn right”. This “decision point” led to the waterboarding of that person 183 times in one month. More here and here.
• Bush administration acknowledges and defends use of torture technique.
• Insects, sleep deprivation and waterboarding among approved techniques by the Bush administration.

Appalling, to say the least.

As much as I’d like to see these guys nailed for authorizing the use of torture, I’d be shocked if I saw it happen. Although U.S. legal scholars have made a decent case, I don’t see it leaving academia. The Obama administration made it clear right away that they wouldn’t be investigating any Bush officials and the United States isn’t going to let a foreign government prosecute U.S. officials at all. (See Khaled el-Masri) The U.S. can put political pressure on foreign governments, place economic sanctions on them, or whatever in order to deter any investigations.

Furthermore, they really blew it when they let John Yoo, from the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel, go, citing that there was no misconduct present in the interrogation memos, just “poor judgement.”

I think they got away with this one.

I just read all about waterboarding and I am so disgusted with the world.

PLEASE READ THIS. People should know that these things happen. This isn’t about left/right, liberal/conservative, dem/rep - at least, it shouldn’t be. You’d just have to be a sick, evil person to think that doing this to other humans was acceptable.

mohandasgandhi:

what’s wrong with ron paul?

• He doesn’t believe in the separation of church and state.
• He believes abortion should be illegal.
• He doesn’t support the repeal of DoMA and didn’t support the repeal of DADT.
• He doesn’t support putting more money into inner-city schools, but does support vouchers for religious schools.
• He believes creationism should be taught alongside evolution in public schools.
• He doesn’t believe HIV causes AIDS.
• While he doesn’t support a federal ban on gay marriage, he also doesn’t support a federal law legalizing gay marriage. Some see this as a states’ rights issue, and this is how he frames it, but he does support other federal legalization movements (drugs, for example).
• His newsletter spouted horrible racist content for twenty years. He denies writing any of it, but if he allowed this content to go out under his name, he either approved it or was so ignorant of both the type of people he associates with and the type of content going under his name that he shouldn’t be trusted to run anything.
• He believes in reinstating the gold standard, which most economists believe was one of the major causes of several financial crises during the early part of the 20th Century, including the Great Depression.
• He believes in free market capitalism.
• He wants to get rid of Affirmative Action.
• He is a frequent guest on the Alex Jones radio show. Alex Jones is a government-hating conspiracy theorist nutter. If you don’t know who Alex Jones is, then Google him.
• Any of these items should keep a sane liberal from voting for Ron Paul.

His stance on drugs and wars win him a lot of liberal fans, but only if they don’t look at literally anything else he stands for.

Source: steviemcfly 

Tumblr is obsessed with this guy and I’m certain no one has ever researched him.

(Source: truth-has-a-liberal-bias)