What? A private school in New York recently had a Muslim religious day experience for all their students. They call it "Islamic Banquet Day". Each child heard the Muslim Call to Prayer and participated in a Muslim prayer ritual during the school day.
Why did this happen?
Do they also have a Christian Banquet Day where student attend a prayer in a chapel and listen to Christian music?
If this was my child's school and they had to participate in any religious ceremony, no matter what religion, I would be livid.
"...Ross School eighth-grade students celebrated Islamic Banquet Day last Wednesday. Started four years ago by Debra McCall, the day is intended as a day of unification, understanding, and the breaking down of stereotypes. This dynamic experience is woven into every part the curriculum—from art to math, cuisine to cultural history.
Mark Tompkins, cultural history teacher and eighth-grade team leader, organized the event. “A Call to Prayer” offered students the opportunity to engage in the Muslim prayer ritual..."
Here's something a little different:
"...Beleaguered pop star Michael Jackson' s being sued for $7m (£4.3m) by the son of the King of Bahrain, just days after he was forced to sell the infamous 2,500-acre Neverland ranch in California.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalifa is suing Jackson for breach of contract and the case is expected to go before a high court judge today. It is alleged that Jackson received payment in advance for writing and recording new material, but never delivered on his promise of a new album for Al Khalifa's record company. He also alleges he gave the singer a new Rolls Royce worth $120,000 (£75,000)..."
Last year, it was rumored Jackson was contemplating converting to Islam.
I wonder if he did.
Islamic pirates off the coast of Somali seized a Saudi supertanker Saturday.
It may be the largest ship ever seized, according to news reports.
"...The ship was in an area far beyond the Gulf of Aden, where most of the attacks on shipping have taken place and where some foreign navies have begun patrols.
The supertanker is a newly commissioned ship owned by the Saudi oil company Aramco is and is currently loaded with crude oil.
The hijacking was among the most brazen in a surge in attacks this year by well-armed and organized Somali pirates, whose attacks have increased more than 75 per cent this year...."
For a 40 month period, the FBI tracked more than 100,000 potential terror threats starting in July 2004. Most turned out to be nothing. As a result, 600 full-scale terrorism investigations were launched. 600 terrorism investigations!
However, due to shortage of FBI staff, the system was not always updated to close out a non-threat assessment.
"...The report, issued by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn Fine, examined the Guardian system...
...Given the vast array of possible threats, the report takes care to point out that that most of the 108,000 incidents had no terrorism connection. Only 600 criminal cases and full-scale terrorism investigations were launched of the possible threats identified. The inspector general review largely found that the Guardian system was effective, but noted that 30 percent of non-priority or routine terrorism leads were not updated in the database....The data released in the report shows that the FBI responds to over 100 potential threats every day..."
Sandy Rinehart, senior assistant attorney general,for the State of Oklahoma argued this week in the 10th Circuit Court in Denver to keep the employee verification part of Oklahoma's anti-illegal foreign national law, HB 1804, citing, that while the federal program is voluntary,it doesn't prohibit a state from making it mandatory.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and 28 other entities have filed suit against the state of Oklahoma claiming the state doesn't have this right.
Leaders of the religion of peace in the Netherlands fraudulently used government funds 86% of the time at Islamic schools. In addition, the quality of education is considerably poorer than the average school:
"Nearly nine out of 10 Islamic schools in the Netherlands spend government subsidies unlawfully. The education ministry confirmed yesterday following a report in De Telegraaf that 86 percent of the schools make fraudulent use of money.
De Telegraaf obtained a study by State Secretaries Sharon Dijksma and Marja van Bijsterveldt of Education of the 41 primary schools and two secondary schools that provide Islamic education. At half of the schools, the quality of the education is assessed as weak to very weak. At normal schools, this figure is 11 percent.
Additionally, financial mismanagement was established at 86 percent of Islamic school managements. The illegal spending ranges from salaries to 'teachers' who turn out to be the wives of management board members, unlawful payments for transport that is never hired and even, as already made known earlier, trips to Saudi Arabia - the school (Ibn Ghaldoun in Rotterdam) bought plane tickets for Muslims who had nothing to do with the school whatsoever.
The Islamic education "gives ground for great concern," said Dijksma and Van Bijsterveldt yesterday. The education ministry is trying to claim back 4.5 million euros in unlawfully spent subsidies from the schools. This is an increase of 2.5 million from fraud figures previously known.
Rahm Emanuel, the new chief of staff for president-elect Barack Obama, has apologized to the American Arab Anti-Discrimination League for a statement his father made - not for a statement he personally made.
On their website they refer to the apology as a repudiation.
Are they too sensitive or am I not sensitive enough?
What his farther said isn't really a slam against Arabs. He said his son wasn't an Arab which is a statement of fact, right? He also said his son would not be mopping the floor which is also a fact since he will be the chief of staff. Both sentences are separate facts but an Arab group got all up in arms over it blending to two together as a slur against Arabs.
Will appeasement will be the hallmark of the Obama administration?
Although the investigation said the fake numbers were issued as a temporary measure to get certain foreign employess on the payroll, it is filled with problems and bad perceptions:
"Years after being advised by a state agency to stop, the Dallas Independent School District continued to provide foreign citizens with fake Social Security numbers to get them on the payroll quickly.
...The practice was described in an internal report issued in September by the district's investigative office, which looked into the matter after receiving a tip. The report said the Texas Education Agency learned of the fake numbers in 2004 and told DISD then that the practice "was illegal."
...The fake numbers were assigned as a stopgap to expedite the hiring process, the report says. The numbers were supposed to serve as temporary identification numbers until employees received real Social Security numbers. Once employees got the real numbers, they were supposed to tell district officials so the fake ones could be replaced.
The investigation found no indication that the fake numbers were provided to the Teacher Retirement System, the Internal Revenue Service or the Social Security Administration.
However, according to the report, a sampling of several fake numbers showed that they had been included in a July quarterly report sent to the Texas Workforce Commission.
Wow! President-elect Barack Obama has inspired a spirtual song. I hope he can live up to it:
Well, well, well. Good Morning America will interview former domestic terrorist Bill Ayers tomorrow morning about his updated version of his memoir's "Fugitive Days" where he wrote in the forward that president-elect Barack H. Obama was a family friend!
"In a new afterword to his memoir, 1960s radical William Ayers describes himself as a "family friend" of President-elect Barack Obama and writes that the campaign controversy over their relationship was an effort by Obama's political enemies to "deepen a dishonest narrative" about the candidate.
...Obama had dismissed Ayers as "a guy who lives in my neighborhood" and "somebody who worked on education issues in Chicago that I know."
...He'll appear Friday on "Good Morning America" to promote the re-issue of his book this week. The Tribune obtained a copy of the updated material.
In it, Ayers -- who did not respond to requests for comment -- summarized his relationship with Obama: "[W]e had served together on the board of a foundation, knew one another as neighbors and family friends, held an initial fund-raiser at my house, where I'd made a small donation to his earliest political campaign."
Chicago Tribune
Today, volunteer divers found a bag weighed down by bricks that may have some tiny bones in it. Nothing has been confirmed but authorities were called in to determine what they found. It's probably nothing but it would be nice to be able to give little Caylee Anthony a proper burial.
In an earlier report, on Tuesday, it was reported Leonard Padilla suspended his search and held a prayer vigil for Caylee Anthony.
UPDATE 6:00 PM: It turned out to be nothing.
What a joke:
The head of the UN General Assembly decried the West's "unbridled greed" yesterday as he opened a conference on religious tolerance that appeared to be full of contradictions.
Reverend Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann spoke just before Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, who called for inter-faith respect despite laws in his country permitting the practice of only one narrow sect of Islam.
...Mr. Brockmann, a Nicaraguan priest and president of the 192-country assembly since September, organized the conference. It is "sponsored" by Saudi Arabia, which had sought a UN follow-up to its efforts aimed at promoting interfaith dialogue through a conference held in July in Madrid.
...The Saudi monarchy's critics dismiss the campaign, claiming such statements are frequently made on the international stage while the practice of restricting religious observance continues domestically.
Saudi Arabia enforces a strict and conservative version of Sunni Islam, while its more than two million Shiites face discrimination in education and employment. Public worship for all other religions is banned and religious police ensure Muslims pray five times a day.
Update 8:25 PM: "...One delegate announced the plan to establish an Islamic peace foundation in the US by the end of this year, adding that the foundation would work for translating the king’s initiative into action. Oh, oh...
...Jordan’s King Abdallah said it was impossible to talk about interfaith harmony without resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
“I can think of no more effective way to ease East-West and interfaith tensions than to end this divisive conflict,” he said.
A string of Arab leaders said Islam was falsely accused of backing terrorism. They said their religion calls for moderation and tolerance and eschews extremism, violence and bigotry. Sure...
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Embryonic stem cell research has not resulted in any health cure according to the Vatican. They plan to seek more clarification from president-elect Obama, who must know now the Vatican is not please that he may undo what President Bush did to stop federal funding for this type of research:
"The Vatican has fired a warning shot over the bows of Barack Obama in response to the President-elect's intention to lift the US ban on embryonic stem cell research.
Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan of Mexico, who acts as the Vatican health minister, said that stem cells taken from human embryos and involving the destruction of the embryos "serve no purpose".
Asked whether the Vatican was concerned about reports that Mr Obama might reverse the Bush Administration's ban, the cardinal said that embryonic stem cell research had not resulted in any significant health cure so far and was "good for nothing".
...He said the Vatican would seek clarification of the new administration's position on stem cells, and he himself was not "fully aware" what it was.
Aides to Mr Obama indicated this week that he will reverse Mr Bush's stand on stem cell research. The US Senate voted in July to remove restrictions on embryonic stem cell research, but the President vetoed the legislation the following day.
In what appears to be a hate crime, a young college woman in Minnesota was grabbed, punched and called a racist because she was wearing a Sarah Palin pin on election night:
An Augsburg College student says she was attacked and punched on election night, because of her support for Sarah Palin.
18-year-old Annie Grossmann tells KARE 11 she was assaulted after attending an election night party.
"They saw the pin and they started calling me racist, and I've never seen these girls before," said Grossmann.
Grossmann says 4 women confronted here, one of them grabbed her, began shouting at her, and wouldn't let her go.
"After about 5 minutes or so I just got really sick of it, just holding me there by force. So I kind of pushed her back and started walking away. She grabbed me by the shoulder, I turned around, and she punched me in the eye," she said.
Bruce Grossmann, her father, says the punch caused his daughter to hit her head on a wall behind her. He says she sought medical treatment for blurred vision. She missed a couple of days of hockey practice and may have suffered a slight concussion.
...Grossmann says it's not been easy voicing her support for the Republican Party at a liberal arts college. She did say most students have respected her political affiliation, but she's still shocked about election night.
The FBI arrested Tarek Mehanna in Boston on Monday as he was boarding a plane for Saudi Arabia. He had just earned his doctorate in pharmacology in May. This accomplished man was also blogging on a website he ran where he often referred to the writings of Abdullah Azzam, the godfather of Al Qaeda. What a waste.
He was arrested for lying about his conversation with Daniel Maldonado, who is facing federal charges for taking part in terrorist activities.
"A Sudbury man charged with lying to the FBI will appear in federal court in Boston on Monday so a judge can determine if he should continue to be held without bail.
Tarek Mehanna, 26, of 6 Fairhaven Circle, has been held without bail since his arraignment on Monday.
Mehanna is accused of lying to the FBI in December 2006 about the last time he had spoken with Daniel J. Maldonado and where Maldonado was living at the time.
Maldonado, originally from Methuen, is facing federal charges of taking part in terrorist activities and training at an al Qaeda camp in Somalia. He was arrested in February 2007.
Mehanna's lawyer, J.W. Carney Jr., defended his client.
"He has never been charged with any criminal conduct whatsoever, and he was arrested as he was leaving to begin a prestigious job at a renowned medical center in Saudi Arabia," Carney said.
It's good to know those pesky Islamic pirates are being met with aggressive military action by the British:
"Pirates caught redhanded by one of Her Majesty’s warships after trying to hijack a cargo ship off Somalia made the grave mistake of opening fire on two Royal Navy assault craft packed with commandos armed with machineguns and SA80 rifles.
In the ensuing gunfight, two Somali pirates in a Yemeni-registered fishing dhow were killed, and a third pirate, believed to be a Yemeni, suffered injuries and subsequently died. It was the first time the Royal Navy had been engaged in a fatal shoot-out on the high seas in living memory.
...The dramatic confrontation, the latest in a series of piracy incidents in the Gulf of Aden in recent months, took place 60 miles south of the Yemeni coast and involved the Royal Navy Type 22 frigate, HMS Cumberland, which has a Royal Marine unit on board, on short-notice standby to engage in “non-compliant boardings”. Yesterday’s battle signalled a new policy of maximum robustness for the Royal Navy on the high seas. Captain Mike Davis-Marks, a senior spokesman for the Navy, said: “This is bound to have an impact on pirates who for the last two years have been getting away with seizing vessels and receiving large ransoms. Now suddenly there’s the threat of death and this may force them to think again, but they are determined people, so we’ll have to see.”
This could be problematic for Americans and their shrinking pocketbooks:
"President-elect Barack Obama will act quickly on climate change upon taking office in January, his environment adviser said, and may also continue with some of the policies initiated by his predecessor, George W. Bush.
Obama can borrow from policies and programs in place in Europe and some U.S. states that aim to control heat-trapping emissions blamed for global warming, Jason Grumet said today in Washington. Obama also may work further on a Bush initiative that brought major carbon-dioxide emitters such as China and India into talks on a global climate-change accord.
The worst banking crisis in almost a century has raised speculation Obama will delay environmental measures that increase energy costs until the economy improves. Grumet offered no such qualifications in his remarks at a climate change conference.
``We will have the opportunity to move quickly because there has been a profound amount of knowledge generated,'' Grumet said. ``My suggestion to all of you is to enjoy the holiday season, spend some time with your family and friends and rest up because I think it's going to be a very, very busy 2009.''
Well, well, well. I it appears not calling an Islamic terrorist by the accurate descriptive words is hurting efforts to fight Islamic terrorism. Imagine that?
"Politically correct language is hampering the fight against terrorism, a Whitehall report warned yesterday.
Town halls and other public sector bodies were told by ministers last year to replace the phrase ‘terrorist attacks’ with ‘anti-Islamic activity’.
They were urged not to refer to ‘extremism’ and instead talk about ‘community resilience’.
But far from rallying Muslims against terrorists, the language has spread confusion, says the report from HM Inspectorate of Constabulary and the Audit Commission.
King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia may propose to the UN they create a UN interfaith body that oversee all religious dialogues. His kingdom forbids the practice of religious freedom so why would he encourage interfaith talks that are forbidden in Saudi Arabia? It makes no sense.
Today and tomorrow, the UN is holding an interfaith conference at the request of King Abdullah. It is clear, based on previous reports, his goal is to protect Islam, rather than protect religious freedom.
Will he succeed?
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From the Drudge Report:
"Just hours after President Bush and President-elect Obama met in the Oval Office of the White House, details of their confidential conversation began leaking out to the press, igniting anger from the president, sources claim.
"Senator Obama would be wise to keep close counsel," a top Bush source warned.
...Bush advisers view the leaks as an effort to undermine the president's remaining days in office.
"Senator Obama may not be familiar with a long-standing tradition of presidents holding their private conversations, private," a senior adviser explained to the DRUDGE REPORT.
Read the rest here.