June 30, 2007
Posted by yaman
I hate these GPS navigation systems for the same reason I hate religion. If indeed life is a journey, as the old metaphor goes, then we the travellers are the idiots behind the wheel who do not learn how to read the signs on the side of the road, losing all sanity, sense, and security [...]
Posted by yaman
I had a strange and enlightening experience this morning while having breakfast with my father at The Posh Bagel on Sutter Street in San Francisco. A woman in her thirties wearing a short but professional looking black dress (solid color) was seated with a woman similarly dressed but twice her age (no wrinkles, expensive earings). [...]
June 22, 2007
Posted by yaman
“You can lecture me about B’tselem the day you can show there is a B’tselem on your side prepared to do something about human rights violations in the Arab world,” I was once told after citing reports by the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem to mock a claim that the occupation of Palestine was ‘humanitarian.’ [...]
June 18, 2007
Posted by yaman
Chancellor Robert Birgeneau issued a statement in which he says that the British boycott of Israeli universities “violates the fundamental principles of academic freedom and freedom of speech that are the hallmarks of great universities” and that those who “seek to isolate Israeli universities… must also include Berkeley… in [the] boycott.” Putting aside the question [...]
June 12, 2007
Posted by yaman
The House of Representatives is preparing a bill that will cut US aid to Egypt, which is the second largest recipient of US money next to Israel. “The $200 million cut is substantial,” said Rep. James Moran, a Virginia Democrat on the House panel. “Our ally is not upholding the principles that define us.” Taken [...]
June 8, 2007
Posted by yaman
This time, Laurence Thomas of Syracuse University has written a post called “Angry Muslim Arabs and the Black Man” (as if the response he got to his earlier post about there being no Muslim marches for peace was based on the fact he is black). In it he talks about “so-called oppressed groups” (what, you [...]
June 3, 2007
Posted by yaman
I am glad I wrote this comment before realizing that the author of this ridiculous article was a professor at Syracuse University. I like things which re-assert my belief that academia does not confer intelligence unto people. In any case, I had the following to add which is also from another comment: He clearly is [...]
June 2, 2007
Posted by yaman
What is unique about elections in Syria? Much has been said by foreign advocates of the American project in the Middle East regarding recent presidential and parliamentary elections in Syria. Condemnations resound, as if they are original or perceptive, when in fact they are mere restatements of facts that are widely known and acknowledged by [...]
A Yale-sponsored conference about anti-Semitism hosted many blatantly anti-Arab and anti-Muslim speakers. It is unconscionable for a center meant to study one form of racism to indulge speakers who practice another.
(Discussion)
Both the Irish and Middle Eastern conflicts figure prominently in American domestic politics — yet both have played out in very different ways.
A must read piece by Ali Abunimah in NYT.
(Discussion)abc Primetime – How Muslims Are Treated In USA
(Discussion)
To get an idea of the real reason why Apple has succeeded, it was only necessary to look below the May article hailing the company’s success on the front page of the Times business section. A second article reported on a spate of suicides in some Chinese sweatshops that was drawing attention to work…
(Discussion)
Immediately following the incident, McCord was threatened and mocked by his commanding officer for pulling the children from the van. He says his platoon leader “yelled at me that I need to quit worrying about these ‘motherfucking kids’ and pull security.” McCord later approached a staff sergeant an…
Remember the “Collateral Murder” video leaked of the helicopter attack that killed a journalist? Here’s some insights from one of the soldiers at the scene and into the way it was handled by military personnel.
(Discussion)
Portraying “enemy” infants as proto-terrorists has obvious propaganda value: if what you thought was an innocent baby is in fact a weapon with a human face, you will be less likely to protest when it is killed. Murder becomes self-defence. Not only are we supposed to view ‘their’ children as latent …
(Discussion)
HarvardManagementCompany, which manages the university’sendowment, has divested the fund from allinvestmentsit had inIsraelcompanies.
I’m a small pariah state, hear me pout. Though I’m a scandal, don’t shut me out!
(Discussion)A mere thirty-three years ago, on January 20, 1977, Jimmy Carter inaugurated his presidency by proclaiming from the Capitol steps, “Because we are free we can never be indifferent to the fate of freedom elsewhere…. Our commitment to human rights must be absolute.” Most people had never heard of “h…
Thought provoking article for people chained to the language of human rights.
(Discussion)