“It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Israel has just suffered a historic defeat. One only had to watch the international news coverage. BBC persisted in its typically awful reportage on the Israel-Palestine conflict during Israel’s latest rampage. But tonight it had to acknowledge that the people of Gaza were out in the streets celebrating.”
Is the above paragraph written by a crazy antiemetic? No it’s written by Norman G. Finkelstein—if you live in the North America you perhaps have guessed that the name is Jewish, and if so, you are right.
“Norman Gary Finkelstein (born December 8, 1953) is an American political scientist, activist and author. His primary fields of research are the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the politics of the Holocaust, an interest motivated by the experiences of his parents who were Jewish Holocaust survivors, “ says Wikipedia . Finkelstein’s parents were Jewish Holocaust survivors—note that people—Finkelstein learned directly from his parents how terrible Holocaust experiences were. Would it not be natural for him to write and sing the praise of Israel?
In this article, Finkelstein wrote, “Israel suffered a double defeat. Its announced goal when it went into Gaza was to restore its “deterrence capacity. But at the end of the day its deterrence capacity had been drastically reduced: The once mighty Israeli army that caused the whole Arab/Muslim world to tremble could not even defeat the impoverished and weaponless tiny enclave of Gaza. Israel demanded an unconditional and unilateral secession of Hamas ‘rocket’ attacks. But Israel had to accept a mutual ceasefire. It also had to make promises regarding the siege of Gaza. It is highly improbable that anything will come of these Israeli promises, but still, Israel could not unilaterally impose its will.”
And that’s not it all folks, Finkelstein went on to write, “Let it, finally, be said: In praise of the ever-martyred but ever-heroic and ever-renascent people of Gaza. May they live to see the full brightness of dawn.”
WOW!
What’s wrong with Finkelstein? Is he a turncoat? An apologizer for Israeli oppressors of the Gazan people, who kills defenseless women and children without slightest remorse?
If you are one of those 57 percenters who blindly support Benjamin Netanyahu’s relentless war mongering, you might think so, but the truth is it is Finkelstein, Noam Chomsky and visionaries such as them that make the Jewish people great. If human race must be grateful to one religious group for augmenting human civilization—whether in the field of science, art, or name any intellectual pursuit, it is the Jewish people without any second thought.
So, why should it be a surprise that that group of people will have a Finkelstein? Is it a surprise that Albert Einstein was not too happy with the creation of Israel, and he refused the offer to become the first President of the newly created country? To me it’s not, people such as Einstein, or Chomsky are too big to be identified with any small sectarian group—they truly belong to the human race.
Jews as a race has been historically persecuted, driven out of their homes, imprisoned, tortured, burned alive in gas chambers and bore the brunt of savagery of human race—like no other group of people. No one race deserves a homeland of their own, more than the Jewish people. And what a turn around it is from the state of persecution to a state of honor, power and strength that they are in now. But when the oppressed turns the oppressor must the world remain silent and support them blindly? That is where this world has come to. The western, overtly Caucasian people who had persecuted the Jews only a few decades ago has now, only to overcome their guilt, become cheer leaders of the Israeli aggressors. When a war promoter such as Barack Obama mindlessly proclaims, we support Israel’s right of self defense—what of right of self-defense of the Palestinians?
American people need to learn that criticism of Israeli government is not criticism of Jewish people, and one does not become anti-Semite condemning abominable war mongering leaders of Israel who themselves persecute the honorable Jews. Ask the scientist who outed Israel’s nuclear secret, and countless other progressive Jews who want to promote humanity beyond the myopic view of a few self-serving politicians. Will the world let Yitzhak Rabin’s blood go in vain?
How long are we going to divide the world in race, religion, culture, and endless grouping? How long are we going to remain ignorant, fighting between ourselves while the manipulators skim the wealth of this beautiful earth for their own greed?
How long? Previously published on Technorati.
Do the flowers bloom, birds sing, and clouds rain always with purpose? If not do our lives must have purpose?
What worth is that life that has never shed tears for a stranger? What worth is that life that has never found a cause for which it made sense to dedicate the self? What worth is that life that has never found that love for which it’s worth giving up all?
Of course, the world knows, Malala Yousafzai is a 15-yr old Pakistani girl who was shot at by a Taliban assailant on October 9, 2012, along with two of her school mates in Swat valley. Her offence? She wants education for herself and her people.
A campaign called, “Nobel Prize for Malala” has been started by Tarek Fatah, a writer and broadcaster, who lives in Canada on Change.org. The campaign took a global wing when Choudhary, a resident of UK called upon the UK Prime Minister David Cameronand other top leaders to nominate the 15-year-old Pakistani teen for the most coveted peace Prize of the world.
The petition is addressed to British Foreign Secretary William Hague, Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander and the three main party leaders: Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy PM Nick Clegg and Opposition Leader Ed Miliband. Over 100,000 people have already signed that petition. These people are from across many religious lines, cast, creed and nationhood. They are people, white, black, yellow and crimson, they are the sons and daughters God will be proud of.
Shahida herself was taken out of school in the UK when she was only sixteen. She was taken to Pakistan and forced into marriage. She escaped the unhappy marriage to return to the UK at the age of 28 to resume education. she set up a network in Birmingham to support women in need. She said, “Malala doesn't just represent one young woman, she speaks out for all those who are denied an education purely on the basis of their gender. There are girls like Malala in the UK and across the world. I was one of them. I started this petition because a Nobel peace prize for Malala will send a clear message that the world is watching and will support those who stand up for the right of girls to get an education.”
So far Malala’s nomination has won support from Canada’s four largest political parties and other countries including France and Spain. Nobel committee rules stipulate that for any nomination to be considered, members of national assemblies and governments must support that nomination.
The deadline is February, so hurry up people; sign the petition to influence your leaders. And when the nomination reaches the Swedish committee, it would be a great opportunity for them to redeem themselves from the sin they committed by awarding Peace Prize to a war criminal such as President Barack Obama.
Sign the petition at Change.org Nobel Prize for Malala.
The article was previously published on Technorati.
When the news of a gun attack on Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girl born on July 12, 1997 became a headline news on October 9, 2012, my immediate reaction was seething anger. What monster can harm an innocent girl with the beauty of rose petals? Who would shoot a girl who has not only vowed to pursue knowledge, but have made it a mission to spread the light of education to her own people?
On the fateful day, a Taliban stepped onto a bus carrying schoolgirls and demanded to know who was Malala, and when identified, shot her in the head and neck twice, two other girls were also injured. The attack rendered Malala unconscious, she was fighting for life and her state was critical, that was a time for praying, not expressing anger.
So I joined her name in my prayers, with the name of my only daughter, for whom my prayers fill up my sub-conscious mind, every waking moments; Malala became my other daughter. Malala’s own father had said, “She is not my daughter only, she is the daughter of Pakistan.” I took my hat off to Malala’s father Ziauddin Yousafzai, who comes from the town of Mingora, in the Swat District of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, where the percentage of educated people are so small that it is better not mentioned. And I rejoined, “Yes Sir Ziauddin, your daughter is not daughter of Pakistan only, she is the daughter of the world.”
At the beginning of 2009, when Malala began to write for BBC Urdu Service, Taliban leader Maulana Fazlullah issued an edict banning television, music, girls’ education, and women going out for shopping. Malala and her family had received many death threats earlier, but they knew they were following a prophet who had instructed his followers to go to China (meaning a far off land) for learning. They knew Mohammed valued education so much that there are hadiths (written instructs of the prophet) referring the prophet indicating that spending time in search of knowledge is dearer to God than spending time praying to him. That knowledge gave the Yousafzai’s strength and conviction. At the age of eleven, when most girls spend their time in playing with their friends, Malala took up activism for education. Under a pseudonym, she wrote a blog for the BBC chronicling her life under the Taliban regime, and how they attempted to take control of the valley, and stop education for the women. She became the chairperson of the District Child Assembly Swat, and she was nominated for the International Children's Peace award. Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown began a United Nations petition in Yousafzai's name, adopting the slogan, “I am Malala” with the demand that all children worldwide be in school by the end of 2015. Brown said that he would hand the petition to Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari the next month.
To understand Malala better, we need to understand her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, who is a poet, school owner and an educational activist himself. He runs a chain of schools, Khushal Public School, named after a famous Pashtun poet, Khushal Khan Khattak. Yousafzais’ are literally the daisies in the dunk, where Taliban dominate.
What made Malala famous is her blogs, and how good is she actually? Once her father was reading to the villagers from her blog; the listeners thought that it was written by the poet Ziauddin himself and not her daughter, she is that good.
A group of fourteen women senators led by the Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI), Senator Dianne Feinstein, wrote to Pakistan's Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, “As the women of the US Senate, we are writing to express our outrage over the barbaric attack on fourteen-year old Malala Yousafzai and two other girls in a senseless act of violence. All of us are horrified at the brazen nature of this attack, which was carried out by Taliban militants who targeted Malala simply because she advocated for and pursued an education for herself and other girls.” They urged the Pakistan government to confront extremism and violence against its own people and bring Malawi’s attackers to justice.
The action from the senate ladies is commendable but it falls short of what is required. Ehsanullah Ehsan, the chief spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack and threatened that if Malala survives, they would target her again. The SSCI shall ask president Obama to offer asylum and protection to Malala and her family. And by accepting that request the president can redeem humanity that he had forsaken carrying out indiscriminate drone attacks in Pakistan, killing innumerable innocent civilians. In 2001 I had told a graduate class of MBA students, “If we want to defeat the Taliban, our best weapon is education. If we help spread education in Pakistan the Pakistanis themselves would take care of the Taliban.” Pakistan may be a third world country because of its economic situation, but a country that has technology to make nuclear weapon, definitely has the intelligence to choose right from wrong.
But we chose bombs over schools, and after a lost decade, our economy is devastated, we are soon to surrender our position as number one economic power house of the world. We are ready to leave Afghanistan, while the Taliban are in clear ascendancy and about to fill the vacuum—all because of our choosing a wrong policy. If Obama is elected, I hope the good since will prevail in him, and he will join the good Pakistanis in their war against the Taliban, in the right way.
Maulana is a word that connotes learned person in Islamic tradition, Maulana Fazlullah, you are no maulana, for you know not what your own prophet has said, and with your ignorance you have proved that you only give bad name to a great religion called Islam. Previously published on Technorati.
They tell me—as people age, they want to go back to their roots. I too feel this urge, when I listen to raindrops falling on my skylight; I hear the sound that rain once made when it hit our tin roof. When I watch the sun setting over Lake Michigan, I glimpse the splendor of sun going down over the Ganges. When I see a flock of birds flying over ComEd high voltage lines I see the lone shalik bird sheltering under that ashok tree, its wings wet, yet dry. Am I going back to my roots?
They tell me—as people age, they want to go back to their roots. Am I aging? If I am aging, why am I still so silly? Why do I still get angry with my loved ones with the drop of a hat? Why do I still feel all my imperfections in my bones? Was I not to get wise and inherit the divine essence? If I am aging why am I not getting closer to God every day? Do I hear, there is no God? Why did Mansur Al-Hallaj say then, Anal Haq (I'm God)?
The life that flows like a river takes me to new ports every day, every moment, the past dying, fear of future—the fear of the unknown dying in the process. Is that all there is to be?
Is that all there is?
I want to respectfully submit to His Highness Willard Mitt Romney that I earn a six figure salary from my day job, and I’m an Obama supporter. I “believe the government has a responsibility to care for them (the downtrodden), and they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing.” I believe that God has given me plenty, far more than what I am worthy of, and it is my duty to help those who struggle daily for their bare survival.
Sure, this is my personal conviction, since I think when Jesus instructed us to “sell everything you have, give it away to the poor, and only then come to me,” he imbued that belief in me. Of course I know that you are much more religious than me, since you wear your religion on your sleeves, and I keep my faith to myself—only what I don’t understand is which Christ do you really repose your faith on?
And there is news for you Sir, several close relatives of mine with seven figure earnings are ardent Obama supporters, as they too share my views. Yes Sir, they all earn their money from their day jobs with hard labor, not sitting on their asses and investing, and they gladly pay taxes in the top bracket, unlike you who whine and kick to dispense with may be 10-13% in income taxes? And yet, they all support Obama, but perhaps you will not understand this. You have said in a news conference on Monday night that your comments were "off the cuff" and "not elegantly stated," but you stand by your words, you truly believe that 47 percent of Americans are in this group.
Of course, you and your kinds, who maintain their position in society just for being members of lucky sperm clubs—cannot understand this, perhaps it is too complicated for you. For us it is simple though, we believe, the victims are not really lazy bums, rather they are victims of our culture and our laws—that guide our society.
And Jesus lived and died for those “victims.” Alas, the passionate Tea Party supporters will continue to cheer for you, and some misguided rich people will continue to proclaim “we love Romney.”
God bless America! Previously published on Technorati
Bringing together a number of characters from around the Middle East to show how easy it can be to overcome differences, Mohit weaves together a story about the developing power grid of Abu Dhabi and the personal dedication of each man to the others. The differences between the characters are deep—spanning regions, races, cultures, and religions as each man attempts to be the best person he can be according to his own faith and traditions. Friendships are formed quickly when men are thrown into a working position with each other and all in unfamiliar territory. This is reflected with sensitivity and a great deal of insight as the main characters of the book are slowly brought together, each with his own backstory and area of specialty.
The story will appeal most strongly to those with some technical background. Mohit is knowledgeable about the engineering work required to start up and maintain a gas-generated power plant and desalinization plant and is generous in sharing some of that knowledge with his readers. At times, it almost overwhelms the characters themselves particularly as more characters are brought into play. While this level of technical detail does play a role in the plot, those who are not so oriented might wish the author were a bit less generous. An occasional typographical error is easily overlooked in the beauty of the underlying message of creating a loving and supportive community. The development of this community has a significant impact upon the outcome for both the individual characters and the city at large.
http://www.theusreview.com/reviews/Never-Mohit.html
But I wonder, whether we wish others, on personal occasions, Have a Great Birthday, or, around a collective milestone, have a Great Eid—do we really mean it?
Why do we wish others at all when we do not mean any of it?
Increasingly, we are living in a “me” society. The sun rises for me. I created the greatest masterpiece of all time. The birds croon for me. The seasons change for me. I bring the colors. And since I deserve the best I have the right to snatch it from others!
Yet, we wish others; wish them the sun and the moon. But when others do better than us, we envy them. Sometimes the jealousy drives us to insane acts, and we burn with rage—we must drag the successful ones to mud. We must belittle them to make ourselves look better.
Our words don’t mean anything, yet we make the motion of wishing!
Why?
We say, we have evolved over the eons, and now we are cultured, compassionate and full of love. Yet, our beauty is only skin-deep! Under the tailored suits and fake smiles we hide our fangs and claws.
So, on the eve of this Eid let my prayer be, “O Lord, make me humble, make me worthy, let me serve the lowest of your lows, and please, please, please O my Lord, let me not feel the least proud when I serve the deprived! Let my head hold high but eyes low!”
Let this be my only prayer, and not gold, not strength and not even peace, those are just the trifle pleasantries of life!
Speaking at a recent Public Banking Institute conference Victoria said, “What I’ve discovered is that bank and the government has colluded to financially enslave the people of Canada.” She then shared the “important point of references” that would encourage people to do research on their own and give them the ammunition to engage the government to stop the criminal act by the Canadian government against Canadian people. Further she pointed out to the fact that it made no sense that government would give power to a monopoly private bank to create money and then borrow it from them, when they themselves can do it.
Although Victory was describing the Canadian government and its monetary system, her arguments are equally applicable to this country. She might as well be describing our Fed—a private monopoly entrusted with the authority to create money and then lend it to the government with interest.
The question is if a 12-yr old Victoria gets it why don't a vast number of learned adults get it? The answer is simple—we are not smarter than 12-year old Victoria. We are the sheeple fighting between ourselves allowing the criminal banksters rob us with the connivance of the lying thieving politicians.
Please watch the video to see how artfully Victoria speaks!
First published on Technorati
