The situation of freedom of conscience in Nigeria is bad, very bad

UN Resolution on Combating Defamation of Religions is a jihad at the UN against human rights by islamic theocracies and their allies

The topic below was originally posted on my blog, the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

Building consensus within America's body politic and national security establishment for a new way forward with Muslims worldwide is a formidable challenge. Many Americans still don't appreciate the complex nuances of Muslim society and remain stubbornly Islamophobic almost seven and half years after 9/11. Equally formidable is earning the goodwill of Muslims worldwide following the Iraq War as well as American atrocities perpetrated upon Islamic detainees at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. Hopefully, President Obama's historic election has finally opened a path for constructive conversation about how America can most effectively engage the Muslim world.

The CIA's former point man on Islam, Emile Nakahleh, has vigorously entered this conversation with his new book, A Necessary Engagement: Reinventing America's Relations With the Muslim World (Princeton University Press). From 1991 to 2006, Nakahleh served as the director of the Political Islam Strategic Analysis Program in the Directorate of Intelligence at the CIA. He holds a PhD in international relations and is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

Now that John McCain has rescinded endorsements he previously exhorted from John Hagee and Rod Parsley a question emerges.

One of the big incentives along with holding the religious right voting bloc intact, hoping he will get the same kind of boost from it that George W. Bush had previously, was the financial clout that such big buck televangelists bring to a presidential campaign.

We learn about the forbearance that McCain and other rightist Republicans displayed toward Texan Hagee and Ohioan Parsley.  

Even after Hagee had revealed that New Orleans received the tragic jolt of Hurricane Katrina because the city was slated to stage a gay pride parade and that Catholicism represented the great whore, he continued to be defended by McCain and Texas U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison.

Last October 10, 2007,on CNBC's The Big Idea, conservative writer Ann Coulter proclaimed that Jews need to be "perfected" and that they would be better off being Christian.

The case brought against Shehu Sani by Islamic jihadists over his book, Phantom Crescent, has a lot of implications for human rights, democracy and civilization in Nigeria.

On October 9 (yesterday) a court in Kaduna-Northern Nigeria heard a case brought against Shehu Sani- a well-known human rights activist, social critic and author.
Mr. Sani-a practicing Muslim- was sued by a group called Concerned Sharia Forum over a play- Phantom Crescent- he wrote exposing the abuses and double standards by those implementing Sharia law in 12 states in Northern Nigeria.

The Progressive Democrat Newsletter grew out of the frustration of the 2004 election. After much pressure from readers, this email newsletter is now going the blog route. I update the blog once a week focusing on both national issues and issues of interest to particular regions or states. In general, NYC, California, New Jersey, Virginia and the Midwest get special attention simply because those are the areas where I seem to have the most readers.

This week I discuss the Democratic fumble in Congress, yet another example of Republican Corruption (in Kentucky), discuss American Muslims (something to shit our pants over or well-integrated and hard-working Americans) and present some interesting aspects of unemployment figures. If you visit my blog, PLEASE don't forget to click on an advertiser or two since that helps me keep the blog going. It really makes a difference! As usual I also highlight local events and organizations for several states. And, if you want more political and social discussions, please check out our offerings on Culture Kitchen.

Originally posted on The Daily Kos

Please show your support for a Democrat who is running as a first-time candidate in Maryland, and who has just been targeted by a bigot protestor because of his private religious beliefs. The bigot is betting that by making this candidate's Muslim faith an issue in this campaign, voters will be turned off and interfaith animosity will be incited. I'm betting that when you read this story, you'll show your support for a good Democratic candidate and take a stand for freedom of religion and religious pluralism.

The diary below was originally posted earlier today on my blog the Intrepid Liberal Journal.

In July 1947, George F. Kennan published an article in the quarterly edition of Foreign Affairs entitled "Sources of Soviet Conduct." Kennan originally drafted the article as a paper for Defense Secretary James Forrestal. When he submitted it to Foreign Affairs, Kennan used the moniker "Mr. X." The piece was known as "containment" and is credited with guiding American foreign policy under presidents of both parties during the cold war.

The diary below was originally posted on my blog the Intrepid Liberal Journal, on May 20th.

Progressives are struggling to synthesize a movement that can rise above identity politics and mobilize people under a unified theme. Robert W. Fuller, Ph.D. argues in his newly published book, All Rise (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, Inc.), that simple dignity is an elusive need that cuts across demographics of race, gender, age, and class. Fuller attributes this void to a culture of "rankism" which he defines as "abuses of power associated with rank." In his writings Fuller advocates for a grassroots effort to establish a "dignitarian society."

This is frightening on many fronts:

KABUL, Afghanistan Mar 19, 2006 (AP)-- An Afghan man is being prosecuted in a Kabul court and could be sentenced to death on a charge of converting from Islam to Christianity, a crime under this country's Islamic laws, a judge said Sunday.

The trial is believed to be the first of its kind in Afghanistan and highlights a struggle between religious conservatives and reformists over what shape Islam should take here four years after the ouster of the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban regime.

First, I'm concerned that the religious right in this country will try to match this hysteria by implementing a like sensibility in their newly aquired court system.

Secondly, is this the kind of democracy that BushCo. has spent three years, thousands of lives and trillions of dollars exporting to the middle east?

Finally, today, we hear this from the Screw-up-In-Chief:

CLEVELAND - President Bush on Monday cited progress in stabilizing an insurgent stronghold in northern Iraq, saying he has "confidence in our strategy" and critics should look beyond the images of violence to see clear signs of progress.

Worst. President. Ever.

On September 11th, 2001, New York City was attacked. I was there and I heard the planes when they hit, though only later found out just what those loud, strange noises meant.

One of my co-workers at the time is a Shi'a Muslim. He was horrified by the attacks. As an EMT he immediately rushed down to ground zero to help. His very first reaction was to go and help. This is typical of his personality: a genuinely moral and kind person.

We are witnessing a great insult to the name of Muhammed and to the entirety of the religion of Islam. Across the world the name of Muhammed is being degraded and dragged the mud. Muslims around the world need to fight against this degradation of their religion. And it is NOT the Danish who are to blame.

In the beginning, God created man in his own image.  Sound familiar?  That idea has been circulating for at least four thousand years.

How about this one: in the beginning, man created God in his own image.  Not quite as old, but popular enough.  The exact formulation is essentially modern, but some Greeks and Romans were saying something very like it about their gods better than 2,000 years back.

So, option A or option B?  One or the other is almost certainly right, but it's unlikely that any of us will know the answers in our lifetimes (Warning: this statement void in case of rapture).  Does it matter which idea is right?  In a personal sense, there's little that could be more important.  In a political sense... maybe not as much as you think.

But even if you're B all the way, it would pay for you to have some understanding of the people in the A camp, who this God character is, and how he became such a pain in the keester.

A Miami Herald columnist suggests that George Bush is "delusional."  I would suggest that George Bush is simply recognizing that by calling the unnecessary Iraq War at this point the war on terror, he smoothly makes the transition.  Bush demands the power of a president using the word war to give him the ultimate war powers in every aspect of our lives.  

Cagily substituting a war on terror for the defensive war against those non-existent weapons of mass destruction, apparently makes Bush and the entire Republican administration fantasize everyone will forget his original claim.  It stated that the U.S. was compelled to go to war to protect us against Saddam Hussein, who was ready to strike us with those weapons of mass destruction that the world now knows were non-existent.