Chris Matthews of Hardball takes down New York gubernatorial candidate Rick Lazio for his scapegoating of Muslims and aggressive, manipulative tactics, suggesting that the meanness is a calculated attempt to come back from being 30% behind his Democratic rival Andrew Cuomo in the polls. Watch Matthews catch Lazio misquoting Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, who said […]
Archives for August 2010
Anzalone: From ‘Martyrdom’ Videos to Jihadi Journalism in Somalia
Christopher Anzalone writes in a guest editorial for Informed Comment– which is particularly timely given the bloody attack by fundamentalist gunmen on a Mogadishu hotel, in which they killed 33 persons: From ‘Martyrdom’ Videos to Jihadi Journalism in Somalia: The Rapid Evolution of Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahideen’s Multimedia The Somali insurgent-jihadi group Harakat al-Shabab al-Mujahideen (Movement […]
Stewart: Fox Smears Owner Alwaleed bin Talal!
Jon Stewart points out that Fox News anchors and guests are vilifying Saudi prince and financier Alwaleed bin Talal as a financial backer of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Muslim-American clergyman who seeks to build a community center in lower Manhattan. The problem: Alwaleed bin Talal is part owner of Fox News. Stewart’s special correspondents […]
Bombings Kill 32 in Pakistan NW;
US Drone Strikes Kill 20;
As Floods Advance on Sindh
As Pakistan’s army and political elite focused on the catastrophic floods that have put a fifth of the country under water and displaced millions, militants in the mountainous northwest of the country struck on Monday with bombings that killed 32 persons and wounded 42. The violence targeted figures involved in mediation between local authorities and […]
Cole at CNN: Now the US Should Get out of Iraq’s Politics
My essay, “Now the US should get out of Iraq’s Poltics,” is now at the CNN web site. Excerpt: “Washington should stop trying to shoehorn its favorite into office, should stop showing favoritism to some ethnic groups over others, and should show some understanding of the necessity for good relations between Iraq and Iran (which […]
What would Martin Luther King Say? Mosques and the New Jim Crow in America
The demonstration held on Sunday against the Park 51 Muslim community center in lower Manhattan was an attempt by the right wing to strike at first amendment freedoms, but at the same time, it was simply a revival of urban policies of discrimination that were routine in the last century. That the demonstration had racist […]
From ’shock and awe’ to ‘advise and assist’ in Iraq
My appearance on the PBS current affairs show Need to Know this weekend with Alison Stewart is now available on the Web. I was discussing the present situation in Iraq. Watch the full episode. See more Need To Know.
Dear Rev. Graham: Obama was not born a Muslim and neither is anyone else
Evangelist (and hateful bigot) Franklin Graham said this weekend that President Obama was ‘born a Muslim’ because, he said, Islam is transmitted through the father just as Judaism is transmitted through the mother. Presumably it is this sort of thinking that has led an increasing number of Americans to believe, incorrectly, that Obama is a […]
Sindh Cities inundated as Flooding continues;
Fears of advances by al-Qaeda
Frenetic efforts to repair a 20 foot breach in the barrage guarding the major Sindhi city of Shahdadkot succeeded in keeping the city from being washed away. As it is, 90% of the urban area that once housed 300,000 has now been affected by the rushing flood waters. Relief officials say that the period through […]