Clipmarks | ouyangwulong's 'islam' clips

The Jew Problem

Fri, 23 May 2008 06:16:15 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: Let's see how many people click on that title!

I hope I have your attention now, because this is important!

Some politically active Jews, although certainly passionate, often have trouble telling friend from foe. The belief among Jews that the Christian Fundamentalist Evangelical community is a friend is a big mistake.

Some worry that Obama is part of the nation of Islam, or Palestinian, or that he won't help Israel. But they think the GOP will.

But what is the Christian Right's agenda in helping Israel? Clearly, right-wing evangelical fundamentalists like Hagee have no tenderness or fondness for Jews.

They believe Israel is simply a part of God's ultimate plan leading to the apocalypse. Although they support the Jews returning to Israel, they also believe it is Biblical prophecy that there will be continuous warfare, so they don't support peace, but an Israel besieged. Many believe this is the prelude to the final destruction of the Jews by a wrathful God.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

But the resistance toward Obama appears to be rooted in something more than factual misperception; even those with an accurate understanding of Obama share the hesitations. In dozens of interviews, South Florida Jews questioned his commitment to Israel — even some who knew he earns high marks from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which lobbies the United States government on behalf of Israel.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Senator John McCain on Thursday rejected the endorsement of the Rev. John Hagee, a televangelist, after a watchdog group released a recording of a sermon in which Hagee said Hitler and the Holocaust had been part of God's plan to chase the Jews from Europe and drive them to Palestine.

The latest Hagee remarks to surface may strike at the heart of McCain's efforts to reach a critical group of voters, Jews, some of whom have viewed Obama with suspicion.

Tags: jews, israel, christianity, fundamentalism, hagee, obama, racism

Losing Hearts and Minds; Empowering Extremism

Sat, 29 Mar 2008 15:36:01 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: Before anyone asks why we aren't winning the War on Terror yet, consider these sad headlines.

All around the world, reasonable people are being dragged into the slipstream of extremism. The cause is blatant moral bankruptcy.

Greed, corruption and exploitation, fortified behind the twin bastions of ignorance and righteousness, are discrediting the institutions that are instrumental in overcoming extremism, intolerance, and global violence.

Particularly America remains the store house of the world's hopes and dreams. We are not merely a nation but an ideal, and we must live up to our promise.

Obama and McCain are both men of admirable morals and transparent character. Meanwhile, as Hillary obfuscates over her finances, we must realize she lacks the moral authority needed to restore America's international credibility.

Being Righteous is not nearly as important as being Right.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Islamists gain ground in Somalia

The trouble started when government soldiers went to the market and, at gunpoint, began helping themselves to sacks of grain.

Islamist insurgents poured into the streets to defend the merchants. The government troops got hammered, taking heavy casualties

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Israel's Supreme Court upheld a plea bargain on Tuesday under which former president Moshe Katsav will avoid rape charges or jail time

Clip Source: www.iht.com

A top aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was caught at a border crossing with 3,000 contraband cell phones in his car, bringing embarrassment for an administration already struggling with sagging popularity

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Bush aide quits because of alleged improprieties involving grant money

Sixto is the second White House aide to resign under a cloud in less than a month.

Tags: hilary, obama, mccain, bush, katsov, diplomacy, islam, extremism, corruption, war on terror

The Miracle of Jihad

Thu, 07 Feb 2008 02:16:43 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: This is the opposite perspective that any American should consider very carefully, especially if they espouse military strategy.

Although we see them as "Evil" and "Terrorists" of course, they don't see themselves that way.

Since the Napoleon's expedition in Egypt, the Islamic world has found itself besieged by overwhelming European Empires.

Although once the dominant force that defeated Europe, with the decline of the Ottoman and Persian Empires, they found themselves weak and helpless against the Europeans. During the 20th century, when much of the Islamic world was colonized, this anxiety became acute.

Now, against an overwhelming enemy of superior strength, they are winning back ground.

To us it is a disaster, but to them it is a miracle. It is to some in the Islamic world what the American Revolution was for us - a victory of the people.

Ask yourself: If I were not blinded by my social context, would I still believe as I do?

Clip Source: www.dawn.com

Retired generals criticise Kashmir policy

By Amin Ahmed

RAWALPINDI, Feb 5: Former chief of army staff Gen (retd) Mirza Aslam Beg said on Tuesday that the continuing freedom struggle in Kashmir would culminate in the territory’s independence.

“Jihad is the miracle of this century and is the power which would lead Kashmir to its independence,” Gen Beg said in his keynote speech at a ‘Kashmir Day’ seminar organised by the Pakistan Ex-Servicemen Society.

Disagreeing with late Benazir Bhutto’s notion that Pakistan would be the epicentre of terrorism, Gen Beg said this, in fact, was the real power which was the miracle of this century. There can be obstructions, but ultimately it would gain independence.

Tags: islam, terrorism, jihad, american revolution, imperalism, religion, belief

Debating the Color of Europe: Point-Counterpoint between Marine Le Pen and Tariq Ramadan

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 01:39:52 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: What people fail to appreciate is that Europe was never as pure as we imagine it. Western culture developed in tandem with Eastern culture, not separately. Most European ethnicities originally came from Central Asian populations.

The process of redefinition and cultural influence has been going on in Europe for centuries. Short-sighted people like Le Pen are not just foolish for wanting to stop it, but for even thinking they can.

A culture cannot isolate itself from the world. This was true during the Medieval Crusades, and it is even more true today.

Immigration is the fundamental nature of man. Isolation is the basic reaction of the ignorant and fearful.

Of course, Europe has never been bashful about imposing its culture over local cultures around the world. Could the immigration debate be a vestigial reflex of imperialism?

Clip Source: www.iht.com

Marine Le Pen

Tariq Ramadan

She is the daughter of Europe's best-known far-right firebrand

He is Europe's most controversial Muslim intellectual

We are at a turning point, and if we don't protect our civilization it will disappear," she said

If Europe wants to succeed, it needs more immigrants," said Ramadan

If we go on like this, Europe will no longer be Europe, it will turn into an Islamic republic," insisted Le Pen

"We need to stop Islamizing the problem, and we need to stop talking about minorities," he said. "I tell Muslims: You are not a minority, you are citizens. You can have a different culture and a different name and still adhere to the same laws and democratic values."

but why don't they give their children French names to show that they want to integrate?

He added: "How can we preach European values if we don't apply those values in the way we treat immigrants in the first place?"

What we need is a new narrative, a new 'we,' a multicolored, multicultural European identity

Tags: europe, immigration, lepen, tariq ramadan, xenophobia, racism, inollerance, imperialism, islam

The Cost of the Iraq War: A Pundit's Guilt

Sat, 29 Dec 2007 04:40:58 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: This is a stark moment of humanity for Christopher Hitchens, who I must admit, is not always a lovable character.

He has had to soberly (or, maybe not soberly!) face the consequences of his punditry.

Political opinions do not exist in a vacuum. These are not simply ideas we are talking about. This nation is overwhelmed with flippant armchair strategists on both sides who have no real understanding of what is actually going on.

The Iraq War isn't a failure of American ideals, it is a disaster of well-meaning ignorance.

Clip Source: www.vanityfair.com

A Death in the Family

The attached item turned out to be a very well-written story by Teresa Watanabe of the Los Angeles Times. It described the death, in Mosul, Iraq, of a young soldier from Irvine, California, named Mark Jennings Daily, and the unusual degree of emotion that his community was undergoing as a consequence.

when I saw the following:

"Somewhere along the way, he changed his mind. His family says there was no epiphany. Writings by author and columnist Christopher Hitchens on the moral case for war deeply influenced him … "

I don't exaggerate by much when I say that I froze.

I feverishly clicked on all the links from the article and found myself on Lieutenant Daily's MySpace site

And there, at the top of the page, was a link to a passage from one of my articles, in which I poured scorn on those who were neutral about the battle for Iraq … I don't remember ever feeling, in every allowable sense of the word, quite so hollow.

Tags: iraq, failure, bush, ignorance, islam, democracy, freedom, war, christopher hitchens

History of Coffee

Sun, 23 Dec 2007 17:29:16 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: Austin's clipping brought to you by: COFFEE!

It is my firm belief that coffee is at the root of all modern western scholarship.

Clip Source: www.answers.com

coffee

The history of coffee can be traced to at least as early as the 9th century, when it appeared in the highlands of Ethiopia. Shepherds were the first to observe the influences of caffeine from the coffee beans when, after their goats consumed some naturally occurring coffee beans in the pasture, the goats appeared to "dance" and have an increased level of energy. From Ethiopia, it spread to Egypt and Yemen,^[8] and by the fifteenth century had reached Persia, Turkey, and northern Africa.

Coffee plays an important role in many societies throughout the world today. From the coffeehouses of the 16th century to modern day cafés, coffee has had a profound effect on the lifestyles of people from all walks of life.

This usage in religious rites among the Sufi branch of Islam led to it being put on trial in Mecca for being a "heretic" substance much as wine was

At least 1,000 years ago, traders brought coffee across the Red Sea into Arabia

A Call for Heresy: Why Dissent is Vital to Islam and America

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 15:27:04 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.pbs.org

The Muslim individual right now in the 21st century does not live with the same amount of difference that people in the United States, for example, live with. And so it's crucial for Muslim societies to cultivate difference in their midst. And that means critical differences...so that people could engage in solid meaningful philosophical debates and conversations.

Anouar Majid is a professor of English at the University of New England. His most recent book, A CALL FOR HERESY: WHY DISSENT IS VITAL TO ISLAM AND AMERICA, calls not only for difference and dissent within the Muslim world, but within the United States -- where the ideals of the American Revolution have "gradually been eroded by the rise of a financial system which replaced the robust notion of the citizen with a conception of the consumer."

The Spread of Ideologies: ClipCast v. The Rise of Bengali Islam

Mon, 17 Dec 2007 12:36:25 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: Although I've always enjoyed using clipmarks as a tool to research social trends and ideologies, with Clipcast, Clipmarks is rapidly becoming a subject worthy of such research itself.

Consider this: The effect of making Clipmarks (and it's community of ardent followers) mobile, and capable of organizing in more than one internet context is remarkably similar to the way in which Islam spread over much of South and South Eastern Asia.

For those who are interested, I heartily suggest reading Richard Eaton's "The Rise of Islam on the Bengal Frontier." I've clipped its thesis here. It is one of the most interesting and insightfully approaches to understanding the interaction between social and ideological groups. It goes well beyond the coarse but popular theories of war and mercantilism in explaining the reason for Islamic success in a part of the world that America has failed miserably at influencing.

Clip Source: biz.yahoo.com

Clipmarks Launches Version 3.0: Evolving from Centralized Community to Distributed Platform for Sharing Clips

New ClipCast Technology Lets Users Instantly Share Information They Clip from the Web with Their Friends on Facebook, MySpace, Blogs or Other Web Pages

Eric Skiff

Our new Facebook app is at the core of our initiative to open the Clipmarks experience to people wherever they and their friends are on the Web

Clip Source: www.scholarswithoutborders.in

Clip Source: content.cdlib.org

The other great theme of the premodern period was the establishment and evolution of Islamic society and culture in Bengal. It would be wrong, however, to view Islam as some impersonal agency

assimilating great numbers of people into a single framework of piety. Rather, the religion was itself continuously reinterpreted as different social classes in different periods became its dominant carriers

In short, Bengal’s eastern zone was not only an agrarian and political frontier, but also a cultural one, as Islam became locally understood as a civilization-building ideology

Tags: islam, clipmarks, clipcast, bengal, history, philosophy, religion, internet, clash of civlizations

RHETORIC OF HATE

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 06:47:54 GMT

clipped by: marszal
clipper's remarks: In case you didn't know this week is "Islamo-Fascist Awareness week on over 200 campuses" If that makes you as sick as it makes me wear green to show your support for the islamic world, muslim americans, and just being a human f*cking being. This is the rhetoric of hatred and intolerance - FIGHT IT.

Clip Source: www.terrorismawareness.org

click to play

Clip Source: www.terrorismawareness.org

News from the front

Defending Islamofascism

The attempt by David Horowitz and his allies to launch "Islamofascism Awareness Week" on American campuses has been met with a variety of responses. One of these is a challenge to the validity of the term itself.

more ...

Islamo-Fascist Bigotry: The Persecution of Fellow Believers

Unbelievers aren't the only targets of jihadists.

more ...

Vocabulary of War

The Left's hatred of those who raise awareness about Islamo-Fascism.

more ...

Clip Source: www.terrorismawareness.org

Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, October 22-26

Calendar of Speakers

click to play

Clip Source: www.terrorismawareness.org

Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week Article Archive

Clip Source: www.terrorismawareness.org

I recently saw the long-awaited fourth installment of the Die Hard franchise, Live Free or Die Hard. It was a very enjoyable film, and I am always glad to support a movie with Hollywood conservative Bruce Willis.

Tags: rhetoric of hate, racism, bigotry, war on terror, islam, republicans, intolerance, bipartisan myth

The Biggest Threat to the West Lies Within Itself, Not with Islam

Thu, 18 Oct 2007 22:32:52 GMT

clipped by: Kore7
clipper's remarks: Simon Jenkins on threats to peace and democracy.

This defeatism led the American Congress to allow its president to authorise torture and detention without trial in what Senator Robert Byrd called “the slow unravelling of the people’s liberties”. It enabled a British Home Office to curb free speech and habeas corpus. It arms police, fortifies buildings and impedes the free movement of citizens. It makes every Christian suspicious of every Muslim.

Clip Source: www.timesonline.co.uk

The biggest threat to the West lies within itself, not with Islam

The chief threat to world security at present lies in the capacity of tiny groups of political Islamists to goad the West into a rolling military retaliation.

Extremists on each side feed off the others’ frenzied scenarios so as to garner money and political support for their respective armies of the night. Each sees the other as a cosmic menace and abandons communal tolerance and peaceful diplomacy to counter it.

To portray Islam as a whole as a concerted threat to western security, and to imply that the West’s democratic institutions and freedoms are not proof against that threat, is absurd and close to treason. Then to demand that western freedoms be dismantled and stored away for the duration of a “war on terror” is to wave the flag of surrender.

I believe in the robustness of the democracies created in the West over the past half-century. I am not sure that our leaders do.

Tags: terrorism, islam, christianity, religion, freedom, war, peace, democracy, west, torture

Killing Missionaries - Travesty or Fair Game?

Sun, 09 Sep 2007 05:48:19 GMT

clipped by: marszal
clipper's remarks: Not to suggest in anyway that it is not unfortunate that these two South Koreans lost their lives, but I don't think anyone can say they can't figure out how oh how this all could ever happen. Lets face it you go into a Taleban hotbed promoting a religious Islamic state and you try to convert people to Christianity thinking you'll survive on Christ love alone occupational risks be damned - Guess what Jesus may love you but he ain't Rambo - you're on your own.

Seriously when someone commits the act of disrespecting other cultures in order to propagate one's own ideology in a war zone where battle lines are drawn on ideologies, are these people victims? Or are they instead casualties to their cause? Perhaps it is time to reevaluate these global church institutions - are they really selfless? are they really performing humanitarian work? and when they get people killed are they responsible?

No offense meant, and all comments welcome

Clip Source: news.bbc.co.uk

S Koreans rethink missionary work

But what lessons have been learned from the ordeal?

many difficult questions were also asked about Christian missionaries ignoring official warnings about threats to their safety.

"Other countries may see us as dogmatic and being too selfish, but we are going to other countries to help people out of pure love. We shouldn't be doing things that are bad for our country

"I think we really have to refrain from going to countries where the government says it's too dangerous," he said.

Joo-han, a 22-year-old university student

Dr Steve Moon, the director at the Korea Research Institute for Mission, says the hostage incident will help South Korean missionaries become more mature.

now there are greater risks of identities of the South Korean missionaries becoming exposed. There will need to be greater transparency,"

Questions

asked

lives of two men

killed in the

kidnapping

Tags: missionaries, south korea, hostage, taleban, missionary hunting, jesus, cutlure, islam, war on terror

Islam, Turkey, and Why We Should Be Worried...

Mon, 27 Aug 2007 18:03:23 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: By "Centers of Evil" General Buyukanit is referring to the likely future president of his country, as well as the majority of their parliament. Now I know that calling a President evil has become kinda banal lately for most Americans, but I think this guy sounds like he means business. (Although what 'evil' means to a secularist is up for grabs, I guess!)

What will the US do? On the one hand we might fall into the old pattern of supporting a military coup over an inconvenient democratic election. (We've done it before... a lot!) This would just re-confirm for the rest of the world their belief that America is anti-democratic and imperialistic. It would send a disastrous message to the Afghans and Iraqis, forever damaging our ability to convince them that we are not invaders. What is more, it would confirm for many that the US is anti-Islamic.

But on the other hand, does anyone have the political stones to embrace and protect an Islamic Democracy?

Clip Source: www.iht.com

ISTANBUL, Turkey: Turkey's staunchly secular military said Monday that secularism is under attack by "centers of evil" in a strong warning one day ahead of the expected election to the presidency of a candidate with a background in political Islam.

Gen. Yasar Buyukanit, chief of the military, said in a note on the military's Web site that "our nation has been watching the behavior of centers of evil who systematically try to corrode the secular nature of the Turkish Republic."

"Nefarious plans to ruin Turkey's secular and democratic nature emerge in different forms everyday," Buyukanit said in the statement.

In the earlier statement, the military said it was concerned about the future of Turkey's secular traditions and hinted it could intervene to guard them.

Tags: islam, turkey, secularism, future civil war, foreign policy disaster in the making

How to End 'Islamophobia'

Sat, 02 Jun 2007 06:22:49 GMT

clipped by: cniq_cniq

Clip Source: www.catholiceducation.org

Islamic organizations regularly accuse non-Muslims of "Islamophobia," a fear and disdain for everything Islamic. On May 17, this accusation bubbled up again as foreign ministers from the Organization of the Islamic Conference called Islamophobia "the worst form of terrorism."

Muslims must ask what prompts this "phobia" in the first place. When we in the West examine the worldwide atrocities perpetrated daily in the name of Islam, it is vital to question if we—Muslims—should lay the blame on others for Islamophobia or if we should first look hard at ourselves.

We Muslims should publicly show our strong disapproval for the growing number of attacks by Muslims against other faiths and against other Muslims.

Of course, Islamist attacks are not limited to Christians and Jews. Why do we hear no Muslim condemnation of the ongoing slaughter of Buddhists in Thailand by Islamic groups? Why was there silence over the Mumbai train bombings which took the lives of over 200 Hindus in 2006?

Tags: tawfik, hamid, jihadism, islamofascism, islamism, iraq, terrorism, religion

Catholocism and Islam

Tue, 29 May 2007 03:55:40 GMT

clipped by: ouyangwulong
clipper's remarks: This seems to be a promising development. It will be interesting to see what comes of it.

Clip Source: www.iht.com

VATICAN CITY: Pope Benedict XVI has decided to restore the power and prestige of the Vatican department that oversees dialogue with Islam.

Catholic-Muslim dialogue is still feeling the negative effects of Benedict's speech last September in which he appeared to equate Islam with violence.

He later said he regretted any misunderstanding that it had caused among Muslims, after protests including attacks on churches in the Middle East and the killing of a nun in Somalia.

When a former Iranian president, Mohammad Khatami, met the pope on May 4, he said wounds between Christians and Muslims were still "very deep."

Tags: catholocism, islam, dialog, religion

The World’s Fastest-Growing Religions

Tue, 22 May 2007 04:32:05 GMT

clipped by: arifsali

Clip Source: www.foreignpolicy.com

From Muslims in Europe to evangelical Christians in Africa, it is religious believers who are shaping the early 21st Century. Charismatic movements are sweeping throughout the Southern Hemisphere, while high birth rates among immigrants are provoking soul-seeking in the historically Christian West. For this week's List, FP looks at the fast-growing faiths that are upending the old world order.

Islam

Growth rate*: 1.84 percent

Adherents: 1.3 billion

Bahaism

Growth rate: 1.70 percent

Adherents: 7.7 million

Sikhism

Growth rate: 1.62 percent

Adherents: 25.8 million

Jainism

Growth rate: 1.57 percent

Adherents: 5.9 million

Hinduism

Growth rate: 1.52 percent

Adherents: 870 million

Christianity

Growth rate: 1.38 percent

Adherents: 2.2 billion

Tags: religion, world, islam, bahaism, sikhism, jainism, hinduism, christianity