Random rants or posts by a Brown Guy who is not always Angry. Usually about politics, sports or games but every now and then comes along a post completely off the wall.
I am certain everyone has seen a clip or two or the whole video of Obama going to the Republicans for lunch and answering the questions that they had to ask. If you haven’t seen the video, watch the whole think at the post my brother wrote in “Let Obama Be Obama” but the one I have embedded, Awesome stuff by Jon Stewart through out this segment.
One question I did ask several years ago after seeing the British parliament grill the Prime Minister at the time is why something like that didn’t happen in the United States more often and hopefully this can be somewhat of a precedent set #44.
I had first heard about him back in 10th when a teacher of mine, Ms. Pfeffer (who I still consider as one of the two best teachers I had of all time), introduced our class to a chapter from a book called “A People’s History of the United States.” I had never heard of either the book or the author named Howard Zinn prior to that moment but I can safely point to that day in 2002 that changed me. Until earlier today, I don’t think I ever thanked Ms. Pfeffer for that brief introduction but I took care of that and let me thank her here again.
I think we only read one chapter for our class regarding how the farmers of the Shay’s Rebellion should be considered the real heroes in the true history of the United States of America. It certainly peaked my curiosity and I went on to read the whole book which questioned why the initial union organizers did not receive much credit over the course of history or why the founding fathers, for all the good they did, still were considered with such glamor since they were slave owners themselves.
At a time when few politicians dared even call themselves liberal, “A People’s History” told an openly left-wing story. Zinn charged Christopher Columbus and other explorers with genocide, picked apart presidents from Andrew Jackson to Franklin D. Roosevelt and celebrated workers, feminists and war resisters.
During the civil rights movement, Zinn encouraged his students to request books from the segregated public libraries and helped coordinate sit-ins at downtown cafeterias. Zinn also published several articles, including a then-rare attack on the Kennedy administration for being too slow to protect blacks.
A California-based political cartoonist says he is receiving death threats over a 90-second animated film he created that teaches viewers to “Learn To Speak Tea Bag.”
On his blog, Mark Fiore compares his situation to that of the cartoonist Kurt Westergaard in Denmark where his cartoon depicting of the Prophet Muhammad caused rioting across the Muslim world several years ago and several attempts on his life including one last week.
Feel free to make your own conclusions but the clip which I have attached at the end of the post seems pretty harmless but there seems to be nothing good coming out of the corner from these “Tea Baggers.” As much of a satire piece this maybe, it certainly rings some truth to it which is probably why there is an uproar (or the fact that Bill-O the Clown mentioned the clip on his show last week). You take your pick.
(A condensed version of this article should appear in the upcoming print of The Muslim Perspective newsletter.)
Long before the ballots for the 2008 elections were cast, there was an unusual amount of optimism regarding a skinny guy with a funny name from Hawaii and what he could accomplish not only for those here in America but what he deliver for those around the globe. A large community that is going to be impacted is the Muslims not only here but around the world.
The simple rationale for the new hope behind Barack Obama could be found in his political approach to nearly every critical issue facing us today. He has been brutally honest in his assessments regarding the economic turmoil, his willingness to be patient to rally for multi-national support in determining foreign policies, bringing immediate change from the previous administration by admitting early on in the race for Presidency that he was willing to put all options back on the table when dealing with Iran.
President Barack Obama in his inauguration speech spoke to the Muslim world leaving very little to imagination. “To the Muslim world, we seek a new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect,” he stated in his address and sought to renew a relationship built upon trust and not based on power or dissent. It has probably been a long time coming but the time is here for the Muslim world to be thrust upon the center state in a positive light by an American President.
“In Islam, there is a hadith that reads ‘None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself,” he said at a prayer service just two weeks after his inaugural address, once again showing his willingness to put asides the philosophical and ideological differences of the past administration in hope for a new beginning.
So this video is a couple of days old but Jon Stewart analyzed Obama’s inaugural speech with certain speeches of our former President and it showed quite a few similarities. Not exactly the type of hope and change you were hoping would come to Washington. Also, Wired.com is reporting that Obama is lining up his administration exactly with the previous one on the issue of warantless wiretapping.
The Obama administration fell in line with the Bush administration Thursday when it urged a federal judge to set aside a ruling in a closely watched spy case weighing whether a U.S. president may bypass Congress and establish a program of eavesdropping on Americans without warrants.
Take off your optimism hats folks and get ready for a good dose of reality. We can all sit here and hope for things to change but we better keep the new President and his administration honest and true to their campaign “promises”.
