It's Alive!

Now obesity -- getting too fat -- is a disease, too?....According to the AMA it is. "Well pass the new and improved Fin-fin, doctor! I have been telling you for years that I just couldn't help myself away from the buffet table." A report on NPR this week, there was a report that the ability to create steak in the lab is an imminent possibility... Psst, check on that boneless chicken from KFC. In other news, the Supreme Court recently rejected a corporation's claims for an exclusive patent of human genes, albeit on narrow grounds. Maybe the makers of these zombie movies are trying to clue us in on something? Well, sheeple...Red pill, or blue?

Assalamu Alaikum AND Merry Christmas?

True Story: When I was a child, like most children, I embraced all things Christmas. All the songs, folklore, and enchantment of the season was of interest to me. I was a goner. In fact, the holiday season could not come fast enough. If you think Macy's is bad!...I would start thinking about Christmas time immediately following Indian Summer.

Somewhere along the years, however, the joy of the season gave way to competitive materialism among peers, and creeping anxiety in the family over what to buy and whom to buy for. As a young man, seeking knowledge, wisdom and understanding, I swore off falsehood and fantasy in pursuit of 'true knowledge of self.' That meant that Santa Claus would have to go the way of the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and Sandman. Besides, those stories about Christ and were not lining up with history as I was slowing coming to learn it.


Later, when my adulthood morphed into a raging bachelorhood and all my siblings were grown, I opted out of traditional Christmas time activities. Later still, enters Islam, and there is no point in celebrating at all...Down came the trees and out went the cache of assorted bobbles, and holiday cards. I must admit, I still enjoyed the start of the season though; glad that others were celebrating it. The coming holiday always brought out the best in people -- if only for a little while. Besides, its more of a cultural festival than a profoundly religious exercise for most people anyway...Right?


Fast forward ten or twelve years later with more knowledge wisdom and understanding to draw upon, and stronger in my own faith, I am cool with Christmas time again. I prefer to take a global view of things. If Diwali and Ramadan demonstrate the goodwill and civility of Hindus and Muslims, then Christmas time should be equally received for its goodwill by Westerners. Those who believe, or just like to celebrate the season.

Happy Holidays!

Pirates, Bandits or Desperadoes?

The situation in Somalia has been desperate for decades now. Civil war is common in that part of the world. The forces behind it are mostly man-made -- gun runners, political manipulators, religious insurgents, etc. As a result, there has been famine for years . However, in the news today is the manifestation of that story. And it is being mistaken for the story itself.

The media conveniently uses the term "pirates" because of the sensational images it evokes of seafaring naves doing battle with maritime vessels; only now the buccaneers are black teens and not long-haired outlaws from Europe. They carry AK-47s, not sabres. They are still desperate and lawless. Image if gangs from Oakland to Los Angeles were to go unchecked for years...The Bloods and Crips, or some other gang, could likewise turn the southern coast of California into a playground for boat-cruising stick up men...Because someone will always be there to provide the guns, if nothing else.

Image the international tourist trade possible by maximizing this coast line...

War torn Somali soldiers... They have been fighting for decades now.

When the conflicts were mostly on land, this band of desperadoes on pick-up trucks were known in the media as "technicals." They have traded in their trucks for motor boats, so now they are "pirates."
Women in traditional dress. Possibilities for a better future are based on treatment of the women..."The hand the rocks the cradle rules the world."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nro-jzD7Bwk&feature=rec-HM-rn

OBAMA OPENS UP CUBA

After decades of getting mad at the little kid on the playground for showing us up on the court, President Obama's administration is taking a step toward grown-up diplomacy, by improving our relationship with the people of Cuba. Good for him! Even better for the pro-Cuban lobby, including the Congressional Black Caucus. Their persistence is paying dividends.

The United States has greatly improved relations with communist Viet Nam, despite thousands of American soldiers dead from our interventions. We have always maintained open diplomacy with Russia -- even during the "cold war." And we implore the Chinese to buy our debt, when they purportedly have the worst human rights record of any industrialized nation. Why not Cuba?...