The Color Orange

I like the color orange. It has this vibrancy that brings out emotions of joy, happiness, life and living. The way Orange makes me feel attracts me to the color even more. I prefer subdued hues, but orange is one of those colors that just attracts attention. Imagine had Arabic not influenced European culture the way it had we would be referring to Orange as geoluhread- roughly translated as "in between yellow and red."

(CW)Orange also represents Hinduism in India and Sri Lanka, the Dutch have it as a state color and here in the United States Orange is a familiar sight because we always seem to be on Orange State of Alert from the Department of Homeland (in)Security(CW) that is every time Chertoff has bowl movements.

There I go again, honestly, I promised I would refrain from being politically conscience, that now on my blog would be neutral and totally free from anything social or political. I mean (CW) Mr. CAIR-Watch had won his battle against me (CW). Kaufman scared the bejibbers out of me and I was going to lay low.

My dear friends who contacted me and provided me with advise on dealing with this situation, I am sorry to let you down. I know you all meant well. But you have to understand that THIS IS WHO I AM.

If Joe Kaufman and his Nazi ilk can carry out a smear campaign against me and other Muslims to marginalize and scare them into silence what do you think he thinks of Muslim who are neutral and silent already? He has nothing but despise and hatred for all Muslims. It was Kaufman that stated there are no Moderate American Muslims. So you think he will rest easy when all those who dare to speak out against his hatred stop doing so?

Listen we are not guests in this country. We are AMERICANS. It is time we start acting like Americans. We have nothing that bars us from melding our two identities together- we are American Muslims and lets act like it.

I understand your concern when you say that he is trying to manage a certain type of response and that I should not give him that opportunity. That in the emotional state that such a smear campaign might bring about I should lay low and play it safe.

There is no playing it safe. Me laying low is not being safe, its playing with matches surrounded by tons of hay in a barnyard 100 miles away from water. That is the danger of being silent. Muslims are on the cusp of history and we must not allow ourselves to be judged in future as being silent when the times demanded that we stand up for our rights and our liberties for all Americans, in the face of a country griped with hysteria willing to sacrifice the very freedoms and rights that make this place so great because of a few narrow minded extremists. We must not stand on the sidelines or else we will do a great injustice to all Americans.

This is our test, it is our burden and we are not alone. This is not us against everyone. This is America against those who breed fear, hate and extremism- in this case it is the likes of Kaufman.

American Citizens Hang Bin Laden, All Jews don't hate Muslims

To follow up with the March 31 protest in front of the CAIR Los Angeles office, I want to share with you some video to show the imbiciles that put this thing on in their own words. This includes Ted Hays and Pertilli the founders of United American Committee.



Also the following are excerpts from a Jewish Rabbi attending and speaking at the CAIR banquet in Philly where the Governor of Pennsylvania also dropped by to show the Muslim community his support! What the Rabbi has to say really shows that not all Jews hate Muslims, and not all Muslims hate Jews, its more of a mutual misunderstanding and lack of communication and those are all things we can overcome:

You reported on the attacks on CAIR by one suburban rabbi and by an official of the local chapter of the Zionist Organization of America (a right-wing group) , and in other ways made a major point in the article -- indeed, its pervasive point -- a seeming collision between the Jewish community and CAIR.

Yet somehow, though you interviewed me, you did not see fit to report the fact that I, the director of a national Jewish organization with its offices in Philadelphia, the author of a dozen well-received books on Jewish history and practice, a rabbi described by last week's issue of Newsweek as one of the fifty most influential rabbis in the United States, and one described by the Forward newspaper at the end of 2005 as one of the "Forward Fifty" of most effective and creative Jews (not just rabbis) from the whole country, spoke at the dinner; that my talk came from a deeply Jewishly rooted place and knowledge; that I spoke as a religious Jew committed to Israel, to Palestine, and to peace between them, speaking to religious Muslims who strongly applauded my call for renewed dedication to a peaceful two-state peace settlement and strongly applauded my remarks about the need for each single one of us members of the family of Abraham to feel personally wounded when any member of the family kills another; that my entire talk was very warmly received by the CAIR community.

Nor did you report that in the printed banquet program, which I assume you as a good reporter saw, there was not only a letter from me affirming Congressman Sestak's speaking to a totally legitimate Muslim group, but also a letter from the rabbi of an important Philadelphia synagogue, Rabbi Jeff Sultar of Mishkan Shalom, strongly supporting CAIR's work.

Why did you not report any of these facts?

You barely mentioned the warm and warmly received speech by Governor Rendell, who is himself Jewish and has excellent relations with both the Jewish and Muslim communities in Philadelphia.

The impact of your report was to give the false impression that "the Jewish community" condemns CAIR and the Congressman for speaking, because you did not bother to report other Jewjsh opinions. Nor did you make any effort to ascertain and report that in fact CAIR speaks out strongly against terrorist attacks by Muslims, while you reported the utterly uncorroborated assertions by two local Jews that CAIR "has connections to terrorists."

This kind of reporting encourages these McCarthyist assertions. It gives credence to lies. Good reporting should tell the whole story, not a one-sided version of it.

Finally Joe Kaufman- the picture says it all!

CAIR Bash and Run

If you have not been watching the news, there has been a systematic assualt on Muslim organization since last summer, especially since the end of the Lebanon assualt by Israel, not to say that the two are related.

First it began with Dr. Maher Hathout out in Southern California, who was recieving a Los Angeles Human Relations award, the first one to go to a Muslim. He and to a certain extent, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, that he is an adivsor to were attacked for being "pro-Palestinian" and not "nice" to the Jewish community. Dr. Hathout appologized for his remarks that "offended" some in the Jewish community and immediatly began putting together, along with the Progress Jewish Alliance a community dialogue- jump starting a previously began project.

Then came the attack on Al-Maghrib and its teachers by Daniel Pipes and his cronies. They do not even deserve mention. After that came the CAIR and Senator Barbara Boxer fiasco, followed by the Florida bigot scandal, then followed by attacks on the UCI Muslim Student Association, followed by more attacks on CAIR...but the point here, is that even with all the attacks on the Muslim community there is hope.

There was also the protests put on by the United American Committee (what the heck is that, its so ambigous) on March 31, which they have declared as "Rally Against Islamofacism Day". Southern Califronia Infocus has a nice article on the "Pro Israel groups that target Muslims"

The funny thing about this rally was that everyone was saying that Israel was the issue, in that Muslim must accept Israel- we can not criticize or speak bad of Israel- infact the guy in the picture went far enough to say that Islam became dead in 1948 when Israel was created, the nutcase that said that is also a "co-founder" of UAC. But the entire thing was ideological rhetoric about how Muslims do not belong in the US and how Islam should be erased off the face of the planet.

Sestak told dinner attendees: "CAIR does such important and necessary work in a difficult environment to change such perceptions and wrongs -- from racial profiling and civil rights to promoting justice and mutual understanding -- at a time when it is challenging to be an American-Muslim."

"We need to claim our values, not betray them, by ensuring there is not a psychology that pulls out of the rich fabric of our American community those who look like 'one of them.' We are better than that," said Sestak.

Sestak, was the guy being attacked for attending a CAIR Philidelphia banquet, their first ever and with a contigent of Anti-Muslim protesters, Joe Kaufman flew in from Florida!!!

Congrats to CAIR Phili and most importantly to the Muslim community in Philidelphia for with standing the storm!