I haven't had a chance to listen to this broadcast yet, but just the idea that someone could have the strength of character to go from being an extremist to becoming a peace activist, and then continue to do so when his 10-year-old daughter is killed just brings tears to my eyes. To listen, click here.

The killing of a 10-year-old Palestinian girl in the West Bank has cast a pall over Palestinian and Israeli peace activists. Israeli investigators are questioning border police who were involved in a clash with Palestinians in Anata, during which the girl was slain.

The mood in Anata is angry. But the girl's father, a militant who became a peace activist, says his daughter's death makes him want to work harder for a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Muslim cabbies refuse passengers with booze

This kind of reminds me of the problem with Pharmacists refusing to fill people's birth control prescriptions because it's against their (the pharmacist's) religion. This refusal is horrifying to me, especially when it comes to rape victims trying to get the morning after pill. Given that, I'd have to say the Muslim cab drivers shouldn't be allowed to kick people out of their cabs because they are carrying liquor or because they have dogs.. Although the dog thing I don't get at all, I can understand where the cabbies are coming from when it comes to liquor. Nonetheless, that's part of their job, and like the pharmacist who won't fill a doctor's prescription, if they can't do the job, they need to find some other line of work.

Muslim cab drivers at Minnesota's biggest airport are facing a possible crackdown for refusing to give rides to travelers carrying liquor or accompanied by dogs, an official said on Wednesday

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5 Ideas for Stressful Living

I found this hilarious article about stress that uses sarcasm to point out some pretty obvious sources of stress, much more effectively than those "self-help" magazine articles ever could. Here's a snippet:

So, you want your life to be stressful? Didn’t think so, but it’s amazing how many people consistently apply habits and actions in their daily lives that guarantee stressful results. They repeat the same things over and over again, expecting different results, which is, if I recall correctly, the textbook definition of insanity. After hitting the same wall every day for 20 years, people think “okay, if I just really hammer it this time then maybe it suddenly won’t be there.”

1. Attempt to control absolutely everything

(snip)

3. Look for satisfaction "out there"....

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Two Americas

Mona Eltahawy talks here about the question people ask her about America when she visits her home country of Egypt.. “What’s it like for Muslims over there after 9/11?”

“It’s complicated,” I’d say.

And I’d tell this story.

On Sept. 11, 2001, my brother and his wife were visiting me in Seattle, where I lived at the time. They are both physicians who work in the U.S. We did not leave my apartment for two days after the attacks because we worried that my sister-in-law, who wears a headscarf, would be harassed or attacked as we had heard happened to Muslims and those who appeared to be Muslim.

As it happened, she was treated very kindly. Other Muslim women were not so lucky. One Muslim woman was almost run over by a car and another woman I knew – a Pakistani American Muslim – told me while out with her husband one evening, a group of young men asked him “What’s it like to (sleep with) a terrorist?”

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Muslims distance themselves from mufti

This is the same "sheikh" who suggested that women don't wear hijab invite rape. Oh.. and he's a Holocaust denier, too.

Personally, I hope he makes MORE crazy-ass statements (is that possible??). Maybe it'll teach the Muslim community in Australia to pick leaders with at least SOME semblance of common sense...

Australia's mufti said in an interview on Egyptian television that Australian Muslims were more entitled to the country than those with a convict heritage

Kuranda Seyit, executive director of the Forum on Australia's Islamic Relations (FAIR), said the comments were the sheik's extreme personal opinions and did not represent the views of the majority of the Muslim community.

"I would like to reiterate to all Australians, including our people of Anglo-Saxon heritage, that there is no substance to the idea that Muslims have more of a right to Australia than the early settlers," Mr Seyit said in a statement.

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Awwww, yeah!!

Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, will use a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson during his ceremonial swearing-in Thursday.

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