Debate for sale in Washington

Last updated on: May 7, 2013 at 6:37 pm By Svend White

Posing as a shadowy emissary of a rich dictatorship, an investigative journalist approached a number of top lobbying firms in Washington DC and was promised with almost no questions asked all sorts of things–op-eds planted in newspapers, fake policy events hosted at think tanks, …-that shouldn’t be for sale in a democracy worth the name. It’s a fascinating expose, though one I find sadly unsurprising after my own sojourn in the Beltway. Kudos to Silverstein for Ali G-ing these rogues... Read more

Charles Lewis on why the the MSM is so dysfunctional

Last updated on: May 7, 2013 at 6:37 pm By Svend White

If you’re concerned about the intellectual bankruptcy of the MSM, listen to this articulate, insightful and fact-filled interview with independent journalist Charles Lewis at The Real News (a new site you should bookmark and promote, btw, as it has commentary from many of the best alternative media pundits out there). The Real News What’s wrong with the news? Charles Lewis on what it takes to be a muckraker "There is a funny idea in Washington that you have to have... Read more

Ethiopian wants a bigger cut from international coffee snobbery

Last updated on: May 7, 2013 at 6:37 pm By Svend White

I would be nice to see the instruments of neoliberal economic power–so ruthlessly exploited for Northern gain at the expense of the world’s poor most of the time–contribute to the empowerment of an extremely impoverished developing country for a change. The lot of commodity producers is often falling prices, while the finished product exports of wealthier countries tend to rise, so I think this is a particularly unusual situation. Traditional Ethiopian coffee really puts hair on your chest. Especially if... Read more

I’ve taken a second wife

Last updated on: May 7, 2013 at 6:37 pm By Svend White

She’s a svelte, multi-lingual beauty from Sweden. Now, if she just spoke Arabic, too, she’d be perfect. Here’s a recent photo: C-Pen 20 Handheld Scanner C-Pen 20 Pen Scanner scans text, numbers, barcodes and small images from forms, invoices and other printed or hand-printed documents/books/magazines. C-Pen recognizes text in over 167 languages. The scanned data is transferred immediately into your PC, laptop or Win XP based handheld device. C-Pen 20 free integration software creates possibilities for high speed scanning solutions... Read more

4th Annual Brass Crescent Awards

Last updated on: May 7, 2013 at 6:37 pm By Svend White

It’s time for the 4th annual Brass Crescent awards. Time to vote for your favorite (or least disliked, as the case may be) Islamic blogs. The Brass Crescent Awards – Honoring the Best of the Muslim Blogosphere The Brass Crescent Awards, a joint project of altmuslim and City of Brass, is an annual awards ceremony that honors the best writers and thinkers of the emerging Muslim blogosphere (aka the Islamsphere). Nominations are taken from blog readers, who then vote for... Read more

Was Blackwater just following orders?

Last updated on: May 7, 2013 at 6:37 pm By Svend White

The established stereotype is of diplomats as cautious and conflict-averse negotiators that struggle to rein in gung-ho generals and grunts, but as the Christian Science Monitor piece below shows in the Blackwater case it appears that it’s the American diplomats who’ve been the trigger-happy buckaroos, violating even the modest safety protocols employed by soldiers in wartime. To the extent that an internal State review panel needed to remind them of that they need to make sure their guards look where... Read more

The “miracle” of survival

Last updated on: May 7, 2013 at 6:37 pm By Svend White

Came across a fascinating and poignant observation in a book I’m reading in connection with my thesis, Stephen Sharot’s A Comparative Sociology of World Religions: Virtuosi, Priests, and Popular Religion. Like Islam and (non-Protestant) Christianity, premodern (and some contemporary branches of) Jewish tradition put much stock in the mediation and veneration of saints, generating a rich genre recounting their exploits. Hagiographical traditions in all these religions abounds in accounts of saintly miracles, but the author mentions one striking difference in... Read more

The emperors will never realize they’re naked

Last updated on: May 7, 2013 at 6:37 pm By Svend White

so long as their tutors have a vested interest in them remaining so. Perhaps this isn’t an entirely fair association given how Prince Alwaleed happens unlike so many of his kith and kin at the top of Saudi society to be cosmopolitan, reform-minded and professionally accomplished in the real world, but for me this picture from an article on his even-by-gazillionaire-standards extravagant purchase of a jumbo jet (CNN: "Airbus: Prince buys flying palace", found via Muse’s comment to my recent... Read more

The Greater Jihad

Last updated on: May 7, 2013 at 6:37 pm By Svend White

Please keep your sister Baraka in your prayers. Read more

Halal fishing methods and the environment

Last updated on: May 7, 2013 at 6:37 pm By Svend White

Speaking of Islam and the environment, here’s an example of progressive religious leadership at the grassroots in Africa. African fishermen find way of conservation in the Koran | csmonitor.com For years, Salim Haji was told by government officials and international groups that his methods of fishing were destroying the coral and weren’t sustainable. But few fishermen on this small island off Tanzania’s coast paid much heed. Then, the local imam told him that using dragnets to fish and spears to... Read more