Jammeh’s Latest Ploy, and some Thoughts on the Freedom Newspaper

Assalamu alaikum, this is coming from the Freedom Newspaper, which imho, I take any news coming from them with a grain of salt, or maybe I should say, a huge bar of salt, although, as much as I hate to admit it, a lot of the time, they end up being right, although they also publish tabloid-esque, sensational accounts of people’s private lives, as well. And while a lot of this kind of sensational journalism is in regard to members currently serving in Jammeh’s government, I still think that the standard should be upheld that people’s private lives, who they marry, divorce, etc., should be off limits. I think that the sign of a great leader, pbulication, etc., is not how they treat the people they like and agree with, but how they deal with those they don’t necessarily like and agree with. Because it’s all well and good to talk about democracy, and good governance, journalistic principles, etc., when you agree with the people you’re talking to. However, when you descend into backbiting, name-calling, mud-slinging, dirt-digging, etc., with those you don’t agree with, simply and only because you don’t agree with them, or you think that they’re wrong, and while at the same time you talk of how you stand for all of the laudable principles I just spoke of a few words back, that just seems hypocritical to me. And anyway, I’m digressing.

I only mentioned Freedom Newspaper’s, what I consider to be, a bit questionable journalistic ethic, to segway into an article they published this morning, entitled, “Breaking News:President Jammeh threatens to seize compounds of polygamous men!!!!”.

The gist of the story seems to be that polygamous men are lazy, spending time at the “bantaba” (which is rather like a public square, where men sit and chat and drink ataya), the stereotype is that the men sit and drink ataya all day, while their wives, and other women folk, slave all day, cooking, cleaning, tending crops, etc., and the men sit around trying to catch their next girlfriend/wife. And Jammeh, trying to be the saviour of all womenfolk in The Gambia, are going to save them from this, by going after polygamous men, and seizing their compounds if they’re found to be “lazy”. This is coming from the same man who said he’d divorce some wives and give them better husbands if their husbands were forcing them to support a party (anything but the APRC, ostensibly), that they didn’t want to support, or something like that. I’ll have to see if I can dig that article up, because that happened a few years ago.

I’m guessing that perhaps Jammeh has given up the “witch-hunting”, now that according to some sources, his own aunt has gotten caught up in the fray, and now that the international media has once again made Jammeh and The Gambia a world laughing-stock. So he has to come up with ever new and ingenious ways to oppress the Gambian people.

And I’m ever so tempted to say that these people need to fight, that they need to stand up for themselves, etc. But I stop, because it’s easy for me to say that, I’m not living in fear of my life. However, at the same time, you can’t just let people step on you either! I’ts really a hard one to call, though if you let people keep bullying you, it’ll keep getting worse and worse and worse, until you stand up to them.

Anyway, I hesitate in quoting or linking to anything from Freedom Newspaper, because I don’t think their articles are normally of good quality, as I said before, and I’m also not sure whether or not to believe them. Not only this, I have this nagging feeling that any time anyone gives Freedom any kind of credit, it’s kinda like the saying, you give someone an inch, they take a mile, and the next thing you know, they’ll be screaming headlines to the affect of “FREEDOM NEWSPAPER VINDICATED” or something to that affect.

The thing is, this has nothing to do, imho, with the misuse of polygamy, etc., I’m not even going there, though I do think that polygamy, in many places, is mis-practiced. However, for jammeh to personally get involved in the private lives of families and determine for himself that these men are “lazy”, obviouslly is a breach of privacy, as well as Gambian law and custom, etc. Not that that ever stopped jammeh before, but… I’m sure that like everything else, Jammeh will play around with this for a few weeks, until he gets tired, and then try something else.

Moon Bits for Rabi’ At-Thani 1430

Assalamu alaikum, all moon sighting sites that I check every month, have the start of Rabi’ At-Thani as being March 28, 2009, for the US, though this may differ in other parts of the world. This means that Rabi’ Al-Awwal, based on confirmed, verifiable sighting in North America, was only 29 days, Mashallah.

Rabi’ At-Thani Mubarak!

Portable Apps

Portable Apps

Update on my Tooth Troubles

Assalamu alaikum, I had my dental appointment today. The short story is that I have an infected wisdom tooth, which is pretty much what I thought it was anyway.

The long version is that I have to go and get it pulled next Thursday, after the antibiotics I’ve been given clear up the infection. And of course that scares me. But the lady who took my x-ray and the dentist seemed very understanding. I actually found myself in the awkward position of feeling that I needed to explain to the dentist that I was visually impaired, because he walked up, said hello faintly, and then seemed to stand there, waiting for me to say something. And I’d given my cane to my husband, as I didn’t bring Chloe with me, and my husband was in the waiting area, they wouldn’t allow him back where the dentist chairs were. I normally don’t take Chloe with me to the doctor, because it tends to upset her, and Abby was like that too. Because if I’m uncomfortable or upset, the dog, though well-behaved, tends to get that way too. Plus, if the dog does need to be controlled, it’s hard to give a leash correction or a command if you’re flat on your back on the examining table, or laid back in a dentist chair.

Anyway, the only thing I didn’t like so far was the fact that you are sitting with other people who are also having dental work done. There isn’t a lot of privacy. From what I could tell, there were rows of dentist charis facing each other, and I could hear the guy across from me also having his dental work done. It felt kinda funny to me. Though I’m not sure how normal that is for dental practices. The last time I was at a dentist was when I attended the school for the blind, and they had a dental clinic, and the dental office was off to the side of the waiting room. And that was like 15 or so years ago.

Anyway, at this point, though, the need to have this tooth removed, and the pain I’ve been in for the past few days, really outweighs that concern. I’ll have to wait and see how I feel about things once I’ve been there a few more times. And perhaps the more serious procedures like, say, tooth removal, are carried on in more private quarters. Along with that, I’ll have to ask my husband how things looked, perhaps my sense of the layout of the office isn’t correct.

Anyway, everyone seemed friendly and Alhamdulillah, my experience today was a good one. Though it was funny when we went to schedule my appointment to have my wisdom tooth removed, and my husband asked about an early morning appointment so I could go back to work later on that day. And the response of the receptionist to that was basically, “uh, no, she’s not going to be doing anything else that day”. Basically, no going back to work for me on Thursday, lol. Especially since my wisdom tooth is kinda sticking out of my gum, just the tip of it. The rest is just hanging out somewhere under the gum. Oh, boy… More for me to worry about and stress over. lol…

Developing Story: Ghana Govt Resolved to Unravel 44 Deaths in Gambia

Developing Story: Ghana Govt Resolved to Unravel 44 Deaths in Gambia

Breaking News: President Jammeh’s Victims Speak Out- Gruesome Tales of Torture & Kidney Complications > The Gambia Echo > The Gambia Echo – Online Newspaper

Breaking News: President Jammeh’s Victims Speak Out- Gruesome Tales of Torture & Kidney Complications > The Gambia Echo > The Gambia Echo – Online Newspaper

JihadUnspun.com Owner Kidnapped by the Taliban

Assalamu alaikum, forgetting for a minute that Jihad Unspun may or may not be a CIA front, this is really ironic. Especially since when I last visited the site, which was years and years ago, they seemed to be more pro-Taliban than the Taliban itself. There was another site/email list that reminded me of this, the Islamic News and Information Network. It was supposed to be “the real truth”, etc., about what was going on in the war in Afghanistan, at the time, and other items that the supposed “mainstream media” would not report, though after a while, that email list was disbanded. Jihad Unspun just didn’t seem right to me at the time, though what gave me qualms about the site, I couldn’t tell you right now, though I think it had something to do with their stories/reporting being so unbelievable, I just thought they were a bunch of kooks. And the name “jihad unspun”?, didn’t make sense to me. Of course, now that I’ve visited them, I’m probably on some secret watch list somewhere *smile*.

Anyway, I remember at the time looking for an alternative news source, other than what I was getting from the American media, and I can see where many people might fall for these sorts of sites, hungry for the unfiltered truth. However, ININ and Jihad Unspun seemed just as biased as CNN, MSNBC, or Fox.
Anyway, whatever the case, a presumably Muslim woman seems to be about to be beheaded by the Taliban, the supposed “true and real Muslims” by many, unless a ransom is not paid? Of course, these are the same people that say that it’s forbidden to educate girls (but isn’t seeking knowledge incumbent upon all Muslims male and female?)

Anyway, the Taliban, as a woman, is not the kind of “Islamic state” or the kind of “sharia” that I want to be under. Especially if girls like my step-daughter, for example, would risk getting acid thrown in her face for simply going to school. I’d like to know their Islamic justification for denying an education to girls? Where is the “daleel” for that?

Tooth Troubles

Assalamu alaikum, well, it was bound to happen sooner or later. I’ve not been to the dentist in years! Mostly because I’d not had good dental coverage (thanks to Medicaid cutting dental care for adults where I lived), and secondly because I was terribly afraid of going to the dentist. And I know that I’ve had to go, I’ve just been putting it off. Well, I can’t put it off any longer.

Friday night, I noticed pain in the back of my mouth, on the uper right hand side, right behind my last tooth. And I can feel what seems to be one of my wisdom teeth trying to come in, or if it’s not that, I’m not sure if my gums are receeding (my dad has that kind of periodontal condition, and I heard once that it’s hereditary). Whatever the case, I’m in an awful amount of pain, and I can barely open up my mouth to talk or eat or anything. So now I’m sitting here, knowing I have to go to the dentist, because my lymph nodes/glands are swollen on that side of my jaw and neck, and afraid because I have not heard good things about the dentist my dental hmo has assigned me too.

But at least I have dental coverage, and I guess however bad the dentist is, or however much whatever they’re going to do to me is going to hurt, I guess it’s my fault for neglecting this part of my health-care for years and years. But I have the feeling that I’m about to willingly go into a torture chamber. I’m afraid of whatever pain is going to be involved, and afraid of how I might react to it.

And now I feel bad that I took a couple days off work last week, just to have some time off and get some things done around the house. Now, I have to go into work tomorrow, and do exactly what I’m having trouble doing, talk. And I have to do it all day! From 9 to 6! Inshallah, I can get into the dentist soon. Inshallah, I’ll be able to make it through work tomorrow.

Does anyone know anything about Spring Lake Dental in Winter Haven? Does anyone have any ideas on how to deal with tooth/gum pain so I can function until I can be seen? If I start running a fever or otherwise showing signs of getting an infection, does anyone know where I can get emergency treatment? Is anyone as scared of the dentist as I am? I just feel like I’m being a baby about the whole thing.

Aged Out: A Murdered Foster Child’s Inopportune Freedom | theledger.com | The Ledger | Lakeland, FL

Aged Out: A Murdered Foster Child’s Inopportune Freedom | theledger.com | The Ledger | Lakeland, FL

Halifa Sallah’s Amended Charge Sheet- For The Record

Assalamu alaikum so it seems that while Halifa Sallah has been freed, but it seems that new charges have been filed against him. Note the place in the charge sheet that refers to “challenging the government policy of screening witches … “. Uh, OK, what year are we in? 2009 or 1609…?

And you know, I was talking to a friend of mine, telling her about all of this nonsense going on in The Gambia, and her first question was “aren’t they Muslims”? Well, yes, most are, but as we all know, many Muslims also have cultural beliefs and practices that may not necessarily fall within the bounds of Islam.

Anyway, Muslim or not, this is silly. And that’s an understatement. My husband just came in the door, and I mentioned this latest development to him, quoting him the “challenging the government’s screening of witches” comment, and he just burst out laughing…

And it would be funny, if people’s lives weren’t at stake (2 people are known to have died as a result of the “witch hunts”). But this, along iwth Jammeh’s other well-documented eratic behavior, is unfortunately making The Gambia and its people a laughing-stock. And this makes me really sad.

challenge the government policy of screening witches

1 Year-Old Lilianna Goodmann Beaten to Death By Mama’s “Boyfriend” for Being “Disrespectful” While Others Watch | What About Our Daughters

1 Year-Old Lilianna Goodmann Beaten to Death By Mama’s “Boyfriend” for Being “Disrespectful” While Others Watch | What About Our Daughters

FBI planting spies in U.S. mosques, Muslim groups say – CNN.com

FBI planting spies in U.S. mosques, Muslim groups say – CNN.com

Halifa Sallah Released

Assalamu alaikum, this is good news indeed. Makes me wonder, though, if the pressure from the Amnesty International press release, along with the international coverage resulting from that, put pressure on the Jammeh government, which resulted in Sallah’s release?

It also remains to be seen if there are any more “witch hunts”? And has anyone noticed, I’ve not seen any news reports of people being “cured” for any number of diseases. At least not recently anyway.

allAfrica.com: Gambia: Halifa Sallah Released (Page 1 of 1)

More Thoughts on “Midnight”

Assalamu alaikum, yes, more thoughts/questions, now that I’ve had some sleep and have read some reviews on the book. And spoiler alert is still in effect. And also, my perspective is that of a white American Muslim woman, so, well, maybe this is affecting my reaction to the book.

Firstly, they went to one masjid, out of all the mosques in New York City, or did they not have a lot of masajid in 1979 when he came to this country? You’ve got to be kidding me… Surely they could have found another masjid to go to? If you read this book, you’d have thought that Midnight and his family were the only Muslims in New York… Or at least, the only “good” ones. And maybe New York is more uncaring than I realized however, how does a 7-year old go and help is mother rent an apartment? And oh yeah, the stereotypical “Jew real estate agent cheating poor foreigners, not letting them know they were moving in to the projects”. That bothered me too. And no one asked any, or at least not very many, questions? This kid was 7! And even when he got to be fourteen, he seemed to be more of an adult than a kid, and this was just not believable to me. Some reviews wondered if this was Midnight speaking, or really Sister Souljah speaking in Midnight’s voice, and this is a good point. And his attitude about American Muslims “they change their name and dress yet they’re still the same”, doesn’t seem like he thinks very well of American Muslims. Not to mention African-Americans. I mean, gosh, yeah “the hood” is a mess, however, there’s more to black America than the projects in Brooklyn. It just seems like he takes one mosque, one neighborhood, and makes sweeping generalizations about not only Muslims in America, but African-Americans, in general. And his relationship with Akemi? Where do I even start with that? You meet someone, marry them, etc., and you don’t even speak their language? What kind of a marriage is that?

And he went to Japan to find his wife, yet she’s not mentioned in “The Coldest Winter Ever”? What happened to Midnight between the end of this book and the beginning of “coldest”? A book that I’ve not read yet. Did he retain his “morality” in Coldest? If he did, how do you keep your morality when you’re working for a drug kingpin? Which makes Midnight’s character in this book all the more unbelieveable and unrealistic to me. This book just left more questions than answers to me, and you’d have thought that in a nearly 500-page book, we’d have gotten more. I’m starting to wonder if this book was actually about Midnight, or Sister Souljah using his character to critique what she sees wrong with America, using Midnight’s voice?

Anyway, perhaps this book was not meant for a reader such as myself. Perhaps I’m being too judgmental, too harsh. I’m still trying to decide whether I want to finish the book or not. But based on the reviews I’ve read so far, I’m leaning toward no. I just find this character to be a bit hypocritical, yeah, I know we all are in some ways. But, you set up this character to be such a pillar of morality, and yet he does things that don’t re-enforce the kind of person you’ve made him out to be.

Thoughts on “Midnight: A Gangster Love Story” – or, Why Am I Reading This Book?

Assalamu alaikum, I don’t even know why I started reading this book, perhaps because the first chapter intrigued me (even if I didn’t like the language, etc.). And I wanted to see where the book led. Now I’ve not finished the book, but I felt the need to write. Because a couple things stood out, though I want to put out a spoiler alert before I start because I may inadvertently give some things away.

I have a habit sometimes of skimming through a book before reading the whole thing, I go to the ending first, and then flip backwards, and then start reading the book either from the beginning or from wherever it was I left off before I looked at the end.

Anyway, I was reading a few reviews and someone mentioned the “cliff-hanger ending” that they didn’t like, and I have to agree with that. The ending didn’t leave me satisfied at all. Based on the 115 pages I’d already read, the ending didn’t make me want to read the rest. The ending was sorta like “oh, I’m already almost to page 500, I gotta hurry up and finish this”.

The Japanese woman Midnight meets ends up becoming his wife, though it doesn’t seem he got any closer to understanding her toward the end of the book. I had a kind of “oh come on, you can’t be serious” feeling about it. Here are two people, he doesn’t speak Japanese, she doesn’t speak English, and they’re married? Or, did I miss something? And the sex scenes! Yuck! I’ve always felt embarrassed about sex scenes. I’m not prudish but hearing people pretending to have sex on TV, or, *shudder* when I’ve actually heard in real life people doing it, or, when reading about it in books, I feel as though I’ve walked in on someone, that I’m watching or listening to something that I shouldn’t be and it bothers me. And when reading about it, the less graphic it is, the better. I mean, “they made love” would suffice for me. I don’t need all of the graphic descriptions that I glanced through in this book.

And at this point, I feel the need to defend myself and say something to the affect of “I’m not prudish”, however, some things just need to be kept quiet, I guess.

Anyway, so at the end of the book Midnight goes running off to Japan, yet we don’t know why, something about Akemi’s father getting angry, something about a letter that he doesn’t know what it says. We don’t know why the uncle/father? is angry (I’d think it was because of Midnight marrying her?). I mean, there is just a lot more questions than answers. And I find myself not liking Midnight too much. I find him to be a bit on the self-righteous side. And his meeting Akemi, it kinda goes against the kind of persona, the no-nonsense, look-before-you-leap kind of character that the author has made Midnight to be. But then again, I’ve not made it to the end of the book yet, so maybe there are a few things I’m missing.

Of course this is my reaction after getting what appears to be a third of the way through the book, and it’s 2:30 in the morning. Has anyone else read this? What did you think? I’m just not sure, based on the book so far, based on some reviews I’ve read, I’m just not sure that I want to finish it. I like sitisfying endings, endings that give me resolution. And this book’s ending doesn’t seem to do that. And I’m still trying to decide whether or not I like the treatment of Islam and Muslims in this book. It’s better than most treatments I think. There’s just something strange about this character, Midnight, someone who’s so “moral” yet, well, uses foul language, and describes his sex scenes in a way no “moral” person would describe them, that I’m aware of. And there are just some other things, that kinda sorta bother me, that I can’t quite put my finger on. Midnight in one instance comes across as a protective brother/son, and the next seems like a self-righteous prick. And the little dig about American Muslims in the beginning of the book? Hmmm… Though it just occurred to me that this is an author writing as if she is a person from “over there”, trying to get used to being “over here”. And my thoughts are all scattered so I’ll stop. Perhaps I’ll write more on this once I’ve had some sleep.

Also, before I go, and this is completely off the subject, but I was actually able to find this on www.bookshare.org, a site that makes print materials available to the blind/visually impaired, and others with reading/print disabilities. Mashallah. Perhaps if we could get Muslim authors and book producers to have their works scanned and placed on this site, it would also help blind, visually impaired, and other print/learning disabled Muslims get access to material that they’d not otherwise get.

And on that note, I really have to go to bed.

Oops…

Assalamu alaikum, well, I was sitting here watching the NCAA tournament. And all of a sudden, the Price Is Right came on! I was listening to ESPN Radio on the computer and reading email, and all of a sudden I heard the intro to the Price Is Right, and said outloud, “what are they doing showing the Price is Right now”? It had just gone on 5 o’clock, and they’d already showed the Price Is Right this morning. I watched it.

Then, well, I guess it must have been a mistake because the Price Is Right went off, and the basketball came back on. I wonder if the local aphiliate was the one who made the mistake or the national feed? It was interesting, though. Funny, though, ’cause at first I didn’t know whether to be upset or amazed… lol…

Wow…

Assalamu alaikum, well, the perverbial, uh, “stuff” has hit the fan… The story of the “witch-hunt” going on in The Gambia has broken internationally, and not just on online lists and news sites dealing with Gambian issues. The stories all pretty much seem to have the same outline, and I present a few links below. What is worrying for me is the fact that many people are fleeing into Senegal to escape this, and some accounts have it that the Senegalese gendarmerie has captured some of the Gambian military who were in pursuit of those fleeing. This is not good, and has the potential to get even worse. The afore-mentioned links follow:

Witches’ Taken From West African Nation, Forced to Drink …

Gambian state kidnaps 1000 villagers in mass purge of ‘witchcraft’

Outcry as 1000 ‘witches’ rounded up and given hallucinogens

Gambia gripped by fear as leader scours country in search of witches

1000 alleged “Witches” kidnapped by security forces

Up to 1000 detained in Gambia witch hunt: Amnesty

BBC NEWS | Africa | Gambians ‘taken by witch doctors’

Rights Group: ‘Witch Doctors’ Abduct, Poison Gambian Villagers -

And according to Google there are 322 related articles to the ones I’ve linked above.

I keep wanting to say that this is not good, and I know this is a profound understatement. I’m not even sure if Jammeh’s so-called cure for HIV/AIDS even got this much coverage? Though I think the press release from Amnasty International has had a lot to do with the amount of coverage.

Alhamdulillah

Assalamu alaikum, it was a really good day. I watched plenty of college basketball, watched the selection show to see who was going to end up in the tournament starting Thursday (if you don’t count the play-in game on Tuesday). My husband grilled some chicken and made some salad (which went wonderful with the warm day we’d had with highs in the mid-80’s.) And as we (I, my husband, and a friend of my husband’s) were all standing outside, drinking ataya, getting ready to go and pray Maghrib, we saw the shuttle take off, or at least the comtrails of it, though I’m not sure exactly what you call it. We were just standing there, and all of a sudden, my step-daughter yelled “hey what’s that, it’s a fire up there”, and then I mentioned that the Weather Channel had mentioned that the shuttle was getting ready to take off, just a few minutes before I’d come outside. And we all just stood there, enjoying it. There wasn’t a sonic boom, like there is when it lands. A part of me had braced for that, given my dislike of sudden, loud noises. But my husband’s friend mentioned that that usually doesn’t happen during a launch, but only when the shuttle is landing. But this was one of the rare times in my life where I wished I could have seen it. I’m sure it was a really cool thing to see.

Anyway, so I just also got done eating an ice cream drumstick (yum). I’m getting ready to pray Isha, and then I’m not sure what I’m going to do. Get ready for bed I guess. But Alhamdulillah, it was a really good day. And Inshallah, it will be a good week.

Breaking News: Foninkas Flee into Cassamance, as Threat of return of Witch Hunters Looms

Breaking News: Foninkas Flee into Cassamance, as Threat of return of Witch Hunters Looms

Imam Fatty Dismisses Witch Hunting Allegations, Praises President Jammeh

Assalamu alaikum, I literally don’t think I have the stomach to read this article, but I just couldn’t pass it up.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Yankuba Jambang, Editor…

Website:
http://www.senegambiane…

Email:
yankuba@senegambianews.com…

The Imam of the State House mosque, Alhaji Abdoulie Fatty has dismissed reports of alleged state sponsored ‘witch hunting’ in which more

Allahu akbar, 1,000 people? The Gambia, as a whole, has a population of 1.5 million (estimated), so 1,000 people? That’s a fairly sizable amount.

Islam, the imam said, does not believe in witches, although this view runs contrary to our traditional beliefs.

But in what many worshipers at the mosque saw as contradictory, was imam Fatty’s acknowledgement that he, too, was at one point in his life, affected by witches. The imam also accordingly admitted that as far as the tradition was concerned, he too believe in witches.

OK, so either you believe in witches or you don’t. Sounds like he’s trying to talk out of both sides of his mouth to me. “this is contrary to Islam, but I’ve been affected by witches too”? How so? I mean, either you believe in witches or you don’t. that “witchcraft” is Islamic or it isn’t.

Abdoulie Fatty ‘assured’ worshipers that president Jammeh will never condone such things, and he urged all Gambians to stop spreading lies against the president.

This statement is almost laughable. If the state military were involved in something that Jammeh didn’t condone or encourage, then it’d just not be going on. The military, such as it is now, is beholden only to Jammeh. If they go and do something that he didn’t actually order himslef, you can bet he’s going to do something about it. So what is Mr. (won’t call him imam) Fatty talking about? Of course, if I had a cushy job at the “state house mosque” built by the very person I’m beholden to for my job, perhaps I’d be talking out of both sides of my mouth. If I were a hypocrite anyway. If this man were a real Muslim, or I should say, if he were living up to Islamic principles, he’d not be speaking like this. It’s these kinds of “religious leaders” that give their respective religious communities a bad name. Because instead of speaking the truth of the evil and un-Islamic nature of this man (Jammeh), they’re praising him, telling others that they should support him, and coddling him. I’m so disgusted, as a Muslim, that I don’t even know what to say. That Saudi education sure didn’t get this imam anywhere as far as “speaking the truth even if against your own family” is concerned.

Imam Fatty Dismisses Witch Hunting Allegations, Praises President Jammeh