Blacks still drawn to Islam despite FBI raids : NPR

Blacks still drawn to Islam despite FBI raids : NPR.

2 AM Car Show

From earlier this evening, well, uh, morning. People decided to cruise up and down my street blasting their music. It was like it was in the middle of the day, there was so many people on the street, but it was 2 in the morning instead. Weird…

Today’s Track(s)

Well, this addition of “Today’s Track” is full of “guilty pleasure songs”. First up is David Guetta with “Sexy Chick” (though that’s the censored/”radio-friendly” title), and funny how the chorus of the song talks about “not being disrespectful”, given the uncensored title. Interesting, I guess to some, the 5-letter term for a woman is *not* disrespectful? As I said, this is truly a “guilty pleasure song” if there ever was one. I’m telling you, I’m starting to think I’m really lost, I mean, really and truly lost.

Next up, since the beginning of the David Guetta song kinda reminded me of it, is Kid Cudi and “Day ‘n’ Nite”… I can’t even find words to even comment any further… As I said, I’m lost…

And next is Clipse and “I’m Good”…

And so as to redeem myself, the next song is from an album that my husband has been raving about for the past few weeks now, ever since I found it on Amazon’s mp3 site. The song is from the Malian singer Kandia Kouyate, and the song is called Douwawou (sorry if spelling is wrong).

So there you have it, “Today’s Track” for Thursday 10/29/2009. I need tomake this a regular blog feature, but sometimes it’s hard for me to stay on a set schedule, so will just do it when I think of it I guess.

Take care all and enjoy.

The Effects of Media Consolidation on Urban Radio | Future of Music Coalition

The Effects of Media Consolidation on Urban Radio | Future of Music Coalition.

The World of Work

Assalamu alaikum, one of the things that I think I’m starting to realize as a blind person is that sometimes, as much as I hate to admit it, maybe I can’t do things as fast as, or maybe as good as, a sighted person can do it. And that’s really a, well, I’d not say “painful” realization, maybe “disappointed” is the right word. Yeah, “disappointed”, that seems to sum it up. See, the thing is, all of my life, the message I always got was that you’ve got to be twice as good at something to even be looked at the same way, or taken as seriously as, a sighted person. Being “just good enough” well, there was no such thing, because being “just good enough” for a blind person was “not good enough” for the sighted world.

I actually remember being told this straight out, in art class during elementary school, that when I was learning to do something, I had to learn to do it “better than” a sighted person, that I had to be “twice as good as” a sighted person to be “just as successful” in the sighted world as said sighted person would be. OK does this make sense? Do you get it? I do, but at the same time, I’ve found this axiom to be extremely frustrating, not to mention setting the bar so high for yourself that you either can’t meet it, don’t want to meet it, or it’s so hard to meet it that by the time you do, you’re so tired, stressed out, etc., that the joy of meeting that goal is all but taken away from you.

Let me try to illustrate in clearer terms what I’m talking about. Generally, I don’t like talking about my job, as well, this is a public blog (excluding the private and protected posts), and the nature of my job gets a little bit more into my personal/private life than I feel comfortable going into, especially because talking about my job inevitably involves talking about other people (and I’m not talking in the gossippy sense), but let’s just suffice it to say that I don’t talk about my job much on this blog, just ’cause I don’t feel comfortable doing so. However, so as to make the point of this post clear, I’ll hash out the details of my job just enough to keep me from getting out of my comfort level.

I work a desk job, spending the vast majority of my time on the phone with clients. I have a certain quota I’m to meet, as well as other performance measures, in order to maintain an acceptable rating and thus be in good standing in my job performance file/evaluation. Now, let’s just say that without going into too much detail, I don’t have anything to worry about in this area, and I’ve no reason to feel that I’ve anything to worry about in the future. Now, that’s what the rational me says, the “emotional” me, the “worrywart me” says/feels/thinks differently. Especially if I feel that many if not most of my coworkers are performing better than me.

See, it’s not that I want to be “the best” just for its own sake, it’s that I’m afraid to be anything less than “the best”. Because I’ve always been told that I have to be “the best”, that “just good enough” wasn’t good enough at all. And while this all made sense in my head, it sounds crazy now that I’ve put it down on paper. But that’s the best way I can describe it.

And the thing is, I’ll probably never be “the best” in my unit, only because there are things that I just simply can’t do as quickly, and thus, as good as, a sighted person. For example, if a sighted person is looking at a screen of information, they can quickly take in that screen of information, get what they need and perform their task. I, on the other hand, can only read information, at most, line by line, or maybe sentence by sentence. And while I have my own ways (the Jaws find command is invaluable, for example), of getting to the info that I need, and have been told by other coworkers that I do just as well as others, no matter my lack of sight, invariably I’m slowed down just by the mere fact that I can’t take in information as fast as a sighted person, and it just doesn’t feel like I’m going as fast as everyone else anyway. Truthfully, I feel like sometimes I work twice as hard, just to get to where I need to be, i.e., I’m working twice as hard “to do just good enough”, and I find it to be very frustrating. Quite frankly, sometimes I have the feeling that I’m just barely keeping my head above water, though I don’t dare admit this to anyone because then this would show that I’m weak, not capable, and I don’t want to complain too much, or be perceived as complaining too much, lest I make my blindness even more obvious than it already is. And any time the performance measures are changed (i.e. made more stringent), even if I’m currently meeting the more stringent criteria anyway, in the back of my mind, I feel a sense of panic, a sense of fear that I won’t succeed, i.e., be able to meet the new standards. I’m afraid that I won’t make it, that I’ll fail, and that I’ll be written off as “just another blind person who couldn’t hack it in the real world”.

And I’m sure that any coworkers reading this would beg to differ with me, they’d probably tell me that I perform well at my job, that I have nothing to worry about, and I’m sure this is true, however, what I’m really trying to explain and get out into the open are some really deep-seated issues that I, as a blind person, have had drummed into my head, that while they were intended to teach me about the “real world”, and to prepare me for said “real world”, that maybe they had a more negative and damaging side effect. The thing is, another latent message I’ve gotten while growing up was the “no matter how good you are, you’re still going to fail”, “and end up running back here to the blind school”, was normally the end of that reframe, or “go running back home to your parents”, if the discussion was about one’s adult life.

And I think that’s the gist of it right there… That I’m afraid to fail, and not only am I afraid to, but that I will, somehow, inevitably, at some point, fail. And while we’re all told that failure is OK, that it’s bound to happen at some point in our lives, at least for me, the message I’ve always gotten was that failure, for a blind person, is never an option, because failure means not that you just fail sometimes, not that you just dust yourself off and try again, no, that you have failed, that it was necessarily because you were blind, or something related to said blindness, and thus you “couldn’t hack it” in the “real”, read “sighted” world.

So no matter how good I am at my job, no matter how well I may perform now or will perform in the future, the fear I have is that somehow I’ll fail. And it’s not just “failing” that’s the problem, it’s the fear of validating every negative stereotype about blindness that anyone could have possibly ever had. That I’ll fail and then people will say “see we shouldn’t have hired her” or “see, we knew she couldn’t hack it”, or something like that. And then that makes me want to work harder to be “better than” everyone else, because I feel I can’t be “just as good as”, and then I get tired, stressed out, afraid that I’ll fail, and afraid to say any of this out loud, because then it will show that I really “can’t hack it”, that I’m not capable, no matter how much the numbers and the stats may say otherwise.

Am I the only one who feels this way? Am I crazy? Do I need professional help? Am I “messed up” as they say? Do I “have issues”? Have I opened myself up to scorn and ridicule just for opening up and saying all of this publicly? Is there something wrong with me?

The thing is, my fears of failure aside, I’m proud, though not prideful, and I think there is a difference, of the fact that I can stack up as well as my sighted counterparts, and just based on the raw data, I’m sure I have nothing to worry about. However, I think I’m dealing with a lot of “stuff” that was drilled into my head from early childhood, that may or may not be necessarily true, and while said messages may have been intended to spur me to work harder, to be successful, in a world where the majority of people did not, and do not expect me to be successful, as I said before, said messages have had the negative side affect of making me fearful at times, of losing the success said messages were intended to teach me to prepare and work hard for in the first place. And a part of me is angry about that, because as I’m thinking about it, it normally wasn’t blind people who were giving me those messages, but sighted ones. And it occurs to me that I wonder if they, in supposedly trying to teach me to succeed, were in actuality setting me up to fail, so as to fulfill their own prophecies about me and blind people in general? “You’ll just sit at home and collect SSI” was a common reframe I heard from teachers, staff, etc., at school. And it was said scoffingly, like “no matter that you’re hear learning, it’s just a waste of time anyway, because you’re just going to end up graduating and getting ssi anyway”.

And so when I graduated school and went to college, I wanted to work, not only because that was what I wanted, but to also prove all of the naysayers wrong, that I did more than just “sit at home and collect SSI”. It took me 11 years after graduation to visit my high school again, because I was too ashamed to go back without something to show for it. I didn’t want to go back and say, when asked, “no I’m not working”, and thus be saying in essence, “yes I’ve failed”. “yep, I did exactly what ya’ll expected of me in the first place”, i.e., that I’m just sitting at home and collecting that check. No matter that I’m not “just sitting at home and collecting that check”.

The thing is, surely, there’s a better way to teach blind children that, while the rest of the world may not think so, that “you”, whoever that “you” is, thinks they will be successful, whatever that “success” entails. Because it’s terrible to outright tell a child, or even imply to a child, that you don’t think they’re going to succeed, just because your preconceived notions of them tell you that they won’t succeed. Because that can have negative impacts on them throughout the rest of their lives, as it has with me.

In the US, Hope for Victims of Genital Mutilation | Newsweek Health | Newsweek.com

Assalamu alaikum,

from Achelois’s blog.

Mashallah.

And that’s all I’ll say, as I fear I’ll say something that will offend someone, or make me seem ignorant, close-minded, superior to others, etc., that’s happened to me when I’ve discussed this topic in the past.

In the US, Hope for Victims of Genital Mutilation | Newsweek Health | Newsweek.com.

Why Is This?

Assalamu alaikum, this kind of runs in the same vein as the “giving dawa” post, and that is the topic of discussing Islam in sub-Saharan Africa, or discussing Muslims in Africa, or talking about African countries that have significant, if not majority, Muslim populations. And that is, what I take to be, the complete dismissal of African Muslims, or how Islam is practiced/manifests itself in African countries. I’ll try to give an example of what I mean.

I had an experience a few weeks ago, when I was telling a sister about my husband’s home country, how upwards of 90% of the population is Muslim there, how I’ve traveled there before, etc. I’d probably spent about five minutes describing my husban’ds home country, etc., when the sister says to me “Have you ever been to the Holy Land” (I think she was Palestinian but can’t remember now). I told her that I hadn’t, to which she responded “well, you really should go”. Perhaps she meant nothing by it, perhaps she didn’t know what to say so that was the best she could think of to say, perhaps she had no idea that there were any Muslims in Africa, at least in Sub-Saharan Africa anyway.

However, the comment came across to me as dismissive, at the very least. Here, I’d just spent the past few minutes telling her about The Gambia and that’s all she could think of to say? I felt like she was saying “you shouldn’t have gone there, you should have went here”, which reminds me of another time I mentioned that I wanted to go back to The Gambia one day, and being asked “have you ever been to Hajj?” And when I said no, I got the “well you really need to go to Hajj first” treatment. Well of course! Which to me wasn’t even worth saying, because everyone should strive to go to Hajj, I mean, it’s not like it’s an either or thing, that if I go to The Gambia that I can’t go to Hajj.

But it’s the completely looking over, the complete dismissal of Muslim Africans that I detect in these sorts of expressions that really bothers me. The “why would you even want to go over there when you can go to Jordan or Palestine” sentiment, for example. And I know I shouldn’t or needn’t ask why, but why is this? Is it because you think African Muslims are so much lesser than you because they’re not Arab nor not white? I can definitely see why many African Muslims in this country are just starting their own masjids, because if a totally blind white Muslim woman like myself can detect the superiority complex that some Muslims have, then I’m sure many African Muslims can see it too. And who wants to be told that your Islam isn’t as real as someone else’s, or that you’re not a “true” Muslim?

“But You Have to Tell them”

Assalamu alaikum, the issue of “making dawa”, although I’ve been told it’s a requirement of Muslims, has been, well, how do I say it? An “uncomfortable” one for me. Because when you talk about “spreading the message” of Islam, the image that immediately pops into my head is the evangelist Christian preachers on the corner, or on TV, or the people who would walk up to you, unbidden and unannounced, and ask you something along the lines of “do you know Jesus”, “are you a Christian”, “are you saved”, or something like that. And I’m sorry but that’s just not the kind of “dawa” I want to be spreading, because I find it to be intrusive, and a violation of personal space, to say the very least. Not to mention that personally, it’s none of their business whether I’m a Christian, or whether I’ve accepted Jesus as my personal lord and saviour anyway.

But a common question I get from many Muslims, and they seem to almost always be born/immigrant Muslims is, “do you tel them about Islam”? This usually comes after I’ve answered the question as to whether or not I’m the only Muslim in my family (which perhaps is none of anyone’s business anyway either). And most of the time I sheepishly say “no”, and it’s not that I don’t explain Islam to people who ask, or talking about an Islamic concept, or that I hide my Islam, it’s just that I don’t make it a point to go around to people, whether they be friends, family, or complete strangers, and just start talking about Islam, and how you must be Muslim to go to Heaven/Paradise/Jannah, etc., and that you’ll go to Hell if you don’t. I’m sorry, I just can’t do it. Because I can tell you that that type of “dawa” wouldn’t work with many of my non-Muslim friends, family, and coworkers, in fact, it would probably have the opposite affect. They would probably get offended, bored, angry, etc., but “giving dawa”, “telling them about Islam”, “making sure they know they have to be Muslim”, or anything of the like, would probably have the same affect as someone telling me that I have to be a Christian to go to Heaven, which is pretty much that it’s not going to bring them any closer to accepting Islam. And I’ve tried to explain to people that the “dawa” that I feel most comfortable with is the what I like to call “dawa by action”. Which basically means going out and being your self and trying to be as good of a Muslim and all-around human being as you can be. Because I honestly think that’s what people will remember the most about you. Because it doesn’t matter how much you “talk” about Islam, if you’re a selfish person, if you’re rude, obnoxious, etc., that your words aren’t going to mean anything, and worse, people will think less about Islam, because you talked about what Islam was, yet didn’t back it up with your actions. Whereas if you actually resembled the character of what a good Muslim should be, and people knew you were a Muslim, then perhaps that would draw more people to you and to Islam by extention, because of your good character and how you treat others. That’s how I came to Islam… It wasn’t because anyone “talked” to me about Islam. It was because I *saw!* Muslims in everyday life, just going and doing and being. So months later, when a professor of mine in an African studies class trotted out the “Islam concquered by the sword, Islam is violent” mantra, I was able to flip back through my mind and say “hey I was just in The Gambia and Senegal (Africa) a few months ago and this wasn’t the Islam I saw, hmmm, maybe I need to research this to see if the professor’s assertions were/are correct”. Which then led me to read more about Islam, which then led to me eventually accepting Islam and becoming a Muslim. So IMHO, “talking” about Islam isn’t going to get you as far as just being a good Muslim is. Especially when some people can talk a good game but don’t even practice what they’re talking about.

Breaking News: Femi Peters Arrested, Lt. Colonel Gibril Bojang Detained at Mile II Prisons > The Gambia Echo > The Gambia Echo – Online Newspaper

Assalamu alaikum, I knew something was wrong when my husband’s phone started ringing off the hook, from the time he went to the masjid for Isha prayers until he got back.

Breaking News: Femi Peters Arrested, Lt. Colonel Gibril Bojang Detained at Mile II Prisons > The Gambia Echo > The Gambia Echo – Online Newspaper.

Mr. Peters’ arrest came in the wake of a defiant political rally in Serekunda, 7-miles off the capital, Banjul only yesterday evening. Even though the UDP was denied a police permit, it went ahead as scheduled and in what many described as a revolutionary departure from its party leader’s usually tempered demeanor, lawyer Ousainou Darboe lambasted the Gambian leader as an utterly despicable dictator who wants to micro-manage every sector of Gambian society.

Femi Peters, the UDP, as well as everyone in The Gambia are in my thoughts and prayers, I have that awful feeling in the pit of my stomach, that I always get, when something is about to go down, yet I can’t quite say exactly what that “something” is, and I don’t want to let anyone know just in case said “something” never materializes and I look like a paranoid fool.

Re: UDP leader respond to OJ’s untimely statement

From the Gambia-l archives, via an article in the Daily News (a newspaper in The Gambia). Normally I’d rather have posted the link, however, I’ve not been able to get onto the site. Will also need to find Omar Jallow’s (OJ) statements which prompted Ousainou Darboe’s statement. Posted without comment per my <a href="http://ginnysthoughts.wordpress.com/2009/10/23/i-hate-it-when-i-do-this/previous rules.

Lawyer Darboe Explains Reasons Behind NADD’s Failure
By Saikou Ceesay

The leader of the biggest opposition United Democratic Party has
cleared the air over assertions of other opposition members that
Gambian oppositions are in a state of “coma”, saying that even though
he respects the expressions of opinions of by any individual, he does
not see that as a fact.

“What he [OJ] said is not a fact but an opinion and even if he was
stating facts, those facts are not applicable to the UDP Party. If
there is anything, it is his party that is in a state of ‘coma’. How
can one say that a party is in a state ‘coma’ when UDP party has four
elected National Assembly Members, one of whom is a member of the
ECOWAS Parliament? How can one say that UDP is in a state of ‘coma’
when the party is actively engaged in grassroots mobilization?

In an exclusive interview with The Daily News, Darboe said UDP Youth
Wing have recently concluded a nationwide tour. A women wing has also
just mobilized a rally at Bakau. “It is because of the popularity of
the UDP that even those members of other opposition parties lay claim
to membership of UDP when they switch allegiance to the ruling APRC
party. With all due respect to OJ, his assertion that the opposition
is in a state of “coma” is incorrect in so far as the UDP is
concerned, and I know as a fact that the NRP is as active as it was in
1996″, Darboe explained.

According to Darboe, he had known from the Chairman of PPP Yahya
Ceesay that PPP is not interested in supporting a candidate. “Infact
the majority of those who signed the documents for the registration of
PPP have made it clear that they are not interested in supporting a
candidate but instead, to regain their assets seized”, he said. But at
that selection, Mr. Omar Jallow was nominated, and when my deputy
Yahya Jallow told him that, “look your party PPP is not interested in
supporting a candidate”, OJ responded that he is NADD and not PPP.

Mr. Yahya Jallow nominated me and there was no representative who
seconded his nomination. Mr. Halifa Sallah was nominated but later,
his nomination was withdrawn but someone from NDAM said OJ is the one
nominated. And I said, “But look there has to be consensus and we said
we (UDP) have not agreed”. The following Saturday when they convened,
Mr. Halifa Sallah was nominated by Mr. Sam Sarr, editor of Foroyaa
newspaper and they said that it was a mistake to have withdrawn
Halifa’s previous nomination.

Darboe explained that the re-nomination of Halifa Sallah to him showed
something different. He said there were few members of his executive
who were against his resignation and they tried to convince him to
stay on so that they can work out a solution to the impasse.

“On the 7 February, I tendered my resignation from NADD the political
party and indicated that the UDP was committed to the Memorandum of
Understanding signed in 2005 and that it would be to the UDP to decide
on its continuous membership of the alliance. The Chairman Mr. Hassan
Musa Camara said he was not accepting the resignation letter because
he wanted to work on me to reverse my decision. I however promised
that I will withhold the copies of my resignation to the press and
IEC, which I did”.Below is the excerpt of the interview…..

Is it true that the opposition parties are in a state of “coma” as
stated by Omar Jallow alias OJ?

Every person has a right to his opinion and I always respect
expressions of opinion by any individual. I do have respect for
Mr.Jallow and I appreciated his expression of opinion about the state
of the opposition. What he said is not a fact it’s an opinion and even
if he was stating facts those facts are not applicable to the UDP
Party. If anything it’s his party that is in a state of “coma”. How
can one say that a party is in a state “coma” when UDP party has four
elected National Assembly Members, one of whom is a member of the
ECOWAS Parliament. How can one say that UDP is in a state of “coma”
when the party is actively engaged in grass root mobilization. Our
youths have recently concluded a nation wide tour. A women’s wing has
just mobilized a rally at Bakau.It is because of the popularity of the
UDP that even those members of other opposition parties lay claim to
membership of UDP when they switch allegiance to the ruling APRC
party. With all due respect to OJ his assertion that the opposition is
in a state of “coma” is incorrect in so far as the UDP is concerned
and I know as a fact that the NRP is as active as it was in 1996.

What can you tell us about the country’s multi-party system as we speak now?

The Gambians are struggling to have a real multi-party system in the
country; the fact that we have many registered political parties does
not in itself guarantee multi-partyism.The environment within which
these parties operate is the factor that determines the existence or
non existence of multi-partyism.It is obvious that the current
environment is very hostile to the growth of multi-partyism.The
opportunities accorded to the ruling APRC party in the dissemination
of their views through the national media is denied the opposition
parties. The independent press which could serve as a credible medium
for dissemination of opposition views is under very serious threats,
intimidation, harassment and cajoling. Other institutions that are
supposed to serve as bulk-walks to support multi-partyism all bow to
the wishes and dictates of President Jammeh and his ruling party. What
is required is to create conducive environment which allows for the
operation of multi-partyism.

In one of our editions published Gambians have expressed lack of
confidence in the opposition parties as they have failed in the
formation of NADD coalition. What is your opinion on this?

I appreciate the fact that every Gambian has right of opinion on every
particular issue and Gambians are entitled to have their views on
opposition alliance. I have in the past resisted to answer any
question or make comment on why I resigned from NADD.I have always
referred people to Mr.Hassan Musa-Camara who was Chairman of NADD.I
have always believe that Mr.Camara will give unbiased and an impartial
view of events to the Gambian people from the first day of the
negotiation to establish (NADD)to the day I resigned.However,recent
comments in the Foroyaa Newspaper by Mr.Halifa Sallah in his way
forward as well as Mr.OJ urging the Daily news to ask Hamat Bah and I
why we resigned, I can no longer be silent and leave Gambians with the
belief that Mr. Bah and I were the obstacles to an opposition
alliance.

Mr.Ceesay in 2004, all the parties agreed on the need to form an
alliance for opposition parties and this need became more urgent and
apparent when the constitution was amended by introducing a simple
majority for Presidential elections. Hitherto a Presidential candidate
would be declared duly elected if he obtains more than 50% of the
votes validly cast at the elections. We all felt it made more sense to
have an alliance of opposition parties so that we do not have split
votes to the opposition. The UDP was very committed to the idea and
because of that we agreed to be at par with all other opposition
parties. We agreed to have equal representation and equal voice with
even an untested party like NDAM,we agreed to have equal voice and
equal representation with a party such as PPP which had a committee
only in Serrekunda.We also agreed to be at par with PDOIS which did
not even poll more than 5% at the 2001 Presidential elections. I know
as a fact that non of the leaders of these parties would have accepted
this sort of arrangement if they had the political dominance UDP
enjoyed. We conducted all the negotiations on the basis of having an
alliance of opposition parties. We did not discuss and agree on the
merger of political parties or the creation of new political parties.
The opening words of the preamble are “We, the undersigned
representatives of opposition political parties, who seeked to
establish an alliance…….” Under part one of the Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU) the alliance was established and article one
states “an alliance is hereby established. The name of the alliance is
National Alliance for Democracy and Development (NADD) with the
acronym (NADD).Then article four states amongst other things “all
opposition parties who are signatories to this MOU shall be founding
members of the alliance. The selection of candidate for the alliance
for Presidential, National Assembly and Council elections should be by
consensus but if there is an impasse then selection must be by Primary
election which will be restricted to party delegates and there would
be equal member of delegates comprising a chairman and youth leader of
every party from village, ward and constituency.

These are some of the most important provisions in the MOU, what we
have opted to do by MOU is to set up an alliance of opposition
parties. Obviously the criteria set for the selection of candidates
could be met only by the UDP. PDOIS did not have the following to meet
the criteria, nor did the PPP or NRP.It was only UDP that had the
capacity and following to meet this criteria. It is common knowledge
that the MOU was signed in 2005.At that ceremony something happened
which would have aborted the signing ceremony. The UDP delegation
comprising me and my deputy Mr.Yahya Jallow went to that ceremony to
sign the MOU on behalf of UDP and make a statement that is appropriate
on such occasions. Before the commencement of the ceremony I was given
a document virtually an oath declaring commitment.OJ told me he was
seeing it for the first time and I was going to either walk out or
refuse to sign the declaration. But there were four gentlemen in the
assembly, Mr. Sam Johns,Dr.SJ Pama,Alagie Ba Trawalley and Dr.Sheriff
Ceesay to whom I deferred because I have enormous respect for these
people and I think it would be out of place for me not to conform with
this unexpected development. This development to me showed insincerity
and a lack of openness on the part of whoever might have drafted that
declaration and brought it to the ceremony without consulting my
party. Nonetheless UDP remain committed to the MOU. After the signing
of the MOU some members of the alliance conscious of UDP’s dominance
came to the conclusion that if a Presidential candidate were to be
selected under the MOU, the UDP being the dominant opposition
political party would produce a candidate and they did not want to
support a candidate running in the name of UDP.So they flouted and the
discussion to register NADD as a political party really took at least
three months. In fact I presented a scenario to them if the
Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) were to invite me to a meeting
as leader of UDP while I am also a member of NADD,a registered
political party and an issue arises between UDP and NADD which one
will I support. I continuously advised them against the registration
of NADD as a political party. During one of the meetings when I came
very hard in my arguments one of the party leaders walked out of the
meeting called some people in the United States to say that Darboe and
UDP are creating obstacles for us. And before we left the meeting it
was on the Freedom Newspaper, and me and my party are being portrayed
as anti-united opposition when infact the anti-united opposition are
those who refused to accept the reality of the fact that the MOU
signed did not call for the establishment of a new political party.
And I remember, I think it was on the 16 April 2005,I said since you
are insisting go and register it. When the constitution of NADD, the
political party, was presented by Managing editor of Foroyaa Newspaper
Sam Sarr to the IEC for registration he reported he was asked certain
questions. This made the Chairman Mr.Hassan Musa Camara to ask Sam
Sarr to go and withdraw the document he submitted at the IEC for
registration but it was too late.

Now what followed the Registration of (NADD)?

All the opposition seats in the National Assembly were lost, although
three of them were regained following the bye-elections. And in fact
when the court made the ruling I told all of them that with my little
understanding of the Gambian constitution I know this is what would
have happened. I also hinted that I will be considering my position in
NADD viz a viz UDP because it is legally impossible for me to be a
member of two different political parties and I cannot abandon UDP for
a new party.

In 2005, before I left for the United States, Musa Drammeh of the then
PPP and Mr.Hassan Musa-Camara invited me to a short discussion at
which they also requested the presence of Alhagie M.C Cham because
Musa Drammeh knew Alagie MC Cham could influence my decision on
certain matters. Musa Drammeh pleaded with me that I should continue
my membership of NADD because my departure from NADD would have some
adverse consequences on candidates who were to contest those
bye-elections.Mr.Drammeh initiated this move because the previous day
OJ was on BBC network Africa programme saying that anyone who resigned
from NADD would be committing a political suicide. This was an
apparent reference to me because I had earlier indicated to the
executive of NADD that I would consider my position in NADD.Out of
respect for Hassan Musa Camara, Alhagie MC Cham and Musa Drammeh I
acceded to Mr.Drammeh’s request. I was the only political leader who
went to all the constituencies and appealed to the UDP supporters to
vote for the NADD candidates. And I personally met all my expenses; I
don’t even rely on even my party to meet the cost of my travels and
other expenses. I did so because I wanted to see that candidates
running on NADD ticket won their seats notwithstanding my earlier
disagreement to register NADD as an opposition party.

Around December 2005, there was talk of celebrating the first
anniversary of the founding of NADD and I insisted you cannot go to
the public and celebrate without NADD having a leader. My insistence
led the way for them to select a flag bearer. I had known from the
Chairman of PPP Yahya Ceesay that PPP was not interested in supporting
a candidate, infact the majority of those who signed the documents for
the registration of PPP have made clear that they are not interested
in supporting a candidate but instead to regain their assets seized.

But at that selection Mr. Omar Jallow alias OJ was nominated, and when
my deputy Yahya Jallow told him that look your party PPP is not
interested in supporting a candidate. OJ responded that he is NADD and
not PPP.Mr.Yahya Jallow nominated me and there was no representative
who seconded his nomination.Mr.Halifa Sallah was nominated but later
his nomination was withdrawn but someone from the National Democratic
Action Movement (NDAM) said OJ is the one nominated and I said but
look there has to be consensus and we said we (UDP) have not agreed.
The Following Saturday when they convened Mr.Halifa Sallah was
nominated by Mr. Sam Sarr editor of Foroyaa Newspaper and they said
that it was a mistake to have withdrawn Halifa’s previous nomination.

I discussed the situation with senior members of my executive in
Pipeline here and I told them that I think it is time for me to resign
from NADD because I did not believe that the other party leaders are
sincerely committed to the idea of a united opposition as I was. I
also felt that I was an obstacle to those who were aspiring to be flag
bearers for NADD.I told members of the executive that if their was
sincerity among the leaders they would have worked out a consensus
around the candidature of Mr.Jallow but the re-nomination of Halifa
Sallah to me showed something different. There were few members of my
executive who were against my resignation and they tried to convince
me to stay on so that they can work out a solution to the impasse.

On the 7 February I tendered my resignation from NADD the political
party and indicated that the UDP was committed to the Memorandum of
Understanding signed in 2005 and that it would be left to the UDP to
decide on its continuous membership of the alliance. The Chairman
Mr.Hassan Musa-Camara said he was not accepting the resignation letter
because he wanted to work on me to reverse my decision. I however
promised that I will withhold the copies of my resignation to the
press and IEC which I did. Prior to that NADD set-up a committee to
work out the qualifications to be satisfied by anyone before being
selected as NADD flag bearer. My deputy Mr.Jallow refused to nominate
anyone to represent UDP on that committee but the chairman prevailed
Kemeseng Jammeh to do so. And when this committee met they came out
with seven point criteria to be satisfied by anyone. On the day I
tendered my resignation I made it quite clear to all of them that
there was clear lack of sincerity and I and my party will not
subscribe to any qualification or criteria that is not contained in
the constitution of the republic of the Gambia. Since I am an obstacle
I resigned, you can go ahead and do what you want.

Even when I resigned from NADD and OJ conceded to Halifa Sallah, Lamin
Waa Juwara put forward his candidature in opposition to Halifa Sallah.
You see the lack of sincerity and lack of commitment on the part of
those who professed to be champions of the united opposition in the
Gambia. This is synopsis of what led to my resignation from NADD.I
have omitted from this narration, the various campaigns launched
against me in the US when the leadership of NADD went to the US
supposedly to sell NADD to Gambians in the US whilst I was busy in the
Supreme Court trying to save the Parliamentary seats that were lost. I
have also omitted to mention the various clandestine efforts made by
some members of NADD during the period that I was defending some of
them against the charges brought against them before Justice
Paul.Hamat Bah resigned from NADD to join the UDP in an alliance
because he faced an accepted reality that in politics it is the number
that matters and UDP had the largest following and it made more sense
for anyone really committed to restore true democracy that we yearn
for should give his support to the UDP and that is what Mr. Bah did.

What do you think is the way forward for the country’s opposition parties?

Those who are in leadership position of parties must accept the fact
that Gambians know that the ultimate decision in electing any
government is theres.We the political leaders must also accept the
that we do not have all the ideas that can take this country out of
this hostile political environment and move the country forward. We
must not be presumptuous and we must disrobe ourselves from the
clothes of self-righteousness believing that we are the only ones
capable of doing things right. Self perpetuation or a
self-perpetuating government must be eschewed. When we talk about self
perpetuating government does the Gambia have such a history? Now was
the PPP government a self perpetuating government? Why would anybody
think that if Hamat Bah is voted into office he will run a self
perpetuating government? Why would anyone think that a UDP government
would be a self perpetuating one?

These are some of the thinking some of the political leaders must
discard and come to terms with the fact that there is no party leader
who would perpetuate himself in power. My own personal history shows
absolute and uncompromising adherence to constitutionalism. Thirty-six
years of standing in support of the constitution of the Gambia at all
levels demonstrates and provides testimony that if I do not enforce
the present constitution I will not do anything that would not go down
well with the wishes of the Gambian people. The executive of the UDP
is meeting to consider proposals submitted to it for a united
opposition front and for me it will not be proper at this stage to say
what such a united front should take.

Source: The Daily News

Opposing Freedom Scientific's Secure and Compatible Braille Display Initiative Petition

Am quoting directly from the petition so as to better explain the issue to those unfamiliar.

On August 11, 2009 Freedom Scientific announced its “Secure and Compatible Braille Display Initiative” which it says is being introduced in the name of security with respect to its JAWS for Windows screen access program. This announcement may be found at:

http://www.freedomscientific.com/news/pressroom/2009/secure-compatible-braille-displays.asp

The announcement explains that, “The goal of this new program is to follow Microsoft's move to signed drivers to improve security and compatibility for customers who use a Braille display.”

According to Freedom Scientific, this policy will go into effect with the 64-bit version of JAWS 11, which is soon to be released; Users of 32-bit versions of the Windows operating system will not be affected.

In the same article, Freedom Scientific points out that “most new computers now come with 64-bit Microsoft Windows preinstalled,” implying that in the very near future, it will no longer be possible to purchase a new computer with the 32-bit version of the Windows operating system.

Put into layman terms, Braille displays require a screen reader in order to work. Freedom Scientific has steadfastly refused to provide Braille display manufacturers with the driver development kit required to enable a particular Braille device to communicate with JAWS. Instead, the manufacturer must first pay an outrageous sum of money before support for the Braille device will be permitted. What's more, this charge to the Braille display manufacturer is not a one-time fee but is imposed annually.

In his article posted to the GW Micro Blog entitled A Thought on Braille Driver Signing, posted on August 15, 2009, Doug Geoffray, lead developer of the

Window-Eyes screen reader wrote:

“I have a hard time accepting the concept of requiring digitally signed

Braille drivers in the name of security when the JAWS mirror driver itself

isn't digitally signed by Microsoft.”

You will find Mr. Geoffray's article in its entirety at:

http://www.gwmicro.com/blog/index.php/all/?title=a-thought-on-braille-driver -signing more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1#c434

One might ask how Freedom Scientific can play the gatekeeper to its JAWS product where Braille driver support is concerned. The answer is simply and for no other reason because it can. It is certainly not because Freedom Scientific's Braille displays in and of themselves offer any higher level of security.

This petition contends that Freedom Scientific's Braille driver signing program is not in the best interest of consumers and will only serve to harm the Braille reading community as a whole.

In the September, 2009 FScast, a Podcast produced by freedom Scientific Product Manager and Host Jonathan Mosen, Mr. Mosen asked Glen Gordon, Freedom Scientific's Chief Technology officer, if he%2

via Opposing Freedom Scientific's Secure and Compatible Braille Display Initiative Petition.

The article goes on… But the part I’d copied and pasted was cut off and unfortunately I don’t have the energy to go back and repaste it, you can view the entire article at link above. As a Jaws user, and a fairly satisfied one at that (except when it comes time to upgrade and I have to spend oodles of money to do it, which my husband even just finished railing about when we got the letter that the warranty on my Braille display had expired and they wanted me to pay $385 to renew it, even though it won’t cover accidents, only maintenance), I feel really defensive when Freedom Scientific does this, especially when on email lists and blogs I read comments like “I’m a proud Window Eyes user and GW Micro would never do anything like this”, etc. I feel like that by using FS products that we that use them are somehow implicitly supporting their business practices. Or that we, by our use of their products, agree with what they are doing. I, for one, don’t. However, I use Jaws at work and at home, Jaws can do things, in my opinion, that no other screen reader can do, or I’ve not been able to get it to do said “things”, and I really don’t have the money to switch to another screen reader, except for System Access, and while we’re on the subject of System Access, they only support *one* kind of Braille display, the name of which I can’t remember right now. So while Freedom Scientific is going to require digitally signed drivers, SA is saying that if you want to use Braille with their screen reader, you can only use the Braille display that they’ve decided they want to support, because, if I’m understanding it correctly, they are trying to push the assistive technology market in another direction, i.e., having Braille displays utilize generic Windows device drivers instead of proprietary drivers for each display.

And to be honest, I’m not sure what the difference is, other than Jaws used to work with certain Braille displays that, if they don’t digitally sign their drivers, they won’t work in the future. Whereas System Access is doing the same thing by saying that their screen reader will only support Braille displays which only use generic Windows drivers. Which means that someone like me, who can’t afford to purchase the Braille display that System Access is supporting, just simply can’t use Braille any time I want to use System Access. So the same goes with Jaws for Windows, meaning that if you have a Braille display wich doesn’t have digitally signed drivers, then Jaws won’t work with that display.

In any case, I can’t say I’m particularly happy with SA’s decision, just as many aren’t happy with FS’s decision, however, I don’t see, or haven’t seen, anyone crowing about Serotek’s decision to exclude the majority of Braille displays from being supported, unless and until they “do the right thing” according to Serotek (the makers of System Access) and start using generic drivers.

I don’t like Serotek’s decision, but I still use their products, and I have no plans to boycot them, as many are considering doing with FS. But I suspect that much of this has to do with a general “hatred” of anything FS, as many consider them to have a monopoly and thus an unfair advantage in the screen-reader market.

Before I Forget … Oops Looks Like I’ve Already Waited Too Late

The Sixth Annual Brass Crescent Awards – Honoring the Best of the Muslim Blogosphere.

However, per the site, looks like nominations were closed as of Friday, 10/23/2009 (oops), but am posting anyway…

Darn… This always happens to me, I try to remind myself of a date, and then it slips my mind and I forget anyway. *sigh* Oh well.

On Conspiracy Theories…

Oy, Habibti (and Yusuf, too) talks about conspiracy theories.

The most recent one, though I’m not sure if this would necessarily be called a conspiracy theory, though, that popped into my head as the one about Michael Jackson being a Muslim, and that he was going to have a janaza, etc., although whether or not he was or was not a Muslim hasn’t, IMHO, been reasonably proven or disproven, yet I read comments on some blogs/sites that people were already booking their plane tickets, etc., to go running out to LA to attend his janaza.

I’m not sure if Michael Jackson was or was not a Muslim, Allah alone knows best, however, to my knowledge, he didn’t have a janaza, I don’t think even at the private funeral service the family had for him like 2 months after he died (two months? What took them so long?)

And there was also something about a nashid album he was supposed to have produced, etc., and I’m not sure if that is true either. The thing is, whatever the case, whether it’s Neal Armstrong or Michael Jackson, many of us Muslims are so quick to believe stories like this, because I think the Muslim community as a whole is so weak, and maybe it makes us feel better that someone like Armstrong or Jackson would become a Muslim like us. But the thing is, Islam is not a social club, it’s not a clique, a good ol’ boys network, or anything like that. It’s very serious as it’s a commitment to and a declaration of the oneness of God and one’s allegiance to Him and Worship of Him, it isn’t just some kind of group that you “join”. We’re talking about the belief in and worship of the One God here, not joining a fraternity.

Anyway, regarding 9/11, I don’t know enough to know if it was a conspiracy theory or not. But that doesn’t change the fact that thousands of innocent people died, and it doesn’t change the fact that even if Al-Qaeda or some other “Muslim” terrorist outfit, hadn’t have done something like that, it doesn’t change the fact that they’d have loved, if they didn’t, to have carried something like this out, and didn’t they celebrate it when it happened? Or is that just a c o n-spiracy theory too?

Anyway, a lot of this reminds me of the Art Bell show of a few years back, I’m not even sure if it’s still on anymore, called Coast to Coast AM, and I don’t remember any Muslims calling into that program, and they had all kinds of wacky theories and interesting suppositions on there, so perhaps we don’t have the lock on conspiracy theories after all.

Is London really showing tremendous interest in the NFL? – Shutdown Corner – NFL – Yahoo! Sports

I didn’t know there was an NFL game in London today either. And it’s the “third annual” one? Wow, didn’t know that either. Anyway, am watching it, because they don’t seem to be showing the Colts down here. Unless they’re playing a late game, have to check the schedule. I didn’t think that American football was popular overseas anyway, kinda like soccer is viewed here I guess.

Is London really showing tremendous interest in the NFL? – Shutdown Corner – NFL – Yahoo! Sports.

Menstruation & Postnatal Bleeding In The Maliki School (Audio Course ) |

Menstruation & Postnatal Bleeding In The Maliki School (Audio Course ) |.

I Hate It When I Do This…

Assalamu alaikum, well, I think one of my golden rules should be something along the lines of “don’t leave a list and then decide to come back later” or something like that, especially if you announce that your leaving. Because if you come back, well, do you like stupid? Does it seem like you’ve caved? The thing is, at the time, leaving the list, and stepping out of the discussion of Gambian issues (with a few exceptions on this blog) was the best thing for me to do, and it still is. I re-subscribed not so much to participate in the discussions, but just to be able to read others’ interesting posts. Sure, I could have gone and viewed the archives, but frankly, I’m just too lazy to do that. I’d rather receive the emails in my inbox. But it’s primarily because of comments like the one below which caused me to leave the list in the first place and also why I don’t plan on posting much in the future. And if anyone thinks I’m outing anyone, you can find the Gambia-l archives by going to http://listserv.icors.org/archives/gambia-l.html. Search for my name in the “search strong” box, and put in the since date as 2009/04/01 and the until date as 06/01/2009, just to cover all of the bases.

But example of comment follows:

Hi –

You are talking to conceited brick walls whose lies and warped double speak are obvious. I think it is pointless to reason with pathologicaly sick liars whose fucking reality is out of this world. Let them howl as much as they want, but no one will force us to swallow the disgusting shit they keep throwing around. It’ll be thrust back straight into their bloody faces.

Unrepentant Programmed PDOIS Fanatic and incurable Halifa Disciple

I took out the names but if you search the archives you can find them, so all of this, including my own postings, are there for anyone to see. And to be fair, I’m sure I probably could have said things better. I probably did at times come across as arrogant, etc., and given my exploration of the topic or white privilege, well, I’m wondering if that didn’t figure into any of my stances, as much as I hate to even entertain that, as much as I want to say that I only meant good, etc.

I do still have my opinions on Gambian politics (I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t), however, I will do my best not to express them publicly, if I can possibly help it, I’d rather do it in a “safe” environment, where if I’m wrong, I can be gently corrected and shown/told where I’m wrong (and I know I’ve been wrong before and probably will be in the future), and to not have the kind of vitriole demonstrated above hurled my way, simply because I’m not an “unrepentant Halifa disciple”. I may be a great many things, but pathological liar? I don’t think so.

I wish I could sit here and say that I had a thick skin and that I didn’t care what people said or thought of me, but unfortunately, in many instances, I do, as much as I’m trying to work on that. If people say I’m a liar, mentally unstable, or any other thing that I feel isn’t true, I feel the urge to defend myself, etc. And I feel that if I don’t, then I’m by my silence saying that anyone making those sorts of statements is speaking the truth about me, thus, I have to say something to defend myself.

But as regards Gambian politics, even if I were to become the staunchest Halifa Sallah supporter tomorrow, I’m still going to do my best to keep my opinions to myself. Because I’m thinking that the Gambian political situation is something that has to be solved by Gambians, particularly those on the ground, themselves, and not from some outsider who’s comfortably ensconced in the US. This for me means no public comment, if I can help it as sometimes my mouth gets the better of me, no monetary support, no public support of any kind. I will post press releases, news items, etc., but I’m publicly stating at this time that I am not going to support, contribute to, give my opinion on, etc., etc., etc., any Gambian organization either set up in or outside of The Gambia for the express purpose of restoring democracy, ousting Yahya Jammeh, or anything of that sort.

Because clearly, for any number of reasons including but not limited to my race, gender, supposed political aphiliation, my strong opinionated nature (which let’s face it, many men don’t like) or because of the fact that I like chocolate and not vanilla ice cream, my opinions are not welcome. So why keep pushing? Why keep insinuating yourself in a sphere of a society where you’re not welcome? I was doing fine, I had the respect of many people, that I seem to no longer have, until I started doing that. And it doesn’t matter if other white non-Gambians get to speak their mind and they don’t get called on it, they, from what I can tell, happen to admire Halifa Sallah (which seems to be the only separating factor between myself and them), and it’s not that I don’t, I just don’t hold him in the esteem that many others do. But I can’t speak for them or anyone else, I can only speak for and have control over my own actions. And for whatever reason, my comments have rubbed people the wrong way more often than not. So for my own sanity and everyone else’s, I’ve chosen to stay out of Gambian politics completely, or as I say, I’m trying to. Because it’s a little hard to see articles on Jammeh’s so-called AIDS cure and the recent witch-hunts for example, and *not* say anything about it. Then, of course, I’d probably be accused of keeping silent when I should have spoken up.

“Islam is not a business”

Assalamu alaikum, the title came from a quip my husband made earlier, when I mentioned some online classes that were available. When I told him about the classes he asked “Are they free?” And I stated that the particular classes I was talking about were free but that some classes offered online by various teachers/organizations were not free. Then he mentioned that he didn’t agree that teachers should charge for classes, and when I mentioned the costs, etc., of putting something like this together, he stated that if they needed help with the costs for putting together such a class, that they should ask for that help, but that people shouldn’t be compelled to pay for said classes, because “Islam is not a business”.

I’d like to know everyone’s thoughts on this, because, alas, I see it from both sides, and I’m not exactly sure how I feel about this. It would be one thing if peopel were starting classes to amke money off of the students, but what if the cost of the classes are going straight to things like class materials, server upkeep, cost of bandwidth, etc. I mean, I understand that “Islam is not a business”, so I’m inclined to agree with my husband, however, someone’s gotta pay for the server space, the website domain, etc., etc. So I’m not sure how I feel about this.

Although having said that, I don’t always have the money to spend on attending a course, and I’m really to ashamed to say to the person offering the class that I don’t have the money to pay, thus, I usually don’t take the class. I also have issues of accessibility to consider, and I’m reluctant to pay for a class, find it’s inaccessible, and thus pretty much waste my money. And again, I also don’t always like having to explain to people the issues I have with accessibility, because normally they want a solution that unfortunately, I don’t always have an answer to give them but to refer them to the W3C accessibility guidelines. Because I’m not a webmaster, and I may seem like a computer wizz though you’d be fooled most of the time *smile*, so I don’t always know how to make things accessible, I just want them to be, because it’s more than frustrating when they’re not.

So anyway, perhaps this will spur some discussion.

CAIR: OKLAHOMA MUSLIM SPRINT EMPLOYEE FIRED AFTER RECEIVING HATE CALL

(OKLAHOMA CITY, OK, 10/22/09) – The Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OK) today called for an apology to a Muslim employee of Sprint who was fired after receiving a hate call.

On Saturday September 26, the Muslim customer service employee in Oklahoma City answered a call to Sprint during which the customer asked about the employee’s name and then asked if he is Muslim. After being told the Sprint employee is Muslim, the customer allegedly said, “Well I don’t want to talk to you, and you can go to hell.” The Muslim employee then hung up on the customer and reported the incident to his supervisor.

A week after receiving the hate call, the Muslim worker was terminated without prior notice because he had hung up on the caller. Sprint says it has a policy in which employees are not allowed to hang up on customers under any circumstances.

“It is unconscionable for Sprint to fire an employee merely for reacting as anyone would who received a hate call,” said CAIR-OK Executive Director Razi Hashmi. “We ask that Sprint review its policy on bias-motivated hate calls and to issue an apology to the Muslim employee.”

Hashmi noted that a similar case in which an Arab-American restaurant manager was harassed by a customer because of his ethnicity was settled for $165,000 in 2008. In that case, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) stated: “The customer is not always right. Whether committed by customers, co-workers, or management, demeaning insults that target workers’ national origin are completely unacceptable. The law requires management to step in and prevent this from happening.”

CAIR offers a booklet, “An Employer’s Guide to Islamic Religious Practices,” designed to help prevent such incidents.

CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: CAIR-OK Executive Director Razi Hashmi, 405-248-5853, E-Mail:rhashmi@cair.com; CAIR-OK Chair Michael Aziz Gipson, E-Mail:mgipson@cair.com;CAIR-OK Operations Coordinator Huda Abdul-Razzak, E-Mail:habdulrazzak@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787 or 202-341-4171, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com

Well, if you want to go just on the facts, it seems the employee did violate the company policy, and I’m not sure I’d have hung up on the customer, however, perhaps exceptions should be made in the case of racist/biased callers. I wonder if the employee would have been fired, say, if he was black and some other racial slur were used? Why couldn’t the employee have calmly gotten someone else to take the call and reported the incident then? And how did religion even enter into the discussion? I’m wondering if it’s policy for customer service employees to give their names when taking calls? At any rate, I think being fired for one hung-up and one hung-up only, is a bit strict, and I’m not saying that the guy shoulda been fired necessarily, I’m just saying, perhaps there would have been better ways to have handled the situation than to just have hung up on the customer, although that’s easy to say. I’ve gotten a few racist calls in my time and nothing angers me more than blatant racism. In fact, I had a guy on a chat line I frequent who made a joke about coon dogs chasing the Obama kids up the trees in the White House lawn, and I’ve not been back to that line since then. So I know how angering something like this can be, however, it’s the hanging up on the person that bothers me.

And I’m not sure what Sprint should do in this case. Especially since it’s not clear how well-known this policy was, and it took them a week to fire the employee? So there are a lot of unanswered questions here. Clearly, it seems Sprint should be a little clearer on how to deal with calls like that, and perhaps they should be a little more lenient on their hang-up policy.

Police: Dad ran over ‘Westernized’ daughter – Crime & courts- msnbc.com

One wonders what “Iraqi values” the father was living by for running over his daughter and another woman?

And notice, the words “Islam” Muslim” or “honor” weren’t mentioned in this article? Just that “she wasn’t living up to his Iraqi values” or “he thought she was too Westernized” whatever that means…

What “Iraqi values” and what is meant by “Westernized”?

Police: Dad ran over ‘Westernized’ daughter – Crime & courts- msnbc.com.

More Search Term Fun

Assalamu alaikum, well, since I actually have gotten some more interesting search terms, I thought we’d have a little search term fun.

So here goes…

“giny in seneweb”

Confused… Who were they looking for here?

“psychic ginny tampa”

Hmmm, don’t even know where to start with this… Again, what are/were they thinking? What were they looking for exactly?

“verizon internet problems october”

Probably looking for the same things I was looking for last weekend, i.e., was Verizon FiOS having Internet trouble, and if so, where, why, and when would it be fixed? Wonder if said searcher had any luck finding anything out? Because aside from the problem actually being fixed (Alhamdulillah), I’d be interested to know what caused it in the first place.

“pony en islam”

Again scratching my head on this one.

Hmmm, no Yahya Jammeh sex tapes this week? No Akon searches? Gosh, after the search term fun and frivolity we had last time, this edition almost seems like a let-down.