2010 in review

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads Fresher than ever.

Crunchy numbers

A Boeing 747-400 passenger jet can hold 416 passengers. This blog was viewed about 2,400 times in 2010. That’s about 6 full 747s.

In 2010, there were 47 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 65 posts. There were 31 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 3mb. That’s about 3 pictures per month.

The busiest day of the year was March 28th with 132 views. The most popular post that day was The Intertwining of Afghanistan, Pakistan & India.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were mail.live.com, mail.yahoo.com, en.wordpress.com, womenpregnancyguides.com, and facebook.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for kashmir, penjihad, satoshi kanazawa blog, kashmir india, and india kashmir.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

1

The Intertwining of Afghanistan, Pakistan & India March 2010

2

Anti-Muslim myth-buster December 2009
2 comments

3

Molly Norris and Mohammed “Cartoons” September 2010

4

“Freedom of Speech” and Cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed December 2009

5

Terrorist bombers: Xmas Tree bomber vs. Times Square bomber November 2010

Virgins in Paradise

“Suicide-bombers blow themselves up because they are promised 72 virgins in Heaven”

Oh, how this statement makes my skin crawl!

Critics of Islam like to describe “Virgins in Paradise” (“Houris”) as base, sex-objects and motivation for Muslim suicide-bombers, because it helps promote hate and fear towards Islam and Muslims. The tactic works because of the negative connotations for sex in the ‘Christian’ part of the “Judeo-Christian Civilization”.

Suicide-bombers of different faiths (they include Muslims, Christians, Buddhists and Hindus), go to their destructive ends for myriad reasons, ranging from oppression, desperation, manipulation and perhaps, nothing left to look forward to. This is an ENTIRELY different, very complex subject and must be reserved for later discussion.

The Quran , the holy book of Islam, is considered as the written word of God in Classical Arabic, whose validity cannot be argued but, its meaning can still vary, depending on the nuances of interpretation and translation. It is possible for a translator to

Terrorist bombers: Xmas Tree bomber vs. Times Square bomber

If we wait just a little while (not even “long enough”), an idiot Muslim will emerge with some plot to kill innocent people for an inexplicably idiot “reason”…and once again, America will look at us and ask, “Why do you think we should not treat you all with suspicion?”

 

A Somali Muslim was caught in Portland, Oregon  with the means and a plan to blow up a car during the Christmas tree lighting ceremony where about 10,000 people gather. Had he succeeded, it would have killed at least a couple of hundred people and maimed that many more….all innocent people, innocent families, out to enjoy a bit of life’s simple pleasures.

 

Earlier, a Pakistani Muslim was  caught after a failed attempt to blow up a car in New York’s Times Square, had HE succeeded, he would have exacted at least as many victims as the Portland bomber.

 

A comparison of the two types above, would be instructive…

Eid Mubarak?…Eid Mubarak!

What is Eid?

 

There are a few times when I miss the old country and my old friends, and Eid is among those times.

 

Eid in America is bittersweet event; on one hand there are the factionalized Muslim communities who insist on having Eid on at least two different days and sometimes, three. The inevitable and never-ending Moon-sighting controversy where Muslims cannot agree on whether to believe the science that accurately predicts to the minute, when the new moon will show and where or, to believe the old man on a hilltop claiming he saw the moon even as he points to en entirely different direction.

Should we accept the date set in Arabia? after all, that is where the final word on Eid is because that is when Haj is over.

Should we accept a global concept of moon-sighting where if it is sighted at one place, it is sighted all over the world or, should we accept local sightings by OUR religious scholars?

 

A Rabbi friend of mine told me that Jews addressed this problem (they too, work on the Lunar Calendar)…hundreds of years ago! They decreed that all holidays (except for Yom Kippur) would be observed for one extra day, just to be sure they observed it on the right moon-sighting day. Today, Reform (Liberal) Jews have removed the second day observance because they believe that it is scientifically possible to accurately determine the correct day.

 

Muslims’ dithering about when are our holy days, is what keeps us from having an actual holiday for Eid; if Muslims cannot agree when to hold their holy days, then how can we get our schools to agree on when the holy days are so they can give our children a holiday?

 

It never ends; we are doomed to celebrate our holy festivals on two, maybe three, different days. That’s the bitter part…

A Constitution Destroyed: John Yoo and the notorious “Torture Memo”

 When the CIA asked King George the Worst, if they could use waterboarding on prisoners (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/11/03/AR2010110308082.html), his response was, “Damn Right!”. When asked why he would authorize torture his response was, “Because the lawyers said it was okay”. 

That would be John Yoo who, like Hitler’s many stooges, rushed to find that “robust interrogation” was fine.

 

 We all know there was a memo that justified torture during the reign of King George the Worst, some of us know the author was John Yoo, but very few know details of what the memo said and how it reached its dark conclusions.

Below is a synopsis of his torture memo along with a link where the actual memo can be read in its complete glory. It is most interesting and revealing, to see how torture is rendered to be NOT torture and how torture is justified in spite of Geneva Conventions and other international agreements, by using statement from various Administration officials and giving them the slight additional twist, to make torture, a more acceptable, non-torture and even when there IS the clear, undeniable torture occurring, how Yoo justifies that under cover of exigent situations, “War!” and the Commander-in-Chief’s prerogative (Some of my comments are in parentheses and in blue).

Money, Islamophobia and “War!”

Islamophobia is only a new name for a very old and established commodity for control and power…as old as Time itself…FEAR; it is the oldest method for control and also the most lucrative pursuit in history.

We keep children quiet with fear of the Bogeyman; we keep people under control in religion, because of fear of God’s Wrath and Hell; we rise to political power by invoking fear of economic catastrophe, fear of the “other” and fear of being destroyed…while at the same time presenting ourselves as the best savior, so “Remember to vote for me!”.

Fear brings people to power and Fear keeps people in power; Fear is also the shortest way to fame and fortune….FEAR is what galvanizes the opportunists and Fear is what keeps the best amongst us, silent.

The Soldier in Kandahar

The soldier’s gaze wandered across the stony Kandahar desert , looking for signs of life, any signs of life. He did not like this land where it was so hot and so dry and an enemy behind every rock; he missed his own land where his family had a good life, but he knew he was here because he wanted to protect them THERE.

The “Murderer”, Omar Khadr

CNN reports that “Detainee” (note how we fall for the language framed for us?) is to serve eight more years in prison after pleading guilty as charged. At the trial, the widow of Khadr’s “victim”, Sgt. First Class Christopher Speer, a member of a U.S. Army Special Forces, said “You will always be a murderer“.

 

Now that justice and the American way of life, have been served, America can sit back and feel good about itself as the paragon of virtues and righteousness it has always been claiming to be.

That includes you and me.

Molly Norris and Mohammed “Cartoons”

“Freedom of Speech!”

 

That slogan is supposed to strike terror in the hearts of every Muzlem who (naturally) hates freedom of anything, has no sense of humor and is just waiting to kill every member of the “Judeo-Christian Civilization”, when the word comes down from the Great Mullah Command Center.

 

I feel sorry for Molly Norris.

She got so carried away with her passion for the so-called “Freedom of Speech” that a lot of delusional people in the West wish to believe (but not practice), that she declared a holiday called ”Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” and published the following cartoon

My reactions to prayers this Eid

Eid on the 10th, at least, for some of us; others will have observed their on the 11th. This is because there is a fiercely-held tradition that says the second day of the new moon at the end of the month of Ramadan, is Eid.

 

This would be fine, except that “moon-sighting” means different things to different groups. Some groups insist on actual moon-sighting by a reliable person or persons, within their region, while others insist on a moon-sighting that has been declared in another country (the Old country, or Arabia, depending on the group). The science for predicting the first day of the new moon, is about a thousand years old, yet so many Muslim scholars insist on this “tradition” because, they say, this is how it was done during the days of the prophet Mohammed. Well, yes, but so were so many other things, but I do not see us following tradition there.

 

“Tradition” holds that Dawn prayers (start of the day’s fast) begins when one can just start to tell the difference between a white thread and a black one, indicating first light. Similarly, the end of the day (end of the day’s fast) is when one can no longer tell the two threads apart. In between, the day’s prayer times depend on the cast of the sun’s shadow on objects…does ANYONE hold on to these “traditions”? No, watches have been invented and prayer times are in accordance with clock-times.

How many people still carry on the “tradition” of animal transportation instead of cars?

Cooking with wood fires?

Living without electricity?