Misplaced Priorities?
I think so. I mean really, we pour billions annually into the space program, while at the same time whining about all these freeloaders on welfare, and then there are the millions of medically-uninsured who fall by the way-side. Really, the bigger freeloaders are the
scientists at NASA, who take the taxpayer's money and launch shuttles for a $1 billion a pop with little to no regard for how that money could be better spent. Get real, and find real solutions to the problems we have on Earth, before attempting to expand our human selfishness across the galaxy. Get some sense of ethics and responsibility, and do something useful with our taxpayer dollars, for heaven's sake (pun not intended).
Are Protests Merely a Useless Focus Group?
Human Rights Watch is urging the UAE government to
address the rights of laborers who are helping turn the desert into a modern-day oasis. Apparently, the UAE is
taking heed. After all, there just might be some important free trade agreements with the US, the EU, and Australia hanging in the balance now. In a
previous article, the UAE firm embroiled in this scandalous sea of malaise and irresponsibility claimed that there were measures in place for workers to lodge complaints with the appropriate authorities, and as such, these people had no right to protest and riot. Well, rioting and causing damage usually wins little sympathy, but apparently it worked this time, because Human Rights Watch sat up and took notice.
So what exactly do these workers want? An Interior Ministry official who investigates labor issues, Lt. Col. Rashid Bakhit Al Jumairi, said the workers were petitioning Al Naboodah, one of the Emirates' biggest construction conglomerates, for overtime pay, better medical care and humane treatment by foremen. "They are asking for small things," Al Jumairi said. "I promised them I would sit with them until everything is settled." OK, very interesting...this list of needs are very small things indeed--so what has taken these wealthy corporations so long to wake up to the realization that these "small thing" should be delivered? Before you build tall buildings reaching the heavens, see what conditions you are providing for your lowly slaves on the ground!
And my God, I should not be amazed, but call it naivete:
here is the Indian government leaving their own citizens out to dry! They actually have the nerve to say the workers were rioting not because of low/unpaid wages and poor working conditions; rather it "was a fallout of workers becoming restive after “standing in the long queue for punching time-cards”." Thank goodness for Human Rights Watch! Rant over...I promise...for now...
The World is No Match for Your Love
This world is no match for your Love.Being away from youis death aiming to take my soul away.My heart, so precious,I won't trade for a hundred thousand souls.Your one smile takes it for free.RumiFrom: 'Hush Don't Say Anything to God: Passionate Poems of Rumi'
She Is Free!
Ah, its so nice to have good news to read, isn't it? Jill Carroll, the Christian Science Monitor's reporter, was
set free today.
What the ...
...heck. Ok, so this should not really come as a surprise, but the Associated Press has just released a
survey finding that swearing is on the rise. This is surely the result of people reading less, and thus being deprived of a suitable fountain of vocabulary to pull from to express the basic forms of human feeling: anger, amazement, angst, joy, grief. And then there are those who swear for no reason at all. What is up with that?
Undocumented and Unwanted...
Could it be that only thing the world wants from its second-class human beings is hard labor? Funny, but when the Latin workers are picking strawberries, working on construction sites, and doing other tasks at wages not worthy of a legal citizen, nobody really makes a concerted complaint about their presence. But every once in a while, we hear about how "they are draining the system." If they were not part of the system, us legal citizens would be paying through our noses for a simple strawberry, or gallon of milk. And what is all this about them not giving anything back, not paying taxes? Are they exempt from sales taxes? I don't think so. How do we expect them to pay taxes on the paltry wages they earn? What makes us think there is enough left over from their wages to pay taxes. I know, I know, how dare they send money back home to their families who need it so badly. The nerve!
Coming across the border...
Hey, wait a minute...
So the situation with the
migrant workers in the Middle East continues to make news. I neglected to think of the other side of the coin--what kind of situation in the home countries of these workers are they fleeing? India and Pakistan themselves have rather horrendous working conditions. If these countries would take the initiative to join the rest of the modern world in upgrading the status of their own laborers, these people would not be compelled to go abroad in the hope that the "grass will be greener." (I am aware the Middle East is not plentiful in grass, but you get my point?) While many of these laborers certainly must be aware of the terrible working conditions abroad, it is natural for the human psyche to believe
nothing can be worse than my current situation, and
that misfortune will not befall me. Human beings are hopeful creatures.
Since India and Pakistan can see their way around to joining the modern world in the nuclear race, then they are certainly capable of doing something to protect their working populations in a more constructive way.
Those Fine Arab...Heroes? Terrorists?
So Brian Whitaker had an
article about those fine desert Arabs and I am reading this thinking, who is more obsessed here: Arabs/Muslims with the West, or the West with the Arabs? I can't sort out this Orientalist quandry. Self-loving white folk! I love you guys, and I know you love the East, but really, stop with the exotification of the East. We are as normal and ordinary (in our own extraordinary way) as you. Those who live in the desert, I doubt their lives are as appealing as the novels make them out to be. And make up your minds already: are they terrorists or are they the heroes of your dreams? And if they are really savages, living like so, how on earth can this lifestyle be appealing to the civilized white woman? I am confused by the confusion of these authors of romance novels. Any insight would be appreciated.
Illegal Immigrants...
...who come here and work for meager dollars; now they
protest.
I am a Grateful Slave
beautiful poem for the common man
The Crusades...
...were actually
a form of liberation. Smells of historical revisionism.
South Asians in the Middle East...
...are finally
making the world aware of the classism and racism they are subjected to in the Arab world. Its hard for me to understand how a nation of people who were the first recipients of the glory of Islam could degenerate into such racism. Islam was supposed to have taught us to honor the rights of all segments of society. How, when and why did
racism/classism raise its ugly head among Muslims? And really, this is not intended to sound cruel, but if you are busy ill-treating those who are
building your countries for you, for literally meager dollars a day, how on earth are you going to get the world to respect you? Rant over...for now.
Reading Wish List (#1)
I have had these authors on my to-read list for the longest time:
Diana Abu Jaber
Laila Halaby
Laila Lalami (her blog can be found
here)
So I plan on getting around to these books in the summer, hopefully...we will see!
If, a poem by Jalaludeen Rumi
If you can disentangle yourself from your selfish self all heavenly spirits will stand ready to serve you If you can finally hunt down your own beastly self you have the right to claim Solomon's Kingdom You are that blessed soul who belongs to the garden of paradise is it fair to let yourself fall apart in a shattered house You are the bird of happiness in the magic of existence what a pity when you let yourself be chained and caged But if you can break free from this dark prison named body soon you will see you are the sage and the fountain of lifetranslated by Nader Khalili
Hello World...
Welcome to a space where the random thoughts, happy, unhappy, confused, and well-directed, of an ordinary mind can be dispersed to the digital world. I suspect this blog will surprise me more than anybody else! Well, I hope so anyway...
So who am I? Muslim American female, student of life and computer science, who loves to sew, read, learn new and applicable things about cultures/people and world issues. Yes, Muslims/Islam are in the midst of the current world issues. If I may offer my gentle opinion, it is not Islam that needs reforming, but Muslims themselves. Yes, myself included inshallah. :) As the Qur'an says,
Surely Allah does not change the condition of a people until they change their own condition. Surah Ar-Ra'd, Ayah 11 I also tend to be finnicky about grammar, so don't be too alarmed to find commas floating all over the place.
Voila, another blog is born! Smile!!!
