Imagine the Quaker
an erstwhile mirror site for weblog on newquaker.com
archives | newquaker.comThursday, October 07, 2004
How can bad be good? As we watch Bush and Kerry go at each other over the reasons for the Iraq invasion, it just gets stranger and stranger. This all has to be the stuff of satire, but not when real life is much more uproarious, or perhaps more heartbreaking, than anything I could ever make up. Charles Duelfer's testimony before the US Senate Armed Services Committee yesterday is a case in point.[1] Surely you would think that the CIA expert's comprehensive report would finally have laid to rest any question that the Bush administration has been faking it all along and just won't admit it, at least if you don't live in Bizzaro World, but today I read these words coming from the lips of President Bush:
"Based on all the information we have to date, I believe we were right to take action, and America is safer today with Saddam Hussein in prison. He retained the knowledge, the materials, the means and the intent to produce weapons of mass destruction, and he could have passed that knowledge on to our terrorist enemies."[2]
I mean, pick any murderous thug: isn't it true that the world is a safer place with that murderous thug taken out of society at large? Then is Saddam Hussein even important to mention, if any murderous thug could fit this criterion? And then there's the intention part. Okay, so let's say Saddam Hussein had the means and the intent to build an enormous space ship with nuclear weapons protruding from the hull and a giant ... At this point, I just can't go on, because it really doesn't sound any funnier, or any more fantastic, than what our President has spoken already.
1. Reuters, Thursday, October 7, 2004.
2. White House Press Report, Thursday, October 7, 2004.posted by Merle Harton, Jr. 5:30 PM
Monday, October 04, 2004
Interfaith again. Just today I received a letter from Cathie Eustis, president of the Atlas Interfaith Foundation in New Orleans, responding to my April 4 blog. There I discussed my Muslim daughter A.'s interest in attending an "interfaith" organization. I certainly didn't intend to speak disparagingly about the organization, but apparently I left the Atlas Interfaith Foundation with that impression. Hence this pleasant letter:
Your article in NewQuaker.com, in April, 2004, has just recently come to our attention and we would like to take this opportunity to respond to it, and to clarify some misconceptions you may have had, or might still have about Atlas Interfaith Foundation.
Our mission statement is precisely as you wrote: "Atlas Interfaith Foundation is a non-profit, multi-cultural, faith based organization w hose purposes are spiritual and educational. We are dedicated to finding and celebrating the common ties that bind us together as brothers and sisters, and to fostering understanding, tolerance, love, and respect of our fellow human beings by sharing cultures and the spiritual traditions of the world's sacred religions."
I would like to elaborate further:
We are non-profit. We are multi-cultural in that our organization is composed mainly of members from Turkey and New Orleans, but not exclusively. We were founded in April, 2002, by a group of Turkish students who are Muslims, whose spiritual strength comes from the revelations in the Qur'an, the teachings and example (hadith) of the Beloved Prophet of Islam, Muhammad (PBUH), as well as all the Prophets who preceded him.
Our dedication in finding the common ties refers mainly to those of the 3 Abrahamic religions—Christianity, Islam, and Judaism, not in an effort to combine the best of the three, or to defeat one another, but in order to promote tolerance and understanding that comes from dialogue and listening. It is our belief that ignorance creates fear, fear creates mistrust, and mistrust creates the walls that separate. The Qur'an says, "Surely, your community is one community and I am your Lord. So worship me." (21:92) Even though the paths to God in these religions may be different, those who believe in one God are all believers. This precisely is the common ground that we all share.
It is the goal of AIF to foster understanding, tolerance, love and respect of our fellow human beings through the programs we offer, both at our foundation and in the community, by sharing our religious beliefs and our Turkish culture. Atlas offers monthly Sufi Night and Cooking Class, as well as Turkish lessons at our center. We have presented numerous programs in the community from "The Whirling Dervishes of Rumi" at UNO in 2003, and at the Theater for the Performing Arts in 2004, to symposiums on Tolerance Day at UNO, Peaceful Heroes at Loyola University, Sufi Music concert at Trinity Episcopal Church, International Night at UNO, Rumi Night (poetry and Sufi music) at the Neutral Ground Café, and numerous Ramadan dinners at the universities and churches in New Orleans.
Ramadan, the month-long fast of Islam, is beginning in mid-October, and we are presenting several Iftars (dinners which break the daily fasting) in the community and at our foundation. We would like to extend an invitation to both you and your daughter to visit us at our center at your convenience. You may contact us at atlasinterfaith@bellsouth.net or by calling 504-931-5729. We hope you will check out our web page that has just recently been re-designed.
It is www.atlasinterfaithfoundation.org.
We look forward to hearing from you, and hope to have the chance to meet you soon.
posted by Merle Harton, Jr. 10:24 PM
Sunday, October 03, 2004
Money for nothing .... With all due respect to Dire Straights, I have to say that it's refreshing to see at least one of the wealthiest Americans putting both his money and his time into an attempt to fix our political situation. I'm talking about George Soros—to be distinguished surely from other wealthy Americans who just don't seem to be all that interested in the American political process.
Ross Perot (anyone remember him?) got involved in 1992 and again in 1996, but has all but vanished from the political scene, except when the Texas billionaire popped up briefly in 2000 to endorse the George W. Bush presidency, leaving the Reform Party he created to relegate him to a short piece of its history. Other wealthy Americans seem more intent on entertainment. Billionaire businessman Mark Cuban and star of ABC's The Benefactor should spend his money more wisely, and while I admit I'm hooked on Donald Trump's The Apprentice, I'd much rather see him thrust his cobra ("You're fired") at some folks in Washington, DC. The "Virgin" branded Sir Richard Branson is a citizen of the UK, so he doesn't figure into this.
George Soros, the billionaire investor and philanthropist, is now on tour talking about how the Iraq "quagmire" is making America less safe and why the Bush presidency must end. And on Thursday, September 30, he just started a blog. You can get to it from his website at www.georgesoros.com. I have no doubt that Mr. Soros is registered to vote on November 2.
posted by Merle Harton, Jr. 1:07 PM
© Merle Harton, Jr. All rights reserved. Biblical references are NIV® unless otherwise noted.
