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National Public Radio is reporting that Maj. Nidal Hasan may have been suspected of being psychotic at least two years ago, but that cumbersome dismissal processes (in place at virtually every hospital across the country, not just the military) made it difficult to dismiss him.
“Put it this way,” says one official familiar with the conversations that took place. “Everybody felt that if you were deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, you would not want Nidal Hasan in your foxhole.”
Noor Almaleki, aged 20, died today of her injuries, which she received when she was run down in a Peoria (suburb of Phoenix) parking lot on Oct. 20. Her father, Faleh Hassan Almaleki, is alleged to have done this. Faleh Almaleki escaped through Mexico and attempted to enter the UK, but was caught and deported back to Atlanta, and has since been extradited to Arizona.
The local press is calling it an honor killing. Charges (currently two counts of attempted manslaughter) are expected to be upgraded to murder.
Perhaps we could talk about how the Muslim community should respond to events like this.
Tales of the Bizarre: NY Muslim woman slashes husband after she claims he made her do unIslamic things.
NEW YORK – A devout Muslim woman says she slashed her husband’s neck with a kitchen knife as he slept because he forced her to eat pork, wear short skirts and drink alcohol in violation of her religious beliefs.
She’s out on $25,000 bail. This may sound weird already, but it gets odder:
Sarwar’s statement to police paints a picture of a frustrated, confused woman angry that her husband of five months was not what he appeared to be during their brief courtship. Naseem went to her family to ask for a bride and she agreed to marry him, she said in her statement.
But after they were wed, she discovered he had previously dated mostly “white” women, had been married before and liked to go out to drink, she wrote. He said he was Pakistani and a devout Muslim, but in New York he claimed he was half-Pakistani and half-Norwegian, as well as a Unitarian Christian, she said.
He often yelled and cursed her family, she said, and one of his favorite writers was Salman Rushdie, author of “The Satanic Verses,” which caused violent protests by Muslims in several countries because the book was perceived as an irreverent depiction of the prophet Muhammad.
“He hates Pakistan and he hates Pakistanis then why did he marry a Pakistani girl?” she wrote.
There’s more at the link.
Peoria Police Department Spokesperson Jay Davies confirmed that 48-year-old Faleh Hassan Almaleki was taken into custody in Atlanta, GA. [...]
Noor Faleh Almaleki, 20, and Amal Edan Khalaf, 43, were rushed to the hospital after being struck by the car in the parking lot of a Department of Economic Security building on October 20, according to Peoria Police spokesperson Mike Tellef.
(Not sure why they’d be in the parking lot of a state welfare office…)
According to the Arizona Republic, the daughter, Noor Almaleki’s, condition is still described as “life-threatening.”
Today’s yet another day where I want to thrash AP journalists about the ears for malpractice of journalism:
Feds: Leader of radical Islam group killed in raid
But, as it turns out, the feds weren’t raiding over terrorism, but on a much more standard criminal-type complaint:
Agents at a warehouse in Dearborn were trying to arrest Luqman Ameen Abdullah, 53, on charges that included conspiracy to sell stolen goods and illegal possession and sale of firearms. Ten followers listed in a criminal complaint were also being rounded up in the area.
You have to get down to paragraph four before you read this:
No one was charged with terrorism. But Abdullah was “advocating and encouraging his followers to commit violent acts against the United States,” FBI agent Gary Leone said in an affidavit.
Look, if the guy was involved in criminal activities such as trying to sell stolen goods and illegal possession and sale of guns, just state that. There’s no need to add a frisson of “oh noes! he might be an eeeeevil terrrrrrrst” on top of that, especially if no charges are being filed.
Update on the Noor Almaleki case, where her father Faleh Hassan Almeleki is accused of running her down:
The brother of Noor Almaleki, whom police say was run over by her father last week, has told a local television news station that the father and daughter have been in conflict the past couple of years.
Peter-Ali Almaleki told CBS 5 News that his sister went “out of her way to disrespect” her traditional Muslim father.
Noor Almaleki had married a man in Iraq but returned to the United States and moved in with a boyfriend and his mother in Surprise. The father was furious about the arrangement, according to the brother.
In addition to allegedly running down his daughter, Faleh Almaleki is alleged to have run down the mother of the boyfriend in the same incident. Noor Almaleki is still basically in a “life-threatening condition”; the boyfriend’s mother is “improving.”
I’m having to bite my tongue to keep from spilling out with some pointed commentary about men who think that their family honor is wrapped up in their daughters’ sexual behavior, to the point of attempting murder.
And this, this doesn’t make any sense to me:
Peter-Ali Almaleki said he loves his sister and that should she not have to be suffering her injuries. But he added that the family lives by different cultural values.
“One thing to one culture doesn’t make sense to another culture,” he added.
No, Peter, murder is murder, no matter what culture it’s in. You want to talk, I’m in the Phoenix phone book. I’m not that hard to find.
Ross Douthat, boy wonder opinion columnist for the NYTimes, opines today that Christianity’s global encounter with a resurgent Islam could be the reason for Pope Benedict XVI’s outreach to Anglicans.
Uh, no, probably not. I suspect it’s more like your basic, garden-variety church poaching, which has been an intramural sports league within Christendom for nearly 500 years now. (Prior to that, it was just the Catholics and the Orthodox, no sports league possible.)
I was digging through an upstairs closet (aka Graveyard of Dead Computers) this afternoon and I came upon a framed giclee picture that I paid a couple hundred dollars for probably a decade ago. I was so proud of myself, I beat everyone out on eBay to pick this thing up, but now I just don’t know what to do with it. Well, except that I’m absolutely sure I’ll Never Ever Publicly Display This Thing Ever Again. I’m actually rather mortified and repelled by the religious symbolism it portrays. There’s another aspect of this picture that didn’t even occur to me when I bought it, but which became clear to me back when I read an article about Ted Haggard’s fall from grace and how much his church looooved these pictures by this artist.
This is the sales verbiage from the website:
The perfect gift that will remind all who see it of the incredible gift of forgiveness that God gave us through His Son, Jesus Christ. The perfect gift for your church, social organizations, hospital rooms, foyers and entry ways, or that large area in your home in need of essential inspirational Wall Decor!
Here’s a link to the image itself. Oh yeah, and they’re selling a LIFE SIZED version now. I’m afraid to think that there might have been a time when I might have bought it.
Should I try to sell it on eBay or Craigslist? Or just walk it straight out to the trash can, do not pass Go, do not collect $200?
My blood sugar is higher than I’d like, so I purchased Ali Eteraz’s Children of Dust for my Kindle. Off to exercise, Kindle in hand.
You know, I had to check my calendar to make sure it really wasn’t June 11, 1967.**
Interracial Couple Denied Marriage License in Louisiana
NEW ORLEANS — A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.
Keith Bardwell, justice of the peace in Tangipahoa Parish, says it is his experience that most interracial marriages do not last long.
Click the link for more insanity. We have a lot to worry about if a Justice of the Peace in a county in a state that has a significant African American population can say and do this 42 years after it became settled law that the state could NOT do this.
** June 11, 1967 is the day before all anti-miscegenation laws still in effect in the USA were struck down by the Supreme Court in Loving v. Virginia (388 U.S. 1, decided June 12, 1967).
(I thought for sure someone would have posted this already…)
Florida judge rules that Rifqa Bary has to be sent back to Ohio:
An Orange County Circuit judge said today he will send Ohio runaway Fathima Rifqa Bary back to her home state, but only after her parents provide immigration paperwork and other officials ensure she can continue her schooling through a Florida online school.
At a hearing packed with lawyers, media, bloggers and spectators, Orange Circuit Court Judge Daniel Dawson once again ordered that Rifqa’s parents — from whom the teenager ran in July — submit all the paperwork necessary to settle any immigration issues.
At a hearing packed with lawyers, media, bloggers and spectators, Orange Circuit Court Judge Daniel Dawson once again ordered that Rifqa’s parents — from whom the teenager ran in July — submit all the paperwork necessary to settle any immigration issues.
[...]
More than half a dozen people in an Ohio court participated by phone in today’s proceedings in Orange County, including lawyers for Rifqa’s parents, the teen’s lawyer there, a state prosecutor and a judge.
Ohio Judge Elizabeth Gill said told the court that her state should have jurisdiction and wants jurisdiction on the case.
There’s an issue with immigration status and an issue with who is going to pay for her Florida online schooling (my opinion: nobody should, I’m sure Ohio has perfectly good schools).
I stand by my assertion that, at least for now, the Barys have lost their daughter. It remains to be seen whether or not she will ever engage in a normal relationship with her family at any time in the future. After all, she’s a walking, living, breathing Martyr For Jesus [TM].
Here in Arizona, we have a concentrated center of New Age woo [as well as overpriced art galleries] located about 120 miles north of Phoenix in Sedona. Most of the time, the crystal-wearing, incense-waving practitioners do their thing among the red rocks (really spectacular if you’ve never seen them and even if you have) and we don’t hear much about it. However, news started coming out late Thursday night about an incident involving a “sweat lodge” at one of these New Age events, and, so far, two people have died and 19 more were taken to various hospitals in the region.
SEDONA — Two people have died and a total of 19 were treated at one of three medical centers Thursday night when participants collapsed after a New Age-type sweat lodge experience near Sedona.
As many as 68 people are reported to have packed into a tarpaulin-covered dome at the remote retreat in Deer Pass Valley about 6.5 miles south of West Sedona along Oak Creek.
The domed structure is about 30 feet long and about shoulder high, estimated Merry Shanks of the Verde Valley Fire District, the agency that commanded the rescue.
There’s more where that came from…
So much for running up to Sedona to look at the rocks this weekend. *sigh*
P.S. Forgot to mention that the FEE just to attend this event was $8,995, which didn’t include an additional $1,600 payable to Angel Valley for food and lodging. And just reading the list of junk you were supposed to bring with you (consisting of CD players and various brain wave training CDs) you could be out quite a chunk of change for this spiritual journey.
Is there a particular reason why the usual suspects aren’t trumpeting this incident as terrorism? Maybe the arrested men are of the wrong ethnicity?
Two men were arrested when police found a pipe bomb, two shotguns, bomb-making materials, ammunition, a can of propane and SWAT costumes in their car Tuesday night in New Haven, Conn.
So far the police don’t have a clear sense of what the pair were planning to do, New Haven Police spokesman Officer Joe Avery told TPM.
“They’re not talking much,” Avery said.
Eating halal meat may be more time-consuming and expensive, but given the state of the hamburger the average American usually buys today in the USA, it’s probably smarter.
The article starts off with the story of Stephanie Smith, a dance instructor who ate a grilled hamburger and was infected with a virulent strain of E.coli that put her in a coma for nine weeks. She’s still recovering. It goes on to say:
Ms. Smith’s reaction to the virulent strain of E. coli was extreme, but tracing the story of her burger, through interviews and government and corporate records obtained by The New York Times, shows why eating ground beef is still a gamble. Neither the system meant to make the meat safe, nor the meat itself, is what consumers have been led to believe.
Ground beef is usually not simply a chunk of meat run through a grinder. Instead, records and interviews show, a single portion of hamburger meat is often an amalgam of various grades of meat from different parts of cows and even from different slaughterhouses. These cuts of meat are particularly vulnerable to E. coli contamination, food experts and officials say. Despite this, there is no federal requirement for grinders to test their ingredients for the pathogen.
The frozen hamburgers that the Smiths ate, which were made by the food giant Cargill, were labeled “American Chef’s Selection Angus Beef Patties.” Yet confidential grinding logs and other Cargill records show that the hamburgers were made from a mix of slaughterhouse trimmings and a mash-like product derived from scraps that were ground together at a plant in Wisconsin. The ingredients came from slaughterhouses in Nebraska, Texas and Uruguay, and from a South Dakota company that processes fatty trimmings and treats them with ammonia to kill bacteria.
Using a combination of sources — a practice followed by most large producers of fresh and packaged hamburger — allowed Cargill to spend about 25 percent less than it would have for cuts of whole meat.
Definitely worth reading, but not after dinner.
Muslim Matters had an article a week ago called “The Polygamist Fantasy and the Distressing of the Sisters.”. Lots and lots of virtual ink has been spilt over this topic and it’s not my goal here to rehash it.
Rather, I would like to state bluntly why I think anyone entering into a polygamous marriage here in the United States is simply nuts: Your marriage is not legally recognized. Period.
This can, and does (tiresomely, over and over and over again) lead to all sorts of legal problems if, as happens more often than people will admit, the man decides to walk. This, in turn, leads to all sorts of legal hassles because, the second, third or fourth marriage is not legally recognized here in the USA, and proving that your kids are entitled to support (if you go that route, and you WILL go that route if you apply for any sort of relief or welfare from the state) can be a first class pain in the neck. By contrast, the children of a marriage are privileged: they are prima facie assumed to be the husband’s, absent some pretty compelling evidence. That’s just one of the hassles involved, although, for most families, that’s probably the largest and most time-consuming.
Polygamy may be sunnah, but I’m also reminded that all the wives have to be treated fairly. Most men can’t do it. And, as far as I’m concerned, all this discussing and joking around masks a fairly serious insecurity on the part of Muslim women: If I marry in polygamy, will I and my children be supported?
Personally, I think anyone who has a pie-in-the-sky idea about marriage and family ought to be made to sit through a semester course in down and dirty family law at an accredited law school. It gets ugly. It gets mean. You read cases about people fighting over dogs (ironically, to the exclusion of the kids, who are kind of an afterthought). You come out of there with a strong knowledge that marriage may be honorable, but when a marriage fails, the mess it leaves behind is all over the place.
Little Green Footballs registration is open right now for you weirdos like me that want an account.
Aziz said I should introduce myself. This may be tl;dr, and I’d understand that.
Let’s see…I’m in my late 40s. I live in Maricopa County, Arizona, also home to the notorious Sheriff Joe Arpaio. I work as a support technologist for a Fortune 500 company, which is a far cry from my education (BA Political Science, University of Texas at Austin; JD, University of Houston Law Center). I really like what I do, which is to investigate, document and supervise remediations of technical failures in one of the largest business computing environments in the US.
I’ve never married and have no children, but I am permitted to be valet to cats Xena Warrior Princess (aged 13) and Frida Katlo (aged 2). I live in the same city as my retired parents and my younger brother and I’ve been here since 2001. Prior to that, I lived in Salt Lake City, Austin, Houston and the San Francisco Bay Area. My politics are pretty liberal but I do have some occasional unliberal quirks. I would say that I’m probably a fanatic on free speech.
Religion…I was a Christian about 90% of my adult life. A lot of that time, I’d say I was hopelessly devoted to Jesus. However, an incident that occurred the Sunday after 9/11/01 set me on the path out of the faith. It took years to unpack a lot of emotional baggage about Jesus, sin, salvation, etc., etc. (I’m still unpacking.) In the last couple of years, I’ve embraced Islam, but tentatively, because, bluntly, I want to make sure it takes. I’ve seen too much fanaticism in my life.
Transcript of Rifqa Bary Phone Call
I must be a masochist as I transcribed the entirety of the Rifqa Bary phone call / prayer meeting today and posted it on my blog. Here’s a taste:
RB: Hello, thank you so much. What an honor and privilege. My testimony goes back….I grew up, my family is from Sri Lanka, so my parents were very devout in their faith and very intent on following the original Islam. Uhm, uh, I never really knew I could pray. Prayer in Islam is you physically pray. And I had heard somewhere that I could pray, like talk in English. And I cried out to God one night, uhm, I didn’t know who this God was, a lot of things happened at the moment but I asked God this one prayer, I said, “God, if You’re real, show me Who You are and I will follow, I will give my life to You. Stop hiding from me, reveal to me Who You are.” And a couple months later, He, uhm, opened a door for me to go to church without my parents knowing. This was the first time I, I would go to church and I went and I encountered the presence of the Lord and I was struck by His beauty and gave my heart to God. That was when I was 13.
Were there any surprises? I wasn’t surprised by the fact that she’s got the lingo of the particular Charismatic evangelical subset down. On the other hand, the use of the phrase “generational curses” got my attention. I know where it comes from, but it’s still surprising.
What I’d like to know from anyone who takes the time to read it: does what Miss Bary’s saying make sense to you? Or does it sound like inside baseball? I’m pretty convinced this conversation was not really intended for external consumption.
P.S. Thanks Aziz for inviting me to T.I.!