Politics:
Mapping the Fallen (Someone has done a mash-up of all the American and coalition soldiers who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan and marked both their hometowns and the place in which they died on Google Earth.)
Terror Plotter's Sick Brother: 'He Did It For Me' ("What's worse: A healthcare system where someone is so desperate, he'd blow up buildings to pay for his brother's treatment [the brother apparently has a bad liver], or an FBI that thinks nothing of setting people up so they can claim they caught some 'terrorists'?")
Andrew Breitbart says Oprah is secretly running the Obama White House (This guy is a real loon!)
The North Korean Nuclear Test
Israel's Plans For Launching A War On Iran
Obama Announces SCOTUS Pick: Sonia Sotomayor. Now Let The Games Begin! (See also Judge Sotomayor, Right-Wing Interest Groups Driven By Financial Motives In Attacking Obama’s Court Pick, and Obama To Name Sonia Sotomayor As His Supreme Court Nominee.)
Economics:
As Unemployment Claims Run Out, Many Workers Are Opting for Early Retirement
Business:
Cut your ad budget at your own risk (The advice here is frequently taught in business school and is really a no-brainer, but you'd be surprised how often managers do just the opposite. The results of the study are interesting: "Almost half of Americans believe that lack of advertising by a retail store, bank or auto dealership during a recession means the business must be struggling.")
Islam/Muslim Blogs:
Upcoming Productions (Bin Gregory announces his future seventh, insha'allah, and writes a wonderful bit of snark about the "Muslim Plot to Take Over the World™.")
Lesson of the Death of 1st Lt. Roslyn Schulte
A school 'condemned to death' ("Why are the authorities refusing to fund France's oldest Muslim school, now facing bankruptcy?")
Miscellaneous:
Hubble Floats Free
Oslo Grand Prix: Horserse (I missed this one a couple days ago, but it's too good not to link to. Ever see a six-legged horse before? ;) )
5 comments:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8065597.stm
think you missed this link ...
BamBam: Thanks for the link. The issue over Malaysian Christians using the word "Allah" has actually been going on for some time now; although I wasn't aware of this court case I knew that the Malaysian government wasn't too happy with the Catholic church over their using "Allah" in the local newspaper. My guess is that the court will rule in favor of the Muslims, and that the Catholics will quietly ignore the ruling.
Did you catch my recent post, In PAS They Trust?
Could you explain why people who are neither Arabs, Maltese* nor Muslims (such as Malaysian Christians) would want to call God "Allah"?
*I had to add them because the Maltese language is Italianized Arabic, just as English is Frenchified West-Germanic. God is "Alla" in Maltese (and Lent is "Randan" - sound familiar?)...
Heh, try asking your neighbors first. ;) What word do you use, George?
But in answer to your question regarding the Malaysian Christians, the fear among the Malaysian Muslims is that the Christians are using "Allah" as a subtle form of proselytizing. They're concerned that Muslim Malays in the lower socio-economic strata, seeing the word "Allah" used in print, such as in the Catholic church's newspaper, may become confused by the language and become susceptible to conversion to Christianity. I think this concern is legitimate. Malaysia, for all its recent economic strides, is still a long way away from having the entire country approach middle class prosperity (as is the case with Singapore). (I can't tell you how many simple homes in Malaysia I've seen from the KTM train that have tin roofs.) And like Singapore, Malaysia also has sedition laws that limit the more crass methods of proselytizing. (A Chinese couple was convicted two days ago or so here for sedition with regard to their proselytizing.) So I believe the Catholic church is trying to proselytize in a way that avoids a charge of sedition; still, their methods rankle us Muslims. Personally, I'd prefer that they return to using "God."
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