the people who control information, the elite of this world, are the movers and shakers of reality. they shape our collective consciousness and, from cradle to grave, each individual lives a life lighted only by sparse street lamps paid built and maintained by the elite. for each milestone, they create an effect of immediate approval by simply overshadowing the issue that is shifting the world irrevocably. the masses are forced to take a strong stance on the issue, therefore acknowledging its existence. whether by consent or dissent, the new control measure, policy, etc. is thrust into reality.
take for example the issue of full body scanners at airports. it is my understanding that they have been received into society (whether by force or influence) and are applied even to its dissidents. it's the law, after all. but at the moment that full body scanners were being installed, another related web of stories was being promoted: that of muslim women's rights to ask for a female attendant to give them the pat down.
those who accepted without question the need for and installation of full body scanners were the ones who fueled the anti islamic movement. fully accepting the new control measure, they projected their unformulated fears and anxieties onto muslims, forbidding them the right to contest authority. how can you fight for someone's rights if you don't know how to fight for your own?
those who were doubtful of the new measures - as well as those who fiercely disputed - defended muslim women's rights to request a pat down with a female attendant or at least were hesitant to take sides. Despite this, they were not and are not excused from submitting to that which they reject.
by creating such a wide divide in society, the elite was able to force upon the people an oppressive measure aimed at inching closer to an authoritarian police state. it is by filtering all information and by controlling the most powerful information devices (telephone, radio, television, the internet...) that they have caused the people to gouge out their own eyes.
who really knows the purpose of this craft ?
journey of journeys
close the door, close it, close every one
close your eyes, close your heart for the storm is come
one ounce, two, then four, then eight
and suddenly you can't escape
your bosom crushed
your secret hushed
and you
a shadow in a shadowscape
climb high, climb high, climb higher still
hold fast unto the stars until
one beat, two, then three then four
you wake, your body washed ashore
your breath returned
your face upturned
bright
a simple servant, nothing more
The Hijab... Again
Or
Let Us Put Things Into Perspective.
Whenever you wear a T-shirt or any of its derivatives, you're essentially wearing a glove. A glove for your body.
The difference between you and I is that I wear a mitten.
Are we really going to waste our time on this good earth arguing over gloves vs. mittens?
Let Us Put Things Into Perspective.
Whenever you wear a T-shirt or any of its derivatives, you're essentially wearing a glove. A glove for your body.
The difference between you and I is that I wear a mitten.
Are we really going to waste our time on this good earth arguing over gloves vs. mittens?
"Terrorists" and "Bombs"
or
I Swear, We Were Talking About The Gays
I Swear, We Were Talking About The Gays
- Not that I didn't like my old neighborhood in Montreal.
- Where did you live?
- In the village. Don't get me wrong, I like the gays. It's the bums and prostitutes that annoyed me. Oh, and the Gay Pride parade.
- I thought you said you liked the gays.
- I do! But the Gay Pride parade attracts tourists, and where there are tourists, there are bums.
...
- Oh brother... tourists and bums... You do realize that if CSIS didn't flag me yet, this conversation probably got me on the grid?
Why the Mosque Scares the Right
by M.J. Akbar
Can there be any rational reason for such subliminal fear of a house without a door? A mosque has no door; it is always open to anyone. Submission is the guiding force of its spirit and simplicity is its objective. There is equality in the lines of prayer. Servant stands beside master to bow, and at the same moment, before the Lord. Divisions and pretensions dissipate. The whole world, as the great Indian theologian and mass leader Maulana Abul Kalam Azad used to say, is God’s mosque. Nations may claim to act in the name of God, but God does not need nations. A mosque is neither factory nor fortress: Why should it arouse either envy or fear?
The opposition of some sections of the American right, led by politicians like Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin, to a mosque at the site of the 9/11 tragedy is bewildering, at the very least.
A war memorial is not built to perpetuate war. Its relevance lies in the promise of peace. It honors heroes who have given their lives, but this sacrifice, in the words of a famous testament, is ennobled by the promise that they gave their today so the living might have a better tomorrow. A war memorial is a symbol of conflict resolution, not conflict enhancement. A mosque near the World Trade Center will epitomize the partnership necessary for a common struggle against the horror of terrorism and its evil masterminds, wherever they might live.
A mosque at ground zero will interfere with their politics, in which the Muslim must be etched as an irredeemable zealot with manic eyes and foaming mouth.
Is ignorance a reason for the right-wing campaign against the mosque? I was at the East-West Center in Hawaii a few years ago for a faith-media seminar. On Friday, our very considerate hosts offered Muslim participants a chance to join a local congregation for noon prayers in a small room where the minute local community gathered regularly for namaaz and fraternity. Some non-Muslim colleagues came along because they had never seen a Friday prayer. We were all convivial, but I daresay at least one or two of them were relieved that the imam had not declared war on the West and we had not unsheathed scimitars as part of ritual.
Ignorance is too generous an alibi for Gingrich and Palin. They have been candidates for the most powerful job in the world. It is foolish to dismiss them as fools.
A mosque at ground zero will interfere with their politics, in which the Muslim must be etched as an irredeemable zealot with manic eyes and foaming mouth; the mosque must be distorted into a fountainhead of hatred, and every Muslim be blamed for the sins of the few bigots and terrorists who perpetrated 9/11. A range of political forces has a vested interest in the myth of the mad Muslim as the last evil standing between civilization and chaos.
The irony is that Palin and Gingrich do not represent the idealism and philosophy of America, a nation that is liberal, open, democratic, and secular. Gingrich is a false American; Palin is a falsetto American.
The true American patriot is Michael Rubens Bloomberg, the mayor of New York, who has supported the idea of a mosque. I use his full name deliberately: He is of the Jewish faith, from a family of Russian émigrés. Bloomberg reflects the idealism of America as well as the anguish and wisdom of his own heritage, of a people who have suffered the trauma of bigotry and threat of extinction for two millennia. He knows prejudice when he sees it, he understands the poison it injects into the human psyche, and he is willing to set aside the prospect of political advantage from hysteria in order to stand on the side of justice. Those who gave Barack Obama a Nobel Peace Prize without much reason might want to consider Bloomberg for much better reasons. He has, in the process, also exposed organizations like the Anti-Defamation League, who seem to have sold their principles for politics. Fareed Zakaria deserves our respect for returning the honorarium and First Amendment award given by the League.
Bigotry is not the exclusive property of any denomination; Muslims offer their share in the long list of self-appointed leaders who spawn the culture that leads to terrorism from pulpits which desecrate the meaning of a mosque. But it is utterly self-defeating to blame Islam, or the vast majority of peaceful Muslims, for the sins of a few. Terms like “Islamo-fascism,” George W. Bush’s intellectual contribution to this debate, are meaningless gibberish. Islam is 1,400 years old; fascism entered the dialectic only with Benito Mussolini. So whatever else Islam might be, it cannot be fascist. True, there are some Muslims who are fascist, but why blame Islam for the tyranny of despots? No one blames the Roman Catholic Church for Mussolini.
Terrorists conspire. A conspiracy is hatched behind closed doors. A mosque has no door.
How FIFA WORLD CUP teams qualify from the groups of four into the top 16
Qualifying criteria
The ranking of each team in each group will be determined as follows:
a) greatest number of points obtained in all group matches;
b) goal difference in all group matches;
c) greatest number of goals scored in all group matches.
If two or more teams are equal on the basis of the above three criteria,
their rankings will be determined as follows:
d) greatest number of points obtained in the group matches between the
teams concerned;
e) goal difference resulting from the group matches between the teams
concerned;
f) greater number of goals scored in all group matches between the teams
concerned;
g) drawing of lots by the FIFA Organising Committee.
The teams finishing first and second in each group will qualify for the Round
of 16.
changing gears
i dreamt a dream. i dreamt a dream of hope. i dreamt what i hope is a true dream.
i dreamt i was cycling in a city. i was totally unaware of my surroundings. i focused on pedaling as hard as a could but the gears were so high it was hard to move. the harder a pedaled, the slower I seemed to go. It felt like going up a hill, only there was no hill.
sweat was dripping down my face. the bicycle was almost at a halt despite my best effort. suddenly, it dawned on me: CHANGE THE GEARS.
i clicked once. the chain rattled and yielded slightly. i clicked again. moving was becoming easier. i clicked again, and again, and again, going faster and faster on the bicycle...
that's when I woke up.
i dreamt i was cycling in a city. i was totally unaware of my surroundings. i focused on pedaling as hard as a could but the gears were so high it was hard to move. the harder a pedaled, the slower I seemed to go. It felt like going up a hill, only there was no hill.
sweat was dripping down my face. the bicycle was almost at a halt despite my best effort. suddenly, it dawned on me: CHANGE THE GEARS.
i clicked once. the chain rattled and yielded slightly. i clicked again. moving was becoming easier. i clicked again, and again, and again, going faster and faster on the bicycle...
that's when I woke up.
Ce que j'ai trouvé à mon retour
Reçu: 2010-02-03 16:16
Objet: J'ai remarqué
* * * * *
Bonjour,
J'ai remarqué ton absence depuis lundi (voire même peut-être depuis vendredi de la semaine dernière).
J'espère que rien de grave ne justifie cette absence… comme un épuisement professionnel, ou une dépression pure et simple.
Tu n'es peut-être qu'en formation, comme tu le souhaitais.
Peu importe la valeur de mes spéculations, je souhaite avoir tort de m'interroger sur le pourquoi, et je souhaite que tu réussisses à être "bien" et "heureuse", jusqu'au jour où tu deviendras simplement "bienheureuse"… comme toutes les bonnes personnes que je connais, et celles que je ne connais pas.
__________________________________________
Reçu: 2010-03-08
Objet: J'ai remarqué, et j'ai su
* * * * *
Alors, profite de l'occasion pour te refaire tout à fait émotionnellement.
Depuis la date initiale prévue de ton retour le 22 février, je suis monté souvent au 10e pour vérifier si tu étais de retour. Et c'est ainsi que je dois me rendre à l'évidence que ton congé a été prolongé. C'est pour cela que je te dis de prendre le temps de te refaire complètement. Je sais de quoi je parle, puisque moi aussi, je suis passé par un moment comme celui que tu vis présentement. Mais j'en suis ressorti plus fort, et plus compétent face à la gestion de mes émotions et de mes réactions vis-à-vis de mes superviseurs.
Parfois, c'est un mal pour un bien, crois-moi.
En attendant qu'on se parle en face à face, je te salue et te redis mon amitié.
__________________________________________
(à suivre)
Objet: J'ai remarqué
* * * * *
Bonjour,
J'ai remarqué ton absence depuis lundi (voire même peut-être depuis vendredi de la semaine dernière).
J'espère que rien de grave ne justifie cette absence… comme un épuisement professionnel, ou une dépression pure et simple.
Tu n'es peut-être qu'en formation, comme tu le souhaitais.
Peu importe la valeur de mes spéculations, je souhaite avoir tort de m'interroger sur le pourquoi, et je souhaite que tu réussisses à être "bien" et "heureuse", jusqu'au jour où tu deviendras simplement "bienheureuse"… comme toutes les bonnes personnes que je connais, et celles que je ne connais pas.
__________________________________________
Reçu: 2010-03-08
Objet: J'ai remarqué, et j'ai su
* * * * *
Alors, profite de l'occasion pour te refaire tout à fait émotionnellement.
Depuis la date initiale prévue de ton retour le 22 février, je suis monté souvent au 10e pour vérifier si tu étais de retour. Et c'est ainsi que je dois me rendre à l'évidence que ton congé a été prolongé. C'est pour cela que je te dis de prendre le temps de te refaire complètement. Je sais de quoi je parle, puisque moi aussi, je suis passé par un moment comme celui que tu vis présentement. Mais j'en suis ressorti plus fort, et plus compétent face à la gestion de mes émotions et de mes réactions vis-à-vis de mes superviseurs.
Parfois, c'est un mal pour un bien, crois-moi.
En attendant qu'on se parle en face à face, je te salue et te redis mon amitié.
__________________________________________
(à suivre)
Teapot Does Toronto
Wednesday- Expand your Mind.
1. Lunch at home (prepared by Idil)
2. ROM (free 4:30-5:30)
3. AGO (free 6-8:30pm) 317 Dundas W (St. Patrick Station)
4. Waffles
Thursday- Explore your world.
1. ON Science Centre (10-5pm $18 and $13.50 or $25 and $19)
Pack lunch. Under the Sea (11am and 3pm)
Directions: From downtown
2. A&C Games (
3. Explore Annex
4. Future Café- Dinner and Cake (meet Hodan)
Friday- Buy some shit (if you want)…
1. Eaton Centre and surroundings
2. Visit Kensington Market/China Town
3. Lunch: Simon Sushi- 409 Spadina Ave. 416-977-2828 (5.99 special before 5pm)
Saturday- Relax don’t do it.
1. Spa day
2. Home cooked dinner
3. Rent Movies/Games at home
Sunday- So long sucka!
1. Brunch at home
2. Walk to Yorkville (Window shop, Anthropologie)
3. Coffee and send off
Single Males (True Story)
I had such a good time airing out grievances tonight.
Amarie and I went to all-you-can-eat sushi. We definitely ate more than what we could eat (that was our feat of strength, thankyouverymuch).
Then I got to drive her cube home. It was so much fun! I am telling you, between ye olde english jokes and making more fun of le le le le chum production (DO NOT click on that link) and his GF, there wasn't any room for any sulking about.
I got home to a house smelling of boiling turnips in date juice. Husband was making his favorite dish (boiled turnips in date juice). But even a husband boiling stanky turnnips couldn't get me down - I was on such a high, I decided to play xmas songs on the piano.
So I started... with Jingle Bells. As I was playing and having a grand time, who comes into the living room with a glowing smiling face?
Husband.
And what is he singing?
Single males! single males! single all the way!
I swear this really happened. Happy Festivus!
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