Reward for Calif. arsonist now at $500K

The smoke of the fires in Cabazon has filled my neighborhood.
4 firefighters lost their lives and one is in grave condition. My heart goes to their respective families and loved ones. What a loss and pain.

Investigators have determined the fire to be an arson.
I pray that they catch this arsonist and punish him to the full extent of the law for his total disregard to people's safety.

Hate Email of the Week

Every day, I receive dozens of emails expressing support and friendship or hatred and threats. I thought it might be good to share some of them with you. I am not sure why though. May be it will give you an idea of the kind of people I have to deal with, the good, the bad, and the ugly. :)

Here is a hate email:

From: reneekatz
[mailto:reneekatz@sbcglobal.net]
Sent:
Wednesday, October 25, 2006 10:22 AM
To: Jakob Kobi
Subject: FW: Boycott
the New Muslim USPS stamp


They are blowing up Christians everywhere and we are going to honor their {MUSLIM} holiday with a postal stamp.

and our GOVERNMENT expects us to buy and use them on our cards that celebrate the birth of JESUS, whom the MUSLIMS hate and want to rid the world of all who believe in Him.

Remember what this stamp looks like and do not BUY them.

How ironic is this??!! They don't even believe in Christ and they're getting their own Christmas stamp, but don't dream of posting the ten commandments on federal property?

The USPS already issues stamps commemorating the Christian holiday of Christmas (with both religious and festive themes) and the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah as well as Kwanzaa.
I guess to some, American Muslims are not equal citizens!!

US Ambassador to Iraq lives in LaLa Land

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad must not venture outside the fortified Green Zone in Baghdad to listen to Iraqis stating that their lives are worse now than before the invasion. (Which is a sad statement considering that that life was under the dictatorship of Saddam)

The Ambassador said that Iraqis are better off now than before the invasion because they now have cell phones and satellite dishes. Oh my God!

He are excerpts from the AP article:

Envoy says not all is bad in Iraq
By HAMZA HENDAWI, Associated Press Writer

BAGHDAD, Iraq - U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad insisted Tuesday that things are not all bad in Iraq, citing the growing number of satellite dishes on rooftops and consumers with cell phones as signs of economic progress.

"Economically, I see an Iraq every day that I do not think the American people know about — where cell phones and satellite dishes, once forbidden, are now common, where economic reform takes place on a regular basis, where agricultural production is rising dramatically, and where the overall economy and the consumer sector is growing," the American envoy told a Baghdad news conference.

Some Iraqis saw things differently.

"We'd prefer he take those back and return just 10 percent of our prewar life," said Mohammed Ibrahim, a 50-year-old government employee from Baghdad. "Saying things like that shows the Americans' contempt for us Iraqis."

Analogies between conditions in Iraq now and life before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq are common among Iraqis, angered over what they see as the failure of successive Iraqi governments and their American backers to provide security, services or jobs.

Khalilzad spoke at one of the lowest points in America's involvement in Iraq.

An average of more than 40 Iraqis are being killed every day in October, according to an Associated Press count that is based on AP reporting and considered a minimum. The violence has forced nearly 1 million Iraqis to flee abroad since 2003 and as many as 300,000 more have become refugees in their own country because of sectarian killings...

Amrah al-Badawi, a Shiite lawmaker and a member of parliament's economic committee, chuckled when told of Khalilzad's comments.

"Iraqis longed for mobile phones and satellite television, but their availability now are of little relevance to the economy," she said. "What we need is economic ventures, and these are not going to happen with security the way it is."...

For Alaa Makki of the Iraqi Islamic Party, the country's largest Sunni party: "We ended up with a worse-than-before dictatorship. We now have slaughter, kidnapping and disenfranchisement."

Don't know about you, but I don't like where this course is taking us to!

I am tired of hearing this administration telling us that we need to stay the course in Iraq. What if this course leads to an abyss? How many more Iraqis have to die before the Bush administration and its naive supporters realize that our policy in Iraq has completely failed? How many American soldiers have to lose their lives for this immoral and illegal war? How many parents, Iraqis and Americans, have to lose their children in Iraq before we change this deadly course.

It is time to change direction. I actually think it is time we change the incompetent drivers too!

Vote on November 7th because if you don't, you should not complain.


Watch this short and powerful BBC video to find out why we will never win in Iraq and why a large majority of Iraqis still perceive us as an occupation and want us out of Iraq.


Video: GuardianFilms and BBC Newsnight present ...

The Latest on Tan Nguyen's Campaign

Today, I received an email from Fr. Wilfredo Benitez-Rivera who has previously contributed a nice poem to this blog. In his email, he offered an update on Tan Nguyen. Here is the update:

Dear Friends:

Here's a shot I took this morning which pretty much sums up the situation for Tan Nguyen. Sometimes my photographic eye is a prophetic eye.
In Gospel Justice,
Padre Wilfredo+
www.BenitezRivera.com

Muslims Call on Tan Nguyen to Pull Out of Race

47th District Candidate Sent Offensive Mailers to Muslims and Latinos

(ANAHEIM, 10/20/06) – The Southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today called on the 47th Congressional District Candidate Tan Nguyen to apologize to the voters of the district and withdraw from the race.

CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush and leaders from the Latino, Vietnamese and other communities attended a press conference today, speaking out against Nguyen’s possibly illegal actions and affirming the commitment of the 47th District residents to stay united and not let attempts at spawning fear and intimidation tear the community apart.
SEE: Agents Search GOP Candidate’s Campaign Office
http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=local&id=4678802

At the press conference, Ayloush stated:

“We are a nation of immigrants, and immigrants have built America and made significant contributions to strengthening our country. It is not acceptable for any political candidate to score cheap political gains and points at the expense of immigrants and Muslims by intimidation or scare tactics.

Mr. Tan Nguyen has continued his immoral and un-American politics of spreading fear against the Muslim and immigrant communities. We reject actions that seek to divide Americans along religious and racial lines. We reject any attempt to intimidate Americans from exercising their democratic right to vote and participate in the affairs of their country.

We call on Mr. Tan Nguyen to pull out of the Congressional race, and apologize to all the people of our district for the pain and fear he has caused. We join our voice with those of Republican leaders calling on Mr. Tan Nguyen to withdraw from this race. He has caused enough division, fear and intimidation.”

Nguyen’s campaign has been linked with letters circulating in the Latino community, warning people in Spanish, “You are advised that if your residence in this country is illegal or you are an immigrant, voting in a federal election is a crime that could result in jail time…”

Earlier in his campaign, Nguyen had also angered Muslims with his offensive and inflammatory use of a photograph of a Middle Eastern terrorist to link the hot-button issues of terrorism and illegal immigration.

Ayloush added, “I invite Mr. Tan Nguyen to take time to visit with diverse people of the 47th District and learn about their challenges, their dreams and their hopes. All people are one. All people are the same. They all love their country, and they strive to take care of their families, whether they are Caucasian, Vietnamese, Latino, Muslims, Jews, or Christians.”

BABY GIRL AYLOUSH IS BORN. We need your help with the name

Today, my wife Arwa, my kids and I were blessed with a beautiful Ramadan gift from God. Our fourth child was born. Both mother and baby are healthy, Alhamdulillah (praises be to God)

I want to thank all of you who had been calling and emailing to offer your prayers and congratulations. I am currently spending the night at the hospital with Arwa and the baby.

Meanwhile, I need your help. We decided on a name, but we can't seem to agree on the spelling.

We need your help.
We decided to name her Safiyya after the name of the wife of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Our other girls are named after two other wives, Aisha and Marya. Our son is named Omar, after the great companion of the Prophet. In case you missed the pattern, Aisha was Muslim, Marya was Christian, and Safiyya was Jewish when the Prophet married them. Indeed a gesture of respect taught to us by the Prophet.


Here is where we need your help. We are debating how to spell Safiyya's name. Please pick one one of the following options and send us your suggestion by email to: ayloush@usa.net

1. Safiyya
2. Safiya
3. Sophia
4. Sofia

We are counting on you.
Feel free to forward it to others to solicit their suggestion. We have to choose the name by Thursday.

Thank you in advance.

Updated on Thursday, Oct. 19.
Thank you. We received dozens of suggestions from friends and family, mostly recommending the name Safiyya because it is original and it best allows for our preferred pronounciation. So we went ahead with Safiyya.
Thank you all again for your prayers and good wishes. My family and I are very grateful.

May Allah/God bless you all and your families.
I will be posting a few of the many good wishes we received from many of you who could not post it on the blog because they did not have a blog account. (What are you waiting for?)

It is humbling to be popular

At a recent press conference, a reporter jokingly asked me how I felt now that there is a group called CAIR Watch. I replied that I felt privileged.

I am not sure that our organization is worthy of such attention, but I guess fringe right-wing groups think otherwise (or may be they are running out of people to hate). So I decided to find out what this group is "watching". It turned out that the website is a compilation of news items from the CAIR email messages in which CAIR is mentioned (I guess that such mention annoys them big time) and the posting of false accusations against CAIR and its members.

I will not waste time responding to this childish website since anyone can visit CAIR's website and learn about its mission, work and what respected leaders say about it.

One item that amused me most was a posting by a weirdo (he seems more like deranged, if you ask for my opinion) called Airhead, I mean Whitehead, in which he laments the fact that I was invited to the FBI's Citizens Academy. He read about it on my blog and lost his marbles over it (actually I am not sure if this was caused earlier in his childhood due to being dropped on his head). I have to admit that I felt really humbled to be that popular. It is not always that one gets to upset bigots. Don't get me wrong, I know bigots are usually upset by default, but this time, Whitehead must have lost some sleep over this.

For that, I am very honored and humbled. Thank you Mr. Airhead.

Meanwhile, I advise you to get a life and spend less time hating others. It is more fun to be at peace with yourself and with others.

Smartest Comment on the Danish Cartoons

Gary Trudeau, creator of the 'Doonesbury' comic strip, says cartoonists should draw the line when it comes to offending people. In an interview published in the Santa Barbara Independent:

Q. What did you make of the Danish cartoon mess? I understand that you said you would never play with the image of Allah. But did you feel you should have done so out of a sense of professional solidarity, or to make a statement about freedom of speech?

A. What exactly would that statement be? That we can say whatever we want in the West? Everyone already knows that. So then the question becomes, should we say whatever we want? That, to me, is the crux. Do you hurt people just because you can? Because you feel they shouldn’t be deeply hurt, does that mean they aren’t? Should the New York Times run vicious caricatures of blacks and Jews just to show the First Amendment in action? At some point, common sense and sensitivity have to be brought to bear.

Can a Muslim run for office in America?

I obviously think that every America should be able to run for office, regardless of their race or religion. But it seems not everyone thinks this way.
Read below:

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-anaheim9oct09,0,5233676.story

GOP Leader Says Anaheim Council Candidate Backs Extremist Groups Syrian-born Bill Dalati focuses on America's enemies, Web note says. Dalati says his faith and heritage are being questioned.
By Dave McKibben
Times Staff Writer

October 9, 2006

A state Republican party leader has roiled a sleepy Anaheim City Council race with allegations that an Arab American candidate is anti-American and supports extremist groups.

The accusations against Bill Dalati, an insurance agent who was born in Syria and became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1987, surfaced last week in a letter from former state Republican Party chairman Shawn Steel and on various websites. On the OC Blog, a politically conservative website, the headline atop the letter opposing Dalati's candidacy read "Something Scary in Anaheim."

Steel, the state GOP leader from 2001 to 2003, said he wrote the letter to alert fellow conservatives that Dalati — a moderate Republican — could be a "Manchurian candidate."

"He looks good on the outside, but the guy could be an extremist," Steel said Friday. "Is his primary concern to fix the potholes and improve the city, or does he really have an agenda here to support extremist organizations and cloak them with respectability?"

In the letter, Steel questioned Dalati's connections to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, later calling CAIR a "pretty radical, nasty group." He also cited Dalati's involvement with an Anaheim rally protesting the Israel-Lebanon conflict, and his endorsement of Rep. Cynthia A. McKinney of Georgia, a Democrat.

Dalati, who came to the U.S. in 1984 and has been an Anaheim resident for 12 years, said he was frustrated and angered by the letter.

"I need to be out on the campaign trail, not worrying about all this negative stereotyping,"
Dalati said. "People should look at the issues, not where I came from. Everybody came from somewhere. It's clear that my faith and my heritage are the reason they don't want me around."

Dalati, a 41-year-old Muslim, doesn't deny that he supports CAIR, the largest Muslim civil rights group in the country and largely viewed as a mainstream organization. Local Republican law enforcement officials such as Orange County Sheriff Michael S. Carona and Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca have attended the local chapter's fundraisers.

Hussam Ayloush, director of CAIR's Southern California chapter, in Anaheim, said Steel had a history of making "Islamaphobic" comments.

"The people of Anaheim would appreciate it if outsiders with personal political agendas would keep their divisive political views away from the city," said Ayloush, who a few years ago filed a defamation suit against Steel that was later dismissed. "For Muslims to witness what is happening in this campaign, it only makes us realize what it must have been like for Catholics, Jews and African Americans to run for office."

Dalati also defended his association with the rally protesting the Israel-Lebanon conflict.

"I'm not against Jews or Christians," he said. "I don't support Hezbollah. I just don't believe wars solve any issues; love does."

Dalati said he donated money to McKinney because of her stance against the Iraq war. In the 2000 presidential election, Dalati said he supported President Bush and convinced many fellow Arab Americans to vote with him. Dalati said he did not endorse Bush in 2004.

"I support the president in so many ways, but not on this issue," he said. "I don't believe in war.
I don't believe in the killing of innocent people. I believe in justice and dialogue."

Steel's letter, written to local Republican leaders, was posted on the OC Blog by former state Sen. John Lewis (R-Orange), who is a consultant for one of Dalati's opponents, Councilman Bob Hernandez. Five others, including incumbent Richard Chavez, are also in the running for two council seats, which are elected citywide.

Hernandez said he had nothing to do with Steel's letter or its posting, but didn't distance himself from its sentiment. He said he was particularly offended by Dalati's connection to McKinney, whom he called "rabidly left-leaning."

"This has nothing to do with ethnicity, religion or the way you think politically," Hernandez said. "It has to do with judgment and who the people want to represent them. [Dalati] does not represent the mainstream thinking in Anaheim."

Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, a former Assembly speaker and a Republican, said he didn't believe the attack on Dalati was warranted.

"I don't see the substantiation to the aggressive charges made against Mr. Dalati," he said. "It's kind of sad to see them. In my dealings with him, he's been nothing more than a businessman in our community."

Anaheim Councilwoman Lorri Galloway, who has endorsed Dalati, said he was the victim of an "underhanded and bigoted" attack.

"Those who attack him for his heritage and his faith misrepresent who he is and what he has done," said Galloway, a Democrat.

Dalati, who has also been endorsed by Anaheim Councilman Richard Chavez, a Democrat, has invested $200,000 of his own money in the council race. In addition to his insurance business, Dalati remodels and sells run-down houses in town.

Although he has never run for council, Dalati is well known in the community of 350,000, having served on the city's culture and heritage commission and hosting his own television talk show on a local cable channel.

Dalati, part of a large Arab and Muslim population in Anaheim, said he ran for council in part to be a role model for his community.

"I wanted to give them hope and empower them," he said. "We love this country, we would die for this country. It's given us more than our country. We want to make it better."