In the mornings I listen to Fox News when I get ready for work.   Before you protest at my choice of news channels, I have my reasons: one, I am on the conservative side; two, CNN annoys me; and three, no matter how much you may hate them, Fox News is the first major news station in the US to report on what is going on in the Middle East. And that…is important to me.

So, the other morning they had some pundit on and in the course of their interview this gentlemen announced what he felt the US military should do to “quiet” Iran. Unfortunately, I didn’t catch his name…..but I heard every word he said. Besides advocating a 48 hour bombing raid be done on all military targets and cities within Iran (because the US “does have ground penetrating weapons that can cripple Iran”) he said, in order to remind the audience of the dire threat that Iran presents, that “Ahmadinejad had a fatwa from his ‘i-Mam’ to cause as much destruction in the Middle East as possible”.

 

 

My initial reaction was of intense pain in my stomach. But now, I would like to write a short response to that particular pundit.

 

 

Your comments the other day on the Fox News channel were appalling, not only in their content but also in the complete lack of knowledge that you displayed on the subject you were speaking about. May I elaborate more on this by analyzing a comment of yours? You were quoted as saying “Ahmadinejad had a fatwa from his imam to cause as much destruction in the Middle East as possible”. The first seven words of this sentence were so incorrect that they discredited everything else you uttered.

 

 

To begin with, you insinuate that the President of Iran doesn’t make... [Read More]

Isn't it great when the youth get together and do something wonderful for their fellow humans?  Yes!  But sometimes, just sometimes, they need a little push to get things going.  The Arab Network for Kurdish Rights is a student run group which wishes to draw attention to the internet supression of the Kurdish voice.  They have an online petition started and they need people to join with them in their cause!  So....tell everyone you know, to tell everyone that they know.

Help speak out for Kurdish rights!

Here is the petition, follow the link to sign it and pass along!  And don't forget to watch their video!

Forget about the attempted belly dance of Hillary Duff in her new video, I think that we have missed out on a more important topic of discussion: male belly dancing!

Scrolling through the Reuter’s news site the other day I happened across an article titled “Male Belly-Dance Back in Vogue in Turkey”.  Of course I had to read it.  It was the “in vogue” that drew me to the article more than the subject.  Belly dance is iconic in Turkey and always has been.  And anyone who listens to (and watches) Turkish pop stars knows that male belly dance is nothing new.

The article is about a dancer named “Alex” who works the Istanbul club scene.  The article and the accompanying video portray very different things however.  In the article, it references his dancing as having “masculine movements” with a history that stems back to the Ottoman Empire.  While the history is true, when viewing the video it is clear that he is not performing the “masculine form” of belly dance but the feminine form.

There are two forms of male belly dance.  The feminine form which has its roots in Ottoman empire where men dressed and danced like females (I hate to use the word “drag” here but it does float around in my head) and the more masculine form which is more modern and common. Of course, the fact male belly dance is getting international press could be a good thing, if any sort of press really is needed, right?  Maybe it is the case that if attention is going to be... [Read More]