If you watch the news at all you are aware that a cartoon showing two white NYC cops shooting a chimpanzee to death with the caption "They'll have to find someone else to write the next stimulus bill" consumed the bulk of the news commentary for several days last week. Everyone was in agreement (whites and blacks) that this particular cartoon crossed the line. At the very least it was not funny and at its worst it drew upon generations of racist comparisons of blacks to apes.

I have not seen or heard of any interview with the artist and he/she has not issued any explanation or apology, but I receive the impression that the cartoon was not intended to be racist in nature. The artist was simply drawing a connection between those who dislike the stimulus package and that incident where the police had to shoot the chimp about the same time the stimulus package was being debated. Giving the artist the benefit of doubt, as a white person, I can see where a non-racist white person might not realize how the image would impact blacks because a lot of whites struggle to understand the black culture and fail miserably. Because of this, some whites are wondering if perhaps the black community may be over-reacting to the cartoon, suggesting that they have to be careful not to be seen as overly sensitive about such things and alienating the white community. I disagree. The consensus here is that they do have a right to be outraged about this particular cartoon.

That being said, I feel compelled to point out that blacks do NOT have a corner on the ape image. For instance, do a search on George Bush and Apes and you will find numerous comparisons to him resembling an ape. Entire websites such as GWJOKES.COM are devoted to this. The difference is that whites are more confident as a race. Blacks all over the world have been beaten down so hard for so long they continue to struggle for confidence and many never achieve that to any degree. Hopefully things will improve for them now that we have elected a black president in America but this is a problem that is likely to remain a part of our society for a long time to come. We need to recognize this and understand that it is unfair to hold the same expectations for blacks as we do for whites. They are black, not white and that is a fact.

Let me state for the record that I am not racist. I supported and participated in the civil rights movement back in the 1960s and I was raised to believe that skin color has no bearing on the kind of person you are. It is a fact that some people, regardless of race, DO resemble certain animals. I voted for George W Bush twice (please don't tell anyone) but even I have to admit there is a distinct similarity to a chimp hovering around there in the background at times. And, like it or not, a few black people DO share some facial characteristics with gorillas. Anyone who encounters a gorilla cannot help but notice this so it should be expected that blacks might be sensitive about it. This is the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about but perhaps it is time we did because, whether we talk about it or not, we cannot avoid noticing it regardless of what race we happen to be. This has nothing to do with racism it is merely a realistic observation. However, we need to keep in mind that it is also realistic to observe that this subject has often been used historically to degrade and demean black people and that is something we need to all work very hard to stop.

The fact is, with all due respect to all those confoundedly confused Intelligent Design advocates, apes are our closest relatives and they connect us quite firmly to the animal kingdom. It should come as no surprise to any thinking person that some of us may resemble them. The real question that we need to consider is do we owe an apology to apes? No doubt they too have noticed a resemblance to humans. even Christian humans, and no doubt this disturbs and confuses them immensely. As a politically correct culture focused on stressing the value of diversity and the importance of sensitivity, I believe we are compelled to extend a comforting hand of support and understanding to those chimps and gorillas who may be suffering from an inferiority complex related to their physical resemblance to certain human beings. All life forms on our planet have a purpose and a value and we owe it to ourselves as human beings to recognize that in our relations with our fellow passengers on planet Earth.

This is an important mission that we must all embark upon immediately. Each new day presents us with new possibilities. One never knows when one will come into contact with an ape so we each need to prepare ourselves to make the most of that opportunity by being positive and compassionate. Turning back the tide of inter-species discrimination will not be an easy task but the longest journey begins with a single step. Are you ready?

-Michael Jaquish

OPEN LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN

The article titled The Latest Face of Creationism by Glenn Branch & Eugenie C. Scott in the January 2009 issue of Scientific American was packed with valuable information that did an excellent job of revealing the history of the long and difficult battle between science and self-imposed ignorance. Branch and Scott show how the power of steady misrepresentation is being used to attempt to undermine the advancement of science.

 Evolution and natural selection is no longer a theory and it has not been a theory for a long time. It is scientific fact confirmed by sound genetic research and the products from that research that find their way into our everyday lives stand as proof that evolution is real. Advocates of Intelligent Design intentionally disregard hard science and present their own dubious versions of science seductively in a ridiculous attempt to convince the gullible that a Master intellect is behind the creation of the universe and indigenous life forms. Presuming that there is an intelligent designer simply because everything is very complicated is not science; it is simple projection, desire, illusion and imagination.

 

I commend the authors of this article and the editors of Scientific American for continuing to regularly confront the very real and dangerous threat that groundless ideas like Intelligent Design present to our society. It is sad that the vast majority of individuals who adhere to such silly ideas will never take the time to step out of their cocoon of ignorance and expose themselves to this kind of thought-provoking information.

The battle goes on.


Michael James Jaquish

Are you ready for the next terrorist attack, or are you too distracted by economic issues to think about it? In case you need some motivation, here is an update on Global Terror:

FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III issued a new warning Monday that terrorists are prepared to conduct Mumbai-style attacks on U.S. soil.
In a speech before the Council of Foreign Relations in Washington, D.C., Mueller said that small terror networks "with large agendas and little money can use rudimentary weapons to maximize their impact."

The FBI director then added ominously: "And it again raises the question of whether a similar attack could happen in Seattle or San Diego, Miami, or Manhattan."

Mueller said that terror groups could use homegrown radicals, rather than foreign terrorists, to infiltrate the country. He noted that there are "pockets of people around the world that identify with al-Qaida and its ideology" but act independently of its leadership.

He revealed that a 27-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen, Shirwa Ahmed, engaged in a suicide bombing in Somalia last year.

"A man from Minneapolis became what we believe to be the first U.S. citizen to carry out a terrorist suicide bombing," Mueller said.
"The attack occurred last October in northern Somalia but it appears that this individual was radicalized in his hometown in Minnesota," Mueller added. Authorities have said as many as 20 young Somali men reported missing in Minnesota may have returned to Somalia to take up arms.
Mueller warned that events in far-off places around the globe could have repercussions at home. "World politics often shape terrorist and criminal threats against the United States," he said. "A crisis in the Horn of Africa may well have a ripple effect in Minneapolis."

The economy is a disaster and according to a recent CIA report, the disaster has reached such proportions that it has now overshadowed global terrorism as the number one threat to national security. How did we get here and how and when do we get out?

Well, first of all, as you may have guessed, no one knows the answers. We are traveling in uncharted territory in terms of this particular economic situation. Interestingly, a lot of the "experts" who you hear commenting and predicting about our situation are the same fools who remained in a state of denial for so long as we moved closer and closer to the abyss and even after we fell off the edge. It wasn't till foreclosure rates began to peak that these fools decided that yes, well, perhaps we ARE in trouble after all.

FYI: This entire economic crash can be traced back to the day that Bill Clinton signed a bill in 1999 repealing the 1933 Glass- Steagall act that was passed during the great depression to keep banks from speculating with customer money.

It was formed by Congress shortly after the stock market plummeted in 1929 as banks collapsed across the United States. The Glass Stiegel Act separated investment and commercial banking. It was not universally accepted as an appropriate solution to the problem of instability in the banking industry however and some opponents believed it may have hindered the ability of financial firms to compete against each other. For this reason, there was always a movement in some circles to work to repeal the Glass Steagall Act.

The fact is, the Glass Steagall Act helped compartmentalize the U.S. financial industry in an effort to prevent future collapses and failures of U.S. banks such as what happened in the '30s. With the repeal of the Glass Stiegel/Glass Steagall act in 1999, the door was opened for a repeat of the pre-Glass Steagall Act era. This repeal occurred after at least twelve attempts in twenty-five years and it rewarded financial institutions and companies for more than 20 years and $300 million worth of lobbying efforts.

One of the reasons the Glass-Steagall Act was important for the financial security of the United States was because of bank speculation, much like what happened in the current subprime mortgage crisis in the United States. In the 1930s many American banks were dangerously speculative, taking large risks in an attempt to reap great financial rewards, thus endangering the entire financial market. The Glass-Steagall Act was created to prevent such speculation on behalf of the banks. I personally believe we need to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act ASAP and pass regulations that prevent banks from providing home loans to people without requiring any proof of income or the traditional 20% down payment.

By the way: Clinton was a Democrat but the bill was sponsored by a Republican (Phil Graham) so this is not a partisan issue. However, in hindsight it seems quite apparent that Bill Clinton should have known better than to sign this bill.

How long will our recession last? Your guess is probably as good as anyone else's. I tend to believe those who say that 2009 is already a loss and if we are very fortunate, things will start to improve sometime in 2010. There are so many factors involved it is very difficult to say for sure. For instance, because of the demand for new homes back in the boom times of 2002-2007, the housing industry overbuilt. Nationally, there are many thousands of new homes unsold sitting there waiting for buyers. The contractors who built them borrowed money to do it. They are defaulting on their loans, throwing the banks into a tailspin. The stimulus money is supposed to provide money for the banks to make new loans but they are likely to use the money to recover from the bad loans they already have out there instead so new loans will remain very hard to get. That being the case, where are potential buyers for those new empty homes going to borrow the money from???

Also: before people start buying new homes, they will have to buy up the used homes that are also sitting empty because the bank foreclosed on them. Housing values have dropped as much as 60-80% in some areas of the country like California, Arizona, Nevada and Florida. Those people with loans on their $380,000 homes are finding they cannot afford the payments because the adjustable rate mortgages reset, raising their payments from $1,600 per month to $3,800 per month. They are continuing to walk away from them because they cannot sell them for anywhere near what they owe on them. This means more bad loans for the banks.

And of course all this has an incredible trickle-down effect on the rest of our economy. Banks are loosing money right and left so they are laying off thousands of people to try to stay afloat. Those laid off people cannot find work anywhere so they too are losing their homes. People are not driving as much because they have no where to drive to when they are unemployed and they are spending less because they have little or no income... therefore the state governments are collecting a lot less in state income taxes so the state governments too are having to lay off employees and cancel programs and projects that employ people.

You see where this is going? There is a lot more involved that I will not go into right now but you get the picture. This is a real downward spiral quagmire that is not likely to end anytime soon.

The good old, dependable common-sense rule for survival applies to this situation as well as any other. Hope for the best (that things may start to improve sometime in 2010) but plan for the worst (that we will be struggling with our economy for another 4-6 years or so). That means tightening your belt and living small (only spending what you absolutely have to spend and saving as much as you can). Accumulate no dept and pay cash for everything you need to purchase.

One more thing; Adjustable Rate and Interest-free Mortgages should be illegal, plain and simple. Don't ever get involved in any of these!

Good luck!

A Muslim TV network founder who arrived in the US from Pakistan in 1979 has been charged with beheading his wife was the recipient of an award from the controversial Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the self-described Muslim civil rights group that boasts of its influence on U.S. government policy.

A Pakistani American who had been a successful banker in Pakistan started a Muslim TV channel in the US to counter negative portrayal of Islam after the 9/11 terror attacks, was arrested after his estranged wife was found beheaded.

Forty-four-year-old Muzzammil Hassan, who set up Bridges TV in Buffalo city in New York State was charged this weekend with the murder of his 37-year-old estranged wife Aasiya Hassan who had recently filed for divorce. Police reports say she was found beheaded at the offices of the TV station.

One week ago, Aasiya had obtained a protection order which barred her husband from their home in Buffalo's Orchard Park suburb.

Hassan was charged with second-degree murder at the Orchard Park police station. Police said they found no weapon at the scene.

The Pakistani American told the media at the launch of his Muslim TV channel in 2004 that he was inspired to launch it after his wife's anguish over the post-9/11 portrayal of Muslims. The goal of Bridges TV was to counter negative portrayal of Muslims and Islam after 9/11. Hassan said his wife was pregnant at the time of terror attacks and she said she didn't want her children to grow in anti-Muslim atmosphere in the US.

MIKE'S COMMENTS:
if Mussammil was planning on improving the image for Muslims in America, he may have fallen short of his goal. The fact is, he has succeed only in reinforcing the perceptions many Americans have of Islam as a bizarrely oppressive, violent religion.

It is a real mystery to me why any female would desire to be a part of a religion that advocates the abuse and oppression of women.There is no shortage of women in the Muslim religion however. Due to cultural brain-washing and intense pressure, women continue to participate in a religion that views them as insignificant and unimportant sex tools, homemakers and child-bearers easily discarded by the male-dominated society of Islam.

Political correctness is our biggest handicap in our war on terror. That war needs to be fought on several levels and the most important level will be (and is) the level that confronts the clash of cultures in constructive by generating lines of communication that stimulate fundamental changes in perspectives and attitudes. This will never happen if we sit quietly smiling with our hands folded.

While I agree that one can find examples of abuse and suppression of women in other religions as well, this should never be held up as justification for what happens in Islam. The fact is, no other religion has ever suppressed, abused or demeaned women to the extent Islam does and it is counter-productive to pretend they have. Why is it so difficult for us to admit that? We need to maintain our focus and recognize that such abuse is bad no matter where or when it happens and all work together to put a stop to it now.

-Michael Jaquish