Baithak World Jun 16: Haroon Siddiqui, Kamla, Tomgram, News & Views, RealNews

One staple of anti-Semitism has been that Jews have taken over the world, or are about to. Now Muslims are being accused of the same. That Muslims pose a dire demographic and ideological threat to the West was the hypothesis of a 4,800-word article, The Future Belongs to Islam, in Maclean's magazine in October 2006. Its reverberations are still being felt. Last month, the Ontario Human Rights Commission called it "Islamophobic." This month, the British Columbia commission held a week-long hearing. And the federal commission is weighing a report from its investigators. The commissions are responding to petitions filed by a Muslim group that argued the article constituted hate and that Maclean's refused an adequate counter-response. The issue has triggered a heated debate. People will always differ on what constitutes hate or where to draw the line on free speech. But most people would agree that free speech is not a licence to target vulnerable groups, let alone risk rupturing the common good in Canada. Free speech cannot be an excuse for hate - Haroon Siddiqui


Congrats Kamla: I just found that the Kamla Bhatt Show got the best design award for the online radio category in the PC World Web Award 2008. Here is a list of the jury members. This comes as a pleasant surprise since I was not really aware of these awards and have no idea how I made it or who nominated the website. So, who ever thought of the show thank you. A few weeks go somebody from PC world contacted me and then they disappeared without a word. I let it pass and did not think of it at since I am constantly hunkered down trying to get my work done and am strapped for time. Everybody is so I am no exception. Here is how PC World Web appears to define Online Radio. “Online radio is an exciting concept as it means that you can get access to free music irrespective of your location.” My website is not a music channel. It is an online radio show fashioned in a magazine style where we have conversation and I am glad they chose to include me despite that. Five online radio show made it to the final cut: Raaga, Music India Online, Radio Guide, SmashHits and mine. Unlike others I don’t have a deep pocket, the marketing budget or a team that keeps me going day after day. Some Thoughts on Winning The Best Design Award For Online Radio + A Big Thank You


It's just a $5,812,353 contract -- chump change for the Pentagon -- and not even one of those notorious "no-bid" contracts either. Ninety-eight bids were solicited by the Army Corps of Engineers and 12 were received before the contract was awarded this May 28th to Wintara, Inc. of Fort Washington, Maryland, for "replacement facilities for Forward Operating Base Speicher, Iraq." According to a Department of Defense press release, the work on those "facilities" to be replaced at the base near Saddam Hussein's hometown, Tikrit, is expected to be completed by January 31, 2009, a mere 11 days after a new president enters the Oval Office. It is but one modest reminder that, when the next administration hits Washington, American bases in Iraq, large and small, will still be undergoing the sort of repair and upgrading that has been ongoing for years.

In fact, in the last five-plus years, untold billions of taxpayer dollars have been spent on the construction and upgrading of those bases. When asked back in the fall of 2003, only months after Baghdad fell to U.S. troops, Lt. Col. David Holt, the Army engineer then "tasked with facilities development" in Iraq, proudly indicated that "several billion dollars" had already been invested in those fast-rising bases. Even then, he was suitably amazed, commenting that "the numbers are staggering." Imagine what he might have said, barely two and a half years later, when the U.S. reportedly had 106 bases, mega to micro, all across the country. Tomgram: Why We Can't See America's Ziggurats in Iraq

What a joke. He should look for Osama in the basement of White House:Bush Orders Final Attempt To Get Bin Laden Before He Leaves Office

Another joke by a President whose edict is confined to the Presidential Complex in Kabul only: Karzai issues warning to Pakistan

News & Views

Internet Providers Threatening Monthly Limits On Online Activity

New Yorker: Is Keith Olbermann Changing TV News?

My old man: Jackie Kay

Obama's Father's Day Speech Urges Black Fathers To Be More Engaged In Raising Their Children

How Pakistan insulates India from terror

Equality is a right, not a favour for Muslims

The myth of forced Islamic conversions

There's something about Indian secularism

Fair and Balanced Fox Viewer Writes: You Are the "Worst Piece of Crap Site Thereis [sic]"

The papers on a smuggling ring that may have divulged nuclear secrets to rogue states.

Doonesbury@SLATE

Paul Jay presents RealNews

Canadian autoworkers fight back Workers from truck plant selected to be closed next year blockade General Motors HQ in Canada view Will Obama take on the oil companies? Aijaz Ahmad: Will the real Obama please stand up? (3 of 4) view Obama and a united South America Does Obama understand change in South America? view McCain, Obama and Guantanamo Michael Ratner on the implications of the supreme court decision and the politics behind it (2 of 2) view The $300 Billion Betrayal ANP: Pentagon spends hundreds of billions on weapons systems, but troops still don't get what they need view

Comic for June 15, 2008