A survivor of the Virginia Tech massacre has been describing how a colleague died to protect others.

Although badly injured, graduate student Waleed Shalaan distracted gunman Cho Seung-Hui to save another person from his bullets.

Waleed saved another student’s life.

The surviving student, who wishes to remain anonymous, told of Waleed’s heroics through an email to his supervisor.

He describes how he was left uninjured after Cho’s initial round of shots.

Meanwhile, Waleed had been wounded but was still alive.

However, when Cho later returned to the classroom to inspect for signs of life among his victims, the surviving student struggled to remain calm.

He believes he would have been shot dead were it not for Waleed’s “protective movement” that distracted the gunman.

Cho turned and shot Waleed for a second time, killing him, before leaving the classroom.

Randy Dymond, a civil engineering professor, has said the student asked to him to tell the tale “so that the family of Waleed understands the sacrifice.”

Shaalan’s mother broke down when she heard Mr. Dymond’s account.

“He was trying to save someone else,” she said repeatedly.

Dymond said Shaalan’s body was taken to a Blacksburg mosque so classmates, teachers and friends could say goodbye before he was sent to Egypt for burial.

9-18

Courtesy Mikael Rudolph

Four members of ImpeachforPeace.org met with the Honorable Representative Keith Ellison (D-MN 5th) in his Minneapolis offices Saturday morning, April 22nd to discuss the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

Early in the meeting, Ellison made clear that his opinion hasn’t changed since he introduced a Resolution for the impeachment of President Bush as a Minnesota State Legislator by saying: “Impeachment should be on the table.”

In Washington D.C. attending sessions of Congress during the week, Ellison regularly travels home to be with his wife Kim and four children each weekend, taking some time to meet with his constituents as well.

Running a bit late, Ellison explained that he had just gotten a haircut because he “wanted to look good for our meeting,” turning his head side to side to show off his barber’s work. One member of IFP quipped: “It was well worth the wait.”

As everyone settled into their chairs and the laughter subsided, the mood quickly grew more serious as the topic of Ellison’s vote for the Veterans’ Health & Iraq War Accountability Supplemental was discussed, which some in the local and national peace movement felt was a betrayal of Ellison’s commitment to seeking an immediate end to the Iraq War. A sharply critical letter from an IFP member not present was read and a framed graphic called “The Impeachment Casualty Candle” was set up on the table as a reminder to everyone present of the ultimate price already paid by so many of our troops and the high stakes still facing many American families, not to mention Iraqi families:

Ellison heard the criticism and handled it well, acknowledging and empathizing with the frustrations and anger of those who want the war over and our troops home immediately yet he made it clear that many in the Peace Movement had communicated to him that they understood and supported the strategy of confronting and isolating what even the President’s own Intelligence Agencies have identified as failed Iraq policies by passing a bill with a plan to end the war at some point.

Ellison called House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) who had gathered just enough of a consensus among fellow House Democrats to pass the measure, “a remarkable leader” who is quickly proving herself to be a gifted “cat herder” of the various caucuses in the Democratic Party.

The topic quickly shifted to impeachment, with Rep. Ellison affirming that he is “with the impeachment movement,” yet making clear that in order for him to consider supporting impeachment hearings, the charges spoken into the Congressional Record must be strongly grounded in verifiable facts and evidence as well as understood by and backed by the majority of the American people.

Not eager to be assailed by the radical right’s bevy of partisan media shills as “the poster child for loonie leftists,” Ellison said that the most important thing he and his fellow members of Congress need from constituents is that they “keep the drumbeat up” for impeachment.

Ellison named fellow Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) as “a good friend,” saying “we talk every day” during the week in Washington. With Kucinich reputedly poised to introduce Articles of Impeachment against Vice President Dick Cheney this week, Ellison was measured in his commitment to join Kucinich. He made clear that he was supportive of the idea, but not if it only becomes a symbolic gesture. Ellison is only interested in seeing impeachment proceedings actually becoming a reality.

Stressing that he had not yet seen what specific charges Kucinich is intending to bring up against the Vice President, Ellison, formerly a criminal defense attorney, seemed as committed to guaranteeing the habeas corpus for Cheney that the Vice President regularly denies others.

Looking at his blackberry, Ellison said “maybe I’ll give Dennis a call this weekend.”

Noting that he has an activist’s heart, when asked what efforts and strategies in support of impeachment might be most effective, Ellison suggested sending John Nichol’s book The Genius of Impeachment, which he had read and appreciated, to members of Congress, starting with those on the House Judiciary Committee. ImpeachforPeace.org is listed in Nichol’s book among the resources in Appendix 3, page 209 of that book.

Five filled out and signed Do-It-Yourself Impeachment Memorials were given to the Representative. Ellison had not heard of the DIY Impeachment and he was very interested in hearing that the Jefferson’s Manual, which is an integral part of the rules of the U.S. House of Representatives, allows for the initiation of articles of impeachment by an individual citizen.

The following Democratic HJC members were identified by Ellison as pivotal “swing” votes who may need a strong and clear message from their constituents and other citizens in order to support any impeachment push:

(1) Hon. Jerrold Nadler (D) New York, 8th; (2) Hon. Howard L. Berman (D) California, 28th; (3) Hon. Zoe Lofgren (D) California, 16th; (4) Hon. Linda T. Sánchez (D) California, 39th.

The 71 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus as well as the 73 Out of Iraq Caucus members are among those more likely to be ready to join Kucinich’ desire to get to the bottom of Vice President and former Halliburton CEO Cheney’s true motivations for pushing for the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Cheney’s wishes can be traced back at least as far as 1998 when he was a co-signer of the Project for a New American Century’s document: Rebuilding America’s Defenses.

Many Democrats are in both caucuses, including Rep. Ellison.

The Lies and False Intelligence Leading up to the Invasion of Iraq in March of 2003 will most likely be at the crux of Kucinich’ charges, because there is ample evidence as laid out in the linked article by IFP’s Jodin Morey, but also because the country has grown increasingly unsupportive of President Bush, and distrustful of the reasons we were given as justification for going into Iraq.

As low as Bush’s approval rating has plummeted, Mr. Cheney’s support from the American public has wallowed even deeper.

Asked about the possibility of impeachment actually occuring, Ellison immediately replied “yes, it can work”, but noted that by August all eyes will be looking forward to the next election cycle and by then the window of opportunity for justice and accountability for the Bush Administration may have passed.

He made clear that the public must be informed enough to see impeachment as warranted and necessary, but then act on that knowledge by communicating their desires for accountability through impeachment to Congress. This must take place to such a degree that Speaker Pelosi and others have no choice but to honor the wishes of our nation’s citizens and to allow impeachment to go forward.

Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) of whom Ellison also expressed great respect, was named as being a pivotal figure in deciding whether the numerous investigations of the Bush Administration, now totalling over a hundred, were collectively revealing enough evidence to warrant the initiation of impeachment hearings. Any efforts to inform Rep. Waxman that impeachment is warranted and desired by the American people was encouraged.

Representative Ellison generously gave more than twice the time alloted by his schedulers, but then had to leave to attend an afternoon event one of his children was involved in.

As he drove east on Plymouth Avenue past the IFP members chatting in the parking lot, he beeped the horn on his economy car and waved, eyes remaining forward on the road. Two stickers were affixed to the rear bumper, one an AM950 Air America Radio red, white and blue emblem. The other was green but none of those standing in the parking lot were able to positively identify it as it faded into the distance.

The consensus from the group? Probably ‘a Wellstone’.

9-18

A View from Rawalpindi

By Geoffrey Cook, Muslim Media News Service (MMNS)

Berkeley–April 10th–Interview of Brigadier General Hasan Khan (retd.) formerly of the Pakistan Army and currently a Visiting Professor at the Center for Contemporary Conflict of the (U.S.) Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey.

Before proceeding to his academic career, Gen. Khan spent 30 years ascending through the ranks of his army. Islamabad is trying to achieve internal and external stability. Although a military man, Khan is pro-democratic, and has a solid vision of what that is in relation to the armed services.

The real national threat is found at the Durand Line, he explains. The boundary between the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Northwest Frontier was drawn up when Pakistan was part of the old British Empire, and, thus, is not recognized by Kabul. The Pushtoon-speaking tribes do not accept the border either, for it splits a sub-nationality from each other. Therefore, they are angry, and, consequently, the Taliban is revitalizing itself in the Hindu Kush with the indigenous tribes support.

Pakistani Civil Society is growing, says Khan. This is optimistic, but Khan is of the opinion that uncontrolled it could become negative because if civil society violently protests against the government, it is hard to predict what will evolve, for he asserts that the army is the glue of the Fatherland.

Regarding the Balochistan issue, it has always been a bad blot upon the nation. It has, also, been a long-standing struggle between those sparsely scattered tribes in the west of the country and the central government.

The General served in that part of the nation earlier in his profession, and feels that the Balochis have legitimate grievances for the nationwide state refuses to give them their fair share of the natural wealth under their soil. Accordingly, the inhabitants of the province believe Islamabad is robbing them of their rights to their natural resources. The solution to the Baloch problem, he says, lies in development. The newly planned gas pipeline to the new super port on the Arabian Sea, which is being built for the Pakistanis by the Chinese, unfortunately, will bypass Balochistan on purpose. Further, Rawalpindi is considering allowing Beijing to have a permanent naval base next to the super port on the Arabian Sea. This is highly questionable to the total independence of Pakistan from foreign troops and sailors!

Other new super ports are being contemplated on the Pakistani seacoast, too. This will be the exit point for the wealth of Central Asia to much of the world, and Pakistan will get a considerable share of the profits.

Last week I saw a report that the president of Pakistan had made a deal with Dick Cheney to use Balochi tribesmen to make incursions into eastern Iran. A major American newsgathering organization (one I do not think is one of the better ones) reported this. From what we have seen of the Balochis, it is doubtful that the tribes of that area would work with the CIA against Iran. Their fight is with Pakistan. General Khan agreed with me that it was no more than gross propaganda. Feroz thought the film used was of Iranian Balochis (like most tribes, they straddle boundaries). Pakistanis have no grudge against Tehran, and Pakistan does not wish to encourage one.

Although there has been Indian involvement in the Baloch rebellion, there are only three to four problematic Baloch leaders still in revolt. He claims the upheaval has pretty much been suppressed.

His last job in the khaki was director for arms control–especially nuclear weaponry. “Security between India and Pakistan [is] not at a dangerous level [as in 2001-2002], but we have not achieved structural peace” since there is no formal treaty between the two nuclear powers on anything! Simla did not go anywhere! Lahore is stalled still. Yet some progress has gone forward, but not in constructive form. Nevertheless, it is positive that both India and Pakistan do not manage their nukes at the point of constant deployment. Fortunately, besides, there is a great interaction between Islamabad and New Delhi at the civil society and cultural levels despite a lack of a formal condition of concord between the two governments.

What is concerning is the creeping skepticism of the US with Pakistan. It is shakier than at any time in the past. Islamabad has had a history of abandonment by Washington although Mr. Feroz Khan feels that Rawalpindi on its part will not discard America.

Are strategic relations still good, though? Most Pakistanis do not wish to slaughter their own people in the mountains as the States are insisting we do. Because of Iraq, anti-Americanism is rampant throughout his country.

The Pakistani Military is chasing the Taliban and Al-Qaeda out of the hills. General Khan feels it will take from five to ten years to bring the frontier fully under the Center’s control.

The power of civil society will restore a democratic system except “I don’t believe it will look like the West’s or [even] India’s…”

9-18

Courtesy Praveen Swami

Reports emerge that the US is funding an Al-Qaeda linked terror group to attack Iran.

“OUR WAR on terror,” American President George W. Bush told a joint session of Congress in September, 2001, “begins with Al-Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated.”

Six years on, evidence has begun to emerge that President Bush’s administration may be funding one of the terrorist groups it promised to defeat a group, moreover, reported to have been once commanded by Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the architect of the September 11, 2001, bombings that sparked off the global war on terror.

Early this month, ABC News journalists Brian Ross and Christopher Isham broke the news that the U.S. was funding Islamist terror group Jundullah or Allah’s Brigade to carry out strikes against Iran. According to ABC News, U.S. support to Jundullah was being routed to its leader, Abdul Malik Regi, a shadowy former Taliban member also alleged to be involved in large-scale narcotics trafficking through Iranian exiles with connections in West Asia and Europe.

Both Pakistan and the U.S. have responded to the ABC News report with irate denials, but the Ross-Isham account corroborates what Iran has long been claiming.

In February, Jundullah set off a bomb in the Iranian city of Zahedan, killing at least 11 members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. Soon afterwards, Iranian authorities secured a confession from an alleged perpetrator, Nasrollah Shamsi Zehi, who said he had trained at a secret camp in Pakistan. Iranian state television broadcast the confessions against a backdrop of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency logo, making clear just where it believed responsibility for the terror enterprise in fact lay.

Jundullah’s beginnings

Relatively little is known about Jundullah’s birth.

According to Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad, top Taliban leader Nek Mohammad set up the organization in 2003 to target U.S. and United Kingdom assets in Pakistan, as well as that country’s pro-western military leadership.

Mohammad’s new group soon showed its teeth. In 2004, a Jundullah cell made a near-successful attempt on the life of Karachi corps commander, Lieutenant-General Aslam Saleem Hayat. Eleven persons died in the bombing, which is thought to have been organised by two of Mohammad’s first recruits Mohammad Attaur Rahman and Musaad Aruchi. Interestingly and perhaps significantly for the Jundullah-Iran story Aruchi was handed over by Pakistan to the U.S. soon after his 2004 arrest, and now figures in the Human Rights Watch list of “ghost-detainees” a record of terror suspects held incommunicado without legal rights.

Several successful Jundullah attacks took place in the wake of the Karachi strike, notably a twin car-bomb attack outside the Pakistani-American Cultural Centre in Karachi, which left one person dead and 34 injured. Jundullah’s growth was facilitated by its close links with the Jamaat-e-Islami, the largest of Pakistan’s mainstream Islamist parties. Karachi-based cardiologist Akmal Waheed and his orthopaedist brother Arshad Waheed, who were arrested in the course of a 2004 crackdown on Jundullah cadre, had both been active in the Jamaat-e-Islami-supported Pakistan Islamic Medical Association. Attaur Rahman, the Karachi University graduate who was among Jundullah’s founders, had also been a member of the Jamaat-e-Islami’s student wing, the Islami Jamiat-e-Tulaba an organization that contributed hundreds of cadre for the jihad in Jammu and Kashmir.

For reasons that remain unclear, Jundullah now turned its energies towards the Iranian province of Sistan-Balochistan. Regi initiated this second campaign in June 2005. Jundullah kidnapped a team of Iranian security and intelligence officers. In a video-taped declaration delivered to al-Arabiya television, Jundullah said the attack had been carried out to avenge Iranian atrocities against the ethnic-Baloch minority. In a second video, released three weeks later, Jundullah released images of the execution of Iranian intelligence officer Shehab Malik.

“Sunni-Shi’a conflict”

What precise operational links, bar their common Al-Qaeda lineage, tie the Karachi Jundullah and Regi’s Iranian operation is unclear. But both share a number of points of ideological affiliation. Jundullah literature on Iran is built around discourse characterising its operations as part of a larger Sunni resistance to the Shi’a Iranian state. Most ethnic Baloch in Iran are Sunni, and the Sistan-Balochistan province’s backwardness has fuelled anger against real and imagined discrimination.

Karachi-based Islamists, likewise, have often executed murderous strikes on groups they believe to be heretics, a category that includes the Shi’a community as a whole and the Barelvi sect. On April 26, 2006, the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi which, like Jundullah, is an offshoot of the south Waziristan-based Al-Qaeda bombed a Barelvi gathering at Karachi’s Nishtar Park, killing 47 people and injuring over 100.

None ought to be surprised if it turns out ABC News, or other journalists who have put out less-specific accounts over the last two years, are right. Like many other countries, the U.S. has a long record of backing terrorist groups to further its perceived strategic interests. Containing Iranian influence in West Asia is a major U.S. foreign policy objective, and there is increasing evidence that the covert war is growing in scale.

Media reports suggest the U.S. has been making use of the Mujahideen-e-Khalq a far-right organization complicit in the 1991 anti-Shi’a massacres in Iraq, and designated a global terrorist organization in 1997 for attacks inside Iran. U.S. covert support is also thought to exist for a Kurdish terrorist group that has executed strikes against Iran, the Partiya Jiyana Azad a Kurdistanï or Party of Free Life of Kurdistan.

The odds are the ABC News expose will do little to deter the Sunni Islamist-U.S. joint venture war against Iran. On April 13, Iran announced the arrest of 90 Jundullah cadre, who were reported to have created stockpiles of weapons and explosives. Iran’s Intelligence Minister, Mohseni Ejeie, also pointed to the threat from the west, noting that “ten days ago, we arrested a group of seven people who wanted to carry out several bomb attacks.” Iran’s Khuzestan province, home to a substantial ethnic-Arab minority, has seen several bombings over the last two years, which have been blamed on terror groups backed by the U.K. To the east, Iran’s patience with Pakistan appears to be wearing thin. In the wake of the Zahedan bombing, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Tehran was summoned to explain just how Jundullah terrorists trained on its soil, and there have been media reports of tensions along the border.

What could lie ahead? An escalating cycle of terror is one possibility. ABC News reported that U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf discussed the covert war against Iran when they met in February. U.S. government officials Ross and Isham spoke to claimed that it was appropriate to deal with Jundullah because the Islamist terror group had, in return for support, proved helpful in tracking Al-Qaeda figures.

For Jundullah, too, the alliance perhaps brokered through prisoners such as Aruchi makes sense. It relieves the pressure imposed by western counter-terrorism operations and provides the terror group with a renewed stockpile of war material, at little cost other than selling out some of its one-time comrades: a time-honoured tradition in all covert warfare.

Iran may have little choice other than to step up the heat against the U.S. and the U.K. in Iraq but to anyone with a memory that stretches longer than the previous night’s television news, this is the least danger.

Two decades ago, in pursuit of its Cold War objectives, the U.S. funded, armed, and trained the terrorist organization that executed the September 11, 2001, terror strikes. Now, it seems to be doing the same thing again, presumably in the blithe hope that the results will be different this time around. Despite President Bush’s fine words, it appears no lessons have been learned from history.

9-18

By Imam Abdullah El-Amin

O mankind. We created you from a single (pair) of a male and female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know each other (not that you may despise each other). Surely the most honored of you in the sight of ALLAH is he or she who is the most righteous of you. And ALLAH has full knowledge and is well acquainted (with all things).

Hujurat:13

There is none more aware of the differences of human beings than the One who created them. It is through the generosity and graciousness of ALLAH that He made us different nations, tribes and colors. Just think for a moment how dull the world would be if everyone were pink and thought exactly alike. We could not learn from each other – and thus, we could not grow. But ALLAH, with His infinite wisdom, has made us different- so we may know each other.

In the early 1960’s, El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X) returned from his pilgrimage to Mecca and made the profound statement that “America needs to look at Islam as the answer to its race problem.” Here was a man whose mind had been previously clouded by erroneous assertions of Black superiority and Caucasian devilishness. While on hajj he wrote to his wife that he had sat down and eaten with blonde-haired, blue-eyed people and there was no racism there – only brotherhood.

Recently, Mr. Don Imus, radio and television host, made some statements that were deemed to be negatively directed at African-American women. The amount of publicity and his punishment (losing his job) showed the amount of tension it caused and how prevalent racism is in our society. This can be looked at negatively as a sign of hatred, which in some cases it might very well be. But what is more important than firing Don Imus is us directing our thoughts to our differences in the way that Almighty ALLAH looks at us. We Muslim believers are very fortunate because regardless of what our ethnicity or where we live or were born, ALLAH says we are one ummah, and He is Lord (Al-Anbiya:92)

There is a great blessing in recognizing and appreciating the different colors of the human family. ALLAH says that is a sign for us to reflect on. The key point is to reflect on our equal human status rather than our varying hues.

In my nearly 30 years as a Muslim, I am a witness that Muslims, for the most part, look upon other Muslims as brothers and sisters, regardless of their culture, ethnic background, or school of thought. As an example, a Muslim from China can meet a Muslim from the Netherlands while they are vacationing in Brazil, and there is an instant kinship and recognition – and most times a universal greeting of As Salaam alaikum. I have seen this in no other group of people whether it be religious or fraternal. Even Muslims who don’t necessarily like each other still share this kinship. And it is not fake. You know in your soul and heart if someone really likes you or not.

This is a blessing from ALLAH to those who are adherents to the highest form of existence for a human being…Islam.

Our charge now is to exercise this brotherhood by more visible interaction of the various Islamic communities. Even if we live, work and play in different areas, we must make a conscious effort to be seen interacting and cooperating with each other. This is not only good for us, but it will also be a sign and a help to those who are not Muslim. It will raise the esteem of Muslims in the general society as having something very positive and beneficial to contribute to the entire world.

Do you want to end racism? …try Islam.

As Salaam Alaikum
(Al Hajj) Abdullah Bey El-Amin

9-18

By Bob Wood

Oscar Wilde once said that “a cynic knows the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Perhaps that quote could be justly applied to most promoters in today’s financial media.

Those who follow the stock market are aware by now that the Dow Jones Industrial average hit a new all-time high last week, closing in on the 13,000 mark. And to promoters of the stock market, this is big news. Stocks have never been worth more, they say!

And, they continue, doesn’t this new high provide even more evidence of the value of investing in stocks? Of course, we’ll hear the “stocks for the long run” argument return, since losses incurred by investors during the bear market cycle from 2000 to 2002 have now been recouped. Right?

Not so fast!

Looking again at the quote from Oscar Wilde, could it be that cynics like me are not the only folks who know the price of everything and the value of nothing? Might that group also include those who make a living touting stocks and mutual funds? Let’s take a look at some interesting data.

Sure, the price of the Dow average is now close to 13,000. But what is the purchasing power of the money you would get after cashing out of your investment portfolio? Look to the south, to places like Venezuela and Peru, whose stock markets soared higher last year, both up over 100% for the year. In Venezuela, investors needed strong growth in their savings, since the value of the currency was falling fast.

Inflation in Venezuela has been running close to 20% a year for the past six years, and that amount is a reduction from much higher inflation rates in previous decades. But some solid investigative work done by John Williams (of the shadowstats.com web site) shows that inflation in the U.S. is closer to 10% than to estimates provided by official government figures.

Of course, anyone can argue that either number is closer to reality, depending on which calculation methodology is used. But let’s take a look at some other widely accepted measures of inflation. For example, what will a dollar buy today compared to what it would have bought in the year 2000?

Let’s use the exchange-traded fund DIA as a tool for pricing Dow shares at the start of 2000, when those shares sold for about $110. They now sell for about $129. So in the past seven years, the value of that fund has risen by about 17%. Not bad, right? Hold on a minute!

That amount works out to an average annual return of about 2.23%. The problem with that, if Williams proves correct, is the rise in inflation over that same time period. And, of course, we should never accept just one data point to make our case. We should, instead look at a group of data points in our search for validation. So let’s peruse another excellent analysis posted on the web site www.goldsilver.com and written by Mike Maloney. The article provides even more insight into the value of those Dow shares, and according to Maloney, the value of the Dow has actually “crashed” in the past seven years. He argues:

“The Dow is actually crashing, but if you have not yet educated yourself on the insidious ravages that inflation can have on your portfolio, you can’t see it. This is a blind spot investors must be mindful of, and guard against, if they are to prosper.

“Anytime that it looks like everything is going up, stocks, bonds, real estate, commodities, and virtually every kind of investment there is, you have to stop and ask yourself, ‘why?’

“The only reason the Dow looks like it is going up is because the Fed has pumped so many more dollars into the currency supply, that all asset classes are rising. Under these conditions, the only way to see where true value lies is to eliminate the dollar from the equation… you have to measure each asset class, not with the dollar, but against another asset class.’’

Maloney has provided some charts to illustrate his points. In one chart, he shows how the value of the U.S. Dollar Index has been hammered since the summer of 2002, falling from about 120 to the present 82. So if the value of the dollar, when compared to foreign currencies, has fallen over 30%, what is the value of today’s Dow compared to 2002, when it is cashed out for dollars whose value has fallen that much?

Continuing his comparisons, Maloney also uses the price of gold, which is historically used as a benchmark for inflation, to measure the true value of the Dow.

“In this chart I measure the Dow with money, not currency. It took almost 45 ounces of gold to buy 1 share of the Dow in 1999. Today it takes less than 19. Another way of saying it, if you sold 1 share of the Dow in 1999 you would have been able to buy 45 ounces of gold. Today if you sold 1 share of the Dow, the proceeds would only buy you 19 ounces of real money. So measured in real money, the Dow has crashed 58%.”

Is this still not enough evidence for you believers in the Dow? Well, let’s look at the value of silver, another inflation proxy. A share of the Dow buys 65% less silver than it did in the early part of this decade. At today’s prices, an investor using Euros to buy shares in the Dow would get back 27% less money when those shares were converted back into that currency. An Aussie investor would lose 30%, and a Brit would realize 22% fewer pounds as the “recovery” price of his Dow shares. And here’s another good comparison from Maloney.

“How much oil (our proxy for energy) can you buy with proceeds from the sale of your Dow shares? If you sold 1 share of the Dow in early 1999 you could buy 800 barrels of oil… today it’ll only buy you 200.”

Or how about his next observation?

“Speaking of cars… along with plastics, cars are made of metals like steel, zinc, copper, and lead. Measured against the Dow Jones Industrial Metals Spot Price Index, the Dow has crashed by 73%. And believe it or not, this is one of the reasons the companies that make cars have crashed.”

At this point, Maloney has reviewed only the best-performing of the three major averages used as proxies for the performance of the domestic stock market. Currently, the S&P 500 remains lower than its previous, pre-bear market peak, and the Nasdaq has climbed only half as high as it did previously.

Can you now see the significant damage to the value of stocks, rising in price to new highs? And don’t forget how many of these same financial media promoters were touting technology stocks at their peak, warning us that “the only risk in tech stocks is in not owning them” — and similar nonsense.

Much of the cause for this loss in the dollar’s purchasing power can be attributed to Fed policies and attempts to hide its recklessness over the past few years. Maloney also points out that when the Fed stopped reporting the broadest gauge of the money supply in early 2006, that amount stood at $10.29 trillion.

That figure had jumped sharply from the January 2000 number of about $6.5 trillion. This represents a 58% increase in the money supply, now lovingly called “an abundance of liquidity” by stock market Bulls.

If the Fed continues to increase the money supply by almost 8% annually, we can see why inflation must be running much higher than official figures suggest. And when we consider this country’s trade deficit, Federal budget deficit and looming Social Security and Medicare liabilities, is there any reason to think that the printing presses will slow down anytime soon?

Of course, as Star Trek’s Mr. Spock often said, “There are always alternatives.” And this is true for investors. To me, the alternatives include what I have written about in this column for the past several years: invest in those things that are rising fastest against the dollar. This strategy argues strenuously for buying gold, silver, energy and other commodities. It also argues for buying international stocks, whose profits and dividends are paid in their stronger currencies.

Sure, the Dow is now at a new, all-time high. But in terms of value, a million dollars won’t buy in 2007 what it bought in 2000. So what’s been gained? And why are the promoters partying like it was 1999 once again?

Hey, they know that “if it’s all you got, use it for all its worth.” But today, the value is worth much less than it was the last time new highs were seen.

Caveat Emptor.

Have a great week.
Bob

Bob Wood ChFC, CLU Yusuf Kadiwala. Registered Investment Advisors, KMA, Inc., invest@muslimobserver.com.

9-18

Donations urged for VA Tech student’s family

The MSA is urging the community to donate generously for the family of a slain Muslim student of Virginia Tech. Waleed Shaalan, 32 years old, first stepped onto the Virginia Tech campus in August 2006. An international student originally from Zagazig, Egypt, with no family members in the United States, Waleed quickly became an essential member of the Blacksburg Muslim community. Among those mourning his death are his two roommates (Fahad Pasha and Irfan Waseem) to whom Waleed was their loving older brother, cook, academic and spiritual mentor. Waleed was known for his broad smile and wave that he gave everyone.

Waleed left behind Amira, his wife for 3 years, and Khaled his one-year old son. For more information about Br. Waleed or the Virginia Tech MSA please visit www.msavt.org.

Br. Waleed Shaalan passed away during the Virginia Tech tragedy on April 16, 2007. MSA National will be collecting donations to support Br. Waleed Shaalan’s family.

MSA’s goal is to raise $25,000 over the next four weeks. Checks can be mailed to:

MSA of the US and Canada
P.O. Box 1096
Falls Church, VA 22041

Bangladeshi professor speaks on Muslim women at Islamic center

JOHNSTOWN, PA– Dr. Taslima Monsoor, a Fulbright Scholar and professor of Islamic law at the University of Dhaka, spoke on the topic of Islam and Women at the Islamic Center of Johnstown. She is visiting Penn State for six weeks and has been lecturing at churches,college campuses and Islamic centers.

“I want to give the correct insight on Islamic women’s rights,” she said. “Many people think what they see on TV and in the papers is how Muslims are.”

Dr. Monsoor said many speakers in the media give distorted pictures of Islam to please others.

“People think Islam does not give women rights,” she said.

One of the biggest misconceptions people have is that women do not have the same equality as men.

“People think women are inferior to their husbands,” Dr. Monsoor said. “The relationship between a husband and wife is not a relationship of superiority and inferiority. Marriage is a sacred covenant for life.”

Fundraiser held for first mosque in New Hampshire

MANCHESTER, NH–Imam Siraj Wahhaj led the fundraising effort to build what s touted to be New Hampshire’s first mosque on an east Manchester hilltop. The $30-a-plate dinner was held at the Center of New Hampshire Raddison in downtown Manchester.

Site work on the Karatzas Avenue property is completed, and well drilling should begin this week, said Dr. Hassan Mahboubul, president of the society. The mosque will eventually exceed $2 million to build.

He said volunteers want to work on the site, but neighbors have insisted that city ordinances, which prohibit construction work on weekends, be followed.

“The volunteers can only work on the weekend. We’re in a dilemma of what to do,” he said. The society hopes to erect a building shell with the money raised last night.

Mahboubul said the society has asked the Department of Homeland Security to review and approve an account it has established in order to solicit donations from overseas.

Shahid and Ann Khan Tennis Complex at UIUC

URBANA, Ill. – With small beginnings as a student in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering at the University of Illinois, Shahid Khan had a vision of more. Starting his career off working for the Flex-N-Gate Corporation in 1970, while a student at the U of I, Khan’s vision began to take shape and took flight in 1978 when he left Flex-N-Gate to start a new venture designing and building bumpers with an innovative design.

Khan’s innovation, a lightweight, continuous piece of metal with no seams to corrode or rust, soon became the industry design standard. From what started out to be a one-man company, inside one garage through one press operation, turned into the backbone of Khan’s lifelong success.

Now the successful entrepreneur, and his wife Ann, are funding a major expansion of the Illinois tennis facilities. The groundbreaking of the Shahid and Ann Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex took place on Friday, April 20 at the Atkins Tennis Center. Construction of the outdoor tennis complex will compliment the Atkins Tennis Center, insuring the Illinois men’s and women’s programs will flourish in one of the best comprehensive facilities in the country.

Ron Guenther, Director of Athletics stated, “Top notch, first class facilities are the foundation for recruiting and retaining world-class coaches and players. We are extremely thankful to the Khan family for their support in helping us enhance our amenities and make our tennis facilities among the best in the country. We also would like to express our thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Josef Lakonishok, Mr. and Mrs. Marc Schwartz and Mr. and Mrs. Thom Zimmerman who also have made significant contributions to assist with this project.”

Since his graduation from Illinois, Khan received the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering in 1999 and has served on both the College of Engineering Board of Visitors and College of Business Advisory Council. Additionally, Khan received an Honorary “I” Award from the Varsity “I” Association in 2006.

Khan’s achievement of creating a $3 billion global auto parts manufacturer from scratch stands as his most prized accomplishment professionally.

A company that has worldwide influence, Khan took little time in making his decision to return to Champaign-Urbana when he was posed with the chance of purchasing Flex-N-Gate back in the late ‘70s. To this day, Khan is the sole owner of the corporation that employs over 3,500 associates at 10 manufacturing plains in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Canada and Mexico. Annual sales exceed 500 million.

Keeping the company’s headquarters in Champaign-Urbana, Khan has decided to use his success for the benefit of the U of I community. Through their philanthropic efforts, Mr. and Mrs. Khan have supported the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, the Spurlock Museum and most recently the Division of Intercollegiate Athletics with the gift for the Shahid and Ann Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex addition to the existing Atkins Tennis Center. The complex will include 12 outdoor courts, locker rooms, concession areas, a new pro shop, lighting, and seating for 2,000 spectators.

Melbourne hate-crime meeting held

MELBOURNE, FL–Seven months after a shooting at a Melbourne mosque, community leaders and law enforcement are working together to reduce hate crimes.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, Melbourne Police and others held a community meeting yesterday to discuss the issues. They talked to students and community members about ways educate the public on hate crimes and the consequences. They also talked about how to reduce hate crimes.

“In terms of safety, having more interaction with our law enforcement, more interaction among interfaith groups, getting to know your neighbors more, and just concrete steps that we can take as ordinary citizens in terms of preventing hate crimes,” said Sabina Khan, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The Melbourne forum was a response to a shooting at the Melbourne mosque last September on the first night of worship during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

New mosque for Jefferson City

JEFFERSON CITY, MO– The Muslim community in Jefferson City is elated that they will soon have a permanent location for a mosque. Two weeks ago marked the ground breaking ceremony of a 4,800 square foot mosque on a five acre plot.

“Our community is growing,” said president Iqbal Hussain. “We have limited space, even the women do not have the privacy.”

This fall, the community hopes to begin meeting in their two-level facility, which will expand their capacity maximum from 50 to 250 people.

Eventually, they plan to build a playground and later a school.

“We are hopeful. Many are waiting for the mosque to be built,” Hussain said. “We feel as soon as the mosque is ready, we will increase in numbers from neighboring towns, too.”

About 15 families from the local Sierra Leone organization, which currently meets elsewhere, joined the local Muslim community to observe Eid al Fitr, the end of Ramadan, last year, said Sabir Vali, vice president.

And several Muslims, who work in Jefferson City but chose to live in Columbia to be near a mosque, may relocate, too.

“The mosque will come and then people will definitely come,” Vali said.

Muslim Women in U.S. Showcase Talents at Art Exhibit

A monthlong exhibit (April 2-30) featuring the work of 10 Muslim women artists in the Washington area is drawing capacity crowds of art enthusiasts from the local Muslim community and beyond.

All the artists – Roda Alharithi, Nadia Janjua, Nadia Khalid, Bano Makhdoom, Samar Najia, Muna Sobhi Omari, Shela Qamer, Ann C. Saunders, Fatima Shaikh and Malia Steeple – are members of Muslim Women in the Arts (MWIA), an organization that aims to educate the public about Muslim women and Islamic culture by showcasing the women’s art.

This is MWIA’s eighth annual show, a testament to the growing presence of Muslim women on the Washington art scene. The artwork spans many categories, including paintings (oil, acrylic, watercolor, mixed media), soft sculpture (innovative designs inspired by the illustrations in children’s pop-up books), poetry, glasswork and richly ornamented textiles.

Arabic calligraphy is a recurring element in the paintings of Saunders, an artist whose large canvases are recognizable by for their dramatic flair. The bold, graphic quality of Saunders’ work is achieved by superimposing calligraphy motifs against a backdrop of undulating plants and flowers. All these motifs have significance in the Muslim faith.

Saunders, who grew up in Chicago, originally hoped to pursue a career as a fashion illustrator, but she switched her focus to graphic design because it was “a broader applied-arts discipline … and therefore a more challenging career path,” she recalled.

In 1983, while still in graduate school, Saunders converted to Islam. “I was drawn to Al Islam while attending a lecture series” at Syracuse University in New York state, she told USINFO. “The information presented about Al Islam resonated as truth.”

She established herself as a successful artist, graphic designer and educator, and began making contact with other Muslim American artists, which inspired her to use art as a vehicle for sharing the tenets of her faith.

“This work became my passion after making the pilgrimage to Mecca” in 1999, she said.

Saunders has mastered a wide range of media, but her most recent efforts concentrate on oil and acrylic painting. She cites Islam as the vital force that fuels her artistry. “My artistic endeavors have changed since I embraced Islam,” she said. “I am more passionate, confident, and joyful about my work.”

Qamer, a painter whose abstract works display the vivid colors of the natural world, said she often incorporates texture into her canvases by adding pieces of parchment-like paper to the surface before she starts to paint. A native of Pakistan, Qamer showed artistic promise at an early age. With the encouragement of her parents, she honed her technique under the tutelage of the Karachi-based artist Ali Imam. She emigrated to the United States in 1978, and resumed her studies by taking courses offered by Washington’s Corcoran School of Art.

“My focus is usually to maintain some sort of balance and rhythm in my paintings through the use of different colors, textures, materials and lines,” she said. Qamer has experimented with different media over the years, such as charcoal drawing, oil painting, and watercolor. Now, “I am primarily working with a combination of hand-made paper and acrylic paint,” she said. “I usually start with very subtle ideas of how I want the painting to be,” while allowing the process to remain spontaneous. Along the way, the emerging “colors, space, lines, etc., sometimes dictate the end result,” she said.

Janjua, another artist with roots in Pakistan, was born and raised in a small rural town in western Maryland, where her parents settled after arriving in the United States during the mid-1970s.

Her works are not confined to one particular style, and she uses a variety of media. A few of her pieces have Arabic calligraphy in the foreground. There are also some surprises: one small image initially appears to be a detailed architectural drawing or etching, but on closer inspection, it reveals itself as a photo print on watercolor paper. Nearby, Janjua displays an oil painting of a shop interior filled with musical instruments, walking sticks, vases and miniature tapestries, evoking the bazaars of Cairo, Egypt, or Marrakech, Morocco. Janjua confirmed that her travels have influenced her artwork. Travel, she said, “is an accelerated course in life” that brings the world into sharper focus, and “it has definitely shaped me into who I am.”

Thanks to the efforts of MWIA, Muslim women in the United States have a forum for introducing their artwork to a general audience while exploring and preserving their cultural heritage. (Courtesy:US Dept. of State)

AuGRID Moving Toward Purchase Of Meat Processing Plant

Vineland, NJ – AuGRID Global Holdings Corp., a holding company that acquires and manages a diverse range of businesses, recently announced that it is performing final due diligence on a meat processing business that specializes in Halal meat products.

Literally, the word “halal” is Arabic for “permissible,” and foods prepared by these standards are a mainstay in certain cultures. The global Halal food trade is currently estimated at $150B annually, and expected to grow to $500B by 2010. In the U.S., the Company has identified several opportunities to market and sell Halal products, including those in schools, the vending industry and convenience foods such as frozen dinners.

The Halal meat business to be acquired generated $2.55M in revenues during its last reported fiscal year, with that number expected to climb to $2.8 in 2007. Currently holding a 14% interest in the business, AuGRID expects to acquire up to 40% interest within the next 30 days, and controlling interest soon thereafter. No assurances can be given that such acquisition shall be achieved or that, if achieved, will result in similar revenues.

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By Imam Dawud Walid, Executive Director of CAIR-Michigan

Although Dearborn, Michigan, the epicenter of Arab culture in America, contains much promise in regards to its expressing and shaping the image of Islam in Michigan and America at large, its predominant ethnocentric face, which overshadows its Islamic character, is a major challenge that must be addressed in a delicate manner.

Due to immigration primarily resulting from the Lebanese Civil War and Operation Desert Storm as well as the renewal of Shi’i identity from the Iranian Revolution, Dearborn’s Islamic community has not only grown in sheer numbers but has also seen a marked increase in youth and young adult participation within the Islamic centers. Moreover, the growth of Islamic centers from four to thirteen in the Dearborn area over the span of two decades is further proof that Dearborn’s Islamic face has grown from a small patch in a large quilt to a large, essential portion of the quilt.

With these promising developments of increased visibility of Muslims and the growth of youth activism, there are, as with other communities, problematic areas that need to be addressed. Just as there is promise for the community’s future, there are real inward threats to its longevity and progression.

Problems and solutions

For starters, many within the community have confused their ethnic identity of being Arab with their Islamic identity. This is the double-edged sword of having a community that primarily connects or equates their ethnicity or culture with being a “good Muslim,” which other communities in Metro Detroit have done in the past including Turks and Albanians. Obviously, the activity of the Turks and Albanians within the Metro Detroit Muslim community is so miniscule that one who is not familiar with history would find it hard to fathom that there were significant numbers of Muslims here within these demographics.

Referring back to the Arab nationalistic mentality, which is a modern holdover of the days of the late Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, it is not only a barrier for many in applying themselves to actually learning the basis of Islamic theology and practices, but it is also a barrier in regards to strengthening the bonds with on-Arab Muslims to a degree as well as promoting Islam and working on social justice issues with non-Muslims. When the community’s primary focus is the Arab world, it further perpetuates the notion by many non-Arab Muslims that Arabs favor a form of Islam that is chauvinist, as previously observed by Bani Umayyah and that other areas of the Muslim world and even the affairs within American society are inferior concerns, secondary at best. This is not to say, however, that one’s culture should be neglected either.

The major point is that others’ perceptions in regards to this mentality actually alienates others from forming partnerships with the community and turns off those who are interested in Islam and still hold their own ethnic culture in healthy esteem. This is because many within Dearborn have little interaction with Muslims outside of Dearborn that are non-Arab and they are content to stay in their Dearborn cocoon because most of their needs are met within it. This outlook towards the world is unknown to many within Dearborn, which is also another symptom of the problem itself.

At a rudimentary level, the outward perception for many is that the majority of the community emphasis is either skewed or it has a fundamental lack of Islamic knowledge, not in rote rituals and observance of holidays, but in the deeper understanding of the objectives of Islam and its application. Hence the key to fixing this problem or perception, even if it is a fallacious one, is Islamic education.

Dearborn Muslims must invest more money and time into supporting Islamic education, which includes investing significant funding to cultivating home-grown, qualified Islamic instructors. Qualified instructors are needed in not only disseminating knowledge from classical texts but also in teaching the community within the scope of applying this knowledge based upon cultural literacy of the American society. With the majority of Muslims in Dearborn having the “cultural Muslim” mind and racing towards materialism, the community leadership’s first priority must be establishing a full-time Islamic high school and creating better marketing plans to attract the youth to learning about Islam.

With Islamic education and an adjustment of priorities, Dearborn’s Islamic potential is vast. Once the majority begins to see itself as a spiritual body firstly, then an ethnic body with material needs secondly, all other challenges can be approached in a sounder way, producing better results for the community and Islam as a whole in America.

And surely Allah (SWT) knows best.

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