New report finds that yes religion is the source of most of today's terrorism.

Courtesy of the Guardian: 

Religious extremism has become the main driver of terrorism in recent years, according to this year’s Global Terrorism Index. 

The report recorded 18,000 deaths in 2013, a rise of 60% on the previous year. The majority (66%) of these were attributable to just four groups: Islamic State (Isis) in Iraq and Syria, Boko Haram in Nigeria, the Taliban in Afghanistan and al-Qaida. 

Overall there has been a fivefold increase in deaths from terrorism since the 9/11 suicide attacks. 

The report’s authors attribute the majority of incidents over the past few years to groups with a religious agenda. 

Before 2000, it was nationalist separatist terrorist organisations such as the IRA and Chechen rebels who were behind the most attacks. The number of incidents from nationalist separatist groups has remained relatively stable in the years since while religious extremism has grown. 

The prevalence of Islamist groups in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Nigeria and Syria is the main driver behind these trends. 

This report is interesting because it flies in the face of  arguments given by Islamic apologists, like Reza Aslan, who argue that religion is NOT the trigger for extremist views or violence.

And in fact making this connection was what got Bill Maher into so much trouble recently.

However I would be quick to mention that just because it seems that Islam is the religion of choice for most terrorists today, there is still plenty of terrorism in the name of Christ as well.

And it could be argued that in the not too distant past Christian terrorism terrorized communities around the world for many hundreds of years before it was brought under some semblance of control by more civilized minds.

As Steven Weinberg once said, "Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."

Malala Yousafzai becomes youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Courtesy of the Daily Beast: 

Malala Yousafzai has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her courageous, and near fatal, campaign to secure girls’ education. At 17, she is the youngest recipient in the century that the prize has been given. 

The Pakistani campaigner, who survived an assassination attempt at the age of 15, will share the award with Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian activist who has dedicated his life to fighting for the rights of children. 

As the announcement was made Malala was in class at her school in England. She sought refuge in the U.K. after surviving a shot to the head from a Taliban gunman. She has made history today but she will remain in school until classes are out this afternoon, Eason Jordan of The Malala Fund tells The Daily Beast. 

It was Malala’s determination to get to class, despite the wish of extremists in the Swat Valley in Northwest Pakistan, that lead her to become one of the world’s most prominent education campaigners. Her refusal to cover her face and a willingness to speak out in defense of girls’ rights made her a target for the Taliban. Two years ago, a gunman boarded her school bus and fired three shots at her from close range. 

Somehow she survived, and after treatment in Britain, she has continued to campaign – now with a worldwide audience. Last year she spoke at the United Nations in New York, and continued to promote her positive message. “A Talib chose guns to solve [a] problem, we chose our voices,” she said.

Finally a positive story about a young woman making a difference in the world and being recognized for her contribution.

I think we all needed this. 

Malala Yousafzai's book has been banned in Pakistan for fear it "will only confuse our children." Yeah, it just might give them hope, and that would be confusing.

Courtesy of Pakistan Today:

Malala Yousufzai’s recent book ‘I am Malala’ will be banned completely due to its ‘controversial’ contents in all private schools across the country, Pakistan Today has learnt. 

The decision was announced by All Pakistan Private Schools Federation President Mirza Kashif on Wednesday who said children were idealising Malala and reading her book will leave them in a ‘confused’ state of mind. 

“Our academics have thoroughly studied her (Malala’s) book and have concluded that reading that book will only confuse our children. Malala’s defence of Salmaan Rushdie in the name of freedom of expression, not writing Peace Be Upon Him after the name of prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and criticising the Quranic injunctions about the status of women in testifying as witnesses are only a few things which will challenge the ideological foundations of our next generation,” Kashif said while talking to Pakistan Today. 

Interestingly, the private schools owners have taken the decision on their own while the government has nothing to do with the decision. 

“It (the book) is not part of the curriculum and hence the government has nothing to do with our decision. The federation has taken the decision on its own in order to save children from getting confused,” Kashif added. 

Further explaining the ban, he said, it would not be allowed to keep the book in any school library or use for co-curricular activities - essay writing or debating competitions. 

“We can see from her writing that she has not authored the book herself. Even if she has, it creates a lot of doubt amongst our kids regarding religion which we, being Muslims, can never allow,” he added.

So Malala stands up for education in her country, takes a bullet to the face from the Taliban for her troubles, and this is how Pakistani educators respond?

 I guess this is what's to be expected when religion takes precedence over education.

Okay how did this young woman NOT receive the Nobel Peace Prize?

Courtesy of the Telegraph: 

US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle welcomed Pakistani schoolgirl activist Malala Yousafzai to the Oval Office on Friday. 

Mr Obama met with Malala on the same day the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. 

The Pakistani teen had been considered a front-runner for the prize and was in Washington to speak at two events. 

The teen said in a statement after the meeting that she was honored to meet with the president, who is a Nobel Peace Prize recipient. 

"I thanked President Obama for the United States' work in supporting education in Pakistan and Afghanistan and for Syrian refugees. I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fueling terrorism. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people. If we refocus efforts on education it will make a big impact," she said.

So much wisdom in such a young person.

I think that her opportunities to win that prize are by no means behind her.

I see her as a great leader for her people in the years to come and have little doubt that she will remain a symbol for peace and the importance of education.

Malala Yousafzai addresses the United Nations. This is an amazing speech, by an equally amazing young woman.

The Taliban tried to shut her up, but all they have done is to create a force that will undoubtedly help to destroy their influence in the Middle East and around the world.

This speech gave me chills.

Mark my words this incredible young woman will someday soon become an incredibly political powerful force in Pakistan and beyond. She is a great representative of her religion, and I have little doubt that there are numerous Muslims in the world who are crying tears of joy for her survival and strength and shame that it was fundamentalists from their religion who tried to snuff out her amazing light.

Fox Nation cannot help but insult Bill Maher even when they are agreeing with him.

Above is the actual headline over at Fox Nation, for a post about a conversation he had on Real Time with Daily Beast editor-in-chief Tina Brown. After that rather unnecessarily insulting headline this is all that they posted by way of description about the conversation:  

On his Friday night broadcast, HBO “Real Time” host Bill Maher said Muslims who mistreat women can “fucking go to hell.” 

Maher began the conversation by discussing with his guest, Daily Beast editor-in-chief Tina Brown, how impressed he was with Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani student who was shot by the Taliban.

Not terribly inflammatory is it?

Here is the video that they posted.

Once again there is nothing there that should anger the Fox News audience. (With the possible exception of that "lesbian art gallery" crack.) So why, you may ask, did they go out of their way to call Maher names when it appears that they are pretty much in agreement with his point of view? (By the way the same is true over at the Daily Caller where the original article was posted.)

Here is my theory. They are still pissy about Maher's frequent jokes at the expense of the women who host Fox News programs, or appear as pundits. ESPECIALLY Sarah Palin who Maher has ridiculed almost as much as yours truly.

So in the minds of the folks over at Fox Nation, Maher is being a hypocrite by suggesting that the men who mistreat women in Islamic nations can "fucking go to hell," because as we know making a joke about a person on cable television is totally on par with throwing acid in their face, or beheading them, or shooting them in the face, as was done with little Malala Yousafzai.

Right?

The girl who strikes fear in the heart of the Taliban.

Courtesy of the YouTube site:

Malala Yousafzai speaks for the first time since was targeted and shot in October 2012 for her advocacy on behalf of girls' education. Malala announced the creation of the Malala Fund, which supports the right to education for children across the world. Vital Voices established the Fund on behalf of Malala and her family, working together with supporters of the cause including the United Nations Foundation and Girl Up, and within a community of supportive organizations and individuals, to realize Malala's vision of education for all girls. MalalaFund.org

Malala was also recently nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. Her life as an activist is really only just beginning, and I cannot help but imagine great things to come from this incredibly brave young woman.

Someday historians will write about the end of the Taliban.  I would not be surprised if little credit was given to American bullets and bombs, and that in the end the credit for their demise was identified by one simple name....Malala.

Is there really a MORE deserving choice for Time magazine's Person of the Year?

As you know every year Time chooses their person of the year.

There are a lot of really good choices this year such as Stephen Colbert (his work with those SuperPAC's was invaluable), Hillary Clinton (Duh!), and President Obama (Double duh!)

There also some, in my opinion, stupid choices. Such as Kim Jong Un (WTF?), Paul Ryan (Seriously?), and Karl Rove, (I just thew up in my mouth a little.)

However after much deliberation I think the choice should be clear.

This of course is Malala Yousafzai the incredibly brave little Pakistani girl who defied those attempting to suppress her desire to learn, and was ultimately shot in the face for her heroism.

Here is how Time magazine makes her case:

At first, the Pakistani girl blogged anonymously about her desire to go to school without fear in a part of the country where the Taliban had once imposed strict Shari'a law. Then, with the surprising encouragement of her devout Muslim father, Malala Yousafzai wrote in her own name and revealed her face to the world, a symbol of young women around the world seeking empowerment. She became the subject of a documentary and a celebrity of sorts in the world of nonprofit organizations. Who knew that such prominence would put her life at risk? On Oct. 9, 2012, Taliban gunmen boarded her school bus, sought her out and shot her in the head. Eventually airlifted to a hospital in Britain, she survived her severe wounds. In the meantime, Malala, now 15, has become an inspiration not only in her native Pakistan — where the culture wars over women's rights and religious diversity have taken many violent turns — but all around the globe. Malala is now a first name that hundreds of thousands of people know. But in a way, hers is an even more moving story, because the saga is not just of a brave young girl but also of a father willing to risk local opprobrium to raise his daughter — not a son — as a proud example for the world. It is among the tenderest of stories in the world of conservative Islam. 

Now this is only my opinion, and of course you are welcome to disagree, but personally I cannot think of a more deserving recipient of this honor. Nor can I think of a more profound message to send to those who felt they had the right to snuff out her life, and quiet her voice, simply because it did not agree with their fundamentalist from of religion. 

P.S. I lied really DO think there is a more profound message to send and that would be by honoring her with the Nobel Prize for Peace. And trust me I will be advocating for that as well.

Lawrence O'Donnell takes on religious extremism.

This segment was actually broadcast on Wednesday but I could not fit it in yesterday with all of the breaking news. But that is okay because it is certainly just as relevant today as it would be on in other day.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

What an amazing young lady. And what an absolutely shameful, and cowardly way for these intolerant bastards to respond to the progress that will surely come their way eventually, regardless of how hard they fight it.

And Lawrence is right that the Christian Bible is JUST as violent and dangerous as the Qaran.  It is only because of the more progressive society which surrounds us that we do not have similar incidents in this country.

President Obama's 60 Minutes interview: "We don't trot out this stuff as trophies."

I found this to be an extremely interesting interview by Steve Kroft.

There is no grandstanding by our President, no swagger, and no attempt to paint himself as being super cool or lacking self doubt. Throughout the interview he comes off as honest, proud of those who made this mission possible, and humble concerning the part that he played in achieving something that his predecessor simply could not make happen.

This President has done, and continues to do, something I feared might never be possible again.  He has made me proud of my country.  Not because of any simple minded blind allegiance to a piece of colored cloth, or because I fear being called unpatriotic, but because now this President is working hard to EARN our confidence in him and our faith in this country.

Is he perfect? 

Oh hell no!

But is he such a huge step up from our LAST President that he seems to have single-handedly resurrected pride in our nation?  Oh hell yes!

(H/T to the Huffington Post.)

Video of the President's speech about the death of Bin Laden last night.

You can find the text here.

Maybe there IS a job in politics for Sarah Palin. Okay stop shaking your head and just read the post. Sheesh!

Right after Palin was plucked from the wilds of Wasilla and deposited lipstick first into the whirlwind of presidential politics there was a lot of criticism about her lack of experience with foreign leaders.  So in typical GOP style she was offered up to a number of foreign dignitaries in a kind of diplomatic speed dating.

One of the dignitaries she met was newly elected Pakinstani President Ali Zardari who simply could NOT contain his excitement at meeting the person who would soon be Alaska's biggest embarrassment.

Here watch the meeting for yourself:



Wow! Just look at how uncomfortable Palin was in that clip!  She looked like she wanted to get away from the Pakistani President just as fast as her skinny little legs would carry her.

So here is my idea.  Why doesn't Obama appoint her as our ambassador to Pakistan?

It would finally give her a REAL job so she could stop milking the old ladies and shut ins that keep contributing to SarahPAC AND she could finally get out of the country and start working on her foreign relations experience. You betcha!

Plus Zardari would be so infatuated with her that he would agree to just about ANYTHING we asked him to do.

Yeah I know what you are thinking "Gryph she could sabotage the President's plans by using her charms to seduce Zardari into ignoring Obama and instead attacking Iran or something!"

Highly doubtful.  Sarah doesn't even let TODD touch her anymore. I really don't think she would let the Pakistani President play with her Mama Grizzly teats just to derail Obama's hopes for establishing peace in the Middle East. Plus she would be working under Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and in a conflict between the two of them who do YOU really believe would come out ahead?

Personally I think the idea is brilliant!

Well okay, maybe not brilliant.

Iraqis angry that American justice allows Blackwater murderers to get off scot free.

Iraqis seeking justice for 17 people shot dead at a Baghdad intersection responded with bitterness and outrage Friday at a U.S. judge's decision to throw out a case against a Blackwater security team accused in the killings.

The Iraqi government vowed to pursue the case, which became a source of contention between the U.S. and the Iraqi government. Many Iraqis also held up the judge's decision as proof of what they'd long believed: U.S. security contractors were above the law.

"There is no justice," said Bura Sadoun Ismael, who was wounded by two bullets and shrapnel during the shooting. "I expected the American court would side with the Blackwater security guards who committed a massacre in Nisoor Square."

I had such high hopes for this administration and I find myself disappointed over and over again. These Blackwater (Or if you prefer Xe) mercenaries have demonstrated themselves to be trigger happy killers and yet we allow them to run roughshod over the people of Iraq after supposedly liberating them from an evil dictator.

Death is death to the people of Iraq, whether it is delivered with a bullet fired from the gun of Saddam's Republican Guard or from the weapon of a Blackwater mercenary.

Of course the people of Iraq never stood a chance of receiving justice so long as Erik Prince and his Xe "guns for hire" are currently conducting an illegal secret war in Pakistan alongside the CIA. Just imagine what kind of scandalous government secrets Eric Price has in his possession.

And if that wasn't enough to insulate Mr. Prince and his mercenaries against facing justice, we also learn from Frank Schaffer on the Brad Blog, that he has long standing ties to Christian fundamentalism.

Prince is the son of Edgar Prince. His vast wealth funded Dominionist organizations including the Moral Majority and Focus on the Family. I was connected to both groups, speaking often for Jerry Falwell, and James Dobson gave away 150,000 copies of one of my right wing “books” (A Time For Anger) in which I called for revolution against the “Left” and the “liberals.”

Erik Prince grew up with powerful leaders in the Christian Right. Prince quit a White House internship with George H.W. Bush. He said Bush was too secular. As a converted Catholic, Prince joined the Knights of Columbus. Today Prince sees himself as a Christian crusader, an armed one with a private army. Blackwater’s criminal torture of U.S. war prisoners has been documented so has employee intimidation and threats of violence. Prince sees his call to rid the world of Islam and make way for Christian hegemony.

Isn't it amazing how cozy the fundamentalist Christians in this country are with the murderers we send overseas to Muslim countries? One would almost think we were conducting Christian Crusades against our brothers in the Middle East, like the Europeans did back in the 10th century.

But surely somebody would notice if the United States were conducting a religious war, now wouldn't they?

Jon Stewart riffs on the mixed messages coming out of Pakistan.

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Nicholas Kristof's column about the efforts of Greg Mortensen to build new schools in isolated parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Since 9/11, Westerners have tried two approaches to fight terrorism in Pakistan, President Bush’s and Greg Mortenson’s.

Mr. Bush has focused on military force and provided more than $10 billion — an extraordinary sum in the foreign-aid world — to the highly unpopular government of President Pervez Musharraf. This approach has failed: the backlash has radicalized Pakistan’s tribal areas so that they now nurture terrorists in ways that they never did before 9/11.

Mr. Mortenson, a frumpy, genial man from Montana, takes a diametrically opposite approach, and he has spent less than one-ten-thousandth as much as the Bush administration. He builds schools in isolated parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan, working closely with Muslim clerics and even praying with them at times.

The only thing that Mr. Mortenson blows up are boulders that fall onto remote roads and block access to his schools.

Mr. Mortenson has become a legend in the region, his picture sometimes dangling like a talisman from rearview mirrors, and his work has struck a chord in America as well. His superb book about his schools, “Three Cups of Tea,” came out in 2006 and initially wasn’t reviewed by most major newspapers. Yet propelled by word of mouth, the book became a publishing sensation: it has spent the last 74 weeks on the paperback best-seller list, regularly in the No. 1 spot.

Now Mr. Mortenson is fending off several dozen film offers. “My concern is that a movie might endanger the well-being of our students,” he explains.

Whenever I read about somebody as inspirational as Mr. Mortensen I always feel badly that I am not doing more. I mean I type on this blog and hope that somebody is seeing the world a little differently or learning something that the power brokers do not want them to see, but I have not even built a birdhouse much less a school in an impoverished area of the world.

So please read the above story and perhaps you will be inspired to do something that will make the world a better place.

I did feel a little better after finding out that Mr.Mortensen was also a blogger. At least we have that in common.

How do you say "oops" in Pakistani?

Relations between Washington and the new government in Islamabad have been dealt a severe blow after Pakistan angrily denounced the "unprovoked and cowardly" killing of 11 soldiers in a US air strike near the Afghan border.

The attack, which took place in the volatile tribal areas and is believed to have been carried out by a pilotless drone, is likely to sour ties between the Pakistani and American military and deepen public resentment of Pakistan's role in the so-called war on terror.

How arrogant and dismissive must America appear to these people when we send a machine to do our killing for us while our soldiers stay safe and secure many miles away from the carnage?

This kind of disconnect makes it easy to think of these deaths as simply residual damage.

And the truly sad thing is it appears this is not unusual: While it is widely believed that previous US air strikes have killed Pakistani civilians, and possibly troops, only for responsibility to be taken by the Pakistanis themselves for political reasons, yesterday's condemnation by Islamabad broke new ground.

Parade magazine publishes interview with Benazir Bhutto without any acknowledgement that she has been dead for almost two weeks!

In a moment worthy of 'Dewey Beats Truman,' Sunday's Parade Magazine went out in newspapers all across the country with a blaring cover headline: "'I Am What The Terrorists Most Fear': Is Benazir Bhutto America's best hope against al-Qaeda?" Uhm...we sure hope not!

The article inside begins with an interior sub-headline that reads, "As Benazir Bhutto seeks a return to power, Tuesday's election in Pakistan could profoundly affect the fight against terrorism," and quotes supporters of Bhutto who chant, "Long live Benazir!" What it does not contain is any acknowledgment, anywhere, that Bhutto died ten days ago.

I read this yesterday and for a moment thought that I had slipped back through time.

I looked everywhere for some notation that Bhutto was no longer with us, and found nothing!

This is why the print media is rapidly losing its audience. I mean if you were a Parade reader without a television or Internet access, you may still believe that Benazir Bhutto was still among the living.

Was Bhutto killed because she was about to drop a dime on Musharaff?

The day she was assassinated last Thursday, Benazir Bhutto had planned to reveal new evidence alleging the involvement of Pakistan's intelligence agencies in rigging the country's upcoming elections, an aide said Monday.

Bhutto had been due to meet U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Rep. Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., to hand over a report charging that the military Inter-Services Intelligence agency was planning to fix the polls in the favor of President Pervez Musharraf.

Safraz Khan Lashari, a member of the Pakistan People's Party election monitoring unit, said the report was "very sensitive" and that the party wanted to initially share it with trusted American politicians rather than the Bush administration, which is seen here as strongly backing Musharraf.

What stands out the most for me in this report is that Bhutto put the Bush administration in the same category as Musharraf, who she believed was actively trying to do her harm.

So if this report had any damning evidence against the Bush administration was that a motive for them to give the okay to take Bhutto out?

What do you think?

New video shows that Bhutto was shot. Pakistan government caught in obvious lie.

At first I could not imagine why the Pakistan government would try to fabricate a cause of death for Benazir Bhutto in conflict with the eyewitness reports.

But then I came to realize that they are desperate to keep her from being named a martyr which will dramatically increase her influence with the Pakistanis, and give her party much more influence.

However in the future I suggest that the Pakistan government take some lessons from our government in how to lie to its people. She died from hitting her head on the door handle? That is the dumbest lie I have heard in a long time.

I don't know what happens in Pakistan next, but I would be willing to bet that it is not going to be a safe palce to visit anytime soon.

Young Pakistanis believe that Osama Bin laden is a CIA agent.

There is no doubt in the minds of most of us that we have been lied to repeatedly by this administration.

The only question remaining is how deep do those lies go?