azizhp's blog
Posted at 8:35am on Mar. 21, 2008 post-racial politics
By azizhp
(I apologize for my liberal intrusion. It occurred to me as I wrote this for my own admittedly left-leaning blog that i was making a conservative argument. So, I offer it here for your dissection. I append a bonus quote from Daniel Larison, a more authentic conservative I am sure you will agree.)
Jerome quotes approvingly of a piece in the LA Times which argues that Obama made a huge mistake by giving his speech on race, because it didn't evaporate the Wright controversy, it just exacerbated attitudes against Obama on the matter:
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Posted at 12:12pm on Mar. 2, 2007 Happy 171st birthday...
By azizhp
Promoted from diaries. Now, everybody sing... - Moe Lane
We, therefore, the delegates with plenary powers of the people of Texas, in solemn convention assembled, appealing to a candid world for the necessities of our condition, do hereby resolve and declare, that our political connection with the Mexican nation has forever ended, and that the people of Texas do now constitute a free, Sovereign, and independent republic, and are fully invested with all the rights and attributes which properly belong to independent nations; and, conscious of the rectitude of our intentions, we fearlessly and confidently commit the issue to the decision of the Supreme arbiter of the destinies of nations.
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Posted at 3:00pm on Nov. 22, 2006 Giving thanks
By azizhp
Thanksgiving is the best holiday of the year. I find it the most authentically American holiday - who else but we would set aside a day for thanks above all else, for the bounties given us by God? On this thanksgiving I would like to say thank you and give thanks to everyone here who have made my participation at RedState so meaningful over the past few years. Especially Thomas, streiff, Paul, Pej, Leon, and Moe, but that's not to minimmize everyone else who I've interacted with in respectful debate and disucssion as well.
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Posted at 10:22am on Nov. 21, 2006 a draft proposal
By azizhp
I don't think that a draft is neccessarily a bad idea. If it's akin to National Guard service and loosely based on the mandatory service in Israel or Switzerland, a lot of good could come of it.
Rather than dismiss the draft idea from a political context, why not discuss it from a policy context?
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Posted at 5:53pm on Aug. 16, 2006 muslims-only airport line
By azizhp
I have borne the increased scrutiny that I receive at airports willingly. Not without resentment, at times, but willingly all the same.
If this comes to pass, however:
A Fox News guest proposed having a "Muslims only" line for airport travelers, an idea that "Dayside" co-host Mike Jerrick called attention to it so that viewers did not overlook the proposal.
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Posted at 10:36am on Jul. 19, 2006 silence?
By azizhp
Reading RedHot, one might conclude that the left-sphere is somehow silent on the matter of the Israel-Lebanon conflict.
Is Nation-Building blog silent?
Balloon Juice (Tim, at least)?
there were even a trio of diaries (nicely summarized by Bill White of Tacitus) at DailyKos that made it to the recommended list - one by yours truly.
I know it pains some to hear to the following, but Yglesias, Drum, and the front page of DailyKos are not the sum total of the lefty blogsphere.
The posts linked above represent a deep swath of serious analysis of the issue, and I sincerely hope that readers here will take the time to visit them and see what liberals are saying about the issue.
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Posted at 11:42am on Jul. 14, 2006 thinking outside the box on NK
By azizhp
I'd written an article at Nation-Building about the NK issue in which I propose a solution decidedly different from the standard thinking on the matter. Streiff argues in his recent post that we must end food aid, but I do believe that we have a moral obligation to not write the people of NK off. How then to escape the quandary of inaction?
read on...
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Posted at 11:46am on Jun. 12, 2006 de-legitimizing Bin Laden
By azizhp
At Dean's World, I've posted a lengthy essay on the need to de-legitimize bin Laden and the jihadi movement by demonstrating their lack of credentials to issue fatwa. It's actually an updated version of an essay I posted in 2002. To centralize discussion on the topic, I won't repost it here - please do check out Dean's World and take a look.
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Posted at 4:28pm on May 22, 2006 on faith
By azizhp
I'd written some thoughts on faith over at my blog. The key graf:
I would advise the atheist to consider agnosticism first, as a means to overcome the limitation of atheism. But then to take the next step, towards actual religion, I would argue that there needs to be a genuine recognition of a void that religion will fill. And the desire to maintain forward motion. The worst thing would be to accept a nominal faith, look up the big answer to the routine Questions (why are we here, etc) and then stop, satisfied. Religion is not atheism+god, an easy answer - it's a hard path to trod and many who claim to trod it are really just treading water without really unlocking the full potential of what faith can bring to their understanding of the universe.
I would like to solicit comments from the RedState community at the ongoing discussion there. If you've time, please do swing by and take a look, and leave your own thoughts.
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Posted at 5:11pm on May 5, 2006 Revenge of the Nerds: Al vs Newt
By azizhp
yeah it will never happen, but a Gore vs Gingrich run in 08 would just be so much fun for a change.
Policy wonkery up the wazoo... substantive issues, monotones and earth tones. I mean it would be the ultimate geek fest.
Imagine the televised debates. Charts and powerpoint slides! laser pointers! pocket protectors! Where is our technoracy that was prophesized?
seriously, Newt vs Al. It's just too good. It has to happen. Is Draft-Al-Draft-Newt.com already taken?
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Posted at 12:29pm on Apr. 19, 2006 the State and Morality
By azizhp
Is the purpose of a State (synonymous here with Nation) to enforce a "Higher Law" ?
I think it is not - to argue that the State is in the business of regulating morality seems to me to run counter to the idea that individuals are sovereign. I may be interpreting and projecting here, but individual sovereignity is the foundation (as I perceive it) of our own American Constitution - with explicit mention that the State is subservient to the Citizen, not the other way around.
The State can not be answerable to Higher Law because that is fundamentally a personal testament, not a communal one.
I am interested in others' views on this subject.
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Posted at 2:38pm on Mar. 2, 2006 An open letter to the muslims at the University of Illinois
By azizhp
I apologize to everyone on my last diary who asked questions to which I have not replied. I will try, though Real Life intrudes.
I wanted to simply share another link, this time from Ali Eteraz, another muslim blogger. In it, he details his involvement in the Cartoon controversy, specifically chastising the muslim students association for their utterly abdication of their responsibility to use their media exposure for a genuine cause - instead, they wasted it on a trivial matter by falsely attempting to suggest a latent Islamophobia in America.
That there are Islamophobes in the US is not a matter of dispute; but the assertion that the environment in America is equivalent to that in Europe is quite easily refuted. Ali does a fine job of making the case - though he starts out with the relevant backstory first. It is a worthy read.
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Posted at 4:43pm on Mar. 1, 2006 Shari'a
By azizhp
A recent Diary notes with alarm a poll that suggests a sizable fraction of British muslims desire Sharia. I also note that Moe and kingronjo provided a valuable service of breakdown of the Zogby poll results regarding the troops. How are these things related? read on...
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Posted at 1:27pm on Feb. 5, 2006 my own protest
By azizhp
I have reproduced some depictions of the Prophet SAW on my blog. I think that the way I have done it honors free speech without undermining the rhetoric of liberty that I, being pro-victory in Iraq, want to see come to fruition. The other protests in the name of free speech, on RedState and elsewhere, only serve to lend aid and comfort to the enemies of that freedom.
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Posted at 1:51pm on Jan. 24, 2006 abortion axioms
By azizhp
With characteristic clarity, Josh distilled the abortion issue into a number of very basic questions that are worth addressing:
Is an abortion the killing of a child? Is it the killing of a person? Is it the killing of a human? When does a child, person or human lose the inherent right to live for its own sake? Who determines that point?
Let me attempt to answer.
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