August 31, 2010 | 6:31 pm

The war in Iraq is over—let’s hope

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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President Obama announced tonight from the Oval Office that the war in Iraq is over. Via The New York Times:

In an address from the Oval Office – only his second as president – Mr. Obama reminded Americans that, in giving responsibility for Iraqi security to the Iraqis, he was fulfilling a promise he made while running for office. He conceded that Americans are ‘’understandably asking tough questions’’ about Afghanistan, but urged the nation to stick with him on that war.

“We must never lose sight of what’s at stake,’’ Mr. Obama said. Sounding much like his predecessor, former President George W. Bush, he warned, “As we speak, al Qaeda continues to plot against us.’’

But it was clear that, at a time when Americans are anxious about the economy, Mr. Obama also wanted to use the address to pivot toward problems at home. As he praised the courage and resolve of the American troops, he reminded the nation of the blood and treasure that had been spilled during the Iraq war, and said it is time for him to focus on his “central responsibility’’ as president: restoring the economic health of the nation.

So after 7/5 years, that’s it. Hopefully this announcement will mean more than President Bush’s May 1, 2003 “mission accomplished” speech.

Questions about whether religious chasms can ever be crossed in Iraq remain. I just hope that all those years, all those billions of dollars and—most costly of all—all those lives lost purchased something more than a new corrupt and fractured government.

August 31, 2010 | 9:34 am

A portrait of the NYC mosque imam

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

And now for your daily dose of Near Ground Zero Mosque stories. This installment, from the AP, concerns Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the leader of the Park51 Islamic center project:

“He is one of the really important Muslim leaders in America, working for and working with other religions,” said the Rev. James Parks Morton, the former dean of the Episcopal Cathedral of St. John the Divine who has known Rauf and his family for more than 30 years. “He’s a very, very conciliatory, intellectual guy.”

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Rauf rarely deviates in his interviews, speeches and books from a core message of the need for interfaith dialogue to resolve religious conflicts. What emerges is a portrait of a man who has passionately argued that Islam is inherently compatible with American life, and that each is enriched by the other.

He has strongly opposed acts of violence in the name of Islam.

Despite this softball opening and the fact that Rauf wouldn’t speak with the AP, reporter Christian Salazar does a good job of investigating Rauf’s past statements to a handful of less visible media outlets.

Overall, Salazar paints a portrait of a moderate Muslim getting a raw deal. I’m not really sure how that jives with the quote Salazar includes in which Rauf refuses to call Hamas a terrorist organization. He concludes with Rauf talking about the purpose of the Islamic center:

“Our stated objective is to establish this as a launching point, as a headquarters if you want, of a global understanding, of a moderate Islam that is true to its fundamental principles,” he told the New York-based Intersections International, a group that has endorsed the Islamic center. “And to accuse us as being the opposite of that flies in the face off our stated vision, our mission, my track record and everything I’ve ever done or stood for.”

Read the rest here.

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August 30, 2010 | 9:37 pm

Dodgers divorce mess rolls on

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

No religion angle here, but the Dodgers definitely need an angel right about now. Manny Ramirez is gone, the playoffs are most likely out too, and now the city of Los Angeles has to wait for potentially more disappointment. The McCourt mess, via the Los Angeles Times:

The question is does he own the team or do they own it jointly? Frank McCourt wants the court to enforce a post-marital agreement—signed in 2004 by both spouses—that says he is the sole owner of the team and that she is the sole owner of the couple’s homes. But Jamie argues that the agreement should be thrown out.

There are two different versions of the agreement that the McCourts signed dividing their properties.

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Steve Susman, Frank McCourt’s attorney, argued Monday that Jamie McCourt would like to be “the first divorce lawyer to claim she didn’t understand her own postnuptial agreement.”

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August 30, 2010 | 9:10 pm

Elie Wiesel to teach at Chapman University

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The Jewish Journal’s cub reporter Tom Tugend has big news about the most recognizable Holocaust survivor around:

Elie Wiesel will travel to Orange County next spring, and in each of the following four years, to teach at Chapman University, a private institution founded by a Christian denomination.

Appointment of the Nobel Laureate, author and Holocaust survivor as Distinguished Presidential Fellow was announced by Chapman President Jim Doti.

According to a Chapman news release, Wiesel noted that “On my two visits to Chapman University I was profoundly impressed by the quality of the students and faculty, in particular Dr. Marilyn Harran, and by the way the university is teaching and remembering some of the most tragic events in human history, events that have had such a deep influence upon my life.”

Harran, a professor of religion, was instrumental in starting the university’s Holocaust studies program 10 years ago and directs the Rodgers Center for Holocaust Education.

Chapman University is located in Orange, some 45 miles south of Los Angeles, and was founded in 1861 by members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). During the 1920s, while located in Los Angeles, it was known as the California Christian College.

Wiesel, who lives in New York is a professor of humanities at Boston University, and Chapman officials have not yet finalized the extent of his duties or length of stay.

Not sure how much he’ll be paid for the teaching fellowship. But, after Bernard Madoff, Wiesel, or at least his foundation, could use the money.

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August 30, 2010 | 7:41 am

Obama still answering questions on Islam

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

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

The big news last week was that nearly one-fifth of Americans still believe that President Obama is Muslim. He’s not, but he’s keeping that story in the news by addressing it Sunday in New Orleans. Via the AP:

In an interview broadcast on “NBC Nightly News,” the president blamed the confusion over his religious beliefs on “a network of misinformation that in a new media era can get churned out there constantly.”

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“I’m not gonna be worrying too much about whatever rumors are floating on out there,” Obama said Sunday. “If I spend all my time chasing after that, then I wouldn’t get much done.”

Obama certainly has had to deal with a lot of insane rumors.

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August 29, 2010 | 12:45 pm

Why no one cares that Ken Mehlman is gay

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Ken Mehlman’s revelation that he is gay hasn’t received quite the media reaction I would have expected. Mehlman, after all, was chairman of the Republican National Committe and President Bush’s campaign chief in 2004. Surely that’s worth a little more newsink than it has received:

The Washington Post, a mainstay of political coverage, devoted one paragraph to the news in the “Reliable Sources” gossip column on an inside page of the Style section. On the Web, the Post covered the announcement in its “Politics and Policy” blog. The New York Times placed a nine-paragraph story on page A-16 of its Washington edition. The Wall Street Journal did not have a story in the print edition but ran a brief item on a blog covering the private equity industry. Mehlman is now executive vice president of KKR, a New York City-based private equity firm. The announcement appeared in RealClearPolitics.com’s “More Political News” section, after an item on protests Thursday by a flotilla of New England fisherman off the Obamas’ vacation island.

One theory I have for the scant interest: Mehlman isn’t Larry Craig or Mark Sanford. He’s not an elected politician. And he’s Jewish.

Or it just might be that, as Bill Maher claims in the four-year-old clip above from “Larry King Live,” that plenty of people in Washington already knew that Mehlman was gay.

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August 29, 2010 | 10:04 am

Comparing Glenn Beck to Billy Graham

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The above video really underplays the religion them in Glenn Beck’s “Restoring Honor” rally yesterday. It’s been a central debate over the past few days of Christians leaders because Beck is Mormon and evangelical Christian leaders have mixed feelings about whether Beck is “being used by God.”

The question for many is whether a Mormon has the same vision for an America led by God than an evangelical. (We heard this when Mitt Romney was running for the Republican presidential nomination.) I’m more concerned with who the Mormon is.

From CNN.com:

Among those surprised by all of conservative TV host Glenn Beck’s recent religious talk - including at Saturday’s Washington rally, where Beck said that “America today begins to turn back to God,” - is the Rev. Richard Land, a Southern Baptist leader.

“I’ve been stunned,” said Land, who directs public policy for the Southern Baptist Convention and who attended the Saturday rally at Beck’s invitation.

“This guy’s on secular radio and television,” Land said Saturday, “but his shows sound like you’re listening to the Trinity Broadcasting Network, only it’s more orthodox and there’s no appeal for money ... and today he sounded like Billy Graham.”

Beck’s speeches around his “Restoring Honor” rally have brimmed with religious language: “God dropped a giant sandbag on his head” to push him to organize the rally, he said Friday.

Poor Billy Graham ...

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August 28, 2010 | 5:40 pm

The Disneyland hijab mess

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Stop me if you’ve heard this one:

A woman who accused the Disney Co. of discrimination for refusing to let her wear a Muslim head scarf at work says she won’t wear a specially designed hat instead.

Imane Boudlal, who’s a restaurant hostess at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, says Disney’s suggested hat-and-bonnet is embarrassing and makes a joke of her religion.

She has gone home without pay seven times rather than remove her hijab or accept jobs away from customers.

That’s from the Associated Press. As a 2L whose legal writing sample concerns reasonable accommodation of an employee’s religious belief, I a) am an expert in this field; and b) have to agree with the Disney spokesperson (not my wife) that this Micky Mouse organization is right in the eyes of the law.

In this case, Disney only needs to show that it either provided a reasonable accommodation or that doing so would impose undue hardship on the company or its employees. If a specially designed hat that covers the claimant’s head in the same way that a hijab would, then Disney would not need to demonstrate undue hardship.

It’s difficult to be certain without seeing the special hat, but the point of the hijab is to show modesty and piety, and I suspect the hat and bonnet would do the trick. Even if it does look a little Goofy.

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August 28, 2010 | 3:47 pm

Locusts and frogs and fire tornadoes

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

I know we’re nowhere near Passover, but this fire tornado looks awfully biblical.

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August 26, 2010 | 5:15 pm

A glimpse into Madoff’s prison life

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

The above clip is an excerpt from a CNBC episode—part of its “American Greed” series on mass swindler Bernard Madoff—that will air for the first time tonight. The Huffington Post has a second clip and offers this teaser:

When Bernie Madoff applied to run the budget of the Butner Prison’s landscaping crew, he didn’t get the job. “Yeah right I’d hire him as a clerk,” remarked the inmate in charge of the crew. “All our money’d be missing!”

Nicknamed “Camp Fluffy” for its commodious environs, Madoff’s prison even features a soundproof music room—and periodic “special treats” like popcorn and cotton candy.

Sentenced to 150 years at the Butner Federal Corrections Complex in North Carolina, Madoff apparently spends his time reading law books, John Grisham, and Dean Koontz—when he’s not working his job in the prison cafeteria.

Popcorn and John Grisham—yes, it really is hard out there for a pimp.

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August 26, 2010 | 10:01 am

What you wouldn’t expect one Christian leader to say about another

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

If you want to know what keeps Christianity Today’s web editor up at night ...

Sojourners founder Jim Wallis apologized Wednesday to Marvin Olasky for saying, “Glenn Beck lies for a living. I’m sad to see Marvin Olasky doing the same thing.”

Wallis told Christianity Today that he sent a private e-mail to Olasky and plans to speak with the editor-in-chief of World Magazine by phone on Friday.

“I was wrong, out of anger at the insinuation about the dependence on these foundations, I was wrong to imply that like Beck, Marvin lies for a living,” Wallis said. “Glenn Beck does lie for a living. Marvin Olasky doesn’t lie for a living; that’s not something I should say about a brother in Christ.”

Olasky said he would welcome an apology but had not been expecting one. “I’m always glad to talk with Jim,” he said. “It’s educational and entertaining.”

Goo!

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August 25, 2010 | 9:11 am

About that NYC Judenrat ...

Posted by Brad A. Greenberg

Crazy talk from Mark Williams, former Tea Party Express spokesman, who apparently has a penchant for crazy talk. This is via TPMMuckraker and it concerns, what else, politics and the lower Manhattan Islamic center. From Williams’ blog:

“Politically correct Judenrats like New York Mayor Michael Boomberg and Scott Stringer (Manhattan Borough President) and domestic enemies who are supporting the mosque - with open ties to Islamic Terrorist organizations and supporting states are doing nothing more than erecting a giant middle finger to be trust at the victims of 911… which includes all of civilized Mankind,” Williams writes.

It’s unclear exactly what Williams means by the term “Judenrats,” but as you can see from the context, it’s highly unlikely he’s using the word as a term of endearment. As you may or may not remember from your World War II history, a Judenrat were the local Jewish councils that Nazis put in charge of administering the ghettos. Not exactly the kind of thing most people often call American Jewish politicians like Bloomberg and Stringer.

While Williams’ exact feelings toward Bloomberg and Stringer may be somewhat difficult to decipher, as usual, his feelings toward Muslims are not. One of Williams’ most talked about posts as a blogger came back in May when he—as part of his vehement protest of the Cordoba House project—wrote that Muslims were “animals of Allah” and they worship a “monkey god.” On the new post, he features an image of a hideous Satan-like creature with a word “Prophet” written above it, presumably a reference to Muhammad.

I too am unsure what Williams meant by Judenrat. To be honest, I think he was looking for an even uglier Nazi-era four-letter word that starts with a “k” and ends with an “o.”

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