Something I was linked to earler and spent the last 45 minutes watching - very good, even if you are not interested in oil.

It has humour and knowledge.

What surprised me was how World War 1 was NOT started by the assassination of a nobody, but by the British invasion of Iraq. (about 4 minutes into part 2)

Part 1:
">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kQhhrzHKMhI]

Part 2:
">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqHKwlHwXbI]

About a week before every local election my councillor, a Pakistani, goes round to several houses in the area to collect people's postal votes. He sits in the front room as the man of the house gathers the purple and white postal vote envelopes of every registered voter in his family. The councillor then tells the man of the house where to sign for himself and the rest of the family. Once the signatures have been done, the councillor takes the envelopes, ballot papers and all, with him.

All postal votes gathered in this way come from Pakistani families. Many of whom would most likely have voted for him anyway. But to save these loyal and trusted voters from the hassle of taking two minutes out of their day to go and vote at a polling station the councillor has persuaded them all to apply for postal votes – votes which can be submitted a week before polling day.

In this way, he manages to secure a landslide victory for himself and his party colleagues well before the polls even open. I would hazard a conservative guess and say that he manages to bag over one thousand votes in this way.

Another mosque and this time it's being built in a mainly non-Muslim area. So as expected, there is a protest planned against this new mosque being built. I wonder how the Muslim community will react. No doubt most of us will then want to organise a reactionary protest. But isn't that the problem? For far too long, we the Muslim community, are reactive instead of proactive. Instead of protesting, why not write to your local MP and ask them what they will do to support the new mosque. Not all MP's are anti-Muslim and if you vote, you can vote in the right one who will support what you and your community stand for. Majority of us did the same thing when the Gaza conflict was going on, we protested, while the Isreali lobby engaged in politics and got results.

Part1:
">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pykn1Cv7OrQ]
(more after the break)

Part2:
">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZwS3Xhn9oc]

It’s not been great in ‘08 and it’s not going to be fine in ‘09

When George W Bush launched the War on Terror he promised it was going to be an eternal war. Now that he’s leaving office it is up to Bush’ successor to decide where the USS Overkill will dock next. And it looks likely that whoever wins the presidential election in November Pakistan will have to watch its step.

“Hmm… why Pakistan?” I hear you ask. Well, when Bush invaded Iraq and messed everything up over there he took the focus off Osama bin Laden. Instead of seeing the Afghanistan war through to its logical conclusion – i.e. catching bin Laden, destroying al Qaeda, etc – the US got bogged down in Iraq and picked up from where Saddam left off. If Barak Obama becomes US president he would refocus US priorities towards catching bin Laden.

There, I said it.

There is plenty of other shit going on around the world too.

yes, I get that when a captured, blindfolded Palestinian is shot by a rubber bullet at point blank range, it is a travesty. But where is the love for the Kurds? how about the Muslims of southern Sudan? Somalia has been is civil war for over 15 years.

And why does have to be only about Muslims? Zimbabawe has an inflation rate of over 2.2 million - the recently released 100 billion dollar note will not even buy a loaf of bread. People are dying there and everywhere else.

Yet, the muslim community as a whole seems to focus on "the evil that is Israel". Why is that?

This must surely be an April fools joke:

[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7321964.stm wrote:

BBC News[/url]]

Turkish leaders face court case

Turkey's constitutional court has decided unanimously that it can hear a case aimed at closing down the country's governing AK Party.

The chief prosecutor earlier filed a petition calling for the party to be banned for "anti-secular activities".

He also wants 71 AKP officials, including the prime minister and president, to be banned from politics.

The case revives a battle between Turkey's secularist establishment and the AK Party of devout Muslims...

Apparently not.

A little bit of recent history... a whole lot of perspective