The Arab American News
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Christian Zionist gathering mired in controversy
OAKLAND (IPS) � The battle lines over Pastor John Hagee have been drawn, redrawn, and are no doubt being drawn again as this is being written. The San Antonio, Texas-based mega-preacher with the multi-million-dollar empire has always been controversial, but these days, the pastor is a lightning rod for critics. And as...
Obama visits Detroit, upsets Muslims
June 20th, 20080 More than 20,000 people attended Barack Obama's rally at Joe Louis Arena on June 16, and most of them went home happy. But two Muslim women went home confused and angry after they were asked to move from view of the camera at the rally. Hebba Aref, a University of Michigan graduate and lawyer, was told by a volunteer that she...
ADC Convention: Election year meet brings activists together
June 20th, 20080 WASHINGTON � Arab Americans from around the country gathered in Washington, D.C. last weekend to attend the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)'s Annual National Convention at the Grand Hyatt Washington. Founded in Washington, D.C. by U.S. Senator Jim Abourezk in 1980, ADC serves as the country's largest and most...2008 Arab International Festival
Dearborn � The nation's largest Arab festival, with 300,000 people expected to attend, is set to begin Friday at 5 p.m. A half-mile stretch along Warren Avenue between Schaefer Road and Wyoming Avenue will turn into the 13th Annual Arab International Festival for the weekend, with a last musical performance scheduled at the main...
Van crashes into pharmacy
June 20th, 20080 Dearborn � A large van smashed into a south-end pharmacy early Tuesday morning in an apparent act of vandalism that destroyed a wall, six aisles of over-the-counter merchandise and some prescription drugs. Owners of the company, Sheba Pharmacy, 10136 Vernor Highway, said nothing was stolen. Co-owner Dean Murshed said he...
Athlete excels in three different sports
June 13th, 20080 For most student-athletes, balancing one varsity sport and schoolwork is difficult enough. But for Bilal Baydoun of Dearborn's Fordson, the challenge of competing in three varsity sports was just too enticing to pass up. The recently-graduated senior played football and basketball, and competed in track and field events...Specialty schools meet increasing need
DEARBORN � There are teenagers who can't wait to get out of high school and go to college, and there are teenagers who can't wait to get out of high school and go to work. Both sets of students need help preparing for what comes next, and Dearborn Public Schools has two programs in place to try to provide for those on each end of...Diversity-themed student photo program in the running for national education award
DEARBORN � SURA Arts Academy, a free, diversity-themed digital photography instruction program for children run by the Arab American National Museum (AANM), has emerged from among 320 nominations to become one of 50 semifinalists for the 2008 Coming Up Taller Award. Presented by the President�s Committee on the Arts and...Salon provides customer service that inspires loyalty
DEARBORN � While I.Design Hair Spa isn't in the same area as other salons who specialize in satisfying Arab clients, that doesn't mean they don't take the same challenge personally. "About 10% of our clients are Arab but we have a section for people who wear the veils and a private room for it," said manager Sue Beydoun. While...LAHC, AASF recognize middle school students
DEARBORN � The Lebanese American Heritage Club and Arab American Scholarship Foundation held their Annual VIP Student Recognition Luncheon at Lowrey Middle School in Dearborn where 122 middle school students of high academic distinction received certificates for maintaining a 3.5 GPA and above throughout the year. Qualified...National ADC convention to begin Friday
Washington � The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) is set to begin the 2008 National Convention on Friday. The event is titled "Securing the Principles of Liberty," and will take place over the weekend, June 13-15, at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in Washington, DC. Day 1 Dr. Hussein IbishFriday's...The American war machine heads for Iran
It is as if the invasion of Iraq either never happened or was a stunning success. The drumbeat for harsher measures against Iran is taking a strikingly familiar path to the buildup to the Iraq invasion six years ago, according to a new organization in Washington, DC. Last week, an advertisement appeared in Capitol Hill...Israel and the Samson defense
At a gathering last May 26, Jimmy Carter said Israel possesses 150 nuclear weapons. Carter's revelation is the first credible public acknowledgment by a former U.S. president that Israel possesses a nuclear arsenal. Israel has never admitted having nuclear weapons, nor has any U.S. official ever deviated from that Israeli line. But...Obama, Israel and AIPAC
After months of a tough and bitter race, a merciless struggle, Barack Obama has defeated his formidable opponent, Hillary Clinton. He has wrought a miracle: for the first time in history a black person has become a credible candidate for the presidency of the most powerful country in the world. And what was the first thing he did...Deadly fallout from Obama’s groveling before Israel lobby
Like a Muslim undertaking the Hajj, the once in a lifetime trip to Mecca, or a Catholic chancing to see the Pope speak from his Vatican window, presidential candidates seemingly long to trudge to the annual AIPAC conference to pay fealty to Israel and its lobby. This year we were fortunate enough to witness John McCain, Barack......
This and that on reasonable accommodation
June 13th, 20080 The hearings and the report of Quebec's Bouchard-Taylor Commission on Reasonable Accommodations covered many topics. Let's look at three areas. To begin, the hearings elicited some hankering after the past, before the Quiet Revolution that unseated the Catholic Church from its power. Some of the witnesses protested the...Bush forced to rethink plan to keep Iraq bases
Faced with Iraqi anger over a U.S. plan to enable Washington to keep military forces in the country indefinitely, George Bush is offering concessions to the government of Nouri al-Maliki in an effort to salvage an agreement, it emerged yesterday. The proposed terms of the impending deal, which were first revealed in The......
Celebrities and celebration take their toll
BEIRUT (IPS) � In the dark streets across from the main Hamra road, one of the major commercial arteries in the Lebanese capital Beirut, light streams from behind the drapes of a first floor apartment. A politician's speech blaring from a TV resonates loudly in the night. As music cues the closing credits of the show, sudden...Israel detains Fulbright scholars in Gaza
Gaza City � Zohair Abu Shaban graduated at the top of his 2007 class in electrical engineering at the Islamic University here and after a lengthy application process, he was awarded the U.S. State Department's prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to study in Connecticut. But first Mr. Abu Shaban has to get out of Gaza. So far, that's...Was Obama’s rhetoric on Israel for real?
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) � When Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic candidate for the November U.S. presidential elections, addressed one of the most influential pro-Israeli lobbying groups last week, he offered himself as a more trusted ally of Israel than his rival, Republican candidate John McCain. In his address to the...Fearing escalation, Pentagon fought Cheney plan
WASHINGTON (IPS) � Pentagon officials firmly opposed a proposal by Vice President Dick Cheney last summer for airstrikes against Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) bases by insisting that the administration would have to make clear decisions about how far the United States would go in escalating the conflict with Iran,......
Israeli attack looking more likely
JERUSALEM (IPS) � The likelihood of a large-scale Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip has crept closer as more rockets continue to land in southern Israel and another Israeli was killed by a mortar shell, further hardening attitudes amongst senior ministers against a proposed truce with Hamas. Speaking to reporters aboard...Ahmadinejad faces heavyweight foe in Larijani
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) � This week, Iran's new speaker of Parliament, Ali Larijani, proposed forming two joint committees of the legislative and judiciary branches in an effort to reconcile new legislation with the Islamic penal code. The step is viewed as part of Larijani's enthusiasm to build strategic alliances within Iran's......
McCain makes stuff up
For years now, the U.S. political press corps has traveled with John McCain on his "Straight Talk Express," buying into his image as a paragon of truth-telling. But the real truth is that McCain routinely makes stuff up, as he did on June 11 in lying about Barack Obama's "bitter" comment. During a political talk in Philadelphia,...
Supreme Court delivers death blow to Gitmo
June 13th, 20080 The June 12 ruling by the Supreme Court in Boumediene v. Bush delivered a dramatic blow to the president's lawless detention policies and overturned an effort by the previous Congress to eliminate the centuries-old right of habeas corpus. The ruling means that prisoners at the U.S. military base at Guantan�mo Bay, who have been held......
