Pierce’s persistence pays off
November 15th, 20080 This past election season was unusually long and grueling for many. But for Judge Lynne Pierce, the journey to 3rd Circuit Court started back in 2001. Her 7-year effort to make her name a familiar one throughout Wayne County came to a successful end on Nov. 4, when she was elected to fill one of three open seats on the court, along...
Detroit Mayor, police chief speak at chamber event
November 15th, 20080 Meeting introduces new chamber director Fay Beydoun DEARBORN — Detroit Mayor Kenneth Cockrel Jr. addressed a group of Arab American businesspeople Wednesday during an American Arab Chamber of Commerce (AACC) reception at Byblos Banquet Hall, as the group introduced its new executive director, Fay Beydoun, ahead of its annual banquet...
City agrees to save woman’s home despite lawsuit
November 15th, 20080 DEARBORN — The city has helped a 61-year-old woman keep her home after she claimed she was injured and lost her job when she tripped on an elevated sidewalk slab in April. Dearborn resident Maria Gavrau and her attorney Rick Martin attempt to address City Council on Nov. 3. Martin was prevented from speaking about a pending...
Local Muslims help at end of woman’s life
November 15th, 20080 Tiffany Runyon (R) poses with her young son Gabriel. Runyon passed away due to liver failure. Her two kids are now living with their grandmother. Photo courtesy of Robert Evans Planning a funeral is not something people often talk about, but Connie Yassin and her daughter Tiffany Runyon had discussed it before. They had similar...
Muslim center holds singles nights
November 15th, 20080 Singles nights are events that many different religious institutions hold to give people a chance to meet someone special who shares their beliefs in a positive environment. But when Kathleen Mary Kalil looked around the Muslim community, she didn't see the same opportunities for people to meet each other. That's why she decided to...
Intermodal rail passenger facility proposed for Dearborn
November 15th, 20080 DEARBORN — The city is inviting the public to learn about a proposed intermodal passenger train station during an open house on Tuesday, November 18 at the Ford Community & Performing Arts Center, 15801 Michigan Avenue. The open house will be inside Studio A at The Center and is scheduled for 4:30-7:30 p.m., with a 45-minute...DEARBORN HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS Dearborn High School (7-4) Last week: Lost to Southfield, 20-17 in overtime Dearborn Fordson (11-0) Last week: Beat Detroit Cody, 16-6 This week: Third round of playoffs vs. Detroit Southeastern at home, 7 p.m. FridayHealth conference draws 700 attendees
DEARBORN — The 5th National Conference on Health Issues in the Arab American Community drew in over 700 people from 15 Arab nations, 20 U.S. states, and 50 cities around the world. The conference discussed many common health concerns in the Arab American community such as the impact of tobacco use and cancer on the health of Arab...
Record turnout among Arab Americans
November 8th, 20080 DEARBORN — Ibtisam Ahmed, 38, voted for the first time on Tuesday. She became a U.S. citizen two years ago. She's been in the country for 18 years. "I felt like I was going to cry. I felt that I could actually do something," she said after voting. Ibtisam Ahmed, 38, enters her ballot for the first time on Tuesday at Woodworth...
Entire AAPAC slate emerges victorious
November 8th, 20080 DEARBORN — It was an historic triumph for the Arab American Political Action Committee (AAPAC) on Election Day as every one of their 19 endorsements emerged victorious. Husband and wife Khaled and Hana Odeh vote at McDonald Elementary School on Tuesday. PHOTOS:...Playgrounds for Palestine: One marathon at a time
My right knee is wrapped. My left ankle is iced. I lost the nail on my right big toe, and I have about 20 blisters and a similar number of bruises on both of my feet. This doesn't even begin to convey half of the story of the punishment that my body has been subjected to in recent months. Why, you ask? Because I will join Susan Abulhawa,...
The Obama revolution
November 8th, 20080 Abraham Lincoln, another president from Illinois, fought a civil war that divided a nation and succeeded in uniting it again. But when he tried to take on the bankers, he got assassinated. John F. Kennedy took on Russia in the Cuban missile crisis, but when he took on the Feds, he got assassinated. They both were trying to finish a...Reading the subtext: Muslims and American politics
…all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities. — The Virginia Statute of Muqtedar Khan Religious Freedom (1786) In this presidential election cycle, American Muslims became a...Said, Halloween treat, not a trick
The late Edward Said said that the West has an imagined, false picture of the East, which he called Orientalism. Halloween weekend was the occasion for a conference held jointly at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University, dedicated to the thought of Edward Said, the Palestinian-American thinker and vocal advocate for the...
Obama picks pro-Israel hardliner for top post of chief of staff
November 8th, 20080 During the United States election campaign, racists and pro-Israel hardliners tried to make an issue out of President-elect Barack Obama's middle name, Hussein. Such people might take comfort in another middle name, that of Obama's pick for White House Chief of Staff: Rahm Israel Emanuel. Democratic presidential nominee......
Shake-up in Dearborn School Board
November 8th, 20080 Lane unseats Dulmage, Blackburn comes back strong DEARBORN — The Board of Education will have a new look on January 1, 2009, after the Arab American community played a key role swaying a heated local election. Former board member Mary Lane unseated incumbent Sharon Dulmage, receiving 13,698 votes to Dulmage's...
Nader seeks change in two party system
November 8th, 20080 DEARBORN — Presidential candidate Ralph Nader visited the University of Michigan-Dearborn on Friday afternoon of last week in an attempt to connect with local voters before the presidential election. A photo of Ralph Nader in The Michigan Journal sits in an empty section of a room as University of Michigan-Dearborn students,......
Gas station fuels election hopes
November 1st, 20080 DETROIT — The presidential campaigns of Sens. Barack Obama and John McCain have bombarded the public with images, slogans and soundbites for months, but in one Detroit neighborhood, even the corner gas station is covered with Obama logos, since its owners decided to repaint and rename the business after their favorite candidate three...War, economic collapse, peak oil and climate change
Is it writers' block, or is it that the world is in such a mess that it has simply short-circuited my mind? So many bad news scenarios present themselves on several fronts that I am somewhat amazed and dumbfounded. Is there any order, any sense to be found in the current insanity of war, economic collapse, peak oil, and climate...Nam, nehnu nastatyeh! (Yes, we can!)
GAZA CITY — This morning I walked to the Indian Ocean and made salt in defiance of the British occupation of India. This morning I marched in Selma, I stood down tanks in Tiananmen Square, and I helped tear down the Berlin Wall. This morning I became a Freedom Rider. The Freedom Riders of the 21st Century are sailing small boats into...Gitmo prisoners demand information from Canada
Two Guantanamo prisoners, a Mauritanian and an Algerian, who once lived for a short time in Montreal, are taking the RCMP and Canadian Security and Intelligence Agency (CSIS) to court to force them to provide details of interrogations. Mohamedou Ould Slahi and Ahcene Zemiri were interrogated at Guantanamo by agents of the RCMP and CSIS......
Haddad to lead Dearborn police
November 1st, 20080 DEARBORN — Dearborn Mayor Jack O'Reilly, Jr. on Tuesday announced the selection of a new police chief, Ronald Haddad, who is a retired deputy chief of the Detroit Police Department and a law enforcement professional of 34 years. Newly appointed Dearborn Police Chief Ronald Haddad TAAN file photo O'Reilly cited Haddad's...U.S. cutoff threat unlikely to save Iraq troop pact
WASHINGTON (IPS) — The threat by the George W. Bush administration last week to withdraw all economic and military support from the Iraqi government if it does not accept the U.S.-Iraq status of forces agreement has raised the stakes in the political-diplomatic struggle over the issue. An Iraqi woman speaks with U.S soldiers......
Forgive us our debts
Federal Reserve headquarters Four cowboys wanted to play a game of poker, but they didn't have a deck of cards. A banker offered to lend them a deck of cards, on the condition that each bring back 14 cards, and they had to leave their horses as collateral. How many cowboys get their horses back? This oldest trick in the...
Republican ad raises eyebrows
November 1st, 20080 In the final days before the election, a TV ad being run by the Michigan Republican Party in support of Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Clifford Taylor, makes use of a dark image of a Middle Eastern male, associating a Dearborn man with terrorism. Michigan Supreme Court Chief Justice Cliff Taylor, who is being challanged this......
