Aziz Poonawalla: April 2009 Archives

My friend, the writer G. Willow Wilson, is the author of the comic book series AIR which has been getting rave reviews and recognition. But AIR is more than a book, it's also a cause! I'll let Willow explain:

Whacky as it is, AIR is a book with a message. So, for every copy of AIR bought this May Day (Friday, May 1st), I will donate $1 to the Koru Foundation, a UK-based charity that helps impoverished communities the world over develop low-cost renewable energy projects, bringing climate-friendly electricity to villages without a single light bulb. Ironically, the people most threatened by climate change are those who had the least responsibility in creating it. I saw this firsthand in North Africa, where desertification is already destroying ancient farming cultures. By acting now, we can help ease the burden on our planet while bringing power to communities without it.

Here is what to do:

1. On Friday, May 1st, click here to purchase a copy of AIR: Letters from Lost Countries from Amazon.com
2. Email info [at] gwillowwilson [dot] com. Write 'May Day AIRlift' in the Subject line. In the body of the email, copy and paste your Amazon order number. Do NOT include any financial information, your address, or anything else! Just the order number.
3. Sit back, wait for your book to arrive, and feel good about having done something for our planet.

Pretty easy, no? So all you have to do is buy the book on May 1st and then email her with the details.

In addition to buying my own copy, I plan to make no new posts on this blog until May 2nd, to keep the focus on AIRlift where it belongs. See you on the weekend!

This is a great article in the London Review of Books about Islamic finance, in the context of the global banking crisis. I found this excerpt particularly insightful: 

One of the central differences between the Islamic and conventional approaches to finance is that our own cults - which may well see a revision before the end of this crisis - ascribe supernatural powers to money. Cult specialists are at great pains to understand and control how it works, but admit that it does so in magical ways that go beyond the effects of human commerce (for the markets, too, have magical attributes, including innate goodness). Whatever we want from money, we suspect, as devotees, that in the end it will always behave as it sees fit. Our awe of it is a bit like a rapt meditation on the way the shower of gold behaves - shimmering and falling - when it cascades over Danaë in her cloister in Argos. In the story, it's merely the form chosen by Zeus for her seduction, but in our meditation, there is no Olympian in disguise and no intention to seduce, just the metal shimmering and falling, in consummate self-expression, as deity and dogma. Islamic approaches - there are quite a few - are much closer to Nonconformist and Anglican traditions, where the divinity stands to the side of money, reminding the faithful that he is one thing and mammon another. Money, in this view, is an object of caution rather than superstition - and, in spite of its dangers, a useful tool for anyone who wants to build a respectable world, with God's instructions pinned to the wall above the workbench.

The news first broke on twitter, by @marcambinder, and was later confirmed by Chris Cillizza and Redstate: formerly Republican Senator Arlen Specter will switch parties and become a Democrat, giving the Dems a 60-seat majority in the Senate.

Here's the complete statement from Sen. Specter:  

In my last post I made the mistake of asserting that swine flu was not yet contagious between humans - that's not true and it's why the disease is being taken seriously by the health community. I think it is important to recognize that the reason we can snark about the public paranoia about swine flu is precisely because of the government response. I am strongly asserting that there's no reason for panic or concern among ordinary folk; I am not asserting that the government is "over-reacting" or otherwise engaged in hype or whatnot.

As with all things, of course, swine flu is already politicized - see here, here and here if you can stomach it. I don't have much to comment on that, aside from simply noting that the acting chief of HHS (a Bush appointee) is qualified to do the job, so the delayed confirmation of Sebelius for HHS is not a factor in the public health response. The procedures for preparation for pandemics date from 9-11 and were substantially revised after the SARS outbreak a few years ago, so things really are under control.

The swine flu craziness is not limited to the usual political arena, though. Governments are getting in on the act, too - for example, Israel is mandating it be called "Mexico Flu" instead of "swine flu" because the latter is not kosher. Seriously. Meanwhile, Indonesia is playing the "Western oppression" card:

Falling short of elaboration, Indonesian Health Minister Siti Fadilah Supari said on Tuesday that the deadly swine flu virus could have been genetically engineered. She had earlier accused Western governments of making and spreading viruses in developing countries to boost pharmaceutical companies' profits.

Since 2006, Indonesia has refused to share all of its bird flu virus samples with WHO researchers, citing fears that the system is being abused by rich countries to produce profitable vaccines, which impoverished nations have to buy.

The fact that the new virus causing an avian-human-swine flu first occurred in Mexico -- where pigs and birds are rarely raised together -- has also raised suspicion that the rare combination of more than two different flu viruses could have been genetically-engineered as a form of bio-weaponry.

They do have a point beneath the crazy, though - rich Western nations should indeed partially subsidize the cost of vaccines to poorer ones. There was a plan back in 2006 by the G-8 countries to try and address the problem but that fell through; hopefully this is something that can be revisited. As far as the flu being a bio-weapon, though, well, shhh....

Worth reiterating - related and highly recommended: interview this morning of Dr. Dennis Maki, senior epidemiologist at the University of Wisconsin, by Joy Cardin on WPR. Also here's the official page at the CDC for latest info on swine flu outbreaks. Finally, see Rabbi Brad's comment on the kosherification of the flu in Israel. 

Well, I am back from Oahu and find that in my absence, the world has returned to the brink of collapse, this time not from wayward financial systems or legions of mole men, but the devastating specter of the Swine Flu.

What is swine flu? It appears to be a variant of influenza that originates in swine, originating in Mexico.  While there's not much evidence yet as to how contagious the swine flu virus may be between humans, the swine flu meme, however, has already infected twitter and the political blogsphere.

But how seriously do the experts take it? Consider the latest report from the WaPo, breathlessly titled, "WHO Raises Global Threat Level As Reports of Swine Flu Increase." Reading this, you learn that the World Health Organization (WHO) has "raised its pandemic threat level from 3 to 4, two levels below a full-scale pandemic" and that cases of swine flu have spread to Israel and New Zealand. However, digging a bit deeper into the article beyond the lede, we find:

At the epicenter of the outbreak, in Mexico, the situation continued to deteriorate. Although the number of confirmed deaths remained at 20, the suspected death toll rose to 149, and at least 1,995 people had been hospitalized with pneumonia. The news prompted officials to shut down schools nationwide. The capital, Mexico City, where most of the cases have been reported, had already been brought to a virtual standstill by measures intended to contain the outbreak.

New Zealand's health ministry said today that three people who tested positive for the virus had been part of a school group that recently visited Mexico,. Reuters reported. Officials told the news service that they were awaiting test results for the other eight people in the group but expected them to test positive as well.

The 26-year-old man found to be suffering from the virus in Israel also had just returned from Mexico, officials said. Matilda Schwartz, spokeswoman for Laniado Hospital in Netanya, said the patient remained in isolation. She said he was in good condition and improving. A second person remains under observation in a hospital in the town of Kfar Saba, north of Tel Aviv, officials said. U.S. and state health officials, meanwhile, said yesterday that the number of confirmed cases had more than doubled to 45 and recommended that Americans put off unnecessary travel to Mexico. "This is out of an abundance of caution," said Richard E. Besser, acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

"We want to be aggressive and take bold action to minimize the impact on people's health from this infection," Besser said during a briefing with reporters.

Most of the new U.S. cases were tied to an outbreak at a Catholic high school in New York, where more than 100 students got sick last week after several returned from a spring break trip to Mexico. Eight students were confirmed to have swine flu on Sunday, and at least 20 more were determined Monday to have the virus as well, New York officials said. The new cases are the result of additional testing and not a sign that the infection is still spreading there, Besser said. He added that all the cases were mild, except for one that required hospitalization, and that all the students had recovered.

So, this deadly killer hasn't actually killed anyone abroad, and the deaths in mexico have been contained. The virus does not appear to be spreading and is pretty straightforward to treat.

The simple truth is that swine flu is like any other flu - the best defense against it is to wash your hands, especially before eating and drinking. Especially in Mexico, but that's just common sense. Of course, it helps to have religious restrictions against pork in times like this (though that guy in Israel should probably feel a bit ashamed of himself). Christians, meanwhile, are due a gigantic I Told You So from pastor Joel Osteen.

I am attending the ISMRM conference in Honolulu this week, which is why I've been understandably distracted these past few days :)I was rather curious about the muslim presence here in paradise, and it turns out that Hawai'i has a...

This is a guest post by Hussein Rashid In the contemporary period Shi'ah is the standard short form for Shi'ah Ali, the Partisans of Ali. The Shi'ah have a history that goes back as far as the time of Prophet...

I don't think there's much reason yet for anyone to complain about Obama's foreign policy to the Muslim world, especially given that we haven't even hit the 100-day mark yet. I personally would have preferred to see the "major...

Johann Hari has a landmark essay in The Independent "The Dark Side of Dubai" that lays bare the facade of the glittering city of Dubai, peeling away the illusion of modernity and freedom to reveal a shocking substrate of slavery...

As occurs regularly, a fantastic discussion has been unfolding at Talk Islam, initially about the comments by the Harvard muslim chaplain on the matter of the death penalty for apostasy. The story begins with a private email from the chaplain,...

Everyone is talking about pirates, and it's not even September 19th yet! Last Sunday's dramatic rescue of the captain of the Maersk Alabama was just the latest chapter in a saga that as far as the public attention span is concerned,...

Easter is celebrated to varying degrees in the Islamic world, ranging from outright illegal in Saudi Arabia to being openly celebrated in some of the Gulf States and the Far East. A natural question is, just where does Islam diverge...

This is probably more worthy of mockery than scorn:A North Texas legislator during House testimony on voter identification legislation said Asian-descent voters should adopt names that are "easier for Americans to deal with....The exchange occurred late Tuesday as the House...

Consider the classic omnipotence paradox, expressed as a logical conundrum thus: Posit an omnipotent God who created the Universe. Can God create a stone He cannot lift? If the answer is yes, then there exists a stone that God cannot...

I live in the Madison area, and had absolutely no clue that any of this drama was playing out until I overheard someone talking about it the next morning:A pilot who allegedly stole a Cessna plane from a Canadian flight...

Bahrain is aggressively courting it's tiny remnant of a Jewish community:In the tense landscape of the Middle East, there is little room left for Jewish Arabs, a tiny minority in this country as well as in places like Egypt, Morocco...

I posted the full transcript of Obama's remarks to Turkey's Parliament earlier but wanted to highlight a few passages that I think were particularly significant. For one thing, Obama strongly affirmed US support for Turkey's EU membership:The United States strongly...

Below is the full transcript to President Obama's speech in front of the Turkish Parliament. I've emphasized some key points but its worth considering the speech as a whole in terms of tone and the clear respect that Obama displays...

President Obama is visiting Turkey, which looks to be the occasion of his promised "major address" in a muslim-majority country. In some sense it's a "safe" choice, as Turkey is seeking EU membership and clearly is trying to position itself...

The Taliban's Pakistani franchise apparently suffers delusions of grandeur:PESHAWAR, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistani Taliban militant leader Baituallah Mehsud claimed on Saturday responsibility for an attack on a U.S. immigration centre in New York state in which 13 people were killed."I...

Barbarism has a name in Islam - hirabah. (WARNING - graphic violence)This is why we need a War on Terror (or better yet, a WOMBAT). It's also why I favor intervention rather than isolationism. Pursuant to the debate here at...

For over 20 years, Arab-American businessman Walid Elkhatib has run a Dunkin' Donuts franchise in a suburb of Chicago. Now, however, the Dunkin Donuts corporation has decided to single him out for his faith, revoking his franchise: An Arab-American owner...

Today is World Autism Awareness Day:On December 18, 2007, the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 62/139, tabled by the State of Qatar, which declares April 2 as World Autism Awareness Day (WAAD) in perpetuity. Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint...

My friend Razib poses an interesting question at Talk Islam asking for people's definitions of these four terms. Here are mine:racism - bias pr prejudice towards an ethnic group.anti-semitism - hatred towards Jews (or culturally affiliated persons therof)islamophobia - fear...

I am extremely happy to announce that my friend Wajahat Ali will be honored later this month as a rising muslim artist by the Muslim Public Affairs Council for his landmark play, The Domestic Crusaders. Here's the press release by...