So what did Muslims ever do for America?

[TheBigotBasher]

Screw the right wing thugs being wheeled out as talking heads on tv objecting to Cordoba House as a "Ground Zero Mosque". And especially screw that ignoramus Larry Johnson, whose "security knowledge" CNN draws on all so often has to be questioned when he asks a question so stupid it could have come from Life of Brian.

Nice to see that in his desire to extracts $$$s from wingnuts he has back a woman, Mary Cusack, who admitted she interviewed by the Secret Service for making death threats against the President - doing the same again - making pretty similar comments again about the same President.

So you right wing screw ups what did the Muslims ever do for America?

Here are just some examples.

See this: -



The Sears Tower / Willis Tower

and this



The Hancock Tower

The structural designer was this man



From wikipedia

Fazlur Rahman Khan (Bengali: ফজলুর রহমান খান Fozlur Rôhman Khan) (April 3, 1929 - March 27, 1982), born in Dhaka, Bangladesh (erstwhile Bengal Presidency of British India), was a Bangladeshi-American architect and structural engineer. He is a central figure behind the "Second Chicago School" of architecture,<1> and is regarded as the "father of tubular design for high-rises". Khan, "more than any other individual, ushered in a renaissance in skyscraper construction during the second half of the twentieth century." He is also considered to be the "Einstein of structural engineering" and "the greatest structural engineer of the second half of the 20th century" for his innovative use of structural systems that remain fundamental to modern skyscraper construction. His most famous buildings are the John Hancock Center and the Willis Tower (formerly Sears Tower), which was the world's tallest building for several decades.

This is a brain tumour.



Until this man,



Ayub Onmaya, treatment was difficult and prone to infection. In fact, without him, many would be dead.

Ayub’s invention, the Ommaya reservoir, was the first subcutaneous reservoir that allowed for repeated intrathecal injections. Before his invention patients had to suffer repeated lumbar punctures for intrathecal drug administration. Spinal angiography was pioneered by Ommaya, Di Chiro, and Doppman. This work allowed for the visualization of arteries and veins and allowed for understanding of spinal cord arteriography. The same team reported the treatment of spinal cord AVMs by percutaneous embolization of an intercostal artery using stainless steel pellets. This was one of the first reports of interventional neuroradiology.

Ayub’s models and work in traumatic injury were foundational to the biomechanics of traumatic brain injury. This work allowed for improved modeling of brain injury by engineers in their design of safety equipment in automobiles. Ayub also published the first coma score for classification of traumatic brain injury. The most widely used contemporary classification systems follow the Ommaya approach. Ayub’s friendship with Congressman Lehman, then chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, lead to the creation of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.Each of these efforts involved collaborators who were vital to their successful conclusion.

Ayub worked with Sir Godfrey Hounsfield to determine the spatial resolution of the CT scanner which opened the door for its use in stereotactic surgery. Ayub also invented the first spinal fluid driven artificial organ.

Interventional Neuroradiology

The work of Di Chiro, Doppman, and Ommaya, and was critical to the development of spinal angiography. The visualization of arteries and veins allowed for understanding of the pathophysiology of spinal AVMs in addition to classification of lesions. Di Chiro, Ommaya, and Doppman also reported one of the earliest interventional radiology approaches using stainless steel pellets to treat a spinal cord AVM. 6 This percutaneous embolization approach was noted as less traumatic than surgical treatment by the authors and represented another step forward in pecutaneous vascular embolization as an addition the surgical armamentarium for treating certain vascular disorders of the central nervous system.

CSF Rhinorrhea

Before Ommaya’s work CSF rhinorrhea was classified as traumatic and spontaneous. The second category was essentially a waste basket which did not assist in guiding treatment approaches.14,18 Ommaya classified non traumatic rhinorrhea as resulting from high pressure leaks (tumors & hydrocephalis) and normal leaks (congenital abnormalities, focal atrophy, oysteomyelitic). Nontraumatic rhinorrhea is a challenge in diagnosis and choice of surgical approach. Of importance to successful surgical outcome is the demonstration of fistula. Among the non traumatic group, CSF rhinorrhea occurring with primary empty sella (PES) was first reported by Ommaya.31

Biomechanics of Traumatic Brain Injury

Ommaya’s cetripedal theory identified that the effects always begin at the surface of the brain in mild injury and extend inward to affect the diencephalic- mesencephalic core in more severe injury.20 His work showed that both translational and rotational acceleration produce focal lesions but that only rotational acceleration produced diffuse axonal injury. When damage is found in the rostral brainstem it is also associated with diffuse hemispheric damage. Prior to his work it was believed that that the mechanism of consciousness was linked to primary brainstem injury. However, the brainstem and mesencephalon are the last structure to be affected in severe injury, and rotational rather than translational forces produce concussion. Contact phenomenon contribute to the development of focal lesions, e.g. frontal and temporal lesions due to contact with the sphenoid bone.18 Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have supported these theories. They have confirmed that the distribution of lesions follows a centripetal pattern that follows injury severity identified by the Glascow Coma Score.

Ommaya Reservoir

Ayub Ommaya first reported the Ommaya reservoir in 1963. The reservoir is subcutaneous implant for repeated intrathecal injections, to treat hydrocephalus and malignant tumors. The reservoir was the first medical port to use silicone which is biologically inert and self sealing. The Ommaya reservoir allows delivery of intermittent bolus injections for chemotherapy to the tumor bed. Agents are injected percutaneously into the reservoir and delivered to the tumor by compression of the reservoir. The Ommaya reservoir provided a great improvement for treatment which reduces the risk of infection.

Creation of the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control

While the Chief Medical Advisor for the Department of Transportation in the 1980s, Ayub commissioned a report, Injury in America, from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) in 1985. This report and efforts by Congressman William Lehman and Dr. Ommaya lead to the creation of the Center for Disease Control's, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control which began to provide synthesis, direction, and funding for the field. Congressman William Lehman and Ayub became friends when he cared for his daughter. They had many discussions focusing on the need for a center that emphasized injury prevention and research. Congressman Lehman, then chair of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, was responsible for the initial $10 million awarded to the CDC to establish a new Center for Injury Control. 2 The FY 2008 budget for the center is $134 Million, and it funds basic and applied injury research. Ayub served on the National Advisory Committee for the Center for 15 years.

Spinal Fluid Driven Artificial Organ

Ayub has two children who suffer from Type 1 diabetes. Motivated by his personal experience with the disease, Ayub focused on the problem of transplantation of islet cells for the treatment of diabetes. A major challenge facing survival of islet cells is immune rejection. Ayub thought that the CSF would provided an ideal setting for transplanted islets due to the immune protection provided by the blood brain barrier. He developed an artificial organ which would house transplanted islets, and the cells could be nourished by the CSF. Ayub, Illani Atwater, and colleagues identified that ventricular-peritoneal CSF shunts provided an immune protected site for the transplantation of mouse and rat islets in dogs and llamas.22, 30 Ayub and colleagues also identified that CSF glucose mirrors blood glucose. Islets cells were able to survive in this system and function in the llama model, but further work on the model is needed.1 Unfortunately Ayub was not able to complete this research.

The role of emotions in consciousness

Ayub focused much of his career on the study of consciousness, the brain, and mind. This interest derived from his reading of Pennfield’s work on surgical treatment of epilepsy. His work in traumatic brain injury was influenced by his interest in how consciousness is altered and how it recovers after traumatic injury. Key to his observations is the role of the limbic system and emotion as foundational for consciousness.29 In his view, emotion is the trigger to action and other aspects of rationality are tools to justify action. Ayub saw consciousness as an emergent property of the evolution of neural structures. Consciousness is the result of evolutionary forces directed to improving the efficiency of mental function. The reintegration of thought and action after traumatic injury provided the experimental context for Ayub’s thoughts.

It is popularly assumed that emotion disrupts cognition. However neurophysiology and Ayub’s TBI research emphasizes its fundamental inseparability. Ayub defined four steps in the evolution of consciousness. 1) reflex and avoidance reactions; 2) sensory inputs merged with multisensory neurons in the mesencephalon; 3) interactions formed between sensory and limbic systems and memory; and 4) reinforcement of thalamic neural centers which relays information between sensory and motor centers. Ayub discussed how the limbic system and emotion motivates action and focuses attention.

Not a bad list of achievements for someone the likes off Palin and that disgraceful lizard



would condemn for his religion alone.

See this woman?



She is not in a veil or burka but she is a Muslim and a very high ranking diplomat for the United States of America, who served under George Bush and Barack Obama

Farah Pandith (Urdu: فرح پنڈ ت) (born on January 13, 1968 in Srinagar, Kashmir) is the first ever Special Representative to Muslim Communities for the United States Department of State. She was appointed to this position on June 23, 2009 by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and sworn in by Secretary Clinton at a ceremony at the State Department on September 15, 2009.

Pandith is an American Muslim born in India who immigrated with her mother to Massachusetts on July 4, 1969. Prior to her current appointment, she was Senior Advisor to the Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. This role was created for the first time in U.S. history. Pandith was responsible for engaging with Muslim communities in Europe.

From 2004 to 2007 Pandith worked at the National Security Council at the White House under Elliot Abrams covering a portfolio that included "Muslim engagement," countering violent extremism, and The Broader Middle East North Africa Initiative. She worked at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) from 2003 to 2004. She lived in Kabul, Afghanistan in the Spring of 2004. Before coming to government, Pandith was Vice President of International Business for ML Strategies, LLC, in Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to graduate school, she worked at USAID from 1990 to 1993.

Thanks to idiots like Queen of Quit and her bigoted fans she has an increasingly difficult job promoting the idea that America does not hate ALL Muslims.

Bushies - do you know who this man is?

Zalmay Mamozy Khalilzad (Nastaliq: زلمی خلیلزاد - Zalmay Khalīlzād) (born: 22 March 1951) is an American counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and president of Khalilzad Associates, an international business consulting firm based in Washington, DC. He was the United States Ambassador to the United Nations under President George W. Bush. He has been involved with U.S. policy makers at the White House, State Department and Pentagon since the mid-1980s, and was the highest-ranking Muslim American in the Administration of U.S. President George W. Bush. Khalilzad's previous assignments in the Administration include U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq.

If you follow Republican logic now that must make Bush a Commie Pinko Anti Murikkkan Mooslim too.

How about this man, another W appointee.

Elias A. Zerhouni (Arabic: إلياس زرهوني‎) M.D. (born 12 April 1951 in Algeria) is a world renowned leader in radiology and medical research. He was the 15th director of the National Institutes of Health, appointed by George W. Bush in May 2002. He served for 6 years, stepping down in October, 2008.

Soon after becoming the Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), in May 2002, Dr. Zerhouni convened a series of meetings to chart a "Roadmap for Medical Research" in the 21st century. The purpose was to identify major opportunities and gaps in biomedical research that no single Institute at NIH could tackle alone, but that the agency as a whole must address to make the biggest impact on the progress of medical research. Developed with input from meetings with more than 300 nationally recognized leaders in academia, industry, government, and the public, the NIH Roadmap provided a framework of priorities that the NIH as a whole must address in order to optimize its entire research portfolio. The NIH Roadmap identified the most compelling opportunities in three main areas: new pathways to discovery, research teams of the future, and re-engineering the clinical research enterprise. Roadmap programs were initially funded by a 1 percent contribution from each of the NIH ICs. Zerhouni subsequently created the Office of Portfolio Analysis and Strategic Initiatives (OPASI) to lead ongoing Roadmap efforts and to create the Research, Condition, and Disease Categorization Process (RCDC), an online system which reports NIH research investments.

Remember this man?



Lewis Arquette (December 14, 1935 – February 10, 2001)an American film actor, writer and producer. Bushies would have loved him for his role as JD Pickett on the Waltons. Well he was a scary Mooslim too.

In short, you will find Muslims in the fields of politics, art, science, entertainment, health and they even serve their Country, America, in the Military. They, Americans, who believe in Islam, serve at all levels from boots on the ground to diplomatic intelligence.

In contrast, you will find the right here -



spreading hate and lies. You only need to look here to find examples of their contributions to the greater wisdom of the World.

http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2010/08/13/barack-obama-still-tone-deaf/

[spin]

1. K&R great post! (n/t)

[wtmusic]

2. +1. nt

[Bluebear]

3. Great post, but hummus alone is enough for me to love em lol

[sarge43]

12. One word: Coffee. n/t

[elleng]

4. Thanks so much for this list!

[jtuck004]

5. I would add Algebra, but that might be painful for some ...n/t

[TheBigotBasher]

9. I wanted purely American examples.

As a direct counter to the lies told by the Right that Muslims have not contributed anything to the USA.

[jtuck004]

21. Ok. I also like to read Howard Zinn and James Loewen for the contributions

of the Western Europeans (the ancestors to many of those making claims about people of the Muslim faith), such as killing millions of Native "Americans", and stealing or otherwise taking their farms and villages. Much of that is land the bigots preach from today. That was pretty uniquely "American" as well.

[hfojvt]

68. perhaps you should read this

"The Pilgrims' courage in setting forth in the late fall to make their way on a continent new to them remains unsurpassed. In their first year the Pilgrims, like the Indians, suffered from diseases, including scurvy and pneumonia; half of them died....The antidote to feel-good history is not feel-bad history but honest and inclusive history. If textbook authors feel compelled to give moral instruction, the way origin myths have always done, they could accomplish this aim by allowing students to learn both the 'good' and the 'bad' sides of the Pilgrim tale. Conflict would then become part of the story, and students might discover that the knowledge they gain has implications for their lives today." Loewen, "Lies my teacher told me", 1995, pp 96-97

[jtuck004]

71. Yup. Handy to have those smallpox infected blankets to

deliberately hand out to the Natives. Wipe 'em out and steal their farms. How much so-called "courage" there was among the Europeans, vs a search for wealth is certainly questionable. I know people like to look back romantically, but since that was a major mode of transportation then, I think they looked at it much differently.

I do think it's ironic that people who are the direct benefits of genocide have the temerity to stand and say someone else isn't welcome to build in their damn territory. We all benefitted from it, yet to deny it in the service of bigotry and hatred takes it to a new level. Even if one doesn't agree that greed and conquest was a much more likely motive for people to visit these shores, instead proffering their story of "religious freedom" as a human right, (even though that only represented a motivation for a subset of the Europeans, as far as I can tell), it's still odd that one could claim it for their ancestors and not fight for it in their new country. How they hold those two positions and live with the inconsistency I don't know.

I do remember that paragraph from Lowen's book. I remember thinking about how one can't really control how somebody else "feels" about much of anything. But they can withhold information and prevent whole parts of history from being known, which probably has effects far beyond what we know. And that's a tragedy.

Thank you.

[chat_noir]

42. Does Sarah Palin hate Muslims because she failed al-jabr?

[matt819]

79. And, I believe, the number zero

Without which we could not quantify the IQ, for example, or the number of brain cells of right wingers.

[Hepburn]

6. Outstanding OP...KnR!!!! n/t

[Blue_In_AK]

7. One in particular

gave me this beautiful grandson. I'm really quite tired of the Muslim bashing. It's my family they're talking about.

[sarge43]

15. May I join you?

I too am sick of their maniacal effort to generate hatred. As our president said, "Enough!"

Your grandson is adorable.

[Blue_In_AK]

20. Thanks, Sarge.

Aiman really is a cutie, and his daddy is wonderful. He's an Australian Muslim of South African descent now living in the good ol' USA with my daughter in Southern California. I think the righties forget that there are Muslims ALL OVER THE WORLD, and there are a billion and a half of them, one-fifth the population of the earth. Just like Christians, they range from crazy fundamentalist nutcakes to very secular modern folks.

We're so backward in this country when it comes to tolerance. It makes me sick.

[mysuzuki2]

19. Mine too,

My daughter married a guy from Pakistan. A likable, decent guy. Between the 2 of them they gave me 4 beautiful little granddaughters.

[Blue_In_AK]

22. Then you must get as angry about this bigotry as I do.

It makes me furious. I wonder if all these people who are so afraid of the Muslims have ever actually sat down and talked with one. They're not that different from us -- in fact, their Allah and the Christians/Jews' Jehovah are one and the same. We all share Father Abraham, if the "holy" books are to be believed.

[mysuzuki2]

28. Sometimes it does

when people talk shit about Muslims I show them pictures of my girls and tell them "this is what Muslims look like."

[BlueMTexpat]

47. Right on, Blue! How beautiful he is!

I have two handsome sons and two very beautiful grandchildren (a third is on the way) who are Muslim - although very secular ones. I'm actually more of a neo-pagan - after a strict Catholic upbringing that obviously didn't take - whose second husband of 30 years is a recovering Southern Baptist.

The one (and a half) are also Asian Americans. In my close but more extended family (sisters, cousins, etc.), we have Native American, African-American, Hispanic, Jewish and Hindu members as well as Eastern and Western Europeans. I like to think that we are a microcosm of the global community.

Labels, even innately innocuous ones, when used pejoratively and with intent to demean, are cheap ways of debasing entire populations among our human family. In this case, my personal family members are even closer.

So when people who use labels in a divisive and hurtful manner preach to me about "family" values, I see them clearly for the hypocrites that they are.

[Blue_In_AK]

69. Yes, my son-in-law is quite secular, as well,

although he clearly knows his religion because we've had great discussions about it (rather like me with my lapsed Christianity). We kind of laugh that the only Muslim tenet he really follows is the "no pork" thing, which he is "religious" about. My daughter was up here alone a couple of months ago over a weekend for a friend's funeral, and I couldn't feed her enough bacon. :rofl:

[BlueMTexpat]

80. There is definitely something about "real" bacon that's difficult to

replicate. The turkey substitutes just don't do it.
:hi:

[boppers]

8. That's a very short list.

Check this out:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_medieval_Islam

[TheBigotBasher]

13. As I said

I could have gone on but this was specific contributions of Muslims to America (I also noted that in this regard, these are just a few examples).

[boppers]

16. Well, between us, we just kicked thrice...

So it's all good. :)

[TheBigotBasher]

27. :-)

Everything is good.

[donquijoterocket]

65. background

If you'd redo the post sometime you might briefly include some of the background underlying principles of mathematics, engineering, and medicine that only survived because they were kept alive in the universities of the middle East at a time when our direct ancestors were little more than tribal howling savages in the forests of Europe. I'm thinking of men like Avicenna and Averroes.It speaks to the provincial and parochial nature of our education system that these men are not more well known.

[Odin2005]

10. One of the major rising stars of Theoretical Physics is an Iranian-American Muslim:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nima_Arkani-Hamed

Oh, Did I mention that he is FUCKING AWESOME!?!

[Douglas Carpenter]

11. EXCELLENT!!!! KICK AND RECOMMEND!!!!

[cynatnite]

14. They've also died fighting for this country for a very long time...

[Violet_Crumble]

17. Excellent post! n/t

[progressoid]

18. Some Muslims make me laugh...

Dave Chapelle:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_KJKyqWeVDHw/SZHKVtcCQgI/AAAAAAAABU0/J6QcBhngqQw/s400/Dave+Chappelle.jpg

Aasif Mandvi:

[GoCubsGo]

44. Some offer some pretty good advice on health

[shireen]

63. and he's a Republican.

:evilgrin:

[Bitwit1234]

23. i bet the guy with the "wealth" sign doesn't have 1000 to his name.

[malaise]

24. Super post

Rec

[Igel]

25. Got the US to start up its navy.

After the Revolutionary War it disposed of all its ships and was happy enough without a Navy.

Then Muslims managed to entice the Congress to reestablish and equip a navy. We've had one ever since.

[surrealAmerican]

26. Is any of this relevant?

Even if no member of their religion had ever contributed anything useful to the rest of us, they would still be as justified to build their community center/mosque there as any other religious group. Our constitution guarantees that right.

[Douglas Carpenter]

29. another kick

[political_Dem]

30. Thank you for this. I am very tired of ignorant people spreading fear and hate in this country.

Your thread shows that if people take the time to learn, all of those fears and threats spread by the GOP are false.

I wish mainstream media would take up this cause.

[eridani]

31. Should have left off Zalmay Khalilzad

He's a well-paid whore for oil companies and the corporate class. The guy who wrote that WaPo editorial in 1997 explaining how the Taliban were "stable" radicals we could deal with, unlike those anti-American Shiites in Iran.

[TheBigotBasher]

36. The point of including him

was to highlight appointing Muslims to high office didn't start with the "scary man" in the White House now.

[eridani]

39. True. The sociopaths that run our empire--

--are fine with Muslims who back their agenda, and not fine with those that get their own ideas.

[intheflow]

82. Just the way they feel about conservative Christians

versus liberal Christians. Somehow, in their minds, liberal Christians aren't "real" Christians. Just as they think liberal Americans are less loyal to our country. :eyes:

[Swagman]

32. great post ! although I don't like boxing I love Mohamed Ali

[SunsetDreams]

33. K&R excellent post!

[dipsydoodle]

34. ditto

and rec.

[laughingliberal]

35. K & R nt

[lillypaddle]

37. K&R n/t

[onestepforward]

38. Excellent post!

Thank you for this!

[BrklynLiberal]

40. Scapegoating:

Scapegoating refers to the deliberate policy of blaming an individual or group when in reality there is no one person or group responsible for the problem. It means blaming another group or individual for things they did not really do. Those whom we scapegoat become objects of our aggression in word and deed. Prejudicial attitudes and discriminatory acts lead to scapegoating. Members of the disliked groups might be denied employment, housing, political rights or social privileges. Scapegoating can lead to verbal and physical violence, including death.

The Nazis in Germany were excellent at this...and sadly, it has not ended with the end of the Third Reich.


http://www.publiceye.org/tooclose/scapegoating-04.html

Scapegoating has real consequences on both a societal and individual level, especially in terms of dominance and oppression.

Early explanations of the Nazi genocide suggested that prejudice, scapegoating, participation in right wing movements, and willingness to commit brutality were directly linked to a particular authoritarian personality structure.~39 This concept has been widely refuted. This is not to suggest that there are not authoritarian personalities, but to recognize that authoritarian personalities, like prejudice and scapegoating, can appear across the political spectrum.~40 Furthermore, persons who test as having relatively non-authoritarian personalities can sometimes be manipulated into acts of brutality by authority figures.

The Milgram psychology studies involved subjects told by an authority figure that they were administering painful electric shocks to a third person. However, Milgram's original conclusions--that what he was observing was primarily the force of obedience--have been challenged by those who argue that other factors were involved. That average persons are capable of great brutality is not in question. The circumstances of such behavior, however, are complex, and involve the personality type, the trust given to the authority figure, peer approval, denial, the belief the acts are legal, and the view of the target as criminal, evil, or deserving of punishment.~41 Some persons resist engaging in brutality regardless of the sanctions threatened by an authority figure.

<snip>

[Stuart G]

41. K and R

[olegramps]

43. I value religious freedom, but personally I think they all suck.

Unfortunately, the good that they have done is far overshadowed by the atrocities that have been committed.

[dddem]

48. I assume you mean religons, not Muslims.

[olegramps]

49. I don't have much regard for all religions.

Isn't it the truth that the vast majority of people are of a certain faith simply because they happen to have been born in a certain region or their parents were members of a certain religion. Given different circumsances these people could have easily have been born into a totally different faith with totally different prejudices. The hatred, yes, hatred that Muslims and Jews have for each other is a prime case. It is not totally beyond the possibility that if the Jews hadn't revolted against Roman rule that much of the Middle East could have been converted to Judaism.

[dddem]

55. I agree

I was brought up Catholic, and although I no longer consider myself one (for so many reasons), I still believe in God, and I think Jesus, even if it turns out he's no more important than the rest of us, taught some great lessons about how we should be treating each other. I try to live that way, but I've told my children that there is a difference between faith and religon. If you have to choose, choose faith, it can get you through tough times. Religon, not so much.
Peace.

[secondwind]

45. LOVE LOVE LOVE THIS! K&R! FOR ENRICHING MY KNOWLEDGE ABOUT MUSLIMS!!

[madrchsod]

46. i know two muslims saved my life and two others are my doctors..

[BlueMTexpat]

50. My US gynecologist of yore is Muslim

and yes, I consider that he most likely saved my own life.

Having mostly lived abroad in the past 16 years, I have a different gynecologist now. But I still remember my former gynecologist quite fondly. He is a recognized pioneer of the surgery performed on me at the time.

[olegramps]

51. Does the fact that they happen to be Muslim have anything to do with their contributions?

Just as with numerous other people of other religions and those who are not religious. Seems to me that in some cases many have made great contributions to the good of mankind despite the wrong headiness of many of their religious leaders.

[treestar]

52. Kick

I am tired of the Palins of the world trying to make as if there are no Muslim Americans.

[HEyHEY]

53. Not nearly as much as brain dead rednecks!

Without them we wouldn't have problems that need solving rendering men like Lewis Arquette redundant!

[ChairmanAgnostic]

77. redneck racists did give us toothpaste

because, otherwise, we'd be calling it teethpaste.

[BlueMTexpat]

54. I realize that, in the interests of time and space, that you

deliberately selected these examples of direct contemporary influence. Many other positive effects were received indirectly, from Europeans who settled here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_contributions_to_Medieval_Europe

From that article: The contributions included "such varied areas as art, architecture, medicine, agriculture, music, language, education, law, and technology. From the 11th to the 13th century, Europe absorbed knowledge from the Islamic civilization. Of particular importance was the rediscovery of the ancient classic texts, most notably the work of the Greek natural philosopher Aristotle, through retranslations from Arabic."

If Constantinople (seat of the Byzantine Empire - the former Roman Empire in the East) had not fallen to the Turks in 1453, it is very likely that there would not have been a Renaissance in Western Europe - or the Renaissance itself would only have occurred much later. Until that takeover and especially after the disastrous Western Euopean "Crusades," all religions existed more or less peacefully throughout the Byzantine Empire, which lasted some 1,100+ years in all. The Byzantines were much more enlightened than the Roman Catholics who dominated the West until the Reformation in part because of the cross-fertilization of ideas and cultures from Asia and the Middle East.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fall_of_Constantinople

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_Empire

[lakercub]

74. The Renaissance also would have looked

quite a bit different if the Moors in Spain hadn't kept such a library of documents from the Greek and Roman empires. The classical works reintroduced much in the way of scientific, political, economic, and religious thought back into Western Europe after the Church had done such an effective job keeping it suppressed for hundreds of years.

[BlueMTexpat]

81. It is truly shameful and ironic that the Roman Catholic Church

was so repressive and fearful of intellectual thought and questioning for so long - and continues to be in many respects. I am one who is old enough to remember the dreaded "Index Librorum Prohibitorum" ("Index of Prohibited Books") which was only formally abolished in 1966, following Vatican II!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index_Librorum_Prohibitorum

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_Vatican_Council

Church censorship still exists in respect to religious or moral writing, or what the Church perceives as such.

[harun]

56. Thanks

[amb123]

57. Here's another one: Farouk El-Baz

from Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farouk_El-Baz

Farouk El-Baz (Arabic: فاروق الباز‎} (born January 2, 1938) is an Egyptian American scientist who worked with NASA to assist in the planning of scientific exploration of the Moon, including the selection of landing sites for the Apollo missions and the training of astronauts in lunar observations and photography.

--snip--

From 1967 to 1972, El-Baz participated in the Apollo Program as Supervisor of Lunar Science Planning at Bellcomm Inc., a division of AT&T that conducted systems analysis for NASA. During these six years, he was secretary of the Landing Site Selection Committee for the Apollo lunar landing missions, Principal Investigator of Visual Observations and Photography, and chairman of the Astronaut Training Group. His outstanding teaching abilities were confirmed by the Apollo astronauts. While orbiting the Moon for the first time during Apollo 15, Command Module Pilot Alfred Worden said,

"After the King's (Farouk's nickname) training, I feel like I've been here before."

Also during the Apollo program, El-Baz joined NASA officials in briefing members of the press on the results of the lunar missions. His ability to simplify scientific jargon made his remarks on the program's scientific accomplishments often quoted by the media.

[slackmaster]

58. I don't see any of those accomplishments as resulting from someone's Muslimness

:shrug:

[AlbertCat]

59. Agreed! Like if they had been atheists or shinto, they wouldn't have done them.

[slackmaster]

60. I guess the point is that being Muslim isn't a barrier to people making great accomplishments

Unless they happen to be both female and living under strict Sharia law.

[TheBigotBasher]

62. The neo-fascist Islamic governemnts

are ones that the West helped to impose and arm because it was better for business. It is sadly ironic that we then complain about Islam as a whole being fascist because of those governments that we the West imposed.

[TheBigotBasher]

66. I did not say they were.

I said they were the contributions of Americans who happen to be Muslim. It is a pit down of the right who are asking what did Muslims do for America. Well rather a lot actually.

[stuart68]

83. I thought the point was - who cares what their religion or race is

this is the same argument made 180 degrees counter that says the 9/11 attackers did this simply because they were Muslim...

[demigoddess]

61. how about when the moors( muslims) held a chunk of europe

and most of spain, there was religious freedom and tolerance. Once Ferdinand and Isabella took over they brought in the inquisition and forced many jews to convert or killed them outright. then they started on the christians.

[Exultant Democracy]

64. I think I would add Math not to mention preserving all the works from Classical antiquity that

allowed for the Renaissance.

[Dystopian]

67. KandR

Thank you~


peace~

[mistertrickster]

70. Mohammed Ali . . . nt.

[bertman]

72. Thanks for educating me. I will attempt to educate others. REC. nt

[LeftishBrit]

73. k&r

[handmade34]

75. excellent post

thank you

[ChairmanAgnostic]

76. dirty ragheads

That's what an acquaintance calls them. He even started swearing at me for representing them in court. As though I was some traitor to the pale-skinned race and Murrica. Note that I call him an acquaintance, no longer a friend.
How touching.

By the way, for those who do not know, the proper greeting before the next moon is:

RAMADAN MUBAREK.

If you are greeted in this fashion, politely say,

MUBAREK RAMADAN in response.

I guarantee that you will elicit a smile a nod, and have a new friend.

[Jakes Progress]

78. K&R Gotta love a post with facts and a moral center. Good work.

[demigoddess]

84. I would like to comment off topic about that idiot with

the socialism sign. Would he be surprised if we told him that the communists never really practiced communism, russia was much like it was under the tsars, money for the ruling class and as little as possible for the rest. They only gave the people what they had to to keep them from rioting in the streets and keep the military operating. China until recently probably wasn't much different.