Leaders of the Central Ohio Muslim community, representing area Islamic and Arab-American organizations, met Monday with top officials of the FBI. The goal of the meeting, facilitated by the Ohio office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Ohio) was to have an open and informal discussion about topics of concern to the Muslim community.

Issues addressed at the meeting included ways to prevent hate crimes and backlash attacks that may result from the war on Iraq and how the local Muslim community can do its part in the defense against terrorism.

"Like all Americans, the Muslim community in Ohio is concerned about America's national security," said CAIR-Ohio Executive Director Jad Humeidan. "The leadership of our community is ready, willing and able to work with law enforcement authorities for the safety and security of this country," said Humeidan.

He added that CAIR-Ohio has received several complaints of harassment by FBI agents, and that agency supervisors need to ensure that agents in the field are not over-stepping their legal authority.

Two months ago, when I wandered through a large market near the center of Baghdad, the day seemed like any other and no other. A vibrant pulse of humanity throbbed in the shops and on the streets. Meanwhile, a fuse was burning; lit in Washington, it would explode here.

Now, with American troops near Baghdad, the media fixations are largely tactical. "A week of airstrikes, including the most concentrated precision hits in U.S. military history, has left tons of rubble and deep craters at hundreds of government buildings and military facilities around Iraq but has yielded little sign of a weakening in the regime's will to resist," the Washington Post reported on March 26.

Shrewd tactics and superlative technology were supposed to do the grisly trick. But military difficulties have set off warning bells inside the U.S. media echo chamber. In contrast, humanitarian calamities are often rendered as PR problems, whether the subject is the cutoff of water in Basra or the missiles that kill noncombatants in Baghdad: The main concern is apt to be that extensive suffering and death among civilians would make the "coalition of the willing" look bad.

Some have asked me about Fred Phelps impending visit to Granville:

1. On April 27, the hate promoting GodHatesFags website owner Fred Phelps is coming to picket in Granville at several churches. The incident which triggered him to visit Granville is a Granville High School Junior who started a Gay Alliance at his school. When Fred finds out about God's Promise MCC, which meets in the First Baptist Church, he will undoubtedly picket here also. We are asking people not to counter picket and not to engage him in any way--he loves to start law suits with people who challenge him. Instead we're asking everyone to join us in a celebratory service at our usual service time of 3 pm. We will be affirming God's love for all people--even our enemies. First Baptist is on the corner of Main and W. Broadway in downtown Granville (30 miles east of Columbus).

We are taking pledges to support the Licking County AIDS Task Force for each minute that Fred pickets outside our church. Please send your commitment per minute--for example 50 cents per minute--to this email address. I'll send you the Task Force's address after we tally his

Congressman George Miller (D-CA, 7th District), a senior member on the House of Representatives Education and Workforce Committee, along with 73 of his colleagues has introduced “The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2003” (H.R. 965). The legislation would increase the minimum wage by $1.50 an hour. The legislation is identical to the bill number S.20, “The Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2003,” presented in the U.S. Senate by Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) and 34 of his fellow senators. The Miller bill was introduced on February 27, 2003.  

Both bills provide for an increase in two steps: they raise the minimum wage from its current level of $5.15 an hour to $5.90 sixty days after enactment and raise it to $6.65 one year thereafter.  

The minimum wage has not increased since 1997 and its real value today is 30% below its peak in 1968 and 19% below where it stood in 1981. A full-time minimum wage worker earns $10,712 per year – almost $7,500 below the poverty level for a family of four.  

A fair increase is long overdue. Congress should act as quickly as possible to pass an increase that compensates for the loss in value of the minimum

I hope the stock market gets hammered. I hope the Iraqis set fire to as many oil fields as possible. I hope oil prices in the United States surge and shortages persist. I hope the antiwar protestors become disobedient. I hope the economy never recovers. I hope Iraq doesn’t have weapons of mass destruction. I hope our troops make it home alive.  

This is the only way to drive home the point that war is brutal no matter who the enemy is. After the bombs dropped on Baghdad and hundreds of Iraqi soldiers surrendered to U.S. and British troops, the pundits on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC reported that the war could end within a month.  

“Nonsense,” I said.  

This war would be an easy victory for the U.S. and its allies, the cable news outlets said. Kind of like watching the Los Angeles Lakers pummel the Los Angeles Clippers. Reaction here to the commentaries and the real-time images was swift. The stock market soared. Oil prices plummeted. It appears that the outcome of the war is measured by how well the Dow Jones Industrial Average performs