Blogcritics Author: Layla Gonzalez

Announcement: Short-content feeds

Phillip Winn — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 12:00:00 EDT

Sunday, August 26, 2007, marks the switch of all Blogcritics.org article feeds from full-content to short-content. This is the result of several converging factors, and is unfortunately a permanent decision (as permanent as any decision can be on the web, that is). We are aware of all of the reasons that this is a Bad Idea, and we are aware that some of you will be quite upset about having to click on something to read the free content, and we're sorry. Unfortunately, despite great effort, full-content feeds are not currently economically viable. Two other factors are involved: full-content feeds have resulted in an unprecedented level of content theft, with BC content appearing on many websites, usually spam sites, without attribution or permission. This duplicate content causes a cascading set of problems, not the least of which is that search engines generally aren't favorable to duplicate content, and don't always guess correctly. Finally, our RSS advertising partner is strongly in favor of short-content feeds. We hope that you'll continue to subscribe to BC via RSS, and when an article grabs your eye, it's only a click away, still free on the BC website. Thank you for your understanding.

Celebrity News: Who Cares?

Layla Gonzalez — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 04:16:10 EST

Traditionally The Big Story, hosted by John Gibson, has always included in its forte a hefty dose of politics, judicial rulings, and news surrounding the war on terror. In an effort to please the public and appease the ultimate compromise of ratings, we are instead being graced with a hefty dose of Britney Spears and the deceased Anna Nicole Smith. The latter has occupied the news since the moment of her demise.Do not misunderstand me - Smith’s demise is no less than tragic. However, by now it is getting as old as the coroner said of Smith’s body when he called into the courtroom today asked the judge to expedite the proceedings because Smith’s body was decomposing quicker than anticipated.Now to Spears - she shaved her head. Skin heads do it all the time. Sinead O’Connor still has her hair shaved off. To top that off, Spears went back into rehab. Hopefully she will get some help for her own sake and that of her children, otherwise she is another Smith waiting to happen.To be honest I suspect this was all a publicity ruse by Spears because she just could not stand the fact that Smith was receiving more attention than she was. This is the typically pathetic Hollywood ploy to cry wolf and everyone will come running - and they do. The death of Smith and the news of Spears shaving her head, not to mention Spears checking herself into rehab twice within two weeks, has dominated the news from Fox to CNN. It is pathetically disgusting - because, who cares?Now the scoop is that Spears shaved her head because her hair would retain any drugs she may have done in the past and she is in a custody battle for her children. But then again I say, not my business - who cares! Does anyone really care about all this sidebar? Let’s get back to real news and real reporting. Our news outlets have turned into the National Enquirer.

Layla Gonzalez is a political freelance writer and the founder of The Hill Chronicles. She is was born and raised in Chicago, Illinois and has lived in Saudi Arabia and Egypt, but now resides in the D.C. area. Layla receives e-mail at layla.doll1956@gmail.com

Islam's Culture War Against Society

Layla Gonzalez — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 03:27:18 EST

Since 9/11, Americans have been on alert to the real risks terrorists pose. The attack on 9/11 profoundly changed my life, as I am sure it did yours. After 9/11, one could not look upon society and culture the same. America and its citizenry lost the innocence of just being carefree, just being able to come and go at one’s whim. To be free now, we have to really care and take note of how despicable and vile the 9/11 attacks were. To this day I still cry for the thousands lost and the families and friends left behind. Lives taken carelessly, recklessly, with no thought other than to kill.It is amazing, at least to me, how many people tried to justify the 9/11 attack by implying we did something wrong -- or that we somehow deserved it. No one deserves to be terrorized and killed. No one deserves the evil that al-Qaeda spreads in the name of their god. What kind of God tells you to kill your neighbor? Certainly not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.Unfortunately, Christianity has in part fed into the anti-Semitism surrounding Israel and the Jews. In fact, Christianity has been de-Judeaized -- yet it is Christianity that is an extension of Judaism, not vice versa.The idiosyncrasies in Islam are monumental in comparison to other religions. First of all, Mohammed was epileptic. He was a pedophile with a wife as young as six, consummating the marriage when she was nine. He would have been jailed by today’s’ standards - and even then, this behavior was looked upon abhorrently.Islam is also known for what their Koran says: “Kill the people of Saturday and Sunday” - in other words kill the Jews and Christians. There is no tolerance - just oppression and fear. In Islam one either chooses to live by the sword or to die by the sword, but either way one must know that in Islam the sword is ever present.When I lived in the Middle East, what struck me most about the culture and Islam was that they were synonymous. Unlike here in the United States, where we pride ourselves on the perceived separation of church and state, there is no such thing in the Middle East. Islam, culture, society, and religion - it all goes hand in hand. Even Christians living in Egypt must succumb and abide by the Islamic dictatorship. There is no getting around it or behind it; this is ever present amongst the citizenry in the Middle East. Abide by the Islamic law or die. Speak against the “religion of peace” and be imprisoned and die. Everything Islam teaches -- what it breathes and exudes -- is death.Ironically, Muslims accuse Christianity and Judaism of being “bloody” religions, but when one studies the course Islam has heralded, this is the most bloody religion to date having killed tens of thousands in the name of Islam - in the name of Jihad.Something is terribly wrong within our society when people start looking for reasons that 9/11 happened, citing that it is our own fault. Wrong, wrong; this could not be more wrong. No one deserved to be terrorized. Period. The mothers in the so-called Palestinian state are upholding their sons and daughters for dying for a worthy cause - Jihad in the name of Islam. What kind of mother rejoices in the death of their child for a cause that has no purpose other than to kill and destroy? What depravity lies in the hearts of these men and women?The continued fear Islam perpetuates has caused people to appease and capitulate with terrorists. Sadly for us, the terrorists have been successful in waging the inner war on Americans, causing Americans to be fearful many times in the wake of 9/11. This blind-sided view has created a complacency that is only equal to a pre-9/11 state - a false sense of well-being.The culture war of Islam against society is a battle that must be fought on the ground level. Basics must be learned when dealing with Islam. If you are of the mindset like our forever-capitulating President, George Bush -- that “Islam is a religion of peace” -- you are definitely wrong. There is nothing peaceful about Islam. The mentality that lies beneath Islam is do or die, kill and be prepared to be killed.Islam says “God is a merciful God.” Yes, God is a merciful God, unless of course you are Muslim, then God is a dictator that demands tyranny and death to all that are not of the Islamic religion. Those people are us, the people of Saturday and Sunday.

Why I Could Not Become Muslim

Layla Gonzalez — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 06:04:36 EST

When I was younger I was a rather immature and unfocused person. I had low self-esteem and was needy. Though I had a good upbringing, two loving parents, and an extended family that was supportive, I, unlike my sisters, just did not have the self-confidence they exhibited. This lead me down a road I sometimes would like to just forget. Like all things in life, your past is always present no matter how far removed you are from it.I was 23 years old at the time I met and married my then-husband - an Egyptian Muslim. From the onset of that relationship I was continually encouraged to become a Muslim. During that time in my life I was disgruntled with Catholics, having been raised one. I felt there was too much hypocrisy in the church. That led me on a search of different Christian religions and even Judaism, but I did not commit to any. By the time I married my husband, I agreed to become a Muslim. I went through the motions, but I could never believe that Jesus was "just a prophet." To me, Jesus was and always will be the Son of God, the Messiah. While in Egypt, then later in Saudi Arabia, I witnessed how women were treated as second-class citizens and the stigmatization of women who were either never married or divorced. The "rules" about a woman coming and going were too much - like wanting to visit a neighbor twice a week for coffee and chats. In Egypt, a woman going more than twice a month is suspected of not taking care of her home or being loose. The litany goes on with all the little idiosyncrasies ascribed to women in the Middle East in so much as what they can and cannot do - or I should say are allowed or not allowed to do.I could not visit Israel with my Aunt when she visited her best friend who worked for the American Consulate in Cairo, because if I did, I would be denied entry into Saudi Arabia where my then-husband was working. I was told I would be denied entry if my passport was stamped with the Israeli insignia. Sadly, I could not go and I was so, so close. For that I am forever disappointed and saddened.I was left to live in Egypt with my in-laws in Port Said, Egypt while my husband worked in Saudi Arabia and applied for my visa to live there with him. I was continually told by my in-laws how I was not a "good Muslim" and worse. I was told this because I refused to wear a scarf on my head and I did not pray five times a day. My sister-in-law actually asked me if her brother found me in the street or the garbage because they know "all" American women are not virgins, they are whores. Fortunately or unfortunately for me, depending on how you look at this, I learned to speak Arabic so I knew exactly what was being said to me and about me.While in Egypt I became severely depressed. In a matter of three months I went from 120 pounds down to 95 pounds. I could barely eat, and not by choice. I had no appetite for food. I drank a lot of tea and smoked like a fiend. I became so out of touch with reality that I did not even realize I was three months pregnant with my second child until I passed out one day.When my visa to travel to Saudi Arabia was authorized, I then went to live there. That was another story altogether. I lived not far from the American compound of Aramco between Al-Khobar, where I lived at the time, and Dammam. I had to wear the nijab. A nijab is when the body and face are completely covered. Some variations are slits for the eyes so the woman can see, but in Saudi Arabia this was not allowed so I had to wear a black chiffon scarf over my face so my eyes could not be seen through the slits. I likened it to seeing through very dark sunglasses. I also had to wear gloves, not required by Islam, but because if I did not then the men would see my white hands and right away want to talk to me and ask me questions. I wore gloves to avoid any contact with males while outside my home when shopping, even when my husband was with me.I had heard that American women who did not wear the nijab were beaten by police on their legs. I also heard many stories of American women disappearing and being taken into "harems" by "friends of the Royal Family" or "members of the Royal Family" and being continually raped, then killed once "used up." I became fearful for my life while I lived in Saudi Arabia.I myself at one point was almost raped when I was seven months pregnant with my second child. We were visiting my husband's boss at his chalet. I asked to use the bathroom and he said he would show me where it was. My husband obviously trusted him as he allowed him to direct me to where the bathroom was. When I opened the door of the bathroom, my husband's boss was blocking the door and then tried to accost me sexually. I ran away and went outside where my husband was sitting and said nothing to him. I could not say anything at the time because if I did I could have been jailed. That is how it is in Saudi Arabia.When we arrived home later that evening I told my husband what had happened. Fortunately that was one of the few, and I mean few times, he stood up for me. He left his position at the company to work for another company and that was the end of that. Nothing was ever reported to the police. It was not talked about, but I did almost have a miscarriage due to the shock and trauma it caused me. I was in such bad shape the doctors actually had to order special medicine for me from Bahrain that I had to take for the remainder of my pregnancy so I would not miscarry. These are just some of the things I experienced while living in the Middle East. If I wanted to, I could really write a book. Perhaps I will one day, but not today. I still have a hard time dealing with the many things I experienced while in the Middle East at the hands of some very evil people who thought they were doing "good in the name of Islam." It would be unfair of me not to tell you that I did not meet many wonderful men and women who were good, kind, and generous. Ironically, these people treated me so much better than my husband and his family.By the time I came back to the United States I literally kissed the ground at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago. I was so thrilled, happy, grateful, and appreciative to be home. After some more years of a tumultuous and violent relationship with my husband, I finally could not allow myself to pretend to be a Muslim out of fear of reprisal. I spoke up and told him I was a Christian and that I believed Jesus was not only the Son of God, but also my Lord and Savior. I then divorced him.Unfortunately the divorce was ugly and my family became divided. My children from that marriage live with their father because they share his Muslim beliefs. For me it is bittersweet. They are my children whom I love dearly, more than my life, but several of them believe I am a Muslim hater and that I abandoned them, which was never the case. Like all true Muslims do, they first brainwash you - then pollute you with their hate.I could not become a Muslim because I believe in Jesus. I could not deny that He is the Son of God. I could not deny that there was no way to the Father except through Jesus. Like it is says in Proverbs, "Train up a child in the way that he should go and he will not depart from it." Yes, like the prodigal child I wandered, but in the end I did not depart from the core beliefs my parents taught me as a child. For that I thank God. I have special thanks for Debbie Hamilton from Right Truth for prompting me to write this. Without her encouragement I would not have done so out of fear of criticism.