Free Republic

U.S. Policy in Africa by: Alanna Hultz, March 09, 2009 At an Africa Action event in collaboration with Howard University African Studies Department, U.S. policy in Africa under the Obama Administration was discussed. Africa Action describes itself as the oldest organization in the U.S. working on African affairs. Their mission is to change U.S.-African relations to promote political, economic and social justice in Africa. At the event Emira Woods, Co-Director of Foreign Policy In Focus at the Institute for Policy Studies, Semhar Araia, Africa analyst and lawyer, member of the Obama-Biden Transition Team and Professor Shadrack Gutto, renowned African scholar,...

In an essay entitled "What Do I Tell My Children" that was published in the August 2007 issue of Trumpet Newsmagazine, a publication of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago, the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. spoke critically of a "Black Evangelism," which he said "produces a religion of hatred, gay-bashing and heterosexism." "My grandson, Jeremiah, has already run head-on into the contradiction called Christianity in his twenty-one years of life," Wright wrote. "He has seen the racism of Christianity that has produced slave castles and white supremacy. He has also seen the ignorance calling itself 'Black Evangelism' which...

A Howard University soccer coach and charter school math teacher was arrested in Louisa County, Virginia as part of an online sex sting. Authorities took 40-year-old Joseph E. Okoh into custody Friday after he drove from his Arlington, Va. home to meet who he believed was a 13-year-old girl that he had been talking to over the internet. Louisa County sheriff's office said the coach was talking in a Yahoo Instant Message chat room and that they were "shocked" by how quickly the suspect wanted to meet with the girl after just striking up a conversation. Okoh was arrested on...

Norfolk-based sailor uses Web to channel opposition to war By LOUIS HANSEN, The Virginian-Pilot © November 5, 2006 NORFOLK - Jonathan Hutto graduated from Howard University with a degree in political science and a résumé of social activism. He worked for the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International after college. He whipped up grass-roots protests against police departments and college administrators. One day in 2003, broke and seeking direction, Hutto enlisted in the Navy. The Navy couldn't have known it then, but they know it now: They had signed up a sailor strongly opposed to the Iraq war. Seaman...

A Palestinian activist and former college professor who has been in federal custody in Chicago since September has been indicted on a single criminal contempt charge for refusing to cooperate with a grand jury investigating the terrorist group Hamas. Federal prosecutors in Chicago announced the indictment Friday against Abdelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar, the same day U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald and Chicago FBI Agent-in-Charge Tom Kneir paid a visit to the heavily Palestinian Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview. Ashqar, 45, a Palestinian native and former adjunct business professor at Howard University, had been granted immunity from prosecution for his testimony by U.S....

Defense attorneys plan to argue Palestinian activist suffers from mental disease or defect BY MELANIE COFFEE Associated Press Writer CHICAGO (AP) -- Attorneys for a Palestinian activist jailed for refusing to testify before a grand jury investigating the militant group Hamas said Wednesday they intend to argue the man suffers from a mental disease or defect. Abdelhaleem Hasan Abdelraziq Ashqar of Alexandria, Va., was indicted on charges of criminal contempt after he refused to testify before a grand jury investigating fund-raising activities on behalf of Hamas. Prosecutors have said that among other things they want to talk to Ashqar about...

On Wednesday, January 18, I received an e-mail from someone identifying himself as “Ahmed.” He wrote to me that he was a “Muslim activist” and that he wanted me to come on his radio show to discuss my work, or, in his words, “to give [my] side of the story.” In doing a simple web search on his e-mail address, it turned out that this individual was none other than the Director of Communications for the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Ahmed Rehab. While I didn’t know his motives in contacting me, I had recalled when...

Virginia man charged in alleged plot to assassinate Bush By MATTHEW BARAKAT Associated Press Writer ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) -- A former high school valedictorian in Virginia was charged Tuesday with conspiring to assassinate President Bush and conspiracy to support the al-Qaida terrorist network. Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, 23, a U.S. citizen, made an initial appearance Tuesday in U.S. District Court. He claimed that he was tortured while detained in Saudi Arabia since June of 2003 and offered through his lawyer to show the judge his scars. The indictment said that in 2002 and 2003 Abu Ali and an unidentified coconspirator...

CYNTHIA McKINNEYPOSITION: Democrat Congresswoman from GeorgiaDONOR: Abdurahman Alamoudi AMMOUNT: $2000 on September 11, 2001 DETAILS: Alamoudi, President of the American Muslim Foundation, is a well known radical mohammedan activist known for publicly praising terrorist organizations. He worked closely as an informal advisor and affiliate of several Clinton administration officials (source). At an October 2000 rally in Washington, D.C. Alamoudi spoke to a radical islamic crowd announcing ""I have been labeled by the media in New York as being a supporter of Hamas. Any supporters of Hamas here? (cheers) Hear that, Bill Clinton? We are all supporters of Hamas ... I...

Abdelhaleem Ashqar is facing trial in Chicago, accused of funding terrorists, and is under house arrest in Virginia. But he said Thursday that won't keep him from seeking to replace Yasser Arafat as the next Palestinian leader. Proclaiming that he detests bloodshed, Ashqar said he will run in the Jan. 9 Palestinian election as an independent and was able to collect 7,000 to 8,000 election petition signatures in less than 36 hours from his district of Putulkarm, in the northern part of the West Bank. Under house arrest at his home in Alexandria, Va., the former Howard University professor said...

A difference of opinion about the genetic basis of race has emerged between scientists at the National Human Genome Center at Howard University and some other geneticists. At issue is whether race is a useful signpost to tracking down the genes that cause disease, given that certain diseases are more common in some populations than others. In articles in the current issue of the journal Nature Genetics, scientists at Howard, a center of African-American scholarship, generally favor the view that there is no biological or genetic basis for race. "Observed patterns of geographical differences in genetic information do not correspond...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 25 — High blood pressure in the lungs has been identified as a major risk factor for death in adults with sickle-cell disease, and all people with the disease should be screened for this complication, according to a study being published Thursday. Almost one-third of adult sickle-cell patients who were screened with a noninvasive ultrasound method were found to have moderate to severe pulmonary hypertension and high blood pressure in the lungs that had not previously been detected, the study found. The results from the tests confirm earlier suggestions from studies of patient records that pulmonary hypertension is...

Med Schools: Four That Flunk June 29, 2003 By JACK DOLAN And ANDREW JULIEN, Courant Staff Writers Idaho regulators investigating complaints involving 12 patients revoked Dr. Brent E. Woodfield's license after concluding that he didn't understand "the basic principles of the practice of medicine." For Dr. Anacleto Capua, accused of misdiagnosing fatal conditions in three patients, refresher medical courses were recommended by Florida authorities concerned about his medical skills. Hitting the books might have helped Dr. Narpat Panwar, who flunked the U.S. medical licensing exam seven times before passing - only to be accused later in New York of botching...