Ramadan (Is Obama a Muslim?)

Ramadan began on the evening of July 8 and will run until the evening of August 7.

From Wikipedia

Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar; Muslims worldwide observe this as a month of fasting. This annual observance is regarded as one of the Five Pillars of Islam. The month lasts 29–30 days based on the visual sightings of the crescent moon. The word Ramadan comes from the Arabic root ramida or ar-ramad, which means scorching heat or dryness. Fasting is fardh (obligatory) for adult Muslims, except those who are ill, travelling, pregnant, diabetic or going through menstrual bleeding.

While fasting from dawn until sunset, Muslims refrain from consuming food, drinking liquids, smoking, and engaging in sexual relations; in some interpretations they also refrain from swearing. Food and drink is served daily, before sunrise and after sunset. According to Islam, the thawab (rewards) of fasting are many, but in this month they are believed to be multiplied. Fasting for Muslims during Ramadan typically includes the increased offering of salat (prayers) and recitation of the Quran

President Obama is taking a lot of flack for the Ramadan Tweet he sent out and has been labeled a Muslim by some joker on Facebook because of the dinner he will host at the White House on August 10 because "of course if he hosts this dinner he has to be a Muslim.  Never mind that Bill Clinton and George W. Bush did the same thing because Obama has a "foreign" sounding name that makes him a Muslim.

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will celebrate the Islamic holy month of Ramadan by hosting an iftar (ifta) dinner Friday night at the White House.

The iftar is the meal that breaks the day of fasting, when Muslim families and communities eat together after sunset.

The meal to be served in the State Dining Room will be the fourth iftar that Obama has hosted. It continues the tradition of hosting iftars that began annually under President Bill Clinton and was continued by President George W. Bush.

Invited guests include elected officials, religious and grass-roots leaders in the Muslim American community and leaders of diverse faiths and members of the diplomatic corps.

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I decided not to argue with him on Facebook but I went back and looked at the post later. Somebody else pointed out that the Ramadan Dinner had been hosted by Bush and in fact, he had started the tradition.  He stopped posting after that but there were plenty of other comments.  My policy is not to argue with these types of Obama haters. You can't argue with bigots or ignorant people. It is better for my soul to let them stew in their ignorance and walk away from them.

I have some things I am not happy with him (Obama)  about but I certainly am not going to make up things like "Obama must be a Muslim because he is celebrating a Muslim holiday". I prefer to call him on his environmental record and the need to protect wolves which they want to remove from the protected list, among other things.  (I blame it on his growing up in an urban environment and knowing nothing about the balance which the wolves bring to the habitat.) Also I am not very pleased with the spying on people or force feeding prisoners who should probably be brought back to the US to stand trial.  And as far as the Snowden and Manning whistle blowers. If we had been following principles that our country used to stand for there would be no need to call them "traitors" for telling the truth about the despicable practices which should have been ended long ago.  Oh yes, and bring the troops home and get our noses out of Afghanistan. And by no means should we be using drones as instruments for targeted killing. (Note these are my opinions and you are welcome to yours but do read the disclaimer above because comments are moderated and trolls will be dispensed with. If you want I will post your disagreement as long as you are civil about itl

Comedy Central has a new show called  "Drunk History" which is a riot.  They get a person snockered and have him (or her) tell a story from History. I laughed out loud at the first one and will be watching the ones to come.  They do check the history to make sure it is accurate but to hear a drunk tell a story is funny.