Best Buy recently removed itself from places we’ll shop by placing Islamist holidays above Thanksgiving and Christmas in things it thinks are important to celebrate.
Best Buy was previously our go-to place for anything technical and electronic. The Mac we use to write this site is failing, so we’re saving up for a new computer, this time a PC, and we most likely would have bought that at Best Buy. Instead, we will be buying that new computer in 2010 at a store that does not promote Islam.
On September 11th, 2001, our friend Jane was killed by Muslims in the World Trade Center attacks. We will never forget this. Seeing a business so happy about Muslim holidays makes us want to shop elsewhere. You can do whatever you want, and shop at Best Buy if you choose. You can also say whatever you want about our decision, but shopping for us is an emotional experience. While we shop around for the best buys, typically, we end up going to stores we feel good about shopping in. Best Buy was always a good shopping experience, but now going there makes us remember how awful it was when our friend was murdered by Muslim terrorists. Frankly, there are better ways for us to spend a Sunday, or drop a few hundred dollars in the future.
Many people have complained about Best Buy’s promotion of Islam — but they are actually going about it the wrong way if they want Best Buy to buckle.
Best Buy was advised, clearly, by a Liberal, feel-good, globalist, consulting firm to add the Muslim holidays to the Best Buy calendar in an attempt to drive an uptick in certain areas that have heavy Muslim populations but aren’t maxed-out in terms of shopping at Best Buy. The consultants believed Best Buy could motivate the 4 million American Muslims to shop more, while offending less than 4 million Americans with the Islamization of its ads, resulting in a net positive for Best Buy.
The consultants also clearly prepped Best Buy for some blowback, telling corporate, most likely, to expect some hate mail for a while, but not to buckle to it.
So, here’s what we would do instead…and it could be a fun hobby for you, and good political organizing practice for the future, too:
(1) Research all Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, and Hindu holidays that are currently not celebrated by Best Buy and insist, politely, that these holidays be added to the Best Buy calendar too, if Muslim holidays are now considered so important. This includes but is not limited to St. Francis Day, St. Margaret’s Day, St. Stephen’s Day, etc. It’s been years since we’ve been in a church, but we remember back in Catholic school it was ALWAYS a feast of some saint. We’re sure Best Buy could be forced to celebrate something 365 days of the year by going this route.
(2) Find obscure, pagan, nonsensical, offensive, and vulgar holidays and demand Best Buy celebrate those, too. Ancient feast days involving giant phalluses. Fertility festivals in Asia. Fuhrerstag. Sammhein. The Day Kronos Swallowed Zeus As A Baby. The Day Kronos Vomited Zeus Back Up. Flying Spaghetti Monster’s Birthday.
Completely swamp Best Buy with these holiday requests so that the Exec Board regrets it ever opened up these flood gates.
Accuse Best Buy of being racist for not celebrating St. Sebastian Day. Remember what Al Sharpton and Henry Gates teach us: it doesn’t have to make any sense that you call something RAAACIST, and it doesn’t have to have anything at all to do with race, just call it racist and you will get attention. If someone can get all the way to the White House doing this, surely it can be used to make trouble for Best Buy.
What will likely happen is that Best Buy will not make any sort of acknowledgement of the flak it’s getting, but will back away from the Muslim holidays in the future so that it won’t have to start celebrating The Flying Spaghetti Monster’s Birthday.
Personally, that’s it for Best Buy for us regardless of what they do. It means we have to now make a longer trip to get something electronic we need, but so be it. We vote with our dollars and our feet, and won’t for the life of us give a dime to Best Buy again.
Not telling you what to do, but telling you we’ve had all we can take of the coddling of Islam. We owe it to our friend Jane to make sure the terrorist crime syndicate masking as a religion is never given any more legitimacy on our watch.
November 29, 2009 at 2:13 pm
I wish I had known this 2 weeks ago, durn it!
I have found that there are wonderful on-line electronic stores, Tiger Direct, comes to mind, as a place with a great reputation and good service, and so far as I know, no promotion of Islamic “holy” days.
November 30, 2009 at 10:27 am
I read this blog and hit comments, ready to add http://www.tigerdirect.com myself.
November 30, 2009 at 2:35 pm
Can’t you always beat Best Buy’s prices on Amazon & its consortium of sellers?
I can not think if a single thing that I have bought were Best Buy was cheaper.
Do not forget to complain to your “Better Business Bureau” too.
November 29, 2009 at 2:18 pm
Yes please to St. Margaret’s Day ROFL.
You are right about all of those saints day. There will be quite a few of them that are recognized that were killed by Muslims, especially in Spain ROFL….
I think your idea is a good one.
November 29, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Why get a PC instead of a Mac? The latest models are amazing and prices have never been better.
Macs are Amazon’s ‘Most Wished For’ – Apple 2.0 – Fortune Brainstorm Tech
http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2009/11/29/macs-are-amazons-most-wished-for/
As for holidays, Hanukah starts at sundown on Friday, Dec 11.
November 29, 2009 at 2:49 pm
I live less than a mile from the Best Buy headquarters.
I will not set foot inside a Best Buy for as long as I live. Not only do they promote Muslim holidays, but they do not honor your extended warranties, so don’t ever buy one.
I had to return a DVD player EIGHT times, they still wouldn’t give me a replacement, even though they never fixed it.
They are a bad outfit, and I won’t give them a dime of my money. EVER again.
November 29, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Thanks for the heads up. I was going out today to buy a microwave and new dishwasher at Best Buy. I will definitely take my business elsewhere, where Islam isn’t being promoted, while Christmas is constantly demoted.
I will tell my friends too, and call my local Best Buy and let them know why I won’t shop there again. It feels good to finally make a statement.
November 29, 2009 at 4:04 pm
My husband just saw a mouse/keyboard combination that he wanted; just happened to be at Best Buy. After hearing about this, he said, “Screw them – get it somewhere else!”
You guys are deliciously devious – men after my own heart! It’s nice to know that I’m not the only one who has gotten treacherous in my old age……
November 29, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Teresa,
If you bought that keyboard elsewhere, take the receipt and black out your CC information etc.
Then send the receipt to Best Buy with a letter telling them you decided not to buy this at Best Buy because of their promotion of Islam.
If you can spare the $6 or so to do this — send the letter DIRECTLY to the Best Buy CEO via FedEx.
As we have repeatedly said on this site, FedExes go right to the person they are addressed to. They do not go to the mailroom. At most, you might have an assistant open the package first, but then the CEO will see it. Trust us on that.
We have worked for CEOs as consultants and know how the offices work.
If just 10 people did something like this, at least one of those FedExes would resonate with the CEO. These people are creatures of habit: they pride themselves on being observant business people and most of them use anecdotes to illustrate their points while making sharp decisions on a dime.
The next time some Liberal nut decides to promote Islam, the CEO will say, “Oh no, I remember the last time you fools did that and I got all those people writing to me showing me receipts from sales we lost because of you. To Hell with Islam. We need those sales.”
November 30, 2009 at 2:37 pm
Send it so the CEO has to personally sign for it!!!!!!!!!!!!
November 29, 2009 at 4:11 pm
Hillbuzz… It’s a good thing that you did not get your PC from Best Buy. I got a HP laptop from Best Buy for a MBA program with Geek Squad service and it managed to break down after four months. When I brought it in to get it checked out and the Geek Squad was very condescending to me. I believe that the lady thought that I was an eighteen-year-old freshman who they could screw because I look young despite being almost 28 and it was under my father’s account. (He paid for it on his credit card and then took it out of my MBA fund). The lady also accused me of being the one who caused the problem by either taking it to class (which is what thought the laptop was for) or spilling something for it. It wasn’t until I called up Best Buy’s corporate headquarters’ numerous times that the store was willing to expedite the removal of my data from the computer and ensure that it got to HP for repairs ASAP.
As for the Apple, you must be the only people in the world who have had issues with your Mac. I’ve had a Mac for almost two years and it still works like the day that I bought it. It’s a mid-level MacBook and I love it. I did have some minor issues last year, but was just able to call up Apple Support and got a guy who was an actual American and went out of his way to help me. I was then able to go to the Genius Bar and use my Apple Care plan to get my issue fixed. Apple is one of the only awesome U.S. companies out there. :)
November 29, 2009 at 8:16 pm
I had the same rude issues with Best Buy geek guys when I had to return my DVD play EIGHT times.
Oh, and I have a Mac too, and have never had issues.
I’m guessing that the Hillbuzz computer is just too old. If you don’t have the new intel processor, nothing works!
Apple ROCKS
November 29, 2009 at 4:32 pm
ooooh. i love you boyz more every day. i haven’t shopped at best buy for years because i can ALWAYS find it cheaper online…
but they don’t need to know that when i send my fed ex to the ceo asking when they will start honoring the wiccan holiday of beltane (and giving them a few suggestions for doing so). and also accusing them of religious intolerance if they continue to ignore this most sacred of wiccan holidays. (i’m not a wiccan, but i play one on tv.)
November 29, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Darn..St.Francis Day just passed in Oct. I want to be able to take my dogs to BB, since they can go to church that day. Even better it is a Twofer, IF they won’t honor Saint Francis day, that insults both Catholics AND all pet owners.
November 30, 2009 at 1:08 pm
That was St. Francis of Assisi, but December 3rd is St. Francis Xavier’s feast day. Can’t wait to see what BB acknowledges that. (It is a feast day that I will always remember because as a child attending St Francis Xavier Elementary School we always got the day off!!! )
November 29, 2009 at 7:01 pm
you all reveal yourself more and more everyday as a right wing site that has been a right wing site and will always be a right wing site. really? the ENTIRE faith of Islam is responsible for terrorism? so if i have a friend that was sexually molested by priests do i then get license to disparage the entire catholic faith? and do i get to toss that friend’s name around to make a point and to legitimize my utterly illegitimate points of view to my miniscule and willfully ignorant audience? if so, i’ll get on it. will keep you posted.
i actually visit this site because i use it as one example of the single sightedness of many of parts of the gay movement such that they can scream for civil rights and recognition on the one hand and make extremely racist (yeah i said it) commentary on the other hand. pretty useful. when the report for a large and established international foundation is complete, i’ll make sure to send it over. i’m sure you’d like the fodder for your uninformed rhetoric.
November 29, 2009 at 7:16 pm
RBang,
Wow . . . you must not be aware just how well-treated gays in Iran are.
November 30, 2009 at 5:12 am
most muslims don’t live in iran, or iraq, or saudi arabia or afghanistan. they actually live in southeast asia and africa. the folks in war with the u.s. are a handful of wahabis (a miniscule sect, like this audience) compared to the larger islamic population.
so i’m not sure what the treatment of gays in iran has to do with your desire to paint an entire faith with broad brush strokes.
November 29, 2009 at 8:19 pm
I’m guessing that in your life you don’t even have a “miniscule” audience.
Who would want to be around a pompous ass such as yourself?
Uninformed rhetoric?
Here?
At Hillbuzz?
I bet you don’t even read the articles, you blowhard moron.
November 30, 2009 at 5:19 am
you’d be really surprised at the size of my audience. however, that neither adds or detracts from the veracity of my arguments so i don’t feel the need to “whip it out” for you.
yes, i said uninformed. and if you bothered to gather your news from more than a couple news sources (and this is not a news source) you might find fact checking this site pretty simple. so in my effort to understand the debates around all issues i read lots of different sites including this one. so if that makes me a blowhard moron (or a pompous ass), then right on.
November 30, 2009 at 10:38 am
I think that if you had a dead dear friend, you might acknowledge that whatever played into that death, might affect you personally in a such a way that you avoid at all costs and refuse to support anything that is related to that same said motivation.
Personally, after much reading that has nothing whatsoever to do with ‘blogs’, I have great issue with this particular religion. I have no problem with people practicing it if they choose to, and as long as they’re peaceful, they can do whatever they want.
However, Islam is a special bird, considering that it’s not just a religion, it’s also a political ideology (with whole countries being governed by it) that is causing a boatload of strife in the world and has for centuries. The way it treats it’s women, is hugely problematic from my female perspective.
I don’t respect it. I can respect peaceful people, while not respecting their belief systems. And anyone that espouses ANY of it’s tenants that are not of the ‘mind your own business, I’m going to inflict mine on you’, whether it’s on an individual or societal level, I WILL have an issue. And I do.
On a very general level, I don’t give a crap if you revere your pet armadillo or worship your end table. But the problem can be in the details, and thus can modify my ‘tolerance’.
November 30, 2009 at 11:48 am
well at least you admit that you are a moron and a pompous ass, because YOU ARE. Who says your ‘facts’ are correct? who says this site is uninformed? You? Wow that inspires credibility. Based on your use of the terms ‘right wing’, ’single sightedness’ and your oversimple catagorization of the’gay movement’. Perhaps you are one of those ‘left wing homophobes’ who boils down opposing perspectives to validate my own “illegitimate points of view’? If this site is so miniscule, why bother trolling here? If the audience is so ‘willfully ignorant’ why respond to the comments. Your ungainly stupidity belies your position. To follow upon your non sequitor, no the entire faith of Islam is not responsible for terrorism. However to follow upon your weak kneed example, many of the faithful followers in the Catholic church expressed enough outrage at the circumstances of the pedophilia to contribute to both the civil and canonical judicial reactions, effectively muting that behavior. Unfortunately, that has not happened in the Islamic world, which mostly practices benign avoidance in dealing with reprehensible acts committed in the name of Islam. I need not go on, however I fear that your “report” will never be complete because you obviously see the world through a distorted lense of your own making. But really, who cares. Pro for us, con for your international foundation. LOL
November 30, 2009 at 12:13 pm
@ JR
Of course I wouldn’t support anything that contributes to my dear friend’s death but my critique is the attribution of blame to a religion that is obviously being misused in the same way Christianity has been used to enslave, exploit (colonialism), and murder (the Crusades).
Islam like many other religion has its own method of jurisprudence like Judaism and Christianity. the question is whether or not governments choose to employ it and how they employ it. Islam is not a religion that has a leader like the Pope in Catholicism. It is a faith system that relies on its adherents to listen to various points of view (or hadiths) and then decide for themselves; which is why you can find such conflicting points of view in the same religion. the same way that Westerners imagine themselves to be under siege by fundamentalist Islam so do the people in the countries where it is the law as such politicized Islam is not the common form of practice. and, you may also want to know that most Muslims don’t live under fundamentalist regimes. most live under pluralist governments and exist peacefully.
so, i am not sure what you are reading. but i would invite you to seek out a variety of hadith to understand the breadth of Islam and the way it is practiced by the vast majority of Muslims. as the fundamentalists do anywhere in the world (even this country) they prey on the ignorance and fear of people who for either reasons of illiteracy or mindlessness learn their faith not through its sacred texts but through a few powerful people who choose to twist it to their own demands.
November 30, 2009 at 12:49 pm
also @ JR
re: the treatment of women
there is a difference between the way women are treated in the Q’uran and the way Islamic governments use it. for example, if you look over the history of a country like iran the treatment of women has fluctuated over time based on the political regime. Iran during and prior to the revolution was an extremely open and empowering space for women and then when the fundmentalist came to power they withdrew women’s rights. the Q’uran gives women an extremely privileged place in which they should be in a complementary relationship with men. the Prophet Muhammed’s (PBUH) closest advisors for women. and, the U.S. hasn’t managed to elect a female president but many Muslim countries in Southeast Asia have managed to do so.
November 30, 2009 at 12:32 pm
@robert c
i’ll concede the moron and ass comment because it allows us to move forward with a more substantive debate. i’m really uninterested in proving to you my un-moron-ness or un-ass-ness. so, anyhoo and on to your more substantive points….
I choose to visit this site because despite the slant of the authors (and admittedly we all have slants) I think its important to get a sense of lots of different sides of issues in the public sphere. I would hope that you (non-trolls) and my “trolly” self can debate from opposing points of view. I’m sure you can agree with that. In fact, I’m not afraid of namecalling, or the calling out of ignorance as there is space for everyone to make their points. I don’t think any of us are that fragile that we can’t hear an opposing point of view or do a little name calling (this site obviously has no problem with that).
You speak as if change in the Catholic church happened overnight. As if, there weren’t decades of cover up and as if lots of good Catholics wouldn’t prefer these scandals go away so that they can quietly go about their lives. As someone who grew up in an African Muslim home, attended Islamic Saturday school most of her childhood and is no longer practicing Islam as an adult; I urge you to differentiate between the practitioners of a faith and the leadership of that faith. The same way that I know that the cover up and the oppression of victims of sexual abuse should be attributed to the leadership of the Catholic church and not the average parishioner; I know that the governments and clerics that harbor terrorism are not doing so because their faith mandates it, they are doing it to hold on to the power they have. They use the faith as it is convenient to them. This has little to do with the ways in which everyday people practice their faith, feed the hungry (a pillar of Islam), care for their families and celebrate their major holidays (Eid-al Adha) that this site has such a problem with the recognition of.
November 30, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Simple question—
Christianity (which hasn’t had the anything like the Crusades in ohhhh….800 years or so) went through massive reformations…. revising and rethinking, great theologians pondering and extrapolating Biblical text as per the Suma Theologica, the writings of St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Augustine….even CS Lews can be lumped in the group.
Christianity has held itself up to the harsh light of day and repeatedly worked to repair corruption and misinterpretations. It has extremes, but most Christains are moderates.
Islam (which really consider not a religion but a warlord’s play for power) hasn’t done this— You don’t have a Suma or a St. Thomas. You have one narrow path and a backward mindset is encouraged. You have no moderates— either the totally faithful and devout or those who are practicing Islam Light.
Instead of a holy Son of God who did no evil, preached unconditional love and freedom of the individual… you have instead a warlord as ‘Prophet’ who married little girls, hated dogs, killed old ladies and rampaged villages.
Hold the two up side by side and it’s as clear as the light of day who is the holy one and which is the mockery.
BTW, I teach Middle Eastern Arts— I adore them… the culture I find beautiful, but Islam is a repugnant, suffocating beast that has held back the ME region by maintaining a tribal mindset, created a loathing of free thought, punished questioning and revisions of the Quran, encouraged dishonesty, and death and most of all, hates freedom. Remember the Fatwas called against those who drew Mohammad cartoons. NO muslims denounced those who called for death. NONE! The majority of the Muslim population sat in quiet, tacit agreement.
I repeat, freedom and Islam can’t coexist. The US constitution and Islam are polar opppsites. Don’t even try to say the opposite because we see the evidence daily.
November 30, 2009 at 2:00 pm
@EZBurns
I am stunned by your characterization of Islam. It does speak to the fact that one can have close contact with a faith but if you have a predisposed notion it can go unaltered.
I would love to share with you the Islam I know, that is not Islam-light which I imagine you mean to be those that are not the most extremist. But by using that charachterization you choose to lock Islam into some ancient form that suits your beliefs.
Yes, the Crusades were quite a while ago. But slavery comparatively was not nor were the churches that supported Jim Crow and harbored the KKK. And you still have people in Christianity who chose to adhere to these warped forms of Christianity while others have moved on and evolved their beliefs.
You say that most Christians are moderates but you don’t give Muslims that same benefit of the doubt nor do you acknowledge the diversity of Islam nor fierce debates occurring in Islam. My West African family does not practice the same Islam as those in the Middle East but I don’t choose to mischaracterize a whole group of folks based my prejudices about those people. Nor, would I call our practice Islam-light.
Actually, there was much debate about the fatwa issued against the Danish cartoonist. In fact, a fatwa is issued by one or a group of clerics. Only his adherents follow that and they may even decide its ridiculous. Trust, there was much debate on Islamic blogs and newspapers about how to handle disrespect to the religion.
As I am no longer practicing Muslim I don’t have readily available some texts here at my office. But when I get home this evening I would love to share some of the debates going on in the religion with you. This smaller world we live in has thrown people together in ways we may be unfamiliar and I think its important that we understand more about each other.
However, off the top of my head, I can suggest Karen Armstrong’s Islam and Sabha Mahmood’s Politics of Piety. Also, much of the work by Lila Abu-Lughod and Abdullahi Ahmed An-Naim.
November 30, 2009 at 7:18 pm
EZBurns: Talk about a holy war: “President Bush said to all of us: ‘I am driven with a mission from God’.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2005/oct/07/iraq.usa
Dear RBang, Thank you for speaking out. It is frightening what is happening to people here. I am married to a Muslim so 1/2 my family is Muslim and I wouldn’t change a thing about them; they are kind, loving, and wonderful. I am shocked at the hatred and intellectual laziness of some people in this country. When will they wake up to what their government is doing? http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15947
Do you have a blog? I’d like to visit. If not, please visit mine.
November 30, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Hi Sonic Ninja Kitty…
The best remedy to all this fear of Islam is to love/ befriend a Muslim, the same as it is for any group different from ourselves.
Every once in a while it hurts more to let these comments slide than to simply address them and I think its been a fruitful dialogue.
As far as my writing, I primarily do a lot of freelance writing around gender-based violence in immigrant communities and education issues for immigrant youth. I do not have a blog but write for both national and international aid agencies around those issues.
I will definitely check out your blog as I love to see how people are framing issues and interacting with others. I love the internet!
Be well.
November 30, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Hi RBang,
Your topics sound very interesting. I hope I’ll run across your articles sometime.
Please check my blog occasionally but be patient :) as I don’t write on a regular basis. Right now I’m on an anti-Fed roll but I also have an article regarding ‘cultural supremacy’ brewing. I’d love to hear your insights!
It’s been great to meet you!
December 1, 2009 at 10:12 am
This is to RBANG –
I cannot find in any of your comments where you replied that you thought it was wrong of Muslims to put Fatwas on cartoonists who drew cartoons of Mohammed.
This is the big problem I have with Muslims, and especially Muslim women I have worked with – they never, ever, ever, ever admit that anything any Muslim does anywhere is wrong, evil or stupid.
At least we Catholics will say that any priest who misbehaves damn well ought to be defrocked and jailed!
I remember sitting next to a co-worker not long after 9/11 exclaiming that Osama Bin Ladin was a good and holy man.
She never once expressed any sadness about 9/11, and yet, she was here on an H1-B visa, earning a damn good living.
By the way, I think that H1-B Visas should be abolished in this economy.
December 1, 2009 at 1:20 pm
Do I really have to say that I think fatwas that order people killed are wrong? Wow we’re starting from a pretty low level of interaction when you don’t assume some basic level of humanity. So here goes: I think that an order to have people killed for expressing their thoughts (however ignorant and mean-spirited) is wrong. There.
I think I have admitted several times in my posts that these acts are heinous and wrong and often politically motivated. I object to painting the whole faith with that brush is all. Not to excuse your co-workers I would wonder if their response was in response to some treatment they received from someone else around 9-11. Remember, Arab-looking folks were not treated the best post 9-11. However, still the comments were inexcusable.
If you’d like to start abolishing those visas then you should get started now. You’ll have your work cut out for you given the shortage of highly skilled workers in the U.S. Our schools just aren’t what they used to be.
December 1, 2009 at 7:04 pm
Who told you there was a shortage of highly skilled workers? Did it happen to be the SAME companies that want to hire cheap labor instead of Americans? Such as the several decades long intellectual property thief know as Bill Gates? And with the layoffs in Silicon Valley how exactly are those workers unskilled? Or any of the millions of experienced and highly skilled workers who were also laid off?
And did you know there are seminars for companies to learn how they can avoid hiring Americans and qualify for hiring H1-B visas?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCbFEgFajGU
For someone who came on here insulting people’s intelligence….you might want to work on YOUR ‘uninformed rhetoric’.
December 1, 2009 at 11:10 pm
Who told you they work for much less? The folks I know on H1-B visas do QUITE well and certainly aren’t paid less.
But since I don’t know your background its possible you know more about it than I do. That doesn’t stop me from having an opinion though and I do think American high schools aren’t preparing students to step into more technical careers. However, I do think that what American workers may lack in technical skills they tend to make up for in creativity and ingenuity.
*shrug* my two cents.
December 3, 2009 at 1:01 am
It has been common knowledge for years in Silicon Valley. Several family friends have had to train their replacements and get the first hand info from the person who is taking their job. Maybe your friends just don’t know they are paid less or they won’t share that they know. And yes, they are still paid well but not as much as their American co-workers in the same position.
Stats from the govt’s own Dept of Labor prove this repeated anecdotal evidence to be true.
On avg they are paid $13,000 less, within CA that rises to over $20,000/per year. When comparing jobs and the workers.
http://www.workpermit.com/news/2005_10_26/us/us_h1b_visa_holders_earn_less.htm
As far as the high schools. Which ones are you discussing? The inner city ones or those in the burbs? Yes, there is a huge difference between those and there always has been. But I think the top schools are still producing high level students. It would be ridiculous to assume they weren’t and stats support that.
Location…location…location is important with schools, that is not a new concept.
December 3, 2009 at 1:22 am
I just want to add one thing. In the age of internet it is hard to express things completely. HillBuzz does an excellent job of framing their arguments so you know exactly where they stand on a subject. But it takes a lot of words to deal with all the issues and misunderstanding that can arise.
I have nothing against people coming to America to gain a better life. I am insulted when someone claims that Americans are too stupid to take these jobs and need outsiders to fill them. That is a lame argument on several levels.
Maybe if you racked your brain a bit more you could see that. While we discuss people coming to America to fill jobs in the techology sector that Americans invented, and an American, who used to hold that same job is now training a H1-B Visa applicant for.
The logic doesn’t track.
December 3, 2009 at 7:08 am
RBANG,
1. I lost my very good job to an H1-B Visa holder. I trained him, I helped him with his English, I made at least $20,000 a year more than he did, but I had years of experience, so I deserved that increased pay.
2. The company I worked for was interested in one thing, the bottom line. They hired and continue to hire people from mostly the Middle East (because to them, the income is more than they could ever have imagined), and they even built prayer rooms for these people.
These H1-B visa holders were more often than not rude to our customers, and the men were horrible, horrible to women co-workers.
There is no shortage of technologically skilled Americans. There is a shortage of Technology Corporations who give a damn about this country.
Think for a moment – do you want an American-hating Muslim to have access to your health records? Because anyone who worked for the company I worked for, in the capacity I worked in, has access to health records to people in hundreds and hundreds of hospitals around the world.
Sure, you are not supposed to access them, but who is going to stop someone with world domination of Islam on his mind?
November 29, 2009 at 8:25 pm
hey hillbuzz fans,
don’t feed the trolls! it excites and encourages them!
November 29, 2009 at 8:27 pm
and sends a thrill up their legs LOL
November 30, 2009 at 11:50 am
yes feed them. catnip and arsenic.
November 30, 2009 at 12:34 pm
wow. an opposing point of view warrants arsenic? obviously a joke, so i will also laugh. LOL.
November 30, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Sorry, I forgot that trolls love attention. :)
November 29, 2009 at 8:27 pm
I would recommend newegg.com for all of your electronic needs. I wouldn’t use tigerdirect.com as I believe they have an office in Chicago and if you live in Illinois then you have to pay sales tax. With the way the economy is saving a few bucks is well worth it.
December 3, 2009 at 7:10 am
Heck, I have to pay tax on Amazon – I think all the BIG internet companies are charging sales tax these days, aren’t they?
November 29, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Now you’ve really done it, boys! You can talk politics all you want and get away with it, but jump into the Mac/PC debate, and all bets are OFF! I’ll forgive you this once!
Love this place! You guys are doing great work.
November 29, 2009 at 9:42 pm
Ooh, ooh, St. Swithun’s Day! July 15th – patron saint of weather.
Will buy my netbook from the lower priced (free shipping, no tax) Amazon.com.
Thx for the heads up.
November 29, 2009 at 10:17 pm
Don’t mean to fule the fire, but I am not a fan of Macs either. I have an HP PC which is awesome! HP is really rockin’ nowadays!
My mother has a Mac and my Dad helped start Apple (after he got fired from Commodore for helping the Steves pitch their idea to Chuck Pelder) and I grew up with Apple products. But we all switched to PCs years ago because, honestly, they are MUCH MUCH more user-friendly. Apples/Mac are great products, but they are not as easy to use and word-handy as PCs.
Okay, now here comes the flaming I’m sure :)!
November 30, 2009 at 12:53 am
Are you kidding? PCs come loaded with promos and all kinds of junk that consume hard drives and confuse new users. They take forever to boot up and shut down. They need expensive virus & spyware protection programs and run Windows updates without user permission constantly. Program “stuff” gets installed everywhere and needs a de-installer to remove it. User friendly? Hah.
My Mac can run all the great Mac programs plus Windows. Show me the PC that can run a Mac program.
I can print anything in PDF format for free. Windows can’t.
We’re a family that has lived the development of microprocessors and personal computers too. My husband has an early 70s era HP-45 calculator with his name as the serial number because he designed two of its chips. I was programming minicomputers before personal computers were invented. We personally knew the founders of Compaq, Lotus, and others. We own PCs and Macs.
I am comfortable and proficient with any computer. Macs are just a lot more fun, more stable, more predictable, more understandable, and last longer. That’s user friendly.
November 30, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Thanks GizmoTX!
I need a MAC, a really big MAC!
November 29, 2009 at 10:18 pm
Umm… and sorry for the typos there. It’s obviously “fuel” the fire, and I’m referring to Chuck PEDLER. Oops…
November 29, 2009 at 11:06 pm
PC’s are better like VHS was better than BETA. It was never better, it was just cheaper.
And you get what you pay for.
PC’s better than a MAC?
Hilarious.
November 29, 2009 at 11:42 pm
Yes, I guess it IS hilarious to misquote me in order to sneer…
If you bothered to read my comment properly, you would have noticed that I never said that PCs were “better” than Macs, I said that they were more user-friendly.
And from someone who apparently rates Macs so high, why on earth compare them to a video system that was wildly out-popularized by it’s rival and has become quaintly archaic? I don’t think most Mac fans would characterize Macs as “the BETAs of the video world”. Not exactly a winning slogan there.
Next time, do read the comments accurately before slamming them, ‘K?
November 30, 2009 at 12:10 am
“K”?
The comparison is apt.
VHS was chosen for it’s cheapness, but the quality of BETA was superior. Ask any video expert at that time, or News Station.
Oh, and I do read the comments.
You, apparently, don’t comprehend.
November 30, 2009 at 1:25 am
I emailed Best Buy that I’d never set foot in their stores again. As long as they support those dirty moslems.
November 30, 2009 at 1:39 am
Just stumbled in … I too have never used Mac now, (nor Beta back then). Being an utter idiot – aka senile technophobe – and, what with technology managing to gallop too fast to keep up with, the terminology used in the branding wars by rival formats surely had something to do with their market share and success with mopes like mysself.
Video Home Recording back then sounded like so, homey. Beta-Max, yes that’s how it was written out, was a wee bit too Star Trek. Years later, IBM-Clone type Personal Computer, yup that was the moniker, went up against something whose logo looked like a bite off the original sin, followed by Macintosh (the perverts’ favorite attire). Attitudes followed, prices set the pace. Sony and Apple users were oh so special, while VHS and PC users were oh so normal. So, it went.
Sometimes I feel nostalgic about 8-tracks and 8-MM films. For now, Sarah will do. Cheers!
November 30, 2009 at 1:40 am
I was surprised to see that you insulted The Flying Spaghetti Monster’s Birthday. I was hoping to get in a long weekend of fishing on that one in February!!
New Jewish holiday from here in Jerusalem, Kissmytuchus – happens every time Best Buy celebrates a Muslim Holiday….
Anyway,keep up the amazing work. Best Buy can go suck eggs.
November 30, 2009 at 2:07 am
Thanks for the heads up. I didn’t know this about bestbuy. I was just about to buy a computer, I will take my business elsewhere.
November 30, 2009 at 10:59 am
And while we are bashing retailers, this is from an Air Force friend of mine in Montgomery, AL:
Subject: Military Discounts at Home Depot/Lowes
I have always done my “home repair” shopping at Home Depot and received a military discount…until last Saturday.
When I went to check out, the Home Depot store manager told me, “They offer the discounts on military holidays only.”
I disagreed and she said she, “Would give me the discount this time but, no more.”
I told her I would stop doing business with Home depot. Her response was, “I understand.”
I sent an email to Home Depot and Lowe’s asking about their military discount.
Lowe’s responded within hours and said a military ID will always receive a 10% discount.
I had to call Home Depot…They verified the manager’s statement, military discount on military holidays only.
For me, veterans, families of military, and friends who continue to support the troops, we all appreciate the discount.
More often than not, the military is working on holidays.
Do what you will with this information; delete or forward; easy choice.
I have included Home Depot and Lowe’s customer service so they can tell you whether or not this is true.
My Home Depot card just went into my shredder.
They have lost me as a customer forever.
Lowe’s, here I come!
Thanks for taking a moment to read this.
Have a blessed holiday season.
(name withheld)
November 30, 2009 at 11:09 am
[...] Week: Best Buy Ad Flap Heats Up Examiner: The Christmas vs. Holiday battle ensues (video) HillBuzz: Something fun to do to Best Buy: force them to recognize every obscure and/or offensive holiday you … and You are hereby ordered by the State of Utopia to prepare merrily for Obamamas, December 13th [...]
November 30, 2009 at 12:18 pm
go to contact us at best buys site and write a message..did this sat..got email they will respond in the next few days..lets swamp them with emails.
again, i love this site and i’m a straight female..
oh, and behar makes me want to puke, why does she have a show? lets hope it bombs!
November 30, 2009 at 2:30 pm
RB said “the Q’uran gives women an extremely privileged place in which they should be in a complementary relationship with men.”
That sounds nice, but it’s not true if you are a WOMAN, which you are not. I love it when men say things like this, and they’re not on the receiving end of the deal.
Cover my head because men can’t cope. Hell, cover my wrists, becasue men can’t cope. Can’t be trusted in a court of law, a man’s word is better than mine and even if it’s HIM that violates the ‘law’, somehow I’m going to get blamed for it. Submission to God, and any man, including some young nimrod relative just because he has a penis and a Y chromosome…My word means nothing. I cannot do squat without permission. Whether or not a particular society loosens the reigns, I am still less than and still have a collar on my neck IF a man chooses to grab it. Still chattel even if I were in a position of power holding a pHd.
Marrying off young girls who haven’t even hit puberty, let alone giving consent because Mohammed had a thing for Aisha, and if he did it WELL rock on! Let’s do it because he’s perfect. (Hey does that nine year old look hot? I’m going to call her a woman because I want to be right with God.) Mohammed liked his daughter in law, let’s take her, too. Can’tjust have one wife, uhhh, hey she looks good, add her to the list…
Let’s not continue.
Sixth century ideas still being lived in the 21st century? Not impressed by any of it.
You want to believe in it, it’s your choice. But I’d have to have a lobotomy to find any agreement with you.
November 30, 2009 at 7:37 pm
JR: It’s a little more complex than this. Not all Islamic countries are the same. And then there’s interference from outsiders:
Do you know what Afghanistan was like in the 70’s? Women wore mini skirts and were doctors, lawyers, whatever they wanted. But Afghanistan was a treasure trove of riches:
“In the 1970s Afghanistan was discovered to have a wide variety of mineral resources, but only coal, iron ore, copper ore, and gemstones were targeted for development. Natural gas fields are scattered throughout much of Afghanistan. Recent analysis by the United States Geological Survey* has indicated significant unexploited oil reserves in the north as well. After their invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the Soviets endeavored to export some of the country’s resources to the USSR. Natural gas, for example, was exported by pipeline across the Amu Darya into the USSR in the 1980s….”
*What business is this of the US Geological Survey’s? Follow the money. It ALWAYS comes down to the money.
Then came the US’s support of the mealy little Taliban in an effort to fight the Soviets (for control of the resources!). The Afghans had HATED and MARGINALIZED the Taliban. When the Soviets retreated, the US zonked the Taliban to get its hand in the goody bag so of course the Taliban were mad as heck! I honestly don’t think Al Qaida would have formed in 1988 if there wasn’t this brother group, the Taliban. The US spoon fed BOTH these groups in their infancies because they would kill and be absolutely ruthless. They both grew to be uncontrollable bullies. Don’t blame Afghans or ‘regular’ Islam.
What a mess. I abhor terrorism as much as the next person but the US is not pure and innocent either.
WAKE UP, AMERICA!! http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=15947
December 1, 2009 at 12:54 am
I’m talking religion and you’re talking about ….what?
Apples and oranges.
December 1, 2009 at 9:03 am
You’re also talking politics and culture which you’ve decided are the same as the religion.
Dates and figs.
December 1, 2009 at 10:38 am
In case you haven’t noticed, religion, culture, and politics are intertwined.
If you are talking about the horrible treatment of women by, for example, the Taliban, you have to look at how the Taliban developed. The American government has often had a hand in the very things the American people criticize.
November 30, 2009 at 8:45 pm
Actually JR… I am very much a woman. And even better, I am a woman that grew up in Islam– across two continents. No one has attempted to marry me off. Islam does not dictate this, cultures do. In fact, my family has been Muslim for at least 4 generations. My foremothers were all traders who owned market stalls, several plots of land that I have inherited and have managed to ensure that all subsequent generations of daughters and sons have had a higher level of education than the previous generation.
Your beef is with the cultures not the religion.
December 1, 2009 at 12:55 am
Nope, I’ve read the Koran, several translations. It’s in there.
And you cannot seperate the religion from the cultures, because it takes a group of people to practice it. Besides that, it’s a political belief as well as a religious one, so it’s all intertwined.
December 1, 2009 at 9:02 am
So let me be clear. Your argument is that you can’t separate the religion from the culture. Yet you feel like you can paint the religion with one brush– such that it is practiced the same EVERYWHERE in the world. So are all of the cultures where Islam is practiced the same? Wow. I’m curious as to what you’re teaching your students.
December 1, 2009 at 9:48 am
oops… please disregard the last comment re: your students. i was confusing you with someone else.
November 30, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Also, JR…
There is an oft-forgotten ayah (verse in the Q’uran) after Ayat al-Kursi which roughly translates as “there is no compulsion in the religion.”
The decision to wear hijab should and does belong to women alone. Some clerics (and the governments they support) choose to force all women to wear it. Based on the above ayah that is against the faith.
Also, Western women get really hung up on the hijab as an oppressive symbol when many Muslim women find it to be liberatory. You could decide they are all crazy but I think they are at least worth listening to. They would question whether or not Western women are truly free when they are reduced to body parts when they are judged solely on their appearance. Sabha Mahmood writes extensively about women in Egypt who are leading Piety movements where women are empowered to teach Islam and use it to keep their families on what they consider to be the righteous path, often to the dismay of their husbands who would like to break the rules now and again.
December 1, 2009 at 1:03 am
Oh there is certainly compulsion in Islam, despite that oft quoted saying. If a woman isn’t free to make her own choices, pick her husband, live freely, utterly equal in the law and in culture to her husband or any man? She is then not free.
If the penalty for apostasy is death, that is about as un-free as one can get.
Why do you no longer practice and since you do not, I’ll betcha that you live in the West. Really easy to practice any way that you choose when you live in a country that supports religious freedom. Unlike those that are ruled by Sharia where that isn’t an option.
I’m not hung up, I’m pretty clear. If some guy has to hide his wife under a tablecloth, or she is so unsure of herself that she cannot walk around without one, it’s pretty telling.
Haven’t even touched on the whole genital mutilation thing, or the honor killings, or the suicide bombing to get into heaven…
You need a serious reformation of this thing.
December 1, 2009 at 9:20 am
I was born in the U.S., raised part in West Africa and the U.S. and lived in Central America for a few years. I do not practice Islam anymore not because of a problem with Islam, since I actually do practice it culturally. but because my partner has introduced me to Buddhism and I am in the process of learning more. However, the child I am carrying will probably have an Islamic naming ceremony as well as a naming ceremony my partner and I choose. I have actually found lots of resonance for my life with Buddhism and so am spending some time exploring that right now. I may go back to Islam since Buddhism nor Islam does not exclude other practices as long as you follow the pillars.
Since you’re giving me some advice ( the whole “serious reformation” thing), I’ll offer you some advice. You have allowed your views of the faith to be colored by some truly heinous acts committed in the name of the religion. I find this unfair as, again, the practices you discuss (female genital cutting, forced arranged marriage and honor killing) are not practiced across the entire faith but by certain cultures. And, lets not forget that FGC was practiced in Christian cultures (including Europe in the U.S.) as late as the 1920s. Check medical journals from the period on topics such as female masturbation and hysteria.
I’m not sure what else to say to you. I have offered my own experience of the faith as an example of a different (and not uncommon) form of Islamic practice and you have dismissed that as Islam-light. However, as someone who works with Muslim women from the countries where those practices are common, I do know that if you were to approach them with such disdain of their faith it would immediately close any doors to dialogue or the building of solidarity to change these practices, which I think most good people want. And, ultimately, it is not going to be indignant Christian women in the U.S. that are going to change these practices but these women themselves, many of whom will be proudly Muslim.
November 30, 2009 at 9:00 pm
I’m pretty curious about your assumption about my gender. And, to your surprise, I am a proud feminist. And even weirder, so is my mother, was my grandmother (who was illiterate but could count the hell out of money and made sure all of her children went to college) and my great grandmother who protested the colonial influence in her country bare-chested in front of British magistrates. Not all Muslim women are disempowered.
November 30, 2009 at 3:27 pm
And let’s not forget The Great Pumpkin Day! And since our Congress has passed any number of resolutions proclaiming garlic day, butternut squash day and eggplant day, etc, well, is Best Buy celebrating our panoply of “national” holidays?
The list of Holidays in the Hindu religion is hundreds of items long. And there are sacred days for Jains, Bahai, Sikhs, etc, oh, to have each jot and tittle of every religion celebrated in the equality of diversity, this now, is true, um,… I don’t know. it’s true something though.
November 30, 2009 at 3:54 pm
[...] City Times: Tyranny Of The Minority: Majority Of Americans Prefer ‘Merry Christmas’ HillBuzz: Something fun to do to Best Buy: force them to recognize every obscure and/or offensive holiday you … and You are hereby ordered by the State of Utopia to prepare merrily for Obamamas, December 13th [...]
December 11, 2009 at 11:50 am
Greetings,
I’m not a member of the GLBT community, but I can give credit where credit is due. I’m a registered Independent, and I am a Christian. This blog made me laugh hysterically. I am SO going to go into Best Buy and drive them completely crazy. With the entire planet of holidays at our disposal, there’s AT LEAST one thing to celebrate every day.
I must say that I am getting immense enjoyment out of reading this website.
December 22, 2009 at 4:50 pm
[...] Best Buy Re-Discovers Christmas, Along With Eid-al-Adha HillBuzz: The First Day of Obamamas and Something fun to do to Best Buy: force them to recognize every obscure and/or offensive holiday you … and You are hereby ordered by the State of Utopia to prepare merrily for Obamamas, December 13th [...]
December 24, 2009 at 12:00 am
[...] Danny Glover Sees No Difference Between Obama and Bush HillBuzz: The First Day of Obamamas and Something fun to do to Best Buy: force them to recognize every obscure and/or offensive holiday you … and You are hereby ordered by the State of Utopia to prepare merrily for Obamamas, December 13th [...]