Observations on and from a New World

i just wanted to throw down some observations i've had recently, with little to no commentary, so here they are, in random order:

1) i rode the bus to school today, for the first time in several years. i loved it. Got two miles' worth of exercise by walking to the bus station, spent absolutely no money on gas, and i felt like a human being, in the sense that i wasn't separated from other human beings by the 4 other empty seats in my car and locked doors. i actually talked to other humans and sat beside them.
a) i've never been one to loudly point out financial differences among races, but it does seem like i see white kids in the parking lot and black kids on the bus, for the most part.
b) Why is that?

2) i remember from my Moon days when i would walk down the street and see, on any given day, hundreds of violations of The Moon's child labor laws. Children as young as 5 or 6 would be washing dishes, sweeping sidewalks, etc.

Now as i walk down the street i see the differences in houses and cars and people. i've heard Raleigh is "renovating" its downtown area, and this is quite apparent. All the po' folks are being pushed out and the rich ones are being pushed in. i'm sure that if you were to ask a city councilman (we do have those, right?) what kind of remuneration was taking place for those being essentially kicked out, he would have a satisfying answer for you. But i'm just as sure that those being kicked out wouldn't be so satisfied.

Point is, i wasn't really expecting to find social justice violations so quickly when i came back to my native land. i mean, i knew they were there, but i always thought they happened in Chicago, or New York, or Montana. Never at home.

3) i was reading this:

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/C46DA5C1-D200-48E6-8B24-76EE739EC243,frameless.htm

(will someone PLEASE tell me how to do hyperlinks?)

and these were the things that sort of jumped out at me (italics are mine):

"Sadly over the centuries Islam grew weak and we forgot that the Prophet carried a spear when he spoke. The spear was replaced with a staff (tongkat) instead, as if Muslims were weak and needed a walking-stick to stand up! We need to go back to this original, strong, robust Islam. Like the Prophet we need to carry the spear (tombak) again. If the Prophet carried a spear, then for us today we can carry an M-16!"

"Democracy is shirik (unbelief) and haram (unclean). Here we do not compromise. Those who claim to be Muslims and do not support Shariah one hundred per cent are all munafik and kafirs, they are out of Islam. No need to discuss with these people, they are not part of the ummat (community of Islam) anymore. There is no need to listen to public opinion: kafirs, apostates, liberals, atheists - they are all non-believers."

"There can be no Islam without jihad."