Navel gazing = staring at one’s self = self-obsession, in an effacing, critical way. 
Read something better. Try the Economist.
Aw, shucks. I was all set with the Frisbee and the peanut butter when Lynn came along and shut down all the fun yesterday. Maybe someone will bring the jelly over here?
Gaze at one’s navel
Mantra fills one’s consciousness:
“I like orange juice.”
I wish this board allowed us to give “reputation points” for posts as wise and witty as this one!
Memo: Jerry Falwell, Pat Robertson, Fred Phelps, and other similar anal sphincters do not speak for me as a Christian. The Great Jumpin’ Jihad Liberation Front and Used Weapons Dispensary, Inc., does not speak for Aldebaran or several million other Muslims (the much preferred spelling; according to a Muslim of my acquaintance, “Moslem” is about on a par with “colored folk” in the scale of pejoratives) who have been outspoken against violence.
That’s quite an accomplishment. Not every doper is able to mimic a drunken sot so well. :wally
Great memo Polycarp! Be well, Sir. 
Wait, is “Moslem” really a pejorative? It’s an old-fashioned spelling, one that doesn’t approximate the Arabic pronunciation of the word in fact, but Arabic transliteration has generally been far from systematic until recently. I can see it not being prefered, but really? A pejorative? It’s not as though it’s really somehow insulting. Just misspelled.
No clue; I’m just reporting what I’ve been told. Perhaps because it is not phonetic and a misspelling of the actual phonetic transliteration, it’s taken to mean that you don’t give a sweet ____ how they feel about it and how they say it? Anyway, I got a good lecture from an Egyptian exchange student on another board that “Moslem” was considered by Muslims as mildly offensive, unless clearly used in ignorance of the proper spelling. So I’ve been doing my bit towards fighting ignorance by reporting the preferred transliteration, based on what she said.
I’ve heard several Muslims pronounce it that way on C-Span.
look Moslems up in any American phonebook along with
Smiths
Garcias
Alexanders
and the like
You’ll get pages.
If you like them so much, why are you giving them such a hard time?
Because he is not drunk. Er . . . wait a minute . . . Blackacre, are your cerrtain that you were not drunk when you made the above posts?
I am not surprised on bit to see this thread. I saw it coming the minute I read this on GQ.
Titled “White slavery in the US” http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=282214
I you want to discuss Islam, make a thread on GD with clearly focussed questions, impressions, critiques, whatever you like to come up with.
Before you to that do a search on the words “Islam, Muslims, Middle East” (and under my member name you can search on words like “sura, tafsier or tafsir, Muslims, exegeses, Al Qur’an, sunna, hadieth or hadith”).
You can do searches as soon as you paid for your membership.
If you are not interested in paying for membership: Why on earth do you want to touch a topic that is done over and over again on this message board and continues to show up about every 3-4 weeks (and often with less interval) in one form or an other.
When you start talking on or about Islam you must not expect that whatever you don’t know (and clearly you know nothing) shall be explained or answered in a few days time.
If however you are only out on ranting and exposing your ignorance (both on Islam and on the SDMB threads already handling the topic) I guess this forum is the Place To Be. Have fun.
Salaam. A.
SDMB Evil Muslim # 1.
One does have to wonder at what BA’s motivations are.
I mean, why start a thread about how there’s not a thread discussing what he wants to discuss rather than start a thread about what he wants to discuss?
Why didn’t Blackacre author a thread in GD about what he’d like to discuss?
I’m tempted to conclude that he’s a whiner and/or a crybaby. Perhaps he’s not. I’m witholding judgment for the moment. But I am sorely tempted to think of this thread and his civil war thread as the whining of an attention whore.
But perhaps he’s not really a whining, crybaby attention whore.
Blackacre, the US invaded Iraq to make the world safe for Haliburton.
Nonsense, capacitor, you terrorist-lover. The United States came to the aid of the gallant freedom-loving Iraqi people in order to make our precious bodily fluids safe from chemicobionukular attack.
No no no… You know nothing.
It is to make it easier for Haliburton to ship off all these White US Girls into the Moooooosliiiiiiiim harems. I just placed my first order.
Salaam. A
Well, yeh, but when you evil white slavers get those poor innocent girls into your harems, what’s the first thing you’ll do? Right! Drain off their precious bodily fluids and sell them to Halliburton for resale at 500% markup to American forces!
Once again you know nothing.
I can’t drain off their body fluids just like that or I shall have to place every time again a new order to replace the useless corpses. You don’t make much money like that.
What needs to be done when I drain their bodily fluids off to sell them with a little profit (and 500 % is a laughable proposition) is to replace their fluids with mine.
This is a demanding task but it is obvious that their value then becomes immensely upgraded.
Salaam. A
So that’s why I can’t get a date.