Sound Vision Staff Writer

According to the US Department of Agriculture, up to one-fifth of America's food goes to waste each year, with an estimated 130 pounds of food per person ending up in landfills. The annual value of this lost food is estimated at around $31 billion.

Waste and a lifestyle characterized by it, is behind many of the environmental problems we face today. Waste is something Allah hates. He says in the Quran: "Lo! the squanderers were ever brothers of the devils and the devil was ever an ingrate to his Lord."

Forty-five percent of Americans would not want a Muslim president, according to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center in August 2007. That compares to 25 percent who said they would be less likely to vote for a Mormon candidate and 11 percent who would be less likely to vote for a Jew.

If you think racism, as indicated by things like the 1994 O. J. Simpson trial, the 1992 race riots in Los Angeles, or the existence of the white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan in America is something new, think again.

Sound Vision interviewed Sipes about his former racism, what brought about his change and why he ultimately chose Islam. This is an edited version of that interview.

Literally, Hijab is an Arabic word which means curtain. In the context of Islam, it is used to describe the general rules of dress and modesty for both men and women. In the West, it is often used by Muslims to describe the headscarf that Muslim women wear.

Immigrants and workers must band together on May 1, 2007 for a common cause that ultimately hurts all of us in our nation of immigrants. Let us not forget the strength and sacrifices of those who died at the Haymarket Square massacre.