A Taste of Local and National Politics

All you democracy deprived people in the Middle East, know that democracy has a dark side. Check out this piece of legislation that has recently made it through the North Dakota congress, here are some notable highlights:

Bill OKs shooting burglars
By Dale Wetzel, Associated Press
Published Tuesday, February 13, 2007

BISMARCK – Opposition from prosecutors and law enforcement officers could not derail legislation giving North Dakotans the right to shoot a burglar or carjacker with protection from criminal prosecution or civil lawsuits if they do.

“This bill is simply a citizen’s version of homeland security,” said Representive Ron Carlisle, Republican-Bismarck.

The measure, which the National Rifle Association (NRA) is promoting in other states, has drawn fierce resistance from police and county prosecutors who say North Dakotans already have the right to defend themselves in their homes and workplaces.

Rep. Al Carlson, Republican-Fargo, said homeowners should not be obliged to try to find out whether a burglar is a potential danger before they defend themselves. “I’d tell you what would happen in my house. I would shoot that person, and I would shoot them enough times that I knew he wasn’t going to do any danger to me, or my family,” Carlson said. “He’d leak like a watering can when I was done with him.”

One of the many reasons to love living in a Red State, Yee Haa!
This isn't, by far, the only display of democratic absurdity. Anyone following the current hotly debated issue in the US congress, that of the non-biding resolution opposing Bush's troop surge plan, can be treated to gems from both sides of the isle... again some lowlights:

Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO): Could you picture Davy Crockett at the Alamo looking at his Blackberry getting a message from Congress? Davy Crockett, we support you. The only thing is we are not going to send any troops. I’m sure that would really be impressive to Davy Crockett.

Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL): In the South, we have a wonderful saying and it goes like this: Get ‘er done. Our soldiers want to get it done and come home, and our President wants the same thing, and this Congress should demand the exact same thing. Let’s get out there and get ‘er done.

Rep. Fortenberry (R-NB): Madam Speaker, when I left home this week for Washington, my 6-year-old Kathryn became very sad. See, she has big, beautiful brown eyes and they welled up with tears at the prospect of my leaving again for Washington. And she said to me, Daddy, why do you have to be a Congressman?

Rep. Keller (R-FL): Let me give you an analogy. Imagine your next-door neighbor refuses to mow his lawn and the weeds are all the way up to his waist. You decide you are going to mow his lawn for him every single week. The neighbor never says thank you, he hates you, and sometimes he takes out a gun and shoots at you.

And people say C-SPAN isn't entertaining!

An answer to an American question

A question that has been prominent in American media and US political speech in the last few years has been, "Why do they [terrorists] hate us?". Which is a very valid question, because to fight terrorism you should know its roots and causes and start the fight there. But the problem is that these politicians and analysts have stopped short of seeking (or admitting) the real answer.

The following paragraph is an excerpt from an interview with Michael Scheuer, a very colorful person who's a 22-year CIA veteran that served as the Chief of Alec Station, the Osama bin Laden Unit at the Counterterrorist Center.

Q: Where does the major danger lie now?

A: For America? That we could very well be defeated oversees and at home. And the source of it is clearly that we have yet to find a politician in either party who's willing to tell the American people the truth. We continue to be harangued by President Bush and Senator Clinton and former President Clinton and Senator McCain about how Americans must fight this war because we're being attacked because we have freedoms and liberties and women in the workplace and a whole list of ephemera that have nothing to do with this war at all.

We're being attacked, Britain is being attacked, our allies are being attacked because we've installed and backed and implemented a set of policies in the Middle East for the last 30 years or more. And we're being attacked because of what we do, not because of who we are. And by refusing to talk about that, I'm afraid the American people, at least, don't have a good idea of just how dangerous the threat is that we face.

The interview was part of PBS' program Frontline, the episode was titled The Cell Next Door. It talks about an alleged terrorist cell in Toronto that was uncovered, its members arrested and are awaiting trial thanks to information from a self-described Muslim fundamentalist, dubbed the Radical Informant. Quite interesting. But I digress.

To fight terrorism one must eliminate the conditions that breed it, that might be a process that will take some time, and it certainly will not be an awe-inspiring show of force that some want it to be, but it's the only way real and lasting results can be achieved. The US needs to rethink its foreign policy and address two particularly fundamental issues; the injustice the Palestinians are subjected to, and the US support of the tyrannical Arab regimes.

Technorati tags: War on Terror, Terrorism, US Foreign Policy

He Pulled What Out of Her?!!

K#$ OKHT EL TAKHALOF (initial reaction, had to be said).

But here's what LBC has to say about the show this was on:

تقدّم الفضائية اللبنانية برنامجا جديدا يهمّ المشاهد العربي، ويحيط بجوانب
حياته الإجتماعية والمعيشية والإقتصادية كافة بعنوان عيشوا معنا
عيشوا معنابرنامج سعودي خليجي يتضمّن فقرات يومية منوّعة، برنامج حواري مباشر
يناقش القضايا الإجتماعية والشبابية الحسّاسة في السعودية والخليج، من خلال تقارير ميدانية، وأراء من الشارع العربي وضيوف واتصالات

I don't know what to say.. maybe I'm going about this the wrong way, I should be happy that there's a show to discuss such important "sensitive social issues". Apparently, issues such as child abuse and molestation don't qualify.

We live in the dark ages, what I can't get over is maybe this is acceptable in a remote Saudi village in the middle of nowhere because enlightenment might've not reached people there yet. But to have such a person on TV, allowing him to broadcast such filth, unchallenged, unchecked, and of all places on a hip channel that brought us such advances as Star Academy... Allah be praised.

Choices

"I choose to live and to grow, take and give and to move, learn and love and to cry, kill and die and to be paranoid and to lie, hate and fear and to do what it takes to move through"

Forty-Six & 2, from ÆNIMA

November 9th, 2005

In remembrance of lives lost.

Israel continues to kill the Lebanese

Almost 2 weeks after the cease fire, Israel is still managing to inflict more casualties in the Lebanese people. Israel has left behind 100,000 unexploded bomblets (such a cute name for an instrument of death) from their extensive cluster bombing of 359 separate sites in Lebanon. "Everyday people are maimed, wounded and are killed by these ordnance, it shouldn’t have happened." said Jan Egeland, the top United Nations aid official, read the rest of the report here.

As if the world needed further evidence of the barbaric nature of the Israeli offensive, cluster bombs are used specifically to inflict the most damage against personnel, their threat to civilians and after effects are well known and their use is a hotly debated issue.

Technorati tags: Israel, Cluster Bombs, Lebanon

...

Why the "soccer" Gods will never smile on the US

Besides calling the sport by the damn wrong name, this is what the local ABC affiliate decided to broadcast instead of Brazil Vs. Australia.



Their sports director was nice enough to reply to my email..

I wish I had a better answer than the one I will give you. Our station has partnered with Messiah Lutheran Church for more than 20 years to bring a church service to those who aren't able to go, and out of respect for that partnership we've chosen to tape delay the soccer matches that run during that time. They will be shown Sunday night after our 10:00 news, but I know that is not the same as seeing them live.

Thank God for free to air satellite television, an Iranian station called Tapesh, and most of all a friend nice enough to come to the office and open his business on a Sunday just for me to watch the game. Bill, thanks bud I owe you one.

JP home to more than 100 blogs

Jordan Planet (JP) has been rapidly growing over the last year, when I joined back in July 2005 the number of blogs on JP was in the teens 30s, today with the latest induction of a fresh batch of blogs we've surpassed the 100 blog mark, which is a major milestone.

JP has matured into a cohesive entity in the global blogoshpere and one feels a true sense of community among the planet citizens. Some of the milestones in JP's life up to this one include the first meetup, which grew into a monthly event attracting a growing number of citizens, expats, and readers, another is a Wikipedia article that Naseem eloquently composed. Like other blogger communities, JP citizens stepped up and voiced their opinions on major events throughout the last year, most notable are the November 9th attacks on Amman and the Danish cartoons controversy, both issues got huge international attention and provided exposure for JP bloggers, the world is indeed listening. At least 4 of JP citizens are editors for Global Voices and they do an excellent job of highlighting JP bloggers' reactions to world events, names that come to mind include Naseem Tarawneh, Shaden Abdul Rahman, Roba Assi, and Haitham Sabbah. Another important step was adding a healthy serving of Arabic blogs to the planet after the blog list was dominated by English blogs, there are at least 9 Arabic blogs on the planet now and hopefully that number will continue to grow and encourage more Jordanians to blog.

Looking into the future, I hope JP continues its growth not only in blog numbers, but also in influence, readership, variety of topics, and representation for a larger slice of the Jordanian community.

Finally I'd like to welcome all the new citizens, with the now traditional, Welcome to The Planet, I'm looking forward to reading your posts. To JP, best wishes for continued success, I can only imagine how proud Isam is.

وعقبال ال 1000 مدوّنة :)

Technorati tags: JP, Jordan Planet

Zarqawi's death

A piece of good news from a sea of tragedy in Iraq. One shouldn't rejoice in the end of life, and I wouldn't describe my feelings as happy but that of reflection on the crimes this person committed and the suffering he brought upon so many lives.

The Arabic concept of "revenge" comes to mind, or what we call in Arabic Thar, it is an old Arabic custom that the family of a victim will not accept condolences for his death until the killer has met the same fate, or has been brought to justice. After Jordan announced the capture of an Al Qaueda thug who was an associate of Zarqawi and apparently responsible for the killing of a Jordanian citizen who traveled to Iraq for business, I was really shocked to see the king and queen go and offer condolences to the family of the deceased. The family in interviews thanked the king for taking Thar on their behalf.

No news about Al Qaueda or Zarqawi would be complete without a mention of a Al Jazeera, I was surprised to not find a picture of Zarqawi's body on Al Jazeera's website, although they are notorious for their lack of censorship. While writing this post the picture was shown but under an article about how publishing the picture is another American violation to the Geneva Convention, ah give me a freaking break!

The news about Jordanian Intelligence playing a part to bring the end of Zarqawi is a bonus and hopefully can bring closure to the families of the Amman hotel bombings. Good riddance.

ثقافة الخوف في الأمثال الأردنية

كأردني على مشارف إنهاء عقدي الثالث، تربيت على أمثال و مقولات كُرِّرت و تكَرَّرت على مسمعي حتى اصبحت جزأًً لا يتجزأ من كياني، ولو أخذت عيِّنة من الشباب الأردني لوجدت أن الحال مشابه لمعظمهم

أتكلم عن الأمثال الكلاسيكية ك

امشِ الحيط الحيط و قول يالله الستيره
الباب اللِّي بيجيك منهْ الريح، سدُّهٌ واستريح
ابعد عن الشر وغنّيله
حط راسك بين الروس وقول يا قطّاع الروس
الموت مع الناس نعاس
...الخ

this post has been in draft for a good two months, and I guess the only way to finish it is to do so in English, so here goes.

The list of such proverbs goes on, and every one of them is an endorsement of the status quo, and a stern warning against individuality and even standing up for oneself. I wonder, when exactly did speaking up about certain issues become a taboo in our society? If it became a taboo due to certain circumstances, are these circumstances still there? Are the younger generations being subjected to the same fear culture that mine lived in?

I sure hope that our society is freer now, and that our young country has grown to protect the freedom of her citizens.

Eve's Market

I tuned in to the JRTV website last Thursday to see first hand the confessions of alleged Hamas members on the 8 o'clock news cast, and at the end of the cast there was a story about a new market in Mafraq, Jordan. What makes this market special is that it's available exclusively to females, see an Alghad article about it. All the shops in the market are run by women, men are not allowed into the market and those men who insist on accompanying a woman until she gets to the "safety" of Eve's Market, will have to wait outside the market in a room clearly marked with a sign that says Men's Rest Area.

Those interviewed for the story, both men and women, expressed their support for the market and stated that it's a great idea for our conservative society. Now I grew up in Irbid, which is a very conservative society and I'd like to make two notes. Firstly, I find this idea to be too extreme, what harm can come from some interaction between males and females in a place like a market? I'm aware that females are often subjected to comments that are unpleasant in nature to say the least, but you do not solve this problem by further separation. All the separation does is make the interactions even more awkward in the future, because the scene of a woman in a market that is not designated as for women only, will be seen as something out of place. A healthy level of gender integration can go a long way. Take our educational system as an example, public schools are gender segregated, and more often than not when teenagers start school on our co-ed colleges they've had very little contact with people of the opposite gender outside their family circle. That led to very awkward situations that I as a proud public school graduate, have witnessed first hand, things that would make you go what was s/he thinking?!

The other note I want to make is on a topic that has been on the minds, and blogs, of many Jordanians, the issue of the huge economical and social differences between Amman and the rest of the Kingdom. I can't imagine an idea like Eve's Market flying in Amman, I remember an Amr Diab concert in The Orthodox Club in Amman circa 1994, I was 17 at the time, and when I saw guys and girls greeting each other with kisses on the cheek I thought that I was on a different planet rather than a different city. The Ammanite society has gotten much more liberal since 1994, while the rest of Jordan is where it has been for the last 30 years for the most part. It's normal for any country to have differences between its people and regions, but I wonder how healthy is it for the differences to be so stark in a country so small?

Tool: The Band

If you're not familiar with the band Tool, allow me to introduce you to one of the greatest rock bands of our time, if you're a Tool fan, let's rejoice in the release of their album 10,000 Days. Tool's fourth offering that came 5 years after their masterpiece Lateralus, which led some people to call them "The slowest tempoed Progressive band ever!" especially with the fact that Lateralus followed their second album Ænima after another 5 year hiatus. (Follow the album links for track samples, for Tool virgins I suggest starting with Schism off Lateralus, and Eulogy from AEnema, and from their first full length album Undertow, check out Sober).

To say it was well worth the wait is an understatement, I've been listening extensively to the album for about a week now, all I can say is MIND BLOWING. Tool's music is the high intensity type that grabs hold of your very being and shakes you to the core, the gripping music is accompanied by a powerful message that explores the human psyche and tackles controversial issues such as organized religion. This album delivers big time on both of these fronts, the title of the album 10,000 Days is in reference to the 27 years that Maynard James Keenan(Tool's front man)'s mother spent in a wheelchair before passing away,

10000 days in the fire is long enough.
You're going home...

You're the only one who can hold your head up high,
Shake your fist at the gates saying,
"I have come home now!"

Fetch me the spirit, the son and the father,
Tell them their pillar of faith has ascended.

I'll probably revisit Tool and the 10,000 Days album in other posts, but I want to share some quick excerpts about the album, and tell anyone who enjoys rock music that this as good as rock gets, buy the CD.

Kelefa Sanneh in a NY Times article said:

"..."10,000 Days" is full of grand, heavy, slightly mysterious progressive rock."

"Certainly "10,000 Days" evokes a bygone time when musicians expected listeners to swallow their albums whole, and in order"

"So "10,000 Days" (Volcano/Zomba/Sony BMG) is purely a CD, though it's a pretty elaborate one. Along with those 77 minutes of music, you get a wraparound hardcover case; the booklet is printed stereoscopically, with lenses built into the cover."

Technorati tags: Tool, 10,000 Days

Spring pictures

Thought I'd share some pictures from last weekend's biking trip to Itasca State Park in Minnesota, 32,000 acres or 130 squared km of gorgeous nature that includes more than a 100 lakes and the headwaters of the Mississippi River.

The spring, green pictures, to go with the blog's new colors. It was time for the winter blues to go. Banner designed by a person much more artsy than myself, thanks :)

Faith issues

I came upon some sort of a news report while channel surfing last night, it talked about how the American Embassy building in Tehran is being used as a recruiting station for suicide bombers. It turned out that the report was for The 700 Club, Wikipedia'd, when the report ended they cut to the reporter back in the studio stateside with Pat Robertson where the two had the most interesting and "informing" exchange.

The reporter mentioned that Iran's president Ahmadinejad believed that The Mahdi's return to Qom is imminent, and that the right conditions for his return call for the world to be in chaos, which according to them explains Iran's nuclear ambitions. Robertson's reaction was to call Ahmadinejad a nut, a statement that I've personally uttered more than once. The idea of a figure that existed some 2000 years ago returning to Earth from a well, to lead the forces of Good in a great battle against Evil, and eventually bringing peace to the world? I mean COME ON.. a well? Have you said, for example, this figure will be returning from Heaven into the fields of Armageddon... oh wait, Mr. Robertson, you're also a nut.

I'm not aiming to favor one story over the other, but to point out an important issue that is a requirement and a major flaw in all the religions I'm familiar with, it's the issue of blind belief that calls upon the followers of a religion to believe everything the religion preaches as the absolute truth, and to reject everything preached by other religions, even in such a case where the two stories are so ridiculously similar. I strongly believe that absolutes are very rare; there is no absolute truth, love, hate, etc. And I said "very rare" and not nonexistent because that would've been too absolute a statement.

Another very informative piece of information that the 700 Club provided was about the black Hatta, or traditional Arab head dress that comes in the black and white configuration, now associated with Palestine. But that's a story for another post.

Technorati tags: Faith, Religion

Digital activism

I'll admit that I've never read the Egyptian blogger Alaa until I heard about the story of his and other bloggers imprisonment by the Egyptian authorities. But the story is all too familiar, and everyone in the region personally knows someone who went through something of a similar nature. So everyone should speak out against this injustice, this is my Egypt Google bomb for Alaa.

Please add your own bomb.

Tags: Egypt

How to give yourself a heart attack

Caution, not for the weak of heart, all puns intended. Follow these steps:

1. stay late at work, make sure you’re in a quiet office with all lights turned off. An office can be replaced by any dark quiet place, but the results may vary.
2. make sure your computer speakers are turned on and the volume is fairly high.
3. open http://makhoudjit.blogspot.com/

God damn... that was a good scare!

Egypt مصر

Explosions rock the resort egyptian town of Dahab on the Red Sea gulf of Aqaba, 10's reported dead Yahoo news

Update: by the latest count 23 dead and 62 injured, no claims of responsibility as of yet.

The ugly face of terrorism has shown itself again, such loss of life, the sad fact is that I think people are numbed by it all, it's becoming a matter of when and where the next attack is going to be. Match that with the massive loss of life going on in Iraq on a daily basis, you get a good picture of the bleak reality of today's world.
Deepest condolences to the families of victims.

Bin Laden's latest message and Hamas

In his latest installment that was aired on Al Jazeera Sunday, Bin Laden carries on an emerging theme in Al Qaueda's rhetoric, Palestine. Al Qaueda is a Johnny-come-lately on the list of countries, organizations, and people that attach themselves to the Palestinian cause for their own self-benefit, and that is by far the last thing the cause needs. We saw Al Zawahiri come out with a similar theme in March after Hamas' win in the elections urging them to fight on.

Hamas' response to both messages has been to shrug the first off and turn a deaf ear to the other. It was very encouraging seeing such a reaction from Hamas, one would hope this may open The West's eyes to realities in the Middle East and the fact that they cannot color the whole region with the very broad brush they use. The Bush administration did that in the lead up to war in Iraq, when they claimed links between Saddam and Al Qaueda and hence 9/11, sadly some people still believe these links exist.

Technorati tags: Bin Laden, Zawahiri, Al Qaueda, Hamas

Back in the saddle again

We just had a gorgeous weekend, sunny and highs in the 70s both days so it was the perfect time for me to make my triumphant return to biking, these are some pictures I took along the bike trails. First off though my new toy, she's green!


and still shiny :)


some follow Fargoan's enjoying the lovely day.


playing hide the shadow, I like how this tree takes a dip in the pond and emerges dry from the other side.


parts of the trails are still in a rough shape, 2 weeks ago this whole area was under water from the river flooding.


the debris on the trees show how high the water was.


blue skies.

It feels great to be out on a bike again! although my rear end isn't fully agreeing with the last statement, I haven't been on a bike for over 2 years.