To be or not to be..NDP

A couple of days ago I said I was taking some time off to think about a serious decision that I am forced to make ( and no, it’s not a sex change operation, thank you very much Jeff you wanker). Since I still can’t make up my mind on it and I am still torn between what I want to do and what I am told I should do, I am just gonna lay it all on you guys and hope you could convince me of choosing one way over the other. Ok?

Ok.. Here is the deal:

My family wants me to run in the next municipal elections as part of the NDP list.

It wouldn’t really be running, and I won’t even have to do anything, because those elections aren’t really elections because they get boycotted by the opposition. So basically whoever is on the list gets elected. Simple as that. I would become a member of the city council with no campaigning necessary. They have enough clout to place me on the list with my cousin and come November I am an elected official.

The reason why they want me to do that is simple: the old guard’s time is nearly up. For better or worse, Egypt is going to go through a transition with Mubarak Sr.’s era ending and his son’s beginning and this will include their men. Now is the time to jump on the Jimmy wagon, and only a few seniors are allowed. New blood is needed to ensure that our family stays connected, because in Egypt if you are not connected you are screwed, and therefore the best time to start acting is now. Me and my cousin fit perfectly the new mold of the future NDP men : Upper-middle class upbringing, politically astute, multilingual, US educated, etc… You know, good faces to represent Egypt and the new regime.

It’s also worth mentioning that the municipal elections have now new-founded importance and power : According to the new election law, if you want to run for President, you need to get approval signatures of municipal council members, alongside those of parliamentarians. They will get to have a big say on who runs and who doesn’t, and this is particularly important to the regime that the councils to be filled with regime loyalists or in my case, the sons of regime loyalists, to ensure that no real competition gets to run. After a round or two of serving there, and proving your loyalty, you get to run for parliament with the full party support and you may even join a cabinet. It’s all very straightforward and simple really. A “No-brainer” as my cousin put it. And it is. For most Egyptians, such an opportunity is a no-brainer.

Well, except for this particular Egyptian. It’s not a no-brainer. Not one by a long-shot.

I am naturally opposed to the whole thing, and actually quite disgusted by it. This is against everything that I personally believe in. Against every principle that I have, stupid as they may be. There is no way I would accept this I said to them. No freakin way!

(But…)

They tell me that I need to not just think for myself and start thinking about what’s good for the family. The Family that took care of me, paid for my education in the US, got me the job I have now. The family that has given me so much already without asking for anything in return until now. They tell me that I need to stop being such a selfish ungrateful bastard and start giving back. That the Family needs this of me and that I am the only one who can really pull it off, because my cousin isn’t half as smart as me. They inform me that it is my responsibility: I have to take on that responsibility now, because there is no one else to do it. They remind me that I owe them, and that now is the time to pay.

(I knew this day would come)

I tell them that the price is too much to pay. It’s too much of a responsibility and that I can’t take it. I can’t be that person.

(You are just being selfish. Think of all that we have given you.)

I tell them that If I had known that that would be the price I would’ve have never agreed to travel in the first place. I told them that I have never wanted their money. I remind them that the majority of my college education I had scholarships and that I got my Masters degree through a scholarship just so I wouldn’t take their money. That I paid for my trip and all of my expenses when I went and visited my Mother during her operation and I still pay off that debt till this day. That the reason why I still do not have a car is because I refuse to take a single penny from their unclean money ;Money that I haven’t earned and that I know comes from shady dealings. This is also the real reason why I put up that donation button: I hoped in my delusions of grandeur to collect enough money so that when the shit hits the fan I would never need their money or help. I tell them that I don’t want any of it. Not anymore. I have shown you guys that.

They then tell me: Then if you don’t for us, do it for the country. You know that this country needs people like you. You know that amongst the new guard and the NDP that there are many good people that actually work to advance and reform and improve this country. That it’s not all as bad as you believe. Those people are the reason why this country still floats and hasn’t completely turned to shit yet. They keep the ship going for all of us. Aren’t you the one that always bitches about wanting to change things, to improve things in this country that you claim to so dearly love. Well, here is your chance bucko. It’s time to put up or shut up.You know that you can’t beat them, so you might as well join them, and attempt to do some good.

And this stops me and makes me reconsider.

(It’s not always so black and white after all, huh?)

Look, I have no delusions about what it is to join the NDP and get elected in the municipal elections. Being an elected member of the city council is freshman year in the NDP corruption college. It’s corruption 101 and the only way to pass is to cheat. That I would have to play along to some degree, give a blind eye or maybe even partake a little bit in the “action” so that the people there wouldn’t feel threatened by me. There is only honor amongst thieves as long as they steal together, otherwise all gloves are off. I would have to play Ball enough times for them to let me be and that would make me the same as the corrupt hypocrites that I so heartedly despise. But…

(Here comes the rationalization)

But I am also a pragmatist. I know that the measure of power only belongs in the hands of those willing to yield it and use it, and I am willing. I know that things won’t change on their own, and that someone needs to initiate it and ensure it is done right for things to improve around here. I would ally myself with the devil if it means that this country gets better. I honestly would. And they are right that this is my chance to do so, to try to and do the things that I believe need to get done. That this is my one and only chance to do some good, to make a difference, to change things from inside the belly of the beast.

(However)

Being inside the Beast’s Belly means that you’ve already been eaten. If I participate in this, there is a fairly good chance that it would change me instead of me changing it. I am well aware of that. Doing what needs to be done would require one hell of a stomach and a ton of effort to make just a tiny bit of difference, and I am not sure I am the guy for the job. I am not sure I am strong enough. Not to mention, I am no hero. I am not willing to martyr myself or compromise my integrity for the sake of a “greater good” that may never be realized. I am not that man.

Sigh..

This is why I never wanted to come back to this country. It’s like watching a trainwreck waiting to happen that involves a train carrying all of your loved ones running 200 miles per hour and you can’t help it or stop it. And then they tell you that you can save your loved ones on the expense of forsaking all the other lives on that train. I don’t want to make the choice; nor do I want to watch the train crash. Call me a selfish coward all you want, but I just didn’t want to be around to witness it at all, let alone even get asked to make that insane choice. I wanted to stay out of it all! Just run away and hide somewhere else that is not here.

---

Mom : Leave, leave, leave. Everyone is leaving this country! If all the good people leave it, who will fix it?

Me: So you admit that your people broke it?

---

But it doesn’t matter.

I am here now and I can’t escape. If I ever want to get back to the states it would take a lot of money that I don’t have and they will stand in the way every way they could. I am stuck here, for better or worse, and I am forced to make that decision whether I like it or not. Every person that I know tells me not to be stupid, to accept the position, to do what’s best for your interests and everything else be damned, especially my stupid principles and morals. That that’s the smart thing to do.


But…I just can’t!

Help?

Interesting developments

Various opposition movements in Egypt from the islamic right to the socialist-communist left are joining together in a national coalition with the brilliant action plan to...well.. boycott the elections. Cause you know that worked out so well in Iran. No, wait, it didn't!

On the other hand, a coptic christian Judge has just legalized the creation of an islamic party, called the New center party, which is founded by ex-MB member Abu Ala Madi, and thus overruling a decision to not grant the party a license by the state council of party affairs. Being the first islamist party, founded by an ex-MB member, is sure to draw in all the MB people looking to be politically represented and legitamately particpating in the process. If this goes the only way it could, this party will probably become the biggest opposition party in Egypt in the future.

Hmmm........

The new Israeli center

Thomas Friedman argues that the reason why the israeli settlers are acting so unhinged, is because for the first time in Israel's history neither the right nor left control the country's direction, but rather the emerging center does and it won't be stopped.

Whoa

This is one hell of a trick!

Between this and the Girl who became a Boy on a full moon night, i am starting to think that the Matrix is suffering from serious glitches or that asian people are just exempt from the rules of nature!

Patriot Act diluted!

In an act of extreme stupidity, the senate is trying to fix parts of the Patriot Act in order not to make it permenant. You would think that with the fact that the US hasn't had a single terrorist attack since its implementation, and the recent bombing in london, they wouldn't want to mess with it, but nooooooo! If it ain't broke, they got to fix it! I guess congress is really the opposite of progress!

You must read this!

Greg Gutfeld does us all a favor by tearing Depak Chupra a new one and presenting us all with his own free seminar on the hilarious guide to Good and Evil.

Blame Iran

Saddam defense attorney is defending his client for the murder charges against him concerning the thousands of people-Shia and kurds- murdered under his rule by-get this- blaming Iran for it!

LOL

Why do i feel that Saddam's trial is bound to become a circus?

There is more then one way to skin a cat

Or destroy Islam, as wahabbis are doing in Saudi by destroying Islamic historic sites and monuments because they might promote idolatry!

I am not kidding!

Sami Angawi, an expert on the region's Islamic architecture, said 1,400-year-old buildings from the early Islamic period risk being demolished to make way for high rise towers for Muslims flocking to perform the annual pilgrimage to Islam's holiest city.

"We are witnessing now the last few moments of the history of Mecca," Angawi told Reuters. "Its layers of history are being bulldozed for a parking lot," he added.

Angawi estimated that over the past 50 years at least 300 historical buildings had been leveled in Mecca and Medina, another Muslim holy city containing the prophet's tomb.

Wahhabism, Saudi Arabia's dominant doctrine which promotes a strict narrow interpretation of Islam, was largely to blame, he said.

"They (Wahhabis) have not allowed preservation of old buildings, especially those related to the prophet. They fear other Muslims will come to see these buildings as blessed and this could lead to polytheism and idolatry."

It doesn't hurt, of course, that there is a lot of money to be made out of this action which sole goal-lest we forget- is to preserve "the purity of islamic faith" amongst Muslims.

Followers of Wahhabism say Muslims should focus on Mecca's Grand Mosque, which contains the Kaaba -- an ancient structure that more than 4 million Muslims visit each year as part of haj and umra pilgrimages.

Real estate firms see massive demand for new accommodation to house up to 20 million pilgrims expected to visit Islam's holiest city annually over the coming years as authorities relax entry restrictions for pilgrims.

"The infrastructure at the moment cannot cope. New hotels, apartments and services are badly needed," the director of a leading real estate company said, estimating that developers are spending around 50 billion riyals ($13 billion) on projects in the city.

Dominating these is the 10 billion riyal Jabal Omar scheme. Covering a 230,000 square yard area adjacent to the Grand Mosque, the seven-year project consists of several towers containing hotels, apartments, shops and restaurants.

I guess they are right when they tell you to "always follow the money"!

Sigh...

Coordinated suicide bombers??

It wasn't a remote controlled bombing as the 29 second difference between the bombs suggested, but rather 4 suicide bombers who synchronized the whole thing together.

The War on terror has officially enterd the escelation phase!

God help us all!

My Heros in Morgan County Indiana!

About time someone stood up to the Anti-smoking Nazis.

The owners of a Morgan County restaurant are vowing not to ban smoking at the eatery despite the threat of a lawsuit for refusing to comply with the county's recently imposed smoking restrictions.

The southern Indiana county's smoking ordinance that took effect in January requires restaurants that allow smoking to have separate rooms with separate heating and cooling systems.

Bob Williams and Linda Dunigan, owners of Charlie's Drive-In Restaurant, have been fined $200 for refusing to comply with the ordinance. A note posted on the restaurant's door spells out their position.

"This restaurant allows smoking. If this offends you, please feel free to visit one of our competitors," the sign reads. "If you choose to come in, then you enter at your own risk. Thank You."

Naturally, the Heath board doesn't like their authority challanged, so they are suing the shit out of those people.

The Morgan County Board of Health is poised to file a lawsuit against the restaurant's owners for noncompliance with the ordinance and refusing to pay the fine.

but the people are fighting back!

A jar on the restaurant's counter collects change for "attorney fees and fines for court to fight the smoking ban," according to a handwritten label.

Regular customers at the restaurant say the ordinance limits their personal freedom.
Butch Albertson, a 62-year-old retired factory worker, comes into Charlie's almost every morning, and doesn't mind smokers although he does not smoke himself.

"I have been eating with these people for years," he said. "I have a right to come in here, or to leave if I want to if the smoke bothers me. I don't think they have a right to tell people they can't sit in here and have a meal because they smoke."

Makes sense , no?

Look, I am not for lung cancer nor do i get paid by the Big Tobacco companies; I am just a person who recognizes that people should have the right to smoke in certain areas if they feel like it. I have seen this happen in Masschusetts and no one liked it. It started in Boston, and immedietly everyone stoped going to Boston Bars and went to the ones in Allston and Somerville, which caused an outcry amongst the Boston Bar owners, and forced the City to lobby the state to make a state-wide ban of smoking in bars to "level the playing field". Once that got enacted, everyone started going to bars in New Hampshire and Rhode Island during the winter or just mostly stayed at home, and now Boston bars suffer from lack of revenues because of that darconian law that was supposidly enacted to protect the health of Bar employees.

Well, I hate to say this because it's so basic, but you know, those employees have a choice not to work there! It's not like they don't know they will be around smoking people- it's a freakin bar. They can work for a restaurant or a seven eleven or something. But they chose to work in a bar because it pays better. Well, that better pay comes with a price, and if you are not willing to pay it, then don't freakin work there. Right?

This is all very stupid. What's next? No drinking? No dancing? or maybe no talking? Next thing you know we will be going to libraries for a good time.

I am glad this kind of crap doesn't fly in Egypt and i am glad that those people in Indiana chose to take a stand against the "Health Board" and told them to get bent. Someone needed to put those people in check and hopefully more will follow.

So much for that Wall

I feel so bored writing this, since this blog seems to have become a Terrorist Bombing Tally website, but the suicide bombing that occured yesterday in Netanya, Israel- on the eve of an Israeli withdrawel from 22 settlements- is interesting for 3 main reasons:

1) It showed that the Security Wall isn't enough to secure Israelis. It got breached. There are apparently other ways in.

2) The responses of the leaders: Sharon did not comment or stop the withdrawel, and instead opted to remain on schedule, while Palestinian PM Abbas blasted the bombers, and actually calling them traitors and working against palestinian interests. The man, it seems, is not a complete moron after all.

3) There was a second suicide-bomber an hour before the Netanya attack, but an unwilling one at that. He was a palestinains whom they accused of being a collaborator and thus been abducted and chained to the wheel of his vehicle and forced him to drive a pick-up loaded with cooking Gas canisters into a West Bank settlement. Again to show you that not all of those suicide bombings are suicide bombings as I have said here before, and that appearences can be deceiving.

De Ja Vous ?

I can swear I have seen this film before.

As the three main political parties joined in a rare show of unity to condemn last week's outrage, the prime minister said the government would continue with plans to introduce a new Prevention of Terrorism bill next spring.

[...]

His comments came as leading politicians from across the political spectrum backed the government in a manner rarely seen on the floor of the Commons.

Michael Howard, the Conservative leader, dropped his call for an immediate government inquiry into the bombings, saying: “Now is not the time for a discussion on detail.”

Instead, Mr Howard paid tribute to the prime minister for “the calm, resolute and statesmanlike way” in which the government responded to the attacks. The Rev Ian Paisley, leader of the Democratic Unionists, and so often a thorn on the government's side applauded Mr Blair: “The whole country can salute you today,” he said.

Eeerie huh?

Let's just hope it doesn't have the same ending as it's american counterpart!

Spain bombed again!

Just to show that you can not negotiate with terrorists, Spain is suffering from another series of bombings.

Four small bombs exploded Tuesday outside a power plant in the Basque region following a warning call from the separatist group ETA, but no one was injured by the blasts, the Basque Interior Ministry said.

In a separate attack in Barcelona, a small bomb exploded Tuesday outside the Italian Cultural Institute, wounding a policeman, the Italian Embassy and Spanish officials said.

In the power plant blasts, a caller claiming to represent ETA telephoned the Basque pro-independence newspaper Gara and warned four bombs would go off at the plant.

[...]

ETA has staged nearly a dozen non-lethal attacks since the Socialist government announced in May that it would hold talks with the group if it renounced violence. The explosions are widely seen as a show of force designed to gain leverage if talks are held.

So much for appeasment huh?

My prediction : The Spanish socialist government will not survive the next election.

On a full moon night, a girl turns into..a man?

This is weird!

Thin Sandar, a chicken seller in Myanmar, had always dreamed of being a man. When she inexplicably grew a penis last month, the 21-year-old treated it as an awe-inspiring omen -- as have the thousands of stunned villagers who have traveled to a pagoda to see him.

"On the morning of the full moon day of June 21, I noticed my thing (sex organ) was not the same as before," Thin Sandar, who now goes by the male name Than Sein, told AFP in an interview at his home.

"And my breasts disappeared," Than Sein added. "So I called out and showed it all to my mom and dad. It was very strange."

[...]

Medical doctor Aye Sanda Khaing put it in layman's terms in a local journal: "Her penis appeared at the site of her clitoris," the doctor was quoted as saying.


Heh.

We live in a strange strange world!

"We are not Afraid"

Taking a page from the Sorry Everybody playbook, here is a website where people are encouraged to send in their images of resistance to the recent terrorist attempt in London in an attempt to send the terrorists a message: We are not Afraid!.

Sure beats the shit out of those stupid yellow ribbons!

TNG, yo

If you are a Star Trek :The Next Generation Fan, Then i do not recommend that you go here. If you could care less, click on the link to learn about the mad voyages of starship Mofo and it's pimping mission: to spit some rhymes and to pick up strange new alien chicks.

Their Slogan : To boldly chill where no one has chilled before.

hehe

Another one who gets it right

Don't fall back on the easy route of blaming Blair and Bush. It's time to stop the hypocrisy and face up to the truth:

I feel the appeal, believe me. You are exasperated with the manifold faults of Tony Blair and George W Bush. Fighting your government is what you know how to do and what you want to do, and when you are confronted with totalitarian forces which are far worse than your government, the easy solution is to blame your government for them.

But it's a parochial line of reasoning to suppose that all bad, or all good, comes from the West - and a racist one to boot. The unavoidable consequence is that you must refuse to support democrats, liberals, feminists and socialists in the Arab world and Iran who are the victims of Islamism in its Sunni and Shia guises because you are too compromised to condemn their persecutors.

Islamism stops being an ideology intent on building an empire from Andalusia to Indonesia, destroying democracy and subjugating women and becomes, by the magic of parochial reasoning, a protest movement on a par with Make Poverty History or the TUC.

Again, I understand the appeal. Whether you are brown or white, Muslim, Christian, Jew or atheist, it is uncomfortable to face the fact that there is a messianic cult of death which, like European fascism and communism before it, will send you to your grave whatever you do. But I'm afraid that's what the record shows.

The only plausible excuse for 11 September was that it was a protest against America's support for Israel. Unfortunately, Osama bin Laden's statements revealed that he was obsessed with the American troops defending Saudi Arabia from Saddam Hussein and had barely said a word about Palestine.

After the Bali bombings, the conventional wisdom was that the Australians had been blown to pieces as a punishment for their government's support for Bush. No one thought for a moment about the Australian forces which stopped Indonesian militias rampaging through East Timor, a small country Indonesia had invaded in 1975 with the backing of the US. Yet when bin Laden spoke, he said it was Australia's anti-imperialist intervention to free a largely Catholic population from a largely Muslim occupying power which had bugged him.

East Timor was a great cause of the left until the Australians made it an embarrassment. So, too, was the suffering of the victims of Saddam, until the tyrant made the mistake of invading Kuwait and becoming America's enemy. In the past two years in Iraq, UN and Red Cross workers have been massacred, trade unionists assassinated, school children and aid workers kidnapped and decapitated and countless people who happened to be on the wrong bus or on the wrong street at the wrong time paid for their mistake with their lives.

What can the survivors do? Not a lot according to a Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. He told bin Laden that the northern Kurds may be Sunni but 'Islam's voice has died out among them' and they'd been infiltrated by Jews. The southern Shia were 'a sect of treachery' while any Arab, Kurd, Shia or Sunni who believed in a democratic Iraq was a heretic.

It's time we- arabs/muslims- hold those responsible accountable to their actions, especially amongst ourselves first. Blame the world for your problems all you want, but make sure you try your best to fix them first. We haven't been trying. We have been blaming everyone else for our faults and the faults of those who claim to represent us. We say we don't agree with them on one side, but we can't see the hypocrisy in quickly adding that we understand where they come from and why they do the things they do and that if you saw it from their point of view you would see that they are justified.Well, let me just say it again: There is no justification for this. None. You are defending and apologizing for murderers who would have no problems killing you and not thinking twice about it. You are making excuses for the snake as it is biting you. Stop That!

Let's put the blame where it belongs and freakin fix the problem!

The London blasts confusion

The more I read on the terrorist london blasts , the more confused I get. The reports coming out are, well, very conspiracy theory encouraging and my goddamn inner conspiracy theorist (born with one since i am an egyptian) smells something fishy and is intrigued. Let me present you with what I have seen so far, and you can see for yourself what i am talking about.

Ok?

The experts say that the blast was carried out using high grade military explosives and it seems to be the work of one bomber who used remote detonation.

The Bitish Police issued a stunning revision Saturday, shrinking the time between deadly explosions in the London Underground to just seconds, not 26 minutes as first reported,

The Mossad claims that they received a warning regarding the blasts 6 minutes before it happend, and that it is linked to a 2003 explosion in Tel Aviv carried out by British passport carrying Hamas members.

The British police and intelligence agencies are hunting for a "White mercenary gang" which was recruited by Al Qaeda to adminster the blasts.

And for all of you 9/11 conspiracy theorists, this one is the juciest: There was a bomb drill being conducted by a "crisis managment" firm at the exact same time and locations that the bombings were taking place.

Hmmm.........

See what i mean? The whole event is a conspiracy theorist wet dream.

This is why i am leaving no comments on that one. I am just gonna wait for the official story and hope it makes sense.

Iran newspapers: The west planned the London Bombings

This is rather, ehh, typical:

The Iranian media has been alleging that the London bombings were planned by the West to justify attacking Islam in the name of combating terrorism.

[...]

Kayhan paper says Britain and the US had to create an atmosphere of terror and insecurity in London so that the G8 leaders would endorse their belligerent policies like the occupation of Iraq.

The paper's editorial called President Bush "stupid" and said he and Tony Blair would make a very successful comedy duo.

While the Jumhuri Islami newspaper says the bombs were planned to give the west a reason to attack Islam under the fictitious cover of combating terrorism.

It said creating problems for Muslims in Europe was also part of the plan.

Ain't that nice? I am glad that the Iranians figured it out so quickly. I love it when they blame "The West", like it's a place with a unified ideology and objective. It doesn't make them look idiotic at all.

But then again, what do you expect? They elected that guy!

Bin Laden doesn't get it!

Christopher Hitchens gets it right!

Money shot:

Now comes the message to "the British people" that "the British government" has brought more death on them. It's Blair's fault. It's Bush's fault. Turn against them, and the pain will stop. But it won't. As yesterday's message made clear, the bombers want us out of Afghanistan as well as Iraq.

Bin Laden's whole game plan is to turn the people of the democratic world against their governments. He thinks democracies are weak because their people, who are more easily frightened than their governments, can bring those governments down. He doesn't understand that this flexibility—and this trust—are why democracies will live, while he will die. Many of us didn't vote for Bush's government or Blair's. But we're loyal to them, in part because we were given a voice in choosing them. And if we don't like our governments, we can vote them out. We can't vote out terrorists. We can only kill them.

Word!

What he said

Not only is Hellme Ok and not affected by the London Bombings, he gives us an awesomly amusing and stoicly british rant over here.

Glad to see that you are ok man. I was worried there for a while!

Finally.......

Took them long enough:

Britain's top Muslim scholars are to issue a "fatwa" which will condemn the terrorists behind the bombings, in an unprecedented move to repudiate the Islamist militants suspected of the atrocities.

It is expected that the religious ruling, which will be drafted this week, will effectively outlaw the bombers among Muslims by stating the attacks were a breach of the most basic tenets of Islam.

Senior community leaders believe they must try to deflect another wave of revenge attacks by attacking the religious basis of the terrorists' alleged Islamist ideology and by questioning their right to describe themselves as Muslims.

Okay, take a deep breath and let's all say it together:

ABOUT GODDAMN TIME!

All Apologies

I found out about Al-Sharif’s murder on Saturday.

He died on Thursday, after I posted this post and left for my vacation, and the whole world was talking about the London Bombings instead. I was watching Euronews where I was and somehow the story of his murder was never put on, instead it was all about the state of panic Europe was experiencing and the after-effects of the bombs. Nothing about the Ambassador.

And then I get told about it on Saturday, in the passing, like it’s no big news. I turn on the Egyptian television and I see it there. I see the people condemning his murder yet blaming our government, and saying that we shouldn’t judge the Iraqi resistance because of it. And then I see his daughter in a TV Interview talking about how when her and her father lived in Israel for 4 years “amongst the Jews” nothing ever happened to them, yet when her father goes to an Arab Islamic country, he gets murdered. I saw the whole thing, and it depressed the shit out of me, especially after what I wrote.

You know, deep inside of me, I was hoping that they wouldn’t kill him. Call it my inner pan-arabist, but I was hoping they would prove me and the rest of the world wrong. I was hoping that maybe those “Resistance” guys were really not very keen on being occupied, that maybe they are not as blood thirsty as they appear to be in the media, but rather just super-nationalistic or something and wouldn’t hurt a fellow Arab/muslim. But nope, no dice. Reality, once again, refused to be cheated. They killed the man, in cold blood, for no reason but for doing a job assigned to him by his government.

But really, what did I expect? That the same people who have no problems slaughtering their own, would suddenly find it immoral to kill this man? That the Iraqi resistance was really noble at its core? God damn it, I know better. Everyone knows better. I guess for a few days I really wished that my outlook on the situation to be wrong and that people like Riverbend had it right , just so I can stop feeling so angry at what we have become. Childish hopes, and like any childish hope, they got destroyed when they landed on the hard rock of reality.

Anyway…

People are now running along blaming the government for his death: saying stuff like that they didn’t provide enough protection for him or something , or that we as Egyptian shouldn’t have sent an ambassador in the first place, since we as arabs should stand against the “occupation”. Islamist and Apologist MP Mohamed Abdel Qudos went and blamed the US adminstration alonsgide the Egyptian government for Al Sharief's murder, saying that what happend is a "reaction to their activities in Iraq", but naturally blamed the egyptian government for sending him as well. They forgot the most important reason why they should blame the government: The government would not pay Al Sharif’s ransom and they had one for him. My Father was talking to this higher-up guy in the Egyptian state department who told him that and when my dad asked him if the government will pay money to free A-Sharief , the guy told him that they won’t pay a single penny; Not because we refuse to negotiate with terrorists, but because our government doesn’t value the lives of its citizens at all, even those diplomatically representing it. Just not a priority to them. What? Pay them 100,000 dollars for one easily replaced egyptian, while the Secretary of State needs a newer Mercedes for his convoy? Get Real!

And then you have the other reactions: Like the Mufti who said that murdering Al Sharif is a graver sin to god than destroying the Kaaba ( you know, that black building muslims do the Haj to?) as far as God was concerned. Hey, Mufti, I got a billion muslims who would probably disagree with you, but then again , ever since you came out with your Fatwa that “ political demonstration is a sin”I am not sure anyone really takes you seriously anymore.

Or You have Dr. Zaghloul El Nagar, who is blaming the Mossad for Al Sharif’s murder and every other kidnapping and murder that happens in Iraq. His argument goes something like this : “It’s impossible for the Kidnappers and the Killers to be muslim, since kidnapping and killing is against Islamic principles. Therefore, It must the be the Jews!”. I wish I was kidding, or that I could really laugh at how stupid this guy is, but I can’t, because he is taken seriously by many people. It’s so simple: Just blame the Jews for it! The A.P.U. in action ladies and gentlemen.

So I guess what depresses me more than his death, is that his death served no purpose. The Egyptian government will send a new envoy, the people in Egypt will continue seeing those people as “Heros”, because, after all, they are “beating the Americans”, and the thugs there will continue kidnapping people and killing them if their government won’t pay up (Kidnapping is the closest thing Iraq has to a growth industry these days). The song remains the same, nothing changes, this man got killed for no reason and almost nobody cares.

I can only hope that the US and the Iraqi armies find and kill those bastards, because I no longer have any faith in our government or security apparatuses or intelligence agencies’ abilities to secure anyone, save their own people or do anything to bring their killers to Justice. Their death probably won’t bring him back, or make up for the loss his family now suffers, but it will be Justice. As morbid as it may sound, it would bring a smile to my face.

I can also only hope that if any of his family or friends read those posts they would forgive me. It was wrong of me to wish it, even if it was to demonstrate a point or even if it would’ve woken our people up to the truth. We can not justify someone’s death with the political gain it would’ve created, as one person in my comments section said. That’s the terrorists way. That’s what the terrorists do. We shouldn’t stoop to their level. I shouldn’t have allowed myself to stoop to their level, even if it was done in Jest.

So Al-Sharif Family: I am truly truly sorry and I hope you would forgive me. I am sorry for saying what I’ve said. I am sorry that he had to died on the hands of those murderers for no reason but for doing his job. I am sorry that the people who did it are arabs and muslims just like him and you and that they did it “in the name of Islam”. I am sorry that he was safer in Israel then he was in an Arab muslim country. I am sorry that our government didn’t do anything and forsake him the way it did. And I am sorry that the Egyptian people aren’t more enraged by this; I have no idea what happened to them to turn them this way, but I am sorry for it as well.

On things to come!

I am back from my "vacation" one day later than expected, which will surely piss off my work bosses, but ehh, it was worth it.

I am sad to say that i couldn't reach any epiphanies during that trip about what's been troubeling me; Intsead i am left with the original dillema: What i know i should do, and what I am tempted to do. And no, neither one involves a sex change Jeff.

So yeah, i might just have to present you all with the situation and hope you can help me out; just, not right now!

I am tired, exhausted, drained, burned (i.e. extreemly tanned) and sleepy from all the fun and the traveling (why is it when you are on vacation you make sure you sleep less then when you are working?) and i need my rest. Not to mention, my Boss will probably kill me for late work so that should make up for a fun monday morning tommorrow. YaY! I am so glad to be back!

Anyway, all explanations, condemnations, apollogies, and /or general rants will just have to wait for now!

Blogging will commence tommorow!

Now i just need my sleep!