New York tommorow

I will be in town from 11 am till 3 pm. If anyone wants to meet me for lunch, e-mail me and I will call ya!

Michael Jackson wears a burka in Bahrain

When are people just gonna admit the simple truth that Michael Jackson is just plain crazy? The dude walks around Bahrain wearing a niqab, a burka, while shopping. Here is his picture.



Will someone, anyone, please put him in the looney bin already?

Jeeezzz...

Kanye West is Jesus

How big of an ego can someone have really?

Poor Alaa

He comes back from his Africa trip to find that the egyptian state security agency wants him in for questioning. Bastards. This is why I am not telling anyone when I am coming back: I really don't feel like having a welcoming committe at the airport, you know what I mean?

Is it discrimination or integration?

I just read this post by Masreya on the questions that the germans are now asking muslims in their citizenship exams. She seems to view it as an act of discrimination, while I am not so sure. Here are some of the questions for your viewing pleasure:

1) In films, plays, and books, the religious feelings are sometimes insulted of those who have different religious beliefs. According to you which methods are acceptable for individuals to" use to fight against such religious insults and which not.

2 )How do you feel about criticism about your religion? Do you find this permissible? Could you discuss this?

3)What do you think of the statement: That a wife must obey her husband and he can hit her if she does not obey him?

4) Do you think it is permissible that a man shuts his wife and daughter into the house in order to prevent them from dishonoring him in public?

5) In Germany the police can intervene in a violent argument between a married couple, and in order to prevent further threats can send the aggressor out of the house for several days. What do you think about this?

6) Your adult daughter/your wife would like to dress like other German girls and women . Would you attempt to prevent her from doing this? If so, with what methods?

and my personal favorite:

9) Imagine this: Your adult son comes to you and declares that he is a homosexual. He says that he would like to live together with another man. How would you react?

LOL. I dunno about you, but that's a tough question to ask anybody, you know?

But that last question aside, I am not sure that the questions are discriminatory against muslims, but are the-probably-too-late-of-an-attempt to find out if their immigrants will intergrate in the german society or just chose to live in their own neighbourhoods and traditions, doing the country inside a country thing. If anything, those questions are revealing: This is what they think of muslims now. For them we are the women opressers, the wifebeaters, the homophobes, the probable terrorists. This is what we stand for in their eyes now, and not without good reason.

We live in a society where women are expected and asked to stay home, where hitting women is very common and considerd a common disciplinary action and where Jihady thinking runs around unchecked. And now they are calling us up on it. They are calling us on our crap, the crap that won't fly in Germany, that shouldn't fly anywhere, and we are pissed of course, cause we don't expect people to show us what our ugly side looks like in the mirror. We expect them to lie to us and ignore our baggage, pretend it doesn't exist. Instead of dealing with our very serious problems, we get offended and scream discrimination when someone else points them out for us, all the while we have a rise in honor killings in european countries amongst its muslim population, and the australians are issuing a cultural sensitivity booklet for their police that basically says not to treat domestic disputes in muslim households the same way they do any other household, because apparently hitting women is part of our culture, and not a single muslim leader objects to that. Which is more offensive: committing the act or being called on it?

I don't know, but I think those questions are very valid ones, questions that I wish I could ask every muslim and see what their reactions and answers would be. I mean, chances are they will tell the germans what they want to hear on their test, but in all honesty I wonder if their honest-to-god answers to those questions would be the kind that would fail them such an exam, and if that's what's really so offesnive to us after all.

Favorite song at the moment!

Been given 24 hours
To tie up loose ends
To make amends
His eyes said it all
I started to fall
And the silence deafened
Head spinning round
No time to sit down
Just wanted to
Run and run and run
Be careful they say
Don't wish life away,
Now I've one day

And I can't believe
How I've been wasting my time

In 24 hours they'll be
Laying flowers
On my life, it's over tonight
I'm not messing no I
Need your blessing
And your promise to live free
Please do it for me

Is there a heaven a hell?
And will I come back?
Who can tell?
Now I can see
What matters to me
It's as clear as crystal
The places I've been
The people I've seen
Plans that I made
Start to fade
The sun's setting gold
Thought I would grow old,
It wasn't to be

And I can't believe
How I've been wasting my time

In 18 hours they'll be
Laying flowers
On my life, it's over tonight
I'm not messing no I
Need your blessing
And your promise to live free
Please do it for me

In 13 hours they'll be
Laying flowers
On my life, it's over tonight
I'm not messing no I
Need your blessing
And your promise to live free
Please do it for me

I'm not alone, I sense it, I sense it
All that I said, I meant it, I meant it

And I can't believe
How much I've wasted my time

In just 8 hours they'll be
Laying flowers
On my life, it's over tonight
I'm not messing no I
Need your blessing
And your promise to live free
Please do it for me

In just 1 hour they'll be
Laying flowers
On my life, it's over tonight
I'm not messing no I
Need your blessing
And your promise to live free
Please do it for me

24, Jem

Abdel Halim Qandil, Eat your heart out!

The "great" leftist egyptian "intellectual"- and I am using the word intellectual here while holding my nose - Abdel Halim Qandil is at the forefront of the movement to reject any kind of normalization or agreements with Israel what so ever. He would actually want the peace agreement with Israel annulled and calls arabs who support peacefull relations with Israel to be "arab zionists". In his "brain", not a single egyptian would be for the QIZ trade agreement with Israel, which I proved to be wrong by highlighting demonstrations by actual egyptian workers who were demonstrating to have their factory join the QIZ and get over our irrational anti-semitism. Remember this actual quote from an egyptian textile worker- the same class Qandil claims to represent and champion?

"People do not understand that if we do not have a QIZ here, me and my co-workers will be kicked out of the factory. We should stop being over sentimental about Israel and see what is good for us," said Mohammed Al Assal, a 43-year-old textile worker.

Well, the QIZ agreement has been good for us after all. Really good!

But a little over a year ago, Egypt did accept the deal and it has been impressed, not to say astounded, by the impact on its No. 1 manufacturing sector, the garment industry: thousands of jobs created, higher wages, and soaring exports to the United States.

Here are some numbers for ya:

Figures from the Israeli Export Institute show that trade between Egypt and Israel, dominated by goods for the garment sector, rose from $58 million in 2004 to $142 million in 2005.

Although the amounts are small — Egypt's global exports are worth about $12 billion a year, Israel's are about $30 billion — it's still a whopping 144 percent increase in only one year.

Wages in Egypt's textile and garment industry have risen 25 percent since December 2004, when Egypt, Israel and the United States signed the Qualified Industrial Zone agreement, according to Mohammed Kassim, the vice chairman of the Chamber of Textile Industries, and Magdy Tolba, the head of the Ready-made Garment Exporters Association.

Egyptian clothing exports to the United States in September 2005 were 85 percent higher than those in September 2004, Kassim said.

The QIZ agreement enabled Egyptian exports to enter the U.S. market tariff-free, as long as 11.7 percent of their production material — textiles, dyes and packaging — came from Israel, and they were made in specific industrial zones.

The accord has proved so popular that Egyptian workers and companies successfully pushed their government to expand the QIZ zones so that they now cover the whole of greater Cairo, the Suez Canal cities of Ismailiya and Suez, and four Nile Delta provinces.

[...]

Tolba estimates at least 15,000 jobs have been created since the QIZ and 30,000 jobs will be created this year.

Wow, all of that because of just one year of the QIZ. Imagine if he had accepted it back in the 90's, when it was offerd to us and Jordan. We, the herald of arabism, refused because of the "palestinian cause". The Jordanians, who are 70% palestinains, accepted it 8 years ago, and their economy shows it. The reason? The Jordanians are after their interests, and not hollow slogans, like we egyptians are.

However, there are other differences. Egypt sees Israel as a regional rival and has been loath to strengthen relations while the Palestinian conflict continues. Jordan seeks to influence Israel by engagement and, for geographic and demographic reasons, its economy will always be closer to Israel's.

The upshot is that 12 years of peace between Jordan and Israel have produced 20 Israeli factories in the kingdom while 27 years of Egyptian-Israeli peace have seen the construction of only two sizable Israeli factories in Egypt.

And I bet those factories' owners identity has to remain hidden too. Whatever.

I hope those facts would help people-especially those on the egyptian left- to realize the potential and the benefits of such a trade relationship with Israel. I hope it makes them realize that at the end of the day, workers would rather make money and feed their families then stand for hollow ideals and slogans. I hope it also makes them relaize that if it wasn't for capitalism and globalization, so many of the people they claim to champion would have no jobs. I think if they are smart , they should realize that their battle shouldn't be against capitalists and businesses, but against unfair labour laws and government corruption that does stop more busineses and investment from existing in Egypt and that allows the kind of crony capitalism (cough Ahmed Ezz cough) that gives capitalism a bad name to exist. I hope. I doubt it, but I hope anyway!

Hitchens agrees with me when it comes to Osama's last speech

I said that his truce offer was a sign that he is losing, especially that it is the second offer of the kind so far ( the first truce offer was given to the europeans, remember that?). Hitchens seems to agree with me that there is desperation in Osama's voice. And he has a theory on why that is:

This comes in the context of a reported and believable split within al-Qaida's own ranks. There doesn't seem much reason to doubt the authenticity of Zawahiri's letter to Zarqawi in Iraq, raising doubts about his strategy of poisoning Iraqi society by targeting the Shiites. Heretics they may be, says Zawahiri, but are you sure that blowing up mosques and mausoleums is the right way to go? Add to this the number of home-grown Iraqi "insurgents" who are turning their guns on Zarquawi's gangsters, and you have a real crisis for the bearded nutbag whose very name used to terrify even some of the stoutest in the West.

I have been attacked for callousness and worse for saying that Bin Laden did us a favor on 9/11, but I am increasingly sure I was right. Until that date, he partially owned Afghanistan and his supporters were moving steadily toward the Talibanization of Pakistan as well. There were al-Qaida sympathizers within the Pakistani intelligence services, armed forces, and nuclear establishment (which then included the A.Q. Khan network). There was also an active Saudi support system, consisting mainly of vast tranches of money, for jihadism worldwide. Now, Afghanistan is lost to Bin Laden and Pakistan has had, at least officially, to modify its behavior considerably. The A.Q. Khan network has been shut down. The Saudi ruling class identifies its state interest with a repudiation of al-Qaida, inside and outside its own borders. And the one remaining regime that openly preached holy war and helped train jihadist forces like the "Fedayeen Saddam"—the pseudo-secular terror state in Iraq—has been irretrievably smashed. Wherever Bin Laden is now, it cannot be where he wanted or hoped to be four and a half years ago.

As I said before, shouldn't be long now!

Bombs goes off in Iran

This is not about the nuclear stand-off: Actual bombs, 2 of them, went off in Iran today, killing 8 people. Who is the iranian authorities blaming? Britian!

A police official told state television that "they are home-made bombs."

The official added: "A home-made bomb exploded inside a branch of the Saman bank, which is totally burned."

Another news report said: "Emergency workers are looking for the injured and the dead inside the bank."

In October, another double bombing in Ahvaz killed six people and wounded more than 100.

Iran has blamed Britain in the past for the unrest, accusing British forces based across the border in Iraq for backing ethnic Arab separatists.

In October, Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian foreign minister, said the clerical regime had proof of British meddling.

"The information shows that Britain is seeking to create insecurity in our country by interfering in our internal affairs," Mottaki said at the time, also adding that the consequences "could be worrying for the British".

Britain has firmly rejected the allegations, part of a wider deterioration of relations between Tehran and London over suspected Iranian meddling in Iraq and the Islamic republic's disputed nuclear programme.

Interesting. And here I thought that they would blame Israel or the US as usual, you know?

On a side not, if we accept that this is the result of an attempt on the life of A.J. , wouldn't that make it the second such attempt in one year? He is loved by his people that guy, no?

Newton law still stands

For every action.....




MB female supporters.

There is an equal and opposite reaction.....




Egyptian actress Nahla Salamah in the Cairo film festival

Oh Boy!

Kill yourself in style

Here is the ultimate guide to writing great suicide notes!

Herpes cures cancer?

It's no joke. Imagine what they will find out next!

The conservatives won in Canada

They did! And now I feel even worse for the US liberal crowd: where will they go to now?

The perfect way to start your day

You wake up 2 houres late because your alarm did not go off. You quickly shower and shave and wear your cloths and step out of the house only to slip on the iced stairs and take 6 stairs down on your ass in front of a whole street. Your pants get torn, your shoulder dislocated and your ass bruised.

And then to add insult to injury, after you take your bruised aching ass upstairs again, you get a text message from your roommate warning you about the slippery stairs.

Perfect!

Create your own Bush speech

Just type the words and he says it. Enjoy!

Update: Link is fixed. Sorry about that!

Al Qaeda is merchandizing

No joke. They are selling Al Qaeda paraphanelia online now here.



Now that's messed up!

on the iranian nuclear crisis

Sometimes what we need to understand a crisis is a little satire.

The Bin Laden Book club

Osama Bin Laden has been known to be a lot of things: Murderer, terrorist, evil mastermind. He is adding a new description on that list: Book promoter.

In his "Truce offer" on Al Jazeerah a couple of days ago, he mentioned a book called "Rogue state" by an unknown leftist writer by the name of Willian Blum. That was enough to make the book jump to # 35 on amazon's bestseller list after spending 2 years as # 205,763. And judging by the author, it's easy to see why Bin Laden would love the book:

It's easy enough to see why bin Laden chose Blum -- despite the fact that Blum grew up in Brooklyn, N.Y., the child of Jewish immigrants from Poland. In the first line of "Rogue State," Blum writes, "Washington's war on terrorism is as doomed to failure as its war on drugs has been." This fits securely into the singular theme that Blum has pursued through four books. "The U.S. government does not mean well. It doesn't care whether it does good or bad," he explained. "The second lesson is that anti-American terrorists are not motivated at all by things cultural. It's what we do. It's American foreign policy."

Over the years, Blum's books have been translated into 15 different languages, including Chinese, Korean, Greek, Finnish, Spanish and two Arabic editions. They are all displayed on one of the many bookshelves in his small living room, a converted office otherwise decorated with the detritus of an activist's life: A dollar bill with President Bush's face and the words "The United States of Aggression"; a Project Censored award; and a lapel pin that says, "Gay Whales Against Racism." He admits, "I am not very p.c."

Hmmm, ok. And how does he feel about the plug from Osama?

As for his newest booster, Blum offers no apologies. "The people who have interviewed me in the last few days, they keep pressing me to say how repulsed I am to get a plug from Osama bin Laden. I am not repulsed."

WoW.

That is not to say he has any sympathy for bin Laden's brand of violence or religious extremism, only that he is not surprised that bin Laden agrees with his writing.

Why would he be surprised? They both really dislike Bush and the US, no?

But don't judge him to quickly though; he is not exactly a fan of Bin Laden either.

"I hate any kind of religious fundamentalism," he says. He did not support U.S. military actions in Afghanistan or Iraq, but he says he would hate to see bin Laden and his crew in charge of either country. "The oppression of women," he says. "The whole thing turns me off."

The killing, the stoning, the suicidebombing, the beheading doesn't bother him apparently, only the opression of women. And it's funny, because he is against the war on Afghanistan, even though it removed a regime that would be very aptly described as "Bin Laden's crew" and that very well opressed women. But don't let that contradiction stop you, cause it sure ain't stopping him. The man is the kind of leftie that makes the left look stupid and looney. What, I am too harsh? Check out what he said next:

"If I were the president, I could stop terrorist attacks against the United States in a few days. Permanently," reads the section quoted in part by the world's most notorious terrorist. "I would first apologize to all the widows and orphans, the tortured and impoverished, and all the many millions of other victims of American imperialism." In that passage, Blum goes on to explain that he would end American support for Israel and reduce the military budget by 90 percent.

So let me get this straight: he would apologize to the world on behalf of America (cause every war America engaged in was its fault and part of their imperialist campaign), and then the terrorists of the world and all of America's haters would be like: "Finally, an apology. That's all we wanted. That's all we really wanted all of those years." and then they will lay down their weapons, pack up and go home and resume a normal productive life that doesn't involve Jihad or killing innocent people. Right? And since this will be the case, there is really no reason why the US would need its military budget, because the whole world would have no reason to attack it or hate it anymore, and everyone will live happily ever after and in peace. Except for Israel. But that's ok. Those Jews had it coming anyway. That's the genius plan, right?

Hmm.. ok. I have a different scenario to propose: The US goes and apologizes to the world for all of the widows and the orphans it has caused in its wars against Hitler, Mossulini, Milsovic, the Taliban and Saddam Hussein, not to mention all of those conflicts it engaged in during the cold war with the USSR, since we all know that the USSR was god's paradise on earth for all of those who inhabited it. Those were all bad calls on the US' behalf and should be ammended immedietly. The US should withdraw immedietly from Iraq, after restoring Saddam Hussein to Power, who apparently killed his own people because of the US' agression and imperialism. The US will also vow not to interfeere while he attacks and invades Kuwait and Saudi, cause let's face it, it really isn't its business anyway.

The US should also re-install Solobodan Milsovic and help him rebuild his military, so he could continue his genocide against muslims in Kosovo. They should also withdraw from Afghanistan, but only after they hand back power to Mullah Omar and the Taliban. Sure, they committed horrible atrocities, but that's fine. The US had no right to toople that regime, even if it did sponser terrorism and give Al Qaeda shelter. As we all know, there is never any justification for the US to go to war, even if it was attacked. The US had it coming anyway.

And while we are at it, the US should withdraw its troops from South Korea immedietly and let North Korea take over that country and unify them both. It should also give North Korea all the food they need free of charge, after all, their people are starving, and it's probably the US' fault and not their ruler's in anyway. And even if it was their ruler's fault, that's none of the US' business.

The US should also not do anything while the Middle-east sinks into chaos, with the start of the inevitable Iranian-Israeli nuclear war. Europe should handle it, after all, the europeans know better, are more diplomatic and are more civilized then those agressive trigger-happy americans. I am sure they will figure out a peacefull solution to the whole problem, one that doesn't involve any threat of force what so ever, and only diplomacy. It should work great, probably after the whole war is over by the mutual nuclear destruction of the engaging parties. Sure, the area will be contaminated for the next 1000 years, and hundreds of millions will die, but at least that problem will get resolved once and for all, no?

The US should also let China do whatever China pleases with the world, and if they start taking over their surrounding countries, the US should not do anything. If anything, the chinese should just become the world's next super power and take over that job. You know that they are democratic, sane and not at all opressive or agressive country, where the people get to decide who leads the country. They aren't any of those things you say? Oh well, it's probably the US' fault that they are this way anyway. Don't ask me how, I am sure someone will find a way to blame it all on the US. They always do.

Yes, I am sure that the US apologizing for all of its imperialism and virtually eliminating its armed forces (that's what will happen if they reduce military spending by 90% by the way) will bring about world peace and will make the world stop hating America once and for all. Egyptians and other arabs would probably be bummed out after losing their favorite excuse and scapegoat, but they will probably be dead or dying anyway from nuclear contamination resulting from the aforementioned war, so at least they won't be bummed for long.

Ahh, what a paradise such a world would be. Don't you agree?

I have been going to the wrong University

I should've went to the University of Maryland: They have female professors who run prostitution rings, from their own homes. Imagine that!

But Howard County vice officers say she was also developing a résumé of a much different sort: The 41-year-old mother of two is accused of running a prostitution service from her Ellicott City home under the alias Alexis. According to charging documents, Britton advertised her services and rates on a Web site.

Jeez....

Police began investigating Britton 10 months ago after receiving complaints about her Web site, which was shut down yesterday. This week, a police officer working undercover made an appointment with her. According to charging documents, Britton opened the door and led the officer to an upstairs bedroom. She told him to undress and place $400 on a table by the door. After leaving the marked police bills, the officer went to the front door and let other officers inside to arrest Britton, according to documents.

Police found 150 condoms and other pieces of evidence, the documents said. Officers also removed several business records that they say tie her to the Web site and prostitution, the documents said. Yesterday, Howard County police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn declined to say what those records included.

I heard of liberal professors, but damn!

Fred Kaplan needs your help

The Iranian nuclear crisis (you know they will call it that soon enough) is confusing the hell out of Fred Kaplan, to the degree that he is asking his readers to give him a peacefull way out, because he can't seem to find one himself. I don't know if there is one actually. War- or at least military action- against Iran over its nukes seems kind of inevtiable at this point to me, but I could be wrong. What do you think?

Cause some people need the help

A waiter informs the rest of us how to order wine in restaurants without looking like an asshole. You know from the first 3 rules that the guy knows what he's talking about:

1. Look at the wine list before asking, “What kind of wines do you serve by the glass?” The list at my bistro’s extensive. If I’ve got to rattle off all the wines, you’re wasting my time. Forgot your reading glasses? I’ll lend you mine.

2. Don’t ask, “What’s cheap?”

3. We love selling glasses of wine! The restaurant makes more money per bottle that way! Pssst! It’s usually cheaper to buy the bottle.

My Mom does the glass thing and it pisses me off. Always buy the bottle.

And since we are on the topic of waiters, here is something I wanted to show you guys for a while now: This guy has the most hilariously true post on the make-up and dynamic of the restaurant's staff. If you-like me- have ever worked in the glamorous service industry, you know these people and you might've even slept with one of them (I did with the bitchy waitress). Enjoy the trip down memory lane!

Interesting

In the absence of a more pressing question, slate provides an interesting article on why some of Islam's most famous Jihady clerics are actually blind. There is a blind leading the blind joke in here somewhere, but I am not really in the mood to make it.

Sandmonkey recommends

Watch this movie. You will not regret it!

There is no place like home

I am heading back to egypt. Vacation is over and the tour is done. very soon I will be in NYC and I will contact my NYC peeps so I can meet them before going home.

I will be back though, and I think for a long time as well, in a couple of months time. Let's just keep it our little secret, but I got kinda offerd a position working in DC. It will be a while till all the red tape is over and done with, and until then I will be chillin like a villian in good ole Cairo. Hopefully nothing will go wrong between now and then, but knowing my luck, well...yeahh....anyway...

It will be good to be back though, because I was leaving way too many loose ends behind, and I think it's time I took care of them. The sucky part is that I will be running out of money again. No worries, I am not asking for donations again...yet. But when the time comes, I hope y'all be feelin generous for yours truely.

TTFN,

The Sandmonkey