Hareega

Picture of the Year: 2011

2012-01-05T18:36:00.001+11:00

King Abdullah Just Said This

2011-11-16T14:08:00.003+11:00

King Abdullah suggested today, very clearly, that Bashar Al-Assad should step down.

This is huge, unprecedented, and surprising, for two reasons, two very good reasons, in my opinion.

ONE

Correct if I'm wrong, but this is the first time a Jordanian king ever asks for any other leader to step down, let alone be an Arab leader, let lone be it the Syrian leader. Late King Hussein had hoped for many Arab leaders to vanish , in Syria, Iraq, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Palestine...etc. These were not only posing a threat to the monarchy, but to the stability of Jordan itself. But he never went public, for several reasons, in claiming that these regimes had to go. He supported the Islamic opposition to Hafiz Assad but he didn't claim Assad must go for the better of the Syrian people.

So today, things changed. We have finally asked the leader of a "brotherly" country to step down.

TWO

if you read exactly what his majesty said about Syria,

"If it was me, I would step down and make sure whoever comes behind me has the ability to change the status quo that we're seeing,"

He said, "I would step down if......"

Correct me again if I'm wrong, but I don't think any Jordanian king has ever said "I would step down " for whatever reason. Never. I haven't heard every single speech or read every public letter for all the Jordanian monarchs, but I don't think such language was ever used before.

Certainly Jordan is not like Syria. People are not being killed in the streets and many of the most angry and the dissatisfied Jordanians are not calling for the King to step down. King Hussein faced heavier opposition with crowds screaming in the streets in many Jordanians cities for him to be removed during several rough times in the past, but he had never mentioned that he would step down if something happened.

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Since its independence, King Hussein struggled to prove that he's a true Arab leader who was ready to lead an underdeveloped nation into security and prosperity and prove that it had many good reasonable for existence even when the entire world had many doubts about it. I think that to a great extent he was able to accomplish this. He tried to avoid any kind of confrontation and always took the side of neutrality unless his throne or the the future of the country were be in jeopardy.

The statement from his majesty today, in my opinion, reflects a major shift in our attitude toward the world.
We didn't have to stand against the Syrian regime regardless of how brutal it was. But King Abdullah felt it was necessary for him to be the first Arab leader to make that statement. We all know that Syria has threatened to invade Jordan and in fact did invade Jordan more than any other country besides Israel. For Jordan to take that strong position against Syria, there might be a big a price to pay, but I hope that our moral obligation towards taking the stand is completely worth it.

Ronald Reagan vs. King Hussein

2011-11-09T13:42:00.007+11:00

Ronald Reagan was the US president between 1981 to 1989. After the end of his term, in 1994, he announced that he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease. However there were some signs suggestive that he had some "concentration issues" , to say the least, while he was still in office. One of these incidents occurred during a meeting with King Hussein.

Richard Viets, the US ambassador to Jordan in 1981, gave an interview reporting a very interesting meeting between the two leaders. Avi Shleim reports:

"On that first visit the Reagans invited the king and Queen Noor to lunch in their private quarters. Viets was also invited. In the middle of this small affair, Reagan suddenly said, "I understand that the Dead Sea is so salty that no fish can survive in it." The comment was not germane to anything that went on before.

Hussein said, "That's correct. No fish can survive there."

Reagan said, "I think we can help you out. We have special fish in California that I think they would love to live in the Dead Sea."

Hussein's eyes went almost into the dome of his head; he could barely believe that this conversation was taking place.

After lunch, Reagan took Viets aside and said he was going to have members of his staff contacted him to arrange the shipment of the fish. The two of them, Reagan said, were going to sort out this problem for Jordan. Viets was embarrassed but the king was characteristically good-humoured. When they met on future occasions, he would often rib Viets by saying, "When are you going to bring the fish?!"

Very Angry Man

2011-10-17T01:54:00.003+11:00

Warning before watching this video: Don't watch if you're black, Paraguayan, or a Boca fan.

Basically this man is very upset watching his team, River Plate, getting relegated for the second division in Argentina for the first time in 101 years, yes 101.

You can understands the murders that take place in stadiums over there.

Double Citizenship: The Oath

2011-10-13T23:59:00.004+11:00

Here's the Oath of Allegiance to become a US citizen that immigrants repeat on the day they want to become US citizen:

" I hereby renounce under oath all allegiance to any foreign state. My fidelity and allegiance from this day forward is to the United States of America. I pledge to support, honor, and be loyal to the United States, its Constitution, and its laws. Where and if lawfully required, I further commit myself to defend the Constitution and laws of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic, either by military, noncombatant, or civilian service. This I do solemnly swear, so help me God"

أقسم أن أنبذ كل الولاء لأية دولة أجنبية.إخلاصي وولائي من هذا اليوم إلى الأمام هو الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية. وأتعهد بأن أدعم وأشرف وأن أكون مخلصا للولايات المتحدة ودستورها وقوانينها. وعند الحاجة تحت الدستور بأن أكرس نفسي للدفاع عن قوانينها ودستورها ضد كل الأعداء ، المحليين والاجانب, سواء عن طريق الخدمة العسكرية أو المدنية, أقسم بذلك فساعدني يا الله

Now Tell me, can you still be an American citizen AND Jordanian? Can you renounce ANY loyalty to Jordan in a serious oath, and then be part of a Jordanian cabinet overlooking the interests of Jordanians?

Can you command Jordanians troops or take control of its budget when you have sworn not to have any relationship with this country?

Disturbing News About Milad Abbasi

2011-10-09T10:11:00.007+11:00

Six years ago I made a brief entry about Milad Abbassi, the best goalkeeper in Jordan's history, and the goalkeeper of the national team for nearly 15 years.

Like many brilliant Jordanians, he realized that he might get a better life by immigrating somewhere else. He moved to the US and started giving football lessons to kids in a school in South Carolina, then moved to Chicago to run a grocery store. His new name in America was Chris. Milad Abbassi, the most mentioned name on Jordanian TV in the 1980s after late King Hussein, was now being called Chris.

Milad was the goalkeeper in a not-so-golden era of Jordanian football. We used to get beaten up by many teams. Iraq, Syria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia defeated us almost every single time we played against them. However Milad Abbasi always protected the goal, so that a 1-0 loss to Iraq probably meant we had easily deserved a 5-0 loss.

I didn't know any further details about his life in the US, up until yesterday. There was burglary in his store in Chicago. Men entered his store and asked for money, but he resisted giving them the money. Apparently he still had the same attitude he used to give to strikers of other teams, "I know you'll win at the end, but I'm not gonna make it an easy one for you" . Those men shot Milad in his face and abdomen. His condition is reported to be critical but stable. Here's a link to the burglary report. (thanks Hamzah Nassif for the link)

I wish him a great recovery, and to get back to his normal life without any harm. And even if he lost his memory, he'll always be in ours, his fans.

Hareega in London

2011-08-10T01:15:00.004+11:00

No I didn't just fly there, but an actual hareega was intentionally started in London.

There are many answers to why these nasty riots have started. My feeling is that some people were genuinely angry for some legitimate reason(s), but once a riot starts many other opportunistic douchebags join in to take advantage of the situation, rob stores, mug teenage kids, and burn down the city just because they like burning things down.

I have to say that seeing these places on fire brings a lot of anger because this damage is visible. You see buildings in flames. You see rioters beating others in the street. You see the damage in neighborhoods.

However we don't see it on camera when the rich rob hundreds of people with the strike of his pen. We didn't see CEOs go to jail when entire neighborhoods vanished after their people went homeless. We didn't see as much anger to the damage of world economy because of the greed of some people.

We only get mad for what see on camera, but not for what happens behind it. Since we are more developed creatures than monkeys, I expect something better from the human kind.

As for these rioters, they should be very thankful they don't live in Syria.

(I can't help write anything about London and not link to this super awesome song, you guessed it!!)

Mubarak vs. Saddam: Not The Same

2011-08-04T13:40:00.003+11:00

Saddam Hussain

Removed from power through an obscene war, declared for many wrong reasons, based on several lies and bad intelligence, even by the accounts of those who started it. He was sentenced in an unusual trial to death and a date for his execution was not announced until after he was actually executed. He was hanged by angry men who were screaming loud pro-Shiite slogans at the time of execution. A video was taped of the execution and distributed all over the web. Humans have reached a new low that day.

Dare I mention that the crimes he was executed for were ones committed mostly in 1982 under the approval, full acceptance and even support of those who eventually turned against him, and brought him down? However, they didn't pay the price.

Hosni Mubarak

Powerful leader, responsible for massive cases of corruption in every government institution. Liar, thief and incompetent. Taken down by a series of protests by extremely brave people way before 2011, and their efforts succeeded eventually in bringing him down despite incredible amount of torture that they suffered (and still suffering) from. It wasn't only him but his two sons and the most powerful men who brutally ran the country stood in that cage like the little rats they've always been. These men are being held accountable for what they did DESPITE all the foreign and Arab support they had received over the past 3 decades.

These two men were brutal, they have their people's blood on their hands, and they deserved the harshest punishments out there. But the way they came down, and their trials, are not the same. They are the exact opposite of each other.

Quick Unprofessional Basic Movie Reviews for Movie Non-Buffs

2011-08-01T11:28:00.005+11:00

I'm not a movie critic or movie expert, but here's a quick movie review of movies I have seen recently. Some are new, some are a little older.

1- Horrible Bosses- Very funny, not very witty, and not a classic. But what's great about it is that, finally, Jennifer Aniston is not very predictable. Not family-friendly to say the least. C+

2- Hangover II: if you haven't seen the first movie this movie will come as one of the best in your life. If you have seen it , then all I can say is that it follows the same story line. I hope Hangover III will be very different. C

3- Page One: Inside the New York Times. This documentary isn't about the New York Times, it's about journalism and the way it's taking a new shape. If you're someone who uses the internet, check this movie out. B

4- Midnight in Paris: the best word to describe this movie is beautiful. A beautiful movie, beautiful script, beautiful dreams and a beautiful actor. Mainly it's about many love stories none of them exists between the couple in the movie. If I say more I'll ruin it for you. B+

5- Source Code (SPOILER ALERT): I thought this would be a typical boring action movie, but it turned out to be really good. I wish the ending was a little different. The movie should have ended when everything paused and people were sitting around in the train listening to the comedian, which was about 10 minutes before the actual end of the movie. Somehow Hollywood aims to have the happiest end possible which ruined it for me. B

6- Cedar Rapids: Above-average comedy, good story but if they had chosen someone other than Ed Helmes I think it would have been a better movie. C+

7- Of Gods and Men: A French movie about monks in a very rural Algerian town who face terrorism with everyone else in town. what makes it a great movie is the extraordinary acting and the fact that it was a very true story. Makes you feel as if you're one of those priests even if you haven't stepped inside a church before. B+

8- Dead Poets Society: Old movie (1989) , but very inspiring, very artistic and Robin Williams plays a wonderful role here. I loved the movie even though I hated Shakespeare in high school. B

9- The Adjustment Bureau: Awful. Just plain awful. An inception-wanna be , but it was difficult to enjoy it. To be fair some people liked it, not sure why. D-

10- Inside Job: it won the Oscar for best documentary of 2010 and it was well-deserved. Talks about the economical crisis and why you should be very very concerned that things aren't any better for the market or the people. I don't get anything in business but I got this movie. B+

11- Stranded: I've Come From a Plane That Crashed On the Mountains (yes all of that is the title)- this is a documentary about the real story of a plane that crashed on the Andes mountains in 1972, and what the survivors had to do to stay alive. Even if someone narrated the whole script of the film to you, that shouldn't take anything away from the effect this movie will leave on you. It's one of those films that can stick in your brain for the rest of your life. One of the best I've ever seen. Powerful shit. A

12- Citizen USA: An HBO documentary about immigrants to the US who have just become citizens. Basically the director is asking them why did they choose to become US citizens, and the answers can surprise you. Well, they'll surprise you only if you're American. I think the movie was made for American-born citizens who often do not appreciate everything they have in their country. Quite a few Jordanians appeared in that one-hour documentary. C+

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No Way in Norway

2011-07-30T12:32:00.004+11:00

Norway buried the victims of the massacre that took place last week in Oslo. The first funerals for the 76 people started taking place yesterday.

The prime minister Jens Stonelberg urged his nation to embrace freedom.

That's how you fight threats to your nation: embrace what your country stands for, embrace what its values are and don't take security as an excuse to violate its constitution.

As Mr. Jens (sikis) said, "Evil has brought out the best in us"

Kudos for Norway for not losing its collective shit.

Just Two Weeks Ago

2011-07-27T13:36:00.005+11:00

I had a patient in clinic with a fever, she goes, "I traveled to so many places last year and got very sick: Angola, Tanzania, Kenya, Sudan, South Africa. I contracted malaria, schistosoma, diarrhea, and God knows what"

"Are you traveling anywhere else?"

"Yes. Oslo next month. Glad this time I won't worry about what might happen to me"

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Condolences to Norway. I hope this tragedy won't change their principles of freedom and justice and won't change the way you live, try your criminals or search your passengers at airports. Or in other words, I hope you won't be cavity-searching me if I visit you next time.

Amman 10 Years Later: Chaos, Curfews and Attacks on Foreign Embassies

2011-07-20T16:02:00.004+11:00

Armored cars moved throughout Amman streets at dawn Tuesday with loud-speakers blaring, "Remain in your houses".

The Jordanian capital was under strict military control in the third day of a curfew following weekend violence by mobs.

Army troops with fixed bayonets patrolled the streets where crowds had rioted in attacks against British and American embassies.

The King called on the new government to enforce law and order. The government took office Monday with Samir El-Rifai as premier.

Since the Saturday riots, the curfew has been lifted for only two hours each day, when tens of thousands of people stream out with sacks and baskets to buy out food.

No mail has entered or left the city since Saturday. Only official telephone calls are allowed. The army has taken over the post office.

There are no newspapers, no airline flights. It is impossible to enter or leave the city without a special pass.

There have been no more disturbances however, the curfew is expected to be relaxed gradually.

Officials in Damascus , Syria, announced Tuesday that Jordan has reopened its frontiers with Syria after a three day closure.

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Imagine Amman being like this in 10 years? 15 or 20 years? Can you imagine yourself living in a city like that?

Many people fear Amman will turn into something like that, something scary, where every thing is politically-charged and violence will be erupting everywhere in the city.

Well, the article above was not my vision of Amman in the 2020s, but rather an article I quoted word-by-word from newspapers describing Amman in 1956. Click here to read the article directly from the Milwaukee Journal Newspaper

You may click here for a similar link if the first one doesn't work.

Also click here for a short silent clip taken during these events.

During that period, there have been many protests against the pro-Western Baghdad Pact and the suspicion that the Jordanian government would join the Pact. Embassies were attacked and curfews were enforced. People were allowed to leave their houses for only 2 hours a day between 5 and 7 pm. Many protests followed in the years after.

My point is: Amman and Ammanites survived. Jordan and Jordanians survived. People expressed their opinion, often at the expense of jail or harassment, but they did express themselves. This is not the first time that Jordanians take the streets or chant against the government, or ask for it to step down. It's not an unusual phenomenon. Unlike past decades, Jordan is in much less danger of "outside threats". One may argue that the circumstances are very different now from what they've been before, and I agree. Everything is much more stable than ever before. The threats to Jordan's stability are negligible to what they've been in the 1950s. There is virtually no strong leftist movement in Arab countries, there is no Egyptian president calling for Jordanians to get rid of their king on the radio, there are no Syrian troops aligned alongside the borders waiting for an excuse to invade them, and Iraqis are busy getting their country together. Israel won't attack Jordan and Jordan won't attack Israel for the next 100 years. The United States is broke and won't call for more wars even if Pearl Harbor was attacked again. Jordan seems more stable that it's ever been before.

Many things can change, and I could be wrong but Jordan, despite its young age, has matured quickly and is well-experienced with new developments in the region. We'll be alright.

Click on Photo to Enlarge

Life and Death and Dying and the Journey with Dr. Death

2011-07-13T12:59:00.009+11:00

"A doctor in America is killing his patients" is all what I remember from watching the news on Jordan TV sometime in the early 1990s. It was a horror story. The doctor's name was Dr. Kevorkian but he was called Dr. Death.

As I finished medical school and moved to the US for training, I had an attending physician (supervisor) who liked to joke with his patients introducing himself to them with, "Hello, my name is Dr. Kevorkian, I will be your doctor" just to get a good laugh. Needless to say, Kevorkian has become synonym with death.

Death has become part of my daily life since I decided to become a doctor. I remember my first patient who died, the first corpse I saw in anatomy class, the first freshly-dead body dissected in the forensic medicine course. It wasn't scary at all even for the most fainted-hearted among us in medical school. We all knew that one day we will become cold dead bodies. I always said I'd rather sleep in the morgue among dozens of dead people than sleep alone in my room with a mosquito above my head.

Death is a peaceful end to an often less peaceful life. I can deal with it. But dying is torture, and very few know how to deal with it.

There is a group of patients who don't die once; they experience dying, or in other words, they die every day. Those are the chronically ill patients, and every doctor has seen a few hundreds of them. I almost see one every single day. I know most of their names, where they live, if they have a car or not, even what their kids do for a living. Even in my mind I can recall the surgeries and medications that each one had and even remember their lab tests from many months back. These guys spend more time seeing doctors and doing tests than in their house. Their daily struggle is to remain alive. Their quality of life however is awful, but stable. Awfully stable. It's not going to improve and all what doctors do is slow their death, or prolong it, depending on the way you look at it.

For some of these guys, Dr. Kevorkian was the answer. They asked for him. He didn't contact these patients, but they contacted him. It's illegal for you to kill yourself in most countries in the world, including the US. These patients asked Kevorkian to do it for them in a painless and quick way. Kevorkian assessed them and selectively helped them end their lives. He videotaped every patient to make sure they voluntarily requested the death. He wasn't paid for any of these procedures.

Kevorkian had to stand trial for many of these murders as they've been illegal. The families of the patients stood and defended him and the decision that their loved ones had made. Kevorkian was acquitted all the time until a prosecutor played a legal trick and was able to find Kevorkian guilty of murder. He spent 8 years in jail.

One thing I learned, is that people change their minds when they get sick. How many times have you heard one say, "If I get cancer, I don't want to get chemo, just let me die in peace" ? Let me tell you something: don't believe them. If they get cancer, they'll get chemo, and radiation, and surgery, and a lot of pills, and herbs, and experimental treatments, and prayers and creams and lotions and Chinese remedies and whatever your grandmother used to treat food poisoning. They'll use it all to stay alive. Some survive, some do not, and some decide to give up even before their time is over.

Likewise, I don't know how will these people react when that moment arrives; the moment when they surrender, when they declare that they've had enough. We don't know how some of the people closest to us will react in these situations. I don't even know how I myself will react when this moment comes. But I know that everyone deserves to have all options available to them, and one of these options is euthanasia, or physician-assisted suicide.

It's horrifying for some to think about it, and for those very uncomfortable with it (and I'm one of them) I say , don't do it. Just don't prevent others mentally-stable adults from considering it. Most, if not all, of those 130 people that Kevorkian ended their lives did not want to die had they been healthy or even ill but with a reasonable quality of life. But when they got very ill, and they changed their mind.

There are many things that Dr. Kevorkian could have done differently. He didn't obtain a psychiatric consultation on all patients. He didn't fully assess the medical condition of each one. It's argued that some of his patients may even had reversible medical illnesses. However, the conditions in which he worked have been very imperfect, and he himself acknowledged that. He opened a debate on a topic that is very hard to talk about and is very controversial in its own.

Just like people have different perspectives of what life means, they differ on the way they think it should end. But I hope we'll agree that every one must have a complete control on his own life. We do end lives of criminals convicted of serious crimes. We do end lives of enemy soldiers in wars and sometimes even celebrate it. However we are not honoring the wish of a suffering person from ending his/her own life even if they request to, and we decide for them to have it end in pain and emotional suffering against their will rather than peace and comfort. Dr. Kevorkian, who passed away last month, said that he was serving his patients and honoring their will. By no means was he Dr. Death, as he appreciated exactly what the value of life and what it means to be living. RIP, Dr. Kevorkian, Dr. Life.

"When your conscience says law is immoral, don't follow it. If you don't have liberty and self-determination, you've got nothing, that's what this is what this country is built on. And this is the ultimate self-determination, when you determine how and when you're going to die when you're suffering. The patient's autonomy always, always should be respected, even if it is absolutely contrary to best medical advice and what the physician wants." Jack Kevorkian, during his trials.

Suggested Movie: You Don't Know Jack, by Al Pacino.

الصورة

2011-04-24T09:23:00.001+11:00

قبل حوالي عشرة سنوات كنت في دمشق أغزدر في السوق عندما وقع نظري على رجل ستيني جالسا على الرصيف ومحاطاً من الجهات الأربعة وظهره وقدميه بالصور كان مُطحِشاً أكبر عدد ممكن من الصور عارضاً اياها للبيع بأسعارمختلفة

بادرته بالسؤال "عندك صورة مارادونا"

اجابني "لاء عمو ما عندي"

رغم خيبة املي بدأت بالبعبشة بين صوره المختلفة لعلي أجد صورةً لبطلٍ قومي كباتيستوتا أو حميد الشاعري فلم أجد, لكنني وجدت كثيراً من صور بشار الاسد, لم تكن أي منها شبيهة بالأُخرى, كان متصوراً في كل واحدة بوضع مختلف وكأنه عارضة ازياء لفكطوريا سيكرت

سألت البائع مرة اخرى "بكم صورة بشار الأسد"

نظر البائع الي بشك ثم وقف على قدميه العتيقتين ببعض الصعوبة وأعتقد أنني سمعت صوت غضاريف ركبتيه وهي تطرقع بين عظامه الهشة و رد علي بصرامة " أصدك سيادة الرئيس, حضرة سيادة الرئيس بشار الأسد"

نسيت كم كان سعر الصورة,لكني شعرت اني قد وضعت الرجل في موقف صعب قليلا وأنّه سيكون من الزوق شراء الصورة منه, ثم فكرت ان حرس الحدود الاردني راح يقرقعني إذا شافوني راجع عالأردن من سوريا محمل معي صور بشار الأسد

بعدين قلت بجيب الصورة وبكبها بالشام قبل ما ارجع عالاردن, بس يا حبيبي إذا شافني حدا بالشام وانا بكُب صورة بشار الأسد باكل هوا

فقلتله شكراً عمي خلص شكراً وانقلعت عالبقداش ألهمط بوظة

واليوم بعد عشر سنوات لم أجد شيئاً يسعدني أكثر من رؤية السوريين وهم يطالبون ببعض الحرية, بعض الكرامة, بعض المنطق في حياتهم اليومية, وأكثر ما أسعدني هو رؤيتهم يحرقون صورة بشار الأسد

عفوا.... يحرقون صورة حضرة سيادة الرئيس بشار الأسد

يوم الارض ..... the Land Day

2011-03-31T16:06:00.002+11:00

Today was celebrated the 35th anniversary of the Land Day.

A day that used to matter

Like the land itself, it's all long gone

Do We Desire REAL Democracy, or Do we Just Hate Dictators?

2011-03-08T14:38:00.004+11:00

The Arab revolution did happen, and it means one thing. Arabs hate dictators. Arabs hate leaders who stick to their throne for decades and refuse to give up or give in. Arabs don't want one authority figure to dictate what they have to say and not say, who they have to cheer or sing for, what they read and write and reject and accept. They won't take their leader's word to what's good and what's evil, what's patriotic and what's not or what's moral and what's not.

Arabs are changing the principals of what means to be free, what qualifies them to be good citizens of their countries and what their countries should expect from them and what they should be giving to their countries. The one century-year old dictionary of what means to be a good Arab citizen, written by dictators and military personnel was rejected and a new edition with bright colors and brand new definitions is now being printed by the people. Arabs are re-defining Arab.

The constitution of these countries that witnessed the biggest revolutions, Tunisia and Egypt, has not been modified yet. It will be (according to plan) and should be voted on by the people. Those constitutions will guarantee more freedoms (hopefully). That's what the people want, but will that be enough to turn the Arab world into a democracy?

All these Arab crowds had one thing in common: they hated dictators. Like any population of +300 million, you almost can't find anything else that's common between them. It would be interesting to see how will political parties, ethnic groups or religious organizations react when they're voted off by the majority of people. Will they respect the will of the people or will they fight back forcing themselves with every corrupt way possible to get a big piece of the cake?

I live in the United States. Freedom of speech is very well-respected here. There have been a few protests in the US where people burned the American flag. There was an attempt by the Congress and Senate to make it illegal to burn their flag, but the Senate voted against it. Therefore it is still legal to burn the US flag in the United States (personal advice though : don't do that in Jordan) .

I would like to give you another example. There is a group of completely wacky crazy irrational irritating morons called the Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) who like to go to funerals of victims of wars or tragic accidents and life signs during funerals saying that these victims deserved their death and that God hates them. Soldiers who die in war, miners who die in mining accidents, a little girl who died in a random shooting in Arizona, during these funerals you'd have a bunch of crazy people from WBC holding signs saying "God is Your Enemy" and "God Hates Your Tears".

Again, there was a lawsuit against the WBC in the US Supreme Court. The Supreme Court decided to side with the WBC, saying that hurtful speech is protected by the Constitution, which protects freedom of speech. Everyone in America hates the WBC, everybody is disgusted by them, many people were deeply hurt by their rants and protests, but the Supreme Court protected their right because freedom of speech is worshiped here. The votes were 8-1, not even close.

Let's go to Jordan. Every few months we hear about tragic plane accidents in our military where a few soldiers die thanks to the great training and planes they're given to fly. These soldiers are young and their deaths brings heartache to many families. Imagine if a bunch of morons start protesting in these funeral saying things like "these soldiers deserved it" or "God damn them". Other than these protesters being eaten alive during the funeral, would you think the people of Jordan would support the freedoms of those voicing their opinion?

Imagine that someone burned the Jordanian flag during a protest (which did happen, more than once). Do you think people would support his right to do so. Let me ask this, if he were Palestinian, would Jordanians support his right to express himself?

I don't want anyone to protest funerals, or burn flags, or irritate people or incite hatred. I do believe we are very close to each other, but ridding ourselves of dictators and seeking democracy are two very different things. Democracy and tyranny don't go together. We are doing the very first and most difficult step, but what's coming needs more sacrifice, more patience, and will be painful and even disappointing. There will a lot of disagreements, a lot of speeches and a lot of setbacks, but that is the right way to go. I hope we'll be ruled by reasonable people but I hope more that the ruled people will be reasonable.

Old Clip of Black September

2011-03-03T16:49:00.002+11:00

Apparently this Canadian reporter, Barry Callaghan, was in Amman when Black September broke in 1970. Thanks to youtube I was able to find this rare clip that I never thought it existed in the first place. He's hiding in some hotel in Amman.

Students in Jordanian schools know are not told anything about these events. They end up learning about them from other sources that are often biased and inaccurate.

Only great nations can handle the truth even when it's painful.

I'm on Twitter

2011-02-21T11:01:00.005+11:00

My name there is Hareega_Blog

or Reega Reega Hareega

apparently someone else took hareega

nothing made me wanna join twitter more than Saif Al-Islam !

follow me

Qaddafi is Not Funny

2011-02-20T07:39:00.005+11:00

Muammar Qaddafi is known to be the joke of the Arab world. Just type his name on youtube and you'll get an endless number of some hilarious speeches and remarks he's made in interviews and conferences. He clearly suffers from one or more psychological conditions that seem to be refractory to medical therapy.

That would have been funny to watch if Qaddafi was a celebrity not reluctant to embarrass himself in any possible occasion.

But when it comes to ruling a large and a very oil-rich country inhabited by only 6 million people, it stops being funny. One would expect such a country to have the best schools, colleges, hospitals, roads and energy plans in the world. Instead, Libya remains a third world country in most aspects. It's doing well when you compare it to the rest of Africa, but when you compare it to what it should be, it is centuries behind.

To my surprise I met many Libyans living who live in the United States, and among them I haven't met anyone who admired Al-Qaddafi. What's even worse is the horrifying stories I heard about how he handled any opposition to his regime.

One of these stories was his involvement in the war against Chad. Al-Qaddafi decided to get involved in a civil war in neighboring Chad, and actually did occupy part of this country as if he need more land (Libya is the 17th largest country in the world). One day he told high school students in Libya they were going on a field trip. He sent buses to their schools, gave them guns and sent them to fight in Chad. Thousands of Libyans died and got injured in a brutal war in 1986. Qaddafi claimed a decisive victory in Chad initially, but when he suffered a bad defeat he went on Libyan TV to criticize the "stupid military that decided on its own to get involved in this war". He didn't want Libyans to see those who were wounded with visible injuries such as head injuries or amputations, so he ordered the military to kill those injured. Yes that's right, he ordered the silent execution of those Libyan civilians and soldiers who were forced to fight in an unnecessary war against their will and were severely injured. Instead of an apology or compensation he got them killed. Nobody can argue with him. Nobody can call for change.

There are numerous of stories in Libya that reflect his brutality and make Saddam Hussain look like an angel. Unlike Saddam who established a solid health care system and got his people (men and women) extremely well-educated, Qaddafi tried to keep his people oppressed and incapable of any critical thinking.

During the very short period I worked in Jordan, I was shocked at the number of Libyan patients who traveled to Jordan to get medical care. Libya has the potential to build a Mayo clinic in every little village. Libyan doctors seem only to shine when they the country. Wealthy Libyans would never stay in Libya to get treated for anything or receive education. Leaving the country is the way to secure a future even though their country is so damn rich.

Even though I've never been to Libya, and I don't intentionally follow their news or read books about it, I can easily come up with a list for 1000 reasons why Qaddafi has been a terrible president. Maybe I will when I have more time.

To symbolize the corruption and autocracy the Libyans are subjected to think, think of the beloved son, Al-Saa'idi Al-Qaddafi. He decided to play football, placed himself as the captain of the Libyan national team even though he didn't play for any club at the time. He ordered the players to pass him the ball in every game. When the team was coached by a talented Italian coach (Bersellini), the first thing he did was fire Al-Saadi because "he wasn't a football player". The Libyan Federation fired the coach instead and brought Al-Saadi to the team. Al-Saadi then paid millions of dollars to top-quality Italian clubs just to include him in the squad. They didn't let him play a single minute, and he was eventually asked to leave Italy because he failed a drug test.

This is how Libya is run, violent dictator, family running the country, opposition is crushed (literally), corruption is the rule, and stupidity is king. Qaddafi seems funny when he talks, but nothing about his corruption or violence is funny. It wasn't surprising to learn today that he asked his military to shoot peaceful demonstrators from helicopters. What was surprising to me was to see protests growing in numbers, which gives me another reason to be very proud of those people. His people have had enough, and they're willing to sacrifice their lives for a better future for their kids. It's good to be an Arab these days.

-----------------------------

(Aboce is a picture of Qaddafi with a picture of Omar Al-Mukhtar. Reminds me of a picture of Madonna wearing a cross)

Mission Impossible.... Mission Accomplished

2011-02-13T02:58:00.003+11:00

Egypt

2011-02-06T07:04:00.004+11:00

First, some people in South Dakota are asking me if my family is safe. For them Jordan is Egypt is Yemen is Pakistan. It's the same country. I just tell them my family is OK, thank you very much.

Let me start by stating the obvious: Mubarak is terrible person. He's even worse than we expected. What was going on in Egypt with military cars running over people was disturbing. But almost any other Arab leader would have done much worse than that from day one of the protests. It's not a Mubarak problem, it's an Arab leader problem. Arab leaders would do anything, anything, to stay in power.

I don't think many people will agree with me on this, but it's not only Hosni Mubarak who is responsible for the situation in Egypt right now. Jamal Abdul -Naser and Anwar al-Sadat are also to blame for implanting dictatorship as an acceptable way to rule a liberal country like Egypt, and allowing intelligence officers to spy on their people and report whoever had unfavorable opinions about the president. As much as I respect Abdul-Naser, he paved the way for Egypt to become an autocracy. Al-Sadat was even worse, supporting empty-headed radicals who eventually assassinated him.

Egyptians proved to me to be much more civilized than what I've thought. All the protests were very peaceful until the government thugs started beating people. I still consider it a white revolution. Contrary to what most Jordanians believe, Egyptians do have class. Protesters themselves even cleaned the streets at the end of each day.

Some analysts in America continue to produce statistics about how radicalized the Egyptian society have become, and are concerned that the leadership in Egypt will be a fundamental one, one that will abuse women's rights and persecute Christians. I can't deny that such mentality does exist in Egypt, but it's the incredible oppression, poverty, and lack of freedoms that allowed these irrational ideas in Egypt in the 1950s to become somewhat popular. Egyptians and Arabs desire freedom as much as Americans do, and it's such a hypocrisy from some Americans to be stand against their own beliefs and values being practiced in other countries. I expect that from their presidents, but the people themselves, come on!

Finally the protests in Egypt are not between Egyptians and Mobarak, they are a fight between Arab citizens and their tyrant leaders. Never did Arabs have fair and just elections but for the past 2 weeks each one of us had an ambassador in Midan Al-Tahrir. Pick your side, it's a struggle between good an evil as clear as good and evil can be. Whatever will happen in Egypt will affect other countries

Whatever was going on in the past 2 months gave us hope and pride to be Arabs again. They'd better mark Mohamed Bouazizi's grave well because one day I will be going there and thank him. He started an era where Arab leaders will be afraid of their people and where opinions will be respected if they're unpopular. How will the future evolve is something I'm uncertain of, but it will be better.

Why the Jordanian Teacher Terrorizing that Kid Should Not Be Punished

2011-01-25T16:16:00.001+11:00

I watched the clip of a Jordanian teacher terrorizing a 1st-grade student in a public school. It was painful to see a young kid being humiliated, but it was more painful to see the reaction of a wide array of people to this youtube clip.

It looks like the people who were "shocked" the most were those who never gave a damn to start with. We all know that children get beaten up in almost every single public school in Jordan. Sometimes they get brutally beaten up, tied by chains, humiliated, and the physical abuse may even qualify as torture in some cases. Some students died, actually died, as a consequence of violence targeted at them from teachers.

The ministry of education doesn't pay attention to these cases. The principles of these schools don't care, mainly because most of them support the right of teachers to treat their students as their kids (i.e. beat the shit out of them-if necessary!) And just like having 10 kids can be a burden to a father, having 50 kids in one class is a huge burden. There is not time to pay any special attention towards kids.

I'm not even going to discuss sexual abuses against kids since I don't have names (obviously not clips either) but we hear the stories about teachers who have been "investigated" by school administration and asked to teach a different class because of clear sexual abuses against students. Things have got so bad in a public school in Madaba that a school shut down its restroom because of such sexual.

All these fake reactions by the ministry of Health were a result of the clip going viral, and not because of the violence itself. That little kid is lucky. His misery that went viral will almost guarantee he'll never be hit again , at least for a while. But make no mistake, this morning in Jordan a big number of students in Jordanian schools will be beaten up in schools by teachers and principals and nobody will record it on youtube, not allowing the Ammani elitist living in a bubble to pretend to be have feelings to allow them to feel sorry for kids who seem to be living in a different planet.

At least that teacher was teaching that kid something other than that his country is giving up on him and unless his parents were rich and connected he didn't belong to this land he lived in anymore.

Great Old Clip: Prince Abdallah, the Young Teenager, Watching Cartoons and Queen Mona Talking

2011-01-15T01:47:00.003+11:00

Here's another one of these nice old clips, this one is a short documentary about late King Hussein, including interviews with him and Queen Mona around 1971. I believe this interview took place right before their divorce. You can see their 2 kids, Princes Abdullah and Faisal, watching TV and training with troops.

I haven't seen any interview with Queen Mona, so this is pretty interesting.

The most shocking moment of the video was right at minute 16:00, very interesting answer.

You can visit the site http://www.britishpathe.com/ and find more clips about King Hussein, late King Hussein (his grandfather), King Talal....

very interesting site

here's the documentary, click on the picture

KING HUSSEIN

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Good Old Clip: King Hussein Getting Married

2011-01-14T16:59:00.002+11:00

from April, 1955

This is truly incredible!!

Click on the picture and it will take you to the clip

ROYAL WEDDING

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Video of the Month: Coronation of King Talal in 1951, and How Amman Looked Sixty Years Ago

2011-01-02T13:51:00.003+11:00

This segment shows some rare videos that attract very few youtube viewers but I think are valuable enough to be seen.

Here is the coronation of King Talal in the summer of 1951. He ruled Jordan for 13 months, removed for health-related reasons.

King Talal was very influential, much more than what he gets credit for. He wrote down the constitution of Jordan. In 1951, Jordan was six years old. It could have gone in so many directions, but the constitution that the late King Talal came with gave a lot of liberty to the people and to women. Unfortunately it was "modified" afterwards to limit many of these freedoms and rights in the name of security.

Best 5 Movies of 2010 (from a non-movie expert point of view), and Why (No Spoilers)

2011-01-02T12:20:00.007+11:00

5- Inside Job: Insightful. The best documentary of the year. It's good enough to embarrass the president of the United States.

4- Inception: a wonderful use of visual and sound effects, good story and powerful enough to make you take your dreams seriously, at least for a couple of nights.

3- Black Swan: This movie is so good that even I, a secure fat man, felt like I was the slim female ballet dancer going through the internal struggles that Natalie Portman was going through. The movie seemed to me similar to the Wrestler in many ways, and I checked after the movie and turned out it was the same director. Brilliant.

2- You Don't Know Jack: Jack Kevorkian, the doctor of death, tells his side of the story saying how he helped hundreds of people by killing them. This film surprises you and will probably leave you with many questions and no answers.

What's even better is that Al Pacino plays Dr. Kevorkian.

1- 127 hours: boy I could feel this rock in the movie pressing on my own arm. It's unimaginable. And the performance of James Franco should be taught in acting schools everywhere. Advice: don't read anything about the movie, just go watch it and live it yourself.

-------------------------------------

(I have to mention that I haven't seen the King's Speech or the Fighter yet, and animation movies are for kids under ten so Toy Story 3 and Avatar should never be included in any list). The picture above is of Natalie Portman , it might be from Black Swan, or just a random picture she took while laying on a pavement, doesn't matter, looks good)

Why I think this is the best picture of 2010

2010-12-30T14:43:00.007+11:00

This isn't just a picture of a crazy man taking off his shirt. This is not just a picture of someone who did something huge. This picture is so amazing because it shows a blend of thousands of emotions while they were evolving in nano-seconds in front of our eyes.

Unless you have been living on a different planet, or in the United States, you will know that this Andres Iniesta celebrating the winning goal for Spain in the World Cup final.

Even though this moment might as well be the happiest moment any footballer can experience, none of the expressions on Iniesta's face is actually cheerful. It's a mixture of incredible excitement and a "what-the-fuck-has-just-happened" moment. If adrenalin had a face, this is how it would look like. This is fierceness, intensity and power, all in one face.

And in the background, Dutch players, shattered, destroyed, and tired, very tired, knowing that once again that they will be keeping the title of the best team to never win the world cup. Always visible, but only in the background.

Not only that.

Andres Iniesta, above, joined the Under-16 Spanish team in 2001. As he grew up, he won the European Championship for the Under-19 Spanish team in 2003. He then went on to captain the Under-21 team. Along this road, he was playing alongside his teammate Dani Jarque.

Iniesta played for Barcelona. Dani Jarque played for Espanol. Those 2 teams were not only rivals, they were enemies. There is literally blood between the 2 teams. Fans of each team absolutely hated each other, and games between the 2 teams are not always pleasant to watch.

Dani Jarque was playing a friendly game in 2009 when he collapsed and died suddenly of a heart attack.

One year later, as in the picture above, Iniesta scored the winning goal for Spain in the World Cup. As nearly one billion people were watching, he lifted his shirt showing the words, "Dani Jarque, always with us" (Dani Jaqrue, siempre con nosotros"

Since then, the Espanol fans stopped booing Iniesta during any Barcelona-Espanol derby. Sure they still boo everybody else in Barcelona, but when it comes to Iniesta they can't forget the man who didn't only bring the world cup to Spain, but also brought class and grace to the game during the best moment of his life.

Feliz Navidad

2010-12-26T14:23:00.005+11:00

If Jesus was to be born today, his parents won't be allowed to get to a hospital and Virgin Mary would have to go into labor at an Israeli checkpoint

Merry Christmas !!

Cheap, Very Cheap, EasyJet Cheap, from Amman

2010-12-22T13:56:00.005+11:00

In the last decade, there has been a very rapid emergence of low-cost airlines in Europe. These airlines offer much better prices but the service provided on the plane is suboptimal. No meals, no allocated seating (you'll still sit, but on first-come first-serve basis) and they charge for services such as checking in luggage. It was even rumored that one airline , Ryanair, was going to charge passengers for using restrooms. It turned out that the CEO of Ryanair made that claim to bring more publicity to his airline. At any rate, the price for tickets on these airlines is dirty cheap, therefore they have been growing very rapidly , causing nightmares to more well-established airlines such as British Airways.

One of these airlines, EasyJet, is coming to Amman. They are going to start an Amman-London route three times weekly starting the end of March.

I went to their website to get an idea on their ticket prices, and it's all good news. The price for a round-trip on economy would be 164 Euros , excluding luggage. If you want to include one piece of luggage, you add 22 Euros (total 186 Euros, nearly 175 JDs) total. I searched all the other airlines serving Amman around that time, and the cheapest among them was a BMI flight for 760 dollars (nearly 540 JDs or 580 Euros). I did my search online. The EasyJet ticket was 20-50 Euros more expensive if you would travel on other dates.

The drawback is that they will fly to Gatwick airport, which is a little farther from London than Heathrow.

I encourage everyone to fly with these guys. If you are looking for a good first class treatment skip to the more expensive Royal Jordanian or British Airways. If you are like me, someone who believes that flying always sucks no matter what you're fling and you just want to get to your destination safely, then hop on to an EasyJet flight. If many people fly with them , we can get to have more flights to more destinations in Europe for much less expensive prices.

Welcome to Amman cheap airlines. No matter how bad their customer service will be, I guess Jordanians have all been accustomed to what's worse.

Dead Waters

2010-12-10T13:56:00.007+11:00

Whenever there is drought in Jordan, people pray for rain. Praying for rain in Jordan is like praying for God to cure your cancer after it had already spread to your brain. It was never the solution, nor will it be the solution in the future. I'm not talking about praying, I'm talking about the rain. Praying, even though scientifically will not improve the chance of raining, is a good opportunity for people to meet together for a good cause, so I'm all for it. But more rain doesn't sound like the solution to the water shortage we have been suffering from since the foundation of our country.

Khalil Nasrallah was a young Lebanese boy living in Lebanon when the civil war erupted in Lebanon. His father had to move to Egypt with the family to save his business. Khalil then went to Canada to study, got a degree and went back to Egypt in the early 1990s. He realized that Egypt did not have good-quality domestic olive oil, and decided to start a business producing olive oil. In order to start the business, he had to go the middle of the desert, in the sand, spend a fortune to dwell wells in order to find water for his olive trees. All that came at a big risk of failing, but he was smart and successful and somewhat lucky. He co-founded Wadi Foods, which is now a massive company in Egypt that produces healthy food at an affordable cost. To this day he is still using the water from the wells he dwelt nearly 20 years ago.

The Jordanian government, for a long time, has not been always serious about the water crisis our country had always faced. A lot of bureaucracy and stubbornness delayed Al Wahda project with Syria for years, eventually the project seemed to even create more problems with our Arab neighbor. (Check this NPR story from 2007). You can drive by Jordan River nowadays and not recognize it because it has dried up for the most part. The Eastern Ghour water channel was a disaster. The majority of Jordanians do not get water for most days of the week, and it's sometimes unpredictable on which days they'll be getting it. We had a scandal of contaminated water that cost prime minister Abdul Salam Al-Majali his position. (Check this Hajjaj cartoon), and we always blame the weather, Syria, Israel, money and the common man for the never-ending crisis.

Only recently did we hear some good news. The US committed 275 million dollars to help Jordan improve its water supply, and you know well, that when 275 million dollars are donated for a good cause, all the money allocated will be spent on the intended project. It's expected that the Disi project will be completed in 2012, and it will supply Amman with more than a 100 million cubic meters of water every year. Sure it is contaminated by radioactive Uranium , but that doesn't matter, because as a good Jordanian citizen you're supposed to believe what the government tells you instead of those Westerner scientists in Yale and other Jewish universities.

I am still inspired by the story of Khalil Nasrallah, because he is a individual, just one person, with an age close to mine, who dug water out of nowhere, just to produce olive oil. That's all what he wanted, water for his olive trees. I believe if Mr. Nasrallah was able to do so, our Jordanian government can do much better than that. Digging for water is better than digging for oil, at least if you look for the future.

Julian Assange, Arrested

2010-12-08T02:02:00.002+11:00

If world leaders can come together to fight one thing, it's the truth

127 hours.....

2010-11-24T18:24:00.003+11:00

This is not a movie review, it's only an opinion

127 hours is one wonderful movie, a masterpiece in my opinion

except for the first 10 minutes, the only actor in the movie is one person: James Franco, he does a wonderful job , I don't think there was anywa

y to better act this part

I'm not going to give the whole movie away. Basically a hiker gets stuck when a rock falls on him, and he has to get himself out. It might sound boring however the movie is about how much pain are you willing to go through for a chance to save your own life.

Inception was a more fascinating movie, however this is in my opinion the best movie of the year, maybe because it was based on a true story. While watching it I couldn't h

elp but I feel I was the one trapped , thinking of ways to free myself out.

They still make good movies.

Argentina 1- Brasil 0

2010-11-19T17:18:00.001+11:00

Watch the real world champions, not the world cup champions

enjoy the magic

enjoy football

2010-11-09T14:39:00.000+11:00

Why Are Jordanian Christians Freaking Out After the Church Bombings in Iraq

2010-11-08T06:44:00.008+11:00

Last week, militants linked to Al-Qaeda took over a church in Baghdad and killed 58 people. Following the attacks , Al-Qaeda threatened to attack Christians wherever they can be reached, which is serious threat because we know that Al-Qaeda, at least some of its loyal sympathizers, live in every single country in the Middle East. For any person living in Jordan it's easy to notice that Jordanian Christians are panicking after the attacks. But is that justified?

On a humanitarian level, those attacks are less tragic than many attacks on mosques, where the death toll is often worse. Just last week an attack on a mosque in Iraq left 63 people dead. The majority of the 100,000 Iraqi civilians who were killed since the US invasion of Iraq are Muslims. Outside Iraq, Islamic militants have just bombed a mosque in Pakistan, leaving 90 people dead. Worshipers in mosques and churches are usually unarmed people, minding their own business, who often pray for peace in their country.

Christians in Iraq have been treated pretty fairly under Saddam Hussein. Not that they were necessarily supporters of him, but the hardships Iraqi Christians faced were not religious-based, and were not very different from those encountered by Iraqi Muslims. Saddam put his trust in some Christians around him, including his vice president and personal guard.

Fast forward to 2003, the US invades Iraq. Since then there have been multiple separate attacks on churches leaving casualties, and some priests and bishops from different sects were kidnapped and murdered. It was obvious that those were not random attacks and that Christians specifically are being one of the targets of Islamic militants in Iraq. The church attacks last week were just a continuum of a series of attacks that are likely to continue. The majority of Iraqi Christians have already left Iraq, and it's highly predictable that they will continue to do so.

Make no mistake, even the most religious Muslims I know vehemently condemn these attacks and consider them unjustifiable. However it's hard for most of them to understand why are Christians in Jordan panicking over this recent incident.

Arab Christians have been feeling vulnerable recently, and Jordanian Christians are no exception. First, their numbers are decreasing significantly and that's attributable to several factors which we can't get into now, but it's a fact. Jordanian Christians used to constitute nearly 20% of the population in the 1950s, and now they're less than 5%. Numbers do matter. You feel less significant when there aren't lots of you.

Secondly, they are a minority, a well-treated minority, a well-respected minority, but a minority. Unfortunately their opinion or take on vital issues may be considered less important because they're a minority.

Also, many Muslims believe the most significant war taking place now is between Christianity and Islam, and that makes a lot of Arab Christians very uncomfortable because they don't want to be held responsible for the actions of the "Christian" Western governments especially in Afghanistan and Iraq and their support of Israel.

Then comes the under-rated Muslim-Christians conflict that's been going on for at least two decades in Egypt. All the events there have been underplayed by the Egyptian government but they were bad enough to get many Egyptian Christians to leave Egypt and allow some Copts in the US to tell stories, many of which may be inaccurate, of how Christians are being mistreated by Muslims in Egypt.

Even though, again, neither Islam nor the majority of Muslims encourage these attacks, they remain an attack by one religious group on another. It looks like Al-Qaeda, which a loose term nowadays referring to Islamic militants, wants Iraqi Christians out of Iraq and they're doing a good job with that. If they have their way they certainly want all Christians out from whatever land they claim to be Islamic.

Arab Christians, and certainly Jordanian Christians, are not an ethnicity or a group of people who want to live alone. Their culture, language and heritage is identical to that of the Muslim citizens. Jordanian Christians consider themselves Jordanian. They are protected by the Jordanian police, their borders are protected by the Jordanian army and their rights are protected by the Jordanian constitution and law. Unlike Shiites, Kurds or Jews, they do not seek to form a country of their own or be protected by a foreign army. Therefore, if they felt threatened, even if that threat came from a very small group against the will of the majority, they may start leaving the country in greater numbers and that would be a very hard decision to make. It doesn't take a mastermind to do something stupid. It just takes one dumb moron to be inspired by the al-Qaeda speech to carry a gun and shoot at a crowded church gathering or funeral or anywhere where Christians gather. Most Muslims can't do much to prevent this, but I hope they'll understand why Jordanian Christians are freaking out after the church incident and realize that it's not only that incident but whatever preceded it that's making them feel uncomfortable.

The Best Beatles Song

2010-09-05T23:05:00.002+11:00

When it comes to music, the best is not usually the most popular. The Rolling Stones published their "Best 100 Beatles Songs" special edition. The number one spot belonged to "A Day in the Life".

This song was 2 separate songs, that got combined into one, and then Lennon and McCartney thought it was a good idea to bring some orchestra in the middle and let the musicians wear funny glasses and hats as if it was a new year's eve party. Having mysterious lyrics about death and drugs certainly helped.

You really need balls to make such songs because they are destined to either fail miserably or achieve overwhelming success. The Beatles had balls but also had a lot of talent.

The only song somewhat similar is Bohemian Rhapsody, but I prefer A Day in the Life.

Very Wrong

2010-08-31T13:53:00.001+11:00

The wrong-est and funniest status yesterday, by comedian Doug Stanhope

"I have a very funny image in my head of being on ChatRoulette and stumbling upon the 33 trapped Chilean miners."

Too Harsh or Too Real?

2010-08-30T01:54:00.002+11:00

In my opinion, it sounds a little harsh, mainly in suggesting that the poor in Jordan deserve what they're going through.

On the other side, when you are poor , you're not supposed to have many kids, because you spend a shit load of money just by raising one kid. This is a lesson that I hope Jordan will understand one day.

One thing for sure: الولد ما بتيجي رزقته معه.

If you disagree, you deserve the shitty life you're having.

An Arab man beating a German woman during a football game, live on TV

2010-08-26T12:55:00.003+11:00

This is Khaled Boulahrouz (you can't see him in this short clip), shooting a ball from the other side of the field, which hit the German reporter Jessica Kastrop right in the head.

So that's what we're having now, random Arab men beating women on screen and getting away with it.

Here's a clip of this horrifying incident

-------------------------------------------

(for those politically-correct people: it really doesn't matter that it wasn't intentional, and that Boulahrouz apologized later, and she accepted the apology, and that Boulahrouz is Dutch, born and lived there all of his life and represented Holland in the World Cup. What matters is his strange name and that he kicked that blonde woman in the head. I ask the honorable Dutch people to deport the browny. Meanwhile: WOMEN: listen to your husbands when they tell you to stay in the kitchen. They know better. I hope this incident teaches you why. You're welcome)

The Best of عزيزي

2010-08-25T16:44:00.001+11:00

..... عزيزي الملك

لأ عم بمزح

وحياة الله عم بمزح

True Blood

2010-08-24T12:59:00.004+11:00

It's been a while since my clothes were soaked with other patients' blood, especially that I haven't performed a lot of medical procedures recently.

But there's once incident that I will never forget.

It was a hectic day in the ICU, and just before going home a patient developed a cardiac arrest. Being the senior resident, I started running the "code blue", in which you run the show and start putting IVs in necks and groins and blood starts flying everywhere in the room.

As I went home (patient survived that night but died later), I have not noticed that my white shirt and dark blue pants were soaked with blood on the side.

I was about to enter my apartment, my neighbor was outside on his patio with his girlfriend watching the sunset , or just chillin after smoking Arizona's annual reserve of marijuana. He saw me going into into the apartment.

I heard him shout at me, "dude, are you OK?"

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"What issss dis on your shirts, is dat blood? did you hurt yourself?"

"No I'm OK, uhm, I'm OK"

then I looked at the shirts and pants,

I continued, "I'm OK, I don't think this is my blood, not mine, no, doesn't look like it ..."

I noticed a glimpse of semi-shock on his face, and shear terror on his girlfriend's. Then I realized that none of them knew I was a doctor.

I was about to tell them right away, but as the tension grew, as the frightened looks on their faces got more real, I forced myself to shut up. I even think I laughed a super creepy and low-pitched laugh that, if heard by them, would have been best described as spine-chilling.

I hate to say it, but that fear and horror I saw was very fulfilling! I totally get dictators and serial killers now.

-------------------------------------------------

(message from hareega to the American Board of Internal Medicine: this incident, though real, does not disqualify me from doing my best to serve my patients and will in no way hinder me from performing my duty as a physician and I will never ever violate the Hippocratic oath. Please don't withdraw my licence. I also hate dictators and I'm not the biggest fans of Charlie Manson or other serial killers, at least not the other serial killers)

Attention Span, Interrupted

2010-08-23T00:44:00.006+11:00

People underestimate the importance of discussions with other humans. These tons of meetings you go to everyday involve discussions about things that matter. A lot of decisions, some life-altering decisions like marriage, jobs, and which football team to root for come after lengthy and useful discussions with people who matter.

The reason these discussions are important, is that they bring in new ideas, and your ideas and beliefs may be challenged. Your knowledge is expanded, and your wisdom keeps growing.

As a very old man himself (30 years of age is like 88 in internet life), I have noticed the progressive disappearance of useful discussions on the internet.

I started using the (very slow) internet in Jordan in the mid-1990s. I remember exchanging a few emails with other people from other areas in the world, often debating different opinions and ideas, like politics and religion. These were good discussions, and I remember a few of them.

Message boards (the ones I used were arabia.com and mahjoob) were popular, and these discussions were actually very interesting at times. Then came blogs and everything else followed to allow any person with a keyboard to type in his own opinion.

Blogs often allow for some degree of civilized discussions depending on the blog itself. However most blogs are shallow. Worse, any comments can be deleted for whatever reason, thus making your voice unheard.

Facebook is worse, because you have very limited space to express anything. You may argue that facebook was made for people to stay in touch, but with every political activity or news coming around you'll find some discussions going around.

Twitter, Youtube, CNN, Huffington Post, Ammon News or any political/news website come on top of the worst of the worst because they almost entirely eliminated normal discussions. Comments need to be read first by the moderator, then edited if necessary, or deleted, then posted on the websites. They rarely allow for 2 people to interact and reply to each other immediately. Even if someone wants to express an idea like, "American movies are terrible" you don't have enough space to expand on your idea, or give reasons for it in a similar way you'll have while talking to normal human being on the street or in a cafe.

This might seem as a trivial problem in this day and age. But look around you and see how much time people (including Jordanians) are spending on these websites everyday and you'll realize that our attention spans are increasingly getting shorter. A lot of the knowledge that I have, a lot of the opinion I have formed in my life and a lot of skills in defending any action I have taken came as a result of thousands of discussions and debates I had with other human beings. It's a skill. Discussions reveal personality traits, passions, beliefs and intentions, and we seem to be losing focus in having them.

If you disagree, comment below in no more than 140 characters.

----------------------

(in the picture above Anna Kendrick b4 shooting Twilight OMG she's so pretty, and the picture below fireworks at Khalifah tower OMG they're so awesome)

رسالة تهنئة و حب لناجحي التوجيهي من حريقة

2010-08-09T07:54:00.003+11:00

بلا توجيهي بلا توجيهك.... القاري والخاري واحد

مع تحياتي

How Movie Trailers Should Be

2010-08-02T17:54:00.003+11:00

Mysterious. Exciting. Breath-taking. It doesn't tell you how the story will begin and doesn't give you an idea how will it end. It just impresses you enough to get you to go watch the movie once it's released.

This is a great movie trailer for Gamorrah, which also turned to be a great movie.

Totally Useless Trivia

2010-07-31T12:10:00.003+11:00

The coach of FC Barcelona, Josep Guardiola, who led Barcelona in 2009 into becoming the first club ever to win 6 out of 6 championships in one season, used to be a player in Barcelona and later in some shitty clubs like Al-Ahli in Qatar.

While playing in Al-Ahli, Al-Ahli faced Jordanian club Al-Hussain Irbid in the Arabian Champions League in 2005.

Al-Ahli won 3-0, and Guardiola scored the 3rd goal from a penalty kick.

So, Guardiola played against a Jordanian team and scored a goal against us, which makes ecstatic. I guess this makes me a football masochist.

Journal Round: Time, Foreign Policy, Rolling Stones

2010-07-26T07:37:00.007+11:00

Call me old-fashioned , but I still enjoy reading paper magazines rather than electronic ones, just like I love holding a real book rather than turning pages on a electronic book reader like kindle.

I'll talk about a few topics from this week's magazines.

TIME MAGAZINE

I never thought about summer vacations, but according to Time's edition this week, summer vacations are harmful. It's a period during which school students forget a lot of things they have learnt in school. The tradition of summer vacation started 100 years ago when school kids had to help in the farm during the growing days, but now it should become obsolete. The writer emphasizes on how students of low-income families are the ones hurt the most from summer vacations. their Maths skills seem to deteriorate following any summer vacation.

Local governments can't add more school days to the calender sue to cost and culture. Also tourism industry won't like it that much.

----------------

Time dedicates one page to talking about Panera bread, a restaurant chain that is not asking its customers to pay whatever they want for their sandwiches. It gives a "requested amount" and generous well-off people may pay more than that in order to allow the less fortunate to buy sandwiches at a lower price. It's working well so far although some people seem to be abusing the idea.

This is a wonderful idea, if it works maybe other chain restaurants will start considering it.

----------------------------------------------------------

Foreign Policy (FP)

This magazine is worth every girsh you pay for it. It provides good analysis of any political problem that's going on, often giving both sides of the story. The articles are written by world intellectuals. If you are a regular reader there is no way your letter will be published in the comment section.

Let me quote something about Lebanon, which might be well-known to a few,

" No one knows who exactly lives in Lebanon. The country hasn't had a census since the French colonial government conducted one in 1932. A census would likely reveal the uncomfortable truth- for Lebanon's Maronite Christians- that their numbers have been slipping as percentage of the population. When Lebanon became independent in 1943, a national pact divided power between Christians and Muslims in a 6-5 ratio based on the 1932 census, later changed to an even split after the brutal 1975-1990 civil war Since then, the Shiite community is believed to have grown faster than any other community, but Christians, despite making up only an estimated quarter of the population, still hold half the parliamentary seats. They'd prefer to keep it that way. "

In the last page, FP writes: Five things you don't know about Ramadan:

1- Ramadan is Big Business

2- After oil, Ramadan is Saudi Arabia' biggest export.

3- Ramadan is a time of peace, but it's also marked by war

4- Globalization has changed Ramadan.

5- Ramadan is a tyrant's best friend.

-----------------------------------------

Rolling Stone

(Special Collectors Edition)

The Rolling Stone has a special edition of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time

The top ten were:

1- Like a Rolling Stone - Bob Dylan, which by the way never reached number 1 on the charts when released

2- I Can't Get No Satisfaction (Rolling Stones)

3- Imagine (Beatles)

4- What's Going On (Marvin Gaye)

5- Respect (Aretha Franklin)

6- Good Vibrations (Beach Boys)

7- Johnny B. Goode (Chuck Berry)

8- Hey Jude (Beatles)

9- Smells Like a Teen Spirit (nirvana)

10- What I'd Say (Ray Charles)

I don't think you'll find 2 people in this world who can agree on the same list, but it's good to run through the top 500 songs in the list. Songs from the 1960s had nearly 40% of the songs on the list.

See you next week

Hareega

Punctuation, Punctuation.

2010-07-22T15:56:00.002+11:00

This is why punctuation and pauses are extremely important while reading the news.

This news anchor was telling listeners that his co-anchor was off that day, then proceeded to report a murder. Punctuation was, apparently, missing from the teleprompter.

Scream

2010-07-19T23:07:00.004+11:00

Taxicab from the hotel to the airport.... 19 dollars

Coffee at the airport..... 4 dollars

Flight from Las Vegas to Minneapolis...... 206 dollars

Having a random 40-something male passenger wake up at the end of a 3-hour flight in terror, grab your arm and scream at the top of his voice, "Daddy" then stare awkwardly around him .... PRICELESS

There are things that money can't buy,

For everything else there's MasterCard (or Visa, cash, your parents...etc)

In Conclusion, Best Moments of the World Cup

2010-07-13T05:03:00.006+11:00

Casillas' Interview with His Girlfriend

Casillas, Spain's captain and goalkeeper, did an interview with a sports reporter who happened to be his girlfriend right after the final game. She was asking him who did he thank for the victory. He answered, "to everyone who supported me, my parents, my brother..... then he said "to my friends, and to you", then you can tell she was very uncomfortable with what he did next. It's a little unprofessional but very excusable. She can also be grateful they don't have honor killings in Spain.

Maradona's Press Conference

As you've noticed Maradona is very close to his players, kissing them before they hit the field and when they come out of it, which made this insecure reporter ask this question.

you can always tell Maradona's response from his eye.

I have to say, this is a much more friendly response than his response to Argentinian reporters who previously predicted he was too bad of a coach to get Argentina to qualify into the World Cup. I can't even post that video here, it was so incredibly nasty that the FIFA had to suspend him from attending his team's games for 3 months. Click here to watch it.

Most Outrageous Penalty Drama

Without a doubt it was Gyan's missed penalty in the 121st minute against Uruguay. Not only that, but Uruguay's winner penalty by Abreu was one of the most classical of all World Cups, a Panenka style penalty.

Gyan's Miss

and Abreu's classical penalty

Best GoaL

I might be biased here, but I'll go for Tevez' 3rd goal against Mexico. The reason is that Tevez looked as if he was losing control of the ball and falling down just before he fired his missile.

Van Bronckhorst's goal against Uruguay comes second

Worst Behavior By Anyone

French Coach Domenech refusing to shake hands with a (much better) coach Carlos Alberto, for no reason other than Domench being an asshole.

Worst Tackle On the Field
That happened yesterday, in the final game, as Dutch defender De Jong kicked Alonso
in the middle of the f-ing chest. Surprisingly enough he only got a yellow card.

Close second, Felipe Melo against Holland in the quarter-finals.

Most Affectionate Player

On average, North Korea makes it to the World Cup twice every 100 years, so some players like Jong Tae-Se can get very emotional when their national anthem was being played during their first game against Brazil, which was their best.

Most Arrogant of All

Kaka, of Brasil, proving again why does his name mean the same in all languages and cultures across the world after refusing to swap his shirt with a North Korean player.

See you in 2014 !!

Spain, World Champions, I Think

2010-07-12T13:32:00.003+11:00

The final game of the world cup was played today, and sure on paper they deserved it perfectly, Spain winning the last 32 of their 34 matches and the Netherlands winning their last 10 games. However it felt like the wrong teams were playing this final.

The Netherlands have been a pleasure to watch several times before. The 1970s team was a powerful team, total football, Cryuff, Neeskens, Krol, then the 1988 team with their shocking awesome performance and the genius Van Basten and the others with their curly hair. Even in the last Euro 2008 Holland seemed to be on top of the world after destroying France and Italy.

But in this world cup, they won their 3 games in the first round simply because the opponents sucked more than they did. They seemed to lack spirit. Even in the game against Brasil they were a little bit lucky with ball deflections and Filip Melo doing them some favors.

Meanwhile, Spain would have exited from the first round if it wasn't for David Villa. They would have exited from the second round if it wasn't for David Villa. They would have exited from the quarter-finals if it wasn't for David Villa. They won the world cup after scoring 8 goals only by 3 different players. Some teams that were relegated in the second round and quarter-finals scored more goals than them.

None of those 2 teams looked convincing enough to be world champions, in my opinion. Before this game they were the best 2 teams to never win a world cup, besides Hungary and Czechoslovakia, and now Spain the worst team to win a world cup. However there was no cheating, no referee mistakes, no deals made behind the door (I think), so it's all fair and square. Welcome the new World Champions: Espana!

Brasiloooo

2010-07-03T03:42:00.002+11:00

Congratulations for Brasil for making it to the quarter-finals in this world cup, I was not expecting it and they indeed impressed us with average victories against the Ivory Coast and North Korea and even scored a goal against a real team like Holland. I can comfortably say they're an above-average team, and they proved they deserved to qualify to the world cup.

Clip of the day:

Snjiedier screaming at the camera after the first goal! At 0:35 !

Funny Clips From The World Clip

2010-06-30T17:59:00.002+11:00

Fabio Capello almost getting a heart attack while yelling at his English players to pass the ball!

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Eboue, the Ivory Coast player, pretending to be listening to the North Korean coach who was giving instructions to one of his players

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This is before the world cup kicked in. Diego Maradona, during training, divided his team into 2 teams to play against each other. The team that lost had to stand on the goal and let the winning team shoot balls at their butts. Maradona stood with the losing team!

Have You Seen This?

2010-06-28T08:31:00.002+11:00

----------------

In case you haven't, make sure you see this too, Maxi 2006

----------------------

And since you're here, watch this Messi magic, 2007 Copa America

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All of these goals, ladies and gentleman, were against Mexico.

Argentina is a worse nightmare for Mexicans than Arizona's new immigration law.

VAMOS ARGENTINA

Arrivederci

2010-06-25T17:25:00.001+11:00

USA-Algeria

2010-06-24T16:16:00.002+11:00

That was about to become the best 0-0 game in the World Cup.

Even though Algeria had good chances, but they lacked a striker. They failed to score in the 3 games they played. Even in the 5 last games they had before the World Cup, they only scored one goal from a penalty kick against UAE. Problems don't fix themselves, and the lack of scoring ability paralyzed them in this World Cup.

The US wanted to win so badly and they did. It was totally deserved. Dempsey scored a goal that was wrongfully disallowed due to an offside that did not exist.

Anyway, Arabs are out from the first round, which is the rule.

Enjoy the goal:

Closing Time, First Round

2010-06-23T14:10:00.003+11:00

* South Africa will go in history as the first country ever to host a world cup and fail to qualify past the first round. I don't care that they played well against France: they sucked in the 2 other games and that's why they are out by now.

* Portugal doesn't have a great team. I know they won 7-0, but they still don't have a great team, average at best.

* The whole continent of South America should qualify automatically to the World Cup next time, including Suriname and French Guyana.

* Domenech, the French coach, refused to shake hands with South Africa's coach after the end of the game, proving again that he is extremely rude even by French standards. (clip below)

* Red cards are the new yellow.

* I get very nervous when I see Argentina playing a great game. If they wanna win the world cup they have to attack for 10 minutes and score a goal then spend the remaining 80 minutes with 10 players in defense.

* Stop saying you're shocked by England's poor performance. Just do like me and don't put England among world class team. So not qualifying to Euro 2008 or getting knocked off early in the World Cup becomes a very normal thing. Drawing with Algeria and the US? Sounds perfectly normal to me.

The Mundial Kid

2010-06-17T15:03:00.002+11:00

I was on the phone with a Paraguayan friend who was on his way to South Africa to watch the World Cup.

"When are you leaving?"

"Today, I'll fly from New York to Dubai then Johannesburg, just to watch 4 games then will be back in 10 days"

"Why don't you stay all the way?"

"Wife is pregnant, she's due in 3 weeks, I wanna make sure I'm back before that"

"Awesome!! Have fun!!"

"I will"

-----------

24 hours later he was calling.

"I wanna tell you that we now have a new member added to our family"

"What?"

"My wife just had a baby boy, they're both doing great, he's a little underweight, but otherwise doing great"

"This is great, where are you now?"

"Dubai"

"Can you go back to New York?"

"Maybe, I think I can , but you know, I bought 4 tickets, it's the World Cup....."

"I know, listen..."

"What?"

"When your son grows up, he will understand"

"That's what I'm saying to myself"

"Congratulations"

"Thank You"

"Take pictures"

"I will"

I used to respect my friend. Now I respect him much more.

MicroBloGGinG..... World Cup Edition.... Lidd Lidd Chaif Enno, Chaif Akhathel Taba Minno

2010-06-14T00:43:00.005+11:00

-You cannot judge how the World Cup will end just from its beginning. A lot of teams that won the world cup lost their opening games or even barely made it to the second round. This is not the NBA, baseball, or fake American football.

- I thought Argentina played very well. A lot of players didn't give all what they had, and the defence was in poor shape. Higuain needs to concentrate more. Zanetti and Riquelme were definitely missing, but Zanetti was there for 4 World Cups and we didn't win anything with him.

Maradona has matured a lot in the last year as a coach. The next time a game ends 6-1 it has to be a win on our side!

- So far South Korea played the best game ever. They dominated Greece. If they stay in this shape they might do really well even without help from the referees.

- The US has a good team. However they will never win the World Cup if they keep calling this game soccer. Sorry, but your "football" lost. The world likes the real football where players play with their feet, not helmet ball where players play with their helmets.

here are some moments for Messi against Nigeria:

24 years later

2010-06-12T18:40:00.003+11:00

It won't be a problem waiting for 4 more years, but it would be wonderful to get it now, with the greatest human being on the face of the planet as the coach.

Good luck boys

Vamos Argentina

Best Red Card Ever in a World Cup

2010-06-10T16:01:00.002+11:00

1990: Claudio Caniggia, the great Argentinian striker, was running at a speed of a Toyota with faulty breaks towards Cameron's goal. One Cameronian guy tackled him a little, another one jumped on him and tackled him more, and the third one (Massinga) just frikin threw himself at Caniggia and threw him on the floor.

Watch out the shoe flying in the air with the attack!!

England, Three Pussy Cats on a Shirt

2010-06-10T13:07:00.006+11:00

The British invented football, but their contribution to the game stopped there. They refused to participate in the World Cup up until 1950, only to get defeated by the US 1-0 on their first game ever. Since then, their participation has been less than perfect. They won the Cup they hosted in 1966, but other than the only time they made it to the semi-finals was in 1990 when they came fourth, thanks to some genius skills from Gascoigne, Platte and Lineker.

This time, their strongest link is the coach, Fabio Capello. England has transformed into a big giant since his arrival, a giant only against mediocre teams. Even under Capello they lost to Spain and Brasil and drew with the Netherlands. Unless Gerrard and Lampard play their best and avoid getting injured, and Rooney scores in every single game, it will be difficult for England to achieve something, especially when they're playing in South Africa.

At any rate, I'm hoping from some solid performances from them. If it wasn't for their victory in 1966 their record in the World Cup would have been shameful. Well, it still is.

Clip For Memory

This is from recent memory. Michael Owen , 18 years old then, scored a wonderful goal against Argentina in 1998. Argentina won in penalties after a 2-2 draw.

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Picture above: Lucy Griffiths, a British actress, who I suppose will be cheering for England. Just saying.

Top 50 Goals in World Cup History

2010-06-10T12:56:00.002+11:00

There are a lot of clips on youtube on the best goals ever scored in the World Cup. I think this list is the best one, maybe you won't agree with the ranking, I don't think you can find 2 people who can agree on one list, but I think it really contains the best 50 goals ever scored. Besides, they are fast and mention the player's name and the game.

In my opinion: the best free kick ever was that of Cubillas in 1978.

Best solo effort: Diego Maradona.

Best team work: the last goal on the list of Brasil plus Cambiasso's against Serbia in 2006.

Best shot from outside the box : Socrates against USSR.

Fastest son-of-a-bitch : Maradona and Stoichkov

Enjoy the magic!!

Waving Flag

2010-06-10T01:35:00.002+11:00

It's time for Argentina......

Spain: Not This Time, Either

2010-06-09T13:45:00.005+11:00

Spain currently has one of the strongest teams in the world. They're ranked # 2 in the FIFA rankings behind Brasil. Given their magnificent performance in Euro 2008 that they won, many people predict a wonderful performance in this World Cup. With players like Casillas, Puyol, Pique, Xavi, Torres, Alonso and Villa they can defeat virtually any team and score a large number of goals.

But here, on this forum, I predict a miserable world cup for the Spaniards. Not only will they fail to advance past the second round (if they actually make it past the first one), but they will fail to connect, fail to defend, and fail to score. They will concede quite a few goals and they will be defeated, badly, by less talented teams.

The hardest prediction in the World Cup is not to predict who's gonna win, but who's gonna lose. Predicting the surprise, and this is the surprise I'm predicting: Spain OUT. Barrrrrraaaaa....

Clip For Memory

In their first game in 1994, Spain were leading South Korea 2-0. The Korean came back and scored 2 goals in the final 5 minutes to equalize it 2-2. That kind of sums up the Spanish experience in World Cup history.

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Picture Above: Casillas, the magical keeper.

Algeria... الجزائر: Dream On

2010-06-09T13:05:00.003+11:00

Algeria fought its way, literally, to this World Cup after a major challenge with the Egyptians. Tension rose between both countries to a shamefully disgusting level, and I was happy to see one team emerge as a winner before a military conflict arose between the 2 countries.

Algeria played twice in the World Cup, 1982 and 1986. In 1982 they became one of very few teams in world cup history to win 2 games in one round and not make it to the second round, thanks to a conspiracy between Germany and Austria. In 1986 they didn't play nearly as well except with their 0-1 loss to Brasil.

As an Arab I am glad to see Algeria qualify. Very happy indeed, and I wish for them more than any other Arab team to have a good tournament. We saw a terrible decline in the performance of the Algerian team in the past 20 years, and these qualification were the first ones in ages where Algeria actually had any chance of making it to the finals. They still remain the weakest African team in this tournament, but that doesn't matter, because Morocco in 1986, Cameron in 1990, Nigeria in 1994, Senegal in 2002 did not care either, neither did the 1982 Algeria of Rabah Madjer and Akhdar Balloumi.

Let's wish them the best.

On June 13th they'll play Slovenia

June 18th vs. England

June 23rd vs. United States

Clip For Memory

This is Algeria kicking some arrogant German ass. What's very beautiful about this is the 67th minute. It was 1-0 for Algeria and Germany just scored the equalizer. They barely celebrated the goal, because you know, we are Germany, Europe's champs, playing against those amateurs form Algeria, and now we're ready to load them with goals. But in 30 seconds the Algerians got back to the game and Balloumi netted the ball very comfortably into the net, giving Algeria a well-deserved 2-1 victory.

We want to see more of that.

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The Picture Above: Rabeh Madger, the King of Algerian Football (and a bad commentator too!)

Waka Waka... This Time for Africa

2010-06-09T11:50:00.004+11:00

Shakira...... plus

Football....plus

Messi......plus

Maradona....plus

Dancing, Music, Drums

= Perfect

South Africa ... We're Hosting It, So We Get to Qualify

2010-06-08T13:24:00.003+11:00

The host team always makes it past the first round, and this world cup will not be an exception. South Africa will make it to the second round, not necessarily because they deserve it, but because they are the host nation. They're not a bad team, and this team actually could be the best they ever had. This week they defeated Colombia 2-1 and Denmark 1-0.

Their group is the strongest, in my opinion. Besides them, they have a maturing Mexican team, a talented Uruguayan team, and France who still got some players who can kick the ball. Ideally they would have no chance of getting a single point, but this time they will get through.

Their coach: Carlos Alberto Parreira. He won the World Cup for Brasil in 1994.

Clip For Memory

Despite qualifying to the World Cup 3 times, S.Africa won only one game against Slovenia 1-0 with a goal from Nomvete. Here it is. Warning: ordinary goal.

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In the picture above: Mark Fish, one of the best players to ever play for South Africa. The whitest, too!

Germany.... Wake Me Up When the World Cup Comes

2010-06-08T12:52:00.005+11:00

Germany is a team that doesn't bother to play football unless it matters. It's the exact opposite of other teams like Spain and the Netherlands that have great talents but very few championships.

Germany stays dormant, gets its ass handed to it in friendlies, qualifications and even occasional matches in the World Cup, but some way, somehow, manages to go very far in World Cups.

Even their first World Cup final win against Hungary in 1954 was a huge shocker, as they have lost 3-8 in the first round. They produced great talents in the 1970s, cheated their way into the final in 1982, but in 1990 they had a magical team and won the final games with a gift from the Mexican referee.

Since 1990, they haven't produced a single world-class player. Even Miroslav Klose, the World Cup top goals scorer in 2006, was almost never placed among the best strikers in the world. Almost their entire current squad plays in Germany. German goalkeepers had the reputation of being the best in the world, but the most experienced in this selection played only five international matches.

It's well-known that you can never underestimate the Germans: they can punish you really hard. Even with this team, Germany can still make it to the semi-finals, and with players like Lahm, Mario Gomez and Muller they can even win the Cup. I hope not.

Clip For Memory

Since we are tired of seeing goals, let's remember this famous encounter between Voller and Rijkaard in 1990. Voller had a little argument with Rijkaard and got a red card, and on his way out Rijkaard spat on him, for which Rijkaard was sent off immediately. Later on the players agreed to appear together in a Lurpak commercial. Then they became head coaches of their national teams.

In the Picture Above: Thomas Muller, the striker, for every Germany selection must have a player named Muller.

The 1967 Syndrome

2010-06-07T12:18:00.003+11:00

I am interrupting my mind-blowing preview of the World Cup to remember 1967. Funny how just by mentioning 1967, a year that witnessed many world events, the only thing that comes to any Arab's mind is news of the terrible loss in the six-day war. That sense of defeat keeps running down our spines every time. Many children born that year were named Nakseh and Nakbeh and Hazeemeh and Hazayem and whatever depressing name you can think of.

The fact is, we're still living this defeat to this very day. Every day feels like 1967. Sometimes we hear criticism of Arabs and Palestinians for watching too much sports, songs, trying to have a little fun, talking about things not related to war. The fact is, all what we're doing is trying to see how does it feel to live in 2010. Our reality as a nation has become 1967 while what's happening in the world is our escape from that reality.

Every event in Jordan, every speech in Jordan, every decision in Jordan, every political discussion in Jordan whether it takes a place in the Parliament, a political salon, a cafe or a taxi cab has to do with 1967.

Palestinians have not gained anything since 1967, but lost their national unity. Without a solid Arab support for the Palestinians' rights there is no way to see their life getting better or having any land come back to them. In this time when we see other countries like Turkey, Iran, Brasil, Venezuela, Belgium, Indonesia and who know who caring about Palestinians way more than Arabs are, there's very little hope we will ever live after 1967. We are engulfed with it and this 1967-syndrome is now 43 years old. Chronic, aggressive and more difficult to treat.

New Zealand: The Testicles of the World

2010-06-07T11:56:00.003+11:00

These islands that look like a couple of nuts situated at the base of the earth (depending on which map you're looking at) barely have any football history to brag about. For so long it has been so easy for them to make it to the World Cup and all what they had to do is overcome Australia plus the the 5th best South American or 4th Caribbean or 5th Asian or whatever mediocre team they were about to face to make it to the World Cup.

They only made in 1982 and lost their 3 games. This time they qualified just because they defeated New Caledonia, Fiji, Vanutau and Bahrain, making them the least deserved team to qualify to the World Cup.

Two of their current players (Elliott, Mulligan) were kicked out of their clubs and are currently unattached. In other words, they are too bad to play with any club but they were good enough to play with New Zealand National team that will be playing in the World Cup along Italy, Paraguay and Slovakia.

But watch out, those team that have nothing to lose can surprise you, mostly because they have nothing to lose. Otherwise New Zealanders will have to keep watching rugby.

Clip For Memory

Zico scoring a spectacular goal against New Zealand in the 1982 World Cup. Brasil won 4-0.

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The Picture above: I really couldn't think of anything related to New Zealand other than their great beef.

Slovakia.... the Black Sheep

2010-06-07T11:29:00.003+11:00

Czechoslovakia was a powerful team, making it to the final match of the World Cup twice. In 1993 it split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The best players were the Czech, and in fact they continued to produce a very solid team with world-class players.

In 2010 the Czech came in the same group with Slovakia, and the Slovaks decided to start changing history. They dominated their group and topped it off, with their neighbors coming in third and getting relegated. Slovenia came in second.

Among the Slovaks, the only player who I always watch is Marek Hamsik. He's only 22 but for the past 3 years has managed to bring Napoli back to the top tier level in Serie A along with very few other players. He scores on average once every 3 games with the team even though he's a central midfielder.

Clip For Memory

the final match of the World Cup in Chile 1962 between Brasil and Czechoslovakia , Brasil won 3-1

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The Picture above: One of Marek Hamsek's many tattoos , carefully situated under his left boob.

Greece.... An Incidental Finding

2010-06-06T12:38:00.003+11:00

Also known as the least deserved team to win a championship since they won the Euro 2004, Greece is hoping for a lot of luck and prayers just to make it to the second round. Given that they barely qualified in a group that had Switzerland, Latvia, Moldova, Israel and Luxembourg, don't expect them to come in second in a group that has Korea, Nigeria and Argentina.

The man who can lead them ahead is Otto Rehhgal, the same coach who won them the Euro 2004. It looks like the Greek wanna keep this coach even if he gets Alzheimer's disease. Other players they need to count on are Gekas, an occasionally formidable striker.

But the one person who has to excel in South Africa for Greece to have a chance is always the goalkeeper, Kostas Chalkias. One thing for sure: he will be seriously tested.

Clip For Memory

In the Playoffs for the 2010 qualification, Greece faced Ukraine. They drew 0-0 in Greece but Salpiggidis scored this winner for Greece in the Donetsk game, they won 1-0. the clip also gives you a chance to listen to Zorba.

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The Picture Above: A clip from the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding"

Switzerland: I didn't know they qualified

2010-06-04T16:15:00.005+11:00

Switzerland is one of those countries that can be easily forgotten even when they play well. Their results in the 2006 were pretty decent, where they didn't concede any goal but everybody forgot them. They qualified to this World Cup because they came in the easiest group in the qualification. They had to only overpass Greece, Latvia and Israel. They even lost at home to Luxembourg.

Again, they come in one of the easiest group in the Cup. There is Spain who is the strongest in the group, but there's also Honduras and Chile, who are defeatable. It still remains a big challenge to this Swiss team to get to the second round, but we'll be watching Yakin and Frie led by coach Ottmar Hitzfeld.

Clip to Remember

In the quarter-finals of the 1954 World Cup that they hosted, the lost to Austria 7-5, which is the most number of goals scored in one game in any world cup. First half: Austria 5-4!

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In the picture above: Xenia Tchoumitcheva, who came second in Miss Switzerland 2008.

Serbia.... Europe's Bitch

2010-06-04T13:21:00.004+11:00

Serbia was a complete disaster in the last cup. Not only did they lose their 3 games, but they lost to Argentina 0-6. Even when they were prevented from playing in Euro 1992, that gave a chance for a very beautiful Danish surprise to emerge. It seems like nobody wants to see Serbia play anywhere anymore.

They have added some youngsters to their team, and they kept very few experienced ones like Stankovic, who can be a real monster in the midfield and can turn around any game. Two other players to count on: Vidic in defence and Mrda in the front.

That Mrda guy has very little international experience, but he doesn't have a problem scoring a shit load of goals in any game. He hasn't played against big teams yet, and I don't know if their coach whose name I don't know will even let him play, but if he does he can score a few goals.

Serbia has definitely failed to carry on the respectable legacy of a very good Yugoslavia football team, but they can change that. Not this cup though. They'll be playing Germany, Ghana and Australia.

Clip For Memory

The most memorable World Cup moment for them was their loss to Argentina 6-0. This is the second goal for Argentina, coming after 22 excellent passes. Two years earlier, Serbia also lost to Argentina 6-0 in the Olympic Games.

--------------------------

In the picture above: Bojan Krkic, who realized it might be better for his career to represent Spain rather than his native country Serbia.

Nigeria.... Africa's Heart

2010-06-04T12:46:00.005+11:00

In my opinion, Nigeria produced the best African team to ever compete in a world cup, and that was the 1994 Yekini-Okocha-you name it team. They were very close to routing Italy out and perhaps make it to the final if it wasn't for the brilliance of Roberto Baggio.

Nigeria's competitiveness took a little hit in the past decade. Except for the brilliant Tawio of Marseille and Mikel Obi who plays for Chelsea, their current players do not play for any major European club. This comes mostly as other African nations have produced their own Yekinis and Amunekes in the past decade, playing for elite European teams.

This Nigeria is different from the 1994 Nigeria. They have changed their coaches nine times in the past 9 years, and they miraculously qualified to this world cup instead of Tunisia. However, they can always start a new era of magic, and we will be watching.

By the way:

1994 group D: Argentina, Nigeria, Greece, Bulgaria

2010 group B: Argentina, Nigeria, Greece, S.Korea

Conclusion: Korea will make it to the semi-finals.

Clip For Memory

In 1998, Nigeria was trailing 2-1 down to Spain. Lawal equalized then Sunday Olisseh scored this marvelous shot, shot recorded at a speed of 120 kph. Nigeria won 3-2.

--------------------------

In the picture above: Rashidi Yekini literally tearing apart the Bulgarian net after he literally tore it apart in Nigeria's 3-0 victory in 1994.

Australia: Down UnderEstimated

2010-06-02T15:51:00.004+11:00

Along with China, India, Russia and the US, Australia has been another proof that very large countries can easily suck at football. However the Australians made a good decision 60 years too late by leaving the pseudo-continent they're located in and joining the Asian Football Federation.

That made qualification to the WC much easier. They made it to the second round in 2006.

They seem to get better with the years, and we might start seeing them in every world cup. Their chances are not great this time, but I want you to very closely watch their first game against Germany. OK? Against Germany, June 13th, 6.30 pm GMT.

You're welcome.

Clip for Memory:

Australia's 31-0 victory over American Samoa in the 2002 World Cup qualification

------------------------

In the Picture above: I don't know any Australian football player and I don't think you do. So I have the privilege of downloading the picture of Ms. Naomi Watts, an aspiring Australian actress.

Uruguay: Glorious Bastards

2010-06-02T14:53:00.004+11:00

If you're from Uruguay, you're guaranteed to shed a few tears at the end of each World Cup for how poor has Uruguay's performance become in the more recent World Cups.

Uruguay was the first country to host and win the World Cup. It won again in 1950. The reason I respect this country is that they caused the biggest humiliation in the history of football, in the history of the country of Brasil, when they completely destroyed them in the final game of the 1950 World Cup.

Uruguay won that game, and took the cup away from the Brazilians , resulting in a national tragedy in Brasil and a whole lot of respect among Brazilian-haters like myself.

To know how powerful Uruguay was, they have not conceded their first defeat ever in the World Cup until 1954. Since they made it to the semi-final in 1970 they have been struggling to just make it to the finals. They struggled this time, and they won't go too far in this cup, although Forlan can score from just anywhere in the field.

Clip For Memory:

Naturally, their destruction of Brasil in Rio in front of 200,000 people in 1950. Barboasa , the Brasilian goalie said in 2000, "In Brasil the maximum sentence is 30 years, but I have suffered for 50".

------------------------------------------------------------
(In the picture above, Diego Forlan the Uruguayan striker. I think he has some great resemblance to the the tennis player Martina Navratiolva)

Hareega: For Every Football Horny

2010-06-01T12:44:00.005+11:00

As my fan base of 10 people have noticed, I haven't been blogging lately. I got busy at work. However with the world cup coming, and with me living in South Dakota where the only sport is shooting bears and milking cows, I need to talk football.

With the World Cup coming in just ten days (I can't believe it!), I will be talking football here, real football with football-horny people who appreciate football.

I'll randomly discuss different teams from different groups before the kick-off on June 11th. Feel free to give me your comments and completely offend players, countries, ethnicities and cultural backgrounds. We need your valuable input based on mere fanaticism in order to make this world a better place.

(In the picture above: Christiano Ronaldo)

Argentina, the Dream is Approaching

2010-05-31T16:59:00.003+11:00

Diego Armando Maradona, the genius of geniuses, has arrived with his jewels to South Africa. By jewels I'm not referring to his personal collection of cocaine but the talented bunch of players he selected to play for the most awesome team in the history of mankind, the one and only Argentina, in the World Cup that will kick in in 12 days.

Here is a clip of why Argentina is the team, why Argentina is the passion, why Argentina is the real taste of football....

My Lethal Injections

2010-05-20T07:19:00.007+11:00

It was another travel clinic day when the young traveler to Chad and Niger walked in the clinic with his father to get his vaccines before his trip. I took a brief history and decided on the vaccines he'll need.
One of the vaccines was a yellow fever vaccine. Yellow fever is a nasty infection, and getting the vaccine is a good way to prevent it. Those who receive it have a 1 in 100,000 risk of getting a severe reaction that can be life-threatening.

I told the kid about it, he and his father agreed to the vaccine. I looked at all the shots that we were going to give him , "Typhoid, hepatitis A, yellow fever.... we are going to torture you tonight"... he3 he3 he3

The father laughed and the kid nervously smiled. I handled the chart to my assistant to prepare the vaccines and went to review another chart.

Less than five minutes later, I saw her rushing out of the clinic, "I need you right now"

I saw the kid laying on the bed, his body leaning against the wall, not moving. His father almost passed out, and my heart almost stopped beating too.

During residency I did calls where hearts stop and lungs fill with fluid and old people fall on their heads and blood pours out from every hole in the body, but that was expected. Drama is the rule in every night call at a hospital. I even used to get surprised if every thing went alright.

But this was different. Thursdays are our travel clinic days. These are light days with healthy people walking in to get protection against illnesses they might get during their travel, and now I have this: a young healthy kid passing out in front of his father.

In a few minutes he became fully awake and talking. This was just another vaso-vagal syncope, where people pass put because of extreme anxiety. Some people pass out after they see blood, get needles, see dead people, whatever scares the shit out of them. So in this case it wasn't the vaccine, it was the needle. If we had injected him with water he would've also passed out.

But at the moment the teenage kid passed out, the only thing that occurred to me was him getting an anaphylactic life-threatening reaction to the vaccine. It always sucks when you get the one in one hundred thousandth complication (although on the good side, you'd feel more comfortable administering the next 99,999 vaccines)

What would have sucked more is my super confidence, even telling the kid "we are going to torture you" before we literally tortured him. That would have made it to the papers. "Dr. Death: Middle Eastern immigrant tells a minor he'll torture him before he tortures him with needles in front of his father", or "Dr. Kevorkian condemns Dr. Masannat"

Doctors are sometimes overconfident, especially if they're about to do something they've done several times before. I have given this vaccine and many others hundreds of times, never saw a single reaction. If your doctor tells you you might die from a vaccine there's a very good chance you will not take it even if it's good for you. The boy's risk of dying from that vaccine was way less than flying to, driving and staying in Chad and Niger for a few days. If someone tells you before you drive you might die driving you will think twice about it. At times that confidence is necessary, while at other times it's risky. Even rational people don't want to hear about all the risks and benefits of any drug or procedure they're having. "Just do what you think is right" is what a lot of people feel, surprisingly enough.

As the teenage boy left the clinic, smiling (thank God!), his father explained , "Uhm yeah I forgot to tell you that he passes out every time he gets an injection". LOL, thank you for the information man!!

Jordanians... Look At This Retarded Man

2010-05-01T15:21:00.013+11:00

This is Stephen Hawking, a professor at the University of Cambridge and a leader scientist in theoretical physics, quantum gravity, black holes and a lot of scientific stuff I can't even understand.

He is paralyzed from head to toe because of a neurological disease he's been suffering from for 40 years. Despite that, he wrote books, articles, made theories and won a load of all the awards and medals you can think of in different countries.

This man is so lucky he was not born in Jordan, or else he'd be referred to as that retarded cripple who collects change at the sidewalk in Sagf El-Sail....

Among all the disabled people you see in the streets and know about in Jordan, how many times

have you ever seen a prime minister, an ambassador, or even some medium-level official in a crappy ministry who is disabled? An amputee? a blind or deaf man? Someone ambulating by wheelchair? Someone who walks in "a funny way"?

Never.

The sad fact is that physical disability in Jordan is considered a form of mental retardation.

Blindness, Deafness or a missing arm or a leg are reasons for Jordanians, even well-educated enlightened Jordanian, to think that your brain is under-developed.

Do you want to see a picture of another "retarded" man?

Franklin Roosevelt, the longest-serving president of the United States, ruled the US for 12 years while sitting on a wheelchair.

And that was in the 1930s..... that's how much we are behind them.....

That's how much we are retarded!!

Rattle Snake in Jordan

2010-04-27T13:41:00.004+11:00

A huge 2.5 meter- snake has been around for years in a little Irbid town, scaring kids and their parents , sneaking quietly (like a snake) from one house to another

until....

one day.....

this lady....

no one else but this lady....

the 80-year old Samya Moosa Al-Alwaneh

said enough is enough....

and she f-king murdered the snake with her own bare hands.

I bet you half of Shmesani girls will pass out just by looking at the picture.

Shukran Khalti Samya, shu tabkha 3al ghada el yoom? he3 he3 he3

هيك الحكي الصحيح

2010-04-19T19:04:00.002+11:00

رغم سفري الطويل جداً اليوم والارهاق والجتلغة مع اختلاف التوقيت إلا أنه يتوجب علي أن أقول مبروك للزعيم وفيصلي برازبلووووو هوو هااااي هووو .... بس خلاص

What Is A High-Velocity Tear Gas Projectile?

2010-04-15T08:23:00.002+11:00

It's something Israel might use to kill you if you peacefully protest building a wall on your land.

The picture above is of 29-year old Basem Abu Rahme.

Twenty Palestinians have been murdered by Israel while protesting their apartheid wall.

Sadly, they will all be forgotten.

(via Sabbah Report. )

MiiiiiiiKRO -Blogging: Wadde3 Horayrata Enna Al-Rakba Morta7ilooo.... Wa Hal Toteeko Wada3an Ayyahal Rajolooo?? Rajolo.... Lam

2010-04-14T10:13:00.001+11:00

HM King Abdullah met Barack Obama yesterday. Both men agree that having "Hussain" as your middle name could be a honor in one country but a reason to question your patriotism in another.

- A woman weighing 240 kilograms gave birth to a healthy kid in Romania. After delivery she said she was still in pain but was so happy to lose 4 kilograms.

- Ukraine vowed to get rid of all its nuclear weapons by the year 2012. Rumor has it that only a few hours after they did 2 tribes in Salt made a generous offer to buy them.

- Looks to me like Ammani mothers want their pre-school kids to be bilingual. Bad news: your kids are barely smart enough to even learn one language. They'll end up non-lingual, similar to ice-age children who had lived 20,000 years ago.

- It was announced that Dick Cheney suffered another heart attack . He had it for 14 years but it took doctors that long to locate his heart.

- The Jordanian military hospital in Gaza has been open for a year and has accepted 204,000 Palestinian patients, or as al-Jazeera reported it, "Jordan continues to fuck Palestinians"

- A law in Michigan allows any teenager as young as 12 years of age to buy a handgun as long as he has not committed a felony. The purpose of this law is to allow any teenager who is as young as 12 years of age to commit a felony.

- French president Sarkozy continued his apology tours for France's previous occupations. He had previously apologized for Algerians for occupying their country. If he's really sorry about France's role in torturing millions of Arabs in one country he'd rather visit Jordan to apologize for Orange.

- The US administrations is getting tough on Israel. Joe Biden publicly criticized Israel for building new settlements and Hillary Clinton yelled at Netenyahu in a 43-miniute phone call. It is predicted that by the beginning of the summer Barack Obama's sex tape with a Jewish woman in the oval office will be on DVD.

- I am realizing that "very safe" towns in America are very boring towns. Before I move to a new town next time I have to make sure they have a couple of homocides every once in a while.

- Elizabeth Taylor is getting married again. She is 79 and this would be her 9th marriage. I don't know if they'll ever make an Arabic movie about her life but if so I'm sure it will be played by Sabah.

- Toyota is suffering. Despite billions of dollars their reputation keeps getting worse because of major technical problems. Nobody seems to be learning the lesson from Real Madrid.

---------------------------

"In the picture is Richard Kuklinski, nick-named iceman. He murdered 250 men starting at the age of 13. He used to keep his victims' bodies frozen in freezers so that the police won't be able to tell the time of death once they find a body. I mentioned the term ice age above in the post so I thought about posting a picture with something related to ice. Bon Appetit."

Fighting in Salt

2010-04-11T10:36:00.003+11:00

I don't think I or anyone else can tell you the exact story of what happened, especially that each side gives its own story.

But what we know for sure, is that a student at Al-Balqa Univeristy killed another student, which led to clashes between both tribes. Those clashes include burning of of stores owned by family members of the other tribe for no reason other than sharing the same last name. Study in Al-Balqa' was held Sunday because of tensions.

The murdered victim is not the only victim in this incident. The victims are the thousands of students who missed one day of school. These classes on Sunday were paid for in advance and they will not be compensated for missing them.

The owners of these stores will also not be compensated.

The tax payers are also paying for law enforcement that proved again to be ineffective in preventing violence following a violent crime.

When the tribes meet for the usual Atweh , I would care less if the murderer ends up spending only a few years in jail. Both tribes should agree to pay the one-day tuition for all students who missed class, including their transportation fees. They should also pay for damages in every store that was destroyed and they should pay for the damages in the roads for Salt that will be fixed by the tax payers's money.

I take pride in my heritage and I recognize that the tribal system is part of my culture. However we are reaching a point where we're becoming more of a gangster country where gangs fight against gangs and we have to take sides. The law should be enforced on those morons who take guns to colleges and think they're only targeting one person. They are hurting a lot of people and the whole country ends up paying for their crimes.

Here's a clip that will make you very proud of your country:

Clearing the Original Sin

2010-04-07T11:06:00.004+11:00

This is Rupert Murdoch, the founder of Fox News, on the cover of Hello! magazine.

Occasion: baptizing his 2 daughters near the baptism site in the River Jordan.

So the man who founded Fox, a news organization that frequently bashes Muslims for being non-tolerant, flies to a Muslim-dominant country to perform a Christian service accompanied by the Queen of Jordan.

As the main Fox-news guy, we'd expect him to not have any celebrity friends given how much Fox news despises "celebrities" for being a bunch of crazy liberals. However Murdoch insisted on having Nicole Kidman and Hugh Jackman attend the baptism.

Finally, he acknowledged that the baptism site lies in the Jordanian side of the River, not the Israeli side.

Ironaically the only thing that can be screwed by this visit is Fox News.

Amman kicking serious ass in the Winter Olympics

2010-02-21T09:30:00.002+11:00

Ammann wins ski jumping gold for Switzerland

Congratulations! Click here for details

There's Nothing Wrong About Tawjihi

2010-02-08T08:16:00.003+11:00

I stand behind this statement. Tawjihi is a series of exams designed by experts in education. The major drawback of these tests is that they examine the student's ability to memorize data rather than analyze it. With this said, it remains an excellent way to test resilience, hard work, commitment to study and the ability to handle stress. The more hard-working a student is, the better his/her score will be.

The problem exists with Jordanian universities that accept Tawjihi as the only way to judge a student's academic performance. Doctors are not smarter than engineers, and engineers are not smarter than lawyers, they just think differently. However, with the method universities accept students we end up with having a large number of students graduating from colleges they didn't like. They chose it because it was their only choice. Other students went to more challenging colleges only because they could. In face, the majority do so every single year.

Our universities do not do a single interview in the process of accepting students into anything. They don't even ask them to take any additional test or questionnaire about their ambitions or aspirations or reasons on why they want to join this particular college in that particular field. Any work experience a student had before going to college does not count. Any voluntary work or research or invention or activity does not count. What counts is what you scored on physics and maths and your ability to remember all those chemical formulas and Ahmed Shawqi poems.

With thousands of students graduating every year from colleges they never wanted to join, from universities they were never proud to belong to, after being taught by professors they never liked or aspired to become like, we keep having a bigger number of Jordanians who are unprofessional at their jobs, who hate their careers and always dream of becoming something else. This could have been different if someone, some day, had stopped and asked them what their dream was.

Wrong Conversation

2010-02-06T12:40:00.002+11:00

December 31st (new year's eve)
my flight to Las Vegas scheduled at 1.30 pm

It was 11.00 am and I still had a few patients to see.
While reading a chart on the 3rd floor, a 60-something old nurse that I barely know asked me,
"Hey what are you doing tonight?"
"Going to Vegas, in a little bit actually"
"Vegas, wow" she answered with a loud voice, which got me some looks from a few nurses and doctors near the nursing station.

"Yes, Vegas"
"Ohhh, you're gonna get wasted there.... hahahaha"
"No actually I'm just going for a little change, I'm not a big drinker...."
"Oh no, don't tell me you're not a big drinker, Vegas on new year's? haha ... you're gonna get so drunk! They'll close the strip and you'll get drunk like everyone else"

I smiled and turned around and left, while she was saying, "have fun, lots of it, but try to come back, HAHAHA"

-------------------

One month later.

8 pm. I'm on-call, exhausted. On the 3rd floor getting ready to leave.
I heard the same husky loud loud voice screaming from the skies, "OOOO"
It was the same witch.
"Here you are .... haven't seen you in a while... tell me about Vegas"
"Well I had fun, it was great"
"HAHA great, did you get wasted like YOU TOLD ME YOU WOULD"
"No, I didn't say that, I didn't drink there"
"HAHAHA it's OK, it's the new year, everyone gets wasted in Vegas, it's good you came back, some people don't.... HAHAHA"
"Well... ok... "
"And you know what they say about Vegas right?"
"Yes I know, thanks for asking, I have to go check on something now...."
"But you know what they say about Vegas? Huh? No?"
"Yes I know, I know...."
"You know huh? You know? "
"YES"
"What happens in Vegas... huh? What happens in Vegas...huh?"
"I know"
"Stays in Vegassss, right, HAHAHA"

I have to be honest. I might have enjoyed this conversation if this was a smokin' 22-year nursing student, not a 60-year old obnoxious nurse talking while my own patient dying from stomach cancer with 3 members of his family were not sitting 5 feet away from us, or if a priest was not hanging close to us in the nursing station listening to the whole conversation smiling at me with these thoughts running in his head, "you will be doomed in hell with Satan you evil drunken doctor"

Again, I smiled at the evil witch and turned around.

sometimes people shock you so much that you just can't say anything.

Egypt Deserved to Win 4-0

2010-01-29T12:22:00.002+11:00

I was hoping for Algeria to win, but Egypt deserved it

The worst excuse ever is that Algeria had 3 players sent off with a red card.

If you know basic football, you would know that having a player sent off is just another mistake that you deserve to lose a game for, exactly like a wrong pass or missing a penalty.

Egypt played better and did not do the mistakes of having players sent off, so they deserved the victory, 4-0.

Good luck Sunday.
--------------------

And for the record here: Algeria will KICK ASS in the World Cup, seriously, they will kick ass.

Fifty Things I Love About South Dakota

2010-01-28T12:05:00.007+11:00

I love Jordan but other bloggers have said it all. So here are my top #50 reasons why I love South Dakota.

1- Only 3 months after you move to South Dakota people will refer to you as the Jordanian because you're the only one living there.

2- You will start understanding what it means to be "endangered species"

3- They sell great beef testicles.

4- There's a lot of Mexican food even though there are no Mexicans.

5- The airport has one terminal, and you can arrive there just half-an-hour before your flight.

6- You'll recognize at least 3 people on the 20-seat plane.

7- Just like Jordan, everyone here has a relative in California.

8- When it's minus 20 degrees all streets are open, everyone goes to work and school and nobody complains about anything.

9- You're one of those very few people who has a passport.

10- Work is always within a 10-minute drive.

11- Everything is always within a 10-minute drive.

12- If you're 14 you can get a driver's licence.

13- All chicks are originally Scandinavian heritage. Enough said.

14- The smell of of horse shit in the street brings back memories from your grandfather's farm in Dibbeen.

15- If your car is stuck in the snow, random strangers will stop by and help you out instead of stopping by to rob your car (like they do in Arizona).

16- In the middle of a snow storm people still drive with their 1960s cars.

17- South Dakota is a diverse state. We have some Asians and also a black couple: Richard and Mary. Nice couple.

18- If anyone in the world is stalking you, you can totally hide in south Dakota and they'll never know how to reach you.

19- A traffic jam means there's a high-school baseball game somewhere.

20- If you're taking a leak at the airport bathroom and your luggage behind you falls on the floor, a nice person behind you will lift it up and hold it for you until you're done pissing.

21- No roaches. They're all dead from the cold weather by October.

22- No matter how cold it gets, it makes you feel better knowing there are people who are more screwed than you are. Thank God for giving us North Dakota.

23- In the snow, to keep the car heated, people keep their cars turned on and leave them to go shopping at the mall. (again, cars don't get stolen)

24- Old people are taken care of by their kids and grandkids.

25- A mother may need 10 seconds to remember the date of birth of one of her kids because she has ten of them.

26- All women over the age of 60 have milked at least 1000 cows in their lives.

27- If you drive on the freeway for longer than one hour you will certainly hit an animal and rip his body into 10 pieces.

28 - Kum and Go is the name of a big grocery store chain.

29- When a plane is in the sky everyone looks up.

30- You can tell the animal by smelling its feces.

31- Scotland, Arlington, Buffalo and Corsica are only two-hours away.

32- The car salesman works part-time as a nurse and on weekends as a bar tender.

33- You can insult anyone's mother or wife but never ever say anything bad about country music.

34- People pray in church for God to protect their cattle.

35- The whole state shares one area code: 605.

36- People wear snow boots (Bostar) to weddings.

37- It could be minus 10 degrees outside but sunny all day long

38- Even though everyone hates the French here, the capital's name is Pierre.

39- And I can tell exactly if you're a South Dakotan by the way you pronounce Pierre. ( and I'm not gonna tell you.)

40- Pierre, a very small city, has two time zones. Over there people can save an hour each day just by driving 4 miles to work.

41- Being a Middle Eastern in South Dakota is exotic. You're one-of-a-kind. People have never seen one like you before. Even if they think you're a terrorist they'll love and you protect you because you're so rare and special.

42- I've been living here 6 months and have already heard this a 100 times every time i travel, "You are the first person I meet who is from South Dakota"

43- The only reference people know from South Dakota is the movie Fargo. (and mind you: Fargo is in North Dakota, and the movie was actually shot in Minnesota).

44- You will have days where every woman you see is pregnant.

45- Everyone here has eaten at least one animal that they could not clearly identify what it was; they just shot it and had to cook it before dark.

46- People believe everything the doctor says even if it has nothing to do with medicine. (In case you visit me here, pretend that Gandhi was born in Jordan).

47- The Valentine gift is a brand new snow shovel.

48- The four seasons are only two, they're called winter and July.

49- When someone tells you, "you've got plenty of pop in your sac" that's not a compliment. They're just saying you have a lot Coke in your grocery bag.

50- Half the town is your family. The other half is your in-laws.

Haitiyyat

2010-01-23T13:39:00.004+11:00

Help those who don't know you, who won't recognize you, who don't look like you, and who

may not even thank you, for that is the true giving.

Help Haiti.

As for today, at least 100,000 dead, and more dying.

UnCensored

2010-01-21T17:40:00.002+11:00

If you think internet censorship did not exist in Jordan before "this law" was made, you don't know Jordan well.

If you think by cancelling this law nobody will be watching what's circulating on Jordanian blogs and websites anymore, you don't know Jordan well.

And if you think that Jordanians officials abide by laws, you don't know Jordan well enough.

Agree with mala2e6 here.

Cheers to all my readers WITHOUT EXCEPTION

The Right Stuff

2010-01-20T15:00:00.004+11:00

I took a quick look at the 10 am appointment in my travel clinic. An empty chart except for one note by my assistant, "Going to Haiti, needs necessary vaccines and medications, booked his appointment urgently, Ok'ed by you"

The man arrived 30 minutes before his appointment. He filled the travel form. Clearly, my first question was, "Why are you going there ?

"We adopted a kid from Haiti, and after the earthquake we haven't heard anything about her. I will go there to look for her."

"For how long are you staying?"

"Not sure, at least 3 weeks, probably longer. It's OK to give me lots of medications, if I have extra I'll give them to people there"

And so I did. The man was my age, but he looked twice as old despite having no medical problems. It was evident that he had a very rough week. I told him about all the risks of going there. I gave him the printed travel warnings emailed to me from different agencies and he told me he understood all the risks. He wasn't referring to the girl as a poor girl who needed help. He was referring to her as his own daughter who went missing after a tragic earthquake.

People in Jordan are largely against adoption. Not only that, it's also illegal. Most Jordanians who are against adoption are people who never adopted (and obviously will never adopt), who don't have any family member who adopted children, never even met anyone who adopted anyone else and never knew and will never get to know any adopted person.

Yes, adoption is not for everyone. There are a lot of things that can go wrong along the way. Not all couples should be allowed to adopt. In fact, the majority of couples are not capable of adopting, let alone have their own children. But for the right couple, and there's a lot of them, adoption is a great gift both for them and for the poor kids who probably have no future other than engaging in civil wars and succumbing to disease and ignorance. A lot of these kids live in Jordan and other Arab countries, and they are not happy and will never be happy.

If you don't feel it's good for you, try at least to change the foreseen future of these kids and there are a lot of ways to do so, and please, don't stand as an obstacle to people who can adopt and save the life of another child. It's more precious that you can imagine.

كلوروفيل

2010-01-20T14:29:00.003+11:00

اليوم عيد الشجرة
كل عام وانتم بخير
وبهذه المناسبة نعيد ونكرر أهدافنا المنشودة

نحو أردن أخضر عام ألفين

Injustice Served

2010-01-11T03:34:00.006+11:00

You might have seen the clip of the brother of the UAE's president, Sheikh Issa Bin Zayid torturing a helpless tied Afghani worker for 40 minutes, nonstop.

Bassam and Ghassan Nabulsi, two Palestinians living in the US, smuggled the tape inside the US and ABC news showed it last year.

Here's a short clip of it:

Today, an Emirati court cleared Issa from any abuse charges.

Not only that, they charged they sentenced the Nabulsis for "drugging" the Issa and taping him torturing the man.

I have to add that the Afghani man was also raped after all the beating. He was tied, beaten up and raped.

I consider you a civilized person if you appreciate human rights, treat people as equals, stop the corruption, and give a chance for your people to have a better life. It doesn't come with building towers, artificial islands and bringing under-privileged women from Eastern Europe to work as sex slaves in your fancy brothels. As long as you treat Indians, Bengalis, Pakistanis, and anyone who works under you like a slave, you're still a douche bag.

Awareness for Testicular Cancer

2010-01-10T12:28:00.006+11:00

Men of the World: Post the Color of your Kalsoon

Unfortunately, it looks like a lot of people, especially women, are desperate for anything that can cure or decrease the risk of breast cancer, and this is completely understandable. Prevention and early detection is the key. Self-breast exams are free and harmless and any woman can do it, that's why they're highly encouraged although their benefit is minimal at best. Mammograms often miss breast cancer, and recent guidelines suggest that they might be useless for the majority of women 50 years or younger.

Just like most cancers, a lot of factors have been linked to breast cancer are the unhealthy daily habits people do: smoking, eating fatty meals, lack of exercise, too much alcohol....etc. Not an easy thing to adjust.

The other big factor: genes. Can't change that.

I don't think the recent facebook statuses game raised any awareness or increased our knowledge about anything, but in case it did, I hope we'd start another campaign about not sharing too much information on facebook especially when you have 500 friends on facebook half of whom you'd barely say hi to if you see in real life.

And what's up with women being allowed to share whatever they want on facebook while men are called perverts and jerks if they do. Once my friends on facebook completely ripped me off for saying, "Just saw a 60-minute video of Maradona's best goals, I don't think my nipples have ever as hard before".

Equality people, equality.

(for the millions of women and the 2 guys who asked, no that's not me in the picture, sorry to make you sweat for nothing)

Some Clips About Our Triple Agent

2010-01-09T17:20:00.003+11:00

Here's an interview (or attempts of having an interview) with his father and brother in Amman by the CNN correspondent:

Nisreen Shamayleh reporting for al-Jazeera...

Fox News

Terrorism in Saint Louis, Missouri

2010-01-09T14:38:00.002+11:00

In a manufacturing company in St Louis, a terrorist armed with three different weapons randomly shot hundreds of bullets at innocent people killing three and injuring five.

------------------
And now we got a confirmation that his name is: Timothy G. Hendron.

So to edit: A man opened fire at people at a manufacturing company in St. Louis killing three people and injuring five.