J-O-R-D-A-N

I was at the bank, talking to the accountant who knows me for more than 2 years.
Her name is Rani (a female name in India)

As she was checking my account she asked ,"Do do you have a green card now"
I replied ,"No, won't get it for a few years, probably never"
Rani , "Oh, so you'll never become a citizen?"
I said , "Don't think so."
Rani, "Does Israel allow dual citizinships?"
I was a bit surprised by the question.
"I don't know" I replied.

Rani after a pause..... "so how's your family doing in Israel?"
I said, "I'm actually from Jordan"
Rani, "Oh really, I always thought you were from Israel"
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Two years ago ago in Miami, I was chatting with 2 young people in the street.

The girl asked ,"You have an accent , where are you from?"
"Jordan"
"Is that Israel?"
"No"

She kept staring at me looking for more than a one-word answer.

I said, "It's close to Israel, very close"
"So it's Israel, it's almost Israel" and she started screaming in joy
"Jordan is actually a totally different country"
"But it's too close to Israel, it's almost Israel, it's where Jesus lived" and she started jumping.

She was very excited as if she has won the lottery, and I didn't want to spoil it, so I smiled and left, and she kept jumping in joy.

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Last Christmas I received an email from a co-worker asking me to switch shifts.

He mentioned "I assumed that you don't celebrate Christmas so is it Ok if you do my shift on Christmas Eve?"

I replied ,"Actually I'm Chrisitan and I do celebrate Christmas, sorry!"

He called me saying, " are you kidding me? Jews don't celebrate Christmas"
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And Probably all Jordanians in America had this situation at least once...

"Where are you from"
"Jordan"
"Oh, your accent doesn't tell that"

I spent a few seconds thinking of what the accent of a Jordanian in America should sound like

then he added ,"my cousin lives in Augusta"

I kept trying to find the missing link, the connection between all of that, until he added, "Where from Georgia are you?

"Oh, I meant Jordan, I'm from Jordan"

"Ohhhhhh Jordan, cool, is that in Michigan?"
----------------------------------------------------

Neigbor talking to me ,"dude are you Mexican?"
"No, Jordanian"
"Umm, where is that?"
"The Middle East"
"Mid-East.... so is that Pennsylvania?"

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I have to amdit that when I was in the Us before 9/11 very few Americans knew anything about Jordan, but now the majority of them knows that Jordan is at least a country, but you'll always have a few funny encounters from time to time.

Listen to your heart

Listen to your heart

when he’s calling for you

listen to your heart

there’s nothing else you can do

I don’t know where you’re going

and I don’t know why

listen to your heart

before you tell him goodbye

An increasingly disappointing Jordan Planet

As much as I appreciate all the efforts of Isam Bayazidi and a few other bloggers in establishing and taking care of Jordan Planet, it seems the quality of the front page is detoriorating, in my humble opinion at least.

First, it was the omitting all the pictures from the front page. It made the planet less colorful and less exciting to read.

We used to have a section for Highlights of the week, I actually was not sure what it was for but it seems that the most popular threads discussed in the blogs were placed there.

Now one cannot view the blogs participating in Jordan Planet. I'm not sure if this is a technical error or a decision taken by the administration, but I'm pretty sure if it was the latter that it won't be popular among any bloggers.

JP is not only for bloggers to read, it's for all Jordanians, and the front page does not seem appealing at all. It looks just like a "copy and paste" from some Jordanian blogs. I hope something will be done to make it look better.

I hope my criticism will be seen as a constructive one.

Le Rêve: Dreams come true

I was fortunate to be able to watch the show "Le Rêve" at the Wynn hotel in Las Vegas last Saturday.

I'm not a big fan of shows, but this show is something you'll remember all your life. I saw fire on water, water on fire, land turning into water. I saw men falling form the sky and rising up from below the ground. I saw amazing acrobatic moves played in harmony with the great sound effects in the beautiful theatre. Click here for a short clip of the show

This show is somewhat similar the the Cirque De Soleil's "O" show in the Bellagio. It's totally worth watching one of them, and you'll never regret seeing both at different times.

I'll be "vegasing" next week when my father visits me. This time I'll watch the "Ka show' -marital arts , and David Copperfield, then I'll become offically broke. Each ticket of these shows costs about a 100 bucks!

Very uncomfortable short conversations

I'm picking up my friend from work.

He sits down, looks at the piles of about one thousand papers on the back seat, clothes, books, hard disk, the bunch of Fairuz' CDs under the seat.

"Geez, your car still looks disgusting"
"Yeah...."

Then he noticed a pack of cigarettes and says , "When did you start smoking?"
"I never did"
"So what is this pack of cigarettes doing here?"
"Oh, my friend left it in my car long time ago, but I didn't have the time to clean, you know...."

Then he looks at me, with a serious look on his face, saying .... "Dude, you should get married".

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My friend is lying on my couch. I told him to give me the remote control from under it. He puts his hand below the couch looking for the remote. Whae he found was 3 socks, one spoon and an old forgotten underwear of mine. He still couldn't find the remote control.

He looks at me, disgusted..... saying " I think you should get married"

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I'm in the elevator, a young lab technician goes in, looks at my Bugs Bunny tie.

She smiled and said "So you got this on Father's day?"
"No, I don't have kids"
"Oh no, it's great to have kids"
Sarcastically I replied , "I know , but it's diffiuclt to do it without a woman"
"Then get married" and she smiled again.
---------------------------

My mother visited me last year.

She took a look at my apartment.

"Hey , you got 2 rooms, a big kitchen..... A big sitting room. Why don't you get married?"

Hareega introduces a new blogger.....

I never introduced a new blogger, but I feel this blogger has potential....
Please say hi and try to support him in his new blogging experience.

Click here to enjoy reading ...

Hareega

Racial Profiling in Airports, does it make sense?

After the recent plot to blow as many as 10 planes was revealed in the UK, the issue of racial profiling started flowing on the surface again. Should people who look anything like Arabs or Pakistanis be stopped more than those with a different ethnicity.
According to the CNN poll today, 82% of CNN's visitors support racial profiling while 18% are against it. It was quite good to see that 18% of CNN's readers are Arabs :)

Anyway, I know plenty of non-Arab non-Muslim Americans who were/are against racial profiling because it is humiliating, and I totally agree. In 2003 I had 12 internal flights inside the US for interviews and every single flight I was "randomly selected" for additional security measurees, except in one small airport in Morgantown , West Virginia where all the 20 white passengers on the fligth were aksed to take off their shoes and their luggages were extensively searched and I was the only one who passed smoothely without even taking off my shoes. I know, that's hard to believe.

When it comes this issue , I try to be neutral and it's very hard to. Even if it's understandable it really sucks to know that you are a suspect just because of the color of your skin or the country you come from.
Why do Americans and probably most Europeans want all Arabs and Pakistanis to be searched very well at airports? The answer is always there, because all those who were behind the attacks in New York, Madrid, London, Bali, Riyad, Casabalnca, Amman, Sharm Sheikh and you name it were either Arabs or Pakistanis or look-alikes. Was therr any Asian, black, Caucasian or latinobwho bombed himself to kill others at least recently? No.

Does this justfiy stopping Arabs and Pakistanis and letting not focusing much on searching others? The answers seems to be yes.

Is anyone who supports racial profiling a racist who dislikes Arabs and Pakistanis?
Some are, but I believe the majority are not. I feel that most supporters of profiling do know that most Arabs would not do by any chance what those behind the forementioned terrorist attacks did, but out of fear they want anything to be done to prevent such attacks from happening, thereofre they support profiling although it clearly holds a lot of discrimination that even many of them are against, but .... they have no choice.

I assume you're still reading, and maybe you've noticed that I haven't even mentioned profiling against Muslims in particular, and the reason neing that racial profiling is agsiant a race, and Islam is not race-specific. There are Muslims from all races. There are Muslims in almost every single country in the world, the majority of which do not have long beards, do not look like anyone who carried 9/11 or any other attack and do not even speak Arabic.
You don't believe me? Check the pictures of the previous leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi ... does he look too scary??

Some names fell from our memories quickly. Remember Richard Reid the shoe bomber who had a British father an a Jamaican mother? How about Senor José Padilla the American- Puerto Rican who was a key member in al Qaeda? John Walker Lindh the White American who also fought with Al Qaeda? Have you listened to the speech of Matthew Stewart threatening people in a perfect Australian accent?
Abu Sayyaf the group of Asians which kidnapped and killed toursist in the Far East?

Those in addition to some others are the names of non-Arabs, non-Pakistani looking people who joined al Qaeda and there are probably more people who we don't know about. The fact remains that most members of al Qaeda look similar, but to combat prevent any terrorist attack you should think like a terrorist, and those who blow up 10 airplanes from seemingly-harmless liquids are so damn smart, and if it happened that only people with a certain ethnicity are searched extensively, they can easily use the other "foreigners", with blond hair and blue eyes and just ask them to shave their beards and speak in their own perfectly non-suspicious accent to get through security while the INS is searching a visiting Egyptian student who does not know how to light a cigarette.

Until some sense prevails, every time I travel I'll make sure that I'll wear my only pairs of socks without holes and use Gilette Fusion to keep my full cheeks hairless while I'm being "randomly" selected. Bon Voyage!

عائد الى حيفا ....بس مش هسا

اذا لم تقرا رواية عائد الى حيفا لغسان كنفاني فلا تكمل قرائة ما ساكتبه الان

اما اذا صممت على القراءة فانك بالتالي تشبه شخصية القصة الرئيسة سعيد س. الذي صمم على السير في طريق المجهول

القصة باختصار ان سعيد وزوجته هربا من حيفا عقب حرب الثمانية واربعين تاركين ورائهم طفلهم الرضيع ولم يسمح لهما بالعودة حتى لزيارة ابنهما

بعد عشرين عاما حانت لهما الفرصة للعودة لرؤية ما حصل بالبيت والولد

قبل ان اكمل...القصة قصيرة ابو سبعين صفحة اذا اردت قرائتها انقر هنا

المهم عاد سعيد الى حيفا ودخل بيته ووجد ان امراة اسرائيلية سكنته ووزوجها الذي رحل بعد ذلك و قاما بتبني ابن سعيد بعد ان منحته اياهم اسرائيل هدية بعد الحرب

انتظر سعيد وزوجته في المنزل مع الاسرائيلية حتى منتصف الليل ولدهشته وجد ابنه مرتديا البزة العسكرية للجيش الاسرائيلي واسمه اصبح دوف بدلا من خلدون

اعلن له ابنه دوف انه تربى على ايدي ابوين اسرائيلين وانه يعتبر نفسه اسرائيليا

وبعد نقاش غاضب اختتم سعيد كلامه موجها حديثه لابنه الاسرائيلي

" متى تكفون عن اعتبار ضعف الآخرين وأخطائهم مجيرة لحساب ميزاتكم ؟ لقد اهترأت هذه الأقوال العتيقة، هذه المعادلات الحسابية المترعة بالأخاديع... مرة تقولون أن أخطاءنا تبرر أخطاءكم، ومرة تقولون أن الظلم لا يصحح بظلم آخر... تستخدمون المنطق الأول لتبرير وجودكم هنا، وتستخدمون المنطق الثاني لتتجنبوا العقاب الذي تستحقونه، ويخيل إلي أنكم تتمتعون الى أقصى حد بهذه اللعبه الطريفة،

وها أنت تحاول مرة جديده أن تجعل من ضعفنا حصان الطراد الذي تعتلي الذي تعتلي صهوته... لا، أنا لا أتحدث إليك مفترضا إنك عربي، والآن أنا أكثر من يعرف أن الإنسان هو قضية، وليس لحما ودما يتوارثه جيل وراء جيل مثلما يتبادل البائع والزبون معلبات اللحم المقدد، إنما أتحدث إاليك مفترضا أنك في نهاية الأمر إنسان. يهودي. أو فلتكن ما تشاء. ولكن عليك أن تدرك الأشياء كما ينبغي...

وأنا أعرف أنك ذات يوم ستدرك هذه الأشياء، وتدرك أن أكبر جريمة يمكن لأي إنسان أن يرتكبها، كائنا من كان، هي أن يعتقد ولو للحظة أن ضعف الآخرين وأخطاءهم هي التي تشكل حقه في الوجود على حسابهم، وهي التي تبرر له أخطاءه وجرائمه.....
أتعتقد أننا سنظل نخطئ ؟ وإن كففنا ذات يوم عن الخطأ، فما الذي يتبقى لديك ؟

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انتهيت من قرائة القصة التي كتبت قبل نحو اربعين عاما وانا احس انها كتبت قبل اربعين يوما...و هذا ما يزيد من روعة قصص غسان كنفاني

انها لا تذبل مع مرور الزمن لانها تتناول الانسان، والانسان قضية والقضية يتجدد شبابها كلما شابت ويطول عمرها كلما مرت عليها السنين

سعيد س. تذكر طريق عودته الى حيفا بسهولة رغم انه كانت طريقا جهنميا...

شق طريقه بكتفيه وذراعيه وساقيه وراسه كمن يسبح ضد سيل هادر ينحدر من جبل شديد العلو لكنه لم يتوقف عن السير عارفا ان طريق الالام في انتظاره ذهابا وايابا

سعيد لم يكن شديد العاطفة او الوطنية بل انه كاد يتبرا من ابنه الاخر لانه اراد الانتساب للمقاومة الفلسطينية لكنه عاد الى منزله ووطنه وهو يقكر في معنى الوطن

ما اخشاه هو ان ينسى البعض طريق العودة، او ينسى البحث في معنى الوطن او ينسى ان جسد غسان قد سلخ قطعة قطعة وهو يذكرنا ان طريق العودة مليء بالدموع

ما اخشاه هو انه اذا ما زرنا حيفا يوما سنعيد كلام سعيد س ......."انني اعرفها، حيفا هذه، ولكنها تنكرني

حريقة

On a Friday Night

I was sitting with some neighbors on a Friday night in my apartment.

Mike asked me,"So where are you from?"

- "Jordan"

- "Where is that?"

Laura, laughing hysterically for no obvious reason, said "It's next to f***ing Bulgaria, my boss is from there"

I said "Actually it's in the Middle East"

Mike , "Holy shit"
Laura , "Holy shit"

20 seconds of silence.

Mike, "So what's the deal man, why is this happening?" then he looked at my Jordanian friend sitting in the other side of the room.

My friend said ,"I don't know" then pointed at me as if he had just identified a criminal, "but you can ask him, he likes to talk politics"

We talked for about fifteen minutes, then Mike, finishing his ninth or tenth beer said,
"Listen man, I don't know much about politics, but I believe everyone should live in peace. Wars must stop. All wars are wrong. Oil is all causing this shit. I hope the world will come together and take a big big hug. "

I said ,"Very true Mike, very true amigo"

Then he asked ,"So what's the problem with Bush man?? What's his problem?"

Handling him a bottle of Corona light, I replied "His problem...... he quit drinking long time ago."

America and the World

Some of the questions Americans asked after 9/11 were "Who hates us?" and "Why do they hate us?". One of the answers was "they hate us for our freedom".

Many countries, especially European countries, surpassed America in its freedom scales, both civil and political. When crowds in the Arab and Islamic worlds walk in millions in the streets, there are always the names of two countries they chant death for: Israel and the US.
Israel.... we know why. It's the country that Arabs have fought against for decades and caused them to leave their homes and lose their children to in battle.
Then comes USA.

Have Americans stopped for a second and wondered why do many Arabs burn the US flags, scream "Death for America" and even have some of them glorify Bin Ladin or Zarqawi or any al-Qaeda leader just for the fact that they want to destroy America?

Why don't these crowds burn flags of other more free countries even those such countries already have more restrictions on immigration and all of their leaders are non-Muslism and their laws are totally opposite to the Islamic Shariaa and they admiited the right of Israel to exist long time ago?

Since the foundation of Israel in 1948, America has been opposing the entire world in their policy regarding the Middle East. The foundation of Israel was the first event, then came dozens of UN decisions that ALL countries in the UN would agree upon until the US veto would prevent them from being approved.

How many times have you heard in the news "Three countries opposed the decision: USA, Israel and Micronesia"?

With the Qana massacre occuring 2 days ago, I remembered the first massacre in 1996 when Boutros Boutros-Ghali condemned Israel for killing a hundred civilians. The entire world criticized Israel. A few months later the US was the only country in the UN to oppose a second-term for him because of Israel condemnation after the Qana massacre. Since Irael started its strike agianst Lebanon, the entire world asked for a cease-fire except for USA and the UK.

America is losing its popularity, and its policies in the Middle East is not only enraging Arabs or Muslims but the entire world as well. The regular person living outside the US watching TV does not see the regular American who wishes peace for all or who donates money for charities to help sick children. What he sees is John Bolton raising his hand alone in the UN or American troops in Iraq going there against the will of half Americans and 90% of Europeans and almost all Arabs.

The US now is not respected, but feared from. It's regarded as a military giant and an ethical infant. People in the white house cannot understand that the less they use their power the greater it will be. They fail to see the danger in their selfish decisions and their political isolation from the rest of the world.
Let's remember what a wise man once said ,"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. "

اخر السطور

ما بيننا.. وبينكم.. لا ينتهي بعامْ
لا ينتهي بخمسةٍ.. أو عشرةٍ.. ولا بألفِ عامْ
طويلةٌ معاركُ التحريرِ كالصيامْ
ونحنُ باقونَ على صدوركمْ..
كالنقشِ في الرخامْ..
باقونَ في صوتِ المزاريبِ.. وفي أجنحةِ الحمامْ
باقونَ في ذاكرةِ الشمسِ، وفي دفاترِ الأيامْ
باقونَ في شيطنةِ الأولادِ.. في خربشةِ الأقلامْ
باقونَ في الخرائطِ الملوّنهْ
باقونَ في شعر امرئ القيس..
وفي شعر أبي تمّامْ..
باقونَ في شفاهِ من نحبّهمْ
باقونَ في مخارجِ الكلام

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لم يَعُدْ في يدِنَا أندلسٌ واحدةٌ نملكُها..
سَرَقُوا الابوابَ, و الحيطانَ, و الزوجاتِ, و الأولادَ,
و الزيتونَ, و الزيتَ, و أحجار الشوارعْ.
سَرَقُوا عيسى بنَ مريَمْ
و هو ما زالَ رضيعاً..
سَرَقوا عيسى بن مريَمْ
و هو ما زالَ رضيعاً..
سرقُوا ذاكرةَ الليمُون..
و المُشمُشِ.. و النَعناعِ منّا..
و قَناديلَ الجوامِعْ

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يا أصدقاءَ الصَبْرِ ، في بيروتْ
قُولُوا لنا :
في أَيِّ أَرضٍ يزرعونَ الصَبرْ ؟
قُولُوا لنا :
هل ممكنٌ أَن تَنْهَضَ الوردةُ من فِراشِها ؟
ويستفيقَ العِطرْ .
وأَن يفيضَ الحبرْ .
من بعد ما هُمْ شَطَبُوا
أَجملَ سَطْرٍ في كِتَابِ العُمْرْ ...
في أَيِّ أَرضٍ يزرعونَ الصَبرْ ؟
قُولُوا لنا :
هل ممكنٌ أَن تَنْهَضَ الوردةُ من فِراشِها ؟
ويستفيقَ العِطرْ .
هل ممكنٌ أَن ترجعَ الحروفُ من غُرْبَتِها ؟
وأَن يفيضَ الحبرْ .
هل ممكنٌ أَنْ نستعيدَ عُمْرَنا ؟
من بعد ما هُمْ شَطَبُوا
أَجملَ سَطْرٍ في كِتَابِ العُمْرْ ...

What keeps Jordan safe?

This question crosses the minds of Jordanians anytime a crisis hits the Middle East (Well thank God nothing ever went wrong there). It's a little bit surprising to be in the region bordered mostly by Syria/Iraq/Israel-Palestine and not be directly involved or threatened by any of the wars and military conflicts in the region.

So what keep Jordan safe?

Let's get back to see how Jordan was founded. In 1946 we got our independence from Great Britain, but it was a little bit too late. The "Big Syria" has already been divided betwen the UK and France. Palestine was divided then occupied by the Jews who established Israel. Great numbers of Palestenians fled to the East Bank, and with the six-day war more refugess moved to Jordan. Jordan kept having sudden bursts in its population following the 1991 gulf war. Currently half of Jordan'a population are originally Palestenian, Jordanian citizens and internationally recognized as refugees.

On the other hand, Jordan maintained its anti-war stand-up over the past few decades, ironically it was the country most affected by any war in the region after the countries directly involved in them, but never changed its position on conflicts around it. Jordan isn't always on the side of the US, however since the 1991 war there was no major antagonism between the super power and its presumed ally. When Jordan did not stand by the US side in the first gulf war, its economy suffered harshly.

One of the reasons Jordan was established is to serve as a host country for Palestenian refugees.
Currently it's playing a role much larger than that as a buffer zone whose safety is in the interest of other countries in the region. It's a good friend to the US at a time the US does not have many friends. Once it fails to fulfil these roles, perhaps any of them, its safety will be in jeopardy.

Why should Americans care?

I was watching a report on the CNN about the situation in the Middle East when the presentor pointed to Lebanon and Israel saying ,"This area in the northern Africa has been unstable for a long time". I was shocked to hear that given that the CNN is the "most trusted" in news. I switched to another news channel (I believe it was NBC or CNN-headlnes) and watched someone talking about the history of the region , started with "Palestenians are basically Syrians".

Americans know very few about the Middle East. Very few know that many of its coutnries are part ofAsia, very few can identify correctly the countries in the region. Very few know about the history of the region or recognize what are Reolsutions 242 or 338 or what the six-day war was or how the Jewish groups murdered the UN envoys to the region in 1948.

Very few know that thanks to Harry Truman's blind support to Israel and his fear from losing the Jewish vote in the US, Israel could have not been founded given the huge opposition to its independence in 1948. Very few Americans recognize that no country has refused is still refusing to comply with UN resolutions more than Israel did. Very few know what Sabra and Shatilla was and that Ariel Sharon was convicted by an Israeli court to be responsible for the slaughter of Palestenians only to become the Israeli prime minister 20 years later and be called "man of peace" several times by W Bush.

Very few Americans can identify Iraq on the map. Very few know that Saddam became Iraq's president in the 1970s and was supported by the US that time until 1990. Very few know that the Arabic radical Islamic groups had extremely low popularity among Arabs until the US started funding them heavily in the 1970s. Very few American know that Arab Christians exist. Very few know that Syria's al-Asad and Iraq's Saddam regimes were the most anti-Islamic regimes in the Arab world, even collecting Islamists in hundreds and killing them brutally during their regimes. All of the above are facts and not a personal opinion.

I love Americans and I find them very friendly, tolerant and kind-hearted. A lot of the most prominent figures in the world were Americans and they have made a positive change in the world. When it comes to politics and knowledge of the outside world, their lack of knowledge is awefully sad, mainly because the rest of the world pays for it.


Why should an average American bother to know all this about the Middle East and the Arab-Israeli conflict? The answer is that the US has been paying billions of dollars every year to Israel. That's all taxpayers money. The US has struck Iraq based on a lie that Saddam Hussain had connections with al Qaeda and any Arab with mediocre intelligence would know this is so untrue.

Basically hundreds of billions of dollars of people's money have been spent on wars and operations that benefit less than 1% of Americans while the 99% are paying the price of detoriorating quality of their own life, increasing hatred towards America and Americans and continuous bloodshed committed in the name of fighting terrorism. In a democratic country like the US, people can make a change and we've seen this before in America. I hope that people will become more interested in the conflict there and try to learn more about the history of the region.

What is War?

Give me the money that has been spent in war and I will clothe every man, woman, and child in an attire of which kings and queens will be proud. I will build a schoolhouse in every valley over the whole earth. I will crown every hillside with a place of worship consecrated to peace. They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. But in modern war, there is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason.

The direct use of force is such a poor solution to any problem, it is generally employed only by small children and large nations. All the arms we need are for hugging.

A great war leaves the country with three armies - an army of cripples, an army of mourners, and an army of thieves. Only the dead have seen the end of the war. Patriots always talk of dying for their country and never of killing for their country.

The world has achieved brilliance without wisdom, power without conscience. Ours is a world of nuclear giants and ethical infants. We know more about war that we know about peace, more about killing that we know about living. There is nothing that war has ever achieved that we could not better achieve without it. All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers. Older men declare war. But it is the youth that must fight and die.

It is forbidden to kill; therefore all murderers are punished unless they kill in large numbers and to the sound of trumpets. War is only a cowardly escape from the problems of peace. The first casualty when war comes is truth.

Why do we kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong? Never think that war, no matter how necessary, nor how justified, is not a crime.

Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind.
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(All of the above were quotes by different people)

Champions of the World.... can they win Serie B ?

Juventus, Ac Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina were all sent off to the second division after the 2006 Serie A scandal.

Gotta love the second division.

Two Soldiers My Ass

The Israeli attack on Lebanon was well-planned forehead. It was not planned overnight and you should be dumb to believe that when ISrael had a fanatic prime minister like Sharon accepting trading soldiers with Hizbullah are now striking Lebanon because 2 of their soldiers were kidnapped.

Junieh , an area where Lebanese Chrisitans live was struck hard by the Israelis. Tripoli , an area where Muslim Sunnis live was also struck. NONE of Hizbullah members live there, probably barely any Shiite does. Hizbullah declared the loss of only 2 of their soldiers while the rest were all civilians, and the G8 bastards are justifying those strikes because Israel lost its 2 soldiers.

Two soldiers.... I haven't heard anyone in the last 2 days talking about them. Have you?

Painful

How much is an Arab worth?

Have we ever been cheaper than we are today?

Whether you're living in a palace or you're running barefoot to look for a shelter, your life is worthless for the rest of the world, and a drop of oil in your country is more precious than the your life and the life of your entire family.

To know how expensive something is, lose it and see how much it's missed. See how hundreds of Arabs are being lost day after day and see how much anyone is noticing it.

I told you we cost nothing.

I wanna make you scream

After saying good-bye to the world Cup I want to leave you with some of the best moments in the history of football.

I Hope you enjoy them, they are some of my favorites, I stole all clips from You Tube !

Make sure the speakers are on, and LOUD... LOUD ...LOUD


Moment ONE .... what can make a man cry on TV?


First, here is the goal of the century that most peopl have seen. Listen to the Argentine commentator as he was crying when Maradona scored and thanking God for the gift of Maradona.

Quick Translation.... Genio: Genius. De que planeta viniste: From which planet have you come?

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Moment TWO ..... The Sweet Revenge

This is an incredible goal and the story behind is is better. The British club Arsenal sold the Moroccan player Nayim to Real Zaragoza, ironically the 2 teams played later in the European Cup Winners Cup final match. In minute 120, just seconds before going into penalty kicks, Nayim took his revenge from Arsenal with this incredible goal in David Seaman's net giving his team Zaragoza the Cup. You wouldn't believe it.

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Moment Three .... Rivaldo living a dream

Remember Rivaldo? This was his best goal ever. It was socred in the last minute against Valnecia which gave Barcelona a 3-2 victory and qualified them to play in the Campions league instead of Valencia.

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Moment Four..... What Luis Fernandez did and Platini, Zico and Socrates couldn't do

This is a France vs. Brazil match in the quarter finals in the World Cup, but this time it's in 1986 in Meixco. Both team played penalty kicks but this penalty by Luis Fernandez was the last one and gave France the tremendous victory. Luis Fernandez later became a manager of Paris St. German club.

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Moment Five..... Zidane strikes for Real

Look at Zidane the genius as he scored for Real Madrid in their final game against Leverkusen in the Champions League final in 2001. The goal speaks for itself. Real Madrid won the game and the Cup thanks to this marvelous goal.

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Moment Six.... The perfect team work

One of the great team work actions for Brazil. It happened at the right time, against Italy in the 1970 World Cup. Watch tis goal and Carlos Alberto the scorer talking about this goal.
Brazil defeated Italy 4-1 and won the Cup that year.

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Moment Seven.... the Goal that was not scored

That is the best chance ever in World Cup history. Very beautiful play by Pele as he deceived the Uruguyan goalie and sent him into the other side without touching the ball, however was unable to finish the ball inside the net. Amazing!

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Moment Eight .... Very sad moments in Jordan

This is probably the saddest part of Jordan's sports history, as we lost in an unbelievable way to Japan in penalty kicks in the quarter finals of the Asian Cup. I still can't believe it. Can you?

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Moment Nine.... When Arabs rocked the World

I talked about this game in a previous post. Algeria had an outstanding performance and defetaed European Champions Germany 2-1. Watch this 3-miute clip of the goals. Those were the days!
See how Balloumi was able to score the second the second for Algeria seconds after Rummenigge equalized for Germnay. Algeria sadly left the cup from the first after Germany and Austria shamelessly fixed their match.

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Moment Ten... Beckham brings England to Life

England was trailing behind Greece 2-1 in the last game of their World Cup Qualifications. That meant England would not qualify directly into the world cup. But in extra time Beckham scored from this free kick and gave England its ticket to the World Cup.

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I can think of a 100 other great moments in football, but those are the ones which crossed my mind now and to which I could find related clips. I hope you enjoyed them.

Lesbian in McDonald's

My work is light this month so I get a lunch break from 12-1. I drive to any nearby junk food restaurant and eat the food that I always advise my patients against eating. Yesterday I went to a McDonald's and I sat on a table-for-four so I can find a place to put a newspaper and read it.

After a while I noticed that that the place was full despite its large size, and that my US Today was occupying the place of some of the people standing up waiting for a place to sit down. I saw a lady standing in front me me with her back to my side. I was about to remove the newspaper and ask her to sit down but as she turned around I hesitated to do so. The reason was her T-shirt, with the flag of "Gay Pride" printed on it. I didn't do anything for ten seconds as many ideas were running through my head, then I removed the newspaper to let her sit down.

I felt guilty for their situation. I am against homsexuality, not only because I'm Chrisitan but also because of my culture and my belief that homosexuality can threaten the foundation of a family which is the basic unit in the foundation of an adherent society. However I don't see it socially more harmful than extramarital relationships, and religiously not more "sinful" than a guy sleeping with his girlfriend even if they are in love. A sin is a sin.

On the other hand I'm totally against discriminating against homosexuals or calling them names, and that explained the feeling of guilt of my attitude towards that woman. I'm against judging people and even if I believe that woman was committing a sin she might have lied much less than I did, she might have done more charity than I did and she might end up in a better place than I will after she dies.

The simple teaching is to learn to treat people as you like to be treated. I treated that woman like a black man being denied the right to sit in he White Man section back before the 1960s. I considered the newspaper more important than her and that is very dehumanizing.
It's challenging to know that a certain person is doing things which are wrong in your opinion and who are totally different than you and still manitain your respect for them. But what else can differentiate us from animals?