Month: March 2006

Bush Take Geography 101 – Pakistan is NOT an Arab Nation

I am sure there is nothing to worry about – President Bush has it all under control. He knows who the evil doers are – after all he knows that Pakistan is an Arab Nation …..

In a farewell speech in New Delhi, Bush ran into trouble when he praised Pakistan as “a force for freedom and moderation in the Arab world.” The White House hastened to correct Bush’s reference to Pakistan as an Arab nation, and said he meant to say Muslim.

MSNBC

Just in case you did not get the importance of GWB’s mistake in the quote above:

Pakistan is located in Southern Asia.
I so want to scream…….

Dubai International Capital Our Next DP World?

First, the Dubai company DP World gets 21 ports (6 depending on how and what you count). Now we have Dubai International Capital taking over the London-based Doncasters Group Ltd. And, what is this company get? They will take over plants that make precision components used in engines for military aircraft and tanks – in Georgia and Connecticut!

Duabi International Capital is a member of Dubai Holding


Here is a quote from the Washington Post:

The administration notified congressional committees this week that its secretive Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) is investigating the security implications of Dubai International Capital’s $1.2 billion acquisition of London-based Doncasters Group Ltd., which has subsidiaries in the United States. It is also investigating an Israeli company’s plans to buy the Maryland software security firm Sourcefire, which does business with Defense Department agencies.

Did you catch that? An Israeli company plans to buy A U.S. company that supplies U.S. Federal, State, and Local, government agencies.

“U.S. Federal Government Partner
Because of the complex and dynamic nature of selling into the public sector, Sourcefire has developed a program that provides support to partners who have established relationships with Federal, State and Local government agencies. Sourcefire works with our partners on Federal Government opportunities and support their initiatives through the GSA Schedule and other Federal Government contracts.”

From Sourcfire’s website.

Just where are we headed as a country? Globalization has to mean outsourcing?
Why are we allowing the prime players of political hotbeds into our countries transportation and security sectors?

Bicycle Bomb Sticker- Todays Reality

Yes, in this administration they want us to believe that Bush’s warrant less NSA electronic surveillance on Americans is legal; his judicial choices will keep terrorists in their place, by curtailing our civil liberties we are safer, and that the renewal of the Patriot Act will protect us.I celebrate my birthday with this sad but humorous reflection on the effects of our administrations fear tactics and reality in our world today.

An Athens, Ohio police officer, after seeing a ‘This Bike is a Pipe Bomb’ sticker on a bicycle chained outside a restaurant on the Ohio University campus, created quite a disturbance when he called it in as a bomb threat. Believable in this age of fear and paranoia he was just doing his duty. A Google search shows bike bombs are more prevalent than one would think. The bicycle no longer an innocuous item.

image

The bomb experts hit the bike with a high-pressure spray of water, pried it apart with a hydraulic device normally used to rescue accident victims trapped in cars. Once the poor bicycle was destroyed, they saw there was no bomb. The sticker was a promo for a punk band of the same name. The student is now facing a possible penalty of six months in jail for “inducing panic.
More at CNN

Why do I Blog? Why do You Blog? Why Blog?

At the time I started blogging maintaining my personal web site had become a bore. A friend wanted to start a blog and asked for my assistance. Therefore, I started a blog to learn the mechanics of blogging. This friend has since decided it was not to their liking and chose not blog. Another friend has just started a blog. Why I kept blogging is a question that I have no honest answer to. I like reading other peoples blogs and enjoy the hunt to verify anything that is put out as “fact” without references to back it up. I do confess, one of the bloggers here has caught me “over stating”. I decided that if I took the time to research and verify, I might as well post my findings. Some days I am in the mood for political subjects, and, some days, I just want share a picture of my dog.

Craig at Donkey Path posted an interesting piece in reference to another blog’s article. Here is the line in Craigs post that I felt expressed an ideal worthy mention “… people who notice useful things need to get that information out more and they need to help each other do so.” It seems that I am not the only blogger around considering the questions of why people blog and their expectations. He also did a nice survey of the blogs listed on Technorati.

A slice of why the writers of some of the blogs I visit – blog (in no particular order):

A lot of us got involved on message boards long before we started commenting on blogs and then starting our own blogs; one of the primary motives is that tens of thousands of us felt the Bush Administration wasn’t being straight with us and the press didn’t seem to be doing its job. So people were scouring the Internet for news sources in the United States as well as all over the world.

Craig at Donkey Path

The reason was my disappointment of what I used to read about what and how the Middle East is represented to the world online. It was (and maybe still) an image drawn with black painting on a black background. I felt that I have a duty to do. At least try to erase one line from that dark painting and replace it with a white one that represent some of the unknown shiny facts about this part of the world. That’s when I decided to focus my own blog on Mideast. Slowly the blog topics encouraged healthy discussions, which encouraged me to write more on political, cultural, religious and life of Arabs.

Haitham Sabbah at Sabbah’s Blog

I got interested in weblogs a couple of months before the war when I accidently stumbled on Where is Raed by Salam Pax. I was impressed, then I discovered other blogs and got hooked to this new medium of interaction with the world. After the war other Iraqis joined the scene such as Riverbend which had quite an impact on me. I had become frustrated with the negative media coverage from Iraq so I decided to start a blog myself to present the positive side which was not getting enough attention.

Zeyad at Healing Iraq

it occurred to us that there are too many fine blogs getting overlooked outside the top-rated sites. So I intend to browse the blogosphere at my own idiosyncratic pace and catch some of the better blogs and posts I find

Poechewe at Cold Flute

I spent an hour surfing looking for reasons people blog. Of all the reasons I found, for some reason, this one stood out:

Back in Jun of 2002, my friend Wu Hao told me a story about the monk and the well. It was about two monks living in the same mountain. Both of the two monks go to river far away to get water. One year later, one monk did have to go to the river while the other had to go. The reason is, the smarter monk used the year to dig a well by himself everyday, while the other one did nothing. It reveals the importance of accumulation

Jian Shuo Wang’s Blog

Here is a blog that I visit everyday. I have no idea why I do. I have no idea why Eugene started blogging. I never know what the topic will be or where he is going but it is another view in the blogoshere. Eugene if you read this I will try and remember to close my tab in Firefox when done reading. Eugene wants readers – lets us give him a few – why not?

Eugene Weixel at Fat Old Jewish Guy Who Lives In The City

My friend impeachinator has started a blog Smell Test. I hope you take the time to drop by. She is a very intelligent woman and with the help of other blogger’s I hope she will master the blogoshere and get her voice heard.

Now the question is…why do I blog? . … . .If you have an idea why I blog please give me a clue.