The YAKUZA

L.A. Times Article!!! Jordan's Fate

2006-10-14T05:41:00.000-07:00

This is an article posted in the L.A. Times on October 1st, 2006.
Apparently the writer has a somewhat less optimistic view on the Fate of Jordan, but who are we to judge what is the fate of a country. Comments anyone??? I might have a few.

Here it is...

Jordan's King Risks Shah's Fate, Critics Warn
Abdullah II, who has closely allied himself with the U.S., is accused by reformers and traditionalists alike of alienating his people.
By Borzou Daragahi, Times Staff WriterOctober 1, 2006

AMMAN, Jordan — A politically inexperienced king takes control of a Middle Eastern monarchy from his powerful father, surrounds himself with U.S. military hardware and spies, loses touch with his people and is finally ejected in a popular uprising. That was the tale of Mohammed Reza Shah Pahlavi, the pro-American ruler of Iran whose ouster ushered in the reign of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and three decades of Islamic rule.
Now many in this Arab country of more than 5 million people fear that a similar fate could befall King Abdullah II, the Jordanian monarch who assumed power after his charismatic father died in 1999. "Until now in Amman we don't have a Khomeini," said one mid-ranking official serving the Jordanian Cabinet. "If there was a Khomeini, then this family would be in trouble." The king's father, Hussein, deftly balanced his country's contradictory pressures. He paid respects to the conservative East Bank tribes' demands for stability while also attending to calls from the nation's more cosmopolitan majority Palestinians for democratic change. But critics on both sides of the Jordanian divide say the 44-year-old king has failed to garner popular support. Descendants of the tribes that are the monarchy's base criticize the king for failing to abide by tribal customs and losing touch with his supporters. They whisper the name of Abdullah's popular younger brother, Hamzeh. Palestinian groups and activists fear that the government in Amman has gotten too close to Washington, has adopted the Bush administration's with-us-or-against-us worldview too thoroughly and is sliding on human rights and democracy.
"King Hussein was an artist," said Ivan Eland, for 17 years a staff member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and now an analyst at the Oakland-based Independent Institute, a think tank. "He was roundly criticized for supporting Saddam [Hussein] in the first Gulf War. But in retrospect, he looked pretty smart. "The son has gotten more in bed with the United States," he added. "He hasn't been distancing himself from American policy. That has put him in a hole he hasn't been able" to get out of.Numerous parallels exist between the shah's rule and that of Abdullah. Like the shah's SAVAK security and intelligence service, Jordan's General Intelligence Department, now in a new hilltop complex in an Amman suburb, operates as a "subdivision" of the CIA, said Alexis Debat, a former French Defense Ministry official who is a counter-terrorism consultant and a senior fellow at the Nixon Center in Washington. By Debat's estimates, the Jordanian intelligence agency receives at least $20 million a year in U.S. funding for operations and liaison work. "They're doing all the legwork for the CIA," he said. The Jordanians have become one of Washington's closest allies in the intelligence-gathering business, second only to Britain's MI6, counter-intelligence experts say. They are closer to the CIA than the Mossad, Israel's much-touted intelligence agency, which is considered to have too much of an agenda of its own to be completely reliable, Debat said. Like the Iran of the 1970s, Jordan has become a receptacle of U.S. interests and trade. American aid to the kingdom has totaled $3.59 billion over the last five years, compared with $1.36 billion during the previous five years, according to the Congressional Research Service. Like the shah's regime, the Jordanian monarchy has surrounded itself with American hardware. Just before Hussein's death, Amman took delivery of 16 advanced F-16 fighter jets. "That was a sort of threshold that Jordan crossed," said Michael R. Fischbach, a professor of history at Randolph-Macon College in Virginia. "They got truly advanced weaponry. It made Jordan have aircraft on par with Israel."
U.S.-made military hardware abounds on Jordan's streets. Jordanian soldiers carrying American-made M-16 assault rifles and riding in olive-green U.S.-made Humvees watch over sensitive military and political sites in Amman, the capital. Convoys of U.S. military transport trucks move in and out of the country.Perhaps most controversially, say Amnesty International and other human rights groups, Jordan has become an important nexus in U.S. intelligence's subterranean "renditions" network, in which terrorism suspects are secretly detained and interrogated in countries with blemished human rights records. Jordanian officials deny participation in the program. Many worry that bolstering Jordanian security forces amid widespread reports of abuses against detainees has hampered the country's baby steps toward democratization. "The security forces are improving at the cost of democracy," said Hamzeh Mansur, a leader of the Islamic Action Front, the main Islamist parliamentary bloc. Jordanian officials say the security apparatus has been ramped up and civil liberties laws tightened out of fear the country will become a staging ground for secretive cells plotting violent operations in Iraq, Israel and the Palestinian territories. Jordan has also been victimized by terrorism, including the Nov. 9, 2005, bombings of three Amman hotels that killed dozens. "You have to combat terrorism while it's in its planning stage," said Nasser Joudeh, a government spokesman. "We will not allow Jordan to be used as a scene for any activity relating to non-Jordanian problems. We will not allow anyone to bring militant or extremist ideas into Jordan or export them elsewhere." But the Hashemite kingdom's evident close ties with Washington and its leap into the U.S.-declared war on terrorism threaten to put the government on what some call a collision course with many of its people, especially in light of a sharp increase in anti-American sentiment after the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and Israel's recent bombing of Lebanon in the Jewish state's war against Shiite Muslim militants.

"Being darlings of the U.S. is considered bad, bad, bad," said a Western analyst based in Jordan who requested anonymity.Jordanian government officials say the security forces have become less heavy-handed in their approach. "I am liberal-minded," said Maj. Gen. Mohammed Dahabi, the chief of Jordanian intelligence, who says he was appointed in December with a mandate to clean up the service's reputation as well as confront the growing threat of Islamic militants in neighboring Iraq and the West Bank.
However, confronted by the recent allegations of torture, the officials acknowledge that the past casts a long shadow on the country. "Old habits die hard," said Dahabi, who represents a segment of the tribal-dominated security forces that strongly supports the king. Few publicly speak out against the king because of a law that can be used to prosecute those who do. "Criticisms of the king and the intelligence forces are strictly taboo and carry serious penalties," says a January 2006 Human Rights Watch report. "Articles of the penal code criminalize speech slandering public officials, criticizing the king and his family, and harming relations with other states." But Abdullah has emboldened a legion of critics among the country's tradition-minded tribes that are the backbone of the monarchy. "He talks about information technology and foreign investment, but he doesn't really know his own people," said the government official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of his sensitive position within the Cabinet. "The tribes are very upset with him," said the Western analyst in Amman."The impression is that he's too Westernized."Many critics say the monarch has been too busy pursuing a Western agenda instead of forging ahead with a vision for uniting the country, which remains divided between the powerful tribes and the numerous Jordanian nationals of Palestinian descent. "He has ambitions to make Jordan a modern country," said Jean-Robert Leguey-Feilleux, a scholar of Middle East politics, diplomacy and terrorism at St. Louis University. "You can't do that without the support of the people."
daragahi@latimes.comTimes staff writer Josh Meyer in Washington contributed to this report.

Here are some of my thoughts, which might be of interest to our friend...

We all know that, as far as humanity is concerned, boundries and resources have always been on the top of the list of causes leading to disputes and wars. Nations had to seek as much power as possible in order ensure their survival within their designated areas, and alliances seemed to be a very logical move to most nations.

Jordan had a long history within a very turbulant geographical region in the middle east. Each of the nations around us as Jordanians had to make through their leaders certain strategic decisions that would eventually define the "fate" of their respective nations. I as a Jordanian would be proud to say that our leadership - within at least my time of 30 years- has made remarkable decisions that contributed to the well-being of our country. If we are to compare "pro's and con's" to these decisions which have decided to some extent my fate as well as that of many others, and we have seen great progress to most aspects of our live. Growth on all espects of the socio- and economic indicators on the rise, thanks to those strategic decisions that the leadership has made, part of which would be the alliances that our friend has mentioned. Jordanians are able (if willing) to live and prosper with chances offered to many, and many have prospered. Thanks to these alliances, Jordan has only created friends and no enemies. And this is prominantly seen based on comparisons to the similar countries surrounding Jordan.

Then we will ask our friend about his quoted "prominant figures". I would ask them on how they became prominant. I assure you it takes hard work, and the chances were offered to them as well as many others, and they have prospered to prominancy. All you have to do is walk through the streets of Amman and other cities, then compare on the development that has been achieved in these areas within the last 20 years, and more visbly recently.

So there are some who did not see the interest in these alliances, and how they served Jordan, but their choice of alliances led them to where they are. The long-sightedness of our leadership has to be commended. Our allies are the biggest and most powerful nations in the world, and these alliances created even more opportunities to Jordanians. The cooperation between the Jordanian government and foreign ones (our allies) has only ensured better security, more stability, more trade, and more income for many countries. We have become part of the world, just as in the cases of many others that have embraced globalization and cooperation.

But what about the people? For what is a leader without his people?

People have needs that have to be satisfied. It is true there are many dreams (realistic and unrealistic ones) that have to be satisfied as well. But what is the promise??? What is the role of the government???

What sounds better? A father that will provide a home to his children, put food on the table, have access to education, medicine, technology, and life. Or is it a promise of greatness with no visible reality? What did our otherwise "alternative" alliances have to contribute to our well-being as a nation. What access can they provide versus those of our current alliances. Let those who claim this come forward, or forever hold their peace.

Is this not the purpose of a government with wise leadership? To provide for their people, while ensuring the continuity to development and further access? Or is it just politics?

I implore all for their feedback.

The Yakuza Story

2006-08-23T03:32:00.000-07:00

The Yakuza: Clan of Japanese Assassins, Or Japanese Mob / Gangsters.

Many a time, people asked why the name the Yakuza, considering what it means. The name carries to me, as it should for the rest of the world, more meaning than the immediate visible, so I thought it is something to share with everyone. The story of the Yakuza.

In the ancient Japanese traditions, there were always the Samurai. Warriors who were of the highest level of dedication, discipline, valor, and honor. Accordingly, whoever became a Samurai, was respected very highly. The traits that made them the warriors that they were was more a way of life where intricate details and perfectionism was taken to levels that until today, very few can endure.

The Yakuza, a clan from within the Samurai, characterized by their special tattoos that covered not just limbs, but large areas of their bodies, and in some cases, where the rank was high, from neck to toes literally. What also characterized this clan of special warriors is that they were extremely skilled at the warrior business, and extremely disciplined in their way of life, that they became the best.

The Yakuza – to the misfortune of the Samurai – despite the high level of skill and discipline were easily corruptible. They were very apt on drinking their Sake, the rice wine, which was drunk in very large quantities, and made them corruptible. Their skills were then easily bought by the rich, and they became mere assassins, but lethal ones nevertheless.

With time, as the Yakuza discovered their numbers and skills, and decided to use it for their own benefit, and became what we know today as gangsters, mobsters, thugs. They are still there, but without the great respect, honor, and valor that they held before. Just a certain amount of fear that they can enforce on the weaker parts of the population, or the followers at most.

The lesson from the Yakuza reminds us of how easily corruptible people are. How people can change their allegiance to what has less to do with what they started off with doing. Just as the yakuza were such warriors, entrusted by the people to protect and to serve, and how they became, a bunch of thugs and gangsters.

I am quite sure that if we look into today’s societies we can find similar examples of the effect of corruption on people with special skills. Skills that can serve so much, but can be transformed into something so devastating and shameful.

Can we learn our lesson??? Can we resist the temptations??? Are we corruptible???
I guess these are question each has to look deep inside within our souls to discover what our limits are, and prepare ourselves for the temptation. And as the Holy Book say:” Give us this day our daily bread, and lead us not into temptation”.

Why the Children???

2006-07-30T08:24:00.000-07:00

Why the Children???

As I watch the news and I look upon the aftermath of the massacre at Qana – Lebanon, I cannot think or wonder on how we got to this. 65 people dead of which so far are 40 children, no older than the tender age of 12 in one raid on a small town in less than 2 hours (technically 2 minutes).

What kind of hatred, inhumanity, or cruelty would drive an army of what is supposedly a civilized state (a state by its own declaration only) to make such a massacre and kill all these people who are not fighters, but people trying to take cover from the raids and fighting? Women and Children mostly, in addition to several elderly people were killed in the blink of an eye. This is terrorism.

The saddest of all is that the world powers who claim to fight for freedom, justice, and democracy are sitting and watching. The same powers that claim to fight terrorism and have invaded several countries and destroyed them because of the claim of the killings of innocent people, genocide, and war crimes. Where are these powers now to take action for the hundreds of people that have been killed by a ruthless army commanded by ruthless people in a matter of 2 weeks?

People of the world, this is genocide, this is murder, these are not casualties of war, these are not warriors, these are innocent bystanders running for their lives.

As a bystander myself, an Arab, and part of the moderate thinkers as I would like to consider myself, I can no longer see how this type of action can be justified, understood, misunderstood, or comprehended in any manner. This act of savagery should not go by unquestioned and unpunished. Moderation requires actions and intentions, so does understanding, but this is too much for anyone to comprehend.

A question for the same powers that claim to fight for the justice and peace in the world: What if the tables were turned and this was an act committed by Hizballah? I assure you, and may God forgive you, a full invasion of Lebanon would have been authorized.

Who is there in the world to speak for these people, whoever is left behind, without family, homes, nothing??? Where is the entity that is supposed to be there for the betrayed and oppressed? Where are the United Nations, the Security Council, the European Union, NATO? Where art thou? Are you going to allow this to go on, and send some medicine and food after there is no one left to use them? We as citizens of the world thought (or mislead to believe) that you were there to prevent this. To make sure that this kind of murder does not take place again, and we were there to support you.

How, after all this, can we trust these powers??? No Way.

Will you take action?
Will you bring the dead back?
Will you rebuild the homes?
Will you take the fear out of people’s hearts and minds?
Will you learn?

How Sad. What Shame. What Betrayal. What Injustice.

Karma Vs. Destiny Vs. Fate

2006-07-23T15:34:00.000-07:00

kar·ma (kär ma ) n.
1. Hinduism & Buddhism The total effect of a person's actions and conduct during the successive phases of the person's existence, regarded as determining the person's destiny.
2. Fate; destiny.
3. Informal A distinctive aura, atmosphere, or feeling: There's bad karma around the house today.

As the human race gets more educated, the world is only getting smaller, and we are more exposed to the diversities of different countries and regions. Most importantly, we are exposed to culture. The cultural diversity allows us as people to understand each other better, and consequently, bridging our differences.

Certain societies, have bridged these differences in such a manner, that they are no longer differences, and have become mere personal preferences to a way of life. The very basic concept of bridging is acceptance, and this is where the success of multicultural societies resides.

Despite all the differences, there are specific patterns, forming unmistakable similarities, in concepts defining a way of life. One of these concepts that comes under many different names is Fate, Destiny, Karma, the Arabic Qadar (or Gods Will), French Destin, etc…
All of the above concepts through the different societies refer to a predetermined end result, that has been decided by some divine power, to some it’s God, others nature, or just called divine intervention.

Nevertheless, even within the realm of the predetermined events, there lay some differences. Fate, also known best by the verse “it has been written”, is a set of events that are going to happen because the divine power has decided so as part of a master plan. This particular plan has a lot of particularities and is not understood, and we as people have to take it for granted that it is just part of a master plan we cannot grasp, imagine, or comprehend, taking into consideration that those who tell us so, do not know it either.
Destiny on the other hand, tries to display a more noble approach where destiny is part of someone’s life that can be changed, but it is best to follow your own destiny, a chain of events that would ensure the completion of a plan that has to do with that one person. The concept of predetermination still exists; there is always some planned event.
Karma in its essence and it goes a lot further in detail, dictates a part of predetermination as in the case of destiny and fate, but links it more to the events during a life time. These events are the culmination of actions that determine this plan, relating more to the cause and effect philosophy of life, but only at face value where it is the total of actions and choices rather than a one-by-one approach. The result is a state of mind and being that is good or bad karma. The result is a more flexible vision.

With all that in mind, as well as our hearts, we have to consider the following facts. We make choices every day that change our life. Starting from choices at childhood and adolescence where we decide what we want to study, whether to study or not, later the choices become more complex, making the choice of career, the choice to marry and settle down, the choice to have children, and many other life changing choices. It is not the choice of which bar of chocolate a person is buying today, as the result is the same in chocolate satisfaction. But consider it as voting for the person who is to be president, and the choice was devastatingly wrong. It was a choice that was made. A person about to commit a crime is faced with the choice of doing it and risking his life as well as that of others, choices that collect as a series of choices that change the course of a person’s life. Take this as a cross road where we have the option of going forward, left, and right with no exact idea where each would lead, but we know that we cannot stay where we are, so we take one, to the best of our knowledge we will take the path that seems to be best lit and has the best scenery. It might be a good choice for the ride, but an ugly dead end. Most probably, we will be ending up at another cross road where we have to make the choice of going left, forward, or right again, after which, there are many more cross roads. The result is that, we are no longer able to know where we are going, but we try to take the best path based on our evaluation. There is no map to life, but there is always experience and education to help us evaluate better, and not mistake the path.

So how does this fall into place with concepts like destiny, fate, karma, or anything that has been predetermined? Which of us knew at the tender age of 10 where we would be at the age of 20, 30, or any age? Who knows what will happen tomorrow. Who can predict the outcome of his choice today, 5 years down the line? The obvious answer is no one, and if anywhere close, there is no certainty or guarantee.

Shakespeare for instance, in his own wisdom, said: Nothing is sure but death and taxes.
This is a person who knew that life is all about the uncertainties, but has succeeded to visualize in a very subtle manner, the only two eventualities he could come up with. To our misfortune, the only thing we know to be a true destiny, fate, karma, eventuality, and certainty, is death. The only thing that is predetermined to every living soul, determined by biological processes, and is an undeniable part of our life cycle.

So in a life that is full of uncertainties, where the pursuit of a better life is always at hand, independence is becoming a more sought after commodity, and choices are becoming more complex, how can anything be predetermined? How can we believe in a destiny, fate, Karma, or any concept that even insinuates that “it has been written”?
Why would this divine intervention or power create a plan that - through choices- one can not only wrong oneself, but many others alongside, from the mere making of one choice?

War: The Forgotten Chapter

2006-07-21T08:51:00.000-07:00

Watching a lion entering the territory of another lion, and the stand-off that takes place when the other lion is defending his territory, send shivers down the spine. The most brutal and ferocious fight breaks out between the two lions. At times, the odds are not even where more than one lion attacks another lion protecting his territory, and other times the protecting lion is old and worn out. In any case, only one will prevail, the others will die in battle. The prevailing one reigns over the territory and the pride.

The need to feed, and the very basic requirements for survival, excluding greed, tyranny, and glory, are what drives these lions to invade other territories; otherwise they are going to perish from hunger and thirst.

The same case would apply to all species. The growth in the number of the individuals, combined with the limitation or lack of resources, will drive the individuals to look elsewhere and fight if their survival is dependant on that.

Humans, nevertheless, have a very different type of motivation. It is no longer just the control over the necessary resources, but the greed for riches. We have become much more developed than other animals, and the needs that have to be satisfied have gone to astronomical levels, to the point that full satisfaction is impossible.

Many scientists have ventured to explore what motivates men and women to do what they do, and we have come to accept greed and discontent as part of our human nature despite being flaws. And so we fight.

Jumping forward in history to our current day, the formula for invasion in search of resources and the need to gain control over these resources, have led to a new concept of organized fighting with strategy and schematics, namely, wars. Weapons, military training, arsenals, fighting machines, have become the most developed science. The need to be able to attack and conquer has become the occupation of all governments, and they name it the need to defend.

Ensuring the availability of resources was always taken care of by means of trade and exchange, money, goods, services, etc. Beyond which, where trade fails, and greed reigns, we go to war. We invade. We kill.

Fact: War machines are the most expensive machines to build.
Fact: War machines require the highest level of technology and sophistication.
Fact: War machines are the least lasting machines.
Fact: Governments around the world spend no less than one third of their income to build armies from the money that was supposed to serve the public as it came from the public in taxes (in the U.S. the figure is 65% of the GDP)
Fact: Wars have claimed lives more than any other epidemic or means of death, and continues to do so while more epidemics come to our attention.
Fact: Wars leave countries and governments in debt for many years to come, while a war might last for no longer than one week.
Fact: Rebuilding what war has destroyed greatly exceeds what the war costs, let alone what can never be rebuilt as in the case of lives and pain.
Fact: Wars are becoming more and more devastating by the day, and weapons are becoming deadlier and deadlier by the day.
Fact: Most of our current everyday luxuries started out as military inventions (look at what happened to the internet)
Fact: Wars are more frequent. Wars are less justified.

Bottom Line: Our greed drives us to kill more and more by the day, and we spend our tax money to make us better killers.

Media, in their capacity as a reliable information provider, lead people into believing that they are at war because they are threatened, and people nowadays believe (sadly) anything that goes on the television or what the media tells them.

Nevertheless, people around the world are becoming more educated, opinionated, and have better access to information, thus allowing themselves to see beyond what the media have to portray. But the majority will still continue to believe what the media has to offer, rather that their own due diligence in search for the true facts. Media only offers on view, and it is always sliced, diced, edited, and relayed with commentary, to ensure that the message they want to deliver is not distorted, besides being true or otherwise. Media will only represent a voice; it only makes a difference of who has access to media to make sure they are heard. Governments, having access to all, will always be heard as they would like. Civilians, citizens, as individuals, will rarely have enough access or coverage.

Whether we would like to admit it or not, the fact that governments around the world still have great control over media, will not change. Freedom of speech will still be restricted to what the governments will allow. Voices that are rising to high to the disliking of the government will be censored to the liking, or just not shown.

The U.S. has been the greatest success at doing all of the above. Starting with the military research spending, to control over the resources, to censoring and editing the media, and creating wars. Albeit they have the largest arsenal in the world, enough to wipe out the next 10 largest armies, and wipe out 1 or 2 continents from existence within 2 weeks.
Is this the need to defend, or is this the preparation for invasion???

Sadly, the U.S. now has a set of loyal followers, who will always follow for right or wrong. Destruction of the world means nothing to them, because they will be employing their businesses to rebuild. The greatest profit making machines.

Looking closer to home, and more specifically in the latest crisis between Israel and Lebanon, it is a great loss. The image portrayed earlier of the two fighting lions sends shivers down the spine, but images of dead people, piled corpses, mutilated children, destruction of what took hundreds of years to build, and loss of life, no longer have an effect on us humans, because we see it all too often. Not only in Lebanon, but also in Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan, and even in Israel. The images are the most horrible and tormenting thought for anyone, but our eyes and minds have become desensitized to the point of blindness, and we lost our conscience.

We have become a society that is not able to live without war. The concept of fellowship and being able to sympathize with our fellow humans despite our differences is extinct. Our own development to being smarter, advanced, and evolved society is going to drive us to extinction from wars, and along all signs of life on this planet.

Final fact for consideration: There are enough nuclear heads in weaponry and ready for launch, that are enough to erase all life forms from the face of this earth 3 times, and the effects will last for no less than 200 years. At this rate, extinction for the human race is inevitable, and along with that, all life forms on earth.

Freedom of Expression: Blogging Chapter.

2006-07-16T09:38:00.000-07:00

Freedom of expression is a blessing for anyone who can use it in a wise and respectful manner….

My fellow Jordanian bloggers have gone to great extents to make sure that the quality of our blogging material and content are great. It’s a great way for anyone to express their opinions and views on what goes on around us, and I encourage anyone who has an opinion on what society needs, or what society wants to discuss, to do it. Fellow Jordanians, I implore everyone to express themselves.

But to my personal belief and understanding, and I am new to this, there must be a protocol or etiquette to follow. For freedom of expression is like a sword, it has the two edges (I couldn’t write this in Arabic thanks to my keyboard)… It can be a great way to get your message across to people who can relate to your opinion, but it can create problems as well.

Many a time, I have read through articles and comments, where slander and insult, have gone to become very offensive to the writer, or the commenter. The same goes to describe certain aspects of our systems as a society.
I am personally sensitive to just criticism with no aim, or just to express an opinion. Nevertheless I am very receptive to constructive criticism, where the dialogue or statement addresses a certain issue at the core, and actually suggests solutions.
I am also sensitive to pointing out the faults of others, without being able to admit our own faults.

So why are we blogging???

My personal blog raises questions at the core, when they do. Otherwise it’s just me venting out or letting my thoughts go. Some people may find it weird, others entertaining, but on either case, it’s just things that happen to be in my mind for a long enough time (meaning it’s worth discussing to me), and of course, I add my personal opinion on to that. Again we are talking about a fact, and the opinions revolving around it. Some people would agree, others wouldn’t, but my point here remains, there is no need for insult or slandering (same goes for use of explicit language). Considering I’m new, I have not had to deal with that yet, but I’ve seen it on others. But what if I raise a controversial issue one day, would I be bombarded with insults and slander for having my view??? Would that encourage me (or anyone for all that matters) to express their opinion, and address real issues that might have been neglected by society? Truth be spoken, I’ve seen issues on blogs that even a father would not discuss with his son at a home, but it was been discussed over the internet by pioneers of expression in our society. Yes. Pioneers on the freedom of expression, daily diaries, blogs, forums, etc., It uses the most sought after source of information and entertainment.

These issues are there, and I admire bloggers of Jordan for raising these issues, and they should be treated with the respect and appreciation that they deserve for that.
Because, if we as bloggers start to abuse this right, we will start blocking the trouble makers out, and that, in its pure essence, defies the concept of freedom of expression.

I invite everyone, and anyone, to go through my blog, comment, agree, disagree, and comment again. It is your God-given right. I want the feedback, but let us treat each other with the proper respect, so we can get along, and build something for our society. The reason we publish this stuff is for people to read.

Fellow bloggers, do you agree???

The Monster Within And The Angel Within

2006-07-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

“Even in the most treacherous of times, some men prove to be more evil than other men. Cruelty pulses through their hearts and veins, bringing them to life and awakening their senses. And so they suffer, the same exhilaration when torturing their fellow man that most men feel when making love. They hold to a punishing and powerful God, one of their own invention and with warped religious fervor create themselves in the vision of this illusion.”
Mario Puzo – The Family

Every person alive has an inner monster, as well as an inner angel. It is just a question of which is more dominant that defines the personality of this person. This is not something that comes from nature as much as an acquired trait, one that is developed over time from childhood. It is not a question of personality as in being passive, aggressive, or pacifist, etc. It is more of a hidden side to a person that the person himself did not know existed as it never emerged. Some people would argue and deny the existence of these two sides, the monster side and the angel side only because they have never seen it, or just hate to admit it.

As we grow from the childhood stages to the adulthood, we learn to tame the sides, but one will always be dominant. To our misfortune, society rules that the angel side has to preside and dominate, sometimes pressing the monster inside to the greatest extent possible. What society denies is that this monster is still there, and it is just locked up. Pressure to keep it inside will feed it to become more ferocious, yet dormant. Our personal practice of patience and self-control will just keep it dormant without aggravating it.

But as per the quote mentioned above, humans fall into treacherous times, testing our patience, our control, and everything that holds this monster within until one day the monster will break out. The chains that we have created can no longer hold this powerful monster that we have fed for so long and held back.

But what does this monster do???

It will furiously attack the first parameter that holds it, namely our mind. Attacks our sense, our reason, our rationality, and ruin them, rendering them idle and useless. Then the monster will need to feed, and it will feed on our deepest and most powerful emotions, and leave way for our insecurities (another monster) to grow. Our poor minds in an attempt to defend themselves will be consumed, and we lose all that makes the angel thrive, the emotions. Our first instinctive option is to release this monster to the outside, the other option is try and hold it back, fight it, and control it.

The only thing that this monster does is destroy everything that the angel built in the past under the rule of society. All civility, kindness, care, or other works are shredded and devastated. And this cycle will continue until the monster has consumed everything it could, destroyed whatever was built, and go back to sleep, only to be suppressed again by the all-so-dominant angel, supported by the surroundings.

Some people have the tendency to hold on to the monster, and become self-destructive to them, fighting everything within. An internal war where the angel will win the battle, only to lose the war as the monster feeds, and the angel rebuilds. The result is a depressing state of chaos and mayhem inside the person, and the angel is finally exhausted.

On the other hand, the monster may break out, no longer within, and attacks the first thing it sees. The people around us are then bit by the monster with so much cruelty displayed in so many different manners. Words, actions, or a combination of both will hurt everyone around us, until again, the monster sleeps, but is so exhausted that it will rarely wake up again soon. The result is that everyone around us is so hurt beyond the acceptable and beyond the angel's immediate power to heal, the angel will only come back to weep, cry, and sob over what was lost and ruined (also known as conscience).

Where do we go from here?

It is important to acknowledge the existence of the monster within each and every one of us. This monster is ME, YOU, and EVERYONE. Learning how to deal with and control this monster is very important. The best defense is building up our lines of defense. One is patience, and it goes the longest way before the monster is released. I have found good friends are a great help, to absorb the food that the monster feeds on.

This and only this can ensure that the angel will prevail.

Crash Course: How to get married in Jordan

2006-07-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

To the misfortune of some people I know who are dear to me, there was a death in their family, so my duty as a friend, took me to the 3aza, which was at their family house. For the second day of 3aza, the mourning was a little less serious, but something reminiscent of last summer came to be, but different in the content.

Being seated with the men, occasionally interrupted by a brief lady entrance and departure, exposes many a topic. Of course the men will start off on business, leading to the stock market, to politics, to the good old days, to the modern days, to their hardship with their kids at home, to their wives, to new places they tried out. A lot of subjects. All you have to do to change topic is just mention it, and by nature everyone has a comment or experience with the matter. The order of the conversations may change occasionally.

But there is also a subject that always has to arise. Getting the young men of the family married. Me, a couple of my very good friends, and others in the family of my age, are sitting there, and one lady (the little interruption mentioned earlier) comes and drops the sentence that starts the storm on all bachelors within the 600 miles radius: When are you gonna make us happy (eimta bidna nifra7 fik ???) after which, she will abruptly leaves. One of the most uncomfortable feelings I guess is when all eyes of the people around you are just sooooooo focused on you, but you have no answer, or you would like to avoid the whole topic. Whether you answer or not, it will not change anything unless you tell them that my marriage is next month and you are all invited, and “Thou shalt Be Haunted By Thy Own Words For Eternity” unless that was actually the plan.

This is the part where the older bachelors start leaving the scene very discreetly only to be screamed at, and dragged back into the room to take some serious heat. Every single bachelor who is above 23 years of age is going to bare witness to the heat, the older the hotter it is. Looking at their faces reddening with anger while being unable to answer because it’s the father, uncle, or the family elder who is doing the talking, while the other bachelors who do not realize what is coming for them are just laughing their heads off in the corner, but it’s coming.

As the blame of why the bachelor is not married turns from the bachelor himself to his father, tables will turn as the men ask the question hits the right spot: Leish Tarkoh La Halla2???
This is when the fathers will start to seem like they are sobbing and tearing on how their son (who they were boasting about 30 minuets earlier) is giving them such a hard time and is not convinced and does not want to get married considering what marriage has to offer, the newly weds are the first to agree while trying to hide their denial (because the guy was just telling me that he just got married, and said whatever you do don’t get married in another side conversation in the garden over a cigarette that he doesn’t want his newly wedded wife to see).

They are so desperate to get their children married they offer them not just help and some finances, these are things I heard today, from fathers to their sons:
- Your own house and JD30,000.
- A house and a brand new Mercedes E200.
- JD100,000.
- A house, a car, and some cash.
- You already have the house I built you, here’s another JD100,000.

Hell. The offers were getting more lucrative by the second, the final consensus was do not accept anything less than a quarter million. One guy was ready to sign off 30% of his company to his son (estimated worth: 2 million)… These people are just begging… you’ll be surprised to see how adamant the children are despite the lucrative offers. Too bad for me I didn’t get any similar offers, but I could not help laughing.

On the other hand, the ladies inside, are showcasing their offspring. Priority goes to the older girls, but all are available if they are above the legal age of 16. Each would have her daughters lined up beside her on the couch, and during the whole process they will not say a single word other than thank you and smile, any other word will be met by a look of serious fury from the mother and she will make herself understood.

The matching between daughters and sons has already been underway from the early hours of the morning via telephone conversation. This is the time for inspection of the merchandise. The newly wedded women are just talking about what she wants to buy tomorrow and agree to go shopping together. Gucci Bags anyone???

During this time, some of the older generation who have already married all their children, have had lunch and are dosing off on the couch…

So… What happened to the 3aza part??? By the way, this was all 100% genuine and serious talk…

So to the bachelors… Don’t get married. Wait until your father is desperate and he is ready to make you an offer, hoping it will not be an offer you can’t refuse…

Once upon a time: Medicine and Man

2006-07-05T06:15:00.000-07:00

Diseases, sickness, and epidemics have always been existent. According to scientific research, they existed even before humans by approximately 350 million years. They have been there since the beginnings of the most primitive life forms. Parasites that are dependant on other life forms to ensure their own existence despite the death or demise of those carrying the parasites.

Humans, as we know them today, being the best evolved and adaptable life form (second to viruses) have been able to learn to solve the parasite problem. The easiest and first resolve was a prayer of mercy to the God(s) for a cure or salvation when one individual or a small group was infected in one way or the other. Next came burning and incineration, and so on it went until the first doctors who came with concrete results to these epidemics and diseases. Problems were being solved with therapy or medicine.

This gave birth to the science of medicine, and there became the medicine man (a.k.a. doctor), a figure that was on the way to becoming second to God, the only 2 who could cure this disease or epidemic.

Medicine with the help of the science of pharmacy have gone to great lengths to make sure we are no longer infected and cured if that was the case. The amount of respect and gratitude given to doctors and medicine people altogether was never surpassed by any other profession. This is has not changed. Yet.

Here, I would like to let everyone look back and look to the future.

Medicine and the Pharmaceutical industries have become the most lucrative businesses to be in. Nevertheless they became the biggest parasites in the history of this world. The business aspect of the industry makes sure that, God forbid you have a health problem, you are not going out. Doctor feeding the pharmaceutical company, which in turn feeds the labs, and in turn feed the hospitals and the feeding process goes beck and forth between these different parties, while the sick dependants just want a cure. I’m not a doctor to argue with a doctor. The only reason I went is I can’t heal myself. But people are becoming a bit more educated with a resourcefulness that allows them to research, and ask questions on why I need 4 different medicines, 5 different tests, and another 5 doctor appointments for flu or a cold. Calculate the cost of that, and you’ll understand.

What happens when the matters complicate, and the sickness is more serious?

To my misfortune, I have been watching similar cases hit close to home. And honestly, the cost of a doctor’s visit is becoming ridiculously expensive, considering what it will entail. People will probably answer and say, get insurance. It’s the same. Get a serious problem and watch your premium skyrocket to unprecedented levels.

Some people with chronic diseases need the worth of $200 of medicine per day, excluding the cost of administering the medication, doctor check ups, surgery if needed, constant care, or hospitalization… let’s do the math.

This is a total of $6000 each and every month on medications. From my research, less than 3% of the Jordanian population makes more than this figure as a total household. Yet the diseases are not limited to the top 3% of our society.

Questions:
- How can one 50mg pill of medicine cost $150?
- How can one simple blood or urine test incorporating taking a drop, adding a chemical, waiting, and noting the color, cost $400.
- How does an operation that cost $3000 last year, become $8000 this year.

The $150 pill. Pharmaceutical companies spend 4-5 years of research to come up with the formula for this medicine, and another 2 to get the medicine out into the market. Which is true that it costs a lot of money, and it has to pay back in one way or the other. But my perspective on the cost is: Robbery. What ingredients, packaging, distribution, administration, marketing, or whatever added costs, can come up to $150 per pill? This is purely the addition of ridiculous profit margins. (600%+ margins)
At this rate, all you need is 2000 patients worldwide for 3-4 years on this medication, and the investment of the company has already been covered with profit.
Research for Jordan has yielded that more than 380 people need this medicine, but a very few 10 can actually afford it in any means possible. The rest will have to do without it. No alternative. Wait until the disease consumes them. Insurance and social security will not cover anything like this.

In some cases, there is sympathy from different parties, who, in the name of charity, sponsor the medication for these people who need it, but will never be able to afford the medication. God bless these people. Some have even gone all the way and made Medical Centers to treat these people for free. Look at the King Hussein Cancer Center, established by and in memory of His Majesty, the late King Hussein, God Bless his soul, where thousands of people go to get treated every day with the best that medicine has to offer, within the allocated capabilities. These types of medications are not within the capabilities of any organization.

Take a step outside, and look in. Ask around you. Investigate. Where is this going???

2006-06-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness. For he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know I am the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you."

This passage from the Holy Bible was made world famous by the movie “Pulp Fiction”. A great and powerful quote with very strong connotations for all God fearing people. It truly describes a path that all of us as humans should follow. And what happens when we don’t? We become people in dog-eat-dog world. Survival for the fittest. No place for the weak. Only the strong ones will survive. Ironically, it really sounds like the modern day life that we live in today.

In a world of humanity with great divides, and mercy is given to no one except in the name of charity, and thank God we still have people who do charity, otherwise many souls would be lost, either to crime, or to hunger. Both scenarios are ugly. No one wants to be in these shoes, but some of us are luckier or more fortunate than others to be born in the right place and the right time. So I guess, we should count our blessings. I know I’ve done that many a time.

But going back to the quote by Ezekiel. Who was he referring to when he said “I will strike down upon thee”?

I consider myself knowledgeable in the bible. These are not words of a God, as much as Ezekiel using the name of God as a means to an end. God in His great wisdom, never used a threatening tone with anyone. Jesus Christ never did either. Jesus never referred to God asking us to do something, while he always said “I tell thee” this or that. And this is where Ezekiel failed with his quote. He never had the same impact with words. Great Vengeance, Fury, and Anger; all human traits signifying vanity and jealousy to the point of no control. Not the most convincing of arguments for Gods who have all the power with very little need for recognition.

But I have to pay respect to Ezekiel, for being the righteous man that he is, a caring person who knows the meaning of charity coming from a very poor background himself. He actually predicted that our world will become a dog-eat-dog world, where the poor will have less and less to survive, and the way things are going, it will only get harder with all the technology and knowledge. People are moving faster and faster by the day, and the poor are being left behind, unable to catch up, and move up. Statistics can tell us that this is a true fact. The poor that are able to come out of their miserable lives are becoming less and less by the day. In short (that was long) he predicted that life will never be easy, and that charity in all its forms will always be a necessity to remind us that we are fortunate, and that we are humans. Righteous people should we choose to be so.