Dear Readers and Fellow-Apes; 2008 was a Murky and Hapless Year! Let us hope that 2009 does not turn out to be even More Murky and Hapless!
I intentionally did not wish you a Merry Christmas, because Christmas is another story for another Posting at another time; and I do not wish you a Happy New Year, since I believe that ONLY FOOLS ARE, OR CAN BE, HAPPY ALL YEAR ROUND. I do, however, wish all of you A GOOD YEAR! With a little Good in one's life, one can be a little happy, which is all one can ask for in one's short sweet dream one calls a life-time. BY GOD AND SATAN!
A Jack of many trades and master of all; I am honest to the core and I hate lies, deceits, pretensions, hypocrisy, treachery, betrayal, and stoic compliance; and I despise – and actually pity – Human-Apes who follow-the-herd-or-pack
I expose and reveal the lies, deceits, pretensions, hypocrisy, treachery, betrayal, and blind, deaf, and stoic compliance, and Human-Apes who follow-the-herd-or-pack; I tell or write the truth; and I say what I mean and mean what I sayI fear nothing; least of all, death
If I must fear anything at all in life, then let me fear what I think and know of myself; because, in the end, one’s knowledge and opinion of oneself is what counts most. All the world may think and believe one is such and such, but one knows one is such and such. Also, I like to look in the mirror and like what I see and know about me.
I invite comments, remarks, criticisms, and even insults – so long as they are straight to the point, in order for me to correct or adjust myself accordingly. What I do not welcome and won’t accept or tolerate is HORSE-SHIT!
Dear readers and felow-Apes; with every page, every report or article, every paragraph, every sentence, every word, and every letter; I thank you for taking the trouble and the time to read My Not-So-Humble Comments.
ABC / CBS / CNN (in alphabetical order) and other USA Channels
Sunday 4th November
I watched George W. Bush on the above-mentioned various channels and heard his speech (not all, but enough of it) to The Heritage Foundation (members) a couple of days ago and I must say I was impressed!
The gist of – what he implied and what I inferred from – his speech was:
* America needs to know what the terrorists are planning – not the Americans
* Americans need to know and believe they’ve got a president and his government who are doing their jobs, facing their responsibilities, meeting their obligations, and doing what they have to do, in the best way they can, for them. In other words, after you’ve voted for a person, you get off his back and let him do his best to the best of his knowledge and ability; you do not get on his back and dig your spurs into his sides!
* The De-Mock-Rats would say they’re hiding things (or holding things back) from the people, and that the people need to know everything the government is doing, or planning and/or going to do. Well, that may do for all domestic and/or internal affairs or matters, but not for all foreign and/or external affairs or matters; especially when it concerns dangers and threats to the homeland, The War against Terror, and the Fight against Despotism and Tyranny as opposed to Democracy.
* Also – and this is very important – Americans must know, or be told or informed, that there are several – too many, if you ask me – elements amongst them – and in the very heart of the homeland – who wittingly (paid to do it) or unwittingly (out of ignorance and naivety) help the terrorists, despots, and tyrants.
* Bush and his team have taken the fight – or the battle – to the enemy so Americans won’t have to fight them in the beloved homeland – remember 9/11 and the passengers and crew of Flight 93 who chose to do and/or die rather than let the terrorists reach their intended target – which was the White House.
* Those that think and believe – and FART – that America and her allies – and all they stand for – are not at war are either naïve, obtuse, and ignorant, or choose to bury their heads in the sands of their illusions and misunderstanding of the situation and/or what is actually going on all over the world; or else they’re working for the enemy – wittingly or unwittingly.
* Funding for troops delayed and decreased while complaints about and over troops hurried and increased, and troops and commanders harried.
* If Heritage is something, or a state, transmitted by or acquired or inherited from a predecessor, then Bush’s government is one whose heritage – not what they inherited from that lying, cheating, thieving, sneaky schmuck of a scumbag cook (he cooked the books) – is vision, foresight, strength, and boldness; and the will to do the right thing.
* Concerning the post of Attorney General and the right person to fill or fit the post; and Legal and Illegal Torture………
From here on, dear readers and fellow-Apes, it’s I, myself and me; Daniel: What’s the difference? Very slight indeed! An Attorney General is only an Elevated Decorated Lawyer; and every Lawyer is a Liar. The only very slight difference is: he’ll lie for the one who gave him the post, and lie to the others.
I once asked my late beloved Mama – who is actually I, myself and me:Me: What’s the difference between a lawyer and a whore?
Mama: No difference. They both lie to live.
Torture: The studied and systematic infliction of intense pain and/or extreme discomfort to either punish or coerce someone; or to extort a confession or obtain crucial information.
Also, and by the way, what the FUCK in hell do they mean by LEGAL TORTURE and ILLEGAL TORTURE? Whoever ever heard of LEGAL or ILLEGAL TORTURE?
What the FUCK are we talking about here; MURDER and/or MANSLAUGHTER?
What the FUCK difference does it make to the victims and their families and relatives?
Are we lawyers in court trying to reduce the punishment or sentence of confessed and convicted criminals by bandying words around? Legal and/or Illegal Torture! WHAT NONSENSE! BY GOD!
To us, it is Illegal Torture when they torture our people and Legal Torture when we torture theirs; and to them, it is Illegal Torture when we torture their people and Legal Torture when they torture ours! That’s all.
SO ENOUGH HORSE-SHIT! BY GOD AGAIN!
PS It amuses me the way third-rate Clown-Comedians like David Litter-man Letterman brings on male and female ass-holes to say and do things – perform monkey-antics – to cover up for the several times when guests on his show actually told him and other guests off and even insulted him.
How transparent! He may fool the audience and the rest of you viewers out there, but he doesn’t fool me a single iota! I’ll say one thing for him, though; his tongue-in-cheek attitude, since he sticks his tongue in his cheek every time. Jay the Gay Leno de Luna was slightly less, but Jon Stewart is a lot more, obnoxious than Litter-man, and his guests are almost as bad as, if not worse than, he is! Hey! Don’t quote me on Jay being Gay since I don’t know! Gay rhymes with Jay. That’s all.
I watch Jon Stewart’s Lame Night-Show not because I like it, but because it exposes, reveals, and explains a lot of things to me! I’m willing to bet a bent buffalo nickel dipped in Horse-shit that he pays the audience to laugh.
Conan Oh-Brain O’Brian – a con-artist; short for counterfeit-artist and Oh! If only he had a brain! A scare-crow who stares at the audience and makes weasel-cracks at everyone – I wouldn’t be surprised if it turned out that he pays the audience to laugh, too! In fact, I’m willing to bet another bent buffalo nickel dipped in Horse-shit that he does. Wanna bet?
Bush is no politician, and it shows, BUT! He is no Wimp, either. If he is so clumsy and inefficient, how come the American ass-holes voted for him or chose him to be their president twice running?
What does that tell us about them? Was Bill The-Unpaid-Bill Clinton a better president? No way, José! Abraham Lincoln was the best president the USA ever had or will ever have; and Bill Clinton was the worst. As for Hilarious Hillary Clinton; she’ll have to go somewhere else to get her own back at her lying cheating thieving husband.
By the way, has Barrack Obama decided yet whether he’s white or black? Poor guy; it would be better for him if he did not become the next president of the United States of Adamant Asinine Ass-holes. Washington DC is a jungle into which fools rush where lions fear to go. BY GOD, ONE MORE TIME!
GEORGE W. BUSH – To Back Or To Hack A President. That Is The Question
ABC / CBS / CNN (in alphabetical order) and other US Channels/Websites
8th October 2007
As if it weren’t enough that ass-hole hollow-heads like Letterman and the other third-rate comedians always make fun of The CP and MF President of The United States of Asses – Adamant Asinine Ass-hole Asses – the last description of George Bush I heard on the various TV channels and read on the various websites was: A LAME DUCK.
BY GOD!
I hope the Democratic De-Mock-Rats were finally satisfied.
Let’s hope they can and will do better when, and if, they win the upcoming elections – withdraw, not only all The USA’s troops, but all USA citizens as well, from all over the world; then fill the larders, close and bolt the gates, close the shutters, draw the blinds, and hide in the shadows of their self-sufficiency and self-illusive-safety.
Instead of backing their president, the Americans have hacked him to pieces and reduced him to a nonentity, and made him the laughing stock of mad-men and terrorists and murderers!
And to think that a low-life scumbag liar, cheat, thief, cook, farter, and womanizer like Bill Clinton stayed and did and undid all that he did and undid at The White (Pale) House for two (or was it three) terms running, and he still struts around and FARTS FROM BOTH ENDS, and they still listen to and believe him!
JEEZ! AND BY GOD AGAIN!GEORGE W BUSH – His speech on the War in Iraq in August 2007
Gleaned from The Guardian via AP via Naharnet Thursday 23rd August 2007
President George Bush aptly compared a premature pullout from Iraq with the pullout from Vietnam – and the bloodshed and chaos that followed.
He said he would resist pressure from congress the following month for an early and ill-advised withdrawal. He signalled that US troops, whom he hailed as the greatest force for human liberation and hope the world has ever known would be in Iraq so long as he was president. He also said that the consequences of leaving without getting the jobdone would be devastating and that the enemy would follow them home.
Freedom's Watch, a conservative group, launched a $15m (£7.5m) advertising campaign in 20 states the day before, saying: It's not the time to quit. It's not the time for politics.
Bush had previously strenuously avoided making any explicit references to Vietnam. It was a gamble and a risk to remind Americans that Vietnam turned out to be a military quagmire and to remind them of the shambolic retreat or escape from the US Embassy rooftops in Saigon on the day a Black Hawk crashed in Iraq killing 14 US soldiers.
Daniel: It is true! Vietnam turned out to be not only a military quagmire but a moral and reputation destroyer: America! America! Was this you? – which, of course, provided the politicians with butter for their breads, and provided the media with selected news, pictures, and scenes for their pages, screens, and air-time – BUT! Only because the USA leaders and politicians at the time thought it was only a game – albeit a War Game – and handled it as such.
Bush turned the argument around and made a series of contentious political parallels. He argued that US involvement in the Far East had turned it from a continent with only two democracies in 1939 – Australia and New Zealand – into a region where democracy was the norm: he mentioned Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam.
In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge began a murderous rule in which hundreds of thousands of Cambodians died by starvation, torture, and execution. Some historians argue that it was the US covert bombing of Cambodia that produced the Khmer Rouge rather than US withdrawal from Vietnam. Daniel: Horse-shit! It was the other way round! It was the fact that the Cambodians were being intimidated and suppressed, forced into accepting and adopting an ideological way of life, and starved, tortured, and executed when they refused, that prompted the USA to intervene. The savage murderous and merciless rule only increased because the USA had tucked her tail between her legs and slunk off – instead of staying and finishing the job.
Bush added that in Vietnam, former allies of the United States: government workers and intellectuals, and businessmen, were sent off to prison camps where tens of thousand perished. Hundreds of thousands more fled the country on rickety boats, many of them going to watery-graves in the South China Sea.
In his speech, he quoted advance excerpts from his forth-coming speech on Wednesday to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, and said that History would prove the Iraq war was right and worth it; and that he wanted a nation running short on patience with the Iraq war to take a good long strong look at it. He compared it to previous US involvements in Asia that lost popular backing but eventually proved their worth and led to lasting peace; and that the ideals and interests that led America to help the Japanese turn defeat into democracy were – or must be – the same that prompted the USA to remain engaged in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The defence strategy that refused to hand the South Koreans over to a totalitarian neighbour helped to raise an Asian Tiger that is a model for developing countries across the world, including the Middle East.
Bush had often used historical comparisons in urging patience on Iraq, but White House aides hoped a specific focus on Asia will get skeptics to re-think their positions on Iraq and get beyond the daily violent setbacks there. He even cited Vietnam as a cautionary tale for those urging troop withdrawals today.
Three decades later, there was a legitimate debate on how the USA got into the Vietnam War in the first place, and how she left. Whatever their position in that debate was; one unmistakable legacy of the Vietnam War was that, the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to their vocabulary new terms like boat people, re-education camps, and killing fields.
Bush's speech at the VFW was the first in a planned two-punch combo.
After comparing the current war against extremists with the militarists of Japan and the communists in Korea and Vietnam in Wednesday's speech, he planned to discuss the war in Iraq in the context of its implications for the broader Middle East in a speech the following Tuesday at the annual American Legion convention in Reno, Nevada.
In the aftermath of Japan's surrender, many thought it was naive to help the Japanese transform themselves into a democracy. Critics complained after the USA had intervened to save South Korea from communist invasion. And in Vietnam, people argued that the real problem was the US presence there, and that the killing would end if they withdrew.
The advance of freedom in those lands should give us confidence that the hard work we are doing in the Middle East can have the same results we have seen in Asia – if the USA showed the same perseverance and sense of purpose.
My comments: If George W. Bush said all that, then I strongly advise the Adamant Asinine American Ass-holes to stop making fun of him – Jay Leno, David Letterman, Conan O’Brian, and the other Clown-Comedians like Jon Stewart and his birds-of-the-same-feather obnoxious guests on his Lame-Night Show – AFTER GETTING OFF HIS BACK!
All the Americans – even his own people – at the time, made fun of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address or Speech. Abraham Lincoln had to die to be vindicated; and for the United States of Adamant Asinine Ass-holes to appreciate and acknowledge him as the greatest President the USA ever had or will ever have – my not-so-humble opinion – and to include his short, brisk, and now famous speech among American Historical Documents in the Harvard Classics.
If I need to say more, then……WHEN, HOW, AND FROM WHOM LEBANON GOT HER INDEPENDENCE – IT WAS A FART FROM THE START
It was an Upset from the Onset and a FART from the START
Lebanon was part of the Ottoman Empire for over 400 years; in a region known as Greater Syria until 1918, when the area became part of the French Mandate of Syria following World War I.
On 1st September 1920, France formed the State of Greater Lebanon as one of several ethnic enclaves within Syria. Lebanon was a Christian, mainly Maronite, enclave but it also included areas containing Moslems and Druze.
Six years later, on 1st Sept. 1926, France formed the Lebanese Republic. The Republic afterwards became a separate entity from Syria but was still administered under the French Mandate of Syria.
Lebanon gained her independence in 1943, while France was occupied by Germany. The then Vichy High Commissioner for Syria and Lebanon played a major role in the independence of the nation. The Vichy Authorities in 1941 allowed Germany to move aircraft and supplies through Syria to Iraq where they were used against British forces. The United Kingdom, fearing that Nazi Germany would gain full control of the region by exerting pressure on the weak Vichy government, sent its army into Syria and Lebanon.
The above paragraphs ought to give you – dear readers and Fellow-Lebanese-Apes – a clear and concise idea of the sneaky, slimy, and very questionable way in which this miserable country (Lebanon) got its independence on the 22nd day of November, 1943; and not from France, but from the treacherous, traitorous, and treasonous Vichy Government that betrayed France and her allies during the German occupation in WW II. And now we all know HOW the Original Lebanese Constitution came to be and WHY it was such Fiasco, Folly, and Madness.
Under Lebanon's unwritten constitutional agreement, Al Mithaq Alwatani Horse-shit, the presidency is earmarked for a Maronite; the prime minister's post is reserved for a Sunni; and the parliament speaker's post is reserved for a Shiite. In other words; only this can be that, and only that can be this. In better words, and not to cut it short: A Black Cauldron of Stupidity, Banality, Inanity, Futility, and Iniquity; spiced by Greed, Egoism, Vanity, Vice; and a total lack of Honour, Dignity, Decency, and Patriotism.
Actually, Lebanon’s Constitution was first adopted on 23rd May 1926; which makes the average decent and sensible citizen wonder whether it has ever been amended in more than eight decades, and whether the amendments were for the better or for the worse! Not only that. What have we today? A government composed of both incumbents and oppositions – like who are the gardeners and who are the watchmen? Both!
Vichy France, or the Vichy Regime, is the common term used to describe the government of France from July 1940 to August 1944. That government, which succeeded the Third Republic, officially called itself the French State, L'État Français, in contrast with the previous designation, French Republic. Marshal Philippe Pétain proclaimed the government following the military defeat of France by Nazi Germany during World War II and the vote by the National Assembly on 10th July, 1940. That vote granted extraordinary powers to Pétain, the last Président du Conseil (Prime Minister) of the Third Republic, who then took the additional title of Chef de l'État Français: Chief of the French State. He headed the reactionary programme of the so-called Révolution nationale, aimed at regenerating the Nation.
Pétain and the Vichy regime willfully collaborated with the German occupation forces to a high degree. The French police and the state Milice or militia organised raids to capture Jews and others considered undesirables by the Germans – including Arabs and other nationalities – in both the northern and southern zones.
It is no wonder, then, that all of the Lebanese Leaders and Politicians – from before so-called independence to date – turned out to be traitors to their country and betrayers of their people – each one worse than the one before except one, who gets worse and worse with each 6-year era of rule. Dear readers and fellow-Apes again; I repeat: It was an upset from the onset, and a FART from the START.
TRUE OR FALSE, BUT BELIEVE IT OR NOT: 8 INDICATIONS THE WORLD WILL END IN 2012
Scientific experts from around the world have genuinely predicted that a few years from now, all life on Earth could well end. Some have said it'll be humans that set it off. Others believe that a natural phenomenon will be the cause; but the religious fanatics say it'll be God himself who presses the stop button – Daniel: If non-existent God could press any buttons, he would have done it aeons ago; from the moment that non-existent Eve ate the non-existent apple, and later tempted non-existent Adam to eat it, too; and saved us all the pother and humbug of living on this tiny sorry dot in awesome space. Actually, I have always wondered how both Eve and Adam could eat the apple. She must have plucked another one and given it to him – no wonder women are smarter than men!
BY NON-EXISTENT GOD!
1. Mayan Calendar
The first mob to predict 2012 as the end of the world were the Mayans, a blood-thirsty race that were good at two things: Building highly accurate astrological constructions out of stone, and sacrificing Virgins. They managed to calculate the period of the lunar moon as 329.53020 days thousands of years ago; only 34 seconds out – and with no scientific instruments, too. The Mayan Calendar predicts the world will end on 21st December 2012. Given the fact that they were pretty close – too close – to the mark with the lunar cycle, it's likely they've got the end of the world right as well – only 34 hours out?
2. Sun Storms
Solar experts from around the world monitoring the sun have made a startling discovery: our sun is in a bit of strife. The energy output of the sun is, like most things in nature, cyclic, and it's supposed to be in the middle of a period of relative stability. However, recent solar storms have been bombarding the Earth with so much radiation energy; it's been knocking out power grids and destroying satellites. This activity is predicted to get worse, and calculations suggest it'll reach its deadly peak sometime in 2012.
3. The Atom-Pulverizing Tunnel
Scientists in Europe have been building the world's largest particle accelerator. Basically it’s a 27km tunnel designed to smash atoms together to find out what makes the Universe tick. However, the mega-construction has caused serious concern, with some scientists suggesting that it's probably a bad idea to turn it on in the first place. They have predicted all manner of deadly results, including mini black holes. So when this machine is fired up for its first serious experiment in 2012, the world could be crushed into a super-dense blob the size of a basketball.
4. Religious Prophesies
As if having scientists warning us about the end of the world isn't bad enough; religious folks are getting in on the act as well. Interpretations of the Christian Bible reveal that the date for Armageddon, the final battle between Good an Evil, has been set down for 2012.
The I-Ching, also known as the Chinese book of Changes, says the same thing; and so do various sections of Hindu teachings.
The I Ching has been used for more than 5000 years as an aid to making decisions and predicting the future, etc. So, if nothing else, it is a long-standing and popular source of wisdom, knowledge, and inspiration.
5. Super Volcano
This is a typical case of simple mathematics. Physicists at Berkley University have been crunching numbers, and they've determined that the Earth is long overdue for a major catastrophic event. Even worse, they claim their calculations prove that we're all going to die very soon. They also claim their prediction comes with a certainty of 99%; and 2012 just happens to be the best guess as to when it will occur
7. Gamma Rays and Swing Low, Swing Softly, Gently, and SubtlyTHE USA IS NOT IN THESE COUNTRIES: Hundreds of Thousands of Internally Displaced Persons IDPs! We thought there were IDPs only in Iraq and Afghanistan
Gleaned from IRIN-News / Plus-News Monday 25th August 2008
Muqtedar Khan, Ph.D. of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists, and the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy: “Before we rush to condemn America we must remember that even today, millions of poor, miserable, and down-trodden peoples all across the world are lining up outside US Embassies eager to go to America, not just to live there, but to become American citizens. No Moslem country – at present or in the past – could claim that people of other nations and other faiths saw it as a promise of hope, equality, prosperity, and dignity; and the chance to be whatever they chose to be, so long as they were prepared to work hard to be. Saturday 17th February 2007
Oh ye narrow-minded Apes – Arabs, Arab-speaking, and all the rest – with your short-spanned attention and your memories like sieves! Read my posting: 309
* SRI LANKA: Education of thousands disrupted by fighting
COLOMBO: According to the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), the national authorities, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), and local authorities in northern districts are pooling resources to enable thousands of displaced students to continue their education despite disruption by conflicts. Clashes between Sri Lankan government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have escalated recently in the four northern districts of Mannar, Vavuniya, Kilinochchi, and Mulaitivu, forcing tens of thousands to flee their homes, including an estimated 12,000 students, most of whom were preparing to take their government exams this month.
* PHILIPPINES: UN appeals for peace as fighting escalates in south
MANILA: UN agencies have appealed for peace in the south where fighting between government forces and Muslim separatist rebels has escalated over the past two weeks and the number of Internally Displaced Persons is now over an estimated 270,000.
Daniel: You realise that estimated means less than the real figure since only those they were able to count were included. And! The figure is what it was more than a week ago, so you may guess what the figure is today, and even predict what it will be later.
On 22nd August, a statement by the UN/IASC said civilian lives were at risk as a result of fighting between the army and the MILF: the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in Mindanao. The Defence Secretary said government troops were closing in on the rebels, but told the public to prepare for a protracted battle. Meanwhile, the Global Rights – the Global Retches – Group, Amnesty International – Ass-holes Inebriated – has warned the government against creating additional civilian militias to support its offensive against the rebels in the south., and asked both sides to exercise restraint and make sure civilians are not harmed. The warning came after the Interior Department had said on 20th August it was sending a cache of shotguns to arm civilians so that they could defend themselves from, and even hunt for, MILF fighters.
Daniel: UNICEF, Human and Global Rights, Amnesty International, Child-Sponsor Agencies, Women’s Rights – especially in Islamic Arab and Arab-Speaking Countries – and all the other con-syndicates: white-washed tombstones fronting rotten corpses! Where do these Miserable Monkeys come from and what do they take us for? If the MILF arm civilians and force them to fight – by threats, intimidation, and other means – it’s all right; but if the government arms civilians to defend themselves and hunt the MILF Mother-Fuckers, it’s not all right; actually, they are afraid of more civilian casualties because that would force them to dip into the funds, which they need for their own pockets and comforts; not all of us are Etc, and so forth and so on.
* SOMALIA: Humanitarian situation increasingly acute
NAIROBI, 27th August 2008: According to humanitarian officials, an estimated 3.2 million people in urban and rural areas face extreme poverty, and the combined effects of escalating conflicts, civilian insecurity and instability has fuelled an economic crisis that has begun to have a wider and more devastating impact on the broader population, threatening to plunge the country into an even greater humanitarian disaster.
NAIROBI, 25th August 2008: Islamic insurgents took total control of Somalia's southern port city of Kismayo, 500km south of the capital Mogadishu, after three days of intense fighting that displaced an estimate of thousands of families and killed 100 people.
* BURUNDI: FAO predicts serious food shortages
BUJUMBURA, 27th August 2008: According to an official of the UN/FAO: UN Food and Agriculture Organization, parts of eastern and southern Burundi are threatened with acute food shortages following low agricultural yields compounded by an influx of returning refugees.
* ETHIOPIA: Thousands more displaced as floods spread
ADDIS ABABA, 27th August 2008: Flash floods following torrential rains in Ethiopia's Gambella regional state have spread to four woredas or districts and displaced tens of thousands of people.
* ZIMBABWE: Hopes of a political settlement waning
Zimbabwe's economic crisis is set to worsen. Almost everything is in short supply and annual inflation has risen above 11%. Signs of political tension have resurfaced after a lull in the political violence that erupted following the March elections. The police also reported two bombings in the capital, Harare: in the first incident, earlier in August, several offices at Harare central police station were blown up; the second damaged a railway track 30km west of the city on 21 August.
* NEPAL: Over 40,000 Internally Displaced Persons face diseases and starvation
KATHMANDU 26th August 2008: Over 40,000 people were displaced by flooding in Nepal’s Sunsari District, 500km southeast of Kathmandu, and they faced………
* NIGER: Northern desert conflicts disrupt everything
AGADEZ 26th August 2008: Agadez; a main entry point to the Air Mountains bordering the Sahara desert, was under a state of alert after northern desert rebels had taken up arms against the government. All buses and private cars travelling to the north could do so only every other day; when military convoys are available.
* SUDAN: Disease, Squalor, Starvation, Poverty – and Weapons – in IDP camp
KHARTOUM, 26th August 2008: Sudanese police surrounded one of the largest sites for internally displaced people (IDPs) in Darfur, the day after gunfire had caused dozens of injuries and, according to some sources, numerous fatalities. Government forces entered Kalma Camp in July, saying they had seized a variety of ammunition and weapons including canons, mortars, a machine-gun and other weapons and ammunition. According to the Sudan Tribune newspaper, the latest was the fifth government raid of the camp.
Dear readers and fellow-Apes; and so it goes…on and on…ad infinitum. And the joke and the irony are: The USA is not in these countries!
RIGHT SWAN-SONGS IN WRONG PONDS – Warda in Lebanon after Fairuz in Syria – Algerian Rose at Baalbek, Lebanese Jewel or Precious Stone in Damascus
Algeria's voice of Arab nationalism ignites Jupiter Temple. Warda Al Jazairiya leaves audience at Baalbek festival wanting more
The Daily Star Saturday 23rd August 2008
Dear readers and fellow-Apes; no comments. It is sad and delicate enough as it is. However, to those that might say Baalbak was closed when Fairuz went to Damascus, I say Warda could have gone to Damascus, too, but she waited for Baalbek.
BAALBEK: It was a beaming and charismatic diva who strode onto the stage before the splendidly lit Baal Temple on Thursday night. At a distinguished 68 years of age, and despite a voice beset by a Lebanese humidity-induced cold, Warda Al-Jazairiya charmed and dazzled Baalbek's capacity audience into wild enthusiasm and multiple ovations. Many in the audience had braved a rare patch of August mist and rain to cross the Lebanon range into the Bekaa Valley. A good many of them were men and women of a certain age, eager to remember the heady days of their youth. Many had brought their children along for a taste of a past they had never known. They were not disappointed.
From the moment the legendary singer joined the orchestra and opened her show with Fi Yawm wa Layla until the climactic final chords of Harramt Ahabbak, Warda fascinated, thrilled, and enthralled the audience. Her voice let her down at times and the orchestra occasionally hesitated, but her sheer charisma and obvious pleasure at being on the stage in Lebanon again more than compensated for such minor flaws.
Warda played the crowd with beaming self-confidence, joking and making wise-cracks as she sang and was rewarded with enthusiastic clapping and seat-dancing. All present sang along passionately to such classics as Batwanes Bik, Hikaiti Maa Al-Zaman, Qalbi Saied and Tab Wana Mali. It was as if this would be one of the last opportunities to enjoy a concert by this icon from the heyday of Arab nationalism, one of the few living stars on a par with the classic voices of Umm Kalsoum and Abdelhalim Hafez.
Warda Al-Jazairiya was born in July 1940 in a little town near Paris. She was born the daughter of Mohammed Ftouki, said to be one of France's first Algerian immigrants. He ran Tam-Tam, a cabaret in the Quartier Latin, that staged live Arabic music and later served as the French headquarters of the Algerian independence movement, the FLN (Front de Liberation Nationale). Her Lebanese mother taught her the classical repertoire of Lebanon and the greater Middle East. As a child, Warda would sneak down into the cabaret to listen to the orchestra's rehearsals. She appeared on the Tam-Tam stage at the early age of 11. She won her first successes on an Arabic children's programme for French radio and by 1954, when the Algerian war for independence began, she'd begun singing patriotic songs. In 1958, the family had to leave France because of their involvement in the independence movement and found refuge in Beirut. The family moved into a small apartment on Hamra Street. There, the 17-year-old Warda started singing in Tanyos, a then-famous nightclub in Aley, where she was discovered by the late Mohammad Abdel Wahhab. Abdel Wahhab honed her talent and formed her into a professional and remained her mentor throughout her later career. She remained dedicated to the struggle for Algerian independence and Arab nationalism and, in 1961, along with Abdelhalim Hafez, Mohammed Kendil and others, recorded Al-Watan Al-Akbar. It was during that period that she adopted the stage name Warda Al-Jazairiya: the Algerian Rose.
A few months after Algeria had won her independence in 1962 she went there for the first time and married an FLN Army officer, whom she'd met in Beirut. For a decade she gave in to his insistence to give up performance and take care of her family.
In 1971, however, the then Algerian President, Houari Boumedienne, asked her to sing at the ceremony to celebrate the tenth anniversary of independence. She agreed, and returned to the stage; thus ending her marriage. Back in Cairo, she married Baligh Hamdi, the composer who would write many of her subsequent songs. From then on, she released four to five albums a year and starred in movies such as Sawt al-Hobb and Hikaiti Maa al-Zaman.
Warda has always been an independent and proudly individualistic artist, choosing to develop her own style rather than imitate popular predecessors or cater to prevailing trends. Her unique style owes much to her mastery of Maghrebi genres and her ability to cross the boundaries within the Arab world – combining traditional Andalusia vocalization with Middle Eastern melodies. Her tremendous talent and passion for music and performance still burns vividly and joyously in her and the Baalbek audience paid tribute. Even after two hours of intense pleasure, the audience still demanded an encore. The exhausted diva obliged with a short version of Wahashtuni, before finally retiring backstage.
N.B: The Baalbek International Festival ended tonight, Saturday 23rd August, with a programme of classical music preformed by piano virtuoso Abdel Rahman Al-Bacha.
INSIDE THE MIND OF A SUICIDE BOMBER – Willingly or Unwillingly – Facts and Limbs
ABC-News Tuesday 14th December 2004
Daniel: Know how mad-men so-called Religious Leaders and Warriors manipulate and exploit others to further their aims of further future manipulations and exploitations.
WASHINGTON: There appeared to be almost an endless supply of fighters – willing to die for their cause in Iraq. Suicide bombers had routinely struck UN buildings, hotels and check-points since the end of major combat in the country.
The weapons of choice were usually explosive-packed automobiles, but explosive vests had been used as well. However, the majority of the bombers were not foreign fighters, as many believed.
The big myth was that there was an endless supply of suicide bombers and that the foreign fighters were everywhere. That was the story everybody wanted to hear, and the Iraqis did not want to admit that most of the suicide bombers] were, in fact, Iraqis.
On that day, Tues. 14th Dec., a suicide car bomber killed seven people at a Green Zone check-point in Baghdad. It was the second attack in two days near the same gate into the district that houses Iraq's interim government and the US Embassy.
Unwilling Martyrs
The previous assaults on the former insurgent stronghold of Fallujah, raids on private Iraqi homes, and military bombings that had killed Iraqi civilians radicalized young Iraqis. A visiting fellow in foreig
