More Financial woes

http://www.jordan-business.net/magazine/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=278&Itemid=40


أستاذ مروان

بدي اعلق على المقابلة تاعت مدير البنك المركزي، يا زلمه ما جاوب ولا على سؤال من ألأسئله الي انت سألته إياها، مع انه ربنا الله الواحد يحكي دينه، اسئلتك كانت جامده وفي الصميم، بس شو الفايده، كل الجوابات كانت لا تمت بصله لأي سؤال. ممكن يعني انك تلخص كل اجوبته بجمله واحده وهي انه كل اشي مبني على المسأله او المسائل التجريبيه وغير هيك مافي اشي تاني، وكل قارئ للعدد يفهم ألأجوبه زي مابده. اتركنا من مقدمة المقال وخلينا ندخل مباشره في موضوع ألأسئله. انت بتقول له انه خبراء ألأقتصاد اختلفو في ما بينهم على مدى تأثير ألأزمه الماليه على اقتصاد ألأردن، هو شو برد وبقولك، على المدى القريب النتائج رايحه تكون ايجابيه حتى في عجز الحكومه المالي. ثم يستطرد ويقول ان البنك المركزي يقوم بتجارب لدراسة مدى تأثير الصدمه وكأن الصدمه لم تحدث بعد او انها بصدد انتظار نتأئج ابحاث المركزي المستقبليه. ألسؤال الثاني كان حول ازمة العقار ومدى استعداد البلد لمواجهته، والجزء ألأخر من السؤال له علاقة بهروب المستثمرين من بورصة عمان. شو هو جاوب، أول شي ترك موضوع سقوط العقار بحاله ولم يتطرق له نهائيا، ومن ثم اجاب عن البورصات الأجنبيه ولم يتطرق الى سبب هروب المستثمرين من بورصة عمان او سبب انعدام الثقه عندهم في وقت يجزم بأن المشكله الرئيسيه هي خارج البلد وليس بداخله. ألسؤال الي بعده انت بتقول انه البنوك في الأردن في السنوات القليله الماضيه صارت تعطي قروض بسهوله وزي الحلاوه ويمكن كان قصدك انه كيف هادي الناس هسه بدها تسد جبل الديون الي تراكم على روسهم، هسه هو شو رد وقال لك نحنا في المركزي ما عندنا مشكلة سيوله وعندنا اجرأت مراقبه صارمه والناس اهل الثقه رايحين يضلو يقدرو يحصلو على قروض. ألسؤال الي بعده، انت بتقول انه ألأزمه الماليه وانهيار اسعار العقار سوف تضعف من حجم ألأستثمارات في ألأ ردن، شو هو برد وبقول لك طالما انه احنا هون عنا ضوابط قويه وطالما انه التضخم مسيطر عليه وطالما الوضع الداخلي كويس معناته الدنيا بخير. السؤال الي بعده، انت بتقول له انه في تباطؤ في النمو، هو شو برد عليك وبيقول، هذا امر بحاجة الى دراسه من خلال تجارب علميه تجريبيه. انت بتسئال هل ربط الدينار مع الدولار ساعد الوضع في ظل التقلبات الحاليه، هو شو رد وقال نعم، ساعد كثير كثير، طبعا استعمل كلام اخر بس هاد كان قصده . انت بتسأل عن سعر الفائده وإزا بده يتغير، هو بجاوبك بأنه السيوله النقديه وحجم التضخم يقريران في ما اذا سوف يتغير مقدار الفائده. أنت تسأل اذا كان المركزي ينوي ضخ سيوله في البنوك ألأردنيه مثل ما ضخت مركزيات العالم كله في بنوكها، هو شو رد وقال لك احنا بنتبع البنك الدولي وكمان احنا بنروح على كل المؤتمرات وألأجتمعات الماليه التي تعقد في اي مكان في العالم او اي ركن من اركان المعموره. انت بتسئل عن فشل اليبرالين الجدد ،وهو برد وبقول لك اوضاع بنوكنا بخير والحمد لله. انت بتسئل عن موضوع الفلوس التي يرسلها المغتربين ألأردنيين العاملين في الخارج، وهو يرد عليك ويقول مرة اخرى بأن هذا امر يحتاج الى دراسات علميه تجريبيه http://www.jordan-business.net/magazine/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=278&Itemid=40
هذا رد على المقابلة التي اجراها السيد مروان قردوش مع السيد اميه طوقان على هذا الرابط

تحليل حاتم للأزمه الماليه

قضية ألأزمه الماليه يا إخوان انه في مصاري كثير لرب العزه ومن كثر ما في مصاري بطلو يلاقو ظايل في ناس بدها تستقرض مصاري. يعني كل واحد فينا مش بس استقرض مصاري كفايه، راح كمان واستقرض زياده شويه فوق قدرته على السداد، حتى في ناس كثير استقرضت مبالغ مش رايحيين عمرهم يقدرو يسددوها حتى لو الله اعطاهم طولة العمر. هذا من ناحيه الناس، بس من ناحية البنوك لسه في مصاري كثير وبدنا كمان ناس تيجي تستقرض لأنه البنك ما بستفيد من المصاري اذا ظلت نايمه في الجرار. طيب من وين اجت كل هذي المصاري إلي انت نازل تحكي عنها، انا بقول لك من وين اجت، في جزء كبير منها اجا من ارتفاع سعرالبترول، وفي جزء ثاني اجا من الصين علشان الصين قاعده بتستثمر كل مصاريها بأميركا، والجزء الثالث وهو اكبر جزء جاء من المضاربات اليوميه في البورصه بس مش البورصه الطبيعيه الي كلنا بنعرفها، انا بحكي عن بورصة التوريق او المشتقات كما يسميها بعض الناس ويعتقد ان اساس ألأزمه قد بدأت في بورصة التوريق عندما استنكف الناس الذين اخذو قروض ذات فوائد عاليه وبألتالي لم يتمكنو من سداد هذه القروض وفجأه توقفو عن دفع مستحقاتهم الشهريه للبنوك وبألتالي لم يتمكن البنوك من دفع الفوائد المستحقه عليه للمستثمرين الذين اودعو مصاريهم في البنوك من اجل الحصول على فوائد شهريه لودائعهم. وفي نهاية المطاف وصل كل شيء الى طريق مسدود، الناس مابدها تدفع الدين المتراكم عليها اما طوعا اوقسرا لسه ما في حدا عارف .ليش لأنه زي ما قلت الناس مابدهاتدفع والبنك بطل يعطي قروض، يعني مثل ازمة السير ان غابت عنكم. هسه الحكومه بتحاول قدر جهدها انه تمشي السير من اول لبو جديد اما عن طريق الدخول كوسيط بين الناس وبين البنوك اوعن طريق تأميم البنوك مثل ما حصل في انجلترا موأخرا. ففي حالة ما تسيطر الحكومه على البنوك فأنه من المحتمل ان تبدأالدواليب في الدوران مرةاخرى. باختصار ازمة السير حادة للغاية ولكن في النهاية لن تؤدي الى انهيار مالي كلي وكل ما في الأمر ان الفتره الحاليه سوف تكون فترة فتور وربما برود على ألأخر حتى يتمكن الناس من ايجاد وسيلة جديده لدفعديونهم المتراكمه اما عن طريق ألأفلاس وشطب الديون شطب كامل واما عن طريق اعادةبرمجةالقروض بفوائد قليله ومضمونه من قبل الحكومه. من المتوقع ان تستمر هذه ألأزمه لمدة سنه على ألأقل.

Nits & Lice

I know that its gross and disgusting and it sends chills down your spine when you hear about it, but hey according to Alghad Jordanian daily http://www.alghad.jo/?news=356152 more than half of our school children are infested with this pesky insect that invades the person's head and settles in there very comfortably until it gets properly treated with appropriate shampoo, combing, and eradication of the active nits that have great tendency of mutating time and again.

I'm not bringing up this topic to highlight the prevalence and pervasiveness of the problem, it is broad enough to speak for itself.

I'm writing to inform anybody who might be interested that there is a business opportunity that can be extracted out of this miserable situation, it may not be the most glamorous business opportunity but nonetheless it is worth exploring in more depth.

The ministry of education spends large sums of money every year on shampoo that they give to the schools for free, the schools in turn probably gives to the students to treat their heads. It is unknown whether the students use this medicated shampoo or they use other primitive archaic methods such as pouring kerosene on the head or something like that.

Irrespective of method they have been using it appears to be not working and more kids are getting more lice in their heads, more than half of all of the kids combined.

So for those of you that still have that die hard entrepreneurial sport, you can start lobbying the ministry of education to look at your business proposal which entails opening shops similar to the Barber shop in every Jordanian governed, the purpose of this lets call it lice eradication shop would service every school age child every year prior to entering the school grounds. In other words, the ministry of education would issue a decree, edict, or whatever you want to call it stating that no child will be admitted to the school yard until he/ she provide the principal with a certificate indicating that this person is totally and completely free of any lice. That he has been checked and either treated or found to be not needing any treatment and thus was given the certificate.

It would be something like the mandatory liability car insurance which dictates that no one will be granted permission to drive unless they can furnish a proof that they have at the very minimum a liability insurance that will protect the driver in the event of an accident.

I don't know how or why did I come up with this crazy idea, I'm not sure if my motive was to create another business idea for someone or to help those poor children to get their heads cleaned up from the nits and lice that not only bothers them to passes on the problem to other students that come in close contact with them.

Nits and Lice are no laughing matters, they aren't a disgraceful matter either, just because someone gets it doesn't mean that they aren't clean, there is a great deal of possibility that they got it from someone else and not from their own lack of good hygiene practice.

So there you have it go jump at it, I want to see a lice eradication shop approved by the ministry of education and funded by the same ministry opening in Amman, Salt, Irbid, Maan, Tafilah, Zarqa, Karak, Balqa, and somewhere in between.

The shops don't have to cater to school age children only even though they seem to be the ones that are in need of it the most, it can cater to adult and seniors and any age group that will need this type of service.

Messenger of Allah Unites us

I don’t think that the demands made by Kurt Westergaard, the Danish cartoonist, in this report appearing in the Jordan Times today, August 22, 08. http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=10225; were very highly outrageous ones.

The prisoners at Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba where they have been held since their capture made similar demands and were accommodated. They demanded that the food that they eat doesn’t contain any type of pork in it; they asked for and received a copy of the holy book Quran. They were given pieces of rug to prey on it as well as bathrooms to perform their ablution prior to the prayers.

The part that I don’t understand is whether Mr. Westergaard was sincere in asking for these things or whether he was trying to show case the fact that pork is prohibited in the Muslim world as well as the prisoners are prohibited from reading books, magazines, or any other literature.

Given the fact that he is a septuagenarian man, I would have to take his word for it and not accuse him of trying do more mocking about the pork, the prison cell, conditions and the reading material.

I honestly would like to see Mr. Westegaard come to Jordan and confront his accusers in an open court, I’m sure that the Jordanian government is more than capable of providing the necessary arrangement for his protection as well as for his accommodation during his stay in Jordan.

His is a real classic case about the clash between freedoms of speech, freedom of expression, versus theological interpretation of what is blasphemous and what is sanctimonious. I mean why not, let justice take its course, the man says that he has nothing against Islam, he doesn’t feel that he has done anything wrong, he isn’t about to apologize for doing something that he feels falls under his freedom of expression rights.

His accusers believe that he slandered the prophet of Islam by depicting him in very provocative manners. If he can prove his innocence then he will be off the hook, and if he get convicted he will understand that he wasn’t within his rights and he may have stepped off the line. All in all it would be very interesting to watch and see justice take precedent over personal animus.

Danish cartoonist story revisited

Last month I argued on this blog http://thearabobserver.blogspot.com/2008/07/lets-sue-people-around-world-hurraaay.html that it was okay to sue the Danish cartoonist in the Jordanian courts irrespective of the out come of the law suit. Less than one month after wards we learn in this report http://www.arabianbusiness.com/527794-cartoonist-ready-for-blasphemy-trial-in-jordan that the cartoonist is ready, willing, and able to stand trial. The only thing that is standing between then and now is that he hadn't been officially notified through the proper channels about the law suit, nor did he receive a subpoena summoning him to appear before a judge. He isn't sorry and he doesn't believe that he did anything wrong, he firmly believes in his freedom to express himself in the way he sees fit and willing to defend that even under unusually difficult circumstances. It would very interesting to see how this highly publicized story continue to develop. I wonder if he would indeed come to Jordan to confront his accusers. Can you imagine the type of security that would have to be put in place by the Jordanian authority to protect the life of this cartoonist during the length of his trial. I wonder also given all of the publicity that this story has been a given, a fair trial can be conducted with all of the hype taking place outside the court building. I finally wonder if there was not enough evidence to convict him, would he in deed be acquitted of the charges against him, and by contrast if he were to get convicted whether he would serve time in the Jordanian jails or he would be sent back to his country to serve jail time over there. I know that I'm probably already over reacting and there is a big possibility a trial may never take place and he may never set a foot on the Jordanian soil. All I'm doing at this point is trying to think of all of the possibilities that might happen. This is a very unique case and I'm not sure if the Jordanian judicial system has ever been faced with such a complicated international situation that extends not only beyond the Jordanian borders and the regional borders but rather all the way to western Europe. I'm going to keep a close watch on this story and should there be any new developments I'll update it on my blog accordingly.

Hate Mail

Following is a hate mail I received today:

Anonymous has left a comment : I hate all Arabs. They are evil. They have no reason to live in America, in fact, they have no right to live at all! They are not God's children, they're the Devil's children. They're the ones who caused the 9/11 tragedy. You have to be a brainless idiot to believe Arabs are not evil. They should be killed, murdered, treated to slavery, beheaded, burned, and shot. I say down with them bearded animals and up with us Intelligent Americans!

Citizen Journalism and me.

I recently learned that the comments that I leave on other people's blogs, stories published in the main stream media, or any comment I leave on any Internet website is classified as a form of citizen Journalism.

When I learned that I said to myself holy cow I'm and have been a citizen journalist all along and I don't even know about it.

And this comes at a time when I started thinking seriously about being part of citizen journalism group like Amman Net, 7iber, or any other alternative journalistic Jordanian group that I find suitable to my way of thinking.

In this case I feel that I'm absolved of this responsibility and don't have to join any group and all I need to do is continue doing what I have always been doing and that is leaving comments here and there and every where on the Internet and on main stream printed press.

You know the number of comments that I authored over the past twelve years or so, I can't even begin to estimate it, it could be any where from ten to fifteen thousand.

Grant you, some are as short as twenty five to thirty words but some is longer than one thousand words.

I have no way of knowing how many people read those comments or what on earth do they get out of it if anything, but I did receive responses from very interesting people over the years including major US publications, mind you, not offering me an opportunity to become a citizen journalist in their outfits or anything like that.

They were merely supportive, passive, or strongly opposed to the view point that I have presented at the time.

In a way I can appreciate their concerns because those who have known me for a long period of time probably realized that over the years or as I aged I started moving back from the center of the left to the center of the right.

I'm not entirely sure what caused that shift but most likely it is the kind of people that I associate myself with them and the type of material that I read have something to do with it.

I'm not sorry about that and I see myself as someone that is evolving all the time in a dynamic way. I can't under any circumstances adhere to one school of thought, an ideology of some kind of a dogma.

I consider myself as someone that calls the shots as he sees it, yes, I do exercise self sensorship, but that is only in reference to staying out of scandalous things, slanderous issues, and so on, but I don't feel that I exercise self sensor-ship regarding my fundamental rights to freedom of speech or freedom of expression.

So yeah I'm writing today to welcome myself into the world of citizen journalism and to congratulate myself on the ten to fifteen thousand comments that I have written.

Who knows may be some how some where somebody may have read one or more of these comments and benefited out of it.

I really don't know that and don't even care to know since when I do comment on something I do it because this is what I love to do, I enjoy it tremendously and appreciate having the opportunity to express my view unhindered, unfettered, in its entirety, without an editor scissors slashing some of it out.

The burden is entirely my own, and the consequences are my own as well. Whether I make somebody happy, I make a fool out of myself, or write something reprehensible, it is all my choice and it is all part of this citizen journalism that I have chosen to be part of it at the dawn of this twenty first century.

So from here in on if I'm going to be biased it will be biases toward citizen Journalism, the information is totally unfiltered, unslanted, free of partisanship.

Clarion Call

I don’t know whether it was a fluke, aberration or what. Soon after my last blog about Jordanian bloggers not blogging any more, or not as often as they should be blogging. Jordanian bloggers started showing up one after another. Basem was one of the bloggers that didn’t blog about anything since he got married. I’m not sure that marriage is a cause for not blogging as Samer returned to blogging about a week after he got married. Lina surprised us from New York; she is pursuing masters in Columbia’s school of journalism, one of the best if not the best Journalism school in the USA. Nassem, are you listening, that is where you need to go if one day you decide to follow suit or your mind is made up about spending the rest of your life in journalism, media or what have you. Although I think that you would be better off getting into politics so you can become a minister of something or heck even a prime minister. Rami came back from the wilderness to tell us about the Russian attacks on Georgia. Let us see who else, Iman, oh my God, she hasn’t blogged for ages, her last dozen or so posts consisted of one word, one phrase, one sentence, and at the very most one paragraph. Ahmad Humeid, usually a very succinct bloggers came back but still not as powerful as he used to be, heck he used to publish a bi weekly article in Jordan Times weekender. By the way whatever happened to that insert, I guess they quit publishing their week end edition. Mohammad Omar is back, Roba & Dima, the dynamic duo showed up again.To a lesser extent Khalaf and Mariam, although these last two have been posting once a while but again with a lesser frequency than they used to do before. As for me believe my people that I’m trying very hard to find something interesting to talk about but it has to be something that is worth talking about such as the ice melting in one of Hani’s coke glasses faster than the other glass although both glasses were subjected to the same freezing conditions as well as the same thawing conditions. It is really weird. I’m fascinated by Tololy’s Haza3 and Jonger story and how one of them thought to be a boy turned out to be a girl, or is it the other way around. And then last but not least our fearless leader Nas, this guy doesn’t quit no matter what happens, you open Jordan Blogs early in the morning, late in the afternoon, or two o’clock after midnight you are going to find a new and interesting post written by him. When he gets tired of writing on the black Iris, he moves and writes on 7iber, and then he goes back and forth, arranging meetings, attending work shops, working full-time for a magazine, doing charitable work, pushing for reforms. Some times I think that he is taking some sort of herbal enhancements like sage, or mint, or I don’t know what. Mash Allah, he is in my view a super human, God bless his parents they must be very proud of him. I’m really ecstatic to see all of these bloggers coming back in droves. I know that Some day I don’t know when we need to have Nas lead us or at least lead the coordination for us for the first Jordanian bloggers summit to be held in Amman two or three years from now it doesn’t really matter, but I think that there is a room for us to start building up on this concept of citizen Journalism, I’m starting slowly but surely to believe in this viable concept. An alternative way of making news, pure, impartial objective reporting, free of bias, slant, or partisan view point. Yes, that is right.

why they don't blog?

I can name at least 50 individual listed in the right hand side of Jordan Blogs page that don't blog at all, and another 15 to 20 other individuals that rarely blog and when they do blog it is usually about something of very little value to anyone on the list. I'm mind full of the presence of millions of blogs in cyber space that are read by no one other than the blogger, yet I'm exclusively talking about Jordan Blogs, a community of about 150 or so bloggers and another 500 to 1000 reader, these are just rough estimates based on the number of people that have 24 Internet access in Jordan. Still, that is no reason for anyone to bring their blogging practice to a screeching halt. So what actually caused all of these people to stop blogging, the simple answer is I don't know and I'm not about to speculate since each individual have special circumstances only they and no one else is aware of its intimate details.

Since I'm considered one of these bloggers why don't I start with myself and try to figure out what is it that prevents me from blogging on a daily basis or even as frequently as twice a day. As far as time is concerned I have all the time in the world I have high speed internet access 24-7-365. so it isn't time, what is next, things to blog about, there are so many things to blog about for the next 100 years, so lack of topics to blog about isn't it either.

How about my inability to create the necessary changes to affect the things that are shaping my own life . Yes, that must be it but what exactly does that mean?

I have no idea what it means all I know is that it is like I'm living under siege and this siege is constantly telling me that there is no point in blogging, there is no point in being part of the community, this is a very mean world and you need to stay alert and vigilant 24 hours a day otherwise the sharks may seize the opportunity and bite you during the time that you are preoccupied with typing or thinking about a topic to blog about.

I know this sounds crazy and I don't know of too many people that share me this type of feeling but that is the way it is.

Okay so now you know why I'm not blogging that much that often, what is the reason all those other Jordanian bloggers not blogging.

We have a bunch of highly talented bloggers on the list but some how their blogging has stopped without any explanation.

May be we should start a blog about why everybody especially those in dormant status can explain to us why aren't they blogging?

I think that it would make an interesting post to find out what makes people stop doing what they used to love doing.

I never thought few years back that several months will go by without any written post on my blog. But here I'm suffering from extreme blogger's fatigue syndrome.

If any one have any medicine for this condition I would sure kindly request an immediate prescription be sent to me.

Contemporary slave wages

http://www.arabianbusiness.com/526698-kuwait-sets-new-minimum-wage


This report about the salaries paid to the cleaners put me in a state of depression and gave me a bitter taste in my mouth. I mean how can someone especially with a family is expected to continue living after all of the living expenses are deducted out of his check nets only 8 Kuwaiti Dinars a month. This translates into less than $ 1 dollar a day.

Even the newly enacted legislation which stipulates a 40 Kuwaiti Dinars to be paid as a monthly salary for the cleaners is still way too little compared to other cleaner salaries working in the western world.

For instance, in the United States the average non unionized cleaner earns in monthly salary about $ 1,666 that is more than 11 times higher than the $150 which the cleaners get paid monthly in Kuwait.

I think that the cleaners deserve to be paid much higher salary than that, I think that their living expenses including room and board ought to be free & at the expense of the Kuwaiti company that sponsors them to come and work for it.

It is a high time for this travesty to come to an end, the cleaner is a human being just like anybody else; he needs to be treated with dignity and respect. He ought to be paid an honest wage for an honest day of work.

Cleaning budget is probably the lowest operating expense in any structure if compared with other expenses such as maintenance, energy, security, and other up keep of all of the other aspects of the physical structure.

Let us pay those cleaner what they deserve and end this modern day slavery.

Jordan Business Magazine

http://www.jordan-business.net/magazine/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=241&Itemid=40



This is by far the best business report that has been produced by Jordan Business since its inception. Three cheers to Ms. Zaina Steityeh on her succinct reporting. I have been reading Jordan Business from the very first issue until now, while some of the previous business reports were quality reports none of them come close to Ms. Steityh's comprehensive reporting.

For instance, I'm not a big fan of the interview type of reporting, the reader gets lost between the question and the answer, and some of the questions are much longer than the answer and so on and so forth.

By contrast, Ms. Steityeh appears to have spent a great deal of time studying the state of Franchising in Amman prior to sitting down in front of her key board to type her comprehensive report.

The story was very compelling, easy to understand, the sequence of events were chronologically organized and followed a systematic pattern from the opening statement all the way to the end of the report.

I enjoyed reading every word in this report although I'm not a franchisee nor will I ever be one, notwithstanding, the report taught me everything that I need to know about the state of all of the existing as well as the future American brands franchises in Jordan, something that I have always wondered about while driving around the streets of Amman and observing the bill boards advertising about the Burger King, Poppy's chicken, Pizza Hut and so on. Thank you Jordan business and thank you Ms. Steityeh for this wonderful portrait about the American franchising in Jordan

Arabs & US elections

There is a strong evidence in the media circles suggesting that an Arab American engineer, real-estate developer, and a political activist of Syrian origins named Tony Rezko may end up being the primary cause of ending the democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama’s chances of becoming president, he may even end up being the main cause of ending Obama’s political career altogether—and--getting him indicted on charges of corruption and money laundering.

Just imagine Obama going from being the first black president of the United States to being indicted on criminal charges stemming from his friendship with an Arab American that immigrated to the United States in the early years of the eighties.

Obama & Rezko appear to have some how become engaged in improper business dealings and wheeling, the deal involves a property and a parcel of land adjacent to the property. Obama appears to have bought the house and Rezko bought the land, the entire transaction has an aura of impropriety to it.

I personally don’t know Rezko but I do know a third person that was also indicted along with Rezko, his name is Ali Ata, this man already plead guilty to corruption charges and money laundering stemming from false allegations he had made to federal corruption officer regarding his relationship with Rezko and with an employment offer that he received in the financial office of the governor of the State of Illinois Rod Blogoyvich.

It is interesting to see how the sequence of events will unfold after the testimony of Mr. Ata before the grand jury on Wednesday. He is expected to spell the beans about everything he knows regarding the governor of Illinois and regarding Rezko/ Obama real estate deals. Ali Ata was at some point in time a real estate developer and a partner of Mr. Rezko’s real estate deals.

Mr. Rezko’s indictment stigmatized the Arab American community in Chicago, it seems like whenever the Arabs had an opportunity to spread the good word about their culture, their ethics, and their ties to the United States, they end up messing things up and making the whole community looks like it is guilty because of the few criminals in it.

It is a very low point right now in the Arab American community in Chicago, every body used to think the world of Mr. Rezko prior to his indictment. It appears as though behind the obvious front that he used to put on, he was nothing but a criminal, using his influence to shake up businesses to extort money from them, and use his influence to obtain loans to finance his failing businesses.

What do you want to be?!

I spent my entire adult life working in management, was I destined to be a manager all of my life?! I don’t know and no body else knows but that is what it is and that is where it stands right now.

But is it possible that at a time when I’m nearing my retirement age still doesn’t know what I really want to be!! I guess by now at this advanced stage in my life it is almost too late to even think about what I want to be.

When I was a kid I thought that I wanted to be a pilot, a lawyer, a journalist, a career diplomat, however, it didn’t happen and I’m still thinking about what I want to do for the rest of my life.

Some of you may wonder what at this stage in life prompted that line of thinking in me. I tell what it is; it is the new kitchen that I have installed/ remodeled in my house few months ago. Still, what the heck is the relationship between a newly remodeled kitchen and my career path?!

Well, it is the art of carpentry itself that I’m interested in addressing for this purpose. It all started when through friend of mine I met this carpenter called Abu Alaa, which in turn convinced me to remodel my kitchen. The idea appealed to me because he told that all we need to do is buy wood, and from the wood he will be able to manufacture a complete ready to use kitchen on his own.

I have always thought that when someone needs a new kitchen all they would have to do is go to one of those places that sell ready kitchens, buy it, and then hire someone to install it for them.

It wasn’t that way with Abu Alaa, he makes everything himself from raw wood, he sands the wood, measures it, saws it, carves it, paints it, and then sculpts it together into shapes using nails and glue. Three weeks later the finished product is a kitchen; it is that simple for him.

In the three weeks that I spent with him putting together a beautiful kitchen from scratch taught me a lot about my self, about the carpentry profession, and about the manual work that the blue color people do.

I was there all day every day when the wood gets purchased from the factory, when the wood gets loaded on the truck, transported to my house, and finally unloaded in my kitchen.

I helped Abu Alaa in every step in the way, I handed him the tool that he needed while he was nailing in a precarious position, I measured with him, and I carved, sanded, and lifted and sawed.

I ate both my breakfast and lunch with him, we drank tea all day long, and at the end of the day I drove him back home to his family house. I tremendously enjoyed doing the manual work with this man; I have never felt more relaxed more at ease the way I felt during those three weeks.

I discovered that perhaps I was meant to be someone that should be working in manual labor rather than working with his mind all the time. I found that manual labor gives me the feeling of serenity, a feeling of placidness that never existed in me throughout my life.

Will I be switching my career? I don’t think so I’m just wondering if God had made me someone that should be doing manual labor but some how Instead was sucked into this management career and didn’t permit myself to think about anything else since the pay was comfortable and authority and prestige that comes with it blinded me from seeking an alternative.

Internet Strike

Oh those urge to splurge:

I think that at the very least the only punishment the people who comply with the call for a strike will get is a verbal counseling or warning from their supervisors for not calling their employers to inform them about their absence and not showing up for work, and at the very most a letter of warning placed in their personal file for failing to come to work. They may even end up losing the wages allotted for that same day. This applies only to people that have occupations which doesn’t endanger the lives of other people. On the flip side of the coin, if the striking employees occupy jobs that may endanger the lives of other people such as police men, fire men, doctors, and air traffic controllers, the consequences may become much more severe, particularly if lives were lost as a result of work stoppage. For instance: if the striking employee is an air traffic controller and his presence on the job is absolutely necessary on that day, and then suddenly and without a notice he doesn’t call or show up for work, and God forbid as a result of his absence to accommodate the strike an air crash occurred and 250 people lost their lives. In this hypothetical scenario we would be looking at a whole new set of rules governing the situation. The same would apply for other critical occupation; some jobs may even have a clause in the employment rules prohibiting the employee from ever participating in a strike or work stoppage under any circumstances. As far as I can remember from monitoring the news the duration of most strikes in Jordan range from thirty minutes to two hours. The most recent one was the doctors at Hamza hospital protesting the detention of their colleague emergency room doctor by the government personnel. My guess is that some people may get severely punished for their compliance with the strike while other people may only get a slap on their rest. It all depends on the type of occupation one is performing.

Drive Safely.....Blog about Jordan

Let us face it the whole country is running out of options in terms of what to do about those ongoing never ending day in and day out traffic accidents. They pleaded, beseeched, installed cameras, exhorted, threatened and imposed hefty fines to no avail. People continue with their good old driving habits, accidents continue, and fatalities and injuries get added up to the long list of the ream of statistics. Studies after study were conducted, some put the blame on the reckless drivers, others put the blame on the conditions of the dilapidated cars, and the road designs had their share of the blame as well. What is the real cause of this traffic blight and is there a feasible solution that would at least alleviate rather than eliminate this daily scourge. Your guess is as good as mine; I have personally lost several relative members in Jordan due to traffic accidents. I have come close to having an accident on a number of occasions while driving in Jordan , but thank God they all were mere close calls. Will this problem go away any time soon? I doubt it, in my opinion it is all about attitude, unless the drivers themselves decide to abide by some kind of an attitude code of ethics and yield the right of way to the next driver, the problem will never go away. I honestly don't think that it is road problem or old cars problem, it is reckless & offensive driving problem. I think that the government ought to make it mandatory for every driver the good and the bad one to attend at least two to three courses totaling approximately 12 clock hours of defensive driving on an annual basis. Passing these courses would be contingent upon keeping the person's driving privileges current and valid, those who ignore taking the courses ought to have their driver's licenses suspended first and then revoked if they insist on ignoring the taking and passing the defensive driving course. If you think about it, most of the accidents are caused by aggressive driving, speeding, not obeying traffic lights, ignoring the traffic signs, and so on and so forth. All these pitfalls can be eliminated with a refresher course about defensive driving. Imposing higher fines will only aggravate the problem rather than mitigate it. We must adhere to the concept of continuing education for the young as well as the old. Continuous public awareness techniques work on the long run much better than saber rattling. The insurance companies can join the fray by offering incentives of their own. The traffic department can get on the act as well by offering incentives of their own like giving 5 to 10% discount on car registration. In other words it had to be a collaborative synergic effort. A bench mark must be established determining what is acceptable versus what is excessive. As a father to 4 children I'm very concerned that some day I may have to face what Qadoura father had faced, or my children are going to become fatherless in case I end up the one being lost to a traffic accident. It is very freighting thought, one day you are here and the next day you are gone because of a reckless driver. In this world of ours there are things that are within our means and we can do something about them, and there are other things that are beyond our means and there is nothing that we can do about them. Driving responsibly on the streets of our capital and on the highways leading to our rural areas is something within our means and each and every one of us can and should do something about it. Squishing six cars in three cars lane is an obvious no no, double and triple parking obstructing the follow of the traffic is another more than obvious no no, illegal U turns in the middle of busy streets, backing up in highways, tailgating, honking unnecessarily, not using turning signals, changing lanes haphazardly, are all no no no and we all know it but continue on doing it. It shouldn't be that way and it must stop. If we all some how get convinced that we are going to start driving defensively rather than aggressively & offensively, we will all get there to our intended destination where our loved ones are patiently waiting for us, and expecting us to arrive there whole unscathed. In sum driving is art, gusto, and character. What you manifest on the street represents you, your family, your tribe, and your country.

Palestinians V. Israelis

I wrote this article 8 years ago, nothing has changed since that time. see for yourself.


Chicago-July 15,2002.It makes no difference whetheryou are a Palestinian or an Israeli male orfemale ,young or old,rich or poor,Czar or streetvendor of any walk oflife- you always are more than likely bewilling,ready,and able totellingly disclose to any one willing to listen to youany time any where ananimated convincing forensic argument about your longstanding dispute withthe other side.Each side usually contends that they did all that cando to attainrapprochement but the other side is either unwillingor unable toreciprocate.The Palestinians accuse the Israelis of beingrapacious while the Israelisaccuse the Palestinians of being bent on thedestruction of Israel.The Palestinians say that they have given the Israelis78% of what used tobe called historical Palestine and they will be fullysatisfied with gettingthe remaining 22% which in essence consists only ofeverything Israel tookduring the 6-day June 67 Arab Israeli war.Israelis say that they aren't interested in governingthe private affairs ofall of the 3 million Palestinian people and willing togrant them their ownautonomy provided that they don't exploit theirfreedom to launch freshattacks on Israel.The Palestinians say that they aren't interested in noautonomy and wantfull fledged sovereign state with all the perks thatcome with it such asborder control plus independent internal as well asexternal Palestinianself managing state affairs.Israelis say that such a state of affairs would posegreat danger to itsvery own existence since the Palestinians would floodtheir putativelyindependent territories with weapons and people andeventually regroupmulling the re-taking or possibly pulverizing all ofIsrael.The Palestinians dismiss this notion as totally absurdsince Israel has thefifth strongest army in the world,it couldn't beeasily defeated by a newlycreated atrophied state.Israelis say that the Palestinians will not stop shortof annihilating everyliving Israeli all the way to the last one of them,thePalestinians say thatIsrael will keep expropriating land and buildingsettlements on their landuntil there is no land left to negotiate about and thedream of creating aPalestinian state will turn into a mirage.The Israelis say that they gave the Palestinians thebest offer there is togive in camp David II and the Palestinians not onlydidn't offer anycounter proposal they went back instead to violenceand killing which theirleader 'Arafat' vowed in the Oslo accord to neverutilize as an option.The Palestinians say that they were duped into signingan interminableaccord similar to bottomless pit with fire walls builtall around it toprevent any possible satisfactory outcome.The Israelis say that the Palestinians aren'ttrustworthy and thereforecould never be left unchecked & the Palestinians saythat the Israelis wantto transfer them out of their ancestral land so theycould have a Jewishonly state with no one else to share it with.What it all amounts to is that both parties are lockedin a virtualinternecine dueling.The Palestinians aren't going to give up any time soonor perhaps ever,theIsraelis will continue to prevaricate in hope that thePalestinians willwear themselves out and resign to fait accompli.The united nations,the European union,and the UnitedStates combined andseparately have tried with all their negotiatingskills to find a happymedium to satisfy the contending rivals but thus farall their effortsproved to be in vain.The question then become,how do you crack thejuggernaut!! or better yet,howdo you reconcile the irreconcilable differences?Is there anything out there that can be explored butfor one reason oranother it some how unwittingly got overlooked?Will any one of us be around to witness the hope thatwas so much visible inthe early nineties and quickly dashed away before theclosing of themillennium.We hear about the Mitchell,the Tenet plan,The Saudiplan,the Bush visionplan,the convening of international peaceconference,the Mubarak time tableplan,to many other miscellaneous unofficial floatingall over the placeplans.What is so ironic about all these plans is none ofthem proved to besatisfactory enough to be adopted by the parties towhom it supposed tohelp.The Israelis say that the Palestinians have tostop all their violenceand reform all their institutions before Israel willcontemplate any kind ofpolitical movement.The Palestinians say unless you show them some kind oflight at the end ofthe long tunnel they will continue to believe thatthey are resistingoccupation and their resistance is a legitimate rightguaranteed to them bythe international law.The Israelis say that they can't think straight whiletheir citizens arebeing blown away by suicide bombers while riding busesto work or school orwhile having Pizza at a parlor.The problem gets more intricate and heavily compoundedby the presence ofextreme elements on both sides of the fence.There is a minority among the Israelis that believethat all of the landshould be in the hands of the Israelis and all of thePalestinians should bekicked out completely to other parts of the Arab worldand by the same tokenthere are extreme elements among the Palestinians thatbelieve that theIsraelis are foreigners to the land of Palestine andthey must be kicked outat any cost even if takes hundreds of years.The majority however according to ongoing reliablepolling statistics fromboth sides believe that the Palestinians and theIsraelis should be separatebut equal.The Palestinians say that they have extendedolive branches fromtheir side long enough to circulate the entireuniverse time & again,but allthey got in return is fig leaves that give them pseudoimpression about afuture state in the apogee.Circumspection say that one can't lose hope and let godespite the failureof all previous attempts.The United states of America being a friend of thePalestinians and theIsraelis alike can and should impose a de factosolution as prefatory way ofgetting the parties out of the mess that they gotthemselves into,andconcurrently impose a de jure permanent accord basedon all theaforementioned peace plans combined.There is no one fit all type of solution.PresidentBush's vision to themiddle east is a good blue print for moving forwardbut it lacks a road mapthat gives the Palestinians a glimpse of hope that theday to livingoccupation free is nearing any time soon.There is no justification for the current impasse,aconsensus must bereached in order for the Palestinians and the Israelisto get their livesback on track.They have tried war and they tried peace,one needs toask-which one is morepalatable?Do the Israelis & the Palestinians have thewherewithal with thehelp of the United states acting as an honest brokerto get it done?Theanswer is a resounding yes.

US Presidential Primaries

Let me tell you from the onset that I’m a registered republican and have been voting republican since Ronald Regan had come into power. The reason I’m saying that so you know that I don’t have any interest in Obama or in Clinton. Nevertheless, as a political observer I never thought not even for a second that Obama has any glimpse of hope of winning the nomination, and even if by a stroke of a genius which is very remote that he does win the nomination, his chances of winning in the general election become even more oblique. The Americans are still afraid of another 9/11. Many of them believe that given the state of jitteriness that the world is going through these days, the possibility of another one ranks high in their agenda. The Americans perceive the democrat as weak on defense, they believe that Bill Clinton had an opportunity to finish off Osama Ben Laden but he chooses to deal with the matter as a law enforcement issue rather than a national security issue. The democrats on their part have been trying to explain to the people that should they take over they will try to polish the tarnished image of the United Stated around the world and thus averting another potential attack but the people aren’t buying into that line of thinking. They believe that Islamic “terrorism” is for real and their ideology is a destructive one, it is basically like a ticking time bomb, and it will take a very strong leader to stand up to that “fascist ideology”. And yes you guessed it as to what party portrayed that kind of a leadership. I understand that between now and November is a long way to go and anything can happen in between, however, even if nothing happens between now and then, and things remain constant, I’m expecting the republican party to retain the white house yet one more time. I know what you are thinking that I’m rooting for my party and that is the party that squandered all of the budget surpluses and put us in huge deficit, and dragged us into unnecessary war that could have been averted, and brought the economy into a recessionary mode, still, it managed to keep the people feeling secured in their homes, and you and I know from the Jordanian experience what does it mean to be secured in your own home. Please note that these are my own personal observations and not based on any expressed or implied evidence.

حكايتي انا والكمبيوتر

انا والكمبيوتر مش كثير صحبه، مع اني بقضي يوميا بين ١٠ الى ١٥ ساعه قدام الشاشه،والي بشوفني بقولك هذا الزلمه فطحل كمبيوتر مع ان معلوماتي لا تتجاوز الأمور البدائيه لفهمي الكلي لذه الماكنه.
إمتلكت في حياتي كلها جهازين كمبيوتر، واحد كان على ما اعتقد ويندوز ٩٥ والثاني كان ويندوز ميلينيوم. طبعا هذا الحكي بالنسبه للوضع الكمبيوتري في الدار، اما في الشغل فأن الجهاز هناك من طراز دل وهناك يوجد لدينا شخص متخصص في امور التشغيل والتحديث والبرمجه وازالة الفيروسات وعمل كونفجراشن، وتصويب كافة الأوضاع كلما احتاج الأمر او اصبح الكمبيوتر يعمل بأسلوب عشوائي. وطبعا بما انني اقضي معظم وقتي في الشغل فلم اجد ضروره ملحه للقيام بشراء جهاز حديث على الأخر للبيت لأن الأستعمال هناك مقصور على الويك اند والعطل الرسميه. المهم انه مضى لغاية الأن اكثر من سنه ونصف وأنا بفكر في شراء لاب توب،وطبعا اول شرط عندي هو ان يكون هذا اللاب توب شلبي على الأخر وبسعر معقول او حتى زهيد، بألأضافه الى فأنني اريد من هذا الجهاز ان يعمل في عمان كل ما ذهبت للزياره الى هناك. وهذا المطلب لوحده عطل مسيرتي اكثر من ٦ اشهر اخرى لأنني بحاجة الى دراسة النظام المعمول به هناك مقارن بأ النظام المعول به هنا والتأكد بأن النظامين النظامين سوف يكونو متطابقين مع بعضهم البعض. المهم شو بدك في الطويله قلت يا ولد لازم إنت زي الأمريكن تدرس الوضع تمام علشان تحفظ مية وجهك اولآ وثانيا تحافظ على فلوسك وما تصرف على اشي إنت في غنا عن صرفه.والله وبلشت أدور في الجرايد وعلى جوجل وفي محلات بيعة الألكترونيات،والقيت نظره على منتجات هاولت باكر،ودل، وكمباك، وسوني، وتوشيبا،وجيت ويه،و اي بي ام، إلخ.... وبلشت أسأل كل ما أشوف واحد بعرفه اذا كان بفهم بموضوع الاب توب،وفعلآ بدأت اجمع معلومات عن هذا الموضوع بجدية مطلقه. ولكن الشمله بدأ تتفاقم شويه شويه، فكل ما بوسع نطاق البحث كل ما بلاقي حالي متحير اكثر من المره السابقه. فمعظم الذين سألتهم كان جوابهم تقريبا بالأجماع ... ماذا تريد ان تفعل في هذا الكمبيوتر او مذا تريد من هذا الكمبيوتر ان يعمل لك. وطبعا انا عندي فكره جيده عن ما اريد، فأنا اريد ان ارسل واستقبل وأكتب وأسمع واقرأ وأشاهد افلام وقنوات عربيه واجنبيه والعب اقراص السي دي والدي في دي ،واطرب على صوت عمر العبدلات واشياء مثل هيك ، يعني امور بدائيه ، فأنا مش تبع ابحاث ودوسيات وخزين وعمل البومات صور او تبع حرق اقراص سي دي ولاشي من هذا.انا زلمه بدور على البساطه وبديش تعقيد. بدي الكمبيوتر يعمل كل شي لحاله انا ما علي إلا احرك الماوس شمال يمين او ادعس على الزر وغير هيك مش فاضي.لا تحكيلي ميجا وات ولا ميجا بايت ولا ميموري ولا دسبليه ولا جرافك ولا بروسيسر ولا بورت ولا مش عارف ايش تاني كمان، كل هذا لا يعنس شيء بألنسبه الي. المهم بعد جهد جهيد تمكنت من تقليص اللأحه الى ثلاثة اجهزه ، واحد دل وواحد توشيبا واحدهولت باكر. طبعا الأ سعر كلها كانت متقاربه من بعضها البعض ، وكنت على وشك ان اشتري جهاز هذا اليوم او غدا، ولكن شاء القدر ان يزورني اليوم واحد من اولادي الثلاثه ، وهو طالب جامعي سنه رابعه.وبعد ان جلسنا وسألته عن احواله وسألني عن احوالي ، ذكرت له بأنني عزم العزم على شراء لاب توب، واعطيته الأوراق لكي يطلع عليها ويعطيني رأيه بها.وعندم انتهى من مراجعة الأوراق صدمني اكبر صدمه. قال-- يا بابا مش إنت بتحب تفرج على الأفلاف إلي كلها هاي دفنشن، فقلت له نعم، فقال ،هذا الجاز الي انت اخترته لا يوجد به ميزة مراقبة افلام الهاي دفنشن، عندها جن جنوني وها انا سوف ابدأ رحلتي من جديد ابحث عن لاب توب علني يوم ما اهتدي الى شراء واحد كويس رخيص ومن مصنعيه معتبره

التدوين

اعتقد ان التدوين لا يختلف كثيرا في فحواه عن ان كونه اداه مسليه تعكس تطورات العصر الحاضر.خذ مثلآ ابوي وابوك وسيدي وسيدك كانو زمان لما يزهقو يلعبو شده، ضامه، طاولة زهر، شطرنج،وهلم جر. الكمبيوتر كان وقتها يدوبك مكتشف واستعماله محصور للشئون العمليله وليس الشخصيه كما هو الحال الأن. لذلك وبما ان التدوين حسب اعتقادي بأنه ماده مسليه فهذا معناه ان التدوين لا يحل ولا يربط وان تأثيره اقل بكثير من تأثير الكلام الكتوب في الجرائد اليوميه مع فارق واحد الا وهو ان ألجرائد اليوميه لها استعمالات اخرى كمسح العوره مثلآ بعد ازالة اسماء الجلالة منها ،كما تستعمل لتنظيف وتلميع الزجاج ، الى كونها شرشف تستعمل لألتقاط الزيت الذي يسيل من اطراف صحن الفول خلال الأكل،وايضآكواقيه من لهيب الشمس وتساقط المطر،اما الألكترونات التي نضيعها في صياغة مدوناتنا فلا يمكن حتى اعادة تدويرها للأستفادة منها كما نستفيد من ورق الجرايد. التدوين يا إخوان لا قبض ولا صرف وفي معظم الأحيان يكون مثل نظرية زيرو صم جيم،ليش،لأنو التدوين لا يتطلب اي نوع من المهارات الشخصيه، ولايحتاج الى اي نوع من التدريب، ولا يتطلب اي رخصه معينه،او الأنضمام الى اي جمعيه او هيئه معترف او غير معترف بها،يعني ان غابة عنكم زي الي بقول على بال مين يا إلي بترقص في العتمه.ومع هذاوذاك فأنك تجد اعداد الدونين يتكاثر يوم بعد يوم بس يا هل ترى لو انه نعرف بطريقة ما عن كم ما هوالعمر الأفتراضي لكل تدوينه على حدا،شهر،سنه، سنتيين،فأذاعرفنا اشي مثل هيك فممكن انه نعرف الده المحدده لأختفاء عدد كبير من الدونالت او حتى كلها بدون استثناء،لأنه اذا الواحد اكتشف انه التدوين لا بقدم ولابأخر فمعناته هذا الشخص بده يروح يشوفله شغله ثانيه غير التدوين يتسلى فيها.ألموضوع شأك شويه فعشان هيك رايح هسه اتركه بس لازم ارجع له وان معي حج اقوى من هذي الحجج القصصية الطبع الي دوشتكم وانا قاعد بطنطن فيها من الصبح.يمكن هدا كله يكون اثار جانبيه من كث البهادلا لي اكلتها في تقصيري على ايداء الواجب في عيد الحب لإنشغالي الفرط في المودونات والمدونون والتدوين.

ما احلى الرجوع إليك

يا الله صار لي اكثر من ١٣٤ يوم بدون تدوين، مش فاهم باألزبط شو الفلم، هل جف حبر دماغي، هل سيطر الكسل على كل جزء من اجزاء حياتي، هل انني اصبحت غير مكترث لأي شيء يدور من حولي، هل اني اعاني من مرض المناعه القلميه. الله اعلم عن سبب الأمتناع لأنه في الواقع لا يوجد اي تفسير وجيه لهذه الظاهره. وفوق هذا وذاك فائنني لأول مرة في حياتي ادون باألغة العربيه.وطبعا لا ادري من اين جاءت هذه الرغبة الملحة للتدوين بلعربي.فرغم انني حاولت شتى وسائل المقاومه لتجنب التدوين بلعربيه الا ان الرغبه غلبت علي في النهايه وها انا ادون بلعربيه ولغاية الأن لا ادري اذا كنت فخور في نفسي او خجول منها لأ ن من الفروض ان اكون متمكن من التدوين في اي من الغتين، الا انني لااذكر باألتحديد كم مضى من الزمن دون الكتابة بلعربي ولربمى تكون الفتره اكثر من ٣٣ سنه علىالأقل. لذلك ارجو المعذره من الجميع اذا كان هنالكاخطاء قواعديه او اخرى املأيه.مع اني متاءكد بأن وضعي سوف يتحسن مع مرور الوقت والتمرين على الكتابه اكثر واكثر.