Eid Mubarak !

Blessings To All This Eid !

Comic Relief

Every home and place of business should have one of these !








This is what it feels like during Ramadan !

Pretty much a Ramadan attitude !

This would be funny if it wasn't possibly true !

Last but not least ... I got this one from meme's fragola's blog .....

1. ROMANCE MATHEMATICS

Smart man+ smart woman = romance

Smart man+ dumb woman = affair

Dumb man+ smart woman = marriage

2. OFFICE ARITHMETIC

Smart boss+smart employee = profit

Smart boss+dumb employee = production

Dumb boss+smart employee = promotion

Dumb boss+dumb employee = overtime

3.

SHOPPING MATH

A man will pay $2 for a $1 item he needs.

A woman will pay $1 for a $2 item that she doesn't need.

4. GENERAL EQUATIONS & STATISTICS

A woman worries about the future until she gets a husband.

A man never worries about the future until he gets a wife.

A successful man is one who makes more money than his wife can spend.

A successful woman is one who can find such a man.

5. HAPPINESS

To be happy with a man, you must understand him a lot and love him a little.

To be happy with a woman, you must love her a lot and not try to understand her at all.

6. LONGEVITY

Married men live longer than single men do, but married men are a lot more willing to die.

7. PROPENSITY TO CHANGE

A woman marries a man expecting he will change, but he doesn't.

A man marries a woman expecting that she won't change, and she does.

8. DISCUSSION TECHNIQUE

A woman has the last word in any argument.

Anything a man says after that is the beginning of a new argument

classic formating

My Soap Box Time

I've got several things on my mind that concern Libya and the US . Every now and then the Peoples Congress /the Libyan government says that they will stop all subsidizing of food stuffs , medicines , medical care , and education . That the basic pay will be raised and the people will have to pay for these things out of pocket , instead of relying on government help as they do now . Everyone gets all het up , excited with much complaining and usually nothing happens . Some years it might be announced that all grammar schools will be closed and the smaller children will be home schooled . Now that one always causes a lot of controversy .

This year , well actually the other night , on the Libyan TV it was announced that all medical care , medicines , hospitals, clinics, and university's would no longer be free . People will pay fees for these things , in addition to that , the government subsidizing of food stuffs will no longer be available .

My ears have been ringing with all sorts of comments on this new development by Libyans of all walks of life . This will be very hard for the larger families . It will be hard for all Libyans but especially for them . The pay package is to be increased to 5000 LD a month from a very basic 300 for most people . This will be wonderful but with the fundamentals of living increasing in accordance to this pay raise , the results will be the same , no money and now people will go with out any help with food , medical care ,or education in this oil rich nation that donates billions to poorer African nations to the south of Libya .

There are still gaps in health care . People with HIV/AIDS have no treatment centers readily availability to them for medical care or meds . Tuberculosis is rampant . The treatment center for tuberculosis was built by the Italians I think and is so awful that people in the West would never even put their dogs in it for care . There isn't any drug /alcohol treatment here either because there are NO DRUGS OR ALCOHOL in Libya . Oh , sorry there is a treatment center for drugs ... in the crazy hospital . They test you for HIV/AIDS, any hepatitis's, and tuberculosis ( A,B,C, with D,E,F being ignored ) , give you some tranquilizers and that's it . You stay for two weeks if you are clean of any of the above diseases, and then sent back out into the world . No counciling , no help of any sort for the patient or the families of patients either .You are considered cured .

People that can afford to , go outside the country for treatment , especially if it involves any sort of cutting , as for surgeries . I know people here that will go to Tunis to have their teeth pulled rather than risk cross infection due to lack of prpoper sterilization techniques here in Libya . The public hospitals will not treat , or if they do treat , rather reluctantly , anyone with a infectus disease for this reasin . No pravite hospital will treat you if you have something infectus , not for love or money ! So , if you get something , oh say like AIDS , that's you death warrent in more ways than one .

Cancer treatment is from the dark ages . The cutting edge stuff from the West is unknown here and God help you if you have a rare cancer because there will be no medicines or a doctor that will know how to treat you . Here again counciling is unheard of as well . Nor will the government pay to send you out to get treatment that is not offered here in Libya . They say they will, but the red tape to even be considered for this benefit is never ending , even if you know someone that can pull strings for you!

As a matter of fact getting just your basic medicine that most people need for day to day living is expensive and many times difficult to find . And NOW they want to cut out what little help there is for free ? UNBELIEBABLE ! In this oil rich nation ... where will all that money be going to now, if not to the people ?

Schools ... not enough desks , chairs , books , poor teachers pay . You would think that the school supplies would be free wouldn't you when Western Oil Company's are paying literally billions in dollars to renew their drilling contracts with the Libyan government . No new schools being built . No public school transportation available . Many times the schools have no lights in the classrooms and definitly no heat in the winter , which believe it or not , it does get cold here in the winter . No AC or fans in the hot months and forget about school lunches .

Now for the USA ... does anyone remember the Weimar Republic ( look under the Econmics section for hyper-inflation ) or the 1930's Great Depression ? This could be happening all over again if people don't take a deep breath and think things through because it doesn't look like a lot of thought has gone into cause and affect in this present situation .

Could some one please explain to me how ... if I did a terrible job for the company I worked for , ran up debts in it's name , lied , cheated it's stock holders , it's employees , AND caused it to go bankrupt , I could expect them to let me retire , not be fired or imprisoned but retire , AND still be given $24, 000,000 ? Or WHY that would happen IF the American tax payer is footing the bill ? The American people would be paying me for a job done terribly wrong .This is just what might happen in the Wall Street / Banks bail out if the US Congress agrees to President Bushes plan .

In the meantime people who didn't do a bad job , who actually did their job well and correctly are losing their homes because of those same banks. The same banks those bad people worked for and want to "retire " from , having managed to dupe the home owner into thinking that their mortgage loans were issued at a stable rate of interest , instead of the sliding inflated rate they were saddled with .

These are the same American people that will have to pay for the bail out with higher taxes ... when they will be most likely homless and most probably jobless because they can no longer make their moragae payment due to higher interst rates .. from those same banks . These same people will most likely be unable to find a new job since many smaller companies NOT being helped by the US government will go under as thier financing dries up . This is a very scary situtation and has far reaching repercussions all around the world .

Things are most definetly NOT getting better in the world . I worry for my children and grandchildren . War is raging in some form or another on almost every continet of the world . Who is paying for them ? You are . Who are the solders fighting in them ? Your children . The question is why ? Are the Arabbs being made into this centurys scapegoat the way the Jews were in the 1930's Germany by Hitler ? Is OIL the real reason ? Ask yourself who is the silent , invisible fore here ? What is their real agenda?

A Letter From Eve Ensler

This was sent to me . I think it rings true .


Eve Ensler, the American playwright, performer, feminist and activist best known for 'The Vagina Monologues', wrote the following about Sarah Palin.

Drill, Drill, Drill

I am having Sarah Palin nightmares. I dreamt last night that she was a member of a club where they rode snowmobiles and wore the claws of drowned and starved polar bears around their necks. I have a particular thing for Polar Bears. Maybe it's their snowy whiteness or their bigness or the fact that they live in the arctic or that I have never seen one in person or touched one. Maybe it is the fact that they live so comfortably on ice. Whatever it is, I need the polar bears.

I don't like raging at women. I am a Feminist and have spent my life trying to build community, help empower women and stop violence against them. It is hard to write about Sarah Palin. This is why the Sarah Palin choice was all the more insidious and cynical. The people who made this choice count on the goodness and solidarity of Feminists.

But everything Sarah Palin believes in and practices is antithetical to Feminism which for me is part of one story --
connected to saving the earth, ending racism, empowering women, giving young girls options, opening our minds, deepening tolerance, and ending violence and war.

I believe that the McCain/Palin ticket is one of the most dangerous choices of my lifetime, and should this country choose those candidates the fall-out may be so great, the destruction so vast in so many areas that America may
never recover. But what is equally disturbing is the impact that duo would have on the rest of the world. Ufortunately, this is not a joke. In my lifetime I have seen the clownish, the inept, the bizarre be elected to the
presidency with regularity.

Sarah Palin does not believe in evolution. I take this as a metaphor. In her world and the world of Fundamentalists nothing changes or gets better or evolves. She does not believe in global warming. The melting of the arctic, the storms that are destroying our cities, the pollution and rise of cancers, are all part of God's plan. She is fighting to take the polar bears off the endangered species list. The earth, in Palin's view, is here to be taken and plundered. The wolves and the bears are here to be shot and plundered. The oil is here to be taken and plundered. Iraq is here to be taken and plundered. As she said herself of the Iraqi war, 'It was a task from God.'

Sarah Palin does not believe in abortion. She does not believe women who are raped and incested and ripped open against their will should have a right to determine whether they have their rapist's baby or not.

She obviously does not believe in sex education or birth control. I imagine her daughter was practicing abstinence and we know how many babies that makes.

Sarah Palin does not much believe in thinking. From what I gather she has tried to ban books from the library, has a tendency to dispense with people who think independently. She cannot tolerate an environment of ambiguity and
difference. This is a woman who could and might very well be the next president of the United States. She would govern one of the most diverse populations on the earth.

Sarah believes in guns. She has her own custom Austrian hunting rifle. She has been known to kill 40 caribou at a clip. She has shot hundreds of wolves from the air.

Sarah believes in God. That is of course her right, her private right. But when God and Guns come together in the public sector, when war is declared in God's name, when the rights of women are denied in his name, that is the
end of separation of church and state and the undoing of everything America has ever tried to be.

I write to my sisters. I write because I believe we hold this election in our hands. This vote is a vote that will dtermine the future not just of the U.S., but of the planet. It will determine whether we create policies to save the earth or make it forever uninhabitable for humans. It will determine whether we move towards dialogue and
diplomacy in the world or whether we escalate violence through invasion, undermining and attack. It will determine whether we go for oil, strip mining, coal burning or invest our money in alternatives that will free us from dependency and destruction. It will determine if money gets spent on education and healthcare or whether we build more and more methods of killing. It will determine whether America is a free open tolerant society or a closed place of fear, fundamentalism and aggression.

If the Polar Bears don't move you to go and do everything in your power to get Obama elected then consider the chant that filled the hall after Palin spoke at the RNC, 'Drill Drill Drill.' I think of teeth when I think of drills. I think of rape. I think of destruction. I think of domination. I think of military exercises that force mindless repetition, emptying the brain of analysis, doubt, ambiguity or dissent. I think of pain.

Do we want a future of drilling? More holes in the ozone, in the floor of the sea, more holes in our thinking, in the trust between nations and peoples, more holes in the fabric of this precious thing we call life?

Eve Ensler
September 5, 2008

Ramadan Is Almost Over !

Ramadan is almost over . Maybe next Sunday or Monday ? Glade it is nearly finished . This has been the strangest Ramadan for Moe and I . Many of the people we know have also said that it was awful for them too . I can't describe the feeling but it wasn't nice . In the old days we would have said the " Vibes where bad man" !

The weather was bad . The food I cooked was bad . The people were nasty and tried to cheap me on the prices of things just because I was a foreigner . If it was someplace I didn't normally shop , that happened until I told them I was married to a Libyan , but WHY should I have to say that ?

Then the other day when we went to town to buy a few things we had a altercation with a Libyan man that quickly turned nasty and almost violent . He told Moe he couldn't possibly be a Libyan because NO DECENT LIBYAN WOULD MARRY A FOREIGNER WHORE OF A DOG . I was pretty sure Moe would've kill that man if he had been able to get a hold of him , cane or no cane . That left me shaking and Moe muttering for the rest of the day . That was the first time I had seen such naked hatred before here in Libya .

A person actually asked me was I fasting . That is not so shocking by it's self since people are always asking me stupid things like that all the time. I have learned just to ignore those questions , but this man knows me . I just looked at him , shook my head and walked off .

My sometimes sane friend called me all in a panic the other day . She had been reading the Hadiths , the sayings and teachings of the Prophet Mohammed , and in one of them somewhere it talks about Jinns . What upst her was that her husband had not harvested thier dates yet. She became upset when she read in one of the Hadiths that the Jinns eat the date pits . How where the Jinns going to have a thing to eat if her husband didn't harvest the dates so she could throw the pits out side for the Jinns ? And if they don't have anything to eat , then the Jinns would come inside their house and cause them trouble all this coming winter . I had to calm her down and convince her that the Jinns could find plenty of food all over the place since there are only at least 1,000,000,000,000 date trees in Libya . I could tell she had her doubts .

Ok , I will stop my moaning here before you stop reading my blog , but I am very glade this month is almost over ! I sincerely hope your month , whether or not you celebrate Ramadan, was much better than ours . And they say the Devil is locked up in Hell during the month of Ramadan , but I am not too sure about that this year . Evil is a foot .

Do You Believe ?

Century's now , people have been taking and writing about angels . The Jews , the Christians , and the Muslims all believe in angels . They are mentioned in their books of religion . They are pictured here and there, in some very strange places at times . ABC World News did a feature on what Americans think about angels .

Now I am asking you ...... do you believe in angels too ? The spiritual type , the sort you don't see . I am not talking about those wonderfully helpful people that in real life are there when you need some one now and then , but honest to God angels . Do you think they exist ? Have you ever had a encounter with a angel ? What do you think they look like if you believe ? And most importantly , where are they ?


The angel picture is by Catherine Andrews and is titled Heaven Of Angels .

And Stuff Like This ....

Thank Allah the weather has changed !!! Even if it only last for 24 hours it is better than what we have experienced the past three days . All day before yesterday the wind blew out of the north in gusts bringing no relief from the horrible humidity and heat we have had to endure, and endure is the operative word here , with oppressive overcast cloudy skies . How wind can come straight off the Mediterranean Sea and still be hot I don't know but it was . Late, night before last , it rained briefly ushering in , for this North African nation , a fall like coolness that was so welcomed yesterday !

I have heard from my family in Houston . All are ok . Thank you to all of you that have asked after them . Most have electricity and water again , but some are not too sure when they will be able to return to work due to damage done to buildings they work in caused by Hurricane Ike .

I watched this news story on one of the American news channels late one night . I later found it on CNN web sight . It is about Mexico gifting China a replica of the Mexico City Angel statue to place on the Great Wall Of China . Sorta hit my satirical funny bone later ... thinking how Bush wants to build a wall between the US and Mexico to keep out the Mexicans and here they were standing on a wall so big that it can be seen all the way from space .You can watch the video here of the Mexican mariachi band celebrating the placement of the statue on the Great Wall of China .

This Ramadan there is much talk of the Arabic Ramadan soap operas that several of the Arabic channels are offering their viewers . The pro's and con's for these shows are raging all across the blogasphere with much controversy . Personally I have my own favorite show , so you see , I am in favor of these shows as they are only offered during Ramadan .As with any other form of entertainment , like internet surfing , you must know when it is time to enjoy your self and when it is time to get a life .

My favorite show we watch each night (making Moe translate anything I might miss) is Bab AL Hara . It is about a old town in 1929 Syria .Much like the British soap opera East Enders , it is centered around a neighborhood and it's residences .There is something for everyone ; murder , intrigue against the French colonial government , gun running , romance , neighborhood fights ,deaths , weddings ,family problems that people are still facing today such as spousal abuse , drug addiction , and divorce .

The characters are all strong even the women , which I like because they are not wusses ! The men show tender sides which most Arab men try to hide but are known to have now and then , lol .And like I said before , there are many relevant issues featured , that are you still have in this modern life . The show is so popular that it is in Wikpedia , the on line free encyclopedia .Click the link above to see it's page .

Now , having talked about Ramadan TV , I thought it worth mentioning a new religious ruling out of the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia by Sheik Saleh Al Lihedan . He issued a fatwa ( a relgious decree ) stating that it is OK to KILL the owners of satellite TV networks that have programs with IMMORAL content . This could be something as innocent as two adolescents holding hands or married couples kissing good bye as they go to work . I am taking a bold step here by assuming that HE isn't in favor of any the Ramadan soap operas .

I thought I would add the Saturday Night Live spoof featuring Tina Fey as Sarah Palin and Amy Poehler playing Hilary Clinton for your laugh of the day , because this video is really medicine for the soul . It is well worth the time it takes to download it to watch . Enjoy !

Ike's Post Script

The above pictures were taken at Houston , Clear Lake , and Galveston .

Rosebud called me just a little whole ago . She is my daughter that lives in Houston . She posted on her blog her experience of Hurricane Ike . Thought you might want to read her " eye wittiness " account of what happened to her and her husband .

Some 14 oil refiners were shut down due to Hurricane Ike and 1 in Louisianan was still closed because of a slow recovery from Hurricane Gustav that hit that state recently , reports Reuters news service . The price of oil is already on the steep rise even though President Bush had asked everyone to report any price gouging of petrol .

Ike is currently wearing his self out heading up the state of Texas toward the state of Arkansas CNN reports . The National Geographic News service tells us just HOW lucky Galveston and Houston got the very last minute as Ike had a change of heart and made a sharp turn to the right of the island as it made it's way inland , saving many lives in the process.

Hot , Hurrican Ike , And Too Much Ramadan !

Spoke to some of my family in Houston last night before Hurricane Ike hit .They had batten down the hatches so to speak . I have spoken to my daughter and son in law this morning and they are ok .Thank Allah !The National Hurricane Center said that Ike was roughly 600 miles across . That is the same distance from Houston, Texas all the way to Panama City , Florida , 6 states apart .

Many of the rivers, creeks, and bayous that lacy their way all through out the Houston area have flooded . Galveston Island and the low lands north of the island getting the worse of course .Still not a lot of news coming out of there yet since many of the telephone and electric lines are down as well as internet too . So maybe until later today or even tomorrow before I hear from the rest of the family there .

On the other hand , I have have had enough of HOT , STICKY , HUMID Tripoli today !!! The fan quit working last night . I have the air conditioner going full blast and it is still hot in the house .I take a shower and before I even dry off , I am sweating all over again ! I wish it would get cool and maybe have some rain .It's raining ever where else in the world , why not here ???

And .... Allah forgive me , I have had enough of Ramadan today ! It is one of those days when you feel like this has gone on way too long . I am not hungry or thirsty , just tired of the whole thing . Maybe it is worrying over my family that is making me feel all out of sorts , or maybe it is the full moon coming up . I don't know . I think I will go back to bed ...... until it is all over !

Libyan Blogroll

Libyan Blogroll

http://on-the-edge-of-something.blogspot.com/

Thank You & News

I just wanted to thank all of you for the Happy Birthday wishes . It was a exciting day . A good friend came over with balloons , chips , beer ( non alchoalic kind ) and candles . No we didn't set the place on fire , lol ! We did have a lot of fun though with those balloons .

Ramadan has finally settled down into it's retuine now . I am abale to get more than a meal cooked these days .Have done some reading of the Quran that I had wanted to do . A little visiting , and managed not to burn or otherwise , destroy a meal .That's big progress because for a while there it was pretty touch and go whether or not any of these things would happen .

My daughters called me on my birthday and I didn't even have the time to really talk to them and that made me feel so bad . I miss them and look forward to their calls when they get the chance to call .

I kicked Moe out of the house after he had started to grow roots into the floor in front of the TV the other night . I told him it was Ramadan and he HAD to go outside after dinner and talk to the " Jahmah " ( the group) and have some "Joe " ( weather or your state of mind ) because I was tired of having him under my feet 24/7 .

Just read where the IMF ( International Monetary Fund) organization is suggesting that Libya slow down it's public spending and decide which programs are the most important to support because of possible rising inflation from government investments outside Libya .For more on that story go to this link by Reuters .

More on the new ambassador .....A US Senate committee has decided to postpone the diplomat Gene Cert's appointment as the new ambassador to Libya because of US concerns that Libya still hasn't deposited the funds agreed upon for the victims of terrorist acts. Libya admitted to set up a account set aside for that propose . Read the rest of that story here .

One last article I found reports Gaddafi LOVES Condoleeza Rice after her visit last week to Tripoli . How the American the oil companies want this settlement deal to be finalized and finished with so " business as usual " can continue on a more secure footing than now; with a more completive edge against the European oil companies .

Hurricaines

Coming from the Gulf of Mexico in Texas, I have a very healthy respect for hurricanes .Went through several and lived to tell the tale but I have seen first hand the extreme damage that they can do to man and earth alike . If there was ever any doubt about heeding a hurricane warning , I hope that people remember the most recent Infant Terrible " Katrina" that had a terrible temper tantrum and almost destroyed a whole way of life three years ago on the southern coast of America from New Orleans to Alabama .

In 1900 another such killer struck and did destroy a island , Galveston Island , Texas .This hurricane was a category 5 and hit the island with a tidal wave that cleared everything in it's path .The people of Galveston raised the height of the island by 17 feet and built a sea wall to help prevent another such disaster from ever happening again , but after seeing the way Hurricane Ike scaled a five story apartment building in Cuba with a surge of sea water taller than the building ( and they aren't calling it a tsunami just a sea surge ) I wonder will a sea wall do any good.

Now Hurricane Ike is fore casted to hit anywhere from the Louisiana coast to maybe as far south as Mexico . It seems as of now ,the mid Texas coast ,the Corpus Christi area ,might be it's next target . Where ever it goes it will most likely be the cause of much damage because it will have a good chance to suck up tons of warm water from the Gulf Of Mexico and build it's strength back up to a full blown monster by land fall later this week . Remember that old saying ... " Don't mess with Mother Nature " ? Well , I want to add to that saying .... " Get out of Her way when She is having a fit " ! If you are living in the projected path of this storm , for goodness sakes evacuate . Evacuate from any hurricane , because you will never know which one will be the next Katrina , until it is way too late .

Who Is Ahead Now

Well it looks like Sarah "Who" Palin just might pull the rabbit out of the magic hat for Senator McCain . The very latest polls show a narrow margin with McCain ahead of Senator Obama .

I heard a news commentator say that Rush Limbaugh was so excited about her nomination as running mate for McCain that he was quoted as saying ," Hot damn ! Guns , babies , and Jesus what more does America want ?" I am not saying this is TRUE but it does make you ask yourself is this really all the American voters think about ?

They say that Senator Obama isn't qualified because of his lack of foreign policy experience but he does have Senator Joe Biden who is the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in the US senate .This is the balance the Democratic ticket needs . Sarah "WHO" Palin doesn't bring experience of this caliber to the Republican party at all . What if she does happened to become the president through default of McCain's demise , will she really be able to lead the US through the hard times ahead for that nation ?

Hell Has Finally Frozen Over

USA Secretary Of State Condoleeeza Rice is visiting Libya today to meet with Gaddafi , so reports Reuters news service . So , I guess this means that Hell has finally frozen over ! I am wondering where she will stay . There isn't an "Official" embassy here for America YET . I have even heard a rumor that Sheila Might be on call for her just in CASE !

There are all sorts of rumors of a embassy opening with a actual ambassador to go in it ... soon . That's the what we have been told . It will be a full service embassy , that means women like me , married to a Libyan national will be able to get service too , not just the mainland US citizens that are working here for American companies .

This will be a exciting improvement over the past , after the way we have been treated , like a step child hidden in the attic . If you can picture happy dancing , then you see many of the American women married to Libyans happy to know maybe now we be counted as a citizen again by our own country ... even though we live here in Libya .

Ramadan hasn't been going as smoothly as I thought it would this year. Our daughter in law , along with our grandson was staying with us all last week . That was a adjustment in it’s self since Haroun is into every little thing now , lol . They went back to their home last night and the house is sooo quite now . LOL ! Amazing how much life a toddler can infuse into a place !! He said his first real word the other day and it was the Libyan word " hickey " , which "means like that ". Like if he was into something he wasn't supposed to be doing , his mother would say to him ... hickey ? I guess he hears that word a lot , lol .

Tomorrow I will be a year older . I am getting into this being older thing . I am finding out that being a older person has it's own advantages , such as just doing whatever I want now . I speak my mind more often and voice my opinion to the dismay of many , lol . When there are protest , I smile and say , " hey I am old now and can say that ". People let me sit down in their seats . Allow me to go first through the door , and are patient when I am moving slowly through the check out line . Ah yes , old isn't so bad after all .

http://www.topix.net/content/reuters/2008/09/rice-to-visit-libya-in-landmark-trip
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condoleezza_Rice

Test : How Well Do you Know McCain Or Obama

Click on both of these links to participate in the quizzes testing your knowledge of McCain and Obama . Might surprise yourself with the results .

And once again , the people from REAL CLEAR POLITICS has a poll for you that shows Obama ahead as of August 31 , 2008 .