Life to Date

Hi ! It has been a while since I last wrote . One reason is Moe has suddenly decided I am spending too much time on the computer .That means the WHEN I DO get a chance to go on line , I am on longer than ever , trying to catch up on the mail , reading ( which I am so sorry to say I am MONTHS behind reading other blogs and have missed out on what my friends have been up to in their lives . All thanks to MOE !) , posting , Facebooking, and all that other jazz  I can only do in line .He doesn't " do computer" and has no interest in "doing computer " either , so that makes it harder for him to understand the WHY . This will pass. I just have to be patient and he will find a new project to keep him busy .

It is almost the end of the month . I am glade . We will get paid soon and I can go grocery shopping then . I need to start to stock up on stuff for Ramadan that is coming in about 3 1/2 months .Food prices have been steadily rising .  We bought a chicken that cost us 3 dinars last month . Yesterday the same size chicken cost us 7 1/2 dinars . Chicken is the cheapest meat here . What are the poor doing  for meat source ? Doing with out .Some food items were hard to find for a while .They are back on the shelves again .But need to buy them before they go AWOL again .The thing about living here is, if you see something today , it doesn't necessarily follow that you will see it tomorrow . So , you buy it if you can, when you see it . Supply and demand have a long lag period here .

I have been thinking about this new health care bill in the States . I am all for it , although I am not exactly sure what all it entails , the pros and cons . I know that sounds stupid . Consider this though , 1 child  living in a house in a American neighborhood  , with a child in every house ,will not have any sort of health care at ALL , because the parents can't afford it . Maybe the next door neighbors kid will be covered by insurance, and the 2 kids next door to them will have some sort of insurance , but then the house on the other side of them will not  have insurance, for the same reason as the 1st child .1 in 4 kids will have to figure out what to do if they break their arm playing outside because they can't go to the hospital for treatment. They have no insurance . 1 in 4 kids will have no insurance to go to the doctor if they get pneumonia . They will probably die .1 in 4 kids ,that is too many .No more will a insurance company be able to cancel your insurance policy, OR refuse to sell insurance to a person because of the dreaded " PRE-EXISTING CONDITIONS" policy that exists up until now .How wonderful is that ?? To know that you can still be covered by insurance if you need it , as in the case of so many cancer patients .

The Republicans started a scare campaign , along with the insurance lobbies to try to stop the bill . Thank God they failed .There will be the good and the bad from this new health care bill, but all I know is this is the most momentous bill in both houses since the Civil Rights bills in the 1960's . And the Welfare / Social Security bills of the 1940's . Both were predicted to be the end of the world  , the end of America . They weren't . They were the making of America .This is of the same caliber . England is doing just fine with it's health care system . As a matter of fact , I had a American friend living here in Libya, go to England to have cancer treatment because Libya didn't offer what they needed and America was too expensive and unobtainable because of no insurance ... pre existing condition .

Something else on my mind , not nearly as heavy ,but equally difficult to understand , is people I have recently re-connected with on Facebook, that I haven't been in contact with in over .... well, many years, let's just say ,lol, are so blown away by the fact that I am living here in Libya , married to a Libyan , raised our children here ,and I have become a Muslim . As IF  I have become a alien from outer space or something . I am asked the strangest questions .Their imaginations have run wild . I am waiting for some one to ask me if I ride a camel instead of driving a car , lol .That just goes to show you several things . One, that the way Libya has been portrayed over the years by the Western media is biased , slanted , and incorrect in many ways .That isn't to say history isn't history , but rather there is HISTORY , and then there is HISTORY . Perspective is everything .With the advent of the internet , things should be easier to learn about and to see , if a person takes the time to investigate .Propaganda is rampant all over , so one must use common sense and a sieve to find the truth sometimes on any subject .Of course I can't really blame them for the misconceptions they have because of the things the the radical Muslims have been doing to gain  negative press coverage in the news .The assumption is that All MUSLIMS , i.e. all Arabs ( LIBYANS ) are terrorist .

Smaller things are bothering me , like why can't I get YouTube on my computer any more ? I have reset my settings , done this and did that . Nothing . I miss YouTube  a lot . I guess I will no longer  be able to post music on my blog .Really hate that ! I am gaining weight again . Yeah , I KNOW what to do about that , sigh , but have a hard time doing it ! Need to get to Sheila's and have her cut my hair short since it is getting warmer. AND I want to complain about the mosquitoes problem we are having around the Condo . I bought a bug insecticide that plugs into the electrical wall outlet . It works . Yeah ! Only problem ... it gives me asthma . It made Patches La Chat ill as well . I didn't plug it in tonight . So far , so good . May not need to use it all the time .

Oh yeah , the next time you hear about a country that is in a "CIVIL WAR" , think genocide . Civil war is just a nice way of saying " ethnic cleansing " no matter what they call it . Also , " Human Trafficking Day " was yesterday .Human trafficking ? Just call it what it is ... slavery . This is 2010 and slavery is still rampant ALL OVER THE WORLD ! OMG !!! I know there is some other stuff I wanted to get off my chest but my mind goes blank right now. I guess that let's you off the hook for now . No more moaning and groaning from me for a while.Am going to bed to think of something positive to write about next time .Ciao !

Artist unknown but painting named " Dizzy" .

The Friendly Skies

Ah ... I "found " my tool bar for the blog posts again . It was lost for a while . Don't ask , because I have no idea how .These things happen to me all the time . Khadijateri calls me the teckno challenged , she's right , lol !

A few posts back I wrote of new x ray machines in the States that were being installed in airports across the country . They had Superman's ability to see through clothing to your skin . This is ok for say some one that is 25 in great shape and no excess flab hanging around, you know what I mean ??? BUT ....... if you are older , in bad shape , religious , shy , embarrass easily , or have personal disabilities , and /or issues you aren't in any hurry to share with the whole world , theses new x ray machines are bad news for you .They may be great in the War on Terror but not so great for personal privacy .

A good friend of mine just returned from a visit to the States to see her family . I went to visit her . We were talking and catching up on all the news . I was thinking of telling her about these new x ray machines and how upset I felt about them , when she says to me..... guess what humiliating thing happened to me on my trip through Dallas airport .

She says as she was standing in line to clear customs , the clerk looked up , saw her standing there in her headscarf ; since she wears the head covering many Muslim women wear . The clerk started to yell for security to come quickly . My friend says she looked all around to see who the subject of this panic was and how near they were to her in case she needed to duck or something . She didn't see anyone . She turned around to look at the clerk as security came rushing up to her ! The man told her she had been selected for a RANDOM search .She says she noticed THEN that she was the only one in the line that had a head scarf on with long sleeves , i.e. the only Muslim/ Middle Eastern looking person in the area !

He took her to a glass both in front of everyone , told her to step inside . A whoosh of air came and lifted up her clothing for a few minutes as she was examined on a monitor where anyone passing by could see her naked body . She was so humiliated and shamed . She is a American , born and raised in the States who happened to marry a person from Libya . She lives here in Libya with her husband and children as a wife should . She is older and a very modest woman , not your typical Muslim extremest at all . Should she have been singled out Just because she fit the profile ? She wore a head covering , she was coming from Libya , after all you can't be too careful can you? This was a very upsetting incident for her . And she is constantly wondering .. who else saw her nude in that booth ?

Then the poor woman on her way home to Tripoli through Atlanta met a older Lebanese woman travailing on her own and clearly flustered by all the rules and regulations that have been put in place since the last time this woman had traveled to Lebanon on a visit to her family . My friend befriended this older woman .No good deed goes unblessed right ? Wrong ! They boarded the plan . Made their way toward their seats , with my friend carrying hers and the older womans carry on luggage . It was too much for the older woman by this time to carry her own bag and she was shy to ask for assistance . My friends seat comes first before the other womans seat . My friend burdened with all the luggage , asked her new seat mate , another woman , to please take her carry on luggage and put it in her seat for her , until she returns from helping this older woman to settle into her seat and stow away her carry on . She then proceeded on down the isle , found the Lebanese womans seat , put her carry on in the overhead , settled the woman , turned to return to her seat and ran smack dab into the whole crew of the plane !

The seat mate of my friend whom she had asked to place her carry on into her chair , had panicked , not speaking English well nor understanding it as well either , had summoned the cabin personnel , telling them she had been handed a BOMB by that WOMAN there !!!! Help !!!!! So , they were rushing my friend as she was turning back around to return to her seat . She tried to explain what had happened . They weren't in the mood to listen ... at first . They searched her , her bag and questioned her eventually realizing she was what she said she was and doing what she said she was doing . Imagine this , she had to sit next to that woman that had thought she was a terrorist because she wore a head scarf and handed her her a bag , not understanding what my friend had asked her , for over eight hours to the next stop . Talk about a trip from Hell !!!! Anyone planning a trip soon ????? Happy Trails if you are traveling !