I havent been to a hospital or a doctor for more than 10 years and havent been sick for years. Last time i recall was when i stepped with my foot on a broken can and injured myself but that was very long time ago, like 10 or 11 years.

Wow lol am impressed, even though i do all sorts of sports, party a lot, go out a lot, do crazy stuff, wear tshirts in winter etc etc …

Hope i am not jinxing myself, or else i ll end up having a Crippled blog even though it looked as if Ram enjoyed this experience at some point.

Smart Initiative a good post (as usual) by Mustapha on The Beirut Spring.  A Must Read.

Just read the following on Naharnet:

Italians serving with an international maritime task force off the Lebanese coast have rescued a Syrian national who had been swimming for two days, the United Nations News Center said Monday.

The man had apparently fallen from a passing ship and was rescued on Saturday by the “San Marco” crew several hundred meters off the coast, said a statement posted on the News Center’s website.

It said the Syrian man was initially administered first aid by the ship’s doctor and later evacuated to a hospital in the southern port city of Tyre, according to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon.

Now isn’t everyone glad we have UNIFIL in Lebanon?

Erm… it is disturbingly funny and not appropriate

A car dealership in Ohio has decided not to run a commercial proclaiming a “jihad” on the U.S. auto market, a Muslim activist group said on Monday.

The Ohio Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations released a letter from the dealership offering an apology and saying the radio ad, which had never been aired, was a misguided attempt at humor.

“We appreciate the dealership’s constructive reaction to feedback about the proposed advertisements,” said Adnan Mirza, director of the group’s Ohio’s office. “We accept the apology … and hope that it and the decision not to air the spots will bring this incident to a close.”

The statement from the dealership, Dennis Mitsubishi in Columbus, said “A large number of people have contacted us. Lots of them have seen the humor we were trying to convey, but far too many were clearly bothered by it. This was simply an attempt at humor that fell short.”

It also offered a “sincere apology to anyone who was offended.”

The group on Sunday had complained publicly about plans for a commercial it said would have proclaimed a “jihad” on the U.S. auto market offering “Fatwa Fridays” with sales representatives giving play swords to children.

Reuters

I just got back home from work,  i see my little bro doing the weirdest sandwich. I thought first that i wasnt seeing clearly cause i ve had a long day, almost 12 hours of work, but i was right:

He was wrapping a Labne sandwich with Salt Master Chips, and i tasted it and it wasnt that bad. It is the first time i see such a sandwich, i suggest you guys try it and tell me what you think.

During my 5 years in Lebanon, I somehow never managed to vist Kadisha Valley in the North and only went to the Cedars once where from a distance people pointed at the Cedar trees. I was just told that during my next trip to Lebanon there might be a trip organized that would take us to spend the day and night at Kadisha Valley and visit the town of Bsharre (including the Gibran Khalil Gibran Museum) and the Cedars the next day. I really am looking forward to such a trip. Below are some information of the valley and images from the area.

It is the Holy Valley which lies along 35 km; from the Cedars of the Lord to Tripoli. It was the refuge of the Maronites who came in the Middle of the VIIth century and lived all together, the Patriarch, the monks, the hermits, the people and the churches. Everything in the Valley, recalls the struggle for the safeguard of the faith. Before the Maronites came, the convent of Cannoubine was, in the VIth century, a place where the hermits used to meet before they go to live in seclusion. It was Theodore the Great (379-395) who founded this convent, and dedicated it to the care of the Virgin Mary. The word Cannoubine is of a Greek origin and means community life.

Cannoubine remained during four centuries, the vivid center of the maronite community. The cells are graved in the rocks and its church is under the patronage of the Virgin Mary as it was since its foundation. We can find there icons of the XVth and XVIth centuries and documents written in Syriac and Latin.

The Kadisha Valley includes also the convent of St. Antoine Kozhaya which dates back to the XIIth century. It is protected by the angels of the heavens. The turkish soldiers pillaged it in 1866 and took all its possessions. However, we can find there some sacred vestments weaved in golden and silver thread, a precious crozier and a mass paten offered by the kings of France. We can read on the Paten the following inscription: Offered to the convent of Kozhaya in 1100. The convent was restored in 1926, just near the caves where the hermits lived. The church is hewed out of the rock.

(more…)

I don’t want a leader and I don’t want to become a follower.
I want someone who represents me.

I want someone who discusses internal security, foreign policy, economical growth.

I want someone who will find solutions for our problems and ensure that they are solved.

I want someone to secure jobs.

I want someone to enhance the education system.

I want security, stability, and improvement.

I do not want ideologies.

From Hakim’s speech today in Harissa:

“Before Maroun el Rass and Khiyam and Bint Jbeil, there was Ain El Remmaneh and Bella and Achrafieh and Qnat.”

We are the Resistance, We are its fathers and mothers and children and grand children.
We always were the Resistance and we will forever stay this way.
Amen

Today was a turning point for the LF and for the Lebanese politics.
Today the LFers showed everyone that they are still faithfull to their martyrs and to their living martyr and leader Dr.Geagea.
Today the LF showed everyone they are not a minority and Dr.Geagea proved to his ennemies he does not fear them and will resist democratically and politically anyone threatening Lebanon’s national unity and sovereignty, and proved to his allies that he will take the initiatives if they dont and he will not accept the LF to be a second rank party.

Finally he answered Nasrallah and whatever he said i believe expresses how every patriotic Lebanese would feel:

“When We find a solution to Hezbollah’s weapons, we ll be able to build the state and not the other way.”

“If Nasrallah thinks finishing the resistance cannot be done by force, keeping the Resistance’s arms by force is a wrong bet.”

“They say that no army in the world can make us give u our weapons, we tell them no weapons in the world will make us approve the legitimacy of those weapons.”

“They say that the resistance has more than 20 000 missiles and is stronger than it was before the war started, we tell them the power is not by how many missiles you have, but by having a united goal an destiny as Lebanese.”

“They say whomever is betting on weaking the resistance is a loser, we tell them whomever is betting on weaking the government is wrong.”

“They say it is wrong that UNIFIL interfers in internal Lebanese issues, we tell them it is wrong for any foreign forces ( and not just the UNIFIL) to interfer in our internal affairs.

” They say that they are proud of their friendship with Syria and Iran, we tell them we are proud of our frienships with the whole world.”

And finally,

“They say whomever is feeling that his plan and strategy were achieved is talking about victory and whomever is feeling he failed is talking about failure, and we clearly tell them, our choice was the victorious one since we asked for the Lebanese army supprted by UNIFIL to be spread in the South at first while Hezbollah refused, but even though we were victorious,
we do not feel this victory because this war was a disaster on all of us and mainly the Lebanese people and our future is at sake because of this war.”

All Christian parties were represented except Aoun of course even though invited.
Bkerke should be uniting all of us Christians and the only person missing was Aoun.

Thank you Hakim and May God Bless all our martyrs.

N10452 is having a picnic somewhere on a mountain in Lebanon surrounded by nature and listening to the sound of a river and birds.
I am in my office, in an air-conditioned office, surrounded by walls and notes, listening to Fairouz “Li Beirut” playing Sudoku.

On Friday I was able to watch Hassan Nasrallah’s entire speech since Friday is my day off.  Today I am at work while people are heading to Harissa.

Usually every year, the Lebanese Forces hold a mass in order to pray for their martyrs and today is the first year in 15 years that they do so “officially” since the party was disbanded in 1991.

People expect hundreds of thousands of people showing up at todays mass since March 14th  called upon the people to go to the “rally” today.

The controversy is at if this is appropriate or not.  Several LFers believe that holding a “parade” is disrespectful to the Martyrs… but isn’t this what the martyrs would have wanted?

I don’t expect more than 200 000 people to attend the mass/rally today but I have been told that people have been heading to Harissa since yesterday and a huge turn-out is expected.

I guess we can only wait and see what will happen.

One of the funniest quotes i heard was by our dear Sam by claiming Hezbollah “to be the biggest and most representative and most democratic party in Lebanese history that represents 65 to 75% of Lebanese!!”

Yes believe it or not, not only Hezbollah is a democratic party, let me correct, the MOST democratic party, but it always represents 65 to 75 % of the Lebanese population.

I am sure Sam did think long and read books and articles and reviews and did a thourough analysis and finally came up with that conclusion, i mean you have to admit, it is a brilliant statement.

But i dont blame him, and i will not answer him in details because it is not worthy replying to, however i ll try to justify it from a Hezbollah point of view and show you the level of brainwashing that these guys are facing.

First of all, Hezbollah guys have a certain built-in software apparently that triggers automated answers containing attacks on the LF no matter what the topic is. If we are talking about potatoes they find a way to mention the LF. And the levels of attacks are so childish, as in LF land of Fantasies, and Dr.Geagea who didnt finish his diploma and those 6-year old talks.

Second, Hezbollah and democracy, well i really felicitate Nasrallah for convincing their people that an armed militia, not even a political party, controlled by an uncontested leader approved by the second most democratic party in the world ( According to Hezbollah), the Islamic Republic of Iran and the third most democratic country, Syria.

Democracy to Sam is having an armed militia that controls your regions and feeds you and launches war against Israel and threatens anyone working against it and issues fatwas to make u vote for it.

Third, how representative Hezbollah is ? Well let us base ourselves on Manar numbers, on the solidarity day with Irak back in the beginning of 2005, they claimed more than 800 000 attended, then on the 8th of March 2005, they claimed more than a 1.5 attended, than yesterday i heard people talking about 2 millions.

So if Hezbollah has 70 % of the Lebanese population, why doesnt he have the majority in the parliament ?
Oh wait, i am expecting an answer such as: We are a democratic party and we want national unity and so give our political opponents the majority ?

The least i can say is that this statement you did is pathetic, and you seriously need history and political sciences courses to understand what democracy is, or just google it, it is for free and no Google is not a Zionist company.

Cheers.

I wait for Ramadan to come every year.  I love how the country changes.

For those who don’t live in Kuwait, during Ramadan the whole country changes.  Instead of work being from 8:30 to 5:30 it becomes from 9 to 3.  Work quiets down a lot.

After 3 the streets are practically empty and during futoor time you feel like you’re in a haunted town.  It’s the perfect time to go jogging for me.

After futoor, the streets liven up again and the malls and stores are open to at least midnight… towards the end of Ramadan they remain till 2am if not more.

It really is a great change of routine for me and I just love the whole atmosphere and ambience of it.  When I lived in Lebanon for 5 years, I barely even knew if Ramadan arrived or not.

The Lebanese government is ready to integrate Hizbullah fighters into a regular army brigade that could patrol villages in the country’s south, Defense Minister Elias Murr was quoted as saying Friday.
“As soon as the Lebanese army is properly equipped, we will find a solution to integrate these resistance fighters and their weapons into a Lebanese army brigade,” Murr said in an interview with French newspaper Le Monde.

“It could be charged with protecting villages in the south, under the control of the Lebanese army.”

Murr also said the Lebanese government had decided to acquire “anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles” to “remove the pretext according to which the army is unable to protect Lebanon.”

The army’s lack of equipment is often cited by Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah as a reason not to disarm.

Nasrallah repeated on Friday that his group will not give up its arms in a weak Lebanese state incapable of defending itself from the threat of Israel.

Murr said there were still “divergent views” on whether Hizbullah can be persuaded to surrender its arsenal in line with U.N. resolution 1701.

“According to some, these weapons are an Iranian card in the hands of Hizbullah,” he said in reference to Iran’s backing for the movement.

“Others think we must find out whether, in the final reckoning, Hizbullah’s weapons are destined, as Hassan Nasrallah insists, to the protection of Lebanon. I want to believe that is the case,” he said.(AFP)

Source : Naharnet