Irony

Antione Ghanem died last night, an MP from the March 14 assembly, which includes these people. I wanted to stray off-topic but I had to mention these people to support my point.

Feb 2005: Ex-PM Rafik Hariri

June 2005: Anti-Syria journalist Samir Kassir

June 2005: Ex-Communist leader George Hawi

Dec 2005: Anti-Syria MP Gebran Tueni

Nov 2006: Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel

June 2007: Anti-Syria MP Walid Eido

Sep 2007: Anti-Syria MP Antoine Ghanim

I was watching LBC and they had an ad made of people welcoming kinships and family at the Airport. They ran it beautifully, it was leading to a proclamation that stunned me:

“The Safest Country in the World”

I live in Jordan and while we do have a fear of terrorism in the wake of our 9-11, which happened on the 9th of November almost two years ago, I can guarantee that Jordan is still safer that Lebanon. I can also tell of the Irony of watching a member of parliament not yet 48 hours in the country from his fearful stay outside Lebanon (in Abu Dhabi), foolowed by such a daring advertisement for lebanon.

Radi

Salon again

I ran into a Freedom Airlines pilot a week ago at Kennedy airport. We were standing in line together, catching a flight to Boston. He was a captain (four stripes), but looked about 17 years old. I was trying to figure out which company he flew for, but couldn’t make sense of the star-spangled logo on his I.D. badge. So I asked him.

“I fly for Freedom,” he responded.

I wasn’t sure if he was answering my question or making a political statement. I wanted to put my arm on his shoulder. “We all do, son. We all do.”

I am still laughing as I write this, this is an excerpt from one of my favourite columns, it is by Patrick Smith of Salon.com, check out this weeks episode from a career pilot.

Radi

Missionary

No, I am not going to start a series about sexual positions, nor am I even going close, I am talking about a missionary effort of another sort. See I believe in freedom of belief and religion, but I do not believe in being harassed by the Good News Magazine in their efforts to spread Christianity in the middle east, I believe all unsolicited mail to be harassment and illegal.

However, I must say that what they do write in their booklets -of which I am a frequent recipient- sometimes sounds appealing to my Muslim roots, I guess all religious people are conservative in the same way. To me, the belief system is based on predicting the future, which I know that no one can do. I am waiting for “What’s Ahead for America and Britian?” and “What does the bible say about Tithing?”

It is going to be amusing seeing clergymen defending sizable donations to the churches.

Radi

being inconvenient pays

We all know that Al Gore’s movie “An Inconvenient Truth” is amazing, but I just learned that it grossed $49 million and that it is the fourth-highest-grossing documentary film to date in the United States, after Fahrenheit 9/11, March of the Penguins and Sicko. I only watched Fahrenheit 9/11 and Al Gore’s film.

He received two academy awards for it, but that’s not what I want to talk about. I encourage everyone to go see it, even if you are a green person who spent the last three decades saving wildlife and studying the environment.

The movie is entertaining, it is filled with accurate and scientific facts, it made me think, alot.

Radi

Beautiful work of art

As a fan of “The Godfather” and Mario Puzo, I was ecstatic when I saw this piece of manual intelligence. It is good!

It is made up of the whole script of the movie, I would have posted it if it wasn’t very taxing to my blog and if it wasn’t illegal. but here is a link.

enjoy!

Radi

Oprah, the phenomena

If I was Oprah Winfrey, I would think a million times before I go anywhere, do anything and I would probably say nothing, but I am not and probably that’s the reason I may never become her. It is said that the Oprah book club is an instant 1 million book sale and an instant climb to top position on sales lists.

Oprah recently had NIGHT BY ELIE WIESEL as a pick, it is a great story about a holocaust survivor, I have said and will continue to say, that there is damning evidence for the holocaust and that the horrendous number of lives that died in it should not be denied, I also maintain that there is -in any subject- open room for research. It does not mean, however that the story is over. Oprah -with her billion dollar name and her approach and credibility that politicians would kill for- is lending her name to a cause that is to say the least controversial.

She has accepted an invitation to visit Israel, and knowing the Israelis, I have many fears, Americans, I believe are misguided, when it comes to the Middle East, and to have Oprah endorse one side, would further distort such understanding, not to mention that it would lend support to occupiers, war crimes’ perpetrators.

I hope she thought this through.

Radi

Andy Rooney

A man of 88 years, he is hilarious, he makes me watch 60 minutes till the very end to see what he is going to be talking about next, he started with 60 minutes when he was 60 and he makes me laugh almost every week.

I don’t think he should retire because of his old age, I am a pilot and I understand that 60 is almost a magical number, but in journalism and commentary, it is common sense to keep the people with
the most experience, even if they do sound like you grandfather.

Radi