posted by Lazarus, 6:56 PM
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posted by Lazarus, 10:31 AM
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1 - NEVER discriminate against someone because of his/her color.
2 - NEVER discriminate against someone because of his/her religion.
... and ...
3 - NEVER ask a woman her age.
- A local Somalian Cab Driver; March 29, 2006
posted by Lazarus, 1:25 PM
2 comments
the Lebanese resistance is a natural expression of the right of the Lebanese people to liberate its territory and defend its dignity in face of Israeli greed and aggression
posted by Lazarus, 2:39 PM
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NEWSWEEK: What are the odds that Syria will remove Lahoud anytime soon?
Chibli Mallat: Considering that everyone in the National Dialogue accepts there is a crisis in the presidency that needs to be addressed and the only way to address it is with a new president, the likelihood is much higher today than it was two months ago. You could have a new president in a week or a month.
What makes you think Lahoud’s presidency may be in jeopardy?
The Syrians will hang on to him as much as they can, but eventually they will cut their losses because Arab leaders are pressuring them to do so. It’s because of Saad Hariri [Rafik’s son and a political leader]. He is saying “I want him out,” and the Saudis will not go against him on this, though the pressure is clandestine. The atmosphere has changed to the point where the Saudis are saying, “Let’s agree on [a Lahoud successor]” rather than “let’s not stir up change in Lebanon.”
Assuming Lahoud goes and an election is scheduled, how do you rate your chances?
The [candidate] that is least objectionable to everyone involved is probably me, because while I belong to this Cedar Revolution atmosphere, I am not directly associated with or against any one camp. The patriarch came out with specifications for a best-candidate’s profile—someone young, educated, middle of the road—which was read widely to be a reference to me. Since I announced my campaign, I’ve propelled my image from innocuous dreamer to one of the contenders on the public radar. We had a poll done this week between me and [Gen. Michel] Aoun and the result was 59 percent for Aoun and 40 percent for Mallat, which is significant [considering] when I started out.
posted by Lazarus, 7:37 AM
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posted by Lazarus, 11:28 PM
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posted by Lazarus, 8:19 AM
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posted by Lazarus, 7:43 AM
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posted by Lazarus, 9:14 AM
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posted by Lazarus, 7:44 PM
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posted by Lazarus, 8:24 AM
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BEIRUT, 21 March (IRIN) - Beirut's impressive downtown district reflects much of the wealth and development that Lebanon has enjoyed since the end of the civil war in 1990. But a few minutes' drive to the capital's southern and northern fringes reveals a vastly different reality, featuring extreme poverty and underdevelopment.
Residents and NGOs working to alleviate poverty put much of the blame for the shabby condition of the suburbs on government inaction. "We're second class citizens," said Youssef Hassan, a 48 year-old resident of the southern suburb of Hay al-Selom. "Officials forget we exist below the poverty line."
Those earning less than Lebanon's monthly minimum wage – 300,000 Lebanese pounds (roughly US $200) – are generally considered to be living under the poverty line, according to Sawsan Masri, project manager at the Ministry of Social Affairs.
"We have no electricity or paved roads, no health insurance and none of the essential services that a government should provide its people," said Hassan who works as a taxi driver to provide for seven dependants. He and his family have been living in a two-room apartment in Hay al-Selom since they were forced out of the southern village of Arabsalim by the Israeli occupation 15 years ago.
... continue here ...
posted by Lazarus, 3:29 PM
4 comments
...In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace...
From a Mother's Day Proclamation of 1870
posted by Lazarus, 12:10 AM
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We must remember that we are not dealing with automatons whose sole function in life is to embody an ideology and a party line, but with human beings - people who, like ourselves, have special areas of pride, prejudice, and sensitivity. I have found, for example, as have others who have discussed current issues with Soviet officials and citizens, that the whole trend of a conversation can be influenced by the way in which you begin it. If you confront them at the outset with an attack on the harshness of their ideology, the shortcomings of their economy, or the excesses of their dictatorship, you are likely to be rewarded with an outburst of chauvinism and vituperation about American policy and practices. There are those who find such encounters emotionally satisfying, but no one can deny that they are singularly barren of productive results.
If, on the other hand, you start out with a compliment about the successes of Soviet society - and there have been a few - or with a candid reference to the shortcomings of our own society - and there have also been a few of these - then it often happens that the response is surprisingly expansive and conciliatory. You are likely to hear an admission that everything, after all, is not perfect in the Soviet Union, and that there are even a few things about America that are admirable and worthy of imitation.
The compliments in themselves are of little importance. But the candor and the cordiality are of great importance. As any good businessman knows, they set a tone and an atmosphere in which emotion gives way to reason and it becomes possible to do business, to move on from cordial generalities to specific negotiations. They generate that minimum of mutual confidence which is absolutely essential for reaching concrete agreements.
J. Fulbright, 1964
posted by Lazarus, 7:43 PM
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posted by Lazarus, 1:20 AM
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BEIRUT: The Cabinet will review tomorrow the first draft of the five-year economic program which is aimed at slashing the public debt and stimulating the economy. Apart from privatizing telecoms, the program calls for raising value added tax (VAT) gradually from 10 percent to 15 percent and introducing a unified tax system.
posted by Lazarus, 2:16 PM
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posted by Lazarus, 11:37 PM
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posted by Lazarus, 9:34 AM
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posted by Lazarus, 9:47 AM
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posted by Lazarus, 9:56 PM
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posted by Lazarus, 11:50 AM
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posted by Lazarus, 9:48 AM
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posted by Lazarus, 4:20 PM
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BEIRUT, 6 March (IRIN) - At a glance, Nadine (not her real name) is an innocent, 16 year-old-girl, but a conversation with her soon reveals the shocking details of the hard life she endured as a child. "I didn't choose to work as a prostitute," she said. "It's just my luck in life."
Explaining how she was raped at the age of nine by a neighbour, and therefore "had nothing to lose" when she accepted money for the first time in exchange for sex with an older man, Nadine blamed her situation on her family's financial needs.
"My parents needed money so they sent me to work as a housemaid at the age of 12. Do you know how much I had to put up with in my situation?" Nadine asked rhetorically. "All men want is one thing – your body! So I decided to ask for money in exchange for what I was offering."
Now in her fourth year of working in the sex trade, Nadine talks about the abuses she suffered by men she has slept with. "I've been beaten up, forced to have unprotected sex, thrown out in the middle of the night without getting paid… but life goes on," she said.
There is little protection for sex workers in Lebanon, where prostitution is illegal. Even though some amendments in the law have been made to encourage exploited children to come forward, they often remain reluctant. The official age of adulthood in Lebanon is 18.
"I can't go to the authorities and file a complaint. What would I say? 'I slept with this man and he refused to pay me my money'?" said Nadine, refusing to say how much she usually charged customers.
Although not a widespread phenomena in Lebanese society, child prostitution does exist. But there are no official statistics on the numbers or nationalities of minors working, or forced to work, in the illicit industry. "There's no way of telling the number of children working as prostitutes," said Rania Mansour, a social worker with Dar Al-Amal, a local NGO that helps sex workers.
posted by Lazarus, 4:00 PM
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posted by Lazarus, 10:48 AM
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KING: Then what is left for you, Jon?
STEWART: What is left for me?
KING: If you're tired of both groups?
STEWART: Hosting a basic cable show. That is what is left for me, sitting every day and getting to rub my eyes and make stupid faces on videotape. That is all that is left for me. That is the catharsis that I live for.
KING: So, in a sense you're happy over this.
STEWART: No.
KING: This gives you fodder.
STEWART: Yes, I prefer not the fodder. I'm not -- we're not the guys at the craps table betting against the line. I would -- we'd make fun of something else. If public life, if government suddenly became inspiring and moved towards people's better nature and began to solve problems in a rational way rather than just a way that involved political dividends, we would be the happiest people in the world to turn our attention to idiots like, you know, media people, no offense.
posted by Lazarus, 9:20 AM
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غادر الزميل جوزف سماحة، بهدوء، <<السفير>>، التي بدأ فيها ومعها حياته المهنية فأعطته وأعطاها وهو يتدرّج تقدماً، على ثلاث مراحل، حتى تسلم رئاسة تحريرها. و<<السفير>> التي تقدّر في الزميل جوزف سماحة كفاءته تتمنى له التوفيق في رحلته الجديدة نحو تحقيق <<أحلامه المهنية>>، وهي تواصل مسيرتها بخطها ونهجها وكل ما قرّبها من قرائها على امتداد اثنتين وثلاثين سنة من عمرها.ا
posted by Lazarus, 6:58 PM
5 comments
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Rival Lebanese leaders failed on Friday to bridge sharp differences over the fate of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and the disarming of Hizbollah guerrillas at a second day of talks to end Lebanon's political crisis.
Political sources said heated debate raged between Muslim and Christian leaders, both pro- and anti-Syrian, at a "national dialogue conference" at parliament in the largest such gathering since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war.
"Dialogue was comprehensive..., responsible, serious and extremely frank," Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who is convening the meeting, said after nearly six hours of talks.
"These issues take time because these thorough discussions are taking place for the first time. I believe the results, God willing, will be good."
The conference, which started on Thursday and reconvenes on Saturday, could last for up to a week.
After quickly agreeing on Thursday on backing a U.N. inquiry into the killing of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri 13 months ago and an international trial for any suspects, the talks moved to more divisive issues, namely the fate of Lahoud who is opposed by the anti-Syrian parliamentary majority.
posted by Lazarus, 12:42 PM
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VITO CORLEONE
How did things ever get so far? I don't know. It was so -- unfortunate -- so unnecessary. Tattaglia lost a son -- and I lost a son. We're quits. And if Tattaglia agrees, then I'm willing to -- let things go on the way they were before...
BARZINI
We're all grateful to Don Corleone for calling this meeting. We all know him as a man of his word -- a modest man -- he'll always listen to reason...
TATTAGLIA
Yes, Don Barzini -- he's too modest. He had all the judges and politicians in his pocket. He refused to share them...
VITO CORLEONE
When -- when did I ever refuse an accommodation? All of you know me here -- when did I ever refuse? -- except one time. And why? Because -- I believe this drug business -- is gonna destroy us in the years to come. I mean, it's not like gambling or liquor -- even women -- which is something that most people want nowadays, and is ah forbidden to them by the pezzonovante of the Church. Even the police departments that've helped us in the past with gambling and other things are gonna refuse to help us when in comes to narcotics. And I believed that -- then -- and I believe that now.
BARZINI
Times have changed. It's not like the Old Days -- when we can do anything we want. A
refusal is not the act of a friend. If Don Corleone had all the judges, and the politicians in New York, then he must share them, or let us others use them. He must let us draw the water from the well. Certainly he can -- present a bill for such services; after all -- we are not Communists.
ZALUCHI (after some laughter from the group, stands)
I also don't believe in drugs. For years I paid my people extra so they wouldn't do that kind of business. -- [Tattaglia whispers something to his aide]
-- Somebody comes to them and says, "I have powders; if you put up three, four thousand dollar investment -- we can make fifty thousand distributing." So they can't resist. I want to control it as a business, to keep it respectable (then, as he slams his hand on the table) I don't want it near schools -- I don't want it sold to children! That's an infamia. In my city, we would keep the traffic in the dark people -- the colored. They're animals anyway, so let them lose their souls...
VITO CORLEONE
I hoped that we would come here and reason together. And as a reasonable man I'm willing to do whatever's necessary to -- find a peaceful solution to these problems...
BARZINI
Then we are agreed. The traffic in drugs will be permitted, but controlled -- and Don Corleone will give up protection in the East -- and there will be the peace.
TATTAGLIA
But I must have strict assurance from Corleone -- as time goes by and his position becomes stronger, will he attempt any individual vendetta?
BARZINI
Look -- we are all reasonable men here; we don't have to give assurances as if we were lawyers...
VITO CORLEONE (holding up his hand to interrupt Barzini)
You talk about vengeance -- is vengeance gonna bring your son back to you? Or my boy to me? I forgo the vengeance of my son -- But I have selfish reasons. My youngest son -- was forced to leave this country, -- (then, as he stands, with Tom's assistance) -- because of this Sollozzo business. All right -- and I have to make arrangements to bring him back here safely -- cleared of all these false charges. But I'm a superstitious man -- and if some unlucky accident should befall him -- if he should get shot in the head by a police officer -- or if he -- should hang himself in his jail cell -- or if he's struck by a bolt of lightning -- then I'm going to blame some of the people in this room. And that, I do not forgive.
posted by Lazarus, 12:19 AM
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posted by Lazarus, 12:54 PM
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