The Nomad and the Olive Branch

The war budget has certainly gone up for the neocon administration. A recent report by the Christian Science Monitor summarizes the findings of several financial and war analysts. For example, regarding the costs of war, including healthcare for the soldiers, Columbia University professor Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winner, and Harvard Lecturer Linda Bilmes states that "Even taking a conservative approach, we have been surprised at how large they are," the study said, referring to total war costs. "We can state, with some degree of confidence, that they exceed a trillion dollars." However, even more interesting is Financial Times's Martin Wolf's claim that the Stiglitz-Bilmes study ignores "critical data". However, Wolf's intention was not to bait the study as an overstatement, because the other costs that would be a burden to the U.S. government involve costs borne by other countries, including those created by higher oil prices; costs con...

These days, it's everywhere. It's present in every culture, every nation, every village, every city... It's music, the art of sounds. As an art, it is diverse and can deliver many purposes, from preaching a message (as in political rap) to dancing and advertising, among many others. The beat can be so slow as to lure someone to sleep, or fast enough to keep people moving... literally. Some pieces of music are addictive to the extent that they could be run over and over again without end, and some pieces of music are pretty much like... "next, please" from the first second. Personally, I'm a moderate music lover. I usually play it when I go to the gym so I could keep moving, but that's about the only useful purpose it serves for myself. Just don't ask me about dancing. But that's not what I'm here to talk about. I'm here to talk about what is apparently the loss of monetary value on music. But please, don't go kamikaze on me if you'r...

Ilan Pappe , The Electronic Intifada, 11 January 2007 A general view of Har Homa settlement, built on the land of West Bank city of Bethlehem, and considered by Israel to be part of 'Greater Jerusalem', 29 November 2006. (MaanImages/Magnus Johansson) On this stage, not so long ago, I claimed that Israel is conducting genocidal policies in the Gaza Strip . I hesitated a lot before using this very charged term and yet decided to adopt it. Indeed, the responses I received, including from some leading human rights activists, indicated a certain unease over the usage of such a term. I was inclined to rethink the term for a while, but came back to employing it today with even stronger conviction: it is the only appropriate way to describe what the Israeli army is doing in the Gaza Strip. On 28 December 2006, the Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem published its annual report about the Israeli atrocities in the occupied territories. Israeli forces killed this last year six ...

Well, pResident George Walker Bush, Jr., is an odd character. He's really tough to figure out. He appears to stupid to be worth my contempt, and his actions have definitely NOT earned him my trust. But is George Bush, Jr., so fallible to repeat the mistakes of history? Increasing the foreign military presence in Iraq will prove to be very negative towards finding a solution to the conflagration that started in April 2003. Nadim Al-Jabari of ElectronicIraq.net states that Increasing the U.S. troops will show Iraqis that the U.S. administration is against setting a timetable for withdrawing all the occupation forces. This will both increase and legitimize the Iraqi armed resistance to the occupation even more , and it will destroy all the other non-violent options . In addition, this will put an end to the participation of many Iraqi groups in the ongoing political process , because people like us will lose faith in achieving our goals and getting our country back through diplomacy...

I know it's a bit too late to write about this, considering that we are now at least two weeks into the new year of 2007, but I have to write it so people may think about 2008, 2009 and all the years to come. You see, everyone keeps bugging me with this annoying, nonsensical question: "What are your New Year's Resolutions?" Granted, now we are in a New Year, a time to start all over again. It's a time to forget all the bad blunders of the past year, move on, and make a resolution to be better. A resolution could be anything, whether it is wanting to be a better father, mother, son, daughter, brother, sister, friend, wife, husband, etc., or - and I know that this is probably the most popular one - get into better shape. There's also getting a job, working hard, or innovating something creative. But why make a false promise to yourself? Or better yet, why wait till the end of the year to map out your life when your life is literally running out right in front of...

Great... This is just what we needed. About a week ago, the U.S. navy launched air raids into villages outside Mogadishu, killing innocents and "terrorists" (who aren't so because most of them if not all of them have yet to commit a single act of terrorism). According to Al Jazeera , The US military has launched air raids against fighters in Somalia, saying they are suspected members of al-Qaeda. Abdirahman Dinari, a Somalia government spokesman, confirmed the offensive on Tuesday. A US official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said at least one AC-130 gunship was used in the attack. Dinari told AFP: "We know that a US gunship raided targets of al-Qaeda in southern Somalia sometime yesterday afternoon. "The target was a small village called Badel where the terrorists were hiding. And the gunship did hit on the exact target." Notice the key word here: "saying". Of course, "saying" could mean hiding the alterior motives of the U.S. N...

Hi. How are you? I know we haven't met, but from the looks of it, I doubt that we could be friends. I am writing you this letter because I, a worshipper of God, am awed at the material fame and fortune that you have come to achieve as a host of the show, 700 Club. I must admit that this alone is quite an accomplishment, don't you agree? Then again, there are those who rabidly follow you, because you manipulated them with money and power, and in doing so, you have shown us nothing but the fact that you're an arrogant, pompous @$$ who does nothing but offer heretical theology and have the bloody audacity to call that "Christianity". If anything, my Christian friends, all from different sects (and you name it: Anglican/Episcopal, Pentecostal, United, Methodist, Mennonite, Evangelical, Lutheran, Catholic, Greek Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox), deny your legitimacy for good reason. What makes you a bigger hypocrite is that you fanatically follow the Old Testament liter...