2il 3asfora 2alatli (the lil robin told me) ...

Sick and tired to having to pay your bills for water and electricity ? are you tired of being to have unlimited access to water and electricity and then paying for it (sometimes optional or heavily discounted) ?
Well soon enough you won't have to! introducing the pre-paid electricity and water system coming to Amman by the end of the year. no more worries, need water at mid-night because your water quota has been consumed ... you should have known better beaver, you should have been prepared and kept some pre-paid cards reserved.
Welcome to the new utility horizon !

So diesel costs for the winter are going to be a pain, gas ? not a chance you might as well take out those Romos and sell them while you can ?
So what are the people supposed to do ? well easy turn to electricity and wood... so hail on the new deforestation age and illegally cutting trees for timber (yeah thats like so last year). Actually the interesting phenomena this summer, i believe that it will get worse in winter, is that people are actually stealing electricity from the main lines and overloading the stations in the process (because its not just 1 or 2 people it is the whole damn neighborhood). so come winter expect this piece of news to make its rounds.

Should I have intervened ?

Yesterday on the way back from work, all bored out of my mind and just wanting to get home I sped out of the office trying to reach home and lay down on my bed as soon as possible. Coming up on the way in Rabyeh I cam across a Srilankian maid, as I assumed, she was signaling out a driving instructors car to stop. So I smiled at the fact she was doing that and thought she confused it with a taxi but wondered why the hell is she doing that in the middle of the street rather than on the side.

So it came my turn to pass her, and she signaled me down and that raised up a dozen questions in my mind at "what the hell is she doing?".Then I noticed an elderly man, in his late fifties I assume, he was standing around her holding her from the shoulder and seemed to be talking to her (rather than screaming) and trying to stop her. So I passed them but a part of me felt guilty so I parked a bit ahead and decided to observe. Things were escalating and it seemed like the man was getting impatient with her and more forceful in his request for her to come back with him. Then she started hitting him and although he tried to restrain himself, from what I saw, he did lash out a bit... at this point a younger guy, probably the guy's son, was heading towards them and things calmed down a bit so I decided to drive off.

The whole incident just made me think for a while about quite a few things and I tried to honestly recognize why I reacted to the whole thing by trying to avoid it.

So first observation was why did I first consider that she doesn't know the difference between a cad and a driving instructors car; that was because I perceived her a foreign made and I am biased to think that they will be less cultured and I consider maids to be less street smart than the rest.

Then it came the fact of why didn't I stop and help resolve it. The conclusion that I reached is a chain of thought whether moral or not it's how I came to do what I did, or didn't in this case.

The perception I have in my head is to side with the employer of the maid rather than the maid herself, that is purely based on my personal experience with maids. While I recognize the injustices that might befall them I still also can't distance myself from the crap the maids caused me and I had to put up with and the troubles they caused within my immediate family. So while she might be an honestly genuine victim the cost of verifying that and my skepticism were too high of a cost for the reward.

On the other hand the realization that, really it is non of my business to step in to resolve this did pain me to say the least. When I said the cost of verifying, I meant the fact that if I had stepped in it might have escalated the altercation and shifted the focus to me instead of her and I won't be glad about that since I know how volatile people in this country are when they see a stranger butting into their business. Thats beside the fact that there is a high probability that the maid erred them rather than what I would initially assume, that would put me in more heat in that case.

Thoughts about racism scantly skipped through my head at that point, would I have stopped if it wasn't a maid(someone who is more prone to be victimized). quickly the answer jolted in my brain with a resonating "NO, I wouldn't have even thought about it as much !". I usually don't like to involve myself into the troubles of two strangers and even people am familiar with since my experience is that they end up ganging up on you rather than appreciating the fact that you are trying to calm them down to rationalize the issue, so at an early age that was the rule whenever i observe something of that nature.
The only exceptions I have to that rule is when it involves a child or someone unable to stand to himself (for instance some of the special kids) . In that case it is irrelevant to me who wronged who, the child has a leeway not allowed to others.

So I guess inaction is what I found to be the best action, but is it the morally right thing to do ? and is it worth the risk and cost ? What would you have done ?

ENJOY!

* art by Spalenka

Why would they cut the internet --- a tinfoil theory

Internet underwater cable don't just get cut by themselves, nothing short of an attack by a militant nessy would cause four of them to be cut off in the span of a few days. All in our lovely region of stability.
The first rule of modern warfare is to disrupt the communication, which raises the question of foul play. So that makes you ponder who could possibly do it and why ? then a light bulb just burns bright in your head .... IRAN !

So why now ? Mr. bushy was here at a peculiar time in his presidency and surely it was to instigate a new botched up peace process you know, in the last year of his second term. For me it was all about embezzling some friends at gun point to front up some money (20$ billion you might say sounds like a nice sum) and more importantly to bitch slap some sense into them into forgetting about ever dreaming about removing their pegs from the dollar, like that idiotic folly of broadcasting a private meeting of OPEC discussing just that. Also to get their mouth pieces working to reassure the people that sticking with the peg is for the best. All you have to do is tape your eyes, plug your ears and stuff your mouth shut and bend over for some kinky time with big bro inflation which is at a two decade high in most countries. that should do the economy some good.

All that occurs at a time when Iran is about to launch "Iranian Oil Bourse", which is the first bourse in the world that will deal petrol in non dollar currency and undermining the last crotch to the Dollar. The petrodollar would be under even more pressure, as if it wasn't already. So when was it launching you ask ? well during the period of February 1-11th, interesting eh ? now you would think you want to delay that, dontcha ?

It gets even better, who just happens to be holding war games around this month. well non other than the Russians , the french, the emiratis and qataris. Really now ? you don't say the Russians will hold exercises for the first time in 15 years in the area for nothing.

Now I remember another country that messed with the petro-dollar before and within the span of 6 months it was kaboomed back to the mongrel invasion. So you don't say he would ? It must have been god speaking to him again you know. It is funny how when normal people start hearing voices we place them in mental institutions but when its a bushy they make him a president.
Alas for after all its just seems like am the one hallucinating since there is no way in hell no one would have been talking about it by now ? meh, either way welcome to our fun filled '08 strap you safety belt tight for it's gonna be one hell of a ride.

ENJOY!

h/t : Mike Whitney ICH

Remember Black Tuesday ?

(Update: Beny boy panicked and dropped the interest rate by 75 basis point in an emergency measure, beny boy is not instilling a sense of stability, beny boy will have his ass handed to him, i don't feel like adjusting the futures index since this will be short lived :P but i'll change it from the 516 to 396 as of 3:57 Jordan local time

Update 2: MUAHAHA, not even six minutes later the futures index is now up ? down ... whatever ... its at a nice -481 points post rate cut. yup its prime beef waiting to be bled dry. ~4:15 JLT )



Don't worry by days end you might be reminded of it. Trading will resume today after MLK weekend. After the stellar performance of foreign stock markets spiraling uncontrollably yesterday with the majority of them dropping by 5% and the NIFTY (Indian stock market index) dropping a sweet 11% before closing at an 8% drop. The DOW is going to be one hell of a ride today !

The US Stocks futures index is marking a 481 point drop, which is in the top five of worst market days ever ! You can count on me being fixated on my screen today watching it turn bloody red
This will drive it into bear market territory (A bear market is described as being accompanied by widespread pessimism. Investors anticipating further losses are motivated to sell, with negative sentiment feeding on itself in a vicious circle ~ wiki) for the Bull has been slain.

Either way this will be a chance for me to live through a black Tuesday, and I can't help but be reminded of those pictures of stock brokers lining out side of the stock market in October of 1929, so I won't bore you with any econ jargon or reasoning for this. Lets hope they give us quality pictures like these !




Did you pack your parachute ? Then ENJOY the RIDE !

Catch 22 of structured financing

So - the insurance company is guaranteeing the value of the banks mortgage loans, using money that it borrowed from the bank, which the bank had to borrow because it’s got these bundles of leans insured by the insurance company. In other words, the banks are insuring their loans themselves, using the loans to pay for the losses on the loans. It’s circularity on circularity on circularity - cycles within cycles of stupidity, relying on stupidity to prop it up.

And there are people - lots and lots of them - who are falling for this as a scheme to save the banks from the bad loans.

full article

Of monkey spheres and Gaia

You remember the first time you met a teacher of yours outside of the school walls. the flabbergasted sensation you felt that these people actually HAVE A LIFE and are not shoved into school lockers in the after hours ? (not my line ... from here but not creative enough to come up with my own point proving 2 liner)

The fact is we still do that no matter how old we get, beyond the few dozens of people that we interact with regularly the rest of humanity is reduced to one dimensional bit representation of labels. They are no longer human, they are our politicians, garbage men ...etc.
That served us well back in the day when we were solely dependent on the hundred or so people in our pocket of the community.

Abu khamees was having a hard time so I don't mind him raising his prices till he gets through with it, I better clean up that oil spill in the street before 2il hajeh 2um jom3a passes by on her way to market and hurts her self. those sentiments actually were common place, and even though we had rules and we were still tempted to break, them the repercussions of our actions had a tangible weight that will hinder us. They simply will hurt people that are real to us.

Alas, industrialization had to kick in, and the image of goody spewing machinery was forever ingrained in our psyche. people started adopting the motto of "it's non of my business" more and more and who can blame them. it is human nature to simplify our lives, and its certainly far easier to think of Nike the "nice" sneaker maker rather than the 21 year old Filipino single mother of 3 that gets paid 5 cents on the pair to make them.

That ability that we have developed to attempt to simplify infinitely complex matters is the bane of humanity, we are quick to jump the gun to paint the world in our adopted version of a 2 framed cartoon. It is far easier to paint every homosexual as a vile misguided fudgepacker, or to just judge every Jew as a stingy big nosed bigot who is bent on the subjugation of gentiles and specifically Arabs. We honestly can't be arsed to bother getting to know each one of them and make up our own opinion so we adopt the stereotype and go with it having faith in our monkey sphere's dogma. Even the mere mention or attempt, "god" forbid, of painting them in a more human picture is highly offensive to people.

So on comes the information age, it systematized the manipulation of people through the exploitation of our simplicity. Efficiently mobilizing hordes of yay sayers that will nod after you without a second of hesitance. For after all we placed our trust in those "holy grails" of the system for they have transgressed beyond our petty little mistakes and follies. "the president has sex ! how presidential of him", "foreign Zionist agents are behind every bad thing that happened to the Muslims, its for real I heard it on the Al-Jazeera". That schism of Us vs. Them will inevitably lead us to conflict, for we are no longer able to maintain our contact with in our sphere. whether we like it or not our modern lives depend on more people than we are able to comprehend.

On the other hand we developed an insatiable thirst for information, the societies of alienation drove us to want to connect on an emotional level to revered figures. who's at a better position to feed that addiction than our medias, they don't challenge us any more they just shove us full with what we want to hear and sensationalize on our emptiness. Or you can just run to the other side and actually try to check up on everyday people and what they are going through, like for example hearing the stories of rape victims in Sierra Leone, or Sarudzai Gumbo the kid that was found weighing only 36 pounds, disfigured by cancer and aids and left to rot not because of the neglect of her family but because her country failed her and many others like her. The world is riddled which such tragic bed time stories coming from Iraq, gaza, from home to the ends of the earth.

Albeit, they are just that stories. we feel our 5 minutes, if so, of sorrow and pity and move on in our rainbow bright reality that we are blessed with and go parading that we pulled a lever claiming that we have changed the world and did out part by participating in the charade we call the elections. After all I can't give up my "coach" bag just because some unlucky bastard happened to be abused while making it, anyways its their own ignorance that made them do that job in the first place anyways.

Time after time getting hit with such stories & attitudes might awake an archaic notion of empathy in us, but alas we feel helpless to do anything and we are left to spiral into our own helpless depression. Only to be caught back in the cycle, being told that the latest cure is the magic elixir that holds the key to our happiness .

Honestly speaking if the world and us as people "hold the course" we might usher in our extinction way before the prophesied Armageddon, hell we wouldn't even need any divine intervention to get to that point. the idea that we have been bestowed "dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth" is partly to blame for where we are now. The disposability of earth makes us care less of the footprints that we leave behind, for its non of our business. After all why should we hold any attachment or care for this earth if it is only a transient place in the greater plan of the universe. so a little global warming is just sensationalist mania for god has bigger plans, meh.

We don't have dominion over anything, we are just a small part of Gaia. Albeit the most damaging and selfish part, so far. As part of the biomass we hold it to our self and to our planet to wake up from this slumber of apathy, we are certainly not as helpless as we like to think. we have just grown accustomed to the leisure of our life that we forgot to look closely at where it has got us and the only thing we have been taught to do is to ask for more, more more more, more hate, more fighting, more food, more bling, bigger better stronger faster. Neglecting the effect of our debauchery on us as people and on our planet that has been generously harboring and trying to correct our ignorance and cope with.


I am not asking you to pray for Gaia, if you managed to make this far, am not asking you to worship her, and not asking you to be a hippie, or turn into a cynic tree hugger.
All am asking you is when you want to drop that wrapper in the street rather than holding to it till you reach the next bin is to think of what impact it might have on your surrounding(I used to do that thinking am creating a job and helping unemployment). when you buy the next buzz item at the store. think of who made it, where and what they might have been through. Never take the simple side of things and don't let anyone simplify it for you, read, learn and try. Try to not remain a pawn, shake off your shackles and stop fooling your self that you are removed from all the chaos going around you and try to make your impact. for no matter how small it is, even if is picking an anime instead of a disney movie just because their Modus operandi doesn't align with yours, then you are starting on the path no matter how silly that sounds.

For the times coming ahead of us are not going to be smooth sailing in any sense of the term, and if there is anything we can do about it we need to do it now. Drop your schadenfreude and adopt mudita.
Some might say am "bestowing my wisdom" on you, hell we all belong to varying species of hypocrites. So yes I am hypocritical in a sense, but am trying to find my path I'll let you know when I do. On the other hand don't take my word for it, or anyones for that matter, go and try to find things on your own and do what you think is right in your own heart.

Mount the Pixelated revolution

Consumerism at its best

For every single person walking through that door I see a Debt tag
Until you rive you cranium from your maximus you will succumb to
Conniving institutions instilling false righteousness
Killing individuality for the dream of acceptance
Tumescent shells trying to fill the void
Hallowing this mythology of
Evanescent Identities
Simulacrum chimeras of "As seen on TV"
Youthanasia of the mind
Stifling antithetical expectations
Trifling generation sucked up in the system
Enough of this debauchery
Mount the PixelatedRevolution

ENJOY!

but remember ...

ps. puzzles are back

I hope they speak Norwegian in Hell !

One of the most recurring arguments against people who distance themselves from religion is that religion is the guiding post for living a peaceful and righteous life. A light house of morality.


Without the moral compass of religion, society will fall into chaos and immorality. Also that it will give a proper fostering ground for totalitarian regimes that will abuse the people and will enact genocide on the population, and more often than not the examples sited to back that argument is that of Stalin's USSR, Mao's china, and to a lesser extent Hitler's Germany (not that the country was anything but religious, although his personal religious belief do draw some question marks)

Now that is all fine and dandy, and ignoring the separation between a dogma and state systems since they view them as one and the same from a religious point of view. The biggest elephant they overlook is that atheism unlike religions for instance has no set and predefined dogmatic rules its essentially the lack of those that makes it what it is so you can't draw a 1-1 relationship based on that label to throw a blanket statement to encompass all what is atheistic.

so the argument is Mao, Stalin, & Hitler were evil and atheists so atheism is evil


Lets look at a country of heathens and disbelievers who boast a population of about 26% to 71% of atheists depending on your definition of the word. Where regular church service's attendance is about 10%. this is a place where the church has been reduced to a place were you hold some cycle of life(read birth, death, & marriage) events and has little to no relevance in the day to day life of people in the classical sense.

According to that argument you would expect such a country to have a rampant crime rate, since if there is no divine punishment there is no inhibitor for people's evil deeds. essentially we would expect it to be what we call a hell on earth *wink* *wink*

So what do we have here then, Norway (in case you missed what we have been talking about) is
The most peaceful nation on earth(the economist global peace index) ! with the top honors in a quality of life that is environmentally friendly and one of the best places to raise a family in terms of quality of living for women and children. It's also a given that they have exceptional press freedoms and rights movements. Also it just happens that due to this environment they have the second highest GDP per capita in the world. So at this point someone might jump and mention that Norway is an evangelical lutheran country with 83% of the population affiliated to the church of Norway but the reason behind that is simple. registration to the church is done at birth so the statistics are not representational of personal belief.


In no case is that an anomaly, there is a high correlation between how secular a country is to how high it ranks on these indexes that measure the quality of living. You notice that the more a country tries to adopt a religious inline political & economic legislations the further it drops in that scale (take the United states in the past 6 years and compare its rankings) . Nordic countries, Canada, New Zealand, Slovenia and other similar countries always rank consistently high on those indexes.

That just goes on to prove that slogans like "fill in the blank religion is the solution" or "without religion you can't have a moral and prosperous society" are bunked.
Or the alternative you can hope that Norwegian will be the official language of hell, and the prince of darkness is brushing up on his Norwegian.

ENJOY!

How deep is the abyss

Really week after week the USians seems to out do themselves in their quest for the boor's holy grail, A while ago when someone told me a person could change so drastically in the span of 5 years i would've been atleast skeptical. After witnessing a whole population and country change so drastically during the span I can no longer believe in that things remain the way they are even if they managed to last unchanged at the core for 230 years.

Really has contempt for the document that single handedly defined the US's course through history for more than two centuries that we are witnessing a surreal discussion right out of the world of idiocracy of whether water boarding is torture or not ? and we are not referencing a philistine here but the candidate for the highest judicial position in the US. What is even more sorry that we have a spineless chairman of the democratic committee going against the consensus of his party to endorse such a partisan candidate that has been a long time supporter of the republican party. What we have here is a wide open eye of justice looking only one way and that is up to god" and his mouth piece. The scary part is that he seems much more capable of obscuring his lawlessness than Mr."i don't recall", and during the session that proofed anything but evident.
Let that go through and we may be heralding the age of King George the VI, on his empire of theocracy with his trusty side kick, I know its unfair to make it look like he's harmless, the guy that even google couldn't dare to display his residence, that set up just has such an uncanny resemblance to one Louis the XVI.
So we have King george playing the same 6 year old broken record of war, and upping it up a notch with the fear mongering term of World War III, promising to deliver us from the great satan just like he promised to deliver us from him and show us the scary WMD's he had stashed up.
Of course the situation is nothing like six years ago, never mind that his approval rating is similar to that of the spice girl's reunion. The US economy ran out of bubbles to run on, the housing went bust, the national debt and trade deficit is just gargantuan, consumer spending is bleeding, and manufacturing jobs have rotted away in favor of outsourcing.
After all that we have Bernanke dropping the interest rate again seemingly oblivious to what even a super blond model managed to realize, you are obliterating the confidence in the DollaR$ Foo.
He seems still trying to wish on a star and give the banking industry a piggy back to the financial institutes hoping that they fair their injuries instead of letting the system correct itself. Even with that they manage to be knee deep in shit , and the big cojones are dropping like it half off mutt's nutts sunday !
All that and boy does the next presidential term get much better than that ! We have the bonified '911 every other word' cross dresser, the women of the race is trying her best to reduce the differences between her and the men (damn she's hot tho.. ) , and what sounded like the sanest one of the bunch, if you can put aside the fact that you might be voting for a leprechaun, has gone coo coo saying he saw a UFO during a presidential debate. Hell, when a reference to november the 5th is the motto for a fundraising run that manages to raise more than 4 million dollars in 24 hours you know that sheeple are shaking from their slumber.

Hey and the lovely thing is that i haven't even stepped on whats happening within states or even the quagmire that is US foreign policy.

Now i'll go back to my fypigs watching for am certain am bound to catch one soon given the reality am in right now.

ENJOY !
ps. for the uninitiated fypigs is the most recently discovered species of flying pigs, they are to be observed under the afternoon stars of the peaceful part of iraq .

We all Want the US out Iraq but...

I never was very clear on this, so what do you people think should the US get out of Iraq and if so what do you think will happen afterwards ?

Edit:
So the general idea based on Bilal's and mohanned's comments ( thanks for contributing) is that it would be better for them to leave Iraq and it will sort it's own mess out but that will never happen.
The way i see it is as someone who is living in Jordan I am against the United states cutting and running out of Iraq the same way it did in Vietnam, there needs to be a negotiated agreement with some international forces to take control from the united states and through all of that a deposition of the method of governance and renegotiation between the Iraqi sects that aim at maintaining the country as a single entity and at the same time allowing some Independent governance of the different areas. otherwise instead of a endemic warfare its going to be a pandemic warfare.

If they do leave, and yes mohanned it is the most likely scenario by 2009 if not earlier, and the situation in Iraq is not contained. that will mean trouble for the whole region that is far greater than what we are facing now. The country to take the majority of the damage due to that will be Jordan.
so if they cut and run out of, the killings in Iraq due to sectarian violence is bound to increase in order to secure power. Now those sects will establish ties with the neighboring countries in order for them to contain the carnage within Iraq in exchange for supplies. Or they might rely on the bases in their country.
Now the more you rely on American aid the more prone you are to a terrorist attack and the more refugees you take in the more prone that sectarian violence will resurges with the tensions rising between those refugees in their host country.
So it is a lose-lose situation either way, if you lean too much toward either side you are inviting violence.

Whose the country that is most willing to accept Iraqi refugees ?
So as it stands currently ironically although am totally against the war in Iraq, i feel its far better for the whole region if the United states stays there since it acts a buffer so far. The weird thing about Iraq that the violence is discriminatory, you are never too sure if it foreigners, liberators, terrorists, fanatics, sectarian or just blood lust. Some how reminds me of conflicts in Africa, Rwanda style.

see why that wasn't a comment :P
what do u guys think ?
ps. mohannad the US can't maintain the war in its current form neither economically or politically.

Phil Rockstroh .... a philo-political bard of the empire.

I love reading for this guy, his style and sarcasm are sharp and insightful it is a pleasure reading anything that he write so I felt like sharing a few quotes.

"Beware of Ophra-palaver such as "attitude of gratitude"-- these platitudes connote nothing. Rilke taught us: The language of soul is a terrifying angel: it does not comfort-- it decimates our daily concerns because its vocabulary consists of the eternal; it's grammar and syntax connects the narrative of all things. It speaks: Star, Ocean, Storm. It does not say: "Good Boy: You've been so well behaved, so filled with dignity and decorum, so utterly appropriate for your age and era. Good boy. Now: Here's your reward: A life free of doubt and uncertainty. Are you feeling better now? Good-- Now back to work!"
- Unknown work

to be viable as commander-in-chief, Hillary must prove her toughness, preferably, in some he-man display of resolute stupidity. Since the flight-suit on the deck of an aircraft carrier gambit has been played-out, perhaps her handlers could set-up a photo-op involving the masculine iconography of the World Wrestling Federation. It should be arranged that she wrestle and then body slam two midget wrestlers portraying Dennis Kusinich and Ron Paul. Such an act of political stagecraft could prove to be Hillary Clinton's so-called "Sister Souljah moment."
-The U.S. Normalization of Mass Murder, A Disneyland of Militant Ignorance.

These streams of inspiration and renewal silently flow between those who have glimpsed this: That each generation must struggle against the soulless seekers of absolute power, that each era is a wasteland, that every person learns life is unfair, yet must seek to drink from the waters of hope -- so that our tongues will not wither to cynical dust.
- America Has Left the Building: An Open Missive of Anger and Hope

We're devouring the life-sustaining resources of the earth as if it were a bag of Doritos.
- Expanding Markets and Dying Oceans: Eating the Planet Like a Bag of Doritos for Jesus

Hence, it might be instructive to look at the mode of being evinced by the pioneers of Punk Rock ... Tired of endless guitar solos and of Arena Rock and Roll's egomaniacal inanities, they learned to play three cords -- real fast -- and would play for little or no money in shot-out downtown clubs -- thereby reintroducing the danger and allure of the subversive intimacy of early Rock and Roll to a new generation -- and forever establishing the enduring principle that being an imbecilic Rock and Roll egoist should be a democratic process -- not limited to only corporate, guitar technocrats (or even those individuals possessed of the tyranny of talent).
- Prisoners of Envy: Wal*Mart Nihilism Versus the Punk Rock of Blogging

Meanwhile, online, we struggle in a Jack in the Beanstalk Insurgency, hoping that from things as tiny and seemingly trivial as mere beans -- our postings, exchanges and periodic meet-ups -- the fall of tyrannical giants might begin.
- Mcmansions, SUVs, Mega-Churches and the Baghdad Embassy: Life Among Dim and Brutal Giants

His articles are not the most accessible but they are (to me) the most voraciously read literal songs.

you can read the entire articles at his blog Phil Rockstoch

An outlook on things

Lately my ideas have been jumbled and I can't really write clear cut and focused posts so bear with me :D

Have been occupied with quite a few things and hopping that they go well. Actually for the first time yesterday I got to hang out with some bloggers, that turned out pretty nicely I would say(bad movie tho). With everything that has been going on here it has become really annoying reading the same vanity from a lot of people. I vow if i see another poll coming on, am really going to do something cynical about it. That following the previous childishness really are leaving a bitter taste in my mouth, am not gonna go psychoanalyzing people cause honestly it stops at the childish attribute in my humble opinion.

phew thats off my chest now, moving on.

Came across a nice documentary that deals with the Palestinian issue, it is called Occupation 101 .


Now it didn't offer anything new, but i like the way they put it together and what they choose to put in it, a lot of ancient clips of the refugees were included which was interesting to watch. Now that watching got me started on thinking of why do I look at the whole issue in such vane. When I was younger (yes I can get younger and still spout out my mouth politically) I was a believer in that if we try to bridge the understanding and think logically on a solution that helps to compromise the difference and try to keep our emotions at bay.

Well after more than a few run ins with both sides I found that this idea will never gain traction when both sides are conquered by fear they are unable to detach from their immediate emotions so as long as there is fears in their hearts they will run to the first exit. Hence we got our lovely Oslo agreement (or maybe cause they have just ran out of countries willing to have the PLO run amok) . So at that point I was hoping that there will be an honest and credible leadership on either side that is able to rally the masses into a solution....

Yeah that lasted long, and looking at how things are now I can only feel vane towards the case. We have lost every ounce of respect for ourselves, we have two inexperienced ego megalomaniacs dealing with the most delicate political & idealogical situation in the world, and boy are they giving us a good show.

Now what is even more bleak is that the level of the education of my generation is so dismal that there is little hope for any worthy leadership to be born and that is one of the major reason why we are where we are (yes Arafat is not a counter example) so am at loss of what could be done. I won't go to touch on the Israeli side but what i don't understand is that cocooning that Arabs do whenever there is a chance to gain first hand experience in talking to an Israeli or a Jew. I still believe in talking if not to meet on common ground at least to learn their point of view, without doing at least that there is no way to be able to negotiate and we will have to negotiate.

The only solution I see in the horizon is to level the playing field and that could only be achieved if the funding they receive from the US is cut off, and that could only happen if the economy goes down the drain which brings me to this ...

OK, maybe something is wrong with me but I am getting really aroused by all the news I have been tuning to ....
Dow down 300 points again after French bank freezing 3 funds that invested in U.S. sub-prime loans, now that places the Dow at 88 points up from the last week's scare. The real catch is the unprecedented move by the European central bank to inject $130 billion to banks at the very low 4% rate, and on the federal reserve side they added $24 billion in temporary reserves to the U.S. banking system.
Simply saying while hedge funds already are sinking one after the other, now this is all spreading like a cancer in the financial circles and this is promising to be bloody. Treasury bill investment is the hot ticket with people banking on the Fed reserve will have no option but to cut the rates.
With all this mess we have china telling the US to its face that you either do what we want you to do or we just sink your stick man of a currency into the pages of history, the nice thing is they can do very little about it since china has the largest reserve currency (due to them financing the American wars by proxy) and can be pretty loony and do just that !

So Dow U've been doing great just 1200 more points to go, "U CAN DO IT ! ". September here we come (dammit i wish i had some money am missing a cash cow).

On a more entertaining, we had one of the secretaries from the front desk (the person that greets people who walk into the building) now she got promoted recently to what is effectively head of HR. It never fails, they start wearing different cloth, the new achieved power starts corrupting them. They get snappy and bossy and that got the cynical me grinding and the decision was .... Give her HELL!
So you need tech support, well you will have to wait really long. Can't understand the new policies ? oops read the email ain't gonna explain them again.
Enjoying your new responsibility ? believe me am going to take a sweet spot to that, means I can chug more work your direction, and if you ignore me I will highlight it at every meeting.
Why am being so mean, because I fully know that she incapable of filling the job but usually that doesn't make me behave that way. The real reason is that she is going to dismantle a perfectly good HR system that i was looking forward to be implemented into a broken piece of crap !

So the crusades are on and it's giving me some lighthearted daily entertainment, poor new workers that have been hired the atmosphere is "ElEcTrIfYiNg" at the office.

Anyways over an out...

ENJOY!
ps. people if you listen to my playlist i reduced the quality of the music so that the streaming is smoother, so is it good enough or should i go back to the original better quality ?

Make up your own title

Well a whole bunch of ideas flowing through my head as usual but since i haven't posted in a while i feel like just flooding them in a single post. since they are non coherent to say the least (well other than just jumbling brain waves in my head) its pick ur own title post.
Helical Governance:

Economical & social ideals seem to be always at schism with reality. It has been pretty much established that communism is not a workable system (Am not gonna go push some Marxist's buttons now) it has been able to last for barely 50 years which by any standard is a short time.
While capitalism and its make-up kit "democracy" have been just able to make inroads in the global sphere and through that process the mask is starting to peel-off.
The current problem that is starting to be faced with a "I want" society is that the "I's" are really
looking out for them selves and through that process the "we" are collectively loosing power.
i.e. while you are out looking to make more money, and establishing an easier life while delegating the governance to someone else, that person is also looking out for the same thing hence collectively the government is not longer concerned about what is best for the people.

The other side of the equation is that during our pursuit of "happyness" we forgot what the value of money was. It was never a goal but a mean, so when you are being enslaved to the means of some body else it will make you a disposable tool once a better and cheaper one comes along, that drives people into a competition of forgoing quality of living just to live.

so why am I talking about all this barely legible nonsense there ( i did warn that this is barely coherent and just brewing).

the idea is not novel by any standard, the short coming of communism that it didn't allow people have the little extra things that makes life a little colorful so it made the people too gray but on the other hand it provided some sense of stability and security (please tell me you want to argue that point) .

On the other hand capitalism allows you to have the world, but the catch is that you have to afford it.

The problem with both is that there is little tie in between the country and the people, we as the people are still the sheep that need the herder to mobilize us.

What is happening currently is that regardless of protesting or civil disobedience the government and the people are not aligning their views. After the election of a representative, which takes all of 1 hour normally, you kick back into you lazy routine and keep getting droned by the monotonousness of daily life. In the meanwhile there is someone that is taking your future and microwaving into into rubble, but it's alright for you are living well right now.

Well that all needs to change, the government needs to subsidize and take control of the essentials. Medical care, education, basic commodity agriculture, utilities need to be under governmental control. those services need to be to essential to make the general population focus on "life" rather than living. when the population is under less of a stress and not worrying about securing the essentials they will have more time on their hands to establish a participatory democracy, no that doesn't mean waiting from election cycle to the next and hoping for the best. Participatory democracy means having the people involved in the governance, in the sense that issue that affect a wide segment of society don't only get passed by the vote of the elected officials but they need the consent of the people.

The connectivity today is what will facilitate the system, for right now we have the ability, education of the masses and tools to accomplish what the Greek democracy set out to achieve. Hence a marriage between democracy and governmental control, with the wisdom of the crowds having the highest level of oversight.

ok that took longer than it should and ate away from the space for other things and its not even detailing what I want.

Some other fliers:

The ever disappearing boundary between the internet and my life; the way things that are happening online are leaving their ripples on my life and vice versa. still undecided whether its a good thing, for i did gain a lot compared to what i could consider that i lost. This idea was brought on by the entertaining scuffles going around which i did find amusing although i abstained from participating.

Eagerly watching the stock market, the currency markets, oil and general global economy is so much fun. i hope my predictions come out right, only a couple of months left and so far everything seems to be on schedule. Bear Stearns bailed ship on the sub-prime titanic , but the CDOs and all that landfill "new age" financial instruments are moving their zeros to the left quicker than investors can drop their pants and bend over. i was looking forward for todays performance after Fridays slippery slump but i think the Plungers are back at it again will see what the reserve meeting will issue tomorrow.

Foreign movies are so much more entertaining that american ones these days. Finally got to watch Nightwatch (a russian sci-fi movie), transformers, and the science of sleep (especially surreal) they were all exceptionally well done. On the other hand been trying to watch Zodiac and black snake moan for a while.

I do feel bad since i haven't updated my playlist, haven't posted much on arabexpats, and haven't done the weekly playlist for the music blog. need to get on top of that as soon as i have the energy.

Also University of Aqaba(yes we are going to have our very own university of las vegas in jordan YAY!!!) is holding off a design contest for their logo with a grand prize of JOD4000. This is open to everyone all you have to do is design a logo (up to 3) jpg (800x600min, and max 250k) have it done by August 21st and send it to us(at)adc(dot)jo
it should be nice to see if people like moey, 360, roba or all the other designer/bloggers give it a shot since it sounds interesting.

and final header......

Emotionally attached types are really a peculiar species, they are always in the "I want" and never in the "maybe circumstances got the best of the situation". Need to stay away from them for a while. Please, please, please let the summer be over ! I had enough of the traffic, the visitors, being nice to people, and the eternal 5-12 vocal tornado that goes through the house on daily bases..... need to invent "silencer" milk drops. I'll even offer to teach them sign language if they are really bent on "screaming", wait how do mute people scream ? how inconsiderate of me.

Ramblings of a bored, tired, sleepy, incoherent on the border of sanity bambam hoping that didn't cause you a migraine if you actually managed to read it which i didn't bother to since its not even proof read, but am grateful for even checking here and hope we will be back in bliss soon and sick of the childishness and immaturity that has been tainting our space.

Cheers & Enjoy

drogato, drogué, φάρμακο, droga, 薬... My take on it

During the weekend I opened the newspaper (which is a rare event these days), and got interested in a report of a Awareness campaign by the 2amn 3am(Jordanian security service?!) . What I find amazing in those reports is that they haven't really changed, EVER !

They are always making progress in their fight, that abuse is virtually non-existent, that we are a transitional country and not a user country, and that we should commend our security forces for protecting us from this evil that causes moral corruption , & lewd behavior.

Now I am pretty familiar with legislative history regarding this issue in a number of countries, what I am ashamed of is that I can't say the same regarding my country. Who was it that decreed that we need to invest in this area of security.

In the case that we actually take ourselves seriously regarding this issue can we please ground our selves in reality !
Drug use among the Jordanian population is actually rampant, let us not ignore the huge plantations that are spread across the country only because they are protected with a larger arsenal than the one that the security forces possess and for honesty sakes let us not fudge every bust that the security forces make (4 million pills for instance ).

Why I think it is pointless worldwide to invest in a war on drugs:

• Culturally speaking, the people who are going to use and abuse drugs will get their hands on it regardless of laws and regulations.
  
• No country will be able to thwart a product that sells for 1700% of its original price
• The war created a much more dangerous activity which is money laundering, it is practically much harder to move around the cash that is earned through illicit means than it is to move around the drugs.
• There will always people willing to take on the risk if the profit is high enough. When you legalize the drug, the price will drop and the cartels will not find it profitable to market that drug. That way the supply will diminish
  
• Technically speaking there was no laws or regulation, religious or not pre- 1900 that demonises drugs. To the contrary it has always been part of popular culture and in certain places it still is.
  
• Drug abuse also includes abuse of pharmaceutical drugs, which is actually more dangerous (synthetic alternatives of a drug are much more potent than their natural sources). This is in fact the easiest type of drug to acquire in Jordan, and hence the most popular among users.
  
• Regulating the market will be much more cost effective than it is to remain on prohibition terms with it. With regulation you will raise the average age of hard drug users (here) that incidentally means that the gate way theory of drugs is not true, and the allure of moving to higher drugs is reduced. Also it means that there are less new users in the population which is exactly what you want to achieve but was never able to.
• You will reduce the innovation in the field of drugs, the demand for stronger and harder drugs causes the innovation in the field. take out the demand by legalizing softer drugs.
• The legal system will have to shoulder alot less of the burden due to criminalization that pose no danger to the society, the money saved from this and other drug drains of the budget could be applied to strengthen health and education programs.
• I hate to add this point, but there is a great amount of money and revenue that could be earned in this area.
• Regarding Addiction, tobacco is proven to be the most addictive drug. In general tobacco is more damaging to the health too.
  
• If you allow tobacco and alcohol to be consumed even though they are not exactly socially tolerable (atleast not until 10 or so years ago) , why is it that you single out soft drugs.
• I am in no way advocating total free market with regard to drug control, but actually having governmental oversight which is a much better tool than prohibition. That applies mainly to soft drugs but that doesn't say that it is an ineffective tool against all drugs.
• The best way to combat a side effect of drugs, i.e. the cartels, is to reduce the price to a point where it is no longer feasible to invest in the business that is the bottom line. They are in it for the money.(I repeated that point again)
  

One last favor i have been looking to find a single fatwa or hadeeth that dates before the 1900's that classifies drug use as "haram", since it was prevalent during that time but only alcohol was mentioned. I am just wondering regarding that since I can't find the link between the hashasheen and where we are now.

Kids remember drugs & Alcohol are bad for you, unless you take them under the supervision of an authorized adult :P

ENJOY!
ps. I hope my lil' Egyptian troll gives his blessing to this post too
pps. I wonder how many slanders i will get for this. yes i can be blamed for troll baiting.

Just in case... Begging

With the recent passing of the law by GAM that bans beggars and begging from areas of Amman, which I find absolutely reprehensible since they are not exactly providing a realistic alternative.
The apathetic attitude they carry on that the majority of beggars are already rich and are exploiting the kindness of people is a joke, yes there are exceptions but the majority of them are really in need of a source of income.

What baffles me even more is the fact that this spreads to the "guerrilla shops" that open up around mosques, these people are doing a legitimate thing since they are not provided with a vibrant farmer's market they created their own. I am not sure if they were included or not but they disappeared from infront of the mosque next to my home.

Even though I am against the passing of the law but I have enough trust in their incompetence to not be able to enforce it effectively.

So just in case I fall into that situation myself, here are a few ideas that occured to me on how I would show my "micro entrepreneurialship":

• carry a bag, and a broom going around cleaning the streets and any of the offices or shops and do it with out verbally asking for money. Having a sign on my back that states my purpose and that makes it fall under donations and not begging (a guy in Canada does that and thats where I got the idea)
  
• Stand near crowded areas and guide people to the closest parking spot. (also with a sign to avoid run-ins with the law, and to allow people to identify your use and need)
  

These two are the things that occur to me readily that require the smallest skill set, doesn't involve hassling people for money, and actually benefit the society :D
Of course street performers are about as colorful a cultural icona as can be and they do fall under that class, the idea is that not all begging is "2ate3 eedo 2o bish7ad 3aleyha (he cuts his hand and begs)". Begging is a cultural reflection of society, how well you treat the "untouchables" of your society is a reflection of how civil your society is.

Would love to add any suggestions anyone might have

ENJOY!

An excellent Brief on US post WWII foreign policy

Noam Chomsky is certainly a great at highlighting critical points clearly and breaking a convoluted world of politics into key areas that require full comprehension by the people.
This article is very interesting, no brilliant disclosures nothing that was not evident but the fact that it ties in alot of the nuances of politics and economics is what made me reference it in here.

The knot that ties this article together, in my opinion, is this paragraph
We might note that these events illustrate the actual meaning of the “Wilsonian idealism” admired by Western intellectual culture, and also provide the real meaning of “free trade” and the “open door.” Sometimes that is even officially acknowledged. When the post-Second World War global order was being shaped in Washington, a State Department memorandum on U.S. petroleum policy called for preserving absolute U.S. control of Western hemisphere resources “coupled with insistence upon the Open Door principle of equal opportunity for United States companies in new areas.”9 That is a useful illustration of “really existing free market doctrine”: What we have, we keep, closing the door to others; what we do not yet have, we take, under the principle of the Open Door. All of this illustrates the one really significant theory of international relations, the maxim of Thucydides: the strong do as they can, and the weak suffer as they must.

We as a region need to be fully aware of what the IMF, and WTO are meant to achieve and who they really are. We should take heed of the steps taken in South America with Venezuela spear-heading the efforts of reform.
The tipping of the scales is upon us and the way things are right now it seems like we are riding the titanic and enjoying that we made it just in time to earn a ticket for the ship

To read the full article click here

JOY!
ps. if you were surprised by the use of the word brief on a lengthy article it is because that information could easily go on for volumes and volumes to get a clearer picture but that is just the basics to start understanding the situations we are faced with today

A Piece of my mind, if you don't like complaints don't click

If you are reading the preview don't bother and go move on the next one. This is just as the title states its not about anything other than whats going through my head right now, since I feel like its going to implode I wanted to try and put it into words.

Lately its been a hassle waking up, been sleeping so much lately that its not even funny(maybe a tseetsee fly stinging me ? ). Mainly its due to an extreme lack of motivation a very heavy head of thoughts, not having my mother around since she's at sis, and shouldering some more responsibility. So what has been on my head is really just disappointment of alot of things.

Reading all those posts about the situation in Palestine where we got a couple of asses chasing carrots on sticks, and people being so complacent as to not overthrow them both ! they are not politicians so why are they being given the benefit of the doubt. They are a bunch of corrupt and sorry excuses for adults, they come off as more of kids screaming "he punished me first".

No wonder I don't bother with Arabic politics much since under any measure they don't qualify as such and they are the testimony for why we are being ridiculed on the world scene.
Then we got the talk about the confederacy between palestine, egypt and jordan. honestly neither egypt or jordan are willing to shoulder the burden of hosting either gaza or the west bank. For the record I think the palestinian are a 100% with this because with all honesty they have just had enough of their government, they has enough of the arab people telling them to hold their grounds, while at the same time not willing to get their hands dirty.

they tried the Islamic way, they tried the secular way, they tried the democratic way, NON WORKED. so they will be willing to try just about anything, hell if Israel is willing to take them back they would probably gladly welcome it.

Reality says something all the time, but somehow in this region we always go in whatever direction that is opposite to that. So following that reasoning I see the united federal state of Jordan forming in the next 10 years, whether we like it or not is irrelevant. Then we have the sorry excuse of a PR stunt that orphanage pictures that got released a few days ago, come on did anyone buy that ? sound eerily similar to a certain viet stunt I recalled, usually that preceded the genocide there. Anyways younger kids there days are better off dying than living in them, for all they have to look forward to is just more suffering.

Governments in their inception are supposed to be the embodiment of the spirit of the people, since it is far more efficient for the people to appoint other to handle their well being rather than have a Greek democracy. The people are still responsible to keep them in check.
When have we lost that idea in our heads, when was it that we have been so overburdened with fear, debt, lust after money, and illness that we have became so complacent as a world culture that we never shift a limb to express our outcry to the injustices being dealt not out side our borders but affecting our daily life everyday. Not just the middle east region (though we earn the award of the most stupefied nations in the world for the dedication of being a 40 year old complacent culture) look at France with a conservative president that speaks to the fear of the people not the hope of the people, look at Germany with Mercal. god knows what abomination we will get in the US of A or england. the prospects that are favored are not really something to look for, and to boast they have quite of few comedic candidates that if elected might topple the poodle and the dimwit of their comedic crowns.
The people of the world are being enslaved, they are cowering in the corner. They still believe the lies of free market, a rosy view of globalization, and soon enough they wouldn't mind a global currency. purely and simply we are getting sold defuncted outdated ideas that have been rejected in all of the industrialized world except for the champion of it, the United States of America.
Which at this point resembles as much of a fascist state as Italy in the 1930's.
now a common misconception about fascism is that its just the little bully brother of a nazi regime. By definition its the rule of cooperations and business owner to format laws for the enslavement of society and the benefit of big businesses if that doesn't describe the states I don't know what would be a better description ? maybe the lighthouse of democracy of the world, nah...

Essentially the country is on a set course of enslaving the people, they are readily being turned into a debt ridden consumerist superficial society. Which really makes them much easier to control, why don't we take notes from southern America, why don't we strike up deals with them.
Their models are proving to be much more efficient than whatever we have adopted, and they came to us with open arms many times before. We are just probably waiting to have another Argentina on our hands, for the upper class to wipe us all clean and leave! (i just hope i can secure my share of the pie in that case)

It has been 5 years since inflation hit the country hard, and till now salaries haven't followed the trend, soon enough we will be paid slave wages with no benefits. Look at the taxes, compared to what we pay (last calculation i did it came out to be 54% of the income is paid as taxes of which 20% of those taxes are unspecified).
is the government trying to pay its debt to the World bank on our backs ? are we really getting anything in return ? or is it just the price i have to pay for being accepted in this country while others are allowed to loophole out of those ?

That aside, it doesn't bother me as much as the work environment. Am still in my twenties, there is a little disappointed idealist in me. Why is the work status static, you are not allowed much room to move up and learn, no one is willing to be a mentor of the younger generation.
The people at the top are incapable to run a ba2al (minimarket) never mind a multi million dollar group! they lack management skills, they lack authority, and most of all they lack vision.
I worked with quite a few companies in my history and the common thread is that they never have a clear vision or plan of what they need to accomplish to move on. their idea is always adding on to their head count with not addition to the quality of the people.

I work with people in 5 different countries, all of the people that hold the position in the same department at the other countries are years ahead of me in experience, with a better prestige(reads title) than me(I am an Ass. BTW) . Of course they all get compensated better than me, now you would expect me to be taking the back seat to them.
The problem is they are a bunch of stuck-up idiots that if I didn't know any better I would have thought they have other responsibilities, and not that they got there by bloody nepotism.
Some of my co-workers are not that much better. They are the type of workers that accepted the status quo, you work your job from the day you start till the day that you retire without pushing yourself to perform what your job entails, and never bothering to expand your knowledge.

What this has done to me in effect is that it demoralized me and am starting to be like them, after coming back home and trying to find a glimmer of hope in my country. trying to start a business, working my ass of for my job and not complaining about being paid in peanuts I have no accolades or achievements that i am proud of nothing, just frustration with the people of the country that take the no glamor no respect attitude. So needless to say that am formulating my escape plan which should be finalized soon. Me 4 years ago must be disappointed, only if he was less naive and more a realist than an idealist.

On happier notes I have one less year to live, and no plan for life yet. I hate this day, I find it pointless to celebrate. In reality part of my ritual of being gloomy on this day started on my 8th year when i realized it's a celebration for others to have fun and not me.
One less year to live and more time wasted, seems to my gloomy eyes that I hit a dead end. No calling, no passion, no home. Better move on...
Hope hell doesn't exist cause it would surely welcome me there, damn do i get to bring my sunscreen or an inflammable suite ?

eh... ENJOY?

ps. Congratulations to me, I hate this day. I feel like a seal clapping to himself, better go back to reading my Kafka atleast I feel at home in his stories.

Michael Moore's "Sicko" .........Watch it!

Ok did I say watch the film? I'll say it again, watch it. oh but its pertaining to issues of the US health care system.

Hmm not really, Moore's film touches on a personal and human level. Whether it is in the USA or Canada, or France or UK, even Cuba. He places his argument very eloquently without going into head crunching theory!
It touches on so many levels that are not exactly health related (though they are morbidity boosting;) ) So many ideas are floating in my head...

So Watch it, I haven't given a review or anything like that i just want people to watch and tell other people to watch it too. If you have relatives, friends, or are living there please watch.

The movie was gladly leaked on the net and according to the rumors(more like his statement) with the blessing of Michael Moore. Even though you would see it for free it would be great to donate a cinema admission cost or even more to Michael Moore, or anyone who is possessed by the same spirit of change. We have to reward good honest people that are willing to forgo monetary wealth in pursue of their goals (or so the didactic side of me says)

You can watch it online here if you would like too.
(on a different side the homeland security was threatening him because he filmed in Cuba without a permit, now it seems the cage has been rattled and I hope it will be a butterfly effect)

Edit (july, 18th) : didn't realize the link is dead on google video, so here are a few more options
option 1 a b c d
option 2 (direct download)
ENJOY!

Creationism Vs. Evolution ... Follow-up

Well I was just tempted to do this bit. Now the basis of this argument is :

Are we supposed to include dogmatic knowledge when teaching a scientific class since some of the theories undermine some of what is mentioned in religion

Now this has been a heated debate recently in the states, in actuality in this region of the world its not even a debate. not because we are enlightened or any of that, but because we pass over the evolution part of science with the comment of its BS. We move on without even thinking of it, and after that you hear all the pseudo proofs of why that is the case "human DNA has the same components as soil", "the scientific wonder of the Bible/Quran/Torah".
So am going to try to the best of my abilities to lay down the arguments and counter arguments for each one, if i missed any please advise.

Definition(premises):

The Case for Creationism:
(this will mainly on the Christian side which is identical to the Islamic side since this argument was dead in Muslim science since the 14th century and most of the arguments are based on those of the Christian creationists. besides that the accounts for the creation are the same on either side of things, albeit the Christian account is more literal while the Muslim account is slightly more vague)

Essentially its whats in the book of Genesis, especially the first 7 chapters. Essentially the point of creationism (intelligent design or what ever other name it might be given) is to utilize science to prove scientifically what is mentioned there.

1. Earth is approximately 6000 years old (that is based on the calculation of ages of the prophet and since the lineage can be traced down to Jesus Christ (3issa 3aleih 2il salam)
2. The creation of earth, and all of its inhabitants(including humans) came to be at around the same point, on the sixth day (now earth was created in 7 days if you would like to calculate the time of god's days(Muslim point) in thousands of years please do so)
3. Humans are descendant of Adam and Eve, and the "Flood" has reduced the population of the earth and constricted the gene pool (or diversified it not sure since its the first reference to races).
4. People in the past lived longer(biblical & Quranic references) and their point of origin was from what is anthropologically called the agricultural age.
5. Faith; since the evidence is of a religious nature it is eminent that faith will be a strong force even if its being pushed as "scientific" evidence.
   

So those 5 points form the starting point, and the whole "scientific" method of creationist is to counter all scientific evidence that contradict this, and overburden theories with answers that are not know yet.

The Case for Evolution:
(This is based on what I know and could find references to)

The general theory of evolution is commonly meant to mean the biological evolution which was incepted by Charles Darwin. It does stretch to the origins of life since it's "a necessary precursor for biological evolution, but understanding that evolution has occurred and investigating how this happens does not depend on understanding exactly how life began"
The main points of Biological evolution: (reference:theses of darwinism)

1. Transmutationism - that species change form to become other species
2. Common descent - that similar species have common ancestors
3. Struggle for existence - that more are born than can survive
4. Natural selection - that the relatively better adapted have more offspring, sometimes called Malthusianism
5. Sexual selection - that the more "attractive" organisms of sexual species mate more (and have more offspring), causing unfit traits to spread; again there is no alternate, just a denial that it happens
6. Biogeographic distribution - that species occur close by related species, explaining the distributions of various genera
7. Heredity - the more modern view that genes don't record information about the life of organisms.
8. Random mutation - the notion that changes in genes aren't directed towards "better" alternatives; in other words, that mutations are blind to the needs imposed by the ecology in which organisms find themselves
9. Genetic drift/neutralism - the view that some changes in genes are due to chance or the so-called "sampling error" of small populations of organisms. Molecular neutralism is the view that the very structure of genes changes in purely random ways.
10. Functionalism - the view that features of organisms are neither due to or are constrained by the shapes (morphology) of their lineage, but are due to their functional, or adaptive, benefits.

Discussion:
(evolution points are in blue while creationist points are in black)

So in order for creationist to prove their premises they need to disqualify a huge chunk of science for the past couple of centuries. spanning biology, astronomy, geology, physics, and others.

Some points they need to prove:

• The Dating methods Used are inaccurate there are cases were isotropic and other dating methods have been proofed wrong (in essence that Geochronology is a hoax):
• Dendrochronology; tree-ring dating
• isotropic dating(C-14 dating); depending on the half-life of the carbon-14 we can accurately measure dates up to 50,000 without scaling

• This might be bias(from my end not the scientific end), but trees have been dated to more than 10,000 years ago (with living ones aged over 4,000 years which conflicts with the flood accounts) with no refutal point other than it is going to be refuted in the future which is sufficient enough to cancel the debate regarding the age of living things being limited to 6,000 years. I am a bit rusty on my chemistry and physics but C-14/C-12 ratio dependence and contamination arguments are not convincing

• The variation of organisms on the planet need to fit into the arc(inferred from the flood and passages of elimination of all other beings), and dinosaurs need to have coexisted with humans with no relative time space between them.

• Couldn't find much material regarding this, one point was that evolution in small amounts accounts for the species seen today (microevolution), the other is that the flood was limited to human populated areas and not the entire globe. As for the coexistence of humans and dinosaurs its attributed to scientific dishonesty and dating inaccuracy, some even draw evidence from Job 40 that biblically it is documented that dinosaurs coexisted(mentioned as leviathans, behemoths, and dragons since the word didn't exist till the 19th century or so)
  

Major Argument tools:

• Irreducible Complexity: The idea that biological systems couldn't have arisen from less complete predecessors and that They are too complex to have risen through mutation,e.g:
• Blood clotting in humans
  
• Dolphins have an "incomplete" form of the system and it still functions
  
• Flagella bacteria
• Along the same lines as the previous part, different proteins in the flagella serve similar or different function is other organisms so they don't prove the point
  
• Eye is to complex to form by chance
  
• Not having the knowledge of how something came to be doesn't prove the fallacy of what was know, and there are some suggestions as to how it came to be. Evolution does not mean that things pop out of nowhere due to chance !
  
• The idea as a whole is non sequitur since the presence of IC does not falsify evolution or prove creation.
• There are no transitional fossils(the birth of a new species from an older one through a transitional species) , and fossils don't take millions of years to form
• The dating methods used to estimate the millions or hundred thousands of years are discussed above, as for the transitional fossil the expectancy of true chimeras of the creatures around today is what they want to see which makes them ignore other transitional fossils found
  

There are many other points that are made but in my opinion these are usually the biggest and "strongest" ones that could be made. Personally I don't mind either theory to be held by anyone. For the longest time I have been trying to correlate and find a common ground between the two, but the more I learned about both the more I leaned toward evolution since it plainly made sense to what I had been taught in my scientific education.

The argument point is that "what I had been taught in my scientific education" that is the main beef of creationist, is that teaching science in that sense tends to undermine what is being taught in religion.

Hence the idea to teach both sides, or to ignore the evolution part of science which as seen plainly touches on the majority of what we call science nowadays based on Biblical and religious texts mainly . That will bring us back to the earth is flat and it revolves around the sun since thats what is mentioned in the bible.

In my opinion religious text didn't set out to be of a scientific nature they were meant to be understood for people who didn't hold much regard or knowledge to science as we see it today. So that is the first case, that teaching creationism in a science class is akin to teaching alchemy is chemistry and astrology in astronomy. It is a pseudo science.

On the other hand believing in evolution and the general theory doesn't undermine the belief in god or religion (ok maybe not in the general sense or a personal god ), believing in evolution is not equivalent to being atheistic or agnostic since you will still have the faith to believe.

As for Intelligent design I didn't touch much upon it since the idea that god set the systems of nature to test the faith of the people sounds like we are being deceived and its something I don't really like to get too much into it since it will be more philosophical than scientific. Also the arguments of the watch maker and firing squad analogy(Weak Anthropic Principle) fall in that category too.

Sources and reference/ extra material:
creationist arguments
evolution refutals
creationism refutals
creationism vs. evolution entry in wiki
Video of a presentation by Ken miller (catholic biology professor) arguing against ID

So whats the next iteration of creationism