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.

Jordan; a 110% behind entrepreneurs. sho bitgol ?!

Nassim was Talking a while back about issue blogging so I thought I'll pitch in to the cup, what I want to talk about today is a fairly simple issue; how regulations, the blessings system and bureaucracy blocks and crushes entrepreneurial spirit in our community. It really is interesting for me to be living in a country and always hearing people say that they are a 110% backing entrepreneurs. while, in reality, they are just paddling backwards when it comes to it.

well the story goes like this, a group of Jordanian individuals came up with an idea that had a lot of potential, something that would raise the level of services in the public schools.

The idea was to centralize the food production for schools, to arrange that all the food that will be provided for the public school to be produced and packaged in a central stations located in proximity to a group of schools and delivered fresh daily to the schools. each meal will compose of a balanced diet, the centralization of the meal will reduce the cost on the students and there will be subsidies and aids. Even 10% of the profits will go into a scholarship & aid fund for the students, without effecting the current break-ups. The element that will be effected is the system in which the teachers at the beginning of the year cut a deal with the falafel store at the corner of the school to provide the cafeteria with sandwiches around the year .... YUM !

So since the project involves the public school system you have to go do the rounds of blessings from various people and more importantly the department of education.
So you go and do your presentation rounds and the atmosphere is mostly reactionary... they will attack you on every front if they feel that you will curtail on their authority, reduce their income streams or be a serious competitor to anything on the market. On the other hand if you have a genuinely profitable idea that hasn't be implemented then you will certainly be blocked, without a reason or justification for that rejection. It's the attitude of "2i7na awla" (we deserve it more) that prevails.

By the way if anybody has the leverage to implement the idea, please make haste and hit the ground running. It's already in the pipeline.

ps. this was supposed to be one of those long posts that dissects things but it kinda never made it there.

Only I.F... (Inflation Fornication)

So after discussing some background about inflation, and heaps of people complaining about it (of course not on here!) and the people discussing whether it's ethical or not, or whether it's an international phenomena that our revered government can do nothing about or not. There have even been voices about holding a strike on May 4th, and discussion ensued on whether it's even a good idea!

With all that talk about inflation I have not once read, from a Jordanian perspective, what are the actual options available for us to fight inflation, or some forecast to where we are heading. The most common thing that gets repeated is "the government is doing the best they can and the population should bear with the situation right now since it will pass"

Inflation is a perpetual problem that faces every economy and it's addressed by the fiscal policy of a country in order to expect it and put measures to control it and meet those expectations.
To fight a sharp rise in inflation both short term and long term plans must be adopted after identifying the main cause for the inflation, which i'll attempt to zero in on later on in this post.

In what follows I'll try to the best of my ability to answer most of those question, atleast from my perspective.

Is sharp increases in inflation an international problem ? if so how are other countries dealing with it ?

simply YES ! inflation rates in many countries have rose to critical level during the past year. Taking a look at inflation rates of countries around us and those who we do considerable importing from:

So we note that Gulf countries have experienced a huge inflation (with Qatar having the lead with its 13.8%) that is expected due to their economical boom and increases in oil prices. The main cause of inflation in those countries are their currency pegs against the dollar, with booming economies and the continued lowering of interest rates on the dollar it is forcing those central banks in the gulf to lower their interest rates instead of increasing it which is causing more inflation. The current method adopted to fight inflation in those countries is to raise wages and cap commodities prices, and they are intervening directly in real estate loans since real estate is the other major contributing factor of inflation. Kuwait broke its dollar peg in may of last year for basket of currencies, although it remained heavily weighed. there is growing pressure on other gulf countries to drop their pegs too in order to be able to maintain the economic growth rather than adopting band aid solutions that will contribute to future inflation. While the other option is to allow their currencies to appreciate against the dollar.

Given that 23% of Jordan imports are from Saudi Arabia, a 16 year high inflation rate is sure to translate into our markets. On the other hand China (inflation of 8% by the 1st quarter of this year) with a share of 8% of Jordanian imports (a figure that sure sounds too low in my opinion) is sure to translate in even higher rates. The inflation in China is a combination of four major factors, the fixed exchange rate with the dollar, the increases in oil prices, the super booming economy, and the developing middle class with the ability for spending.

Currently China is fighting inflation with little success, they are using commodity price controls and fixing the price of gas, they are raising their interest rates and bank reserve requirement and hoping to hold out from attacking the main culprit for inflation which is their undervalued currency against the dollar. if they decide to reevaluate their yuan (Chinese currency) by selling off their dollar reserves (in the form of T-Bills) they are bound to bring down the house of cards.

Focus! so what about Jordan ?

Well For Jordan, as discussed in the previous article, the causes of inflation in order of importance are as follow:

• Increased taxation and lifting of subsidies on commodities which contributed to market uncertainty and sharp increases in the prices of commodities.
  
• A Bubble real estate market that is fueled by speculation due to the low interest rate and enticing loan arrangements which is not reflected with an equal rise in demand.
  
• Increase in commodity prices globally regardless of the first point, coupled with a depreciating currency

Taxation is becoming the sole contributor to the Jordanian fiscal budget, after the privatization of many governmental income streams based on the requirements of free market adoption recommended by the world bank and IMF. The country found no option to reduce the deficit without increasing the taxation and lifting the subsidies, the problem with both is twofolds; one is the timing which came at a turbulent time where there is no stability in global market prices, two in the mismanaged transparency in lifting up the subsidies based on schedule rather than surprise which was the case.

Now that the subsidies have been lifted totally, it will most likely be followed by an increase in taxation, most likely an increase on an already high sales tax.

Since real estate speculation has been a major contributor for Jordanian economy and we are already reached the peak in that market, it will most likely put even more pressure on the speculators translated by higher level of defaults at banks and a slow down in the real estate market akin to the one experience in the early 90's after the second gulf war estate boom.

Short Term solutions

Currently those are some of the short term solutions that might be able to curb the inflation rate and help elevate the consequences on the citizens.

• Lifting of subsidies and revaluation of commodity prices that are set by the government should be fixed to a schedule that is transparent to the citizens while taking into account the shortages that might occur before each increase. That will help price stability in the market. stabilizing the prices of certain staple commodities as was done with natural gas is also encouraged but not to overburden the budget. (prices of natural gas, bread, livestock's grain and hay prices have been fixed)
  
• The increase in productivity and private sector profits haven't been translated in higher wages coupled with low interest rates encouraged debt while discouraging savings. The salaries for the private and public sector should be increase accordingly and the minimum wage to be reevaluated based on current prices. (lip services increases in salary that doesn't meet the cost of living increases)
  
• To maintain the investment in real estate which is a main driver of the economy in jordan it is encouraged to fix the price of iron. ( the government reduced the sales tax on iron from 16% to 8%)
  
• Limiting the amount of loans given out by public banks in order to limit the supplies by a requirement to increase the reserves.
• Encouragement of farming and agriculture projects that are provided with governmental protection in form of loans and tax exemptions to satisfy the country's local needs for staple commodities especially grain. To ward off the inflation and speculation of the global market and to make it viable to be competitive locally with the governmental backing.
  

Long Term solutions

On the long term the major problems that are facing Jordan are ever increasing petrol consumption without any semblance of independence or capitalization on years of dirt cheap oil. The shortage of water supplies and the dependence on seasonal rain reservoirs, and wide economic restructuring.

• Re-investment of the privatization capitol in forms of alternative energy, in terms of nuclear, solar or wind energy sources in order to provide part of the countries energy needs and to drive up a new sector into economic growth. The solution and pipe dreams of oil shale and petrol wells being found in Jordan do little since they will come at a time period that will demand more cost effective solutions for Jordan and Shale oil as it stands currently will provide little of our energy needs at too exuberant of a cost, and talk about petrol beds being found conveniently at this time is a bit too frowzy for my taste.
  
• A solution to the ever dwindling value of the dollar, which with the current adopted policy of the fed will continue on deteriorating. So a solution to this problem will be necessary to remove some of the downward pressure on the Jordanian economy.
• A tightening of the budget is required, and by that I mean to act like the economy we are and not put up appearances for appearances sake. Till now, year over year our fiscal budget has been mushrooming endlessly.
  
• Economical transparency of the government budget and investments, plus the democratization of the process as has been worked on since the year 2000 is required to be followed upon, and careful attention needs to be given to the water shortage issues and methods of circumventing the problem with diplomatic ties with neighboring countries is needed.
  

Conclusion

Well I tried to be optimistic as much as possible. but i Got bored towards the end and had to wrap up, My only hope in the short term lies in the workers and people of jordan. It would be of extreme importance to start a co-operative consumer watch to help market forces and bring down commodity prices. That would be done by sharing consumer price information and boycotting the higher priced retailers. All that it requires of the consumer is to share their grocery bill with an aggregator and follow up on market prices and shop at the cheapest available option based on the data. that will surely control the supply cartel from increasing the prices too rashly.

On the other hand wages needs to pushed up from within the institutions, and the lowest paid workers need to organize in order to realize their fair share of the profit to translate into higher wages. Anyways am writing in English so all this falls to deaf ears in my opinion.

What is interesting is the latest brain storming session came to the conclusion that everything is dandy and the denizens have been through worse so there is no need to do anything to rectify the situation and we need to stay the course.
So dear denizens, please drop your pants and bend over cause you might as well start enjoying !

ENJOY !

feverish mind, scorching skies, and spontaneously combusting income

A long overdue post that has been fermenting for like three months and when do I decide to finally write it and post ? Yes, you guessed it (err probably not), when I'm operating on a fever with multiple system failures (not my computer, I mean my body with that) because it's the best excuse to have when someone calls me raving mad after this.

So whats the most appropriate topic to rave mad about when your temperature is setting new highs ? well inflation of course !

so lets start of with what is inflation ?

Economic condition characterized by an increase in prices and wages, and declining purchasing power. Inflation is usually measured by changes in the Consumer Price Index (CPI). The result is diminished purchasing power, and frequently a lower rate of savings as wage earners put more of their disposable assets in consumption, and less in long-term savings. Inflation is a monetary phenomenon. It occurs when there is too much money in circulation relative to the production of actual goods and services.

thats pretty self explanatory so essentially it means that everything becomes more expensive.

So what causes inflation ?

hmm... in that definition they mentioned something about an increase in money supply (that reminds me of something that happened here in '03, I wonder) , but what the hell does that mean anyways ?
thats just the tip of the iceberg of causes and only half of the views available from an economical point of view, but I'm just another average mo so lets consult with them pundits and see what they say since am mainly interested in sharp increases in inflation I'm gonna focus on that only.

So turns out that sharp increases in inflation beyond the fiscal policy estimates (about 3-4% for a growing economy) is attributed to the following:

• Depreciation of exchange rate
• Rapid growth of money supply: An increase in loans by banks and building society borrowing due to low interest rates or incentives.
• Food shortages, increase in oil prices and lifting on subsidies when a country is Dependant on imports.
  
• Increases in consumer confidence and home prices translated in a increase purchasing power.
  
• Faster economic growth in other countries: economical growth is tied to inflation so while their services and prices are going they are not matched by the country and hence that is reflected in an increase in price of goods and services that isn't matched.
  
• Rising labor costs: an increase in wages that isn't translated in an increase in productivity with strains the demand and supply relationship.
  
• Higher taxes and increase in raw material costs.
  

So yeah I guess it was nicer when it was simply an increase in money supply, but those are the main reasons for inflation

So now that I'm done with that bit of background --rolling up my selves-- I'm gonna dig in and try to localize all of this in a nice way(as much as my delirium allows) . Hell i'm even talking Jordanian economics ... i just hope i don't come off the same way "dr." fanek comes off to me.

So what's up Jordan ( thats a definite hat tip here) ?

So let's see what is the inflation rate in Jordan ? It's 5.4% in 2007 thats a nice drop from the 6.25% in 2006, thats damn dandy !

2007? like last year ? like the year when i first started to feel the pinch. prices didn't increase ... oh wait ! remember in the definition of inflation they mentioned something called CPI (consumer price index) , what the hell is that ? do we have one ? how did they calculate the inflation in the first place ? Well lets pay the department of statistics a visit and see if there is anything about it.
OK, it's here . Great more numbers ! so essentially the CPI is calculating how families spend their money and how much is the increase in price of the commodities and comparing them to the prices of base year.

So lets take a look at the Jordanian CPI break down:

• The break up of household expenditure is 39.72% on food, clothing and shoes 4.85%, housing and living expenses 26.40% ( of which is notable fuel and lighting is 4.29%, home related expenditures 16.93%, and rentals 15.77%. did i mention that rentals are mentioned twice in every year ?).
  
• those expenditure break ups are based on survey done in 1998 and hence taken as the base year. they never change in all of the CPI calculation so it means that expenditure break ups are disconnected from inflation. hmm... maybe that last point is due to my fever ignore it.
  
• After 1999 the base year is taken as 2002 in terms of prices of the products. so the base year for the CPI of 2000 is 2002. Our main export should be clairvoyant economics researchers.
  

I guess its just my tendency to be a philistine and be confused by number so i might have misunderstood somethings there and in the end they make perfect sense and the 5.4% inflation rate of 2007 will hopefully be reduced to around 4% this year, and i'm happy that i didn't let my fingertips go on and write the rest of my thoughts about the CPI.

Number munching gives me indigestion, give me the meat !

So I looked at the CPI and left me in more confusion ( I hope it made more sense to you), so lets look at the factors for inflation and how they relate to Jordan shall we ?

First of all the depreciation of currency, some how i feel like i talked about this before, so our currency is still worth 0.709 $ since it's pegged. So the depreciation must come from the dollar ? how is that doing lately ? Well the dollar lost about 38% of its value against the euro since 2003, and as of today it lost 11% of its value in the last six months. that means that saving accounts at banks are loosing value rather than gaining. In turn that is putting some pressure on the purchasing power of the JD since accordingly Jordan is an import heavy country when it comes to staples, food and oil. So check, we definitely are experiencing a considerable monetary depreciation.

In the past 5 years the number of banks offering their services to the consumers in Jordan has quintupled or even more. With that easier access to loans and other debt instruments became available, coupled by the real estate bubble and influx of immigrants helped to expand the money supply pool considerably in the span of a relatively short period of time. so definitely CHECK, we did have that plus the interest rates since they are pegged to the dollar have been near zero rates through out the decade and seem to continue based on the FED's latest woes and trends.

If you haven't noticed the consumerist shift in Jordanian society in the last 5 years then i'll just apologize on behalf of my fever, but for now i'll just say double CHECKS on that. As for other countries, lets see Europe ? china ? Saudi Arabia ? did I miss anyone of our main import countries ? or did I misunderstand that year over year they have performed better and better ? anyways I'll leave that as undecided just for fevers sake ( apparently, one symptom of fever is the repeating of the word fever. I'm so gonna suggest that to webmd)

While consistently higher taxes since 2004 has been the bi-annual diet of us denizens, the wage increases have only started lately. Did I miss any of the points ?

Oh right, there was that thing about food and oil prices. OK, so international oil prices increased more than 400% since September 2003 that must do something for inflation. While local prices have increased by more than a 100% (hey i can't remember/find how much the price of gas in jordan was in 2003 so if anyone knows please tell me). As for food prices, the problem has been brewing since early on in the turn of the century since the acts of deregulation and adoptiong of free market economics couple with "global warming" lead to a decades law in food reserves and it just happened that those condition kept on piling along others and only hit us real hard recently...CHECK !

So essentially we got a full mark on the inflation check list, damn we are good! so now that am done with the background, I'll tackle what has been done by the government and the citizens and other such things.... but i'll have be lucid for that so am off to nap and get better.

ENJOY!

ps. note a 4-5% inflation rate is expected and doesn't require a government to take drastic actions to fight inflation since fighting inflation comes at the cost of economic growth

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

Hiding In Vulnerability, H.I.V.

It is nothing new to us to turn a blind eye to behaviors that we deem immoral and we even attest that those are not present in our cultures or societies and they are by-product of western and Zionist corruption of our youth and digressions from our holy religion of Islam that offers the solution to all these problems are the cause of all those problems.

From that it follows that we don't have extra marital sex relationships, sex workers are non existent, injection drug users are not our children, brothers or sisters, and we surely don't have men who have sex with men for that is a western thing you know.

The sad thing is that ignorance towards those behaviors and others converge in aiding the prevalence of HIV/AIDS. So its only natural that we consider HIV/AIDS prevention to be a fringe issue, and we even have the statistics to back this up. For according to the ministry of health, as of 2004, there have been 361 recorded cases of which 136 cases of Jordanians contracting the virus. Looking at those numbers you would think that they are doing a splendid job in prevention !

While major strides have been taken in the campaigns under taken since 2002 in this field, the major problems faced by those campaign are still the same. Some of the good things that they have implemented were mandatory testing of foreigners staying in the country for longer than a month, this has helped to limit the exposure of the increased traffic that crosses the country and limit the exposure to the virus through that means. The testing of blood donators and blood bank supplies to ensure that they are contamination free.
Also the establishment of the HIV/AIDS hotline does help in answering any questions or concerns that people might have.

Now these are all fine, but taking a look at their site I couldn't happen but to notice a few issues; for starters the website is out of date, its naming not the previous health minister but the one before him. The data on there is more than 3 years old, plus they tend to preach morally when it comes to the issue which is not the best way to go about it( men having sex with men, sex workers, prisoners and injection drug users aren't even mentioned) .


There might be an explosion of HIV cases because its seen that there is no need to do the preventive work and encourage people to do voluntary testing. There is a higher percentage of people who test out only because symptoms appeared which might take anywhere from a year to 10 to appear. That means that through that period they have been able to infect others along the way.


So one of the main things that should be established is to try to reach out to those high risk communities, to get their trust enough for them to be educated about preventive methods.
One thing that they have done to achieve this is through peer education program. There isn't any statistics to measure the success or failure of such programs but I can't truly understand how a program that preaches the moral high ground as a preventive method would be hugely popular among sex workers for instance.

The preventive methods suggested by the ministry of health are as follows (by the way, they are not even mentioned in the English version of the website) ;

• Abstaining from pre-marital and extra-marital sex and being committed to one uninfected partner (they do indicate its a sin from the religious point of view)
  
• Using a condom correctly (whats the point if i did your previous step ? )
  
• Verifying that blood transfusions are free of the virus (is there any indication to tell whether the blood has been tested or not ? especially in heamophelia cases ?)
  
• Using disposable needles (Do they provide any free needles ?)
  
• Disinfecting medical equipment in the proper manner (to layman like me how am i supposed to know if they are doing it or not ? )
  

Based on the preaching embedded here it is highly unlikely that the campaign had any meaningful penetration of high risk groups.
Some of the solutions that come to mind are as follows;

• Establishing true anonymous testing (i.e. random number are taken and no follow up from any governmental arms, yes they do that now invading all ethics of patient confidentiality) . preferably this initiative to be removed from the ministry of health.
• Provide pre-test and after-test counseling and sexual education to high risk groups and students, either through seminars or through providing materials to interested individuals to help reach out to high risk groups that is void of moral preaching since that will do more harm than good.
  
• Abstinence approach to sexual education has been proved to be impotent, leave that to religious leaders and teachers rather than health educators.
• establish support groups and family education to HIV positive individuals, for they are mostly having to suffer on their own. while currently they are forced to suffer alone in silence atleast some support of a fund and legislation against discrimination at the work place will help to provide better living standards to those who fell ill.
• The hotline should have regular advertisement and emphasis should be noted that none of the calls are monitored to insure that the people who need it the most, they are mostly the groups that are ostracized and persecuted, are able to reach it paranoia free.
  
• Testing of prisoners to limit the prevalence of the disease in prisons. Also to educate them.
• Educating the health staff to deal with cases confidentially and humanely, rather than stigmatize a patient who came to them looking for aid.
  

I wish they would establish a free anonymous testing days in order for people of those high risk groups to voluntarily go and get tested, and establish the habit of ongoing bi-annual testing in order to reduce the chances of any insurgence in HIV cases.
While the efforts of the ministry of health are commendable and admirable, the national stigma of the disease is far from overcome and treatment of HIV positives is far from what it is hoped to be.
Although they are provided with free access to anti biotic cocktails they don't have access to the latest and more effective drugs which help to keep the symptoms under control. Also due to moral objections & cost, access to medications such as PEP and PREP is not available. So we still have a lot more work to do as a community.




To get more information about testing and information regarding AIDS/HIV:

• Jordan Red Crescent: Safety first AIDS/HIV program
  
  Telephone: 06-4765660 Email: safetyfirst@cyberia.com.jo
• Ministry of health: National AIDS prevention program
  Telephone: Amman 06 - 5697933
  06 - 5673436
  Zarqa 05 - 3936060
  Madaba 05 - 3243008
  Jarash 02 - 6353545
  Balqah 05 - 3550752

ps. One thing to note, there is a high correlation between economic booms and prevalence of HIV cases due to the fact that travelers tend to be one group that spreads the virus and these are usually that come over for periods shorter than a month. They are the ones that are not getting screened and it is highly likely that they would engage in sexual acts, or drug related activities with the locals. I already made this incoherent article long enough even though i have alot more to talk about, hopefully i'll do that on another occasion.

pps. the pics either include the source on them or they are from ACT UP paris campaigns which i especially like.

Opening windows

Earlier on, Kinzi in a comment dropped a certain term... Johari window. At the time i never heard of the term and as usual it was on the list of things to read about (its an obscure list in my mind of random curious lil tid bit for instance the etymological root of arctic is arktos, the greek word for bear. back to the subject matter)

Now according to wiki;

A Johari window is a psychological tool created by Joseph Luft and Harry Ingham in 1955 in the United States, used to help people better understand their interpersonal communication and relationships. It is used primarily in self-help groups and corporate settings as a heuristic exercise.
When performing the exercise, the subject is given a list of 55 adjectives and picks five or six that they feel describe their own personality. Peers of the subject are then given the same list, and each pick five or six adjectives that describe the subject. These adjectives are then mapped onto a grid.

The grid is based on four quadrants based on who knows what, so you have stuff that others know about you and you don't know about your self (blindspot), others that you know about your self and others don't (facade). At first I thought it would be an interesting tool especially in teams to establish a common ground of familiarity between the team members and help then connect on a personal level which, in my opinion, helps a team operate more efficiently when you consider the other team memebers more than a 2-dimensional paper cut outs. Turns out that it also helps identify problem elements in an easy going exercise which sounds interesting.

OK so thats not exactly what I want to talk, but it served as the inspiration. Now if you notice there is a quadrant for secrets (things that you know but others don't) but what spun around in my head is that a secret is not problematic until a person you don't want to share your secret with knows about it.

After thinking about a bit more I tried to figure how would such a situation come about; First thing that came to mind is intuition and stumbling on them. For me its a big part since I do trust my intuition about things and it serves as an insight about the person am dealing with that won't be readily available otherwise. when it comes to its accuracy its relative but it always serves as an impetus for what follows.
Second thing that occurred to me, well the six degree of separation in Amman has been cut down in half. It is not that hard to learn about the life history of a person and his family in Amman, all you have to do is ask anyone. whats funny about that is usually you will be looking to gain as much information without raising any alarms.

The Third and last thing that occurred to me is to ask the person about what you are thinking about, the gutsy option. Usually i would say this is the most honest and better option out of all, since you don't have to beat around the bush.
The problem and the reactions that occur from it is what is problematic, people tend to not mind sharing their public information but as soon as you step on a private only topic a red flag will be raised. Since it will raise the question of how did you find out about it, rarely does intuition and stumbling upon them fly as a plausible answer since the person would have invested a great amount of energy in safe keeping that part. That usually starts to fester issues of mistrust.
Then the second logical path would be "why are you so interested in knowing that ? you want to black mail me or something?" which, I'd like to think, is rarely if ever the case. Non of us are really that important to be worth blackmailing.

So since the reaction will be mostly negative if you do go about the direct path the best way is to take the indirect one and drop hints about it candidly. Till the trust level reaches a certain point that he/she is willing to confide in you.
Though honestly if that level is never reached it really doesn't mean that you are not trust worthy, it might simply mean that somethings are better left off from the conversation.

I kind of lost my point along the way, the thing is that brought all this up is just how small Amman is and people by nature are curious. those two options combine for a lethal combination is that if you ever confide to anyone the news will travel like fire in august.
So happy secret safe keeping and enjoy life.

ps. nope don't think about that you know who you are :P muwahaha

In case you were in the market for a new car ...

Don't buy one of those :D

This is the certification crash test for the Cherry A15, which are available in Jordan. There is little surprise in the results, for after all they are Chinese made. (by the way this is the 40mph/64kmh test)

Now the real question is why they are allowed on the streets?? oh wait, now I get this IT! it is our out-o'-da-box solution to solve our congestion problem.

ENJOY
ps. for other brilliant Chinese car crash tests click here & here & here ..... you get the idea.

Jordantiers ..... it is (for now atleast)

I haven't forgot about it, but life & especially work has caught up to me lately.
I managed to create a group and a blog, plus an email account
all under the "Jordantiers", I think this is good enough name for now. We can change it or just go by a more arabic/street name later on .......
please send me an email to jordantiers at gmail dot com so I would send everyone the usernames and passwords to all of the accounts.
Also am trying to get in touch with zikar the organization that does monthly collection and distribution of charitable items, games, books ....etc and see if they need any help or if there is something that we can do.


I guess one of the goals to have in mind is to create a one point reference for any organization or group in need of volunteers and use the blog/email/ or the facebook group to advertise that


ENJOY
ps. will post some more tonight hopefully ... and again sorry for the vanishing act.

listening to :Susheela Raman - women

We volunteer ,,,,,,,,, aggregation

Hey thanks for all the people that replied to my suggestion a few days ago to for a volunteer group in Jordan .
Here is what we got so far;
people that showed interest were palforce, Tala, Kinzi, & MQabbani.

Plus 7aki wasn't even phased by having the Atlantic between us and her and offered to help too

We agreed to form a face book group and a blog/website to help organize and provide info. we still need a name, the names suggested so far are:

• "We volunteer"
• "na7no natatawa3"
• We Volunteer
• Bright Jordan
• Jordan Volunteers
• bring it together!
• Bricks of JO
  
• Voluntary Group/Works
• JO Volunteers
  
• JO Helpers
• in the middle of the Middle East
• HANDS
  

please help us pick a name if you read this.

We plan on meeting an hour before the next bloggers meeting, so all are welcome to join and brainstorm.

Projects suggested:

• art projects, reading, English, math and computer classes for young children - by summer
• painting schools in villages/painting artistic murals in East Amman*warhol style* (both will involve kids, grown ups, anyone really) - 7aki/Kinzi
  
• Volunteer in health clinics in some rural villages (if we can get some volunteer doctors and donated medicine it would be great) - by 7aki
• Visit "jar7ah alintifadah" that go and stay in Jordanian hospitals (donating calling cards, or just spending time with them) - by 7aki
• Setup computer's in school, and provide training to workers there - by Kinzi
• talent show bil balad for undeserved community kids - by Tala
  
• planting trees, cleaning reservations & parks, animal care and adoption - by Tala
  
• micro loans (that is if enough money could be raised)
  

Money raising events:

• ala save life style bracelets
  
• Bake sale (not exactly xmas i know !)
• concert (that would be tough)

so as soon as we settle on the name, the group and blog will be created and hopefully things will become clearer over the course of next week.

Mental note : Check UNICEF & UNURWA for any helpful info, plus check some of the NGO's and their plans


THANK YOU FOR READING, ENJOY

SICK of Talking ?(A blogger's volunteer committee ?! )

I have been dabbling with this idea for a while, I always felt that volunteer work in Jordan is very lacking.
Even when you go to any of the obvious venues (Noor Al hussein, SOS, ...etc) they look at you like "are you for real ?! "

So the idea to form some sort of volunteer society from the current pool of Jordanian bloggers seemed tempting to me... Would love any input on this matter.

Ideas I have in mind;

• meetings to be held in a bi-weekly or monthly form, those meetings will be held to decide a monthly or bi-weekly events
  
• activities will range from mentoring (ala BigBrother, BigSister models), educational seminars, Charity runs, event organization.
• The aim is to have donations of time rather than money, that will help to reduce The complexity of the organization. It will also provide a different side to charity than the one we are used to in Jordan. Since we have the habit of not getting involved in the personal side and prefer to donate an amount and expect others to do all the work for us.

I understand the idea is still not mature enough, but the reason i posted this is so i won't forget about it. More importantly is that I want to know what other people think about this ....

If you are sick of just TALKING about change, and interested in actually DOING Something about it then please provide some feedback

I understand that most of us are busy with commitments and I am not gonna burden with more, all am asking is if you can find it in your heart to dedicate about 3-4 hours a week (on a holiday or weekend) to help others.
ENJOY

Another earth & moon couple have been BORN !

Oh well, last week I was at one of my friend's wedding.

It's funny how when guys get married in Jordan their life starts revolving around their women.
I understand that's the natural thing here and almost everywhere but come-on, after being free as a asteroid you get tied down to orbit around her needs and whims. In my dictionary that's called being whipped.

Why after being so close to someone for so long they are suddenly not a good company, is it jealousy over your women ? I just love how wives every where despise their man's friends.
The funny thing is those exact friends you mistrust, are probably one of the factors that you are married to this man. whenever shit hit the fan while you two were getting to know each who do u think anchored him and stopped him from running away ?

Oh well probably am slightly biased, and a bit angry at the fact that we ("as his friends") were not allowed to properly say goodbye to his bachelor days!
I still don't get it, does it involve the fact that most of the bachelor community are immature worms (or atleast "they" view them that way)?

Why being a friend to a married couple is like a "Cobels only" restaurant !
I don't get it at all, oh well whenever I'll get married i believe am going to do the same just to exact revenge on all the friends I lost to this process. its unfair to segregate people based on their Marital status.

Best of luck to both of them!
ps. to those ones that are saying am impatient and should give him the benefit of the doubt, this friend (Actually one of the few that would qualify to the best friend status) cut ties with all of his friends since he started seriously dating ........ SO YEAH !
pps. the image is from tempest_wind

Palajordanian view (spoken with a P B accent) Part TRES or not

When I started this I had "hastily" came up with three scenarios as i saw fitting of the situation in Jordan. Now that I started to thoroughly think things through , and;

• I just couldn't see anything that will be drastically different in the third scenario than the second
  
• I simply didn't have a forethought to project on this one
  

So this is more of a conclusion than anything else .......

For conformity's sake:

The Third and Final Type: Currently things are not all that great, but if the opposition ever gets the chance to implement things their way, and the current system is disturbed the effects on the people will be devastating. This will reflect poorly on the people of this country. hence its better to maintain what we currently have rather than abolishing it completely and starting anew.

the mean idea that was going through my head then was a de-localization of practical power and introduction of a prestige power. which regardless of what i meant there I couldn't see it happening so i was stuck.

In conclusion the problem with society is more deeply rooted than one might anticipate when you actually start thinking in webs (moving from economical to social to practical to traditional).
Now we keep on blaming it on the colonialism that hit the region in the early 19th~20th century, which has effective sedated a warm blooded and emotional population.
You can blame it on Israel for being the embodiment of the boggy-man, and introducing and anxiety in the commons and practically demolishing a superiority complex that was the apparent trait of our culture (think ottoman and the claims they boasted) and turning it into a paralyzing inferiority complex.
blame it and what you want to blame.......


Fact of the matter is that here an now, we are apathetic, intellectual-void, consumer body that is gullible to jump on the next fad or buzz words without properly weighing out the effects of it.
Our chain of thought can barely project to tomorrow never mind to see further ahead into the future, and then we play the blame game of "I told you so" rather actually tackling the problem it self. in so many ways we operate to the stereo-typical manager model, we want all the benefits and we fantasize about them without doing any of the work required.


Maybe what we really need is an HR department for each country!

As a system it needs to operate on data, figures theories. Those are weighted and given priority and then they are implemented according to the circumstances. Much like a healthy company, most of us have worked in a Jordanian company (at least I hope) . How much whimsical misadventures are undertaken, and how much authoritarian regressive procedures are facing you every day when you believe that you know better.

In actuality accepting that no one reality is true, and all reality hold some truth to them. something akin to constructive alternativism in a political system.
We have developed a major deficit in intellectuals, and still suffer from since the second part of the ottoman era.
That was reflected by a crude understanding and imitation of ideas instead of careful adoption (e.g. architecture towards the end of the 19th century was visibly European) . Coupled with a zealous adhering to tradition helped shape what we are now (pretentious I would like to say but not quite fitting).

To speak of it blatantly I don't believe in the common wisdom i believe in the collective naiveté to see incentives and block reprocutions. We feel threatened by anything and everything that defies what has been breast fed to us century after century, and we zealously fight those among us that venture beyond the red lines that we envision in our mind. In no sense is this a new behaviour, it has been the dominant trait of our people and others through out recorded history.
The difference is there was a schism at a point in history.

I'll stop there since i think am falling into a "holier than thou" attitude and creating much of the intellectual void that am criticizing..... (i.e at first glance its sophisticated and intelligent, but any deeper and it falls apart)

Purely we lack data to make any intelligent decision or study, we don't have any information to validate our theories and myths.
There is nothing more effective to us than hearsay, and with out enough statistics of factors, preferences, polls, and consensus no path will last long.

As for the perennial Palestinian problem, its simple. The compassion felt by the commons is meaningless to the Palestinians still struggling there, those words fall on deaf ears there.
"we" write and talk and expect "them" to act, that is sad.
We in a way look at them in a view of disdain privately, but our social conformity doesn't allow us to display that except in rare occasions. Religion is becoming a sort of a cocoon and escapism from reality, which in this case turns into a pretty manipulative tool. IT IS PRETTY MUCH WHAT IS/BEEN HAPPENING.
We all celebrate the struggle, give out the "zakka", shout slogans to protect Jerusalem, protect Al-Aqsa. Most of that turned into an unconscious activity, rather than a passionate one.

No matter how sarcastic the following statement may sound, i can guarantee that if polled the population of Palestine will pick one or the other. "rabna yifta7 bab 2il janeh 2o yakhodod kol 2il falastinia, bi ma2ino ma hada radee fee7om"
Or to deport all the Palestinian to say new Zealand or Canada, somewhere there is alot of empty space, compensate them properly for the previous years and suffering and internationalize Jerusalem.

If you are outraged about the thought, then i urge to not talk and do something about it. I mean physically not monetary.

Palajordanian view (spoken with a P B accent) Part DOS

In part UNO I Discussed the first scenario, so Today we will hit the second one !

the Second type: The current situation in Jordan is heading for the better, just give it time and it will be better. The monarchy is a better system than the democracy and we must bond with whatever makes us Jordanian, and put Jordan as the first priority on our agenda!
(Oh) and if we adopt democracy the people that will be in power will not have Jordan's interest in their hearts and will ruin the country.

So in order to really appreciate were we are going a visit to were we have been in recent history is required.
Since The Inauguration of King Abdullah the Second in February 7, 1999 The main focus for Jordan was on 3 fronts:

• Political Reform
• Economical Reform
• Social & Educational Reform

Which are encompassed in an illusive illusion called the National Agenda, which keeps on popping up intermittently.
In terms of political reform, no seismic movements occurred. The natural flow of here comes a new cabinet and here goes a new cabinet remained.
Major questionable decision were made (e.g. the insurance policy for the cars comes to mind), and the underlying belief of the population of highly spread corruption in the political organism got re-enforced. So all in all not much occurred on this level.
The Social & Educational Reform has moved forwarded successfully, since Mr. Touqan has been appointed as the head of the ministry he has been able to establish a long-term plan to improve the local schools.
With the increased inflation there has been an influx of students moving to public schools, This has put more pressure on the ministry.
Plagued with a choke corded budget, lack of resources, a head strong mentality of the educational body, and logistic complications have slowed the process considerably.
Although some people have been pessimistic about the progress, what The minister set out to achieve is a Herculean task. Great strides have been achieved and the program will be implemented in the near future.
One side effect to the complete implementation is the controversy that will arise due to the curricula.
On the social side, although the actual effects have not been felt yet but the status of Queen Rania on the philanthropic end has been enormous, the work she has been doing in that area focused a spotlight on the country again. Gave Jordan and iconic status in that area, but at the end of the day the actual effect that filtered to the population has not been as visible.

The major focus during this era has been the economic reform in 2002 the IMF program was finished, and managed to Join TWO(2000) and secure a free trade accord with the US(2001) and an association agreement with the EU(2001). Due to this the privatization of Jordan began, and Jordan became a free trade country. Aqaba became a special economic zone which was one of the major pillars in the economical reform plan.

At this point you might be wondering why the focus is so much on the social and economical sides rather than the political side. The reason is simple, for the current system to maintain the status-quo, the commons need to live comfortably again they will eventually forgot about the internal political side. If the economical and social pressures keep erking the populous that will reflect on their political activism.

Some background number the official estimate for the population is 5,906,760 (UN July 2006 est ) , with a GDP of $28.89 billion (2006 est.) at a growth of 6% (2006 est.). The distribution of income lowest 10%: 3.3% highest 10%: 29.8% (1997). while the unemployment rates officially stand at 15.4% official rate; while the unofficial rate is approximately 30% (2006 est.)
The national debt is 72.2% of GDP (30 September 2006 est.) down from 105.1% of GDP in 1999. finally the percent of the population under the poverty line is 30% (2001 est.) (i need to verify a source but according to what i can recall the poverty line was set at 500JOD salary for a 6.8 member family)

These numbers show that the government reform plan is succeeding on the macroeconomical level, and Jordan is promising investors to be a haven, so the investments constitute 24.8% of GDP (2006 est.). On the micro societal side it shows that the lower class is tightning their belts, with the unemployment rates increasing during this period in the official and non official numbers.
With the inflation rates increasing at a 2% per year average every year since 2001 the effects are very visible to their everyday life, this has drove the commons into a corner. Eventually it might prompt them to take action if driven any further. With the wealth distribution being typically capitalistic it will be nature effect to witness an increase in crimes and unrest.

In order to avert the situation the government will need to move on a number of layers;

First the localization of population in the capitol, highly localized people will tend to bond together and stand for their rights. So incentive must be utilized for the population to spread.
the incentive should aim at localizing the population in the ASEZA, to provide the work force for the development.
That means a creation of the suburb notion in Jordan, and to market the area as a long term establishment rather than a leisure spot for the rich
with investments topping $540 million (Tala bay, saraya, Aila Bay, AIIE ceramics factory) and a major ADC capital investment plan estimated at $2,600 million will provide the employment to the population (projected to hit almost 50000 new jobs in 2009) these numbers are according to the AZEM report
the only other incentive required to dissipate the population cluster is to provide free schooling in that area, and raise the level of education in the current schools. Also providing special grants for relocation will aid the process considerably.

With the bases for the political movement fragmented, opposition from the people of the lower class will be reduced. Further development in the northern border, and establishing a trade city on the Iraqi borders will help further relocation to that area, and will establish a very flourishable service area for travellers on that route and to the neighbouring Gulf country.

At this point you have dealt with the problems of over-population and unemployment, but that leaves the upper class which has been demanding political representation. To deal with this class the economical incentives will prove tempting, and their natural gluttony will help take care of the rest if we are optimistic. A readjustment of the representation based on the population spread will manage to develop a faux representation in the political system.

To deal with the refugee problem, a new special worker standing can be introduced to accommodate better living standard for them, this way they will contribute more to the economical growth. Also this will prove as a stepping stone on the international scene, and will prove rewarding in terms of grants and aids. One importance for that worker status is to not be called temporary or worker, maybe special standing would be fitting, and dilute the purpose.

The inflation will be regulated by the national debt, an increase in the upper class tax can be utilized to ease the effect on the lower class in terms of special privileges (free education, food stamps ...et al)

The major point to gain the public support is to extract visible elements of corruption, the media will be of a great tool in this area. the zealous nature of station akin to Al-Jazeera may be abused to inadvertly highlight this issue with a few public cases. Since they have the commons trust than can be utilized the adjust the psyche of the nation.
That would require taking a few major hits, and scandals that might cause certain scares in the society but if controlled they will be able to garner much affection and economical effect than collateral. scape goats is the word.

With the economical and social tensions relaxed that will naturally reduce the spiritual escaping and secular hemorrhage that is being observed. As for the Iraqis, governmental grants with association with local banks could be used as an incentive to drive them into acquiring the a special status akin to the refugees' suggested status, this will ease up the inflation since it will drive up the GDP and increase the market liquidity.

OH well this daydreaming cycle has proved to be more challenging that I imagined, and I believe I lost focus towards the end. The general idea here is that it is achievable and for the short term. It will reflect well on the general population. The requirements is that the regional situation doesn't deteriorate any further, and the USA economy to not collapse since that will prove to be catastrophic.

Summary: points to achieve;

• Dissipate the population cluster through incentive for relocation to rural areas
• Providing a special status to the residing Iraqis and refugees
  
• Seriously fight corruption in a manner that is more visibly exposed to the media so it will register with the society
• readjust the political system by giving more weight to the newly populated areas in order to reduce the seat count for the capitol, and at the same time provide faux representation for the upper class
  

third part coming tomorrow :D
Ps. please do comment since I was scatter brained when i wrote it and the only way to get a more fractal view is to discuss it

Palajordanian view (spoken with a P B accent) Part UNO

Well I don't know whats the cause of all those debates on Qwaidar's, black iris, or the every present in those thread muhanned was, but its nice to see them talk.
Then again it is also amusing in the morning to read some of the comments.

So we currently have 3 different type of people in Jordan with regard to what should be done, and each one is quite zealous as usual:



The First Type: No matter how painful and bloody the change is it needs to be taken, democracy is a great system and highly beneficial to the country. It will provide the mechanism to resolve alot of the social and economical issue currently faced here. Plus its going to take the power out of the hands of the few and give it back to the people.

the Second type: The current situation in Jordan is heading for the better, just give it time and it will be better. The monarchy is a better system than the democracy and we must bond with whatever makes us Jordanian, and put Jordan as the first priority on our agenda!
(Oh) and if we adopt democracy the people that will be in power will not have Jordan's interest in their hearts and will ruin the country.

The Third and Final Type: Currently things are not all that great, but if the opposition ever gets the chance to implement things their way, and the current system is disturbed the effects on the people will be devastating. This will reflect poorly on the people of this country. hence its better to maintain what we currently have rather than abolishing it completely and starting anew.

From what I see is the following; the current situation in Jordan is on a critical point.

• The current over-population of the capitol
• The sudden spike of multi ethnicity
• the disparity of classes increasing
• the stupendous amount of foreign investments and acquisitions
• the erosion of complacency among the population
• The inflation of the economy

All these factors contribute to social unrest if left to their own course. Jordan for the past 30 years has been balanced delicately in its social interaction.


Palestinians learned their boundaries quite harshly, while the Jordanian grew cautious and were consumed in their pride.
That all changed 17 years ago, when the second gulf war started, it was the wave of immigrants from Kuwait and Iraq that disturbed the balance.
This came at a point when Jordan was still dizzy from the effect of the 1989 collapse. So when They cam & stimulated the economy, and due to the emotional connection we felt to the cause we embraced, and welcomed the extra fabric to our society.

Though the side effect has been enormous, our culture got exposed to many things that we were not accustomed to, and it invoked the Palestinian/Jordanian issue but on a triad rather than it being bi-polar.
It also was the first societal interaction we had with a different ethnic group to than the Levant.
Now adays we are faced with an ever stronger influx of Iraqis which is putting alot of pressure points on our social structure.

The people have always been used to use old wisdom to figure out the origin of the person, so to an external observer we were indistinguishable.


Currently although we got used to the segregation of tasks & roles it is becoming very challenging to maintain that. With the Iraqis having been part of our society for over seventeen years by now. I think it is very naive of us to keep ignoring their existence as a part of the community.

The current system has been able to maintain stability through out this period, due to careful positioning of international standing, international aid, local development, and reform prospects(or i should say "the ever elusive carrot technique").
What is putting more pressure on the people now is the inflation that is denting their routine. the people got used to getting by on day to day bases and making ends meet that they didn't have time to worry about social issues. Now that their routine life has been challenged they are getting irked to find a way out.

As it stands, The majority of the Jordanian population is of Palestinian origin(about 70% I believe) that includes the one that claim that they are Jordanian since they migrated here before the Nakse7 (that is 1948) and e.g for this is the city of Al - Salt. The current benefactors of the system are predominately of aboriginal Jordanian origins .
The poverty lines are also skewed, the major poverty areas are to the eastern and northern parts of Jordan (which is a predominately of indigenous Jordanian population)

If a major flip of scales occurs, it is only natural for the majority to obtain more rights and for the system's benefits be distributed equally among the populace.
That will not suite the current Jordanian mentality, since it is considered their birth right to have that privilege and its not the right for the guests(which the Palestinian are still considered as, and add to that the Iraqis now) to abuse their hospitality, so they will decide to react to it.

It is inevitable that it boil down to violence in this stage, the military is loyal to the status-quo, the gun ownership ratios are very skewed. All it would take is a single bullet to reestablish martial law which has been relaxed only in the past few years (less than a decade).
In this mix, I believe our currently considerable Iraqi population will benefit from fueling both sides, and then giving allegiance to the winner. which will only prolong the process.

a few final notes, politics requires actual experience. With that i don't mean the counter punch experience of the arab's opposition, I mean actually experience in foreign affairs and political involvement on a national/international level. So our political movement in Jordan is nothing more than a 2-D carton model that will be decimated under pressure. They have not delegated on behalf of people, they are just representative of their support. So they will unable to plan a longterm vision, and be able to achieve.
Most important for a sudden switch is an icon or Hero of the revolution, Che Guevara, Abdullah I, George Washington & the founding fathers, Ghandi, Lennin, Nasser, Chavez PBUH Mohammed. A person that is able to unite the masses regardless for a cause regardless of their differences. After all this time in complacency am sorry to say that the population is spineless and unable to produce anyone of such caliber. Every herd need a shepherd, a revolution without a leader is just a bunch of sheep up for mischief.

This is the projection for a sudden shift in power. Some say this is the way to go, and the only way to establish democracy, well if the interest of the poor is the reason you advocate this style then democracy will literally reduce them to slave workers, since all democracies adopt a capitalistic system. Which is closer to a tape worm than a symbiote. it will absorb everything available to grow, while making its host (the population in this case) weaker.


It is running late now, please bear with me here since i will also discuss the other 2 sides and how i view them, so please if ur gonna flame me and its regarding the other 2 wait till i talk about them tom :D

Samui ---- Utsukushii no Yuki

I like the weather today !
It is snowy and am warm, the only down side is am still at work
but the snow is so nice, been a while since we had white snow instead of slushy filth :P

Oh well there better be some interesting topics to come across today since work will be slow.


Let me leave !

Well weekend is ruined SO .....


Hope you ENJOY the Day

Ps. if ur wondering what it means, the title that is.. "Cold --- beautiful Snow"

Bloody Fastlink ..... That is the last straw

Yesterday I receive a message from Fastlink telling me they are deducting 1 JD from my account as an education tax, never mind that i can't find the connection between the two, and that they valued my line for 15 JDs. I Flipped, what kind stupid ass tax is that !
Now i heard that this was on the table for the best part of last year, and the verdict was that fast link was not willing to enforce this tax and the collection fee will not justify the cost.
That makes me wonder, what made Fastlink change its mind and enforce it, cause reality states that if they were against it, they are the market holders, it will not be enforced. Since the license doesn't state such a tax it can't be forced unilaterally, and also its not exactly a tax more like a TV tariff.

So now essentially for letting another tax be enforced in Jordan, yeah we are being taxed close to what Canada taxes without the benefits, being a huge rip off when i go romming, and not answering my call center calls (they placed every prepaid card on a longer queue) my phone line is going to be fastlink no more.

BOYCOTT THE EVIL TYRANT .... Fastlink

ps. all what i said is what i think happened if some one got some concrete info please let me know
pps. i think am gonna hang a banner for that, just like world peace or end hunger kinda thing :P

Homecoming - Delayed

Well I made it back to Jordan, and just got nailed by so many tasks that were due in the past week that I couldn't breathe. Also getting down with a cold didn't help.
So this is my Homecoming post a week delayed.

Coming back from Bahrain I had to draw comparison with Jordan, so here it goes.
Bare in mind that this is the first time that I been to an Arabic country with a non-tourist intent so my Point of View (PV) was drastically different.
Bahrain was actually a pleasant surprise, when i went there i expected the normal khaliji attitude which utterly disgusts me (offense intended in hope of them noticing). I knew its a small place so i expected to be bored off my wits, and with all that Shiite Sunni crap i expected some tension (come on my name is enough for me to expect that).

I was proved wrong on all those, Bahrainis are definitely the most pleasant people of the gulf that i interacted with, they are peaceful. regardless of what they would think of you they will give you your space, they don't have the same arrogance of other people in the gulf. For the most part they want to live and let live.
The amount of diversity that is tolerated there is astounding, you have a lively american, english, phillipino, thai, and indian crowd. plus the normal amalgam of arabic nations the palestinian the lebanese, some syrians, bahrainis, Saudi's (mostly on weekends to get trashed and watch movies) some kuwietis, and even persians (according to one of them their sin is being narcistic and I would have to agree).
all those people seem to be living on their own, though its a small country they still managed to divide the pie nicely.
While in Jordan that seems so hard, or maybe am drawing my conclusions too hastily since the majority in Bahrain don't quite like the ruling minority, although it being known to be more liberal than other countries around new movements in the parliament are trying to change that too.

One thing i noticed is that some areas will be too loud to raise kids and have family, but on the other hand for single expats like me those places were a blast to live it (Juffeir is kinda of a middle ground, Seef was certainly a blast, and some of the older neighborhoods, Adliya comes to mind, is pretty nice too). The nightlife is varied and fun, alot of scenes to check out. A healthy live band scene, nice wine and dine places, and very fresh cultural scene too.
what i think is different than jordan is the fact that to me much of the scenes here are either prothsetic (cultural, night) or stale (wine and dine, cafe's). the people that hit those places are mostly too dimensional to keep anything for chance on any given night, every night you'll hang out with the same crowd and end up talking about the same thing or hear others talking about the same thing. THAT LEAVES ALOT TO BE DESIRED WHEN GOING OUT IN JORDAN.

I was flabbergasted by the way people drive there, they recognize lanes, they use signals, you won't hear a horn for days, the roads are comfortable to drive on even when you are drunk, and best of all you don't see many cops around.

So in my conclusion if you had to stay for a couple of years in a country and the choice was between jordan and bahrain i think bahrain would be a much more satisfying experience.

Did mention that the people there are friendly, they smile, and in a good mood in general.