April 2008

South Park is super hilarious. The show just keeps getting better and better, poking fun in a very blunt way at everyone and anyone - Catholics, environmentalists, Al Gore, Muslims, Paris Hilton, Jews, gays, Africans and even Michael Jackson. I especially almost died with laughter when I watched that episode which caused a big stir about people who annoy you: N _ ggers.

Yeah, the blank is an ‘a’, not an ‘i’ just in case you might be confused. If you thought it was an ‘i’, you owe Jesse Jackson a major apology!

Have you seen the episode with Baher Hakeem, the new Muslim kid in school who got suspected of being a terrorist only later to have it emerge that instead of him, Russians were planning a terrorist attack during a Hillary Clinton campaign rally by hiding an explosive nuclear device in her you know… ehm?

Wonderfully blunt and funny!

The amount of political incorrectness the show’s creator’s get away with is staggering. Indeed, South Park’s satire is very daring.

If you don’t watch the show, you might want to check it out. Although I wouldn’t recommend a South Park DVD as a Christmas present for your six year old child or nephew, unless of course you want all kinds of profanities uttered in your face.

Saudi blogger Fuad alFarhan has finally been released after spending 137 days in jail for simply speaking his mind politely and eloquently. Meanwhile, the Saudi government has no problem whatsoever allowing the shouts and rants of many preachers of death.

Lovely!

And now for the bad news, Andrew Mwenda, a fearless and inspiring Ugandan journalist I have great respect for, was jailed recently by the Ugandan government. He’s now out on bond but is still facing considerable danger. Please spread the word!

I’ve just started what’s set to be the most merciless killer two weeks of this semester so I’m going to be really busy and posting will be very light for the next 14 days. I’m not complaining though. The finish line is getting closer and closer and I couldn’t be more excited. Please don’t go anywhere. I’ll be back in full force and in case I haven’t mentioned it, look out for some big surprises in July! Do you smelllll what the Drima is cooking?

UPDATE: Okay, so there were about 10 people in my group. After a whole year of work, it was time to present the year-long project. The external examiner was some British dude who is supposedly a big shot in the field I majored in.

Presentation time? 20 minutes. Q&A? 10 minutes. The examiner was brutal. He banged each presenter with question after difficult question. He scrutinized everyone’s work… except mine. Q&A for me? Zero minutes! All he did was commend what he referred to as “excellent work.” I kicked ass so nicely, I was almost jumping with joy. Yaaay!

So yeah, tests, projects and most importantly my presentation all went well. That’s the good news. Bad news is, I still have another important week to go and the internet connection is pretty screwed again in the hostels.

Anyways, time for me to stop bragging and get back to work.

P.S.: Since yesterday the connection was down and I wanted to take a break, I ended up continuing my work on a 12 pages sneak-preview of my upcoming book which means you’ll get to know more details about what I’m working on as soon as the e-book is ready for release.

Nancy Ajaj is a Sudanese singer who has become very famous in recent years. Her voice can be seriously annoying sometimes when she maintains the same high pitch without enough variation but overall, I think she’s adorable and love what she has to offer.

Sudanese conservatives loathe her of course. Let them enjoy doing so as much as they want, just as long as they don’t try to harass her and shut her up.

Enjoy the first two minutes of this clip.

Nicely done Andrew.

Have a close look at Sudan’s snappy new slogan for its upcoming population and housing census.

So it’s a verb as well. Who knew?

LOL!

Irshad Manji has a solid point.

President Bush, are you reading?

It’s time to light up your bongs.

Kidding.

These two videos (part 1 and part 2) are as alarming as much as they are intriguing.

I wouldn’t want to be their neighbor because they remind me of my old Afghani one years ago who used to shout at me and my friends for strumming our oh, so very EVIL Devilish guitars at the nearby playground.

“This is haram! You take my blessings! Go away! You take my blessings!”

So the population of ultra-Orthodox Jews is growing huh? That’s not very comforting now is it? Ideally I would like something in the middle but given the two only available options in this short documentary, I’d pick the secular Israelis on any given day. Ultra-Orthodox Jews? No thanks, that’s just too much religiosity for me to handle.

… is based on well-meaning intentions but is ultimately flawed thanks to the “super religious, no-comprise” mindset of the people he wants to talk to. I emphasize the “well-meaning intentions” part because Jimmy’s characterization as someone evil and anti-Semitic is something I disagree with. I understand that the title of his notorious book is provocative but that doesn’t mean he is what he’s accused of. After all, it was Carter who negotiated the peace deal between Egypt and Israel.

Given the ineffective strategy being employed now by the United States, a better one is needed, because thanks to it, support for Hamas has increased and too many Palestinians suffered needlessly. This, after the Bush administration hastily pushed for Palestinian elections of course. Simply put, the current approach sucks.

I don’t think Carter gets that Hamas - like al-Qaeda - isn’t a typical rational enemy. They’re religious right-wing radicals hellbent on regaining back what they perceive to be “the land of Islam.” This is why I doubt Hamas can ever agree to a true and long-lasting peace. But hey, I give Jimmy credit for at least trying. Plus, you never know. He might actually be able to convince Hamas to release Gilad Shalit:

According to Carter, peace cannot be achieved without talking to all the relevant people, and he will use the meeting to promote efforts to release Gilad Shalit and to uncover the fate of soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser. Carter told Haaretz Sunday in an exclusive interview that he intends to check Meshal’s willingness to accept the Arab League peace initiative. Carter says that acceptance of this plan by Hamas would be a very positive step.

So yeah, I don’t think Jimmy’s naked and very public visit is necessarily the “big blasphemy” it’s advertised to seem. I believe the dude is strongly driven by a genuine desire to help negotiate a peace deal and I respect him for that even though I doubt the possibility of him actually achieving it.

Dear Jimmy,

Hamas isn’t Sadat or King Hussein.

I’ve been following the ongoing negotiations between Khartoum and the US envoy to Sudan closely. Can you blame me? Normalizing ties would be a huge positive and mutually-beneficial step.

I’m glad America has the right conditions in place.

April 14, 2008 (KHARTOUM) — The US special envoy for Sudan is expected to hold a meeting with a Sudanese delegation in Roma Italy on Wednesday to discuss the deployment of Darfur peacekeeping force and the bilateral relations.

… The US Administration wants Sudan to remove obstacles to the deployment of a U.N.-led peacekeeping force, stop violence against civilians in Darfur, and carry out the Comprehensive Peace Agreement between north and south Sudan, including elections in 2009, The Los Angels Times reported last month.

The U.S. offered to restore full diplomatic ties, lift sanctions and remove Khartoum from Washington’s list of state sponsors of terrorism, Williamson said.

What we’re seeing here is a typical “carrots and sticks” approach which rests the decision upon Khartoum’s shoulders. I doubt that’s enough to move the Sudanese regime although with the approaching possible election of a Donkey president, they know they need to fix things fast. Like I said:

… given that it’s the Democrats who’ve been calling for a withdrawal from Iraq and a forced military intervention in Darfur, I’m not exactly ready to comfortably embrace Obama just yet. Darfur needs a political solution. Going back to Clinton’s approach is the last thing Sudan needs. Bush’s is better although it lacks sufficient pressure now because al-Bashir’s regime is heavily cooperating with the CIA again in sharing highly valuable terrorism-related intelligence. Moreover, last year the CIA convened in Khartoum at a conference attended by more than 50 African intelligence agencies.

Carrots and sticks isn’t pressure. It’s a form of seduction. I think that’s the most the Bush administration will do since it would like the valuable intelligence on terrorism to continue flowing in from Khartoum.

I hope Khartoum finds what’s on the table seducing enough.

Meanwhile, I continue to keep track of the developments involving current efforts directed at Sudan by the US administration and the US presidential race.

From the non-stop way she’s been bashing Obama over his “bitter people remarks”, you’d think she’s not a Donkey. She’s basically doing McCain’s work at the expense of her own party’s unity.

On the bright side, if she gets the nomination, making the pick would be.

… needs to be declared!

Increasing obesity in U.S. requires new ambulance equipment

CONCORD, New Hampshire: Calls from obese patients had increased nearly 25 percent in recent years, and the Fire Department could no longer handle them.

The department’s gurneys could not adequately support the patients’ weight, and the department had to pay a private ambulance company.

Last fall, the department bought three gurneys that can hold patients weighing up to 600 pounds, about twice the holding capacity of a regular stretcher.

Am I the only who finds this funny and sad at the same time?

On April 14th 2006, I took a step into this very unexpected presence of mine. The Sudanese Thinker was born and along with it, the start of what has so far been an amazingly blissful journey. I struggled a lot as I progressed through it, first with discarding faulty views I believed to be true and later with finding the right balance between idealism and realism.

Some of my old posts seem like things from a previous lifetime. I laugh and raise my eyebrows at a few of them now. It’s fascinating what two years of immersion in the New Global Social Construct can do to a learner and seeker of diverse perspectives. Indeed, we are what we read.

I’ve also made many friends directly and indirectly as a result of this blog. A tiny few of you, I’ve already met, and I have yet to meet many more. But that’s not all.

I found my voice.

If you can’t write, can’t express, then you can’t market, and if you can’t market then you’re doomed in the turbulent market place of ideas. Expressing one’s self and thoughts clearly, is a nice talent to develop. Writing the equivalence of a 7,00 pages book spread out almost everyday for a period of 24 months has taken my literary expression to a level greater than I could have ever wished for.

I wouldn’t have the confidence to write the book I’m working on now if it weren’t for so much blogging. It’s about my story as a blogger and the positive results of obsessively researching relevant topics I’m deeply interested in and passionate about, some of which I’ve only begun exploring early last year. They range from the sociology of knowledge, marketing and social media to social psychology, philosophy and Islam. More than anything, it’s going to be a work of advocacy, one encouraging blogging and liberalism.

I’ve never felt a conviction as strong as I do today. The wall has been broken, the big lies – sociopolitical and religious – exposed. I feel a sense of foundational peace. This extraordinary digital platform and highly social medium has played an undeniably significant role in the profound transformation I’ve been through. While I can be occasionally blunt and rantish, I’ve always done my best to remain open to the ideas of others as I simultaneously propagated mine.

Thank you all dear boys and girls all over the world for bothering to take a little time to read my thoughts. I am humbled by your support and readership. Without you, this place would be a wasteland and I would have never had any of the blessings I experienced. You kept me going. You kept coming back and so I kept blogging. You gave my words meaning. Thank you all so very much and sorry… sorry for not having the right words to express well enough how thankful I am to you.

Salam, Peace and Shalom! Happy 2nd Blog B’day!

By the time we finally departed I was already pissed off and so were the two hot Swedish chicks sitting right beside me. We waited for a whole freaking hour and got no apologies whatsoever. Okay fine, at least the driver kept the engine and air conditioning running as we sat still in the bus the whole time but so what? I was still mad.

Thing is, the girls and I were angry for two completely different reasons. While I was irritated about having to arrive at my destination late, the girls weren’t. In fact, they didn’t seem to mind at all. Guess what they rambled about?

“How can he put all that smoke in the air? He should have turned off the engine. Doesn’t he know anything about global warming?”

I burst out laughing.

Needless to say, they weren’t amused, so we talked. Long story short, they were fully on board the “man-made global warming is going to destroy us” bandwagon. It was also evident to them that I wasn’t.

That specific incident was my tipping point and I knew had to get deeper into this whole Al Gore induced phenomenon. I’ve never been the environmentally aware kind. Didn’t bother, didn’t care but with a growing number of people trying to get me to join the club, I tried to arrive at my own conclusions.

So, you’ve got “The Inconvenient Truth” Vs “The Great Swindle.” In other words, “Man is screwing up the climate” VS “it’s mostly just Mother Nature.” Or if you still want to rephrase it differently, “the Left” Vs “the Right.”

Now, I’m neither interested nor willing to invest time and effort delving into the many details involved . Not yet. Maybe never. What we should be focusing on are the fundamentals.

The fundamentals are easy to see if we just take a step back and zoom out. Why don’t we all just do that? The question of whether man-made global warming is myth or reality shouldn’t be focused on much because at the end of the day pollution is a fact. Deforestation is a fact. Oil spills are a fact. Given the exploding population of the planet, the immense importance of sustainable development is a fact. Claiming that ditching your huge ass SUV for a tiny Mini-Cooper instead results in fuel cost savings is a fact. Claiming that smokey buses cause climate change isn’t and receiving preachy lectures from two very self-righteous chicks about how turning off the bus’s engine helps the environment is downright annoying.

But that’s not all.

Frankly, the Al Gore type of evangelism makes me suspicious because it isn’t just about saving energy and all that stuff. Oh no. It’s also about extra taxes and increased government regulation, things I can’t happily swallow thanks to my libertarian leanings.

I’m all for solving problems if and when they exist but bigger government doesn’t really seem like a good answer to me. In this case, what would be better is methods like getting consumers to lobby corporations into becoming more socially responsible or else risk losing their market shares.

Basically, let the market forces settle it, but bigger government? Hmmm… no thanks.

Global warming or not, one thing is for sure. Going green has a good ROI. Now that I can certainly agree with. In fact, I like how Tim puts it. It’s so much better than what I had to endure from the two girls.