Iran, Why So Serious?

Iran's getting a little feisty. It's not really something new; they seem to enjoy unnerving the USA (and the rest of the world) randomly every now and then. Is this time a little more serious though?

If you're not keeping up with the news (and let's face it, most of the world seems to be involved in something else at the moment, whether it's Kim Kardashian's new TV show or trying to find a job in a still unrecovered global economy); due to their belief that Iran is producing nuclear weapons, the US wants to impose sanctions on Iranian crude oil, and stop anyone from around the world buying it. In simple layman terms, that means no massive global income for Iran.

Iran turns around and says, you want to screw me up the backside? Sure, impose those sanctions, and i'll block the Strait of Hormuz (the little bit of water in the gulf where all the UAE/Saudi/Kuwait/Bahrain/Qatar oil gets exported to the world). Essentially, that means blocking off 20% of the world's oil supply. Essentially, that means a pretty steep increase in global oil supplies. Essentially, that means re-triggering another global recession for a world that still hasn't recovered from the previous one yet.

There's a lot of other noise in the equation, from the Iranians capturing a supposed spy drone in their airspace last month, to capturing and sentencing an ex-marine US citizen to death over the past few days. Add to that the fact that the US, UK and allies aren't really jumping in joy about the thought of another recession, and have started deploying their troops to the region (everywhere from Israel, regional bases, and to the waters around the area), as well as sold the GCC a cool trillion dollars worth of Jet Fighters, and the equation doesn't sound too good.

Of course, for all we know, Iran could be playing psychological games. This isn't the first time they've threatened and raised the stakes to the point of explosion, just to turn around last minute and say "Helloooo guys juuuust kiddding!" (imagine a strong Iranian accent and it sounds more fun) and hug it all out. I'm pretty sure they know the US can't really afford to go to war right now (internally the country is kinda screwy, even US army/marine bases are suffering from budget cuts), so maybe they're just playing a high-stake game of chicken.

Either way, for the uninformed, this has been going on for the past two weeks, and troops on both sides have started deploying over the past couple of days in serious numbers. Let's hope Ahmedinejad is going to turn around and make an announcement with his big cheesy smile and say "Hey guys, we're just kidding, why so serious?"

Iranians. Funny people. (I hope).

The Posters.

Finally, the elections are over, and those darn awfully ugly posters are going down, thank god. But let's be be real for a second. Did you SEE half of those people out there asking for your voice? If their proposed policies are to be judged by these posters, then ill just have to say we're doomed. Let's take a look at some...


Ok so let's start with this guy. Seriously? Did you actually look at your poster before deciding it was a good idea to print hundreds of them and hang them all over the country? Was it difficult for you to smile? Actually wait cross that, a smile here might be even more frightening. I would be very wary about letting any children near this guy, let alone vote for him. Hmm. Ok next:


Modern day Romeo, I would say. I love how the photo has been given a pink purple background, and his sexy smile has been photoshopped with a bit of a glamourous blur, fade and glow, just to make him that more attractive. Methinks he's depending on the female votes. Not that his strategy seems to have worked... Alright, neeexxxttt...


I like how this guy has a ribbon wrapped around him. Yes, it is me, I am your parliamentary gift, vote for me. Love it. Err, no vote.


This guy is the best. He has a tiger in his poster. How many candidates do you know who have a bloody tiger? This guy must rock. Or not.


Another creative guy. This time, this dude decided to opt for a more realistic looking poster. Hey check me out, i'm walking down the street, i'm a real person, unlike those other candidates who post their photos on plain colored backgrounds. Yeh. Okay.


I found this one hilarious. Couldn't find any funds for bigger posters? Yeah i'll be sure to remember your name when it comes to election time. What was it again? Oh, I couldn't read it cuz it was too frickin tiny!


Her slogan is hand in hand for a better life. I must agree - it shows that her life can't really get much worse; she's not exactly smiling much here.

And just as a bonus, here's one of the candidates' tent.



These guys make it so hard to take voting seriously...

Let Me Speak

I haven't blogged in a while, and not planning on doing it for a while to come.. My "blogging" has shifted to mostly random babbling on twitter, and with decreased spans of attention in people, 140 characters seems about as long as you can keep a persons interested before they drift somewhere else (probably to a photo of a cute kitten or some random YouTube video of something being destroyed).

There are things that tick me off so much with this country, however, that the rage must come out. What is UP with Bahrain? Seriously? So much for a country all about promoting freedom of speech, right to say whatever you want, and so on. But no, after numerous arrests of reporters, the crackdown on websites (no, it's not just a porn crackdown, it's tons of political content too), shutting down a newspaper for a couple of days last year after an 'unpatriotic article', and so on, now they're trying to stick their hands into blackberry messenger groups.

There's been a group started a few months ago called خبر عاجل which translates into 'breaking news'. This basically gives you an update of all news that the newspapers are planning to print tomorrow, today, and also covers some fun stuff such as what movies were released in the cinema, etc. The service is free; as long as you have a blackberry, you can add the service and receive the news updates, wherever you are. This service was started by a single individual who wanted to provide a useful service to the country. He's not profiting from it, and all resources to broadcast the service are financed by him. Subscribers to the service reached approx 12,000 as of yesterday.

But yesterday, the service stopped.

What happened, we asked?

And we got the reply; apparently the Ministry of Culture has decided that this service never got official permission from them to broadcast the news messages, and can thus cause chaos and confusion.

Excuse me, what?

Why the hell does a broadcast message need to get official permission from you? I just sent out a dirty joke via BBM to about 100 people, wanna come and regulate that as well? What a way to say thank you to someone whose just trying to help, and the thing is, he was just sending out news which is meant to be published the next day through "official" publications anyway.

Seems our Ministry of Culture wants to control all messages being sent out via people to people. You will NEVER be able to control information; it goes through email, text messages, word of mouth, Facebook fanpages, twitter, and services you don't even know of let alone understand. It's news articles like this that just gives me a bitter after taste every time I remember the Bahrain National Action Charter:

Fourth - Freedom of expression and publishing

Every citizen shall have the right to express himself orally, in writing or in any other way of expression of personal opinion or creativity. Under this law, freedom of scientific research, publishing, press and printing are ensured within the scope specified by law.

And here's what actually happened:

In a statement carried by the Bahrain News Agency (BANA), Abdullah Yateem, assistant undersecretary for press and publication at the Ministry of Culture and Information, attributed the decision to the "chaos and confusion" of unauthorized news postings.

"In view of the impact that such news create among the public by causing chaos and confusion, especially since the source is individuals and agencies which have failed to obtain official permission by the ministry prior to engaging in such activities, we have summoned those individuals and will be taking legal action against the offenders who broke the regulations and laws," Yateem said.

Way to go Bahrain...

A Bahraini Romantic Comedy Crime Thriller

News in this region is generally more entertaining than informative, mainly because we have a ton of idiots living in this region. They are fun to read about, such as the below: I know we have a lot of desperate and bold people, but not like this lot.

First guy (let's call him Abood) has a BD500 phone bill, and doesn't have the cash to pay it. Instead of going out and getting a job like regular people, he decides there are tons of ways to make money on the internet.

He goes online and finds someone to chat with (let's call him Hamood). So Abood talks to Hamood and tells him he needs him to pay his bill, but the twist is, he actually tells Hamood he's a girl. And he's actually willing to send Hamood nude pix of her (him) if he does pay her (his) bill.

Hamood, being a total naive jackass, decides, yes, I can get nude pix just by paying someone's bill! Here the mistake is made because 1- there's a ton of free porn online and 2- for BD500 you can actually get a little more than a photo, and get it a few times over as well. Not that I endorse either.

Anyhow, now Abood thinks he's pretty clever right? Well, Hamood decides he's gonna be even cleverer, and instead of spending his own cash for a photo, he decides to steal a credit card from someone (let's call him Khalood), and use that to pay Abood's bill.

Now, here's where it backfires. Khalood discovers BD500 missing from his credit card, calls the cops, who see that card was used to pay a specific phone number. They look up the owner of the phone, and guess who they find? Abood! Now obviously the phone company has all of Aboods details, so they go to his house and arrest him.

Abood says he's not guilty, and tells them about Hamood. Now he doesn't really know anything about Hamood, so him, along with the cops, chat with Hamood and says that he wants to 'meet him' at a shady spot in Hamala, and also gets him arrested. Now they're both on trial... Here's how I feel about this whole situation:

No further comments. Here's the original article from the GDN.

Credit card fraud denied

AN alleged Internet scam in which one man posed as a woman to convince another to pay his phone bills has backfired - after his supposed target apparently used stolen credit card information to settle the balance.

Both appeared in the High Criminal Court yesterday where they denied charges of fraud and theft. The 21-year-old first defendant is said to have created an online persona called "Manal" before meeting the other man, 25, in an online chatroom.

Prosecutors claim he offered to show the second defendant pictures of "Manal's" body every time he paid the bill. However, police were called when the 25-year-old allegedly paid a BD500 bill with stolen credit card details that he took from a website.

Both are standing trial in the High Criminal Court, where they pleaded not guilty to fraud and theft. The Bahraini victim whose credit card was used to pay the bills was due to testify during yesterday's hearing, but failed to appear.

Judges issued a warrant ordering him to appear at the next hearing, which was set for February 23. Police first arrested the 21-year-old, who then led officers to the second defendant after arranging a meeting near a restaurant in Hamala last April.

Lol. Just, Lol.

Apple Tablet - First Image (Before the Announcement)

Yes, we're hours away from the big announcement that has supposedly been a huge secret with rumors flying everywhere, has techie geeks wetting their beds, driving people nuts trying to figure out what it is and what it looks like, etc..

But here, we have the first official look at the first Apple Tablet image, ready?


....



.........




...............

According to what we've heard, this tablet looks sleeker and nicer than other tablets and comes in minimal stylish compact packaging, and costs about 3 times as much, and does pretty much the same any other tablet does.

No seriously though, so this Apple Tablet is supposedly the Amazon Kindle's competition. In other words, it's a big E-Book, where you can download novels, books, etc. Might help getting people back into reading because it's "cool".

Lets see.. A few more hours to go!


-----UPDATE-------

Okay, they've just made the announcement anddddd...


It's called the iPad!

Crap, what a rubbish name! Here's what I think when I hear the word iPad:



But honestly, it's just a big iPhone, without the phone part. Dammit, I still want one though.

Worrying

The results of Iran's elections are out. It's Ahmedinejad again. By a landslide.

Whatever your thoughts of him are, this is a worrying situation. Not because of him actually staying in power and what decisions he will be making over the coming 4 years, but because of what the reaction to him coming to power will be.

In the few days/weeks leading up to the elections, i've seen the youth of Iran take to the streets and show their support for Mir-Hossein Mousavi, and hold up and chant slogans backing him.


Ahmadi hasn't really done much against the youth, but his mis-handling of the economical situation in Iran has managed to push up inflation, and cause hell for a large majority of families who live on an average monthly income of about $600.

More than two thirds of Iran's population are under 30. Many of them were set to be rooting for Mousavi. This election, more than any other, was expected to have a huge turnout of youth.


But now the results are out; Ahmadi has won by 62%, and Mousavi with a total vote of 33%. Now pardon my intelligence for a minute but with what's been going on over the past few weeks, that figure looks off. Totally off. So off, infact, that i'm getting flashbacks of when Saddam Hussein ran for elections and got 100%.

My worry is not that Ahmadi is president again. My worry is that in the coming few days/weeks, Iran is going to be on FIRE. Rigged or not, the elections still look rigged, and that's more than enough reason for people to retaliate; updated as I type, just read news on serious unrest starting out in a number of areas around Tehran.

This can't be good.

Can't escape Death

Sometimes, the ideas that come up in movies are pretty freaky. Whether were looking at alien invasions, horror stories about the supernatural, religious happenings with disastrous epic results, these sort of things are too twisted to actually resemble any sort of truth.

Or are they?

Imagine if the ideas coming out of a directors mind actually came to reality? Or maybe if they actually were based on some sort of reality, but unbelievable enough that the movie is categorized under 'fiction'?

Final Destination came out a bunch of years ago, with a basic premise as the theme; if you're meant to die at a specific moment in time, and then you somehow manage to escape death at that moment (due to some sort of unnatural interference), death will hunt you down and kill you, probably very violently.


Sounds like a load of crap right? Well, apparently a woman who was lucky enough to miss Air France Flight 447 (if you haven't kept up with the news, it's a plane that took off and disappeared off the radar.. They later figured it crashed and killed everyone on it.), had death on her tail. A week later, a freak car accident where her car swerved off the road into the path of an incoming truck ended up killing her, and badly injuring her husband.

Totally freaky. Now let's keep an eye out on the rest of the people who ended up missing that flight.

Link to Article

(Disclaimer; ammaro has a pretty large imagination and has nothing else to write about. Deal with it)

Hiding in the Shadows

Manama, 2012;

He ran quickly around the corner and rushed to hide in the shadows of a dark alley, just off the main road. The two policemen who had attempted to arrest him missed this, and kept running past into the night. He breathed a sigh of relief; this was a close one.

Just over an hour ago, he got an anonymous call asking to buy 2 kilos of his prime product. 2 full kilos. A good deal if there ever was one, but he should have been suspicious. The product he sold was pretty rare nowadays, and unfortunately with the recent police clampdown, buyers were hard to find. When a big opportunity strikes, however, the mind lays low.

The man on the other side of the phone spoke slowly, in a calm, deep voice;

"I need two kilos of your best stuff. I'll meet you in the alley next to Bab Al Bahrain in 45 minutes, just past midnight."
"Two kilos?"
"That's what I said."
"Okay, i'll be there"
"Click...."

He should have been suspicious. A while later he drove up past Bab Al Bahrain, parked his car away from the scene, and moved in the shadows. He carried two kilos with him; not exactly an amount of product you can carry discreetly, but he tried. He had wrapped the product in black plastic bags and newspapers, and dumped the whole thing into two large Geant shopping bags.

He walked in the shadows till he reached the meeting point, and there he glanced someone waiting in the dark. He walked closer, but was commanded to stop;

"Don't come any closer. Do you have it with you?"
"Yes. Two kilos worth."
"Let me see it."

He looked around to make sure no one was in the vicinity, and started to unwrap one of the packages; as he opened it up, he could smell its scent fill the area. The anonymous buyer stood in the shadows watching.

"How much.."
"Three hundred and fifty."

He had actually pushed his price up a little; mainly because of the rarity of his product, but also because the situation was a little shadier than usual, and he didn't even know this customer.

"Okay,"

said the voice in the shadows as he reached for the money from his pocket. But it wasn't money that he pulled out.

In a split second, the quiet midnight streets of the Souq were filled with screams on a two-way radio to capture the dealer, the screech of tires and wail of a police-car siren coming out from it's hideout, and the sounds of policemen running towards him with their batons.

His mind worked quickly. He had to leave his product behind; two kilos would only slow him down, so he turned around and jetted off into the shadows. He knew the back alleys of this area better than anyone else, growing up in the neighborhood as a child. He knew every corner and every turn, and banked on his childhood memory to save him from a lengthy jail sentence.

His memory served him well; as he heard the police footsteps running closer, he ran quickly around the corner and rushed to hide in the shadows of a dark alley, just off the main road. The two policemen who had attempted to arrest him missed this, and kept running past into the night. He breathed a sigh of relief; this was a close one.

Meanwhile, back at the sting scene, the police picked up the two kilos of pork to take in as evidence.

"Wow.. Have you ever seen this much pork in your life?"
"Damn pork dealers..."

----------------------------

MPs call for ban on pork
9 February 2009

EIGHT MPs are recommending two-month jail terms or fines of BD300, or both, for anyone in Bahrain who imports, sells or simply possesses pork.They are all members of the Al Asala bloc, which has already drafted amendments to Bahrain's Penal Code that would outlaw pork.

Now I gotta say guys, the scene with our friendly pork dealer above isn't as close as you might think to being fiction. I don't eat pork, and in reality the law wouldn't affect me personally in the least. However, it does affect freedoms in this country, which our MPs seem to think should be made as rare as pork in the above story. Last week, they tried to outlaw alcohol on Gulf Air flights (a frickin' international airline, for God's sake), and then tried to ban alcohol from everywhere in Bahrain. Again, doesn't affect me personally, but it's going to affect everything from tourism, to businesses, to restaurants, to the lot. Just because you're a religion freak with a Made-in-Taiwan Halo over your head doesn't mean you should play god. Banning something doesn't make people more religious; it makes them retaliate more. Pork isn't exactly available everywhere in Bahrain; just a few specific supermarkets, and a limited number of restaurants.

Oh, and this may shock you MP's, but the people who usually purchase pork AREN'T USUALLY MUSLIM. And even if they were, it's their goddamn choice whether they want to follow the religion, not yours. So get off our backs and start coming up with some resolutions that will actually benefit the country, like creating more jobs, help diversify the economy, and... Oh wait, I forgot, half of you guys don't have more than a school degree and have no idea what i'm talking about.

Bummer.

Vote ammaro for the next election.

Can't Hold Us Down

(following from my last post...)

The Ministry of Information has went from being a minor pain in the ass to just totally infuriatingly outrageous. Besides blocking politically affiliated sites, they've blocked proxy sites, translation services, art & culture websites, archives, and much more.

MINISTRY; HERE'S A SPECIAL MESSAGE FOR YOU. YOU CAN BLOCK A DOOR, YOU CAN BLOCK TWO, BUT YOU'LL NEVER BE ABLE TO CENSOR THE INTERNET, WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT. THERE ARE A MILLION AND ONE WAYS TO GET AROUND YOUR BLOCKADES, AND YOU'LL NEVER KEEP UP WITH THEM. GET WITH THE PROGRAM.

Besides the numerous politically affiliated websites, proxy sites, as well as adult and gambling websites, there is a number of ridiculous bans we don't understand (Why?!?!?!?)

www.DeviantART.com (Art/Culture website)
www.Demonoid.com (Private torrent tracker)
www.askmen.com (Online Men's publication)
www.google.com/translate (Online translator)
www.allposters.com (posters site. WTF?)
www.4chan.org (imageboard service)


Want to read more about this? Here's a list of bloggers/newspaper articles dealing with the blockade.

English:
Yacoubs Dome
S as in Saudi
Silly Bahraini Girl
Gulf Daily News #1
Gulf Daily News #2
Another Day
Eyad
RedBelt
Al Singace
Ali Abdulemam

Arabic:
Suad
Marhoons
Ali7
Khalid Bahrain
Hayat

FaceBook Groups:
Article 19 of Decree Law 47!! :S
The website Ban in Bahrain is BULLSHIT
You may take our porn... But You will Never... Take... OUR FREEDOM!
The Ministry of Culture/Info Should Stop Blocking Websites

And i'm pretty sure there are a lot more out there. If you know any, add them in the comments below and i'll update the list. We won't stop till these stone-age minded big brother tactics are lifted.

Country of Disinformation

The Ministry of Information in Bahrain has never really done much of a great job; their role in the country is quite varied, dealing with the running of the Bahrain TV channels (which are still stuck in the 80's), the Bahrain radio stations (which usually feel more like amateur efforts than serious radio stations), to having a hand in everything that the has to do with the media, from magazines, newspapers, films, and the internet.

Being the Ministry of "Information", you would expect them to be knowledgeable about most things, especially those that they deal with.

Unfortunately, that isn't true.

A little over a week ago, the Ministry decided to come up with a directive for all internet providers in the country to block a number of websites (somewhere between 20-30 sites; i'm not sure of the exact number). These included a number of forums, blogs, and information websites, mainly because of their political content. Of course, even when a website is blocked, users can access it through anonymous browsing/proxy services. So oops, let's block those too. Oh and guess what, you can also enter any website address into Google Translate, and get a translated version of that page, bypassing any blocked content. So guess what? That gets blocked too.

Okay; so the Ministry want to block certain information from coming in. Last time I checked, we were living in the Information Age. Not the Industrial Age, not the Nuclear Age, not the sticks and stones age. THE INFORMATION AGE. Information will get through, whether you like it or not; if you block a website, there's a proxy. If you block a proxy, there's a million more proxies that are available. If you block every single one of those, there are services like Google Translate that will bypass the blocked sites. If you block those, there are a million other ways to get past blocked information; through blogs, through email, through new forums, through Facebook, through messages, through pure old photocopied papers, through SMS messages, through phone calls, through satellite TV channels, through gatherings in someones house, in a coffee shop,
etc...
etc..
etc.

There is no such thing as a complete block for information nowadays, and especially when it concerns the internet. Information is not a one way street, you can't block it and expect that people will give up and go to sleep. Nowadays, there is ALWAYS a way around it.

I'm really not for or against what is being blocked; I honestly couldn't care less about different peoples' political agendas. What I completely and 100% oppose is the restrictions of free speech, of which a law has recently been granted in Bahrain. And even then, this isn't what i'm here to talk about; my point is that you cant block the internet. But let's leave this on the side for now and go back to what's being blocked.

Google Translate?

ARE YOU FRICKIN' KIDDING ME?! This is probably one of the most useful tools on the internet today, giving us access to knowledge and information from all over the World! It gives us a chance to communicate with people from other parts of the globe, do commerce with people from other countries whose language we can't speak, and opens up a multitude of opportunities.

But nooooo... MOI decides it has to be blocked because you can bypass their blocked sites with it, which tells you one thing; it doesn't really bother them how many benefits something has, as long as it sparks one negative issue for them. This means there's no real limit to what they can block. What's next, Gmail? Hotmail? Facebook? MSN Messenger?

There are still a million other ways around the blocks, which renders their whole effort useless, just makes us more mad, and brings down the levels of freedom in this country. From the actions of the past few days, it's not really far-fetched that someone from the Ministry of Interior comes across my website, sees how i've put-down their whole blocking charade, and decide that ammaro.com needs to go too. (Speaking of which, if they do block my site, my posts are distributed by email, they're on feedburner, they're on BahrainBlogs, they're on Facebook, they're everywhere. Don't worry, you can still get your regular dosage of ammaroness; your world will not end.)

Just today I got a message; it seems they decided to start blocking anything with porn in it, as well as online gambling sites. Now that's just stupid; porn is everywhere, from downloading it on peer-to-peer networks, getting it through email, as well as satellite channels which every household has nowadays. And gambling? Well you could start by stopping that BD50 win-a-car lottery thing in the airport Duty Free, because if that isn't gambling, I don't know what is.

Ministry of Information; PLEASE WAKE UP.

(PS. Just to give you a sample of how BAD a job they're doing, even with trying to block sites, check this out:

Try going to http://google.com/translate, and you'll get a blocked site notice.

Want to bypass it? Then just go to http://translate.google.com/. Apparently their Head Blocker Engineer (blockhead?) doesn't realize that there are different forms of domain name that can lead you to the same website. Duh.)

Arab Unity

The two day joke of a summit is over. Apparently set up as the first Arab Economic Summit, the main topic of discussion was, as expected, the situation in Gaza.

We keep talking about Arab Unity, but is there really such a thing? Considering there are totally opposing positions from different countries, mainly pushed forward by Saudi and Egypt, who are looking for a peaceful solution with Israel, to Syria and Qatar who totally oppose any form of peace with them, there was no apparent agreement in sight. So what is the result of two days of full discussions between 23 Arab countries?

About zilch.

Saudi Arabia pledged 1 billion dollars of aid (actually according to the Saudi King, it was 1000 million, hehe) to help reconstruct Gaza, which just goes to show that they're willing to drop money in, without actually directly helping the situation; just passive donations. The other countries also hinted at giving money to Gaza, but no one really came up with a direct figure. By the end of the summit, there was no specific fund set up..

In terms of actual economic issues; an Arab Development Fund was announced to help develop initiatives in the region, a push for a customs union by 2015 and a common Arab market by 2020, a call for a program to reduce Arab poverty, and improving water security. Mostly talk, calling for resolutions and so, with nothing really fixed being set.

Oh, and the divisions over the Gaza situation came up again and again keeping things tense.

Meanwhile, in another part of the World, a new president took up his position, and called on his people to unite and work together in pushing their nation forward, to the cheers of millions. Total contrast.

Arab unity; sure.

Bailing out the Porn

10 days into 2009, and it already looks like this is going to be a great year; more financial world rubbish to deal with, more war in the Middle East, global recession, and porn industry bailouts.

What?

Okay so the American Government has been running around bailing out banks, car companies, and so on. Fix the economy, right? Stop things from crashing, right?

Well apparently all sorts of companies have been rushing to the White House to ask for bailouts, including the lovely adult entertainment industry. Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis said Wednesday they will request that Congress allocate $5 billion for a bailout of the industry. Let's look at some quotes:

"The US government should actively support the adult industry's survival and growth, just as it feels the need to support any other industry cherished by the American people"

"The take here is that everyone and their mother want to be bailed out from the banks to the big three. The porn industry has been hurt by the downturn like everyone else and they are going to ask for the $5 billion"

A few things come to mind here.. First, would the adult industry be one the American Government considers for a bailout? Sure, they're a big driver in the US market; they provide jobs for film-makers, editors, actors. They move the sales of filming equipment, filming location rentals, printing-presses, web hosting space, etc. They are a real business after all.

But is it a real concern of the American Government? Perhaps it would be better to let the porn industry die? Achieve a moral objective and at the same time, save some of the country's budget (deficit?) for something else?

So let's dismiss the whole request as a ridiculous one.

Or is it?

Perhaps Larry Flint and Joe Francis KNOW that there's no chance their request would be approved; five billion dollars is quite a bit of money, a little more than the bailout loan for Chrysler. Maybe they know how ridiculous a bailout request from the adult industry sounds. Maybe they weren't actually looking for the money.

Maybe they were trying to make a point?

Stop bailing out companies that can't do business properly. Stop bailing out companies that shouldn't be bailed out. You've bailed out the crooked banks and financial institutions that have pushed peoples finances and caused them to lose their houses, cars, etc. You're bailing out auto companies that consistently performed worse and worse year after year. You're continuing to spend taxpayer money to help companies that didn't do well; it's like giving a bad kid a slap on the wrist and telling him to go back out and play.

The Federal Government has probably set a bad precedent for bailing everyone and their momma out, and it's just like putting a bandage on a broken arm. Maybe it's time to sit back and let more companies fail; in the short run, it's not the greatest thing that could happen, jobs would be lost, money would be spent, etc. But over the long run, maybe that's the way to go. If they need a bit of a jump start, by all means, go ahead, but trillion dollar bailouts in the current conditions is just out of line.

Let the failures fail.


(Thanks to Ali GM for sending me this article. Just for the record, Ali GM has nothing to do with the auto giant, currently also asking for a bailout)

Porn industry seeks federal bailout
7 January 2009

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Another major American industry is asking for assistance as the global financial crisis continues: Hustler publisher Larry Flynt and Girls Gone Wild CEO Joe Francis said Wednesday they will request that Congress allocate $5 billion for a bailout of the adult entertainment industry.

“The take here is that everyone and their mother want to be bailed out from the banks to the big three,” said Owen Moogan, spokesman for Larry Flynt. “The porn industry has been hurt by the downturn like everyone else and they are going to ask for the $5 billion. Is it the most serious thing in the world? Is it going to make the lives of Americans better if it happens? It is not for them to determine.”

Francis said in a statement that “the US government should actively support the adult industry's survival and growth, just as it feels the need to support any other industry cherished by the American people."

“We should be delivering [the request] by the end of today to our congressmen and [Secretary of the Treasury Henry] Paulson asking for this $5 billion dollar bailout,” he told CNN Wednesday.

Flynt and Francis concede the industry itself is in no financial danger — DVD sales have slipped over the past year, but Web traffic has continued to grow.

But the industry leaders said the issue is a nation in need. "People are too depressed to be sexually active," Flynt said in the statement. "This is very unhealthy as a nation. Americans can do without cars and such but they cannot do without sex."

"With all this economic misery and people losing all that money, sex is the farthest thing from their mind. It's time for congress to rejuvenate the sexual appetite of America. The only way they can do this is by supporting the adult industry and doing it quickly."

So far, there has been no congressional reaction to the request.

Original Article

Peace

Israeli forces launched a ground offensive against Hamas, which probably means a larger death toll over the next few days. I don't understand the way Hamas thinks. Sure, you have balls for fighting with the Israelis, but it's not getting you anywhere.

Past two weeks? Almost 500 Palestinians dead, over 2,300 injured, and water, food and electricity shortages for all of Gaza.

Israeli side? 4 dead.

It's a losing battle. In terms of war, Israel is like fire; throwing wood at it to try and beat it up will only make it stronger.

Think.

Think..

Disregarding the position of the remaining Arab states, who are useless when it comes to doing anything about the situation (besides denouncing the enemy and canceling new year parties in support), Hamas does not have the power to overcome, or even put a dent in Israel when it comes to military might. Why try? You're just sacrificing lives that aren't your own.

I don't have a solution to this, but I know that trying to go it against the Israelis isn't it, let alone trying to do it alone.


"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction"
--Albert Einstein--

Bahrain Falls to Demonic Plans

News-Flash: Bahrain has been taken over by the demonic plans of a number of vicious and immoral companies, headed by Playboy. The bunny logo has been spotted everywhere from supermarkets, to perfume and accessories shops, and it renders anyone staring at it for more than 2 seconds to be transformed into an immoral sin-making-machine.

People have been seen outside in the streets committing acts of adultery, as well as violence and theft. Rape and murder are on the increase, as Playboy and it's partners continue to place the logo in highly visible locations, entrancing it's victims to live an existence of sin.

Oh yeah; another strike by our lovely MP's; you know, those people voted in as part of the governments measures to fix the economical, societal and political issues that the country faces.

But what do they do? They object to having rabbit logos everywhere.


Yup, the infamous playboy bunny. Now we all know that Playboy publishes a well-known magazine, which breaches Islamic values, but apparently this is enough to ban the sales of everything bearing the company logo, whether it's perfume, accessories, or anything else, no matter how harmless these products are.

I don't think the MP's understand that this is a 'brand'. You know, like Coca Cola? McDonalds? Mercedes? Sony? It doesn't represent a specific image (especially not those from those magazine you hide under your bed, Mr. MP). It's just a bloody brand. Get over it; our youth won't get corrupted from seeing a cartoon image of a rabbit head everywhere.

I pray for you to be kind to the real rabbit's around the country, because the way this is going, we just might see rabbit hunts and cruelty towards them on the increase.

Call for 'Playboy' boycott
25 December 2008

A CALL to withdraw all Playboy products from Bahrain's market went out from an MP yesterday. The company produces a magazine that goes against Islamic values and must be banned from selling other products in Bahrain, said parliament's legislative and legal affairs committee vice-chairman Shaikh Jassim Al Saeedi.

He said that he was shocked to see that many products with Playboy's logo were being sold in the market.

Mr Al Saeedi is now urging the Industry and Commerce Ministry to carry out immediate inspections on shops and stores to remove the products.

"Playboy items are produced by the same US company, which produces the magazine famous for its indecency and immorality," said Mr Al Saeedi.

"There are a lot of Playboy products - ranging from perfumes, accessories, make-up items and women's clothes - being sold in our market, giving the message that we agree with what this company is doing.

"Who allowed those products to enter the market? How are they being marketed at shops and stores?

"What is Industry and Commerce Ministry doing to stop this market invasion?"

"People should also help us get these products removed from the market, in view of the harm this brand may cause to our Islamic society," said Mr Al Saeedi.

"The availability of those products in our markets is just the first of many steps to invade us morally and intellectually.

"There are other companies trying to do the same and they should be stopped too, before our society falls victim to their demonic plans."

Running Out of News

We all know the Gulf Daily News; my most favouritest bestest newspaper in the World, who love to turn the most un-newsworthy acts into huge issues:

Baby camel still missing after crash
MYSTERY surrounds the whereabouts of a baby camel, which fled after being involved in a road accident in which two people were injured. The accident happened near the Al Jazira Supermarket, Budaiya, when the camel reportedly fell off a pick-up truck, into the path of an oncoming car, on Saturday.

Oooooohhh... Mystery... How I love a good mystery...

It is understood the camel shattered the car windscreen, slightly injuring its Indian driver and a passenger. The camel was last seen running into bushes near Bushehri Gardens, but there has been no trace of it since.

It is understood? What the...? It's pretty obvious to tell if a windscreen has been shattered or not, what do you mean "it is understood"?! Did it take a bunch of intelligence agents researching hidden clues to figure that one out?

Traffic police called an ambulance and the injured car occupants were treated on the spot, but not taken to hospital.

If they were treated on the spot, I think that pretty much means they weren't taken to a hospital, no?

"We made sure the two men were treated but we are not aware of what happened to the camel," said a traffic official.

Of course you're not aware! It's because "Mystery" surrounds this whole case!

A witness, who was at a nearby cold store, said the camel fell off a pick-up but the vehicle did not stop.

No no no no NO! The guy was not a WITNESS. The word witness insinuates that there was some sort of crime, or some sort of exceptional occurrence. Seeing a camel falling off a vehicle that did not stop doesn't make you a "witness". It makes you a guy who saw a camel falling off a vehicle that did not stop.



Gulf Daily News; Adding Spice to your Every Day Life

Google = 10

It's the 7th of September, and the big G is now 10 years old. Hard to believe that back in 1998, the internet king didn't even exist, and finding stuff online wasn't really that simple. Sure, Yahoo was around, plus a number of other weirdly named search engines (Lycos, Altavista) that have since died out, but none have really done what this behemoth has managed to do.

Google's business-model managed to quickly grow the company from an above-average search engine, into a global corporation with a market-cap of $142 billion, generating over $16 billion in annual revenues. They've managed to buy numerous innovative start-ups (everything from YouTube, to Picasa, to the core engine of their Google Earth service), created their own widespread services like Gmail & Orkut, and are pushing the barrier with cloud-computing, their new internet browser (Chrome) and the soon to be released Google cellphone. Yup, they sure do seem to have everything.

Now for Google's humble beginning: two university students started up Google in a friend's garage, and in a few short months, boom! The idea was actually envisioned back in 1996 though, which is a little annoying because that was when I created my first website. Sadly enough, theirs has managed to make them billionaires, mine has not. (If you really want to take a look at my website, which I don't advise, you can check it out here. Good for a laugh).

Anyway, we have Google to thank for quite a bit of the innovation/streamlining of the internet, because honestly, back then it was a bit of a crappy place. Take a look at Google's original page, for example:

Yeah... That's pretty crappy looking alright, but that's actually pretty simple and innovative in comparison to whatever else was out there on the internet. Let's take a look at a global corporation like McDonalds, for example. They must have had something that looked good back then, no?


Err... No... And dammit, my eyes hurt!!! But if you think that's bad, you need to actually browse their site; check out the funny animated dude and the cheesy comments, the crappy drawings, and the supposedly different adult/kid links that both lead to the same place (click on the Mcdonalds page to go there).

It didn't stop there, here are just a few other websites that looked amazing back in the pre-Google days:

MSN (Yup, Microsoft!)

Lego, lovely.

Either way, let's just be glad that the internet isn't what it used to be back then, and thank you Google for being part of what makes it what it is today.

Congratulations to Google on your 10th.

(Written on Blogger, a Google service. Bloody hell, they do own everything, don't they!?)

Injured Ant

From todays' Gulf Daily News (Letters Section)

Poor thing..!

In response to E Sankar (GDN, August 28) regarding her poor sick pigeon, I would like to inform her that I too am in need of urgent help.

I stepped on an ant this morning and I think I broke its right toe. I gave it a drop of water but I think it needs urgent medical attention. Can someone please help? It is at present under my left yellow Adidas running shoes.

I sincerely think the above issue is of great importance; hence I am taking my time in sending this letter to the GDN.

Ateekster

Lovely. Nice to see people still have a sense of humor during the holy month.

On a totally different note, the new issue of HalaBahrain Magazine is out, covering things to do, places to go, events, entertainment and much more! Check it out, like, right now:

Think you got inflation issues?

Let's face it; we do have a problem in Bahrain with rising food prices. We do have a problem with rising land and property priced. We have a problem with a lot of things rising in prices, making life for your ordinary average person a little more difficult.

So what's causing it? Increased demand for food supply world-wide? Increased gas prices? An overheating economy? Dollar linked currency?

Well, whatever it is, it sure as hell doesn't compare to what's going on in Zimbabwe, so you can sit there and thank the lord that the cost of your bread has only gone up by like, 50 fils or whatever:

Zimbabwe inflation hits 11,200,000 percent

HARARE, Zimbabwe (CNN) -- Zimbabwe's inflation rate has soared in the past three months and is now at 11.2 million percent, the highest in the world, according to the country's Central Statistical Office.

Official figures dated Monday show inflation has surged from the rate of 2.2 million percent recorded in May, despite the government's price controls.

The country's finance minister confirmed the new figure in an interview but said the rising inflation rate was not confined to Zimbabwe alone.

"While our case has been aggravated by the illegal sanctions imposed by the Western powers, rising food prices are a world phenomenon because of the use of bio-fuel," said Samuel Mumbengegwi. "But we will continue to fight inflation by making sure that prices charged are realistic."

In February, the price of a loaf of bread in the country was less than 200,000 Zimbabwe dollars. On Monday, that same loaf of bread cost 1.6 trillion Zimbabwe dollars.

Analysts have said the Zimbabwean government's official inflation rate figures are conservative. Last week, one of Zimbabwe's leading banks, Kingdom Bank, said the country's inflation rate was now more than 20 million percent.

Source: CNN

That's pretty screwy. But hey, at least they can say everyone's a millionaire, no?

Current Regional/Local Headaches

1- Iran Missile Testing; So Iran decides to show it's muscle (missiles?) and launches a good nine last night, prompting shock and horror from the rest of the World. Iran claims no direct hostility, but that these tests are just a warning message to any potential attackers, and they have what it takes to stand up to anyone.

Ho hum. Meanwhile, we're sitting here sick of the wars in the region that won't stop. The US says military confrontation really is the last option on the table, but the way things are going, I doubt that's what they really mean.

One thing comes out of this though; if we do have a war, and Bahrain becomes a direct target of Irani missiles (since we have a beautiful US military base here), land prices will drop suddenly, and we'll all finally be able to afford houses and so on again (if you don't know already, land prices have escalated so ridiculously over the past few years that most locals can't even afford to buy their own property anymore), and owning a house with rockets flying overhead is always better than not owning one. So yeah, always look on the bright side of life.


2- 50 Dinars of Depression; Inflation in Bahrain has hit the roof, and our dear government has decided to put down a reasonable budget to help people combat the rise in prices. Our Parliament decides it would make a lot of sense to just give people the money in the form of an aid package, and so the past few months have been a cat & mouse game of trying to list down all the people who need the money, and to give it to them. You would think that with such a small population, this shouldn't be a problem, huh?

Nope. Yesterday, hundreds of people protested outside the Ministry of Social Development, against not having their names on the third (and supposedly final) list of beneficiaries for the scheme. I'm not so much angry about this as I am sorry about the fact that our Bahraini people have had their emotional and financial needs toyed with for almost half a year, for a measly 50 dinars a month. Very sad...

More on this Here

You have been BANNED From using the Internet

You've all done it, whether you like to admit it or not. You've all downloaded music or some other form of digital content illegaly sometime or the other.

It's fun, this whole digital revolution thing, and you gotta admit that it is pretty satisfying getting your dose of entertainment for free. Unfortunately, the past few years have screwed over most of the music companies, who've been getting most of their money through physical album sales.

Now, trying to enforce legistlation over the internet concerned with the download of illegal files is pretty damn tough. Sure, there have been a few cases where individuals have been taken to court, but as a percentage of total people who do download illegally, that hardly scratches the surface. France, however, has decided to take this whole thing to the extreme:

France to ban illegal downloaders from using the internet
June 19, 2008

Anyone who persists in illicit downloading of music or films will be barred from broadband access under a controversial new law that makes France a pioneer in combating internet piracy.

“There is no reason that the internet should be a lawless zone,” President Sarkozy told his Cabinet yesterday as it endorsed the “three-strikes-and-you’re-out” scheme that from next January will hit illegal downloaders where it hurts.

Under a cross-industry agreement, internet service providers (ISPs) must cut off access for up to a year for third-time offenders.

The law has strong backing from Mr Sarkozy, who has taken a close interest in artists’ rights since marrying Carla Bruni, a model and folk singer. However, it has run into opposition from a range of bodies including the state data protection agency, consumer and civil liberties groups and the European Parliament. Big web companies, including Google, and Dailymotion, the video-sharing firm, refused to sign up to the 40-member industry accord last November.

Full Article Here

Technically, that means that you get three strikes, and then you're out without internet access for a year. Give it to the French to come up with a harsh law like that.

But thinking more deeply into the issue, what sort of effects could this have? Will this sort of legistlation promote other governments to enforce similar penalties? Or are people going to resent this so deeply that France is going to have to revoke it? How about when a kid downloads a few illegal songs, do the rest of his family have to suffer? What if I manage to catch an unsecured wireless network and download illegally through there?

Again, the whole issue of restraining the internet is too complex to comprehend, and obviously whoever set this law has no idea how the internet works. Even if my access is 'banned', I could still share music and content over WAN's and LAN's, copy it from a friend through a flash disk or CD, or pop over to the local Starbucks and download music from their network (unless someone has already done that, and Starbucks get their access banned too).

Will it work? Could it possibly work? Is there any way of restraining the internet? And what are your thoughts on this?