News Clip

Weird thing news is, very weird. Sometimes I can't stand it and sometimes I feel something's missing without it. Today I felt I needed my dose of news, so I went to our faithful Gulf News, and boy did I get a shock. The stories didn't surprise me individually, but the combined trends did. Some things happen today that are as normal as your son's cereal box, but I couldn't imagine them when I was your son's age.

Here's but a list of things I read. Most peculiar:

- First batch of 60 workers deported for violent protest:
In my time, protests of any kind were haram. Now not only are these guys protesting, but they are protesting violently! Where? In our beloved UAE!!! I find it totally mad. How can things degenerate to this level in the ladder of civilisation. I think it's a combination of slave-like conditions with totally despondency that drive this. I have been fortunate to spend a lot of time in my youth on a construction site as a trainee and I have nothing but love and admiration.

"The first batch of 60 out of 185 workers of ETA Ascon who were arrested for turning violent during a protest was deported on Tuesday night.

About 8,000 workers of ETA Ascon from Sonapur and Al Quoz went on a protest on Saturday demanding a hike in their basic salary and a two-way airfare when they go on leave every two years."


Sorry but these demands are basic human rights. No wonder they protested, I just disagree with the use of violence.

- Call for minimum speed limit on highways:
This is pure horse rubbish!! I remember back in the days when we used to get excited if dad's speedometer touched 100 km/h, not because his car couldn't do it but because our roads were not good enough to handle fast traffic. Now we have a case made by the Police to have a minimum speed limit of 80 km/h on our highways because of Idiots driving too slow and impeding the flow, not to mention endagering life. This is because most of these Idiots drive slowly on the FAST lane thinking it belongs to them, with the concept of roads as a Public way being very alien to their undeveloped minds. Then you get the fast big-balled Arab who then starts to undertake etc thus even making things more dangerous.

I say yay to a minimum speed limit and anything that educates and punishes the stupid drivers out there.

- Schools seek feel increase of 180%:
This is JUST WRONG. Plain wrong. Mind you I did my A-levels at a school in Dubai which I nicknamed Chouetrams (after the supermarket) because they run it like a business not an educational body. In most countries schools are run like charities (i.e. they are not allowed to make a profit, and any profit made gets put back into the school). I found this a very alien concept because my last school was so good in terms of funding that we always got the best books, gear, teachers and all the like for normal fees that didn't go up by more than inflation over the years.

Now there are these theives that want more than 180% raise in the fees?!!?! How do you justify that? How do you sleep at night?

- 9/11 "mastermind" confesses to attacks:
Not wanting to dwell on the past, but when did 9/11 happen? 2001... aaah
When did this dude get caught? Around 2002 me thinks...
When did he "confess"... 2007... aaah.. a good few years then being a good quiet boy.
Interesting timing me thinks.. and I will not dwell much on this but I find it hard that they didn't "encourage" him to confess earlier. Also I find it peculiar that only one man can plan such a complex operation. I don't believe that the truth has died with the attackers of 9/11, we're not talking about a pesky bank robbery here.

Cynical BuJ thinks they should fire the guy in charge of this investigation for failing to find more "responsible" people for the crime, and failing to "make him talk" sooner..

Have a nice day all.

BuJassem
(cross posted on my blog here