Grapeshisha banned

Im sorry to have to announce the supposed impending banning of grapeshisha.
I have blogged about it here. Thanks. It's been a fun ride. Smoke you later.

Disappointing

Too bad the DPW deal has come to this. But DPW's latest move seems to be an effort at damage control. I guess the way they saw it the storm would continue to grow unless they did what they did.

It is a shame to see irrationality and deciept win over reason. The bottom line in the whole matter was not security--not by a long shot. The bottom line was US politicians trying to score political points. That is really sad. And the American public were duped--so gullible, like most of world's masses.

So how does the US continue to trumpet free-markets and globalism? Why should foreigners, especially from the Arab world, continue to invest in US assets? If there are money-making alternatives, then why not look elsewhere. Maybe the fallout will be continued support and growth in local investment markets--like Dubai's propterty and stock markets.

As for DPW, they can focus even more concertedly on their Asian operations, which was apparently the main benefit of the P&O purchase anyway. As for the US, let it continue to act as a regional as opposed to a world power.

Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? - The Remake, Sad Ending

Link to the original.



Genre: Comedy / Drama (more)

Tagline: a love story of today. Unlike the original, the remake has a tragic ending.

Plot Outline: Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn play a couple whose attitudes are challenged when their daughter brings home a fiance who is Arab. In the remake, the Spencer Tracy character (Hillary Clinton in the remake) does not overcome her prejudices against her daughter marrying someone from another culture.

Cast overview, first billed only:

Spencer Tracy.... Hillary Clinton
Sidney Poitier .... His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai
Katharine Hepburn .... George W. Bush
Katharine Houghton .... Bill Clinton
Monsignor Ryan .... Senator John Warner

Runtime: Less than 45 days

Country: USA with some scenes in the UAE

Language: English with Arabic subtext

Color: Color (Technicolor)

Sound Mix: Mono

"Trivia: Due to Spencer Tracy's health, the cast was always working from two shooting scripts, one with Tracy, one without. Typically, Katharine Hepburn brought Tracy in the morning, they worked until she decided he was too tired, then Tracy and Hepburn left. Sidney Poitier, who already had received a Best Actor Oscar for Lilies of the Field (1963), was intimidated by working with two legends, and preferred to perform to empty high backed chairs."

---
TAGS: ports

POSTED BY: Staff of The Emirates Economist.

DPW pulls out of ports deal

BREAKING NEWS

(I've always wanted to do a posting as big as other people on here!!!1)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A United Arab Emirates-owned company has agreed to turn over all of its operations at U.S. ports to an American "entity," Sen. John Warner said Thursday.

Reading a statement from DP World on the Senate floor, Warner, a Virginia Republican, said the reason is "to preserve" the strong relationship between the UAE and United States.
More here

Warner, a Virginia Republican, read to the U.S. Senate from a document he said was a statement by Dubai Ports World's chief operating officer, Edward Bilkey. "DP World has decided to transfer fully the U.S. operation of P & O Ports, North America to a United States entity," Warner read from the document.
More here

UPDATE: this comes just in time as people began playing the Human Rights card on the UAE;


WASHINGTON - The State Department's human rights report ripping the United Arab Emirates landed with near-perfect bad timing for the White House yesterday in the middle of the ports sale debate.
Opponents of the deal quickly seized on the report as yet another strike against the sale of terminals at six major U.S. ports to a firm owned by the government of Dubai, one of the seven emirates.

More here

A Concert of Traditional Sufi Music

American University of Sharjah presents Ali Hassan and the Tigris Group "A Concert of Traditional Sufi Music" Wednesday, March 15 at 8:30PM Main Building Auditorium American University of Sharjah [MAPS]

Free Admission

The Tigris Group will perform music of the Sufi (mystic) tradition. Featured artists of this ensemble, Ali Hassan, Riyadh Muhsin and Abbas Hanash, will play Oud (Arabian lute) and Arabian percussion instruments.

INVITE OTHERS TO JOIN THIS LIST!
Anyone interested in joining this list should send an email to: culturalevents@aus.edu Please write "subscribe" in the subject line. You will periodically receive information about upcoming cultural events and a reminder on the day before the event itself.
----------------------

TAGS: American University of Sharjah, UAE, sufi

NPR

NPR.org is an interesting site but the site really only compliments the radio broadcasting which is worth checking out. This is the most recent take on Dubai.

What is NPR?
NPR (National Public Radio) is an internationally acclaimed producer and distributor of noncommercial news, talk, and entertainment programming. A privately supported, not-for-profit membership organization, NPR serves a growing audience of more than 25 million Americans each week in partnership with more than 800 independently operated, noncommercial public radio stations. Each NPR Member Station serves local listeners with a distinctive combination of national and local programming. With original online content and audio streaming, npr.org offers hourly newscasts, special features and eight years of archived audio and information.

wisdom from the UAE

I was going to post an article about the fact that a recent opinion poll discovered that most Americans know more about The Simpsons TV show than the US Constitution's
First Amendment.

Only one in four could name more than one of the five freedoms it upholds but more than half could name at least two members of the cartoon family.

Then we get a quote from Sheikh Ahmad Al Kubaisi ..........."If every woman hit by her husband is encouraged to rebel, the sanctity of marriage would disappear from society."

Big up to Sharla Musabih, see: http://www.7days.ae/local-news/smear-campaign.html

Keep the faith and don't let the bastards grind you down.

And I thought our American friends were the uneducated ones.

Check out the original article on our friends from the USA by following the link on:

http://www.dangerdxb.blogspot.com

Wikipedia - Arablish

"Arablish is the practice of writing the Arabic language using the Latin alphabet as used in English and other languages. It is commonly used in Internet chatrooms and electronic mail, especially when typing in Arabic characters is difficult or impractical."

Wikipedia lists these Arablish words:
7abeeb "beloved, baby" (in Arabic script: خبيب)
ba3deen "later, afterwards" (بعدين)
inshaa2allaah "God willing, hopefully" (إنشاء الله)
jum3ah, jom3eh, gom3eh, etc. "Friday" (جمعة)
6aalib, 6aaleb "student" (طالب)
wa6an "home country" (وطن)
9aa7ib, 9aa7eb "friend, sir" (صاحب)
(al)ma3'reb, (al)maghreb "Morocco" (المغرب)
akhbaar, a5baar "news" (أخبار)

There are heaps more than those around - Arabic speakers, why not contribute some more?

(UAE users now have to be logged in to edit Wiki, due to Etisalat's useless IP assigning system.)

TAGS: arablish

Professional UAE photographer

Photographers who want to make some quick cash, see this

I am looking for stock images from any of the UAE for a sort of "What is the UAE?" piece in a national weekly, The Week. The more recent the better! Preferably a graphic image that speaks to the incredible wealth and grand construction projects there (mentioned are largest harbor in the world, largest mall, foundation's of world's tallest building, man-made islands in the shape of palm trees).

All submissions welcome. $200 fee paid for a photo we choose, it will run 1/4 of 8.5x11 page, 400K circulation.

Don't contact me, Im just the messenger.

International Womens Day - Have A Happy One

To All you ladies who inspire, help, teach & give

To All you gentlemen who don't shy away from respecting, honouring & appreciating women,

To the ultimate mother for me; mine.

To the man who taught me so much, I still learn from what he has given me, the man who has always celebrated this day and educated me on life & its secrets, my father ... I am this woman today due to the good they have given me

To all you special people , May this day and all days bring you pride, happiness and many pleasant surprises.



You may forget but

by Sappho

You may forget but
let me tell you
this: someone in
some future time
will think of us




After A While

by Veronica A. Shoffstall

Sometimes referred to as "Comes the Dawn"

After a while, you learn the subtle difference
Between holding a hand and chaining a soul,
And you learn that love doesn't mean leaning
And company doesn't mean security.
And you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts
And presents aren't promises.
And you begin to accept your defeats
With your head up and your eyes open
With the grace of a woman, not the grief of a child.
And you learn to build all your roads
On today, because tomorrow's ground
Is too uncertain for plans, and futures have
A way of falling down in mid-flight.
After a while you learn that even sunshine
Burns if you get too much.
So you plant your own garden and decorate
Your own soul instead of waiting
For someone to bring you flowers.
And you learn that you really can endure...
That you really are strong
And you really do have worth.
And you learn and learn...
With every goodbye you learn



Still I Rise by Maya Angelou


You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from a past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.





International Womens Day (IWD)

An international celebration of education and empowerment

http://www.internationalwomensday.com/about.asp

Around the world, International Women's Day (IWD) marks a celebration of the economic, social, cultural and political achievements for women.

The first IWD was held on 19 March 1911 in Germany, Austria, Denmark and further European countries. German women selected this date because in 1848 the Prussian king had promised the vote for women. Subsequently over one million leaflets calling for action on the right to vote were distributed throughout Germany before IWD in 1911. Now IWD is always celebrated on 8 March and is an occasion marked by women's groups around the world. This date is also commemorated at the United Nations and is designated in many countries as a national holiday. Women in every country, often divided by ethnic, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate this important date that represents equality, justice, peace and development.

International Women's Day is the story of ordinary women as makers of history; it is rooted in the centuries-old struggle of women seeking to participate equally in society on an equal footing with men. In ancient Greece, Lysistrata initiated a sexual strike against men in order to end war; during the French Revolution, Parisian women calling for "liberty, equality, fraternity" marched on Versailles to demand women's suffrage.

The idea of an International Women's Day first arose at the turn of the century, which in the industrialized world was a period of expansion and turbulence, booming population growth and radical ideologies.

Until women are fully represented at senior leadership levels of public, professional and economic life, women do not have equal rights nor an equal voice.

Following is a brief chronology of the most important events:




1909
In accordance with a declaration by the Socialist Party of America, the first National Woman's Day was observed across the United States on 28 February. Women continued to celebrate it on the last Sunday of that month through 1913. 1910 The Socialist International, meeting in Copenhagen, established a Women's Day, international in character, to honour the movement for women's rights and to assist in achieving universal suffrage for women. The proposal was greeted with unanimous approval by the conference of over 100 women from 17 countries, which included the first three women elected to the Finnish parliament. No fixed date was selected for the observance.

1911
As a result of the decision taken at Copenhagen the previous year, International Women's Day was marked for the first time (19 March) in Austria, Denmark, Germany and Switzerland, where more than one million women and men attended rallies. In addition to the right to vote and to hold public office, they demanded the right to work, to vocational training and to an end to discrimination on the job. Less than a week later, on 25 March, the tragic Triangle Fire in New York City took the lives of more than 140 working girls, most of them Italian and Jewish immigrants. This event had a significant impact on labour legislation in the United States, and the working conditions leading up to the disaster were invoked during subsequent observances of International Women's Day.

1913-1914As part of the peace movement brewing on the eve of World War I, Russian women observed their first International Women's Day on the last Sunday in February 1913. Elsewhere in Europe, on or around 8 March of the following year, women held rallies either to protest the war or to express solidarity with their sisters.

1917
With 2 million Russian soldiers dead in the war, Russian women again chose the last Sunday in February to strike for "bread and peace". Political leaders opposed the timing of the strike, but the women went on anyway. The rest is history: Four days later the Czar was forced to abdicate and the provisional Government granted women the right to vote. That historic Sunday fell on 23 February on the Julian calendar then in use in Russia, but on 8 March on the Gregorian calendar in use elsewhere. Since those early years, International Women's Day has assumed a new global dimension for women in developed and developing countries alike.

The growing international women's movement has helped make IWD a special day for promoting women's rights and participation in political and economic processes. Increasingly, International Women's Day is a time to reflect on the progress made, to call for change and to celebrate acts of courage and determination by ordinary women who have played an extraordinary role in the history of women's rights.

More to read: http://www.isis.aust.com/iwd/stevens/origins.htm

Dubai, Gizoogle-style

Department Of Tourism N Commerce Market'n, Government Of Dubai
Dubai is tha hood built fo` tourism all around tha year wit excellent hotels, resorts, shopp'n n sports facilizzles available throughout tha year . Chill as I take you on a trip!




Gizoogle - Fo all you beotches who wanna find shiznit

Keywords Used to Filter Web Content

Chinese censors use keywords to filter web content

Names of People
Bao Tong
Chen Yonglin
Cui Yingjie
Ding Jiaban
. . .
Chinese Politics
17th party congress
Babaoshan
Beat the Central Propaganda Department
Blast the Central Propaganda Department
Block the road and demand back pay
Chief of the Finance Bureau
Children of high officials
. . .
Specific Issues and Events
Buy corpses
Cadres transferred from the military
Cashfiesta
Cat abuse
Changxin Coal Mountain
China Youth Daily staff evaluation system
Chinese orphanage
Chinese Yangshen Yizhi Gong
Demobilized soldiers transferred to other industries
Dongyang
Dongzhou
Fetus soup
. . .
Terms related to the banned Falun Gong spiritual movement, including phrases from its "Nine Commentaries" manifesto against the Communist Party:
Chinese Communist Party brutally kills people
dajiyuan (in English)
Defy the heavens, earth and nature. Mao Zedong
Epoch Times
. . .
Overseas Web Sites, Publications and Dissident Groups
. . .
Taiwan
. . .
Ethnic Minorities
. . .
Tiananmen Square
. . .
Censorship
. . .
International
. . .
Other
Armageddon
Bomb
Bug
Handmade pistol
. . .

Politics makes strange bedfellows

Hillary Clinton 'unaware' of Bill's Dubai ties - Financial Times - MSNBC.com:

Hillary Clinton, a leading opponent of DP World's takeover of some US port operations, was this week forced to admit that she did not know her husband had advised Dubai leaders on how to handle the growing dispute.

But former President Bill Clinton's ties to Dubai and the United Arab Emirates should not have come as a surprise to his New York senator wife.

Mrs Clinton's own senatorial financial disclosure forms reveal that her husband earned $450,000 giving speeches in Dubai in 2002.

Officials from the UAE also donated between $500,000 and $1m to fund Mr Clinton's presidential library in Arkansas.

Who needs comedy when you've got real life?

TAGS: Hillary+Clinton Ports American+University+in+Dubai

Is Halliburton going to team with DP World?

If this is true, then this ports tale is beginning to have more twists in it than 24 in its prime. I'm not 100% that it is legit though but as with all things, time will tell.

Christian-Muslim Relations: The Challenge of Religious Pluralism

American University of Sharjah:

Title: Lecture by Dr. John Esposito: "Christian-Muslim Relations: The Challenge of Religious Pluralism"
Date: March 5, 2006
Time: 4:00 pm
Location: Lecture Hall A, Main Building [American University of Sharjah]

Description:
John L. Esposito is University Professor and Professor of Religion and International Affairs and of Islamic studies at Georgetown University. He is the founding director of the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown. At the College of the Holy Cross, he was Loyola Professor of Middle East Studies, chair of the Department of Religious Studies, and director of the Center for International Studies. A consultant to the US Department of State as to well as corporations, universities and the media worldwide, Esposito specializes in Islam, political Islam and the impact of Islamic movements from North Africa to Southeast Asia. He has served as president of the Middle East Studies Association of North America and the American Council for the Study of Islamic Societies and vice chair of the Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy. He is currently a member of the World Economic Forum's Council of 100 Leaders and president of the Executive Scientific Committee for La Maison de la Mediterranee's 2005-2010 project, "The Mediterranean, Europe and Islam: Actors in Dialogue." Esposito is a recipient of the American Academy of Religion's 2005 Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion and of Pakistan's Quaid-i-Azzam Award for Outstanding Contributions in Islamic Studies. In 2003, he received the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service Award for Outstanding Teaching. He has authored numerous books and other publications.

Free admission.

Map to American University of Sharjah.