I finally have the time to actually write something. Back in JB now, for a week's break - Yeay! can be with Red! he's so big and cute...totaly adorable.
Okay..back to recapping what's been happening over the last month or so. Honestly,with all the things i've been doing over the last few weeks i feel i've grown so much internally as a person. My eyes and mind have been opened so many times to new things and new issues. I have loads to say and it's at times like these i wish Yana and Atem were here so we could have our long long hangouts.
Whether it's being involved in the Peduli Palestin campaign,managing the tutor programme, dealing with my Student Council duties or just the psychotic everyday ongoings of my friends, i feel blessed that i have the chance to do something meaningful in so many different avenues. Granted, i'm left with not much sleep most of the time and certain periods of crankiness but the satisfaction you get is priceless.
It overwhelms me sometimes the amount of knowledge there is out there and the amount of things i want to know and how time seems to be always running out. It reminds me of the verse in the Quran that says something along the likes of 'If you use all the water in the ocean as ink, you would still not be able to completely write down all the knowledge in the world'. At the moment, i have 5 books in my room, all about different matters ranging from religion to science. Sigh. Sometimes i wish i wasn't a medical student. Then i'd maybe have the time to actually sit down and read them properly. I don't even have the time to read fiction now, it has truly become a luxury.
But i'm not complaining. If my life wasn't this busy, I'd be bored and that'd be even worse.
Truly, i love how everything is right now. For a long time now, I've felt that a lot of things in my life have fallen in the right place. I have God to thank for that of course. I love the people around me, my friends and i love the changes I've seen in me.
Even the thing that i dislike the most in my life right now - having to study microbiology doesn't really stress me out that much. It's true the classes are boring and in reality i couldn't be bothered with half the things we're learning, and yes, i was at first disappointed with my assessment marks, but I've learned to take all these things in stride now. I take to heart now what Prof. Latif said - studying, memorizing, weekly assesments, things like these are just like bread and butterin a medical student's life. It's the other things you do at the same time like volunteer work, helping your peers, things that shape you to become a decent a huan being - those are the ones that really matter.
So i've become less of an academic centred person and i'm moving towards a more holistic, balanced one hopefully. I've been trying to do so for a while and i think i'm getting better at it. Alhamdullilah.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Thursday, January 15, 2009
The Humiliation of America
The White House Moron Stumbles to the Finish
The Humiliation of America
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
"Early Friday morning the secretary of state was considering bringing the cease-fire resolution to a UNSC vote and we didn't want her to vote for it," Olmert said. "I said 'get President Bush on the phone.' They tried and told me he was in the middle of a lecture in Philadelphia. I said 'I'm not interested, I need to speak to him now.' He got down from the podium, went out and took the phone call."
"Let me see if I understand this," wrote a friend in response to news reports that Israeli Prime Minister Olmert ordered President Bush from the podium where he was giving a speech to receive Israel's instructions about how the United States had to vote on the UN resolution. "On September 11th, President Bush is interrupted while reading a story to school children and told the World Trade Center had been hit--and he went on reading. Now, Olmert calls about a UN resolution when Bush is giving a speech and Bush leaves the stage to take the call. There exists no greater example of a master-servant relationship."
Olmert gloated as he told Israelis how he had shamed US Secretary of State Condi Rice by preventing the American Secretary of State from supporting a resolution that she had helped to craft. Olmert proudly related how he had interrupted President Bush's speech in order to give Bush his marching orders on the UN vote.
Israeli politicians have been bragging for decades about the control they exercise over the US government. In his final press conference, President Bush, deluded to the very end, said that the whole world respects America. In fact, when the world looks at America, what it sees is an Israeli colony.
Responding to mounting reports from the Red Cross and human rights organizations of Israel's massive war crimes in Gaza, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted 33-1 on January 12 to condemn Israel for grave offenses against human rights.
On January 13, the London Times reported that Israelis have gathered on a hillside overlooking Gaza to enjoy the slaughter of Palestinians in what the Times calls "the ultimate spectator sport."
It is American supplied F-16 fighter jets, helicopter gunships, missiles, and bombs that are destroying the civilian infrastructure of Gaza and murdering the Palestinians who have been packed into the tiny strip of land. What is happening to the Palestinians herded into the Gaza Ghetto is happening because of American money and weapons. It is just as much an attack by the United States as an attack by Israel. The US government is complicit in the war crimes.
Yet in his farewell press conference on January 12, Bush said that the world respects America for its compassion.
The compassion of bombing a UN school for girls?
The compassion of herding 100 Palestinians into one house and then shelling it?
The compassion of bombing hospitals and mosques?
The compassion of depriving 1.5 million Palestinians of food, medicine, and energy?
The compassion of violently overthrowing the democratically elected Hamas government?
The compassion of blowing up the infrastructure of one of the poorest and most deprived people on earth?
The compassion of abstaining from a Security Council vote condemning these actions?
And this is a repeat of what the Israelis and Americans did to Lebanon in 2006, what the Americans did to Iraqis for six years and are continuing to do to Afghans after seven years. And still hope to do to the Iranians and Syrians.
In 2002 I designated George W. Bush "the White House Moron." If there ever was any doubt about this designation, Bush's final press conference dispelled it.
Bush talked about connecting the dots, but Bush has failed to connect any dots for eight solid years. "Our" president was a puppet for a cabal led by Dick Cheney and a handful of Jewish neoconservatives, who took control of the Pentagon, the State Department, the National Security Council, the CIA, and "Homeland Security." From these power positions, the neocon cabal used lies and deception to invade Afghanistan and Iraq, pointless wars that have cost Americans $3 trillion, while millions of Americans lose their jobs, their pensions, and their access to health care.
"These obviously very difficult economic times," Bush said in his press conference, "started before my presidency."
Bush has plenty of liberal company in failing to connect a $3 trillion dollar war with hard times. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities blames Bush's tax cut, not the wars, for "the fiscal deterioration."
Bush told the White House Press Corps, a useless collection of non-journalists, that the two mistakes of his invasion of Iraq were: (1) Putting up the "mission accomplished" banner on the aircraft carrier, which, he said, "sent the wrong message," and (2) the absence of the alleged weapons of mass destruction that he used to justify the invasion.
Although Bush now admits that there were not any such weapons in Iraq, Bush said that the invasion was still the right thing to do.
The deaths of 1.25 million Iraqis, the displacement of 4 million Iraqis, and the destruction of a country's infrastructure and economy are merely the collateral damage associated with "bringing freedom and democracy" to the Middle East.
Unless George W. Bush is the best actor in human history, he truly believes what he told the White House Press Corps.
What Bush did not explain is how America is respected when its people put a moron in charge for eight years.
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration.
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts01142009.html
taken from chedet.cc
The Humiliation of America
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
"Early Friday morning the secretary of state was considering bringing the cease-fire resolution to a UNSC vote and we didn't want her to vote for it," Olmert said. "I said 'get President Bush on the phone.' They tried and told me he was in the middle of a lecture in Philadelphia. I said 'I'm not interested, I need to speak to him now.' He got down from the podium, went out and took the phone call."
"Let me see if I understand this," wrote a friend in response to news reports that Israeli Prime Minister Olmert ordered President Bush from the podium where he was giving a speech to receive Israel's instructions about how the United States had to vote on the UN resolution. "On September 11th, President Bush is interrupted while reading a story to school children and told the World Trade Center had been hit--and he went on reading. Now, Olmert calls about a UN resolution when Bush is giving a speech and Bush leaves the stage to take the call. There exists no greater example of a master-servant relationship."
Olmert gloated as he told Israelis how he had shamed US Secretary of State Condi Rice by preventing the American Secretary of State from supporting a resolution that she had helped to craft. Olmert proudly related how he had interrupted President Bush's speech in order to give Bush his marching orders on the UN vote.
Israeli politicians have been bragging for decades about the control they exercise over the US government. In his final press conference, President Bush, deluded to the very end, said that the whole world respects America. In fact, when the world looks at America, what it sees is an Israeli colony.
Responding to mounting reports from the Red Cross and human rights organizations of Israel's massive war crimes in Gaza, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted 33-1 on January 12 to condemn Israel for grave offenses against human rights.
On January 13, the London Times reported that Israelis have gathered on a hillside overlooking Gaza to enjoy the slaughter of Palestinians in what the Times calls "the ultimate spectator sport."
It is American supplied F-16 fighter jets, helicopter gunships, missiles, and bombs that are destroying the civilian infrastructure of Gaza and murdering the Palestinians who have been packed into the tiny strip of land. What is happening to the Palestinians herded into the Gaza Ghetto is happening because of American money and weapons. It is just as much an attack by the United States as an attack by Israel. The US government is complicit in the war crimes.
Yet in his farewell press conference on January 12, Bush said that the world respects America for its compassion.
The compassion of bombing a UN school for girls?
The compassion of herding 100 Palestinians into one house and then shelling it?
The compassion of bombing hospitals and mosques?
The compassion of depriving 1.5 million Palestinians of food, medicine, and energy?
The compassion of violently overthrowing the democratically elected Hamas government?
The compassion of blowing up the infrastructure of one of the poorest and most deprived people on earth?
The compassion of abstaining from a Security Council vote condemning these actions?
And this is a repeat of what the Israelis and Americans did to Lebanon in 2006, what the Americans did to Iraqis for six years and are continuing to do to Afghans after seven years. And still hope to do to the Iranians and Syrians.
In 2002 I designated George W. Bush "the White House Moron." If there ever was any doubt about this designation, Bush's final press conference dispelled it.
Bush talked about connecting the dots, but Bush has failed to connect any dots for eight solid years. "Our" president was a puppet for a cabal led by Dick Cheney and a handful of Jewish neoconservatives, who took control of the Pentagon, the State Department, the National Security Council, the CIA, and "Homeland Security." From these power positions, the neocon cabal used lies and deception to invade Afghanistan and Iraq, pointless wars that have cost Americans $3 trillion, while millions of Americans lose their jobs, their pensions, and their access to health care.
"These obviously very difficult economic times," Bush said in his press conference, "started before my presidency."
Bush has plenty of liberal company in failing to connect a $3 trillion dollar war with hard times. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities blames Bush's tax cut, not the wars, for "the fiscal deterioration."
Bush told the White House Press Corps, a useless collection of non-journalists, that the two mistakes of his invasion of Iraq were: (1) Putting up the "mission accomplished" banner on the aircraft carrier, which, he said, "sent the wrong message," and (2) the absence of the alleged weapons of mass destruction that he used to justify the invasion.
Although Bush now admits that there were not any such weapons in Iraq, Bush said that the invasion was still the right thing to do.
The deaths of 1.25 million Iraqis, the displacement of 4 million Iraqis, and the destruction of a country's infrastructure and economy are merely the collateral damage associated with "bringing freedom and democracy" to the Middle East.
Unless George W. Bush is the best actor in human history, he truly believes what he told the White House Press Corps.
What Bush did not explain is how America is respected when its people put a moron in charge for eight years.
Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan administration.
http://www.counterpunch.org/roberts01142009.html
taken from chedet.cc
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
ARE WE NOT HUMAN?
Are We Not Human?
By Mohammed Ali, an advocacy and media researcher for Oxfam who lives in Gaza City.
The air, the sea and the earth in
In a bid to stop my children twitching, jerking, trembling and waking at every sound of an attack during their few hours of sleep and their many waking hours, I put cotton wool in their ears - it has not worked.
We ran out of fuel for our generator, which meant that we were confined to a small room filled with eleven people, with little light for three days.
We have not had water either; our well can only pump water if it has electricity which most of the Gaza Strip has been denied since this nightmare started.
We are now 11, huddled together in my parents' dining room. My brother and I and our families moved there, thinking that the first floor may be the safest option.
There is a saying in Arabic which says "death in a group is a mercy". I guess if we die together maybe, just maybe, we will feel less of the pain than in doing so alone.
I have had 8 hours sleep since the beginning of this conflict; we can hear attacks almost every minute.
I think to myself, if one of us is injured or needs medical attention what will happen? Ambulances are finding it difficult to reach civilians, roads are blocked by rubble, Israeli forces in their path - you could bleed to death.
Even if they did get to us, maybe we would be bombed on our way to the hospital. If we did reach the hospital there might not be enough room to treat us - there is little medication or equipment or any electricity to fuel the life-saving equipment. We would not even be able to get out of
Hospitals are now running on back-up generators making life even more difficult for the doctors who are trying to cope with the influx of the injured. If fuel runs out for the generators, those on life-saving equipment will perish.
I heard a woman calling into a radio station today - ambulance services could not reach her and I guess she thought the radio station might be able to do something. She was wailing down the phone "our home is on fire, my children are dying, help me". I do not know what happened to her and her children - I do not want to imagine.
I spend much of my time thinking that this could be the last hour of my existence.
As I try to fall asleep, I hear on the radio the numbers of people who have died rising by the hour. I wonder if tomorrow morning, I will be part of that body count, part of the next breaking news.
I will be just another number to all those watching the death and destruction in Gaza or maybe the fact that I work for Oxfam will mean that I will be a name and not just a number. I might be talked about for a minute and moments later forgotten, like all those other people who have had their lives taken away from them.
I am not afraid of dying - I know that one day we all must die. But not like this, not sitting idly in my home with my children in my arms waiting for our lives to be taken away. I am disgusted by this injustice.
What is the international community waiting for - to see even more dismembered people and families erased before they act? Time is ticking by and the numbers of dead and injured are increasing. What are they waiting for?
What is happening is against humanity, are we not human?
Extracted from
Sunday, January 4, 2009
BusyBee
My life has been so busy lately. What with SC, PPIM, the tutoring programme, classes and other various activities,most of the time i've got my hands full. It's been hard to really relax without something reminder sneaking through my thoughts about something i have to do. Only yesterday, i was wastching this movie that i had been waiting quite a while to watch- it was a sad meloncholic type of Japanese Anime and i was in the perfect mood to watch. Unfortunately, the viewing experience was greatly disturbed- i got 3 phone calls throughout the first 45 minutes and by that time there was no way i could be watching it peacefully.
But i'm not complaining actually. Being this busy actually makes me feel contented. haha. Does that sound weird? But it does really. It feels like i'm actually doing something and that there is meaning to me days. I'm constantly in Monica mode nowadays. I have to be if i don't want to get so cluttered. Used to be i could never follow the timetables or schedules i made, but i'm getting better at it. The satisfaction of ticking off something you have done on your list it immensely satisfying.
On another note, the tutor programme finally officially started next week. I'm really really happy it's actually being done. We proposed the tutor projects as one of the activities under our Academic Bureau in PPIM and ever since ten i've been eager to start it. Alhamdullilah, things are going smoothly so far. At first i was a bit worried that it wasn't going to get much sambutan- tutee wise. But it turned out that loads of students wanted to join. Insya-Allah as time goes by, this programme will help make a difference.
But i'm not complaining actually. Being this busy actually makes me feel contented. haha. Does that sound weird? But it does really. It feels like i'm actually doing something and that there is meaning to me days. I'm constantly in Monica mode nowadays. I have to be if i don't want to get so cluttered. Used to be i could never follow the timetables or schedules i made, but i'm getting better at it. The satisfaction of ticking off something you have done on your list it immensely satisfying.
On another note, the tutor programme finally officially started next week. I'm really really happy it's actually being done. We proposed the tutor projects as one of the activities under our Academic Bureau in PPIM and ever since ten i've been eager to start it. Alhamdullilah, things are going smoothly so far. At first i was a bit worried that it wasn't going to get much sambutan- tutee wise. But it turned out that loads of students wanted to join. Insya-Allah as time goes by, this programme will help make a difference.
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