Moving to Word Press

Dear beloved readers,
I am sorry to inform you that I am moving my blog to wordpress. Even though I still prefer the user-friendly Blogger, I feel WordPress has more to offer in the long term. I thank all of you for reading and hope you will keep up with my new blog, at http://www.gutterpoetry.wordpress.com
See you all there! :)

Time Out Beirut has been claiming it will re-launch for ages now. But when will that day come?

Interesting slideshowy thing showing the Empires that have passed through, colonized and occupied the Middle East. Thanks to M for providing link.

If I was listening I would be dancing
if you were watching you would be crying
but i cant hear
and you can't see
so really we have nothing, you and me

My head feels like it's going to burst
I'm walking over shattered glass
pints of blood and human lives blown away
this is where tragedy turned to farce
in the distance children are twisted on a horizon painted grey
no longer do they have the voices to say
enough! we can't take any more

Wall graffitti, Hamra

I'm going for a gay theme today. This poster above reads: Who's queer? Your mother's queer. I'm gay. (Arabic: Meen Shath..Ummak/Ummik Shathe, Ana Mithlee). I'm supposed to be writing an article for Menassat about homosexuality in Lebanon, but I havn't gotten round to it yet. Will link to it here when I get my act together.

Prince of Love

I saw this car, decorated with the somewhat amusing caption, "I am the prince of love" in Ouzai. It seems many Lebanese cars, usually of the scruffy boy-racer variety much like this, opt for such stickers. Others I have seen include "Moody", "Don't play with me", and other perplexing, nonsensical phrases that have temporarily escaped me. Cars like this certainly make being a passenger all the more interesting.

Is Obama pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian?

A selection of stories. You can make up your own mind.
Barack Obama site, 2006 article on his trip to Israel, Palestine.
Jerusalem Post, Obama is not 'bad for Israel'.
Haaretz, Obama Supports Israel. Period.
Electronia Intifada, How Barack Obama learned to love Israel.
The Nation, Palestinians Matter, too
Jerusalem Post, Obama:Palestinians can't return.
LA Times, Allies of Palestinians see a friend in Obama
The Guardian, Comment is Free, Obama says he'll reshape...
Of course, there are many more...

2 Minute Haikus

haiku youku we
all coo for hoopoes they those
pint sized punk rockers
--------
Lebanon you drive
me up the wall oh wish i
could forget it all
-------
wanted to meow reow
about beirut kitty cats
but i lost my voice
-------
hariri jumblat
geagea aoun gemayel sfeir
be quiet wont you
-------
what was once red white
green is nothing now only
a sad memory

One weekday last year, at about three in the afternoon, Israeli armoured jeeps moved into the centre of Ramallah, pulling up outside the most popular hummus cafe. In full view of passers-by, including children on their way back from school, the troops dragged a man in his early 20s out of the cafe. He was a wanted militant. They shot him - first in the legs, then stomach, then his head.
It's coverage like this that makes you still believe in the past-it BBC.

Staying with Haaretz, bloggers try to defend Israel by reporting bad news from other nations. Obviously they hope that by deflecting bad news away from Israel, everyone will conveniently forget about what their government is doing to fellow human beings.

This is old news but I only just read about it. US to stay away from UN anti-racism conference out of fear it will be anti-Semetic. Once and again, the term Semetic is in need of clarification. Canada is also boycotting.

(Picture from inminds.co.uk)

If you are not feeling that great and want to feel even worse, check out Israel at Sixty.

Does anyone else find it incredibly irritating when news sources write 'so and so said' something "without elaborating" ?