So did you hear? President Moshe Katsav’s absence marks the first time in Israel’s history that a president didn’t preside over parliament’s opening. yeah, there is a first time for everything!
Why, you may ask? Police recommend he be charged with rape and sexual assault on women who worked for him! And not only that, the police also recommened that he be “indicted on charges of eavesdropping, breach of trust and improprieties in gift distribution.”

The corrupt pervert’s reaction to all this? denies all charges and says he is a victim of consipracy! yeah, okay!

Thanks to Captivate Network for keeping us up to date on the latest news, scandals and even enhancing our vocabulary!

I know for sure that all Pharmacy students are required to take a foreign language as well as a ‘world studies’ course… but I am not sure whether the same foreign language requirement holds true for all other majors. Since I didn’t have much background in Arabic, I took 2 years of it in undergrad. The instructor was a White American woman…She holds a PhD in Arabic Literature and lived in Egypt for some quite years. I didn’t like her much! She was very difficult and always picked on me for no apparent reason…unless me asking constant questions was a reason?! I vividly recall the time when she went ballistic…:grin: She was explaining some concept about grammar that I couldn’t quite grasp. I asked her to clarify. minutes later, she asked a question (which I can’t exactly recall), I answered it. She told me I was wrong and that perhaps I should have paid attention to her lecture instead of asking questions through out. Of course, I didn’t appreciate her accusation nor her rude tone…I simply said, and I recall clearly: “my questions were an attempt to understanding your point. Apparently you weren’t clear enough! I answered the question based on how you explained the concept!” At this moment, she lost any patience she might have had…picked up a chair, threw it against the wall and walked out! Everyone in the class was in shock…a few minutes later, she came back in. Apologized to the class and went on. Ugh! I stayed after class and expressed my frustration with her. At least she apologized. ugh!

What brought those memories is an article I read in Asharq Alawsat that talks about Bush’s National Security Language Initiative that would encourage teaching Arabic in US schools. Margaret Spellings, the U.S Secretary of Education addressed George W Bush’s National Security Language Initiative that would allocate 22 million U.S dollars to teaching Arabic, Persian and Chinese in American schools, 188 thousand dollars of which will go towards expanding Arabic and Chinese classes. Spellings stated that the decision was based on the fact that “China and the Middle East have now become a new American market for exchanging products and ideas.” She added, “We want to learn other languages because it says, ‘we’re interested in you, we want to learn about your culture.” About time!

(Read on …)

This has been one very long month so far…constant massive headaches, lack of concentration and extremely arduous days make fasting for me not as easy as it always has been … Despite all that and as much as I am anxiously awaiting Eid, the feeling of sadness as this month winds down is immeasurable. I am very thankful to God for giving me the capability to withstand the difficulties of the long working days and I am extremely blessed to witness the blessed month of Ramadan. The significance and benefits of this holy month make up for every difficult moment… The month of purity and as one put it ‘spiritual rhapsody.’

I’ve received this by a friend last year. I tend to save emails of value and believe this one earns it:

“We must thank God for the gift of Ramadan. It’s not just the fasting. It’s not just reading the Qur’an or eating delicious meals with our friends and family. We get a chance to gauge ourselves as Muslims. We get a chance for purification and self-reflection. Have I been charitable enough? Am I patient enough with my loved ones? Do I reflect often on the blessings of Allah subhana wa ta ‘ala? These are just some of the questions that we ask ourselves in the hopes that we are better than the year before. Sawm is just another of the myriad of ways that we change ourselves and our condition. It’s a way to put ourselves at peace by being at peace with Allah subhana wa ta’ala. I hope Ramadan came upon you as a realization of your progress as a slave of God in fulfilling His commands. If not, may this Ramadan be the beginning of your journey. ”

Here is to hoping that Allah will accept my fasting and prayers as well the fasting and prayers of everyone else observing Ramadan. May we live to welcome next Ramadan with deeper faith and closeness to Allah …

“Violence against children is widely accepted as normal around the world, and at least 106 countries still allow physical punishment in schools, a U.N. report on the issue showed on Thursday.

The report, issued by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s office, found that 147 countries have not banned the punishment of children in other care settings and that up to 275 million children witness domestic violence annually.” [source]

This is really alarming. The report shows where violence occurs:
In the home and family; in schools and educational settings; in care and justice systems; in work settings; and in the community. [more]

These are places that are meant to provide a warm, caring, loving, enriching, model based and positive environment for children… living under such violent conditions is supposed to make what of these children? It’s very sad to see such take place and be accepted as this study shows.

On October 12, 1968, the Olympic Summer Games opened in Mexico City with the Olympic cauldron being lit for the first time by a woman.

Chocolate skyscraper Pastry chef Alain Roby, center, beside his skyscraper creation, describes his 20-foot, 8-inch chocolate skyscraper that set a new Guinness World Record, in New York’s FAO Schwarz toy store, as part of Food TV’s “Guinness World Record Breakers Week” on Oct. 10. Roby also holds a Guinness record for the tallest sugar sculpture. (AP/Richard Drew)

Made out of pure dark chocolate, Hyatt chef Alain Roby’s 20ft 8ins (6.4m) creation took over 30 hours to build. Weighing in at a whopping 2,285lbs (1036.46kgs) of chocolate, the “skyscraper” would not look out of place in New York’s famous skyline.

Mr Roby, who works at a Hyatt hotel in Chicago, said it is not a real replica of any particular building. He said: “There is a little bit of the Rockefeller Center, a little bit of the Empire (State Building) and a little bit of the Chrysler Building so everything is a little bit mixed together and my goal was really to reach the height.” [source]

Awesome! It has a bit of the Sears Tower in it too … it took 30 hours to build, I wonder how many hours it will take to eat!

A controversial new study contends nearly 655,000 Iraqis have died because of the war, suggesting a far higher death toll than other estimates. The timing of the survey’s release, just a few weeks before the U.S. congressional elections, led one expert to call it “politics.”

In the new study, researchers attempt to calculate how many more Iraqis have died since March 2003 than one would expect without the war. Their conclusion, based on interviews of households and not a body count, is that about 600,000 died from violence, mostly gunfire. They also found a small increase in deaths from other causes like heart disease and cancer.

An accurate count of Iraqi deaths has been difficult to obtain, but one respected group puts its rough estimate at closer to 50,000. And at least one expert was skeptical of the new findings.

“They’re almost certainly way too high,” said Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington. He criticized the way the estimate was derived and noted that the results were released shortly before the Nov. 7 election. “This is not analysis, this is politics,” Cordesman said. Speaking of the new study, Burnham said the estimate was much higher than others because it was derived from a house-to-house survey rather than approaches that depend on body counts or media reports.

A private group called Iraqi Body Count, for example, says it has recorded about 44,000 to 49,000 civilian Iraqi deaths. But it notes that those totals are based on media reports, which it says probably overlook “many if not most civilian casualties.”[more]

I wonder how true that report is, but I am more inclined to believe that more than 50,000 have been killed since Marc 2003… 655,000 is A LOT! That’s like over 15,000 a month!

This afternoon as I was taking a break, walking in the streets of downtown I came across a woman vigorously holding on to her cup of Seattle Coffee in one hand and waving her other hand as she went off using all possible swear words you can ever imagine! I was expecting to see another person with her, but it appeard that she was going off on an imanginary person. I was very starteld to say the very least! and held on to my co-worker for protection I need to be reminded to thank God a million times for keeping my sanity safe and sound - (at least for the most part!)

I wonder if that coffee was spiked or perhaps she’s just bipolar..
On our way back to the office, just as we were walking in, my co-worker points out a couple sitting in Starbucks. I looked through the glass window to see the girl crying and the guy just staring into space. What could it be?! could it be that she’s venting to him about personal problems? Maybe someone died? my co-worker said: “Well, if that’s the case then he really is not helping. He probably just broke up with her!”

Maybe she broke up with him?

Who knows … I wont lose sleep over this for sure, and no I am nosy,  I am just a very curious person!

This is the time of year I start planning my yearly vacation. Since I am usually gone for 4 weeks, I have to put in my request months in advance. I like to be the first to put in my request, so I can be the first to get approval

Anyway, my trip will not be until May 2007, inshallah …I still have a long way to go, but this is around the time I start getting excited… I tend to plan ahead of time, and I tend to get disappointed almost always because I never actually get to do 5% of what I initially had planned out to do. (Read on …)

Next time you see a flawless looking model with pefect skin, perfect color, perfect hips, perfect waist, thank the ‘digital retoucher’:

“I know, it doesn’t seem natural to take out every curve, to airbrush out every blemish, but what the Art Director wants, the Art Director will get. This shows an extreme example of how far an image can be taken. I was asked to retouch almost every aspect of this image, except for the lips.” (Read on …)

I got my Fitness Magazine - November 2006 issue - (which is strange, since I have not received my October issue yet!) in the mail on Saturday, and I just got the chance to read through it …on the first few pages it reads: You Asked. Do Models Eat? Do they work out?

** umm, ever heard of airbrushing?**

This issue’s cover model is Daniella Van Grass…her favorite butt shaper is Squats, although she ‘absolutely hates them, they really work.’ It is also important to note that she doesn’t ‘obsess over a little post-pregnancy cellulite and a few stretch marks … Afterall, her ‘body created a person!’

In the meantime, A British television station plans to screen a documentary featuring women who volunteer to slim down to super thin sizes. Britain’s Channel 4 will show “Super-Skinny Me: The Race to Size Zero” early next year, as a group of female journalists film their attempts to drop to a size 2, equivalent to a U.S. size 00. (Read on …)

This is in Jordan (according to the email I received)…whatever happened to Arabic alphabets?