A coptic jewlery shop owner was gunned down, him and 3 others in his shop in Zeitoun, by 2 gunmen wearing sunglasses and wigs. The incident is problematic because the gunmen didn't attempt to steal anything, and the whole thing has the air of gangland assassination.

 Two men in wigs and
sunglasses shot dead four Coptic Christians jewellery shop workers in
the Egyptian capital on Wednesday in an apparent gangland-style
killing, a security official and witnesses said.

The shooting happened at
around 12:30 pm (0930 GMT) in the mixed Christian-Muslim district of
Zeitoun in northeast Cairo, the official said, adding that the
attackers escaped without stealing anything from the shop.

Eyewitnesses said that the
men arrived at the shop on a motorbike, walked in and shot dead the
shop's owner and three employees before driving away, in a rare act of
brazen bloodshed in the capital.

"Preliminary investigations
show that the motivation behind the attack could have been revenge,"
the official said, adding that the owner had frequent disputes with
local residents.

The official had initially said the killings were the result of a drive-by shooting.

Police, who swiftly cordoned off the area, found 15 revolver shell casings at the scene, the official said.

Now, I received over 5 calls from different coptic friends all frantic and all talk about how they believe this was done by muslims and that we are on the doorsteps of a fantastic case of sectarian strife. While their ranting has the air of conspiracies and panic to them ( no one knows the identity of the shooter and whether this is related to religion to begin with), this kind of talk is a harbinger in itself. A panicked coptic population that believes that muslims are out to kill them- with their general distrust of the egyptian authorities ability to protect them- could end up taking matters into their own hand, which could elad to catastrophic results. The other problem lies in the location: Zaitoun is a neighborhood with lots of christians, and it has 4 big churches there. But it also has the "AlAziz bellah" street, which is a hub for "Ansar Al Sunnah" a wahabi salafist islamist group in Egypt. That street houses tons of stores that sell nothing but inflammatory islamist speeches on tape (usually not very copt friendly) and it houses the "AlAziz Bellah" mosque, which, let's say, is an Ansar Al Sunnnah dominated mosque. There are usually tensions there to begin with between the christians and the muslims because of them, so if anyone commits any rash action, this whole area could explode in full muslims-chiristian conflict. It's still early for such talk, but one thing is true: whomever committed this crime, no matter what their reason might be, they are conjuring up the secterian demon, and that is never good.

"Oh, the way we treated the State Secuirty soldiers was so horrible it bordered on funny. We would keep them crammed inside those cars in the sun for hours, and then when we take them out, we start humiliating them. We would slap them, beat them, spit on them, kick them. We would pick them off randomly and beat them with our belts. And then we would start making them fight each other. We would tell them that this or that soldier insulted them or their governorate or something, so they would fight him and people from his governrate. We would make sure they hated each other, so that they would never unite against us again. We fill them up with hate and rage, and we would work them up until they can't take it anymore, and then we release them on the people at protests. This is why when they beat the people there they really beat them hard. It's the only outlet we provide them for their aggression and hate. Sure, it's sick and demented, but they were orders from up top, from the Minister of Interior himself. And don't kid yourself, they all demand that we become worse than their predecessor. Every one of those guys suddenly finds himself in charge of the security of the state, and the state is huge, so if he can't break their spirits, scare them shitless, anything could happen, and then he could be disgraced and out of job. Same goes for us, and the population we work with doesn't help. You learn quickly that Respect won't work with them, because they have been wronged for so long that if you try to remedy it they will get this sense of entitlement about it and demand even more. And sooner than later, they will get riled up and things will get out of line. No, my boy, fear is good. Fear is what keeps our people in line and saves this country from tearing itself apart. We do terrible things, because the alternative is much much worse. Nothing can change that."

An ex State-Security General friend of my father, yesterday! 

An Egyptian cultural institution decided to have their own set of cultural events celebrating the Nakba's 60th anniversary, which was organized by a female blogger who is known for her hatred to Israel and Zionists. The Events were big and well organized, which meant there was a lot of funding to it. Upon some people investigating the source of that money, lo and behold their shock when they found out that one of the chief financiers of the event was an organization helmed by a very known Israeli politician (he is now the President of Israel..hint hint). The girl was naturally shocked and dismayed, and with her probably scores of people who naturally felt dirty after celebrating..sorry..commemorating the nakba with "zionist money". Personally I see nothing to it, even if you are against Israel and Zionists. Look at the bright side people: You are commemorating the Nakba with Israeli money. Let me explain it again because you are stupid and didn;t get it the first time: you have taken money from Israelis and staged anti-Israeli events with it. How that is not a win, I have no Idea.

Even really old ones. They might ask for their property that we confiscated or something. We can't have that now, can we? Israel Maztav has a very interesting commentary on this:

 These people had no intention of demanding any money or property from
the Egyptians or their government. But what if they had? What if they
wanted to move back to Egypt? The Egyptians would have said no. So why
do they complain so much when we say no to the 'Palestinians' moving
back? You can bet that those 70 and 80-year olds would at least have
been willing to live in peace. Are the Egyptians afraid of Jews moving
back? Do they feel guilty about what they did to their Jews? Do they
realize that if the Jews ever took them to an international tribunal
the Egyptian government may not have a leg on which to stand?

Dude, you are over-thinking it. They are Jews, therefore any logical rules will not be applied to them in Egypt. End of story.  

The Egyptian police finds a weapon cache and explosives near the Gaza border, the same day the government extends the emergency law. Those two events are completely disconnected, no matter what conspiracy theorists or rational opposition members may contend! Completely disconnected, I tell you!

Ladies and gentlemen, the truce between Iran and Egypt is a long time coming. Egypt is framing itself well at being the regional Sunni heaveyweight that counters Iran. A state-sponsored newspaper just accused Iran of being behind the rebels attack on Khartoum. It's a government-sponsored newspaper so it could be all lies, but it does send the signal that the egyptian regime won't warm up to Iran anytime soon. Too bad we are not as smart or dedicated as they are.

Oh Joy!

The news is as follows: a lebanese girl named Maisaa got allegedly raped by her fiance Waleed in her house. So the next time he passed by she brought out the family AK and shot him in the chest, killing him. Now the doctors claim that she is still a virgin, so the jury is still out on what really happened, but if he truly tried to force himself on her, I am all for this girl killing his rapist ass. Good for her, honestly. This shit happens all the time and no one does anything about it. Maybe the next guy will think twice before trying to rape his girl. No news though on whether the girl will get the same slap on the wrist men get for committing similar crimes against women. Here is hopin!

First of all, I would like to note that I have nothing but love and respect to Hossam at arabawy, despite our political ..ehh…..yeah, let's just call them differences. Sure the differences only seems to intensify after his trip to the US and his stay in Berkley, but that's his deal and his journey, and I honestly can't spout off on that. 

I can, however, make fun all I want with the crazy array of characters that he seems to broadcast on his blog. The guy has managed to show-off every Yahoo-activist there is in freakin Berkley, which is AMAZING, considering how it's the job for those who don't have one over there. But I am not going to make fun of those either. Instead, I will choose to make fun of those who participated in the Nakba anniversary concert, for it seems to have unearthed that rare breed of Hip-hop Palestinian/palestinian rights artists, such as Patriarch and the P-Stine RYDERS , or the I-can-t-believe-an-Egyptian-could-be-so-lame DJ EMANcipation (get it, Eman..Emancipation? She is so clever). They are all wearing authentic palestinian Hip-Hop gear, which has to include a "Resistance" T-shirt and a Palestinian Kuffeyah.

Now, if we ignore the lameness of the artists (P-STINE Ryders? P-STINE????), we will come along to the real issue that I find all of this very fascinating and eye-opening. As I watched the pictures, as I surveyed the artists, one question kept popping in my mind: Are they actually celebrating the Nakba? For reals?

Now, if you can manage to avoid your distaste for the concept of celebrating the national catastrophe of palestinians, I would like to inform you of the good news: The Nakba is on its way to become a national palestinian Holiday, just like Passover became one for the jews. I mean, think about it, how long after the exodus, and after the 40 years of being lost in the desert, did Passover become a national jewish holiday with its own designated food? It must've started with the same spirit of this Nakba concert: as a way to commemorate a painful collective memory. This means that in like 10 years of such Nakba celebration, chances are someone will invent a Nakba meal, made exclusively of Palestinian dishes, and it will become a tradition of sorts, to eventually sprout its own line of Nakba greeting cards. The day will come where we will meet the Palestinians at our workplaces and schools and wish them a happy Nakba face to face, or give them the probably expensive Nakba cards that Hallmark will probably designate an entire division for. It will be great!  

And when this happens, please, don't forget the Pioneers who turned the Nakba from a day of mourning to a day of celebration: The P-Stine Ryders, DJ EMANcipation and the entire crew of Nakba at 60 concert. Without their tireless efforts, we wouldn't probably have Nakba candy ("Tastes delicious, just like Zionist blood") in 30 years. But remember, when it happens, you've heard it here first!

How cool is that? :) 

A light turns out in Baghdad! God be with his family and friends!

I got lots of e-mails on this last piece of news: A Saudi owner of an egyptian Hotel has decided ti impose his religious belief on his establishment and prevent the serving of Alcohol in his Hotel. Some people naturally applauded (moronic unappreciative of alcohol people) the very islamic decision and others freaked out and talked about how Saudi is flexing its financial muscles and spreading their brand of Islam in the region. The later group is a bunch of mornonic fuckwits who haven;t been paying attention this past 10 years: Spreading their image of Islam? Really? Anymore than they already have? 

Look around you, you fuckin Morons. They have exported it already.  They even had you believe that Niqabs and Hijab's are parts of Islamic faith, and that Qaradawy is a moderate. Let's not ignore their television sponsored activities on the different MBC's and their numerous other channels (censoring kisses, blurting out words, re-editing entire Music Videos on MTV Arabia), or the amount of piss their directly deposit into people's brains by the fantastic islamist channels such as Al Nas and Al Resalah. And please, while we are at it, let's also mention how on Rotana they have been trying for the past 5 years to make Khaliji music and dance hip and cool, and failing miserably at it, because whether they like it or not, they are not artistic people. They understand the formulaic ways in which you can make something liked by the mass population, but they don't actually get it. However, they did manage to create a market for it in Egypt, sure it's a market that requires you to have lived in one of their countries to enjoy their tribal drivel, but it's a market nonetheless. Anyway… back to the original problem.

Me, personally, I ffind no problem with what this guy did. It's his hotel. He paid for it. He could serve rotten pigs' blood as a drink for all I care. The people, at the end of the day, have the right to either go to him for service or not. It's his money at the end of the day, and if he ends up losing out because of it, hey, one less gulfie with money to waste. How is that possibly a bad thing?

Now, if you are concerned that this will lead to other Hotels refusing to serve alcohol, well, simply start drinking alcohol more. Go to Hotels and order many many bottles of Liquor. Demand that the government issue more liquor licenses and open bars in your neighborhoods and streets. Send a message: Alcohol is still popular here, so Saudis can suck it! Anything short of this is folly and a waste of time. Or you can also get totally drunk as a group and go burn the fucker down. That should send a message as well.

In New Zealand. An Israeli woman heard it and decided to strip. How about that? And people tell me we shouldn;t support normalization and encourage Israeli tourism. Pshhh.. She should visit Egypt next. She will never get dressed!

They can either …ok..I was gonna go with a " stop men from giving other men head or lose their own" joke, but, yeah, bad taste. You get the point though. Some crazy leader from some African country decided to kill whichever dares to express "man-love". Given how an African spread AIDS to humans by once fucking a monkey, I think they are a lil late for the moral-outrage brigade.  What do you think?

A list of all possible and improbably fetishes. Who knew there was a disabled people fetish?

Today is the day Michael Sulliman gets appointed president of Lebanon, ending a tumultuous  year of political instability in Lebanon. We won't discuss here the compromise they've achieved, because I am sick and tired of watching M14 get their asses handed to them and then have them smile to the camera and claim that they are "not losing" and that "co-existence" has been achieved once again. Well, good for you Saad: They get to keep their weapons, the favorable arabic popular opinion and power over the country, while, you, well, you get to not have your downtown business disrupted. Ohhh….Great fuckin win. I mean sure, Having Aoun realizing that he won't ever be President is nice and all, but given how discredited he is, this is no trophy!

Now, if I was Saad, and I wanted the armed Shia faction of my population disarmed and without support, well, I would be facing two big problems:

1) Hezbollah has a ton of weapons, and I have almost zilch in terms of weapons or militia.

2) Hezbollah is championing the palestinian cause, and that's getting him support on the arab street.

So, what I would need is a way to get them to disarm, while eradicating their support in the arab street. Hmm.. now how would one do that?

Simple: Go to the palestinian militias inside the different camps, find the people leading the Fatah militia and make a deal with them: You will make sure they get more rights and work permits and abilities to improve their living conditions, and in exchange they would engage in a limited time armed conflict with Hezbollah, which you will also finance and support monetarily. You frame it all in terms of a greater war between sunnis and shhia, and you inform them that this is their chance to avenge their compatriots in Ghaza, by taking it out on the local Iranian-supported militia, the one that sides itself with Hamas in their goals (Hezbollah).

The Palestinians do have the numbers and the weapons, and they would probably do the fighting in exchange for some sweet deal that the M14 forces would give them. The confrontation between Fatah and Hezbollah would concentrate Hezbollah's resources and fighters on the various Lebanese refugee camps, and they will naturally spare no expense to win. Imagine the headlines as every lil supporter of Hezbollah because of Palestine turns the news to see the Hezbollah Shia killing the same Palestinians they claim to protect. Hezbollah's reputation gets instantly tarred, people-confused by what they are seeing- will start listening to people who will talk to them about the Zio-Iranian conspiracy and how the Shia are the thorn in Islam's side that needs to be removed in order for the religion to be whole again. The Entire arab world will turn on its Shia population in the areas that it could, and massive amount of aid and support will suddenly be bestowed on the M14 government, they who want to stop the Iranians from taking over arab land. It's a fantastic solution and given how stupid our population is, it can not fail. Sure, it's a completely immoral and unethical solution, has no respect for humanity, employs the dirtiest of propaganda sectarian tactics and will lead to the Sunni-Shia war and the eventual genocide of all the Shia in the arab peninsula, or vice versa, but hey, the situation would be resolved once and for all. How could that possibly be a bad thing?

I don't care what colour you are. I don't care where you're from. I
don't care what you do for a living. I don't care what class you are,
how you dress, what you smoke or drink or who you know or whom you've
fucked.

I hate you all. I hate every last living, breathing, snot and feces
producing, promiscuously copulating, celebrity obsessed, opinionated
one of you. From right here in Toronto right around the planet and
back, coast to coast, nationwide and internationally. Every. Single.
Last. One. Of. You.

Fuck love. Fuck your insipid grasping at some abstract concept of
chemical imbalances and reasonless actions, fumbling around in the
crowd trying to find some cinematic supposition for real human
interaction. Fuck lust, too. Fuck you all, from the lowlife dirtbags
that think dropping trou and waving the little soldier in a sloppy arc
is a pick-up line to the sniveling of the desperate 'nice guys' who
never get the girl due to a total lack of testosterone grown stones.
Fuck you all, from the crazy, under dressed sluts that judge a persons
character by the price of their shirt, right down to the fat, flabby
chicks that think personality is enough.

Fuck you drivers, for thinking that a yellow light is a sign that says
'step on the gas'. Fuck you wheelmen and women that think it's okay to
sit in a left hand turn in the middle of morning traffic, even though
there is a protected left in the intersections before and after where
you need to make your turn. Fuck you too cyclists - you're not exempt
from the traffic laws just because your peddling, you miserable spandex
covered neon reflective fucks. Fuck you too, pedestrians. Use the
fucking crosswalk if you don't want to get hit, and use it before the
little countdown clock says '3'. You don't have enough goddamn time to
lope across four lanes of traffic.

Fuck you chick on your cellphone. Fuck you attitude packed
minimum-wager that makes my coffee. Fuck you cops that spend all their
time handing out speeding tickets. Fuck you douche bag doing ten over
the limit in the passing lane on the highway. Fuck you lady using exact
change at the counter at the grocery store. Fuck you kids having a
conversation in the doorway. And fuck you also for not getting the fuck
out of your designated handicapped seat when a pregnant or elderly
person gets on the fucking bus.

Fuck taxes. Fuck welfare. Fuck the whole selfish, over politicized
and party driven government system. I'm sick and fucking tired of
policies and new laws with seven hundred bylaws that nobody but you and
your cabinet reads. Fuck you councilors and your stupid 'district
improvement' plans. Fuck you unions, for asking for so much and giving
nothing more that what you already give. Fuck the whole process that
allows people who are supposed to be working for us work for interests
that only benefit the next campaign. Fuck your short-sightedness, your
rush to the bandwagons, and your incessant arguing over fuck all. Fuck
the parties, fuck the conventions, and fuck your campaigns. Do some
real fucking work for a change.

Fuck you bottles of water. You're water. You're not worth two fucking dollars.
Fuck you trendsetters, fuck you fashionistas. Fuck your little dogs
and and your idiotic outfits. Fuck your high heels in the snow. Fuck
your five dollar coffees and your fifteen dollar veggie burgers. Fuck
your health kick, your diet or your fucking new interest in kickboxing
or sushi.

Fuck your culture. Fuck your race. Fuck your sense of entitlement. Fuck
your sense of uniqueness. Fuck you all for the belief that you have
something unique and interesting to contribute. Fuck you for filling
the internet with your useless garbage. Fuck your blogs, your wikis,
your forums. Fuck your name calling. And most of all, fuck whatever you
believe. It's all wrong. Fuck it.

Fuck your complaints. Fuck your addictions. Fuck your dependencies.
Fuck your pain. Fuck your tears. Fuck selling whatever it is you sell.
Fuck your manipulation of others. Fuck movies. Fuck fucking. Fuck
everything you own. Fuck your allergies. Fuck your stupid commons
sense. Fuck your spelling and fuck your lack of education, or your
ignorance, whatever is applicable.

I don't give a fuck. Shut the fuck up and just get on with it.

Original Link (here ) 

Dear all,

There is a guy called Ahmed Maher, who is a Kefaya activist and was the person responsible for operating Esra' s facebook account and the May4th group while she was in jail. Ahmed has been on the run from even before the May 4th strike, never staying in one area for too long and always hiding. I thought he was being paranoid. He wasn't. A couple of days ago as he was about to drive his car, another car stopped in front of him. When he tried to back away, three cars came up from behind him. The Boy was trapped, so he gave up and let them take him at 1 pm. They took him to an isolated location and proceeded to beat the living shit out of him for 13 consecutive hours in order for him to give them his e-mail that he regsiterd with on facebook and his password, in order to shut down that facebook group, finally letting him go a bloody mess at 2 am the next day.

Now, ignore the blatant violation of his human rights and the apparent thuggery of the government for a second, and think about the following: For a good week, an entire State Security unit- possibly with follow-up by higher command- has been hunting a guy all over cairo, for the mere fact that he has a facebook account and runs a facebook group. Let that sink in for a second, and then answer me this: Don't you feel safer already? 

When it comes to the US elections this year, you get a sense that for most people it's a done deal: A democrat is going to win the Presidency this year. And while we can always count on the democrats to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory-the Clinton/Obama brawl anyone?- let's just be pessimists and submit to the idea that McCain will lose this election, and the republicans- with their brand's reputation and fundraising is at an all times low- will further lose the house and the Senate. Fine, so are they done for for the next 8 years then? Not bloody likely, and mainly because of their newest star politician: Bobby Jindal.

For those of you who don't know him, Jindal is the republican governor of Louisiana and a 36 year old Indian-American. The fact that they are polishing his image right now (some are even going as far as calling him "the next Reagan") with some even dropping hints of his being a VP to McCain, means that someone is thinking ahead in the republican party, and whomever that Lone-worlf is, he is a goddamn Genius. If McCain ran with Jindal as his running mate, a revolution will take place in the american political climate, and it could even affect this current race and tilt it to the republican favor. What am I talking about? I am talking about the entrance of the Indian Immigrant population into the political fray, and how it would change everything.

You see, the american desi population usually stays out of politics, choosing to rather to keep to themselves and concentrate on their work on families. There are millions of them, the majority of which have Upper-middle class life-style, they are capitalists by nature, they have a heavy emphasis on traditional family values in the culture, and complete haters of the illegal immigrant population. In a sense, they are the republican dream voting bloc, and yet not a single politician ever courted them. 

Enter Jindal: Young, good looking Indian from both parents, a success story by both American and immigrant Indian standards, all in all a source of pride for the Desi community at large. And if the Desi blogs in America are any indication, THEY LOVE HIM. His candidacy for VP would be a source of pride to the Indian Community, and would politically mobilize this rich but usually apathetic voting population. Not to mention, it would beat the whole "republicans are racist" meme, with them taking on a distinctively non-white population that doesn't suffer a history of opression in the US and who actually love that country. If they come out for him, and they would, the US political equation will be unbalanced irrevocably. The republicans would in effect be saying to the Democrats: "Oh, you got that black vote now, didja? Good!  Keep them. Enjoy their campaign contributions. Oh wait, they rarely donate, don't they? Well, we got us the Indian votes, and boy do they have deep pockets. Suckaaaaas!"

The republicans should make McCain to pick Jindal even if it costs the earlier to lose the election, because that would be the perfect way to introduce Jindal to the american political stage and getting his name known. If they start having him on TV as their candidate for VP, making him the focus of the party the way the Democrats did with Obama, with the prospects of nominating him for President in 4 years, then they just locked themselves the indian vote and support throughout the coming two elections at least. Not something to laugh at.

Add to that the geopolitical ramification of a Jindal presidency: He would very likely bring India and the US closer together, forming an alliance that would be crucial for the survival of the US as a world power for the coming decades. The Chinese are becoming too big for the US to keep back on their own, and the Russians- aided by Venezuela, North Korea, Iran and every other despotic regime in the world- are too busy finding new ways to stab the US in the back, while the Europeans "allies" are being useless as usual, with half of them wishing to see the day where "the US is humbled", just like they are. An Alliance with India- given their common attributes of Language, democratic values, reverence for capitalism, secularism and history of fighting islamist terrorism- would be the most logical move for the US in the current political climate, and would probably benefit them greatly in the long run, espeically that the two new up and coming world powers are India and China, and they both despise each other, and the US adminstration knowing that a confrontation with China will eventaully become inevtiable. If you are going to piss off a Nuclear Giant like China, you best have one of your own, and in this case that would be India.

This is all, of course, all premature. McCain didn't choose his VP yet, and it's very possible that it might not be Jindal. But boy oh boy, if he does choose him! Now That would be change!