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‘We should have died’ – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

‘We should have died’

BEIRUT — Nothing but death all around the place. Chunks of human flesh can be seen everywhere — a hand, a leg, half a body. Dozens of people are wounded, some covered with blood and shaking in shock after the twin suicide bombing that struck the entrance of the Iranian Cultural Center in southern Beirut on Feb. 19, killing seven, along with the two suicide bombers.

via ‘We should have died’ – Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East.

Contemplating Selflessness #haiku #photography

penned in moon dust

emerging

she who risks her life

seeking life in the snow

mother’s warmth

*

warm your arms

serving with no complaint

broken, impatient 

Each of us have been recipients of the selfless care of others. As I face surgery on Wednesday and more weeks of recovery from my accident, I am grateful to family and friends who are taking care of all the details in my life.

And thanks to Kristjaan for the haiku journey toward Selflessness

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Kafana Samtan Campaign to Restore Al-Saeh Library a Success

It is great that progress has been made and still shameful that power wannabes – trashed the library and used a falsehood to justify their acts meant to impress – NO ONE!

Hummus For Thought

1618327_713649175332752_833303508_o Screenshot from Zoomaal.com

When unknown assailants torched his library on January 3, Father Ibrahim Sarrouj responded by forgiving them. The assailants, supposedly Muslim fundamentalists, accused Father Sarrouj of attacking Islam by publishing a pamphlet claiming that Abu Bakr, Islam’s first caliph, once beat Muhammad’s wife Aisha with a newspaper.


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The library in question is Tripoli’s famed Al-Saeh Library, Lebanon’s second largest and home to over 80,000 books of all kind. Despite security forces being notified that Father Ibrahim Sarrouj had been threatened by religious extremists, the library was still badly damaged. No one knows exactly how many books were destroyed, but it is estimated that the number may be as high as two thirds.

The irony is that not only did Father Sarrouj never write such a pamphlet – his library contained and still contains numerous priceless Islamic books – but the supposed event…

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Cameron ‘forgets’ to apply for EU money to help flood victims

Pride's Purge

(not satire – it’s the Tories!)

Out of all the many blunders committed by the government so far in its response to the devastating flooding, surely forgetting to apply for cash for the flood victims from the EU’s Solidarity Fund has got to be the biggest.

In 2007, the UK received £127m from the EU to help flood victims after the devastating flooding during the summer. But this time the government hasn’t even applied for the money.

EU governments have 10 weeks to apply for the cash – which means it’s already too late to claim for money to help the first victims of the flooding, some of whom were affected as far back as last November.

Of course, some very, very cynical people might say the government hasn’t forgotten to claim the money at all – Cameron just decided it wouldn’t be politically comfortable to be seen to be getting…

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A modest proposal

Fit and Feminist

The Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue is set to be released next week, marking fifty years of the nation’s premier sports magazine giving attention only to women when they are clad in little more than a thong and a prayer.  And because evidently they felt like they hadn’t pissed off feminists quite enough for their liking, they went full steam ahead and teamed up with Mattel to make Barbie the centerpiece of the celebration.

I imagine the team behind this peed themselves a little in excitement over all of the controversy sure to be generated by pairing up two of the most prehistoric relics of American femininity and branding it #unapologetic. How defiant of them!  Defending retrograde beauty standards in the face of a culture that has…continued to embrace said beauty standards.  What courage!

The only way this could have become an even bigger pile of rage catnip for…

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#StripForJackie Campaign Gains Momentum

Hummus For Thought

As part of the growing scandal surrounding Caretaker Youth and Sports Minister Faisal Karam’s call for an investigation over Lebanese Olympian Jackie Chamoun’s past photoshoot, Lebanese netizens have already come up with a creative way to support Jackie: Stripping.

The #StripForJackie campaign has just started and already features 10 models, men and women, who have stripped featuring a “I am Not Naked/I am a [Enter Job description]” tagline. Photographers Tarek Moukaddem and Carl Halal are the men behind the lenses (and in front of it) and they have called for everyone to join by sending them a message and booking an appointment.

Why are they doing this? Here’s the page’s description:

“Some women are beaten or killed, others are raped, and the media shifts their attention to a confident talented beautiful woman who represents her country at the Olympic games. This is about telling our “peers” to set…

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