File Under: You've Got to Be F'ng Kidding

Daddy made you do it. Made you dress up in an abeya and go into a girl's school to collect the pay of your three sisters who are workers there. Calling B.S. on the story. The boy said he "didn't want to do it, but his father demanded that he try to collect the money." Someone tell me what is wrong with men in this country?!! They are either marrying their little eight-year-old daughters off for money... or not letting their daughter's get married because they depend on the income the daughter brings in [and making their brother do the dirty work to collect the cash]. Here's a novel idea: Get a job and become self-supportive. [Yeah, I know. That would require actually working in a lot of cases, but perhaps you could become a travel agent at the Qatar office in Khobar. Those men, but for Agent M and Agent X, don't seem to be required to do anything more than play on their mobiles and do the sudoku in the paper.]

A small part of me wants to feel sorry for this woman. It is a very, very small part of me. The other part of me - the much, much larger one - has no sympathy whatsoever for her. Perhaps I've just become to 'desensitized' over the past decade. Haven't we all? A Saudi woman who goes by Umm Faisal [that means mother of Faisal - nothing more - not her real name] "has accused her sons of beating her and throwing her out of her house after calling her crazy." The "crazy" part I am inclined to believe... Her "sad story started when she married one of her relatives..." Lady, that's how all "sad" stories start. Put your big girl panties on.

Apparently "her husband's family did not get along with her and [she] alleges that her brother-in-law used to beat her." That's where I lost even the smallest iota of sympathy in this "sad" big fish tale saga. Her BROTHER-IN-LAW used to beat her. What?!? Is this normal? Do brother-in-law's here, in The Sandbox, routinely beat women who are NOT their wives? Have you lost your freaking mind??? What kind of woman allows her brother-in-law to beat her? I have several brother-in-laws. First of all, it would never happen - none of them would even contemplate raising a hand at me; and second of all, if they ever did contemplate it and then actually struck me - they better cold-clock me on that first hit. After that, game is on. Grab a candle stick, a lamp, a damn kitchen knife, but don't let it happen and don't tell me you don't have the power to make it stop. [Well. Okay. Maybe here, you don't. And again, you've brought it upon yourselves - this man / woman / do as you're told / must obey or get beat crap - you own it. No sympathy. None.]

Then UF [for Umm Faisal or U F^ctard - you choose] says "her husband decided to move to the Eastern Province where he found a job." Couldn't find a job anywhere else? Did he work in Khobar, at a travel agency, perhaps? Never mind. They lived there for a long time and she had FOURTEEN kids! FOURTEEN!!! One day - out of the blue and totally unexpectedly - her "husband got sick and, because of this, was fired." Yeah right. You can't be fired if you are not an ex-pat, in this country. Everybody knows that. The "financial situation became so bad that [she] was forced to ask three of [her] sons who had jobs" for financial help. Why didn't you ask the other four? Or one of your seven daughters? Marry them off - you can raise a boat load of money that way. Sell 'em to the highest bidder. Financial situation solved. You're welcome. I can't go on. It is just too sad [/sarc off]. Read it for yourself and tell me that this isn't one of the biggest loads of NYT-style crap you've read in a long time - don't forget to read the comments - apparently only two of the ten feel the same way about it as I do. Oh, and when you're done reading it, blame it all on President Bush. Surely this is all his fault. Everything else wrong in the world seems to be.

A little two-year-old girl has been beaten to death. Her parents were just trying to get the jinn out of her. I'm not up on the whole jinn thing and will admit to knowing very, very little about it. I was under the impression that it wasn't really something that many still believed in, here, though. Guess I was wrong.

Providing Endless Entertainment

What did I ever do for entertainment before The Kids? The Baby got new tennis balls this week. She luvs luvs luvs her balls. Squeaky balls are best for inside, but outside we need tennis balls. I got the can of balls at the Commissary and brought it home and pulled it out of the bag with her at my feet: "Look what Mommy got you!" And she danced and pranced in delight. "New tennis balls!" She carries one around, constantly, and proudly, like it is her most prized possession. [We go through a lot of tennis balls. Where do they go?!? They are not under the couches, the bed, bureaus or in the toy box. And no, they are not buried in the back yard, either. She takes it outside with her and makes sure that she has it before coming back in. If it gets left out on the patio, accidentally, she will sit and cry at the sliding glass doors until she one of us lets her go out to retrieve it. A tennis ball CANNOT spend the night outside on the patio. No way.]

So, yesterday afternoon, I said, "Come on Kids! Who wants to go outside and play?" Both of them came running - The Baby with her new tennis ball and The Boy with his dinosaur. I told The Boy to go get his squirrel instead and he dropped the dinosaur and raced back to the toy box to bring me the squirrel. Amazing. He really does know his toys! Out we went. I give myself a little credit for being so talented that I can play tug and pull with The Boy and his flying squirrel with one hand and play toss the tennis ball for The Baby with the other. [Oh yeah. That is talent.]

The tennis ball ended up bouncing into the pool several times. The Baby won't get it. Ut uh. No way. She has absolutely NO idea that she is a water "dog." [I'm pretty sure neither of my two Kids know that they are actually members of the canine family. I'm not gonna tell them.] Standard Poodles were bred to be swimmers. That is how the "Poodle clip" haircut came to be. It isn't just some foo-foo style that someone decided would look beautiful on Poodles. No. It was a clip that left their hair long over their joints for swimming in cold water while they were retrieving ducks or other fowl for their hunter-masters. The Baby won't even retrieve her own tennis ball! She has The Boy do it for her and he dutifully does. Patiently. Time and time and time again. Awww. What a good big brother!

"The little guy was kinda funny-lookin'."

From Fargo:

[Marge is interviewing the two hookers whose clients were the two suspects]
Hooker No. 1: Well, the little guy was kinda funny-lookin'.
Marge Gunderson: In what way?
Hooker No. 1: I dunno... just funny-lookin'.

A couple of weeks ago Inam [HB 13 & 16 or 17] asked me to get his some safety glasses. Fine. No problem. Next time I'm downtown I can pick some up. I found some here at the Commissary on our compound so I got them for him. What happened to the pair he had when he worked for us before? The man would wear what looked like scuba diving glasses, a face-mask and gloves when he would clean the bathrooms or do the floors. You'd think I was asking him to clean with industrial-strength chemicals. I'm not. And, I'm not really making fun of him, although it is rather comical, his cleaning get-up. I wear gloves when I clean. Don't blame Iman at all for wearing gloves. I will happily supply gloves. I don't, however, wear a face-mask. Looks like a mask a surgeon would put on - or what the dental hygienist wears. It's only Lysol in the bathrooms, and either bleach or ammonia on the tile floors - diluted, at that! I don't quite get the safety goggles. If I can get his permission to take a picture of him, I'll post it. In the meantime, four days a week when I see him in his get-up, there is no way I can help but smirk.

Happiness to be Shared

While Blogger is still getting its act together, if you haven't seen this, you MUST watch it. DO NOT EVER AGAIN judge a book by its cover!* Susan Boyle HAS TALENT. This is amazing. I have watched it no less than a half dozen times.

Sing It Susan! With no further ado:

Click here.

*Unless the author's name begins with... Oh, never mind. It's just me. I'm sure.

More Tomorrow

Blogger is doing strange stuff. I wanted to post - didn't because of some outage. Now it is doing weird things. Took some really CUTE pictures today. They'll be up tomorrow, provided Blogger is. Can't change fonts. Can't add pictures. Nothing. Help. I'm being held hostage by Blogger! Do not send help. Send wine!!!

What's up with this? It was supposed to be down - out - something, for maintenance at 2A P-something time. It still is not right!

Jamie Foxx is an Asshole

And I hope he gets fired and I hope his new movie, whatever it is, gets such bad reviews it goes straight to DVD. Why is it okay for him to say racially charged remarks on his radio show [who even knew he had a radio show?] but it is NOT okay for Don Imus to say them. Apparently Jamie Foxx's fellow-air-heads called Miley Cyrus [who I don't care about but then I'm not a teenage girl, and don't have teenagers who are all "raged" with her] a "white b!tch" on the air of his show and said he hoped she contacted std's and got into drugs and said she should make a "xes tape and grow up." Don Imus called a woman's basketball team a bunch of nappy headed somethingorothers and got fired. No outrage for Jamie Foxx though.

You cannot have it both ways. If white people are not allowed to say "racially charged" comments in any way shape or form, then black people can't be allowed to either. If Jamie Foxx were to get fired though, it would be a racial thing. The white man holding him down. Give me a freakin' break!

And, because I can't resist, because polldaddy is "wicked cool," what do you think?

Cement Wall

Why oh why oh why don't take the camera with me on our daily jaunts through the compound? I really need to. I'm going to need to start wearing a back-pack instead of just a fanny-pack. Poop bags, bowl, water, chapstick, gum, phone and camera. Actually my cell phone does take pictures but I don't know how to get them to my computer. Far too technical for me... Can only use the "old" camera - the one I have experience with. Anything else just doesn't work. Anyway...

A month or so ago a notice was sent to all residents in our compound that Conocarpus trees were no longer allowed to be planted and that they were all going to be removed. "It has been noted that there are many overgrown Conocarpus trees planted near driveways, swimming pools and sidewalks... This particular type of tree is a fast growing species with an aggressive root system. When Conocarpus trees grow large they often cause damage to utilities, driveways and house foundations, which can be quite expensive to repair... Therefore, in order to prevent further damage to Company properties and to protect house foundations, walls, underground piping, etc., you will be contacted to schedule the removal of existing Conocarpus trees in your front and back yards. The planting of Conocarpus trees is not allowed without written permission. Repairs to any damage incurred to the property due to unauthorized planting of Conocarpus will be at the resident's expense."

We have a front yard full of Conocarpus trees. We planted them when we moved in. I purposely selected them because they are fast growing and I wanted them for privacy. We live on a main street and when people walk by they can see in our windows. Not that it is a big deal, since there is nothing all that exciting happening in our house. But still... We've not yet been contacted to have them removed. Supposedly something else will be planted in their place. I hope so. And it is going to have to be mature - and big - and full.

A week or so ago, DH and I noticed a house not far from us putting up a cement block wall. Full privacy. Each day that we passed it, I said "If they take our trees out, that's what I want. A full wall." It was a nice wall. It was almost finished. Two days ago, we walked by and they were taking the wall down. What? Why did you put it up in the first place? And now - before it could even be painted, you're tearing it down? Makes no sense. No sense at all. Job security, I guess, for a group of imported laborers. Build a wall. Now, unbuild it.

Pretty Pathetic

...that a woman's brothers can force her to get a divorce from a man she married because the brothers believe they are tribally incompatible. What business is it of the brothers, anyway? And if the judge can't say, "There will be no divorce" then what is the point of a civil justice system? Now the uncles are going to get involved to prevent the divorce from taking place. Ridiculous. Just ridiculous.

Interesting. I didn't even know we had an option for vanity license plates, here. Certain letter combinations are not allowed: BAR, BUT, ASS, XES, NUT, USA and some others. 90,000 license plates are going to have to be replaced.

In order to qualify for welfare the head of the household must have a long beard, have memorized part of the Qur'an, and have no television receivers in the house. Not a bad idea, really. Take cable television away from the welfare collectors in the States and you would have a lot fewer welfare recipients. Perhaps they would even consider getting a job or something.

Worse Than I Thought It Would Be

Last week I went to the Qatar office to get our tickets to Greece and our return from Istanbul, and dealt with Agent M for the second time. I probably neglected to mention when I blogged about it, that when I went downtown I didn't actually get the physical tickets - I only got "the authority" to get tickets using our miles. Once you get "the authority" you have ten days to get your actual tickets. I told Agent M that I would come on Saturday to get the tickets. Well, Saturday didn't work out, because DH had to work and I couldn't get a driver [everyone goes downtown on Saturday - drivers are in high demand and you need to reserve one, no later than Thursday, or you don't get one].

So, yesterday DH and I went downtown to pick the tickets up. We pull up in front of the Qatar office and DH says, "You just run in and get the tickets and I'll wait here." Okay. Fine. So I went into the office - I was the ONLY customer. Agent M is sitting at a desk tap-tap-tapping away on a computer and he says, "Have a sit." So I did. After a few minutes - ten? - I said, "Would it be better if I came back?" "No. I weel bee with you after thees customer." Hello? There is NO customer in the chair in front of the desk you are working at. I don't know what you are doing, but I've been here for ten minutes waiting and it seems to me when there is an actual "body" in the office that whatever it is that is consuming your time could be put, momentarily, on hold. Fifteen minutes... He finally comes and sits at the desk that I am, patiently, waiting at. "Yez. What kin I halp for you?" "I need to pick our tickets up. They were supposed to be ready on Saturday." "Yez. Your good name, Madam?" I tell him. "Yez. Two travelers." "Yes." "Gist one minute, Madam." And Agent M again starts tap-tap-tapping into his computer. One minute, he said. One hour would have been much more accurate.

I am watching the minute hand on the clock on the wall move. It was at the "one" [five past nine] when I arrived. It is now at the "seven." I've been in the office for half an hour. So much for having the tickets ready. Nope. They weren't. Agent M is frantically typing on his computer to get our tickets "physically" issued and heavily emphasizing the "enter" key. Tap tap tap WHAM. Tap tap tap WHAM. During this time, Agent M is also answering the phone every time it rang.

Several other men came from the "back room," into the front office at nine forty-five. Three Saudi's. All three of them congregated at one desk and were having their morning "So, Abdullah, what did you do last night?" conversation. The phone in the Qatar office continues to ring and NOT ONE OF THEM would answer it. Apparently only Agent M is allowed to answer the phone. Although I'm not sure "allowed" is the word I am looking for. Designated. He is the designated phone answerer. It might require work and the three Saudi men weren't having anything to do with that! [Agent M is either Indian or Pakistani.]

I was in the office for almost an hour when DH finally decided that I must have gotten lost in there or something and he came in and said, "What the hell is going on? I thought you said that you only had to pick the tickets up? What are you doing?" "Dear, what does it look like I'm doing? The tickets weren't ready and 'he' is issuing them, now." Agent M continues, tap tap tap WHAM... Reams of paper are printing out. I am not kidding. And it is one of the old "tractor" feed printers that feeds one continuous long sheet of paper - and for our two tickets several trees died. It took an hour in that office to get two tickets. Amazing the amount of tap tap tap WHAM that was required and the paper that was generated.

It would have been impossible for me to not make it clear that this is the most inefficient poorly run office of any office that I have visited in all my time here in The Sandbox. Qatar needs to know they are employing a bunch of men who do nothing. No work at all. When I was there last week, dealing with Agent M, he sent me into the back room to get an authorization from someone - will call him Agent X, who by the way, is Filipino - and Agent X was the ONLY one working the back office. One Saudi who was not in the standard issue gray pants, white shirt and burgundy tie uniform, but dressed in a thobe [the manager?] was doing the sudoku in the newspaper, one Saudi had the green Solitare screen up on his computer but was talking on his mobile and I'm not sure what the other one was doing. Three of them. At least two of them were NOT doing what they supposedly are being paid to do. The only two who do any work at the Qatar office in Khobar are Agent M and Agent X.

Fire them. All three of them. They won't be missed - no one will ever know they are gone - since they don't do anything, anyway. Give Agent M a raise. Double his pay. If you fire the three men who don't do anything and double Agent M's pay, Qatar would still be saving money. I made it clear during my rant to Agent M that the fact that the office is so poorly run, basically inept and most inefficient is probably not his fault and something which I highly doubt he has any control over, and that it is more than apparent that he has his plate full with too much work as he is one of the only men in the office who appears to perform any function but taking up space. The two Saudi's who were there for my rant - one in his uniform sitting at his computer but playing with his mobile, and the other who was standing there in his thobe [Mr. Sudoku, from last week] heard every word of my rant and stared at me with dagger eyes. If looks could kill, I'd have been on that floor. DH, for the first time in our married life, did not even try to stop me from my rant. He wasn't happy about the wait, either. Yesterday was his day off and our trip to the Qatar office cut into his golf time. Am I going to let Qatar Airways know how I feel about dealing with the office in Khobar? You bet I am!

Really, I don't know why I continue to be so loyal to this airlines. The service is either superior or sorely lacking - there does not seem to be a happy medium. The flights they offer to the States are the reason I want to continue to fly with them. Non-stop from Doha to either New York or Washington. Cuts off about six hours on what is a very long trip. If we fly KLM/Northwest, there is a three or four hour layover in Amsterdam, and a couple more hours in Detroit before getting on a plane to Raleigh. There are some other choices, but again, they require several stops and layovers and I am just getting to old and irritable to deal with not being able to just get on the plane and go. So, I continue to fly Qatar... Thankfully I either deal with Regina [our travel agent in the States], or I get my tickets on-line, so I don't have to deal with Qatar's Khobar office very often.

This country has been screaming about Saudization since we arrived. A couple of years ago a directive was issued that said all travel agents would be Saudi's and no one else would be allowed to have those jobs. Oh, really? Then why are Agent M and Agent X at the Qatar office? Because they are the only two who do ANY work and if you fired them, there'd be absolutely no point in having a Qatar office in Khobar. We all know how that worked out - firing anyone who wasn't Saudi and working as a travel agent. It didn't. Same thing for taxi drivers. They were all going to be Saudis; no other nationality was going to be allowed to drive cabs. That didn't work out either. Speaking for only one company that I am familiar with - a lot of cars were wrecked in accidents, the Saudi drivers failed to show up for their scheduled shifts, and one of them tried to rape a woman when she got in the cab for a ride to the airport and when she rebuffed his advances he beat the crap out of her with a tire iron [a rape which was flat out denied by authorities until they were confronted by nurses who treated the woman while she was in the hospital].

I am not saying that there are no hard-working Saudi men. I'm sure there are. DH works with many of them that are. He also works with some who will do just about anything to avoid having to actually work. What I am saying is that if you are going to achieve the Saudization that you want and get rid of all of us expats who are working in jobs that you believe Saudi's should rightfully have, then you are going to have to do something to make sure that the work is actually done. Just because you have an office full of Saudi travel agents does not mean that they are actually performing a service. I've seen it with my own eyes. And, they are not.

That Bad Image? Continued...

The CHILD that her mother was trying to get divorced from a pedophile, remains married to him. Not because of the CHILD or her mother, though. The old man does not want a divorce. The little girl is what, SEVEN or EIGHT?!? A CHILD! The court, apparently, felt compelled to uphold its earlier verdict that the CHILD "must reach the age of puberty before determining whether she would continue her marriage solemnized in June 2007." Almost two years ago...

The judge tried to convince the man to allow the divorce, to no avail. Doesn't the judge have the authority to make an independent ruling? Guess not. "Sources said if the elderly man continues to refuse and the judge sticks to his verdict, the Court of Cassation will hand the case over to another judge." How long is all of this going to take? And, has anyone even given any thought to what impact this marriage is going to have both psychologically and physically to this CHILD?

The article says that reporters "were barred from attending the court proceedings." Yeah. I bet they were. Don't want this getting out and adding to the Country's image, right? Like the eye-for-an-eye case with 15-year-old Ali that is happening, though, it is precisely these types of things - underage marriages, gouging out an eye - that gives others a perception of what this Country is like. Bad image. Brought upon yourselves...

And in other news:

Oops. I missed another one. A Saudi man was executed beheaded for rape and robbery, yesterday. It was not in the local papers. This makes number 22.

Another man's life has been needlessly ended, all because of a few men carelessly joyriding. In some countries this would be considered manslaughter. The man that is dead? A thirty-year-old Asian expat worker. Disposable. All three men involved need to be arrested, not just the one driver. Isn't this part of the new driving laws? No "joyriding?" Doesn't matter. The laws are not effective because the traffic police are not allowed to do their job.

More PCRC, here. Two busses collided; forty injured.

human clown car reality show

Well that didn't take long. The human clown car IS going to have her own show. She's got 14 kids; Jon and Kate only have 8. Jon and Kate have made the money they set out to make. Time for them to move over. Click here for a most flattering picture of this woman. She should be embarrassed. She isn't. She is an attention seeking ________ and she's getting everything should could have dreamed of, and then some. Somewhere I recently read that she is applying in California for WIC and something else because she can't afford baby formula. Hmmph. Really? Is California going to make her sign some sort of agreement that she will have to repay the State for all the money she's sucked out of the system so far and for days to come? I hope so. Here's the question: Are you going to watch her show??? I for one, will NEVER EVER tune in. I don't watch Jon and Kate, either. I will admit to having seen a few episodes of Jon and Kate a while back, before I knew Kate was, like the human clown car, an attention seeking _______. Mostly I don't like or respect the way she treats her husband. Man-up, Jon. Take that skirt off, give it back to Kate and put a pair of trousers on for goodness sake. But since reality shows really are all about public humiliation...

Who Cares About a Dead Two-Year-Old?

Found this article while surfing last night at the site that scours the bowels of the internet so we don't have to. The gist of it is that a woman, Nour Hadid, is "accused of beating her 2-year-old niece to death... The child had 55 separate bruises and was beaten 'from head to toe.'" The outrage? Not over the death of the child but instead the fact that Nour had to remove her hijab to have her mugshot taken when she was booked on a charge of first-degree murder. Her husband, Alaeddin Hadid, insists his wife is innocent [of course she is] and says that the Orland Park police are "really going to be in big trouble." [Is that a threat?] He is already planning to sue. [Go for it.]

It is against their religion for his wife to show her face and he says, "we do not do this in our culture." I've called B.S. on this time and time again. There are slews of devout and religious women on this side of the world, where that religion is practiced almost exclusively, and they do not have covered faces. Princess Ameera Al-Taweel does not wear a head covering OR cover her face. Neither does Queen Rania of Jordan. Does this make them less religious? No. I don't think so. Of course both Princess Ameera and Queen Rania are stunningly beautiful so maybe only the ones that aren't must be covered [that would explain a lot]. Covering your head and face is a choice and it is NOT required as far as I can tell.

I did not know that state identification allows for women to be covered up. That is just wrong. How do you identify them if they are covered? According to Dr. Mohammed Sahloul, "Muslim women are allowed to wear hijabs in photos for their state IDs. If it's for the purposes of identification and they cover in public, then that's going to be more effective in identifying them anyway." What? Are you serious?!? You can't be. [Put the hubbly-bubbly pipe down.] You're saying that it is easier to identify someone who is covered up than not? Oh. My. Gosh. Give the taqqiya a break. Pluheeze! He doesn't "condone what she's alleged to have done... But if it was a nun accused of these crimes, would they treat her the same way?" Someone find me ONE example of a nun beating a two-year-old child to death. Just one. And then use that for comparison. Until you can find that ONE example, leave every other religious figure out of your argument. And, for the record, the answer to your question Dr. Sahloul, is yes.

But that the outrage from the Hadid family is over the wife's mug-shot and NOT over the fact that a two-year-old child was beaten to death is just wrong. There were a lot more comments on the article at the site yesterday. More than half of them have now been removed. I only skipped through them - and didn't see anything all that abusive - but someone is obviously monitoring each and every one of them and reporting them as abusive whether they are or not - because half of them have been removed. No matter. It is still wrong. That a two-year-old child is dead at the hands of an abusive relative. The child has already been buried.

Friday is Sunday

It is Friday in The Sandbox, which is pretty much the eqivalent of Sunday anywhere else. Thursday and Friday are the "weekend" here. Nothing going on. Except for a twelve-hour Monk marathon! Sixteen episodes. With no commercials. Starts in half an hour. I'll be busy until nine o'clock tonight. Is my life thrilling and exciting, or what?!? Yep. Livin' on the edge...

Bad Image - You've Given it to Yourself

If Saudi's for even an nanosecond wonder why their image has been tarnished and is distorted as viewed by other countries, this is precisely why. This just makes me wanna scream, "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!?!" You are going to gouge out the eye of a 15-year-old boy because "he damaged the eye of another boy during a brawl involving a number of schoolboys..." If the boy's mother cannot raise another 120,000 riyals, that is exactly what is going to happen. The price for the Ali to keep his own eye was set at 300,000 and Ali's mother has raised 180,000 of it. There is no contact information in the article that would enable people like me to donate money to the cause. Not that I agree with any of this, but I agree even less that a 15-year-old boy should have his eye gouged out because someone else got injured in a school yard brawl. Pathetic. Really, it is.

Unarmed? You've Got To Be__ Kidding Me!

They are not allowed to be armed? Well, then. Of course they are going to be hijacked. Arm them. Heavily. Let them shoot first and ask questions later. Gotta luv the comments from Michelle's site, though. I know very little about this whole pirate and hijacking situation but for what has been in the news [on-line] in the past several months. Eagle1 is my maritime-expert-go-to-guy. Lots of news and information about "this whole pirate and hijacking situation" at his place.

It has been going on forever, though, like since the beginning of time, and it needs to be stopped. That this is how Somalians have chosen to make a living is just wrong but at this point that is their industry and it is how they prop up their economy. They hijack a ship and then someone pays millions of dollars in ransom to get the ship and the ship's crew back. We, collectively the people countries who pay the demanded ransom, are enablers and we have allowed the Somalians to become dependent on us.

My theory is that the Somalian government or Somalian mafia - whoever is in charge there - is in on this, one hundred percent. They set up the little boats for the pirates to use, they program the boats gps system, they provide the weapons for the pirates, and then once the deed is done, they reap the financial rewards. I would find it hard to believe that some Somalian pirate actually gets to keep all of the money for a hijacked ship. Then the Somalian's in charge sanction the pirates actions by not charing them with a crime. No, the Somalian rulers have made hijacking ships and injustry and have perfected it to an art form. Bingo. My theory has been confirmed, here and here. When I typed "gps system" at the beginning of this paragraph I do so in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Whoa. Looks like I was spot on with that, too: "Somali pirates are trained fighters who frequently dress in military fatigues and use speedboats equipped with satellite phones and GPS equipment." From here.

The ships, apparently, are not allowed to be armed due to maritime laws and then there is something to do with the fact that most ports do not allow armed ships to sail in and out. Anyone know the whats and whys to this?

Hijacking ships has become big business. The crews of the merchant vessels are not allowed to be armed and thus, generally, have no way to fight back. So what needs to be done - what can be done - to stop this?

Well, That Wasn't Quite As Bad...

...as it could have been or as I thought it was going to be. I have a lot of miles on Qatar Airways. A lot. DH has almost as many - but I take one extra trip to the States every year that he doesn't. Either way, I knew I wanted to try to use our miles to get our tickets to Athens and for our return from Istanbul.

I tried to do it on-line when we went to Singapore last month and I couldn't. I'm not sure it is possible. So I got a driver and went to the Qatar office in Dhahran to see about using miles for those tickets. Impossible. When I finally got to my turn [there is the little machine that spits out deli number slips] to speak with one of the Qatar agents, I told the man what I wanted to do and what dates I wanted to travel and which cabin I wanted to sit in. He responded, "Citisoad." "Pardon me?" "Citisoad." "I'm sorry. What did you say?" "Cit-is-soad!" Oh. The seat is sold. Gotcha. What seat? My seat, or the one I want for DH? "No sits." Okay. Well, how about if we travel this date then? And he and I went around and around and around. I knew the dates I wanted to use and he could not accommodate me. Told him I wanted to fly out of Bahrain to Doha to Singapore and that I wanted either business or first class seats. One of us could have flown one day and the other one of us the next - and then coming home - one of us could sit in business class, but one of us would have had to sit in "achenemy." ["What?" "Achenemy." "Ach-enemy... Economy!"] Never mind. I'll just buy tickets. He gave me the price to pay for the tickets. He and I had a little go 'round about that, too. Why would I pay almost $1,000 more for our tickets dealing with a Qatar agent when I could do it for so much less on-line. That makes no sense to me, but then... Thanks. As I was leaving the Qatar office, a nice western man who was at the agent next to where I was said, "I've done tickets with our miles several times and as long as you do it six to eight weeks before you're going to travel, you shouldn't have a problem." Good to know.

So, today I headed downtown to the Qatar office to get our tickets to go to Greece. We are flying to Athens and spending a couple of days there and then will board a cruise which is destined for Istanbul, so that is where we need to return from. Oh my gosh. What do you think the chances are that I would have to deal with the SAME agent that I dealt with a month or so ago? Yep. Him. I meant to make a note of the spelling of his name. It started with an M, but I have no idea what the rest of it was and I can tell you that I know I cannot pronounce it. We'll call him "Agent M" for simplicity.

I left the house at 8:45 this morning. Wanted to be the first customer at the Qatar office so that I could get in and get out. [Right...] I was the first customer - but it was not an "in and out" ordeal. I was there for over an hour. I had my dates and knew exactly what I wanted to do - and had actually checked the flights on-line [but of course have no way of knowing what is available until the actual "click to purchase" screen]. I walked into the office, appropriately attired in bike shorts and a tank top covered with the requisite black bag.

I sat down at the chair in front of Agent M's desk and pleasantly and politely explained to him that I would like to travel to Athens on this date with my husband using our accumulated miles and that we would like to return Istan-- before I could even finish explaining to him what I wanted to do he was clicking away at his computer and said, "Na sits." Oh. Okay. No seats. Well, how about we travel on this date and do-- "Yes. Leave Bahrenn to Athens and return Istinbul-Dahmem." Agent M, do you have half a brain? Did I not clearly explain to you that I do NOT want to travel in or out of Dammam, that we want to go out of and come back into Bahrain, and if you put us on that flight, our truck is going to be in Bahrain and... "You tek taxi." You're kidding, right? You want us to take a taxi to get our truck at a different airport when we return? He and I did NOT do well together. Never mind that there was a ginormous communication problem given the fact that even though Agent M speaks English, his accent is so strong that it can barely qualify as English [and I am not complaining - I don't know where he is from, but I don't speak whatever it is he speaks, so I have to give him credit for speaking English, but...], the problem was that I truly do not think he quite understood that I didn't want to fly out of one airport and into another. Who does that?!?

By the time the two of us were through - neither one of us was being particularly patient. I'm sure to any bystander it had to be commical. I've got our tickets and I cannot for the life of me come up with any good reason other than wanting to use the mileage we've accumulated to benefit somehow from all of our trips on this one airline that I am putting myself through what we are going to go through to do this trip. The ONE airport that I CANNOT STAND flying in and out of is exactly where we will be departing and arriving. Dammam. I would rather drive the extra hour to Bahrain than the half-hour to Dammam. I don't want to have to wear my black covering - I see absolutely NO point of sitting in an airport lounge where you can't have Bailey's and coffee - and I dread having my suitcases searched and pawed through upon our return. No. I won't have a single thing in my bags that we are not supposed to have. It is just the point. It is so violating. Put them through the x-ray machine. If you see something, fine. But don't open them up and start whipping everything out for the whole world to see our "dirty laundry." Look at our passports for goodness sake. We've been here six years. If we were traveling in and out of this country and bringing contraband items back and forth, do you think we'd still be here? [Never mind. We'd still be here, but we wouldn't be traveling or at the airport. We'd be in jail.]

We leave out of Dammam, fly to Doha, and then to Athens. Nice connections. Not the exact date I wanted, but in order to use our points I had to be flexible since Agent M could not get us on a flight together in the same cabin or get us in and out of the same airport or whatever. Returning connections are not going to be nearly as nice, but there could be worse things in life that could happen rather than sitting in the first class lounge in Doha eating lobster and drinking wine - for SEVEN hours!

Whooo hooo! Our dream vacation is about to become a reality. Well, most of it, anyway. I know I promised photos of Singapore and then made a big mistake using the "new" camera. Live and learn. I will use the same camera, the "old" one, that has served me so well, here, for the last several years. Promise. Not a photo to be misplaced in some ridiculous "PMB" [Picture Motion Browser?!?] file. Not with the "old" Sony. No sireee. And, as of right now - making a pact with myself: If it tastes good, it is NOT allowed to cross my lips. Will be living on carrots dipped in mustard. Anyone have any advice for losing twenty pounds in two months short of liposuction? I'm listening...

11.5 Lashing Per Week

For stealing a car and some sheep. Oh, and along with those 6,000 lashes, the 27-year-old unidentified man will be spending ten years in prison. Doing some quick math: 6,000 lashes over ten years is 600 per year, 50 per month, 11.5 per week or 1.64 per day. Guessing the man, whoever he is, will never steal so much as a sideways glance at someone ever again for the rest of his life. "The accused described the sentence as 'harsh' claiming that his confession was made under duress." No way! Say it's not true... It would be interesting to find out at least what nationality he is. Lately the papers have been pretty good about identifying either by name or by nationality the deviants of society. Not in this case, though.

Speaking of deviants. Eleven men, suspected of having ties to Al-Qaeda have been arrested. I am thankful that authorities in The Sandbox are cognizant of the dangers that exist, insofar as there really are men out there who want to harm people no matter who they are or where they are. The security forces here, whoever they may be - police, etc., deserve some praise for doing what they do to keep the rest of us safe. Your efforts are appreciated!

The three men who were beheaded yesterday were all Pakistanis who were accused of murdering another Pakistani when they "kidnapped" him, "took him out to a deserted area," and "struck him on the head with a stone until he died" all for some money and gold. Worthless, senseless crime.

The NSHR [National Society for Human Rights] held a seminar to convince the powers that be that a ban on smoking in public places should be implemented. Yeah. Let us know how that works out for you. It is never going to happen in this part of the world. A "No Smoking" sign simply encourages men to light-up. Men, not women. Women seem to be much more inclined to be discreet as smokers here in The Sandbox.

Head Count

Likely won't be in our papers until tomorrow, but JammieWearingFool says "Head Choppers Very Busy Today." Three executions beheadings. Count is now at 22 for the year. Must have missed a few along the way, somehow. And last year's count - The Australian says 102 - I think it was more like 108 or 116 - something like that. Hard to keep up. Statistics are out there. They just have to be "searched" for... The three men beheaded today - are all identified by name - but NOT nationality. Guess it can only be one way, here. If the name is mentioned, the nationality isn't. And if the nationality is reported, then the name isn't. Unless - and ONLY - if an expat is involved. Then you get all the information and sometimes even a picture!

Stolen Divorce Agreement

A great letter that I "borrowed" from a commenter [iamsaved] at Michelle Malkin's place:

DIVORCE AGREEMENT

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950’s, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right so let’s just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.

We don’t like redistributive taxes so you can keep them.

You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we’ll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O’Donnell (You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them).

We’ll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have your beloved homeless, homeboys, hippies and illegal aliens. We’ll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO’s and rednecks. We’ll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood.

You can make nice with Iran and whoever else you want and we’ll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we’ll help provide them security.

We’ll keep our Judeo-Christian values. You are welcome to all the rest including Scientology, Humanism and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N.. but we will no longer be paying the bill.

We’ll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.

You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors. We’ll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right. We’ll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. I’m sure you’ll be happy to substitute Imagine, I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing, Kum Ba Ya or We Are the World.

We’ll practice trickle down economics and you can give trickle up poverty your best shot. Since it often so offends you, we’ll keep our history, our name and our flag.

Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I’ll bet you ANWAR which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.

Sincerely,

John J. Wall Law Student and an American

P.S. Also, please take Barbara Streisand & Jane Fonda with you.

So worth sharing. Even if it has absolutely NOTHING to do with living in the Middle East or in The Sandbox. At some point, though, we will be returning home, to the United States. I want to be able to return to the "right" half.

[I did make a couple of little edits to the original version. Had to... My apologies to the author for doing so.]

Acid: Face for a Face

This is the first time that I have read of someone disfiguring someone with acid, here, in The Sandbox. Yes, I am aware of the woman in some other country that was blinded by acid and will have the man that did that to her blinded as well. The man gets anesthesia though, while the woman he blinded did not. What country is that taking place in, Pakistan? Not that it doesn't take place here - I just haven't seen it reported, until today. And, why, someone tell me, is the victim fully identified but not her attacker?

The case is before a court in Riyadh. "A 34 year-old Saudi woman... is accused of disfiguring and burning a Syrian woman by showering her with acid." The woman on the receiving end of this horrific act, last January [it if would have been reported in the papers - I would have posted on it, here], had concentrated acid poured on her "making her virtually blind, and disfiguring her face, head, ears, parts of her nose, breasts and almost every inch of her body" says the victim's father. It is worth noting that the victim's father is a doctor; if he was just a common laborer I doubt very much this case would be before the court. At one point, the father was willing to accept SR7 million [$1,876,675.60] in damages but his daughter wants retribution, instead. Can anyone blame her?

The two women, Shauq, the victim, and Norah, the criminal, were, at one time, close friends. The father says, "Norah might have been jealous of Shauq's beauty or because Shauq refused to pay her some money that she demanded a few days before the attack." If you were jealous and that is the reason you did this - you need to grow up! You are 34-years-old. For the love of Pete, you're not in high-school any more. Get a grip!!! Shauq gives details of "the horrid experience," here. As soon as the matter is again reported on, I will post on it. In the meantime, "Norah is currently detained in a Riyadh prison. She refuses to talk to the media or the authorities about the crime she is charged with."

Where does a crime of this magnitude fit in on the scales of justice? If she is found guilty, will she be imprisoned for life? Will she receive lashes and then get beheaded? Or, will the victim be allowed retaliation by doing the same to Norah that Norah did to her?

There is more going on in The Sandbox, today. The usual. A blackmail case. Another disposable worker dead in a work-related injury. An internet cafe has been busted for downloading skin-flicks in a "pay-per-view" service [the law of supply and demand applies!], and another short article on the story from yesterday of a girl young woman and her brother who were raped for eight years... Commenter "SA" hit the nail on the head when she said that the brother was having "fun" with the guy and then threw his sister under the bus... Did I not say I smelled something really funny with the story? Yes. I did.