amateur ramblings

Prisoners being held in Syria’s Adra prison have written a letter to the public. The entire letter, in English and Arabic, is available here, but here is a short excerpt:
Syrians have paid a high price for their rights and freedom and we hope to be the last group forced to pay this price to help [...]

Marilee Jones, the former Dean of Admissions at MIT, could not have been a more perfect embodiment of her own beliefs. Disregarding all the judgment that has been passed on her old decision to lie about her credentials, you have to admit: is there a more perfect way to illustrate the lack of importance of [...]

Just kidding. However, the Syrian President, elected in his own right in a similar landslide, did praise the institution which reflected the will of the people–especially his own–and would lead Syria to a promising future. He added that few other countries around the world had elections so safe and carefully planned that the results would [...]

Students from the Israel Action Committee at UC Berkeley today celebrated Israeli Independence Day on Sproul Plaza today by introducing the student population to one of the State’s many innovations in the past 59 years: hip-hop music. The new Israeli genre has stirred a musical renaissance world-wide, and pop culture will certainly be indebted to [...]

From here:

Noble Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan was treated for injury in leg sustained by rubber bullet
Nobel Peace Prize Mairead Corrigan has been injured during confrontations between security forces and left-wing activists protesting the security fence route near Bilin, activists said.
Corrigan, who won the prize in 1976 for her work in encouraging a peaceful solution [...]

على صوتك بالغنى لسه الاغانى ممكنة, ممكنة
ولسه يامه ياما ياماه فى عمرنا
على صوتك بالغنى لسه الاغانى ممكنة, ممكنة
ولو فى يوم راح تنكسر لازم تقوم
واقف كما النخل باصص للسما للسما
ولا انهزام ولا انكسار ولا انهزام ولا انكسار
ولا خوف ولا ولا حلم نابت فى الخلا
على صوتك بالغنى لسه الاغانى ممكنة, ممكنة
غنوتك وسط الجموع تهز قلبى اللى انفرح
تداوى [...]

أنا مش كافر بس الجوع كافر
أنا مش كافر بس المرض كافر
أنا مش كافر بس الفقر كافر و الذل كافر
أنا مش كافر لكن شو بعملك
أذا اجتمعوا فيي كل الإشيا الكافرين
أنا مش كافر…
يللي بيصلي الأحد و يللي بيصلي الجمعة
واعد يفلح فينا علطول الجمعة
هو يللي دين قال و أنا يللي كافر عال
راجعوا الكتب السماوية راجعوا كلام القادر
أنا مش [...]

Pundits and propagandists alike often pose this question to those who dissent against current American and Israeli policies in the Middle East. For them, the dichotomy is simply one of “I support terrorism” or “I am against terrorism.” The slightest deviation from thought deemed acceptable by those coordinating policy results in such a question, even [...]