I mean, I am supposed to be an environmentalist (hey, I was asked to run for office by Green Party, that should count for something), but you know what? I really would personally--if permitted--uproot all Cedar trees in Lebanon. One by one, and all of them. If it is up to me, I would not leave one single Cedar tree in Lebanon. I mean, it has been quite harmful to the mental health of the Lebanese people, if you think about it. Really. But wait. I bet you that the Lebanonese would find a new tree (probably the potato tree or the Hummus tree), and attribute glory and greatness to it, and swear that it was mentioned in the bible, as in: "and Noah, then took his family and sat under the potato tree." Amen.

Last Saturday, I critically commented on a New York Times story that quoted Arab-American playright, Jamil Khoury. Jamil wrote to me and I promised him that I will post a correction if the correction appears in the New York Times. It appeared today:
"An article in The Arts on Saturday about the Arab-American playwright Yussef El Guindi and his new play, "Back of the Throat," erroneously attributed a view about the scarcity of Arab-American playwrights. It was Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the Council of American-Islamic relations, not Jamil Khoury, a founder of the Silk Road Theater Project in Chicago, who said that conservatism within Muslim culture might be one reason, and that representations of the human form were frowned on and that dancing or performing by women in front of men was considered reprehensible."

I am at the airport in Detriot sipping my chai. I enjoy chai, personally. Don't know about you. Wait. Who are YOU? I don't know you. I was thinking at the unending saga/farce of Lebanonese festival of patriotism. I mean, do you know that the Lebanonese demonstrators really think that the West is following their story of Hummus festivities minute-by-minute? They really think that the story of Lebanon is dominating the front pages here. Don't want to disappoint you, but that is not the case at all. You are forgotten and ignored. Completely, with the exception of a word here or there by some American official on LBC-TV. Lebanese correspondents in the US also reinforce the myth by telling their readers about continuous American attention to the daily developments in Lebanon. Oh, ya. Believe that if you want, and imagine that Muhammad Qabbani, or Minister of Ping Pong, Ahmad Fatfat, have captured the imagination of the White Man. And we know how much the Lebanonese people want the approval of the White Man. So how is Dick Cheney? Is he still shooting at people? You know: the word on the street in Beirut (that famous Arab street) is that Dick Cheney may have shot Hariri. Is that possible? He would not do such a thing when his office now runs the Hariri Inc. I apologize to the Lebanese friends in Dearborn for missing the event, tour, and dinner yesterday: the time change (which requires me to wake up at 3:00AM California time) really bothers me and messes my system up. But I may be coming back to Dearborn in March or April. Details to be worked out. Talk to my people.

He will do a better job than Bush. That is for sure. "Superhero BATMAN will turn his attention to real-life bad guy OSAMA BIN LADEN in an upcoming comic book."

So basically: the plan of Hariri Inc and its camp is to use huge financial resources to gather huge Lebanonese crowds once or twice a year, and then go home. So that is the political program and strategy? OK.

This is the real Bush's Doctrine: "The United States and Israel are discussing ways to destabilize the Palestinian government so that newly elected Hamas officials will fail and elections will be called again, according to Israeli officials and Western diplomats."

"Liberating" the hell out of them: "Two women were killed and four children injured when their tent was struck by artillery fired by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, two Pakistani officials said"

"Vandals in Denmark Strike Muslim Graves" (Let me guess. I think that I know the liberal code. This is freedom of speech, right?) Let me know on what page will the New York Times print this tomorrow.

Why does Al-Quds Al-`Arabi treat the silly and crude curses of Saddam in court as if they are heroic stances? Why?

This was hilarious. I was watching C-Span in my hotel room. They showed a speech by the Iranian president. The interpretor knew Persian but not Arabic. So Ahmadinajad: said a few words from the Qur'an: the interpretor said: "He is speaking in Arabic." Ahmadinajad: then recited Al-Fatihah from the Qur'an: the interpretor said: "He is threatening the enemies of Islam. Now he is cursing the devil, etc." I kid you not.

"Israel Defense Force soldiers fatally shot a 25-year-old Gaza woman near the border with Israel"

News from "liberated" Afghanistan: "The Taliban never really fell in Helmand province. While the outside world was celebrating the end of the Taliban regime after the fall of Kandahar in 2001, the Taliban were still in control of most of Helmand"

"ANOTHER GAY IRANIAN TORTURE VICTIM SPEAKS" (thanks Keyan)

This is America's reliable ally in the Middle East: "Saudi Arabia's non-elected parliament said yesterday that it was not entitled to debate the kingdom's long-standing ban on women drivers. "What has been decided on by religious edict is not within our authority to debate," said Saleh bin Abdullah Malek, the secretary general of the Shura Council, an advisory body appointed by the king. "

This is Zionism: "Israel has effectively annexed the Jordan Valley - about a third of the occupied West Bank - by barring almost all Palestinians from entering the region, a respected Israeli human rights group said yesterday."

Sa`d Hariri accused Ad-Diyar Newspaper of being like the Syrian Tishrin (not an untrue accusation). So Ad-Diyar's Charles Ayyub retaliated by recounting the story of when he saw Sa`d waiting on `Azzuz (or `Abdul `Aziz bin Fahd). Sa`d was the official entertainer of `Azzuz when he visited Lebanon.

It would have been more brave if the non-brave (and painfully boring) Al Gore gave his speech about the status of Arab Americans here in the US, and not in Saudi Arabia--in return for oil cash. How much were paid, Al? And did you speak about the environment while there?

The US ambassdor in Lebanon (Walid Jumblat calls him "Jeff") is a man who abhors all vestiages of propaganda or even public relations stunts. So when Jeff pays his respect to Hariri's tomb, he does so without alerting the media. Nobody knows when, quietly and away from the instrusive eyes of the media, he goes there just to pay his respect.

The Nation magazine now seeks advise about the fate of the Left from BHL. But then again, you need his brilliant mind to know that the left needs to: "ponder the lessons of the totalitarian century and those of democracy."

"It would be hard to imagine any such generosity of spirit from the smug US Middle Eastern observer Thomas Friedman, who, despite writing a column for the New York Times, has about as much a sense of literary style as a rhino. Or, indeed, from a right-wing orientalist scholar such as Bernard Lewis, who has written that the destruction of the World Trade Center was one of the most wicked acts in human history. Why such coy understatement? Why not just confess straight out that the joint crimes of Stalin, Mao and Hitler, not to speak of Hiroshima and Attila the Hun, are utterly eclipsed by it?"

"Diplomats Say Iran Begins Uranium Enrichment" (Angry Arab: Israeli began Uranium Enrichment decades ago)

" Cedar revolution's bitter aftertaste" (thanks Amal)

Beware: I am a dangerous professor (and I bite). (thanks Yusuf)

"Former Vice President Al Gore told a mainly Saudi audience on Sunday that the U.S. government committed "terrible abuses" against Arabs after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, and that most Americans did not support such treatment."

"At the State Department, for instance, only 10 of 34,000 employees are rated fully fluent in Arabic."

Glory for Lebanon. Finally. It is real (I mean, not real, actually). Lebanonese are always looking for "glory" to give to their homeland. Maybe this will do it. According to Al-Arabiyya TV, Lebanon is ranked number 24th in the world in the number of plastic surgeries. Wave your Hummus flag, NOW.

Tony Bliar's wife urged Saudi women to be patient. I uge Saudis to be most impatient with Bliar's wife' statement.

British contribution to the Iraq war/occupation.

Walid Jumblat: seen teaching a class on Lebanese geography at Al-Mukhtarah University in Lebanon.

I can't think of anybody that I disrespect more than James Zogby (and I like his brother, John, the pollster by the way). I once called Zogby in Washington, DC and told him: "Look. I absolutely understand that you want to make a fool of yourself. Just don't do it on behalf of any Arab American except yourself." Zogby sent a tribute for Hariri to Hariri rag, Al-Mustaqbal. In it, he said something very original: something that people never say in funerals or in tributes. He said that: "Hariri did not die." Really?

Lebanonese art. This was set up neare Hariri's tomb symblizing "haqiqah." How much would pay for this? I would not even use my precious Hariri coins for this.

A reliable Lebanese source with connection with Palestinian groups in Lebanon sent me this email today:
"All poor Palestinian who are living outside the camps, are now fleeing their homes to sleep in the camps since they are safer : they are afraid of being arrested. There is a huge " hamlat mudahamat" on a daily basis."

In the second interview (of the unpublished interviews) by Ghassan Shirbil of Rafiq Hariri, he admitted that he spent $150 million a year. I wondered how much of that was for propaganda and for buying off people: and how much of that was to buy elements of the Syrian mukhabarat.

Watching Walid Jumblat as of late reminds me of what Tom Shales had said about Dan Rather. He said that the only reason you watch Dan Rather is because you expect him to lose it, at any second.

Sa`d Hariri is back in Lebanon. Will he resume his private Arabic lessons? His presence is as significant politically as his absence.

Today, I had the chance to compare notes about blogging with Joshua Landis and Juan Cole. Why do I feel that we bloggers spend more time on blogging than we care to admit? I miss my (Arabic) media resources when I travel. I mean, I do get Future TV, Aljazeera through jump tv, and AlArabiya is now free on the internet, but there are more. And I don't have time when I travel to consume the 7 Arabic newspapers, and the other Western newspapers, etc. But I will get the slingbox: that will permit me to have access to the Dish Network offerings at home, from any remote location.

I dont know who she is, but this Lebanese professor gives the best analysis of Walid Jumblat.

Is it true? Is it really true? That Dick Cheney shot somebody while hunting? Is it true that he shot him after the poor fellow merely asked him whether "he is still making progress in Iraq"? (I must admit that I can wait to read Maureen Dowd on the Cheney shooting).

" US prepares military blitz against Iran's nuclear sites"

"Annan prepares for privatisation of UN"

Somebody threw a grenade under this care owned by a Syrian in Beirut. The Lebanese police quickly arrested the...ownder of the car. He was later released. These are the crimes that have not, and will not, be investigatged. The Lebanese government does not care about the poor Syrian workers in Lebanon, and nor does the Syrian government. I do. More than I care about billionaires.

This is the Actual Bush Doctrine: these are Police States that you really like and adore: "Rumsfeld Fosters Ties With Tunisia"

"Feud With King Tests Freedoms In Morocco"

Hariri fans resuming their imitations of North Korean crowds' patriotic fesitivites. And Sa`d Hariri has landed in Beirut. Now he will see the crude and vulgar fesitivites for himself. On the 1st anniversary of Hariri's death, I want Haqiqah (truth) about who killed all those poor Syrian workers? Who abused them? Who burnt their tents, and destroyed their houses? Who arrested innocent Syrians to blame Lebanese sectarian hatreds on them? And who still buys the claims of the Hummus Revolution, one year after its eruption? Mini-Hariri urged Lebanese to follow the slogan, Lebanon First (imitating the Jordanian slogan). Those slogans are coined to send a message of hatred against a large immigrant or non-immigrant group in the population. The slogan was raised in Jordan against the Palestinians, and it is being raised in Lebanon agaisnt the Syrians and the Palestinians.

"A video published by a British tabloid today, shows what appear to be U.K. soldiers head-butting, kicking and clubbing unarmed Iraqi teenagers while an off-camera voice laughs and taunts the victims."