25,000 civilians killed since Iraq invasion. But don’t panic, only 37% were killed by the occupational forces … ooops I mean liberation forces. That is only a little more than 9,000 thousand people. The reason this is not terrorism is: 1) when the super powers kill civilians it is not terrorism, it is called collateral [...]

n. g. zax and I where discussing degrees of linkedness between things. Since he is a smart, educated and scientifically minded fellow he figures you can assign a number on a scale from 1 to 10 on how linked something is to something else. Soooo, here is an intellectual exercise for all of us.On a [...]

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This is embarrassing …. but here is a short clip of me dancing flamenco …. a friend recorded this on a mobile phone

But it was time for a change.Don’t you think?

A young man sends me his picture standing next to a religious clerk. They are both smiling at each other. He is from Iraq and reads my Arabic blog on occasion. Why did he send me his picture with a religious clerk whom I don’t recognize? Is it because he thinks that he looks good [...]

“Let him send me to hell” I thought to myself.“That pompous arrogant tyrant! ….. who expects me to worship him. Since I am going to hell for refusing to obey; I might as well earn a deserving place in there.” I was determined to go to hell in style. But how? What do I have [...]

“Why did you bring this! ….. Don’t you know what it is about!?”I chided at my husband, after inspecting his DVD rental choice for Friday evening. It had been a long week, I was exhausted and looking forwards to a relaxing evening watching a diverting movie that would relax me.“The clerk at the store recommended [...]

“I want to know if I am crazy or sane”I said to my family doctor, immediately after the usual greeting and after he asked me his usual “Sooooo! what can I do for you today?”The doctor looked surprised.He didn’t know what to say.He asked me to explain. I reminded my family doctor of my brother’s [...]

The US administration decided to liberate them against their wishes. They were oppressed by a horrid dictatorship for more than 35 years. United Nations employees were cheating them out of billion of dollars and the media only covers violence against foreign nationals among them. Who am I talking about? The Iraqi people off course. Everybody [...]

The best part about traveling is coming back home. Funny, what things I missed while away. Besides family, friends and loved ones. I missed sleeping in my own bed, having clean laundry and being around people I have a common language with. The little comforts.The mundane boring stuff I take for granted. Aaaah! …. it [...]

Gollum is my favorite character in the Lord of the Rings movies. For one thing, he in neither with the evil side nor with good side, he has no quest, no mission, he is simply looking out for his own interests. He is neither with us nor against us, he is himself. He neither wishes [...]

She: So…..are you thinking about marriage? He: No, not at all. I am penniless, drifting through life, without future. I can’t go back to my country and I have no idea where my life is taking me. How can I possibly think about marriage? She:So…..do you at least love me? He: No, I have dedicated [...]

“You have been neglecting your English writing for sake of your Arabic Writing. You are just churning out one article after the other on your Arabic blog and producing nothing but weak posts on the English side, that is when you write anything at all. Now writing in Arabic is swell but you should not [...]

What makes a good preacher? Effective Christian preachers have a compelling vision of Jesus Christ which they communicate forcefully to their listeners to lead them to view their circumstances differently and to respond with strengthened faith and commitment. (Zuck, R. B. (1996, c1994). A biblical theology of the New Testament (Page 370). Chicago: Moody Press) [...]

Seven Oak magazine published a review of Baghdad Blogger Movie, I sent them a counter review with a different persepective but it wasn’t published. I thought I would share it here. The 2004 Vancouver International Film Festival hosted the premier of Baghdad Blogger, a series of videos shot by an Iraqi man that goes by [...]

ihath is one year old today. I know you are all shaking all your heads with disbelief, how could have a one year old child written all this nonsense. Ok! I am not one year old but the name ihath is. It was about one year ago about this time of the month that I [...]

It was the day of the talk. I was about 15 or 16 riding on a train in Europe, far away from the middle east. On a vacation. Since we were going to be in this train for few hours with nothing to do. My father decided that it would be a good time to [...]

My father laughed. My brother was laughing so hard he was swaying forwards and backwards. My mother placed her hand on her head and said “Oh no! what now!”. My husband suppressed the laugh; but only because he knew that he would have to go home with me that night. Three years ago I announced [...]

I was going to write about something completely different, but the young and restless are asking for comic relief, so here goes. “O’ ye people! Women are deficient in faith, deficient in shares and deficient in intelligence. With regards to deficiency in their faith, it is their abstention from prayers and fasting during their menstrual [...]

In the book One Thousand and One Nights. Scheherazade has to tells stories in order to survive. She tells such interesting and compelling stories that Schehrayar can’t help but let her live one more night and then another and then another. After a thousand and one nights, Schehrayar gets attached and forgets his murderous desire. [...]

There were quiet whispers and phone calls late into the night. Hysterical laughter and shifty looks. You could feel the excitement in the air, there was electrical tension, a buzz. A sense of anticipation. What will happen next? Surely the worst is over. It can’t possibly get any worse. Almost anybody would better than the [...]

“The silly goose went river rafting” tells me my dentist. I respond by saying “aha!”, What else am I going to say?, my mouth is wide open and I got various equipment stuck deep in my mouth. God bless him, my dentist, he always has an intriguing discussion with me right at the point when [...]

I walked into the living room to find Latifa standing on the window sill from the outside from our sixth floor apartment in Jerusalem. She was holding on with one hand. Latifa was not attempting to commit suicide she was merely cleaning the windows from the outside, using the free hand to wipe away layers [...]

You see them everywhere. Sitting at their desks, staring at the monitor, murmuring incomprehensible words to themselves. I am talking about computer users. Walk around the office and ask your coworker “what are you doing?”. The answer will frequently be “Writing a document, sending an email or gulp! Installing software”. But what are you really [...]

One day I went to bed next to my handsome Palestinian husband. The next day I woke up to find lying next to me an Israeli man with a hairy back. He was sleeping on his tummy, drooling on the pillow and snoring. How did I end up next to this man? Where am I? [...]

A Palestinian, a French and a German were summoned to meet God. God told them that they could each ask him one question that he would answer. The German went in to meet god and came out crying. The others asked him why he was crying. The German said he asked God about when will [...]

“My name is Ba’ath” said my class mate at Kuwait University. I wanted to laugh. Ha ha ha ha. That woman must have a great sense of humor. She is Iraqi and when I asked her what her name is, she replied by saying Ba’ath. Ha ha ha ha, Iraqi people are so funny. Luckily [...]