No matter how much one can critisize this or that 14 March MP, we cannot but salute them for their courage.
I come to think that each of them risks getting assassinated any time during the day anywhere he is ..

They have to watch everywhere they go, what time they go, search the place before parking anywhere etc ..
No one forced them to choose this path, and even if some do not have what it takes to be an MP, and even though we critisize them on several occasions ( Be it Antoine Zahra, Nayla Moawad etc ..) ..

I cannot but respect them for their stands …

The next few days and even weeks are very risky and i truly hope we wont have to lose another figure from our 14M bloc.

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I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday who was telling me how much he was disgusted about the current situation in DT. This friend was once a Aounist and even voted for Aoun, and now wishes a civil war erupts so that Aoun’s chances of becoming president diminish.

He works in DT Beirut, near Tent City and EVERYDAY, he is checked by Hezbollah security men before being allowed to go to his work, he is given a ticket to enter with his car, and they take all the information they need ( Car number, full name, job address etc ..)

This is happening in Beirut, not in the South, not in Baalbeck noo … in the heart of Lebanon’s capital, meters away from the Martyrs Square that witnessed the Majestic Cedars Revolution ..

When will we remove this garbage and clean Beirut ?? It should have been done long time ago .. i guess we will just have to hold until we get ourselves a new president ..

I blame our leaders and the army & ISF forces for keeping it that way, it was a mistake and still is .. they are invading our capital, they should be removed .. simple and clear.

Posted by Tareq73, your contribution is much appreciated.

Video to watch.

In the 1980s Lebanon used to be in the world news in America and Europe only when there were bombs or airplane hijackings or assassinations… and when you said to Americans or Europeans that you are Lebanese they always asked about the war… it was sooooo annoying to always have to explain that Lebanon was a great country before the war and we don’t all want violence and killing… it sucked so much to see how bad our image was in the world and when this started to change in the 1990’s (at least a little bit) it felt so different and so good that foreigners had good things to say about Lebanon, some of them were starting to go there on vacation and they would talk about the food and how much fun they had and how beautiful it is… naturally this is good for tourism and business but also psychologically for the millions of Lebanese outside Lebanon you have something to be proud of, it even affects your friendship with people when they think you come from a good place they respect you more and they treat you better (it’s human nature)!

Well all this changed again with the war of July 2006 that Hezbollah launched as we all know… and after all the killing and the destruction that stopped in August 2006, the image of Lebanon is again in the gutter, look at this video and see for yourself… It’s only one small example, it is a TV advertisement by AT&T for cellular phone service and they mention 4 cities that are infamous (that Americans consider weird or see them in a bad way), the first one is Beirut!!! they associate it with war and craziness and killing, then Los Angeles (crime and gangs) and Moscow (frozen in the old days of the Soviets) and Roswell New Mexico (where all the weirdos think a UFO crashed and some aliens were found!!)… the commercial is saying that AT&T is the best cellular phone company because you can get cellular phone service even in these weird backward crazy places!!!

This is an example that you don’t always see of what the war of Hezbollah has done to Lebanon’s image in the world for many years in the future… and why did they do this? to free 2 prisoners that they don’t talk about anymore, one of them is a criminal and the other one is a ghost that Israel denies he exists.

So I just want to say thank you Sayyed Hassan for this wonderful achievement, you have made the lives of millions of Lebanese outside Lebanon so much better, I am so glad I went back to Lebanon so I don’t have to see and hear the reaction of foreigners when I tell them I am from Lebanon, I feel sorry for the millions of Lebanese outside who have to explain again over and over why they are not all crazy religious wackos who dream of blowing themselves up.

One cannot but think of Bashir’s ascendancy to presidency on every presidential election .. how a 34 years old young man defied the whole world and imposed himself as the uncontested undisputed president and most importantly was loved and respected by a majority of Lebanese ..

Bashir Gemayel was VOTED president of the Lebanese Republic back in 1982 in one of the most critical situations in the Middle East, he put himself above all candidates, imposed himself as the sole candidate for all Arab countries to agree on, and Americans as well.

He did not believe in a president of compromise, he did not hesitate in mocking and blasting anyone who would come up with such a though, he even wen to call such a president a shitty one if elected.

“رئيس التحدي..ورئيس التسوية..هوّي الرئيس المرتّ..يلي رح يخلّي البلاد ترجع 6 سنين لورا..تتخبط بدمائها..وبكل محنتا..”

We needed a strong president and he was the man for the job, he made us believe in him, he made it clear to his opponents that there is room for a weak or sissy president and that all their threats will not stop him.

“على كلّن ما حدا يحطنا امام خيار..انوا او واحد مرتّ..او الله يستركن شو بصير..لأ لأ..واحد منيح او انتوا ألله يستركن..”

It was unquestionable that he negociate on our country’s destiny, that he accepts a lousy president that will do half the job ..

He was a politician of a different calibre, and regardless of what people say that Israel helped him become president .. He was leading the orchestra, neither Israel or Americans .. he made everyone’s interest meet Lebanon’s and made himself president without becoming anyone’s puppet ..

How far are we from Bashir ?? Who is gonna be our next president ?? chi wa7ad khrayyen as Bashir would say ???

ما بقا في مجال نجيّر لحدا..لمين بدنا نجيّر ؟..لواحد مرتّ..او لواحد خريّان ؟..يجيرولوا هنّي

Unfortunatelly Our next president will be from that calibre Bashir refused to even think of …

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After we earned a fake independance back in 1943, The 2005 Cedars Revolution gave us a second chance to achieve our true independance once and for all, after years of war, and after years of Syrian hegemony, and tens of political assassinations and bombings that took away our finest young men and politicians and journalists ..

Are we on the right track ? Are we gonna earn this independance once and for all ??

Only the Lebanese people will be the judge of that, not its leaders, but the people.

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Looks like we have a group on facebook that i am not aware of.

You can click here to join it, guess i should register at last in that facebook thingy to join as well.

Johny.B provided me with the link.

You can click on the image to join and invite your friends :

Before i start posting, i urge all readers to reply in a constructive and educated and respectful way or else your reply will be deleted since this is a sensitive issue with no harm intended to Muslims or Islam in itself.

Can someone please explain what this “2irda3″ Fatwa all about ?

This is the 3rd article i read concerning this Fatwa and its impacts on the Muslim society. Even explaining it makes me sick to be honest. Thank God this Sheikh who came up with it in Egypt was isolated and banned from the Jami3 el Azhar, but it does raise several questions as for how such sheikhs are allowed to issue fatwas in the first place.

Here is another “sickening” story of how a man wants his wife to breastfeed his friend as per the Fatwa so that they spend a holy ramadan together.

Here is some more info on the Fatwa :

The breastfeeding fatwa is a fatwa (a religious ruling within Islam) issued by a lecturer of Cairo’s Al-Azhar University that suggested that male and female colleagues could use symbolic breastfeeding to get around a religious ban on being alone together.

The fatwa said that if a woman fed a male colleague “directly from her breast” at least five times they would establish a family bond and thus be allowed to be alone together at work.

“Breast feeding an adult puts an end to the problem of the private meeting, and does not ban marriage,” he ruled. “A woman at work can take off the veil or reveal her hair in front of someone whom she breastfed.”

The issuer had drawn on Islamic traditions that forbid sexual relations between a man and a woman who has breastfed him to suggest that symbolic breastfeeding could be a way around strict segregation of men and women. Wetnursing, the practice of one woman breastfeeding another’s baby, was widespread in Arab culture, and the child refers to the woman as his “milk mother”, thereby creating a social relationship that would preclude later marriage. This relationship makes the two people mahram (unmarriageable) to each other. See also Islamic marital jurisprudence.

Notice how some “Lebanese” papers are apparently as popular as Syrian newspapers in Syria. It shows how much those editors are working hard to free Lebanon from its invadors through their articles ..

Many innocent souls that taken away from their families and friends after the Bombing that killed MP Antoine el Ghanem, among them two young men who made the news and are all over mails & Groups.
Even though i believe all martyrs are equal in their sacrifices, i will dedicate out of respect for their families and friends a post to those two men, and hope that all those who fell in Antoine Ghanem’s bombing rest in peace and wish the injured a full recovery.

Charles Chikhani (27-11-78 / 19-09-2007)
&
LFer Toni Daou (24-09-84 / 19-09-2007)

Charles Chikhani was studying in the states and came back to work and live in Lebanon.

Toni Daou was active in the LF students body and working in the Dekwaneh LF office.

Here is a nice article by Carla Yared on Chikhani’s martyrdom:

Nous sommes toutes les mamans de Charles Chikhani
L’article de Carla YARED

Jeudi 19 septembre, Antoine Ghanem, un « homme d’honneur », et ses deux gardes du corps sont tombés.
Le destin de deux autres victimes était de se trouver, là, sur les lieux du crime terroriste. Dommages collatéraux.
Collatérale l’affection maternelle de Samia Baroudi ?
Collatéral le sourire de Charles Chikhani ?
Jeune homme de vingt-huit ans, parti faire des études et revenu travailler et vivre au Liban, Charles Chikhani y trouve une mort insensée.
En juillet 2006, j’ai fait évacuer mon fils pour qu’il regagne à temps la Suisse où il entreprend des études, ravivant ainsi le souvenir douloureux de ma propre évacuation en 1975.
Pour dédramatiser nos adieux au pied du taxi l’emmenant en Syrie, je lui dis mi-figue, mi-raisin : « T’inquiète pas pour moi, tu connaîtras mes sentiments quand vers 2037 tu évacueras tes propres enfants ! »
C’est mon fils, les yeux et le cœur accrochés sur CNN, qui m’informe de chaque nouvel attentat. Ma réaction spontanée et viscérale est de lui enjoindre de ne plus jamais revenir.
Aujourd’hui, la famille de Charles Chikhani le porte en terre.
Aujourd’hui, la mère de Charles Chikhani se sépare de son sourire pour toujours.
Aujourd’hui, au moment de porter Charles Chikhani en terre, on ne devrait pas ceindre son cercueil du drapeau libanais mais ceindre le drapeau libanais du corps de Charles Chikhani et le mettre non pas en berne mais en terre. Oui, enterrer ce drapeau et ce pays avec lui !
Car à quoi sert un pays qui tue ses enfants ?

Carla YARED

Amin Gemayel, a leader in the governing coalition, said Saturday that a much-anticipated election for president set for Tuesday was unlikely to take place until next month, diminishing hopes that the deadlock could end soon.

If there wont be any elections on Tuesday, there wont be any at all .. did anyone tell 14 March time is not on our side ???
Who asked Amine Gemayel to dialogue with Berri over the elections ?? He screwed us up in 1988 by his idiotic decision of appointing Aoun .. i am sorry but i dont want him resolving such deadlocks anymore .. and i definitly dont want him as president ..

There is a session on Tuesday, a new president MUST be voted on that day .. its been months since we’ve been arguing with 8th of March forces … whats the point of trying to end the deadlock now ??

I heard also Hariri is to meet with Bush and discuss presidential elections at the beginning of next month ???

So we will not have a new president before two or three weeks ?

I honestly have no clue what March14 is up to but apparently they dont know as well ..

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Here is a great editorial written on the LF site.

I urge all readers to read it carefully and thouroughly.

نقنع “الجماعة” إن في حياتهم وحياتنا، وتراثهم وتراثنا، لا سبيل للعيش إلا بالفدرالية. وألم الفدرالية أخف من ألم القطع والبتر… فؤاد افرام البستاني-

Here were the LF and its leader stand, second class behind Hariri, Jumblatt and even Nayla Mouawad.