This is a Kebbe that is tradiotionally done on Good Friday, it is made of Berghol and water only and the filling is made of sele2, and 7ommos 7boub ..

Have a blessed Good Friday everyone.

( Thank u Ritissima for the pic)

Wishing all the mothers out there a magical day !
This year, Mother’s day coincides with Good Friday, the day St Mary witnessed her only child, Jesus Christ, be crucified.

Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs… since the payment is pure love. ~Mildred B. Vermont

Here is the link to his interview with Afkar Magazine.

I am not sure how an ignorant can speak of such a project that way …
I am not sure how Hakim really believes Federalism is no more valid …

Tlo3na ma3 Joe Sarkis ” Eastern Arabs who never thought of instauring a Christian state !!”

Tlo3na Arabs bi ekhrit hal zaman !

Is that the new LF ?

Why do we do it ?

The tradition of visiting seven churches on Holy Thursday is an ancient practice, probably originating in Rome, where early pilgrims visited the seven pilgrim churches as penance. They are Saint John Lateran, Saint Peter, Saint Mary Major, Saint Paul-outside-the-Walls, Saint Lawrence Outside the Walls, Holy Cross-in-Jerusalem, and traditionally Saint Sebastian Outside the Walls. Pope John Paul II replaced St. Sebastian with the Sanctuary of the Madonna of Divine Love for the jubilee year of 2000.

For those of you outside Lebanon, here are few pictures of the churches i visited today, that way you can at least visit them virtually

Mar Maroun, Achrafieh ( Pic1 , Pic2 , Pic3 , Pic4)

Catholic Capucin Church, Beirut (One of the oldest catholic churches in Beirut), (Pic1, Pic2).

Maronite Church, Beirut ( Pic1, Pic2 )

Saydit el Bchara, Achrafieh ( Pic1, Pic2)

Mar Antonios Church, Achrafieh ( Pic1, Pic2)

St Joseph Cathedral, Achrafieh ( Pic1, Pic2, Pic3)

Mar Charbel, Adonis

And here is an eigth church that i did not visit today, but that is very meaningful to me and that i love visiting from time to time.

Saydit el Maysseh Church, Jbeil :
(Pic1, Pic2, Pic3, Pic4)

Thank you Mr.Mehlis for shutting Jamil el Sayyid’s mouth once and for all.

This came in part of his last interview concerning the tribunal and Lebanon in general hosted by May Chidiac on LBC.

Mehlis insisted that the detainment of the four former security chiefs is legal.

“As an observer, I think their detainment is fully legal,” he said.

Surete Generale’s Jamil al-Sayyed, Ali al-Hajj of the Internal Security Forces, Raymond Azar of the Army Intelligence and Mustafa Hamdan of the Presidential Guards Brigade have been detained since August 2005 for alleged involvement in Hariri’s killing.

“We had indications that they were planning to leave the country and most importantly we had indications of their strong involvement in the murder,” Mehlis told Chidiac, adding that he had never seen “an official U.N. recommendation to release the suspects.”

Not that i really care about those elections, i have stated in many previous posts that such university elections should be cancelled since they are harming the students who are orienting their campaigns politically instead of academically.

However, what surprised me is that what made the FPM win was the fact that they had older candidates ????
In fact, LF won 10 seats and FPM won 8 seats, but 2 seats were won then by the FPM after a tie in the votes !

I am not sure who is the brilliant behind that electoral rule, but since when the oldest candidate wins if there is a tie ??

Simple example : If a candidate failed a whole year and is behind, he will win over a candidate who is on his first year and passing all his courses ?? ya3ne bil 3arabe el mchabra7 .. iza wa7ad toch wou sa2it kel sfoufo .. he has an advantage if he ties with a new student who s having straight As ??

That is so stupid.

Here is a video showing how Hamas is bragging about using human shields.

This is the same death culture Hezbollah promotes … this culture that will not leave one Lebanese in Lebanon ..

He is by far the most corrupted, filthy and unfortunatelly smart politican ( if i dare call him politician) Christians had.

He is nowadays the ally to have on your side if you wanna win elections in Mount Lebanon, or if you wanna keep your business running, or anything you might think of. He started of as a businessman, and made his money mostly out of illegal deals.
Some go to say he is a CIA Agent who robbed money from ex-Congo leader Mobuto ( hundreds of millions of dollars).

In 2005, he allied with Aoun and won the Matn elections.
Elias el Murr, his son, is almost killed in an assassination attempt that same year. He indirectly accused Syrians of his murder.

In 2006, Aoun signed the understanding with Hezbollah and Michel el Murr started slowly changing his positions towards the Aoun alliance.

Two weeks ago or even less, Michel el Murr attacked Aoun and his mps saying they are to be held responsible for not having a president.

Few days ago, he says if he is not invited to the Aoun bloc meeting, he will quit it.
النائب ميشال المرّ: لا عتب ولا زعل مع العماد عون في مطلق الأحوال، لكن في حال لم تتمّ دعوتي الى اجتماع التكتل بعد ظهر اليوم فسأعود الى موقعي الأساسي في المتن وهو الموقع السياسي المستقل عن الجميع وأقرر سياستي من خلال قناعاتي بمعزل عن الآخرين.

This same man stood with Bashir, then with Amine, then with the Syrians, then with Aoun, then is approaching March 14 now.
He threatened, bribed, jailed people who opposed him, he is a mafioso who controls his followers.

However, he is the “politican” you need to approach if you wanna win elections in Mount Lebanon.

Why am i writing all this ?
To show you how far behind in politics we are, how far behind we Christians are …

From people like Camille Chamoun, Pierre Gemayel & Bashir …. to having ur fate under the hands of a thief dishonest feudal lord.

A good friend of mine just inspired me for a post .. a funny one for a change ..

We were discussing history and Franco somehow came up, and an interesting thing about him was that he forced everyone to call him generalissimo because he thought he was the strongest man in the world.

When you talk about dictators, self-centred man generals, Megalomania, ‘folie des grandeurs’, General Aounissimo comes up.

And how can one forget his famous quote ?? that the whole world can crush him, but they wont take away his signature.

It kinda reminds me of a joke a friend told me once ..a joke that says it all .. it might be a bit vulgar but it hits the jackpot when it comes to Aounimal ..

One time, a criminal stormed into a couple’s house and stole the house then decide to rape the wife.
He put a gun into the husband’s head and asked him to make sure his ***** dont touch the floor while he’s rapping her.
After half an hour, he was done and left.

The husband approached his wife and told her proudly:
” Dont worry, i got him, i let his ***** touch the floor twice”.

This is Aoun in few words and this is how meaningful is his famous signature compared to the disasters he has caused us
Apologies for the vulgar joke once again.

“Je compte sur vous tous, l’esprit doit etre tres pur, tres propre, tres fort, et tres droit.
On continue…” B.G ( Aout 1982)

I never truly understood this quote until i started dealing with corrupted and filthy politicians, either within the LF or outside.
Since then, i made a commitment to myself to never be afraid from the truth, to say it as it is and as i see it …

Every single post i write, i write it out of conviction and without any censorships ( except very few and minor cases).

I believe in the LF principles, i support them and defend them ..
I support the M14 line.

However, that does not imply that i should defend the politicians or leaders behind those two lines.
I have critisized constructively Hakim & the LF, M14 and all its leaders more than Aounists have done for the past 20 years or more .. and i am not ashamed to admit LF mistakes .. Accountability is a must and i strongly believe it, but to have a hard-core Aounist or Hezbollah or any Syrian scumbag come teach me lessons in patriotism or in honesty .. eh facharto !

You are not eligible to even discuss such issues with an institution that gave away thousands of martyrs for LEBANON !

So to start with Ali 1559 wa ghayro, You stop the propraganda and you stop falsifying history.
When i speak about Aoun, answer me by defending Aoun, not attacking the LF ..

why dont you give us a quick lesson on what you and your LF party were doing on the 14th of march 1989?

“Old lfers were very honest”

Old timers never speak a word, they hide everything they know and i blame them for not pointing out where the LF went wrong in the past to the new generations .. i blame them big time !

I am not defending March 14 nor the LF here, i am not representing them … i am stating facts that occured at a certain time in our history, facts no one can deny .. except a brainwashed irange supporter, because his mind is locked to the tapes he was taught ..

I wish all Christians ( Catholics) a blessed Palm Sunday.

I chose this very nice picture from Poland, quite original.

Here are few testimonies from Old FPMers who were with Aoun but opposed his new politics once he got back to Lebanon, mainly his alliance with Hezbollah.

شــهـــادات مــن قــدامــى “الــكـــوادر” فــي “الــتــيـــار الــوطــنـــي الــحـــر” أخـــرجــتــهـــم عـــودة الــعــمـــاد عـــون (1)
اثنان فرّطا بـ”العذرية السياسية الكيانية” للمسيحيين: ميشال عون وإيلي حبيقة

تستهل هذه الشهادة سلسلة من شهادات قدامى ناشطين أساسيين في “التيار الوطني الحر” منذ مطلع تسعينات القرن الماضي، حتى همشتهم وأخرجتهم عودة ملهم “التيار” الجنرال ميشال عون، من منفاه الفرنسي في 2005. بعض أصحاب هذه الشهادات جاهر، داخل صفوف “التيار” وخارجها أيضاً، بمعارضته سياسات الجنرال العائد وتوجهاته الجديدة، لذا سوف تُنشر شهاداتهم بأسمائهم الصريحة، شأن صاحب هذه الشهادة الأولى. أما البعض الآخر من الذين هُمّشوا وأزيحوا ولا يزالون على صلة تنظيمية وسياسية بـ”التيار” فقدموا شهاداتهم راغبين أن تبقى أسماءهم الصريحة مغفلة. لذا سوف تُنشر شهاداتهم من دون ذكر أسمائهم، أو سوف نستعملها في سياق شهادات بأصوات متعددة.

[Read Full Article]

Qatar has 70,000 Christians nowadays.

Work has begun on the construction of Qatar’s first purpose-built church in the desert outside Doha, the country’s capital.

Although the country’s native inhabitants are entirely Muslim - and are prohibited by law from converting to another faith - the new Catholic church will cater to the large number of Christian migrants who have come to the Arabia Gulf state in search of work.

Roman Catholics from all over the Arabian Peninsula - many of them migrant workers - are helping to pay for the $15m building, which is scheduled to open at the end of the year.

Overseeing the church is Paul Hinder, the Catholic Church’s Bishop of Arabia. A Christian in the heart of the Muslim world, his diocese is the entire Arabian peninsular, encompassing six countries.

[Read More]

أعلن عميد الكتلة الوطنية كارلوس أده أنه أصدر تعميماً توّجه به الى جماهيره الغفيرة بعدم إطلاق النار بعد انتهاء إطلالته التلفزيونية على شاشة الـ LBC وطالب المواطنيين بإفادته عن أي كتلوي يطلق النار لإتخاذ الإجراءات التأدبية والمسلكية في حقه!!!!

I heard they issued a double digit membership card few days ago … it was a a big day

With all due respect to Carlos, and even though i respect his stands, but that was a lame thing to do

In a desperate and unsucessful try to get back on the political scene and show his strengh, Michel Aoun revived today his version of the 14th of March in Dbayyeh, and proved yet again, that he is the sole responsible for the destruction of that memory, simply by differentiating himself from the Cedars Revolution and taking credit for what our martyrs achieved ..

To start, the event took place in Emile Lahoud’s center .. i think this speaks for itself.

Second, the speeches were filled with lies, hypocrisy and deception …

Michel Aoun never tried to liberate Lebanon ..
Michel Aoun was refused by the Syrians, this is why he attacked them ..
Michel Aoun then was defeated and needed to get back on his feet, thats why he attacked the LF ..

Enough falsifying history and lying to people .. The sole Christian leader that was capable of liberating us was Bashir Gemayel and even him knew it would be a suicide to attack the Syrians .. instead he held ground and stood against them and lobbied against them in the world and WON !

He did not turn all the countries against him and then tried to liberate us by few thousands against tens of thousands ..
He did not leave his people unprotected and without shelter and food and went to war ..

14th of March belongs to the martyrs ya General … only them deserve this achievement …
Even those people who trusted you and died for you .. i feel sorry that they followed such a traitor but they still believed in Lebanon and wanted to fight for it ..

You tried to ally yourself to the Syrians in 1989-1990 to get the presidency, and you failed.
You ‘fought’ them for 15 years then tried to ally yourself to them in 2006 to get the presidency another time, and you failed.

You are a general who never won a battle and left his men behind.
You are a politician who never implemented his program.
You are a man who never kept his word.
You are a parent who left his family behind.

You are a failure, this is how history will remember you.

March 14,2005 : I woke up left to work knowing this is going to be a big day, i have been participating in all demonstrations since Hariri’s assassination, i almost visited the tents on a daily basis, i felt we are on the verge of a major change ..
It wasnt just me, everyone felt he/she had a role to play in what was coming .. everyone felt we are on the verge of a new era, everyone felt a golden opportunity was sent to us ..

The price was heavy, but the opportunity was there .. and we had to grasp it ..
Such circumstances come once in a lifetime, it was all too good to be true, everyone wanted to be part of this day, everyone was prepared to go down, men, women, students, children, everyone !

Even those who did not care about politics went down, and made the Cedars Revolution, this long awaited revolution a reality !
I cannot describe what i felt on this day .. it was a mixture of satisfaction and happiness and astonishment..

From 1990 till 2005, brave men & women in hundreds only were defying this brutal Syrian occupation, were showing exceptional courage, were being treated like animals, but never bowed and never stopped believing their work must be awarded one day.

This small group of people, from old militants to young activists, are what made March 14 happen.

But then came the after March 14, where this group handed their achievements to their leaders and moved on with their lifes.
Meanwhile, a Syrian Opposition was being forged, and Syria was already preparing a plan to come back to Lebanon.

Assassinations started, anti-M14 demonstrations, political attacks etc etc …

Everything we achieved in M14 was just too big for our leaders to handle, yet we did not react and kept believing it will eventually work out .. but it is not and unfortunatelly Syria & its allies are gaining ground ..

Today we celebrated the 3rd anniversary of this majestic day, while we should be working on reviving it and forging its achievements and destroying its opponents ..

I am dissapointed, many are ..
I can no longer accept tents in Down Town.
I can no longer accept Syrians invading our lands in the Bekaa.
I can no longer accept having armed militias.
I can no longer accept assassinations of our finest politicians and intellectuals.

3 years have passed, the visa requests are tripling and quadrupling ..

We dont need a BIEL Conference, we need actions and we need them now !

I see no future for the Christians in Iraq .. unfortunatelly !
What a horrible crime ! what a disgrace !

Chaldean Catholic archbishop kidnapped in Iraq last month has been found dead, Italian bishops’ conference news agency says.
Gunmen kidnapped the Chaldean Catholic archbishop of Mosul on Friday, February 29 2008 in the northern Iraqi city and killed his driver and two guards.
Chaldeans belong to a branch of the Roman Catholic Church that practices an ancient Eastern rite. Most of its members are in Iraq and Syria, and they form the biggest Christian community in Iraq. [Read More]

Habib Afram condems the assassation

The LF condemned it as well

صدر عن الدائرة الإعلامية في القوات اللبنانية البيان الآتي: فجع اللبنانيون والعرب والكنيسة والإنسانية بخبر اغتيال رئيس أساقفة الموصل للكلدان المثلث الرحمات المطران بولس فرج رحو في جريمة إرهابية جديدة تصيب شرقنا المعذب.

إن اغتيال سيادة المطران رحو في زمن الآلام المقدس هو مرحلة من مراحل درب الصليب الذي يسير عليه أبناء هذا الشرق في مواجهتهم مع الإرهاب والإرهابيين، وفي نضالهم لنشر ثقافة المحبة والتسامح التي حملها السيد المسيح انطلاقا من الأرض التي اختارها الله ليولد عليها ابنه ويعيش فيها وينشر رسالته انطلاقا منها.

إن القوات اللبنانية التي آلمها استشهاد رسول المحبة وبشير ثقافة التعايش سيادة المطران بولس فرج رحو تؤمن كما كل المسيحيين بأن نهاية درب الآلام قيامة لا بد آتية. وكما غلب السيد المسيح الموت بالموت، هكذا سيتغلب شرقنا على كل محاولات تغيير هويته الإنسانية والثقافية والحضارية، وتشويه صورته.

إن القوات اللبنانية تتقدم بأحر التعازي من الطائفة الكلدانية الكريمة خصوصا، ومن كل المسيحيين، وتتمنى للعراق المعذب الخلاص القريب ولأهله الثبات على إيمانهم لمواجهة الصعوبات.

Dr.Geagea continues his visit to the USA and het met along with Condoleeza Rice a number of American officials. ( Stephen Hudley, Garry Akerman, David Welsh etc ..)

Hakim Visit to the US (Arabic):

Geagea Urges Arabs To Boycott Damascus Summit ( English)

I join Dr.Geagea’s call to boycott Syria’s visit to the Arab summit being held in Damascus. Not only Lebanese politicians should boycott but also all Arab countries that care about Lebanon.

An Arab summit that has Lebanon on the top of its list is being held by the Syrians, and the last to be invited is Lebanon !
And in what way ??
An invitation is handed to Fawzi Salloukh !

I suggest we give them back the finger .. thats the only way to answer those bastards !

We MUST NOT GO To Syria before we have a president !
We MUST NOT GO To Syria before they close their borders properly and get OUT of Lebanon !
WE MUST NOT GO To Syria before it establishes an embassy for itself in Beirut !
We MUST NOT GO To Syria before they give us back our prisoners !

Shame shame shame on any M14 politician who goes to Syria to attend the summit !

I keep hearing stories from friends who got involved in a fight on the road when some car cut them off or bumped into them etc ..
Stories about thugs who go down and start cursing and yelling and even get physical even though its their mistake ..

Well this time, it happened with me ..

What Happened ?
A car cuts me off on the RIGHT lane, so i step on the gas and get back on my lane. The driver freaks out, gets passed me from the left and starts cutting me off left and right, i decide to play his game for a bit then i speed and go on his left, he tries to cut me off thinking i will brake, but i dont, i hit his mirror and break it.

Next thing you know, he parks the car on the sideway, goes down hold a big rock and runs towards me ..
I decided to stay still and see what he is gonna do, he comes and tries to hit me with it, i stay in the car and push him away and ask him to calm down, but he keeps yelling and cursing then hits my mirror with the rock and flees ..

I had a friend with me, we could have easily beaten the crap out of him ..

Imagine he had a gun instead of the rock ..
Imagine he had a hand grenade instead of the rock ..
Imagine i was a thug like him and had my own gun or bat ..

Such incidents occur on a daily basis, and most of the time end up badly for one side or both …
Such behaviors are unacceptable yet are very dangerously common among the Lebanese, and its getting worse since everyone is buying guns now ..

I have his name and his address and his home phone, i could get him into jail for a couple of days and make his life a living misery but what for ?

What will i achieve ? I believe it was wrong to even think of reacting to his reckless driving in the first place .. because thugs should be dealt with in a thugish way, and thats a level i am not ready to go down to ..

A big proportion of the Civil war victims was due to such incidents, and i believe the biggest problem we Lebanese have is that we dont know how to talk to each other .. and we think that we get tougher by the number of weapons we have or money or muscles ..

The fact is that we are still not using our brains, but rather our arses ..