Lebanese tried convincing Arab tourists last week in Tripoli that the security situation is good through Kamikaze Arguile-Delivery displays but that didn’t stop Qatar & UAE from asking their citizens to leave Lebanon.

It appears that the Arabs knew something we didn’t know and the result was a bloody day that started in Halba, then extended to Akkar and Tripoli and later on to Beirut and Saida. I don’t even want to know who’s wrong or right because I’ve lost hope in all parties in Lebanon but what pisses me off every time is the burning of tires as a sign of protest.

If you wish to protest for any reason, why the hell do you wanna pollute your country and asphyxiate everyone? Form human chains to block roads, park your cars or put garbage cans or cement blocks for all I care but stop burning tires!

I asked around what’s the alternative to burning tires and the best answers I got were calories and fat, or maybe even “politicians” lol! Speaking of calories, it would have been much better if Akkar and Tripoli residents participated in yesterday’s planned Mini-Marathon in Tripoli and eased the tensions a bit instead of organizing rallies, blocking roads, shooting at each other and of course burning tires.

Picture from LiBeirut

Picture from Naharnet

Everything that’s been happening lately in Lebanon suggests that either everyone’s smoking weed or just gone crazy. As you might have heard or not, the Muslim girl who willingly and freely converted to Christianity almost a week ago is being brought back to her father after the latter threatened to wage a civil war and accused priests of kidnapping her and throwing magic spells on her. He also labeled his girl as being mentally-ill.

Why did the girl flee?

Qataya, who had converted to Christianity from Islam three years ago, had fled her home following psychological and physical abuse from her father as a result of her conversion, said Semaan. [Naharnet]

Instead of arresting the Sheikh and putting the girl somewhere safe, they give him back his girl? Who the hell allowed this? What about those who abducted the priest for few hours? Why aren’t they arrested?

[YouTube]

It was the summer of 82, when a priest, about to be ordered, was exhausted by temptations and an arrogant girl felt passionately in love… A sifted memory and a personal history of a narrator who tells with nostalgia and poetry the meeting of his parents until their marriage. [IMDb]

The Church apparently didn’t like Joe Bou Eid’s movie and saw it offending to priests and Christianity. It’s simple though: If you don’t like it, don’t go watch it because banning it will not get more people to Church.

Picture from TheDailyStar

Whatever I say about the unpreparedness and inexperience of our fire department, security forces, ministry of interior, army helicopters and other factions won’t change the fact that the Safra carpet factory will be demolished today or tomorrow never to be rebuilt again.

For those of you who don’t know, the carpet factory was one of the Middle East’s oldest and biggest factories and its owner a renowned Lebanese businessman. Moreover, the factory was well-equipped against fires but given the amount and quality of electricity we get, you can never be safe from electricity shortcuts or whatever caused the fire.

Having said all that, I leave you with this entertaining (yet tragic) series of actions and measures that the various concerned parties took when the fire erupted:

- Once the fire erupted, the first fire department trucks to reach the location had no water. It took some time and hundreds of phone calls and wastas for water-filled fire trucks to arrive.

- Fire-Fighting Helicopters did not show up until hours later when the fire had spread quickly. The pilots were inexperienced and throwing water all over the place. My friend who was on the highway near the factory got showered twice.

- The Lebanese Interior Minister consulted few experts and decided that the factory should be demolished on Saturday and decided to close down the highway on both sides. That was a wise decision as the building was a threat to cars passing by.

- On Sunday, two bulldozers and a crane were deployed to bring down the factory even though one of the engineers on site, the factory owner’s relative, advised that a wrecking ball is needed.

- Few hours later, and after several failed attempts, officials decide to bring a wrecking ball which needs a day or two to install.

- Instead of keeping the roads closed, they decide to re-open them (Building on the verge of collapsing is no longer a threat now?) before removing the dust and clearing them properly. As a result, some idiot behind the wheels drifted and hit a Syrian worker standing on the side of the highway, injuring him gravely. Road is closed again for some time then re-opened later on.

MTV showed yesterday a footage of the car that drifted and hit the poor man. It’s at Minute 24:52 of the news. I will try to find it on YouTube later on today.

All in all, I don’t think I need to elaborate further to make my point clear on how responsive our government and authorities are in fighting fires and protecting our industries.

[YouTube]

Before listening to that video, here’s a small summary of what that story is all about:
- A Shiite girl who said was being physically and psychologically tortured by her father was apparently taken care by the pastor of Baalbek’s Our Lady of Good Help Church, Father Walid Gharious.
- She decided to convert to Christianity three years back and the priest finally baptized the girl few days back. As a result of that, he was kidnapped on Monday by a group of unknown individuals. He was released few hours later.
- On Wednesday, unknown assailants fired gunshots at the house of a priest from the Kairouz family in the town of Nabha, and the similar incident occurred on Sunday before the start of the municipal elections when shots were fired at the Our Lady Church in Nabha. [Naharnet]

That’s the story being circulated in most papers and medias. Now go ahead and listen to what this Sheikh is saying about the girl, the priests and the pastor. This guy should be detained.

Picture by Joanna

Jal el Dib residents blocked the highway on both ways and the maritime road as well today after the 1-month deadline they gave the government to approve the construction of a new bridge expired. Traffic due to the protest was unbelievable today and reached Tabarja. Roads were re-opened around 9am.

I am usually against protests that may disrupt people’s daily routines, but I for once believe Jal el Dib residents should keep on protesting until their demands are met, because the removal of that bridge has disrupted their lives and those living in Jal el Dib’s surrounding areas and it is unfair that they only suffer.

This is not a protest for lowering gas prices or releasing political prisoners, but a protest related to roads and traffic and the isolation and discrimination of a whole area due to the incompetence of our current government and local authorities. In fact, Jal el Dib residents have to suffer everyday what we suffered for one day, so it’s ok if we sympathize with them one day every week until they get a new bridge.

On a last note, I hope Jal el Dib residents will hold accountable their representatives in the upcoming parliamentary and municipal elections and pave the way for other Lebanese to do the same.

PS: If the government has a problem financing this bridge, I suggest they take out 5% of the 400$ million dollars they are planning to pay Fattoush for his illegal business.

We’ve currently reached the semi-finals of the Lebanese Basketball League with Riyadi(Beirut) playing Anibal(Zahle) and Sagesse playing Champville. Riyadi are currently tied 2-2 with Annibal with the last game scheduled for tonight.

Riyadi has been winning the title for the past 7 years and no one can argue that they didn’t deserve to win, but the behavior of their administration and supporters (and few players) is unacceptable and getting worse by the year. Everytime Riyadi is having a game in Manara, the fans start shouting sectarian and disrespectful slogans and sometimes end up attacking the opposing team’s players, fans and staff. To be fair, other teams’ fans, such as Sagesse, Anibal and Champville, also shout disrespectful slogans from time to time but not as frequently as Riyadi fans.

Added to that, The Sporting Club’s administration never makes any effort in controlling its crowds and allocating enough space for the other team’s fans. Only 10 Annibal fans were allowed in Game3 few days back and Champville had already threatened few months back not to go through with the game if Riyadi fans are not taken out from behind their bench.

The Lebanese Federation met yesterday and decided to play the final game between Annibal and Riyadi with no fans, and banned Riyadi player Ismail Ahmad for one game after he cursed two members of the federation. I wouldn’t be surprised if Riyadi does not comply with those decisions. I guess we will have to wait and see.

AFP Photo

Lebanon is probably the only country in the world where no one understands what happens when syndicates or organizations call for a strike, especially when it’s related to the GLC, or General Labor Confederation. As we all probably know by now, the head of the GLC Ghassan Ghosn confirmed the general strike scheduled for May 3 in protest against the government policies regarding living conditions in Lebanon. He announced on the occasion of Labor Day: “We will no longer remain silent over a government that is seeking to impoverish its people.” [Naharnet]

At first glance, you’d think this guy is serious about the strike and the whole country is going to be paralyzed tomorrow, but then you ask around and there’s absolutely no one you know who’s going to that strike. In fact, banks and private institutions are all open; Catholic, private and public schools as well as Lebanese university branches and private universities are all open, government institutions are open as well and all malls/restaurants/pubs are open!

Except for few taxi and bus drivers vowing to block roads, tomorrow is a regular working day. However, that doesn’t mean that the demands are not righteous but the man calling for those strikes is obviously the wrong person to do so and is part of the whole corrupted system.

So until further notice, I hope the authorities lock this guy up one day for every strike he calls for because he’s disturbing public order and wasting our time.

The hospitals, their staff and doctors went on the one-week strike to protest the NSSF’s delay in reimbursing hospital bills and its refusal to increase the fees of physicians. The head of the Syndicate of Private Hospitals Suleiman Haroun told Free Lebanon Radio, that the hospitals will only admit patients with severe hemorrhage, those who have heart and respiratory problems and who undergo dialysis, and victims of traffic accidents. [Naharnet]

This is a very serious matter that needs to be treated ASAP as there’s a great majority of Lebanese who rely on the NSSF to hospitalize themselves, their family and more importantly their elderly. However, I can’t really blame the hospitals for taking such measures as they can’t keep working for free and enduring losses.

One solution is to get insured somewhere else, but most insurances don’t cover people over a certain age and not all Lebanese families can afford paying for an insurance.

I have to ask the government here which is more important: Paying a minister 400 million dollars to compensate the closure of his stone-crushing plant or reimburse hospitals to end this strike?

[Picture from Naharnet]

Two stand-up comedians have been detained for breaching public morality. Edmond Haddad, known for his role on al-Jadeed television’s Chi.N.N. comedy show, and Rawiya al-Shab, who is a theater and film actress, were detained for a stand-up show they presented in 2009 at a pub in Gemmayzeh. [Naharnet]

The article says that a local media outlet was covering the event and reported that their act had violated public morals. In fact, during the sketch, Haddad showed some of his underwear, much to the disappointment of the unnamed media outlet.

Does anyone know which media outlet they are referring to? So what if he showed his boxers? With everything that’s happening in Lebanon, this is the only thing considered as a breach of public morality?

The funny part is that the Beirut judge in charge of the case “has held Haddad and al-Shab on charges of breaching public morals based solely on the newspaper article that initially made the complaint, said al-Akhbar. The judge did not even consider viewing a dvd recording of the comedy show, it added.”

That’s just sad.

[YouTube]

This guy has a thing for stealing American movie scenes! First it was 300 and now it’s “The day after tomorrow“.

I tried understanding the lyrics a bit to see if they are anyhow related to the video clip but I didn’t get a single word of what he’s saying. I must say though that it was cool seeing those huge waves pounding the Lebanese shores. The clip must have cost a lot but money is not really an issue when you are married to Yemeni president’s daughter.

[Picture by Kalyn's Kitchen]

If you wish to know why Lebanon is ranked number 134 out of 182 countries in the Corruption Index report of 2011, you just have to read this piece of news:

“The government is considering how to grant a minister $400 million to compensate the closure of his stone-crushing plant,” referring to State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Nicolas Fattoush. [Naharnet]

$400 million dollars to a man who has corruption written all over his face in every business he invested in, including the Jeita Grotto. Regardless of his political allegiance, it is unacceptable that the government pays him that much money, specially that his stone-crushing plants are illegal!

That’s the first time I wish that it was some silly Guinness World Record about Fattoush set by the Lebanese I was posting about.

While public gardens, roads, sidewalks and buildings are constantly neglected in Achrafieh (and other cities around Beirut as well), there’s a person in charge of cleaning the traffic light in DownTown Beirut.

I am not saying DownTown Beirut shouldn’t be taken care of, but having one municipality for all of the Beirut region is absurd.

[YouTube]

It would have been better for LBCI never to have released the video of the 113 points, because we are getting laughed at all over the world now. The YouTube video has around half a million views now but has more dislikes than likes and the comments are mostly negative but also funny.

Here are few of them:

“is defense illegal in Lebanon?”
and the reply: they’re shot if they play any

” am from lithuania,here basketball is nr1 of sports… this video is not about basketball… it makes my eays hurt:(”

“anyone who dislike this.. knows how to play basketball..”

“The player had terrorist connections. You try to guard him, you get your house bombed.”

“Mohammed passes to Mohammed who passes the ball to the post player, Mohammed. Mohammed misses but his teammate, Mohammed, gets the putback!”

“Lebanese Defense apparently involves giving stern looks”

“Feels like a scene from a Sasha Boren Cohen film. R.I.P Defense”

“I thought this was a Globetrotters game.”

At this rate, Mohammad el Akkari will soon become Lebanon’s Rebecca Black. (This is me commenting)

Despite all that, it’s not too late for the FIBA to discard this game and restore some dignity into our Lebanese Basketball League.

Najib posted about how awesome MTC were two weeks ago for helping his friend out when he had a problem. Well I ran into a problem today and it was like a big WTF.

My previous MTC line got killed because I didn’t recharge it so since I’m in Lebanon for 5 days I figured I’d get another line so I could get online from my iphone so I can tweet and stuff. I went bought a line from a store, put the sim card in my phone and called 111 to get internet activated. Mobile Internet was the second option in the menu so I pressed 2 and listened to instructions on how to activate the internet which is sending and SMS with the word “mi” to 1188. I do that and get a message that mobile internet will be activated in 24 hours.

So I think great. But the automated system said something about a 25MB limit, I wanted at least 100 so I called 111 to talk to a customer support agent and while I am going through the menu options I get to around option #7 or 8 and I hear 3.9G Internet. I was curious to what that was and go into the menu and realize they have a package I wanted which was 19$ for 500MB. I hangup send the SMS “hs2″ to 1188 to activate that package and to my surprise I get the following:

“Dear Customer, you cannot subscribe to 3.9G – 500MB Service because you are subscribed to Mobile Internet Service. You can subscribe as of 2012-05-08″

I was like WTF? So I call and talk to a customer support agent, I tell him I wanted internet on my phone and the first option that came up I signed up to but I want to upgrade it to 3.9G and I am getting an error. He tells me I need to wait till next month. I was like you can take the $5 I paid for mobile internet, cancel it and let me sign up to the 19$ package. He was like he can’t do that. After like 5 minutes of arguing I was like ok fine, so whats the difference anyway? He’s like what phone do you have? I was like an iPhone. He was like Mobile Internet doesn’t work on your iPhone since mobile internet is WAP.

That’s where I blew it. I was like WTF? WAP? Who the hell still uses WAP? Why the hell are you calling it Mobile Internet and why is it the second option in the automated menu? I mean seriously? I got a new phone line, called 111, got an option for mobile internet which I assumed meant internet on my mobile and it turns out you have ANOTHER mobile internet option called 3.9G hidden later in the options and what’s even more confusing is what you call mobile internet is actually WAP?

I was super pissed and the guy wouldn’t do anything about it. I couldn’t throw money at the problem, I asked to talk to the technical department and he refused to transfer me and I was getting really pissed. Finally I asked to file a complaint so that at least MTC know how stupid and confusing their terminology and menu layout is and he wouldn’t even do that. He told me he can’t take or file complaints. WTF?!! I then asked to speak to the person in charge at the call center and although it took some convincing I finally got through to him. The call center manager was much more understanding and unlike the first guy I spoke to was aware of this issue which seems to happen with a lot of people and was very apologetic. Still though nothing could be done about it.

So now my only solution is to buy another line so I can get internet on my phone. That’s ridiculous and MTC really need to fix this crap.