Sense of Humor

PHoto of the day

2009-04-23T06:34:00.001-07:00

Nice Jokes

2009-04-23T05:29:00.000-07:00

Husband always insisted on making love in the dark. After 20 years wife turns on the light, finds him holding a vibrator. She goes balistic, "You impotent bas*ard! How could you lie to me all these years?" Husband looks her straight in the eyes & calmly says, "I'll explain the toy, you explain the kids....." --------------------------------------------------------------- The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large pile of apples. The nun made a note, and posted on the apple tray: "Take only ONE. God is watching." Moving further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. A child had written a note, "Take all you want. God is watching the apples." ----------------------------------------------------------------- Boy - "dear Santa, for xmas, I would like a baby brother." Santa - "Send me your mother." ------------------------------------------------------------------ Based on statistics, the most used s*xual position among married couples is doggy style - the husband sits and begs, while the wife rolls over and plays dead. --------------------------------------------------------------------- A boy watches his mum and dad having s*x he ask, "What are you doing ?" His dad replies, "Making you a brother or sister!" Boy say, "Do her doggy style I want a puppy." ---------------------------------------------------------------- A woman gets on a bus with her baby. The bus driver says: “That's the ugliest baby that I've ever seen. Ugh!” The woman goes to the rear of the bus and sits down, fuming. She says to a man next to her: “The driver just insulted me!” The man says: “You go right up there and tell him off – go ahead, I'll hold your monkey for you.” --------------------------------------------------------------- A little boy wakes up 3 nights in a row when he hears a thumping sound coming from his parents room. Finally one morning he goes to his mom and says, "Mommy, every night I hear you and daddy making noises and when I look in your bedroom you're bouncing up and down on him." His mom is taken by surprise and says, "Oh.. well.. ah.. well, I'm bouncing on his stomach because he's fat and that makes him thin again." And the boy says, "Well, that won't work!" His mom says, "Why?" And the boy replies, "Because the lady next door comes by after you leave each day and blows him back up." --------------------------------------------------------------- Their was a camel and elephant, the elephant said to the camel "How come you have your t*ts on your back?" and the camel got offended so he told the elephant "Well why do you have your d*ck on your face?" -------------------------------------------------------------- What did the blonde say when she found she was pregnant? "Is it mine?" --------------------------------------------------------------- Two eggs boiling in a pan. One says, "I've got a huge crack." The other replies, "Stop teasing me, I'm not f*cking hard yet." --------------------------------------------------------------- A woman posts an ad in the news paper that looks like this... Looking for man with these qualifications: - won't beat me up - won't run away from - is great in bed. She got lots of phone calls replying to her ad but met someone perfect at her door one day. The man she met said, "Hi, I'm Bob. I have no arms so I won't beat you up and no legs so I won't run away." So the lady says, "What makes you think you are great in bed?" Bob replies, "I rang the door bell didn't I?" --------------------------------------------------------------- A man ask his wife, "What would you do if I won the lottery?" Wife says, "I would take half and leave you". Man says, "Great! I have won a tenner, here a fiver now fuck off!" --------------------------------------------------------------- A little boy asked his father, "Daddy, how much does it cost to get married?" And the father replied, "I don't know, son, I'm still paying for it." ---------------------------------------------------------------- Husband and wife decide to make a password for s*x, they decide on 'washing machine'. Later in bed that night husband says, "Washing machine." Wife replies, "Not tonight darling I have a sore head." Half an hour passes and she feels guilty so she says, "Washing machine." Husband replies, "To late it was only a small load so I decided to do it by hand." --------------------------------------------------------------- Teacher: Name two days of the week that start with "t". Pupil: Today and Tomorrow. -------------------------------------------------------------- I used to play tennis, baseball, basketball and chess, but I stopped after my son broke my playstation. ------------------------------------------------------------- A young man goes into a drug store to buy condoms. The pharmacist says the condoms come in packs of 3, 9 or 12 and asks which the young man wants. "Well," he said, "I've been seeing this girl for a while and she's really hot. I want the condoms because I think tonight's "the" night. We're having dinner with her parents, and then we're going out. And I've got a feeling I'm gonna get lucky after that." "Once she's had me, she'll want me all the time, so you'd better give me the 12 pack." The young man makes his purchase and leaves. Later that evening, he sits down to dinner with his girlfriend and her parents. He asks if he might give the blessing and they agree. He begins the prayer, but continues praying for several minutes. The girl leans over to him and says, "You never told me that you were such a religious person." The boy leans over to her and whispers, "You never told me that your father is a pharmacist." ------------------------------------------------------------------ Any married man should forget his mistakes. There's no use in two people remembering the same thing. --------------------------------------------------------------- A mother was arguing with her teenager and finally she reaches breaking point and blurts out, " I should swallowed you when i had the chance!" ---------------------------------------------------------------

Beautiful Photo's From Qatar

2009-04-16T07:20:00.000-07:00

Photo's from Qatar Album

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Qatar (Useful I nformation)

2009-04-13T15:24:00.001-07:00

Qatar Qatar Khalil Hope I could provide useful Information about Qatar

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Muslims and Jesus

2009-04-09T19:36:00.000-07:00

10 brief points Christians should know about Muslims and Jesus

1.Muslims love Jesus. We also love Abraham, Moses, and Noah, to name just a few other Prophets Muslims revere. May God's peace be upon all of these great messengers of God.

2.Muslims also love the mother of Jesus, the Virgin Mary. We believe she was a pious and noble woman chosen over all of the women of the world.

3.Muslims believe that Jesus was born miraculously of a virgin mother and no father. His birth is miraculous like the birth of Adam, the first human being, who was created with neither mother nor father.

4.Muslims do not believe that Jesus was the son of God. God is so powerful and self-sufficient that He does not need a son or any kind of partner.

5.In Arabic Bible the name for God is Allah. Therefore all Arab Christian call God Allah as Muslim do as well.

6.Jesus did not die on the cross. Rather, God saved him as his enemies were confused about him. Jesus was taken up by God to Heaven.

7.Jesus is called Isa (pronounced Eesa) in Arabic.

8.Jesus performed miracles by the Will of God, like healing the blind and those with leprosy.

9.Jesus prayed to the same God as all Prophets and we pray to.

10.Jesus will return before the end of the world.

Chat

2009-03-30T18:02:00.001-07:00

You Must Know this Man

2009-03-16T18:40:00.000-07:00

You may be an antheist or an agnostic; or you may belong to any of the religious denominations that exist in the world today. You may be a communist or a believer in democracy and freedom. No matter what you are, and no matter what your ideological and political beliefs, personal and social habits happen to be - you must still know this man.

ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA confirms:
"....a mass of detail in the early sources show that he was an honest and upright man who had gained the respect and loyalty of others who were like-wise honest and upright men." (Vol. 12)

GEORGE BERNARD SHAW said about him:
"He must be called the Saviour of Humanity. I believe that if a man like him were to assume the dictatorship of the modern world, he would succeed in solving its problems in a way that would bring it much needed peace and happiness." (THE GENUINE ISLAM, Singapore, Vol. 1, No. 8, 1936)

He was by far the most remarkable man that ever set foot on this earth. He preached a religion, founded a state, built a nation, laid down a moral code, initiated numerous social and political reforms, established a powerful and dynamic society to practice and represent his teachings and completely revolutionized the worlds of human thought and behavior for all times to come.

"HIS NAME IS MUHAMMAD" May Peace of God Be Upon Him (pbuh)
He was born in Arabia in the year 570 C.E. (common era), started his mission of preaching the religion of Truth, Islam (submission to One God) at the age of forty and departed from this world at the age of sixty-three.

During this short period of 23 years of his Prophethood, he changed the complete Arabian peninsula from paganism and idolatry to worship of One God, from tribal quarrels and wars to national solidarity and cohesion, from drunkenness and debauchery to sobriety and piety, from lawlessness and anarchy to disciplined living, from utter bankruptcy to the highest standards of moral excellence. Human history has never known such a complete transformation of a people or a place before or since - and IMAGINE all these unbelievable wonders in JUST OVER TWO DECADES.

Lamartine, the renowned historian speaking on the essentials of human greatness wonders:

"If greatness of purpose, smallness of means and astounding results are the three criteria of human genius, who could dare to compare any great man in modern history with Muhammad? The most famous men created arms, laws and empires only. They founded, if anything at all, no more than material powers which often crumbled away before their eyes. This man moved not only armies, legislation, empires, peoples and dynasties, but millions of men in one-third of the then inhabited world; and more than that, he moved the altars, the gods, the religions, the ideas, the beliefs and souls....his forbearance in victory, his ambition, which was entirely devoted to one idea and in no manner striving for an empire; his endless prayers, his mystic conversations with God, his death and his triumph after death; all these attest not to an imposture but to a firm conviction which gave him the power to restore a dogma. This dogma was two-fold, the unity of God and the immateriality of God; the former telling what God is, the latter telling what God is not; the one overthrowing false gods with the sword, the other starting an idea with the words.

"Philosopher, orator, apostle, legislator, warrior, conqueror of ideas, restorer of rational dogmas, of a cult without images, the founder of twenty terrestrial empires and of one spiritual empire, that is MUHAMMAD. As regards all the standards by which Human Greatness may be measured, we may well ask, IS THERE ANY MAN GREATER THAN HE?" (Lamartine, HISTOIRE DE LA TURQUIE, Paris, 1854, Vol. II, pp 276-277)

The world has had its share of great personalities. But these were one-sided figures who distinguished themselves in but one or two fields, such as religious thought or military leadership. The lives and teachings of these great personalities of the world are shrouded in the mist of time.

There is so much speculation about the time and place of their birth, the mode and style of their life, the nature and detail of their teachings and the degree and measure of their success or failure that it is impossible for humanity to reconstruct accurately the lives and teachings of these men.

Not so this man. Muhammad (pbuh) accomplished so much in such diverse fields of human thought and behavior in the fullest blaze of human history. Every detail of his private life and public utterances has been accurately documented and faithfully preserved to our day. The authenticity of the record so preserved are vouched for not only by the faithful followers but even by his prejudiced critics.

Muhammad (pbuh) was a religious teacher, a social reformer, a moral guide, an administrative colossus, a faithful friend, a wonderful companion, a devoted husband, a loving father - all in one. No other man in history ever excelled or equaled him in any of these different aspects of life - but it was only for the selfless personality of Muhammad (pbuh) to achieve such incredible perfections.

MAHATMA GANDHI, speaking on the character of Muhammad, (pbuh) says in YOUNG INDIA:
"I wanted to know the best of one who holds today's undisputed sway over the hearts of millions of mankind....I became more than convinced that it was not the sword that won a place for Islam in those days in the scheme of life. It was the rigid simplicity, the utter self-effacement of the Prophet, the scrupulous regard for his pledges, his intense devotion to this friends and followers, his intrepidity, his fearlessness, his absolute trust in God and in his own mission.

These and not the sword carried everything before them and surmounted every obstacle. When I closed the 2nd volume (of the Prophet's biography), I was sorry there was not more for me to read of the great life."

THOMAS CALYLE in his HEROES AND HERO WORSHIP, was simply amazed as to:
"how one man single-handedly, could weld warring tribes and wandering Bedouins into a most powerful and civilized nation in less than two decades."

DIWAN CHAND SHARMA wrote:
"Muhammad was the soul of kindness, and his influence was felt and never forgotten by those around him." (D.C. Sharma, THE PROPHETS OF THE EAST, Calcutta, 1935, pp. 12)

EDWARD GIBBON and SIMON OCKLEY speaking on the profession of ISLAM write:
"'I BELIEVE IN ONE GOD, AND MAHOMET, AN APOSTLE OF GOD' is the simple and invariable profession of Islam. The intellectual image of the Deity has never been degraded by any visible idol; the honor of the Prophet has never transgressed the measure of human virtues; and his living precepts have restrained the gratitude of his disciples within the bounds of reason and religion." (HISTORY OF THE SARACEN EMPIRES, London, 1870, p. 54)

Muhammad (pbuh) was nothing more or less than a human being. But he was a man with a noble mission, which was to unite humanity on the worship of ONE and ONLY ONE GOD and to teach them the way to honest and upright living based on the commands of God. He always described himself as, 'A Servant and Messenger of God,' and so indeed every action of his proclaimed to be.

Speaking on the aspect of equality before God in Islam, the famous poetess of India, SAROJINI NAIDU says:
"It was the first religion that preached and practiced democracy; for, in the mosque, when the call for prayer is sounded and worshippers are gathered together, the democracy of Islam is embodied five times a day when the peasant and king kneel side by side and proclaim: 'God Alone is Great'... I have been struck over and over again by this indivisible unity of Islam that makes man instinctively a brother." (S. Naidu, IDEALS OF ISLAM, vide Speeches & Writings, Madras, 1918, p. 169)

In the words of PROF. HURGRONJE:
"The league of nations founded by the prophet of Islam put the principle of international unity and human brotherhood on such universal foundations as to show candle to other nations." He continues: "The fact is that no nation of the world can show a parallel to what Islam has done towards the realization of the idea of the League of Nations."

The world has not hesitated to raise to divinity, individuals whose lives and missions have been lost in legend. Historically speaking, none of these legends achieved even a fraction of what Muhammad (pbuh) accomplished. And all his striving was for the sole purpose of uniting mankind for the worship of One God on the codes of moral excellence. Muhammad (pbuh) or his followers never at any time claimed that he was a Son of God or the God-incarnate or a man with divinity - but he always was and is even today considered as only a Messenger chosen by God.

MICHAEL H. HART in his recently published book on ratings of men who contributed towards the benefit and upliftment of mankind writes:
"My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world's most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular levels." (M.H. Hart, THE 100: A RANKING OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL PERSONS IN HISTORY, New York, 1978, p. 33)

K. S. RAMAKRISHNA RAO, an Indian Professor of Philosophy in his booklet, "Muhammad, The Prophet of Islam," calls him the "PERFECT MODEL FOR HUMAN LIFE." Prof. Ramakrishna Rao explains his point by saying:
"The personality of Muhammad, it is most difficult to get into the whole truth of it. Only a glimpse of it I can catch. What a dramatic succession of picturesque scenes! There is Muhammad, the Prophet. There is Muhammad, the Warrior; Muhammad, the Businessman; Muhammad, the Statesman; Muhammad, the Orator; Muhammad, the Reformer; Muhammad, the Refuge of Orphans; Muhammad, the Protector of Slaves; Muhammad, the Emancipator of Women; Muhammad, the Judge; Muhammad, the Saint. All in all these magnificent roles, in all these departments of human activities, he is alike a hero."

Today after a lapse of fourteen centuries, the life and teachings of MUHAMMAD (pbuh) have survived without the slightest loss, alteration or interpolation. They offer the same undying hope for treating mankind's many ills, which they did when he was alive. This is not a claim of Muhammad's (pbuh) followers but also the inescapable conclusion forced upon by a critical and unbiased history.

The least YOU could do as a thinking and concerned human being is to stop for a moment and ask yourself: Could these statements sounding so extraordinary and revolutionary be really true? And supposing they really are true and you did not know this man MUHAMMAD (pbuh) or hear about him, isn't it time you responded to this tremendous challenge and put in some effort to know him?

It will cost you nothing but it may prove to be the beginning of a completely new era in your life.

We invite you to make a discovery of this wonderful man, Muhammad (pbuh), the like of whom never walked on the face of this earth.

Celebrating Mother's Day

2009-03-16T18:25:00.001-07:00

His mother will be angry if he does not celebrate Mother’s Day

Celebrating Mother’s Day is an innovated matter which the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and his companions (may Allah be pleased with them) did not do. It is also an imitation of the kuffaar from whom we have been commanded to differ. Hence it is not permissible to celebrate it or to obey one's mother in that, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “There is no obedience if it involves sin; obedience is only in that which is right and proper.” Narrated by al-Bukhari, 7257; Muslim, 1840.

We should continue to honour her and treat her with kindness, and keep trying to convince her that this celebration is a newly invented innovation. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “The worst of matters are those which are newly-invented, and every innovation is a going-astray.” Narrated by Muslim, 867; al-Nasaa’i, 1578. Al-Nasaa’i’s report adds the words: “And every going astray will be in the Fire.”

The mother is entitled to respect and honour, and upholding of the ties of kinship throughout her life, so what is the point of singling out a particular day to honour her?
Moreover, this innovation has come to us from societies in which disobedience towards parents is widespread, in which mothers and fathers can find no refuge except old people’s homes, where they are left alone and no one visit them, and they spend their time in pain and sorrow. So they think that honouring their mothers for one day will erase the sin of their disobedience towards her during the rest of the year.

But we Muslims have been commanded to honour our parents and uphold the ties of kinship, and we have been forbidden to disobey our parents. In our religion mothers have been given something which has not been given to them in any other religion; the mother’s rights take precedence over those of the father, as al-Bukhari (5514) and Muslim (4621) narrated that Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: A man came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and said: “O Messenger of Allah, who is most deserving of my good company?” He said: “Your mother.” He said: “Then who?” He said: “Your mother.” He said: “Then who?” He said: “Your mother.” He said: “Then who?” He said: “Then your father.”

Honouring one's mother does not come to an end even when she dies, for she is honoured in life and in death. That is done by offering the funeral prayer for her, praying for forgiveness for her, carrying out her last wishes and honouring her family and friends.
Let us adhere to this great religion and follow its etiquettes and rulings, for in it is sufficient guidance and mercy.

Shaykh ‘Ali Mahfouz (may Allah have mercy on him) said, explaining how this celebration (Mother’s Day) is an imitation of the kuffaar:
Explaining the seriousness of celebrating festivals other than the Islamic Eids, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) stated that some peoples or groups in his ummah would follow the People of the Book in some of their rituals and traditions, as is narrated in the hadith of Abu Sa’eed al-Khudri (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “They will follow the ways of those who came before them, handspan by handspan, cubit by cubit, until even if they entered a lizard’s hole they will follow them.” We said: “O Messenger of Allah, (do you mean) the Jews and Christians?” He said: “Who else?” Narrated by al-Bukhari and Muslim…

Love of imitation, even if it is something that exists in people’s hearts, is forbidden in sharee’ah if the one who is being imitated differs from us in his beliefs and thinking, especially is what is being imitated is religious beliefs or acts of worship, or it is a ritual or tradition. When the Muslims became weak in this time, their imitation of their enemies became more widespread and many western traditions and customs became widespread, whether that has to do with consumer goods or attitudes and behaviour. One of these customs is the celebration of Mother’s Day. End quote.

Shaykh Muhammad Ibn Salih Ibn ‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) was asked about celebrating Mother’s Day and he replied:
All celebrations which differ from the Eids prescribed in Islam are innovated festivals which were not known at the time of the righteous salaf, and may also have come from the non-Muslims, in which case as well as being an innovation (bid’ah) they are also an imitation of the enemies of Allah. The festivals which are prescribed in Islam are well known to the Muslims: they are Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, and the weekly “Eid” of Jumu’ah. There is no other festival in Islam apart from these three. All the festivals that have been invented apart from these are to be rejected because they are innovations and are false according to the laws of Allah, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever introduces anything into this matter of ours that is not part of it will have it rejected,” i.e., it will be thrown back at him and will not be accepted by Allah. According to another version: “Whoever does any deed that is not part of this matter of ours will have it rejected.”

Once this is clear, then it is not permissible to show any of the signs of festivity on the celebration mentioned in the question, namely Mother’s Day. It is not permissible to show joy and happiness, or to offer gifts, and so on.
The Muslim should feel proud of his religion and adhere to the limits set by Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in this religion, which Allah has chosen for His slaves, and he should not add anything or take anything away. What the Muslim should also do is to not to follow every new idea that comes along, rather his character should be in accordance with the sharee’ah of Allah so that he will be a leader and example, not a follower, because the sharee’ah of Allah – praise be to Allah – is complete in all ways as Allah says (interpretation of the meaning):
“This day, I have perfected your religion for you, completed My Favour upon you, and have chosen for you Islam as your religion” [al-Maa'idah 5:3]

A mother’s right is greater than having just one day in the year to be honoured, rather the mother’s right over her children is that they should take care of her and obey her, so long as it does not involve disobedience towards Allah, at all times and in all places.

Jews and the Gaza holocaust

2009-01-12T06:43:00.000-08:00

In June, 1942, in reprisal for the assassination of the Nazi commander Reinhard Heydrich, the Germans carried out a murderous rampage of murder and terror throughout Czechoslovakia. The small Czech village of Lidice bore the brunt of the German revenge, with the SS killing all the men, deported all women and children and razed the village to the ground.

Similarly, in March 1944, thirty-three German soldiers were killed when members of an Italian resistance group set off a bomb close to a column of German troops who were marching on via Rasella in Rome. Adolph Hitler got furious and ordered that within 24 hours, ten Italians were to be shot for each German soldier that had been killed. Herbert Kappler, the local German commander, quickly compiled a list of 320 civilians who were to be assassinated as vengeance. On March 24, the victims were transported to the Ardeatine caves where they were summarily executed by the SS.

Numerous other ‘pacification operations’ were carried out by the Nazi armies against civilians throughout Nazi-occupied Europe, in which men, women and children were brutally killed to avenge the death of German occupation soldiers by local resistance fighters.
Now what is the difference between these Nazi atrocities and what Israel, the “only democracy in the Middle East” is doing in the Gaza Strip, where “the most moral army in the world” is slaughtering babies as young as six-months’ old? I know that many Jews, especially Zionist Jews, have developed almost instinctive knee- jerk defensive reactions to any comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany. However, the truth must be proclaimed aloud, irrespective of how many Zionists will get angry.

Israel claims that it doesn’t murder innocent civilians deliberately. But this is a big, obscene lie, of which even most Israelis are aware. Mistakes happen a few times, but when the wanton slaughter of children occurs each day and every day of the year, it means it is policy.

In addition, when the number of victims, especially innocent victims, as in Gaza, even intent itself becomes irrelevant.

In the final analysis, murdering knowingly is murdering deliberately, regardless of the prevarication and the verbal juggling.

Hence, Jews around the world, especially those who support Israel, should be willing to bring themselves to recognizing that what their wonderful state is doing to these helpless Palestinians is a virtual holocaust or at least a holocaust in the making.

How else can any honest person relate to these phantasmagoric images that keep coming from Gaza, haunting the conscience of every human being?

True, Israel had not introduced gas chambers in Beit Hanun and Khan Younis or Rafah. But we have F-16s raining down bombs and death on sleeping children and women and innocent civilians.

If Jews who support this satanic entity are not willing to call the spade a spade and recognize a holocaust as a holocaust, then they should be viewed as active accomplices in this wanton rampage of murder and terror.

This is not a war. Calling the current Israeli onslaught on Gaza a war is like fornicating with words. Wars occur between armies and states.

What is happening in Gaza is actually a merciless and brutal rampage of murder and terror waged by a Wehrmacht-like army against a blockaded, beleaguered and starved people who want to survive and be free, very much like Jews did under the Nazi occupation of Europe.

Indeed, when Israel murders a hundred Palestinian, mostly innocent civilians, for every Israeli killed, there is a name for that, it is massacre.

It is conscionable that honest people around the world, including many conscientious Jews who can’t bear watching the heinous crimes Israel is committing in their collective name, must call the spade a spade. A holocaust, after all, doesn’t become lesser when perpetrated by Jews. There is no such a thing as a kosher holocaust or kosher massacres.

Vilnai

Now, once again, human decency is being affronted and insulted by this reptile terrorist Matan Vilnai, Israel’s deputy defense minister, who has gone as far as threatening the thoroughly tormented Gazans with a holocaust.

Speaking to the Israeli army radio Friday morning, 29 February, Vilnai said “the more Qassam rockets fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, the Palestinians will bring upon themselves a bigger holocaust because we will use all our power to defend ourselves.”

Well, if Israel thinks that carrying out a holocaust against its victims in Gaza and Rafah and Khan Younis can be justified, then why blame Hitler for effecting a holocaust against his own respective enemies? Is Vilnai vindicating the holocaust?

I think Jews should realize that this criminal state, with its manifestly intransigence and bellicosity, is forcing them to make a moral judgment. In the face of evil, and Israel is a clear embodiment of evil, one can’t be neutral. It is either one stands with evil or stands against it.

Today, people around the world, including millions of Jews, are watching the pornographic slaughter in Gaza live on their TV screens. And no amount of spin, lie, or hasbara will make the images of mutilated babies look innocuous.

Finally, the people of the world will not be duped by the propagandistic lies about so-called rocket attacks on Israeli towns, which are meant first and foremost to create an artificial equation between the wanton extermination of Gazans and the mainly psychological discomfort experienced by some Israeli citizens as a result of the fall of these nearly innocuous fire-crackers, fired by some desperate Gazans in order to deter Israel from killing more of their children.

This is because Israel knows very well how calm and peace can be restored for both the people of Gaza and Israelis across the border: Lift the criminal siege on Gaza, allow Gazans to access food and to travel, allow them to export and import, and stop these daily massacres. And then not a single Qassam will be fired onto Israel.

The Gaza Holocaust

2009-01-12T06:37:00.001-08:00

by Elizabeth Molchany (source: CASMII)
Saturday, January 10, 2009

Israeli dissent: ‘Israel is like the abused child who grows up to be the abuser.’

The 1967 war between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, and Syria was born out of a lie that Israel had to wage a pre-emptive attack to defend itself, much as George Bush had to wage a pre-emptive attack against Iraq because it had weapons of mass destruction.

Declassified documents in recent years by Israeli Minister of Defense Moshe Dayan reveal the contrary. Since then, in violation of more than 100 UN resolutions and the Geneva Conventions, not to mention the international standard of unlawful aggression the US held Iraq to as justification for the first Gulf War in 1991, Israel has retained control of the Occupied Territories it captured in 1967 and committed numerous atrocities reported in its own media, to which the US is complicit in its American-made, Americanpaid DC9 Caterpillars, F16s, and Apache helicopters, among other weapons.

The Occupied Territories includes the Gaza Strip, a small 25 x 6 mile area bordering the Eastern Mediterranean Sea, inhabited by 1.5 million Palestinians, 20 percent of whom and their forefathers have lived there for centuries. Eighty percent are refugees created when 750,000 Palestinians were forced or fled in fear from their homes in what is now Israel in April 1948, before the first Arab-Israeli war. They and their forefathers had lived there for 1600 years since the 7th century.

For 42 years, Israel has had tight control over Gaza, making it the world’s largest prison. No one may leave or enter without an Israeli permit. When its troops left in 2005, Israel left 44 acres of massive rubble when it demolished Jewish-only housing rather than leave it for the Gazans to use as an act of good faith since it had illegally occupied the land so long.

But Israel retained control of Gaza’s air, land, and sea, and the money they earn on produce and other products, and imposed a blockade on food, fuel, water, electricity, medicine, even ink and paper and parts and supplies necessary for a viable economy.

Because of this, thousands of Palestinians are starving, hopeless, and helpless. It is the middle of winter, they are freezing and without fuel, food or money. In an open and democratic election in 2005, Hamas was elected.

Hamas has refused to recognize Israel’s right to exist based on Israel’s refusal to accept the existence of a Palestinian state and their rights to human dignity, freedom and security. Despite this, Hamas immediately offered Israel a 10-year ceasefire and acceptance of a 2-state solution if Israel would agree to return to the 1967 borders. Israel refused. Hamas abided by its own 18-month unilateral truce.

In June 2008, Hamas and Israel agreed to a 6-month truce during which Israel was to relax its blockade. Israel immediately breached that part, and would not even allow Gazans to fish within 3 miles of their own coast without a permit, stringently enforced.

On November 4, Israel again breached the truce by entering Gaza, killing 6 Palestinians, and sealing the borders, denying food and all necessities, foreign journalists and dignitaries, including President Carter. On Dec 27, Israel launched its massive assault despite the fact that not one Israeli had died during the past year from a Qassam Rocket. Hamas responded with its only weapons, Qassam Rockets, killing 4 Israelis. Since Israel’s attack with American weapons, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed, 3,000 wounded, and their entire infrastructure destroyed or seriously damaged, including homes, the American school, the university, dormitories, stores, markets, fishing boats, the Gaza mental heath center. This massacre, planned six months in advance, is not about Hamas or rockets but about Israel’s upcoming elections and denying the right of a Palestinian state. Israel’s own human rights organization, B’tselem, describes it as a crime against humanity.

Had Israel wanted peace, it would have returned the occupied territories to the Palestinians, the rightful owners under international law; it would have accepted the Saudi peace initiatives offered in 2002 and 2007, which all 21 Arab states signed, recognizing Israel and offering it permanent peace in return for an Israeli withdrawal from lands captured in 1967, establishing a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and a just solution to the issue of Palestinian refugees.

Each time, Israel said no, contradicting the notion Israel alone seeks a just and peaceful solution to regional issues. http://tinyurl.com/SA2007PlanHaaretz and http://tinyurl.com/JPAcceptInitiative

Please do not rely on the mainstream US media - you will not find the truth there. Research the alternative media on the Internet and other sources, such as Link and Free Speech TV’s “Democracy Now” daily news show, online sources such as Jewish Voices for Peace, the Electronic Intifada, or England’s print media The Independence and The Observer, which are also available online, as are the Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz, and Israeli organizations such “Gush Shalom,” “B’tselem” and “Breaking the Silence: Israeli Soldiers Talk About the Occupied” - the latter at www.shovrimshtika.org/index_e.asp

As one Israeli conscientious objector recently stated in a “Democracy Now” interview after being released from prison, “At least in Israel there is debate over the actions of the right-wing government, in the US you don’t even get that.”

Elizabeth Molchany is an attorney in private practice in Front Royal, VA. Ms. Molchany is a long-time student of the crisis in the Middle East. She can be reached at: emmolchanylaw@embarqmail.com

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Gaza school attack only hit civilians

2009-01-12T06:28:00.001-08:00

UN: Gaza school attack only hit civilians
Posted by webadmin in Arabic Articles, Latest News on 01 8th, 2009 | no responses
The United Nations has dismissed Israeli claims that its bloody attacks on schools were directed at killing Palestinians fighters.

Christopher Gunness, spokesman for the UN refugee agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said with high confidence on Wednesday that there were no combatants or combative activities in the schools and school compounds targeted by Israel on Tuesday.

“We are calling for an independent investigation to establish the facts,” he said, calling for those who broke the rules of war to be brought to justice.

Israeli forces attacked three UN-run schools in the Gaza Strip, killing at least 45 civilians, most of whom were Palestinians who had taken refuge in the buildings to escape the raining Israeli fire on Gaza.

Israeli officials had tried to justify the incident as an attack on a militant stronghold.

Israeli ground forces began a full-scale invasion of Gaza on Saturday after pounding the region with airstrikes for a week.

According to Tel Aviv, the war on Gaza is aimed at ending rocket attacks against Israeli settlers, toppling Hamas and preventing the resistance group from rearming.

Hamas, however, demands a cessation of Israeli attacks and the opening of the Gaza border — which has been closed due to the 18-month blockade imposed on the strip by Tel Aviv.

So far the Israeli aggression has killed over 660 Palestinians, half of whom are women and children. More than 2,950 others have been wounded and many are feared to be under the rubble.

MRS/AA

Gaza school attack only hit civilians

2009-01-12T06:28:00.000-08:00

The Gaza Holocaust

2009-01-12T05:50:00.000-08:00

12/01/2009
16 Days of Israeli Zionism Attack On Gaza have caused 905 kills and 4100 wounded, half of the casualties are kids and woman, Israel have used phosphoric and chemical weapons, human right swatch has announced Israeli Army have attacked schools, hospitals mosques and have destroyed hundreds of civilian houses and power generation stations

Israel used chemical weapons in Lebanon and Gaza report

2009-01-09T18:19:00.000-08:00

By now there are countless reports, from hospitals, witnesses, armament experts and journalists that strongly suggest that in the current offensive, Israeli forces are using “new weapons” in Lebanon and Gaza.
New and strange symptoms are reported amongst the wounded and the dead.
Bodies with dead tissues and no apparent wounds; “shrunken” corpses; civilians with heavy damage to lower limbs that require amputation, which is nevertheless followed by unstoppable necrosis and death; descriptions of extensive internal wounds with no trace of shrapnel, corpses blackened but not burned, and others heavily wounded that did not bleed.
Many of these descriptions suggest the possibility that the new weapons used include “direct energy” weapons, and chemical and/or biological agents, in a sort of macabre experiment of future warfare, where there is no respect for anything: International rules (from the Geneva Convention to the treaties on biological and chemical weapons), refugees, hospitals and the Red Cross, not to mention the people, their future, their children, the environment, which is poisoned through dissemination of Depleted Uranium and toxic substances released after oil and chemical depots are bombed.
Right now, the Lebanese and Palestinian people have many urgent and impellent problems, yet many people believe that these episodes cannot and must not pass ignored. In fact several appeals have been launched to scientists and experts with a view to investigating the issue. With the intent of responding to such appeals, we have set up a team to investigate the testimonies, the images, and possibly the material evidence that delegations and NGOs will be able to bring from the affected areas. We want to offer support to the health institutions of Lebanon and Palestine, which ask constantly for help and external verification and monitoring, and we are examining all available materials in order to formulate hypotheses which can be verified or disproved.
We ask for the active participation of our (Italian) scientific institutions, and, following the request from medical personnel in the conflict area, we are requesting that the UN set up an international independent verification and investigation committee, with a view to facilitating entry into the conflict zone, as well as collecting material and testimonies directly in the field, and undertaking inquiries and verifications concerning the various claims regarding these new kinds of weapons of mass destruction being used by Israeli forces in Lebanon. We request that such investigating teams be set up immediately, and that procedures be defined and implemented with a view to supporting future investigations. Of particular concern is the issue of how to collect and store samples from the different theaters, with a view to preserving important information regarding the various impacts of these weapons.
We ask that the international committee have access to all sources of information, that it be fully operational, while abiding by relevant investigative procedures, including cross-checking of information between different laboratories.
As people and as scientists, we are offering our time and expertise in order to reach an understanding of the underlying facts, in the belief that a perspective of justice, equity and peace among people can be reached only with the respect of the rules defined up to now within the international community of nations. The issue pertains to the behavior of the parties in an armed conflict.
We ask that the respect of these rules be verified in the context of the present conflict. We invite scientists to contribute to this effort by offering their specific competences. In particular we seek collaboration of toxicology experts, pharmacologists, anatomy pathologists, doctors with an expertise in trauma and burns, chemists. They can reach the working group at the e-mail address: nuovearmi@gmail.com — Paola Manduca is professor of genetics, University of Genova, Italy.

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Israeli Crimes In Gaza-Palestine

2009-01-09T16:47:00.000-08:00

10/01/2009
Israel is pushing ahead with its offensive in the Gaza Strip after branding a

UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire "unworkable".

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, rejected the truce call following a

security cabinet meeting on Friday.

Referring to continued rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, Olmert said: "The

firing of rockets this morning only goes to show that the UN decision is

unworkable and will not be adhered to by the murderous Palestinian

organisations."

A series of Israeli air raids and ground attacks on Friday killed dozens of

Palestinians in northern Gaza, medical sources said.

Palestinian doctors said tanks shelled a house in Beit Lahiya in the north of

the Strip, killing six Gazans from the same family.

The Israeli air force launched attacks overnight against what an army

spokesman described as 50 targets, including launching pads for rockets fired

from Gaza into Israel.

The Israeli army said six rockets were also fired into southern Israel on

Friday morning, injuring one person and four rockets hit Beersheba, a town

about 40km from the Israeli-Gaza border and the port of Ashdod.

Civilian casualties

At least 803 Palestinians have been killed and 3,300 injured since the

Israeli offensive began on December 27.

More than 300 Palestinian children and nearly 100 women are among the dead,

according to the UN.

Thirteen Israelis, including three civilians, have been killed during the

same period.

The UN said on Friday that a further 30 Palestinians were killed in Gaza on

January 4 after the Israeli army moved dozens of civilians to a building

which troops later shelled.

A special report by the UN's Office for the Coordinator of Humanitarian

Affairs (OCHA) said 110 Gazans were transferred to the house and that the

Israeli army were investigating the incident.

The continuing hostilities will come as a disappointment for those within the

international community who have been pushing for a ceasefire since the

conflict began.

Sherine Tadros, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Gaza, said despite the talk of

peace at the United Nations in New York, there was "certainly no peace here

in the Gaza Strip".

She said explosions and heavy artillery fire could be continuously heard

overnight and into Friday.

The UN resolution, which was backed by 14 of the 15-member body with only the

US abstaining, called for an "immediate, durable and fully respected"

ceasefire.

It also said border crossings into Gaza should be re-opened and measures put

in place to prevent the smuggling of weapons into the Gaza Strip Strip.

The resolution underlined there should be "unimpeded provision" and

distribution of aid into the territory, where Gazans have been starved of

fuel, food and medical supplies for months following Israel’s crippling

blockade.

UN aid suspension

Meanwhile, the United Nations Works and Relief Agency (Unwra) has been forced

to suspend humanitarian activities in the Strip after coming under fire from

Israeli forces.

On Thursday, a contract worker was killed when a Unwra aid convoy came under

Israeli fire during a three-hour armistice agreed by the Israelis in order to

deliver essential supplies to Gaza residents.

Israel says it is investigating the incident.

The UN says it cannot resume aid work in the territory because it is unable

to guarantee the safety of its employees – despite the daily three-hour pause

in the Israeli offensive.

Games

2008-11-24T10:04:00.000-08:00

Sniper Elite game, is one of the most popular and awesome games. Sniper Elite is the ultimate sniper simulator. Caught between the Soviets and Germans in war-torn Berlin, you control the fate of a lone American OSS Sniper. Adjust for gravity, wind, posture, breathing, and more when you take your shot. Take advantage of your environment in everything from cover, to position to sound masking in 28 heart pounding single player missions and in tense eight player online sniper battles like you've never seen before. it is really worth to try and play, especially when play the online game, you will really explore by yourself how the game is interesting and how beautiful it is.

While playing online SE, you can chat with your team mates and or all other recent players in the play room, you can join any server, English, Spanish, French, German and US, then choos any of the rooms, you can also creat your own room and you will be the Host, and you will lead the the show, perform your playing rules.
I have started playing this game just one year ago, but against the PC for few months, then later I have joined online play comunity, I have spent wonderful times playing with many people from over the world, I have made and built many relationships with people from many countries, European, Asian, Americans, Canadian, African. Moreover I have met nice people in a team called ESM (Elite Sniper Mates) http://esmsniperteam.com/ and later on I have joined them and I has the Tag [Esm].Syrian Sniper], as a member of the Esm, I have forget about any other games I use to play, just since I have practice online SE, and I would like to recommend it to every one interesting on online games, Action or snipe games.

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Usful Facts

2008-11-15T21:11:00.000-08:00

Various useful facts

Shin: a device for finding furniture in the dark.
Laughing stock: cattle with a sense of humor.
I tried sniffing Coke once, but the ice cubes got stuck in my nose.
Drink 'til she's cute, but stop before the wedding.
Beauty is in the eye of the beer holder ...
24 hours in a day ... 24 beers in a case ... coincidence?
I used to have an open mind but my brains kept falling out.
Everyone has a photographic memory. Some don't have film.

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Tour & Travel

2008-11-13T06:23:00.000-08:00

My Town: Bosra-Syria

This ancient place is the largest of all the ruined cities in the region of the Haurân, and in all the country south of Damascus and east of the Jordan. It was also the site of the largest inhabited town in all this neighbourhood until the completion of the Hedjaz railway, when a new lease of life was given to some of the villages along the line on the opposite side of the plain; but it still remains the chief town of the Haurân proper. Bosra lies on the eastern edge of the great Haurân plain just at the southwestern foot of the Haurân mountains (See Map of Southern Haurân, II, A, 2). It is about 73 miles south of Damascus and 90 miles northeastward from Jerusalem. To the north and west of the ancient city, and for a short distance to the south, spread the fertile fields of Syria's chiefest granary, en-Nukra, "the Hollow" of the Haurân ; to the east slopes of the Djebel Haurân, carrying the eye aloft to the summit of the steep conical hill which is crowned by the castle of Salkhad. Bosra itself is elevated a little above the plain, and the fields to the east begin at once to rise towards the foot hills of the mountains. From a considerable distance, in almost every direction, the castle walls and the minarets of the mediaeval city provide a bold skyline which suggests a city of some importance, and the dull black basalt of which these buildings are made creates a striking contrast with the bright green or gold of the plain, and the blue of the hills beyond. The town is easily approached today from all points of the compass; but, in ancient times, no less than five Roman highroads, broad and well paved, converged towards the city, carrying the commerce of Arabia into its warehouses and taking it forth again to the north and west. Two of these roads led out to the north, one of them leading direct to Damascus across the Ledja, curving a little towards the east. The other, running to the west of the true north, was perhaps another road to Damascus, avoiding the Ledja and passing through the ancient cities of Aere and Zorava, or it may have led clown to Sidon on the sea coast by way of Caesaraea Paneas; but its course has not been definitely traced far beyond the city limits. The third road, that leading to the west, and well marked between Bosra and Der'a, ancient Adraa, was undoubtedly the direct route to the sea, to Sycaminunt near the present port of Haifa, by way of Gadara and Scythopolis, though this ancient road has not been traced from point to point. The road to the south was the great route constructed by the Emperor Trajan from Bostra to the Red Sea , and which is still to be followed from milestone to milestone as far as Philadelphia. The fifth road which may be seen in a straight line mounting the slopes toward Salcha , turns to the southeastward from that point, and penetrates the desert in the direction of the Persian Gulf. Thus it will be seen that the capital of the Arabian Province was no mere wayside town on some great artery of the commerce of the empire; but the centre, or hub, of an extensive system of highroads, which commanded the traffic of this wide southeastern boundary of Rome's world-wide domain. The location of Bostra fitted the city in more ways than one to become a great metropolis; for, in addition to its command of the wealth of a broad and fertile plain, and of important routes of trade, the city was well supplied with water, not only by the neighbouring streams which are fed by the melting snows of the Djebel Haurân for a goodly portion of the year, but by numerous springs, within and without the walls, which perennially gush pure, clear, cold water even in these days of extraordinary dryness throughout all Syria and Arabia l. Since Bosra, as I have said above, is still the most important town in the great area to the southeast of Damascus, and was in Imperial times the largest of the Roman cities in this part of the world, there can be little doubt that the site is one of great antiquity, to be compared perhaps with the ancient city of Damascus. Whether the Bosra of to-day was the Bozrah of the Prophet Jeremiah's2 cursing or not, judgment seems to have "come upon the plain country and upon Bozrah, and all the cities of the land of Moab, far and near", and it seems quite probable that this site is as old as any on the east of Jordan. The place was certainly a stronghold in the first quarter of the second century before Christ; for Judas Maccabaeus3 came to the place after his campaign against the Ammonites. It was an important centre of Greek life at this period and had probably been such since the days of Greek colonization which followed upon the conquests of Alexander the Great and his successors in Syria. It is said to have been a later member of the Decapolis ; but, soon after the beginning of. the first century B. C, it must have come into possession of the Nabataeans who at this time had extended their power' well up into the Auranitis. It is certain that after Pompey's conquests in this part of Syria, in 64 B. C, Bostra remained the northern limit of the Nabataean dominions. In St. Paul's time Bostra was a Nabataean city, for the Arab kingdom embraced even Damascus in his day, and Nabataean it must have remained, 200 years or more in all, until Cornelius Palma conquered all this part of the world for Rome in the name of Trajan, and, in the year 106 after Christ, made this city the capital of the newly formed Province of Arabia. As a Roman city Bostra flourished anew, was especially favored by the Antonine emperors, by Septimius Severus, Severus Alexander, and by Philip the Arab. The coins struck by the city are an index of its periods of advancement; these are described in an Appendix attached to this Part. The city was important as a stronghold of the early Church, and here Origen 5 came, about 245 A. D., to debate with Beryllus, bishop of Bostra. The sixth century saw the erection here of one of the greatest cathedral churches in all Syria and Arabia; and, later in the same century, it is said, the camel-driver Mohammed came to the city from the far south, and from a Christian monk, Bahira by name, learned all he knew of the tenets of Christianity. In the following century, in the year 632, Bostra fell to Khalid and the Moslems. During the Middle Ages the city flourished as one of the important cities of Islam ; in the midst of the town several mosques were built, the minarets of five of which still impart a mediaeval character to the ruins, and a strong castle, one of the largest in this part of the world, was erected upon the Roman theatre out of materials torn from the Roman walls and colonnaded streets. A number of the Arab geographers 1 refer to Bosra, and one of them compares its castle with that at Damascus. The great Pilgrim Road to Mecca passed through the town for many centuries, and here the great caravan halted for several days. After the Pilgrim Road was changed to a route farther west the decline of the Arab city began. A few generations ago it was almost deserted; even now only one of its mosques is in use, and the poor modern village occupies only a small fraction of the area within the limits described by the ancient walls. Bosra has been visited frequently during the last century. Some idea of the large number of visitors who have referred to the ruins in books may be had by looking through Professor Brunnow's exhaustive bibliography of the books of travel touching the Province of Arabia, and noting.-the" frequent references to Bosra. The work of the earliest traveller to make important notes on the ruins was not the first to be published. Seetzen went to Bosra in the course of an extended journey in Syria in 1805—1807; but the account of his travels* was not published until after 1850. Burckhardt was in Bosra in the spring of 1812, and the results of his journey were published in 1822. Richter., who visited the ruins in 1815, was the first to publish plans and pictoral illustrations of the ancient buildings. Buckingham reached Bosra, in the course of his wide travels, in 1816, and makes several references to the ruins in his book of travel; Berggren came here in 1821. In 1827 Count Leon de Laborde made notes and drawings here which were published in 1837. Lord Lindsay made his visit in 1837, and Monk came in 1849. Porter, who first arrived in Bosra in 1853, published a sketch plan of the city and a number of illustrations of its ruins. Rey brought out a far better plan, on a larger scale, and published several large drawings of buildings and of Arabic inscriptions which he made in 1857. In the same year Graham made a few notes on Bosra, and a year later the Prussian Consul Wetzstein passed through the ruins taking a few notes. The first of the architecture of the ancient city was made by the Count de Vogue in 1861, but his researches were confined to the Cathedral, though he published a drawing of the Theatre. In 1875 the American Consul Merrill reached Bosra; and in 1877 Thomson made some observations. Oppenheim and Heber-Percy came in 1893; both published photographs of the ruins. During the next year Schumacher was twice in Bosra. In 1898 Brunnowcarried on the researches that resulted in the first extensive study of the architecture of Bosra. Dussaud and Macler passed, in quest of inscriptions, in 1899 and again in 1901. Kondakow also was here in 1901, and published some excellent photographs of the ruins, and Puchstein spent two days here measuring the ruins in 1902; but his untimely death has prevented the publication of his results so far as Bosra is concerned. The above list, long as it is, includes only the names of archaeologists, and of travellers who have published notes or drawings or photographs of greater or less importance archaeologically speaking, but does not include the names of a large number of visitors who have made no more than passing mention of the ruins in the journals which have been published. This much larger list, as I have said above, is to be had by checking off the mention of Bosra in the bibliography so carefully prepared by Professor Brunnow for his Pro-vincia Arabia . The history of ancient Bostra is quite plainly written in its monuments; although excavations would serve to furnish many details and to fill in numerous gaps in that history. The " cyclopaean" walls at the southwest end of the ruins are evidence of

the city's great age. The Nabataean period of its history is represented in a number of engaged columns of large scale that have capitals characteristic of the early architecture at Petra und Sî, and in numerous fragments of carving, like that shown in I11. 198, Bosra which are purely Nabataean, to say nothing of the large number of Nabataean inscriptions and coins of that Oriental kingdom. A transition, one might say, in the architecture of Bostra is to be seen in one of the arches which presents details that partake of both Nabataean and Roman elements. It might have been either a triumphal arch built for some Nabataean king after Roman influence had begun to press upon the Haurân on two sides, or it might have been a Roman memorial of the founding of the Arabian Province, built by Nabataean architects in imitation of Roman arches. It is rather difficult, for lack of inscriptions, to assign any of the buildings definitely to the reigns of Trajan or Hadrian, though a building called the Palace, and the Theatre, both show some early features. The city gates might belong to any Roman period. There are fragments among the agglomeration of native houses on the high ground which might be called the akropolis, which resemble architectural details of Hadrian's reign; but it is probable that Bostra , in company with all the other cities of Syria, saw a great period of temple building under the Antonine emperors. The. four imposing columns which I have designated as belonging to a Nymphaeum might have belonged to this period. But some of the monuments are plainly later. One well known triumphial arch bears an inscription which is believed to be later than the middle of the third century ; but the structure itself, especially its lower half, may well date from a period much older than the inscription which was merely the dedication of a statue placed upon one of the consoles of the arch. The greatly elongated columns of the "Kalybe", and other features of that building, indicate that it belongs to one of the later periods of Roman architecture. The great masonry structures, like the Baths and the Market, are also probably to be assigned to the third century, or perhaps even to the fourth. It would be difficult to assign even approximate dates to the basilical churches; they might easily be structures of the fourth or fifth century, or they might belong to the sixth. The Cathedral which is dated early in the sixth century is one of the finest specimens of Christian architecture in all Syria. It is interesting to observe that in all the buildings of the various periods enumerated above, the treatment of design and of architectural details is allied with the architecture of corresponding dates in the Djebel Haurân, and, I might say, with the architecture of the cities of the Decapolis, as opposed to the architecture of Umm idj-Djimâl and the towns of Southern Syria. In other words, it has more of the Classical and less of the Native characteristics. One cannot but suspect that this is due, in part at least, to a large number of Greek artists and artisans who may be presumed to have helped to make up the population of Bostra as a city closely allied with, and perhaps a member of, the Greek confederation. In all matters that have to do with construction too, the buildings of Bosra, as they stand today, are on the whole illustrative of Hellenistic principles as opposed to those very marked characteristics which give individuality to the architectural style of the Haurân. Some of the earlier visitors seem to have been impressed to the contrary ; they write as if the ancient buildings to be seen in their day were almost exclusively examples of the Haurânian style. Now if by "the style .... observed in all the other ancient towns of the Haouran" is meant the use of girder arches carrying roofs of stone slabs, which is the only architectural feature common to all these ancient towns , Division II Section A Part 4 one must beg leave to point out that the state of the ruins must have changed very materially ; for the arch-and-slab principle of construction is to be observed today in a very small number of the buildings of Bosra, in the Palace so-called, and in a small number of ancient houses. The important edifices, with hardly an exception, conform either to the Classical, trabeated, architecture of the column and entablature, to the distinctly Roman style which combined arched construction with columnar decoration -like the triumphal arches -, or to the great principle of the dome and vault which, whether it is to be looked upon as Roman or as Oriental, is certainly not typical of the style of the Haurân. When one takes up the study of the mosques, he is astonished to find that, in these erections of the Middle Ages, the style of the Haurân does obtain; for the majority of these buildings were constructed on the principle of the girder arch and the roof of stone slabs. It is always difficult to determine the age of buildings that are composed of second-hand material, and the Mosques of Bosra were built almost entirely of materials, and decorated with details, that were plundered from Roman and Christian edifices. The fall of Bosra to the Moslems gives the earliest possible date, and the beginning of the decline of the Arabic city in the seventeenth century suggests the probable latest; but, aside from the one or two buildings that are dateable by reference to inscriptions, the Moslem architecture of Bosra cannot be brought into any definite chronological scheme. One might remark, in passing, that comparatively few of the modern houses of Bosra conform to the style of domestic architecture now most prevalent in the modern villages of the Haurân, which is a crude adaptation of the ancient style of arches and slabs.

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Jokes

2008-11-13T06:08:00.000-08:00

1
Two blonds are walking down the street when the first blond finds a compact on the sidewalk. She opens it up and inside the compact is a mirror. She looks into the mirror, then looks away. She looks into the mirror a second time. Confused she says to the second blond, "I'm not sure, but I think this person in the compact looks very familiar". Curiously the second blond asked to see the compact. She looks into the compact and hands it back to the first blond and says, "It's me you dumb shit!"
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2
Three pregnant ladies, a brunette, a redhead, and a blonde are talking about their pregnancy. The brunette says, "I’m having a baby boy because when my husband made love to me I was on the bottom."The redhead says, "Then I’m having a girl because I was on the top."Then the blond looks at them both and says, "I’m having a puppy!"
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3
A man gets home, runs into his house, slams the door and shouts, "Honey, pack your bags. I won the lottery."The wife says, "Wow! That's great! Should I pack for the ocean, or should I pack for the mountains?He says, "I don't care. Just get the fuck out."
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A Smile and Laugh

2008-11-09T17:24:00.000-08:00

A smile and a laugh aren't the same thing, but they do live in the same neighborhood. Be sure to smile at simple pleasures -- the sight of kids playing, a loved one or friend approaching, the successful completion of a task, the witnessing of something amazing or humorous. Smiles indicate that stress and the weight of the world haven't overcome you. If your day isn't marked by at least a few dozen, then you need to explore whether you are depressed or overly stressed.

Sand and Stone

2008-11-09T17:15:00.001-08:00

A story tells that two friends were walking through the desert. During some point of the journey they had an argument, and one friend slapped the other one in the face. The one who got slapped was hurt, but without saying anything, wrote in the sand: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE."
They kept on walking until they found an oasis, where they decided to take a bath. The one, who had been slapped, got stuck in the mire and started drowning, but the friend saved him. After the friend recovered from the near drowning, he wrote on a stone: "TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE."
The friend who had slapped and saved his best friend asked him, "After I hurt you, you wrote in the sand and now, you write on a stone, why?"
The other friend replied: "When someone hurts us, we should write it down in sand where winds of forgiveness can erase it away. But, when someone does something good for us, we must engrave it in stone where no wind can ever erase it."
LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND, AND TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE

Mother's Day

2008-11-09T17:11:00.003-08:00

A man stopped at a flower shop to order some flowers to be wired to his mother who lived two hundred miles away. As he got out of his car he noticed a young girl sitting on the curb sobbing.He asked her what was wrong and she replied, "I wanted to buy a red rose for my mother.But I only have seventy-five cents, and a rose costs two dollars." The man smiled and said, "Come on in with me. I'll buy you a rose."He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own mother's flowers. As they were leaving he offered the girl a ride home. She said, "Yes, please! You can take me to my mother." She directed him to a cemetery, where she placed the rose on a freshly dug grave.The man returned to the flower shop, canceled the wire order, picked up a bouquet and drove the two hundred miles to his mother's house