Month: September 2007

I have not heard or seen the new Osama Bin Laden tape, but I have read a little bit about the reaction to it. Apparently he has endorsed the Democratic party in the upcoming US elections! The tape is filled with anti-capitalist sentiments and argues that the state has a very important part to play in religion. He does a little name dropping as well, he suggests that Americans read Noam Chomsky in order to see where he is coming from. The political blogs are having a field day with this. The “right wing” ones are saying, “See, we told you those lefties are no good! They are doing what Osama Bin Laden wants!” The ones on the left are of course trying to distance themselves from his message, but I haven’t heard any of them trying to distance themselves from Noam… I have even seen a serious thought that the Bush administration cooked the whole thing up in order to discredit the Dems. You know things are hitting a little too close when you have to resort to conspiracy theories in order to explain away something…

I do think that there is a close parallel with Osama and vast swaths of the American political system. Osama’s big thing is that the “right” people need to be in power so that they can tell everyone how they should live. He would do it through (his) religious views, both the left and the part of the right that ascribes to this world view would do it through their view of morality. Weather it is the war on terror, the war on drugs, abortion, global warming, universal health care, or whatever other causes there are out there, there are many politicians (and people that vote for them) that want to dictate the decisions we face in many different areas. Granted, political parties here do not try to kill people in order to get their way, but I still worry a bit. Beware of any chosen few that feel the need to impose their view on everyone else, nothing good can come from them…

It’s one of the two tub versions. One tub does the washing, the other is just a spinner. They are quite a bit less expensive than the one tub models, why I don’t know. I would think that it would be more expensive to have two motors and tubs instead of just one. Anyway, no more hand washing! But there is a catch. The hoses aren’t long enough to reach the tap and the drain, so we have to use a bucket to load and drain. That’s not too bad I suppose. I have to do that with hand washing, but at least I don’t do the actual washing… The more complicated thing is that the machine is downstairs (It’s the only place with enough space) and the entire bottom floor is taken up by a muslim couple. This has happened before, this way the wife doesn’t have to stay covered the whole time, they can just close the door to that level. I was talking to the husband about the machine and he offered to do my laundry for me! I quickly figured out that he thought it would be the simplest arrangement, that way I wasn’t coming around checking on my laundry and generally being unexpected. Still, I feel kind of silly, the machine is supposed to make it a little easier, but now I’m not doing a damn thing! I should do something for him, but I’m not sure what…

My friend googled crises, and look at the only google ad that came up with that keyword. Now look at the url of the link…

Or they should be… click on my “recent pictures” tab on the right hand side… My friend Sophia wanted to wear a bunch of traditional Yemeni wedding outfits before she left. No one wears these now a days, but 50 or 60 years ago they still did. The brides were weighed down with tons of silver. She got to wear some vintage dresses and a bunch of old, Jewish jewelry. Taking these pictures was a lot of fun, and it’s great to see the old jewelry. Check them out!

I had some things planned. I was going to go to class and then right afterwards go with Sophia to finish up the jewelry shoot. 15 minutes before I went to class, my teacher called and told me that we were going to go to lunch instead with a bunch of other students and teachers. I absentmindedly said OK, but on the way I realized that it may go past the time I was due to meet Sophia and the rest of the people. I explained to the host that I needed to be back at the school by 3 O’clock. His response was that I should put whatever it was off till tomorrow because the lunch will go on much further than that. I was not pleased, and he was not pleased to find out that I was considering turning him down just because I had already made other plans with some other people. I wasn’t feeling great, so I was ready to start arguing. Do not get upset because I decline an invitation that is given to me 15 minutes in advance. Just because you have nothing to do with your time does not mean that I have nothing to do with my time. Do not expect me to stiff my friends so that I can go to lunch at a person’s house that I don’t even know… Luckily, my teacher saw that I was in no mood to take Yemeni guilt and offered to drive me back in time. I went, but I was still pissed that this guy thought so little of my time and so much of his. Unfortunately, I see this as a symptom of a larger, cultural problem of respecting other people’s time and lives. The blowing of horns in the middle of the night, the wedding parties (complete with firecrackers) starting at 11pm, the litter and trash everywhere, it all points back to them simply not thinking of how their actions affect other people. It can be really frustrating to an American.