Sat, May 03 2008
WHAT CENTURY IS THIS AGAIN?
Wooooooo - girls in the same room! Bunch of cavemen. Seriously. Barbarian sandjockeys with petrodollars, that's all they are.
A first for Saudis: Mozart performed for both genders
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Associated Press - It's probably as revolutionary and groundbreaking as Mozart gets these days. A German-based quartet staged Saudi Arabia's first-ever performance of European classical music in a public venue before a mixed gender audience.
The concert, held at a government-run cultural center, broke many taboos in a country where public music is banned and the sexes are segregated even in lines at fast food outlets.
The Friday night performance could be yet another indication that this strict Muslim kingdom is looking to open up to the rest of the world.
A few weeks ago, King Abdullah made an unprecedented call for interfaith dialogue with Christians and Jews — the first such proposal from a nation that forbids non-Muslim religious services and symbols.
"The concert is a sign that things are changing rapidly here," said German Ambassador Juergen Krieghoff, whose embassy sponsored the concert as part of the first-ever German Cultural Weeks in Saudi Arabia.
"Evidently the government has decided that a minimum of openness in our new world economy and in our information-based world is necessary for us and also for good understanding among cultures," he added.
Public concerts are practically unheard of in the kingdom. Foreign embassies and consulates regularly bring musical groups, but they perform on embassy grounds or in expatriates' residential compounds, and the shows are not open to the public.
In the past couple of months, however, there has been a quiet, yet marked increase in cultural activities in Saudi Arabia. Lectures and a couple of segregated folk music performances were held on the sidelines of Riyadh's book fair. And Jiddah's annual Economic Forum opened with a surprise this February — a performance of Arab and Western music.
"For half an hour, we did not quite know whether we had stumbled into an unknown Jiddah nightclub or whether it was some amazing mistake that would suddenly stop," wrote Michel Cousins in the English-language daily Arab News, describing the 30-minute show.
Friday's concert of works by works by Mozart, Brahms and Paul Juon was the first classical performance held in public in Saudi Arabia, said German press attache Georg Klussmann. It was advertised on the embassy's Web site with free tickets that could be downloaded and printed.
The excitement in the 500-seat hall was palpable as the largely expatriate audience walked in.
"We have not done a concert like this before," German diplomat Tobias Krause told the audience at the start of performance by the Artis Piano Quartet. Those gathered applauded enthusiastically after each piece and were treated to an encore.
Sebastian Bischoff, the German cultural attache, said the mission had received permission for the event from the Ministry of Information and Culture, which runs the King Fahd Cultural Center where the concert took place.
Japanese pianist Hiroko Atsumi, the quartet's only woman, said there was some debate before the concert about whether she should perform in an abaya, the enveloping black cloak all women must wear in public. She ended up settling on a long green top and black trousers.
Among the first to arrive was Faiza al-Khayyal, a retired Saudi educator, with her 15-year-old daughter.
"I came here for her sake. She loves classical music," said al-Khayyal. "There are cultural activities at embassies, but we don't get invited to them."
Al-Khayyal said she had inquired about seating arrangements and was told the audience would be mixed.
Did she mind bringing her daughter to a mixed gathering?
"It's OK with me," she said, and then added with a smile: "I'm with her."
Faleh al-Ajami, a university Arabic language professor, brought his wife and two sons to the concert — a rare opportunity for the whole family to do something fun together.
"It's a good step to introduce Saudis to classical music," al-Ajami, 50, said during the intermission.
"I was amazed at the sounds coming from the musical instruments," said his son Ziad al-Ajami, 11, a fan of hard rock. "I've never been to a live concert before."
For the expatriates, the evening was an opportunity to have a normal evening out in Riyadh, a city with no movie theaters and where women are not allowed in outdoor cafes.
One foreign couple held hands, while another husband put his arm around his wife's shoulders — rare public displays of affection in the kingdom. The mutuwwa, the dreaded religious police tasked with enforcing public morality, were nowhere to be seen for a change.
"I'm glad for an opportunity like this," said Mary Ann Jumawan, a 40-year-old administrator at the South Korean Embassy. "It's the first time in nine years here as a married couple that my husband and I go to a location like this."
But not everyone was impressed.
Abdullah al-Sabhan, his brother and three friends received invitations from a German business associate, but after half an hour, they snuck out.
"I'm bored," said al-Sabhan, 26, an engineer who prefers Egyptian pop music and had never heard of Mozart. "Let me leave before the second piece begins."
His brother, Saud, dismissed the notion that gatherings involving men and women together might one day become the norm.
"Saudi society wouldn't accept it. And girls aren't used to such mixed gatherings," he said, adding that if he had a sister, she certainly would not have been allowed to attend.Sat, May 03 2008
GIVEAWAY GIMMICKS TO SUBSIDIZE RECORD BIG OIL AND BIG AGRA PROFITS
The only economy this giveaway of money we don't have will boost, is the bottom line of folks like Exxon and ConAgra. Little people are hurting, but they need food and fuel, and that's what they will spend their "rebate" on. And Bush wants to make his tax cuts for the super rich permanent, too. Gosh, now there's a deserving group of folks, huh?
Bush says rebate checks will boost ailing economy
CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush sought to assure Americans on Saturday that federal checks en route to them as part of a stimulus plan will help spur the ailing economy and pay for soaring gas and food prices.
"These rebates will deliver up to $600 per person, $1,200 per couple, and $300 per child," Bush said in his weekly radio address.
"This package will help American families increase their purchasing power and help offset the high prices that we're seeing at the gas pump and the grocery store," Bush said, adding it would also provide tax incentives for business to invest and create jobs.
Bush spoke as he began a weekend at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, and a day after the U.S. Labor Department reported that 20,000 jobs were shed in April, far fewer than the 80,000 that many economists had anticipated would be lost.
At the same time, the national unemployment rate fell to 5 percent from 5.1 percent in March. Amid the mixed economic news, fiscal jitters remained.
In his radio address, Bush tried to ease concerns about the economy, which have replaced the Iraq war as the top issue among Americans as they get ready to elect a successor to the unpopular president in November.
Bush touted the $150 billion economic stimulus package that he signed into law after it was passed with bipartisan support in the Democratic-led Congress.
"This week, the main piece of that package began being implemented, as nearly 7.7 million Americans received their tax rebates," Bush said. "Next week, the Treasury Department will begin mailing checks to millions more."
But the president blasted Democrats for failing to do more, particularly in dealing with the housing mortgage crisis and rising food and energy prices.
In the Democrats' radio response, Rep. Andre Carson of Indiana pinned much of the blame for the economic woes on what he described as Bush's misguided war without end in Iraq.
"While President Bush has invested in the battlefront, he has consistently ignored the home front," Carson said.
"If we took even a fraction of the billions of dollars we spend in Iraq and used them here at home, we could make real progress and help get our nation out of our economic slump," he said.
"Democrats have a mission: strengthen the economy, invest in America, bring our troops home. And we will not quit until that mission is truly accomplished," Carson said.Sat, May 03 2008
WHAT REAL GOOD IN THE WORLD LOOKS LIKE
This is Didi Ananda Devamala. She found herself in a part of the world (the Thai-Burma border) that suffers horribly, and did not turn her back on it. She founded the Baan Unrak (House of Joy) orphanage, a wonderful place that takes broken throwaway children and women and helps them reclaim their lives. Please visit the great kids at http://www.BaanUnrak.org, and don't be a piker, Paypal them a couple of bucks for some food, okay?
[Didi Devamala and a couple of the kiddles]
Sat, May 03 2008
THE GREAT CONTRARIAN INDICATOR
If it wasn't so supremely tragic, this would be funny. But it's not. This administration is the most evil one this country has ever had to endure. They are sucking our life dry, looting our treasury and destroying our planet.
Every single thing George W. Bush officially says is a baldfaced lie. Here's the latest one:
Bush says administration 'clear and candid' on economy
CRAWFORD, Texas, Associated Press - President Bush, defending his record and his rhetoric, said Saturday that his administration has been "clear and candid" about the nation's economy.
"We saw the economic slowdown coming, we were up front about these concerns with the American people, and we've been taking decisive action," Bush said in his weekly radio address.
The president's comments appeared at least partly in response to a drumbeat of criticism from Democratic leaders, who say his view of the economy is rosy and unrealistic.
Bush sounded an upbeat tone following a modest uptick of economic news this week.
[Ed. note: and "modest uptick" is the best they could get, even after massaging and manipulating every last data point. We are so royally screwed, and this sinverguenza is a complete liar.] -->
The economy grew in the first quarter of the year, but only by a meager 0.6 percent. Yet it was not the contraction that some analysts feared. Employers slashed fewer jobs in April than they had in earlier months. The unemployment rate in April also fell slightly.
"No temporary setbacks can hold back the most powerful force in our economy — the ingenuity of the American people," Bush said. "Because of your hard work and dedication, I am confident that we will weather this rough period and emerge stronger than ever."
Consumer confidence, a vital part of the economy's health, has hit record lows. And in the public's mind, the president's handling of the economy has taken a serious blow, too.
In Bush's final year in office, families have been hit from all sides — soaring gas prices, crumbling mortgages, rising grocery bills, struggles to afford college loans.
The president is counting on a short-term economic boost to help. In a deal he reached with Congress back in February, tax rebate checks of up to $600 for individuals and $1,200 for couples are on their way to more than 130 million households.
"This package will help American families increase their purchasing power and help offset the high prices that we're seeing at the gas pump and the grocery store," Bush said.
The true effect of those rebates remains a hotly debated question in economic circles.
Indiana Rep. Andre Carson said more is needed.
"While these recovery rebate checks are a significant first step, we know we must do more to help workers who have lost their jobs and families who are at risk of losing their homes," Carson said Saturday in the Democrats' weekly radio address. "Democrats are also fighting for a second economic stimulus package and are working hard to enact comprehensive housing legislation that will help more Americans avoid foreclosure and hold on to the American Dream."
Carson also noted last Thursday's anniversary of Bush declaring "mission accomplished" in Iraq.
"If we took even a fraction of the billions of dollars we spend in Iraq and used them here at home, we could make real progress and help get our nation out of our economic slump," the Democrat said.
Bush used the bulk of his weekly radio platform to pressure Congress, once again, into approving legislation he says would help the sluggish economy rebound even more.
Among his agenda for lawmakers: make permanent his first-term tax cuts, which are due to expire in 2010; allow drilling for oil in northern Alaska and encourage more oil refining capacity; and modernize the Federal Housing Administration to allow some additional homeowners to refinance from subprime loans into government-backed mortgages.
The president has made such arguments for weeks, to no avail on Capitol Hill.
Bush taped the radio address in Washington on Friday before delivering an economic speech outside of St. Louis and then heading to his Texas ranch for the weekend.All news articles and images provided under the Fair Use Notice.