some guy in lebanon

You are browsing the archives of 2008 September.

Daily Star journalist Nick Kimbrell reported on Stefan Wild’s lecture at the German Orient Institute in Beirut last Tuesday: In September 2006, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a speech at Regensburg University which invoked a centuries-old dialogue between the beleaguered Byzantine Emperor Manuel II Paleologus and an unidentified Persian scholar. The pope quoted the emperor as [...]

I think that this entire thing could have been avoided if the McCain campaign had resisted attacking Barack Obama for his ties to former Fannie Mae executives, which prompted the media to take a second look at Rick Davis. Now that the news is out, I can’t imagine this won’t be another nail in the [...]

So…. this is my first real post to satori redefined, and I think that it’d be fitting if I tried to recap in some detail what the past five months (five months!?!?) have been like in my life, and maybe sketch out what the next five months might look like. So, without further ado (and [...]

Woa – You know things are bad when the Journal’s saying stuff like this: Last week, Republican presidential candidate John McCain called for a commission to “find out what went wrong” on Wall Street. It was an excellent suggestion: Public inquiries into Wall Street practices served the country well in the 1930s. And Mr. McCain [...]

Ron Paul weighed in on the Bush Administration’s planned financial bailout on CNN’s “Late Edition” today: WOLF BLITZER (“Late Edition” host): What do you say to the president who wants you and your fellow Republicans and Democrats to quickly pass this $700 billion bailout package? PAUL: Well, I think that’s a mistake because we don’t [...]

[youtube]wQK1al91drs[/youtube] This is a must-see. Actually it’s pretty funny, and would be funnier if it wasn’t so very very very sad. Obviously everyone flip-flops and everyone waffles and everyone changes their mind, but the problem really is that ever since they were so successful with their ‘Kerry’s “57 Varieties” shpeil’, they’ve really gone out of [...]

Really, the question on everyone’s mind is, “Where is this going, and when is it going to stop?” The point Joel Archenbach is trying to make is clear: If people were either responsible with their money or coerced into being irresponsible, at what point is it the tax-payer’s responsibility to bail out Wall Street in [...]

Interesting article in the New York Times today – Thesis is that in Dubai, religion has become more of a personal choice and Islam less of a common bond than national identity. From the article: “I was more religious in Egypt,” Mr. Galal said, taking a drag from yet another of his ever-burning Marlboros. “It [...]

Direct effects of subprime fallout muted by Arab banking practices According to the Daily Star, The prudent policies of Arab banks and financial institutions have allowed these entities to avoid the negative effects of the acute crisis that hit the stock markets in the United States and part of Europe, a leading Arab banker says. [...]

[youtube]Xzc0re_3hQw[/youtube] Original Post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzc0re_3hQw

Thanks to the generocity of Marc Sirois (perhaps because of all the whiskey I bought him last October?), I will offically be leaving the US for Beirut on November 2nd (which is like 5 weeks from now…). I will begin my time there as an intern for the Daily Star, but there is a pretty [...]