America and Solomon Judgement

Is this a game of chicken that congress is playing with raising the debt ceiling and with our lives, or is it that it only cares about being true to an ideology that has not shown many results? I could not help but remember the story of the two women in front of Solomon fighting for the baby. Are Republicans hinging their bets on Democrats caring more about the good faith and credit of the US? It appears to be that way; either they have it their way or the baby (and our lives) can be split in half.

I could not push this thought away from my head while watching the debt negotiations and the stubbornness of the Republicans. The Republican controlled House of Representatives seems committed to defending its ideology even if that means causing irreparable damage to the good faith and credit of the United States. It appears as if they do not care about what the majority of the American people think. Most Americans do not like spending what we do not have and know for sure that entitlement programs will have to be cut. Republicans, by the account of many of their own, were given the chance to do just that. However, this meant they had to compromise something they thought they could not afford. They are afraid for their seats and from the loud minority that tries to silence the voice of the majority that want a balanced deal.

Something that I do not understand is how can anyone talk about taxes as all evil and spending cuts as all good in such absolute terms. Let us just face it, for more than a decade, the tax cuts did not help us create jobs and did not help us reduce the deficit. The job creators have had those tax-cuts for 11 years now and these have been the worst 11 years in a while for our economy. Get real! Your ideology of pure tax cuts did not work and will not work. We need a balanced approach and this is the chance to do it.

I do hope rationality and sound judgement wins over ideology.

The 18-Day Miracle: Egyptian People Power Ousts Hosni Mubarak

The 18-Day Miracle: Egyptian People Power Ousts Hosni Mubarak

Do not hurt my baby!!!

My baby has been long in the womb; more than 3000 years. Not an easy pregnancy by any measure. I have been abused, hurt, humiliated, by my enemies and even more by those who claimed to be my kids. So many times I thought, it is time for the precious baby to come out, to later discover, it was just signs of false labor.

This time it seems real. Painful more than usual, but it just feels different. I feel the baby is ready to come to the world? I am eager to see my baby, but anxious, so please be careful. This baby has to come out in as perfect a shape as I imagined her to be. Please protects her from those waiting to wipe out her beautiful smile, to scare my precious beautiful dream away.

So, careful please. Do not hurt my baby girl. Do not pull too hard for I want my baby to be as perfect as I imagined here to always be. I know she will be a baby girl. She will be beautiful with a smile that is just as big as the collective smiles of 85 Million Egyptians. She will be smart and caring, powerful and daring.

Please make sure she remains innocent and pure free of your greed and imperfections and of your division and opportunism. Take care of my baby 'Democracy' and when she grows up she will take care of all of us.

10-10-10

It has been hard to find time to write. The pace has gone up so much in my life after our move. It feels that I have been here for at least 6 months, but in reality it has not yet been 2 months since we moved. The feeling does not come, however, from being bored, on the contrary, the days seem to go by so quickly. It is more of how much I had to do and how many new people I had to meet in this short period. I am thankful for the chance to have met so many wonderful people on the personal and professional level. It is true that moving widens our horizons and open doors for new experiences and opportunities. I just hope my teenage kids see it in time that way:)

Today, I was watching a football game and it was the Titans against the Cowboys. I felt guilty cheering for TX vs TN. That should not really be. How could I change my loyalty so quickly? Maybe it is the cowboy hat I started wearing! Anyway, TN seems to play beter all of a sudden. Why did they not play that well when we were back in TN?


Well, so why write right now. well, I just looked at the calender and it was 10-10-10. Nothing special except it looked so special and I wanted to make sure I have a post on that special day. So forgive me for a hastily written post. I will make sure to come and edit it when i have a chance, if I have a chance!!!

A beautiful voice from the past! A wonder as some would say.

On making things happen

This is just a quick thought that I wanted to capture. I just realized that there is not really much, of what I want to do, that I can do all by myself, but there is not much I cannot do with the help of others. It may sound trivial, but to me this is an epiphany. One does not have to be the master of all trades. One just has to be a master of solving the puzzle of putting together the right ideas, resources, and human talents. Mix them at the right proportions, add a lot passion as fuel, pack plenty of perseverance and ingenuity and hard work as a cushion for the bumpy ride and voila the magic happens. I have tried this recipe out before, and it does work. There is plenty of gratification in the achievement, but the company of those that made it happen makes it last longer and tastes better.

Working and Research Environment in Qatar

It has been few years since I was last in Qatar so I cannot really be too specific with my advice regarding jobs in Qatar. What I can give is an image of what I lived and what I have continued to witness after leaving Qatar.

Qatar is a small country with a lot of wealth and resources. They have realized the importance of research and development to their future and are injecting a lot of money into this arena. Qatar National Research Fund is well funded and is trying to recruit a lot of talent into Qatar. They have succeeded to some extent, but this has not come cheap. The competition with other countries in the region such as Saudi Arabia and UAE will not make it any easier, in the future. An important point to make here is that although there is no doubt that recruiting scientists from outside into Qatar is a quick way to increase research productivity, the model is quite different from that in the US and Canada.

These scientists and researchers are there for earning wages and doing work in return of those wages. They do not have a pathway for becoming citizens of Qatar or any of the other countries in that region. The relationship is similar to a hired gun whose loyalty is simply for money. To some, this may be one of the main drawbacks of living in the Gulf. They may never feel like they belong. They may always feel as foreigner and be treated as foreigners for as long as they live in Qatar or any of the other Gulf areas. For others, however, the earning levels may well compensate for this drawback since there are no taxes on income compared to the US or Canada. I have known many who lived almost all their adult lives in the Gulf without any ill feelings and would choose that same career path again if given the chance.

This job should have been mine

How many times did you think to yourself:"I can really do this job", if I can just get a chance. Well, life does not always give a chance and we just have to accept the fact that the most qualified are not always the ones selected. If that was the only gauge, I do not believe many would remain where they are today. Our lives are more of a random set of movements than anyone would care to admit. Being born with an IQ of 180 is no guarantee that you will be more than a bum who happens to be too smart not to realize how miserable his or her live really is. Being as dumb as Forest Gump was is not in any way a sentence for leading a miserable life.

Many times we feel an entitlement to a certain position or job. We start touting to ourselves and most probably to others how qualified we are for the position. Our brain races ahead displaying in vivid details how wonderful we would do if we are just given that chance. If we are not given the chance, we feel as miserable as if we have been disinherited. How could this have happened? something smells fishy. This was my turn. Our brains are incapable of understanding that in real life things are not as simple as a game of checkers or chess. The rules of the game do not always favor the best, it sometimes just favors Joe or Mary. Joe or Mary may have just happen to utter the right words, know the right person, give the right impression or just be really the best qualified. It is part of the beauty of life, there are no guarantees, no blue print and no promise of fairness. If these guarantees do exist we would have been driven to death by boredom. A simple mathematical model would analyze your genes and family resources and figure out what will happen to you for the rest of your life.

I am not trying to convince you or myself to be passive, I am just stating some facts. If you did your best and came empty handed, it does not have to simply be because you were not good enough, it could just be the randomness in life that we call destiny, chance, probability, or just pure luck. Stand up, gather your thoughts, look at what you have and wait for the next opportunity. The pieces will align in the right direction someday, if you just keep trying.

Rural America for the Olympics in 2020

A commentator said today in NPR that any metropolis in the US has no chance of getting to host the olympics in 2020 and I agree. The olymipcs is supposed to be a shining light that is directed to different areas of the world for humanities to see. Metropolis cities in the US has had the lights shined upon them for decades through TV series and hollywood movies. They have also had their chance with Atlanta hosting the Olympics not too far ago so there is nothing much to show to the world in metropolis America, but there is a lot in America's heartlnad to show to the world and this should be the focus of a smart bid for the 2020 games.

What we need to show the world is the not so famous parts of America that make up the best in America, the mountains, the desert, the lakes, the beaches, the rivers and the natural forests. We need to shine a light on the outer natural beauty and the inner beauty of those living in America. We need to show the world that city life is not the way of living in America that most know. Someone may argue that this will be a very hard bid and I agree it has not been done before and that is why there is a chance for an innovative bid that focuses on the heartland to win while others trying to push for another Chicago 2020 is doomed to fail!

Faith and Science do not Contradict

This promises to be one of the most controversial articles I wrote; not because of the contents, but just because religious issues always are.

Last week, it was two hundred years ago that Darwin was born. Fifty years later he presented his theory on the origin of species through evolution. I cannot claim to be an expert on his theory, but I understand its general premise and the evidence supporting its main concepts. The concept of evolution has gone beyond biology to inspire a set of algorithms that can be used to find solutions to difficult engineering problems. These are called evolutionary algorithms. They start from a random set of solutions and arrive to a near-optimal solution through successive generations created by merging the fittest members of the previous generation. Evolutionary algorithms have been used by many scientists for solving difficult optimization problems and they do work. Hence, at least in this context, there is merit to evolution as a way for adapting a solution to fit a specific environment.

Some people question Darwin's theory on the origin of species and find it threatening to their religious beliefs. Does evolution as a theory affect my religious faith? Not really, First of all, Darwin's theorem does not contradict the existence of God. It does not start from the beginning, but rather in the middle of the story ignoring the most important part: the root of it all. His theory merely explains a possible intelligent design for progression of creation. Secondly, faith for me and many others is based on a set of spiritual values not scientific facts. One cannot argue and disprove the former while the latter is fair game. To me, religion and science do not exist in the same domain and hence cannot cross paths. If you are a star-trek fan, you understand the concept of parallel domains. Scientists also use the concept of domains on daily basis as they analyze complex systems. They understand that you cannot liberally mix signals from different domain or the results would be disastrous. Simply speaking, science and religion cannot be used to contradict each other by the virtue of their own definition.

With this in mind one can always find a way to reconcile religious beliefs and scientific facts rather than declare the science as invalid based on our limited knowledge and intelligence. It was not long ago, relatively speaking, that earth was thought to be the center of the universe and that scientists declaring it not to be were thought misguided. This notion is now thought of as laughable and no one see it as a challenge to our religious beliefs, a far cry from how threatening this was at one point in our human history. Declaring religion to be an illusion based on a theory is just as dangerous and misguided. God help those who lost their faith for faith is the greatest gift of God to humans. It is a power that sustains at times of hardship and a light that leads when only dark thoughts are abound. Without it, we are lonely amongst the closest of friends and kin and powerless at the peak of our strength.

The Miracle on Hudson River: The Other side

Another thought that hit me as I watched the news coverage of the Hudson River incident for the USAir flight was "What about the birds?" The Canadian government did not call the US ambassador to denounce the tragic end of an unspecified number of Canadian geese. The poor fellows were minding their own business migrating along routes that has been genetically encoded into their being, until they were sucked into their painful, and sudden death. The reporters jubilantly stated that all was perfect; there were no victims in the Hudson River miracle. They have viewed the story only from one side, our side as humans. They failed to see the story from the perspective of the other side. If the migrating birds had a chance to give their side of the story, it would have sounded, no doubt, so much different. To them this was a disaster!!!

The thought above started as light hearted sarcasm, yet it led to a more serious follow-up thought. The reporters’ reaction is not surprising. The birds did not matter. Their plight was nothing more than a passing flash to some. Others blamed the whole incident squarely on them for being, for by just being they interfered with the grand scheme of our human plans and activities. They were a mere collateral damage.

The way we viewed the situation is just part of our human nature. We, as humans, are clever in finding boundaries that define us and hence separate us from “the others”. After we tamed the planet and it became all ours, we continued to draw these boundaries with a collection of inks manufactured of religious convictions and denominations, languages and accents, skin colors and tones, even economic and political parties. When we get involved in an argument, an incident or a conflict, we rarely try to see the view of and from the other side. We do not care how our actions affect “the others.” The results are measured by the success or failure of our side to advance our agenda. We never consider the “other side” and how they view the outcome. We rarely look for a Win-Win resolution instead of the apparent Win-Lose ones that we usually seek and in doing so we create the dominant Lose-Lose non-resolution.

Think how many conflicts around the world you have viewed from one side disregarding the misery of those you perceived as "the others" and how much such a conflict would benefit if all sides considered the “other side”!!!

Miracle on the Hudson river: Unsung Heros

At the time of writing this, it has been over a week ago since the Hudson River crash landing of a USAir flight was the news. The focus was on the miracle of survival of all on board the flight because of migrating birds that were sucked into the plane's engines. The incident stirred several thoughts immediately, but I believe that it is usually advantageous to let them simmer before writing them down. I will write them separately for each has a different tone and flavor.

The first of these thoughts was how heroes are made in our society? The pilot definitely did a great job and played a major role in saving the lives of all on the plane and for that he is a hero. However, the pilot's performance was the first, but not the only factor that made the happy ending possible. Several others lined up for that to happen, including the landing site being close to the ferry terminal, the competent flight attendants and the quick response from those ferry drivers who went beyond their job description, if not their duty, to save the passengers and crew from the frigid water.

Everyday there are many around the world, who face life and death challenges over the course of doing their jobs. They do their job perfectly, yet one or more of these "other" factors that fell in place in the Hudson River incident go amiss changing the outcome drastically. I believe they are just as heroic, independent of the final outcome. Looking more carefully, we can see millions that in carrying out their daily jobs are saving lives and making life better for all of us. Many of them risk their lives everyday; some even do it as volunteers. They rarely make it to the spotlight or the front pages, yet they continue their selfless services day after day. They are mostly paid by a grateful handshake, a thankful smile, or a mere silent gratitude. Self satisfaction is their true reward. Look carefully and you may find one closer to you than you think.

I salute Mr. Sullenberger for doing a great job. I salute all others who did their job or just responded to the call of duty on the Hudson River. However, I offer a special salute to the unsung heroes among us who do their jobs, carry their duties, tirelessly and quietly everyday.

2008 was a good year

2008 was a good year! You may disagree, but bear with me. The collapse of the financial system may have borne its ugly face in 2008. The energy crisis may have reached its peak in 2008. These, however, have been years in the making and we should not blame the innocent 2008 for the failures of its ancestors. Even if you insist on blaming 2008, there is still a silver lining: you were not alone. It is a true statement that misery likes company and plenty of that there has been in 2008. This, however, is not the reason I consider 2008 to be a good year.

Looking back at 2008 ten years from now, I hope to remember 2008 as the year we discovered what was wrong with our economy and energy policies. Without such discovery, we could have continued the old ways until it is too late. I will look at 2008 as the year the US started the return to the world as the beacon of hope. To me, 2008 will always be the year that America showed the world the source of its true might: its people. America has shown the world the ability of its people to seek, embrace and accept change. By many accounts the election of Barack Obama was historic, but history was not just made on this election night, it was liberated. It was liberated of the injustices of slavery, prejudices of the past, and stereotypes of the present. For those that may argue that all of these remain part of us as a nation, it may be true, but history has now become the head wind pushing us forward not the skeleton in the closet. Obama shared something with so many Americans, yet he stoked a fear or a prejudice in just as many. There were few that voted against him for his color or their perception of his religious beliefs, but yet the Bradley effect proved a myth.

Obama will be president for all and we can proudly say ‘Only in America’. There are other nations where people can claim to be wealthier, but no other nation can dare to compete with America when it comes to embracing newcomers. There is still more to do, but a threshold has been crossed. 2008 is my proof and that is why I will consider it to be a good year despite the painful personal losses.

Do More for Less

Have you ever watched Dr. House's show on Fox? To some, the guy is a lunatic, and to many fans he is a brilliant physician. He saves his patients by trying tests or procedures that could possibly kill the patient. What works to his favor is that the patients are always in a bad enough condition that they would be dead if not for these drastic measures. Lucky for Dr. House, the aid script writers are always on his side and it always works out to his favor and the patient is healed after a few brushes with death.

The current economic crisis has the same feel of watching House. We are waiting for the show to end happily to continue our normal programming. The government is playing Dr. House with the economy and our lives as the patient: taking actions hastily without much thought and with the qualifier that no one knows better how to handle the situation, but inaction could be fatal. We can take a wishful thinking approach and hope for a good ending to the show or we could play an active role. The ending of this show is not written by a paid script writer. The ending will be up to us. The implications of a bad ending are a lot more than a few minutes of emotional disruption. So I do not see how we can just sit back and watch the show as it unfolds.

We cannot just take a holding pattern, waiting for someone or something to fix the problems. We cannot weather this storm by hunkering down in the trenches, doing the bare minimum wishing for the storm to pass quickly. I hope I am wrong, but I do not see this except as the prelude to the real storm. We need to rediscover the spirit of sacrifice and innovation. What made America the great country it is was hard work and open arms welcoming talent from all over the world. The solution to our problems will be found in a school, a lab or a factory not in a shopping cart.

We need to believe that we must and can "do more for less" instead of adopting an attitude of passivity. Instead of cancelling plans to improve how we do business because of budget cuts, we need to stretch our dollar and our time to make these plans a reality. We need to remind the leaders on the national, local, and institutional levels that the American people know how to make the good times not just how to live them. They need to lead and make the tough choices not the safe ones that will turn out to be the wrong ones on the long run.

The American Me

Although like most who recently immigrated to this country I still retain a name that sounds foreign to the natives, my interests, my worries, my dreams and my frustrations are as American as can be. I wake up worrying about the American weather, the American economy and the progress of elections here at home. As I get the kids ready for an American school, I have a mix of appreciation for the teachers yet some doubts about how ready my kids will be for the challenges facing us in America. My name may sound foreign for few more generations, my accent may never be Americanized but my heart has become American a long time ago.

'The American me' has some experiences that may be hard to come by in the natives. Not very surprising if you consider what went into his making. Consider being raised in a middle eastern society with strong family influence, a struggling economy, in a state where politics and getting involved in it could be hazardous. He now lives in a society with very few family ties, as a minority, in a free society where freedom of speech is protected by the constitution, in a better economy despite the recent government failures. The change is drastic on many fronts, but it is not a change that produces confusion or puzzlement as much as establishing reference points that help him view issues with a unique perspective not possible without this multi-cultural background.

'The American me' is proud of his new reality, of his ability to adapt, but not completely dissolve into the rich background of his new home. He is willing to absorb into the fabric of his being from its rich aroma, but keen to add his share to the make up of this aroma. He is full of hope in the future, aware of the opportunities, yet scared as the present brings familiar images from his past pointing to his new home sliding in the wrong direction. He watches with amazement as some, voluntarily, choose to choose the risky familiar old over the hopeful change.

'The American me' realizes he may have a "foreign name", but a free and sincere voice and one day, some day, he will be heard as an American voice despite his name or accent.

Fountain of Youth

As summer winds down, some will get the blues, but for me, it is hardly time to get depressed. It is actually time when my life and that of many just like me are recharged by an injection of renewable energy in the form of enthusiastic young adults venturing into our world. Watching them move around campus with energy levels that easily beats that of the energizer bunny is invigorating to say the least. During the first few days, it is easy to recognize freshmen with their wandering eyes looking for familiar faces or themes in this new world. Although it has been more than I dare to admit, I can still relate to their struggle. I still remember my first day as I stepped into the campus of Cairo University. I recall literally asking myself: "Can I make it through?".

They are away from home, from the norm, entrusting complete strangers with the making of their futures. To think that I am part of making their future brighter, I cannot help but feel lucky to be a teacher. I may not make as much money as I would have if I joined the industry. I may not have had to put as many hours into my job or walk around with my head always churning technical ideas and thinking of ways to better educate these young minds. But where else could I get this supply of endless energy in the world outside. After all these years, I cannot think of a job choice that would have been better. Since eternity there were those that were always looking for the fountain of youth, most believe it is really a myth. I think I found one and it is big enough to share: become a teacher!

Who won the olympics?

I came back to the US from an overseas trip close to the end of the olympic games and was surprised to see that the US was ranked first in the national websites.   Overseas the official ranking put China first followed by the US and Russia based on the gold medals each earned.  I recall that this was always the rule for the ranking.  I got to know that, somone decided that unlike the rest of the world, the US inhabitants deserve a better ranking.  The ranking in the US  will be based on the total number of medals without regard to the type of medal.   

This was a little buzzling! We have essentially decided that Gold, Silver and Bronze medals are worth the same.   According to this a country winning 100 gold medals would lose to another that got 101 Bronze medals.  This is quite a bit off if the price of actual metals is indicative of what these medals are worth.  Gold is worth 60 times as much as silver and bronze is even sold in pounds not ounces.  This silly rule seems to have been conveniently imposed to keep those of us living here thinking that we won the 2008 Olympics.  Our athletes did great winning 110 medals, but we came as number 2.  Who benefits from hiding this truth.  Is this indicative of a bigger problem?  Have we become too proud to admit when we lose?  I always thought that the only way to get ahead is to know when you are behind.  Burying our heads in the sand will never make things better.  The truth will always be the same, whether we know it or not. 

A Summer Day to remember.

Despite the fact that Friday is not officially a weekend, the afternoon feels like one. Hence summer Fridays are usually very good days. As we get older we learn to savor all the good moments with the kids still around and are still kids. This Friday had a slow afternoon, made exciting by a promising solution to a technical problem at work. I felt good about treating myself to an early departure from work. Opening the sunroof and driving home, I called home to see if dining out sounds good to the family, it usually does. We decided Italian is the way to go.

A locally owned non chain restaurant with a house setting was the choice. It is usually a very relaxing setting, but a bit of excitement thanks to a wasp that snuck into the restaurant was an added bonus. The treat came in the form of deep dish pizza piled with a healthy set of toppings. My little one was soon busy picking away all the healthy stuff of the pizza. We have given up these losing battles sometime ago and decided we will enjoy our dining experience and leave the health education to dinners at home. I think it was more of the company than the food, but it was a great meal. Feeling a bit of guilt, I suggested to my family that I would walk home. It is a couple of miles and should help relieve some of the guilt if not all of the calories. The suggestion was met with enthusiasm from the kids to join in. They usually appreciate new experiences such as this. Even my youngest decided she would walk home with me. Another losing battle to my little one and we were soon walking home. The sun was behind us as we walk and the road was full of shade, which added to the joy of the family walk home. Few dogs got excited along the way as we passed raising our adrenaline level. I wonder if this would help burn a few more claories. We made it home in less than one hour with a lot less effort than I expected. My kids were very proud of the achievement that they announced that "we can now walk anywhere we need to in town." With the gas prices, maybe it is not such a bad idea.

My little one soon regained her energy level and decided we needed to jump on the trampoline. It is her favorite pastime and hence, to her, it should be mine as well. I need not say who lost the battle. Actually, I won half this battle. Instead of jumping, we laid on the trampoline and I managed to get her attention off of jumping and into watching the late afternoon clouds. My other kids join in and it was soon a competition of imagination. Although it hurts my ego to admit it, but I was happy to find all kinds of animals in the clouds than bouncing around. "This is actually fun" she announced. After a while it got a little breezy and we soon had a volunteer to get a cover so we can stay on the trampoline for a little bit more. Time actually passed quickly and the game changed to telling stories from my heritage. I think my stories usually seem a little alien to my kids, yet they stayed attentive. It was then completely dark outside except for the street lights from a distance. Although my youngest became a little restless, she did not want to leave the family gathering until she fell asleep.

I am happy to realize that this has turned out to be a great bonding experience with the kids, in the middle of our own back yard. All I needed to invest is time and imagination. I am sure to remember this simple yet memorable day for years to come and I hope it makes it to my kids permanent memories as well.

Invest in yourself!

It took a lot of hard thinking, but I finally found what the best way to spend your stimulus check is. The normal use of the money in one of the retail stores would just return the money directly out of this country into a foreign land leaving you with some toys that would soon become obsolete. Some have advocated the use of the stimulus money to pay off debt that was incurred as we collected old toys. This may be prudent, but would not stir the economic activity that uncle Sam wants. My objective is to spend the money, yet get something valuable in return that is useful in case the economic woes continue.

Here is my idea, invest the money. No, I do not mean in the stock market. I mean invest it in yourself, how? Use it to learn something you have always wanted to learn. The government is giving you a free shot at doing that. Go back to school. Sign up for a summer class at the local university or community college. Learn a new skill at a trade school. Brush up on a foreign language. What you learn will always be there wherever you go. I guarantee it will come handy at some point in your life. It will be there if you need to find a new job or search for a better one. It is a down payment on an insurance plan in case the government's genius stimulus plan does not work. Unlike toys that break and get old very fast, no-one can take what you learn away from you, it becomes part of you, the new better you. It will help you someday find a new job or just be better at your old job.

Unaffordable

The economic down turn and the other political and social issues facing this country have made so many things beyond the reach of many of us. One of those that has become unaffordable in this country is hate. We all know hate is a divisive feeling that burns, blinds and obscures our judgment, but nonetheless plenty seems to go around. This is time where this country needs to be united: whites and blacks, liberals and conservatives, Christians, Jews, Mulsims and all others. We cannot afford to hate those we disagree with politically, religiously, ideologically or in any other form. Disagreements and healthy differences in opinion are sources of strength if well harnessed, yet they can turn destructive when they turn into hatred. We need to remember that we all live in the same boat and that our survival depends on our success in using the power of being different yet united.

We are in the midst of the political season with elections that has probably the highest stakes in a long time. However, the level of political discussions from the pundits and on the different forums seem to focus on the trivial and the silly. Where are the discussions about all that matter? So much is being written, spoken, read and spun on endorsements and unendorsements, on past associations and on gaffes opening old wounds and leaving the issues that matter to me and you out in the cold. We cannot afford not to push these politicians to create, examine, discuss and debate real plans not just promises before they step into their elected offices. This will not be achieved when the debate is about Hagee vs. Wright instead of the real issues.

The unaffordability goes beyond politics to much in our personal lives. We cannot but question so much of what we have done in the past, even if we individually can afford to stay the course, for we may be hurting others by staying the old course. We may be hurting our dear neighbor and friend who struggles to keep up with the cost of fueling his little vehicle because we can afford to drive a gas guzzler. With a similar logic, we may have to examine the setting of the thermostat this summer. We may have forgotten, but we have survived on this planet very successfully, until recently, without air conditioners. You may afford to use regular lights, but consider it a charitable act towards your fellow Americans and change the lights in your house to energy efficient ones. This is charity for which you would be rewarded on earth and in the hereafter.

There are plenty of things I can add to the list of things we cannot afford anymore in this competitive world where competition is global and the job demands are ever changing. We cannot afford not to seriously invest on continuously educating ourselves and our kids. We cannot afford not to ask our kids to think time and again about their future goals and how they intend to achieve these goals. We cannot afford not to ask our kids to turn off the TV and read a science, math or history book. Please remember this as you plan to spend your stimulus check rebate!

In conclusion, we may have hated to think before we did many things in life, but we can no longer do that. It is Unaffordable!!!

A Patriot or A Traitor

Jimmy Carter has not been one of the most popular US presidents, but he has been a model former president in my opinion. His activities post his presidency won him the Nobel peace prize and the respect of many in the world. Carter is being unfairly attacked for his pioneering ventures to bring peace to the world. However, most pioneers were given such labels by those that can only appreciate the traditional and walk the beaten paths.

For those that criticize Carter for trying to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians, please remember that over 30 years ago when Sadat, the late Egyptian president took his historic trip to Israel to extend his hands with peace, he was shunned by most in the Arabic world. When the signed the peace treaty, that was brokered by President Carter, with the Israeli prime minister, he was labeled a traitor by most in that part of the world. After 30 years of lasting peace between Egypt and Israel, was Sadat a traitor or a patriot? Before you call Carter more names, please remember what Sadat did and how it is perceived today and how it was perceived back then.

Are you color blind? -V.2

Growing up in my original home country, I got used to filling a ‘Religion’ field on almost each form that I had to fill on government forms. I was so used to doing that I did not feel any problem at the time. After coming to the US, I started doubting the wisdom of the Egyptian government. I do not think that I needed a reminder from the government that I am a Muslim and my friend is a Christian. If you agree with that logic, you should be proud as an American that our government does not require us to fill out our religious denomination on official forms. The government here asks us to just indicate whether we are Asian American, African American, White, Hispanic White, Non Hispanic White, or Native American, disabled or not, male or female and other terms that keep changing to remain politically correct.

In my first days, the color coding was quite confusing and I always found myself and those receiving the official forms from me hesitant about the boxes I should check. I was born in Egypt, which is part of both Africa and Asia. I have enough pigments in my skin to turn black if left in the sun for enough time, but after living in Seattle for few months I can have a fairly white skin. So, am I African American or Asian American, black or white? A wise man informed me that I am ‘white’ despite all these qualifications listed above because the government says so. I have always found white to be a good color, so I had no problem with that classification. I just have to check that box indicating that I am white and hand the form confidently back to whoever wanted to know my color with a smile and a “Yes I am White”.

This color confusion is reemerging, however, as I have become a US citizen eligible to vote. Listening to the pundits, it seems there is an underlying wisdom in knowing your colors as you enter the voting booth and select who to vote for. I hope I can figure my true color code out before November. I was just happy to be an American and to vote for the best qualified candidate without any color consideration, but we cannot get everything we want in life. Life would have been a lot easier if we were all color blind!

I don't want to go to school

When a song with the name 'I don't want to go to school' makes it to be the most popular song among kids, who is to blame? Is it the kids who made it popular? The parents who paid the money to make it popular? The schools for not being very popular?, or the producers and TV executives that created such a destructive popular message? It is easy to choose the latter, but I blame us, the parents, the most for such a tragedy.

You may think I have lost it for commenting on such a trivial funny song, but this is a continuation of the assault on our education system. Education is a much bigger issue than many of us realize especially at this juncture. The US has been a magnet for talent from all over the world, but this is being challenged by other countries that are starting to attract this talent and by the economies that are booming in many of the countries that were traditional exporters of talent. This means that the US has to rely more on the talent within and plenty there is, except for an attitude that punishes these young kids who are interested in math and science and puts them in a negative spot light. It is those young future scientists not the football and basketball stars that will guarantee the future of this country.

I do not envy those running for the school board elections, for much of the problem is beyond the local boundaries of a county or a state. It is a national problem that cannot be solved without a universal change in our attitude as parents towards our responsibilities to our kids. We are responsible for making them appreciate learning. We are responsible for watching what they watch on TV and for identifying problem shows that are detrimental to student role models. Education starts at home with us, parents, spending our money wisely on our kids. We need to buy her a chemistry kit and buy him a history book instead of the "No more science or history" CD. We need to raise the level of our expectations of our kids to match our hopes for the future of this country.

Cultural Invasion

In a previous article, I questioned the general effect of the Internet and whether it facilitated too much exchange of ideas and how this resulted in the boundaries around local communities around the world disappearing. I questioned whether this is raising the potential of diluting our cultural difference and making us too much of the same and resulting in a higher entropy and less colorful world where innovation will ultimately suffer.The previous analysis has not even considered the reality of the internet as it exists now and how the exhange of information and ideas is not equally balanced between the world's different civilizations and cultures. The flow of ideas has clearly favoured the flow of ideas from western civilization to other civilizations. Through this lopsided exchange, or rather single sided flooding, of ideas, these non-western civilizations are becoming more of a fake image of a western movie. Some societies have faired worse than others which is probably indicative of less self appreciation of their identity.

You can see this cultural invasion in the infiltration of western traditions into the daily lives of these societies and the dilution of native languages with hundreds of mispronounced english words. I have personally witnessed this in a recent visit to the Middle East where I was surprised to find that English was the most widely spoken language on the streets in some arabic countries. I have attended so many official meetings that were often conducted in English in countries that once prided themselves on their Arabic and Islamic heritage. Celebration of once western events such as Valentine's day has become very popular. Parents are more interested in how their kids speak foreign languages, mostly western, than the original native language. It was actually disturbing to hear some Islamic scholars intentionally insert English words into their speech as a sign that they are in tandum with the young generations. Are all these changes a result of the internet alone, probably not, but the internet has accelerated the pace of flooding of these societies with an idealized western culture especially among the younger generation. These societies do not even seem to realize the danger being posed to their culture and identity.

Spring is Here

Spring kind of snuck up on me. I guess I was too busy to notice the parade of colors developing outside the windows of my house. Today was not the sunniest of days, but I just happened to set in a chair facing the big glass window and as if it happened overnight, spring was painting the world with the bright, vibrant and energetic colors of youth, colors that starkly contrast the gray palette with which the winter has covered our surroundings. The blooming trees are coming back to announce to us the start of a new cycle of life.

It is easy for us to love spring as it brings as much hope to our lives as our children carry. The blooming flowers are the giggles of their happiness, the budding trees announce their first steps in life, the green hardy grass declares their readiness to to tackle the future with all that it brings.

Summer is also an easy favorite, for many, for it is usually associated with our care free time as kids and young adults. It was a time for walking or playing on the beach, enjoying true and innocent friendships, laughing till we cry and crying as we learn to tame our emotions. It was time for falling in and out of love, venturing into maturity and learning to be and to be on our own. For those of us who are deep into adulthood, summer remains as a time to relive those memories again with the young in our lives. It is the season for dreaming and reliving the best of your dreams over and over again.

Unfortunately summer does not last forever and soon we start noticing those beautiful colors appearing in our surroundings, marking the season of Fall. It is not one of those seasons that is as easy to love as we did the spring and summer for despite the beauty that easily matches, if not surpasses, that of the spring, for many this is analogous to our late adulthood. A time when we are most capable of loving and giving. A time for our most creative and productive work. Yet, it is time when we see the brightest and most colorful leaves around us fall into the ground and fly away of our sight and lives. It is time we progressively feel the coming of the cold and lifeless winter. The beauty of the sring and fall maybe both breath taking, yet they cannot be more different in the emotions they stir in us.

Along comes the cold and gray winter. Trees look lifeless, the grass is brown and the sun seems too old to rise high in the sky. To many it is the least favorable of the seasons, yet it has its beauty. It is the time to get close to those dear in our life. It is time for families to get together, to huddle around the fire, to talk and laugh and talk some more. It is a chance to appreciate what we had and look forward to the future for soon the spring will sneak up on us again!

Economic Lessons from a 3rd World Country

Let me start with a disclaimer. I have no credentials to give financial advice. My only credentials are growing up in a third world country and watching my parents maneuver our family through economic difficulties similar to those that loom on the horizon. Although my dad is an economist, a lot of the success of our family to weather the economic storms should be credited to my mom and to the heritage from thousands of years of training in which Egyptians learned the needed skills to survive under unfavorable economic conditions. I did not think I would need these skills anymore, but given what the country is going through, they may come handy after all. I thought writing this article maybe an opportunity to brush up on the basic skills of survival in rough times. Here is some of the wisdom of the Egyptian society:

Learn to rough it up for good times do not last forever. Save what you can today for tomorrow is always insecure. Be content with what you have, work hard to earn what you want, and never borrow to indulge yourself. A very popular adage in Egypt was "Stretch your legs as far as your blanket will cover" which really translates to "live within your means".

A coping strategy that Egyptians used to help those that are in need of relatively large sums of cash may provide some insight. Most Egyptians do not borrow from banks for it is against the Islamic faith to profit of someone's need by collecting or paying interest on a loan. Egyptians rely to some extent on informal cooperatives to raise cash. A group of friends, neighbors or relatives (10 - 20) would form an informal cooperative that is limited to the initial set of members. Each of the members commits to paying a small monthly installment (e.g. $100) with each member of this small group receiving the sum of all the installments in one month. This process lasts for number of months equal to that of the number of members (~1 Year). The cooperative is dissolved after each member has once received the lumped sum ($1000 - $2000). The order in which members receive the lumped sum is agreed upon in the beginning with priority given to those in need. Those that are not in need or are more financially capable usually agree to receive late payments. This is a form of equals getting together to help each other. Those that have today, agree to willingly lose a little, for they know they might be in need tomorrow.

Is the Internet helping or hurting Innovation?

The most precious of human intellectual activity, in my opinion, is innovation. Innovative ideas are hard to come by. The Internet has been widely touted as one of the most influential inventions in the history of mankind. It is hard to disagree with this assertion. However, I cannot help but wonder whether the Internet revolution will have a positive or negative impact over human innovation.

The world was made up of thousands of local communities with different conditions, traditions and ways of living. The variances among the communities were a sure source of a welcomed inconsistency in human thoughts, emotions and ideas. An inconsistency that added color to the intellectual products of human intelligence. Over the years the boundaries among these communities kept falling, but never like today. The Internet has destroyed the protective boundaries around societies in a way that has never been experienced before.

Does the inter-sharing of ideas from all over the globe help us create new ones, or does it just dilute our uniqueness as humans such that we cannot identify or differentiate, any more, our ideas from those of others?

The Internet is a great forum for exchanging ideas, but could there be too much exchange of ideas? With the world becoming a small village, do we run the risk of creating a uniform intellectual environment that could hamper our ability to continue our vibrant intellectual innovation that has relied for so long on our differences as much as our intelligence? Is the Internet driving us towards becoming a blend of humarnets who can finish each other's sentences?

The Internet has made it possible for many to voice their ideas and to interconnect with other humarnets. Is this interconnectivity creating too much chatter that is burying innovative ideas in a flood of worthless and repetitive ones? Is the chatter making it hard to hear even our own voices?

These are questions worth asking even though I am not sure what to do even if the answer is affirmative for I am as addicted and connected to this MATRIX as any of you reading this Blog!

My Plan for Energy Independence

With the news about oil surpassing $106, it is important to think about our energy policy. Environmentalists are against drilling for oil on our soil. The government has demanded changes in the fuel economy for vehicles. These are good objectives, but they are years away and technologically challenging. There sure are some incentives for energy efficiency, but they are voluntary and not yet economically rewarding. Moreover, there will always be many who want to drive the gas guzzlers, overheat their homes and no matter what we do we will get punished for their choices as the price of energy keeps going higher. For that I propose to develop a system for fair energy distribution. Under my proposed plan each family would be given a fixed amount of gas credit, coal credit, etc. based on the number of dependents and how abundant this fuel is in the US. Families that use more of one fuel than alloted would be penalized through an energy tax which is the opposite of the tax credit. At the end of each year, a tax would be levied on families that exceed their quota. This tax can then be used to develop alternative energy sources. This energy tax should be a progressive one. If you are so addicted to energy, you need to pay for it without punishing me for your lifestyle. What do you think?

Middle East Violence - Part II

This is part 2 of my answer to the question of why the consistent violence in the middle east if Islam is a peaceful religion. In the first part I merely gave an account of the major 4 wars in the middle east to which Egypt and Israel were parties and how from the perspective of Egypt they were mostly nationalistic wars. Religion was not completely absent from the picture, however, with the religious claim to the land of Palestine by Israel, but let us continue with discussing the recent rise of radicalism in Egypt.

Sadat, the Egyptian president who made peace with Israel was in some sense responsible for the rise of religious militancy in Egypt. It is said that he encouraged religious groups to emerge and flourish in order to control the tide of communists' movement in Egypt. They were allowed to be active, to recruit within universities, unions, etc. These religious groups were mostly moderates, but the environment was ripe for radicalism to emerge. Sadat's economic policies, long years of wars have made large segments of the society poor, illiterate, desperate and hopeless; creating a fertile ground to incite hatred for the society and to create radicals. These radical groups adopted obscure religious books written by unknowns, at least to the moderates, within the society. By the time Sadat was realizing, the side effect of his plan to fight communism, things were getting out of hand. Radical groups that condemned the whole society have emerged. Those that were not with them were against them. They were willing to kidnap, kill, bomb innocents Muslims and Christians alike in Egypt to try to create public anger to topple the government. Sadat fought back hard, thousands were jailed, tortured and probably more than that. His last days were dark for anyone who dared to disagree with him.

Sadat's demise came on the anniversary of what he considered as the day of his glorious win over Israel. He was assassinated by one of the militants that his policies helped create in Egypt. His death brought emergency laws to Egypt in 1981. Egypt is still under control of these laws until this day. The enormous crackdown on the religious groups, moderate and radical, did not eliminate terrorism and its dangers within Egypt. Terrorist attacks within Egypt occur sparsely and hit any targets especially tourists in order to embarrass the government. In recent years, I have observed that the Egyptian society has slowly tended to become more conservative and more religious. Most women are now wearing Hijab; a scarf covering their hair. Many try to learn more from the Quran and about Islam. This, however, is more of a self-guided return to the religious roots that can actually help fight radicalism within the society.

To sum this part up, political manipulation, economic conditions, hopelessness, oppression and ignorance were and still are responsible for creating radicalism all over the world and not an inherent message of violence in Islam.

Middle East Violence - Part I

I was asked the question if Islam is such a peaceful religion, then why all the wars and terrorism in the middle east. Although I am not a historian or a professional politician, I have lived in the region long enough to understand some of the dynamics that can be linked to its problems. Nothing I would write here could be novel for this issue has been over covered, but I will try to lay it down from the perspective of a regular Egyptian American.

It is hard to know where to start as it started a long time ago when the Egyptian empire that was the envy of the world at that time was getting weak enough for all the greedy neighbors to forcefully snatch part of the Egyptian treasures. Egypt fill victim to numerous invaders that ruled for thousands of years. The latest of these were the British who stayed in Egypt from 1882 until 1954. The same fate was that of most the countries in the middle east, but I will keep the Egyptian perspective as much as I can. Egypt during the period of the occupation was a very secular society. There was always the religious class, but adhering to the religious beliefs did not seem to be that wide spread among the middle class. Although I am not that old to have witnessed this era myself, books, stories and movies do reflect these previous observations. The modern era of wars in the middle east had already started before the British army left Egypt with the 1948 war. This was the first war with Israel. Israel was a newly established country sanctioned by the British on the Palestinian land that was controlled by the British at the time. This war cemented Israel in the area. The second war was in 1956 and it was a reaction to the nationalization of the Suez Canal by the young nationalistic president Nasser. There was no religious roots to that war in which Israel, France and Britian attacked Egypt to regain control of the canal. The war failed to achieve its objectives and established Nasser as an Arabic nationalistic hero. Nasser's second war with Israel was the 6 days war in 1967. A war that was and still is a disaster to the Arabic countries. Israel took control of the west bank, Gaza, Sinai desert and Parts of Syria during this war. Apart from Sinai, Israel still controls this seized land until today. This again was not a religious war, but rather a political war. This is when it starts getting more interesting as religion is mixed with politics. Israel now seized control of the holy city of Jerusalem. A city that is claimed holy by all the 3 religions of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. From the perspective of Egypt, it was a big insult to lose this miserably and have the Sinai desert under occupation. There still was no large religious movements in Egypt during this period 1967 - 1973. Nasser died and Sadat became the president. He continued the efforts of building the Egyptian military to avenge the disaster of 1967. In October 6th, 1973 the fourth major war erupted as Egypt tried to win back the lost land and the Egyptians were on the move. They were winning the war against Israel, but with the help of the US and mistakes from the Egyptians, the tide was turning and the Egyptians had to agree to a call to halt the war. Sadat realizing that militarily it does not seem possible to win back the land, he started negotiating with Israel. A step that eventually returned Sinai to Egypt, but was also a move that isolated Egypt from the Arab world. Sadat was a hero in the western world, but was a very controversial figure within Egypt. It may not be known to many that Sadat may have been the main mentor for religious radicalism in Egypt which led to his eventual demise in 1981. This will be discussed in part II, but to sum this part, it can be seen that the major wars in the middle east were driven mostly by nationalistic drives, self-defense and self-preservation rather than religious beliefs.