As I patiently but anxiously wait for my Kindle Touch 3G to arrive in the mail, I realize I have surrounded myself with a couple of nifty tools to make my content consumption addiction easier, faster, and more efficient. Although I consider my self the Jamaican Muslim version of Henry Bemis from the Twilight Zone, I still need a little bit more than just a “brick and mortar” Library to satiate my diverse content consumption needs.

You are probably already familiar with many of these apps, but I have found them extremely helpful in covering 3 simple areas:

1. How do get access to tons of content?
2. How do I organize all this great content?
3. What type of tools will help me organize all this audio and textual content?

Instapaper. This app has been around for a while but I only recently started using it about 3 weeks ago. Instapaper is a simple app that allows you to save web article pages from any web browser, Smartphone, Tablet, E-reader and just about any other device. Any article that you “Read Later” with Instapaper (irrespective of what device you used to save the article) goes into the “cloud” and you can then access that web content from anywhere that is connected to the internet. All your devices that are connected to the internet do a short sync via Instapaper and now you have all that content stored on your device locally. Once the content is on the device, no internet connection is needed. It’s all on the device. You can read content on any one of the devices that have downloaded the web content from Instapaper’s cloud. With my third content device (Kindle Touch) on the way, I can now sync content from my IPhone, Mac Book, and Kindle Touch. (or any other computer that is connected to the Internet). It really makes it easy to consume a lot more long form article content online, or maybe I should say offline.

Goodreads. Yet another “cloud” content based app, Goodreads has several Android and IPhone apps that compliment the goodreads.com website. Goodreads is basically Amazon’s book recommendation engine, wishlist, and book reading history turned into a full blown website. They are not affiliated with Amazon, but it’s probably where Amazon should have taken their recommendation/wishlist app. The site allows readers around the world to share books they’ve read, books they want to read, books they are currently reading while allowing users to rate, review and comment on any book. The site (and the complimentary phone apps) have a wonderful recommendation engine that is separated by a variety of categories (they call these categories Genres). You can then customize this Genre list and Goodreads will select books that match these Genres. The more you submit to Goodreads the better it gets at giving you books that match your interests. The site is extremely social. You can read books from your friends and share your book lists. Once again all this activity is synced between all your devices that are using the Goodreads app and website.

Calibre. Actually found this app searching for an article Bookmark app that would sync with a Kindle device. Calibre is basically the ITunes version of e-book management tool. It allows you to update the covers of e-books, titles, topics, categories, publisher date and tons of other meta data. It also syncs and converts all your e-book files to the appropriate format for your e-reader device. For those who want to fine tune their e-book library I really don’t know another piece of software that is more easy to use and efficient than Calibre. It covers just about all e-book devices and it’s…wait for it…FREE.

Flipboard. Yet another recent addition to my content consumption tool kit, Flipboard has really transformed how I consume content. It was initially built for the IPad, but now it’s available for the IPhone (sorry folks, no Android yet but I’m sure it’s coming). It’s a social magazine app that allows you to easily flip (literally) through tons of content from hundreds, if not thousands of publishers. You can also pull content from your Twitter and Facebook feed. This app is all about making content beautiful while making it easier to share that same content on your favorite social networks. Like an infographic that visually beautifies raw data to make it easier to consume, Flipboard is no different.

Audible. I think audible.com has been around long enough for most people to be familiar with the website and the complimentary app for Android and the IPhone. Getting into audio books via audible has allowed me to consume so much more content. The best thing about audio books, is unlike regular books you can listen to these books while being somewhat idle with other things. Whether you are washing dishes, cutting the lawn, going for a walk or run, or just listening to an audio book at work. (of course while doing work). Other than the standard audio player options, you have the ability to bookmark (somewhat of an electronic dog ear) any part of the audio so you can refer back to it later. What is truly missing from Audible is the ability to sync your e-bookmarks with an audible app or maybe an Audible plugin for ITunes. All your audible purchases are still in the “cloud” which makes for an easy way to download your audible files to your phone or computer.

As child growing up in America during the 80s, what many dark-skin black people will call the “Light-Skin” or “Al B Sure” era, it was not easy growing up as a dark skin kid. I’m sure it wasn’t easy for “light-skin” kids in a more darker hue community as they have been attacked for having intra-cultural “beauty arrogance”. I’m sure that some of the emotionally painful remnants of such abandoned practices like the brown paper bag test or the pencil test still linger. It’s actually quite interesting considering the “Black and Proud” era was only several decades away. It seems like the 70′s became an era of identity regression. It wasn’t until the 90s, what I will now call the “Big Daddy Kane” or “Wesley Snipe” era, that darker skin brothers were back on center stage. What also helped is my father being the handsome and dark skinned man that he was. I’ve long abandoned those adolescent insecurities, but there are always reminders around me that dark skin is still seen as a badge of disgrace or less pleasant.

Many times I want to ignore the present identity crisis that’s either internalized or imposed. I was reminded by this after watching the media avalanche of Fair and Lovely commercials that inundate the TV screens in this part of the world. Just spend a couple minutes on the Fair and Lovely commercials page to get a sense of the overt “skin color” propaganda that light skin makes you prettier, wealthier, more famous, and makes your life full of blissful prestige.

After being in the Middle East for 4 months, I was reminded that “darker skin” is still a sensitive issue. Whether it’s women using make-up that is several “obvious” shades lighter, that the skin takes on a texture that is similar to Vitiligo or men/women getting their Fair and Lovely on at the local supermarket.

I was then reminded again of this silent but deadly identity crisis by Bradin French’s new Documentary called Dark Girls.

Dark Girls: Preview from Bradinn French on Vimeo.

So for those who still suffer from this identity confusion my comical and absurd suggestion is to live in a country where you will be considered the most “fair skin”, because clearly depending on what country you are in, different shades of skin color are considered “the prize” of the cultural pack.

This cultural epidemic has global reach. I’ve seen the likes of this from America, to African cultural circles, to the Middle Eastern/Arab cultural circles, to Indian/Pakistani cultural circles and many others. Please don’t take this as an indictment against “light-skinned” women and men. This isn’t. This is an indictment against those cultural, social and community “institutions” that have normalized beauty bias while reinforcing the idea that different shades of skin color are superior or inferior in beauty. Many times the self-hatred and skin color degradation is intra-cultural.

If anyone is still in denial (regardless of what side of the color line you sit on), just check out Study: White and black children biased toward lighter skin, or The impact of light skin on prison time for black female offenders, or Perception of Race and Skin Color in Pakistan or Skin Bleaching a Growing Concern in Jamaica or Skin Whitening Big Business in Asia or Color Complex in South Asian Diaspora or The Politics and Morality of a Skin Tone Ordering. Or you can read Hochilds’ The Skin Color Paradox and the American Racial Order Social Forces from December 2007 or maybe the documentary Black in Latin America.

Still in denial?

Since the unraveling of the U.S. economy you hear many people shouting from the rooftops “I want my country back”. At the gist of this statement is a need to capture the greatness of a previous moment in U.S. history that was for the betterment of the individual. As many would say, “the good ole days”. For many, the current economic and political environment has created a lot of uncertainty in their lives. However, I have a couple issues with this statement. First off, who are the individuals who want to go back in time? Second, how far back would they like to go? Third, who do they feel took the country from them? Fourth, where do they live? Five, what is their current economic level? Six, what was their current economic level at the time they would like to go back to? If you posed this question to a million people you would probably get a million types of answers.

A lot of people in this U.S. have had their heads in the sand for a while (On certain things I can include myself in this category). To be honest, I have been part of the problem in one way or another, so these criticisms are not only leveled at others, but also myself. We have now become so delusional and desperate for an economic antidote that recent polls show that 36% of Americans wish for the economic policies of Ronald Reagan. I would like to know who these people are, but that’s quite a considerable number knowing the “Gipper’s” economic policies were pretty disastrous. Although many have debunked the merits of the “Reagan Revolution”, many romantic nostalgists just won’t let go. That’s not to say there weren’t people who benefited from the policies of Reagan, but collectively his policies were a disaster. Just ask former budget Director David Stockman on how ‘wonderful” the economic Reagan era was.

The disruptive social and economic “bullet” was fired decades ago. Let’s paint a picture. Just imagine millions, maybe even billions of people lined up after one another. An individual fires a bullet (economic instability and social disruption) from a gun. When you get hit with that bullet it’s economic anarchy for you. In that same line, many folks were, lets say number 10267 to get fired upon. Some were even in the hundredth and millionth or billionth.  If you were towards the back of the line it wasn’t your problem because  33,  672, 45976, 273192, 834165, 5938200242 are getting socially and economically “murked” way before you. Many even thought, “oh it will never get to me” or even “Maybe the bullet will lose its momentum and velocity” before it gets to me. Or maybe in denial about the destruction of the bullet, “Maybe the bullet won’t hurt when it gets to me”. Maybe they felt it was someone else’s problem.

Now that the bullet is racing forward and it’s, as O.C. said, “Times Up“, people are clamoring around for answers as to what happened.  Of course it would be “nice” to go back in time when the bullet wasn’t so close to home. The net of economic disruption had already been cast. Now that person is in the net with everyone else.

This reminds me of the Columbine father that said the following:

I am here today because my son Daniel would want me to be here today. If my son Daniel was not one of the victims, he would be here with me today. Something is wrong in this country when a child can grab a gun, grab a gun so easily, and shoot a bullet into the middle of a child’s face, as my son experienced. Something is wrong. But the time has come to come to understand that a Tech-9 semi-automatic -bullet weapon like that, that killed my son, is not used to kill deer. It has no useful purpose. It is time to address this problem.

It’s sad to see any father lose their son to such horrific violence, but at the time, we had already reached the tipping point where guns were in the hands of our youth. The carnage has now reached “everyones” doorstep, but many doorsteps have already been visited by gun violence. The anarchy is now more widespread. Now that we have shared economic grief, we are harking back to the “good ole days”. Keep in mind that there were many before you that have been living with these wounds, but your wounds are now fresh.

I remember a discussion I had with a close family member in the mid 90s and we were talking about the gang violence that had been prevalent in a neighborhood right next to ours. The town was Roosevelt, Long Island in New York. At the time the Bloods and Crips had made significant inroads into the neighborhood. We lived in Uniondale, about a stones throw away. The conversation went something like this:

Me: Wow, we really need to do something about this gang violence. A lot people getting killed in Roosevelt
Family Member: Well that’s Roosevelt, you know how THEY are
Me: Hmmm…well what happens when the gangs come to Uniondale?
Family Member: No, that won’t happen. This is Uniondale, gangs don’t come to Uniondale
Me: I don’t think so. If we don’t take care of the surrounding communities around us, we are definitely going to have gangs here
Family Member: [blank stare]

As expected, the Bloods and the Crips made their way into Uniondale and although the degree of our gang problem was lesser than Roosevelt, we still had people getting shot over gang violence and whatnot. In short, when the economic plane goes down it won’t matter that you paid $5000 dollars for your first-class ticket. Irrespective of your seating arrangement, we are all going down. It’s just a matter of who hits the ground first.

In September 2009 I wrote a post about learning the roots of the 2008 Financial Crisis. It really gets to the crux of why I was compelled to go on somewhat of an economic “expedition” to find out what went wrong with the U.S. economic system in 2008. Prior to the crisis there I wasn’t aware of any body of economic work that intelligently outlined the causes (not just the symptoms) of the financial crisis than the Austrian School of Economics. As I’ve said in earlier posts, I truly believe that the Austrian Business Cycle Theory (ABCT) is by far one of the most complete descriptions of the “science”, if you will, of economic booms and busts. In addition to the ABCT, I believe that the Austrians have a way of interweaving a healthy amount of skepticism when it relates to the government intervening in the broader economy.

Unfortunately many other economic disciplines make wild assumptions, often very overly optimistic assumptions about the value of government intervention. At the same time, I have my own skepticism on the benefits of a 100% Libertarian approach to our social and political problems, but they clearly have the right pulse on many of the causes of how financial markets and economic incentives can be distorted by “well intentioned” governments. Private corporations don’t get off the hook, but in the context of the financial crisis, they worked in tandem with the government to completely destroy the economy.

I want to make a couple of points:

1. Be an economic policy skeptic. All policy isn’t created equal. As a matter of fact, many of the policy “prescriptions” by the government were completely backward and financially destructive and/or these policies were instituted to benefit a few while impoverishing many.
2. Read some of the suggested resources below. As a matter fact, read as much economic policy as you can. Many times you’ll get to the “real” intentions behind a lot of these policies.
3. Your Congress is bought (Thank you Dylan Ratigan from MSNBC). Please watch the video below and make sure you listen to every single word. If it’s not clear after you watch this video that voting for these cronies is a waste of time, then just off yourself. Okay..that was a joke..don’t off yourself but really understand that depending on our “do nothing” Congress is a waste of time.
4. The only option left is civil disobedience. What I like to call “soft” anarchy. Be an active participant in the economy. Vote with your pocket. Our government was not always enslaved to corporate interests. This can be undone, but it’s going to take a lot more than marching, waving hands, and holding creatively snark protest signs in different cities. There’s trillions of dollars at stake and if a high level of creative destruction doesn’t take place by the people, then we are playing a very dangerous, albeit participatory charade of musical “armchair revolutionary” chairs. Instead of sitting at home or in a cafe we are sitting in the streets.

Books

• Griftopia: Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America by Matt Taibbi
• Greedy Bastards: How We Can Stop Corporate Communists, Banksters, and Other Vampires from Sucking America Dry by Dylan Ratigan
• Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
• Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek
• The Return of Depression Economics and the Crisis of 2008 by Paul Krugman
• America’s Great Depression by Murray N. Rothbard
• Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse by Thomas E. Woods Jr. and Ron Paul

(AP Photo/Julie Jacobson)

At the root of every social movement is the will to change the present situation for something better. At the root of the Occupy Wall Street protest, which has now moved to other cities around the country, the intention of this movement is to unhook the almost parasitical tentacles of Wall Street from government policy (Washington). More on this here

I don’t believe ANY significant changes will happen via government policy or Washington’s intervention. Washington is an entity that is in the last stages of terminal “political” cancer. At the end of the day, this has to result in the banking firms that were responsible for this crisis to be reprimanded for their corporate malfeasance. We should reward (with our business) those financial institutions that are fiscally responsible, and move our money out of those financial institutions that contributed to the financial crisis.

I’m not convinced that the TBTF banks really understand what they did, nor does our government really care to prosecute these banks who irresponsibly unhinged the global economy for their narrow benefit.

So what we truly need to occupy, is our apathy. It’s our apathy and reluctance to being properly engaged in our political process that has contributed to Wall Street usurping power from the laymen and laywomen. In short, we kept our eye off the ball for too long. This corporate takeover has been happening for decades. Some would say it’s been happening since the inception of the Federal Reserve Bank. Regardless of when you think international banks started unsettling our political process, we are clearly at a tipping point where banks have complete control over our political process.

My suggestion is we engage in a bit of creative destruction to bring the balance of power back into the hands of where it belongs. the Proletariat and many of the hard working people of America (and around the world) who watched their jobs, wealth, financial security and personal livelihood go up in flames by the Wall Street, Federal Reserve Bank, Government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) doomsday machine.

We should start with the following approach:

1. Remove all your assets and loans (checking, savings, IRA, Mutual funds, Brokerage accounts, credit cards, car loans, mortgages, etc) from all banks that were given a bailout from the government.
2. Take all those assets/loans and transfer them to a credit union or firm that was not given a bailout.
3. Everyone who did the first 2 steps should draft a personal letter using their own words and explain to the banks/investment firms (who no longer have your business) why you removed all your money. In addition to that, explain why you moved your assets to the other bank/investment firm.

It’s time to transform our thoughts into action. Show these banks and our “absentee landlord” government that they cannot push our society to the edge of financial oblivion, while profiting off that same financial destruction.

A bank is a place that will lend you money if you can prove that you don’t need it. – Bob Hope

Related Links

This blog post below was a comment I posted from an article my wife shared on her Facebook wall. My boy Clarence, suggested I turn the comment into a blog post. The article, Black Unemployment Highest in 27 Years appeared on Roland Martin’s magazine/blog website. It seems like you have three typical responses when someone sees these type of “Blacks have a more destitute situation than __________ (insert race of choice here)” articles. The first response is “America is racist, ergo if there wasn’t racism we wouldn’t have such high unemployment”. The second response is, “Blacks are a bunch lazy fry chickin’ eating watermelon cologne wearing, hip hop lovin’, overspending, loud mouthin’ government lovin’, drag on the economy havin’ monkeys that are unemployable who will continue to be the last hired and the first fired.” The third response is, “Oh these ____________ (insert race of choice here) keep taking our jobs. They’ll take so much less to work ______________ job”.

These absurd responses don’t get us any closer to solutions. They are simple knee-jerk reactions to a long-standing problem. I have seen these types of “high unemployment among blacks” headlines since I graduated from college (and before college) and it’s getting worse. The technology shift was supposed to be our golden parachute into prosperity. Didn’t happen. Happen for some but not many and clearly not enough. I wish I finished my If I Had My Own Black Leadership Forum series, but I still have 2 parts left to do. If you’re interested in reading the first 3 parts, you can start here However, I give you My Thoughts on Black Unemployment.

There are no short turnarounds for the high black unemployment rate but at the root of our problems is a misallocation of economic resources. Whether you believe the misallocation of economic resources was driven by a bunch of klan sympathizing racists in corporate america (and the general workplace) and our political system or self inflicted by the black community, we are clearly dealing with a misallocation of economic resources in the black community. This situation has been going on since our “inclusion” into the main economy. Many of you have heard me say this before (and I’ll say it again):

The total GDP of the African-American community makes us the 13th largest economy in the world. That’s right, only 0.6% of planet earth (African Americans) represents the 13th largest economy in the world. The African American/Black Market profile from the Magazine Publishers of America has slated the purchasing power of African Americans to hit the 1 trillion dollar mark by 2012. How can the 13th largest economy in the world, have one of the highest unemployment rates in America? Umm..misallocation of economic resources. (I said it in my quiet e-typing-voice so you don’t get annoyed by me saying this a billion times. I might say it a couple more times)

There are only a few individuals that have actually outlined real solutions and they are the following:

• Powernomics: The National Plan to Empower Black America by Dr. Claud Anderson
• Black Lies, White Lies: The Truth According to Tony Brown by Tony Brown
• Blueprint for Black Power: A Moral, Political, and Economic Imperative for the Twenty-First Century by Amos N. Wilson
• The Entrepreneurial Secret To Starting a Business: Without A Bank Loan, Collateral or Revenue (Volumes 1, 2, 3) by Cedric Muhammad

Although I have huge issues with their past prejudice/religious theology, the other organization is the Nation of Islam. With all it’s past faults, prejudices, and warped theology, Message to the Blackman by Elijah Muhammad was the first book that had me thinking about how my income and productivity in the economy made other folks rich and not my local community. I repeat, the book’s religious theology is rife with shirk, misinformation, hatred and black supremacist theology. However, it’s economic prescriptions are 21st century. The book should be republished, minus the hatred. If I was part of the NOI, I would include a public apology in the introduction of the book.

If you look at many black media communication vehicles, including Black Enterprise mag and BET (Viacom), many of them [black owned or not] have never mentioned any of these individuals. If they mentioned them, there hasn’t been any real effort in promoting their ideas. The average black person has no idea who these individuals are. That is not a simple oversight. It’s intentional. Not in a conspiratorial way, but in a “these individuals will upset the apple cart” type of way. Unfortunately, Amos Wilson has passed on but his rich wealth of economic information lives on in his seminal work, Blueprint for Black Power. It might be tempting to dismiss many of these individuals as a bunch of black supremacist separatist who long for a day when the black seperation movement will transform itself into a 21st century authoritarian movement. No, this is a immature characterization of their intent and economic ideas. They were concerned with the flimsy social contract that America promised it’s black citizens and wanted to usher in a concrete economic platform which we could depend on with certainty. Clearly we are in uncertain times and the social contract that America had with it’s black citizens is gone.

If Black America studied these ideas in these books with vigor and dedication, I believe we can significantly lower black unemployment into the lower single digits in about 20-30 years while becoming a viable and powerful economic engine for growth. There are no easy answers. It’s going to take time, skill reallocation, and a lot of money from those wealthy black individuals to invest in this plan. The government and non-black corporations have already moved on. This is what many of the individuals I mentioned above were trying to say 50 years ago. There will come a time when African Americans will be completely on their own. No jobs programs, no social institutions, no nothing. So in short, they were saying we have to build our own institutions and local economies of scale because the “support window” is going to eventually close. Now that the American economy is in such disarray, its going into hardcore economic Darwinian mode.

Obama and any other government employee can do very little for the black community. His jobs bill cannot overturn hundreds of years of economic mismanagement and social degradation. The government and too many “black leaders” are absentee landlords, time to look within our own community for answers. If they had your back, you would of been out of this mess a long time ago. We are on our own.

The title of this post is a very dark and somewhat uncharacteristic thought I had after I saw the twin towers go down. At the time I was working for ABCNews in New York City. I was supposed to be working in the World Trade Center. When I moved back to NYC in 2000, I had a choice to work for a technology consulting firm on the 103rd floor of the World Trade Center or ABCNews in Lincoln Center. I chose the latter. Seeing three jumbo plane jets (Pentagon and World Trade Center Towers) used as ballistic missiles was something that my mind could not comprehend. It was horrific, shocking, and incomprehensible. Why? Who? Is this the first line of attack? Are there dozens of other planes set to come raining down on every major city? Who’s next? Los Angeles? Philadelphia? Chicago? Houston? My mind raced around as I thought of city landscapes littered with buildings on fire, smashed jumbo jet parts, rubble, and bodies. Dozens of cities smoldering with the stench of jet fuel and charred bodies piercing our noses for miles.

I’m not sure if “patriotism” is the right description of how I felt, but I definitely felt invaded and attacked. I felt enraged that such a horrific act had taken place in my country. You know, like the big bully who pushed you into the wet muddy grass while celebrating your new mud stained reality on the ground. Nothing could prepare me for what I saw on TV. People jumping off of the tower building because the heat was too intense. Burn to death or plummet 80 stories to your death. After the fear and rage had dissipated I felt a need to react. I wanted to join the armed forces. I wanted to go to war with the villains who would carry out such a demonic act against innocent civilians. I wanted the enemy to know that this is the last time you will commit such a horrific act. But before I got my “armed forces on” I needed to know my enemy. Who did this and why?

As I dug deeper and deeper down the rabbit hole of “who dunnit” and “why diddit” my patriotic/militaristic flames were quickly smothered by the water hoses of objective information and factual history. Oh really, the United States CIA had a program called Operation Cyclone to arm, train, and finance the Afghan mujahideen during the Soviet war in Afghanistan from 1979 to 1989. Oh really, after months and months of the press asking for firm evidence on the accusation that Iraq had an elaborate nuclear arms “dirty bomb” program (Weapons of Mass Destruction) the only evidence the Bush Administration can scare up is some aluminum tubes they claim are being used for uranium enrichment. Oh really, Opium production sky rockets after the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. Oh really, unilateral approach on the Iraq War after the international community was completely opposed to this war effort. The final nail in the coffin was reading Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001 by Steve Coll. As you can see from the evidence, I decided to opt out of joining the armed forces. At the time, my plan was to join The U.S. Marines Corps.

There are many dimensions to my grief. I grieve for the American people who don’t understand how foreign policy creates new enemies. I grieve for the Iraqi people. I grieve for the Afghan people. I grieve for the Pakistani people. I grieve for the countless innocent civilians that lost their lives, here and abroad. I grieve because we are usurped by patriotic fervor. I grieve because we still believe it’s us vs them. I grieve because Muslims are still seen as untrustworthy and terrorist sympathizers. I grieve because people will read this and accuse me of being unpatriotic. I grieve for many of the armed forces who were killed during this war effort. I grieve because this will not be the last post I write on why militarism and occupation are stone age approaches to regime change. I grieve because only a few will see the connection between 9/11 and military occupation. I grieve because that last statement will be seen as insensitive to the 3000+ who lost their lives from a bunch terrorist maniacs. I grieve because too many see the terrorists as jealous of American freedom. I have no more tears for you America but I wish you well. Carry on.

• Costs of War
• CIA Operation Cyclone’s Blow Back By Mir Hekmatullah Sadat
• War in Afghanistan by History Guy
]]> http://www.whyihatethejoneses.com/2011/09/i-wanted-to-join-the-armed-forces-after-911/feed/ 2 http://www.whyihatethejoneses.com/2011/08/doha-qatar-part-1-is-it-safe-arab-awake/ http://www.whyihatethejoneses.com/2011/08/doha-qatar-part-1-is-it-safe-arab-awake/#comments Sun, 28 Aug 2011 08:09:15 +0000 Malik Abdul Rasheed http://www.whyihatethejoneses.com/?p=3662 If there is any one question that was asked (or implied) before I left, it was “Is it Safe?”. Some other more indirect rhetorical questions/responses sounds like this: – Really? Wow (But like Wow, as in “He’s sending his family to the equivalent of Iraq) – Are you sure? (translation: Are you sure you want [...]
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If there is any one question that was asked (or implied) before I left, it was “Is it Safe?”. Some other more indirect rhetorical questions/responses sounds like this:

– Really? Wow (But like Wow, as in “He’s sending his family to the equivalent of Iraq)
– Are you sure? (translation: Are you sure you want to work in a war zone?)
– I’ve even had folks suggest that they fear being kidnapped or forced being wrapped in a burqa like Taco Bell wraps burritos. Just to be clear, I don’t have a problem with the burqa or the niqab or any other covering. Women have the freedom to wear what they want, but they shouldn’t be forced or unduly prohibited from wearing these types of coverings. For more information on this. go here.

I have no idea what other warped ideas swirl in people’s minds when you mention any country in the Middle East, but the ones above are the more obvious fears. At the same time I can’t be too hard on folks being that their main intention is concern for my safety. But like an over-protective parent can be for their children, some of this concern is grounded in a bit of fantasy, xenophobia and misinformation.

I do realize that there are a lot of revolutions/upheavals going on in the Middle East, but we have to be able to distinguish one county from another and one region from another. Yes the Arab Awakening (known in the states as the Arab Spring) is in full effect. Yes there are wars and civil wars going on in Iraq, but that doesn’t mean it’s happening all over the Middle East nor does it mean that these skirmishes have the potential to bleed everywhere in the Middle East or North Africa. I’m going to address two things in this post. The proximity of some of these skirmishes and some basic demographic data of Qatar.

Although there have been other incidents in Algeria, Jordan, Morocco, the main players in the Arab Awakening have been Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Bahrain. Now keep in mind that the Arab Awakening is about reforming policy in the Middle East and North Africa. People are fighting for their right for freedom and the pursuit of happiness just like any American during the American Revolution. However, the whole entire region is not going up in smoke which might be the perception being that the MSM (Main Stream Media) presents just the conflicted areas of the Middle East without presenting the areas that are politically and economically stabilized.

So now to answer the million dollar or riyal question: Is it Safe?

Yes. It’s extremely safe. People leave their cars running while they hop inside and outside of stores. Yes gas is $1.00 a gallon and yes it’s really hot (people keep their cars running to keep the A/C on), but the safety is there. You guessed it, the country with the highest per capita income is Qatar and has been for the last 10 years. And can you take a wild guess which country has one of the lowest crime rates in the world? Um..Qatar again with a score of 1.0 while United States has a score of 5.0 and has a higher homicide rate that close in numbers to such countries as Yemen and Ukraine. Iraq, a U.S. occupied country, has a score of 7.3.

If you look at the 10 most dangerous cities you’ll be surprised by the cities that made the list. You can go here, here, and here. Although the list is different for each site (in regards to which city is the most violent), there are two American cities that make the list. Detroit has 43.7 murders per 100,000 and New Orleans has 52 per 100,000

If you take the distance between Qatar and Libya we are looking at a distance that reaches from New York to Las Vegas. [2233 miles] [show diagram]. If you take the distance between Qatar and Tunisia you are reaching a distance that almost spans the entire length of the United States of America.

Distance statistics:

• Distance between Qatar and Libya [2100 miles]
• Distance between Qatar and Tunisia [2500 miles]
• Distance between Qatar and Cairo, Egypt [1300 miles]
• Distance between Qatar and Bahgdhad, Iraq [680 miles]
• Distance between Qatar and Bahrain [70 miles]

Below you can click on the map below to get a sense of where Qatar is located and it’s proximity to other countries in the Middle East and North Africa. I specifically highlighted those countries that are tied to the Arab Awakening.



Now when so-called “super powers” share a list with such countries like Mogadishu, Somalia, Karachi, Pakistan and Baghdad, Iraq (650,000 civilians dead since 2003), Cape Town, South Africa (50 murders a day) in regards to the most violent cities, you have to wonder who is really safe? I do understand that the proximity of many of these awakenings or uprisings are probably closer than any one individual would like but I can assure you, I do not see burning tires and bellowing smoke from my window. I don’t hear gunfire and I don’t see a legion of militias driving banged up Nissans pickups with AK-47s. The only Nissans pick ups I see are from construction workers. The only thing that lights up the sky is the moon, not tracer fire from a machine gun. Notice that the only Middle Eastern country that made the most violent city list is Iraq and this is an occupied country. The countries violence is attributed to U.S. occupation and not necessarily something inherently violent in Iraq. Suicide bombing didn’t start until the 2003 invasion of Iraq. More on that that here.

It’s time to separate fact from fiction. Many people are doing themselves a disservice by limiting their world view to the border of the United States of America. Com’ on over to the Middle East where the sun is always shining and the diversity is as beautiful as the people who live here. I’m not here to spin away the problems from the region, but put some context and clarity as to what is going on in the Middle East and North Africa. In the next installment of Qatar Times, I’ll give a bit more detail about the people of Qatar and how our experience has been.

Bonus Infographic

If you want to get a sense of the size of the North Africa and Middle East, click on the image below. I’ve layered the United States of America over the map. The length of the United States is about 2900 miles across. Depending on where you are measuring it could be less or more. I tried to scale this as best I could. Enjoy!


]]> http://www.whyihatethejoneses.com/2011/08/doha-qatar-part-1-is-it-safe-arab-awake/feed/ 0 http://www.whyihatethejoneses.com/2011/08/part-4-10-products-we-own-that-are-awesome/ http://www.whyihatethejoneses.com/2011/08/part-4-10-products-we-own-that-are-awesome/#comments Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:40:02 +0000 Malik Abdul Rasheed http://www.whyihatethejoneses.com/?p=3583 This is going to be my last “10 Products we own that are awesome” post in the United Sates of America (for now). In the next couple hours (inshallah) I will be moving to Qatar for one year. There have been a lot good products I’ve used since the last awesome products post. Rachael Ray [...]
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This is going to be my last “10 Products we own that are awesome” post in the United Sates of America (for now). In the next couple hours (inshallah) I will be moving to Qatar for one year. There have been a lot good products I’ve used since the last awesome products post.

Rachael Ray Cookware

I’m not the biggest fan of “pop house-ware” products. My wife said she was watching the Rachael Ray show or some QVC-like show and was quite impressed with how they were demonstrating the usability of the pots. At this point in time, aren’t all pots the same? Well…I can now say no. All pots (and for you druggies out there, I’m talking about cookware) aren’t created equally. After going to Amazon.com and seeing such positive reviews, we decided to take the Rachael Ray plunge. So what’s not to like? Couple things. I like the idea that the handles are colored. After buying silver or black colored handled pots, it was a welcome change. In addition to the colored handles, the handles remain cool. So you can grab the pot right off the stove without those clumsy kitchen gloves that give you as much control over a pot as a race car driver with a butter-basted steering wheel. The last kicker is these pots can be put in the oven. Say what? Yes you can throw them right in the oven and bake what you need without ruining those wonderful rubber gripped colored handles. Need I say more? Give Rachel Ray cookware a try and give her the $174.00 dollar she needs on top of her 60 million (assumed net worth of Rachael Ray) which would bring her the grand net worth of $60,000,000,174.00 dollars.

Misto Stainless Steel Olive Oil Sprayer

This nifty little product is directly tied to the Rachael Ray Cookware. So in -36 font was a little disclaimer on the Rachael Ray cookware instructions that said DO NOT use cooking spray on these pots. I can’t remember the exact language but it would ruin the non-stick coating. Not really a big deal but grabbing a paper towel to wipe a bit of olive oil on the pan every time I’m cooking would be somewhat annoying. So I looked for a olive oil sprayer and Misto served the purpose. It’s really simple. Pump and spray. You pour your olive oil into the steel container then you get ya “pump on”. I wonder if Misto and Rachael Ray give kickbacks to each other? Hmmm…

PBSKids.com

I stumbled upon PBSKids.com after my son Saud was so enamored by the Cat and the Hat cartoon on PBS. He would just point with a stern finger to the laptop and say, “Baba, Cat Hat”. Well that means “Daddy, go find Cat and the Hat on the internet, and even if they don’t have it on the internet, you better make one now”. Luckily for me, PBSKids.com has already taken care of this and my months of late nights of developing an interactive Cat and the Hat game has been postponed. The really great thing about this site is they have a variety of different games dealing with math, reading, shape/color identification, measurement, and a host of other great mind puzzles for kids. Saud spends a considerable amount of time on this site and it’s nice to know he is learning while having a lot of fun.

Pure Citrus Air Freshener (Orange)

This was a recent addition to the list and I’m hoping they have this product in Qatar. Now I know the branding of this unassuming air freshener looks like something you’d get at the .99 cent store, but it’s air freshening performance makes up for it’s very old school 70s-esque Fabergé I hired the design team who made those members only jackets type of look. This product is really powerful. It really freshens up the place and the smell lingers. It will kill all those stagnant smells in the house. It will also kill your pockets. It’s almost 8 dollars for this blasted thing. Those must be some organic oranges imported from Brazil. If orangey smells is not your cup of tea, they have Vanilla, Lemon or Lavender or Citrius Blend. If this product wasn’t exclusive enough, you can only find it at Duane Reede. As it’s popularity grows I’m sure you’ll find it in your local supermarket, but only time will tell. Shout out to sister Taqiyaa for putting us on.

The Rack Workout Station

A couple weeks ago I saw this product on TV. You know, the typical “this is the best workout equipment ever and it will make you look like Flex Weeller” informercial. Now before I continue, I have something to confess. Um…uh..I don’t own this product yet. But I will. It’s a top priority when I get to Qatar. Many of you watch my FB feed have seen me talk about this product relentlessly. This thumbnail does not do this product justice so I’m just going to list several videos that will make you a believer. There’s really nothing more to say or do after you watch these vids other than to go to The Rack Workout Station and get this product. Now prepare to be mesmerized.

The Bartendaz with Owen McKibbin and THE RACK

The Rack – All in One Gym

Just keep in mind that the Rack is a piece of equipment that compliments your already existing workout. It’s not a replacement for your gym but part of a gym. A nice easy way to change up your workout in addition to other types of pushups, pullups, and ab workouts. It’s nice to get a piece of equipment that has multiple positions and resistance. It’s 30 pounds of heavy duty equipment.

Sunshine Waterproof Picnic Blanket

My wife and I have been using this for a couple years. Some might say “What is the big deal, why not just use a blanket?”. Then I would say “Bring out your ratty looking dusty old blanket that you haven’t used since the 90s, will get you coverage, but not like this sexy looking colorful waterproof/roll this thang up into a tiny bag when I’m done” picnic blanket. It’s really simple. It’s waterproof, it looks good, and you can fold it up into a bag. Need I say more? You’ll be the envy of all the other picnic-ers with their tired ole blankets. Tell Bed, Bath, and Beyond that Malik sent ya. They know me by now. We have four of these things.

Iphone4

I have to admit something. The IPhone is an extraordinary piece of hardware and software. I know many Android fans are ready to stomp and come after me with pitch forks, but I really enjoy using the Iphone. Also known as the “Third Parent” in the Oxford household, this little piece of hardware has transformed how I share and use information. The video and photo quality is amazing, long battery life (and short recharging time), size is perfect, and the landslide of apps that it comes with can cover just about any need I have. My 2 year old son Saud has become a wiz with the IPhone. He probably uses it more than me. There are tons of educational games that I’ve loaded on the thing and Saud loves them all. From matching games to letter/word identification games. When I hear “Baba Phone?”, I know it’s time to give up the goods and hand over the phone to my son. No I’m not getting paid by Apple to say this. After hatin’ on Apple products for a decade I now have to admit that the tide has turned. I’m typing on a Macbook and my wife has a MacBook. I guess the next step is the Ipad.

Concierge Luggage Scale

Somewhat of an obvious and recent addition to the list, my wife got this yesterday from Macy’s. I’ve always heard of a luggage scale but never seen one before. I always wondered what the difference is between a regular scale and a luggage scale. As you know it’s always a clumsy effort to use a regular scale and you have to do this crazy balancing act to counter the weight of the luggage on the scale then keep just enough space in the front to see what the weight is..blah…blah…blah. You know the pain. Well this cute little weight scale has several modes. You can weigh in Kg or lbs. It has a bright blue digital screen and only requires two AAA batteries. We have to keep all our luggage under 50 pounds and with 6 pieces of luggage, it made weighing them extremely easy.

Cast Iron Skillet

I’ve never been a fan of cast iron skillets. They’re heavy, cumbersome, and you have to be very careful with it around water or it will rust like the tin man. But something changed. I started to get into cooking steaks. And if you use any other pan than a cast iron skillet your steaks will come out pretty bland and tough. The cast iron skillet brings life to your steaks. All that flavor, spices and juices being seared into the pan eventually gives your steaks some tasty character. I found this cool link that shows you how to make “restaurant” grade steaks at home. Check it out. My porterhouse steaks have gone from okay to grand. I would also suggest getting the cast iron skillet mitt. Really comes in handy because the cast iron skillet gets really hot.

Tory Burch Silver Weave Flat Shoe

The first time I heard the word Tory Burch (TB) was from my wife. I thought it was a type of tree in the Adirondacks. The funny thing is, I’ve seen these shoes for years, but I never knew the company. You can’t miss that classic buckle that looks like an ornament on a spaceship. My wife has been looking for the right flat shoe for years. No, I’m not kidding. Years! We’ve tried a variety of different shoes and they all come up short. There is one shoe designer (that will remain nameless for the time being) that sells really expensive shoes that has some of the worst stitching I have ever seen. These shoes fall apart after a couple tries. But this post is not about bashing so-called luxury shoe makers that make shoes that qualify only for the 99 cent store. This is about TB and how wonderful my wife’s feet feel. As the cool gals like to call it, they’re called “Torreez”. We actually searched the country to find this silver weave flat shoe. We called the last store in California that had the last pair and they shipped them to us. These things were flying off the shelf. So when you hear someone say “I love my Torreez”, it’s not that they are smitten for a political faction that emerged within the Parliament of England to uphold the legitimist rights of James, Duke of York to succeed his brother Charles II to the throne in the 17th century but shoes that are made by the now well known Tory Burch design company.

]]> http://www.whyihatethejoneses.com/2011/08/part-4-10-products-we-own-that-are-awesome/feed/ 0 http://www.whyihatethejoneses.com/2011/07/our-carbon-consuming-footprint-is-the-size-of-dinosaur/ http://www.whyihatethejoneses.com/2011/07/our-carbon-consuming-footprint-is-the-size-of-dinosaur/#comments Thu, 21 Jul 2011 19:38:33 +0000 Malik Abdul Rasheed http://www.whyihatethejoneses.com/?p=3556 Over the last couple weeks, my wife and I have been clearing out the house in preparation to move overseas. As we are going through our waterfall of stuff, we realized something “Wow we have a lot of crap!”. To be honest, I don’t know where all this crap comes from. Since my wife and [...]
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Over the last couple weeks, my wife and I have been clearing out the house in preparation to move overseas. As we are going through our waterfall of stuff, we realized something “Wow we have a lot of crap!”. To be honest, I don’t know where all this crap comes from. Since my wife and I have been in the apartment, we go through our annual ritual of clearing out the closet(s) and for some odd reason we end up with 5-10 garbage bags of..well..crap. From old electronics to shoes to comforters to old CIA files of assassination targets. I just wonder if there is a hidden portal in the back of our closets that meticulously adds stuff from other people’s closets.

This recent ritual of getting rid of stuff resulted in about 10 bags of stuff that we’ll send to the salvation army (or some thrift shop) and about 6-7 garbage bags of..well..garbage. If that wasn’t enough we have 6 bags of mail that will be shredded tomorrow. (we have so much we had to hire a professional shredding company to come to our apartment so we dump the stuff into the truck). I was shocked. Keep in mind that we have a 1 bedroom apartment. This mysterious “closet accumulation” phenomenon reminds me of the mysterious “lose 1 sock in the dryer” phenomenon. Is this some conspiracy between the cotton sock suppliers and the dryer manufacturers? Are the dryer manufacturers getting kickbacks from the cotton sock companies (Hanes and Fruit of the Looms) for randomly destroying single socks in the dryer? Do they evaporate after 20 washes?

All this industry conspiracy speculation reminds me of the the assumed conspiracy that Adam Carolla so humorously talked about in his book, In Fifty Years We’ll All be Chicks…And Other Complaints from an Angry Middled-Aged White Guy about the toaster and bread manufacturers. From pg 184 on Toasters:

Where’s the toaster technology? Toasters haven’t progressed since Lucy and Ricky were on TV, but now we’ve got an ankle monitor to make sure Lindsay Lohan hasn’t taken a drink. Imagine traveling back in time to the forties and telling someone sitting around their kitchen, “in 2010 this toaster isn’t gonna toast bread one second faster than it does now. Not one %$%^&*$# second. But there will be a thing the size of a pack of cigarettes you strap to your ankle that will contact a satellite if you’ve had a thimbleful of Kahlua”. They’d slam your head into their Formica tabletop and bury you in a backyard.

And half the time the toast comes out burned. Why was it built with the ability to burn the toast anyway? Do we need the ruin-my-breakfast setting? There are degrees that people enjoy, from lightly toasted to dark brown. But nobody wants briquette. Jacuzzis go from warm to hot, but not enough to kill a human or poach a salmon. The heater in your car can get pretty warm, but it will never go up to blast furnace and melt your face. Why do I need to smelt ore in my toaster? I bet the toaster manufactures have some kind of unholy alliance with the bread companies. I picture a guy who looks like Karl Rove, wearing a gold Toaster Manufactures of America blazer and smoking a cigar, saying “What if I could guarantee that every seventh piece of bread ends up in the garbage? It would increase your sales by fifteen percent. “Then we see the Pillsbury Doughboy laugh, slide a briefcase full of cash across the desk, and say “I think this is the beginning of beautiful relationship.”

With all that said, my wife and I still don’t own a flat-screen television, so maybe our carbon-consuming footprint is not so huge after all.

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