Banning “Unhealthy” News?
Did you see this in today’s Arab Times? My friends, pay attention! This would erode any claim to freedom of the press as guaranteed by the Kuwait Constitution.
Islamist MPs planning bill to shackle Kuwait media; ‘Set up watchdog’
KUWAIT CITY: Islamist MPs plan to submit a proposal to the National Assembly to form a Higher Media Council to keep a check on the activities of the media and prevent the publication of ‘unhealthy news reports’. According to these men, the Kuwaiti media has run out of control and it has been tackling issues which affect the national unity and threatens peace and harmony in society. MP Ali Saleh Al-Omair told the Arab Times the establishment of a media watchdog will help the mass media to avoid what he called the negativities which are being published from time to time. He indicated several observations have been made and their publication of some reports in newspapers, radio or television has not pleased many Kuwaitis.
Al-Omair added the establishment of this body became necessary after it was evident a section of the media had deviated from its objectives “by publishing misleading information which affected the national unity”. He explained freedom of the press is guaranteed but dangers and red lines exist in every society and they must be accepted particularly since this scenario exists even in civilized countries. He indicated the people of Kuwait get upset when they see what is being published by the mass media, particularly the negative news reports which affect national unity. He indicated the proposed council can include media experts, religious personalities, writers, psychologists to talk to the media from every angle to highlight how certain news reports can harm the society.
By Ben Arfaj Al-Mutairi
Special to the Arab Times
What would examples of unhealthy news be? The rising AIDS rate in Kuwait? The transmission rate from men – men vs men – women? Divorce statistics? Reduction of crime reporting, because it is just too embarrassing?
WHO makes that call? Who are the watchdogs? It give me an Orwellian shiver!
A Day at Home Depot
Those of you who read this blog regularly know I have a thing about hardware stores . . . Lowe’s, Home Depot, Ace . . .I can spend hours.
Right now, however, we are doing some renovations on a Florida house, and oh! I am learning so much. I am learning that the very best contractor can’t guarantee that a project will be brought in during the time he promised, that supply lines get kinked, that when you think you have made a very complicated decision (like what kind of counter top you want) it branches into a whole lot more decisions (electrical outlets, wall treatment, edge treatment, sink choice, faucet choices, hauling away and tearing out of original fixtures, plumbing fixtures. . . ) and oh, my head was swimming. It took two hours just to arrange something I smugly thought I had thought through.
Thank God there are people who know a lot more than I do, and who can make me face the tough questions.
As I was leaving the Home Depot, the skies broke loose and water poured down. I waited at the entrance about half an hour, thinking it would lighten up. When it lightened – a little – I ran to the car, but was totally soaked, shoes, clothing, hair – there wasn’t a try spot on me. And the rain continued to pour down. I thought of how badly Pensacola needs this rain, and how welcome rain is in Kuwait, and Doha, when it comes. I sat in the car another half hour, as the rain was flooding through the parking lot, and you couldn’t see very far.
As I was working with the counter-guy, he asked me how I liked living in Kuwait.
I told him I liked it.
“What are the people like?” he asked.
They are good neighbors,” I replied, “A lot like the people in Pensacola. They are believers. They are kind, and generous in spirit. And Kuwait has it’s own beauty, you just have to open your eyes to seeing things in a different way.”
I didn’t tell him about you, my blogging friends, because I’m not sure he is familiar with blogging. And because even here, I treasure my privacy.
Finally, the rain lightened enough for me to drive, very slowly, home, trying to avoid places in the roads where the drains were stopped up or clogged, and water was a foot deep or so. Made it home safely, al hamdallah!
Flash for Sparkle: Atlanta 1
My sister, Sparkle Plenty has a blog on which she writes about only GOOD things, the tiny light that defies the darkness. As I was enduring my trip back this time, I thought of her when I got to Atlanta.
In fact, I was so impressed with this flash of light that I stopped, unloaded my camera from the carryon, and juggling my carry-on, my venti and my camera, walked the kilometer or so that this exhibit was staged between the A concourse and B concourse in Atlanta.
I am so glad I did. It totally lifted my mood, and it felt like a gift from the city of Atlanta. These are all statues by Zimbabwean artists – yes, plonked down as a public art project in the middle of the Atlanta airport. They must have paid a fortune to ship these statues, to create the huge posters on the walls showing crafts and scenes from Zimbabwe, poor Zimbabwe, in it’s steady downward spiral, these artists pull miracles out of the hat.
This was one of the wall posters, featuring Zimbabwean hand woven baskets:
Bravo to all cities that spend a little so that we can be lifted out of our everyday doings and taken to another world of texture, ideas and line. Bravo, Atlanta!
Loaves and Fishes
Just before I left Kuwait, I read an editorial on the front page of the Arab Times; the Reverend Andrew Thompson suggesting we organize something in Kuwait which will make use of almost-spoiled food from the groceries, unused food from restaurants, newly expired foods, etc. to be gathered by volunteers and distributed into communities of the hungry and needy in Kuwait.
Especially with Ramadan coming, the season of feasting with family and generousity towards others, this is a wonderful time to be organizing this kind of effort.
In the U.S., many groups do this, usually associated with churches. In Seattle, we have something called Second Harvest. This morning, very early, as I was leaving the grocery store, I saw this truck collecting food at the back door.
Probably the Reverend Thompson will begin with people doing this out of their own cars, but if you have any pull . . . oops, that dreaded word, wasta . . . with a local van dealer, maybe Kuwait could have it’s own food distribution program.
Loaves and Fishes refers to a miracle where Jesus blessed a basket with just a small amount of bread and fish, but when passed, the bread and fish fed over 5,000 people. It evokes the generousity of the human spirit, and celebrates the incredible goodness of sharing.
It’s all Relative
I lived in Florida for six years once, in another life. I hated it.
At first, I was enchanted. It was so warm! And the air was humid and soft! And I went into my first Home Depot and fell totally in love. We had our own pool, we had pool toys and a new Florida life style and we were having fun.
Then, September came. And it was still hot and humid. Nothing changed. I waited expectantly for the cool breezes to begin, for the leaves to turn, all the things I was used to happening in September, including getting out my winter clothes – none of that happened.
I remember the first cool breeze. It was October 20th.
At Thanksgiving, we were still using the air conditioning. I had figured out by then that the hot, humid air made me sweat when I did housework, and made exercise much less attractive. Even sedentary activities like needlework seemed steamy and undesirable.
As I put up the Christmas tree, still with the air conditioning on, I was NOT happy. I really wanted some winter.
We did get one cold month, January, where we had two days of possible frost.
When we left Florida, I felt like I’d been let out of jail – I moved to Seattle and relished the coolness, even the rain. We have air conditioning, but in Seattle, we have never had to use it – the house stays cool, and the night breezes freshen everything up. I can have the windows open most of the year.
Now, back in Florida – from Kuwait – I am noticing how soft and warm the climate is once again, even in the torpid heat of summer. Record highs? No problem. I drove during rush hour traffic yesterday, and it was calm, relaxed . . . almost boring. I am probably the worst driver on the road – I have to remind myself to signal, and to take a deep breath – driving here is totally NON-aggressive.
Little Diamond sent me a clipping from the Kuwait Times on the AWARE center having a diwaniyya on driving problems in Kuwait, with the outcome that if laws were enforced, Kuwait would have far less of a problem. Amen.
This morning I awoke to the chirping of a cricket and the cries of pelicans flying over. Big clouds, threatening thunder, crowded out the clear blue of the sky. And just down the street, I am not kidding, is a Lebanese restaurant. Life is sweet.
Burner Phone
As soon as I arrived, I turned on my “burner” phone, which I bought the last time I travelled in the US. This phone is also called a “throw-down” phone; people in illegal trades use them all the time. They cost like $14.95 and you buy minutes for them.
Unlike the expensive phone I have been buying a new chip for almost every time I come to the US, this phone powers right up after almost three months of never being used, has full power, still has the same number, which I discover is good until NOVEMBER, and even though I dropped it into the cat’s fresh water the first day I bought it, it works. It works.
How can something so cheap be so sturdy and so functional? It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles of my more expensive phones, but it does everything I need it to do – I can make and receive calls, I can make my own phone book, I can speed dial . . .
and it makes me laugh to think I have a drug dealer phone. Hee heee heee, too funny.
New Mansions in Mangaf (3)
Last – the Grand Finale:
How many people live in a house like this? Is it divided into apartments? When we were looking for a villa, we were shown many houses like this, houses so BIG for two people and a cat that I was afraid we would rattle around in them like marbles. Some houses had four or five living rooms. More than one had a swimming pool on the main floor as you walked into the house. Most had kitchens outside the house, connected by a walkway, and only a tiny microwave/small fridge/coffee maker kind of kitchen inside the house. I am guessing these houses are similar.
This has to be an apartment, or several branches of the same family will all have separate suites, with some rooms in common. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?
New Mansions in Mangaf (2)
Continued!
This house has a fortunate location, not so close to all the others. Watch in the next few photos – the houses are lovely, but only feet from one another along the sides. It means there will be some very dark rooms on the inside, unless they have a center courtyard, and few of these houses do:
Nice proportions, but looks dark inside:
A little bit close:
These are close, but there is no one right across the street looking in your windows:
Many have “For Rent” signs on them!
Lazy Beach Day
These aren’t very sharp – I was shooting from up the beach – but it was one of those perfect summer days, and I loved watching the variety of ways people had of enjoying it.
These guys are looking for shellfish:
I love the red bucket:
And this was the best of all – the big brother showing his younger brothers how to find the shellfish:
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