Living like Doves. Simple!

I returned home from a late breakfast at a nearby restaurant at midday today. On my way home, I passed below a bridge which actually was an elevated railroad. I then heard a low but constant hum right over my head, a manifestation that some vigorous activities were taking place.
I looked up! I saw a dole of doves sitting, mating, feeding and caring for each others’ welfare on the contours of the metals that made the bridge.
The interesting thing was that these doves were sheltering below the bridge amidst lush woods, where many neighboring houses carried For Sale signs. They did not need to buy a house and sign a 30-year mortgage much less fear a bank foreclosure for a property on which they made a 15-year payment. They felt safe in their lives and thus didn’t even need to hire police to guard them. They flew when they wanted, where they wanted. They sorted their differences without deploying tanks on each others’ territories and without even dropping bombs on each other’s homes.
This is the real deal. It’s a lesson for humanity, for all of us. Man needs to learn to care instead of the blinding greed, and the endless want to step on each others’ shoulders to get anywhere.
May be people should think about living simple again. Living like those birds without the amassed material wealth, much of, which are often mortgaged by banks. Like those doves without the hired security guards stationed at their doors. Peaceful, respectful and carefree.

Since I didn't have my camera with me (probably out of simplicity), I didn't take any picture of the scene nor shoot a video. Nonetheless, I have embedded a Youtube video just to give you a better idea of the situation:

Crime Does NOT Pay!

I read Matt Ackland's article (published below) about arrests relating to a drug trafficking bust in several U.S states. The sweep netted 18 individuals including female who transported, distributed or aided in trading khat, which is an illegal drug under the U.S law.

First, my advise to young people who may ever want to engage in such behavior is not to be fooled by the lure of quick gains. Money is not everything in this world to the extent that one takes risks that come with stiff penalties when they fizzle out. Rather, they should pursue other legitimate business or personal opportunities. It's a privilege to escape a war zone country and be resettled in the United States with all the promise of opportunities for those who want to seek.

Second, those taken into custody were either citizens or permanents residents. Citizenship and residency come with responsibility. A respect for the rule of law is an important safeguard from becoming incarcerated and with it from the limitation to access to opportunities.


In the end, one thing that stands true is that no matter what, crime does not pay!


Please read Ackland's article below:

18 Arrested in Khat Trafficking Investigation


Matt Ackland
FOX 5 Reporter
Friday, May 20, 2011


ALEXANDRIA, Va. - FROM UNITED STATES ATTORNEY'S OFFICE FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
Authorities have arrested 18 people in four states, including 10 from northern Virginia, for what they allege was an international trafficking ring that distributed nearly 10,000 pounds of the illegal African drug known as khat.

Federal prosecutors in Alexandria charged Yonis M. Ishak of Arlington as the conspiracy's ringleader. He allegedly paid a network of couriers $1,000 each for trips to London to fetch fresh batches of khat, a leaf that gives users a high when chewed.
The drug is popular in East Africa. Of the 18 arrested, all were natives of either Somalia or Yemen.
John Torres, a special agent in charge with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, estimated the drug's street value at $5 million.
Arrests were also made in Maryland, New York and Ohio.



Others charged as part of the alleged conspiracy include the following:
· Abdulkadir Isse, a/k/a “Abdul” and “Burane,” a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia residing in Springfield, Va., is accused of being Ishak’s partner in the khat trafficking organization.

· Suado Mohammed Ali, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia residing in Burke, Va., is accused of assisting Ishak in smuggling and distributing khat.
· Hassan Hassan, a/k/a “Elay,” a legal permanent U.S. resident from Somalia residing in Alexandria, Va., is accused of assisting Ishak in smuggling and distributing khat, as well as laundering the proceeds of khat sales.
· Ahmed Hassan, a/k/a “Dirir,” a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia residing in Alexandria, Va., is accused of assisting Ishak in smuggling and distributing khat, as well as laundering the proceeds of khat sales.
· Yonas Beyene, a/k/a “Yonka,” a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia residing in Alexandria, Va., is accused of using his position at a vehicle rental agent to assist Ishak in renting vehicles used to transport and distribute khat.
· Ismail Abdi, a legal permanent U.S. resident from Somalia residing in Alexandria, Va., is accused of assisting Ishak in smuggling and distributing khat, as well as storing khat at his residence.
· Hibo Samantar, a/k/a “Fadumo,” a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia residing in Annandale, Va., is accused of assisting Ishak in smuggling and distributing khat, as well as laundering the proceeds of khat sales.
· Osman Yusuf, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia residing in Clifton, Va., is accused of using his position as a branch manager for a money service business to remit proceeds from khat sales to individuals located overseas.
· Abdirahman Jibril, a legal permanent U.S. resident from Somalia residing in Fairfax, Va., is accused of using his position as an employee at a money service business to remit proceeds from khat sales to individuals located overseas.
· Adbi Muhumed, a/k/a “Juba,” a legal permanent U.S. resident from Somalia residing in Parkville, Md., is accused of assisting Ishak in smuggling and distributing khat in Maryland, as well as laundering the proceeds of khat sales.
· Harun Salhan, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia residing in Wheaton, Md., is accused of assisting Ishak in smuggling and distributing khat in Maryland, as well as laundering the proceeds of khat sales.
· Lutf Mohamed Albukhaiti, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Yemen residing in Brooklyn, N.Y., is accused of assisting Ishak in smuggling and distributing khat in New York, as well as laundering the proceeds of khat sales.
· Nagi Alashmali, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Yemen residing in Brooklyn, N.Y., is accused of assisting Ishak in smuggling and distributing khat in New York, as well as laundering the proceeds of khat sales.
· Moheeb Nasser, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Yemen residing in Brooklyn, N.Y., is accused of assisting Ishak in smuggling and distributing khat in New York, as well as laundering the proceeds of khat sales.
· Khaled Ahmed Isa, a/k/a “Adnan,” a naturalized U.S. citizen from Yemen residing in Queens Village, N.Y., is accused of assisting Ishak in smuggling and distributing khat in New York, as well as laundering the proceeds of khat sales.
· Abdi Omar Abdi, a legal permanent U.S. resident from Somalia residing in Columbus, Ohio, is accused of assisting Ishak in smuggling and distributing khat in Ohio, as well as transporting khat from New York to Ohio.
· Abokor Gurreh, a/k/a “Mubarak,” Mohamed Farhan,” and “Farhan M. Mohamed,” a naturalized U.S. citizen from Somalia residing in Columbus, Ohio, is accused of assisting Ishak in smuggling and distributing khat in Ohio, as well as transporting khat from New York to Ohio.

The ongoing investigation was conducted by ICE HSI with support from FBI, DEA, U.S. Postal Inspection Service, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the U.S. Marshals Service as well as local law enforcement in Virginia, Maryland, Ohio and New York including Arlington County Police Department, Fairfax County Police Department, Alexandria Police Department,

Obama on the Mideast

President Obama has, today, made a major policy speech about the political changes sweeping across the Middle East at the Benjamin Franklin Hall in the State Department.

He talked about the role of American diplomacy and the need to improve human rights, democracy, and development in education. He acknowledged the necessity to fight bad governance as it relates to corruption and political participation.




Obama stressed on the increasing strength of global interdependence in security, economics and political relationships and America’s pursuit for its Mideast interests. Nonetheless, he stated that those interests must be in line with the legitimate aspirations of the people in that region.

What’s your take on this speech? Where is the missing link? Do you think this new policy speech will make any difference on the Streets of Cairo, Tripoli, Damascus and beyond? How much can Obama’s new policy be effective given that the U.S economy is in slow recovery mode and that Obama has three battle fronts, some of which are running for nearly a decade?

Bring it on, Girls!

I'm sure many of you had watched this video clip on YouTube before.That's not the point i want to make, however. I find a sense of pride and a feeling of satisfaction whenever I watch this clip over and over.



This is a tough game. its a basketball tournament played on away grounds. But its also more. It's a sports story of hard work, of determination, of a fight to rise over the stereotypes of women inability and most of all, its an inspirational story of accomplishment and of paving new paths for millions of young Somali girls, at home and abroad.

LIMITING FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

I should tell you that I loved reading the New York Times (NYT) online and read it for quite a while from the comfort of my home or work. However, when I visited that site last night, I received a warning that I only had five more copies left to read for May.  “What in the world!” I said to myself. I knew that plans were underway to restrict free online readership but had no knowledge that such restriction has already taken effect.

As it stands, I can only access 20 free copies a month and anything beyond that means that I have to pay for it. Well, it makes a lot of sense that those journalists who make such reservoir of information available deserve an equitable return on their time and effort. But the public also have a right to know what happens at home and around the world in order to make informed choices as pertains to politics, business and anything else in between.

Where the right of one ends and the obligation of another begins has been a murky intersection in the press business especially since the internet has made to our living rooms, and we learned to live with it. Of course, everyone understands that you cannot walk into a neighborhood grocery store, pick up stuff and walk scot free without checking out properly. Nonetheless, online media in general and NYT in this case, has, in the past, made that a real possibility. As of now that possibility seems like a revolving door finally shutting in our face slowly but tightly. Restricted news readership limits access to and free flow of information.

But another contrarian perspective exists. NYT needs my presence on its website as much as I do.  After all, I must confess that the internet has changed my reading habits from reading books page by page to what I can describe as skimming. Skimming, in the sense that, I read only portions of an online article and move on to the next newsy, juicy piece on some other website say Washington Post, Aljazeera English or, most of all, Hiiraan Online.  The point is that the more traffic a website receives and the more hits readers make on online ads on the site, the more bucks NYT makes. So a website that receives 4 million visitors a month is likely to generate more revenue stream than my startup blog that receives only 1000 or less hits a month. So, a mutual symbiosis exists and of course that’s the reason I receive 20 free articles a month to read on NYT online. Call it a bait, if you may!

However, how many of the rival news sites will follow NYT’s example and whether this new restriction will be sustainable is another question. Today technology changes so fast and so constant. Just like newspapers have become almost redundant, so may online controlled websites be in a matter of months or few years to come. But what cannot be controlled is human ingenuity. If 50 facebook friends can each read 20 articles for free and they share it on facebook, they can still beat NYT restrictions. Whether what do they do is ethical or legal remains open for discussion. However, NYT realized that restrictions on sharing articles on facebook cannot, probably, be enforced-of course they will need to hire thousands of costly cyberpolice-, so it allowed it to happen!

Ending the Use of Cluster Munitions

How Much Blessed Do You Feel?

How much blessed are you? You are healthy, access quality education, drive to work, and most of all you have food on the table, every day. These are things that for some in your state, in your city and definitely in the building you live do not enjoy regularly. So how do you reflect on your station in life and does it make you think about the welfare of others, and of your own in a more insightful way. Does that make you consider what you can do to change it, to improve the condition of life for others, whether it’s volunteering your time at a local school or doing something more profound? You never know whether the person who cannot put bread on the table now is going to be the chief executive officer of the company you work for after you earn a graduate degree or after you face mid-career crisis and switch jobs. God forbid but in a rapidly changing world that remains a possibility.

Five weeks ago, I was at a suburban Marriot hotel for a two-day conference and I wanted to ask a female housekeeper for information. However, she couldn't talk to me because she didn't speak English. She, nonetheless, tried to direct me through hand gestures. Hand gestures I very much appreciated.

Today a man, looking for a job, came over to my desk, and just like the housekeeper, he spoke no English. Certainly, these two persons spoke other languages and fluently so.

If you live in North America, you understand how much important it’s to speak English. In the most simplistic example, it, more or less, determines if you would be able to access a job opportunity and as a result put food on the table. You can disagree with me if you will. On a more profound way, it limits your career progression if you already have higher or other professional degrees.

An example of this is Asal, an Iranian immigrant to the United States, who I met four years ago. Asal had a master’s degree in Psychology and a bachelor’s in education. Nonetheless, she worked at a retail, chain store as a logistics support staff with a per hour gross pay that was less than $8. So sad! Huh. The reason was that she didn’t speak English.

In retrospect, I feel so much blessed that at least I don't need an interpreter around me to access basic services and I volunteer every week in my community to improve the lives of people who deserve a lot better! But how much I would have reflected on this is something I wouldn’t have imagined much without meeting those two adorable people I have mentioned above! Now I know a little reflection goes a long way.