Chaldo-Assyrians making us proud!

I have been meaning to write a post about Chaldo-Assyrians and what they are doing in order to make their voice heard and taken into account both in the new Iraq and in the world in general, and I finally found some very interesting stuff worth posting….so here it is:

**One of the members of Congress named Anna Eshoo is actually a Chaldo-Assyrian originally from Iran…Representative Eshoo has not forgotten her roots, and is seizing the opportunity and using her power in Congress to add another strong voice in the Chaldo-Assyrians’ fight for their rights. Ms. Eshoo recently urged Congress to offer support to Iraqi Chaldo-Assyrians and Christians in general, and ankawa.com has the full article posted (it is in English except for the short intro which summarizes the article).

**the House of Lords in the U.K. have also been discussing the important issue of Iraqi Chaldo-Assyrians…to listen to their session click here….this is also a good to listen to if you want to know more about the history of Iraq’s Chaldo-Assyrians, since the speaker offers a lot of details about our history…the session is long and I did not listen to all of it, so I am not sure if they talk about this issue the whole time, you can find out for yourself and listen to the whole thing if you have that much spare time in your hands, but the important part is at the beginning.

**looking away from politics, Ramona Amiri, a Chaldo-Assyrian originally from Iran, received the title of “Miss World Canada 2005”, and will of course be representing Canada in the Miss World Pageant! Way to go Ramona!!! Click here for more info.

**finally, this should make you smile, I stumbled upon it while googling something...

now I love Homer Simpson more than ever seeing that he is promoting the Assyrian flag and fighting with us for our rights in his own odd way of dealing with things…I love it!

United Against Terror

there is a "United Against Terror" online statement that just got released today, and they are looking for signatures from anyone who is opposed to the terrorist acts taking place worldwide: in the U.S., London, Iraq etc.

I encourage all of you to sign the statement as it is a small step to show these terrorists that we are not giving up to them and that we will fight them to the end...I signed the statement today...to sign, click on this link, read the statement, then scroll all the way down to sign your name.

Who are the Real Stars?

Like a lot of people, I have Hollywood stars whom I love to watch, some who I find attractive, and some who I even have slight crushes on (ahem ahem: Tom Cruise:))….but I can never understand the people who go completely nuts when they see their favorite “star”….just like I cannot understand those who think of Jessica Simpson or Nicole Kidman or George Clooney or any other Hollywood celebrity as their role models! ROLE MODELS??? Role models of what??? I think Hollywood is the place where when people enter it they leave their morality and ethics outside the door….I mean is there anything that these “stars” haven’t done? And by “anything”, I am referring to the negative things of course (drug and alcohol abuse, promiscuity etc.)
The reason why I am writing this is because I received an article via email from a friend that I really liked, which I am going to paste here….these are the real Heroes and Stars that we should admire and look at as role models, not some Hollywood big shot….enjoy reading!
""""Ben Stein's Last Column...For many years Ben Stein has written a biweekly column called "Monday NightAt Morton's." (Morton's is a famous chain of Steakhouses known to befrequented by movie stars and famous people from around the globe.) Now,Ben is terminating the column to move on to other things in his life.Reading his final column is worth a few minutes of your time.

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How Can Someone Who Lives in Insane Luxury Be a Star in Today's World?

As I begin to write this, I "slug" it, as we writers say, which means I puta heading on top of the document to identify it. This heading is"eonlineFINAL," and it gives me a shiver to write it. I have been doingthis column for so long that I cannot even recall when I started. I lovedwriting this column so much for so long I came to believe it would never end. It worked well for a long time, but gradually, my changing as a person andthe world's change have overtaken it. On a small scale, Morton's, whilebetter than ever, no longer attracts as many stars as it used to. It stillbrings in the rich people in droves and definitely some stars. I saw SamuelL. Jackson there a few days ago, and we had a nice visit, and right beforethat, I saw and had a splendid talk with Warren Beatty in an elevator, inwhich we agreed that Splendor in the Grass was a super movie. But Morton'sis not the star galaxy it once was, though it probably will be again. Beyond that, a bigger change has happened. I no longer think Hollywoodstars are terribly important. They are uniformly pleasant, friendly people,and they treat me better than I deserve to be treated. But a man or womanwho makes a huge wage for memorizing lines and reciting them in front of acamera is no longer my idea of a shining star we should all look up to. How can a man or woman who makes an eight-figure wage and lives in insaneluxury really be a star in today's world, if by a "star" we mean someonebright and powerful and attractive as a role model? Real stars are notriding around in the backs of limousines or in Porsches or getting trainedin yoga or Pilates and eating only raw fruit while they have Vietnamesegirls do their nails. They can be interesting, nice people, but they are not heroes to me anylonger. A real star is the soldier of the 4th Infantry Division who pokedhis head into a hole on a farm near Tikrit, Iraq. He could have been met bya bomb or a hail of AK-47 bullets. Instead, he faced an abject SaddamHussein and the gratitude of all of the decent people of the world. A real star is the U.S. soldier who was sent to disarm a bomb next to aroad north of Baghdad. He approached it, and the bomb went off and killedhim. A real star, the kind who haunts my memory night and day, is the U.S.soldier in Baghdad who saw a little girl playing with a piece of unexplodedordnance on a street near where he was guarding a station. He pushed heraside and threw himself on it just as it exploded. He left a familydesolate in California and a little girl alive in Baghdad. The stars who deserve media attention are not the ones who have lavishweddings on TV but the ones who patrol the streets of Mosul even after twoof their buddies were murdered and their bodies battered and stripped forthe sin of trying to protect Iraqis from terrorists. We put couples with incomes of $100 million a year on the covers of ourmagazines. The noncoms and officers who barely scrape by on military paybut stand on guard in Afghanistan and Iraq and on ships and in submarinesand near the Arctic Circle are anonymous as they live and die. I am no longer comfortable being a part of the system that has such poorvalues, and I do not want to perpetuate those values by pretending that whois eating at Morton's is a big subject. There are plenty of other stars in the American firmament...the policemenand women who go off on patrol in South Central and have no idea if theywill return alive; the orderlies and paramedics who bring in people whohave been in terrible accidents and prepare them for surgery; the teachersand nurses who throw their whole spirits into caring for autistic children;the kind men and women who work in hospices and in cancer wards. Think of each and every fireman who was running up the stairs at the WorldTrade Center as the towers began to collapse. Now you have my idea of areal hero. I came to realize that life lived to help others is the only one thatmatters. This is my highest and best use as a human. I can put it anotherway. Years ago, I realized I could never be as great an actor as Olivier oras good a comic as Steve Martin...or Martin Mull or Fred Willard--or asgood an economist as Samuelson or Friedman or as good a writer asFitzgerald. Or even remotely close to any of them. But I could be a devoted father to my son, husband to my wife and, aboveall, a good son to the parents who had done so much for me. This came to bemy main task in life. I did it moderately well with my son, pretty wellwith my wife and well indeed with my parents (with my sister's help). Icared for and paid attention to them in their declining years. I stayedwith my father as he got sick, went into extremis and then into a coma andthen entered immortality with my sister and me reading him the Psalms. This was the only point at which my life touched the lives of the soldiersin Iraq or the firefighters in New York. I came to realize that life livedto help others is the only one that matters and that it is my duty, inreturn for the lavish life God has devolved upon me, to help others He hasplaced in my path. This is my highest and best use as a human. Faith is not believing that God can. It is knowing that God will. By Ben Stein"""

Today's terror attacks on London

Given the feelings of outrage that I am experiencing I decided to put my frustration on paper hoping that this would calm me down a little...I seriously do not understand why the world has gone mad…I am trying to comprehend why humans are performing such barbaric acts that not even animals lower than us do, but I cannot find a satisfying answer…the reason probably lies in the fact that there is NO REASON for any human being to commit such horrific crimes against other human beings especially knowing that the victims are completely innocent…I am sick and tired of hearing people giving religious and/or political explanations for these monstrous crimes…NO religion on earth should even be called a religion if it advocates or leads to killing or harming innocent civilians…religions where created as a way to guide human beings’ lives; they are an ethical code, just like laws are but more powerful; they were established as a way for people to seek a higher power when they feel helpless and hopeless with their mere human capabilities. No religion was initially found as a way to destroy humanity or kill human beings. These people (which aside from having human DNA, do not resemble other humans in any way) are insane, mentally-ill psycho-criminals…they are not just insane, nor are they simply criminals, but they are both.

Everyone probably realizes by now that I am talking about the terror attacks that took place in the London subway and bus system. The whole world has turned into a war zone, with the civilized trying to battle a phantom called terror. I cannot accept that such attacks are political. Killing or attempting to kill a president or a high official (like the murder of the Egyptian Ambassador in Iraq today) IS political; a COUNTRY going to war against another country is done for political reasons. However, killing a whole lot of civilians who have done no wrong to the attackers must not be accepted as done on a political nor religious basis.

I am kind of getting tired of the west not protecting itself right…I mean sure the U.S. and Europe have democracies, but these democracies were installed for the citizens of those countries…they should not be democratic towards individuals or nations who are attacking them or supporting their attackers. The CIA, MI6 and other similar organizations need to send clear messages and THREATS to those countries supporting terrorists in various ways whether directly or indirectly (and oh believe me they know who they are!) that if they do not stop they will face severe consequences…I am sick of seeing the American president or the British PM and others meeting DEMOCRATICALLY with Saudi princes and shaking hands as if they are good old friends….damn Saudi’s oil if obtaining it means the death of innocent civilians…I sincerely believe that action needs to be taken against countries that harbor terrorism…I understand that western relationships with countries such as Saudi Arabia and others are established to protect the interests of their countries, but what is more important economical interests or the security of the citizens of these democratic countries? If any American or British citizen is given the option of becoming unemployed or paying a higher price for gas, OR dying/losing a loved one, I am certain everyone would choose the former. So it is time for these western democracies to start taking stern actions and stop simply giving empty threats before other such attacks occur and too many innocent lives are lost.

May God be with all those who died in London today, with their families, and with the survivors of the attack that they may heal both from their physical and psychological injuries.

One last thing, I have noticed that whenever such an attack takes place all of the countries increase their security tremendously specifically in places similar to where the attack took place (i.e. today it was the subway system)…now I do not understand why they do that; honestly even the most dumb terrorist would know not to attack the same thing twice in the same period of time wouldn’t they? I know it is just an extra measure of precaution, but these precautions need to either be taken BEFORE the attacks occur, or the security need to be extended to other places and things…For example, just look at the trend: first in 9/11 the terrorists used planes, then they used the train system in Spain, and now they attacked the subway system in London. In my opinion, security in the subway system (in fact, the whole transportation system) should have been increased after the first two attacks, because it was obvious that the terrorists were targeting transportation but they were changing their specific targets.

Independence Day!!!

just wanted to wish a Happy 4th of July to all of the Americans wherever you may be...I hope you get to celebrate your freedoms and liberties today even if you are far from your homeland!

I would like to extend A special wish to all of the American troops serving in Iraq and elsewhere in the world...have strength in the fact that your nations' thoughts are with you every moment of every day...and know that we are praying for your safe return to your families.