by Natasha Tynes | Jan 11, 2005 | Jordan, my nation
I have always been disappointed with the work of Jordan‘s Lower House of Parliament and I guess that may never change. Why can’t Jordanians be wise in choosing representatives that will run our affairs for four whole years.
Here is the representatives latest endeavor:
AMMAN — The government will not ban Iraqi election campaign advertisements as called for by the Lower House of Parliament, a senior official said on Monday.
“The Jordanian media market is a free market and as long as no one breaks any laws we, legally, cannot prevent anyone from running ads for the Iraqi elections,” Government Spokesperson Asma Khader told her weekly press conference yesterday. Deputies last week signed a non-binding petition calling on the government to ban all forms of advertising for the Iraqi elections.
“We appreciate the House’s motives, which are mainly political, but the government views the Iraqi elections as a step in the direction of regaining Iraq’s sovereignty,” said Khader, also minister of culture.
She also said Jordan cannot prevent Iraqi citizens living in the Kingdom from voting in the January 30 elections, adding that “it is in Jordan’s best interest to see as many Iraqis take part in the upcoming democratic process.”
Source: [The Jordan Times]
Can something useful ever come out of the lower house of parliament? What’s wrong with these people? Don’t they have anything better to do than meddling in the affairs of the Iraqi people?!?!
I saw these ads all over the kingdom when I was there last week. I thought it was a very positive sign. It makes sense to advertise for the Iraqi elections in Jordan due to the high number of Iraqis living in the kingdom. The ads were everywhere: the streets, the daily papers, on buildings.
They are very visible and actually look quite nice with top-notch printing quality.
I’m so glad the government turned down the petition of these geniuses. Did I mention that I’m very proud of the government position on the Iraqi polls? I wish more Arab nations would follow.
by Natasha Tynes | Jan 10, 2005 | Film, Television
Thanks to an earlier post by Subzeroblue, I found Dubai’s new all-English channel "One." The channel is apparently competition for the popular Saudi-owned "Channel 2." I have been following it for a while and I must say they have a good collection of high-caliber Western shows, including CSI, the Sopranos and others.
The channel also provides a good collection of fairly new and "slightly" older Western movies. One thing that is proving an irritant, however, is their excessive use of the editing scissors! It seems the people behind this brand new channel are ultra conservative, as they edit out almost any display of affection including pecks; even cuss words are edited out!
Personally, I think this is too much and extremely, extremely annoying! It is even worse than Jordan TV. Well, I’m glad I’m not paying for this channel.
But to be fair, I must say that last night I enjoyed watching The Insider in spite of being annoyed on a number of occasions by the channel’s editing. I saw this movie years ago when it first came out and watching it a another time was highly enjoyable, particularly because it deals with the field I chosen for a living: Journalism.
One blunder I found in this movie was the choice of an Egyptian to represent a Hizballah fighter. A great director like Michael Mann should have known better. Hizballah fighters are Lebanese, speaking an entirely different dialect. Also the Arabic translator that was supposedly translating for Mike Wallace was speaking gibberish! I couldn’t understand a single word of what he was saying! Again, this shouldn’t be expected from a legend like Mann.
by Natasha Tynes | Jan 8, 2005 | Jordan, my nation
Abu Aardvark has been examining an opinion poll on terrorism conducted by the Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Jordan. The survey was conducted in several Arab countries, including Jordan.
I have to admit I was very surprised by the poll findings among Jordanians.
One finding I found highly disturbing was that only 35% of Jordanians regard 9/11 as a terrorist attack. Only 35%!!! What do the other 65% think, that these were acts of heroism?!?! Give me a break! This is really disturbing, as we are talking more than half the population here.
Another disturbing finding was that only 48% of Jordanians thought the bombings of the Red Cross and UN headquarters in Iraq were terrorist acts? I wonder what the percentage would be if the same sample was asked about the bombing of the Jordanian embassy in Baghdad?!?! I’m now beginning to wonder how many wouldn’t consider that a terrorist act! Pathetic!
by Natasha Tynes | Jan 8, 2005 | Film
We have finally managed to watch the Chinese movie Hero and what a treat it was. Seeing it was like marveling at a piece of art. Or as the husband said : “It played like poetry”.
From an aesthetic point of view, the movie was beautiful. However, it was a bit low on martial arts fights. There were some, but they were neither as abundant nor as vibrant as those found in the movie Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Overall, the movie is an outstanding work of art that’s worth both your money and time. Two thumbs up!
by Natasha Tynes | Jan 7, 2005 | Jordan, my nation
Rami Khoury of the Daily Star wrote a very uplifting piece about Jordan’s plan to initiate massive reforms of the public sector. In his piece, Khoury interviews Marwan Muasher who highlighted some positive changes that are to be part of this anticipated reform
This is one extract:
We realize that most Jordanians don’t think we’ll succeed, which is why we must show results quickly, within a year or two, in order to gain the trust of citizens who have to buy into the process.
"We want to start a process of change that will allow the ordinary citizen to feel that he or she is treated fairly by the state. This requires introducing concepts and systems of accountability, transparency and measurable performance indicators, all of which need time to take effect"
I am quite aware that this may never materialize in real life, but still, it is something to look forward to. Another part that caught my attention was:
A booklet to be given to every citizen will allow citizens and government employees alike to know what to expect and to do in their routine bureaucratic encounters. Regular "citizen voice" polls will track the public feelings about the services it gets from government offices, and the poll results will be published.
I think it is about time that Jordanians are given written directions about what needs to be done to take care of any bureaucratic task. A visit to any public sector office in the kingdom reveals how the system still bears the third world country mark. You move from one office to another without really knowing what is going on, all the while suffocating due to the "smoker-friendly" environment. I talked about my experience with the public sector earlier on this page when I was in Jordan for the holidays. It was extremely frustrating and dragged for days. Reading this piece of news definitely made my day. Let’s just wait and see …
Thanks to an earlier post by 
We have finally managed to watch the Chinese movie