by Natasha Tynes | Dec 17, 2005 | Site features
Typepad experienced a major outage yesterday that took Mental Mayhem out of action for over a day. Of course, I was peeved. I felt like a mother with a sick child. Things are getting back to normal now, although I have to do some tweaking to do, like re-uploading some missing images. I had been hailing Typepad for a while now, telling people how wonderful the blogging service is. I guess I jinxed them. Next time, I will just keep my mouth shut.
It is the weekend here, so blogging will be a bit less than usual, as I have to take care of some house chores and last-minute Christmas shopping. However, I will do my best to bring this blog up to "normal" status. Happy blogging everyone and happy holidays!
by Natasha Tynes | Dec 15, 2005 | Media watch
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Here is some genius reporting coming at you all the way from Alarabiya.net. This picture, which shows what appears to be youths celebrating Halloween, was chosen for an article that discusses devil worship in Bahrain. [Click on image to enlarge]
The caption for this photo reads: "A group of devil worshipers in one of the European countries [File photo]."
مجموعة من "عبدة الشيطان" في إحدى دول أوروبا
It seems Alarabiya needs to hire a couple of fact-checkers. This is outrageous! If I was among those in the picture, I would sue Alarabiya, as it seems, at least according to their logic, anyone who wears a costume is a devil worshipper. Scandalous indeed!
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by Natasha Tynes | Dec 15, 2005 | Jordan, my nation
Human Rights watch has called on Jordan to abolish the death penalty following "flawed justice" in the handling of two cases. Here is an excerpt :
New information in a murder case that led to the execution of a suspect in 2000 provides a compelling new reason for Jordan to abolish the death penalty, Human Rights Watch said today.
The Jordanian justice system has failed dramatically in the murder case against Bilal Musa, executing him for murder based on a confession that was likely obtained as a result of torture, but exonerating another man who voluntarily confessed to committing the same crime.
Human Rights Watch also sent a letter to Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit urging him to abolish the death penalty. Read the full text of that here. Just last month His Majesty King Abdullah told the foreign press that Jordan would be working towards abolishing capital punishment.
As someone who strongly opposes capital punishment, I’m really hopeful that Jordan will be amongst the first nations in the Arab World to abolish this practice. With this report and the King ‘s statements, it seems the ball is already rolling. Let’s wait and see. Also make sure to read Issam Smeir’s excellent post on capital punishment.
by Natasha Tynes | Dec 15, 2005 | Site features
This is a quick post to extend a special "super" thanks to reader Abdo (yes, the same Abdo that’s provided this blog with historic Jordan pictures) for directing his domain superjordan.com to this site.
This was quite generous and thoughtful. Thank you Abdo once again! So now Mental Mayhem has another domain: http://www.superjordan.com. Abdo, you rock!
by Natasha Tynes | Dec 14, 2005 | Music
I just listened to a Jordanian rap tune entitled Ready by a new "local" band called Last Standing Poet. The song condemns the 9 November terrorist attacks that rocked Jordan. The song is actually not bad at all. I like how they based their piece on one of Fairuz’s songs, although, as I mentioned in a post last year, I’m a bit over Fairuzed.
Frankly, I was not aware that a rap scene even existed in Jordan. I guess things have been changing quite rapidly since my exodus. You can listen to the song here. Many thanks to Jordan First and Nasim for drawing our attention to this song. Here is a brief sampling of some of the lyrics via Jordan First.
Narrator: Hundreds of Jordanians are now marching through the streets of Amman, they’re carrying Jordanian flags and pictures of King Abdullah. The suicide bombing we’re right outside one of the hotels that was blowed up, people say they DON’T want Al Qaeda in this country, they DON’T want terrorism, they wanna live in peace.
Rapper: LSP, Last Standing Poet, 99.6. I’d like to say rest in peace, all the people who lost their lives in the 9th of November, my prayers go to your family and friends
I just listened to a Jordanian rap tune entitled Ready by a new "local" band called 