Posts from — July 2009

Today I read an article about President Obama stating that the jobless claims will increase before the end of the year, which is not only discouraging to one like myself who is looking for a job, but also disheartening when one thinks of all those people out there who are struggling to support their families and have yet to get a reprieve from the job market. And yet, investment firm Goldman Sachs, which was part of the financial crisis, has not only survived, but has acquired great profit in this turmoil.

In his article yesterday, Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com provides a timeline from September 2008 to today regarding the financial crisis:

Remember all of this — the $700 billion bank bailout, the AIG scandal, dark and scary threats of imminent global meltdown if there wasn’t full-scale capitulation by the citizenry to the immense transfer of public wealth to the private investment banking sector? Such distant, hazy memories: so many exciting celebrity deaths and riveting celebrity resignations ago. If sequences of events like these don’t cause mass citizen outrage, then it’s hard to imagine what will:

Read on

By the way, if you don’t already include Glenn Greenwald’s articles as part of your daily reading, you should.

I’m a couple of days late on this but Riz MC, aka Riz Ahmed, posted a new video for one of his songs “Sour Times” on 7/7, the anniversary of the London bombings of 2005.

In addition to being a hip hop artist, Riz Ahmed is also an actor and has been in a number of things, like Road to Guantanamo and the new British film Shifty. He was also in the BBC miniseries Britz, which I wrote a bit about when it came on in the U.S. on BBCA.

Anyways, check out the video and listen to the lyrics! Very cool.

It has come to my attention that maybe my standards for people in general and Muslims specifically are too high. In my previous post about the lady who made up the ridiculous story regarding my car accident, I said:

On Twitter, I mentioned that the worst part was that the lady is Pakistani and Muslim. I understand her behavior would have been deplorable regardless of her race or religion but for me, this fact made the whole ordeal just a bit more incredulous.

I shouldn’t be making religion part of this discussion as the fact that she is Muslim has nothing to do with anything.That is merely one aspect of her, as has been pointed out to me.

Looking back at my last post, I can see that maybe I might have to clear up on more thing - I would never judge one’s “Muslim-ness”. A person does what they do and it’s not up to me or anyone else to say how good or how bad of a Muslim one is. Because in the end, I don’t know how good of a person I am so who am I or anyone else to pass on judgment, y’know?

So… yeah

And for the record folks, dissenting opinions are welcome. Yeah, cousin I’m talking to you :p

Last week, I was in a little car incident.

I thought I didn’t have to worry about anything. It was most likely going to be 50-50 so I didn’t dwell on it too much, especially since there wasn’t a disagreement between the other lady and me on how things played out.

However, it turned out that this lady made up a story for her insurance company that put all the blame on me. The story itself was ludicrous. Seriously, it was so out there that it would have made more sense for her to say a sudden flash of blinding light from an alien spacecraft blinded her for a split second, causing the accident.

Upon hearing this ‘dispute’ from the claim adjuster from this lady’s insurance company, I was so overwhelmed with anger that I surprised myself. I think I’ve only been that livid one other time in my life (In October of 2003, in case you’re wondering).

A friend said that everyone tends to lie about car accidents and a coworker said the same thing. It made me wonder: how can one consciously lie about something like this in the slim chance one can save a few bucks while causing the other person a great deal of distress? I mean, the only damage was to the rear bumpers on both cars. It really wasn’t a big deal. However, this lady was perfectly willing to craft a ridiculous lie for a freakin’ *bumper*.

On Twitter, I mentioned that the worst part was that the lady is Pakistani and Muslim. I understand her behavior would have been deplorable regardless of her race or religion but for me, this fact made the whole ordeal just a bit more incredulous. When I was little, I used to think Muslims were all good. They never drank, did drugs, stole, or did anything else remotely illegal or uncouth because they weren’t supposed to (ok, ok, you can quit laughing now). I was really little when I had this thought and I realized how naive I was a long time ago but it still shocks me when a fellow Muslim acts in a manner contrary to what the religion dictates.

If this person, whose name, phone number, and address I have and so wish to plaster all over the internet, pulled this stunt with a non-Muslim, then the non-Muslim person would have come away from it thinking bad of all Muslims. Not the right way to go, but a reality nonetheless.

I then realized that my natural inclination to trust everyone and to always see the good in people isn’t always a viable attitude when dealing with reality.

Sorry, I don’t mean to sound bitter (I’m not) and this doesn’t mean that I’ll automatically think the worst of everyone. I won’t, really. I’ll just be a bit more on guard from now on. This may also mean that I may document every aspect of my life, taking pictures wherever I go and of people I meet so there won’t ever be a doubt as to what happens in my life. This can also help me at work as I can then have pictures that prove that yes, I did iron this shirt this morning thankyouverymuch

I talked to my own claims adjuster about the lie that the lady told and he was even a bit surprised himself when he had initially taken her statement. However, while he can deny her story on my behalf and her insurance can deny my story, neither story can really be proved. So in the end? 50-50.

That’s right lady. You told a lie and it didn’t change the outcome. How does it feel to sacrifice your soul for nothing? HUH?!

(I’m fine, I swear )