Month: September 2003

There is a story over on kuro5hin.org (pronounced ‘corrosion’) on how an investigative reporter uncovered a video of Colin Powell stating that Iraq did not have the capibility to build any substantial Weapons of Mass Destruction in Febuary of 2001. Oops. Guess he must have been mistaken.

Click here to read the story.
Author: jonathan

by Tina Kunkler
The LaRue County Herald Wednesday March 3, 1993

Lifestyles in Egypt are much different from American, according to the Axx family

As a teen and near teen, Jonathan and Daniel found that the “normal” lives of school, sports, and television were not easily found in a foreign country.

As male children, they were considered to be very valuable in the Egyptian culture, where men are the powerful and worldly sex. Women are expected to stay at home, if they can afford to, and care for the household and children.

Both boys kept up with their school work with the aid of private tutors. The public schools were taught in Arabic and private schools were too expensive. Many young Egyptians work to provide for their families instead of going to school.

And while they met many interesting people, associations with teenagers and other children were difficult to form. The younger brother of the driver employed for their family visited occassionally.

Television programming was in Arabic and only two stations were available. One of them played old American western shows and once a week included a French program.

While Harold had contact with many people at the plant in which he worked, social life for the rest of the family was difficult.

Fran and the boys would often accompany him to parties celebrating the weddings or engagements of people from the factory. Other friends included the family of the driver, the woman at the market where Fran shopped, and others they met during their stay. Most of their friends spoke little or no English, but their friendship crossed the barriers.

Both Daniel and Jonathan received proposals of marriage, despite their young ages. Instead of a romantic personal commitment, marriage in Egypt is a contractual agreement between a man and a woman.

In the ideal family the husband works to provide for his family and the wife cares for the home and rears the children. He manages the family’s business affairs, shopping, and other activities outside the home. She rarely steps foot outside the house and is very naive about the world around her because all of her needs are met by the husband.

Soft drinks such as Pepsi and Coca-Cola were about the only American food or drink readily available. They could be found at any corner market.

Tea was the most common drink of the country. Milk could be purchased, but it was packaged and imported from Europe.

However, frozed foods were almost non-existent and fresh meat was hard to find. Fresh fruits were readily available, but had to be washed in chlorine water because disease-carrying flies were such a problem.

“The bread was wonderful,” Fran said. Many types of bread could be bought, including pocket bread sandwiches, which were popular with the Ard family.

The best places to eat were the larger hotels because they had good restaurants, the boys said.

Living in the culture taught them more about Egyptian culture than could be gleaned from any textbook or travel brochure.
Author: harold

by Tina Kunkler The LaRue County Herald
Wednesday March 3, 1993What was supposed to be an opportunity for a family to get back on their financial feet has turned instead into a loss of nine months of their lives to a foreign culture and nearly half of the income promised to them.

Harold and Fran Axx moved temporarily to Egypt about a year ago, drawn by the promise of a well-paying job in the apparel industry for Harold after nearly three years of struggling to make ends meet.

Now they are seeking refuge in her mother’s home in Magnolia as they try to piece their lives back together.

The job was supposed to last 15 months and pay enough tax-free dollars to pay off most of their debts. Because it was a temporary commitment, the couple took their two school-aged sons along for the term to experience Egypt as a family.

And so they went, Harold, Fran, Jonathan, 14, and Daniel, 11.

Behind them, the Axx family left their home in Galion, Ohio, their 27-year-old son and brother, and American lifestyle. The house was leased to another family to keep up with the paymens and the oldest son was left to manage the family’s affairs in the U.S.

Egypt was very different from the United States in more ways that language. Weather, foods, dress, working environment, social customs, religion, and ideologies were all new to the family.

The Ards were the only Americans in Suez where they lived. Cairo, about 80 miles away, was the Egyptian tourist trap and attracted more Americans and native English speaking people, but few ventured across the desert to Suez.

And as Americans, they felt a certain position of honor among some Egyptians and like a target for others.

Egyptians are a very loving, almost child-like people in general, Harold said, but the differences between ideas of honesty in America and Egypt are quite different.

In September of last year, Suez Apparel decided they were not going to pay him anymore because he was not doing his job correctly. However, the company did not tell him this Until October. He was told he would be paid “later.”

The Egyptian word for “later” could also mean “tomorrow,” “next week,” some indefinite period in the future, or “never.” Such ambiguity grated the nerves of an American used to defining terms and times.

Harold continued to work in the hopes he would get paid. On Nov. 8, he went to the company office to terminate his employment with the request of all the payment he was due for work completed. The remained of his salary as promised, and airplane tickets to fly his family back to the United States.

Instead, they handed him a resignation agreement to sign which stated that he owed them $6,000. But to allow him to stay with the company, they offered to let him keep working if he signed an admission of breach of contract and worked off the “debt” he owed, and they would pay him enough to live on and keep up with payments on their house in the U.S.

Suez Apparel officials also told him to turn in his work permit when he left. Fortunately, he did not. if he had, his contract with the company could have been declared void and he would have no legal grounds on which to later file a lawsuit.

After talking the situation over with his family, Harold went back to work the next day and told the officials that the contract was finished and left.

The family packed their belongings and fled Egypt that night.

Today, an Egyptian attorney is trying to work out a breach of contract lawsuit against Suex Apparel.

“We were intimidated,” Harold said. He felt that, as an American unaware of customs and laws, he was taken advantage of and then forced to leave the country.

The career, financial, and political assistance he hoped to find in the United States has been nearly non-existent.

The same company that helped him get the job at Suez had promised a position in the U.S. within 30 days of his return, but has failed to provide him with more than a few leads, none of which have produced employment.

The financial assistance the family has applied for in the U.S. has been helpful, but not as plentiful as a full-time job.

While Harold and Fran search for employment, they are spending their welfare checks to keep up with house payments and are receiving food stamps. The house is currently on the market to sell, if they can find a buyer.

Because neither one of them was employed in the U.S. in the last 12 months, no unemployment has been paid for them to draw now.

Jonathan and Daniel harbor bitterness toward the country because of the way their father was treated in his job, but enjoyed the experience of another culture.

Fran and Harold, too, have mixed feelings about the decision to move to Egypt temporarily since they have returned.

“I wouldn’t advise anyone to do it,” Harold said.

But they believe the past year was not a waste of time and money, Fran said. The friend they have made, the lifestyle they have lived, the sights, sounds, smells, and aura of Egypt will always live in their hearts.

Living in the Egyptian culture as a family alone was very difficult especially the last week, Fran said. But they learned to adjust, she said, which gave them a unique perspective on their lives and ability to survive as individuals and as a family unit.Correction the only welfare collected by the Axx family was the mentioned Food Stamps $27/mo for 3 months. Where oh where is Bechtel and Halliburton. I went to aid the Middle East, too.

The unemployment was incorrect I had an old file that was extented 20 weeks
Author: harold

Think religiously with humorThe Scouts are saving aluminum cans, bottles and other items to be recycled. Proceeds will be used to cripple children. – Low Self Esteem Support Group will meet Thursday at 7 PM. Please use the back door. – The eighth-graders will be presenting Shakespeare’s Hamlet in the Church basement Friday at 7 PM. The Congregation is invited to attend this tragedy. – Thursday night Potluck Supper. Prayer and medication to follow. – A bean supper will be held on Tuesday evening in the church hall. Music will follow. – At the evening service tonight, the sermon topic will be “What Is Hell?” Come early and listen to our choir practice.
Copied from daily E-mail

BeliefnetReligiousJokes@partner.beliefnet.com
Author: harold

From text of my diary

“Today I have concluded Arab anger is not as explosive as it sounds, nor is their affection as genuine as publicly expressed.”Written on my 51st birthday in Por Tawfic, Suez, Egypt
Author: harold

By CARSON WALKER, Associated Press Writer

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP)
This gentleman came up on Weirdharold’s radar screen way back in 1980 when he was Governor. I was working in Gaylord Minnesota for a company that sold coats via TV ads. One day the plant got a call from the Governor’s personal security department. Asking why we shipped a coat (very cheap) to the Governor. I looked up our shipping and sales records and called back to them. The call came in from a motel in Souix Falls, SD. It was sent C.O.D. to the Governor. They sent it back All these years I thought it was a prank call. Today I wonder. — U.S. Rep. Bill Janklow on Monday said he “couldn’t be sorrier” for an August accident that killed a motorcyclist and that he has not made any decisions about his political future.

Janklow, 64, was charged with second-degree manslaughter, which is a felony, and three misdemeanors for an Aug. 16 crash in Moody County that killed Randy Scott, 55, of Hardwick, Minn.

A prosecutor said Janklow was going 71 mph in a 55-mph zone and ran a stop sign at a rural intersection when the Cadillac he was driving collided with Scott’s motorcycle.

Janklow, R-S.D., hurt his head and his right hand in the crash. He returned to Washington last week.

Janklow told reporters he thinks about his future but doesn’t know what’s appropriate yet. He said he planned to return to Washington on Monday to go back to work.

“South Dakota is a jury, all of them. They’re a jury. They want to hear the facts. I don’t think they’ll make up their mind on anything until the facts are laid out before them,” Janklow said.

A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Thursday and Friday in Flandreau to see if the prosecution has enough evidence for a trial. The maximum punishment for second-degree manslaughter, a felony, is 10 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Asked whether he would run for re-election, Janklow said, “I have no idea. There’s a time for everything.

“What I do will be appropriate at the appropriate time.”

Janklow said President Bush, Bush’s father and former President Clinton have called his home and that he talked with the Bushes but could not speak with Clinton.

Asked how he has changed in the last five weeks, Janklow said, “How the hell do I know how I’ve changed? I don’t have a clue. I don’t know.”

He sobbed briefly after the answer.

Janklow said he would not answer questions about the accident.

Several times Janklow mistakenly called Scott by the name of Robertson.

Janklow’s doctor said he suffered bleeding on the brain but has been cleared to travel. He returned to Washington last week and cast roll-call votes on the House floor Tuesday and Wednesday.

Janklow said he has some memory problems from the accident and that he had lost some feeling in his left leg but that he is getting better every day. He said he has headaches about the same time every day but that they are much less severe than they were right after the accident.

He did say his health affects his work somewhat, but he added that there’s no major legislation moving right now.

Janklow said he hasn’t been able to make job-related appearances since the accident. “Now I’m going to be getting back in the groove on that.”

His only other public appearance was an Aug. 29 court date.

The House ethics committee would automatically investigate Janklow if he is convicted of a felony. The committee’s rules say representatives who plead guilty or are convicted of a crime that carries more than two years in prison should not vote in the chamber until his or her record is cleared, or until re-elected.

If Janklow is convicted of manslaughter, he would not be allowed to vote in the House or take part in committee meetings. Those privileges would be returned if he is re-elected or the conviction is overturned on appeal. A misdemeanor conviction would not affect Janklow’s ability to serve in Congress.
Author: harold