*backup=[...snipped...]

>> ^GuyNumberOne:

"In an e-mailed statement, (U.S. Rep. Ed) Royce said he was angered by the presence of two keynote speakers at the event. Imam Siraj Wahhaj was named with 169 others as co-conspirators in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, though Wahhaj was never charged and has denied involvement. And Amir Abdel Malik Ali spoke at "Israeli Apartheid Week" at UC Irvine in 2010 where he said he supports Hezbollah, which the CIA labels a terrorist group."

And that would be fine for them to protest over. I don't see the point of screaming obscenities at everyone who came to the event, including children.

These are the types of people I'd like to see Anonymous "investigate".

http://www.meetup.com/WeSurroundThemOC/
http://www.ocjewish.com/
http://www.meetup.com/NOCConservatives/

Appreciate the context, Guy. Can you provide a direct link to the story? Thanks!

>> ^GuyNumberOne:

I am in no way condoning what happened here, however as a resident of Orange County I was appalled enough to look into the backstory, as the protest simply seemed far too hateful given the amount of support it had.
From the Washington Post:
"In an e-mailed statement, (U.S. Rep. Ed) Royce said he was angered by the presence of two keynote speakers at the event. Imam Siraj Wahhaj was named with169 others as co-conspirators in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, though Wahhaj was never charged and has denied involvement. And Amir Abdel Malik Ali spoke at "Israeli Apartheid Week" at UC Irvine in 2010 where he said he supports Hezbollah, which the CIA labels a terrorist group."
Again, I think this is disgusting, but the choice of keynote speakers seems odd given the purpose of the fundraiser.

I am in no way condoning what happened here, however as a resident of Orange County I was appalled enough to look into the backstory, as the protest simply seemed far too hateful given the amount of support it had.

From the Washington Post:

"In an e-mailed statement, (U.S. Rep. Ed) Royce said he was angered by the presence of two keynote speakers at the event. Imam Siraj Wahhaj was named with169 others as co-conspirators in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, though Wahhaj was never charged and has denied involvement. And Amir Abdel Malik Ali spoke at "Israeli Apartheid Week" at UC Irvine in 2010 where he said he supports Hezbollah, which the CIA labels a terrorist group."

Again, I think this is disgusting, but the choice of keynote speakers seems odd given the purpose of the fundraiser.

Amir's joke about it being the "iPod Jumbo" is not too far off from what I've been calling it: The iPhone Juggernaut.

Amir is a big meanie. Can't wait till Streeter gets him back

Tags for this video have been changed from 'chtv, prank, war, basketball, shot, amir, streeter' to 'chtv, prank, war, basketball, shot, amir, streeter, ownage' - edited by EndAll

Haha. Did they fly Amir to Chicago just to make a video about a toilet?

>> ^brycewi19:
Best prank yet!
Streeter got him good. Most importantly, no one really got hurt in this one unlike the "proposal prank".
Amir, please don't wait as long at Streeter took to do your next prank!


When I originally saw this, I thought it was sort of mean, but after seeing 1-6 (particularly 4 and 5), it seems sort of harmless. Very enjoyable though.

Best prank yet!

Streeter got him good. Most importantly, no one really got hurt in this one unlike the "proposal prank".

Amir, please don't wait as long at Streeter took to do your next prank!

Reminds me of Jake & Amir.

"Though I'll disagree that the reasons for the Iraq war were intentionally dubious"

I merely stated that the reasons going into Iraq were wrong, mostly because the administration over sold the threat and under sold the actual cost of going into Iraq. I felt like it was fear mongering more then anything else, riding of the events of 9/11, with threats like "Don't let the smoking gun be a mushroom cloud". There was such flimsy connections drawn between Al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein.

But the greatest mistake was the lack of concrete planning for actions after the nation was conquered, that to me is the biggest mistake of the entire campaign in Iraq. ORHA was given a month to figure out how to run a nation, the CPA hired fresh grad students who brought technological know how to a country that could not afford the solutions they pushed forward. The dismantling of the Iraq military forces and de-Baathization. It all seems like dangerous adventurism.

Democratization of the Middle East

This is one factor I really supported with regards to going into Iraq, the region as a whole is full of autocratic and despotic rulers. However Bush's promises never materalized into anything concrete, mostly because they didn't understand the situation on the ground, when Palestine held elections Hamas ended up winning, the new president of Iran, Sadr in Iraq, polling results in Egypt and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The US supports democracy but only on its own terms.

All the talk behind democracy faded after that, and I ultimately believe it was Saudi Arabia and Egypt who killed it, both nations that do not want to see any kind of democracy occurring anytime soon because of the strangle hold they have on power and money withing their respective nations. One of them happens to be the worlds largest oil supplier as well. The largest failing point was when the US sold billion dollars worth of arms to states like Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Egypt and so on after concerns over Iran.

The following is a comment I left on Dag's profile a while back regarding Democracy struggles in the Middle East in relation to autocratic rule, citing Israel as democratic nation in the Middle East.

I don't know the issue is rather merky when it comes to autocratic rule and Middle Eastern states, I mean for example Kuwait has a parliamentary democracy, and all decisions taken by the Amir have to abide by rulings made by the parliament and the cabinet, all positions that are elected. Women's rights and voting power has been factored in since early 2002 or so.

However politically the country is stagnant, its full of nepotism and corruption, its democratic nature while loved by the populace as it gives me a semblance of influence and most of all free press has seen the country degrade to alot of political infighting and hand wringing when it comes to making decisions with regards to developing the nation and reaching that common cited goal of becoming a "business hub".

Now compare that with nations like UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Saudia Arabia, they all have varying degress of autocratic rule far and above those of Kuwait. However when it comes to economic development, Kuwait is lagging far behind especially when you look at a place like Dubai that doesn't nearly have the same kind of oil wealth that Kuwait has, yet it beating Kuwait year on year with rapid economic growth and development. This is all while at the same time both Dubai and Bahrain are shedding restrictive control over the population via religious doctrine.

This has lead many to ask whether democracy is right for the Middle East as a whole or is it better to be ruled by influential western educated heads of State, Emirs, and Princes? This is a NY Times article on that very issue. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/world/middleeast/06kuwait.html?n=Top/News/World/Countries%20and%20Territories/United%20Arab%20Emirates

I agree Israel's democracy is good, but I also feel that it runs too aggressive because of a cornered rat symptom. Let's not forget that their economic prosperity has alot to do with American economic assistance and leanancy with regards to weapons sales and investment. Its true that actions of the state get questioned but I feel its always after the fact, look at the US, how many statues has the administration broken and other then a change of faces will anything really change? The greatest damage done is not that it was committed but that it gives someone else afterwards more room to do more damage. There is little actual accountability.

My personal wish is for Middle Eastern states to unshackle themselves from religious control, which is not there because Islam wishes it so but because its a great political control apparatus, especially in Saudi Arabia. A secular state with respect to religious freedom like the one I saw in Turkey set up by Ahmed Kamal is very admirable to me, but in all I think the population as a whole in the Middle East is not educated enough on civic rights and responsibility, too reliant on age old tribal control and influence that still manifests itself in the political process.

Biological Weapons

I agree that not many would willing go down that path, the costs of development and more so actual deployment require a national industrial project to be effective enough.

I believe the threat is more based around acquired biological weapons from poorly secured sources like those in Russia. However even then we are looking at small contained actions like those in Japan Subway system by that cult.

With regards to Iraq possessing WMD and Bioweapons I find the case was always put forward not because they possibly existed, but because they had the knowledge. I think is the same reason people high up in the US fear Iran, because nuclear development and weaponization is within their grasp, even if they are not working towards that goal. Its the knowledge that scares them.

I don't know the issue is rather merky when it comes to autocratic rule and Middle Eastern states, I mean for example Kuwait has a parliamentary democracy, and all decisions taken by the Amir have to abide by rulings made by the parliament and the cabinet, all positions that are elected. Women's rights and voting power has been factored in since early 2002 or so.

However politically the country is stagnant, its full of nepotism and corruption, its democratic nature while loved by the populace as it gives me a semblance of influence and most of all free press has seen the country degrade to alot of political infighting and hand wringing when it comes to making decisions with regards to developing the nation and reaching that common cited goal of becoming a "business hub".

Now compare that with nations like UAE, Bahrain, Oman and Saudia Arabia, they all have varying degress of autocratic rule far and above those of Kuwait. However when it comes to economic development, Kuwait is lagging far behind especially when you look at a place like Dubai that doesn't nearly have the same kind of oil wealth that Kuwait has, yet it beating Kuwait year on year with rapid economic growth and development. This is all while at the same time both Dubai and Bahrain are shedding restrictive control over the population via religious doctrine.

This has lead many to ask whether democracy is right for the Middle East as a whole or is it better to be ruled by influential western educated heads of State, Emirs, and Princes? This is a NY Times article on that very issue. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/06/world/middleeast/06kuwait.html?n=Top/News/World/Countries%20and%20Territories/United%20Arab%20Emirates

I agree Israel's democracy is good, but I also feel that it runs too aggressive because of a cornered rat symptom. Let's not forget that their economic prosperity has alot to do with American economic assistance and leanancy with regards to weapons sales and investment. Its true that actions of the state get questioned but I feel its always after the fact, look at the US, how many statues has the administration broken and other then a change of faces will anything really change? The greatest damage done is not that it was committed but that it gives someone else afterwards more room to do more damage. There is little actual accountability.

My personal wish is for Middle Eastern states to unshackle themselves from religious control, which is not there because Islam wishes it so but because its a great political control apparatus, especially in Saudi Arabia. A secular state with respect to religious freedom like the one I saw in Turkey set up by Ahmed Kamal is very admirable to me, but in all I think the population as a whole in the Middle East is not educated enough on civic rights and responsibility, too reliant on age old tribal control and influence that still manifests itself in the political process.

In reply to this comment by dag:
Well the heads of State of a country like Israel can (and often do) get tossed out if the people turn against them.

Can the same be said for Kuwait? I'll grant you that it's a benevolent regime at the moment - but power corrupts absolutely.

I disagree strongly with the policies of Israel - but I support their system of government.



In reply to this comment by Farhad2000:
But is a government based on fear mongering really a democracy?

What is wrong with Kuwait's democracy? Its backward but its one of the few states in the Middle East that actually allows women to vote.

In reply to this comment by dag:
^ Say what you will about Israel - but at least there is a semblance of democracy at play. The same cannot be said for SA, Kuwait or others.

A fellow Jake And Amir fan? Yay!

Also what's not to get? Amir's (acting) stupid.

http://www.collegehumor.com/tag:prank-war

There's the whole 'series'. This one wasn't any more fucked up than #5, I don't think, except for the girl. As the one guy said in #5, it's an ongoing prank war so you have to expect it to get worse and worse, but she was never part of it so there's no... tolerance level? She's been thrown into the ice water instead of being eased into it like Amir and Streeter is what I'm trying to say.

I like #2 the best of the bunch.