More things that piss me off!

This is the second installment of a previous post about things that piss me off. Due to complaints that this blog is mighty negative, I promise that in the near future I will write posts about the things that I love about Egypt. Just not now, cause I am still angry from the things that are pissing me off. Ok? Ok! Let’s get this started: MB senators demand filtering the internet: I read about this at Hellme's before a Hacker wiped out his archive, and then read about it in a small snippet in an Egyptian newspaper that didn't have it on its website ( This is why I don't have a link). Basically the Muslim Brotherhood MP's are outraged that young men in Egypt have access to Pornographic websites, which they- naturally- accuse of "encouraging deviancy and threatening the moral fabric of society". One of the MB MP's point was that the age for marriage for men has really risen due to how expensive marriage is in Egypt, which left a whole bunch of young Muslim men with no outlet for their horniness but Pornographic websites, so naturally- being the dick that he is- he wants the government to ban access to them. He apparently would rather young unable to get married frustrated arab men to release their frustration the old fashion way: By blowing themselves up! Not to mention, if we give the government the excuse and the power to start filtering the internet and censoring stuff they deem to be "immoral" and "inappropriate", the next thing you know they will start censoring websites they view as "threatening the country's stability" or "tarnishing Egypt's reputation", which would probably include any website they don't like. This, undoubtedly, will include MB websites, opposition websites and blogs like mine. So please, MB senators, shut the hell up and think before you want the government to censor anything. Taxi Drivers: Egyptian Taxi drivers suck, and I am not the only one who thinks so. Nothing like the experience of taking an Egyptian Taxi ride to ruin my day. First of all, the majority of taxis in Egypt are cars that are at least 15 years old, which means that they were purchased at a time when seatbelts were considered to be a luxury item in your car, you know, along with power-steering, and air-conditioning. If you can get one of them to stop for you and get you where you want to go (most of them won't), you will experience the ride of a lifetime: The seats are uncomfortable, the space is small, prayers hung from the rearview mirror, the windows have no handles, and the driver will be blasting a tape of someone with a horrible voice reading the Koran, or one of Amr Khaled's Islamic teachings ( the egyptian islamic version of Pat Robertson) for the full extent of the ride. Once the driver gets you there after cursing a couple of other drivers out, you will then ask him how much he wants ( cause the meter is naturally broken) and he will tell you with all sincerity that he will take whatever fare you give him. You will then proceed to give him an amount of money which he will of course deem to be insufficient and ask for at least an extra 5 pounds. And when you ask him why he didn’t just ask for that when you asked him how much the ride was, his response will be "well, I didn’t want to say it just in case you were going to pay more"! Ohh, so you wanted to rob me? Ohh, and if robbing is too harsh of a word, well, you wanted to con me? Ok, no problem. But explain to me this you immoral bastard: WTF is that Koran/ Islamic teaching Tape playing all about then? Do you even listen to it? I am not sure, but I think it's pretty negative on robbing or conning people. I could be wrong, but I doubt it! What do you think? The Fair and Lovely cream: From the people who brought you hair straightners and Michael Jackson: This is a skin whitening cream. It is marketed in Middle Eastern countries as a method for dark skinned/ tanned people (i.e. most arabs) to get whiter/lighter skin tone. And it sells. It's name? Fair and Lovely! I am not even gonna explain why this one is wrong. It kinda speaks for itself. The Mubarak descriptions: At first he was called the President, then he became the leader, then the hero of War and peace. And I was ok with that: nothing's wrong with a little ass-kissing in politics, and I figured it probably helps his low self-esteem (I hear he was fat in middle-school and all the other girls made fun of him). But these days it has become a bit too much, no thanks to the "Yes Mubarak" oppru..ehh….enthusiastic supporters, who apparently are competing on creating new descriptions to flatter the living legend that is our President. Descriptions I've personally seen include: The guardian of every worker, the supporter of the poor, the Father of all Egyptians (wouldn’t grandfather be more accurate?), the Nation's armor, the engineer of National Unity ( by that they mean the great personal relationships Christians and Muslims enjoy in this country), and my personal favorite: the fortress of the future. His descriptions were supposed to include the Defender of the Faith, Sustainer of all Life and the Messiah, but I hear that the Pope, God and Jesus objected due to some kind of copyrights infringement issue. Egyptian Parties without a clear mandate: I was just reading in Al Ahram yesterday- in a small news item- that a new Egyptian political party, called the party of Fair Peace or something, was just approved. What the party stood for, according to the news article, was "ending unemployment, improving the economy, stopping governmental corruption and promoting the general welfare of the Egyptian society". Aww, isn't that cute? That's like an American party dedicated to "the protection of the flag, motherhood and Apple Pie". This is typical of most Egyptian opposition parties: they have no clear programs or mandates. You can’t figure out what they really stand for or what kind of solution they propose for the problems they list and that we all suffer from. Given me a freaking solution, plan, general idea, anything, if you want me to vote for you or join you. Otherwise, go away, we don’t need anymore straw parties. We have quite enough of those as it is! That's it for now!