New England Americans for
www.neal-us.org - Tel: 781-721-1312 - neal_us@yahoo.com
Press Release
As
We call on all our supporters among the Lebanese-American community of New England and the
Friday, December 28, 2007
NEAL endorses Sen. John McCain for US President
Saturday, December 8, 2007
The Phoenician Origin of Anglo-Saxon Culture
A serious hypothesis. The Irish Celts themselves trace their origins to Asia Minor (where both Phoenicians and Hittites civilizations flourished.) Certainly, this analysis lends support to the advocates of a Semitic origin of Western culture like Martin Bernal (read his two-volume book "Black Athena"), rather than the absolutely racist idea that European culture spontaneously generated itself on the Eastern Greek islands of Crete and Rhodes, without any link to the Western Asian coast a mere few miles away. Note that even the racists of Western academe do not deny that Greek civilization came out of the "eastern" islands, thus admitting a link because of proximity to the Near Eastern coast. Not to forget Carthage and its Phoenician heritage...but that's another story.
Of "Arab-Americans" and the Farce of an Arab Identity
The list below is taken straight out of http://arabcoalition.com, which claims to want to represent "Arab-Americans" and lobby the US government on behalf of "Arab" causes. Following each "Arab-American" entry in the list below, you will find the real country of origin of each of the individuals. It won't take you much to realize that the vast majority of these "Arab"-Americans are indeed Lebanese and not Arab.
This means a lot of things, but I'll let you draw the conclusion. Keep in mind as well that the bulk of the individuals below are Lebanese of Christian, and not Moslem, background. But the farce of an Arab identity - based on a very weak linguistic criterion - that supposedly encompasses Black Africans from Mauritania, White Berbers from North Africa, Black Nubians from Egypt and Sudan, Southern Semite Arabs from the Arabian peninsula, Northern Semites from Iraq and Syria, and the Semitic Phoenicians and Cananeans from the Lebanese and Palestinian coasts - is just that: A farce. If this is intended to hide a "Muslim-American" agenda, then www.muslimcoalition.com would be a better name for the web site.
One note on Rony Seykali, the famous Syracuse University basketball player who is included in the list above. I was a student at Syracuse at the same time that this jerk was a student there in the mid 1980s. Those were the years when Lebanon was being burnt to the ground by the Palestinians and the Israelis fighting their barbaric wars over Lebanese soil and by killing Lebanon's children. During interviews on US national and local press and media, Rony Seykali would say he was Greek because he was ashamed of his Lebanese identity which he felt would hurt his NBA career. If there is a supreme act of treason, this was it. To deny one's own identity and one's own country in order to make money or because it was inconvenient is pure prostitution. To abandon one's own country when it needs you the most is cowardice. It was truly disgusting to see Mr. Seykali on television bragging about his "Greek" upbringing just so he would become endeared to his American sports audience who he believed found him cute as a Greek but repugnant as a Lebanese. Even Adonis, the Phoenician god that the Greeks stole from the ancient Lebanese, should be turning in his grave.
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From http://arabcoalition.com:
Famous Arab Americans
Below is a list of some of the many famous Arab Americans. You can email the Arab Coalition at CustomerService@ArabCoalition.com with suggestions of people to add to the list.
Steve Jobs - CEO and co-founder of Apple famous for Mac computers and Ipods. Also co-founded Pixar which has grossed more than $3.2 billion in box office including the animated films: Toy Story, A Bug's Life, and Finding Nemo. Pixar has won 20 Academy Awards and merged with The Walt Disney Company in 2006. (Syrian father).
Paula Abdul - Star of American Idol, Singer, Dancer, and Choreographer. Worldwide record sales exceeding 30 million, two number one albums, seven number one singles, a Grammy award, two Emmy awards, choreographer for the Jacksons, the Rolling Stones and many others, former L.A. Lakers cheerleader. (Syrian parents).
Shakira (full name Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll) - Singer, Colombian born Latin crossover pop star, won a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 2000 for ("Ojos Asi") at the inaugural Latin Grammy Awards, her first English-language album Laundry Service is triple platinum with several Top Ten singles, her name means "woman full of grace" in Arabic. (Lebanese father).
Vince Vaughn – Actor, star of numerous movies including Swingers, The Lost World: Jurassic Park, Psycho, Domestic Disturbance, Old School, Starsky and Hutch and The Wedding Crashers. (Lebanese ancestry).
Doug Flutie – NFL, USFL and CFL Pro Quarterback, four time All-Canadian Quarterback, 1999 NFL Comeback Player of the Year and Pro Bowl Selection, 1984 Heisman Trophy Winner, (Lebanese).
Jim Harrick – Former Head Basketball Coach of UCLA, won the National Championship in 1995, also the Head Coach at Pepperdine, Rhode Island and Georgia. (Lebanese).
Salma Hayek - Actress star of the movies Desperado, From Dusk Till Dawn, The Faculty and Wild Wild West. (Lebanese father).
Tony Shalhoub – Actor and Director, star of TV series Monk. Appeared in the movies Men in Black I & II, A Civil Action, Spy Kids, Gattaca, Primary Colors and The Siege. (Lebanese).
Shannon Elizabeth – Actress and Model appeared in the movies American Pie I & II, Scary Movie and Tomcats. (Lebanese and Syrian father).
Yamila Diaz Rahi - Supermodel, cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue in 2002, regularly appears in Victoria’s Secret, has been on the cover of Marie Claire, Max, Elle, GQ, and Shape. (Lebanese father).
Jamie Farr (original name was Jameel Joseph Farah) – Actor, played Klinger in the hit series M*A*S*H, appeared in the movies The Gong Show Movie, Cannonball Run I and II, Scrooged and A Month of Sundays. (Lebanese).
Frank Zappa – late Rock Star, Singer, Songwriter and Guitarist, inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, and received a posthumous Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. (Lebanese father).
Donna Shalala – Former Presidential Cabinet Member to President Clinton as Secretary of Health and Human Services, served in the Carter administration as Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, current President of the University of Miami. (Lebanese).
Tiffany, (born Tiffany Renee Darwish) – Singer, teen sensation with hits Think We’re Alone Now, Could’ve Been, I Saw Him Standing There and All This Time. Helped launch band New Kids on the Block. Voice of Judy Jetson for Jetsons: The Movie. (Lebanese father).
Jeff George – NFL Quarterback, first overall pick of the 1990 draft by the Indianapolis Colts, played for Falcons, Raiders, Vikings, Redskins, Seahawks and Bears. (Lebanese ancestry).
Rony Seikaly - Former Pro NBA Basketball Player, played center for Syracuse University selected as a first round pick of the Miami Heat, also played for Golden State Warriors, Orlando Magic, Utah Jazz and New Jersey Nets. Hosts the annual Rony Seikaly Golf Tournament for cystic fibrosis. (Born in Beirut, Lebanese American U.S. citizen).
John H. Sununu - Former Governor of New Hampshire and White House Chief of Staff under George H. W. Bush Senior. Co-hosted CNN’s nightly Crossfire. (Palestinian descent).
John E. Sununu – U.S. Senator, former Congressman. Became youngest member of Senate in 2002 after defeating both an incumbent Senator and an incumbent Governor. Son of John H. Sununu. (Palestinian descent).
Spencer Abraham – Former Presidential Cabinet Member as Secretary of Energy, Former Senator from Michigan. (Lebanese descent).
Ralph Nader - Consumer Advocate, Former Presidential Candidate for Green Party. Most renowned and effective crusader for the rights of consumers and the general public, Author of book Unsafe at Any Speed taking on the auto industry. (Lebanese).
Casey Kasem (born Kemal Amen Kasem) - Radio Personality and Co-Creator of American Top 40, American Top 20, and American Country Countdown. Hosted the Annual American Video Awards. Inducted into National Broadcaster Hall of Fame. (Son of Lebanese Druze parents).
Danny Thomas (born Muzyad Yahkoob) Late Actor, Comedian and Producer, starred in Make Room for Daddy which changed Networks and was renamed The Danny Thomas Show, one of most popular TV family comedies of the 1950s, production company was responsible for The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Any and The Andy Griffith Show, also Founder of St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital (Lebanese).
Marlo Thomas – Actress, Emmy winner, star of the TV series That Girl, married TV host Phil Donahue in 1980, appeared on the hit series Friends, daughter of Danny Thomas (Lebanese).
Paul Anka – Singer, Song Writer, one of the first teen idols, 1957 hit single Diana became number one on both sides of the Atlantic, it is one of the best selling records of all time, placed four songs in the Top 20 a year later, including You Are My Destiny and Crazy Love, appeared in movies Let's Rock and Girls Town, hit record Puppy Love was later a hit for Donny Osmond, performed in Las Vegas, hosted TV shows Hullabaloo, The Midnight Special, and Spotlite, wrote the theme to The Tonight Show, rewrote the French lyrics to the song Comme d'Habitude which became one of Frank Sinatra's most famous songs, My Way, also wrote Tom Jones' biggest hit, She's a Lady. (Lebanese).
Joseph Robbie – Late Original Owner of Miami Dolphins, had a perfect season 14-0 and won 2 Super Bowls in 1973 and 1974; built $115-million Joe Robbie Stadium in 1987 with private funds. Also owned the Miami Toros and the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the North American Soccer League, posthumously inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2003. (Lebanese Father).
John Zogby, Pollster, President and CEO of Zogby International, one of the top pollsters in the U.S., received numerous accolades including "the most accurate pollster" by the Seattle Post Intelligencer, Cleveland Plain Dealer and USA Today, appears on nightly network news programs, the Today Show, Good Morning America, Fox News, MSNBC, Hardball with Chris Matthews and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. (Lebanese).
James Zogby – Founder of Arab American Institute, brother of John Zogby. (Lebanese).
Michael Nouri – Actor, most famous for leading role in Flashdance, was a regular on daytime soap Search for Tomorrow, played Lucky Luciano in The Gangster Chronicles, appeared in numerous movies including The Hidden, Finding Forrester and The Terminal, and appeared in numerous TV shows including the hit sitcom Love & War, Law & Order, and The Practice, also appeared on Broadway in Victor/Victoria. (Lebanese descent).
Christa McAuliffe – Late Astronaut, Teacher, lost her life aboard the space shuttle Challenger on January 28, 1986 when it exploded 73 seconds after lift-off, billed by her own students as "inspirational human being, a marvelous teacher who made their lessons come alive," was selected out of 11,500 applicants for the NASA Teacher in Space Project, was to be the first civilian sent into space, the Christa McAuliffe Planetarium was erected in her memory to promote the exploration of astronomy and space science. (Lebanese descent).
Andrew Thomas - President and CEO of Heinekin USA, the nation's largest beer importer, the first American to head the U.S. business unit. (Lebanese).
Bobby Rahal – Race Car Driver, Team Owner, Indy 500 Race Car Champion 1986, first Indy Car driver to surpass $1 million in winnings for a season, 24 career Indy wins, three time PPG Cup Champion, founded Team Rahal racing team, now Rahal/Letterman Racing, inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2004. (Lebanese descent).
Friday, December 7, 2007
Do you know Fathi Yakan?
Sample 1.
Yakan accuses Aoun of 'playing with fire'
Beirut - Islamic scholar Fathi Yakan indirectly accused his ally Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun of staging a coup against Taif.
"Despite our (differences in) stances and views from Feb 14 Forces, we smell the stink of a coup against the Taif Accord from one of our opposition allies," Yakan said. Yakan also accused Aoun of lack of "coordination and agreement, which could take the country back to the formula that prevailed (on Lebanon) 17 years back."
"We are satisfied by a president who is just and unbiased, affiliated with the Arabs with a pro-resistance stance vis-a-vis the Zionist entity," Yakan stressed.
"(The president's) jurisdiction, however, has been settled by the Lebanese constitution and the Taif accord.
Yakan accused Aoun of "playing with fire," and said he was afraid that "this could lead the country to grave conditions."
Sample 2.
March 27, 2007. A "Moderate" Muslim in his own words, and a member of Lebanon's Parliament to boot!
Top Lebanese Sunni Cleric Fathi Yakan: Bin Laden a Man After My Own Heart; I Am Not Sad Because of 9/11 and I Have Never Condemned this Attack.
From MEMRITV:Following are excerpts from an interview with Lebanese Sunni Cleric Fathi Yakan, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on March 16, 2007:Fathi Yakan: There is no doubt that Sheik Osama bin Laden has a high level of faithfulness, trustworthiness, and transparency. He is faithful to his religion and to Jihad for the elevation of the word of Allah. Unfortunately, there have been many rumors that he is an American creation, and that all that is happening is the result of scenarios concocted by him and America, especially following the Russians withdrawal from Afghanistan. There were claims that these people were biased towards the Americans, and that America toyed with them, and so on. I believe this is all nonsense, and that this is totally untrue. This man has a pure, honest and believing personality. He defends all that belongs to Islam and who renounces anything that is not Islamic, and therefore, he is a man after my own heart....
[...]
Interviewer: But there was an operation, for which Osama Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda claimed responsibility - the bombing of the Twin Towers in America, and what was described as terrorist attacks against the Americans. In this case, for example, are you with him or against him? Were you happy when you saw the towers collapse?
Fathi Yakan: If we examine the ideology of Al-Qaeda and Bin Laden in depth, we see that he has become completely convinced that the only way to curb the disease that is afflicting the Islamic world... The only way to stop this octopus is to crush the serpent's head.
Interviewer: Do you share this opinion?
Fathi Yakan: It's fine with me. I might have crushed the serpent's head in a different way. I might have crushed it by means of the Islamic resistance in South Lebanon, by attacking Israel. But Bin Laden said: "No, I will strike it in its own home. I will strike it in the World Trade Center, and shake its economic status." This is his methodology, and he should bear responsibility for it, but I am not sad or depressed that this happened, and I do not condemn it. In all honestly, I have never condemned this. Just like it had negative ramifications, it had positive ones as well.
Sample 3.
Muslim Scholar Fathi Yakan Believes in Evolution and in Apes-to-Humans transmission of HIV. He agrees with Charles Darwin that humans descend from apes and pigs. Stunning development in the Muslim world.
On Al Manar television: Lebanese Cleric Fathi Yakan: Whoever Disputes Hizbullah's Victory over the Descendents of Apes and Pigs Has Mental AIDS
The following are excerpts from a speech delivered by Lebanese cleric Fathi Yakan, head of the Lebanese Islamic Action Front, which aired on Al-Manar TV on October 20, 2006.
Fathi Yakan: Tomorrow, Allah willing, the "true promise" will be fulfilled in Palestine, all of Palestine - not just in Jerusalem, not just in the 1967 territories, but on all Palestinian soil, the land of the frontline. Then, brothers, the greatest victory awaits us - the promise of the world to come. These promises will be followed by other promises, and then the greatest promise will be fulfilled, through the words of the Prophet Muhammad: "Judgment Day will only come when the Muslims fight the Jews, and kill them." This is the promise of the world to come. Through the true promise in Lebanon and in Palestine, we proceed, Allah willing, to the final promise, when the state of Israel, this cancerous growth, will be eliminated, Allah willing...
...Every day, the Israeli enemy opens a small window, and looks out at what happened in Lebanon, confirming that the resistance and Lebanon were victorious, and that defeat was the lot of Israel and this accursed Israeli people - this accursed nation, the offspring of apes and pigs. I say to you, brothers, with all honesty: I suggest that the Lebanese who feel [Israel won the war] should go see a doctor, because they may be afflicted with psychological or mental AIDS.
Monday, December 3, 2007
From General to General: Lebanon in Perpetual Crisis
December 3, 2007
Syria came dragging its feet to Annapolis for the hefty prize of, yet again, interfering in Lebanon’s internal affairs. Unfortunately, and in spite of repeated assurances by this Bush administration that - unlike the Bush father administration in the early 1990s – it will not sell out Lebanon to Syria as an enticement for the latter to join the Palestinian-Israeli peace process, it appears the US has shifted gears in its position and has rewarded the Baathist regime of Bashar Assad by authorizing the “anti-Syrian” March 14 traditionalist coalition in Beirut to acquiesce to pro-Syrian General Michel Suleiman as a candidate for the Presidency of the Republic, a post which has been vacant since Parliament failed to elect a new President late last week.
In a surprising turnabout, the stalwart hodge-podge coalition of corrupt big-money traditionalists and former warlords who for months had repeatedly rejected any constitutional amendment and were categorically against a military man in the seat, recanted the very next day following the conclusion of the Annapolis conference and said it was now willing to amend the constitution in order to elect Army Commander Michel Suleiman. In a statement issued yesterday, the coalition stated: “[The Coalition] has revised its principled position vis-à-vis an amendment to the constitution, in order to bring about a solution that stops the exacerbation of the crisis, puts an end to the plot for toppling the State and its institutions, and leads to filling the constitutional vacuum in the post of the Presidency of the Republic…”
After the March 14 coalition celebrated the end of the term of General Emile Lahoud, Syria’s top Lebanese dog for nine years, it is now rushing to elect General Michel Suleiman, another one of Syria’s big Lebanese dogs, as the up and coming new President of Lebanon. Michel Suleiman made his career cavorting to the Syrians and dismantling his own army in order to support Hezbollah. He was appointed Army Commander by Lahoud himself in the same wave of Syrian occupation-approved appointments that brought the men (many of whom are now in prison on suspicion of involvement in the Rafik Hariri assassination) into their positions of power: Brig. Gen. Jamil al-Sayyid at the helm of the General Security Directorate (today in prison), Brig. Samir al-Khadem, a naturalized Syrian who was born in Bashar Assad's hometown, as Commander of the Navy, Colonel Maher Toufayli, who previously worked closely with Hezbollah as head of Military Intelligence in south Lebanon, as Deputy Director General of State Security, and the Colonel Raymond Azar as Director of Military Intelligence (today in prison) [From: Gary Gambill, Middle East Intelligence Bulletin, Vol.3, No. 11, 2001].
Michel Suleiman’s leadership of the Army was everything that the Syrians wanted: The Army was deliberately and systematically undermined, in both its morale and its readiness, consistently with the Syrian policy of weakening the Army while elevating Hezbollah as the ultimate defender of Lebanon against the “Zionist occupation”. Throughout the years of the Syrian occupation, the Shebaa charade and Hezbollah’s resistance farce in the south, Hassan Nasrallah repeatedly told the Lebanese people “the Army was incapable of defending the country”, and not once did Michel Suleiman object to this insult to his own institution. In fact, for all those years and to this day, the salary of every soldier in Michel Suleiman’s Lebanese Army is subject to a compulsory 10% deduction which goes to funding the “resistance” activities of Hezbollah. The justification is that since the Army is incapable of defending the country, and Hezbollah is making up for the Army’s deficiency and impotence, it makes sense to punish every Lebanese soldier by taking his money and giving it to the Iranian lackey Hassan Nasrallah.
To add insult to injury, Suleiman’s Lebanese and Maronite identities are themselves under suspicion: His grandparents are rumored to have been members of the Syrian Alawi tribe of the Assads of Syria before emigrating to Lebanon and becoming Maronite Christians. Through his own marriage, he seems to have retained those Syrian ties since he married into a Syrian family with very close political connections with the Assads: Michel Suleiman’s brother-in-law is Gebran Khouriyyeh, none else but the official spokesman of the late Syrian dictator Hafez Assad.
When the Syrian Army was withdrawing from Lebanon in 2005, under intense pressure from the Lebanese people and the international community, Michel Suleiman, like Walid Jumblatt (today an anti-Syrian pillar of the March 14 coalition), lauded the role of the Syrian Army in Lebanon for 30 years of occupation, crediting it with rebuilding the army, maintaining peace among the country's 17 sects and ending the 1975-90 civil war. He bid farewell to his Syrian “brothers in arms’ with these words: "Together we shall always remain brothers in arms in the face of the Israeli enemy.” [From: International Herald Tribune, After 29 years, Syria leaves Lebanon, April 26, 2005].
At the height of the Nahr El-Bared battles earlier this past summer, Suleiman defended Syria against accusations that it created and sponsored Fatah Al-Islam – in stark opposition to the positions of the March 14 coalition – saying instead that Fatah Al-Islam is an Al-Qaeda branch operating in Lebanon.
And so today, the March 14 coalition, and very likely Hezbollah and its ally Michel Aoun, will again in the tradition of treacherous Lebanese politics collude to protect their own positions, abide by the dictates of outsiders, and betray their own people by yet again raping the constitution and electing someone who should not be elected. Michel Suleiman is a former Syrian crony, a military man who has run the Lebanese army as a militarily-emasculated intelligence unit of the Syrian Mukhabaraat Services, and who stands to become the next President of Lebanon. No one seems to notice that all those Generals who have attempted to “save” Lebanon looked promising under their brass the first 6 months, only to turn into one big disappointment every time: General Fouad Shihab (and his successor Charles Helou) who ran the country under a heavy-handed “Second Bureau” not unlike the East German Stasi and whose “reign” ended in 1972 with the only democratic presidential election Lebanon ever had. General Emile Boustani who signed the 1969 Cairo Accord ceding sovereignty of the Lebanese south to Yasser Arafat’s PLO, General Aoun who liberated the presidential palace into the hands of Syria, and General Lahoud who was the Syrian dictator’s point man for the many long years of the occupation from 1990 to 2005 and then some. And now, we are told, the “compromise” or “consensus” President is another Syrian pro-Consul military man, General Michel Suleiman?
There will be much rejoicing at the election of a President, not because the right man was elected, and not because the will of the Lebanese people has been met. There will be rejoicing because a crisis – out of hundreds that the country has seen under the aegis of the corrupt Lebanese political establishment – has been averted for a while. Two years down the line, the problems of Hezbollah’s weapons, Iran’s and Syria’s influences, the Palestinian refugee camps, the non-identification of Lebanon’s Moslem communities with a simple Lebanese national identity divorced from Islam or Pan-Arab nationalism, will still be around to cause a new crisis and a new paralysis of government, primarily because of the flaws of the Taef Agreement which has sown the seeds for bigger future problems than at any time in the past. The fate of Lebanon and the Lebanese people, it seems, is to live from crisis to crisis, in perpetual dependency on the feudal lords, the warlords, the religious institutions, the traditionalist families of Ottoman occupation vintage, and the new oily and shiny big money whales from the Arab hinterland, and never to see the real fundamental problems of Lebanon’s gangrenous political body addressed.