^Lead the way LZ. I am at your service.

I'm not sure why you guys are coming down hard on the Australians. That Indian cricketer should be sanctioned. And if Aussies are playing dirty then they should be called on it. In no way can it excuse the racial slur of the Indian cricketer.

Waryaa Khalaf - you are letting the tribe down? Why are you supporting that two faced uber politician? Daabodhilif for cadaans

^I think it is more of a *Keep hope alive* exercise.

Send the money if you can. I think for widows, the elderly and folks in similar circumstances - a biil is fine. But for young working age men - emergency situation or bankrolling an investment in order to make them self sufficient is the way to go.

I think the point is not to mythologize people. And to understand that not everyone sees it from the same perspective.

^OMG!!! Not a single italicized word! Are you ok dear? Is all this warm weather affecting you adversely? I think one should start small. There are Somali community groups in most major cities now. If one isn't volunteering with them - then all the bellyaching is really of no use. And in case you're wondering - I've got that base covered.

^It's a multimedia class folks! What else is in your video archive?

Originally posted by Nephthys: Obama dameerkaas ma maqli karo warkiisa. That bit on CNN about his grandmother struck me this morning. I didn't know that she lives in such meagre circumstances. Islaan ilko jajaban oo sabuul fanjileeso outside of a tiny hut aa la isoo hor keenay! Lee ilaaha ila laaah . Obama is a fairly wealthy man, he could feed his grandmother's village for a long time on a just a portion of his salary. If he's going to use his grandma as an example of the diversity of his life experiences and his sympathy with the poor, a complete lifestyle make-over is in order, ala Somali bling-bling style. A U.S Senator running for president oo ayeeydiis saas u taasho waa u dad-nimo xumo . How true! I thought the exact same thing. And these journalists should leave the poor woman alone.

^I don't know. Presumbaly the argument is that perhaps marriage will change their ways and foist on them responsiblity. Additionally the parents don't want to seek it elsewhere I'm not sure it makes a whole helluva lot of difference. These 'kids' can refuse the marriage after all. And it's not even underacheiving kids that are the problem per se - somebody has to say 'would you like fries with that' - it's the criminal element.

^Science class is in session folks. CG and Cara are the co-professors. Come all ye in need of knowledge. Limited time offer.

Originally posted by Kashafa: quote:It is given that people who are related to A/Y, and who are disposed to clan sentiments, will always feel stung by the strong reaction, comments and hate towards the warlord What else do you think brought Point and Baashi out of hibernation ? Meel aa dhanganayso I've given up on debating with both our cyber dhabo-dhilifs or their 'neutral' sympathisers. Ever the masters of deflection and evasion, from the get-go they personalise every promising discussion with cries of "You are mean ! You hurt me with your harsh words ! Bad boy !". In the wake of a brutal occupation and in the face of darkest chapter of Somali history, these wussified yuppies want to be handled with velvet gloves. Adeer - you have my written permission to vent, spleen and hate on A/Y ad nauseam. And I will not utter one word about it. And if you had carefully read my post - you would notice I didn't say any differently. A/Y doesn't matter to me. As I was telling your co-cyber-mujahid Xoogsade - your intellectual argument of 'they're sticking up for their clanman' is equivalent to 'they love ICU because it's their clan' of your opponents. It amazes me how you present the same argument and then appropriate intellectual superiority to yourself and then also appropriate all that is Islam too. It is an irony beyond belief(almost). And it's not about 'you're mean' etc - it's how you present yourself and conduct yourself. The manner in which the message is presented is just as important as the message. Or do you believe the dictates of Islam on debates are meaningless and thus to be jettisoned? Odd.

Originally posted by Xoogsade: quote:Originally posted by ThePoint: ^It's an oddity. One espouses Islam yet one acts in a way contrary to its teachings. No wonder the message is viewed with deep suspicion and derision. Personally - I don't thing MMA's original call is all that bad. If one feels strongly - protest outide the hospital respectfully. The message is viewed with suspicion because Kashafa may not belong to A/Y's clan. If Kashafa has his clan roots in A/Y's, and was as much ferociously anti him, A/Y loyalists would question his bloodline to discredit him when they find nothing else that sticks. That is how the minds of most somalis if not all who are embued with clan sentiments work, they see everything through the clan. Kashafa does or did, says or said nothing wrong with regards to A/Y and the TFG. Anyone whose priority is to live according to God's laws would find A/Y a disturbed man, a criminal, someone with blood on his hands, someone who should be shunned. See here we have a problem. From where you stand they have a deep suspicion because Kashafa is not from Yusuf's clan etc. That is the same type of argument used by your opponents - ie you hate Yusuf and that's why you're against him. Your commentary above is the intellectual equivalent and is fundamentally flawed. If anyone reads Kashafa's posts - one is disturbed not by the content but by the tone. The hostility, anger, bitterness and rudeness simply overwhelm whatever sound arguments he puts forth. That is not how a vanguard of Islam should be putting forth his arguments. The talk of Islam is not matched by the walk - to paraphrase an old adage. Futhermore - and this is what I find absolutely flabbergasting - it is in his own interest to put forth his arguments in a civilized tone so that the many SOLers, registered and unregistered, can grasp and appreciate the arguments. So odd.

Originally posted by -Lily-: The Point, this nonsense of ‘opportunity’ is what everyone keeps throwing at these youths. Have they been raised to appreciate what an opportunity is? Or is their version of an opportunity pick pocketing the elderly man at the bus stop for some cigarettes? It is not nonsense at all. 'Have they been raised...' - I think this is the crux of the problem. People really need to ponder at what age any individual should step up and take responsibility for one's own actions. Fortunately for us our religion gives us some gudiance - the age is puberty or 15. Let's take 15 years of age. And yet here we are making excuses for these people - many who are much older than that. I'm not saying there are not external factors that have shaped these loser boys but the primary reason is the individual choices. I don't think it is rocket science to assume these losers see, hear and possibly read(one hopes!) of individuals who arrive in the country with nothing and then end up doing very well. Why is it inconceivable for these people to think and ask themselves - how can go I about in that vien?

Originally posted by Caano Geel: take the UK, by the time your 16 the society has already defined a large aspect of the life you will lead (education, health, wealth, prospects..) and it takes a lot of personal character to redirect your self away from it. So really if your talking about changing a society and not remoulding characters away from and to various paths, you've got to get in on the formative years. If the role of parents is then to help their children in these early years, you have to take into account the amount of attention a given child has from their parents. Take an ideal case, 2 parent and say 4 children, assume that you have loving caring providing ... parents that share their attention equally between the children. In this case, at best children get *1/4 of a parents full attention* each. Now take 6 children, they now get 1/6 ... you get the point, the point (couldn't help it). so having given you my condensed 'how in god's name'... gimme your anti Ok - it's not too difficult. Here in North America, Blacks have the average household size ie 2/3 and Somalis upwards of 5. Both groups pretty much do the same socioeconomically. In fact in certain places ie. Minnesota Somalis are doing better despite their large family size. Additionally, the idea that having more time to devote to children necessarily equals better outcomes is flawed. Granted - the probability is favourable that more time spent with your children is better. But how many of us know individuals in our families who were brought in similar circumstances and are at vastly different places in life. I know in my own family there are too many to count. And then you have the additional factor of sex. Why is it that Somali girls and boys brought up in the same 'large' families are doing so differently? Shouldn't the size of families affect both sexes to the same negative degree or close to it? Why is it not? I reject categorically the idea that family planning is the solution or any arguments in that vien. I think that is way too reductionist. I would accept the idea that one of the factors contibuting to the 'lost boys' is that problems are unlikely to be diagnosed and remedied early enough where the parent has too little time to devote because of the number of kids. (But then again - you can say the too little time argument about busy executives and time does not denote quality - I really dislike this argument instinctively) Personally - I think the primary factors leading to this problem are: 1- The individual choices these 'loser boys' make 2- The shameful and outrageous absence of Somali fathers 3- The Yob culture which these rejects adopt as if it were their own - (wtf do you have an earring for? - damn!) One other note - I think people should be careful about distinguishing what really matters. It matters not whether you get married at 15 or you or your spouse are uneducated and unskilled. What matters is your character and work ethic. If all that you and your offspring manage to accomplish is to be low skilled wage labourers - that is fine. There is nothing wrong with that. Clearly to be educated is to allow yourself more in terms of opportunities and material comfort but that is not how everyone is made.

Grasshopper welcome to SOL. That is a cool experience though personally I would never go the Far East. My sister tried to get a posting in the Middle East somewhere and there was virtually none to be had. They kept urging her to go to China. A lone black hijaabi - she passed!

CG - man - I cannot believe you're reducing this issue down to 'family planning'. That is just an unbelievable position to take. How in God's name did you arrive at this 'solution'? At the end of the day - this is about grown individuals taking responsiblity for their actions. When one reaches 15-18, blaming others for one's life is simply BS. And the sad thing is - while they waste their lives in criminality and decriptude - there are countless people who would give everything up, including their lives, to have a fraction of the opportunities these so called 'lost boys' have. Exterminate the lot of them. :mad:

^It's an oddity. One espouses Islam yet one acts in a way contrary to its teachings. No wonder the message is viewed with deep suspicion and derision. Personally - I don't thing MMA's original call is all that bad. If one feels strongly - protest outide the hospital respectfully.

No need to original post.

It's not about black and white - it's about his message - one which he expresses in such an eloquent way far above his rivals. The smart thing he's done is to distance himself from 'black' issues in order not to 'alienate' whites.

At the end of the day - you cannot destroy your country because your group was denied power even in a clearly flawed election as this. This is just retarded. That type of mentality led to the utter collapse of Somalia. I don't believe in the end Kenyans will got that route. They're much too civilized.

^Ahh - got it Whatever it is - I thank God it's the case

I hardly think anyone can travel on Somaliland passports. Folks can barely travel on Somali passports when Somalia is a recognized entity. How does this dissembling bolster one's arguments? Odd.

^But that doesn't explain the old men who go about topless. Surely their metabolism is the same. I think it's not their health they're worried about. It's for the rest of us - they don't want us to go about having coronaries at the sight.

The bottom line for Somalia's problems is this: Political power is used to steal resources, either through outright theft or by conferring governmrnt jobs onto your relatives. And the primary factor that determines how resources are misused is qaabiil. It is not qaabiil that is the problem per se but how the political system is abused on the basis of qaabiil. To that end I would: 1- Hold elections for political positions which must be certified by outside election monitors to be accpeted 2- All political positions are to be subjected to annual audit done by outside parties - every cent must be accounted for 3- Political positions have no power of patronage - ie. simply because you have been elected you can't employ half your cousins in various jobs 4- All government jobs are subject to a national exam - those individuals who score the highest get the jobs - if there are more individuals than jobs a lottery will determine who gets in 5 - For government jobs that require no skills per se - it will be done by lottery