A Marriage No-Fly List

So what do you do if your parents are forcing you to marry? Easy, just request you get put on a no-fly list:

A Lebanese family based in Sydney has been banned from taking their daughter to their home country for an arranged marriage. The Federal Magistrates Court acted after the girl, aged 17, called Australian Federal Police from her home while her mother was out, saying she had been booked to fly out of Australia against her will. The girl, who cannot be named, wanted police to put her name on an airport watch list so she could not pass through passport control without triggering an alarm.

And so the police got the courts to comply; saving the 17 year old from a marriage set-up where the sales pitch most probably went like this: “I have a beautiful daughter for you. She’s just about to turn 18 and she has an Australian passport. You’d love to live in Australia, wouldn’t you? She’s perfect for you”.

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• Do Us a Favor and Keep Them There
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“It Was like Something from Beirut”

OK, so let’s assume there is an event you really want to see and a week before its launch, its unexplainable canceled. Do you:

A) Send the organizers a letter complaining and try to find something else to do on that day.
or
B) Gather a mob through Facebook to meet at a store sponsoring the event and trash it.

Well, guess which option was chosen  in Australia:

Hundreds of revheads trashed a Bob Jane T-marts store and brought the Princes Highway in Oakleigh to a standstill for hours last night.
[...]
The commotion started after the EasterNats race meet at Calder Park Raceway was cancelled earlier this week, and the crowds last night decided to vent their anger on the sponsor’s store, on the corner of Princes Highway and Warrigal Rd.

So how bad was the rioting? Take a look for yourself:

Damage done to a Victorian Bob Jane T-Marts store after hoons ransacked the shop in protest of the cancellation of a race meet. Picture: Darren Tindale

Unfortunately though, by-standers were also caught up in the commotion:

Murrumbeena resident Cheryl, who was driving her 16-year-old son Jake home from a basketball game, took shelter in the nearby KFC and said she was too scared to leave for an hour.
“It was like something from Beirut,” she said.

Another unfortunate thing is that I do not have much to go one to send Cheryl a Looks Like Beirut Certificate, so Cheryl with a 16-year old son who lives in Murrumbeena, Victoria, if you would like to receive your certificate, just email me your address at (jad at jadaoun dot com).

I would also like to thank Stuart who sent me the link to the article. If you would like to contribute to the Looks Like Beirut Awards, just send me a mail (jad at jadaoun dot com).

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“Now it’s like Beirut”

A 31-year resident of the Australian town of Altona Meadows has had enough:

Altona Meadows is being ruined by selfish residents with no respect for their neighbours, says Trevor, an emergency services worker who has lived in Shirley St for 31 years.
“Ten years ago this was the most beautiful street in Altona Meadows,” he says.
“Now it’s like Beirut.”

This is what his street currently looks like:

Let me tell you something Trevor, Beirut doesn’t have space for green. Let me rephrase that in a better way, we have no green. So your little insignificant street can never look like Beirut. As for the comment itself, its quite immature, stupid and pathetic like your complaint.

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• You Called Me What?
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Where There’s No Smoke

Following on the heals of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Zouk Mikael Municipality, Australia’s alternative to Starbucks, Gloria Jean’s, goes down the same road:

Australian owned coffee brand Gloria Jean’s Coffees has continued its international expansion with the opening of its first coffee house in Lebanon.
[...]
“Our smoke-free store has been welcomed by the local community in a city where the concept is still widely unavailable. We enjoyed a very successful first week of trading and expect Beirut to be a hugely valuable addition to our growing Middle Eastern market,” said company executive chairman, Nabi Saleh.

Lebanon: Where we put out smoking one cigarette at a time.

Gloria Jean's Coffee at Sharjah's Mega Mall

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Do Us a Favor and Keep Them There

Can you imagine three teenagers charged with 200 sexual assault offenses in a span of two months? Wondering why am I bring this issue up?

You guessed it, there’s a Lebanese connection:

Eric Mumbler, 19, and his workmates at a demolition business, Nabil Merhi, 18, and Ahmed Yehia, 19 [...are...] charged with raping and threatening to kill two men [and] are at risk of fleeing to Lebanon.

Senior Constable Chris Walsh of the sexual crimes squad told the court Merhi and Yehia had family connections in Lebanon and had travelled there following the alleged offences. Mumbler, who is not of Lebanese descent, had a girlfriend in Lebanon, and intended to move there to live.

Charged with raping men after having a girlfriend? Well we can safely assume things didn’t go well in the relationship department. It might have screwed with his head so much that he voluntarily wants to move to Lebanon! Why would you want to do something like that! I ask the Australian courts to keep the three confined Down Under and if found guilty, please DO DEPORT THEM TO LEBANON.  Clearly they cannot comprehend their actions.

Check out these great posts:

• A Marriage No-Fly List
• You Called Me What?
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