It is very rare for women to go out to a coffee shop in Taif, even if it has its own family section. Rarer still to see a woman sitting alone or with friends in a coffee shop drinking coffee. Not even in any of the three coffee shops with family sections in Taif. Rana Muhammad, a regular at coffee shops, said: "I love to come with my family or friends to the coffee shop, although it does not provide shisha like the coffee shops in Jeddah. Nor does it have a TV set. Despite all that, the coffee shop remains the No. 1 favorite place to have my coffee." But for some, she said, coffee shops remain a forbidden territory. "They look at coffee shops as symbolic of Western culture and as such should be banned. No one should go inside or drink their coffee," she added.
Prob'ly run by Zionists and other such unsavory characters. Definitely has an effect on the flavor of the coffee...
H. Al-Qurashi, a female university student, agrees that it should be banned. "It is enough that it is an American outlet. We must boycott American products. These coffee shops are mixed places even if there are barriers between sexes. There is music blaring all the time. All these sins together in one place. We should ban it."
"American products! Mixed places, even if there are barriers between the sexes! Nakedness under all that clothing! Music! Laughter! Oh, the degeneracy of it all! It must be banned!"
"Oh Fatima, hold me!"
"Okay ... hey, wait a minute!"
Starbucks is the biggest loser. It closed the family section in their only branch in Taif. Paul Matta, responsible for chain stores in Saudi Arabia, justified the closure saying that customers had complained that there was no parking space for their cars.
So now they can park where the family section used to be, only they don't come, because they can't bring their families. Brilliant.
He said the branch in Taif gets busy only in the summer. A Starbucks employee said there is a section of society that does not respect the place and causes trouble.
It's called "teenagers."
About female attendance, he said educated girls in large numbers used to come by to enjoy its coffee. He said the management made sure that there were barriers between seats to prevent harassment.
"You know how Arabs are, especially Soddies. Take your eyes of the wimmin for a second and the skirts come up and the pants come down. That's why they have to keep 'em bundled up like that — they simply can't be trusted."
"We tried to avoid trouble by placing all tables inside the coffee shop. We are looking for another location to open a new branch and this time we will make sure that it could hold large number of people and has plenty of parking space."
"We actually need two buildings, one for the men's coffee shop and the other one, the one with the bars at the windows and the eunochs, for the wimmin. They get out of control so easily..."
Rabab Muhammad and her friends wish they could visit a coffee shop. They see no good reason why they are banned from going there. "I cannot ask my family to let me go to a coffee shop," Rabab said.
Certainly not, you brazen hussy! Oh, the shame of it all!
Her friends said she is banned from going to a coffee shop even inside the university. "She can't break the social barrier. It is said that if a girl wants to drink a cup of coffee, she must drink it inside her house or never drink it," they added.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2004 12:13:57 PM ||
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'May God prolong your life' is often expressed as a good wish between people in the Gulf region. This wish applies truly to UAE nationals, whose life-span ranges between 74 for men and 76 for women, as mentioned by the council's executive bureau for ministers of health in the AGCC. Qatar ranks second, whose citizens live approximately up to 74 years, followed by Bahrain, Oman and Saudi Arabia. Last on the list comes Yemen with a life-span of just 62 years. People suffering from old age in the UAE don't exceed 1 per cent, whereas in KSA, it is 3.1 per cent. The death rate here is also the lowest. Â
Certain population demographics in the Arabian peninsula are just exploding, as it were.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/27/2004 12:15:16 AM ||
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#1
High explosives and long life don't mix.
Posted by: ed ||
09/27/2004 1:40 Comments ||
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UAE national men with special needs may be allowed to avail of the Dh70, 000 marriage grant if they choose to marry expat women, under a new amended law. The marriage grant, which is offered by the Marriage Fund Institution, is at present restricted to nationals who wish to marry national women. "As part of the new amendments, which cover 80 per cent of the previous marriage law, it might be permissible for national males who are disabled and wish to marry non-national females to benefit from the marriage grant offered by the fund," said Jamal bin Obeid Al Bah, General Director of the Fund.
"Marry me, Susan, I have special needs!"
Following a meeting with the Fund's Board of Directors, Mr. Bah yesterday told Khaleej Times that one of the amendments to the law included allowing national men in this category to get the grant even if they wish to marry expatriate women. He noted that one of the objectives of the amended law is to expand the categories of beneficiaries of the grant. "About 99.9 per cent of the amended law is ready to be forwarded to the Legislation Committee prior to be submitted to higher authorities for endorsement," said Mr Bah. He said under the new amendments, the fund would become an authority with more social powers. "As per the new law, the institution will be an authority that caters more to the needs of society, particularly controlling marriage of nationals to foreign women, in addition to other phenomena that are alien to UAE society," said Mr Bah.
Treating a woman as equal under the law certainly is an alien concept in UAE society.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
09/27/2004 03:47 ||
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#1
"Luton has a vibrant multi-cultural community."
translates to: "Hotbed of muslim fundamentalism."
Posted by: Howard UK ||
09/27/2004 9:37 Comments ||
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#2
"Vibrant multicultural community" = swarming with post-pubescent tough guys and the cooking smells funny.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/27/2004 9:43 Comments ||
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#3
Aye full of muslims and burberry-clad scratters - aka a chavalanche.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
09/27/2004 9:55 Comments ||
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#4
If crime levels in Luton get really bad, don't let them conn you into forming a "Luton Brigade>"
Posted by: Super Hose ||
09/27/2004 10:00 Comments ||
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#5
LOL!
Posted by: Howard UK ||
09/27/2004 10:01 Comments ||
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#6
I wouldn't put the number of "volunteers" in a community at the top of the list for what makes a town good or bad. I was surprised to see a couple other towns on the list. Howard, Bulldog, or any of the other RB UKers-which towns do YOU think are the worst in Britain?
#7
C'mon, the Pythons were making fun of Luton back in the early '70s. This isn't anything new.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
09/27/2004 10:08 Comments ||
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#8
I'm fairly proud to say that my home-town makes it onto the list: Ilkeston, Derbyshire - featured largely in the writings of D.H.Lawrence. A 'beautiful' place.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
09/27/2004 10:19 Comments ||
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#9
Luton, number 1? Got to be kidding me! Whatever happened to Wapping or Milton Keynes? Well if they had an infamous airport serving middle income families flying off to Portugal and Malta as well as pensioners darting off to Costa Brava, they too would garner lots of votes. I tell you its the parking, just like it is in every city or town that gets rated "worse".
Posted by: Jack is Back ||
09/27/2004 10:38 Comments ||
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#10
not too far way from yer home town Howard , and aye its a shitehole for sure :)
Nottingham myself , Kinda disappointed some of our pit towns didnt make it onto the list .. gotta aim high!!
#11
the architecture of the Education Centre (closed down due to lack of custom), and the bizarre-smelling river that runs alongside the town. Ilkeston's most famous son is actor Robert Lindsay. He does not live there.
Sounds like Perry Fl. and Perry has no massage parlors or chip shops to brighten its aspect.
#12
Macnails: hilarious! A Forest fan? Derby County 'mesen'! - Went drinking in Notts at Xmas - had to have a 2am dance in the Market Square fountains for old times' sake!
Shipman - Ilkeston without chips and brothels? You have my sincere condolences!
Posted by: Howard UK ||
09/27/2004 13:37 Comments ||
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A man sold his wife's kidney for Rs 200,000 on Sunday. Zohra Bibi married Muhammad Ashfaq eight years ago and had no children. Ashfaq convinced her for surgery so that they could have children, but instead sold her kidney for Rs 200,000 and divorced her. Police have registered a case.
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
