Bahrain is Broken

The time when unspoken divides remained unspoken and hate was nothing but an itchy feeling at the back of your brain is officially gone. The old Bahrain, oft criticised, far from perfect, constantly annoying yet oddly endearing, is dead..

This is the new Bahrain that nobody wanted. It’s the Vista to the old XP, the unwanted sequel that never should have been. The events of the past month have altered the fabric of our existence in a profoundly disturbing way. Lines have been drawn, first in sand... and then with blood, tears, hate and idiocy. Evolution from an apolitical existence into a world flooded with political opinion should never happen overnight. At best, politics are a tumultuous bastard of a game that should be played carefully. But we, the all-knowing, the wise, the arrogant, the holier than thou people of this broken Kingdom, we take sides and cling desperately to them without knowing why, how or what the fuck is going on. We presume to be knowledgeable, and use our new found genius to indoctrinate those who know not what we know. We dismiss conflicting opinion, and rather than engage constructively, or god forbid, intelligently, we wage war. The crack in our society has grown into an abyss.

We can only blame ourselves, collectively, for the tsunami of shit that rains down on us. Idiots hijacked the promise of a new tomorrow, turned it into a competition, cheated and then pretended to win. Instead of actually uniting, people spoke of unity and then somehow managed to bastardise the concept entirely. People pointed fingers and threw blame about so wantonly that the whole fucking world is now stained with it. This was never about sides. This was about reality, existence, inequality, transparency and dignity. But then blood was spilled. And fingers pointed. And, logically yet tragically, demands became louder. And more stubborn. And more confused. Every passing moment detracted from the urgency of the movement. Instead of seizing the moment that circumstances, bravery and the blatant idiocy of the powers that be had created, it was squandered by idealism. Idealism that for a fleeting moment energised Bahrain, electrified the population and gave rise to the most amazing thing... real, true, actual freedom of speech. People spoke without fear. Hushed whispers turned into heated discussions. Bahrain was evolving. Everybody, pro or anti, for or against, idiotic or otherwise... everybody participated. Everybody got a chance, a brief chance, to feel what Bahrain could be like had cooler heads prevailed.

We had this new gift, this power, and we knew not how to use it. We tested it out. We exploited it. We abused it, just to see if it was real. And with every passing day this new gift polarised us further. Those demanding change lost their clarity under murky veils of understandable, justifiable, but ill-advised hatred. Those afraid of change responded to hate with hate. Instead of taking a step back and attempting to understand the complexity of the situation that Bahrain was in, everything became about sides. Pro and Anti were the buzzwords that destroyed Bahrain. And sensing opportunity, the propaganda machine stepped up a gear. Or three. They worked on the cracks with jackhammers and dynamite. Bahrain’s media, particularly BTV- the sick, idiotic bastards that they are - threw as much fuel on the fire as they possibly could. Hope suddenly turned into fear. Protesters were labelled rioters and terrorists. Mercenaries and thugs were called protesters. Bahrain was suddenly gripped by fear, confusion and a disturbing amount of hatred. Everything went wrong.

Precious time ticked away. Frustration became anger. And anger turned into violence again. And now we’re all well and truly fucked.

The prospect of exciting change, of evolution, that lurked teasingly on the horizon was replaced by foreign armies, live ammunition, a state of emergency and the obliteration of human rights. The promise of equality and democracy was ripped apart and set on fire. Bullets are being used to silence words. Progression became repression in the blink of an eye. Freedom of speech is no more. Freedom is no more.

Bahrain is no more.

It was never anti-government.. It was always pro-equality. It was never pro-government.. It was anti-change. It was never unity, because unity is an illusion in politics. A myth. Unity was the third way, a middle road that confused one side and angered another before being hijacked by both. The refusal of Bahrain to understand, manage and thrive in a world of divergent opinion was our undoing. We’re all arrogant bastards and we should all be ashamed of ourselves.

And if you want to blame something, if you need to blame something, blame BTV. Whores.

Enjoy captivity. It’s not like you’ve got a choice.

Hahaha?

Postless perhaps but angry still. An eventful few months have passed since last I wrote anything, though to speak of certain events is tantamount to treason so perhaps I’ll just complain about something obscure for now.

Jokes. They’re supposed to make people laugh. To lighten moods and turn frowns upside down or whatever. Sure, they can often be crude, risque, stupid, pointless, racist, mean or just shit, but should they be illegal? Because here in the sunny, free, gloriously democratic and wonderfully self-referential Kingdom of Bahrain, they practically are. Type ‘jokes’ into google. The majority of the first several pages of returns all transport us magically to the site blocked screen of doom.

Why? Because by protecting our children and children's children from the vagaries of humour we can build a better, more serious Bahrain. Obviously. A more serious Bahrain is a more productive Bahrain. A more devout Bahrain. A better Bahrain. Probably.

By casually dismissing censorship we’ve allowed it to run rampant. First the subjectively offensive was deemed blockworthy. Then the ridiculously obscure was put in an idiotic cage. Opinion is and will continue to be illegal. Translating stuff is still somehow wrong, for some reason far to imbecilic to comprehend. Nothing is safe because of the argument that nothing is safe. And so the vicious cycle of censorship will continue, plodding along pointlessly under the guise of protecting our populace from the evils of porn, politics and prognostication.

Anyway... we all know censorship is bad and if you disagree your opinion matters about as much as mouldy cheese as far as I am concerned. But be warned... next time you tell a joke, or you hear a joke, or even dare to think about a joke, remember.. that shit is illegal. There’s probably a secret undercover humour cop lurking about nearby, ready to pounce at the first hint of laughter. What’s ironic is that making jokes illegal, whatever the reasoning may be, is utterly hilarious.

More soon. Hopefully.

Horton hears a what?

Typical Les. He went and missed the point. He never came close to finding the point. In fact, he managed to somehow derive his very own point out of thin air. Or maybe it was the 'internet cloud'. Anyway...

"

A literary career down the toilet?

I had to laugh when a friend sent me a link to a blogsite featuring the rantings of a character calling himself The Dude, who appears to be unhappy with everything in Bahrain - including the GDN and myself.

Featured on the site is a survey titled 'How Crap is Les Horton', in which the blogger's followers were invited to vote on my performance as a columnist.

These range from 'Monumentally' (crap), through 'Incredulously', 'Stupendously' and 'Like, totally', to 'Only partially'.

Fifty-four per cent hit 'Monumentally', which would be cause for concern had the anonymous blogger not been honest enough to post that this amounted to four out of a total of just seven votes, after which the poll was closed.

I am not sure whether that means that only seven people thought my column even worthy of insult, or if they were the only people tapping into the site.

But my gratitude goes out to the sole voter who clicked "Only partially", which suggests that all is not completely lost as far as my career goes.

Anyone who puts themselves on the public stage should expect to have to dodge the odd rotten tomato and I take no offence at all from any criticism that may come my way.

In fact, I am rather fond of my personal 'stalker' who entertains my colleagues and I with the most imaginative insults, though has never had the courage to put his name to his emails.

Likewise, The Dude hides behind a pseudonym as he dismisses my work as "the ramblings of an unspectacular mind scrawled onto paper by a lacklustre hand" - and that's just the polite bit.

When I first saw the site, I was tempted to pick up the gauntlet and invite readers to answer the question which headlines his now defunct poll - but this could prove to be a double-edged sword.

Should thousands of you write in my defence, there may be a strong chance of a pay rise, even in these times of corporate belt-tightening.

But should the votes go the other way, I could just as easily find myself out of a job, or at least silenced and would have to, as The Dude put it, pack away my crayons

"

Where to begin? First of all, that Les could dedicate an entire column to something as trivial and self-serving as a poll about himself is precisely why I have a problem with his column and the GDN. Play it like you're a good sport and bask in the glow of your 'fame' while you drown in support from far and wide. Don't get a snorkel just yet Les. 

Yes, that the poll closed automatically after however long the poll was open for is an oversight on my part,  but it was just there for novelty value anyway. The only opinion that matters is my own. That's what opinion is all about. Opinion should, like an onion, be firm and rather strong. Layered? Why not. A useful ingredient in just about any cooking? Sure, I guess. Seven votes. Disappointing perhaps, but also, considering this blog is planted in the far reaches of the interweb, not bad either. Considering ol' Les boy got himself one entire letter of support, I could say I win. But I wont. Because we all know that I have already won. Twelve thousand copies a day according to the last time I perused a rate card. One response. Talk about conversion rates. What he's done there is:

a) Demonstrate how ineffective the GDN is an advertising medium, and/or

b) Demonstrate how few people give a damn about Les's trivial 'musings', and/or

c) Reinforce my convictions about the pointlessness of print media, and

d) Remind us all of how little actual news the GDN bothers to waste its ink on. 

Les's focus seems to be on this poll. Not a whisper or a mention of the fact that I went and accused one of his colleagues of the P word. As an editor, deputy or otherwise, shouldn't he give a bit of a hint of a damn? I reckon he did, anonymously, though it is sheer speculation on my part. Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't journalism - Mr. Horton's chosen or happened upon profession - about things like news and integrity? I'll pause so he can dust off that thesaurus...

Moving on. Yeah, I hide behind a pseudonym. Because I am a coward? Yeah, sure, I'll take that. Excuse me for not blatantly attempting to get myself thrown behind bars for assaulting the myth of press freedom in our Kingdom. I'm not overly political, but I am opinionated and not utterly imbecilic. Would I leave the press and the fabled GDN to speak for me should I end up being drawn and quartered? Hell no, because I am not retarded, or at least I don't think I am. 

I seek no recognition (mostly due to laziness as opposed to modesty), something Les would be hard pressed to understand. I just want to complain, and that's what I've been doing. Furthermore, the pseudonym exists because the primary function of this blog was that of a social experiment - an attempt to see how information disseminates in our society when people actively seek out information. This blog began because of Internet censorship, and I was curious to know how long it'd be before someone I knew figured out who was spewing pointlessness in random directions for no apparent reason. Not that long apparently. About two weeks as I recall. This blog has never, not once, been promoted in person by myself. Not to family, not to friends. I have told nobody of it's existence in an attempt to keep my experiment pure. Idiotic? Perhaps. But I care not. I now know that should people seek opinion, like minded or not, they can find it despite the best attempts of our Ministries to thwart free speech while Les and his colleagues blow fascist trumpets in attempts to drown out the noise of dissent. 

What next? His use of the term 'stalker' is far from accurate. Les, like he said, is in the public eye. I, as a member of the public, occasionally happen upon his musings while delicately handling germ-ridden media whilst waiting for something inane like overpriced coffee. I have long believed that the space utilised for his column could be put to better use. When I read in bewilderment his ignorance regarding 'cloud computing' I turned thoughts into words, and so began this banal saga of microscopic proportions. That he admitted openly to being ignorant on the subject matter does not forgive the genuine level of ineptitude on display in that particular slice of dumb, and I decided to share my opinion with whoever the hell decided to stumble this way. How, in any sense of the word, does that make me a stalker? Sure, if I wanted to I could find out where Les live thanks to the privacy-raping awesomeness of the World Wide Web, but why would I want to do that? Les does not fascinate me. I am not attracted to him. What other requisites are there for bandying about a term like stalker? Weird. Perhaps it's a fantasy or something.... but I digress... 

Lets get back to Les's words... "never had the courage to put his name to his emails". Damn. That I need to point out to a 'journalist' that there is a fundamental and obnoxiously obvious difference between emails and blog posts is, at this stage, unsurprising and vaguely depressing, like just about everything we've come to expect from Les and the GDN. Just because it's on a computer doesn't make it an email. A painting is not the same as a photograph, even if they both exist on paper. Trivial, yes, but revealing nonetheless. Surely someone purporting to be a journalist should be somewhat closer to understanding that big 'ol internet, seeing as how it's bringing about the demise of their beloved print media and its corresponding advertising income, i.e. the bread that buys his bread. When people said the Internet was the future, that was in the past Les. The internet is now. Like it or loathe it, it was not a fad. Take a class or something. 

I'm bored now. But just so you know, using words like 'gauntlet' and 'double-edged' sword do not make you scary or intimidating. They do however make Les read like an imperialist crusader with an obvious ego surplus. I'd suggest burying hatchets and whatnot, but this is way too much fun. One last question... has anyone ever accused Les's career of being 'literary'? 

Until next time,

Goodnight and good luck <---- google it. Teach yourself a thing or two about 'journalism'. 

Plagiarise This

It will come as no surprise to anyone who has ever glanced at my blog that my next rantathon will be directed, once again, at the GDN. Why? Well, a few months ago I remember glancing at a car review, by the 'Voice of Bahrain's' very own Mandeep Singh. It was oddly familiar, yet the prose was inconsistent. And then I realised why. I'd read most of it online. Not on the GDN's atrocious excuse for a website, nooooo.... somewhere else entirely. After a brief consultation with my old pal google, Mr. Mandeep's plagiarism was glaringly obvious. The car in question was a Bentley, and for any doubters, naysayers or GDN-lovers, I provide links - one of which required digging into the GDN's archives. You're welcome. But first, let's compare one passage of these reviews...

From the GDN:

Putting all the hand-hewn grunt to the pavement is a seamless all-wheel-drive system with a 40:60 front-to-rear torque bias. As impressive as the drive train is, it pales in comparison to its ceramic rotors the size of a large party platter and eight-piston calipers to virtually pull your eyeballs from their sockets the second you step on the brake pedal.

From popularmechanics.com:

Putting all the hand-hewn grunt to the pavement is a seamless all-wheel-drive system with a 40:60 front-to-rear torque bias. As impressive as the drivetrain is, it pales in comparison to the Supersports' brake system. The car uses ceramic rotors the size of a large party platter (16.5 inches) and eight-piston calipers to pull your eyeballs from their sockets the second you step on the left pedal.

See what Mandeep did there?  He dropped a few words - 'the Supersports' brake system. The car uses' - and a measurement - '(16.5 inches)' - and presto! Original content is born! 

The reviews in full. Spot the differences: 

Popular Mechanics Bentley review

Mandeep's Bentley review

Anyway... a recent bout of curiosity got me a-thinkin that this might not have been an isolated incident. So I decided to ask uncle Google a few more questions, and lo and behold, I found me (quite easily) a couple more examples of cut-'n-paste-itis. All courtesy of the same Mr. Mandeep Singh. All car reviews, because I have not the energy nor the inclination to look into his (or anyone else's) other bodies of work. Blatant plagiarism, passed off as objective opinion. In the first person. With a byline. The most recent of which dates back a whole, entire fortnight. And then, well, it gets a bit pathetic. I decided to compare reviews, line for line, word for word. Tedious, yes. But also, rather enlightening. The car in question this time was the Renault Koleos. A car I'd never heard of. Available from, as you'd expect, a beloved GDN advertiser... Y.K Almoayyed. Here is what I discovered:

Mandeep's review was 938 words long. Of his 938 words, 545 words were stolen from another review. Word for bloody word. The remaining 393 words might belong to Mr. Singh and the GDN, or they could've come from somewhere else entirely. 59% of the review was plagiarised. The other 41%, well, who fucking cares? 

The Renault Koleos - Compare and contrast: 

Mandeep's review  

Another review

Now, while Mandeep is clearly at fault, surely someone else somewhere in the editorial department should have at least raised an eyebrow? Yeah, I'm talking to you Les. And you George. And whoever else there is pulling the strings at that dismal excuse for a news organisation. Why would Mandeep bother trying when he knows he can just get by with a little help from his internet? I probably wouldn't, though I don't claim to be a bastion of integrity, journalistic or otherwise. Neither, for that matter, does the GDN - but only because they'd have to actually write something ORIGINAL to do so. 

It makes me wonder... does Mandeep actually test drive the vehicles in question? Perhaps he just borrows the cars to nip to the shops with his homies on weekends and then nabs a bit of text to pretend he knows what he's talking about. If that's the case, surely the PR guys at just about every dealership in Bahrain are feeling a bit ripped off? Nah, that'd presume PR folk knew a thing or two about a thing or two, which they don't.

I know he did drive the Bentley, because I was there when he did. I was there when his photographer had the audacity to attempt to push Mr. Singh to the front of the queue because he was so very 'busy'. Seriously. I have witnesses. So busy that he couldn't string a bunch of words together all by his lonesome, despite the fact that, well, ITS HIS JOB. Arrogance and plagiarism make a really ugly cocktail, known to the masses as the GDN. Whether this word-heist is legally actionable or not I do not know. Nor do I really care. I just wanted to prove a point.

I am aware that the majority of content is sourced from news wires, press releases and advertisements, so in terms of actual writing, there is precious little for our esteemed journalists to actually do. Add to that the fact that the majority of local content is comprised of barely legible quotations from self-promoting imbeciles and you'd be forgiven for questioning whether the writing staff of the GDN actually do anything at all - aside of course from expressing their views in unfocussed, boring columns and strutting their journalistic stuff at every press conference kind enough to offer decent freebies.

What other content are they attempting to pass off as original? For all I know, my rant about Les Horton (see below) could've been misplaced... 'As I See It' could be the words of another inane journo-hack from another suitably dodgy tabloid, edited briefly to ensure a whiff of authenticity. I have a suggestion - sack the writing staff and just give Google a byline every now and then. Then Bahrain might not feel quite as ripped off. 

One for the road (yeah, it's a pun. Deal with it) The Lincoln MKZ - Mix and match:   

Mandeep's Lincoln review 

Lincoln's official Press release

The other Lincoln review 

And before any random Anonymous folk start accusing me of having too much time on my hands let me be clear - I do. I have too much time on my hands. Sue me. Pity me. Envy me. Hate me. I don't care. 

No more, No Les.

I would like to take this opportunity to officially ask Les Horton to put down his crayon, once and for all. His 'column' in the GDN is bland, pointless, rambling and seemingly written by someone in the 8-10 age group. His opinion(s) are flaccid and his arguments are unsubstantiated. His prose is shockingly colourless and infantile. I, and many others like me, have had enough of his patronizing tone. We, the people of Bahrain, do not deserve to be treated like retards. The Gulf Daily News, for all it's many, many shortcomings, remains one of Bahrain's only forums for discussion and opinion. Surely the literate masses deserve better than 'As I See It', the ramblings of an unspectacular mind scrawled onto paper by a lacklustre hand and published in all their monotony in the monochrome pages of mediocrity that has the audacity to label itself the 'Voice of Bahrain'. 

It is clear that the GDN struggles to find content. It is obvious that original thought is included as a mere afterthought; as padding between advertorials, press releases and cinema listings. So it is nothing less than tragic to think that something as rare as opinion be relegated to the desk of a second-tier hack with a genuine inability to explore an idea, an opinion or even a passing thought. Try as I might, I have never once been enlightened, excited, enthused or even merely interested in Mr. Horton's unstructured mumbling. If anything, I sympathise with his position, as unstructured rambling is something I do often, as can be evidenced right here on this blog. And that, Mr. Horton, is where your opinion should be confined. To some easily-accessible, inexpensive, tree-saving, entirely avoidable nether-region of the world wide web. Donate your printed words to someone interesting. To someone intelligent. To someone opinionated. To someone who will relish the opportunity to enlighten, argue or inform. Not Ali Al Saeed. Put down your crayon Mr. Horton. And then, use that point-and-click device the young 'uns love so much to 'surf' to www.blogger.com. It's free, easy and thankfully, obscure. 

Am I being harsh? I provide links to RANDOM columns for your perusal. Judge for yourselves. 

http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=269522
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=269386
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=269313
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=269183

When confronted in the heavily-edited forum that is the letters section of the GDN, Mr. Horton had the decency to defend himself. In his own words (with comments in bold):

"I try to write about a broad mix of local or international issues, or personal experiences that I think others may relate to. (Try harder, or stop trying) "Some are intended to be light-hearted, since I don't believe people need lecturing to day after day and some are just thoughts about life which I believe will touch others. (i.e. shallow and/or lame) "Not everyone will like or relate to every column, but I like to think that each one touches someone. (They might, but only because the GDN is soft, strong and thoroughly absorbent) "I once wrote about being reunited with my brother after many years and received, as a result, a letter from one man who had been inspired by it to pick up the phone to his own brother for the first time in 20 years. (Way to save the world Les) "One lady in Saar wrote in response to my more personal columns that when she read them in the mornings, it felt like she was having coffee with a friend. (There it is... your audience. That one lady in Saar) "I hope you continue to read the column and find something to interest or entertain you, at least occasionally. (We live in hope, but the trees keep falling)

Enough Les. We've had enough. Please stop. The only people who will miss your scrawls as the stockholders of Crayola. We wish you well in all your future endeavours. 

Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics

Yeah, I know... I've been lazy again. I couldnt be bothered to complain, though that does not mean there isn't plenty to complain about.

(Wayward rant begins)

Parliament. Yeah, those guys. The bearded club of overpaid ignorance. They've been spouting and spewing again.

This time their gripe is, once again, with the profession for which Bahrain has garnered so much international attention recently: prostitution. A couple of weeks ago an urgent inquiry into the scale of prostitution in the Kingdom was launched. Necessary, I suppose. They voted to set up said inquiry after our one and only Ministeress of Culcha and Informayshon told them that they were 'exaggerating' the scale of prostitution in the Kingdom. Fair play. The Ministeress also took the time to blame our MPs for the 'misleading information that other countries were getting about prostitution in Bahrain'. According to her, the government is doing it's best to combat vice and the situation is 'under control'. Hurrah?

The smell of bullshit is overpowering. For once, the MPs seem to be on the right side. They took matters into their own hands after being blamed, lied to and patronized by the Ministry. It would seem, perhaps, that a pandemic of sanity was affecting our democracy. Not quite.

For whilst there are reasons enough to launch an inquiry that will inevitably be biased and pointless, they couldnt stop there. One overeducated, underpaid muppet took the time to blame Bahrain's 40% divorce rate on the prevalence of prostitution in the Kingdom. That's right ladies, germs and gentlemen... the reason so very many people in Bahrain hate their spouses enough to legally terminate their union is prostitution.

"Because of sleaze, our divorce rate in the country is around 40pc and our women and men have become victims of its effects."

Top notch ignorance. A+. First bloody class. I would pay to see his research. Actually, I wouldnt, but I reckon someone somewhere might. It's cause and effect, starting backwards.

Scenario A

Mr MP was sitting at home, staring at the latest figures for divorce, shaking his head in dismay, wondering how his beloved Kingdom started to lose it's lustre. And then, naturally, he started to think about prostitutes. As one does. And then it occurred to him: we have a divorce problem and a prostitution problem, so they must related. Directly. And his 'theory' was born.

Scenario B

Mr MP was recently divorced, owing to some indiscretions on Exhibition road and a possible STD. He started to think about how many of his peeps had suffered from the same itchy, lonely combination. Of his 10 homies, 4 had recently been divorced because of those darned whores. A few hours of number crunching and he had a figure: 40%. We must do something about this problem, he thought. So he went to parliament and spewed his new fact to the GDN.

Scenario C

Mr MP was standing outside a shop in Muharraq, staring at a plastic female mannequin. After several hours of leering, he went home to realise he'd missed his wedding anniversary and his wife filed for divorce. Sleaze was the culprit and he was the victim. Of the ten people he hung out with outside that shop window, four ended up in divorce court.

Scenario D

Mr MP just made up some random statistic to spew at his weekly meeting of Ignorance Anonymous

Anyway, Shaikha Mai was at the parliamentary house of logic to respond to a question by an MP on the "reasons behind the closure of discos and dance floors and a ban on alcohol and live entertainment in one and two-star hotels, while higher-rated hotels were spared the ban."

"The question is -- are dance floors, alcohol and prostitution against Islamic values in one and two-star hotels and not in the rest? "For years, MPs in this chamber have addressed the issue and demanded real solutions to the problem, but there has been no significant achievement in combating sleaze and it continues going on unchecked."

Decent question. Fair point. And then he goes and spoils it all by saying something stupid, again. He said, again according to the GDN, that hotel car parks and surrounding areas were filled with GCC-registered cars throughout the week and especially during weekends, with men coming from other countries for the prostitution and nightlife. And that "No action has been taken against these hotels where those cars are parked".

Umm... they're hotels. HOTELS. Where people from, yknow, other countries stay when they come to Bahrain. Would you prefer a scenario where there were no cars outside the hotels, or perhaps you envisage a Bahrain where the only patrons of our hospitality industry are Bahraini? Cause that wouldnt be sleazy. Nah. That'd be normal. Lets spend time and money discussing ways to 'take action' against the hospitality industry because of GCC-registered cars. Fucking genius. Yeah, the hotels are jam-packed full 'o sleaze. But is it really fair, or practical, or actionable, or even remotely sensible to approach something as endemic as Exhibition Road's sleaze from such an idiotic, bottom-up approach?

The goverments position is rather clear, in a totally vague kinda way.

"We have a respected hospitality industry and demanding a curb on our tourist facilities and describing them all as being full of sleaze, gives the impression that there is no need for a probe, considering that the judgement has been already made." ... " The proposal has to be changed to some and not all facilities, because these things have to be proven by a probe committee"

I'm losing track. MP's are against sleaze and hospitality, but the goverment says the sleaze is under control and that the hospitality industry is respected. No one wants to damage Bahrain's reputation, but both sides manage to do so by engaging in such a fruitless, unsubstantiated debate. MPs love Bahrain, but not one with foreign cars (or foreigners) in it. Government made rules about 1 & 2 star hotels but say that things have to be proven by a probe committee, eons after the rules came into effect, which just aint fair.

Whatever. I'm just complaining. The real culprit here would seem to be the lack of objective, professional journalism, courtesy of the GDN. Has it not occurred to the 'reporters' to ask questions? Is that too much to ask from the 'Voice of Bahrain'? It would seem so.

And now I'm off in search of direction. I need something new to complain about. Suggestions?

HAH!

Just after posting the last post about whatever I noticed a headline on the side of the screen where the headlines like to hang out that made me laugh. I didn't read the story, but I can guess what's in it. Anyway, the headline read:

Weiner Condemns Bahrain.

Awesome.