a start up in the basement of the white house

This is the kind of IT / politics merger that could benefit Lebanon too!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMt0wH-twkE

Why immigration countries should not separate us from our parents

This is a post in progress, as I try to articulate a cause that I sense is crucial. Any help is welcome.

Many of us immigrants in the west come from a culture that thrives on a strong parent-child bond. Once we immigrate we get so many cues asking to give our full attention to the culture we just joined, but no cue about how to emotionally and financially reward the parents that dedicated their life to us, and our success. Individualism is encouraged while our gratitude and hopes for our parents are rejected. As a result we suppress our plans for them, and act on them alone, while missing out on any cultural support for our bond with our parents.

Immigration laws, and some common attitudes seem built on the fear that our aging mothers will bankrupt Canada and the US. Health insurance, private or public, is fee based so why don't US and Canadian govs just name their fee?! Our parents are more than a price tag anyway, they're the people we adored growing up, the ones who dedicated their life to our education, they're the sole reason for our success, and our ability to make money is a result of their investment in us. That's how it tends to be in emigration countries anyway, the burden falls entirely on the parents. Years later, if we end up working abroad, we're advised to "organize our money" in all sorts of accounts, but not even one is titled "reward to the parent that invested their all in you". It's not our parents that jiff immigration countries, it's the other way around! Sure people manage to privately focus on their parents, but imagine if the culture around us was aware of them, imagine the insights we would get if we felt validated in loving our foreign mothers out loud!

4 Lebanese women in the top 10 most powerful women in the world

http://beiruting.com/lemag/4_Lebanese_women_land_in_the_top_10_most_powerful_Arab_women_in_the_world/6276

Including a human rights lawyer, an electrical engineer, an industry captain and a fashion designer.

Amal Clooney (Rank #2) - Human rights lawyer

Nayla Hayek (Rank #4) - Chair, Swatch

Reem Acra (Rank #7) - Fashion designer

Ayah Bdeir (Rank #9) - Founder, littleBits, 
co-founder of open source hardware summit: http://2015.oshwa.org/

Lebanon more than a tourist destination

The Investment Development Authority of Lebanon (IDAL) shook up the inertia in the State institutions since the Government resigned in March by participating in an international forum for outsourcing.

if companies outsource to Lebanon, it's certainly not simply because it's cheaper:
"Lebanon ranks tenth worldwide in its higher education and 4th worldwide in its math and science education", according to this article on why foreign companies outsource to Lebanon.

Bt-cotton seeds: destructive impact on Indian farmers

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoqXrG-tKIM&feature=youtu.be

Drink and don't drive parties in Lebanon

http://beiruting.com/NYE_Drink__Don't_Drive_Party/15065

The Lebanese twist on the don't drink and drive campaign

don't let a little thing like morality get in the way; US foreign policy explained by Kissinger

Noam Chomsky is an honest witness of the US policy in the middle east:

http://levantreport.com/2014/10/18/noam-chomsky-on-isis-and-current-middle-east-conflict/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHib2bczPWw

"the us prefers islamic extremists to secular nationalists".

"Kissinger has said "foreign policy is not be confused with missionary work"; Kurds have been first recruited by the US to topple Saddam (in ), then sold out to him, which made them helpless in the face of Iraki repression:
http://kurdistantribune.com/2013/henry-kissinger-realpolitik-genocide/
http://www.csmonitor.com/1996/1018/101896.opin.column.1.html