Religious backed U.S. companies in Kuwait- Timberland is a Jewish backed Company!

 Forever 21 prints a reference to one of the most oft quoted passages of the New Testament on the bottom of all of its bags.AP Photo

Purchase a skimpy $15 top or $19 skirt from trendy but budget-conscious clothing retailer Forever 21 and you may notice "John 3:16" printed on your shopping bag.

Printed on the bottom of each of the store's bags, the biblical reference is perhaps the most obvious reference to the religious beliefs promoted by the store's owners, the Chang Family, who are born-again Christians.

Mrs. Chang told Bloomberg Businessweek last year that the store had religious roots, citing that "God told her she should open a store and that she would be successful."

The store provoked criticism in the summer of 2011 when it released a slew of religious-themed tees emblazoned with slogans such as "Jesus ♥ You" and "Holy."

Does anyone have a shopping bag from the Kuwait location?

Curves founder Gary Heavin is an outspoken Christian and supporter of conservative and religious causes.Wikimedia Commons

Curves gyms are nationally known for creating a men-free environment where women of all shapes and sizes can work out.

It's lesser known that the company's founder Gary Heavin, is a born-again Christian who has garnered criticism for conservative political views and donating to anti-abortion causes, according to a 2004 Houston Chronicle profile.

Heavin acknowledged there has been some business "fallout" from his views, which prompted some members to cancel memberships.

We have Curves in Kuwait. Hmmm...

Timberland CEO Jeff Swartz says his Jewish faith motivated him to sever ties with a Chinese factory.flickr/paparain

Timberland CEO Jeff Swartz is well-known for his commitment to promoting corporate social responsibility.

For example, Swartz moved to sever the company's ties with a Chinese factory where human rights violations were allegedly occurring despite the fact that it took a hit to the shoe making company's bottom line. Swartz attributed his motivation to his own personal Jewish faith in a 2008 Fast Company profile.

"I can't show you the scripture that relates to the rights of a worker, but I can show you text that insists upon treating others with dignity," he said. "It says in the Hebrew Bible one time that you should love your neighbor as yourself, but it says dozens of times that you shall treat the stranger with dignity." Full Story

A lot of people in Kuwait are sporting Timberland gear. Hmmm......

TIES- Ramadan tips for Expats

Americans working for GLS getting Deported

"Arabic linguists Maher Al Masri, left, and Ramzi Zinnekah wait inside a Kuwaiti jail cell in a photo Zinnekah said was taken by a guard. The two men, U.S. civilians employed by defense contractor Global Linguist Solutions, were detained by local authorities in late May and deported to the U.S. as part of a dispute between GLS and the Kuwaiti company it hired to manage its employees. Both are now back at their homes in the States."

A U.S. defense contractor has barred its employees from leaving Army posts in Kuwait after local police issued arrest warrants for the group, a bizarre turn in a monthslong dispute between the company and a Kuwaiti subcontractor.
 

Nearly 100 American civilians working as Arabic linguists on camps Buehring and Arifjan, two major Army bases in the Middle East, say that since May 31 they’ve been unable to leave either post for medical appointments, personal time or even emergency matters.

 

All are at risk of being deported by Kuwaiti police, who have no authority inside base gates. The deportation threat stems from a legal dispute between their employer, U.S.-based defense contractor Global Linguist Solutions, and the Kuwaiti company it hired to manage its employees locally.

Before the ban, as many as nine linguists were detained outside the gates, held in Kuwaiti cells and flown back to the U.S., according to linguists interviewed and their employer.

 

Both the State Department and the Army say they are powerless to move the linguists out of the country or prevent arrests.

 

“It comes back to us being fugitives,” said one linguist reached at Camp Buehring, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity. “That’s our status in the state of Kuwait.”

 

Kuwaiti law requires all foreign workers be placed on the rolls of a local firm, or “sponsor,” which applies for working visas on behalf of employees and manages some aspects of payroll.

The actual employer is required to hire the services of the local firm.
 
Global Linguist Solutions re-bid its sponsorship contract earlier this year, selecting a new Kuwaiti company instead of the one it previously worked through, Al Shora International General Trading & Contracting company.

 GLS and Al Shora dispute what happened next. Al Shora claims linguists canceled their residency under the company. It charges GLS with using Al Shora to remain legal in the country while trying to transfer linguists to the new sponsor.
 
GLS says it was eager to move employees off Al Shora rolls but was repeatedly rebuffed by Al Shora. The company has accused Al Shora of lashing out after failing to win the new contract.
In March, Al Shora turned over the names of GLS employees to Kuwaiti authorities and declared them absent from work and in violation of their working visas. Curbing immigration violations is a preoccupation in Kuwait, where foreigners account for nearly half the population, many working in the service industry. Full Story

Hubby tells me the Kuwaiti lady won the contract because her sister's husband had wasta, sister got divorced wasta was lost and the sponsor couldn't fix the situation then she found out GLS had put out a bid and a new company won it, which ticked off the old sponsor who then refused to transfer them to the new company and cancelled all of the employees visas and reported them as absconding. Most of them are hiding on base until they can figure out a way to get back home.

This just proves US companies should be careful when dealing with small Kuwaiti companies, there is KRH, DefCon, AC3, MEBS and other big companies that can handle sponsorship a little better but in the end they are all just trying to make a quick buck off the US government. Anyone looking for a sponsor, feel free to ask me about their background.

Pastel de Tres Leches



I would like to give a big thank you to Layla my lovely new friend who made me this wonderful tres leches (three milk) Mexican cake, she's one of CIK's readers and offered to make me this cake when she found out how much I wanted one.

Mashkoora habibti, Gracias mi amiga, thank you so much! We loved it! I'm glad to have her as one of my new friends.

Animal Cruelty- Baby Tiger for Sale

I found this posted on Facebook. It seems like they sell all kinds of animals.

The ONLY way to produce a tiger or lion with a white coat is through inbreeding brother to sister or father to daughter; generation after generation after generation. The kind of severe inbreeding that is required to produce the mutation of a white coat also causes a number of other defects in these big cats.

In June 2011 the board of directors for the American Zoological Association (AZA) formalized their 2008 ban on the breeding of white tigers, white lions or king cheetahs by their member zoos. Their report said, “Breeding practices that increase the physical expression of single rare alleles (i.e., rare genetic traits) through intentional inbreeding, for example intentional breeding to achieve rare color-morphs such as white tigers, deer, and alligators, has been clearly linked with various abnormal, debilitating, and, at times, lethal, external and internal conditions and characteristics, which are outlined in this paper.” This change in policy came more than 12 years after Big Cat Rescue first released Dr. Laughlin’s expose below.

The same gene that causes the white coat causes the optic nerve to be wired to the wrong side of the brain, thus all white tigers are cross eyed, even if their eyes look normal. They also often suffer from club feet, cleft palates, spinal deformities and defective organs.

The white coat is a double recessive gene so most of the cubs born through this inbreeding have normal coloring but they too suffer the same defects and are referred to in the trade as “throw away tigers.” As such, they are often killed at birth because only the white tigers are the big money makers. And because none of these cats are purebred (they are all crosses between Bengal tigers and Siberian tigers), they serve no conservation purpose.

The American Zoological Association (AZA) recognizes that these cats should not be bred and admonishes AZA accredited zoos not to breed any more of them. The leader of the tiger Species Survival Plan states openly that the only reason people breed white tigers is because people will pay to see white tigers.

You can end the misery by just Saying NO to any place that breeds or exploits white tigers.

You can view the full article here.

SO SAD!!!!!!!!

Update: Here's another ad

Can anyone stop this cruelty?

Ahmadi Kuwait- will remind you of the States

I will start a new job soon Inshallah so I set out to Ahmadi to check out the area. I love the streets and greenery, it makes you think for a split second that you are driving back in the states. Some of the houses are in better shape than others but I would live there if they gave me a chance as long as they have fixed the gas leaks that caused an evacuation back in 2010.

 

The foundation of Al-Ahmadi city coincided with the discovery of oil in the State of Kuwait.

 

Plans for its construction began in 1940 and it was completed in 1949 near Al-Ahmadi oil terminal. It was constructed to provide housing and various amenities for the people working in the oil terminal. The city was named after the late Sheikh Ahmad Al Jabar, the ruler of Kuwait from 1921-1950 during whose reign oil was discovered in Kuwait. It is the first western-style city in Kuwait, built to accommodate the multinational employees of Kuwait Oil Company (KOC).

 

By 1952 there were 1,000 houses in Al Ahmadi. The city was divided into 3 zones; the northern section for directors, the central section for senior staff and the southern section for junior employees. Al Ahmadi city offers sport and recreational facilities, foremost among which is the stadium which holds 15,000 spectators.The city is noted for its villas surrounded by gardens. This abundant green garden has helped to alleviate high temperature, especially when sand storms blow.

 

Al Ahmadi today:

 The old Ahmadi golf club, the golf course is now sand but I can just imagine what it looked like when it first opened.

 Ladies salon

 A row of brand new houses which probably belong to someone high up in the oil sector or someone who has a lot of money and wasta, but from what I could see they are beautiful.

These new houses give Ahmadi a fresh updated look without losing the charm of the area.



Qatar Emir stepping Down

Qatar's powerful prime minister is preparing to step down as part of a wider power transition that may also see the country's ruler ceding power to his son, Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim, Arab and Western diplomats have said.

Such a change could inject an element of uncertainty into the foreign policies of the major gas exporter, which is a global investment powerhouse and a bankroller of Arab Spring revolts in alliance with the Muslim Brotherhood.

"(The Emir) has had (this) in mind for quite a long time. The path has clearly been paved over the past year for authority to be transferred to Tamim," a Doha-based diplomat told Reuters, referring to head of state Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani.

"The plan has always been for this to happen, but it's been a question of timing."

The diplomats said they understood the motive for the reported reshuffle was the desire of the leadership to have a smooth transition to a younger generation. Such a move would be relatively unusual in Gulf politics.

One source said the transition was expected to start with Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim Al-Thani, who also serves as the foreign minister, leaving his cabinet posts. The diplomats mentioned various timetables, from some time in the next few weeks to September.(link)

I guess it's better to hand over power than take power in a bloodless coup d'état like he did to his father.

Man-to-man wedding party in Saudi Arabia raided by Police

Saudi Arabia’s religious police raided a party involving more than 80 young men who had come in women’s dresses and wearing make up to mark the wedding of a man to another man, a newspaper reported on Thursday.

Members of the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, backed by other police men and detectives, stormed the house in the western town of Makkah and arrested five men. The others managed to flee to nearby mountains.

The participants in the party were aged between 18 and 20 years and were “wearing women’s dresses and make up on their faces,” Alsaudeh daily said.

“They were dancing to disco music at a noisy party held to mark the wedding of two men to each other…police are hunting down those who escaped,” it said.

Wonder if they were dancing to YMCA?