Cedars USA
Newsletter
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Contents Of This Issue:
"To handle yourself, use your head; To handle others, use your heart".
John Maalouf …. New York Lawyer
(Note: this article is from the sept 2006 of Mensa
International. Mensa is the “High IQ Society”, to qualify an individual must
have
an IQ in the top 2% of the world population).
John was born in Boston, Massachusetts and relocated to New
York in 1994 after completing his LL.M. in International Banking and Financial
Services Law from Boston University School of Law. John’s wife Alice is also a
member of Mensa and they have four
wonderful children (future Mensans) two girls and two boys.
During his school days, John had a keen interest in physics, and discovered that time does indeed move more slowly when faced with mindless busywork. Unfortunately, like many Mensans, his primary and high school’s curriculum focused extensively on memorizing and regurgitating facts and put little value on creative intelligent thinking. John attended college at Boston University, studying physics and economics and developing interest in Taoism, Buddhism and the martial arts.
While in law school, John took up sky-diving and hang gliding to help alleviate some of the boredom associated with his required classes. According to John, “If at first you don’t succeed, sky-diving probably isn’t for you”. After graduating law school and entering the workplace, John was pleased to find out that the ability to think creatively and to see solutions that others could not was valued by a fair segment of the business world. He worked at a large law firms, rising through the ranks and focused his legal practice on financial law, which he found the most interesting.
After several years, John became recognized as an expert in the area of international finance, trade, banking and corporate law, and has represented clients in numerous high profile matters involving international trade finance, IPO’s, M&A’s director and officer liability, international banking, and foreign investment in China. His cases have been featured on American television programs 60 minutes and 20/20 as well as CNN and in the Wall Street Journal.
Most recently, the Unites States Lawyer Rankings for the year 2006 were released and John ranked #5 in the United States in the area of “International Trade and Finance Lawyers”. What John enjoys most about his practice of law is being approached by clients with a complicated matter which other firms have stated “can’t be done” and is “impossible”, and then finding a new and creative way to make it happen.
When John is not practicing law or spending time with his family, he enjoys practicing martial arts, studying traditional Shaolin Kung-Fu with 34th generational monks from the Shaolin Temple of Henan Province, China, who relocated to New York many years ago.
John joined Mensa for the intellectual stimulation it provides and enjoys interacting with fellow Mensans, whether over a game of 3-dimensional chess or for a friendly discussion regarding world economics.
Mr. Maalouf has recently expanded the firm and added another office in China. You can visit John’s website at www.maalouf.us.
What kind of man is Monk?
Detective skills comes in handy as Tony Shalhoub explores, connects with his
heritage.
An interesting article by Lynn Smith.
Click
here to read article.
LOS ANGELES - AUGUST 27: Actor Tony Shalhoub winner of
Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series poses in the press room at the 58th
Annual
Primetime Emmy Awards at the Shrine Auditorium on August 27, 2006 in Los
Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)
American-Lebanese Engineering Society News (ALES) Happy Holidays! Please find the ALES Newsletter below. You can also access it at: http://www.alesonline.org/publications/ales-newsletter-122806.html December 28, 2006 - Happy Holidays from ALES! - ALES' Rebuild-Lebanon Dinner & Presentation Report - 2007 ALES Scholarship Program - ALES Annual Dinner - February 10, 2007 Best Regards, Hani Al-Dayaa www.alesonlien.org
More Club News and projects in Lebanon
 | Elderly assistance project in Lebanon The California Ladies Organization was founded five years ago by Mrs Susan Nahas. The CLO operates under the umbrella of the Wolrld Lebanese Cultural Union. Its mission is to financially assist the Elderly care centers in different cities in Lebanon. Some of the elderly centers that received assistance are: The Maronite Shelter center in Fourn Elshebak, St. Therese Center in Beirut. St George Center in Beirut, The. Cahl Armenian Center,a Center in Bekfiah, one. In Shleefa Bekaa and many others Mrs Nahas would welcome the name of any other center that houses elders to add to her list. On Frday Jan 12 the CLO had a fund raising dinner at the Phoenicia restaurant in Glendale. |
| Hospital project in Lebanon This one is a message that is so near and dear to my heart because it is for my little village in Southern Lebanon: Ein Ebel Ein Ebel has a small hospital that was built in 1990 but was never completed due to lack of funds During the July war a man from Canada along with his family could not leave South of Lebanon and a family from Ein Ebel gave them Shelter until it was safe to leave. He happened to be the President of the World Lebanese Cultural Union (WLCU) in Canada. After he went back to Canada he decided to pay back the goodness of the people in Ein Ebel by asking the WLCU to include in their mission a world wide fund raising call to come up with the one million dollars needed to finish the hospital and to get it to operate like a hospital. A hospital is so much needed in the south as there is only one other hospital in the entire mountains of south of Lebanonl and the next one is in Tyre which is about one and a half to two hours drive. Therefore with the help of Mr. Anise Garabet President of the WLCU nationwide we are planning to have a big function during the month of April in LA to raise funds for this hospital We are calling on all the people from Ein Ebel all over the world to do the same. For questions they can email me at Amatar123@hotmail.com. |
| You can read more about Ms. Matar at this link, she has been a great supporter of this newsletter. Your help for her project would be appreciated. |
SEAL- Social and Economic Action in Lebanon 2006 report
| SEAL's mission is to assist low income individuals in Lebanon to increase
their income. SEAL concludes its most successful year with $476,000 raised. Click here to read the full report. You can visit their website at www.seal-usa.org. |
Ehden American-Lebanese Club Hafli
| The winter hafli will be held Feb 17th. Please visit
http://www.ehden.org/winter.html for more details. |
| Azoury Travel My aim is to provide the Lebanese people and associate them with their travel plan. For more information about my agency, please go to my website or contact me for more details. Thank you! |
Jocelyne Azoury
973 Targee St - Box 6
Staten Island, NY 10304
(718) 556-1555
jazoury@azourytravel.com
web
www.azourytravel.com
| American Mobility
Sarasota - American Mobility Inc., where you'll find
affordable quality solutions for all of your home health care needs. |
|
You can see more business, personal,
art and other sites at
http://cedarsusa.com/us/alsites.htm |
Emails received
Dear CedarsUSA staff:
Please feel free to forward this email to the rest of the members if
that is ok with
you.
On behalf of the many
Lebanese friends who receive your newsletter, I
want to thank
you for bringing a light to the end of the tunnel.
I see hundreds of
groups, sites
and blogs, that preach only divisions among the Lebanese. What is
amazing to me is
the sheer number of individuals who belong and contribute to those
sites! Sad but
true. For a change, I am glad to
see a site like yours that promotes
all the good
things we wish for Lebanon.
What I really appreciate about your work is the genuine loyalty to
humankind and
Lebanon. I put Lebanon second not to
belittle our beloved country but
to highlight
your true contribution at a time when many love Lebanon to death even
if
that means
killing it. Someone said: "Lebanon is mostly mistreated by its
patriots". So
true... I say that with a knot in my
throat seeing my old country going
down hill
every day.
Your work on the other hand is for all humankind regardless of their
religious, and
political affiliation. I salute you for that
since the world knows how
badly we need
it.
I wish you strength and endurance to continue your efforts. I wish you
and the rest
of the members a Merry Christmas,
Happy Hannuka, and a Happy Eid even
though it will
be a while before we see the next one.
Best regards, Ali
Movie & Book Recommendation
| Movie- "The pursuit of happyness" Based on true events, The Pursuit of Happyness (the incorrect spelling is explained in the film) follows Chris Gardner (Smith) as he struggles to achieve the American dream. Chris has everything going against him. His wife left him and he's raising his 5-year-old son alone, without any real income. Determined to provide for his son Christopher, Chris enters an unpaid internship program at a brokerage firm in hopes of landing the one paid position available at the end of the training program. Chris never gives up on the idea he can land a job and provide his son with a better life. Will his son be raised in an environment of love? If you watched the 20/20 special on the real Gardner, you know exactly how this story turns out. |
| Book- "Your Best Life Now" by Joel Olsteen This book has become so popular that you can find it at Wal-Mart. Recently the author was interviewed on Larry King.
future holds but we can live our full potential now.
In Your Best Life Now, Joel Osteen will teach you these seven important steps:
Enlarge your vision Develop a healthy self-image Discover the power of your thoughts and words Let go of the past Find strength through adversity Live to give Choose to be happy
Intermingled with Mr. Osteen’s advice, are
true-life stories from his past—or stories shared with him from members of |
We hope you enjoyed this issue. Please forward
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