Dropping Out: Cosponsorship Removals for HR 362 Iran Naval Blockade

One by one, congressmen are removing themselves as co-sponsors of HR 362 -- the bill designed to authorize a "naval blockade" i.e. a military action against Iran.

Today, Congressman Tom Allen of Maine removed his name as a co-sponsor and had this to say:

“I cosponsored H. Con. Res. 362 because I believe that the Iranian regime poses very real threats to stability in the region and that it is in our national security interest to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. However, there is language in this resolution that may imply Congressional approval of a blockade of Iran. I want to be perfectly clear about where I stand: I believe our nation should be engaging in tough diplomatic talks with Iran that will permanently dismantle that country's nuclear weapons program, and that sanctions should be part of that strategy. However, I do not support the idea of a blockade. Since the resolution has not been amended to address these concerns, yesterday, I removed my name as a cosponsor.”

Yesterday, Congressmen Steve Cohen of Tennessee removed his name.

And a few weeks ago, Congressman William Lacy Clay of Missouri removed his name.

Let's see which representative will be next to recognize that the American public doesn't want any more wars.

"Sticks and Carrots": Obama's Iran Plan

Barack Obama is going green with his method to approaching negotiations with Iran.

"If we show ourselves willing to talk and to offer carrots and sticks in order to deal with these pressing problems, and if Iran then rejects any overtures of that sort, it puts us in a stronger position to mobilize the international community to ratchet up the pressure on Iran," Obama said in Israel today.

Which reminds us, why is Iran policy repeatedly and continually dictated on political trips to Israel? Nicolas Sarcrazy has done it. Hitleretta from Germany has done it, Bushler did it.

If Obama wants to set apart his Iran strategy, may be he shouldn't have carried on the long and failed tradition of discussing relations with Iran in the very nation that, second to the US, has been most threatening to Iran.

Sounds like more of the same.

As for the sticks and carrots, apparently it's a (little known) idiom about rewarding good behavior (the carrots) and punishing bad behavior (the sticks). This once again positions the US as an international enforcer or some sort of judge, jury and executioner of the Middle East.

But the US won't get anywhere with Iran until they realize that Iranians don't take orders. Maybe we should send Obama to Tehrangeles for awhile so he can figure out who exactly he's dealing with.



For the latest Saccharinist coverage of Selection '08 click here.

Ahmad Batebi Arrives in America

Little wonder that the US military is so aggressively protective of any images leaving in the hands of photojournalists -- one single image can alter the course of an agenda.

Just ask Ahmad Batebi.

This July 1999 cover photo on the Economist magazine changed his life forever. As a student protester in the '99 demos, he was in Tehran along with hundreds of thousands of other Iranians, demanding civil and human rights. Unfortunately for him, a Western-based photographer took this picture of him and the Economist published it -- already under arrest for participating in the demos, the publication of this picture only worsened his plight.

At the age of 21 he was sentenced to a 15 year term in the notorious Evin prison. The judge who sentenced him allegedly stated that "with this photo you have signed your own death sentence."

Batebi was tortured, then released, tortured then released, then tortured some more -- one of the lucky ones who wasn't actually tortured to death.

And irony of all ironies -- like so many thousands of victims of torture from around the world, he has landed in the United States. Yes, Ahmad Batebi -- a true hero of Iran's struggle for civil and human rights -- with much difficulty arrived in the United States nearly 2 weeks ago.

He has already been interviewed on the Persian language US State Department broadcaster, Voice of America (click here for YouTube videos of him in Persian) and the New York Times, amongst others.

But Batebi himself is eager to tell his story (click here for Ahmad Batebi's blog). He has declared that he used his cell phone camera to film his escape through Iraq (he was granted medical leave from prison since for many years he had not been given proper medical care following his torturings) and he wants to make a report of his escape for the world to see.

There are countless Iranians who have made supreme sacrifices to expose the human rights violations of the Islamic Republic government. Only a few names are known. Ahmad Batebi is one of them.

Iran Smokes McCain on Cigarette Genocide Joke

Looks like that Shorty McCain thinks Americans find genocide funny.

Only July 9th, at a campaign rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, good ol' Shorty responded to a comment that US exports to Iran have increased tenfold during the Bushler presidency, including a rise in cigarette exports, by saying "Maybe that's a way of killing 'em."

Well done Shorty! You've opened the door to a great many possibilities now that you've confirmed that you are openly warmongering against Iran, that you take personal amusement in discussing the murder of Iranian people, and that you have no qualms about business contracts which openly contradict US policy toward supposedly dangerous nations like Iran.

Thus, McCain has added one more crime to the Bush Crime Family's violations -- just in time for Senator Kucinich's latest article of impeachment (Kucinich will be filing a new one on July 14th).

Bushler has made great efforts to threaten other nations who conduct business with Iran -- guess in the Bushler rule of books -- and the McCain one too -- rules only apply to the little people who don't dine with Bushler & Co. at Kennebunkport.

It has now come to light that not only did the US government look the other way on a tenfold increase in US exports to Iran but the US government itself has been one of the exporters -- US military equipment has been steadily exported to Iran under the Bushler regime.

Nice one Shorty! You've flashed the spotlight on US government business activities with blacklisted Iran and you've made a racist comment that allowed the Iranian foreign ministry to label you a "warmongering" "genocide" joker with a "disturbed state of mind".

"It is most evident that jokes about genocide will not be tolerated by Iranians or Americans," said the Iranian Foreign Ministry today. "McCain's crude remark on the indiscriminate killing of the Iranian nation not only testifies to his disturbed state of mind, but also to his warmongering approach to foreign policy."

Bomb, bomb, bomb, McCain got bombed...

For the latest Saccharinist coverage of Selection '08 click here.

Iran Launches English Language TV

Iran is so cool. An English Language Iranian broadcast channel now exists! Today is the launch of the Press TV network:

"PRESS TV is the first international Iran-based news network to broadcast in English on a round-the-clock schedule."

Please take a look at the amazing and visionary Goals and Visions of Press TV -- let's just say this was a long time coming and the world would definitely change for the better if more non-"Western" countries would take this initiative and try and have a news network IN ENGLISH that does not pander to the interests of current establishment "Western" powers (as their own "Western" media have become exceptionally adept at).

Yes, Iran is still a nation that does not grant its own people basic social and personal freedoms, and that remains an extremely disturbing problem with Iran and very little good can be said about the present Iranian government, but at least Iran now has a competing English language broadcaster! Magnifico! Let's watch Press TV's coverage and see how it is, but for now, such wonderfully candid headlines as "Declassification of CIA's Illegal Activities" are worth the read.

---GOALS---

PRESS TV offers broad news coverage, specifically focusing on the Middle East.

PRESS TV dares to tackle the controversial global news agenda and broadcasts cutting-edge documentaries with political, social and economic contents.

PRESS TV’s goal is to present a deeper analysis of current affairs, aiming to show the other side of the story.

---VISION---

1- To break the global media stranglehold of western outlets.

2- To bridge cultural divisions pragmatically.

3- To highlight the versatility and vitality of political and cultural differences, making up the human condition.

US v. Iran: The Latest

Looks like Bushler & Co. didn't get what they wanted from Iran in terms of getting Iraq off their back, so they're back to using what is now a classic route: corrupting the UN process.

And so, it's back to sanctions threats, badmouthing and namecalling via the prestigious annals of the in-name-only United Nations.

However, US domestic operations in Iran will continue. In case you don't know what those include, just ask your neighborhood Balochi and he'll tell you a thing or two about the bizarre increase in violence in Balochistan lately. And the US government, never one to stray too far from the playground, is also engaging in infantile taunting tactics, such as today's "show of force" by the Navy along Iran's coast in the Persian Gulf.

Iran, for its part, is anything but a spring chicken (much to the dismay of its younger, more ignorant enemies) and is implementing its own measures for protection, warning, and counterattack. There is the stuff that makes headlines (the arrest of scholar Haleh Esfandiari and now a Kian Tajbakhsh). And there is the stuff that doesn't make headlines (such as Iran's arrest last month of FBI Agent Robert Levinson who for some reason had made his over to the Iranian resort island of Kish).

What's next for the US? Certainly not Iran -- it's the last hope the US has of ever getting out of Iraq. Let's hope, for the sake of all the innocents involved in Iraq, that the US grows up soon.

Ahmadinejad Kiss 'N' Tell

.............................Above, the soon to be infamous kiss of Ahmadinejad and his school teacher.

With one kiss Ahmadinejad has shed light on political rumblings in Iran.

The Western press has picked up on yet another item that suits their needs by headlining the opinions of an obscure fundamentalist newspaper, Hezbollah, which as you can imagine is read by a tiny fraction of Iranians who still align themselves with ultraconservatives. Hezbollah (the newspaper) has expressed outrage and disgust at Ahmadinejad's indecency for kissing the gloved hand of an elderly woman who was once his schoolteacher at a public rally promoting education in Iran this week. Wednesday's article also bothered to mention Ahmadinejad's early presidential announcement that women should be allowed in football stadiums -- as yet further evidence of his unacceptable overtures toward women.

What's interesting here is that the Western press is obviously still on course toward indicating that Ahmadinejad is losing support from his conservative backers. But what Westerners do not realize is that Ahmadinejad's kiss actually helps his image amongst most Iranians. And, presumably amongst the Western public who, whether their governments or press likes it or not, have actually taken a liking to this charismatic fellow. Heck, even Mike Wallace couldn't help but wallow in Ahmadinejad's charm.

Frances Harrison & BBC: Let Iran Be

Image from "A Very British Coup" -- a documentary about British and BBC involvement in the 1953 Coup in Iran

Knowing, as we all do, that different media outlets possess and extoll different political outlooks, it would seem unfair to criticize any one particular journalist merely for doing his or her job. But the fact is that journalists include their own idiosyncracies in their reporting and certainly with feature stories, choose their own topics.

Which brings us to Frances Harrison. The BBC has foreign correspondents all over the world -- most of whom do not speak the language of the countries they are based in -- and most of them, as evidenced by their reports, appear to be quite happy to comply by the Blair-BBC standards: a nouveau colonialist-imperialist attitude that openly aligns itself with whatever administration is in power in the US.

Harrison's reporting -- especially that which appears on the BBC News website, which like most stories on the site, tends to gloss over details like sourcing and in-depth anaysis -- is lacking at best, biased at worst.

Take for instance her latest news story about crackdowns on hejab and attire in Iran. The story itself is simply not news: the authorities have been harrassing Iranians over their attire and outward appearance for decades now. But scroll down to the bottom and read Harrison's fascinating criticism that "even foreign tourists are being cautioned" about their dress. This sentence is pure presumption on the part of Harrison and her editor at the BBC that allowed it to be published.

You see, all women in Iran -- be they citizens or tourists -- are required to abide by hejab. If Harrison is not biased, then why doesn't she provide some basic background or poignant analysis of the situation? If she is biased, then why does the BBC not reprimand her for it? If the BBC is biased, then why does it complain about its treatment in Iran?

But even more telling of Harrison's journalistic credentials is her tale of "one foreign journalist" who "was stopped and the police complained the photograph in her press card was indecent, even though it was taken by the Ministry of Islamic Guidance." Either this is Harrison herself or a friend of hers -- but in either case, what is the point of it? To demonstrate that "foreign journalists" or "foreign tourists" deserve special treatment in Iran? On what basis? This kind of colonialist-imperialist attitude is simply not professional and certainly not becoming of a quality journalist.

It is also poignantly reminiscent -- as Harrison's Iranian husband has failed to inform her -- of the grievance most Iranians had about the monarchy's special treatment of foreigners in Iran -- it's the kind of attitude that offended Iranians about the Shah and contributed to his popularly-led ousting. Perhaps it should lead to Harrison's ousting, too.

Yes, we all know that reporting from Iran is not an easy task -- especially for a woman -- due to the difficulties in obtaining press passes and various permits. But this does not apply to the BBC: it has been reporting from Iran (and openly involving itself in Iranian politics) for decades, has a protocol and a line of command to turn to, and has the authority to make a stink if one of its journalists is put in harm's way -- something that isn't even a threat in Iran. Frankly, it's just not a credible excuse for shoddy, biased journalism.

The Western public's main and for most, only, source of information on Iran is from journalists -- and the public's perception from these journalists is that of an Iran that is volatile, backwards, corrupt and ignorant. This is inaccurate and not conducive to positive international relations. Either Iran should oust all of these Western journalists or individual journalists and editors should rightly accept a more realistic burden of responsibility for their work.

Besides, these foreign journalists' talent for biased and negative portrayals could do some amazing and much needed work on soiling the all-too-shiny reputation of their own Western governments and societies. Chip-chop!

Blair Still Sore from Iran Ramming

C'mon Blair! It's not like you haven't had this before! (that's why you married a man, right?)

No matter how much propaganda the Brits, or should I say, the 'coalition forces', spew out of their rocket-launching sockets, nobody in this world looks more violent, inhumane, unjust, bloodthirsty, cruel, heartless and unrestrained than they do.

Iran treated those trespassing naval officers humanely. They were returned happy and healthy -- to an extremely embarrassed Tony Blair and his government full of pasty-faced criminal minds. The UK media yesterday were so desperate to twist the embarrassment of the officers' safe return into another headline about how violent Muslims are that the 4 'coalition' soldiers killed in Iraq yesterday were ridiculously linked to the peaceful release of these vacationers.

And then in a remarkably sadistic pirouette of spin, Blair attempted to portray the Iranians as the main culprits responsible for the deathpit that has become Iraq.

This show has only one remaining audience: the idiotic members of the citizenry of the US and UK where voting is no longer a democratic action, but a knee-jerk reaction to manufactured hatred and fear.

It must be hard being a citizen of the Coalition Republics.

British Sailors Forced Home

Nice try Bushy and Blairy: these "hostages" look like they're having a damn good time (on beautiful Persian carpets, no less!), contrary to your uproarious cackling about their safety.

Well, the Iran "hostage crisis" is over before it began, but just long enough to make a point: that the Brits and the Americans and all their supporters are literally treading water in their aggression toward Iran.

As presumed, the Iranians were kinder to their captives than the Brits or Americans have ever been to any of theirs. As I've always said about the previous "hostage crisis", it can't be that bad sitting on Persian rugs, eating Iranian food and drinking Iranian tea day in and day out -- heck, most people would call that a holiday. And something tells me these Brits would never have gotten the chance to enjoy the comfort and luxury of a Persian carpet otherwise. That would have been a shame indeed.

The best part, though, is that yet again (this guy is a genius!), Ahmadinejad has managed to make the "coalition" look like fools, cleverly announcing that Iran is bestowing the sailors "as a present to the British people" during the Easter holiday.

Ahmadinejad: 100
Coalition Forces: 0

Iranians Expose Western Hypocrisy (again)

It amusing watching as the Americans and Brits fabricate another "Iran hostage crisis" scenario out of Iranian efforts to expose the hypocrisy of the US, UK, UN and every other self-righteous, prejudiced, violent, uncivilized 'U' out there.

These British sailor pawns know they were in Iranian waters. The UK government knows it. The US government knows it and only a scattering of violently ignorant and prejudiced people on both sides of the Atlantic still believe that this is a "hostage" situation.

And speaking of hostages, what about those Iranians the US nabbed in Iraq a couple months ago? Come to think of it,

- what about the 26 million hostages the US and UK have taken in Iraq?

- what about the over 400 hostages in Guantanamo Bay?

- what about the billions of hostages worldwide that are suffering in poverty on a daily basis because of US and UK (U SUK) foreign policy and economic holocaust?

Brits Admit It

The only female British navy personnel admits on Iranian TV on 28 March that she and her crew had indeed "trespassed into their waters"

"Obviously we trespassed into their waters. They were very friendly and
very hospitable, very thoughtful, good people. They explained to us why we had been arrested. There was no aggression, no hurt, no harm. They were very, very compassionate."

-- Quoth the Seaman: Iran is More

The captured British navy personnel had only good things to say about Iranians, proving, as usual, that Iran is much more than Western media reports and warmongering leaders make it out to be.

How much do you wanna bet that if the roles were reversed and Iranian seamen had been caught by British, or better yet, American, authorities they'd have been physically, verbally and mentally abused and probably tortured?

Another tally on the scoreboard of who's the biggest terrorist of all.

The 15 Captured Brits

I have one thing to say on this matter:

It is fascinating how the "coalition" forces (i.e. the Anglo-American warmongers) are spinning Iran's legitimate right to take action to defend itself against the invasive presence of nearby hostile occupiers into an aggravated assault on innocent navy personnel who, for some unexplained reason, were patrolling a sensitive waterway "checking" civilian ships.

Noroozetan Pirooz! Sal-e No Mobarak!

Happy Iranian New Year!

May this be a year full of love, health, and sweet, sweet success!

- The Saccharinist

300 Reasons Hollywood Sleeps With the Devil

.........................................................Ancient Iranian Soldier by Faraz Shanyar (Source: 300themovie.info)

For all the dimwits out there who can only identify the politics in a film when it slip-slaps them across the face like JFK or Syriana, here's a hint: when Hollywood directors and producers openly admit to collaboration and cooperation with the Pentagon, amongst other branches of the US government and Jack Valenti, head of the Motion Picture Association of America for 38 years till 2004, was a perpetual presence in Washington DC, and the US Army is turning to Hollywood for security advice, well, hmmm, maybe there's a relationship there. You think?

But it looks like Iranians have to once again come to the rescue and teach the world a thing or two about the realities of the United States government -- it's not enough that the Iranian government and arguably a majority of Iranians both domestically and internationally have to constantly point out that the Bush administration are a bunch of sadistic nincompoops (the worst breed of nincompoop, by the way), now we have to demonstrate that Hollywood is in bed with them, too!

Just consider the recent protests by the Iranian government and Iranians on the internet who are against the misrepresentation and ridiculous portrayal of Iranians in the Hollywood film "300".

First of all, let's get this little nugget straight: Iran has always been called "Iran" by Iranians -- it's the West, first the Greeks and then the British and their sheep, who insisted on calling "Iran" by the name "Persia" which inaccurately referred to the entire nation by the name of one of its states, "Pars," because it happened to be the site of Persepolis and other hellenized monikers. Ipso facto, anything to do with "Persia" or "Persians" is a reference to Iran. Thankfully, in 1935, Reza Shah corrected this ignorance by deeming that Iran insists on being called Iran, and not Persia.

Now then, taking into consideration the hilarious demonization of Iran in the last few years (funny how the US government took a break from haranguing Iran with accusations during all those years when mass executions were taking place and times were as tough as now, if not worse, in Iran), it doesn't take a stretch of the imagination to realize the reasons behind wanting to demonize ancient Iranians in a Hollywood blockbuster -- hey, if you can't make the contemporary ones look bad, then abuse history, eh?

Since Hollywood has been demonizing various groups for a long, long time, it's not surprising anymore. What is annoying is that anyone still exists out there who doesn't believe that it's happening. For the rest of us, there's this marvellous Google bomb by Iranian artist Pendar Yousefi -- proving once again that an Iranian with an internet connection is an unbeatable force to reckon with.

Poor Man's Journalist: Christi-yawn

Yes, I know it's shocking that the Saccharinist has, up till now, limited analysis of Christiane Amanpour (aka Christi-yawn A-poor-man) to mere jibes in select posts. So, without further delay, here is my first-ever post focused exclusively on this ingrown butt hair of Western journalism -- ah! where else but a blog can that jewel of a description be published?

Simply put, she is an incompetent journalist, if the word can even be applied to her, a telehost, who has used her "career" to mingle with international politics and make something of a life that was headed no where until she slept with the "right" guys at college. We won't dwell on her manliness, her aggression toward the entire Middle East or her direct ties to the US government (be they as weak as they are these days since her husband, Scarface, has been passing time between Democratic presidents posing as a journalist himself) despite the fact that journalists are supposed to be independent.

What we will focus on is her continual and longstanding use of the country she despises the most -- namely Iran -- as a footstool for advancing (or at times, maintaining) her farcical job as the resident "expert" on promoting US foreign policy at CNN (the Conservative Nepotism Network) -- a job made all the more easy considering Clinton and Bush had very little policy differences, just a rather divergent means of implementation.

Take a look at how this queen of condescension -- hate Arafat all you like, but at least he had the decency to teach this tool a lesson -- treats non-Westerners in this video clip of her showing her true colors at a news conference in Iran with members of the Iranian press. Amanpour is exactly the type of tool the US and UK governments have thrived and survived on for centuries: treasonous sell-outs who'll do anything for a piece of the pie. Surely it would be too much to wish that she gets her just desserts, so instead we here at the Saccharinist will remain content knowing that this poor man's journalist is really freakin' unattractive and time hasn't been on her side... hmmm... justice works in mysterious ways!

Round 2: Ahmadinejad vs Sawyer

Let's get the obvious out of the way on this one: Diane Sawyer is a low-grade telehost*** who has the intelligence of a doormat and knowledge of world affairs of your average American soldier: best described as zilch. Her pet peeves are a gray hair flickering amidst the blond, unshaven knees, and "news" gigs that force her to travel beyond New Jersey to the East and Orange County to the West to interview titillatingly calm world leaders whose panache and unbreakable hold on their interviewers makes her want to jump out of her chair and fondle them just to see if her purported (only by her, of course) sexual prowess can do anything as a final resort for domination.

In short, Sawyer's "news interview" (also known as a state-sponsored interrogation) this week with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will be a YouTube chuckler for some time to come. (Click here to see the video of the interview.)

As we reported during the previous attempt (see also here and here) by an American telehost (I believe they refer to them as "journalists" in the US) when Mike Wallace interviewed Ahmadinejad and fell to his knees shortly thereafter, Mr Ahmadinejad is impeccably in control in an interview setting -- in other words, he effortlessly propels the interviewer to desperation and emotional grabs for the steering wheel in an interview gone magnetically in his favor.

The best thing about the Sawyer interview, which like the Wallace one involves condescension and racism of a level that reminds one of the slave master's rancor toward a slave who knows who the real master is, was that Sawyer lost her temper, lost her false gentility and practically thrusts herself toward Ahmadinejad at times, only to be kept slightly at bay by her genuine concern that the headscarf she's been forced to wear (the hilarity of this power dynamic amuses me to no end) might slip and give Ahmadinejad the satisfaction of seeing her dark roots.

It seems the main purpose of the interview, aside from employing the US government's highly secret weapon intended as a last resort toward regaining power in the Middle East, known only by its code name "Condi's Legs", was to inform the dangerously underinformed American public that while billions of their US tax dollars have been squandered on weapons and genocide in Iraq, while thousands of their young soldiers have been murdered by their own government in a sadistic rampage of profit, the much bigger danger to world peace is that a handful of grenade launchers found in Iraq have been identified as having Iranian serial numbers. The level of stupidity at play here is astronomically astounding.

The interview is riddled with laugh out loud punchlines mostly due to the fact that Sawyer proves her inexcusable ignorance about very basic facts pertaining to Iraq, Iran, Middle East politics and culture, and, well, anyone at all who doesn't wear Chanel lipstick or drive a tractor. One particularly entertaining highlight was when she pretty much gave away a state "secret" when she accepted Ahmadinejad's insinuation that the American government and forces have been active in organizing the killings of Shiites in Iraq. She then goes on to ask "Are you here to solve the problem of the American government in Iraq?" thereby capping off an already embarrassing litany of confessions.

And in a final bullet to the heart of her nadir of professional credentials, Ahmadinejad struck at the one thing an American "journalist" cringes at: accusations about sources:

Sawyer: You said you have 52,000 suicide bombers. Where would you deploy them?

Ahmadinejad: Did I say that?

Sawyer: One of the Iraqi officials said that...

Ahmadinejad: [laughs] Well I think you should check your source...

(Sawyer has now publicly admitted that "Ahmadinejad was right to challenge me, it was not a statement by an official but a so-called unofficial organization dedicated to suicide bombing.")

God I hope more American telehosts do these filmed interviews with Ahmadinejad -- they not only serve to embellish an already gratifyingly high level of disdain for the American media worldwide, but also keep us all entertained for hours on end.

***just for the record, The Saccharinist coined this term, in this article, on this day.

The Iran is Evil Campaign Begins

The US has been planning its attack on Iran since before September 11th 2001 -- just like the entire Wart on Terror was planned way before then, too. But this week, the US government, in cooperation with its media partners (every single mainstream media organization in the US, including, obviously, Fox News which got its own special call-out this week when Condosleazea Vice unwittingly let her devotions for them slip out, as if it were some big secret that Fox and the entire US media system are paid handlers of the government and its business affiliates) began their most important attack: on the American public's consciousness.

See, Americans are the most intimidated and imprisoned people in the world - second only to the North Koreans. Their fears of anything and everything have no bound -- just as their government has always wanted and nurtured. They are all, essentially, soldiers: people who take orders, and sacrifice their own well-being for the preservation of their abusers, also known as their own government. Sure, they can curse and demonstrate against it as much as they want, but the minute they even attempt to actually do something against the government, they're stopped in their tracks. Ask that pathetic little American Taliban and his parents. But the first step for controlling them is scaring them and that's where the media plays a significant role.

The media campaign against Iran and directed toward the American public stepped out in full glory this week with the ridiculous and internationally illegal captivation of 6 Iranian consulate officers in Irbil, Northern Iraq (The Kurdish-controlled region of the country that is the US and UK's nest egg for their plans to create the state of Kurdistan within the next couple decades, granted this whole Iraq thing squares off) several days ago. Days later, Bushler came forward in fibbery to insult what little intelligence remained in the American mind by not only announcing his new plan to "send Iraq back to the Middle Ages" (as he would say) but also to warn of the horrible Iranians and their dangerous interference in America's business of sticking their nose in other peoples' business. Yes, the Iran-is-Evil campaign is in full swing and it's only a matter of weeks before most voting Americans (the same ones who are blind to their own domestic misery because their attentions have been so swayed toward their governments' ongoing efforts to spread misery elsewhere) live in fear and anger toward Iran and Iranians.

Except, there's just one problem: Iranians don't care. Neither the Iranians in Iran or the ones abroad. In Iran, the government is only too pleased to be attacked by the United States -- it will improve their position as the world leaders of the Islamic political revolution and it will strengthen their own government in the eyes of the Iranian people who but for the events of the Wart on Terror would have already taken renewed action toward its downfall. Abroad, Iranians have had nearly 30 years to establish themselves as the most educated, successful and grounded minorities in many (if not most) of the countries where they have taken up residence -- including the United States. Basically, this isn't 1979 when Iranians could easily be demonized in the eyes of the American public; today, Iranians have an authority and a cohesive community abroad that will not stand idly by while their beloved country is attacked.

Just think of how much better the world would be if the American public had a mind of its own, rather than one controlled by the fear and inhumanity of their government, and would focus on its own long list of severe and serious problems including, but not limited to: a completely ineffective and easily infiltrated electoral and voting system (not to mention that it isn't democratic, of course), a non-existent healthcare system, inconceivably high poverty rates, a pre-university education system that is easily rivalled by many (if not most) developing countries, crime levels hundreds of times higher than the nearest competitor, lack of consolidated public transportation and, on and on and on.

If only Americans would start caring about themselves, instead of others...we'd all be happy for them.

Winter Solstice Iranian Style!

December 21st is the Winter Solstice -- the longest night of the year -- and it has been celebrated by Iranians for millennia. The fesitivity is essentially rooted in an appreciation of nature and despite various religious movements in Iran, including the present Islamic one, this culture has not been effaced.

Shab-e Yalda (the Syrian Christian term) or Shab-e Cheleh as it is called in Persian is a time to be around family and loved ones to partake of the anar (pomegranate), gerdoo (walnuts), badoom (almonds), hendooneh (watermelon) and other fruits of the season, to listen to music, to smoke ghelyoon (waterpipe) and sit around a fire and enjoy the very long night in togetherness. Basically, it's a good ol' time!

Shab-e Cheleh Pirooz! Shab-e Yalda Mobarak!

-- The Saccharinist

Bushler Seeks More Blood

.................................................................................................(Source)

Bushler has today announced that he is setting the ball in motion to kill thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of more Iraqis. Yes, he's going to send more Hispanic, Black and lower-middle class White Americans -- also known as the US Army -- to Iraq as part of his new plan to not have a new plan in Iraq. That's right, the vampire is seekin' young blood to do his biddin'...

Which reminds me, for any of you out there who still think Iran is worried about a US attack -- think again. Another chance for these martyr-worshippers to re-create the highly successful shahid culture of the Iran-Iraq War is nothing short of a God-send for extending the Islamic Regime of Iran -- a regime whose lifeblood has gotten a much-needed revival jolt thanks to the US war in Iraq.

It is an unbelievable commentary of shame on those governments -- also known as "the West" -- who claim to be democracies, who claim to have respect for human rights, who even have the political and economic power to make a difference in this world but who knowingly stand by and let the Iraqi genocide continue, amongst other major humanitarian crimes being committed in broad daylight today. "The West" in its indifference to the US and British governments is nothing short of a criminal, too. Fifty years from now, we'll be studying Bushler and Bliar and the entire "Coalition Against Terror" in our school textbooks and learning about how evil they were and how nobody did anything to stop them. Funny how the "nobody" is the same then as it was now.

I believe that's why the UN was created in the first place -- to make sure such crimes do not occur again. Except, on the contrary, even more crimes and genocides have occurred since the inception of the UN than before it. But what do you expect when to get to the top of that organization you have to be a bumbling two-faced, immoral, idiot like Kofi Annan who doesn't even have the decency to condemn a crime when he sees it with his own two eyes. Wonder if he would have been more apt to open his greedy mouth if he didn't have a cushy home in Manhattan, USA.