Sepember 2004
September 10...............................To
top
* Foreign names, foreign policy
I'm watching U.S. Open Tennis. There's one interesting difference
between American and European broadcasters. The Americans will
most often
botch
foreign
names.
They get clearly uncomfortable. And you'll hear them saying things
like, "I apologize for butchering this name." This happens
so often that its obvious there's no serious effort by producers
to make sure unfamiliar names are pronounced correctly.
On the other hand it's rare to hear a BBC broadcaster having difficulty
with names you'd never hear in Britain. At least they don't hesitate
as often or seem self-conscious. They make a professional attempt
to address people from the rest of the world as individuals, not
exotic Others.
It reminds
me once again of how uninformed Americans are, in general. Uninformed
about the
world
outside
their
TV, beyond
their mall. And this ignorance will cost them dearly. Because America
considers itself the leader of the world and yet its people know
nothing about the world. And that has reflected on U.S.
foreign policy.
So it's inevitable that there's going to be lots of conflict with
people America wants to lead, without knowing who they
are, what they want, what they don't want, or what their grievences
are -- grievences that are often tied to U.S. policy. Maybe if
grandpa in Colorado and Jenny in Georgia knew what beautiful roses
Fatemeh Khanoom grows in her garden in Bushehr, they would give
a damn.
Instead
you
kill an awful lot of innocents for the crimes of a few. Because
you
are
unable
to
distinguish between few terrorists from entire nations, races
and believers. Every Middle Easterner, every Ahmad and Ali, every
dark skinned person with a beard, every woman in Islamic garb
is seen as a potential suicide bomber. Khodaa beh daademoon bereseh...
Babak Nassirian has
been sending series of photographs from his travels in Iran. As
I was posting his latest, I thought of giving the series the title, "Reasons
why America should not bomb Iran." I don't think you could
murder someone after you look at their family album.
-- Jahanshah Javid
September 9...............................To
top
* Hit and hide
EK was telling this story at a party in Richmond, San Francisco's
East Bay last weekend:
One night I was leaving a restaurant and I got into my car,
backed up, and hit the car parked behind me. It was a fancy BMW.
I noticed
a few people outside were looking at me, waiting to see what I
was going to do.
I got out of my
car and took a look at the damaged car -- it was a pretty bad
dent. I took out a piece of paper and wrote a note for the
owner: "I
am
writing
this
because
people
are looking at me." I folded the paper and left it on the
windshield. And I drove off.
-- Jahanshah Javid
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September 7...............................To
top
* Bazleh's "Miami Slice"
Hi everyone!
If you have nothing better to do tune into the "Bravo" channel
during this week of (September 6-13) at 8 pm and watch Miami
Slice: Lives of Southbeach plastic surgeons.
I cut and co-produced the series...
-- Shirin Bazleh
To top
* Bomb the living daylights out of them
I don't have any respect by and large for the Iraqi people
at all. I have no respect for them. I think that they're a prehistoric
group that is -- yeah, there's excuses. Sure, they're terrorized,
they've never known freedom, all of that.
There's excuses. I understand.
But I don't have to respect them, because you know, when you
have Americans dying trying to, you know, institute some kind of
democracy
there, and two percent of the people appreciate it, you know,
it's time to -- time to wise up.
The big lesson is that we cannot intervene
using ground troops in the Muslim world ever again. What we
can do, is bomb the living daylights out of them, just like we
did
in the Balkans. Bomb the living daylights out of them. But
no more ground troops, no more hearts and minds ... ain't going
to
work.
They're just people who are primitive.
-- William 'Bill' O'
Reilly, Fox News. Forwarded by SM
To top
* Pentagon spy arrested at Israeli embassy
Written
by queen mudder
The Wailing Wall, Thursday (Rioters) - The Pentagon as announced
that a high-ranking Iran specialist has been arrested at the Israeli
embassy in Tel Aviv and charged with espionage.
In a series of dawn raids, officials reporting to US Secretary
of State Colon Bowel are said to have raided the home of an unnamed
individual who works in the embassy which the Israeli people had
installed in their own capital to keep an eye on Ariel Sharon's
government following sub-contracting problems related to his "Berlin
2" razor wire wall surrounding the Occupied Territories.
Known in diplomatic circles as something of an anomaly, the embassy
also acts as a representative office for the US steel industry
which has been up in arms for a number of years after President
Bush imposed punitative export tariffs on razor wire related products
which allegedly broke free trade agreements and resulted in the
Sharon Wall having to be re-routed from the West Bank to Afghanistan.
Last night the Rioters News Agency learned that the unnamed alleged
spy, widely believed to be a close relative of former UK newspaper
tycoon and serial fraudster Robert Maxwell, had been caught with
documents that plan an Iranian bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games
in Tehran, in direct competition to Tony Blair's hopes of staging
them in London on his 40th wedding anniversary at the proposed
Cherie Blair Athletics Stadium on a site previously occupied by
Buckingham Palace.
A spokesman for the Israeli Embassy in Tel Aviv was keeping tight-fisted
last night: "We have nothing to say about Kevin Maxwell's
plans to infiltrate the Ayatollahs' Olympic hopes or the sale of
yellowcake uranium that would have made possible the powering of
nuclear facilities to light up the sky for the ensuing sporting
events."
Meanwhile US Counter-Intelligence Officers working for FBI Special
Operations chief Dave "Shady Dave" Szady have refused
to admit or deny that the yellowcake uranium had been originally
mined at an undisclosed government facility in the region of Crawford,
Texas and given to Ahmed Chalabi in exchange for an up to date
list of all expatriate Republican swing voters in Northern Iraq
who may have missed Dick Cheney's television address at the Republican
Party Convention in New York City last night.
Colon Bowel is said to be livid.
-- From thespoof.com.
Forwarded by BH
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* Neocon treason
This election is extremely important, as we all know. Regardless
of our opinion about the government in Iran, we all hope to go
towards formation of a more popular government in Iran and resumption
of a diplomatic relationship between the two great countries of
the USA and Iran.
However there are those who like to turn Iran into another Iraq.
Up until last few days, it would have seemed cynical to think that
these plotters existed. But now, they have been caught.H
Here is a link to an article titled Neocon
Treason written by a respected conservative columnist. Here
are more links to information about Palestine and Israel that
you would never see in mainstream media. And It does relate to us
whether we like it or not.
-- ifamericansknew.org
-- //www.pmwatch.org/pmw/features/thingstoharpon.html
-- //www.pmwatch.org/pmw/snakebite/DidYouKnow.html
-- //www.pmwatch.org/pmw/snakebite/FamousQuotes.html
-- //www.jatonyc.org/
How many times have you heard totally bias reporting in the mainstream media
that you wished you could have informed others about its bias and bring out
the truth? Well, Pmwatch has created a web site that provides the resources
and information needed to write to the media and ask them to be objective.
Here is an
example.
Just imagine how great it would be if each of us would watch our favorite news
broadcast or talk show and other programs and if we see any false statements
about Iranians, Iran, Arabs, Muslim, Christians, Jews or others. We could send
a letter to the media and share the content of the letter in pmwatch.org or
Iranian.com or other web sites.
This is how we can contribute to and help the media in bringing
out the truth and contribute to peace in the world.
-- Jamsheed T
To top
* “A First Norooz”: Animation
Doostan
Below is a letter from Dustin Ellis. He is doing something
fantastic that I feel most of us raising kids outside of Iran
need. He is
creating an animation film on Norooz. But this one is not your
typical let’s count the “Seen”s from 1 to 7.
This one deals with something that Dustin is very familiar with.
All of our kids also have first hand experience with this: The
trials and tribulation of. Bring raised as a mix of two cultures.
Dustin has a story that is fun for children to watch and teaches
children that it is great to be multi-cultural and teaches them
on how to deal being an Iranian-American.
Anyhow, please do me a favor and read this and pass it on
to others. I have seen the storyboard and cannot wait to get
my hands
on this amazing work. Please join me in supporting Dustin, anyway
you can, which I guess starts by disseminating this letter widely.
-- Siamak Farah
An Open letter to the Iranian Community.
My name is Dustin Ellis and I am currently Co-Producing, Writing
and Directing an animated short about Norooz entitled “A
First Norooz”. As the son of an Immigrant Iranian mother
and an American father, I am familiar with the confusion that being
raised in a duel cultural environment creates and the importance
of having the tools to keep children in touch with the traditions
and customs of the land that they are now so far away from.
As a professional who has chosen animation film production as
his career, I am experienced and aware of the powerful influence
a cartoon has in educating children in an entertaining manner.
With “A First Norooz”, I hope to combine these two
experiences and passions, into a project that will bring the same
excitement and anticipation that American children have about their
seasonal cartoons.
“A First Norooz” is just one aspect of a bigger
plan to create quality entertainment to a segment of the population
that until now has largely been ignored: children of Iranian immigrant
families. Our plan is to create a series of books (three of which
have already been written and are currently being illustrated)
about the kids in the film, Babak, Sousanne and Saman, and then
release a DVD cartoon about the Norooz holiday, that teaches children
about Norooz, in a fun way and through characters they can assimilate
with.
Currently in production, the cartoon boasts the vocal talents
of Ali Pourtash, Parviz Sayyad and academy award nominated actress,
Shohreh Aghdashloo. The animation is being storyboarded by artists
from Warner Bros. and Dreamworks, and finished in Korea by well-known
animation company, Sunburst Animation. The DVD will feature two
versions of the cartoon: one in English and one in Farsi, so that
Iranian children all around the world can enjoy it.
Pretty soon, you will get a follow on email to see how you can
pre-order the video and those who pre-order will receive a free
storybook.
So far, there has never been this kind of project targeting the
Iranian audience with Disney-style, animated film promotions and
tie-ins. It is our belief that its time has come, and Iranian parents
will want to support this kind of endeavor that not only teaches
their children about their rich heritage, but does it in an enjoyable
way and with characters the kids can relate to.
This letter only scratches the surface on our plans for the video
and what it’s about. Feel free to contact
me via email and I will gladly tell you more about the project, the marketing
campaign, and brief synopsis’ of the storybooks.
Sincerely,
Dustin Ellis
To top
* Open Invitation: Cultural festival in Bay Area
The Eighth Annual Cultural Arts Festival wants Artists!
On September 26, 2004 the Payvand
Cultural Organization in northern
California and Iranian Federated Women’s Club will host
their eighth annual cultural festival open to public. This
event
proudly
displays the crafts
of Persian artists, dance groups, community television, musicians,
and poets.
The Festival has a proven track record of art sales!
Payvand works hard all year round to enhance the cultural awareness
in our community. The events in prior years have sold a great
amount of art. Payvand will assist artists in anyway possible
to see the
successful sale of their fine art. Tables, display areas, and
assistance in creating a display will be provided.
The Cultural Festival is not an event without Fine Art!
Artists who are interested in displaying and selling their art
at the event on September 26, 2004 please contact Payvand right
away. We are providing the support needed to assist in the
display of your craft. Events in prior years have had a great
turn out
in sales as well as notoriety for the artist. We need your
help to make this years event something special.
Please Contact
Andrea before September 10, 2004!
We know this is short notice, however a professional gallery
consultant is ready to make this event work. Contact Andrea
Holston at 408-998-3126 or kzakaib@hotmail.com,
payvand95@aol.com.
Payvand will spend the month of September organizing the
finer details of the
event – all you have to do is show up with your art.
Interested Artists Contact Payvand by September
10, 2004!
-- Fariba Nejat
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