Ruminations

Examining the crossroads of religion and politics

During this month of Ramazan and fasting and worship and introspection, I have taken it upon myself to examine one of the crossroads of religion and politics, and to think about the concept of "Amr b maroof va nahyeh az monkar", and to consider some of its preconditions. >>>

Lease End "Hold-Up"

My fears of turning my car in upon lease expiration. Someone I know recently turned their leased car in with approximately 3000 less miles than the 30,000 miles allowed under their lease, but did they get any credit for that under-usage? No sir!>>>

Letting Reason Prevail & Ratcheting Down Rhetoric

Reason dictates that Iran will be the loser in any potential armed confrontation with the United States of America, so reason dictates that Iran should ratchet down rhetoric and provocation and seek an alternate resolution. >>>

Frustrate the plans of oil neo-colonialists

The marketing of Iraq's oil resources to foreign oil companies through regional authorities versus Iraq's central government sets a bad precedent for the entire region, and sets in motion forces which will lead to civil strife, regional instability, and the disintegration of national unity, as oil neo-colonialists bait resource rich regions into splitting from national unions in the hopes of carting-off those resources "on the cheap." This strategy is commonly referred to as "divide and conquer." >>>

A Weaker Dollar To The Rescue?!?

One of the benefits of the Fed's recent decision to cut interest rates, has been a weakening of the dollar relative to other currencies(because the dollar now earns less interest, there is less of a demand for it relative to other currencies, hence it is less expensive relative to other currencies.) >>>

Cockroaches, A Precursor To Chemical Warfare?

Twenty years on: the continuing risk/fallout of the international community not having brought to account those responsible for supplying and supporting Saddam Hussein's chemical warfare initiative in the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988. >>>

Thinking Flooring? Think Green.

A quick and not-so-dirty guide to purchasing environmentally friendly commercial floor coverings products: To those of you looking to change the commercial carpeting in your place of business while seeking to reduce the environmental impact of that purchase, I have the following recommendation: Shaw Industries, one of the largest carpet manufacturers in the world, has a program which markets product under the "Shaw Green Edge" label. Seek this label, and under that label ask to see carpet tile (as opposed to carpet broadloom) making sure that the word "Eco-Worx" is tied to that carpet tile. >>>

Save yourself money and spare yourself grief.

Approximately 10 months ago a family member went to Best Buy and purchased a rather pricey Mitsubishi 65" 1080P DLP WD657 large screen projection TV. Within the first thirty days the television stopped functioning, and Best Buy replaced it with a similar model from the same manufacturer. In the past 9 months, the television has broken down nearly every 2.5 months, with the authorized service repair person taking an average of about one week to visit and repair the television.>>>

The "D" Word.

Are we being honest with ourselves in assessing the current economic climate as a simple recession versus a full-blown depression? >>>

My Avatar

A description of the picture associated with my blog/persona; i.e. my avatar. >>>

Rehabilitating Iran's Military

The recent news about the change of leadership at the "Sepah Pasadaran" got me to thinking about how absurdly inefficient the current Iranian defense structure is. Take a country with a limited amount of resources available to allocate to its defense needs, then find yourself forced to split those resources between two identical organizations (the "Artesh", and the "Sepah") created, in parallel, to meet the defense needs of that country?!?! >>>

Silver Lining To A National Tragedy.

"Tasliyat." The recent election of a known scoundrel to the leadership post of an important decision-making council in Iran's body-politic amounts to nothing short of a national tragedy, and a reconfirmation of repeated observations and experiences over 28 years establishing either the inability or unwillingness of Iran's "rohaniyat" (as evidenced in the outcome of their vote in this very same election) to properly address the challenges and needs facing the Iranian nation.>>>