Here's your chance

Barack Obama, this improbable son of immigrant has done something that it was thought impossible. To bring people from both side of isles, ardent republicans the likes of the Susan Eisenhower who recently pledged in a Washington Post op-ed to step outside of her party, "this lifelong Republican will work to get him elected". To pass gender issues and have 100 of the top feminist leaders in the country to support him over Clinton. He has the ability to united people of all creeds>>>

به روز واقعه تابوت ما ز سرو کنید

احمد بورقانی که خود با موج اصلاحات ،به معاونت مطبوعاتی ارشاد رسیده بود، تعریف دیگری ازنقش قدرت در جامعه از یکسو و کارکرد مطبوعات از سوی دیگر داشت . پافشاری بورقانی بر درستی دیدگاهش در باره ی مطبوعات هرچند "بهار" دیگری برای اهل قلم به ارمغان آورد اما "تنهایی" ، او را در برابر موجهای پی در پی ای که از سوی کانونهای قدرت ایجاد می شد، شکننده کرد و نهایتا با سخنانی فراموش نشدنی از این سمت استعفا داد و رفت. البته رفتن بورقانی ، "خزان" دیگری را برای مطبوعات ایران به دنبال آورد که هنوز هم ادامه دارد. >>>

The gentle giant

I still can't believe he's gone, forever. Ahmad Bourghani Farahani died in Tehran on Saturday at the age of 48, from a heart attack. He is best known as a former liberal member of parliament from Tehran and one of the most open-minded deputy culture ministers in charge of media affairs during Mohammad Khatami's first presidential term. I met Ahmad years before his brief political career. He was a senior editor at the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) when I joined the English section in March 1980. I still remember his friendly, playful, welcoming smile the first time we met... >>>

Ey Sareban

Music video>>>

Fear and Hope

The occasion for this reflection is, of course, the Barak Obama phenomenon -the novelty of which, incidentally, is demonstrated by the fact that my word processing program does not recognize either name. To be more precise, it is the conundrum that the phenomenon poses for the American electorate in the 2008 Presidential campaign. The audacity of Obama’s hope has become contagious. The Democratic Party establishment’s iconic Ted Kennedy has endorsed him, and more than 70% of Move-On respondents have chosen him over Hillary Clinton.>>>

Simply Irresistible

The singletons amongst us are cruelly reminded that, once again, despite our best efforts, there will be no romance on this cruellest-of-cruel days… the dreaded Valentine’s Day. Yes folks, Valentine’s Day is just over a week away and there is no escaping it! My personal belief has always been that this special day was a well thought out scam created by the greeting card companies and florists of this world, to cash in on our hard earned monies…. Jerks. But single or not, Valentine’s Day is a strange affair at the best of times. Happy couples seem to appear from nowhere and the City is suddenly awash with red roses, shop windows are crammed with chocolate, perfume and lingerie>>>

Achilles' heel

Few days ago the official spokesman of the Islamic Republicís judiciary reported a directive banning any further execution in public has been issued by the head of the judiciary. The said directive also disallows any further dissemination of pictures of hangings by Iranian mass media except in cases that exclusive exceptions are made by the judiciary. Interested observers who are seasoned in the IRI's public announcements have come to expect denials and clarifications on the heel of most officially announced declarations. And since it has been a few days and none has been made it should be safe to opine on repercussion of the judiciaryís latest directive>>>

وطن، دوچرخه ای روی جک

دلم بیسکوییت مادری می خواهد
با چای شیرین
هوای وطن دارد دلم
سرد است و هوای دربند به سرم زده
و به سرم زده که با خیال تخت
بنشینم با تو
که بی خیال آسمانی که بالاست
و زمینی که زیر تخت است
به کودکیم برگردم
>>>

Sean Penn's Last Frontier

The very first film I ever saw with Hollywood's angry man Sean Penn goes back to some 20 years ago in unusual circumstances. I had to reluctantly do my military service in France and during a three day long selection process during which I had to pass several I.Q. and medical exams to judge if I was apt for a year long stay in Army barracks and for all sorts of maneuvers in the cold snow covered hills of Eastern France. Now some 20 years later I get to meet the real guy at the screening of a film Into the Wild in which he did not act but directed >>>

غیاب انسانیت

فرضأ کمک های مالیی که از جانب ایران به فلسطین می شود بیشتر از پولهای مالیاتی که از جیب ایرانی ها به جیب دولتهای کشورهای غربی می رود٬ صرف ساخت سلاحهایی می شود که برای تهدید جان خانواده های خودشان در ایران به کار می رود. ولی حق طلبی و آزادیخواهی ما چه می شود؟! موضع گیری قاطع ما در برابر ظلم و ضعیف کشی کدام است؟ آیا میزان پایبندی ما به آرمانهای انسانی مشروط به روابط تاریخیمان با ملت های مختلف است (آن هم در چارچوب ساختارهای موجود روابط بین الملل)؟ و یا آنکه همدردی و همدلی میان انسانها و مبارزه با بی عدالتی و زورگویی فرا تر از این مسائل است؟ >>>

آتش ارتجاع

هيچ شکلی از «بنيادگرائی» نيست که در ذات خود واکنشی و ـ اتفاقاً ارتجاعی هم ـ نباشد. يعنی هم بصورت واکنشی در برابر کنشی پيشرونده ظاهر شده و هم خواستار آن نباشد که نه حتی به گذشتهء نزديک که به گذشتهء بسيار دوری که فقط در تخيل آدميان ماليخوليائی وجود دارد برنگردد. اينکه يک «بنيادگرا» از مدرن ترين تکنولوژی ها و اسلحه ها برای از بين بردن جهان متجدد استفاده کند هرگز ماهيت «ارتجاعی» و «واکنشی» بنيادگرائی اش را تغيير نمی دهد. >>>

Stop. Wrong direction.

Following the National Intelligence Estimate ("NIE") report, the rhetoric on Iran has decreased significantly. Not only have politicians stopped debating about it (except for attacks against Clinton for supporting a resolution calling the Revolutionary Guard a terrorist organization), but the news and reports about Iranian nuclear programs have stopped getting the front page coverage in major papers that they apparently deserved in the past. Yet there's a problem here, an itch that everyone feels but no one has yet scratched. The Bush administration has long stopped caring about Iran possessing nuclear WEAPONS. It cares about Iran possessing nuclear KNOWLEDGE>>>