REVOLUTION
Reminding myself about the reality of the past 30 years
Allow me to go back to the beginning of the revolution, or maybe a little bit before. It was 1978. The Iranian revolution was in full swing. I was a teenager full of life and passionate about a big change, like so many young people during that period. We were all ready to get rid of the monarchy and bring justice and equality to our country. The future was so bright and it was right in front of us; we could be free from the hands of a dictator! Finally the time had come: 1979 was glorious. The Shah left the country! However, the glory of the 1979 revolution did not last long for many Iranians. Women were the first to be targeted by the new regime.
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VIEW
Undemocratic anti-Americans
Irrational anti Americanism is not only unique to Iran. Other undemocratic governments have done that too. Some examples are China, Russia, Venezuela, N Korea, Myanmar, Zimbabwe, Syria, Sudan and Cuba. These countries have portrayed themselves as “anti Imperialist”, and “freedom fighters”, and “justice promoters”, and “hope for human beings!!”! That brings up an important question: what is these so called “Anti American” regimes are talking about and what have they done for their own country? Well, numbers don’t lie! Below, I have gathered data that shows the above mentioned governments’ ranking in critical issues such as human rights and economic prosperity
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LOVE
به فروشگاه عطرهای چینی سر زدم تا شاید عطر خوش بختی را پیدا کنم .جیمز فروشنده جوان فروشگاه هر چه گشت عطری را که با نام صدایش کرده بودم پیدا نکرد .دیگر خسته از جستجوی چند ماهه شده بودم. ساعت کهنه ی دیواری پنج بار نواخت و جیمز خودش را برای بستن مغازه آماده کرد. وقتی عقربه ی ساعت شصت ثانیه را گذراند در تارو پود کنار پنچره عطر را پیدا کردم. خودش بود. با همان نام و با همان مشخصات! دو بسته ی گلبرگ گل سرخ هم خریدم تا وقتی بیایی روی سرت از بالای تخت بریزم. خودت بهتر از هر کسی می دانی چقدر گل سرخ دوست دارم. بویش همیشه مستم می کند. مادر قبل از اینکه به خانه ی آقای خدا برود گل های تازه در باغچه ی خانه کاشته بود!
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IDEAS
On the occasion of the release of Bill Maher’s movie, “Religulous”, on DVD
Bill Maher is clearly uninterested in engaging authorities on religion. No cameos of Houston Smith or Karen Armstrong here. Instead, he targets the humble and the unsuspecting: a lay pastor of a store-front church with folding chairs, an Imam in a mosque under construction in Amsterdam, and a peacenik Rabbi in a cramped Brooklyn synagogue. He then goes on to badger them with irreverent questions and clever asides. You can’t help but feel for these folks who have been framed—in both senses of the term—as ignorant fanatics. One must have a twinge of sympathy even for the Christian fundamentalist senator whose verbal gaffes Mahr flashes across the screen lest the viewers miss the extent of his ignorance
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