And We Should Believe This Why?

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, angrily warned opposition leaders Friday to stay off the streets and denied opposition claims that last week’s disputed election was rigged.

Meanwhile on Twitter and Iran Blogs they are saying that the election was rigged and demonstrators are being jailed an abused. If this election was so fair and the opposition is being treated fairly why aren't legitimate western news sources allowed out of their hotel rooms to cover this victory for democracy?

Certainly if the Ayatollah is correct the election will stand the test of scrutiny the world will hold it to. I frankly have my doubts but then I have lived through two bogus elections of GW Bush. And I can understand the anger of the people of Iran to have a Supreme leader (in our case the Supreme Court) declare what we in our hearts and minds knew was wrong.

From the outside looking in obliquely, since they are allowing no direct viewing, they made a few huge mistakes. First was declaring victory within hours in a country that counts its votes by hand. Second was in underestimating the power of the "informal media" out there these days with their cellphones and text messages to Twitter.

And naturally the ousted formal press is upset and going with Twitter for its source on what is happening inside Iran. Who knows what we will see when the dust settles around this disputed democratic election. One thing we will know for sure: Never underestimate the power of the people to get their story out these days. They will even beg Twitter to not shut down for routine maintenance of their site.

Who would have believed this: Twitter is the new Radio Free Europe in the Middle East.

Feeling Less Than Free

My word for today on another blog site was Force. I picked it to define because quite frankly I am feeling a bit forced these days.

First there is the force that the approaching winter is applying. After enduring six feet of snow in three days last year the mere thought of snow seems to bring on post traumatic stress syndrome. I had been lulled into a sense of safety by two or three very mild winters and then to be hit by the 100 year storm . . . well, I was woefully unprepared except for the larder full of canned goods in case of bird flu.

Second, I am feeling forced by a need to finish the studio project begun this summer. I have at last found a carpenter to apply the outside siding. Let me note that while I am very grateful to be getting this done it has all cost more than anticipated or budgeted and way more than the national norms. According to one home improvement site I should be able to get my entire house sided for about $6,900 US but I had one estimate for $25,000. Doing just the new addition for $3,000.

So, the third force would have to be money. Obviously something a lot of people are feeling because the rich that buy my art seem reluctant to let go of a dime these days. Which puts us artists back to poverty level. Mind you we are always skirting close to that edge at the best of times.

Fourth, we seem to have started the political campaigning entirely too early. Is it possible that we could elect our next president in 2008 just to allow him or her a platform from which to run for re-election for four years?

I like the increased debates. I thought it would make me feel as if I had more control over my choice but no. The talking heads want to tell me what I should have thought as the candidates answered the questions, and the pollsters seem to have already elected who it is that is going to run. So I am divided as to whether we should just let the polls elect the president and thereby skip all those soon to come nasty television spots, or launch a write in campaign for some really dark horse (like an honest person not tied to big money), or quietly move offshore like all the jobs, factories, and money.

And Fifth is of course the war in Iran. He wants one. He probably will get one. Hell, even Hilary voted to call them terrorists. What choice did we have about Iraq. You assume we will have a choice about Iran? Which in order to man three wars there will have to be a draft and once again we are being forced to participate in something we cannot (and should not morally) condone.

I wonder if the French middle class felt like this just before the revolution?

You Would Think Men Could Learn

Talk of going to war with Iran. If the war with Iraq was any example we could say that George W is on a roll up to invade Iran without provocation. Or that provocation he mentions being manufactured like the WMD excuse in Iraq.

I cannot figure out what he is thinking. Every single military leader has talked about how totally stressed the military is, how much longer this level of troops (it has gone up even after the surge) can be maintained, the lack of available quality recruits (now the army is taking high school drop outs and felons), and the need to let the National Guard go back home before they are all bankrupt because of the lower wages of the military.

We are so extended in Iraq that the war in Afghanistan is suffering and we cannot send aid to places in this world suffering from ethnic cleansing. The United States was once the force to be counted upon to right the wrongs of the world. Now we are the wrong. We invaded a country on trumped up evidence by a mega-maniacal idiot and have occupied it even though the majority of the population has asked us to leave.

What about war have we not learned? Men have been doing it since before the beginning of recorded history. And all that seems to changed is the weapons and styles in armor. Hell, we are still mounting crusades to the holy land. All these years of civilization and we have not learned tolerance, diplomacy, tact, and the ability to talk to each other (not at each other which is the Bush style) and come to compromises.

I thought that a woman president might give us hope of ending this vicious cycle and yet it would seem that Hilary is going to be as much a sword rattler as the men she is running against. She even voted for a bill that would give the president tacit approval to invade Iran.

This silliness has got to stop. It kills people, causes shortages of materials (including people), and poisons the plant we live on.

The Illustration used is from Drawing Swords.