Days Go By

Yesterday, another picture-perfect day in Portland. Today, cloudy, but that's cool too. Spent last night and this morning clearing trash and junk out of the apartment. Today's goal: spend some quality time on creative writing (after I finish procrastinating and doodling around on LJ!).

Found a few of Stephanie's old books: 'The Western Wind', a book about writing poetry; a biography of Ken Kesey by Barry Leeds, autographed by the author; and 'The Recognitions' by William Gaddis. 'The Recognitions' and John Gardner's 'The Sunlight Dialogues' were two of Stephanie's favorite novels, along with several classics of the Beat movement such as Kerouac's 'On the Road'. I never shared Stephanie's appreciation for the Beats, but I did enjoy Gardner's short stories; I especially remember one (based on an event in Gardner's own life) about a boy who accidentally kills his brother with a piece of farm machinery.

Somehow, I was spared the passion for "intensity at any price" that so consumed Stephanie. What I'm left with instead is this obsessive sense of mission, or simply of duty, to try to put it all together, to make sense of the puzzle. All I'm left with is the pieces.

Introducing the backup site for Dreams Into Lightning!

Seems like this wasn't such a bad idea after all.

Not cross-posted at Dreams Into Lightning - TypePad.

New URL: Official Rollout

I posted on this earlier, but now I'm making it official ... the new home for Dreams Into Lightning is here:
Dreams Into Lightning - TypePad

Posting here at Blogger will continue but the TypePad site is now the primary one. All new material will be posted there first. I'm keeping this Blogger account active as a backup, but I encourage you to bookmark the new site. That URL is:
http://asher813.typepad.com/dreams_into_lightning/

See you there!

Dreams Into Lightning - TypePad.

Ghazal Omid: State Department Sends Wrong Message to Iranians

Iranian activist Ghazal Omid was kind enough to spend some of her valuable time chatting with me on the phone recently. She conveyed her desire to educate the world about the true message of Islam, her admiration for the American people, and her frustration at the false images of Americans portrayed in the media. She also asked me to share the following letter, which she sent to President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice:

Dear Secretary Rice,

I recently read an article citing your statement that the United States subsidizes Voice of America and Radio Farda with an $85 million budget.

I am an Iranian born, Canadian citizen, author of Living in Hell, I have appeared on more than 160 radio and television shows in the US and Canada denouncing the barbaric mullahcracy that is destroying the Iranian people and threatening the world.

I have appeared on Voice of America and Radio Farda many times in English, Farsi, Kurdish and Afghan. You should be made aware that both censor my anti-regime comments, cautioning me off-air to be respectful to the Iranian authorities.

Many of the people running VOA and Radio Farda left Iran after the revolution as political refugees. Some of them travel to Iran frequently via their Iranian passport while working, as a US citizen, for VOA in the United States. Many have lives and businesses in both countries and are trying to keep their feet dry in both places.

VOA and Radio Farda, use entertainment and pop music and culture to gain the wrong kind of popularity among the youth; it may sell an album but will not sell a nation. The message being broadcast of Iranian society outside Iran is perceived as a hedonistic lifestyle of party goers, night clubbers and sinners who know nothing about Iran, have no respect for true freedom or religion and will never be able to help the future of Iran. They believe that the people of USA, by paying for the programming, approve of the VOA broadcasts.

VOA, Radio Farda and many other Iranian radio and television stations generously subsidized by the United States teach the wrong way to fight the Iranian regime. For instance, in an article in Time magazine about the youth resistance in Iran, the writer asked dissident Iranian youth how they were fighting the government of Iran. They said they demonstrated their opposition by drinking home made whisky on the streets, listening to pop music, dancing the night away, speeding 120 km per hour in the busy streets and smoking marijuana. Is this the image of freedom we want to portray to Farsi speakers of Iran, the Persian Gulf and the Middle East? I do not believe we can fix a problem by creating a new one.

While in Dubai during the month of January 2006, as I watched these images broadcast via satellite, I wondered if the people of USA know how their own media is portraying them. The images of stripper/singer/pop-culture musicians give the government of Iran a tool to fight the West. They use your own funded TV and media to teach hate and convince generations that the US and its people are not only anti-God but have no morals, no conscience.

US soldiers should not die because false images of freedom are being broadcast in Iran and the Middle East. Men and women in uniform, who fight and die for freedom deserve better.

True freedom is not about wearing makeup, being scantily clad, drinking and smoking pot. It is the other side of freedom that is not been properly publicized. The US funded media is exploited by the Iranian regime; telling Iranians that US freedom is nothing but a whore wrapped in a USA flag. This image does not help the fight against terrorism, Iranian regime and hardliners. We need to show respect for each other’s beliefs, morality and religion to gain the respect of the average person.

If we are trying to help the Iranian people, we are sending the wrong message. Iranian people have no choice but go against the culture of sinners. Who can blame them for not liking a grim and false representation of the true nature of people of United States and its Persian population?

Should there be an attack on Iran, these stations will not become a trusted podium for the USA true messages of freedom. By continually being portrayed as out of touch with reality and more concerned about its own existence and life style, the US is working counter effectively to its goals and wasting a lot of taxpayer money.

You have a great chance to educate Iranians and Middle Easterners and help them stand up to evil. You are losing that opportunity by letting the negative part of US culture to be blown out of proportion. Middle Easterners accept your TV as a synopsis of the life of the real people of America. You have a chance to let them know who you really are and what you can do to help them.

Ghazal Omid

Ghazal Omid is the author of Living In Hell, as well as three forthcoming books: Islam 101, Iran and Its Future, and Poverty in Paradise. Keep reading Dreams Into Lightning for more information.

Cross-posted at Dreams Into Lightning - TypePad.

Let's blogroll!

Immigration debate: Gay Patriot is the site of a friendly debate on immigration. Average Gay Joe says he'll march on Monday: 'I have many Latino friends that are immigrants and a number of them called me all day expressing fear over being kicked out. Some of this is irrational probably stirred up from political opportunists, rumors, and perhaps bad experiences with the governments in their native countries. I say this because some of my friends I know are here legally with valid work visas, yet they too seem to have caught the “fear bug” going around. These folks, mainly from El Salvador, were granted permission to work in the U.S. and have been here for many years. They have married, had kids, bought homes, and in all respects that I’ve seen are the kind of people we want to have in our country. ...' Go to the link for the rest, including AGJ's suggestions for a "hard/soft" approach to immigration. Bruce, the original GayPatriot, responds: 'AGJ outlined some good reasons and also articulated the right immigration policy and on those points I completely agree. But I have to disagree with him marching as he will in effect be lending credence to those who wish not to IMMIGRATE but to INVADE. The groups organizing these marches are not interested in becoming Americans, but well-paid Mexican workers in a place that happens to be called America. ...' Full post at the link.

Fulla fun. Samantha Burns reports on Syria's newest role model for young girls: 'For me, it's good to know that a somewhat similar version of Barbie exists. It's depressing to see girls miss out on all the learning they could be doing with their Barbies because they are too busy escaping into the mind numbing, pathetic video game drone.'

We are amused. Well, sort of. Tigerhawk, guest of the Belmont Club, reacts to the "Two Bushes" comedy routine. On a more serious note, Tigerhawk summarizes a year's worth of analysis in this lengthy post on winning the Long War.

Whose 'true agenda'? Pamela at Atlas Shrugs scrutinizes CAIR's kvetching about the Sudan Freedom Walk. Meanwhile, Judith at Kesher Talk reports that Ayaan Hirsi Ali is being evicted: 'Back home in the Hague, she is being evicted by her neighbors because the fact that Islamists have targeted her for assassination, and therefore requires 24-hr. guard, makes them nervous.'

Uncomfortably numb. Also from Kesher Talk, Judith has a roundup of United 93 posts, and this: 't was interesting that many spoke of being numbed by the movie (as in temporarily emotionally overwhelmed) or un-numbed by the movie (as in emotional catharsis renewing one's focus and resolve). ... [But there is another kind of numbness:] This isn't the same kind of numbness as described by the bloggers above. They are temporarily numb from allowing the drama in the film to deeply penetrate their souls and inform their choices, which is one of the functions of art. The numbness Chesterton describes, which is similar to the reaction I gave examples of in the Mars and Venus post, comes from experiencing the same emotions, but keeping their meaning at bay. The reviewers I quoted are trying desperately to keep Flight 93 from mattering, to themselves or anyone else.'

Imshin has a post about nothing. And a parable.

Marian at Eight Drunken Immortals reflects on the movies, and tries to keep her mind off that whack job Tom Cruise. Roger Simon reports that Chirac and de Villepin have missed an opportunity to keep quiet and possibly slandered Sarkozy ... and it may bite them in the derriere.

Link farm at Creative Destruction. Patti's in Boulder. Neo's slacking. Tammy's not. Beth talks marriage.

Cross-posted at Dreams Into Lightning - TypePad.

"We are Iraq, now you report!"

Iraqi Future:

I felt it very necessary for the first blog to be the true message that every Iraqi wants to tell the American soldiers, marines, airmen, sailors, and American public. That message is simple, it is thank you. We thank you for everything that you have endured in bringing up liberation and bringing us a chance to move forward for tyranny and oppression. After the decades of misery the Iraqi people had really given up all hope that anyone would come to help them but then one day we saw those stars and stripes waving in downtown Baghdad and everyone knew what that flag represented. ...

I was recently at a cafe in Baghdad with a small group of close Kurdish friends and relatives. We were eating kabob and sharing a hookah when we heard a single explosion several blocks away. We jumped up and started moving towards where it came from and we knew we were headed in the right direction because I saw one of the 'ABC' station reporters heading in the opposite direction. My cousin went up to the man and grabbed him and said, "Where the hell do you think you are going, you want a story? Well you found one, go and film what you all want to write about."

So the reporter started following us over as he really didn't know what to do after this 6' 3" Iraqi just grabbed him and practically dragged him with us. We arrived to find a small group of Iraqis trying to help these two wounded U.S. soldiers who were injured from an apparent IED. The other soldiers weren't quite sure what to do when they saw these Iraqis calling for the police to come over and when they saw this older women in all black ripping a piece of her clothing and soaking it with water that she was carrying to try in comfort this soldier. Two medics came over and took over from there and then one of their commanding officers I guess drew a perimiter and told everyone to leave the area.

The immediate buzz amongst the people was, "I hope the soldiers are alright" and "God willing the perpetrators will be ravaged in the hell fire." I looked over to the reporter and saw what appeared like he just saw a ghost, as I guess he had never seen injured people after a bomb. I told him, "Now turn your camera on since you didn't at the site of the attack and report from Iraq. We are Iraq, now report!"

As soon as he turned his camera on a small group gathered around his camera screaming in Arabic, "That was not us! Death to the terrorists! God bless America!" I attempted to translate as much as I could to the camera in english as the group was chanting this in Arabic, but to no avail I said none of this in the reporting later that night from Iraq.

Hat tip: LGF comments

"Are your men scared?" "Not enough."

Michael Totten on the Israel/Lebanon border:

Lisa [Goldman] and I met Israeli Defense Forces Spokesman Zvika Golan at a base in the north near the border. He told us to follow him in his jeep as he drove to a lookout point next to an IDF watch tower that opened up over Lebanon. ...

He introduced me to a young bearded lieutenant in the IDF [see link for photo] on border patrol duty.

What do you see when you look at Lebanon?” I asked the lieutenant.

“I see poverty and difficult circumstances,” he said. “I see poor farmers who work hard. After so many years of war, the last thing they probably want is more war.”

“Do you know what you’re looking at when you look into the towns?” I said.

“We track movement on the other side,” he said. “I can tell you exactly what each of those buildings are for.” ...

"The UN says Hezbollah started the last fight," I said to the lieutenant. "Do you ever start any fights?"

“They always initiate," he said. "We never do. I want to go home. I want to read the newspaper and get more than three hours of sleep every night. We have no business here.”

"Are you scared?" I said.

“I am scared," he said. "As an officer I want my men to be scared.”

"Are they?" I said.

“Not enough," he said. "Not enough.”

Go to the post at Michael J. Totten for the rest, with photos.

Morning Report, April 23, quoted a bulletin on Debka about Hezbollah in Lebanon:

Debka: US, France back down on Syria sanctions, set Lebanon back to "square one". Debka: 'When he visited the White House on April 18, Lebanese prime minister Fouad Siniora was shocked to discover that president George W. Bush had cooled to the campaign he launched with France against the Assad regime in February 2005, after the assassination of the Lebanese politician Rafiq Hariri. He saw that Bashar Assad and his clique were getting away scot-free from being brought to account as suspects in the crime. Siniora also learned, according to DEBKAfile’s Washington and Middle East sources, that the Americans had abandoned their drive to oust Lahoud, disarm the Hizballah, disband Palestinian militias in Lebanon, and impose on them the implementation of a key UN Security Council resolution. As he left the White House, the Lebanese prime minister remarked: “Lebanon is back to square one. We are left with the ruins of the American-French initiative.” Our sources in Beirut report that, scenting the new winds blowing from Washington and Paris, all the Lebanese militias, including those linked to al Qaeda, are re-arming and rebuilding their strength. ...' Read the rest at the link. (Debka)

Here's the item at Debka.

DoS Attack

Just learned via Winds of Change and Little Green Footballs that some sites on Hosting Matters, including Michael Totten are down due to a Denial of Service (DoS) attack from Saudi Arabia. Stay tuned.

UPDATE: Looks like Michael's up and running again.

Update: Posting Break

I'll be taking a short break from posting at Dreams Into Lightning, probably through the middle of next week. New developments on the personal front (good ones, but full of headaches) are currently occupying most of my time and energy.

Don't forget to visit Dreams Into Lightning - TypePad. It's still under construction, but you might want to bookmark it.

Tony Snow, Press Secretary

Marian at Eight Drunken Immortals:

I see that Tony Snow will be the White House's press secretary. What a great moment. Finally someone with some backbone to represent the White House and Republicans. I once did an online question and answer segment with Tony Snow on AOL before they got to be the overblown mess they are now. It was extremely interesting.

I have nothing but respect for him and I know he will do a great job in his new postion. I can't wait to see how he handles that old battleax Helen Thomas. It should make her head explode. ...

Tammy Bruce:

I think he'll be very good in the job, and I have a feeling he'll be much more in control of the press room than Scott McClellan ever was. ... Tony is our kind of guy.

Muslim Woman: Afghan Women's Maternal Care Shows Little Improvement Since Taliban Era

Himadree at The Muslim Woman:

Life is still the same for the Afghan Women and children just as the way it used to be during the Taliban regime.

After the US led army ended the Taliban rule, Laura Bush had said: ‘The fight against terrorism is also a fight for the rights and dignity of women’.

But in contrary to the statement even today the pregnant women doesn’t have the rights to the basic amenities of life. The nations maternal care is in its worst condition and the government is least bothered about it.

According to a study conducted by Physicians for Human Rights (PHR):

Not even 1% pregnant women are taken care of by a professional health care worker.

Out of 174 hospitals in the entire country, a handful of 17 can actually practice caesarean deliveries and only 5 offers indispensable obstetric care. ...

Read the rest at the link, and don't forget to bookmark The Muslim Woman.

Afghanistan

Cross-posted at Dreams Into Lightning - TypePad.

Michael Totten in Israel

"Rich, powerful, and explicitly Jewish" wouldn't have been my first choice of words in describing Israel, but when it comes from Michael Totten we know what he means. Go read this terrific post to get the feel of how Palestinians and Israelis negotiate the borders of their world. I'm going to post a few thoughts of my own later.

Oh, and to be fair to Michael, here's the full quote in context:

Arab countries have a certain feel. They’re masculine, relaxed, worn around the edges, and slightly shady in a Sicilian mobster sort of way. Arabs are wonderfully and disarmingly charming. Israel felt brisk, modern, shiny, and confident. It looked rich, powerful, and explicitly Jewish. I knew I had been away from home a long time when being around Arabs and Muslims felt comfortably normal and Jews seemed exotic.

First impression are just that, though. They tend to be crazily out of whack and subject to almost instant revision. Israel, I would soon find out, is a lot more like the Arab and Muslim countries than it appears at first glance. It’s not at all a little fragment of the West that is somehow weirdly displaced and on the wrong continent. It’s Middle Eastern to the core ...

Go read the whole post here.