Tag: Islamic Republic of Iran

I think I could like Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi

I think I could like Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi

I think I could like Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi. I will likely never meet him as he is in prison in Iran and being tortured and relatives fear he is close to death.

Mr. Boroujerdi supports the traditional Shiite view that religious leaders should stay out of politics and preach their messages to the faithful in mosques (maybe a few Christian preachers in the US could learn that lesson). In his words, protesting in 2006, “the regime is adamant that either people adhere to political Islam or be jailed, exiled or killed. Its behavior is no different from that of Osama bin Laden or Mullah Omar.”

Mr. Boroujerdi has also preached tolerance of all religious beliefs, including atheism, on the grounds that faith must be freely chosen. Perhaps nothing bothers the Iranian regime more than religious pluralism: In recent years, the country has been swept by the arrests and executions of members of minority groups like the Bahais and Sufi dervishes.

In 2010, a message from Mr. Boroujerdi was smuggled out of Evin prison, delivering a message to the world’s Jews in celebration of Hanukkah. “Any religious belief that brings us closer to (God) is the truth,” he wrote. “This force will lead humanity towards enlightenment. On this great day, we celebrate the unity among the believers of God’s light.”

Yes, I think I could learn from this man. Too bad Iran will make sure he is dead soon.

Article from the Wall Street Journal talking about Mr. Boroujerdi.

President Obama pitches Chicago for the Olympics

President Obama pitches Chicago for the Olympics

Currently, President Barack Hussein Obama is planning on going to Copenhagen to be a celebrity pitchman for the city of Chicago (and America in general) for the home of the 2016 Olympics. While there is plenty of controversy over this decision since there are probably hundreds of movie stars and celebrities that could be tasked with helping the cause, the concern that BHO is too busy to go is probably not relevant.

Currently, every head of state for a city that is in the finals is visiting the IOC.  BHO’s lack of attendance would be telling if he did not go.  If BHO stayed home and spent more time socializing our economy, he would be vastly criticized if Chicago lost their bid. It is the sad state of Olympics politics that the head of state needs to be involved in order to win since Blair did that 4 years ago to secure London’s hosting spot.

There is little danger in BHO going. He has already started the process of vastly increasing our taxes with a cap and trade initiative as well as screwing up the healthcare reform effort. Having him travel around Europe (where they love him) is probably a good thing.  Maybe while he is on that side of the pond, Iran can give him a quick tour of their nuclear facilities and missile program. Then he can come back and give a Chamberlain style speech!

There is no questioning BHO’s star appeal.  In fact, this was an issue during his campaign for the Presidency (and led to this hilarious video). Let him use this star power to bring the Olympics to Chicago – for no other reason than we will be able to see the events in primetime rather than tape delayed!!

RANT! Iranian justice is disgusting (again)

RANT! Iranian justice is disgusting (again)

I have spoken about Iranian justice in the past and ranted that a population that wants to be treated seriously cannot be so barbaric.  Now I read about a blogger that specialized in cultural discussions was imprisoned and died in prison. On this blog, I rant and discuss a lot of politics and some cultural things.  In Iran, I would be thrown in jail and I too would probably be dead by now.  For as much as I complain about broken things in the US, at least it is better than most of the world.

I first saw this information on Blog Herald so go over and read about what they have to say on the subject.  You can also read more in the New York Times, the LA Times, and they all seem to point to Radio Free Europe.

Interestingly, Iran is among the 12 worst countries for a free Internet.  The other haters of freedom of information are:

  1. Burma,
  2. China,
  3. Cuba,
  4. Egypt,
  5. North Korea,
  6. Saudi Arabia,
  7. Syria,
  8. Tunisia,
  9. Turkmenistan,
  10. Uzbekistan
  11. Vietnam

PEOPLE OF THE WORLD – WE NEED TO CONDEMN IRAN FOR THIS TERRIBLE EXERCISE!

I am done with this topic for now but I reserve the right to rant more on it someday. I just hope the judicial system in Iran doesn’t give me reason to ever think about this.

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President seems to be a pretty good basketball analyst

President seems to be a pretty good basketball analyst

The White House has released the March Madness NCAA tournament picks of President Barack Hussein Obama.  While I don’t begrudge the man the opportunity to spend a few minutes of pleasure doing the same thing that many Americans are doing today, I question the wisdom of releasing those picks to the public.  I think it may play to the superstar status that he tried to get away from in the election (and caused Paris Hilton to release this video).  It also may be a little frustrating to the thousands that received a foreclosure notice today.

Regardless, here are BHO’s picks.  You can click on the image to go to the original larger image.

I question that BHO crossed out Louisville and then selected UNC.  While that may be a prudent choice, I wonder about his flip-flop on this issue.  I sure hope that he didn’t have a political analyst help him with this!

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Afghanistan Taliban leader was at Gitmo

Afghanistan Taliban leader was at Gitmo

Another story in the continuing discussion regarding former prisoners at Guantanamo that returned to cause harm to Americans and our allies.  This further questions that very political decision to close Gitmo as a secure prison for terrorists.  We obviously cannot release them back to their home countries since it seems that so many were true criminals and should be put in jail for decades.

Here is a part of the story from AP but there are some other interesting thoughts at the blog Clinging to G & G

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Taliban’s new top operations officer in southern Afghanistan had been a prisoner at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, the latest example of a freed detainee who took a militant leadership role and a potential complication for the Obama administration’s efforts to close the prison. U.S. authorities handed over the detainee to the Afghan government, which in turn released him, according to Pentagon and CIA officials.

Abdullah Ghulam Rasoul, formerly Guantanamo prisoner No. 008, was among 13 Afghan prisoners released to the Afghan government in December 2007. Rasoul is now known as Mullah Abdullah Zakir, a nom de guerre that Pentagon and intelligence officials say is used by a Taliban leader who is in charge of operations against U.S. and Afghan forces in southern Afghanistan.

The officials, who spoke anonymously because they are not authorized to release the information, said Rasoul has joined a growing faction of former Guantanamo prisoners who have rejoined militant groups and taken action against U.S. interests. Pentagon officials have said that as many as 60 former detainees have resurfaced on foreign battlefields.

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Should we take a decade long break regarding George Walker Bush?

Should we take a decade long break regarding George Walker Bush?

I have written about the legacy of George Walker Bush several times on this site.  Most notably, I did a 5 part series that tried to answer the question if GWB is the worst President ever.  Now I read an opinion by Thomas Fleming, who is one of the most respected and well written presidential historians that we should all take a long sigh and relax for a bit before grading the man.

I respect the work of Mr. Fleming (and the WSJ) to quote too much of his article on this site.  Please go to their site and read the full opinion but here are some highlights that I thought were interesting.

Several polls of historians have named George W. Bush the worst
president in American history. This baffles me. I’ve been writing about
presidents for a long time. What I know, and what I presume these
gentleman know, doesn’t connect.

Is Mr. Bush worse than John Adams? When a shooting war at sea started
between the United States and revolutionary France in 1798, Honest John
wrote a letter to George Washington, offering to resign so that George
could resume the job. How’s that for presidential leadership?

The American economy came to a horrific standstill; smuggling became
New England’s chief industry. Someone described the embargo as “cutting
a man’s throat to cure a nosebleed.” Nonplussed, Jefferson quit,
telling only James Madison, his secretary of state, who was de facto
acting president for the last year of Tom’s term.

Next, Wilson talked Congress into declaring war on Germany on the
assumption that we would not have to send a single soldier to France.
Before the war ended, we had 2,000,000 troops overseas, and in three
months of fighting lost 144,000 men.

Warren G. Harding confessed to reporters that he was not up to the job.
He told one newsman that he wanted to make the U.S. tariff higher than
the Rocky Mountains to help Europe’s industries recover from World War
I. The appalled reporter realized the president had one of the biggest
issues of the era exactly backward.

Worse than Jimmy Carter, the self- proclaimed Washington “outsider” who
presided over the most horrendous stagflation in our history? As his
poll numbers sank, Mr. Carter had the temerity to lecture citizens on
their “crisis of spirit.” His approval rating had plummeted to 22% when
Ronald Reagan defeated him.

In this light, however wavering, maybe it’s time to suspend the rush to
judgment on George W. Bush for 10 or 20 years. I suspect we will decide
Mr. Bush’s first term, with his decisive response to 9/11, deserves
some praise, and that his second term succumbed to an awesome amount of
bad luck, from his generals’ disagreements on how to fight the war in
Iraq to the Wall Street collapse of 2008.

So does all this mean that I will stop trying to figure out his rank among his peers.  Probably not, but at least I know that my final opinions should wait 2020 or later.  Stop by then and see what I think.

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