Never enough to say life is short...

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You hear it all throughout your youth; "Life is short" they tell you. Life is meaningless, its the little things that count. You cant take it with you. In less than two weeks, my father has passed away, then I read about the news in Iran and see the video of Neda, watched her die on my computer screen. Open my browser this morning and find out Farrah died too. But wait! We're not done here, this evening, I find out Michael Jackson died.

Thinking about death hurts my head. My chest caves in whenever I think about my father taking his last breath. People are dying, people I grew up with. Ed McMahon, Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett, fuck! When will it be my turn? There, I said it. I am worried about my time of death. Will I have time to provide for my family before I go? How much trouble will my children have to go through? How is my wife going to handle everything? I have to get things into perspective here.

And it certainly isn't going to happen in this post. Rest in peace everyone! Especially my father. Am I ever going to miss you!

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Ex-Foreign Espionage Operative Reveals How People Are Recruited To Undermine U.S.

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U.S. universities are important recruiting grounds for foreign spies, according to a former intelligence operative who has defected to the United States, and issued a report giving a rare glimpse into the intelligence operations of one of America's most determined espionage foes.


Ex-Foreign Espionage Operative Reveals How People Are Recruited To Undermine U.S. (comsecllc.blogspot.com)

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Image by kurdistan کردستان via Flickr

There is, perhaps, no greater potential for evil than the power of priests speaking in the name of God.

With this power, one Iranian Ayatollah, Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi -- the spiritual leader of President Ahmadinejad -- seems to have stolen the Iranian election, to have justified the now-ongoing arrests of reformers, and to be trying to eliminate such democracy in Iran as now exists.

Read whole story here

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Anonymous Iran

A request from Iran:

This was found in an undisclosed location. The text is as follows:

I apologise in advance for the tone and style of this letter to you. The people in Tehran of whom I speak on behalf are weak and tired. I hope you are able to clearly understand the message we are sending to you. This letter is a call to all people outside of Iran, both Persian expatriates and other people. At the present time this is very important for the fate of Iran. To quote Napolean: "There is but one step between victory and defeat." We in Iran are at the same critical step. Your help is of the most urgent importance.
Tonight I was just up on the roof. I was at home and began hearing the voice of a young girl crying out from her roof top, "Allahu Akbar!" I began to join in with her chant until I had no strength remaining to yell. "Allahu Akbar! We're all together!" For 30 minutes we cried out into the night together. Eventually I became a bit frustrated and nervous about being on the roof and came down. But the sound of the girl continued. She began chanting loudly, "Iranians join together! Support, Support!"

These words warmed the hearts of those of us within the range of her voice. The last few days I have been all around the city, demonstrating and chanting. This girls voice touched me most of all.
Here in Tehran people are scared. The rumors are swirling about people who are identifying demonstrators from pictures found online and then going to their homes at night and attacking their families. Yesterday CNN aired a video with a voice screaming from inside a house. The video showed darkness, but the sound of a woman begging Basiji to leave her home has galvanized us. People are scared!

Another video has also put fear into a lot of Iranian people. That is the video of the late Neda Agha-Soltan (the woman shot on the street who died). Neda's death has perplexed people. As foreign media has been removed from our televisions, we are dependent on Iranian State Television which is practising a severe psychological warfare with our minds. Now everywhere people go they are watching who is behind them. All over the streets of Tehran are clothes which have been left behind by those arrested by police and Basiji. Today I became downhearted when I saw only a few thousand at 7 June Square for Neda's memorial. God, we all have to get our spirits back! Right now, time is very critical! We have these immediate needs:

1. Please tell your governments that if they are seen as interfering or supporting our actions - then we have lost! I believe that if we can receive covert resources and support without prompting action by the regime, our enemy will be severely suppressed. Today we heard from sources outside of Iran that we can not win. Those who are saying this in the media please notice: You must also mention the success of the results thus far. For the sake of the spirit of our demonstrators, you must mention that we are making great strides. Your words have the power of giving energy to our cause. The actions against us will only escalate unless the legitimacy of this government is removed from popular opinion. We only have ourselves to depend on. Today the commander of the Tehran Police refused to implement the suppression orders sent down to him by the Government. This was a small success, however many were later arrested when the information became known to the Officials.
2. People are afraid to demonstrate without money or resources. Many are afraid that a general strike will drain bank accounts and thus cripple our efforts. Please be cautious when calling for demonstrators to remove money from banks, stop shopping and work. While it is effective for us to use these measures, please be cautious and regard that we are making necessary plans within our groups. Your information being sent en mass through public mediums is falling directly into the hands of our enemies.
3. Continue blocking Iran regime websites. We continue needing Firefox plug-ins, anonymous portals and IP devices. If you can find a way to provide those to us, it will be important in our efforts.
4. Iranian State Television is creating massive distorition of truths. Their reports are stirring fear and frustration in the people. They collect information from foreign media websites and report just the opposite, or design filtered propaganda to distress our efforts. The Iran television news is showing pictures that have been collected off websites of the demonstrators, and they are asking viewers to send in informative leads to who the face belongs to and where they live. Recently many have blanked out the face of the demonstrators before uploading our pictures. That is a great help to our cause.
5. The Regime is accusing foreign governments and Western media with unfounded charges. Their motive in doing so is to create chaos and diversion. They are provoking governments to take a position instead of well-thought passive defense. The State-Run News plays up the Western governments as imperfect and problematic - attempting to inspire people to stop these protests for fear of becoming like the Western nations. These allegations have been extremely critical of the USA and President Obama administration. What we feel is best would be the United Nations to call on Iran's regime to hold another election. We all have the courage to face this, so International Community, as your governments to pressure the UN to act on requesting a new election in Iran. Also continue to call on your governments in Europe and America to visibly appear neutral and do not show explicit support. The USA administration is doing that and it helps so much. President Ahmadinejad is very worried at this hour of the protests.
6. It is very likely that quite soon our leaders: Mousavi, Karroubi and Khatami will be arrested. It is also very likely many other political leaders will be detained. We call on the International Media to continue broadcasting fair information while remaining responsible.

Red.Heron, Anonymous Iran, Jun 2009

You should read the whole article.

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Goodbye dad...

As I write this, my father lays in a hospital bed an ocean away. Lung cancer they said, as matter-of-factly as saying chickens lay eggs. This post, is an ode to my father; the man who would have died a thousand deaths for me without a mere thought. The man, the same man who suffered through my growth spurts, broken legs, marriages, divorces, laughter, tears... my life.

My father was never really happy. It is what I sit down, lay down and really cry about. He is now 82, and it is as if he was just guiding my bicycle down the pathway, holding on to the seat to help me keep my balance while I furiously attempted to pedal my way into puberty.

The same man who suffered the slights my mother chose to direct at him when she deemed him a failure in life. The same man who later believed in his failures though he never quite gave up on trying to succeed. He did grow tired though. Tired of his apparent inability to become the successful man he always envisioned.

This is what I know now as an adult. My picture of my father was very different when I was growing up. I had him pegged as a strong-willed, invincible man though I never thought he was a hero. But even knowing he was not going to be my hero, he was never replaced by anyone purporting to be a hero.

Today, as I write this, I realize that my father . A man whom I would be lucky to duplicate in the love he felt for his off-spring. My kids should be so lucky. I cry openly now, I cry for the love we kids never reciprocated. In my view, a thousand I love you's would have never been enough. One thousand kisses would have never given back what we received. Nothing, ever, will replace my old man. Nothing.

Dad, I have told you I love you, I have told you I adore you. I have told you everything I felt. I am at peace with letting you go to your God. I say your God because only you were willing to believe in him throughout your life. Not me, I don't believe in him still. I hope he greets you at the gates to the place where you should be. The place where you can feel the love I have had for you all my life. The place where you can openly look into my heart and see I loved you cleanly. Openly, no holds barred. The place where you can feel free of the pain, so much pain, so much injustice.

May your God celebrate your life as I will. May you peacefully watch your grandchildren grow and wait for me to show me how to watch mine. May you see my grandmother, my grandfather who died too young. May you finally feel love. May you enjoy love as you never knew it.

I wish I could give you all my love right this minute, even if all I had later was hate. You mean to me what no words can ever describe.

I love you Dad.

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