Your Average Joe

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Awareness

joe — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 15:32:40 +0000

Thanks to my cousin for bringing this to my attention today.

From Bombers Beat at the MLBlogs Network:

70 years ago, a dying Lou Gehrig stood on the field at Yankee Stadium and said goodbye to baseball, making what can only be considered the most memorable and greatest speech in the game’s history.

Today, this Fourth of July, every Major League team playing at home will conduct a special on-field ceremony to commemorate his farewell. The Yankees are hosting a special “4-ALS Awareness” ceremony on the field this afternoon at 1 p.m. and will recognize Michael Goldsmith, a lifelong baseball fan who contributed to the development of the “4-ALS” initiative.

In addition, to honor Gehrig, a “4-ALS” logo will appear on top of first base in every ballpark around the Majors. All on-field personnel will wear a patch honoring the initiative, and Yankees players will help recreate Gehrig’s speech in a video tribute.

There is a great display inside Gate 4 at the Stadium which has a large photograph of Gehrig speaking on July 4, 1939, accompanied by a continuous loop of the audio. Today would be a great day to stop in and check it out if you’re headed here.

“Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn’t consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I’m lucky. Who wouldn’t consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball’s greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I’m lucky.

When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift – that’s something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies – that’s something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter – that’s something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body – it’s a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed – that’s the finest I know.

So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for.”

233 Years Today

joe — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 12:06:50 +0000

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in General Congress, assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that these united colonies are, and of right ought to be free and independent states; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the state of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as free and independent states, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do. And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.

My 2009 All Star Ballot

joe — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 18:13:58 +0000

American League
1B: Justin Morneau. Youkilis currently leads in the voting but he doesn’t quite approach Morneau or Teixeira in power and run production. Miguel Cabrera’s .330+ batting average puts him in the discussion but the other three are much more complete players while Cabrera is really just a hitter. There’s some temptation to attempt a case for Teix on the grounds that Morneau has been slumping in the past month but Teix’ production seems ultimately tied to ARod and how well he’s producing behind him, so I’ll stick with the clearer choice.

2B: Very tough decision. I think Aaron Hill edges Ian Kinsler. Very similar power production and both are excellent defensive players. But I think Hill’s superior batting average (.301 to .263) trumps Kinsler’s 16 – 3 advantage in steals. Kinsler is currently just edging out reigning MVP Dustin Pedroia (who might not even belong in the top 5) followed up by Cano and Hill in a distant 5th place. Notable mention to write-in candidate Tampa utility player Ben Zobrist who has started 32 games at 2B (more than any other position for him) and has put together a stat line comparable to Kinsler and Hill.

SS: Jason Bartlett has been absolutely raking since early April and shows no signs of slowing down. From a Yankee fan perspective it’s terrific to see Jeter leading all American League players in votes, assuring his 10th All Star game. But Bartlet, in distant second in the SS voting (with fewer than half of Jeter’s votes) is the more deserving player. Fortunately, Bartlett is a lock to be selected for the bench by Tampa manager Joe Madden.

3B: Evan Longoria. Nice to see the fans getting one right. Interesting question on whether ARod deserves second-place honors here. Obviously his production this season doesn’t warrant any consideration, but he is Alex Rodriguez and he appears to now be playing very near the level we expect of him.

C: Joe Mauer. Another strong fan consensus for the correct selection. Mauer is third in AL votes at any position after Jeter and Longoria. Kind of annoying to see Varitek and his .234 batting average in second place, especiallu with such strong seasons so far from Victor Martinez and Mike Napoli.

OF: Carl Crawford and Torii Hunter are the easy choices for the first two OF slots. Ichiro Suzuki beats out the rest of the pack, notably Nelson Cruz, Johnny Damon, Bobby Abreu, Jason Bay (the current AL RBI leader and leader in voting among American League OF).

National League:
1B: Albert Pujols leads all MLB players in All Star votes – and deservedly so. Prince Fielder has been pretty awesome this year, but there’s no comparison.

2B: Chase Utley is second among all MLB players in All Star votes. Head and shoulders above his competition in the National League.

SS: Hanley Ramirez is another easy choice for the fans. Rollins, Reyes and Furcal just aren’t getting it done this year. So far, National League fans seem to have much easier selections.

3B: And I can also go along with the fans’ choice of David Wright. With batting average and steals both near the top of the league, I can forgive his dearth of home run power this year and mediocre defensive play. Helping him is that his best competition is Mark Reynolds, who’s defensive play could be flatteringly described as “clunky”.

C: With no clear standout, I’ll go with Brian McCann over the fans’ choice of defensive stud Yadier Molina. Not a very exiting group to select from.

OF: The NL fans get it right here as well with their selections of Raul Ibanez, Ryan Braun and Carlos Beltran. However, Beltran’s injury will keep him out of action through the All Star Game. So my vote for the third NL outfielder goes to Justin Upton, with respectful nods to Brad Hawpe and Michael Bourn.

Feels kind of strange not voting for any Yankees, but in my best effort to be as objective as possible, this is what I come up with. If fans voted on pitchers I’m sure I’d vote for Mariano Rivera and perhaps I could make a case for CC Sabathia. It’s interesting to note that (this year, anyway) the American League is much more of a popularity contest with players like Youkilis, Jeter, Varitek, Dustin Pedroia and Josh Hamilton amassing vote totals far beyond what their production should warrant. Some might argue that the National League simply has fewer stellar players to choose from. Whatever the case, the National League voting far better reflects the best of the league at the mid-point of the 2009 season. Whether this will translate into better than recent success for the senior circuit remains to be seen.

Re-creating The Gap That Gave Us The Great Depression

joe — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 18:04:20 +0000

(click the image for the full-sized chart)

Click the image for the full-sized chart.

Pulled from the June 30, 2008 issue of The Nation

Meet the New Boss… Same as the Old Boss?

joe — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 18:01:51 +0000

Washington Post Saturday:

Obama administration officials, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, are crafting language for an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely, according to three senior government officials with knowledge of White House deliberations.

Such an order would embrace claims by former president George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Obama advisers are concerned that an order, which would bypass Congress, could place the president on weaker footing before the courts and anger key supporters, the officials said.

After months of internal debate over how to close the military facility in Cuba, White House officials are increasingly worried that reaching quick agreement with Congress on a new detention system may be impossible. Several officials said there is concern in the White House that the administration may not be able to close the prison by the president’s January deadline.

White House spokesman Ben LaBolt said that there is no executive order and that the administration has not decided whether to issue one. But one administration official suggested that the White House is already trying to build support for an order.

“Civil liberties groups have encouraged the administration, that if a prolonged detention system were to be sought, to do it through executive order,” the official said. Such an order could be rescinded and would not block later efforts to write legislation, but civil liberties groups generally oppose long-term detention, arguing that detainees should be prosecuted or released.

The president introduced his “prolonged detention” policy in his May 21st speech announcing his plans for closing the military prison in Guantanamo Bay. At the time, however, he explained:

In our constitutional system, prolonged detention should not be the decision of any one man. If and when we determine that the United States must hold individuals to keep them from carrying out an act of war, we will do so within a system that involves judicial and congressional oversight. And so, going forward, my administration will work with Congress to develop an appropriate legal regime so that our efforts are consistent with our values and our Constitution.

As egregious a civil rights violation the concept of indefinitie detention without trail might be, the notion of such laws being set in motion outside of the legislative process has a distinctly Cheney/Rove sensation to it.

Glenn Greenwald was typically thorough in his criticism, including knocking the linked Washington Post article:

Anonymous trial balloon articles like this one are difficult to comment on because it’s obviously designed to announce that a certain policy is being considered before it’s actually written, and so none of the key details is known. Would Obama’s new detention powers apply only to current “War on Terror” prisoners at places like Guantanamo and Bagram, or would they also apply to future, not-yet-abducted detainees as well? Would these powers apply to detainees picked up anywhere in the world, far away from “war zones”? Would there be any judicial review or other meaningful oversight provisions so that — even in theory — this was something other than the unilateral, unchecked presidential power to detain indefinitely without charges? None of these important details is known (though the article notes that, under one White House proposal, “ongoing detention would be subject to annual presidential review”; the Emperor, sitting alone, will decree once a year whether they must remain in a cage).

This specific article is even worse than the usual one of its type, since it’s particularly uncritical in passing along administration claims without any skepticism…

Worse, the article does not provide any information about the Obama officials whose mission the reporters are dutifully carrying out, so there’s no way to assess their motives.

Those journalistic practices produce egregious sentences like this: “‘Civil liberties groups have encouraged the administration, that if a prolonged detention system were to be sought, to do it through executive order’, the official said.” I’d love to know which so-called “civil liberties groups” are pushing the White House for an Executive Order establishing the power of indefinite detention. It’s certainly not the ACLU or Center for Constitutional Rights, both of which issued statements vehemently condemning the proposal (ACLU’s Anthony Romero: “If President Obama issues an executive order authorizing indefinite detention, he’ll be repeating the same mistakes of George Bush”).

Greenwald also linked the following Rachel Maddow commentary, which aired at the time of Obama’s speech last month. Since this blog was not active at the time, I’ll embed it here, as I think she effectively captures my impression of the policy (be it encated by executive order or through Congress):

“That Way Lies Madness”

joe — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:43:33 +0000

CNN’s “GPS” with Fareed Zakaria featured an economics discussion with Paul Krugman vs John B. Taylor on . Normally I’d embed the video here but apparently CNN video is not currently compatable with wordpress.com blogs.

If you prefer to read through the interview, here’s a transcript of the show.

Iran as a Propaganda Tool in American Politics

joe — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 22:29:43 +0000

It shouldn’t come as a surprise, of course. And my biased and surely predictable perspective is that the hawkish right is using the current events in Iran to criticize the Obama Administration for appeasing or legitimizing the oppressive regime there.

And there has been no shortage of critics. On Friday, Charles Krauthammer could not have been more scathing, attacking Obama for everything from his initial reticence to his cautious optimism over Khamenei’s initial reaction to his referring to Khamenei by his official title, supreme leader:

Where to begin? “Supreme Leader” [notice Krauthammer's capitalization -joe]? Note the abject solicitousness with which the American president confers this honorific on a clerical dictator who, even as his minions attack demonstrators, offers to examine some returns in some electoral districts — a farcical fix that will do nothing to alter the fraudulence of the election.

Of course Krauthammer’s outrage was rather curious, published six days after he explained to the panel on Special Report;

Look, these were sham elections from the beginning. In a real democracy, you can have a change of power as a result. That was not going to happen in Iran. The mullahs are in charge. Khamenei, the supreme leader, remains in charge. Nuclear and foreign policy will remain exactly as is.

It’s not hard to understand why Krauthammer would slip into such blatant hypocrisy; it has been clear that since his election, it has served the interests of the American political right and the American mainstream news media to focus on President Ahmadinijad as the face of the Iranian leadership, rather than Ayatollah Kahmenei. Ahmadinijad’s aggressive rhetoric, holocaust denials and other hostile and dramatic displays are a gift to the hawkish right’s case for a more aggressive stance against Iran and Islamist states in general and sells newspapers, TV ratings and web hits in the process.

So it did seem odd a couple of weeks ago when I noticed that so acknowledging Khamenei’s position had suddenly became convenient for the political right during the buildup to the Iranian election. But there was Krauthammer, John Bolton and plenty of others, pointing out the Ayatollah as the top authority in Tehran, in their transparently hypocritical attempt to head off and counter any praise they feared Obama’s foreign policy outreach might receive for possibly influencing the Iranian vote.

While the usefulness of that particular tract dissipated the moment the uprising became something greater than a reaction to a fraudulent election, the disingenuous use of Iran as a propaganda assault on the president from the political right has not ceased. By the Sunday morning after the election, the talking points had formed and hardened. Mitt Romney on This Week:

Well, first of all, the comments by the president last week that there was a robust debate going on in Iran was obviously entirely wrong-headed. What has occurred is that the election is a fraud, the results are inaccurate, and you’re seeing a brutal repression of the people as they protest.

The president ought to come out and state exactly those words, indicate that this has been a terribly managed decision by the autocratic regime in Iran.

It’s very clear that the president’s policies of going around the world and apologizing for America aren’t working.

Statement Issued by Republican Whip Eric Cantor on June 15th

“The Administration’s silence in the face of Iran’s brutal suppression of democratic rights represents a step backwards for homegrown democracy in the Mideast. President Obama must take a strong public position in the face of violence and human rights abuses.

“We have a moral responsibility to lead in opposition to Iran’s extreme response to peaceful protests. We stand with the people of Iran in their struggle to participate in a democratic election and who deserve the right to freely assemble and voice their opposition to its questionable outcome.”

“In addition, Iran’s clerical regime has made clear that its nuclear program will move forward. The United States cannot trust the aspirations of a nation that is a state-sponsor of terrorism, and the Administration must work with Congress to do everything in its power to deny Iran nuclear weapons.”

John McCain on the June 16th Today Show:

“He should speak out that this is a corrupt, flawed sham of an election and that the Iranian people have been deprived of their rights,” McCain said. “We support them in their struggle against a repressive, oppressive regime and they should not be subjected to four more years of Ahmadinejad and the radical Muslim clerics.”

It is true that the president chose to remain silent in the days following thje Iranian election. His first statement on the topic after the election was during Q&A in a press event with Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi on Monday, June 15th:

Obviously all of us have been watching the news from Iran. And I want to start off by being very clear that it is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran’s leaders will be; that we respect Iranian sovereignty and want to avoid the United States being the issue inside of Iran, which sometimes the United States can be a handy political football — or discussions with the United States.

Having said all that, I am deeply troubled by the violence that I’ve been seeing on television. I think that the democratic process — free speech, the ability of people to peacefully dissent — all those are universal values and need to be respected. And whenever I see violence perpetrated on people who are peacefully dissenting, and whenever the American people see that, I think they’re, rightfully, troubled.

My understanding is, is that the Iranian government says that they are going to look into irregularities that have taken place. We weren’t on the ground, we did not have observers there, we did not have international observers on hand, so I can’t state definitively one way or another what happened with respect to the election. But what I can say is that there appears to be a sense on the part of people who were so hopeful and so engaged and so committed to democracy who now feel betrayed. And I think it’s important that, moving forward, whatever investigations take place are done in a way that is not resulting in bloodshed and is not resulting in people being stifled in expressing their views.

Now, with respect to the United States and our interactions with Iran, I’ve always believed that as odious as I consider some of President Ahmadinejad’s statements, as deep as the differences that exist between the United States and Iran on a range of core issues, that the use of tough, hard-headed diplomacy — diplomacy with no illusions about Iran and the nature of the differences between our two countries — is critical when it comes to pursuing a core set of our national security interests, specifically, making sure that we are not seeing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East triggered by Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon; making sure that Iran is not exporting terrorist activity. Those are core interests not just to the United States but I think to a peaceful world in general.

We will continue to pursue a tough, direct dialogue between our two countries, and we’ll see where it takes us. But even as we do so, I think it would be wrong for me to be silent about what we’ve seen on the television over the last few days. And what I would say to those people who put so much hope and energy and optimism into the political process, I would say to them that the world is watching and inspired by their participation, regardless of what the ultimate outcome of the election was. And they should know that the world is watching.

And particularly to the youth of Iran, I want them to know that we in the United States do not want to make any decisions for the Iranians, but we do believe that the Iranian people and their voices should be heard and respected.

While the gesture was by no means an appeasement, it hardly satisfied the political right’s dominant bend toward neoconservative foreign politics. Fortunately, the appeal of Obama’s ‘anti-meddling’ policy was not lost on some members of the GOP’s old guard, who are not under pressure to strike just the right obstructionist chord against the party in power, and therefore free to apply logic unencumbered by concern for how their soundbites will play in the next election cycle.

The typically earnest and elegant response from Peggy Noonan in her column last week:

America so often gets Iran wrong. We didn’t know when the shah was going to fall, didn’t foresee the massive wave that would topple him, didn’t know the 1979 revolution would move violently against American citizens, didn’t know how to handle the hostage-taking. Last week we didn’t know a mass rebellion was coming, and this week we don’t know who will emerge the full or partial victor. So modesty and humility seem appropriate stances from which to observe and comment.

(If you don’t understand who the American people are for, put down this newspaper or get up from your computer, walk into the street and grab the first non-insane-looking person you meet. Say, “Did you see the demonstrations in Iran? It’s the ayatollahs versus the reformers. Who do you want to win?” You won’t just get “the reformers,” you’ll get the perplexed-puppy look, a tilt of the head and a wondering stare: You have to ask?)

To insist the American president, in the first days of the rebellion, insert the American government into the drama was shortsighted and mischievous. The ayatollahs were only too eager to demonize the demonstrators as mindless lackeys of the Great Satan Cowboy Uncle Sam, or whatever they call us this week. John McCain and others went quite crazy insisting President Obama declare whose side America was on, as if the world doesn’t know whose side America is on. “In the cause of freedom, America cannot be neutral,” said Rep. Mike Pence. Who says it’s neutral?

This was Aggressive Political Solipsism at work: Always exploit events to show you love freedom more than the other guy, always make someone else’s delicate drama your excuse for a thumping curtain speech.

Mr. Obama was restrained, balanced and helpful in the crucial first days, keeping the government out of it but having his State Department ask a primary conduit of information, Twitter, to delay planned maintenance and keep reports from the streets coming.

How some modern Republicans are able to look themselves in the mirror after being so thoroughly pummelled by no less than the muse of their own Saint Ronald will baffle me for as long as Peggy continues to work. I may not always agree with her, but she represents the GOP that I long to see return to American politics.

Anyway, conservative stalwart Pat Buchanan, a throwback to a time when the American political right adhered to conservative foreign policy ideals, predictably put his principles before his party and stood with Peggy:

My view is that it was very, very irresponsible for John McCain to say some of the things he said so early. It was very hot-headed in my judgment. It was impulsive. Can you imagine if the crowds in the streets suddenly were told, ‘Look, the Americans are with us. They’re behind us 100 percent. Let’s try to overthrow the regime,’ and then they were cut down by these Revolutionary Guard and their thugs? I think we would bear moral responsibility for having done that, and it would be a disaster. … I think they’ve done the right thing.

And on Sunday’s This Week, George Will was similarly critical of the response from the political right:

The president is being roundly criticized for insufficient rhetorical support for what’s going on over there. It seems to me foolish criticism. The people on the streets know full well what the American attitude toward that regime is, and they don’t need that reinforced.

But neoconservative obstructionism does not yield so easily. This past Sunday morning, the chorus from the usual crowd was just as predictable as the week before:

“The president of the United States is supposed to lead the free world, not follow it,” Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Sunday. “He’s been timid and passive more than I would like.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., and others noted that Western leaders, including French President Nicolas Sarkozy and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, have demanded a recount or more forcefully condemned the government crackdown.

“I’d like to see the president be stronger than he has been, although I appreciate the comments that he made yesterday,” McCain said. “I think we ought to have America lead.”

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, said a slow or muted U.S. response risks undermining the aspirations of Iranian voters to change or question their government.

“If America stands for democracy and all of these demonstrations are going on in Tehran and other cities over there, and people don’t think that we really care, then obviously they’re going to question, ‘Do we really believe in our principles?’” Grassley said.

In his interview last night with Jon Stewart, Iranian-American author and CBS News Middle East Analyst, Reza Aslan was bold in his response to the president’s critics:

Update
Sorry about the blockquote problems. It appears wordpress has some automated system that indents only the first paragraph of quoted text. I think I’ve fixed everything, and also corrected a few grammar errors as well.

Underground Iranian Newsletters Being Distributed by Protestors

joe — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 18:37:48 +0000

The L.A. Times reports that The European Photo Agency has posted a photo of an underground newspaper circulating among protestors in Iran.

Fellow WordPress blog, Iran In the Gulf, has linked a PDF file of the paper and has published some English translations.

Maziar Bahari

joe — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:43:11 +0000

The same contact that has provided me with the Facebook updates I’ve posted here tells me that his associate is also a friend of Maziar Bahari, a Newsweek reporter who has been detained in Iran.

Newsweek reported yesterday evening:

Among the dozens of people arrested overnight in Tehran was NEWSWEEK reporter Maziar Bahari, who has covered Iran for the magazine for over a decade. Bahari was home asleep at 7 a.m. when several security officers showed up at his Tehran apartment. According to his mother, who lives with the 41-year-old reporter and documentary filmmaker, the men did not identify themselves. They seized Bahari’s laptop and several videotapes. Assuring her that he would be their guest, they then left with Bahari. He has not been heard from since.

In a statement, NEWSWEEK magazine has strongly condemned the detention of Bahari and called for him to be released immediately. Bahari is a dual Canadian-Iranian citizen. According to the statement, “His coverage of Iran, for NEWSWEEK and other outlets, has always been fair and nuanced, and has given full weight to all sides of the issues. He has always worked well with different administrations in Tehran, including the current one.”

NEWSWEEK Editor Jon Meacham said, “We are deeply concerned about Mr. Bahari’s detention. As a longtime NEWSWEEK reporter he has worked hard to be balanced in his coverage of Iran. We see no reason why he should be held by the authorities. We respectfully ask that they release him as soon as possible.”

According to Reporters Without Borders, over 20 Iranian journalists and bloggers have been detained since the disputed presidential elections on June 12. In its statement, NEWSWEEK condemned the seizure of innocent journalists as a violation of the right to a free press in Iran, and called upon world governments to use whatever influence they have to make clear that the detention of Bahari is unwarranted and unacceptable, and to demand his release.

Here’s a link to Bahari’s last published article in Newsweek, dated June 17th.

Another Personal Account From Iran

joe — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 02:08:36 +0000

The same 3rd hand source as in the post below:

Iran June 20, 2009 – a friend’s account
We went today, all the routes were closed but we made it to about a km away from revolution square but at every intersection they had riot police dispersing us, wouldn’t let us get through.

We managed to get some further , my guess is on the northern pavement of enghelab street to enghelab square something like 50,000 people were trying to get through, they were using watercanons at the gate of the Tehran university.

They kept breaking us up. The regular riot policemen were generally ok but then the riot police with army fatigue came and started eating people, they were hitting people on the head, one young womn’s head was broken in front of us, we all jumped in the gutter and some of the men protected us from the batons, the girl was in bad way, we dragged her out and then they just kept shouting. One of them had really red eyes and was screaming from the bottom of his lungs, then the tear gas came and we kept running, but then re-grouping, at some point the younger men started chasing them saying death to basiji.

But then more tear gas and batons.

Along the road running nrth don’t know the name but near the university there were basijis mingling with the army types in yellow lacoste etyle tshirts and they all had caskets.
We lost some of our friedsn on the way.

We managed to get to laleh park and there was lots of riot olice there.
At the cross section of fatemi and kargar the robocops were waiting the ones in black with the rubberised gear.

We gave up and tried to get back home the streets were jammed, in one of the alleys running parallel to amirabad which is the main road running to the uni dormitories there was a commtion ,we could see the smoke of tear gas.

They were out in force, even had communication officers with their boxes on their backs.
Now they say someone was shot there, in amirabad.

We heard on the way, when mobiles came back to life that they have exploded two bombs in the shrine of Khomeini.

Don’t know what will happen next, only news from CNN and aljazeera. BBC Persian is out, most people can’t even get on the net.

There were lost of people lingering around the park and the streets for miles off asking whats’ going on and how they shd proceed.

One of us went further east and tried to get into azadi street from the west , west of Navab highway, but the same dipreesing of crowds.

One of our friends was hit on the knee, another was run over by car. She says the hospital was full of people coming in with broken heads and limbs.

We are home safe but apparently it’s going on in vanak square we know that amirabad ws in turmoil.

There were all kinds of people there not just rich westernised people, they have always been there in all the marches, the difference today we were not marching in peace, they were out to get rid of us. I still think some of the forces there were not realy into hurting us, it was the basij and the military fatigued riot police. Still some people say that these guys don’t speak Persian, I don’t know, I didn’t hear any Arabic spoken, some people belive most of these people are brought in from client states.

We were scared, but we went. We don’t what will happen next but if they organise it we have to go again, there’s no other way. We can’t let the extreme elemnets turn this into another Lebanon or Palestine. There is no way but to go out.

The bombing ofkhomeini’s tomb though is bad. They will balme it on the protestors. But we all feel this is their own work. The protestors don’t even have batons, just their fists and they are not yet using them. The bombing will give them a chance to declare martial law.
They are trying to create something bad here; civil war, military takeover…. I can’t believe they were so stupid as to do all this without knowing.

Let people know whatis happening here.

I wonder if the young girl we dragged out will live, there was so much blood.

Thanks to my online acquaintance who provides these accounts.