Hi my friends

I found a pain more than the CH pain!! it is "Lack of Freedom" Pain in Iran!!!

Pray for us to get rid of this pain

Farzad

Iran-Terhan

Oh Farzad, I can only imagine and am so sorry!! :(

hugs,
mel

The hearts of many in the US are with the freedom-loving people of Iran. Please, dear God, let the mullahs see your purpose.

Our prayers are with you.

Hugs BD :-*

Best of luck to you and your friends Farzad.
Avoid getting yourselves in serious trouble!

Do you have a Facebook account?

Hang in there, buddy - everyone deserves free and fair elections.  Hope that your country can come to this conclusion without lots of suffering, but some people are block-heads and people sometimes have to work, sacrifice and suffer just to get what they deserve.  

Quote:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

It is a horrible situation where you are. I don't usually pray, but will say a prayer for your country that freedom will prevail, and that you and your loved ones remain safe.

Peace to you,
Carl D

You are in my prayers,  Farzad.  

Jeannie

I have been praying for you all.  Freedom is something we tend to take for granted, and you are having to fight for.  

All the best my friend.

Jerry

Iran’s pain is the pain brought on all of us by a so called religious democracy.....

The outcome of the elections in Iran have been confirmed to be tainted by Iran's Guardian Council.
And now, if I have it right, Iran's election authority has rejected claims of  rigged voting, while acknowledging that the number of ballots cast in dozens of cities exceeded the number of eligible voters there.

The results are therefore void; there is no way to confirm the accuracy of the past elections.........

We, in the west need to support the citizens of Iran and the quest for new elections, and the right for
Untainted and free elections!

I am sorry that certain western leaders avoid a decisive stance!

I am sorry for the unnecessary loss of life, and yet so crucial....  freedom was never won
with out sacrifice.....  this freedom fighters are martyrs…… for our freedom…… for our safety
for our future….

I follow closely the developments in Iran…. and hope this evil injustice will be soon over.....

Michael

Michael,

I appreciate you trying to be polite about it, but face it, the leadership in the US has no conviction, no courage.  He has never stood up and taken the lead on anything, voting "present" more than either "aye" or "nay".  Unfortunately, elections mean something in this country, and he was elected, so we have to bear with him for another 3 1/2 yrs.

As I said earlier, I'm praying for the people of Iran.  God have mercy on them.

Jerry

In 1978/9, I was attending a private school in Southern California.  We had several Iranian students, including Ali-Reza who is the son of the Shah of Iran.  I learned a lot about Iran that year, especially because the hostage situation was that year.  Ali-Reza's father died the next year, but Ali-Reza went on to Harvard and Princeton.  The family really pushed their kids hard to get a great education.  The stories he told us about his home were hard to believe, but he had pictures too, and those images will be stuck in my mind forever.  He was only a year younger than I, but he had lived through more than I could ever imagine.

People today look at Iran and they see a theocracy ruled by the mullahs, but it wasn't always this way.  Many of the people you live there are very westernized.  The oppression of the people by the current government there is staggering.

I hope and pray they sieze the opportunity to retake their country.

Quote:

I am sorry that certain western leaders avoid a decisive stance!

Quote:

I appreciate you trying to be polite about it, but face it, the leadership in the US has no conviction, no courage.

When African Americans were marching for equal rights in the US in the 1960s (and being beaten by police and mobs across the south), what should they have done?  Appealed for 'help' to foreign powers like the Soviet Union??  Do you think that really would have made their cause stronger and more popular? ... Truth is nothing the Soviets could do or say really helped the struggle of blacks for civil rights, and the US is not really in a position to do much for the Iranians, either.

Henry Kissinger said this recently.  George Will said this recently. Trying to score cheap political points is ... cheap.  


Quote:

Henry A. Kissinger, the former secretary of state, said on Fox News: “I think the president has handled this well. Anything that the United States says that puts us totally behind one of the contenders, behind Moussavi, would be a handicap for that person,” he said.

Quote:

George Will: 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 the regime is. And they don’t need that reinforced.

Hold on. We're with you of course. Keep them on edge. With the Iranian average age at 25, I'm convinced that after 30 years, the Mullahs are finding that their kind of theocracy is hollow and hopefully even more fragile than we think.

Ranting about Obama's handling of this is insipid. Being loud and stupid is easy. We certainly have seen how effective it's been for the last eight years. Using one's brain takes some finesse. All he has to do is act like Bush if he wants to give the Iranian government a nice big fat target that they can try to use to legitimize themselves.

Obama is evidently aware of what Napoleon said: "Never interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake."  Lets not get in the way of this one.

We've had dumb since the beginning of the century; let's try smart for a change.

Charlie

Strength to you Farzad

Strength to your country,men and women who long for peace and freedom.

Iddy

Come On Monty...  There's plenty of time to push the liberal agenda and playing the race card, but this isn't it.  

Dropping a crab in the holy water or a turd in the punch bowl when Iranian people are being killed because they want democracy only shows your disregard for the seriousness of the situation and that you're trying a cheap liberal tactic to divert attention away from the fact your chosen one's gut reaction was to side with the cleric's in honorific terms rather than the people of Iran.  It's interesting to note that the polls have shifted his rhetoric more to the right...

I've had the pleasure of meeting and speaking with both George Will and Henry Kissinger.  They're both great thinkers with sage credentials, but they're still human and their opinions are just that...  opinions.  

Sometimes it's better to say nothing and sometimes it's better to say the right thing... and that would be to side for freedom and democracy...  They are what American fighting men and women have given their lives for over 230 years.

Farzad, hang tough.  Freedom and Democracy are worth the price.

Take care,

V/R, Batch

Sending vibes of freedom from our house to yours.
all the best
the bb START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGESTART PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

Keeping you and all of your country in our prayers. [smiley=hug.gif]

Joe

Monty it is not about your agenda, or any ones agenda in the USA!

Monty please, don’t try and read between the lines.... or feel at any given
time attacked..... it is not always about you and your president!

I was not referring (only) to the American leadership! The Swiss didn’t
do much....  and the list is long... unfortunately to long..... also in the
“old” soviet block....  and in communist China... that still oppresses
its citizens... with the western collective “support”, or acceptance....

Monty it is simply about the freedom seekers.... being denied free speech
and the right to freely express there opinion....

you reference to history is interesting, but you refer to a communist country....UdSSR....
and we in the west are free... we need to support any one seeking freedom
we need to support any quest for democracy.....  
we are committed as free people to support the commitment of the Iranians
and yes we all (including our leadership) should simply call.....
“YES YOU CAN”

Michael

Hey guys, take the political discussion to another thread.  This is NOT supporting Farzad.

Carolyn

Batch wrote on Jun 22^nd, 2009 at 10:56pm:

[size=18]Come On Monty...  There's plenty of time to push the liberal agenda and playing the race card, but this isn't it.

Except I wasn't the first to turn this into a partisan issue or use it as an excuse to criticize America ... re-read the comments above.

Michael - apologies if I mis-characterized your comments - Callico's statement was openly anti-American, and he wove it in with yours (although your meaning clearly may have been different than his interpretation).


Quote:

you reference to history is interesting, but you refer to a communist country....UdSSR.... and we in the west are free... we need to support any one seeking freedom we need to support any quest for democracy.....

My point was - a movement within a country struggling for freedom (be it civil rights for minorities or free and fair elections) does itself no good by tying itself to a foreign government that is adversarial to the country they live in.


Quote:

Dropping a crab in the holy water or a turd in the punch bowl when Iranian people are being killed because they want democracy only shows your disregard for the seriousness of the situation and that you're trying a cheap liberal tactic to divert attention away from the fact your chosen one's gut reaction was to side with the cleric's in honorific terms rather than the people of Iran.

The President of the United States is not siding with the Iranian regime's theft of the election ... I realize that your flowery metaphors are intended to undermine Obama and the US (not the Iranian protests) ... but if enough people keep yelling that the US doesn't support the Iranian reformers, people around the world might start believing that.


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It is stunning to me that, with an event of such potential importance as the Iranian election, critics who know nothing about what's going on in Tehran are so quick to criticize President Obama for being insufficiently vocal in his support for the protesters. That kind of critique seems sentimental and self-indulgent. Sure, it might make us feel good. But would it have helped the marchers? Americans like to think that everybody loves us. But if we have forgotten, the Iranians have not: Iran is the nation where the US of A overthrew the last real democratic government and installed a despotic shah, and where generations of Iranians have suffered since. Do we see any protesters carrying American flags? Or building statues of Lady Liberty? Obama needs to do what will help. And vocal cheerleading may not be it. START PRINTPAGEMultimedia File Viewing and Clickable Links are available for Registered Members only!!  You need to or END PRINTPAGE

It isn't about who started it.  Let's just end it now and show our support.

Let's get behind the Iranian people!!

Nice try Monty,

You still played the race card... and it's now very clear your chosen one has read the polls and has now come on air retracing his earlier comments...  this time more in favor of the people of Iran...  He didn't mention the clerics and used no honorific terms...  

In all fairness, the President is between Barrack and a hard place...  His popularity rating in the polls are slipping, his unfavorable ratings are rising.  On top of that, his plans are all accruing more negative than positive ratings in the polls.

You'll see the sound bites tonight.

Take care,

V/R, Batch

The conspiracy of lies, contradictory statements by the officials in Teheran are mounting, and the use of force and brutality by Iran's Revolutionary Guard and paramilitary groups (Basij militia - they're the most feared men on the streets of Iran), in the name of the Iranian Islamic republic (evoking gods name) are the proof that the current regime will do any thing to cling to power...  regardless of the apparently manipulated election results... and as it seems the wish of the Iranian people for change......

The Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's Guardian Council with the clergy and their instrument, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his government seem to fear change..... as well as the wind of freedom and democracy......

So they intimidate, suppress and kill...... calling it democratic..... free....

The situation somehow reminds me of the theme song from Hair - Let the Sunshine In

Remember the simple words?

“Listening for the new told lies,
Let the sunshine,
Let the sunshine in,
The sunshine in.”

(no comparison to the situation in Vietnam War! and my profound respect to all veterans of the US Military  Services who fought the Vietnam war)

Neda, a young woman, the symbol for opposition, had paid the highest, the ultimate price for freedom...  not only for freedom, also for the right of women to be free, and not oppressed by the sharia law, and the orthodox interpretation of Islam... making women de facto a secondary person with no rights....

We have to go on and write, voice our opinion, and by that,
support the Iranian people in their quest for change…

Michael

Farzad - In situations like this, I try not to let others (even elected leaders) speak for me. I don't care what they say. I offer you my personal support, and I hope that you will pass my support along to your fellow countrymen.

Well said, Brew.

No, and I'll post this in larger font, so nobody misses it.

Monty, Batch, Wildhaus, take the political discussion elsewshere.

Farzad needs our support, not a discussion on Iran and the US.

Bump

I sure hope the Iranian people get their country back. Keep on it my friend.
the bb

one more twist of reality in Iran.......

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, urged parliamentarians Wednesday to tolerate the voices of the opposition.

while...... Police crushed a planned demonstration outside the parliament building in opposition to the outcome of the June 12 presidential elections.

The Islamic establishment and people "will never give in to coercive demands with regards to Iran's presidential elections” Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized the significance of law and order

“violating the law would lead to dictatorship.”

"The leader argued that the country's affairs must be run according to the law of the land,
as well as the principles of the Islamic revolution!
so that the people's demands are met.
Ayatollah Khamenei also urged parliamentarians to tolerate voices of opposition........

At the same time Ayatollah Ali Khamenei  sends the Basij, Iran's volunteer paramilitary group, to rush the streets with brute strength, with blood in the eys........ The guardians of the Islamic revolution and the courageous Basiji together with the security forces are following the orders of the supreme leader and following him unquestioningly

Democratic society, free society.......  free Iran from the dictatorship.....    
fowling your fight for freedom....  admire the determination, commitment and endurance.......


Michael

Quote:

Ayatollah Khamenei also urged parliamentarians to tolerate voices of opposition........ At the same time Ayatollah Ali Khamenei  sends the Basij, Iran's volunteer paramilitary group, to rush the streets with brute strength, with blood in the eys........ The guardians of the Islamic revolution and the courageous Basiji together with the security forces are following the orders of the supreme leader and following him unquestioningly

Like a true politician, talking from both sides of his face. Let  the will of the people prevail.
the bb

Walk softly but carry a big stick. Exactly what we've been doing. It worked for Theodore Roosevelt and the right hated him too.

You may not like the Prez, but stupid he is not.

Charlie

I can only pray that you get to experience the level of freedom that we know here, its about as close to true freedom as you can get to,  For even our freedom has limitations!  Just try smoking a joint in front of the courthouse in any city, or walking nude on any public beach, this is not freedom, just an easing of rules for the betterment of the people based on what the most powerful and rich men feel they want to allow.  
     Example--- men go without shirts all the time, but if a woman tries it, somehow men have turned it into something taudry!  I could go on, but I won't,  Be free as you can and fight for it if you have to, we will help!    John

Sailpappy wrote on Jun 25^th, 2009 at 9:53pm:

Example--- men go without shirts all the time, but if a woman tries it, somehow men have turned it into something taudry!  I could go on, but I won't,  Be free as you can and fight for it if you have to, we will help!    John

Your words ring a little too true for some folks I'm sure.  The very example above was brought to the supreme court in Ontario - there, you can have 'personal' amount of marijuana (and trust me it's a SMALL amount) AND women have the same right as men to walk around topless.  Been that way for a long time, it doesn't happen that often, but at least women have the choice.

Freedoms are taken away in tiny increments, for the good of the people, the safety of the nation and any other number of reasons.  But we still enjoy more freedoms on this upper part of the continent than most other places in the world.  

I can't imagine the terrible heartache of living in a place like Iran.  Farzad, may you find peace among your fellows, and may the world come to look upon you all as individuals and not as your government leaders.

Cat

one more twist to the Iranian religious democracy.....

or what I call theocracy (Theocracy is a form of government in which a god is recognized as the state's supreme civil ruler, or in a broader sense, a form of government in which a state is governed by immediate divine guidance or by officials who are regarded as divinely guided. In Biblical Greek, “theocracy” means a rule [kra′tos] by God [the.os′)..... better known as despotism (a form of government by a single authority, either an individual or tightly knit group, which rules with absolute political power). Dictatorship – “Enlightened absolutism”!

“Iran's security council tells Moussavi to back off, Members of Iran's influential National Security Council have told opposition leader Mir Hossein Moussavi that his repeated demands for the annulment of the June 12 election results are "illogical and unethical.”

And,

"the Judiciary needs to deal firmly and mercilessly with the heads of the riot, whose heads are in the U.S. and Israel's stable, so that it would be a good lesson for all."
With this twist in the “democratic” processes in Iran I think all hopes for a peaceful resolution are buried.......                    

it looks to me as, we are going to see a “Tiananmen square” style (form) solution......   a brutal, violent, and deadly... solution..... guided by the “divine democracy” in Iran.....

The quest for freedom and democracy, need to stay on our agenda! We need to voice our support ,

Not to let this march for freedom be forgotten!

Let us not trivialize the desperate situation in Iran......

Michael

I'm hoping you're wrong Michael but sadly, it's not hard to see it happening.

Things change though. Mousavi was a rather big cheese in Iranian politics in the 1980s and Prime Minister while it lasted. It certainly looks like he did a 180 on creeps that ended the post entirely.

Here's hoping the failure of Iranian information blackouts keep things alive.

Charlie

Democratic process Iran style..........

The brutal crake down on freedom seekers and pro democracy has taken one more twist........

The “free” people of Iran that are taking part in the protests, and have been wounded (by the brutal revolutionary guards and the fundamental Basij) during protests are being seized at hospitals by members of an Islamic militia. This Islamic militia (Basij) prohibited medical professionals from getting identification from demonstrators wounded in the streets, They are also not allowed to ask how the injuries happened. Once the patients are treated, the militia removes them from the hospital to an undisclosed location. Some reports suggest.... when they are being taken to the hospital they don't actually get there..........

One more act of “freedom” and “democracy” Iran style....... the fundamental  militia, Basij, is carrying out brutal nighttime raids, destroying property in private homes and beating civilians.............  and firing live rounds in the direction of buildings from which they believed chants were sounding.........

This “democratic” process reminds me of Argentina.....  during the brutal military junta regime.........  In the late 1960s and into the early 1980s (if I have my dates right), the armed forces applied harsh measures against “suspects”. The "ideological war" doctrine of the Argentine military focused on elimination. In practice that meant liquidating many middle class citizens, students, intellectuals, and any other “suspects”.............. disappearance and probable death at the hands of the military regime of about 11,000 people, Human rights groups estimate that over 30,000 persons became "disappeared" (arrested and secretly executed without trial)..........


Michael

Farzad wrote on Jun 22^nd, 2009 at 7:48am:

Hi my friends I found a pain more than the CH pain!! it is "Lack of Freedom" Pain in Iran!!! Pray for us to get rid of this pain Farzad Iran-Terhan

May God bless you Farzad, may you and your family and your friends be safe along with everyone else.
Its a terrible situation and all the conversation here is probably terribly painful for you. I know how I feel when I get unhelpful commentary on stuff I have to live through.

We can't even really imagine whats happening there, we are horrified and terrified but we'll never truly understand this pain for you just as many others will never truly understand the pain of CH.

All I can do is compare my experience with horror and know what you are going through is pushing your capabilities to the edge of endurance.

We may not truly understand the ghastly events in your country but we do truly want you to have peace and joy and the right to live in safety.

I hope all of our collective countries will do all they can to help your's and not sit around pontificating while innocents die.

With compassion
Helen

Dear Friends,

Sorry for being late to appreciate your all valuable supports, comments, sympathy and words.

I appreciate all your kindness and just can say hope that one day the human around the world can live in peace and freedom , which i pray everyday.

due to the restrictions on the Internet in Iran we have difficulties to see the web pages and most of news pages are filtered by Iranian Government (Dictators).

Although this Dictators have the gun and are suppressing all of the people , and filtering all the news and communication channels we hope that the world will react against them and we hope that all the Iranian people efforts is to be seen by the world people.

I just can say "Thank you " to all of you and I hope that they will not kill me due to just my above sentences!!!!

Anyway thank you and wish you all the pain free times and a life in peace

Love

Farzad

Tehran-Iran

Thank you for checking in Farzad.  I was thinking about you when I was watching the news and hoping you would check in.  You and the people of your country fighting for freedom will continue to be in my thoughts and prayers.

Beth