Iran

I don't know if you have been following the Iranian election this past week, but I have found the whole thing astounding.

I joined twitter about a month ago after swearing never to do so. (Note to self: Never swear not to do something, you seem always to do it.) Last friday I saw that Iran and several Iran-related topics were high on the trending topics list so I clicked on it. I learned that there had been an election there on Friday and despite all expectations Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won the election. Among other things Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust, calls for the destruction of the Israeli and American states, pursues nuclear "energy" power and other assorted dubious things. The official results stated that he won over 60% of the vote. The way government works in Iran is (as far as I can tell it) like this: The Assembly of Experts who are religious scholars, choose a Supreme Leader who is head of the Guardian Council which chooses who may run to be President. So in the election the people vote for their president, then the Guardian Council, lead by the current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei actually makes the choice and declares the winner.

The issue at stake seems not to be which leader won, although that certainly sparked it, the issue seems to be that the people of Iran (or at least those protesting) are offended that their government would try to pull the wool over their eyes in such a blatant manner. "Whatever the short-term political outcome, for me, this is no longer about who wins the election. It is about growth, about grass roots, about the green. Suppressed for 30 years, some of the people of Iran have decided they have had enough and are demanding change." Charlotte Safavi.

I have been fascinated during the past week, at the support from the world via twitter (and mostly just twitter, everything else is shut down). Such solidarity is a rare thing, and I think we've got it right. Mousavi (the de facto opposition) will not be the best leader for Iran. There is a consensus that he is the lesser of two evils (remember the Guardian Council OKs every candidate) but it's encouraging that there have been days of (mostly) peaceful protests with support from people all over the globe and from multiple governments as well (thought not ours.)



Please forgive me for the disjointed nature of the post - it's been a while since I've attempted to write anything of substance.

Peter Schiff

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Twirling Dervish

Prescient?

About 3 days ago I was in the kitchen with my mom and had this conversation with her.
"Hey, Mom. You know C?"
"Your friend from college?"
"Yeah. I think her boyfriend is going to propose to her."
"Really? Why?"
"I'm not sure. I've had the feeling for a while but I just feel like it's going to happen soon." "When?"
"Certainly within the year but probably a few weeks."
"Huh. Well I guess we'll see."

My friend and her boyfriend got engaged today. I have spoken with her in at least 2 months.

I think I'm prescient.

expendable

my job is pretty boring. and i'm a rather unimportant cog it the machinery there. i'm basically only needed 1 week a month. so today when i called in to work to ask if i could stay home a few hours because i have to fill out some tax paperwork for massachusetts that I didn't realize i had to do i wasn't surprised when my boss said "Sure!" I was surprised when she said, "take your time." They really don't need me. Noon it is.

**Edited at 6:03pm**

I got to work at 1:30pm today.  MUCH later than I'd anticipated.  I had all my work done by 3:30. My day is officially over at 4:30.  Oi.