Iran: First-Hand Account

July 2, 2009 from Tehran, by Ali Golsar for VBS TV

Here's a must-read live account of Iran's troubles gone from bad to worse. God bless them and protect them, especially the women, idealistic youth and the aged,weary pro-democracy visionaries. Those S&M fetish, Gestapo wannabe riot police are beating the bejesus out of anyone they don't like the looks of. These are not the acts of rational men.

"Environmental destruction, racism, violence, injustice, war derive from a single source -- the human psyche. An activist who is not interested in psychological underpinnings is analogous to a botanist who is not interested in biology."
~ Jonathan Zap

"A fanatic is one who can't change his mind and won't change the subject." ~Winston Churchill

"I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent."
~ Mohandas Gandhi

Neda, an
Iranian woman who was shot in cold blood during Iranian election protests


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Chomsky On Crisis and Hope

I have read of Chomsky for many years although I have only read a few of his 100+ scholarly books. He fascinates me because I feel you really have to be on to something for the huge corporate interests to spend as much energy as they have demonizing him. He's been slyly cast to the masses as a "communist" for his freedom-advocating and egalitarian ideas.

As usual, I prefer to form my own opinions rather than buy into the pre-digested ones offered on a tray by the TV talking heads.

From Democracy Now, the War and Peace Report with Amy Goodman.

QUOTE Noam Chomsky turned eighty years old this past December. He has written over a hundred books. But despite being called "the most important intellectual alive today” by the New York Times, he is rarely heard or quoted in the mainstream media.

Today we spend the hour with Noam Chomsky. He spoke recently here in New York at an event sponsored by the Brecht Forum. More than 2,000 people packed into the Riverside Church in Harlem to hear his address. The title of his talk, “Crisis and Hope: Theirs and Ours.” This is Noam Chomsky. UNQUOTE
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Happy Independence Day

With thanks for all who served, especiallly my generation, who had the bad luck to draw Vietnam out of the empire's little lottery. God bless.

Heart of Gold Jewelers Site

I have spent all my computer time over the past couple of days building this little page for our new gallery. Please click on over and take a look around, and if you are in the area please drop by for a visit! We're off to a great start.

gold heart pendant by Charles W. Yost

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You too can save a life!

I got a card in the Mail today informing me that there is a Red Cross Blood drive coming to town next week. Not that I really need the reminder because I have it marked on my calender from the last time that I gave.
I started donating in 1980 in the Rangers. They would line everybody up in formation and march all of us to the post theater and we would all give blood together. I don't remember anyone complaining because we knew that from the nature of our job that we might be the person who needed the blood.
These days I continue to give blood as often as I can just because I feel it is the right thing to do and it is a really easy way to save someones life. I have lost track of how many gallons that I have given but as long as they will take it I will give it.
So do something selfless just because it is the right thing to do. Call the Red Cross at 1-800-GIVE-LIFE or search on line and find when the next blood drive is coming to a location near you and give.
And in a strange twist of fate you or your family member ends up in a ER needing blood it may be your very donation that saves the day. Go ahead, just do it!