AP: US May Open An Interest Section In Iran

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Bush administration is considering setting up a diplomatic outpost in Iran in what would mark a dramatic official U.S. return to the country nearly 30 years after the American embassy was overrun and the two nations severed relations.

Like the one in communist Cuba, an interest section, or de facto embassy, in the Iranian capital would give the United States a presence on the ground through which it can communicate directly with students, dissidents and others without endorsing the government, one official said.

It would process visa applications and serve as a center for American cultural outreach to locals, the officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.(AP)

Obtaining US visa is getting harder and harder for Iranians mainly because of the growing financial and emotional cost of extra trips to UAE or Turkey to apply for a visa and to receive it after a 3-week to 2-year FBI background check. A US interest section will save each Iranian traveller $1000 or more in travel costs, the money that could be spent with ease of mind in the US and not in Turkey or Dubai out of despair while stranded waiting for a re-permission from Washington after an 11-month old FBI background check has possibly made the original visa obsolete. I welcome this positive change in the US-Iran relationship.

George Carlin Dies

It's a sad day. George Carlin, my most favorite stand-up comedian died yesterday. In the world filled with stupidity, irrationality, and superstition, he was the one to remind us to look ourselves in the mirror and find these old stains in our daily lives. He may not go to Heaven after all, but we will miss him for sure on earth.

(CNN Story)

NYT: Clintons' Paradox

New York Times in an article titled "Campaign Adds to Complicated Clinton Legacy" reports that:

“The Clintons are and probably always will be a paradox,” said Leon Panetta, who served as chief of staff in the Clinton White House and who supported Mrs. Clinton’s candidacy. “They were very good at being able to gain power and then try to use that power to try to help ordinary Americans. The paradox is that in order to gain power, they sometimes did whatever it takes to win.”

And that I think hurt her when it came to using the same strategy on Barack Obama. Obama has a lot of passionate supporters but I suspect that many non-voters just began to vote against Clinton after they felt she was willing to do anything to win the nomination.

A letter to Mr. Obama's Campaign

I was passionately supporting Mr. Obama's candidacy like most other people at my age group but his latest speech at an AIPAC meeting -- ironically the strongest "lobbying group" in Washington, the entities which Mr. Obama had repeatedly said he would not be influenced by -- and sudden change in his tone against Iran and in unconditional support for Israel, along with wearing an Israeli flag pin along with an American flag while speaking to AIPAC really made me wonder about my decision to support him.

How long do we want to follow the appeasement policy and sell our own country (the USA) to those people whose allegiance may not necessarily be with this country. If Mr. Obama wanted to talk to Jewish people in general, he should have chosen a better group of people (such as people in Academia) or even a more moderate Jewish lobbying group in Washington. AIPAC is the reason we are in such a mess right now and Mr. Obama had a chance to really be a candidate of change; an opportunity he missed when it comes to the US foreign policy.

Wired: Post-Rapture E-Mail

Wired.com in an article titled Website Lets You Send a Post-Rapture E-Mail to Friends 'Left Behind'

For just $40 a year, believers [in the Rapture] can arrange for up to 62 people to get a final message exactly six days after the Rapture, that day when -- according to Christian end times dogma -- Christians will be swept up to heaven, while doubters are left behind to suffer seven years of Tribulation under a global government headed by the Antichrist....

The e-mails will be triggered when three of the site's five Christian staffers "scattered around the U.S." fail to log in for six days in a row -- a system that incorporates a nice margin of safety, should two of the proprietors turn out to be unrepentant sinners or atheists.

Pretty cool idea. I wonder why I never thought about that. Now I remember: I would be one of the guys who keeps logging into the system even after all people have left the building!