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.

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!

9/11 Doubts

AFP (France) in an article titled Iran foreign ministry backs Ahmadinejad Sept 11 doubts writes:

Iran's foreign ministry on Sunday backed the doubts expressed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejed about the accepted version of the September 11, 2001 attacks, saying there were "many ambiguities."
Ahmadinejad last week caused controversy when he described the airborne attacks on New York and Washington by Al-Qaeda militants as a "suspect event" and cast doubt on the strikes in three speeches within the space of eight days.
"Regarding 9/11, as long as all the aspects have not been clarified this remains a suspicious incident," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini told reporters.
"Many analysts and observers who have followed this feel that there are many suspicions and ambiguities. There are many points of ambiguity surrounding it," he added.

I don't get why people like conspiracy theories. I'm not suggesting there has never been any conspiracies around but not all incidents and events involve conspiracy as some people like to believe. It's one thing for some brain-overdosed dude on the street to believe that there is something suspicious about 9/11, but it's a disaster for an official figure in another country to talk like this.
Mr. Wisedude! Questioning all historical events in the last decade does not make you an intelligent person. What's next on the list? Questioning the 1944 invasion of Normandy by the Allied forces? I think there are still many ambiguities about that day. For example we don't know the exact GPS location of all Allied soldiers who landed on the coast. Also, there is a possibility that some of the Nazi soldiers committed suicide before they were arrested. That's a good reason to believe that the Allied forces didn't really accomplish anything on that day! Wake up... or keep sleeping but don't talk.

NYT: Bruce for Barack: Ohhhh He’s the One

New York Times says:

Bruce Springsteen threw his support to Barack Obama in a letter to fans on his Web site this morning, calling Mr. Obama “head and shoulders above the rest.”

“He speaks to the America I’ve envisioned in my music for the past 35 years, a generous nation with a citizenry willing to tackle nuanced and complex problems, a country that’s interested in its collective destiny and in the potential of its gathered spirit,” Mr. Springsteen wrote. (read more)

Well I haven't been here for 35 years but I feel the same way. About the "bitter" comment, Bruce said:

“At the moment, critics have tried to diminish Senator Obama through the exaggeration of certain of his comments and relationships,” he said. “While these matters are worthy of some discussion, they have been ripped out of the context and fabric of the man’s life and vision, so well described in his excellent book, ‘Dreams of My Father,’ often in order to distract us from discussing the real issues: war and peace, the fight for economic and racial justice, reaffirming our Constitution, and the protection and enhancement of our environment.”

Right to the point. Thanks Mr. Springsteen.

AP: Iran a Threat in Iraq

Stephen Hadley, Bush's national security adviser is a true follower of Condi Rice v1.0:

WASHINGTON (AP) — With al-Qaida's influence diminishing in Iraq, U.S. troops have much work to do in stemming Iranian support for militias, President Bush's national security adviser said Sunday.

"Iran is very active in the southern part of Iraq. They are training Iraqis in Iran who come into Iraq and attack our forces, Iraqi forces, Iraqi civilians. There are movements of equipment. There's movements of funds," Stephen Hadley said. "So we have illegal militia in the southern part of the country that really are acting as criminal elements that are pressing the people down there." (read more)

I have another theory: I think Iran is training Osama Bin Ladin and providing him with food and milk shake while the Saudi's are planning to bomb all mosques in Shiraz. At the same time Kim Jong-il is secretly praying with Ahmadinejad every Friday and gets a lollipop to suck on as the mullahs in Iran are putting some yellow cake in a Russian oven, which is making the feet of our troops in Germany yellow and putting American lives in danger.

Mr. Hadley, you and the people around you have screwed up. When you go to the other side of the globe in someone's backyard, expect them to re-act. Grow up and blame yourself instead.

News: CompUSA to close all stores

WSJ reports:

Mexican telephone and retail magnate Carlos Slim, in a rare defeat, will exit the U.S. consumer electronics market, shutting the last 100 CompUSA Inc. stores after sinking about $2 billion into the business.

After K-Mart, now it's CompUSA. I was not a big fan of CompUSA anyways but seeing a giant store die like this is a bit depressing. As Steven Colbert says: "the market has spoken".

Amazon.com aquires DPReview.com

Digital Photography Review says two weeks ago:

We're proud and excited to announce that Dpreview has been acquired by the worlds leading online retailer, Amazon.com. Started as hobby site in 1998, dpreview.com has grown to be the number one destination for anyone interested in digital cameras and digital photography. Each month dpreview.com has seven million unique visitors (over 22 million sessions) who read over 120 million pages. "We've worked very hard over the last eight years to deliver consistently high quality content to our readers", founder Phil Askey said. "It will be fantastic to be able to expand and build on that without compromising our quality or independence. With the support and resources of Amazon we can achieve this." (read more)

It's interesting because both DPReview and Amazon are my favorite sites. I guess good hearts find each other. Don't ask me what the heck I meant by this 'cause I don't know!

News: Senators propose infinite H-1Bs for advanced degree holders

Great news for US-educated foreign nationals:

News.com: A new U.S. Senate proposal would allow limitless H-1B visas and green cards for foreigners with master's degrees or higher in any field from an American university--or anyone with such credentials in the science, technology, engineering or math fields from abroad. (read more)

This is great news for us.

Question: Is this country going to re-claim its reputation as the best country in the world to live in as an immigrant after almost a decade of neo-conservative fascism that has slowed down our progress as a nation of immigrants?

Answer: I think so. I'm very tired of this retarded situation about war on terrorism and I'm seeing some signs that the attitude is changing. This senate proposal is one of them. GO USA!

See En En?

In the "most popular news" section today in CNN, you can find this piece of news titled "teacher denies bathroom break":

MAGNOLIA, Ohio (AP) -- A sixth-grader who was denied permission to use the restroom while taking a state achievement test this week had an accident in class, and a school administrator blamed an overzealous teacher.

The shame brought to the student, who had to urinate, was an unfortunate outcome of efforts to prevent cheating, said Sandy Valley Local Schools Superintendent David Janofa.

"There are no words we could say. We feel horrible about this happening," he said...

Another story, which ironically is ranked among the top stories today, is titled "wet woman says hummer pushed her in river" and it's a video about a woman who parked on the side of the a bridge and was pushed to fall 20 ft (7 m) in the river after another car hit her car while she was outside.

I have one question for CNN. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!?!?!??!?!?!?!

Free land in the United States?

Do you want "free land" in Alaska?! All you need is $500 deposit and a contract to build a 1000 sqf house on that land in two years!