Rageh Inside Iran

Hat tip to Donkephant for posting this a while ago.
BBC journalist Rageh Omaar travels to Iran, and finds a more complex society than what is normally portrayed.

Iran

Iran relief map








As I've been posting more frequently on the Chronicle blog as mentioned in the previous post, I've started to post political non-personal stuff there. Today, having to be home all day with the flooring crew has given me a chance to be online and browse around the sites I used to frequent.
And Iran is in the news. Bush's stupidity is too but what's new. I will refer you to two blogs written by intelligent and passionate guys. Their posts might be long, but then, when you want/need to know about issues, you need to read more than just the convenient quick blurb you see. You don't learn from headliners. You learn by reading, processing, thinking, and reading some more.

Please visit Kel at The Osterly Times: Podhoretz Vs Zakaria

And Jaime at The Heathlander: Losing the fight on Iran

...even the Israeli Foreign Minister, Tzipi Livni, has privately acknowledged that Iran poses no existential threat to Israel, with or without nuclear weapons. As military historian Martin van Creveld explains,

“Given the balance of forces, it cannot be argued that a nuclear Iran will threaten the United States. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s fulminations to the contrary, the Islamic Republic will not even be a threat to Israel. The latter has long had what it needs to deter an Iranian attack.

Should deterrence fail, Jerusalem can quickly turn Tehran into a radioactive desert - a fact of which Iranians are fully aware.”

Wassup??

Hi guys, long time no post. I figured it's time for an update so I'll try to be brief. At the moment, we're in a Homestead Suite for the next two weeks. With my father in law's inheritance (he passed away almost a year ago) we decided to finally change the flooring in our house. Our oldest has asthma and a slew of allergies so we're getting tile downstairs, (and upstairs bathrooms) and wood laminate upstairs. Plus just a different carpet on the stairs and that whole thing should take two weeks. It's only day two and I'm ready to go back home! lol

Technically, I am. While the different crews do their work (tile, laminate etc), someone from the house has to be present the whole time. So for now, I am upstairs on my computer and as much as it's convenient catching up and having the perfect excuse to be online, I'm also pretty tired of it. The last two nights I have not slept well at all plus our oldest probably picked up a bug of sorts 'cause he woke up last night and got sick in the bathroom. What a sweetie! He said later on that he figured he had to try to make it to the bathroom because otherwise (him and my husband sleeping on the sofa bed) 'we'd have to pay extra' for the mess he'd make.
James and I were both awake when he got sick, and me..BLECH! I can't handle 'urp'. I can handle anything else but not that. So while my poor son 'urped' over the toilet, my husband tended to him, and I gagged in the kitchen YAKK!

As if I don't have enough stress. They just came by the house to drop off some food (James picked up the kids from school) and my son told me he felt nauseaus off and on all day. I have severe mommy sensitivities so now I'm on the alert ("are you ok? are you sure??" psst James, bring the pail back to the hotel!)
I have been off the lexapro for several weeks now and last night, as I'm trying to go back to sleep, I felt a little anxious. Just regular, normal anxiety that comes with life. Except that while I was on the meds, it diminished the possibility of any anxiety attack or what have you..plus the excuse to take xanax for it. I still have some xanax except I can't get to it because they laid down the tile and you're not supposed to walk on it for a day!

Good thing about the Homestead Suite location though is the fact that it's very close to the place where we meet up for our saturday morning training. I have been posting on the Chronicle blog but really, I can't just post about myself all the time. Me this, Me that, I ran, I didn't run, blahblah.. so, as you can imagine, I couldn't help myself and I started writing about other things AND politics. Can't help myself, I was born THAT way!
Anyhow, it's about 4:15pm and these guys won't finish until about 6, can't wait to leave. Anyhow, that's my story. And that also explains why I haven't visited anyone recently.
No worries, I'll be back and I'll definitely will be by your blogs sometime.
Oh and did I mention that I got my Red Cross First Aid/CPR certificate? Managed to squeeze that in.

One Million Voices Campaign October 18

Hat tip to Lirun!
Embed this on your blog too.

Mary, my turn to be sick...

well, ya can't call it a virus but it would fit! I think I got Mary's cold! (Get Your Own, no really, the website)Earlier this week, Rebecca had a fever and had to stay home most of the week. Then on thursday, I started to get a sore throat. My husband came home that night aching all over (no flu though)and went to bed soon after that only to resurface to bring Rebecca to school the next morning and return to bed after that. He slept all day practically. I did not sleep very well that night as of course, the symptoms got worse. Then last night, I did not fall asleep until 7 this morning (kid you not) and got woken up by Rebecca at 8!
All night I either drank liquid, gargled or downed salsa and chips hoping the salsa would help.

Today I slept for an hour before waking up gasping for air. Isn't it weird how these sore throats work?? Anyhow, I've been taking sudafed all the time and even some benedryl at night. Today I also took steam baths with thyme to shake things loose.

Then this morning, after my husband went out with the kids, he returned home to drop off Dirk who ended up with the chills and fever. Three down, one to go! Actually, cancel that. It all started this week with her, so we just have to wade it out.

My husband was making his version of chicken soup (chickenbreasts, water, knorr cubes and dried vegetable mix)while I did it the old fashioned way (some bacon, onions, garlic, carrots, rutabaga, turnip and parsley and ginger pieces and salt pepper and some hot stuff plus a whole little chicken for the nice greasy feel of the soup. It's cooking now. Can't wait. My throat is burning and eating even the slightest thing makes me uncomfortable.

Anyhoo.. I had to skip on my saturday morning training session for the 5K in December. As you saw with the previous posts, we're supposed to blog on the Chronicle site. The majority of my team is I think unfamiliar with the workings of a blog and I suggested to do a shared blog on blogger so we could generate more traffic (for the upcoming votes), and just be able to post more pictures and links and all the 'accoutrement' that the Chronicle site does not have. No one has taken me up on my offer and some even seem to be adverse to it. So..I set it up anyway so that in the event anyone changes their minds, they can join. Hence you won't see it in my profile. I did it completely seperately.

So.. now I'm going to sic you onto my newest blog enterprise 'Taking Charge'. It's funny to notice how people are unaware of how blogs work. Even with the little bit of promotion the Chronicle might do in November, I really don't think too many people will be interested in reading our Chronicle blogs and even read them and vote for us come December.
I've been trying to explain how it works but, I'm taking this one for the team. I figured I'd start and if anything, I'll generate some interest to vote for me..
No worries, I'll be trolling for your votes later on!!
Swing by and say hi and rara.. (pretty pls with sugar on top)

and Lirun... You DIDN'T!!??

Come over and say HI!

Well, the blogs for the Club Chronicle Challenge are finally up. Come over and say 'hi' to my fellow team mates and tell 'm I sent you. A little encouragement would be much appreciated.
I don't know about the voting aspect of the contest. If you have to be from Austin or not, who knows. For now, there's no voting involved. We (our team) is getting to know each other and having a good time doing so.
I'm actually in pain, but that's for another post, here or on the Club Chronicle.
So hop over: Club Chronicle Challenge blogs
(ps, my video intro is totally lame, they took it AFTER the work out and NO makeup or good lighting. You are forbidden to even look at it! I demand a re-take!)

Donkephant: Jin Introduction

Donkephant: Jin Introduction

Our dear Cyberotter is back in cyberspace and introduced two new bloggers on his site, Scott and Jin. If you scroll down you'll see some interesting posts and also one that is often not seen in the media; soldiers actually being well received and doing humanitarian work in Iraq. Lest one think only one way about the military, it is only fair to point out that there is good to be seen among the bad. Regardless on your views on the war, one needs to see all aspects.

The 'Dirty List' and where to protest Saturday October 6th

Today is the International Bloggers' day for Burma and enough will be written about the history, the analysis, current and past victims. What I wanted to do was to encourage you to look into a letter writing campaign (often easily done via email) to companies of your choosing who do business with the brutal military regime.

The Burma Campaign composed such a list and called it the 'dirty list' for obvious reasons. Even if you write one or two letters, or emails, anything is good. The whole blogosphere is focussed on Burma and hopefully other media outlets continue to report and expose on the current situation. That is, unless Fox or CNN consider the breaking news of Britney Spears latest life sage more important!

Excerpt:

In response to calls from Burma’s democracy movement, the Burma Campaign UK and other campaign groups around the world have been pressuring companies to sever business ties with Burma.

Please contact one or more of the companies on the Dirty List and ask them to cut their ties with Burma’s military government. If appropriate, tell them you will not purchase their products as long as they continue to support the regime in Burma.

Letters written in your own words are most effective. If you don’t have much time, don’t worry - just one or two paragraphs will do. Please be polite!

We would be grateful if you could send us a copy of any responses you receive.

The Dirty List without company contact details

The Clean List

The Dirty List Briefing

'Dirty List' Press Releases


This saturday, October 6th, protests will be held the world over. Check your local news for a possible march or candle light vigil. For those who want to find out about possible activities in the US, check US Campaign for Burma

Free Burma! Peace...