Iran...

I was born and raised in the U.S. and barely speak a lick of Farsi let alone speak it fluently. But like a moth to the flame, I am inexplicably drawn to the affairs of a half world away. I remember in vivid horror the events of Tianamen Square and a sole protestor facing off a tank to his demise. Now I see pictures in the news and left dumbstruck that my family...my relatives are now the ones being brutalized by two despicable despots. Khamenei and the so-called "Assembly of Experts" who rule Iran as an oligarchy with their lap dog Ahmedinejad have run that country into the ground. The students who fell under the sway of the false prophet Khomenei are now reaping what they have sown...seeing their children brutalized by the Islamic Republic. A country raped and plundered by the clergy.

Now my political beliefs have never been clearer...Iran must return to a true Constitutional Monarchy a la Edmund Burke's "Reflection's on the Revolution in France". Burke supported the American Revolution but denounced the French Revolution because the former was consistent with the history and traditions of the American colonists who lived there. Similarily...Iran's history...other than this 30 year aberration...or abomination...has been ruled by a sole autocrat. Imposing an American style presidential system would be catastrophic on the Iranian people...but a political system akin to the British parliamentary system with a constitutional monarch guiding the country would be a genuine positive step in the right direction. Now I differ from many of Persian or Iranian descent....including several members of my own family. But I'm humbly reminded that while i may pontificate from my little farm in the Midwest....people are being arrested and beaten for the liberties we passively pay lip service to here. I shudder to think of my own cousins...whom Ive never met...who are now those young students in the throngs of exerting their political will over these two despots.

Now honestly...of the presidential candidates of the Islamic Republic of Iran...i have no feeling toward Mossavi and certainly no love of Ahmedinejad....who I've studied ad nauseum over the last four years. The latter's fixation for nuclear weapons and his desire to see the return of the Mahdi...should be a cause for concern...not for the Iranian people....but for all people. But there is also a certain measure of pride seeing the Iranian people protest in front of the Federal Building in L.A. in solidarity with the Iranians in Tehran...shouting against the regime that has pushed its people too far for the last time.

Start of Round 7....just over half way done

Well...after yet another two rounds of chemotherapy...the tumor markers came back and there is another drop... from 69.9 to 40.6. Not quite the 50 percent of the last markers...so things are slowing down...but a drop nonetheless. The doctors want to continue to Round 12...but realistically....I think we're going to need to go to Round 14 and test after that...If it keeps halving...then it should be back to normal by Round 14. If we get to that point...surgery may be an option once again. You only need 10 percent of your liver to live....

In other news....read a very disturbing article today on how California has 50 days before it enters a financial meltdown. Makes me feel very secure knowing I now live in the country, have my stockpile of food and guns...because things are about to get ugly.

the sad thing is that the credit markers that the Chinese and Europeans hold for the U.S. all come due in 2011. Obama's health plan and bailout spending is going to trigger the financial nightmare everyone is dreading...I fear for this country and for us all. jon voight may be the one who gets the last laugh...

I feel like Sarah Conner..."i survive the cancer to face a new nightmare...."