Saturday, June 20, 2009

Skirting the Storm



Big thunderstorms tracked beside us all the way home from Salt Lake last week. Very forbidding sky. Lots of scary wind and lightning but we managed to miss most of the hard rain. As I looked at the dark clouds, it reminded me of Anne McCaffrey's books about The Dragonriders of Pern who fight "thread". I started reading her dragon novels in the 1970's and think she's written about 20 so far. "Thread" is what falls on the planet Pern whenever a certain rogue planet's orbit passes close by. Dragons were bred by the people of Pern to torch the "thread" in midair before it could reach the ground where it would destroy everything it touches. "Thread" falling from the sky:

After watching the protestors in Iran this week, it occurs to me that they have been skirting a storm for many years.

I pray the courageous people who have been marching non-violently can maintain their convictions in the wake of the Ayatollah's announcement today that protests will no longer be tolerated. I hope this weekend brings better news and that our media will have the courage to show us more of what is actually happening.

If the crackdown is severe, then I hope for dragons to assist the protestors in their quest for a fair and honest election -- although truthfully I think the quest has expanded far beyond that now -- I think they are getting ready to take on the ruling theocracy. If that is the case, they will need many dragons. People have the power!

For current news not on TV, keep refreshing Nico Pitney at HuffPost.

8 comments:

Annette said...

It has been very scary for them and for us because we have no media to let us know what is going on. The government there has basically cut off the people from communication with the out side world. Even the Twitter feed is slow today, there is some coming out but not as much as there was.

It is going to be bloody before it is over. I am so glad we have a smart guy for President with a level head instead of Bomber McCain and the other GOPers in there who want to ratchet up the rhetoric this week.

D.K. Raed said...

Annette:
When I see McCain and others espousing the kinds of views that got us villified in that area of the world in the first place, I am also glad we have a cooler-headed prez!

CNN has been showing little snippets all day, but are being very careful to say nothing can be corroborated. They did interview an Irani Professor who explained the 'ready for martyrdom' remark of Moussavi. Apparently it is a very spiritual reconciliation and implies he considers himself just as holy as the El Supremo guy. The younger people get that what he was really doing was questioning El Supremo's legitimatcy in ruling the country. That goes far beyond any election fraud questions benefitting Ahmadinejad.

The news is frustratingly slow (as is my ailing computer). If the military are taking ID of anyone who shows up at the hospitals, if they are posing as demonstrators and taking crowd pics to use for ID later, I'm afraid the crackdown has only just begun.

Annette said...

This reminds me a lot of the '60's and the anti-war protests.. Kent State, the race riots.. Chicago, Watts burning.. That's the images I see in my mind.. Brings back a lot of that when I watch it on the Tube.. Guess my age is showing...lol

Scary times.. The rethugs are just disgusting.. now they are attacking the President because he took his daughters out for ice cream today. I really don't get what they think he is supposed to do. Sit in the White House glued to CNN for the snippets they have, in case he needed to say oh, stop or what..

I really think it all amounts to just saying or doing anything to go against him.

HAPPY IN NEVADA said...

I saw your post on Watergate Summer; I'd commented on an earlier one that Allie put up as it also reminding me of the same riots; Watts - and Kent. I guess I'm showing I'm 67 years old.....

I loved those incredible photographs you posted; once I dealt with tornados, but now living in the desert, we don't deal with them.


I'll continue reading your blog; it's interesting so far........
Diane

D.K. Raed said...

Annette:
I subjected myself to watching Ann Coulter rail on about Obama and ice cream last night. Now I need a shower! I do see a certain similarity to Kent State of course, but I more see an overall similarity of the youth of a nation always being the first to realize when it's time for change. Change does not come from the conservative status quo. The fact that something like 50% of Iran is under age 27 says it all. They are ready. Now the question is is the rest of the country ready.

Happy in NV:
I've seen you at Watergate Summer, too! I live in a desert now and am a native of one not far from you (I speak of vegas). Lots of storms skirt our area but few actually drop their loads on our heads. We see them dancing around us on their way north or east.

Fran said...

Those are some ominous looking storms... both in the photos, and in Iran.
I am having to pace myself as to how much violence I can absorb these days.

Or as the Beatles put it-- it's all too much.

I hope it does not intensify ( Tienenman Square redux).

How said to be so attached to being in power one would kill people to try to keep it.

Now he's just considered a brutal dictator.


Tragic, really .

Spadoman said...

Just retruned from a few weeks on the motorcycle. I was north of you, in Idaho. we were in 4 seasons for 3 days in a row. Yes, even snow. When I passed through, Yellowstone was closed to traffic without snow tires, (they don't make them for my Triumph).
I posted some video on my site of riding footage. In some of the shots, you can see storms like these on the horizon. We sped east and west and north and south to avoid them as best we could, but inevitably got wet. Good to be back home again.
Peace.

D.K. Raed said...

Spado:
You sure hit some bad weather up there. A neice in Boise said it was sleeting, in June! Sorry I've not been around ... if you scroll down a couple posts, you'll see I am consumed with a home design project. But I'm gonna try to catch up this weekend & promise to come see your pics etc, 'kay?