Revolution Revisited

While we're safe at home eating leftover Christmas ham, playing with our new toys and watching Inglorious Basterds over this holiday weekend people on the other side of the world are being brutally murdered in the streets in Tehran. The protest movement in Iran is the international story that has given me the most hope in 2009. The oppressive regime in Iran is long overdue for change and people across the country seem to be tiring of hearing that the reason their situation is dire is because of the United States. I salute the martyrs giving their lives in a noble fight.

P.S. If you're interested on the subject of life in Iran check out the book "Reading Lolita in Tehran" by Nazar Nafisi. It is a beautifully written and haunting tale about daily life and cultural oppression facing young women in Tehran.

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The D.S.A. (Disunited States of America)

I just finished watching "Pawn Stars" on the History Channel and it made me wonder what the world would look like if the Constitution of the United States didn't call for a strong central government. What if the United States looked more like the European Union? What if each "state" was a state in the classical sense of the word? A fragmented North American continent wouldn't possibly be able to rise to the heights, and yes at times lows, that the U.S. reached.

Canada would have been the bully on the continent pushing us around and grabbing land. Mexico would have kept the southwest. Terrorist attacks occurring in New York, not from members of Al-Qaeda, but disgruntled Red Sox fans over years of "Yankee" imperialism on the baseball field. Naval battles on Lake Michigan between Illinois and Wisconsin led by Admirals Urlacher and Favre. The south seceding from itself!

In the end it doesn't matter. In my opinion it worked out for the best, but what if games can be fun.

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