Killer Dress Codes
I hope Victoria’s Tirdad Shirvani doesn’t object to my blogging his Jan. 7 letter to a local newspaper, The Victoria News, but as it’s a great letter, its dissemination to a few more individuals seems like a good idea. While you could find it online if you followed all the links to “letters” etc., I’ll spare you the bother:
The Persian Club would like to send its deepest condolences to the people of Iran and all of those who have lost loved ones in the tragic Bam earthquake.
Over 40,000 people have lost their lives while the tens of thousands injured in this earthquake remain without adequate food and shelter.
We blame the Islamic Republic government of Iran for the extent of the death and destruction.
An earthquake of similar magnitude a week earlier in California killed only two people. If the Mullahs had not grossly embezzled and mismanaged the economy to a point where people who have scarcely enough to eat could afford proper shelter, they would not die by the thousands at the slightest tremor.
If the Theocracy of the Ayatollahs had spent the amount of time, energy, and money in the last 25 years on enforcing building codes that it has on enforcing the strict dress code for Islamic women, so many would not have died.
If the government and its public servants were not so corrupt, if they had not accepted bribes to wave the very few building codes there are, this would not have happened. This, however, is still nothing compared to the catastrophe that is waiting to happen when a similar quake hits Tehran.
Rigid ideology exacts its toll in every situation; are “we” in “the west” immune? If we get started, earthquakes might be the least of our worries.
Hey blast from the past. I’m in Surrey. Arrived yesterday to surprise my aunt for her birthday (a week late). Nonetheless, she was truly surprised. I’m staying at my cousin’s place until Friday when I leave again. I must say you are a prolific blogger and tons of people like to cite you.
If you’re interested in a telephone call or whatever, reply to this address with a telephone number. I can, hopefully, access this account from my cousin’s computer. Ciao for now.
Miriam
Comment by Miriam Bergen — January 10, 2004 #
Just posted my own thoughts inspired by you.
Comment by Joel — January 10, 2004 #
Thanks, Joel, great commentary!
Miriam — “tons of people”? LOL!! The only “buzz” I ever had was the unwelcome one of being a reference point for a whole bunch of porn fans who were upset about finding something called the LoveLump by Erotech and not knowing whether it was for real or not. I had blogged about it months ago, and I’m still getting referer hits from several chat rooms and such. Anyway, I wrote to you at the email you left, and if you can’t access it, remember I’m listed in the phone book, too (call directory assistance, don’t use http://www.411.ca, they don’t list me since I’m not the primary subscriber — I guess they need a year or more to catch up). Call me, we’ll catch up!
Comment by Yule Heibel — January 10, 2004 #
Bonjour from Victoria, BC!
Thank you for posting my article. It was very flattering.
Here is a more up to date version.
Au revoir,
Tirdad
…………………..
THE EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS STILL NEED OUR HELP
The earthquake victims still need our help. The homeless and the injured cannot count on the government.
The Islamic Republic government is more concerned with its survival and quelling the infighting family feud and holding on to the power than it is with helping the earthquake victims.
The government of the Ayatollahs has proven its utter disregard for human suffering. It is the very same government who did not care enough to negotiate the release of the Iranian prisoners of the war with Iraq, which finished in 1988, and had to wait for the recent US war on Iraq and the fall of Saddam to set the last of our POWs free 15 years after the war. Even Ariel Sharon has more respect for his fallen and captured soldiers than the Ayatollahs of Tehran.
The theocracy in Tehran is the very same government whose gross embezzlement and mismanagement of the economy has rendered the people so poor that winning the daily bread has become a challenge in a sick economy burdened with a run-away inflation.
In its 25 years hold on power, it has brought the Iranian Rial’s value from 7-to-1 US dollars exchange rate in 1979 to today’s 800-to-1. Iranian purchasing power has declined 800 folds since.
It is, therefore, no wonder that an impoverished people saddled with a huge foreign debt can not afford proper shelter and has to live in sub-standard housing unable to withstand an earthquake and comes down burying its inhabitants at the slightest tremor.
In Iran where the manufacturing & distribution of cement & steel “I” beams are in the hand of the government, yet, the people have to buy these construction necessities at super inflated prices in the black market, it is no wonder that so many pay with their lives for the greed of so few.
Over 40,000 people died in the Bam quake.
An earthquake of similar magnitude a week earlier in California killed only two people.
If the Theocracy of the Ayatollahs had spent the amount of time, energy, and money it has, in the last 25 years, on enforcing the strict Islamic women dress code, on enforcing building codes, so many need not die.
If the government and its public servants were not so corrupt, if they had not accepted bribes to wave the very few building codes there are, this would not have happened.
This, however, is still nothing compared to the catastrophe that is waiting to happen when a similar quake hits Tehran.
We blame the Islamic Republic government of Iran for the extent of the death and destruction.
The tens of thousands injured in this earthquake remain without adequate food and shelter.
We can not count on the Mullahs in Tehran, and therefore, are appealing to the international community to come to the aid of the homeless and the injured survivors of the Bam earthquake.
Comment by Tirdad — January 26, 2004 #
Thanks for the additional information, Tirdad. I might put your addition into a separate post, top of page, as a reminder that people can still contribute funds or try to get help to Bam.
I don’t know if you ever read Dave Pollard’s “How to Save the World” (in my blogroll, on the right there), but he quoted from an amazing article by Lawrence Wright called The Kingdom of Silence (about Saudi Arabia). You can see Dave’s post here, with a link to Wright’s article. Sounds like another timebomb waiting to blow.
Comment by Yule Heibel — January 27, 2004 #