Wow! Visit Iran . . .Learn the culture . . .See the beauty. TOURS

[kid a]

http://www.irangashttour.com/en/main.htm

[ClintonTyree]

1. Before Bush reduces it to.....

a pile of smoldering rubble! Not my ideal vacation spot, especially when it's in Bush's crosshairs.

[Kipling]

2. Get raped by a heroin addict and then stoned to death for it.

Iran has a terrible human rights record. I would never give Ahmedinajad a penny.

[Bassic]

6. One thing that needs to be realized about Iran

Is that while it has a whole bunch of fundamentalist bastards, there are also a very large number of progressive people over there. Their current leader is a dumbass, but he doesen't reflect the whole population, not by a longshot. Kind of like Bush

[tjwash]

7. Wow. Kinda sounds like our country.

A vocal group of fundamentalist nut cases that thinks everyone needs to be saved and converted and they aren't afraid to try and change the laws to reach those goals, a President that bends over and caters to that minority, and a liberal base that gets completely vilified as "the dangerous ones."

I hear you. It pisses me off to no end to hear people just spout off propaganda when most have never even had a single stamp ever put in their passports.

And no skippy, going to Cancun on spring break, and spending the week at "cabo-wabo" doing tequila shooters with the rest of the frat-house does not make you a world traveller...

[Bassic]

8. The parrallel is indeed striking.

Although the details aren't the same, there is great similarity.

[Autumn Colors]

10. This is so true

See my post below about going there as an exchange student in 1978. My host family were barely-practicing muslims. They were quite liberal/progressive. Nothing about the "Islamic Revolution" changed this in them. They are the same as they always were.

My host sister was an English teacher when the Shah was overthrown. After awhile, they were giving her more and more grief about dress code and B.S. like that. She finally told them the Farsi equivalent of "You can take your job and your rules and shove 'em!" and quit her job. She and her husband were thinking about starting a family anyway, so she decided to just concentrate on doing her part to raise the next generation of progressive-thinking kids.

The vast majority of the Iranian population is young and were born during or after the Shah was overthrown. Despite all these rule, they have easy access to western movies, TV and music by way of satellite dishes, DVDs, CDs, and the internet (most people have internet access over there in the larger cities).... and this younger generation is chafing under the yoke of the mullahs. Eventually, I feel, they would push out the older religious fanatics, just by virtue of that generation aging and dying off.

This whole situation has me upset because this is so very personal to me. I lived over there. I have a second home and a second family over there. This isn't just some news story to me.

[William769]

3. Sorry my type is not welcomed there.

:eyes:

[JuniperLea]

4. Regardless of their leader...

There are people there... men, women and children... and a culture, beautiful architecture. It may not be like ours and we may not care for that way of life for ourselves (or maybe we would, given the chance). These are human beings with loves and lives.

Damn you all to hell BushCo. This is the 21st century. Grow up, put the cowboy suit away and find a better way to deal with things!

[enid602]

5. I want YOU

Is this the new US Army recruitment brochure? They don't waste time, do they?

[Autumn Colors]

9. Already have....

I was an AFS exchange student to Iran in 1978 (during the Shah's reign) and I have a lot of great memories of the wonderful, warm people and the beauty of places like Esfahan. Most of my Iranian host family are still in Iran (in Tehran, Qazvin, Meshed, and Esfahan). Some are now living in Austin, TX (and are citizens who vote Democratic).

I am so distraught over all of this, you can't even imagine.