Rick Raw: Iranian Uprising–Will of the People will Eventually Reign Supreme

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

The present unrest in Iran is no longer a protest against the election results. The protests have mushroomed into an uprising against the supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenie. He has absolute power and is the commander and chief of the Iranian military, militia, and Revolutionary Guard. Shockingly, the people are chanting "Death to the dictator."

This is an unprecedented breaking of a long standing taboo to question the supreme leader’s wisdom. If the people are dedicated to forcing change and willing to risk their life for a new style of government, then the will of the people will eventually reign supreme.

In America, in the mid-1700s, the Colonists were willing to take up arms against Britain. More seriously, the Colonists were willing to shed blood to become an independent nation. The die was cast. If the passion for change is strong enough, the will of the people will always prevail. They have to be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice. Live free or die!

The breaking of the taboo against the supreme leader expresses the deep seeded level of the people’s discontent with the government. Since two-thirds of the population is under thirty and well educated, the youthful proletariat want more freedom and a bigger voice in the domestic decisions handed down by the president. Ahmadinejad has bungled the economy of the country. The people are furious, knowing the election was rigged.

Indeed, much of this discontent is being driven by young women who are tired of the strict Islamic moral rules of female behavior. They are smart, resourceful, and they want equal rights with men. A well known female Iranian author said that to find out what the modern Iranian wants, follow the activism of Iranian women.

The present Iranian system of government was set up after the 1979 Iranian Islamic extremist revolution which voted in the new constitution. This document gave the supreme leader absolute power to govern as he saw fit.

The new 1979 government constitution also installed the Guardian Council who vote in the presidential candidate every four years for a maximum of two terms. Essentially, the president is subservient to the supreme leader. The president does have leeway in his decisions regarding the economy and domestic issues. If the president does something of which the Guardian Council doesn’t approve, he could be forced out.

Elections in Iran have long been suspected of being fixed and just a sham. Ahmadinejad was declared winner only two hours after the polls closed. How could they count all those ballots in that short a time. Of course, it was fixed!

In other words, the Guardian Council protects the fundamentalist Islamic law which is highly restrictive of people’s civil rights and freedom. When the 1979 revolution ousted the Shah of Iran, it was like the country was sent back to the dark ages. These fanatical old men are religious zealots and frame all human behavior in the rules as set forth in the Qur’an. Of course, their interpretation is extremely bias to their viewpoints.

It would be like the Pope was the supreme leader of the United States and the president would have to do his bidding. Sin would be in, and confessing sin would get everyone off the hook. We have separation of church and state for very logical reasons.

Could the people of Iran pull off a full blown revolution? Not without the support of the military and or the Revolutionary Guard, who are fiercely loyal to the supreme leader and the concept of Islamic fundamentalism. In the end, Khamenei has the power to crush the uprising.

As long as Khamenei has the support of the military, then, unless the people had help from a foreign army, they are doomed to eventually comply. They could strike and shutdown the infrastructure of the country. That would be effective and could cause dissension in the Guardian Council forcing change. But the hard liners are definitely in charge.

Nonetheless, something important has happened to the Iranian Zeitgeist. There has been a shift in the power paradigm. In the hearts and minds of the people, the uprising has fomented the idea of a democratic revolution.

The people now have demonstrated they will not lay down to comply with the supreme leader or put up with fixed elections. This seed of revolution will grow into a people’s power base working behind the scenes to bring in visionary leaders.

Still, the heart beat of the Islamic fundamentalist revolution is strong and powerful. Ultimately, the will of the people is stronger than a fundamentalist religion. The question is: How dedicated are the democratic revolutionaries? Time will tell.

Rick Raw: Vicious Chihuahuas Corner Cougar in Garage–It’s Not about Size but Dominance

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

In Riverside County, California, Ana Lee Spray, 23, was dumbfounded when she saw her three toy Chihuahuas snarling and barking just inside her open garage. When she investigated she saw a full grown Cougar cowering in the corner of the garage.

No doubt, the Cougar wandered into the garage to eat the Chihuahuas, but their viciousness and loud taunts scared the big cat. Each Chihuahua weighed no more than 3 pounds, which only proves that dog psychologist, Cesar Millan’s rule that it’s not about size but dominance.

A panicked Spray called police who in turn called in officers from the Department of Fish and Game. The police officers and the Game agents were speechless at this bizarre sight. The Game agents had to shoot three tranquilizer darts into the Cougar to subdue the beast.

But the tiny Chihuahuas refused to stop their attack. Finally, Spray got the pint-sized animals calmed down as the Game officers hauled the sleeping Cougar back to a wild life sanctuary. When the big cat woke up, he probably thought he had a bad dream.

Of course, as master of Pepe, my 11 pound Chihuahua, I can verify that this breed can dominate much larger dogs. And, Pepe, although I’ve trained him to be less vicious, can be unpredictable. Now if someone comes into our apartment, he’s quiet but we never know when he might silently attack, like a submarine. He has latched on to some unexpecting persons’ ankles a few times without making a sound.

Of course, the California incident was funny and made a great weird news story. However, with dogs, they are natural followers, and they need a leader of the pack. In the case of the Cougar, he encountered a situation for which he had no precedent. He was confused. The little monsters scared him into submission.

Since I have three dogs–officially a pack–they look to me as the leader of the pack. They need direction and discipline delivered with calm assertiveness. My Chihuahua will try to dominate the other bigger Basenji female and the smaller Heinz 57 variety female, but I step in and assert dominance.

Ultimately, Pepe looks to me for guidance. But Chihuahuas can be difficult to train or discipline. Those three toy Chihuahuas that cornered the Cougar are a great example of Chihuahuas assuming dominance with extreme prejudice.

In most cases, when dogs go bad, it’s the owners who are to blame for not assuming command of the pack. I reached this conclusion from watching Cesar Millan’s series The Dog Whisperer on the National Geographic Channel. He rehabilitates dogs and trains people who do not understand dog psychology.

Rick Raw: "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" Abysmal Failure–Supreme Court Setback–Obama Flip-Flops on Issue

By Rick Grant Commentary www.rickgrant01@comcast.net

When Obama was elected President, he promised to end the absurd military policy established during the Clinton administration called "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell," because if you do, you are out of the military. The recent Supreme Court’s refusal to hear a gay Ohio Soldier, James Pietrangelo II’s challenge to the law was a bitter setback for gays wishing to serve openly in the military.

Gays and lesbians serving openly in the U.S. military has been a contentious issue for years. Many fine officers including Army Captains in the field, Air Force and Navy pilots, Marine Colonels, and even Generals have resigned over this matter. We know that throughout the history of the U.S. military at least 10% or more gays are at one time serving proudly and effectively, while keeping their sexual orientation secret.

These decorated military heroes have proven time and time again that their sexual orientation has absolutely nothing to do with their exemplary service to their country. Yet, here we are in 2009, and the military brass, whose ranks ironically include gays and lesbians, refuse to deal with the issue for fear of breaking their own prejudice or opening a Pandera’s Box. It’s unconscionable.

Indeed, on the battlefield, no one cares about soldiers’ sexual orientation, they are too busy trying to stay alive and protect their fighting companions. Everyone who has ever served in the U.S. Military, including me, has known gay colleagues. It was an unwritten policy that they were accepted. We knew who they were, and they had their own friends and social life, which had no effect on our life off-base.

In the past, perhaps they were talked about behind their backs but no one really cared. They went to their bars and we went to our bars. But the hard-core homophobic brass fear change might cause problems. Not true!

Nonetheless, the President should have stepped in and signed an executive order to allow gays to serve openly. Peirangelo has a right to be angry at Obama, saying, "He’s a coward, a bigot, and a pathological liar." Well, I wouldn’t go that far. But for some strange reason, Obama backed off his promise after consulting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

The old excuse of worrying about discipline and cohesion is ridiculous, since the gays who now serve are excellent soldiers. Their concerns are based on the assumption that there are no gays presently serving. And, we know that isn’t true.

Clearly, when the U.S. military needs recruits, having an open gay policy would help bring in more men or women into the ranks. For gays, serving in the military is a great career. The gays who have served in the past have been lifers serving right up until retirement. But today, gays don’t want to keep their sexual orientation a secret. Why should they, when they have probably come out to their parents and friends long before joining the military.

By upholding the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, Obama has filp-flopped again from his campaign rhetoric. Obama’s staff has sent out E-mails saying that the President is too busy dealing with the collapse of the economy and two wars to handle the gay ban right away. Bullshit? He could just step in and keep his promise.

When elected officials go back on their word, it substantiates the adage that politicians will say anything to get elected, and then when they take office, they do what they want. Obama has already shown that he is willing to break promises on important issues that got him elected.

One thing for sure, the gay community will be up in arms pressuring the administration to end the ban. And more military gays will come out and lose their careers. Time will tell if Obama is true to his word. If not, well–we will not be surprised. He will be just like any other mealy-mouthed politician–a lying sack of dung.

Rick Raw: Electric Car–Why Wait, Build It Yourself–Patrick Roth did It

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net

GM has promised that it will sell the Volt, an all-electric car, next year. Chances are it will be expensive. Patrick Roth from Indianapolis, Indiana heard about the GM model. He was driving a Lexus hybrid and thought that he could research building his own all-electric car. His reasoning was simple, he could build his own electric car cheaper than GM from available parts, even factoring in the cost fo the car.

After finding out that building an electric car would not be that difficult, he bought a 1998 Ford Escort and took out the entire engine, the gas tank, and the radiator, and ordered an electric motor and the other parts to connect the motor to the car. He worked in his car garage with regular tools and rented the special tools to complete the job like a small crane to hoist the engine out and place the electric motor into the car. He completed the job in six weeks.

Roth claims he has no special mechanical skills and is not an engineer. He created a video that details every step for anyone else who would like to tackle the project. The job does require some precision machining to adapt the motor to the transmission, but he outsourced that job. His step-by-step video was published on http://www.theindychannel.com/ media station in Indianapolis. (Search: "Man whizzes past gas stations..")

Roth bought the parts and regular Interstate batteries off the rack from local dealers. To make sure the batteries fit the compartment he had designated, he made mock-ups of the batteries out of wood. He also researched the legality of his self made electric car and it is perfectly street legal. And, his insurance company said they would insure it.

"It works great, actually. I’ve tested it on the highway up to 70 mph," Roth said. "It works out that I’m spending the equivalent of .75 cents a gallon," he went on to say.

Roth said everything works on the car including the power steering. It drives very smoothly and quietly. "If I can do it with no mechanical experience and no engineering degree, then anyone can do it. Just follow my step-by-step instructions. The total cost of the car and conversion was $13,000–far less than the Volt will cost.

Legendary singer / songwriter Neil Young converted an old 1959 Lincoln Continental convertible into an all electric vehicle. He then drove it across the country and wrote an album’s worth of songs about the experience. So, with some ingenuity, most anyone can build their own electric car.

So Patrick Roth says! Well, it’s worth looking into for the weekend mechanic. I don’t believe Roth doesn’t have mechanical experience, but I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt. I once built my own guitar amplifier. It looked easy, but it was tedious and frustrating.

After that experience, I bought a Fender Twin Reverb because my self-made amp sounded like crap. And remember those experimental kit planes guys built in their garages. Many of them crashed and killed the builder/pilot. Be warned, these projects are always more difficult than they look when you start to work.

Rick Raw: Cult Madness–Strong City Cult Leader Convicted of Sexual Contact with A Minor

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

In my book, The Mind Further Out, in which I debunk organized religions and meld spirituality with quantum physics, I devoted a whole chapter on the evil of cults. Recently, National Geographic Channel aired an in-depth documentary on one of the strangest cults to come to light, the Strong City Cult.

The second part of the documentary was an update. It focused on the arrest and trial of its leader, 66 year old Wayne Bent a.k.a. Michael Travesser. The Cult is an offshoot of The Lord Our Righteousness Church, based in Travesser Park, New Mexico in a sprawling remote parcel of land.

Incredibly, this grifter, Bent, declared himself the Son of God–the Messiah. He demanded seven virgins from the teenage girls living on the compound and held a ceremony crowning himself the Holy Trinity. He had also predicted the end of the world on a specific date in 2008, which passed with no apocalypse.

Undeterred, Bent carried on looking for a new world ending date. In a blatant grab for complete power, Bent seduced the married women in the cult, who naturally would prefer the Messiah rather than their ordinary mortal husbands. Thus, Bent broke up long standing marriages among his flock which emasculated the men and gave him absolute power.

In contrast, some cult leaders claim they are a vehicle through which God communicates. But Bent went all the way by saying he was God almighty. Of course, it was a preposterous claim, but it got him multiple bed partners–brain washed zombies! Remember Charles Manson’s followers–a gaggle of twisted teenage girls from the suburbs.

Bent’s legal problems were a result of the National Geographic Documentary in which he said he had laid naked with two underage girls. He said God directed him to do this. (paraphrasing) "I was struck down on the floor by a mighty power that told me to let them feel God’s energy." He claims no sex was involved (right). He merely put his chest on the girls’ chests. Yeah, and I believe in the fairness of the IRS..

However, in Bent’s trial, one of girls said he kissed her on her mouth and touched her breasts in a sexual way. Chances are, the girls were covering up what really happened–sexual intercourse-- since Bent was having sex with all the women in the cult.

The parents and relatives of the children who had left the cult were trying to get their kids out, but when they turned 18, some of them returned to Strong City. Bent had a powerful psychological hold on his flock. More significantly, these damaged young people could not function in the real world. They were "educated" by surfing the internet.

After the jury returned with their verdict, Bent was found guilty on multiple charges including sexual contact with a minor, contributing to the delinquency of a minor, and other less serious charges. Bent was sentenced to 18 years in prison. His flock returned to Strong City and waited for Bent’s appeals to grind through the courts.

Intelligent people ask: Who would be so stupid to get involved with this oppressive cult–or any cult? People are sucked into the black hole of cults gradually. It usually starts with a charismatic preacher, like Jim Jones, who had a church with a loyal following. Then he played on their fears of the denigration of society, saying there is nothing but strife and violence on the streets. He told them they must find a location where they are free of society’s evils.

Then, the leader takes his flock to a remote area in America or a foreign country. Isolation is the first step to control. Then he takes all their money and forbids their relatives from interfering with his way of the Lord. He preaches that his flock’s parents and relatives are responsible for their unfulfilled lives and confused minds. Now, the flock has nowhere to go and no money. The leader then owns them. They are an extension of his warped mind.

Before they realize it, the cultists are trapped and psychologically brain washed by the leader, who has proclaimed himself a prophet with a direct line to God. As this process develops, the leader gradually seduces the married women, and alienates the men. This is the peak of his power. His entire flock is dependent on him for their existence. They shun their relatives and believe they have found Nirvana.

Cult leaders force believers to submit to restrictive dogma that limits their thinking. People get involved with cults because they are unhappy with their lives and they think that the leader or preacher has all the answers.

Indeed, everyone should question their root assumptions and never fall for these false prophets’ lies. They’re clever con men who seek power and control.

Dogma of any kind forces a person to believe in a limited interval. They then have to conform their thinking to the narrow ideology of the cult or organized religion. A cult is an extreme example of dogma run amok.

Rick Raw: Wolfram Alpha Launches–A Computational Knowledge Engine

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

Stephen Wolfram, a highly acclaimed mathematician and astrophysicist, spent years putting together this search engine for scientists and lay-people. Oh, pardon moi, he says it’s not a "search engine" but a "computational knowledge engine." For lesser brains like yours and mine, it’s a giant number cruncher which coughs up solutions to formulas and any scientific information one is seeking. Example: "Alpha what is the formula for picking-up women?" Answer: S+Y+A+A+D=S" S(Say) Y(You) A(Are) A(A) D (Doctor)= S(Score)

This brain bank doesn’t just give you preprogrammed information like Google, but it compares statistics, solves problems, and builds charts based on online data supplied by the user. Call it a problem solver for scientists and other techies that need this type of information at their fingertips. For scientists in the field who are not able to log onto their supercomputers back at their universities, this will be a godsend.

Wolfram says that Alpha is a big advance for how well computers can think. In other words, it’s Google with a brain that can answer specific scientific questions. Moreover, it’s like having Stephen Wolfram available to answer your questions, not just reference already existing data. It’s the Oracle, on-line. Cue spacy music.

The brainiac behind this new computational knowledge engine, Stephen Wolfram, 50, published his first scientific paper at age 16. At 20, he earned his PhD and in 1981 he was the youngest recipient of the MacArthur Prize Fellowship.

Wolfram’s first key idea was to use computer experiments to study the behavior of simple computer programs known as cellular automata. In 1982, this research led him to make a series of startling discoveries about the origins of complexity. Wolfram’s further research laid the groundwork for the emerging field that Wolfram called "complex systems research."

One of Wolfram’s most important breakthroughs was his discovery of a number of fundamental connections between computation and nature, which led to his invention of the concept of computational irreducibility. This study led to the fledgling field of artificial intelligence that has mushroomed exponentially in recent times.

During the 1990s, Wolfram’s work led to a wide range of applications. He used his own ideas to develop a new randomness generation system and a new approach to computational fluid dynamics, which are now in widespread use. His academic pursuits were first sponsored by Caltech and then the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. This led to a professorship at the University of Illinois as Professor of Physics, Mathematics and Computer Science.

Indeed, Wolfram’s computational knowledge engine incorporates his discoveries in artificial intelligence. He views his Alpha engine as an advance in thinking machines. Wolfram’s work continues to influence the computer science community which see him as a pathfinder in thinking machines.

Wolfram Alpha is a serious scientific tool for anyone to use. Wolfram has always shared his discoveries with his colleagues in the scientific community. As users give him feedback, Wolfram will refine his engine to better use his concepts. The engine is like a computer science lab unto itself. Its future is unlimited and it will evolve like artificial life.

So, Wolfram wants to hear from users and he is soliciting ideas to greatly expand Alpha’s abilities. It’s the most exciting new development in the Internet’s history. Alpha is a thinking artificial entity in its infancy. It will grow into something even Wolfram hasn’t yet conceived.

Rick Raw: Harley–Rescuing Exotic Basenji from Heartless Lowlifes

By Rick Grant Commentary rickgrant01@comcast.net www.rickatnight.com

When an abandoned dog appeared outside my kitchen window for three days, I just couldn’t let the poor dog starve to death. I took action by going to the owners, a young couple living across the street.

Their heartless attitude shocked me. The loutish bastard had broken up with his girlfriend and taken up with another woman. She said, "We are not dog people." Indeed! Neither his ex-girlfriend nor the lowlife wanted the dog. They had cruelly abandoned the dog by not feeding it or giving it water. Hiding my anger, I told them I’d take the dog and they just shrugged. Her name is Harley.

So I put a leash on her and took her inside my apartment to see if she could get along with my other two dogs, Pepe (Chihuahua) and Jazz (Mixed breed). Happily, Harley bonded with Pepe and Jazz right away.

Now, officially I have a pack. Then I took Harley to my vet. She gave her the standard shots and tested her for heartworm, which is epidemic in Florida. It’s caused by a mosquito bite. The worms travel from the stomach to the heart.

Anyone with a dog in Florida should know that they need to give their dogs heartworm preventitive medication on a regular basis. It turned out Harley tested positive for heartworm and needed a series of expensive chemo-therapy treatments.

The good news is, we caught this insidious parasite in it’s early stages inside her stomach. If the worms get into her heart, she’ll die. Harley needs to be spayed as well. The previous owners were just too stupid and cruel to know how to care for the dog.

Although it would hurt me financially, I made the decision straightaway to save the dog. I researched the Harley’s breed and it turned out she’s an exotic Basenji, whose ancestry dates back to Egyptian times. The dogs now come from Africa and are bred here in America.

The people who abandoned Harley obviously didn’t know they had an expensive breed. Not that they cared! Of course, people like Harley’s former owners are clueless about the responsibilities of owning dogs. They just cast her aside without any conscience or feeling for the dog.

So many abandoned dogs and cats end up in shelters because their owners are irresponsible or fell victim to our economic collapse and couldn’t afford the vet bills to keep their pets. Owning pets is like having children, they have to be cared for, disciplined with calm assertive energy, (Thanks Cesar Millan) and loved.

Lately, in my apartment complex, not only do people abandon their dogs, I’ve been observing kids gone wild, without any parental supervision. I see toddlers running around late at night with no parents in sight. More disturbing, kids are in the pool after midnight. Where are the parents?

These degenerates have kids like they own dogs, with no sense of responsibility. Then when the negleted misfits get shot or abducted, they scream bloody murder. It’s not a racial issue but a lack of high functioning intelligence issue.

Yes, another four legged soul has come into our family. Our dogs live to ripe old ages and we adore them. All our dogs and cats who have passed away are remembered in a special photo shrine on top of our television.

Harley is an angel sent by God to brighten-up our lives. Pepe is already famous for being on NBC news about families going bankrupt. The calls we received from friends said they saw Pepe on TV. Funny, they didn’t mention us. So, Harley has a lot to live up to.