I read this fascinating book over the course of a couple of weeks in November. It was a story of the legendary lost of tribes of Israel. A story important to both Jews and Christians. The book is about the quest to find the "lost" tribes that were exiled somewhere to a secret place. It was an interesting perspective on colonialism, cultures and geography.
11/13/79
A new development in the Iran situation. President Carter announced that America will no longer import oil from Iran. A slick more for Carter. It forces a measure of conservation on America. It makes it patriotic to conserve oil. Unfortunately it really won't make that much of a difference since Iran sells America only about 4% of the oil imported into this country. Well, at least Carter has done something but the situation continues to be dangerous.
World opinion continues to be against Iran. They've violated basic diplomatic and international law. Their government has condoned and supported the embassy takeover. They've alienated themselves. It is now being said that the crises can only be resolved by the intervention of the World Islamic Community of holy men. Yeah, right.
Now the situation in Iran today. 60 American hostages held by Iranian students at the US Embassy. A very dangerous situation. The country is so close to war. So volatile. Iran oil, energy, American lives and American backlash. But yet. The Shah is here in America, the Hitler of Iran. The Butcher of his people. He should stand trial. If it would be a trial. Not just stand him up in front of a wall like so many other Iranians under the Shah. The world needs to know what happened. What he did and how he fell from power. The corruption of his rule should be made public and American involvement should be part of that trial and not just screamed from mobs in the street.
America should never have let him into the country. Thank Henry Kissinger for that. But it happened and America is being pushed around again. Thus the American backlash against Iranian students here. Well, send them all back to Iran. Make the break clean if we're going to break. The Iranian's don't want us, we fucked them over, we used them to protect our own interest and the Shah abused them.
What will happen to the hostages? Send the Shah back for trial and certain death? Send in the Marines? Give them the Shah. He's theirs. America loses either way. The result of meddling in the affairs of other countries. The gluttonous need for oil, to protect the source of fuel for the rich. Our obscene thirst for oil will get us in more trouble yet. The Eighties are just getting read to begin and it will be a world of energy shortages. Cheap and plentiful oil is gone forever. Oil is linked with war and decline for America. The Iranian situation points this out even more than the earlier Arab-Israeli conflict.
11/5/79
The terrible situation in Iran illustrates the blunders and stupidity of American foreign policy during the past decade and more and also previews the problems to be faced in the Eighties and beyond.
I think back on my views of Iran. They all come from Time and Newsweek. Th Shah was a great leader developing his nation following decades of European imperialism. The glory of ancient Persia, leading his people into the 20th century. I remember in the early 70's while I was in the Navy I had read all the articles about the benefits of the Shah and his modernization policies, his Imperial army, and the Westernization of his nation. It fascinated me
It was not until the late Seventies, about 1978, that I really started questioning what I read to the point of seeking alternative views and especially the news. Reading Progressive and Mother Jones, etc. opened up another view. I was questioning the usual line of news and politics. The American Studies class at Temple on the 50's politics did it for me. My view of Iran was radically altered and I could see the affects of American intervention through the arms and oil industries.
So the Iranian Revolution was no surprise and actually welcomed. But the reaction was extreme. The killings. The religious furor. Many times oppressed people take solace in religion and Islam has had much fanaticism throughout history. The pendulum was now swinging from the Shah to the Ayatollah.
I think the anti-American feelings in Iran are completely understandable. We supported the Shah and we made him what he was. Our perceived need for military and economic security in the Middle East because of oil led us to set up and support his corrupt and oppressive regime. Naturally the Iranian people associate America with the Shah.
Americans living in Iran, there were about 50,000 of them, were visibly flouting Iranian and Islamic customs. My friend John Barry had described to me his experience living and working in Iran. It was crazy. He had started out in the Peace Corp. in Afghanistan but later went to Iran to work. I ran into him during one of his visits to Philly and he told me about his time there. He now has recently left the country.
To the average American, the Iranian situation was a complete surprise. Time and Newsweek did not prepare the people for the revolution in Iran. The mood of the country was completely missed by America.
Nixonland: the Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America by Rick Perlstein, 2008Another comment from my 80s Notebook. This one from 11/3/79.
On August 3, 1979 I saw Dr. Wolin for a backache problem and a routine physical. This was the first since Navy separation. I paid $50 for the visit... by check the day of the visit. Right there in the office.
Since then I've been routinely getting a statement from him about the bill. I think his billing service or computer was stuck on my receipt once a month. So now three months later the Statemen comes with a "Please" written on it. So it is a Bill!. That's what happens when you pay a medical bill on time... harassment. My only medical bill in a decade and they screw it up. I'm batting 1000. What would happen if I really got sick. Horror.
I sent a copy of the cancelled check to prove I paid the doctor bill.
11/3/09
Wow, I really find it hard to believe I went ten years without seeing a doctor. I think back on the days living in Germantown after getting out of the Navy and I really can't remember any medical issues or getting sick enough to see a doctor. Of course I always could have gone to the VA for medical treatment. I also think back that if the last time I had a physical was when I got out of the Navy that would have been late 1973 so that means it really was six years of not getting any medical service and not a decade as I wrote in 1979.
Also it's funny that I would blame the billing problem on using a computer. Little did I know back in 1979 how much my life would later evolve around computers.
From my 80's Notebook. This time November 3, 1979.
New York State law says that a car owner moving to New York has 30 days to register their car in NY. I've been in Buffalo six months now and finally I got my NY tags.
Way back in June, when Betsy and Joe were visiting, I also got a parking ticket that day. I stood in many lines waiting to get my tags but I didn't have my car title with me. It was strange because I didn't remember ever having one although the car was paid off but I looked in vain. It was a 1973 Chevy Vega.
Next began a typical bureaucratic nightmare with letters and correspondences back and forth but nothing was accomplished. Lost checks, lost titles, liens, bullshit.
Then I finally got some good luck. I found the lost original title and of course I had it all the time. I really need to organize my paperwork better but now I have my NY plates for a fee of course... $20.
Then this week the car's engine died. Nothing. I tried to jump it but it needed towing. Fortunately I was able to use the Better Wire Products, my employer, automotive service Sonny's Car Clinic located nearby. The car was towed at 9:30 am and finished by 12 noon. Better Wire Products had pull.
The car needed a new alternator. They also fixed my flashers and did a NY State Inspection. Total cost was $120.
I wish I could do more work on the car myself. It's just a matter of doing it and having the tools and the time.
11/3/09
Looking back 30 years getting the car fixed was pretty cheap. I would not have that Vega much longer but that's another story in one of these 80's notebooks somewhere.
Originally a notebook entry in 11/3/79 about some Irish resources I was interested in at the time.
11/1/79
The Eighties. They're nearly here. It seems almost impossible. The new decade and where am I now. Am I really ready for this new experience? What will the eighties bring to me, my life? And what were the Seventies? This is a good time to reflect on them. I've become of age, so to speak, in the seventies. Came to manhood and developed into what I am. A mixing of adolescent and teenage Sixties with the young adulthood Seventies. The Eighties will be the culmination of the previous two decades emerging from the childhood of the Fifties. The three decades were so very much different. What will my fourth decade be like? Age 28 through 38.
This decade approaches the half way mark of an expected lifetime. The Eighties are my mid years. I guess it would be fairer to say the Mid-Eighties through the Mid-Nineties but centuries ago in other times 28 to 38 were the peak years and 40 was an old person. But it this time it is half and maybe less. Anyway, now is a good time to think about myself. Who am I? What am I? How did I get this way? What am I becoming?
11/2/09
So I wrote that 30 years ago. It will be interesting to read through these comments and try to understand them as I put them into this blog.
