Obama's Speech Helped Ignite Revolution in Iran

This is my 1,400th post on this blog, and tonight my purpose as a journalist is to explain how and why President Barack Obama is the main person who ignited the most important democratic uprising so far of the 21st Century, which is the grassroots revolution now occurring in Iran.

Please go back a bit in time and review what I wrote as I watched Obama's brilliant speech offering a "new beginning" to Muslims in Cairo earlier this month. These were hardly the words of a man who was unaware of the power of the moment.

These were, rather, the words of a speaker acutely aware of who was listening.

Which explains precisely why Obama has been relatively measured in what he has stated publicly since the rebellion he helped trigger and that, I now believe, will ultimately topple the oppressive regime that purports to control Iran, and is one of the greatest enemies of America and American ideals.

Obama, alone among all politicians, is an astute student of history. Even those who oppose him ideologically must stand aside tonight and bear witness as our brilliant young President changes the world in ways that only six short months ago would have seemed unimaginable.

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Father's Day

So, tomorrow is Father's Day. It's one of two days each year I do not look forward to. The other is my birthday.

This is something I've never reflected on; it's just the way I feel. But tonight, I am going to try and figure out why this is so.

Until the early days of 1999, Father's Day was never about me, for me, because my own Father was alive. Every year, it was an opportunity for me to try and express the ineffable -- my deep love for him.

Like many, though not all, fathers and sons, we had difficult moments. It didn't help that he, a man of his time, i.e., a conservative World War Two veteran who had come of age in the Depression; had me for his only son -- a Baby Boomer congenitally disinterested in most of his true passions, like golf, real estate, old music, money, conventional thinking, cliches, and cigarettes.

But we did share many personal values -- optimism, a belief in striving for happiness, deep love for our family members, and baseball, among others. And in eyes, my father, even though he did not appreciate my passions for art, new music, the bizarre, unconventional thinking, original language, and different addictions, never ceased being my hero and the man I loved most in this world.

As I sat with him the night he died, I told him over and over how much I loved him and I held and stroked his hand and kissed him.

For me, when he died, so did Father's Day.

But, I now realize, this was quite selfish of me. For a decade now, I have been the patriarch of the Weir clan, the oldest male in my father's family tree, and the father of six wonderful children of my own.

Unless I show up on occasions like tomorrow for them, I am robbing them of their chance to celebrate their relationship with me. For some reason tonight, for the first time I am realizing this essential truth.

It's time for me, finally, to grow up and act like a man, and the father I am, for their sakes. My own Dad knew how to do that far better than I have (until now) and so once again I honor him, even as I, still with some discomfort, try to walk in his shoes.

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The Rebellion Becomes a Revolution

(Update: The video below was removed from YouTube, and then re-posted.)

The Tiananmen Square moment has arrived in the streets of Iran today. This is a pivot pivotal moment in history. The government is cracking down on protesters.

Please do not play this embedded video if you are not prepared to witness the graphic death of a young woman who was allegedly shot by one of the armed militiamen sent to quell the rebellion by the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic.

I am posting this after reviewing thousands of reports on Twitter and YouTube because I am convinced, as a journalist, that it is an accurate portrayal of an event that has occurred today in Tehran.

News reports over CNN now mention several deaths and many injuries as the government's violence against its own people has now been unleashed.

It is also apparent that protesters have moved well beyond their initial demands that the results of the recent Presidential election be overturned to demand regime change. Therefore, the question now is, will Iran's clerics do what China did 20 years ago and crush the rebellion before a revolution succeeds?

Or will the people braving the possibility of death continue to occupy the streets and force the clerics from power?

Tweet by Tweet, The Iranian Rebellion Continues

This YouTube video from Tehran shows how the mass rebellion over last week's disputed Presidential election is playing out. Borrowing a page from the 1979 Revolution, protesters are gathering on their rooftops all over the city to roar at the tops of their lungs Allah-o Akbar, or "God is Great."

In and of itself, this may not seem like rebellious behavior, but within the context that Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i, has tried to suppress the rebellion with all the clumsy moves to be expected by a 20th-Century authoritarian, it is.

In a speech today, Khāmene’i warned the protesters that they must desist, or they will be held accountable for whatever violence ensues. That is generally being interpreted as a threat to crush the rebellion by force. Since he is the head of the country's armed forces, this may prove to be no idle threat.

Opposition leaders have been arrested this week. As journalists become more skilled as communicating via outlets like Twitter, reports of violence, arrests, and the scope of demonstrations are beginning to be better documented.

Twitter is still one of the best places to monitor what is going on on the ground inside Iran, including RTs from supporters around the world and the top trending topic is #Iran Election:

* @Iran09World: @iran09 New BBC Persian Satellite: Telstar T12, 15° West , 12.608 GHz (horizontally polarised) #iranelection #GR88 less than 10 seconds ago from TwitterFox

* Tonight in cities across iran, gun shots fired into air to scare ppl,ppl just respond with louder chants of "God is great" #iranelection less than 20 seconds ago from web

* pariya Twitition: Google Earth to update satellite images of Tehran #Iranelection http://twitition.com/csfeo @patrickaltoft less than 20 seconds ago from Twitition

* waxmati How to set up or mirror a proxy: http://r3blog.nl/iran.proxy... #iran #iranelection #gr88 #tehran #iranians less than 20 seconds ago from web

* qrsmania #IranElection Tehran Mousavi Amadinejad Iran - Blocking the Internet in Iran , Stopping FREE communication - http://bit.ly/Z3Dpr less than 20 seconds ago from Twitterizer

* rohnee Khomenei: instead of taking responsibility 4 the chaos HE CREATED in his own country he blamed other countries. Unbelievable! #IranElection 1 minute ago from web


The flow of material is continuous. By monitoring it for 15 minutes or so, you can spot the trends in Tweets and get a fairly good sense of what to believe and what not. Many media outlets, including the BBC and VOA are actively reporting on Iran and being distributed via Twitter and other social media.

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David Hoang's Real-Time Art for #Eric

The inspiring story of how a network of strangers helped the family of a dying young man, Eric De La Cruz, cut through the red tape of our dysfunctional national health care system, and get placed on the list for a heart transplant that is needed to save his life still makes me cry, every time I think of it.

Today, thanks to The Expert, one of the key players who triggered a mass outpouring of support, including somewhere around a million dollars in donations, comes news of another form of media creation over Twitter that I believe is unprecedented -- original art by the visual artist, David Hoang.



If you watch this YouTube video of him creating his lovely drawing of Eric and his sister Veronica De La Cruz, you may wish to have a box of tissues nearby.

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Sky Rains Tadpoles Over Japan

If you don't know much about San Francisco, it's probably confusing to listen to those of us who live here, as we alternatively mourn and celebrate summer's comings and goings all through the months people in most of the country have a fairly good idea about the general range of weather tomorrow will bring.



Not us. Not here. It's enough to drive a perfectly sane person crazy.



A few days of cold, windy fog subjects us to Mark Twain's bitter truth.



All of a sudden, the earth's forces, satisfied that we have been taught our lesson, recede and leave in their wake as lovely a version of true summer as exists on earth.



Our fruits can resume ripening; our flowers open their petals; our girls put on halter tops and shorts -- basically everything that makes summer summer happens here, too.



It's rather like a Monty Python routine, you know, where the mighty Canadian lumbermen sing along in tune, then break into confusion and disarray, and then re-form to sing well again.



Try to hold on to those normal-type things -- a sense of time, a sense of season, a sense of what to expect -- in this place at this time of year is about as possible as being able to blog about baby frogs falling from the sky in Japan.

"Sky Rains Tadpoles Over Japan."

I'm not kidding, and I know it sounds biblical, or at least like the scene in that great movie, "Magnolia."

But it is true. Read it and weep.

Revolution, Tweet by Tweet

Like many people around the world, I've been trying to keep up with events in Iran since last week's contested election triggered massive demonstrations by outraged Iranians opposed to the incumbent President, who was officially declared the winner before the ballots could even have been counted.

Tehran, in particular, is home to a large population of young, tech-savvy people who were actively committed to the leading opposition candidate in the weeks leading up to the election. Therefore, the best news coverage of what has become a full-fledged rebellion has been from the social media services, particularly Twitter.

I've been covering these developments for Bnet, and here are six recent posts:

June 17 (Today) When Will (Post-Iran) Twitter Grow a Business Model?
"One perplexing difficulty we face here at Bnet as we document Twitter’s prominent role the events unfolding in Iran is the young company’s utter lack of any apparent business model..."


June 16 U.S. State Department to Twitter: "Stay Up"
"If there were any doubters left about the importance of social media in the ongoing rebellion occurring in Iran, today’s intervention by the U.S. government, requesting that the micro-blogging service Twitter delay its scheduled maintenance shutdown, should put an end to any debate..."


June 16 Foreign Media Banned in Iran so Twitter and YouTube Rock On
"News coverage of the situation in Tehran and other Iranian cities today has reverted back to the early stages of the rebellion last Saturday, i.e., once again we have to get most of our news from social media..."


June 15 Using Social Media, Iranians Outwit Regime
"Apparently, there’s not going to be any actual regime change anytime soon inside Iran, but that country is undergoing a fundamental revolution nonetheless..."


June 15 Iran: Twitter Users' Outrage at CNN, Fox Triggers Coverage
"The riveting coverage of the massive rebellion by what BBC estimates to be over a million people in the streets of Tehran continues over Twitter. In addition, European media have been providing active coverage led by eyewitness reports from reporters like Robert Fisk..."


June 14 Twitter Users Put CNN to Shame on Iran Riot Coverage
"Yesterday may have been a slow news day in the U.S. but in Tehran and other major Iranian cities there was major rioting in response to the government’s announcement that reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi had lost the Presidential election by a landslide to incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad..."


P.S. Yesterday, I also was interviewed by Cy Musiker at KQED-FM in a segment called Iran's Election Aftermath and Social Media.

Staying on Message: Hate Media

There is a guy called The Expert on Twitter. Not only is he one of the funniest performers you will ever witness, he has a huge heart and in the link I am about to provide he cogently presents one of the best explanations about why words of fear and hate matter in this fragile world of ours that I have ever seen in my life -- anywhere, by anyone.

I commend his work to you, so much so that I will have nothing else to say tonight about the screamers like Limbaugh and O'Reilly, men whose words drip with the blood of those, now dead, that they have vilified.

Check him out: The Expert! This is preventative comedy, a new form.

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The Part-Time Parenting Blues

"She's 97% crazy and 3% normal," D said to all of us in the car. He was referring to a certain girl who is exceptionally creative and artistic.

"Most artists and writers are part-crazy," I explained to him.

"Yes," said A, addressing D. "Take Dad, he's about 50% crazy and 50% normal. But I've noticed that the crazy things he comes out with help me see things in a new way. They are crazy but useful."

That made me feel good.



On the same trip across town, A turned to me and said, "You and I both have very long hair, Dad. You look cute with long hair. But you look very good with short hair -- that makes you look more...professional."

So, yesterday I cut a haircut.



There is an aspect of part-time single parenting that is emotionally difficult, at least for me. After an intense week where we spent almost every waking hour together, topped off by the wonderful baseball outing, now I am in a week where none of these kinds of conversations can occur.

The silence is making my chest hurt. (Either that, or something else is making my chest hurt.)

The good part of having what some parents call a "break" from parenting work is you can spend time with a girlfriend or boyfriend, if you happen to have one.

But my kids are never far from my front of mind, which is why I don't often have a girlfriend with me in this stage of my life. When I'm not with the kids, I often buy or find things that I put aside for them. I often write (here) about them. Today's post is an example. I am here writing about my kids with these words, thus put.

It is the end of a weekend. Sunny, breezy, summery. I bought about ten books today (for $10) and ran into a photographer friend at the book sale. He was scooping up many *huge* books -- almanacs, encyclopedias, dictionaries, some in a lot less than mint condition.

"Some of these I'll use for wrapping paper," my friend told me.

I thought that that sounded like a good idea so I went back to the reference section with a similar intent. I did buy one "photo mosaics" book that would make great wrapping paper.

But when I got home I set it aside for J, my 10-year-old daughter, instead.

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