Party like it’s 1979

Well, in 1979, I was… 26 years younger than I am on this, the birthday that I share with fellow luminaries Jaclyn Smith (Charlie’s Angels of Anaheim), Hillary Clinton (Chicago Cubs of Chappaqua) and on one of the two calendars in use at the time, Leon Trotsky (Reds of Moscow). It appears that my birthday won’t have Fitzmas fall on it this year, I’m afraid. Well, tomorrow’s another day.
1979. 1979. Something happened somewhere that year… Oh yes. Now I remember. It seems that Iran’s new hard-ass hardline president is back to those rallying cries that got him elected in the first place in the election for Iranian figurehead president, calling for the destruction of Israel. (Hat tip to Bruce the Veep.)
Yes, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad harkens back to those halcyon days of yesteryear when the Great Satan was, well us. While I’m sure we’re still widely beloved in Iranian circles, in an unofficial way, of course, its probably never a bad time in Iranian political circles to talk about wiping the Jewish State off the map. Yes indeed, that Zionist entity that controls an area the size of New Jersey and 3 or 4 million Moslems is a dire threat to the world’s nearly one billion Moslems… Well, what can we say?
Anyway, its somewhat ironic that among the (innumerable) motivations of those supporting (in every way possible) our entry into war against Iraq was a belief that doing so would somehow improve the lot if Israel (after all, Saddam did hurl scuds at Tel Aviv and Jerusalem back in GWI). Of course, Israeli officials will tell you that Hizbollah sponsoring Iran was always a more pressing existential threat… and good old President Ahmadinejad (just call him Mahmoud) is spouting off the crazy shit, just as (1) the Europeans may be getting antsy about Iran screwing around with its nuclear program, (2) on again off again Iranian ally (but mostly on) Syria is in some trouble over its apparent role in the assassination of the former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri, (3) Israel seems to simultaneously following the platform of defeated Labour candidate Amram Mitzna (no-strings-attached withdrawal from Gaza, finish “the wall), and (4) Iraq’s constitutional and political process seems destined to land it a Shiite dominated government which will, without doubt, be friendly to Iran…
A possibly toxic mix. Honestly, the only reason I have any hope at all that the Iranians won’t complete their nuclear ambitions and attack Israel with such weapons and quite possibly ignite a world war is because, well, the mullahs in Iran are so damned… corrupt… there’s just no point in being filthy rich on money you stole if you’re going to die in a horrible conflagration… Ironic that its that element of human nature that may prove its saving grace… well, its all I got…