Events in D.C. for the Month of December

As part of our efforts to keep you informed about what is going on in the nation’s Capitol, I will regularly share with you a listing of upcoming events relating to issues that matter to our community. Even if you are not in DC and can not attend it is always good to stay in touch with the various policy panels, conferences, and speeches that affect the Iranian-American community.

Below is a list of events for the month of December that pertain to Iran issues. Most of these events will be covered by NIAC staff members and who will publish reports on our website and in our weekly e-bulletin (to sign up follow the link and look on the top left panel on the website).

Note that due to staff constraints and lack of relevance, some events do not receive covereage. If you are aware of other relevant events in DC not mentioned in our list, please let me know in the comment section below.

Follow this link to see the events for December.

 

Smells Like Desperation, Michael Rubin

Michael Rubin must really be scared. Actually the whole neo-con establishment must be, as they’ve pulled out big guns to attack my organization, the National Iranian American Council, and its allies for defending the wishes of Iranian pro-democracy and human rights activists.

(Follow the link to read the rest of this article which was first posted on the Huffington Post)

The Iranian American vote

I have often been asked, “There are so many Iranian Americans in California, how come the Presidential candidates are not asking for our votes?”

This is a good place to start our discussions about the Iranian-American voter and our potential impact on electoral politics. There are so many factors that help determine the relative impact of any community on the political process, and certainly the number of potential voters is one important variable.

(Below the fold I’m going to start our discussion about the potential impact of our community on the political debate, and begin a series on the 2008 election cycle…)

Topics we intend to cover

As our community matures in its collective political awareness, the most important ingredient to becoming effective in impacting the discourse among policy makers is to be well-informed.

At NIAC, we have decided to launch this blog mainly to provide you information and to engage in you in increased activism. I want to introduce the three individuals who will be posting most of the commentary and what they will be highlighting.

Follow me below to meet the editors of NIAC’s blog and to find out what type of stories we plan on sharing with you…

Pre-Launch of NIAC’s Blog

The purpose of this blog is to share insights and answer questions about NIAC that go beyond the range of topics covered in our newsletter and website. More importantly, the blog is meant to engage the Iranian American community, as well as the rest of the American population to engage in ongoing discussions about current issues important to the Iranian American community.

It should be noted that opinions and comments posted on this blog do not necessarily reflect NIAC’s views; they are the thoughts and reflections of individuals. NIAC encourages participants to maintain respect for all writers, posters, and commentators.

While we welcome open dialogue, obscenity, personal attacks, and threats will not be tolerated. NIAC reserves the right to remove any comments that that cross the boundaries of constructive dialogue.