The two-term president was criticized at home for bringing an estimated 140 people along for his final UN speech as Iran’s leader.Unlikely? Really? Stores with shelves and shelves of cheap shoes and cheap Tylenol are a big thrill. Maybe not for you, but if it is for them, that says something about the liberty we take for granted.
“Many . . . have only traveled there for a picnic,” sniped Mansour Haghighatpour, deputy head of the parliamentary committee on national security.
The delegation insider disagreed, saying the guests wanted no part of jewelry stores, boutiques or high-end retailers — like the plush Lord & Taylor directly across Fifth Ave. from the Payless.
Instead, they preferred any drugstore where they could stock up on over-the-counter medication....
The cut-rate shopping sprees come despite an assortment of landmarks within walking distance of the hotel: Central Park, Rockefeller Center and Carnegie Hall... [But] the Iranian visitors did make sightseeing trips to one unlikely destination: The Statue of Liberty.
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Ahmadinejad's underlings in Manhattan go shopping at Payless, Costco, Walgreens and Duane Reade.
They love America... in the form of discount stores:
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So will they use this stuff, or resell it in Iran? Sounds like the sanctions are having some impact.
We live in unbelievable opulence compared to places like Iran. Stores that we consider commonplace and even tacky like Wal-mart and Payless must seem like Ali Baba's cave to these people.
This does not surprise me in the least. My grandmother used to diligently deplete the Goodwill racks and send all of the clothes to her family in Ukraine and Poland. The stuff we Americans discarded was better than the new stuff available in the Old Country.
Four more years of Obama and they can stay in the hotel. If it's still there.
It also speaks volumes about those awful "millionaires and billionaires" who are CEOs and investors in the businesses that put those products on the shelves, doesn't it?
The Dems have been so insistent that those people are blood sucking vampires, intent solely on profit, who don't care what they do to other people.
My life experience has taught me otherwise. I recently heard from Gene, the CEO of a publishing company where I worked for almost a decade. I worked directly for Gene, producing multimedia for company wide distribution.
After my wife's death, Gene took me out to the gym for games of H-O-R-S-E, and dinner afterward, for months. Gene has since retired and moved on to work as a minister and missionary. He's a great friend, and a wonderful man.
Don't they need a membership to shop at Costco? I call bullshit.
Very true, Madame.
I guess bringing home a lot of bling might also cost them their heads, so they have to go for the practical stuff.
PS Love the fact the Dinner Jacket's spokesman was jumped by a bunch of Iranian refugees and had to be rescued by NY's Finest.
These are Ahmadinejad's underlings. Of course they are interested in liberty!
Back in the 90s, I escorted a group of Russian officers on a START (nuclear compliance) inspection at McChord AFB. The absolute highlight of their trip was Burlington Coat Factory, they just went fucking bonkers buying up all the discount outerwear they could find. It was a virtual feeding frenzy.
that says something about the liberty we take for granted.
I was in midtown yesterday. I was waiting outside a hotel and there were a group of 5-6 men on the street. Clearly UN delegation from some mideast county- Jordan or Kuwait perhaps. All expensive suits. They were smoking and drinking coffee and conversing in two little groups, as if they had stepped outside briefly for a cigarette. Odd thing- the same group was there 10 min later when I returned, and then an hour later when I left again. Smoking. Conversing. They were holding their meeting on the sidewalk so they could smoke.
You think they do that at home?
Maybe not for you, but if it is for them, that says something about the liberty we take for granted.
This might be true in the sense that capitalism is economic liberty. But it seems to me we should skip the aggregation and credit our greatness in this regard directly to capitalism. That helps people understand exactly what we're giving up when we elect leftist enemies of capitalism.
rehajm said...
that says something about the liberty we take for granted.
I was in midtown yesterday. I was waiting outside a hotel and there were a group of 5-6 men on the street. Clearly UN delegation from some mideast county- Jordan or Kuwait perhaps. All expensive suits. They were smoking and drinking coffee and conversing in two little groups, as if they had stepped outside briefly for a cigarette. Odd thing- the same group was there 10 min later when I returned, and then an hour later when I left again. Smoking. Conversing. They were holding their meeting on the sidewalk so they could smoke.
You think they do that at home?
Prolly.
Remember they were in Nanny Bloomberg's New York and smoking inside is probably punishable by having to watch "Law And Order:SUV" marathons.
You think they do that at home?
No Rehajm, at home the women aren't invited to smoke breaks, either.
If text messages from unhappy Iranians are any indication, Madmandinejad's entourage are stocking up on body care essentials to combat his BO problem.
The adjective "unlikely" was used, in the quote you provided, to modify the Statue of Liberty and not convenience stores.
If they went to Costco, you don't want to be in the flight path when their plane tries to take off.
Don't they need a membership to shop at Costco?
You can go as a guest. Maybe the concierge at the hotel knows one.
Back to the 80's, Moscow on the Hudson.
Don't they need a membership to shop at Costco? I call bullshit.
Also, you could buy a membership that day and share it. They aren't that expensive.
I think grocery stores are the most fun places to visit in a different town/country. I think Walmart/Cosco would qualify. I don't know what Duane Reade is.
I believe Duane Reade is a store that sells yellowcake uranium.
It's like the Soviet Union all over again. The currency then was American jeans.
Stores with shelves and shelves of cheap shoes and cheap Tylenol are a big thrill. Maybe not for you, but if it is for them, that says something about the liberty we take for granted.
Neal Boortz, in one of his books, has a really moving story about having made friends with a family in Russia/USSR (I might have some of the details wrong). He and his wife visited them once, and the wife made a big deal out of wanting to cook them a nice meal. He describes the grocery, which was considered one of the better ones (in the commie caste system, this family was considered upper middle class ranking), as just awful, mud floors, one loaf of stale bread, cheese that you had to cut the mold off of, that sort of thing.
Then, he said, a few years later the family came to visit him in Atlanta. He said that they took her into a typical American grocery store, and she just fell to her knees in tears, and said "Who shops here?," thinking that this was some store only for the very powerful. And his wife responded "Everybody."
"I don't know what Duane Reade is."
Shanna, you don't know what Duane Reade is? Really??? I find this hard to believe. O you poor benighted souls in flyover country! So plug ignorant. It's a drug store, for crying out loud. Named for a couple of streets in Tribeca (that's in Manhattan, rube), my old neighborhood (I lived on Reade St. between Greenwich and W. Broadway, not so far from a Duane Reade. Sheesh. How provincial.
BTW WTF is a Costco?
If this book doesn't exist, it should exist. The book of stories of coming to America from the former Soviet Republics to share their thoughts about what Americans have access to in everyday life that requires no ticket or token to enter.
Years ago,I hosted visiting dignitaries at my university. I took one to a grocery store, and I had to take him to several more to persuade him that the abundant fare was typical, not just something we took foreigners to for show.
BTW WTF is a Costco?
The Mecca of bulk shopping!!! I go once a month and cannot get out of the store without dropping at least $300. Booze, meat, tp, olive oil, electronics, garden stuff, clothing books.....you name it....they've got in and in mass quantities. I buy my butter 4 pound in a package. Three or four packs a month and freeze them. Less than $8 a pack. Bulk.....baby!!!
Winco is another must shop stop when I'm down in the valley for "big shopping".
I wonder if they appreciate the irony that they gave to go to the Great Satan for basic grocey and retail items.
Probably not, but its a nice illustration that without the West, most of the world would revert to the 5th century basket cases that they really are.
How provincial.
BTW WTF is a Costco?
Hee.
We don't actually have Costco where I live because I am from the LAND OF WALMART and competitors are not allowed :)
Maybe not for you, but if it is for them, that says something about the liberty we take for granted.
I look at it differently. The economy must really suck if even the bad guys have to shop discount.
Now, be fair, DBQ. I'd never heard of Winco before I moved to Oregon. For the uninitiated: Sort of a slightly smaller Costco, sans membership. Less stuff on pallets, and a fair amount of goods in not-impossibly-huge quantities, so that one can treat it as an ordinary grocery store for some purposes.
@ Shanna
Too bad. We are lucky to have a Wal Mart super store right down the block from the Costco and the Winco just across the street from Costco.
Plus an Office Max and Pennys, Macys, Sears anchor store mall just a few more blocks away. AND a Trader Joe's in the same general area!
Shopping Heaven!!
Seriously, it would do the American public some good and make us more appreciative of our unbelievable wealth if they had to shop at stores stocked in the same level as other countries. Maybe they would stop whining about the "poor" when they see how well off even our so called poor are by comparison.
That's a great story to remind us of the genius of capitalism.
The other day at the grocery store, I thought, why the hell do we need an entire aisle of hundreds of kinds of plastic bags??
Capitalism, baby.
A large minority of Americans (and immigrants, legal and illegal) have experienced a dissociation from reality. The progressive corruption of our culture has sabotaged character development and our insistence on addressing effects rather than causes ensures that our decline will be terminal.
It is inevitable that our nation and society will succumb to a progressive greed. However, before that happens, we will be replaced by individuals who recognize a superior correlation with reality, specifically evolutionary principles.
Unfortunately, the corruption will persist; it will be progressive; but, these people will enjoy the fruits of our labor, either through redistributive change or as the result of evolutionary suicide embraced by a majority of our population.
Oh, well. Fulfilling dreams of instant gratification (i.e. physical, material, ego) has its consequences. America will not be the first, or last, great society to be corrupted by its decadence and "good intentions."
DBQ,
Our (new -- now we don't have to drive to frickin' Lake Oswego) Trader Joe's is kitty-corner from the Winco. I could wish it were even closer -- there's a vacant ex-Safeway that's been for rent ever since we moved here -- but that's right next to our Roth's, which I wish all good to. It may be on the pricy side, but it has everything you could want, including the nicest staff I've ever seen in a supermarket. Think Whole Foods, but with all the pretension surgically removed.
Americans will elect to exchange their liberty for submission with benefits. While this is being driven by opportunists and the vulnerable, it is a progressive corruption which is overwhelming our society as a whole. It will be impossible to forever compensate for the consequences of dreams of instant gratification. Outsourcing labor requirements (including illegal aliens) and shifting environmental damage to places like China was only ever a temporary compensatory measure. The so called COLA policies (including union negotiations) are also a reaction to symptoms while avoiding addressing causal issues.
now we don't have to drive to frickin' Lake Oswego
:-)
First world problems. Oh the inhumanity!!! (poking fun at myself)
Our biggest issue is how to get the frozen goods home without partially thawing out. Even in ice chests or coolers, unless we can find dry ice, stuff starts to thaw. It is a good hour and half to 2 hour drive from where we live to go shopping.
Fortunately, we have a Ray's Market in our little town and can get Umpqua and Tilamook ice cream. The best evah!! Eat your heart out east coasties.
furious_a link @ 10:09 AM is hilarious, if you're not in the habit of clicking links. The Iranians are giving the piss to their masters and their masters cannot handle the withering ridicule. It's illegal. The jokes are actually funny. Blasphemy, sexual impropriety, human foible, scathing ridicule, it's all good.
I lived on Reade St. between Greenwich and W. Broadway, not so far from a Duane Reade.
If you are in NYC you are close to a Duane Reade.
...they took her into a typical American grocery store, and she just fell to her knees in tears, and said "Who shops here?," thinking that this was some store only for the very powerful. And his wife responded "Everybody."
My Dad cried in the supermarket. And he was a first generation American. Maybe it was the stories he had been told about existence in the Pale. Or maybe, like many other Americans who marvel at our abundance, he was immensely grateful and not for one second took the great good luck of being an American for granted.
More than any other single thing, America makes a decent life possible for millions. And THAT fills the Left with contempt. Because America's not perfect, you see. Which is why I hate leftists. Every one of them: Cookie; Montana Urban Shmendrik; garbage; hatboy; shilohistan; hatboy; Freder: all ungrateful to the core.
"If you are in NYC you are close to a Duane Reade."
Indeed. They are right next to a nail salon and accross the street from an Italian restaurant. You can't miss them.
When they're spotted shopping at Whole Foods, we know they're shopping for their boss and not for themselves.
I've never seen a Costco. They're about as scarce as JC Penney in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Closest one is 15 miles away. Still a lot closer than the nearest White Castle, which is somewhere in Missouri.
My wife tells me that years ago her Polish relatives would take someone who had just come off the boat into a local supermarket. They would go into shock at what they saw. Some would burst into tears. "My village could be fed from what they throw away here."
It is a good hour and half to 2 hour drive from where we live to go shopping.
I could probably get to a Cosco in 2/2 and 1/2 hours if I were motivated to do so. I've been to the one in Dallas many times, we just don't have one where I live.
Maguro said...
Back in the 90s, I escorted a group of Russian officers on a START (nuclear compliance) inspection at McChord AFB. The absolute highlight of their trip was Burlington Coat Factory, they just went fucking bonkers buying up all the discount outerwear they could find. It was a virtual feeding frenzy.
==================
Saw similar at Ramstein after the Wall fell. Delegation of then-Czechoslavians giving PX passes and virtually weeping as they lugged near-duffle bad sized loads of soap, Q-tips, ski gear and with one guy, maybe the 1st Macintosh computer ever to arrive in Czechoslovakia later, out. Mostly as gifts. Trying to sell everything they had to get dollars. I traded like 10 dollars for two Soviet raketa watches that I thought were junk, later found like certain other Russian goods and military ware...some things they really did well.
Of course it works the other way. On a 1-day layover at a Thai base, I ventured out and saw resinous Thai sticks the size and weight of two stacked corn dogs you could buy for a few "Bhat", or a single pack of Marlboros.
I figured 6 such Thai sticks would equal my monthly check, if I magically could take them back to California.
Seeing Red said...
It's like the Soviet Union all over again. The currency then was American jeans.
Yeah, those were the days..
Now my nephew shows off his yardsale found treasure Levis jeans "So old, they were actually made in America, according to the label!!
Some would burst into tears. "My village could be fed from what they throw away here."
Imagine what they would think about all of the school lunch food and unopened cartons of milk that "MUST" be thrown out every day.
I was on a cruise once and it stopped in Hilo on its way to Tahiti and points further south. The whole crew (almost all international) got off and mass beelined to Costco. Last stop for discount food and toiletries!
DBQ: The Tillamook ice cream is divine, and their cheese is great too. I left Oregon but the dairy products haunt my dreams.
A Romanian student told me that in the old days, when you stood in line for hours for your piece of bread and piece of soap and TP, you had to keep a smile on your face at all times, or the police would haul you in as an "enemy of the revolution."
Today Obama would call that economic patriotism.
I'm surprised they didn't hit up Century 21 (not the realtor) for some sweet deals on True Religion jeans.
Indeed. They are right next to a nail salon and accross the street from an Italian restaurant. You can't miss them.
Are they across from Ray's or Original Ray's?
I've never seen a Costco. They're about as scarce as JC Penney in the Dallas/Fort Worth area. Closest one is 15 miles away. Still a lot closer than the nearest White Castle, which is somewhere in Missouri.
Basically a Sam's Club.
Lyssa, defecting MIG pilot Victor Belenko had a similar experience: assumed that all the places he was taken on first reaching the US were Potemkin shops put on for show.
Also that wonderful little scene in The Hunt for Red October where the captain and his XO are talking about what they're going to do when they get to America. One of them says he's going to buy and RV and just drive around to wherever he wants, and the other says, "They let you do that? Really???"
Also also, the missionary community (where Westerners work and live in third-world communities for extended periods of time) is rife with stories about people coming home on leave and at first being so overwhelmed with the choices in a typical supermarket that they can't manage to shop.
MDT,
Drive to Lake Oswego? I somehow had you elsewhere in Oregon than the Portland metroplex... did you move?
DBQ,
Don't the places you go sell dry ice? (More first-world problems, I know...)
[But] the Iranian visitors did make sightseeing trips to one unlikely destination: The Statue of Liberty.
You seemed to refer to "unlikely" as referring to the discount store trips.
What the quote says is unlikely is the trip to the Statue of Liberty - and that's contrasted with the lack of interest in landmarks in walking distance.
(That said, contra those New York media types... people not from NY?
Don't give a damn about Rockefeller Center or even Carnegie Hall. They might want to see Central Park.
But the Statue of Liberty is the Iconic Thing in New York, and unlike the famous buildings, has no "equivalents" elsewhere in the world.
Rockefeller Center? It's just some damned skyscrapers.
Carnegie Hall looks boring; you'd care about a concert there, maybe, but not the building.
Even Iranian Apparatchiks might want to see Lady Liberty.
Nobody gives a damn about Rockefeller Center.)
I love Costco. Not just for all of the stuff you can buy but because it's always clean and the employees are friendly and helpful.
The only disappointment is that the greeter has never said, "Welcome to Costco, I love you."
We git our Costco about 5-7 years ago. Its heaven on Earth...well maybe not that good, but it's pretty damn nice. I saw a special report on CNBC 2 months ago about Costco. If you haven't ever been you're either unfortunate, or a weenie snob like Nomumdozem upthread.
I been to NYC. Once. It was enough. (Had to scrub my eye's for three days just to get the stupid outta' 'em.) Only place worse than Chicago, and I've spent nights in East St Louis, so you know I been in some bad places. (had to park my rig on the street in south Chicago 1 night. Only other white thing in the neighborhood was the line down the center of the street) South Philly looked like Bosnia when I worked there. Nothing, NOTHING, is worse than NYC.
Maybe Detroit
I was eight when I came to the U.S. from Russia. Going to the store was such a treat, with so much food, all the fruits and vegetables in the middle of February. It was amazing. It's hard to explain it to my U.S. born kids and husband.
Somebody mentioned Moscow on the Hudson, the story about the shortage of toilet paper was true, you had to use newspaper, just be sure not to use the image of the "Dear Leaders".
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