Another Day, Mourning in Tehran...

Rami Khouri
Nader Mousavizadeh
Dana Milbank

" Oh, mama, can this really be the end,
to be stuck inside a mobille
with the Tehran blues again..." - apologies to Bob Dylan


Trying to find out what is actually happening in Tehran is like reading tea leaves, all you are going to get are hints at a picture. All of my favorite websites have been blocked for the last few days... Today has been proclaimed as a day of mourning for the people who were killed by the militia the day before last. This way it is a legitimate way of taking to the streets, than risk calling for another day of protest. The discipline of keeping that many people silent and calm is amazing.

There have been 646 complaints about the election submitted to the Guardian Council, which is made up of six clerics and six lawyers, and they are beginning to look at them today. They have invited Mir Mousavi and two other candidates to a special meeting on Saturday. It's thought that they are paying lip service only, as they have previously stated that they would allow a partial recount and not a full re-election, and that they uphold Mr Ahmadinejad's election.

Another criticism has been directed at the government, that a military coup has occurred, and that it no longer is an Islamic Republic. Mr. Ahmadinejad is a former officer of the Revolutionary Guards, and during his tenure he replaced 14 out of 21 cabinet posts with other former officers of the Guard, giving them an unprecedented hold over government affairs and policy.

And, from the BBC: "However, opposition supporters are likely to be more encouraged by a statement from the Assembly of Experts - Iran's top clerical body responsible for appointing the supreme leader and, in theory, monitoring his performance.

"We congratulate the excited, epic-making and alert presence of 85% of the revolutionary people" in the election, the statement said.
It made no mention of the disputed result.

The Assembly of Experts is headed by former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is a strong supporter of Mr Mousavi and a key rival of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad."

This coming Saturday should be a pivotal moment in whatever decisions are made for Iran's future. There is another protest called for by Mousavi. There is the Guardianship meeting that might be televised by state media, and there is a rally called where the Supreme Burrito will be giving a speech. This day has the most potential for bloodshed, depending if the less disciplined Basij volunteer militia are used or not. Go to the YouTube video site and look at the Iran videos to see how confusing it quickly gets... Whatever the outcome, it will be sure to make other states like Saudi Arabia quite nervous...

And,from the Angry Arab site, comes this quote which I cheerfully lifted: "A colleague and friend sent me this (she/he does not want to be identified): "Mousavi was (along with a couple of other major "reformists") were hotheaded rightwing Islamists back in the 1980s, and Mousavi in particular was responsible for purging universities of lefties, Jews, and Bahaiis. the other two people most associated with this same move from being university purgers to radical reformists are Abdulkarim Sorush and MohsenKadviar. The former is a philosopher and the latter a cleric, both of whom have very sophisticated arguments (the former based on Gadamer's hermeneutics; the latter based on his extensive training and certification as a faqih) about separating the mosque from the state. All three were involved with the early purges and now face the same fate...the other thing is that although Ahmadinejad has very populist rhetoric he
is actually a neoliberal bastard economically, so...."

late night jokes:

"Thank you very much. Welcome to the 'Late Show', ladies and gentlemen. Now, when I call your name, please come forward and pick up your apology." --David Letterman

"I want to get through this as quickly as possible so you folks can get to the 'Fire Dave' rally." --David Letterman

"It's nice that people hate me who are no longer just part of my immediate family." --David Letterman

"My son, you know, he's telling everybody at school that his father is Conan." --David Letterman

"Yeah, there's a 'Fire Dave' rally going on outside, but I think it's just about over because the last time I looked, they were breaking up and heading to Flashdancers. So I think it's going to be all right." --David Letterman

"But let's focus on the good news. And the good news is that Sarah Palin has accepted my apology. And she also accepted a $500 gift certificate from LensCrafters. I thought that was a nice touch." --David Letterman

"I'll tell you, to be honest, I was quite nervous about this whole thing. And I was really nervous about an apology to Sarah Palin. So what I did to get my confidence up, to get my nerves to settle down, I rehearsed by apologizing to Tina Fey. That helped. That was a big help." --David Letterman

"Trouble here in New York City with Canada geese. And because they pose a threat to air travel in New York New York City is now at war with Canada geese. And Mayor Bloomberg is serious about this. He is so serious, he's bringing in Dick Cheney." --David Letterman

"Have you folks been following the Iranian elections? Well how about this Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? You know, he won, he has won the election now. And people are angry, and they're demanding a recount. And as a matter of fact, the last unofficial account actually had Al Franken ahead. They've gone crazy." --David Letterman

"And the Iranian government denies that there are crowds of protesters in the street. They're out there, like 100,000 people in the streets of Iran protesting. But the government denies that protests are going on. They say it's just citizens enjoying their new pedestrian mall." --David Letterman

"Barack Obama is closing down that Guantanamo Bay. Did you hear about this? And they had, like, 300 desperate, awful, nasty prisoners. And they say, 'All right, well, they're shutting it down, what do you do with those guys?' I say, aw hell, bring 'em to the audience. Let 'em come and enjoy the show. Have a nice time. Participate in the rally." --David Letterman

"But he's sending some of these people to Bermuda. And the really tough ones, they're going to Ft. Lauderdale." --David Letterman

"He doesn't know what to do with the Guantanamo Bay prisoners, and I was thinking, well, you know, if you want to keep 'em busy, just put 'em in charge of my hate mail." --David Letterman

"Senator John McCain announced today that he bought a hybrid car. Apparently, McCain thinks a hybrid car is one that has AM and FM radio." --Conan O'Brien

"A lot of turmoil in Iran right now over the recent presidential election. People protesting the election results have been avoiding the government media crackdown by posting messages on Twitter. The tweets declare that Ahmadinejad stole the election and that Jabeer is enjoying a lamb kabob." --Conan O'Brien

"Iran has been really cracking down on foreign journalists. So now, they're actually preventing reporters from leaving their hotel rooms. And this, of course, leaves the journalists with nothing to do but order up sexy movies of women wearing slacks." --Conan O'Brien

"General Motors has sold the car company Saab to a European company that only produces about a dozen cars a year. General motors said, 'It's a perfect fit because we only sell a dozen cars a year.'" --Conan O'Brien

"John McCain said on his Twitter feed, on Monday, that he's buying a brand new Ford Fusion Hybrid. A year ago, McCain didn't use a computer. Now he's on Twitter and buying a hybrid. What's going on? I think he's like Benjamin Button. He'll be a cute little baby." --Jimmy Fallon

"Hi, everyone. I'm Jimmy, I'm the host of the show. Before we go any further, I want to just take a minute to apologize for some jokes I'm planning to make about the Palin family tonight. They are in extremely poor taste and I know that I will regret saying them." --Jimmy Kimmel

"President Barack Obama has been on TV more than Regis lately. He was all over NBC the week before last. Next week, he's doing a two-hour, primetime town hall here on ABC. But if we didn't want our President on TV all the time, maybe we shouldn't have elected Oprah's boyfriend." --Jimmy Kimmel

"This is a crazy story. Fidel Castro, the former Cuban dictator, has a son named Antonio. That's not the crazy part. The crazy part — for eight months, Antonio Castro carried on an online affair with what he thought was a beautiful Colombian woman. That woman turned out to be a man, a Cuban activist who lives in Miami. It's especially fun because the Internet is difficult to access in Cuba. To get online in Cuba, you know, you have to give — I think you have to give five fish to a guy who has ColecoVision hooked up to a 1958 Impala." --Jimmy Kimmel