Iranian Backlash, US Loves to Hate

Geithner & Summers
Paul Krugman
Andrew Breitbart
Tina Brown

"We apologize for being late – the American general needed permission to enter the building," - Ali al-Dabbagh

"US combat forces will leave the cities by June 30 and it will be a great day for the Iraqi people," - Ray Odierno


The first two links above deal with the economy. i know that most people don't like to read economics, so I try to keep to the more interesting or important articles. The first is from Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers, and they want to regain your trust. You'll have to decide if they were persuasive or not, especially after reading Paul Krugman afterwards. The next article is from a right of center writer who likes to use longer sentences than I do. He is influential to many others and I am amazed at how he uses inflammatory language while wriiting about being the victim of left winginflmmatory language. Neat trick. Last, is Tina Brown taking Sarah Palin to school, a must read fror Palin wonks.

This morning, Mir Mousavi showed up at a rally in Tehran, the first public outing for him since Friday night, when reports of him being arrested or detained were being snuck out of the country. Rallies in his support have been steady since Friday night, despite the secret police doing their best to stop things by going out and arresting people in their homes at night, and going to the University and ransacking dormitories, beating up students, smashing computers and conviscating hard drives... The biggest losers in all of this will be women, who were hoping to have more state supported equality and a greater role in government.

The Great Supreme Burrito has asked for a probe into the election for fraud, but don't get up from your desk to do it, according to the Christian Science Monitor: "In a bid to ease three days of street protests and violence in the capital and across the country, Iran's supreme religious leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Sunday ordered the powerful Guardian Council to "carefully probe" allegations of fraud listed in a letter from Mousavi that called for results to be annulled because of fraud.

Although some Mousavi supporters might see hope in that action, experts in Tehran are skeptical that Mr. Khameini would adjust a result. On Saturday – just a day after the vote, instead of the customary three – he sanctioned Ahmadinejad's victory, calling it a "divine assessment."

It's not that Mousavi is another Barack Obama, he was Prime Minister during the Iran - Iraq war, and his heavy-handed actions may have been the reason the office of president was established. He issued the death order for author Salman Rushdie. In the meantime, the newly divinely annointed Mr Ahmedinejad is acting even tougher and more hard line than before. Cynics win this one... Expect more Shia on Sunni violence in Iraq as a result of this election, especially as US troops withdraw from the cities by the end of the month.


An interesting fallout has occurred in the wake of the Roeder and Von Braun shootings. Many conservative writers are protesting, claiming they are being dumped on by the left because they happen to share some of the same views as the shooters. Jeremy Lott says: "The shooting was roped together with Scott Roeder’s alleged murder of late-term abortionist George Tiller. Armchair prosecutors called this the second act of right-wing terrorism in two weeks and thus part of a worrying trend, even though the usual rule with such things is, you need three.

They also blistered conservatives and libertarians for criticizing the now-withdrawn Department of Homeland Security memo that warned law enforcement to be on the lookout for acts of homegrown terror."

Most people in the US consider themselves to be conservative. Despite people like Grover Nordquist or Newt Gingrich, who think they make the policies that define what a conservative is, there's a lot of room for debate. Its sitting down and arguing over terms, being able to listen to more than one opinion, that makes for healthy debate and moves the political parties forward. Its the peope farther out into the fringe, who cannot form their own opinion, and twists the meanings of what they do hear, that can become dangerous and even mentally ill. They are constantly frustrated and that frustration turns into hate. Instead of being able to listen, they can only preach. Weird logic gets created like killing a doctor because you believe in the sanctity of life.This is true of the fringe elements of both right and left.

So, if you read about someone who has committed a murder, and you happen to share some of the same beliefs as the murderer, should you get paranoid or go all defensive, like Andrew Breitbart? Paranoia can be healthy, if you pay attention to it and re-examine those ideas to see if they are healthy or not. Its how we progress as we get older, keeping what works and throwing out what doesn't. Now, if only we could get Congress to do the same, say put a sunset clause in each new piece of legislation, to be re-examined to see if it works after 20 years or so...