Iranians Still Experiencing Revolution, More Hate Crimes in US

Hillary Clinton
Robert Dreyfus
Kathleen Parker
Dana Milbank




There are some wonderful stories contained in the links above, one that is a must read is Robert Dreyfus's analysis of what to do with Iran, written after coming home from Tehran on Monday. I was plesantly surprised to see Hillary Clinton address the story of human trafficking, which is a worldwide phenomena, from smuggling Chinese immigrants in the cargo holds of container ships, to using children for the sex trade, it is pandemic. Someday I will write about the world wide links between pedophilia clubs that have surfaced in Hollywood, Russia, Japan, and Portugal, each time involving media personalities, prominent businessmen, politicians, and police brass...

What is happening now in Iran has caught everyone by surprize. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad left quickly and is at the BRIC conference in Russia.The Ayetollah Khamenei is in hiding since people have taken to the streets 3 days go. Tens of thousands are out today, with more being planned for tomorrow's day of mourning for those whom were killed yesterday... The ruling clerics thought they had created a perfect Islamic state, with just enough democracy to balance out their autocratic decrees. Other Islamic countries aren't too worried because it's just a bunch of crazy Shiites, not the sensibly cowed Sunnis of their home states, naw, it'll never catch on... Michael Hirsh from Newsweek describes the Iranian Islamic state: "Prior to this election, the government led by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the radical Islamist president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had adopted the rather savvy approach of letting people enjoy themselves a bit and, above all, make money so as to induce political apathy. Religious conservatives openly embraced the "China model," whereby the mandarins in Beijing managed to quash political dissent after Tiananmen Square by sublimating the impulse for a better life into a booming economy. In Iran, the unrest of the '90s was addressed with an analogous formula: Ahmadinejad and his "new right" kept most of the Khatami-era social reforms and focused most of their ire on political dissenters.

Now, thanks to overreaching by Khamenei and his hardline allies, who apparently sought to secure their power with an electoral coup d'etat, even that approach must be called into question. While the legitimacy of the Islamic regime is still widely accepted, Khamenei's position atop Iranian society was never as certain as it was deemed to be in the West. The Supreme Leader's clear misreading of the situation—his initial embrace of the election results as a "divine" victory for Ahmadinejad followed by a jittery call for an investigation into the vote—has amply demonstrated his fallibility. Key figures like Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the former president, have dared to question Khamenei's judgment, an act considered an unbreachable "red line" in the past."

But will all of this sixties style protesting do any good? In the short term, no. The people being asked to look into the election are th same ones that conducted the election, and they might come up with a token something, but not enough to knock Ahmadinejad out of office. We will have to try and negotiate with another crazy, belligerent midget (joining Kim Il-Sung and Dmitry Medvedev), who look like evil hand-puppets standing together... In the long run, maybe it will be the end of ignorant mullah rule in one of the most well educated countries, or maybe this generation will still have to wait another ten or fifteen years before these old guys die off. Because these protests speak volumes about the yearnings of human nature and freedom.
It resonates in the heart of every free person capable of empathy.

You would think that freedom loving conservatives and Libertarians here in the US would be storming the barricades and planning solidarity tea parties, but they are just using it to make attacks on whatever Obama has to say, it ends up being the wrong thing to say. There are voices of reason, coming from the unlikely sources of George HW Bush and Laura Bush. Instead we get things like this Twitter post from Rep. Pete Hoekstra ...

Iranian twitter activity similar to what we did in House last year when Republicans were shut down in the House.

Another super conservative Republican Senator, this one from Nevada, has been busted for having an affair. This would be no big deal if he hadn't spent years acting hypocritically and talking about the sanctity of marriage and family. Also, it looks like we have another murder in Arizona, with a hate group killing a drug dealer to sell the drugs to finance their organization, more common practice in Florida and Los Angeles than the dried out desert resorts, as TPM reports: "Earlier this afternoon, Zack Roth reported on the murder charges against two leaders of 'Minuteman American Defense' stemming from an incident over the weekend in which they staged a home invasion in Arizona, killing reputed drug dealer Raul Flores, his nine year old daughter and wounding his wife. Beyond the brutality of the act, it's difficult to get a handle on just what Shana Forde, Jason Bush and Albert Gaxiola were trying to do. They broke into Flores's home in Arivaca, Arizona posing as police officers with what police say was the intention of killing him and his family, taking a large sum of money and stealing his drugs which they would then sell on the street for more money. The proceeds, it seems, would go toward funding their on-going anti-immigrant 'activism' and, more ambitiously, instigating a race war to overthrow the US government."

For those of you who insist on numerology, this is cinsidered the 3rd in a row of unhinges, right wing extremists coming unhinged and murdering folks. Granted, a drug dealer is not on the same level of respect as a doctor, but the people doing the nasty deeds are geting crazier. Where I live robbery and petty theft has risen dramatically, we are walking the streets and confronting strangers in our neighborhoods, I'm afraid that the fear factor is rising and stalking our streets, turning reasonble men and women into suspicious characters, and feeding the frenzy of extremists, spurring them into action. It will only get worse as the humidity and heat of the summer makes folk bitchy and mean...

late night jokes:

"Welcome to the 'Late Show.' I'm Dave Letterman, goodwill ambassador. I got a call from Mom earlier today and she told me she was siding with the Governor." --David Letterman

"Honestly, how many of you are only here tonight hoping that I'll offend somebody else?" --David Letterman

"Here's good news for visitors. Times Square, have you been down to Times Square? It's now -- well, it's now a pedestrian mall. They have 400 beach chairs in the middle of the street. And if you don't get one of those beach chairs, well, I'll lend you a bag of my hate mail. You can relax on that." --David Letterman

"You folks know about Bernie Madoff? Oh, oh, I mean, most hated man in America. Me, Bernie Madoff. It's right there. It's kind of a one, two thing. He was way out in front 'til a couple of days ago. But the New York Times says his wife, Ruth, is the loneliest woman in New York City. Shunned by friends and neighbors. Well, tell me about it. --David Letterman

"How many of you folks are following the elections in Iran? Hard not to. It's compelling. Well, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was re-elected and won by a landslide, ladies and gentlemen. And I, you know, I guess the voters couldn't resist his good looks and charisma." --David Letterman

"But there were problems with the ballots in the Iranian election. And who would have thought that? There was a mistake. Thousands of Iranians ended up voting for Pat Buchanan." --David Letterman

"But I hope they get this figured out. I hope it goes away soon, because the last thing we need is unrest in the Middle East." --David Letterman

"But the guy, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, he's very happy that he won. He was up all night shooting nuclear missiles into the air." --David Letterman

"And then, after the elections, the supreme leader in Iran certified the election results and shipped the crooked voting machines back to Florida." --David Letterman

"Because earlier, in the Iranian elections, it was a tie. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the other guy were tied, and now, couple a days later, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad wins by a landslide. I don't know. People are very upset. I mean, they sparked violent protests, calls for investigation, there is national outrage. Uh, wait a minute, that's me." --David Letterman

"Obviously, ladies and gentlemen, big, big news is from Iran right now. Incredible, three days of riots, street fighting, people setting fire to everything. I'm not sure who won over there, Ahmadinejad or the Lakers." --Conan O'Brien

"President Ahmadinejad is claiming that he won, causing a lot of controversy. Some people say that Ahmadinejad cheated a little bit. They're now that saying weeks before the election President Ahmadinejad distributed 400,000 tons of potatoes to voters in rural areas. Who knew he'd be put over the top by the Iranian-Irish vote?" --Conan O'Brien

"Joe Bidenn said something interesting in an interview, just this weekend. Vice President Joe Biden said he still has his eye on the presidency, which is weird since the question was, 'How do you take your coffee?'" --Conan O'Brien

"In a major speech Sunday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called for the Palestinians to get their own state. Unfortunately, the state he offered them is New Jersey." --Conan O'Brien

"It's been reported Marvel Comics is getting set to bring back Captain America. They're going to do this as soon as they get a loan from Captain China." --Conan O'Brien

"Tough times all over. Amusement park company Six Flags is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Experts say it's due in large part to their money-losing ride, Chrysler Mountain." --Conan O'Brien

"Iran had its presidential election. President Ahma-Dinna-Jacket was way behind in the polls. And then, lo and behold, he won big, everywhere — in big cities, rural areas, even in Florida." --Craig Ferguson

"Election returns are kind of hard to believe. According to the numbers, both opposition candidates lost to Ahma-Dinna-Jacket in their hometowns. That's like Barack Obama losing in the city of Chicago. I'm not, in any way, suggesting Iranian politics are as corrupt as Chicago, but even Blagojevich is like, 'Oh, they're good.'" --Craig Ferguson

"Well, the results from Iran's presidential elections are in. And Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has declared victory. But his opponent, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, is claiming ballot fraud and wants an investigation. If that doesn't work, he's planning on making a documentary about global warming." --Jimmy Fallon