Iran Sabotaged, May Cause Lebanese Civil War, Angle's $14 Million In Moola

Eugene Robinson

"It's now being alleged that Lou Dobbs had illegal immigrants working for him. The good news, he's now qualified to run for governor of California." –Jay Leno

"Jerry Brown has apologized to Meg Whitman after a campaign aide called her a whore. Let me tell you, that is totally out of line. Politicians don't become whores until after they're elected." –Jay Leno

"What is it with conservatives? Seriously, I'm not trying to be partisan but it seems like if they're anti-illegal alien, they have illegal aliens working for them. If they're anti-gay, they turn out to be gay. If they're super Christian, they're a witch." –Bill Maher

What a tangled mess is happening in the Middle East, all centered around Iran. Where to begin? We know that the Stuxnet virus was released into the computers working the controlling systems for the nuclear program. Several Iranian physicists and technicians were arrested and executed without trial for allowing the virus to develop. Next, an Iranian army base was sabotaged, with bombs killing several soldiers. indicating that all is not well internally. Iran is also rounding up all foreigners who are posing as journalists, they caught two Germans without proper credentials in the middle of a journalistic interview. The Russians who were contracted to run the nuclear reactors and enrichment program are long gone, as they are acutely sensitive to government crackdowns...

Asia times reports on a little known fact that also hasn't been reported very much, just how vulnerable Iran is to cyber-attack. And the joke, it seems. is on Iran, and possibly all other governments that don't want to pay for their software: "Amid the mass of published analysis of the Stuxnet virus, Iran's most obvious vulnerability to cyber-war has drawn little comment: much of the Islamic Republic runs on pirated software. The programmers who apparently cracked Siemens' industrial control code to plant malware in Iran's nuclear facilities needed a high degree of sophistication. Most Iranian computers, though, run on stolen software obtained from public servers sponsored by the Iranian government. It would require far less effort to bring about a virtual shutdown of computation in Iran, and the collapse of the Iranian economy. The information technology apocalypse that the West feared on Y2K (the year 2000) is a real possibility." Instead of producing a sophisticated virus that inserts itself into German software, all that may be need to bring the country to its knees are hacks that any 13 year old kid can do...

American and Israeli experts were surprised to see some Chinese jet fighters recently added to the Iranian arsenal, they were displayed at a Turkish air show and joint military exercise and maneuvers. The fears are that they could be used if the mess in Lebanon boils over into a violent brew. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is coming to dinner, one, to visit the recognized government, and two, to visit Hezbollah in southern Lebanon. 2,500 Revolutionary Guard are already in Lebanon to beef up security and to plant Iranian flags all over the place. An al-Qaeda group that nobody has heard of before, has said that it will be a blood-bath if Ahmadinejad sets foot in Lebanon. The US is putting pressure on Syria to contain any Hezbollah violence. And Lebanon's Harriri has gone to Cairo pleading for some help here, man... Still, the visit is six days out. Too bad all of this can't be filmed like an episode of Law and Order, shifting from scene to scene as the plot thickens and develops... All to pave the way for the Court Jester, who knows what antics he may have up his sleeve?

Even Sarah Palin weighed in on her world where Iran had a nuclear bomb: “We have to realize that at the end of the day that a nuclear weapon in that country's hands is not just Israel's problem or America's problem it is the world's problem,” she said. “It could lead to Armageddon. It would lead to that World War III that could decimate so much of this planet.”


After the mid-term elections, the tea party may have to change its name to the champagne party, as many of its candidates are racking up the bucks, raking in the moola... Sharron Angle has reported a whopping $14 million in donations, ans even Christine O'Donnel has amassed over $2 million. Legally, they're not supposed to use the money for personal reasons, but Ms O'Donnell was accused of that before by a previous campaign manager. And Ms Angle will try to get around that by going into permanent campaign mode.

I don't know about you, but I'm finding the negative ads produced by the Karl Rove groups to especially annoying, compounded because there are so many of them. We can't watch television now without ending up yelling back at the screen "You lie!" I know that there are some intelligent and principled Republicans out there, and now would be a good time to stand up and stop all of the foolishness. If we go back into session at Congress even more divided and partisan, with tea party people adding to Republicans refusing to work together on anything that Obama proposes, then we will be truly screwed... When we need pragmatic ideas on how to get people to start businesses up again, find a way to reinvigorate a manufacturing base, and get our economy going in real time, not virtual Wall Street time. We can't do that if all of the Republicans band together to shoot down any Democratic idea, or any idea other than a tax cut, and some dork from Nevada is crying out to ban the Department of Education...


David Letterman's "Top Ten Signs There's Trouble at Fox News"

10. Accidentally said something positive about a Democrat
9. News ticker reads 'Bosses crazy, send help'
8. Today's top story: Is there anything more delicious than bacon?
7. Been criticizing Obama for not doing enough to prevent World War I
6. Bill O'Reilly inviting guests to enter the 'No Pants Zone'
5. Crime stories eerily similar to plot of most recent 'Hawaii Five-O'
4. Spent five hours today breaking down the Mets playoff chances
3. Thinking about hiring Rick Sanchez
2. Since June, Glenn Beck has been doing this nonstop (Beck barking)
1. They're thinking of giving the 10:00 p.m. slot to Leno