Iran Arrests More Protesters, Olympic Memories, Muslim Mafia

Naveed Ali Shah
Sallem Ali, Parag Khanna

"Neither a "surge" of troops and aid in Afghanistan, nor negotiations over Iran's nuclear program without addressing its regional isolation, will bring Central Asia much closer to stability"  - Ali & Khanna

When Iran celebrated Great Satan Day, or the storming of the American Embassy in 1979, there were thousands of green movement protesters taking to the streets. The government arrested 109 more people to torture and abuse while in jail. Makes any claims of American treatment of prisoners pale in comparison: "The 109 people were on the fringes of an opposition-organised demonstration when they were detained. Security spokesman Azizollah Rajabzadeh said 62 are due to face trial while the others were released after questioning.


The opposition has taken to the tactic of using the relative safety of officially-sanctioned demonstrations to come out in big numbers and turn the official rallies into a show of force of its own, with different and opposing slogans... Witnesses told the BBC the security forces had used tear gas and batons. The Iranian government defended the response, saying that the protests had been illegal. Opposition supporters say the elections were rigged to ensure the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.


At least 30 protesters have been killed in clashes since the elections. Thousands have been arrested, and some 200 opposition activists remain behind bars. Three have been sentenced to death."

I was thinking how weird it was to make up a national holiday celebrating such things as doing harm to other people, it smacks of the "revolutionary" holidays created by the Communist regimes. But then I realized that its no weirder than celebrating the Boston Tea Party by taping tea bags to your head, or naming a Saint after a man said to have killed all of the snakes in Ireland... And since I sympathize with the Iranian protesters and agree that there was massive election fraud that was badly covered up, I hate these reports of beatings and arrests and trumped up trials. I also accept the irony of being angry at every foreign case of fraud, but have a blind eye to the fraud that takes place here in the US, where even the Supreme Court legitimized it...


those golden olympic memories...

But first, the good news out of China is that they will no longer beat up teenagerss as therapy for addiction to the world wide web: "There are dozens of treatment centres offering to wean youths, mostly boys, from spending hours on the web. Many of them are military-style boot camps that rely on tough programmes of physical exercise and counseling. Two boys were beaten at separate camps earlier this year, one died and the other was severely injured." Electroshock was also used unti this past July. I'm so glad that I developed my web addiction while I was an adult. Just the same, I'm going to discourage my family from reading this post...

One of the proud Olympic tradition since 1992 has been the distribution of free condoms. A Chinese sports collector: "When the Olympics hosted by Beijing ended, a collector snapped up the 5,000 condoms left over from the 100,000 distributed free to athletes. Each condom wrapper carries the motto of the Beijing Games - faster, higher, stronger - in English and Chinese." I'm not sure if these are listed on ebay, I looked through a lot of collectibles, from Ralph Lauren warmup jackets to gold medals that were not given out, to used meal tickets and press passes, but no condoms. Previous Olympics ran out of their free supplies to the horny athletes, and China had hospitality hostesses passing them out, and, I guess, making sure that they were used properly. Preparing for the next generation of super-athletes?


The ignorant backlash against American Muslims is beginning just as I predicted yesterday: "Rep. Sue Myrick (R-NC), who wrote the foreword to Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that's Conspiring to Islamize America, said today she is "very concerned" about infiltration of the military by jihadists.


"We can't continue to be so politically correct that we're going to say this wasn't religiously motivated," Myrick told the Charlotte, North Carolina, CBS affiliate" Sue is one of those trying to get Congress to investigate all Muslims employed by the government. Muslims have served in the US military ever since the Revolutionary War, and there are currently over 20,000 currently serving in our armed forces.

"Political correctness is the handmaiden of terror." - Michelle Malkin

Even Colorado's own former Representative, Tom Tancredo, who hates all immigrants, ghost wrote an opinion piece in the Denver Post before the Hasan shootings at Fort Hood: "The recent indictment and arrest of Aurora resident and Afghanistan immigrant Najibullah Zazi on terrorism charges has again put a spotlight on the problem of Islamic radicals plotting acts of violence. But a book released this past week raises the question of whether our nation's response to the terrorist threat is being deliberately undermined by U.S.-based organizations whose mission is the eventual Islamization of America.


"Muslim Mafia: Inside the Secret Underworld that's Conspiring to Islamize America," was released Oct. 15 and is already gaining attention from national lawmakers. Four members of Congress have asked the House sergeant-at-arms to investigate allegations in the book of double agents placed inside Congress by the Council for American-Islamic Relations." Granted, it's nothing more than a book review of a book published by World Net Daily, where they make up their own news and headlines. Tom never served in the armed forces, he got a deferment for being too depressed, good thing he never got too far in his Presidential campaign... The four Congressmen have been ignored by the House sergeant-at-arms and ridiculed as being paranoid. Unfortunately, paranoia feeds upon itself, growing larger within a person after each critique or ridicule, and transmits itself like viruses to the next person and the next person... Let the hate begin:

Muslim radicals call Hasan
'Officer and a Gentleman'

WND POLL
Fort Hood massacre
Do you believe the attack was an act of terrorism?
--WND

WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Shooter advised Obama transition
Fort Hood triggerman aided team on Homeland Security task force
--WND

Obama's response to shooting under scrutiny
Called 'a reflection of his inability to be presidential'
--Fox News

WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Military jihadists fill 'every branch'
Ultimate 5th column penetration, warns best-selling 'Muslim Mafia'
--WND

AUDIONETDAILY
WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Retired officer says Army 'missed the boat'
Warns that 'markers' of unstable soldiers need to be watched
--WND

Gen. Casey: 'This is 1 person out of an army of a million'
Praised 'medics who were running in their caps and gowns' to help those in need
--ABC News

DEAL OF THE DAY
Why the left loves tyrants, terrorists – $4.95 today only!
Save $21 on Jamie Glazov's acclaimed exposé 'United in Hate'
--WND

WorldNetDaily
Report: Shooter pushed Islam on patients
Co-worker says Nidal Hasan was disciplined for proselytizing
--WND

U.S. imam: 'Islam not responsible' for massacre
'We pray for everybody, all Americans, not only Muslims'
--Agence France-Presse

WorldNetDaily
Shop owner: Hasan didn't want to fight Muslims
Says his regular customer was opposed to upcoming deployment
--WND

Muslim vets group: No reports of harassment
Killer's aunt said he wanted out of Army because of anti-Muslim bullying
--Fox News

WorldNetDaily Exclusive
Israel, Palestinian Authority probing Texas shooter
Nidal Hasan's family comes from Arab village just outside Jerusalem
--WND

WorldNetDaily
Soldiers heard 'Allahu Akbar' before slaughter
Shooter 'opened up on everybody' after declaration of Islamic supremacy
--WND

Purging American Muslims and Republican Moderates, Putting Lipstick on a Swine Flu

Paul Krugman
David Brooks
Dana Milbank
Eugene Robinson
Joe Klein

"Voters across America are in a bad mood, largely because of the still-grim economic situation."  - Paul Krugman

"Independents are herds of cats who find out what they think through a meandering process of discovery."  - David Brooks

"But any GOP officeholder up for reelection has to worry about a possible primary challenge from the right, with tea party fanatics yelling about revolution, Palin posting attacks on social networking sites and Beck shouting treason."   - Eugene Robinson

"In an era when Twitter haiku-messaging rules, diplomacy moves at the speed, and requires the nuanced complexity, of literature." - Joe Klein

I watched the press conference by the Commander at Fort Hood last night, and the information given out there is the gist of all of the news coverage this morning. We won't know any more until the shooter talks to investigators, which may be some time if he recovers enough from being hooked up to a ventilator: "Military officials said they believe Hasan, 39-year-old major trained to treat soldiers under stress, opened fire with a pair of pistols -- one of them semiautomatic -- in the soldier readiness facility just after lunchtime. All around him, unarmed soldiers who had been waiting to see doctors scattered or dropped to the floor. Fort Hood police Sgt. Kimberly Munley and her partner Mark Todd responded within four minutes of the report of gunfire, said Col. John Rossi, a deputy commander at the post. They arrived just as Hasan was fleeing the building. Hasan fired one of his two guns, hitting Munley in the thigh, said an officer who witnessed the shooting. Then Hasan began to fumble with his gun.


"He's reloading," someone screamed, one witness recalled.


Both Todd and Munley opened fire, downing Hasan, Rossi said. An officer on the scene stripped off his belt and used it as a tourniquet to stem the bleeding from Munley's thigh.


Lt. Gen. Robert Cone told reporters Munley shot the gunman four times. She was in stable condition on Friday. "It was an amazing and an aggressive performance," Cone said."


I went to The Center for Traumatic Stress, where everyone got the picture of Hasan, but they have taken all information about him off of their site. A lot of the American Muslim response echos the same things said after 9/11. If Islam is a religion of peace, why are there so many bloodthirsty Muslims willing to kill on a widespread basis? We will probably see a backlash that will purge Muslim-Americans from professional military and government service. After the purges of gays in the military, it will look less diverse and tolerant.

Granted that Nidal Hasan fits the lone gunman theory, but his premeditated assault, carrying two guns in an area where wearing firearms was restricted, and his being a psychiatrist, calls into question Army policy of who is watching the watchers. The military has a history of ignoring problems and resisting changes in policy. Here in Colorado Springs the establishment at Fort Carson had to be publicly embarrassed and dragged kicking and screaming to address their lack of policy in dealing with the stress absorbed by soldiers serving several consecutive terms in Iraq and Afghanistan. It wasn't until some returning soldiers went on a rampage killing 11 civilians that Carsonites had to look more honestly at PSD. A similar situation of embarrassment forced the Air Force Academy here to acknowledge the aggressive date-rapes that were occurring by male cadets, and glossed over by senior officers.


good-bye to all that...

Another purging is taking place in the Republican Party, where the right wing exremists want to squeeze out anyone with a sane or moderate point of view. GOP chairman Michael Steele, never a great thinker and more interested in sound-bites than continuity, has said: "... you do not want to put yourself in a position where you’re crossing that line on conservative principles, fiscal principles, because we’ll come after you,” 

Michelle Bachman had a rally on the Capitol steps, where several thousand people were bussed in. If you were just curious or a reporter, you would have been hassled by angry and hostile people: "For two-and-a-half hours, I got the Glenn Beck treatment -- accused of, among other things, subverting freedom, working for a communist propaganda outlet, and having a soulless devotion to slander and scandal."


The outcome may be the only people left in the Republican party are white extremists with their token black mouthpiece. Moderates, and especially women have been leaving the party in droves. Leaving those whose idea of sound political campaigning is making shocking signs and screaming intolerantly at anyone who disagrees, will bring total ruin and leave us with one major fish in the pond with several minnows circling around taking an occasional nibble now and then...


lipstick on the swine flu...
Now that the H1N1 flu virus has actually reached worldwide epidemic proportions, we are running out of vaccine. It has reached a remote tribe in the Amazon, as well as jumping species and infecting someone's cat. Here in Colorado 34 people have died from it, and I will see this afternoon if I can get a vaccination, being somewhat elderly myself...  The pork industry has successfully lobbied the media to stop calling it the swine flu, especially after Egypt killed all of their pigs in an attempt to circumvent the virus. Doesn't matter what you call it, it's still floating around, being passed from person to person. We emit a fine cloud of perspiration and spit that can surround us ten feet in circumference. Hippies used to call this your "personal space," and when another person comes in contact and breathes in from this cloud, air-borne viruses get transmitted. Its kind of gross, I know, but now you know how people see your aura, colors refracted like a rainbow in your own personal cloud of spit... happy breathing and traveling!

how bout some late night political jokes:

"Yesterday was election day and the people of New Jersey elected a new governor. That's right. Yeah, and I don't know how he did it, but congratulations to newly elected New Jersey Governor, Hamid Karzai." –Conan O'Brien

"Yesterday, voters in the state of Maine voted no to gay marriage, but yes to medical marijuana. That's right, people in Maine believe marriage should be a sacred institution between a really stoned man and a really stoned woman." –Conan O'Brien

"You're here on a very special night, ladies and gentlemen. The entire balcony here at the Ed Sullivan Theater tonight is filled with defeated Democrats. Yeah, buddy!" –David Letterman

"Big losses for the Democrats in the elections. Here's how bad it was for the Democrats — earlier today, the Democratic Party was begging Rush Limbaugh for pain killers." –David Letterman

"Bad year for Democrats right now. All the Democrats have left is the presidency, both houses of Congress, and all of Hollywood. That's all they have." –David Letterman

"One year ago today, ladies and gentlemen, Barack Obama was elected president, one year ago today. One year later, we're still in Iraq. We're still in Afghanistan. But, you know, at least we got rid of Paula Abdul." –David Letterman

"Well, the Democratic Party has a new slogan. 'What happened?'" –Jay Leno

"Not a good night for President Obama. He lost elections in Virginia, New Jersey and not doing too good in Afghanistan either. In fact, political experts are calling this his worst setback since he tried that bowling thing." –Jay Leno

"Well, congratulations to New York city mayor Michael Bloomberg on the purchase of his third term." –Jay Leno

"Bloomberg spent $100 million to get re-elected. Do you realize that is the most money ever spent on a New Yorker that's not playing for the Yankees?" –Jay Leno

"Bloomberg was limited to just two terms, but he changed the law so he could run again and be in power another four years. And today, Arnold Schwarzenegger said — 'You can do that? How do you do that? Why can't I do that here?'" –Jay Leno

"Some pictures of President Obama posted on the internet seem to show the President looking very thin. ... Tthey say he looks too thin, but White House docs say not to worry, Barack Obama's one of those guys who can eat whatever he wants and still not gain weight. Yet another reason for Rush Limbaugh to hate him." –Jay Leno

"Over in Washington, President Obama called and congratulated Republican Bob McDonnell today after he won the governorship in Virginia. Obama then moved Virginia to the bottom of the swine flu vaccine waiting list." –Jimmy Fallon

Yankees Win, Worldwide Wave of Corruption Trials

Dana Milbank
E J Dionne Jr
Mehdi Khalaji

"Look at the stories we're talking about today and I think it's about a transcendent party." - Michael Steele

"Presumably, the chairman meant that his party is ascendant, meaning on the rise, and not transcendent, meaning beyond the limits of comprehension."   - Dana Milbank

Congragulations to the New York Yankees for winning the World Series. It was a good match-up against the Phillies, but the Yankees had better hitters this year. One of the best stories about the meaning of sports and the game of baseball came from Yahoo, of all places, which is where I got the picture of the Chamberlains, Harlan and Joba, father and son, hugging after the game: "You see the Yankees' $200+ million payroll and it's easy to get cynical. Same goes for their $1.5 billion new stadium, the seats that cost more than the average mortgage payment, the steroid controversies involving some of their team members and all the endless hype and hooey about mystique, aura and all the Yankee legends and ghosts.
But then you see this very simple and very real scene of a 24-year-old pitcher sharing the hug of a lifetime with his dad and you remember that those father-son relationships — one of the only things that really matter — are at the very heart of this great game that we love. " And there is wild partying in Japan, as one of their favorite players, Hideki Matsui who played for 10 years in Japan and got the nickname Godzilla,  won the series MVP...

juggling pythons...

Agreeing to try and strengthen ties with Burma, the US sent the Assistant Secretary of State over to meet with officials. Ok, he didn't really get to meet with any head honchos of the Burmese government, as the Prime Minister is just there for decoration, but he did get to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi and members of her political party. Pundits interpret the fact that she was allowed to leave her home and meet in a hotel was a sign of the regime loosening up.  The US has said that there are certain steps Burma must take before sanctions will be lifted. The EU has frozen the bank accounts of Burmese officials and they are feeling a pinch in their ill-gotten gains.

But this is the same load of human rights crap we have demanded of Cuba, and it hasn't worked there, either. Our foreign policy continues to be offering friendship with one hand, while holding a stick in the other, continuously offering the carrot and threatening with the stick. Oh, the burdens of being the lone superpower...

years of living dangerously...
The real news is what's going on in Indonesia. The government is trying to root out its institutional corruption, and has created an anti-corruption task-force. The national police force has been caught on tape trying to find ways to make the task-force ineffective, and two government officials named on the tape have been forced to resign: "Human rights groups say the KPK has become a target of the police force because it has been so successful in investigating and charging corrupt officials.
Indonesia is often ranked as one of the most corrupt countries in the world, but the efforts of the KPK have encouraged investors to believe the country is trying to clean up its act."

You might say there is a world-wide wave trying for more honest and decent governments. Maybe the result of the Iranian green movement? Despite heavy military, police, and thug presence on the streets yesterday, tens of thousands anti-government protesters took to those same streets and braved getting beaten up and tear-gassed. It was supposed to celebrate taking over the US Embassy in 1979, but the clashing  groups tended to cancel out any sponsored celebration. Many of the dissidents have expressed their displeasure that we are trying to engage with an illegitimate government, preferring that we brandish the stick at the Ayatollah...

Anti-corruption trials are taking place in Argentina, China, and France. Many old soldiers are coming forward in Argentina and confessing to torture and crime committed during the military junta's rule, a last confession for them in a Catholic way. The last dictator is being taken to trial in a soccer stadium, to hold all of the  many observers: " A trial began on Monday for Argentina’s last dictator, Reynaldo Bignone, a retired general, as well as for five former generals and two others who are accused of kidnappings and murders that prosecutors say took place in the Campo de Mayo military base.


General Bignone is accused of holding ultimate responsibility for myriad cases of torture, illegal break-ins and deprivations of human rights from 1976 to 1978, before he was appointed president by the military junta in the waning years of the dictatorship."

Its sad to see even friendly foreign leaders dragged to trial. The former French Prime Minister is also going to trial: "Jacques Chirac, the former French president, has been ordered to stand trial on embezzlement charges over accusations he rewarded cronies with payments for non-existent jobs while mayor of Paris. If the case goes ahead it will make Chirac the first holder of France's highest office to face a corruption trial. Chirac was mayor of the French capital between 1977 and 1995 before being elected to the Elyseé for 12 years. He is accused of having used his position as mayor to award 21 "ghost" contracts to his political aides and paying them from the city payroll.


Upon hearing news of Simeoni's recommendation, Chirac declared himself to be "serene" and "determined to prove" that the allegations are false."

With the upcoming trials of corruption by political leaders in Russia and Israel, take heart America, there is still time to catch the wave and bring Dick Cheney and cronies to justice..

NY 23, Kinky in Texas, Moonbeam in California

Maureen Dowd
Dana Milbank
Anne Applebaum

“Moderates by definition have no principles,” - Rush Limbaugh

“Obama, Obama — either you’re with them or you’re with us,” - Iranian Protestors

Let's talk about the elections held yesterday. I'm not going to pundit you to death, you can read every other political blog for endless analysis of what they meant for the nation, and they are all bs. Times are tough right now, and if people feel the incumbents were doing a poor job, then they elect someone else. It just happened that in Virginia and New Jersey the incumbents were Democrats. If I was living in either state I would resent the implication that it was a rejection of Obama. Local elections focus more on problems that the Feds don't even know about, so whomever addresses those problems the best will get my vote, and Party politics has the least to do with it.

But, there was the fun factor occurring in New York's 23rd District. It was an experiment in using Facebook to influence voters, as Sarah Palin came out and endorsed the Conservative Party candidate. It forced the moderate Republican candidate to drop out of the race and support the Democratic candidate, very weird. Since Sarah is asking $100,000 per speech, I wonder what she charges for 180 words? It was billed as a test for national carpetbaggers trying to co-opt the tea party conservatives, but the Conservative Party's man didn't live in the district and hadn't any knowledge of the local problems, so he didn't get elected. For the first time since the Civil War this district is sending a Democrat to Congress and next year the district will disappear because of redrawing the districts...

the eyes of Texas...

“It’s time for Rick Perry to take the lampshade off his head and go home.” - Kinky Friedman

We know about the fight for the Republican nomination for Governor of Texas, between Rick Perry and Kay Bailey-Hutchinson, which will be a mean, knuckle-dragging affair. But there isn't anything similar going on the Democratic side, in fact, it could be a lot of fun if Kinky Friedman gets the nomination. Besides the cool factor of having a governor named Kinky, he feels that he has a good chance of winning it all: "... the Democratic Party’s struggles in Texas can largely be attributed to a lack of candidates. “My heroes have always been Democrats,” said Friedman. “But I must admit: Since [former Texas Gov.] Ann Richards, the powers that be, which are the career politicians, insiders of the Democratic Party, have presided over a 17-year unbroken string of losses. So a lot of customers have left the showrooms.”


He’s hoping to offer the party a new model. “I believe that I’m capable — and I’ve demonstrated [this] before — of inspiring a lot of independents, libertarians and Republicans to come over to our side. I think the problem is that the Democrats have run very uninspiring candidates, and they don’t run on ideas. They run on demographics, and that’s a mistake.” He sounds a lot more thoughtful than Jesse Ventura, who chose his stage name like a pornstar does, and that bad actor who is the incumbent in California.

resurrecting the dead...

“There’s no need to get going too soon, ... unless you’re one of the more obscure personalities.”  - Jerry Brown

In California, politics after Halloween seems to be about resurrecting dead political carers. Not only do we have Carly Fiorino announcing her intention to run for Congress, but Jerry Brown is poised to run for Governor: "For Brown, a 71-year-old former governor who has been a staple on the statewide political scene for nearly 40 years and whose father, Pat Brown, also served as governor, his increasingly certain path to the nomination constitutes something of an astonishing political comeback. After waging three failed White House bids, serving as mayor of Oakland and serving a term as attorney general, Brown is inching closer to the governor’s mansion that he departed more than two decades ago.


There have been times when Brown — dubbed “Gov. Moonbeam” during his more esoteric and New Age-influenced exploits in the 1970s — has seemed a political has-been. Political analysts marvel at his ability to mount a second — or third or fourth — act."

Jerry was Governor during the time when popular culture was influenced by the hippie movement. He was seen as an antithesis to the old style glad-handing hack that his father was, and he dated Linda Ronstadt, how cool was that? He liked to eat at the restaurant run by the San Francisco Zen Center, and personally lived an austere life.

Granted there were weird goings on at that time, for example, one of the Limelighters owned a ranch in Northern California, the Morningstar Ranch. He let people squat there for free, and a treehouse community quickly sprang up. He refused to pay taxes after deeding the land to God. The California Supreme Court then ruled that God had no property rights in the State of California and taxes must be paid... shortly after this decision James Dobson packed up his radio and book business and moved to Colorado. Coincidence?

Even when he had retired from politics he ended up as Mayor of Oakland, the head gang-banger, that started out as a project to revitalize the area where he was living. He has chased away all other contenders, including the mayors of San Francisco and Los Angeles. We are going to have to come up with a new nickname, something that becomes a 70 year old man who's been in politics for over 40 years. Arnold is the "Governator," and since he's basically playing "The Same Old Song", perhaps we can name him the Fifth Top? I doubt that he could do the choreography...

Now it's the same old song

But with a different meaning

Since you been gone...

Go Figure, Ahmadinejad is the Reasonable One, the New Hamid Highway

Eugene Robinson
Mikhail Gorbachev

"Most of my frustration is really with the process of getting anything done in Washington, which is not something Obama can unilaterally change, nimbly circumvent or blithely ignore"  - Eugene Robinson

“It seems this is politics, but politics can still ruin the day.” - Trita Parsi

Here we have the leader of a country who vows to work with the international community, and his opposition at home claims that he is weak and is prostituting the needs of his country. Sounds familiar, like Obama's foreign policy and the Republican critics. But, its not. This is what is going on in Iran right now, and the internal debate over the nuclear issue. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is being the reasonable party, saying that Iran should accept the current nuclear deal, while everyone else is saying no, don't do it. Their reasons range from not trusting the West, thinking there must be a trap somewhere, to others who are taking the opposite line to whatever Ahmadinejad wants to do: “It is the worst case scenario because it can leave people with the impression diplomacy has been tried and failed, whereas in reality it came at a point when Iran is too politically divided and incapable of making decisions of this magnitude,” said Trita Parsi.

Looking at this happening in another country makes the same arguments here look shallow and foolish, but I doubt that Bill Kristol and others have the ability for self-introspection. And Iran's version of Dick Cheney, who also seems to have Lou Dobb's Disease, the lovable and wacky Ayatollah Ali Khameni, has come out in a public statement dissing both Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Barack Obama: "Iran's supreme leader, spurning what he described as several personal overtures from President Obama, warned Tuesday that negotiating with United States was "naive and perverted" and said Iranian politicians should not be "deceived" into starting such talks." Just like Iran's nuclear negotiators won't say what is wrong with the current international proposal, Ali didn't bother to explain why negotiating was naive and perverted. I think he has a strange way of defining kinky; how does a paranoid autocrat behave in his bedroom at night? Of course, if anyone told they'd be sentenced to 1000 lashes...

What is the Ayatollah complaining about? He is upset that: "...Obama has approached him several times through oral and written messages. It was the second time that Khamenei, 70, who wields ultimate political and religious authority in Iran, has referred to Obama's outreach, in which the U.S. president reportedly has requested talks between the two estranged nations." Evidently the Ayatollah is intimidated by friendliness. He is so used to dealing with hardline thinkers who are adamant about their positions that he can't handle reasonable solutions.

"The new U.S. president has said nice things," Khamenei said in a speech Tuesday. "He has given us many spoken and written messages and said, 'Let's turn the page and create a new situation. Let's cooperate with each other in resolving world problems.' "

This is why countries that have old men with dying brain cells in charge can only respond with fear and anger, two signs of Alzheimer's. The people of Iran responding to their dissatisfaction over election fraud and staging largely peaceful protests? Crack down harshly, put as many in jail as you can, try and outlaw any other protest gatherings. Your imagined enemy making offers to talk and heal old wounds? Respond in a perverted way this Wednesday: "Only anti-American rallies in front of the former American Embassy in Tehran are legal," the head of Tehran's security forces said in a statement. "Other gatherings or rallies on Wednesday are illegal and will be strongly confronted by the police."


traveling on the new hamid highway...
In his victory speech to all Afghans, the  newly declared President, Hamid Karzai, did two things. As expected, he acknowledged the corruption in his government and vowed to change it. If he does, this will be maybe the first honestly run government in the world, so good luck to that: "Afghanistan has been defamed by corruption. Our government has been defamed by corruption," Karzai told a press conference flanked by his controversial vice president Mohammed Qasim Fahim, who is widely accused of rights abuses. "We will strive, by any means possible, to eradicate this stain."

Second, he offered some rose petals to his fellow Pashtuns who are members of Talibans: "We call on our Taliban brothers to come home and embrace their land," He is offering to make an inclusive government, with representation of Taliban interests, and is something that he has wanted to do for some time. If he can succeed in this, it would negate any reason for Western troops to be there, and all would become happy and joyous in one simple, elegant solution. The conservative hawks back in America will want to send in even more troops, make your decision already Mr Obama, let Stanley McChrystal win this war so we won't look like losers in our own minds, and he can begin his political career in victory when he runs against you in 2012...

Then, Afghanistan can become the tourist destination even more popular than Kurdistan. As Hamid previously wrote for the Afghan Ministry of Tourism: "I hope we will soon have the pleasure of welcoming you to Afghanistan; I can promise that the Afghan people will receive you with the heartfelt hospitality for which they have always been renowned." Oh yeah, and what about Osama bin Laden? He is probably still holed up in a resort in Pakistan's Swat Valley, hanging out by the swimming pool and watching television by satellite, partaking of more wives among the local population as a sign of his religious devotion...

how about some late night political jokes:

"This weekend for Halloween, President Obama wore chinos, a white button down shirt and a crew neck sweater. Yeah. Apparently, Obama went as the whitest president in the history of the United States." –Conan O'Brien

"This weekend in Afghanistan, opposition candidate Abdullah Abdullah dropped out of the runoff presidential election. Yep, Abdullah Abdullah says he wants to spend more time with his wife Marjorie Marjorie." –Conan O'Brien

"Well, how about those Afghanistan elections? You know, they had the first one and they thought, well, maybe something hincky with the first one. All right, if something is hincky, let's do it again. And now the opposition candidate Abdullah Abdullah has dropped out of the runoff election. He got the idea from watching the Phillies during the World Series." –David Letterman

"Yeah, no runoff election in Afghanistan. Apparently a second election would be way too expensive to rig." –David Letterman

"So Abdullah Abdullah says he is pulling out because he wants to spend more time with his wife, Paula Abdullah." –David Letterman

"So they've recounted all the votes from the first election in Afghanistan and congratulations to the new president, Al Franken." –David Letterman

"Here, of course, we celebrate Halloween. In Mexico they call it what? 'Day of the Dead,' where people believe the dead rise and walk the earth again. Or, as folks at Acorn call it, the 'Voter Registration Day.'" –Jay Leno

"At the White House on Saturday, the Obama's greeted trick-or-treaters. They gave them either M&Ms with the presidential seal on them or dried fruit. The dried fruit went to the kids who said their parents worked at Fox News." –Jay Leno

"This weekend, we turned the clocks back. Which means Congress had yet another hour not to read the new health care bill before they signed it." –Jay Leno

"According to a report on CNN today — this is a report on CNN today, and I quote, 'President Obama is close to formulating a new strategy for Afghanistan.' They say he'll either decide to add more troops, reduce the number of troops or keep the troop levels the same. Good, solid reporting." –Jay Leno

"The only opponent to Afghan President Hamid Karzai has backed out of the planned recount. He's not going to be in the race. He says he wants to spend more time with his family and not get killed." –Jay Leno

"New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine said he's considering leasing the New Jersey Turnpike to help raise money for the state. He's going to lease out the New Jersey Turnpike. And of course, a lot of people are furious about this. Because, you know, parts of the Jersey Turnpike are considered a sacred mob burial ground." –Jay Leno

"Executives of America's 28 largest banks met with Federal Reserve supervisors to discuss and regulate the banks' pay policies, which is pretty amazing. There's still 28 banks left in this country?" –Jay Leno
Fallon

"I just love Halloween. It's the only time of the year you get to see a Ghostbuster making out with Sarah Palin." –Jimmy Fallon

"Even the Obamas got into the Halloween spirit. They handed out dried fruit to 2,000 trick or treaters. And just like that, they created 2,000 more Republicans." –Jimmy Fallon

"The White House predicted there would be 120 million doses of swine flu vaccines available today. But right now, there are only 26 million. Yeah, they overshot by so much, they are all getting jobs as pilots for Northwest Airlines." –Jimmy Fallon

"The Pentagon announced today, they have given the swine flu vaccines to every detainee at Guantanamo Bay. The detainees were like, 'Hey, whatever happened to closing this place?'" –Jimmy Fallon

"Abdullah Abdullah just quit next week's runoff election against Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzi. Abdullah Abdullah said, he was just following in the footsteps of his role model, Palin Palin." –Jimmy Fallon

US Predator Migrates to Israel, the King and I, Michelle Bachmann Again

Paul Krugman
Lawrence Wright
Christiane Amanpour

"Unless something changes drastically, we’re looking at many years of high unemployment."  - Paul Krugman

All of the news headlines are about the New York and New Jersey elections tomorrow, and that Hamid Karzai has been anointed King because his opponent withdrew from the run-off election, saying that there is no way an honest election can happen, but for others to still believe in the process... The pressure will be on Karzai to get his government in shape, weed out corruption, and try to keep people in the army and police longer than it takes to train them...

So I have to dig a bit deeper to find news of the weird, and the NY Times doesn't disappoint. A right wing wacko immigrant from the US to Israel has been arrested for murders and terrorist type attacks that took place over the last 12 years. Israeli Intelligence is first rate, but it seems their police is a bit slow on the uptake: "The Israeli police said Sunday that they had arrested a 37-year-old American immigrant, a West Bank settler, and charged him in an array of killings and terrorist attacks over the last 12 years, including the murders of two Palestinians, the bombing of a leftist Israeli professor’s home and the maiming of a 15-year-old boy who belongs to a community of Jews who believe in Jesus.


The suspect, Jack Teitel, a father of four and a computer technician and Web site designer, was born in Florida, the son of a military dentist. He went back and forth between Israel and the United States starting in the 1990s, immigrating here in 2000. His parents followed a year later and live in a different West Bank settlement."

“This investigation has exposed a dark and dangerous world where human life was lost and people were injured against a background of ideological extremism,” - Dodi Cohen

Once again we are embarrassed by an Ugly American, who smuggled guns from the US into Israel, and has had a long history of attacking police officers, attacking Palestinians, ranting against gays and authorities who guaranteed their rights, and attacking those who disagreed with him with pipe bombs and even going after a 15 year old kid by planting a bomb in a traditional gift basket during Purim... Its thought that the lenient atmosphere that allowed his actions for such a long time was coddled by the rise of right wing politicins who are sympathetic to his views. "According to most news media - he is a militant, a freedom fighter, a resistance against the occupation." It is an unfortunate result of how extreme right wing views poisons the mind and causes violent acts, as we have seen so amply in the United States.

“We are horrified by the fact that there are elements of Israeli society, Jews who feel justified in taking the lives of other Jews because of their beliefs,”-- Mother of 15 Year Old Victim

not quite freedom of speech...

The King of Thailand, who was born in Boston, has been in the hospital for over a month and nobody has seen him. This is causing anxiety because he is considered to be the top representative of the Buddha. He is also the longest reigning monarch, going on 55 years. It is against the law to make disparaging remarks about the King. One story that is told to every person visiting Thailand, is that one day a falang got into an argument with a tuk tuk driver over the fare. He took out some baht notes, with the picture of the King on them, ripped them in half, and threw them at the driver. The tourist was arrested for defacing an image of the King and spent some time in the Bangkok jail...

So it should come as no surprise that two people were arrested for trying to manipulate the local stock market by spreading rumors of the King's health, which triggered a slide in stock prices: "Suttichai Tienbhodhi, a captain in Bangkok's crime suppression division, said the pair had been charged with "feeding untrue information through a computer system which undermined the security of the nation." Two accounts made a lot of money from the slide, one at Credit Suisse in Hong Kong, and another at UBS in Singapore. Sounds like Triad financial fever...

"Strict laws in Thailand make comment on royal matters extremely risky. His health is a sensitive topic in financial markets because he is seen as the sole unifying figure in a politically polarised country with a long history of coups and upheaval." Personally, I love Thailand and have spent many months there. No, I didn't go as a sex tourist, I went there after touring China with my tai chi teacher, one of the watershed moments of my life. I witnessed a lot of corruption, saved a drunken Aussie from getting beaten up, and saw how everyone revered the King. I even ate at his favorite hole in the wall for pad thai. But it is bizarre how rumors about the royal family can affect the country's economic health, and that people are sent to jail for it. It's the Land of Smiles through Clenched Teeth...

So now I need a piece of fluff to cheer me up, and dear, sweet, crazy Michelle Bachmann never disappoints: "Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who is best known for making inflammatory calls for revolution against President Obama, now has the full backing of the GOP leadership in her latest push to protest against the "tyranny" of the Obama administration.


As Greg Sargent reported, the spokesmen for both House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) supported Bachmann's call for a rally this Thursday in Washington against the Democrats' health care proposals, and her rallying cry: "If you believe in liberty, and if you're rejecting tyranny, this is it." What it is,  is she wants to lead a group of "tea partyers" through the halls of Congress, and confront everybody they meet.

"I'd love to have every one of your viewers to join me so we can go up and down through the halls, find members of Congress, look at the whites of their eyes and say, 'Don't take away my healthcare."

I'm not sure how Congress is planning on taking away anyone's health care, the reforms propose to add to health care... This may end up like the event Glenn Beck organized and didn't show up at, though Michelle is more craven than Glenn, so it will be one big photo op for her to impress the yokels back home. We'll see what happens come Thursday, be sure to check it out on Fox or ridiculed on MSNBC.
As one commenter remarked:

"Please someone explain to me how the hell they believe this bill is going to "take away my healthcare"? I need to know what the hell they are even talking about to deal with wingnuts in my own family....


Man, I'm going to have a tough time on Thanksgiving..."

here are some Glenn Beck-isms:

1. "This president I think has exposed himself over and over again as a guy who has a deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture....I'm not saying he doesn't like white people, I'm saying he has a problem. This guy is, I believe, a racist."

2. "I'm thinking about killing Michael Moore, and I'm wondering if I could kill him myself, or if I would need to hire somebody to do it. ... No, I think I could. I think he could be looking me in the eye, you know, and I could just be choking the life out. Is this wrong? I stopped wearing my What Would Jesus -- band -- Do, and I've lost all sense of right and wrong now. I used to be able to say, 'Yeah, I'd kill Michael Moore,' and then I'd see the little band: What Would Jesus Do? And then I'd realize, 'Oh, you wouldn't kill Michael Moore. Or at least you wouldn't choke him to death.' And you know, well, I'm not sure." –responding to the question "What would people do for $50 million?",

3. "When I see a 9/11 victim family on television, or whatever, I'm just like, 'Oh shut up' I'm so sick of them because they're always complaining."

4. "The only [Katrina victims] we're seeing on television are the scumbags."

5. "I think there is a handful of people who hate America. Unfortunately for them, a lot of them are losing their homes in a forest fire today."

6. "I have been nervous about this interview with you because what I feel like saying is, 'Sir, prove to me that you are not working with our enemies. ... And I know you're not. I'm not accusing you of being an enemy, but that's the way I feel, and I think a lot of Americans will feel that way."

7. "Al Gore's not going to be rounding up Jews and exterminating them. It is the same tactic, however. The goal is different. The goal is globalization...And you must silence all dissenting voices. That's what Hitler did. That's what Al Gore, the U.N., and everybody on the global warming bandwagon [are doing]."

8. "So here you have Barack Obama going in and spending the money on embryonic stem cell research. ... Eugenics. In case you don't know what Eugenics led us to: the Final Solution. A master race! A perfect person. ... The stuff that we are facing is absolutely frightening."

9. "You have the artwork of Mussolini there, here in New York at Rockefeller Plaza."

10. "O-L-I-G-A-R-H-Y." –misspelling "oligarchy" on his chalk board while claiming he had deciphered a secret code that he said was proof President Obama was trying to create an "Oligarhy,"

Bonus Quote

"You know, we all have our inner demons. I, for one – I can't speak for you, but I'm on the verge of moral collapse at any time. It can happen by the end of the show."

Funny Quotes About Glenn Beck

"Satan's mentally challenged younger brother." –Stephen King, writing in "Entertainment Weekly"

"Finally, a guy who says what people who aren't thinking are thinking." –Jon Stewart, on the "The Daily Show"

"The comfort of today's mythical homespun aw-shucks-TV-totalitarian-Lonesome-Rhodes Glenn Beck is that everyday he gives away the essential truth that he is an idiot." –Keith Olbermann, on "Countdown With Keith Olbermann"

"Even the leather-winged shouting heads at Fox News look like intellectual giants next to this bleating, benighted Cassandra. It's like someone found a manic, doom-prophesying hobo in a sandwich board, shaved him, shot him full of Zoloft and gave him a show." -- Buffalo Beast, naming Beck in its annual list of the 50 Most Loathsome People in America

Hillary and Bill's Excellent Adventures

"I never expected that anywhere, someone would make such a big statue of me," - Bill Clinton

“I will admit that clearly there is a lot of misperception, and perception is reality, so therefore it is up to us to try to set it straight,” - Hillary Clinton

frenemies...
I'm beginning to think that Israel and Iran are actually soulmates, they both have mastered the art of dithering, coming up with endless excuses why they cannot continue negotiations. We'll still be arguing Middle Eastern peace agreements well into the next century, and still trying to get Iran to the table for nuclear negotiations when they start bombing everyone who ever done them wrong...

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Iran that "we're not going to wait forever" for Iran to accept the UN-backed nuclear deal.

"...The Iranian nation is standing powerfully and they are like a mosquito," - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

I can hardly wait until we leave Iraq so that they can really start killing each other off without restraint. Almost makes you wish for a secular strongman to seize power, if you can dig another one out of their hole. Let's ask the Kurds, maybe they gave us one of Saddam's clones and kept the real one to toy with among  themselves... do you think they will actually have another election or go straight to anointing the current strongman as a dictator, and we're back where we started... Of course, Iran is just waiting for all of the explosives they are sending to Iraq to create such chaos that everyone will be glad when the friendly neighbor comes in to take over and restore peace. love, and tranquility. Goal achieved without firing a shot. Maybe Mr Chalabi will get his great reward and get to rule the newly annexed state, thanks to the Great Satan and those chump neocons...

Its rather ironic that the two countries that are arresting al Qaeda agents are Saudi Arabia and the United States. Recently, an arms cache was found near Riyadh: "Saudi officials say they have found a large arms cache near Riyadh, linking it to a dismantled al-Qaeda cell. They say nearly 300 assault rifles and some 41,000 rounds of ammunition were found near the capital.
The weapons are linked to 44 suspected al-Qaeda militants whose arrests were announced in August."


The US has been arresting al Qaeda suspects right and left lately, and when they can't arrest them in some kind of sting operation, they kill them. No need for fruitless questioning that way, too bad it also fuels the paranoid fantasies of Muslim Americans, who came here to leave a repressive way of living... The art of politics is the attempt of using smoke and mirrors. It all reminds me of the famous opening to the Rocky and Bullwinkle show, with the FBI saying: "Watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat..."


Bill 1, Hillary 0...
Hillary Clinton had a miserable tour last week. Instead of the sisterly solidarity she thought she'd find with professional women in Pakistan, she was forced to give non-answers to the hard questions they asked. Let's just say she didn't make any new friends, and only solidified people's opinions of American hegemony. Before that she pissed off the Russians, and this weekend she has been blown off by the Palestinians and Israelis. She was real honest in her opinions, and we'll see how well she is received next time around.

"Calling for a resumption of negotiations despite continued settlement construction doesn't help because we have tried this way many times. Negotiations are about ending the occupation and settlement expansion is about entrenching the occupation."  -  Ghassan Khalib"

To add insult to injury, her husband has stolen the goodwill spotlight again: "Thousands of ethnic Albanians braved low temperatures and a cold wind in Kosovo's capital Pristina to welcome former President Bill Clinton on Sunday as he attended the unveiling of an 11-foot (3.5-meter) statue of himself on a key boulevard that also bears his name.
Clinton is celebrated as a hero by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority for launching NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia in 1999 that stopped the brutal Serb forces' crackdown on independence-seeking ethnic Albanians." Wow, just imagine the unwary vacationers strolling through Kosovo and encountering this statue as they join hands while sauntering down Bill Clinton Boulevard... Take that, Barack and George W...