Monday, June 15, 2009
Freedom for Iran
I am fascinated about what is happening in Iran. The main stream media coverage is disgustingly vapid. They really are contemptible. The Iranian government is doing their best to cut communications between the students, but videos and photos are getting out. I selected three that I feel are representative of the scope and tenor of the revolution. Now if only a face and a voice steps forward.
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- Stimulus Concession -
ReplyDelete-
Biden tells "Meet the Press" that "everyone guessed wrong" on the impact of the stimulus.
No one realized how bad the economy was. The projections, in fact, turned out to be worse. But we took the mainstream model as to what we thought -- and everyone else thought -- the unemployment rate would be."
"Everyone guessed wrong at the time the estimate was made about what the state of the economy was at the moment this was passed."
"The bottom line is that jobs are being created that would not have been there before."
"Can I claim credit that all of that's due to the recovery package? No. But it clearly has had an impact."
---
Dufus
hmmm--well you never know, I quess. Perhaps if millions march in the streets day after day Son of Shah could show up, and Rat will have been proven right.
ReplyDeleteI think the whole thing will die out....but then....
Fatwas Sought Against Ahmedinejad--
ReplyDelete-/
Well good luck, but the fatwa issuing boys probably won't comply.
The fatwas issued being pretty much against themselves, it would seem.
When has a mullah ever issued a fatwa against himself?
Did the groveling grovelpalooza ObamaMessiah Cairo speech have an impact here?
ReplyDeleteI don't think so.
Not in Lebanon, and not here either.
Those people are making up their own minds, one way or another, and The One might as well be sitting in some Motel 6, watching CNN, for all the impact he is having.
To be fair, it's doubtful any other American politician would have much impact either.
Out of Guantánamo, Basking in Bermuda
ReplyDelete-
Four Uighur Muslim men once accused as enemy combatants are now marveling at their new home.
Photographs: From Guantánamo to Bermuda
Times Topics: Uighurs
Guantánamo Bay
Sam, if you are out there in cyberspace, across the river from where your grandfather was, on that old saw mill land there, where they built some fancy condos, on the river bank, asking $900,000--those are going on the auction block in early July, minimum bid $180,000.
ReplyDeleteI don't think they are going to sell, and I'm sure not in that market.
Looks to me like--
WIPEOUT
Condo Wipeout, Sam
ReplyDelete...meanwhile, back at the ranch...
ReplyDeleteNetanyahu says, "Yes"...in a "No" sorta way...
Shark Fetish
ReplyDelete-
- Great White Shark -
Sounds fair to me Allen:
ReplyDeleteAll those guys gotta do is clean up their act, and it's a done deal.
Long as somebody comes up with a deprograming treatment for all those kids taught to hate from kindergarten on.
doug,
ReplyDeleteIt is NOT fair!
Netanyahu has asked the Arabs to recognize the right of Israel to exist in peace. In setting this onerous precondition, he proves once more that the Israelis are not serious about the "Piece Process".
You see, Nurse Hatchett, bobbie's got no balls.
ReplyDeleteHe can't keep his word. Not to you, me or anyone of import in his life of quiet desperation.
He is rude and inconsiderate to the host. Typical of a spoiled child.
Little bobbie,
A sunshine patriot that has a pseudo intellect, described so elequently by President Ike, whom everyone liked.
bobbie, "a man who takes more words than are necessary to tell more than he knows".
You see, den mother, bobbie has an itch and no self discipline. He just has to scratch that itch. Pussy that he is
Always has been, always will be, little bobbie reacts to facts, with feelings.
Now that there seems to general turmoil in Iran, where is the covert crowd, that has been building the infrastructure of insurgency, in Iran, for five or six years? The one that See-more Hirsh has extolled, time and again.
ReplyDeleteDoes it not exist or will Obama not turn it on?
blah, blah, blah
ReplyDeleteI think today is the day the Elmore County Commissioners are going to vote of a zoning application for the proposed nuclear power plant.
ReplyDeleteI don't know if anyone else is interested in this story--I think Rufus is--but if I can find a news article on the results of the vote, I'll post it.
My hunch is they'll vote for it, though I many be wrong.
What happens after that I'm not sure.
Well, well, well. Look at this, the definitive statement on the Obama position in regard to Iran's nuclear efforts.
ReplyDeleteMR. GREGORY: But what's the message? What's the bottom line? Is this president going to be the one who allows Iran to go nuclear, or is he the president who stopped it?
VICE PRES. BIDEN: He's going to be the president that stopped it, God willing. We are not going to allow Iran to go nuclear any more than the rest of the world is going to allow it to go nuclear.
How long is this childishness going to continue?
ReplyDeleteAs long as bob continues to acknowledge his presence in any way, shape, or form. (To include the "blah, blah, blah.")
ReplyDeleteApparently bob never had problem siblings.
I have a younger brother who was at one time early in his life the world's biggest asshole.
ReplyDeleteNow he's just a minor one.
Sit on your hands, bob. Sit on your hands. For everyone's sake.
We interrupt this morning's sitcom to bring a topical observation to your attention.
ReplyDeleteVICE PRES. BIDEN: He's going to be the president that stopped it, God willing. We are not going to allow Iran to go nuclear any more than the rest of the world is going to allow it to go nuclear.
Biden's having his cake and eating it too.
-----
We now resume the broadcast of the bob and rat show.
Breaking
ReplyDeleteLate reports of shots fired at pro-Mousavi rally.
--Josh Marshall
There is no such thing, in most of the rest of the world, as a rally without gunfire.
Or a win in soccer without gunfire.
Or a wedding.
Or the welcoming of the new year.
Which is not to say this isn't gunfire of great import.
We can all hope it is.
I think we have now established the narrative.
ReplyDeleteThere is no such thing, in most of the rest of the world, as a rally without gunfire.
ReplyDeleteOr, it's been said, a Mexican wedding in Fresno without a knife fight.
Trish, I was told once--in no uncertain terms either--by my older sis that I was the troubling sibling. Maybe that's part of the problem. But, I'm taking your advice.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe policies of Team43 seem to be coming up days late and dollars short. Has Obama pulled the plug, or was the entire "cloak & dagger" and "you don't know the great stuff they're doing" crowd full of shit?
ReplyDeleteWhy aren't the power substations serving Tehran being sabotaged?
Why is this episode not being ratcheted up, a notch, as was always the purported plan.
Is it that the plan was a mirage?
That the US presented the whirled with a paper tiger of See-mor Hirsh fantasies?
Or that just as the wave of dissent was cresting, the US pulled back, a la Hungary in '56, 1961 Cuba at la Bahía de Cochinos or Prauge in 1968.
Big talk but no stick, from Uncle Sam, in each of those cases.
Nurse Hatchett is getting bobbie to take his medicine, now.
That's an interesting narrative, to be sure.
Even your sister thought you a pussy and an asshole, bobbie?
ReplyDeleteSure she knew best.
I can hear the gnashing of teeth from Philly and Florida all the way out here in the Sierra Nevada.
ReplyDeleteGolly gee, what have I missed? Name calling? How old are you guys?
ReplyDeleteheh urgh
ReplyDeleteThey sent it back to the Planning and Zoning Commission. Who had voted against it before I think.
So after all this time nothing is done--
County sends key elements of nuke rezone request back to P&Z
Monday, June 15, 2009
Unable to decide what the county's comprehensive land use plan intends with regard to heavy industrial zones, the Elmore County Commissioners sent the issue, and with it the Alternate Energy Holding's request for a rezone to build a nuclear plant southwest of Hammett, back to the county planning and zoning commission for review Monday.
The commission will be asked to conduct a complete review of the comp plan's location criteria for heavy industrial zones.
And after county prosecutor Kristina Schindele reversed the legal opionion she had given last week, and told the commissioners Monday they could approve a rezone conditionally, the commissioners also decided to direct P&Z to review and negotiate a possible developer's agreement that would be used as part of the conditions for approving the requested rezone for the land -- a rezone that apparently would be contingent upon P&Z's review and recommendations concerning the heavy industrial zoning language in the comp plan. --
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It's kind of distressing. I don't know how much money AEHI has poured into this, and they can't seem to get a decision. Now it'
s back to P & Z, who aren't even elected, just people walking in off the street. Often with an agenda.
Actually I quess the P & Z members are appointed by the Commissioners. (I think.)
ReplyDeleteto direct P&Z to review and negotiate a possible developer's agreement--
ReplyDelete-/
Well, reading closer, that does sound like they are moving in the right direction, though. If one is for the nuclear power plant. I don't see why they would direct P & Z to negotiate a possible developer's agreement if they weren't seriously considering it.
What's the sense of the public in that county, bob? Up or down?
ReplyDeleteWould you two kindly return to your neutral corners, get a rub down, a little cut management,and return to business. Most appreciated.
ReplyDeleteAs trish pointed out, shots were fired and the crowds are in the hundreds of thousands. This thing may be reaching a critical mass.
ReplyDeleteStratfor says:
ReplyDeleteIran is a country that is poor, pious and content on the whole with the revolution forged 30 years ago.
Don't get your hopes, they say that Ahmadinejad is very popular and they doubt they he could have stolen the election by such a wide margin.
They're also of the opinion that no one has the desire to capitalize on the situation.
I have learned to expect nothing.
The only thing different this time than others when some had high expectations of revolution is BHO pretending/believing he can influence the Mullahs with his magical speaking skills, and his allies the MSM repeating the pathetic drivel.
ReplyDeleteI assume the young folk have almost no access to firearms, right?
The Mullahs have their very effective techniques for dealing with folks that become too bothersome.
They give periodic vacations from prison so families can see how devastated they are from the abuse they suffer behind bars...
A particularly warm and fuzzy technique.
Via Juan Cole, not at all meant to be funny, it just kinda reads that way:
ReplyDeleteThe problem with shooting protesters in Iran is that there will be a funeral, which will be another occasion for protest; and then a memorial service (more protest) and then a 40-day memorial (more protest). If more protesters are shot at these commemorations of the fallen, there will be memorials and protests around them, too. This thing could grow.
Don't ruin the fun, whit. The world is still full of surprises. Sometimes pleasant ones.
I think they are mostly for it, Linear. Though the Snake River Alliance has been working hard to make it seem the other way.
ReplyDeleteThe AEHI newsletter one time mentioned a big pro- nuke plant turnout out one the the Couny Commisssion meetings. There isn't much there but farmers and ranchers and this plant is supposed to provide a market for making ethanol, in addition to the jobs.
If it can't fly there I don't know where it would have a better chance in Idaho.
One would probably be hard pressed to smuggle a Bible into Egypt. Yet, the Iranians manage to miraculously bring in boatloads of munitions for Hamas. We need to learn how these Iranian logistical whiz-kids do that and turn the process around.
ReplyDeleteYes, the Pentagon might have to create another three-star (possibly four-star) command and load it up with the otherwise unemployable, but some sacrifices must be made in the cause of the nascent Iranian revolution. If we can get the job done, I would even favor bringing back five stars and a service coordinated Binky.
no guns = no revolution = no power
The whirled is atitter at the thought that counter revolution is overtaking Iran.
ReplyDeleteDamn you people are a drag.
ReplyDeleteWith all the candidates chosen by the mullahs--they were, weren't they?--it's hard to see why one is thought to be much better than another, though they do seem angry.
ReplyDeleteYou should be up on your rooftops in green. What's the matter with you?
ReplyDeleteShouting “Marg bar diktator!”
ReplyDeleteThe reasoning, bobbie, is that each man is an individual, not an animatronic clones, but flesh and bone.
ReplyDeleteSame as the differences 'tween McCain & Obama or Bush & Gore.
Different sides of the same coin, but varied by degrees. Which makes a huge difference over a long course.
Each country has different candidate selection processes, if the native folk don't find it to illegitimate, why should we?
If democracy leads to insurrection, in Iran, were the policies of GW Bush correct?
Or a day late and a dollar short?
Recall, doug, that Trotten called for providing hundreds of thousands of pistols to Iranians, years ago.
All that "stuff to classified to know", will soon be known to have been a fraud, if not much happens.
Mousavi called for a general strike tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteWe get to see what kind of legs it's got.
Perhaps a better way to ask the quest
ReplyDeleteIf faux democracy leads to insurrection, in Iran, were the policies of GW Bush correct?
And there is not one stalwert of GW Bush to stand upright and say:
ReplyDelete"See, we told you so!".
Not a one.
So much more important than the waterboarding, but not a man amongst the men will stand up for this part of Team43's operation.
And claim it is a "good thing".
Some try to discount the success, one way or another, to discredit Obama.
So funny to watch psuedo intellects with no ideological center just slip sliding away.
This is the culmination of the sanctions regime that Mr Bush worked so hard to get the international community to sign on to. The sanctions that many, myself included, thought were to limited. But cutting World Bank funding for water treatment plants was not in the cards.
ReplyDeleteMr Bush played the cards dealt the US and then gave the hand, the ante and a chance at a big pot over to B. H. Obama.
But no one wants to credit Mr Bush.
Which is understandable from Team Obamamerica, but those Republican stalwerts ... they are a sad crowd.
Liberal Newscaster Katie Couric, while interviewing a Marine sniper, asked:
ReplyDelete'What do you feel.......when you shoot a Terrorist?'
The Marine shrugged and replied, "A Slight Recoil."
Obama discredits Obama.
ReplyDeleteWith all the other good news around, there's this, from BC--
ReplyDeleteWill you be left behind?
The LA Times describes the spread of a stem rust which, if unchecked, could potentially wipe out 80% of the world’s wheat crop.
The spores arrived from Kenya on dried, infected leaves ensconced in layers of envelopes. Working inside a bio-secure greenhouse outfitted with motion detectors and surveillance cameras, government scientists at the Cereal Disease Laboratory in St. Paul, Minn., suspended the fungal spores in a light mineral oil and sprayed them onto thousands of healthy wheat plants. After two weeks, the stalks were covered with deadly reddish blisters characteristic of the scourge known as Ug99. …
Crop scientists fear the Ug99 fungus could wipe out more than 80% of worldwide wheat crops as it spreads from eastern Africa. It has already jumped the Red Sea and traveled as far as Iran. Experts say it is poised to enter the breadbasket of northern India and Pakistan, and the wind will inevitably carry it to Russia, China and even North America — if it doesn’t hitch a ride with people first.
“It’s a time bomb,” said Jim Peterson, a professor of wheat breeding and genetics at Oregon State University in Corvallis. “It moves in the air, it can move in clothing on an airplane. We know it’s going to be here. It’s a matter of how long it’s going to take.”--
-'
/
I'd read about that before somewhere but kind of forgot about it. Here's hoping the scientists can come up with a solution.
Regardless of what Obama does to himself no one, doug, wants to credit the policies of the US, emplaced by GW Bush. When what we are seeing was the planned and projected outcome of his stratergery.
ReplyDeleteThe only question, where is the next phase of the "roll out"?
A work stoppage, a successful general strike brought down the Shah. Led by the taxi drivers, if I recall the tale correctly.
Luke AFB is west of Phoenix and is rapidly being surrounded by civilization that complains about the noise from the base and its planes, forgetting that it was there long before they were. A certain lieutenant colonel at Luke AFB deserves a big pat on theback. Apparently, an individual who lives somewhere near Luke AFB wrote the local paper complaining about a group of F-16s that disturbed his/her day at the mall..
ReplyDeleteWhen that individual read the response from a Luke AFB officer, it must have stung quite a bit..
The complaint:
'Question of the day for Luke Air Force Base:
Whom do we thank for the morning air show? Last Wednesday, at precisely 9:11 A.M, a tight formation of four F-16 jets made a low pass over Arrowhead Mall, continuing west over Bell Road at approximately 500 feet. Imagine our good fortune! Do the Tom Cruise-wannabes feel we need this wake-up call, or were they trying to impress the cashiers at Mervyns early bird special?
Any response would be appreciated.
The response:
Regarding 'A wake-up call from Luke's jets' On June 15, at precisely 9:12 a.m . , a perfectly timed four- ship fly by of F-16s from the 63rd Fighter Squadron at Luke Air Force Base flew over the grave of Capt. Jeremy Fresques. Capt Fresques was an Air Force officer who was previously stationed at Luke Air Force Base and was killed in Iraq on May 30, Memorial Day.
At 9 a.m. On June 15 , his family and friends gathered at Sunland Memorial Park in Sun City to mourn the loss of a husband, son and friend.. Based on the letter writer's recount of the fly by, and because of the jet noise, I'm sure you didn't hear the 21-gun salute, the playing of taps, or my words to the widow and parents of Capt. Fresques as I gave them their son's flag on behalf of the President of the United States and all those veterans and servicemen and women who understand the sacrifices they have endured..
A four-ship fly by is a display of respect the Air Force gives to those who give their lives in defense of freedom. We are professional aviators and take our jobs seriously, and on June 15 what the letter writer witnessed was four officers lining up to pay their ultimate respects.
The letter writer asks, 'Whom do we thank for the morning airshow? The 56th Fighter Wing will make the call for you, and forward your thanks to the widow and parents of Capt Fresques, and thank them for you, for it was in their honor that my pilots flew the most honorable formation of their lives.
Only 2 defining forces have ever offered to die for you....Jesus Christ and the American Soldier..
One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.
Lt. Col. Grant L. Rosensteel, Jr.
USAF
Everyone is afraid of success.
ReplyDeleteDeuce, here's an example of the MSM doing a pretty good job of reporting, considering the limits imposed by the Mullahs
ReplyDelete-
Gonna miss the Grey Lady
Blame! Blame! Blame! Get a clue!
ReplyDeleteHad any American administration had an interest in the Iranian opposition, those kids would be chucking grenades instead of rocks.
'Rat suffers delayed BSD, Allen.
ReplyDeleteMight as well get used to it,
hard as it may be.
From doug's link to the NYTimes.
ReplyDeleteThey may have some folk there, but they are already behind the analogy curve.
what is at stake in Iran today is what was at stake in Czechoslovakia in 1968,
Prauge Spring ...
BDS
ReplyDeleteDoug suffers from dyslexia.
ReplyDeletePhotostream from Times Link
ReplyDeleteSon of Shah Speaks Up--
ReplyDelete-//
They had massive marches for nearly a year before the Shah headed out. The security forces in Iran now are probably the equal or more than those of the Shah. But, you never know, it's a new generation.
What a situation. On the verge of getting nuclear weapons, Israel being seemingly the only possible bar, and if they were to attack now, they'd probably cause a rally to the government.
So many unecpected things have happened lately, predictions are a bad investment.
Blame?
ReplyDeleteThere is only glory, for US, to be had in these protests, not blame.
Seems allen is no Republican. That much seems more then obvious by his comment.
Much like Desert Storm. The plan's execution through the offensive phase lines achieved their objectives, but the follow on was not as smooth.
The desired effect has come about, but like Desert Storm, the mediocrity standard seems to have set in. The offensive bogging down, the enemy escaping, due to a lack of resolve.
In and around the White House.
Seems likely that they never did supply the munitions that See-less Hirsh told us about.
In 1979, when we were still young and starry-eyed, a revolution took place in Iran. When I asked experts what would happen, they divided into two camps.
ReplyDeleteThe first group of Iran experts argued that the Shah of Iran would certainly survive, that the unrest was simply a cyclical event readily manageable by his security, and that the Iranian people were united behind the Iranian monarch’s modernization program. These experts developed this view by talking to the same Iranian officials and businessmen they had been talking to for years.
...
The second group of Iran experts regarded the shah as a repressive brute, and saw the revolution as aimed at liberalizing the country. Their sources were the professionals and academics who supported the uprising.
Iranian Reality
Dyslexic walks into a bra..
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRe: Only 2 defining forces have ever offered to die for you....Jesus Christ and the American Soldier..
ReplyDeleteOne died for your soul, the other for your freedom.
Lt. Col. Grant L. Rosensteel, Jr.
USAF
The Colonel had better hope Jesus Christ is covering is 6.
And if it takes another year, for the Regime to collapse, the Team Obamamerica garners all the credit.
ReplyDeletePiece in our time, 2010.
An entire insurgent network, we were supposed to have been building, part and parcel to delaying or stopping the weaponization of the pieceful atom, by Iran.
ReplyDeleteNow that the fuse is lit, where or where is the bang?
allen is an American, who has traveled the yellow brick road..."If I only had a brain."
ReplyDeleteIran's Guardian Council
ReplyDeleteLater, President Zardari also met his Tajik counterpart Emomali Rahman, with whom he reviewed the relations between the two countries spanning over a decade, and stressed the need to enhance these into more meaningful ties.
ReplyDeleteBoth agreed to collaborate in the fields of exploration, extraction and processing of gas and oil products.
President Zardari was assisted by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Pakistan’s Ambassador to Russia Khalid Khattak during the meetings.
Fighting Terror Together
Iranian leaders will probably take decisive action to quell opposition protests against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election, said Richard Bulliet, an Iran expert at Columbia University......
ReplyDeleteMousavi, a former prime minister, had promised in the campaign to respond to Obama’s efforts to end three decades of hostility between their countries following the 1979 Islamic Revolution.--
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Leaders Will Stop Protests
Well, if weather has anything to do with it, they've got all summer and fall to protest.
ReplyDeleteMaybe I am an optimist, but this is a big deal. The mullahs are worried and if they have to throw Ahmadinejad overboard they will.
ReplyDeleteTrish is correct , the last thing the authorities needed were martyrs. They have them. The numbers will reach a critical mass ahortly, if not already. If the police and army break and the crowds get weapons...
All because of a speech, in Cairo.
ReplyDelete"speach in Cairo"
ReplyDeleteAll because all men have a yearning to be free. This is not the first time young Iranians have taken to the streets. They did so when the President was a mere undergraduate.
also a "speech" in Cairo ;-D
ReplyDeleteI won't begrudge Obama some bragging rights if it is a factor. He'll probably get a Noble Peace Prize. He will be insufferable.
ReplyDeleteWe will stay with this for another day. It is potentially too big.
ReplyDeleteAsked about Netanyahu’s speech yesterday, Obama said, "I think it’s important not to immediately assess the situation based on commentary the day after a speech…overall, I thought there was positive movement."
ReplyDeleteObama said Netanyahu acknowledged the need for two states but added, "there were a lot of conditions."
Obama said he was seeing “the possibility that we can restart serious talks” and but added that Israel’s security is "non-negotiable."
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The day of destiny
ReplyDeleteRobert Fisk witnesses the courage of one million protesters who ignored threats, guns and bloodshed to demand freedom in Iran
Tuesday, 16 June 2009
It was Iran's day of destiny and day of courage. A million of its people marched from Engelob Square to Azadi Square – from the Square of Revolution to the Square of Freedom – beneath the eyes of Tehran's brutal riot police. The crowds were singing and shouting and laughing and abusing their "President" as "dust".
Mirhossein Mousavi was among them, riding atop a car amid the exhaust smoke and heat, unsmiling, stunned, unaware that so epic a demonstration could blossom amid the hopelessness of Iran's post-election bloodshed. He may have officially lost last Friday's election, but yesterday was his electoral victory parade through the streets of his capital. It ended, inevitably, in gunfire and blood.
Not since the 1979 Iranian Revolution have massed protesters gathered in such numbers, or with such overwhelming popularity, through the boulevards of this torrid, despairing city. They jostled and pushed and crowded through narrow lanes to reach the main highway and then found riot police in steel helmets and batons lined on each side. The people ignored them all. And the cops, horribly outnumbered by these tens of thousands, smiled sheepishly and – to our astonishment – nodded their heads towards the men and women demanding freedom. Who would have believed the government had banned this march?
One million big.
ReplyDeleteRe: Israel’s security is "non-negotiable."
ReplyDeleteRight...
Re: Israel’s security is "non-negotiable."
ReplyDeleteWhateveeer...
There is "security", allen, which is not always the same as "preponderance of power"
ReplyDeleteThe sanctions have lit the fuse, now what happens?
ReplyDeleteAs the Forbes article, referenced at doug's NYTimes link relates:
... the Islamic Republic we have known for the last three decades is gone.
Forbes, always a viable and trusted source.
Perhaps President Obama will be able to do what none of his predecessors have. Maybe he can persuade Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to freeze settlements - and to make peace with the Palestinians.
ReplyDeleteMaybe, though I doubt it. The political costs of following through are too high, and the Israelis know that.
Obama does at least seem to be aware of the risks. Asked last week what the president might do if Israel ignored his request, a White House official pointedly noted that holding back loan guarantees “is not under discussion”.
Echoing Predecessors
Voice of America reports
ReplyDeleteU.S. President Barack Obama says it is up to the people of Iran to determine their nation's future. At the same time, he says he is troubled by the post-election turmoil there and wants to see an end to the bloodshed.
President Obama says he is deeply troubled by the violence in the streets of Iran, as protesters contest what they see as a rigged presidential election.
"I think it would be wrong for me to be silent about what we have seen on the television over the last few days," said President Obama.
Mr. Obama says the people of Iran need to know their ballots mattered. He says an investigation into allegations of vote rigging should go forward without further bloodshed.
"I think that the democratic process, free speech, the ability of people to peacefully dissent - all those are universal values and need to be respected," said Mr. Obama.
Speaking to reporters at the end of a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi at the White House, President Obama stressed that it is difficult for the United States to pass judgment on the running of the Iranian election. He stressed that "it is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran's leaders will be."
"We did not have observers there," he said. "We did not have international observers on hand, so I can't state definitively what happened one way or another with respect to the election. But what I can say is there appears to be a sense on the part of people who were so hopeful and so engaged and so committed to democracy, who now feel betrayed."
...
"What I would say to those people who put so much hope and energy into the political process, I would say to them that the world is watching and inspired by their participation - regardless of what the ultimate outcome of the election was," said President Obama.
...
"The use of tough, hard-headed diplomacy - diplomacy with no illusions about Iran and the nature of the differences between our two countries - is critical when it comes to pursuing a core set of our national security interests," said Mr. Obama.
Mr Mousavi announced on Sunday that he would challenge the result of the election, in which Mr Ahmadinejad was declared to have won two-thirds of the vote despite massive shows of support for Mr Mousavi.
ReplyDeleteAyatollah Khamenei said yesterday the 12-member Guardians Council had been advised to "precisely examine" Mr Mousavi's letter. A spokesman for the body said its decision would be announced in 10 days.
This is a stunning turnaround for Iran's most powerful figure, who previously welcomed the results. In his first public acknowledgement of the unrest, Ayatollah Khamenei told state television enemies of Iran were "conducting psychological war to instil dismay among the nation".
Defying Regime
Although he said he had no way of knowing whether the election was valid, Obama praised protesters and Iranian youth who questioned the results.
ReplyDelete"The world is watching and is inspired by their participation, regardless of what the ultimate outcome of the election was," he said.
At nightfall, Ahmadinejad opponents again shouted their denunciations from Tehran's rooftops. Cries of "Death to the dictator!" and "Allahu akbar!" - "God is great!" - echoed across the capital for a second night.--
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Election Not Selection--
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It would be nice to know what the actual vote was. I wonder what the pre-election polls had to say.
And here's an article that shows that Ahmadinejad really did win by about the numbers claimed.
ReplyDeletePre-Election Polls In Iran--
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If he's got that kind of support we'll see a log of dead students and not much more.
lot of dead students
ReplyDeleteRe: security
ReplyDeleteThere is a wall.
Although he said he had no way of knowing whether the election was valid, Obama praised protesters and Iranian youth who questioned the results.--
ReplyDelete-/
He may end up doing nothing but getting a lot of kids shot.
So on the one hand one feels for the protestors, on the other they may actually be in a distinct minority on many things.
hey, if we can pin the blame for the financial crisis on Bush then we can pin the star of Iranian success on him as well...no?
ReplyDeleteAnother article in Cheap Talk--
ReplyDeleteIran Pre-election Polls
June 15, 2009
From an excellent article in the Washington Post:
The election results in Iran may reflect the will of the Iranian people. Many experts are claiming that the margin of victory of incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was the result of fraud or manipulation, but our nationwide public opinion survey of Iranians three weeks before the vote showed Ahmadinejad leading by a more than 2 to 1 margin — greater than his actual apparent margin of victory in Friday’s election.
The fact that, in the run-up to the election, expectations were low for any change in Iran is also pretty good evidence that what we are seeing is, sadly, less a reflection of majority opinion than a vocal, and highly motivated minority. The implications are a little scary just weeks after the anniversary of Tiananmen…
The article concludes with some political dangers:
Allegations of fraud and electoral manipulation will serve to further isolate Iran and are likely to increase its belligerence and intransigence against the outside world. Before other countries, including the United States, jump to the conclusion that the Iranian presidential elections were fraudulent, with the grave consequences such charges could bring, they should consider all independent information. The fact may simply be that the reelection of President Ahmadinejad is what the Iranian people wanted.
"The Americans see through that ruse," says the US-based analyst Daniel Levy, who does not expect Obama to ease the pressure on settlements just because Bibi has dared speak of a two-state solution. But there are opportunities here, too.
ReplyDeleteNetanyahu lodged his objections to a Palestinian state solely in terms of Israeli security. Obama could respond to that, says Levy, by offering whatever Israel needs to allay its fears – even a Nato-led protection force, if that's what it takes.
Netanyahu has framed the conflict in such a way as to give serious leverage to Obama.
Obama's Resolve
I'm starting to think Ahmadinejad had no reason the cheat and the results might be more or less valid.
ReplyDeleteThis is a good article about the pre election polling in
ReplyDeleteIran
Yes, a NATO led force such as that in Afghanistan, where the Germans will not deploy to the combat zones.
ReplyDeleteOf course, a disarmed Palestinian state would make the NATO, UN, Turkish ruses unnecessary.
Perhaps our Egyptian “Friends of Barack” can be convinced to take a more "conscientious" role in preventing the importation of munitions to Hamas.
Nah...
""I think that the democratic process, free speech, the ability of people to peacefully dissent - all those are universal values and need to be respected," said Mr. Obama."
ReplyDelete---
That's why he has 20 Czars not subject to congressional approval, gave 4 billion to ACORN, and is pushing "Cardcheck."
Two NATO soldiers and 29 Taliban were killed in insurgency-linked violence in Afghanistan, authorities said on Monday, as a new US commander took over foreign troops battling the tide of attacks.
ReplyDeleteA Canadian soldier died in an explosion in the southern province of Kandahar. US General Stanley McChrystal took command of nearly 90,000 US- and NATO-led troops on Monday, tasked with turning around the war.
An Estonian soldier was killed on Monday in an ambush in the Nad Ali area in the southern province of Helmand, the Defence Ministry told reporters in Tallinn.
Killed in Afghanistan
Man, I wish I could get excited with you, Deuce. But, I just don't have any confidence in that bunch, at all.
ReplyDeleteI've never met one that wasn't half-crazy, and doing five butt-ups a day can't help.
When you show me a video of a million of them marching to Qom, and stringing up that bunch of old goat-fucking bastards, THEN I'll get interested.
Meantime, I'm stuck on health-care.
"Nonviolent resistance movements are typically driven by students, young people who are increasingly born digital natives," Ushadidi board member Patrick Meier wrote in a presentation posted online at iRevolution.
ReplyDelete"Resistance movements are likely to make even more use of new communication technology and digital media in the future. At the same time, however, the likelihood and consequences of getting caught are high."
"Organisational hierarchies are being broken down as youth adopt new technologies," Meier said.
Sidestepping News Blackout
In fairness, that poll the Wash Post cited was done 30 days prior to the election well before the opponent whassisname caught fire.
ReplyDeleteThe university was the site of serious clashes against student-led protests in 1999 and is one of the nerve centres of the pro-reform movement.
ReplyDeleteAfter dark on Sunday, Ahmadinejad opponents shouted "Death to the dictator!" and "Allahu akbar!" - "God is great!" - from Teheran's rooftops. The protest bore deep historic resonance - it was how the leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini asked Iran to unite against the Western-backed shah 30 years earlier.
In Moscow, the Iranian embassy said Ahmadinejad has put off a visit to Russia, and it is unclear whether he will come at all. Ahmadinejad had been expected to travel to the Russian city of Yekaterinburg and meet President Dmitry Medvedev on Monday on the sidelines of a regional summit.
Pro-reform Rally
Yahoo News:
ReplyDeleteThe Obama administration faces a dilemma over how to respond to Iran's disputed election. Strong criticism could backfire but a muted response leaves an impression of weakness.
So far senior U.S. officials have given a guarded response to the disputed vote, which sparked violent protests after hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's was declared the easy victor over ex-prime minister Mirhossein Mousavi.
Several analysts said on Monday the White House was in a no-win situation but the best option was to stand back rather than inject U.S. views into the Iranian political debate.
"The U.S. ability to do harm in Iranian politics is much greater than doing good," said Middle East expert Jon Alterman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Alterman said the U.S. message delivered by Vice President Joe Biden on Sunday was the right one: Washington wants more information about the election before casting judgment and the path of engagement is still open.
Domestically, President Barack Obama is under pressure from conservatives who want a more forceful response like that of the European Union which has demanded immediate clarification of the official outcome.
Republican Senator John McCain, Obama's opponent in last year's U.S. presidential election, called the reelection of Ahmadinejad "corrupt" and urged the United States to "speak out strongly."
[...]
But Scott Eric Kaufman spoke to an Iranian student who knows better:
"When my student bemoaned the cautiousness of Obama administration's statements, his brother confirmed one aspect of Spencer Ackerman's account of the administration's behavior, saying that government forces are already accusing protesters of collaborating with the U.S., and that protesters are actually worried that Obama will make an explicit show of support, as that would restore some credibility to what the government has said about the election and, more importantly, could undermine a reform coalition in which some factions are none-too-fond of America."
Well. Tomorrow's the Big Day. For me. (It'll be a Big Day for a lot of Iranians, too.) The Old Man returns. And I think they're hatching some to-do at the point of arrival. He'd be mortified if he knew. But it's out of my hands.
Who, who, who ever knew that a mere six months could be so goddamned long?
Hey, Rufus,
ReplyDeleteMassachusetts now has the longest waiting lists to see a specialist in the country!
And he's replenishing my precious store of lemons, Trader Joe's salsa, and grana padano.
ReplyDeleteGood man.
Was that his last deployment over there, Trish?
ReplyDeleteNo. We've got AfPak coming. Lots and lots of AfPak.
ReplyDeleteIt never ends.
ReplyDeleteHow long has he been in?
But he likes it up there - loves it, in fact - so I'll grin and bear it. Or at least bear it.
ReplyDelete24 years.
ReplyDeleteAbove and beyond the call.
ReplyDeleteIt only feels like 80.
ReplyDeleteSure, Doug, that's my point. Thousands are getting to see a "specialist" that never could before.
ReplyDeleteThe line will probably subside some when they've worked off the "backlog." If not, they'll just have to train more specialists, won't they?
My physiological age seems to be rapidly approaching that number.
ReplyDeleteLast 5 have been brutal.
The founder of Colombia Health Care Systems doesn't see it that way Rufus.
ReplyDeleteNo spigot for Specialists exists, that I'm aware of.
I'll bet there's not nearly as many people waiting in the Emergency Rooms.
ReplyDeleteDoug, what is Columbia health care systems?
ReplyDeleteDoesn't look that way, Rufus:
ReplyDelete---
Mass. Health Care Reform Reveals Doctor Shortage
Health care reform in Massachusetts has led to a dramatic increase in the number of people with health insurance. But there's an unintended consequence: A sudden demand for primary care doctors has outpaced the supply.
Primary Care From The ER
Kamela Christara appears at the triage window in the emergency room at Cooley Dickinson Hospital in western Massachusetts.
The 47-year-old single mother has advanced Lyme disease, and she can't find a primary care doctor to oversee her care. She's called half a dozen practices in three towns, and none are accepting new patients. So when problems come up, even routine ones, she comes to the emergency room. Each time, she goes through her medical history with the intake nurse.
Christara is worried she'll keep getting sicker if no one doctor is tracking her health. Even her regular prescriptions come from the emergency department.
It's split up into 3 different health insurance outfits now, Rufus.
ReplyDeleteIt was the 7th largest employer in the country back when it was Columbia.
Dinnertime, sorry to be rude.
ReplyDeleteYou're making my case for me, Doug. This woman is doing what she's always done. You'll notice she doesn't HAVE a physician. She's, Always, used the ER.
ReplyDeleteNow she has insurance. She'll find a doctor. Eventually. That's better than NEVER.
We'll need more Doctors. No problem. It'll take a couple of years, but if the "paying" customers are there, the doctors will show up. Bet on it. This IS America, you know.
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ReplyDeleteI'm hearing that the Iranians are kicking the foreign journalists out of the country (Mark Levin)
ReplyDeleteIf so, there's a crackdown coming.
This is the result of the Cairo speech?
And North Korea seems to be going full speed ahead, to where ever they are going.
We've got paying customers out here, and a shortfall of 4 or 5 doctors at Valley Medical. We need more capacity in our medical schools.
ReplyDeleteThey are going to make the government insurance more attractive than the private, forcing out the private, then the rationing will begin, with what care you can or cannot have being decided by some government schmuck. Already there are plans to cut back Medicaid.
I'm not sure what the answer is, but I don't want a government schmuck telling people what they can and cannot have.
Bob, do you, in your "heart of hearts," really think Obama's going to "Cut" Medicaid? Yeah, me neither.
ReplyDeleteHow old are you, Bubba? You're supposed to have figured out by now that there's ALWAYS some schmuck, somewhere, deciding what you can, or can't have.
All you and Doug are saying is, "We don't want poor people to have medical care, so we can have more.
Those days are gone, and the Republicans will keep losing elections until they figure that out.
Those rose colored glasses sure distort reality, Rufus:
ReplyDelete---
"Eighteen primary care doctors of this area have left the practice of primary care in the past two years," she says. "Someone needs to ask why."
Why Primary Care Doctors Are Leaving
One problem, she says, is money. Insurance companies, Medicaid and Medicare pay less for primary care than for specialist visits. And no one pays for the time it takes to fill out paperwork, take surveys for the insurance company or write sick notes to employers.
"A urologist, in one procedure, makes more than I make in two days of seeing patients," Atkinson says.
Massachusetts Dr. Dan Levy, who left primary care for medical administration, says that's only getting worse with universal health care, since newly insured patients tend to come with a pile of saved-up complaints.
"You have someone on your hands with five separate medical problems, 15 minutes to see them. If you spend the extra half hour, you don't get paid for it, so the pressure is to refer them to a subspecialist," Levy explains. "It takes a lot of the pleasure and fun out of doing medicine."
Elmore County Commission votes to continue considering nuclear plant rezone
ReplyDeleteCommissioners note contradictions in comprehensive land use plan and ask their Planning and Zoning commission to consider economic goals and a development agreement for power plant
June 15, 2009
Alternate Energy Holdings Inc.(AEHI:PK), an investor-funded company seeking to build an advanced third-generation nuclear power plant in Southwest Idaho, said it is pleased at a unanimous decision by Elmore County Commissioners today to consider in more detail a proposal to rezone land for a proposed nuclear power plant.
The company has applied to Elmore County to rezone 1,300 acres of land for the plant, which would use 200 acres and leave the rest in farming. The three-member commission began discussing the issue June 8 and continued discussion until today while legal staff continued researching issues.
In deliberations Monday, Commissioner Connie Cruser said the current discussion reminds her of 40 years ago, when her high school debate team discussed the Hells Canyon Dam complex, which is Idaho’s largest power plant at nearly 400 megawatts.
AEHI CEO and President Don Gillispie said the commission is clearly seeking to balance Elmore County’s rural heritage with its goals for economic development. Gillispie has previously said the county’s comprehensive plan is well-intentioned, but could not have foreseen the possibility of a large-output, carbon-free power plant that would stimulate thousands of jobs.
“As our plans progress, we hope the commission realizes that our proposed plant will serve both rural preservation and economic development,” Gillispie said. “The commission today could have rejected our rezone request outright - to the delight of our opposition - but they instead chose to give it, and their comprehensive plan, further consideration.”
“The comprehensive plan says we want to try and encourage new business in the county, that’s the general feeling, but the word ‘only’ is an issue,” said Commissioner Arlie Shaw.
“This is too important of an issue to decide on one word in the comprehensive plan,” Cruser said. “We knew things would come up and you can’t foresee everything” in a comprehensive plan. The AEHI application “is not in conflict with the comp plan in every area and I would like to see it go back to P and Z.”
Commission Chairman Larry Rose made the motion for the Planning and Zoning commission to consider to what extent the comp plan may need to be changed to reflect the best interests of the county with regard to industrial development.
The Commission also directed the Planning and Zoning Commission to work with AEHI on drafting a development agreement. The agreement would state the general conditions under which the land may be used if rezoned. If it turns out the nuclear plant isn’t built, the development agreement will specify the land would revert to agricultural zoning.
The Elmore County Commission in April heard more than four hours of testimony in favor of AEHI’s request to rezone land for the plant, with over 500 supporters packing the hearing room.
Socialism works, al-Bob, capitalism doesn't.
ReplyDeleteEverybody knows that!
Get with the program!
AND illegals SHOULD get healtcare on our dime as they take our jobs and don't pay their way.
ReplyDeleteUnacceptably long waiting times for surgery in the UK's NHS turn curable cancers into incurable cancers.
ReplyDelete-
Likewise, a national audit of 2498 patients seen during 1 week in 2003 at all 55 radiotherapy centres in the UK (Ash et al, 2004) found that median waiting times had increased by 2 weeks since 1998 for both radical and adjuvant radiotherapy, and that fewer patients were being treated within the standards for good practice set by the Joint Collegiate Council for Oncology (JCCO). The percentage of patients waiting longer than the maximum times advised by the JCCO had increased from 32% in 1998 to 72% in 2003 for radical treatments, from 25 to 60% for palliative treatments, and from 39 to 62% for adjuvant treatments.
Okay, Doug. So far we've established that primary care physicians wish they were specialists. They're unhappy with Medicare, Medicaid, and Insurance Companies. So, they left for Cuba,
ReplyDeleteOr something.
The one whiner said it. There's a Surge of people that have never had real healthcare, before. The baler's getting a little clogged up.
Hell, if ol' Ben did drop hundred dollar bills out of helicopters I guarantee you I could find somebody to bitch about not getting as many as he'd like.
Oh, and the "illegals" argument is a Strawman. Nobody is positing that illegal aliens should be eligible for free healthcare in (non-life threatening circumstances.)
First off, who gives a fuck about the Brits? They rushed straight into socialism after WWII (afraid of the Russkies, I guess,) and haven't been the same since.
ReplyDeleteHell, they even gave up their guns.
They're pitiful shells of their former selves,
and your article is from 2003 (in fairness, I doubt it's any better now.)
By the way, remember Medicare "Part D?" Haven't heard much about it, recently, have you? From Libs, or Conservatives.
ReplyDeleteHmm, I wonder why?
I heard something in passing, yesterday, that that is the only part of the medicare program that's NOT in trouble. Something about it paying for itself, or something like that.
Come on guys and gals, admit it, at least to yourselves...
ReplyDeleteObama could respond to that, says Levy, by offering whatever Israel needs to allay its fears – even a Nato-led protection force, if that's what it takesM.
No, not tha Nato in Afghanistan, but the Nato, in Turkey.
Like you didn't read it here, first.
Now the idea has breached the MSM wall and entered the realm of serious proposals.
First of the many incremental steps to success.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, bobbie.
ReplyDeleteThis whole episode is due to the Cairo speech, on top of six years of preperation, by Team43.
This green revolution is the result of the sanctions regime squeezing the Iranian middle.
What did you ever think success was goingto look like, in Iran?
ReplyDeleteIslamic Republics define success in Iraq and Afpakistan, it will in Iran, too.
Obama going right to the heart of the Iranian middle class, iver the heads of the mullahs, with Condi Rice's message.
ReplyDeleteThe United States had no permanent enemies, and that the US wants moderate Islam and Muslims as full partners in Peace.
The message hit the target, in Lebanon and Iran.
So celebrate, celebrate, dance to the music!
ReplyDeleteIt's a new day!
Conservatives for Patients' Rights
ReplyDeleteBacked by the reality of troop withdrawal from Iraq, the USm through our primary spokesman, the President, has sent a message of moderation that the Iranian people have taken to heart.
ReplyDeleteBeing willing to send Nato into the Levant, just another piece of the puzzle.
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ReplyDeletebobbie is already with the Socialist program, doug, he can stand pat.
ReplyDeleteHe approves of not selling or leasing the Anwar Wildlife Refuge. He approves of not drilling on other Federal lands in Alaska.
The Federal Land Use Planning Czar decided that the US wants to hold off on those developmental projects, for at least 25 more years.
The Czars know better than other people and their private capital, doug, as far as bobbie is concerned.
The "rich" will only post, then utilize the land, not just leave it to look at, then only after an arduous journey. One that may well strengthen the souls of those few that make the trek, at others expense.
No sales of leases of Federal land allowed, we must keep those lands, each and every inch, pristine.
bobbie fully supports the Czar, who employs enviormental empathy, in decisions regarding the land.
I missed out on his opposition to Anwar.
ReplyDeleteThat would put him at odds with his heroine, Mrs Palin.
bobbie uses the Class Warfare tactic of envy to make the argument that the collective knows best.
ReplyDeleteChastising the "Rich" as the enemies of the common good.
They'd want to keep others away from that sold land, not willing to share equal access across the population.
But bemoans when the Moscow Planning Czar wants a park, to service the hundred or so planned homes in his own real estate development, on Federal land, granted for homestead farming.
The hypocrisy then rears it's ugly head, higher, where bovvie uses those same Class Warfare arguments against managing Health Care, to cut costs.
He claims that ObamaCare will not prevail, in the effort to maximize usage and lower per capita costs, but offers no alternative.
Pure Alinsky tactics and, betcha dollars to donuts, bobbie does not even realize it.
bobbie opposes the development of any pristine area, by capitalists, doug.
ReplyDeleteSaid so just the other day, in one of his ranting tirades.
Privatization would only benefit the rich.
That happen, by happenstance, to be my friends
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletebobbie discount Alinsky, he does not read "that" type of book. Not being fine literature, but only the strategy set that conquered his version of America.
ReplyDeleteAlinsky didn't scatch bobbie's intellectual itch, and so he lives in ignorance of reality.
Free vistas for everyone, but doctors only for those that can pay!
ReplyDeleteThat's bobbie's mantra
Emergency Room care being so much more effective, in controlling costs, than preventive medicine.
ReplyDeleteEveryone "Knows" that.
Where as "Sell the view, then build the clinics & train the doctors" seems so much more, well, humane.
ReplyDeleteThe Idea Of Israel and NATO Has Been Around Awhile
ReplyDelete