Along with it being another cumbersome day on the homefront, I have to be honest, it was rather depressing, the news coming out of Iran today.
CNN has been on-the-case (albiet, doing mucho reporting on posts from Twitter, Facebook and others). Perhaps we need to come up with a new code, being, if "RT is "Re-Tweet", that CNN has been engaged in "RBRT" (Rebroadcasting Re-Tweets).
Which is a few boatloads more that MSNBC has been doing.
If they are not just flat-out obtuse, than the MSNBC suits must be in a coma, running their infamous "Doc-Blocs", while Tehran burns.
Surely, if one is not missing, there must be a white woman in distress among the Iranian throngs.
How to stay on top of the breaking news there, guys ...
Here's some posts you should check out, to get a handle on what's going on, and, to see, that this is far past the rigged election, they be remaking the country over there ... Just what comes out at the end is what we have to shake the Magic 8-Ball to see...
There's two people that have been doing yeoman work;
Andrew Sullivan - Live-Blogging Day 8
Nico Pitney - Iran Updates (VIDEO): Live-Blogging The Uprising
Two posts, worth reading, from Al Giordano;
Tehran’s Freedom Square Will Be “the Palpitating Heart of the World”
Iranian Bus Workers Join the Resistance
The Flying Monkeys, and Right Wing Freak Show are throwing their feces around ...
Steven Benen takes apart The Cheney Fluffer, and Little Billy Kristol in "DO THEY KNOW THE OTHER SIDE EXISTS?..."
Mike Madden, of Salon, has Mousavi: "I am prepared for martyrdom"
Carnegie Endowment Iran analyst Karim Sadjadpour: Is Mousavi willing to risk "slaughter" in the streets?
Larisa Alexandrovna: Iran's protest not as bloody as feared and US double standards...
Anonymous, on Salon: Khamanei weeps, he tells us there was no vote rigging, and he seems to give a green light for a crackdown
And, Juan Cole turns it over his Informed Comment to Jeffery Lyons (Reuters Tehran bureau chief from 1998-2001, is the co-author of Answering Only to God: Faith and Freedom in 21st-Century Iran. His latest book, The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization, was published earlier this year by Bloomsbury Press), for a "man behind the curtain" view, with "Lyons: Khamenei's Past Power Play against the Clerics May Weaken him Now in Confronting the Reformers"
The Respite
Back in the early 1960's, the Duke Ellington Orchestra embarked on a State Department-sponsored world tour, primarily hitting the Middle East, in what later would be heard in his "Far East Suite";The album's title is something of a misnomer, since only one track – "Ad Lib on Nippon", inspired by a 1964 tour of Japan – is strictly speaking concerned with a country in the "Far East". The rest of the music on the album was inspired by a world tour undertaken by Ellington and his orchestra in 1963, which took in Beirut, Amman, Kabul, New Delhi, Sri Lanka, Tehran, Madras, Mumbai, Baghdad, and Cairo (visits to Istanbul, Nicosia, Cairo, Alexandria, Athens, and Thessaloniki were postponed when the news of the assassination of John F. Kennedy reached the tour party).
One of the tunes, "Isfahan" became a jazz standard, and here it is;
Duke Ellington - Isfahan
Hopefully, tomorrow, we'll be back in-the-groove ...
From The Rooftops ... Allah Akbar! 
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Isfahan
This Date ... On The Garlic
20 June 2008... On The Garlic
Happy Summertime!
Bob Ryan's "Greatest of the green"
20 June 2006... On The Garlic
This Just In! - White House Says No Terror Alert Over Aide’s Conviction; Rove To Say “On Message” Smearing Dems; Nixed Bush Surprise Visit To Courthouse To Offer Testimony
Top Ten Cloves: Besides “Last Throes”, Other Things Dick Cheney May Have Underestimated
20 June 2005... On The Garlic
Bush Threatens Spain With Axis Placement; President "Extremely Displeased" With Gay Marriage Vote
Officials Say Two Jacksons Cause of California Quakes; News of Laker Signing and Trial Acquittal Rattle Entire State
Rep Hunter May Leave Congress For Restaurant Biz; Says "Different Stress Level" But "More Fun In The Kitchen, Than On The Floor"
Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard At The Iranian Election
Friday, June 19, 2009
Make Way For The New Jib Jab!
Well, since we had a busy day on the homefront (Doc appointment for The Aunt, followed by other required duties), that left minimal time for reading and writing (and, boy, is there a ton of stuff to riff on, including a boatload of Instant, and otherwise gigantic, Ignorant Dolts).
So, we'll put up as a place-holder, the new Jib Jab video, debuted this evening, at the 2009 Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner, down in Washington, D.C.
As always, Jib Jab nails, most humorously ...
He's Barack Obama Released — June 19, 2009
(Editor's Note - Can't get the video to post here, so click the link to get to it)
Other Links
Huffington Post - Obama's Radio And TV Correspondents' Dinner Speech (VIDEO)
C-SPAN - 2009 Radio and Television Correspondents' Dinner
Democratic Underground - John Hodgman @ Radio & Television Correspondents Dinner (Part 1)
This Date ... On The Garlic
19 June 2008... On The Garlic
Life Imitates Art ... Or, Did Burt Lancaster Invent Google Earth?
19 June 2007... On The Garlic
Top Ten Cloves: How Being Named "Girl Scout For Life" Is Going To Cramp Dolly Parton's Style
Retro Garlic ... Cómo Se Dices "You're In The Army Now
19 June 2006... On The Garlic
Breaking News! - Staffers calling the President “Svengali”; Bush Threatens North Korea With Unannounced Visit If Missile Tested; Will Subject Kim Jong II To The “Look In The Eyes”; Boasts “Talk To Maliki or Gates If You Think I’m Bluffing”
Top Ten Cloves: Things The CIA Will Do To Boost Morale and Rebuild Spy Network
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Congratulations Maria Schneider!
That is, to the awesome composer/arranger/orchestra-leader, and not the actress.
Who is Maria Scheinder, you ask?Schneider formed The Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra in 1993, appearing weekly at Visiones in Greenwich Village for five years. Her orchestra performed at many jazz festivals and toured Europe.
At the 13th annual Jazz Journalists Association Jazz Awards this week, Maria Schneider was acknowledged with three major awards, to add to large collection of awards earned during her career;
Schneider was one of the first artists to use ArtistShare to produce an album. Her 2004 album, Concert in the Garden, became the first Grammy Award-winning recording sold exclusively via the Internet. It was named Jazz Album of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association, which also named Schneider Composer of the Year and Arranger of the Year and named her group Large Jazz Ensemble of the Year.
Schneider's ensemble is now titled "The Maria Schneider Orchestra". Their new album, Sky Blue, was released in July 2007, also via ArtistShare. Schneider's composition "Cerulean Skies," from Sky Blue, won a Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition in 2008. Schneider is an avid birdwatcher and enlisted band members to contribute bird calls on "Cerulean Skies."
- Composer of the Year
- Arranger of the Year
- Large Ensemble of the Year - Maria Schneider Orchestra
You can get more info at the Jazz Journalist Association website, or, visit JazzHouse.org
Visit Maria Schneider's website
And, of course, some of her music ...
Maria Schneider Orchestra - My Ideal [2008]
Hand Gliding - Maria Schneider Orchestra
Boleria, Solea y Rumba- Maria Schneider Orchestra
You could do less rewarding things if you don't get hip to Maria Schneider, and start digging into her music.
Congrats, again, Maria!
Pennies From Loomis!
Well, actually, a lot more than pennies ...
Try, about $160,000!
You gotta love stories like this, and it comes with a H/T to Maria Stuart, over on Open Salon.
It’s raining dead presidents in DetroitIt’s been a week since motorists and passersby competed with armored truck crews and police for money that landed like litter along the I-75/Chrysler freeway in Detroit.
It was about 8:30 a.m. on June 11 when a Loomis armored car transporting an unknown amount of cash lost part of its load, reportedly newly printed $20 and $100 bills. No one’s yet sure how it happened. The freeway was closed for about an hour as Loomis crews and police recovered as much of the cash as they could.
But they had competition. According to news reports, dozens of motorists and passersby scrambled along the freeway to grab up as much money as they could.
In the end, there’s $160,000 missing.
The Detroit News called it a "Freeway Lottery", "as dozens of drivers stopped to compete with Loomis guards in scooping up scads of cash lying on the roadway and in the waist-high grass leading to the service drive."
Stuart's post goes on to say that Loomis offered a 10% reward for any money returned, which was accompanied by the club-in-hand threat of prosecution for those that don't.
Yeah, good luck with that one Loomis.
Especially when you read the ClickonDetroit story;Police are also looking at surveillance video from cameras mounted along I-75, in hopes of figuring out who took the cash.
"Any monies that are lost are obviously guaranteed by Loomis to the people who own them," said Loomis spokesman Pat Flaharty.
One driver told Local 4 that police were picking up the cash, otherwise she might have tried to pick up some bills.
Take it away, Louie!
Louis Prima - Pennies from the Heaven
This Date ... On The Garlic
18 June 2008... On The Garlic
Top Ten Cloves: Ways Obama Campaign Can Re-Introduce Michelle Obama
But Wait, There's More! ... AP Update
No.17! ... Celtics Demolish Lakers!
18 June 2007... On The Garlic
Pissing With The Big Dogs ... Evolution Sundays, Here We Come ... The Results - The Garlic Weekly Poll
18 June 2005... On The Garlic
Weekend Special - Sautéed Cloves
Poll Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll June 11 - June 17 2006: “For the comments she has made, insulting the Sept 11th widows while promoting her new book, Ann Coulter must have ....”
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
GREEEEEEEEEEEEN!
I am a sucker for these kind of things (like the girls softball game last year, where the opposing team carried the girl who hit the winning hit, but was injured, and unless she crossed the plate - no substitution allowed - her team would lose).
And, yes, the title is a riff on those Spanish soccer announcers gooooaaaallll calls
H/T to Andrew Sullivan for being on the case, of the Iranian Soccer Team members wearing green, in support of the protesters back home.
Sullivan wrote;Playing a critical game right now - and look at their wrists. They took the bands off in the second half. God knows what they were told in the half-time. But for those who still don't believe this is a genuinely national movement, open your eyes.
From CNN;
Iran's soccer team wears symbolic green bandsMembers of Iran's national soccer team wore green arm and wrist bands Wednesday during their World Cup qualifying match against South Korea.
As to the green wrist bands, from Think Progress;
The team does not normally wear green bandsAfter half-time, only one player kept his green wristband on. Iranian bloggers speculated that “Ali Abadi, chairman of the Iranian Football Federation (FFI), who is close to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had telephoned Seoul during half time and instructed the players to remove the green wristbands immediately.”
From the rooftops ... Allah Akbar!
Bonus Iran Riffs
Somebody Check Jim Baker's Passport!
How High The Moon
"It's Now All of Iran!"
Bonus Bonus
Ray Charles - Bein' Green - CD Quality Audio
"It's Now All of Iran!"
There's a great post on Juan Cole's Informed Comment, that is well worth reading.
We don't have Mousavi supporters, it's now all of Iran...That they came to Azadi, a place where thirty years ago the Revolution pivoted towards victory was fitting, for as much as the election campaign had been about who best represented the revolutionary values of Iran, Islam, and the late Imam, the push and pull of the past few days between opposition and Ahmadinejad forces has been a struggle to lay claim to authenticity. Authenticity that lies in the imagined and lived past, places, and practices of the Islamic Republic. It is as if whomever can get to the important places and rituals first and stay there, hang onto them, will win. So at night, beginning at 9 pm, we hear shouts of "Allah Akbar!" from the rooftops, just like in the fall and winter of 1978-1979. We have marches to sacred spots like Azadi and appeals by all sides to the memory of Khomeini...
In the crowd there are families, young and old. One cannot help but notice the large presence of women of all ages. The typical daily life of the capital is out here together, the homes, sidewalks and boulevards abandoned for this shared space. There is word that the crowd is millions strong; we know that it stretches eastwards to Imam Hussein Square. It is an incredible occasion---by comparison the state-organized 200,000 strong anniversary march that takes place every February starts from around Ferdowsi Square, several kilometers closer in to Azadi.
[snip]
There are new signs as well. Written in English, "Where is My Vote?" (I can't help myself, the idea for an Al Gore-Mir Hossein Mousavi buddy film pops into my mind, "Dude, Where is My Vote?"). Another: 2 x 2 = 24 million, a play on the bogus economic measures touted by Ahmadinejad during the debates, now updated to reflect the equally dubious election results.
[snip]
As I have noted before, what is remarkable about the Mousavi and opposition marches is the orderly disorder. These are not rallies or events in the manner that we are accustomed to in the United States. There are no official Mousavi volunteers guiding the crowd to the designated rallying points, college interns filled with coffee and day-old pizza. The movement is self-directed. Mousavi had asked his supporters to march but to march respectfully, to not give any excuse for violence. The crowd is abiding. Along the nearly kilometer length of a basiji base, the cry goes up: Shoar nagoo! Don't shout slogans! Hands are up held up instead. It is quiet. Here and there a voice, unable to restrain itself, begins to scream "Allah Akbar! Allah Akbar!" He is met instantly with hisses and whistles---saket! saket! quiet! quiet!---and the voice falls silent again.
Todd Gitlin, over on TPMCafe calls the post "Reading Gatsby in Teheran"
There's some other significant news coming out, notably, McClatchy's "Iran's senior ayatollah slams election, confirming split", which Think Progress's Wonk Room also covers, in "Montazeri: ‘In This Day And Age, One Cannot Hide The Truth From The People’"
Andrew Sullivan has a bevy of good info on his site.
Robert Baer, the former CIA Operative, has "Khamenei on the Ropes?"
And, the United States is, in one small way, giving its' support, by way of the State Department wheeling-and-dealing with Twitter, to delay it's scheduled maintenance shutdown, so as the Iranian's could maintain communication;Twitter maintained service during Iranian elections after US State Dept request ...Twitter, the social networking website, postponed a scheduled maintenance shutdown after a US State Department request that it keep publishing during the Iran election protests
State Department to Twitter: No Fail Whale for Iran
Lastly, Salon has "What they saw at the Green Revolution - A photographic record of the Iranian election and its aftermath, through Monday's bloody street protests", with the accompanying slideshow.
Krugman Pokes His Critics - "And I was on the grassy knoll, too"
Paul Moore: It must be nice to always believe you know better, to always think you're the smartest person in the room.
Jane Craig: No. It's awful.
From 'Broadcast News'
We can't say if Paul Krugman feels like the Holly Hunter character, but he does seem to be on-the-money more often than he is not.
And, today, he pokes fun at some who have been dissing him;One of the funny aspects of being a somewhat, um, forceful writer is that I’m regularly accused of all sorts of villainy. I was personally responsible for the demise of Enron; my nonexistent son worked for Hillary; etc.
He offers a link to an article that may have provoked those critics, so check out "And I was on the grassy knoll, too"
No doubt, And Morning Joke won't be inviting him out for some Starbucks coffee.
Coming Soon, On "Film At 11"
Yves Smith, over on his Naked Capitalism, has a head-shaker today;
Germans to Install Gold Vending MachinesYou cannot make this stuff up. Even as of last summer, there were reports that gold at retail was priced at a hefty premium, often 20% or more, to professional prices. Greater convenience comes with a greater markup. The German gold vending machine reportedly update prices every few minutes and add a 30% upcharge.
Smith then points to this Financial Times article;
Germans taste machines with Midas touchLong attracted to the safety of solid gold, Germans will soon be able to sate their appetite for the yellow metal as easily as buying a chocolate bar after plans were announced on Tuesday to install gold vending machines in airports and railway stations across the country.
[snip]
“German investors have always preferred to hold a lot of personal wealth in gold, for historical reasons. They have twice lost everything,” said Thomas Geissler, the owner of the company, who hopes to install “Gold to go” machines in 500 locations in German-speaking countries this year.
[snip]
A prototype vending machine on display in Frankfurt Airport on Tuesday appeared to be a converted version of the dispensers typically used to sell snacks. For €30 airport shoppers could buy a 1g wafer of gold, with a larger 10g bar priced on Tuesday at €245 and gold coins also on sale.
When the Financial Times bought the cheapest product it was dispensed in an oblong metal box labelled “My Golden Treasure”, with a certificate of authenticity signed by Mr Geissler but no receipt and the wrong change. Mr Geissler said he hoped to have a more advanced prototype available this month.
[snip]
Jens Willenbockel, an investment banker who saw the machine while passing through the airport, said he believed there could be a market. “Because of the crisis there is a lot of awareness of gold,” he said. “It is also a great gift for children – for them getting gold is like a fairytale.”
Call me skeptical, that people will want to secure their financial products, let alone precious metals, from a vending machine.
We will go out on a limb, that at some point in the near-term future, Munich residents will see a "Breaking News/Film at 11" story, of thieves hauling away one of these Gold vending machines, via truck.
This Date ... On The Garlic
17 June 2008... On The Garlic
Retro Garlic: Someone Teach Arianna Huffington How To Use Google
Yoo Hooey
Lanny Davis To Cry Fox Tears
No AP Here!
Hmmm ... A Sign of Things To Come?
17 June, 2005... On The Garlic
Late Push Puts Nader On Iranian Ballot; Says Wants To Beat Iraq To Democracy; Cites No British Memos On Him
Frist Considering Abandoning Videotape Practice; Senate Leader Under Fire For Backpedaling From Schiavo Diagnosis
Top Ten Cloves: Other Apologies The Senate Is Planning To Offer
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Morning Joke Sponsor Starbucks Lacerating Its' Customers
“Base eight is just like base ten really, if you're missing two fingers”
Tom Lehrer, from his song, "New Math"
You would expect, after you purchase over-priced coffee, and, additionally, a grinding machine (possibly getting price-gouged as well) from the same people, that you could safely grind your beans, and have bandage-free digits in which to hold your mug (with said company's logo, another big chunk of change you put out) to drink it.
Well, the new Morning Joke sponsor, Starbucks, has a bit of a PR problem today;U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission - Laceration Hazard Prompts Recall by Starbucks of Coffee Grinders; Made by Tsann Kuen
From the Boston Business Journal;
Hazard: The grinder can fail to turn off or can turn on unexpectedly, posing a laceration hazard to consumers.
Starbucks recalling 530,000 coffee grindersStarbucks Corp. said it’s recalling 530,000 Chinese-made coffee grinders it sold for the past seven years, with some products not turning off or turning on unexpectedly and causing lacerations to some owners who were cleaning the grinders
According to Seattle-based Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) and the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, the products being recalled include the Starbucks Barista Blade Grinder and Seattle’s Best Coffee Blade Grinder, both sold from March 2002 to March 2009 and made by Tsann Kuen (Zhangzhou) Enterprise Co. Ltd. of China.
Could make watching Morning Joke a bit more interesting, looking, replaying the TIVO, checking to see if there are any nicked, stitched, or bandaged fingers.
Then again, would/will Morning Joke report this news?
Maybe they could, and have Thomas "My Head Is Flat" Friedman come on, and explain how in a global economy, undoubtedly, after showing of a clip of Friedman on Charlie Rose, expounding on the great cup of coffee he had, in some India slum, checking out the next, great wave of coffee grinders that will be ubiquitous, thanks to his books and the flat global economy, and that any of the other coffee grinders he hasn't shilled in his book, or television appearances, can "Suck On This", and wallow in being loser victims in his flat global economy.
Perhaps, as part of the sponsorship, they can have Mr. Gadget as a guest, and actually, live, on camera, grind Starbucks coffee beans, in a recalled Starbucks Coffee Grinder, and, assuming he keeps all his fingers, Morning Joke & Co. can inveigh against government intrusion, hampering good entrepreneurial companies, like ... (drumroll, please) ... Starbucks!
Oh yeah, you gotta juice-the-guy-you-gotta-juice, so, the entire panel will be wearing Starbucks t-shirts.
Bonus Morning Joke Riffs
Morning Joke and Starbucks ... Two Peas In A Non-Union Pod
Hey Morning Joke, Cheetos Are Made By A Successful Union Company!
This Date ... On The Garlic
16 June 2008... On The Garlic
Developing Story - MSNBC Making Pitches To Become Eulogy Channel
You're Kidding ... Bug Shit!
16 June 2007... On The Garlic
Developing Story! Chiquita Case Emerges With Ties To Bush, DOJ, CIA
16 June 2006... On The Garlic
House GOP Bends Rules, Yields Floor Time and Allows Coulter To Cast Iraq Vote; Conservative Doyenne Says Dems, Liberals “Enjoying Soldiers Deaths”; Ties Pelosi To 911 Widows
Top Ten Cloves: Things About The New English Translation of the Mass The Bishops Approved
16 June 2005... On The Garlic
Frist Threatened 'Nuclear Option' Over Lynching Bill; Said No Videotape To Review To Authenticate Measure
Tomlinson Investigated Over CPC Lobbyists; Chairman Continues Push For Congress To Slash All PBS Funding
Top Ten Cloves: Possible Plot Lines Of Proposed Jackson Family Reality TV Show
Monday, June 15, 2009
How High The Moon
Sorry, Garlic Fans, we got jammed up on the homefront today, that left little time to get much writing done (we did get one post finished, only to have news early this evening blow it out of the water, so a rewrite - if possible - is in order, to salvage it).
So, we had a hankering for this tune tonight, and we can use it to give a "Shout Out" to Mir Hosain Mousavi, and all his supporters, that, maybe, maybe, they can steal the election back (or get some serious concession out of it).
How High The Moon - June Christy
How High The Moon (1995 Digital Remaster) - June Christy
(Here's a version of it, with Nat King Cole, June Christy, Mel Torme)
This Date ... On The Garlic
15 June 2008... On The Garlic
We've Gone Well Past The 15-Minutes Thing ...
Happy Father's Day!
15 June 2007... On The Garlic
More Libby, Libby, Libby ... Bill Moyers' Begging His Pardon
Retro Garlic ... James Kilts and the Procter & Gamble - Gillette Merger
15 June 2006... On The Garlic
Breaking News! President Makes Unannounced, Surprise Visit To Redmond Tech Giant; Bolten Continues White House Sweep; Boots Out Microsoft’s Gates and Bush Speechwriter; Cites Need To Keep Week’s Momentum Going; Gates Long Tenure and Possible Economic Slump Prompted Action
Top Ten Cloves: Possible Problems For eBay With Adding Telephone Service For Their Buyers and Sellers
15 June 2005... On The Garlic
Rather Won't Retire So Viacom To Split Company; Veteran Newsman Stays Put, Says Best Work Still Ahead
Levitra Dumps Saatchi & Saatchi
Top Ten Cloves: Alternatives To Guantanamo That Bush Administration Are Considering
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Somebody Check Jim Baker's Passport!
We could, perhaps, use the byline for this, and include "Cleveland, Iran".
It is being reported, from credible sources, that the Iranian Election this weekend makes the Bush Cronies robbery of 2000 (and 2004) look like stealing lunch money.
The Iranian branch of election-fixers haven't even bothered to wink-and-nod ...
Is Mir Hosain Mousavi in the process of becoming the Iranian Al Gore?
Are the Iranian Ayatollahs adios?
Allah O Akbar!
You could, it appears, alter the infamous Apocalypse Now line to "I love the smell of a fixed election ... It smells like revolution!"
It's hard to grab the narrative here, with so much still very fluid, as to the news going on inside, and coming out of, Iran.
So, we're just going to lightly riff here, and point you to a whole, great bevy of posts (and, you can go out to Memeorandum, for a cavalcade more).
Not surprising, Al Giordano has his finger-on-the-pulse, and a great headline - A World at the Edge of Its Seat;That this video made it out of the country and on to the Internet this morning tells you everything you need to know about the difference between the youth uprising in China's Tienanmen Square twenty years ago this month - quashed with a massacre - and what is possible in Iran. Today, the world is wired from the bottom up: personal video cameras, cell phones, text messages, YouTube and the Internet in all its manifestations. Whatever is happening right now in Iran will not be easily swept under the Persian rug.
Andrew Sullivan points out that "The Revolution Will Be Twittered", and, in another, pointed out by a reader, that "Iran is headed for civil war."
"Tehran Burning", according to Libby Spencer, on the Impolitic, who then points to some great videos over on Michael Totten's blog, who notes that "The BBC says clashes between demonstrators and police in Tehran are the most violent in a decade."
There are also reports that Mousavi has been arrested (or has been placed in "house arrest).
Salon has a post up, from "Anonymous" on what's going down in Iran.
Juan Cole has a great read in "Stealing the Iranian Election" (and another, on Salon), as does Gary Sick, with his "Iran's political coup".
First, Cole;As the real numbers started coming into the Interior Ministry late on Friday, it became clear that Mousavi was winning. Mousavi's spokesman abroad, filmmaker Mohsen Makhbalbaf, alleges that the ministry even contacted Mousavi's camp and said it would begin preparing the population for this victory.
Now, Sick;
The ministry must have informed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has had a feud with Mousavi for over 30 years, who found this outcome unsupportable. And, apparently, he and other top leaders had been so confident of an Ahmadinejad win that they had made no contingency plans for what to do if he looked as though he would lose.
They therefore sent blanket instructions to the Electoral Commission to falsify the vote counts.The current election appears to repudiate both of those rules. The authorities were faced with a credible challenger, Mir Hossein Mousavi, who had the potential to challenge the existing power structure on certain key issues. He ran a surprisingly effective campaign, and his “green wave” began to be seen as more than a wave. In fact, many began calling it a Green Revolution. For a regime that has been terrified about the possibility of a “velvet revolution,” this may have been too much.
[snip]
In their own paranoia and hunger for power, the leaders of Iran have insulted their own fellow revolutionaries who have come to have second thoughts about absolute rule and the costs of repression, and they may have alienated an entire generation of future Iranian leaders. At the same time, they have provided an invaluable gift to their worst enemies abroad.
Steve Clemons, on The Washington Note, has two great posts up - "Iran: There Will Be Blood" and "Anatomy of Iran's Right Wing Coup", while Ali Frick, at Think Progress points out that the Right Wing Freak Show is blaming Obama, for Ahmadinejad, and the entire fraud election.
Lastly, the Guardian UK has an excellent article - "The Iranian election controversy: what happens now?" - that lays out, succinctly, the happenings, what's going to happen, if that can be predicted at this particular moment.
It would appear, that the Iran its' citizens woke up to today, and the many mornings to come, is going to be vastly different than the Iran that was in place before this heisted election.
As we noted above, to stay on top of this, go to Memeorandum, for the newest reports and posts.
And, you gotta be thinking, that somewhere, wherever they are, James Baker, and, perhaps, Katherine Harris, have bags packed, and placed near the door, possibly expecting a long-distance phone call, saying they are needed, pronto, and to bring the whole team over, the Ayatollah's want the Deluxe Bag Job, now that they have, seemingly, screwed up the basic intro package.
Or, maybe, the Carlyle Group will dispatch him ...
Yes, Allah O Akbar ...
From the rooftops ...
Bonus Cleveland, Iran Heisted Election Links
Steve Hynd: Still Confused About The Iranian Election
Nate Silver: Statistical Report Purporting to Show Rigged Iranian Election Is Flawed
Juan Cole: Class v. Culture Wars in Iranian Elections: Rejecting Charges of a North Tehran Fallacy
Jill: The Iranians are not sitting idly by and watching their election be stolen by right-wing thugs
Digby: Iran
Brad: Memo to the Iranians
Yes, Our Prediction Is In Flames
No, we were not cowering, hiding out, or otherwise avoiding our public, with the lack of posting yesterday (another homefront situation to be dealt with, another hospital run), over our bold, brazen prediction of the Orlando Magic whipping the Los Angeles Lakers in six games
How could we be so stupid, right?
It would be one thing to say it, talk about it with friends, but to post it up on the World Wide Web?
What can we say? ... Perhaps, award ourselves an Ignorant Dolt citation?
You have to admit, heading into the finals, Orlando was looking mighty shiny, dusting off the defending champs, the Boston Celtics, and then, needing only six games to blow away LeGone James and the Cleveland Cadavierliers.
Yet in this NBA Finals series, Orlando has been hampered most by ... Themselves!
You can profess that the Lakers are doing what they need to do, what a good team does, what a championship team does, to win games.
However, I am not quick to fit that particular crown on them.
Essentially, the Lakers have, simply, made less errors than Orlando.
In the past two games (Games 3 and 4), Orlando is up in the neighborhood of 40+ turnovers (including the win in Game 3), and in Game 4, missed 16 free throws (with Dwight Howard missing two, with 11-seconds left, and Orlando with a three-point lead; Had he hit, even, just one of them, it's a two-possession game for the Lakers, and even if they hit a three-pointer, it would come down in the last 5-or-6-seconds, the "foul game", and I would presume Orlando would be inbounding the ball, not to Howard, but either Turkelo or Lewis, the better free throw shooters).
So, just as you could say the Lakers are doing what they should be doing, you can also offer that, but for a missed lay-up, at very end (last second) of Game 2, and the missed Howard free throw, it is Orlando who could, just as easily, be up 3-games-to-1.
As one of the Talking Heads said after the game the other night, how Orlando plays in Game 5 tonight will be an indication if they believe they could still win this series, or if they go out, and just pack it in for the year.
It would be nice for Orlando to show some grit, and, perhaps, extend the series back to LA, for a Game 6, then, if they can keep their game together, bring it to a Game 7.
Anything to avoid the beatification of the rumored-rapist, Kobe Bryant, or their former-hatchet-man-as-a-player coach, Phil Jackson (he can win double, triple the amount of championships as Red Auerbach, and still only be a mere iota of a coach - Red built his championship line-ups, he didn't inherit them).
If that were to happen, put the pressure on the Lakers, who would be on the doorstep of blowing a 3-1 lead, and facing the prospects of losing the championship on their home court (let's not forget, Orlando beat the Celtics in a Game 7, in Boston).
Quite a few stars (both literally and figuratively) have to align for that to happen, however, as the old saying goes, "Never Say Never" ...
For now, we just want to see a good Game 5 tonight.
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