What we've been tweeting

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Tweet: Seriously, like there was any way that #OCCUPY and Ahmedinejad weren't going to be spooning eventually.

From the Weekly Standard:

A report today in an official outlet of the Iranian regime claims that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, will meet with members of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Ahmadinejad is currently in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly, where these reported meetings will take place.

"Ahmadinejad is also set to meet American university students, artists, intellectuals and elites, including Occupy Wall Street anti-capitalist protestors, despite the ongoing efforts made by the pro-Zionist lobbies to prevent direct link between American people and the Iranian president," the Iranian organ Fars News reports.

American university students, artists, intellectuals and elites..?

Can he take them with him?



Anti-semitic socialists with scant to zero respect for American ideals. A natural fit if there ever was one.

Media: Does this mean we can continue to ignore this Fast and Furious thing?

Alternate headline: When Do the Bombings Begin?

An elaborate Iranian-backed plot to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States was disrupted by FBI and DEA agents, officials said Tuesday.

Members of an elite Iranian security force planned to detonate a bomb at a busy Washington restaurant, killing Adel Al-Jubeir, the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the U.S. and possibly over 100 bystanders, according to documents filed in New York federal court.

The State Department has listed Iran as a state sponsor of terrorism since 1984.

The current plot was infiltrated by a Drug Enforcement Agency informant posing as a member of a Mexican drug cartel, officials said. The plotters planned to pay a member of the Zetas cartel $1.5 million to carry out the attack, and two advance payments of nearly $50,000 each were wired to an FBI-controlled bank account in August, they said.

An Iranian American, Manssor Arbabsiar, 56, has been arrested in the case. An Iran-based member of the secret Quds Force unit of that country's Revolutionary Guard, Gholam Shakuri, was also charged but is not in custody, officials said.

Apparently, we're not the only state entity helping out a Mexican drug cartel. Oh, stop. Like we were passing up that symmetry?

To our knowledge, this is the first time we have credible evidence of another country acting in the first person to carry out an act of terrorism on U.S. soil or even upon an U.S. interest as opposed to state-sponsored terrorism of the, say, Syria funding Hamas variety.




At the presser, here's the miserable hack that runs the Justice Department taking a question on the imminent subpoena he faces regarding Fast and Furious.

"thousands of pages of documents"

Yeah, thousands of pages of duplicative and heavily, heavily redacted documents, many of which could be found on-line.


And check out the implied dig at the Congressional investigation into Fast and Furious:

"... that will not detract us from the important business... of the Justice Department..."

Hey, champ, sorry to crowd your schedule but maybe, for the time being, we just let it be the Iranian government that's playing footsie with Mexican drug cartels.

Of black helicopters and Jane Fonda

Here's former U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney pretty much covering all the bases in an interview in Iran.




That she served six terms in the House is further proof that in a democracy, we do indeed get what we want and usually what we deserve.

As McKinney herself says, "It's all documented."

Unreal headline of the day

U.N. Human Rights Council Takes Aim at New Target: United States


Alternate headline: "When You Lose Russia, Cuba and Iran"


Fantasy: to be the UN ambassador for one day and for that day to be also blessed with super-human powers so that the UN building in lower Manhattan would be leveled by the sheer fury and rage of our overturning-the-money-changers'-tables-in-the-temple righteous indignation.

Not working very hard to get off the schneid

Now, call us crazy but we don't recall hearing quite the hue and cry to get behind the Iranian uprising and potential revolution/overthrow of the mullahocracy back in 2009 as we are hearing now with respect to Egypt.

But now the likes of Eugene Robinson, Maureen Dowd and George Soros have all caught democracy fever.

And after remaining largely silent on the matter, the administration has taken up the cause of seeing Hosni Mubarak removed from power. From earlier this week:

The Obama administration said for the first time that it supports a role for groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned Islamist organization, in a reformed Egyptian government.

The organization must reject violence and recognize democratic goals if the U.S. is to be comfortable with it taking part in the government, the White House said. But by even setting conditions for the involvement of such nonsecular groups, the administration took a surprise step in the midst of the crisis that has enveloped Egypt for the last week.

The statement was an acknowledgment that any popularly accepted new government will probably include groups that are not considered friendly to U.S. interests, and was a signal that the White House is prepared for that probability after 30 years of reliable relations with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

In fairness to the Obama administration, they're in kind of a bind as we've been stuck with Mubarak for the past 30 years as he has kept relative piece in the region for those 30 years but... the Muslim Brotherhood? Since when do these types of groups renounce their evil ways let alone actually carry through with any sort of positive action towards that end? The depth of naivete' displayed by the smartest kids in the room is breathtaking.

So, let's get this straight: the administration remains silent when they had a chance to support an uprising in Iran that was uniformly more pro-democracy and was without the taint of Islamists, yet we throw in with the anti-government factions in Egypt, of which a group that wants to tear up the peace treaty with Israel among other retrograde Islamist features, is a part.

Combine that with our deplorable handling of the situation down in Honduras and the amatuers of Team O are now 0 and 3 in 3 blowouts when it comes to responding to foreign policy crises.

The dubious value of "doing it for the children"

Two Charger home games thus far this year and so far, two blackouts as the team did not sell the requisite amount of tickets as dictated by the NFL.

Now short of the NFL revising this long-standing policy in this age of recession and 52" inch LCD televisions, what is to be done?

Some enterprising folks here in town have set up a site Stop Chager Blackouts that will accept donations in order to purchase seats for the Boys and Girls Club of San Diego.

Now, assuming everything is on the up and up, what a great idea. Blackouts are lifted, we get football on Sunday and some disadvantaged youngsters get to see their home town, 2-4 Chargers.



The drawback as we see it? To paraphrase Beano Cook upon learning that then-MLB commissioner Bowie Kuhn had granted free life-time baseball passes to the released Iranian hostages back in 1981: "Haven't they suffered enough?"

Summer time reading

Again, for your perusing pleasure, an excerpt from Walter Russell Mead's outstanding essay, The Top Ten Lessons of the Global Economic Meltdown:

3. The rogue states are parasites.

It may seem unkind or gloating to say so, but the point needs to be made: the pathetic pretensions of regimes like the ones in Iran and Venezuela to some kind of world leadership have been cruelly exposed. The governments of these countries are parasites on the global economy and far from representing alternatives to the global model, they are entirely dependent on capitalist success. When the global capitalist system is booming, the price of oil goes up and Venezuela and Iran have the cash for subsidies at home and adventures abroad. When the hated global system goes bust, Venezuela and Iran go broke. The leadership of these countries are like adolescents criticizing the bourgeois habits of the parents they sponge off. Both Iran and Venezuela have immense potential to help shape world civilization and culture in the twenty first century, but to make that contribution they will have to use their oil wealth to join and help shape the world system, rather than using it to feed the egos and illusions of their leaders.

Oil isn't the only thing fueling that ego. Western useful idiots like Oliver Stone and Sean Penn do their part as Chavez seizes businesses and silences opposition press, TV and radio as his soup kitchen Socialist dream begins to crumble all around him.

Trailer for Stone's documentary on Chavez and other South American statists, here.

It's come to this...

Ahmadinejad Stresses Need for New World Order

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday called for cooperation among world states to forge a new world order.


"The conditions we are experiencing today need planning for new orders in the world and (our) cooperation and co-thinking for organizing the conditions," Ahmadinejad told reporters before departing for Istanbul, Turkey to take part in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-Building Measures in Asia (CICA).

(italics, ours)

Terrific.

We're hitting "reset" buttons, trashing our allies and doing apology tours while one of our chief nemesis will be participating in trust fall exercises.

That might delay the Middle East peace process somewhat

So, just what is the end game with respect to Iran’s nuclear weapon program?

We have our doubts about his theory but it would make for one hell of a “24” or James Bond plot.

B-Daddy has the details here.

Quickies

Top 10 conservative movies of (last) decade,

Yet another reason to revile Obamacare: Trial lawyers will wet their beak to the tune of $50 million over 5 years for a program designed to encourage states to consult them on "alternatives" to malpractice claims. That should bear some positive results.




Who has the stronger lobbying presence in Washington D.C., the Botox industry or the tanning industry? According to Obamacare, definitely the Botox industry.

As US senators prepare to vote on the healthcare reform bill today, an unlikely casualty of one of Barack Obama’s keystone policies has now emerged: tanning salons.

A 10 per cent sales tax on salons that use sunbeds was slipped into the bill at the last minute, replacing a tax on cosmetic procedures such as Botox injections, which became known as the “Bo-tax”.

No doubt, Speaker Pelosi was pleased by this development.
H/T: Harrison




Former major leaguer, Doug Glanville, totally knows where Tiger is coming from.

It was like a kid finding Batman’s belt in the lost and found. No point in giving it back until you’ve tried all your new powers.

Victor Davis Hanson on the use of adverbs:

When we do know for a fact that Mutallab tried to blow up a plane, we get a presidential "allegedly" ("a passenger allegedly tried to ignite an explosive device on his body, setting off a fire"), and yet when we don't know all the facts, as in the Professor Gates mess, we get instantaneous certainty ("the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home.")

Amazing stat(s) of the day:

According to Transparency International, Iran is today one of the most corrupt economies in the world. It also has the ignominy of topping the list of all countries in terms of brain drain. Each year, between 150,000 and 180,000 of the country's best and brightest leave the country. The yearly cost to Iran for this brain drain alone is estimated to be almost equal to the yearly cost of the Iran-Iraq War, according to the World Bank.

And finally, and to prove our hearts are in the right place for the upcoming year... another economist predicting a double-dip recession.

So what we're left with is the type of government-sponsored orgy of spending and money creation that Washington used to condemn with all-knowing righteousness when undertaken south of the border. But the effect of our doing it is far more consequential, since America possesses the exorbitant privilege of minting not only its own but the world's money.

As we move into 2010, no doubt the horns will be blowing for the long-awaited U-shaped recovery. I suspect it won't be long before we realize we've drunk too much, and that the second dip of a W-shaped recession awaits us.

Encouraging signs?

Better late than never we suppose but President Obama finally had some strong words of support for the protesters and condemnation for the Iranian regime on Monday while denying the U.S. has had anything to do with the civil unrest currently going on in that country.

He completely blew his opportunity the first time around during the first wave of protests in the wake of the Presidential elections this past June. The administration’s line of thinking was that any words of encouragement to the anti-regime protesters would hamper Obama’s hoped-for sit down with Iran’s President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad regarding Iran’s nuclear program. And just how is that all working out?

Maybe now that the administration has received the memo that Iran, through stonewalling and outright defiance, isn’t listening to anybody regarding its nuclear program, it feels it can drop the real-politik sham and step up the rhetoric a bit with the protesters.

At this point it’s a win-win. Similar to Reagan’s emboldening the opposition in the Warsaw Pact nations and Russia itself with his freedom rhetoric, what’s wrong with a little regime change where the Middle East gets itself yet another democracy? And doesn’t the establishment of a mullah-free democracy make the whole nuclear situation just a tad less volatile?

And how are things going over there in Iran right now? Well, the Khamenei thugs are running over protesters in trucks – that’s how things are going.



Keep the pressure on, sir. We can all learn from our mistakes and you know we’re always here for you.

Call us. We’ll be awake. Sharks don’t sleep.*




* A BwD atta-boy, if anyone can give us the source of that pop-culture reference. Think early 80s late-night T.V.

H/T: Gateway Pundit via Instaglen

A model of consistency

President Barack Obama has decided to scrap plans for a U.S. missile defense shield in the Czech Republic and Poland that had deeply angered Russia, the Czech prime minister confirmed Thursday.

NATO's new chief hailed the move as "a positive step" and a Russian analyst said Obama's decision will increase the chances that Russia will cooperate more closely with the United States in the dispute over Iran's nuclear program.

Color us confused. Didn’t Russia say just last week that they were pretty much out of the sanctions against Iran game? Or is this just our way of thanking Poland and the Czech Republic for their help in the War on Terror (that term is still “in”, right?)? This becomes particularly troubling considering our own intelligence reports Iran has made significant strides in developing their nukes.

Well, if nothing else, the administration has been consistent. Consistent in appeasing strongmen whether in the Western or Eastern Hemispheres. To the south, the state department continues its deplorable policy towards Honduras butting into affairs in which we have no business (got neo-con?) in order to curry favor with Hugo Chavez. And now we slap eastern European allies in the face for reasons we are not sure since Russia appears to be, at this point, sitting this one out with respect to Iran.

Stay tuned.

Quote of the Day

As to the person or persons responsible for her death, they will not be forgiven, he said. “When they kill an innocent child, this is not justice. This is not religion. In no way is this acceptable,” he said. “And I’m certain that the one who shot her will not get a pass from God.”

Go here for more of Neda Agha-Soltan’s obituary.

And it’s always a good thing when a band’s usual anarcho-leftist posturing can be wielded for other means.

Rage Against the Machine’s “Freedom”

Shilling for a cause

"Once again, Zahra Khanum tied her chador around her waist, kneeled down, and began to scratch the earth with her hands. The ground was soft and moist. When the hole was large enough, she gathered, one by one, her niece Soraya’s bones, took them down and washed them in the stream, then returned and carefully placed them in the earthen grave, which she covered over with leaves and branches. Then, and only then, did she pray and burst into tears."

The Stoning of Soraya M. is based on a true story and tells of one of the victims of stonings in modern Iran. Please click here for the movie trailer. Apologies for the advert up front.

Image of the Day

Yes, it's photo-shopped but it's pretty cool just the same.

Hey, anyone up for more "vigorous debate" on the subject of the recent Iranian elections?

From the University of Tehran, Iowahawk presents the Collegiate Debate Bowl... mullah-style, here.

Think Green

And here’s the irony of which we were discussing last night over dinner and brews with ‘Dawg: Obama has projected himself as some sort of transcendent figure, a figure that is not to be beheld as merely the President of the United States but a figure that has a world-wide brand – you’ve seen it – it’s the brand of Hope and Change.

This brand is supposed to make a difference, this brand is supposed to transform, this brand is supposed to lead the way to a new and different tomorrow and yet this brand is being found sorely lacking.

What we get instead is a delusional sense of realpolitik that actually believes that a measured response to this crisis will curry us favor with these murderous thugs at the nuclear bargaining table.

The signs are not in Farsi or Arabic, sir. The signs are in English. THE SIGNS ARE IN ENGLISH!

H/T: Hot Air

Time to take off the gloves

For those of you who are disappointed because of the President’s somewhat tepid response, to date, with respect to the events unfolding in Iran right now: What were you expecting? He’s a forty-seven yr. old man who has 4 years under his belt as the junior senator from Illinois and who has no significant piece of legislation to call his own and who cannot manage to even issue a statement on his own website condemning the murder of one of his own troops at the hands of an Islamic extremist.

Despite some encouraging signs we saw in his Cairo speech, the man has reverted to his absolute aversion to saying anything that might appear to upset the Islamic “street”.

Full disclosure: We weren’t objecting to his soft-pedaling during the early stages of this crisis but now that the mullahs have blamed the West and the U.S. for the civil unrest in Iran anyway, what’s the harm in stepping-up the rhetoric? Oh, that’s right – the Administration still harbors this delusion that we will be able to get Iran to the bargaining table over their nuclear program. This delusion is held while the Administration itself does not believe there will be any substantive change to Iran’s nuclear ambitions regardless of which Mullah-approved President is in office. So, again, what’s to lose by lobbing a few verbal hand grenades?

Peggy Noonan defends the soft-pedal here claiming that why, of course, the Iranians know “we” are with them. We’re Americans, ergo, we are for freedom.

We recall reading on the internet about liberal viewing parties of President Bush’s 2004 State of the Union address and the drinking games that were invented for the occasion where everyone would have to take a drink or do a shot each time the President said the word “freedom”. A certain disdain for the constitutional concept of freedom combined with a raging hangover the next day (boy, did Bush ever lay it on them that night) makes us thankful we weren’t liberals on that particular day.

We are an incredibly diverse nation so “freedom” means different things to different people. Having said that, it might behoove the President to step it up a notch to affirm the notion to the Iranian protesters that his definition of freedom coincides with theirs.

With Iraq now a fledgling democracy, an overthrow of the mullah-cracy in Iran would be reason to party like it was 1989.

Picture image of the Day

(Please click image to enlarge)

No. There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad spent any time at Michigan.

Also, some members of Iran’s soccer team (playing South Korea in a World Cup qualifying match) wore green arm and wrist bands in apparent support for opposition candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi… or was it just for religious tradition?

And when in the 2nd half, some had removed the green bands, were they ordered to or did they choose to do so voluntarily so as to not arouse any suspicions?

H/T: Deadspin

Of Nukes, Norks and other assorted madmen

"Nothing more wonderfully concentrates a man's mind than the sure knowledge he is to be hanged in the morning."

B-Daddy breaks down how best to deal with the nuclear threat posed by both North Korea and Iran and shows admirable restraint with respect to describing the proclivities of the little dog-eating perv of the peninsula.

Check it out here

Huh?

Check this out.

Now, go here and ask yourself if any of it makes any sense whatsoever.