text:
FLOWERY BRANCH — Here is a look at how the Falcons' pass defense matches up against the Seahawks pass offense.
Falcons starters: Left cornerback Asante Samuel, right cornerback Dunta Robinson, nickel back Robert McClain, free safety Thomas DeCoud and strong safety William Moore.
Falcons key reserves: Cornerbacks — Dominique Franks and Christopher Owens. Safeties — Chris Hope and Charles Mitchell
Seahawks: Quarterback Russell Wilson. Wide receivers Golden Tate and Sidney Rice. Tight end Zach Miller.
Seahawks key reserves: Wide receivers —Doug Baldwin, Jermaine Kearse and Deon Butler (Inactive in wildcard round). Tight end – Anthony McCoy and Sean McGrath.
Matchup to
Continue reading Playoff matchup: Falcons pass defense vs. Seahawks pass offense »
By MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM
FLOWERY BRANCH — Russell Wilson was the sixth quarterback selected in the 2012 draft, but he's the only one to lead his team to the divisional playoff round.
The Seahawks took Wilson with the 75th pick out of Wisconsin and eventually made him the starter, despite signing free-agent Matt Flynn to a rich contract in the offseason. It has paid off as Wilson has become a dynamic offensive threat for the Seahawks, who play the Falcons at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Georgia Dome.
Here are some excerpts from Wilson's conference call with Atlanta reporters Wednesday:
Q: (Falcons defensive coordinator) Mike Nolan compared you to (Hall of Fame quarterback) Fran Tarkenton. That's got to be something, right?
A: I know who he is. He's a tremendous quarterback who played way back when and did a lot of great things and changed the game. I
Continue reading Atlanta Falcons: Q&A with Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson »
By MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM
Who: Falcons wide receiver Michael Haynes
What: NFC wild-card playoff game, Falcons vs. Saints
When: Dec. 28, 1991
Where: Superdome
Score: Falcons 27, Saints 20
What happened: A New Orleans native goes home and prolongs the home team's playoff misery.
After Haynes scored on a 61-yard catch from Chris Miller to lift the Falcons to victory, Falcons coach Jerry Glanville called it "the fastest touchdown I've ever seen."
Haynes said there was a reason for that.
"I had scored a touchdown in the game before that, and on that play I cracked two ribs," he said. "So during the (second) touchdown catch I had two cracked ribs and I was thinking, 'I can't get tackled because it's going to hurt.' I ran as fast as I ever had."
With the score tied and less than three minutes left, Haynes caught a short pass and made a move to get around Saints cornerback (and friend) Milton Mack. Haynes, who had been a sprinter at the Olympic trials, broke free
Continue reading Atlanta Falcons playoffs rewind: Michael Haynes »
By MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM
Falcons vs. Seahawks
Because of their recent playoff flops, the Falcons didn't always receive a lot of accolades from national media this season, even as they posted the NFL's best record. But Fox analyst Jimmy Johnson, the former Cowboys coach, is among those who believe the Falcons are finally ready to win a playoff game after going 0-3 in the past four seasons.
"I think a lot of it is that, not just the fans, but the coaches and players said 'Let's do what we have to do to get ready for the playoffs,'" Johnson said on a Wednesday conference call. "I think during the season there was a lull there. They had a pretty good run, they had a good record and they knew they'd be in the playoffs, so they were like, 'Let's hurry up and get to the playoffs.
"Now I think, especially with the bye — even though they've got a bear of a team with Seattle, as hot of a team as there is in the league — I think Atlanta will be ready for
Continue reading Playoff buzz: Fox analyst Jimmy Johnson believes Falcons are ready »
By MICHAEL CUNNINGHAM
Who: Falcons kicker Morten Andersen
What: NFC Championship game, Falcons vs. Vikings
When: Jan. 17, 1999
Where: Metrodome
Score: Falcons 30, Vikings 27 (OT)
What happened: After Gary Anderson finally missed a kick for Minnesota, Morten Andersen delivered a perfect kick for the Falcons.
Some Falcons players were on their knees, hands clasped in prayer. Others looked to the sky or held hands in a chain.
Morten Andersen, the guy who actually had to attempt the kick that could send the Falcons to their first Super Bowl, was not among them.
"I'm looking at them like, 'I don't think these guys think I'm going to make it," Andersen said with a laugh. "To me, it was a foregone conclusion. I had no anxiety at all. It was weird."
That's because field-goal attempts don't come with much more pressure than
Continue reading Atlanta Falcons playoff rewind: Morten Andersen relives 'The kick' »
FLOWERY BRANCH — The Falcons will attempt to avoid a fifth straight NFL playoff defeat in Sunday's home matchup with the Seattle Seahawks. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's D. Orlando Ledbetter reports.
View from Seattle: Seahawks busting myths?
Seattle pass rusher Clemons out for playoffs
Falcons determined to have playoff breakthrough
Atlanta Falcons: Q&A with head coach Mike Smith
John Abraham set to return to practice on Wednesday
Playoff buzz: Falcons are 2 1/2 point favorites
Playoff matchup: Falcons' special teams vs. Seahawks' special teams
Dirk Koetter to stay with the Falcons
Smith to ramp up bye-week practices
Smith expects Abraham, Robinson to be ready for playoff game
Falcons' run defense to be tested in divisional playoff game
Falcons to open playoffs at 1 p.m., Sunday Jan. 13th
Continue reading Video: Falcons hope to end playoff drought that dates back to 2004 season »
Seattle running back Marshawn Lynch did not practice because of a foot injury on Wednesday.
Here's the Seattle Times report. Lynch usually sets out practice on Wednesday.
Cornerback Byron Maxwell (hamstring) and safety Jeron Johnson (hamstring) also did not practice.
Lynch was listed on the injury report last weak with a back injury on Wednesday. He fully participated in practice on Thursday and Friday, so the foot injury is new and may have been incurred in the Washington game.
Seattle coach Pete Carroll has stated his displeasure over the playing conditions in Washington. The Seahawks lost defensive end Chris Clemons to a knee injury in that game.
Atlanta Falcons injury report: Moore and Abraham limited
FLOWERY BRANCH–Falcons cornerback Chris Owens (hamstring) and safety Charles Mitchell (calf) missed practice today and safety William Moore (hamstring) and defensive end John Abraham (ankle) participated on a limited basis.
Moore, a starter, missed the final four
Continue reading Seattle Seahawks injury report: Marshawn Lynch did not practice today »
FLOWERY BRANCH — Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan is fanatical about his weekly routine.
Despite three losses in the playoffs, he plans to stick to his routine while preparing for the Seattle Seahawks, including the meals his wife, Sarah, prepares for him.
However, Ryan, who's guarded about the most mundane details of his personal life, wouldn't reveal what's on the menu at the Ryan house for dinner this week.
"Not Pizza," he said.
Spinach? Lasagna? McDouble off the Dollar Menu?
While his routine will remain the same, he hopes for a different outcome. Ryan's playoff failures have been heavily scrutinized and well-documented.
They've lost while favored on the road to Arizona after the 2008 season. They've lost at home as the No. 1 seed to Green Bay after the 2010 season. And, they lost on the road as a slight underdog to the New York Giants after the 2011 season.
Ryan has not passed for 200 yards in any of the playoff losses. The offense collapsed in the second
Continue reading Atlanta Falcons: Matt Ryan is under intense pressure to win a playoff game »
FLOWERY BRANCH–Falcons cornerback Chris Owens (hamstring) and safety Charles Mitchell (calf) missed practice today and safety William Moore (hamstring) and defensive end John Abraham (ankle) participated on a limited basis.
Moore, a starter, missed the final four regular-season games. Abraham, who leads the team in sacks with 10, was injured during the regular-season finale.
Mitchell suffered the injury during the bye week but coach Mike Smith said he expects him to return to practice tomorrow. Mitchell was active for 10 regular-season games.
Owens sat out the regular-season finale against Tampa Bay. Owens is a key special-teams player.
View from Seattle: Seahawks busting myths?
Seattle pass rusher Clemons out for playoffs
Falcons determined to have playoff breakthrough
Atlanta Falcons: Q&A with head coach Mike Smith
John Abraham set to return to practice on Wednesday
Playoff buzz: Falcons are 2 1/2 point favorites
Playoff matchup: Falcons' special teams vs.
Continue reading Atlanta Falcons injury report: Moore and Abraham limited »
FLOWERY BRANCH — Here's a look at how the Falcons run offense matches up against the Seahawks run defense.
Falcons' starters: Running back Michael Turner and fullback Mike Cox.
Falcons' key reserves: Jacquizz Rodgers, Jason Snelling and Antone Smith.
Seahawks' starters: Outside linebacker Leroy Hill, middle linebacker Bobby Wagner and outside K.J. Wright.
Seahawks' reserves: Malcolm Smith, Heath Farwell, Mike Morgan and Allen Bradford (Inactive for Washington playoff game).
Matchup to watch: Turner vs. Wagner
The Seahawks gave up 103.1 yards per game during the regular season, which ranked 10th in the league.
The Falcons, as they transformed into more of passing team this season, ran the ball just as a function of trying to keep defense's honest.
The Falcons
Continue reading Playoff matchup: Falcons run offense vs. Seahawks run defense »


text:
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Check out the 2014 edition of GAYOT's Annual Restaurant Issue, which features the Top 40 Restaurants in the U.S., Rising Chefs and more.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Written by:
Pig Knuckles
" You Are So Real "
Am I the one
he is looking for
is it God knocking
on my heart's door
he wants to free me
from my sins
he has been pleading
to come in.
A pure person is what
he wants me to be
and reveal all the things
of god to me
he wants to fill me
with his graceful love
and my sin filled life
will all dissolve.
My whole life
is now enhanced
our forgiving god
gave me another chance
cleanse my body fully
through and through
what a special feeling
to be blessed by you.
I love you for removing
my pain and strife
I sincerely welcome you
into my life
what a beautiful love
and peace I feel
I truly understand now
You Are So Real...
Penned By MPK


text:
EPHRATA, Wash. -- The Grant County Health district is working with the Garden Oasis Assisted Living staff and administration to control a recent flu outbreak.
Authorities were notified that two of Garden Oasis residents have died due to flu related complications. Both had other high-risk medical conditions.
Statewide and countywide influenza cases have been declining but occasional cases of the influenza virus continue to be found.


text:
I didn't used to be a barbecue fan. In fact, I really didn't care for it at all. Then, one day, about a year ago, I suddenly had to have it. The Missus and I both did. On our return to Lodi, we thought we'd have to go as far as Sacramento to get a rack of some rockin' ribs.
We thought wrong.
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text:
The various studies carried out by Terme di Levico and Vetriolo in collaboration with major italian Universities in the field of rheumatology and otolaryngology have proved the fundamental role played by the usage of our "Acqua Forte" in the treatment and prevention of the illnesses of the airways and arthro-muscular indispositions.
This week package permits to try the beneficial effects of the balneo-fangotherapeutical treatments and the inhalation therapies in the only hotel in Levico provided with its own internal thermal centre.
On sunday our Therme are closed
The Hotel package includes a 6 night stay on half board and the following services:
Medical visit for the admission to thermal therapies
3 balneotherapies in single tub
3 fangotherapies
6 hot-humid inhalations
3 25-minute thermal massages
At the end of the stay there will be a final medical check and you will be given some advice to follow at home. On demand, with an additional charge, as an ideal completion of the week programme at Imperial Hotel Terme we suggest: homoeopathic therapy
From Euro 980,00 609,00 per person in double room
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text:
Heitman Lab Members
Chiatogu Onyewu, MD, PhD
AAAS Science & Technology Policy Fellow
National Institutes of Health
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Division for the Application of Research Discoveries
31 Center Drive, MSC 2480
Bethesda, MD 20892
Phone: 301.496.5607
Fax: 301.402.1051
Email: email@example.com
At Duke, I was an MD/PhD student completing graduate work in the department of Pharmacology and Cancer Biology. In the Heitman lab, I was best known for my collection of hats and what other lab members have described as overly-fashionable daily attire. For my thesis work, I investigated antifungal drug targets in the opportunistic fungal pathogen Candida albicans. We found that normally fungistatic antifungal drugs such as fluconazole and terbinafine interact synergistically with the immunosuppressive drugs tacrolimus (FK506) and cyclosporine A (CsA). FK506 and CsA inhibit the serine/threonine protein phosphatase calcineurin, but do not exhibit any antifungal activity against C. albicans on their own. I also focused on elucidating the role that calcineurin signaling plays in maintaining cell viability when cell membrane integrity is compromised by antifungal drugs. Additionally, I demonstrated the clinical relevance of our proposed drug combinations by establishing and treating various animal models of C. albicans infection.
[Back to Heitman lab]


text:
So Now It's Saturday in Iran
And Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has banned the big demonstration called for 4 PM in Tehran. If you follow Andrew Sullivan's blog–and you should, if you're interested in what's happening in Iran, and also in what's happening in the ranks of the American Left–you will see that many Iranians fear that Saturday is slated to be a day of bloodshed.
Khamenei did not budge at all. No concessions. The elections are legitimate, the results are final. Moreover, he said, the battle is not between "the people" and "the regime," it's between four leaders who all believe in the regime. The people voted, we counted their votes, and that's that. If anyone protests after my sermon, he said, whatever violence ensues is on them.
Which sounds like a promise of violence. As I said earlier, tens of thousands of Revolutionary Guards have been brought to Tehran to put down the demonstrations. These are older, well-trained and presumably loyal soldiers who will not shrink from attacking the crowds. So some of the Iranians on Twitter have written messages that sound like "final thoughts," not knowing if they will survive Saturday.
This is all the regime has left, because the demonstrations have revealed its hollowness, and the nightly chants of "God is great" from the rooftops of all major cities in Iran have exposed the collapse of its central doctrine: that the theocratic fascist system is blessed by Allah. Millions of Iranians are openly rejecting that.
Khamenei recognizes this, which is why he has committed his own power to the defeat of Mousavi's movement. This confirms what I have been arguing, namely that, however Mousavi started, he now leads a revolutionary mass movement that is aimed at the dark heart of the corrupt theocratic fascist state. When Mousavi asked the huge crowd on Thursday "where are our $300 billion?" he and everyone else knew that was a threat to bring the ruling mullahs to justice, to prosecute them for their thievery.
That led to one of the interesting sub-plots in the Khamenei speech: the kind words for former president Hashemi Rafsanjani, who is widely believed to have enriched himself more than any other of the ruling elite. I think Khamenei was telling Rafsanjani to stick with the system, and not (as has been widely rumored) join the revolution. What will Rafsanjani do? The "big story" of recent days was that he had gone to the holy city of Qom to get an endorsement for Mousavi from the senior Ayatollahs. So far as I know, no such endorsement was issued. Does this mean that Rafsanjani betrayed Mousavi? Or simply that the clerics decided to stick with Khamenei? Perhaps we will know the answer some day.
Meanwhile, there were cracks in the regime's instruments of repression, and reports of action against the Basij thugs in the night time streets of Tehran. The latter was picked up by the daily blog at the Guardian, in a post on "Basij hunting" by young activists. The former came from a group of Revolutionary Guards on their own blog (all of the following was translated by Banafsheh Zand-Bonazzi). At the top of the blog, we read a detailed condemnation of IRGC actions in past years, which is described as a betrayal of their values:
This weblog is for all the guards who have stepped in the direction of lovingly serving the people, our nation and Islam but were killed by the deceit of the cowardly or were led astray. This weblog is for all those guards who still stay steadfast to that form and yet with betrayed hearts and as a result of desperation were witness to the plundering of people's belongings, were witness to the smuggling of arms and drugs, were witness to the gangs of corrupt guards who did sex-trafficking and sold innocent Iranian girls to the Persian Gulf countries, and….
141 Comments, 141 Threads
1. Bill
All wrong Mr. Ledeen,
Nothing will happen, people in Iran overwhelmingly support the government and the Supreme Leader. You make it seem as if nobody came out to see the Supreme Leader speak today, there were over 1 million people out in Tehran alone.
In most Iranian cities, villages and small towns, Khamenei has the support of the people and thats a fact. Iranians are a religious people, and the people that pushed Mousavi to be the "leader" of the reformists are underestimating the will of the majority of the Iranian people and the government.
What Khamenei said is true, you cannot resort to protesting in the streets and demand an election be cancelled because you lost. This will set a precedent for every other election. You have to follow the legal channels of the government. Mousavi after all is part of the this government, you must believe I have some beach front property in arizona if you think that he wants to reform the system.
All wrong.June 19, 2009 - 9:23 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
2. winston
Well said!
This is a tense moment for those living inside of Iran. I think either way regime is to fall. They crackdown, they'll fall. They don't crackdown, they'll fall. I hope my Iranian brothers and sisters have enough courage, energy and power to carry on.
Free Iran!June 19, 2009 - 9:37 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
3. Alexis
It is rather ironic how Mr. Khamenei should bring up the tragedy that happened to the Branch Davidians, for he personally prayed to God to let such a calamity to happen to them. It is the often repeated prayer for thirty years by the mullah's republic that what happened to the Branch Davidians (and for that matter, members of People's Temple) happen to each and every American. Every single Friday, the Iranian government prays for genocide against the American people; the Branch Davidians were Americans, so the Iranian government got part of its wish when David Koresh's fortress burned down.
Mr. Khamenei advocates genocide against the American people every chance he gets, but if the United States utters even one word of protest against his tyranny, he calls it "intolerable meddling". The mullahs who tyrannize Iran may think Americans have no memory; they are wrong. America is an old land with many ancient cultures. It is the often repeated desire of the Iranian state to finish what the smallpox started, but America endures. Not only does the American people endure, but Iran endures also against a pharaonic state masquerading as an Islamic republic.
I suppose one shouldn't expect any more than idiocy from a man's whose primary academic achievement comes from translating Sayed Kotb's literary diarrhea into Farsi.June 19, 2009 - 9:50 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
4. David W. Lincoln
It took roughly 45 years for the mistakes of Yalta to be corrected. Could it be that it takes only 30 years for the mistakes of the Carter Administration throwing the Shah to the wolves, for those mistakes to be corrected?
Would that be the case, in a word: WOW!June 19, 2009 - 10:23 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
5. David Thomson
Are there truly at least a hundred thousand Iranians prepared to die? If this is accurate—the regime should fall. It's one thing for so-called loyal troops to kill a relatively small number of people, but not thousands of martyrs in a public setting. How secular are the police and military? Are there enough hard core, religious fundamentalists to obey the mullahs when the blood is really flowing? Well, we are about to find out.June 19, 2009 - 11:24 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
6. EasternTiger
It's ridiculous to beleive in what Jewish Simon says about Iran – enemy of Simon's motherland.
Let Iran people make their choices!June 19, 2009 - 11:37 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
7. westerncanadian
My guess is a violent ending to the demonstration. What happens after is anybody's guess. One dismal precedent is the systematic massacre of many, many thousands of Albigensian heretics in 13th century France, by the Catholic Church. The killing was implacable and lasted for about 20 years.
This massacre was an 13th century innovation where the Church and State joined forces to crush by force dissent which might place either in danger. The new method proved to be an effective device for a long time.
The Iranian Religious Leaders are also the State and they appear to operate as if they were in the 13th century. So why wouldn't they opt for crushing force by dissent, implacably, over an extended period?June 19, 2009 - 11:57 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
8. westerncanadian
In the last paragraph corrected "crushing force by dissent" to "crushing dissent by force"
My guess is a violent ending to the demonstration. What happens after is anybody's guess. One dismal precedent is the systematic massacre of many, many thousands of Albigensian heretics in 13th century France, by the Catholic Church. The killing was implacable and lasted for about 20 years.
This massacre was a 13th century innovation where the Church and State joined forces to crush by force dissent which might place either in danger. The new method proved to be an effective device for a long time.
The Iranian Religious Leaders are also the State and they appear to operate as if they were in the 13th century. So why wouldn't they opt for crushing dissent by force, implacably, over an extended period?June 20, 2009 - 12:03 am Link to this Comment | Reply
9. stuart Williamson
That the Supreme Leader is, in fact, willing to slaughter thousands of his own people to assure remaining in control of the government, is beyond doubt. It is Allah's will. Whether the Revolutionary Guards would obey the command to massacre defenseless citizens, but might turn on their heartless masters, is THE big question.
To urge the U.S. President to proclaim support for the rebels and cheer them on does not help their cause or increase their likelihood of survival. It merely feeds the rage of Khamenei and lends credibility to his lies of U.S. complicity with Mousavi.
It is not noble or admirable to declare your fine principles while standing to the side and cheering on those facing death, without any intention of actually stepping in and helping protect them or die beside them. That is as contemptible as urging a potential suicide to jump,
In a situation where you're either unable and/or unwilling to
become personally involved, the only decent course is to shut up and pray…for the victim, and for your own shameful self.June 20, 2009 - 12:45 am Link to this Comment | Reply
10. Myno
My heart goes out to the Persians, who with calloused knees must decide whether to stand and die with hope to put an end to their subservience. The tree of liberty and the blood of martyrs means days like this must be faced. Godspeed.June 20, 2009 - 12:53 am Link to this Comment | Reply
11. Ken
What do you know of the Shah? If there is a time line for the correction of an error, that started in 1953 and Carter paid a price for the sins of the early Eisenhower administration along the way. The genesis of the Islamist movements of the last century was fueled by the oppression of the Shah. Now you will say that I am blaming America, maybe I am, but I suggest that by blaming Carter, you are too. Nice white hat though, covers your empty head nicely.June 20, 2009 - 2:32 am Link to this Comment | Reply
12. Elizabeth
The Carter administration compassionately allowed the Shah into the United States for cancer treatment. I wish Carter had "thrown him to the wolves" so we wouldn't have endured the hostage crisis. What we've really been paying for is putting the Shah on the "Peacock Throne" in the first place after overthrowing (with help from Britain) Iran's democratically elected president back in 1953. We wanted their oil: we didn't want Russia to have access. If the brave people of Iran withstand this crisis, it will have taken 56 years to correct that deadly Cold War conniving. I pray for their protection today. They deserve self determination and an end to all bullying, from within and without.June 20, 2009 - 3:50 am Link to this Comment | Reply
13. Terry Gain
Meanwhile, to his credit, President Obama finally rallied to the revolutionaries:
Obama deserves no credit. His conduct is shameful. While Iranians mass to overthrow their fanatical theocracy he is telling jokes about how the media made him a celebrity and trying to socialize health care before anyone notices.
@ Williamson
It is idiotic to suggest that strong statements from Obama telling the mullahs that the wole world is watching and that they should, true to their Islamic history refrain from the use of violence is hardly like telling a would be suicide to jump. The violence is coming and your boy is doing nothing to curb it.
And Obama is clueless enough that he could make the false statement about the history of Islam, which I have italicized, without any sense of irony.
That 3 am call has been made to Obama everyday, from 9am to 5 pm for the past week. He's responded by asking for a spicy mustard.June 20, 2009 - 4:27 am Link to this Comment | Reply
"You [should] follow Andrew Sullivan's blog … if you're interested in … what's happening in the ranks of the American Left."
It looks as if Wingnut City and Rio Limbaugh now become so completely Murdoch-cocooned and unreality-based that ex-neocomrade A. Sullivan, that contemptible renegade from the ranks of l@@ny lemmin's, is, for some neocomrades, the very model of a modern Lefty. Any more representative specimen — say, the President of the United States — would, I guess, be blankly unintelligible to Neocomrade Grand Ayatollah Mikey Bin Ledeen and his like-mindless pajamatarian devotees.
To take A. Sullivan seriously in conjunction with the future of anything more important or interesting than _The Atlantic_ magazine is beyond my powers, yet I can (sorta) see what His Eminence is bloviatin' 'bout. The postneoswine may have changed the words it sings, but the Sullivanic melody is as self-porcine as ever: wallow today, wallow yesterday, and, whatever tomorrow may bring in terms of Señorito de Cerdo y Falsedad's theoretical opinions, the practical plan is bound to be "wallow tomorrow" as well.
In an ideal world, I daresay the opinions of decent political grown-ups would be such as to render self-porcine wallowin' in them impossible. The likes of A. Sullivan would *have* to be wingnutettes or wingnuts, because their characteristic _modus operandi_ would automatically exclude them from all political company not already thoroughly illiberal and antidemocratic and contemptuous of "the Democrat party."
However, the real world is not like that, and only a l@@ny lemmin' would prefer to live on some crackpot Planet Rove [1] or Planet Antirove instead of Terra. ( "A poor thing, but our own!" "Gentlemen, I give you Our Homeworld™, right or wrong!" )
_Chez nois_, it is quite possible to be liberal and democratic and Democratic in a Sullivanical wallowin' kind of way, or, conversely, to entertain the theories of Hooverville and the prejudices of Rio Limbaugh without any very serious impairment of one's _dignitas liberalis_. Piebald or hybrid political animals are not very common — most l@@ns are l@@ny in manner as well as in matter, and so with decent political adults — but of the existence of mixed subspecies there can be no question.
Grand Ayatollah Bin Ledeen may have reached the point at which His Eminence simply cannot communicate with persons who are not l@@ns either formally or materially, but with most of His Eminence's neocomrades, brain disease will not yet have advanced so far as that. Rove 'n' Rupert have not yet triumphed altogether! (I don't think. But cross your fingers, please!)
His Eminence's ignorances (and ignorant druthers) about the Islamic Republic are unremarkable, neither better nor worse than the current bipartisan average, so let us pass over everythin' bloviated on that subject, shall we?
Eventually the G. A. (FZPHES!) manages to return His gaze to the holy Homeland™, though indirectly and through a mirror darkly:
"[A]lmost everyone has missed one of the most remarkable themes of the Khamenei sermon, namely the attack on the Clintons. I'll give it to you in full, because there is really no way to summarize it without depriving you of the full flavor. He was upset at American accusations of human rights violations in Iran: [snip quotation from rival cleric].
"Now I don't want to be unfair to Khamenei (whom I once unfairly accused of being dead), but I have a suspicion that he was referring to Ali Murad Davudi, the Baha'i leader who disappeared from Iran during one of the pogroms against the members of his faith during the first year of the Islamic Republic. Bad form, beating up on a woman who just underwent elbow surgery in Washington. But it's probably nothing like what he's preparing to unleash on his own people later today."
A quaint case of so-called 'projection', is it not? Mikey Cardinal Bin Ledeen takes for granted that 'Alí Cardinal Khamene'í is fully as narrow and blinkered and omphaloscopic as His Eminence is Himself! Doubtless the evil Qommie is fixated on some recherché Iranian angle of the Waco affair that not one HolyHomelander™ in ten million ever heard of. Doubtless. of course!
Meanwhile on the l@@ny lemmin' front, observe that when His Eminence does admit, at least implicitly, that the track record of the holy Homeland™ may not be 1000.00% blemish-free, the blemish is referred to "the Clintons" rather than to the USA. [3]
Happy days.
[1] ''That is not the way the world really works anymore. WE are an Empire now, and when WE act, WE create OUR OWN reality. And while you're studying that reality — judiciously, as you will — WE will act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. WE are history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what WE do.''
[2] Criticism and philosophy are over the sweet little heads of pajamatarians, most likely, but let the record show that Mr. McCloskey was mostly just preaching the heathen a little Aristotle. It is more important to recognize the Form of Andrew Sullivan (_i.e._, self-porcine wallowin') than to know his opinions _materialiter_. In short, "Form trumps matter."
This would be the case even if the señorito had stuck with its original l@@ny lemmin' material. The fact that the A. S. specimen happens to be self-fickle as well as self-porcine comprises only part of what it means to affirm the precedence of its Form over its matter. However a case like this one should at least make clear to the meanest heathen intelligence that Form and matter are logically distinct.
[3] Well, it does vaguely makes sense, after all. I daresay St. Bill was never *little Mikey's* President! And that goes for Barák Husáyn XLIV Obáma too! Unless the present analyst errs grievously.
Grand Ayatollah Bin Ledeen does not live in either the sewer of Romulus or in the _Republic_ of Plato. Plainly His Eminence is a pious subject of the Empire of Rove, as authoritatively elucidated in note [1] above. ("What's the Persian for 'Cloudcuckooland'? ")
[666] "Father Zeus prolong His Eminence's shadow!" (What else? Need you ask?)June 20, 2009 - 4:34 am Link to this Comment | Reply
15. Rashputin
I never even understood Persians taking Arab names as part of being Muslim much less their putting up with the jerk Jimmie decided was a good holy man and an excellent replacement for the Shah. While it's probably true that the Shah had to go, he didn't have to be replaced by a blood thirsty madman. A madman who hated not only hated the United States, but also the vast majority of other Muslims he considered to be reprobate and worse than infidels. Islam hasn't done a single positive thing for the Persians from the time it first swept through them until today.
I hope to one day see a Persian nation that isn't Islamic and isn't run by a dictator or madman. I feel sure their contributions would amaze people used to thinking of that whole part of the world as backwards. It's a shame that just as the grip of evil seems to growing weaker in Tehran, the grip of insanity is growing stronger in Washington.
RegardsJune 20, 2009 - 4:37 am Link to this Comment | Reply
16. BillJ
WOW is right! For sure,Iran is changed. That toothpaste is never going back in the tube again–June 20, 2009 - 4:38 am Link to this Comment | Reply
17. vivo
After all these years of governments and kingdoms, people have not learned that just protesting and violence are not going to accomplish much. People need to follow the rule of law. If you want to change something, change the law. Each society has different sets of laws, but they should know what the means are to change those laws.June 20, 2009 - 5:15 am Link to this Comment | Reply
18. X Contra
"This confirms what I have been arguing, namely that, however Mousavi started, he now leads a revolutionary mass movement that is aimed at the dark heart of the corrupt theocratic fascist state."
That is the best sentence in the Faster, Please column this week.
What is happening now over there!!!??June 20, 2009 - 5:30 am Link to this Comment | Reply
19. David Thomson
"People need to follow the rule of law. If you want to change something, change the law."
Did you say this with a straight face? Your comment is most bizarre. Dictatorial regimes are not receptive to efforts merely to "change the law." Power almost always has to be wrestled away from tyrants at the cost of shedding blood. As matter of fact, offhand I cannot think of any historical exceptions whatsoever.June 20, 2009 - 5:43 am Link to this Comment | Reply
20. MiamaMan
1. winston:
[They crackdown, they'll fall. They don't crackdown, they'll fall. I hope my Iranian brothers and sisters have enough courage, energy and power to carry on.]
May God hear your voice, and my prayers are with the Iranian people. Unfortunately, I remember when the Chinese crackdowned in 1989 and the government did not fall. Will see.June 20, 2009 - 6:00 am Link to this Comment | Reply
21. MiamaMan
9. vivo:
[After all these years of governments and kingdoms, people have not learned that just protesting and violence are not going to accomplish much. People need to follow the rule of law. If you want to change something, change the law. Each society has different sets of laws, but they should know what the means are to change those laws.]
vivo, you as stupid as usual. For example in Cuba…what laws can you change? And even if you change a law or two…what that does? Really? Protesting and violence sure worked in the American Revolution, how do you think the British were kicked out of here?June 20, 2009 - 6:03 am Link to this Comment | Reply
22. glenn
Depends entirely on how many Iranians are willing to die for their children and grandchildren the way some of my ancestors were willing to die to get rid of the Brits.June 20, 2009 - 6:11 am Link to this Comment | Reply
23. GClarke
What the Demonstrators now need is what every revolution needs . . . guns and special forces. I hope they get them. India, I bet, has a dog in this fight, but what is Iraq doing? Probably little in the case of either. Teddy Roosevelt would know what to do.June 20, 2009 - 6:25 am Link to this Comment | Reply
24. BRMueller
they don't seem to mind;
The Iranian government delivered a stern warning to the country's opposition Saturday against further protests of the disputed presidential election.
The opposition had called for more protests in Tehran and around the world, a day after Iran's supreme leader said the reelection of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad must be accepted.
Our silence would then condemn us. Let them fight for thier birthright and encourage them to succeed.June 20, 2009 - 7:04 am Link to this Comment | Reply
25. sheesh
Bloody Saturday? Gee, I hope so. I mean, I do but I don't. Or better yet, I hope so, but I shouldn't say I hope so. OK, what I really want to happen is whatever is worst for Obama. I don't really care about Iran or Iranians. Hell, I think we should just nuke the whole region and let them start over. Just a bunch of ragheads anyway. I mean, I would never say that, but I'd be fine with that. So my strategy is to trot out my holier-than-them freedom speak, drizzle it with democracy syrup, and have some conservative friends over to commune in outrage over the plight of the people we can't stand.
You're all invited.June 20, 2009 - 7:05 am Link to this Comment | Reply
26. Dave
The reason for Obama's hands-off approach should be clear: if democracy happens in Iran, he will have to admit, yet again, that Bush was right. And, Obama himself will be deprived of the opportunity to salvage U.S. relations with the mullahs. He will get credit for exactly nothing.
27. Folklight
Amil Imani of International Analyst Network wrote yesterday:
"The vicious attacks on people by the police and official security apparatus are less and less willing to exercise brute force to suppress the people and that's exactly why the regime has imported Arab speaking terrorist groups such as Lebanese Hizbollah and Palestinian thugs.
In short, Iran is in a state of serious upheaval. Replacing Ahmadinejad with the already tried and proven wanton gang of Rafsanjani-Khatami-Mousavi is not going to change matters much. As for the West, it is prudent that it does not embark on a trigger-happy, self interested policy. The mullahs' lease on life, [short of brutal massacre of the Iranian people in the absence of any foreign media] is just about over. A concerted political, economic, and moral support for the long-suffering and valiant Iranian people and the secular opposition can put an end to the shameful and hate-driven Islamofascists of any and all stripes."
After further reflection on Obama's remarks I must ask if the converse of his statement is true? Reading 'between the lines' tis not a big stretch to see no support for active self defensive measures against the lethal aggression promised… As it appears Iran is being Crucified!
— Pray For Peace –
28. TMLutas
A bit of Rafsanjani speculation. If he were smart, which he is, he might just be polling his Assembly of experts majority (which he won last election) as to what is the invisible line over which they will commit to the removal of Khameni. He'd also likely be polling for likely successors. After all, this is their constitutional job so he can't be called to task for it. This information is likely something that Khameni and Ahmadinejad do not have so it makes both of them more hesitant and nervous. It also partially protects the protesters as mass killings of ordinary Iranians are probably involved in at least some of the mullahs red lines.
Once Khameni steps over a working majority of the experts' red lines, Rafsanjani will call the assembly together and remove Khameni. If you knew that a rival held an invisible, shifting, sword of Damocles over you, you might have nice words to say too in your Friday sermon. After all, with Rafsanjani's resignation from the Expediency Council, there's nothing left to criticize him over. Officially, he's not doing anything and he won't do anything until he knows that decisive action will be successful and he'll drop the sword on Khameni, depriving Ahmadinejad of the top cover he needs to continue in his electoral fraud.June 20, 2009 - 7:13 am Link to this Comment | Reply
29. Barry 0351
They ain't got a prayer, the Mullahs if cornered and going down will use all means available I expect chemical weapons would even be used to preserve the mullah's power base.June 20, 2009 - 7:16 am Link to this Comment | Reply
30. Chris
get a life.June 20, 2009 - 7:30 am Link to this Comment | Reply
31. Aureliano
Bloody Saturday? Gee, I hope so. I mean, I do but I don't. Or better yet, I hope so, but I shouldn't say I hope so. OK, what I really want to happen is whatever is worst for Obama. I don't really care about Iran or Iranians. Hell, I think we should just nuke the whole region and let them start over. Just a bunch of ragheads anyway. I mean, I would never say that, but I'd be fine with that. So my strategy is to trot out my holier-than-them freedom speak, drizzle it with democracy syrup, and have some conservative friends over to commune in outrage over the plight of the people we can't stand.
Bloody 2006? Gee, I hope so. I mean, I do but I don't. Or better yet, I hope so, but I shouldn't say I hope so. OK, what I really want to happen is whatever is worst for Bush. I don't really care about Iraq or Iraqis. Hell, I think we should just ignore the whole region and leave them to the Butcher of Baghdad. Just a bunch of religious brown people anyway. I mean, I would never say that, but I'd be fine with that. So my strategy is to trot out my holier-than-them peace speak, drizzle it with "we shouldn't interfere" and Halliburton! syrup, and have some liberal friends (who aren't really liberal) over to commune in outrage over the plight of the people we can't stand.
Morally, intellectually, and socially transcendant heroes, after all, apply the Democrat vs. Republican template to everything. Is there anything with which that template does not work, I wonder? Is it not the discovery of the ages I've made, a super-secret recipe to having a clue that only I know about? What joy to discover one need not be intelligent, educated, or experienced! Really, why bother going to school, or to have reading comprehension skills beyond the (dumbed down) 8th grade? And who needs and IQ over 90?
Democrat vs. Republican is the answer to EVERYTHING! In fact, I'm pretty sure it's the only thing they need teach in college ….
Or so my 17-yo friends with 90 IQs tell me ….June 20, 2009 - 7:35 am Link to this Comment | Reply
32. Mongoose
VIvo: spoken like a true 14 year old.
Gee, why didn't the Founding Fathers think of that?June 20, 2009 - 7:42 am Link to this Comment | Reply
33. Mongoose
Sheesh: Stop projecting your vileness on decent Americans.June 20, 2009 - 7:43 am Link to this Comment | Reply
34. sheesh
22 Mongoose . . . I have you down for potato salad.June 20, 2009 - 7:49 am Link to this Comment | Reply
35. Marie Claude
Violences are already there,
http://www.iran-resist.org/article5440.htmlJune 20, 2009 - 7:58 am Link to this Comment | Reply
36. Jivey
It is better to die on your feet, than live on your knees !June 20, 2009 - 8:10 am Link to this Comment | Reply
37. Andrew
Personally, I think Obama largely irrelevant to the process, as Bush the Elder was in 1989. The smart thing is to stand back and let events take their course. If the mullarchy falls, it will be because it is no longer self-sustainable. I don't see how a speech by Obama can have more than a journalistic effect on events.
It is interesting to see crack-ups within the Revolutionary Guards. In any autocratic regime, the men with the guns are the lynchpin. It's the difference between Russia in 1905 and Russia in 1917.
38. Saltherring
vivo @ 9 states, "After all these years of governments and kingdoms, people have not learned that just protesting and violence are not going to accomplish much. People need to follow the rule of law. If you want to change something, change the law. Each society has different sets of laws, but they should know what the means are to change those laws."
Was this comment offered in satire or could vivo actually be this stupid? "change the law?" Iran is a fascist theocracy, the mullahs ARE the law!
My God, folks, is it any wonder why we in America are saddled with the inept and corrupt government we now have…when a seemingly growing number (a majority, perhaps?) of our citizens "think" and "reason" as vivo does?
39. johnt
As one fascist to another Obama can relate to Khamenei, hence no need for preconditions. like "stop killing our soldiers", and even a certain envy for the ability to send his storm troops into the street to beat and smash the people.
Hang in there Hussien Obama, you can always hope that the day will come when you have your own street thugs. You might name Bill Ayers Honorary Field Marshall.
Now to the real problem, nasty little Israel, gotta keep your focus Hussien.June 20, 2009 - 8:13 am Link to this Comment | Reply
40. Sherab Zangpo
This could be a TRUE revolution: the mad mullahs stand between the Iranian People (or Peoples) and God's Gift to the human beings, Freedom.
Let's pray for the Freedom Fighters.
Thank you for the opportunity to comment.June 20, 2009 - 9:13 am Link to this Comment | Reply
41. Delia
The news is barely covering this enough.June 20, 2009 - 9:14 am Link to this Comment | Reply
42. Ms. Attitude
It's all happening too fast. Had the government gotten out of the way of our military and let them finish the job quickly in Iraq, the US would be poised to help the people in Iran.
With Obama giving a deadline in Iraq he has empowered the opposition, all of the hard work for the people of Iraq will be thrown out of the window.
The leader of the HCJL, Izzat Ibrahim al Douri stated, "I want to reassure you and to tell you that I am in Iraqi territory, among its people and the free patriots (…) The Ba'ath party, more united and more hardened than ever, will return to power a year after the occupation leaves Iraq, a departure that has been decided upon by the new U.S. administration to resolve its critical situation in Iraq."June 20, 2009 - 9:24 am Link to this Comment | Reply
43. Clyde
I have nothing but admiration for the brave Iranians who are standing up to the corruption and thuggishness of their government. Unlike some Western protesters in recent years who thought they were, the Iranians are truly putting their lives on the line in the fight against tyranny. Good luck (and hopefully success) to them.June 20, 2009 - 9:27 am Link to this Comment | Reply
44. sheesh
28. Ms. Attitude: . . . "With Obama giving a deadline in Iraq . . . "
I'm giving you a chance to retract that. You should take it.June 20, 2009 - 9:31 am Link to this Comment | Reply
45. A_SantaFean
It seems to me that much hinges on whether the security forces are ideologically motivated or merely hired thugs. Thugs tend to lose their motivation fairly quickly when they detect that their own necks are on the line. Same pretty much goes for the mullahs. If this revolt is successful, we'll know as soon as the leadership starts leaving for Syria with their ill-gotten loot. I doubt that for all their public piety the mullahs are anything more than a gang of thieves in clerical garb.June 20, 2009 - 9:41 am Link to this Comment | Reply
46. Chris
What happened to your right-wing caricature? Your cover is blown. There's an old saying, something involving a rope and pissing.
Ms. Attitude,
Re: Iraq. Things are so well there that even Obama can't (likely) screw it up at this point. His "withdrawal" announcement will leave 50,000 or so troops there indefinitely. Kind of like he's "closing" Gitmo, without, you know, closing it. See also "prospeity" and "employment" if you need further clarification.June 20, 2009 - 9:52 am Link to this Comment | Reply
47. X Contra
Prescient, Barry.
If you follow it all on Twitter — e.g.
which you can type into the address box of a new browser window — then you will learn that helicopters are dumping stuff on crowds. Nobody is sure what it is, but some question whether it is chemical attack of some kind.June 20, 2009 - 9:59 am Link to this Comment | Reply
48. Nick G.
On Rafsanjani: is it fair to say if Rafsanjani is part of this "green movement," he'll attempt to hijack it and restore himself to atop the theocratic system? I feel like his inclusion would destroy the cause, even if it were successful.June 20, 2009 - 10:08 am Link to this Comment | Reply
49. john from cinncinatti
are the mullahs practicing Chicago politics?June 20, 2009 - 10:21 am Link to this Comment | Reply
50. ella
Nick G
I think you are right. Rafsanjani went against ahmadinejad in large measure because Ahmadinejad accused him of corruption. And although I hate antarinejad his accusation was correct. Rafsanjani is not much better than Amadinejad.June 20, 2009 - 10:35 am Link to this Comment | Reply
51. Ms. Attitude
51. Chris:
I and many others have come to realize that Sheesh is just some sort of crazy that's here for our amusement. He claims to listen to the song, "Bomb, Bomb Iran" on the radio and he has some type of love for mustard…go figure. When he tries to be serious he's continually wrong. Go figure. It's been decided that he's not even of voting age!
Chris, the politics that have been put in the war have slowed progress. Our troops are having their hands tied as our government sides with the enemy, i.e.: Gitmo and charges against our troops. Who wants to take prisoners when your own government will believe the prisoner over you and you are the one that ends up in prison!
If we had Iraq completely secured we could be helping the people of Iran but that would also require having a Commander in Chief with some balls!June 20, 2009 - 10:57 am Link to this Comment | Reply
52. Ms. Attitude
56. ella:
We can hope and pray that someone will come in to power there who is for the people.June 20, 2009 - 10:59 am Link to this Comment | Reply
53. Mongoose
Sheesh: what are you 13 tears old? Are you capable of an adult response? A witty one?
Potato salad, indeed. This is not a game.
No wonder you have such poor prospects? Are your parents aware of what a dead-ender you are?
Bet they are ashamed of you. That is what your vile manners are really about isn't it?June 20, 2009 - 11:01 am Link to this Comment | Reply
54. zanne
Ms. Attitude: I am hoping for the same thing here.June 20, 2009 - 11:06 am Link to this Comment | Reply
55. Ms. Attitude
The people are being shot!June 20, 2009 - 11:15 am Link to this Comment | Reply
56. Mongoose
Mossadegh and large elements of his National Front were communists or strongly communist leanings with direct lnks to the USSR. The Kremlin was making in roads all across the Levant and the ME. It was a good thing that we and the Brits threw him out. Back then the West had the stone to protect our civilization not to mention our property rights.
It was a similar situation to Allende, it just had not advanced to a cancer yet.
Communist and socialist movement are notorious for stuffing ballot boxes and claiming that they are "democratically elected. I mean, just look at America's Democrats. There was hardly anything at all approaching a rational, democratic polity in Iran in that era. The exigencies of the Cold War demanded this sort of thing back then, contemporary Left Wing hypocritical snuffles to the contrary.
(You should check out the fates of peoples and nations were we did not act quickly enough to stop the Soviets or the ChiComs.)
BTW, That buffoon Carter cause this whole mess in the first place by opening the way for Khomeine to go back to Iran. His support of him and his lack of support for the Shah cause this whole mess. If fact, the whole of the war with Islam that we have been in for the last few decades can be laid at that idiot Carter's doorstep.
If the Shah would have remained in power, things would have gone much better for Iran, the ME and the West. Certainly the Islamic Republic did infinitely more damage to Iran than the Shah ever did. Recent events clearly show this to be the case. He would have died and some sort of more or less republican transition would have been made, and Iran would have been a prosperous modern nation decades ago. Instead it took a side trip into the 12th century.
If Mossadegh would have had his way, Iran would be another socialist or communist hellhole or a parody of such like Baathist Iraq was.June 20, 2009 - 11:28 am Link to this Comment | Reply
57. Meryl
I see absolutely no sane reason to "give obama credit" for finally verbalizing at about a 4.5% credibility level what he should have instinctively said loudly within 10 hours of the fraudulent election.
The fact that he's a fraudulent product himself at every level complicates matters, I realize. However, can we please just let him cook in his well-deserved steadily-heating pot and not help him out by giving him credit for "speaking out."
He has only done the minimum at the latest moment possible. He's a jerk.June 20, 2009 - 12:19 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
58. X Contra
Those bastards shot the girl.
http://xcontra.wordpress.com/2009/06/20/you-bastards-shot-the-girl/June 20, 2009 - 12:20 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
59. Jason
#1: Way to be proved 100%, entirely wrong. How does that foot taste?
This website has some very disturbing updates about the situation:
raymankojast.blogspot.comJune 20, 2009 - 12:22 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
60. Delia
If anything makes me want to fight to keep our liberty in the USA, it's watching that video. I feel like I'm going to throw up. Sickening.June 20, 2009 - 12:47 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
61. sheesh
57. Ms. Attitude: . . ."I and many others have come to realize that Sheesh is just some sort of crazy that's here for our amusement. He claims to listen to the song, "Bomb, Bomb Iran" on the radio and he has some type of love for mustard…go figure."
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and say you're being obtuse . . . but just in case others here are actually ignorant of my references . . . "Bomb bomb bomb . . . bomb bomb Iran?" . . . that's John McCain's quote. Mustard? I refer you to the right wing apoplexy about Obama's visit to 5 Guys burger shop where he *gasp* ordered a burger with spicy mustard!
Just a couple examples of the indefensible behavior of the right . . . no wonder you feign confusion. I wouldn't want to be associated with that crap either. Go figure.
As for you, Mongoose, your empty indignation is hilarious . . . "Potato salad, INDEEEEED." Perhaps you should bring the matter up with the vicar.June 20, 2009 - 12:51 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
62. clarice
Exactly,Michael. The "Officer, they're raiding the Piggly Wiggly" line in Animal House was a shrewd observation on law enforcement priorities, wasn't it?June 20, 2009 - 12:58 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
63. Delia
Meryl, I'm 100 percent with ya on that. Doh is the wait-n-see-in-chump-er-chief. When American Iranians got upset then suddenly 'Doh' grew a brain cell.
Sheeshers, I thought you said you have children? If so, have a nice Father's Day and enjoy the spicy mustard and tater salad. I'm making pizza. No barbecue for leetle moi.June 20, 2009 - 1:02 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
64. Nicola Timmerman
Obama is just waiting for which way the revolution goes. Then he can take credit for it with his tepid speeches. Just like the episode with the pirates, he will rewrite history and take credit for other's courage. Already he is saying "as I have been saying all week" – Not!June 20, 2009 - 1:10 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
65. venividivici
Wow, a (most likely) Western leftist cynical about a movement for freedom in the non-Western world.
Will wonders never cease?June 20, 2009 - 1:11 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
66. David W. Lincoln
Ken, I know this: Menachem Begin's government was practically begging the Carter Administration to back the Shah more strenuously. Also, do you honestly say that if the Shah was in place, bombings such as what happened in Argentina would have taken place, or the truck bombing of US Marines in Lebanon, or any other atrocities attributable
to Iran that have been documented by former CIA director Woolsey.
One other thing, you cheapen your argument when you resort to cheap shots. Would you want to be called an empty head by someone who sees things differently than you?June 20, 2009 - 1:14 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
67. sheesh
67. venividivici: . . "Wow, a (most likely) Western leftist cynical about a movement for freedom in the non-Western world."
I'm not cynical about a movement for freedom. I'm cynical about the self-serving situational angst of the right wing conservative movement. Proof? Look above.June 20, 2009 - 1:33 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
68. Delia
Sheeshers, if the prezzy you voted for decided to 'strategically' bomb a few known "Duke er 'Allah' Nuke 'em" facilities in Iran or NK or any other Country threatening us with nuclear capes… Would you be against it? Be careful with your answer because you may be tested later.June 20, 2009 - 1:36 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
69. Delia
69. sheesh:
"Proof? Look above."
So, you believe in God after all eh?June 20, 2009 - 1:38 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
70. Dero
Just wanted to give kudos for another great article on this issue. Like I said, it's getting harder and harder to find conservatives on this issue that care more about iranians than Obama.
71. Mongoose
Sheesh: Struck a nerve eh? what is it? Daddy sighing when he looks at you? Figured that was it.
72. Delia
77. Mongoose,
Sheesh is a gay man who lives with his 'partner' and has a couple children [perhaps from a previous hetero partner but I won't ASSume] in a trailer. Oddly, Sheesh has a gas guzzling 'muscle car' which he refuses to 'trade in' unless 'DOH' says so. Kinda weird but, hell. I like my Nintendo Wii so who am I judging?June 20, 2009 - 2:03 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
73. Alireza
Although this film is in Farsi, but you can CLEARLY see the election ballotS are stacked and filled out. The Farsi accent is not from Tehran, except one of the guy sounds like Tehrani accent. This is powerful to show how these people could have ACCESS to this many ballots. Here is the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kX7GkkSRvvsJune 20, 2009 - 2:04 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
74. sheesh
70. Delia:
That's easy. If the threat is real and imminent, I'm all for it. If we THINK they MIGHT BE starting to BEGIN something because we heard a RUMOR from an ALCOHOLIC CAB DRIVER in Tehran that we can't CONFIRM or if we just WANT TO do it because there's MONEY to be made or CONTRACTS to grant to COMPANIES I'm CONNECTED to or because there are OIL routes to grab or because they TRIED TO KILL MY POPPY . . . no, I wouldn't do it.
Case in point: If North Korea launches a missile aimed at Hawaii as the latest rumor/intelligence suggests they might (which would really compete for media attention with those July 4 Tea Parties that you've all conveniently forgotten about), I would shoot down the missile and take out their missile facilities. If KJI merely continues to crow and threaten, that's not reason enough to attack.
By the way, I DO believe in god . . . just not the kind you can paint.
Finally, I think you're the only person here who even comes close to "getting" me. We'll never agree on anything, but I sense a genuine "live and let live" about you.June 20, 2009 - 2:05 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
75. sjc-tx
I see now that he is getting unapproving commentary, the nit wit has made "a new statement" in regards to Iran! His hesitation and 'rewording', (we all recall in the primary his 'what I really meant to say was…'), just makes him look MORE foolish and disingenuous.
The fool is out of his league…June 20, 2009 - 2:10 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
76. Delia
I think you've grown to comfortable playing the 'bad guy' here. I honestly feel compassion for you. I am a 'live and let live' person. I have beliefs but I don't want to thrust mine on someone else. Heck, I didn't even impart my belief system on my daughter. I allowed her to watch me live my beliefs and judge them accordingly rather than FORCING them on her and she turned out to be a very sensible, well-rounded and courageous young woman.
You're right that we will never agree, but, we can agree to disagree and poke a little friendly fun at each other without taking it too personally.
"That's easy. If the threat is real and imminent, I'm all for it."
It won't be easy, it will be horrific if we have to come to that, but, I *gasp* 'agree' that if we are threatened, we should act and act FAST as possible.June 20, 2009 - 2:14 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
77. sheesh
77 Mongoose . . . You're not that relevant. Stick with people who agree with you. You'll feel less challenged (and more biodegradable). Dad sighing at me? I never experienced that. What's it like?June 20, 2009 - 2:16 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
78. Harry
I find it quite irksome for Ledeen to recommend reading Andrew Sullivan. Recommending this guy is like Karl Rove recommending James Carville or Paul Begala. Ledeen may well be a centrist but Sullivan is anything but. If Ledeen recommended Amir Taheri considering Iranian matters I would say Sure. Maybe Ledeen will recommend Taheri concerning gay matters. The only recommendations I give for Andrew "Slate" Sullivan is to print his articles, wipe your behind with it and throw it in the toilet. The problem with the Sullivans, the Bagala's, the Maher's et. al. is their total narrowmindedness. I cannot give credence to anything they say until they become more balanced and acceptable of opposing viewpoints.June 20, 2009 - 2:18 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
79. Just Passing through
65. sheesh:
'…but just in case others here are actually ignorant of my references . . . "Bomb bomb bomb . . . bomb bomb Iran?" . . . that's John McCain's quote….'
No, it's a take off on a Beach Boys song of the mid 1960′s called Baraba Ann. About the time your parents were born. The 'bababa baba beran' lyrics were first morphed into 'bomb, bomb, bomb Iran' during the US embassy hostage crisis in Iran during the Carter administration. 10 years or more before you were born. McCain was referring to the morphed lyrics of 1980 in a tongue in cheek way.
Stop lying.
…I refer you to the right wing apoplexy about Obama's visit to 5 Guys burger shop where he *gasp* ordered a burger with spicy mustard!…
The apoplexy was on the left just as it has been over every perceived slight of Obama. As witnessed by the fact that you obsess about it long after.
Stop lying.
'…Just a couple examples of the indefensible behavior of the right…'
Too stupid a statement reflecting too inane a worldview to properly address. let's just call it moronic and leave it at that.
You are, you know, a perfectly despicable person. A poster child for all that is distorted and viscerally abhorrent about the fringe left.
I figure you to be the one on the left or second from the right.
80. Mick
73. Sheesh: "self-serving situational angst of the right wing conservative movement"
Umm, "the fierce urgency of now"? All that global warming disaster cult BS? Even granting that the Obama-cult might have meant "fierce" in the gold-lamé hotpants sense of the term, the nowness of the urgency seems both extremely angsty and situational. Health care reform NOW…NOW…NOW, people are dying without government mandated healthcare for the middle class. Please, maybe we just have different priorities, and there is nothing particularly situational about conservative worries. Ours are at any rate grounded in real disasters–9/11, 3/11, Tehran '79, and the PROMISED destruction of Israel by those actively seeking the means–rather than posited a priorisms. Lemme see, a nuclear Korea was just one of the delusions of the fevered conservative mind, until lo and f-ing behold, there is a NUCLEAR N. KOREA. Fancy that. And same with Iran. It's a trade off really. Get into bed (sorry chap I mean it only metaphorically) with the military types and take out a threat before it matures or prepare yourself to live in some measure according to the dictates of a nuclear state that advocates toppling a wall onto you. A light goes out here, and there, and little by little civilization contracts, because it's uncivilized to fight for it.
81. sheesh
80 Delia . . . That's cool. Don't waste your compassion on me, though. Save it for somebody who needs it. I have an incredibly full and rewarding life. When someone asks me, "How are you?" my answer is always the same . . . "Happy and grateful." Now tell all these conservative freak show carnies here that you call your friends to get a clue and stop being played for such patsies by the neocon media complex.June 20, 2009 - 2:24 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
82. Delia
" Now tell all these conservative freak show carnies here that you call your friends to get a clue and stop being played for such patsies by the neocon media complex."
-But, you never disagree with my assessment of you. Am I right or am I right, home slice?June 20, 2009 - 2:28 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
83. Delia
BTW Sheeshers,
I bet everything you currently feel 'grateful' for is something that can be attributed to someone who sacrificed life and limb for liberty.
Just sayin'June 20, 2009 - 2:34 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
84. Mongoose
Sheesh: haha. Projecting again, I see. Really struck a nerve there about Pops, didn't I?
Is that what you tell Mommy?
Too funny. The truth comes out.
You should get a job in a movie theater…might be a step up in pay too.
I bet my EA is better educated than you, better paid too.
You know, your parents shame will only grow. Not your prospects though…those will keep shrinking. Hint: that is one of the reasons they feel that shame.
Cannot get around it.June 20, 2009 - 2:57 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
85. Ms. Attitude
67. sheesh:
It appears from all of your posts on PJM that you are the one that is soooo into the mustard and bombing Iran.
Case in point: If North Korea launches a missile aimed at Hawaii as the latest rumor/intelligence suggests they might (which would really compete for media attention with those July 4 Tea Parties that you've all conveniently forgotten about), I would shoot down the missile and take out their missile facilities. If KJI merely continues to crow and threaten, that's not reason enough to attack.
So, according to you, we should change the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of Revenge?
North Korea has already brokent the 2006 Security Council resolution prohibiting Pyongyang from conducting ballistic missile launches. And "shooting down" the missle, thank God that Obama's desire to cut missle defense hasn't been done yet.June 20, 2009 - 2:58 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
86. venividivici
I'm not cynical about a movement for freedom. I'm cynical about the self-serving situational angst of the right wing conservative movement. Proof? Look above.
That's right, I forgot that only lefties support various "movements" out of motives that are as pure as the driven snow.
Stick your cynicism where your head is. I'm pretty sure you can guess the location from my disdain for you.June 20, 2009 - 3:07 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
87. 888
GW Bush is vindicated. His pro-democracy policy in the Middle East proves that it is infectious, and that is why Mr. Obama has not been forceful in demanding the Iranian leadership to allow the protestors to demonstrate. If Reagan, Bush I, Bush II was President today, any of them would be capitalizing on this incredible turn of events in the Middle East and would be pushing the Iranian leadership to work towards change for democracy and freedom.
Obama will look like an idiot if he now encourages the pro-democracy movement in Iran because it will show that he was wrong after all, and that what Bush said, which was that EVERYONE longs for democracy, justice and freedom is true and accurate. It proves once and for all that going into Iraq was the right move, and that Iranians want the same freedom and democracy that Iraqis now enjoy, albeit still in its infancy — still, Iraq is a democracy as opposed to Iran, which is not.
Obama was wrong once again.June 20, 2009 - 3:11 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
88. Elizabeth
Thanks for the intelligent engagement from all the thoughtful posters.
Here's a link to a stirring article about what happened today.
Let's all keep Iran in our thoughts and prayers.June 20, 2009 - 3:21 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
89. Delia
I think dog-piling on certain people doesn't really make us look any better than the people we are annoyed with. When we are at our best, we will always be 'facts first', emotions later. I've been the worst at doing the 'emotions first' responses and I'm ashamed of myself for letting anyone get my proverbial 'goat'.
I'm going to try my best 'tolerate' rather than 'obliterate' people who are obviously consumed with confusion and desperation and issues of intolerance of their own. Sometimes, the people who don't think they 'need' compassion are the very people who need it the most.June 20, 2009 - 3:32 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
90. venividivici
I think dog-piling on certain people doesn't really make us look any better than the people we are annoyed with.
For me, the time for "looking better" will be when the "people we are annoyed with" are gone and forgotten.
Just my perspective and I don't expect it to be shared by everyone.June 20, 2009 - 3:40 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
91. Delia
Sheesh and his many alts have said some pretty mean and ugly things to me and I in turn have given it right back to him and weirdly, we have come to respect each other and stop being so downright ugly and mean-spirited towards one another. Yes, he can be annoying, yes, he's here to stir the pot, yes, he's got issues and yes, he's in the tank for 0bama.
All I'm sayin' is, what if we just ignored him or told him to have a nice day rather than verbally engage him, especially if he's off-topic?
On-topic, legit posts deserve recognition, but spastic off-topic ones can best be served by being ignored completely or a nice 'g'day'.
Sheesh ain't so bad. He's just misunderstood methinks.June 20, 2009 - 3:50 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
92. Steve
Obami only reacts he does not lead. Why did this statement come out after the congress and senate had already spoken about the matter, perhaps it is his slipping polls and increasing disfavor that have just surfaced.
I do not support this guy or any of his policies or ideas. To think that Janet Napolitano has classified me a Vietnam Era Vet (honorably discharged) and Christian that supports the second amendment (the right to keep and bear arms) and believes in personal responsibility as a potential terrorist is something I would never have thought possible.
Also never would I have thought that such an organization as A.C.O.R.N which is clearly a partisan left wing outfit with a non profit status be given billions of dollars from the taxpayers to continue their endeavors, but that is so. When the evidence was clear that the "New Black Panther Party" was intimidating voters and outright dismissed by the U.S. AG Holder then what makes you think this guy or any in his administration are really looking out for the country, cause they clearly are not.June 20, 2009 - 3:57 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
93. Delia
There are people prepared to die in Iran right now. If you believe in God, please, please, please let us all pray for them.
Watching this makes me thank the Lord every day that I was born in the USA.June 20, 2009 - 4:06 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
94. Ms. Attitude
95. Delia:
You're such the peace maker but with a good point. I like to banter with my very liberal friends about politics. I also like talking religion with my friends who believe differently than me. We all love each other any way so we never get into name calling or yelling. On here, it's a different story and I too will take your pledge of tolerance!
We can learn from opposing views on subjects but sometimes on here it gets difficult when the person with the opposing view calls you a name or attacks your character. I lash back.
I've been watching different news sources and have been on the internet regarding the situation in Iran. A big part of me can see Obama's reluctance to get involved because of the repercussions that can occur to our country. All I can say is that he wanted to be President of the United States, I don't and I'm glad I don't have to make his decision.
I hope the Iranian people survive and win. Even if the form of government they want isn't the same as what we want them to have but they should be able to choose that by having their votes counted.
I'm about to go eat dinner with my Liberal Christian friend and my Conservative Agnostic friend. We'll have a blast! BTW: I'm a Conservative Christian.June 20, 2009 - 4:14 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
95. Marie Claude
An Egyptian guy found out that the baby picture was taken out of this Pal video
that the Iran-Resist site owner (pro Reza Pahlavi) set in his site
and that I used to trustJune 20, 2009 - 4:20 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
96. Just Passing Through
95. Delia:
You're wrong on many counts.
sheesh is not a driveby troll. He has nothing better to do with his life and time than to incite a reaction on this site – and undoubtedly others – and revel in the attention. Doesn't matter that it's negative. Doesn't matter that the perception of him, and the mindseye image of him, is unflattering (to say the least). He isn't going to go away until he's banned, and then will reappear, assuming he can mask his IP or get another, under another name. He's not going to mature out of it naturally either. It'll take a huge shock, on the lines of tragedy that touches him personally, to grow him up. If that, as I suspect he's the type that will simply project his responsibility onto whatever target is convenient.
You are a reflective citizen who exercises her franchise in responsible way. He represents everything that is wrong about those who exercise their franchise irresponsibly. He despises you and everything you subscribe to. To give him anything back but your despite in return enables him.
People with the mindset of sheesh are historically responsible for endless suffering and death in the name of social engineering. They believe themselves blameless because they are not the ones pulling the trigger. They just enable those who do. Do not enable him in return.
I will not forget nor forgive those responsible for shackling America's attempt to pre-preemptively defend itself during the last 6 or so years, when the avoidable tragedy that will inevitably occur because of that shackling takes place. It will be more difficult for you to judge them for what they are then if you engage them as if their agenda now is simply misunderstood.June 20, 2009 - 4:26 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
97. sheesh
Wow. I'm honored. Such . . . intensity. Lots of guessing about me, so here's the stuff you really need to know. Yes, I'm here to stir the pot. No, I'm not young. Yes, I deal in emotion. No, I don't get paid for this. Yes, I'm smart as hell. No, I'm not gay. Yes, everything is going to get better. No, I don't think Republicans "get" it. Yes, I think conservatives get off on forbidding things. No, I don't think we should ban guns. Yes, I think fundamentalist Christians are sexually repressed. No, I don't think Obama is an idiot. Yes, I am the funniest writer here. No, I don't respect anything about Fox News. Yes, I think everybody is a hypocrite, it's just that Republicans are particularly arrogant and objectionable about it. No, I've never been on any form of public aid. Yes, I think we should close the borders. No, I don't think churches should be tax exempt. Yes, I believe global warming is a threat. No, I don't think conservatives are any braver than liberals. Yes, I think liberals are more creative than conservatives, a lot more. No, I don't feel compelled to provide footnotes or case studies or white papers or a newsmax link or anything else to legitimize anything I write. Yes, I beat you at your own game a lot more often that you would like or are willing to admit. (ain't that right, Malvo?) No, you can't take you eyes off me. Yes, indeed.
There, that oughtta keep you busy.June 20, 2009 - 4:27 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
98. ella
They have been gassed, they were shot, and they are, as you say, prepared to die.
Some of them.
Unfortunately many of US people (and Canadian people and European people) are looking at this from parochial point of view (will it be better for dems/cons……….and for Obama,…..and for this or that faction in EU ). Shouldn't they ask themselves: would this be better for whole of US (like for us, the people in the west) in a long run?June 20, 2009 - 4:34 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
99. Delia
Ms. Attitude,
I'm just trying my damndest to understand someone's mindset without feeling the knee jerk attack syndrome with which they propel on my me. Combative rhetoric gets tiresome.
Just Passing Through,
Ahh. Perhaps you have not been here very long but, Sheesh and his alts have had many a 'dalliance' in arguments. There is hardly anything compelling that comes from 'sheesh' except for sheer lonliness and impotence but I've felt that way many a time in life so I can't fault him for that.
ella, can you imagine dying for your freedom? How man people would be so brave in our own country? We have been lazy cows grazing on 'government' takeover. Pathetic.June 20, 2009 - 4:51 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
100. sheesh
Here . . . I'll show you:
"sheesh is not a driveby troll." Sure, I am.
"He has nothing better to do with his life and time than to incite a reaction on this site- and undoubtedly others"
I have many better things to do. Doesn't everybody? No, I don't post to any other site.
"(He revels) in the attention. Doesn't matter that it's negative. Doesn't matter that the perception of him, and the mindseye image of him, is unflattering (to say the least). He isn't going to go away until he's banned, and then will reappear, assuming he can mask his IP or get another, under another name."
Yes on all counts, though I might go away. I'll let you know.
"He's not going to mature out of it naturally either. It'll take a huge shock, on the lines of tragedy that touches him personally, to grow him up."
I'm as mature as I want to be. And why would you want to wish something tragic on anyone?
"If that, as I suspect he's the type that will simply project his responsibility onto whatever target is convenient."
If I knew what that meant, I'd reply.
"You are a reflective citizen who exercises her franchise in responsible way. He represents everything that is wrong about those who exercise their franchise irresponsibly."
OK, I admit it, my franchise has put on a few pounds lately. And I'm not very reflective. I tend to absorb light. (Is that what you meant? I don't want to be unresponsive.)
"He despises you and everything you subscribe to."
I think Delia, the person you are "advising", would say otherwise.
"To give him anything back but your despite in return enables him."
Who can argue with that?
"People with the mindset of sheesh are historically responsible for endless suffering and death in the name of social engineering."
You're on to me. The Holocaust, the gulags, intergenerational poverty – it's all been me. I admit it. I'll try to do better.
"They believe themselves blameless because they are not the ones pulling the trigger. They just enable those who do. Do not enable him in return."
Tell me, who do I call to enable them to pull triggers and create suffering and death? I don't know anybody like that. Do they have an 800 number?
"I will not forget nor forgive those responsible for shackling America's attempt to pre-preemptively defend itself during the last 6 or so years, when the avoidable tragedy that will inevitably occur because of that shackling takes place."
I'm sorry, who got shackled how? And is this thing you're so afraid of avoidable or inevitable? Those two words only SOUND the same. They actually have different meanings. Kind of opposite in way.
"It will be more difficult for you to judge them for what they are then if you engage them as if their agenda now is simply misunderstood."
Move over, Asimov, Just Passing Through is here.
OK, gotta go. Talk amongst yourselves.June 20, 2009 - 4:55 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
101. ella
The above said now i would also like to caution that it seems quite possible that the second revolution (going on now) may also be hijacked by someone. In my view it is probable that this someone might be Rafsanjani.
But at the moment let's hope that Ahmadinejad disappears from everybody view and protesters will get what they wish and pray and demonstrate for.
I wish them luck and victory.June 20, 2009 - 4:58 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
102. ella
But I am not American, so yes, I can imagine people dying for freedom, or at least for bettering their own lot.June 20, 2009 - 4:59 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
103. lefroy
Sheesh #103
This pathetic, inadequate little person has written a long paragraph about HIMSELF in a thread about what's happening in Iran! Isn't that the left all over – self-indulgent, self regarding, shallow, vain, supremely ignorant and morally confused. And what about this:
"Yes, I think conservatives get off on forbidding things"
This from someone on the left, whose greatest collective fear is that somebody, somewhere, might be enjoying themselves . . or that independent thought might lead to dancing.
This idiot – who, I repeat, has written an adoring paragraph about HIMSELF in a thread about an event of profound global significance – should be ignored. I would say he's a troll, but a troll intrudes just to enjoy the controversy he/she creates; this guy does it just to draw attention to himself.June 20, 2009 - 5:00 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
104. Delia
No, sheesh, you are a human being who has obviously suffered a lot of cruelty and inhumanity in your life. Welcome to club 'messed up'. Stop blaming people who never did squat to you by branding 'right wingers' as the evil perps.
I have nothing against gay men! Do you know that certain hormones that don't cross the placent properly can cause boys to feel like girls and visa versa? It's rare but it DOES happen.
Gay people who are just 'playing around' though have no sympathy with me.June 20, 2009 - 5:03 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
105. sheesh
108 lefroy . . . Vanity and ego on a blog . . . what are the chances?
Here you go . . . "This idiot – who, I repeat, has written a critical paragraph about SHEESH in a thread about an event of profound global significance – should be ignored."
Oopsie! (Don't worry, it wipes off.)June 20, 2009 - 5:06 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
106. sheesh
109 . . . I take it back. You don't "get" it.June 20, 2009 - 5:08 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
107. Delia
BTW, gender dysmorphia is another thing that Islam is against and they behead and genitally mutilate boys who are born with 'both sets' or are who are 'gay'.
Islamic countries need to revolt against the hate and cruetly to women, gays and children.June 20, 2009 - 5:10 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
Our False Prophet appears to have no idea what a golden opportunity he's passing up… overthrow this evil regime without firing a single shot… get their Armageddon-inspired nuke program off the world stage… and free 30 million people all at one time. But the boy wonder is too stupid to see it… or somehow just doesn't care?
And isn't this what George W Bush told you was going to happen in the Middle East in the wake of Iraq's liberation?
Maybe that's why Barack Obama has so little apparent interest in finishing the job in Iran… no matter how much it benefits the US and free world.
That, and the fact that he's already piled all his chips on legitimizing this vile regime- a democratic revolution at this point would be embarrassing.
109. Delia
111. sheesh,
Oh, yes. I 'get' it, Sheeshers.
So which is it, 'choice' or 'affinity'?
110. joeblough
I suspect that the excellent Mr. Ledeen wants to give our own Dear Leader (Backtrack Mudstain O'Blabber) somewhat too much credit.
True, the force of events and the clamoring voices around him are bit by bit forcing him to utter mildly supportive sentiments toward the Persian people, but clearly, nothing he couldn't plausibly apologize away to the Mad Mullahs … if they grant him an audience.
Next to Reagan and previous American presidents O'Blather is a moral midget.June 20, 2009 - 5:16 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
111. Delia
113. Reaganite Republican Resistance,
I think I lerve you.
AWESOME POST.June 20, 2009 - 5:17 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
112. venividivici
Yes, I'm smart as hell.
Based on what? That you believe certain things? What's your IQ? If you go on and on about how the test is biased, I will have to guess it's under 130. If it's under 170, who really cares?June 20, 2009 - 5:40 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
113. Dero
Overthrow a regime without firing a single shot… right because Putin is a great friend of the west. We traded one enemy for another. Let's stop mythmaking about the world. Berlin wall came down and we still got nukes pointed at each other, and we're still trying to put up missile defense in poland.
Always so quick to declare a problem solved.June 20, 2009 - 5:46 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
114. Snake eater
LOL! I'm looking forward to the Obama Ahmadinejad photo op after their "negotiation". The campaign commercials are already writing themselves.June 20, 2009 - 5:55 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
115. Delia
Okay, you're keelink me here. Your I.Q.? I know mine is small taters in the time space contin-aling-a-ding-dong, but c'mon…show me the numero.June 20, 2009 - 5:58 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
116. Delia
My I.Q was judged 157 first try and I re-took the test and scored 185 when a year later I took the test again. I felt I had an unfair advantage when I "re-took" the I.Q. test and so I feel that 157 is more fair for me and more accurate.
What about the 'E.Q.' test? What about 'feelings' and 'care' for those of us who are suffering?June 20, 2009 - 6:05 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
117. venividivici
I'm guessing around 110-115 IQ for sheesh. Leftists with intellectual pretensions are typically just a little smarter than average and they band together to tell themselves that because they're smarter than average, they must be geniuses. Meanwhile, real geniuses are off doing their own thing and have no use for the collectivist mindset embedded in today's Left.June 20, 2009 - 6:14 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
118. Just Passing Through
This was a post and thread that should have focused on the monumental struggle of a the people in Iran. sheesh, in his post #29, treated the subject exactly the way one would expect of him. I am guilty of not staying on the point of the post as well, but unlike a drive by troll, sheesh needs to be recognized for what he is.
sheesh is no challenge to understand as far as why he choses to infest every thread and discussion here. He gives that away in his own words about the fantasy life he leads here:
'No, you can't take you eyes off me. Yes, indeed.'
I haven't been around this site too long, it's true. Nonetheless, I've been here long enough to see that, leaving his rationale for posting here, sheesh has easily settled into a method of trolling that embodies the quintessential attributes of the progressive left bottom dweller. He is articulate enough to have been educated or is in the process of being educated. Despite that, he has been, or is being, poorly educated because he mistakes his being indoctrinated as being taught to think. He may be lucky in life, but he is not successful in leading it. He believes in the free lunch and takes responsibility for nothing. And above all, he is a liar.
As an individual, he is inconsequential in every way, but in the aggregate, he and the rest of the marching morons like him are vastly dangerous unless they are confronted.June 20, 2009 - 6:40 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
119. Just Passing Through
121. venividivici:
The current brood of leftists with intellectual pretensions are the ones whose parents were convinced they had a talented and gifted sprout. They were doted on, coddled, and given everything in life but values. They band together not just to tell themselves that because they're smarter than average, they must be geniuses. They do so also because their peers that are just as smart or smarter but do have values, and consequentially are able to live their lives independent of the need for constant approbation, scares the bejesus out of them. They also recognize their need for someone to stand between them and the boogums in the world. And they resent that intensely.June 20, 2009 - 6:54 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
120. Hyphenated American
Can Iranians win?
A view of a Russian immigrant.
http://hyphenatedamericans.blogspot.com/2009/06/can-iranians-win.htmlJune 20, 2009 - 7:24 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
121. fear obama
Mousavi was prime minister in 1981 and served for eight years. During this period he won a reputation as a hardliner who denounced America as the "Great Satan" He joyfully sent suicide bombers to kill 244 of my fellow marines in Beirut.
If he is martyred and his naked body is dragged through the streets of Tehran …….. GREAT!
Maybe his martyrdom will get the Grand Mullah eliminated and little Aberdinerjerkoff will be buried up to his short neck and stoned.
122. joeblough
114. Reaganite Republican Resistance:
Bingo! Bulls Eye!
Have a cigar.
123. Delia
venividivici, navel gazerzzzzzzz are oft prone to thinking only of themselves. I share a lot of personal pain here and I think nave gazel extraordinaire can't help but realize I'm a 'real' person. I think 'navel gazer' is a real person too and thusly treat him as such.
I dunno. Some people just grow on ya…love or hate. lolJune 20, 2009 - 7:36 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
124. Hyphenated American
Applying Lenin's theory of revolution to the Iranian situation
http://hyphenatedamericans.blogspot.com/2009/06/revolution-in-iran-quoting-lenin.htmlJune 20, 2009 - 7:46 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
125. Paul M Hupf
A nuclear Iran is a threat to Israel, Europe and the United States. The French president recognizes this. It would be surprising if the German chancellor did not. Iranians are in the streets meeting death and grave injury to oppose Iranian leadership. As to the weak response of the President of the United States: the less said about it, the better.June 20, 2009 - 7:56 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
126. Delia
131. Paul M Hupf,
Unfortch it's gonna take a big 'KABOOM!' for dim-5tard prezzy to 'react', and by then it will be too late.June 20, 2009 - 8:27 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
127. Marie Claude
referring to my post 101, the baby pic has been removed from the site following my mailJune 20, 2009 - 8:57 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
128. scott
I may have to give up on PM. The quality of discourse here is very poor. A lot of chest beating and oneupmanship is about all that goes on.
You post-modern drones go on and on with your petty arguments here while the lives of millions in Iran hang in the balance. This thread should have been reserved for actual discussion and dissemination of real news.
This is not a game you twits.
Even OUR lives in the West may hang in the balance … as well as so many Iranians.
How dare you trivialize this issue with your stupidity?!?!June 20, 2009 - 9:16 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
129. Delia
PEACEJune 20, 2009 - 10:21 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
130. Delia
Nobody mentioned the 'Peace' 'two-finger' sign held up in the protests.
I think that's pretty effing amazing, brave and COOL.June 20, 2009 - 10:28 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
131. Delia
134. scott,
Yes, please go back to Huffpo. You won't be missed here. EVER.
WAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHJune 20, 2009 - 10:33 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
132. fear Obama
Like my comments are going to affect the lives of millions of Iranians?
pres. hopenchange didn't say anything until he realized his dialog with Aberdinerjerkoff will probably be held in exile in Libya.
Huffpo is missing an idiot.June 21, 2009 - 12:59 am Link to this Comment | Reply
133. Mike Reynolds
I want to hear now from those Leftists who literally wept with rage and hysteria as they accused Bush of being a facsist dictator. What, not a word? Too busy proclaiming your love for the Supreme Leader, and the Dear Leader and president-for-life Chavez? You miserable little nazi scrotes, you are a disgrace to progressivism!June 21, 2009 - 2:30 am Link to this Comment | Reply
134. sheesh
Measuring each other's IQs?
That sounds a little . . . what were the word lefroy used? . . . "self-indulgent, self regarding, shallow, vain"
It also brings perfect clarity to why I "infest" this site . . . to shine a light on hypocrisy. What else do you want to measure?
As for Just Passing Through . . . you're certainly ambitious in your pocket psychology, but you're gonna have to move beyond guesswork and pick something provable. Unfortunately, you can't prove anything, but don't let that stop you. Guess away . . .June 21, 2009 - 7:54 am Link to this Comment | Reply
135. Focus
Scott et. al. have a point.
There is nothing that can be done about sheesh and his many incarnation's infantile need for attention and self-centered blathering ("MUSTARD!", #103). Responding to his childishness provides the positive feedback he seeks thus encouraging more of the same.
"This was a post and thread that should have focused on the monumental struggle of a the people in Iran."June 21, 2009 - 8:05 am Link to this Comment | Reply
136. Delia
141. sheesh,
Intelligence quotients mean nada if you don't have heart-n-soul. Eh? Kinda like navel gazin'. You dig? Hey, lint!June 21, 2009 - 8:15 am Link to this Comment | Reply
137. Delia
*AS TO TOPIC* -cough-cough-
Thank you, Mr. Ledeen for keeping us updated on this even [which is pretty huge].June 21, 2009 - 8:17 am Link to this Comment | Reply
138. Delia
'even' was supposed to be 'event' btw.
*smacks self with rubber chicken upside the head*June 21, 2009 - 9:09 am Link to this Comment | Reply
139. Just Passing Through
There are new threads on the events in Iran, and we can always hope that sheesh has the common decency to refrain from attention seeking in them.
sheesh, you are pathetically easy to read. You're not here to 'infest' this site because of any need to expose hypocrisy. That is nothing more than one of the lies you tell yourself to compensate for leading your small, inconsequential, and irrelevant life. That lie comes as easy to you as the lies about your success, your intelligence…your relevance. You're here for exactly the reason you let slip in comment 103:
'No, you can't take you eyes off me. Yes, indeed.'
You're not here with any intent to contribute anything of substance to any discussion. I don't think you even understand most of the discussions. But you'll disrupt every discussion you can on this site with your white noise just because you can. And as long as you're allowed to do so, you'll continue to figuratively march about, banging a spoon on a pot as hard as you can, just as you did when you were 4, 8, 10, 12 years old, so that the attention of every adult in the room focuses on you:
'No, you can't take you eyes off me. Yes, indeed.'
That'll go on until the moderators have had enough of you, and quite honestly have had enough of the reaction of those commenters who have long had enough of you, and send you on your way to infest some another site.June 21, 2009 - 11:17 am Link to this Comment | Reply
140. Delia
Just Passing Through, I hope you are having a nice day. Sheesh wants attention in the worst way and I suggest we give him so much saccharin sweetness that he scampers away. He likes/thrives on negative vibes. Positive affirmations wig him out. I've got his number and I know him more than he'd like me to.
Beware of the Delia.June 21, 2009 - 12:41 pm Link to this Comment | Reply
141. sammie
Brave people in Iran. I don't know how brave I would be in that situation.
May God be with these Iranians in their struggle. No one should hold such authority over a people as the Iranian gov/cleric does. It's wrong!
Not surprised to hear about the plainclothes police, razor blades etc. Surprised outside forces are not there yet to help the religious zealots.
ALSO!!!! Just ignore "SHEESH"…don't respond to whatever it is he says, anywhere…there seems to be a bit of education going on there, but not substance, merely hatred and by responding …you feed it.June 22, 2009 - 9:34 am Link to this Comment | Reply
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