Month: July 2009

Iran Update

More news that suggests that the rifts caused by the coup are not going away. A highly informed Iranian reader writes:

I don't know if any one has brought your attention to the statements issued yesterday by leading reformist parties in the wake of the Guardian Council's approval of the election results. Mojahedin Enghelab (Revolutionary Mojahedin) and Mosharakat (Participation Front) both issued statements that are the most confrontational ever. Both influential parties which backed Mousavi are making 3 new and critical points:

a) Bluntly calling what happened a coup d'etat. b) Saying elections, for the first time since the revolution, are meaningless; and c) arguing that this is an illegal government and they will use all non-violent means to fight it.

Khamenei will not tolerate this, it will defeat the purpose and the essence of this coup if he does not manage and move to silence them. So it won't be surprising if they soon move to ban these two parties.

When I get a translation of the party statements, I'll post.

The Sarahpac Ad

A reader writes:

Unfortunately, I think the “message” being put out by the Palin folks is pretty clear. You’ve got a lot of footage of Palin around planes, wearing flight gear — juxtaposed with the notion that Obama “terrorized” New York via the Air Force One photo-op…and then, the comparison to King Kong’s rampage, with the movie still of the bi-planes comin’ to get ‘im, you betcha. See? Obama’s the gorilla. And Palin’s the brave pilot itchin’ to shoot. Sickening.

And now someone has taken it down. Perhaps that mixture of lies and racism alerted some in her camp.

Sciutto Says

Fresh tweets from ABC News foreign correspondent Jim Sciutto:

Tehran's notorious Evin prison is full, now they use football stadiums

Mehdi Karoubi told me opp was fighting to keep the 'republic' in the 'Islamic republic'. Many Iranians now veneer of democ gone

Govt closes pro-Karoubi newspaper after he called the govt illegitimate

Ali Larijani, 1-time tough nuclear negotiator, may emerge as ldr to equal or surpass Mousavi.

It's a measure of how far right Iran has moved that Larijani is a relative moderate

Cap-And-Trade War?, Ctd

A reader writes:

The tariff measure is necessary eventually (at least if China continues to refuse to regulate its own emissions), or else any effort to curb carbon emissions will only cost the U.S. money without actually lowering global emissions. Businesses that cap and trade costs money will move to China, where they will pollute as much or more than they do here. Carbon emissions in China are the same as carbon emissions in the U.S. as far as global warming is concerned.

Ezra Klein also passes along a defense of the provision.

The Prefab-Con

John Schwenkler coins a phrase. Conor Friedersdorf provides a definition:

In construction, a prefabricated house is produced in a factory, shipped out to building sites, and assembled by folks unequipped to design anything better. The prefab conservative, or prefab-con, brings the same attitude to political discourse: rather than using reason and critical thinking to craft arguments that fit the real world, he trots out prefabricated memes, arguments and conclusions that are passably functional at best. All too often, they are even worse: the typical prefabcon lives in an intellectual house of ugly, wobbly walls that collapse on themselves in slight gusts. Undaunted, he throws up another structure on the same spot, though that wolf named reality is standing right there, ready to huff and puff again.

Sounds like Palin to me. But what's the liberal equivalent?