Month: December 2009

With respect to this, a reader asks:

"Is that a bomb in your pants or are you just happy to see 30 virgins?"

It's classic Palin – seeking first of all to get sole custody of Tripp Johnston-Palin for Bristol from his father, and doing it in secret. Johnston lawyer Rex Butler had the right response to that:

"Simply put, this matter is public in nature, the courts are not refuges for the scions of the elite to obtain private dispensation of their legal matters because the public at large has an interest in the proceedings."

We sure do. And this is the kind of pressure being put on Levi, as he tells the world he has something "huge" on the former governor and beauty queen:

"I do not feel protected against Sarah Palin in a closed proceeding," Johnston said in an affidavit accompanying Butler's filings. "I hope that if it is open she will stay out of it. … I think a public case might go a long way in reducing Sarah Palin's instinct to attack and allow the real parties in this litigation, Bristol and I, to work things out a lot more peacefully than we could if there is any more meddling from Sarah Palin."

Johnston's affidavit did not disclose exactly what "meddling," if any, the former governor has engaged in during the custody case's brief lifetime; however, he theorized that the closed proceedings might be intended to conceal some "fairly aggressive" tactics.

I'm not sure why Palin wants a knock-down drag-out fight with the father of her grandson, but she acts so often out of spite, anger and with no solid grasp of the full consequences you never know what she might do next. It sure reveals her invitation to Thanksgiving on Oprah as a total lie.

This footage from Sunday shows the dramatic standoff that led to the gruesome killing of this protestor. Discretion advised:

(Hat tip: Mackey)

EA:

Saham News reports that Mehdi Karoubi, attending an Ashura mourning ceremony with his family, was attacked by plainclothes militia as he left the mosque. Karoubi’s car was attacked and vandalised, breaking the front windscreen, before onlookers intervened.

A reader writes:

When I was 13, I watched CNN cover the largely peaceful overthrow of the Milosevic gov't from my junior high school history class. Not only did the "MSM" thoroughly and innovatively (through the Internet) document that great triumph of freedom, they also made the most of their power as a major source of news, in a way that definitely imprinted the importance of journalism pretty hard upon my mind, and (I'm sure) on the minds of anyone who saw a young Serbian guy fly his country's flag outside the overrun gov't-run TV station. It was heavy.

I hope there are kids today who are logging on and watching this "revolution" or whatever you want to call it in Iran, and I am extremely grateful that you are helping spread this message in lieu of the now-defunct "MSM". Rock on.

Obama speaks out against the regime in his most forceful language yet:

Transcript after the jump:

The United States joins with the international community in strongly condemning the violent and unjust suppression of innocent Iranian citizens, which has apparently resulted in detentions, injuries, and even death.

For months, the Iranian people have sought nothing more than to exercise their universal rights. Each time they have done so, they have been met with the iron fist of brutality, even on solemn occasions and holy days. And each time that has happened, the world has watched with deep admiration for the courage and the conviction of the Iranian people who are part of Iran’s great and enduring civilization.

What’s taking place within Iran is not about the United States or any other country. It’s about the Iranian people and their aspirations for justice and a better life for themselves. And the decision of Iran’s leaders to govern through fear and tyranny will not succeed in making those aspirations go away.

As I said in Oslo, it’s telling when governments fear the aspirations of their own people more than the power of any other nation. Along with all free nations, the United States stands with those who seek their universal rights. We call upon the Iranian government to abide by the international obligations that it has to respect the rights of its own people.

We call for the immediate release of all who have been unjustly detained within Iran. We will continue to bear witness to the extraordinary events that are taking place there. And I’m confident that history will be on the side of those who seek justice.

Purportedly from today:

Or, at least, according to one of his readers, moving " towards the gutbucket swampland of blood libels" because he dares to criticize some settlers who are "a more or less normal group of people who are living in the land of their forefathers."

The neoconservative use of the anti-Semite card is so ubiquitous and so vile and so cheap it has become meaningless.