Indoctrinational tv at airports is what you are talking about. Massiah TV. You're lucky you don't live in the SF area. That's all there is except FOX.
Richard

Anti Americanism is the Oxygen with which the Iranian regime requires to survive. With his outstretched hand, his message to Iran on its national day, his admission that the United States had a hand in the 1953 coup in Tehran, obama has deprived the mad mullahs of their oxygen. Now they are beginning to suffocate, as their people see that anti American and Israel rhetoric is all they have.

Ted

Richard:

Being stuck in an airport is positively Orwellian.

Ted:

Your theory is, I believe, deeply Eurocentric and does not take into account the realities of Iran or its people. See this excellent analysis: http://www.stratfor.com/weekly/20090615_western_misconceptions_meet_iranian_reality

I guess myself and Pat Buchanan are just two old fashioned Eurocentrics.

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/quote-for-the-day-iii-4.html

Ted

Good for Karen for not giving a whit what people think of her dumping on Obama.

Obama is great at talking and never saying anything. His press conferences are the best example but also his DNC speech and his race speech last year. By the time you figure out exactly what he said it's all stuff you already knew. Blacks and whites see things differently because of their life experiences, we all have to get along, we need to come to an understanding blah blah blah.

Obama didn't deprive the mullahs of oxygen but gave them the knowledge that no matter what they did Obama would talk to them. Election fraud or crackdowns on dissent will still result in Obama wagging his tail and wanting his belly rubbed at the idea of talking to Iran. He really believes Iran has problems with Israel because they just don't understand each other. If it weren't so dangerous it'd be funny.

Ted:

I don't think you want to associate yourself with Pat Buchanan, do you? The man is considered outside the pale by Republicans and sane Democrats.

See this: http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/33916_Pat_Buchanan_and_the_American_Friends_of_the_BNP

There's also the fact that Obama's speech was not broadcast in Iran, so most Iranians did not see it, except for a small select group of tech savvy students. Most Iranians are illiterate and don't even own TV's.

Besides, creating a positive cause and effect between Obama's apology for overthrowing a man the Mullah's also wanted to overthrow seems like wishful thinking, a desire to validate Obama's policies of appeasement. Even Roger Cohen, a notorious apologist for the current Iranian regime admits in today's NYT that he was wrong and Obama should not be so quick to engage the Iranian thugs.

I was hearing yesterday - on Hugh Hewitt's program - from several people who follow Iran closely and these crowds are the biggest since 1979. Since even the Revolutionary Guard is not to be trusted as to who they will side with, the mullahs have brought in foreigners to fight the crowds , even Venezuelans - Hezbollah from Lebonan.

Robert, I am trying to picture a captive you and Karen listening to the drones at CNN (perhaps with an interjection on the PA from the Commissar intoning everyone to hear the Dear Leader- at the airport.

Have you ever thought of making a screenplay on captives at airports? Aside from the sheer boredom the funniest waiting-at-the-airport story I have was at Tahiti - while waiting 6 hours for a Quantas flight to NZ (years ago) I tried to get some sleep.

Only problems was the airport was infested with sand crabs - the airport had no walls to keep them out - and every time I'd doze off a sand crab would crawl up my leg. Those things were fairly big too - 3-4" as I recall.

“I want to be perfectly clear...”

He wants to be perfectly clear, but he is incapable.

A few months ago a guy who came to our house to help my son with his game system, pocketed an ipod. We knew he took it, but it was hard to actually prove.

I accused him several times finally informing him that I did indeed have enough evidence to take him to small claims court. The court fees would have cost more than the ipod, but it was the principle of the thing.

Well, the thing he kept saying to me was "I don't know how to tell you that you that I didn't take your son's ipod."

Well, of course he didn't know how to do that-- because he did!

And I did finally get the ipod back from him!

However, Obama is even lying with his “I want to be perfectly clear...” -- he doesn't really want to be "perfectly" clear but he wants to be seen as being clear.

There have been plenty of time though that he has told the truth, the horrible truth about what he wants for this country and people are simply choosing to think it means something else entirely.

Change, in and of itself, for change's sake is not a good thing. And people assumed that the change that he meant was a more ethical government. But, that's not what he meant at all.

From the economy to Israel, to N Korea and now this nightmare of a health care thing, we are all, truly in great trouble.

And that, is what is perfectly clear.

I am aware Pat Buchanan is a bit of a fruitcake. I was simply highlighting that he is an unlikely figure to be praising Obama's foreign policy.

I think you underestimate the massive Iranian youth. They are politically astute and very clued into world events. Most Iranians are not illiterate and there is more than just a "small select group of tech savvy students" engaging in this debate. Iran is in fact the third biggest blogging nation. see http://gubu-world.blogspot.com/2009/06/nation-of-bloggers.html

Look, I don't know if there is any connection between Obama's "reaching out" and recent events in Iran. I don't see how anyone can know prove or disprove it. But 8 years of a tough stance under Bush only saw the regime go from strength to strength. Five months of reaching out and the regime is looking its most vulnerable since the early days of the revolution.

Ted:

Youth, jeans, and blogging do not automatically equate to liberal western values. I think you'd be surprised at how conservative the Iranian youth are. Certainly the majority back the Iranian nuclear program and the visceral hatred of Israel and Jews.

I don't think the regime looks vulnerable at all. That's like saying that the Chinese regime was vulnerable because of Tiannamen Square. Brutal regimes just crack down, kill and torture their opponents and wait for the western powers to come calling because there's no one else to talk to.

And let's keep another thing in mind. The Iranian elections were not western style free elections. Only candidates approved by the Mullahs were permitted to run. So it was a choice between one thug or another.

Your optimism regarding Obama's outreach is, I believe, misplaced. In Obama, the Mullahs have sniffed raw meat, they recognize inexperience and weakness, and like the North Koreans, we can expect even more terror and killing.

BTW, did you watch the STRATFOR vid I posted? It's very interesting.

I've been following the Iranian revolution, such as it is, on Twitter. Amidst chillingly cryptic messages of carnage, and more than one analogy of Mousavi as the Obama-like dawn meant to rise over the dark tyrany of Ahmadinejad and President Bush, I found this jem of an article: http://www.chartingstocks.net/2009/06/proof-israeli-effort-to-destabilize-iran-via-twitter/

It is always, always, always about the Jews.

Michal:

Thanks so much for the link. I've been wondering how long it would take for them to get around to blaming the Jooz and the, ahem, international Zionist conspiracy.

Most Iranians are illiterate and don't even own TV's.

This is clearly false. According to the CIA Factbook, their 2002 estimate of the overall literacy in Iran is 77%, with 83.5% of males and 70.4% of females being literate. By any definition of the word "most," it's clear that most Iranians are in fact literate.

Robert

I spent one month in Iran in 2004 conducting research for my thesis, which was about the student protests that took place in 1999 and to a lesser extent 2003. I met many journalists and editors of reformist publications (most of whom were put out of business the following year when Ahmadinejad came to power) as well as some of the student leaders who had organised the demonstration. During this time I got to understand the reform movement inside out. And I believe what is going on now is different. What happened in Iran yesterday, one million on the streets, 7 dead in clashes, this is new and its big.

Im not saying the regime is about to fall, but its definitely rattled. Unlike the events of 99 and 03 whats happening now is sporadic and unpredictable which makes it far more difficult for the regime to infiltrate and bring down as they did in the past. They were not prepared for this. I think they are vulnerable. And I think the hard liners are crying out for some evidence of American involvement. The last thing the regime wanted to hear was Obama saying "Iran's leaders must be decided by the Iranian people". That was smart and he deserves credit for it.

Robert, the reason I am getting kinda excited is because I have always believed that there is a better chance of Iran becoming a real democracy than any Arab state. Democracy was such a shock to the system in Iraq that the country almost self combusted. I do however think that Iran could handle it.

I don't believe the Iranian youth are as conservative as you do and I certainly don't believe they back "the visceral hatred of Israel and Jews". They are however intensely nationalist and share in the resentment of the Mullahs that Iran has been mistreated and humiliated by outside powers down through the decades. These two different sentiments should not be mixed up.

The STRATFOR video was excellent. But I am genuinely disappointed at the lack of moral support conservative America appears to be giving to the demonstrators in Iran. The election was clearly not free and fair unless you believe that the Kurdish and Arab regions of Iran would overwhelmingly vote for Ahmadinejad.

Ted

Ted:

I appreciate your thoughtful comments and really would like to believe that a new age dawns for Iran. But let's be clear, Mousavi is not reformist. At least not in the western non-Islamic sense. He's a true son of the Islamic revolution and his foreign policy would probably be same as you know who. Perhaps in terms of women's rights he might be a bit it better, but that's probably why the Mullahs oppose him and his wife—whom they really don't like.

Time will tell who is right, you or me and we'll go from there.

If Iran moves into Democracy I'll send you a fine bottle of wine. Oh wait, you're Irish, a case of beer.

Everyone:

I want to point out one simple fact. The current Iranian regime are the same people who sent children, thousands of children, as human minesweepers in the 8-year war with Iraq in which untold hundreds of thousands were killed.

Thus, if you expect this regime to blink in the face of a protesters, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'm sure you'll find is priced just right.

And of course, the always reliable Palestinian Hamas—Jimmy Carter's good buddies—are helping the Mullahs crush those who dare dissent: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1245184848467&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

No one on the ballot was going to be a reformer - they were all picked by the GC. Anyone that was going to bring real reform was not allowed to run.

Greta was right tonight. One guy wants to wipe Israel off the map and the other killed 7000 of his opponents in the early '80s. We're not exactly looking at the next George Washington or Thomas Jefferson.

That said, the best way to acheive real regime change is to undermine support of the mullahs and Obama could help by voicing support for true democracy. But he's afraid to back the wrong horse.

I wasn't all that impressed with Netanyahu's speech. He advocates a two-state solution, without mentioning Jordan. I say Jordan is Palestine and should take in the so-called "Palestinian" refugees.
Though plenty of left-wingers think the U.S. should send the marines to stop Israelis from defending themselves against Arabs, nobody is going to lift a finger to help the protesters in Iran. (Let me say I'm sorry for them and what they're going through and I admire their courage.) Even if they stage a successful revolution and throw out Ahmadinajad, they will quite possibly just install another anti-Israel, anti-American nut job.

Dear Mr. Brandt: I find airport waiting even more dreary since they stopped letting me take my embroidery or my crocheting in my carry-on luggage. Can you imagine anyone hijacking a plane with an embroidery needle or a crochet hook? Neither one even has a sharp point!

Miranda:

You have just been put on a federal watch list. Obviously the government can't have people thinking so clearly.

If you notice helicopters following you around then it means they .... try...............to.....shut ............................aghhhhhhh

Miranda - my strangest airport confiscation story involved a keychain. I had a keychain with a .45 cartridge - no primer, powder but those TSA idiots went ballistic and thought that they had earned their pay for the day stopping a hijacking. Knew I could argue with them and miss my flight.

Dear Johnny: My mother told me, more than 20 years ago, that I was "probably on a list somewhere." I was, at the time, running an Amnesty International letter writing campaign to get a Syrian Arab out of jail.
I have friends who live in the West Bank town of Ofra and they told me that when they first moved in, U.S. spy satelites used to photograph the laundry on the clotheslines in the West Bank towns-to see how many people were living there.
Checking when-or how much-laundry people hang out puts one in EXTREMELY ugly company, by the way. I don't like it when people toss around comparisons to the Spanish Inquisition, but the Inquisition used to spot Marranos by looking to see who hung out the laundry on Friday afternoon.

Dear Mr. Brandt: I never had my crocheting or embroidery supplies confiscated. I just had to put them in the checked in luggage.
Unbelieveable that the TSA hires people who don't know empty shells are harmless. I had two empty shells for years. When I was 11, my family visited Washington, D.C. We took the tour of the F.B.I. building, including the target range. After the tour, the tour guide held up a bag of empty shells and said "Would any of the children like-" He was instantly MOBBED by children who wanted empty shells.
Later on, my brother, WHO WAS EIGHT YEARS OLD AT THE TIME, held up the shell and asked my mother "If I dropped this, would it explode?" She said "No." So an eight year old child can understand that empty shells are not dangerous; the people in charge of airport security CAN'T.
Not to mention the time my sister-in-law almost missed a plane and had to run for it in her stocking feet! And the time I had a bottle of shampoo confiscated.