Dinah Lord

Update:  Another win:  Nuggets 110 - 101

This time it's the Nuggets v. Rockets.  

Departing from tradition (a heartburn inducing hot dog and a couple of Blue Moons) we will be dining here tonight.

Later!

More of that famed Obama administration transparency. 

From CNS.com (h/t The Last Crusade)

Read the rest.

My prayers go with them.  Semper Fi.

From AFP:

Before they headed off to war in Afghanistan, the young Marines mingled with their families one last time, trying to lighten the mood with jokes and nervous laughter. But the anxious faces of their parents and wives betrayed the gravity of the moment.

"We're justifiably proud but obviously nervous," said a somber James McDermott, 56, whose son, Luke, was about to leave for his second deployment in the Afghan war.

Standing outside on Tuesday night in a windy parking lot at the Camp Lejeune base in North Carolina, the families spent precious minutes together before the Marines set off for Afghanistan.

About 200 Marines departed early on Wednesday morning, part of a 1,500-strong battalion that will be on the ground before the Christmas holiday. The number of Marines in Afghanistan was due to rise from about 13,000 to some 20,000 over the next several months.

Putting the EU in Eurabia.

God forbid the Swiss people should conduct a legal referendum to determine their own fate as a nation.

From Deutsche Welle:

Algerian-born Hafid Ouardidi lodged the complaint with the human rights court in Strausbourg, saying the referendum violates the right to religious freedom. Ouardidi is a former spokesman at the Geneva Mosque.

The referendum passed in Switzerland after 57.5 percent of the country's citizens approved the measure in a November 29 vote. The Swiss national government urged its citizens to vote against the measure, which was supported by a campaign from the right-wing Swiss People's Party. The party opposed the "Islamisation of Switzerland."

One of Ouardidi's lawyers, Pierre de Preux, said that the Swiss government and all members of the European Council had been informed of the complaint.

"We will have both the plaintiff Hafid Ouardiri and the defendant, [the Swiss government], saying the same thing," de Preux told Reuters news agency. "The court is still free to decide whatever it wants, but it sure is going to help the request."

The European Court of Human Rights must still decide if it will accept Ouardidi's complaint.

Just when you thought this administration could NOT get any more lame...

From The Telegraph:

The letter was delivered to North Korean officials last week by Stephen Bosworth, Mr Obama's special envoy for North Korea, during a visit to Pyongyang aimed at restarting the stalled negotiations, a US official said.

Refusing to describe the contents of the letter, the official said they fitted with Mr Bosworth's general message encouraging them to re-engage.

"The North Koreans have a choice: continued and further isolation or benefits for returning to the six-party talks and dismantling their nuclear weapons programme," he said.

Mr Bosworth's visit, the first senior level encounter during the Obama administration, did not include a meeting with the North Korean leader, who according to reports in South Korea yesterday is suffering from chronic laryngitis and is unable to work without resting every other day.

Can you imagine the hue and cry that would be heard round the world if a Republican did this?

Just plane rude.

New York's famously garrulous senior senator, Chuck Schumer, got busted Wednesday for calling a female flight attendant the B-word aboard a US Airways flight from New York to Washington on Sunday.

Schumer was sitting next to protege Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, gabbing away on his phone, when a flight attendant told him to shut it down.

Schumer turned off his phone, and then argued with the attendant that he was allowed to talk while the cabin door is open. He lost.

He then muttered his complaint about the flight attendant to Gillibrand.

A Republican aide on the plane, who overheard the powerful Democrat, tattled to Politico.com.  (When a Republican does it - it's tattling.)

"The senator made an off-the-cuff comment under his breath that he shouldn't have made, and he regrets it," Schumer spokesman Brian Fallon told Anne Schroeder Mullins.

The Army psychiatrist charged in last month's deadly shooting at Fort Hood has been moved from a hospital's intensive care unit to a private room, his attorney said Wednesday.

Maj. Nidal Hasan remains under guard at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antoniao and is rehabilitating from wounds that left him paralyzed from the waist down, said attorney John Galligan.  He said he was notified about the transfer on Tuesday.

Doctors have said Hasan needs to be hospitalized at least two more months while he learns to care for himself, Galligan said.

Galligan said he filed a motion to have Hasan transferred to a hospital closer to his office near Fort Hood so that he would have better access to his attorneys. Fort Hood is about 125 miles northeast of San Antonio.  Officials from the military hospital and Fort Hood did not immediately return phone messages seeking comment.

Thanks to Brian at Freedom's Lighthouse for the clip.

Oh fudge.  Looks like he turned up.   How ridiculous do the Scottish authorities look?

"We have now spoken to Mr Megrahi, who is in his house. There is no cause for alarm, he is in his house," said a spokesman for East Renfrewshire Council in western Scotland.

"He wasn't able to speak to us yesterday but he was able to do so today. We have spoken to him and we don't have any concerns. He is definitely at home in Tripoli."

The spokesman said that if staff had been unable to contact Megrahi this time, they would have reported the situation to the Scottish government.

The council is next due to speak to Megrahi next Tuesday.

Original post: 

Well, this is a fine how do you do.

According to The Times - he's gone missing in action.  (h/t FReeper JoyTiz)

Mystery surrounded the Lockerbie bomber last night after he could not be reached at his home or in hospital.

Libyan officials could say nothing about the whereabouts of Abdul Baset Ali al-Megrahi, and his Scottish monitors could not contact him by telephone. They will try again to speak to him today but if they fail to reach him, the Scottish government could face a new crisis.

Under the terms of his release from jail, the bomber cannot change his address or leave Tripoli, and must keep in regular communication with East Renfrewshire Council.

Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic and relatives of the 270 people who died in the 1988 bombing expressed anger about al-Megrahi’s disappearance.

No kidding.

Related:

Lockerbie Bomber:  Not so sick after all.

Lockerbie Bomber's Doc - a Libyan national?

Lockerbie Bomber:  Are there UK govt fingerprints all over this deal?

Madeline Albright:  Lockerbie "unfortunate incident" and "terrible accident".

Gaddafi meets with Lockerbie families and cancels Canadian visit.

Rats!  Lockerbie bomber not dead after all.

Scottish police re-open Lockerbie bombing case.

Death watch:  Lockerbie Bomber's health has not deteriorated since his release.

That's the rumor.   (Thanks to FReeper Miss Cindy)

From Steve Emerson's IPT:

An unconfirmed report published by Muslim news portal, IslamOnline, suggests that the five Americans currently being detained by the Pakistani government on suspicion of terrorist ties will not be released unless the United States government is willing to negotiate a prisoner swap.

In the article, an unnamed Senior Foreign Office official in Pakistan is quoted as saying "we have sent a proposal to the President and the Prime Minister not to deport the detained US nationals unilaterally." Under the proposal by the Foreign Office, the five Americans would be exchanged for four individuals of Pakistani descent currently being held at Guantanamo Bay.

Among the names mentioned in the proposal are Dr. Aafia Siddiqui, Saifullah and Uzair Piracha, and Majid Khan.

(Ed. note:  Dear God!  The Grey Lady of al Qaeda, Aafia Siddiqui!)

Each of these individuals is currently being held by the United States government for their connections to the Taliban and Al Qaida. While all of them provided financial and logistical support to these terrorist groups, Siddiqui went a step further – boldly attacking a group of U.S. servicemen with an assault rifle while in custody.

If this report is true it severely undercuts Pakistan's claims to be a partner against terrorism.

And shows how lame and weak the Obama administration is.

Related:

Ruh-roh. 5 DC area Muslims go missing. Related? 5 Americans detained in Pakistan.

About those 5 missing DC Muslim youth...links to al Qaeda AND the Ft. Hood Jihadi?

"My son's no terrorist"...says mom of MIA DC Muslim youth. A total of 6 Americans now being detained?

MIA DC Muslim 5 used Facebook and YouTube to jump start their terror careers.

MIA DC Muslim 5:  Now facing deportation?

MIA DC Muslim 5: All virgin kids, just going to Pakistan to find wives. Yeah. That's the ticket. Right there.

MIA DC Muslim 5: "al Qaeda's Crown Jewels"

MIA DC Muslim 5: Formally arrested; to stay in Pakistan's custody for 10 more days

Read more at: http://www.investigativeproject.org/blog/2009/12/terror-trading

The Sun:

HATE preacher Abu Hamza has got huge new wardrobes in his prison cell...

That's no robe, that's a damn tent!

- after he whinged about his robes getting creased.

Taxpayers paid hundreds of pounds for the Ikea-style furniture after he moaned a lack of storage was crumpling his Islamic prayer garments.

Belmarsh prison staff ordered and built the flat pack just days after the request by hook-handed Hamza, who is wanted in the US over al-Qaeda-linked terror charges.

A source at the South East London nick said: "Once again, Hamza demands special treatment and the authorities cave in. "Everyone's joking about what they'll do next for him - perhaps a butler."

Hamza, 51, jailed in 2006 for inciting hatred, had £650 lever taps put in his cell this year.

The Ministry of Justice said the wardrobes were for "disability reasons".

Related:  Abu Hamza gets $1250 faucets in UK prison.

From The Sun:  (h/t TROP)

A religious channel in the Arab state has just allowed women to present - but only if they wear a burkha with a niqab veil.

One host, Ola al-Barqi - Awtan TV's version of GMTV's Lorraine Kelly - insists the near-total covering does not stop her doing her job.

She said: "We don't introduce ourselves as beautiful women who put on layers of make-up.  Our audience is focusing on what we present to them, our ideas and our discourse.

[...]

There are more than 60 such channels across the Middle East.

From the NY Times:

A Pakistani court formally approved the arrests of the five young American men from Virginia on Tuesday, according to Pakistani authorities, and allowed 10 more days for their questioning on suspicions that they had been seeking training to fight American troops in Afghanistan.

[...]

The five are being held in Lahore, the Punjabi capital, but were returned briefly to Sargodha for the ruling under tight security. The district police chief, Dr. Usman Anwar Saif, said evidence was building that the five planned to take part in “jihad.”

Related:

Ruh-roh. 5 DC area Muslims go missing. Related? 5 Americans detained in Pakistan.

About those 5 missing DC Muslim youth...links to al Qaeda AND the Ft. Hood Jihadi?

"My son's no terrorist"...says mom of MIA DC Muslim youth. A total of 6 Americans now being detained?

MIA DC Muslim 5 used Facebook and YouTube to jump start their terror careers.

MIA DC Muslim 5:  Now facing deportation?

MIA DC Muslim 5: All virgin kids, just going to Pakistan to find wives. Yeah. That's the ticket. Right there.

Headley worked as US agency informant for a decade.

Pakistani-American terror suspect David Coleman Headley, charged with scouting targets for Mumbai terror attacks, worked as a confidential informant with the Drug Enforcement Administration for more than a decade, according to a US media report.

The relationship began with his first arrest back in June 1988, when customs agents at the Frankfurt airport pulled aside an intense and striking young man waiting to get on a plane back home to Philadelphia, McClatchy Newspapers reported Monday.

"They suspected he had heroin in his suitcase. They were right - two kilos' worth from Pakistan, hidden under a false bottom," the report said. He wasn't tough to crack: Before the day was out, Daood "David" Gilani decided to save his own skin, agreeing to betray his drug-dealing partners by helping US drug agents set up a sting," it said.

It was the beginning of a complicated, off-and-on relationship as a confidential informant with the Drug Enforcement Administration - one that lasted more than a decade.

In fact, Gilani was so helpful as a DEA informant in the late 1990s on heroin imported from Pakistan, according to records and Inquirer interviews, that prosecutors made a rare move: They ended his probation years early, allowing him to travel freely.

Within weeks, investigators cited by McClatchy said, he began training with terrorists in Pakistan.

Top official sources said that there is  a strong suspicion that US agency CIA knew about Headley's link with Lashkar-e-Taiba one year before Mumbai attack but did not convey it when he was freely travelling across India.  The investigators believe that the US agencies kept away the information from India and never allowed the Pakistani- origin Headley to get "exposed".

Update:  Now, even the FBI is getting in on the action.  Was David Headley an FBI informer?

Related:  Heroin, the DEA, the CIA and US terror suspect David Headley.  Double agent?  Rogue agent?  Hmmm.

From the Times of India:

In an advisory to its citizens, the US has said India has revised its regulations pertaining to the entry of foreign nationals holding long-term Indian tourist visas and various ports of entry in India have already started enforcing the revised regulations.

"Americans with five-or ten-year tourist visas will no longer be allowed to enter India within two months of their last departure from India if their last visit was longer than ninety days or if they have stayed longer than 180 days during the past year," the advisory on the embassy website said.

The revision of the regulations comes in wake of the arrest of Headley and Pakistani-Canadian Tahawwur Rana Hussain by FBI on charges of plotting terror attacks in India. Both Headley and Rana were issued multi-entry visas by India without proper security clearances.

The US advisory also said these restrictions will be enforced whether or not the tourist's passport has been stamped to indicate that return is not allowed within two months.

Related:

Update:  Judge detains suspect in Danish terror plot.

A federal judge denied bond on Tuesday to a Pakistani-born Chicago businessmen charged with plotting an attack on a Danish newspaper, saying there was too much risk he would flee before trial.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Nan Nolan said her decision to hold Tahawwur Rana, 48, was based on his substantial assets of $1.6 million, his strong ties to Canada, his understanding of immigration procedures and the potential 30-year prison term he faced if convicted of conspiring to support terrorism.

Original post:  FYI - Tahawwur Rana's bail hearing is being held in Chicago today and who knew that he was a follower of Gandhi?  (yeah right)

He's no Gandhi:

US prosecutors have taken strong objection to Pakistani-American Mumbai terror attack suspect Tahawwur Rana's assertion that he believed in the principles of non-violence advocated by Mahatma Gandhi, claiming that he admired and supported mass murderers.

In its eight-page memo against Rana's bail application filed in a US court here, United States Attorney Patrick J Fitzgerald said in seeking a bond, defendant Rana has argued that he believes in non-violence, citing his membership of the Iqbal society.

"Rana has even gone so far as to claim to this Court that his beliefs are akin to those of Gandhi. He also claims to have been a dupe of (terror suspect David) Headley," the memo submitted in US District Court of Illinois said.

Taking strong exception to this, the US Attorney said: "ironically, in invoking the name of a man who embodied the principles of non-violence and speaking the truth, Rana seeks to mislead this Court as to the extent of his admiration and support for mass murderers".

The US Justice Department has claimed that Rana knew about the Mumbai terror strikes in advance and was in close touch with Pakistani-American LeT operative Headley.

"Far from advocating non-violence, Rana's own statements reveal his support for the brutal killing of 170 people. Rana was told of the attacks before they happened and offered compliments and congratulations to those who carried them out afterwards... it is quite clear that Rana is no Gandhi," the US Attorney said.

Related:

Breaking:  2 men arrested in Chicago on terror charges

More about Tahawwur Rana:  The Mickey Mouse project

Tahawwur Rana:  Up close and personal

Tahawwur Rana (the Mickey Mouse Jihadi) had al Qaeda tapes in his home.

Playing catch up with Tahawwur Rana and David Headley

First some background info about the Chicago based terror suspect Daood Gilani/David Headley. 

He was born in 1960 in Washington DC.  His father was Pakistani, his mother was American.  After his parents' divorce (date ?) he lived in a "traditional Muslim household in Pakistan" until he was 17 and then came to live with his mother in Philadelphia.  He attended Community College (didn't graduate) and worked in bars and a variety of video stores until he was busted on heroin smuggling charges in 1998.

The Long War Journal picks up the story from there.

David Headley was convicted on heroin smuggling charges in 1998, and the available evidence overwhelmingly suggests that the following year he did undercover surveillance work in Pakistan for the DEA in exchange for a reduced sentence.

During his time in Pakistan in 1999, his surveillance target was reportedly a drug gang based in Afghanistan/Pakistan. This has given rise to speculation among Indian officials that Headley's work for the US government may have gone beyond the DEA. The speculation holds that DEA may have passed Headley on to the CIA, given his experience in Pakistan, and the CIA in turn used Hadley to infiltrate Lashkar-e-Taiba.

These rumors do not contend that the Mumbai attacks were thus a CIA operation; rather, they suggest that Headley had "gone rogue" by 2006 (Ed. Note:  With the name change in 2005, I would say he had gone rogue earlier than that) and thrown his lot in with LeT completely.

I urge you to read the rest of the LWJ's analysis.  It will help you going forward.  Because this is where it really starts to get interesting. 

Carefully scripted prosecution avoids focus on US Drug Enforcement Agency involvement.

In what appears to be a carefully scripted prosecution process, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of the US has been trying to have the prosecution of David Coleman Headley, the Chicago-based US citizen of Pakistani origin, who allegedly helped the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LET) in carrying out the 26/11 terrorist strikes in Mumbai last year, conducted in such a manner as to avoid any focus on his alleged links with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

2. These links were recently alleged by “The New York Times” in a profile on Headley. It alleged that in 1998, Headley (then known as Daood Gilani) was convicted of conspiring to smuggle heroin into the US from Pakistan. It added: “Court records show that after his arrest, he provided so much information about his own involvement with drug trafficking which stretched back more than a decade and about his Pakistani suppliers that he was sentenced to less than two years in jail and later went to Pakistan to conduct undercover surveillance operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)".

<--- The Land of Lincoln Gitmo

Update:  For the first time Obama announces that terrorist trials will be held here, too.

I'm sure you've heard by now that the Obama administration will be announcing the purchase of the Thomson Correctional Facility in Illinois to house Gitmo scumbags detainees today.  The question now is - how many of them?

Per the Chicagoist:

An announcement will be made later today that President Obama has given the go-ahead for the federal government to purchase the Thomson Correctional Center in Thomson, Illinois to hold federal inmates and some detainees currently being held at Guantanamo Bay. Gov. Quinn and U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin will be in Washington, D.C. today to meet with officials over details of the acquisition. Both have supported the move which they claim could create over 3,500 jobs. The Sun-Times' Lynn Sweet, who indicated over the weekend this move was coming, reports:

The Bureau of Prisons would occupy 75 percent of the facility and the Defense Department would use 25 percent of the space for the detainees. The plan calls for two “entirely separate facilities side by side.”

“Closing the detention center at Guantanamo is essential to protecting our national security and helping our troops by removing a deadly recruiting tool from the hands of al-Qaida. Tomorrow’s announcement is an important step forward as we work to achieve our national security objectives,” an official said in a statement.

The total number of Guantanamo detainees that will wind up in Illinois is still being considered. According to the Tribune:

At present, there are 210 detainees in custody in Guantanamo Bay. About 90 of them have been cleared for transfer back to their native countries or sent to other countries. Five are being turned over to the Department of Justice for federal trial in New York.

After today, the next step will be a panel hearing on December 22 held by the bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. The panel will recommend to Gov. Quinn whether to keep the prison open or closed, a recommendation Quinn will either accept or reject. But Quinn says no legislation has to pass for him to be able to sell the prison; he merely has to have the recommendation and then he can sale the prison under the state's surplus property act. According to the Trib, however, "Republicans have questioned whether the prison can be declared surplus or sold without further action, and they have asked Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan for an opinion on the matter." Madigan has yet to issue a response.

The plan has been met with some resistance, including U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk who wrote an open letter to President Obama saying, in part, “If your Administration brings Al Qaeda terrorists to Illinois, our state and the Chicago Metropolitan Area will become ground zero for Jihadist terrorist plots, recruitment and radicalization...As home to America's tallest building, we should not invite Al Qaeda to make Illinois its number one target.”

For his part, Pete Hoekstra the ranking Republican on the House Intelligence Committee still isn't buying it:

I know you were worried you might miss my reply to your earlier comments at A far grander vision:  an Islamic Center near Ground Zero - so here they are beneath the fold.

I've also added a little video by way of reply for you, too.  I know you'll enjoy it.

<---  Adds new meaning to the phrase, "welfare queen".

"Create a special Muslim class"? Nope, nothing like that over here. You must have us confused with something scary yet daft that someone made up."

Courtesy of the Daily Mail:

A year after the Government vowed to crack down on housing benefits, a single mother of eight is still living in a £2.6million mansion funded by taxpayers.

Francesca Walker receives more than £90,000 a year in housing allowance to meet the rent on the five-bedroom villa, plus other payouts of £15,000.

A defiant Miss Walker, 34, insists that she and her children aged from six to 16 are completely justified in living there as the council could not find them a big enough home.

'If it seems like I've landed on my feet, I have. But I can't afford to buy a house myself and I can't work because I have eight children to look after.  Where would people rather my family was - out on the street?'   (You would be in Afghanistan, sweetheart. )

[...]

This was intended to promote fairness but has caused, in some cases, huge cost to the taxpayer.

Last month, it was revealed that a Somali family of nine are living in a £1.8million central London house costing £1,600 a week.

And a family of eight Afghan immigrants have been housed for the last 14 months in a £ 1.2million house in Ealing, West London, at a cost so far of £168,000.

For "holiday" read "Christmas"- and its still all about the Religion of Peace's legendary intolerance.  (h/t FReeper Jet Jaguar)

From the Stars and Stripes:

The small group of American troops and Iraqi Catholics held hands around a table heaped with dishes of rice, chicken, lamb and pizza.

"Our Father," began the archbishop of Basra, the Most Rev. Imad Aziz al-Banna, before continuing the prayer in Aramaic, a version of the ancient language likely spoken by Jesus Christ.

In the next room at Basra’s Chaldean Catholic Church, a plastic Christmas tree twinkled amid graying photographs of old patriarchs and a newer shot of Pope Benedict XVI. Several of the Americans said while assembling and decorating the tree that it was likely the closest they would come to the Christmas spirit this year, far from home.

Christmas is likely to be a subdued affair for the dwindling Christian population of this once-cosmopolitan city. This year, the holiday falls amid the Shiite festival of Ashoura, when much of the city’s population will take to the streets to commemorate the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad’s grandson — many by ritually cutting themselves and whipping their backs with chains.

It is not the best time, in other words, for Santa Claus, though the Americans donated a Santa suit along with the tree. Al-Banna said he would hold a small Sunday school pageant a week early but otherwise restrict activities on Christmas Day to a quiet prayer service.

"We do not want to celebrate in their faces during this time when most of the people are mourning," he said.

Oh, and when he says mourning?  This is what he means.

Mourning 'the martyrdom of Husayn Ibn Ali, the grandson of the Islamic prophet Mohammed at the Battle of Karbala back in 680 AD.  (Clearly the Shias are still dealing with 'closure issues'.)

From Strategy Page:

The bomber who carried out the December 3rd attack was identified as a 22 year old Somali man whose family fled to Denmark twenty years ago. But, like several dozen other young expatriate Somalis, he was mesmerized by the appeal of Islamic radicalism, and its promise of uniting Somalis under the rule of a religious dictatorship.

These foreign volunteers are generally disdained (as unskilled in the ways of armed anarchy) by the local Somalis. To prove themselves, the foreign volunteers step forward for very dangerous jobs, like being a suicide bomber.   (Ed.  Note:  Macho men.)

The influx of experienced terrorists from Iraq, after al Qaeda was crushed there last year, led to a sharp improvement in the effectiveness of Somali Islamic terrorist operations.

Suicide bomber operations became more reliable, and roadside bombs more common.S However, the al Qaeda refugees from Iraq appear to be ignoring the fact that they lost back there, in part because local civilians got tired of being collateral damage to all these well run bombing attacks. The same thing is happening in Somalia.

There are only about a thousand Somali Christians left  in the country, and in the south, al Shabaab is hunting them down and killing them. The Transitional Government, which is run by Islamic conservatives, is not speaking out against these murders. Decades of chaos have caused most local Christians to flee the country. 

Meanwhile, Sufi Moslems are also under attack, but they are more numerous (several percent of the population) and are organizing militias and fighting back. The armed Sufis are not a big threat to al Shabaab, but do restrict the movement of the radicals somewhat.

but:

Reuters and other foreign media are subject to Iranian restrictions on their ability to report, film or take pictures in Tehran.

So I bring you Zozobra:

Zozobra, aka Old Man Gloom does have that Khomenei vibe going on, doesn't he?  --->

Zozobra is a hideous but harmless fifty-foot bogeyman marionette. He is a toothless, empty-headed facade. He has no guts and doesn't have a leg to stand on. He is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. He never wins. He moans and groans, rolls his eyes and twists his head. His mouth gapes and chomps. His arms flail about in frustration. Every year we do him in. We string him up and burn him down in ablaze of fireworks.

At last, he is gone, taking with him all our troubles for another whole year. Santa Fe celebrates another victory.

Viva la Fiesta! - A.W. Denninger

Buzzkill:

Iran’s supreme leader issued a stern warning to the pro-reform opposition on Sunday, accusing it of violating the law by insulting the late leader of the Islamic Republic. (Ed. note:  Call the wah-mbulance)

[...]

Khamenei said the opposition rallies were illegal and he urged authorities to identify “those behind the insult to imam Khomeini.” Some reformist websites have suggested opposition leader Mirhossein Mousavi may be arrested, six months after his election defeat by Ahmadinjad plunged Iran into turmoil.

<---  By God, I hope it never comes to this in the US.  Having to cover your face to protest?  Tea Party people?  Promise me we will never cover our faces.

 For their part, the students deny burning or defacing the Khomeini.  Claim they were set up by the regime.  It wouldn't surprise me - how about you?

The Iranian state broadcaster, Irib, has been accused of faking dramatic footage of an anti-government protester setting fire to a portrait of Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran's revered revolutionary leader. But skeptics pointed out that the face of the supposed protester was not shown and there appeared to be no witnesses in the shot.

[...]

Even more damagingly, the Institution for Publishing Khomeini's Works said it knew of no instances of demonstrators desecrating his image. "Even if we assume that an ill-intentioned and anonymous person did this, expanding (the footage) to make it look as if the overwhelming atmosphere was in line with this incident is a clear lie," the institution's vice-president, Hamid Ansari, wrote in an open letter.

Irib insists its report was genuine. The broadcaster's vice-president, Ali Darabi, claimed that foreign broadcasters had aired the incident in even greater detail.

And we know that's a lie, because - well, I haven't been able to find it.  That's why. 

Video of the supposed incident CAN be viewed here.  IMO, it's hard to say what's going on or who is doing it from the footage.