Apparently an over-vote of 3 million (that's what even the government admits to) isn't enough to taint an election. Of course that's not so much an issue when fraud is a planned feature, not a bug.

Iran's Guardian Council rules out the possibility of nullifying the country's June 12 Presidential election, saying there has been no record of any major irregularity.

Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, the council's Spokesman said late on Monday that most of the complaints reported irregularities before the election, and not during or after the vote. He added that the Guardian Council was not the relevant body to look into such complaints.

The Guardian Council is the body in charge of supervising the elections and has to approve the outcome before any result could be official.

There's confusion about whether or not there was a general strike called. It seems whatever calls there were didn't come from Mousavi but main business districts in many Iranian cities were "mostly closed today for unofficial strike"

The next big confrontation is set for Thursday. Mousavi has called for marches to mourn those killed in protests.

Word is beginning to leak out about the cruelty of the Iranian regime, it extends beyond the murder of protesters.

The family, clad in black, stood at the curb of the road sobbing. A middle-aged mother slapped her cheeks, letting out piercing wails. The father, a frail man who worked as a doorman at a clinic in central Tehran, wept quietly with his head bowed.

Minutes before, an ambulance had arrived from Tehran's morgue carrying the body of their only son, 19-year-old Kaveh Alipour.

...At the crack of dawn, his father began searching at police stations, then hospitals and then the morgue.

Upon learning of his son's death, the elder Mr. Alipour was told the family had to pay an equivalent of $3,000 as a "bullet fee"—a fee for the bullet used by security forces—before taking the body back, relatives said.

Mr. Alipour told officials that his entire possessions wouldn't amount to $3,000, arguing they should waive the fee because he is a veteran of the Iran-Iraq war. According to relatives, morgue officials finally agreed, but demanded that the family do no funeral or burial in Tehran. Kaveh Alipour's body was quietly transported to the city of Rasht, where there is family.

Fuckers. I hope they all swing from trees.

And finally, the Obama administration to protesters...You're welcome, we're glad you were so inspired by Obama in Cairo.

Can't wait to see today's press conference.

Gibbs says Obama will use 'stern words' in relation to Iran's crackdown.

This 'tweet' from Marco Rubio (running for the Republican Senate nomination in Fl) has some on the left feeling woozy.

I have a feeling the situation in Iran would be a little different if they had a 2nd amendment like ours.

Seems as sensible as it is undeniable to me.

Posted by: DrewM at 05:56 AM | Add Comment
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When I say "emergency" I mean this wasn't exactly planned. The President knows he's slipping and tomorrow's infommercial might not be enough to rally support for more big spending. So he's going to loosen the lid today:

President Barack Obama will throw his weight behind legislative bids to reform healthcare and cut U.S. greenhouse gas emissions on Tuesday in his fourth White House press conference since taking office.

Obama, who has focused his first five months as president on trying to end the recession, is likely to discuss his plans to create jobs and stem unemployment, which economists expect will hit 10 percent in coming months.

The presser starts at 12:30 Eastern. Obama is expected to talk for a bit and then answer questions for an hour.

Here's what I expect we'll see:

1. "Healthcare is a crisis."
2. "Global climate change is a crisis."
3. "We must reach out to Iran, but as I said last week I support peaceful protests and condemn violence."
4. Teleprompter.

Note that he didn't actually say #3 last week--not 'til Saturday, anyway--but he's very fond of re-writing his own speeches. As for the teleprompter, at his last presser he was mighty embarrassed to be caught using one not just for the speech, but also to answer questions. Will he be brave enough to go without his binkie?

Stick with the HQ, we'll have more later.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:25 AM | Add Comment
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Good morning. Keep scrolling; there were quite a few late-night posts yesterday.

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 04:09 AM | Comments (1)
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Note: video has commercial tacked on at 2:05 mark

Posted by: Open Blog at 02:50 AM | Add Comment
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Quick, let's put American coin into their pockets.

Tom Coburn put forth an amendment to prohibit just this in 2007. While the amendment passed the Senate, it was dropped from the bill in conference. (Thanks, Nancy!)

Thanks to someone.

Bitch, please.

Posted by: Ace at 07:17 PM | Comments (1)
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Pardon the third post on this trivial point. I wanted to add this as an update to the last one, but the blog software is doing that thing again, which drives me crazy, of refusing to let me edit posts.

Anyway.

Someone just remarked to me that Perez Hilton thinks life is like his blog, where he gets to say nasty things all day in relative safety (including, of course, insinuating people are gay by drawing crude white lines on their faces).

This explains a lot. It explains why he's so shocked about this -- he doesn't get that the real world isn't like the blog world -- and also his nonstop twittering for support after the scuffle. He immediately tried to re-enter his comfort zone -- the fake internet world -- and surround himself with the protective bubble of supporters and interactions taking place through the safe channel of optic-wire cables.

Incidentally, this SNL sketch of a 'Celebrity Blogger" is obviously largely based on Perez Hilton. Most notably the undeserved air of snarky superiority and mindless repetition of idiotic catch-phrases that weren't funny the first time 'round.

Bitch, please.

Posted by: Ace at 07:01 PM | Comments (2)
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The new trailer for HBO's, Tom Hanks', and Steven Spielberg's follow-up to Band of Brothers is tucked below the fold.

The original plan was to follow the USO or something like that, but it looks like they've decided to follow the 1st Marine Division instead. Good decision.

The miniseries is tentatively due in March 2010. more...

Posted by: Gabriel Malor at 06:26 PM | Add Comment
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As a smart military blog we would be remiss if we didnÂ’t occasionally take a break from constantly posting stories and photos of busty lesbians and busty lesbian-related issues. So hereÂ’s some token items in order to fulfill the once a month martial quota:

Item #1: National Journal has a veeeeeerrry long but interesting piece titled Judging a War in which they, well, judge wars that the U.S. has been involved with in order to try and answer the question “Which U.S. Wars Were Worth Fighting.”

The article itself isn’t too biased though does seem a little preoccupied with the unintended consequences various wars. (There’s also some charts way down at the bottom with brief summaries for those of you with ADD) For the real bias though, you have to go to the article’s companion piece where several “noted historians and other eminent thinkers or something” weigh in on the subject. Larry Korb from the lefty Center for American Progress has a predictably ludicrous and partisan statement. Hey Larry, use hyperbole much?

More below the foldÂ… more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 06:13 PM | Add Comment
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Allah has the other vid.

I'm posting this one, where he gets into a real froth. (Language Warning.)

Here's what I can't figure out, among other things:

1) He shrieks he's not afraid of Will.I.Am or his manager and he wanted them to know this. I do not know how this self-pitying edge-of-tears crying jag -- "I am a human being!" -- advances this "I'm not afraid of you" thesis.

2) He is shocked that Will.I.Am "followed him back to his hotel," which he then informs us, in the following sentence, was where the Black Eyed Peas were also staying. Anyone see the problem with "he followed me back to my hotel" when his hotel was also Will.I.Am's hotel?

3) He's a pussy. Okay, this one I understand. He obviously has had a soft life because he insists, contrary to reality, that he should be allowed to mouth off as bad as he wants and be as insulting as he wants and yet still "violence is never the answer." This is patently untrue, as all guys know: There is a limit, unless you're looking for a fight. You don't cross that line unless you want to fight.

Perez Hilton wants the "Girl Rule" applied to him. Women can in fact say pretty much whatever they like to a guy without earning a one-way ticket to Shinerville, but men can't. So this sissy is kinda saying "treat me like a lady."

Well, whatever.

4) I get this too, but I still am amused that tough-guy Will.I.Am has his manager punch people on his behalf, in order (as a commenter observed) to not blemish his manicure, I suppose.

Anyway. This is almost as good as the "Leave Britney alone" guy. In fact, he comes so close to that (that guy also said Britney Spears was a "human being"), I'm wondering how on-the-level it is. Does he have any idea how he's coming off? Is he doing it on purpose?

I doubt that, though. I think he just got a little too big for his britches and figured he could sass people like Liza Manelli on a four-day bender.

I think this is going to cost him readers. It's pathetic. Even if you're female, even if you sympathize with this blubbering, blubberous sissy, you can't get past the fact that he tried to insult this guy with fighting words -- by his own admission -- and dropped a supposedly forbidden slur (as bad as the n-word? Apparently not, as he skipped past that one) and now is crying like a bitch that he got socked.

Socked so bad, by the way, that he doesn't seem to have any visible bruising, except what might be some light abrasions on his forehead.

So the manager's a sissy too. Cold-cocked him, three times by Sissy #1's count, and yet couldn't even manage a decent bruise.

Oh: And since everyone's been making fun of him for tweeting his heinous assault, begging people to "call the police for me," despite the fact he had a phone in his hand, he sort of explains that too. I think. He was blubbering so much I sort of just heard waa waa waah.

The explanation somehow involved someone being a "subhuman" and him wanting the world to know that. Or something.

And also: This subhuman is also unprofessional. That's right. An unprofessional subhuman.

Recap: Have you guys ever read those snarky recaps of tv shows?

Well, Tinkerbell recaps this episode.

Posted by: Ace at 06:13 PM | Add Comment
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Not breaking news, just the scope becoming more clear. Head on, a longer stretch of the line between stations where trains move faster.

A terrible day, for many passengers, their families, rescue and medical workers.

UPDATE: Not a head on, commenter Brian in New Orleans splains one train was stopped and the other hit it from behind. Loose shit on me.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 06:09 PM | Comments (2)
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