Some quickies with that morning coffee

I do apologize to readers for the lack of blogging in recent weeks. Things have been very busy. Let me answer a couple questions from readers before moving onto the news and information of the day.

First, I'll be handling the bulk of the blogging from this point forward. Marcie had decided to throw everything into her final year in law school. So you will see here blogging here once in a blue moon. Sorry for those that will miss her. She'll be here from time to time, but I'm back to doing this show all on my own. Look at the bright side, the gloves can come off now, to a point. (I was being polite and nice only for the wife's sake so she didn't have to with the complaint e-mails.)

Second, the cause for much of the light blogging is me trying to focus on our columns (which will most likely end up being just me, like the site). We're really trying to keep up with all the news going down, and trying to figure out which subject can be the newest target for our "expert" analysis. (Don't laugh. You read the columns, too.)

Lastly, a new schedule and being a tad under the weather doesn't make it easy to get up each day and actually, you know, work here. I'm working on it, and I'm hoping to lock myself into a more consistent schedule.

Now, without further adieu, onto the news .....

The Hell in Iran is far from over. There are still protests going on, just not as massive as they were this past weekend. While the mullahs might believe it has to do with their reaction to the protesters, we believe it has more to do with a change in the protester's strategies. Today, a general strike has been called for by Mousavi, and as yet it doesn't look like it's going to happen. Nothing in the news thus far says that it has happened. There is news that there will be no annulment so Barry can still entertain the midget in the crappy suit from Iran on the Fourth of July for some "hot dog diplomacy." (Thanks to Ace for the story and the snark.

Oh, and for those that say we should think about the mullahs, how they feel right now, and understand their side of things there's this "wonderful" story about a family's mourning over their son. The punchline? (I know there's nothing funny about death, but just bear with me.) They're being charged a "bullet fee". No, I'm not kidding:

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.

For the record, we agree with Ace and crew over at AoSHQ: "F*ckers. I hope they all swing from trees." Here, here, Ace. And don't worry, they will. It just may take a little while. Oh, and despite what Barry thinks, what has happened in Iran has nothing to do with Mr. Narcissist:

Since taking office, Obama has argued that reclaiming America’s moral authority by ending torture and closing the prison at Guantanamo Bay provides essential diplomatic leverage to influence events in such strategic parts of the world as the Middle East and Central Asia. The speech he delivered to the Islamic world in Cairo eights days before the June 12 Iranian election sought to do that by providing what the president saw as an unvarnished accounting of U.S. policy in Iran, Iraq, and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“We’re trying to promote a foreign policy that advances our interests, not that makes us feel good about ourselves,” said a senior administration official who, like others, declined to be identified, citing the sensitivity of the issue.

Obama’s approach to Iran, including his assertion that the unrest there represents a debate among Iranians unrelated to the United States, is an acknowledgment that a U.S. president’s words have a limited ability to alter foreign events in real time and could do more harm than good. But privately Obama advisers are crediting his Cairo speech for inspiring the protesters, especially the young ones, who are now posing the most direct challenge to the republic’s Islamic authority in its 30-year history.

HT to Captain Ed

Can you believe the stones and stupidity of the president? He thinks his lame @$$ speech in Cairo caused this? This is what happens when we elect a narcissistic child to lead this nation. Not only does Barry not have a clue about Iran (no surprise, of course with that, and they made fun of Bush about his supposed lack of knowledge of foreign affairs), but he's so wrapped up into buying the BS that his supporters shoveled in his direction that he can't see the forest, find the trees, or see the ground.

What happened in Iran was actually caused, we believe, by another man, albeit indirectly. Let's face facts here, the people of Iran are jealous of the freedom they see next door in Iraq, and they know they don't have the freedom the mullahs claim they do. Their vote was stolen -- a la ACORN -- and they have learned that the only way they'll ever have the freedom that Iraq has -- that the West has -- is to get rid of the mullahocracy.

Barry didn't contribute squat to the Iranians. Hell it took him a week to even voice his "concern" at what was going on in Iran. Meanwhile, Sarkozy and Merkel have called BS to the election, and have stated they stand in solidarity with the protesters. Barry couldn't even do that. On Saturday, when the greatest point of bloodshed happened in Iran, Barry had his "My Pet Goat" moment when he decided he just had to head out to the ice cream parlor with his daughters. So, while people were dying in Iran, Barry decided it was time for a family outing -- Father's Day with the girls and ice cream. (Look folks. I get the Father's Day thing, but if Bush had ever pulled anything like this, we'd never hear the end of it for eight years. That's why I'm comparing this to the Left's popular mantra of Bush reading "My Pet Goat" to school children on 9-11.)

He dropped the ball on Iran all the way around. When Reagan watched the crackdown in Poland by the Soviet Union he gave a speech about how the heavy-handed tactics jeopardized future diplomatic relations between the US and the Soviet Union, and he further told the Polish people that America stood with them in solidarity. Barry couldn't even muster up the moral courage to do that. Why? Because for Barry, the presidency isn't what most people think it is. He won, remember? He thinks that because he won, the world revolves around him, and can only serve to fuel his ego.

It ain't about ego, Barry. It's not about you. It's about what's right and wrong, and you refused to speak up against the thugs in Iran out of fear that you might not be able to have negotiations with them. He's looking at building a legacy now rather than doing what's right and just. Given the fact that the mullahs just stole this election from the people, who believed they actually had a voice, can we really trust the Iranians to keep their word?

I guess no one in the White House is actually making that connection and asking that question.

Publius II