Top Items:
Mohsen Makhmalbaf / Guardian:
I speak for Mousavi. And Iran — The man Iranians want as their leader has been silenced. This is what he wants you to know — I have been given the responsibility of telling the world what is happening in Iran. The office of Mir Hossein Mousavi, who the Iranian people truly want as their leader, has asked me to do so.
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Steve Clemons / The Washington Note:
The Four Iran Scenarios and “Basiji Hunting” — One of my colleagues at the New America Foundation's Global Strategic Finance Initiative, Douglas Rediker, received this note from a friend abroad. It's illuminating as to how a well-connected Iranian internationalist who has been in Tehran during …
Matthew Weaver / Guardian:
Protesters set to defy supreme leader — This is being seen as a crucial day in Iran after yesterday's threatening speech by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Will the opposition movement defy the supreme leader and take to the streets again to protest about the disputed re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad?
Roger Cohen / New York Times:
City of Whispers — TEHRAN — This has become the city of whispers. Many of the people I spoke to when I arrived last week are in prison. Stabbings and shootings punctuate the night. Fear rushes down alleys and dead ends. Still the whispering continues. — “Tomorrow, Vanak Square.”
Blake Hounshell / FP Passport:
Iran analyst: Is Mousavi willing to risk “slaughter” in the streets? — Carnegie Endowment Iran analyst Karim Sadjadpour sends along an update to his Q&A with CFR:
United States House of Representatives …:
Statement of Congressman Ron Paul United States House of Representatives — Statement Opposing Resolution on Iran — I rise in reluctant opposition to H Res 560, which condemns the Iranian government for its recent actions during the unrest in that country.
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Mark Landler / New York Times:
White House Resists Calls for a Tougher Stance on Iran — WASHINGTON — With Iran on a razor's edge after a week of swelling protests, the Obama administration has fended off pressure from both parties to respond more forcefully to the disputed election there.
John McCormack / Weekly Standard:
House Passes Bipartisan Resolution to Support Iranian Dissidents, 405 to 1
House Passes Bipartisan Resolution to Support Iranian Dissidents, 405 to 1
Discussion:
The Hill's Blog Briefing Room, RedState, Will Wilkinson, The Daily Dish, Hot Air and Commentary
Myglesias / Matthew Yglesias:
Conservative Justices' Strange Enthusiasm for the Punishment of the Innocent — Here's a beaut of a decision from the increasingly brutal and inhumane conservative-dominated Supreme Court. Not content with gutting anti-discrimination legislation, a 5-4 majority has decided that if people …
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New York Times:
Unparalleled and Denied — In an appalling 5-to-4 ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court's conservative majority tossed aside compelling due process claims, the demands of justice and a considered decision by a lower federal appeals court to deny the right of prisoners to obtain post-conviction DNA testing …
The Huffington Post:
DOJ: We Can't Release Cheney Records Because Of Late Night Comedy — But this pull from the original AP story, which captures the reasoning of Justice Department for attempting to deny the request, is simply mind-blowing: … I hardly think that citing the need to shield public figures …
Discussion:
Latest Open Salon Blog, Big Brass Blog, White House Watch, The Reaction, Associated Press and Washington Post
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Jeffrey Goldberg:
Sullivan, Froomkin, Hiatt, Iran and AIPAC — The incipient Iranian revolution has upset certain political categories at home, two to be exact: Scowcroftian realism and liberal interventionism (a/k/a neoconservatism). Both, IMHO, are inadequate to the current crisis.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice, The Daily Dish, Commentary, Latest Open Salon Blog, Campaign Silo and Weekly Standard
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New York Times:
House Unveils Health Bill, Minus Key Details — WASHINGTON — House Democrats on Friday answered President Obama's call for a sweeping overhaul of the health care system, unveiling a bill that they said would cover 95 percent of Americans. But they said they did not know how much it would cost and had not decided how to pay for it.
Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:
The Coming Crackdown — [T]he green light has now been given to the basij to kick ass and take names. “The way of the law is open,” [Khamenei] says. “If people continue to take the other way, I will come back and speak more directly.” Qanun, qanun, qanun. Law, law, law.
Discussion:
Balloon Juice
Zack Stovall / Arkansas News:
Lincoln prefers co-op to government-run public option in health care — LITTLE ROCK — U.S. Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., says she prefers private insurance cooperatives to a government-run provider that would compete with the private sector in reforming the nation's health care system.
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Eric Lichtblau / New York Times:
On Terrorist Watch List, but Allowed to Buy Guns — WASHINGTON — People on the government's terrorist watch list tried to buy guns nearly 1,000 times in the last five years, and federal authorities cleared the purchases 9 times out of 10 because they had no legal way to stop them, according to a new government report.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland
Fox News:
NIH Funds $423,500 Study of Why Men Don't Like to Use Condoms — In what government watchdogs are calling a waste of taxpayer money, the National Institutes of Health is spending nearly half a million dollars to determine why men don't like to wear condoms during sex. — FOXNews.com
Kendra Marr / Washington Post:
‘Cash-for-Clunkers’ Bill Passes in Bid To Revive Car Sales — Trade-In Plan Set for Obama's Signature — The Senate approved a $1 billion program yesterday to give vouchers to consumers who trade in their gas-guzzling clunkers for more fuel-efficient models — a move that dealers hope will revive slumping auto sales.
Discussion:
Atlantic Correspondents, The American Scene, DailyFinance and The Atlantic Business Channel
Associated Press:
Sotomayor Quits All-Women's Club — Supreme Court Nominee Resigns From Club After Republicans Questioned Her Participation — (AP) Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor resigned Friday from an elite all-women's club after Republicans questioned her participation in it.