One of the most important duties of a citizen of a democratic society is to vote.  On November 2, 2010 the midterm elections (in the United States) will decide the course the country will move in.   Will we continue to chart a course with the Democrats in charge for another two years?  Will the Republicans win one or both of the Legislative houses and influence the way President Obama governs over the next 2 years?  What will be the surprises and the upsets?   Will the career of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid be over?   DefendYourVote.com will provide up to date information about significant races, as well as political commentary. Just a reminder, we are not a political organization, group, or news site.  We are citizens that have a desire for elected officials to follow the will of the people, and create (craft) legislation based upon their desires not upon the political interests of the politician.   In addition, we invite you to Defend Your Vote!

Please Check Back For Updates throughout the Day on Tuesday!

11/3/2010 2:39 AM GOP picks up the largest amount of seats in the House of Representatives since 1948.

11/3/2010 1:32 AM Voting Irregularities being reported in Colorado in the city of Boulder.  This strongly affects the Senate vote.

11/3/2010 1:15 AM MSNBC is reporting that Write-In Candidate in Alaska is ahead of the Republican and Democrat.

11/3/2010 1:00 AM CO, WA, too close to call.  AK too early to call.

11/3/2010 12:30 AM Fox News is projecting that Harry Reid (D-NV) will narrowly defeat Sharron Angle (R-NV).

11/3/2010 12:14 AM MSNBC is projecting that Mark Kirk (R-CO) will take over the seat that was once held by President Barack Obama.   Just a note, MSNBC has not yet called the PA race.

11/3/2010 12:01 AM MSNBC is projecting that Dan Inouye (D-HI) has won re-election in Hawaii.   CO, WA still too close to call.  NV too early to call.   The election of Ionuye leaves control of the Senate in the hands of the Democrats.

11/2/2010 11:57 PM The Associated Press is projecting that Pat Toomey (R-PA) will hold the Senate seat for the state of Pennsylvania.  That brings the total of Republican gains in the Senate to +5

11/2/2010 11:53 PM Harry Reid (D-NV) appears to have a rather meaty lead. Sharron Angle (R-NV) needs large rural turn out.

11/2/2010 11:38 PM It now becomes impossible for the Republicans to take the majority in the US Senate. Now we see if Harry Reid (D-NV) wins re-election.

11/2/2010 11:29 PM LA Times is projecting that Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has retained her seat in the US Senate defeating Carly Fiorina (R-CA).

11/2/2010 11:06 PM Fox News has announced that Jerry Brown (D-CA) in California has been elected Governor.  This does not bode well for Carly Fiorina (R-CA).   On another note, on #msnbc Rachel Maddow seems to be taking on the boys network!

11/2/2010 11:01 PM MSNBC projects that Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) will win the Senate seats for Oregon and Idaho.   To early to call is CA and WA

11/2/2010 10:53 PM In the Age of Obama — there will be no African American representation in the US Senate.

11/2/2010 10:38 PM MSNBC is projecting that Ron Johnston (R-WI) will be the new Senator from Wisconsin.  This brings the total to 4 seats that the Republicans have picked up in the Senate.

11/2/2010 10:15 PM Michelle Bauchmann (R-MN) dodges Chris Matthews questions on whether or not she would pursue investigations on Democrats for Un-American thinking.  #humorous #msnbc  – LOL Matthews asks her whether or not she is hypnotized and later goes on to call her moronic.

11/2/2010 10:11 PM Live Coverage from MSNBC

11/2/2010 10:07 PM John Boehner (R-OH) stated tonight in his acceptance speech that he will not let the Tea-Party down.  I wonder how he is going to govern like that? #msnbc

11/2/2010 10:05 PM MSNBC is projecting that John McCain (R-AZ) and Chuck Grassley (R-IA) have won re-election to the Senate from their states.   NV, UT are too early to call.   PA, IL, WI, CO still too close to call.

11/2/2010  9:59 PM From Twitter: @rollcall: Our @jessicalbrady reports fr GOP HQ: They showed O’Donnell concession speech on big screen for literally 5 seconds. Turned off quickly.

11/2/2010 9:56 PM MSNBC is projecting that David Vitter (R-LA) will@rollcall: Our @jessicalbrady reports fr GOP HQ: They showed O’Donnell concession speech on big screen for literally 5 seconds. Turned off quickly. win re-election for the Senate seat in Louisiana

11/2/2010 9:54 PM Finally a Democrat speaks the truth and says that the Democrats have not been really good at messaging.   They need to go back to kitchen table discussions.  There truly has been a disconnect, and it is great to see Sen Claire McCaskill (D-MO) speak honestly about it. #msnbc

11/2/2010 9:49 PM MSNBC projects that Roy Blunt (R-MO) will be the winner of the Missouri Senate seat.

11/2/2010 9:48 I am kind of disturbed by the cover of The Daily Caller.  Party Like It’s 1773? #fail

11/2/2010 9:20 PM Republicans are already discussing impeaching Obama?  #msnbc

11/2/2010 9:06 PM MSNBC is projecting the following winners for the Senate.   John Hoeven (R-ND), Jerry Moran (R-KS), John Thune (R-SD), Charles Schuemer (D-NY), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY).   The following states are too close to call — WI, CO, PA, IL.  The following states are too early to call — LA, MO.

11/2/2010 9:00 PM MSNBC is projecting that the Republicans will control the House of Representatives +/- 13 Rep 237/Dem 198

11/2/2010 8:54 PM Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) is making my head hurt refusing to answer what spending she would cut in the budget.  Interestingly, she is already referring to John Boehner as Speaker and Eric Cantor as Leader.  I guess she does not plan to support Michelle Bauchmann who plans to run for Speaker of the House.  #msnbc

11/2/2010 8:47 PM In what could be considered the first sign that the election might not be such a tsunami of defeat for the Democrats, MSNBC is projecting that Joe Manchin (D-WV) is the winner for the Senate seat of West Virginia.

11/2/2010 8:32 PM MSNBC is projecting that John Boozman (R-AR) has defeated Blanche Lincoln (D-AR) for the Senate seat for Arkansas.   This brings Republicans to +2 out of the +10 seats they need to take the Senate.

11/2/2010 8:27 PM MSNBC is projecting that Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) has won the Senate seat for the state of Connecticut.

11/2/2010 8:21 PM MSNBC is projecting that Richard Burr (R-NC) will win the Senate seat for North Carolina.

11/2/2010 8:20 PM First bit of bad news for Republicans.  NBC News calls John Carney (D) has won in Delaware. It’s the first flip of the night.  This brings the Republican number up from 39 to 40.

11/2/2010 8:10 PM MSNBC is reporting that Johnny Isakson (R-GA) is the projected winner of the Georgia Senate race.

11/2/2010 8:02 PM MSNBC is reporting the following projected winners.  Marco Rubio (R-FL), Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), Richard Shelby (R-AL), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Christopher Coons (D-DE), Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), PA, IL are too close to call.   WV, NC, GA, PA, IL, MO, CT — too early to call!  BTW, for all those of you who are paying attention this means that Christine O’Donnell has lost her bid for the Senate Seat.   My suggestion — she dabbles in witchcraft!

11/2/2010 7:56 PM MSNBC’s first look is reporting that people in Alaska are wearing rather interesting t-shirts for the write in candidate.

11/2/2010 7:46PM ABC is reporting that Nancy Pelosi believes they are on track to maintain the majority in the house.  For Nancy’s sake, she better hope so.  History has not been kind to former majority leaders.  Got resignation letter ready?

11/2/2010 7:32 PM MSNBC is projecting that Rob Portman wins the Senate seat in OH.  NC, GA, WV all too early to call. Early reports are that Manchin is ahead in WV by less than 1% of the vote.

11/2/2010 7:19 PM PBS Live Election Results Stream

11/2/2010 7:15 PM West Virginia in 15 minutes — if Republicans lose this they cannot pick up their 10 seats. More to come..

11/2/2010 7:08 PM Wow, Rachel Maddow just eviscerated Evan Bayh on MSNBC.   She said that the only legislative record he has is being the Democratic Senator from Indiana, and that he has reinvented himself as a “smack talking” pundit.

11/2/2010 7:01 PM MSNBC is projecting that Rand Paul (R-KY), Dan Coats (R-IN), Jim Demint (R-SC), Pat Leahy (D-VT), and it’s too early to call in Georgia. Republicans have picked up +1 Seat(s) in the US Senate.

11/2/2010 6:56 PM   The Daily Caller is predicting that the Republicans will take over the Senate with 51 Senators.   I would love to see how they came up with this figure.   The best I can count is 49.   We will find out the results in Indiana and Kentucky in about 2 minutes.

11/2/2010  6:36PM Huffington Post has a great blog today on Exit Polls including why to be skeptical of them.

Here are some of the leaked exit poll results that HuffPo is reporting:

Leaked exit polls for key Senate races now spreading like wildfire among politicos:

Blumenthal (D-CT) +8
Rubio (R-FL) +21
Blunt (R-MO) +10
Boxer (D-CA) +8
Kirk (R-IL) +6
Paul (R-KY) +11,
NV–EVEN — (Good Or Bad News For Harry Reid — AC)
Bennet (D-CO) +2
Toomey (R-PA) +4
Murray (D-WA) +6
Manchin (D-WV) +7
Johnson (R-WI) +5

11/2/2010 6:29 PM MSNBC is reporting that exit polls reveal that the majority of Americans are disappointed and/or angry with where the country is right now.   56% believe that the country is on the wrong track.  53% have an unfavorable rating for both Democrats and Republicans, and President Obama currently has a 54% unfavorable rating.   Is this showing that the system is currently broken?

11/2/2010 6:12PM It Begins — Buckle your seatbelt.  Get tons of goodies, because the election results will begin to come in soon.

11/2/2010 3:25 PM Slate has put together a great election cheat sheet.   When I read through the information I realized how strongly that the independent vote count is going to matter in many of these races — especially the Senate races.   My key race to watch will be whether or not Harry Reid will be able to hold onto the Nevada Senate seat or whether or not he will be handing the keys to tea party candidate Sharron “no interviews” Angle.

11/2/2010  – How did the Democrats get it so wrong?  Rachel Maddow appeared on Andrea Mitchell Reports and stated that she felt,  ”People don’t feel that the economy is moving fast enough.”  Also, Rachel predicts that she suspects that tomorrow morning we will begin the Presidential Election of 2012, and that the Republicans will be unwilling to negotiate on anything.   She feels that the Republicans are banking on the economy still being in a troubled state for the next two years.

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Related posts:

1. Election 2009 Live Blogging #NY23
2. The Lost Message #tcot #p2 #election2010
3. Must Read Op-Ed’s — November 19, 2010 #tcot #p2 #teaparty

As we know now Scott Brown is the winner of the MA election to fill Senator Kennedy’s seat.   I will be running more commentary throughout the day to show just how the media is portraying this.   Here at Defend Your Vote — we are concerned with the issues of the people and whether or not politicians are providing all their constituents there best.

1/20/10  2:39 PM — Interview on Morning Joe with David Gregory who believes that the election was about “incumbency” and not about Democrats or Republicans.    Wonder if any of the pols will actually listen!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This election Massachusetts will decide who will take over Former Senator Kennedy’s seat in the US Senate.    This is a national election, and in many ways the voices of the anger towards the current conditions of the country (high unemployment, government bailouts, higher taxes) are being expressed with a surprise surge from Republican Scott Brown.  Many are angered over current health care legislation from the White House.  Could we see an upset victory or will Coackley squeak out a winner?

1/19/10 9:47 PM — MSNBC announces that Scott Brown is the Winner of the Senate Seat held by Senator Edward Kennedy until he passed away in August 2009.   This win eliminates the filibuster proof majority in the US Senate.

1/19/10 9:44 PM  Norah O’Donnell of MSNBC during the Rachel Maddow Show reported that Coakley was on vacation in the Caribbean from December 19 – January 6.  – Talk about FAIL?

1/19/10 8:53 PM 40% of the Precincts reporting Brown is ahead of Coakley 52.6% to 46.6%

1/19/10 8:17 PM With 7% of the Precincts reporting Brown is ahead of Coakley.

1/19/10 6:07 PM — Great Piece from Dylan Ratigan’s show, which I feel really addresses the issues of this election, and the election in the fall.   Establishment Fail!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

1/19/10 3:10 PM  I am wondering if the Weather will reduce the suburban vote in Mass., which according to Chuck Todd would hurt Scott Brown who is dependent on the suburbs to put him over the top.

1/19/10 3:08 PM Chris Cillizza reports on what to watch in Mass.

1/19/10 3:02 PM Huffington Post is opining that the problem with the Coakley campaign is really an issue of entitlement and not one about health care — despite what the main stream media’s narrative is.

1/19/10 2:34 PM Reuters discusses Democrats exploring health care options without Coakley.

1/19/10 12:21 PM  NYT reports that the disaffection of voters towards the establishment may lead to a Democrat Loss in Mass.

1/19/10 12:11 PM MSNBC’s Norah O’Donnell is reporting that voters outside Boston are going to the polls in larger numbers than the ones in Boston — this would be good news for Republican Scott Brown.

1/19/10 2:31 PM George Stephanopolis on ABC calls a Coakley Defeat the “upset of his lifetime”.

1/19/10 12:10 PM — MSNBC’s First Read is reporting that one of the problems of the Coakley campaign is that it went dark for 10 days when the interest in the election was just picking up.

1/19/10 8:57 AM — Reuters is reporting that if the GOP win the Senate Race in Mass that health insurance stock is expected to rise.

1/19/2010  Rachel Maddow discusses the Mass race along with Brown being a “bastarder?”

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Related posts:

1. Scott Brown (R-MA) Wins US Senate Seat

11/4/2009 2:01 PM — Twitter Mania proves higher ratings than Cable TV for Election Night — Politico

11/4/2009 7:10 AM Bill Owens (D) wins the NY-23 election.  Massive voter turn out in Democrat leaning Saint Lawrence County put Owens over the top.  – NY TIMES

11/4/2009 07:00AM -  Analysis: Elections not a referendum on Obama

Washington (CNN) — Victories in New Jersey and Virginia Tuesday provided a major shot in the arm for the Republican Party heading into the 2010 elections, but the Democratic losses of these two governorships should not be interpreted as a significant blow to President Obama.

While the economy and jobs were the chief concern for voters in both states, 26 percent of New Jersey residents said property taxes was also a major issue, while another 20 percent mentioned corruption, according to CNN exit polling. In a similar CNN survey taken in Virginia, health care was the most important issue for 24 percent of the voters, while 15 percent named taxes and transportation was mentioned by 7 percent.

Further proof that this election was not solely focused on Obama, 56 percent of Virginians said that the president was not a factor when it came down to their vote. In New Jersey, that number increased to 60 percent of the people who went to the polls on Tuesday.

Source: CNN

11/4/2009 12:50 AM – Recap of wins and predictions

Virginia governor: McDonnell is projected winner

New Jersey governor: GOP’s Christie is winner, CNN projects

New York mayor: Bloomberg to win third term, CNN projects

Boston, Massachusetts, mayor: Menino wins, Globe says

Maine same-sex marriage vote: Early results are close

Medical marijuana in Maine: ‘Yes’ has lead

11/3/2009 11:37 PM  Off to bed.  Simon will be on in a few hours to continue updating.

11/3/2009 11:17 PM Watertown WWNY News is reporting voting machine irregularity in Upstate New York Race.  A Winner may not be known tonight.

11/3/2009 11:13 PM Maine gay marriage initiative is too close to call.

11/3/2009 11:00 PM  Rachel Maddow on MSNBC has reported that although the NY-23 race is to close to call at the moment Bill Owens (D) is in the lead by 3% over Doug Hoffman with 73% of the vote in.

11/3/2009 10:46 PM Early reports of voter intimidation by Hoffman supporters reported in Saint Lawrence County, NY — NYDailyNews

11/3/2009 10:13 PM  NBC News Announces that Christie wins as New Jersey Governor.

11/3/2009 10:06 PM Bloomberg wins 3rd Term as NY Mayor. — N”YTIMES

11/3/2009 9:50 PM  New Jersey still to close too call. — WP

11/3/2009 9:23 PM Still waiting results on Maine.

11/3/2009 9:16 PM Yahoo is reporting that Christie (R) has taken lead in New Jersey.

11/3/2009 9:12 PM  Despite election results, majority of voters approve of Obama’s job performance.  - ABC News

11/3/2009 9:10 PM New York Polls have closed. New Jersey too close to call.

11/3/2009 8:46 PM  New Jersey is too close to call.

11/3/2009 8:37 PM From First Read:

While the exit polls suggest that tonight’s New Jersey and Virginia contests aren’t a referendum on President Obama, they do point to some warning signs for the White House and the Democratic Party.

The first warning sign is withs independent voters. In New Jersey, Christie leads Corzine here by 25 points, 58%-33%. And in Virginia, McDonnell leads among indies by an identical 25 points, 62%-37%. As Domenico pointed out below, Obama won indies in Virginia last year by one point, 49%-48%.

The other warning sign is with people who are worried about the nation’s direction. In New Jersey, 90% said they are worried, and Christie leads with these folks by three points, 48%-45%. In Virginia, 84% say they are worried about the nation’s direction, and McDonnell leads among these people by 17 points, 58%-41%.

11/3/2009 7:57 PM The Associated Press & NBC News has declared Bob McDonnell (R) the winner of the Governor’s race.

11/3/2009 7:49 PM — Los Angeles Times has a great piece on what is wrong with both parties — Democrats and Republicans.   Definitely a must read!

11/3/2009:  7:39 PM – Talking Points Memo has an article on the White House moving away from a possible trifecta defeat tonight.  Democrats throughout the day have claimed that this election has no implication on 2010.   Meanwhile, Eric Cantor is on Hardball claiming that the Virginia election is a referendum on President Obama despite the fact that exit polls that the vote was based on local issues

11/3/2009:  7:35 PM  – Yahoo is also reporting that Virginia is to early to call.   However, the exit polls show that Independents swung away from the Democrats and towards the Republican Candidate.

11/3/2009:  7:17 PM  MSNBC is calling Too Early to Call on Virginia, whose polls closed at 7:00 PM.   Exit Polls show that Older Voters turned out in higher numbers and voters below thirty dropped in this election.  Further, the African American vote that poured in very high numbers for Obama dropped 5%.

11/3/2009 6:31 PM — Andrea Tantams on Fox News must have drunk some really wild cool-aid this morning on her way to the Fox Studios.   In an interview, she claimed that most Americans are conservative, and that New York is a blue state that is going to elect a conservative.  What she failed to mention was that this district has not elected a Democrat since the Civil War. This is Republican territory and to spew that it is not is just disingenuous.

11/3/2009 6:17 PM — The AP is reporting that voter turn out in Maine is at higher than expected levels.  This could strong affect the results of the Gay Marriage proposition.  Let us know what you think about this issue.

11/3/2009 4:37 PM — Andrea Mitchell interviewed Representative Peter King (R-NY) about the controversial election in NY State.   King stated that this is an “isolated” incident, because Scozafazza was a liberal.   I think Republicans are in denial that the grassroot campaign in NY, it really is not about Democrats or Republicans, it is about people not having their voices heard and candidates not representing their values.  Although, I strongly disagree with the politics of the Tea-Baggers, I do feel that candidates should vote for the will of the people not the will of their campaign coffers, which has been occurring for way to long.   Everyone has the right to Defend Their Vote against those that do not vote for the will of the people.

11/3/2009 4:09 PM  – Conservatives take AIM on Florida Governor Charlie Crist. — This is a great article from politico which features that inner party problems of the Republicans.  The right is very animated attempting to elect a Conservative to Very Conservative Upstate NY-23.   However, the problem is whether or not leaning that far to the right will be able to elect someone to a major office like Governor or President or US Senator, where everyone in the state gets to vote on the candidates.   New York has been a blue state for a very long time, therefore it is unlikely New York will back a major conservative candidate.  Even the last Republican Governor of New York, George Pataki was as liberal as Dede Scozafavva.

11/3/2009 3:19 PM — The latest on the Maine Gay Marriage Issue — AP

11/3/2009 1:29 PM — Gloria Borger from CNN writes a great article on the fall out of NY-23.   Will this emblazon the far right to begin to purify their bases in Primary Elections for individuals who might not be able to win a general election?  NY-23 is a mainly conservative area of upstate New York, and any victory there by the right is simply meaningless.   This would be like a liberal fight in San Francisco for the “true” progressive.   Although many conservative values are important to people in rural Upstate New York, the issues for the people concern “jobs” and a recession devastated area that has not really recovered since the 70′s.   In this area lower taxes and other conservative issues have not really helped the area expand or become innovative.   It’s still stuck where it was in the 70′s — plant closings and the major job employer in the area is Wal-Mart.

11/3/2009 12:32 am — David Ploufe says on the Today Show that these races do not matter and are 18,000 lifetimes from next November.   I think that many in Washington circles do not realize that there is a revolt going on both with the right and with the left.  – Reuters

11/3/2009 8:21 am — Going to take a quick break to watch a bit of the news shows on the Election.  I did find this article from NY Daily News rather interesting.  ”Limbaugh, Palin urge the right to purge Moderates from the party!”

11/3/2009 8:14 am — Listening to Morning Joe — The gang is interviewing Tim Pawlenty (who has got involved in the New York race) — and I must admit that I am kind of creeped out by Pawlenty’s spinning whether or not Olympia Snowe should be a Republican.   This is such an interesting twist.   I do believe that people should “Defend Their Votes”, but Pawlenty does not even seem to be able to “describe” what they are actually defending.  *Boggles*

11/3/2009 7:59 am — Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough predicts who he believes will win on Tuesday on Huffington Post.

11/3/2009 7:33 am — The LA Times questions the viability of moderate Republicans who may face future challenges from Conservatives.   Although several races are mentioned in the article, I am beginning to wonder whether or not this has little to do with Obama, yet 2008 was a referendum against George Bush.  The difficulty with this scenario though, is that it could prevent parties ability to win future elections.   Could party purism eventually be dangerous?  Regardless of what side you are on, the issues of the voters are strongly ignored in favor of the benefits of elected officials remaining in Congress.

11/3/2009 6:55 am — Voting has begun in New York state in one of the most controversial elections in the state history.  NY-23 will select a replacement for John McHugh, who was appointed by President Barack Obama to be Secretary of the Army leaving a wide open field for its elected Representative.  According to the latest Siena Poll, Hoffman has a lead in the race, but the election will be decided by independent voters.  – WWNY

11/03/2009 05:39am – Stay Tuned for when all the action starts.  Your comments are welcome!

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1. Election 2010 Live Blogging #election2010 #tcot #p2
2. LIVE MSNBC ELECTION VIDEO

This morning breaking news regarding Iran’s developing a nuclear facility close to their holy city of Qom is all over the morning talkers.   This thread will be used to report the on going news on this topic.  You can join the conversation at the bottom of the page by submitting your comments.  – AC

10/1   This is a big day in the Iranian Nuke Facility news story.   Yahoo has already posted that US delegates are meeting one on one on the sidelines with Tehran.

5:04 PM Chuck Todd has put up a post on First Read about Russia’s involvement in the condemnation of Iranian Nuke Facility.

9:00 AM — Chuck Todd is reporting on MSNBC that Iran meets with P5+1 next week.

9:00 AM EDT  – From the AP

PITTSBURGH – President Barack Obama and the leaders of France and Britain demanded Friday that Iran fully disclose its nuclear ambitions “or be held accountable” to an impatient world community. They threatened new sanctions after the disclosure of a secret Iranian nuclear facility.

“Iran is breaking rules that all nations must follows,” Obama said in the opening moments of the G-20 economic summit.

PITTSBURGH – President Barack Obama and the leaders of France and Britain will demand Friday that Iranopen to international inspectors a secret nuclear facility it has tried to hide from the world for years, a seniorWhite House official told The Associated Press.

The three leaders — Obama, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and French President Nicolas Sarkozy — will open the G-20 economic summit with their demand that Tehran allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to inspect the facility for producing nuclear fuel, officials said.

Iran has kept the facility, 100 miles southwest of Tehran, hidden from weapons inspectors, but the U.S. has long known of its existence, the official said. Obama decided to go public with the revelation after Iran learned that Western intelligence agencies were aware of the project.

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1. Obama: Iran Has Secret Facility
2. Iran Agrees to Nuke Inspections, Clinton Remains Skeptical #iran #iranwatch
3. War with Iran’s not desired — but we’re ready, says Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Mike Mullen

Sonia Sotomayor begins her question and answer session in front of the supreme court.

7/16/9 11:33 PM — Will update all the Sonia Sotomayor information tomorrow and provide a recap tomorrow.   However, here is a great debate over affirmative action between Rachel Maddow and Pat Buchanan.

7/14/9 7:51 PM — I only have a few words for this video on gender bias.  Kyl got pwned!

7/14/9 7:45 PM — I am back to putting up Sotomayor information and videos.  Had to do some “paid” work.  Thank you all for being so supportive and understanding of Simon and my realworld jobs while we keep you updated on important issues.

Sotomayor on Empathy

7/14/9 12:14 PM — Feinstein is questioning Sotomayor on Executive Power.

7/14/9 12:11 PM — Doug Kendall added this to the sotomayor conversation please check out his live blogging at Huffington Post:

Updated 11:59: More still about the details of the Ricci case, particularly the decision to use a summary order. Here’s what we’ve saidabout that aspect of the opinion in the past:

7/14/9 12:05 PM — Hatch brought up the extremely partisan idea that the Supreme Court decision on the Ricci case of 5-4 ruling, and claimed that it is really a 9-0 ruling.   You can find out more information on this nutjob idealism here.

7/14 11:30 AM — Sen Hatch is questioning Sotomayor on the 2nd Amendment and the Right to Bear Arms.    The Republican members of the Judicial Committee will probably be on this “note” all day.

Article from the Huffington Post’s Sophia A. Nelson — GOP’s Mischaracterization of Sotomayor.

My concern as I pointed out in an op-ed yesterday that I penned for theROOT.comhttp://www.theroot.com/blogs/sotomayor-confirmation-hearing/sotomayor-v-sessionsis that I watched a party of middle-aged and older all white and all male senators lament against this extremely well qualified, poised, and dignified judge.

According to the ABA, analyst and many judicial observers Judge Sotomayor is the most qualified judge to approach the Senate for Supreme Court confirmation in at least 70 years. This in and of itself should cause the GOP to take a long “reflective pause” and frankly back off.

7/14/9 11:26 AM — Sotomayor on Gun Rights — Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayorsaid on Tuesday that she accepted the high court’s ruling last year that an individual’s right to own guns is guaranteed by the Second Amendment of the Constitution.

“I understand … how important the right to bear arms is to many, many Americans,” she told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “And I have friends who hunt. I understand the individual right fully that the Supreme Court recognized.”

Sotomayor said she had cited the Supreme Court’s decision in a ruling by a U.S. appeals court panel she was on that held that the right to keep and bear arms applied only to the federal government, and not to the states.

Federal appeals courts around the country have been divided on whether the ruling also applied to state laws, and the Supreme Court is expected to decide the issue during its upcoming term that starts in October.

Sotomayor said she would have an “open mind” on the gun rights issue. “I would not prejudge any question that came before me if I was a justice on the Supreme Court,” she said.

7/14/9 10:47 — Sotomayor Defends Latina Comment — AP

WASHINGTON – Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor vigorously defended herself Tuesday against charges that her speeches and rulings show racial bias, telling a Senate panel vetting her nomination that critics had misunderstood her record.

“I want to state upfront, unequivocally and without doubt: I do not believe that any racial, ethnic or gender group has an advantage in sound judging. I do believe that every person has an equal opportunity to be a good and wise judge, regardless of their background or life experiences,” Sotomayor declared.

Sotomayor, President Barack Obama‘s pick to become the high court’s first Hispanic and third woman, was responding to sharp Republican criticism of a 2001 speech in which she suggested a “wise Latina” would usually reach better conclusions than a white man without similar experiences.

In her second day before the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sotomayor said her background as a trial andappellate court judge had taught her to keep an open mind and not come to any cases with a prejudgment of the outcome.

The 55-year-old appeals court judge said a much-discussed ruling she and two other judges made against white New Haven, Conn. firefighters who alleged reverse discrimination after being denied promotions wasn’t about affirmative action or quotas.

“The issue was not what we would do or not do, because we were following precedent,” Sotomayor said, referring to her panel on the 2nd Circuit, whose ruling was overturned late last month by the Supreme Court.

Prompted by Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary chairman who lined up a series of friendly questions for Sotomayor to help her counter GOP criticism, Sotomayor said she would “absolutely” have reached a different result in light of the Supreme Court’s reversal.

Democrats and Republicans alike spoke glowingly Monday about the 55-year-old appeals court judge’s rise from public housing in the south Bronx to her judicial career.

“I would hope every American is proud that a Hispanic woman has been nominated to sit on the Supreme Court,” said Sen. Jon Kyl, R-Ariz.

But the GOP made clear, despite the Democrats’ Senate majority that makes her confirmation likely, it would not let Sotomayor’s hearings pass without raising questions about her impartiality. By extension, Republicans also are attacking Obama for what they see as a double standard in calling for her quick confirmation after he voted against President George W. Bush‘s two high-court appointees.

The thrust of the Republican case against Sotomayor stems from a variation of a line she used on several occasions between 1994 and 2003 in which she talked about personal experience and judging.

“I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life,” Sotomayor said in a speech at 2001 at the University of California, Berkeley, law school.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., the senior Republican on the committee, said he is troubled by the sentiment he finds in the remarks.

“We remain focused on some fundamental questions about the philosophy of Judge Sotomayor as expressed in her statement on more than one occasion over a period of 15 years,” Sessions said Monday after the hearings ended for the day. “And they’ve expressed a rather serious critique of the classical ideal of blind justice.”

Sotomayor offered a polite, brief but firm rebuttal in her opening statement, her first substantive remarks since Obama nominated her in May to replace Justice David Souter, who retired last month.

She explained that her own experiences helped her listen to and understand the people who appear before her. “That is how I seek to strengthen both the rule of law and faith in the impartiality of our judicial system,” she said.

In every case, she said, “I applied the law to the facts at hand.”

The issue seemed unlikely to provoke the “meltdown” that Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Sotomayor would have to suffer to stop her confirmation.

“And I don’t think you will” have a meltdown, Graham added quickly as Sotomayor sat listening, her face in a half-smile.

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Related posts:

1. Supreme Court Nominee
2. Must Read Blog’s and Op-Ed’s — May 27, 2009

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20/08/2009 — Green Brief #59

Protests / Unrest

1. On Thursday, Ahmadinejad is scheduled to give a speech that is being broadcasted live on IRIB. Protesters have decided to chant on rooftops throughout the speech showing their discontent. The speech was scheduled for today, but was postponed, due to wide-spread reports that people would try to cause a black out by over using electricity. The speech is to be aired at 9 PM Tehran Time.

2. A general strike was observed in Sanandaj City, Kordestan province. Shops were closed in most parts of the city in remembrance of an attack on Kordestan province 30 years ago. Basijis and police had earlier threatened city merchants not to take part in the strike. Reports indicated that police and Basij also clashed with some merchants who were refusing to open their shops and many merchants were injured – this could not be confirmed right away.

3. Kamil prayers will be held on Thursday, in Tehran’s Dar-u-zahra Cultural Center, for the release of detainees and the mourning of protesters who have been killed so far. The prayers are held weekly on Thursdays.

Opposition

4. Karroubi has announced he is ready to present evidence of the rape of detainees by prison guards. He sent a letter today to Ali Larijani, to set up a meeting between him and various heads of government institutions. According to Karroubi, the meeting will explain whether he is wrong or Friday prayer Imams, who have lambasted him for raising his voice. He has asked these people to be present during the meeting for him to present the evidence:

– President Ahmadinejad

– Judiciary Chief Sadegh Larijani

– Ali Larijani, the head of the Parliament

– The head of the Expediency Council,

– The head of the Assembly of Experts and of the Expediency Council Hashemi Rafsanjani

– Attorney General Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi

– Members of the parliamentary committee set up to assess the condition of detainees

5. Karroubi also alleged that Hossein Ta’eb – the head of the Basij – was one of the main perpetrators of the phony TV interview, with the family of a woman who claimed to be the real Taraneh Mousavi. In response to his statement, Hojatoleslam Seyed Hossein Shahmoradi – who happens to be the brother of the claimant’s wife – released a statement criticizing Karroubi for divulging the information. According to Shahmoradi, he had told Karroubi about the incident and the fakeness of the claimant in confidentiality.

6. Reports from Qom indicate that Grand Ayatollah Seyed Mousa Shabiri Zanjani – a cleric who has been a teacher of Khamenei and his sons – held a meeting with Grand Ayatollah Lutfullah Safi Golpaygani and has shown great concern over the killing of protesters. According to reports, he got so upset during the meeting that he began to cry.

Shabiri Zanjani has also met with Grand Ayatollah Montazeri in his summer residence in Khaveh, near Qom. He is a key cleric who has been instrumental in freeing Montazeri from house arrest.

7. The Defense of Human Rights Society – an Iranian human rights organization – has asked the government to immediately release its members who have been detained in the post-election violence. The Society released a statement saying that their only job was to defend human rights and that they did not engage in political activities. Members of the organization, Mohammad Ali Dadkha, Abdol Fatah Soltani and a few others are still in detention. Three that were detained have now been released.

Government / International

8. Ahmadinejad unveiled his 21-member cabinet on Wednesday. MPs will start examining the nominees for different ministries in four days and will hold a vote for each member on the 30th of the month. PressTV reported Vice Parliament Speaker Mohammad-Reza Bahonar saying on Thursday, that it was likely that several of the ministers would be rejected by the assembly. Bahonar indicated that up to five nominees would possibly be rejected.

Here is a list of the names and posts of cabinet members (as well as some notes about them below):

Agriculture: Sadeq Khalilian

Commerce: Mehdi Ghazanfari

Communications and IT: Reza Taqipour

Cooperatives: Mohammad Abbasi (Retains his post)

Culture and Islamic Guidance: Seyyed Mohammad Hosseini

Defense: Brigadier Ahmad Vahidi

Economy and Financial Affairs: Seyyed Shamseddin Hosseini

Education: Sousan Keshavarz (Female)

Energy: Mohammad Aliabadi

Foreign Affairs: Manouchehr Mottaki (Retains his post)

Health: Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi (Female)

Housing and Urban Development: Abdolreza Sheikholeslami

Industries and Mines: Ali Akbar Mehrabian (*See note (a) below)

Intelligence: Heyder Moslehi

Interior: Mostafa Mohammad Najjar

Justice: Morteza Bakhtiari

Labor and Social Affairs: Ali Nikzad

Oil: Masoud Mir Kazemi

Road and Transportation: Hamid Behbahani (Retains his post)

Science, Research and Technology: Kamran Daneshjoo

Welfare and Social Security: Fatemeh Ajorlou (Female) (*See note (b) below)

(a) It is worth noting that Ali Akbar Mehrabian, the cabinet member for Industries and Mines, retains his post although he was convicted in court, a few weeks ago, for the stealing of another inventor’s invention.

(b) There may also be a problem for the Minister of Welfare Fatemeh Ajorlou who is also facing legal trouble.

9. Several conservative MPs have criticized Ahmadinejad’s choice of ministers. Many have shown discontent over his choice of three women for ministries. One MP from Oromieh said that it is possible, that these women would face difficulties in the next cabinet [because of their gender].

10. Asgar Aowladi, today denied that a meeting was held between him, Rafsanjani, Haddad Adel and others. This news was widely reported in some government-owned websites yesterday. (Read full report in Brief #58)

11. Former Minister of Intelligence Mohseni Ejaie – who has been widely accused of being one of the main forces behind the brutal suppression of peaceful protesters – is expected to be nominated as the next Attorney General by Sadegh Larejani. Ejaie was sacked by Ahmadinejad days before his inauguration.

12. The leadership council of the Assembly of Experts held a meeting today, postponing the meeting of the Assembly till after Ramadan – which is in a week. Other details were not disclosed.

13. The governor of Tehran province, Moteza Tamaddon criticized Karroubi today, stating that if he cannot prove his allegations, then legal steps should be taken against him. He added that during his and other MPs’ visit to Evin on Tuesday, detainees rejected that they had been raped.

14. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said that Iran, would continue a new course in its foreign policy and that Europeans states should “adapt to new realities”.

15. Syrian President Bashar Al-Asad is in Tehran on a two-day trip, holding meetings with various Iranian officials.

16. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias will be visiting Iran in September.

Arrested / Released / Killed / Torture

17. Partially confirmed reports have emerged of a released detainee, who had been drugged and raped. According to reports, the detainee had been given heavy doses of rohypnol – a sedative, anticonvulsant, anxiolytic, amnestic, hypnotic and skeletal muscle relaxant – and then brutally raped. According to a doctor, who helped with the case while the victim was in hospital, the victim had contracted Chlamydia infection – a common sexually transmitted disease because of the abuse.

18. Partially confirmed reports have emerged that the parliament, may have received a confidential letter from Karroubi 20 days before his public letter to Rafsanjani. According to Iqbal Mohammadi – an MP from Marivan – Karroubi only sent the letter to Rafsanjani after he had not received a reply from the parliament.

19. A un-named MP has told opposition websites, that the news of the parliamentary committee’s ‘fact-finding’ mission to Evin were lying about their meeting with Mostafa Tajzadeh. According to the MP, what the committee members quoted as Tajzadeh’s words, were pre-written and given to them by Saeed Jalili – the Secretary General of the National Security Council.

Reports indicate that Tajzadeh is held outside Evin, while committee members told the press that they met Tajzadeh at Evin.

20. Mehdieh Mohammadi, the wife of political commentator and reporter Ahmad Zeidabadi, said that her husband has been kept in extreme conditions in prison. According to Mohammadi, Zeidabadi had been kept in an unlit 1×1.5 meter room for the first 17 days of his arrest, where he went on a hunger strike. During this period, no sounds reached the room and no one came to talk to him. He described the cell to his wife as a ‘grave’.

After 17 days, his health deteriorated and he was found unconscious in his cell. He was taken to a doctor who told him to eat. He was then taken back to the same cell where started showing signs of dementia, he told his wife, in a meeting 52 days after his arrest, that he wanted to kill himself but couldn’t find anything to do the job with. He spent a further two weeks in this cell. After repeated cries, he was taken to a different cell. He told his wife, during the meeting, that he has been forced to tell the court, in the next trial, that he would never take part in anything related to politics.

21. Isa Saharkhiz – a reporter – is under severe psychological pressure and claims that he will sue the government once freed. His ribs were broken after being beaten by security forces and he has yet to receive proper medical care for his injuries. He has told his interrogators that he would not talk without his lawyer and the parliamentary committee for assessing the condition of detainees present.

22. Kevan Samimi has also been put in solitary confinement and has been repeatedly beaten by prison guards. Samimi is a journalist and a political activist fighting for political prisoners’ rights.

23. Azad University student Hesamat Salamat, has been released after a month and a half in prison. Also released were Journalist Zhila Bani-Yaghoub and Sadegh Nowroozi, a member of reformist party Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization. Reports suggest that Mehsa Amrabadi and Somayeh Towhidlo would be released soon as well.

24. Mohammad Reza Jalayeepour was supposed to be released today, but he was not. It was expected that he would be released on August 20.

25. Photographer Stayar Emami, of Jam e Jam newspaper, was reportedly released on Sunday after a month in detention. After the current releases, the number of journalists in prison stands at 35.

26. Seven executions have been put on hold by the new Judiciary Chief after taking office. These include one young person who is now a 21 year old who was accused of murder at the age of 16.

27. No news has emerged since the disappearance Sohrab Leqaie, a Baha’i from Ghayem Shahr. He was arrested a month ago by agents of the Intelligence Ministry.

Media

28. Hossein Entezami – the representative of editor-in-chiefs in the Committee to Oversee the Media – has also criticized the ban on Etemaade Melli. He added that the country was not in need of such actions.

29. Reports have emerged that Karroubi has threatened, that unless Etemaade Melli’s ban was not lifted, he would revive his project of running a TV channel. He was forced to shelve plans four years ago for Channel “Saba” a satellite channel, after direct intervention by Ali Larijani, then chair of the National Security Council, who deemed the plan “an act against national security”. Karroubi then founded the Etemade Melli newspaper to reach the masses.

30. Keyhan Daily – the mouthpiece of Khamenei – threatened all reformist parties not to support Karroubi. It also criticized the meetings of reformists with Montazeri and other clerics in Qom.

Miscellaneous

31. Swissinfo reports:

“Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan has been fired from his position at a Netherlands university over connections to an Iranian-funded television channel. In a statement, the municipality of Rotterdam and the Erasmus University of Rotterdam said that the Swiss-born theologian’s hosting of a program on Iran’s Press TV was “irreconcilable” with his position as a guest professor.”

Scholar fired over ties to Press TV http://bit.ly/TXh7O

International Protests

32. On Thursday, August 20, at 4:30 pm American student activists will gather outside the Nokia Store at 5 East 57th Street in Manhattan to protest Nokia’s complicity in the crackdown against Iranian protesters. Link for more info: http://tinyurl.com/nmkj8n

Source: Why We Protest

11/08/2009 — Iranian speaker calls for detainee rape probe

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — Iran’s influential parliament speaker has called for an investigation into allegations that post-election detainees were raped while in custody, state-run media said.

Ali Larijani said that a special parliamentary panel “had carried out investigations into the situation in [Iranian] jails and the treatment of detainees and it should also look into whether jail rape allegations are true or false,” Press TV reported, citing Tabnak, a Web site associated with opposition politician Mohsen Rezaie.

Source: CNN

10/8/2009 — Report: Iranian prison chief dismissed, arrested

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — Authorities have fired and arrested the chief of an Iranian jail that was closed amid allegations of mistreatment of detainees held for protesting June’s disputed election, Iranian media reported Sunday.

Source: CNN

10/8/2009 — Top Iranian general: Let’s prosecute opposition leaders

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — A senior official with Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard is calling for the prosecution of two key opposition leaders and a former president, accusing them of fanning the protests that have gripped the nation since its disputed presidential election two months ago

Source: CNN

5/8/2009 — Ahmadinejad sworn in as riot police quell protest

Reporting from Beirut — Iran’s president began a contentious second term today, vowing to strive for “national greatness” as police firing tear gas and swinging truncheons quelled a demonstration outside the parliament where he was sworn in.

Battered by a weeks-long protest movement alleging fraud in his reelection, and weakened by challenges from within his own conservative camp, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said he would dedicate himself to serving the Iranian people and to taking bold steps on the world stage.

“It is not important who voted for whom. What we need is national greatness,” he said in a speech broadcast live on television after he was sworn in by the judiciary chief, Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi. “We are representing a great nation. It needs great decisions and great deeds. We need to take great steps.”

As he spoke, hundreds and possibly thousands of demonstrators tried to push their way into the surrounding Tehran’s Baharestan Square, with thousands of security forces and plainclothes Basiji militiamen on motorcycles chasing and arresting them, according to witnesses and accounts in the reformist online media.

Security forces dispersed the crowd before a larger rally could gather.

Source: LA Times

3/8/2009 — Swiss push for meeting with U.S. hikers detained in Iran

(CNN) — Swiss diplomats are trying to meet with three American hikers being held in Iran, the Swiss Embassy in Tehran said Monday.

The embassy would not say whether Iranian authorities had responded to their request or if diplomats had met the Americans.

Four American friends — seasoned travelers — were hiking through Iraq’s Kurdistan region last week before three of them crossed the unmarked border with Iran, where Iranian authorities detained them.

Kurdish officials identified the hikers as Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Joshua Fattal, CNN confirmed Sunday. The fourth hiker, Shon Meckfessel, stayed behind in Iraq.

“My husband and I are eager for the best welfare and conditions for our son, Josh, and for the other two companions he’s with,” Laura Fattal of Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, told CNN Radio. “And that is our only concern, his welfare and the best conditions for him.”

Meckfessel, a graduate student at the University of Washington, was identified by his grandmother, who told CNN that he stayed behind because he felt sick. Meckfessel met with a consular official at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad, the embassy said.

“My grandson has asked me not to talk to the media,” said Irene Meckfessel of Carmichael, California, before hanging up Saturday.

Don’t Miss

• Three U.S. hikers detained by Iran named
• Iranians held by U.S. in Iraq return home

Iran’s state-run media reported that Iranian security forces arrested the three Americans on Friday on charges of illegally entering the country from Iraq’s Kurdistan region and that the matter is under investigation.

The United States and Iran do not have diplomatic relations, and Switzerland represents U.S. diplomatic interests in Iran, which is why the Swiss are trying to meet the detainees. Watch as concern grows the situation could escalate into an international incident »

Friends of the travelers said that the trio have spent time or have lived in Western Europe and the Middle East.

Sandy Close, executive director of the nonprofit Pacific News Service, described Bauer, a photographer whose material occasionally has been posted on her Web site, as a “gifted linguist and photographer with wanderlust for travel and a student of Arab cultures. He’s a remarkably talented guy.”

On a profile on a travel Web site, Shourd describes herself as a “teacher-activist-writer from California currently based in the Middle East.”

Fattal shared his friends’ love of travel and learning, and was described as “fiercely intellectual” by his friend, Chris Foraker, who spoke to CNN affiliate KVAL-TV in Eugene, Oregon.

Foraker said he met Fattal during a study abroad program in 2003, and the two worked together at the Aprovecho sustainable living research center in Cottage Grove, Oregon.

The four travelers spent Thursday night at the Miwan Hotel in Sulaimaniya, Iraq, said hotel owner Mudhafer Mohammed.

Bauer, Shourd and Fattal left early Friday in a taxi for Ahmed Awa, a touristic town near Iraq’s border with Iran, planning to hike in the mountains there, according to Peshrow Ahmed, spokesman for the security manager of Sulaimaniya.

Ahmed Awa police spotted the hikers at one point Friday, Ahmed said, and warned them that they were near the Iranian border — which is not m

arked — and that they should be careful.

The group was in contact with Meckfessel in Sulaimaniya until about 1:30 p.m. Friday,

when they reported they were “surrounded by Iranian soldiers,” Ahmed said. No further communication was received.

Mohammed said the hikers said they had come to the area because they heard it was safe, saying they were considering a trip to Ahmed Awa. But he said he advised them against it.

“I warned them m

an

y times,” Mohammed said.

“When they told me that they are planning to go to Ahmed Awa, I told them, ‘Don’t go there because it is unsafe for you because you’re American and Ahmed Awa is very close to the Iranian border,’ ” he said.

Meckfessel left the hotel about 4:30 p.m. Friday, Mohammed said, asking him to take care of their luggage and saying he would not return. Later, he said, Sulaimaniya security forces took the luggage from the hotel.

Source: CNN

3/8/2009 — 85yo Woman wants her vote back

3/8/2009 — Iran leader approves Ahmadinejad presidency

TEHRAN (Reuters) – Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei formally endorsed the second term presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Monday after a disputed election that plunged Iran into its worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

Source: Reuters

3/08/2009 — Ex-military chief questions Iran trial motives

One day after Iran opened a mass trial of more than 100 opposition figures, defeated presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei questions the fairness of the move, calling for a trial of the security forces who broke the law.

The first court session for opposition activists and protesters convened in Tehran on Saturday only days before President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is scheduled to be sworn in for a second term.

The Saturday court charged several politicians, including former vice president Mohammad-Ali Abtahi, of planning the post-election riots ahead of the vote and sparking unrest through “allegations of vote fraud.”

In reaction to the trial, Secretary of the Expediency Council Rezaei adopted a critical stance over the handling of the cases of the post-vote detainees and questioned the true motive behind the timing of the court session.

“Recent events which brought severe damage upon the nation and the Islamic Republic were caused by two groups; one group were rioters and the second group comprised of self-driven individuals and security forces who violated the law,” Rezaei said in a letter to Iran’s Judiciary Chief, Ayatollah Seyyed Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, on Sunday.

Rezaei, who challenged Ahmadinejad in the June 12 election, argued that with two types of defendants, the authorities should move to hold two types of court proceedings.

“Otherwise justice and fairness will not be administered and it is even possible that insecurity does not come to an end and calm is not restored to the society,” Rezaei warned.

He said while Saturday’s trial only dealt with the first group of the accused, the question remains as to when the second trial is set to begin and why it was not held at the same time with the first court session.

Rezaei called on the country’s judiciary chief to put to trial “the security forces who attacked Tehran University’s dormitory and classes in Isfahan University”, “those responsible for battering the prisoners including Mohsen Ruholamini”, and “those responsible for assaulting peaceful protestors in the street”.

Rezaei, who was the chief commander of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps for sixteen years, called for the second trial as police chief Ismail Ahmadi-Moqaddam acknowledged in July that some law enforcement officers went to “extremes” during the post-election protests.

“Some of our officers went to extremes during these events and caused damage while pursuing protestors,” Brig. Gen. Ahmadi-Moqaddam conceded, vowing to ‘deal firmly’ with the officers who had broken the rules.

Reformists were quick to condemn the trial as a sham staged by supporters of the incumbent president.

After the disputed vote in June, Iran witnessed widespread protests as supporters of defeated presidential candidates Mir-Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi took to the streets to protest Ahmadinejad’s re-election as president with a massive margin.

At least 30 people were killed and hundreds of others injured in the course of the protests staged by supporters of the opposition who dismiss the official election results as “fraudulent” and call for its annulment.

Iranian authorities argue that foreign agents fueled the post-vote violence, causing the deaths.

Source: PressTV

3/8/2009 — Conservative calls on Iran to hold second trial

TEHRAN, IRAN (AP) — A conservative who ran in Iran’s disputed presidential election has criticized the government for not putting people on trial who attacked opposition protesters and tortured detainees.

Mohsen Rezaei sent a letter to Iran’s judiciary chief saying the post-election unrest would likely continue if those who harmed opposition supporters were not brought to justice.

Sunday’s report on Rezaei’s Web site comes a day after Iran began its first trial against protesters and activists following the June 12 vote.

The opposition claims President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad stole the election through fraud.

Iran’s parliament says at least 30 people have been killed in post-election unrest. The son of one of Rezaei’s top aides died while in detention.

Source

3/08/2009 — Slow Updates

Away with work again so internet access is sporadic.

Check out Revolutionary Road for some great updates.

31/07/2009 — Lots of videos collected from various sources

30/07/2009 — More updates from today’s mourning

30/07/2009 –Security forces, protesters face off in Iran

TEHRAN, Iran (CNN) — Security forces in Iran on Thursday confronted thousands of protesting Iranians across the city, first at a cemetery and later at a prayer venue and near a government building, witnesses and news reports said.

Clashes erupted at the cemetery as two of Iran’s main opposition leaders tried to join the several thousand people at a memorial for the slain woman who became the symbol of Iran’s post-election violence, witnesses said. The gathering was banned, but the participants ignored the government strictures.

However, security forces barred opposition leaders Mir Hossein Moussavi and Mehdi Karrubi from the gravesite of Neda Agha-Soltan, the 26-year-old woman shot in election protests on June 20, witnesses and news reports said. More than 3,000 people were gathered at Agha-Soltan’s grave, a witness said.

Mourners arrived on the religiously significant 40th day after the fatal shooting in Tehran. For Iranians, a predominantly Shiite Muslim population, the 40th day after a death marks the last official day of mourning.

At the cemetery, security forces used tear gas to clear the area of demonstrators and mourners. A witness said riot police and Basij militia were at the scene, but the confrontations with people in the crowd involved the militia.

Source: CNN

29/07/2009 –More than “Velvet Revolution”: The Battle Within Iran’s Intelligence Ministry

Interesting read and a good source of information

In a week filled with confusions, intrigues, and confrontations within the Ahmadinejad Government, this may be the most extraordinary story of all.

On Monday afternoon, the pro-Green Movement website Mowj-e-Sabz announced, “Coup in the Ministry of Intelligence”. While public attention was focused on the President’s firing of his Minister of Intelligence, Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejeie, there was much more happening below the headlines. Two Deputy Ministers and a number of experts — Mowj-e-Sabz claimed more than 20 — had been “forced into retirement”.

The cause? Ministry officials had been told to compile a report, based on files and interviews of detainees, on whether the quest for a “velvet revolution” by outsiders was responsible for post-election conflict. Their investigations produced the answer: No. There was no proof that “foreign” elements had instigated the protests as part of a plan for regime change.

It was an answer that did not satisfy President Ahmadinejad. He dismissed the Vice Ministers of Intelligence and of Counter-Intelligence. According to Mowj-e-Sabz and other press reports, established a parallel service, “Tehran Intelligence”, led by Hojatoleslam Ahmad Salek and Hojatoleslam Hossein Ta’eb, both of whom are affiliated to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Was this dispute over the “velvet revolution”, rather than the Cabinet argument over the First Vice President, the real reason for Minister of Intelligence Ejeie’s dismissal? Does the replacement of Ministry officials by activists close to the Revolutionary Guard, combined by Ahmadinejad’s assertion that the Ministry reports to him rather than the Supreme Leader, constitute a “coup” by the President and the IRGC against their own Government?

I’m not sure I would go so far as to answer “Yes”. But I do think that the irony is that any notion of an outside “velvet revolution” has been overtaken by an inside bureaucratic war. How far this war spreads could define the next phase of the post-election challenge to the Iranian system.

29/07/2009 — Some updates from United4Iran

Some late updates as i’ve been away with work.
More U2 Awesomeness

Press coverage so far: Al Jazeera, CNN, BBC Persia, New York Times, USA Today, Huffington Post, Ms., and many more

29/07/2009 — Hearts & Minds — A Letter From Fayah

Nothing  I can say can say it better then the original…

Through all of this work with Iranian protesters, I have come into contact and become friends with three people there.

For their safety, I can’t give you any details of who they are, but I’ll give you their names, since they’re very common there.

Rashid.

Fayah.

Ali.

Two of them have become very influential on a grass roots level, partially because they are in contact with so many people internationally, and have access to better information than most.

Through many, many email conversations, I have grown to love and admire and deeply respect these people, these friends.

Two of them are planning to deliberately seek martyrdom on Thursday. Here’s what Fayah wrote to me:

“I love life. I love to laugh and be with my friends. There are so many books I want to read, movies I want to see, people I want to meet. I want to marry, to be a good wife and mother. I want to grow old with the people I love, to feel the sun on my face, to see the ocean, to travel.

My country is in a terrible state. People have no jobs. There is no money. People have no freedom. Women must hide themselves from the world, and we have no choices.

Our people–we are not terrorists. We hate terrorists. And that is what our government has become. They kill our people for no reason. They torture us in their prisons because we want freedom. They make our country look evil, they make our religion look evil.

We are fighting for our freedom, for our religion, for our country. If we do nothing while injustice abounds, we become unjust. We turn into the ones we hate.

I have to fight. I have to go back on the streets. I will make them kill me. I will join Neda, with my friends, and then maybe the world will hear us.

I never thought I would become a martyr, but it is needed. The more of us they kill, the smaller they become, the more strength the people will have. Maybe my death will mean nothing, but maybe it will buy my country freedom.

I am very sad that I will never be a mother, that I will never do the things I love, but I would rather die than do nothing and know that I am to blame for the tortures, the murder, the hatred.

Please tell the world how much we love life. That we are not terrorists. We just want to be free.”

[Note: I have corrected spelling, removed identifying details, and cleaned up the word order a bit...English is her fourth language.]

Please, my friends, remember these names:

Rashid

Fayah

Ali

Please keep them in your thoughts and your prayers.

Gods bless the people of Iran.

If any of you want to reprint Fayah’s letter, or disseminate it in any way, please do so. We are her voice, and it needs to be heard.

28/07/2009 — Iran’s Protesters: Phase 2 of Their Feisty Campaign

Phase 2 has begun. Six weeks after millions took to the streets to protest Iran’s presidential election, their uprising has morphed into a feistier, more imaginative and potentially enduring campaign.

The second phase plays out in a boycott of goods advertised on state-controlled television. Just try buying a certain brand of dairy product, an Iranian human-rights activist told me, and the person behind you in line is likely to whisper, “Don’t buy that. It’s from an advertiser.” It includes calls to switch on every electric appliance in the house just before the evening TV news to trip up Tehran’s grid. It features quickie “blitz” street demonstrations, lasting just long enough to chant “Death to the dictator!” several times but short enough to evade security forces. It involves identifying paramilitary Basij vigilantes linked to the crackdown and putting marks in green — the opposition color — or pictures of protest victims in front of their homes. It is scribbled antiregime slogans on money. And it is defiant drivers honking horns, flashing headlights and waving V signs at security forces.

Source: Time

28/07/2009 — In Iran, Leader orders closure of post-vote prison

Amid reports of the mistreatment of detainees who protested against the result of the presidential vote, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution orders officials to shut down a “non-standard” prison.

The head of Iran’s National Security Council said Monday that Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei had demanded that the prison which did not measure up to the required standards to be shut down.

“In the course of recent events, the Leader has ordered officials (to take measures), so that no one, God forbid, suffers injustice,” Saeed Jalili said in a statement.

The presidential election in June, which lead to the re-election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president, was followed by massive protests by supporters of the defeated candidates.

Thousands were detained in the aftermath of the vote, many of whom have since been released. According to Judiciary spokesman Ali-Reza Jamshidi, at least 300 people remain behind bars.

Jalili, who is also the representative of the Leader in the powerful council, added that Ayatollah Khamenei had insisted that officials were obliged to “precisely” probe into incidents in which wrongdoings may have been committed against detainees.

The Leader has repeatedly advised officials to abide by the law and personally follows up on the fate of detainees, Jalili added.

Source: Press TV

26/07/2009 – GreenBrief #39

Source: Iran: Why We Protest

26/07/2009 — Solidarity for Iran during GreenDay Concert

Source

25/07/2009 — United4Iran’s Photostream

25/07/2009 — Protesters chase off PressTV Camera Man in London

25/07/2009 — BBC’s images from around the world

25/07/2009 — Protests in Melbourne – More Here

25/07/2009 — Unveiling of the Green Scroll

25/07/2009 — CNN Coverage of world wide protests

Images of the protests in Stockholm Sweden – Here

24/07/2009 — Senate passes Iran VOICE Act.

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Senate voted unanimously last night to adopt bipartisan legislation that will help strengthen the ability of the Iranian people get access to news and information and overcome the electronic censorship and monitoring efforts of the Iranian regime. The Victims of Iranian Censorship (VOICE) Act was introduced by Senators John McCain (R-AZ), Joseph Lieberman (ID-CT), Ted Kaufman (D-DE), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), and Robert Casey (D-PA) as an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act. Among the key features of the VOICE Act: * Authorizes $30 million to the Broadcasting Board of Governors to expand Farsi language broadcasting into Iran by Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty’s Radio Farda and the Voice of America’s Persian News Network. The funds may be used to develop additional transmission capability to counter Iranian government efforts to jam radio, satellite, and Internet-based transmissions; establish additional proxy server capability and anti-censorship software to counter efforts to block access to websites in Iran; develop technologies to counter efforts to block SMS text message exchange over cellular phone networks; and hire, on a permanent or short-term basis, additional staff for Radio Farda and the Persian News Network. * Authorizes $20 million for a new “Iranian Electronic Education, Exchange, and Media Fund,” which will support the development of technologies, including websites, that will aid the ability of the Iranian people to gain access to and share information; counter efforts to block, censor, or monitor the Internet in Iran; and engage in Internet-based education programs and other exchanges with Americans online. * Requires a report by the President on non-Iranian companies, including corporations with U.S. subsidiaries, that have aided the Iranian government’s Internet censorship efforts, including by providing deep packet inspection technology. * Authorizes $5 million for the Secretary of State to document, collect, and dissemination information about human rights in Iran, including abuses of human rights that have taken place since the June 12 Iranian election.

24/07/2009 — WORLD WIDE DEMONSTRATIONS – Global Day of Action

Human rights groups and Iran activists are organizing a massive “Global Day of Action” on Saturday, hoping to rally people in more than 60 cities in support of Iran’s democracy movement. The rallies are to take place from Kabul to Kansas City, from Tokyo to San Francisco and include a march in Washington, from the local office of the United Nations to the national Mall, said Hadi Ghaemi, spokesman for the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. Mr. Ghaemi said the demonstrations will be live-streamed to Iranians on YouTube and other Internet sites in hopes of encouraging them to persist in their rejection of disputed results in Iran’s June 12 presidential elections. The Iranian government says the landslide victor was incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. However, hundreds of thousands of Iranians have turned out in the streets – risking arrest and even death at the hands of security forces – to decry the results as fraudulent and demand a new vote. Source: Washington Times

24/07/2009 — A day With basidj members In Tehran 24/07/2009 –Haystack Update from Huffington Post

I’ve spent some time here discussing Haystack, a brand new tool developed by tech guru Austin Heap and his team to help Iranians break through their country’s Internet firewall. Haystack has a brand new website — you can check it out here. This afternoon, Austin Heap and his team will be here in Washington DC, explaining Haystack and demonstrating the technology. (If you’re in the area and would like to attend, email me at the address above. Space is extremely limited but I’ll try my best.) But more importantly, I wanted to let you know that Austin has just posted an important request for donations of USB thumb drives.

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If you’ve got some mini USB drives hanging around, going unused, or if you’d like to buy a few at your local electronics store and send them Austin’s way, click here for instructions.

24/07/2009 — Clinton: Iran unable to respond to overtures.

The United States is still willing to ‘reach out’ to Iran but political turmoil there means Tehran is not now in a position to respond, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton told the BBC on Thursday.
President Barack Obama made diplomatic overtures to Iran before its June 12 election, but Clinton told the BBC: “We haven’t had any response.”

She added: “We’ve certainly reached out and made it clear that’s what we’d be willing to do, even now, despite our absolute condemnation of what they’ve done in the election and since, but I don’t think they have any capacity to make that kind of decision right now.”

7/22/2009 — 7:47 — Grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini ‘leaves Iran to avoid presidential inauguration’

The grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, father of Iran‘s Islamic revolution, is reported to have left the country to avoid attending Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s presidential inauguration.

Hassan Khomeini, a supporter of the defeated reformist candidate, Mir Hossein Mousavi, has travelled to an unnamed “neighbouring country” to escape official pressure to be present at next month’s swearing-in ceremony, according to the pro-reformist news website, Salaamnews.

His absence would be a blow to the authorities’ hopes of using the hallowed Khomeini family name to confer legitimacy on the event in the face of allegations that Ahmadinejad owes his re-election to fraud.

Source: Guardian

7/22/2009 — 5:19pm — CNN’s coverage of the hunger strike

7/22/2009 — 10:00am — MPs told over 300 people have been killed in Iran riots

More than 300 people have died in the Iranian riots which have swept the country since June, MPs were told yesterday.

A report said thousands more had been injured and 10,000 arrested.

Labour peer Lord Corbett said: “If we allow these people to die without being noticed we will lose a huge opportunity for change.”

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The riots followed claims last month’s Iranian elections were rigged.

Protests are continuing in Tehran against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the government.

Source: Mirror

7/22/2009 — 08:36 –Ayatollah Watch

A good source for keeping up with where all the Ayatollah’s stand on the events within Iran.

From the Excellent people at Tehran Bureau

7/22/2009 – CNN Coverage of latest protests

7/21/2009 — Phone Call from Iran

I found this on Why We Protest – Iran and its very much worth the read and to listen to the emotion in the audio, even if you do not understand Farsi – Here

Here’s the translation:
Phone call from Iran!!

I have translated this phone call, so people of the rest of the world has a better wiew on the peoples condition in Iran!!
It may have lots of english error, due to my lack of english knowledge!! I am sorry for that!!

But the most important messege this phone call from a 66 years old lady is giving, is that people WILL NOT GIVE UP!! UNTIL THE THEIR GET THEIR JUSTICE!! UNTILL THE ENTIRE REGIME HAS CHANGED!!

Translation:
My name is Maral, I am talking from Tehran, I have reached ur phone with a lots of difficulty!
I am 66 years old lady, we are group of 3, that have contact with each other and going out for protest togheter, and we are our own leader! I am the youngest one in this group,the next two are 70 and 73 years old! We are fighting side by side with our young once!
You dont know whats going on here, you only see it on Moives that some one got killed… and when the casting of the movie is finish, he rise up and laughing, for the mistake he may have done in that scene!
But this time, when someone got shooted at, he dont rise up anymore, for he know that its not a movie anymore! But his soul is smiling!
Its like war-movie, but the real war is for soul and body, for freedom, its war for escaping from the big prison, named Iran!! People whant either to die or live normal!! Now the fear is gone, no one is afraid for anything anymore!! Poeple are in the street for gaining a nomarl Life, for to breath normal, and ecaping from this Big prison!
They stole peoples mony to spend it on terror, to support Hamas, Hizbollah and etc.. they have taked away peoples Pride, Dignity,Soul,Mind,Faith,Trust,Belive!! They have stolen so much that people are full of Anger now, they are not afraid anymore, For they have nothing to lose anymore!!
I my own God I belive, I have seen so much thing that I am so sure that people will not give up untill they have get what is belonging to them!!Untill that day that people have opend the door of this Big Prison! Justice has to be taken, you can not give it!! Where are those parent that sacrifyed everything they had to a group of savage!!Its time to rise up now,their time is here, rise up because of ur children, We have to take back our Justice! Dignity has to come back to Iran!! You dont know what they do to people here!You are watching a Movie, its
like a tragic-movie, a movie of Horror, a movie that all its actress has been training in 30 years, and recived a Phd degree for that!! And playing this reality movie now, and publishing their own historys!!! This is a movie of Justice, and the seeking for Justice!!
After all I have said now, let me also say the positive thing from this last days…
You dont know that before this uprising people was so full of anger, hate and furustration!
Every one lived with the illusion that they lived in a tiredless life! But the journey is over now, and everbody want to travell back to their home now!!For this “hotel” is smelling very bad now.. the mission is over now, they are paying back for the hotel now! They are not afraid to pay anymore! they just want to pay the price to get back to their home!! They will return and strat from ground zero!! You dont know hwo much people in the streets, in mals, etc have changed .. has been so gentle now..everybody is happy and smiling now! The furustration is gone now! with two finger they show each other the Victory sign! Car which are passing each other, do that while they are showing eachother Victory sign!! and get respond from other cars!! There is no more fighting among the people anymore like before!
Everyone who has been beaten up and fallen, just rise up and countiue their Own way for freedom! I AM ONE OF THEM MY SELF!! I the age of 66 I was beaten up, and falled to the ground!!! My knee is still wounded!!BUT I AM HAPPY..
Everyone is polite and respectfull now! The cars show respect to people which are crosing the road!! When I complained before, they told me that I live in a dream land!! But now people apologize and showing respect to eachother!!
Is that something that traitor wanted!!( reffering to khamenei) They dont let people have a free mind!!everone respect eachother!!
I dont know if this regime are from another Planet??
Everything has changed! even the owner in Buttics has not so many costumer anymore, they are still happy!!
Everybody is in Alarm mode, a War mode, for closing their shops…
You dont know about the nights in our streets!! everynight at 22.00 when people are chanting “God Is Great”!! And Tehran is shaking!! Its like a wave of Muic and Melody!!People get such a relaxing felling to listen to that!! I know about the entire city!! Niyavaran, Mahomide, Shahrake-gharb,eslam-shahr, afsariye… I have friends in all this places, and we have contact with eachother, for cheking where the sounds are coming from!!People are chanting “God is Great” ” Death of Dictator”
Once I was vittnes my self, when people was chanting from their windows, 5 Basiji members come and 20 on motor-bike, arrived our street!! the fired in the air, and at the same time, they arrested several people in our street!! But people still continued to chant against them!! when people arrest some of them, they become quaite and are so afraid for the people!! Their power is only in they weapons!! as long as they have it in their hand!!But their are nothing!!
I know that WE WILL WIN!! For Justice belong to us!!
Some day before the election, was a holiday, and I was invited to a place, and I wsa getting a Taxi to go there! Outside a mousqe was a ghatering of 20 supporter of this regime for this holiday!! I say with my own evey, that people didnt care about them! girls was walking with red head-scarf and boys was vering red T-shirts beside them!!
But since it was the election time, the regime didnt stopp anyone for the way they was dressed up, you could even go naken, they still would not care!!
But even we in a war now, but people mode is good, the faith is good, the Hope is back!no one is afraid anymore!!
About our Neda they told us that it was the foreginers, but from what this regime did during the last revolution they know exactly what to do!! They know who to make the Lie!! because they did it them self!! They have training in that! They say that foreginers killed Neda, but no one belives them!!
If they tell people that its day now, people will say that its night!!

Before the election in the street was many young people that was giving flyers for different candidates!! one day I was taking a Taxi, some young boys and girls come to give me flyers, I didnt want to take that, But the driver take one of the flyers! and when the taxi driver turned the flyer, on its back it was written: DONT VOTE!!!
And I was regretting for not taking one, for having a evidence!!

There is so much conflict among them self, that at the end, they have to eat up them self!!

Source: Here

7/21/2009 – Khamenei overrules Ahmadinejad, fires his deputy

Fractures within the fractures?

The Supreme Leader has ordered Ahmadinejad’s first deputy to resign from Ahmadinejad’s cabinet just days after his appointment, according to the Deputy Speaker of the Parliament. Deputy Speaker Aboutorabi said, “eliminating Mashaei from key positions and the first deputy position is a strategic decision by the regime. The Supreme Leader’s opinion about the removal of the Mr. Rahim Mashaei from the position of president’s first deputy has been submitted to the President in writing.”

Source: Niac

7/21/2009 — Reuters: Demonstarations in Tehran

Reuters is reporting new demonstrations in Iran.

Iranian riot police detained dozens of pro-reform protesters in central Tehran on Tuesday, a witness said.The witness said the protesters were chanting slogans against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the government, including: “Ahmadinejad — resign, resign” and “Death to the dictator.”

The witness added: “Riot police are taking dozens of protesters into their cars and they are taking them away.”

7/21/2009 — 8:58pm – Blackout Planned

It looks like the opposition is planning a blackout tonight at 9pm Iran time. This tactic has been denounced by the government, and should be interesting to see if it has an impact on the powergrind. I know here in Australia when everyone turns their AirCon on during summer we have rolling blackouts.

More Info

7/20/2009 — 8:58PM – Haute Couture goes Green

Green has never looked so good. Italian designer Guillermo Mariotto wore a Neda Alive shirt to honor Neda, who was killed during the Iranian election aftermath. Mariotto’s attention to detail is quite admirable as every model on the catwalk wore a green ribbon on their wrist.

Source: NIAC

7/20/2009 — 7:38PM – Al Jazeera: Iran’s power struggle

7/20/2009 — 7:30om — Iran and the West – A BBC 3 part Documentary

Bookmark It

Related posts:

1. Iran: An Electoral Crisis! #iranelection – ARCHIVE
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3. Iran: An Electoral Crisis! #iranelection – ARCHIVE 6