Some news of the day

Iranian protest shooting victim Neda Agha Soltan, photo via Wikipedia

Could this be the face to launch a revolution?

The last few days, the news media has played up the death of an Iranian woman, who was shot on the streets of Tehran during some protests by opponents of the current Mahmoud Ahmadinejad administration and supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi over the weekend. The video of the aftermath of Neda Agha Soltan's shooting has been shown all over YouTube and later broadcast, in brief on the major news networks, including CNN, MSNBC and Fox News. The broadcasters do not show the whole video in detail out of concern for young people who may view the newscasts.

The full video on YouTube does show Neda bleeding profusely from the mouth and nose, and it's pooling around her on the street. Two men try to keep her alive. They're afraid that if they can get her to a hospital, the Republican Guard or the Basij, a para-military, plain-clothed security forces that help Ahmadinejad and the clerical regime keep order. Think of it as a KGB-like group that secretly serve the president and supreme leader to keep the public in line.

Looking at the bio posted on Wikipedia, she was born in 1982, a part-time worker in a travel agency, and was at a street corner with her father when a Basij sniper shot her in the neck. Her last words, apparently, translated to, "I'm burning! I'm burning!"

Mousavi has called for peaceful assemblies to honor Neda and others who have died in the protests since June 12, when the ruling clerical council declared Ahmadinejad the winner on a 2-to-1 margin. However, the regime has been preventing the protests, which I heard on CNN this afternoon, is against Article 27 of the Islamic Republic of Iran's constitution, guaranteeing the rights to protest peacefully.

Thus the bloodshed. Thus Neda. Of course, she has become somewhat a martyr, because her name translates from Persian into "voice" or "calling." Media also report that protesters have been shouting from the rooftops the last two nights, "I am Neda!" rather than "God is Great!"

I hope that the people do rise up and either take the rights they're guaranteed from the oppressive government or topple this regime. But they must do it themselves. Pres. Obama this afternoon said that he supports the people of Iran in the protests, but the U.S. will not get involved.

Ed McMahon, who died this morning. Photo courtesy Wikipedia

Good night, Ed!

This morning, we lost a true TV legend with the passing of Ed McMahon. He was 86.

McMahon was best known as being the sidekick to Johnny Carson on "The Tonight Show" for 30 years, as well as serving as an advertising pitchman, most notably for Alpo dog food, Budweiser and American Family Publishers. He also hosted the 1980s talent show "Star Search," basically my generation's "American Idol." He also co-hosted "Bloopers" with Dick Clark, and the Jerry Lewis MDA Labor Day Telethon.

While on "Tonight," he had several guffaw laughs at what Carson said, with a "Hey-ooooooo!" every once in a while, but he was known most for introducing Carson onto the stage with his trademark "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrrrrrre's Johnny!"

He'll always be a legend, and he'll always be remembered.

Why don't we invade Iran, too?

Over the weekend, the government of Iran announced that current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had won re-election over three challengers, the closest being former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, by a nearly 2-to-1 margin. However, supporters of the pro-reformist candidate, as well as many from the rest of the world, are crying foul and fraud.

The main issue with the election result was announced within an hour or two after the polls closed rather than days or weeks later with the usual paper ballots. There also were no outside election monitors from the international community watching to make sure the Ahmadinejad government isn't pressuring the electorate to vote for him when they don't want to.

The result of the announced result? Mousavi's supporters started marching the streets calling for a reversal of the election, or at least an investigation of the vote. It seems Iran's supreme ruler, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has listened to the people. He's ordered an investigation on the vote. Of course, the international community is calling for an outside entity to investigate.

The point is here that Iran's rulers may have fixed the election so that their favored candidate, Ahmadinejad, continues to be the figurehead to the rest of the world. Ahmadinejad has been calling for the elimination of Israel, ambitious in getting nuclear weapons, though the Iranians say the nuclear ambitions are for peaceful (i.e. electricity) means, and has been threatening the rest of the world.

Seven years ago, we invaded Afghanistan, Iran's eastern neighbor, to hunt down Osama bin Laden and get an oppressive regime, the Taliban, out of power so that bin Laden's network, al Qaeda, doesn't have a safe haven there. We were initially successful, but the Taliban is strengthening both there and in Pakistan. Two years later, we invated Iraq, Iran's western neighbor and long-time enemy, because its oppressive leader, Saddam Hussein, was 1) an ally of al Qaeda (which he wasn't), 2) obtaining nuclear weapons (he wasn't) and/or 3) still had weapons of mass destruction and was hiding them from UN inspectors (he didn't).

Now that we have a different president, the U.S. has been trying to get into talks with Ahmadinejad and Khamenei about ending the nuclear ambitions of Iran, as well as eliminating its state sponsorship of terrorist groups like Hamas. It seems that Iran has slapped that hand away by fixing this election. Reports were that Mousavi was wanting to better Iran's ties to the West, which has been almost non-existent since the 1979 Islamic Revolution 30 years ago. Of course, that was highlighted by Iranian university students capturing the U.S. embassy there and holding 52 Americans hostage for 444 days.

President Obama has a tough choice now. Does he continue his quest to open relations with Iran's current regime, or does he do what he predecessor, former Pres. George W. Bush, did and invade Iran to get rid of the clerics that really rule the country? Or does he take a middle ground, help encourage a new revolution by Iranians who feel oppressed by the current system?

Whatever Washington, the rest of the world or the UN does for this issue, they'd better do it soon.