Last Friday, presidential elections were held in Iran, and everybody’s favorite Holocaust denier, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was reelected with over 60% of the vote. In Iran and in the United States, apparently quite a few people were expecting an upset by reformist Mir Houssein Mousavi. In Iran, hundreds of thousands — even millions — of people have been demonstrating in the streets (just check YouTube for tons of videos — here’s one), and the government has really cracked down on them with riot police armed with guns, shooting live bullets and even killing some protesters. The supporters of Mousavi claim that the election was rigged, that their votes weren’t counted fairly, etc.

So let’s just get this on the record: I am neither a fan nor a defender of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I think it’s sad and horrible that not all people have the right to assemble and protest their government without the fear of being shot dead in the street. I like freedom and I don’t like government oppression.

I have to make that disclaimer because what I have to say next may make this my most unpopular post ever.

Americans, and in particular tweeple in the twitterverse, have gone absolutely stark raving mad over this Iranian election mess. I’ve watched it get worse and worse to the point where I just can’t tolerate the nonsense any longer. If you’ve gotten swept up in it, my apologies in advance because you’re likely to be offended. This is just simply nuts.

It all started when some Iranian protesters started posting real-time pictures and videos on Twitter. People were retweeting and it was actually pretty riveting. Contributing to the buildup was the fact that no major media outlets were covering this story over the weekend. Then, insanity broke out. Now we have all kinds of tweeters who’ve changed their avatars to have a green tint in solidarity with the protesters. In addition, the most die-hard sympathizers have changed their self-described location to Tehran. Why? Well, of course, it’s to fool the Iranian government, who reportedly is scouring Twitter for tweets using the hashtag #iranelection. That is, until last night, when the rumor started going around that the Iranian government was blocking this one particular hashtag (which I doubt is even possible), so now everybody should start using #iran9 or something. Like they couldn’t figure that one out.

Here is a sample of some of the things people are saying in the twitterverse:

Was young in ’79 and not going to watch history repeat itself. #iranelection They won’t get away with it this time.

Change your Twitter settings to show GMT +03:30 Tehran as your timezone + change city to Tehran to confuse the Iranian censors.

btw, if any of the Iranian government is reading this post…screw you and your “little man” inferiority complex #iranelection #gr88 #tehran

I mean, is this crazy? I’m not putting the names of these tweeple here because I’m not out to humiliate anybody in particular; rather, these posts are illustrative of some of the hysteria that’s taken over on Twitter. Additionally, not all those who are demonstrating support for Iranians are acting this crazily. It is possible to show concern for your fellow human beings without being a maniac.

And Twitter is certainly not the only place you can find this crazy talk. Conservatives all over have been frantic for President Obama to make some sort of statement in solidarity with the protesters. The Weekly Standard called for the President to give a speech in which…

He does not need to call openly for an uprising, but he should be taking the accounts of reporters and our intelligence operatives in Iran and broadcasting them to the world. He should be amplifying the voices of the Iranians who have, once again, been deprived of any say in how they will be governed, and using them to pressure the Iranian regime at a time when it is plainly very fragile.

Hyperbole, much?

So, let’s have a few facts, shall we? If you’re one of the people standing with your “brothers and sisters” in Iran who are protesting for “democracy,” just how much do you know about Mir Hossein Mousavi, the reformist candidate who allegedly had the election stolen from him? Perhaps you think that because the descriptive term “reformist” has been applied to him, maybe he’s at least ambivalent toward Israel rather than hostile? Or maybe he’s an advocate of complying with UN nuclear regulators to ensure that nuclear power would only be used for a peaceful purpose rather than to develop nuclear weapons? Or maybe he openly opposes terrorism as a tactic for effecting political change?

You’d be wrong on all counts.

Mir Houssein Mousavi has indeed said that he’d be open to negotiations with the United States, but only if the United States changes its policies toward Iran. Additionally, Mousavi has supported his country’s right to pursue nuclear technology. And, while Mousavi hasn’t come right out and said that the Holocaust was a big hoax like Ahmadinejad has, his statement of record — “Some people were killed there, some Jews were killed there, we condemn the killing of a single innocent person” — isn’t exactly unequivocal. Furthermore, it has been reported that Mousavi was one of the founding members of Hezbollah, a Lebanese-based political and paramilitary group that is regarded as a terrorist organization by the United States. Conservatives in the United States almost universally regard the defense of Israel as one of the most important foreign policy duties of this country. Why, then, would they be cheering for Mousavi?

Furthermore, there is evidence that the election is reflective of the Iranian people’s wishes after all. Polls done three weeks before the election showed Ahmadinejad with a lead over Mousavi. By most reports, he’s a very skilled politician. Additionally, he won with approximately the same percentage of votes in the 2005 presidential election. People in this country and in Iran, apparently, have made the assumption that because they didn’t get their preferred outcome, there must have been election fraud. Every election has winners and losers, whether or not there is fraud. Update: Two more articles asserting that Ahmadinejad may have actually won here and here, courtesy of @LegalCookie.

Which leads me to the part where I have to defend President Obama. Wisely, he has stayed mostly above the fray with regard to the Iranian election and the turmoil that has ensued. Let’s not forget that Iran is a sovereign country, and what they do with their elections is really not anybody else’s business. People in the United States are offended when international election monitors come here to make sure we’re having free and fair elections. We don’t like it when the governments of other countries voice their opinions about whom they’d like to see as the next President of the United States. It is this sort of foreign policy meddling by the United States in the past that has led to such an intense dislike of our country in other parts of the world.

Regardless of how the election turns out in Iran, President Obama will have no alternative but to deal with that person, so wouldn’t it be imprudent for him to take sides when everything is still up in the air? If he gave the speech that so many conservatives are calling for, in which he expressed solidarity with the protesters and by extension declared his opposition to Ahmadinejad, how could he ever expect to make any progress with an Ahmadinejad government? The answer, of course, is that he couldn’t. President Obama promised to use more “soft power” (or “smart power,” as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called it). Smart, in this case, is President Obama’s decision to let Iran determine who is going to be its leader and then proceeding to deal with said leader as the opportunity presents itself.

About two months ago, I noted that the Obama administration had outdone the Romanov dynasty as far as czar appointments go. Well, apparently they didn’t want to simply top the record; they want to smash the record to pieces. New this week: a compensation czar to determine just how much executives of bailed-out companies should be paid. Next up: a calorie consumption czar!

Also, it is with sadness that I must announce a disheartening lack of applicants for my previously posted job openings for my various and sundry personal czars. Service, people! It’s about service!

Disclaimer: The posting of this video does not necessarily imply an endorsement of the views contained therein. (Is that good lawyer language?)

Now, with those two things out of the way, please feast your eyes (and ears) on the angriest white male in the universe (hat tip: @huffingtonpost).

Seriously, though, health insurance is outrageously priced if you’re an individual trying to provide coverage for you and/or your family. If you can get insurance through your employer, it’s usually much more affordable. And, if you can get it at all, you’d better go ahead and do just that, or else the messiah is gonna make you pay dearly. If you’re an employer and you don’t currently offer health insurance to your employees, as Vice President Joe Biden would say, gird your loins!

The Democrats in Congress have been busy coming up with a shiny new healthcare reform bill, and over the weekend a draft copy of it just happened to leak. Keith Hennessey, a former economic advisor to President George W. Bush, obtained himself a copy of said draft and came up with 15 important things you should know about what Congress is considering. Read it and weep.

To demonstrate this, have a gander at the email that was forwarded to me today (copied verbatim, with emphasis in original):

MUST READ! THIS HAPPENED YESTERDAY!

INTERNAL SECURITY UPDATE – YOUR GOVERNMENT

Whether you are an Obama fan, or not, EVERYONE IN THE U. S. needs to know….

Something happened… H.R. 1388 was passed yesterday, behind our backs. You may want to read about it. It wasn’t mentioned on the news… just went by on the ticker tape at the bottom of the CNN screen.

Obama funds $20M in tax payer dollars to immigrate Hamas Refugees to the USA. This is the news that didn’t make the headlines…

By executive order, President Barack Obama has ordered the expenditure of $20.3 million in “migration assistance” to the Palestinian refugees and “conflict victims” in Gaza.

The “presidential determination”, which allows hundreds of thousands of Palestinians with ties to Hamas to resettle in the United States, was signed on January 27 and appeared in the Federal Register on February 4.

Few on Capitol Hill, or in the media, took note that the order provides a free ticket replete with housing and food allowances to individuals who have displayed their overwhelming support to the Islamic Resistance Movement
(Hamas) in the parliamentary election of January 2006.

Let’s review…itemized list of some of Barack Obama’s most recent actions since his inauguration:

His first call to any head of state, as president, was to Mahmoud Abbas, leader of Fatah party in the Palestinian territory.

His first one-on-one television interview with any news organization was with Al Arabia television.

His first executive order was to fund/facilitate abortion(s) not just here within the U. S., but within the world, using U. S. tax payer funds.

He ordered Guantanamo Bay closed and all military trials of detainees halted.

He ordered overseas CIA interrogation centers closed.

He withdrew all charges against the masterminds behind the USS Cole and the “terror attack” on 9/11.

Now we learn that he is allowing hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refuges to move to, and live in, the US at American taxpayer expense.

These important, and insightful, issues are being “lost” in the blinding bail-outs and “stimulation” packages.

Doubtful? To verify this for yourself:  www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2009-02-04-E9-2488 <http://www.thefederalregister.com/d.p/2009-02-04-E9-2488>

PLEASE PASS THIS ON… AMERICA NEEDS TO KNOW!     WE are losing this country at a rapid pace.

There’s so much wrong with this email I almost don’t know where to begin. First off, the email says that HR 1388 was passed “behind our backs.” What does that mean, “behind our backs?” Also, it says that HR 1388′s passage wasn’t mentioned on the news, except on the “ticker tape” on CNN. Guess CNN no longer counts as news? Oh, well, maybe there’s a point to be made there. But ticker tape? What do parades have to do with this?

Next, we learn that the big secret is that President Obama just got the ability to use $20 million to bring a bunch of HAMAS refugees to the United States, complete with housing and food allowances. It’s a secret because it didn’t make the headlines. Like that wouldn’t make the headlines.

Third paragraph: Read those first three words very carefully. “By executive order…” What? I thought this was about HR 1388? In fact, the next paragraph reveals that this executive order was signed on January 27, 2009. Of course, executive orders aren’t part of legislation. They are enacted without legislation. That’s why they’re called executive orders.

Next, we’re treated to a litany of horrible, traiterous, revolution-inciting things that President Obama has done while in office. To the best of my knowledge, these assertions are true, but they’re not as outrageous as the email makes them sound. The only one I’m not sure about is the last one, the one about withdrawing charges against the USS Cole bombing masterminds. Truthfully, I’m just too lazy to look that up, but feel free to comment if you’re in the know.Anyway, the point of listing all these things is to make President Obama look like a total terrorphile.

The second-to-last paragraph is so funny that it deserves a reprint here for dramatic purposes.

These important, and insightful, issues are being “lost” in the blinding bail-outs and “stimulation” packages.

I mean, who writes these things? What exactly is an insightful issue? And what about the bail-outs is blinding? And “stimulation” packages? Um…

Finally, just so you’ll be sure to believe every word of this call to outrage, there’s a link provided for you to read the text of the executive order referenced above. You’ll note that the executive order does authorize $20.3 million for refugee assistance, not to HAMAS refugees, but to Palestinian refugees, and specifically those in the Gaza strip. Also, the executive order does not say a word about bringing all of them to the United States for free meals and housing and a bouquet of flowers. It’s humanitarian assistance, and the United States has been providing this type of money to people all over the world for a long, long time. Not that that has anything at all to do with HR 1388.

As an aside, let’s just suppose for a minute that everything in the email is true as asserted. HAMAS is on the State Department’s official list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations. As such, according to the State Department’s own website, it is illegal for a person subject to the jurisdiction of the United States to knowingly provide it with material support or resources. Also, again according to the State Department, representatives of and members of HAMAS would be inadmissible to the United States. Presumably Barack Obama is subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, making his executive order illegal. Again, like this wouldn’t make the news.

**********

Here’s the deal, people. First of all, any email that contains seemingly jawdropping news, while at the same time claiming that this jawdropping news hasn’t been covered by the major media, should be subjected to skepticism. Secondly, as I have just demonstrated, a careful reading of these types of emails can reveal discrepancies that should alert you to the fact that something’s not right about the content. Finally, there are several websites you can use for some fact checking. Here are two:

www.snopes.com

www.factcheck.org

There’s plenty of real stuff out there on which you can focus your outrage. So the next time you get an email that makes you say OMG! out loud and makes you want to barricade yourself in your home, take some time to investigate the truthfulness of it before you send it to all your friends. If you don’t, you will experience bad luck for the next three weeks.

The Obamanovs

The Obama administration has officially shattered the Romanovs’ record for czar appointments. That’s quite an achievement! Not to be outdone, Law School Ninja is happy to announce the opening of several czarish positions, effective immediately:

• budget-reconciliation czar: responsible for paying all my bills using his or her own money
• landscape-beautification czar: maintain the grounds here at Law School Ninja HQ (note: candidate must be male and must meet certain standards of physical beauty)
• fuel-restoration czar: ensure that the official Law School Ninja Vehicle is always filled with gasoline
• generosity czar: procure all gifts to be given on behalf of Law School Ninja for birthdays, Christmas, etc.
• clean-clothes czar: in charge of all laundry duties, specifically reducing the size of Laundry Mountain
• allergen-reduction czar: daily housecleaning at Law School Ninja HQ

Successful applicants will exhibit a desire to serve without monetary compensation. In addition, some sort of tax filing or payment deficiency will be a prerequisite for czar appointment.

You can expect this same brilliant efficiency to be applied to the healthcare system once the government takes it over, too. Yes, you can.

Ha! Good one, messiah! He’s a funny guy, that leader of the free world. A regular guy, just like the rest of us. He even makes fun of disabled people!