IRAN: BLOODSHED SHOCKSWORLD AS CHAOS GROWSUPDATE: MOUSAVI LETTERTO OBAMA: 'DEEP INSULT'

THOUSANDS DEFY PROTEST BAN
FOX NEWS: Thousands of protesters defied Iran's highest authority Saturday and marched on waiting security forces that fought back with baton charges, tear gas and water cannons . . . READ MORE

L.A.TIMES/AUSTIN STATESMAN: A huge swath of downtown Tehran erupted in fiery chaos Saturday . . . riot police shot into the air after they roughed up a young woman and attracted the ire of protesters. A middle-age man could be seen staggering along the sidewalk near Tehran University with blood dripping from his face. . . . READ MORE

VIDEO: CLASH ON TEHRAN STREETS

OBAMA SEEKS 'MOOD OF THE HOUR'
WASHINGTON POST: U.S. officials say Obama is intent on calibrating his comments to the mood of the hour. They say he is seeking to avoid having the demonstrators accused of being American stooges . . . trying to preserve the possibility of negotiating directly with the Iranian government . . . READ MORE

MOUSAVI: 'DEAR MR. PRESIDENT . . .'
LETTER TO OBAMA: In the name of the Iranian people, we want you to know that when you recently made the statement "Achmadinejad or Mousavi? Two of a kind," we consider this as a grave and deep insult . . . READ MORE

PERSPECTIVES

• ROGER COHEN, NY TIMES: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader, had used his Friday sermon to declare high noon in Tehran, warning of “bloodshed and chaos” if protests over a disputed election persisted. He got both on Saturday — and saw the hitherto sacrosanct authority of his office challenged as never before since the 1979 revolution birthed the Islamic Republic . . . READ MORE
• REUEL MARC GERECHT, WEEKLY STANDARD: Since the end of the Iran-Iraq war (1980-88), which almost destroyed the Islamic Republic and forged the reputation and character of then-Prime Minister Mousavi, most Iranians have been exhausted revolutionaries. More like sheep than foot-soldiers of a dynamic faith, Iranians have largely veered away from confronting their increasingly unpopular rulers . . . READ MORE
• JENNIFER RUBIN, COMMENTARY: To say then that there is no difference between Mousavi and Ahmadinejad now that a revolution is underway reflects a stubborn refusal to see what is unfolding . . . a battle for the future of Iran . . . READ MORE

300 WORDS OR LESS: 06.21.09

Transparently Troubling
PoliGazette mentioned Saturday how "these 'Chicago Style Politics' stories stack up over the months, without any real answers," in such a way as to make one wonder if maybe certain right-wing "Kool-Aid" drinkers might be onto something.
Who's been swilling Kool-Aid, and who's been sober all along? Michelle Malkin observes that The Other Michelle -- the one who currently resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue -- will be speaking Monday at a conference sponsored by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). This is the agency where Gerald Walpin was inspector general until June 11, when he was fired by President Obama.
The firing of Walpin was a display of raw "political muscle," says Chicago Tribune columnist John Kass, who smiles at the shock expressed by those who dwell in "the mythic transcendental fairyland where much of the Obama spin originates."
Malkin never inhabited any such mythic locale. Meanwhile, in the real world, little noted by transcendentalists, the inspector general overseeing the federal bailout is worried about "serious impact on the independence of our agency" and the inspector general of AmTrak resigned "unexpectedly" Thursday night.
Evidently, "the administration is undermining the promises the President made to make our government operations more transparent and to be more accountable to the voters," Jimmie Bise Jr. writes quite soberly. The promise of "transparency" was also recalled by Kim Priestap, who has never been to fairyland. Ed O'Keefe of the non-mythic Washington Post remarked on the effrontery of an administration official defending Walpin's abrupt dismissal as an "act of courage."
What's rapidly becoming transparent is that this administration desires to avoid the disinfecting sunshine of scrutiny. Chicago-on-the-Potomac is no mythic fairyland. If Obama has his way, what happens there won't be transcendental or transparent. It will be invisible.

-- RSM