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Iran on the Brink

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Zahra Rahnavard Hossein Fatemi, UPI Photo / Landov Iran's Hillary Clinton
by Geraldine Brooks

Once an anti-shah activist in a miniskirt, Zahrah Rahnavard is now a feminist in a chador. Pulitzer Prize-winning author and longtime Mideast correspondent Geraldine Brooks on how Rahnavard could revolutionize the role of first lady if her husband wins the election. MORE >>

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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mir Hossein Mousavi AP Photos Iran's Riveting Political Drama
by Reza Aslan

No matter who wins, this election season has been unlike any other in Iran, with Twittering political rallies, rancorous televised debates—and a challenger that has Ahmadinejad lifting pages from Obama’s playbook. The Daily Beast hits the streets in Iran to gauge the mood. MORE >>

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Mousavi supporters Majid / Getty Images Our Friend Iran
by Leslie H. Gelb

Reformers surged ahead of Friday’s elections, says Leslie H. Gelb, which could put the tumultuous country on a path to becoming America’s most important partner in the region. MORE >>



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June 10, 2009 | 11:46pm
Comments ()
Hawnzz

I think anyone but the current President and the ultra conservative would be an improvement.

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10:23 am, Jun 11, 2009
al-nafs

Don't speak too soon. Lets see who the Iranian people choose. Ayatollah Khomeini may be the Supreme Leader, but he'd be a fool not to listen to the voice of his people. His father came in on the tides of revolution, it cuts both ways.

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9:15 pm, Jun 11, 2009
Narpak

Ali Khamenei is the current Supreme Leader; and he is not the son of Khomeini.

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11:44 am, Jun 14, 2009

This user is no longer registered.

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4:21 pm, Jun 15, 2009
MadMatt35F

What is interesting is the lack of understanding that Supreme Ayatollah is a Shia religious ranking. Everyone fails to remember that this is a nation run by religious leaders not politically elected ones. The Ayatollah could care less what the people want because he leads every Shia Muslim in the world and can declare a Fatwa that cannot be overturned by anyone.

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7:13 pm, Jun 16, 2009
NYUKULELE

Just think -- if the American people cared as much about the election here in 2000 as they seem to care about Iran's election now, Busch might not have been president.

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10:54 pm, Jun 18, 2009

This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.

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2:52 pm, Jun 22, 2009
piktor

HEY, DAILY BEAST, YOU WROTE "meeting in Qom about a possible overthrow of Ayatollah Khomeini"...

It is K-H-O-M-E-N-e-i !!! (Ayatollah Khomeini has been dead for years)

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5:45 pm, Jun 21, 2009
Ritarita

I have questions.

Why did the clergy panic?
Did they see something larger than
Mousavi being elected?
Did they declare a fraudulent winner
Because they saw the beginnings of a
Wave that might sweep them out of power?
Is there enough pent up anger in young Iran
To fuel a complete wipe-out of the regime?
Is the resistance strong enough
To fuel a Civil War?

Please jump in.

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9:07 am, Jun 15, 2009
Josh-Narins

Why _exactly_ do you think Mousavi really won?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2009/06/14/AR2009061401757.html

If I had to guess, it was because Mousavi's people
have taken lessons from someone
who took lessons from someone
who worked for the Tammany Hall
machine.

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1:40 pm, Jun 15, 2009
veryneatmonster

Even if Mousavi lost, this election has been a sham. None of the other candidates won their own districts. NONE. In our last election, would you accept Obama not winning Illinois or Mccain not winning Arizona? Ahmadinejad would have gotten away with it had it been fixed to look like a close call, but a landslide? C'mon now, these are the acts of a vainglorious dictator and you now it.

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9:51 am, Jun 16, 2009
garryboyle

The article you reference has been rebutted convincingly, to me, by Nate Silver.

http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2009/06/did-polling-predict-ahmadinejad-v ictory.html

In the Ballen/Doherty poll Ahmedinejad had 33%, Mousavi had 13%, but 42% refused to give an answer.

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11:08 pm, Jun 17, 2009

This user is no longer registered.

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4:34 pm, Jun 15, 2009
spinozareader

Rita
Here's my take. I suspect that, though there was an initial strong run from the gate in favor of Mousavi--after the poorer, outlying provinces votes were counted the race may have been either closer to a dead heat, or maybe even slightly in Ahmadinejad's favor. Who among us here will ever really know (short of allowing a Jimmy Carter-like outsider's monitoring of the voting)?
Since Mousavi's supporters include people who appear to be more aligned with advocating things like modernity and democracy and freedom of thought and expression, I think it would've been politically expedient for the clerics to side with the less-educated and fundamentalist voters who supported Ahmadinejad.

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7:01 pm, Jun 15, 2009
piktor

Ritarita -- This is no longer about "who won". The Supreme Council will play this to their advantage. The negotiations now are with Mousavi and friends.

If the Supreme Council decides to boot Ahmadinejad -or not- will depend on what makes the Council look better inside Iran and what makes the Council look strong to the outside world.

If my theory is correct, the result is a no brainer, from the outside looking in. I have no idea what the situation is on the ground inside Iran.

This is a play by the Supreme Council now.

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8:04 am, Jun 16, 2009
drmarkklein

It's Humpty Dumpty time for the Iranian Revolution. All the ayatollahs' horses and all the ayatollahs' men can't put Humpty back together again. The same coalition of merchants, intellectuals, students and moderate clerics which brought down the Shah will bring down the current regime sooner rather than later.

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1:52 pm, Jun 15, 2009
Josh-Narins

Please show me one poll that indicates the Ahmadinejad supporters aren't in the majority.

Thanks in advance.

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2:00 pm, Jun 15, 2009
drmarkklein

The answer to your point is a complete ballot count under foreign observer supervision. The regime lost all credibility when two hours after the polls closed, it announced a winner.

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2:55 pm, Jun 15, 2009

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4:27 pm, Jun 15, 2009
Ritarita

Josh-
If the Ahmadinejad supporters
Are clearly in the majority-
Why did the Mullahs have to
Engineer such a clumsy and transparent
'Win' of such unbelievable margins
Merely hours after the polls closed?
Everyone knew the ballots
Had to be hand counted.
If Ahmadinejad could have won
Without a sham result-
Why would they manufacture one?

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5:35 pm, Jun 15, 2009
spinozareader

Josh
Precisely. We have NO way of getting a handle on the real vote count. And we can't march into Iran to obtain one; nor can we demand a re-vote--unless we're willing to open up another front of war (and if we do, we'd better keep our finger's crossed that North Korea doesn't give us the nuclear raspberry 'cause we'll be clean outta available troops).

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7:08 pm, Jun 15, 2009
Josh-Narins

RitaRita,
the Iranian Mullah's first choice
last time around
came in third place
and when it came to the second round (Ahmad vs Rafsanjani)
they came in second place again.

The first thing you should understand
is not to talk about fight club,
I mean,
they have no history of rigging elections.

The second thing to understand
is that polling suggests
that the victory
was exactly in line with the polls.

Dr. Mark Klein, there is no way in Ache Ee Doubly Hockey Sticks you would suffer to have America's ballot count supervised by foreigners. The only polling I've read is right in line with the actual result, and (see what I wrote to RitaRita above) the Iranian's don't have a history of rigging elections.

Nor, honestly, do I think it is line with loony Ahmadinejad's character.

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7:51 pm, Jun 15, 2009
Ritarita

Josh-
Thanks for the reply-
Although the missing puzzle piece
For me is-
Why the polling should be trusted
When the election results clearly are not.

PS.I hope your rhythm is better
When dancing.

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8:35 am, Jun 16, 2009
Ritarita

Oh and Josh-

I was just teasing.

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7:04 pm, Jun 18, 2009
Josh-Narins

I don't
know why
you think the polling results
clearly "are not."

You mentioned
how fast
they counted
the ballots,
when they count them
just
as fast
in Canada (similiar populations, much larger geography)

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10:05 am, Jun 21, 2009
Saphes

Josh-Narins...sadly enough , you will never see such a thing as the true polls in this situation...these people fear for thier lives. They will be punished beyond belief for voting against Ahmadinejad, not openly as you would think, but when no one sees them fall in death to the ground from a passer by, they will know who ordered this thing. Do not be fooled by the term freedom in this situation...these people have none. that is what they are willing to die for.

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11:13 am, Jun 22, 2009
Johnnyappleseed

40 plus years since the shah departed, seems like a long time, but you are right it's time to move on and let those people who have been laboring in the trenches so to speak to form a new government.
What it will morph into is anybodys guess, hopefully for the better.

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10:04 am, Jun 21, 2009

This user is no longer registered.

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4:02 pm, Jun 15, 2009
ottodaorange

There were good reasons that our founding fathers chose separation of church and state!

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2:06 pm, Jun 19, 2009
ottodaorange

Democracy was never intended to be a gift. It is something you must fight for or lose.

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2:26 pm, Jun 19, 2009
den123

Agreed. This is no longer just about an election or any one person. Humans have this desire called FREEDOM and it will be realized at any cost. The Mullahs of Iran have to know this.

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8:40 pm, Jun 21, 2009

This user is no longer registered.

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4:23 pm, Jun 15, 2009
drmarkklein

The previous presidential election was relatively clean because the opposition which turned out this time stayed home four years ago.

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5:48 pm, Jun 15, 2009
magicman

It would be a very good idea for the U.S. Press to make a complete catalogue of the martyrs currently giving their lives in Iran. The greatest support that we can give Iran, right now, is acknowledgement of their sacrifice as martyrs for Freedom. This single impetus will be enough. We must remain quiet and pay reverence for their Dead. A deeply somber and sober tone from us will be all the encouragement the People of Iran will need. Paying tribute to their martyrs is the Olive Branch of Peace that we offer to them as fellow human beings who have suffered and died in our own cause for Freedom here in the States.

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3:52 am, Jun 16, 2009
Josh-Narins

Is supporting Mousavi supporting "freedom."

I have no earthly idea how you come to that conclusion.

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10:06 am, Jun 21, 2009
Saphes

It's not that they are all in support of Mousavi, but desperately need to move away from the narrow-minded-controling-by-fear Ahmadinejad. This man seeks to be the secon Husane (sp). and will align himself with anyone to further this cause...consider his personal relationship with Castro, and others who are openly dictators from South America, and the old Communist Party of Russia.

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11:24 am, Jun 22, 2009
Redhead5050

The people protesting in Iran remind me of the 60's protests in the US...where great change followed.

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6:53 am, Jun 16, 2009
PARRYISLE2

These protests do not compare to the ones perpetrated by the CIA to overthrow the legally elected government which had the temerity to natioinalize their oil industry thus depriving British Petroleum of its lucrative five decade monopoly. Or the later one which brought the Mullahs to power under Ayatollah Khoumeni. Perhaps we could see a real democracy emerge if Washington and Tel Aviv would cease threatening them with nukes.

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9:55 am, Jun 16, 2009
leomarka

excellent point.....command economies/dictatorship flourish when the nation is surrounded by hostility. Same phenomenon kept Russia under the heel for generations.

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3:38 pm, Jun 21, 2009
muddog

Just like here in the US, the younger generation is finding it's mojo, here we elected a young, bright, African American, in Iran ( where the consequences are higher ) they are looking to the US as an example, to get out the old crusty conservatives and in with the new ideas.

Some are comparing this to the overthrow of the Shaw, not sure it's the same as then as it was a wholesale ( I.E. the entire country ) was behind the "Revolution", today it is the younger generation and the intellectuals.

I hope they pull it off..... Ahmadinejad is not going quietly, this will make Obama's reaching out approach much tougher.....


Some are comparing this to the overthow of the shaw, noit usre it's the same as then it was a wholesale ( I.E. the entire country ) was behind it, today it is the younger generation and the intelectuals.

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9:56 am, Jun 16, 2009
Ritarita

I think there IS an
Obama factor
In their coming out
To vote
And not staying home
Like they did last time.

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11:13 am, Jun 16, 2009
magoo363

It is bad over there and I hope they get it worked out but looking at the pics it reminded me of the Lakers' "victory" celebration, only toned down.

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11:17 am, Jun 16, 2009
donatello

Beware the fanatical religious right that wants to dictate their beliefs to the people. This is the type of government one gets.

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5:14 pm, Jun 16, 2009
ObamaLover227

Let the Daily Best change their colors to green until this is over! I hope the young people of Iran are successful and just pray there is not huge bloodshed.

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6:36 pm, Jun 16, 2009
Uberjeff

Here here, replace the red with green in support!

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8:03 pm, Jun 16, 2009
Saphes

I second the motion, and call for a vote to the floor.

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11:28 am, Jun 22, 2009
whispar

Iran - the whole world is watching and we will not forget all that we have seen and heard. We have seen courageous people - stand up against the sham democracy that is being stage managed by the Mullahs and Ahmadinejad. No matter the window dressing - we now know the truth!

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7:37 pm, Jun 16, 2009
Ritarita

Where does this leave
Ahmadinejad's standing even
If he wins?

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8:55 pm, Jun 16, 2009
hashemrouhani

I hope this is the beginning for a better life for all Iranians. These acts of defiance have been long overdue. I've been writing and posting videos on my site, to show my support and spread the message by sharing information.

http://www.examiner.com/x-7528-SF-Top-News-Examiner~y2009m6d17-Irans-opp osition-leader-calls-for-more-protests

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6:57 pm, Jun 17, 2009
hashemrouhani

I hope this is the beginning for a better life for all Iranians. These acts of defiance have been long overdue. I've been writing and posting videos on my site, to show my support and spread the message by sharing information. http://www.examiner.com/x-7528-SF-Top-News-Examiner

http://www.examiner.com/x-7528-SF-Top-News-Examiner~y2009m6d17-Irans-opp osition-leader-calls-for-more-protests

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7:07 pm, Jun 17, 2009
ObamaLover227

COME ON DAILY BEAST!! LETS GO GREEN!!!

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4:11 pm, Jun 18, 2009
oliverckerr

The solution resides with the living poet prophet, the dude who, in 1969 was on the ship forty days and forty nights, back then, the up and coming poet whose poems were being published all over the place - the poet who was tapped by the LAN Lord "uh pin" heaven to deliver us from evil, the man who simply states that in 1969 G-d revealed his word unto his mind, sew, according to the author, his so-called "spoken poem for all man kind" with a couple dozen world events described in advance, was given to him. He, the ancient Lev, only held the pen.

That dude, Michael Stephen Levinson, aka michaelslevinson dot commie is the one person with the words to satisfy both the Grand Ayatollah and all of the Iranian people, regardless who the people actually voted for.

Step 1) You visit michaelslevinson dot commie and scroll down to the 2nd vid where the poet prophet retells the story of Adman and Even in the Gar Den ov Edum. Enjoy your story of creation and take note the poet prophet looks like M. Gandhi.

Before we go a step farther understand the longest deepest file ever created by any government is the file your United States government - the domestic intelligence aristocracy thereof - maintains on this man - his life and times - he will be assassinated, in America, before you ever hear him give a live speech.

That coming assassination is cut in stone, a CLASSIFIED memo written and initialed by J. Edgarina himself, the super fascist cross dressing pervert of dirt and i am glad to tell you in advance.

In the event the poet approaches mass media he is to be immediately "put down." That is what J. Edgarina wrote, and what his living descendants intend on. Go to youtube.com/poetprophet and see the poet in New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner's office October 15, 2007.

Poet prophet declared he was a write-in candidate for president seeking the nomination of both parties to present a united face to the world. Well, that is original. In our whole political history Lev is the only person ever to have done that! Made such a declaration. Is it notable?Is it worth looking into?

He Secretary Gardner's recited a passage from his Television Scripture (c.1971) describing the global warming and the arctic ice caps melting. Duh. You mean there is an actual book c.1971 that described all of this stuff happening today? Is that notable? He stated in Secretary Gardner's office the solution to the medical delivery issue was supply v. demand - free medical education for doctors, dentists and all related personal.

Timmy Russert had MSNBC people in the room and they recorded every word. Russert took that idea and asked the democrats what they thought about it during one of their debates. Is it notable? What is notable is the moneyed and powerful diss the poet prophet but lift his ideas when it is convenient.

Tucker Carlson, when he had a program, interviewed a supposed candidate for US senate who claimed he was a vampire. Human interest and all of that. The vampire, actually an ex wrestler who was wanted, or under indictment somewhere, admitted that whether or not you believed he was a genuine vampire, as far as he, the wrestler was concerned, women in Manhattan liked to get their necks bit, a great qualifier for a blood letting no holds barred straight laced Tucker Carlson interview.

What is notable is this jerk wrestler was interviewed on television, but a poet prophet author of prophetic works, whose prophetic works include a description of what 9/11 was going to look like, how, and where it was going to happen, such a person who seeks only to tell his vision and promises every line a spontaneous delicate sensible rhyme - that person is black listed from MSNBC, Fox, CNN, and all the rest of the networks.

Oh! This is about Iran, and democracy. We have already heard from former candidate for president John Bomb Bomb McCain. What about Michael Stephen Levinson? What might he offer to relieve the stale check mate in Iran? Barky Obama is clearly powerless! (Winners are not automatically leaders). (Especially when they wear eye shadow for their tele-prompter speeches).

Levinson was a write-in candidate for president in 1980, and he devised a program to get the hostages back from Iran. What was good 29 years ago is adaptable for today. Had Lev been successful then, he would have upstaged Ronnie Reagan and who can say whether or not the American people might have given Lev the nod to be our president.

Of course he won't be allowed to speak to this issue today because that would mean an upstaging of Barky Obama which the network television bosses and their associates who pepper domestic intelligence are not going to allow by any stretch. But you are allowed to read posts in the Beast, just not see or hear the poet prophet live on television tell his vision. That you cannot have. That is disallowed.

Editorial note: My father was good friends with Lev, in the late sixties, before Lev was inspired to write The Book ov lev It A Kiss, to perform world wide from dusk until dawn for all the world's peoples at once. My father did extensive tape recordings of Lev in 1970, while Lev was writing his television Scripture, The Book ov Lev It A Kiss.

One day some students interrupted him as he was working on a page in the basement cafeteria in the student union. They wanted him to go with them to an anti-war rally. They said the war was bad and the rich kept getting richer. Lev stopped his writing, looked up at the two students, and this is what my father recorded him saying:

"This is the good ship mother urf. Whatever deck you live on, the cards are dealt out evenly. When it comes time to change the course of human history, on the good ship mother earth, all the world cries out for is a spokes man, a spokes person, to turn the wheel."

To the Timmy Russerts of this world (Well Tim isn't of this world anymore) Lev was / is like my father, a piece of dreck, an Auschwitz surviver that Hitler missed, but to my ear Lev is a man with a golden tongue, his words a blessing for us!

He isn't wanting to tell us what to do or not to do. Merely say his words and let us, the rest of the human race do with his words what ever we want.

In 1980, Lev was going to go to Muhammad Ali's training camp in Pennsylvania, to challenge Ali to go to Teheran with him, to meet the Ayatollah Khomeini and bring home the hostages.

These are my father's notes:

I asked Lev, (with my tape recorder on) what was he going to say to the Ayatollah. Lev told me, as follows:

I was in the lobby of Capen Hall, on the North campus of the State University of New York At Buffalo and it was very quiet. Around seven p.m. I saw this student sitting by himself on a lounge chair, he looked Middle Eastern. I walked over and sat down. I told him I wanted to go to Teheran and meet the Ayatollah.

The student remarked that he was from Iran, and of course he spoke Farsi. It was so quiet. There wasn't anyone around but the two of us.

I asked him would he translate what I want to say to the Ayatollah and the student said, "Sure. What is it?" I thought for a moment and then I said, in English, "All we ask is return of our own"

He answered, and I wrote it doen in phonetic English, "Mah Cha stori gheru gahn cha cha steem" Then I said the next line,"The Shah is with God" The Shah had just died of Cancer - in Egypt.

Then I said to the Iranian student that, upon that line, all the Iranian people would shout to the Heavens, "The Shah is in hell." The student smiled and translated, "The Shah boh cha dah ast."

Then I had him to translate, and I am paraphrasing, if the Ayatollah will give me and Muhammad Ali the hostages to bring back to America, all the American people will vote for me to be the president of United States and Muhammad Ali vice -president.

If I am elected president, in 1980, world peace comes in 1982. After world peace comes, God (Big Al - Allah to you) Allah is going to make the resurrection. After God makes the resurrection, all the children of the Iranian people who were murdered by Savak, the Shah's secret police, shall be returned to their families here on the earth . . and the Shah shall be returned to the Iranian people . .

"So the Imam, Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini could order that Shah Pahlavi be stoned to death!!

"The student told me that my sense of Allah, of God was different from everyone else's in the world. That God, for me, was not an intellectual construct, but was in my bones."

Then the student said, I should make a tape of my speech to the Ayatollah and send it to the Algerian embassy, to pass along to the Iranians.

"Then when I fly over to Teheran there will be a million Iranians waiting to greet me at the airport, with flowers," is what he told me.

I asked Lev why didn't he follow through and challenge Ali to put off boxing Larry Holmes and go to Teheran with him. Lev said, the night before he was going to drive to Pennsylvania - to Ali's training camp, to challenge Ali, he went on the roof of his mother's (and his) apartment to smoke a cigarette.

He saw an old pickup truck speeding down Delaware Avenue and swerve on to Max Pedan's Mobile station, where his mother's Chevrolet Caprice convertible was parked.

He walked across the roof.

One guy was aleady under the back of their car, the other under the side. He shouted out, "What are you guys doing by that car."

They jumped up piled into their pickup truck and sped off. The next day Lev went down stairs and (I'm skipping a part of the tape) discovered before he gassed up the car that the muffler, brand new, was on the pavement after one bump.

He pulled the car on to Dave Duncan's Sunoco, across the street, where they had just put on the muffler.

They put the car on the lift and the brand new O ring had been cut almost all the way through, with a razor, and then these two rough-necks showed up just as they were inspecting the muffler assembly.

Then the two rough-necks left, and Lev looked outside to see them get into an old beat up pick-up truck that resembled the truck from the night before. As he went to gas up the car for the trip, he changed his mind about going to Pennsylvania.

A couple weeks later he discovered a hole in the gas tank. When he went to get it fixed he could see - not rust - but a hole punched in the gas tank along the seam.

Not exactly The pelican Brief, but close enough. Fill tank. Gas leaks and coats tank with gas. Muffler breaks loose because of razor cut O ring. Muffler drags on pavement. Sparks fly every where.

Lev says that experience set him back years in his quest to make a speech on world wide television and change the course of human history on our good ship other urf, something he could get done, as president of United States, but not as a private citizen.

His words for the Ayatollah were repeated in his speech on New Hampshire Public Television, available at youtube.com/poetprophet, and, get this - When he made his speech to the Ayatollah at the University, he recorded it on 3/4 inch tape and he is getting those original tapes of the live speech September 30, 1980 that he has had all these years put on to DVD and it will be on youtube and his web site.

So you can see what the living black listed prophet looked like nearly thirty years ago.

A gentle man is inspired with words for all man kind and the only guarantee is your government will make another attempt at assassinating him before he gets that far. J. Edgarina, the cross dressing pervert of dirt lies buried but his personally chosen minions carry on.

Hopefully I will survive to publish the tapes I have of his conversations. You, of course are prohibited from ever seeing this man speak live. He is black listed and black balled at NBC. MSNBC, and lots of other places, too. Such is life in the land of the free and the home of the brevity.

Were he to speak in America he could then go to Teheran, to purchase a prayer rug, meet with the Grand Ayatollah, and settle all of their issues.

michaelslevinson dot commie is the site not to visit unless you want an echo in your telephone meaning you are live on J. Edgarina's fascist party line.

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5:36 pm, Jun 18, 2009
Ritarita

Oliver-
I don't read them
When they're that long.
I wonder if anyone else does.
I don't want to be mean
But that's way over the top.
44 paragraphs!

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7:08 pm, Jun 18, 2009
socialworklady

Right you are Rita.

(Oliver seems to like you, so maybe he'll listen up).

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8:43 pm, Jun 18, 2009
quick2no

You need to tweet, Man. Brevity with punch.

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10:48 pm, Jun 20, 2009
Johnnyappleseed

Whew!..... a lot about something, just trying to figure what..

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10:07 am, Jun 21, 2009
oliverckerr

Dearest Ritarita and socialworklady,

Couple things. In 1980 Lev was a candidate for president. He devised a plan to go to Teheran, with Muhammed Ali, and convince the Ayatollah to give them the hostages.

Here is one of the things he had translated into Farsi for the Ayatollah, and the rest of that country to here:

"If I am elected president, in 1980, world peace comes in 1982. After world peace comes, God (Big Al - Allah to you) Allah is going to make the resurrection. After God makes the resurrection, all the children of the Iranian people who were murdered by Savak, the Shah's secret police, shall be returned to their families here on the earth . . (From Allah) and the Shah shall be returned to the Iranian people . .

"So the Imam, Ayatollah Ruhallah Khomeini could order that Shah Pahlavi be stoned to death!!"

"The student (translator) told me that my sense of Allah, of God was different from everyone else's in the world. That God, for me, was not an intellectual construct, but was in my bones."

Lev actually gave a huge speech with the above, in Farsi, but he did not send a copy to the Ayatollah. That was 1980. Lev is having the speech transfered from 3/4 inch broadcast tape to DVD.

Then we all get to see this poet prophet from 30 years ago on the michaelslevinson dot commie web site. Couple weeks.

I'm sorry you gals have attention deaf a sit dis hors d'oeuvre. Is it a genetic situation, or what? Are you girls good at math?
Rita Rita ultimate "S."

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9:17 pm, Jun 18, 2009
socialworklady

Okay Oliver/Michael,

Resistance became futile -- I finally went to your site. I like it. Will go back again. Thanks.

Are you friends with Wavy Gravy?

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9:58 pm, Jun 18, 2009
oliverckerr

As a matter of fact, in the late fifties, at the beginning of the beat generation, the West Village was a beat generation mecca.

The famous coffee house was maybe the Village Vanguard, which Lev told me this a couple years ago, but he was there one Saturday night 1959, and this robust thick chested guy names Hugh Romley read/recited a beat poem: "Look at the rain baby."

Lev says that was the main line of the poem - all that he could remember and Romley had this full beard. Hugh Romley got TB, recovered, joined an LSD commune known then as the animal farm, went on the road with One Flew Over the Cuckoos nest Ken Keasly (might have that last name wrong) and Hugh Romley, beatnik performing poet became "Wavy Gravy."

Oliver C. Kerr is to Michael Stephen levinson as Samuel Beckett was to James Joyce. Very close. I have studied Lev work, and adopted his style.

Lev was not friends with Wavy Gravy, but Lev knew Alan Ginsburg quite well and he was real good friends with Gregory Corso.

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11:22 pm, Jun 18, 2009
socialworklady

Thought I caught a vibe.

My only beat cred
is having visited
Jack's grave

a poetry slam
or two

I miss Alan
even though
I never
knew
him




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12:56 am, Jun 19, 2009
Ritarita

Socialworklady-
It is disappointing
To see that you are encouraging
This behavior.
Oliver is going to go the way of the dodo
If he doesn't stop clogging up the pipes.
I am sticking with my scroll-by position
And refuse to read his posts
Once they exceed 5-6
Paragraphs.

Oliver-
How about some editing discipline?

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9:58 am, Jun 19, 2009
socialworklady

Rita,

Still in agreement with you about the length of Oliver's posts. I scroll past the long ones too.

But, he did post a 8 para. version of his 44 para piece, and then a 5 para. answer to my question about Wavy Gravy -- the Clown King of All Time -- so for this I give him props.

In solidarity,

socialworklady

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2:32 pm, Jun 19, 2009
spinozareader

oliver
Aren't you and Lev one and the same? So why refer to yourself in the third person? I thought you were using oliverckerr (A lover/seeker??) as an alias?

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5:19 pm, Jun 22, 2009
oliverckerr

Michael Stephen Levinson is a living prophet.
That is too much for you. You need to be
facing hundreds of truly bitter years on the planet
before you will allow him to speak. Speech.
Legal access to mass media. You have it.
He does not. A few months ago eight police cars
came to his residence - out of the blue
supposedly looking for some dangerous person.
One of the officers was an assassin with
a throw-away gun strapped to his ankle. The
cop tried to get into Lev house without witness.
It was about what I say it was about.

Lev is the author of a giant work of art.
It is a multilingual (mull tie ling well) poem
written down to perform on whirled wide television
from dusk until dawn, for all the world's peoples
to participate in all at once. This Joycean work
is too deep for you. Only the words appear easy:

"Wun day God's sun
Was stan ina roun
Got puncht ina
Side cried wah
Turn'd round she sed "

God's son is spelled "sun" because we are
all bright spots in our Father's eye.
"Was stan ina roun" is a riddle:
When creation took place, Stan was
around, as was Don, Harry, Phil, Carol
Rita and socialworklady. The story of
creation is the story of everybody.

Every line has a law, a riddle, or truth buried in.
112 pages. Double columns. Silly bulls.

I have suggested you visit youtube.com/poetprophet
and judge the man for yourself! With his
'purr mission" I have given you free copies of
'New World Hors D'oeuvres." which he spent
years and hours every day writing. Actually
(and this is top seek writ) it could be mostly retype set
as a poem! But it is clearly prose.

The actual opening line is dumb! It says the
opposite of what he meant. "Ah, dear peers
do not pass go," says stop doing what you are doing -
reading "New World Hors D'oeuvres" - when he
clearly meant stop doing what you are doing and read.

The next paragraph is four or five lines. Upon the
first lineyou might find yourself locked. Have a free copy:
www.michaelslevinson.com/newworld.pdf

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10:43 am, Jun 19, 2009
Saphes

You are being fooled ...there are NO living prophets on earth.

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11:37 am, Jun 22, 2009
mh1982

It is unbelivable what is going on. How Khamenei is now blaming the media. I can not imagine what is going to happen.


Their is this great interview (http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/17/political-climate-elections-iran-forbes-w oman-power-feminism.html) from journalist Roya Hakakian about what is facing Iran today.

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12:13 pm, Jun 19, 2009

This user is no longer registered.

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3:03 pm, Jun 20, 2009

This user is no longer registered.

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2:44 pm, Jun 20, 2009
quick2no

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R-Lu2i4ugIk

Girl shot dead June 20 in the street in Tehran. Very explicit. Daily Beast - post this - no holds barred. This is an outrage.

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7:00 pm, Jun 20, 2009
whispar

quik2No - I saw the CNN clip regarding this murder - as well. CNN did not elaborate regarding her identity - but said her face and her story has become an icon for protesters - Can the Daily Beast find out more????

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7:37 pm, Jun 20, 2009
rapierwits

all prisoners must be considered as hostages awaiting execution.
Their lives are forfeit unless the revolution rescues them.
The freedom-loving people of Iran must push!

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5:33 pm, Jun 22, 2009
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Iran on the Brink

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