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Republicans are blasting President Obama for not being more publicly involved in the debate over Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s hotly contested victory in Iran’s presidential elections. Obama said today that investigations into the election should involve no bloodshed and that the “world is watching” and is inspired by the protests. But he stopped short of issuing a mandate. “It is up to Iranians to make decisions about who Iran's leaders will be,” Obama said Monday. “We respect Iranian sovereignty and want to avoid the United States being the issue inside of Iran.” Earlier, House Republican Eric Cantor called on Obama to "take a strong public position in the face of violence and human rights abuses." Other Republicans also urged the president to encourage the protesters. German Chancellor Angela Merkel has spoken out, saying there were “irregularities” in Iran’s vote and calling for a transparent review. Several protesters were wounded and at least one killed today as hundreds of thousands marched in Tehran.
It’s the controversy that just keeps giving. David Letterman again apologized to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin on his show Monday night, reiterating that his earlier pregnancy joke was not directed at Palin’s younger daughter. "I had, honestly, no idea that the 14-year-old girl, I had no idea that anybody was at the ball game except the governor,” Letterman said. "It’s not your fault that it was misunderstood, it’s my fault. So I would like to apologize, especially to the two daughters involved, Bristol and Willow, and also to the governor and her family and everybody else who was outraged by the joke." Letterman joked last week that Palin’s daughter was impregnated by Alex Rodriguez on a trip to Yankee stadium. Letterman said he was talking about Palin’s older daughter, but Palin said he was clearly referring to 14-year-old Willow, who was there with her at the stadium. A CBS advertiser reportedly pulled out after the controversy.
It was a good day for President Obama’s plans to close Guantánamo. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has agreed to take three detainees from Guantánamo after meeting with President Obama in the Oval Office Monday. Also on Monday, the European Union agreed to take 10 prisoners on a case-to-case basis, and other prisoners have been transferred to New York, Chad, Iraq, Bermuda and Saudi Arabia. The president has struggled to find homes for the detainees since vowing to close the prison by the end of the year. There will now be 226 remaining prisoners at Guantánamo, including some who haven’t been charged with crimes and are considered “at war” with the U.S. Congress strongly opposed Obama’s plan to transfer detainees to U.S. prisons in order to close the facility.
Would gay pride parades be more effective if participants wore suits and street clothes, instead of leather thongs and ass-less pants? Cord Jefferson at The Root says yes. Just as African Americans took extra pains to dress conservatively—with crisp shirts tucked in to dress slacks and skirts—during the civil rights marches of the '50s and '60s, perhaps the LGBT community would inspire more empathy if they did the same. While some point out that pride parades are celebrations, whereas the civil rights marches of the 20th century were somber demonstrations meant to highlight blacks' suffering, dressing more like "regular people" might better convince racists and skeptics that gay community is not as deviant as parades might suggest.
The victims of Bernie Madoff’s infamous $65 billion Ponzi scheme sent over 100 letters and emails to Judge Denny Chin venting their anger at the fraudster. “Sentence this monster named Madoff to the most severe punishment within your abilities,” wrote Randy Baird, a California lawyer. “We are too old to make up what we lost. We have to start over.” Many of the victims are elderly and retired. “At the age of 89, I find myself and my wife [86] devoid of future hope,” wrote one. “I find it hard to believe what he did to us and...all the charities affected by this bastard.” Investigators are currently seizing assets of the Madoff family and liquidating them.
Members of a group of young Islamic paramilitaries opened fire on demonstrators on Monday, killing at least one and wounding many more. The Ministry of the Interior reportedly authorized the violence as President Ahmadinejad’s regime is struggling to remain in power after tens of thousands of demonstrators have flooded the streets in Tehran to protest Friday’s elections. In more disturbing news, 12 students were rumored to be murdered in a violent crackdown against student protests on Sunday. Unconfirmed reports of the murders are circulating on Iran’s blogs. Opponent Mousavi emerged from hiding for the first time and addressed the protestors on Monday. “God willing, we will take back our rights,” he said.
Stoners rejoice: the economic crisis and the worsening drug war in Mexico are giving a boost to the crusade for the decriminalization of marijuana. Pot proponents argue the benefits of legalizing the drug would reach far and wide by weakening Mexican cartels that are fueled largely by marijuana use in the United States, saving the country at least $7.7 billion in law enforcement costs, and making more than $6 billion in tax revenue if it were taxed in the same manner as cigarettes and alcohol. But total legalization is unlikely, despite the fact that 13 states have legalized medicinal marijuana and as many as 50 percent of Americans and some high-profile politicians are open to its regulated sale. Opponents say legalization will lead to an increase in child users. “Legalization of marijuana, no matter how it begins, will come at the expense of our children and public safety,” a DEA document says.
Barack Obama briefly returned to his hometown of Chicago on Monday and plead his case for an overhaul of the health care system to one of the most powerful groups opposing his plan, the American Medical Association. The President reiterated his message that health care reform is critical for economic recovery, saying that "If we do not fix our health care system, America may go the way of GM - paying more, getting less, and going broke." The AMA is not opposed to health care reform outright, but is concerned that a national system may result in lower rates for doctors than those that private insurers pay. In general, Obama enjoyed a warm reception from the audience, but was met with a chorus of boos when he said limiting the amount of money awarded to victims of medical malpractice would be unfair to the patients.
Despite some recent glimmers of hope shining on the slumping economy, the Dow Jones industrial average plummeted 187.13 points, or 2.13 percent today its largest daily slide since late May. The slide began in Asia and Europe and spread to the U.S., as a strong dollar pushed commodities prices sharply lower. As stocks fell, trading volume was light, "suggesting an absence of buyers rather than a flood of sellers rushing to dump stocks," reports the Associated Press. The slump underscores just how slow and halting the road ahead may be for the U.S. economy.
Enjoying your KFC grilled chicken? It might be the beef in it, according to KFC competitor El Pollo Loco. In a new commercial, El Pollo Loco's CEO stands in a pasture next to cows and announces that KFC uses beef marmalade on their chicken. KFC defended itself: beef accounts for only 0.2 percent of all the chicken's seasonings, a spokesman said. The scrappy, smaller fast food chicken chain has been picking fights with KFC since they debuted their grilled chicken product in April. They also rib KFC for grilling their chicken in an oven instead of over a flame grill.
Before the Bush years, the New York Times enjoyed special treatment from various administrations. Even the men and women at the pinnacle of power were somewhat star-struck by the paper of record. According to Politico, those days are back--and the Web site seems a little jealous. Obama reads the Times regularly, and so do most of the people working under him. This respect for the newspaper has yielded results for its White House reporters, as they have been given access for several high-profile stories in the New York Times Magazine. But giving the "grey lady" the executive treatment isn't just due to ideological similarities, "Obama aides believe the paper still has an outsize ability to shape perceptions among political elites and other journalists."
A chilling side-effect of the news industry's collapse is increasing danger for reporters. The New York Times points out that as international coverage by major news outlets has declined, small Web start ups and freelance reporters have risen to fill the gap. These small news outlets lack resources to extricate their reporters from international situations that go awry, as with Current TV's Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who have been sentenced to 12 years hard labor in North Korea. The Times points out that large, established news ventures have leverage with foreign governments, including diplomatic and military contacts and access to important channels of publication. Is it any surprise that The Committee to Protect Journalists found that, in 2008, 56 of the 125 jailed journalists worked for online media, and 45 of the total were freelancers?
Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators formed a five-mile-long crowd today in central Iran as they defied a ban on protests and supported reformist leader Mir Hossein Mousavi. An Associated Press photographer saw one person shot and killed, and several others wounded outside a compound for volunteer militia. Iran’s supreme leader, the Ayatollah Khamenei, has directed Iran’s Guardian Council to investigate claims of election fraud. The Guardian Council must certify election results and has the right to nullify elections, though it has never used that power.
Erik von Brunn, son of Holocaust Museum shooter James von Brunn, appeared on ABC's Good Morning America on Monday and said that he wished his father had not survived his attack. “I loved my father. But what he did was unforgivable,” Erik said. “You know, the only bond we had was father and son. We didn't like each other very much.” James von Brunn was shot in the face during his attack and FBI officials have said it is likely that he will survive.
Shake-up over at the Huffington Post: Betsy Morgan, who’s been CEO since 2007, will be replaced by Eric Hippeau, currently a HuffPo board member and an investment banker at SoftBank Capital. Hippeau, who will start later this week, has served as chairman and CEO of Ziff-Davis, and was an initial investor in Yahoo in 1995. Morgan spearheaded Huffington Post’s fundraising efforts when she succeeded Ken Lerer as CEO (the company brought in $25 million last year), but the company is reportedly seeking someone with more media experience.
There's nothing quite as demoralizing as hearing disappointment in Al Roker's voice. NBC's Today weatherman sat down with Heidi and Spencer Pratt Monday morning and demanded to know just what these two had to say for their diva-like behavior on the set of I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! After showing a reel of their most controversial behavior on the reality show, including an I'm-too-famous-for-this-show rant and overt claims to Christianity, Roker asked the couple whether they felt proud of their behavior in an uncharacteristically confrontational way. Heidi said afterward that she felt "personally attacked" by Roker's questions and warned women of his aggression; meanwhile, Roker took to Twitter: "Heidi and Spencer are an interesting couple. famous for...being infamous," he wrote. "Bad and vacuous behavior. I think we're at minute 11 of their 15."
We never thought we'd say this, but it may be best for Mel Gibson to stick with the church rants as far as extracurriculars go. The actor and his girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva released a single today on which they collaborated entitled "Say My Name"-no, it's not a Destiny's Child remix-that will appear on Grigorieva's debut CD when it hits shelves. The Russian-born musician, who is pregnant with Gibson's child, called the single "naked, intimate, raw emotion, little more than piano and voice as if it is a cry from the soul"-really? Hear it for yourself at People.com.
Hugo Chavez is picky when it comes to diet sodas: Citing vague health concerns, Venezuela’s government has banned the sale of Coke Zero, a zero-calorie alternative to Diet Coke, ordering that it be removed from shelves and vending machines pronto. The country’s health minister, Jesus Mantilla, did not specify the dangers, but commented that the ban was simply “to preserve the health of Venezuelans.” Some, however, suspect that Chavez—a vocal critic of U.S. “imperialism”—outlawed the drink as part of his ongoing efforts to shun American companies and nationalize Venezuela’s economy. Earlier this year, Venezuela’s government seized a rice mill and pasta factory belonging to American food giant Cargill; it’s also threatened action against pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Coca-Cola said it would comply with the ban, but added that Coke Zero contains no unsafe products.
If only Bill Kristol had used his New York Times column for things like this: The ultimate GOP apparatchik has issued a plea for patience with Obama with regards to Iran. “Presuming ahead of time that Obama will fail to exercise leadership, and cataloguing this episode pre-emptively as another in a list of Obama failures, would be a mistake,” he writes. “We could be at an historical inflection point in Iran. The United States may be able to play an important role. The task now is to explain what the Obama administration (and Congress) should be saying and doing, and to urge them to do what they should be doing.”
UPDATE: Well, the romance was short-lived. Bill Kristol has criticized President Obama on Iran.
Doesn't anyone need a Greenwich, Connecticut mansion? Poor Mel Gibson's 15,862-square foot house, set on a 75-acre lot and decorated to have the feel of a monastery, has been up for sale since 2007, the New York Post reports. Originally listed for $39.7 million, Gibson slashed the price last September and then again in past weeks; it is now a $29.7 million bargain. Don't feel too sorry for Mel, though, he purchased the property in 1994 for a mere $9.25 million. In April, Gibson's wife of 28 years filed for divorce, and could take half of his reported $1 billion fortune. No wonder he's in a hurry to sell.
Silvio Berlusconi has taken a page from Hillary Clinton's "right wing conspiracy" playbook. The Times of London reports that the Italian Prime Minister believes that a "palace coup" intends to oust him. Berlusconi recently told a business lobby group, "There is a campaign of scandals against me. It is a subversive plan because its aim is to bring down a Prime Minister and to put in his place another not elected by Italians." Although Berlusconi declined to name the alleged plotters, he fingered Mario Draghi, the governor of the Bank of Italy, as the plotters' choice to replace him. In recent months, the embattled leader has been rocked by a scandal involving his relationship with a young model and the use of state aircraft to fly showgirls and other guests to his Sardinian villa for parties.
Cats in Miami can sleep soundly again: An 18-year-old has been arrested on charges including 19 counts of animal cruelty, hopefully putting to an end the spate of crime that left nearly three dozen cats mutilated and dead. The cats were found beaten, skinned, and sliced open. According to local media, the police have issued multiple warrants in the case, though it did not specify how many.
For four Uighur Muslims, a long, improbable, and truly awful journey from China, through Afghanistan and Pakistan, to Guantanamo Bay, and finally, to the idyllic island of Bermuda, has reached a blissful end. Since their recent arrival in paradise, the men—wrongly suspected of being terrorists—have taken their first ever dip in the ocean and hooked their first fish, and they’re enjoying a warm reception from the locals. One of the four called his first ocean experience “the happiest day of my life.” The men, surprisingly, have no hard feelings for the U.S., which had held them since 2001 and subjected them to interrogations. The Chinese government still insists the Uighur detainees be returned to their home country to face charges of treason, but the four do not seem too concerned. They are simply content to begin building new lives far, far away from home.
During his highly-anticipated policy speech this afternoon, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu made the call to create a limited Palestinian state provided that the territory under Palestinian control would be disarmed and that Palestinians accept that Israel is a Jewish state. "If we get this guarantee for demilitarization and necessary security arrangements for Israel, and if the Palestinians recognize Israel as the state of the Jewish people, we will be willing in a real peace agreement to reach a solution of a demilitarized Palestinian state alongside the Jewish state," he said. "I call on you, our Palestinian neighbors, and to the leadership of the Palestinian Authority: Let us begin peace negotiations immediately, without preconditions," he said. His speech has already provoked a reponse from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose spokesperson said, "Netanyahu's remarks have sabotaged all initiatives, paralysed all efforts being made and challenges the Palestinian, Arab and American positions."
The dukes of drunk have done it again: Ed Helms vehicle The Hangover made $33.4 million at the box office this weekend, the first movie to top ticket sales for two consecutive weekends this summer. On the opposite end of the target-demo spectrum, Disney/Pixar flick Up took second place with $30.5 million. Thriller re-make The Taking of Pelham 123 scored $25 million, a solid if uninspiring opening, and Eddie Murphy debut Imagine That floundered with a mere $5.7 million. Among the weekend’s smaller openings, sci-fi drama Moon and Francis Ford Coppola’s Tetro outperformed expectations. The movie industry as a whole made $150 million this weekend, a 17 percent drop from the same weekend last year.
North Korea is so unhappy about its new U.N. sanctions, it's willing to go to war over them, prompting South Korean President Lee Myung-bak is he's traveling to D.C. on Monday to meet with President Obama. Reacting to escalating nuclear tests and enrichment programs in the communist nation, the United Nations Security Council imposed an embargo on North Korean shipping. In response, the bellicose nation vowed to declare war on any country that intercepted a ship. President Lee has instructed his ministers to act "resolutely and squarely to cope" with the unruly North; the South's Unification Ministry issued a statement again coaxing their northern neighbor to set aside the weapons and resume reunification talks. On NBC's Meet the Press on Sunday, Joe Biden regarded Kim Jong-Il with resigned anger: "God only knows what he wants... We can't guess his motives. We just have to deal with the reality that a North Korea that is either proliferating weapons or missiles... is a serious danger and threat to the world." Some speculate that Kim Jong-Il may be in the midst of a last-minute global power-grab before handing over the North Korea reins to son and successor Kim Jong-Un.
Who says the Queen is chilly? Michelle Obama made a private visit to Buckingham Palace last week to visit her new friend, Queen Elizabeth. Michelle and daughters Malia and Sasha were given a three-hour tour of the grounds as a special treat for Sasha’s birthday, and then met with the Queen. A “royal source” told Reuters that there has been much personal warmth between the two women since they met at the G20 summit. They’ve spoken on the phone and exchanged letters since then, and, despite their age difference, have much in common. Michelle, 45, enjoys gardening, the countryside and clothes, much like the 83-year-old monarch, the source reports. Sounds deep.
Convicted terrorist Jose Padilla is suing former White House lawyer John Yoo for drafting the “torture memos” that led to his alleged torture after a federal judge refused to dismiss the case on Friday. A legal adviser to former president Bush, Yoo wrote the now-infamous memos that redefined torture as treatment leading to "organ failure, impairment of bodily function or even death," and advised the government to use “any means necessary” to hold terror suspects. Padilla was imprisoned for four years on a Navy brig, where he said he was illegally detained and tortured. He is appealing his 2007 conviction of terrorism and is currently serving 17 years for the crime. The federal judge, a Bush appointee, wrote that Padilla could be able to prove that Yoo deprived his constitutional rights by writing the memos. This marks the first time a government lawyer could be held liable for detainee abuse.
At the height of the economic-stimulus controversy, President Obama faced fierce criticism from the left as well as the right. Leading the liberal charge was Nobel Prize winner and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman, who said Obama’s economic proposals were not drastic enough. But now, with the global economy looking slightly less horrible, it seems the economist has had a change of heart, telling The Guardian: “I had my skepticism, but he is smart.” Krugman also said he hears whispers of a possible second round of economic stimuli, which raises his hopes for recovery further. But his lengthy interview with the British paper is not without gloom and doom: Krugman suggests we are “12 months into a 36-month downturn.” And if the Princeton economist had his druthers, how would American society change? “I just want a stronger welfare state and a little bit more social democracy. And some restoration of the labor movement as a counterweight,” he says.
What happened to the gritty Orlando Magic basketball team that battled past the defending champion Boston Celtics and LeBron-led Cleveland Cavaliers in the playoffs? Looks like they decided to stay home for Game 5 of the NBA finals Sunday night, limping to a lopsided 99-86 loss to hand the Los Angeles Lakers their 15th franchise title. It is the fourth championship for Lakers star Kobe Bryant, who scored 30 points—and Coach Phil Jackson’s NBA best 10th championship, vaulting him past the previous record holder, legendary Celtics Coach Red Auerbach.
After a quiet start to the day, Iran heated up again on Sunday, with thousands of protesters taking to the rooftops to shout “death to the dictator.” The declared winner of the possibly fixed election, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, dismissed the protests as "passions after a soccer match" and hosted his own rally. Meanwhile, “more than 100 prominent opposition members had been detained,” according to The New York Times. Another protest against Ahmadinejad was planned for Monday, as his opponent, Mir Hossein Mousavi, called on his supporters to continue protesting the election result. In one of the days more provocative reads, Ken Ballen and Patrick Doherty suggest in The Washington Post that the elections may, in fact, reflect the will of the Iranian people: according to a poll they took three weeks before the election, Ahmadinejad was leading by more than 2-to-1.
Dictatorships usually rely on iconography, so this may be a problem for Kim Jong Un, North Korea’s next Dear Leader: Only one photo of him exists outside the country, and in it, he is only 11 years old. Little is known about Kim—much of what is comes from testimony by a sushi chef who cooked for him when he was seven and who says he “looked just like” his father, Kim Jong Il. According to The New York Times, “They describe Kim Jong-un as a man in his mid-20s, of medium height, overweight and prone to high blood pressure and suffering from diabetes, and with character traits similar to his father’s.” Even within North Korea, little is known about him—the media have never shown his image or mentioned him by name. One North Korean specialist tells the Times that Kim is “very young, without any administrative experience to speak of, and without his own coterie—he had not had time to create a power base. He will be an obedient puppet in the hands of people who lobbied for this decision. Who are these people? I have no idea, to be frank.”
Tens of thousands of supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi marched through Tehran today, protesting the results of Friday’s election. Have they gotten the Ayatollah Khamenei’s attention? According to the Associated Press, Iran’s supreme leader has ordered an investigation into allegations of election fraud. “The decision comes after Mousavi wrote a letter appealing to the Guardian Council and met Sunday with Khamenei, who holds almost limitless power over Iranian affairs. Such an election probe by the 12-member council is uncharted territory and it not immediately clear how it would proceed or how long it would take.”
Stifle a yawn: Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Larry Summers announce their plan for a regulatory overhaul in Monday’s Washington Post, but for the details of what exactly they are planning you’re better off reading the summary in The Wall Street Journal. “At the center of the plan … is a move to remake powers of the Federal Reserve to oversee the biggest financial players, give the government the power to unwind and break up systemically important companies—much like the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. does with failed banks—and create a new regulator for consumer-oriented financial products.” The plan will require congressional approval. Geithner will appear before both the House and Senate on Thursday.
James von Brunn’s assault on the National Holocaust Museum is only the latest example of a growing trend of “lone wolf” radicals who, apparently spurred by the election of the country’s first African-American president, are taking their racism to violent extremes, The Wall Street Journal reports. Even before the recent attack, the FBI had “lone extremists” in its crosshairs, noting that “lone-wolf offenders continue to be of great concern to law enforcement.” Now the feds have a new plan, “Operation Vigilante Eagle,” meant to target would-be domestic terrorists. The operation was launched in response to radical right-wing groups’ “noticeable increase in recruitment, threatening communications and weapons procurement,” according to an FBI memo. Yet identifying a lone-wolf terrorist, such as the the Unabomber and Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, is especially challenging, as they often set out on their own after being shunned by their racist brethren for being too radical.
One sign that outsider CIA Director Leon Panetta is reversing the troubled agency’s course? Weeks after President Obama took office, the CIA renewed its contract with the firm run by two psychologists who introduced waterboarding to the agency—that is until two months later, when Panetta fired them. In his first interview since taking the job, Panetta tells The New Yorker’s Jane Mayer that, when he took over, he “wanted to be damn sure” that no one was on the payroll who could be prosecuted for war crimes. But once the agency was clean, he “didn’t want to spend a lot of time dealing with the past and what mistakes were made.” Panetta also says that he actually supported a truth commission to investigate the CIA’s use of torture, at least until President Obama nipped the idea in the bud.
Sad news from Yemen today: Nine missing foreigners, who were kidnapped during a picnic last week, have all turned up dead, the Associated Press reports. Shepherds found three mutilated women's bodies early on Monday. The remaining six bodies were found later. The dead include a German doctor, his wife and their three children, a Briton and his South Korean wife, and two other German nationals, all of whom worked at a hospital in Yemen's Saada region. A tribal leader in the area blamed Al-Qaeda for the killings.
