Contingents of uniformed and plainclothes security forces flooded the city’s central squares and managed with batons and tear gas to eventually disperse the demonstrators, many of whom wore black and held up their fingers in V-for-victory salutes.

Reporting from Tehran and Beirut — Violent clashes erupted Thursday in downtown Tehran between thousands of defiant protesters chanting “Death to the dictator” and security forces wielding truncheons, as the political crisis over Iran’s disputed presidential election stretched into its fourth week.

Contingents of uniformed and plainclothes security forces flooded the city’s central squares and managed with batons and tear gas to eventually disperse the demonstrators, many of whom wore black and held up their fingers in V-for-victory salutes.

Protesters in and around Enghelab (Revolution) Square set fire to trash bins to ward off the effects of the tear gas, witnesses said, but mostly avoided engaging security forces in the rock throwing and running street battles that characterized the protests that erupted just after the June 12 election.

There were reports of clashes in other Iranian cities, but they could not be confirmed.

Demonstrators said they were determined to defy the authorities led by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who have demanded an end to public rallies and acts of civil disobedience. Tracts distributed online and as leaflets called on protesters to borrow the nonviolent tactics of the U.S. civil rights movement, avoid rifts within their ranks and do nothing that would hamper morale.  Protesters chanted in support of Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who authorities say was defeated by incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the presidential vote, and they urged the security forces to join them.

“Mojtaba, may you die, so that you don’t get the supreme leadership,” went one chant, referring to Khamenei’s son, who is said to be behind the crackdown and angling for his father’s job.

Though the number of protesters was nowhere close to the hundreds of thousands who took to the streets soon after the election, organizers showed Thursday that they could quickly assemble a crowd despite the efforts of security forces.

Thursday was also the anniversary of a student uprising that was violently crushed by the government 10 years ago — a perennial occasion for confrontations between demonstrators and police.”It is going to continue,” vowed a marcher in his 60s, big drops of sweat on his forehead. “They have killed our dear youth. How can we forgive them?” Many of the demonstrators wore surgical masks to conceal their identities from cameras positioned on nearby buildings. They could be seen fleeing into side streets and regrouping as shops were quickly shuttered. Some witnesses said pro-government Basiji militiamen were also wearing masks to hide their faces from protesters’ cameras.

Passing drivers and motorcyclists honked their horns and flashed the victory sign in support of the clusters of demonstrators. Business owners could be seen hustling protesters into their buildings to shield them from police. One witness described at least 10,000 demonstrators gathered in one spot, but there was no independent confirmation.

Uniformed security forces on motorcycles and plainclothes officers had blocked off streets around Enghelab Square, near the Tehran University epicenter of the protest. One witness said shots were fired in the air near Vali Asr Square, another downtown crossroads where demonstrators had planned to gather in case Enghelab was inaccessible.

As militiamen would try to drag away demonstrators, a witness said, protesters would join together to overpower them. He also said he saw women with their head scarves pulled off being forced into police vans. Another woman taking pictures with her cellphone camera was dragged away. One witness said five Basiji militiamen pummeled an elderly lady who loudly warned them that they would receive their comeuppance on Judgment Day.

Police managed to quell the demonstrations within three hours, witnesses said. “We will wait to see the reflection of today’s event in the local and international media and the responses of the authorities. Then we get together with our fellow demonstrators and decide another contingency plan for further struggles,” said Farzad, a 28-year-old who asked that his last name not be published.

Early in the day, Tehran Gov. Gen. Morteza Tamaddon had vowed that any protest would receive a “crushing” response. “No request was made for any permit for rallies on Thursday and no permit has been issued,” Tamaddon said, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency. “The enemies of the Iranian nation are angry with the postelection calm in Iran and try to damage it through their TV channels.”

State television did not mention the unrest. Speaking to a gathering of provincial governors, whom he appoints, Ahmadinejad described the unrest as a Western attempt to pressure Iran.

“The enemies of Iranians are very angry because despite their propaganda and efforts, a government that has the support of 40 million votes has come to power,” the president said, according to the semiofficial Iranian Students News Agency. “We will not give these oppressive powers any advantage, and they are forced to deal with this government.”

Sarah Palin is undergoing a funeral of sorts in her own right. She has now officially become the latest tragic figure in the Republican Party’s fallout from a failed McCain campaign. The GOP intelligencia seem to also be singing a funeral dirge over her future political career.  But read further for an alternate and interesting point of view.

Here is a reprint of an excellent analysis of the Sarah Palin story from John Fund of the Wall Street Journal. John makes some excellent points regarding the “Media” and soon to be former Gov. Palin and perhaps her taking a new road that may certainly be one less traveled in national politics. Who knos she might even have the last laugh over the funny man from Minnesota, Al Franken.

People close to Sarah Palin say national political reporters and pundits have missed the real reasons for her surprising decision to resign as Alaska governor. The national media have dismissed or downplayed her real motives, which had little to do with any plans to run for president in 2012.Contrary to most reports, her decision had been in the works for months, accelerating recently as it became clear that controversies and endless ethics investigations were threatening to overshadow her legislative agenda. “Attacks inside Alaska and largely invisible to the national media had paralyzed her administration,” someone close to the governor told me. “She was fully aware she would be branded a ‘quitter.’ She did not want to disappoint her constituents, but she was no longer able to do the job she had been elected to do. Essentially, the taxpayers were paying for Sarah to go to work every day and defend herself.”

This situation developed because Alaska’s transparency laws allow anyone to file Freedom of Information Act requests. While normally useful, in the hands of political opponents FOIA requests can become a means to bog down a target in a bureaucratic quagmire, thanks to the need to comb through records and respond by a strict timetable. Similarly, ethics investigations are easily triggered and can drag on for months even if the initial complaint is flimsy. Since Ms. Palin returned to Alaska after the 2008 campaign, some 150 FOIA requests have been filed and her office has been targeted for investigation by everyone from the FBI to the Alaska legislature. Most have centered on Ms. Palin’s use of government resources, and to date have turned up little save for a few state trips that she agreed to reimburse the state for because her children had accompanied her. In the process, though, she accumulated $500,000 in legal fees in just the last nine months, and knew the bill would grow ever larger in the future.

“The Alaska ethics elves had painted such a target on Sarah’s forehead that she had begun turning down pretty much every invitation she got — even though they were pouring in every day by the dozens,” a confidant of the governor’s told me. “It is not throwing in the towel. It is deciding that she was ineffective in fighting for her principles and could do more in another role.”

Family considerations also played a role. Ms. Palin gave birth to a baby with Down’s Syndrome in 2008, and also has a six-year old. Everyone in the family was weary of endless personal attacks, including mean-spirited suggestions on liberal blogs that all of her children should have been aborted and that she would run on a presidential platform promoting retardation.

Governor Palin tried hunkering down. She ignored offers of help from outside and kept media outlets at a distance. “Palin had become so suspicious of the media that she rejected hundreds of requests by even friendly reporters to interview her. Her press aides say that before considering interviews, she insists that they comb through reporters’ work, even if they write for a friendly, conservative publication,” writes Ron Kessler of NewsMax.com. I can also attest to the difficulty of reaching Governor Palin’s staff and getting simple requests answered — the problem is that such standoffishness can sometimes result in more negative coverage rather than less.

Karl Rove acknowledges the unusual battering Ms. Palin has endured in recent months, but told Fox News that GOP leaders are still puzzled by her decision. “If she wanted to escape the ethics investigations and save the taxpayers money, she’s now done that,” he said. Unfortunately, he added, her decision “sent a signal that if you do this kind of thing to a sitting governor like her, you can drive her out of office.”

But Palin friends say such commentary misses the real point. “The Beltway media can’t understand someone not consumed with presidential ambition,” one told me. “Maybe Sarah Palin won’t run for president and maybe her family situation made it tougher to handle the barrage of attacks that come with that territory. The real issue that should be asked is why a mean-spirited system has to treat people who run like that, instead of why someone may choose not to go through it.”

All good points, and they lead me to conclude that Ms. Palin mostly likely will not run for president — in 2012, at least. She made many mistakes after suddenly being thrust into the national spotlight last year, but hasn’t merited the sneering contempt visited upon her by national reporters. She simply was not their kind of feminist — and they disdained the politically incorrect life choices she had made.

In helping to convince Sarah Palin that her road forward in national politics would demand even more sacrifices and pain than exacted from most politicians, the media did nothing to encourage women or people of modest means to participate in politics. By sidestepping her critics, Sarah Palin is now moving to another playing field where she has more control over the rules of the game. Her friends say her critics may call her a “quitter” now, but they should wait and see what new role she decides to fill. She may wind up having the last laugh.

– John Fund / Wall Street Journal

The following video are out takes from all the major TV media outlets. One theme rings clear regardless of the political spectrum: What is she trying to accomplish outside of destroying her political career?

It may be that Sarah Palin becomes one of those political footnotes, characterized in history as a bottle rocket figure in  Republican politics. John McCain’s naive, and most likely unilateral, decision to select her as VP, to add some “bling” factor to his ticket may have turned out to be, ironically, the swan song of her political career.  She should have avoided him like the plague!

No…  we are not setting up a poll for you guys to vote on this question.

“I am now looking ahead and how we can advance this country together with our values of less government intervention, greater energy independence, stronger national security, and much-needed fiscal restraint,” she said.

Palin also cast herself as a victim and blasted the media, calling the response to her announcement “predictable” and out of touch.

“How sad that Washington and the media will never understand; it’s about country,” the statement said. “And though it’s honorable for countless others to leave their positions for a higher calling and without finishing a term, of course we know by now, for some reason a different standard applies for the decisions I make.”

Palin’s personal spokeswoman, Meghan Stapleton, confirmed to The Associated Press that the Facebook posting was written by the governor.

The abruptness of her announcement and the mystery surrounding her plans has fed widespread speculation. But Palin attorney Thomas Van Flein on Saturday warned legal action may be taken against bloggers and publications that reprint what he calls fraudulent claims.

“To the extent several websites, most notably liberal Alaska blogger Shannyn Moore, are now claiming as ‘fact’ that Governor Palin resigned because she is ‘under federal investigation’ for embezzlement or other criminal wrongdoing, we will be exploring legal options this week to address such defamation,” Van Flein said in a statement. “This is to provide notice to Ms. Moore, and those who re-publish the defamation, such as Huffington Post, MSNBC, the New York Times and The Washington Post, that the Palins will not allow them to propagate defamatory material without answering to this in a court of law.” — townhall.com

EXCERPT FROM PRES. OBAMA SPEECH: Critics “say we are trying to do too much, that we are moving too quickly, and that we all ought to just take a deep breath and scale back our goals,” he said. “These naysayers have short memories. We did not get here by doing what was easy. That is not how a cluster of 13 colonies became the United States of America.”  — Obama Says American ‘Spirit’ Can Confront, Resolve Challenges, Bloomberg News.

Mr. President, critics don’t say that. Your supporter Colin Powell says that.

Critics say, not that you’re doing “too much”, but that you’re doing the wrong things. Critics say that you’re …
–  interfering in free markets in a way that jeopardizes shareholder value, usurps individual rights and compromises the structural integrity of capitalism.

Critics say that you’re …
– spending money we don’t have in amounts we can never repay, thereby
– devaluing the currency and setting up a swirling downward vortex from which there is no known economic model for escape.

Critics say that you’re …
– pushing a government-run, taxpayer-funded, single-payer health insurance program under the guise of merely offering a public option (another scheme for which there is no known successful analog).

Critics say that you’re …
– devastating the petroleum-based economy that has fostered the most prosperous nation in history,
– ignoring atomic energy despite its limitless capacity to offer clean power, and
– forcing taxpayers to gamble on so-called ‘green’ technologies which, despite years of research and billions of dollars of investment, still consume more energy than they generate.

Critics say that you’re …
–  compromising our national security by snuggling up to evil people who are committed to our destruction, and
–  apologizing for our history each time you step onto a foreign shore.

Critics say that you’re …
– blaming all negatives on your predecessor while claiming credit for positives that have yet to happen, and
– slamming anyone who disagrees with you as a narrow-minded naysayer with a short memory.

Finally, Mr. President, the 13 colonies did not become free and independent states by confiscating wealth from the productive sector of society and doling it out to the unproductive sector in a way that guarantees the perpetual enslavement of both.

This new nation, conceived in liberty, was brought forth by people who said ‘Enough’ to a tyrant who capriciously ruled from afar — people who were willing to risk their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor that succeeding generations might live the freedom they bought with blood.

Mr. President when you compare your socialized insurance program, your speculative wealth confiscation program or your Niagara Falls of spending with the endeavors of those bold patriots, you trivialize their sacrifice while you crown yourself with the Styrofoam diadem of a clown. — [Hat Tip: Townhall.Com]

LONDON (Reuters) – Boy wizard Harry Potter is back in cinemas later this month with the sixth installment of the movie franchise, and another box office bonanza looks assured for the Warner Bros. studio.

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” hits screens on July 15, promising high-speed action, dark and dangerous battles with the forces of evil, budding romance at Hogwarts school for wizards and the expected death of a prominent character.

The wait has been a long one for Potter fans around the world who have followed the fate of Harry and his friends through the seven best-selling books by British author J.K. Rowling.

Warner Bros. pushed the release date of Half-Blood Prince back from 2008, leaving a two-year gap since the fifth movie “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” and the final novel “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”.

The release of Potter books and films are major events for the entertainment industry, both because of the passion fans share for the stories, dubbed “Pottermania” in the media, and the amount of money they generate.

The seven Harry Potter books, which began in 1997, have sold more than 400 million copies worldwide and turned Rowling into a multi-millionaire publishing phenomenon… [so says Reuters]

We would love to hear your thoughts !!

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President Obama and Washington’s Western allies have condemned the ongoing crackdown, further straining relations between Tehran and the West as the U.S. prepares to open diplomatic talks with Iran over its nuclear program.

Ahmadinejad, unusually silent since June 14, when his description of his opponents as “dirt” triggered a massive rally in central Tehran that drew hundreds of thousands, today warned Obama to avoid the path of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

“We do not expect anything from the British and the European countries’ governments, which are not honorable, and their history is known to the world,” Ahmadienjad said in comments broadcast on state television. “But why has Mr. Obama been caught up in this trap while he has the slogan of change?”

An adviser to Khamenei today lashed out at Britain’s decision to freeze $1.6 billion in Iranian assets as a gesture of support for human rights in Iran.

“In their media, they repeatedly claim to be advocates of human rights in Iran,” said Ali-Akbar Velayati, the leader’s foreign affairs adviser. “They say they are defending the Iranian people, but such a move is obviously against the Iranian nation because the assets belong to the people, not to particular individuals.”

But though the U.S. and others have condemned the Iranian government’s crackdown, Russian leaders say Tehran has acted within the law.

“We are convinced that all the issues that arise in connection with the recent election should be resolved in accordance with Iranian laws, with procedures set out in these laws. And, as we understand, this is exactly what is happening,” Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov said at a news conference in Berne, Switzerland, according to Interfax news agency. More…