Casual Observation

26 Comments

1. 

   rikyrah on February 29, 2016 at 8:56 am

   OT:

   To my Chicago, Suburban Cook County, and heck ALL OF ILLINOIS folks!!

   EARLY VOTING BEGINS TODAY!!

   In Chicago, there is an Early Voting site in EVERY WARD, plus 69 W. Washington St., Pedway.

   In Suburban Cook County, there are 42 Early Voting Sites, plus 69 W. Washington St., Pedway.

   IF you live in Chicago, you can walk into ANY Early Voting Site and vote.

   IF you live in Suburban Cook County, you can walk into ANY Early Voting Site and vote.

   Not registered to vote?

   DOES.NOT.MATTER.
   You can do Grace Period Registration, where you register and vote at the same time.

   For info on Early Voting in Chicago:

   http://www.chicagoelections.com/en/early-voting.html

   For info on Early Voting in Suburban Cook County

   http://www.cookcountyclerk.com/elections/earlyvoting/Pages/default.aspx

   • 

     The Voice In The Wilderness on February 29, 2016 at 5:13 pm

     But will it matter? Booman says it’s all over.

2. 

   yastreblyansky on February 29, 2016 at 9:24 am

   Jerusalem Post out with hilariously incoherent “analysis”: on the one hand the winners and losers are all bad guys:

   International media coverage on Sunday regarding the outcome of Iran’s vote misses the point – the regime is using the façade of a free election to boost its legitimacy… The difference between hard-liners and pragmatists is one of strategy, not of fundamental values

   but at the same time the winners are good guys who didn’t really win:

   “Yesterday some people were under the impression that the Assembly of Experts election results were final, then the Ministry of Interior said they are not. So let’s wait,” [Meir] Javedanfar wrote.

   Shahram Chubin, an Iranian- born scholar, said, “If the initial results are confirmed, the electorate will have spoken clearly in favor of a moderate, pragmatic approach as the most likely route to economic improvements.

   “Even so, the hard-line, ideological elements can be counted upon to seek to continue to sabotage Rouhani’s economic plans,” Chubin, who is a nonresident senior associate at the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told The Jerusalem Post.

3. 

   boran2 on February 29, 2016 at 9:41 am

   No doubt that his critics will promptly state they were wrong.  /snark

4. 

   centerfielddj on February 29, 2016 at 10:40 am

   Great news! Nice escape to reality, from the farce that has become the Republican Presidential primary and the impotent, seditious opposition of Congressional Republicans to the Iran deal.

5. 

   RedDan on February 29, 2016 at 10:47 am

   Ending that embargo and doing so with an enforceable nuclear deal in hand is going to change the face of the middle east.

   A more liberal (or maybe “less conservative”??) Iran with a strong showing from the reformists and internationally inclined… that’s going to be a huge influence on the region and the world.

   • 

     The Voice In The Wilderness on February 29, 2016 at 5:16 pm

     Already they are saying “No” to the Saudi’s proposal to limit oil production. Part of the deal? Or do they need the money too badly, like Russia, to curtail production? Or both?

     • 

       clif on February 29, 2016 at 8:16 pm

       Right now the Iranians need the money, they have a society to build up to compete in the 21st century.

       They cannot go borrow on the world money markets like the Saudis can(for right now), to cover the budget deficits low oil prices create for them.

       • 

         clif on February 29, 2016 at 8:23 pm

         PS both need money to fund their middle east conflicts for control of the middle east.

         Given the decades long US backing of the Saudis in this will Iran like Syria has turn to Russia for help?  

         Will the Shia-Sunni conflict grow towards becoming a proxie fight between Russia (under Putin) and whom ever carries forward the Dulles/Kissinger-Neocon US foreign policy

         • 

           The Voice In The Wilderness on March 1, 2016 at 2:12 pm

           Yes and Maybe.  Russia was helping them in their nuclear endeavors.   Wouldn’t be the first proxy fight, nor the last.

6. 

   priscianus jr on February 29, 2016 at 11:06 am

   It’s become fashionable lately to portray Obama as a Clinton clone. I think that’s more about Hillary wrapping herself in the mantle of Obama as a campaign strategy.

   This Iran election result is not what the Billary/ neocons would have wanted. It also suggests that Sanders may be more in line with Obama on foreign policy than Clinton is.
   http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/01/sanders-clinton-iran-debate/427065/

   • 

     seabe on February 29, 2016 at 5:36 pm

     Does anyone seriously think Clinton would have gotten this nuclear deal over the finish line if she was president instead? Ugh.

7. 

   Anonymous on February 29, 2016 at 11:14 am

   A: Great news!
   B: In the middle east, it’s ALWAYS too early for a victory lap.

8. 

   Arthur Gilroy on February 29, 2016 at 11:28 am

   2/29/16:

   Iran has voted. The reformers had huge victories. The hardliners were crushed. According to President Obama’s critics, this shouldn’t have happened.

   More later, and “Thanks, Obama.”

   If things continue the same general path In the U.S.? If Trump maintains his huge plusses in terms of coverage?

   11/8/16:

   The U.S. has voted. The liberals had huge losses. The hardliners won. According to President Obama’s supporters, this shouldn’t have happened.

   More later, and “Thanks, Obama.”

   HRC had better get what is left of her mojo working. Soon!!! I predict that the latest PermaGov /mass media anti/Trump onslaught will teflon off of his back just as the rest of them have done.

   What a laughable “threat”!!!

   Establishment ‘seeks to draft Romney if Rubio doesn’t perform’

   —snip—

   “The GOP establishment would rather suffer through four years of Hillary – whose policies are indistinguishable from Marco Rubio’s or Mitt Romney’s – than to have an outsider be president like Trump, who is beholden to no one,” Stone insisted.

   “Rubio has been given until Tuesday and if he doesn’t win the Florida primary, the establishment GOP leaders have decided to dump Rubio in favor of drafting Mitt Romney, the GOP presidential nominee who lost to Barack Obama in 2012,” he explained. “If Rubio cannot win Florida, then Rubio drops out and Romney is in.”

   “The GOP establishment’s secret plan is to back Romney against Trump in the hopes of winning enough delegates in the primaries after Super Tuesday to block Trump on the first ballot at the GOP national nominating convention in Cleveland,” he added.

   My own prediction?

   Trump will have enough delegates going into the convention to win on the first ballot.

   Watch.

   AG

   • 

     JoelDanWalls on February 29, 2016 at 1:01 pm

     Has Mitt still got his binders full of women?

     • 

       Arthur Gilroy on February 29, 2016 at 1:57 pm

       Bet on it.

       AG

   • 

     The Voice In The Wilderness on February 29, 2016 at 5:18 pm

     “The GOP establishment would rather suffer through four years of Hillary – whose policies are indistinguishable from Marco Rubio’s or Mitt Romney’s

     Did you hear that, Booman?

     • 

       centerfielddj on February 29, 2016 at 6:02 pm

       Your conspicuous failure to provide a link reveals that you are attempting to hide the fact that your pull quote is from a story in World Net Daily, and that the quote is from Roger Stone.

       Have you no sense of decency, Voice, at long last? LOL…

       • 

         The Voice In The Wilderness on February 29, 2016 at 7:32 pm

         I snipped it from Arthur Gilroy’s post that I responded to. Just parent up to the post from Arthur Gilroy.

         • 

           centerfielddj on February 29, 2016 at 7:39 pm

           Got it.

         • 

           seabe on February 29, 2016 at 7:40 pm

           Yeah, and you didn’t do your homework to follow the link to see the source?

         • 

           The Voice In The Wilderness on March 1, 2016 at 12:10 pm

           No, I didn’t. mea culpa

       • 

         Arthur Gilroy on February 29, 2016 at 11:44 pm

         I linked and I said it was “laughable,” O centrist/neolib troll!!!

         AG

9. 

   mino on February 29, 2016 at 11:55 am

   Anyone watching Saudi War Games?  

   http://www.cnn.com/2016/02/23/opinions/saudi-arabia-syria-war/

10. 

    JoelDanWalls on February 29, 2016 at 1:06 pm

    Yeah, the reform candidates did well in Tehran, apparently.

    But Iran still has a theocratic system. Nobody even gets to run for office if they haven’t first been approved by some group of clerics.

    Also, the people who have hugely profited from a sanctions-bound economy are keen to protect their fiefdoms.

11. 

    rikyrah on February 29, 2016 at 5:46 pm

    The neo-cons has a sad.

    awe.

    Poor babies